Xavien Howard, a cornerback for the Colts, made pointed remarks about his former teammate Tua Tagovailoa following the Colts’ commanding 33-8 victory over the Dolphins, the team with which Howard spent his initial eight NFL seasons.

In a discussion post-game, Howard’s criticism became evident when asked about the Colts’ tactics against Tagovailoa, who finished the game with 14 completions on 23 attempts, totaling 114 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions, and a fumble. Howard remarked:

“We knew the guy, he gets the ball out pretty quick. And once we take away his first read, I feel like it’s panic mode after that. And it showed yesterday. We took away his first read and he was trying to get rid of the ball real quick.”

In agreement with Howard, Colts defensive end Laiatu Latu noted:

“You could just tell with the big eyes and him getting flustered.”

Tagovailoa, visibly frustrated post-game, addressed a query concerning his turnovers, which were insinuated to be frequent:

“I wouldn’t say I’m pressing. I would say it’s part of the game. I thought that was a wild comment, that I turn it over in bunches. That’s crazy. It just so happened that that’s what happened today. It was what it was. We’ve got to move forward from that.”

Despite Tagovailoa’s struggles, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel emphasized that the heavy defeat was a collective issue, indicating that the entire team needed to improve to prevent similar episodes in the future. Tagovailoa added:

“We don’t want to overreact, but we don’t want to underreact to this. We want to make sure we get this right so that it never happens again.”