Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa garnered plenty of sympathy when he accused former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores of being a bad person who killed his confidence with negative attacks on his ability.
“If you woke up every morning and I told you, you suck at what you did,” Tua said in an interview on the “Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.” “That you don’t belong doing what you do. That you shouldn’t be here. That this guy should be here and you haven’t earned this right. And you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude you are the best fit.’ How would that make you feel listening to one or the other … when you hear it more and more you start to believe that. When you have a terrible person telling you things you don’t want to hear, you start to believe that about yourself.”
Social media largely ripped Flores and credited current head coach Mike McDaniel for Tua’s recent rise into the elite quarterback ranks. They raved about McDaniels’ positive approach and how he perfectly massages the mentals of seemingly sensitive Tua. In return, the former Heisman contender’s game has elevated to the point where he commanded a $212.4 million contract in the offseason.
The heat got so strong on Flores that he had to issue a response to Tua’s blindsiding interview.
The Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator explained to reporters that his intention wasn’t to destroy Tua but build him up and he has been working on his communication skills since leaving Miami.
“I just want to say look, I’m genuinely happy for the success that Tua’s had, and I really wish him nothing the best,” he said this week during a media session at Vikings training camp. “I think player relationships are very important to me and that’s the foundation of coaching… I got into coaching… because I want to pour into young people and help them become the best versions of themselves.
Part of coaching is correcting. I’m always gonna have a high standard. I’ve done a lot of reflecting on the situation and communication. I think there’s things I can do better, and I’ve grown in that way.”
Tua did get plenty of support from social media and sports media talking heads, who blasted Flores’ approach, some even blamed him for affecting Tua’s mental health. They also credited Tua with getting Flores fired as Dolphins head coach prior to Flores filing a discrimination lawsuit against the NFL.
Tom Brady Believes In Hard Coaching
That’s when a clip from an interview Tom Brady did with Pat MacAfee back in late January surfaced, implying that Brady’s comments could be directly applied to this current situation.
Tom Brady will be a go-to opinion on all things football now that he is working with CBS and getting comfortable in his role as an analyst.
These are the kinds of takes we hope to get from Brady.
In the video, Brady comments on how he dealt with coaches throughout his career being hard on him, stating, “If the coach was hard on me, I was gonna accept the difficult coaching because I need to hear it.”
“And again it motivated me and there were a lot of players on my team that saw me get coached hard and they would say, “OK, I got to step my game up, because if Tom is getting yelled at, I don’t want to get yelled at. How do I up my game?’”
“That’s what accountability looks like, and you can’t have your ego so big that any criticism will lessen your confidence.”
That’s a direct contrast to how Tua took Flores’ ribbing. He basically claimed he couldn’t handle it.
The responses to the re-posted video seemed to shift the sentiment supporting Tua and some fans labled Tua as “soft” because he got real emotional in that interview and started taking shots at Flores when those conversations should probably have been kept quiet, especially with Flores and Tua both still active in the league.
Brady is the most successful quarterback in the history of the NFL and he was coached his entire career by a guy who demeaned players and ripped into Brady on a regular basis, challenging his mental and physical strength and helping to breed a quarterback who, despite how much success he achieved, always had a chip on his shoulder and was humble enough to receive hard coaching.
Brady didn’t like it, but he ultimately saw the benefits in Belichick’s tough love and it helped to elevate him to six Super Bowls. When Brady left New England, his makeup was still the same. Everything he absorbed and used from Belichick as motivation towards greatness stuck with him as he won another Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Bucs to end his illustrious career.
Fans Don’t Want Brian Flores Compared To Bill Belichick
Some fans didn’t like any comparison between six-time Super Bowl winner Belichick and Flores.
As one fan rudely put it, “Belichick is an all-time great coach. Flores is a bum.”
Others pointed out that Tua is simply a product of Gen Z, commenting, “This generation is different,” followed by a crying emoji, adding, “Feelings over growth.”
Tagovailoa won’t like hearing what the GOAT had to say about “hard coaching” but one day Mike McDaniel might have to say something that will get Tua to take his game to another level and Brady’s message was perfect for those who believe in hard coaching, which isn’t always pleasant. In this case, however, the numbers show that Flores wasn’t the guy for Tua.
