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It's been a rough couple of weeks for Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. His ailing thumb prevented him from going full throttle in practice on Wednesday. In Week 11, he was benched due to a poor showing. Amid all that has happened, Tagovailoa shared that he's used to such troubles and vows to learn and come back stronger.
Per Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post, Tagovailoa shared how adversity seems to have followed him all his life, even as he's gone pro with the Dolphins. It's not something that instills fear in him. He has come to accept that it's simply part of the process.
“Adversity has always been in my life,” Tagovailoa said. “From high school, college, injuries and also in the NFL. I think that's just life. I think last week I was a little down because of the way I practiced. It wasn't to the standard that I wanted to practice. You learn from those things.”
Tagovailoa's optimism has certainly paid off. Against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, the 22-year-old racked up a career-high 296 passing yards en route to a 19-7 win for Miami. He also had zero interceptions. This brings his season tally to 898 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions for his rookie campaign.
Much of his success thus far can be attributed to working closely with Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. Despite being a rookie, Tagovailoa claims that he has tons of input during discussions in the quarterback room.
“I'd say I'm comfortable with what I'm given, whatever plays that I'm given, I’m comfortable with them,” the Dolphins QB said. “Mind you, we talk about these things, me and Chan, we talk about what I like, talk about what I don't like. I have as much input as anyone else does in our quarterback room and that's what makes me feel comfortable to tell Chan, you know, ‘Hey, can we run this, or ‘Can we not run this?’ So, yeah, I would say I'm pretty comfortable with what I’m given.”
Tagovailoa has now started in five of the Dolphins' 12 games. If he keep his performance up, the keys to the franchise may be handed over in full soon. That's if they haven't been already.