By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard the cliche: playing NFL quarterback is the most challenging position in all of professional sports. They are quite literally responsible for everything on offense and must take the heat regardless of their performance.
Well, Tua Tagovailoa just offered a perfect account of an underrated part of the job that might be the hardest — simply remembering play calls. On Wednesday, Tagovailoa challenged a group of gathered reporters to remember what is supposed to be a straightforward play call in the Miami Dolphins’ offense. It was as follows:
“Northwright Clamp South Fox H Top Pass 38 Top Gumby XP Sweat”
Unsurprisingly, everyone butchered it. Now imagine being in someone like Tagovailoa’s shoes, where you have to seamlessly remember an entire playbook’s worth of these calls without misspeaking. And that was apparently one of the “easier” ones.
Man, pro quarterbacks really are built differently:
Football is hard 😅. Listen to Tua test the media on reciting back a simple play. (📸 Miami Dolphins) pic.twitter.com/Yf6YO8iK9Z
— Mike Cugno (@MikeCugnoCBS4) August 16, 2023
I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t even say that play as fast as Tagovailoa, let alone remember it. And quarterbacks like him do that every Sunday, then take a hit, make a throw, or play fake; what have you. Then they do it all again about 60-70-ish times a game.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen: Quarterback is the most challenging position in all professional sports. You have more veritable proof right here.
This was how Twitter reacted
I would listen to this one time, then go to the huddle and say “Tyreek go deep” https://t.co/bpvZnm1FVL
— Marcel Louis-Jacques (@Marcel_LJ) August 16, 2023
This was amazing, and clarified how complex Miami’s verbiage is https://t.co/I3EV29Mf6F
— Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) August 16, 2023
Common misconception that people think football is just running around with no purpose lol the mental aspect of football is probably the hardest part https://t.co/SYJl3OrZFa
— Big Ron (@DoGoodRon_) August 17, 2023
I love this man so much. https://t.co/XrILKZH6Ls
— Jane Coaston (@janecoaston) August 16, 2023
That’s my guyyyyyyyy. So stoked for this season. Intelligence + Athleticism + Accuracy = yessssss https://t.co/D178pCh0Wv
— Classic_Craig (@Classic_Craig) August 17, 2023
i dont think some understand how high speed the game of football is on the fly from a mental stand point. For any position https://t.co/ABSpW6bR78
— 007 (@KolbeTheGreat_7) August 17, 2023
I love the sass from Tua 🤣 https://t.co/dy5TE9pRbc
— Lexi (@lexiosborne) August 17, 2023
Anytime I hear a football player recite a play name my eyes roll into the back of my head 😅 https://t.co/7IPHwQXrjd
— aaron (@VersaceCaesar) August 16, 2023
"sounds like a pre-snap penalty to me" 🤣🤣 https://t.co/xXsaFa16bF
— Taylor Doll (@TayDoll1010xl) August 17, 2023
