Tua Tagovailoa Breaks Silence on Tyreek Hill's Police Detainment Before Jaguars-Dolphins Game

The Miami Dolphins faced challenges at the season's outset, as Tyreek Hill was detained by Miami-Dade police before the first kickoff.

Hill said that he was stopped for alleged speeding on his way to Hard Rock Stadium, about three hours before the game's start, according to ESPN.

Following a "verbal altercation", officers handcuffed Hill. He eventually received a citation for reckless driving, as sources told ESPN's Jeff Darlington.

Regarding the incident, Hill expressed uncertainty about why the situation escalated as it did.

“Right now, I'm still trying to put it all together … I still don't know what happened,” he said after the game. “But I do want to use this platform to say, ‘What if I wasn't Tyreek Hill?' Worst-case scenario, you know? … Everybody has bad apples in every situation, but I want to be able to use this platform to figure out a way to flip this and make it a positive on my end and Miami-Dade and do something positive for the community.

“It's hard. I don't want to bring race into it, but sometimes it gets kind of iffy when you do. What if I wasn't Tyreek Hill? Lord knows what those guys would have done. I just wanted to make sure I was doing what my uncle always told me to do whenever you're in a situation like that — put your hands on the steering wheel and just listen.”

Nonetheless, Dolphins' quarterback Tua Tagovailoa expressed his support for Hill following the incident, according to the team's YouTube page .

“It was just an unfortunate deal that happened today,” Tagovailoa said.

“Tyreek told me his story. I’m always gonna support my teammate. from what he told me, I only know that side of the story. I don’t know the other side, but I’m always gonna support him. Gonna have his back.”

Tagovailoa ignited an emotional spark in the locker room after a lackluster first half, as reported by the Palm Beach Post.

“We just needed to get our heads out of our a**,” Tagovailoa said.

The sluggish Dolphins trailed the Jaguars by 14 points in the season opener. However, in the second half, Tagovailoa made a significant impact, leading Miami to a 20-17 comeback victory at Hard Rock Stadium.

Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel stated that Tagovailoa's speech ignited the spark his team needed.

“I was really pumped to hear him constructively lead,” McDaniel said. “It was ‘let's adhere to our standard.' A captain and a franchise quarterback has to be that voice.”

Related: Tyreek Hill Reveals What 'Really Motivated' Him in Dolphins Win After Police Incident