MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is in for a new experience on Saturday night.
Not only will the 25-year-old be playing in his first playoff game against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, but he also told reporters on Wednesday that he thinks “a little lower than 20″ degrees will be the coldest weather he’s played in during his career.
The forecast in Kansas City calls for temperatures below that and a wind chill that would make it feel like less than zero.
Tagovailoa joked that he’s not planning on hitting “Uncle” Dan Marino up for any Isotoner gloves and said he believes “the whole thing is a mindset” and that he will see what it feels like on the field before determining what his team might have to do differently.
“I think it’s just a feel of how everything is, what the ball feels like, what throwing feels like, what holding the ball feels like. If there’s wind, if there’s not wind, you have to take all those things into consideration,” he said. “But we’ll go there, we’ll test it out and we’ll see what we have to do as far as adjusting or not.”
The playoffs are a new experience for Tagovailoa, so there would likely be adjustments to make even if the weather were a little less frigid.
Despite the record-low expected temperatures, Tagovailoa told reporters Wednesday that feels his guys are ready for any challenge.
“I think a lot of the guys, we all want to do it right,” he said. “It just sucks when we’re not able to with the work that we put in. But it’s a new season and that’s the way we look at it. New season, new opportunity, and we can still get to where we want to get to after this week.”
Tagovailoa, who lead the entire NFL with 4,624 passing yards, said he’s proud of the accolades but admitted that he would trade all of his personal achievements for wins.
“Individual accolades are super cool. They’re awesome,” he said. “But if we could’ve won all our games, I would’ve traded that for that. If I would’ve thrown for 200 yards the entire season and we would’ve been 17-0, I think anybody would’ve done the same.”
The weather might not make that any easier, but it’s something the Dolphins will have to overcome if they’re going to extend their season and win their first playoff game in 24 years.