Read the full transcript from Tua Tagovailoa's press conference on December 18, 2024.
(I guess first how do you mentally bounce back from a game that I'm sure you weren't pleased with just last Sunday?) – "That's the thing about this league. That's sort of the mindset you have to take on for players, coaches alike. Whether it was the best game you had, whether it was the worst game you had; you've got to learn how to move on from that because the next team doesn't care whether you won or not. They're focused on how they can stop you. We're focused on how we can get points on the board, focused on things that we can get better on, all of that. So I wouldn't say anyone's necessarily worried too much about things that lost us the game as much as what we're trying to do to focus on winning the next game which is the Niners."
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel praised you and WR Tyreek Hill's ability to take accountability for the turnovers on Sunday. I'm just curious what does that process look like? Is it as simple as just "my bad" or do you talk about it a little more with the guys. How do you fully express to your team that "it's on me"?) – "That's just it. It's just letting the guys know that this is why we weren't as successful as we were in these past games. Me and Tyreek being on the same page, us not being on the same page; that's something that we take accountability for, but there's no excuses as to why that had happened and why it kept reoccurring. No excuses for that and that's not the ball that we play here and so that's not going to happen again. We've got to move forward from that and it's a new challenge that we have."
(So I guess he was supposed to be in front on the first interception, in front of the safety. Watching it, once he's running behind the linebacker, it seems like a tough angle to get in front of the safety. Was he supposed to be in front of both linebacker and safety?) – "You've got to ask Tyreek (Hill) about that one. That would've been a tough ask for him to have wrapped that linebacker and with the timing and anticipation that we play with, that's what ended up happening, was just basically threw it right to the guy, right to the defender because it just progressed on that play. I was trying to make something happen that wasn't there and that's what it was."
(On the return were you making sure to stay away from contact? I'm not asking to be critical, but is that something you were instructed to do on a return after the one in L.A.?) – "No, no. There were some other factors that played in that, but no."
(What do you think of 49ers DE Nick Bosa?) – "Beast. There's a lot of good things to say about him. There's a lot of good things to say about Fred (Warner), about Leonard (Floyd) on the other side of Nick. They have a lot of good guys on their team – a lot of playmakers, a lot of guys that you can see they've played in the league for some time. They've seen a lot of looks and they know what their issues are defensively and they know how to counteract what the offenses that have found success against them are trying to do and try to get to. So I think it's going to be a tough challenge for us going against those guys with Fred leading the charge. In my opinion probably one of the best linebackers that I've gotten to play against when we played them in '22. I've got a lot of respect for him and got a lot of respect for those guys on that side. It's going to be a tough challenge and we're looking forward to it."
(Is finishing the season with a winning record on your radar? It's still possible to have a winning record.) – "Finishing with a winning record for me, for sure is always something that I want to do, but it's also something that we're trying to do collectively as a team to try to finish the season out the way we said we wanted to where we're not rolling over, we're not laying down and we're going to put our best football out there and that's what it's going to be."
(What have you seen from I guess other guys in the locker room that shows you that guys are not going to roll over, that they still have a lot to play for? Or do you feel like you even have to step up with this group and say, "hey, we still have games to play"?) – "I think it's conversations that you overhear and conversations that you have with certain guys, but I think what's so cool is there's so many guys that have played in the league for some time in this locker room to where they also understand the magnitude of 'if I lay down,' what that looks like. We all make a living playing this game and so for the guys that decide 'okay, maybe I'll lay down' – you look at guys like Jeff Wilson getting opportunities. You can look at guys like Kendall Lamm, just throughout the history of when things haven't been going right for them and then they get called upon late in the season regardless of whatever the team's record was, you see they're still on teams. They're able to find ways to make money that way and so I would say just the conversations that you have with guys in there and the amount of experience with the veterans as well."
(WR Malik Washington led the team in receiving last week. What is it about his skillset that is so appealing?) – "He's smart. Malik (Washington) is smart. He understands where he needs to be in the timing of the play. He understands what he needs to do in terms of the run game. There's really not much you need to tell him, and that's saying a lot especially in this offense with the verbiage being a lot. And him being able to process – I mean, really, really smart guy."
(With TE Jonnu Smith, your connection with him – it reminds me a little bit of how you threw to Irv Smith back at Alabama? Is there something about the tight end position or the routes that they run that make it a nice outlet for you as a passer?) – "I think it's just finding the way of being comfortable with that person – throws that, okay, you know how you've got to throw it to them, certain throws where they're more of a body type or they can catch both ways. I would say with Jonnu (Smith), it's sort of endless if you look at it. If he needs to big body the ball, he can do that. If he needs to use his hands, he can do that as well and it's not just plays down the field in the short game but also screen with him. If you just allow him to get the ball into his hands, he's super dangerous with the ball."
(I wanted to ask about your scramble run for the first down, you dove forward. Is that a play that you're still willing to do that if the defenders are coming from the side and not in front of you or how do you kind of play that out?) – "Probably should've just threw it out to Jonnu (Smith), see if Jonnu could've got something from that to just mitigate the hits and whatnot that I take in that sense, but in the heat of the moment, just competitive greatness, trying to see if I could get it. That was it."
(You've mentioned and Head Coach Mike McDaniel as well how big the short passing game has been as far as an extension of the run game that hasn't been able to get going the past few weeks. How tough was it specifically on Sunday to not have a run game going?) – "It was tough and I would say it was also tough for us to complete our short passes as well with the way they played their defense, and so I give props to Houston for the game plan that they had. But that's also a good learning lesson for us if teams want to go that route in how they want to defend us and stop us. We've got to have answers for that."
(I'm sure you've been made aware of WR Tyreek Hill's Tweet. He said "It's time for me to go coach" – not sure if there was a comma there or not. What do you think he means by that? Have you seen him? What interactions have you had…?) – "What does it say?"
("It's time for me to go coach" with no comma. Some might think it means "it's time for me to go, coach.") – "I have no idea. I don't want to speculate on what Tyreek (Hill) Tweets or what he does. I mean, you guys should probably know better than me, Tyreek embraces all of that. He loves that. So if you guys give him a foot, he's going to take 10 feet."
