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Tua Tagovailoa – December 2, 2020 Download PDF version

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

QB Tua Tagovailoa

(Even though you didn’t play or start, the cameras still love to follow you around on the sidelines, so I wanted to get your perspective on what it was like being back on the sideline, any conversations you might have had with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick after scores and just how that overall experience went for you this past Sunday?)  – “That’s was obviously my first game not playing after being named the starter; but I think it was a good learning experience too. I think you can always learn. If you’re not playing, if you’re playing – also in practices, if you’re getting reps or not – I think you can always use those as learning curves.”

(The question South Florida has is how are you feeling, and what do you think the likelihood is we’ll see you this weekend?) – “I’m feeling good. I think that’s a question for ‘Coach Flo’ (Brian Flores) and our head trainer (Kyle Johnston). But yeah, as a competitor you always want to go out there and you want to be able to play. But ‘Flo’ and our medical staff, I would say they have the best interests for us. I would say they wouldn’t put me out there if they felt like it would be harmful for myself. I’m just taking it one day at a time and trusting those guys.”

(How did the injury occur? Was it one of those where you were following through on delivering a pass and hit someone’s helmet? Or was it some other way that it occurred? There was one mention that I saw that said that you came close to playing last Sunday and in the end, obviously you did not. Is that accurate?) – “Well, I got my hand dinged up when I tried to make a pass; but like I said, I wanted to play. But that was for the best for me and just looking for the longevity of everything. I just don’t want to put myself in danger and put the team at risk as well with me being in there and kind of suffering with my thumb. Like I said, I’m just taking it one day at a time and trying to get better with everything. ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) and our medical staff, they’ll get us all right.”

(When you get an injury on your throwing hand, you wonder if it’s affecting your grip or your throwing. How much does it impact both of those things for you and have you had to adjust anything during practices?) – “Yeah. I had to wrap my hand and just kind of get used to the wrap and whatnot. Other than that, I’m just trying to get into the rhythm again with some of the guys, and continue to learn from ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), continue to learn from coaches. I’m just trying to work hard still. “

(Sometimes when a player may have a bad game, you focus on the film where you played bad. Do you think that you needed to watch more of the Arizona game, where you were having some success? I did think that throwing into coverage or throwing into tight windows was a little bit over-talked about a little bit; but during that game, you were making contested throws. Do you need to see some of yourself having success to move forward and rebuild your confidence back up?) – “I would say no. To really answer that question, it’s a little difficult to look at pass success because the teams you are looking forward to playing are never usually the same as far as personnel, as far as coverages – and if it is the same coverages, then it’s probably variation of coverages. I would say if you’re looking back at post-film, it’s usually things that you can work on. For me, it’s more so the team that we’re going up against now, this week, and what we can do against them.”

(You mentioned you hurt your hand when throwing a pass. Did you clip someone’s helmet when that happened? And just kind of this week, you would’ve been playing QB Joe Burrow had he not gotten hurt and were to play. Are you kind of disappointed that matchup won’t happen?) – “Like I said, I got it dinged in practice when I made a throw. But yeah, when I heard about Joe’s injury, I reached out to him. Injuries like that, they are never fun. Those are – you never wish that on anybody. I got to reach out to him and I know he would love to be able to go out there and compete against us. That’s tough. I just sent him my prayers and whatnot. I wished him the best as well.”

(Head Coach Brian Flores said something earlier today that I thought was kind of interesting. He said I think once you think you’re over the hump is when you go back under the hump. Sometimes he gives me these statements that really make me think. It kind of reminds me of Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban a little bit. How does Flores’ messaging and the way he tries to keep the team focused and mentally in the right place kind of compare to your experiences with Coach Saban?) – “I would say it’s a little difficult to compare the two. I have tremendous respect for Coach Saban, and I have tremendous respect for ‘Coach Flo’ (Brian Flores). But they are two different people, two different personalities. How they go about doing things is different. I would say the way ‘Flo’ gets his message out to us is he says it, but you can also see it through his actions. Being out there in practice, just the passion he has in coaching us and then also in our team meetings, too.”

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