Dolphins' Tagovailoa: 'I have full trust in myself'
Tua Tagovailoa is confident he can be the long-term answer at quarterback for the Miami Dolphins as he heads into the final year of his contract.
"I don't feel any pressure at all. I have full trust in myself," Tagovailoa said following the Dolphins' loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round, according to Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.
"I have full trust in what I'm capable of doing for our organization, but outside of that, we're focusing on tonight and what happened, we're going to simmer on this and see what we can do to get better from it."
Tagovailoa struggled in the 26-7 defeat, throwing for 199 yards on only 20 completions with one touchdown and one interception. The Alabama product's 63.9 passer rating was his second-worst mark in a single contest this season.
Miami exercised Tagovailoa's fifth-year option in March, meaning the signal-caller will carry a $23-million cap hit next season before being scheduled for unrestricted free agency. The Dolphins need to decide whether to sign Tagovailoa long term this offseason or wait to see how 2024 plays out.
The 25-year-old played in all of Miami's 18 games this season after battling concussion issues last year. The Dolphins got off to a hot start this year but sputtered down the stretch.
Miami went 2-4 in their last six games, including the playoffs. Tagovailoa averaged only 227 passing yards per contest during that stretch, with six touchdowns and six turnovers. He averaged 288 passing yards with 24 scores in his previous 12 appearances.
"I would say there's been a lot of ups and downs," Tagovailoa of the 2023 campaign. "A lot of guys that started the season out with us and then weren't able to finish the season with us. So, a lot of ups and downs with the injuries. But for our team, we never want to use any of those things as an excuse."
The Dolphins finished the campaign with a 1-6 record against playoff teams. Their point differential of minus-110 against postseason clubs is the second-worst mark of any team this season, only behind the Washington Commanders.
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