Speaker 1: You were listening to the Miami Dolphins podcast Network. This
Speaker 1: is Drive Time with Travis Wheatfield. Back to throw to
Speaker 1: a looking slips alka wine open cluchtop clineric call un
Speaker 1: believable because blue fire for a second time. Don't know
Speaker 1: where he was going right away? A hit of that there, man,
Speaker 1: I want to help you soon up on his way
Speaker 1: Wattle waddle to a shotgun, back to throw looking ups
Speaker 1: up fires too. It's waddle. It's six touchdown past. The
Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Winfield begins. Now let me check
Speaker 1: your pulse. If not further, what is up? Dolphans And
Speaker 1: welcome to the Drivetime podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it
Speaker 1: going everybody? I am your host, Travis Winkfield. And on
Speaker 1: today's show, it is preview day Dolphins and Vikings and
Speaker 1: our first cross conference game of the season. We'll take
Speaker 1: a look at the matchups in the game, the key stats,
Speaker 1: the film, a heck of a lot more, tell you
Speaker 1: what's at stake, and tell you the three keys to
Speaker 1: victory for your Miami Dolphins. From the Baptist Health Studios
Speaker 1: inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime Podcast.
Speaker 1: It is our first intra inter conference game. That verbiage
Speaker 1: always confuses me. It's the first matchup for the Dolphins
Speaker 1: against an NFC team this season, and that of course
Speaker 1: means we have not seen them in four years, haven't
Speaker 1: seen them down here in eight years. That trip to Minnesota,
Speaker 1: i'm sure, is one that all of us would like
Speaker 1: to forget coming off the Miami miracle game and that
Speaker 1: blowout in Minneapolis game was pretty fun though the walk
Speaker 1: off safety of Terence for Day was pretty cool, although
Speaker 1: the events are transpired after that not so cool, But
Speaker 1: were Minnesota. A lot has changed since then, same quarterback,
Speaker 1: but a new head coach who has a connection to
Speaker 1: that tree that Kirk Cousins saw his career originate with
Speaker 1: back in d C. Of course, I'm talking about Sean
Speaker 1: McVeigh and Kevin O'Connell working under him with the Rams
Speaker 1: and bringing similar concepts and philosophies to the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: Will get into what that means on the football field
Speaker 1: in the preview section, and it's a pretty stark contract offensively,
Speaker 1: but even more so defensively. Mike Zimmer is a great
Speaker 1: football coach. From you know, for a long time he
Speaker 1: was at least but as this league has a way
Speaker 1: of doing, sometimes is situations will fizzle and changes needed,
Speaker 1: and it was Minnesota's secondary there for the longest time
Speaker 1: just struggled to get production out of so many newcombers.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't for a lack of trying. As we
Speaker 1: look at how this team was built to where they
Speaker 1: currently are, it was a real concerted effort to build
Speaker 1: that portion of the roster over the last several years,
Speaker 1: and that began with first round pick Mike Hughes, though
Speaker 1: it does go back further to McKenzie, Alexander and Trey
Speaker 1: Wayne's but for the more relevant timeline, he was in
Speaker 1: the late Jeff glad rest in Peace, Cam Danceler also
Speaker 1: in he's currently with the club, and then their first
Speaker 1: two picks this year were also in the defensive backfield,
Speaker 1: Lewis Scene from Georgia and Andrew Booth Jr. Out of Clemson.
Speaker 1: They've also added Patrick Peterson as a veteran to the mix,
Speaker 1: and longtime star safety Harrison Smith is still playing at
Speaker 1: a high level for them. The other areas of focus
Speaker 1: have been the offensive line at Ingram a second round
Speaker 1: pick this year, Christian Derris saw first round pick last year,
Speaker 1: Ezra Cleveland in the second round back in twenty and
Speaker 1: Garrett Bradberry, their center, was a first round pick in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, the same year they drafted Herb Smith to
Speaker 1: give them what was then the deadliest twelve personnel package
Speaker 1: in the NFL, with Smith and Kyle Rudolph so secondary
Speaker 1: and offensive line to complement their stars at receiver and
Speaker 1: running back with Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook and a
Speaker 1: team that went the NFC Title game back that made
Speaker 1: the big move for the quarterback a year after they
Speaker 1: played three different guys at the quarterback position. Sam Bradford
Speaker 1: was the original starter on that team. Teddy Bridgewater got
Speaker 1: some action late in that season after that really rough
Speaker 1: injury he had to come back from there at the Vikings,
Speaker 1: and then case Keenum ultimately was the player on the
Speaker 1: field when they went to the NFC Title Game. None
Speaker 1: of them returned for eighteen as Kirk Cousins gets the
Speaker 1: big deal that was it three years, ninety million fully guaranteed,
Speaker 1: and they've just been on the cusp of getting over
Speaker 1: that hump really since his signing and currently four and
Speaker 1: one atop the NFC North It's beginning to feel like
Speaker 1: maybe maybe this is the year that it happens for them.
Speaker 1: They've built a super strong roster under questiado fo Mensa
Speaker 1: picking up where Rick Spielman left off, and Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 1: looks like the real deal, and a defensive switch going
Speaker 1: from Zimmerman to new defensive coordinator and Dontel who has
Speaker 1: been in the NFL since and most recently running that
Speaker 1: patented cover too with the Broncos under Vic Fangio as
Speaker 1: their DC there up in Denver. So that's the Vikings,
Speaker 1: a division leader coming to town for a one o'clock kickoff.
Speaker 1: I was pretty intrigued by the weather this week in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: As we know, it's never easy to come down here
Speaker 1: and play in this temperature. Dolphins are winners of their
Speaker 1: last eight at home and fifteen in the last twenty
Speaker 1: one here at hard Rock Stadium, and I saw that
Speaker 1: on Tuesday it was up to eighty one degrees in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1: Then Wednesday dropped down to like fifty. Crazy weather out
Speaker 1: there in the Midwest. It's supposed to be a nice
Speaker 1: cool day here on Sunday. I think mid seventies after
Speaker 1: the low eighties, so maybe less of a factive this
Speaker 1: time around, but for the fans a little more cozy
Speaker 1: in the stands. Go ahead and pick this up with
Speaker 1: the Dolphins offense versus the Vikings defense and the quarterback
Speaker 1: versus safety position. We heard from head coach Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: the plan right now is to start Skylar Thompson at
Speaker 1: quarterback and if Teddy Bridgewater clears concussion protocol, he will
Speaker 1: be the backup for the game. To a tongue of vloa,
Speaker 1: also working back through the concussion protocol. He started his
Speaker 1: throwing process first time back on the practice field on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: but McDaniel said he will not play in the game
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and so we've heard that it will be
Speaker 1: Skyler Thompson with his first career start after taking over
Speaker 1: on the second offensive play of the game on Sunday,
Speaker 1: and as we covered in the film review show, the
Speaker 1: Jets only blitzed him three times in that game. It
Speaker 1: was primarily quarters coverage, which is four deep and the
Speaker 1: best way to minimize all deep passing with plenty of
Speaker 1: three and four man rushes, and that gives you then
Speaker 1: a four or five man shell in the hook zones,
Speaker 1: so you have to really anticipate to beat coverage. That's
Speaker 1: how you do it in this league. It's why it's
Speaker 1: you know, pick your poison against some of the top
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that can process pre snap and get the ball
Speaker 1: out there to their hot immediately. But the Vikings are
Speaker 1: gonna play a similar style. They do not blitz very
Speaker 1: often at all, the six lowest blitz rate in the
Speaker 1: NFL at nineteen point one percent, which is the sixth lowest,
Speaker 1: like I just said, but their pressure rate is twenty
Speaker 1: four at nineteen point seven, so a slight bump. But
Speaker 1: they're basically getting what you know, reaping what they so
Speaker 1: in terms of their pressure conversion out of blisses. So
Speaker 1: it's a new system for them, and really it's an
Speaker 1: offshoot of those old Fangio principles with quarter quarter half.
Speaker 1: What that means is one deep defender covers a deep quarter,
Speaker 1: another one defends another deep quarter, and that leaves you
Speaker 1: with a half. So you have a third deep defender
Speaker 1: that covers that portion of the field. So that's how
Speaker 1: you take away deep balls, right and looking at the tape,
Speaker 1: they're not doing whole a whole lot more than that
Speaker 1: it's kind of a get to your landmark and just
Speaker 1: assess from there, like a very old school principles, so
Speaker 1: a bit different from the continuity and really the communication
Speaker 1: we saw the Jets play with last week to effectively
Speaker 1: execute those spot drops and those zone looks, but the
Speaker 1: Vikings have had issues with it so far this year.
Speaker 1: Justin fields through for two five yards and touchdown on
Speaker 1: that defense last December. That's the second highest total of
Speaker 1: his career so far. He threw for two oh eight
Speaker 1: in the game on Sunday, which is the third highest
Speaker 1: total and was seventy yards higher then his average per
Speaker 1: game this season, and it was his first passer rating
Speaker 1: over a hundred. In fact, it was one eight teen
Speaker 1: point seven. His next best passer rating in a single
Speaker 1: game is ninety six point six. That was the Vikings
Speaker 1: game last year. His next best rating was one point nine.
Speaker 1: He has three career games out of seven team with
Speaker 1: a rating over ninety, two of them against Minnesota one
Speaker 1: this year. One was last week. Much to my surprise,
Speaker 1: Harrison Smith, going back to the Vikings defense here is
Speaker 1: never in the box. That's usually where he makes his money.
Speaker 1: He has a vacation home, maybe even his primary residence
Speaker 1: down there in the box through the rest of his career,
Speaker 1: spending time up around the line of scrimmage. His veteran
Speaker 1: presence on that back end as clearly important. As they
Speaker 1: work through getting this new system installed and trying to
Speaker 1: get it running like a well oiled machine's taking them
Speaker 1: some time. Hasn't quite clicked yet, as Cameron Binnum hasn't
Speaker 1: left the field as the other safety, playing all three
Speaker 1: hundred twenty two defensive snaps for this Vikings team, two
Speaker 1: hundred sixty four of those in the post, as Harrison Smith,
Speaker 1: the other primary safety, has played two hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: three total snaps, with one fifty eight of those outside
Speaker 1: the box. So you have safeties that don't come down
Speaker 1: and fit the run or support the run all that often.
Speaker 1: They do eventually, but not all the time. They don't
Speaker 1: bring their backers on any pass rush, but every fifth
Speaker 1: snap and they'll start in those two high looks and
Speaker 1: they'll stay there and rotate corners and to cover three
Speaker 1: and quarters looks and whatever it might be to get
Speaker 1: themselves with a three or four man shield against the
Speaker 1: top part of the field. When a team does that,
Speaker 1: you must, must, must be able to run the football.
Speaker 1: The Jets did it last week. The Dolphins found some
Speaker 1: footing there and it kept him in the game while
Speaker 1: the offense kind of struggle to put together the rest
Speaker 1: of the game from a passing standpoint. And Skylar Thompson
Speaker 1: met with the media on Wednesday, and he's a fun
Speaker 1: interview man. He's he really seems to get it for
Speaker 1: a rookie. He talked about some areas he can improve
Speaker 1: and that he saw from the tape, and he mentioned
Speaker 1: that his footwork and timing and the eyes and the
Speaker 1: feet being married up together again the Tuesday All twenty
Speaker 1: two review, right, let's we talked about getting that part
Speaker 1: portion of his game on cue, trusting his feet, trusting
Speaker 1: his eyes, and he says, you can kind of tell
Speaker 1: when you're timing is not right when you hitch up
Speaker 1: a couple too many times. What do we see on
Speaker 1: tape but too many hitches. So hopefully Skyler can get
Speaker 1: that improved and and better for his second game. Here
Speaker 1: is first start with the Miami Dolphins. I am most
Speaker 1: interested to see how the game looks from Miami's perspective.
Speaker 1: Knowing that Skylar Thompson to start in the game, I
Speaker 1: can't imagine it's easy to pivot like that after your
Speaker 1: first play. You know, you just you your game plan
Speaker 1: can't possibly be executed the same way with a different player.
Speaker 1: You just it just there's no way. And so for
Speaker 1: on play number two to kind of take out a
Speaker 1: chunk of your playbook. And you know, I'm sure Teddy
Speaker 1: was comfortable with a few of these things that Skyler
Speaker 1: prefers to do something differently. That's tough for a coach,
Speaker 1: tough for a team to deal with that. And another
Speaker 1: point that I thought was super interesting was the fact
Speaker 1: that Teddy going out early, Skyler doesn't have a second
Speaker 1: quarterback there to bounce ideas off of and ask, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: what do you see in here? What would you have
Speaker 1: done right here? And he should have that this week
Speaker 1: opposed to just coaches around him like a player. Is
Speaker 1: always a good thing to have around you in that instance,
Speaker 1: And of course he talked about Tyreek Hill and and
Speaker 1: Wattle as well. You can listen to the entire press
Speaker 1: conference up on the team YouTube channel. It's always what
Speaker 1: important to have your weapons operating at full capacity. It
Speaker 1: sounds like Miami might have that. As we transition to
Speaker 1: receivers and tight ends versus the corners. Uh, sounds like
Speaker 1: we're trending in the right direction for Tyreek Hills. Adam
Speaker 1: Schefter tweeted on Wednesday that he expects to play on Sunday,
Speaker 1: and of course Mike McDaniel confirmed that he'll he'll give
Speaker 1: it his best effort to go and we expect him
Speaker 1: to go out there on Sunday. We know that Wattle,
Speaker 1: what him and Wattle do to hold the attention of
Speaker 1: the opposing defense, and who better than them to keep
Speaker 1: those safeties in that space, back them off, open up
Speaker 1: that space in the running game. And frankly, I think
Speaker 1: this is a great matchup at the spot for Miami
Speaker 1: well because I think that both these guys are top
Speaker 1: five receivers obviously, but both for the reasons we mentioned
Speaker 1: above in terms of this defense trying to get their
Speaker 1: sea legs under them in a new system, because any
Speaker 1: hesitation against these guys and you could pay the ultimate price,
Speaker 1: but also in terms of the styles of their primary
Speaker 1: perimeter corners as well as their slot guy. Really versus
Speaker 1: our top two guys. Look, Patrick Peterson is going to
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, but he is coming up on
Speaker 1: age thirty three doesn't run the way he used to write.
Speaker 1: Patrick Peterson has been targeted twenty two times, but there's
Speaker 1: eleven completions allowed for a buck forty four This year,
Speaker 1: Cameron Danceler has thirty one targets twenty three completions for
Speaker 1: two sixty eight. And then Shandon Sullivan has been targeted
Speaker 1: twenty one times, eighteen catches two and thirty four yards,
Speaker 1: and like we talked about in the open, it's been
Speaker 1: a rough go for this group. PFF has the opponent
Speaker 1: completing seventy of their passes for eight point eight yards average.
Speaker 1: That's not good. They don't play a lot of press
Speaker 1: on a zone out there. So if Skyler can find
Speaker 1: the matchups he likes, find the soft spot and played decisively,
Speaker 1: hopefully put the ball in the hands of those two
Speaker 1: guys and maybe they can open it up a little
Speaker 1: bit more with the run after the catch. So Peterson
Speaker 1: once clock to four three, that's that's just not it's
Speaker 1: just not sustainable. To age thirty three, Cameron Danceler was
Speaker 1: a three oh six ras guy Relative Athletics scorecard with
Speaker 1: obvious the five is your average. He was a four
Speaker 1: six four forty guy Jandon Solivan is a four six
Speaker 1: forty guy and a four three shuttle guy. The takeaway
Speaker 1: here is the biggest matchup we've had all season in
Speaker 1: terms of mismatch at the receiver versus defensive backs position.
Speaker 1: It's this one. Hopefully we can take advantage which we
Speaker 1: had our quarterback man. Then, of course, the rest of
Speaker 1: the guys that make up such a key part of
Speaker 1: the offense with Mike Kisicky Durham Smith of running back,
Speaker 1: Cedric Wilson, Trent Sherfield, River Craik Craft, the Vikings have
Speaker 1: just they just don't mix it up all that often.
Speaker 1: So if that's the case, it allows you to really
Speaker 1: dictate your matchups, which I always have confidence that coach
Speaker 1: can formulate a plan around his young quarterback and maximize
Speaker 1: those strengths. I think that if you give coach McDaniel
Speaker 1: what he expects to get on Sunday and give a
Speaker 1: full week to prepare for it, I like his odds
Speaker 1: against that against really any coach opposed to happen to
Speaker 1: change your plan on the second snap of the game.
Speaker 1: Moving on to the offensive line versus the defensive line,
Speaker 1: this is where the Vikings defense really sets the tone
Speaker 1: up front and in particular with the Neil Hunter. Everywhere goes,
Speaker 1: you better find him. He can play anywhere on the
Speaker 1: defensive line. They don't use him on the nose, but
Speaker 1: he's an absolute problem as an edge rusher, a guy
Speaker 1: who condense his inside for their NASCAR packages and just
Speaker 1: a flat out game record. I mean he can win immediately,
Speaker 1: which obviously leads to some blown up run plays or
Speaker 1: potential you know, mesh point issues, the quick sacks, the
Speaker 1: force fumbles, the splash plays when the quarterback speed up
Speaker 1: his process and makes a bad decision. Daniel Hunter can
Speaker 1: wreck a game. Don't let it happen. If you can,
Speaker 1: if you can do anything to stop it, then do that.
Speaker 1: And they will use their two edges, both he and
Speaker 1: the Darius Smith and two point stances, which I think
Speaker 1: gives the offensive line an opportunity to work underneath the
Speaker 1: pad level and seal off those edges, and of course
Speaker 1: running the ball wide. It's such a big strength of
Speaker 1: this offense when they're going the right way, and if
Speaker 1: they can make that happen, also obviously impacts your play
Speaker 1: action boot game too. If they're not going to support
Speaker 1: the box, you have to be able to run the football,
Speaker 1: then maybe they'll adjust and we can open it up
Speaker 1: as we go along. But running at those two guys
Speaker 1: I think is a great way to keep their pass
Speaker 1: rush at Bay. All of that said, Daniel Hunter isn't
Speaker 1: even the top guy in pressures. It's a Darius Smith
Speaker 1: who has eighteen this year. DJ Wantam has twelve of
Speaker 1: his own, and Dalvin Tomlinson has twelve of his own.
Speaker 1: Hunter is fourth on the team with ten, and then
Speaker 1: Harrison Phillips are big nose tackle has six, but Hunter
Speaker 1: leads all defensive line with twelve run stops, so he's
Speaker 1: just a complete player. Tomlinson and Smith both have eleven
Speaker 1: apiece and then Harrison Phillips also has a six spot there.
Speaker 1: They are deep and good upfront in the trenches. Their
Speaker 1: edges are big, kind of akin to the Ravens, you know,
Speaker 1: like we talked about in that podcast, and not unlike
Speaker 1: us with a two hundred and seventy three pounds Smith
Speaker 1: two sixty three pound Hunter, So they're capable of impacting
Speaker 1: your edge in the run game, which can force backs
Speaker 1: to bubble. And we've seen the most success in our
Speaker 1: own run game when we can get Raheem or chase
Speaker 1: on that full speed track without having to throttle down.
Speaker 1: So finding a way to get knocked back on those
Speaker 1: guys could be so key for Tehran and Greg Little
Speaker 1: or Brandon Shell, whoever it might be. If Tahron can't
Speaker 1: go off the edge is to minimize that pushback off
Speaker 1: those edge can be so key to give a clear
Speaker 1: path for where heem moster to do what he did
Speaker 1: on Sunday and run wild. They can condense both Hunter
Speaker 1: and Smith inside to bring on their NASCAR package with
Speaker 1: multiple edges where DJ one Um comes in and you
Speaker 1: kick those two edges inside and then you have four
Speaker 1: defensive ends. All of a sudden, He's two d sixty
Speaker 1: pounds of his own right. But that just keeps them
Speaker 1: so deadly in their rush game packages. They run so
Speaker 1: many twists. So communication up front is integral in terms
Speaker 1: of Connor Williams getting things, you know, passed out across
Speaker 1: the offensive line a strong suit for this group so
Speaker 1: far in the way that Williams has helped kind of
Speaker 1: balance the interior of the old line, but getting those
Speaker 1: calls communicated, getting the protection slides bright, picking up the games.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of size, a lot of strength and
Speaker 1: power to deal with off the edge, and it's not
Speaker 1: all that different when you go inside because Dalvin Tomlins
Speaker 1: him is a former state champ wrestler who just wins.
Speaker 1: He's from Bama to the Senior Bowl to the giants
Speaker 1: of the Vikings. Like, he refuses to lose that low
Speaker 1: man battle, low man wins battle. So I'm pumped to
Speaker 1: watch him go against our guys because I think that
Speaker 1: between Connor and Rob Hunt, that's something that they excel
Speaker 1: with moving the guys off the football. He goes three
Speaker 1: pounds where Phillips is three oh seven, so they're deep
Speaker 1: in a good mix of styles and abilities. We'll see
Speaker 1: about to Ron's availability, he draws yet another mark he
Speaker 1: match up if he goes out there with Daniel Hunter,
Speaker 1: then really just you know about a note about Rob
Speaker 1: Hunt playing so well, We're getting a lot of yards
Speaker 1: running behind the big right guard here. So it's getting
Speaker 1: to the point now where it's not so much about
Speaker 1: matchup for me, just to note say, like this guy
Speaker 1: is getting the job done every single week. Hopefully it
Speaker 1: keeps rolling here. Such a key in this game to
Speaker 1: somehow some way get more from the other two spots
Speaker 1: on the offensive line. There have been so many plays
Speaker 1: where just one inch away off left guard right tackle
Speaker 1: from springing that big play down your top two quarterbacks
Speaker 1: this week, we gotta have that, gotta be more consistent.
Speaker 1: They're absolutely have to have it. Especially helping out with
Speaker 1: Smith off that right side is a big, big key
Speaker 1: for me. Let's go ahead and take our first break
Speaker 1: right here and come back into the running backs and
Speaker 1: linebackers and then spend this thing over to the Dolphins
Speaker 1: defense versus the Vikings offense. That's next on the Drivetime Podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation
Speaker 1: back here on a Thursday preview show, almost said Wednesday,
Speaker 1: taping it here on a Wednesday, taking a look at
Speaker 1: Miami's Week six matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. We pick
Speaker 1: it back up with the Dolphins running backs versus the
Speaker 1: Vikings linebackers and their linebackers fit the run in behind
Speaker 1: that big defensive line as well as anybody. With Jordan Hicks,
Speaker 1: you know, raking up racking up nineteen run stops already
Speaker 1: and Eric Hendricks with eight of his own. Kendricks is
Speaker 1: more of the coverage guy and speed guy where Hicks
Speaker 1: tends to get downhill. It's kind of like Jerome and
Speaker 1: the Landing here. I mean they both do both, but
Speaker 1: you see the difference in the way they specialize in it.
Speaker 1: Kendricks has been making place for a long long time,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite linebacker prospects ever, coming out of
Speaker 1: U c. L A. You know, almost a decade ago. Now,
Speaker 1: allowing just ten of six teen passes complete, which is
Speaker 1: so good for a lineback. Or his speed is a
Speaker 1: potential offset to the speed that we have on those
Speaker 1: wide runs. So trying to give him that I candy
Speaker 1: we talked about on the Tuesday podcast in terms of
Speaker 1: pulling guard here. You know, a wall off block here,
Speaker 1: a scoot block. They're just different things. To give them
Speaker 1: different things to look at. Could be a good way
Speaker 1: to get some false steps created there in the running game.
Speaker 1: And like I said before, there's just not a huge
Speaker 1: rotation or a lot of mixing it up on this defense.
Speaker 1: Those guys have played three hundred and seventeen and two snaps.
Speaker 1: Their next most used linebacker is Brian Assuma. He has
Speaker 1: six snaps. Quite a departure there, I mean, Darius Smith
Speaker 1: will play that two point stands. That kind of gives
Speaker 1: you the show of a linebacker. But he's only played
Speaker 1: coverage on thirteen snaps this year, so he's coming after
Speaker 1: you as the edge rusher there for the Vikings four
Speaker 1: man rushed most of the time, seven man in coverage,
Speaker 1: Scott has got to be sharpened the way he sees
Speaker 1: it and moves guys with his eyes and this game,
Speaker 1: you know, screams to me, help off the edges, fan
Speaker 1: that line out, get the help off the right side,
Speaker 1: get the help off the neil hunter as well, and
Speaker 1: try to see if you can get your perimeter guys
Speaker 1: to win quickly and uncover fast so Skyler can make
Speaker 1: quick decisions and get the football out of his hand.
Speaker 1: As for our own guys, man, I hope we see
Speaker 1: Raheem open it up again. He is so close to
Speaker 1: popping a long one. Those ten to twenty yard runs
Speaker 1: are just one block missed or one miss tackle away
Speaker 1: from going the distance. Giving his speed, I think this
Speaker 1: is the week that he gets one. As I mentioned,
Speaker 1: this isn't the fleetest of foot secondary in the NFL.
Speaker 1: That's kind of my key here, and I guess my
Speaker 1: prediction Mostar gets loose for a fifty plus yard touchdown
Speaker 1: run on Sunday. Let's go ahead and move to the
Speaker 1: other side of the football Dolphins defense Vikings offense. We
Speaker 1: go back to the quarterback position versus the safety position,
Speaker 1: and there's a very interesting dichotomy here. Last year, Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins was averaged eight yards per pass and through twelve
Speaker 1: touchdowns without turning the ball over against the blitz or
Speaker 1: i should say, without throwing a pick. That's a one
Speaker 1: twelve passer rating. This year though, in this new system,
Speaker 1: he's just twenty one of forty four. It's four point
Speaker 1: two yards per pass, two touchdowns and two picks and
Speaker 1: a rating of fifty five point six, less than half
Speaker 1: the production from a season ago. The Dolphins blitz numbers
Speaker 1: are down a little bit this year, which is actually
Speaker 1: thirteen most. That number did not change last week even
Speaker 1: without x. In fact, they blitz Zach Wilson of his
Speaker 1: dropbacks because well, he struggles against the blitz as well.
Speaker 1: Now where you see a major difference is again we
Speaker 1: talked about it not having those two cornerbacks outside with
Speaker 1: x Avian Howard, We're just missing the one game and
Speaker 1: no Byron Jones were the first five games that changes
Speaker 1: the way you play. It's a big part of this defense,
Speaker 1: and it's changed Javon Hollands pre snap deployment. Well maybe
Speaker 1: not major, but he did rush the pass or ten
Speaker 1: times through the first four weeks. That's again the departure
Speaker 1: of not having X and Byron out there, because last
Speaker 1: year he rushed, you know, four or five times a game,
Speaker 1: but last week without either of those guys, zero pass
Speaker 1: rush reps and his box snap count reduced by more
Speaker 1: than fifty as well. So Javon holland Brandon Jones are
Speaker 1: such big keys each week and the way you use them,
Speaker 1: but they're limited in the way they can, you know,
Speaker 1: bounce around the formation without having a full compliment out there.
Speaker 1: Just they do so much to disguise us to support
Speaker 1: the run who occasionally blitz and Cousins is such a
Speaker 1: polished vet who has seen everything the league can throw
Speaker 1: at him. It's gonna be a fun chess match to
Speaker 1: watch out there, one that I think Miami has a
Speaker 1: chance to kind of get right against because of the
Speaker 1: style of quarterback that he is. Because I like the
Speaker 1: way this defense has defended the style of offense going
Speaker 1: back you know a few years, and there's been changes obviously,
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of the same carry over here
Speaker 1: in the system and the guys we have. You know, again,
Speaker 1: getting Buyer Jones back would be nice, but I hearkened
Speaker 1: back to match up with the Rams when we just
Speaker 1: relentlessly blitz the weak side edge and didn't give Jared
Speaker 1: Goff more than a step after turning his back to
Speaker 1: the defense, you wheel back around the bootleg, there's a
Speaker 1: guy in your face. It led to mistakes, it led
Speaker 1: to turnovers, it led to sas and it's just an
Speaker 1: absolutely dominant day from the Dolphins defense. We need that
Speaker 1: this week because again Ron QB three, we need that
Speaker 1: defense to show up this week. As for the offense
Speaker 1: in general, again you're, you know, this system outside zone
Speaker 1: mixed with some duo inside which is double teams. You
Speaker 1: get too double teams and you climb with the second
Speaker 1: level and tons and tons and tons of play action
Speaker 1: bootlegs and the grouping they used to get to those looks.
Speaker 1: They're an eight percent eleven personnel ty and that's one back,
Speaker 1: one tight end typically Dalvin Cook, typically IRP Smith Jr.
Speaker 1: With three whiteouts, typically justin Jefferson, Adam Thilan and kJ Osborne.
Speaker 1: They go twelve percent seven percent of the time, twelve personnel,
Speaker 1: I should say seven percent of the time. That's one back,
Speaker 1: two tight ends, and they go twenty one personnel, two backs,
Speaker 1: one tight end ten percent of the time. So you'll
Speaker 1: get a full back coming downhill at you. More on
Speaker 1: that in just a moment. The receiver slash tight end
Speaker 1: versus cornerbacks. It starts and ends with Justin Jefferson. If
Speaker 1: you don't give him a lot of attention, he will
Speaker 1: go off. He had ten catches last week at halftime
Speaker 1: against the Bears. Teams that have gone one on one
Speaker 1: against him have paid for it. How many teams they'll
Speaker 1: have Xabing Howard just one. We'll see how the Dolphins
Speaker 1: choose to match it up, but they have some choices here.
Speaker 1: Detroit and Philly were the two teams that made a
Speaker 1: point to take away Justin Jefferson three for fourteen against Detroit,
Speaker 1: six for forty eight against Philly and those two games.
Speaker 1: But then what did Adam Feeling and Osbourne and IRB.
Speaker 1: Smith Jr. Doing those games? Well? The Lions game, Osborne
Speaker 1: had five for seventy three and a touchdown and Feeland
Speaker 1: had six for sixty one and a touchdown and IRB
Speaker 1: Smith had two for thirty two. That's hundreds. It's a
Speaker 1: lot of arts, almost two hundred yards. The Eagles had
Speaker 1: Feeling four for fifty two, Smith for five for thirty six,
Speaker 1: and Osbourne two for five. And the Eagles are so
Speaker 1: loaded in the secondary. So that kind of production with
Speaker 1: Jefferson sixty eight, that's how you beat this team seven
Speaker 1: like Philadelphia did. Can Miami replicate something similar? Kinkater Co,
Speaker 1: who played the level that James Bradberry plays at, can
Speaker 1: Nick don't play at the level we get accustomed to
Speaker 1: over the last several years with him playing here. It's
Speaker 1: another instance where I just wish we had things that
Speaker 1: we didn't. But teams with multiple lockdown corners I think
Speaker 1: could really give this offense fits. It will be a
Speaker 1: challenge for Josh Boyer to craft a plan that gives
Speaker 1: them the opportunity to do that, to take away Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson and give them issues with potentially I think what
Speaker 1: could be asked of kator Co, who this week he's
Speaker 1: playing really well. I think this season I think has
Speaker 1: the makeup to draw and and really win against Adam
Speaker 1: Feeling because Stealans so sharpened his routes and the way
Speaker 1: co who's shown that he can change directions, might be
Speaker 1: the ability to give you the defensive production we're looking
Speaker 1: for in that matchup and force them to Osbourne to
Speaker 1: earth Smith into the running game. That will be a
Speaker 1: nice key. I can get that done this week. Personally,
Speaker 1: I would love to get back to the press looks
Speaker 1: on the outside and just keep coming at Cousins and
Speaker 1: live and die by that sword. But we'll see. We'll
Speaker 1: see what they want to do on defense this week.
Speaker 1: The matchups with Needham and co Who you know, if
Speaker 1: it's if it's Steel and Osborne, those are good ones.
Speaker 1: The way those Vikings receivers play, I think are areas
Speaker 1: with the Dolphins corners can kind of shine in terms
Speaker 1: of you know, sharp, quick, nifty route runners, quick change
Speaker 1: of directions, get eyes back to the quarterback and the
Speaker 1: football and hopefully we make some plays in the ball.
Speaker 1: This week. I want to set some picks. Man. We
Speaker 1: have one pick and it was five weeks ago on
Speaker 1: the offensive line versus defensive line. We mentioned the investment
Speaker 1: into the old line they made and it's been beneficial
Speaker 1: for the Vikings. Christian Derris saw has been every bit
Speaker 1: the first round play, or they were hoping he would
Speaker 1: be and they drafted him last year out of Virginia Tech.
Speaker 1: Their scheme operates around his ability to lock down one
Speaker 1: side of the formation and slide help to the rest,
Speaker 1: much like to Ron Armstead for the Dolphins. And of
Speaker 1: course he goes out and past protection, you know, takes
Speaker 1: a dip just like the same thing without having your
Speaker 1: QB one that gets spread of the ball so quickly.
Speaker 1: It all has an impact. Garrett Bradberry inside is their
Speaker 1: version of Connor Williams in the sense that he is
Speaker 1: super smart and helps them with the many rush games
Speaker 1: the opponent can throw at them. Their pressures allowed numbers
Speaker 1: go like this. For five guys that have not missed
Speaker 1: a single snap this year across their offensive line, uh
Speaker 1: Dery saw seven pressures, ed Ingram seventeen pressures, Garrett Bradberry eight,
Speaker 1: Ezra Cleveland eleven, Brian O'Neal eight. So Cleveland is a
Speaker 1: converted tackle and Ingram is a rookie day one starter
Speaker 1: with veteran Bradberry between them. There's your key, right if
Speaker 1: you want to control this game, that's where you have
Speaker 1: to win. Those interior three with the likes of Wilkins
Speaker 1: and Seiler and Rake one. I expect Christian to have
Speaker 1: another monster game like he's been doing all year long.
Speaker 1: Get dal and cooked a bubble early, forced him to
Speaker 1: make extra steps in the backfield to allow your linebackers
Speaker 1: and safety's more time to come downhill and impact Cousins,
Speaker 1: who is not as fleet of foot as the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: we've been playing here recently, going back to Game one,
Speaker 1: shutdown Mac Jones, other quarterbacks not so much. But we
Speaker 1: get back to these more stationary quarterbacks. I'm hoping the
Speaker 1: production follows along with that. I think this sets up
Speaker 1: to be Miami's best performance since that Week one game
Speaker 1: if they win the matchups they're supposed to, and it
Speaker 1: starts here on the inside, so Miami is versatile and multiple.
Speaker 1: I'm curious, curious to see what the plan is in
Speaker 1: terms of where and how the Vikings react. I'm hopeful
Speaker 1: the defense can get back to those splash players we've
Speaker 1: become so accustomed to here in Miami. Immediate pressure that
Speaker 1: forces the quarterback to interrupt that original hitch and you know,
Speaker 1: drive up in the pocket, make a throw faster than
Speaker 1: he wants to create negatives in the running game. And
Speaker 1: get the offense behind the change. Because we've been so close,
Speaker 1: but we just keep missing. We have to eventually execute
Speaker 1: at some point. I think last week was a good
Speaker 1: return to that, especially the seventeen yard sack on Brandon Jones,
Speaker 1: but again, just one pick in five games. That has
Speaker 1: to change at some point. Why not Sunday. Brian O'Neill
Speaker 1: is their most experienced player, and he plays off the
Speaker 1: side we typically see Emmanuel Odd Bob play, though that
Speaker 1: often does change. It's a good matchup there, but looking
Speaker 1: at O'Neil, who's been good for them, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: but his issues early in his career and he's improved
Speaker 1: upon them. But we have the body types to go after.
Speaker 1: That potential weakness is what I'm trying to get out here.
Speaker 1: He's barely three hundred pounds and though he's got four
Speaker 1: thirty four inch arms, it doesn't necessarily translate to the
Speaker 1: way that he plays. We have to shock him with
Speaker 1: our length and shorten that corner in both the running
Speaker 1: game and the passing game, and potentially overload it too,
Speaker 1: because they're gonna slide to leave Dera Saw alone. And
Speaker 1: with that matchup, I think I go Melvin Ingram because
Speaker 1: he has the past rush arsenal and the knowledge to
Speaker 1: give a rook or a second year player like dry
Speaker 1: saw some potential confidence damage and maybe even just beat
Speaker 1: him out right a few times. So kind of find
Speaker 1: a way to get that stop to take our last
Speaker 1: break here and come back on the other side and
Speaker 1: do the rest of this position group will tell you
Speaker 1: the special teams, what's at stake in the three keys
Speaker 1: to this game, and will make our week six picks.
Speaker 1: That's all next on the Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Auto Nation. We have one more
Speaker 1: position group here for the Vikings offense versus Dolphins defense
Speaker 1: and is running backs versus linebackers. Dalvin Cook might be
Speaker 1: the best back in the game. He slips tackles, he
Speaker 1: has home run speed to make you pay, and we
Speaker 1: learned that back in eighteen. He can change the angle
Speaker 1: and tackle and a heartbeat. So the Dolphins team that's
Speaker 1: not tackling very well right now has another big challenge
Speaker 1: in front of them. And he also has exceptional vision
Speaker 1: to get where he needs to go on time every time.
Speaker 1: I just can't speak highly enough of his game. He
Speaker 1: is phenomenal. He's averaging two point eight nine yards after
Speaker 1: initial contact this season at three point oh in his career.
Speaker 1: He's forced eight teen miss tackles. He's a big play
Speaker 1: runner man. They used to get him, They used him
Speaker 1: to get drive, started to get chunk plays. Really anyway imaginable.
Speaker 1: He keeps the whole playbook open for all three downs.
Speaker 1: He had four ten plus yard runs last week to
Speaker 1: the week before and three the week before. Like that
Speaker 1: is nine explosive plays in three weeks. Philly was the
Speaker 1: only one to keep him without a ten yard rush,
Speaker 1: but that had more to do with the scoreboard getting
Speaker 1: down early in that game. I'm excited to watch a
Speaker 1: landed Roberts versus c. J. Ham. Those two certainly meet
Speaker 1: in the gap a few times on Sunday, and Roberts
Speaker 1: has been so good at defeating blocks with forced this season.
Speaker 1: Just don't get caught going downhill a big fellow on
Speaker 1: play action looks they sneak the back out behind you,
Speaker 1: because that's that's kind of how you exploit that aggressiveness.
Speaker 1: But don't confuse Ham for just a blocker, because they'll
Speaker 1: slip him out in the pattern as well. Just three
Speaker 1: catches this year, but he has sixty three in his
Speaker 1: career in averages eight points having per catch, So if
Speaker 1: you flow too fast, they'll take advantage of that. Just
Speaker 1: be aware of that. We've seen Jerome Baker run with
Speaker 1: backs and tight ends all year, really his entire career,
Speaker 1: and this is one that that's kind of a challenge
Speaker 1: for him. In this game. I mean, Dalvin Cook has
Speaker 1: eleven grabs on fifteen targets for seventy four yards. They
Speaker 1: haven't really got the screen game going, but perhaps that
Speaker 1: could be their blitzpeer if miamis in that direction. And
Speaker 1: also don't forget about Alexander Madison. He is a heck
Speaker 1: of a player and can punish you when Dalvin Cook
Speaker 1: gets a blow. So there you go. There's the defense
Speaker 1: versus the offense. With the Vikings special teams, Miami rakes
Speaker 1: thirty right now in d v O A. That has
Speaker 1: to get better like now the Vikings rank twenty four.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it's a good chance for Miami to get back
Speaker 1: to their special teams winning the fine margins ways. Ryan
Speaker 1: Wright averages forty five point six per punt, although he
Speaker 1: has he has seventeen punts in five games, so a
Speaker 1: little more than three points per game. That would be
Speaker 1: a nice number for the Dolphins to get three points
Speaker 1: and a couple of takeaways. Thomas Morristead averages forty four
Speaker 1: point nine with seventeen punts of his own, so we
Speaker 1: punt a little bit too much as well. More so
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks. Greg Joseph Hey, we remember
Speaker 1: him right, eight of twelve this season on his field goals,
Speaker 1: and all four of those misses from fifty plus, so
Speaker 1: potentially in that you know, thirty five to forty five
Speaker 1: yard line range, maybe they go for it on four
Speaker 1: thounds a lot, do the vikings, and if they don't,
Speaker 1: perhaps we get some short field off some miskicks potentially.
Speaker 1: Jason Sanders also has two misses, both of those are
Speaker 1: from fifty plus as well. The sixth frade this year,
Speaker 1: what's at stake? Staying over five hundred, not going three
Speaker 1: and three after a three and no start for the
Speaker 1: third time since we've done this now two. I understand
Speaker 1: the circumstances are tough for this time with a quarterback
Speaker 1: situation and injuries, but you know, keeping that eight game
Speaker 1: home winning streak alive. Look, this team has been banged up,
Speaker 1: hopefully it's starting to trend in the right direction. Get
Speaker 1: into four and two would be really really nice heading
Speaker 1: into that prime time game against a struggling Steelers team,
Speaker 1: and then two NFC North teams who are playing really
Speaker 1: rough right now to follow up after that. Win this game,
Speaker 1: get number one back, and we're right back on track.
Speaker 1: That's what's at stake. I'm hopeful. I'll give you the
Speaker 1: pick here in a second. My three keys are to
Speaker 1: create turnovers and splash plays. We gotta get sacks. We
Speaker 1: gotta get TFLs. We've gotta get fumbles, we've gotta get picks.
Speaker 1: We've gotta start making something happen on defense because the
Speaker 1: bend but don't break system only works when you create
Speaker 1: the splash plays. Number two. And the Spikings team, with
Speaker 1: the way that they've played and the way we attack
Speaker 1: this type of offense, you can make it happen. Number two.
Speaker 1: Take what the defense gives you. They don't want to
Speaker 1: come with pressure, they don't want to attack the run.
Speaker 1: If they give you run looks, check to if they
Speaker 1: give you quick hitters, check to it. Get the ball
Speaker 1: out of your hands. No negative plays on offense. Number three,
Speaker 1: win in the margins. Be better on special teams, don't
Speaker 1: get flagged eleven times for penalties, and find ways to
Speaker 1: win in those small margins which made this team successful
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. Do it here and you
Speaker 1: might have a chance to pull off a victory against
Speaker 1: a road favorite. My week six picks bad, Week five,
Speaker 1: ten and six. Last week brings us to fifty two
Speaker 1: and twenty seven. Yuck on the season. Oh boy, the
Speaker 1: Thursday game. Give me Washington over Chicago. I'm taking the
Speaker 1: Vikings over the Dolphins. I hate it, but I have
Speaker 1: to do it. The Niners over the Falcons. Would love
Speaker 1: to see the Falcons get that one. Cleveland over New England.
Speaker 1: I just don't trust the Bailey Zappy magic to last
Speaker 1: for a second straight week. Give me the Green Bay
Speaker 1: over the Jets. Big to come back and bounce back
Speaker 1: after they won their Super Bowl and after the Packers
Speaker 1: got you know, kind of embarrassed there late by the Giants.
Speaker 1: The Colts over the Jaguars. I keep picking them to
Speaker 1: beat them. I don't know why I do it, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it here again anyways. The Colts over Jags.
Speaker 1: Give me the Bengals over the Saints. The Baltimore Ravens
Speaker 1: to absolute the cloud with the Giants. Give me the
Speaker 1: Bucks over the Steelers, the Rams over the matt Rules Panthers,
Speaker 1: Arizona over Seattle. I think I'll take Buffalo over Case.
Speaker 1: Although if you get a Dolphins win, a Chief swin,
Speaker 1: and a Packers win this week, we're back in first place,
Speaker 1: so fingers crossed. I'm hoping we'll see. Obviously, my picks
Speaker 1: don't go that way. Uh Philly over Dallas on Sunday night,
Speaker 1: and I'll take Denver over the Chargers on Monday Night football.
Speaker 1: All right, that's my time. You all. Please be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Leave us
Speaker 1: a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Wingfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Check out the fish Tank podcast, check out our Twitter
Speaker 1: spaces show on Wednesday night at eight o'clock the post
Speaker 1: game show on w q A M five sixty. Right
Speaker 1: when the game ends, we are on the air, so
Speaker 1: check us out there. You can also find the international
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Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time finds up Caroline
Speaker 1: Daddy's coming home. M