Tua Tagovailoa's comments about forcing Tyreek Hill the ball send the wrong message

In an interview with The Dan Le Batard Show, Tua Tagovailoa very casually said that during last season, the Miami Dolphins made a point to try to get Tyreek Hill to 2,000 yards receiving.

"Last year, we were, in a way, really trying to help Tyreek get to that 2,000-yard mark," said Tua Tagovailoa. "It wasn't like we were trying to hide that. It was pretty obvious. Trying to feed him the ball and whatnot."

I agree, Tua, it was obvious that part of the game plan was to target Hill as often as possible, even when it shouldn't have been happening.

There are reasons to be optimistic this offseason. Tua deserves credit for the weight loss in an effort to become a better player. That's not lost on me. But this is something that shouldn't sit right with Dolphins fans at all.

Look, this isn't a new revelation or anything like that. We watched the games last year and saw week in and week out Tua look Tyreek's way seemingly every play, and many of those times he looked his way, he threw him the ball.

Dolphins fans aren't happy with Tua Tagovailoa forcing the ball to Tyreek Hill

One of the problems is that we saw plenty of times when other guys like Jaylen Waddle were sitting wide-open, but Tua never looked their way.

Another problem is that beating the opponent wasn't 100% the objective of every game. They were trying to help Hill hit a milestone nobody had ever reached.

Even though anyone with a brain knew what Mike McDaniel and Tua were trying to do with trying to get Hill to 2K, we don't need to be told this out loud. This is one of those things you simply never say out in the open. It's the kind of thing that you keep in-house. But nope, Tua goes right ahead and lets it fly like it means nothing. Like, hey, we know what we did wasn't smart, so I guess we won't do that again. Tua and McDaniel should know better and shouldn't have to learn this lesson. They should just know not to do something like this.

I've played on teams and I've coached teams. Some of those teams had excellent players on them and records were achievable. There never was a moment in the middle of a close game where we, as a coaching staff, said to each other: "Hey, I know it's close right now, but let's make sure we get this guy enough looks to get closer to that record." That would never even be a thought.

Now, I'm not naive enough to understand that there are milestones and certain pay bumps that occur in pro sports due to a player getting a certain amount of stats. That typically comes into play at the end of the year, such as the last few games of the season. Tyreek shooting for 2K was something put into motion in game one.

I'm backing Tua and McDaniel. This isn't anywhere close to a moment to turn my back on them or my team. Like a parent who isn't proud of what their kid did, I am disappointed and expect nothing like this to ever happen again.

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