The Miami Dolphins are 3-7 and while the season does seem to be a colossal waste of time, they are on a one-game win streak so maybe their fortunes are changing.
Most people thought that head coach Mike McDaniel would be the first major firing, but it was general manager Chris Grier that had to walk the plank first. But, that doesn’t quiet the calls for McDaniel’s job, even if it seems like he’s safe for the foreseeable future.
As the Dolphins prepare to take on the Washington Commanders this Sunday in Spain, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was asked if the players are concerned about their boss’s job.
“You know, I understand the question,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday during his press conference. “I know there’s a lot of talk outside about certain individuals, certain people. But I think more so with last week’s game, I think it shows the togetherness of our team.”
Tua Tagovailoa says everyone is playing for each other
It’s tough to say if players ever play for their coach’s job. I guess it could happen, but at the end of the day, this is your career and how you play ultimately affects you. There is tape and everyone sees it, so that should be enough motivation.
“And I don’t think it’s anyone playing for themselves,” Tagovailoa continued. “More so, it really is everyone playing for each other — everyone having to do their job, having the conviction to do their job, and each individual trusting that if I do my job, I’ve got to trust that this guy is going to do his job as well and not try to play hero ball where [it’s], alright, I don’t know if he’s going to do that, so I’m going to go out of my job, out of my way to maybe do his. Then when he does his and you don’t do yours, I think that’s where things fall apart where we’ve got to play with conviction, we just continue to stick together, play together, and I don’t think anyone’s worried about any of that external noise when it comes to that.
“When we play this game, we know what we sign up for. And we know this is a business as well. We want to play for each other. We’re going to do everything we can — we don’t prepare to go out there and think, hey we want to do bad, we want to lose this game. No, we go out there with our hearts, with our minds for war — like that’s what it is, essentially. So, yeah.”
Other players agree with Tua Tagovailoa
After Sunday’s huge win over the Buffalo Bills (and it was a huge win, there are no two ways about it), defensive end Bradley Chubb echoed the same sentiments as Tua.
“It didn’t matter. We just showed up to work,” Chubb said after the game. “Everybody had that same mindset, and that’s why I used the word ‘delusional’ because nobody on the outside’s going to believe it. But all of us in there knew and came out and showed it today.
“It’s just about the belief, man, everybody there believing in each other, believing in the process, believing in how we’re going to take the field, and that’s what worked.”
At the end of the day, it really shouldn’t have to be explained that the Dolphins’ players are playing hard. They shouldn’t need a reason like saving the coach’s job. It should just be understood that they are all out there doing their best. That should be obvious.
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