Speaker 1: Two are fires touch stop waddle stocked into the end
Speaker 1: zone of Miami by tight broke window. They had to
Speaker 1: get that touchdown on that play. They get it. What
Speaker 1: is up? Dolphins? And welcome to the Drivetime Podcast, part
Speaker 1: of the Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody, It's a Tuesday. I
Speaker 1: am your host, Travis Wingfield, and as always I am
Speaker 1: here to bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football,
Speaker 1: and on today's show, will perform the autopsy on that
Speaker 1: game on Sunday, take a look at the All twenty
Speaker 1: two tape review of the stats. Will also scan the
Speaker 1: social from somewhere here in South Florida. This is the
Speaker 1: Drivetime Podcast Miami Dolphins. We opened us up with the
Speaker 1: all review. Let's just go ahead and dive right in
Speaker 1: and not dress this thing up. It wasn't pretty on
Speaker 1: the offensive side of the football. Some promising stuff on defense,
Speaker 1: and and even some silver linings. I suppose on the
Speaker 1: offensive side. We'll go ahead and open it up right away,
Speaker 1: starting off with two because from the very first play
Speaker 1: I thought we were going to be in great shape
Speaker 1: in this game. Because it was a familiar look with
Speaker 1: a different wrinkle or different progression within that play where
Speaker 1: you have the motion man come across the formation along
Speaker 1: with an inline tight end who starts on the same
Speaker 1: side the motion started with coming across the formation on
Speaker 1: a split zone action, which gives you two guys flowing
Speaker 1: to the same side of the field and on that
Speaker 1: same side of the field the wide side of the field,
Speaker 1: Jalen Waddle runs a takeoff and what that does is
Speaker 1: it creates flow from the middle portion of the field
Speaker 1: and it opens up a backside slant to davant a
Speaker 1: Parker to create a ton of space in the middle
Speaker 1: of the field to a comes off that field side
Speaker 1: read to the motion to the inline tight end coming
Speaker 1: across and split motion or split zone i should say,
Speaker 1: and Waddle going vertical on that side, takes a look
Speaker 1: over there, peeks back to the back side, and the
Speaker 1: football is between the one and the one on Devonte
Speaker 1: Parker's jersey for twenty yards to kick off the game.
Speaker 1: The very next play, intelligible man downfield gets called, but
Speaker 1: it's a really nice screen set up where Austin Jackson
Speaker 1: and Rob Hunt just come off their blocks as to
Speaker 1: is kind of holding the ball to help the rush
Speaker 1: get up feel a little bit more. They come off
Speaker 1: their blocks and released downfield, and they're about three yards downfield.
Speaker 1: The flags come out, and that sucks because it really
Speaker 1: didn't impact the play as Miles was able to create
Speaker 1: some yards or just pick up I guess what was
Speaker 1: there for him on that well designed, well executed screen
Speaker 1: otherwise from the ineligible men down field. And that takes
Speaker 1: you back from you know, the Dolphins converted on that
Speaker 1: first and fifteen after that, but it takes away a
Speaker 1: snap your third ha half of the game coming from
Speaker 1: plus territory down to the Titans like forty one yard line,
Speaker 1: so that that hurt. And I thought, this is kind
Speaker 1: of I thought. Rather The challenging portion of Towa's day
Speaker 1: began with the Wattle corner route on possession number two,
Speaker 1: where Wattle had really created some separation by pressing Kevin Byrd,
Speaker 1: who's in the post, you know, put the field goal post.
Speaker 1: Put your hand with the fild goal post istra outlined
Speaker 1: in the middle of the football field. That's where your
Speaker 1: post safety typically plays. And Wattle knew that was kind
Speaker 1: of the guy that was gonna go over the top
Speaker 1: of him. On this corner route, so he takes a
Speaker 1: release that has a steady stem right towards the safety
Speaker 1: and then once he gets to a point where he
Speaker 1: feels like Bayard has now had to kind of get
Speaker 1: back on his heels and that back pedal because of
Speaker 1: the speed that he threatens with, he snaps it off
Speaker 1: to the outside and he by the time he drives
Speaker 1: out of that back pedal for Byrd, it's too late
Speaker 1: and the underneath corner had squatted on the flat route
Speaker 1: by Isaiah Ford, So it creates this window and the
Speaker 1: ball is out on time, and it goes right off
Speaker 1: the very fingertips of Wattle, who jumped a little bit
Speaker 1: early and kind of had to second clutch throw his
Speaker 1: hands up after kind of you know how the guys
Speaker 1: are the crazy ops kinds to spend themselves in mid air.
Speaker 1: He kind of does that and he throws the hands
Speaker 1: up and it just goes off the fingertips. And I
Speaker 1: can't really pinpoint if it was a little bit too
Speaker 1: late on the row, if it was a little bit
Speaker 1: too high on the throw, or if Wattle expected it earlier.
Speaker 1: Either way, that's the ball we usually complete, and it's
Speaker 1: off by a fraction this time, and that's kind of
Speaker 1: where the off target thrower started to go. And I
Speaker 1: really wanted throughout the course of watching this tape if
Speaker 1: it was more so that the ball was not where
Speaker 1: it was supposed to be, or if TWA's decision or
Speaker 1: TWA's frame of mind about where the available passing window
Speaker 1: on that particular throw and what the receiver thinks of
Speaker 1: that same idea are different. Does that make sense because
Speaker 1: there's one play and it's on my notes here, but
Speaker 1: I'm jumping ahead where it's a dig route to DeVante
Speaker 1: Parker and the the off cornerback drives on the inside
Speaker 1: of this dig route and dig route straight vertical route
Speaker 1: down the field, break it off inside. It's it's an incut,
Speaker 1: a dig route, whatever you call it. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: different playbooks, have different verbiage for it. But on this play,
Speaker 1: the off cornerback drives inside and basically there's a huge
Speaker 1: window on Devanta's back shoulder and that's where two it
Speaker 1: throws the football and you see Davante reached back with
Speaker 1: one hand trying to grab that thing, and part of
Speaker 1: me says, well, it makes no sense throwback shoulder ball
Speaker 1: in that situation. But the other part of me says,
Speaker 1: if he throws it in front of him, it's not
Speaker 1: just a hospital ball, but possibly a pick. And so
Speaker 1: I can't know that, But that's what I'm trying to
Speaker 1: convey is these fine margins Dolphins missed in this game.
Speaker 1: That was a big part of this game. And on
Speaker 1: the very next play after this missed a waddle that
Speaker 1: kind of got those miss conversations going. It wasn't great.
Speaker 1: He's got Waddle on a drag route to put him
Speaker 1: in space one on one again against Kevin Byrd who's
Speaker 1: closing from depth, who kind of had his mind the
Speaker 1: number seventeen all game long. And two as choose that route,
Speaker 1: which I was okay with because it's a tough he
Speaker 1: has to break a tackle to get the first down
Speaker 1: and he rolls left, and it's great because mac Hollins
Speaker 1: has just turned his man around right at the sticks
Speaker 1: on this third and nine play, and two had such
Speaker 1: a free lane to throw the football, but he might
Speaker 1: have even been able to run for nine yards in
Speaker 1: the first down. But as he goes to throw it,
Speaker 1: Holland is at the numbers on the football on the
Speaker 1: fifty yard line, where it says five zero on the
Speaker 1: on the field, and the closest titan is about two
Speaker 1: steps inside of the hash mark, so he's got about
Speaker 1: seven eight yards of solid separation. But the ball checks
Speaker 1: up short. The mechanics looked good. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he aimed it too low, if he didn't get the
Speaker 1: right squeeze in the football. I'm not gonna sit here
Speaker 1: and speculate what it might have been because I don't
Speaker 1: know what it was, but what the result was that
Speaker 1: it was a short throw to a wide open receiver
Speaker 1: that you gotta hit those. That's just it's just all
Speaker 1: there is to it. And there's a third and ten
Speaker 1: where he runs out of bounds for one yard and
Speaker 1: I was curious what happened on this play, and there
Speaker 1: wasn't really wasn't much there, But there was one very
Speaker 1: tough throw that he could have opted. Four, I think
Speaker 1: where Mac wins a post route but as he does,
Speaker 1: color flashes, the inside pass rush flashes in front of
Speaker 1: to his face, and it would have been a great
Speaker 1: anticipatory throw a solid forty yards downfield. They actually could
Speaker 1: have been yachtsie for like a ninety yard touchdown. But
Speaker 1: if he hits that we're talking like a career highlight
Speaker 1: throw where it's remember that tanne Hill throw against the
Speaker 1: Chargers into my six team where he took the shot
Speaker 1: under the chin and the ball was right on the
Speaker 1: money in the back of the ends on the Kenny Stills.
Speaker 1: It would have been one of those types of throws perfect.
Speaker 1: He would have to see it early, let it fly early,
Speaker 1: and taking the big shot and put the ball right
Speaker 1: on the money. Instead, he decides to flee the pocket
Speaker 1: and he no one uncovers after that, and it goes
Speaker 1: for a one yard rush. I'd like to see the receiver,
Speaker 1: the receiving options on scrambled plays find more creativity to
Speaker 1: get off the plastering of the defensive backs. It seems
Speaker 1: like it rarely happens for those Dolphins offense to create
Speaker 1: those plays off script where the broken route gets re
Speaker 1: routed and we hit the big play because of it.
Speaker 1: I want to see more of that later. There's a
Speaker 1: failed exchange. I have no clue who's a blame on
Speaker 1: that on third and short. The Dolphins would convert on
Speaker 1: fourth and one or fourth and two and nice little
Speaker 1: dash past to Dermis Smith, but you can't wasiste downs
Speaker 1: there's a throw to Mike get Sick on a slant
Speaker 1: after the Titans made it seventeen to three. The footballs
Speaker 1: behind him and kind of high. And I like the
Speaker 1: high location because Mike plays above the rim more so
Speaker 1: than any defensive back he's gonna see. But there was
Speaker 1: an underneath defender that kind of I suppose could have
Speaker 1: influenced the location of the throw. But either way, it's
Speaker 1: Mike gets his hands on it behind the back of
Speaker 1: his helmet and the location of it allows the defensive
Speaker 1: back to punch it out. And you know, to have
Speaker 1: mentioned they wanted to push the ball vertically down the field,
Speaker 1: and they really tried it, and it was there. A
Speaker 1: lot of these throws were there. They just couldn't execute
Speaker 1: for one reason or another, which makes it even more
Speaker 1: frustrating because of how the defense really held serve as
Speaker 1: long as they could until that fourth quarter. You just
Speaker 1: had a couple more of those chunk gains. You're talking
Speaker 1: more points and at the very minimum, flipping the field
Speaker 1: position to significantly help your defense. Opportunity lost there for
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. Even the ensuing third down to a a third
Speaker 1: and nine pass where two of Hitskasiki on a nice
Speaker 1: timing throw to the outside, but Mike has to come
Speaker 1: back inside. Like these are the throws that we talked
Speaker 1: about earlier in the season where to his location was
Speaker 1: turning these guys upfield into good yards after the catch.
Speaker 1: He was just consistently off in this game, which is
Speaker 1: the opposite of what we're used to with his precision
Speaker 1: in the passing game. The next one was a nice
Speaker 1: throw on a broken play where he could out wide,
Speaker 1: And I talked about guys trying to create separation off
Speaker 1: the plaster coverage from broken place when when the when
Speaker 1: the play breaks down, the routes over, a defensive backer
Speaker 1: taught to plaster, just find a man and glue to
Speaker 1: him and stick with and the rest of the play,
Speaker 1: and we don't create any big plays off of those.
Speaker 1: But on this one, Mike doesn't really get off the plaster,
Speaker 1: but to of throws the ball away from the defensive
Speaker 1: backs leverage and Mike's able to go to the ground
Speaker 1: and make the catch. That was a nice throw, a
Speaker 1: nice catch on a contested play, and then the very
Speaker 1: next one they come back for another contested catch for
Speaker 1: back to back fourteen yard plays, And that's where I'm
Speaker 1: thinking all right he hit he hit Parker on a
Speaker 1: slant here he h no check that was later in
Speaker 1: the game. But hit these two throws to Mike a
Speaker 1: sicky to get them going. They're get a little bit
Speaker 1: of Temple going. And then the play where Monty Hooker
Speaker 1: just drops the past that goes over the top of
Speaker 1: Mike gets sicky. I broke it down the Sunday or
Speaker 1: the Monday podcast rather. That was my least favorite throw
Speaker 1: from two because he starts to reset his mechanics and
Speaker 1: the throwing motion to get his feet and everything aligned.
Speaker 1: And as he does that, the block that he's looking
Speaker 1: at or that he sees or senses stabilize this, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden he has a clean pockets. So
Speaker 1: he decides to throw from it. But he's already halfway
Speaker 1: into the stride and throws from that position and the
Speaker 1: ball sales on him into double coverage, which was not
Speaker 1: the best decision, I don't think, and and Hooker drops
Speaker 1: the football. So just these these kind of off the
Speaker 1: radar types of plays over the last couple of weeks
Speaker 1: we haven't grown accustomed to. I mentioned the location of
Speaker 1: the throws on some of these capped off routes. Again,
Speaker 1: I can't talk to it because I'm not sure the
Speaker 1: calls with the decision making that those guys are making
Speaker 1: on a play by play basis, But I did like
Speaker 1: the slant route Davanta Parker on second and ten when
Speaker 1: they're backed up after a tipped ball on first down,
Speaker 1: goes short to Isaiah Ford, where the ball is right
Speaker 1: on time into a very tight window in a big
Speaker 1: spot where if you don't get a first down there,
Speaker 1: you're basically punt into field goal range for the Titans,
Speaker 1: And that play kind of sparks momentum once again as
Speaker 1: they get you know, back to back strikes down the middle.
Speaker 1: Right after that, after a couple of runs to Mike
Speaker 1: Gatsicki Durham Smith, one's a fastball, one's a floater, a
Speaker 1: good look and drive, but then it stalls and the
Speaker 1: next drive to DeVante Parker has all kinds of room
Speaker 1: on a slant route and it's high another missed chance
Speaker 1: for one of these really pitch and catch ten to
Speaker 1: fifteen yard types of plays. It just really put the
Speaker 1: Dolphins behind the chains all game long and kept the
Speaker 1: offense from having much success. Later on a good conversion
Speaker 1: rip over the middle on a quick crossing route to
Speaker 1: Davante Parker right before the jailan Waddle bomb. And that's
Speaker 1: where I get so confused. Back to that hall Ands
Speaker 1: throw early and why I just think maybe it slipped
Speaker 1: out of to his hand or something. Because on this play,
Speaker 1: Waddle once again that same look from earlier attacks the
Speaker 1: post safety who's at the field side hash the wide
Speaker 1: side of the field hash Mark and Waddles lined up
Speaker 1: wide outside the number, so he has to condense inside
Speaker 1: and by the time he bends it back to the outside,
Speaker 1: two was on his third hitch up in the pocket.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what you saw back at Alabama
Speaker 1: with the vertical game, was those very clean pockets where
Speaker 1: he can step up and drive the football and the
Speaker 1: location of the ball was perfect. That's kind of what
Speaker 1: I think you want to work towards if you want
Speaker 1: to build a vertical game around this quarterback is trying
Speaker 1: to find a way to solidify that protection consistently, so five, six,
Speaker 1: seven times a game, and you can dial up these
Speaker 1: seven step drops where he can hitch up and and
Speaker 1: make his decisions and throw these accurate downfield balls, because
Speaker 1: that's where the explosive plays are gonna come. You get
Speaker 1: fantastic protection, a good route from Waddle and a big
Speaker 1: time throw. Let's get going. But then it's a reverse
Speaker 1: flee flicker. There's nothing down there, and he takes a
Speaker 1: hit blindling the ball comes flying out. So the trick plays.
Speaker 1: They didn't fool Titans at all. They had great discipline
Speaker 1: on all of them. And the fumble puts you in
Speaker 1: second and long, and that's a short route to Durham Smith.
Speaker 1: Then you get a miscommunication to DeVante Parker on third
Speaker 1: down where he runs a post, the ball goes to
Speaker 1: the corner. Then the fourth down throw I thought was
Speaker 1: really good, but there's a no call. Turner run downs
Speaker 1: and that was really to three. After that was seven
Speaker 1: and a half minutes to go. The next time you
Speaker 1: get the football back again. They had chances right up
Speaker 1: to the very end. Just didn't play well enough. And
Speaker 1: that's it, that's all there is to it. Jacoby took
Speaker 1: one snap. I thought the throw to Waddle was absolute
Speaker 1: aces like comically perfect perfect on that third and short
Speaker 1: throw down the field from Brissette to Waddle. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and take a quick break. We're gonna come back
Speaker 1: and talk about the rest of the offensive breakdown here
Speaker 1: on the Tuesday edition of the Drivetime podcast. We've already
Speaker 1: broken down the quarterback play and some of the offensive
Speaker 1: play here on the Tuesday edition All twenty two Autopsy
Speaker 1: review of the Dolphins and Titans Week seventeen game. We
Speaker 1: pick it back up here with the passing options, and
Speaker 1: there's not much to write about here with Waddle. I
Speaker 1: asked coach about this on Monday, and he talked about
Speaker 1: how they were able to give him different looks and
Speaker 1: lots of doubles and brackets. We missed him a couple
Speaker 1: of times, and that's what I wrote the notes, that
Speaker 1: he was double frequently. There was a couple of times
Speaker 1: where they had a trio of defenders bracketing him, just
Speaker 1: locking him down completely in terms of not giving him
Speaker 1: an opportunity to create space. And that one speed out
Speaker 1: on the field goal drive, there was no separation on
Speaker 1: that speed out route and he goes up with one hand,
Speaker 1: but he can't pull it down. You just don't usually
Speaker 1: see him blanketed like that, and that was pretty common
Speaker 1: throughout the course of this game for Jalen Waddle. I
Speaker 1: think it was somewhat indicative of one thing that has
Speaker 1: plagued the Dolphins offense without the course of this season
Speaker 1: is the secondary options in the passing game consistently not
Speaker 1: being able to take pressure off of that. And that's
Speaker 1: that's a big reason why you you you know, your
Speaker 1: drive success rate, your points per game, your yard all
Speaker 1: those numbers are down the twenties. I gotta have more
Speaker 1: options than than just one guy consistently to to find
Speaker 1: ways to beat doubles and beat single coverage even and
Speaker 1: create opportunities like that. And that's that wasn't the case outside.
Speaker 1: I mean, Christian Fulton and Jack Rabbit Jenkins did a
Speaker 1: good job with tight coverage on Davante on Isaiah Ford
Speaker 1: on mac Holland's all game long a. Monty Hooker was
Speaker 1: really good on Mike get Sicky. He was aggressive and
Speaker 1: didn't give him an opportunity to really open up and
Speaker 1: get that long stride going. And then the drops. This
Speaker 1: is my last note in the passing game here, really
Speaker 1: the drops after the turnover on downs on the tour
Speaker 1: to Parker in completion. That was disappointed to see. I thought,
Speaker 1: I mean, Jalen Waddle drops an open slant. It's twenty
Speaker 1: four or three at this point, so the game feels
Speaker 1: like it's in hand. And then after that, Duke drops
Speaker 1: a checkdown pass, Parker drops a slant, and then Mike
Speaker 1: get sick. He drops a stick route that gets kicked
Speaker 1: up into the air and picked off. Just not the
Speaker 1: response you want to see after a tough game. And know,
Speaker 1: I know, it's crappy conditions and it's like very bleak
Speaker 1: at that point, and you're you're on the brink of elimination,
Speaker 1: but you can you can still go out and catch
Speaker 1: the football. Rob Hunt on the offensive line. I think
Speaker 1: this is I don't know, the seventh of the last
Speaker 1: eight or so games where I've just loved Rob's game.
Speaker 1: You know, Duke pops a sixteen yarder and Rob on
Speaker 1: that play drops his inside inside shoulder right into a
Speaker 1: double team with Michael Dieter. He comes into it the
Speaker 1: bass square. He comes off with the bass square to
Speaker 1: climb to that second level in complete control, and he
Speaker 1: just blocks out Rashaan Evans just basically engulfs him on
Speaker 1: the play. He's been really, really good and on that
Speaker 1: long Duke Johnson run, he had great backside vision, tremendous
Speaker 1: burst and finished the run. Some of the stuff I
Speaker 1: thought we saw the course of the game with Duke,
Speaker 1: also what we saw in that Jets game when he
Speaker 1: went off. But back to Rob. Before we go back
Speaker 1: to Duke, there were some snaps where Jeffrey Simmons got him,
Speaker 1: but like obviously, but he more than held his own
Speaker 1: through the course of the game. So you look for
Speaker 1: silver linings around this tape. Big Rob had himself a
Speaker 1: battle with one of the best interior defensive line in
Speaker 1: the league, and I thought he did more than held
Speaker 1: his own. I thought he flat out one it. So
Speaker 1: that's good to see. And then so Duke Johnson had
Speaker 1: the big run, early fourteen yard run to start the
Speaker 1: drive after the Dolphins fell down ten zero. You get
Speaker 1: great push from both Liam Eichenberg and Austin Jackson who
Speaker 1: kind of opened up a lane inside and he's threw
Speaker 1: it in a flash. The very next run goes for
Speaker 1: eleven yards from up temple type of drive. You get
Speaker 1: two duo blocks, the two double teams, and he does
Speaker 1: a great job of pressing the front side place side
Speaker 1: double team of Rob Hunt and Jesse Davis. On Jeffrey
Speaker 1: Simmons wrote down Simmons and forgot his first name for
Speaker 1: a second, and it gives Mike a SICKI a better
Speaker 1: angle because of the way he pressed that run at
Speaker 1: the second level block to help him pick up eleven
Speaker 1: yards and he hits that thing so quick when he goes.
Speaker 1: Some of the sacks I thought were really coverage sacks
Speaker 1: in this game for the offensive line. The first one,
Speaker 1: you know, Waddle flashed into a brief window, but it
Speaker 1: was a solid thirty yards down the field in a
Speaker 1: pocket that was slowly caving in. Tough throw to make.
Speaker 1: I just don't think we're gonna pull the trigger on
Speaker 1: those most of the time. Requires a lot of zip
Speaker 1: and velocity to get that thing out there consistently against pressure,
Speaker 1: and you're putting it in harm's way. But good pass
Speaker 1: pro throughout the course of this game, I thought on
Speaker 1: some of those sacks. Even on the first one, Rob
Speaker 1: picks up a stunt and really anchors against Nico Autry,
Speaker 1: who loops around full speed, and Michael Dieter does the
Speaker 1: same thing on the other side of that stunt, and
Speaker 1: you know it was his guy who eventually got there.
Speaker 1: But I thought he played pretty well on that play,
Speaker 1: and there was plenty of time on that sack and
Speaker 1: a couple of the others just good coverage downfield. The
Speaker 1: one sack that wasn't coverage was immediate pressure off the left,
Speaker 1: two effective bull rushes on Austin Lee and put them
Speaker 1: both into his lap pretty quickly. But again, pass pro
Speaker 1: throughout the game I thought was very solid. They tried
Speaker 1: to really run a lot of their one on one
Speaker 1: rushes and everyone really showed out with the anchor and
Speaker 1: just holding up long enough to let everything downfield developed.
Speaker 1: I thought was a very strong showing from the Dolphin's
Speaker 1: offensive line. My overall thoughts on the offense where they
Speaker 1: just missed too many chunk gain opportunities and the early
Speaker 1: down passing game was not effective enough with some of
Speaker 1: those short passes for almost no gain, going back to
Speaker 1: the Smike dashed pass, some of the wasted downs because
Speaker 1: the trick players didn't work. Just things like that, some
Speaker 1: of the misfires as well. It creates situations that led
Speaker 1: to some of those coverage sacks, and just overall offensive
Speaker 1: really inaptitude for sixteen minutes in this game. Defensively, I
Speaker 1: didn't think it was that was the case. I thought
Speaker 1: the defense played pretty well until about ten minutes to
Speaker 1: play in this game and the rushing defense. You know,
Speaker 1: they picked up the numbers and stuff, but overall, the
Speaker 1: Dolphins defense competed for for about fifty minutes. I think
Speaker 1: not competed because they gave effort the whole game, but
Speaker 1: they played strong and and we're in it until about
Speaker 1: ten minutes left. So the first third down stop scarous
Speaker 1: about how they would defend a j. Brown. They doubled
Speaker 1: him from the inside with Byron Jones and trail technique
Speaker 1: and a twin receiver set, and then Brandon Jones wall
Speaker 1: his walls him off over the top, and you've got
Speaker 1: x one on one with Westbrook at Kane and he's
Speaker 1: in great shape at the catchpoint to force an end completion.
Speaker 1: So force them to go elsewhere and throw out your
Speaker 1: best cornerback against a receiver who doesn't have the resume
Speaker 1: of Xavier. Howard thought that was a good look. And
Speaker 1: then later they go incomplete to Brown where he's covered
Speaker 1: by Xavian in the slot, but they flipped his zone
Speaker 1: and Roberts gets the reroute on the possible cross right,
Speaker 1: possible over route, and because of that, the ball's off targets.
Speaker 1: I thought was a nice mix of different looks. On him.
Speaker 1: He did get free on the very next play on
Speaker 1: second and fifteen, the touchdown drive. It's man free, so
Speaker 1: single high safety and man coverage underneath, and he wins
Speaker 1: inside access on X who just cannot quite recover in time,
Speaker 1: and it goes for twenty yards. But he would catch
Speaker 1: that one and one ball later and that was it
Speaker 1: for him. So a good job taking out their top
Speaker 1: option there. But the running game got going and they
Speaker 1: built off of that. The first touchdown run in the game,
Speaker 1: a Landon Roberts got banged up and came out of
Speaker 1: the game and Duke Riley stepped in for him, and
Speaker 1: they were able to seal him off and kind of
Speaker 1: get him Cobb in the wash. And then I thought
Speaker 1: from their Holland kind of overran the play and had
Speaker 1: a bad angle to the football, and that was just
Speaker 1: kind of the case all game. I think they fit
Speaker 1: the run well enough to win this one. You'd get
Speaker 1: two guys in one gap and back takes the daylight
Speaker 1: and it's a chunk run into that third level. Too
Speaker 1: many of those in this game for the defense and
Speaker 1: some of the individuals performances here. I say that every
Speaker 1: week now, really all elements of Christian Wilkins game have
Speaker 1: improved this year. First off, he played nearly every damn
Speaker 1: snap in his sixteenth game of the season when an animal.
Speaker 1: On the first play, he works three gaps down the
Speaker 1: line for a run stuff. Later in the first half,
Speaker 1: he backdoors a front side run and wins with quickness
Speaker 1: to force the back to bubble right into someone else
Speaker 1: for a run stuff. On the very next series, he's
Speaker 1: in a different position, not the three tech he played previously,
Speaker 1: but in the two technique where he's head up over
Speaker 1: the right guard and he gets underneath his pads, stands
Speaker 1: him up like rock and sock 'em robust, shoves him
Speaker 1: to his right to get a line of sight to
Speaker 1: the backfield to see the quarterback of the possible split zone,
Speaker 1: possible give to the back coming his direction. He sees
Speaker 1: the play coming winding back that direction, throws the guard
Speaker 1: off the left side, and then greets the back in
Speaker 1: the hole one gap slashing, two gap body tossing. He's
Speaker 1: playing at such a high level, he's got a variety
Speaker 1: of routes to victory, and he showcases them each and
Speaker 1: every week, and as a result, he comes up with
Speaker 1: the nearest flash play late in this game. On the
Speaker 1: fumble the Titans got back, he stands up the left
Speaker 1: guard again from that two technique position, slides over, chucks him,
Speaker 1: and then drops his shoulder right on the football. He's
Speaker 1: He's had a Pro Bowl level year. Jerome Baker's depth
Speaker 1: on a dig route early in the game I thought
Speaker 1: was another good example of how Miami got different looks
Speaker 1: in terms of how to defend a j. Brown. It
Speaker 1: helped to interrupt a passing ling with Titans passing game
Speaker 1: early in this game was kind of off, and that
Speaker 1: was because of good depth for the Dolphins linebackers and
Speaker 1: good plan on the back end from the Dolphins secondary,
Speaker 1: and he put together some good rushes to Jerome Baker
Speaker 1: where he beat backs and tight ends, that's what he does.
Speaker 1: And that play where he ran with Westbrook a cane
Speaker 1: down the seam on the Titans second touchdown drive and
Speaker 1: gets forces in completion, I thought was a very nice
Speaker 1: display of his athletic ability. Much like his sack where
Speaker 1: he gets off a cut block and then the acceleration
Speaker 1: once he you know you slapped the It's like the
Speaker 1: bag slap drill where you keep the shuffle shuffle slapped
Speaker 1: the bag, he slapped the cut block down and then
Speaker 1: from there his feet are already moving at full speed
Speaker 1: to get the acceleration to the quarterback for a big
Speaker 1: time sack. A couple more there was the whole lot.
Speaker 1: Manuel Ogba received his fair share of chips up front.
Speaker 1: They really kind of got the tight end involved who
Speaker 1: would chip and release off of him, so his impact
Speaker 1: was minimal. The same deal for Jalen Philip didn't get
Speaker 1: a whole lot going into this game. Thought Zack Seeler
Speaker 1: had his fair share of plays where he was able
Speaker 1: to prevent the Titans line from getting press in his
Speaker 1: particular gap coming off those blocks, and the Titans again,
Speaker 1: they really opened up the rushing numbers late. But I
Speaker 1: thought the chunk gains early were just not fitted up
Speaker 1: well at the second level, and there were some instances
Speaker 1: to where even Seiler, even Wilkins and Davis and Butler
Speaker 1: and the guys up front couldn't quite maintain their gap.
Speaker 1: But for the most part, I thought the line was solid.
Speaker 1: It was some second level stuff for the Titans were
Speaker 1: able to spring some of those bigger runs. The play
Speaker 1: where Jalen Phillips chased down the front side run from
Speaker 1: the backside to Deante Foreman. What a display of his
Speaker 1: freakish athletic ability. Outstanding Javon Holland I've noted the big
Speaker 1: hit right before the first down Marker creates a chance
Speaker 1: on third and short to get a tackle for loss
Speaker 1: and your land and Roberts shoots the a gap and
Speaker 1: makes that play there with Christian Wilkins and cleaning that
Speaker 1: thing up. So another one of those play before the plays.
Speaker 1: And again credit to Seiler on the Javon hall And
Speaker 1: play where he got the tackle because his pursuit really
Speaker 1: forced the ball carrier to lose his balance on that
Speaker 1: run because see there was in hot pursuit on his backside.
Speaker 1: And then my last individual note here is that I
Speaker 1: continue to love the way that Brandon Jones just inserts
Speaker 1: himself in the running game. The first quarter, they have
Speaker 1: a j Brown short motions into a nasty split right
Speaker 1: into the formation, and he follows him in there and
Speaker 1: then wins across his face and running play and gets
Speaker 1: a hit on the back to stack him up for
Speaker 1: a short game. So those were some of the takeaways.
Speaker 1: They're obviously not good enough on the defense, but I
Speaker 1: thought they played a pretty good game it was more
Speaker 1: so the other side of the football that couldn't quite
Speaker 1: compliment their performance, but the overall takeaways. There was too
Speaker 1: much success for the Titans on early downs, and they
Speaker 1: overran some of those chunk games they had, and they
Speaker 1: were really able to build their play auction play action
Speaker 1: passing game off of that, which adds another layer of conflict.
Speaker 1: Which also opened up Tannehill's ability to run the football,
Speaker 1: which is another layer of conflict. And we saw some
Speaker 1: of those boots where it's a rece eiver, a backer
Speaker 1: and the quarterback and you have to commit to either
Speaker 1: going back in coverage or stopping the run, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna choose the other one. He just flips right behind
Speaker 1: your head. That happened a few times in this game.
Speaker 1: All of that made it so they were able to
Speaker 1: cash in some of those red zone opportunities and help
Speaker 1: put this game out of reach. They also really made
Speaker 1: it impossible to get pressure with any consistency. I thought
Speaker 1: they had a good game plan and they executed it well.
Speaker 1: So those are your film notes for the week's seventeen game.
Speaker 1: We're gonna come back and talk about the PFF numbers.
Speaker 1: Will also scan a note the social here next on
Speaker 1: the Drivetime Podcast, Travis Wingfield. Stay tuned. We're back here
Speaker 1: on the Tuesday edition of the Drivetime Podcast January the fourth,
Speaker 1: talking about the Dolphins and Titans recap the All twenty
Speaker 1: two review. Just go ahead and pick it up here
Speaker 1: with a short visit down the statistics here, starting off
Speaker 1: with the Pro Football focus on twenty plus yard throws two,
Speaker 1: it was one for three for forty five yards. On
Speaker 1: intermediate throws ten to nineteen yards. This has got to
Speaker 1: get better. Five for fifteen eighty four yards and a
Speaker 1: pick when he was kept clean. Again, the anomalies compared
Speaker 1: to his previous statistics and so many categories are are
Speaker 1: stark in this game. When he's kept clean fifteen for
Speaker 1: thirty for one sixty one, that's just five point four
Speaker 1: yards per pass. I mean it wasn't for the forty
Speaker 1: five yard They did nothing in the in the passing
Speaker 1: game when he was kept clean, even under pressure. Three
Speaker 1: for eight for forty four yards. That's five point five
Speaker 1: yards per pass and a pick when he was not blitzed.
Speaker 1: Sixteen for thirty four for one. That's just five point
Speaker 1: nine yards per pass and a pick. And they only
Speaker 1: blitzed him four times. He goes to for four. I
Speaker 1: should say on balls that he threw, he goes to
Speaker 1: for four with six yards just one point five yards
Speaker 1: per pass the Russian game, Duke Johnson had the only
Speaker 1: two four Smith tackles. In the running back room, he
Speaker 1: averaged four yards per carry after contact. The receivers Jalen
Speaker 1: Waddles one point one eight yards per route run led
Speaker 1: the team. It was the first time he didn't catch
Speaker 1: fifty of his targets in a game. Three of seven,
Speaker 1: Parker caught four for thirteen for one point one two
Speaker 1: yards per route run. The pressures allows pretty good. Leah
Speaker 1: Meickenberg had four, Austin Jackson had three, but listen to
Speaker 1: these numbers. Michael Dieter had one. It was a sack.
Speaker 1: That coverage seck we talked about. Rob Hunt had zero
Speaker 1: pressures and Jesse Davis had one and it was a
Speaker 1: sack as well. The only two times they had to
Speaker 1: getting hit was the two sacks. So good day and
Speaker 1: pass pro against a team that really didn't bring a
Speaker 1: whole lot of blitz is in this game. On the
Speaker 1: defensive side, the Dolphins only had four pressures in this game.
Speaker 1: Jerome Baker had two of them. Nick Needham and Christian
Speaker 1: Wilkins both had one apiece. Run stops. Jerone Baker had
Speaker 1: seven of those. Seiler and Wilkins had four apiece. Brandon
Speaker 1: Jones and Landon Roberts had three apiece. Javon Holland, Ray
Speaker 1: Kwon Davis, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Emmanuel Ogba had two
Speaker 1: run stops in this game, and then Phillips, Butler and
Speaker 1: row all had one apiece. Coverage snaps. Guys that played
Speaker 1: twenty snaps and coverage Javon Holland, Xaviing Howard and Byron Jones.
Speaker 1: Holland one for two completions on targets for one yard,
Speaker 1: Xaving Howard one for two for twenty five yards. Byron
Speaker 1: Jones was not targeted in this game. Jerome Baker played
Speaker 1: fourteen coverage snaps. They completed two for four for eighteen yards.
Speaker 1: Nick you Don't played eleven coverage snaps, one for one
Speaker 1: for seven yards, and of course that dp I we
Speaker 1: talked about. Brandon Jones played end of them too, for
Speaker 1: two for twenty yards. And Andrew Van Gigel had six
Speaker 1: cover snaps, three for three for thirty eight yards and
Speaker 1: a lot of that was off that action in the
Speaker 1: running game, which is so tough to deal with when
Speaker 1: you cannot consistently get those run stops to keep them
Speaker 1: in short yardage. Again, great playing by the Titans. We're
Speaker 1: gonna go ahead and punt on the next gen stats
Speaker 1: here everything went backwards, so who cares to talk about it?
Speaker 1: Snap counts quarterbacks too have played sixty one played one
Speaker 1: snap that was for two. Along the offensive line, Davis, Deeter, Hunt,
Speaker 1: and Eikenberg all played sixty two snaps, every one of them.
Speaker 1: Austin Jackson played fifty nine. Solomon Kiley philled in for
Speaker 1: three snaps. At running back, Duke Johnson leads the way
Speaker 1: with fifty eight percent of the workload. He played thirty
Speaker 1: six snaps, big big difference from last week. Miles Gasking
Speaker 1: fifteen snaps and Philip Lindsay played seven. In the game.
Speaker 1: At tight end, Mike Ski leads the way after Derham
Speaker 1: Smythe took that crown for a few weeks in a row.
Speaker 1: He plays forty seven snaps for seventy of the workload.
Speaker 1: Derham Smith played forty one, Adam Shaheen played nineteen Seethan
Speaker 1: Carter played one and this is what we talked about
Speaker 1: with the weapons and in the passing game. Davante Parker
Speaker 1: fifty eight snaps, nine d Waddle fifty seven snaps, and
Speaker 1: then after that just seventeen snaps from Isaiah Ford and
Speaker 1: twelve from mac Holland. So that's a lot of snaps
Speaker 1: there for guys uh in that deep not tied end
Speaker 1: receiver room. For the Miami Dolphins. Along the defensive line,
Speaker 1: Wilkins played fifty six snaps. That's eighty nine percent ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Zax Healer played fifty, ray Kwon Davis played thirty nine,
Speaker 1: Adam Butler played thirty. Off the edge, Van Ginkle les
Speaker 1: away with sixty one snaps that's nineties seven percent. Ogbad
Speaker 1: played forty one, Phillips played twenty three, and Brandon Scarlett
Speaker 1: welcome back, played two snaps. On defense, at linebacker, Jerome
Speaker 1: Baker played sixty three every snap, Landon Roberts played forty six,
Speaker 1: and then Duke Riley had nine when he came out.
Speaker 1: When Roberts came out, and then Munson played one snap
Speaker 1: when I think Baker went down for a snap as well.
Speaker 1: At cornerback, Byron and x both had sixty one snaps
Speaker 1: a piece. That's nine seven percent of the workload. Nick
Speaker 1: Needn played twenty four, Justin Coleman played one, Javon Holland
Speaker 1: played all sixty three snaps at safety, Brandon Jones played
Speaker 1: forty seven, and Eric Role played fifteen. So those are
Speaker 1: your numbers. I want to go ahead and scan the
Speaker 1: social here real quick, because I need about this on Monday.
Speaker 1: And it's one of those things where I knew it
Speaker 1: would be greeted with some backlash, and that's why I
Speaker 1: found it important to do it. I just think perspective
Speaker 1: is important. Like, look, you guys heard me all summer
Speaker 1: and offseason. No one believed this team could be one
Speaker 1: of the top seven teams in the a f C
Speaker 1: back in August more than I did. No one thought
Speaker 1: that could compete for the a f C East more
Speaker 1: than I did. And the truth is that they did
Speaker 1: both of those things. I mean, they were in both
Speaker 1: races until Sunday. Now, this is a bottom line. Business
Speaker 1: in Miami came up short. But as I've been saying
Speaker 1: for I don't know when did I start locked on
Speaker 1: Dolphins August team for four point five years. Now, process
Speaker 1: over results. The results tell you again, no playoffs since sixteen,
Speaker 1: going into year four of the current structure. That's where
Speaker 1: conversations typically start about is this the right guy or
Speaker 1: whatever you want to say about you know, job security.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be the one that goes after
Speaker 1: and talks about that, but that's about where the evaluation
Speaker 1: starts to begin, right and every position in the organization
Speaker 1: goes under that evaluation really every year, So I mean
Speaker 1: every year we do that. But the results I don't
Speaker 1: think we're what we expected, but that doesn't change the process.
Speaker 1: We know this defense can play. We know it's deep
Speaker 1: at all three levels. We know it has ball hawks.
Speaker 1: We know it can lead the league in sacks in
Speaker 1: the weeks seventeen. We know it can make quarterbacks uncomfortable
Speaker 1: and take the football away, and the vast majority of
Speaker 1: that group of that defense is under contract long term.
Speaker 1: We know the offense has shown some flashes. We know
Speaker 1: the rookie receiver is really good. We know the quarterback
Speaker 1: really excels in a rhythm, quick strike passing game that
Speaker 1: can really manage the pocket and help against these great
Speaker 1: pass rushers this league has. By the same token, he
Speaker 1: led the league in turnover worthy plays from Pro Football
Speaker 1: Focus going into the last game of the season. We
Speaker 1: know where he has to get better. That's that's that's
Speaker 1: what it comes down to. We know the Dolphins have
Speaker 1: the fifth most drop passes according to Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1: We know there was too much pressure all year long,
Speaker 1: the most according to Pro Football Focus from the Dolphins
Speaker 1: pass protection. And we know the running game works ranks
Speaker 1: thirty one, where the Houston Texans have fifteen fewer yards
Speaker 1: in the ground the Miami Dolphins. The Pittsburgh Steelers surpassed
Speaker 1: Miami and Houston on Monday night to get into We
Speaker 1: also know that this team is projected to have the
Speaker 1: most caps based in football next offseason. We know they
Speaker 1: have that one first rounder this year, two first rounders
Speaker 1: next year. And that's not just three young players. It's flexibility,
Speaker 1: it's future resources, and you can use those resources however
Speaker 1: you want. You don't have to stay there and draft
Speaker 1: who's there. You can use it for veterans, you can
Speaker 1: use it for rookies, you can use it to get
Speaker 1: more capital. It's up to you. My point there is
Speaker 1: that there are upgrades to make. I think that's pretty evident,
Speaker 1: not by the individual, but you have to get better
Speaker 1: in all those areas we listed, right, it has to happen,
Speaker 1: and I think we still have a chance to go,
Speaker 1: you know, better than five hundred for the second straight year,
Speaker 1: for the first time since I was a freshman in
Speaker 1: high school. You know, I see ten wins by two
Speaker 1: scores or more over the last two years. That's more
Speaker 1: than the total number of two score wins between nine.
Speaker 1: It's a six year period. Did more of that in
Speaker 1: two years? I see the opportunity to fix those issues
Speaker 1: and be back in position next year, only without looking
Speaker 1: back at three buzzer beater field goals and wondering how
Speaker 1: we could have closed the margins on those games to
Speaker 1: flip them the other way. That's the hope, that's what
Speaker 1: we'll look That's what'll work on this podcast this offseason.
Speaker 1: But before that, though, we have one more game to go,
Speaker 1: and let's go ahead and get that ninth win and
Speaker 1: sweep the Patriots for the first time since the two
Speaker 1: thousand season. All right, that's gonna be my time on
Speaker 1: this Tuesday edition of the Drivetime podcast. You all please
Speaker 1: be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts
Speaker 1: or Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Leave us
Speaker 1: a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter and Instagram at Wingfield NFL. Follow the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins on all socials at Miami Dolphins. Check out the
Speaker 1: Fish Tank podcast with Seth and o J as well
Speaker 1: as our postgame show on five sixty one. More show
Speaker 1: next week. Check out the YouTube channel for all the
Speaker 1: media availabilities as well as Dolphins Today, and last but
Speaker 1: not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, Fins
Speaker 1: Up Caroline Daddy is coming on