Tua Tagovailoa – November 9, 2022
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Wednesday, November 9, 2022
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(You’ve talked about how you keep receipts and get motivated by the doubters. Now you’re receiving a lot of praise for these last two games. How do you go about keeping the same approach?) – “Just keep doing what we’ve been doing as a team. Continue to work on the things we need to get better at offensively, defensively and in special teams and continue to move forward with that.”
(In terms of just your on-field play, your comfort with the scheme and building on that, would you say that this is the most comfortable or confident you’ve felt playing football?) – “I think Coach Mike (McDaniel) does a great job putting us in great situations offensively. He has a lot of, people would say window dressing. He doesn’t like that term, because it’s just a part of our offense with the movement, shifting, motioning. It’s a part of what we do. So I think it’s a lot of credit to what our head coach has done within installs and things like that to help put us in those situations. We can say that I go out there and throw, Tyreek (Hill) and (Jaylen) Waddle and all these other guys catch and run. (McDaniel) continues to give other people praise, but he doesn’t get as much praise as I think he should, and a lot of that is because of him.”
(It looks from the outside that you’re having more fun. Is that correct?) – “I think we’re all having fun. We’re all having fun. We’re feeling comfortable in this offense that we’ve had to all learn, that’s been new for us. So it’s cool to see that all the hard work throughout OTAs and training camp has paid off to this point. It’s not something that we’re satisfied with. We’ll keep going, continue to learn and build off of things we need to, but we’ll continue to find ways to do things that we’re good at and try to do them well continuously.”
(You said the phrase last week, “We’re not afraid to talk about Super Bowls around here.” It’s sort of the talk we haven’t heard from people up there for the last 20 years or so. Is that just a natural progression of his team? Or just how you feel in watching this season pan out?) – “Like I said prior to that, it’s the confidence and the things that we’ve seen throughout OTAs and the build up of that to training camp, being able to kind of build off of that towards the beginning of the season and kind of to where we’re at at this point. Like I said, we can always continue to get better with things. But yeah, I mean, why shy away from that? We’re not afraid to talk about that here.”
(I’m doing something on the pregame coin toss, and I’ve talked to a few players. I’ve got a couple of questions for you. First of all, everybody said that they call heads, which I found kind of strange, but then T Terron Armstead said that he doesn’t like to go out there because it interrupts with his pregame routine. So I’m wondering, do you like going out there? And what do you call?) – “Well, I’m told that I’m one of the captains to go out there. So if I’m told or if I’m not told, I’m not bothered by it. (laughter) But when I do go out there, I don’t know. Whatever I think, whether it’s heads or tails, I don’t have a 50-50 thought in my head or whatnot, or I go in there already knowing what I’m going to call. So it’s just up in the air.”
(Do you have any moments out there? S Jevon Holland was saying that it was cool when he went out against Detroit, because Barry Sanders was out there. LB Elandon Roberts was saying it was cool going out with the 1972 Dolphins. Any moments, either college or pro, that stand out?) – “Yeah, I think going out there with the ‘72 Dolphins – I mean, how much better could that get? That’s the only team in the NFL that’s been undefeated. A lot of greats on that team. I got to talk to (Bob) Griese, so that was cool.”
(Going back to what you were saying a few minutes ago about Head Coach Mike McDaniel and the concepts he’s brought here, what stands out for you? When he was first outlining them to you back in the spring, what stood out to you? Were there things that made you say, “Hm, I’d never thought about that?” Or “This may work really well?” Or “I don’t know if this is going to work?” What jumps out?) – “I think the thing that Coach Mike (McDaniel) has helped us offensively with is he’s kind of tailored the offense towards what we do best. If you look on film, he tries to tailor it to what Tyreek (Hill) runs the best, what Jaylen (Waddle) likes running, what I like throwing, what I’m good at throwing and things like that, whereas you watch their film from when they were with the 49ers, they did things a little different because of what those guys were good at and what they liked. So I really think it’s just things that are tailored to our strengths, and then he builds off of that. So not much of, ‘Why are we doing it like this?’ Or ‘Why are we doing it like that?’ It’s more so, ‘How do you see that play if they get this or if they get that? How do you see him running it and where do you think I should go with the ball on this?’ Just more of that kind of conversation.”
(Regarding WR Tyreek Hill, what have you come to believe is the most unique thing about him on the field? And then also off the field?) – “I mean, I would say the biggest thing that I’ve noticed with him that he carries with him every time on and off the field is his competitiveness. (He is) always competitive. He’s competitive in everything he does. I would say he’s a great teammate. He’s a great teammate for everyone on the team. I think a lot of people from the outside looking in can see that.”
(What would you say after your break from that concussion stuff that was going on – what would you say is the biggest contributing factor to getting back in this rhythm it seems like right away? Three touchdowns in games right away.) – “Just continuing to work the offense – the mental part of it. Today’s a walkthrough day for us. That doesn’t give us an opportunity to kind of slack off. It more so challenges us mentally, understanding where to line up, knowing where to go with the ball in certain coverages and then making quick decisions.”
(Is there anything from the break that you carried over that you think has helped you lately that you’re able to hone in on when you were gone?) – “Well, I think when being out, and then watching from the sideline, watching at home, on TV, then watching the film, there were things that going through progressions that I wouldn’t have thrown. Seeing it from the outside and not being in the game. There are things now that we’ve seen that we could hit that we have. So I would say things like that. But other than that, just coming back in and doing my best to try and work as hard to get back in rhythm with the guys.”
(You mentioned you’re comfortable now. Is part of that you’re getting protection? That you’d be able to step up in the pocket and have some time that maybe in the first couple of years you didn’t?) – “Well, yeah. I think everything – with protection up front, with how our run game is going, with our play-action game is going. And then we have boots, so it’s really an accommodation of all of that and defenses having to figure out, is it this play, is it that play? And then what complements those plays? So I think that’s why we feel comfortable as a group going out there every time.”
(What was the moment where you knew and felt confident that head coach Mike McDaniel as a play caller was worth the hype?) – “I would say it happened when we lost our first game. He came into the team meeting, and really I would say you kind of see people’s true colors of really who they are. And the guy has been the same person and he’s never changed. Never gotten mad. Just always what can we work on? Things that we can fix. And then you look at two more times we ended up losing (and he was the) same dude. Same dude. So I would say he’s won the trust of me, of the guys in the locker room. And then also, I would say the organization. Like everyone feels free to come up to his office. Everyone feels free to be around this guy and say whatever they feel like they can say and be themselves. So I think that’s what we really appreciate about him.”
