Fast, faster, fastest.
How fast is the Made in Miami football brand?
Bengals cornerback DJ Ivey, who went to college there at the U so his mother could see him play, grew up about an hour to the south in Homestead. That's where she was known to run with him down the sidelines on his little league touchdown runs.
And Tonya Watts, a Hall-of-Famer at Miami Southridge Senior High School who held the school's mile record, probably got to the end zone first.
That's fast.
When the Bengals play in Miami Sunday (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Local 12), they know the Dolphins are bringing that same style of sizzling swag in the citadel of speed.
There is wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and his 4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash coming out of Alabama. There is running back De'Von Achane and his 4.32 at his NFL scouting combine. There is returner and receiver Malik Washington with his 4.4 combine.
"There's always a lot of fast guys coming out of Miami," Ivey. "They (the Dolphins) seem to pride themselves on speed. They've got a lot of fast guys,"
Speed and the heat. Miami football, says Bengals safety Jordan Battle, who had his heart torn out in Hard Rock once after growing up a half-hour to the north in Fort Lauderdale. It's more about attitude and foritude. Brashness and bigness. Remember, Ali won his first heavyweight title there.
"Chasing rabbits growing up?" says Battle when asked about the Miami speed. "Running track translates to the football field. If you're the fastest guy on the field, it makes it easier. The speed is insane. (The Dolphins) are all about speed. They're (Waddle and Achane) both fast. Both from Texas. It's a Texas vs. Florida competition. Going back to my high school days right now."
Bengals rookie defensive lineman Shemar Stewart, who played his high school ball there, drove past Hard Rock every day to get to Monsignor Edward Pace. His grandmother lives just down the road.
"Growing up and playing football in Miami is different," Stewart says. "The whole community comes out. Everyone. Grandmothers, moms, aunties. Everybody comes out. It's like a whole big gathering. It's showtime every time you're on the field. It's always packed."
Stewart, their first-round pick, has the timing of a showman. He's looking at coming off injured reserve Sunday, just in time for "a welcome home moment for me."
Battle's dad is a longtime basketball coach who played in the area, so he lived it every day.
"Miami, Florida mentality. Dogs. Dogs," Battle says. "It's sports or nothing, to be honest. Whatever sport you play, stick with it. Give it a hundred percent. My dad would never let me slack in a sport. When I was playing basketball, you're going to stay longer than everybody else, you're going to make sure you're good at it because you're not going to embarrass me or your name. A championship mentality."
Battle played for a national championship at Hard Rock. The 2020 crown Alabama grabbed from Ohio State, 50-24, when Battle got ejected in the second quarter for leading with the crown of his helmet and hitting Ohio State tight end Jeremy Rucket in the facemask area.
"I was crying. I was playing pretty well. We still blew them out," Battle says. "This is my get-back game."
Everybody, it seems, knows everyone else in Miami football. Remember whenever the Bengals' and Liberty City's Chad Johnson would play a fellow Miamian, he always seemed to be a cousin? One of those cousins, former Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle, coached Battle during high school in a seven-on-seven league. Battle knew of Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown's monstrous numbers because their fathers were pretty close.
Ivey was coached growing up by "The Chief." Pete Taylor, the chief of police in Florida City, is the son of the late Washington safety and University of Miami great Sean Taylor. Ivey grew up watching those fabulously popular University of Miami teams with guys like Taylor and Antrel Rolle. Sean Taylor was always meeting and greeting kids in the community. The little players. Ivey talked to him and he's still got his autograph somewhere.
"It was a different feeling when he passed away," Ivey says.
So not all that crazy for Ivey to stay home and play in front of the fam at Hard Rock. Look at how they designed the stadium, he says. The visitors on the sidelines of the ubiquitous Miami sun. The home team in the shade.
"We would use it to our advantage. Wear them down," Ivey says. "I started hydrating Monday."
He ran a defiant 4.46 himself when he didn't get invited to the combine and a 2023 seventh-rounder, Ivey has been mainly a punt gunner these past two seasons, but now with Cam Taylor-Britt on IR, he's been seeing more time in the dime.
But he'll have his eye Sunday on the quicksilver Malik Wliiams, a guy that returned a punt for a touchdown earlier this season and is chewing up more than 13 yards each return
Plenty to play for despite no playoffs. Tonya Watts is still working heading up security at Homestead Middle School.
"Maybe the second contract," says Ivey of possible retirement. He knows as a seventh-rounder, that's no given. "Anytime you go out there, you want to put something good on film. We're still providing for our families."
Despite all the speed the Dolphins have, they don't have Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II, who hails from Atlanta. He won the 2023 combine 40 at 4.26, edging Achane. The Bengals aren't exactly sloths. At that same combine, Bengals running back Chase Brown ripped off 4.43.
But, "No one cares what you ran in the 40 on Sundays," Turner says.
Still, he's quite mindful of Waddle and Miami head coach Mike McDaniels' gadgets and those swirling array of motions that will no doubt be clicked up for rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers making his first NFL start.
"Maybe. No telling," Turner says. "Stay disciplined. That's the hardest thing. Whatever your key is, look at that. They're going to give you a different look."
Stewart has seen this look.
"If you were able to grow up and play in all those big games through your life in Miami," he says, "you're ready for anything."
The temperature is supposed to hit 82. Ivey's mother can't run with him Sunday because she'll be in the stands with about 20 family and friends.
Showtime. Just another game in Miami?
"You're right," says Ivey as the hometown kid chases a second contract. "Fastest guy wins in the sun. Let's get it."
