The Miami Dolphins are about to get even more eyes on them than they already have, as they’ve been announced as the featured team for this year’s edition of HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks In Season.”
While head coach Mike McDaniel seemed to be accepting and almost excited for the challenge that the show brings, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa appears to be less-than-thrilled that Miami will be the focus of this year’s program.
“I have no control over that,” Tagovailoa said. “That was probably not necessarily the best body language I’ve had in a team meeting as it was being introduced to us that we were going to be on ‘Hard Knocks.’
“For me I’m not going to let any of that affect how I prepare, how I talk in our meetings, with how we want to get things done and what we want to do. I’m going to be myself and I think the guys are going to do their best to be themselves as well, although it is different when there is a camera there while you’re trying to do something that’s very private. I’m sure that our PR team will do their best to help keep a lot of us out of trouble.”
Tagovailoa has definitely shown more of his personality since McDaniel has taken over as head coach, but he’s still not someone who goes searching for the spotlight.
“I’m just not a big attention guy,” Tagovailoa said. “I understand it comes with the territory and I am able to use my platform for bigger things. But as far as me doing something silly purposefully outside of football, it’s just different for me. I like to keep things private in how I do things, but this isn’t just about me. This isn’t something that’s for me; this is something for the entire team and the entire team has to figure out how they go about that as well. So I know having conversations with some guys in the locker room that for them, it’s going to be tough as well. So we’re all going to work through this together.”
It will be Tagovailoa’s responsibility to make sure that his team stays focused throughout the stretch run this season, and with the extra cameras around the building comes more pressure. He’ll have to prove that he can shoulder that weight and help Miami reach heights that they haven’t seen in some time.
