Is Tua Tagovailoa Holding The Miami Dolphins Back?

Is Tua Tagovailoa Holding The Miami Dolphins Back?

On this episode of Finide the NFL, we got a lot to cover. We got to ask the question, is Tua Tongue Aloa holding the offense back right now with his lack of athleticism and his overall play? McDaniel was live at the podium today and gave a bunch of updates, including some updates on Alec Engold and much more. Plus, we’ll go over some PFF upgrades, the Jabroni of the week, and all of that. So, we got a lot to cover. Do me the favor, smash the like button, subscribe if you are new, and as always, let’s get into this. [Music] [Applause] The pressure is in trouble. The football, you have got to be kidding me. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Touch down. [Applause] Beautiful day to be a dolphin dance. Let’s go. [Music] What is good Finn Nation? What’s good? It’s your boy Reasonz and we are back here for another one. Appreciate each and every one of you coming through for today’s show. We got a lot to cover, a lot to go over. So, please, as you come through, do me the favor and go ahead and smash that like button. All right. Um, we got a lot to cover today, really. So, um, first things first, man. Figured out the whole audio issue. Let me tell you that. All right. One new Roadcaster Pro 2 interface later, one new Sure Mic later, and I think I figured out the audio problem. So, those should no longer be bothering any of you as we move forward here. So, man, I’ll tell you this much, November and December, expensive months for your boy over here. Okay? Expensive months for your boy over here. So, I mean, over two grand in new equipment just in the last two weeks. Plus, we got Christmas. Plus, my youngest’s birthday is in like two weeks. Plus, my mother’s birthday is in a week. My brother-in-law’s birthday was yesterday. Holy gez, it has been quite quite quite the couple of weeks, and it will continue to be quite the couple of weeks. All right, so let’s get into it a little further today. Let’s start off and talk about a few things around the league. Number one, I got to talk about this. All right. You know what’s funny, Ty Blake? You say, “Oh, new mic.” So, the last mic that I had was a Shure. It was a Shure SM7B. All right. That was like a I think it cost me like $550 that mic. This mic was on sale, but you know, it’s regular like 400 bucks and it was down to like 359. So, I jumped all over it. But um it’s going to cost me like $150 US to get my almost $600 mic repaired. So I needed to get this I needed to get this rolling right away because it’s going to take me like one or two weeks to get it repaired by sure. So that would mean I wouldn’t be able to go live for one or two weeks and that’s just not an option. So bit the bullet and got this. So we’ll see how it goes. All right. Um, let’s talk about a few things. Number one, let’s talk about Tua for a sec here before we get into the main topic of today. I do want to talk about something. I got to come to the defense of Tua just a little bit here. Okay. Uh, just a little bit. I got to come to his defense here. All right. Go ahead. Call me a do whatever you want to do. Uh, am I the only one who saw Aaron Rodgers come out yesterday and basically call out his offense and his team for not spending enough time in the film room? Am I the only one who saw this? Am I the only one who heard this? I mean, and what’s even Okay, but where is the outrage? Tua does it and it’s the end of the world. Oh my god, the world’s falling. Chicken Littlesles are running out. Aaron Rogers does it. And oh well, what? It’s not even a headline. And you know what? Let’s let’s go even further. Aaron Rogers named names. Like I don’t know if you guys have seen the excerpt yet, but Aaron Rogers named names and he named John Smith. He basically said that he had um what he had checked into an inbreaker for John to run an inbreaking route and he instead ran the outbreaking route and he straight up calls him out. He straight up called out John Smith for this. He literally named names and no one’s even splinking an eye. And I don’t care that he’s got a Super Bowl. How long ago was that? How long ago was that? Aaron Rogers been a disaster the last couple years. The Pittsburgh Steelers are losing all of a sudden. I mean like and it’s a disaster over there right now. Okay. Like me and Neil were the first ones out. We were the first ones out ahead and we were telling you guys in the off season it sounds like Mike Tomlin might be out in Pittsburgh if things go bad and here we go. I mean Steelers fans want him gone. I think Steelers are all over uh you know they’re they’re the Steelers management seems to be over Mike Tomlin you know um I I that Steelers organization is an even bigger dumpster fire right now or well I won’t say bigger but it’s like getting toward towards our levels. We’re catching up to them. We’re only like one game behind them, right? So, I I I just find it, you know, my whole thing has always been keep the same energy. If you’re going to hold someone to one standard, hold someone else to the other standard. That’s always been my keep that same energy. So, I I just want to know where the outrage was. And I don’t want to hear, oh, Rogers did this 10 years ago with the Green Bay Packers. Well, that’s fantastic. two hasn’t even been in the league for 10 years right now. What are we saying now with Mike Tomlin? You know, if he does come free, and we’ve talked about this again on this channel a lot already. Me and Neil have both said, “Hey, you know, jump at the chance.” But at the end of the day, man, I don’t know if Ross is going to move off of McDaniel for this for Tomlin. Now, I know Tomlin and Ross have like a mutual respect for each other, blah blah blah blah blah. Maybe he will. I don’t know. But man, and the problem here, and this might be a reason why. Here’s the problem with Tomlin. All right. This is the problem with Tomlin. Tomlin hasn’t got the quarterback right since Rothosberger left. While McDaniel, I mean, you look at Tua now, you know, if you had never lived on the planet Earth before, but you you flew, you know, you came down in your saucer and I showed you what to I I first of all explained the game of football to you in depth and then I showed you to his film from 2023 and then I showed you to his film from this year. You would think they were two different players. McDaniel, listen, is the quarterback right right now? No. But he was brought in here to take care of a reclamation project. And again, I’ve said this before, say what you want about McDaniel, whether you like him or hate him, the fact is he got it done. He got Tua the first Pro Bowl Dolphins quarterback in 30 years. Tua led the league in passing. Blah blah blah blah blah. You guys know all the numbers. He’s got that argument. And the reason why that’s always going to benefit Mike McDaniel moving forward is because getting your quarterback right is basically one of the top three things, you know, to get done with a team to have success. Because I would add getting the offensive line right in that I think if you have a great quarterback, a great offensive line, and you have a great defensive front that can stop the run, you’re going to be very formidable in the playoffs. If you can do those three things, you’re pretty well on your way. And I mean, you know, Mike McDaniel went out and got Anthony Weaver. Look at Anthony Weaver right now in that defense. I mean, say what you want and you know, I was right there with you guys. They didn’t meet the expectations we had out of the gate. But here’s the thing. Since week 10, since week 10, you know, the Dolphins defense, they’re what, second in the NFL, only allowing about 14.3 points per game. You know, they’re good. And McDaniel found him. McDaniel brought him over. You know, um there’s talks and rumblings right now that again this coaching cycle Anthony Weaver is going to be a sought out hot commodity. McDaniel put gave him that platform. You can say what you want. I’m just being objective and telling you what the facts are here. So, I don’t know. I don’t know if Mike McDaniel will be moved off of for Mike Tomlin. I really don’t. And you got to look at history, too. I keep bringing this up. I’ll be objective. I got to You got to stay down the middle. What’s been my worry with guys like McCarthy and such, right? No head coach historically has won a Super Bowl with two different teams. It’s almost like you win that one with the one team and you’re done. Now, is someone going to come around and, you know, break that statistic, end that statistic streak? 110% it’s going to happen. Are we in the position to be the team that rolls the dice and sees if we’re that team? I don’t know. Again, we’re in a position where we need a quarterback probably moving forward. And bringing in a guy like Tomlin, someone who hasn’t got the quarterback position right, and look at what they’ve drafted. Kenny Picket, etc., etc. Another problem, too, is again, you got to be objective of the situation. [Music] They’ve been having to find the quarterback from the 20s beyond. Now, Dak Prescott wasn’t found in the first round, right? Brock Pury wasn’t found in the first round. So, yes, I get all those arguments, but a trend has been a lot of top 10 quarterbacks and picks being wasted on top 10 quarterbacks, right? Because the development of these kids is worse than what it was 10 years ago. And I’ve been talking about this since the Tuesday night panel when everyone was telling us to tank for Trevor Lawrence. What was I saying back then? 6 years ago. He’s not it yet. Wait, watch. You could see early on what Davos, Sweeney, and Clemson were doing. But the most athletic guy, but the most talented guy out there, don’t worry about development. We’re too big of a program. We got to keep it moving. And it caught up with them, right? It caught up with them with DJ uh uh DJU. They needed to do a bunch of work with DJU’s game and they and they couldn’t. Ukulele, that’s who I’m talking about. They needed to do a bunch of work with his game. Remember, he was one of the top high school prospect, top recruit. I think he was like a five-star recruit if I remember correctly coming out of high school. He went to the same high school that Josh Rosen went to. And he needed a lot of development. He needed a lot of work. And he didn’t get that at Clemson and here you are, right? Because these kids get caught up in the allure of the big program, the booster money that back then cuz the no money wasn’t real. Now the no money, etc., etc. And here’s the thing. Now with the transfer portal and this transfer portal and all this no money, people are jumping in and out of it even more. So they’re not staying in one place and getting proper development. Now you get situations like Lenor Sers where the coaching isn’t good enough, the talent around him isn’t good enough for his development. And yes, I understand why you need to enter the transfer portal. You gave South Carolina a few years, three years to get that what, three or four years to get that right. They didn’t. I get it. That’s But you know, that’s the move. I get it, sir. You know, but then you got 90% of players just abusing the hell out of it. and it’s stunting their developmental process. So, that’s the problem, too. You know, it’s a lot harder to hit from the 20s and beyond because it’s pretty much known the most developed guys are going in the top 10 out of the out of what’s available right now. And it’s making it even worse when, like I said, development isn’t at the forefront of building QBs, unless you go to like a Wyoming or you go to a Texas Tech, a small school that brings you in as a freshman and says, “Okay, here’s our four-year plan with you, blah blah blah blah blah.” Okay, well, that’s a different story. Which is what sellers tried at South Carolina, but didn’t work. Um, how do I feel about Lane Kein going to LSU? I mean, I saw Old Miss fans out seeing him at the airport just booing the hell out of him as he went to the to his private jet. It is what I mean, look at how much money the guy got. What was he getting? 13 million a year. LSU is one of the top programs. Old Miss is not. I now I know he wanted to stay coaching. That was a whole messy situation, him wanting to stay coaching. I do think it is kind of telling that a lot of his coaching staff didn’t leave with him. You know, apparently the players were just like he called a players only meeting and the players like just go. We don’t even want to hear it. Um I I I don’t know. I I you know, I thought people underrated what he did with Dart and look at Dart’s development right now. Um is is hold on, let me let me Nusmeire. Okay. I don’t think he’s eligible. I don’t think he’s eligible for anymore. He has to come out this year if I remember correctly. So, I don’t even think he’s going to get to work with Nusmire. You know, I I don’t I don’t Nusmire’s not eligible. So, he’s not going to be working with Nusmeer. So, um and you know, here’s the thing. It’s going to be a lot easier to get recruits to LSU than it is to miss. It is what it is. So Chad says, “If Tomlin’s so good, how that’s a great question. How come he ain’t got a tree like Shan and McVey?” I I Hey, you’re You ain’t hearing an argument with me. You ain’t hearing an argument with me. You know, even Campbell’s tree looked like it’s about to start hitting. Ben Johnson and what he’s doing in Chicago. That’s fantastic stuff right there. Even that looks like it’s going to start hitting a little bit. Even even Campbell’s putting it together, you know. So, but hey, Tomlin, I mean, how many losing seasons does he have in Pittsburgh? He has a Super Bowl, you know? I mean, how much we don’t know how much power like I’m not a Steelers fan. I don’t have Ste, you know, people connected to the Steelers like I do the Dolphins. I don’t know how much say or power he has in the draft room. So, I mean, I I don’t even know. Was Kenny Picket his call. I know he’s really high on Malik Willis. I don’t know. I mean, you know, you ain’t going to hear much of an argument with me. That’s a good point. All right. And Jman makes a great point. Some people are good at what they do, but they’re not good at passing it down or teaching it. That’s a good point, too. That’s a really good, you know, that’s a really that’s a really good point right there, for sure. Um, and two other things. Number one, if you didn’t see because Keon Smith and Hayden Ruchi were waved to make room for Austin Jackson and stuff coming back, Hayden Ruchi was claimed by the Lions today. So Hayden Ruchcci is now a Detroit Lion and yet we continue to stick with Julian Hill. I would have taken who Hayden Ruchcci, you know, seven times a week, twice on Sunday over this guy. So it’s gone. Um Hayden Richie is gone. Number two, you need to resign Devon Han, people. I mean, like, I don’t even know what to say. This guy breaks the thousandy mark. I mean, he just needs to be resigned. Um, and he’s on pace right now to finish with the second most rushing yards in a season by a Dolphins player. He’s on pace for like 1464. Ricky Williams holds the number one spot with 1853 in 2002. Um he is on pace for um 1989 scrimmage yards this year too. That would be the second most also behind Ricky Williams in 20 in 2002 um when he had 2216. But that 1989 yards, it would better Tyreek Hill’s uh 1814 from 2023. So, I mean, that’s a 23, you know, that’d be the best number of yards from scrimmage we’ve seen in 23 years of Dolphin fans. All right. A Chan still third in the league in rushing yards. I I love it. He’s only behind Taylor and Jir Gibbs. He is unbelievable right now. He’s unbelievable. He’s He’s also, Check this out, he’s the eighth player since the 1970 AFL NFL merger to produce at least 20 rushing touchdowns and at least 10 receiving touchdowns in his first 40 games. Craziness. And the guy who a lot of you have compared him to Marshall Faulk is one of the seven other players with him. Um Achan man, unbelievable stuff right now. We’re seeing unbelievable stuff. He he needs he needs he You want to hear something? Devon Achan has already cracked the top 10 in Dolphins all time rushing. Think about that for a second. Obviously, Zona, Ricky, and Ronnie Brown are top three, and then Mercury Morris is four. But he’s not far off. He’s only about what I think he’s like 200, what is he 189 yards away from passing Lamar Miller. He’s 323 yards away from passing Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Kareem Abdul Jabbar famously Dan Marino’s only thousand yard rusher. He already had he’s top 10 in touchdowns in franchise history. He’s ninth and he’s the first Dolphin to score 10 plus touchdowns in each of his first three seasons in the NFL. And there’s only another player that’s active who’s done that and that’s Jir Gibbs. Unbelievable stuff. Unbelievable stuff. And guess what? There’s only three players in Dolphins history that have three or more seasons with 10 plus touchdowns. Achan now, Ricky Williams, and Mark Clayton. Come on, man. Come on, man. He is special stuff right now. You need to resign Devon Achan. You need to you you need to resign this guy. He needs to be number one priority when this season ends. Ko Master Ronnie Brown is one of my favorite Dolphins of all time, too. 110%. I wasn’t around for Zanka, so my three favorite running backs of all time to wear our colors are obviously Ricky, Achan, and Ronnie. I think Ronnie doesn’t get enough credit for that year we won the division. Everyone wants to talk about Pennington. Pennington this, Pennington that. First of all, Pennington didn’t even throw 20 touchdowns that year. Let’s get that out of the way. Number two, if it wasn’t for the Wildcat, do we win the division? Ask yourself that. If it wasn’t for the Wildcat, do we even win the division? And who was running the Wildcat? It was Ronnie, right? Because if I remember correctly, Ronnie and Cadillac Williams had ran it a little bit at Auburn. And then Tony Spirano. And you know what’s kind of crazy, too? You know what’s kind of crazy? Imagine if this team I want you to think about this for a second. Imagine if this team that year had found a way to get through like imagine if you could have gotten to the playoffs without having to show the Wildcat. Uh like think about this. This is what I always think about. Like there’s two things I always think about. Number one, imagine if Dan Marino and Ricky Williams time here overlap somehow for two years. We probably win a Super Bowl. And then the other thing I think about is this with that Wildcat year. If you could have got to the playoffs without showing the wildat hand and then imagine if you debuted the wildat in the wild card round, we would have won the Super Bowl. Who would have stopped that? Remember it took the it took it took what like 12 14 weeks for defenses to start kind of figuring out the Wildcat. It took a long time. I mean, imagine if you would have been able to bust that out and people see it for the first time in the playoffs. You would have been unstoppable. You would have at least got to the Super Bowl. Now, the Super Bowl might have been different because it would have had extra prep time, but it would have been a oh my god. Like, that’s the type of wrinkle you hope you get to the playoffs and you bust it out. That is the type of wrinkle where you’re like, “Yo, I we got to get to the playoffs because if we get in and we bust this out, we’re winning some playoff games.” Man, that’s what I always think about all the time, those two things. If Marino and Ricky over overlapped and if we could have made the playoffs without the Wildcat and busted the Wild out in the playoffs, you know, no one would have had an answer for that. Everyone would like what the hell is this? John says, “Do you subscribe to McD lost who he was as a coach because Reek and Tua went a little crazy at first? He’s never ran this much in four years and he seems to be absolutely committed to it. I think you still see it. You still see those pass happy tendencies come out though, right? I mean, when you look at the game yesterday, there were a few instances um where he was just getting super super pass happy. I’ll tell you right now, the instances I’m just bringing up the game right now, but there there were there were some definite instances that ended in punts where like or or field goals, right? Where it’s like, what are you doing, dude? Why aren’t you running the ball right now where it’s getting you here? Um, and you know a perfect example, right? Look at we’re up 16 to8, right? And we come in, Jaylen Wright gets that three- yard run, right? Um, there’s like what 446 left in the third. Jaylen Wright gets a three- yard run out of the the six pack the 60 O line package with Brunkull. Then Tua drops back. Tua drops back. Tua drops back. Han left for one yard. Tua drops back. Sack, drive over, right? You ran seven plays, two of them were run plays, right? And then we had another um we had a another I mean, look at this. I mean, remember that. And then the next drive when we got the ball right after that start off with the incompletion then you get that 22 yard pass that nice throw to waddle and then what a chan 10 yards a chan nine yards six six O line package one yard so you got 20 yards in three plays then what incompletion incompletion sack right and that one yard run it was second and one so you reset the downs at the New Orleans 11 and you drop two back three straight times. Why? What are you doing here? Why are we dropping two of back three straight times when you’re at the 11 yardd line? So, you’re still seeing the tendencies of him being pass happy and not finding the proper balance when he needs to have it. Now on the flip side, okay, on did they get stuffed on a fourth and one with Olly Gordon? 110% at the New Orleans 43. First of all, I got two questions for you. Number one, why are you running a counter? Dive that ball. Okay, that’s number one. Number two, yeah, it’s a counter, but Ollie, why are you dancing, brother? This guy’s dancing, you know, east to west. You got to go north, south, brother. What are we saying here? you know, we got to go north south here and he didn’t and we lost the yard and that was that. All right. So, you know, I love how he’s running the ball, but there’s certain times where he should still stick to that commitment in my opinion. All right. All right. Let’s keep it rolling here. Um, let’s get into things. I want to get into my jabroni of the week. Of course, we got to get into the jabroni. You already know. So, my jabroni of the week is this. It’s the referee crew from yesterday’s game. Allan Ek and his referee crew. I mean, what were they on yesterday? Someone please tell me what the hell was going on. All right. Cuz there were a few instances where you’re scratching your head like what are we doing here? Um number one. Okay. Um that that pass that was reviewed up the what right sideline. I mean are we kidding me? that that guy was out. His knees were out. Like I I I don’t know how that I don’t know what happened there. Like I you know those knees did not look like they were in by any stretch of the imagination. Those those knees look like they were out. So, I don’t know what was going on in that situation. I mean, that man was out and some and they and they even reviewed it and got it wrong. That’s even more impressive that you reviewed it and got it wrong. So, to me, that was the first, you know, that valet pass because that took him down, right? It was what, second and eight, and that took him down to the Miami 12, right? Uh, Miami challenge. We lost it. I don’t know how that He looked out to me. He looked out to me for sure. All right, number two. The Jabroni of the week has got to be, man. The refs alone alone for that onside kick. I mean, what are we saying? Who did that touch? Someone showed me who that touched. Someone showed me who they who who who touched that football. Like I mean, okay, first of all, first things first, the missed call on Valle with his knees out. They scored a touchdown. What? Two plays later, they had a false start and then they scored the touchdown to a lave. Now the onside kick. I mean, you’re giving them a chance to straight up come down and win this game. Like, these are two huge calls that didn’t go our way. Uh, you know, listen, I I I I I and I don’t think that in the int I mean that ball bobbled. He didn’t have possession of the bobble. So, they made Wow, they made the right call. I mean, thank God. We benefited from the right call there, but then they couldn’t get the right call in critical moments. I I that onside kick, man. I tell you that was something else for me. Uh like you know even okay the valet one you don’t have enough evidence overturn that’s great but they claim that ball touched someone. Where’s the evidence of it touching anyone? It’s like they wanted to make a game out of it. I don’t know. So, I I don’t agree with that stuff at all. I thought that was uh I thought the refs were poor yesterday. I thought they’ve actually been poor for a couple weeks to be completely honest with you. So, yeah. Um but the referees were poor yesterday. So, they’ll get my jabronies of the week. No, I’m not going to continue to pile on people who told us we could should draft Shidur after the performance we saw yesterday. I I said I wanted to see Shador Sanders against a good defense goes up against the 49ers and aside from hitting a wideopen Harold Fannon wasn’t happening. So all right to a tongue of Aaloa. All right, we got to seriously have a conversation about this. is his play, is his lack of athleticism, is his physical regression that we’ve seen, is it holding back the Miami Dolphins offense? I mean, we saw the seeds being put out earlier in the season when they were struggling through the media by clearly Mike McDaniel’s PR team and it was all about I mean, you could tell they were laying the foundation to play the blame game. And I think now they legitimately might have a case here. You know, you could see it. It was being laid out early in the season. You know, you saw Pelisero Fowler. Well, he’s working with a limited quarterback. Well, he’s working with a guy who can’t take hits right now. Early on in the season when I was breaking down the film, you know, we’ve stopped the film breakdowns for the rest of the season because me and Neil had to move Finn too deep to Tuesday nights. film will return in the offseason and during uh next season. I’m not going to run film sessions on Thursday when we’re on to the next opponent. Just makes no sense. So, but when I was breaking down the film from earlier in the season, what was a narrative that I was constantly spitting out to all of you guys? It looked like he was playing scared. It looked like he was playing tentative was a word I was using a lot. And you can’t play this. You can’t play football afraid to take a hit. It ain’t going to work out for you, you know. And I think you’ve seen a physical regression, but something I’ve been hammering home all season when we were breaking down the film and since, and people are really only starting to talk about it the last couple weeks is you’ve seen a mechanical regression. And I’ve talked about this, him not working with Nick Hicks, him not working with 3D QP. It’s evident Nick Hicks, what do I talk about? Tu tongueo is not a great athlete. Two tongue has never been a great athlete. When you are not a great athlete, when you are not a good athlete in a game full of great athletes and freaks, athletic freaks is what I mean. Okay? You got to spend money on your body. Tom Brady did it. Drew Brees did it. You see greats in other sports do it. You know what I mean? I mean, LeBron, how much does LeBron spend on his body a year? Like four or five million. You know, CD Lamb came out. He spends like 1.3 million on his body every year. You got to spend money on your body. You and whether the Dolphins were asking to bulk up or whether they’re asking to lean out, there’s no denying, Nick Hicks got him in any shape they asked him to. Nick Hicks got the best out of Tua’s body. Nick Hicks had to a crisp fundamentally. Nick Hicks had to a crisp mechanically. I’ve said this before, you can say what you want about Nick Hicks. Whether you like him or don’t like him, it don’t matter to me. What matters to me is results. And we got the Let me put it this way. The results Tua was getting with Nick Hicks is why he got a $212 million deal. Well, I won’t say why. Part of the reason why. Obviously, there were other factors, but it it was a part of the reason why it was Nick Hicks and the work he was doing. Now, I’ve said this during the live stream. I’ll say it again. I know a bunch of stuff behind the scenes that I’m not going to divulge yet. Let this all go to the crapper and I’ll start talking. All right. On Patreon and for channel members, no problem. But a lot has gone on in the se behind the scenes and I said this yesterday. Okay, from my opinion, I don’t know if he’s going to be able to get it right. Just based on what I know and what’s going on behind the scenes, who’s in, who’s out, I don’t know if he’s going to be able to get it right. I really don’t. And that is worrisome to me. And what do I mean by I don’t know if he’s going to get it right? Is Tua going to be able to identify what needs to be worked on in his game? Is Tua going to be able to find the right trainers, the right coaches to work with? And then are the Dolphins going to prove it? Because remember, the Dolphins also had a say in this all situation when he signed that $212 million contract. You are now an insurance liability. They didn’t like Nick Hicks since Flores was there. It didn’t change when McDaniel was there. They were taking credit for things Nick Hicks was doing like the jiu-jitsu stuff. Now they want everything in house and they want everything approved and overseen by them. So I don’t know. And now when you dive into it, let’s dive a little deeper into this. Okay, let’s dive a little deeper into this. Look at what McDaniel said postgame yesterday. Let me play this for you guys. Yeah, I think um you’re you’re going to you’re not going to have Yeah, I ultimately um in the pass game there there were some plays that weren’t made that you know I wouldn’t say Tua played his best game. There was some there was some stuff that uh was him like the like the pick. He could have he could have thrown it to uh um Darren Waller. Um but he also had, you know, what uh Devon would would call um a very catchable touchdown uh pass that he dropped. Um and we had uh we had another drop. I think Julian had one. Um these are big-time plays uh that uh you you got to come up with. So, the guys know that. Um, I did feel in the pass game, uh, unlike the run game, I felt, uh, the by-week a little bit that was a little frustrating. All right. Um, listen, you know, I mean, he straight up I I don’t know why he’s crediting ach. That was a bad throw. All right. on that angle route that he should have taken to the house. That was a bad throw by Tua. Julian Hill, both things can be true. Was it a bad throw? Was it bad placement? Yes. Did Julian Hill get both hands on it? And should he have caught it? Yes. But at the same time, is it fair to expect Julian Hill to be that type of guy to bail out a bad throw when that’s never been part of his game? you know, that’s never been part of his game. So, I’m not going to sit here I’m not going to sit here and just blame everything on drops. I’m not. Tua was bad yesterday. They won in spite of Tua yesterday. And he’s been he wasn’t good against the Commanders either. And do we got to talk about the start of the season? How bad he was in the Colts game. I mean, look at that decision to throw that that that deep shot to Waddle. What are we thinking with a with a safety over top of that? Like, what are we doing now? The decision- making isn’t even good. We’re seeing a physical regression. We’re seeing a mechanical regression. And we’re seeing a regression in the decision-m right now. You got to give me something, bud. Cuz these are all the things that made you He wasn’t good against the Browns. He didn’t finish off drives when we needed them against the Patriots and such early in the season. I mean, that’s the scary thing. Coming into the season, if you told me to a tongue of low was going to be healthy for the whole season, if you told any of us, what 95% of us said, “Okay, we’re going to win 10 games.” This year, he’s been healthy and we’re seeing the worst football of his career. I mean, minus his rookie season. It’s not good right now. And you got to wonder, would someone else execute better in this offense? And the other thing, too, is ladies and gentlemen, he is a deer in headlights when pressure comes. And that’s a part of him being afraid to take a hit. That’s him a part of him playing afraid, playing tentative, playing scared to get hit, playing playing scared to get hurt. That’s why I mean, he’s just like he’s just, you know, it’s like a puppy dog when you walk up to it and they just roll over on the belly and they want you to scratch your belly. That’s basically what he’s doing when defenders, you know, break through the protection. He’s he’s he does not have the wiggle he had under Nick Hicks. I don’t care what anyone tries to tell me. He does he is not the athlete Nick Hicks had him as. And it looks like it. And I remember I was seeing earlier I remember after the Colts game I was like is this guy checked out? Like what’s going on here? I don’t know. And you know, it it doesn’t get any better really. Um, look at it where he ranks right now in EPA per play on a minimum of 150 dropbacks. Total low is 30th in the NFL. Tyrod Taylor is ahead of him right now. Jacobe Brassett’s ahead of him. Carson Wentz is ahead of him. Michael Pennix, who’s been awful, is ahead of him. Marcus Mariota, who you guys saw wasn’t that great. He’s been is ahead of him. Look, my boy Jackson dart at number 10. I love it. Huh? 30th in the NFL right now. 30th in the NFL in EPA play. Usually, this is a stat to in the top half of the NFL in and right now he’s 30th. Remember, there’s only 32 starters in the NFL. That’s usually a stat he excels in, you know, not good. Not good at all. Remember, I mean, just last year because he came off working with 3DQB, right? He came off working from 3DQB and um look what he did, you know. Um he put up the ninth highest EPA per play per drop back of the season in in week nine last year. Like that’s what I’m saying. He’s always been um he’s always been a high guy in EPA. That that’s never been an issue for him, right? I mean, like, you know, their passing play EPA in that week n match up I’m talking about against the Bills last year, that was the second best single game total posted against a Shawn McDermott defense. So you were even seeing him excel in EPA per play last year. I told you guys last year offseason he wasn’t working with Nick Hicks but he was working with 3DQB and so you saw the results right look at the six games he had when he came back from a concussion. I always talk about this stretch 1642 yards 13 touchdowns one pick 77 completion percentage 116.3 passer rating. Yeah, the Dolphins went three and three in those games, but it wasn’t a Tua problem, right? Most are fumbling against Arizona. A lot a lot of other issues, right? So, and then this is the one off seasonason he doesn’t work with 3DQB. He doesn’t work with perform. And look at the results we’re getting from an athletic standpoint, from a mechanical standpoint, from a production standpoint. Look at the results we’re getting right now. Like I think I think if he worked with Nick Hicks and 3D QB this off seasonason, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. I don’t even think we would be having this conversation right now. But we are. And now we are having this conversation. And now is he going to rectify this? No. Here’s the fact of the matter is we are six season in. No one knows his body better than Nick Hicks. Pause. From a physical athletic standpoint, are you going to start all over again? I don’t know. Yeah, I don’t know. It is what it is. Hey, we won. But if that was against a good team, we ain’t winning that game. All right, we got some injury updates from yesterday. Today, Mike McDaniel was in front of the podium and he said on the injury front, McDaniel said fullback Alec Engold uh he has a stinger. He’s dayto day. The Dolphins have three players on injured reserve now eligible to return. James Daniels, Andrew Meyer, and Jason Sanders. McDaniel indicated none would be designated to return this week. Man, I don’t think James Daniels is coming back. What a waste. On Austin Jackson performance, McDaniel said he exceeded expectations to a degree and made us better team. He was really good pass pro is a little rusty uh run sets. He was good. The Dolphins internal player to coach audio system failed before Mafit Patrick picked two interception return on the Saints two-point conversion that could have tied the score late. McDaniel before Monday’s team meeting credited Tyrell Dawson for organizing the Dolphins defense on that play setting the stage for Fitzpatrick’s interception. It felt the way Fred Warner was prepared week in and week out. McDaniel said of the 49ers stand out linebacker. He made a defensive call on a two-point conversion because he thought of all scenarios. It wasn’t only that play where Dodson made a great call. The last three games we are top three in the league in points allowed. There’s a lot of people responsible for that. He’s high on the list because he’s a quarterback of the defense. McDaniel on why he didn’t try more aggressively for a touchdown at the end of the first half. You try to end the half with points or the ball. Riley Patterson hit a 48 yard field goal, gave the Dolphins a 16 nothing lead. Um, McDaniel was pleased with how tight end Darren Waller played in his first game back. Um, McDaniel credited Fitzpatrick for monument monumental contributions week in and week out that the stat sheet doesn’t give him his due. Couple things here. Number one, Minka, you got to bring him back. They’ve moved him to the slot and he’s absolutely he’s killing it. I’m sorry, Kater, but Mink is that dude right now. I’m sorry, bro. Mink is that dude right now. All pro form. All right, McDaniel addressing taking the points at the end of the half, right? And for those who don’t remember what we what like you know what he’s talking about before the first half had ended right the Miami Dolphins were set up real real nice real real nice to head in with some re with with some more points. Um and remember we were from the 29 yd line right? Um and again nine yard run from Han. Then we went backwards at a two- yard loss and then Tua it just really felt it really felt like he he just didn’t want to trust Tua to throw an interception, right? Um you know so that’s what it felt like. That’s what it felt like. Um, don’t worry. I’m going to get to you guys questions before I end here. Maybe a crazy question, but if you were a head coach, what if you but if you were a head coach, would you evaluate Zach Wilson to start next week? No. I know what Zach Wilson is. No, you you listen, the only thing you the first of all, it would be Quinn Eurers. Second of all, the only time I’d go to Quinners is if we’re out of it in the last two to three weeks. If we were out of this, like if we lose to the Steelers and the Bengals or one of those two and we’re out. Let’s see what yours has the last two weeks. I’m getting ready to remove the name plate for my jersey if this doesn’t improve. Yeah, just go buy some Achan jerseys, brother. Just go buy some Han. Oh, we know what we know, brother. If you’ve watched, look at this. What are we talking about? What weapons? Tyreek ain’t here. We saw him play in the preseason. Zach Wilson isn’t good, dude. I know it. Zach Wilson had weapons in New York. What are we acting like? Zach Wilson hasn’t had weapons before. The guy had Bree Hall, Garrett Wilson, etc., etc. What are we talking about? We know what Zach Wilson is. He’s the same thing as he’s been since BYU. He can’t he he’s not a timing thrower. He can’t attack the middle of the field very well because he can’t anticipate windows very well. He’s not great from the pocket. Most of his great stuff comes out of structure. He’s BYU. He’s BYU. Like it he’s BYU. And I’ve known since training camp that the coaching staff was higher on Quinn Eur. The only reason this guy is quarterback two right now is because of the money that’s attached to him. If there was no money attached to Zach Wilson, it wouldn’t be in. No, we do not run a lot of stuff for mobile QBs. Again, you don’t even know what you’re talking about. We are a timingbased rhythmic offense that wants to threaten in the middle of the field. You have to throw. We are a West Coast offense. You got to look at what the traits are needed an asset of quarterbacks for West Coast offenses. Zack Wilson is not a he is not a pocket quarterback. And that Julian Hill drop was on to his placement. It doesn’t matter if you got legs or your mobile quarterback. That’s on ball placement. Give me a break. Come on. know what you’re looking at if you’re going to talk about this that why do you think they drafted Quinn Yurs because Quinn Users does everything Tua does accurate timing thrower middle of the field can attack and threaten the middle of the field. That’s what they want to do and then take the deep shots when they present themselves. The the problem with this offense is it asks a lot of quarterbacks and what it asks for quarterbacks and the traits needed to execute in this have never been strong points or strong suits of Zach Wilson’s game. And one off season isn’t going to change that. I told you guys all I told you guys all when we got him. Shawn Payeyton, Zach Wilson’s the better athlete, bigger arm, but yet they made Jared Stidum again for the second year in a row one of the top paid backup quarterbacks in the NFL. They let the better athlete with the bigger arm go. Why? Because he can’t pro it’s not up here. He’s not a good processor. Can’t anticipate, etc. We get into timing throws and all that stuff again. Shawn Peyton already told you what Zach Wilson was. If it was worth investing, Shawn Peyton wouldn’t have let him leave. I told you guys all this in the off season. I’d rather see see what Quinn Eurus has at this point. Real talk. Um, something else I wanted to discuss here. Let’s get into the PFF grades. Um, we’ll just go over them real real quick here. All right. Um, on offense, your top graded players, Cedric Wilson, Cole Strange, Greg Dolich, Devon Hen, Jaylen Wadd. Bottom graded guys, Julian Hill, Olly Gordon, Daniel Brunell, Nick Westbrook, Aeen, Dwayne Escridge. When you look at the passing, Tua, when he was kept clean, he was only nine of 18. That’s not good. Two drops. Justin completion percentage went up to 64.7. Under pressure, he was three of five. Not good. His NFL pass rating when he’s kept clean was 46.3. His time to throw was 2.45 seconds. That’s a lot longer than normal, too. Blocking. Look at that. Nine pressures allowed. Three by Jackson. Three by Patrick Paul. Two by Savanaya. One by Brewer. And those are all your pressures allowed. Your top graded defensive players, Minka, Jordan, Brooks, Zack Seer, Dante Trader, Tyler Dodson were your top five. Your bottom five, Jason Marshall Jr., Zeke Biggers, Bonito Jones, Matthew Judon, and Bradley Chub. And then your coverage matchups when you look at how it all went down. Razo Douglas targeted six times, allowed five receptions for 60 yards and a touchdown on a lav, but also had an interception on a lav. Jordan Brooks targeted five times, allowed five receptions for 41 yards. Tyrell Dodson targeted five times, allowed four receptions for 29 yards, and had the pass break up on Jawan Johnson. Jack Jones, he was targeted five times, allowed three receptions. Um, and he had the drop from a but also allowed a touchdown to Valle. M Fitzpatrick targeted three times, allowed three receptions for 18 yards. Willie Gay targeted twice, allowed one reception. Jawan Johnson targeted once, allowed one reception. And Matthew Judon targeted once, allowed one reception. Ephiat Malfano targeted once, allowed one reception for six yards to Jawan Johnson. And Chop Robinson was targeted once in coverage to Jawan Johnson and allowed the reception for seven yards. And finally here before I get out of here, should the Miami Dolphins pursue Brandon Auck? Now this excerpt is the Miami Dolphins could be the perfect landing spot for Auck if a couple scenarios unfold. Right now Miami is projected to be $796,455 over the 2026 salary cap. And that’s not ideal, right? Um it’s also part of the reason the Dolphins may split with Tyreek Hill. The Dolphins can save 36 million by releasing him post June 1st. While Aayak doesn’t have the same skill set, his ability to separate and create yards after the catch would make him a fine fit opposite of Wadd. That would be especially true if the Dolphins hang on to Mike McDaniel. Right. If McDaniel stays, Auk in Miami could be a nearperfect pairing. McDaniel spent two years with the receiver in San Francisco. One as a run game coordinator and one as the offensive coordinator before joining the Dolphins. Let me know in the comments down below. Do you want them to pursue Brandon Aayak? I mean, there’s a guy with size that we can finally add to this roster. Personally, unless it’s on the cheap, not so much for me. Not so much for me. Shout out to the homie coming through. I appreciate I appreciate I appreciate you, sir. Shout out to Finnhub for coming through. Appreciate you, sir. All right. Um, and finally, I want to shout out the sponsor of today’s video, and that of course is Sleeper. Listen, the NFL season. It is well, well underway, which means you have a chance to a thousand times your cash on daily fantasy football. And football has never been more exciting than it is now with players like Jackson Dart playing tonight. and so many more. Um, just pick on stats for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, all of that like touchdowns, passing yards, receiving yards, fantasy points, and more for up to a,000 times payout on Sleeper. Get your picks right and you could win big. Use promo code Finsside and you’ll get up to $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions do apply. see Sleeper’s terms of use for details. And if you sign up right now, you will get a free $20 deposited into your account courtesy of Sleeper just by using my promo code. So, go check out Sleeper tonight. And I’m taking Jackson Dart on the under tonight in terms of yards passing. Guys, do me the favor. Smash the like button. If you are new, go ahead and subscribe. I appreciate each and every one of you coming through. Tomorrow, we’ll be live with Neil Driscoll. Wednesday, Richmond, me and ball game. And then we got to get ready for a game this weekend. We got the Jets, baby. AFC’s rivalry. So, shout out to all of you. Smash the like button. If you’re new, go ahead and subscribe. Fins up all day, every day. We’ll catch y’all on the next one.

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On this episode of Phinside The NFL, Reason reacts to the fallout from the Miami Dolphins 21-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints in Week 13 of the 2025 NFL Season!

Has Tua’s regression in play become detrimental to the Miami Dolphins offense and is it holding them back?

Should the Miami Dolphins pursue Brandon Aiyuk?

Is Alec Ingold the latest Dolphin player set to miss some time?

Plus, we’ll discuss the Jabroni of the Week, Bradley Chubb and much more!

PHINS UP! SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON!

Time Stamps:

0:00 – Opening

0:40 – Intro

1:51 – Thoughts On Aaron Rodgers Calling Out Teammates, Resign De’Von Achane, Lions Claim Rucci & More

28:57 – Jabroni Of The Week: Alan Eck & His Referee Crew

33:34 – Is Tua Tagovailoa Holding The Miami Dolphins Back?

48:01 – Alec Ingold Injury Update, McDaniel Not Trusting Tua & More

55:37 – Miami Dolphins Week 13 PFF Grades

57:50 – Should The Miami Dolphins Pursue Brandon Aiyuk?

59:20 – Final Thoughts

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