Dave Hyde | South Florida Sentinal Sun Dolphins Columnist

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Download the Odyssey app today. We're going to quickly turn our attention to South Florida and Dave Hyde, who covered the Dolphins win for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. And Dave, we're so glad to have a couple minutes with you. How does it change things to have two back on the field? How did it change things from the Dolphins tonight as he returns? Well, it's certainly the first drive you'd say they're back to being an inventive and functional offense.

He completed six of his first seven passes, including a touchdown, 68 yards. By the end of the first quarter, they had 10 first downs, which is second most by the franchise since 2000 and a quarter. But then the next three quarters, they had seven total first downs.

At the bottom line, it really didn't change much. They scored 16 points. The offense really hasn't scored all year more, except for Baltimore. The big game against Baltimore, big comeback. They haven't scored more than 17 points on offense, really, all year.

So they're putting up a lot of yards, not a lot of points. Outside of the struggles offensively, specifically in the second half, and that goes for Pittsburgh, too, what did the Dolphins have to say, though, about having two back on the field and seeing him healthy and what that means to them? Well, that's big for them, not only from the standpoint he's captain, he's their first quarterback, he's the guy who, when Mike McDaniel came aboard, that was project number one, to get his game straightened out, and they think they've done a pretty good job of that. It's telling that Brian Flores was on the other sideline and asked if they talked to us, and said no. It's big for the team, and it's equally big for the franchise, because they need to see Tua out there and know what they have in him.

At some point, the big contract's going to be in the air, and they want Tua to decide that with his play. It's certainly not for lack of weapons, right, because Raheem Mostert and Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle, and we see what these guys can do when the offense is in a rhythm. What explanation does McDaniel or anyone else give for what happens when they rack up all these yards, but can't capitalize on the opportunities? Yeah, they give all the similar answers, not one thing, it's not one person, I think McDaniel said tonight, there's not pixie dust, you can just blow in the air and put over the offense.

And they're right, there isn't one simple answer for what's going on here. When the other two quarterbacks were in there, it was similar things, they were moving the ball a lot. In the fourth quarter of the previous game against Minnesota, I think Teddy Bridgewater had a 133 quarterback rating in the fourth quarter, and yet they couldn't put the ball in the end zone enough. So that's the mystery of the Dolphins offense right now. Dave Hyde is with us fresh off covering Sunday Night Football.

Between the Dolphins and the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers, he's with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Obviously it was a strange and wacky last few weeks with the revolving door of quarterbacks, Skyler and Teddy Bridgewater, and then Skyler gets hurt and Bridgewater, I didn't even know Bridgewater was available last week and all of a sudden he's back out there on the field. How much does that have to do, in your opinion, with the fact that they haven't been able to settle into a groove or at least be able to put together a full 60 minutes of football? Certainly the last three weeks, since 2-0 went out in the Cincinnati game for sure, between who's the quarterback and who's in concussion protocol, and why is Teddy Bridgewater in protocol when he didn't have a concussion.

There's just all sorts of bizarre questions around the team, and then you get to the functioning and the day-to-day practice. That's why McDaniel thought Skyler Thompson was going to start the Minnesota game. He did start, the point being he practiced that week, and he thought that was more important than Teddy Bridgewater coming out of protocol on Saturday and being able to play Sunday. There's been a lot of moving parts and sensitive questions, but at the same time just practical questions on who to put behind the offense. That's why this week it was clear from the start, Tua was going to start and got all the practice necessary, and the offense was geared for him and all that good stuff. But really they were in the same place they've been before, where they move the ball, they look like they move the ball well, but they're not going in the end zone. The offensive struggles notwithstanding, the defense did come up with three interceptions, including one on the goal line on Pittsburgh's last-ditch opportunity, and holding an opposing team to 10 points. So there has to be some happiness, happiness is a weird word, but at least some excitement over the way the defense performed. Yeah, Mike McDaniel walked behind the podium and was asked about how he felt with the interception. He said, hooray. That sort of sums up the day. If you're a dolphin fan, hooray.

You won. You're 4-3. One of the problems in the last three games, they had given up the ball eight times and they had no takeaways. Well, tonight they had three takeaways, two in the last three minutes with interceptions of Kenny Pickett, and they didn't give the ball up. So there was some progress, and certainly it's a hooray night in that you come out with a win, but by week seven you're sort of seeing who the team is and where can they go.

After being 3-0, the thought was, hey, maybe something special is happening, but now you look at the offense, they have some problems they've got to solve right now. Hooray. Dave Heidt is with us here on After Hours CBS Sports Radio. After seven weeks and, of course, a preseason and a training camp, who is Mike McDaniel in your opinion, Dave?

Oh, he's fascinating. I really hope he succeeds because I hope there's a place in football for someone who is as open and quirky and humorous and at the same time really creative with how he sets up an offense as he is. So I hope for the last 20 years I've been covering the Dolphins, meeting people as the elevator is going down on careers for these coaches. I hope he makes it in that there's a place in football for someone with a fun personality like he has.

He definitely is unique. Speaking of personalities, it was really cool, I thought, to have the members of the 1972 team that could still be there honored on the 50th anniversary of that perfect season. What are your impressions, especially since you've covered the Dolphins for a long time? Yeah, I actually wrote a book on the 72 team called Still Perfect.

Here it is, 50 years are still perfect and the only ones. I think they're a treasure in South Florida. There's only a handful of teams you can point to the year or their name, the 27 Yankees, the Dream Team, the Miracle on Ice, the 1919 Black Sox for different reasons. How many teams can you single out like that and say they stand for something?

The 72 Dolphins stand for perfection, for winning every game. Here they are 50 years later, they're the only ones to have done it still. They're amazing guys and what they've gone on with their lives. You go down the list and they've gone on to make football pretty much a secondary part of their life in a lot of cases. Is it still really neat for them to get together as a group, whoever can be there? Oh, they love it.

Right now 17 players off the team have died and all the coaching staff. They're very appreciative of every five years or so coming together and getting to relive their achievements and to see each other. A lot of them keep in contact. One of the great stories, Bob Griese and Don Shuler used to go to the track every month and have lunch and make $5 bets. When Jim Kick was dying, Mercury Morris would visit him at his assisted living facility every few weeks, make an hour drive in. There's stories up and down the roster like that that they remained a team years after they quit playing. Dave Hyde is not only covering the Dolphins, but he's got time to write books. The one that he's referring to is still perfect is the story of the 1972 Dolphins that's been updated for their 50th anniversary. I see you've got a new one, a memoir coming out about Jimmy Johnson, the brand new Hall of Famer, who is such a case study.

That one's available next month for pre-order. You can find Dave on Twitter at DaveHydeSports with the South Florida Sun Sentinel. It's great to catch a couple minutes with you. Thanks so much for your time tonight.

Yeah, thanks, Amy. Thanks for having me on. Football season is here. The new Odyssey app lets you stay connected to your NFL team. Your station, your shows. Follow your favorite stations and come back again and again. Get real-time updates on everything you care about.

Miss your show? Jump back to their awesome rewind feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football. Live and on demand, wherever you are, whenever you want. And did we mention it's all free? Download the Odyssey app today. The Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from.