Tua Tagovailoa goes after fans criticizing bobbled snap leading to safety in Week 8

The Miami Dolphins were thrilled to welcome Tua Tagovailoa back to the starting lineup on Sunday. The team had struggled mightily without Tagovailoa at the helm: Miami lost three of four games, failing to score more than 15 points in any of them as the offense shuffled through backup quarterbacks Tyler Huntley, Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle.

But Tagovailoa appeared to still have some rust to knock off as he cleared concussion protocol and returned to the lineup for a home game against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 8. Tagovailoa's return immediately brought Mike McDaniel's offense back to life, and the team scored a season-high 27 points. Things unraveled late, though, in large part thanks to a crucial mistake from Tua, whose mishandled snap with 6:22 remaining in the third quarter proved to be a turning point in an eventual 28-27 loss.

Tua Tagovailoa isn't too happy about facing criticism for botched snap

Tagovailoa failed to reel in the shotgun snap center Aaron Brewer on a second-and-10 from Miami's 13-yard line, and the ball quickly bounced into the end zone. In a desperate attempt to prevent an Arizona touchdown, Tagovailoa swatted the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety, which made the game a one-score game.

During his press conference on Wednesday, Tagovailoa took the time to respond to criticism of the tide-turning play.

“It’s as simple as catching the ball in the gun,” Tagovailoa told reporters. “I would say I’m a pretty good shortstop guy; I have pretty good vision; I have pretty good hands. I’d like to see a lot of other people go in the back there and try to catch that ball, too. You’ve seen it. It wasn’t [Aaron Brewer’s] best and Brew knows he can get it better, but it wasn’t my best as well. But I’m just saying to give perspective, it’s not as easy as what it looked like sitting down on your couch eating chips.”

Plenty of athletes have lashed out at fans for criticizing their poor performances, and it never turns out well for the player. And the logic doesn't even hold together: If Tagovailoa receives rotten food at a restaurant, he likely wouldn't be happy with it even if he couldn't cook it any better himself. At the end of the day, Tagovailoa is paid to perform and fans are generating the revenue that pays his salary.

Blaming Brewer for the play isn't exactly a great look, either. While the snap may have been a little high, it was certainly not out of the ordinary for an NFL quarterback. Regarding a separate fumble in the game, Tagovailoa took full responsibility.

“The under center one?" Tua said. "That was just my fault, that was just my fault.” So he does know how this is supposed to work.