Super Bowl MVP Rips Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa, Questions Mike McDaniel’s Leadership
Longtime NFL safety and Super Bowl 37 MVP Dexter Jackson knows what a winning organization looks like, and he certainly doesn’t see it with Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McDaniel, and the Miami Dolphins.
Jackson blasted the Dolphins’ coach and quarterback in an interview with Betway, only days after Miami’s embarrassing Week 7 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Not only are the Dolphins 1-6 and facing a second straight losing season, but their playoff chances are next to none entering Sunday’s showdown with the Atlanta Falcons.
It’s been a rough few weeks for Tagovailoa, who leads the NFL in interceptions and has his lowest QBR (42.8) since his rookie season in 2020. The sixth-year quarterback has also come under fire for calling out his teammates for being late to or outright skipping players-only meetings.
“There are two things great players have to have,” Jackson explained. “Accountability and availability. Tua is not being accountable, and he’s not always available.
“In order to call people out,” Jackson continued, “you have to play better yourself. You can’t call people out if you’re not playing well.”
Tagovailoa is well on pace to set a career high in interceptions, and his 6.82% sack percentage is markedly up from the 4.95% he averaged from 2021-24.
Dexter Jackson Also Has Issues With Dolphins Coach Mike McDaniel
Remember when the Dolphins started 9-3 in 2023, giving Miami 18 wins in its first two seasons under McDaniel? What was only 22 months ago feels like 22 years ago, as the Dolphins have lost 18 of 29 — plus a 2023 AFC Wild Card Round defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs — in that span.
Although much of the blame has fallen on Tagovailoa and general manager Chris Grier, that doesn’t mean McDaniel will escape unscathed. Questions about his job security are quickly mounting, and Jackson is among those skeptical of McDaniel’s coaching skills.
“Honestly, I think McDaniel is a great offensive coordinator, but he is not a head coach,” Jackson said. “Not everyone is made to be a head coach. He’s a phenomenal offensive mind, but I think he’s trying to blend in and be friends with the players instead of leading.”
Considering that Jackson played for Super Bowl-winning head coaches Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden in Tampa Bay, we trust his input on what it takes to run a football team.
“In order to lead, you must have tough skin and be willing to take the bumps and the bruises,” Jackson advised.
It might be too late for McDaniel, Tagovailoa, and the Dolphins to right the ship. NFL Media gives the Dolphins less than a 1% chance to make the playoffs, tying them with the 1-6 Tennessee Titans and winless New York Jets. We’ll see whether a road loss in Atlanta convinces Dolphins owner Stephen Ross to make any changes, the first of which would likely be dismissing McDaniel.
Austin Reaves Enjoyed Being Back On Court But Knows Lakers Are Work In Progress This Preseason
The NBA season is officially here with the Los Angeles Lakers kicking off preseason action on Friday night against the Phoenix Suns. Austin Reaves was a player who impressed with 20 points on 6-for-11 from the field in 21 minutes
Obviously, it is preseason and process matters more than results. The Lakers looked like a team with new pieces to integrate and missing two stars in LeBron James and Luka Doncic.
Moving forward, hopefully, the Lakers can establish an identity offensively and defensively. From Reaves’ perspective, he believes the team needs to compete harder and pay attention to the details moving forward in preseason but understands it’s still very early.
“I’ve been a part of [preseason], this is now five times, you understand that it’s not going to be perfect the first go around. The expectation of being perfect, we have a ways to get there and we know that,” Reaves said. “Like JJ (Redick) said, he was looking for three things and those things are not uncontrollables, they are controllables. In spurts, we were doing that and in spurts we weren’t. We just got to compete a little harder, pay a little bit more attention to the details and we’ll be fine.”
This is the first game action players have participated in, so rust is expected to come with that. But, Reaves looked aggressive and got to his spots with ease. With that, he shared he felt good out on the court despite not playing live basketball for awhile.
“Yeah, it felt good,” Reaves said. “Just enjoy playing basketball, Greg (St. Jean) told me twice already that I look quick and that might’ve been the two only times I’ve ever been told that. So, it feels good, but just happy to be out there playing basketball again with these guys.”
Seeing how Reaves has embraced being an on-ball creator is impressive as he looks comfortable orchestrating offense and creating for himself. If the regular season started right now, he showed he would be ready to play.
When the Arkansas native is the lone ball-handler, he has proven time and time again that it is not a daunting challenge for him. Hopefully, James and Doncic can suit up at least once or twice this preseason so Reaves sees what his offensive role will be moving forward, but regardless, he is clearly a player they will be counting on this season.
Austin Reaves thought Anthony Davis was joking with Lakers players
The Luka Doncic trade is immortalized as the craziest blockbuster deal in league history. So much so that when the news broke, seemingly no one believed it was real.
Anthony Davis broke the news to his teammates, but Austin Reaves revealed he thought he was joking at the time given his prankster personality.
