Tua Tagovailoa took to the podium after the Miami Dolphins were embarrassed by Daniel Jones and the Colts. At a time when he could have stepped up and taken a larger amount of accountability, the 27-year-old quarterback failed for a second time on Sunday.
Tagovailoa opened by discussing his interception on the opening series and subsequent lost fumble, but when it came to address the real problem, he made it clear that what happened at Lucas Oil Stadium was a team loss and that everyone needs to be held accountable.
Tagovailoa said after the game that he is curious to see who shows up on Tuesday when the team reports back to the facility to review game flm.
Tua Tagovailoa took some of the blame for the Dolphins' Week 1 loss, but nowhere near enough
Tagovailoa's comments fall short, and maybe it's just because he was trying to watch what he says to the media, but while he states, "This also goes for me," his choice of words is almost deflecting to the rest of the offense, mainly.
"I'm definitely curious to see, 'I came in on Tuesday, I seen these guys on Tuesday last week. I want to see if the same guys are watching film on Tuesday', I want to see how everyone goes about their process."Tua Tagovailoa
Tagovailoa said the execution was the biggest problem, but he failed to talk about how poorly he played throughout the game. What falls short in these comments is that his own accountability is more of an afterthought.
The former fifth overall pick said the Dolphins don't want to "overreact or underreact," and that they want to get it right so "it doesn't happen again." When asked if he was pressing, he said he wasn't, that it was "part of the game."
Tagovailoa took a significant loss on Sunday, but the bigger loss might be how he handled the media after the game. He wasn't short, but he didn't fully take accountability for his play. Instead, he seemed to chalk it up to one of those things that happen. Many might not agree, but there should be a higher degree of self-reflection after a loss like this, especially when most of the problems were a direct result of his play.