Fit Like A Glove!

Oil and water do not mix. That was the relationship between former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and QB Tua Tagovailoa, in fact if Flores had his way (he almost did) Miami would have traded Tua for Deshawn Watson. 

I still recall when Mike McDaniel called Tua on his flight to Miami once he accepted the job as the Dolphins next head coach. 

“We’re going to have an extensive professional relationship, my man,” McDaniel told Tagovailoa. “One thing I know about you is you have the ambition to be great. My job is to coach you, to get all that greatness out of you. And it’s going to be fun, man. It’s going to be work, but I know you’re not afraid of that.  

So this is an awesome day for me and I’m damn sure going to make sure that when you look back on this day, you’re going to be like, ‘Damn, that was one of the best days of my career,’ too. OK? But I’ll earn that from you. You got me?” 

McDaniel then turns to the camera and says, “Since you can’t hear him, he’s telling me how excited he is and that there’s no other coach he’d rather play for in the entire world, which I thought was nice since that’s the first time I’ve really talked to him. 

“It is an unbelievable opportunity for me that I do not plan on wasting in the slightest. I can promise you that. I’m all in. You’re going to get the best out of me that you can possibly get.” 

McDaniel Rebuildt Tua’s Confidence

Tua’s confidence hit an extremely low point under Brian Flores, so much to the point it was reported that Tua would look in the Mirror and ask himself “Do I suck?” 

Mike McDaniel went to work in convincing Tua and everybody in the Dolphins organization that Tua was the right man for the job. McDaniel put together a video of 700 Tua plays that gave Tua a reason to believe in himself. 

“Well, I thought it was cool,” Tagovailoa revealed when he was asked after the game. “I think anyone here can attest to someone believing in them and how that changes how they see themselves but also things around them, so perspective. But it was awesome. There’s a lot of details that entail me sitting down with him and other things as well, but it’s awesome. It’s really cool.”

That was a little over a year ago and everything Mike McDaniel said came true. Tua had by far his best season as a Dolphins QB, and he proved all the doubters wrong on just about all the false narratives.

Who can argue Mike McDaniel unlocked the secret to Tua’s success just by giving Tua the confidence he needed from day one when he was hired, and it has all worked out very well. 

Confidence was the biggest reason Tua had a breakout season last year and other than his health there are no questions about his abilities because his numbers proved he is a legitimate starting QB in the NFL and a potential top 5-10 starting QB. 

Tua Tagovailoa had a passer rating of 105.5 (1st) with 3,548 passing yards (12th), 25 touchdowns (T-8th), 272.9 yards per game (5th), 8.9 yards per attempt (1st), 68.5 quarterback rating (3rd) and 8 interceptions,  64.8% completions (20th) 

If you project Tua’s numbers from 13 games to playing the full 17 games he would have had 34 TD’s, 4,912.5 yards passing and 11 int’s! 

That was just in his first season with Mike McDaniel, just think if McDaniel were Tua’s HC from the day he was drafted to Miami? Tua is closing the gap between him and his peers that was drafted in 2020. He also ranked among them despite playing just 13 games last year. 

Mike McDaniel knows he has the Perfect QB for his system and the sky is the limit for Tua and McDaniel moving forward. 

Fins Up!