Speaker 1: You're listening to the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. This is
Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Whingefield. Back to throw to a
Speaker 1: looking water, Dolph touchdop Tonrick call man. I want to
Speaker 1: help you soon up on the wattle, waddle to a shotgun,
Speaker 1: back to throw, looking steps up fires, It's waddle. It's
Speaker 1: six touchdown of the day. Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Speaker 1: Now let me check your pulse. If further what is up?
Speaker 1: Dolphans And welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part of
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: And on today's show, we're taking you right into the
Speaker 1: bye week with a look back at the season so far.
Speaker 1: We'll examine five big picture things I think a general
Speaker 1: five takeaways from the first ten weeks of this Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins season. We'll discuss the numbers from that first half,
Speaker 1: and we'll make the week eleven picks and look at
Speaker 1: what the NFL slate has to offer us during this
Speaker 1: bye week. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist
Speaker 1: Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime. I have been
Speaker 1: looking forward to this episode for a little bit now,
Speaker 1: just knowing that it would be a comprehensive recap and
Speaker 1: a chance to look back at the fun first half
Speaker 1: of the season without an opponent to prep for this
Speaker 1: coming Sunday, take a look at all the numbers, the stats,
Speaker 1: the film takeaways, and that was all part of my
Speaker 1: pre planned content coming in. But then we played the
Speaker 1: Browns and essentially gave us a real life snapshot of
Speaker 1: the best version of really every position group on this
Speaker 1: football team. And just to peel back the kimono a
Speaker 1: little bit, you guys know, my approach to coverage has
Speaker 1: always been to highlight the good and detail why some
Speaker 1: subtleties that maybe go unrecognized, our reasons why you should
Speaker 1: be excited about a player, a position group, or the
Speaker 1: team in general. Right, we will point out when things
Speaker 1: go wrong and talk about areas of improvement needed, but
Speaker 1: that's just always been how I enjoy football both as
Speaker 1: a fan and wanted my coverage to reflect that you
Speaker 1: can't be the best version of yourself if you're not
Speaker 1: genuinely yourself right, and frankly, with McDaniel coming down here
Speaker 1: and just changing everything, it's honestly empowered me to be
Speaker 1: more of myself on the podcast, and I hope that's
Speaker 1: reflected by the absolute silly goose time that we tend
Speaker 1: to have here, especially during the midst of a winning streak.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to give that little mini monologue heading
Speaker 1: into our takeaways, because well, how can you be anything
Speaker 1: but positive, excited and extremely hopeful about this team's potential
Speaker 1: this year? And frankly, that's the number one thing that
Speaker 1: stands out to me above anything else with the takeaways.
Speaker 1: And this is borrowing a little bit from my fourth
Speaker 1: takeaway in the big picture I had, but fostering this
Speaker 1: environment of playing as one a complete team that prioritizes
Speaker 1: winning above all else. And look, I think this is
Speaker 1: probably the case in most locker rooms, or at least
Speaker 1: a lot of them. Like these are pros. They're guys
Speaker 1: that have understood that since Peewee, the win is the
Speaker 1: most important thing, the only thing. And that's all a
Speaker 1: prelude to watching this game on Sunday, because watch Tyreek
Speaker 1: celebrate alec Ingold and Jeff Wilson's touchdowns, watch Jalen Waddle
Speaker 1: throw out the flex at trent Sherfield every time he
Speaker 1: makes a play. Watch Cedric Wilson go greet Schriff after
Speaker 1: the touchdown pass. I mean that was supposed to be
Speaker 1: his job for the number three receiver, right He's pumped up.
Speaker 1: Form doesn't matter. Watch River Cracraft come off the sideline
Speaker 1: to give suff some love. These guys that compete for
Speaker 1: playing time put all that aside and show genuine love
Speaker 1: and excitement for the successes of their teammates. Go watch
Speaker 1: Jeff Wilson score that touchdown in Chicago and Raheem lose
Speaker 1: his ever loving mind over it. Watch Christian Wilkins celebrate
Speaker 1: a Steeler sec. Watch Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb already
Speaker 1: have a sack dance together. Look at the reaction on
Speaker 1: the sideline for Justin Bethel after his last of three
Speaker 1: pass breakups in the game at that cornerback position. That's
Speaker 1: been really tops each Turvie this year. To me, that
Speaker 1: is the most special thing about this team through the
Speaker 1: first ten weeks. You can feel those positive vibes. It's
Speaker 1: a credit to the coaching staff, it's a credit to
Speaker 1: the scouting staff forgetting the right type of people, and
Speaker 1: it's certainly a credit to the players. So I just
Speaker 1: wanted to sort of lay out that prelude as to
Speaker 1: why I'm excited about this team and cannot wait to
Speaker 1: see how they can build off the success they've had
Speaker 1: so far. But to quote to a tongue Vailoa, what
Speaker 1: we came to do and when we came to accomplish,
Speaker 1: it's not accomplished yet, So it would be cool speaking
Speaker 1: of potential MVP award, But we have bigger goals and
Speaker 1: aspirations on what we want to do as a team.
Speaker 1: And really quickly before the takeaways, I wanted to write
Speaker 1: something I used to do, the One Big Thing, which
Speaker 1: was a rip off of the s VP Sports Center
Speaker 1: show every Sunday night after games on Lockdown Dolphins. I
Speaker 1: missed doing that, so let's do it right now. Big Thing,
Speaker 1: a little monologue on the first ten weeks of season
Speaker 1: and what it's meant to a lifelong Dolphins fan. So
Speaker 1: one Big n That was the last time the Dolphins
Speaker 1: produced a top ten NFL offense. Sure, they had some
Speaker 1: of the league's top defenses and even in pour the
Speaker 1: best run game in the NFL in two thousand two,
Speaker 1: in an era where that was an acceptable model of
Speaker 1: team building in a legit path to a potential Super
Speaker 1: Bowl trophy? Or was it because that two thousand two
Speaker 1: team had eight Pro Bowlers, just one number fewer than
Speaker 1: their win total that season nine and seven, a year
Speaker 1: without playoffs, in a season where you had arguably the
Speaker 1: best roster in football. Little did we know at the time,
Speaker 1: the year prior, with the last time or the most
Speaker 1: recent time that we witnessed a playoff victory, and how
Speaker 1: sweet that was. But how did that victory come to be?
Speaker 1: It required a literal record breaking day from running back.
Speaker 1: It required clutch catches by the most clutch receiver in
Speaker 1: Dolphins history, O J McDuffie. It required that defense bring
Speaker 1: it's a game to slow the NFL's latest version of
Speaker 1: the Triplets in Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and ed You
Speaker 1: and James. It took an all out, dragged out effort
Speaker 1: to find the winner circle late into the overtime period.
Speaker 1: But that game could have been curtains much much earlier
Speaker 1: had the Dolphins quarterback not turned the football over three
Speaker 1: times in that game, the same as we could have
Speaker 1: seen a potential return to the postseason in two thousand
Speaker 1: two if it weren't for what can Trent Green do
Speaker 1: that j Fieler cannot do. Just like the two thousand
Speaker 1: three season could have gone to the postseason if not
Speaker 1: for you guessed it. Brian Greasy was the addition to
Speaker 1: the quarterback room that year. And again, this was before
Speaker 1: the league took steps to benefit the offense and make
Speaker 1: the NFL a passing league, and it was still a
Speaker 1: major hindrance, and that vacancy at the quarterback position would
Speaker 1: persist for nearly twenty more years. You've seen the list,
Speaker 1: you know the names. You can probably reside it off
Speaker 1: the top of your head chronologically. I know I can.
Speaker 1: The train slowly started heading that way in the earlier
Speaker 1: two thousands, but it was still doable to win divisions
Speaker 1: and dominate with that style of football. But looking back
Speaker 1: and you say you enjoyed those seventeen thirteen white knuckle
Speaker 1: contests that came down to a bounce or two each week,
Speaker 1: is that nearly as much fun as the offense that
Speaker 1: doesn't really punt and what you're seeing right now because
Speaker 1: the team continued to get built in that way. Of course,
Speaker 1: the two thousand and four season was one that no
Speaker 1: one could see coming. With the retirement of Ricky Williams,
Speaker 1: thanks a lot, big seth JK, And sure enough, the
Speaker 1: next regime went right back to the defense. Moreten to
Speaker 1: ten thrillers. Baby. Oh wait, then we get a star
Speaker 1: wide receiver and you're pairing with Chad Henny and trade
Speaker 1: him before he can help our first first round quarterback
Speaker 1: since Dan Reno. And it's back to nine six games, baby.
Speaker 1: All the while, at seven eight win seasons, it's too
Speaker 1: good to be bad and too bad to be good.
Speaker 1: The NFL's purgatory, the worst place the franchise can be.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows how this season will end. The odds are
Speaker 1: it's gonna end in heartbreak. Only one team gets to
Speaker 1: host the Lombardi Trophy every year, and even the favorites
Speaker 1: odds are fractional ones. But doesn't a late January broken
Speaker 1: heart the potential of that sound much better than starting
Speaker 1: the off season in your head in late December. The
Speaker 1: Dolphins have a team to compete, compete with the best
Speaker 1: right now. They have a team built for the modern era.
Speaker 1: They have a coach who understands the modern athlete and
Speaker 1: a GM who understands the modern landscape for aggressiveness and
Speaker 1: identifying life cycles and when to keep putting investments into
Speaker 1: what looks like the best Dolphins team this century. I
Speaker 1: am enjoying this with everything in me. I'm enjoying watching
Speaker 1: all the discourse continue about who's to blame, why we
Speaker 1: have to discredit certain individuals, And the funniest thing about
Speaker 1: that is like, yeah, Okay, sure T has elite wide
Speaker 1: receivers and this is somehow a bad thing from my
Speaker 1: favorite football team. You're wrong about what TOO was doing.
Speaker 1: We all know that, but thanks for the compliment and
Speaker 1: how this team was constructed properly and effectively and from
Speaker 1: the top down. Seven more games for sure, likely more
Speaker 1: after that, and there's not a team I look at
Speaker 1: and say, hey, we need a miracle to defeat that team.
Speaker 1: Strap in, Dolphins fans, you've been waiting a long time
Speaker 1: for this, and no matter how it goes, you have
Speaker 1: a seat at the table, and that's what you've been
Speaker 1: begging for since we put thirteen up in the rafters.
Speaker 1: My first half of the season, five takeaways are this
Speaker 1: Number one. This team has multiple ways to win football games.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins have seven wins this season. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and examine each one of those victories over the Patriots
Speaker 1: on opening weekend. You get a defensive scoop and score
Speaker 1: early two more takeaways for three total. You allow them
Speaker 1: to go four for ten on third and fourth down conversions.
Speaker 1: You go too for two on field goals. You have
Speaker 1: four points totaling nearly two hundred yards and a field
Speaker 1: flipping fifty eight yard or and then the gravitas to
Speaker 1: go for it on fourth down with a perfect throw,
Speaker 1: great catch and run in for six. The pressure on
Speaker 1: mac Jones was unrelenting, and the run defense held the
Speaker 1: Patriots to an average of three point five five yards
Speaker 1: per carry in that game. Their season average when removing
Speaker 1: Miami's game is four point to one, so more than
Speaker 1: half of a yard less than their season average. That
Speaker 1: win definition smothering defense with multiple splash plays, quality special teams,
Speaker 1: and timely offense. My phone fell right there by the way.
Speaker 1: That was that sound at the Ravens. Six touchdown passes
Speaker 1: for your quarterbacks. Pretty good. Two receivers over a buck
Speaker 1: seventy and four touchdowns among them, three seventy one yards
Speaker 1: among them a yard run on the game winning drive
Speaker 1: with a huge hole opened up, untouched down inside the
Speaker 1: fifteen yard line in a big spot, making all six
Speaker 1: p a t S in that game. And yes, this
Speaker 1: wasn't owed to the offense. But if you get a
Speaker 1: fourth down, if you don't get a fourth down stop
Speaker 1: rather before the time touchdown, if you don't hold the
Speaker 1: Ravens to a field goal when the game is thirty
Speaker 1: five all late in the fourth quarter, this offensive memorable
Speaker 1: day maybe becomes a footnote and a loss win definition
Speaker 1: historic passing performance with timely late defense Week three against
Speaker 1: the Bills, a takeaway early sets the offense up on
Speaker 1: a Golden Golst situation holding arguably the most explosive offense
Speaker 1: in football. In fact, there are six point five yards
Speaker 1: per play is number one right now in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He held them to five point four yards per play,
Speaker 1: more than a full yard less per play over ninety
Speaker 1: two snaps too, By the way, probably the best big
Speaker 1: moment throw of a young quarterbacks career with that route
Speaker 1: to match from Waddle a young receiver to convert on
Speaker 1: third and twenty two to set up the game winning
Speaker 1: touchdown there in the fourth quarter. And it was the
Speaker 1: game winner because the defense held firm on not one
Speaker 1: but two fourth quarter long Josh Allen possessions in the
Speaker 1: middle of that yes, the safety off the butt punt,
Speaker 1: but in hindsight, considering more stead nearly seventy three yard
Speaker 1: free kick that we covered beautifully to put the Bills
Speaker 1: in a long field, maybe that was the best thing.
Speaker 1: It sure as hell was a nice response from the
Speaker 1: special teams that win definition terrific defensive game plan and effort,
Speaker 1: paired with a highly efficient, big time plays by the
Speaker 1: offense and the biggest play by the special teams coverage
Speaker 1: units on a play where they needed it most all
Speaker 1: year long. Took us four weeks. Scar next win back
Speaker 1: under our belts, but over the Steelers in a a week
Speaker 1: number seven. The offense issues an ideal game script with
Speaker 1: early multiple score lead that sustained drives and allows the
Speaker 1: defense to get long rest after stops. And that was
Speaker 1: set up by a first quarter interception from that same defense,
Speaker 1: the same defense that hell of the stealers off the
Speaker 1: scoreboard in the entire second half, including two takeaways backed
Speaker 1: up right to the brink of touchdown. Here ends it,
Speaker 1: and we have to get stops in the next fifteen
Speaker 1: yards otherwise we're gonna lose this game. And the offensive
Speaker 1: line began a streak that week of superb past protection
Speaker 1: numbers the win definition of that game. Offense aids defense
Speaker 1: early with two score lead, and then the defense brings
Speaker 1: it home with a clean sheet in the second half,
Speaker 1: and the field goal team puts ten points on the
Speaker 1: board three field goals and one point after a tribe.
Speaker 1: Next week at the Lions, the offense keeps it close
Speaker 1: in the first half, a pay it forward type of
Speaker 1: deal from the second half of the Pittsburgh game, and
Speaker 1: those dynamic wideouts go crazy again. Another one between the
Speaker 1: Cheetah and the Penguin, but it's not just them. Ghasicki
Speaker 1: a huge touchdown, the winner in fact, alec Ingold finds
Speaker 1: the end zone. The ground game gives you one oh
Speaker 1: seven on the ground, and the line protects the quarterback
Speaker 1: for four quarters for the second straight week to help
Speaker 1: aid the offensive onslaught, the defense responds with a second
Speaker 1: half shutout. More Sted's loan punt pins the Lions at
Speaker 1: their own twelve yard line, giving the defense eighty eight
Speaker 1: yards of field to work with on what would have
Speaker 1: been the last possession of the game for the Lions,
Speaker 1: or what would be, I should say. The offense then
Speaker 1: converts three first downs to end the game in victory
Speaker 1: formation the Wind definition. Their offense plays a nearly perfect
Speaker 1: game by utilizing every weapon at the skill spots, and
Speaker 1: the defense shows its resolved to absorb an early punch
Speaker 1: and respawn with a second half shutout, aided on the
Speaker 1: final series by a special team's field flip at the Bears,
Speaker 1: not that dissimilar to the Lions game. The last points
Speaker 1: scored in the game came with eleven thirty eight to
Speaker 1: play in the fourth quarter, as the defense had to
Speaker 1: have two stops in that fourth quarter and they got them.
Speaker 1: The quarterback has another absurd day, throwing plenty again to
Speaker 1: tennants seventeen another twenty eight and two scores from those guys.
Speaker 1: The team gets a lift from a couple of new additions,
Speaker 1: including seventy nine yards and a touchdown from Jeff Wilson
Speaker 1: in another stellar day from the offensive line. The pass
Speaker 1: rush just kept coming, dbs kept covering, The defense resolved
Speaker 1: once again showed itself again the Wind definition. Their offensive
Speaker 1: fireworks with over three hundred yards and three touchdowns coming
Speaker 1: from Tyreek Jalen and Jeff Wilson. More third down excellent
Speaker 1: and highly efficient football from tah capped off by two
Speaker 1: late stops from the defense. Finally, the Browns. This had
Speaker 1: been building towards complementary football all year long, and this
Speaker 1: was the coming out party. Offense goes off again, but
Speaker 1: this time using every piece of the offense and the
Speaker 1: more spread it around output. The run game rolls up
Speaker 1: nearly two yards in the on the ground, five guys
Speaker 1: make at least four catches, seven have at least two,
Speaker 1: and eight players in total have receptions in the game.
Speaker 1: Third down excellence continues, no punt game needed at all.
Speaker 1: Pass rush finally gets time to throw, and that converts
Speaker 1: all those pressures into sax and impact plays. Run defense
Speaker 1: wins better than of their snaps with short running games.
Speaker 1: The defense takes the ball away, gives the offense short fields.
Speaker 1: Everything comes together, the definition of that one, the culmination
Speaker 1: of all those games where you're so close to putting
Speaker 1: together a complete game for four quarters, pass game, run game,
Speaker 1: run de pass, rush, coverage all clicking in this one.
Speaker 1: So really, you've got wins by every conceivable variable, run game,
Speaker 1: pass game, defensive splash plays and takeaways, late stands and
Speaker 1: discipline game plans, timely special teams, stellar individual stat lines,
Speaker 1: really every which way through ten games, the most tried
Speaker 1: and true way has been the electric passing game. Then
Speaker 1: probably the stout defensive game with a critical takeaway for
Speaker 1: a short a score or a short field and preventing
Speaker 1: points late in the game. Then probably the run game
Speaker 1: and special teams. But they've proven that all these things
Speaker 1: can be key factors in the route to victory. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and take our first break and come back
Speaker 1: for takeaways two through five. That's next on the Drivetime podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: Big picture items from this season so far, the bye
Speaker 1: week coming up this Sunday, plenty of fun games to
Speaker 1: watch around the league. Will get to that here in
Speaker 1: just a moment in our third segment, we're gonna go
Speaker 1: ahead and pick it back up with takeaways two through
Speaker 1: five through ten weeks of two season. And where else
Speaker 1: can you go besides the emergence of tah tongue of viola.
Speaker 1: This on his brief because we've been over it, like
Speaker 1: high level stuff, executing on structure and putting the ball
Speaker 1: in locations on time when it's all right and executed
Speaker 1: like it's drawn up, but also mitigating for the occasional
Speaker 1: breakdowns when they happen, improvising both with the scramble and
Speaker 1: pocket mobility, but also getting very deep into his progressions,
Speaker 1: quickly beating man zone blitz coverage, killing teams on third down,
Speaker 1: red zone, goal to go the fourth quarter doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: it's just seven games. It's just seven games. But those
Speaker 1: seven games are pacing towards something we just don't see.
Speaker 1: We're talking about not just the top of this year's leaderboard,
Speaker 1: the top of some all time leader boards. In those stats,
Speaker 1: we talked about rating, third down rating, red zone rating,
Speaker 1: yards per attempt, net yards per attempt. A quarterback who
Speaker 1: has full command of the offense in his third year,
Speaker 1: his first in the system, the full trust and backing
Speaker 1: of his coaches, players, the fan base, and a true
Speaker 1: leader of not just the offense but the entire football team. Really,
Speaker 1: in season, it's been the model quarterback. I don't know
Speaker 1: how else just say it, and I do want to
Speaker 1: attempt to say it this way. You know, social media
Speaker 1: discourse absolutely exhausts me, and I don't engage nearly as
Speaker 1: often as I used to. I'm I've instituted a mostly
Speaker 1: firm policy of not giving a platform to the content
Speaker 1: created just for the absurdity of it all, like the
Speaker 1: circus of it all, you know, I asked the media
Speaker 1: room of other Day, who is that for? Who watches
Speaker 1: these hot takes on television shows? Why would we care
Speaker 1: the takes of people that demonstrate time and time again
Speaker 1: that it's not nuanced conversation, it's not based in film study.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's not that hard to find smart
Speaker 1: content if you have the Internet. I know, the casual
Speaker 1: fans not going to go search the annals of the
Speaker 1: Internet for contextual analysis, but to watch that knowing what
Speaker 1: it is. I just don't get who it's for. But
Speaker 1: it's popular, So the joke's on me, right, But man,
Speaker 1: I see this stuff every single day, inventing new ways
Speaker 1: to bend back to affirm a previous take. But for what?
Speaker 1: For some flowers on social media? I can tell you
Speaker 1: right now, go back and listen to just about every
Speaker 1: draft episode of Drive Time and or Locked on Dolphins
Speaker 1: the year before that. You'll find seventy eight versions of
Speaker 1: me saying some version of this take two was the
Speaker 1: best college quarterback I've ever seen. In the fine details
Speaker 1: of the position, the subtleties that make for a franchise
Speaker 1: altering quarterback play, manipulation, accuracy, post nap acumen, paired with
Speaker 1: a quickness and all of his ball handling and release
Speaker 1: that mitigates any chance a pass rush has most of
Speaker 1: the time. I mean, I'll try to not injure myself
Speaker 1: pat myself in the back here. But gat man, I
Speaker 1: think I feel confident saying I know about evaluation. But
Speaker 1: guess what, nobody cares work harder? Right? So why do
Speaker 1: we have to regress to mental gymnastics and just hoping
Speaker 1: that our conditions and justifications for why a player is
Speaker 1: having success are factual? Because the craft that I see,
Speaker 1: I can supremely confidently tell you it's not rooted in fact,
Speaker 1: it's not based on study. It's based on hypothesizing without
Speaker 1: doing the research to confirm or deny said hypothesis. How
Speaker 1: many times do we do segments here where I put
Speaker 1: out a thought Reese search and confirmed that I was wrong.
Speaker 1: That's the beauty of chemistry, White, Mr Wright, Yeah, science, growth, decay,
Speaker 1: then transformation. Cut the tape. It's elite. Do you think
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel would lie about that? What purpose would telling
Speaker 1: the entire locker room after the Browns game? Hey, this
Speaker 1: dude right here at number one is playing at an
Speaker 1: elite level. If he wasn't. Players aren't stupid, They would
Speaker 1: know that to lie. If it was. You think McDaniels
Speaker 1: lying about that. I thought we trusted and believed in
Speaker 1: what he's done here to the point that we can
Speaker 1: all agree that his word carries some pretty significant weight,
Speaker 1: right Because you're telling me that Tyreek and Jalen and
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel are the only reasons to what is succeeding.
Speaker 1: Mike himself would disagree with you, So that by its
Speaker 1: very nature is a contradiction, Like what are we doing?
Speaker 1: Why do we have to get definitive confirmation at the
Speaker 1: same speed of a hungry man meal warming up in
Speaker 1: the microwave? Why can't we exercise no patience whatsoever? Talent
Speaker 1: is talent, Sometimes circumstances change, sometimes development occurs. A lot
Speaker 1: of the best quarterbacks in the league right now did
Speaker 1: not hit right away to Ah Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 1: Look at what's going on with justin fields in Chicago.
Speaker 1: It's why we should always factor in context. I mean,
Speaker 1: we've seen Chargers fans right telling us about the depleted
Speaker 1: injury riddle roster right now. It doesn't go both ways, though.
Speaker 1: Don't mistake context for excuses and demand the irrelevance of
Speaker 1: anything but the bottom line. Don't do that for two reasons. One,
Speaker 1: it's just straight bad process and two, these guys are people,
Speaker 1: two men, and I can't imagine try up using another
Speaker 1: human being as a prop for hell, I don't even
Speaker 1: know what for social media clout the ability to promote
Speaker 1: a blogger, podcast, or handle with the title of I
Speaker 1: told you player X wasn't good three years ago, it's weird.
Speaker 1: Two is the kind of guy that when you're talking
Speaker 1: to him, he puts his hand on your shoulder, looks
Speaker 1: you in the eye, and engages with you with the
Speaker 1: same level of interest and intrigue, regardless if you're a
Speaker 1: stupid goofy podcaster or the president of the football team.
Speaker 1: He's truly one of the biggest and brightest spirits I've
Speaker 1: ever been around. And to me to damn shand that
Speaker 1: he's covered with a different standard than all of his
Speaker 1: contemporaries around him. That's takeaway number two. Takeaway number three.
Speaker 1: Always thinking about how to improve at first, I thought,
Speaker 1: let's revisit the off season and look at how many
Speaker 1: impact newcomers have solidified important roles on this football team.
Speaker 1: But then I got to thinking, there's a better way
Speaker 1: to phrase this. Chris Career always talks about taking every
Speaker 1: opportunity to upgrade the roster, and a year round pursuit
Speaker 1: of doing just that right, not just scouting the draft,
Speaker 1: not just signing free agents, not just moves via the
Speaker 1: trade market, but scouring things in season. Bringing in Brandon Shell,
Speaker 1: Justin Bethel, trading for Bradley Chubb and Jeff Wilson. Those
Speaker 1: are four big time moves after an off season. That's
Speaker 1: right up there all time in this franchise in terms
Speaker 1: of total impact and production being important to the team.
Speaker 1: Because remember when they began this thing really in earnest
Speaker 1: back in twenty nineteen, collecting picks, saving up for potential
Speaker 1: spending sprees in the future by clearing the books into
Speaker 1: future seasons and keeping your management of that cap flexible
Speaker 1: and fluid. They always had more resources than what you
Speaker 1: would need if you hit on all those resources. And
Speaker 1: what is that other than protecting against the idea that
Speaker 1: nobody ever bats a thousand and nobody ever will. But
Speaker 1: how about recognition of where you might need to continue
Speaker 1: to funnel resources to hit on a cater Cohu. Maybe
Speaker 1: the draft pick at that spot in the first round
Speaker 1: didn't go as you would hope to recognize the first
Speaker 1: round potential left tackle is better suited at right tackle,
Speaker 1: and to go get an elite left tackle in to
Speaker 1: Ron Armstead in the process. To not sit back on
Speaker 1: the production of a jail and Waddle. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and pair him with an even more proven version of
Speaker 1: his play style to say that, Yeah, Eric Rowe, Brandon Jones,
Speaker 1: Bobby McCain's a nice trio, but Javon Holland's different cat.
Speaker 1: You can really take this back multiple off seasons, by
Speaker 1: the way it's been built with contributions from draft classes
Speaker 1: going four years back, or six years back in the
Speaker 1: case of Mike Gasicki, or eight years back in the
Speaker 1: case of xaviing Howard, the culmination of multiple very good drafts,
Speaker 1: some clever maneuvering in the trade market, some aggressive but
Speaker 1: measured free agent periods with flexibility. It's in really cool
Speaker 1: attract this thing get built from my chair in my perspective,
Speaker 1: and it's such a joy to see them enjoy some
Speaker 1: fruits of that labor. With seven wins in the first
Speaker 1: ten Takeaway number four coaching staff revisit just looking at
Speaker 1: the introduction article I wrote on the coaching staff and
Speaker 1: the five things piece about Mike McDaniel up on Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins dot com back in February or late January. We
Speaker 1: highlighted in the resumes and staff that Mike had mentioned
Speaker 1: so many times was such a high priority of his
Speaker 1: to assemble this group, To bring West and Embo in
Speaker 1: from San Francisco, to go get one of the most
Speaker 1: qualified quarterback coaches on the planet and coach Bev. Then
Speaker 1: you pull Matt apple Bomb from the college ranks, to
Speaker 1: add a brilliant mind like Frank Smith, to add legends
Speaker 1: to the defensive staff like Sam and Pat, and to
Speaker 1: retain some coaches who have proven themselves here in Miami
Speaker 1: with production from their particular position groups. To promote someone
Speaker 1: like Steve Gregory who's played and coached in this system.
Speaker 1: And to add a time Mackenzie who has an insane
Speaker 1: recall and analytical mind for the game. And the production
Speaker 1: for that room has been something too. From that article,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins coaching staff features a hundred and eighty three
Speaker 1: years of combined NFL experience, and in total, between high school,
Speaker 1: college and NFL has more than three hundred combined years
Speaker 1: of coaching experience. The two thousand two Dolphins two Dolphins
Speaker 1: coaching staff has coached five Super Bowl winning teams. Number
Speaker 1: five signs of pass rush emergence. I thought the Cleveland
Speaker 1: game was, like we talked about earlier, the culmination of
Speaker 1: what's been bubbling near the surface for a while. So,
Speaker 1: like I did earlier this year, I'm gonna call my shot,
Speaker 1: like with the points production catching up, the run game
Speaker 1: catching up, and now with the pass rush coming out
Speaker 1: of the by like a house on fire. They are talented,
Speaker 1: they are multiple, and they can get home with four
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of elements of this pass
Speaker 1: rush you can look at and hang your hat on.
Speaker 1: It starts off the edge. The past rush win rate
Speaker 1: from ESPN for edge defenders Bradley Chub's number three, Jalen
Speaker 1: Phillips number ten. We've also seen Melvin Ingram impacked several games.
Speaker 1: We know that he leaves a team with four sex.
Speaker 1: We know Andrew van Geekle when what he can do,
Speaker 1: and we know about the versatile dudes inside. Christian Wilkins
Speaker 1: and his potential expanded opportunities as a result of that
Speaker 1: unrelenting edge pressure really popped up in this last game,
Speaker 1: and it paid off with Christian Wilkins getting the job done.
Speaker 1: Get involved in a couple of sacks, He's probably gonna
Speaker 1: get a lot more one on one chances as teams
Speaker 1: work to contend with all that talent and speed and
Speaker 1: power off the edges, those NASCAR packages and the stress
Speaker 1: they can put on teams. Sure our fund Wilkins was
Speaker 1: the focal point of it. In the Cleveland game looks
Speaker 1: with Phillips, chub Mel and Christian, then a bevy of
Speaker 1: dbs and Baker or Duke and coverage. It's a tough
Speaker 1: ask for opposing offenses because you have specialists that can
Speaker 1: execute multiple different things on that particular look. Speaking of
Speaker 1: rushing four from that last game, Brissette was blitzed on
Speaker 1: just nine of his forty two dropbacks. That's twenty one percent.
Speaker 1: His pass rating was eighty four point three against four
Speaker 1: or fewer rushers and one or three point five against
Speaker 1: the blitz. And that's coming from a team at the
Speaker 1: blitz right with a thirty percent blitz right this season.
Speaker 1: So they reduced it by a pretty good measure there.
Speaker 1: I'm not at all saying scrap the blitz. This defense
Speaker 1: is multiplicity and ability to get to be week to
Speaker 1: week game plan specific is my favorite aspect of it.
Speaker 1: But it's just another nice tool to have in the bag.
Speaker 1: So for that reason, and plus cater Co Who's emergence,
Speaker 1: the play of Justin Bethel, Javon Hollands getting a little
Speaker 1: bit more and more work down in the box and
Speaker 1: the mess to make more plays down there, and then
Speaker 1: just getting healthier over the bye week, I think the
Speaker 1: pass rush is really bubbling up and getting better every
Speaker 1: single week and could take off big time in the
Speaker 1: second half of the season. Let's take our last break here.
Speaker 1: We'll come back and look at some seasons stats and
Speaker 1: the leaderboards for the Dolphins heading into the bye week,
Speaker 1: and will also pick the week eleven games and talk
Speaker 1: about that landscape. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. This was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun to assemble the stats so far
Speaker 1: through ten games through ten weeks for your two Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: We start with the passing game and to a tonguele
Speaker 1: Bylow's been over this He's first in passer rating total
Speaker 1: qb R e p A per play, touchdown percentage, yards
Speaker 1: per attempt, net yards per attempt adjusted net yards per
Speaker 1: at tempt. You know, I'm a big to a guy.
Speaker 1: I can't even say I saw this coming. Like I
Speaker 1: was very bullish from the guy for the last couple
Speaker 1: of years, but this, like, come on, man. He's second
Speaker 1: in completion percentage, fewest, sack percentage, completion percentage over expected
Speaker 1: via next Gen. His on target throw percentage trails only
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. Per Pro Football References Advanced Stats, they say
Speaker 1: that Towa has eighty point six percent of his passes
Speaker 1: on target Aaron Rodgers eight point eight percent. He's third
Speaker 1: in yards per game passer rating under pressure and in
Speaker 1: fact that Pro Football Focus metric. Let's give you the
Speaker 1: full pressure numbers there seven for fifty for three d
Speaker 1: and sixty two yards. That's fifty seven point two yards
Speaker 1: per past three touchdowns and no picks against pressure, no
Speaker 1: fumbles either, no turnovers under pressure. And for posterity, that
Speaker 1: y p A is fourth among quarterbacks with at least
Speaker 1: forty dropbacks against pressure and the completion percentage is fifth,
Speaker 1: so top five and pressure categories across the board to like,
Speaker 1: what more do you want from the guy? He's fourth
Speaker 1: in lowest interception rate across the NFL rushing stats. Raheem's
Speaker 1: twenty four smith tackles are tied for nineteenth among running backs.
Speaker 1: Jeff Wilson has nineteen. That's tied for twenty one, and
Speaker 1: in fact, only the Dolphins, Bears, and Vikings have two
Speaker 1: players in the top twenty one of that category. Jeff
Speaker 1: Wilson's eleven runs of fifteen plus yards is the fourth
Speaker 1: most in football this year. He has a hundred and
Speaker 1: eighteen carries and the three guys ahead of him have
Speaker 1: two oh two one sixty, So he has the highest
Speaker 1: average of fifteen plus yard runs per carry this season.
Speaker 1: Where he most has the thirteenth most runs of fifteen
Speaker 1: plus yards, He's got six of them. He's also tenth
Speaker 1: with eighteen runs of ten plus yards. That's a lot
Speaker 1: of numbers there. Well, I'm telling you is both these
Speaker 1: guys hit explosive runs at the high rates. Jeff Wilson's
Speaker 1: five point four yards per carry's fourteenth in the NFL
Speaker 1: receiving buckle up. It's like the quarterback position. Tyreek is
Speaker 1: first in receptions, receiving yards, first downs, yards per route ran,
Speaker 1: deep ball receptions and yards fourteen for four seventy three
Speaker 1: on throws of twenty plus air yards. I thought he
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna be able to take advantage that anymore. So
Speaker 1: much for that. He's second in yards per game, he's fourth,
Speaker 1: and yards per target. He's tied for ninth with his
Speaker 1: nine contested catches. He's five ft eight five ft nine.
Speaker 1: How tall is he? Of the eight guys with more
Speaker 1: contested catches, Tyreek has a higher contested catch rate than
Speaker 1: all but two of them. He's at nine of fifteen.
Speaker 1: The only guys higher are two of the best high
Speaker 1: partners in the National Football League, Mike Evans and Terry McLaurin.
Speaker 1: From that group have a higher contested catch right. Terry
Speaker 1: McLaren's an elite, elite receiver, by the way, been saying
Speaker 1: that for a while, Mike and JT and video I
Speaker 1: make that argument very strongly. Waddle is first, and yards
Speaker 1: per target he's third, and yards per reception he's fourth
Speaker 1: and receiving yards and yards per route ran. Only Jefferson,
Speaker 1: Digs and Hill have more deep ball receptions. He's fifth
Speaker 1: in first downs in yards per game, and he's tied
Speaker 1: for fifth and receiving touchdowns. He's eighth in deep ball
Speaker 1: yardage and he's twelfth and catches. Defensively, Christian Wilkins is
Speaker 1: fifth among interior defensive lineman and Pro Football Focuses run
Speaker 1: Stops Metric, and Zach Seeler is seventh. Jalen Phillips is
Speaker 1: eighth among edge defenders and PFF pressures and twenty three
Speaker 1: and run stops. Chubb a seventeenth and pressures and nineteenth
Speaker 1: and run stops. The defense is tougher to peg because
Speaker 1: most categories are league wide, so like Javon Hollands forty
Speaker 1: and tackles but that includes like all positions, and we
Speaker 1: play really good team defense. That's not really been a
Speaker 1: stat piling defense. But I do like these two numbers
Speaker 1: a lot team pass rush win rate they are six
Speaker 1: at forty percent and team run stop win rate ten
Speaker 1: at all. Right, once again, last podcast of the week.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and make our week eleven picks during
Speaker 1: the bye and tell you about which games to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on. Let's go ahead and make the picks first.
Speaker 1: Give me the Packers over the Titans on Thursday night,
Speaker 1: football typically take the home team here. I think both
Speaker 1: these teams are kind of you know, at least the
Speaker 1: Titans have played above their belt. The Packers, I shouldn't
Speaker 1: say that they could just came up a five game
Speaker 1: losing streak, but I think they'll get going more in
Speaker 1: the right direction. Packers over Titans. Give me the Bears
Speaker 1: over the Falcons. I'm so pumped about Justin Fields what
Speaker 1: he's doing with the Chicago Bears. Give me the Eagles
Speaker 1: to bounce back over the Colts. Congratulations by the way
Speaker 1: to the nineteen seventy two team pop in Champagne after
Speaker 1: the Eagles lost on Monday Night football. But they'll get
Speaker 1: right over the Colts. Big one here, Patriots over Jets.
Speaker 1: That's a big game to watch in the a f
Speaker 1: C East. Give me Houston over Washington. Give me New
Speaker 1: Orleans over the Rams. Give me the Bills over the Browns.
Speaker 1: Let's do Ravens over the Panthers. The Titans will get
Speaker 1: back or not the Titans. Am I talking about the Lions.
Speaker 1: The Lions will get to win over the Giants and
Speaker 1: a big upset there. Give me the Broncos over the Raiders.
Speaker 1: It's kind of the battle of the upset it team
Speaker 1: or the disappointed teams. I should say in the a
Speaker 1: f C West, give me the Cowboys after that emotional
Speaker 1: win by the Vikings and they'll get right after losing
Speaker 1: to the Packers. I'll take the Cowboys over Minnesota. Give
Speaker 1: me the Bengals over the Steelers, the Chiefs over the Chargers.
Speaker 1: Great Sunday night football game there, and the Niners over
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. As far as like what you should be
Speaker 1: looking for this weekend, uh, there's a really good mix
Speaker 1: of games for Dolphins purposes. All three times slates, the
Speaker 1: ten A or the one o'clock slate. How I'm three
Speaker 1: years in the East Coast, they'll call it tenn a
Speaker 1: m slot, the one o'clock time slot. Jets and Patriots.
Speaker 1: We want the Patriots to win that game. The lower
Speaker 1: win team in the division take down. The Jets also
Speaker 1: have the head to head win over the Dolphins, so
Speaker 1: as long as the Patriots beat the Jets, Miami can
Speaker 1: maintain their first place position in the a f C East.
Speaker 1: Also in that same time frame, the Bills and Browns
Speaker 1: is a big one. I know the Bills are kind
Speaker 1: of in their mid season slump. They seemed to go
Speaker 1: through every year the last couple of years. We know
Speaker 1: they're gonna wind up getting hot and playing good football
Speaker 1: at the end of the year, though, But in this game,
Speaker 1: with like multiple feet of snow and crazy wind expected,
Speaker 1: perhaps Nick Chubb and that Brown's running game can maybe
Speaker 1: do some of their stuff with the Bills passing game,
Speaker 1: maybe can't. I don't know. That'd be nice to see
Speaker 1: if if we can get a couple of losses there
Speaker 1: in division coming out of the bye week. Those are
Speaker 1: the two big ones. And then in the for noon,
Speaker 1: I think, just for potential seeding purposes, the Steelers over
Speaker 1: the Bengals for the second time this year would be nice.
Speaker 1: That's slate. And then I'm kind of having a hard
Speaker 1: time to figure out what we want on Sunday night
Speaker 1: because if you're trying to play for a top seed,
Speaker 1: like you want the Chargers to win, but if the
Speaker 1: Bills can come back and win the division, you kind
Speaker 1: of want to compete for a better wild card spot
Speaker 1: against the Chargers. So that's kind of a tough one.
Speaker 1: I am thinking this team is gonna get really hot,
Speaker 1: this Dolphins team in the second half of the season,
Speaker 1: so I am rooting for the best possibilities, which means
Speaker 1: the one Seeds, so will go Chargers, although I am
Speaker 1: picking the Chiefs in that one, and that's it. Those
Speaker 1: are your four big ones to look at this weekend.
Speaker 1: The a f C. Of course the Ravens as well,
Speaker 1: but if you look at the Ravens schedule, they're they're
Speaker 1: probably gonna coast to the a f C North title,
Speaker 1: So I'm not really factoring them because they have a
Speaker 1: really easy road the rest of the way, but they
Speaker 1: do put the Panthers on Sunday. Uh Texans preview next Tuesday.
Speaker 1: In the podcast, we'll talk to Mark vander Meer, the
Speaker 1: voice of the Texans, for Perspective from Houston. That will
Speaker 1: be Wednesday. Enjoy the bye week, everybody. Twitter Spaces is
Speaker 1: back tonight, so check out me, Seth and Juice eight
Speaker 1: o'clock at my Twitter timeline, at Wingfield and of fel
Speaker 1: where you can find me on Twitter. You can find
Speaker 1: the Dolphins also at Miami Dolphins Subscribe, rate, review all
Speaker 1: the stuff. Check out the fish Tank again. The Twitter
Speaker 1: Spaces show tonight at eight o'clock. International podcast on the Network.
Speaker 1: No postgame show this week, but back in two weeks
Speaker 1: with the Houston Texans. Check out the team YouTube channel
Speaker 1: for media availabilities, Dolphins Today, Drivetime and Fish Tank content,
Speaker 1: and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com Until
Speaker 1: next time finds up Caroline Daddy. He's coming home for
Speaker 1: three days.