AFC Notes: Dolphins, Tua Tagovailoa, Jets, Mike White

Dolphins

Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa stressed the importance of having someone believe in him the way that HC Mike McDaniel does after their win on Sunday.

“Having someone that first off believes in you makes all the difference,” Tagovailoa said. “Having someone that calls me randomly just telling me how much I mean to him and the things that he’s trying to accomplish and we’re trying to accomplish as a team. It’s cool. I’ve never had that, I’ve never experienced that. This is my first time experiencing that kind of relationship with someone that is the head coach of an organization — just love that guy.”

McDaniel mentioned that a key part of their success was rebuilding Tagovailoa’s confidence in himself.

“This was just using intuition, that getting beat up and having your existence be completely tainted by people saying that you aren’t X, Y, or Z, and then on top of that, from my vantage point, I felt like he was put behind the 8-ball in a way with the — basically his strengths, he couldn’t play to,” McDaniel said. “And so if you’re not able to play to your strengths and your position that one of the reasons you’ve gotten there is you’re an unbelievable point guard, I felt, how could he, with all the things going on. It’s a lot of loud noise that you try to ignore, but people are human. It was intuition, and it started seeing him every practice once he started getting a little bit more confidence each and every day. You could see his personality evolve and that’s when I learned kind of how deep it was because I’m learning his personality – the first day I meet him is who I know him as, and then you fast forward a month and a half, and he’s a different guy. Then retroactively, like wow, that was real.”

Jets

Jets QB Mike White told reporters that he leaned on things he learned during his three starts in 2021 in order to find success when given another opportunity this season.

“I think the biggest thing I’ve learned just from my playing experiences last year was how to handle success because the Cincinnati game, my first start, went so well,” White told Pro Football Talk. “And then Indy, I had the injury, and then Buffalo did not go so well. It’s learning from the Buffalo game, mainly it’s just not trying to play ‘hero’ ball. Not trying to win the game with every throw and just playing within the offense with whatever the play call is, whatever the defense is dictating, I have to do with the ball and just let the rest kind of take care of itself.”

“I think that’s what any young quarterback has to learn and especially in the NFL when guys are so talented and this is the best of the best,” White added. “You can get away with that in college, but in the NFL, not so much.”

White also commented on his relationship with QB Zach Wilson since being named the starter against the Bears.

“I look at Zach as my friend before my teammate, and he’s been awesome,” White said. “I can’t speak highly enough of him and his attitude and how he’s approached this. He’s been 100 percent supportive through and through, there for whatever needs. He’s always there and he’s like, ‘Hey when I was running this and this kind of happened in the game,’ and just little things like that, and he’s been awesome. He’s attacked it with a great mindset, and that’s just the type of guy he is and the type of teammate he is.”

“I definitely don’t want to make it sound like he isn’t a competitor because he is trying to get back on the field just like any of us,” White said. “Everyone in this locker room is fighting like hell to get on the field because that’s why we do this. We play this game to go out on Sundays and be able to perform. He’s doing a great job of balancing both.”

Jets

• Saleh says he hasn’t changed his plan at quarterback regarding Wilson: “When we feel like Zach is ready to roll, we’ll get him out there.” (Rich Cimini)
• Jeremy Fowler reports that the Jets are not “overly concerned” about RB Michael Carter‘s ankle injury and that he will undergo tests to reveal the extent of the damage.
• According to Connor Hughes, Carter only suffered a low-ankle sprain.