Speaker 1: You were listening to the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. This
Speaker 1: is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. Back to throw to a
Speaker 1: looking gips a dolta wade, dolfn touchdop cleric hill, unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Just flue fire for a second time to know where
Speaker 1: he was going right away ahead of that nun man.
Speaker 1: I want to help you soon up on his band
Speaker 1: away wattle, waddle to a shotgut back to throw looking
Speaker 1: stumps up fires, touchdock again, it's waddle. It's six touchdown
Speaker 1: paradoun of the two. Drivetime with Travis Wingfield begins. Now
Speaker 1: let check your pulse if not furt of what is up?
Speaker 1: Dolphins And welcome to the Drivetime podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going? Everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1: And on today's show, the Vic Fangio episode, we're breaking
Speaker 1: down Miami's big time hire at defensive coordinator. We'll tell
Speaker 1: you about his resume, his accomplishments and rankings over the years,
Speaker 1: the bones of the defense, and what it looks like
Speaker 1: from a numbers perspective. We'll get some testimonials and bring
Speaker 1: in a closer to wrap it up. For the fine
Speaker 1: details on the Fangio scheme, Sean Sayed wrote a banger
Speaker 1: of a deep dive up on the read optional about
Speaker 1: the Fangio defense and how it's made its way across
Speaker 1: the National Football League. We'll get to know the newest
Speaker 1: member of the Miami staff here on the podcast from
Speaker 1: the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is it is oficial. Vic Fangio will be the
Speaker 1: next defensive coordinator of your Miami Dolphins, and he brings
Speaker 1: with him a very, very impressive resume. Let's start there.
Speaker 1: In this deep dive edition of the podcast. We're putting
Speaker 1: the season review series on hold for the day. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and start with his resume and it goes
Speaker 1: back to nineteen seventy nine. It's almost a decade before
Speaker 1: I was born, when he was the linebackers coach and
Speaker 1: eventually defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Dunmore High School
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania. He then moved on to an academy high school,
Speaker 1: Milford Academy in Connecticut to be the DC there in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two. In nine eighty three, he was the
Speaker 1: North Carolina graduate assistant and then eighty four eighty five
Speaker 1: he jumped to the USFL and the Philadelphia slash Baltimore
Speaker 1: Stars as their defensive assistant. Then he made the move
Speaker 1: to the NFL Saints linebackers from eighty six to ninety four.
Speaker 1: He was in the Panthers defensive coordinator from ninety five
Speaker 1: to ninety eight before moving to that same position with
Speaker 1: the Colts from ninety nine to oh one. Took the
Speaker 1: same position for the Texans two thousand and two to
Speaker 1: oh five. He stayed in the same division there a
Speaker 1: few times. You see that from a NFC Central to
Speaker 1: the AFC Central or AFC South. Eventually, with the twos
Speaker 1: and Texans from six to oh eight, he was the
Speaker 1: Ravens special assistant to the head coach slash defensive assistant.
Speaker 1: He took the linebacker's job for the Ravens and oh
Speaker 1: nine and then twenty ten went back to the college
Speaker 1: game to be the defensive coordinator at Stanford, working with
Speaker 1: Jim Harbaugh. Then he followed Harbaugh to the forty nine
Speaker 1: Ers job, where he was a DC for four years
Speaker 1: there before signing on to the same position with the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears from twenty fifteen to twenty eight team. Then
Speaker 1: he finally gets his head coaching gig twenty nineteen, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one the Broncos head coach, and this last year
Speaker 1: he spent with the Philadelphia Eagles. Fans of the office
Speaker 1: will find this cool. He played at Dunmore High School
Speaker 1: when he was a high schooler just outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: and then he eventually became the assistant to the head coach,
Speaker 1: so kind of a Dwight Shrewt moved there. He moved
Speaker 1: to a different high school in eighty two that year
Speaker 1: before the one year in college and then the USFL
Speaker 1: and then of course makes the jump back to the pros.
Speaker 1: And what does he do besides coach a room that
Speaker 1: earns a nickname. You understand how good a position group
Speaker 1: has to be to get a nickname. Legion of Boom,
Speaker 1: the Purple People Eaters. He had the Dome Patrol in
Speaker 1: New Orleans. Over his nine aggregate years there in New Orleans,
Speaker 1: the Saints ranked fifth in yards per game with three
Speaker 1: hundred yards per game. They were fourth in scoring again
Speaker 1: over those nine years eighteen point one points per game,
Speaker 1: and they were third and sacks with four hundred and
Speaker 1: eight and tied for third with three hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: six takeaways. Then he gets his first defensive coordinator job
Speaker 1: and he helps take the expansion Panthers to the NFC
Speaker 1: title game in year two of its existence. Then onto
Speaker 1: the Colts where he worked under Jim Mora. This guy's
Speaker 1: been with like every coach you can think of. He
Speaker 1: goes to the Texans and run his defense under Dom
Speaker 1: Capers before heading up to Baltimore to coach Ray Lewis
Speaker 1: in an All Pro two thousand and nine season. Then
Speaker 1: we mentioned the six years with Jim Harbaugh, and he
Speaker 1: goes up to Chicago and Harbaugh left for Michigan. There
Speaker 1: he worked with John Fox, and when John Fox was relieved,
Speaker 1: Fangio became the first Bears defensive coordinator to stay on
Speaker 1: under a new head coach and go to the next
Speaker 1: regime with a three year extension since Buddy Ryan stayed
Speaker 1: on with Mike Ditka in nineteen eighty two. Then rookie
Speaker 1: head coach Matt Nagy gave full control of the Fangio
Speaker 1: defense Perer story I was reading earlier before I put
Speaker 1: this podcast together. Full control of the defense, and he
Speaker 1: repaid that by leading the NFL in turnovers in twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen with thirty six and the most interceptions with twenty
Speaker 1: seven that season. Man, if we can get anywhere close
Speaker 1: to those numbers in terms of takeaways, that's you in
Speaker 1: the division. Like, if you flipped that this year with
Speaker 1: the Dolphins offense this year, you would have won the division.
Speaker 1: For that effort, Fangio was named Assistant Coach of the
Speaker 1: Year by the Pro Football Writers of America and the
Speaker 1: same honor a few weeks later from the Associated Press
Speaker 1: that led to his first head coaching job with the
Speaker 1: Denver Broncos. Let's go ahead and circle back and focus
Speaker 1: on his time from twenty eleven and on from the
Speaker 1: Niners Bears to Broncos. His last eight years as a
Speaker 1: DC that combines the Niners and Bears jobs, he had
Speaker 1: a defense that finished in the top five four times
Speaker 1: of total defense and the top ten six times in
Speaker 1: total defense that ahead of his appointment as the headman
Speaker 1: in Denver, and those defenses he had there were very
Speaker 1: good too. They essentially still were the same remnants of
Speaker 1: what he built this past season. That was a championship
Speaker 1: defense in twenty twenty two, constructed by Vic Fangio, you know,
Speaker 1: after a few years putting it together there to put
Speaker 1: together for a new staff of this season, and if
Speaker 1: the Denver offense this year was even just average, then
Speaker 1: that would have been a team we're watching into the postseason.
Speaker 1: Where the Broncos went in the right direction this offseason
Speaker 1: was bringing in Jiro Everro to run that defense, which
Speaker 1: stems from the same principles on the defense he ran.
Speaker 1: So let's go year by year back to the San
Speaker 1: Francisco days, starting no, going back to twenty eleven. We
Speaker 1: start in twenty twenty two, though, he was a consultant
Speaker 1: for the Philadelphia Eagles, and you saw the Eagles get
Speaker 1: after it with really, in all honesty, a lot of
Speaker 1: the same principles from a Fangio style defense. They were
Speaker 1: third in total defense. They had fifteen more sacks than
Speaker 1: the second place sacking team at seventy compared to Kansas
Speaker 1: City is fifty five. Uber our Championship round takeaways was
Speaker 1: how to pressure upfront, and that's how you kind of
Speaker 1: can control games and remove my preconceived moniker that your
Speaker 1: defense is as good as the offense is playing. Not
Speaker 1: when you can get pressure with four Philadelphia seventy sacks
Speaker 1: Kansas City fifty five. They'll meet in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: The Eagles had the third lowest passer rating against eighty
Speaker 1: one point six. They were seventh ranked in scoring defense
Speaker 1: at twenty point one points per game. They had the
Speaker 1: twelfth ranked red zone defense and the fourteenth ranked third
Speaker 1: down defense. Let's go ahead and do that for all
Speaker 1: the teams that he's coached going back to twenty eleven.
Speaker 1: So the Broncos in twenty twenty one is the head
Speaker 1: coach eighth and total defense third and scoring twenty first
Speaker 1: and takeaways six and passer rating third and red zone
Speaker 1: twenty eighth and third down. The next season they were
Speaker 1: twenty first in total twenty fifth and scoring twenty ninth
Speaker 1: and takeaways and despite being sixteenth and passer rating fifteenth
Speaker 1: and third down, they were still number one in the
Speaker 1: red zone. In twenty nineteen, it was better. So they
Speaker 1: had like a down year in twenty twenty. I'm not
Speaker 1: really sure what you would call that. There was opt
Speaker 1: outs that year, the COVID year, people missing from games,
Speaker 1: you know, just a lot of stuff going on that
Speaker 1: was different in twenty twenty. But twenty nineteen is first
Speaker 1: year twelfth, and defense tenth and scoring twenty fifth and
Speaker 1: takeaways never really got to takeaways in Denver twenty first,
Speaker 1: twenty nine and twenty fifth, sixteenth and passer rating, but
Speaker 1: again first in red zone thirteenth and third down defense.
Speaker 1: So always top three in the red zone in red
Speaker 1: zone scoring like that is if you can do that
Speaker 1: in today's NFL. And again with this Dolphins defense Dolphins offense, rather,
Speaker 1: you're gonna win a lot of games, you're gonna compete
Speaker 1: for the division, You're going to compete in January and beyond.
Speaker 1: Like that's what you need as exactly what you need.
Speaker 1: Go back to Chicago when he was the DC his
Speaker 1: last year, there was an amazing one third in total defense,
Speaker 1: first in scoring first, and takeaways first, and opposer passer
Speaker 1: rating opposing passer rating sixth in red zone and fourth
Speaker 1: and third down defense. Like they were great across the board.
Speaker 1: And the years prior to that wasn't any worse. I
Speaker 1: mean they were tenth, fifteenth and fourteenth, and defense ninth,
Speaker 1: twenty fourth and twentieth and scoring defense. So that's you know,
Speaker 1: I guess they had the scoring fell off a little
Speaker 1: bit there, but again, personnel, there's some lean years in
Speaker 1: there they were first, thirteenth, thirty, second, and sixteenth. And
Speaker 1: takeaways in Chicago, the passer rating was only really good
Speaker 1: one of the four years, the first, eighteenth, twenty third,
Speaker 1: and twenty sixth. But again red zone six twelve, eleventh,
Speaker 1: twenty first, like they were always a good red zone
Speaker 1: defense besides that first year, and then third downs where
Speaker 1: the fluctuation comes to the most for his defense is fourth, twentieth,
Speaker 1: twenty second, and twenty ninth. So it gets better as
Speaker 1: he goes each stop along the way in the key
Speaker 1: categories like total and scoring in third down red zones,
Speaker 1: pretty much always good, and then the takeaways and passer rating,
Speaker 1: those things kind of work together, right, usually pretty good,
Speaker 1: but not so great those couple of years there in Chicago.
Speaker 1: You go back to San Francisco. He always had a
Speaker 1: good defense there the four years there, fourth, fifth, third,
Speaker 1: and fourth in total defense, tenth, third, second, and second
Speaker 1: and scoring defense. Takeaways they were fourth, sixth, fourteenth, and first.
Speaker 1: It's a defense that generates takeaways. Man, we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that more in a second. They get eyes in the
Speaker 1: football and they attack that way. They were fourth, fourth, sixth,
Speaker 1: and fifth in posing passer rating, but the red zone
Speaker 1: wasn't as good like weird twenty eighth, thirteenth, twenty eighth,
Speaker 1: and fourth, and then third down defense was twenty six, fifth, third,
Speaker 1: and eleventh. Excuse me, so again those Bears and Broncos ratings,
Speaker 1: you know they were not up to par. Those were
Speaker 1: some lean years in terms of their personnel. Just you know,
Speaker 1: for your information. Not trying to make an excuse or
Speaker 1: tell you like he's a great coach regardless, but let's
Speaker 1: just say he's not going to have that problem here
Speaker 1: short of another instance of losing seven to eight key
Speaker 1: players and stars for your defense the whole year like
Speaker 1: we had last year. But if that doesn't happen, those
Speaker 1: numbers will not happen. Let's next look at how he does,
Speaker 1: Like what are the ingredients? What goes into the stew
Speaker 1: I want to go ahead and look at his most
Speaker 1: recent stop in Denver between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: How did the Broncos attack opposing offenses. We'll do that
Speaker 1: and break down some of the film I watched on
Speaker 1: his games. That's next Yime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Auto Nation, The VIC Fangio episode
Speaker 1: of the Drivetime podcast New Dolphins Defensive Coordinator. We've broken
Speaker 1: down the statistical ranks of where he's been over the
Speaker 1: last decade plus told you about his resume. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and jump into the film and what NFL Jesus
Speaker 1: we call it gisis where they rank Vic Fangio style defenses.
Speaker 1: And I just went back and cumulatively took the last
Speaker 1: three years with the Broncos because it's it really tracks similarly.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Bears was the same, the Niers was
Speaker 1: the same. He's not gonna overhaul what he does. Obviously
Speaker 1: he's smart enough to adapt and change things year to year,
Speaker 1: but it's it's principally the same idea as you know,
Speaker 1: year after year. So let's go ahead and talk about
Speaker 1: what he did in Denver. They ran out of their
Speaker 1: base package, which was a three four twenty one percent
Speaker 1: of the time. And I'm gonna go ahead and say
Speaker 1: it in everyone listens to this podcast knows this, but
Speaker 1: apparently people that don't don't know this. Three four and
Speaker 1: four three is a fraction of your defense? Can we
Speaker 1: all agree to agree upon that it's less than a
Speaker 1: fifth of your defense? Typically here it's twenty one percent.
Speaker 1: A little more nickel defense is your base like getting
Speaker 1: caught up in whether a coach runs three four or
Speaker 1: four three is not relevant. I mean it is to
Speaker 1: understand the defense they play and what they want to
Speaker 1: play on base downs. But man like it is a
Speaker 1: fraction of what you run. This is not nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1: I don't know why it's so prevalent. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know I've seen, you know, beat writers and people that
Speaker 1: cover the game professionally talk about it like it is
Speaker 1: and so maybe that's where the fans get it from.
Speaker 1: But you're four three and three fours. That's not how
Speaker 1: the NFL works anymore. It hasn't for like twenty years,
Speaker 1: but we still talk about it that way. Anyway, the
Speaker 1: base heat ran in Denver was three or four, which
Speaker 1: is twenty one percent of the time. And he also
Speaker 1: ran the four three four point six percent of the time.
Speaker 1: So it's some hybrid variables there in terms of their fronts,
Speaker 1: and we see it with Philly two. It means a
Speaker 1: consultant there some five down front. So like there's there's
Speaker 1: some variety and versatility he builds into a system, which
Speaker 1: you have to love because he'll morphit around the players
Speaker 1: that he has. But as we always say, you know,
Speaker 1: the nickel defense is your base. So those are your
Speaker 1: fractions nickel over the three years, sixty two point one
Speaker 1: percent of the time. But here's a big figure that's
Speaker 1: not common in the NFL today, dime packaging ten point
Speaker 1: nine percent. So eleven percent of the time they have
Speaker 1: a sixth defensive back on the field or more. And
Speaker 1: they ran twelve players from quarter which is seven defensive backs.
Speaker 1: Situational based sub package. You know, we don't believe in
Speaker 1: putting on more linebackers, a more defensive linemen to rush
Speaker 1: to quarterback. We believe in getting pressure with our system upfront,
Speaker 1: with our ability to create one on ones, and then
Speaker 1: we disguise and confuse quarterbacks on the back end and
Speaker 1: give them more cover guys to handle thirtain lungs so
Speaker 1: that guys can't get open. Like the game against the
Speaker 1: Chiefs or the Chiefs and Bengals game on Sunday, the
Speaker 1: Bengals had that third and sixteen and Hayden Hurst sprung
Speaker 1: a little you know, flag route wide open. Why is
Speaker 1: he not covered because you weren't aligned properly. You didn't
Speaker 1: have the right personnel in the field, get your right
Speaker 1: personnel out there, and get a stop on third and sixteen.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of the idea that we'll talk more
Speaker 1: about the structure of it. The box counts seven man
Speaker 1: boxes was just eighteen point eight percent. That's your average
Speaker 1: you know, four three three four defense type of Look,
Speaker 1: you're four defensive backs or even your five defensive backs
Speaker 1: with the rat in the whole eighteen point eight percent
Speaker 1: of the time a normal box light boxes are ran
Speaker 1: seventy three point seven percent of the time. Sixteen hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty six plays out of the three thou eighty
Speaker 1: five came with a six man box. What does that
Speaker 1: tell you? Two high safeties they don't bring that safety
Speaker 1: down and it's usually from nickel personnel. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: go four two five, and we're gonna play all five
Speaker 1: defensive backs out of the box and try to win
Speaker 1: our gap assignments accordingly. Now that of course can shift
Speaker 1: on early down personnel. That's why you have it only
Speaker 1: seventy three percent of the time. You can shift that
Speaker 1: base upon the offensive ability to match their personnel. So
Speaker 1: it's not like some definitive number. But it tells you.
Speaker 1: This defense is based upon the ability to play two
Speaker 1: high safeties and forced defenses to be patient to run
Speaker 1: the football and take underneath stuff and limit big plays.
Speaker 1: That gives well with the defensive personnel we have here
Speaker 1: and then stacked boxes seven point five percent of the time.
Speaker 1: But again, the box count idea here tells you they
Speaker 1: prefer to play down a man in the run count
Speaker 1: in the gap assignments to get more on the back
Speaker 1: end against coverage. And I like that when you're dealing
Speaker 1: with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, the best quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in the league. I like the idea of defending the
Speaker 1: pass and eight or nine yards average pertempt compared to
Speaker 1: three or four yards on the ground. The coverage structure
Speaker 1: here you go, single high safety. You're gonna think this
Speaker 1: is funny because it's going to contradict everything I just
Speaker 1: told you. But I'll tell you why that's the case.
Speaker 1: Single high safety pre snap forty three point three percent,
Speaker 1: two high safety pre snap thirty seven point five percent. Travis,
Speaker 1: that number is lower. You just lied to us. Hang
Speaker 1: on cover zero seventeen point four percent of the time.
Speaker 1: So there is there's so much variety in this defense.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to Sean here in a minute about that,
Speaker 1: but it definitely is capable of confusing quarterbacks based upon
Speaker 1: the ability to show different pictures different times and change
Speaker 1: what you do pre snap and post snap and then
Speaker 1: other coverages one point eight percent of the time. Again,
Speaker 1: this jives with the ability to confuse quarterbacks and force
Speaker 1: them to think and make decisions on the fly after
Speaker 1: the snap. This is pre snap structure, so it changes.
Speaker 1: You're not camping out in one thing. You don't rotate
Speaker 1: the same way every single time. It's constantly evolving. So
Speaker 1: the quarterback can't say, well, last time that safety started
Speaker 1: on the far hash and then buzzed the crossing route
Speaker 1: from the backside take away the over route like he
Speaker 1: wanted to deal with mesh. Well, next time you've bluffed
Speaker 1: the mesh, you go back to the middle of the
Speaker 1: field and you pull down the opposite safety, like you
Speaker 1: have different things you can do. Interchangeable safety plays a
Speaker 1: key in this defense. That's why those coverage numbers pre
Speaker 1: snap and the post snap rotation is so not aligned,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Unaligned, I don't know. They play
Speaker 1: man coverage twenty point three percent of the time. They
Speaker 1: play zone coverage seventy eight points even percent of the time,
Speaker 1: But that can be difficult to plot because a lot
Speaker 1: of coverages are hybrid based, especially in this defense. You know, man,
Speaker 1: front side, zone, backside, vice versa. A lot of times
Speaker 1: man coverage converted to zone in this defense based upon
Speaker 1: you know, the way they stack or bunch or motion.
Speaker 1: It's not as easy as just listing out numbers. That's
Speaker 1: why we're going to get to my guest here in
Speaker 1: a moment. He's going to break it down for us further.
Speaker 1: But it's not always, and almost never is what you
Speaker 1: see is what you get. It's constantly changing and evolving.
Speaker 1: As far as their rush packages rush plans, they go
Speaker 1: three man rush in Denver they did eleven percent of
Speaker 1: the time, the four man rush was fifty seven point
Speaker 1: six percent of the time, and your five man rushes,
Speaker 1: you know, blitzing was eighteen percent of the time. They
Speaker 1: had seventy eight snaps of seven rushers twenty three snaps
Speaker 1: of seven rushers, so about twenty percent blitzer rates there.
Speaker 1: For the Broncos under Vic Fangio, they rarely go Joe break.
Speaker 1: They just don't bring the all out blitzing rushing attack.
Speaker 1: It's if they do come, it's typically just five guys.
Speaker 1: Then there's one hundred and sixty four snaps of less
Speaker 1: than three rushers. Think end of game, end of half, third,
Speaker 1: and a mile situations, all kinds of scenarios that play
Speaker 1: into that, But the primary number here is the fifty
Speaker 1: seven point six four man rush. In total, it was
Speaker 1: four or fewer rushers seventy six point nine percent of
Speaker 1: the time during the three years in Denver. So expect
Speaker 1: far fewer blitzing, better coverage, better disguise, better shells in
Speaker 1: the back end, and trusting Bradley Chubb and Jalen Phillips
Speaker 1: and Emmanuel Ogba and Christian Wilkins and Zach Steeler and
Speaker 1: Melvin Ingra if he comes back, Andrew van Ginkol, if
Speaker 1: he comes back, four guys go get the quarterback. We'll
Speaker 1: play good coverage in the back end and give you
Speaker 1: hopefully an extra If this defense can get two tenths
Speaker 1: of a second longer time to throw, that sack production,
Speaker 1: the turnover production, the third down defense, all of that,
Speaker 1: all of it will ratchety way way up. And really,
Speaker 1: if you look at defenses that typically can generate the
Speaker 1: most takeaways or be stout in the red zone. It's
Speaker 1: because they change the picture on the quarterback. They confuse
Speaker 1: you and give you multiple looks. You can never give
Speaker 1: a quarterback the same look over and over again. A
Speaker 1: quarterback of the ILK of Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. You have to consistently change
Speaker 1: what they look at. And that's usually how mistakes are generated,
Speaker 1: right by confusing the quarterback and forcing poor decisions to
Speaker 1: put the ball where you want them to put the ball.
Speaker 1: And you do that by changing it up. I've seen
Speaker 1: five games of his now. I went back and watched
Speaker 1: against one against Mahomes, one against twa and twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one against Aaron Rodgers when he was with the Bears,
Speaker 1: and a couple other games with the Broncos, and I
Speaker 1: just wanted to see how he went about that. And
Speaker 1: it was like the takeaway is that there was no takeaway.
Speaker 1: It was always different. It was always, you know, show
Speaker 1: mugged up pressure in the a gap and pull a
Speaker 1: guy out, Show a seven man pressure package and pull
Speaker 1: two defensive tackles out and rush the ads, show nobody
Speaker 1: and delay green dog puts them user athletic linebackers to key.
Speaker 1: If a running back is staying in protection, go get him.
Speaker 1: Go at the quarterback, don't you know, sit here and
Speaker 1: wait for him to get out into the pattern. So
Speaker 1: just constant change, constant evolution, constant muddying up with the
Speaker 1: quarterback with the posing offense. Sees is kind of the
Speaker 1: bread and butter behind that film study that I did
Speaker 1: here on this Monday. So that's the bones and all.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and do some testimonials here next before
Speaker 1: we get to my guest, and Sean said, I always
Speaker 1: like to look at the reaction on social media about
Speaker 1: big moves, and this one comes with some praise that
Speaker 1: jives with what I've taken from my research on coach
Speaker 1: Fangio and some of the benefits that come with hiring
Speaker 1: someone of his pedigree. Randy and Mueller, former Dolphins GM
Speaker 1: said on Dolphins hiring a Vic Fangio is big. His
Speaker 1: experience and perspective is what is very valuable for players
Speaker 1: and others in the building. I love that their young
Speaker 1: decision makers want more football acumen. How big is that? Like,
Speaker 1: don't be the biggest ego in the room, don't be
Speaker 1: the big swing and d in the room that just
Speaker 1: thinks you know everything and you want to control everything
Speaker 1: and eventually lose the thread. Like putting good people around you.
Speaker 1: Coaches talked about delegating, how important he finds it to
Speaker 1: delegate and trust the people he puts in place and
Speaker 1: do that. I love this move for Mike McDaniel. I
Speaker 1: talked about it on the previous pod, like, that's the
Speaker 1: biggest move to me, is the ability to attract a
Speaker 1: big name, to get him here and tell him like
Speaker 1: we have something good we're building, and the coach to
Speaker 1: be willing to just do whatever it takes to win.
Speaker 1: Nothing else matters. Jay Feeley, former Dolphins kicker, perfect hire
Speaker 1: for McDaniel. I like that his scheme and philosophy are
Speaker 1: complimentary to the offensive scheme. Your offense is explosive. You
Speaker 1: don't need high risk, high reward defense. You need one
Speaker 1: that makes it hard on opposing offenses and forces them
Speaker 1: to have long, extended drives. Yeah, we've talked about that.
Speaker 1: And then Jordan rod Reek, who covers the Rams and
Speaker 1: the NFL for the Athletics, she tweeted this when the
Speaker 1: reports came out on Sunday. The McDaniel fangio combo in
Speaker 1: Miami is such a full circle situation. I remember McDaniel
Speaker 1: obsessively pouring over that scheme a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: to coaching clinic. He's the one who said playing it
Speaker 1: was the ultimate ego bait for offensive play callers, death
Speaker 1: by ten thousand paper cuts. I cannot wait to hear
Speaker 1: Coach mcdalan talk about this higher and how tough this
Speaker 1: defense is to attack. We get great transparency from coach
Speaker 1: on that, and he's always informative that way. And frankly,
Speaker 1: we saw that script play out and the win over
Speaker 1: Buffalo right going back to what Jaffeely talked about, if
Speaker 1: you can shorten the game against these star quarterbacks, limit
Speaker 1: them to seven to nine possessions per game, and then
Speaker 1: take care of your own business on your own possessions, like,
Speaker 1: for instance, a forty five yard bomb to Jilen Waddle
Speaker 1: on third and twenty two, and sharp red zone execution
Speaker 1: after a takeaway creates a short field, then you have
Speaker 1: a winning formula. You can score quick, you can limit
Speaker 1: possessions and frustrate a quarterback like Josh Allen. We have
Speaker 1: months to break this all down, but it makes perfect
Speaker 1: sense to me. With the marriage of the styles of
Speaker 1: these two coaches. I want to go ahead and take
Speaker 1: our last break right here and finish up on the
Speaker 1: other side with some real x'es and o's talk. I
Speaker 1: brought in a foremost voice on this topic. You've probably
Speaker 1: seen it make the rounds on Dolphins Twitter. Now he
Speaker 1: wrote a deep dive on the Fangio influences and schemes.
Speaker 1: We'll go ahead and get to Shaan Sayed next here
Speaker 1: on the Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to
Speaker 1: you by Auto Nation. Before we get to Sean Sayed,
Speaker 1: I want to go ahead and start with this topic
Speaker 1: right here, talking a little bit about positional analogs. What
Speaker 1: has coach Fngio had in the past in Denver and Chicago,
Speaker 1: What do we have And we'll talk to Sean about
Speaker 1: that here in just one second. But first my opinions
Speaker 1: on the topic. Why not right? I think Javon Holland
Speaker 1: has the most to gain here from this switch to more,
Speaker 1: you know, playing the playing the quarterback, playing the eyes
Speaker 1: of the quarterback, the interchangeable nature from him and Brandon Jones,
Speaker 1: and whatever else they might do at the safety position.
Speaker 1: Those guys tend to have big roles in this defense,
Speaker 1: especially when you have that much range, that much athletic ability,
Speaker 1: and you're that well and tuned to the finer nuances
Speaker 1: of the game. You know, this play style. This concept
Speaker 1: takes me here, That concept takes me there. Like the
Speaker 1: knowledge of the game will really help a player like
Speaker 1: Javon Holland and Brandon Jones who is so so so studious.
Speaker 1: I think it benefits the corners like an Xavien Howard,
Speaker 1: who maybe doesn't have the same four four speed he
Speaker 1: used to at this stage of his career, especially running
Speaker 1: on bad growings last year. I think that the ability
Speaker 1: to kind of zone turn, put his butt to the sideline,
Speaker 1: camp out and watch quarterbacks and you know, break on
Speaker 1: Paul's that way will accentuate his playmaking ability we saw
Speaker 1: for so many years down here. Beyond that, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure what it looks like for the rest of the room,
Speaker 1: you know, Like if they bring Nick Needham back, who's
Speaker 1: been in the same defense his whole career, Kator Cohu,
Speaker 1: I just trust him to play in any defense because
Speaker 1: I think he's a really good player, but we haven't
Speaker 1: seen it yet. And then upfront is where I think
Speaker 1: the big advantages come from I think Christian Wilkins his
Speaker 1: ability to penetrate and shoot gaps and kind of put
Speaker 1: the offensive line in a bit of you know, peril
Speaker 1: in terms of having to deal with his speed and
Speaker 1: explosiveness inside to match what you have on the perimeters,
Speaker 1: and the way this front can generate one on one
Speaker 1: matchups just based upon its own ability to win their
Speaker 1: own matchups. Because if you don't double Christian inside and
Speaker 1: you put your elbows on the outside, he can cross
Speaker 1: face and get inside and get interior pressure, which is
Speaker 1: the worst for a quarterback. So then you deal with that,
Speaker 1: you pull on your running back, or you bring across
Speaker 1: a tight end to kind of help Chip inside there,
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. Then you free up the
Speaker 1: edges for Chubb and for Phillips and the amount of
Speaker 1: success that he has had getting great pass rush situations
Speaker 1: for his guys in the past, whether it was Chubb
Speaker 1: and Denver, von Miller and Denver, whether it was Khalil
Speaker 1: Mack in Chicago. I think he has the weapons here,
Speaker 1: the guns to play that style of defense that can
Speaker 1: really really harass opposing quarterbacks in a great way. The
Speaker 1: linebacker area is where I don't know, I think they
Speaker 1: might have to kind of remake that position because the
Speaker 1: linebackers and Vic Fangio's defenses have always been super athletic.
Speaker 1: They can play backwards as good as they can playing forwards,
Speaker 1: which I don't know we have that here. And they
Speaker 1: have to be sizeable to be able to come down
Speaker 1: and fit the run because if you're going to be
Speaker 1: light in your box counts with the two high structures,
Speaker 1: you have to have a linebacker who can kind of
Speaker 1: thump that way. He's always had that, you know, going
Speaker 1: back to even Roquan Smith his rookie year with the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears, or you know, Patrick Willis Navarrel Bowman back
Speaker 1: in San Francisco. He's always kind of had those guys
Speaker 1: to fit that mold. I'm not sure Miami does. It
Speaker 1: makes for an intriguing off season to look ahead in
Speaker 1: terms what they might do with that position, but I
Speaker 1: think it's something to keep an eye on there as
Speaker 1: far as what they might want to do to make
Speaker 1: this defense. Vic Fangio's all right, there you go. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and get to my guest, now Shan Sayed
Speaker 1: and joining me now here on the Drivetime podcast is
Speaker 1: the brain behind said schemes who penned a deep dive
Speaker 1: on the Vic Fangio scheme, scheme that has really infiltrated
Speaker 1: the majority of National Football League defenses these days, and
Speaker 1: now Miami has the czar of it all. He's Sean Sayed.
Speaker 1: You can find his piece, the Book of Fangio on
Speaker 1: the read optional sub stack. They crank out great high
Speaker 1: level content on the regular and Sean, of course a
Speaker 1: big big part of that. Sean, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for jumping on today. Travis, thanks so much. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate it. I hope the Dolphins fans are super excited
Speaker 1: for Vic Fangio. You know, I think it was a
Speaker 1: domino in the coaching world that everyone was really waiting
Speaker 1: to see where he fell. Dolphins fans, you know it's
Speaker 1: gonna be something different. I think it's been really fun,
Speaker 1: and you know, Fangio as a guy who I love
Speaker 1: writing about him. It's been a lot of fun for
Speaker 1: us last couple of years. It seems like the guys
Speaker 1: we've been going after in terms of the high, you know,
Speaker 1: high profile players and coaches, whether that was McDaniel, whether
Speaker 1: it was Tyreek Hill to Ron Armstead and now Vic
Speaker 1: Fangio a good batting average here for Chris Career getting
Speaker 1: his guys the last couple of years. And Sean, I
Speaker 1: don't want to you know, to I was thinking about
Speaker 1: asking you a qualifying question, tell us to explain your
Speaker 1: bona fides, But forget that. Just go read the story
Speaker 1: The Book of Fangio up on the read optional sub stack.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you all you need to know about Sean's
Speaker 1: football knowledge. And we could go eight to twelve hours
Speaker 1: on this, probably, Sean, but we're gonna try to keep
Speaker 1: it around twenty minutes or fewer. We'll see if we
Speaker 1: can accomplish that. But I think we start right here.
Speaker 1: And since you so aptly named your story the Book
Speaker 1: of Fangio, I want to start with the contents page,
Speaker 1: as it were. Can you kind of give us a
Speaker 1: ten thousand foot view on what makes this defense? What
Speaker 1: it is like? What are the defining traits of the
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio defense. So to me, you can't really talk
Speaker 1: about modern events in the NFL without kind of mentioning
Speaker 1: and tracking Vic Fangio because at its core, the defense,
Speaker 1: I think it uses flexibility to give really multiple post
Speaker 1: snap looks to an offense and a lot of the
Speaker 1: traits that the Fangio tree uses. They're different from what
Speaker 1: Dolphin fans are used to seeing. So you're gonna see
Speaker 1: way more two high shells, you're gonna see light boxes,
Speaker 1: You're gonna see a lot less blitzing. And to me,
Speaker 1: I think that that's smart because the defense can then
Speaker 1: encourage the offense to run the ball into what may
Speaker 1: look like optimal looks for the offense, but they can
Speaker 1: play as heavier boxes when safeties are really triggering downhill,
Speaker 1: and really in the modern NFL, when rushing is less
Speaker 1: efficient than passing, you need to be able to stop
Speaker 1: the pass game in different ways and be able to
Speaker 1: prevent those big plays that Dolphins fan you know, love
Speaker 1: seeing Tyrie Hill and Jaalen while run an offense. So
Speaker 1: the Fangio d events puts a roof over the offense
Speaker 1: and makes you check the ball down over and over.
Speaker 1: I think Jordan Rodrigue was reporting on a quote for
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel, not back in the day, but a little
Speaker 1: while ago where McDaniel kind of mentioned the Fangio defense
Speaker 1: as really an EO test for an offensive play caller.
Speaker 1: So how many times can you make the right call
Speaker 1: going down the field picking up small gains without either
Speaker 1: turning the ball over, getting either into a suboptimal look
Speaker 1: based on an early down run they gets blown up
Speaker 1: or a second down sack, or just getting impatient and
Speaker 1: dialing up a shop like kind of into the defensive hands.
Speaker 1: So it's a really fun system because I think it's
Speaker 1: it's flexible, and I always love using it, just calling
Speaker 1: it modern defense, because I think it is a beautiful
Speaker 1: adaptation to where we've been kind of with the Pete
Speaker 1: Carroll rise in that kind of a defensive tree, and
Speaker 1: now we're here where it's so popular with guys like
Speaker 1: Brandon Staley and Sean Desai going forward. It's funny you
Speaker 1: referenced Jordan rod Reeks tweet because before you came on,
Speaker 1: you're the last part of the podcast here, Sean, I
Speaker 1: brought in the closer as it were, and I referenced
Speaker 1: the Jordan rod reek tweet about the death by ten
Speaker 1: thousand paper cuts from Mike McDaniel, you know, a few
Speaker 1: years back at a coaching clinic, which we used a
Speaker 1: bunch of that content from Coaching Clinks for coach when
Speaker 1: he was hired last year. This time around the hiring cycle.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to something you mentioned about
Speaker 1: the linebacker position, or I guess I should just say,
Speaker 1: you know, running against what looks like a favorable box count,
Speaker 1: because so many quarterbacks and offensers are built upon Hey,
Speaker 1: if you have a lightbox count and you have a
Speaker 1: favorable you know, number of hats to put a hat
Speaker 1: on a hat, run the ball, check to a run.
Speaker 1: How do they accomplish that? Because I'm looking at the
Speaker 1: same thing you're talking about with the lightbox, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it was like seventy three percent of the time.
Speaker 1: How do you line up in a lightbox like that
Speaker 1: and still defend the run, you know, in a beneficial way.
Speaker 1: So one of the ways to do it is if
Speaker 1: you think you're a regular nickel with four down linemen,
Speaker 1: two defensive linebackers, right, So technically that's a quote lightbox
Speaker 1: where you have six guys there, but oftentimes a safety
Speaker 1: is going to be rotating down there for one, right,
Speaker 1: so that can make it seven. But also the way
Speaker 1: that they do it is the way that they play
Speaker 1: the regular quarters technique, or honestly, even when they're kind
Speaker 1: of playing to a cover two side, the safeties triggered downhill.
Speaker 1: In some of these old Bears clips that I'm watching
Speaker 1: with guys like Eddie Jackson, they get into the box
Speaker 1: so quick. I think that that's a technique thing, but
Speaker 1: also the general philosophy of fitting a run from depth
Speaker 1: with safety's and saying, hey, look, maybe we're not going
Speaker 1: to get as many kind of minus two yards stops,
Speaker 1: but if we can get you where you're getting one
Speaker 1: and a half and two yards over and over, Eventually
Speaker 1: the bet is that you're popping and they get impatient.
Speaker 1: And I think the McDonald the way they run their
Speaker 1: offense kind of front that Shanahan tree is there's always
Speaker 1: going to be or there can be a kind of
Speaker 1: quote unblockable support player. And the way that the Fangio
Speaker 1: Tree us it is that's coming from further depth, right,
Speaker 1: So I think of stopping the run, it is a
Speaker 1: little bit of a resource allocation problem. Right. You could
Speaker 1: put eleven guys in the box and say we are
Speaker 1: not going to let you run the ball. That of
Speaker 1: course is going to open up problems in the past game.
Speaker 1: And the way that the Fanjai Tree balances it is
Speaker 1: they're going to tip their balance to the pass game
Speaker 1: while using technique on the back end, and then also
Speaker 1: up front where if you have a bigger body that's athletic,
Speaker 1: can kind of maybe take two gaps up or play
Speaker 1: their gap and then fall into another gap up front
Speaker 1: where you can have less guys on that line but
Speaker 1: still be able to stop the run effectively. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: really good there. It just makes me think about what
Speaker 1: you can maximize out of Javan Holland and Brandon Jones,
Speaker 1: because Javon, for my money, can do anything anything you
Speaker 1: ask that football player to do. He could probably play,
Speaker 1: you know, running back, he's that good of a player.
Speaker 1: And then Brandon Jones, like he excels in the instinctive
Speaker 1: nature of the game and timing up his runs to
Speaker 1: the lion scrimmage, and it makes me think that those
Speaker 1: guys can really fit that role. And then also in
Speaker 1: that nickel package like Kator Co who our rookie this
Speaker 1: past year who was phenomenal for you know, for any measurement,
Speaker 1: but for a UDFA rookie. He tackles as well as anybody.
Speaker 1: He had twenty eight run stops this year, which was
Speaker 1: sixth most among cornerbacks. So I think that it's kind
Speaker 1: of that Aran Johnson thing in Buffalo where you're in
Speaker 1: your nickel defense, but you have a great tackling nickel
Speaker 1: cornerback that goes a long ways too. So something else
Speaker 1: about the defense that you wrote very very you know,
Speaker 1: eloquently about which it's I told you, Sean, it's hard
Speaker 1: to get through that material in a way that is
Speaker 1: like comprehensive and not you know, putting you to sleep.
Speaker 1: And you did a good job of that. But what
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about here is like, just
Speaker 1: give us the bones of the idea of this cover
Speaker 1: six cover eight, Like, what does it look like when
Speaker 1: you achieve the ideal cover six that obviously pairs well
Speaker 1: with that cover eight when you do it correctly, What
Speaker 1: does it look like? So the reason why I'm so
Speaker 1: such a proud pusher of the word cover eight as
Speaker 1: opposed to just cover six is to me, cover six
Speaker 1: or cover eight, it determines what you're playing to the
Speaker 1: passing string. So, really, simply put, is the kind of
Speaker 1: the more or better receivers? Right, So if it's two
Speaker 1: receivers but there's only one on the opposite side, or
Speaker 1: if it's two by two the side with the two
Speaker 1: receivers instead of a tight end. So cover six to
Speaker 1: me is quarters to the passing string, and then cover
Speaker 1: eight to me is halves to the passing string. And
Speaker 1: the way that the Fangio Tree likes to play cover
Speaker 1: eight and one of the toughest clips on the defensive
Speaker 1: side you saw is the Chargers against the Jaguars. The
Speaker 1: Jaguars had a really big touchdown, but they're they're trying
Speaker 1: to play five over three to a trip side. So
Speaker 1: if you have two receivers to that side, the offense
Speaker 1: is really overloading one of the halves of the field.
Speaker 1: And the way the defense fights back against that is saying, hey,
Speaker 1: let's play man coverage away from it. Our linebacker is
Speaker 1: gonna have to take a running back. We are going
Speaker 1: to have to trust a cornerback on the back side.
Speaker 1: But then we can play with five guys over three
Speaker 1: to the front side. And that gives you different flexability
Speaker 1: in terms of matching different routes, or if the kind
Speaker 1: of a fast receiver is working across the field instead
Speaker 1: of having a linebacker chase that, a safety can kind
Speaker 1: of play down to that with debt, and I think
Speaker 1: what the Fangio the specifically kind of that twenty seventeen range.
Speaker 1: Those Bears teams do really well is they play it
Speaker 1: in their base looks to make sure they have a
Speaker 1: cornerback that's fitting the kind of outside or the outside
Speaker 1: piece of the run game, and you are going to
Speaker 1: have to be kind of an aggressive force defender. And
Speaker 1: I think that's just something that it uses the flexibility
Speaker 1: of players really really well, and they do a good job.
Speaker 1: There's this great kind of the way they ran it
Speaker 1: against the Cowboys. I think it was in Fantais last
Speaker 1: year in Denver, where you know there's one clip cover
Speaker 1: six one clip covering and just flipping it it, flipping
Speaker 1: it and using it in different ways where they need
Speaker 1: to win that kind of first half second of the snap.
Speaker 1: Right when the quarterback takes a snap. We want to
Speaker 1: have them hesitate just a touch with how our safety
Speaker 1: is going to rotate, and then we want to be
Speaker 1: able to get that rush already, kind of get there
Speaker 1: their selves going forward and use that together to win
Speaker 1: that first second of the snap post snap stop the offense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it makes perfect sense. And when you kind of break
Speaker 1: it down that way, it makes me think about the
Speaker 1: way the Dolphins have traditionally the last couple of years
Speaker 1: had such good like two gap technique and the players
Speaker 1: to execute that two gap where you know, Phillips and
Speaker 1: Chubb play the run on the way to the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: so effectively. Or Christian Wilkins, who had the most tackles
Speaker 1: by a defensive lineman since nineteen ninety I think it
Speaker 1: was nineteen ninety one at least. He just gets off
Speaker 1: blocks and makes plays. And Zack Zeeler's very similar that way.
Speaker 1: So it seems like you could also kind of benefit
Speaker 1: from that in terms of just playing better football up
Speaker 1: front in addition to having more guys on the back
Speaker 1: end and coverage. And you know, I was going over
Speaker 1: some stats of Fangio's defenses over the years, and we
Speaker 1: heard about the ben but don't break stuff. Man, can
Speaker 1: you like take us through that, because I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the red zone rankings, and you know, defenses always kind
Speaker 1: of change what they do down on the red zone.
Speaker 1: But man, his red zone defenses are always really good.
Speaker 1: How does they do that? Yeah, the Fangio red zone stuff,
Speaker 1: it's so interesting to me because you have to be
Speaker 1: good in the red zone if you're going to accept
Speaker 1: the hey, we're going to force you to check it.
Speaker 1: Down over and over churn out these drives where we're
Speaker 1: okay saying if you take fifteen places to score, it
Speaker 1: look like good job on you guys. To me, in
Speaker 1: the red zone, I think it's really it's a technique
Speaker 1: thing where they play. I think they call it Red
Speaker 1: nine where it's it is a cover three week side
Speaker 1: rotation where they'll move their kind of free safety a
Speaker 1: little over to the trips for one example, if they're
Speaker 1: playing in trips. But it's just it is guys playing
Speaker 1: with what speed I think, with confidence and not putting
Speaker 1: players into suboptimal looks where a safety may be conflicted.
Speaker 1: Kind of in two ways. Now the offense, of course,
Speaker 1: they get paid too. And I think something that I
Speaker 1: really look forward to is hopefully those training camp clips
Speaker 1: kind of come out where you see you know, Fangio
Speaker 1: McDaniel kind of fighting back and forth where they're really
Speaker 1: drawing those things up. And to me, I think something
Speaker 1: that should be encouraging for a Fangio led defense, and
Speaker 1: that's kind of hard to quantify is they're just really
Speaker 1: well coached, like players are extremely talented, especially in those
Speaker 1: older defenses, but it seems like they're just not making
Speaker 1: mistakes where there's not coverage bus where you know, safeties
Speaker 1: don't have bad eye, for example, where they're seeing some
Speaker 1: guy go out even though they know if they have
Speaker 1: deep responsibilities. So it's me the red zone stuff, it's
Speaker 1: a it's not that they're running some extremely complicated schematic structure,
Speaker 1: but coaching, I think in a lot of ways, is hey,
Speaker 1: how can we maximize the player that we have on
Speaker 1: the field. And I think that's something that you know,
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio has just shown over and over that he
Speaker 1: is able to do. So I think that's something that
Speaker 1: mine should be excited about. Sean sayed here on the
Speaker 1: Drivetime podcast. He wrote a great piece on the read
Speaker 1: optional The Book of Fangio. Go check it out. It
Speaker 1: details this scheme very in depth. You won't find anything
Speaker 1: better out there on the interwebs. A couple more for
Speaker 1: you here, Sean. And we've seen you know, this coach
Speaker 1: and this defense, and a couple of tapes I wanted
Speaker 1: to go back and watch where against top quarterbacks. You know,
Speaker 1: he was in Denver when they just seemingly found a
Speaker 1: way to give you know, Mahomes fits every year when
Speaker 1: they were over there. How does he and his defensive
Speaker 1: structure confuse some of these top quarterbacks. Like the disguise
Speaker 1: that seem to work so well to confuse these quarterbacks
Speaker 1: that have seen so many snaps and so many coverages.
Speaker 1: Really he's seen at all. How is he doing that
Speaker 1: against these top end veteran quarterbacks. To me, the Fangio defense,
Speaker 1: it's not like too prideful. So I think they understand, hey,
Speaker 1: we have a high level threat on the offensive end.
Speaker 1: We're not just going to solve this person one on
Speaker 1: one the whole entire game. Right when Tyreek Hill is
Speaker 1: on the opposite side of the field. It's difficult to
Speaker 1: do that. I think one way, You know, Dolphins fans
Speaker 1: plane out is happy to think about that old Chargers game.
Speaker 1: But Staley comes really strongly from that Fangio tree and
Speaker 1: shares those ideas. So to me, it maybe less about
Speaker 1: just hey, we're going to totally confuse you and have
Speaker 1: some crazy coverage rotation, but it's saying, hey, from our
Speaker 1: base looks that we run often, we have five or
Speaker 1: six different answers and different ways to plug and play
Speaker 1: with how we're going to solve our problems. So whether
Speaker 1: it's something as simple as hey, we usually have the
Speaker 1: safety away from the trips dropping down to kind of
Speaker 1: take imagine Tyreek Hill going on a crosser, Well, this
Speaker 1: time we're going to have the opposite safety to it, right.
Speaker 1: So it's a combination of having the answers to the
Speaker 1: test right or different ways to solve the problems, but
Speaker 1: also the understanding of, hey, this is when we're gonna
Speaker 1: call this play. So that's another thing that's really hard
Speaker 1: to quantify where specifically, you know Vick Fanju, he's not
Speaker 1: someone who just calls tons and tons of blitzes, but
Speaker 1: when they do send pressure, especially when Fanjo calls those
Speaker 1: max pressures, HF seems like he has an innate ability
Speaker 1: to know when he can manipulate those pressures. So it's
Speaker 1: a real good combination of having the flexibility on defense
Speaker 1: specifically from a two high structure where if you're in
Speaker 1: a one high structure where that single middle of the
Speaker 1: field safety is covering that deep middle. If you're gonna
Speaker 1: get to different coverages, specifically a two high coverage, you're
Speaker 1: going to have a safety who started on the line
Speaker 1: and is running back kind of with a panic, almost
Speaker 1: as opposed to from that solidified twos structure holding that
Speaker 1: twos structure as long as you can and dropping late
Speaker 1: first of all, Right, so we're going to delay the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks processing as much as we can and to get
Speaker 1: two different coverages from that two eye structure. So to me,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a great combination of Hey, our basic
Speaker 1: looks are gonna look so similar, and because we have
Speaker 1: multiple answers, we have different ways to try and frustrate you. Now,
Speaker 1: if the offense is gonna score points, right like Pastrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes is going to score points when you play against them,
Speaker 1: but sometimes all it takes is really one or two
Speaker 1: plays where you can get a sack, and especially when
Speaker 1: your offense is rolling. It's a great combination and way
Speaker 1: to win. It makes it makes perfect sense. I'm glad
Speaker 1: you referenced the Chargers game from earlier this year. I
Speaker 1: went back and watched the twenty twenty game against the
Speaker 1: Dolphins and it was kind of a similar a similar
Speaker 1: situation where they just didn't really have open receivers down
Speaker 1: the field. And if the Dolphins can achieve that with
Speaker 1: the way they were able to create pressure with their
Speaker 1: front this year, they were third and pass rush win
Speaker 1: rate according to ESPN, and we saw Phillips and Chubb
Speaker 1: and Wilkins and the entire crew just have their own,
Speaker 1: you know, instances of one on one victories, but the
Speaker 1: ball came out so fast it was hard to convert
Speaker 1: those into sacks. And so my question to you, Sean
Speaker 1: is how would you describe the pressure packages or even
Speaker 1: just the four man rushes and the way he creates
Speaker 1: opportunities to not just make quarterbacks hold the ball, but
Speaker 1: to get home up front and convert those pressures into
Speaker 1: game changing plays like sacks, tip balls to get picked off.
Speaker 1: How does the Vangio Fangio I should say pressure packages
Speaker 1: work out. So one of the maybe smaller critiques at
Speaker 1: the Fanjio package is you're not going to see the
Speaker 1: most exotic blitzes with different twists or different kind of
Speaker 1: schemes from that or that maybe you're used to seeing
Speaker 1: across the league. But have five guys up front causes
Speaker 1: so many problems for the offensive line because at outset
Speaker 1: it says, hey, we kind of need to play almost
Speaker 1: the equivalent of man coverage on offense, where I have
Speaker 1: this guy in front of me, and when you can
Speaker 1: make that a one on one constantly, as you said,
Speaker 1: which I think the Dolphins have done a good job
Speaker 1: of that, and you know, guys like Philips are going
Speaker 1: to be happy to have this again, where if you
Speaker 1: can get those one on ones consistently, your best guys
Speaker 1: are going to get home. And I think that's something
Speaker 1: that in Minnesota that happened where their defense maybe not
Speaker 1: the most popular this year, but getting Zadarius Smith just
Speaker 1: over the kind of weakest length in the offensive line.
Speaker 1: An offensive line is really a weakling system where if
Speaker 1: you have, for example, your right guard is just a
Speaker 1: little shaky that day, that's where you want to pack
Speaker 1: on defense. I think Fanji understands that and knows how
Speaker 1: to attack it. So to me, the thing is going
Speaker 1: to be those five down fronts, where maybe they haven't
Speaker 1: been as popular with Fangio himself, but you know Stale
Speaker 1: used it a lot expecifically with the Rams. The Eagles
Speaker 1: are using it a ton this year, and Fanjio is
Speaker 1: seeing that on tape every single week this year. I
Speaker 1: think that's gonna be something that we could see from Miami.
Speaker 1: But also those edge rushers in that regular Nickel four
Speaker 1: down front, but if you can get home with four,
Speaker 1: it gives you just all that flexibility on the back end.
Speaker 1: Once you have to send you know, a fifth guy
Speaker 1: to kind of get pressure. It unfolds your coverage structure
Speaker 1: in different ways, whether it's you know, forcing people to
Speaker 1: have to play just in different spaces than they're used to.
Speaker 1: But what I like that you know Fangio has done
Speaker 1: is instead of just having defenders kind of dropping to
Speaker 1: a landmark, turning around and often you know, looking like, hey,
Speaker 1: this guy's just covering space. So when you watch the
Speaker 1: replay on TV, you're like, what's going on with the defense?
Speaker 1: They do a good job of closing that space and
Speaker 1: you know, matching routes where if they are going to
Speaker 1: send pressure, it's gonna look like man coverage and maybe
Speaker 1: you know, one of those quote bonus fire zones they
Speaker 1: would call it, but really it is, it's gonna play
Speaker 1: out almost like man coverage. So it's a combination of
Speaker 1: putting players in the best matchups one on one closing
Speaker 1: that space in man coverage. And you know, as you said,
Speaker 1: you know something that maybe if the Dolphins of ruggled
Speaker 1: with being able to close that space is really really outavantageous.
Speaker 1: It's a good combination of hey, when the rush is
Speaker 1: doing good, the coverage is gonna look better. But also
Speaker 1: when the coverage is doing good, the rushes are gonna
Speaker 1: look better. So honestly, you want to have both those
Speaker 1: things good, but they can really work kind of in Unison. Man,
Speaker 1: it's only a February, and you got me fired up
Speaker 1: for training camp in July and into August. I cannot
Speaker 1: wait to get out there and watch these two offenses
Speaker 1: and defenses goal up against each other. I want to
Speaker 1: finish up with a couple of things here Sean number one,
Speaker 1: just kind of briefly in each area of the field, Like,
Speaker 1: tell me about what a Vic Fangio defense looks like
Speaker 1: ideally in terms of personnel with what he's had successfully
Speaker 1: in Denver, Chicago, San Francisco up front, in that second
Speaker 1: level and the back end, what does it look like
Speaker 1: when it's humming at all three levels in terms of
Speaker 1: the personnel he has at those spots. I think that
Speaker 1: it's it's really cool to track the scheme over time
Speaker 1: because it's had so many incredible players. So think of
Speaker 1: it just as a base three four and using base
Speaker 1: not as they're going to spend most of their times
Speaker 1: in nickel. But I think as a teaching progression. You
Speaker 1: start at base in your three looks, having a nose
Speaker 1: tackle that can you know, really fight that center and
Speaker 1: kind of as they say, steer the wheel, get into
Speaker 1: a good leverage and kind of attack the run that way,
Speaker 1: not passive, but able to keep the linebackers clean. So
Speaker 1: when you have Navarro, Bowman Patrick Willis a lot of
Speaker 1: those tackles that they made were because those guys up
Speaker 1: front were working so hard, and I think the defensive
Speaker 1: linemen also those kind of four eyes, those guys on
Speaker 1: the inside shade of the offensive tackles. You could think
Speaker 1: of Justin Smith for example from the Niners day. So
Speaker 1: guys that can, they're still have the ability to attack
Speaker 1: the offense. And I think it is really space for
Speaker 1: obviously you know Aaron Donald you see succeeding with the Rams.
Speaker 1: Those edge guys are kind of higher. They end up
Speaker 1: as hybrid linebacker pass rushers. You know, fans, you had
Speaker 1: Bradley Chupp with them, right, So it's a nice reunion
Speaker 1: for them and a space where when we're in our
Speaker 1: nickel looks, it becomes a kind of two four or
Speaker 1: five where you're you can get your hand in the dirt.
Speaker 1: If you wanted. Guys like Kleil Mac really played that
Speaker 1: role really well, where they're the edge center in the
Speaker 1: three four face look, but then they're also getting after
Speaker 1: the passer as the defense to end in those kind
Speaker 1: of sub or nickel looks. The linebacker position is really
Speaker 1: interesting one. As I said, even guys like Roquan Smith,
Speaker 1: I think that if the ability to kind of temple
Speaker 1: the running back have really good instincts, and then speed
Speaker 1: and coverage is going to be a really big thing.
Speaker 1: I think if you're a linebacker who maybe your instincts
Speaker 1: in matching routes isn't as good, or if you're just
Speaker 1: you know, you're just not as quick to get to
Speaker 1: the ball. Sometimes dad can cause a problem because every
Speaker 1: single defensive call has a weak point. There's no perfect
Speaker 1: defensive call. If there was one, we would just see
Speaker 1: it constantly. But the weak side linebacker in pass coverage
Speaker 1: is the kind of natural weak point. For example, you
Speaker 1: think of quarters, that linebacker a lot of the time
Speaker 1: ends up matched up on the offensive slot receiver. And
Speaker 1: even I think on Super Bowl Sunday you'll see where
Speaker 1: the Eagles used Davante Smith in that role because they
Speaker 1: know they can get it matched up on a linebacker
Speaker 1: cornerback position. I think Fan Joe has been has had
Speaker 1: a lot of good corners, and the more flexibility really
Speaker 1: the better, right, So I think Pat sertain Is is
Speaker 1: one of the top cornerbacks in this league already at
Speaker 1: such a such an early point in his career, particularly
Speaker 1: because he can play man coverage really really well. You're
Speaker 1: not going to be asked to play as much man
Speaker 1: coverage i think in the Fantais system than what the
Speaker 1: Dolphins have been running previously, but still being able to
Speaker 1: play flexible and really closing that space in zone coverage
Speaker 1: is huge because if you're gonna play quarters and you're
Speaker 1: gonna kind of put your roof over the defense, you
Speaker 1: still want to be able to take as much air
Speaker 1: out and if you're going to play six or seven
Speaker 1: yards off, being able to kind of compress that it
Speaker 1: just makes the quarterback's life harder. And I think the
Speaker 1: cornerstone of defense is those safeties. I have a hard
Speaker 1: time thinking, Okay, if I could choose one star on
Speaker 1: the defensive putt in one position, maybe you know, it's
Speaker 1: maybe it's that nickel spot like Jalen Ramsey was playing
Speaker 1: in different ways for the Rams. Maybe it's having a
Speaker 1: stud corner, but the safeties have to be able to
Speaker 1: do so much because that week safety not week in
Speaker 1: any player since, but kind of just away from the
Speaker 1: passing strength they're fitting downhill. In the run game, they're
Speaker 1: you know, trying to take that third receiver with speed
Speaker 1: coming across the field where your other safety has to
Speaker 1: really be able to cover a lot of ground. So
Speaker 1: I think that you know, the prime example for me
Speaker 1: is Eddie Jackson, you know, Simmons in in den or
Speaker 1: just versatile of guys. I think that that is something
Speaker 1: that the fanjio true really really loves to have. And
Speaker 1: you can see different ways that different iterations have used
Speaker 1: a personnel. Well, you know immediately should think of Philly, Well,
Speaker 1: they have a really really unique, I think five man
Speaker 1: rush package where they have guys that can clog up
Speaker 1: those interior gaps and just cause all sorts of problem
Speaker 1: for the offensive line where letting your edge rushers be
Speaker 1: comfortable they're still playing at six man box. Have those
Speaker 1: cornerbacks who are playing at a high level. And then
Speaker 1: you have guys of course like Brandon Staley where he
Speaker 1: has a different flexibility of Derwin James. So to me,
Speaker 1: it's it's a good combination. Keep saying good combination because
Speaker 1: it's so many things working together, high level players that
Speaker 1: the scheme knows how to take advantage of and won't
Speaker 1: just paint fully into a corner. To me, it's going
Speaker 1: to be cool to see, Well, Okay, how do we
Speaker 1: take guys like Jovon holland his really really interesting, unique
Speaker 1: skill set and not force him to do things he's
Speaker 1: super uncomfortable with, but really use them as kind of
Speaker 1: a weapon against the offensive different ways. Yeah, that's that
Speaker 1: would be a number one on my board because I
Speaker 1: think that he has the ability to really impact games
Speaker 1: in that way. And you talk about these analogs you
Speaker 1: look at from the Dolphins defense compared to Fangio's past, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at those lists, I'm thinking that there's gotta
Speaker 1: be a reason that Vick was like, yeah, Siam, you
Speaker 1: up in Miami because I have these pieces I can
Speaker 1: go to work with right away. And then also you're
Speaker 1: kind of talking about the putting the onus on the
Speaker 1: offense to be patient. Take what's there with this Miami
Speaker 1: offense and the quick strike ability of Tyreek Hill, Jalin
Speaker 1: Waddle into a tung of vloa. You get teams behind
Speaker 1: the on the scoreboard all of a sudden that becomes
Speaker 1: even more difficult to do. So it's music to our ears. Sean,
Speaker 1: we got a lot smarter today on the podcast. We
Speaker 1: really appreciate your time. You can find him on Twitter
Speaker 1: at syed Schemes. His work is everywhere read read optional, substack.
Speaker 1: He wrote for the Vikings sp Nation blog this past
Speaker 1: season covering ed Donitel's defense protege of Vic Fangio. Go
Speaker 1: read his work, follow him on social Sean, thank you
Speaker 1: again so much for your time. Is there anything else
Speaker 1: that you've worked on and or are working on right now?
Speaker 1: You can plug here on the podcast for us. Travis
Speaker 1: means so much. I really appreciate the kind words. It was.
Speaker 1: It was real fun to talk about. I'm kind of
Speaker 1: doing an analog to the Fangio side. I'm doing a
Speaker 1: Shanahan piece that I'm working on with the readoptional. I
Speaker 1: know that's gonna be really fun. You know, the Dolphins
Speaker 1: immediately jump up as just a top team. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: watch with an offense scheme that I really really love,
Speaker 1: a defensive scheme that I love just doing some freelance writing.
Speaker 1: Just cutting up that all twenty to follow the twitter.
Speaker 1: You know any Dolphins outlook looking for a writer. I'm
Speaker 1: excited to see you Dane on Fangio. It seems like
Speaker 1: a match made in heaven for me. Travis. Again, really
Speaker 1: appreciate you having me on. Well, we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: get you back on here, man, because it sounds like
Speaker 1: you have a lot of to work to do on
Speaker 1: these two coaches, and we're gonna be knocking on your
Speaker 1: door here to get some more takes from us that
Speaker 1: sound good. Absolutely, absolutely, thanks a lot, Sean, And there
Speaker 1: he goes. Like I said, we get smart on the podcast,
Speaker 1: and we have smart people on here, so really appreciate
Speaker 1: him jumping on with us, and quickly wanted to provide
Speaker 1: you guys a quick life update for Sean, who since
Speaker 1: we taped that podcast, has accepted a new job at
Speaker 1: Summer Sports, a quantitive analysis company aimed at creating precision
Speaker 1: and player acquisition and roster management in the National Football League,
Speaker 1: also the Summer Sports Show podcast. He is going to
Speaker 1: be the incoming director of communications for Summer Sports. Congratulations Sean,
Speaker 1: We'll deserve men and we'll have him back on the
Speaker 1: podcast plenty here in the future. That's gonna do it.
Speaker 1: For my time here on the Draftime podcast. We'll come
Speaker 1: back with the twenty twenty two review series picked up
Speaker 1: on the next show we do here. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: which one we're at, but we'll have that for you
Speaker 1: guys when the next podcast is out. Go ahead and
Speaker 1: check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities for Dolphins
Speaker 1: Today for any potential press conference is coming up, the
Speaker 1: introduction press conference. I'm sure you're all gonna want to
Speaker 1: hear that. Check out the podcast, subscribe, rate and review
Speaker 1: on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Follow
Speaker 1: me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Follow the team at
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast with Steth
Speaker 1: and Juice, and an international podcast here on the network
Speaker 1: as well, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1: Until next time finds up Caroline and Cameron. Daddy, He's
Speaker 1: coming home.