Speaker 1: Factors are alpins, fatrics, drawing, park textole What a win
Speaker 1: for this Miami Dolphin team? Wow, What is up? Dolphins?
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins official podcast network, covering your Miami Dolphins each
Speaker 1: and every day. How is it going, everybody? I am
Speaker 1: your host, Travis Wingfield, and I am here to bring
Speaker 1: you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on
Speaker 1: today's show, a grab bag of summer offseason topics. Mad
Speaker 1: and twenty one is a hot topic. I'll tell you
Speaker 1: my Madden playing experience and the ultimate cheat code I
Speaker 1: used in every single Big Spot. Plus, in honor of
Speaker 1: the Fish Tank Podcast releasing their top ten episodes in
Speaker 1: show history, will do a top ten salute to Juice
Speaker 1: and Seth and inspired by Benjamin Slack of the Draft Network,
Speaker 1: I want to take a look at the best skill,
Speaker 1: or the best move or best trait of a lot
Speaker 1: of players year on the Dolphins roster and we'll close
Speaker 1: it up by paying tribute to the great Jim Kick.
Speaker 1: All of that and more on this Monday during the
Speaker 1: two edition of the Drive Time Podcast. And the summer
Speaker 1: solstice is one of the most beautiful times of year,
Speaker 1: the beautiful occurrences of year. I don't know what it
Speaker 1: is about this time of year when the weather starts
Speaker 1: to really really get hot. And remember, for me currently
Speaker 1: still until next month at least. I'm up in the
Speaker 1: Northwest where it's not one hundred degrees until late June
Speaker 1: or into July deep into August as well. But there's
Speaker 1: just something about being in the pool or on the
Speaker 1: lake or on the river. Apparently it has to be
Speaker 1: a body of water, probably enjoying a couple of adult
Speaker 1: beverages and listening to some football podcast with your friends
Speaker 1: or music, whatever it might be. I think it has
Speaker 1: more to do with the fact that football is near
Speaker 1: more than anything else. But we always wind up talking
Speaker 1: about football when you are out in the summer events,
Speaker 1: and I just love it. So we are here in
Speaker 1: the peak of the summer solstice. We just put a
Speaker 1: bow on Father's Day. I hope everybody enjoyed their Father's
Speaker 1: Day and a happy Father's Day to all the dad's
Speaker 1: out there. And I think a good place to start
Speaker 1: for this first time Father's dayre and myself is to
Speaker 1: go back to when I wasn't thinking about celebrating Father's Day.
Speaker 1: It was the furthest thing from my mind back in
Speaker 1: my youth when I was a full blown addict to
Speaker 1: the Madden video games. The midnight release every year, going
Speaker 1: down to game Stop was an event in and of itself,
Speaker 1: and it always ruined the rest of the week for
Speaker 1: me because I was staying up till four or five
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning. You would get up at you
Speaker 1: get home around twelve thirty after the midnight release, fired
Speaker 1: up on franchise mode, and then from there you can't
Speaker 1: just quit a couple of hours later. You have to
Speaker 1: get five six games into your first season done. And
Speaker 1: that's what I did every single year. But then at
Speaker 1: a certain point, I think it was like Madden oh seven,
Speaker 1: I discovered online play and that was the addiction got
Speaker 1: full fledged at that point. And again this was back
Speaker 1: in two thousand seven, two thousand eight, that era of
Speaker 1: PlayStation two. There something about the mapping and player movement
Speaker 1: once they made the jump to the PS three that
Speaker 1: just didn't do it for me. And I even see
Speaker 1: it now the type of gameplayer they have on the
Speaker 1: newer consoles, And that's just me. I suppose I'm more
Speaker 1: partial to more old school games. I just don't like
Speaker 1: the way it moves, or something about the moving and
Speaker 1: the mapping on those new school consoles. And so, in
Speaker 1: honor of Lamar Jackson deservedly getting the Madden cover this
Speaker 1: year and the fact that it seems like we're seeing
Speaker 1: Madden all over social media this past week, the timeline
Speaker 1: and the like, I wanted to share some of my
Speaker 1: Madden experiences from a decade ago, a decade plus ago.
Speaker 1: And first the play that I went to when I
Speaker 1: had to have it every single game I think you
Speaker 1: play in Madden, there's a moment, a third down, a
Speaker 1: crucial drive. You have to get that drive into the
Speaker 1: end zone. And let's be real, this was cheating. My
Speaker 1: brother hated it more than anything else. He always said
Speaker 1: I was cheating when I ran this play. And I
Speaker 1: saw the question pose online on Twitter, who was the
Speaker 1: greatest Dolphins Madden player in the history of the game,
Speaker 1: And there was no other answer. I had one answer
Speaker 1: in my mind that just trumped everything else, and that
Speaker 1: was Ted Gain. Why well, one vertical routes speed took
Speaker 1: care of everything in that game. You didn't even have
Speaker 1: to have skills in the receiver set, just as long
Speaker 1: as they ran speed. They were a good player, but
Speaker 1: playing with those oh A O nine era Dolphins, and
Speaker 1: I would bench Henning Pennington to go to Chad Henny.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, sacrilege, but because of the arm strength,
Speaker 1: I wanted to have the vertical game, so it had
Speaker 1: to be Henny. So there was this play and I
Speaker 1: want to say it was called jailbreak screen, but as
Speaker 1: I say that out loud, it doesn't sound right. I
Speaker 1: know that was the name of the blitz, the jail
Speaker 1: break blitz. Maybe it was just a bubble screen, that's
Speaker 1: all they called it. It was out of eleven personnel
Speaker 1: receiver to the left side of the formation and the
Speaker 1: right defense. There was one correct defense that could thwart
Speaker 1: this play, but the opponent never actually did that to
Speaker 1: get this done, to get the screen pass taken care of,
Speaker 1: and if you just fanned out the defensive line, I
Speaker 1: think there was a some sort of check you can
Speaker 1: make on the defensive side of the ball where you
Speaker 1: fanned out the defensive line, so the ends would rush
Speaker 1: out and then come back in and kind of hook
Speaker 1: around the offensive tackles. And if you had them run
Speaker 1: that hook, they really put a stop to this play.
Speaker 1: But they just never ran that play I recalled Julius
Speaker 1: Peppers with the Panthers was a tremendous pen in the ass,
Speaker 1: not just for that play, this play in general, but
Speaker 1: pass rushing in general off of your right tackle because
Speaker 1: and this era that was back when your right tackle
Speaker 1: was not as good as your left tackle like it
Speaker 1: is in today's NFL, where tackle positions are basically agnostic.
Speaker 1: But anyway, you take the snap and immediately sprint all
Speaker 1: the way to the right. You draw the rush all
Speaker 1: the linebackers over to the quarterback and chase him where
Speaker 1: he's obviously not going to be a threat to run
Speaker 1: to the wrong side of the field. But it didn't
Speaker 1: matter if the defense was in man or in zone,
Speaker 1: because the play got so scattered from the sprint right anyway,
Speaker 1: and then once you got all the way clear, you
Speaker 1: would just throw the screen all the way back to
Speaker 1: the other side of the field to Teddy Gain, who's
Speaker 1: sitting there with speed open field. He's got maybe one
Speaker 1: or two guys out in front of him, but he's
Speaker 1: got a wall of lockers because the offensive line bailed
Speaker 1: out that way, and your quarterback took care of the
Speaker 1: pass rush by going the other way. It worked every
Speaker 1: single time. SAMs Julius Peppers, and I was pretty damn
Speaker 1: good at Madden despite the cheap play I ram. I
Speaker 1: think my online record was eighty five and twelve or
Speaker 1: something like that. That's just spitballing. When I eventually hung
Speaker 1: it up because they went to the later platforms, the
Speaker 1: PS three, I ran like six plays. I just hot
Speaker 1: checked out whatever the defense was showing, would check it
Speaker 1: out and make my checks from there and attack relentlessly.
Speaker 1: Had a good running game with Ronnie Brown as well.
Speaker 1: And speaking of the Panthers, I actually had a game
Speaker 1: one time. I think it was Madden oh nine. It
Speaker 1: was one of the later games in my Madden Online
Speaker 1: career where I eventually found out that I was playing
Speaker 1: against Panthers quarterback Chris Gamble. Through a series of questions,
Speaker 1: he told me that he was Chris Gamble. He grew
Speaker 1: up in South Florida. Wasn't a fan of the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: and I asked him why because he grew up there.
Speaker 1: He told me he was a Panthers fan, and eventually
Speaker 1: he said he was a Panthers fan because he played
Speaker 1: for the Panthers. And so a little thirteen year old
Speaker 1: me starts quizzing him on certain plays about Chris Gamble's career.
Speaker 1: The Ohio State Miami National Championship game. I'm sure a
Speaker 1: lot of you Dolphins and Kanes fans out there don't
Speaker 1: want to think back about that one. So I played
Speaker 1: against Chris Gamble, and of course your boy got the
Speaker 1: W in that game. Madden was a lot of fun
Speaker 1: back in my youth. I just don't play anymore. But
Speaker 1: we do have Lamar Jackson on the cover of Madden
Speaker 1: this year, and that will be the last time I
Speaker 1: talked about Madden on this podcast, because we're not a
Speaker 1: video game podcast. So that was Ted gains Most Dangerous trait,
Speaker 1: the flat out Speed, And I saw a tweet I
Speaker 1: think it was on Friday by Benjamin Soliac and a
Speaker 1: quick funny story about Benjamin so like really good guy.
Speaker 1: I actually met him in Indianapolis this year at the
Speaker 1: Scouting Combine and we chatted for a solid half hour
Speaker 1: about football in between player media availabilities, and he followed
Speaker 1: me on Twitter on I think it was Thursday or Friday,
Speaker 1: and I sent him a d M saying that hey
Speaker 1: is in the bar and baby, we got you, and
Speaker 1: he goes I have no idea why I wasn't following
Speaker 1: you this whole entire time. I thought that I was.
Speaker 1: I went to your timeline, saw that I wasn't, and
Speaker 1: felt really stupid. So he followed me back. I always
Speaker 1: wondered why, because we were friends. I enjoy his content,
Speaker 1: he enjoys my content. He didn't throw me that follow
Speaker 1: but he finally did, so Ben, I appreciate that. And
Speaker 1: in honor of Ben, I'm gonna go ahead and steal
Speaker 1: the idea that Ben had on Twitter talking about what
Speaker 1: aspect of a player's game one of your favorite players
Speaker 1: do you think that most fans more casual so fans
Speaker 1: are not aware of And his inspiration was the hump
Speaker 1: move inside for Saints interior defensive lineman David anya Metta.
Speaker 1: And it really got me thinking about which Dolphins fall
Speaker 1: into that category. And rather than calling it an elite move,
Speaker 1: I just want to go over some of the best
Speaker 1: moves for some, not all, of the Dolphins roster because
Speaker 1: I just don't have the scouting depth on all ninety
Speaker 1: guys to give you that. But let's just go ahead
Speaker 1: and start here and go buy position. Will start at
Speaker 1: the quarterback position with Ryan Fitzpatrick. To me when I
Speaker 1: first watched his tape when the Dolphins signed him last year,
Speaker 1: it was the trust in his eyes, the ability to
Speaker 1: see what he lie and to trust that he saw
Speaker 1: the processing both post snap and pre snap to make
Speaker 1: that read, to make that throw, and to fit that
Speaker 1: thing in there. And I think we saw that time
Speaker 1: and time again last year. There's a touchdown pass in
Speaker 1: the Giants game to Davante Parker up the seam. Parkers
Speaker 1: in the slot runs a straight vertical seam route and
Speaker 1: Fits sees it pre snap, knows he has a tight
Speaker 1: window with his cornerback underneath safety over the top, and
Speaker 1: he rips that thing and fits it in there for
Speaker 1: a gorgeous, gorgeous touchdown past. I think if you search
Speaker 1: my name on Twitter at Wingfield, NFL and Fitzpatrick and Parker,
Speaker 1: I think that play comes up as a video if
Speaker 1: you want to go check that out. So for fits
Speaker 1: definitely the trust and his eyes and the trust in
Speaker 1: his preparation pre game to go ahead and attack the
Speaker 1: defense accordingly. For to a tongue of Valoa, there's plenty
Speaker 1: of options here. I would say the trust in his
Speaker 1: eyes also was there. I love the way he manipulates
Speaker 1: rush angles when past protection breaks down. But I think
Speaker 1: you would be foolish to not say ball placement because
Speaker 1: of his downfield accuracy all throughout his college career, just
Speaker 1: laying handoffs to guys that run f or three, four
Speaker 1: or four forties, putting the ball right and stride for
Speaker 1: long touchdowns. You go back to Alabama eighteen tape, they
Speaker 1: were just an aerial show unlike anything college football had
Speaker 1: ever seen, and a lot of those big touchdowns and
Speaker 1: big production numbers for that offense was a result of
Speaker 1: elite level ball placement throwing down the football field. Josh Rosen,
Speaker 1: I think just his sheer arm strength and the way
Speaker 1: he can layer certain throws, like I love the backside
Speaker 1: crossing route, the deep over route where they come in
Speaker 1: behind the line, behind the linebacker and in underneath the safety,
Speaker 1: and he can kind of layer those throws out there.
Speaker 1: He can definitely hit every blade of the grass with
Speaker 1: his arm strength. At running back, Jordan Howard, I think
Speaker 1: that his vision and you kind of can compartmentalize this
Speaker 1: into his sheer vision. But there are certain aspects of
Speaker 1: zone running or even gap running that a player has
Speaker 1: to have certain vision for and on these zone reads
Speaker 1: with that Chicago Bears scheme with the Eagles last year.
Speaker 1: The way he can press the whole that the play
Speaker 1: is designed to go to and then make his decision
Speaker 1: based upon the flow of the linebackers, the level of
Speaker 1: the defensive line, to bounce it outside, to bang it inside,
Speaker 1: or to cut back backside. His vision in that way
Speaker 1: is elite. We had Brett Coleman of The Inside or
Speaker 1: the Film Room show on YouTube. He came on the
Speaker 1: podcast and broke down Jordan Howard's game. I think it
Speaker 1: was back in March, I want to say maybe early April,
Speaker 1: but he has a YouTube episode on Jordan Howard where
Speaker 1: he breaks that down very in depth, very very quality
Speaker 1: content there from Brett Coleman with Matt Brita. I mean,
Speaker 1: what else is it? His flat out speed, that ted
Speaker 1: gain speed, that speed he can flat out burn and
Speaker 1: he is an ultimate angle eraser in the second level
Speaker 1: at receiver Davanta Parker. There's a lot of options here
Speaker 1: for Davante. I think you take his contested catch ability,
Speaker 1: but I don't want to just throw that blanket out there,
Speaker 1: because that's really kind of a generic statement. More So,
Speaker 1: the way he uses his frame to his advantage. We've
Speaker 1: seen him by the way he leaps down the football
Speaker 1: field and even when he missed times his jumps, he
Speaker 1: can still kind of it seems like, suspend himself in
Speaker 1: mid air and still pluck that thing down. So much
Speaker 1: fun to watch the way he attacks the football in
Speaker 1: the air, but just the way he uses the frame
Speaker 1: to create separation when he is a little bit tightly guarded,
Speaker 1: the way he can box out, like on slant routes
Speaker 1: or square and routes. He catches the ball away from
Speaker 1: his frame with his hands, and that serves a double
Speaker 1: purpose because when you catch the football that way, typically
Speaker 1: those types of guys don't have high drop numbers, and
Speaker 1: Devanta is pretty solid in that regard catching the football
Speaker 1: when it's on his body. So the way he uses
Speaker 1: the frame his frame to box out and make catches
Speaker 1: and those contested areas love that about Devant's game. For
Speaker 1: Preston Williams, the way he stacks. We saw it throughout
Speaker 1: training camp, preseason into the season. There's a catch up
Speaker 1: against I think it was Levi Wallace in the Buffalo
Speaker 1: game in Buffalo where the cornerbacks playing outside leverage, so
Speaker 1: Preston releases inside and then gets back on top of
Speaker 1: an armbar and stacks the cornerback. And once they're stacked
Speaker 1: on the on the receiver's back, they have to go
Speaker 1: through the body to get to the football. That's what
Speaker 1: you want to do. You want to stack the defensive back,
Speaker 1: and Preston Williams is really good in that area. For Jacheem,
Speaker 1: easy as pie his release off the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: I just if I've seen if someone's jam Jachim, I
Speaker 1: don't think I've seen it yet. He's tough to jam
Speaker 1: because of the size and release and quickness that he has.
Speaker 1: For Albert Wilson, obviously, the tackle breaking, the ability to
Speaker 1: start and stop in the open field and make guys
Speaker 1: miss that house of a lower half he has just
Speaker 1: built like a brick house. He is so good after
Speaker 1: the catch with the football in his hands along the
Speaker 1: offensive line. Austin Jackson, the control that he has out
Speaker 1: in space. I love watching his USC tape for the
Speaker 1: way he gets out in open space and makes crucial
Speaker 1: blocks on screen games or whether it's outside run plays
Speaker 1: him in space. He is so controlled and so athletic.
Speaker 1: Fun to watch that guy do his work out in
Speaker 1: the open field. For Eric Flowers, the sheer power and
Speaker 1: a phone booth. You watch the way he strikes the
Speaker 1: hand fight, the way he can really shock the defensive
Speaker 1: line when they first get to him and make that
Speaker 1: first contact because he is so big and so powerful.
Speaker 1: With Ted Carriss at center the intelligence and communication, you
Speaker 1: always see him passing off and knowing when to double one,
Speaker 1: to fall off, when to find extra work, the way
Speaker 1: he communicates the calls of the quarterback. Love what Ted
Speaker 1: Carriss does from a leadership standpoint on the interior of
Speaker 1: your offensive line. And for Robert Hunt, it's similar to
Speaker 1: Eric Flowers with a sheer strength and power, and I
Speaker 1: love watching the way they hit their combo blocks and
Speaker 1: the way they can rag doll defenders. My gosh, it's
Speaker 1: fun to watch. To me. Offensive line tape for a
Speaker 1: lot of people probably isn't very much fun to watch.
Speaker 1: But when you watch guys physically just move someone against
Speaker 1: their will, that to me is football on a nutshell
Speaker 1: and I love watching that stuff. And Robert Hunt, Solomon Kinley,
Speaker 1: and Eric Flowers can all get that done because of
Speaker 1: that seer, sheer size and strength. Jesse Davis, I like
Speaker 1: the way he uses his hands to help redirect and
Speaker 1: to help get himself back into a position if he
Speaker 1: has to recover to work back inside on a spin
Speaker 1: move or whether it's a speed to power move off
Speaker 1: the outside, he tends to find a way to get
Speaker 1: his hands in the right place and that helps his
Speaker 1: feet get a line and stay on balance as he
Speaker 1: works back to counter whatever type of rush move the
Speaker 1: defensive end the past rusher is going to throw at him,
Speaker 1: both inside and outside. And Michael Dieter I like the
Speaker 1: way he works in combo blocks. He can catch and
Speaker 1: climb get to the second level, first hit that initial
Speaker 1: chip on the defensive lineman and then climbed to the
Speaker 1: linebacker and hit that second level block on the other
Speaker 1: side of the football, on the defensive side and on
Speaker 1: the line In particular, Christian Wilkins. This is one of
Speaker 1: the toughest ones because I just like so much about
Speaker 1: Christians game and he's so well rounded and so versatile.
Speaker 1: But I have to just say, the quickness off the
Speaker 1: snap and the penetration, that's what he was known for
Speaker 1: in college. He won with that a lot in the
Speaker 1: National Football League last year in his rookie season, and
Speaker 1: it's a testament to him how he's able to round
Speaker 1: out the rest of his game. But man, that speed,
Speaker 1: quickness and penetration off the line, it's really what I
Speaker 1: think makes him stand out above his peers. Divon god Shaw,
Speaker 1: the sheer strength in his hands. I'm curious if that
Speaker 1: dude can crack you know, if he doesn't even need
Speaker 1: a nutcracker. He can probably crack a walnut and his
Speaker 1: bare hands. Because the way he can grip and lock
Speaker 1: out and then disengage, it's so fun to watch. It
Speaker 1: led to the most run stops last year on Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus, with thirty three of any interior defensive lineman
Speaker 1: because of the way he stacks up and disengages because
Speaker 1: of the strength in those hands. And Zach Seeler, we
Speaker 1: don't talk about this guy enough, I don't think, but
Speaker 1: his hand usage and the length that he displays and
Speaker 1: the ability to keep his eyes up over his hands
Speaker 1: when he does lock out and make the read make
Speaker 1: the play accordingly. We saw that plenty down the stretch
Speaker 1: last season. Emmanuel Ogba. His length and the ability to
Speaker 1: convert speed to power off the outside. It really benefits
Speaker 1: the rush contained scheme when you have that type of
Speaker 1: length and then to go ahead and throw that speed
Speaker 1: off the edge because he is athletic enough to throw
Speaker 1: a speed rush. But then to convert that two hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy five pound frame and that length in that
Speaker 1: wingspan into sheer power. It can reset the right tackle.
Speaker 1: We talked about this on previous podcast. How you reset
Speaker 1: those guys and it creates one on one opportunities for
Speaker 1: the linebackers, for the edge rushers, for the games you
Speaker 1: want to run for all the blitz is so his
Speaker 1: ability to overwhelm with that speed, to power and length,
Speaker 1: I think is Emmanuel ogbas best I da Shack Lawson.
Speaker 1: The way he dents the edge and the tenacity he
Speaker 1: plays with attacking guys trying to pull, whether it's a
Speaker 1: backside pulling guard, whether it's a split zone tight down
Speaker 1: coming across the formation. The way he goes after those
Speaker 1: guys and initiates the contact and controls the rep and
Speaker 1: resets the line of scrimmage and the running game. Love
Speaker 1: the way Shaq Lawson plays off the edge out there
Speaker 1: in the run game as the edge players go van
Speaker 1: Noy just his past rush refinement. Man, this guy is
Speaker 1: so refined and the way he gets after the quarterback,
Speaker 1: and I think in particular the way he can dip
Speaker 1: off the edge. You see him throw the initial hand
Speaker 1: usage and then dip underneath the outside shoulder of the tackle.
Speaker 1: He is well versed in so many pass rush moves,
Speaker 1: but I love the way he runs the arc with
Speaker 1: that dip. For Vince Bagel, he was kind of the
Speaker 1: inspiration for the initial tweet for me on this thread.
Speaker 1: His spin move that he throws your work upfield, you
Speaker 1: force the vertical set of the tackle spin back across
Speaker 1: their face. He is deadly with that move. Just ask
Speaker 1: his brother Andrew Van Giggle. The way he processes routes
Speaker 1: and coverage loved at Wisconsin. Loved it in the preseas season.
Speaker 1: Then he goes on I R comes back late in
Speaker 1: the year and we see the exact same thing. I
Speaker 1: have videos of him doing this in the Patriots game. Again.
Speaker 1: If you just type in my name on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Wingfield NFL and the player's name, you're probably gonna find
Speaker 1: some video work. And with Van Ginkle, the way he
Speaker 1: can process the curl flat area and that's basically the
Speaker 1: short pass like a hitch or a little square and
Speaker 1: route a quick dig inside from a receiver or out
Speaker 1: to the flat. The running backs, the tight ends running
Speaker 1: those flat routes. He does so well to process those
Speaker 1: route combinations and make the play accordingly. As far as
Speaker 1: off ball linebackers go, Jerome Baker, his range and trigger
Speaker 1: are two things that really stand out to me, and
Speaker 1: those are basically byproducts of his speed. The way he
Speaker 1: can get sidelined to sideline, but also the way he
Speaker 1: triggers going forward as a blitzer in pass rush. Love
Speaker 1: watching how fast he explodes out of his initial stance.
Speaker 1: His former Ohio State teammate ray kuatic Millan very simple here,
Speaker 1: the way he defeats blocks, but not just the physicality,
Speaker 1: because we know that about fifty two is game. I
Speaker 1: love watching this guy pop the pads in practice, but
Speaker 1: the diagnosis, diagnostics, diagnosis, the keys he has there, the
Speaker 1: way he can key a fullback and where he's aligned
Speaker 1: or reading the backside guard, and the way he fits
Speaker 1: his gap in the run game. He has so much
Speaker 1: fun to watch old school linebacker, I feel like we
Speaker 1: have to get that guy a neck roll and the
Speaker 1: land and Roberts is a similar in a lot of
Speaker 1: those same ways, but he has intelligence. The way McMillan does,
Speaker 1: paired with that physicality. I think that's what makes those
Speaker 1: two guys such good football players, such good linebackers. Is
Speaker 1: the intelligence and physicality. What more do you need in
Speaker 1: a football player than that? And then Cammu gruge Hill,
Speaker 1: similar to Van Ginkle, the coverage processing, the way he
Speaker 1: knows where to get to his landmarks and coverage, and
Speaker 1: then the process from there and closed down and make
Speaker 1: plays accordingly. This is a guy last year at Eagles
Speaker 1: camp that had heads turned. We talked about it in
Speaker 1: his podcast, how when he went down with the injury,
Speaker 1: you could hear a nail drop because there was so
Speaker 1: much expectation and so much excitement about Commu Gruge Hill.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to see him get back on the
Speaker 1: field here now with the Miami Dolphins, and only in
Speaker 1: the defensive backfield at safety Eric Row. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of options here too. I want to pick something for
Speaker 1: his run defense because he's so solid there. But I've
Speaker 1: been watching these games, like I talked about every single podcast,
Speaker 1: it seems, and there are so many examples where he
Speaker 1: has to get in trail and kind of gets in
Speaker 1: behind the crossing receiver or crossing tight end on these
Speaker 1: mesh concepts and his ability to close on the ball
Speaker 1: while the balls in flight and get that outside hand
Speaker 1: around and punch the ball out. I love the closing
Speaker 1: speed on the ball in flight from Eric Row, Bobby McCain,
Speaker 1: change of direction, oily hips, and ball skills. All that
Speaker 1: pairs together. The way he can kind of flip those
Speaker 1: hips and turn and run. Very good usage inside for
Speaker 1: coverage and also helps him back deep at safety as well.
Speaker 1: That's why he's so versatible for this football team. Noah
Speaker 1: I Manogamy another first round draft pick for your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: The athletic ability shows up every damn time you watch
Speaker 1: this guy. When I watch him play, I simply do
Speaker 1: not believe that he only played a cornerback for two years.
Speaker 1: And when you sprinkle more seasoning onto this guy is
Speaker 1: gonna be so much fun to watch him play football.
Speaker 1: So his sheer athletic ability. He is a freak. The
Speaker 1: son of two Olympians there at Auburn, and he showed
Speaker 1: that day in and day out at Auburn. Also, the
Speaker 1: coaching staff there said he was the most competitive player
Speaker 1: that ever been around. That's Gus Malson. He's been around
Speaker 1: the block a few times. They said this guy was
Speaker 1: so competitive and he brought that to practice every single day.
Speaker 1: For Nick need Hum, the footwork. He has so such
Speaker 1: sweet feet. The way he can transition in and out
Speaker 1: of breaks really serves him well in the short areas
Speaker 1: and the quick hitting routes where there's just a couple
Speaker 1: of steps you break it off the top of the stem.
Speaker 1: He can really help transition and flip and run with
Speaker 1: those guys. For Adrian Colbert, the hitting and the physicality.
Speaker 1: He's a real tone center on your defense. And he
Speaker 1: just looks big on the football field. First off, the
Speaker 1: bus type of guy. I love the way he flows
Speaker 1: downhill and hits people. Another rookie, Brandon Jones, his play
Speaker 1: speed and instincts. When you watch Texas tape he wore
Speaker 1: nineteen in college, you can really see this guy show
Speaker 1: up every single rep. He flies to the football. He's
Speaker 1: so active and just so involved. Fun to watch him
Speaker 1: play football. And speaking of Brandon Jones, we have a
Speaker 1: long form interview WOLL with both Brandon himself and coach
Speaker 1: Tom Herman in Texas, and we'll talk to Brandon's mom.
Speaker 1: Get to know the kid off the field. On the field,
Speaker 1: do not miss that podcast coming out sometime this week.
Speaker 1: I'll go ahead and let you guys know when that
Speaker 1: podcast is out. And I saved this little bit for
Speaker 1: last because Byron Jones as kind of the reason I
Speaker 1: wanted to get into this topic. I mentioned Vince Bagel,
Speaker 1: but Byron Jones, Yeah, he's not going to be the
Speaker 1: underrated elite traits guy because everybody knows who Byron Jones is,
Speaker 1: because he's one of the NFL's elite cornerbacks. By now.
Speaker 1: You've heard me talk about his ability to lock down
Speaker 1: top end receivers in the National Football League. But one
Speaker 1: of the reasons he comes up here is because I've
Speaker 1: been watching these NFL Network re airs, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: just show us all the games. I want to see
Speaker 1: every game you've got in the vault there, and really
Speaker 1: enjoying watching these old football games. But Byron Jones with
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys, they've been showing games from team and
Speaker 1: number thirty ones consistently on the field in these games,
Speaker 1: and I watched the way he plays, and they mostly
Speaker 1: keep him on one side of the field in Dallas there.
Speaker 1: But one thing that I really like to watch about
Speaker 1: him is the way he varies his coverages and his looks.
Speaker 1: He'll show you press, he'll bail, he'll show off coverage
Speaker 1: and then come down and cover up tight and pressed.
Speaker 1: He just does so much things. He's so versatile, he
Speaker 1: mixes it up so well. And I watched the way
Speaker 1: he processes things, and this is part of playing off
Speaker 1: coverage where he can kind of see the play developed
Speaker 1: in front of him. He's so impressive and the way
Speaker 1: he processes and he really is kind of the captain
Speaker 1: of that defense, at least recently he was, and the
Speaker 1: way he communicates the coverage, the structure of the coverage,
Speaker 1: the structure of the defense. He's a lot of fun
Speaker 1: to watch. And I just think that pairs so incredibly
Speaker 1: well with the guy you have on the other side
Speaker 1: of the football field, who, for my money, is the
Speaker 1: best press man, press cover cornerman in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: And he, of course Xavien Howard has the best inside
Speaker 1: hand jam of anybody in the NFL. Those two guys
Speaker 1: working together, with the way they kind of pair off
Speaker 1: each other and the skill sets they offer, I just
Speaker 1: think that those two cornerbacks together, my goodness, you're gonna
Speaker 1: be tough. It's gonna be tough for anybody else in
Speaker 1: the national football like the top the skill sets the
Speaker 1: Dolphins have with Jones on one side and Howard on
Speaker 1: the other side, those two together has to be one
Speaker 1: of the most fun things to watch this entire year
Speaker 1: for the Dolphins. And on the topic of things that
Speaker 1: are fun to watch and listen to, O J McDuffie
Speaker 1: did his dad Joke of the Day on Twitter on
Speaker 1: Sunday to help celebrate Father's Day and in honor of
Speaker 1: O J and the Fish Tank Podcast here on the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins podcast Network. I had this clip cut off
Speaker 1: the day before my daughter was born when they released
Speaker 1: the episode for Ricky Williams, but I want to go
Speaker 1: ahead and play it for you now because I think
Speaker 1: it's just fun as a Dolphins fan. And the way
Speaker 1: I worked into this podcast was that they have their
Speaker 1: top ten episodes out a couple of episodes with Channing Crowder.
Speaker 1: I think Joy Taylor was one of the episodes Jeff Darlington,
Speaker 1: but Ricky Williams remains the number one episode in the
Speaker 1: history of the Fish Tank Podcast, and in preparation for
Speaker 1: this top ten list, I went back and looked as
Speaker 1: much content as I could with Ricky Williams making those
Speaker 1: runs throughout the course of his Dolphin's career. And the
Speaker 1: thing that you noticed about most of these runs from
Speaker 1: Ricky was that most of the time it came from
Speaker 1: some form of counter action where you fake one direction
Speaker 1: a little bit of misdirection and come back the other way.
Speaker 1: You're gonna get a counterstep from the running back. The
Speaker 1: quarterback pivots to the backside before twisting around play side
Speaker 1: for the handoff. And this is kind of a natural
Speaker 1: timing mechanism that helps power or helps you in the
Speaker 1: power run game when you have pulling action from the
Speaker 1: back side. And my god, was Jamie Nails devastating on
Speaker 1: those blocks in the open field. There's a play in
Speaker 1: the game against Indie in two thousand two where Nail's
Speaker 1: Polls play side. That's a tongue twister, but Nail's Polls
Speaker 1: play side and just wipes out two potential tacklers. Man,
Speaker 1: that was fun to watch. With Ricky back there as
Speaker 1: the ball carrier behind that good offensive line. His most
Speaker 1: unique trait for me was the way he squared up
Speaker 1: to the line of scrimmage in the A gap or
Speaker 1: the B gap to get the defender to come down
Speaker 1: and close and break down, because they always tell you,
Speaker 1: even from high school, to up warn or whatever it was, breakdown,
Speaker 1: make the tackle right. So he would force these defenders
Speaker 1: to break down in the box. Then he has that
Speaker 1: lateral hop step, which is unmatched in NFL history in
Speaker 1: my opinion, and then from there the acceleration to hit
Speaker 1: the gas and go zero to sixty, and the way
Speaker 1: he finished those runs with both speed and power. Just
Speaker 1: the best man. He was the best I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: I know I'm only in my young thirties early thirties,
Speaker 1: but for my money, he's the best running back I
Speaker 1: ever saw. So top ten Ricky runs as a Dolphin,
Speaker 1: and there were more than enough, so I had to
Speaker 1: cut a few of them out of this list because
Speaker 1: there were just some runs like, for instance, the fifty
Speaker 1: four yard touchdown run against Seattle in two thousand eight.
Speaker 1: It was a big run in a big game that
Speaker 1: we had to get, but he was the play was
Speaker 1: well blocked and he just raced through the whole untouched.
Speaker 1: A great run, no no doubt about that. Speed definitely kills,
Speaker 1: but he's got better ones like for starters are number
Speaker 1: ten Ricky Williams run as a Miami Dolphin second and
Speaker 1: four ups two. I'm gonna try I sell race. I'd
Speaker 1: stayed away from him because I can't sticked up, but
Speaker 1: he knocked. He knocks him into the end zone in
Speaker 1: the two yard line, and I made he knocks him
Speaker 1: towards this folks. That was square Bay And it was
Speaker 1: just a ten yard touchdown run. But the tone that
Speaker 1: that run set in that game, it was such a
Speaker 1: physical game. We talked to a Ronde Gaston on the
Speaker 1: Fence Flashback podcast a few weeks ago about that contest
Speaker 1: and how physical it was, and Gadsden told me that
Speaker 1: was probably the top two or three games in terms
Speaker 1: of physicality he ever played. But Ricky just brought the
Speaker 1: punch and really got some tough yards in that game.
Speaker 1: It set the tone. It got the Dolphins on the board.
Speaker 1: It was a very Ricky run, speed and power and
Speaker 1: just bowling through a guy on the end zone. Number
Speaker 1: ten two thousand two touchdown run against the Denver Broncos.
Speaker 1: Run Number nine is a twenty four yard touchdown run
Speaker 1: on Sunday Night football back in two thousand three. It
Speaker 1: was at the time a go ahead touchdown. It would
Speaker 1: serve as the game winner on Sunday Night against Washington
Speaker 1: Drive safe score Ricky before the win touchdown. And there's
Speaker 1: no play by play of that particular game as far
Speaker 1: as the audio call, but Ricky makes him moving the
Speaker 1: gap on a third and one play and races to
Speaker 1: vic to the end zone, shows matel lights and races
Speaker 1: the Dolphins to victory in that game. Run number eight
Speaker 1: in the top ten Ricky Williams Miami Dolphins runs. We
Speaker 1: stay in primetime and head out to Charlotte four or
Speaker 1: five to go Ricky Williams chase by Martin Ricky Williams
Speaker 1: touchdown And that was a forty six yard touchdown run
Speaker 1: against the Carolina Panthers on a Thursday night football game,
Speaker 1: a short turnaround there on the road. Always a difficult
Speaker 1: ask to go on the road on a short week
Speaker 1: and get a victory, especially when Ronnie Brown went down
Speaker 1: the previous week. So Ricky was the man at that point,
Speaker 1: and he bust out a one hundred yard rushing game,
Speaker 1: scored three touchdowns in the Dolphins win. And the biggest
Speaker 1: reason I chose that runs number eight was because Ricky
Speaker 1: was in the later stages of his career in two
Speaker 1: thousand nine, but he ran right by two defensive backs.
Speaker 1: That speed never went away. That speed never quit Ricky
Speaker 1: from the first day he was on the NFL. In
Speaker 1: the NFL to the final year, he always had the
Speaker 1: speed power combination like nobody else. And speaking of that
Speaker 1: speed and power, we go back for run number six
Speaker 1: to two thousand two on a snowy day in Buffalo touchdown.
Speaker 1: That was a big two hundred yard day for Ricky there,
Speaker 1: although in a losing effort. That particular run put the
Speaker 1: Dolphins up by four with just five minutes to play
Speaker 1: in the third quarter, his first of back to back
Speaker 1: two hundred yard rushing days. Of course, the snow out
Speaker 1: there in Buffalo, he had the head mask on, the
Speaker 1: thing that goes over the top of his head, so
Speaker 1: his dreads were all tucked up in there, almost unrecognizable
Speaker 1: until he got the football and did what he does best.
Speaker 1: A little tiny hole opens up and from there Ricky
Speaker 1: saw the daylight and he ran to it for a
Speaker 1: long touchdown there against the Buffalo Bills in two thousand two.
Speaker 1: Run number six is gonna take us in state in Florida,
Speaker 1: but up north in Jacksonville. Back in two thousand three.
Speaker 1: We have a sound clip here from NFL Prime Time
Speaker 1: Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, and Man, if you want to
Speaker 1: talk about nostalgia, nothing will do it like those two.
Speaker 1: On NFL Prime Time. Ricky has a serpentine run where
Speaker 1: he goes back and forth, crosses field and catches a
Speaker 1: nice block from J feel Ricky waits coming to round
Speaker 1: for the Verst Grove the clock and we've seen him
Speaker 1: doing this many time. J Feeler from Dmouth and watch this,
Speaker 1: watch Fever and this is the thing I love about Fever.
Speaker 1: He's not just trying to get in a guy who's way.
Speaker 1: This block is on. Tony Bracken is one of the
Speaker 1: best players in the league, and he clears the way
Speaker 1: for Rickey Wools. The vision to wind that thing back
Speaker 1: and find that whole, of course, helps Feedler get himself
Speaker 1: in position to make a huge block for a touchdown
Speaker 1: run in that Week six, two thousand three game against Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: run number five. We go back to two thousand two,
Speaker 1: and all five of these top five runs could have
Speaker 1: been number one in any order. I went with this
Speaker 1: one because it wasn't a touchdown and the other ones were,
Speaker 1: So we go to play number five in two thousand
Speaker 1: two in Kansas City. For run number five on the
Speaker 1: top ten, Ricky Williams runs in Miami. Rickyanhould be holding
Speaker 1: the right side of his lower back. It ought to
Speaker 1: be right there. Wesley meets him in the whole year
Speaker 1: and says, see you later by and here's the twenty
Speaker 1: pounds wider Miami. I mean, just runs a dude over
Speaker 1: in the gap and then gets the second level and
Speaker 1: throws a defensive back onto the ground. He did get
Speaker 1: Ricky down with a trip. That's all he was able
Speaker 1: to do to get him to the ground. But you
Speaker 1: see the physical impressive statue there of Ricky Williams to
Speaker 1: run through tacklers and to throw bodies off of him
Speaker 1: as he's racing down the sideline. Run number four or
Speaker 1: in the top ten, Ricky Williams runs. We go to
Speaker 1: two thousand two again on a Monday night, another two
Speaker 1: hundred yard performance, this time against the Chicago Bears. Weird
Speaker 1: deal if you gain fey things. Williams inside the ten
Speaker 1: first to a t and he into the textab he
Speaker 1: just creadit, reporters should put the end of the way,
Speaker 1: and goes fifteen yards to the end. You just got
Speaker 1: to feel he spelled that end zone and the last
Speaker 1: time you saw hermack Or knocked that ball out of there.
Speaker 1: This stuff. When I can't close again, that thing's going
Speaker 1: to go in. But he starts in the middle, and
Speaker 1: now he can do this. He can found it. He
Speaker 1: started in like the the two holes, found them all
Speaker 1: the way to the outside to the eight hole, and
Speaker 1: then got into the end zone. He actually has a
Speaker 1: longer touchdown run in that game. But I chose this
Speaker 1: particular run because I thought that it showcased what really
Speaker 1: made Ricky so spec show. I talked about it at
Speaker 1: the top of this list. His ability to get defensive
Speaker 1: backs and linebackers to commit to the wrong gap and
Speaker 1: then to bounce it and win with his speed to
Speaker 1: the corner, and then use that stiff farm, that strength,
Speaker 1: the agility, and the speed, all of it working together
Speaker 1: to create just a special special running back. Run number three,
Speaker 1: and this one's gonna be a short one. These next
Speaker 1: two runs are going to be short ones, but they're
Speaker 1: both are touchdowns where he jukes out two of the
Speaker 1: better safety's in the NFL over the last couple of decades.
Speaker 1: One a Hall of Famer and one potentially someday a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. We start with number three against the
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens, where he gets the best of Ed Reid
Speaker 1: back to the game. Will come to the left side
Speaker 1: of your street. Help be the blurb he was on
Speaker 1: the reverse. He comes in unblocked into the backfield of
Speaker 1: Ricky has to make a move as he takes the
Speaker 1: football at the mesh point from the quarterback. He puts
Speaker 1: the spin move on the spin cycle, gets out of
Speaker 1: that tackle and walks into the end zone for a
Speaker 1: Dolphin's touchdown run. Number two is going to be the
Speaker 1: one again. It's Rodney Harrison. It's a twelve yard touchdown run.
Speaker 1: It put the game away. Dolphins seven, Chargers three after
Speaker 1: this particular play late in the third quarter. But again,
Speaker 1: like that run against the Bears, I think this one
Speaker 1: really showcases just what made him special, getting defensive backs
Speaker 1: to commit and then bouncing outside and beating them with
Speaker 1: his speed. Had some more tool in here, kIPS outside touchdown.
Speaker 1: Did he go right around Rodney Harrison if he thinks
Speaker 1: he can take it outside, There's no hesitation And that
Speaker 1: was really terrific. A little scudder step. All these impressive runs.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go ahead and finish you here with number one.
Speaker 1: I think we all know what it is. Bye bye, Ricky,
Speaker 1: Bye bye streak against the Jets in two thousand two,
Speaker 1: Rickie Williams touchdo you can very very jazz dup? I
Speaker 1: think it was Pro Player Stadium at the time, as
Speaker 1: Bricky goes into the end zone to put to rest
Speaker 1: an eight game losing streak against the New York Jets
Speaker 1: there in Week three as a Dolphins improved to three
Speaker 1: and o. It was his third straight game to begin
Speaker 1: his Dolphins career with one hundred yards, A fifty three
Speaker 1: yard strike from Ricky Williams, a big touchdown run there.
Speaker 1: Those are my top ten Ricky Williams runs as a
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphin. You let me know on Twitter which ones
Speaker 1: you think I missed, where you think I got it right?
Speaker 1: Let us know all of that on Twitter. And to
Speaker 1: close out this podcast, I want to do that with
Speaker 1: a salute to another Dolphins running back, a great Dolphins
Speaker 1: running back, Jim Kick. We lost Jim over the weekend
Speaker 1: at age seventy three. He had a brilliant nine year
Speaker 1: NFL career, including the first seven of that career with
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins. This guy was as we liable as
Speaker 1: they come. Missed just one game in those seven seasons,
Speaker 1: only one game missed. In a tough, brutal type of
Speaker 1: run heavy offense in the seventies NFL, which we know
Speaker 1: was not an easy time to play football from a
Speaker 1: physicality standpoint, those guys got after it. They were tough,
Speaker 1: physical players. He rushed for twenty eight touchdowns in Miami,
Speaker 1: including a career high nine touchdowns in nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 1: He was a Pro Bowler his first two years, and
Speaker 1: then he was very selfless in the way he allowed
Speaker 1: the Dolphins to develop that trio of running backs which
Speaker 1: would become the best trio of running backs in the
Speaker 1: history of the National Football League with Kick, with Larry
Speaker 1: Sanka and Mercury Morris, the best backfield in the history
Speaker 1: of the game. Kick rushed for three thousand, seven hundred
Speaker 1: fifty nine yards in his career. He also caught a
Speaker 1: ton of footballs two hundred twenty one catches for the
Speaker 1: Dolphins for two thousand, two hundred and ten yards, So
Speaker 1: it really versatile back that gave the offense that added
Speaker 1: dimension from the backfield. He also had four hundred one
Speaker 1: rushing yards and one hundred and fifteen receiving yards in
Speaker 1: eleven playoff games, including touchdowns in each of Miami's Super
Speaker 1: Bowl victories. So Jim Kick Gone too soon at the
Speaker 1: age of seventy three,