- 3 months ago
Miami Herald columnist Omar Kelly joins the show to talk Tua, the defensive and offensive issues the Fins are facing and shocks everyone by admitting he doesn't eat sandwiches.
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00:00Omar Kelly, he is a columnist for the Miami Herald. He covers the Miami Dolphins. We always
00:06enjoy talking to him. You can hear him on Game Day Uncensored as well with Solana and Tobin.
00:12And I'm going to start here, Omar, because, and we had just talked about it in the last segment,
00:17some people thought Tua's answer yesterday regarding criticism from fans and writers,
00:22and Cam Newton specifically was a little odd. Do you have any problems with the way Tua handled
00:30himself at the podium yesterday? For those who took offense to him questioning Cam Newton,
00:38you have to pay attention to the context of the question that was asked because, one, you got to
00:46know Tua, and he does not, he lives in an insulated world where he does not watch ESPN. He does not
00:52pay attention to the media, does not have social media. Only time he hears about things that's
00:56going on in terms of the talk about him is from his teammates in the locker room and from Ann
01:01Nolan, who is their media relations person. He said this a number of times, and this is true.
01:07You can say anything to Tua, and he'll be like, I have no idea. You could say that
01:12Charlie Kirk got killed, and he wouldn't have any idea.
01:16So the question initially started about, do you have a problem with people bringing up your salary
01:24every time they criticize you, which who wouldn't, number one? And then it's flipped to, well, I don't
01:33know what you're talking about. Well, Cam Newton's the last guy that just did it, bringing up your
01:37salary. And then his response is about, you know, everybody thinks it's so easy to play quarterback.
01:43It's not. And this is the second time he's done it. It's probably the second time that's caught him
01:49a lot of flack, but he stands on that where it's like, people think this is easy. It's not easy.
01:54But also pay attention to, in the entire interview, Tua probably spent eight minutes of 12-minute
02:02interview criticizing himself, pointing out where he can get better, acknowledging that he's lost some of
02:09his athleticism because of his surgical procedures, talking about how he does need to take more shots
02:15downfield, talking about, yeah, this offensive struggles, this team struggles is on me.
02:23Nobody wants to hear that because it's not sensational. Let's be real about it.
02:27Yeah. And oh, but he seems like he's getting a little more spicy than he used to be.
02:32Is it frustration? Because it seems like he's not saying everything he wants to say.
02:36No, Tua's generally very candid and very honest. I think what's happening, and me and my media
02:43peers, we have discussed this in depth. These Dolphins players, this team, they're very sensitive.
02:51And obviously, when you're on three, you were part of 2007. And you know, remember when I used to
02:56come in the locker room? Why y'all stink, Channing? When y'all gonna get a win?
03:01Ain't nobody trying to hear that.
03:02Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Y'all was not looking for me.
03:06Like, oh, here you come again.
03:09You know, and so people are getting on edge right now. I mean, if you, I really encourage
03:16everybody to watch the Anthony Weaver press conference today when they finally put it up.
03:21I mean, he was nearly in tears talking about his defense and playing with violence. This is a violent
03:27game and communication. He was talking about how my demeanor, I'm calm, but it's getting to the point
03:34now where I'm like losing my composure and I have to stay composed. It was, I mean, nearly in tears
03:42talking about a defense, Channing. So it was that emotional. And, and, you know, we say if there was
03:49a campaign speech given for interim coach roles, that was the campaign speech because who doesn't
03:57know that this Dolphins team, they need to stop being, um, a little bit, um,
04:04Timid, timid, timid is the word you have to do.
04:06Timid, timid is yes. They need to stop being a little bit timid and, and play with, play with
04:12some aggression, some physicality, be aggressive. And maybe if they did that, they would sort of
04:19start and turn the tide a little bit.
04:21I'll go back to Tua for a second, Omar, because you, you've defended Tua over the past couple of
04:26weeks and defended the process that Tua has, as, as we, that we've seen from Tua. And, you know,
04:32he said it straight up. I listened to the entire press conference where he says he, you know,
04:36he's not playing up to the standard he thinks he needs to play. And I wonder, do you think it's
04:40as simple as just saying, Hey, Tua has regressed as a quarterback for whatever reason, whether it's
04:47personnel, whether it's the fact that, you know, it's the hip injury or his ankle injuries, injuries
04:51in general, or do you just think he's regressed in the past couple of games and in the short term,
04:57but there's still possibility for him to get back to, I use 2023 Tua because that's when he was at his
05:03best. I wonder like, has Tua regressed period blanket statement or Tua has not played well this
05:11season. He can still get back to being that quarterback.
05:14The offense in general has regressed from 2003. We're talking about an offense that was number
05:19one in the NFL. It was the hottest thing since smoking, you know, kink, whatever Q, Q knows that
05:25y'all were talking about like a little hot sandwich, which by the way, I've never eaten at
05:29ever in my life. I'm not a sandwich guy. So yeah, no, never eaten Quiznos. I'm not a subway
05:40guy or a little spotter's guy. I don't eat sandwiches. Um, what do you mean you don't eat
05:44sandwiches? What kind of statement is that? Everybody eats sandwiches. I don't eat sandwiches.
05:51I don't, I don't, I do not make that. That's a credit. Shannon, do you eat sandwiches? I do eat
05:57sandwiches. Oh, what about a burger? You eat a burger? A burger is not a sandwich. A burger
06:06is a burger. Hamburger sandwich. Okay. The offense has got me. Now you've got me engaged.
06:16Oh, well, we were talking about football. You could get less, but I don't eat sandwiches.
06:22What's wrong with you? I don't like mayo, mustard. I don't like none of that stuff.
06:27Wow. Don't like a sandwich. Um, yeah. All right. Let's get back to Kutu.
06:33Chemistry with Tyreek is not the same. Let's, I don't, I don't sit up here and tell people what
06:37they want to hear. It's, it's not the same. Uh, they do not throw the deep ball anymore.
06:41Like how many times, like you might see five deep balls from two, all of 2025. Like that's just the
06:49reality of it. He did not throw it last year. He's trying to throw it this year. Offensive line,
06:54the right side, his blind side. Come on, man. That, that, and, and people don't realize
07:00a quarterback has to feel comfortable in the pocket. If he doesn't feel comfortable in the pocket,
07:06and Tua admittedly, he said, I'm not getting to my last read because I basically, he didn't say
07:12this part, but I don't feel comfortable. Like I could get to my last read. I got to get that ball
07:18out. You got to get that ball out because you don't have no protection over there. Um, they just
07:23replace, they're replacing the right guard, which, you know, and when I say we used to criticize
07:29Leah Meikenberg, you wish Leah Meikenberg was on that line right now. Um, then, then you got no
07:36tight end three games. They've had four passes to a tight end for 25 yards. Now. Okay. You're going
07:42to get Darren Waller back. So it's, it's a lot of factors that have contributed to why they, they
07:48don't look the same, but also they are a really, they are a better running team than they are a passing
07:54team. Nobody really is talking about that. Nobody pays attention to that for this offensive line.
07:59They can run block. They suck at pass blocking, but they can run block. And the, the situations
08:04that they've been put in, it just says, okay, you got to stray away from the run. You got
08:08to abandon it in the second half or abandon it after the first quarter or, you know, or
08:13you're playing, trying to play catch up. And it's just been a form, a recipe for disaster,
08:17which is why they haven't really shown their best, their best strengths yet.
08:21Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I hate peanut butter and jelly. No. What? Yep. No.
08:26What is that? Grilled cheese. Nope. Don't like cheese.
08:30What? That's universally. No, I don't like cheese. Yeah.
08:35You don't like cheese. I don't like cheese. No, no cheeseburger. I'll eat cheese on pizza.
08:41That's it. And she said pizza and mozzarella sticks. That's it.
08:44Oh my God. What the hell is going on here? Like veggie and meat? Is that meat and veggies?
08:51No. I mean, if I'm forced to eat a sandwich, it's just going to be meat. Like I don't mind
08:56hot subs. Like I used to like, um, uh, like barbecue beef sandwiches and stuff like that.
09:02It's got to be hot. It can't be cold. I can't, I can't do it cold. No, no.
09:06Cold sandwich. Oh, wow. What, what you, you, well, hold on. You read, you wrote something
09:13in the Herald that I was reading. It's 10 issues. The dolphins need to fix fast, but then I'm
09:20reading it and it's this really long, extensive list of things they need to fix. And it almost
09:27seems unfixable in the short term. So I wonder, you know, you wrote it, I read it, I understand
09:33it, but man, that's a lot of stuff that they need to fix.
09:37Well, they're an 0 and 3 team. And if they go to 0 and 4, I mean, and 0 and 0 and 3 in
09:42the division, you're in panic mode. You're, you're, you're really at like, we got to find
09:47that panic button because everything we're talking about. And, and, and this is the weird
09:52thing. I could see the product and I know they're 0 and 3 right now. I think we're learning
09:57Indianapolis is a little bit better than we thought they were when we started the season.
10:02I think they're this year's Minnesota because the way they put that smack down, it was, that
10:07was, that was a smack down. And I think that was a little bit humbling for the dolphins. And
10:12they're like, damn, do we stink? But now you realize that Indianapolis is just good. I think
10:17you botched it against new England, then Buffalo, you came up short, but I really don't think this
10:23team is as bad as they played so far this season. Now, are they playing to their strengths? They
10:28absolutely aren't because Tua's strength is taking care of the ball. What has he done in
10:32the first three games? He's turned the ball over. That's not his game. He's eventually
10:36going to go back to the mean. Tyreek, I don't know. Come on. We were on two seasons of, of
10:42contained Tyreek. This is the most dangerous man in football. Like I would hope some, at some
10:48point they're going to figure it out. And if they don't figure it out, then move the man
10:52to let somebody else figure it out. But this team is not, and the defense, goodness gracious,
10:58they were a top five unit last year. Top five unit. Channy, you were a top five unit one or two
11:03times? Like, you know how hard that is to be a top five unit? And you come back and you're the 32nd
11:10best defense in the NFL? Like, and a lot of new pieces, a lot of different parts. A lot of, I think
11:17the loss of a Claes Campbell was huge because he was that guy like for you,
11:22Channing, where Zach would be like, watch out for this. This is coming. And before the snap,
11:26and that would help everybody. Like, Claes would like pinpoint 12 plays a game. And, you know,
11:34and, and it allows you to play a lot better. There ain't nobody out there doing that.
11:39But to that, to that point about the defense too, I go back to what Anthony Weaver said. He's like,
11:43we have to be more violent. Violent people are violent. Like passive people aren't violent.
11:50You know what I'm saying? Like, do they have violent people to get violent?
11:53Hold on a minute. But a football player, especially a defender, maybe a cornerback isn't violent.
11:59Well, who doesn't like to hit somebody on defense?
12:02I tell you, I play with all pros. Sam Madison was not violent.
12:06Okay. Jason Taylor wasn't violent. Okay. Zach was extremely violent. Peasy was violent. Truck was
12:14violent. Like, so like, do they have violent people to take on violence? No.
12:22That's an issue. And that's how they build the team. I'm, I'm, you know, I've, you can't,
12:29and I'm not saying they scared of dogs. This isn't like Joe Philbin, where they ran off all the dogs
12:34on the team. If you were a dog, you had to go because Joe Philbin could not handle you.
12:41They didn't run off the dogs, but you know how dogs sometimes get off the leash and you got to
12:48pull it back. Well, if they started to pull the leash, they wasn't able to pull it back and the
12:54dog would just go run wild in the neighborhood. And then, okay, the dog is a problem. I got to get rid
12:59of the dog. That's not how you operate in an NFL. And I don't think a team exists and exist and be
13:06successful without dogs. And realistically, and then people go get in their feelings because
13:11everybody's in their feelings in that locker room. This team doesn't have dogs. And that's just the
13:18reality of it. And they're athletic. They have a lot of athletic people on the team, but we know that
13:25by the way, before you give a speech saying we need to be violent, if he doesn't know his personnel
13:29to your point, Crowder, that's on him. I mean, but you could encourage it. I mean, here's the thing
13:35about the bills game and be even before he said that I didn't know how much dysfunction they were
13:40having on the sidelines and in the game from a communication standpoint, watching the game.
13:45And I heard about it after the game. I heard about it from Anthony Weaver today. Like there was
13:50nothing but chaos there. And people were like, we're not getting the calls. And I'd love to hear
13:54Channing, your perspective on that as a guy who's been the green dot player. How does somebody on
13:59the field not get the calls? But that's another issue. But they are just not gelling and meshing
14:08and communicating and working well together. And there's so many things you could blame on that.
14:14But it's at a point where you either got a boa or get knocked out. And that's where we are with
14:20this team. And, but I will say this, the second half of the Denver game, I saw a different Dolphins
14:26team. I saw a violent Dolphins team. And I was just like, wait a minute. And I even tweeted this.
14:30I was like, wait a minute. They're like playing with a whole lot more aggression and physicality
14:35than I've seen from them in a while. And so that clearly that message resonated to Weaver.
14:40But, but whose, whose fault is it when I read that the Dolphins are first in the NFL, Omar,
14:47in blitz rate, but last in literally 32nd in pressure rate defensively? Like I'm trying to
14:53understand, do you, okay. They don't have dogs, but the front seven was supposed to be the best
14:58unit on this team. We were talking about them as one of the best units in the NFL, not the best,
15:03but one of the best. And they were supposed to help the secondary from not be put under this
15:08relentless pressure. And like, okay, then I'm clearly they're blitzing because the front seven
15:14hasn't, hasn't been able to apply the proper pressure and they're still not getting to the
15:19quarterback. Is that just a small sample size or is that a, the Dolphins simply just don't have dogs
15:25or B Anthony Weaver is not calling the right defense for his personnel, which I think is a problem.
15:32I think there's a, there's probably a little bit to that in terms of calling the right defense to
15:36his personnel, but he knows more about defense than I ever will. So I'm not going to, that's not my
15:40lane. I think if they stopped the run better, they would be in better position to be aggressive
15:50or play schemes better or hunt the quarterback better on third downs. But Weaver was like, man,
15:56we, how many third and one third and twos, third and threes have we faced this season? That,
16:02that that's a death sentence for, for, for defense. And it's true. They can't, I mean,
16:07they really can't get anybody off the field on third downs and you can't do that. And, and,
16:12and what's odd about it is they were number one in the NFL last year, getting off the field on third
16:17downs. So you go, how do you go from being, that was literally, they couldn't create turnovers.
16:22They couldn't pressure the quarterback, but when it came to third downs and red zone, they were tight.
16:27Right. And that's what made them a top five defense last year. And this year they're horrible
16:32at it. And I don't think the same coach can coach two completely separate units that, and one's
16:40great at it. And one's horrible at it. I don't, I don't think that's Weaver, but somebody got to be
16:45accountable for it. And it's not Mike, cause Mike don't do nothing over there. Mike don't,
16:49Mike don't go over there. So you want to put all your, all your, all your problems on the office,
16:54put them on Mike, but Weaver is responsible for that defense.
16:59Omar. Can I tell you about a sandwich called the Hockman burger?
17:03Yeah. I, I, I, it's a burger. So it's a hot meat. I would be open to it.
17:09So here's what's on the Hockman burger. And by the way, it's available at Tucker Duke's
17:13lunchbox through the month of September. So it's almost over. And $1 from every burger sold
17:17goes to Tuan Russell's Russell education foundation. So not only do you get a good hot sandwich,
17:23you'd do some good with it as well. It's a half pound burger. It's got Fritos,
17:30chili, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and raw onion, raw onion. Okay. I think the only thing I like on
17:41there is the meat and the raw onion. No, no. Do you like the chili? The chili? Is that included?
17:47No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no chili. I'm I, I even told Solana when he was going to Cincinnati,
17:52don't do that chili, man. No, I like that chili. So good. That skyline chili. Oh, no, it's not.
17:58No, it's not a special diet or something. You eat nothing. No, no, I'm just picky. I,
18:05I, and I eat, I said this week, I'm stopped eating beef because man, at the, I mean, you,
18:10you was vegan. What you talking about?
18:11I had to sneak back into the chicken wings. He was vegan like, uh, like I have, uh, Fabio's hair.
18:20I was nine months. Nine months. You weren't vegan for nine months.
18:24He was vegan. Oh, it don't, it don't count at the strip club. He was vegan. He was vegan in front of
18:36his wife for nine months. Yeah. There you go. That's the, that's the truth. He was vegan behind
18:42closed doors for about three weeks. Omar Kelly, read his work in the Miami Herald, follow Omar on
18:50Twitter as well for all your dolphins updates. Appreciate you have a good weekend.
18:53All right. You too, guys.
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