Following Sunday’s brutal loss to the Los Angeles Chargers that dropped the Miami Dolphins to 1-5 on the season, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa felt the need to air the team’s dirty laundry and point fingers at unnamed players.
Tua is expected to speak to the media on Wednesday and it should be pretty interesting. Based on the reactions some Dolphins’ players had to questions about Tua’s comments, it sounds like – unless Elle King makes a surprise appearance – there won’t be a lot of X’s and O’s talk.
“As far as things with what he says and stuff that’s going on in the locker room, I kind of just try to keep those things out of the media’s part of it,” offensive tackle Patrick Paul said Monday. “I think that’s something that we should handle internally, and I don’t think that we should be giving out all the details to that so I’m just going to keep that internal.”
This is yet another huge distraction for head coach Mike McDaniel and there isn’t a reason to believe that it’s going to stop any time soon. Paul was then asked if he thinks the team can move on now without issues.
“I’m not sure honestly,” Paul said. “I’m not sure, truthfully.”
Ouch.
Miami Dolphins’ players in agreement that this should be handled internally
Guard Aaron Brewer received some more pointed questions this week. Basically, he was asked if Tua was right or if he has apologized for speaking out the way he did.
“I feel like things that happen within the team should stay between the team, I’d say that part,” Brewer said. “We just got back to it today, so we haven’t been around each other that much. It’s been more position meetings, so I haven’t talked to my guys that much today. That’s all I can say on my part with that.
“Overall. Anything that happens within the building or anything we talk about should stay between each other. It’s not for the outside world.”
Taking it a step further, defensive tackle Zach Sieler was asked about the quarterback’s comments and whether he feels like he has to address the team (because that’s what this team needs to be spending its time on).
“We have been speaking to the guys,” Sieler said. “I think we’ve been handling things internally throughout the seasons over the last couple of years and growing as a locker room closer together and growing our culture, and I think we are stronger now than we ever have been. I think we are still working through some things, but to answer your question, I’m not going to sit here and pick apart someone’s opinion or what they’re doing.
“I think we all have our right to our opinion; we’ve got to work together as a team to keep building and ultimately beat Cleveland.”
Some players on the Miami Dolphins don’t want to get involved
Understandably, most players on the team just want this to go away. I’m sure they’d rather be worried about playing the Cleveland Browns and just winning a football game instead of bickering and arguing about who killed who.
Veteran cornerback Rasul Douglas was also asked about the situation.
“Is all he said what you just said? That was all he said?,” Douglas replied when asked about the players-only meetings. “I’m a defensive guy, though, so I don’t watch film with Tua. I don’t know. You’ve got to talk to the offensive players. I don’t know.”
Smart guy. I can’t wait to hear the circus later today after practice.
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