How Tua Explained Rough Outing for Himself and Offense

The Miami Dolphins 2025 season opener could not have gone worse.

The final score of 33-8 was coupled with multiple injuries, including the Dolphins losing James Daniels to a pectoral injury, Storm Duck to a knee injury, and Austin Jackson to a toe injury that may have carried over from training camp.

On top of the multitude of injuries, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had one of the worst starts of his career, finishing the day with a 51.7 passer rating, 114 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and a fumble loss.

Naturally, Tagovailoa was not thrilled when speaking to reporters following the game. He approached the podium to deliver some somber words on the disastrous day.

Tagovailoa discussed whether he felt the Dolphins were lacking in execution, or were simply not prepared for the Colts.

“I would say this was a lack of a lot of things today. I can speak more so on the offensive side, as we were trying to get things started, get things rolling, " Tagovailoa said. "That's just not how you start the game. Interception, we come back out on the next drive, turn the ball over with a strip sack. Next drive, we just can't get anything going. So, how do you build off of that is what we're looking forward to.

"We don't want to overreact, we don't want to underreact to this. We want to make sure we get this right so that this never happens again."

When asked if the turnovers committed had to do with "pressing," Tagovailoa appeared to take umbrage with the idea of trying to force throws.

“I wouldn't say I'm pressing. I would say it's part of the game. You obviously don't want to turn it over. I thought that was a wild comment, that I turn the ball over in bunches," He said. "That's crazy. It just so happened that's what happened today. It was what it was. We got to move forward from that, can't make those same mistakes, and just move on from them.”

The mistakes that Tagovailoa is referencing are two interceptions and a fumble loss in the loss. One interception was a high pass intended for Tyree Hill, which sailed over his head completely, landing right into the hands of Colts safety Cam Bynum.

"It was just a throw that I sailed on Tyreek, I maybe hung on it a little longer," Tua said. "Probably should have progressed on that. My feet were telling me to progress on that. Probably would have had Jaylen (Waddle) on that throw instead of hanging there."

Having multiple turnovers in a game is never going to make a win come easy, but Tagovailoa pointed to the offense not being sharp as a main component of the lopsided loss to the Colts.

Tagovailoa and Hill were not synched in the way they normally are, and Tagovailoa pointed more to the offense being off than Hill missing preseason and crucial reps.

“No, I wouldn't say that affected anything. I just think as an offense, we got to get going, and once you get into that groove, once you get into that rhythm – I mean, that's when things start happening for us. But we couldn't find it today," he said.

Tagovailoa pointed to the major loss as something that fans do not "pay to see," and also added that there needs to be self-reflection for the performance, but also reiterated that the reflection begins with him.

"We’re going to take our loss," he said. "That's never how we want to look at it. And the way we lost? Nobody pays, none of the fans pay to watch the Miami Dolphins go put up eight points and watch the other team drop 30 on them. That's just not what they do.

"There's a lot of things we need to look at. We need to look in the mirror. We need to continue to hold each other accountable for what it is. I would definitely say it starts with me, and I think as a team collectively, this was something we were trying to avoid. But could this be good for us? I don't know. We'll see how we respond next week."

One of the most concerning issues was Tagovailoa taking three sacks in the game. The Dolphins clearly can't avoid losing him to injury, so any sort of contact will always be concerning.

"Yeah, feel good. Nothing alerted or any anything like that. Just come to the sideline, felt great," Tagovailoa said of taking the hits throughout the day.

Despite the tough loss, Tagovailoa said that he is "excited" to see how the team reacts to the loss, and his fellow teammates will be watching film to correct mistakes in Week 2.

"We got to go look at the film," he said. "But I'm definitely curious to see. OK, I came in on Tuesday, I’ve seen these guys on Tuesday, last week. I want to see if these same guys are watching film on Tuesday this week. I want to see how everyone goes about their process. I mean, same for me. But then outside of their process, how they go out there and execute what they need to do to be able to turn this thing around for Week 2."

The Dolphins will have a chance to correct the loss when they host the New England Patriots for the home opener on September 14.

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