Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa (Post-Game Transcript)

On whether this feels like a lost opportunity for him and the team:

“It’s tough when you come on the road against a really good team and you’re not able to execute the way you expected to execute. But you have to give props to those guys and their coaching staff. They did a real good job in preparing for us. Some things went well for us, some things we’re just trying to figure out there. But overall we just have to get better.”

On what he saw on the interception by Eagles CB Darius Slay:

“It was just an underthrow. That’s all it was. It was nothing more than just an underthrow.”

On playing a team that’s able to stop the run and how it changes the math for him as a quarterback and the offense:

“Yeah in a way it does change how we go about playing out there because there’s actions off of those runs that we’d like to get. And when the run game is not going the way you would expect it to go, then that kind of mitigates the way we run-pass and then it’s more of just a drop-back sort of game. But they did a really good job. Second half we came out with some adjustments. We got some things going in the run game. But really, for us offensively and as a team, it’s really just trying to sustain putting consistent drives together, being able to go out there defensively and getting three-and-outs and sort of playing off each other in that sense.”

On what can be done for the offense to be better on the road:

“Yeah, well, there’s a lot of pieces that go into our offense, a lot of moving parts. I have to communicate to the [offensive] line, the cadence in a loud environment. You know all of those things play a role in us going out there executing, especially with a loud environment, tough environment. But it’s communicating, it’s being able to go out and executing. It’s hard to, sort of, replicate crowd noise the way it is over here than in other places. You know, that’s the next step for us in what we are trying to do.”

On protecting himself during the sack by Eagles DT Jalen Carter:

“Yeah, that’s all it was. You know, I missed the snap point in what we were trying to do with that play. You know, there wasn’t anything else in that play so I just took that and protected myself.”

On anything positive he can take away from this game:

“Yeah, I think there’s a lot of positives we can take, but then again we have to come in tomorrow and watch the tape and see things we could get better with. You know, there are always [good things] that are [being] done, but none of those guys in the locker room remember those especially after a loss there. They’re all thinking of what we could continue to do to get better and help our team win games.”

On where he thinks the team is after this game:

“Well, I don’t think we listen to the outside noise in regards to how people feel about our team. I think the most important thing is the guys in the locker room sticking together and continuing to go. There’s a lot of football to be played, a lot of football, it’s a long season.”

On how the injury to OL Isaiah Wynn affected the offense:

“It affects a lot of what we do because he’s had a lot of the reps throughout practice week and then for [Dolphins OL] Lester [Cotton] to come in, I thought he did a really good job, you know, for what he was given to do, the task at hand. I mean there’s a lot of things going on, when it’s, ‘Are we trying to run this? No, it’s this look, we have to run it this way.’ The communication up there and getting that orchestrated for those guys is not as easy as it seems. I think they’ve done a good job. It was a team effort today. It took everyone today.”

On what he learned from playing against the Eagles:

“Well, we learned that the little things matter and they turn into big things as they continue to build up. This is a good test early in the season. People can say the penalties this, the penalties that. Like for us as a team we aren’t throwing that out as an excuse. They went out there. They did what they had to do to win that game. We didn’t do enough to win that game so it is what it is. We’ll go into tomorrow and learn from that. We’ll get ready for New England.”

On whether this game will help them down the road:

“Oh yeah. All of these games help us down the road. To me it felt like this game was a playoff atmosphere type of thing. I think that was a good rep for us early in the season. Leading down the road to when it’s crunch time.”

On things he can do to streamline the communication of the offense:

“I think the thing I can do is communicate to those guys prior to us going out there. I can do a better job in letting them know what we’re trying to get accomplished on this drive. Obviously we’re trying to get points on the board, but when [Dolphins Head Coach] Mike [McDaniel] does communicate to me what we’re trying to run, ‘Alright guys, it’s a run play. This is what the play is going to be. Just be alert for this look or this look.’ And they can communicate that throughout this being on the sideline before we go and start drives.”