Speaker 1: To on the move, going deep speedways, Peace do hell.
Speaker 2: From the Baptist Health Studio. This inside the Baptist Health
Speaker 2: Training Complex. This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. He's got
Speaker 2: my ad hands in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: What is up Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
Speaker 1: it's preview day again Thursday in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Need to take a look at the Dolphins and Patriots
Speaker 1: from hard Rock Stadium.
Speaker 2: We're gonna go ahead and do that right about now.
Speaker 1: From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is.
Speaker 2: The Draft Time Podcast. Maybe daffeirs.
Speaker 1: Week number twelve in the NFL. Can you believe that
Speaker 1: we are already to week number twelve? Thanksgiving next week?
Speaker 1: It goes faster every single year. One o'clock kickoff from
Speaker 1: hard Rock Stadium here against the Patriots. Perfect South Florida
Speaker 1: weather seventy seven degrees, sunny, a little bit breezy, but
Speaker 1: like six miles an hour and three percent chance of rain.
Speaker 2: It's literally perfect.
Speaker 1: Now, if you're coming out to the game and you're
Speaker 1: not from this area, I guess it does dip down
Speaker 1: to sixty four degrees at night, so it can get chilly,
Speaker 1: So bring your hoodies. If that's cold enough for a
Speaker 1: hoodie for you, it is for me. Patriots Intro. We've
Speaker 1: met this team on this podcast, let's see, been here
Speaker 1: since twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: This is year five.
Speaker 1: This is the tenth time we've done this, but it's changed.
Speaker 1: But we also met them back in week five, but
Speaker 1: it's changed since then as well. So let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and make that brief. We saw them seven weeks ago.
Speaker 1: They made the quarterback switch, but we'll get into that
Speaker 1: as we go. And here's the TLDR on what you
Speaker 1: missed too long, didn't read Brady era ends they have
Speaker 1: immediate success in twenty twenty one off of the Brady
Speaker 1: retirement or the free agent exit and mac Jones has
Speaker 1: his best year as a pro and they win ten
Speaker 1: games before getting bamboozled by the Buffalo Bills in that
Speaker 1: wild card playoff game. Twenty twenty two sees a marginal
Speaker 1: falloff at eight to nine, and actually they just needed
Speaker 1: a Week eighteen win at Buffalo to keep us from
Speaker 1: the postseason that year with the riveting Scaler Thompson Jets game.
Speaker 1: But then twenty twenty three arrives and they have a
Speaker 1: major regression as they do some crazy stuff and bringing
Speaker 1: Matt Patricia to run the offense. Okay Jones reveals himself
Speaker 1: to be Mac Jones. The defense loses too many key
Speaker 1: parts and they bought him out at four and thirteen,
Speaker 1: which puts them in position to draft Drake May. This
Speaker 1: year started off similarly with an opening day win that
Speaker 1: was geyzy Fugazi, but followed by a six game losing streak.
Speaker 1: They've won two of their last four, and that coincide
Speaker 1: with the switch to Drake May. Weird Jake Brisket doesn't
Speaker 1: win a lot of games this league. Who could have
Speaker 1: known that? Not the head coach here in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: They held the Bears to three points in Chicago just
Speaker 1: two weeks ago and just played the Rams. Played the
Speaker 1: Rams down to the wire in Foxborough twenty eight twenty
Speaker 1: two in that game. But they're three and eight and
Speaker 1: the focus of the season now has to be well
Speaker 1: for Dolphins fans purposes. When you have a team in
Speaker 1: your division that is basement like the Jets and the Patriots.
Speaker 1: For the rest of the way, except for the games
Speaker 1: against us I kind of want them to win those
Speaker 1: games because Travis Hunter is not going to be there
Speaker 1: with the eighth pick. He might be there with the
Speaker 1: fourth pick, you know what I'm saying. So get a
Speaker 1: couple more wins here, Patriots. But it's all about finding
Speaker 1: out what Drake may is and what he's going to
Speaker 1: be and how to build around him.
Speaker 2: You know about Gerard Mayo.
Speaker 1: They have a new defensive cordator, Marcus Covington, new OC
Speaker 1: Alex Van Pelt. The offensive line has taken on more
Speaker 1: injuries than quite literally any position group in the National
Speaker 1: Football League. It's an offense in transition, as they brought
Speaker 1: in a couple of rookie wide receivers. Jalen Polk has
Speaker 1: worked so far, He's been okay. Some lapses in judgment
Speaker 1: and lapses in concentration have cost him a few times.
Speaker 1: And then Javon Baker hasn't really popped off just yet,
Speaker 1: a guy that I.
Speaker 2: Quite liked out of UCF.
Speaker 1: I think their top receivers are like Pop Douglas and
Speaker 1: Kendrick Bourne, so that's an issue, but I like those players.
Speaker 1: I like el Tuna High. It's just not you know,
Speaker 1: it's not they lost out, but Their best skill player
Speaker 1: is tight end hunter Henry. They dealt Matt Judon back
Speaker 1: in training camp. Christian Barmore has missed most of the
Speaker 1: year with a scary situation, including blood clots in his calf.
Speaker 1: He's back, although he did not practice on Wednesday. He
Speaker 1: did play it last Sunday. If he plays, it'll be
Speaker 1: at a reduced capacity to what you're used to with Barmore,
Speaker 1: and he is like their best player, so that's uh.
Speaker 1: I guess I would never root for him to miss
Speaker 1: time for that, so that's not a win, but I
Speaker 1: mean on the football field, it kind of is. Christian
Speaker 1: Gonzalez is like the next best player on the roster
Speaker 1: for me. Their twenty twenty three first round pick has
Speaker 1: been ballin all year long, and they still have a
Speaker 1: similar structure on defense. But years years of drafting just horribly.
Speaker 1: Kyle Krab sent me a graphic of Pro Bowlers selected
Speaker 1: by teams since twenty fourteen, and the Dolphins were tenth
Speaker 1: on the list, by the way, which is.
Speaker 2: Weird, right because you know you agreer.
Speaker 1: But the Patriots were dead last at three point three
Speaker 1: percent of the players they've drafted making in the All
Speaker 1: Star Game. However, the current regime already has a rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback who's playing good I wrote down good foodball football,
Speaker 1: a wide receiver in jale and Polk that I think
Speaker 1: looks like a hit, and then a seventh round tight
Speaker 1: end that I'm a big fan of in Jaheem Bell,
Speaker 1: who was on my Dolphins list this cycle as a
Speaker 1: John new Smith type of player.
Speaker 2: All right, that's the intro.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and talk about this offense, and I
Speaker 1: think you start with the foundational belief that the offense
Speaker 1: kind of begins with the running game. And you know
Speaker 1: what that means from this tree, right, because Van pelt
Speaker 1: Went worked for Kevin Stefanski and Zach Taylor the outside
Speaker 1: zone game, but not so fast there is Actually this
Speaker 1: is actually one of the more diverse attacks in the
Speaker 1: entire league, with its mix of zone and man concepts.
Speaker 1: The running game, which I also find fitting since this
Speaker 1: was a team for years that lined up and played
Speaker 1: power football, only to pivot to more zone when Patricia
Speaker 1: got there, when they didn't know how to do that,
Speaker 1: and they couldn't do that, and they basically scrapped a
Speaker 1: good power running game and went zone running game under Belichick,
Speaker 1: and then now they finally have joined us in the
Speaker 1: twenty first century of offense. But the splits this year
Speaker 1: it's one hundred and forty six gap runs and ninety
Speaker 1: five zone runs. And I tend to think it's because
Speaker 1: their personnel upfront is more suited for man blocking. And
Speaker 1: Cole Stranger was a guy they drafted to be a
Speaker 1: zone guy, but he's been pretty much hurt his entire career.
Speaker 2: They did activate him this week.
Speaker 1: We'll see it comes back and plays in the game
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and they've been happy. Excuse me to just
Speaker 1: take what's there from a numbers in box count standpoint,
Speaker 1: But where I think they gave, you know, Jacobi a
Speaker 1: lot of autonomy to the line of scrimmage, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure that May has the exact same but that's just
Speaker 1: from watching tape and the way they react to pre
Speaker 1: snap presentations. But it falls in the category of something
Speaker 1: you cannot possibly know for sure unless you're in those
Speaker 1: install meetings. But I don't think that May is making
Speaker 1: checks at land scrimmage. With the passing game, there's a
Speaker 1: lot more familiarity or familiar to Dolphins fans here a
Speaker 1: mix of maximum protection with five eligibles into the pattern,
Speaker 1: or rather two eligibles in the pattern, and also your reps.
Speaker 1: We have empty amount and go five into the pattern.
Speaker 1: Reduce number of true dropbacks with all the action in
Speaker 1: the running game, and how that marries to the play pass.
Speaker 1: I guess the cliffs notes would be think Shanahan style
Speaker 1: attack with a more power running element, kind of like
Speaker 1: the Rams. Right, we just saw that a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Now how to attack it? This is going to sound
Speaker 1: extremely simple, but it's the same thing as the Rams.
Speaker 1: Keep it behind the chains. If they want to reduce
Speaker 1: their true drop back situations, create true dropback situations, and
Speaker 1: you can do that by adding hats to the box
Speaker 1: count and early downs. I think the lack of a
Speaker 1: true vertical presence here allows you to be a lot
Speaker 1: more aggressive in how you defend it. But I also
Speaker 1: felt the same way last week, and I thought the
Speaker 1: Dolphins played by far their most vanilla game plan on defense.
Speaker 1: And I wouldn't commit to that the way I would
Speaker 1: have with Brissette because Briskett doesn't have do anything well.
Speaker 1: Drake may can get the ball down the field, he
Speaker 1: will need to develop a lot quite frankly, as he
Speaker 1: goes along in his footwork within the pocket and management
Speaker 1: of space in the pocket, because he's kind of kind
Speaker 1: of all over the place back there right now. But
Speaker 1: that's something that typically comes with time, and he's very green,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it should be a surprise that
Speaker 1: that is a work in progress for a guy that
Speaker 1: had two years of starts in college and now he's
Speaker 1: getting his feet wet in the NFL. But he also
Speaker 1: has far more escapability and he is a true threat
Speaker 1: with his legs. He can beat you with his legs,
Speaker 1: Like I think, there are plays on tape where he
Speaker 1: works himself out of the timing and progression with his footwork,
Speaker 1: but he can then rescue that with his balance and
Speaker 1: strengthen the pocket. And once he slips through the defensive line,
Speaker 1: those big boys aren't going to catch him from the backside.
Speaker 1: But there's some really, really weird reps on his tape.
Speaker 2: We'll get to that here in one second.
Speaker 1: I wanted to circle back to their vertical passing game
Speaker 1: because going into the Week five game, they had only
Speaker 1: attempted eight passes beyond twenty yards and had hit just
Speaker 1: one of those, and it was a twenty one yard play.
Speaker 1: It was my favorite stat of the entire week with
Speaker 1: how comically bad their vertical passing game was. Now May
Speaker 1: actually has fewer throws of twenty plus. Jacoby was at
Speaker 1: eleven point three percent and May is at nine point
Speaker 1: five percent, But he has completed five of those eighteen
Speaker 1: throws for a buck fifty five. So they have hit
Speaker 1: the long ball where Brissette literally never did. But they
Speaker 1: also have two picks and just a twenty five percent
Speaker 1: completion rate. So if we're turning it over, you know what,
Speaker 1: I guess that's better than ten percent of the time
Speaker 1: and we are completing it less than a quarter of
Speaker 1: the time. Like I would challenge you to try to
Speaker 1: make your money that way because those odds favor me,
Speaker 1: and from watching the film, I don't think that's a
Speaker 1: symptom of the quarterback position, but rather a collection of
Speaker 1: their protection and a true dearth of skill at the
Speaker 1: receiver position. I mean, that's what we used to be, dude. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, I loved Isaiah Ford, but when he was
Speaker 1: running forty routes a game like that was probably an issue.
Speaker 1: Devonte Parker was the same thing. Saands that one year
Speaker 1: he had in twenty nineteen, right or Preston Williams, whatever,
Speaker 1: just Albert Wilson. I remember when people thought that Lynn
Speaker 1: Bowden was like gonna be some crazy hit. That's kind
Speaker 1: of what the Patriots have right here. But I also think,
Speaker 1: you know, I go back. I keep going back to
Speaker 1: this Week three game against the Jets that I watched
Speaker 1: on tape. I know it was Brissette, but they just
Speaker 1: loaded up with a hat in every gap and probably
Speaker 1: even got a little bit gratuitous in how they fit
Speaker 1: the run. And by that I mean just flooding it
Speaker 1: with wave after wave after wave. But I also think
Speaker 1: the way the offense is going and they're inexperienced here,
Speaker 1: Like we saw it against the Raiders, one of our
Speaker 1: the most vanilla planning of the year defensively, and the
Speaker 1: Raiders just took the easy stuff and we tackled like
Speaker 1: crap on the perimeter and it gave him a chance
Speaker 1: to stay in the game. But I tend to think
Speaker 1: the way the Patriots can stay in this game is
Speaker 1: if we make mistakes and they strike a big play.
Speaker 1: So that's a you know, a call that I will
Speaker 1: leave to the pro to the expert and co Weaver
Speaker 1: he'll have the right decision. I don't think he'll replicate
Speaker 1: the Raiders game, but I think he'll He'll make the
Speaker 1: right choice because he's a very, very good coach. The
Speaker 1: Big Three versus the Patriots offense Number one flood Drake
Speaker 1: May's launch point put bodies at his feet. He is
Speaker 1: willing to play with anticipation, and he has the velocity
Speaker 1: to rip tight window throws. He is a member of
Speaker 1: the TNA club. You know, that's boots, hoots and boots.
Speaker 1: But I think you can trace the off target throws
Speaker 1: and sometimes out of rhythm nature of the offense to
Speaker 1: the feet not matching up with the rhythm of the progression.
Speaker 1: We talked about this with friggin Boile, friggin friggin friggin Huntly,
Speaker 1: friggin Skuyler, like they were never in rhythm with the
Speaker 1: the way the timing of the routes works, and it's
Speaker 1: all with their feet. And this dude's got horrible, horrible feet.
Speaker 1: He will naturally change his launch point when it's not necessary.
Speaker 1: And I think that we can play eyes on the
Speaker 1: quarterback and zone and maybe baits and bad throws out
Speaker 1: of him, but then also play some man coverage and
Speaker 1: dominate these lesser wide receivers because they are by far
Speaker 1: the worst crop in the entire National Football League. A
Speaker 1: good mix might give up some running lanes and your
Speaker 1: man coverage reps, but you have to have a little
Speaker 1: bit of it. The Dolphins are like a seventy two
Speaker 1: to like twenty what would that be, twenty eight percent
Speaker 1: zone or in favor of zone seventy two percent of
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 2: But I think that you.
Speaker 1: Can maybe go a little bit more man coverage here
Speaker 1: because these receivers, I just don't think and hurt you.
Speaker 1: But where you get weary of it is that Drake
Speaker 1: May's probably best ability rate now before he develops all
Speaker 1: the other stuff, it's probably his running ability and the
Speaker 1: combination of that and his play extension. So I think
Speaker 1: you can bait this guy into some bad throws. He
Speaker 1: had a couple of bad picks against the Rams. I
Speaker 1: think you can do that. It's a weird tape to watch.
Speaker 1: And when I think when he comes back in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, I think he'll have tightened it up, which
Speaker 1: I kind of worries me.
Speaker 2: Doesn't worry me.
Speaker 1: Check straight down from the record, Let's just say it
Speaker 1: was nice going for a long time, and the Jets
Speaker 1: are going to be here forever. It seems like of
Speaker 1: having two games in the division where their quarterback play
Speaker 1: was so bad you knew it was a win unless
Speaker 1: you match that with Teddy Bridgewater in weeks seventeen back
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: But we don't have that anymore. We have two in
Speaker 2: these games.
Speaker 1: Although I guess Huntley did beat him the the least
Speaker 1: fun win of the entire season. But I just think
Speaker 1: that he often winds up his throws too much. I
Speaker 1: think he drifts towards his target within the pocket and
Speaker 1: kind of telegraphs it that way. So if we can
Speaker 1: get constant surge with Seler and Campbell inside, which we
Speaker 1: always do, we can really mess up his mechanics where
Speaker 1: he's striding into the rush, the arm angled changes, maybe
Speaker 1: get some deflected balls or some some throws that come
Speaker 1: off weird. He's just incredibly sloppy with his mechanics at
Speaker 1: the top of his drop, and that's a very bad
Speaker 1: pairing for a bad offensive line. So if you want
Speaker 1: to look at why this offense struggles, his weaknesses do
Speaker 1: not jive well with one of the worst old lines
Speaker 1: in the NFL, and they also have one of the
Speaker 1: worst skill groups in the NFL.
Speaker 2: It's a bad combination.
Speaker 1: But please don't mistake that as he's not capable, because
Speaker 1: this is not gonna be Zach Wilson. This is not
Speaker 1: gonna be Ian Book from twenty twenty one. This is
Speaker 1: not gonna be when you got to face Mike Glennon
Speaker 1: from those years. This is a better player than those
Speaker 1: guys like by a lot. He's just a very green
Speaker 1: because it sometimes turns him into a runner when he
Speaker 1: breaks that contain, and he's really dangerous from there as
Speaker 1: a thrower on the move again, freaky physical skills, boots
Speaker 1: and toots baby, and he can overcome some of those
Speaker 1: rookie growing pains stuff with his ability to just playmake.
Speaker 1: He's not like to a playmaking right now, but he's
Speaker 1: a big playmaker, huge arm, and he absolutely believes in it.
Speaker 1: And like again on his tape, there's some late reads,
Speaker 1: but they aren't always negative plays for the offense. Sometimes
Speaker 1: his big arm allows him to be late and still
Speaker 1: jam some of those tight window throws. And again I
Speaker 1: came away from his tape saying, I think this is
Speaker 1: another problem we're gonna have to contend with.
Speaker 2: The division for a long time. We might have only had.
Speaker 1: A four year reprieve from Breedy with regards to high
Speaker 1: level quarterback play. Now they're gonna have to like remake
Speaker 1: the entire program around him, which could take years.
Speaker 2: Could take years to build Rome as a were.
Speaker 1: But he plays sometimes with some capital anticipation, and I'm
Speaker 1: excited to watch how we attack him and get after
Speaker 1: this guy number two. Actually, let's go ahead and take
Speaker 1: our first break right there, come back and do number
Speaker 1: two against Patriots offense. That's next Draft Time podcast, your
Speaker 1: host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. The
Speaker 1: number one big thing aginst the Patriots offense was to
Speaker 1: muddy the pocket for Drake May and number two. Well,
Speaker 1: how do you do that? You attack the interior of
Speaker 1: their offensive line relentlessly, because here's the lineup. Verderian Lowe
Speaker 1: was a career practice squad guy before this year. Left
Speaker 1: Guard's Michael Jordan. He's bounced around the entire league so far.
Speaker 1: At this point, Ben Brown wasn't aware of who he was.
Speaker 1: He was a UDFA for the Patriots. Last year, Demntrey
Speaker 1: Jacobs same situation UDFA didn't make a team, came to
Speaker 1: the Patriots, and then Mike Onwenu was one of the
Speaker 1: top like one hundred freegents available this offseason from the Patriots.
Speaker 1: They brought him back. But he's a guard and he's
Speaker 1: playing right tackle, so it ain't good. We've established we
Speaker 1: want bodies in the lap of Drake May when he's
Speaker 1: the top of his drop.
Speaker 2: How do we get that?
Speaker 1: I think at their healthiest, this Patriots offensive line wasn't good,
Speaker 1: and when it's this banged up, it is rough. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and look at some of these numbers. So
Speaker 1: at tackle, you want your pass block efficiency score.
Speaker 2: To be like ninety seven or better.
Speaker 1: A little bit less than that's sustainable. But if you
Speaker 1: get like into the ninety fours ninety five's, it's it's
Speaker 1: a problem. At guard, it's got to be ninety eight
Speaker 1: or better, and center probably needs to be ninety eight
Speaker 1: point five or better because it's just really hard to
Speaker 1: get pressure on the interior.
Speaker 2: So you're ready for these numbers.
Speaker 1: Low has kicked over to the left side after having
Speaker 1: some up and downs off the right side. His PBE
Speaker 1: is ninety five point six, below the threshold I just
Speaker 1: talked about. Jordan has probably been the best player but
Speaker 1: he's ninety seven to one, and he when I watch
Speaker 1: his tape, heavy footed, and I can just see stealers push,
Speaker 1: pull and pull swipe, leaving the left guard Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: number seventy five in the absolute dust or the arm
Speaker 1: over with Campbell, Like, let's be real, that's true of
Speaker 1: all these matchups.
Speaker 2: We should boil these dudes up front.
Speaker 1: I'm not familiar with Ben Brown's tape outside of watching
Speaker 1: these last six games. I didn't know who he was
Speaker 1: before that. His first start was the week after the
Speaker 1: Miami game. But he's their third different starting center of
Speaker 1: this year with a rookie quarterback, so getting their protection
Speaker 1: calls against a Anthony Weaver pass rush like we saw
Speaker 1: Jackson powers Johnson get his butt kicked by freaking Benito
Speaker 1: Jones on Sunday, and I think that that's going to
Speaker 1: be the similar situation here now Benito particularly, but the
Speaker 1: rookie center or the second year center of the rookie quarterback,
Speaker 1: I think that's going to be a problem. I do
Speaker 1: think that the advantage he has is probably lots of
Speaker 1: reps with May back in August, but his PBE is
Speaker 1: ninety six point eight.
Speaker 2: That's below our guard threshold. He's a center.
Speaker 1: Demantrey Jacobs didn't play a game last year as UDFA
Speaker 1: and Denver. He came up from the Pea squad for
Speaker 1: the game against US and has stuck on the left side,
Speaker 1: or was on the left side back then he kicks
Speaker 1: over to the right side. PFF has him with the
Speaker 1: most pressures allowed at thirty one and a PBE of
Speaker 1: ninety four point two.
Speaker 2: It's not good, guys.
Speaker 1: And then you you heard Taylor yesterday say that, and
Speaker 1: wh who's having a bit of a down year. And
Speaker 1: I would go to back strongly for him as a guard,
Speaker 1: but again, injuries have forced him out to tackle. I
Speaker 1: do think he's their best player up front, but he's
Speaker 1: he's got a pretty good size advantage on Chop off
Speaker 1: the edge, So Chop needs to be able to keep
Speaker 1: his chest clean and keep that outside arm clean to
Speaker 1: set the edge in the running game. But by the
Speaker 1: same token, your boy is struggling today, by the same token,
Speaker 1: he has struggled with speed rushers. Ninety seven is his PBE.
Speaker 1: But I think that Chop speed can present a real
Speaker 1: issue for Mike on one zero off the edge. So
Speaker 1: it's been a struggle and while I think Chop is
Speaker 1: starting to develop as Miami's ace pass rusher off the edge,
Speaker 1: and there's not a lot of juice after that. But
Speaker 1: I think the Dolphins have enough with him paired with
Speaker 1: the two interior guys, who of course are no strangers
Speaker 1: to playing end. I just can't wait till we get
Speaker 1: chubbed back. Man. Get him back by that Houston game,
Speaker 1: and let's get two really good edge rushers going with
Speaker 1: Steeler and Campbell.
Speaker 2: See what happens at that point.
Speaker 1: Now back to that Raider game, I thought we shelved
Speaker 1: some of our more creative stuff, and I think I
Speaker 1: would go back to the games the position changes, all
Speaker 1: that stuff that confuses a post quarterbacks. I think you
Speaker 1: can impact with sim pressures. But I also think it's
Speaker 1: a good op for Miami to just line up and
Speaker 1: go play and just bully a bad offensive line. The
Speaker 1: third big thing is to make Hunter Henry a focal
Speaker 1: point for how you attack their defense and challenge their
Speaker 1: perimeter players. If you want to go one on one
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. I'm totally cool with it, even with
Speaker 1: the absence of Kendall Fuller, because Mike McDaniel said he's
Speaker 1: probably not gonna play the game on Sunday. Watching tape
Speaker 1: from some teams that have played the Patriots with similar
Speaker 1: defense backgrounds as US Mike McDonald and Seattle, Denard Wilson
Speaker 1: and Tennessee both off that Baltimore Tree, I noticed a
Speaker 1: little more frequency of seven more men in the box,
Speaker 1: because well, this receiving core is just not probably gonna
Speaker 1: hurt you. And this is where I again struggle with
Speaker 1: how to approach it, because in those games against those teams,
Speaker 1: the Patriots run rate success against lighter boxes was forty
Speaker 1: six not great, but it's pretty good. But against heavy
Speaker 1: boxes it was twenty eight percent success rates. So if
Speaker 1: I can run that and take the risk of the
Speaker 1: vertical passing game beating me maybe once or twice, I
Speaker 1: feel like I can dictate the majority of their drives,
Speaker 1: and then if they try their deep shot and they
Speaker 1: miss it, the drive is completely over because now we're
Speaker 1: talking about like third and thirteen, and they kind of
Speaker 1: convert those with their current makeup on offense and how
Speaker 1: to do that. We've seen Javon Holland insert in the
Speaker 1: run fit and pass rush against a little bit more
Speaker 1: since his return to the lineup, and he came as
Speaker 1: that true rusher on that rep against the Rams for
Speaker 1: the sack, So he's kind of a key I look
Speaker 1: at in this regard. The Dolphins haven't played, or they
Speaker 1: have played rather plenty of split safety.
Speaker 2: They've inverted it, they've robbed it.
Speaker 1: I think weavers diversity and his calls has been the
Speaker 1: best aspect of this defense this year, maybe outside of
Speaker 1: how Seler and Campbell have played together.
Speaker 2: And I'm wondering if you.
Speaker 1: Maybe even go back to the twenty twenty one Ravens
Speaker 1: plan where you just take away the run and see
Speaker 1: if they want to challenge you deep and if they
Speaker 1: can't hit it, you dominate them for sixty minutes. But
Speaker 1: like that's the game plan for an elite quarterback where
Speaker 1: you kind of play high risk, high reward. I don't
Speaker 1: know that you take the high risk here because I
Speaker 1: don't know if you have to. It's like, I'm kind
Speaker 1: of conflicted on that. But may does have the ability
Speaker 1: to beat you deep. They just haven't done it a lot,
Speaker 1: but it's not impossible, though probably improbable.
Speaker 2: I'm a little bit confused for what to do.
Speaker 1: Pop Douglas is probably the best option for their vertical game,
Speaker 1: but maybe Jalen Polk, but I think Douglas's speed is
Speaker 1: more of a short area like punt return type of guy,
Speaker 1: you know, horizontal speed, And quite frankly, I think Ramsey
Speaker 1: is equipped to win whatever matchup he gets against anybody.
Speaker 1: Kendrick Bourne is back, he missed the Week five game,
Speaker 1: but I think, like, you know, a River Craycraft skill
Speaker 1: set with him for a play style like probably not
Speaker 1: going to burn Ramsey on that, right, And then I
Speaker 1: wonder what the plan could be for Henry, where I
Speaker 1: think he's their best option. He's usually the target that
Speaker 1: has the most comfort level with May for those anticipation rips.
Speaker 1: I think there's a certain level of trust there, and
Speaker 1: I'm inclined to say that Ramsey goes and shadows Henry.
Speaker 1: But you know, McDaniel said that he's pessimistic about four's return.
Speaker 2: So I don't know if I want a pigeonhole, I
Speaker 2: don't know, Jim. I probably wouldn't pigeonhole Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio did that a year ago and it didn't
Speaker 1: wasn't the best way to use him, And quite frankly,
Speaker 1: you know that's breaking my own rule. So a little
Speaker 1: bit of Ramsey on Henry a little bit of mixture elsewhere.
Speaker 1: I think in general, if you flood the middle and
Speaker 1: forced the ball to the perimeter and then we have
Speaker 1: to tackle a lot better than we did last week,
Speaker 1: I think this could be a good spot for Cater
Speaker 1: and then Storm and Cam to kind of bounce back
Speaker 1: after a rough game last week. And then for JB
Speaker 1: Jordan Brooks and Anthony Walker, who I thought were awesome
Speaker 1: in LA but had a rough game against Vegas. I
Speaker 1: think that all those guys in the middle can help
Speaker 1: funnel the Patriots game to the outside, and all those
Speaker 1: guys can tackle better and make for a better showing
Speaker 1: against the Patriots and you had against the Raiders. I
Speaker 1: didn't mention the running backs, but they've probably been the
Speaker 1: most consistent group of the entire offense. Steven sim was
Speaker 1: benched in the game against US after fumbling in each
Speaker 1: of his first four games. He hasn't fumbled or hadn't
Speaker 1: fumbled in the next five games, but he did lose
Speaker 1: one against the Rams last week. But his averages are
Speaker 1: three point six, three point seven to one point six
Speaker 1: and two point four. And then Gibson gets like five
Speaker 1: touches a game. They reduced him to a like third
Speaker 1: down back basically, so tackle Stevenson, bring your lunch pill,
Speaker 1: load up, and get your technique good to go.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 1: The Patriots defense, this is a lot of carryover from
Speaker 1: last time because it is the same defense without the
Speaker 1: quarterback change for them, like on offense, where it's the same.
Speaker 1: I found this quote from Gerrodmeo from twenty nineteen and
Speaker 1: he was asked about how they coach their linebackers, and
Speaker 1: it got me thinking about this offense because he says,
Speaker 1: I always tell them not to go, not to get
Speaker 1: downhill until they recognize who's blocking them. And I think
Speaker 1: this is a smart and very effective in theory if
Speaker 1: you've got established players that have seen a lot of football,
Speaker 1: and I think you can point to that exactly for
Speaker 1: how the Niners were able to attack the Patriots way
Speaker 1: back in that Week four game. In offense like ours,
Speaker 1: which to be perfectly frank, is a system that has
Speaker 1: given the Patriots defense some fits going back to the
Speaker 1: end of their golden era, like in twenty nineteen. The
Speaker 1: best player in that regard for the Patriots has been
Speaker 1: down for a while, Juwan Bentley, and he's not coming
Speaker 1: back in this game either. Julyn Tavai is sort of
Speaker 1: a conversion player who factors into the rush plan but
Speaker 1: also plays off the football. I kind of think about
Speaker 1: Dante hi Tower back in the day, but a poor
Speaker 1: man's version of that. And then Raykwan Millen has been
Speaker 1: replaced by Sion Takitaki, who is filling in for Bentley.
Speaker 1: So it's thin there and I think you can attack
Speaker 1: those guys like we did back in Week five and
Speaker 1: ran the ball down their throats. But it is still
Speaker 1: a lot of the same principles. A good mix of
Speaker 1: zone man coverage, half field highbridge utilizing safeties and various roles.
Speaker 1: Three deep safety coverage looks massive defensive linemen that two
Speaker 1: gap and allow them to play with light boxes, like
Speaker 1: if they had their way, they would have a defensive
Speaker 1: line full of Lawrence guys and Devon godshaws. How do
Speaker 1: you attack it with all the eye candy this offense
Speaker 1: can pose with the variations of blocks from fullbacks, tight
Speaker 1: ends and f's.
Speaker 2: And we'll see about ingole this week.
Speaker 1: If you're not right, dog, just get right for Thursday,
Speaker 1: because go back home to Wisconsin and play your best
Speaker 1: game of the year against the packers.
Speaker 2: That's when we need you the most.
Speaker 1: I think you could, you know, you could slow their
Speaker 1: processing down and be and then hopefully find more of
Speaker 1: the inbreaking, middle of the field passing game that we've
Speaker 1: seen open up more and more as the offense finds
Speaker 1: its rhythm after the short game and the second halves
Speaker 1: of football games, and defenses say, I'm kind of tired
Speaker 1: of watching Tua just complete every single ball against us
Speaker 1: for eight yards of pop and beat us that way.
Speaker 1: Let's get more aggressive. Oh damn it, there goes eighteen
Speaker 1: yards of Tyreek Hill behind us. I actually think the
Speaker 1: way the Dolphins are playing offensively right now is the
Speaker 1: best equipped they've been to attack of Patriots offense or
Speaker 1: defense rather in the entire McDaniel era. And I think
Speaker 1: you could extrapolate that twenty twenty three Week two game
Speaker 1: where I thought Tua executing the game plan beautifully against
Speaker 1: their almost exclusive three high look like he's doing that
Speaker 1: every week now.
Speaker 2: And it wasn't just the backs and tight ends.
Speaker 1: We found receivers on the perimeter in the running game
Speaker 1: in that game as well, and I imagine that's where
Speaker 1: the Patriots will want to funnel us like we threw
Speaker 1: freaking wheel routes to Braxon Burio successfully go get them
Speaker 1: to a I imagine we will see some three deep
Speaker 1: safety look like we saw last year, with plenty of
Speaker 1: shells and the invitation of the running game like the
Speaker 1: you know, the whole point behind you know, analytics is like,
Speaker 1: if you get beat with deep passes all game, you're
Speaker 1: not going to survive, but you can give up ground,
Speaker 1: you know, yards in the ground game and survive. And
Speaker 1: the Patriots were kind of one of the first adopters
Speaker 1: of that style under a Bill Belichick his soil, which
Speaker 1: is something you know, I think we could stand to
Speaker 1: see some more of compared to the last two weeks
Speaker 1: and get this run game going because I want to
Speaker 1: see the I want to see the run game we
Speaker 1: had against the Patriots and Colts with the passing game
Speaker 1: we saw against the Bills and the Raiders, like that
Speaker 1: would be dope. That's a team that wouldn't lose any
Speaker 1: games no matter how the defense plays. Quite frankly, let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and pivot this over to the Big three
Speaker 1: against the Patriots defense number one. Going back to the well,
Speaker 1: this offense has been so dang good at taking what
Speaker 1: the defense gives them, and it's so much more nuanced
Speaker 1: than what the discription probably tells you on the surface.
Speaker 1: You'll see me talk about this in a brand new
Speaker 1: Dolphins HQ tonight on the mail bag portion where I
Speaker 1: was asked about Wattle's decline in production, and I've talked
Speaker 1: about it on the show and posted on Blue Sky
Speaker 1: and YadA YadA yah, and I don't think it's anything
Speaker 1: Wattle is doing differently. And I showed the play where
Speaker 1: third and like eight on the opening drive last week,
Speaker 1: where we hit a chan for seventeen yards and Wattle's
Speaker 1: open on the dig, but not like wide open naked
Speaker 1: like Devon was. Devon was more naked than Mike Tyson
Speaker 1: in the locker room on that play. And I think
Speaker 1: about that defensive pass interference on Wattle, like that is
Speaker 1: the most important play of the game, and we schemed
Speaker 1: it up for Wattle to get a one on one
Speaker 1: rep like he's a go to guy, right, He's like that,
Speaker 1: and he won the route so definitively the defensive back
Speaker 1: had to bear hug him. Flag is out two plays there,
Speaker 1: John who closes the game out big bang bunk. But
Speaker 1: the way we've been playing is how the Patriots structure operates.
Speaker 1: It has for years, and we heard two on Wednesday
Speaker 1: say the structure isn't all that different from what they
Speaker 1: were under Bill Belichick, which of course tracks because Gerard
Speaker 1: Mayo has literally only played for Belichick and coached under
Speaker 1: him until he got the job for himself. And I
Speaker 1: think we saw that play out with the game script
Speaker 1: against the Rams last week, where the Rams had two
Speaker 1: punts after five and four play drives, then they went touchdown, touchdown,
Speaker 1: field goal, touchdown, touchdown. They were able to get the
Speaker 1: run game going, and then Stafford found success in the
Speaker 1: short areas and they got their explosive to Cooper Cup
Speaker 1: in the third quarter on a sixty nine nice yard
Speaker 1: touchdown reception. I think the Dolphins are going to are
Speaker 1: getting close to teams over correcting their game plans, and
Speaker 1: tomorrow I'll talk to Kyle Krabs about that and what
Speaker 1: that next step might look like, because it's not a
Speaker 1: winning formula to give us six or seven possessions a
Speaker 1: game and we're scoring on like five or six of them.
Speaker 1: It forces you to be perfect on offense and you
Speaker 1: cannot rely on that. So I suspect we'll get more
Speaker 1: of the nickel and dime approach early, and then like
Speaker 1: the last four weeks, some explosives open up as they
Speaker 1: get more aggressive defensively. So I think John neu is
Speaker 1: very much back in play, especially with how they want
Speaker 1: to rush their backers and get to the box cat
Speaker 1: with Tavai or Taki Taki coming up, So will the
Speaker 1: defensive backs down there as well. I think it's a
Speaker 1: game where a chan could get a heavy workload in
Speaker 1: the passing game in addition to his run game stuff
Speaker 1: because of that same reason, and then just because we
Speaker 1: saw him have his best game against them, Jalen Wright
Speaker 1: and those outside zone runs against the Patriots off a
Speaker 1: defensive line that has more stake than sizzle with gap control,
Speaker 1: stretch them wide, get them playing Laterally, those big guys
Speaker 1: do not want to run. Let's go ahead and take
Speaker 1: our last break right there. We'll come back and talk
Speaker 1: about the aggressiveness that can possibly lure them into our
Speaker 1: second key against the Patriots defense. That's next Draft Time podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: The first key for the Dolphins offense is just going
Speaker 1: back to the well. Baby, if there's water there, go
Speaker 1: collect that water and quench your thirst. Number two is
Speaker 1: to re establish your ground game, because you know alec
Speaker 1: Ingolds at a media availability this week, to his availability would
Speaker 1: probably be another game time decision did not go against
Speaker 1: the Raiders. And again, just me speaking here, I hope
Speaker 1: when you can back it's at full strength because we
Speaker 1: need this guy to see this offense become the flexible
Speaker 1: version of the in the balanced version of itself to
Speaker 1: make this storybook run that I believe we can and
Speaker 1: could see play out here. But the Patriots defense has
Speaker 1: always been willing to take it on the chin of
Speaker 1: the running game because the numbers say the passing game
Speaker 1: is the quickest way to lose a game, right, But
Speaker 1: this is a front that has traded its best pass rusher,
Speaker 1: taken on plenty of injuries, and just hasn't been super impactful.
Speaker 1: Stafford was hit four times and no sacks in the
Speaker 1: game last week. I think they got to that because
Speaker 1: of their early commitment to the running game. You know,
Speaker 1: the change of the game for the Patriots, especially if
Speaker 1: you can hold them out of the end zone on
Speaker 1: their first couple of drives and get them behind the scoreboard,
Speaker 1: and that leads into our third point, which I know
Speaker 1: point number two was brief there. Number three is to
Speaker 1: add the spice, Baby, the spice Belange South Park Fans
Speaker 1: Brady episode.
Speaker 2: Remember that one.
Speaker 1: The spice is explosive plays like we're cooking a meal
Speaker 1: here and we have the base ingredients. This is my
Speaker 1: like salt bay, my little sprinkle of the salt in there.
Speaker 1: The last second, the break the whole meal together. Stafford
Speaker 1: went for two to ninety five and four tugs and
Speaker 1: that was explosive plays. He did not throw his third
Speaker 1: pass of the game until Williams already had six carries,
Speaker 1: so they had a two to one run to pass
Speaker 1: ratio to kick this game off. And while that yielded
Speaker 1: nothing by way of points, one of those early throws
Speaker 1: was for thirty five yards, and then they went for
Speaker 1: twenty five, seven, ten, twelve, and then a five yard
Speaker 1: touchdown on that drive, then a twelve yard touchdown on
Speaker 1: the first play of the next drive, and would later
Speaker 1: get passes or touchdown passes rather of sixty nine, nice
Speaker 1: and nineteen yards. The Rams ability to run the football,
Speaker 1: to utilize play pass, and protect Stafford helped them exploit
Speaker 1: all of this. Now they do have Kyle dugger back.
Speaker 1: He was not part of the game against us last
Speaker 1: time around, and they just be wary of him because
Speaker 1: when you throw screens, he will jump that and pick
Speaker 1: it off and go to the direction. He will come
Speaker 1: up and tackle on the premier of the Running game.
Speaker 1: This guy is an absolute stud. They'll have Christian Gazalez
Speaker 1: and they're also working in some new parts like Dell Pettis,
Speaker 1: Jalen Hawkins, Marcus Jones is getting more run on the
Speaker 1: defensive backfield as well. The Rams playmakers out class these dudes,
Speaker 1: no problem. We should be able to do the exact
Speaker 1: same thing they do. Get Anthrony Jennings back after he
Speaker 1: missed the Week five game, but their pass rush just
Speaker 1: has no juice. Brother, So I think about the ability
Speaker 1: to get to the shot plays off your play action game.
Speaker 1: Some of those max protect and two man route combos
Speaker 1: that we've seen from TUA really excel with those. I
Speaker 1: think you can get Waddle and Reek involved that way too.
Speaker 1: Some early execution I think could open some things up
Speaker 1: down the road in the Running Game. Additional parts for
Speaker 1: the defense I mentioned Barmore, you'll hear Taylor or you
Speaker 1: did hear Taler. Rather talk about him on Wednesday, just
Speaker 1: not being full go yet. That's a lurking giant because
Speaker 1: he's a great player. Keon White commands a lot of attention,
Speaker 1: but Austin Jackson had a great game against him in
Speaker 1: week five. It's a big test for Kendall Lamb. I
Speaker 1: hope he can hold up against him, and then I'm
Speaker 1: just curious to see how we handle their size inside.
Speaker 1: You know, I mentioned bar Moore. Godshaw is the exact
Speaker 1: same player he was down here. Not flashy, but reliable,
Speaker 1: and their ends are in that two hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: three hundred pound range.
Speaker 2: We're built on speed and kind of finess a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think our power is underrated and this is a
Speaker 1: good opportunity to prove that against a big front. What's
Speaker 1: at stake in this game? Everything again for the third
Speaker 1: straight week, right, get this one, and it's time for
Speaker 1: a big game Thursday in Green Bay on a short week,
Speaker 1: and it's a narrative buster of epic proportions. You know,
Speaker 1: do not allow yourself to get caught up in that
Speaker 1: and look ahead. But I mean you could check off
Speaker 1: the cold weather narrative, the road narrative, the primetime game narrative,
Speaker 1: against a winning football team to get back to six
Speaker 1: and six. Let's not blow that opportunity that you can
Speaker 1: set up for yourself the win in this game against
Speaker 1: a bad football team. As for the standings implications, I'm
Speaker 1: going to take a look at this on the pod
Speaker 1: in a week or two. But I you know, I've
Speaker 1: been firing up the ESPN playoff machine again, and the
Speaker 1: way I have it going, I think it'll come down
Speaker 1: to us the Broncos and the Colts. And the crappy
Speaker 1: part about that is, like you know, from a neutral
Speaker 1: observer perspective for sure, is like the Dolphins are like
Speaker 1: a ten times better football team than either of those
Speaker 1: two teams, and you might have not have earned your
Speaker 1: spot in the playoff because of that. Because this is
Speaker 1: not the college FOOTBA playoff rankings. You don't get in
Speaker 1: there based on like how we think you can play
Speaker 1: in January. The games actually count in the regular season.
Speaker 1: But those teams are just mediocre to a tee, and
Speaker 1: we dug that hole. We have some cupcips, they have
Speaker 1: some cupkips coming up, so it'll be tough to get
Speaker 1: over the hump. But because they're mediocre, I do think
Speaker 1: both the Broncos and Colts will drop some of those games,
Speaker 1: and the Colts play the Lions this week, the Broncos
Speaker 1: the Raiders. We know Indy's not going to win that game,
Speaker 1: but the Broncos they could lose to Vegas.
Speaker 2: I think it could happen.
Speaker 1: And if you beat the Patriots and the Broncos lose
Speaker 1: to the Raiders, guess what If you win on Thursday,
Speaker 1: you would enter the weekend in the seventh seed, and
Speaker 1: then the Broncos play the Browns on Monday Night Football.
Speaker 1: So you can watch that one and root for your
Speaker 1: Dolphins to hang on to a playoff berth going into December.
Speaker 1: That's what is at play there. As long as we
Speaker 1: keep winning, will be just fine, and we'll have the
Speaker 1: tiebreaker over the Broncos. We do that, and we don't
Speaker 1: have it over the Colts, So when they match up
Speaker 1: in three weeks, depending on the records, you might root
Speaker 1: for Denver in that one range of outcomes.
Speaker 2: Here, I'm having a hard time landing on an answer here.
Speaker 1: The range I think is narrow, Dolphins win and the
Speaker 1: Dolphins blowout, But I can't decide where I want to go.
Speaker 1: I think the Rams offensive tape shows some warts and
Speaker 1: some openings that this red hot offense can exploit. And
Speaker 1: I do think a rookie quarterback in a road environment
Speaker 1: against a defense that can be so multiple could be
Speaker 1: a multi takeaway game. And when that happens, we're going
Speaker 1: to start smoking teams if we get that with ware
Speaker 1: the offense is going. So I could see a game
Speaker 1: where maybe we struggle a little bit in the red zone.
Speaker 1: It's another one of those eight possession games. They make
Speaker 1: a player two and it's close late, but we close
Speaker 1: it out like twenty three to twenty. But I could
Speaker 1: also see us just continuing to fire on all cylinders
Speaker 1: and get like a thirty three to thirteen blowout. So
Speaker 1: I'll do what I usually do and split the difference
Speaker 1: twenty eight to seventeen Dolphins with a late score to
Speaker 1: pull away in the fourth quarter like last week, he's
Speaker 1: to victory. Disrupt the Patriots passing game with your interior pressure.
Speaker 1: You have to get bodies on the floor.
Speaker 2: Let the borders at the float right in front of Drake.
Speaker 1: May Number two set up shot plays with the run
Speaker 1: game and short game success, and number three emphasize gang tackling.
Speaker 1: Don't have another bad tackling game. That's it for me.
Speaker 1: We didn't pick the Thursday game just yet. I'm taking
Speaker 1: these Steelers at home.
Speaker 2: Or are they on the road? Who cares?
Speaker 1: They're eight and two, the Browns are two and eight.
Speaker 1: I want the Browns to win. I hope they win,
Speaker 1: but I'm picking the Steelers to get to nine to
Speaker 1: two and then we'll have the rest of the picks
Speaker 1: for you guys tomorrow. As well as John Neus Smith
Speaker 1: and Kyle Krabs came out for that episode. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a great chat with both of them, lads. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, you all please be sure subscribe, rate review,
Speaker 1: follow me on social at Wingfold NFL. Follow the team
Speaker 1: at Miami Dolphins. Check out my guys, Seth and Juice
Speaker 1: on the fish Tank podcast. Check out the YouTube channel
Speaker 1: for media availabilities, game recaps and Dolphins HQ brand new
Speaker 1: episode tonight, and last button not least Miami Dolphins dot
Speaker 1: Com until next time. Fins up Caroline and Cameron, Daddy's
Speaker 1: coming Home.