Tua Tagovailoa didn’t know what he was stepping into when he got drafted into the NFL back in the summer of 2020. Unfortunately, he was paired with head coach, Brian Flores, who apparently had a lack of respect for the QB and at times, might have hurled some insensitive comments towards former Alabama All-American QB.

Flores would often tell Tua things like, “You suck”. Those piercing words were enough to take a toll on Tagovailoa’s overall work. But things changed when Mike McDaniel stepped into the picture. Yet, the mind draws to how a person is a product of their environment and Flores coming from the Patriots along with the OC Chad O’Shea might have the team’s impact in their coaching style and words.

The New England Patriots get involved in the scuffle!

Transitioning from a team that had Tom Brady, the magician, at quarterback to a team where he had to train a rookie and also worry about his job is not easy. That might be one of the reasons behind Flores’ harshness toward Tua, per Chris Simms for NBC’s Pro Football Talk. “He’s [Flores] a special coach. His Xs and Os are special that way,” Simms admitted on PFT.

“I think you’re saying some good things there with what it could be in Miami, let alone, hey, he had an offensive coaching staff too that was from New England as well. And they were probably in his ear like, ‘We can’t call this play, Brady can throw this in his sleep. Tua we can’t call it.’ He [Flores] was hearing all that let alone the pressure and everything to go along with being a head coach.”

Flores left the Patriots to become the Dolphins HC in 2019. However, he might have brought Bill Belichick’s “tough love” approach along with him. Speaking of bringing things along, he also brought the Patriots WR coach Chad O’Shea with him to become the OC of the Miami Dolphins. Perhaps, the new duo wasn’t happy with how Tua was putting in efforts in the 2020 season, especially after Flores had an underwhelming 2019 season with a 5-11 record, ranking dead last in the AFC East.

Things changed when Tua Tagovailoa arrived officially though. The Dolphins were 10-6 in his rookie season. In 2021, Flores’ last season with the Dolphins, Miami went 9-8. Things were okay, but Miami didn’t make the playoffs during the time and Flores was eventually fired. Some say that it’s his relationship with Tua that led Miami to fire him.

“If you woke up every morning and I told you ‘You suck at what you did’, that ‘you don’t belong doing what you do’, that ‘you shouldn’t be here’, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this right,” Tagovailoa shared on the DraftKings Podcast. “And then you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. Like, you are accurate, you are the best whatever, you are this, you are that’s like, how would it make you feel listening to one or the other?”

No wonder things started looking up in Miami when Mike McDaniel showed up and changed the landscape. But this saga doesn’t end here. This war of words has inflicted nothing but mental trauma on both sides. After Tua calls Flores a “terrible person,” the now Vikings DC decided to break the silence.

Brian Flores has a few things to say about his feud with Tua Tagovailoa

Flores took the podium on Tuesday and decided to address the controversy. He mentioned how he’s “genuinely happy” for the Dolphins QB and how far he’s come in the league. Flores tried to turn the page by praising Tagovailoa saying that he wished the best for him. Tagovailoa’s words had hurt him like he put his head on a pin cushion and decided to tell his side of the story.

“Look, I’m human,” Flores said, “so that hit me in a way that I wouldn’t say was positive for me. But at the same time, I’ve got to use that and say, ‘Hey, how can I grow from that, or how can I be better?’ And that’s really where I’m at from that standpoint,” the Vikings DC clarified. “Do I feel like that’s me? No. But how can I grow from that situation and create a world where that’s not the case where anyone says that about Brian Flores?”

Amidst all this, the Vikings’ HC Kevin O’Connell has been in support of his defensive coordinator, along with safety Josh Mettelus and DT Harrison Phillips. For now, Flores just wants to let the situation settle down slightly and concentrate on making the Minnesota team better after JJ McCarthy was ousted for the season.