Tua Tagovailoa is suffering no fools in his return from injured reserve.
Last week, the Miami Dolphins‘ QB1 gave some spicy answers about his health and future plans after suffering his fourth concussion in five years.
And then this Wednesday, he clapped back at some of the criticism sent his way after a botched shotgun exchange between center Aaron Brewer and himself against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday resulted in a safety in a game the Dolphins lost by one point.
Tua Tagovailoa Discusses Costly Safety
Tagovailoa was largely excellent against the Cardinals, but he was charged with three fumbles (none lost) in Week 9, including the shotgun snap in question that came out hot and high but did hit his hands.
“It’s as simple as catching the ball in the gun,” Tagovailoa said. “But I would say I’m a pretty good shortstop. I have pretty good vision. I have pretty good hands.
“Yeah, I’d like to see a lot of other people go in the back there and try to catch that ball too. I mean, you’ve seen it. It wasn’t Brew’s best and Brew knows he can get it better, but it wasn’t my best as well.
“But I’m just saying to give perspective, you know, it’s not as easy as what it looks like, sitting down on your couch, eating chips.”
This was WILD!
Tua fumbles in the endzone, resulting in a safety for the Cardinals 🙏
Dolphins lead has been cut to 8.pic.twitter.com/3O5SBJQGTo
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 27, 2024
Tagovailoa’s other fumbles came on a strip-sack and a botched under-center snap; he said that third fumble “was just my fault.”
Those kinds of mistakes would be fatal in most weeks, but particularly this one against a Buffalo Bills team that has a +11 turnover differential and has beaten him in seven of eight starts.
The Dolphins are six-point road underdogs heading to a building where they haven’t won since 2016.
“All I know you gotta find a way to beat them regardless of what that looks like. And that’s what throughout those eight times that I’ve played them in the seven that we’ve lost, that’s just been the recipe for it. We just couldn’t find a way to do that. So, here’s another opportunity for us to do that.”
Miami Dolphins Turnaround Possible?
While the Dolphins have just a 1.3% chance to win the AFC East and a one-in-eight shot at making the playoffs, per PFN’s playoff predictor, Tagovailoa knows that teams even in the deepest of holes can make a run.
He was part of one. The Dolphins started the 2021 season 1-7 but finished 9-8.
What spurred the turnaround that year?
“Worrying about your job and what you have to do,” he replied. “I know that sounds cliche, but that’s exactly what we did. ‘All right, I’m so worried about the defense giving up touchdowns.’ The defense is saying to the offense, ‘We’re tired of you guys not putting enough touchdowns on the board.’
“Well, if we just focus on what we have to do, and worry about ourselves and worry about our jobs and what we gotta do … The game is hard as it is. So that’s all we gotta do and just go out there and play, trust the guy that you’re playing with and if the ball falls into our hands and that’s how the game’s going to go, that’s how the game goes.”
