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Tua Tagovailoa – December 11, 2023 (Postgame) Download PDF version

Monday, December 11, 2023
Postgame – Tennessee

Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa

Q. You guys take a two-touchdown lead; did you have any feeling, any inkling that you would actually end up losing that game?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: It’s the NFL. Anything can happen. We’ve got to do a better job finishing the game with the time that we had while we had the ball, not allowing their opposing team’s offense to get that opportunity to potentially go down and score. It’s a team sport. You can’t blame one side. But I would say from an offensive standpoint there’s things that we could have done a lot better to not have gone through what we’ve gone through tonight.

Q. I know Tyreek was in and out of the game with the ankle, but what do you think was kind of the trouble in the passing game? I know the run game, you guys had over 160 yards, but in the passing game what gave you guys struggles?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I think what they wanted game plan-wise was to put a shell over our team, forcing us to run the ball, forcing us to beat them that way. But when you have someone like Tyreek go down, it does make it tough, but when you also have a couple of your key o-linemen go down, as well, it does hurt the guys up front and sort of the way we operate.

Q. I wanted to ask about that. What was kind of the hardest part of obviously Connor Williams goes down, you’re already without Terron and Rob Hunt. What was the hardest part of getting things aligned?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, I think one of the toughest parts of that is a lot of those guys haven’t gotten reps at some of the positions. It’s not to say that we practice for situations like this to happen. It just so happened that Connor went down and we already had a couple of our guys out. But needless to say, I know the guys up front will get better. I know the guys around me will get better. I will continue to get better. That’s the only way we can grow. We’ve just got to watch the tape. Tough loss tonight, but it’s going to linger like this if we don’t do anything about that.

Q. The final fourth-and-2, can you break that play down from your perspective?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Well, the play happened. Trying to look for an eligible. Then as I tried to maneuver through the pocket, I was trying to get a clear lane to find someone, but that’s how that went.

Q. How much of a collaborative process is the play calling in the red zone once you get close to the goal line? Has Mike ever asked, what do you see here? Do you chip in? Or is it pretty much him making the decisions?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: We talk about those decisions as far as plays that we like down there with what their defense runs. The night before we sort of go over, talk about each play and reasons as to why we could call this versus this or that versus this. The plays that he’s called, that’s sort of what we went over and what we trusted as far as what we saw on tape from the Titans.

Q. We’ve seen some Dolphin teams in the past have a loss like this in December and things kind of snowball. As one of the leaders here, how do you keep that from happening when you have a result like that at the end of the game?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I don’t think this is the same Dolphins team that everyone thinks about. We’ve got a lot of really good players. We’ve got really good coaches. It’s one loss home this year. It’s not like the world ends because we lost this game. We’re human. We’ll continue to get better from this. This is the NFL; no one is perfect. That’s that.

Q. You now have over 1,000 career completions. At this stage in your career, thinking back to last year, what are some things that you appreciate the most?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I’m appreciative for the entire journey that I’ve had since I got here, the draft process, the games that I’ve been able to go in, the people that I’ve been able to learn from. But as far as right now, I’m not even worried about any of that. I’m not even thinking of that. I’m a little disappointed that we put out that type of performance offensively, and it should have never been that way today.

Q. What was your perspective on the lost fumble play down near the opponent’s goal line?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: That was my fault. I’ve got to catch the snap. I don’t get as many reps with Liam in practice. I get some reps as far as quarterback-center exchange, but because Connor is our starting center, that’s the only person I’m working with as far as getting those reps. I’ve just got to continue to work those with Liam, but that’s not his fault, that’s my fault and I’ll get better from it.

Q. Did you have a firm grasp on the ball after you picked it up?

TUA TAGOVAILOA: I did, but the problem there is I didn’t drop. I picked it up and turned to throw it already, and the defender was already in my face, and he made a good play on hitting the ball. That’s no one else’s fault but mine.

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