A day after Tua Tagovailoa put anonymous teammates on blast for being late and missing meetings, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has heard what his quarterback had to say.
He doesn’t think it was appropriate.
Advertisement
Tagovailoa made his comments in his postgame news conference after Miami’s 29-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, telling reporters that teammates were showing up late or even missing routine player-only meetings.
[Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7]
McDaniel initially responded to Tagovailoa’s comments in his own postgame news conference, telling reporters that Tagovailoa holding his teammates accountable is “the only way to lead.”
On Monday, McDaniel told reporters that the hadn’t actually heard what Tagovailoa said when he initially responded. And after listening to Tagovailoa’s comments, he has a different take.
“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,” McDaniel said. “I think he knows that now. I do, honestly believe, there’s no ill intention. But you’re talking about kind of a misrepresentation of player-orchestrated film sessions.”
That’s a stark change of tone. And one that comes after Tagovailoa’s comments were roundly criticized in media and by former players as further indication of Dolphins dysfunction as pressure mounts on both McDaniel’s and Tagovailoa’s jobs, as well as that of general manager Chris Grier.
Advertisement
Tagovailoa took internal dirty laundry public and brought into question his own leadership as he made public that some teammates weren’t respecting non-mandatory player-led meetings. And he did so after a loss while suggesting that the responsibility of the game result lies elsewhere from him as Miami’s quarterback.
Here’s exactly what Tagovailoa had to say:
“I think it starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys and then what we’re expecting out of the guys,” Tagovailoa said. “We’re expecting this. Are we getting that? Are we not getting that?
“We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late, guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There’s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory? So it’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. And it starts with the little things like that.”
McDaniel spoke about the accountability aspect of Tagovailoa’s comments on Monday.
“So you’re trying to look for reasons you can attribute to losses,” McDaniel continued. “Heavy is the crown to be a franchise quarterback. What I do know is he’s directly communicated with a lot of guys starting last night. That’s what teammates do. You live and you learn.”
McDaniel’s change of tone on Monday isn’t going to extinguish the fire of a 1-5 start that was further enflamed by Tagovailoa’s postgame news conference. There’s no indication at this point that anything will.
