Tua Tagovailoa knows that Bill Belichick has seen it all.
The decorated head coach, who landed his first NFL job as an assistant in 1975, is entering his 24th season with the New England Patriots. Belichick leads the team into South Beach to play the Miami Dolphins this Sunday night.
Ahead of the AFC East matchup, Belichick lauded Belichick during Wednesday’s press conference.
“Coach Belichick has been coaching in this league for way longer than I think I’ve been alive,” Tagovailoa said. “He knows exactly what he’s looking at when he’s coaching his guys. Nothing new under the sun for that guy, so we’ve got to come out, we got to be prepared. We understand that’s a physical team. They’re going to make us earn everything we can.”
Tagovailoa sprinted out of the starting gate when amassing 466 passing yards and three touchdowns in Week 1’s 36-34 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. However, he’ll have a tough challenge against Belichick’s defense.
Although they fell short of upsetting the defending NFC champions, New England allowed just 251 total yards in a 25-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. With a rocky offense hogging the spotlight for the wrong reasons, the Patriots ranked eighth in total defense last year.
Tagovailoa opened 2022 with 270 passing yards and a touchdown in a 20-7 win over New England. He’s led the Dolphins to four wins in as many career starts against the Pats, but the 25-year-old didn’t place much stock into that past success.
“Every year is the new year,” Tagovailoa said. “4-0, 0-4, doesn’t matter. I don’t care, I don’t think those guys care. I don’t think my teammates care. They care about this year and what problems that team has to offer us, both offense, defense, and special teams. We’re looking for a tough game. It’s always tough to go on the road against a team like that. It’s against a Bill Belichick-coached team, so you never know what to expect.”
Week 2’s Sunday Night Football clash starts at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.