The 1-5 Miami Dolphins are traveling to Ohio this weekend to take on the 1-5 Cleveland Browns at 1 p.m. on Sunday. One would think that the Dolphins would spend this week preparing to play the Browns and answering questions about Dillon Gabriel and Myles Garrett.
Nope. They are talking about the comments quarterback Tua Tagovailoa made about players-only meetings following the awful loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
“I made a mistake, and I’m owning up to that right now,” Tagovailoa said. He went on to say that he’s talked to other team leaders and they “know that my intent was right.”
That may or not be true, but the bottom line is that his teammates now have to deal with all of this media garbage.
“The intent can be right,” he said, “but when things get misconstrued or however the media wants to portray it, that leaves a void of silence and a lot of questions for the guys on our team now.”
How the media wants to portray it? Oh, spare me, Tua.
Tua Tagovailoa let his emotions get the best of him following the loss
It’s understandable that Tua is frustrated, but join the club. Head coach Mike McDaniel? Frustrated. General manager Chris Grier? Frustrated. Every Dolphins fan on the planet? Frustrated.
Tua does, however, sound like someone who understands what he did wrong and why. It’s probably a bit annoying that he’s just learning about what-happens-in-house-stays-in-house in his sixth year, but take small victories when you can get them.
“I felt like I let the emotions of the game get to me after the game,” he said. “That’s something that I can learn from as a leader on this team. What happens in-house should be protected, and none of that should have gotten out. And so want to publicly apologize about that. Want to move forward and focus on the Cleveland Browns.”
McDaniel was not happy with Tua Tagovailoa’s comments
As one could imagine, Dolphins’ head coach Mike McDaniel has enough to worry about. His team is 1-5, his best offensive player is out for the year, they find creative ways to lose every week and the calls for his job are cacophonous.
“You guys caught me before I heard them [yesterday],” McDaniel said. “I think regardless of intent and what was on Tua’s mind after a loss, as the franchise quarterback, that’s not the forum to displace that. I think he knows that. Now, I do honestly believe there was no ill intention, but you’re talking about, I think, a misguided representation of player-orchestrated film sessions.
“The bottom line is no one’s going to be happy and [people] always are looking for reasons for failure to succeed. So you’re trying to look for reasons that you can attribute to losses, and heavy is the crown of being a franchise quarterback.”
As of right this second it sounds like Tua has learned his lesson. That very well may change in a few weeks when more losses pile up and people start losing their jobs. It’s really difficult to see the situation in Miami getting better before it gets worse.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa Learned His Lesson appeared first on Heavy Sports.