Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa caused a stir with comments after Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, dropping the team to 1-5 on the season. And now he is offering a mea culpa.
Following the last second loss to the Chargers, the former Alabama star took to the podium at the postgame press conference and called out teammates for being late to player-only meetings or skipping them altogether.
It’s never a good sign when a team has to rely on player-only meetings in the first place. But it’s another thing when even those meetings become public fodder pointing to a lack of team chemistry.
Tua Tagovailoa tells reporters that Dolphins players have been late and/or skipping players-only meetings in recent weeks.
Eye-opening example of problems with 1-5 Miami Dolphins. Tua begins answer: “it starts with the leadership.” (H/T @MiamiDolphins). pic.twitter.com/qVbFLVLxAT
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) October 12, 2025
The comments put head coach Mike McDaniel and pretty much the entire franchise in an incredibly awkward position. NFL on Fox analyst Greg Olsen even came out questioning Tua Tagovailoa for airing the situation publicly and not taking any responsibility for the dumpster fire that is the 2025 Miami Dolphins.
On Wednesday, Tua offered a statement apologizing for his postgame comments and how it affected his teammates.
Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa opens his press conference Wednesday by clearing the air and owning up to the mistake of his postgame comments Sunday. pic.twitter.com/usn67whtq1
— David Furones (@DavidFurones_) October 15, 2025
“As a leader of this team, the Miami Dolphins, the comments that have been said, I would say I made a mistake. I’m owning up to that right now,” Tagovailoa said. “I’ve talked to the guys on the team about it, talked to the leaders about it. They know my heart. They know that the intent was right, but no matter the intent, the intent can be right but when things get misconstrued or however the media wants to portray it, that leaves a void of silence and a lot of questions for the guys on our team.”
“Now, being 1-5, we talk a lot about we’ve got to get this going, we’ve got to get this going. Come in excited to go to work, forget about the noise, and I feel like I just added on to that for our guys. For myself, I’ve got to look at myself as a leader, protecting the team. I don’t feel like I did that to the best of my abilities. I felt like I let the emotions of the game get to me after the game and that’s something that I can learn from as a leader on this team. And what happens in-house should be protected and none of that should have gotten out. And so, want to publicly apologize about that, want to move forward and now focus on the Cleveland Browns,” Tagovailoa added.
While it certainly is noble and the right thing to do for Tua Tagovailoa to apologize for throwing his teammates under the bus, it may be too late for him or Mike McDaniel to do anything to save the sinking ship that is the Dolphins at the moment. At this point, it wouldn’t be a surprise if McDaniel was the next to follow former Titans head coach Brian Callahan out the exit door and if Miami had a new quarterback for the 2026 season.
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