DAVIE – Admit it.
You were shocked to see Charles Clay getting his Gronk on during Sunday's 24-21 win over the Seahawks.
You couldn't believe this much-hyped Dolphins "weapon" finally started to produce in a way commensurate with his multifaceted talents.
Confession: I was right there with you.
Six targets, six catches, including the game-tying touchdown from 29 yards out in the fourth quarter.
Eighty-four receiving yards, 15 more than his previous best.
What took him so long, right?
"We've been waiting on that," Dolphins linebacker Karlos Dansby said. "Been waiting on him to explode and have a breakout game. He got inspired. Played exceptional. He'll be a threat the rest of his career."
Considering Clay is in just his second NFL season after being drafted in Round 6 out of Tulsa, that was quite a statement.
Then again, who knows better than Dansby and his fellow linebackers what it's like to cover Clay?
Here's a hint: It's not easy.
"He's a great challenge for us in practice," Dansby said. "Every day we're foaming at the mouth to get an opportunity to check him because we know the potential he has and how good he can really be."
We have seen flashes of that potential over Clay's first two seasons.
There was a three-catch, 50-yard introduction at Kansas City in the blowout win that ended last year's 0-7 start.
He followed that up two weeks later with a four-catch, 69-yard showing in a runaway against Buffalo. That included his first NFL touchdown.
A pair of 1-yard, goalline flips against the Patriots and Jets ended Clay's rookie season, while this year brought a 31-yard touchdown grab a few weeks ago at Indianapolis.
However, Clay also had far too many afternoons when he went AWOL, where the simple act of looking the ball into his sizable mitts seemed beyond him.
In 18 of his first 25 pro games – he was inactive against the Jets in Week 3 – he totaled one or zero catches.
Entering Sunday, 31 passes had been directed his way as a Dolphin. He'd dropped eight of them – more than 25 percent – including five of the 16 he'd been thrown this year.
For someone with his skill set, that's inexcusable.
