Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel Seemingly Blame Each Other After Shocking Loss to Browns

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and head coach Mike McDaniel have been unable to continue their 2023 season form.

Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel Seemingly Blame Each Other After Shocking Loss to Browns

Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa (Image via Imago/Barstool Sports/X)

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Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins are not having the best of times this season. Head coach Mike McDaniel has preached the need to play good football, but every week reveals the team is far away from what he wants.

McDaniel was clear that he did not care if the team was not in the right spirits. All he wanted was for them to focus on improving their performance on the field, so that they could win games.

He might have had some logic, as the Dolphins lost 3 of their 6 games so far by less than a score. The 42-year-old head coach probably believes in the age-old adage that winning cures everything.

In Week 7, McDaniel and his team had the best opportunity to get back to their winning ways when they took on the struggling Cleveland Browns. However, they were in for a surprise as the home team pounced on a major weakness.

The standout Browns defense pressured Tua Tagovailoa for almost the entire game. Their reward: 3 interceptions, with the first two allowing the Browns to score.

After throwing his third interception, Mike McDaniel benched his $53 million-earning quarterback for rookie Quinn Ewers. After the game, when asked to sum up their loss, the head coach had this to say:

If you are negatively affecting the football team routinely, I don’t have a choice but to assess a different player. I have to coach a lot better as well. We’re going to find who and what we’re made of.

Mike McDaniel said after the game

The Colorado native did not specifically name his starting QB, but his words amidst the benching seemingly point towards Tagovailoa after his disastrous performance.

Tua Tagovailoa blames multitasking for his struggles

Even though Tua Tagovailoa was benched after throwing his third interception of the game, reporters wanted to hear what he had to say about his performance. After initially owning up to his mistakes, the QB said:

Mike McDaniel and QB Tua Tagovailoa are seemingly at odds
Mike McDaniel and QB Tua Tagovailoa are seemingly at odds (Image via Imago)

Just trying to maneuver everything, and trying to build a collection of guys to kind of bring along with me. I’ve got to be able to multitask, if that makes sense. While doing that, get to continue whatever it was last year and the years prior for myself to get going again, and get into that flow.

Tua Tagovailoa said

This answer, clipped and posted by Chris Kouffman, does not explicitly show the Hawaiian native as taking jibes at Mike McDaniel. However, his mention of the word ‘multitask’ made this clip go viral.

Then detailing his efforts to get his teammates together somehow suggests he is pointing at his head coach’s lack of team management. Tagovailoa was careful with his words after last week’s debacle.

Tua Tagovailoa details how offensive struggles were laid bare against Browns

Tua Tagovailoa and his Miami Dolphins failed to score a single touchdown for the second time this season. When Marcel Louis-Jacques asked the QB about their offense struggling to execute plays, he replied:

I think that was a big deal with us within the first half, and then kind of trickled its head in the second half as well. And then that’s when the turnovers, for me, started showing up as well. Can’t do that, and you can’t expect to win games that way.

This answer is similar to what his head coach was implying, that the team needs to execute better if they are to win football games. Right now, they are just struggling to do the bare basics, and that could end up costing some jobs.

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