Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel outline differing standards and expectations for the Dolphins roster after latest heartbreaking loss to Chargers
A new weekly tradition for the Dolphins has emerged.
This is becoming a weekly tradition for the Miami Dolphins. No, not the narrow losses. Not the late flurry of fourth-quarter points to undo a self-imposed hole. Not the blown leads, or the missed tackles, or the fan heartbreak. We’ve seen quite a bit of all those things in Miami’s Week 2 loss to New England, their Week 3 loss to Buffalo, their Week 5 loss to Carolina, and now a 29-27 Week 6 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
It’s disappointing. But it’s not as frustrating as the weekly rush to mount up passive explanations that pass the buck to one another at the podium after each contest. First, it was Mike McDaniel suggesting his team let the preparation for Week 1 become bigger than the game and calling out a team captain. Tagovailoa vented after Week 2 as procedural and personnel issues bogged down a potential game-winning drive.
Then, it was McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa spitting assessments back and forth over a late interception in Week 3 against the Bills. Then it was Bradley Chubb and McDaniel offering dueling accounts of whether or not the Dolphins took their foot off the gas after jumping out to a 17-point lead against the Panthers.
You won’t believe this — but the Dolphins are at it again.
Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel offer different standards for the Dolphins after Chargers loss
Tua Tagovailoa took to the podium after Miami’s 29-27 heartbreaking loss to the Chargers and pointed the finger at the “leadership” of this team amid the struggles early on this season.
“I think it starts with the leadership, and 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’ve got guys showing up to players-only meetings late, guys not showing up to players-only meetings. There’s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory? So it’s a lot of things of that nature that we’ve got to get cleaned up. And it starts with the little things like that.”
— Tua Tagovailoa on Miami’s 1-5 start this season
Let’s be clear here.
Tagovailoa is a captain, and the head coach fancies his team to be a “player-led” culture and locker room. So on one hand, leadership could be pointing the finger inward at themselves and the other captains. But it could also be interpreted as pointing the finger upward, at the man who is usually responsible for setting the tone and culture of a football team — the head coach.
McDaniel, however, would like you to know that the players have done everything that he has asked. In his own post-game availability, McDaniel was asked about Tagovailoa’s comment, and he very clearly offered a different account of the standard of expectation his players have met through the first month of the season.
“Clearly, he’s sending a message. But from my standpoint, everything I’ve asked of guys, they’ve delivered on. And so I’m sure whoever he’s talking to, they’ll deliver,” said McDaniel.
Miami Dolphins one-score losses in 2025
- Week 2: 33-27 loss vs. New England (led 27-23 with 7:18 remaining)
- Week 5: 27-24 loss @ Carolina (led 24-20 with 2 minutes remaining)
- Week 6: 29-27 loss vs. Los Angeles Chargers (led 27-26 with 1 minute remaining)
To which the question begs to be asked — if McDaniel, the ultimate boss of the football team, doesn’t care if players don’t attend these meetings, why should they attend?
How much weight do they feel to actually attend? Separate standards are being communicated in the public eye, which in and of itself is a problem. This is not the presentation of a unified front and a football team that’s on the same page. The self-imposed “accountability to one another” only carries you so far when the losses are piling up. And for the Dolphins, it seems to be holding them short of the standard required to win these games.
This Dolphins season was supposed to be about a revitalized culture. But the quarterback wants you to know that the players aren’t pulling their weight as expected by the team’s leaders. And the coach wants you to know that the players are fulfilling his expectations, calling the meetings in question “extracurricular.”
Either way, this season has now been pushed to the brink. And the biggest question left is how ugly it gets before any changes are formally made.
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