Speaker 1: Looking down field. Touchdown, Miami drawn. Here we go. What
Speaker 1: is up? Dolphins? And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast,
Speaker 1: part of the Miami Dolphins official podcast network, covering your team,
Speaker 1: your Miami Dolphins, each and every day. How's it going everybody?
Speaker 1: It is late on Saturday night. I am your host,
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield, and I am here to bring you your
Speaker 1: post Christmas, your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And
Speaker 1: on today's show, I mean, why don't we just go
Speaker 1: ahead and let this thing play for fifteen seconds? You
Speaker 1: get the maximum amount of a lot of time for
Speaker 1: Jay Rock as the Dolphins. WI thanks win win win, win,
Speaker 1: win win win win wins. I'm saying that, mommy, when
Speaker 1: win wes, Dolphins are winners. The excitement of it, all
Speaker 1: the takeaways, the individual performances, the emotions, the ramifications. We're
Speaker 1: gonna cover it all here on this Sunday, December edition
Speaker 1: of the Drivetime Podcast. Hey Dolphins fans, the New year
Speaker 1: starts now at Auto Nation. Let's skip the rest of
Speaker 1: and get two big New Year savings on your favorite
Speaker 1: Auto Nation Chevy's, Fords, Toyotas, Hondas, and a whole lot
Speaker 1: more shops safely at the AutoNation store near you or
Speaker 1: auto nation dot com and save. Now, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and just go through this thing from an emotional standpoint first,
Speaker 1: and then we'll go ahead and let that shine wear
Speaker 1: off a little bit and get back into it more logically,
Speaker 1: more rationally. Here on this recap edition of the Drive
Speaker 1: Time podcast, David Locke, the owner of Locked on Sports,
Speaker 1: one of my I Guess podcast mentors, taught me rule
Speaker 1: number one in this industry a long time ago. You
Speaker 1: play the hits first, and we start with the play.
Speaker 1: Let's actually go ahead and first start with the quote
Speaker 1: from Mac Hollins on what he had to say on
Speaker 1: what he saw on that particular play, his big thirty
Speaker 1: four yard reception to help put the Dolphins in position
Speaker 1: to win over the Raiders. Um, I'm not sure from
Speaker 1: there and what what happened, Um, I'm sure fits. It's
Speaker 1: something usually when safeties or corners go somewhere, they're not
Speaker 1: supposed to be at their their following quarterback eyes. So
Speaker 1: I didn't get to see back there, I'll ha. All
Speaker 1: I saw was the picture so far fits his face
Speaker 1: facing the opposite end zone. Um, while he's throwing the ball.
Speaker 1: So that's the only picture I've seen, so I'm not
Speaker 1: even sure how he got the ball off, but yeah,
Speaker 1: if I had to guess, I'd say one of the
Speaker 1: safeties was falling quarterback eyes and ended up losing me
Speaker 1: on the back side. And I kind of feel like
Speaker 1: saying something on steroids is the most cliche like thing
Speaker 1: you can say, but this game to me felt like
Speaker 1: the Miami Miracle on steroids, because one, it puts us
Speaker 1: in prime position to go ahead and control our own
Speaker 1: destiny in Week seventeen. But two, I mean maybe it
Speaker 1: was just that one reason, but I do feel like
Speaker 1: these two events that occurred had similar odds of occurring
Speaker 1: like that because you look at the pitch play and
Speaker 1: you think, yeah, that's obviously a very low percentage chance
Speaker 1: of happening. But consider the things that had to happen
Speaker 1: on this play from the twenty five yard line, a
Speaker 1: thirty four yard pass with nobody in sight around mac Hollins.
Speaker 1: You heard him talk about the possibility of a cornerback
Speaker 1: or a safety kind of peeking on on Ryan Fitzpatrick's
Speaker 1: eyes in that cover to look that he talked about there,
Speaker 1: I mean that had to happen. You had to get
Speaker 1: that face mask, because even if Matt comes down and bounds,
Speaker 1: you still have to shoot another ten fifteen yards to
Speaker 1: the sideline, probably to give Jason Sanders a realistic shot.
Speaker 1: He was at about a fifty nine fifty eight yard
Speaker 1: field goal, which he can make those, but your percentages
Speaker 1: from that distance are not great among the National Football
Speaker 1: League history of field goals. So you had to get
Speaker 1: that penalty to help stop the clock and get you
Speaker 1: the extra fifteen yards because if you shoot the middle
Speaker 1: of the field on the next play, you're not gonna
Speaker 1: have a chance to get up there clock and get
Speaker 1: the kicking team out there. So the odds of that
Speaker 1: just insanely low of having that happened. And Ryan Fitzpatrick
Speaker 1: discussed the play post game. He was asked, was this
Speaker 1: the craziest play you've ever been a part of? Or
Speaker 1: was this the have you ever had a completion more
Speaker 1: in saying in that one. Here's Fitzpatrick after the game. No,
Speaker 1: I I don't think so. Uh, you know, I think
Speaker 1: the the odds are pretty low there of us being
Speaker 1: able to complete something with the proper yardage and not
Speaker 1: have to throw a hail Mary, but actually take a
Speaker 1: field goal, and um, you know. I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: know that it was complete. As you guys saw, my
Speaker 1: face mask was getting pulled and my head was getting
Speaker 1: ripped off, and I turned around to say, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: face masch just to make sure they saw it. And
Speaker 1: I think Jesse Davis or um maybe Miles had to
Speaker 1: tell me that it was complete, but I didn't know
Speaker 1: that we completed it. I mean, nineteen seconds, no time outs.
Speaker 1: You literally have like two possible outcomes on this play.
Speaker 1: You either get a big catch and run down the
Speaker 1: middle of the field and spike it and you hope
Speaker 1: you have some time left out of nineteen seconds to
Speaker 1: have what happened happened. I mean, I guess we could
Speaker 1: get some pitchy woo woo going, but that's usually the
Speaker 1: final play of the game, reserved for when you have
Speaker 1: to go the length of the football field on one play,
Speaker 1: so you don't consider that an option on this play.
Speaker 1: But you get the receiver in behind the cornerback there
Speaker 1: and underneath the safety. Not sure what the raider's call
Speaker 1: was there, mac halland speculated maybe a cover to look
Speaker 1: where they're kind of focused on Fitzpatrick's eyes, but he
Speaker 1: feels the dang thing like a punt and gets out
Speaker 1: of bounds. So there you're looking at fifty eight, fifty
Speaker 1: nine yards, maybe sixty depending on where the spot where
Speaker 1: the snap and all that stuff is from Jason Sanders.
Speaker 1: But even more impressive as the fact that Ryan Fitzpatrick's
Speaker 1: head is on sideways. Give him fifteen yards, give us
Speaker 1: forty five yards for Jason Sanders to go ahead and
Speaker 1: put that thing through the uprights. Money in the bank,
Speaker 1: give us one win away from the postseason. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and hear from Fitzpatrick, who's now just one win
Speaker 1: away from going to the postseason for the first time
Speaker 1: in his career. I want to go, man, I want
Speaker 1: to I want to feel what it's like. Uh. I
Speaker 1: think we've got a special team. I think this team
Speaker 1: all year long as has fought. And for me, it's
Speaker 1: it's not just this year, it's it's the last two
Speaker 1: years and trying to build this foundation and you know,
Speaker 1: build this vision of what coach Floras thinks that we are.
Speaker 1: So I'm proud of the fact that I've really been
Speaker 1: able to contribute to that and have a strong contribution.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know that that today was was a
Speaker 1: great play at the end, but just on the sideline,
Speaker 1: the excitement being able to hug your teammates and your coaches.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's why we played the game. So uh,
Speaker 1: I am well aware that to the playoffs, I promise
Speaker 1: you omar and would love nothing more than to get there.
Speaker 1: And so the play that sparked the victory that got
Speaker 1: us to within one victory of the postseason was after
Speaker 1: absolute mayhem. Before that, the Raiders didn't convert a third
Speaker 1: down all game long. So after Myles Gaston rips off
Speaker 1: a fifty nine yard touchdown catch and run on that
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick pass late in the fourth quarter, like three left
Speaker 1: in that game, I was pretty well expecting that to
Speaker 1: be the game. Right there, I had you erased and
Speaker 1: begun my story from Miami Dolphins dot com. Go ahead
Speaker 1: and check that out right now up on the team
Speaker 1: website for oh, I don't know, the eighteenth time or so,
Speaker 1: I had my winning column my losing column, trying to
Speaker 1: find out how to match those two things together and
Speaker 1: get you the best story post game possibly. I'm happy
Speaker 1: to do it. And then they got the big play
Speaker 1: from Nelson agilark back to the losing column, I have
Speaker 1: to go ahead and publish the Swing of Emotions. Oh buddy,
Speaker 1: I'm just not cut out for but this team, they
Speaker 1: certainly are. It speaks of the resilient nature of this team. Man.
Speaker 1: You heard Fitzpatrick talk about it there in the playoff clip.
Speaker 1: This team has risen to the occasion all year long
Speaker 1: and become a team that has taken on the personality
Speaker 1: of their head coach, a team that just is not
Speaker 1: gonna give up, not gonna lose their fight. They're gonna
Speaker 1: keep that even keel mindset that even kill personality and
Speaker 1: approach from opening gun to the final buzzer. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: and my god. You know, I love this time of
Speaker 1: year for many reasons. But I also love how Facebook
Speaker 1: or Snapchat or time hop, whatever those social media sites
Speaker 1: that give you the flashback data from your previous post
Speaker 1: or tweets or whatever it might be. And on Christmas
Speaker 1: Night in my brother and I popped champagne when the
Speaker 1: Chiefs beat the Broncos to get the Dolphins into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That you're breaking an eight year streak of playoff free
Speaker 1: football for the Dolphins. And tonight he was with me
Speaker 1: again to watch a game for the first time together
Speaker 1: since actually the Colts game and a tough loss. That
Speaker 1: game was together. But man, I'm not popping anything tonight,
Speaker 1: but that was a fun, fun game of fun night,
Speaker 1: fun experience that with my brother. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: jump right into the takeaways, the storylines I was taking
Speaker 1: a look at and the individual evaluations here on this
Speaker 1: recap edition of Drive Time. No John can gem me tonight.
Speaker 1: I'm hoping he is fast asleep right now as we
Speaker 1: are recording this podcast very early morning hours on Sunday morning.
Speaker 1: So a couple of things I want to take a
Speaker 1: look at heading into this game, and of course the
Speaker 1: storylines changed throughout the course of this game. What the
Speaker 1: Dolphins offense looked like when they go back to the
Speaker 1: more hurry up approach, is it going to be more
Speaker 1: of a conservative kind of milk the clock and play
Speaker 1: the defense and special teams game. Early on that was
Speaker 1: the case. Pretty pretty slow start offensively both from a
Speaker 1: production and pacing standpoint. The second half, they got things
Speaker 1: going there with the running game, got that balance back achieved,
Speaker 1: and got some some more up tempo attack going, especially
Speaker 1: in that fourth quarter once Ryan Fitzpatrick was inserted into
Speaker 1: the lineup. A different looking offense when he came into
Speaker 1: the game, and they kind of had to go and
Speaker 1: had to get up tempo and had to get points
Speaker 1: on the board there quickly. And the balance on the
Speaker 1: offense was a big thing I was keeping an eye
Speaker 1: on in this game because heading into the final game
Speaker 1: and the playoffs stretch down the line here, the more
Speaker 1: versatility you can show as a team and really as
Speaker 1: an offense in this particular instance, is only going to
Speaker 1: help you at this time of year, because whether or
Speaker 1: opponents or different circumstances that arise throughout the course of
Speaker 1: a game become heightened tenfold week six team, weeks, seventeam
Speaker 1: possibly into the postseason, and you have to have multiple
Speaker 1: pitches in your bag. I think I referred to this
Speaker 1: on a podcast a while back about the Saints over
Speaker 1: the years. How all those years Drew Brees piled up
Speaker 1: four thousand, five thousand, you know, fifty five hundred yards
Speaker 1: and fifty touchdown passes and all those records making numbers,
Speaker 1: but they were going seven and nine in games because
Speaker 1: they only really had that one pitch in their in
Speaker 1: their toolbag. The the vertical offense, the explosion explosive offense,
Speaker 1: and kind of had to find a way to win
Speaker 1: games forty two to thirty nine and a half the time.
Speaker 1: Then they found that balance. They found Alvin Kamara and
Speaker 1: mark Ingram a couple of years ago. They got Cameron
Speaker 1: Jordan playing at a high level. They got all those
Speaker 1: the defense playing at a high level to go along
Speaker 1: with Cameron Jordan's and they suddenly had multiple ways to
Speaker 1: win football games, and they become a twelve thirteen win
Speaker 1: outfit that goes into the postseason every single year. You
Speaker 1: find that balance. You find a two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: yard Russian performance last week and one hundred sixty nine
Speaker 1: yards from scrimmage this week from one guy from Miles
Speaker 1: Gaskin gonna be a takeaway. You have that ultimate balance.
Speaker 1: And then we see Mike Kasicki taking steamshots up in
Speaker 1: the middle of the field with that injured shoulder and all,
Speaker 1: and playing through it and playing through the and fighting
Speaker 1: through the pain of whatever he's dealing with in that shoulder,
Speaker 1: and going out and making big plays in the passing game,
Speaker 1: and Lynn Bowden taking vertical and horizontal shots and and
Speaker 1: making his plays, and Jachee Grant taking pot passes and
Speaker 1: just incorporating the entire slew of your offensive arsenal to
Speaker 1: find balance on offense. I think that was a big
Speaker 1: accomplishment and big achieved achievement in this game. My other storyline,
Speaker 1: how did the injured guys come back? You heard me
Speaker 1: talk there about Mike Asiki and Jeachem Grant. Both those
Speaker 1: guys had an impact, although Grant did leave later with
Speaker 1: an ankle injury and did not return to the game.
Speaker 1: Davante Parker was not available for this game. We'll see
Speaker 1: about his status for next week. I also wanted to
Speaker 1: know which back is gonna get the bulk of the workload. Well,
Speaker 1: there you go, Myles Gasking one and sixty nine yards
Speaker 1: from scrimmage. What a game he had. What was the
Speaker 1: plan going to be for Derek Carr coming off of
Speaker 1: an injury that originally, you know Ian Rappaport, those guys
Speaker 1: reported ten to fourteen day injury. They did have a
Speaker 1: ten day layoff in between games. And so he comes
Speaker 1: back after that ten day layoff and plays a good
Speaker 1: football game. Derek Carson to good quarterback. But I thought
Speaker 1: Miami's planned once again after a bit of a slow
Speaker 1: start that first Raider touchdown drive. After that, I thought
Speaker 1: they really settled into their own and found a way
Speaker 1: to kind of make him uncomfortable and cut off the
Speaker 1: pass on some of those bootleg rollouts. We'll talk more
Speaker 1: about that here in just one second. Was really curious
Speaker 1: to see how they would do that going in and
Speaker 1: with the special teams get back on track after a
Speaker 1: couple of games that just seemed a little bit uncharacteristic
Speaker 1: from Danny Craftsman's units. These things were all stuff I
Speaker 1: was looking at. And the first takeaway from tonight's podcast,
Speaker 1: you have to say, Ryan Fitzpatrick to the rescue. You know,
Speaker 1: I let off my my recap story up on Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins dot com talking about his October twenty one press
Speaker 1: conference when he was you know, he kind of bared
Speaker 1: his soul to the Miami South Florida media, talked about
Speaker 1: how much pain it was to find out that he
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna get a play anymore. How he opened internally
Speaker 1: about is this the last time I get to play
Speaker 1: with the squad or with you know, with this league,
Speaker 1: with this sport, with this profession, that I take my
Speaker 1: last snap as a quarterback in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: He thought about that. He talked about that to us
Speaker 1: and to see him come out here and get that
Speaker 1: victory in this game, play the way he did and
Speaker 1: kind of sparked the offense with that energy. It just
Speaker 1: speaks to the character of Ryan Fitzpatrick. It speaks to
Speaker 1: the value of Ryan Fitzpatrick for this football team. And
Speaker 1: how about the stats. He ended up with the one
Speaker 1: touchdown past nine for thirteen, throwing the football on two
Speaker 1: yards and at one thirty seven point five passer rating
Speaker 1: for Ryan Fitzpatrick, the ball came out quick, he felt
Speaker 1: in the rhythm early on. He talked about post game
Speaker 1: how he was heading back to the bathroom, kind of
Speaker 1: you know, taking a pee in the tunnel bathroom back there.
Speaker 1: When Brian Flores approached him when he came back onto
Speaker 1: the sideline, said hey, you're gonna be going in. He
Speaker 1: talked about getting his obligatory seven warm up reps, has
Speaker 1: seven warm up throws coming right into the game, coming
Speaker 1: off the bench called coach Flores talked about him like
Speaker 1: a ninth inning reliever in that sense. And this guy
Speaker 1: can just really flip a switch and turn it on
Speaker 1: in an instant. I can't think of a better backup
Speaker 1: quarterback maybe in the history of the National Football like,
Speaker 1: this guy is exactly how you want to be as
Speaker 1: far as that galvanizing force, that guy that really sparks
Speaker 1: the energy and and helps the team, you know, be
Speaker 1: better from a preparation standpoint, and when he has to
Speaker 1: come onto the field and the pinch, he can perform
Speaker 1: for you. He did it in this game. He helped
Speaker 1: it Dolphin save the season for the meat for the meantime.
Speaker 1: You know, we'll see what happens next week. And they
Speaker 1: also had scenarios to get into the playoffs with a
Speaker 1: loss in this game. But getting that victory is a big, big, big,
Speaker 1: big note here for the Miami Dolphins, for Ryan Fitzpatrick
Speaker 1: and he comes off the bench and makes it happen.
Speaker 1: What a job by Ryan Fitzpatrick. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: here from two a tongue of Valoa on what he
Speaker 1: saw fen the sidelines when fitz came in and made
Speaker 1: things happen. Well, it's always good to win. It always
Speaker 1: feels good to win. First off, Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: know outsiders they're probably gonna say, well, it wasn't you
Speaker 1: in there that brought the win? Of course it was
Speaker 1: Fits And I think it was a it was a
Speaker 1: great effort by not just him, but the entire offense. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, just him understanding you know how to get
Speaker 1: in the groove and you know where to go quickly
Speaker 1: with the ball and whatnot. I think, um, oh that
Speaker 1: that's that's what makes fits to who he is. And
Speaker 1: in a way, it really wasn't as shocking um tonight,
Speaker 1: you know, to see what had happened. Um now they
Speaker 1: call it fifth magic for a reason. I mean, how
Speaker 1: great is that spirit there from Miami Dolphins quarterback to
Speaker 1: a tongue byloa who Brian Flores announced after the game
Speaker 1: he's the starting quarterback. That's how it's gonna be going forward.
Speaker 1: Fits came off the bench to help give you a spark.
Speaker 1: He achieved that he accomplished that. Here's Coach flor Is
Speaker 1: talking about tows game after the game. Um, you know
Speaker 1: I think you know it was up and down. Um,
Speaker 1: look I have a way. Look we I have a
Speaker 1: lot of confidence to us. He's made a lot of
Speaker 1: place for us because he makes he made place today.
Speaker 1: But we just felt like we needed a spark the
Speaker 1: way the game was going and the Fitz he gave
Speaker 1: us that. But if we have a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of confidences to us when he's
Speaker 1: a young player, he's developing, he's improving on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: He's learning from these experiences and you will be better
Speaker 1: next week and he will get the Buffalo Bills on
Speaker 1: the road next week up there in Orchard Park. But
Speaker 1: just to go ahead and finish off that first note,
Speaker 1: man like Ryan Fitzpatrick, the value he has this football team.
Speaker 1: You heard him talk about the two year process of
Speaker 1: being a big contributor to establishing a culture and establishing
Speaker 1: the vision that Brian Flores has here in Miami. It's
Speaker 1: been fun to watch fits tip of the hat to use, sir,
Speaker 1: you have the utmost respect from myself, Dolphins fans, Dolphins Nation,
Speaker 1: all over the country, all over the world, Ryan Fitzpatrick, forever,
Speaker 1: forever in our hearts. Let's go ahead and talk about
Speaker 1: takeaway number two here in Miles gascon. The production. We
Speaker 1: talked about the one and sixty nine yards, the two
Speaker 1: touchdowns he scored in the game, one from two oh
Speaker 1: one from fits there breaking tackles and the balance to
Speaker 1: wind back those runs and to run through arm tackles
Speaker 1: and produce extra yards as he kind of fell forward
Speaker 1: through the contact and the vision to find those backside
Speaker 1: cuts or those backside lanes on those cuts, and just
Speaker 1: to set defenders up to make them miss in that
Speaker 1: first and second level. There were so many players where
Speaker 1: it seemed like he got to the edge and he
Speaker 1: had to get around one guy that whether it was
Speaker 1: with speed to the edge or a cut up field
Speaker 1: and kind of get through an arm tackle or get
Speaker 1: him off balance and make him miss in the open field.
Speaker 1: He did it time and time again. I cannot wait
Speaker 1: to go back and check out the PF numbers on
Speaker 1: yards after contact, how many forced miss tackles he had
Speaker 1: because he was making it happen all night long in
Speaker 1: this game. A big, big piece of the puzzle as
Speaker 1: he comes off of savan Achmed's one and twenty two
Speaker 1: yard rushing performance last week, former Washington Husky and his
Speaker 1: own right there and gives you this performance in this game,
Speaker 1: one hundred sixty nine yards from scrimmage. Man, what a
Speaker 1: good performance that was the Dolphins running back And all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you've got some backs in the stable
Speaker 1: now that can produce for you and generate that balance
Speaker 1: we talked about that's so important to have at this
Speaker 1: stage of the season. Now, he also had that fifty
Speaker 1: nine yard touchdown run do in large part of a
Speaker 1: couple of big downfield blocks from Mac Hollins and Mike Asiki.
Speaker 1: They talked about that in the receiver room, in the
Speaker 1: tight end room all the time. It was a big
Speaker 1: focus of my article on Friday, my Top News Temperature Check,
Speaker 1: not Friday. On Thursday's Top News, the Temperature Check article
Speaker 1: taking a look at the Dolphin's ability to block downfield.
Speaker 1: How Chan Gailey says, You're not gonna have a big
Speaker 1: run unless you have blocking downfield. How Josh Grazzar, the
Speaker 1: receiver's coach, a few weeks back, said, if you're not
Speaker 1: gonna block force, you're not gonna play in this room.
Speaker 1: Mike Asiki Mac Collins made huge blocks downfield on that
Speaker 1: fifty nine yard touchdown. Here's Myles Gaskin talking about the
Speaker 1: blocks from his guys Mike and Mac. Yeah. Uh, this
Speaker 1: kind of got spun around after the catch. And then
Speaker 1: I've seen see my dogs out there. Uh, Mack and Mike.
Speaker 1: So I've seen I've seen Mike's block. I don't really
Speaker 1: see Max block. He told me about it. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was great, and News is always trying always trying to
Speaker 1: make plays, you know what I'm saying, So you ain't
Speaker 1: always gotta have the blowing on hand. The main plays
Speaker 1: I don't happen ont In too, and He's absolutely right,
Speaker 1: does not happen without those two guys out there. Takeaway
Speaker 1: number two. I wanted to see how this team responded
Speaker 1: to the slow start, and especially defensively. After that first
Speaker 1: Raiders drive goes down, they score touched not the first
Speaker 1: I have the second drive of the game. Rather they
Speaker 1: go down, score a touchdown. And I like the way
Speaker 1: they responded to what the Raiders were doing offensively. So
Speaker 1: many of those little chip plays out in the flat
Speaker 1: where car would do a play action, get some boot
Speaker 1: action going and check it down to like a Jason
Speaker 1: Witten or a Josh Jacobs or a Darren Waller, which,
Speaker 1: my goodness, Darren Waller is a freaking monster man. But
Speaker 1: they had these plans to get the ball out Derek
Speaker 1: Carr's hands quickly, and I thought Miami responded well to
Speaker 1: take away those quick outlet options and take away his
Speaker 1: initial reason force him to kind of stand back into
Speaker 1: that pocket. Remami had the kind of rush contained to
Speaker 1: keep him hemmed in there and force me to make
Speaker 1: plays from within the pocket, and I thought that they
Speaker 1: did so well to marriage to marry that up with
Speaker 1: coverage downfield to really put the clamps on this Raiders
Speaker 1: offense pretty much from that drive on all the way
Speaker 1: until late in the fourth quarter when things kind of
Speaker 1: got sideways. There a couple of big plays deep on
Speaker 1: the field in the passing game, one on the d
Speaker 1: p I one on the big Agilar touchdown reception. We'll
Speaker 1: cover those later in the week on the All twenty
Speaker 1: two review of the podcast here, But just so many
Speaker 1: good instances of open field tackling, shutting down the running
Speaker 1: as for both the backs as well as Derek Carr
Speaker 1: trying to get out in space. They were over ten
Speaker 1: on third down. I thought the most crucial third down
Speaker 1: of the game was Nick met him on the edge
Speaker 1: and kind of one on one coverage there with Hunter
Speaker 1: Renfro who just makes a habit of making guys miss.
Speaker 1: I mean, we saw on the punt returns, this guy
Speaker 1: is elusive in the open field, and he nearly has
Speaker 1: a touchdown when the game was thirteen thirteen, which could
Speaker 1: have been kind of a momentum killer. Even though we
Speaker 1: saw the Dolphins bounce back from that stuff all the time,
Speaker 1: especially in this game. But if they go up twenty
Speaker 1: to thirteen there, you might be having a different complexion
Speaker 1: of this game. But need Him finds a way to
Speaker 1: get that stop, and it just speaks the way this
Speaker 1: defense plays year weekend and week out all year long.
Speaker 1: With that relentless passion. They fly to the football. They
Speaker 1: don't worry about the scoreboard, the downer distance. They just
Speaker 1: play situational football for that moment and they find a
Speaker 1: way to make plays. They put pressure on the quarterback
Speaker 1: and just finding out what the what the Raiders were
Speaker 1: doing that was working against that defense. I thought they
Speaker 1: responded and reacting to that couple of instances with combo
Speaker 1: coverages where you saw guys getting doubled or bracketed down
Speaker 1: the field different rush packages. We saw need Him coming
Speaker 1: off the cap blitz. They're off the side to team
Speaker 1: up with Andrew Van Ginkle for that first sack. They
Speaker 1: were walling guys off in those crossing routes that have
Speaker 1: given so many teams so much fits in man coverage
Speaker 1: throughout the course of all eternity. They find a way
Speaker 1: to get some of that stuff shut down and take
Speaker 1: away number three. Speaking of the Van Ginkel pairing on
Speaker 1: that blitz on that sack with Nick need him, Van
Speaker 1: Ginkle big day in Shack Lawson's absence, and not that
Speaker 1: he is a one for one replacement of Shack Lawson.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Dolphins defense is so multiple and so
Speaker 1: vast you're gonna have. You know, you're gonna have multiple
Speaker 1: guys filling for a guy like Shack Lawson when he's down.
Speaker 1: But I thought it was interesting because you go back
Speaker 1: to Week five against the forty Niners and that was
Speaker 1: the first game that Shack missed as a Miami Dolphin,
Speaker 1: one of two games he's missed now as a Miami Dolphin,
Speaker 1: and going into that game, Van Ginkle average third team
Speaker 1: point five snaps per game. He goes up to forty
Speaker 1: six snaps in that game and gives you a sack,
Speaker 1: gives you a force fumble, gives you a bunch of
Speaker 1: big plays in that game. And he comes out tonight
Speaker 1: and winds up with a career high two sacks in
Speaker 1: the game, now has five and a half in his
Speaker 1: career four and a half on the season. But he
Speaker 1: also had a run stop right on the first play
Speaker 1: of the game from scrimmage. He does such a good
Speaker 1: job coming off that edge and kind of angling inward
Speaker 1: and forcing the back to make a quick decision, because
Speaker 1: sometimes the back might want to spot or pick out
Speaker 1: their lane, pick out their whole and kind of work
Speaker 1: through it. But if you do that with Andrew Van
Speaker 1: Gigla as the backside pursuit defender, he's gonna get you
Speaker 1: in the backfield. He did all the time in college,
Speaker 1: He's done it so far through two years in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He did it in this game tonight. Also had a
Speaker 1: pass breakup in the second quarter. Man, he's playing some
Speaker 1: good football and really needed him on this game without
Speaker 1: Shack Lawson being on the field. And the fifth takeaway
Speaker 1: here from this podcast, we'll go ahead and talk about
Speaker 1: some of the I guess shortcomings recently for the offense.
Speaker 1: We go ahead and talk about playing in kind of
Speaker 1: that short condensed area, but also the inability early in
Speaker 1: this game to convert on on third and short yards
Speaker 1: they were one for three in the first half on
Speaker 1: third and two or shorter. But also playing in that
Speaker 1: kind of condensed area and trying to play the short
Speaker 1: passing game and live in that kind of stay ahead
Speaker 1: of the chain type of offense. It just it puts
Speaker 1: them in such a situation where they have to play
Speaker 1: such mistake free football. You have to catch every football,
Speaker 1: every pass has to be on target. You can't have penalties,
Speaker 1: those little things that can go awry on any given drive,
Speaker 1: and some of the things the Dolphins defense has found
Speaker 1: a way to capitalize on with their kind of bend
Speaker 1: but don't break mentality where they make you make multiple
Speaker 1: plays a game and not make the mistake, which every
Speaker 1: team to this point pretty much has, as the Dolphins
Speaker 1: lead the NFL with twice seven takeaways. The same is
Speaker 1: true of the offensive side of the football. And granted,
Speaker 1: you know you're down Devonte Parker in this game, Mike
Speaker 1: Asiki's comming back off that shoulder injury. You get your
Speaker 1: running backs back and get your Keem Grant back, But
Speaker 1: all things told, the Dolphins just kind of shot themselves
Speaker 1: in the foot early in this game, and that's been
Speaker 1: the case for a few weeks offensively to get things started.
Speaker 1: It's great to the way they respond and come out
Speaker 1: of locker room in the second half, but man, if
Speaker 1: they can get that earlier season first half offense paired
Speaker 1: back up with the way this team is coming out
Speaker 1: and playing in the second half of games. If they
Speaker 1: can find that script, if they can find that recipe, man,
Speaker 1: they can beat anybody in this league. I would be
Speaker 1: fun to watch to see if I can figure that
Speaker 1: out over this last game heading forward into the rest
Speaker 1: of the season. But I think that playing in that
Speaker 1: kind of short, condensed box and failing to convert on
Speaker 1: some of those third and short yardages, that's where some
Speaker 1: of the meat is on the bone for this offense
Speaker 1: and for this team. A couple of extra points. I
Speaker 1: want to go ahead and note here, I guess takeaway
Speaker 1: six and number seven number six would be special teams
Speaker 1: finding a way to generate big plays to help get
Speaker 1: the offense going. Clayton Fedgerlum fourth and one. I talked
Speaker 1: about watching the game with my brother. I told him,
Speaker 1: here comes with the direct snap to Federlum, because it
Speaker 1: just looked like a good time to do it, and
Speaker 1: plus territory. They do it. He goes for twenty two
Speaker 1: yards and that was the longest run by a non
Speaker 1: Skille player for the Miami Dolphins since two thousand three,
Speaker 1: a Monday night football game against the Eagles when partner
Speaker 1: Matt Turk took off for twenty three yards. Here's a
Speaker 1: cool fact about that. Your boy, at sixteen years old,
Speaker 1: was at that game. That was my first game in Miami,
Speaker 1: My first ever Miami Dolphins game was seeing Matt Turk
Speaker 1: run for twenty three yards. So some cool uh, some
Speaker 1: cool parallels there between Clayton Federalum and Matt Turk and
Speaker 1: the seventh final extra point. Here is just these different
Speaker 1: level tight ends, and I'm talking about Travis Kelsey and
Speaker 1: Darren Waller. They're impossible to defend. I mean, Eric Roe
Speaker 1: had a good game for my money. He was in
Speaker 1: good coverage out the course of the entire game. And
Speaker 1: Darren Waller just kept making play after play. Oh man,
Speaker 1: that's a that's like a new beast and new weapon
Speaker 1: in this NFL. Travis Kelsey and Darren Waller, My goodness,
Speaker 1: I'm glad both those guys are off the schedule for
Speaker 1: the rest of the season. Some individual notes here. I
Speaker 1: thought to a tongue about Lower early in the game
Speaker 1: of the quarterback position. I like the way he stood
Speaker 1: in there and delivered the football on a cruel route
Speaker 1: on a third nine passage of Keem Grant. Thought he
Speaker 1: was throwing the ball kind of getting away from pressure
Speaker 1: nicely in this game, and then he had to obviously
Speaker 1: come out of the game in the fourth quarter. Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick comes in and found a rhythm. That first third
Speaker 1: down conversion to Isaiah four I thought was so important
Speaker 1: in this game to get the offense sparked, to find
Speaker 1: that rhythm, to get himself into the game, into the
Speaker 1: flow of the game, fresh off the bench. Quarterback playing
Speaker 1: this game as a whole was good because of the
Speaker 1: way those two guys found ways to make plays at
Speaker 1: those big moments. The running back position, we talked about
Speaker 1: Miles Gascon already. I just thought this was the best,
Speaker 1: the best running I've seen from a Dolphins player this year,
Speaker 1: even though savan Akman was so good last week. I
Speaker 1: thought Gaskin just had a little bit extra juice in
Speaker 1: this game. Hopefully he's just well rested and fresh legs.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go into the stretch run here into week
Speaker 1: seventeen and moving forward. At the receiver position, Lynn bones
Speaker 1: wildcat zone read, converting that short yardage. The way he
Speaker 1: runs through tackles and finds holes. That quarterback slash wide
Speaker 1: receiver experience. By the way This goes back to like
Speaker 1: the Ryan Tannehill thing where we talked about he's a
Speaker 1: former receiver playing quarterback. Lyn Boden was always a receiver.
Speaker 1: He played quarterback his final year of Kentucky because two
Speaker 1: guys got hurt ahead of him. So just remember that
Speaker 1: he is a receiver and he kind of has that
Speaker 1: that strong lower half build, kind of like that Jarvis
Speaker 1: Landry Albert Wilson type of can shake tackles, can make
Speaker 1: guys miss in short condensed spaces. Sure do you like
Speaker 1: watching that guy play football? And then on the offensive line,
Speaker 1: I liked the way Eric Flowers bounced back in this game.
Speaker 1: I thought the offensive you know, we talked about the
Speaker 1: struggles in the first half of the game. I thought
Speaker 1: that Eric Flowers had some moments where maybe he was
Speaker 1: trying to get back from his you know, his pre
Speaker 1: injury playing. And I thought the second half we saw
Speaker 1: that takeoff for him. He had a nice big block,
Speaker 1: opened up a big hole on a big Miles gas
Speaker 1: and run on the defensive line. I put some notes
Speaker 1: in here for Emmanuel Ogball, who just continues to find
Speaker 1: a way to put pressure in the face of the
Speaker 1: quarterback in such key situations. There was an incomplete pass
Speaker 1: down on the red zone. The Raiders go one for
Speaker 1: five in the red zone in this game. There was
Speaker 1: an incomplete pass where car had to throw it away
Speaker 1: because og ball both one excuse me one his pass
Speaker 1: rush move and then fell back into the passing lane
Speaker 1: and disrupted the play in two different ways. He also
Speaker 1: got pressure later on a third down and completion. He
Speaker 1: continues to do that stuff every single week for your
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins defense. And then Zach Seler the massive stuff
Speaker 1: on fourth and one in the third quarter. We've seen
Speaker 1: that all year long from this defense. When they have
Speaker 1: to have a play, they find a way to come
Speaker 1: up and make a big play. He also had some
Speaker 1: runstops with some pressures later in this game as well,
Speaker 1: things that either continues to play very very well. Talked
Speaker 1: about Andrew Van Ginkle. I want to talk about Kyle
Speaker 1: van Noy, and we talked about this on the podcast
Speaker 1: on the feature last week, talking about him setting the
Speaker 1: edge on Saturday, right, he says, the edge gets set
Speaker 1: on Saturday in your preparation. Well, this week, I mean
Speaker 1: had to been Friday because they played the game on Saturday.
Speaker 1: But it was a perfect symmetry for this game for
Speaker 1: him because he so often gets on that upfield outside
Speaker 1: shoulder of the tight end of the outside blocker and
Speaker 1: finds a way to set the edge of work back
Speaker 1: inside to make a play. I thought he had an excellent,
Speaker 1: excellent coverage snap on third and one on Josh Jacobs
Speaker 1: where he both took a chip from the tight end,
Speaker 1: found the back leaking into the backfield, and got into
Speaker 1: the passing lane. Car had to go the other direction
Speaker 1: and try to pass the ball to Jerome Baker's man.
Speaker 1: I think it might have been Jalen Richard on that
Speaker 1: side of the play, but van Noy was such so
Speaker 1: instinctively sound and instinctively into his assignment on that play.
Speaker 1: He does that so often and it doesn't really get noticed,
Speaker 1: I think by the general fan. But Kyle Vanoy continues
Speaker 1: to play the high level landon roberts Man. That sucks
Speaker 1: to see him go down like that. Hopefully he's okay.
Speaker 1: Quick recovery for him. He had two more of those
Speaker 1: big missile plays where he just shoots in there and
Speaker 1: gets the tackle at the line. He's been a lot
Speaker 1: of fun to watch this year for your Dolphins defense,
Speaker 1: and we talked about Jerome Baker. Thought he had a
Speaker 1: hell of a game once again, putting together what I
Speaker 1: think is by far his best season as a pro.
Speaker 1: Jerome Baker again the run as a pass rusher. In
Speaker 1: coverage Man, he continues to get the job done out there,
Speaker 1: over and over again. Xaviing Howard on the over route.
Speaker 1: Just the perfect defender on those over routes. Man. He
Speaker 1: almost had himself another pick on one of those, almost
Speaker 1: got one deep down the field. Covering Henry Ruggs deep
Speaker 1: down the field as well. I thought he continued to
Speaker 1: play very well in this game. Brandon Jones had a
Speaker 1: tackle on Jalen Rochard on uh one yard short of
Speaker 1: the sticks on that third nine team play in the
Speaker 1: second quarter where they picked up eighteen yards. They did
Speaker 1: convert on fourth and one, but Brandon Jones stood him
Speaker 1: up and stopped him short of the sticks. I wanted
Speaker 1: to go ahead and make a note of that again.
Speaker 1: Eric Rowe, I thought, was in good coverage all game long.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the guys just make plays, But as a whole,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins secondary once again plays another good game. Special teams,
Speaker 1: of course, a couple of big punt returns there had
Speaker 1: a hold on the punt return on um on Hunter Renfro.
Speaker 1: But the big run for Clayton Federlum that was a big,
Speaker 1: big deal for this team to get the offense going.
Speaker 1: So at least they found a way to make a
Speaker 1: play there when it mattered most as this Dolphins team
Speaker 1: finds a way to do over and over again. Alright,
Speaker 1: So the Dolphins sit at ten and five. If we
Speaker 1: have one game left against the Buffalo Bills next week,
Speaker 1: and if the Dolphins win that game, they're in. That's
Speaker 1: all it is to win the game and you're in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Possible seven seed. I think they could move
Speaker 1: up to the six or five seed, depending on how
Speaker 1: things check out. But right now, when the game getting
Speaker 1: the damn dance, that's how it goes. As far as
Speaker 1: that game against Buffalo, we'll see how they play it.
Speaker 1: If Buffalo wins on Monday night against the Patriots, they
Speaker 1: will lock up the two seed. Cannot be moved up,
Speaker 1: cannot be moved down from that position if Buffalo beats
Speaker 1: the Patriots on Monday night. So we'll see how Sean
Speaker 1: McDermott wants to play that if that's the case next week.
Speaker 1: In week seventeen, some other scenarios to get in. The
Speaker 1: Dolphins could lose the game on Sunday and still get
Speaker 1: in depending on how Baltimore or Cleveland or the Colts
Speaker 1: play the last two games of the season. We will
Speaker 1: find out how that works. We'll break it down later
Speaker 1: in the week once we have the results from these
Speaker 1: Sunday games. Enjoy the games on Sunday as you hear
Speaker 1: this podcast, Enjoy the rest of your week, Enjoy your
Speaker 1: holiday season. I hope you guys all had a merry,
Speaker 1: merry Christmas and they have a happy New Year coming
Speaker 1: up here. But we have one more big game to
Speaker 1: get to here before this regular season is over here
Speaker 1: on the Drivetime Podcast. Dolphins win big in Las Vegas
Speaker 1: get to ten and five on the season, first double
Speaker 1: digit win season. Since I hope you all enjoyed it
Speaker 1: as much as I did. I hope you'll enjoy this
Speaker 1: edition of the Drivetime Podcast until next time. That's gonna
Speaker 1: be my time. Subscribe, rate review, follow me on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Wingfield NFL. Check out the fish Tank and the Audible,
Speaker 1: and on Miami Dolphins dot com we have the recap
Speaker 1: story and the Miles Gaskins Saturday Night Spotlight story up
Speaker 1: on Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time fins Up