Tua: ‘Let me set y’all straight’ (about his name)
It turned out to be a commercial for an automobile, but Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s Tuesday morning tweet had an intriguing caption to set up his video: “Let me set y’all straight.”
After the former Alabama All-American’s 2022 NFL season, which included two known concussions, two NFL Player Association-requested investigations into the handling of his injuries, and some skepticism from outsiders about the viability of his football career, that could have meant something insightful about what the quarterback had gone through.
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But for those curious, it did lead into Tagovailoa pronouncing his complete name, which is: Tuanigamanuolepola Donny Tagovailoa.
In his third season with the Dolphins, Tagovailoa completed 259-of-400 passes for 3,548 yards with 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He led the NFL with a passing-efficiency rating of 105.5.
Tagovailoa missed the Dolphins’ final three games of the campaign – two to close the regular season and Sunday’s 34-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC playoffs – after entering the NFL’s concussion protocol on Dec. 26, the day after a 26-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers that featured the quarterback throwing three interceptions in the fourth quarter.
Tagovailoa also missed two games after leaving in the first half of a 27-15 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 29 with a concussion.
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During his season-ending press conference on Jan. 16, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said the franchise did not consider Tagovailoa to be injury-prone and would proceed with its preparations for the 2023 season with Tagovailoa as the starting quarterback.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.