Tua Tagovailoa - Quarterback, falcons Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-09 | Full transcript (primary source).
Tua Tagovailoa, Quarterback for the Falcons, addressed the media during a press conference on September 9, 2026, reflecting on his journey back to the starting position and the relationships he has built within the team's quarterback room. The press conference comes as the Falcons prepare for the upcoming NFL season, marking a significant moment in Tagovailoa's career after previous challenges.
Transcript
Tagovailoa: When, when and how did you learn about, you know, being that guy? Thank you. We won. We learned it on Monday. So Kev just just sat me down. Then he had a conversation with everyone else. And then we went to the quarterback room and he had a conversation with all of us.
Tagovailoa: How did you react to it? I mean, I'm I'm very blessed, very fortunate, obviously. You know, playing in the NFL, this is this is what you want to do to be able to start. Unfortunately, there's only one person that can do that at our position. Needless to say, you know, I. I have a great relationship with with MP. I have a great relationship with Coop. I have a great relationship with Jack. And, you know, as I said, that's it's it's just how the position works in this league. So love, love our guys in our quarterback room. And I love the relationships that we've been able to build throughout OTAs and then throughout training camp and going into this first weekend of season.
Tagovailoa: What does it mean you personally in your own personal journey to get back to that QB1 spot? Well, I would say it's a blessing once again. It's not something that I take for granted. You know, when something gets taken away from you, you start to to process everything and think of all the things that you could have changed. You know, just me sort of looking back with my time in Miami, things I could have done better and things like that. So it's it's a blessing.
Tagovailoa: What do you think you could have done better? Oh, there's a lot of things I think I could have done better. Turning the ball over could have played better. My decision making, you know, from prior years in terms of last year, just wasn't good.
Tagovailoa: So are you telling about your type of man in the offense and the operation doing it? Yeah, it feels good. Again, just out there in practice where we're trying to simulate overly communicating, making sure we're knowing where we need to be, communicating, communicating, communicating out there and making sure we simulate game like scenarios, game like feel, game like situations every time we step out there on the practice field.
Tagovailoa: To going off of what you said about, you know, what you could have done better, you get this opportunity now to be QB one. How do you mentally approach Sunday and what are the expectations you put on yourself when entering the game against the Steelers? Yeah, the expectations I put on myself every time is to go out there and score one more point than the opposing team. You know, and for me, that entails me doing my job, making sure I'm getting into the right looks. If we have run plays, getting into the right looks if we have past plays and vice versa based off of what the defense has given us. So that's my expectation to go out there, do exactly what I need to do to help our team win. And that's it.
Tagovailoa: I'm curious about your philosophy as a quarterback in the league. You know, seventh year for you, for Aaron Rodgers, you know, he's 42 now and sometimes it's not necessarily about getting there, but longevity. So what's your philosophy as a quarterback in that longevity that you're starting to see with some guys? I think my philosophy, you know, I would say first off, Aaron Rodgers is just a different type of human being in terms of his longevity, playing at a high level for how long he's played the position. I mean, I watched them when when I was real young. I mean, elementary school, middle school, high school, and then, you know, a couple of years back, being able to play against him and then last year as well. But I would say my philosophy is is to take it like a year at a time, not to think of what's going to happen next year or how long I want to play. Longevity, for me, is is is not a thing. I just try to live right now within the present.
Tagovailoa: You started your entire career with the Dolphins and now you're getting a chance with the Falcons. So how refreshing is it to kind of get this new start? Yeah, it's very refreshing. Again, as I said, it's it's a blessing. That's that's the best word I could describe the scenario and the situation that that I'm in.
Tagovailoa: Do you feel like you have something to prove or do you want to prove something to people outside of yourself in this building? I would say I I don't think I for myself and what I believe. I don't have anything to prove to anyone outside, but it's to prove to my own self that I can continue to play at a high level.
Tagovailoa: Well, you kind of told them that, you know, you're going to be starting quarterback. Is it more of a week to week thing for you? Or did they say it's your job until further notice? Yeah, Kev didn't say any of that. How I how I'm taking it is I got to go with this day to day. And, you know, that's out of my control. What I can control is how I prepare, how I go out there, how I play, how I perform. And that's that's that's all I could do.
Tagovailoa: Each week in the NFL obviously presents a challenge. But when you look at the Steelers defense, what stands out to you? They're front seven, I would say they're front seven. Not to say that they're they're, you know, they're they're guys that they have at corner and safety is not good, but they're front seven. I think really gets those guys going. And then from there, you got really good guys in the back end. And then I got a really good relationship with Jalen Ramsey. You know, I know a lot of people know Jalen, but great player, great person. And I'm excited to go back up against them.
Tagovailoa: So in your experience, how often do you see things like week one that are new to the team that you're playing, where your preparation or at and they throw any wrinkle out there to you? Is that more common than week one than any other 40 season? I would say yes and no, just depending on on the coordinator. All we can do is look at their preseason games, look at their their past with how they've called games outside of that. You've got to go out there knowing what what the looks are going to be and reacting to any of the new looks. And if they get us, they get us. You come to the sideline, you adjust and then you continue to go from there, continue playing.
Tagovailoa: So do you almost like prepare for your reactionary plan anymore going in the week, like here's how we go about adjusting because we do expect maybe see some things that we're going to have to adjust to, of course. Of course, that's exactly how how you go about it. Go about the prime, the primary looks in which we want certain place and then reactions off of not getting those primary looks.
Tagovailoa: Yeah. Coach Kevin said the quarterback's got an early look at the game plan and he wanted to make sure it was to your strengths that he was able to do that. Yeah, for sure. It was a collection of all of us being able to sit down and talk, talk through, you know, what we seen within their defense, things that we like, things that we feel comfortable running, things like that.
Tagovailoa: Bajon kind of said he felt like it's part of his job to kind of take a little bit of pressure off of you by giving you a strong run game. So how nice is it to know the weapons that you have on offense like Bajon and a Drake and a Kyle and things like that? Yeah. Well, I appreciate him saying that because I feel the total opposite. Like, you know, kind of want to help, help get the run game going by allowing our pass game to, you know, get into a rhythm, get into his flow.
Tagovailoa: We were talking to Mike who used to go and he said that in the quarterback room, you guys have like a saying something goes wrong. Just just describe what that means is like Bajon is kind of like a security valve. Yeah, that's you. You basically said it. He's just the security valve like, oh, these guys aren't open. Where's Bajon? Bajon.
Tagovailoa: To Coach Spansky, he's talked a lot about all security and then protecting the football. How do you kind of walk that line between you mitigating risk but also then taking the chances when you're able to? Yeah, I would say just preparation. Just that that's all it is at the end of the day. Preparing for for looks if we don't get certain looks, knowing where your checkdowns are, your outlets, things like that. Just being able to keep our offense on the field, keep the ball moving.
Tagovailoa: You've got limited reps in the preseason and now it's like your full go now. And we want it was kind of like, I guess, the difference between like going full goal and easing into it like not too hard, I guess. I would say I would say playing seven years, it's. Never really put any thought into sort of ramping it up or or just having a now is go time. You know, I think it's more about how comfortable you can feel with the game plan that sort of. Gives you anxiety or or or kind of stresses you out a little bit. But, you know, as as that gentleman in back there asked the question with with Kev, you know, we we met earlier this week and we got to talk about things that we like, things that we didn't like, things that we want to run and vice versa to that, so. It's just a week of preparation.
Tagovailoa: All right, thanks, guys. Thank you, Joe.
