The Dolphins lost their fourth straight game on Sunday afternoon and head coach Mike McDaniel called it a “team failure,” but one player garnered a lot more blame for the loss than his teammates.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw three interceptions during the 26-20 loss to the Packers, including one that cornerback Rasul Douglas picked off with just over a minute left to play in the game. Tagovailoa has not played well in three of the team’s four losses during the current streak and McDaniel was asked after the game how much of a challenge it is to make sure the quarterback’s head is in the right space with the Dolphins still alive in the AFC playoff race.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s also something that every quarterback really goes through,” McDaniel said. “It’s kind of one of those necessary things that you have to really figure out how you don’t let mistakes snowball and that’s one of the reasons the approach and the way we’ve gone about things has been so intentional in that regard, because you can’t let past influence the present. I think that there could be some portions of that that have to do with him kind of snowballing in his own mind, but he’s such a strong individual that the good news is that I’m very confident that he’ll be able to get through that. It’s just that this team needs him. This team needs myself to make sure that all those situations are not putting him behind the 8-ball. And then the quarterback needs the rest of his team to be able to execute so that he doesn’t have to do too much on his own.”
The Dolphins close the season with games against the Patriots and Jets and winning both games is the easiest path for them to qualify for the postseason. Given the way the last four weeks have gone, there may not be many others with the same confidence about the future as McDaniel.