CLEVELAND, Ohio — Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins suffered a bad 33-8 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1.
He had trouble sleeping after the game, as he does in games of a similar fashion.
“I find (that) after those kind of games, (it’s) tough to sleep,” Tagovailoa said. “There’s a lot of the ‘what ifs’, ‘I wish’ or ‘maybe if I did this versus that’, but I would say the decompressing is, I think after those kind of games, it’s tough.”
It only adds to what’s been an interesting month and a half for the Dolphins. A team that was last in the playoffs two seasons back, the same season they were second in points (29.2).
Fast forward to Week 1, and the Dolphins only touchdown of the game came with a little over six minutes left in regulation.
In fact, Tagovailoa called for a meeting for the Dolphins’ offense after the loss.
“I got the offense together and we had a meeting about things that we wanted to do to hang our hats on this week, points of emphasis and how we want to go about it this week,” Tagovailoa said.
Tagovailoa himself struggled with 114 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. That first interception in particular was intended for top target Tyreek Hill, and was visibly overthrown.
Xavien Howard, current Colts CB who played his first eight seasons with Miami up until 2023, spoke after the game in regard to Tagovailoa being in ‘panic mode’ in the pocket.
“We knew the guy, (Tagovailoa) gets the ball out pretty quick,” Howard told ESPN. “And once we take away his first read, I feel like it’s panic mode after that. And it showed yesterday. We took away his first read and he was trying to get rid of the ball real quick.”
Tagovailoa responded to the comments on Wednesday, stating he still has a lot of respect for him, but added to his perspective on his process in the pocket.
“I think if you look at the games where I have performed and done well, it’s when I’m also getting off of my first read,” Tagovailoa said. “Or going through the progressions, kind of like what my feet is telling me.”
During the loss, Hill was seen showing animation on the sideline. When asked of what Hill was saying at that time, Tagovailoa said it primarily had to do with the team doing better.
“Tyreek kind of came to me was like, ‘hey, like, we need to get something going’,” Tagovailoa said. “The went back down the line, like from where he was with the running backs, and then all those guys and was just telling them to ‘protect this dude’... it wasn’t nothing too crazy.”
Despite the tough loss, Tagovailoa states it’s just one game, as opposed to those on social media who reacted it in a different way; a way in which he has trouble seeing it from.
“I wouldn’t say I get to hear a lot of that or see a lot of that, but it doesn’t matter anyways. Like, are they going to help us win the game? Are they going to help us lose the game? Like, that starts within,” Tagovailoa said.
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