Tua Tagovailoa remains as easily one of the most polarizing players – let alone quarterbacks – in all of football.
The kind of player that will put up a very respectable stat line – like he did against the New England Patriots – where he went 26/32 for 315 yards and 2 touchdowns, but then also threw one of the worst interceptions of the season so far.
A similar thing happened the very next week against the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night football, when, just as the Miami Dolphins were heading down the field with all the momentum, looking for what would have been a game-tying touchdown, Tagovailoa threw an interception to linebacker, Terrel Bernard, on the Bills’ 20 yard line with 3 minutes to go – a move that ultimately ended all hopes of Miami coming away victorious.
This prompted some harsh words from former NFL first overall pick and ex-MVP, Cam Newton, who on the Friday after the game said that Tua was not living up to his lofty 4 year, $212 million deal signed last offseason, which nets him an average of $53 million/year.
Cam Newton Not Impressed With Tua Tagovailoa
“Tua Tagovailoa is making more than Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Baker Mayfield, Matthew Stafford, Jayden Daniels. Am I pocket watching? No, I’m putting things into perspective here…When I see Tua Tagovailoa over this year alone I heard him more than I ever had…I like quiet Tua.”
In response to Newton calling out Tua for being loud, and not fulfilling the duties of his contract through his play on the field, Tagovailoa pointed out the discord between talking about playing quarterback and actually playing the game itself.
“Anybody can play quarterback in this league then,” Tua said rhetorically. “I mean I wanna see anybody on the streets come and play quarterback..I think its easier to be able to hold a clicker and talk about it that way. Or talk about what someone else is doing wrong when you’re not having to go out and do the same as them. So I think it’s easy to do that – I think anybody can do that. I don’t think anybody can play quarterback.”
Tua Has Some Strong Words For Cam Newton After Criticism
The irony in the whole statement is obviously that Newton did play in the NFL for over a decade, and faced much of what Tagovailoa is going through now, at least outside of his dominating 2015 season, where he lead the Carolina Panthers to Super Bowl 50, where the team ultimately fell to the world-class Denver Broncos defense.
So obviously Newton does know what it feels like to not only play as a quarterback, but indeed to face that kind of criticism from the press.
But many people forget – even former quarterbacks – exactly how difficult it is to play the position consistently well week-in, week-out, knowing that just one mistake will have an entire fanbase on your back for weeks to come.
It certainly is easier for Newton to sit back and criticize Tua than for he himself to go out and play. But regardless of the semantics, many fans are ultimately growing tired of the Tagovailoa experience, and that things must change soon.
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