During his media availability on Tuesday, for better or for worse, Tua revealed that he does keep receipts of the narratives surrounding him and the team, specifically those insinuating that he is a product of his environment. This is not the first time this season that Tua has publicly acknowledged his doubters and the narratives surrounding himself and the team. Still, just like in the past, his statement drew responses across the NFL world, including an emphatic one from Shannon Sharpe on First Take this morning.

There is no denying that Tua has his share of naysayers, but Shannon Sharpe delivered an emotional response after Tua’s statement directed toward those naysayers. Sharpe professed that we have seen his play without Tyreek Hill being a member of the Dolphins and that it would be a different story for Tagovailoa if Hill were not on the team. Sharpe also told Tua, “Don’t start pretending like you’re a top-three quarterback,” although, with his play this season, one could make the argument that Tagovailoa is amongst the best in the league.

This is a common assertion with Tua ever since he has been performing well with Tyreek Hill’s arrival to South Beach, but that doesn’t change just how wrong it is. During Sharpe’s emotional diatribe towards Tua, Dan Orlovsky and Damien Woody pushed back against Sharpe’s claims of Tua simply being a product of his environment and then puffing his chest after beating a bad Jets team. Woody pointed out that Tua did not just perform well against a bad team, but he performed well against a Jets team that possesses one of the best secondaries in football WITHOUT his so-called crutch in Tyreek Hill. Orlovsky, however, was much more emphatic in his defense of Tua and rebutted almost every argument Sharpe made- even refuting Sharpe’s claims that Tua performed poorly in the matchups against Kansas City and Tennessee.

What stood out the most during this segment, however, was Shannon Sharpe’s response when Dan Orlovsky tasked him with naming three Dolphins receivers Tua was throwing to prior to Tyreek Hill joining the team: Sharpe could not do it. He named Jaylen Waddle, who, of course, was not present for Tua’s rookie season, and that was it. The next receiver Sharpe named was Samie Parker, who last played in 2007 for the Chiefs and never once suited up for the Dolphins.

As the Dolphins get ready for the most important stretch of the season, the team and fans should let this serve as a reminder that the outside noise from the national media means nothing because it’s become clear narratives have taken priority over reality.