‘It’s panic mode after that’ — Former Dolphins teammate pulls no punches on his assessment of Tua Tagovailoa’s play after a disappointing Week 1 performance
A former teammate becomes the latest defender to cast shade at Tua Tagovailoa.
The Miami Dolphins‘ matchup with the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1 was not just the opening bell of the 2025 regular season for both teams. It served as the first opportunity for one of the most productive Miami Dolphins defenders since the turn of the millennium, cornerback Xavien Howard, to go against his former team.
It was all love before the game, but in the aftermath of a dominating Colts win, it seems as though Howard is feeling a little emboldened. His Monday post-game comments on his former teammate, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, cut pretty deep.
Tagovailoa played one of the worst games of his career on Sunday against the Colts in Miami’s 33-8 loss.
Former Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard pulls no punches on Tua Tagovailoa
“We knew… he gets the ball out pretty quick. And once we take away his first read, I feel like it’s panic mode after that. And it showed yesterday,” Howard said.
The Tagovailoa experience has been a fruitful one under Mike McDaniel, but the recent trends have been troublesome to say the least. The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson pointed out this morning that Miami is 6-9 in its last 15 games with Tagovailoa behind center. The pair have been swimming upstream since the end stages of 2023 and the early portions of 2024 before putting together a run in the back half of last season.
This also isn’t the first time a defender has suggested this kind of tendency for Tagovailoa as a quarterback, including some instances in which it has come out before the game even starts.
Howard gets the last laugh with his new team in the first week of a new season. For Tagovailoa and McDaniel, it’s back to the drawing board to try to re-ignite an offense that’s lost any semblance of a spark as of late.
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