Speaker 1: To remove gall in deep speedwas peace do hell peas.
Speaker 1: From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1: He's got my advands in the playoffs. What is up Dolphins?
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast. I am your host,
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, the Dolphins drop a heartbreaker,
Speaker 1: a crushing defeat that felt like it was ours to
Speaker 1: have Dolphins fall thirty twenty seven.
Speaker 2: They dropped to two and six on the season.
Speaker 1: They played a brand of football that looks a lot
Speaker 1: more like the Dolphins you've come to know over the
Speaker 1: last few years. But now the margin for air is
Speaker 1: super super thin at two and six. We'll break down
Speaker 1: the key moments to the big picture takeaways. We'll cover
Speaker 1: this game from every single angle from the Baptist Studios
Speaker 1: inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft
Speaker 1: Time Podcast, another Miami Dolphins. Let's go ahead and get
Speaker 1: to the stats in this game. And when I read you, guys,
Speaker 1: these stats are gonna say, Wow, the Dolphins beat the
Speaker 1: Bills on the road, didn't they? But they did not
Speaker 1: because they really outperformed Buffalo by many many metrics in
Speaker 1: this one twenty six first downs of twenty four. The
Speaker 1: Dolphins were four for eight on third down Buffalo five
Speaker 1: for ten. Both teams were one for one on fourth downs.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins had three hundred and seventy three yards of
Speaker 1: total offense, which actually was over four hundred prior to
Speaker 1: that Waddle play at the end of the game where
Speaker 1: he lost a bunch of yards trying to run around.
Speaker 1: The Bills had three twenty five. The passing was pretty even,
Speaker 1: two thirty one to two twenty four. Again, Miami would
Speaker 1: have clipped that had that last play not happened. A
Speaker 1: buck forty nine on the ground for the Dolphins, ninety
Speaker 1: four for the Bills, sixty plays to fifty nine. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins turned over once, the Bills turned it over once.
Speaker 1: Both teams were sacked once. The Dolphins had eight penalties
Speaker 1: for fifty seven yards, Buffalo four for forty and Miami
Speaker 1: had the football for about thirty two minutes, just a
Speaker 1: little bit less than thirty two minutes in this game.
Speaker 1: And I just wanted to look at these last few
Speaker 1: Dolphins drives going back the last two weeks. Here's what
Speaker 1: it looks like going back to the Cardinals game, touchdown,
Speaker 1: field goal, punt, field goal, touchdown, safety, touchdown, punt, punt,
Speaker 1: field goal, touchdown, fumble, field goal, touchdown, touchdowns, fifteen drives,
Speaker 1: six touchdowns, and four field goals, So scoring drives on
Speaker 1: sixty six percent of your drive drives. That's twenty seven
Speaker 1: points per game, obviously, but points per game is a
Speaker 1: stat that you need context behind, because typically most games
Speaker 1: have ten to twelve drives per game in them, ten eleven, twelve,
Speaker 1: whatever that might be. But the Dolphins have gotten seven
Speaker 1: and a half drives per game, and sure part of
Speaker 1: that has to do with our offense being able to
Speaker 1: kind of take the air out of the proverbial football
Speaker 1: and milk the clock that way. But man, that is
Speaker 1: three point six points per drive and the NFL average
Speaker 1: is two points for drive. So they're scoring like one
Speaker 1: and a half times more. Is that the right math?
Speaker 1: Double one and a half times more than what an
Speaker 1: average offense is doing right now? The offense that we
Speaker 1: that I talked about all off season, how excited I
Speaker 1: was for the extra pieces, the offensive line that I
Speaker 1: thought did a good job of retaining continuity and chemistry
Speaker 1: up front, All of this has shown up the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, and this deep backfield is providing a
Speaker 1: compliment this offense, I would say even last year didn't
Speaker 1: have with their ability to milk out long drives and
Speaker 1: get tough yards and move the football that way.
Speaker 2: But such as life in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Because the offense going on this heater pairs up with
Speaker 1: the defense having their worst two game stretch of the season.
Speaker 2: Again, such as life in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Just these little fine margins, man, not a huge difference
Speaker 1: between two and six. And let's just say you know
Speaker 1: a superior record because you can point back to you
Speaker 1: can point back to the fumbles the last few weeks.
Speaker 1: You know, the snap, the failed snap in the end
Speaker 1: zone for a safety, the fumble going into Bill's territory
Speaker 1: today with a lead in the game, potentially a two
Speaker 1: score lead in a game where you would score the
Speaker 1: rest of your drives the rest of the way out
Speaker 1: the Colts game. Two fumbles that gave the Colts a
Speaker 1: tying touchdown drive, and a fumble at the eleven yard
Speaker 1: line when you're about to go in for your own go.
Speaker 2: Ahead touchdown drive. So I can look.
Speaker 1: At three plays in three games and say, if those
Speaker 1: are just different the Dolphins are probably five and three,
Speaker 1: but again, that's not how this league works. You have
Speaker 1: to finish your plays and make your plays. But it's
Speaker 1: worth noting how the Dolphins have just really kind of
Speaker 1: you know, errors aside shooting yourself in the foot of side,
Speaker 1: just come up short on a few critical plays and
Speaker 1: put them in a very tough spots. Go ahead and
Speaker 1: cover this game top to bottom, and I have a
Speaker 1: lot of notes in this one because I was having fun.
Speaker 1: It was fun to watch the Dolphins on this Sunday
Speaker 1: compete against another top level team, a top level quarterback
Speaker 1: that has given us issues for years. I thought the
Speaker 1: Dolphins showed themselves in a road environment and competed their
Speaker 1: butts off offensively, loud, raucous crowds that converted critical third
Speaker 1: and fourth downs. We'll get to all that here shortly,
Speaker 1: because the game began with a Buffalo three and out,
Speaker 1: a three play, three yard drive where Emmanuel Agba really
Speaker 1: understood his role today as that forced defender off the edge.
Speaker 1: He said it hard edges all game long on the
Speaker 1: third to set up a third down play. On this
Speaker 1: particular drive, he has a second downplay where he creates
Speaker 1: a third down by a very hard edge that creates
Speaker 1: a situation for Chop Robinson to get a very quick
Speaker 1: pressure on Dion Dawkins, who he beat several times in
Speaker 1: this game with speed to power, taking him right back
Speaker 1: into the quarterback sped Allen up on this drive. He
Speaker 1: throws it away and the Dolphins are off the field
Speaker 1: straight away. Dolphins get the ball back themselves and we
Speaker 1: go punt as well with a five play twelve yard
Speaker 1: drive where Austin Jackson gave up the inside post on
Speaker 1: the play that tu Would dropped the snap on. He
Speaker 1: ends up eating the sack. It's a seven yard loss.
Speaker 1: After Miami ope with a first down, we did get
Speaker 1: back into the count and I love the offensive game
Speaker 1: plan all day. It'll be a point of contention on
Speaker 1: the end of the podcast. Are the takeaways I should
Speaker 1: say where Obj makes a catch to create a third
Speaker 1: and eleven, and then we get Tyreek on a little
Speaker 1: like stick nod but not really a stick nod where
Speaker 1: he puts his foot in the ground and gets back
Speaker 1: up the seam on the glance route widen the cornerback
Speaker 1: and creates a window. The ball is there, but Tyreek
Speaker 1: cannot make the catch and it is punting time. But
Speaker 1: then it's the only punt of the day, and it's
Speaker 1: a short punt followed by a thirty yard return that
Speaker 1: once again gives the Bills a short field. Like we
Speaker 1: talked about all week long, you can't do this and
Speaker 1: give thee this team short fields. And they paid off
Speaker 1: with not a touchdown but a field goal on a
Speaker 1: seven play, fifteen yard drive, a drive that began at
Speaker 1: the plus thirty seven yard line. You got yourself into
Speaker 1: a third and four situation, but they go back to
Speaker 1: their mister reliable and Khalil Shaker, who has a catch
Speaker 1: and moves the chains.
Speaker 2: On that third and four.
Speaker 1: They run a quick running play and a quick game
Speaker 1: throw that sets up another third medium at the plus
Speaker 1: sixteen and Emmanuel Ogba overpowers this crackback block on a
Speaker 1: Josh Allen sweet play that is the exact same play
Speaker 1: on tape that the Cardinals ran last week with Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray to clinch that game. But Ogba took this and
Speaker 1: stretched out the pocket man. Some of these right handed quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: they want to get loose to their right because they
Speaker 1: are most dangerous when they have a head of steam
Speaker 1: towards the lion scrimmage and you force them to bubble
Speaker 1: on that route, which Agba did. It makes for a
Speaker 1: tough spot and he gets a big TfL and brings
Speaker 1: the big fellow down for a huge loss. That's two
Speaker 1: drives with eighteen yards allowed, a defensive win. But Buffalo
Speaker 1: would find their footing later on in the game. They
Speaker 1: take a three other lead here, almost get the football
Speaker 1: back and take a nine play forty nine yard field
Speaker 1: goal drive where they just put themselves in it behind
Speaker 1: the chains once again, but they on and behind the
Speaker 1: chains play on third and eleven. They throw this middle
Speaker 1: screen to Raheem Moster who puts a shoulder down and
Speaker 1: runs over Taylor Rap and it was a Buffalo blitz
Speaker 1: and Miami had the right call at the right time
Speaker 1: to get him into space to create a long catch
Speaker 1: and run. There was a flag on Taylor Rap for
Speaker 1: getting truck sticked. I don't know why that was called.
Speaker 1: We thought it was going to be on Raheem for
Speaker 1: lowering the crown of the helmet, which they also like
Speaker 1: never call that. But I couldn't believe that was fifteen yards.
Speaker 1: But hey, we're gonna take it because we got great
Speaker 1: blocks by John uy Smith League, Washington Jalen Waddle. I
Speaker 1: thought Miami's entire receiving a tight end room did a
Speaker 1: pretty damn good job today. In the blocking game, it's
Speaker 1: the attack on fifteen yards. It puts us to the
Speaker 1: plus forty five. A chan catches a rail and goes
Speaker 1: for you know, ten yards. After a running play with
Speaker 1: that to put it the plus twenty nine yard line,
Speaker 1: you get nine more yards. Miami consistently got seven eight
Speaker 1: nine yards in a first down in this game, and
Speaker 1: it made it pretty pretty easy. But then you go
Speaker 1: third and one and you run that like up back dive,
Speaker 1: which worked twice against the Jags on opening Day, and
Speaker 1: it worked for the Ingle touchdown against the Patriots. But
Speaker 1: other than that, that play has been tough sledding. And
Speaker 1: later in the game they executed a third and short
Speaker 1: run by just doing the traditional running game. So it
Speaker 1: kind of feels like when they just go with their
Speaker 1: bread and butter and what they have blocked really well
Speaker 1: all year long, it tends to move the chains. And
Speaker 1: I love the idea of mixing things up and being
Speaker 1: multiple and how you can attack, but it kind of
Speaker 1: seems like that play has been a little bit fit
Speaker 1: figured out I'll be curious see how the Dolphins are
Speaker 1: just based upon that, if they can execute it next time,
Speaker 1: or if there's a wrinkle off that just thought it
Speaker 1: was worth mentioning that play seems to have kind of
Speaker 1: stalled out a little bit on those third and short situations.
Speaker 1: But I just think you have to find a way
Speaker 1: to convert in that spot because again, against that team
Speaker 1: and that environment, and I've talked about it in every
Speaker 1: Bills matchup, you can get Buffalo to like kind of
Speaker 1: go into the tank for a little bit offensively in
Speaker 1: terms of multiple drives in a row where they're not
Speaker 1: clicking and they're not firing in all cylinders and converting
Speaker 1: first downs and putting points on the board. But it
Speaker 1: just felt like, in that moment, third and one at
Speaker 1: the twenty yard line about to be in the red zone,
Speaker 1: you gotta find a way to get you know, that
Speaker 1: first down at least to give yourself a chance at six.
Speaker 1: They do not, But I just love the sequencing and
Speaker 1: the game plan in this part of the game to
Speaker 1: take the run game, take the short quick game stuff,
Speaker 1: and be a very efficient offense. Which we'll come back
Speaker 1: to that more in just a moment.
Speaker 2: So the bill.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins and Bills tied it three after this, and
Speaker 1: then Buffalo goes down the field and you can't help
Speaker 1: but feel like, here we go again, right But it
Speaker 1: says to eight play fifty nine yard drive. It takes
Speaker 1: four and a half minutes off the clock, and they
Speaker 1: throw a quick slamp to key On Coleman, who can't
Speaker 1: handle it. And you know Ramsey is beat on the play.
Speaker 1: But this is where effort wins. Like a lot of
Speaker 1: picks happen because of effort, guys running after the football,
Speaker 1: and Ramsey didn't give up on the play.
Speaker 2: He stays in tow and I think if he's not there.
Speaker 1: Coleman re catches this ball because he double caught it
Speaker 1: and had a chance at it, but Ramsey said, no, sir,
Speaker 1: I am here. I am going to take that ball
Speaker 1: from you. He rips it away for the pick and
Speaker 1: the Dolphins proceed to have by far their best drive
Speaker 1: of the entire season, fourteen plays, ninety seven yards, eight minutes,
Speaker 1: twenty one seconds of game clock, exhausted and capped off
Speaker 1: by a fourteen yard touchdown pass from Tua to Devon
Speaker 1: a chan where you get this offensive line, guys, I don't.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can't. We'll talk about it on the
Speaker 1: film tomorrow. It's every guy. Every guy's playing well on
Speaker 1: that offensive line right now. They got great surge, a
Speaker 1: good run behind Brewer, Lee and Jackson Ingle to key
Speaker 1: block that gets Raheem Most at seventeen yards downhill. They
Speaker 1: take a toss sweep wide for ten more yards to
Speaker 1: Raheem Most. It were Meleik and Waddle hit big blocks
Speaker 1: off the perimeter to seal that lane. They go four
Speaker 1: straight runs to open the drive. They lost a yard,
Speaker 1: and then they went four plays for twenty seven yards.
Speaker 1: Rather they went four places twenty seven yards. Let's see
Speaker 1: if that softens up a little bit. I'm writing my
Speaker 1: notes live as I'm watching this game. And we then
Speaker 1: take advantage of them paying their ears back when they
Speaker 1: blitz it on second eleven after a loss on that
Speaker 1: fourth run for a yard with a little flip screen
Speaker 1: inside to John uy Smith. It goes against a five
Speaker 1: man rush, which gives them less guys to tackle on
Speaker 1: the back end, and we get ten yards. Third and
Speaker 1: one eighth traditional run behind Toron Armstead. He takes his
Speaker 1: man all the way out of the B gap. He
Speaker 1: was out leveraged, but hit the key block and it
Speaker 1: freeze a lane for eight Hn to convert for a
Speaker 1: first down. They get the ball at midfield, they throw
Speaker 1: that slant to the X. In this position, it was
Speaker 1: OBJ to the short side of the field, and good
Speaker 1: on OBJ for winning that route because it was inside leverage.
Speaker 1: Tua puts the ball right where it has to be.
Speaker 1: He knows he has a hit coming from the front
Speaker 1: end the back. He makes the tough catch and we
Speaker 1: get upfield again. And then two had I thought one
Speaker 1: of his better processing plays of the day at the
Speaker 1: plus forty four yard line where he wanted to go left.
Speaker 1: He's able to come back all the way to the
Speaker 1: right and swing this ball to h Chan up the sideline,
Speaker 1: gives us a first down at the plus three seven
Speaker 1: yard line. Two have made that play a couple times
Speaker 1: in this game, where he's able to get to his third, fourth,
Speaker 1: fifth read in the progression. And then Malik Washington has
Speaker 1: that end to round play looks like a punt return
Speaker 1: where he's weaving his way through gaps and Dolphins are
Speaker 1: hitting more key blocks down the field and your you know,
Speaker 1: punt return and level receiver just has a vision for
Speaker 1: how to set up those blocks and make those key
Speaker 1: cuts and impressive drive so far where they're just mixing
Speaker 1: that quick game. They're throwing the short you know, quick
Speaker 1: game with i should say, the running game with the
Speaker 1: quick game to the short flats and the short intermediate
Speaker 1: part of the field. And then you're going some well
Speaker 1: timed end a round, some well time screens like they
Speaker 1: just had it all figured out, and they get a
Speaker 1: downhill run from Raheem Moster for a first down at
Speaker 1: the twenty three yard line. Nine more yards devon eight
Speaker 1: chan where Austin Jackson clears this massive lane alec Ingland
Speaker 1: has a dig out block. It's second and one from
Speaker 1: the plus fourteen. Then we run into a wall sets
Speaker 1: up a third and short and you gotta have this,
Speaker 1: I'm right, and you gotta have it. And we go
Speaker 1: tempo and force the Bills into a substitution air which
Speaker 1: forces a time out. And I love how you kind
Speaker 1: of reverse the script on the team that has done
Speaker 1: that to you in the past.
Speaker 2: But again you got to pay it off. And what
Speaker 2: do they do?
Speaker 1: Third and one run to eighthan converts it first down,
Speaker 1: but then we get behind the chains again for a
Speaker 1: third time, but this time it's okay because we're in
Speaker 1: the Texas screen, which is a angle out and then
Speaker 1: cut back across the middle. Some call it arrow, some
Speaker 1: call it an angle route, some called a Texas route.
Speaker 1: I like the Texas route version. Han catches it, weaves
Speaker 1: his way in for a touchdown and the Dolphins have
Speaker 1: a ten to three lead with like three and a
Speaker 1: half minutes to play in the first half. Buffalo gets
Speaker 1: it back though, and takes it forty nine yards for
Speaker 1: a field goal drive to make it ten to six
Speaker 1: at halftime. But at this point they had three red
Speaker 1: zone drives and no touchdowns. So the defense, you could
Speaker 1: argue they were playing really well. I think they were
Speaker 1: in some spurts, But I think you could also make
Speaker 1: the argument that the Buffalo offense had kind of struggled
Speaker 1: to finance rhythm. The drop pass on the pick obviously
Speaker 1: as a killer for them. They had a mesh play
Speaker 1: to James Cook on this drive that he drops and
Speaker 1: then that would have probably been a touchdown because there
Speaker 1: was nobody there to catch him. They have a couple
Speaker 1: of big runs from Josh Allen to get called back
Speaker 1: on holding calls, and again Chopp was giving Dean Dawkins,
Speaker 1: a premier left tackle in this game. Issues with his
Speaker 1: speed and speed to power moves and he tried to
Speaker 1: snatch him and ends up pulling him down by the
Speaker 1: face mask and it gets called for a holding call.
Speaker 1: They said they created some bad throws on the turf
Speaker 1: by Josh Allen got him playing off of his back foot.
Speaker 1: It was a good half for both the offense and
Speaker 1: the defense. On third and thirty at the plus thirty one,
Speaker 1: they just throw the ball out of bounce. I was
Speaker 1: hoping they would put the ball in play. Allen has
Speaker 1: done that in the past. He's at risk reward quarterback.
Speaker 1: He plays a smart throws it away. They kicked the
Speaker 1: field goal from forty eight yards to make it ten
Speaker 1: to six, and I thought, you know, four possessions for Buffalo,
Speaker 1: three from Miami and you lead the game ten to six.
Speaker 1: Getting it out of the break, Dolphins took the air
Speaker 1: out of the ball. They had tacked the Buffalo defense vulnerabilities.
Speaker 1: I thought the story of the day on the other
Speaker 1: side was Buffalo's mistakes. That that mess drop by Cook,
Speaker 1: the Coleman drop, turned to pick the penalties the end
Speaker 1: of the half. That took a touchdown off the board.
Speaker 1: But that said, the Dolphins capitalized on all of it.
Speaker 1: Ramsey makes the hell of a play for the interception.
Speaker 1: Our Russian coverage was pairing so well off those penalties
Speaker 1: and drops to put pressure on Allen, force him off
Speaker 1: the back foot to throw check downs that he has
Speaker 1: to kind of lob because he has to get the
Speaker 1: ball up.
Speaker 2: And down, so to speak.
Speaker 1: And then you get rallying zone defenders means fire zones.
Speaker 1: You're running to come up and tackle and make plays,
Speaker 1: and they were doing it all half long. I was
Speaker 1: so fascinated to see how the Dolphins open the second
Speaker 1: half of the game offensively, because you know, do they
Speaker 1: come down support the run that they can't stop so
Speaker 1: far in this game.
Speaker 2: Do we take our shots?
Speaker 1: Do we come out trying to take advantage of their
Speaker 1: overplay against the run. I was just so I get
Speaker 1: fascinated by the perspective of how this game would take
Speaker 1: shape in the second half. Let's go ahead and take
Speaker 1: our first break right there, come back on the other
Speaker 1: side and tell you what it looked like in that
Speaker 1: second half. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Auto Nation. So it's ten to
Speaker 1: six at the break back here in the Draft Time podcast,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins have the football and they go right back
Speaker 1: down the field. Three plays thirty yards, but that third
Speaker 1: player is a long run from Raheem Moster where he
Speaker 1: coughs up the football and the Bills fall on the fumble.
Speaker 1: He broke a tackle in the backfield in the first play,
Speaker 1: runs for seven yards. Another big John who Smith Block,
Speaker 1: who's having a hell of a day in a hell
Speaker 1: of a month, quite frankly as a Miami Dolphin.
Speaker 2: So that was your first answer.
Speaker 1: They ran the ball, and they ran it again, and
Speaker 1: then we got a little more support inside and Raheem
Speaker 1: sneaks outside for the swing route for fifteen yards. And
Speaker 1: I've been talking about this for a couple of years
Speaker 1: with Tua. I always felt the next progression in his
Speaker 1: game was to be able to find those quick outlets
Speaker 1: and those quick access to throws where the defense has
Speaker 1: vacated because of one year running game and two year
Speaker 1: vertical passing game and three your intermediate passing game. They
Speaker 1: can't cover all those spots. And I think Tua kind
Speaker 1: of has that figured out, and so was Mike McDaniel,
Speaker 1: and they're hitting these swings routes to Moster to eight
Speaker 1: chan in the future to Jalen Wright, and they're picking
Speaker 1: up ten, twelve, fifteen yards of pop on these and
Speaker 1: then we get another strong lane off the right side
Speaker 1: behind Austin Jackson's having a hell of a year at
Speaker 1: right tackle, and we get eight yards before Tarren Johnson
Speaker 1: Peanut Tillman punches the ball and knocks it out and
Speaker 1: it would have been second and two at the plus
Speaker 1: thirty six. Instead it's Josh Allen back on the field
Speaker 1: trailing by four, and I think that if you could
Speaker 1: have found a way into the end zone there to
Speaker 1: go up seventeen to six, the way you run the ball,
Speaker 1: the way you were finding those short passes, I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: I don't know if they can overcome that. It was
Speaker 1: our seventh fumble and three games our third loss fumble,
Speaker 1: and again the two of safety's not a lost fumble,
Speaker 1: but I would say it's a pretty big negative play
Speaker 1: to give up two points. They're backed up on your
Speaker 1: own end zone. But that play in a game you
Speaker 1: lose by one, a lost fumble on a drive going
Speaker 1: into the red zone close or thereabout in the game
Speaker 1: you lost by three and then two loss fumbles in
Speaker 1: a game you lost by six of the Colts when
Speaker 1: you were up by ten in that game. It just
Speaker 1: like you know coach mentioned at halftime his interview with
Speaker 1: I think it was Melanie Collins, like fundamentals and technique
Speaker 1: and like just those the first fundamental of football is
Speaker 1: putting the ball away when you're carrying it. And gosh,
Speaker 1: I just cannot help but think, what this what we
Speaker 1: be talking about right now? We're gonna get into it
Speaker 1: more and let's keep going with the game script. I
Speaker 1: have my big picture takeaways. So the Bills get it back,
Speaker 1: and of course they paid off with a eleven play,
Speaker 1: sixty four yard touchdown drive to take six and a
Speaker 1: half minutes off the clock, but Tyler Bass misses the
Speaker 1: pat It took them three plays to get into plus
Speaker 1: territory with short throws, a keen kid and knocks and
Speaker 1: an eight yard dalvilin Cook James Cook run. Then it
Speaker 1: gets two more yards for a first down. So four
Speaker 1: plays and the balls of the plus forty three yard line,
Speaker 1: and this game had become this physical battle between two
Speaker 1: teams and the trenches that are performing at a high level,
Speaker 1: and they're they're throwing, you know, quick game, they're throwing sticking.
Speaker 2: A flat in the middle of the field to the flat.
Speaker 1: It's like they're doing a good job of taking what
Speaker 1: the modern NFL game allows from an offensive perspective and
Speaker 1: maximizing it. And all of a sudden you have this
Speaker 1: like complimentary shootout between two top tier quarterbacks. We get
Speaker 1: caught inside on the next run and it goes for
Speaker 1: twenty yards with Cook. I thought this where the defense
Speaker 1: kind of got on their back foot a little bit.
Speaker 2: Quick change.
Speaker 1: Buffalo offense came out fired up, and Miami wasn't really
Speaker 1: ready for that drive. They got surged down the field
Speaker 1: in the red zone, a fourteen yard play on now
Speaker 1: screen to Khalil Shaker, where Miami and tackling has been
Speaker 1: an issue for a couple of games. Now couldn't tackle
Speaker 1: Khalil Shaker. And then Kalais has this TfL on James Cook,
Speaker 1: but he stays on his feet and we try to
Speaker 1: strip the ball out and he winds up driving the
Speaker 1: ball down to the two yard line. So it's second
Speaker 1: down and goal from the two. Oppost a second goal
Speaker 1: from the seven. We do bow up on second and
Speaker 1: third down, get outstanding discipline once again from the edge,
Speaker 1: Tyas s Bouser has fantastic contained to force a Josh
Speaker 1: Allen throwaway, and then Matt Collins gets free behind Kendall
Speaker 1: Fuller and he was like outflanked on this really cool
Speaker 1: toss action fake the swing throw, throw it back to
Speaker 1: the over route against the inside or the outside leverage
Speaker 1: of the cornerback from a nasty split. It was just
Speaker 1: a good play call. They skied up a touchdown fourth
Speaker 1: down and one, and they take a lead, you know,
Speaker 1: despite feeling like we kind of outplayed him twelve to
Speaker 1: ten at that point of the game because of the
Speaker 1: miss pat and Miami takes the ball right back down
Speaker 1: the field to as a fifteen yard shot to johnais
Speaker 1: Smith where he moves the hook linebacker and replaces him
Speaker 1: with the football just vintage to a And you're kind
Speaker 1: of getting that built off this run game and quick game,
Speaker 1: and if you can do the other two things enough,
Speaker 1: you start to free up some downfield shots. And that
Speaker 1: is exactly what happened and why I'm like thinking about
Speaker 1: the possibility this offense. And it sucks that we're two
Speaker 1: and six, but this is the offense that I envisioned
Speaker 1: all off season long, and I think you can build
Speaker 1: upon that and kind of see it go from here.
Speaker 1: So you get yourself, you know. Raheem gets the first
Speaker 1: carry off the fumble and we beat him to the
Speaker 1: edge once again for seven more yards balls already in
Speaker 1: plus territory. We have to throw it away on second
Speaker 1: and three, which by the way to was twenty five
Speaker 1: for twenty eight two incompletions were throwaways. More on him
Speaker 1: in a moment, and then third and three at the
Speaker 1: plus four eight they come over the line off sides
Speaker 1: automatic first down. Hi gets us four yards and right
Speaker 1: back into field goal range and over one hundred yards
Speaker 1: on the ground. Second and six, Tua takes his shot
Speaker 1: the Tyreek and you could kind of tell on the
Speaker 1: broadcast that he felt he missed that throw a little bit,
Speaker 1: but great concentration by Tyreek to Hallard in over the shoulder,
Speaker 1: get the feet in bounds. At first, I thought he'd
Speaker 1: put that ball there on purpose because of the safety
Speaker 1: coming over, But if you see the angle, he actually
Speaker 1: probably had a bigger play if he connects with Tyreek
Speaker 1: up the sideline. But then we have a run that
Speaker 1: goes for not a short screen that creates a third
Speaker 1: and goal, and we threw what I think was probably
Speaker 1: a two down situation where if John Hu can get
Speaker 1: like six or seven yards or even more for a
Speaker 1: first down, great, but they kept the offense on the
Speaker 1: field and fourth and four they pull him back and
Speaker 1: go to the field goal team. I feel like that
Speaker 1: call was one of two things one talks about in
Speaker 1: the pregame show with OJ. You cannot get behind the
Speaker 1: chains on this Buffalo defense. That's where they feast and
Speaker 1: they kill you. And that's where Miami has been far
Speaker 1: too frequently in this matchup. And so when you get
Speaker 1: in the red zone, like it makes sense to play
Speaker 1: it safer and play a little more conservative, to give
Speaker 1: yourself a chance opposed to a possible sack and a
Speaker 1: longer field goal or a takeaway situation. And I thought
Speaker 1: that if John who didn't get chopped down where he
Speaker 1: did it, which a great tackle by Buffalo, you could
Speaker 1: have possibly gone for it there. And I kind of
Speaker 1: would like to see that because I knew that this
Speaker 1: sleeping giant of a quarterback was not going to stay
Speaker 1: asleep for it forever. And sure enough, Miami takes a
Speaker 1: lead on a field goal thirteen to twelve. But then
Speaker 1: it's a two plays, seventy yard touchdown drive where Josh
Speaker 1: Allen finds Ray Davis and it's I mean he catches
Speaker 1: a swing in space. It caught Miami and man coverage
Speaker 1: against a blitz. Just another good time played by the
Speaker 1: Buffalo offense. Those guys get paid to and Marcus May
Speaker 1: comes down and misses a tackle and they go sixty
Speaker 1: three yards for a touchdown. That safety group has had
Speaker 1: a few missed tackles like that this year that have
Speaker 1: led to big plays, and they'll come back layer in
Speaker 1: the game here with a bigger impact as well. But
Speaker 1: just feels like, ah, we're just a couple of plays
Speaker 1: or spots away from making things not the way they
Speaker 1: are right now. They get a two point conversion on
Speaker 1: a good secondary read with the front sides covered, but
Speaker 1: Josh has all day to throw and he finds key
Speaker 1: On Coleman naked in the back of the end zone
Speaker 1: for two to make it twenty thirteen. And that's where
Speaker 1: most Dolphins fans are saying, like, here we go, same
Speaker 1: old Dolphins. But it wasn't because you had two more
Speaker 1: drives and the Dolphins went nine and eleven. Play drives
Speaker 1: to score touchdowns to tie the game up twice, and
Speaker 1: this one was an eight yard touchdown run from Devon
Speaker 1: eight chan where Jalen Wright had back to back runs.
Speaker 1: He's in the game now on this nine play, seventy
Speaker 1: yard five minute drive to move the chains.
Speaker 2: Then we get Vintage to a baby to.
Speaker 1: Tyreek over the middle where he rips it where he
Speaker 1: moves the defense, then fires a shot over the hook linebacker.
Speaker 1: Again Tyreek catches it AND's on the move, and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I know what that looks like. That's my favorite part
Speaker 1: of the Dolphins team. Twenty seven yards, big explosive plays
Speaker 1: coming off of you taking the profit earlier in the game.
Speaker 1: I just could not love this offensive showing more than
Speaker 1: I did, aside from like a couple of happenstances that cast,
Speaker 1: you know, the cost him points in certain spots. We
Speaker 1: then go false start for a first and fifteen at
Speaker 1: the plus thirty six yard lind and kick off the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, but we overcome with a seven yard run
Speaker 1: from Devon Hm. We're tough, tough yards where he is
Speaker 1: getting you know, through tacklers and pushing the pile. Then
Speaker 1: a three yard shot to Obj for a third and five,
Speaker 1: and then he had he This play was Me and
Speaker 1: OJ were annoyed by this because Tua had eight Chan
Speaker 1: the flat early, but I also understand if he's got
Speaker 1: other reasons trying to go through where maybe you have
Speaker 1: to parse things out first. But I thought he missed
Speaker 1: eight Chan early gets in the ball anyway, but it
Speaker 1: only goes for two yards. And then Tua creates and
Speaker 1: scrambles and dives for a first down to move the chains.
Speaker 2: Big time play.
Speaker 1: I thought they they spotted him a yard further back
Speaker 1: in what he actually got.
Speaker 2: I digress.
Speaker 1: Then Johnny went a play action boot to the flat
Speaker 1: for twelve for a first and goal. Then eight Chan
Speaker 1: takes it in for eight yards with another great set
Speaker 1: of blocking by the Dolphins offensive line, and we are
Speaker 1: tied up at twenty with twelve fourteen to play. But
Speaker 1: then Buffalo goes ten plays seventy yards and six minutes.
Speaker 1: They get thirty yards on back to back plays with
Speaker 1: a swing to the sideline, and OJ's like, if they're
Speaker 1: gonna keep giving him that, they're gonna keep taking it,
Speaker 1: and they were, and then Keon Coleman got a crossing
Speaker 1: route for a big game that's been their offense all game.
Speaker 1: Little mesh and little swings and just continue to get
Speaker 1: yards after the catch. And then we struggle to tackle
Speaker 1: once again as Khalil shakerb breaks a pair of tackles
Speaker 1: and get fourteen more yards three plays right down to
Speaker 1: the plus twenty four yard line. Then you get yourself
Speaker 1: a third and two at the plus fifteen they get
Speaker 1: four yards and convert.
Speaker 2: We get him into a third and sixth situation.
Speaker 1: We forced Josh to scramble and again Agba takes that
Speaker 1: great angle to push his pursuit angle backwards and Allen
Speaker 1: has to throw a ball like off of his back foot.
Speaker 1: It's a risky ball that could have been picked, but
Speaker 1: Saran Neil on the play bear hugged Khalil Shakur right away.
Speaker 1: It was a very clear holding call. It extends the drive.
Speaker 1: And then Josh makes this play where he's getting hit
Speaker 1: as he throws, and he flips it into an area
Speaker 1: where it's like that is an inch away from off
Speaker 1: the finger the wrong way, or if he gets hit
Speaker 1: a certain way to that ball getting popped up into
Speaker 1: the air and possibly being in harm's way for a pick.
Speaker 1: It doesn't go that way. They get the touchdown. That's
Speaker 1: why I'm like, I'm so tired of playing this guy
Speaker 1: like he he puts himself in these such dangerous spots,
Speaker 1: but he makes the play. And if it's just like
Speaker 1: a fraction of a shoulder pat in different direction, you
Speaker 1: get a different result. But he always finds a way
Speaker 1: to make those damn plays. They take a twenty seven
Speaker 1: twenty lead with six minutes and fifteen seconds left and
Speaker 1: once again like here we go to what do you
Speaker 1: got man? And once he got with eleven play eighty
Speaker 1: one yard drive and four forty we get it back
Speaker 1: with six fourteen to possibly you know, quote unquote save
Speaker 1: our season. And eight Chan takes a ten yard run
Speaker 1: to a drives when the ty Reek with a great
Speaker 1: side adjustment. They they sit a stop route down into
Speaker 1: the soft spot of coverage where it looks like he
Speaker 1: wants to run the vertical, but he sets it down.
Speaker 1: Two is in the same page, hits him up bang
Speaker 1: big play. Right has a physical three yard run And
Speaker 1: I'm telling Seth and Oji like we have to keep
Speaker 1: on hitting these three and four yard runs because I
Speaker 1: don't want Josh Allen touch the ball again. I want
Speaker 1: to score and go for two and end the game there,
Speaker 1: and we throw a now screen that gets us to
Speaker 1: the thirty eight yard line with key blocks from Tron
Speaker 1: Armstead and once again a league Washington and the Dolphins
Speaker 1: doing an awesome job just taking time off the clock
Speaker 1: because I felt you had to score with no time
Speaker 1: left and go for two. So it's a first down
Speaker 1: at the thirty eight yard line with three twenty two,
Speaker 1: a three yard run from Jalen right second and seven,
Speaker 1: you go incomplete backshore throw John Smith that was two
Speaker 1: was kind of a throwaway, but one of us three
Speaker 1: incompletions of the day. Then that out route to Waddle
Speaker 1: on third and seven, fantastic route, chase the blind spot
Speaker 1: to a perfectly on time, great location, is fun to watch,
Speaker 1: really good quarterback play with good receivers, make high level throws.
Speaker 1: Then you have a first intent at the twenty three
Speaker 1: yard line with two twenty nine, and we get a
Speaker 1: no gain to Devon ah Chan and run the clock
Speaker 1: to the two minute warning. And look, I'm never gonna
Speaker 1: complain about scoring or getting too many yards, but like
Speaker 1: if they could have found a way to milk more time.
Speaker 1: And McDaniel mentioned this after the game in his press conference, like,
Speaker 1: we got a play to eight chan that actually you know,
Speaker 1: sped up our equation, our math equation for how that
Speaker 1: drive was gonna go. And once we got to that point,
Speaker 1: we determined we were not gonna go for two because
Speaker 1: there was a minute forty five whatever it was left
Speaker 1: in the game we scored, and that quick swing route
Speaker 1: was actually two was fifth read in the progression per
Speaker 1: McDaniel that he got to and it springs an explosive
Speaker 1: play you go first and goal run for negative two.
Speaker 1: And then Tua gets pressure on second down and creates
Speaker 1: and throws a ball running to his right across his
Speaker 1: body too waddle for his first touchdown of the year
Speaker 1: and ties the game up with a minute and some
Speaker 1: change to play. But then the Bills had a nine
Speaker 1: play twenty seven yard drive that produces a sixty one
Speaker 1: yard field goal for a guy that's missed three Pats
Speaker 1: had another short field goal go off the upright and
Speaker 1: end of course he makes it from sixty one yards. Right,
Speaker 1: of course he does, because that's just our luck. So
Speaker 1: they win the game on that. You get a chop
Speaker 1: Robinson sack to begin that drive. Speed to power on
Speaker 1: Dion Dawkins gets his first sack of the year. You
Speaker 1: get a batted pass by Deshan Hand and if it
Speaker 1: bounces a foot closer to him, he picks it off
Speaker 1: and you can milk the clock and kick your game
Speaker 1: winning field goal. But of course that's not how it works.
Speaker 1: And then we go off sides, which chop. You gotta
Speaker 1: have better discipline than that man than to jump off
Speaker 1: side on third and fourteen. And then they take their
Speaker 1: deep shot, which like we had it covered up well
Speaker 1: and Cam Smith is in great shape, knocks the ball
Speaker 1: away and Jordan Poyer comes in and puts the crown
Speaker 1: of his helmet on the face mask of the receiver,
Speaker 1: and now it's a first intent at the forty six
Speaker 1: yard line, and we continue to battle. It's a first
Speaker 1: down and complete seven yards of Matt Collins last time
Speaker 1: out right there, thirty seven seconds left, third and three
Speaker 1: ball at the plus forty seven yard line. They get
Speaker 1: four more yards to Hollins the second down, they clock
Speaker 1: the ball, they get incomplete to third down with seventeen
Speaker 1: seconds and they throw that one.
Speaker 2: Away, so you have to kick a field goal.
Speaker 1: They do it, It goes through and they win the game,
Speaker 1: and it was just so defeating because this team looked
Speaker 1: like I thought they could look all year long offensively,
Speaker 1: and when they play like that offensively, they can be
Speaker 1: anybody in this league. Let's go ahead and take our
Speaker 1: last break right there. Come back into the five Takeaways
Speaker 1: Longer podcast tonight because this game was such a good one.
Speaker 1: We'll cover the rest of it here, a Draft time podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: So the Dolphins drop another game. They're third straight, their
Speaker 1: second three game losing streak of the year, thirty twenty
Speaker 1: seven up in Buffalo and.
Speaker 2: Two and six.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be tough to overcome, but we'll get to
Speaker 1: that here in just one second. I want to get
Speaker 1: to the five takeaways here because I have some thoughts
Speaker 1: about a lot of the stuff I just talked about
Speaker 1: breaking down this game. Number one is I just love
Speaker 1: the offensive game plan and feel like, oh, that's what
Speaker 1: it's looked like for the last couple of years. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying it hasn't at all this year, but you
Speaker 1: saw glimpses today was the full product with again the
Speaker 1: run game, the quick game to the perimeter, you sprinkle
Speaker 1: in the digs in the middle of the field, the
Speaker 1: deep shots up up the sideline, like this game had
Speaker 1: everything from an offensive perspective. And the second part of
Speaker 1: that takeaway is that tow a tongue of by Loa
Speaker 1: is still him. I mean, gosh again, I mentioned that
Speaker 1: the players they ran screens against blitzes to get conversions
Speaker 1: on long situations against a team that usually tease off
Speaker 1: against the deep when you're behind the chains offensively, so
Speaker 1: that's part of the game plan and the sequence. But
Speaker 1: twenty five for twenty eight for tu he was over
Speaker 1: two fifty prior to the last throwat end of the game,
Speaker 1: so it's two thirty seven, two touchdowns a one to
Speaker 1: twenty four point nine passer rating. His EPA in the
Speaker 1: game total was like point sixty nine per play, which
Speaker 1: was like six times more than Josh Allen. It's like
Speaker 1: he played one of the best games of his entire
Speaker 1: career and he was dealing. I thought he showed you creativity,
Speaker 1: some scramble ability. I thought he showed you the really
Speaker 1: good knowledge of the offense and where the ball is
Speaker 1: supposed to go, Like this is the quarterback that you
Speaker 1: paid a bunch of money to the way he looked
Speaker 1: today and quite frankly last week, playing with anticipation, playing
Speaker 1: with creativity, playing through his progressions, knowing when to get
Speaker 1: to the right run checks and the past checks. I
Speaker 1: just need to find a way to keep this guy
Speaker 1: healthy because I want to watch this guy for fifteen
Speaker 1: more years, because that quarterback play is going to win
Speaker 1: you a whole bunch of games and eventually one day
Speaker 1: a championship.
Speaker 2: When it's at that level, it's that good.
Speaker 1: Just going to keep the guy in the field, because
Speaker 1: that's the one thing you can point to right now.
Speaker 1: Number two is the defense just didn't have enough like
Speaker 1: the Bills. I thought mistakes early helped Miami stay in
Speaker 1: the game, but then it was right up and down
Speaker 1: the field. We are just I just think too depleted
Speaker 1: from a personnel standpoint, without Zach Seeler, without Javon Holland,
Speaker 1: without Cater Kohu, without Jalen Phillips, without Bradley Chubb, Shaq
Speaker 1: Barrett's retirement. You know, it's it's just you're so thin
Speaker 1: and you're so stretching at some key spots, like I
Speaker 1: don't know what else you can do, especially when they're
Speaker 1: they're clicking like they were with that quarterback, and they
Speaker 1: went after us on the edge. They got a lot
Speaker 1: of those throws out in that position. They ran the
Speaker 1: ball down the middle. We're also thin in that position,
Speaker 1: and we just missed way too many tackles. I put
Speaker 1: from the safety position, but in general, too many miss tackles.
Speaker 1: That long touchdown was a mistackle by Marcus May. That
Speaker 1: was a killer at that point of the game. And
Speaker 1: you had chances at the very end, but Buffalo scored
Speaker 1: on their final five drives, including the game winning field
Speaker 1: goal drive that saw I third and fourteen convert off
Speaker 1: two penalties. You just have to find a way take
Speaker 1: it off the field there, especially on the deep shot
Speaker 1: where Poyer hit the receiver in the face. Max so
Speaker 1: brutal man. Despite all those deficiencies are right there. I
Speaker 1: had a chance to win the game late. Maybe de
Speaker 1: Sean Han gets that pick. It's a different story we're
Speaker 1: celebrating tonight. But I digress number three was that the
Speaker 1: fundamental area of the game came up just short in
Speaker 1: one regard. And I want to be very careful with
Speaker 1: how I say this, because I thought, look, this is
Speaker 1: a team last year that we talked for you know,
Speaker 1: the discourse on the team was they can't go on
Speaker 1: the road, they can't win in cold weather, they can't
Speaker 1: compete in tough environments. I mean, that crowd was as
Speaker 1: loud as I've ever heard the Buffalo crowd against the
Speaker 1: Dolphins team, and they continuously made plays. And like you know,
Speaker 1: we have been really good about not losing fumbles the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. The fumble numbers are kind of high,
Speaker 1: but we don't lose that many of them, especially from
Speaker 1: running backs and receivers, like quarterbacks getting sacked or failed exchanges.
Speaker 2: That's one thing.
Speaker 1: But seven fumbles in the last three games and you
Speaker 1: lose three of those, with one of those resulting into
Speaker 1: safety as well, you just can't help but wonder how
Speaker 1: different the last three games could have been if you
Speaker 1: could just execute one of the most basic fundamentals in
Speaker 1: the game on those particular plays and hold on to
Speaker 1: the football. Like I hate to say, what if, but
Speaker 1: like you could you could possibly be five and three
Speaker 1: with three straight wins. But that's that's how it goes, right,
Speaker 1: That's the NFL Odell Beckham talked about early the week,
Speaker 1: like the difference between a two and five team and
Speaker 1: a five and two team is a few plays and
Speaker 1: that goes right there, I mean, and it goes from
Speaker 1: That's just the perception shift that this league deals with.
Speaker 1: Like if the Dolphins are five and three, it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's next, how do we beat the Rams and what's
Speaker 1: going on for the rest of twenty twenty four and
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five and beyond. But instead, when you don't
Speaker 1: make those few plays, it's like the fan base starts
Speaker 1: talking about calling for jobs and you got to find
Speaker 1: a new player at this position. Like that's live in
Speaker 1: the NFL. And I don't think reality matches the perception
Speaker 1: right now. But I think that as we go along,
Speaker 1: we'll win some more football games and now I'll get closer.
Speaker 1: But you did ultimately in the beginning of the year.
Speaker 1: Maybe major margin for air too thin by the way
Speaker 1: you played early on, especially when the quarterback was down.
Speaker 1: Takeaway number four is we saw a physical football team today. Man.
Speaker 1: You guys know I've been singing the praises of the
Speaker 1: offensive line for a few weeks, especially you really all year,
Speaker 1: with the last few weeks especially, and today was a
Speaker 1: big test against a very good front that is well
Speaker 1: connected and well coached, and we pushed them around. We
Speaker 1: did whatever we wanted to do, and that's why, like, man,
Speaker 1: we ran it downhill. We got pancakes, we got surge,
Speaker 1: we got displacement. That first player of the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: a first and fifteen run to Devon Chen. He is
Speaker 1: wrapped up a few times and he just kept coming.
Speaker 1: We block it with full effort the receiver position down
Speaker 1: the field. I just feel like this team has developed
Speaker 1: its physical side, and again, damn it, man, I just
Speaker 1: wish it were a little bit different than two and six,
Speaker 1: even three and five. I would say, like, I think
Speaker 1: this team is the best of any Mike McDaniel team
Speaker 1: in terms of being suited to take this product on
Speaker 1: the road in the bad weather and to go win
Speaker 1: playoff football down the stretch or you know, December football
Speaker 1: underlayoff football and just win those games and take it
Speaker 1: to them while you do it. That was my takeaway
Speaker 1: from this game, and that's what I want to see
Speaker 1: the rest of the way, is to see that thing
Speaker 1: built out. And then takeaway number five is much more
Speaker 1: big picture than even just the rest of the season,
Speaker 1: which I usually cover. Where I think this team is
Speaker 1: headed right now, and you know, I've been very up
Speaker 1: and down, very emotional about my state of mind with
Speaker 1: this football team over the course of this two and
Speaker 1: six start, and this one feels more like a it's
Speaker 1: just one of those years that you kind of have
Speaker 1: to take on the chin versus this is a team
Speaker 1: that cannot do it, and that's provided the caveat that
Speaker 1: they look like they've looked the last two weeks, and
Speaker 1: by that, I mean the offense can really score with anybody.
Speaker 1: We've seen they can do it right, We've seen it
Speaker 1: for stretches, full games even, But when was the last
Speaker 1: time this team was that competitive in Buffalo? Twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two was right there, but really the answer is twenty
Speaker 1: sixteen pre Josh Allen, which just shows you where this
Speaker 1: team is kind of at. But again, sometimes things don't
Speaker 1: always break your way, and that's kind of how I
Speaker 1: feel eight games in which obviously the quarterback going down
Speaker 1: is the biggest issue involved in all of that, because
Speaker 1: I think we most agree that the Dolphins' worst case
Speaker 1: scenario with Tua for the four game stretch is three
Speaker 1: to one, and if that's the case right now, then
Speaker 1: you are five and three, at worse, probably six and
Speaker 1: two with two losses of the Buffalo Bills that you
Speaker 1: feel tough about, but at least you know you're on
Speaker 1: the precipice of being there and you can say you are,
Speaker 1: which your record says you.
Speaker 2: I don't agree with that.
Speaker 1: I think it's a game of very small sample sizes
Speaker 1: that can be decided by the balance of a football,
Speaker 1: the flip of a coin. And I think that the
Speaker 1: greater context of film and what actually happens in the
Speaker 1: field is a better indicator of teams than record. For instance,
Speaker 1: the Broncos were a five and three team. I went
Speaker 1: on the radio and said, the Broncos are about to
Speaker 1: get beat by three touchdowns. Of the Ravens. They got
Speaker 1: beat by thirty one points. You can just tell, like
Speaker 1: there is eyeball test is a real thing, especially when
Speaker 1: you know what you're doing with this evaluation stuff. So
Speaker 1: I just don't think that team that was on the
Speaker 1: field today was a two and six football team. But
Speaker 1: yet that's what we are. So that's it's really tough
Speaker 1: to cope with that fact. But to kind of piggyback
Speaker 1: off of this, what that told me today was there
Speaker 1: are teams that go through years like this in the
Speaker 1: history of the National Football League and especially the recent
Speaker 1: history of the National Football League, And by that I mean,
Speaker 1: for instance, I think it was the twenty eighteen forty
Speaker 1: nine Ers ahead of their Super Bowl year, where their
Speaker 1: quarterback got hurt and they just couldn't get the backup
Speaker 1: quarterback playing at a high enough level and injuries mounted
Speaker 1: and they fell all the way to the second pick
Speaker 1: in the draft where they took Nick Bosa and he
Speaker 1: became the pillar, the cornerstone of their defense. I think
Speaker 1: about let's see, who's a good example of this, the Ravens,
Speaker 1: who you know, when Lamar Jackson got hurt back to
Speaker 1: back years, wasn't for a long period of time. He
Speaker 1: missed a few games one year, and then I think
Speaker 1: like five or six games the next year, and they
Speaker 1: couldn't compete offensively with their backup quarterback, and they wind
Speaker 1: up missing the playoffs and playing a boring wild card
Speaker 1: game where they lost late in the game because Huntley
Speaker 1: had a fumble the goal line that cost him that game.
Speaker 1: And now look at them after the fact, Lamar comes back,
Speaker 1: he's fully healthy, they have an MVP in their back pocket.
Speaker 1: Last year, first seed in the playoffs, go to the
Speaker 1: AFC Championship Game. Today they're six and three quarterbacks playing
Speaker 1: like an MVP again, and they're probably going to be
Speaker 1: right back in that position again this year. I will
Speaker 1: take that, even though they have had tough ends to seasons,
Speaker 1: and I think that sometimes you have to accept tough
Speaker 1: year where things just don't break your way and injuries
Speaker 1: just go against you. And it kind of feels like
Speaker 1: it's been that way for a long time. I think
Speaker 1: Dolphins fans have much less patient and rationally so patients
Speaker 1: because of where we've been the last twenty five years.
Speaker 1: And I fully get that and understand your frustration and
Speaker 1: think you are well within your rights to feel that frustration.
Speaker 1: But like we're adults, right. I think most of us
Speaker 1: are grown ups and have kids and families, and like
Speaker 1: you can appreciate certain situations. And I feel like, if
Speaker 1: you can get Bradley Chubb and Jalen Phillips back, and
Speaker 1: you can make a couple of you know, fixes here
Speaker 1: and there in some certain spots, you've got this offensive
Speaker 1: line that is signed up for the next foreseeable future,
Speaker 1: might as possibly to Ron Armstead that has developed this
Speaker 1: great continuity and chemistry up front with a quarterback that's
Speaker 1: playing his best football of his career, which is already
Speaker 1: a top ten quarterback going into the year, Like that's
Speaker 1: kind of what it looks like from his perspective and
Speaker 1: his knowledge. It should only increase and get better as
Speaker 1: he goes along. You've got this young running back corp
Speaker 1: that looks like the best duo in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: You've got two star receivers that aren't playing like it
Speaker 1: in terms of the numbers right now.
Speaker 2: But you know what wea can want can do.
Speaker 1: You've got John new Smith who is a man amongst boys,
Speaker 1: and you can maybe go out and solve your receiver
Speaker 1: depth issues and continue to round the roster out that
Speaker 1: way with a possible high draft pick next year.
Speaker 2: You got a bunch of.
Speaker 1: Draft picks coming away in volume to kind of repair
Speaker 1: the cupboard that has been a little bit stricken from
Speaker 1: the last couple of bad drafts. Which I will acknowledge
Speaker 1: is a staunch supporter of the twenty basically sixteen through
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one draft classes, it hasn't been good the
Speaker 1: last couple years and it's gonna cost you in terms
Speaker 1: of your player development. But I digress on that point
Speaker 1: because I think you can look at this team the
Speaker 1: way it's constructed with all the things I just said,
Speaker 1: and you can inject some key things and the one
Speaker 1: caveat to it all that I hate to admit because
Speaker 1: this is what has me kind of out on the
Speaker 1: business of the quarterback is the health issue and the
Speaker 1: whether or not the fact that he can play a
Speaker 1: whole year and stay healthy if he can cool, I'll
Speaker 1: book my playoff tickets.
Speaker 2: I'll book my home playoff tickets. I don't have to.
Speaker 2: I go to the games for free anyways.
Speaker 1: But you get what I'm saying, like, that's where you're
Speaker 1: gonna be, but maybe a little bit better foresight this
Speaker 1: time around to go get yourself a Joe Flat. Maybe
Speaker 1: that can be your cure all to the situation, and
Speaker 1: you can go two and two or three and one
Speaker 1: when he misses those four games, and you can have
Speaker 1: yourself a competitive, balanced offense that can compete in cold
Speaker 1: weather and on the road and inclement situations and go
Speaker 1: win games.
Speaker 2: In January. That's what I want to see.
Speaker 1: I want to see this team play that way for
Speaker 1: the rest of the year and tell me and inform
Speaker 1: me that I'm gonna get that. In twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: go sign a key backup quarterback, and that's what I
Speaker 1: want to happen.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: If it looks worse again, then I'll pivot back to
Speaker 1: like tear it down all that stuff, YadA YadA yah.
Speaker 1: But right now, I think the way it looks with
Speaker 1: this team, I think that's a strong possibility. I know
Speaker 1: you don't want to hear it, but you might have
Speaker 1: to take twenty twenty four on the chim. Maybe that's
Speaker 1: just how it is.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's not.
Speaker 1: Maybe it goes the other way and we're back in
Speaker 1: the camp wardsweepstakes. I don't know, but I'm just saying
Speaker 1: you saw a glimpse of that. You have a different
Speaker 1: fork in the road option. I think now that you
Speaker 1: didn't feel like you have just two weeks ago. All Right,
Speaker 1: that's the podcast. Subscribe rate review, Follow me on social
Speaker 1: at Wingfland, NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check
Speaker 1: out the fish Tank podcast me or with Seth and
Speaker 1: Juice not me, I'm not part of that. Check out
Speaker 1: the YouTube channel for Dolphins, HQ, Media availabilities, and much
Speaker 1: much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1: Until next time, finns Up, Calin and Cameron Daddy's covering