Tua Tagovailoa – September 15, 2021
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Wednesday, September 15, 2021
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(Today is the 60th birthday of the greatest quarterback in Dolphins history.) – “Dan Marino! And don’t forget Jesse Davis. It’s Jesse Davis’ birthday too, guys. (laughter)”
(Do you mind talking about your relationship with Dan Marino? Do you talk a lot, how often do you talk? Does he text you ever? What’s that relationship been like?) – “I think Dan has done a great job being in our meetings. He has a lot of input in our meetings. Happy Birthday to Dan. I got to see Dan today and wished him a happy birthday. He’s not much of a texter. But in person, Dan sits in our meetings and helps us with things that we don’t see or we never thought of seeing. I think it’s really good to hear from his perspective, someone who has played the position.”
(Have you spoken to QB Ryan Fitzpatrick since he’s got hurt?) – “I have spoken to ‘Fitz.’ ‘Fitz’ is going through what he’s going through. I wish him the best. I think this is something that he’ll get through. Knowing the kind of person that ‘Fitz’ is, he’ll get through this.”
(The Patriots game, what stood out to you about the success you were able to have in the opening drives and not being able to finish drives later on. What stood out to you?) – “I think they made some good adjustments defensively. We came out and we knew what we wanted to do as far as our game plan. We’ve got to execute and we’ve got to finish drives. I think it’s tough for our defense to go out there and have 12, 14, 16 play drives and we’re going three-and-out the next series and things like that. I think that comes down to communication for us and execution.”
(I know you were able to generate some explosive plays and it just so happens that every time you were able to generate explosive plays, it resulted in scoring drives. Is it also an understanding that as well as making big plays, you still have to kind of methodically drive down the field sometimes and score?) – “I think it’s just the mentality of literally taking what the defense gives you. If you look at the Patriots defense, they try to keep everything in front of them. They try to minimize a lot of the chunk plays, if you will. Whatever they gave us, that’s what we were out there to take.”
(What’s your level of comfort from a timing standpoint with WR Will Fuller and what does he add to the mix?) – “I think it’s fun and it’s good to have Will back. We can see in the game plan what things he can do to help us win this game. It’s still things that we need to work with Will on – with me and his timing. That’s what special teams is for. When special teams is out there, I’m pulling him to the side and throwing routes to him – single routes, whatever routes he has in the game plan and things like that.”
(With WR Will Fuller working with one of your strength coaches, how important was that time in the offseason to build some familiarity?) – “I’ve always had a relationship with Will since we picked him up in the offseason. We’ve texted; we’ve chatted. But really when I asked him to come out and throw and he moved down here, he came out and it was just a conversation that we had. He asked me who I was training with and the rest is history.”
(Going back to Dan Marino, what’s the best advice he’s given you about being a quarterback and trying to lead this team? Or just a general theme that he always stresses with you?) – “Pick a guy and let it fly. (laughter)”
(I don’t know if someone has ever told you this, but I was told that you are the youngest quarterback ever to win in Foxborough. Based on that, and based on the game and getting the ‘W’ of course, what did that game do for your confidence as you lead this offense now and you are the starter?) – “It’s good. It feels good to win the game obviously. For myself, I would say I’m a pretty confident person in the things that I can do. That’s what I would say to that. Obviously it feels good to win, but I think my confidence comes from within and trusting in my preparation. I felt like we came into that game well prepared. There were just things that we needed to adjust on. And like I’ve said before, it really comes down to execution for us on the offensive side of the ball.”
(Did anyone tell you that, that you were the youngest quarterback ever to win in Foxborough?) – “No. You’re the first, so thank you.”
(In your 10 NFL starts, you’ve had a lot of success up-tempo. You did at the start of the game on Sunday. At this stage of your career do you have a comfort level to encourage Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey and Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville on the sidelines to go up-tempo and they maybe don’t want to? Or do you feel like it’s not your place to this early in your career?) – “I think we go into these games having a game plan. It’s a mutual game plan. There is a lot of open communication with me, with (Quarterbacks Coach) Charlie (Frye) with George, with Eric and with ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) as well. We kind of talk through that pretty much starting today and throughout the whole week. It’s really not set until the day of the game. It’s continued communication with all of us. Yeah, that’s what it is. If us getting on the ball is going to help us execute a lot better this week, then that’s what we’re going to do. If getting guys spread out is going to help us, that’s what we’re going to do.”
(WR Will Fuller was saying that there’s kind of this element of surprise when it comes to the two of you playing together because there is no film, no video, of what you guys can do together. Does that excite you at all?) – “Yeah, it really does. I’ve obviously seen his film while he was at Houston. Seeing a lot of the routes that he does well in, and then also talking to him about the routes that he likes and he does well in as well; yeah, I think it’s very exciting.”
(The Bills have a couple of safeties that have been together for a long time Micah Hyde, and Jordan Poyer. What kind of challenges do they present for you in your pre-snap reads and your post-snap going through your checks. What kind of challenge do they provide to your game?) – “They provide a good amount of problems for us. It’s a veteran defense, so with Jordan on one side and (Taron) Johnson on the other side, (Matt) Milano inside, (Tremaine Edmunds) on the other side, you never know what’s going to happen. They could spin the coverage, they could bring 58 or 49. You never know what’s going to happen. For us offensively, if you don’t know, you’ve just got to stick to your rules. Revert back to your rules and you’ll be fine.”
(Near the end of the last game, there was a passing play called when you guys had a 1-point lead and you dropped back near your end zone and threw a slant to WR DeVante Parker. What kind of confidence and what kind of message is that for you to be called upon to pass in that situation where it could just be let’s run a bunch?) – “It wasn’t necessarily a pass play. It was really a run play but there is force in the box and we can’t take care of it. We don’t have enough guys unless you want me to block. But I’m not going to do that. (laughter) By taking care of that, that’s how we do that.”
(So you switched it to a pass play?) – “We had that in. That’s what I’d say.”
(It looked like the first play of the game that you ran, you hit… when you get to that late in the game, how much are you talking to Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey, Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville and Quarterbacks Coach Charlie Frye to say “Hey, this is what I like, this is what I’m seeing, this is what I feel comfortable with?”) – “With it being that late in the game, as a quarterback you’ve got to understand situational awareness. You’re really not trying to give them the ball back to go down and drive and kick a field goal. Really, we’re trying to run the clock down. They had three timeouts. We’re trying to make them use their timeouts; but more importantly, we’re trying to get a first down. I think two first downs in that situation is really what helped us kind of take over that ending of the game. I think there was about three minutes and something (left). I think it was big. I think that was really big.”
(One more question about Dan Marino, but “pick a guy, and let it fly.” I’m sure he’s sharing a lot more than that obviously; but is that a reminder that even in a game that can seem very complicated sometimes, there is some simplicity to it that sometimes really can be…) – “We have a saying in the quarterback room: keep the easy things easy and then try to make hard things simple for yourself.”
(Where do you think you are in your progression and getting to your second or third read?) – “I’d say I feel good. Obviously it’s a continued process for me. It’s a continued process for all of us to continue to learn. Week 1, we got a win; but we’re moving on to Week 2. This is our focus now.”
