- 2 days ago
The Miami Dolphins fell 19-9 to the Detroit Lions, dropping to 1-7 on the season. While the defense stepped up to hold a high-powered Lions offense out of the end zone for most of the afternoon, the Miami offense sputtered without scoring a single touchdown. Dan Day takes postgame calls from passionate Dolphins fans on 104.3 WQAM to break down offensive line struggles, trade deadline realities, and whether South Florida fans need to show patience with a multi-year rebuild.
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00:00Are you upset with the Dolphins 19-9 loss to the Detroit Lions?
00:05Or are you just resigned to the fact that this is the team that we have?
00:10They're pretty good on defense.
00:13They're not really good on offense.
00:15But they're improving in all aspects of the game.
00:19Although improvement doesn't always equal wins.
00:23I think I'm kind of at the stage of a little bit upset,
00:25but for the most part resigned to the fact that this is the team that we can expect this year
00:30and the rest of this year.
00:32How are you feeling?
00:33305-567-0560.
00:35Let's go to my friend Alejandro in Hollywood.
00:38Alejandro, what's up?
00:40What's up, Dan?
00:41After yesterday, I really wanted a win today, man.
00:43But obviously we didn't get it.
00:45I think the defense didn't take a step.
00:48I think the defense took a leap.
00:50They were really playing well, popping pads and swarming the ball.
00:55I mean, they really played well.
00:57You've got to remember that the Lions are a top five,
01:01probably a top five offense in the NFL, and we held them in check.
01:05However, the offense was horrible.
01:07You know, we have to remember that Malik Willis is only here to buy time at this point.
01:13It seems that way.
01:16He's not going to be our quarterback of the future.
01:18Something has to happen.
01:19And at the same time, I really, even next season, at the beginning of next season,
01:25you know, if we draft a quarterback, we've got to let Malik take the bumps
01:29because the offensive line is playing horrible.
01:32And we don't want that quarterback to lose confidence.
01:36So we could draft somebody, develop him, and set him for a while,
01:40at least until the offensive line gets a little bit better.
01:44This is the type of offense that can play behind the sticks.
01:47We have to stay ahead of the sticks, and all the penalties are calamitous.
01:51And every time we fall behind the sticks, you know that it's going to be three and out.
01:54And that's just the bottom line.
01:56Alejandro, I agree with you.
01:57Not just playing behind the sticks.
01:58We are not built to play from behind.
02:00We have to be ahead.
02:01Even down a field goal, you see how much we struggle to even get it back to tide,
02:06even get it close to being a game,
02:09because this team is built for slow, methodical drives, if they're lucky.
02:14And then a lot of times, they don't finish with touchdowns.
02:16They finish with field goals.
02:17And when they get behind the sticks, you are out of luck.
02:20And now that Malik Willis seems to have a groin injury and can't run that well,
02:24you are really, really one-dimensional.
02:27Yeah, it's one-dimensional.
02:28And what happens is that when we fall behind, you know,
02:31our offense is not explosive and an offense that could put up points.
02:35So, obviously, we're going to be struggling and trying to play catch-up the whole game.
02:38And then, yes, time runs out.
02:40And that's what's going on.
02:41And you're 100% right, Alejandro.
02:43You know the old country song, it's cheaper to keep her?
02:45That is the situation we're in with Malik Willis.
02:47It's cheaper to keep him.
02:49We're going to have to keep him this year.
02:50And I'm going to be honest with you, he needs to start for this team
02:54because he's the best option we have.
02:55And no matter what we do next year, he needs to start a major part of next year
02:59because, like you said, even if we draft a quarterback
03:02and we believe in this quarterback, we can't just throw him to the Wolves,
03:04especially after you saw the offensive line and how they did today.
03:07We're just – right now, we're kind of – Malik Willis is our guy.
03:10Whether you like it or not, it's just a fact of reality.
03:14Malik Willis is here to buy time, not for a long time.
03:18That's the bottom line.
03:19Love it, Alejandro, man.
03:20Don't get arrested, man.
03:21We're going to get some more wins this year, though.
03:23No, I'm not going to get arrested, man.
03:25Listen, you know how you gave up on Jalen Wright?
03:28Well, I gave up on Austin Jackson.
03:32And that's the bottom line.
03:33After today, I see why you gave up on Austin Jackson.
03:36He has been absolutely dog crap this year, and he was even worse today.
03:40Trade deadline is Tuesday.
03:41Somebody said if we can get a third-round pick,
03:43I'm saying if we can get a bag of footballs for Austin Jackson,
03:45we'll be doing pretty good.
03:46I'm joking.
03:47305-567-0560.
03:49My dude, dude, Doody over in Atlanta.
03:51Doody, where you at?
03:53Oh, man, I'm all right.
03:55Where you at?
03:55Oh, man, I'll help the Heat win tonight.
03:58I'm looking for some wins, man.
04:00Hey, at least we got something.
04:03I mean, Heat, Panthers, you know.
04:06We know we're not exactly looking at a playoff run this year with the Dolphins.
04:11No.
04:11So all I'm looking for is just to see our young guys do good
04:15and the guys we locked up.
04:16Like, Brooks and Rodriguez, like, you need a solid linebacker tandem
04:20at the very least to be a good defense.
04:23And it looks like we've got that.
04:25So we've got some building blocks, and you know who I'm glad we got rid of
04:29this offseason.
04:31Bye-bye.
04:33Who are you happy about?
04:35Waddle.
04:36Come on, man.
04:37Oh, that was a good trade.
04:39Yeah, I can't believe we fleeced the Broncos, dude.
04:42We fleeced them.
04:43We got Chris Johnson for Jalen Waddle.
04:46I'll take that trade.
04:47Hell yeah, yeah.
04:49Dude, Johnson, hey, that dude's got something, man.
04:52It looks like he's got that NFTF, like Tobin says.
04:57You know what I mean?
04:57Yeah, he looks like he's going to be the real deal.
04:59Got that first interception today.
05:01We had Jared Goff kind of playing the guessing game today.
05:03I was kind of proud of our defense.
05:04Jared Goff and even Jameer Gibbs didn't look that great today.
05:07So the defense showed out.
05:08The offense didn't show up, though.
05:10We were giving them to almost all field goals all day.
05:13That's crazy.
05:14Like, yeah, they're what?
05:15A top five offense in the league?
05:17Like, that's encouraging at the very least.
05:20But, yeah, I'm just glad we got rid of that Waddle bum.
05:23Get out of here.
05:25Dude, I'll tell you, some weeks the Detroit Lions are a top offensive team.
05:28Some weeks they're absolute trash.
05:29And their secondary is garbage.
05:31We should have been a lot better against them.
05:32But touche, touche.
05:35But I love how Douglas is looking.
05:37Dude, our young core, it looks like JES, got it right so far.
05:42That a boy, Sully.
05:43Hey, look, that's the thing.
05:44If we can get some draft capital with some of these trade deadline things,
05:47you know, I kind of trust.
05:49Look, I'll tell you this.
05:50Chris Greer might have been in the building today
05:52because he's some type of analyst for the Detroit Lions.
05:55I already trust John Eric Sullivan already more than I trust Chris Greer
05:59in all the years he was here.
06:00Oh, easy.
06:01Easy.
06:02Hey, Sully's up there with Zito already.
06:05Yeah, I know.
06:06We're loving it, man.
06:07And, look, he hit on the draft, one draft.
06:09If we can get another big draft, look,
06:10this team could be moving in the right direction, Judy.
06:12We appreciate that so much.
06:14Good to talk to my dude, dude, Judy.
06:16We'll see.
06:17We've got a lot of young guys,
06:18and we've got a lot of growing pains going on right now.
06:20And we're trying to even grow on offense.
06:22The defense is starting to look better.
06:24And the field goal kicking is a pandemic going all across the NFL.
06:27And we are part of that pandemic.
06:29Zane Gonzalez.
06:30He did hit a 52-yarder.
06:32But then, of course, he missed a 38-yarder.
06:36Doink.
06:36305-567.
06:3805-60.
06:39Let's go back to the phone lines.
06:41We have got Manny in Cutler Bay.
06:44Manny, go ahead.
06:46Big dog.
06:48The mighty have fallen, baby.
06:51Like, if you think about it, we're stuck in mediocrity.
06:56We were upset that we won 7, 8, 9, 10 games.
06:59And now we are happy that some magical thing that is happening on the team
07:10is moving us forward.
07:12And we got one win.
07:14Hey, Manny, at this point, I'd be happy to score a touchdown.
07:16We're having problems scoring touchdowns.
07:18No, no, but what I'm – no, of course.
07:20But what I'm hearing in these calls is optimism and hopefulness and in the
07:29future, what the heck has happened to the Dolphins fan base?
07:36Do we need to be in uproar that this team sucks?
07:43Like, they can't get any offense whatsoever.
07:49Like, it looks like they don't even practice.
07:55Okay?
07:56We got a couple field goals.
07:58But that's what I'm saying.
08:02How the mighty have fallen where we are, like, in this space of hopefulness.
08:11And next year is going to be no better.
08:15So the question is this.
08:18How long are these people going to get this scholarship,
08:23this red shirt that even doesn't even exist in college anymore?
08:27How long?
08:28That's the question, big dog.
08:30And I'm going to call you every week after the game to ask the same question.
08:37How many scholarship games are we going to give this supposed-to-be head coach
08:46and GM?
08:50Yeah.
08:50We're not going to fire them up there a year.
08:52Well, maybe if we go 1-16, they might need to get the hell up out of here
08:55if they can't put three points together.
08:58It's crazy.
08:59Manny, you're 100% right, and I appreciate you calling every single week.
09:03You've got a good point.
09:05How long are we going to give them?
09:07Like I said, we gave Ryan Tannehill forever.
09:10We gave Tua Tungvaloa, it seems like, forever.
09:12Now people, we've got to give Malik Willis more time.
09:15Well, we just keep giving time.
09:17And guess where it's gotten the Miami Dolphins for the past 25 years?
09:20Zero playoff wins, and now we're sitting at 1-7.
09:23And bring Anthony in right now.
09:24Anthony, you kind of lit up on there.
09:26Do you believe this attitude of, oh, we'll get them next year
09:29is the type of attitude the Miami Dolphins fans should have right now?
09:32No, I think it's unacceptable, actually.
09:34But maybe that's how the team is feeling in the front office
09:37because it seems, like you said, it's been 25 years.
09:40I mean, we're waiting forever.
09:42These quarterbacks are getting paid $50 million.
09:44How much patience do we need?
09:46I know he had the groin injury and stuff today.
09:48So I'm a little bit of benefit of doubt on his feet,
09:51but you've got to be able to throw the ball away and make better decisions.
09:54But, yeah, and that's the thing.
09:55And we're trying to change the culture here.
09:57And I think that they're doing that.
09:58But, once again, you're going to wait your whole life for your whole life.
10:02When are we going to start taking accountability?
10:03When are we going to say, look, it's about wins and losses.
10:06It's not about getting better every week and the young guys learning.
10:09It's about winning games.
10:11And if you're about this, oh, we'll get them next year.
10:14Well, you're always going to be getting them next year.
10:16It's like free beer tomorrow.
10:17I got you.
10:17Yeah, what happened any given Sunday?
10:20Yeah, really.
10:21And this week, I thought we were decent.
10:24I thought we were just as good as the Lions for a little while.
10:26We don't know how to win.
10:27And, like I said, all this give them time, give them time, give them time.
10:32We've been giving time for 25 years now.
10:35I'm going to give you time, though.
10:36305-567-0561 to hear from you.
10:38104.3 FM, WQAM.
10:41We are going out to Kevin.
10:43And hi, Aaliyah.
10:44Hi, Kevin.
10:45Hey, what's good, Dan Day?
10:47I met you at Duffy's.
10:48I was the one who requested the song Hot for Teacher.
10:51Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, man.
10:53There's good times, man.
10:54What's going on with you today?
10:56Well, you know, I'm sitting up here listening.
10:58My wife's, like, waiting for me to get on the phone.
11:01But I'm just listening to all these microwave-ass fans.
11:03Excuse my language.
11:04But I'm tired of these 30-second fans that ain't never seen this organization win.
11:09If you have not seen the Dolphins win from the 80s and maybe portion of the 90s, man, just sit
11:16back and just wait till things happen.
11:18Because this is a rebuild.
11:21Jordan Brooks is not all world.
11:23He ain't lead no organization to a Super Bowl.
11:26Zach Seeler hasn't done it.
11:28And then HN hasn't done it for his short period of time.
11:31Malik hasn't done it.
11:32We got young players, we got some players that got experience, but they're not the difference makers.
11:37We just got these guys so they can teach the young guys how to learn to be professionals, how to
11:43do your job.
11:45The problem with these fans is y'all want microwave success when you're supposed to allow things to stew, like
11:51in the kitchen.
11:53Stop looking for microwave results when things take a kitchen way of fixing things.
12:01You have to order, you have to get the pieces together.
12:03You got to get all the draft picks and all the capital to find the right players.
12:09Rome wasn't built in a day.
12:11The Dolphins didn't become a Super Bowl champion in one year of the inception of 66.
12:15No, it took five years to get to the Super Bowl, to lose to Dallas, to come back for the
12:20perfect season.
12:21It didn't follow up with a back-to-back.
12:23People need to realize, and if you don't know the history of the Dolphins,
12:26won't you guys, you want to be true fans, won't you sit back and just watch the game
12:32and just try to cheer on for what you can get out of this team.
12:36Stop having expectations.
12:38We had expectations with Tua.
12:40We had expectations when we had Jeff Ireland in the office.
12:43Wasn't nobody clamoring for his job, and he was messing us up a long time ago.
12:47So if you really want to talk about what's been messing up this organization,
12:51it's been the doggone front office.
12:53We finally got a GM in John Eric Sullivan and a head coach in Jeff Halfley
12:58that's going to put this thing together.
13:00And my thing is, for the Wardleby Fairweather fans,
13:03if you can't sit and wait for this whole storm to turn around for the sunshine,
13:08then go put on another umbrella of a different team.
13:11I'm tired of dinner with fake fans.
13:13You do have a good point right there.
13:14What does it take to make a good gumbo or a good chili or cook a good brisket?
13:18You've got to take your time.
13:20You've got to do it right.
13:21And this is the thing, great teams and dynasties aren't made overnight.
13:26They're made over a period of time of making good decisions.
13:29And this is the point where the Dolphins are trying to start making these good decisions
13:34and hopefully will turn the corner.
13:36I want to ask you, though, Kevin, in your heart of hearts,
13:38how long do you think this rebuild is going to take
13:41until we start seeing some real fruits from the rebuild that we're making right now?
13:46I'll be honest with you, Dan.
13:48For this team, I say give two more seasons because this year was the rebuild,
13:55break it down, you know, to the studs.
13:56Then we got the draft capitals for trading players and things like that.
14:00Next year is to add more pieces so the guys from this year can teach the rookies.
14:05Next year, this is how we do it.
14:08And then when you actually get a generational player like Jeremiah, watch how Malik cooks.
14:15Like, you guys, these guys expecting, like, Chris Bell and Caleb Douglas to do, like, miraculous things.
14:23They're only doing what their abilities allow them to do.
14:25So I say give us three years.
14:27So this year is just, like, the, you know, to get started, the rough draft.
14:31Then you got next year, the year after, and then the third year we should be, like, Dallas fighting for
14:36not only just the division,
14:37but the AFC conference.
14:39I'm right there with you, Kevin.
14:40Look, I feel as though it is exactly what you say, a three-year rebuild.
14:44They look by the third year to be doing things.
14:47And the reason I say that is the contracts they gave out to guys like Devon Achan,
14:50if they didn't believe that they could turn this thing around in two or three years,
14:54they would have just traded off guys like Devon Achan, Jordan Brooks, Zach Seeler, and all those other guys.
14:58What they did is they signed them to three, possibly four-year contracts, meaning, in their minds, I'm guessing,
15:04they thought that this year, yeah, burn it down to the studs, rebuild.
15:08Second year, start seeing these improvements.
15:10Then the third year, that's when you start contending for playoff spots and other things.
15:14But we'll see.
15:16All I want is some touchdowns and then maybe some wins, and then we'll take it from there.
15:20305-567-0560 is the number to call.