Tua Topics: Patriots Defense, Mahomes Comment and Playing Big Games

Miami Dolphins rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa touched on several issues during his weekly Zoom media session

Tua Tagovailoa will be going up against a Bill Belichick defense for the first time when the Miami Dolphins take on the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, but he's certainly familiar with the famous head coach.

Tagovailoa said during his weekly media session Wednesday he's actually "pretty familiar" with Belichick's defense and also with the Patriots coach because of Belichick's relationship with his former college head coach (and former Dolphins head coach) Nick Saban.

"I grew up watching the Patriots play in a lot of the Super Bowls," Tua said. "I would also say I’ve seen Bill a good amount at Alabama. Him and Nick are pretty good friends. I would say very similar in a way with, I guess, Coach Saban with how they go about doing things. I know that there’s going to be a lot of challenges that his defense has to offer our offense and we’ve just got to be prepared this week for those.”

Tagovailoa said what he's going to see in practice this week will help him prepare for the Patriots defense, much like what happens every week.

“I think our scout team does a good job helping prepare us offensively for the games," Tua said. "It’s all dependent on the looks that we’re going to get. I think the scout team does a good job at that, but there’s always going to be new things that are going to pop up, whether it’s a front or something happens in the back end. You’ve just got to be prepared for it and adapt to that change on the fly.”

Tagovailoa finds himself playing meaningful games down the stretch of his rookie NFL season, which certainly is different than the other two high-profile quarterbacks in the 2020 NFL draft, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert.

But the Dolphins rookie doesn't buy the notion of one game being more meaningful than another.

“I think all our games are important," Tua said. "I don’t think it’s necessarily just this game in particular. At this point in time, this is our most important game. It’s really whatever team we have at that time, that’s our most important game. That’s what we’re focused on and we’re just really preparing for the Patriots.”

Other topics Tagovailoa addressed Wednesday:

On Patrick Mahomes' comment praising Tua for showing patience during the fourth quarter of the game against the Chiefs on Sunday instead of trying to make big plays happen all the time, the way Mahomes said he would have done at that stage of his career: “I would say that’s been our motto or our little mantra offensively is you take it one play at a time. How can you do your best job on just this particular play moving forward? It’s really just the one-play-at-a-time mentality. If the play doesn’t go well, really it’s the next snap, next-play mentality. I think a lot of credit goes to our coaches in helping us, preparing us for those things where we’re in a passing situation, these guys are going to get back, take what they give you. If they give you a flat, they give you a flat. If they give you a deep route, they give you a deep route. Truly take what the defense gives you.”

On how to replace tight end Mike Gesicki if he's out against the Patriots b because of his shoulder injury: “I think it’s hard to replace a guy like Mike. It’s also hard to replace any of these guys, like DeVante (Parker), Jakeem (Grant). But it’s next man up. The guys that are ready to play, they’re hungry to play. This is just an opportunity for them as well. This is a great time for me as a quarterback to show my leadership to these guys, these new guys and also work my timing with them.”

On whether he was able to talk to former Alabama teammate Jalen Hurts after Hurts won his first NFL start for the Philadelphia Eagles against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday: “Yeah, I wasn’t able to talk to him before the game or after the game, but I would say maybe two or three weeks, we’ve talked a good amount about whatever situation he was in and whatnot. We were going back and forth talking about it. I’m happy to see him and how successful he’s been. That’s a big win against the Saints. So congratulations to Jalen and his team. I hope he continues to do well.”