

The Miami Dolphins are 1-5 after losing to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. After the game, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa told reporters the team needs to lean on leadership, but has been struggling with morale due to some players showing up late to meetings — or not showing up at all.
“I think it starts with the leadership and helping articulate that for the guys, and then what we’re expecting out of the guys, right? We’re expecting this. Are we getting that? Are we not getting that?” Tagovailoa said.
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“We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late, guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There’s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory? It’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up, and it starts with the little things like that.”
The Dolphins have been trying to pick up the pieces of a frustrating season since Week 1. After losing 33-8 to the Indianapolis Colts in their season-opener, they hosted a players-only meeting, which linebacker Jordyn Brooks told reporters about.
Miami lost its next two games against the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills before notching a 27-21 victory against the winless New York Jets in Week 4. In the win, leading receiver Tyreek Hill suffered a season-ending left knee injury. The Dolphins have lost their last two games against the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Chargers by a combined five points.
Tagovailoa described his emotions after the Chargers’ loss as “shocked.” The Dolphins led at halftime and rallied back from a 26-13 fourth-quarter deficit to take a one-point lead with 46 seconds left.
But a 40-yard kickoff return from Nyheim Miller-Hines and a 42-yard pass play from Justin Herbert to Ladd McConkey set up a game-winning 33-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker. Los Angeles avoided its third straight loss with the last-minute drive.
“This is something that we’ve talked about collectively as a team about being able to finish in games like this, where we have the opportunity to win the game,” Tagovailoa said. “For us to go out there, have an opportunity to seal the game and then we don’t allow that to happen … that’s just not the way we want to play football and establish what we’ve been talking about throughout OTAs, training camp, and even in our meetings, our leadership meetings, it’s frustrating to say the least.”
Head coach Mike McDaniel is now 29-28 since taking over in Miami in 2022. The Dolphins travel to play the Cleveland Browns next week.
This news was originally published on this post .
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