Tua Tagovailoa blasts Brian Flores: 'If you have a terrible person who’s telling you things, you’re going to start to believe that'

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa spent two seasons playing under Brian Flores, before Miami brought in Mike McDaniel as head coach ahead of the 2022 season.

It’s fair to say that Tagovailoa has enjoyed playing for McDaniel much more than he did Flores. The former Alabama star was recently asked about the difference between the two coaches during an interview with Dan Le Batard.

“Well, to put it in simplest terms, if you woke up every morning, and I told you, you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this right. And then you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate. You are the best whatever. You are this, you are that.’ Like, how would that make you feel listening to one or the other?” Tua Tagovailoa said.

It’s clear that the fifth-year quarterback feels that Brian Flores was constantly tearing him down, while Mike McDaniel is constantly building him up.

“You hear it, regardless of what it is, the good or the bad. And you hear it more and more and you start to actually believe that. I don’t care who you are. You could be the President of the United States,” Tagovailoa said. “If you have a terrible person who’s telling you things that you don’t want to hear or that you probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start to believe that about yourself.”

The Dolphins were 19-14 the two seasons Flores led the way with Tagovailoa at quarterback. He had his worst QBR those two years, was inconsistent and was clearly lacking confidence.

Tagovailoa has been much better the past two seasons with Mike McDaniel at the helm and is clearly more confident, too.

“So that’s sort of what ended up happening, and it has basically been what, two years of training that out of, not just me, but a couple other guys as well, who have been here from my rookie year all the way ‘til now,” Tagovailoa said.

Tua Tagovailoa had the best year of his career in 2023, leading the NFL in passing at 4,624 yards. He completed better than 69 percent of his passes last season, which was a career high, and threw for 29 touchdowns with 14 interceptions.

He signed a massive contract extension this offseason and is hoping to have another strong season with the Dolphins in 2024.