Breaking Down the Strong Reaction to the Tua Postgame Comments

Tua Tagovailoa has made headlines for a few years now, but more and more he's drawing attention for his comments rather than his play on the field.

And while his performance and standing among NFL quarterbacks always is a subject of great debate, it seems pretty much every national media member or former member is in agreement regarding his postgame comments following the Miami Dolphins' latest disappointment, a crushing 29-27 last-second loss against the Los Angeles Chargers.

For those football fans not aware of what Tua, this was his response to a question during his postgame press conference about how the Dolphins can avoid falling into a woe-is-me state of mind: "Yeah, well, I think it starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys, and then what we're expecting out of the guys. We're expecting this. Are we getting that? Are we not getting that? We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late. Guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There is a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make that mandatory? Do we not have to make that mandatory? So it's a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. It starts with the little things like that."

When asked to clarify if he was saying players were being late to or missing players-only meetings, he said, "Late. Yeah."

Then this was head coach Mike McDaniel's reaction to those comments when he took to the podium after this quarterback: "Player-led meetings are extra things outside of what I demand. We’ve been very accountable to me. It sounds like there was something on his mind with regard to the specific meetings with a couple individuals that he was trying to get corrected by being direct with communication. I think that’s the only way to lead. As far as where we’ve been at as a program, I think we’ve opened the air on all of that and it’s very clear how we hold people accountable and what’s non-negotiable with all those things. Clearly he’s sending a message, but from my standpoint, everything that I’ve asked of the guys, they have delivered on and so I’m sure whomever he’s talking to, they’ll deliver as well as he’s a direct communicator with his teammates."

THE FORMER PLAYER PUSHBACK

Already this year, Tagovailoa created a stir with comments about saying he couldn't do half the things Josh Allen can do and then later pushing back against Cam Newton criticism by saying it's easy to criticize while holding a clicker.

The reaction to those was a mixed bag, but it was pretty unanimous this time in taking shots at Tua's talking points.

And it didn't take very long.

The common themes among the criticism of Tua's comment included airing out dirty laundry in public, taking a shot at team leadership with maybe McDaniel being an unnamed target, and a lack of accountability.

Former Kansas City Chiefs tackle Mitchell Schwartz made the point that it was odd to criticize leadership considering Tua is one of the team captains.

Isn’t he just telling on himself? He is THE leader of the team and guys aren’t showing up to players only meetings. This has nothing to do with coaches, front office, etc. Players only meetings are governed by players. Very weird to talk about and admit. https://t.co/yZowgUPVsB
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 12, 2025

Former Dolphins guard Jermon Bushrod, part of the team's really good 2016 offensive line, emphasized the keeping things in house angle.

"This dolphins team is frustrating on and off the field," Bushrod posted on X. "Not only is the product on the field a disappointment, but the leakage of 'locker room/team' information is flagrant and UNNECESSARY."

Former New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty, whose brother Jason spent the last season of his NFL playing career with the Dolphins and Tua, didn't mince words when addressing the issue during the NBC Football Night in America pregame show.

“I hated every bit of that," McCourty said. "I played in New England with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and Coach Belichick used to talk about, when you have true leadership, it doesn’t need to be talked about. So, if there’s a problem, Tua, you’re a captain of this team, you’re a quarterback. Go handle it. Don’t sit there in front of a camera and talk to media members about guys messing up. Get in the locker room, call those guys out by name. If confrontation happens, that happens sometimes, but I think to come and air out your dirty laundry and let everybody know that there’s a problem – we know there’s a problem, you’re not winning football games. Go fix it in-house. Handle it that way. I think that’s true leadership.”

And then there was this comment from former Tennessee Titans GM Ran Carthon, who's now a panelist on CBS HQ's Sunday wrap-up show.

"Everything that you said postgame had to do with players, right? And the last time I checked, you wear that C on your chest, which means you're one of the leaders on this team," Carthon said. "So if players aren't showing up to player-led meetings, that starts with you, that has nothing to do with Mike McDaniels, that has nothing to do with Chris Grier, that has nothing to do with anybody that is not in that locker room. That's you, that's your teammates that all wear that C on their chest. That's you guys not holding each other accountable. That has nothing to do with the head coach.

"And what I see out of Tua Tagovailoa, I've never seen him come to the front and say, I have to play better. When he's questioned about the volume of turnovers, it's him being defensive. 'What do you mean? I don't turn the ball overs and bunches.' But you turn the ball over, you don't hold yourself accountable. And in order for this organization to play well and to win football games, you have to lead. And no matter what's going on around you, that's out of the player's hands, right? And it comes down to you fighting for the man next to you, your brother that's in the huddle, your brother that's across the locker room for you. So don't worry about any of that. It starts with you. You need to look yourself in the mirror and figure out what you need to do as the starting quarterback for this Miami Dolphins franchise to help them win football games."

.@RanCarthon says Tua Tagovailoa needs to be a better leader for the Dolphins. pic.twitter.com/6aOfI3NjDu
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 13, 2025

To be fair, Tagovailoa did say during his postgame comments Sunday that he has "contributed with the turnovers" when discusing the team's 1-5 start, so that criticism isn't entirely valid.

THE TAKE FROM HERE

What is valid is that Tagovailoa really didn't need to go there, and nothing was accomplished by volunteering the information he volunteered.

As a former supervisor once advised me regarding social media posts — and it applies to press conference — ask yourself three questions before making a comment: 1) Does it need to be said? 2) Does it need to be said right now? 3) Does it need to be said by me?

Thinking that's 0-for-3 right there.

The comment really served no purpose, and if you want Tua points for being transparent, we'll say it they get deducted for oversharing.

The whole Dolphins organization already had a massive image problem even before that comment, and the last thing it needed was to have the spotlight put on by one of their own.

One of their own leaders no less.

After all, one of the Dolphins team rules is "Protect the Team."

Wasn't a whole lot of protecting going on there.

In fact, it was the opposite.

And that coming from the supposed face of the franchise was even more egregious.

As Tua might say, it didn't exactly reek of leadership.

THE FORMER PLAYER PUSHBACK

THE TAKE FROM HERE

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