Tua Tagovailoa – August 17, 2024 (Postgame)
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Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024
Postgame – Washington
Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa
Q. How did it feel to get in there, get a series, and convert a touchdown?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: It felt good. I think it feels good any time you’re starting to get back into a routine, getting back into the games. I had a lot of conversations with a lot of the guys who hadn’t played here last year, and they sort of said the same thing, that it was pretty good for them to get into the routine of, okay, how do I time warming up and what that looks like here. Everyone’s having to adjust their routine if they need to. So I thought that was good. Jitters will always be there going into the first series and getting the first plays out. But other than that, I think we executed the way we wanted to, and we did what we said we wanted to do.
Q. Fourth and one, what was the process of getting to throw versus completing it to WR River Cracraft?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Mike (McDaniel) just trusted us that we’d get it done. So that’s what that was. Very proud of Riv.
Q. Can you talk about the growth you’ve seen from WR River Cracraft?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, maybe this is the third year, going onto the third year, that I’ve been able to compete with River and see River. I think this is probably the best training camp that River’s had. I’m not just saying that from a football standpoint. A lot of people don’t know what he’s also going through with family and whatnot. The mental stamina and the mental strength that he has to come out every day and really work and sort of leave everything that’s going on at home at home. I just — I just think that’s where his growth has come from a lot is the mental aspect of it.
Q. During the game, the CBS broadcast, they interviewed the team owner Stephen Ross, and he said, if we stay healthy, we’re certainly a contender for the Super Bowl. I don’t know if you knew that he said that, but what are your thoughts on those remarks?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: What are your thoughts? You think so?
Q. Contender? Yeah, I think there’s about 10 teams that have a chance. What do you think?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I mean, you just said contender. I think there’s 10 teams. Are the Dolphins one of the 10 teams?
Q. I think so.
TUA TAGOVAILOA: You think so? Yeah, I would say that’s the reason we play this game. If none of us have the belief that we can do it, it won’t happen for us on our team. So of course we have that belief.
Q. I’ll ask you personally do you feel regular season ready right now?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: You never know until you get out there and you actually play your first real snap against their best and you have your best. You never really know if you’re ready until you go out there and you get challenged and you see and you get looks that you’ve never seen. With the joint practices, they do some justice within the practices, but we’re not getting hit. Outside of that, it’s just a day-to-day thing. I’m not going to say I’m ready or I’m not ready. When that time comes, we’re going to see what our team can do and see if we’re ready.
Q. What does it say about this offense, no T Terron Armstead, no C Aaron Brewer, no WR Tyreek Hill and no WR Jaylen Waddle, and you guys march down the field the first time you see the field in 2024?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, that’s not the first time we’ve not had those guys in there, and we’ve played and we’ve scored. Would it be good to have those guys? It would be great to have those guys. It opens up our game plan for a lot of deep things, and it opens up the run game as well with the two shells that we get with those guys in. But outside of that, football is football with whoever you’ve got in there. You’ve got to call the play. You’ve got to see it, envision it, and then you go through your keys. If it’s one high, this is how I’m going to read it. If it’s two high, this is how I’m going to read it regardless of who’s in.
Q. I think WR Tyreek Hill talked a little bit about how this offense needs to grind out the long drives. It might have been a little too much boom or bust last year. Do you share those sentiments?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, 100 percent. And our short yardage. We’ve got to get better with our short yardage as well. That’s something we’ve been looking to get better at come season time.
Q. Considering all the joint practice opportunities as well as the regular practices, do you feel you’ve gotten enough preseason action to be ready for the season?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I think it was really good that we got to go out tonight and play and sort of get the feeling of what a game is. We’ll go to Tampa. We’ll assess what happens then, and we’ll see if we need any more or not.
Q. A tight end like Jonnu Smith or a weapon like Jonnu – H-back, I don’t even know what to call him – what does he do for this offense?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: He’s used in multiple ways, as you guys have seen. We had given him a jet sweep. He blocks. We look at him sort of as a YAC monster. He catches the ball, and he can get some yards after the catch. He’s very versatile in what we can do with him. We’re just slowly, slowly finding things to do with guys like ‘Nu.’
Q. How would you assess the way QB Skylar Thompson and QB Mike White commanded the offense when they were in?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I think they did their best with what we had. We had guys that were going down, and we ended up not having a running back. I’d like to compliment (Je’Quan) Burton for going in and just sticking it in. Like he didn’t know a lot of plays from being in the H position, so as you can see, there weren’t many jet protections in there just because he hadn’t gotten any of those reps. So there was a lot of quick game. We couldn’t run the ball, so they — I think they did their best with what they had in there.
