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Why Stephen A. puts Dolphins' woes on McDaniel, not Tua (1:22)
Stephen A. Smith explains why Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel needs to be fired after Tua Tagovailoa expressed his frustrations. (1:22)
Marcel Louis-JacquesOct 13, 2025, 04:04 PM ET
- Marcel Louis-Jacques joined ESPN in 2019 as a beat reporter covering the Buffalo Bills, before switching to the Miami Dolphins in 2021. The former Carolina Panthers beat writer for the Charlotte Observer won the APSE award for breaking news and the South Carolina Press Association award for enterprise writing in 2018.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's comments after Sunday's game were "misguided" and that his postgame news conference was not "not the forum" to air his concerns.
Speaking in the minutes following Miami's 29-27 loss Sunday to the Los Angeles Chargers, Tagovailoa was asked how players will refrain from feeling sorry for themselves moving forward. He responded that it starts with the team's player leadership before revealing that some players were late for players-only meetings.
McDaniel was asked about Tagovailoa's comments a few minutes later and said the quarterback was "sending a message" but had a more detailed reaction Monday after actually hearing what Tagovailoa said.
"You guys caught me before I heard them [yesterday]," McDaniel said. "I think regardless of intent and what was on Tua's mind after a loss, as the franchise quarterback that's not the forum to displace that -- I think he knows that. Now, I do honestly believe there was no ill intention, but you're talking about, I think, a misguided representation of player-orchestrated film sessions.
"The bottom line is no one's going to be happy and always are looking for reasons for failure to succeed. So you're trying to look for reasons that you can attribute to losses and heavy is the crown of being a franchise quarterback."
McDaniel said Tagovailoa has "directly communicated" with his teammates since last night and will "live and learn" from the experience.
Dolphins offensive linemen Aaron Brewer and Patrick Paul both declined to comment on what Tagovailoa said, believing that team matters should remain "in house."
While tardiness and attendance at team-mandated meetings was an issue in previous seasons, McDaniel said that has not been the case this season.
He also added that he doesn't believe it was spiral into a larger issue; at 1-5, the Dolphins' focus needs to remain on their upcoming game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
"I've got a lot of things to worry about and one of them is not those comments and where our team is lying after that," McDaniel said. "We've just had meetings about the [Chargers] game itself, the factual successes and failures that led to the ultimate result and that's where people's focus needs to be.
"We are all very motivated to fix our problems and find a way to win."
