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 the wine dolfan touchtop ton Rick call unbelievable,
Speaker 1: just blue fire for a second time. Don't know where
Speaker 1: he was going right away? That the man I want
Speaker 1: to help you soon up on his way. Wattle waddle
Speaker 1: to a shotgun, back to throw, looking, that's up fires again,
Speaker 1: It's Waddle. It's six touchdown pass this day, Drive Time
Speaker 1: with Travis Winfield begins. Now let me check your pulse
Speaker 1: if what is up? Dolphans and welcome to the Drivetime podcast,
Speaker 1: part of the Miami Dolphins podcast Network covering your team,
Speaker 1: your Miami Dolphins. How's it going? Everybody? I am your host,
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield, And on today's show, it is pre you day.
Speaker 1: We're diving into the week eight matchup. How is it?
Speaker 1: Week eight? Already by the way between Miami and Detroit
Speaker 1: from ford Field will give you an intro into the Lions,
Speaker 1: go position by position and break down the matchups, tell
Speaker 1: you what's at stake, and give you three keys to victory.
Speaker 1: All of that and a heck of a lot more
Speaker 1: from the Baptist Health studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is the Drive Time Podcast. So perhaps you're a
Speaker 1: big hard Knocks fan and this is the NFC team
Speaker 1: that you're most familiar with after a summer in camp
Speaker 1: with them, And I know you know about Dan Campbell.
Speaker 1: In fact, on the memory sections of all my social
Speaker 1: media apps. This time of year, I get a chance
Speaker 1: to go back and see all the Dan Campbell memes
Speaker 1: and posts about those two magical wins in his first
Speaker 1: two games here as interim head coach, the thrashing of
Speaker 1: the Texans and that convincing win in Nashville over the Titans.
Speaker 1: But Coach Campbell has brought that same mentality to the
Speaker 1: Motor City, Oklahoma drills, biting off, kneecaps, grit, And I
Speaker 1: know the record hasn't been reflective of this, but they
Speaker 1: play hard for that head coach. They scrapped the claw
Speaker 1: and they tend to stay in games. Even during last
Speaker 1: year's very challenging three and thirteen in one campaign, they
Speaker 1: were in a lot of those games. And this year
Speaker 1: the goal was obviously to pull out some of those
Speaker 1: tight games, and it just hasn't happened yet. They lost
Speaker 1: to Baltimore Minnesota, Cleveland, Chicago, and Atlanta last season by
Speaker 1: a combined thirteen points and tied a game with the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers. Now at one in five, they've got losses
Speaker 1: of the Eaguals by three, Seahawks by three, and Vikings
Speaker 1: by four. So under Campbell and Brad Holmes, who began
Speaker 1: this rebuild and the post Matt Stafford era by dealing
Speaker 1: their long time franchise quarterback for some premium draft capital
Speaker 1: and loading up on some top end college talent is
Speaker 1: either developing in the process of it, like Jeff Okuda,
Speaker 1: or waiting for their opportunity like Jamison Williams who hasn't
Speaker 1: played yet coming off the cl injury and last year's
Speaker 1: National Championship game. But that was my wide receiver one
Speaker 1: in last year's draft. But in total, it's four eighteen
Speaker 1: and one for the Campbell and Holmes Lions, and I
Speaker 1: want to reiterate that I don't think that's reflective of
Speaker 1: who they are. They're coming off to lopsided losses where
Speaker 1: the offense came to a screeching halt. Early. They had
Speaker 1: totals of thirty, thirty six and forty five points, but
Speaker 1: just six points can bind the last two games. Offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Ben Johnson has earned a lot of pop for
Speaker 1: the way he schemed up the offense tailored to Jared
Speaker 1: goff strengths. It's a really good offensive line that should
Speaker 1: get their top back back this week in DeAndre Swift
Speaker 1: to go along with one of the game's best tight
Speaker 1: ends and t J. Hockenson. On defense, it's been a struggle.
Speaker 1: They are allowing the second most yards per play in
Speaker 1: NFL history, but it did look a lot better last
Speaker 1: week against Dallas, one of the three games I watched
Speaker 1: in preparation for this show. But real quick before we
Speaker 1: really dive into that. The path to this place is
Speaker 1: really one of the more interesting ones to me because
Speaker 1: typically you get that hard reset with a new coach,
Speaker 1: new GM, you ship out the quarterback, you acquire a
Speaker 1: bunch of draft capital, and traditionally you'll see a new
Speaker 1: quarterback come along with that. And it's been Jared Goff,
Speaker 1: but he's not necessarily shiny and new. He's been in
Speaker 1: the league for a while. But I really admire what
Speaker 1: the Lions have done here because the number one way
Speaker 1: to prolong a rebuild is to saddle up with the
Speaker 1: wrong quarterback. Don't just take a quarterback because you need one.
Speaker 1: They come out of that draft class that was supposed
Speaker 1: to be the next great thing, right, well, so far,
Speaker 1: one of those quarterbacks isn't trusted to push the ball
Speaker 1: more than five yards downfield. Another one is out injured
Speaker 1: and may be replaced by Jimmy Garoppolo. The next one
Speaker 1: just had his best career game and what's been a
Speaker 1: very tough start to his career. And the next guy
Speaker 1: after that just got benched for Bailey Zappy. And what
Speaker 1: do they do but wait and land the best tackle
Speaker 1: in that class and pine check that. And then this
Speaker 1: year again with a much less heralded quarterback class, they
Speaker 1: pass on it again. But they kick the can down
Speaker 1: the road once again. And I think they're in this
Speaker 1: position where when they decided to pull the trigger, if
Speaker 1: they get the right guy, you could have some magic
Speaker 1: and some spark because they have us roster that's kind
Speaker 1: of getting there, just not quite there at the quarterback
Speaker 1: position in terms of the young guy yet. And I
Speaker 1: do think the mistake was that last Matt Patricia year
Speaker 1: not going after to a tuggle by Loa or Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert and instead of going after a cornerback when you
Speaker 1: really needed a quarterback that year. So as they've put
Speaker 1: this thing together, the emphasis on the trenches really shows.
Speaker 1: You won't see Levi on Wuzariquie on Sunday. He's fantastic
Speaker 1: and he he and Alee McNeil were hits along that
Speaker 1: defensive line. They also brought him the very, very productive
Speaker 1: Michael Brocker's formerly of the Rams. Then outside with Aidan Hutchinson,
Speaker 1: Charles Harris, Julian Okwara. They're well built on the defensive
Speaker 1: line like they are on the offensive line, with arguably
Speaker 1: the best tackle tandem in football in Pine Sewel and
Speaker 1: Taylor Decker. Frank rag now one of the best centers
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Jonah Jackson went to the Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: last year at guard, so that's where they focused. We
Speaker 1: mentioned Swift and Akuta as two hits in the draft
Speaker 1: classes or you know, Akuda is getting better this year.
Speaker 1: I should say it was a rough couple of first
Speaker 1: years for him, but he looks better this year. But
Speaker 1: there's still plenty of work to be done on that defense.
Speaker 1: And I think I think I'm not a dred percent
Speaker 1: sure that they're trending in the right direction. Despite what
Speaker 1: the record says. Let's go ahead and jump into this
Speaker 1: Dolphins offense first, Lions defense, quarterback versus safeties, and we
Speaker 1: can start here with the defensive structure. They're gonna play
Speaker 1: man coverage. I think they're gonna give Tyreek a lot
Speaker 1: of attention. They've really focused this season on erasing the
Speaker 1: opposition is number one guy. Some weeks it has worked
Speaker 1: justin Jefferson three four. Others it has not. Dk Metcalf
Speaker 1: seven for one. This feels like a big Waddle day
Speaker 1: to me. I think if you're gonna leave him single
Speaker 1: covered against some of the single high looks you could see,
Speaker 1: could be a day upwards of one dred and fifty
Speaker 1: or more receiving yards for a guy like him. I
Speaker 1: also think throwing to the backs feels like it could
Speaker 1: be fruitful here because they're playing off man and the
Speaker 1: double moves slash outright speed of Waddle and Tyreek. I
Speaker 1: think you have a chance to really generate some bust
Speaker 1: and big gains in this like you did against Baltimore.
Speaker 1: If we can hit them, we can really take them
Speaker 1: out of their game and just basically they want to
Speaker 1: grind it out and run the ball, hit some big
Speaker 1: plays and then they become one dimension on that place
Speaker 1: right into your hands. Their defense three four is eleven percent,
Speaker 1: four three is twelve percent, So those offshoots of base
Speaker 1: defenses good hybrid mix their percent nice nickel defense and
Speaker 1: three percent in the dime. So a good look at
Speaker 1: a true hybrid hybrid defense here under Aaron Glenn and
Speaker 1: their ability to do so because of their flexibility upfront.
Speaker 1: They will also mix that press and off coverage with
Speaker 1: nearly a fifty split so far this year. And on
Speaker 1: our side, I thought too, it was fantastic on Sunday
Speaker 1: getting the ball out of his hands from various platforms
Speaker 1: and arm angles. We've been over this, but if the
Speaker 1: accuracy and timing was just dialed in a fraction or
Speaker 1: a percentage more, there's some space for even more explosives
Speaker 1: for an offense that already has one of the most
Speaker 1: explosive production in the entire league. So they'll play lots
Speaker 1: of man for twa and that means identifying matchups that
Speaker 1: he likes and doing his post snap checklist to create
Speaker 1: the lanes. Slash, hold the defense or move the defense
Speaker 1: is a big key for him here. They'll play a
Speaker 1: lot more single high than most teams do, and the
Speaker 1: shifting landscape of defensive structure they're in single high or
Speaker 1: part of that man free defense, you know, single high
Speaker 1: safety man coverage underneath pent of the time, they're in
Speaker 1: two high structures two pcent of the time and the
Speaker 1: rest is zero coverage seven percent. They will do that,
Speaker 1: and they will gamble on some of those zero blitz looks.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to see if they'll do that here
Speaker 1: because a lot of speed can be tough to deal
Speaker 1: with in man coverage. So can we force them out
Speaker 1: of what they do or is it going to be
Speaker 1: a matchup where the two teams just want to challenge
Speaker 1: each other, kind of like when you have a big
Speaker 1: time slugger and a big time power arm in the
Speaker 1: middle of the and the batting order in baseball just
Speaker 1: go after him. We'll see if they want to do that.
Speaker 1: I'll keep an eye on that all game long. They
Speaker 1: are down there. Captain and free safety Tracy Walker uh
Speaker 1: due to an achilles injury that he suffered back in
Speaker 1: week three. Their primary safeties are Deshaun Elliott, who is
Speaker 1: a little bit of a hyperre between off ball and
Speaker 1: in box safety. Five seven or five completions on seven
Speaker 1: targets for axt four yards. He doesn't have one pick
Speaker 1: when teams have targeted him. He's been a box presence
Speaker 1: with over two hundred snaps down inside, but he really
Speaker 1: kind of rushes plays the run or falls back into
Speaker 1: the deep post, so he's doesn't really match up man
Speaker 1: coverage a whole lot. The other primary safety is Kirby Joseph.
Speaker 1: He's been on the field for nineties seven snaps against
Speaker 1: the run and eighty nine and coverage. He'll start high
Speaker 1: and come down. It's a one three to seventy split
Speaker 1: in terms of free safety and box so both those
Speaker 1: guys are kind of the hybrid safeties we see more
Speaker 1: and more across the league right now. But he's had
Speaker 1: a very hard time this year against the run. The
Speaker 1: lines have turned a lot of free or runners free,
Speaker 1: i should say, once they break through that first level,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that comes from safeties being out
Speaker 1: of position or over pursuing getting caught in the wash
Speaker 1: against the running game. A few final things before we
Speaker 1: move on here. The lines blitz of their defensive snaps.
Speaker 1: That's the seventh highest rate in the NFL, and they
Speaker 1: are not going to go down with the bat on
Speaker 1: their shoulder. They go down swinging, So Towa needs to
Speaker 1: be quick and his processing like he was against Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: all Law. That first pass to Waddle throwing right behind
Speaker 1: the blitz on the season two is forty three and
Speaker 1: two yards. That's seven point six yards per pass, a
Speaker 1: touchdown and no picks against the blitz. And I feel
Speaker 1: very confident saying that toa is in that echelon of
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that you don't want to blitz because he's too
Speaker 1: good and will make you pay off the lines. Blitz rate,
Speaker 1: they just don't get home enough, hence the vulnerabilities on
Speaker 1: the defense. They pressure the quarterback at a twenty two
Speaker 1: point seven percent clip, so a margin of negative seven
Speaker 1: point three percent. In terms of blitz rate and pressure
Speaker 1: rate seventh highest blitz rate, seventeenth best pressure rate. The
Speaker 1: average depth of target against the lines is nine point
Speaker 1: two yards. That's tied for the most in football. That's
Speaker 1: a big part of that blitz man coverage cover one
Speaker 1: stuff we see. We mentioned that in three of their
Speaker 1: games they've surrendered a lot of points, not as much
Speaker 1: in the other three, but the common theme there is
Speaker 1: that teams have gotten vertical on them to score points
Speaker 1: in those three thirty five plus point games on passes
Speaker 1: twenty plus seven for eleven are the opponent for two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty yards three touchdowns in a pick. It's
Speaker 1: there's some space down field. Teams have tried it, some
Speaker 1: have sex he did, some have not. But it's a
Speaker 1: little more in fighting than what we're seeing around the league.
Speaker 1: On balance, and when you have guys like tenants seventeen,
Speaker 1: go get it. Receivers and tight ends versus corners of
Speaker 1: course a huge part of this matchup as we reference
Speaker 1: to the primary man coverage of the defense of the
Speaker 1: Lions in Tyreek and Jalen trent And said, the tight
Speaker 1: ends and backs Janu eight separation against the man coverage.
Speaker 1: I think. So let's first look at their coverage numbers.
Speaker 1: Jeff Okuda twenty two receptions on thirty one targets for
Speaker 1: two seventy one. Some good hated to be made there.
Speaker 1: Amani arari A twenty two of thirty for two d
Speaker 1: forty two. Mike Cues has played, but he's been injured.
Speaker 1: He's eighteen forty six yards and his replacement A. J.
Speaker 1: Parker seven of seven for one forty three on just
Speaker 1: fifty coverage snaps. So he's been a guy that teams
Speaker 1: have gone after in the last two games. And to me,
Speaker 1: this is simple. Okuda has had his struggles, but nothing
Speaker 1: like the other two guys they've played. Parker really really
Speaker 1: really struggle so far the last two games, and often
Speaker 1: at offers free access to the slot receiver, which is like,
Speaker 1: that's tough to play man cover it against free access.
Speaker 1: That's a problem against speed, particularly like Tyrek and j Limb.
Speaker 1: And then a warrier is susceptible to double moves and
Speaker 1: he's fast but not quick, and they've had these plays
Speaker 1: where they don't have safety help. He's ten yards off
Speaker 1: the ball and you run that fake curl and go
Speaker 1: back to the post of the corner of the deep
Speaker 1: like he bites on those. So I'm thinking that Ravens
Speaker 1: game maybe all over again. Hopefully there should be opportunities
Speaker 1: here throughout. They've really really struggled against tight ends as well.
Speaker 1: More on that here in just a second. On a
Speaker 1: fast track on the turf against a primary man team.
Speaker 1: You know, coach talked about the burden of Tyrek and
Speaker 1: Jalen and how they carry the expectations and the burden
Speaker 1: of the expectations against the defense like this, There's a
Speaker 1: lot on the receivers across the board in general to
Speaker 1: win and create separation, especially against a good pass rush
Speaker 1: like the Lions. And when you're talking about that Okuda
Speaker 1: O Warrier Parker versus Wattle and Hill like the matchup
Speaker 1: favors the visiting team. Speaking of that pass rush, offensive
Speaker 1: line verus defensive line. That front really drives a defense.
Speaker 1: Their most productive player has been the second pick in
Speaker 1: the draft, Aiden Hutchinson. He leads a team with nine
Speaker 1: team pressures in thirteen run stops both those categories. He's
Speaker 1: a big presence with the ability to use that power
Speaker 1: to obtain leverage, hold the point in the running game,
Speaker 1: but also convert speed to power as a pass rusher.
Speaker 1: He's been getting home. It's a fun matchup against Toron Armstead.
Speaker 1: On the other side, Charles Harris has been banged up,
Speaker 1: but he's an absolute speed merchant, as you know off
Speaker 1: the edge. I like the way the Dolphins line has
Speaker 1: played inside out recently in terms of squeezing and then
Speaker 1: you trust to Ron and Brandon Shell to get their
Speaker 1: width and get their depth and find their landmarks. It's
Speaker 1: a big test for Shell against Harris if he can
Speaker 1: go to be able to get to those landmarks in
Speaker 1: time for a speedy pass rusher their stout inside, but
Speaker 1: I think you can use their aggressiveness against them. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be at all surprised to see Connor Williams continue
Speaker 1: his terror this season. I think this game sets up
Speaker 1: really well for Big Rob to have some those big
Speaker 1: blocks in the second level. That's brings some backs, but
Speaker 1: mostly all the eye candy that we offer I think
Speaker 1: can cause some over pursuit and big cutback lanes because
Speaker 1: they have not been gap sound. And if you can
Speaker 1: want to neutralize Charles Harris, run the ball at him.
Speaker 1: I expect some some good runs this week from your
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. They do have some serious athletic ability inside
Speaker 1: with McNeil, Kaminsky, Brocker's Bugs and Brant. It's a nice
Speaker 1: mix of veteran and young player and they really want
Speaker 1: to get up field on you. So Miami's ability to
Speaker 1: be a soundman, sign a salmon assignment, sound wow, and
Speaker 1: fire off the football. Those are some keys. I'm looking
Speaker 1: at pressure numbers for this Detroit front. Hutchinson nineteen Kaminsky
Speaker 1: second with ten on just fifty one pass rush reps,
Speaker 1: so great efficiency and there's a huge drop off in
Speaker 1: terms of efficiency just nine for Harris, eight from McNeil,
Speaker 1: and seven for Anzeloni. Run stops, Hutchinson leads away with thirteen,
Speaker 1: Malcolm Rodriguez has thirteen, Jeff Acuda has thirteen, Alex Anzeloni
Speaker 1: has twelve, and safety to Shaun Elliott has eight. So
Speaker 1: it just there's not been a lot of plays made
Speaker 1: this year on this line's defense, the running backs and linebackers.
Speaker 1: I alluded to the man coverage and how they've handled
Speaker 1: tight ends this year. It's not been good, the same
Speaker 1: as true running back. There's a reason they're allowing historical
Speaker 1: numbers right now. I can't tell you how many times
Speaker 1: on tape I've seen a stacked off ball linebacker which
Speaker 1: is behind the defen to tackle five yards off the football,
Speaker 1: have to go cover a running back on a flare
Speaker 1: or swing to a side of the field that he's
Speaker 1: outflanked pre snap by five or six yards already. Then
Speaker 1: he has to fight through trash of rubs and picks
Speaker 1: and that type of thing. So with the speed we
Speaker 1: have it back, I think you could probably steal some
Speaker 1: big plays this week on high percentage throws. That's exactly
Speaker 1: what you want. They also have not been gap sound
Speaker 1: at all, like I mentioned, so you'll often see two
Speaker 1: guys in a gap meaning none and another in the
Speaker 1: running game. And as I mentioned earlier, the safeties tend
Speaker 1: to play in this limbo of off on at the
Speaker 1: line in terms of do I go do I come back?
Speaker 1: And it takes you know, one one run in space
Speaker 1: or one guy in space to make a move to
Speaker 1: get around them and as off to the races. We've
Speaker 1: seen it this year with the Seahawks a couple of
Speaker 1: times and some other games as well. So I just
Speaker 1: think there's opportunities across the board. From Miami, we've seen
Speaker 1: the Dolphins running game get crank in the last few weeks.
Speaker 1: The lines run defense has really struggled. They did hold
Speaker 1: the Commanders to eighty eight yards that was the lowest
Speaker 1: opponent output. That of course was when they went at
Speaker 1: their were at their healthiest. But when they do fit
Speaker 1: it right, it's often led by the speed and athletic
Speaker 1: ability of Alex Anzeloni coming downhill with those twelve run stops.
Speaker 1: Malcolm Rodriguez. You guys remember him from Hard Knocks. He
Speaker 1: leads the linebackers to thirteen run stops under size, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter because he's fast and instinctive, and that's
Speaker 1: a big reason why they're trusted. They trust him so much.
Speaker 1: With man coverage on backs and tight ends for Angeloni
Speaker 1: as well, you'll often see them carry routes up the
Speaker 1: seam and you can throw, you know, against their leverage
Speaker 1: basically over their heads and over the top of their shoulders,
Speaker 1: but also spread out to the perimeter on covering swings
Speaker 1: and screens and flats and things of that nature. Combined,
Speaker 1: opposing teams have completed seventy eight percent of their passes
Speaker 1: for three seventy eight on these linebackers. It's nine point
Speaker 1: nine yards per pass attempt. And we saw Raheem get
Speaker 1: it going in the passing game last week. We know
Speaker 1: what to can do. When he escapes the initial wave,
Speaker 1: he tends to create space for the backs in the
Speaker 1: passing game. Perhaps we get more production that way again.
Speaker 1: After forty yards and a touchdown from the running backs
Speaker 1: in the passing game last week, I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: saying this about the entire game, but I think this
Speaker 1: is a chance for the screen game to get crank
Speaker 1: in too. If you want to dial up those blitzes
Speaker 1: and play man coverage, we'll screen you to death. So
Speaker 1: lots of opportunities to go ahead and take our break
Speaker 1: and get to the other side of the football. Here Dolphins, defense, lines, offense.
Speaker 1: That's next Dragtime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to
Speaker 1: you by Auto Nation. It's a Thursday, the return of
Speaker 1: football into your household after two days off. Do you
Speaker 1: guys struggle on two days and wednesdays without football in
Speaker 1: your house during the fall? I know I do. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and pick it back up with our favorite
Speaker 1: matchup of the week, the Dolphins, of course, and the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lines on Sunday one o'clock at Ford Field is
Speaker 1: still called Ford Field, um. Starting here at the defense
Speaker 1: or the Miami Dolphins defense versus the line's offense, and
Speaker 1: the quarterback position versus the safety's they've got just in
Speaker 1: general their offense. They have four receivers in the current
Speaker 1: roster with amand Ross st Brown stads for Sunday unknown.
Speaker 1: So in that Dallas game, we saw lots of twelve
Speaker 1: personnel and the result was an eight three percent workload
Speaker 1: for t J. Hockenson, for brock Right the number two
Speaker 1: tight end, and you still had three receivers eclipse. So
Speaker 1: it's like most offenses and the NFL that it is
Speaker 1: eleven based eleven personnel sixty eight percent at the time,
Speaker 1: twelve personnel thirteen percent at the time, but that went
Speaker 1: up without the receivers they haven't had the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks and thirteen personnel's five percent. They have an
Speaker 1: occasional snap in O one and twenty one personnel both
Speaker 1: less than two percent. And that brings us to the
Speaker 1: quarterback position with Jared Goff, who what I like about
Speaker 1: golf is he can challenge every inch of the field
Speaker 1: with a true power arm that he has. He wants
Speaker 1: to beat you from the pocket, play in rhythm and
Speaker 1: on time, and work off the play action game. The
Speaker 1: lines will go to after they established the run that
Speaker 1: has been such a sturdy element of their team, especially
Speaker 1: with DeAndre Swift potentially back in the fold. Now. We
Speaker 1: saw the Dolphins defense get back to a little more
Speaker 1: press and reroute last week in terms of getting up
Speaker 1: in guys faces, and given the Lions receiver position, I
Speaker 1: think that could be the play here again. But if
Speaker 1: you play zero and off, he can take the outs
Speaker 1: and hitch us to the field, which are hard throws
Speaker 1: to make, but he has the strong arm to do
Speaker 1: it and really eat you alive with those, the way
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson did when he adjusted this year to our
Speaker 1: game plan going off of the game in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one where he beat him down pretty soundly. He adjusted
Speaker 1: with those quick throws, with those answers, I don't think
Speaker 1: the plan is going to be all that different from
Speaker 1: how you approach Kenny Pickett, only you don't have to
Speaker 1: commit a spy the way in Miami adjusted to him
Speaker 1: after a couple of scrambles. Golf will not do that.
Speaker 1: If you push him off the spot, you'll beat him.
Speaker 1: Golf wants to attack from the pocket. He does have
Speaker 1: seven scrambles this season for a total of twenty seven yards.
Speaker 1: He's been sacked fumbled four times. So getting him on
Speaker 1: the ground you can get turnovers that way, making him uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: speeding up the process and not letting him hit the
Speaker 1: back foot, get through progressions and play clean because he
Speaker 1: will absolutely carve you up if that happens. Although the
Speaker 1: numbers do not say that against the blitz this year
Speaker 1: seven point nine yards per attempt, three touchdowns, three picks.
Speaker 1: When not blitzed seven point three yards per attempts will
Speaker 1: dip in those stats. But eight touchdowns and three picks. Now,
Speaker 1: when he's pressured six point seven yards per attempt three
Speaker 1: and three touchdowns and picks, and then not pressured sixty
Speaker 1: percent seven point eight yards per temp eight touchdowns, three picks.
Speaker 1: So it's a little bit of both. But you guys
Speaker 1: have seen him play before. You seen him play against
Speaker 1: the defense before. He's been pressured on thirty two point
Speaker 1: five percent of his dropbacks, and those dropbacks have been
Speaker 1: twelve sacks, and like I mentioned, the four fumbles. So
Speaker 1: where so many quarterbacks in this daying league can escape
Speaker 1: that pressure and extend, this is one of the throwback
Speaker 1: types of quarterbacks that you can hit and actually get
Speaker 1: sacks against. And we saw in that game against the Rams,
Speaker 1: and we blitz cut off those backside boots with weak
Speaker 1: side pressure and force him to reset and make a
Speaker 1: throw under the rest. It just doesn't go well when
Speaker 1: that happens, and it led to four picks in that game.
Speaker 1: More recently, he played with the against the Patriots. I
Speaker 1: should say, just two weeks ago in a similar defensive system,
Speaker 1: they blitz him fifteen times that produced three sacks and
Speaker 1: golf through for eighty nine yards on seven of twelve passing.
Speaker 1: And then when not blitz when New England the coverage route,
Speaker 1: it was just fifty six point one yards per pass
Speaker 1: and a pick. So I think that this, this system
Speaker 1: and structure and play calling of this defense is really
Speaker 1: tough for Jared Goff. One more stat for you, twenty
Speaker 1: plus air yard throw this year they are eight for
Speaker 1: twenty six for just a buck eight nine, three touchdowns
Speaker 1: and two picks. That's like seven point one yards per pass.
Speaker 1: On throws there are twenty eight yards down the field.
Speaker 1: They just haven't had the separation downfield to really afford
Speaker 1: them the opportunities. And what does that make me think?
Speaker 1: Maybe a chance to unlock Javon Holland a little bit
Speaker 1: more and gamble with it a little more since they
Speaker 1: struggle to get vertical, not unlike the Ravens game last year,
Speaker 1: or we essentially said try and get over the topic,
Speaker 1: but you can't do it. I think that would work
Speaker 1: here potentially, especially if st Brown is down. We'll see
Speaker 1: if his availabilities is good to go or not for
Speaker 1: Sunday on our end, No, Brandon Jones, a man that sucks.
Speaker 1: What a good player and what a better dude? He
Speaker 1: is good. You get well soon in twenty nine. Will
Speaker 1: miss you out here. Javan's coming off of a huge
Speaker 1: play in the Pittsburgh game. He's primarily been in the post,
Speaker 1: with three hundred and fifty four of his five or
Speaker 1: four fifty four snaps coming in that area. I think
Speaker 1: that could change this week a little bit. Maybe I'm
Speaker 1: not sure, but maybe the thing that I'm really curious
Speaker 1: to see is how you replace Brandon Jones snaps. We
Speaker 1: saw him MacKinley get some run last week, we saw
Speaker 1: Clayton Federalum, we saw a couple of snaps of Elijah Campbell,
Speaker 1: and of course Eric Rowe and Eric Rowe had great
Speaker 1: coverage on that fourth down conversion from Friar Meth. But man,
Speaker 1: he just made a play on him. And Rowe has
Speaker 1: a great history of coming up and playing the run
Speaker 1: and covering tight ends. But it's been a rough go lately.
Speaker 1: Sixteen for seventeen for two and twenty yards on Eric
Speaker 1: row and coverage this season. And I'll tell you this.
Speaker 1: Whoever gets that increased workload, you better be ready to
Speaker 1: stick your face in the fan and insert yourself into
Speaker 1: the run game because the lines will come downhill and
Speaker 1: challenge you to do it. You have to be sharp.
Speaker 1: I think I'd like to see an increased workload for
Speaker 1: Elijah Campbell. He was a really good blitzer off the
Speaker 1: edge the summer and training camp. The Dolphins can obviously
Speaker 1: go with some of that big nickel to mitigate some
Speaker 1: of the losses they might have at corner. We'll see
Speaker 1: who's available on Sunday, but man, he's a pretty good
Speaker 1: presence off the edge and that pass brush game, and
Speaker 1: I think he could factor in that way here as well.
Speaker 1: Receivers and tight ends versus corners, We'll have to wait
Speaker 1: and see. On st. Brown, as I mentioned earlier, they
Speaker 1: had four active receivers on the roster, so if he
Speaker 1: can't go, you have to imagine they'll elevate somebody. D J.
Speaker 1: Chark is on I R as well as Jamison Williams,
Speaker 1: who had to miss some time coming off the a
Speaker 1: c L injury. He's not yet back. So this is
Speaker 1: a team that you could look at a month or
Speaker 1: so down the line. And say, Wow, they got some
Speaker 1: really top line receivers, but they're just not available right now.
Speaker 1: Last Sunday, Calif Raymond, Josh Reynolds, and Tom Kennedy combined
Speaker 1: for a hundred and thirty snaps. That's you know, it's tough,
Speaker 1: So that's that's the trio. It was Maurice Alexander who
Speaker 1: played a handful of snaps as the fourth receiver, but
Speaker 1: he was waived on Monday and resigned back to the
Speaker 1: practice squad. All of this is to say they're really
Speaker 1: struggling to separate with anybody not named St. Brown. They
Speaker 1: countered that on Sunday with a double wise look, you know,
Speaker 1: unbalanced twelve personnel and that gives you the extra gap
Speaker 1: in the running game. But me thinks this could be
Speaker 1: a big nickel game slash heavy linebacker game. Maybe we
Speaker 1: see some more changing tindall. I don't know, but for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, they were in man coverage almost all game
Speaker 1: and the lines just could not get any separation. As
Speaker 1: what the matchups might look like here, I don't have
Speaker 1: any idea, but these here's the separation numbers on these guys.
Speaker 1: Calif Rayman two point nine and Josh Roynland's two point
Speaker 1: eight and st. Brown three point oh. So like sticky
Speaker 1: man coverage works against these guys. St. Brown is uber
Speaker 1: competitive and make a bunch of yards out of nothing,
Speaker 1: particularly after the catch. Reynolds is a technician who wins
Speaker 1: with nuance, attacking leverage and having super strty hands. And
Speaker 1: then a Raymond is a straight burner with three four
Speaker 1: three four speed. But frankly, I think it's a safe bet.
Speaker 1: Whatever you want to do, it basically comes down to
Speaker 1: who do they want to have X eliminate because he's
Speaker 1: been doing that for a couple of weeks now, or
Speaker 1: with the Lions. Just simply rotate guys and X just
Speaker 1: locked down one side and sort of how he did
Speaker 1: against the Vikings and Steelers. Raymond is blazing fast, but
Speaker 1: he has a hard time getting off press. I might
Speaker 1: go that route and just take him out of the game,
Speaker 1: take the speed out of the game, and allow yourself
Speaker 1: to play more physical and aggressive that and just let
Speaker 1: Higbo bethol cater key on whoever it might be, just
Speaker 1: match up the rest of the way and use the
Speaker 1: safeties to rob and drop down and buzz and do
Speaker 1: all that fun stuff. Now, the main option at tight
Speaker 1: end is t J. Hockenson, and he got twenty of
Speaker 1: the target share last week. They operate through that position
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways in terms of him being
Speaker 1: able to function in the running game, but also as
Speaker 1: a pass catcher. Off of that, they do a good
Speaker 1: job of creating matchups on linebackers and safeties for him,
Speaker 1: and that with the design, we'll even script in some
Speaker 1: gimmes with those play action boots and flat routes just
Speaker 1: to get the ball in his hands and some space
Speaker 1: at times. Now, the Patriots plan for Hawkinson was interesting
Speaker 1: because it completely wiped him out of the game, a
Speaker 1: lot of attention, a lot of rerouting and attacking him
Speaker 1: to minimize both his effort in the running game and
Speaker 1: as a receiver. I could see something similar here where
Speaker 1: Hawkinson's kind of the the main guy you look to
Speaker 1: take away. It's actually a perfect prelude to this next
Speaker 1: group here because on the offensive line defensive line I mentioned,
Speaker 1: they'll go unbalanced twelve and they'll run the football and
Speaker 1: how it helps them get two advantages. One they add
Speaker 1: a gap in the running game that you have to
Speaker 1: account for, and two if your backside containing it's not good.
Speaker 1: It gives Golf that clear throwing lane off play action
Speaker 1: when he pulls it in bootlegs, don't let him do that.
Speaker 1: It's imperative for the backside backers and edge to be
Speaker 1: able to stay in tight to the line and pursue
Speaker 1: downhill to give the front side the help they should
Speaker 1: they need in case they get that knocked back and
Speaker 1: force the back to bubble and hesitate. You need to
Speaker 1: be able to get in there and make that tackle
Speaker 1: like Van Ginkle does so often, but also have good
Speaker 1: discipline to recognize when Golf does pull the football out
Speaker 1: and try to win that edge on his bootleg. If
Speaker 1: you can beat him to the spot, it's likely going
Speaker 1: to be a win for you. If you don't, He's
Speaker 1: one in that area a lot, just not a lot
Speaker 1: with the Lions, but back with the Rams. Given what
Speaker 1: I've seen from this bare front, heavy defense with the
Speaker 1: athletic edges both here and with the Patriots, you know,
Speaker 1: against the Lions, I think this is one of the
Speaker 1: better matchups from Miami this season on defense. As it
Speaker 1: pertains to the aforementioned comment about the Patriots taking Hawkinson out,
Speaker 1: I think Miami is well equipped to deploy a similar
Speaker 1: plan where you just throw off his timing by and
Speaker 1: then pass him off to the next guy in coverage,
Speaker 1: kind of like New England did. Because it was a
Speaker 1: safety corner linebacker Kyle Dugger, Jonathan Jones, Gilanny Duvai. They
Speaker 1: just found ways to reroute, disrupt and then pass him
Speaker 1: off to somebody else before he can get back up
Speaker 1: to speed again. It was very effective. So that's to
Speaker 1: say that between Phillips, og Ball, provided he's back, Van
Speaker 1: Ginkle and Ingram, their eyes and change the direction off
Speaker 1: that edge have to be really good this week. They
Speaker 1: also need to be good pass rush plans because this
Speaker 1: tackle tenem is very good. Let's go ahead and peep
Speaker 1: their pressure numbers allowed so far this season, and they
Speaker 1: have not really had health up front. Sewell and Decker
Speaker 1: have played the entire year two forty five snaps. Uh
Speaker 1: Evan Brown has played the most for a guard at
Speaker 1: one six, Jonah Jackson's played one fifteen, and Frank rag Now,
Speaker 1: their center, has played two away. So Swool's allowed eleven pressures,
Speaker 1: Decker twenty. It's a lot for Decker, Jackson and Brown.
Speaker 1: The guards five apiece and rag Now four pressures allowed.
Speaker 1: Logan Stenberg was an opening day starter. He's played eighty
Speaker 1: nine snaps allowed ten pressures and Dance Skipper a hundred
Speaker 1: thirty two snaps eleven pressures. As you can see, lots
Speaker 1: of injury issues up front. Uh, but they're only two
Speaker 1: guys going wired to wire this season and the two tackles,
Speaker 1: and of course it's perhaps with two of the most
Speaker 1: complete resumes. Although rag Now certainly is a stud, but
Speaker 1: these numbers are interesting. This is a group that really
Speaker 1: explodes off the football and can punch you in the mouth.
Speaker 1: I'd be surprised if they don't come out with Swift
Speaker 1: likely back in the fold and make a concerted effort
Speaker 1: to run the ball early on. That's why I think
Speaker 1: getting some explosive on offense and just kind of uh
Speaker 1: taking away that run game could be a really really
Speaker 1: good route to victory from Miami. In this game, it's
Speaker 1: actually been a bit of a just asked for this
Speaker 1: year for I should say the last three weeks for
Speaker 1: Taylor Decker sacking each of those games four pressures, five
Speaker 1: pressures and four pressures, and that's against three completely different
Speaker 1: defenses and play styles. I continue to think this is
Speaker 1: a Phillips van Ginkle game. Once again, both for those
Speaker 1: one on ones, but also that backside flow and discipline
Speaker 1: point that I made earlier. As for the interior, you know,
Speaker 1: I love how Christian and Zach and ray Kwon stack up.
Speaker 1: They have an interesting blend of power and athletic ability
Speaker 1: on the interior. But I'll tell you this, they simply
Speaker 1: do not allow penetration. They like to keep that interior
Speaker 1: as tight as possible for golf to stand in there
Speaker 1: and have that clean pocket in front of him. Evan
Speaker 1: Brown's three twenty, Frank ragnow is three on nine, Jonah
Speaker 1: Jackson's three eleven. It will be important for our guys
Speaker 1: to be able to hold the line and maintain their
Speaker 1: gap control against a team that can run it so
Speaker 1: effectively and keep the pockets secure inside. For a really
Speaker 1: polished pocket passer, I look for. Christian Wilkins had a
Speaker 1: big game here. The Steelers really worked him out of
Speaker 1: the game with a lot of double teams. He's still
Speaker 1: got his but just to have the normal impact that
Speaker 1: he does, I think he has a chance for some
Speaker 1: penetrating slash one gapping here where he can get outside
Speaker 1: the scheme and make a little more big plays. That way,
Speaker 1: running backs and linebackers. If the old line isn't the
Speaker 1: line strength, the running back room is DeAndre Swift. He's
Speaker 1: averaging eight point six yards per carry and four point
Speaker 1: five yards after initial contact. What granted, that's just twenty
Speaker 1: seven attempts, but man, they create some lanes for him.
Speaker 1: When they don't, he creates his own space more than
Speaker 1: one third of his runs, six of the seven are
Speaker 1: for ten plus yards. No, that's not one third. One
Speaker 1: shoot close enough. He's forced six miss tackles and he
Speaker 1: has six first down runs. Then Jamal Williams has six
Speaker 1: rushing touchdowns. Apparently six is the magic number here, but
Speaker 1: Williams is a toughest hell runner with two point eight
Speaker 1: four yards after initial contact of his own, and then
Speaker 1: Craig Reynolds is at three point seven six yards after
Speaker 1: contact with a nice package of pass pro clips and
Speaker 1: receiving clips too. So it's a tall order for the
Speaker 1: Miami backers this week with this deep, multifaceted group. That's
Speaker 1: why it's so imperative to control the gaps up front
Speaker 1: and create lanes for our backers to flow downhill. Could
Speaker 1: be a potentially big game for Land and Roberts to
Speaker 1: do what he does best and go be the B
Speaker 1: gap to B gap enforcer and of course Jerome Baker
Speaker 1: doing the main things that he does in this defense,
Speaker 1: the many things I should say, playing off the edge,
Speaker 1: running twenty yards downfield and coverage those guys. I discipline
Speaker 1: being good this week is going to be a big
Speaker 1: key for your Miami Dolphins. And then just sort of
Speaker 1: a propro of nothing. I've been really impressed by Duke
Speaker 1: Raley's game this season. He made another big play on
Speaker 1: Sunday night with a tackle for loss, saw him get
Speaker 1: twenty nine snaps in that game with three run stops,
Speaker 1: and that's with just eight non pass rush snaps. I
Speaker 1: think his speeds of valuable commodity hasn't played a lot
Speaker 1: the last few games before that, he got back to
Speaker 1: his snaps or so and he was really productive in
Speaker 1: that role. Let's go ahead and take our last break.
Speaker 1: We'll come back and do special teams, What's at stake
Speaker 1: and the three Keys. That's next Drivetime Podcast, your host
Speaker 1: Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Segment number
Speaker 1: three here on a Thursday preview edition of the Drift
Speaker 1: Time Podcast, we covered the offense and defense. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about spec show teams here with Sanders, he's perfect from
Speaker 1: under fifty and frankly, I could not agree more with
Speaker 1: Coach Crossman about the stroke and the kicks just being
Speaker 1: off a little bit. He said last week the miss
Speaker 1: against the Vikings was the one true miss hit where
Speaker 1: he just flat out missed it. The others just barely off,
Speaker 1: and I think you're seeing him dial in more and more.
Speaker 1: He's up to ten for thirteen on the season, fifteen
Speaker 1: of sixteen on a point after tries all three misses
Speaker 1: from fifty plus. The Lions have used three kickers this year.
Speaker 1: Currently it's Michael Badgeley, who has been elevated off the
Speaker 1: practice squad. Currently do not have a kicker on the
Speaker 1: roster actually, but he's two for two on the season,
Speaker 1: including a fifty three yard or Their punter is Jack Fox,
Speaker 1: who has nineteen punts at a booming average of forty
Speaker 1: eight point seven. He kicks him high and deep, and
Speaker 1: of course our guy Thomas moorese diad just been killing
Speaker 1: the football. It's either good distance in hang time or
Speaker 1: a pin inside the ten yard line. Not a lot
Speaker 1: of return yards against us for a consistent forty five
Speaker 1: point eight yards per punt on twenty nine kicks. What's
Speaker 1: at stake for us this week? I don't know. I
Speaker 1: mean it's too early to start looking at the playoff standings.
Speaker 1: I mean that's not really until post Thanksgiving. But you're
Speaker 1: currently in the sixth position in the a f C.
Speaker 1: So staying in the top sevens at stake. You lose
Speaker 1: the game profile out of that. Avoiding dropping four out
Speaker 1: of five is at stake. Stringing together some wins here
Speaker 1: ahead of the stretch runs obviously very important. It's a
Speaker 1: nonconference game against a team that's struggling and the win
Speaker 1: lost column. But the theme here throughout the preview the
Speaker 1: lines are close and they're competitive and they're gonna play
Speaker 1: a tough sixty minutes. So not letting the guard down
Speaker 1: and getting laxed with the fire points like fundamentals and technique,
Speaker 1: that's kind of a key and what's at stake. All
Speaker 1: good teams take every single game seriously, and that should
Speaker 1: be the expectation here on the road against a struggling
Speaker 1: lines team. The three keys in this game maintain your
Speaker 1: gap control on defense. If you stop the run, it
Speaker 1: sets up the rest of the defense for a chance
Speaker 1: to make plays against the lines offense that has been
Speaker 1: kind of one dimensional times this year. Number two established
Speaker 1: your running game. They've been giving up over one d
Speaker 1: and sixty yards per game. Get yours there and that
Speaker 1: will create openings for everything else on the offense. I
Speaker 1: think Miami's ability to hit big explosives in this game
Speaker 1: is going to exist either way. But if you get
Speaker 1: the running game going, it will really exist. And the
Speaker 1: number three just don't beat yourselves, don't get negative in
Speaker 1: the turn our department. Don't have ten penalties. If you
Speaker 1: do those things, you can bury bad football teams. And
Speaker 1: so far, the lines, that's what they have been. Don't
Speaker 1: let them hang around because they can make you pay
Speaker 1: if you do that. So those are your three keys.
Speaker 1: Let's make the week eight picks. We have been eight
Speaker 1: and six in back to back weeks. Yuck. You know
Speaker 1: how they have the stat like replacement level, that's like
Speaker 1: retirement level production. It's been a weird, weird season, but
Speaker 1: we have to do better and we will. We are
Speaker 1: sixty thirty nine and one on the year. Wolf Give
Speaker 1: me the Ravens over the Bucks on Thursday Night football
Speaker 1: Tonight the London game. Give me the Jags over the Broncos.
Speaker 1: You know, sprints on the plane not gonna work. Snakes
Speaker 1: on a plane, I don't. I don't think it's gonna work.
Speaker 1: Cowboys over the Bears. Give me the Eagles over the
Speaker 1: Steelers in the Battle of Pennsylvania. Give me the Patriots
Speaker 1: over the Jets. That we need that one. Come on, Mac,
Speaker 1: play a good game this year. Played over the Jets.
Speaker 1: Speak the Jets, Las Vegas over the Saints. Give me
Speaker 1: the Dolphins of the Lions. Give me the Cardinals over
Speaker 1: the Vikings. I'll take Atlanta over Carolina, although I think
Speaker 1: both those teams are gonna start having a rough time
Speaker 1: this year because Atlantas defense is banged up. Tennessee over Houston,
Speaker 1: Seattle over the Giants, the upset went at home. Give
Speaker 1: me Washington over India a tough one too, but Sam Ellinger,
Speaker 1: I don't know about that. Buffalo over the Packers, and
Speaker 1: give me the Browns over the Bengals on Monday Night Football.
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Speaker 1: next time finds up Caroline Daddy. He's coming home. Sk