Tua Tagovailoa – August 3, 2024
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Saturday, August 3, 2024
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(I saw you had Taylor Swift on the playlist. Were you able to attend the Taylor Swift concert? What are your thoughts on Taylor’s skills?) – “I haven’t been able to attend any of Taylor Swift’s concerts or whatever, but I’ve been listening to her music since I was in middle school, maybe? For her to be still going at this level and be an elite in the game is crazy. It’s crazy.”
(How happy were you with the tempo of the offense on that last drive right there at the end when you guys finished in the end zone?) – “I was happy. Anytime we’re able to finish in the end zone against our defense – we want to make it as competitive as possible for those guys, as much as they want to make it competitive for us. It was a good day overall. I think we were able to trade blows. It was a good back and fourth day. The only thing that matters is how you come the next day. So we’ll see how we all regroup as an offense, as a defense collectively and as we come out, we’ll see who has a better day.”
(How do you like RB De’Von Achane out of the back field? You went to him often that drive.) – “I love De’Von (Achane). Last year he showed a lot of capabilities of what he can do for us offensively from the backfield, going out, running routes in the slot, all of that. It wasn’t new to me being able to see what he can do, but it was really cool getting him involved. That’s sort of what the defense gave us, were those throws to him today. I trust him and asked him to make some plays for us today.”
(What’s the main challenge working with a new catcher like TE Jonnu Smith? What’s some things you’ll have to do to try to get in rhythm?) – “Your everyday drills that you have with routes on air, then on the side, just being able to take him to the side, catch for you. A lot of the guys will tell you it doesn’t matter how you throw the ball or whatever, but until they actually see it, they’re like, ‘Dang, all right this is kind of weird.’ (laughter) I’m the only lefty in the NFL that I know of that’s starting, so I would expect it to be different for these guys. A lot of the newer guys, just trying to get more reps with them, having them see the ball and then when they’re able to catch it on the jugs the ball is also able to spin in reverse instead of how it would normally spin.”
(Since the time he’s signed, how much work were you able to get with WR Odell Beckham Jr. and how much will you need with him before the games start?) – “I’ve been able to talk with ‘O’ (Odell Beckham Jr.) a lot off the field. I think the main focus for me and I think for ‘O’ is we communicate about how you got to study the playbook, how I study, how it helped me and whatnot. But the most important thing is he has to take care of himself. He has to do all the things necessary with (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle (Johnston), with (Director of Rehabilitation/Assistant Athletic Trainer Jon) Boone, with (Associate Head Athletic Trainer) Troy (Mauer), with all those guys to do everything he can do to get back on the field to help us. Then from there, then we can start getting into the feel of how these plays are. The feel of space within this offense. All of that.”
(What was your reaction when the Dolphins signed WR Odell Beckham Jr.?) – “For me – this is what the league is, everything is hearsay until you actually meet the person. ‘O’ (Odell Beckham Jr.) from what I heard was something totally different from getting to know ‘O.’ ‘O’ – A-list celebrity from what’s being talked about in the locker room and what I’m being told and whatnot. So I sort of have this thing in my head where it’s like, all right, is he a dude or is he just one of those guys that’s just like, ‘Alright, I’m to myself. I’m just here because it’s Miami, whoop-de-do,’ whatever that is. No – he’s like a genuinely great dude. I hang out with him a good amount off the field. Great – as good as they come in my opinion. With that being, said I would just say before you start saying things about people or whatever, just make sure you get to know them before all of that.”
(What did you think of WR Tyreek Hill getting the No. 1 spot on the Top 100?) – “Man, that’s my dawg. That’s my dawg. Oh my gosh. He was excited. We all were in a group chat. We all texted him – Jalen Ramsey, Terron Armstead, Raheem Mostert, Jaylen Waddle. We were just congratulating him. There were some funny things that we threw in there just to give him a hard time, but for the most part, that was unbelievable. To have a teammate like that, voted just best in the league, it doesn’t get better than that.”
(Did you get any congratulatory text from any of the other quarterbacks in the 2020 draft class after you signed your contract?) – “Yeah, I got a couple of text messages from a couple of guys around the league I’m close with.”
(Any names you can share?) – “I won’t do that.”
(Are they thanking you for keeping that bar up high?) – “Yeah, a couple of them. (laughter)”
(Is it a perfect timing that you have the Falcons coming in next week? Does it get kind of boring out there, or is it a drive every single day to go up against your teammates?) – “It’s a drive every single day. I think there has been an aha moment that we’ve all had collectively, with the leadership, with our captains, just for what our outlook is for our team. We try to not get bored with any of the things we know we’re going to need, and we try to make it as difficult as possible for each other when we go out there. We talk our talk; we try to get in each other’s heads. We just try to do that to simulate the best possible scenario of what it feels like to be in game, to be under pressure and to be able to come through for your team. We’re looking forward to the challenge of these other teams coming by. But next week, we’re going against each other one more day before we see Atlanta.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel said earlier today that the top players on the team have tremendous influence on the locker room and that he’s noticed that they’re dictating the terms for the team. What does that mean to you?) – “This isn’t Mike’s team – this is our team. At the end of the day, that’s what it is. Our coaches, they’re out there to give us the tools that we need to help us go out there and be successful. Sort of our mantra of how we go out there and do things is if I go out there and I throw a pick, it’s not (Quarterbacks/Pass Game Coordinator) Darrell Bevell that threw the pick, it’s not (Head Coach_ Mike McDaniel’s play call that threw the pick, that’s my name on that. That’s our offense’s name on that. So that’s sort of how our outlook is on how we go out there, our style of play, our mentality, our mindset as we go out there. Like I said, we’re trying to make it as hard as possible for each other to go out there. We’re honing in on the little details to be able to go out and compete against each other. We’re trying to beat them. We’re trying to whip their butt.”
(I got a theory that you guys might be the most likable team in the NFL. From the standpoint you have a lot of fun, you score a lot of points, you win. Head Coach Mike McDaniel is very cool. What do you think about that theory?) – “I would like to say for sure. We love to have fun – who doesn’t like to have fun? But we like to have fun doing it the way that – sort of on our terms of how we want to do that. We want to be able to make sure that if we’re having all the fun, we’re doing all of the things necessary to make sure we win this game, to make sure I know what I’m doing, that this guy next to me knows what he’s doing. All around we better make sure we all know what we’re doing, because if something slips up, you best know (that) on this team this year, you’re getting called out.”
(Last year we didn’t get to see CB Jalen Ramsey much during training camp because of the injury. Now he’s been out here every day. How would you describe his impact being on the field for the Dolphins in general?) – “Him. Him. That’s my dawg. That’s my dawg. Him. That’s Jalen Ramsey. He’ll let you know too. He’ll let you know too.”
(With the contract settled, does it feel like a weight lifted off of your shoulder and you can concentrate on football now?) – “100 percent, 100 percent. That’s one less thing I need to think about for the security of my family, and I’m just happy we were able to get it done already.”
(This team is 13-4 at home for the past two seasons. When you think about Hard Rock Stadium being the toughest place to play and the AFC Conference Championship game being 178 days away, do you feel like you’ve all faced enough adversity these past few years to make it to that point?) – “As you look at it, every year there is always something new. Whether there’s guys leaving, new guys coming in, there’s a new team. This is sort of something we’re taking upon ourselves as players to make it extremely hard on each other so as we go out to the game, adversity is nothing new to us. We’ve been here in practice. This is what we’ve practiced, this is not new. This is something that we’ve been working on, we’ve been doing. This is the team that we have this year. Sure, there are some guys that are back that have gone through the adversity we’ve gone through the past couple of years. But this is a new team, a new season and we’re looking forward to making a run at this.”
(You talked about the guys getting used to catching the balls from you. What has that process been like for you? The new guys and learning where they like the ball and how big their catch radius is? How have you attacked that this offseason?) – “Well they are receivers. In my opinion, I’m not thinking where you like to catch the ball. I’m just thinking where I should be placing the ball depending on what the play intends me to do. I would say for the most part, it’s seeing where their catch radius is, what routes they run that they like and what routes that we like that they run, and then also where we can put them and where their matchups are and things like that. So that’s sort of what I look at.”
