Tag: OJ McDuffie

A terrific Tuesday for Dolphins from ‘Tank’ to television

Dolphins, new and old, were providing entertainment on Tuesday.

It’s been a great start to a pre-holiday week for the Miami Dolphins and their fan base. Not only did the Dolphins shut out their AFC East rival New York Jets on Sunday 30-0, victory Monday was fantastic, but it might not compare to how terrific Tuesday was.

Many in this Dolphins universe of die-hard fans started Tuesday morning with “The Fish Tank,” a podcast hosted by Seth Levit and the 1998 NFL receptions leader, former Dolphins wide receiver OJ McDuffie.

“Marino to McDuffie” was the common phrase in the mid-late 1990s, as the Hall of Fame quarterback took his long-awaited dive into the popular Dolphins podcast.

The show was a trip down memory lane which is a must-listen for any Dolphins fan, as the trio, including Marino, talked about all things from coach Don Shula, the Marks Brothers, and in a personal favorite moment, his connection and reliance on McDuffie. Hearing Marino directly tell McDuffie about his faith in him, no doubt pulled on the emotional strings of fans of a certain age.

It came full circle in talking about the current Dolphins, and, as each episode concludes with a famous end segment, it gave us all a chance to watch (and listen to) Dan the Man work one final two-minute drill.

The quarterback with 47 game-winning drives in his career, danced around the blitz of questions with 120 seconds on the studio clock, and per usual, he delivered, in typical Marino fashion.

If that wasn’t fun enough, the day turned to night, and HBO’s “Hard Knocks” took over Dolphins fans’ televisions and social media channels. Following the win, and two games removed from that miserable Monday Night Football loss to the Tennessee Titans, Tuesday’s episode was welcoming.

It featured a segment on Tik-Tok star through a relationship with Braxton Berrios, a lifelong Dolphins fan and former Jet, who signed with Miami last offseason. Staying with social media, Pinecrest Elementary school teacher Mary Martinez has been making waves in the Dolphins community with her mathematics methods, mixing Miami players in her lesson plans. The Miami-based teacher was also highlighted in Tuesday’s episode.

Martinez has been tracking Tyreek Hill’s pace to 2,000 receiving yards and integrates her class in finding the average yards needed per game to hit that magic number. Bravo to Ms. Martinez and her class and school.

Speaking of class, it was in session when Mike McDaniel hit the film in the Dolphins lecture hall. McDaniel pointed out his own and players’ mistakes, leading to a theme of accountability that even he recognizes and possesses as a head coach.

When talking about accountability, the financial focus shifts to the literal and figurative elephant in the locker room – Christian Wilkins. A polarizing player lately in terms of his value, worth and future in Miami, the main feature of “Hard Knocks” was his teammate and defensive line brother Zach Sieler.

Without any teasing of this aspect of the episode, from the Sieler family to the Wilkins comradery, just tune in if you missed it.

The duo is a team within a team within a unit, and it’s evident that they have chemistry you simply can’t buy or replicate. Yet, you can retain and build around it. The Dolphins have a major decision to make with Wilkins, as they extended Sieler earlier this season.

Wilkins is having a career year after betting on himself following a summer contract conundrum. Both he and his camp have decisions to make as well, as the combo of him and Seiler could just be too good and unique to pass up.

As the show was wrapping up with highlights of the Dolphins grounding the Jets, the night ended as the day started – with Dan Marino, who was in the locker room, celebrating the win, when from his blind side came a near-sack surprise.

Although the game was over for Wilkins, and it’s been a minute since Marino was wrapped up by a defensive lineman, the big man bear-hugged the former gunslinger for a postgame quarterback hit.

And, in pure Marino fashion, he stayed up, didn’t flinch, and delivered a touchdown pass of a podcast…despite Wilkins being all over the greatest Dolphin to ever do it.

What a day, what a night, what a team.

Mike McDaniel talks relationships and dreams on ‘The Fish Tank’

It’s impressive to see how the coach’s mind works.

With summer break officially underway for the Miami Dolphins organization, that doesn’t mean the fan base will be without the popular podcast, “The Fish Tank.” Hosts Seth Levit and O.J. McDuffie welcomed in the first Dolphins’ head coach to “dive in” to the popular show.

Adding to the normal and entertaining “tales from the deep” of Dolphins lore, Levit and McDuffie have recently added current Dolphins players to the show repertoire, and on Tuesday landed the big fish – Mike McDaniel.

Although seemingly an out-of-water situation for the rookie head coach, McDaniel details his story and rise to the guys, and as the show goes on, more clarity is provided on why McDaniel not only was born to coach but more importantly, he was born to lead.

Leadership and understanding the responsibility of controlling the livelihoods and dreams of his players were themes of McDaniel’s dive into his football journey.

Another aspect that was consistent with McDaniel was the “team” and the importance of all the components of the organization.

“The way I see it, is to serve everyone that’s working for you,” he explained. “Because you are, quite literally, vulnerable to what they’re able to do… it’s too big of an undertaking to do anything close to it being one person.”

McDaniel’s awareness of the scope of his new role is very present, and he knows what he’s responsible for.

In a truly impactful moment of the show, he describes how he views his job, saying, “Never stray from that idea that ‘hey, you have the power to participate in, be a part of, and your job is to really do everything you can to really maximize what people are able to get out of their dreams.’”

It’s a dream he had as a kid, where he hoped of one-day leading football players, instead of collecting their trading cards. We learned that his favorite card growing up was his Barry Sanders rookie card, and, believe it or not, he even exited the tank with a few cards from the hosts.

Back to the job of being head coach, McDaniel was aware of his delegation duties to his staff, saying “You have the power to give them (coaches) the tools they need to do their job.”

As a unit, McDaniel said that the staff and players had a successful offseason to date. And, since McDaniel’s arrival in South Florida, the needle has certainly been moving north.

He told the guys with confidence, “For what we’ve accomplished from February 7, when I got my feet on the ground to now, very pleased with where we’re at.”

The process in how they achieved this could have a lot to do with how McDaniel interacts with his players.

“I fully invest in people and try to get the best out of them, and that authentic intention, so-to-speak, I think goes a lot further than people give it its due,” McDaniel said.

Beyond that poignant quote from the Yale history major who seemed to minor in Documentaries once Netflix popped up, McDaniel realizes how important each and every relationship is with his students.

“The player-to-coach relationship is so sacred,” he said. McDaniel even went as far as to say that players, “Can smell a fraud a mile away.”

McDaniel is far from it, as his acumen, uniqueness, quirkiness and plain likability are all welcomed attributes not seen in Miami (combined in one) in quite some time.

This episode of “The Fish Tank” was full of laughs, motivation and, most importantly, the realization that with hard work, dreams could actually come true. What may be the best part about McDaniel is that even at the start of his own dream, it appears he’s ready to pay it forward to his staff and players to make sure they maximize theirs.

That’s a leader, folks.

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Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are just the newest dynamic duo in Miami

This isn’t something new for the Dolphins.

In what seemed like the timing of a bolt of lightning, a blockbuster trade gave the Miami Dolphins arguably the league’s most exciting wide receiver duo.

Miami has had its fair share of dynamic duos in the franchise’s history, yet a pair of superheroes like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle may just be the best pair of aces this team has ever had. 

Potentially. 

There are months to go before seeing if the proof is in the pudding and not just on paper. Dolphins fans need to see it on the field, and September can’t come soon enough. 

Looking back in Dolphins’ lore, here is a sample of some of the top wide receiver duos to wear aqua and orange, in chronological order.

Long-time Dolphins columnist relives funny Don Shula story

Long-time Dolphins columnist relives funny Don Shula story

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The Miami Dolphins bid farewell to one of the all-time greats this summer with the passing of coach Don Shula. Shula, to this day, holds the NFL record for most career wins — a feat that has stood since 1995 and has only a handful of possible challengers at this point in time. Shula, who watched over the Dolphins over the course of three decades, was known for his stern approach and disciplined mentality. His pursuit of perfection brought the Dolphins exactly that back in 1972 — and Shula’s teams evolved with the eras.

Long-time Miami Dolphins columnist Dave Hyde joined ‘The Fish Tank’ podcast, hosted by former Dolphins receiver O.J. McDuffie and Seth Levit, and Shula came up during the course of the show — and Hyde provided a terrific recollection of one of his interactions with Shula during their mutual time around the Dolphins.

You can hear Hyde’s hilarious recollection of Shula confronting him over a critical column about the Dolphins below:

 

Hear former Dolphins WR OJ McDuffie relive NFL Draft night experience

Hear former Dolphins WR OJ McDuffie relive NFL Draft night experience

The 2020 NFL Draft will open two weeks from tomorrow — ushering with is the start of hundreds of new NFL careers. And as things currently stand, no one is set to welcome more players into the NFL than the Miami Dolphins, who are scheduled to pick 14 times before this year’s draft is said and done. If it sounds like an impressive number, it is because it is. And each of these added talents is going to have a unique draft day experience — although probably not as unique as the one experienced by former Dolphins standout receiver OJ McDuffie.

McDuffie recalled his personal NFL Draft experience for the Dolphins and lets just say the NFL Draft is a bit more mainstream than it was when McDuffie got the call in 1993.

“…I knew I wasn’t going in the top 20. So after a long night at Penn State, I drove home. And what’d I do? I took a nap!”

Imagine hearing this story during the first round of this year’s NFL Draft, if you can. To McDuffie’s credit, everyone passes the time differently, but a nap while waiting to get drafted is an impressive feat.

McDuffie would go on to log over 5,000 receiving yards for the Dolphins and 29 receiving touchdowns over his 8 seasons with the team. McDuffie appeared well on his way to having an even more successful and prosperous career too — before a nagging toe injury forced him into early retirement at the age of 31. It’s hardly the ending that anyone involved on that draft night phone call in 1993 wanted, but McDuffie would still finish his career as the man who caught the third highest percentage of passes from Dan Marino and successfully logged a 1,000 yard season in 1998.