November Mailbag, Part I: Dolphins Future, Brandon Beane's GM'ing, more...
What does the future of Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa entail in South Florida. Also: Thoughts on the Bills, Packers, Caleb vs. Aikman, Denver's 8-2 start.
Winter is here.
Schedules are stiffening for a few contenders.
We’re about to see who’s legit and who should start booking trips to Cabo.
A ton of exceptional mailbag submissions from you all. I’ll divide into two parts.
First? We get to your questions on the Miami Dolphins, Brandon Beane’s maneuverings in Buffalo, Matt LaFleur’s playcalling, Homer Simpson’s coaching style, Caleb Williams skipping a pre-MNF meeting with Troy Aikman and Denver’s pass rush.
ICYMI, we’ve got fresh episodes of “Real Football” and the “Ty & Bob Pod” live for subscribers.
Tyler,
Bears fan here in Lexington, KY. Appreciate your honest coverage of the Bears and was obviously fascinated by the 3-part series in the preseason.
What do you make of the Caleb/Troy Aikman dust-up from a few weeks ago. What’s the real story there? What’s the typical protocol with those mid-week interviews? Did Caleb blow Troy off? Did PR team drop the ball? Was Troy being petty during the broadcast?
Ryan O’Gara
Appreciate you reading, Ryan. It’s been fascinating watching the Chicago Bears each drive, each week, all season long. Because when it’s nut-cutting time in the fourth quarter? When he’s got the freedom to play some backyard ball? Caleb Williams has been dynamite. Even those coaches on the ‘24 staff praised his improvisation in the 2-minute drill. They weren’t sure how sustainable it’d be long term. From what I’ve been told, Ben Johnson was not kept in the dark about those reported red flags around the QB, too. He knew what he was getting into. He implemented his scheme and — from Day 1 — it’s been incumbent upon Williams to keep up.
His play hasn’t always been pretty. But if the Bears keep forcing turnovers to keep these games close, they’ll keep giving Williams a chance to work his late-game magic.
Not a bad formula for the time being.
For those in the dark, Williams did not chat with ESPN’s Troy Aikman before the game. Which was very strange. All quarterbacks meet with all broadcast teams. When this whole thing blew up, I actually received a random text message from one PR exec on another team.