Tua Tagovailoa Was Disappointed That Aaron Donald Wouldn’t Talk To Him During The Game

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Dolphins rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa made his first NFL start on Sunday against the Rams and played just well enough to lead a 28-13 win on the backs of the defense and special teams units. The former College Football Playoff National Champion at Alabama went 12-22 for 93 yards and a touchdown without an interception and looked didn’t make any crucial mistakes that could have cost the game. Tagovailoa was optimistic in his postgame presser after the victory and will look to build on his performance in Arizona this Sunday.

A video of the young signal-caller’s mic’d up audio surfaced earlier this week and it revealed that it wasn’t all smiles. On Tagovailoa’s first drop back of the game, he was welcomed to the NFL by All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald. Not only did he receive a crushing blow from Michael Brockers, but Donald swiped his hand in and forced the fumble.

Apparently, Tagovailoa tried to chat with Donald after the play, but the Rams’ star defender had no interest in conversing. The mic’d up revealed that the Hawaiian native quarterback was disappointed.

https://twitter.com/nfldov/status/1324387512811425793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

“Man, Aaron Donald, he don’t talk,” Tagovailoa said. “I tried to say what’s up. He don’t like me.”

Surely it was nothing personal, but the opportunity to talk to Donald didn’t come again during the rest of the game, as he recorded only four tackles and the one strip sack on the day. Miami chose to bench Ryan Fitzpatrick in favor of Tagovailoa last week and he is in line to start the remainder of the season.