After an unsightly loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 5, it seemed as if things couldn’t get any worse for the Miami Dolphins, and then Week 6 happened. After yet another catastrophic loss, this time to the hobbled Los Angeles Chargers, the Dolphins appear to be closer to implosion than ever before, and their star quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, doesn’t appear to be taking accountability for it.
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During his post-game trip to the podium, Tagovailoa revealed that players were either showing up late or not showing up at all to their player-only meetings.
“We have 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? It’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up,” he said.
Considering that he turned the ball over three times, however, many believed that he was simply trying to throw his team under the bus. According to Richard Sherman, the comments were more of a ‘self-report’ by the six-year veteran than anything else.
“Tua’s comments were head-scratching, to say the least,” Sherman noted during the most recent episode of his self-titled podcast.
“You’re saying that your teammates don’t respect leadership, and you’re the leader. Your teammates have no respect or regard for the leadership your team is showing, and you’re the leader. It says more about him. It’s more of a shot against himself than it is against anybody else. It’s an indictment against his leadership… Your teammates don’t respect you, so they are not showing up. They don’t hold you in high enough regard.”
Whether it’s the controversial statements of their quarterback or the persisting hot-seat rumors involving their head coach, Mike McDaniel, it’s certainly clear to everyone that there is a lack of leadership in Miami at the moment. The only issue is that those in leadership positions seem to be unaware of this.
In the words of McDaniel, “It can’t continue to go on like this.” It’s just a shame that neither he nor his quarterback has been able or willing to realize that they are as much of a problem as anything else.
Looking ahead to Week 7, the Dolphins are currently being listed as +2.5 point underdogs against the Cleveland Browns. Given the fact that Cleveland is currently holding a 1-5 record and is already on their second starting quarterback of the season, that doesn’t really bode well for the remainder of Miami’s season.
In Week 9, the Dolphins will take on yet another destitute team, the Baltimore Ravens. Should they somehow manage to lose to both them and the Browns, then it’ll be hard to imagine a world in which McDaniel is able to finish the season as the head coach of the franchise.
Should that prove to be the case, then a change at quarterback would be just as possible as well. The franchise may finally be preparing to issue the sweeping changes that Tagovailoa and McDaniel have been asking for, but will they be around to see them?
