Read the full transcript from Tua Tagovailoa's postgame press conference on September 3, 2025.
Q: On that final drive you had the opportunity to win the game, go down and then those mistakes late. How frustrating was that final drive in particular to not close it out?)
"That was really frustrating. It was frustrating with the communication, with the guys inside the huddle and then what the personnel is, then the play for those guys. Do we have too many guys in, why do we have another guy running in. Just the whole operation of that was not up to standard, was not up to par and I've got to do a better job with our guys in that sense."
Q: Who does that fall on? How does that fall on? What's the communication like in such a hurry when you're trying to get the plays going, kind of the process of that?
"Well, we have until the 15-second mark until it cuts off with the communication with Mike (McDaniel), so depending on what the personnel is, depending on what we were trying to do there, if it was a wristband call or if it was a call it in the headset; there's a lot of things in that sense that play a role in if we're getting to the right things or if we're not getting to the right things. That was sort of the mix-up of communication there."
Q: Those two plays post-snap, can you take us through what you saw on the interception and the sack?
"Yeah, the interception was just trying to make a play, fourth down, and then the sack, just trying to step up and trying to maneuver through the pocket, maybe we had something, and was going to try to give one of the guys a chance."
Q: Did you think RB De'Von Achane had won it?
"Well, I'd seen the ref; he started doing that while Achane was in the end zone. That would have been cool, but still, when we have that opportunity to go down there and score, we've got to come up with that."
Q: On the short week, how do you balance physical recovery with the urgency to prepare for a team that knows how to win the division?
"You've got to learn from this game, you've got to move on from it quick, and that's what that is. You go in tomorrow, you watch it with the guys, you watch it with the coaches, get a gist of what the game plan is going to look like going into Thursday, and then throughout all of that – tonight, tomorrow – that's when you sort of have your recovery as well."
Q: It looked like we saw a quicker trigger from you to push that ball downfield to WR Jaylen Waddle, to WR Tyreek Hill – what switch flipped for you this week from last week to trust that?
"Well, I think having some talks with 'Reek' (Tyreek Hill) and whatnot, that if I do, just don't think that I'm going to throw it 80 yards, as you're running, just do your best to track it because you could potentially stop. That's what ended up happening on that play for 'Reek.' And then him and Waddle with those deeper outbreaking routes, just trying to help them get open while maneuvering the corner in the flat.
Q: You mentioned the players' meeting last week. Did you address things today despite the loss that you had talked about in the players' meeting?
"We didn't address any of that. We came together and then Waddle had something to say to the guys. I thought it was really good. Just things like that we just can't have. We just can't have any of this. 0-2, we're not saying this is the end of the season, but I think for me and Waddle in the league, I don't think we've started a season 0-2. So just trying to maneuver through that, and then with our guys as well, it's a new team, new guys, and we've got to keep going, man."
Q: Even though there's 15 games left, your brain tells you that the whole season almost is still in front of you guys, but like you said it is 0-2, and history says that's a pretty scary record. You know what the odds are going forward. Just what is the level of concern right now?
"I wouldn't say there's alerts going on right now with, 'man, the season is over.' I think the alerts are more on, what are we doing that we've done all these other years to start fast, to help us get to where we want to go, to where we want to have those explosives, the pre-snap communication, the timing, the operation, all of that. I think that's where the alert is more a concern, is trying to find that urgency back for our offense and then for our team as well.
Q: Fans were booing during this game. A group of fans flew a banner saying 'Fire Grier, Fire McDaniel.' What are you thinking as you're seeing all of this?
"I didn't see any of that, but did hear the boos. It's part of the game. The fans pay money, their hard-earned money to come and see their team play, and we go out there and we don't look the part as we have previous years. So it's all understandable, and it comes with the game. You get the boos, you get the cheers. It's like anything else, you get the highs, you get the lows. But for us mentally as players, we've got to stay even keeled. We've got to stay together. We've got to continue to trust one another and build off of whatever this game was."
Q: You had a different look on the right side of your offensive line. How did you feel about the performance of OL Larry Borom and OL Kion Smith?
"I think they did a great job for what we asked of them to do in this game. There's a lot of the situations that could have been avoided with our operational deals that we had, but I think they did a great job for the most part."
Q: What's your confidence level in getting all of this operational stuff situated?
"I'm going to go have a conversation with Mike. I'm going to go have a conversation with 'Bev' (Darrell Bevell), with our offensive guys and talk about it because what we put out there, that was unsat. Anyone who knows football and anyone who doesn't know football just knows that was not clean and that was not right, what we were doing at the end of the game. We'll get that fixed, communicate that to those guys, and we'll move forward from there."
Q: With the short week, especially after a loss like this, is it almost a relief to be able to get back on the field faster and put this behind you quicker?
"I think there's always a sigh of relief when you get to touch the field again and you get the opportunity to put the last game to bed. That's sort of the feeling that we had with the Indy game. Then now, it was in hopes of getting a win this week. Can't have what you didn't earn. I didn't feel we earned this win. That's what it was. We have that opportunity to play on Thursday.
Q: Do you feel like next week going into the game, you guys will be heavy underdogs? Do you feel like you guys will be able to play a lot loosely with nothing to lose?
"Well, I wouldn't say we'll go out there and play loosely. We want to go out there and we want to play football the way football should be played, with the right fundamentals, the right techniques for us, offense, defense, special teams. We want to play sound football. We don't want to just go out there and just let loose thinking this is just another game. I believe every game is its own season, and this game on Thursday is its own season for us."
Q: Kind of a weird thing with Mike Vrabel – 0-3 but first loss to the Patriots. Any weird thing with that?
"No, this is the NFL, right? You win, you lose. This was a loss; that's all that was. I don't look at it as whatever the record was against the Patriots and then what it is now. That's part of the league. If you don't come prepared against really good teams, that's what you should expect.
