Tua Tagovailoa: Miami Dolphins QB Says Mike McDaniel Focuses on Team’s Speed

In a recent interview during SiriusXM NFL Radio’s Training Camp Tour, Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback of the Miami Dolphins, shared insights into the team’s training camp, chemistry with his teammates, and the excitement surrounding the upcoming season.

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Passing Game

Tua Tagovailoa’s accuracy as a passer has been one of his standout traits throughout his career, and he acknowledged the challenge of blending in new players to achieve that chemistry on the field. He valued the iron-sharpens-iron approach, fostering a collaborative effort between the veterans and the newcomers.

“That’s still a work in progress. It’s also continuing to be an iron-sharpens-iron thing with the guys that we had last year as well with [Jaylen Waddle], with [Tyreek Hill], we got [River Cracraft], you know, with the tight ends and then also with the running backs because we’ve had them running some routes out there as well,” said Tagovailoa. “Sometimes they get their depth sometimes they don’t, it’s almost like a feel thing and then you’ve been working it so long that in a way, you know, kind of get a good glimpse of where they’re going to be.”

Team’s Speed

When discussing the speed of the Dolphins, Tua Tagovailoa placed an emphasis about the importance of speed in their playing style. The quarterback believed that speed not only keeps the opponents on their toes but also demands a higher level of precision and execution from his team, albeit with a small margin for error.

“Yeah, I would say there’s a lot of team speed. I would say that’s sort of our philosophy too. That’s how we wanna play. That’s how we wanna start,” said Tagovailoa. “We want to start fast, we want to play fast. We want to execute, but having guys with speed, the room for error is just that much and that small. So you really got to be on your things. You got to understand what’s going on. You got to know what’s going on in order for you to execute the plays.”

Mike McDaniel

As the Dolphins enter their second year under head coach Mike McDaniel, Tua Tagovailoa spoke on the advantage of having a more familiar and established offensive system. The quarterback highlighted the significance of knowing the timing and rhythm of each teammate, which helps them hit the ground running and focus on refining their plays rather than starting from scratch.

“I would say the things that we did last year are somewhat kind of baseline of what we should expect. Having an offense like this, having the weapons that we have, I would say this year, it’s like coming in and we all know the offense, we all know the system, we know the way [Mike McDaniel] likes to call plays, we know how he likes to call them as well,” said Tagovailoa. “And we also know the timing of each other, you know, the feel for one another. So I would say, this offseason has been a lot more of, sort of refurbishing, all of that within the offense.”

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