Three days after Tua Tagovailoa publicly aired his grievances with his teammates, the Miami Dolphins quarterback stepped to the podium on Wednesday and apologized for his comments that followed Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
"I made a mistake. I’m owning up to that right now," he said. "I’ve talked to the guys on the team about it, talked to the leaders about it. They know my heart. They know that the intent was right, but no matter the intent. The intent can be right but when things get misconstrued or however the media wants to portray it. That leaves a void of silence and a lot of questions for the guys on our team.
"Now, being 1-5, we talk a lot about we’ve got to get this going. … Come in excited to go to work, forget about the noise, and I feel like I added on to that for our guys. For myself, I’ve got to look at myself as a leader, protecting the team. I don’t feel like I did that to the best of my abilities. I felt like I let the emotions of the game get to me after the game and that’s something that I can learn from as a leader on this team. What happens in-house should be protected and none of that should have gotten out. So want to publicly apologize about that. Want to move forward and focus on the Cleveland Browns."
Tagovailoa told reporters on Sunday -- after Miami saw a late lead turn into a last-second loss to the Chargers -- that players had been showing up late to or no-showing player-only meetings. On Monday, head coach Mike McDaniel rebuffed his franchise quarterback, noting that a postgame news conference was "not the forum." McDaniel added that he did not believe there was "ill intention" behind Tagovailoa's comments, however, they were a "misguided representation of player-orchestrated film sessions."
Wednesday marked Tagovailoa's first session with the media since Sunday, and he told reporters he met with his teammates and answered for his actions, believing the matter is now behind them.
“I would say guys had questions about it. So you gotta answer those questions," Tagovailoa said. "The why. Some of the whys were, ‘at the time I didn’t think of it like that.’ So, as I said, that’s something I’ve got to be better with in protecting the team. Just can’t do that.”
In Tagovailoa's defense, Miami hasn't presented itself as the most professional outfit in 2025. The Dolphins looked entirely disinterested in their Week 1 drubbing at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, have committed errors in key spots that have led to close losses to the New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers and Chargers and have just one win earned over the lowly Jets. Their best performance of 2025 ended in a loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 3, and at 1-5, their adequately talented roster is underachieving.
That reality cannot be pinned on the players alone. McDaniel has been criticized through the start to the season with his seat in Miami becoming increasingly hot.
Miami still has time to turn things around. It heads to Cleveland on Sunday, where the similarly embattled Browns find themselves in an equally bad spot.