Tua's Flores Takedown and the Power of Positivity

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa criticized former head coach Brian Flores for his management style, and there's a response.

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores talks with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) during a timeout during the second half of the 2021 season opener against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. / Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

We knew all along that the relationship between Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and former head coach Brian Flores was less than ideal, but we got a stark reminder of it on Monday.

In an interview on the Dan LeBatard Show With Stugotz, Tua was asked about the different approaches between Flores and his current head coach, Mike McDaniel.

"Well, 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. Like, 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 can 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 gonna start to believe that about yourself.

"And so that's sort of like what ended up happening, and it was, I mean, it's basically been what, two years of training that out of, not just me but, you know, a couple of the guys as well that have been here since my rookie year all the way till now."

Flores was the Dolphins' head coach for Tagovailoa's first two seasons in the NFL. During those two seasons, Tagovailoa had a 13-8 record as a starter but a modest passer rating of 88.8.

THE MIKE McDANIEL WAY

In his two seasons with McDaniel as his head coach, Tua's record as a starter is 19-11, but his passer rating has ballooned to 102.9.

From the moment he got to Miami, McDaniel made it a point to instill confidence in Tua with positivity, starting with the famous video phone call while McDaniel was on a plane flying to South Florida.

Another critical moment came when McDaniel showed Tua a compilation of positive clips to show him how he could become a top-end NFL quarterback.

On Monday, McDaniel explained his philosophy and why he deals with positivity regarding his players.

"I think me personally, it makes sense given the current climate of the trials and tribulations of players in the modern era," McDaniel said." I think there are countless number of reporting by people that wouldn't deserve the title of a reporter necessarily, because of the advent of social media and there's a lot of negative in in the world and a lot of people telling you when you do stuff wrong. For me, I think to raise someone's — to really maximize someone I think it's beneficial for someone to be showing them a vision of their greatest self.

"Quite honestly, it's something that I've drawn [from] my life, and I know if my mother didn't pitch to me that I was worth something, I don't know where I'd be. For me, that's the way that I approach it. I don't think there's any absolute way to do anything, but for me to reach players, it's what's made sense in my journey. I just to stick to myself and what makes sense for me to do my job as I see it for them."

McDaniel's approach has worked because Tua has taken a significant step with him as his head coach.

Of course, we shouldn't diminish the impact of adding Tyreek Hill to the wide receiver corps and having McDaniel implement an offense designed to maximize Tua's skill set and the crazy speed the Dolphins were able to add.

It can be debated to what degree the scheme and the speed around Tua have contributed to his improvement over the past two seasons, but it's obvious that having a coach who deals in positivity instead of being a taskmaster has made a big difference.

THE REACTION FROM MINNESOTA

Flores is now in his second season as the Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator after spending one season as a Pittsburgh Steelers assistant.

While Flores didn't have a public response to Tua's comments, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell was asked about them when he met with the media Monday.

"I don't particularly have a comment on something that took place with another team or I don't like to comment on comments of other players on other teams, but I can just tell you I know the players Flo works with, he's got great relationships here," O'Connell said. "I know you guys [media] have heard a lot of them talk about how much they enjoy playing for him and how much I enjoy working with him every day, and that's all I can really comment on and I'd just like to really leave it at that."