Empowered Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was an attention-grabbing mixture of honesty, perception, and “screw you” on the rostrum Wednesday.
And it was freakin’ nice.
More importantly, he appears to be having enjoyable on and off the sphere, which is sweet to see.
Tagovailoa addressed the Super Bowl speak head on, and took an entertaining shot at critics (sure, I used to be amongst them) who doubted whether or not he may successfully throw the deep ball.
In between he talked concerning the Chicago Bears (3-5), who occur to be the Dolphins (5-3) opponent Sunday, and the way totally different their protection seems to be with out linebacker Roquan Smith and edge rusher Robert Quinn, each of whom have been traded not too long ago (Quinn to Philadelphia and Smith to Baltimore).
But that’s the boring stuff.
The good things was Tua being Tua.
Asked whether or not Tuesday’s trades to amass go rusher Bradley Chubb and working again Jeff Wilson Jr. made the Dolphins Super Bowl contenders, Tagovailoa gave a transparent reply — sure.
“We’re not afraid to talk about Super Bowls here,” he mentioned, later including, he has “full belief that we are capable.”
This is what you need to hear out of your quarterback.
More importantly, that is what you need to hear from Tagovailoa, the Dolphins’ (virtually) officially-anointed franchise quarterback.
General supervisor Chris Grier, who’s all the time guarded on such matters, didn’t straight deal with whether or not the trades he orchestrated made the Dolphins a Super Bowl contender.
“I’m not into predictions and everything,” Grier mentioned, “but I do think we have a good team that has a chance to compete and win some games in the future.”
That’s about so far as Grier will go on such a subject.
Tagovailoa, who has been scorching sizzling this season amongst pinpoint accuracy, 12 touchdowns, three interceptions and a league-leading 112.7 passer ranking, provided no ambiguity.
He mentioned the gamers have recognized what they’ve had with this squad all 12 months.
“I think throughout OTAs (organized team activities) and throughout training camp we could see the potential that we had as a team offensively and defensively,” he mentioned.
And now the group has provided Tagovailoa its vote of confidence in a few methods.
Acquiring Chubb and Wilson in an eye-popping deal was solely a part of the story.
The different a part of the story was Tagovailoa being given an enormous vote of confidence by the Dolphins’ entrance workplace with the trades.
The Dolphins despatched their 2023 first-round decide to Denver within the commerce to amass Chubb. Combine that with the first-round decide they misplaced within the Steve Ross tampering ruling they usually don’t have a first-round decide to probably use on a quarterback subsequent 12 months.
But that’s OK as a result of the Dolphins imagine they’ve their franchise quarterback in Tagovailoa.
Coach Mike McDaniel was requested about Tagovailoa being the “guy”.
“I would say you’re right on all fronts, that from the get go, I’ve fully seen Tua as our quarterback for this team and this franchise,” McDaniel mentioned. “I think he’s an unbelievable talent. So I guess in a roundabout way, I think that implication, I think that’s fair.”
So, right here they’re, a whole workforce, geared up with a franchise quarterback and able to make a Super Bowl run.
Tagovailoa, you possibly can inform, loves this example.
Normally guarded, however all the time courteous in his media feedback, he was ebullient after Sunday’s 31-27 victory at Detroit.
The good vibes continued Wednesday.
Tagovailoa was requested the place he’s grown most not too long ago.
“Well, I think I’ve grown a lot with the deep balls, huh? Don’t we think?” he requested with a smile. “That was probably a subtle jab, but it was a jab.”
It’s a good jab.
And it’s welcomed.
It’s good to see Tagovailoa have enjoyable, particularly after all of the criticism he’s taken.
Tagovailoa mentioned he’s felt assist from the group since they acquired huge receiver Tyreek Hill and working again Raheem Mostert within the offseason.
That’s in all probability a distinct feeling than he’s had within the earlier two seasons when he confronted issues starting from an unlikely benching to a reported halftime argument with former coach Brian Flores.
Tagovailoa hasn’t answered all of the questions from critics but. He nonetheless should win. But he’s doing the very best he can. He would possibly even be taking names, and that’d be OK. The neatest thing is he seems to be having enjoyable.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com