Dolphins vs Flores | Did Miami Make a Mistake Firing Him?

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1:00With a breathable box of brief liner, a quick to dry, super versatile, and stand-ups even my most intense training sessions. Plus, they come with three in-sims and a ton of colors. Ready to try pair? Go to Viori.com slash arch and get 20% off at checkout. I think you're going to love them as much as I do. That's V-U-R-R-I dot com slash ARCH and get 20% off your first order. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any US orders over $75 and free returns. Have a great day. Hello and welcome to Dolphins Talk. My name is Marissa Moreno. And again, I am joined every Thursday by Dave Hyde. Dave, how are you? I'm good. I'm probably better moved than the dolphins are right now. But maybe they can change that. Maybe. I'm not a mom with my mom with all my eggs in that basket, but we shall see what happens. So, Dave, we talked about this upcoming chiefs game that we just had. And one of the things we didn't talk about because we did not anticipate is that there would be a major injury in this game that I think a lot of fans are really sad about

2:05it. We're praying for him, of course, but the loss of Devon H.Anne was such a huge pivotal part of this dolphins offense that is struggling to score points. First of all, I mean, just crazy that that happened, but do you see them trying to replace his production with a committee at running back? Are you kind of seeing one guy stepping up as the full time leader into that position? I'm sure they're open to any and all options because I mean, let's face it, Jaylen Ryder, Oli Gordon, neither of them has shown they can be the workhorse or they can, you know, on a consistent basis. So I'm sure they're both of them are going to get their chance to carry the ball and show what they can do. But let's face it, you're not going to replace H.Anne. He's other than Willis because of the quarterback position. That's the one guy on the roster you didn't want to lose because he's on either side of the ball.

3:05He's the one playmaker, the one guy who could change the game with one play. And he's versatile. He led the league in Russian 5.7 yards of carry, led the league in Russian yards after contact 4.1 last year. So he's not only fast, but he's pretty strong with the way he runs. And for them to go out, again, they don't have a running back who has proven anything close to them. They don't have any wide receivers now where you'd say, you know, you can count on him. Now, that doesn't mean you don't like him. That mean they're improving just a lot of them are young and inexperienced. And so they're one, the number one threat if you're, if you're this week, Brian Flores preparing the defense, they're one, the number one threat you had to worry about. Yeah, I mean two things to that for me. One of them is, you know, you want somebody that the coach is like, I'm in a really half to study.

4:06And this is who we're going to have to really game plan for. And I felt like Devon E. Chan was that for us, you know, in prior years, Tyree Kill was the person. And so now you remove that element. And then also, I don't know about you, but it was kind of crazy going into this game with only two running backs. And then you end up having a situation where, you know, it's only, you end up having, at one point, they only had a full back, backs and tight ends in the game. And I'm like, wait, what is going on here? Yeah, it was, it was a little, I'm sure that'll be rethought. Now their thinking was, one half, it was asked about it after the game. Malik Washington was our third back. And he did move into the back field. So I guess Malik Washington was the, you know, if you have to break glass and an emergency, he's the running back. I think that probably might get rethought here. Yeah. I have a feeling as well.

5:07And you know, one of the follow-ups from this injury is that it was tough enough trying to judge and evaluate Malik Willis this season with such a few weapons around him. Now one of his best weapons is gone. We all know that A. Chan was not only a running back, but he was a great, you know, wide receiver for the team. Do you think we're looking at getting Willis two full seasons this year and next year before Miami makes a big decision on quarterback? Because I just feel like it's kind of impossible to evaluate him this season because of circumstances and talent around him. Yeah, I mean, I would hope with the experience of this coaching staff and general manager, not, not, obviously, as a head coach for a general manager, but being in the league for long, they'll be able to get a good read on Willis by the end of this year. And they worked with them two years earlier. And then the decision to make is what's the draft bringing to because there's nobody,

6:09there's no Peyton Manning or Joe Burrow. Of course, Joe Burrow in September of his senior year wasn't seen as the number one pick, either, or either was Fernando Mendoza a year ago. So there's a lot of runway between now and when the dolphins have to decide, you know, come to the first hurdle or first turn style and what they think of Malik Willis. Meanwhile, there's a year to play. The shame is he did lose his best weapon in a H-chan. As you said, runner, catcher, or receiver, speed, and some power. That's off the table. And I'm with you. How do you judge? Everybody's nitpicking Malik Willis already, okay? And now he doesn't have experienced receivers. He doesn't have a proven runner. Tight end. You know, Doltsick has played, he's in his fifth year and has over 800 yards catching,

7:12but he's still trying to define who he is. So there's nobody as playmakers, you'd say, okay, there's somebody who you know you can count on or you know who this person is. Love Chris Bell, love Douglas, love the potential there. But everybody's going to be grading Malik Willis week to week almost. And that's, you know, is it fair to him? These are the big leagues. So, you know, he has to look at as an opportunity. I have a chance to every week show some things I can do. Yeah, I mean, and to be fair, those players need to be healthy, you know. We didn't have that this time either, missing a wide receiver. So, time will definitely tell what will happen. I've been guilty myself of making judgments on Malik through three games, but it's, I think it's hard not to make critiques, but I'm going to hold back and I'm going to see how this continues to develop.

8:13So with the Kansas City game, I mean, I think you and I were both calling for a major blow out. Yeah, yeah. Shockingly, the dolphins hung around with Kansas City. It was 14 to seven and going into the fourth quarter. What impressed you the most from the rookies and what improvement did you see overall from this team to be able to hold the Kansas City Chiefs to that? Yeah, well, you saw some of the things, the problems they'd had the first couple weeks, blocking, you know, just blocking the best pass rusher on the other team. Now, Chris Jones, I'm not sure he was 100%, but, you know, that's part of it too. But yeah, you saw at the start what they wanted to do, which 91 yard drive took nine minutes and 27 seconds. I think it was 14 plays. That's sort of the definition of this team. Malik Willis had through for three first downs and, you know, moving the chains and all

9:15that. That's almost what they have to do to try to protect the defense too. Because it's so they did that in the, and now the defense gave up two scores, the first two possessions to go with how they've been, you know, the previous two games, problems early. But then the defense came around too. There was a third and short and fourth and short. They stopped Kansas City that sort of kind of gave the, I don't know if it gave the defense confidence or just showed who they can be. And so in the second and third quarters, it was probably as good as the Dolphins can play and the fact you go into the fourth quarter and it's a tight game. And you saw Chris Bell make some nice, you know, 44 yard catch. You saw Jacob Rodriguez again, interception, hustle interception. You know, he came across the field, though, got it. And then he had a couple nice one on one tackles on Kenneth Walker.

10:16So again, baby steps for the baby Dolphins almost, right? And that's what you're looking for a week to week. And that's why I think everybody left the game and said, okay, they lost by two touchdowns, but they were in it and you saw some progressive steps forward from some of the players you hope to see this season. A hundred percent. I mean, I left the game. There was a lot of positives that I did leave this game with and the defense was a big part of it. I mean, we know Jeff Halfley's backgrounds. You're expecting the defense to start to progress with the season with him. And it seems like they made some great second half adjustments, which field dolphins. We know we weren't great at adjusting to what they were seeing on the field. So to see a team come back out and be much more prepared and to see the guys show up. And Jacob Rodriguez have a heck of a game and Jordan Brooks, Half have some great stops. I mean, it really was. It gave you a little bit of something to hang your hat on, so to speak. So. Yeah, they still, Brissa, they still look like a young team, though. Like you saw the some of the pre-snap penalties.

11:19Oh, yeah. Was it Bell was in motion and went in front of when in front of Malik Washington and Malik started moving before Bell was set a second? Because everybody's probably getting a little antsy. It was the end of the play clock. And that play went for a touchdown. It's called back little things like that. Little things are big things if you're a if you're a contending team, right? And so those are the things they got to work out of their system. We snap penalties and, you know, Taff was holding Jason Kelsey there. And another, you know, would have been a change of possession, but the chief's got a first down. So, you know, we're sort of seeing the baseline of a comparison a few weeks down the line. Are they still making these type of mistakes? Yeah, absolutely. Well, before we move any further, we're going to talk about Kowshi. Go to kowshi.com and use promo code dolphins talk. As we head into October now, football season is in full swing.

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13:22Kowshi products are not available in all jurisdictions, prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see kowshi.com forward slash regulatory. All right. Back to business. So moving on from that Kansas City game, we are going to see an old friend. Ryan Flores this week, who as we know didn't leave South Florida on great terms. So there's a lot to unpack here, Dave. Do you think this is a bigger storyline for fans in the media than it is the players? I mean, Jeff Hathley wasn't here. Only two players, Austin Jackson and Zach Steeler, are holdovers from the Flores area, Aira. Is this storyline a lot to do about nothing? Or do you think Flores will be out for blood this week? What's your thoughts on that? I think it means very little to 99% of the dolphin players and coaches. To Brian Flores, I think it means a lot.

14:23I think this is his revenge game. He didn't leave on terms with the owner, with the front office, especially. In fact, there's a court case winding its way through the courts involving him and the dolphins are part of it. We can say it really doesn't mean anything to the dolphins players, but I'm guarantee it means a lot to Brian Flores. Yeah, absolutely. How are your interactions with Flores a few years back when you were covering the team? I like Flores. He was a hard, he's the kind of football coach I understood. The hard-nosed didn't give a lot in conversation. Once and why you can talk to him here and there alone. I understood what he was trying to do. He was an awful hire for the dolphins in that the front office wanted a tank, the owner

15:27wanted a tank. I hired the one coach probably who it's not in his DNA at all to give in anything. How this wasn't discussed or broached or whatever before the hire is one of the top 10 mysteries in the dolphins the last decade. There's a lot of them. I thought Brian Flores is a great coach. I thought he needed work on his interpersonal skills with other people. He fired a coach, a veteran offensive line coach, four practices in to his first training camp because the coach wouldn't start Michael Dieter. Maybe the coach was proven right. Beyond that, you don't fire a coach like that. If you're going to tell me he had problems talking or relating or just dealing with people, I'd agree with you now. As time went on, he didn't have many allies in the dolphins front office who could have

16:30helped me there because here he was winning gate. I was at the end of the first year, 2019. I was in the locker room and they just beat New England. New England, it was an expensive game for New England. They had to play, instead of having a home field with the advantage of the playoffs, now they had to play on the road. The dolphins of that year that made them five wins. They weren't going to, they had already beat, they had already beat since that a couple weeks earlier to cost them the number one pick. Now they beat New England, they're moving down and there are the players kind of, you know, satisfied with themselves and there's the ownership in front office sitting on the other side of the locker room just like a funeral. I believe the end of the year and that they sacrifice this year and they don't get the pick they want. So it was a very, when I think of Flores, I appreciate in them and there was a lot going

17:36against them and for him to stand up and stand up for his values as, you know, that's the dolphins problem for not doing their homework and understanding who he was before they hired him. So I'm on right here and I have something to put on your radar, the course short from Viori because after getting my first pair, I was hooked. They've worked for everything that I like doing, soccer, tennis, hoops and lifting weights to them a few and they're unbelievably comfortable, which is why I wear them doing everything else. They're designed to work for whatever your day throws at you. For our listeners, they're offering 20% off your first purchase. So head to Viori.com slash footy. It's V-U-O-R-I dot com slash F-O-O-T-Y. Exclusion's apply. Visit the site for full details. Fall is a vibe. So what's yours? Do you go wild or get a little nostalgic? Do you like to cozy up indoors or kick it outdoors? Whatever you fall for, get shoes that get you.

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19:42I mean, it's been a while. Are you surprised this lawsuit against the league and a few teens still hasn't settled yet? And do you think that as long as this lawsuit is open, do you see him being a head coach until that is resolved? You know, if in baseball history, Kurt Flood sued for free agency, basically for free agency, and it cost him, he didn't get much out of it. But it opened the doors for a lot of people. And here you go. Brian Flores is a principled person. He does not, he's been offered the chance to settle, and he doesn't want to settle. He wants this case to be heard in the Court of Public Opinion in addition to the Judicial Court. So am I surprised? I mean, yeah, I'm surprised because he's sacrificing. Willie get a head coaching job. I don't know. You know, it comes down to 32 owners.

20:44He just needs one of them to say, you know, I'm going to overlook this. And so we'll see. We shall see. Well, we know that when it comes to Brian Flores, he loves to blitz, and the Vikings defense is blitzing at a crazy rate of like 68% right now. How much of a test do you think this will be for Miami's young offensive line? It'll be difficult because, you know, if Flores has the cornerbacks and he does in Minnesota, obviously, let's, let's them 58% of the time. If he has the cornerbacks to play man to man, as we saw with the dolphins, you know, when he had two great cornerbacks, he would blitz. And so this is going to present all sorts of problems for the dolphins. Part of it's again, you got young inexperienced, just start with wider receivers reading the break offs, reading ways to help Willis. Then you got the offensive line.

21:47Offensive lines played decent this year. Again, they're grinding out long drives where they've had problems is Austin Jackson side of the past rusher at times. And Flores is going to find the weak spotter. He's going to probe and see what works. And so it's good Willis is fleet of foot. But this isn't a game you want him to get hit a lot, you know, 10 times. You want him to get rid of the ball, run out of the pocket and throw it if it comes to that. Yeah. And I know that something I'm sure they're working on. I mean, I think you and I had talked about it, or I had mentioned it that after the first game of the season, Malik held onto the ball, you know, he had like 3.87 seconds to throw the ball second in the league to Jaden Daniels. And so him getting that ball out and making decisions with that ball will be huge. One of the big topics though for this game is, you know, the Vikings are undefeated. And I saw a stat the other day, like, we are the only team since like the 90s or something

22:53that has played consecutive teams that are all undefeated. Like this will be our fourth game playing an undefeated team where I guess that hasn't happened to another team since like the 90s. I'm like, go figure it's the rebuilding dolphins, right? Like that would totally be the case. But Vikings are undefeated. Justin Jefferson may not play. And if he does, he won't be 100%. Could you at all see Miami hanging around again this week and being in the game into the fourth quarter like last week? Yeah, I mean, I don't think Minnesota has an explosive offense. So yeah, yeah, since the NFL, it could hang around. And then if you're, you know, one of these weeks, if you're hanging around, the hope is something will happen in the fourth quarter to go your way. But am I picking? No, I'm picking Minnesota or when the problem to me, how the dolphins are going to score a point? I just put a column up on sub stack about that.

23:55They scored 13, 13 and 10 points. And now they don't have, I mean, they don't have them last week for the most of the game either, but the other team know doesn't have to prepare for HN. I mean, they're free to prepare other ways. So I'm just, I'm curious to see how. Where do they come from? Where do the points come from? Where do they come from? Because you know, they got a score point. I think you come from the defense. You've got a Kyler Murray who, you know, we shall see, but maybe it's the defense's turn to pick up the ball a little bit. Yeah, but the defense hasn't, they've had moments where like I mentioned that the third and fourth down, but they're growing up too. And they're the only team without a sack, opposing quarterbacks, seven touchdowns and three games on them. So they got their own issues that, you know, 24 points to Kansas City, that's a pretty good day though. Oh, better than we thought. I think you get 30.

24:55Absolutely. I predicted 31. Yeah, absolutely. It's so interesting when you have those expectations and they do better. You're like, oh, great job, guys. You love the great job. That's it. And so expectations. It truly, it truly is. Okay. So looking around the league, there was a lot of conversation. Oh my gosh, I saw it in so many games, but the number of penalties being called and they're roughing the past their penalty. And this one viral. We saw it and even people in the national media were posting it firsthand with chop robins and sit on Patrick my homes. We all understand that you have to protect the quarterbacks, other gate wise, these games become awful when the starters get hurt. The league has the league gone too far with the roughing the past their calls and doesn't need to be dialed down some. I mean, you got to be able to touch the guy without it being a penalty. I mean, what are your thoughts here? My thought is they got to protect the quarterbacks. Now, was that a roughing the pastor?

25:56By the letter of the law, it was roughing the pastor. Now I tweeted out, come on, you can't call that. And I really think that's a hard penalty. It's football and he didn't like he tried to push him through the ground. You know, he tried to let up. You can tell. Letter of the law is a penalty. And do I understand why they have to protect the quarter? Absolutely. You know, they, teams that are, look at the teams, Jackson, Darts, Gone, Kyler, Mariners. You want to put it back short as it is, Dave. You can't eat. There's the one guy you got to protect if you're running a business in the NFL. And so, you know, as much as I hate that, that hit being a penalty, as I kept looking at, I said, I get it. I get it. I don't like it, but I get it. Yeah, it's hard. I saw a meme of them saying how you actually should sack Patrick Mahomes and it was laying

27:01a pillow down on him on the field and then putting him on the pillow. Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, and then you get the Kansas City factor and the Patrick Mahomes factor, are they overprotecting him as has sort of been a running theme for a while? So but, you know, bottom line, I'd rather them overprotect the quarterbacks a little than underprotect them a little. Fair enough. Will do you have a score prediction for this upcoming Dolphin Vikings game? Yeah, I do. I'm going to go 24-13. Almost what, you know, I figured the Dolphin's through twice they scored 13 and once 10. I'll give them 13 here. To me, that's the top line I think they can get to in Bryan Flores. So I'm being an optimist. That's what offense is going to do that. But yeah, I go 24-13. They cover. The point spread is at 10 right now. Yeah, 10 and a half.

28:01I'm an optimist, I guess. I guess you are. I have them at the Vikings 27, the Dolphins at 10. So I have them covering the spread. It's hard times. Well, well, next week it'll be Cincinnati, so Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase. Yeah, I know, big goal in that. A whole different conversation. But can we get the jets, right? Then the jets and then the jets after that, right? But they're not, I mean, they're not too shabby. They've, you know, so. But they are the jets. They always, when they lose, they lose by calamity. Like it was against Detroit where they didn't know the overtime rules. The coaches kind of screwed this up. Oh my God, that would be great. So they have their own issues. The Dolphins can't point fingers, but the jets have their own issues, too. No, I totally agree. Well, we are looking forward to watching this next game and seeing what happens. And again, just a reminder to everybody, we're looking for progress, not perfection.

29:02We are looking to see how this team does week over week. And we can see some progress. Listen, I didn't think I'd be coming on the show saying that the Dolphins held Patrick Mahomes in the Kansas City Chiefs to what they did. So I guess we'll take that as a win, right Dave? Absolutely. I mean, it's a little early in the season to just go all out how bad it is, right? I mean, they're a long way to go. And there were, you know, I really thought there were some nice things to come out of that. Again, the rookies played well. They're patched up things on defense for a good part of the game after a slow start. And so if they can keep these going in a month from now, they'll be progressively better. And that's what this season's about. Well, folks, to wrap it up again, thank you so much for joining us on this Thursday. Make sure to follow Dave Hyde on Twitter at Dave Hyde Sports or follow his substack to read all the latest of his thoughts that go on in that glorious mind of his.

30:04You can find that at Dave Hyde. Substack.com. Dave, again, you take us out. Parting words going into this game. Patience folks, patience. What was David Caratine, patience, we grasshopper. That's where we are, Marissa. It is a virtue, Dave. Hopefully it's one that we can all get on board with. So we appreciate you all out there at Dolphin's Talk. We look forward to being right back with you next Thursday and a fins up. This episode of the DolphinStock.com podcast was brought to you by Keynes Wear. Everyone go to Keyneswear.com for the best and most affordable Miami Dolphins apparel on the internet. They have you covered if you need a Miami Dolphins head hoodie, t-shirt, polo or anything with a Miami Dolphins logo on it for the home office or any type of apparel. They also have stuff for the Miami Hurricanes, the Florida Panthers, the Miami Heat and the Miami Marlins. If you're in South Florida, stop by their shop at 2655 South University Drive in Davey, Florida.

31:04Keyneswear has it all. Keyneswear.com. You're one stop shop for all of the best Miami Dolphins apparel on the internet. What's going on? I'm Archie Manning, Viori Athlete and College Quarterback. Whether I'm running, training, traveling or just online at home, I love doing it in my core shorts from Viori. With a breathable box of brief liner, a quick to dry, super versatile and stand-ups even my most intense training sessions. Plus, they come with three in-sims and a ton of colors. Ready to try pair? Go to Viori.com, slash arch and get 20% off at checkout. I think you're going to love them as much as I do. That's V-U-R-R-I dot com slash ARCH and get 20% off your first order. Exclusion's applied. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any US orders over $75 and free returns. Have a great day. Kitchen and bathroom professionals know what goes behind the tile matters. That's why trade pros trust Fiber cement, party backer board to keep tile firmly in place, resist cracking and help block moisture. Chosen over 40 million kitchen's and bathrooms, party backer board, what the best build on.

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