Tua Tagovailoa had a horrid first day at Miami’s mandatory minicamp, the highlight of which was him throwing 5 interceptions. The Dolphins’ defense dominated the practice session. But Tua wasn’t too worried about the day’s play.
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Much of the Dolphins’ practice took place amidst a massive downpour. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa struggled in what was described as monsoon-like weather by some beat reporters. Tua’s backup Jacoby Brisset threw two interceptions as well which was a testament to the horrible weather conditions on the practice field.
But Tua took up the responsibility and explained what was the reason behind the turnovers.
Tua Tagovailoa explained that the time to make mistakes was in practice.
For a lot of players, this was the first time they wore helmets and came close to playing contact football. And HC Brian Flores believed it was the perfect time to see what direction the offense will be able to take in 2021.
“Obviously, you want to be smart, but if there’s a time to make mistakes, now is the time to make mistakes,” Tagovailoa said. “We’re just seeing what we can fit into holes, what we can throw into coverages, come into the film room and then learn from it.”
“Today the emphasis for us, quarterbacks, we wanted to be aggressive today within the pass game. We wanted to see if we could fit throws in, see what throws we could make under these conditions. We wanted to push the ball vertical down the field,” Tagovailoa said. “There were some plays that didn’t go our way, but those are plays we can take away from in the film room.”
It’s still early days in the offseason, so the Tua’s errors in practice won’t be a big deal in the team’s development. In 2019, during San Francisco 49ers training camp, Jimmy Garoppolo threw 5 INTs on five consecutive passes. Eventually, he led the 49ers to the Super Bowl that year.
The biggest criticism for Tagovailoa as a rookie was his hesitancy to throw deep and throw to open receivers. But that will have to change with the additions of weapons in Will Fuller and Jaylen Waddle.
