Miami Herald columnist covering the Dolphins joins the show for his takeaways from the Dolphins preseason debut in Chicago. Plus, what he wants to see when the Dolphins take the field Wednesday and Thursday in Detroit.
00:00Omar Kelly is a columnist covering the Dolphins for the Miami Herald, and you can read his work on the Herald app or in the actual Herald or at MiamiHerald.com.
00:10And I want to talk about Dolphins Bears and preview Dolphins Lions.
00:16And I also remind me by the end of this segment to press Omar a little bit.
00:22The man has a hatred for the city of Chicago, which I consider to be maybe the greatest city in the entire country.
00:31And I don't know if Omar is going to the wrong places or is with the wrong people.
00:37But you can't tell me that when you stand in front of that bean, you don't feel like you're watching one of the great wonders of the world.
00:43Hold on, wait a minute. What is the bean? Is it an alien spaceship? What is the bean?
00:50Yeah, it's a metallic bean. It's in the title.
00:52And the purpose of the metallic bean is?
00:55Look at it and be amazed. And you see the reflections. Take a picture of the reflections.
01:01And there's a nice fountain there. The weather's beautiful. And you just stand in amazement of the bean.
01:07Okay, we have a silver bean in the middle of a city that's your number one tourist site.
01:12No, you look at the bean and then you go get some deep dish pizza and tell me you're not in heaven.
01:17I don't know. I don't know what. I mean, what are you doing?
01:21I am clearly doing it wrong.
01:26We'll get there. We'll get there. We'll get there. It's not hey, a bean.
01:31We'll get there. Yeah, yeah. That's a bean.
01:33What are some of your takeaways? What are some of your takeaways from the Dolphins Bears game on Sunday?
01:43I happen to see a lot of things. My man, I said it yesterday when we started the show.
01:48I watched two on that first drive. He looked like he's in midseason form to me.
01:53I love his composure back there. I thought the old line gave him plenty of time.
01:57Obviously, you'd like to see him actually score after a 10-minute drive, but that's neither here nor there for me in preseason.
02:04So the one thing I really wanted to see, which was Tua and composure, and I saw it, and he looks like a great veteran quarterback to me, which is who I think he is.
02:16What did you take away from Sunday's game? Anything of the sort?
02:20I love the fact that he played. I felt after throwing three interceptions and them getting bullied in a joint practice, the offense, I was like, there's no way you're going to let me go out like that.
02:31I got to get my get back. So, yeah, it's disappointing that they didn't score, but Jalen Wright is not a pounded in back, and I think you're learning that now.
02:45I'm very disappointed that Alexander Madison suffered a season-ending neck injury. I hope he's going to be all right.
02:51In my opinion, he was clearly the number two back. Now you're kind of forced to elevate Ollie Gordon a little bit.
03:00Jalen Wright, hopefully he, you know, I just, he reminds me of Daniel Thomas, to be honest with you, and I just, I'm just, I'm not in.
03:08I hope one day my opinion changes, but I just don't see it.
03:13I like the way the first team offensive line played. I love the way they ran to the right.
03:19Larry Boreham has gone from horrible to mediocre, which is great.
03:24I clearly, we should all have issues about the depth on the offensive line.
03:29And, and to be honest with you, I can't wait till Liam Eikenberg comes back because he got to be the savior of that offensive line.
03:35That's what I'm talking about. Let's go. Yeah, man, they, they make Liam, they make Liam Eikenberg look good.
03:42Like they are bad, bad, and they've been bad.
03:47So, um, that's what happens when you talk bad about the bean. Now you're on a list.
03:52You're on a terrorist watch list.
03:54If you can explain the bean and make it make sense to me, maybe I'll get it. I don't get it.
04:01Uh, yeah, we got him. He's, uh, somewhere in between Miami gardens and Miramar.
04:06We got him.
04:09Oh, you, you bring up, you bring up that, uh, that, um, the series down inside the five.
04:16Was that, was that McDaniel trying to, I don't know, I don't want to say prove something, but was that him trying to be tough or trying to show, show the team or show somebody something?
04:28I think no matter where they were, if there were two yards to convert and get it, they were going to go for it.
04:33They could have been at the 20. They're, they're 20.
04:36They were going to go for it because this team is trying to change their identity.
04:41Even the, the, the, the, the, uh, Chicago came out and just bullied them.
04:48I mean, Shannon, explain to me what does thud mean?
04:53It's thug.
04:55Thud, thud, thud.
04:57When you're a football player.
04:59That means slap the hip, run past and slap their hips.
05:02And now you got them because you got two hands on their hip.
05:05Okay.
05:06They were slamming people into the ground.
05:08Uh, and I was just like, wow, this is like, they, they like receivers were getting killed over the middle.
05:16Um, from the safeties, they were head hunting.
05:19And I was like, this ain't the joint.
05:21This like people should have been thrown out in that joint practice.
05:24But if you're Mike McDaniel, you, you, what you going to say?
05:27You're going to say, Oh, y'all are hitting my man.
05:29My players too hard.
05:30Y'all are, you know, you know, you, and he wanted to see how his team responded to that.
05:35They did not respond very favorably.
05:36Um, and I think that they need that.
05:41And they also need a physical practice to joint practice against Detroit.
05:45I think they intentionally chose these overtime, these preseason opponents, because they have to change this team's identity.
05:52They have to become more tougher.
05:54And that, and that includes mentally tougher.
05:56But Omar, didn't we learn that with that drive, because you and I were in, in disagreement on that pre on the pregame show, because in my mind, nothing that happens in a preseason game will change the course of this team.
06:13And in the sense that they go out there, one drive, two of plays, they get to the, inside the five yard line.
06:19And whether or not they convert that doesn't mean that they're a tough team or not.
06:24Like, and, and I understand the idea of mentally that they're trying to change, you know, how they, they feel about themselves.
06:31I get that.
06:32But at the end of the day, they fell short.
06:33They couldn't get, they couldn't punch it in because they are who they are, Omar.
06:37So I was going to ask you, like, do you feel like you, you came away from that game saying, Hey, they're a tougher team than they were a year ago?
06:45Because I didn't.
06:47And, and it's not, it's not, I'm not calling them soft.
06:50I just don't think that because you go out there and you're, you're, you're trying to say you're a tougher team that you are like, you are who you are.
06:57I just think the Dolphins are a finesse team.
07:00I think you have to practice it.
07:01They are working and have been working before the joint practices to change that finesse reputation.
07:07I can tell you without a doubt, they run the ball better than they did last year.
07:11They are a lot more physical alignment scrimmage.
07:14Patrick Paul looks good on all the courts.
07:18The question is, will that remain consistent when you take a couple of injuries on the offensive line?
07:23And, you know, y'all saw the backups.
07:26Y'all saw it, it's, it's not good.
07:29Um, so I, I think they have to get deeper on the offensive line, but the frontline guys, I think they'll, they will definitely run the ball better in my opinion.
07:38Now that red zone situation, be honest with you, it was probably, I would probably rather Devon A. Chan in there than, than Jalen Wright.
07:47But they were trying to prove something with Jalen and trying to give him opportunity and it didn't work.
07:54And, and it wasn't necessarily Jalen's fault because Jonah gave up.
07:58Jonah had allowed his defender to get in the backfield for that three yard loss.
08:03But shouldn't that be Ali Gordon?
08:05He's big as hell.
08:06Ali Gordon.
08:06Like I, I just, first time I saw him play six, two, two 30, whatever it is, two 25.
08:12It should have been Alexander Madison, but now that's off the table that, but yeah.
08:16But so moving forward, if you need an 18 inches, put that big bastard in the backfield.
08:21Yeah.
08:22I think, I think they'll be headed in that direction.
08:25Um, I don't really know what the two new backs they added.
08:28They were always thin at tailback.
08:30Now they have to add two new backs.
08:32It'll be interesting to see what they bring to the table.
08:35Um, but, but to be honest with you, they're probably just hold over, hold it, hold me down
08:40backs until 32, 31 other teams cut three backs.
08:45And then they could choose from, from that, from that, that, that sort of grocery list.
08:50Um, but I, I do, I agree with you.
08:52Ali looked impressive, probably more impressive than I've seen him in training camp.
08:56But then for rookies, I'm patient because a lot is thrown at them at one time.
09:03And a lot of times they don't start flashing until their first preseason game where they
09:07realize, okay, this is the game that I've always known and loved.
09:11What, uh, I want to ask you about Chicago real quick though.
09:14What do you think joint practices are going to look like?
09:16And do you think we'll see any of the starters Saturday in preseason game two?
09:20I think you will see the starters Saturday in preseason game two.
09:23I think game three is for, if for, with Mike has been used for, um, people who are on the
09:30fringe of making the roster and really testing out what, what they're, what they're, you know,
09:35the last look, uh, joint practices.
09:38I know Dan Campbell, so it's going to be physical and it's, it's probably gonna, um, um, probably
09:44going to be a little, a little bit extra.
09:47So I'm, I'm interested to see if they're going to be able to respond to that.
09:51I know the defense will, they, they, they, they can do their thing.
09:54I don't worry about the defense.
09:55There'll probably be a top 10 unit.
09:57Um, the offense, they, they, they have so many small receivers and what Chicago taught
10:03me is when a team press them, all those receivers get rerouted and to a throws to spots.
10:09He doesn't throw to open receivers.
10:10And a lot of his passes were balls thrown where there was no defender anywhere near it because
10:16those receivers were jammed up at the line of scrimmage.
10:19And, and to me, if you're Anthony Weaver and you don't press, start pressing these receivers
10:25to get them ready for what they'll face in the season, you'll be making a mistake.
10:30And, oh, we, we've talked about where Malik Washington might be the third receiver.
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