Speaker 1: Touchdown Miami n What is up, Dolphins? And welcome to
Speaker 1: the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins official
Speaker 1: podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins, each and
Speaker 1: every day. How's it going everybody? It is late Sunday night.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Winkfield, and I am here
Speaker 1: through thick and thin to bring you your daily dose
Speaker 1: of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, the winning
Speaker 1: streak has come to an end as a Dolphins fall
Speaker 1: in Denver to the Broncos. We'll get the takeaways. I'll
Speaker 1: talk general thoughts about my expectations going into the game,
Speaker 1: what happened in this game. We'll hear some audio from
Speaker 1: Coach Flores to a tongue of byloa Ryan Fitzpatrick, and
Speaker 1: we'll talk about some of the individual performances from the
Speaker 1: Dolphins in loss. All of that and much more coming
Speaker 1: here on the Monday, November the twenty three edition of
Speaker 1: the Drive Time Podcast Drag Thomas brought to you by
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Speaker 1: l A dot Com. We have plenty to get to
Speaker 1: here as Dolphins fall in Denver, no more winning streak,
Speaker 1: but we have a chance next week to get that
Speaker 1: thing back to plus one next Sunday against the New
Speaker 1: York Jets. The sixteen game Turnover Street continued with Xavian
Speaker 1: Howard's first quarter interception. That is the longest active streak
Speaker 1: in the NFL. But the twenty games with a sack
Speaker 1: that streak will come to an end. Dolphins did not
Speaker 1: get a sack on the Broncos quarterback in this game.
Speaker 1: A couple of things I wanted to look at and
Speaker 1: we'll talk about throughout the course of this podcast was
Speaker 1: the pressure on Drew Lock. We know the story coming
Speaker 1: in all week was about the brew rused ribs with
Speaker 1: the banged up ribs he had coming into the game.
Speaker 1: They announced on Saturday that he would start the game.
Speaker 1: He did. He played well and made enough place for
Speaker 1: the Broncos to win this game. We'll talk about the
Speaker 1: Dolphins pressure fronts and pressure attacks and how they went
Speaker 1: after quarterback Drew Lock. I was curious about the running
Speaker 1: back rotation with savan Akhmed and Matt Rita now back
Speaker 1: in the fold. We learned pregame that Chandler Cox and
Speaker 1: DeAndre Washington we're not going to be active, so it
Speaker 1: was amed with Brita and Patrick Laird mostly the savan
Speaker 1: Akhmed show once again in this game, so we'll get
Speaker 1: a look at that. The same offensive line that started
Speaker 1: the game last week starts this game on Sunday in Denver.
Speaker 1: It was Austin Jackson, Eric Flowers, Ted Carriss, Solomon Kinley,
Speaker 1: and Jesse Davis, though it did not end that way
Speaker 1: as Solomon Kinley left the game with a foot injury.
Speaker 1: They kicked Jesse Davis into right guard and put Robert Hunt,
Speaker 1: the rookie out at right tackle. I was curious about
Speaker 1: third down in red zone defense in this game. Miami
Speaker 1: entered this game with eight touchdowns and their last ten
Speaker 1: red zone possessions. They wound up getting their first red
Speaker 1: zone trip with a touchdown them and cash that thing
Speaker 1: in to go nine for eleven, but the interception at
Speaker 1: the end of the game made it nine for twelve,
Speaker 1: so Miami still batting seven fifty in the red zone
Speaker 1: here in recent games, they also on defense had a
Speaker 1: fourth down stop in the red zone, forced to fumble
Speaker 1: at the one yard line and forced a field goal
Speaker 1: as well. So plenty of good defensive effort in the
Speaker 1: key area down around the goal line. In this game,
Speaker 1: again we talked about the Amiba packages and how that
Speaker 1: got that first drive looking like the Dolphins We're gonna
Speaker 1: do what they do every single week. Now, it seems
Speaker 1: like you've got Jamal Perry is one of the defensive
Speaker 1: backs up in that pressure look this time. We talked
Speaker 1: about it on the Tuesday podcast, how they showed Clayton
Speaker 1: Federalum and Cavan Fraser five defensive backs on the or
Speaker 1: five safeties rather on your eight defensive back your dollar
Speaker 1: package showing pressure at the quarterback. This time, Jamal Perry
Speaker 1: was involved up there with Bobby McCain. So it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter who you are on this team, you can get
Speaker 1: in there for those pressure looks. We saw that early.
Speaker 1: It was effective early in this game. We talked, or
Speaker 1: I should say I tweeted during the game on Mike
Speaker 1: Gasiki's first couple of recept in this game. It was
Speaker 1: a good job of Ta replacing the bliss with the football.
Speaker 1: That was something I thought was a bit of a
Speaker 1: struggle early on. The Broncos are blitzing, and To told
Speaker 1: us himself post game, he held onto the football too long,
Speaker 1: wasn't getting it out, wasn't seeing things the right way,
Speaker 1: mentioned that in his postgame presser. But it was nice
Speaker 1: to see them make the adjustment there and get the
Speaker 1: ball out hot on that drive that went down for
Speaker 1: that field goal in the second quarter, to kind of
Speaker 1: get things going there a little bit with a couple
Speaker 1: of those rips to Mike Gatsicky and then DeVante Parker
Speaker 1: making some plays like a number one receiver. How about that.
Speaker 1: By the way, the stuff he was doing, it looks
Speaker 1: like you want your number one receiver to do with
Speaker 1: a touchdown grab one handed, just majestic work down around
Speaker 1: the back corner, the back pylon, the hitch on the drive,
Speaker 1: the field goal drive. I mentioned to to move the
Speaker 1: sticks on third and down in tight coverage with a
Speaker 1: defender and draped all over him. Then that diving catch
Speaker 1: on the slant just a few plays later. I think
Speaker 1: it was the very next third down to move the
Speaker 1: sticks once again. The fifteen yard catch and run up
Speaker 1: the sideline on that last possession with Ryan Fitzpatrick in
Speaker 1: the game on that series, some big time plays from
Speaker 1: number eleven on the offense for Miami, and then some
Speaker 1: more things I wanted to look at here was how
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio called this game with the pressure looks. We
Speaker 1: saw guys coming from all over the field trying to
Speaker 1: confuse that rookie quarterback. Young rookie quarterback on the road
Speaker 1: against a good defensive coach with a good defensive scheme
Speaker 1: and defensive talent. You kind of get this type of results.
Speaker 1: Sometimes not every time, but sometimes you're gonna have this result.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a big storyline in this game,
Speaker 1: with the offensive line, the six sacks giving up on
Speaker 1: two and and the quarterbacks for the Dolphins in this
Speaker 1: game just not getting those blitz is picked up in
Speaker 1: the quarterback, like he said, maybe holding the ball a
Speaker 1: little bit too long as well. And you heard the
Speaker 1: broadcast say that the Broncos were stunting and it was
Speaker 1: given the Dolphins problems all game long. Upfront, you have
Speaker 1: one guy, the inside guy work outside, the outside guy
Speaker 1: works inside, causing some confusion in the protection scheme and
Speaker 1: getting pressure on the quarterback. Accordingly, let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: get to our takeaways for this game. But first, before
Speaker 1: we do that, the stats from the game. The Dolphins
Speaker 1: with two d and twenty two yards of total offense.
Speaker 1: Denver had four forty nine in the game rushing that
Speaker 1: went to the Broncos in a big way, one eighty
Speaker 1: nine for Denver to Miami's fifties six. The passing yards
Speaker 1: also goes to Denver to seventy two one sixties six
Speaker 1: with the advantage there. On third down, Miami's defense was
Speaker 1: pretty solid and we'll talk about this four for twelve
Speaker 1: for the Broncos on third down, Miami was seven out
Speaker 1: of sixteen on the money down and takeaways Miami had
Speaker 1: two of those, Denver had the one, the crucial one
Speaker 1: there at the end of the game, the Justin Simmons interception,
Speaker 1: and then six sacks with the Broncos zero for the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: that of course a huge factor in the game. Miami
Speaker 1: had five penalties for fifty yards, Denver had eight for
Speaker 1: seventy yards, and t op time of possession was pretty
Speaker 1: even for the Dolphins, thirty nineteen for the Broncos. And
Speaker 1: the first takeaway from this game and to me it's
Speaker 1: that this team just excels with leadership and bringing the
Speaker 1: right type of people into the building that you want
Speaker 1: to have. We heard Shack Lawson talk about that. We
Speaker 1: heard Emmanuel Ogba talk about that last week. We've heard
Speaker 1: Brian Flores talk about that, and not just in that
Speaker 1: specific instance, but in every single one of his press conferences.
Speaker 1: When you ask him about a player, what he does well,
Speaker 1: what attracted the Dolphins to him. He's smart, he's tough,
Speaker 1: he's competitive. It's important to him. He works hard. And
Speaker 1: I think you saw the reflection of that team in
Speaker 1: defeat show up in this game. And I guess a
Speaker 1: subcategory of this is that two quarterbacks is better than one.
Speaker 1: It's good to have two quarterbacks on your roster if
Speaker 1: you lose your starter, you like to have a guy
Speaker 1: that can come off the bench and make some plays
Speaker 1: for you. It didn't wind up working out in the end.
Speaker 1: And we'll hear from Fitzpatrick here in just one second,
Speaker 1: but you've got some plays that were fits towards the
Speaker 1: end of the first or the end of that game.
Speaker 1: Gives you confidence if he has to come off the
Speaker 1: bench later in the season at a moment's notice and
Speaker 1: make some plays the run to get that personal foul call.
Speaker 1: It's a vintage Fits play where he just takes off
Speaker 1: and gets the yardage with his feet. They put a
Speaker 1: late hit on in fifteen more yards. Got that drive
Speaker 1: really going, the shot to Parker up the sideline to
Speaker 1: really get that possession looking like it might end up
Speaker 1: in the end zone and might end up in a
Speaker 1: tie game. The quick RP O pop to Mike Gatsiki
Speaker 1: for a conversion on that same drive. You like to
Speaker 1: have the Obviously, you never want to see your backup quarterback.
Speaker 1: Ideally he never has to play, but it doesn't hurt
Speaker 1: to have a guy that can come off the bench
Speaker 1: like that and make plays the way Ryan Fitzpatrick did.
Speaker 1: He's been doing it his entire career. Should be no
Speaker 1: surprise that he did it once again in this game.
Speaker 1: But back to the original point and the leadership, And
Speaker 1: there's a reason I mentioned Ryan Fitzpatrick because he's a
Speaker 1: huge element of the way this team is constructed and
Speaker 1: of the way this team really conducts themselves in that
Speaker 1: leadership department. You just see the way these guys talked
Speaker 1: about it after the game. There's no question about where
Speaker 1: this team is headed, who belongs in what position, how
Speaker 1: they feel about certain situations. It was a clear concise
Speaker 1: message from Ryan Fitzpatrick to a tongue of Valoa and
Speaker 1: Brian Flores with what's gonna happen post game, what their
Speaker 1: approach is going to be coming back to work next week,
Speaker 1: getting ready for the New York Jets. And we'll go
Speaker 1: ahead and start here with coach Flores. And I think
Speaker 1: the first question he was gonna be asked was a
Speaker 1: pretty obvious one. He was asked post game about the
Speaker 1: quarterback position, the switch and whose job is it too?
Speaker 1: Wasn't injured. We just feel like it was the best
Speaker 1: move at that point of game. Short and sweet there.
Speaker 1: He also mentioned that he felt at the time the
Speaker 1: Dolphin's gonna go up tempo and that Ryan Fitzpatrick gave
Speaker 1: him the best chance to win at that point in
Speaker 1: the game, and that was the message afterwards, forgot the
Speaker 1: course of the players and the coach as well with
Speaker 1: Brian Flores, the the up temple offense, Ryan Fitzpatrick, a
Speaker 1: spark coming off the bench, gave him the best chance
Speaker 1: to win. What about the problems that went wrong on
Speaker 1: the offense when two was in the game, I mean,
Speaker 1: we knew this all week. It's a good defense, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the top defensive minds in the game. They
Speaker 1: got good players, they had good scheme, they pressured us,
Speaker 1: they mixed the coverages, and they did a good job defensively.
Speaker 1: So we gotta execute better. And we had some opportunities
Speaker 1: we didn't we didn't we didn't take advantage of them.
Speaker 1: And then you know, tightly contesting that on the road,
Speaker 1: we've got to we've gotta we've gotta play better. And
Speaker 1: I think they ended up with five or six sacks.
Speaker 1: They pressured us a good job in the back end
Speaker 1: from a cover standpoint, and we just struggled getting to going.
Speaker 1: And when that's going on throughout the course of the game,
Speaker 1: you got to try to do something to create some momentum.
Speaker 1: That's why we made switch. And but yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he's he's healthy. So there's your answer on to his
Speaker 1: health and status going forward. How about the concerns over
Speaker 1: possible confidence shaking, Floris says, No, he's a confident kid. No,
Speaker 1: not at all. I think he's he's dealt with a
Speaker 1: lot of adversity. He's he's a confidence kid. I don't
Speaker 1: think this is I think he's fine. And you continue
Speaker 1: talking about the resilient group. This Miami Dolphins team has
Speaker 1: the Andrew band Gangle fumble forced there late in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter to give the Dolphins a fighting chance late
Speaker 1: in that game. Here's coach Floras on what that says
Speaker 1: about his football team, the ensuing drive with Ryan Fitzpatrick,
Speaker 1: what they were trying to get done on that drive,
Speaker 1: Just talking about the fourth quarter and playing for sixty
Speaker 1: minutes in a game that before the Melvin Gordon fumble
Speaker 1: seemed like it might have been lost. Yeah, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, this is a resilient group. So you we
Speaker 1: things look bleak. They're on the goal line, we make
Speaker 1: a play, we get on the one yard line, we
Speaker 1: start to make a drive. You know, we bring put
Speaker 1: it into the end zone. We've got an opportunity to
Speaker 1: you know, punch it in and you know and perhaps
Speaker 1: tie the game there. And look, this game comes down
Speaker 1: to three plays, and the most critical plays are you know,
Speaker 1: normally at the end. And I think fits was trying
Speaker 1: to fireball in there and they made a good play.
Speaker 1: You know, Simmons is a good player. I mean we
Speaker 1: talked about him all week. Hopefully we learned from it.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, there are other players throughout the
Speaker 1: game that we didn't make, you know, drop balls from
Speaker 1: protection standpoint defensively, you know, in the run game, No,
Speaker 1: look like we came clean on a punk lock and
Speaker 1: we didn't make that one either. So we gotta take
Speaker 1: advantage of our opportunities. And um, look that's that's the
Speaker 1: way it is in this league, and we gotta but
Speaker 1: I think this is a resilient group. Will keep our
Speaker 1: heads up. We'll get back in there and and prepare
Speaker 1: for our next opponent. And when they turned around, but
Speaker 1: you know, try to get a victory next week. You
Speaker 1: heard Flores talk about the confident kid that to a
Speaker 1: tongue of blow is a two gold quarterback making his
Speaker 1: fourth NFL start in this game. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: hear from two on what his reaction was to being
Speaker 1: pulled out of the game as the starter in the
Speaker 1: Dolphins quarterback on this Sunday. Yeah, my my thoughts were,
Speaker 1: whatever it was going to be best for the team. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, we couldn't well when I was in we
Speaker 1: we couldn't really get things going, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: coach felt like it was the best decision to put
Speaker 1: Fits into trying to give us a spark. Um. So
Speaker 1: when I heard that, I mean, you know, it's really
Speaker 1: what's best for the team. And I mean, if if
Speaker 1: we were to win with Fits in there, you know,
Speaker 1: the locker room would be a lot different. Everyone would
Speaker 1: be a lot happier. But you know, it just sucks
Speaker 1: to lose. Definitely right about that too, It does suck
Speaker 1: to lose. Up next to it was asked about what
Speaker 1: you can take away from this game, the lessons you
Speaker 1: can learn from a loss, his first in the NFL. Well,
Speaker 1: I think you look at the entirety of the game
Speaker 1: and you learned from a lot of what the defense.
Speaker 1: You know that the Broncos had shown. Um, I mean
Speaker 1: they played a lot of base too to our normal
Speaker 1: you know, the our normal offense. Um. You know, we
Speaker 1: try to get them out of their base look and um,
Speaker 1: you know what what we were doing, we just couldn't execute.
Speaker 1: And for me, it was a great learning experience. Um Now,
Speaker 1: and I felt like I was holding the ball a
Speaker 1: little too long. Just gotta get completions and you know,
Speaker 1: gotta gotta get the ball um in the hands of
Speaker 1: our guys to make place for us and let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and finish up the postgame pressers here with Ryan Fitzpatrick,
Speaker 1: who of course came off the bench late in this
Speaker 1: game and it almost rescued. It almost got the Dolphins
Speaker 1: back into a thie situation there. If a touchdown goes in,
Speaker 1: if a Jason Center's p a t after that assumed
Speaker 1: touchdown goes in, all of a sudden, it's a twenty
Speaker 1: football game late there in the fourth quarter. Here's Fitzpatrick
Speaker 1: on the conversation he had with Brian Flores about going
Speaker 1: into the game in that situation. Uh well, oh, we
Speaker 1: all came up and just said, we you know, need
Speaker 1: a little bit of a spark and we're going to
Speaker 1: kind of do the up tempo deal. And uh so
Speaker 1: he said I was going in. So I talked to
Speaker 1: those guys and just let them know, you know, a
Speaker 1: that I was in there be you know, some of
Speaker 1: the stuff that potentially we could do, but just trying
Speaker 1: to get a little bit of juice going with those guys,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, unfortunately we came up short there,
Speaker 1: but um, you know again, I mean that that was
Speaker 1: a tough game that their defense played really well, and
Speaker 1: uh you know, I wish I wish I would have
Speaker 1: hit that last throw go ahead and fall up. It
Speaker 1: fits his thoughts on long term outlook for the quarterback
Speaker 1: position of the Miami Dolphins. Yeah, I mean it's it's
Speaker 1: very clear this is this is to his team and
Speaker 1: you know Two is going to continue to get better
Speaker 1: and grow and um, you know, so for me, my
Speaker 1: defined role right now is whatever whatever coach flow and
Speaker 1: where the team needs out of me, and um, you
Speaker 1: know today it was different than the last few weeks
Speaker 1: and that he needed me to go out there and
Speaker 1: try to move the ball and provide a spark. But um,
Speaker 1: a few weeks before that, it really was just full
Speaker 1: support mode on tour and even in the game like
Speaker 1: today when I'm out there, I'm still talking with Two
Speaker 1: on the sideline and we're going through stuff and just
Speaker 1: trying to get him, you know, to see what I'm
Speaker 1: seeing and why I'm doing the things I'm doing. So, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, this is it's it's such a tough position
Speaker 1: to play, and uh it just has to You're just
Speaker 1: gonna continue to learn and it's it's going to be
Speaker 1: a bumpy road, but you just hope that you know
Speaker 1: the things that you learn, you you put him in
Speaker 1: the back, and you make a catalog in the back
Speaker 1: of your head and you continue to get better. Go
Speaker 1: ahead and get one more SoundBite here from Fits about
Speaker 1: the conversations between he and Tungo by Loa throughout the
Speaker 1: course of this game, when one's in the game, when
Speaker 1: one's in the bench, and vice versa. Well, I mean
Speaker 1: those are those are discussions that you know I had
Speaker 1: with him on the sideline and stuff that will continue
Speaker 1: to have as we watch the film. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: without getting into too many ciffics, it's what I just
Speaker 1: said is it's creating a catalog. Um, even in the
Speaker 1: games that you win, you know, things aren't going to
Speaker 1: go right all the time. So what happened in this game?
Speaker 1: You know, what could I have done differently? Um, you know,
Speaker 1: they seem like they were getting some pressure up front,
Speaker 1: So what are what are some things that I can
Speaker 1: do as a quarterback to combat that you know? And
Speaker 1: he just keep putting these things in the back of
Speaker 1: your mind and as we go forward and he'll be
Speaker 1: able to lean on and continue to use some of
Speaker 1: those And for me, I think, you know my role here.
Speaker 1: I learned those things in sixteen years but is to
Speaker 1: accelerate the things that he's gonna and learn and you know,
Speaker 1: make sure that he learns it faster than I did.
Speaker 1: And so that really was my main takeaway. There was
Speaker 1: the leadership provided by two guys in those leadership positions,
Speaker 1: and Brian Flores and Brian Fitzpatrick, who again these guys
Speaker 1: are in their late thirties, flows thirty nine, and if
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick is thirty seven years old to a tongue of Valoa,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, is a twenty two year old kids.
Speaker 1: So this is his first NFL season, whereas fits has
Speaker 1: almost twenty years in the league, Brian Flores has twenty
Speaker 1: years in the league as a coach and in various positions,
Speaker 1: whether it's offense, defense, special teams, assistants, head coach. Now
Speaker 1: he's done pretty much everything you can from a coaching standpoint,
Speaker 1: and so to have that leadership corps, that that group
Speaker 1: of experience that can help this young team, who still
Speaker 1: is the second youngest team with a young quarterback playing
Speaker 1: his fourth NFL game. To me, it's just the way
Speaker 1: these guys spoke about this game afterwards, in the way
Speaker 1: they conveyed that message about whose team it is and
Speaker 1: backing up their quarterback and and him having the same
Speaker 1: mindset of well, I'm here to see this team win,
Speaker 1: and I'm here for it's all about if we get
Speaker 1: the w at the end of the day. He has
Speaker 1: the right mindset. It goes back to what Brian Flores
Speaker 1: says about the players he wants to bring in. It's
Speaker 1: important to them they have a team first mindset. And
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick and to a tongue of Valoa in the
Speaker 1: natural leadership position that is the quarterback spot. They have
Speaker 1: that trait and those those skill sets inherently in spades,
Speaker 1: and that's what you want out of that position. And
Speaker 1: I think that it's only going to benefit this team
Speaker 1: going forward to have those guys in those positions and
Speaker 1: to help the rest of the team kind of revolve
Speaker 1: around that and kind of rally around that and galvanize
Speaker 1: the locker room with the way their quarterback is. Takeaway
Speaker 1: number two. The fast starts, and despite you know, things
Speaker 1: slowing down considerably after that quick start, it still happened.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins were up seven zero with four minutes and
Speaker 1: twenty two seconds of game time gone. After starting the
Speaker 1: game on the defensive side of the football. We're not
Speaker 1: talking about a four minute drive to take the opening
Speaker 1: kickoff and go four minutes for a touchdown. They began
Speaker 1: the game on defense. Xavian Howard gets an interception here,
Speaker 1: which we'll get into here our next takeaway. But on
Speaker 1: the season, the Dolphins are now plus seventy one points
Speaker 1: in the first half as far as point differential, plus
Speaker 1: forty nine points in first core differential. This was their
Speaker 1: first time trailing at halftime since Week number four against
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks. The Broncos had one yard on their
Speaker 1: first seven plays of offense, with an interception that put
Speaker 1: Miami on the doorstep of the red zone, and that
Speaker 1: really kept the game tight until the end today because
Speaker 1: of how you know, lackluss or the maybe offensive performance was,
Speaker 1: or the fact that the defense just couldn't get off
Speaker 1: the field on those critical moments or in those specific
Speaker 1: running plays or the big chunk plays the offense got
Speaker 1: of the Broncos. Despite all that, the Dolphins still got
Speaker 1: that seven point advantage off the start, and you do
Speaker 1: that enough times, as we've learned over the last several weeks,
Speaker 1: you're gonna find w is more often than not. Takeaway
Speaker 1: number three is the Amiba package causes confusion once again,
Speaker 1: and again the package is nobody with their hand in
Speaker 1: the dirt on defense, picking different gaps, jumping around, kind
Speaker 1: of playing rover roles as they bounce around and out
Speaker 1: of different gaps and show pressure and simulate pressure in
Speaker 1: different gaps. And on the very first series of the game,
Speaker 1: two plays in third and ten, Broncos haven't moved the
Speaker 1: football yet. It forces a time out because the playclock
Speaker 1: winds down, because the offense has to check their protection,
Speaker 1: check their call, try to go hot, try to figure
Speaker 1: out who's got who, and then of course exaving Howard
Speaker 1: just camped there in his own He's not playing a man.
Speaker 1: He's watching the quarterback's eyes and he follows it right
Speaker 1: to the football. As we saw on the television broadcast.
Speaker 1: He's just standing in his own He follows locks eyes
Speaker 1: and gets himself to the football for the easy interception,
Speaker 1: and that continues an active turnover streak at sixteen games,
Speaker 1: longest in the NFL. And this is the larger takeaway
Speaker 1: here is how important takeaways are. Turnovers are creating turnovers.
Speaker 1: On the takeaway segment here, I can see how that
Speaker 1: could be confusing, but creating takeaways in today's NFL with
Speaker 1: all the points in all the yards, and really this
Speaker 1: is a league that they they want offensive fireworks. It's
Speaker 1: turned that way in the NFL in recent years, and
Speaker 1: the league is geared towards making the offense more explosive,
Speaker 1: getting bigger plays, you know, fantasy points and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: That's what the NFL is turning into. And now people
Speaker 1: say this might not be a sustainable way of victory,
Speaker 1: but they've get they've got these big plays every single
Speaker 1: week from the defense, from special teams or the offense,
Speaker 1: the hidden yards, whatever it is. They're finding these big
Speaker 1: plays every single week. And those early points, again, they
Speaker 1: don't determine the outcome of the game. Just look at
Speaker 1: the Rams game where basically we had happened to us
Speaker 1: what we did to the Broncos today with their quick
Speaker 1: turnover and touchdown right away off the top. But the
Speaker 1: more possessions you can remove out of the game. A
Speaker 1: team gets eleven twelve possessions per game, take one or
Speaker 1: two of those away, and the more points you can
Speaker 1: get off of those turnovers, that means the offense then
Speaker 1: has to be even more perfect in their ten or
Speaker 1: eleven drives they do have remaining. So it's just so
Speaker 1: crucial in a league that's designed for offensive fireworks, a
Speaker 1: league that's on track to break yardage and points records
Speaker 1: this year, if you can have an efficient offense of
Speaker 1: your own that converts third downs, that stays in the
Speaker 1: football field, that can remain balanced, and have a takeaway
Speaker 1: minded defense that plays strong in the red zone, which
Speaker 1: is what I think we have here in Miami. That's
Speaker 1: what you want, and it's just it's so fun to
Speaker 1: see this thing kind of grow and evolve together despite
Speaker 1: the loss and the outcome today, Like Coach Floors mentioned,
Speaker 1: despite the outcome, it's all about finding corrections and improvements
Speaker 1: you can make on the field, on the team, all
Speaker 1: three phases of the game. And while we're on the
Speaker 1: topic of Amiba packages and formations and the looks and
Speaker 1: different defensive calls, how about that big nickel defense when
Speaker 1: Brandon Jones, so nickel means five defensive acts, right, Normally
Speaker 1: that fifth defensive back is a cornerback, but the big
Speaker 1: nickel means that is a safety, and Brandon Jones plays
Speaker 1: that role often and it plays it well. And I
Speaker 1: talked about his place feedback in training camp, his ability
Speaker 1: to pursue and two key and get into the backfield.
Speaker 1: He cuts down that backside sea gaps so quick and explosively.
Speaker 1: He can fit the run up in there as well.
Speaker 1: He damn near had himself a pick six a day
Speaker 1: on a call that got was really catch even though
Speaker 1: it looked like the title maybe didn't have possession going
Speaker 1: to the ground. I'm not sure how you would overturn that,
Speaker 1: but it looked like that ball could have been an
Speaker 1: interception in that play. He would have had a big
Speaker 1: play that way as well. And then to finish off
Speaker 1: this point here kind of getting away from the general takeaway,
Speaker 1: but just I wanted to note the defensive back tackling
Speaker 1: in general. Bobby McCain made open field stops on Philip
Speaker 1: Lindsay and Melvin Gordon three times in this game. We
Speaker 1: talked about Brandon Jones ability to tackle and fit the run,
Speaker 1: but also Byron Jones on a zero blitz the Dolphins
Speaker 1: brand they threw a screen out against him. He made
Speaker 1: a great open field tackle on Tim Patrick in space.
Speaker 1: So this defense has the right traits in the right makeup,
Speaker 1: and that's why they're still playing good. Just twenty points
Speaker 1: allowed today despite several three and outs from the offense.
Speaker 1: The fourth takeaway is just about Jerome Baker and his
Speaker 1: his factor in all three phases of defense, blitzing, coverage
Speaker 1: and defending the run. And I rewatched the Rams game
Speaker 1: over the weekend and he was consistently in Goff's face
Speaker 1: getting free runs in that a gap. The quick skinny
Speaker 1: kind of slides between the block nature of his game,
Speaker 1: but does it quickly without losing acceleration. It doesn't always
Speaker 1: show up in the box score because he just puts
Speaker 1: a hit on the quarterback and it creates a turnover
Speaker 1: which goes to the defensive back that caught the football.
Speaker 1: But he consistently does this. His blitz on the Broncos
Speaker 1: second drive force Lock to flee out of the pocket
Speaker 1: where he wanted to stand in there and deliver the football,
Speaker 1: but it helped get the defense off the field because
Speaker 1: of a successful blitz from Jerome Baker. And our fifth
Speaker 1: takeaway here is something of an extension of our first takeaway.
Speaker 1: The Van Ginko play tells me everything again I need
Speaker 1: to know about this football team. The forced fumble when
Speaker 1: you are literally a yard away from certain defeat as
Speaker 1: a touchdown with five minutes to go, put you down
Speaker 1: by four team points and all but out of the
Speaker 1: game at that point. But Van Ginko never gives up
Speaker 1: on it, and he had a chance to make a
Speaker 1: play there because of the effort of other guys around him.
Speaker 1: He talked about a post game I don't have the audio.
Speaker 1: There was a little bit of an audio hang up
Speaker 1: there at the end of the game post game in
Speaker 1: Denver there, so we didn't get the audio of that,
Speaker 1: but he talked about how there was three guys that
Speaker 1: were there around the football that made him make a
Speaker 1: decision to go and try to punch that football out.
Speaker 1: He mentioned Bobby McCain, Eric Rowe, and Landed Roberts were
Speaker 1: all in on that tackle. And I saw this team
Speaker 1: fight for sixty minutes and not give up despite the
Speaker 1: fact that the Broncos were literally one yard and a
Speaker 1: middlesecond away from putting the game on ice, and they
Speaker 1: refused to let circumstances or the scoreboard determined the level
Speaker 1: of effort they give. And just to kind of further
Speaker 1: this point a little bit more, remember it's a week
Speaker 1: to week league. Things change every single week. Every opponent
Speaker 1: every week is a restart. He try to go one
Speaker 1: and oh on the week tough defense over there with
Speaker 1: Denver and a good scheme and a good defense against
Speaker 1: a rookie quarterback. Literally, all rookie quarterbacks have ups and downs.
Speaker 1: It's going to happen. What was the narrative on this
Speaker 1: team six weeks ago? What is it today? Just just
Speaker 1: consider perspective on all this stuff. I had friends texted
Speaker 1: me early in this game, in the first quarter saying like,
Speaker 1: this is not looking good, and I'm like, that's just
Speaker 1: not how football works. It's a game of attrition. This
Speaker 1: team will be back and they'll be competing next week.
Speaker 1: This sucks. Don't get me wrong. I hate losing as
Speaker 1: much as anybody, but this lass takes nothing off the
Speaker 1: table for what this team hopes to accomplish this season.
Speaker 1: Some individual notes for this game will go and get
Speaker 1: go ahead and get out of here. No John con
Speaker 1: Jemmy on this edition of the Recap podcast. He got
Speaker 1: tied up doing TV late on Sunday night. We'll get
Speaker 1: John back next week. As their rest of the kickoffs
Speaker 1: this season are scheduled to be at one o'clock, except
Speaker 1: for maybe that Week six team game against the Raiders
Speaker 1: and possibly if any games get flexed. But right now
Speaker 1: four of the final or five of the final six
Speaker 1: games are scheduled to be played at one o'clock Eastern time.
Speaker 1: So that's great news for us because it gets the
Speaker 1: podcast and the article out quicker. On Sunday, some individual
Speaker 1: notes talked about two are replacing the blitz with the
Speaker 1: football on some of those throws to Mike get Sicky.
Speaker 1: I liked that the location on the Davante Parker touchdown
Speaker 1: catch was just an absolute alls eye once again, right
Speaker 1: on the back ear hole there the cornerback can't get
Speaker 1: his head around. It could bounce back after a slow start,
Speaker 1: which kind of began with some deep shots that just
Speaker 1: came up short. Just getting those things fine tune, we'll
Speaker 1: have a big impact on the offense going forward. You
Speaker 1: kind of expand things when you get the deep ball
Speaker 1: going complete. A couple of those, get the defense out
Speaker 1: of the box and really kind of stretch things out
Speaker 1: both vertically as you do horizontally in this offense as well.
Speaker 1: On the running back position, I wrote a couple of
Speaker 1: notes on Savan akhmed I, just like how quick he
Speaker 1: hits it, the explosive first step and then when he
Speaker 1: decides to go, he's shot out of a cannon and
Speaker 1: he has a nice little outside hop step, a nice
Speaker 1: little outside jump cut he makes when getting to the
Speaker 1: edge on the ground. Game wide receivers Vante Parker the
Speaker 1: terrific footwork on the touchdown catch to open that game.
Speaker 1: That's just sheer brilliance. I talked about his big catches
Speaker 1: on third down. He helps me the diving catch on
Speaker 1: the same drive on a third down to help extend
Speaker 1: that drive. Jachem Grant had a pancake on the Savan
Speaker 1: Akhmed run, and Josh Grazzard talked this week about how
Speaker 1: if you don't block it receiver, you're not gonna play
Speaker 1: on this football team. So I love seeing Jacchem Grant
Speaker 1: all five seven of him getting a pancake block. And
Speaker 1: then Antonio Callaway first reception is a fourteen yard game
Speaker 1: on a crucial third and ten. He had a very
Speaker 1: smooth release on that play. In A cornerback and A
Speaker 1: J Boyer who's played a lot of good football in
Speaker 1: this league, talked about Gasicki at tight end a couple
Speaker 1: of hots. Also got that nice twenty five yard reception
Speaker 1: late in the game. Some good chemistry there between he
Speaker 1: and Ryan Fitzpatrick on that corner route. I thought that
Speaker 1: was smooth. Dermo Smith also had a good block off
Speaker 1: the edge on that fourteen yard Savon Akhmed run on
Speaker 1: the offensive linel probably save more of that for Tuesday.
Speaker 1: On the All twenty two, we talked about the stunts
Speaker 1: causing some issues. Of course, six sacks in this game
Speaker 1: not what you want to see, but we'll get more
Speaker 1: into that on Tuesday. On the defensive line, I thought
Speaker 1: ray Kuan Davis had a fantastic game, getting penetration, slipping
Speaker 1: off blocks, stacking up double teams, getting tackles for loss.
Speaker 1: He had the surge on that fourth down stop, was
Speaker 1: in the backfield and made plenty of plays that way.
Speaker 1: Emmanuel ogball before the door before the Dolphins forced McManus
Speaker 1: to a twenty nine yard fieldglore or something to that,
Speaker 1: something to that effect. He had a great tackle for
Speaker 1: loss on second and one, which then forced a quarterback
Speaker 1: or a call or the quarterback rolled out right into
Speaker 1: pressure and Kyle van Noy's face, who closed that thing down,
Speaker 1: made a big play himself. But Emmanuel a buy a
Speaker 1: big second down stop to help with the defense off
Speaker 1: the field for a field goal on that particular drive.
Speaker 1: A linebacker, we talked about Jerome Baker plenty. He had
Speaker 1: a hell of a game, I thought in certain areas.
Speaker 1: Andrew van Geinkl just does so well to show the
Speaker 1: effort but also to keep his frame clean when it
Speaker 1: comes to getting blocked, both in the running game, in
Speaker 1: the passing game, whatever it might be. He does a
Speaker 1: good job getting off the edge there and shutting things down.
Speaker 1: Talked about Van Noy's play. I just love his consistent
Speaker 1: backside pursuit as well. He's consistently in those gaps making
Speaker 1: plays against the run and of course defending the past
Speaker 1: as well. And he Landed Roberts had his one big
Speaker 1: tackle for loss on a run blitz. Might not have
Speaker 1: been at run blitz. I don't know the call, but
Speaker 1: he shot that thing quickly, made it look like it.
Speaker 1: If it wasn't, it serves how it was impressive either way.
Speaker 1: It was a hell of a player by Landon Roberts.
Speaker 1: He does that have once a game now, twice a
Speaker 1: game now, it seems for your Miami Dolphins in the
Speaker 1: defensive backfield. Before that sixty one yeard play at the
Speaker 1: end of the game, which I don't even know how
Speaker 1: you count that, but it does go in books. Before
Speaker 1: that play, exaving, Howard had been targeted six times with
Speaker 1: one reception for sixteen yards, a pick and a pass breakup.
Speaker 1: He was in phase on the deep routes. He was
Speaker 1: breaking things up over the middle. He had to pick obviously.
Speaker 1: He had a hell of a game. Once again Byron Jones,
Speaker 1: same story. I thought Broncos didn't get a whole lot
Speaker 1: going in the passing game in this one. Jerry Judy
Speaker 1: and kJ Hamler had some pops. They had that tight
Speaker 1: end throwback to the backup tight end there. I gained
Speaker 1: some yards, but mostly damage done on the ground in
Speaker 1: this game, again, the open field tackling of Bobby McCain,
Speaker 1: Eric Rowe, and Brandon Jones. I love seeing that. I
Speaker 1: still think the secondary is playing really really good football
Speaker 1: with all those guys intact, all those guys getting plays.
Speaker 1: Nick needhim had a couple of big plays in this
Speaker 1: game as well. Some p b U s the hand
Speaker 1: on the back but didn't turn him on that play.
Speaker 1: I thought that was really good coverage there, and good
Speaker 1: savvy nous out of a second year player there in
Speaker 1: Nick need Hum. And then we finished on special teams.
Speaker 1: Matt Hawk had some a couple of good punts in
Speaker 1: this one, but Clayton Fedglum had great open field tackles
Speaker 1: twice in this game. Commu grug Hill had some good
Speaker 1: plays on special teams as well. And then Andrew van
Speaker 1: Ginkl and Calvin Munson with great coverage on another punt
Speaker 1: stop and Jason Standers fifty three yards again money in
Speaker 1: the bank when you had to have it. Also, Noah
Speaker 1: Ignogamy consistently getting down there as the first man, the
Speaker 1: gunner that forces the returner to kind of make a cut,
Speaker 1: change directions, and that's your main job. Force that guy
Speaker 1: to make a cut and slow down and let everybody
Speaker 1: else get caught up to make a play in Miami.
Speaker 1: Continues to win those hidden yards battles in that special
Speaker 1: teams grouping there. It's it's fun to watch those guys
Speaker 1: play every single week so consistently. Hats off once again
Speaker 1: to Danny Crossman forgetting that job done. All right, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be it for the Sunday Night recap etition here
Speaker 1: of the Drivetime podcast. You all please be sure to subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate and review the show. Give me a follow on Twitter,
Speaker 1: It's at Winfield, NFL fall the team at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Check out the fish Tank and the audible podcasts, and
Speaker 1: of course Miami Dolphins dot Com. We'll come back with
Speaker 1: you guys on Tuesday for the All twenty two review
Speaker 1: here on Drivetime. Until next time finds up