Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins. Now, let me check
Speaker 1: your pulse if you're not for those What is up? Dolphins?
Speaker 2: And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the
Speaker 2: Miami Dolphins podcast network covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going, everybody?
Speaker 2: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I am fired
Speaker 2: up for this one. We got about twenty five minutes
Speaker 2: with the great Lewis Riddick of ESPN. We're gonna run
Speaker 2: that in its entirety, and then we're gonna go ahead
Speaker 2: and get to the my cause, my Cleat's testimonials here
Speaker 2: from Bradley, chud River, Craycraft, Blake Ferguson. I might have
Speaker 2: a couple of more we'll find out when we get there.
Speaker 2: All of that and more from the Baptist Health Studios
Speaker 2: inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is the Drive Time Podcast.
Speaker 3: Maggie Jaffe s.
Speaker 2: ESPN Monday Night Football, Dolphins and Titans. Lewis Riddick on
Speaker 2: the call. Lewis Riddick right now on Drift Time. Please
Speaker 2: join me in giving our guest a warm welcome today
Speaker 2: from ESPN. You can hear him on the call from
Speaker 2: undernighted Football alongside Chris Fowler, dan Orlowski, and Laura Rutledge.
Speaker 1: Lewis Riddick, Lewis, thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, not a problem. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: I wanted to start here, Lewis.
Speaker 2: And You've been adamant that the Dolphins are more than
Speaker 2: just a flashy team, and I'm wondering what you've seen
Speaker 2: in terms of the progression of this Dolphins from physicality
Speaker 2: standpoint and the run game, and how you think that
Speaker 2: that can serve this team down the critical stretch into
Speaker 2: the playoffs.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think it was very noticeable last week against Washington,
Speaker 4: like kind of where they're moving to in terms of
Speaker 4: what they really want this identity of his football team
Speaker 4: to be. It'll always the NFL will always be about
Speaker 4: situational football. Third down, red zone, fourth quarter, two minute
Speaker 4: chunk plays. I mean, that's really the kind of situations
Speaker 4: that we all care about and we know ultimately can
Speaker 4: flip games in your favor against you. But I think
Speaker 4: also what are the things that really separates teams down
Speaker 4: the stretch in the month of late November and December
Speaker 4: and January is just how physical you can still play
Speaker 4: the game and how you can own the line of
Speaker 4: scrimmage in cold weather, adverse weather conditions, and just simply
Speaker 4: from a mental standpoint, you see where like a team
Speaker 4: like San Francisco, once they get inside your head from
Speaker 4: a competitive standpoint in terms of like you don't know
Speaker 4: whether or not you can handle the kind of physical
Speaker 4: whooping they're putting on you, it really lets makes everything
Speaker 4: else easier. And I think Miami is starting to do that.
Speaker 4: I think Miami, you're starting to see the tempo, the pace,
Speaker 4: the physicalness with which they play is starting to show up,
Speaker 4: and it shot up last week. I thought on the offense,
Speaker 4: a line in particular, and I think, if they can
Speaker 4: have their best five healthy, if they can have Tront healthy,
Speaker 4: if they can have Liam healthy, and Connor's healthy, and
Speaker 4: Robert Hunts, you know he's back in Austin stays, that
Speaker 4: group of five right there can put a hurting on
Speaker 4: you now with the run game. And I thought Austin
Speaker 4: Jackson stood out in particular to me because look, I
Speaker 4: remember I really liken Austin when he was at USC
Speaker 4: and I knew that he was very young. Then when
Speaker 4: he got drafted, you I think believe he's still only
Speaker 4: twenty years old, when he came out nineteen or twenty
Speaker 4: years old, and then hearing about all the crap that
Speaker 4: he went through and that Touur went through in terms
Speaker 4: of like maybe having doubt put into his head about
Speaker 4: whether or not he could really be the kind of
Speaker 4: pro that he's ultimately turned out to be, just makes
Speaker 4: me look at him now and look at his performance
Speaker 4: last week, and then see the contractor sensience they gave
Speaker 4: him with like almost this like weird sense of pride
Speaker 4: that these guys are starting around in the form individually
Speaker 4: and collectively right now in a way that the NFL
Speaker 4: don't want to see this now. And I'm saying opponents
Speaker 4: don't want to see this because we already know that
Speaker 4: they can go ahead and flip the game on its
Speaker 4: head in a moment's notice, whether passed the jailen or
Speaker 4: but if they can start owning the line of scrimmage
Speaker 4: like this, especially in the run game, with the way
Speaker 4: that Raheem runs and the way that Jeff runs, and
Speaker 4: even Devaughon, I mean, look he we saw it at
Speaker 4: A and M, and we've seen it already this year
Speaker 4: for smaller guys, you know, in stature, this dude has
Speaker 4: this ridiculous contact, bounce Julian Hill with the like with
Speaker 4: the way he's blocking at the point of attack, as
Speaker 4: a why, as a move why, or on the line,
Speaker 4: on the line of scrimmage. Miami. Miami is going to
Speaker 4: be a problem, man, if they can really keep this
Speaker 4: kind of developmental art going, which I don't see any
Speaker 4: reason why they don't. And I think Mike Michael handle
Speaker 4: it right. And I know I'm going on and on
Speaker 4: and on about this, but I've really thought about this
Speaker 4: and really looked at this, you know, getting ready for
Speaker 4: this game. If he can get these guys peeking at
Speaker 4: the right time, there is no reason for me to
Speaker 4: believe any differently than what I believe at the beginning
Speaker 4: of the season, which was they will win the East
Speaker 4: and that they will be a legit contender to represent
Speaker 4: the AFCs. I don't see any reason why that doesn't happen.
Speaker 2: Well, you never have to apologize for going along on
Speaker 2: that stuff with us here, because why I wanted to
Speaker 2: have you on was a little bit more nuanced breakdown
Speaker 2: of where this team is and where they're going. And
Speaker 2: you mentioned the offensive line the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 2: like you talked about in the Washington game, but the
Speaker 2: Jets game as well. They had drives in the fourth
Speaker 2: quarters of both those games where they almost exclusively ran
Speaker 2: the football and went down the field for touchdowns and
Speaker 2: asserted their will on the opposition.
Speaker 1: So we've we've enjoyed watching it down here.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Austin Jackson, but it goes beyond him, Lewis,
Speaker 2: because you know, Liam Eichenberg's having the best run of
Speaker 2: his career right now.
Speaker 1: Rob Hunt's a great right guard.
Speaker 2: Connor Williams does things that I'm not sure there's more
Speaker 2: than three or four centers in the league that can
Speaker 2: do what he does. You mentioned Toron Armstead, Kendall Lamb,
Speaker 2: Keon Smith, Lester Cotton. All these guys have come off
Speaker 2: the bench and performed. So I'm curious what you think
Speaker 2: is the secret, Sauce to pretty much, it doesn't matter
Speaker 2: what the offensive line combination looks like. You mentioned the
Speaker 2: starting five, which is great to have those guys, but
Speaker 2: they've been able to plug and play guys consistently down here.
Speaker 1: What's the reason for that, do you think?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I think it's a number of things. I mean, obviously,
Speaker 4: you start, we'll just start bought them up all right,
Speaker 4: these guys individually are wired the right way. They obviously
Speaker 4: want to improve and they want to buy into this
Speaker 4: system and improve. Number two. Obviously, I think outside the coordinators,
Speaker 4: when you're talking about a staff, offensive line coach is
Speaker 4: the most important individual coach on a coaching staff. And obviously,
Speaker 4: Butch Barry has done something and been able to connect
Speaker 4: with these guys in a way that transcends just teaching
Speaker 4: them plays, teaching them footwork, teaching them hand placement, half
Speaker 4: placement finished it. It goes beyond that. It becomes personal,
Speaker 4: It becomes about personal relationships. And clearly, if you take
Speaker 4: it a step further, clearly that's something that Mike McDaniel
Speaker 4: really really really does believe in and emphasizes. In this
Speaker 4: world of instant gratification fantasy football, you either suck or
Speaker 4: you're at all pro mentality that we have. We forget
Speaker 4: all this stuff in between, We forget about what incremental
Speaker 4: improvement really looks like in the value over relationships and
Speaker 4: connection and synergy and all this other and all the
Speaker 4: other stuff, and it's it's really kind of annoying, quite honestly,
Speaker 4: because I think it's kind of dumbed down. The evaluation
Speaker 4: that's going on in terms of football at all levels.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of people who think they know what
Speaker 4: they're talking about as far as this game is concerned,
Speaker 4: and they don't know. Quite honestly, it's part of my language.
Speaker 4: They don't know about what they're talking about. And this
Speaker 4: team is the perfect example of it. People are ready
Speaker 4: to throw Austin Jackson out, you know, on his rear end,
Speaker 4: and say, look, you can't play hell. There were obviously
Speaker 4: there were coaches down there in Miami who are ready
Speaker 4: to do that and people down here in Miami who
Speaker 4: are ready to do that. The TUA and the way
Speaker 4: these guys were jerked around, you know, and when you
Speaker 4: just oppose that to what is happening with them now,
Speaker 4: when you're asking why is this happening? I think it's
Speaker 4: the human element. It's the connection that's happening down there,
Speaker 4: on top of the fact that these guys are just
Speaker 4: very talented. Look, Robert Hunt was kicking people's behind in
Speaker 4: college show that missed nothing new, Okay, Connor Williams, you're
Speaker 4: right for for a guy who's as big as he is,
Speaker 4: you're talking about the dude who's six 's five, a
Speaker 4: guy who has tack who played tackle, now he's playing center.
Speaker 4: I mean, not too many guys can go from playing
Speaker 4: out on the left side, on the on the edge
Speaker 4: in college and now becoming a guy who you could
Speaker 4: consider an all pro caliber center at this point. And
Speaker 4: I've seen the same thing as you see and look
Speaker 4: and when you see a guy like Kean Smith come
Speaker 4: in for Tehran at left tackle and you're sitting there going, well,
Speaker 4: who the hell's that guy? And that guy's playing with
Speaker 4: the same kind of pace in Temple and trying to
Speaker 4: finish like just like you see with Austin And yeah,
Speaker 4: you have seen it with Robert Hunt. You have seen
Speaker 4: leam Meikenberger all of a sudden settled in at guard
Speaker 4: and you're going, Okay, this guy was a tackle, he's
Speaker 4: played center, he can play guard, he played left side, right. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that's the reason why that happens is one because these
Speaker 4: guys are talented, but two, they believe in what they're
Speaker 4: being told. And there's that there's that extra like a
Speaker 4: coach told me that once this fall already, you know,
Speaker 4: like football is about finding the inches, especially when you're
Speaker 4: talking about a league that has parody. That is that
Speaker 4: emphasizes parody. It's about finding those inches. Well, one of
Speaker 4: the ways that you find those inches is the human element,
Speaker 4: is the connection, is the relationships, and Mike really does
Speaker 4: believe that. See, some people don't really believe that. Some
Speaker 4: people just believe, well, you're a pro, you get paid money,
Speaker 4: so you should automatically just be at your very best
Speaker 4: every single week. I don't want to hear about your life.
Speaker 4: I don't want to hear about how you feel. I
Speaker 4: don't want to hear about whether you like your coach
Speaker 4: or not. You can pay millions of dollars, I'd put
Speaker 4: my arm off to do that. It's like, first of all,
Speaker 4: you're not talented enough to do that. Number two, don't
Speaker 4: even talk to me about that. See. That's the beauty
Speaker 4: of this football team that I know that's going to
Speaker 4: be a large part of besides documenting the game, breaking
Speaker 4: down the x's and o's, that I know I'm going
Speaker 4: to emphasize on Monday Night is that there's a little
Speaker 4: something special going on here. And that's why I sensed
Speaker 4: it last year in the NFC. I sense it with
Speaker 4: a team like Seattle, although Seattle's in the division. You know,
Speaker 4: with a behemoth in San Francisco. But see San Francisco
Speaker 4: has that. See that's why they not only are they good,
Speaker 4: they try to like teach you a lesson in physicality
Speaker 4: every single time they play. And Mike's bringing that a
Speaker 4: little bit of that over to Miami and man, oh man,
Speaker 4: it's kind of exciting.
Speaker 2: I mean for us, it's the most exciting thing. And
Speaker 2: did you touch on two things that I want to
Speaker 2: follow up? And I'll start here with with McDaniel. You
Speaker 2: talk about putting his arm around guys and just the
Speaker 2: impact of you know, carrying on them and loving on them.
Speaker 2: How they can you know, get better performances as a
Speaker 2: result of that better connection like you.
Speaker 1: Talk about there.
Speaker 2: But what I want to ask you about is in
Speaker 2: the exces and No's element here and the sequencing of
Speaker 2: building the pass game off the run and really vice versa,
Speaker 2: because he kind of does a good job of both
Speaker 2: of it. I think I'm curious to get your take
Speaker 2: on how one impacts the other. How does the Dolphins
Speaker 2: run game help the pass and the pass game help
Speaker 2: the run?
Speaker 4: Yeah, thinks back to the San Francisco game last year
Speaker 4: and how Demico defended this offense. You could see structurally
Speaker 4: what they were trying to do. They were they didn't
Speaker 4: believe at that point that McDaniel would commit to running
Speaker 4: the running the football, and they wanted to defend the
Speaker 4: field in old Bill Bill Belichick way, which makes total sense. Okay.
Speaker 4: They wanted to defend the field inside out, and they
Speaker 4: wanted to defend it top down and make you prove
Speaker 4: that you were willing to go the hard way and
Speaker 4: make you make you prove that one you could capture
Speaker 4: the line of scrimmage and then go the hard way.
Speaker 4: So if you saw Drake Greenlaw and these guys were
Speaker 4: we never line it up like like if you typically
Speaker 4: line up at about plus six from the ball. These
Speaker 4: guys were lining up at like plus seven plus eight,
Speaker 4: and they were really packing the field and saying, heay,
Speaker 4: go ahead and run it. Prove to us that you will,
Speaker 4: because we'll just try and come downhill and smack it in.
Speaker 4: Any way, Well, when you run the football and you
Speaker 4: go okay, so you're daring me to do that, then
Speaker 4: if you're if you're telling me like you think you're
Speaker 4: good enough to like, if we can get Raheem or
Speaker 4: Devon on to the second level. At about four or
Speaker 4: five yards you think you can actually tackle these guys
Speaker 4: in the open field. So now that they're able to
Speaker 4: do that, what happens now is, well, now these linebackers
Speaker 4: have to come back down. They have to start coming
Speaker 4: back down a little bit. Now, play action pass works, now,
Speaker 4: urpos work because these guys are frozen because they're going, hey, look,
Speaker 4: I don't want to try and tackle these guys at
Speaker 4: plus five plus six from the line of scrimmage when
Speaker 4: they got ahead of steam going on. So now what
Speaker 4: winds up happening is the second level just gets stretched
Speaker 4: and it gets opened up. And now all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: Now then when you when you match that with well,
Speaker 4: let's integrate some motion onto this. Let's integrate some of
Speaker 4: you know tours, you know, some of their fancy little
Speaker 4: ball handling that they do. Let's give them some false
Speaker 4: keys as far as pullers are concerned. Maybe how TUA
Speaker 4: reverses out of the pot all that. Then what happens
Speaker 4: is everything just starts building off of that, simply because
Speaker 4: of the fact that now you know that you cannot
Speaker 4: really take a I dare you to run the football
Speaker 4: type of approach. And when they start running it like
Speaker 4: they are. Now the whole field becomes available for them
Speaker 4: to attack. And that's what's scary. That's what I would
Speaker 4: be scared of as a defender with them, that if
Speaker 4: he's going to commit to doing it, and he's okay
Speaker 4: with doing it, because you know, look, some offensive coordinators
Speaker 4: want to show you just how just how good they
Speaker 4: are with drawing up fancy pass plays. And look, I
Speaker 4: understand i'd want to get the ball to Tyreek as
Speaker 4: much as possible. I'd want to throw it to jail
Speaker 4: On as much as possible too. But man, with the
Speaker 4: way these guys are coming off the rock, now, that's
Speaker 4: that's set up for coach McDaniel. Man, that just makes
Speaker 4: I believe the possibility possibility is infinite.
Speaker 2: It's a perfect segue to my next question about Tua
Speaker 2: here because you incorporate you mentioned Tyreek the vertical stretch, right,
Speaker 2: but all that run game on the outside zone incorporates
Speaker 2: the horizontal stretch that creates all that spacing like you're
Speaker 2: talking about there. And who better than tow a tongue
Speaker 2: by Low with the mechanics and the operation just getting
Speaker 2: the ball out quickly. I'm curious to dive into the
Speaker 2: why behind why he's able to do that, Like what
Speaker 2: is required for Tua from a preparation and skills standpoint
Speaker 2: to be able to play as fast and odd schedule
Speaker 2: and all these great anticipation rips.
Speaker 1: What puts him in position to be able to do that.
Speaker 4: Well, I think one is his belief in what coach
Speaker 4: McDaniel is telling him is going to be there if
Speaker 4: he just executes it in the way in which he
Speaker 4: implements it. Number One, I think there's total trust, so
Speaker 4: he's not second guessing how the play is going to
Speaker 4: ultimately wind up manipulating and affecting the defense. And then
Speaker 4: obviously there's his own instinctive reaction ability to react to
Speaker 4: you know, the unscouted looks or rather the unscouted reactions
Speaker 4: that he gets when they're happening happening in a moment's notice.
Speaker 4: So there's trust in the play and how it's drawn
Speaker 4: up and how it's put in, just trusting himself and
Speaker 4: his ability to then go ahead and make adjustments based
Speaker 4: off of again, like I said, the unscouted look or
Speaker 4: the unanticipated look, and then the fact that he's able
Speaker 4: to be on the same look. You heard Tyreek and
Speaker 4: him talking about the fact, you know the long pass
Speaker 4: that he had last week that to Or threw it
Speaker 4: where it was supposed to be thrown in Tyreek. Thought
Speaker 4: that Tom, you're thrown at the wrong spot. But then
Speaker 4: you looked at the tape and then he realized, hey,
Speaker 4: you know what, you actually put it in the place
Speaker 4: that you were supposed to. There's that that connection, right,
Speaker 4: So there's that trust also. And then like the last
Speaker 4: thing as to why he's able to play this quickly
Speaker 4: throw the football with this kind of anticipation, like you know,
Speaker 4: like I know, I've seen, like I have numerous examples
Speaker 4: where I was watching, like how they throw these what
Speaker 4: I call the bang age, the short posts, whatever you
Speaker 4: want to call them, and how too it will throw
Speaker 4: them when the receiver is still like about to hit
Speaker 4: the break point and come inside and look for it,
Speaker 4: and the ball is long gone and the window it
Speaker 4: doesn't even look like the window is there yet. You
Speaker 4: know who else can do that? You know who else
Speaker 4: is doing that? Rock Purty's doing that on the same
Speaker 4: routes to Brandon, not you, the same things. It's a
Speaker 4: function of the system because it you know, because they
Speaker 4: rep it and rep it and rep it and they
Speaker 4: get it against the looks that they want. And it's
Speaker 4: trust as far as the quarterback trusting the system. And
Speaker 4: then it's the individual talent. You know that these quarterbacks possess. Man,
Speaker 4: I mean, because not everybody could do that, not everybody
Speaker 4: would be able to put it right there. And I
Speaker 4: think for Tua, Tua's in his zone right now. Tua
Speaker 4: believes in himself. Right now, Tua believes that he can
Speaker 4: put the ball wherever he needs to put it. And
Speaker 4: then again going back to the run game, with the
Speaker 4: way that the run game is putting people in conflict,
Speaker 4: anything that involves any kind of play action look or
Speaker 4: any kind of ball handling where there's the possibility that
Speaker 4: he can potentially hand the ball off is causing people
Speaker 4: to freeze for just a second to where now a
Speaker 4: window goes from here to here, and it just And
Speaker 4: I can tell you as a defender, there's nothing worse
Speaker 4: to be in that position to know that every play,
Speaker 4: especially as a second level defender, as a linebacker or
Speaker 4: a down safety, that you're in conflict because you're scared
Speaker 4: to death because you don't want to be at a
Speaker 4: position against a run. But at the same time, you
Speaker 4: know that if I'm at a position against the pass
Speaker 4: and they hit one of these quick slants of under
Speaker 4: these banks so as they call him the Tyreek, he
Speaker 4: gets splitch and be out the gate. Next thing you know,
Speaker 4: he's hitting his head on the goal post and they're
Speaker 4: playing the fight song and it's just not a good
Speaker 4: it's not a good thing. So I think all those
Speaker 4: things are why you're seeing to a play. It's such
Speaker 4: a highly, highly uh efficient level.
Speaker 2: There was a play last week against Washington where they
Speaker 2: had split flow action, a jet sweep one way, a
Speaker 2: fake give inside rpo action off the other side. It's
Speaker 2: a lot for defensive defensive players to get ready for
Speaker 2: every single week. Let's go ahead and take a quick
Speaker 2: break right there. Come back on the other side with
Speaker 2: my guest today from ESPN, Lewis Riddick, on the Draft
Speaker 2: Time podcast brought to you by Auto Nation. My guest today,
Speaker 2: Lewis Ridck of ESPN, speaking of defense. Lewis, let's go
Speaker 2: ahead and flip the script there and talk about this
Speaker 2: Dolphins defense. It's in a really good zone right now,
Speaker 2: just like you mentioned there with two a tongue of
Speaker 2: biloa and nobody gave us more runway on the breakout
Speaker 2: season for Jalen Phillips than you did this offseason. And
Speaker 2: before we get to see you guys on Monday night,
Speaker 2: I just wanted to ask you, you know what you
Speaker 2: saw on his gay because I know Lewis you only
Speaker 2: take your emphatic takes to television when you're absolutely convicted
Speaker 2: in them. What was the cause for your conviction behind
Speaker 2: number fifteen down here in Miami.
Speaker 4: Well, it goes back to his tape when he was
Speaker 4: at when he was at Miami, when he was in college. Still,
Speaker 4: he is a he is a He's just a fantastic,
Speaker 4: fantastic athlete, number one, who plays with the kind of twitch,
Speaker 4: bend instinct power that you ideally would want in the
Speaker 4: thirty four outside linebacker or a four to three end,
Speaker 4: although you know, I don't know if you necessarily want
Speaker 4: to have him in six technique alignments all the time
Speaker 4: and getting banged on or five technique alignments getting banged
Speaker 4: on by tackles and tight ends and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: But if you keep him on an edge, he has
Speaker 4: just got absolutely stupid get off flex the competitive motor.
Speaker 4: He's got power in his hands. I mean, he can
Speaker 4: do it all he can drop, he can play in
Speaker 4: the two point. I mean, how many more things you
Speaker 4: want me to say? I mean I saw all those
Speaker 4: things when he was at Miami. The only thing that
Speaker 4: stopped Jalen from really reaching his potential, or has ever
Speaker 4: stopped him from really reaching his potential, was unfortunately injured.
Speaker 4: And that's why I have always been like I remember
Speaker 4: going back to his draft, his draft year. I was
Speaker 4: enamored with the dude and thought that he would wind
Speaker 4: up being the best past rush coming out of that draft,
Speaker 4: and thought that he would be a short fire mid
Speaker 4: first round pick, maybe even higher, and that if he
Speaker 4: hadn't had the injury history that he had, that he
Speaker 4: would have gone even higher. So to see him get
Speaker 4: hurt in that Jets game was just heartbreaking. To see
Speaker 4: the response of the people you know who are playing
Speaker 4: right now and players before him. I think I saw
Speaker 4: a clip or a photo of Danny Marino consoling him
Speaker 4: because Danny I was in the game that was in Cleveland.
Speaker 4: I was in the game, I believe when Danny tore
Speaker 4: his achilles, and you know when I was with the
Speaker 4: Browns and Miami was up there. So yeah, man, I'm
Speaker 4: I'm a I'm a huge Jalen Phillips fan, and just
Speaker 4: this is how hard he plays and how he runs
Speaker 4: to the football. And look Ben gag who plays the
Speaker 4: same way. They play like every plays their last Bradley's
Speaker 4: playing kind of like the same way. David Long plays
Speaker 4: the same way. These guys are just and Vic has
Speaker 4: him going, man, he has him going right now. So
Speaker 4: it's just it's cool. But I'm a big fan of
Speaker 4: his and I think we all got cheated by him
Speaker 4: getting hurt.
Speaker 1: In the exact same way.
Speaker 2: I know, it's it's such a bummer see him down.
Speaker 2: But he's in goodspiracy around the building here. He's in
Speaker 2: here getting his his you know, the surgery attack and
Speaker 2: the rehab already, all that fun stuff.
Speaker 1: So you talked about the front seven there.
Speaker 2: I want to go back to the back seven because
Speaker 2: we dropped an all pro cornerback into the lineup about
Speaker 2: week eight and the results have been fantastic. Since Gealen
Speaker 2: Ramsy returned to the lineup, no one has scored more
Speaker 2: than seventeen points offensively against this Dolphins team since his return.
Speaker 2: What is his presence, his implementation into the scheme, What
Speaker 2: does that do for the Dolphins defense.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, well, you've got a guy who's seen
Speaker 4: it all. You got a guy who has played in
Speaker 4: this style of system, in Vic's system, in a quarters
Speaker 4: based system, who understands how he's supposed to fit relative
Speaker 4: to how routes progress down the field in that quarter system.
Speaker 4: I mean, I grew up in the same basic type
Speaker 4: of system in Cleveland that Saban and Belichick had. He's
Speaker 4: got versatility to be able to go ahead and move
Speaker 4: into the star and understand, you know, all the different
Speaker 4: things that you need to do in there, as far
Speaker 4: as being a part of the run front, matching patterns,
Speaker 4: playing with physicality, being a good blitzer. So he's got
Speaker 4: a great database to help Cater out and you're seeing why.
Speaker 4: I mean, Cater's taking his game to another level too.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's as fun as hell to watch. And
Speaker 4: then you've got that dude who when it comes down
Speaker 4: to third and four, third and five and you're saying, okay,
Speaker 4: look you may be here. Let to say you're on
Speaker 4: the back side of three by one. You have a
Speaker 4: really good X out here that they know, you know,
Speaker 4: if we're gonna try and pressure them, they're gon we're
Speaker 4: gonna show single. Hi, They're probably coming over to you
Speaker 4: because you're gonna be one on one like yeah, okay,
Speaker 4: well I dare you. I'm not dude, Okay, I'm six
Speaker 4: to two hundred and eight hundred ten pounds and I
Speaker 4: will absolutely clamp you down. So and you know, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, Jalen's Jalen, Right, there's nobody who's more confident
Speaker 4: than him. So that just kind of rubs off on
Speaker 4: everybody else. And the last part, which is not the
Speaker 4: part that is not the part that's lost on me
Speaker 4: at all, Jalen will still sting you with the way
Speaker 4: he can hit. So I don't know, I mean that
Speaker 4: that's the kind of thing that when you combine him
Speaker 4: with Xavier, I mean you have combined him with Javon Holland,
Speaker 4: who's maybe this one of the most unsung but smoothest
Speaker 4: athletes in all football. Brandon Jones looking Brandon Jones be
Speaker 4: starting for a lot of football teams. Yeah, this dude
Speaker 4: has just got ridiculous middle of the field speed. I'm
Speaker 4: kind of shocked that he doesn't start. I mean, Nick
Speaker 4: need him. I mean there's I mean, you just got
Speaker 4: all these dudes, have all these you got all these
Speaker 4: interchangeable parts, all these guys who have different specialties that
Speaker 4: that Vic can work with, and Jalen kind of like,
Speaker 4: you know, he's kind of the dude who probably who
Speaker 4: obviously has the biggest resume and probably has the most
Speaker 4: respect league WHYE for what he has done throughout his career.
Speaker 4: And when you have a guy like that in the secondary,
Speaker 4: the way he's come back from injury, all that kind
Speaker 4: of thing, it just kind of makes everyone else kind
Speaker 4: of raise their level, all right. It just makes everybody
Speaker 4: else want to kind of match what he's done, what
Speaker 4: he's still trying to do. And you know, DB's are
Speaker 4: very very let's just say they're very prideful people who
Speaker 4: have a little bit of DV in on too, just
Speaker 4: like wide receivers do. And when you see a guy,
Speaker 4: you know who plays with that kind of flair and
Speaker 4: that kind of swag that Jalen plays with, you want
Speaker 4: a little bit of that. You want to play a
Speaker 4: little bit like that, and so you kind of wind up.
Speaker 4: I played with a guy who had the ultimate amount
Speaker 4: of swagger and Deon Sanders, and when you're around dudes
Speaker 4: like that, it rubs off on you. And that's what
Speaker 4: I think he's what's happening with him and that that's
Speaker 4: just again another reason why this football team, I think
Speaker 4: is going like this.
Speaker 2: McDaniel alludes to both he and Tyreek's impact all the
Speaker 2: time in terms of the standard they set for how
Speaker 2: how to do things Like there was a play in
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter of the Washington game where it was
Speaker 2: like a thirty point game and Washington ran a little
Speaker 2: toss peep off the edge and Ramsey popped the guy
Speaker 2: and put him on the ground on the sideline like
Speaker 2: that physicality. It never sleeps with him. I have one
Speaker 2: more question here for you lose for i'lllet you out
Speaker 2: of here. Let's go ahead and talk about the Titans
Speaker 2: a little bit ahead of this game. On Monday actually
Speaker 2: talked plenty about the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 2: Where do you think the Titans can most challenge the
Speaker 2: Dolphins on Monday night?
Speaker 4: Well, I think see the one thing that if anything
Speaker 4: worries me a little bit about Miami, it's it's the
Speaker 4: depth and the interieror on the defensive line. If a
Speaker 4: team wants to just kind of line up maybe in
Speaker 4: twelve and kind of just try and maul you with
Speaker 4: inside zone or something like that, right, So that's what
Speaker 4: that's really who Tennessee is. Tennessee is a twelve thirteen
Speaker 4: personnel team. That and even though Derek may not play
Speaker 4: in this game, and then you know, and they may,
Speaker 4: that'll take away a little bit of their physicality. That's
Speaker 4: where I think they will try to impose their will
Speaker 4: in this football game because that's where they look. They're
Speaker 4: best at. The offensive linemen are their interior three. They're
Speaker 4: young at offensive tackle. It's not really a position where
Speaker 4: they can really dominate. So they're gonna really try to
Speaker 4: fower them. I try and make this game between the hashes,
Speaker 4: between the tackles type of game and really test the
Speaker 4: depth of Miami's offensive, of Miami's defensive line. Christian is fantastic.
Speaker 4: How I put that clip on Twitter about him being
Speaker 4: triple team and still making an attack. Yeah, but that's
Speaker 4: why I want to attack. I want to see just
Speaker 4: you know, just Zach, how long can you hold up
Speaker 4: in here? Ray Kwan? How long? How much do you
Speaker 4: want it? These linebackers although, and look, Duke geez, there's
Speaker 4: just so many things about this team that I like.
Speaker 4: With Duke Riley and everybody, everybody loves Jerome Baker, and
Speaker 4: I like Jerome Baker. Did you see much of a
Speaker 4: drop off when Duke Riley came in the game? No,
Speaker 4: you didn't at all. So I like how they defend
Speaker 4: the middle of the field in the run game. But
Speaker 4: if I'm Tennessee, I'm doing what we do best, and
Speaker 4: that's playing the power run game. And then I'm going
Speaker 4: to get Will Levis and see if he can hit
Speaker 4: a big one off of play action, which is really
Speaker 4: his thing, and get him out on the edge because
Speaker 4: that's where Will's QBR kind of jumps way up. Get
Speaker 4: him out on the edge, maybe reading half the field
Speaker 4: where he becomes a little bit of a run pass threat.
Speaker 4: Although Will's not the best runner in the world, but
Speaker 4: he's got a cannon for an arm. That's what I'm doing.
Speaker 4: I'm running inside play action, get Will on the perimeter,
Speaker 4: because it's not really so much about well and it's
Speaker 4: a little bit about maybe what in Miami's weakness is.
Speaker 4: I would want to test the interior of the run defense,
Speaker 4: but I think for Tennessee, it's about trying to find
Speaker 4: their identity with this young new quarterback, and that's what
Speaker 4: he does best. So that's what I'm sticking.
Speaker 1: With really good stuff there. Lewis Ridick ESPN.
Speaker 2: You can hear him on the Monday Night Football call
Speaker 2: for Dolphins and Titans. Lewis, we really appreciate your time today,
Speaker 2: Thank you, sir, and away he goes.
Speaker 1: We're going to take one last break right there.
Speaker 2: Come back on the other side, and here from Bradley Chubb,
Speaker 2: River Craycraft and Blake Ferguson about their cause with the
Speaker 2: cleats are going to wear on Monday Night football. Might
Speaker 2: have to cut some onions on this one. We'll be
Speaker 2: back on the other side. Drive Time Podcast, your host
Speaker 2: Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. I had
Speaker 2: a chance to catch up with some of the guys
Speaker 2: in the locker room about the cleats they're going to
Speaker 2: be wearing on Monday Night football. And you can find
Speaker 2: the entirety of these cleats on Miami Dolphins dot com
Speaker 2: for what they look like, because I asked every single
Speaker 2: one of them. By the design of the shoe, which
Speaker 2: for an audio platform, not great, but still I think
Speaker 2: pretty cool. Let's go ahead and kick it off here
Speaker 2: with Bradley Chubb. All right, here a Dolphins linebacker Bradley Chub, Bradley,
Speaker 2: tell me a little about the cleats you're gonna be
Speaker 2: wearing on Monday.
Speaker 5: Monday, Yeah, man, I'm wearing some police that support my
Speaker 5: Chub Foundation. Me and my brother started it back in
Speaker 5: twenty seventeen, and our our mission statement is to use
Speaker 5: our platform to activate human potential and we do that
Speaker 5: through you know, mentorship programs, tutoring programs, athletic camps and
Speaker 5: stuff like that. So whatever way we can to let
Speaker 5: kids know that, you know, sport time the only route,
Speaker 5: there's a lot of other routes to go, and we're
Speaker 5: just trying to be the catalyst to them finding out
Speaker 5: something that they like and want to pursue.
Speaker 1: Do you have any events come up anytime soon with
Speaker 1: the foundation?
Speaker 5: Yeah, So we're actually doing a couple of things for Christmas,
Speaker 5: going to Children's Hospital for one of them, and then
Speaker 5: Boys and Girls Club for another one. And then the
Speaker 5: next recent thing is probably gonna be our our camps
Speaker 5: throughout the off season that we're gonna try to do
Speaker 5: one in March out here in Miami and then in
Speaker 5: the summer as well, so a lot of mentorship programs
Speaker 5: as well, but it's up in Atlanta and just doing
Speaker 5: different things throughout the community. Man, trying to be better
Speaker 5: the world around us.
Speaker 2: Just like you're lockering over here, right. What about the
Speaker 2: design of the shoes? What all went into that?
Speaker 5: So I got two pairs. So the first design was
Speaker 5: kind of like that space theme with the the you
Speaker 5: know what I'm saying. They got the galaxy and stuff
Speaker 5: like that, And it has both of my logos on it,
Speaker 5: like my personal one and the Chub found Chump Foundation
Speaker 5: logo on the other one. And I was gonna wear
Speaker 5: those for pregame, and then in the game, I had
Speaker 5: like an awkward color with the same type concept, not
Speaker 5: so much the space thing, but just showing off the
Speaker 5: foundation in our motto, appreciate it, sir, I appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Next, you guys might recall one of the first player
Speaker 2: podcast I did back in twenty twenty with Blake Ferguson
Speaker 2: about jd RF, his foundation that he is very much
Speaker 2: involved with. Let's go ahead and play my sound here
Speaker 2: from my chat with Blake Ferguson.
Speaker 1: In the Dolphins locker room.
Speaker 2: All right, Dolphins long snapper Blake Ferguson here four years
Speaker 2: in the making, coming back to the podcast here after
Speaker 2: talking about this with you in twenty twenty, just tell
Speaker 2: us about the clues you could be wearing on Monday
Speaker 2: Night football.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's I'm gonna be supporting Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation JDRF,
Speaker 3: and it's a foundation that I've been involved with since
Speaker 3: I was really since I was diagnosed back in twenty
Speaker 3: eleven with type one diabetes. Honestly, they were the first
Speaker 3: ones when I was in the hospital that reached out
Speaker 3: to me and just showed support. They really just said,
Speaker 3: if you know, if there's anything that you'd need, any
Speaker 3: kind of resources that you need, education wise, or anything
Speaker 3: like that, that they were there to help. And so
Speaker 3: since that time, I've wanted to sort of repay that
Speaker 3: to them.
Speaker 4: Just by you know, obviously there's.
Speaker 3: There's a financial aspect to it, but really by just
Speaker 3: giving them the platform that they deserve because of the
Speaker 3: you know, how how willing they were to help me
Speaker 3: in a time of need.
Speaker 2: I'll go back and post the podcast from twenty twenty
Speaker 2: because we've already covered all the stuff that got your
Speaker 2: kind of organs of that really cool stuff.
Speaker 1: But now I'm curious about the design.
Speaker 2: Of these cleats because these are fresh man They're looking nice.
Speaker 1: Something about how that came together.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know it's really cool. You know, for the
Speaker 3: for the past couple of years, I've I've wanted to
Speaker 3: put together really a design competition for kids with diabetes
Speaker 3: who look up to me to be able to you know,
Speaker 3: know that they're having an impact on, uh, the game
Speaker 3: of football and and you know, the the My Cause
Speaker 3: My Cleats Week. And so what we did was literally
Speaker 3: just put the template design of the of the you know,
Speaker 3: cleat style out on the internet on social media and said, hey,
Speaker 3: here is the template, do whatever you want with it.
Speaker 3: And then I had them send me a photo of themselves, uh,
Speaker 3: and then all so in the email explaining sort of
Speaker 3: how they're not letting type one diabetes hold them back
Speaker 3: from whatever it is they want to grow up and do.
Speaker 3: And you know, I got a ton of I was
Speaker 3: very fortunate. I got a ton of responses with all
Speaker 3: kinds of cleat designs and you know, honestly, I wish
Speaker 3: I could wear every single one of them.
Speaker 1: It was so hard to pick.
Speaker 3: But these were done by a girl named Quinn in Iowa,
Speaker 3: of all places. You know, Gink was Gink was excited
Speaker 3: to get the get the Iowa shout out, yeah, and
Speaker 3: so you know, she she put a couple of things
Speaker 3: on there. You know, there's a lot of a lot
Speaker 3: of things that are essential to you know, living a
Speaker 3: healthy lifestyle with type one diabetes, and so she put
Speaker 3: on there this she she said, it was a picture
Speaker 3: of me and her playing football out in the yard.
Speaker 3: And then on the inside she put a juice box
Speaker 3: on there, which is for when you have low blood sugars. Uh,
Speaker 3: it's obviously very essential. And then the one hundred on
Speaker 3: the on the heel for obviously a healthy one hundred
Speaker 3: blood sugar. So, you know, I was very fortunate that
Speaker 3: I was able to get some some really cool designs.
Speaker 3: And this is something that I definitely foresee, you know,
Speaker 3: us doing down the road for years to come.
Speaker 1: You inspire a whole generation.
Speaker 4: Man. Keep that. I appreciate it, Thanks Trev.
Speaker 2: And then this one here was very difficult. I'm going
Speaker 2: to warn the listeners that it's a lot of talk
Speaker 2: about mental health and suicide and things of that nature.
Speaker 2: River Craycraft went to Washington State, as you guys know,
Speaker 2: so did I, and a few years ago, quarterback Ryan
Speaker 2: Helensky took his own life and was on the team
Speaker 2: with River Craycraft at the time. So River Craycraft's cause
Speaker 2: is Helenski's hope. And this conversation was difficult for both
Speaker 2: of us, but I think it's worth talking about me
Speaker 2: and River Craycraft talking about Helenski's hope here with Dolphins,
Speaker 2: Widrous Year and WSU Legend, River Craycraft. River, you got
Speaker 2: some cleats that I'm looking at right here in front
Speaker 2: of me for Monday night football. I want you to
Speaker 2: tell me about the my cause, my cleats and what
Speaker 2: you're supporting here.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm supporting Helenski's hope.
Speaker 1: I do it every year.
Speaker 6: Tyler Herlinsky was a friend and a teammate of mine
Speaker 6: at Washington State and something that's kind of, you know,
Speaker 6: close to my heart with their family, and I try
Speaker 6: to do what I can to put their name out
Speaker 6: there as much as possible and shine a bright light
Speaker 6: on Tyler, and I think all of us Koogs try
Speaker 6: to do that for him. So this is one way
Speaker 6: that we're able to get his name out there floating
Speaker 6: around and and you know, the whole goal behind Helensky's
Speaker 6: hope is to change the stigma around you know, mental
Speaker 6: health and and how people look at it, and I
Speaker 6: think having opportunities to showcase their foundation or organization is
Speaker 6: this is a great way to do it.
Speaker 2: How do you feel like this platform, this job, this profession,
Speaker 2: this team even has kind of helped that role of
Speaker 2: changing the stigma behind you know, mental health and just
Speaker 2: the overall in an environment where that's not something you
Speaker 2: typically would think about, but now in today's NFL seems
Speaker 2: a little morevalent.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean it's no secret football players are or are
Speaker 6: you know, we're, for lack of better terms, you know,
Speaker 6: alpha males that are very hard headed and don't like
Speaker 6: to talk about things that are make you vulnerable. And
Speaker 6: I think having Helensky's Hope is kind of a way
Speaker 6: to get out of that stigma maybe towards the NFL
Speaker 6: and and and be a little more vulnerable and open
Speaker 6: up about situations. And at the end of the day,
Speaker 6: we're all people and then we all deal with things,
Speaker 6: and not everybody knows what everyone's dealing with. So yeah,
Speaker 6: I think the platform that the NFL has given us
Speaker 6: with the My Cause, My Cleats is amazing and it's
Speaker 6: allowed me to express, you know, my interest in Helensky's Hope.
Speaker 6: Every single year. So and it's a it's a way,
Speaker 6: like I said earlier, to to keep Tyler's name afloat,
Speaker 6: and you know, at the very least it's important to me,
Speaker 6: So I'm glad I'm able to do it.
Speaker 2: What's something that comes to mind when you first think
Speaker 2: about Tyler, Uh, just as a person.
Speaker 6: Just he's just an all American person, you know, he's
Speaker 6: he's one of those guys that's you know, he always
Speaker 6: had a smile on his face. You know a lot
Speaker 6: of people when when people pass, they talk about people
Speaker 6: in this way. But uh, you know, I truly believe
Speaker 6: that Tyler was one of those guys who actually had
Speaker 6: a smile on his face at all times. And everybody
Speaker 6: knows one person in their life that's like that, and
Speaker 6: Tyler was was that for me. You know, he was
Speaker 6: that guy that always had a smile on his face
Speaker 6: no matter what was going on. And that really is
Speaker 6: the story behind what happened to him and how nobody
Speaker 6: really knows, but you know, what causes things.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's well, yeah, you mentioned kind of like
Speaker 2: you know, it's something sometimes you can't always see on
Speaker 2: the surface, right, What would your message be to someone
Speaker 2: who's either struggling with something, or someone that has a
Speaker 2: friend that maybe they think is struggling and they can
Speaker 2: kind of reach.
Speaker 6: Out to them and help them out, to speak to somebody.
Speaker 6: I mean, even if it's self talk. It's it's very
Speaker 6: hard to trust people and and talk to people and
Speaker 6: open up about things. And I'm lucky enough in my
Speaker 6: life where I I do have people, thankfully, but it
Speaker 6: took me a while to get there. And unfortunately, it
Speaker 6: takes things happening like what happened to Tyler to finally
Speaker 6: open yourself up and and have some trust in people
Speaker 6: besides yourselves, and whether that be a you know, a
Speaker 6: mentor a counselor therapist, you know, friend, whoever.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: For me, it's my dad, my wife, you know, that's
Speaker 6: you know, having the vulnerability to open up to people
Speaker 6: is very important in progress.
Speaker 1: Sometimes bigger than football.
Speaker 4: Man like this.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time.
Speaker 6: Yeah, of course, thanks man.
Speaker 2: Again, you can find the entirety of the My Cause
Speaker 2: My Cleats initiative up on Miami Dolphins dot com. Of course,
Speaker 2: keep it locked on social for all that as well.
Speaker 2: No injury report today to get to because we don't
Speaker 2: have game tasks until Saturday. We'll have that for you
Speaker 2: guys tomorrow on the old tweeter. In the meantime, that's
Speaker 2: going to be my time.
Speaker 1: You all.
Speaker 2: Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple,
Speaker 2: on Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts from. Go ahead
Speaker 2: and leave us a rating, lead us a review. You
Speaker 2: can follow me on social at winkled NFL and the
Speaker 2: team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast
Speaker 2: with Seth and Juice. The YouTube channel for the Jalen
Speaker 2: Ramsey breakdown we just posted either today or over the weekend,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure yet, but.
Speaker 1: Get to YouTube for that.
Speaker 2: Also, the media availabilities from all these assistant coaches and
Speaker 2: of course Mike McDaniel to to talking about love all
Speaker 2: of that, and of course Dolphins Today and last but
Speaker 2: not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up,
Speaker 2: Carolyn Cameron, Daddy