There might not be an occupation ever created that involves more factors which can’t be measured or quantified than the job of NFL quarterback. Despite all that is riding on it, QB success depends on more intangibles than any other line of work. Which explains how so many highly scouted, tested and measured Top 3 draft picks can go tits up and the 199th can turn out to be the greatest to ever take a direct snap.
Most of those intangibles are least in the control of the individual QB. Work ethic. Mental toughness. Leadership, and the like. But perhaps the most significant of all is one he gets basically no say in: Coaching. By way of example, I refer you back to that No. 199 who made himself into the GOAT thanks to his own burning desires, but also due in large part to the guidance he got from Day 1.
Which brings us to Tua Tagovailoa. It’s been largely memory-holed, but it was just two years ago that he was drawing comparisons (most of them unfavorable) to Mac Jones. And the national debate was about whether or not he (like Jones) benefited from the talent around him at Alabama and whether the Dolphins had a bust on their hands. Of course that memory hole has been covered over by two outstanding seasons and a $212 million pile of cash. And while a lot of factors have gone into that career turnaround, Tyreek Hill being a prime example, Tagovailoa himself just put pointed out the biggest one. And went scorched earth on the head coach who drafted him:
WOW… #Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa WENT OFF on former head coach Brian Flores.
😳
He talks about our Flores negativity wrecked him.
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) August 19, 2024
“To put it in simplest terms, if you woke up every morning and I told you you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this right, and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate, you are the best whatever, you are this you are that,’ like, how would it make you feel listening to one or the other?
“You see what I’m saying? And then you hear it, you hear it, regardless of what it is, the good or the bad, and you hear it more and more, you start to actually believe that. I don’t care who you are, you could be the President of the United States, you have a terrible person that’s telling you things that you don’t want to hear or that you probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start to believe that about yourself. And that’s sort of what ended up happening. It’s basically been two years of training that out of, not just me but a couple of the guys as well that have been here since my rookie year all the way till now.”
Holy cats. Quit holding back. Let’s hear how you really feel. There’s a “Hawk Tua” joke in here someplace, but I can’t fully locate it, so I’m just gonna move on.
First of all, I had no idea Brian Flores was like this. I mean, he never came across as a real barrel of laughs. In his years on the Patriots staff, if he ever cracked a smile, never mind a joke, I don’t remember it. He always seemed like one of those uber-serious, laser-focused personalities and carried himself with the body language of a human-sized clenched fist. But also smart and capable.
In fact, too smart and capable to add his name to the roster of coaches who tried to Belichick his way through a head coaching career. But this is exactly what Tagovailoa is describing. Yet another one of the branches off the Belichick Tree who had no way to coach other than the way he watched his Sith Lord do it. Exactly how many Charlie Weises, Josh McDanielses and Matt Patricias were going to have to step on rakes before his former staffers learned they are not him?
Being the tough, sarcastic, hyper-critical coach is an art form unto itself. And practically no people can pull it off. It’s like being an Insult Comic. For every Don Rickles who is so good at it that everyone in the audience would love to see him tear into them next, there are 100,000 guys who try it and just come off as arrogant, unfunny assholes. Bill Parcells had a genius for it. Belichick perfected it. But they did it with the moral authority that comes from everyone knowing they’re doing it in order to help them achieve their maximum potential. Without that dynamic, you’re just being an abrasive, abusive dick. Which is certainly how Tua is describing Flores.
And before anyone is tempted to suggest this says more about Tagovailoa than about Flores, remember that he played for Nick Saban, who has never been known to run his program like it was Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. And the results since Mike McDaniel took over speak for themselves. In 2022, Tua led the league in passer rating, TD%, and every measurement that has “Yards per” in it. Last year those numbers were down slightly, while he added 1,100 passing yards to his total, leading the league in that. Proving that what he and the Dolphins had from 2020-21 wasn’t a Him problem, it was a Brian Flores problem.
And by opening up this way and saying it publicly, Tagovailoa gets the last laugh. Every franchise dying to find a QB they want to give $200-plus million to. You only want a coach who’s a “terrible person” if his terribleness is going to bring you championships. And these words probably just ended any chance Flores will ever get another shot. “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” – Old Klingon Proverb.
