Mike McDaniel defends Tua Tagovailoa after Dolphins 26-20 loss to Packers

Tua Tagovailoa continued his rough stretch in the second half of the season for the Miami Dolphins. But head coach Mike McDaniel came to the defense of his quarterback following multiple interceptions in a loss to the Green Bay Packers.

“It’s a challenge, but it’s also something that every quarterback really goes through,” McDaniel said postgame. “It’s kind of one of those necessary things that you have to really figure out how you don’t let mistakes snowball and that’s one of the reasons the approach and the way we’ve gone about things has been so intentional in that regard, because you can’t let the past influence the present.”

Tagovailoa finished the loss against the Packers 16-of-25 passing for 310 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. The Dolphins had a 20-13 lead at halftime but did not score in the second half.

“I think that there could be some portions of that that have to do with him kind of snowballing in his own mind, but he’s such a strong individual that the good news is that I’m very confident that he’ll be able to get through that,” McDaniel said. “It’s just that this team needs him. This team needs myself to make sure that all those situations are not putting him behind the 8-ball. And then the quarterback needs the rest of his team to be able to execute so that he doesn’t have to do too much on his own. 

“There was one of the interceptions that the primary receiver kind of busted, ran the wrong route, a concept that we ran numerous times this week, and so it’s not just him. I’ll look at the tape and have probably more concrete answers for you guys tomorrow, but overall, that is a team failure, not a one-person failure.”

On paper, Tagovailoa is in the middle of the best season of his career and has 3,548 yards, 25 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a 64.8% completion percentage. But after an 8-3 start this year, the Dolphins lost their last four games, including the last three by just one score.

“We’ve been learning hard lessons for the last month of games, and at some point if we want to make the next step, we’re going to have to put up or shut up,” McDaniel said. “It is tough, but also nothing comes easy in this game, and the one thing I do know is if you’re able to dig yourself out of it, it does benefit you in the next phase of the season because that’s where you don’t want to have wilting or snowballing of play or really not-clean football.

“Bottom line is it is what it is. What type of people are we and are we able to really get through this together, because there’s no one else outside of that team meeting room that’s going to come save us. We have to figure it out ourselves.”