Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins. Now, let me check
Speaker 1: your pulse if you're not for what is up?
Speaker 2: Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast, part of
Speaker 2: the Miami Dolphins podcast network covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2: How's it going, everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2: And on today's show, we're gonna hear from the opponent's perspective.
Speaker 2: Fran Duffy from the Philadelphia Eagles helps us preview this
Speaker 2: week's opponent. Plus we're gonna stop by the assistant coaches
Speaker 2: podiums they spoke to the media on Thursday. We'll get
Speaker 2: the latest from those guys. And we'll also pick the
Speaker 2: week seven NFL games from the Baptist Health Studios inside
Speaker 2: the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast, Maggie, Daffiehirs.
Speaker 2: As we do every single Thursday, we head to the
Speaker 2: opponent sideline. Let's go ahead and welcome in my guest today,
Speaker 2: fran Duffy. You guys know who he is. He joins
Speaker 2: us every year during the draft cycle. But now as
Speaker 2: we get once every represidential campaign to pick his brain
Speaker 2: on the team. He actually covers Eagle Eye and the
Speaker 2: Sky podcast for the Eagles Podcast Network, also the Journey
Speaker 2: to the Draft podcast. Fran Duffy Fran, good morning to you, sir,
Speaker 2: and thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3: Travis, good morning, Happy to join you guys. Obviously, it's
Speaker 3: gonna be a fun weekend this weekend with these two
Speaker 3: teams facing.
Speaker 2: Off, a lot of anticipation for this one. We are
Speaker 2: recording this on a Thursday morning, and I'm already kind
Speaker 2: of counting the hours down until kickoff. It's going to
Speaker 2: be a long long wait on Sunday, yes, to get
Speaker 2: to that a twenty kickoff, But just kind of give
Speaker 2: us the vibe around the building, around the team, around
Speaker 2: the city right now. Off the first loss of the year.
Speaker 2: But I'm sure that didn't really deter excitement around the
Speaker 2: Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, Jalen Hurts was twelve to
Speaker 3: zero in his last twelve road starts. You know, this
Speaker 3: team is just not lost a lot of games with
Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts as the starting quarterback over the last couple
Speaker 3: of years, So unfamiliar territory this week, I think for
Speaker 3: the fan base, but I think when you look at
Speaker 3: what this team has done over the last two years,
Speaker 3: a lot of reasons to think, hey, you know what,
Speaker 3: that was a bump in the road and let's keep
Speaker 3: things rolling. They haven't had a losing streak since the
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one season, so they'll be looking to not
Speaker 3: let that happen here this weekend.
Speaker 2: So what I do on my weekly schedule frame is
Speaker 2: I do my own preview where I watched the tape
Speaker 2: and break the game down on Wednesday, and then Thursday,
Speaker 2: I welcome in my guests like you, and I kind
Speaker 2: of try to test my theories and the things that
Speaker 2: I found with someone that has more knowledge on the
Speaker 2: team than I do. And when I was watching the Eagles,
Speaker 2: I noticed a bunch of explosive plays, vertical passing game,
Speaker 2: very consistent running game, but some not errors, but just
Speaker 2: not the efficiency in the short intermedia game we're used
Speaker 2: to seeing. So I wanted to just kind of put
Speaker 2: that question to you, What have you seen in terms
Speaker 2: of where they've excelled offensively and where they've struggled so
Speaker 2: far through six games?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think when you look at the overall talent, right,
Speaker 3: I mean you look at Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown
Speaker 3: and Devontae Smith and Dallas s Goddard and DeAndre Swift,
Speaker 3: like the explosive plays are going to be there, and
Speaker 3: both the run in pass game, you know. So I
Speaker 3: think that all of that you're going to You're going
Speaker 3: to get those right, come hell or high walk, Like
Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts is going to make some superhuman plays on
Speaker 3: a weekly basis. AJ Brown is going to make superhuman plays.
Speaker 3: And you go down the list and each of them
Speaker 3: have kind of taken turns on a weekly.
Speaker 1: Basis of making those explosives.
Speaker 3: Over the last few weeks, AJ Brown has been kind
Speaker 3: of the centerpiece of the past game. He became the
Speaker 3: first Eagles receiver in like fifty years to have four
Speaker 3: straight performances one hundred and twenty five yards through the air.
Speaker 3: And he does it in so many different ways, you know,
Speaker 3: down the field, intermediate yards after catch, I mean so
Speaker 3: many different ways that he's able to hurt you both
Speaker 3: outside the numbers and between the numbers. So I think
Speaker 3: when you look at aj Brown, all the production in
Speaker 3: the past game, it's all there. What they've said over
Speaker 3: the course of the five to zero start and then
Speaker 3: certainly last week even still that they have not played
Speaker 3: their best game yet. They have not played a complete
Speaker 3: game yet offensively, And that's what has made it kind
Speaker 3: of funny because I think everybody in the outside, yeah,
Speaker 3: like you know's there's still kind of like a feeling
Speaker 3: out period. Obviously, there have been some changes on a
Speaker 3: personnel front. You know, there's some swapping up front along
Speaker 3: the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Injury.
Speaker 3: You lost Isaac Samlo, the starting right guard a year ago,
Speaker 3: so you got a new right guard in there coming
Speaker 3: in and then he got hurt in Cam Jurgens. He
Speaker 3: won't play for this game. Lane Johnson got hurt on
Speaker 3: the opening series last week against the Jets, so you
Speaker 3: had a whole new side on the right side of
Speaker 3: the offensive line and just filling out the new play caller,
Speaker 3: Brian Johnson, right, So you have just kind of feeling out, like,
Speaker 3: all right, the offense isn't quite the same feel. But
Speaker 3: then you also like step back, you're all right, let's
Speaker 3: just look at the numbers. And when you look at
Speaker 3: it from like an EPA standpoint, from a success rate standpoint,
Speaker 3: this is a team that's in the top six, top
Speaker 3: seven in pretty much every like impactful category.
Speaker 1: The one area that has not been.
Speaker 3: Super successful, especially over the first like three four weeks
Speaker 3: was the red zone where they were in like the
Speaker 3: bottom qure tile of the league. But even since then,
Speaker 3: like they were two for three in the red zone
Speaker 3: last week they got started a good start of the
Speaker 3: week before against the Rams. So I think when you
Speaker 3: look at this offense on the hole, you would say, yeah,
Speaker 3: like not hitting on all cylinders, but also still performing
Speaker 3: at a high rate. And that's kind of a good
Speaker 3: place to be at right where it's like, all right,
Speaker 3: we haven't peaked too early. We're still like climbing that ladder,
Speaker 3: and you hope that you want to be going to
Speaker 3: kind of hit full stride by the time we get
Speaker 3: into like November December.
Speaker 2: I've got my thoughts on, you know, the football discourse
Speaker 2: landscape as it were, frame what people think about certain
Speaker 2: players and teams and schemes. And you know, I see
Speaker 2: Buffalo fans are up in arms about their offense. It's
Speaker 2: ranked I think like third and EPA exactly the Eagles
Speaker 2: their second overall offense, and there's like what's going on
Speaker 2: with the Philadelphia Eagles. It's like they're five to one
Speaker 2: with the number two offense in the NFL, and watch
Speaker 2: them on tape. The Jalen Hurts stiff for him while
Speaker 2: I'm throwing a ball on a comeback. Like outside the podcast, Sam,
Speaker 2: there's not probably anybody else in the league that can
Speaker 2: do that. You know, he's a freaking powerlifter playing quarterback
Speaker 2: back there. He's just such an impressive, impressive player. And
Speaker 2: you mentioned, you know, Brian Johnson the new play caller,
Speaker 2: and obviously the right side of the offensive line was
Speaker 2: banged up last week. And on top of that, two
Speaker 2: of those picks are never going to happen again this year,
Speaker 2: like the one that gets you know, batted off someone's
Speaker 2: thigh pad and goes back to the defensive line for
Speaker 2: a pick a one where his arm gets hit mid throw.
Speaker 2: Like that one could happen, but it's just very fluky occurrence,
Speaker 2: is what I'm trying to say. But I want to
Speaker 2: get your your just general feel for how you think
Speaker 2: he and Brian Johnson have worked together. Excuse me, how
Speaker 2: that relationship has kind of started, where it is right
Speaker 2: now and where you see it going here for the Eagles.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, for everybody in the Philly area kind
Speaker 3: of knows this, but externally you don't have that same knowledge.
Speaker 3: Brian Johnson and Jalen Hurts have known each other since
Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts was basically a little kid, because Jalen Hurts
Speaker 3: his father coach Brian Johnson, in high school, so they've
Speaker 3: known each other for a long long time. So that
Speaker 3: relationship was already there. He's been the quarterback coach here
Speaker 3: over the last couple of years under Nick Sirianni, and
Speaker 3: then stepped into the offensive coordinator role this offseason, and
Speaker 3: so that relationship is rock solid and now. But again,
Speaker 3: anytime you have a new coordinator or a new play caller,
Speaker 3: there's still just going to be like kind of like
Speaker 3: that feeling out period. And every team, as you know,
Speaker 3: like every team every single season, you're gonna have different
Speaker 3: strengths and weaknesses just because of natural turnover and development
Speaker 3: and evolution. So it's like, all right, those first few
Speaker 3: weeks of the year are always about what is what
Speaker 3: is our identity? What do what this is this version
Speaker 3: of this team do best, you know, and just kind
Speaker 3: of figure feeling out where that is. But I think
Speaker 3: right now there's a lot of reasons to be excited
Speaker 3: about Jalen Hurts, this pass game, this offense.
Speaker 1: Last week was was not.
Speaker 3: Like the prettiest, but especially down the stretch in the
Speaker 3: fourth quarter. You mentioned some of the flukey plays, but
Speaker 3: certainly some players where you look at and say like, yeah,
Speaker 3: like Jalen's got to be better in this situation, and
Speaker 3: he took ownership of that final interception in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3: You know, I think when you look at overall, though,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of reasons to be excited.
Speaker 2: Like I said, yeah, that last pick was the one
Speaker 2: that I was like, oh, that's very on. Jalen hurts
Speaker 2: like of him, and you know it's gonna happen to
Speaker 2: every quarterback. Every quarterback is gonna have a couple of
Speaker 2: throws and maybe get away from them or maybe they
Speaker 2: didn't see the right read or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 2: But one thing you can count off for this Eagles team,
Speaker 2: because even though the passing success right right now I
Speaker 2: think is forty four percent swift and hurts, I think
Speaker 2: our second and third or third and fourth overall quarterbacks
Speaker 2: had running backs in success rate on the ground. Tell
Speaker 2: us about this run game. I'm also just kind of
Speaker 2: curious to get your gauge on whether or not Lane
Speaker 2: Johnson plays this week high ankle sprain. I know he's
Speaker 2: trying to get back out there and played, but just
Speaker 2: his his potential absence or not. And then the running game.
Speaker 2: How have you seen a playoffs so far?
Speaker 1: I would say, real quick the last part.
Speaker 3: First, when it comes to Lane Johnson, you know, there
Speaker 3: has not been anything like officially put out, you know,
Speaker 3: in terms of where he's at. I guess we'll check
Speaker 3: the injury report that drops later today. On Thursday, there
Speaker 3: were reports from external media that he was going to
Speaker 3: try and give it a go. So and Lane Johnson
Speaker 3: is one of the toughest players I've ever been around
Speaker 3: in my thirteen seasons here with the Eagles, so it
Speaker 3: would nothing would shock me when it comes to him
Speaker 3: and his ability to kind of gut it out. So
Speaker 3: that'll be something certainly to watch for in the next
Speaker 3: couple of days and see what his status is. But
Speaker 3: I think when you look at this run game, Travis,
Speaker 3: what has really stood out to me over the years.
Speaker 3: You know, Jeff Stoutlin has been the offensive line coach
Speaker 3: here since the twenty thirteen season, so he's been here
Speaker 3: through you know, I guess it's three different coaching staffs, right.
Speaker 3: He was bought in by Chip Kelly was here for
Speaker 3: the entire Doug Peterson era and then obviously here with
Speaker 3: Nick Sirianni, and what has always stood out is, yeah,
Speaker 3: like they're going to have their their core principles right
Speaker 3: there in terms of, hey, this year, we're going to
Speaker 3: really major in the pin pull sweep or the different
Speaker 3: versions of inside zone or outside zone, right, you know,
Speaker 3: whatever whatever that is. But they've always been extremely multiple,
Speaker 3: so that in any given game, whatever your weakness is
Speaker 3: as a defensive front and the way that you fit
Speaker 3: the run and how you line up to certain formations, hey,
Speaker 3: you know, we are going to attack that weakness if
Speaker 3: we feel like there's an area there, you know. So
Speaker 3: they've basically they've got all the different clubs in their
Speaker 3: bag to use a golf reference, they got it, and
Speaker 3: they know how to use all of those clubs. So
Speaker 3: depending on what your weakness is on the ground, and
Speaker 3: they're not afraid to spam the same play over and
Speaker 3: over and over until you adjust. And we saw that
Speaker 3: it was week two against the Minnesota Vikings where they
Speaker 3: came out and ran the same formation, the same play call,
Speaker 3: the same basic like inside zone play from the same
Speaker 3: formation like seven eight times in like a two drive
Speaker 3: span and just said yeah, like go ahead, stop it,
Speaker 3: like try try and stop it, and until you guys adjust,
Speaker 3: we're going to keep doing it. And that might seem
Speaker 3: like boring from a play calle exam, like all right,
Speaker 3: here we go, let's inside zone.
Speaker 1: Let's do it again.
Speaker 3: But you know, the credits to the coaches for sticking
Speaker 3: to it, and you've seen that in the past over
Speaker 3: the years with this offense. So to me, this is
Speaker 3: an offensive line and a run game where they've got
Speaker 3: a bunch of guys up front that all have very
Speaker 3: unique skill sets. Right, you have Jordan Mylotta, who is,
Speaker 3: you know, all every bit of six foot eight and
Speaker 3: three hundred and seventy five pounds, but you look at
Speaker 3: him and you're like, man, this guy is a put to.
Speaker 3: He looks like he's three forty, which again that's not
Speaker 3: a small guy, but the way he's put together, Like
Speaker 3: there are like probably five people on planet Earth that
Speaker 3: are built the way Jordan Mylotta is and move the
Speaker 3: way that he does.
Speaker 1: Like that combination.
Speaker 3: Jason Kelcey a unicorn at the center spot Lane Johnson,
Speaker 3: one of the freakiest athletes on the offensive line in
Speaker 3: the NFL.
Speaker 1: Right, So you go down the line, Landon Dickerson is
Speaker 1: a behemos.
Speaker 3: So you have all these guys with unique skill sets,
Speaker 3: and I think what they do is do such a
Speaker 3: great job. And it's honestly, it's not unlike Mike McDaniel
Speaker 3: and the way that he uses his players. Right, it's like, hey,
Speaker 3: you know what, we've got tyreek Kill, We've got Devin
Speaker 3: ah Chan, you know we've got Raheemoser.
Speaker 1: All right, what does this player do really really well?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 3: How do we put him in position to you know,
Speaker 3: really magnify those strengths and hide any.
Speaker 1: Weaknesses that might that player might have.
Speaker 3: And I think that that's the approach that Jeff Stotlin
Speaker 3: takes to this offensive line and to this run game
Speaker 3: is just trying to find ways to really kind of,
Speaker 3: you know, explode any player's strengths inside the scheme.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say when you mentioned that, they just
Speaker 2: kind of do what they do best and if you
Speaker 2: can stop it, go for it. But most teams can't
Speaker 2: stop it. We actually heard Mike McDaniel say something similar
Speaker 2: to that back end. It was either training camp this
Speaker 2: year or last year, when somebody asked him about like
Speaker 2: putting too much out there for the fans or here
Speaker 2: see training camp and whether or not you want to,
Speaker 2: you know, you know, divulge too much of your playbook there.
Speaker 2: And he said, well, the best teams can they team
Speaker 2: the opposing defense knows what's coming and they can still
Speaker 2: do it successfully. And if I just may add a
Speaker 2: variable to Jordanilata as well, not many humans can move
Speaker 2: like that or built like that and have the pipes
Speaker 2: that guy has, if I do say.
Speaker 1: So myself, exactly right, Yeah, no, but he is. He
Speaker 1: is a rerannaissance man for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's awesome. I love watching him play football. Let's
Speaker 2: go ahead and get over to the defensive side right here.
Speaker 2: My guest today is Fran Duffy excuse me once again,
Speaker 2: Eagle Eye and the Sky podcast for the Philadelphia Eagles
Speaker 2: podcast network. There and we talk about you know, Brian Johnson,
Speaker 2: Mike McDaniel, a couple of new coordinators for both these
Speaker 2: teams as well, Vic Fangio and Sean Desaigh and Desai
Speaker 2: cut his teeth under Fangio back in Chicago. I believe
Speaker 2: it was not mistaken. Just give us the kind of
Speaker 2: one on one here behind to sigh and what this
Speaker 2: defense looks like so far through six games under his guidance.
Speaker 3: I think certainly the bones of it are very similar
Speaker 3: to what you guys are seeing down there in Miami
Speaker 3: with Fangio. Right as you mentioned, Sean cut his teeth
Speaker 3: in Chicago in the NFL, he was previously he was
Speaker 3: actually at the University of Miami under Al Golden That's
Speaker 3: who kind of gave him his introduction into coaching. Was
Speaker 3: down there with the Hurricanes for a year and then
Speaker 3: jumped to a couple spots in college before moving into
Speaker 3: the NFL and learning under Fangio. And so you know,
Speaker 3: that was something that he kind of talked about in
Speaker 3: his introductory press conference, was outside of like what he
Speaker 3: wanted the identity to be. He was like, look, there
Speaker 3: are a lot of teams in the NFL that are
Speaker 3: trying to run some version of the Fangio defense. Was like,
Speaker 3: but I'm a guy who actually like learned under Fangio
Speaker 3: for more than just a year, right, Like, he is
Speaker 3: a guy he was kind of brought up in that system,
Speaker 3: and I know that he and coach Fangio are close
Speaker 3: to this day. So I would say, like, from the
Speaker 3: bones of it, it's similar, but there's always gonna be
Speaker 3: tweaks and there's always going to be some differences. You're
Speaker 3: always gonna put your spin on things. Certainly, you know
Speaker 3: Sean is going to lean into the strengths of this
Speaker 3: defensive line and it's been as one of the best
Speaker 3: lines in football.
Speaker 1: They go two three deep at most positions.
Speaker 3: When you look at like things like next Gen stats
Speaker 3: and say, okay, let's just look at all QB pressures,
Speaker 3: the Eagles are like the only team with at least
Speaker 3: twenty with two guys with twenty eight pressures.
Speaker 1: They're the only team with three guys or at least twenty.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: It's always like those kind of barometers with this.
Speaker 3: Group because it's extremely deep, and you hope Jalen Carter,
Speaker 3: the rookie first round pick, a top ten selection, he's
Speaker 3: able to go. He missed last week against the Jets.
Speaker 3: But Fletcher Cox is playing great football right now. Josh Sweat,
Speaker 3: who's playing at right defensive end, he'll be going up
Speaker 3: against Kendall Lamb at left tackle, playing great football. Hassan Reddick,
Speaker 3: he's had multiple sacks for two I think it's three
Speaker 3: straight or two straight weeks. He's had at least two sacks,
Speaker 3: and he's had a sack and at least the last
Speaker 3: three games he had a broken thumb to start the year,
Speaker 3: was playing with a cast.
Speaker 1: As soon as that sack, as soon as.
Speaker 3: That cast came off, the sack party started for Hassan Reddick,
Speaker 3: Brandon Graham being used all up and down the formation
Speaker 3: like it's just a Milton Williams, Like it is a
Speaker 3: really really good group up front. Now, when you go
Speaker 3: up against the Dolphins with how fast two it gets
Speaker 3: the ball out of his hands, You're gonna need more
Speaker 3: than just the D line because the D line can
Speaker 3: win one on one and you can get home. But
Speaker 3: that if that balls out, those wins don't do you
Speaker 3: any good. So I think the big thing in this
Speaker 3: game will be ken the Eagles do enough to force
Speaker 3: it to hold onto the football and allow that defensive
Speaker 3: line just that extra tick to be able to get home.
Speaker 1: It's good to me.
Speaker 3: It's that is the matchup and the aspect of this
Speaker 3: game that will determine the outcome.
Speaker 2: You know, doing the podcast the preview I did yesterday,
Speaker 2: I kept laughing throughout the whole show because of all
Speaker 2: the star power in the names on either roster and
Speaker 2: you just did it right there. For me again, I'm like,
Speaker 2: you did it offensively, you did it defensively. This team
Speaker 2: is just so load with talent and fran When I
Speaker 2: plugged on the tape against the Jets, one of the
Speaker 2: first things I look for when I watch tape is
Speaker 2: to just see who consistently can reset the line of
Speaker 2: scrimmage offensively or defensively. Jordan Davis was walking the center
Speaker 2: back all game long.
Speaker 1: I didn't even mention Davis, right, I'm sure it was
Speaker 1: just on your.
Speaker 2: Apartment, Like, what the hell, man? This team is so good,
Speaker 2: it's so deep, it's so loaded. But you touch on
Speaker 2: something that was kind of my nice question for you.
Speaker 2: Here was the secondary and you know, the passing game
Speaker 2: of the Dolphins here because obviously you know, kind of
Speaker 2: rewriting the record books through six games so far. But
Speaker 2: the just I know, you can't really get a pulse
Speaker 2: for this until we see that injury report come out
Speaker 2: at the end of Friday. But so banged up back there,
Speaker 2: how have they kind of managed the attrition they've gotten there?
Speaker 2: Because a couple of guys in ir Justin Evans, whom
Speaker 2: I forgetting one of their potomatics. I'm in the middle
Speaker 2: of the football field, and I'm kind of wondering that
Speaker 2: it seems like the attrition hasn't just occurred at the
Speaker 2: corner safety spot, but in particular down the middle of
Speaker 2: the field where might be so successful in the passing game.
Speaker 2: How do you think that might kind of shake out
Speaker 2: come Sunday night.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, it was a few years ago. I
Speaker 3: want to say it was the twenty twenty season. It
Speaker 3: was the cod year where the Eagles were just so
Speaker 3: banged up along the offensive line, and it was something crazy.
Speaker 3: It was an NFL record where I think in the
Speaker 3: seventeen game season they had fifteen different combinations starting combinations
Speaker 3: over the course of the year on the offensive line.
Speaker 3: And you hope not going with that, that's not where
Speaker 3: the secondary is going. But through six games they have
Speaker 3: had six different starting combinations just because of all the
Speaker 3: injuries on the back end. Now, this was a team
Speaker 3: that was blessed with really good injury luck.
Speaker 1: A year ago.
Speaker 3: They were the same starting starting eleven on both offense
Speaker 3: and defense for Week one.
Speaker 1: That was the same starting eleven they had for the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: Now they had some minor injuries here and there, but
Speaker 3: guys were able to stay largely very healthy throughout the
Speaker 3: course of the year.
Speaker 1: That has not been the case so far.
Speaker 3: You mentioned that he lose Avonte Maddox to a season
Speaker 3: ending injury back in Week two. James Bradbury has been
Speaker 3: in and out of the lineup. Darius Slay at the
Speaker 3: other corner spot. He missed last week against the Jets.
Speaker 3: As you mentioned, we'll wait to see what his status
Speaker 3: will be. Justin Evans, who was a starting safety to
Speaker 3: start the year, he went on injury reserve a week ago,
Speaker 3: so he is not going to play in this game.
Speaker 3: The Eagles are hoping that the third round pick Sidney
Speaker 3: Brown can make a return here this week. He has
Speaker 3: played both safety and some in the nickel over the
Speaker 3: course of this season. And you just want to be
Speaker 3: able to get some fresh bodies back there, because you
Speaker 3: know they're they're bringing guys up off the practice squad.
Speaker 1: To play a week ago.
Speaker 3: You just want to be able to get at least
Speaker 3: your you know it's not gonna be your full allotment,
Speaker 3: but get as many healthy bodies out there to get
Speaker 3: ready for this team as possible, not just from a
Speaker 3: talent standpoint, but also like from a communication standpoint, no
Speaker 3: matter what, they're gonna be in a little bit of
Speaker 3: a disadvantage because these guys just have not played together
Speaker 3: all that much, and so being able to handle all
Speaker 3: the different motions and formations and where is Tyreek Hill
Speaker 3: lined up, Where's Jalen Watta lined up? You know, you
Speaker 3: have to kind of talk through all of that, and
Speaker 3: is going to be very much an execution style game
Speaker 3: for this defensive back seven in terms of understanding where
Speaker 3: everybody is. You know, even like you talk about like
Speaker 3: the spine of the defense Nikobe Dean.
Speaker 1: You know, he was on.
Speaker 3: Injured reserve for most of the season, so he made
Speaker 3: his return last week. So just kind of getting all
Speaker 3: of these guys up to speed mentally, making sure all
Speaker 3: of their rules and they're communication is hammered out before
Speaker 3: Sunday night, It's gonna be paramount. Like I'm sure you know,
Speaker 3: the the the long wait that you mentioned at the
Speaker 3: very top of this conversation, the Eagles will be leaning
Speaker 3: into every singles minute they have from a prep standpoint
Speaker 3: on Sunday, those guys in the back seven.
Speaker 2: Going through the conference room there, I guess they will
Speaker 2: be the team hotel right on the road a visiting hotel,
Speaker 2: going in the conference room for multiple walkthroughs, over and
Speaker 2: over and over again. But yes, I mean you mentioned it.
Speaker 2: And one of the things I've loved about this Dolphins offense,
Speaker 2: I mean, one of the many things, is that whenever
Speaker 2: opposing defense makes a mistake, they typically make them pay.
Speaker 2: All these long Tyreek Hill touchdowns are typically a coverage
Speaker 2: bus at some point where a safety doesn't get enough
Speaker 2: depth or doesn't get to his you know, part of
Speaker 2: the half field responsibility he has, so going to be
Speaker 2: paramount for the Eagles. Get that stuff stort on the
Speaker 2: back end. I end these interviews the same way each time. Friend,
Speaker 2: the Eagles win the game if and the Dolphins win
Speaker 2: the game if and then you can fill in those
Speaker 2: blanks for us.
Speaker 3: I would say that the Eagles win the game if
Speaker 3: you know, defensively they're able to force a couple of turnovers.
Speaker 3: You know, I think that that's a big thing when
Speaker 3: you look at the deeply success that some defenses have
Speaker 3: had against Tua, and this Dolphins offense is just even
Speaker 3: speaking just to this year, have been to get to
Speaker 3: off that first read.
Speaker 1: Don't let it hey, it's so top of the drop
Speaker 1: ball out.
Speaker 3: If you're if you're able to force them the hold
Speaker 3: onto the ball and and really read things out, that's
Speaker 3: where you can force him into some mistakes.
Speaker 1: So if the Eagles are able to.
Speaker 3: A make him read it out and then be capitalized
Speaker 3: if he does throw you some I think that that
Speaker 3: will go a long way. They lost a turnover battle, oh,
Speaker 3: you know, zero to four last week against the Jets,
Speaker 3: and that's that you are not gonna win games that way.
Speaker 3: And even then they were still in position to win
Speaker 3: the game, and then with a two minute drail at
Speaker 3: the end, right, so they can't They won't be able
Speaker 3: to afford to do that here this week because this
Speaker 3: Dolphins offense obviously on the other end of the spectrum
Speaker 3: from that Jets passing game. So I would say that
Speaker 3: would be the case, and I think the Dolphins, you know,
Speaker 3: the Dolphins win this game if they're able to really
Speaker 3: just kind of keep things rolling offensively. But I would
Speaker 3: say more and more importantly for them is if this
Speaker 3: this defense can you know, do a number on this
Speaker 3: Eagles offense. If you're able to keep them in check,
Speaker 3: you keep them in the in the teams, in the twenties.
Speaker 3: I think obviously that that probably spells victory here for
Speaker 3: the Dolphins brand.
Speaker 2: I wish we played the Eagle more than once evere
Speaker 2: or four years because these podcasts are so much fun
Speaker 2: to do. My friend. We'll look forward to getting back
Speaker 2: in touch with you again in February at the Combine,
Speaker 2: and maybe after that, maybe maybe before that in February, yes.
Speaker 3: Yes, maybe out in the desert that.
Speaker 2: You're the man, fran tell the folks what you're working
Speaker 2: on where they can find.
Speaker 1: You, sure, Dravius, So you go to check me out
Speaker 1: over on the Eagle Line.
Speaker 3: The Sky podcast breaking down the Eagles and their opponents
Speaker 3: every single week, did a thorough breakdown on this Dolphins
Speaker 3: offense and this Dolphins defense with Greig Cosel earlier this week.
Speaker 3: So you can go check out the check out that
Speaker 3: preview covered it from a film standpoint on both sides
Speaker 3: of the ball.
Speaker 2: You will learn something if you watch that. Check it out. Fran,
Speaker 2: I appreciate your time today and invest luck on today
Speaker 2: night man.
Speaker 1: Thanks driving you too, and away he goes.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and take our first break right there
Speaker 2: and come back on the other side. And here from
Speaker 2: the Dolphins assistant coaches. That's next Draft Time podcast to
Speaker 2: your host, Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 2: It's a trope as old as time right, football teams
Speaker 2: want to improve as the year goes along and ultimately
Speaker 2: play their best ball in December and into January and
Speaker 2: hopefully into the second month of the new year, as
Speaker 2: Frandelphi and I discussed there on the podcast, and so
Speaker 2: for myself, as a podcaster who covers football, I would
Speaker 2: like to do the same. And the reason I'm telling
Speaker 2: you guys this is because I kind of want to
Speaker 2: redo the way I do assistant coach coverage or really
Speaker 2: media in general, because I feel like if the podcast
Speaker 2: has too much of that, it gets a little bit
Speaker 2: redundant and it gets a little bit not what you
Speaker 2: guys are looking for, because you can find that material
Speaker 2: on the YouTube channel, and I'll do my best to
Speaker 2: give you as much from the assistant coaches who don't
Speaker 2: go up on the YouTube channel. But I just want
Speaker 2: to go ahead and put that disclaimer or that initial
Speaker 2: kind of preface on this next segment because I'm only
Speaker 2: going to run a few bits of sound here. I
Speaker 2: want to talk a little bit about Frank Smith and
Speaker 2: the questions I asked him about tous footwork because I
Speaker 2: find it very fascinating. And then I'm also going to
Speaker 2: give you some sound from Eric Studisville, who talked about
Speaker 2: the selfless nature of the running back room. And those
Speaker 2: two topics were basically what I wanted to cover here
Speaker 2: from all the stuff we heard in those press conferences.
Speaker 2: And again you can find them on YouTube. They'll be
Speaker 2: up there. I believe both OC's will be on there,
Speaker 2: or I should say both coordinators will be on there,
Speaker 2: and then we'll see about the assistant coaches. But I
Speaker 2: just think that it's a better idea for the podcast
Speaker 2: to play some sound and then kind of give you
Speaker 2: some thought perspective behind that because you come here. I
Speaker 2: think from my perspective, right, you can listen to any
Speaker 2: podcast and you can find sound bites from a press
Speaker 2: conference from anybody, but you want the perspective of the host.
Speaker 2: I think that's how it works. So I'm gonna do that.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna give you two sound bites here from
Speaker 2: Frank Smith and you can go find you know, Jalen
Speaker 2: Hurts is great, The front is tough. It's a tough
Speaker 2: challenge for us I'm gonna save those sound bites for
Speaker 2: the YouTube channel. I just don't think it adds a
Speaker 2: lot to the podcast. Does that sound good to you?
Speaker 2: Guys on the same page here, let's go ahead and
Speaker 2: talk about these two comments from Frank Smith when I
Speaker 2: asked him about Tua's footwork and how sharp it is.
Speaker 2: And because if you didn't know this, and you'll hear
Speaker 2: Coach explain, footwork and the core fundamentals of any sport
Speaker 2: generates through your base and your footwork that in football,
Speaker 2: the quarterbacks footwork and the timing of the drop essentially
Speaker 2: operates within every other category of the offense for it
Speaker 2: to be effective. So the timing of the routes marry
Speaker 2: up to the timing of your quarterbacks drop his hitch.
Speaker 2: You know, one hitch is your first read, your second
Speaker 2: hitch is getting back to your backside read. Whatever the
Speaker 2: case may be, it all stems through where your feet are.
Speaker 2: And you know, that's why I love the quote that
Speaker 2: Tua gave us that Darryl Bebble taught him to be
Speaker 2: where your feet are, because not only is it a
Speaker 2: great philosophical approach to being present, which I think we
Speaker 2: could all stand to do, a little better job in
Speaker 2: that regard. When I'm watching you know, late night TV
Speaker 2: before Caroline goes to bed with my wife and Cameron's
Speaker 2: already in bed, Let's be in that moment. Let's not
Speaker 2: be on Instagram. You know what I'm saying, Like, I
Speaker 2: think we can all take from that. So I'm getting
Speaker 2: way off the rails here. But the reason I wanted
Speaker 2: to put this out there was because, yes, be present,
Speaker 2: but also, man, the way to us feet work at
Speaker 2: that position on a football field. It's one of the
Speaker 2: many nuances of his game that I think is overlooked
Speaker 2: by people who either just don't care to fine tune
Speaker 2: every single detail of the game. And if that's how
Speaker 2: you want a fan, all the power to you. Man,
Speaker 2: watch the game in a way that makes you enjoy
Speaker 2: it the most. But there are folks that you know,
Speaker 2: want to deliberate. Is that the right word on these
Speaker 2: You know X quarterback could do? Why in this offense? Like, no, Man,
Speaker 2: that's not how it works. If you want to have
Speaker 2: the nuanced conversation, put in the requisite work, the prerequisite
Speaker 2: work to be able to have that conversation. So when
Speaker 2: you tell me that Jalen Hurts could execute this offense
Speaker 2: at the same level of two a tongue of Biloa
Speaker 2: quite frankly, and you know, sorry, not sorry, you don't
Speaker 2: know what the hell you're talking about, because it's just
Speaker 2: not true. And if Hurts were here, I'm sure Mike
Speaker 2: McDaniel would craft an offense that is perfectly sued to
Speaker 2: his skill set. It's not the same as to a
Speaker 2: skill set, just like justin Herbert's skill set is nowhere
Speaker 2: near what Tua Tongue of Iiloa's skill set is. And
Speaker 2: I get that. The big strong arm and the you know,
Speaker 2: the fact that he can run a forty yard dash
Speaker 2: and a tenth of a second faster is what people
Speaker 2: kind of cling to and that discourse that we see.
Speaker 2: But if you better understand the nuance, you'll better understand
Speaker 2: why Tua is producing the way he is, and you
Speaker 2: won't make an ass how to yourself on national TV
Speaker 2: or on your podcast that gets twelve views, whatever wherever
Speaker 2: your platform is. We could all do better to better
Speaker 2: understand this game. And the more you realize you learned
Speaker 2: about this game, the more you realize you don't really
Speaker 2: know anything about this game. Let's go ahead and hear
Speaker 2: from Frank Smith when I asked him about how Tua's
Speaker 2: footwork gives the offense more expansive options.
Speaker 4: And you have a good understanding of the fundamentals necessary
Speaker 4: to play your position. That allows for you to really
Speaker 4: play within the timing and the concept of the offense,
Speaker 4: and it allows you to really have a great starting
Speaker 4: point that you can always build upon. So I think
Speaker 4: you know, when you look at all sports just in general,
Speaker 4: I mean, whether you're a offensive lineman blocking, you're a
Speaker 4: wide receiver getting release, you're you know, a defensive back
Speaker 4: and coverage, or you're taking a jump shot, footwork and
Speaker 4: fundamentals translate through all sport, and it's easy to bypass
Speaker 4: that and go into schematic things or loftier things, but ultimately,
Speaker 4: all sport breaks down to core fundamentals and an execution
Speaker 4: within your fundamentals, and when you play that way, it
Speaker 4: just for allows you to operate a high level.
Speaker 2: And one of the reasons I got to this point
Speaker 2: was watching the great Jto Sullivan breakdown of two's game
Speaker 2: against the Panthers, where he showed you instances where Tua
Speaker 2: is throwing with his typical world class anticipation twenty five
Speaker 2: yards down the middle of the field into a triangle
Speaker 2: of Panthers defenders and the ball hits wattle in the
Speaker 2: face mask and it's dropped. But perfect throw and really
Speaker 2: high level execution, or a twenty five yard comeback from
Speaker 2: the far hash to the perimeter to Tyreek Hill, where
Speaker 2: O'Sullivan's saying that is plenty good enough arm, plenty club
Speaker 2: to get that ball to that spot, driving the football
Speaker 2: down the field when he's praising Tua for the deep
Speaker 2: post to waddle where the backside safety just happened to
Speaker 2: fall into the right coverage accidentally, which I thought was
Speaker 2: a good perspective that I didn't personally know he's talking
Speaker 2: about to a chucking the ball sixty yards in the
Speaker 2: air and having plenty of arm, having more creativity outside
Speaker 2: of structure, having the world class anticipation to play within
Speaker 2: the structure, and the accuracy to make this offense hum
Speaker 2: like we've become used to. And you know it's again
Speaker 2: this podcast serves to kind of inflate my own ego
Speaker 2: at times. I totally understand that. But like I remember
Speaker 2: texting Seth and oj after watching the tape on Monday
Speaker 2: and being like, guys, we messed up. We should have
Speaker 2: given a game battle to a tongue of Biloa. I
Speaker 2: know plenty of options out there, but this tape was
Speaker 2: freaking great. And so for JT. O. Sullivan to come
Speaker 2: up and basically confirm that makes you feel pretty good.
Speaker 2: So I watch that and I share it with the
Speaker 2: audience on Twitter and just think it's important to understand
Speaker 2: the nuance of this game. And one of the things
Speaker 2: that he talked about was the ability of the Dolphins
Speaker 2: to get to different launch points for their quarterback because
Speaker 2: of the sharp and consistent footwork of Tuatunguaailoa. And if
Speaker 2: you go back to his game at Alabama, that was
Speaker 2: his entire game. I'll never forget. The first time I
Speaker 2: was praising to a colleague or to appear was my
Speaker 2: buddy Kevin Dern, my first ever podcast co host, and
Speaker 2: I said, look at this speed out the to A
Speaker 2: throws against single coverage to the perimeter, to the boundary
Speaker 2: the X receiver. He throws this speed out right on
Speaker 2: the upfield shoulder before he gets out of the break,
Speaker 2: and it's perfectly timed in a way that he is
Speaker 2: able to execute this despite sticky coverage. And it all
Speaker 2: starts with the footwork and the base. This quarterback has
Speaker 2: always had this in his arsenal. He's improved it, he's
Speaker 2: fine tuned and turned it into an absolute superpower that
Speaker 2: creates the rest of his game and the rest of
Speaker 2: his ability to pass for almost two thousand yards and
Speaker 2: six games and lead the league touchdown passes and every
Speaker 2: other category that he leads in. It all starts from
Speaker 2: that footwork. And you watch that Carolina game. There's like
Speaker 2: reverse pivot drops where we fake run to the right
Speaker 2: and Tua starts to drop back to the right and
Speaker 2: flips it back to the left side. There's a play
Speaker 2: where he angles his drop to a deeper part of
Speaker 2: the pocket to create more time for him to set
Speaker 2: up for the throw, to double triple hitch up into
Speaker 2: the throw. Like, you have to understand that Tua is
Speaker 2: so curseword good at this stuff that it creates these
Speaker 2: opportunities and it's the reason why he is one of
Speaker 2: the greatest quarterbacks we have in the league right now
Speaker 2: playing at a super high level. So I want ahead
Speaker 2: and ask Frank Smith to fall up to that. Where
Speaker 2: have you seen him improve in that regard, Because again
Speaker 2: at Alabama it was great, but now it's even better.
Speaker 4: Just every day he approaches everything the way that you'd
Speaker 4: want a quarterback to approach it, with a mindful, deliberate
Speaker 4: nature towards how I want to play through much on
Speaker 4: the mountains is how I want to play for an
Speaker 4: entire season. So every day he has the sole focus
Speaker 4: on that.
Speaker 2: So when you sit here and praise physical traits of quarterbacks, cool,
Speaker 2: it's fun, it's noticeable on TV. It's the same argument
Speaker 2: I talked about with the freak out over Connor Williams
Speaker 2: snaps last year in training camp when he had a
Speaker 2: few high snaps. It's a tangible thing that you can
Speaker 2: assess that anybody can assess. Right, my daughter can assess
Speaker 2: that he that's a high snap. That's not his job.
Speaker 2: For the quarterbacks. It's the big strong arm and the speed, right,
Speaker 2: but two was a physical freak and the things that
Speaker 2: pretend most to positive quarterback plays. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Do we all agree? We all on the same page there?
Speaker 2: That's my rant. I want to finish up this segment
Speaker 2: with this sound from coach Eric Studisville because he was
Speaker 2: asked about how the team in the running back room
Speaker 2: in specific or specifically celebrated the Chris Brooks angry run
Speaker 2: on Sunday against the Panthers, and he gave us a
Speaker 2: great detailed answer on how unselfish that room is. Here's
Speaker 2: Coach Studisville.
Speaker 5: The room that we have, the running back room I'm
Speaker 5: speaking of in particular right now. It is an except
Speaker 5: room of young people in it. There's great guys in
Speaker 5: this room. They're good football players, but they're unselfish and
Speaker 5: they cheer for each other. They help each other, they
Speaker 5: work each other. They're happy for the success of other people.
Speaker 5: So when Chris Brooks has that run, everyone's excited. When
Speaker 5: Devon runs down the field on seventy six yards, one
Speaker 5: of the first guys down there is Raheem Moster cheering
Speaker 5: him on. You see Savon Akman running on the field.
Speaker 5: When somebody scores, alec Ingold does something, everybody's happy for it.
Speaker 5: This is it's such a fun room to be in
Speaker 5: because you have a high character group of young men
Speaker 5: who are in there, who are truly being unselfish and
Speaker 5: probably one of the most selfish positions there is in
Speaker 5: a game of football.
Speaker 2: Good seg Let's go ahead and take a break right
Speaker 2: there and come back on the other side. And do
Speaker 2: the Week seven NFL game picks. That's all next Drivetime podcast,
Speaker 2: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by autoonation. Just
Speaker 2: when I think the podcast is going to be lighter,
Speaker 2: I wind up doing a whole rant on the quarterback
Speaker 2: once again. And here we are up against thirty two
Speaker 2: minutes with a full segment to go. But it's a
Speaker 2: quick segment. It's the week seven picks. Let's go ahead
Speaker 2: and fired up a bounce back last week for you boy.
Speaker 2: Eleven and four brings us to sixty five and twenty
Speaker 2: eight on the season. Let's do the math on that, Travis,
Speaker 2: sixty five plus twenty eight. That's ninety three sixty five
Speaker 2: divided by ninety three shoot sixty five divided by ninety
Speaker 2: three sixty nine point eight. So that's a seventy percent percentage.
Speaker 2: We still have a way to go to get to
Speaker 2: the perfect seventy two percent if we want. Let's go
Speaker 2: ahead and fire up the music. Play it right now
Speaker 2: on Thursday Night Football. I know Trevor Lawrence is probably
Speaker 2: gonna play tonight, and I know I'm probably gonna regret
Speaker 2: this decision because these Saints are banged up as well.
Speaker 2: But give me the home team on a short week
Speaker 2: in a building where the home team typically plays pretty
Speaker 2: good football. It's been ugly offensive ball for the Saints
Speaker 2: so far. And I know fans are up in arms
Speaker 2: about Pete Carmichael's work is a play caller and Derek
Speaker 2: Carr is the quarterback. But I think tonight in the
Speaker 2: Big Easy on a late night where they get kind
Speaker 2: of crazy out there a chance to pull off an
Speaker 2: upset against a team who might be a little bit
Speaker 2: tired after two games in London, coming back to America
Speaker 2: and playing a game last week, and now on a
Speaker 2: short week. Give me the Saints to pull off the
Speaker 2: upset over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Give me the Bucks over
Speaker 2: the Falcons and a critical NFC Show South showdown. Well,
Speaker 2: I mean to for one team to win the right
Speaker 2: to get bounced in the wildcard round, right, because that's
Speaker 2: gonna happen in NFC South this year. I'll take the Bucks.
Speaker 2: I think the fighting Baker mayfields bounce back, and I'm
Speaker 2: just I'm not. I like the Falcons as a team,
Speaker 2: but the quarterback position and the offensive design really rubbed
Speaker 2: me the wrong way. Not gonna pick them a whole
Speaker 2: lot the rest of the year. Give me the Bucks.
Speaker 2: Give me the Raiders over the Bears. I guess just
Speaker 2: because Justin Field is out and the Bears are a
Speaker 2: tire fire. Otherwise, Saint or the Raiders are also that,
Speaker 2: but their quarterbacks also probably out. But just give me
Speaker 2: the Vegas for the Raiders. I don't know who cares.
Speaker 2: Give me the Colts over the Browns, even though that
Speaker 2: quarterback that is playing. Give me Gardner Minshew over Deshaun
Speaker 2: Watson because I just think he's a better guy. Give
Speaker 2: me Washington over the Giants. I think the Giants kind
Speaker 2: of shot their best shot against Buffalo, and it was
Speaker 2: pretty sad shot offensively, Tyrod Taylor, Daniel Jones, whatever, gave
Speaker 2: me the Commanders in that one. Baltimore and Detroit might
Speaker 2: be the game of the week. SAMs Miami Philadelphia. I
Speaker 2: think I'm gonna go Baltimore here, although I'm very conflicted.
Speaker 2: I don't really have a great reason for you guys.
Speaker 2: A choice's playing good football. I was wrong on them
Speaker 2: in my preseason predictions. But give me Baltimore to get
Speaker 2: that victory. I'll take the Seahawks over the Cardinals. I'm
Speaker 2: probably not gonna pick the Cardinals the rest of the way.
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh over the Rams. I don't love that choice because
Speaker 2: Matt Stafford's playing like back at pre injury Matt Stafford.
Speaker 2: He looks fantastic kind of carrying that Rams offense right now.
Speaker 2: But the Rams offensive line against the Pittsburgh pass rushes
Speaker 2: where I kind of tilt the scales here. Give me
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh to find another victory, to get to four and
Speaker 2: two when they should be like probably one fun Give
Speaker 2: me the Packers over the Broncos again. The Packers' offense,
Speaker 2: like the Saints I mentioned earlier, just has been disastrous lately.
Speaker 2: But I think they get to bounce back here. It
Speaker 2: gets the defense that has struggled to get stops all
Speaker 2: year long. A big game for Miami is Kansas City
Speaker 2: and the Chargers. Hopefully. You know our boy Herbert Can
Speaker 2: can clutch up in the fourth quarter here, And I
Speaker 2: know the stats about game winning drives, but how about
Speaker 2: picks in the fourth quarter and all the opportunities you've
Speaker 2: had this year that you haven't executed on. Give me
Speaker 2: candisated to win that game, But let's go Chargers. Knock
Speaker 2: the Chiefs down. Peggy Hears Dot first seed in the AFC.
Speaker 2: I will take Miami over Philly. You heard about why
Speaker 2: on the Wednesday podcast and on Monday Night Football. I
Speaker 2: don't care if half the nine Ers stars are down,
Speaker 2: I'm still taking them over the Justin je Jefferson lists
Speaker 2: Minnesota Vikings. Those are your picks. That's the podcast. Let's
Speaker 2: go ahead and get out of here.
Speaker 1: You all.
Speaker 2: Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple,
Speaker 2: on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Check back tomorrow.
Speaker 2: The Great Mike Tarico joins me to break down Miami
Speaker 2: and Philly. Follow me on social at Winkfield, NFL. Check
Speaker 2: out the fish Tank podcast with my guys Seth and
Speaker 2: Juice and go check out that YouTube channel for media availabilities,
Speaker 2: Dolphins Today and so much more and last but not least,
Speaker 2: Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, Fins Up, Carolina,
Speaker 2: Cameron Daddy's coming hold
Speaker 4: Again Sinking