WEBVTT - Drive Time - Dolphins Offensive Staff and Run Game Improvements 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:10.560 Practice. What a win for this Miami Dolphin team. Wow, 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:16.000 What is up? Dolphins? And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:20.279 part of the Miami Dolphins official podcast network, covering your 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:24.279 Miami Dolphins each and every day. How's it going, Everybody 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.240 Happy Monday? I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:30.320 am here to bring you your daily dose of Miami 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.280 Dolphins football. And on today's show, we are talking about 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:38.199 assistant coaches, both a flashback edition and a Lifetime Achievement Award, 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:42.080 as well as the current rendition of the Miami Dolphins 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:46.159 coaching staff. Will honor the recipient of the doctor Z 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:49.720 Lifetime Achievement Award, And since we talk so much about 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.120 Brian Flores and his defensive staff, will flip it over 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:55.200 to the other side and take a look at the 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:59.920 histories and statistics of Miami's remade offensive staff lens of 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.120 a twenty nineteen season rewatch by yours truly all of 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.040 that more on this Monday during the twenty ninth edition 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:13.559 of the Drivetime Podcast, And you jumped into the show 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.759 with some fantastic news. Friday before last, on the flashback 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.800 episode of the Drivetime Podcast, I was lucky enough to 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.480 get a long conversation in with former Dolphins linebacker and 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.280 Rookie of the Year A. J. Dewey. If you haven't 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:29.920 checked out that episode, go ahead and scroll back to 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:33.640 the Friday, June nineteenth edition of the Drivetime podcast. And 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.160 the purpose of that show was to go more in 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.680 depth on the highly underrated career of longtime Dolphins defensive 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:45.080 coordinator Bill arns Barger. Arnsbarger was the architect of many 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.120 a great Dolphins defenses and the ultimate balancing mechanism for 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.560 coach Sula in those days and all those Dolphins wins 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:56.560 and championship titles. So arns Barger was up against some 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:00.120 stiff competition for this award, the Paul Zimmerman dot ter 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:04.680 Z Award, a lifetime achievement awarded each year to one 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:09.000 of the league's legendary assistant coaches, and among his competition 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:13.120 was a few other defensive coordinators, five to be exact, 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.720 including Buddy Ryan of the famed eighty five Bears defense, 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:21.079 the Monsters of the Midway, and co winner Romeo Crenell. 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.920 So Bill Arnsberger and Romeo Crenell were announced just a 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.240 little bit ago at one o'clock eastern on Monday, as 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.920 the co winners of this award, and for some reference points, 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.840 there are almost always multiple winners per year for this award. 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:39.360 I mean, you've got what twelve to fifteen assistants per 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.639 staff per team across the league, and that's not counting 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:47.200 quality control or positional assistance within the position group thirty 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.959 two teams, fifteen of them per team, give or take. 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.480 That's a lot of assistant coaches out there in the 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.680 history of the National Football League. But the names on 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:58.400 this list I think really bring a great deal of 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.880 respect and honoring to the late great Bill Arnsparger, back 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:07.360 to team Jim Johnson, Howard mud Fritz Schermer, and Ernie's 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.880 dam Peas a lot of you die hearts probably recognize 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.160 all of those names as legendary assistant coaches. As we 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:16.520 go further down this list, some even more recognizable names 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:21.240 like in ten Dick Lebou, Tom Moore, Dante Scarneckia. I mean, 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.720 Tom Moore and Dante Scarneckia are synonymous with terrific offensive 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.960 line coaching, and Dick le Beau was what, for forty 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:33.480 fifty years a great defensive coordinator in the NFL. Seen 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.720 Monty Kiffen, one of the pioneers of the Tampa two defense. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.560 Wade Phillips. We know plenty about him, so you're kind 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.080 of starting to recognize this pattern of when these coaches 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:47.760 get honored here for this award seventeen Bud Carsoneen, Joe Bugle, 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:52.160 and Emmett Thomas, and then last year nineteen Gunther Cunningham 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:55.880 and former Dolphins special team's assistant Mike west Off. And 0:03:55.920 --> 0:04:01.000 then Bill Arnsparker joins Elite Company along with Romeo Crannell, 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.640 bringing a spotlight to Arns Barger's elite resume and winning 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.440 just came with the territory for Arns Barger. He had 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:11.520 a twenty one year run as an NFL assistant, a 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:13.560 couple of stops in Miami. He was there with the 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.200 Baltimore Colts with Don Shula and then went to a 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:20.160 Super Bowl again with the Chargers in nine. He had 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.799 a regular season mark of to fourteen eighty five and six. 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.839 That's a seven twelve win percentage. He averaged ten wins 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.320 per year, and remember a lot of those seasons were 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.719 in seasons where the NFL only played fourteen games. His 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.560 team earned trips to the NFL Championship Game or Super 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:38.479 Bowl in seven of his twenty one seasons as a 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:42.599 defensive coordinator, three thirty three batting average on getting to 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.040 the championship game, including one trip to the NFL's Final 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.080 Four with each of those teams that he coached in 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:51.039 the Colts, Dolphins, and Chargers. He was the architect of 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:55.080 not one, but two defenses that had legendary nicknames, both 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.240 the No Name Defense and the Killer B Defense, and 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.120 that No Name defense in nineteen seventy two and nineteen 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:04.680 seventy three brought back two Super Bowls, lost only two games, 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:08.000 and allowed an average of just eleven point five points 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.240 per game over the course of those two seasons cumulatively. 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.320 He also was the innovator of the three four defense. 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.960 His five three defense name for Bob Mathieson was basically 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.719 a precursor to what became known as the three four 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.680 defense in the NFL. A. J. Dewey told me he 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.840 thinks the Arnsbarger invented the zone blitz. We talked about 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.520 him being more of a chalkboard guy over a screamer. 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.559 Because of that, he earned the nickname one More Real 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.000 for his desire to get back into the film room 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.000 and just watch more tape on defense and offense, pick 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:40.520 out tendencies and be the great coach that he was. 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.120 We also had a great story on that podcast on 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.599 the June nineteenth edition of the Drive Time podcast where 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:49.239 Dewey told us about a time when arnst Burger stood 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.040 up to Shula, which just didn't happen back in those days. 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.520 You did not dare come out the late great Don Shula. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.000 So those two guys together legends on the Miami Dolphins 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:02.640 coaching staff. Bill arnst Barger co recipient of the doctor 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:07.120 Z Lifetime Achievement Award for NFL Assistant Coaches. Cheers to you, 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:12.320 coach Arensberger. You definitely earned it with that phenomenal resume. Alright, 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.880 let's go ahead and fast forward here a few decades 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.400 and dive into something that struck my fancy over the weekend. 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:20.599 Can you tell yet that I'm a new dad that 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:24.720 pretty much just sits around on weekends researching football information 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:29.599 in between diaper changes and very very successful burpings. More 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:31.920 on that in just one moment. So, as you well 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.440 know by now, I'm getting extensively back through the nineteen 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.440 season as I can, and this weekend brought a pair 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.520 of games back in front of my eyes for the 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.359 first time since I did the film breakdown on the 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.880 Tuesday after the game, so I watched the broadcast version. 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.080 Then they all twenty two and that was it. I 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.760 stored those tapes away forever because they just weren't fun tapes. 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.200 I wasn't intrigued to dive back in well until now, 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.600 because I'm a completist and I have to get through 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.479 every game or else I find myself. I find it 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.160 as a failure of an experiment. So it's always nice 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.360 to put those ones away for some time and then 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:09.039 circle back. So that's where we are right now. And 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.880 wouldn't you know it, I came away with another lesson, 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:15.400 perhaps a theory, or actually maybe let's just go ahead 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.520 and call it general information that we can gleam, always 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.920 be learning, and nothing teaches you about yourself better than 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.520 a little bit of self scouting. Right, that's true in football, 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:26.840 it's true in life. So we do it here with 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.960 the nineteen season. So the hypothesis after watching these two 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.160 games it was home for Buffalo and at Cleveland in 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:38.200 November last year, and the hypothesis was that the lack 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:41.240 of balance on offense led to the handful of games 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:43.600 last year from Miami where they just were not all 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:47.040 that competitive on the scoreboard. We've raved on and on 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:49.679 on this show about the strong finish and the fact 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.600 that Flora has helped rally the squad together along with 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.400 Ryan Fitzpatrick's galvanizing force in the locker room, and to 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.720 dig out of that O and seven start and finish 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.600 the final nine game games with a winning record over 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.800 that period. We have given praise for that several times, 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.480 and well deserved. But before I went and looked into 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.680 the detail, I hypothesized that the offensive resurgence last year 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.880 was directly correlated to some semblance of balance on the 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:19.440 Miami offense. All coaches want that want that balance, all 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.520 coaches preach that balance, and I think that's a semblance 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.480 of what Miami got to help them get into the 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.760 top half of the league an offensive rank. And again, 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.439 the offensive resurgence was due mostly in large part to 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:34.720 the work of Ryan Fitzpatrick, and you watch the way 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.400 he played. I tweeted about it over the weekend. I 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.400 will continue to to really corroborate Pro Football Focuses ranking 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.880 of Ryan Fitzpatrick as a top ten graded passer last 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.600 year from the time he came back in against Washington 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.280 to the end of the season. It just beared out 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.320 on tape. You go back to my twenty nineteen film review, 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:55.720 and this was up on locked on Dolphins dot com 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:58.880 where I said that Ryan Fitzpatrick's greatest strength was the 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.800 trust in his eye. He's talked about this at that 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.600 stage a fourteen year NFL career, how there just isn't 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.080 a whole lot he hasn't seen, both in the way 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.920 coverages will attack him and play him, and by the 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.600 terminology and the different schemes and different systems on offense. 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.560 There just isn't a whole lot that Ryan Fitzpatrick hasn't seen. 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.800 So he comes in here, digests the offense, gets it 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.880 down pat and starts making plays and ripping the football 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:27.520 with confidence and assertiveness and putting the football on spots 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.160 based upon his knowledge of the offense and man. It 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:32.959 just it bared out on film all throughout the back 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.719 half of nineteen. And you look at some of the 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.640 pressure numbers that Fitzpatrick dealt with last season and the 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.360 way he was able to get rid of the football 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.560 by throwing it to a spot, by extending plays, doing 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.880 that little shoulder role where he got out of pressure 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.760 and escaped and made plays off script that way. It 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:52.480 was pretty constant in ten. So let's not take anything 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:55.720 away from what Ryan Fitzpatrick did at quarterback last year 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.280 for Miami. It was a massive ingredient in the resurgence 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.160 to finish out the year five and four over the 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.880 final nine games. But he was also the team's leading 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.880 rusher in nineteen And I want to point back to 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.440 a couple of quotes from Brian Flora's last year in 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.959 training camp talking about what he likes on the offensive line, 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.199 what type, what brand of football he wants to play 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.600 on the offensive side, And here's a quote about an 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.640 offensive line change that was made last year in camp. Look, 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:27.800 we want a tough, smart, physical offensive line. Philosophically, that's 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.400 what we're looking for. We can get into techniques if 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.040 you want, but it boils down to hand placement, footwork, 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.360 getting your hands inside and protecting inside out. All of 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:39.640 those things are just the basic basic fundamentals of offensive 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.880 line play. That is what I'm looking for. Communicating that 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.800 along with the communication along the offensive line, combination, blocks 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:49.480 in the run game, passing off twist in the past game, 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.240 all of those things go into it. Then the overall 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.760 communication along the offensive line, that's what we're looking for. 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.320 We're really looking for that at all positions, offensively, defensively, 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.880 and in the kicking game. There's a few different things 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.600 that play there, but tough, smart, discipline, and fundamentally sound 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.000 that's what I'm looking for out there out of the 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.840 offensive line group. And that was a few days into 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.280 training camp. But here's a quote from the first day, 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.880 right before the Dolphins hit the practice field on a 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:20.679 Saturday morning for some physical practice, some padded practices, the 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.840 first padded practice and training camp under Brian Floors with 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.240 the Miami Dolphins, and the question a follow up question 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.760 to another I guess inquiry about the fundamentals of the 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:32.960 game and playing with pads on for the first time 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.800 at practice. The follow up question was, so, when the 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.360 pads go on, does that begin to separate who the 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.880 physical guys are and who needs to be more physical? 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.000 And coach's answer was absolutely. I think at the end 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.200 of the day, in football, you can never forget about 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:48.720 the physicality of the game. It's something that from the 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:51.200 early days, from the beginning of the game, that's really 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:53.800 what it's all about. It's a physical sport. It's about 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.120 being tough, being gritty, but at the same time being smart, 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.480 being disciplined. And then the conversation went on to more 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.720 aspects of how they want to teach about defeating blocks 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:05.920 before you actually get there to make the tackle, because 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.360 you can tackle all you want, coach says, but if 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.440 you can't beat the block, you're not gonna get there 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.240 for the tackle. So he talks about that physical aspect 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.280 of the game and how for him as a player 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.319 when he was at Boston College, taking on a fullback 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.320 and adding another layer to the physicality of the position 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.880 playing inside that box as a linebacker really added an 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.640 extra element and made things more tough on him as 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:30.200 a player. So you see that experience bear out there 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:31.960 for the Dolphins and the way they want to be 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.000 a physical team upfront. Flores did not beat around the 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.920 bush about that fact. They want to be a physical team, 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.920 as coach laid out here at this press conference. So 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:44.280 the physicality of the game, running the football, playing inside 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:48.559 with linebackers, defensive lineman, fullbacks, all this stuff, it's very important. 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.040 And so what I did was go back and look 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:52.920 at some of the coaching changes and look at some 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.480 of the ranks associated with those coaches on staff now 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:58.839 and how they produced in the running game or their 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.440 teams produced in the running game. And I started with, 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.200 of course, chan Gaily, because how else would you start 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.400 other than the guy that calls the plays, the offensive coordinator, 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.480 and how it might create more balance on offense, so 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.560 Ryan Fitzpatrick and the quarterbacks can do their thing along 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:17.000 with the running backs creating positive yardage in the running game. 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.720 Because the games where Miami was competitive and efficient on offense, 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.040 there was a semblance of balance in the running game 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.160 along with Fitzpatrick doing his thing, and the games that 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:29.319 were not that way early in the season especially, there 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.640 was no balance in the running game. And the two 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:34.079 games that I thought were kind of quote unquote stinkers 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.680 late in the season, after Miami kind of got things 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.240 figured out and got themselves dug out of that initial 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:42.200 hole to start the year, those two games against Cleveland 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.120 and Buffalo provided a far greater challenge to run the 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.520 ball than the other games laid down the stretch at 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:49.880 the end of the season. So when you really split 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.600 the season into two halves, you basically have that first 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.880 portion of the year where I'm gonna go ahead and 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.720 use the Buffalo game at Buffalo. From that Buffalo game 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.080 onto New England, the Dolphins average three hundred and fifty 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.240 six yards per game. If you remove the Buffalo and 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.679 Cleveland games, the home Buffalo game and Cleveland in November, 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.480 they had eighty three point three rushing yards per game 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:15.160 in those games, but the three that would have ranked 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.160 fifteen in the NFL. And actually, if we pushed that 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:21.240 date range back to those final nine games when Miami 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.080 did finish five and four, it's right in that same range. 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.120 They would have been the seventeenth ranked offense over those 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:30.240 final nine games. And the inspiration for this little research 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:33.400 study was watching the second Buffalo game. And really those 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:36.880 two Buffalo games serve as a perfect measuring stick, a 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:41.120 perfect juxtaposition for how the offense functioned from from one 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.600 portion of the season or from one style of game 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.360 to the next. And ironically, and this is where I 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.680 love context, the scores weren't that different at the end 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.760 of those games thanks to a ridiculous onside kick return 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.120 for a touchdown in the game at Buffalo. I mean, 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.200 how often does that happen, especially in the NFL. So 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.880 in the game in Buffalo, the Dolphins rushed for one 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.840 hundred and nine yards, and it wasn't throw away yardage 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:07.680 late in the game. It was early down success. It 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:10.320 was success in the first half, keeping the offense on 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.920 the field, giving the defense rest, all those things that 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.600 come with a positive running game, and that game saw 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.440 the Dolphins enter the fourth quarter with a lead. It 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.360 also saw the Dolphins on the doorstep first and goal 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.400 from the two yard line away from making it a 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.160 twenty one to nine game late in the third quarter 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.720 against a team that was four and one, so they 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.040 were really playing well that day. Then the game in 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.160 Miami against Buffalo was only a seven point difference in 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:39.240 terms of the end result from the game in Buffalo. 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.280 This one in Miami was thirty seven to twenty, where 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.680 Buffalo score late again to kind of put the game 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:47.440 out of reach, but the game was never really that close. 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:49.480 The Dolphins did make it close at the end of 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:51.920 the first half with an onside recovery, but then they 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.680 fumbled the very next play, and then Miami bounces back 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.480 again with a long Jakeem Grant one hundred and two 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.880 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. So credit Miami for 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.560 fighting back in that game. And they would fight back 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.040 as well in the Cleveland game. But the point of 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.040 all of this was to discuss early down run success 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.120 because in this game, Miami just could not get it 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:15.320 going on the ground. You've got negative four yards on 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:18.000 five runs on first and second down. That with that 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.600 minimal production thanks to holding the Buffalo offense to field goals, 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.400 the Dolphins were down just six zero. So it got 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.240 me curious about run game success the rest of the way. 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.000 Kind of a war and Sharp type of rundown on 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.400 early down run success. As Warren Sharp, for my money, 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:35.960 is the czar of analytics, and he talks about this 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.120 stuff all the time, how you can give yourself more 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.240 of a chance through analytics and play calling decisions to 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:43.680 set yourself up for success. So I kind of took 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:46.880 that same approach the next week against Cleveland. We have 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:50.240 five yards on five carries on first or second down 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.480 to put you in a position where you're down zero. 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.640 And I chose these games because they were the outliers 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:59.600 of those final nine games. The games were Miami just 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.040 weren't competitive on the scoreboard. And yes, the Giants game 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.399 got out of hand late, but Miami did have a 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.200 second half lead in that game and drove the length 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:10.640 of the field throughout the course of that game. They 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.080 just bogged down in the red zone. So I didn't 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.840 consider that one to be a severely outmatched game, both 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.359 on the field and the scoreboard. And this is not 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.840 some form of excuse making, just illustrating the point that 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.560 early down run success was a major factor, probably the biggest, 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.200 second biggest factor, rather aside from fits just playing really 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.639 really good football during Miami's turnaround. So how do we 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.280 fix that? Well, A good start is signing the NFL's 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.679 third leading rusher since he entered the league in in 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.640 Jordan Howard. It's trading for a running back that averages 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.960 over five yards per carry in his career in Matt Brita. 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:48.600 It's signing to quality free agent offensive lineman and drafting 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.520 three guys at the same spot. Three of those five 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:55.240 total editions weighing in at three hundred and thirty pounds 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.880 or more. So, they make some personnel changes, they make 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.360 some changes to the coaching staff, and really what sparked 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.080 all of this, what really brought this all together, was 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.400 a comment by Jay Fiedler on the Fish Tank podcast, 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:11.840 part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network talking about Chan 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.320 Gailey when he was with the Dolphins back in the 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.760 early two thousands and those run games with Lamar Smith 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.960 behind Jay Fiedler there with the Dolphins, and we talked 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.439 about being a teacher and teaching the running game and 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.760 really paying attention to the fine details and all the preparation. 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.119 Get a load of this quote from Jay Fiedler on 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:31.680 the Fish Tank podcast talking about his former o C 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:36.199 and now current Dolphins o C Chan Gailey. Yes, you 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.840 know what Chan Chan was, you know, tremendous a teacher 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:43.760 the game. Uh, you know, just the fundamental I mean 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.480 I remember, you know, the first thing I kind of 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.040 uh noticed when we were going through install and everything 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.440 was you know how precise he was in the run 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.280 game with run blocking. And I learned a ton just 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.960 on how run schemes, uh, you know operate it. Uh, 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:03.719 you know, just going through uh you know, with with 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.800 Chan Gailey on that just you know where where a 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:10.600 fullback should fit in on a block against the linebacker. 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:13.639 You know how how the running backs should read those 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.240 And it certainly helped as a quarterback knowing you know, 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:18.760 when you do at the audible between different runs. You 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.719 know what what's your best look, you know, going against 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:24.320 a certain defense, and what's your best run to get 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:27.560 to with that? And then you know, the next thing 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:31.080 that you know, impressed me a great deal about Chan was, 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:35.360 you know, his ability to game plan and create matchups. Uh. Look, 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.400 he kept a lot of the stuff that we did 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.560 pretty simple. Uh in terms of the plays that we 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:44.720 had going you know, we didn't have uh, you know, 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.719 ninety five players going into a game, but you know, 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:50.520 he made sure that that we were scattered out so 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.320 well that you know, he created the right formation and 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:56.399 motion to get a great matchup on a simple play. 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.400 And uh. You know, So there's Jay talking about Chan 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.520 Gailey kind of his approach to the game and the 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.000 way he taught Ja so much about the running game. 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:05.639 And so I wanted to go back and look at 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.560 some of the ranks of Chan gailey led offenses in 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:12.280 the rushing department. And luckily for me, my buddy Kevin Dern, 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.640 former co host of the analysis podcast Good Friend of Mine, 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:19.639 he compiled Chan Gailey's offensive numbers from the times he 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:22.679 was a head coach and o c recently in the NFL. 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:25.879 And we go back to Sten with the Jets one 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.280 hundred and twelve point six yards per game. That was 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.199 twelve for a five and eleven football team, and granted 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:33.960 they were the twenty seventh ranked team in passing that year, 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.160 so the rushing offense really carried the water for their offense. 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.639 The Jets in one hundred and sixteen point eight rushing 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.359 yards per game that was eleventh in the NFL for 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.679 a ten and six team. That created balance for the 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:49.240 thirteenth ranked passing offense in the NFL. With the Bills 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.080 for three years two thousand twelve, one thirty eight point 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:54.280 six yards per game that was six in the NFL. 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:57.280 Five yards per carry they were twenty five in the past, 0:20:57.520 --> 0:20:59.800 so again the running game carries the water for a 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.119 six and ten team two thousand, eleven hundred and twenty 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.119 point six yards per game that was thirteen in the NFL. 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:08.760