Speaker 1: Practice factric part Touchdown. What a win for this Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphin team? Wow? 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 Wednesday. I
Speaker 1: am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I am here to
Speaker 1: bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And
Speaker 1: on today's show again, it is Wednesday, hump Day, turn
Speaker 1: the page day here in Davy. We're gonna hear from
Speaker 1: Coach Flora's and his Wednesday morning media availability as well
Speaker 1: as some other Dolphins players after practice. Plus, we'll have
Speaker 1: the first injury report of the week and will detail
Speaker 1: this week's feature, Quiet and Quality Eric Flowers. All of
Speaker 1: that and more on this Wednesday, October the seventh edition
Speaker 1: of the Drive Time Podcast Mimi Dolphins and support for
Speaker 1: DOLI Time comes from Auto Nation. There are so many
Speaker 1: reasons to drive pink, but for Auto Nation, there's only
Speaker 1: one to finish the fight against cancer. In fact, Auto
Speaker 1: Nation has helped raise over twenty five million dollars to
Speaker 1: drive out cancer. To join the fight, visit the Auto
Speaker 1: Nation store near you or drive Pink dot com. We
Speaker 1: start this Wednesday Drivetime podcast with Brian Flores as Wednesday
Speaker 1: morning media availability as the team heads out for San
Speaker 1: Francisco on Friday. So we have three days of practice
Speaker 1: ahead of us before the flight to San Francisco, with
Speaker 1: injury reports for every single one of those days media availabilities,
Speaker 1: and we'll have a feature on today's podcast with Eric Flowers,
Speaker 1: and tomorrow we'll get into the game preview with the
Speaker 1: flashback coming up on Friday. Let's go ahead and kick
Speaker 1: this podcast off with the Wednesday injury report, and we'll
Speaker 1: go ahead and include the forty Niners on tomorrow's podcast
Speaker 1: as we did last week with the Seahawks because they
Speaker 1: are on the West Coast. Those come out late. Podcast
Speaker 1: comes out before those injury reports are available, but if
Speaker 1: you check top news on Miami Dolphins dot com, we'll
Speaker 1: go ahead and have that updated for you as soon
Speaker 1: as the Niners make their Wednesday injury report available. But
Speaker 1: for the Miami Dolphins on Wednesday, three players listen on
Speaker 1: the report were full participants. On Wednesday xaviing Howard, Clayton Federlam,
Speaker 1: and Cavon Frasier. We had three players who were limited
Speaker 1: in practice cornerback Byron Jones, guard Solomon Kinley, and receiver
Speaker 1: Davante Parker. And then three more players who did not
Speaker 1: practice on the report, tackle Austin Jackson, defensive end Shack Lawson,
Speaker 1: and tight end Durham Smith did not practice on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: We'll have the Niners Wednesday report on tomorrow's podcast and
Speaker 1: have the up to date report on Friday for you guys.
Speaker 1: A little bit tricky again with the West Coast being
Speaker 1: out there, but we'll have an updated for you guys
Speaker 1: here on the Drivetime podcast. End up on Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot com in the top news, the game preview as
Speaker 1: well as countdown to kickoff. And we start here with
Speaker 1: a question for Coach Flora's on Wednesday morning about the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that San Francisco, Fort and Nyers have to offer
Speaker 1: right now. They played both Nick Mullins and C. J.
Speaker 1: Bethard in the game on Sunday night, the victory over
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles. Obviously, Jimmy Garoppolo, their normal starter, has
Speaker 1: been missing some time with an ankle injury. We'll see
Speaker 1: who starts the game on Sunday among those three. Here's
Speaker 1: Coach Flora's talking about preparing for each quarterback the Niners
Speaker 1: have on that roster. You know, all three of them
Speaker 1: are good players. Um, so look, we there's film on
Speaker 1: all of them who we are pretty much gonna have
Speaker 1: to watch them all. I think we've done that as
Speaker 1: a staff already and we're going through that with the
Speaker 1: players already this morning. Um, all three good players. But
Speaker 1: it's I want, I wouldn't say it's just the quarterback.
Speaker 1: It's really it's every It's everyone in offense. Obviously, the
Speaker 1: old line, the tight ends, they got good backs, they
Speaker 1: got good receivers, so they got a good scheme. So, um,
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks just one one part of that. And but
Speaker 1: we're really preparing for the entire the entire group. It's
Speaker 1: a good group. And we'll go ahead and preview this
Speaker 1: game on a tomorrow's podcast here on Drivetime, but just
Speaker 1: taking a look as as Flora's mentions, there are the
Speaker 1: three quarterbacks. Nick Bollins came in a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago in relief of CJ. Bethred in that season, and
Speaker 1: he is off the bench and goes three and five
Speaker 1: and eight starts with thirteen touchdown passes an eight point
Speaker 1: three yards per attempt and that was after Beth had
Speaker 1: got injured that season, and he had eight touchdown passes
Speaker 1: of his own with an average of seven point four
Speaker 1: yards per attempt in that season. And then of course
Speaker 1: that was the year they went out and acquired Jimmy
Speaker 1: Garoppolo in the trade with the New England Patriots. So
Speaker 1: you hear him talk about the scheme and the offense
Speaker 1: and the different things that forty offense does have to
Speaker 1: feature with George Kittle, all those running backs, the good
Speaker 1: offensive line, the outside zone, the different run concepts they have,
Speaker 1: the jet sweep, the motion, all the misdirection they offer.
Speaker 1: It's a lot to prepare for us coach mentions there.
Speaker 1: So whoever the quarterback is, it's gonna be a big
Speaker 1: test on Sunday against this forty nine team that is
Speaker 1: so well coached. We're just gonna prepare well this week,
Speaker 1: practice well this week, flats California, and try to win
Speaker 1: a football game against a good group. And next, coach
Speaker 1: was asked about well, multiple things here, a multi prompt
Speaker 1: question here. First about the difficulties of getting players into
Speaker 1: the building for a workout during this strange season. And
Speaker 1: let's just go ahead and roll the auto audio here
Speaker 1: from coach Flores. So, yeah, it's harder to get somebody
Speaker 1: in obviously. UM. So there's we've already kind of gone
Speaker 1: through the thought and planning if we're gonna do something
Speaker 1: really for next week. And I think every team is
Speaker 1: kind of going through that same process, um as far
Speaker 1: as you know, the meetings with the coaches, uh, from
Speaker 1: a playing time standpoint. And but we're like every team,
Speaker 1: we want to play our our best players, our most
Speaker 1: dependable players. UM. We talked about, you know, situations where
Speaker 1: we want to play goud different guys and you know,
Speaker 1: maybe we want to play some guys more, play some
Speaker 1: guys less. Um, And we're gonna try to you know,
Speaker 1: probably practice that way this today, in this week and
Speaker 1: then you know see how how I think shake throughout
Speaker 1: the course of the week. Um. But we always want
Speaker 1: to get our best guys out there, our best group
Speaker 1: of guys, our most dependable players. And that last portion
Speaker 1: of the question there was about taking an evaluation of
Speaker 1: the team to the first four games of the season
Speaker 1: and trying to figure out who maybe earns less snaps,
Speaker 1: who's earned more snaps, that type of thing. So coach
Speaker 1: Flora's talking about snap counts and workloads heading into the
Speaker 1: second quarter of the season now with the kickoff of
Speaker 1: that quote unquote second quarter Sunday in San Francisco. Up next,
Speaker 1: coach was asked about Dolphins receiver second year receiver out
Speaker 1: of Colorado State Preston Williams coming off the a c
Speaker 1: L injury a season ago and where he is right now,
Speaker 1: four games into a second year and still less than
Speaker 1: twelve months removed from the a c L surgery. Well,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, coming off an injury, it's you know,
Speaker 1: you never know how how things are gonna shake out.
Speaker 1: I think he's doing well from a physical standpoint. Uh,
Speaker 1: the press is a hard working kid. Um, he's obviously talented.
Speaker 1: I think he's you know, they're physically, we just gotta,
Speaker 1: you know, find different ways to get him the ball
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, he's gotta, he's gotta, he's gotta,
Speaker 1: he's gotta come through for us when we do thrown
Speaker 1: the ball. So um, again, you know, we're four weeks
Speaker 1: into the season. That's something now discussed. Uh, A part
Speaker 1: of the discussion with with the coaching staff how to
Speaker 1: get him more involved and hopefully we we do that
Speaker 1: in the coming weeks up. Next, coach gives us an
Speaker 1: update here on the left tackle situation with Austin Jackson,
Speaker 1: who exited the game on Sunday, return and exited again,
Speaker 1: and the player that played in his place, Julian Davenport
Speaker 1: at that left tackle spot. Yeah, I thought Julian played
Speaker 1: well last week when you when you went in there,
Speaker 1: Uh went in there for Austin. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: thought I thought he played well. I thought he did
Speaker 1: a really good job. Austin. You know, as far as practice,
Speaker 1: you know, you won't see he won't be out there today. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, hopefully he's still kind of working through some things,
Speaker 1: but hopefully, you know, tomorrow or hopefully tomorrow we'll see. Um.
Speaker 1: So just from that standpoint, you won't see him today,
Speaker 1: But Julian played well. Um. Yes, we'll always try to
Speaker 1: play the five best guys. UM. So you know, obviously
Speaker 1: Julian will be part of that. Rob Hunt will be
Speaker 1: part of that conversation. So, uh, again, we'll see how
Speaker 1: this goes throughout the practice week, and uh we'll take
Speaker 1: it from there. You heard coach say that that Julian
Speaker 1: Davenport played well in place of Austin Jackson. Here's the
Speaker 1: numbers on that to back that. Pro Football Focus has
Speaker 1: Davenport with zero pressures allowed on twenty five pass blocking
Speaker 1: snaps and in fact gave him an eighty five point
Speaker 1: six pass blocking grade in the game. So Julian Davenport
Speaker 1: comes off the bench fecting experience. There a six ft
Speaker 1: seven three, twenty five pound guy, plenty of experience in
Speaker 1: this league playing that position. So he comes in and
Speaker 1: does a fine job in place of Austin Jackson. Up next,
Speaker 1: coach was asked about another player who's the backup right
Speaker 1: now quarterback to a tongue of Valoa and what he
Speaker 1: has to do to push starter Ryan Fitzpatrick. He's gotta
Speaker 1: keep doing what he's doing. I think he's I mean,
Speaker 1: he's in here every day, he's working, he's practicing. Well.
Speaker 1: I think that's he just continues to do what he's
Speaker 1: been doing. Um, he's learning every day, he's getting better
Speaker 1: and approven every day. If he just continues to do
Speaker 1: what he's doing, he's on the right, on the right path,
Speaker 1: on the right trajectory. Again, like, we're not gonna get
Speaker 1: an opportunity. We didn't have any preseason games, Like that's
Speaker 1: not gonna happen, you know, as far as getting a
Speaker 1: different way, a different look at this. Um. So for him,
Speaker 1: the only thing he can do is come in, do
Speaker 1: a good job of meetings, do a good job in
Speaker 1: the walks, was do a good job in practice, and
Speaker 1: then um, you know, when his opportunity presents itself, which
Speaker 1: you know, you know, as the backup could be at
Speaker 1: any point you know, in the game. You know, I
Speaker 1: think the four Honors are a great example of that.
Speaker 1: Having played three guys already, then he's just gotta be ready.
Speaker 1: So that's really, that's really it. And you hear a
Speaker 1: coach talk about the fact that there was no preseason,
Speaker 1: no off season programs here, you know, the o t
Speaker 1: A s that you have four or five of those
Speaker 1: weekends in the off season you can get together for
Speaker 1: two or three practices and really get to work and
Speaker 1: installing and playing, and then you can apply that in
Speaker 1: the training camp and apply that in the preseason games.
Speaker 1: And we've talked about, you know, some of the rookie
Speaker 1: stats here on this podcast, or rookie expectations going into
Speaker 1: a season where there wasn't an off season or preseason.
Speaker 1: And you look at the fact that the Dolphins have
Speaker 1: gotten production on some rookies, you know, several rookies on
Speaker 1: this team. It's pretty impressive to get that turnaround this
Speaker 1: quickly in an off season where there was no rail
Speaker 1: off season. So four games into this new season for
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins, getting a bunch of new people, new faces,
Speaker 1: young players worked in to the lineup, into the rotation
Speaker 1: and on the field on Sundays, and speaking of new players,
Speaker 1: coach was asked to evaluate where Dolphins running back Matt
Speaker 1: Brita is four games into his Miami Dolphins career. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he uh made some good, good plays the
Speaker 1: other other day. Um, look, he's explosive, kid fast. Um,
Speaker 1: it's practiced well, you know, getting a few more touches. Um.
Speaker 1: So I think he's playing well. I hope hopefully continues
Speaker 1: to play well. Um. He's a hard working guy and
Speaker 1: you know it's important to him. So I think he's
Speaker 1: doing he's doing a good job. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: finish up here with the question for coach that I
Speaker 1: actually find pretty intriguing because it gave him a chance
Speaker 1: to talk about the versatility of the the players along
Speaker 1: the offensive line. Because you think about you know, let's say,
Speaker 1: if Austin Jackson isn't available for the game, then you
Speaker 1: have a left tackle you have to replace. Does that
Speaker 1: become Jesse Davis who slides over from right tackle? Does
Speaker 1: it become Julian Davenport. Do you put Robert Hunt in
Speaker 1: the game? Where does he go? And it makes the
Speaker 1: gears in your head kind of turn and kind of
Speaker 1: crank thinking about, man, all these Dolphins backups, all these
Speaker 1: Dolphins starters for the most part, have experience at multiple positions.
Speaker 1: I mean, we knew that coming into the season, right
Speaker 1: We talked about it on this podcast at nauseum. I
Speaker 1: mean it was over and over again about how many
Speaker 1: of these guys can play multiple spots. We've seen Jesse
Speaker 1: Davis play four spots along the offensive line in his
Speaker 1: NFL career. Ted Carriss has played three spots on the
Speaker 1: interior there. Eric Flowers has played tackle and guard. We've
Speaker 1: got Solomon Kindley can play both guard positions as well,
Speaker 1: Robert Hunt guard tackle combination. It's just it's endless with
Speaker 1: this group. Michael Dieter throw him in there as well,
Speaker 1: guard center, tackle combination at Wisconsin with the Dolphins as well.
Speaker 1: With this group, there's so much versatility. Here's coach on
Speaker 1: how they make the adjustment to shift if they are
Speaker 1: down one player, do you move multiple guys? Do you
Speaker 1: just call up one guy a primary backup into that role.
Speaker 1: Here's coach on shifting the offensive line in case somebody
Speaker 1: can't go on a Sunday, Robert can play left tackle.
Speaker 1: I would be comfortable playing Jesse and left tackle. I'm
Speaker 1: also comfortable playing Julian and left tackle. Uh So, look,
Speaker 1: let's just see how the week goes. You know, thankfully,
Speaker 1: we've got a couple with some guys that we we
Speaker 1: we feel good about going in and you know, playing
Speaker 1: left right. I think, uh, all guys, all those guys
Speaker 1: have played both positions. So but at the same time,
Speaker 1: look that we're going up against a very uh aggressive
Speaker 1: defensive line UM and a very very very good defense.
Speaker 1: So it's will be a tough, tough challenge and but
Speaker 1: you know, we'll see how this goes over over the
Speaker 1: course of the week. UM. I'm not saying Austin's out
Speaker 1: of the out of the I have a question either. Um,
Speaker 1: So let's just you know, take it one day at
Speaker 1: a time. But yeah, I'm comfortable with all those guys
Speaker 1: playing you know, really left all right, they're all they're
Speaker 1: all uh, you know, I think Steve will do a
Speaker 1: good job of getting them ready. We're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 1: need to play well from from in the old line
Speaker 1: and really a team standpoint against his team. They're they're
Speaker 1: they're very good. I almost jumped in their cut coach
Speaker 1: off mid sentence. I apologize for that coach, but he there,
Speaker 1: he is going ahead and finish up his Wednesday morning
Speaker 1: press conference availability. You heard him talk there about the
Speaker 1: aggressiveness of this forty nine front and we kind of
Speaker 1: saw that in the Jacksonville game a little. But those
Speaker 1: guys were getting upfield and penetrating immediately, and there was
Speaker 1: a lot of good wine back runs from Miles Gascon
Speaker 1: in that game where they were able to kind of
Speaker 1: take advantage of the aggressiveness and work against that aggressiveness,
Speaker 1: against that flow of the defense. And it reminds me
Speaker 1: that their defensive line coach there, Chris Kusarek, the former
Speaker 1: Dolphins defensive line coaches now in San Francisco, and despite
Speaker 1: the fact that they're going to be down Nick Bosa,
Speaker 1: d ford ezekiel An Saw who signed there after those injuries,
Speaker 1: is also now down, they still play that one gap,
Speaker 1: aggressive get up field mentality, play with your hair on
Speaker 1: absolute fire. We saw Cam Wake really excel in that
Speaker 1: system here in Miami under coach Chris and I'm curious
Speaker 1: see how that works out, how they adapt to that
Speaker 1: aggressive play style, how they kind of try to combat that.
Speaker 1: Should be a good match up front between a Niners
Speaker 1: line who's down a few bodies but still can get
Speaker 1: production out about defensive line up against this Dolphins offensive
Speaker 1: line that's played really well so far through four games.
Speaker 1: Speaking of playing well on the offensive line, the Wednesday
Speaker 1: feature up on Miami Dolphins dot com covers Dolphins left
Speaker 1: guard Eric Flowers, who of course signed this offseason in
Speaker 1: free agency with his hometown team. And the story is
Speaker 1: called quality and Quiet because his coaches claim he doesn't
Speaker 1: say much, but Eric flowers play on the field speaks volume,
Speaker 1: especially through four games here with the Miami Dolphins. And
Speaker 1: I talked about in this story how football is a
Speaker 1: game of routine each season, each week, each day. These
Speaker 1: are all carefully crafted schedules down to the minute, down
Speaker 1: to the fifteen minute block, whatever it might be, whether
Speaker 1: it's weights, film, study, meals, or practice. All the day's
Speaker 1: events here in Davy are scheduled into these time blocks,
Speaker 1: and the off season program looks different than the regular season,
Speaker 1: which evolves from the training camp workload. And at training
Speaker 1: camp this past summer a Dolphins camp, whether it was
Speaker 1: ten O one, ten or ten o two, maybe ten
Speaker 1: or three on some days, the morning onlookers there at
Speaker 1: the practice field here in Davy would observe the double
Speaker 1: doors at the Dolphins training facility opening wide and emerging
Speaker 1: from that was the Dolphins new three d and forty
Speaker 1: three pound offensive lineman Eric Flowers. At some point during
Speaker 1: the fifteen minute period or so that predates practice, you
Speaker 1: have Fitzpatrick and two out there passing the ball back
Speaker 1: and forth. You've got some of the offensive line guys
Speaker 1: working on some sets, some of the dbs working on
Speaker 1: ball tracking and receivers catching the football, getting stretched, getting loose.
Speaker 1: Everyone's out there working on their own thing, and in
Speaker 1: that fifteen minutes it's kind of up to your own
Speaker 1: accord what you want to do, but every single player
Speaker 1: does eventually emerge from the building, this nice cool air
Speaker 1: conditioned building into the scorching South Florida sun for a
Speaker 1: two hour practice with pre work and post work and
Speaker 1: everybody's got their pads on, everybody has their helmet in
Speaker 1: their hand. But Eric Flowers came equipped with extra accessories.
Speaker 1: We tweeted about it. He had a harness and band
Speaker 1: apparatus to signed to help increase resistance and workouts and
Speaker 1: after the grueling practices are over, extra instruction with Eric
Speaker 1: would begin. The three rookie draft picks, Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt,
Speaker 1: and Solomon Kinley, they were all in those bonus sessions
Speaker 1: working out with Eric Flowers. And here's what Austin Jackson
Speaker 1: had to say about Eric Flowers and his leadership back
Speaker 1: in September. He's entering his six year in the league,
Speaker 1: so he's definitely somebody I looked up to. You know,
Speaker 1: he has a lot more knowledge about things and how
Speaker 1: things goes, and he's just really helpful. And he's definitely
Speaker 1: somebody you know, I look up to on the whole
Speaker 1: line and we look up to and it helps, you know,
Speaker 1: him playing right next to me, so you know, just
Speaker 1: getting to work with him and pick his brain about stuff, Um,
Speaker 1: it's really helpful. And he's one of those four new
Speaker 1: starters along the Dolphins offensive line and the most veteran
Speaker 1: among them. Flowers quickly took that leadership role bestowed upon
Speaker 1: him and flew with it, but his coaches claimed that
Speaker 1: even though he is a leader, he's more of a
Speaker 1: by example kind of guy rather than that raw rock
Speaker 1: cheerleader type and offense offensive courting or chan Gailey talked
Speaker 1: about what it is that makes Eric Flowers productive and
Speaker 1: the type of season he's having so far through these
Speaker 1: first four games. He's having a very good start to
Speaker 1: the season. He is a calming influence on on the
Speaker 1: line for us. He's very competitive on game day, but
Speaker 1: very quiet during the week and very calm and really
Speaker 1: very professional about the way he goes about his business.
Speaker 1: So I've been very happy with what he's brought to us,
Speaker 1: not only on the field playing block in run game,
Speaker 1: pass game, but what he brings as a as a
Speaker 1: leader to our offensive line. And on that topic of
Speaker 1: being a leader on the offensive line, coach Steve Marshall,
Speaker 1: the offensive line coach here in Miami, further at that
Speaker 1: point and talked about the quiet nature of Eric Flower's leadership. Well,
Speaker 1: Eric Flowers is a quiet man, uh you know from talking,
Speaker 1: but you know when he does talk, he's you know
Speaker 1: he's an experienced player. Uh, he's been through some ups
Speaker 1: and downs in his career and uh he's you know,
Speaker 1: Ted and Jesse and Eric. You know, you guys have
Speaker 1: asked a lot about the young guys, but the real
Speaker 1: credit goes to those guys, you know, as far as
Speaker 1: helping young guys, and Eric is certainly leadership wise. Uh,
Speaker 1: and he's he doesn't with his play. He has played.
Speaker 1: He has played very well his first four games. I
Speaker 1: mean we played four uh first four games, and uh
Speaker 1: I think he's uh uh you know he he's done
Speaker 1: well and done. He's exceeded expectations and uh we can
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna count on him moving forward as
Speaker 1: we are the rest of the guys. And we know
Speaker 1: that Eric Flowers was drafted as a tackle back in
Speaker 1: with the Giants, played there a little bit with New York,
Speaker 1: played there with Jacksonville, but he made the switch last
Speaker 1: season with the Washington football team inside to guard, and
Speaker 1: he took to that new position right away. He played
Speaker 1: five hundred and eighty eight snaps and pass protection, with
Speaker 1: only four of those past protection snaps resulting in a
Speaker 1: hit on the Washington quarterback from that left guard position,
Speaker 1: that was rarefied Air. Only one other guard in the
Speaker 1: National Football League that had more than five hundred pass
Speaker 1: blocking snaps allowed fewer QB hits than Flowers, and that
Speaker 1: was Dallas Cowboys four time All Pro guard Zack Martin.
Speaker 1: That per Pro Football Focus, and Flowers now comes to
Speaker 1: a new city, but the results through four games they've
Speaker 1: been similar, including the praise heaped on the former Miami
Speaker 1: Hurricane and current Miami Dolphin from his offensive line coach
Speaker 1: in Washington, Bill Callahan, who said over the course of
Speaker 1: the off season, I think the world of Eric Flowers.
Speaker 1: I just like the way he works, how he goes
Speaker 1: about his business. He's physical, He's been really good in
Speaker 1: past protection. He's a strong square force in that respect.
Speaker 1: And he also went on to talk about Flowers his
Speaker 1: leadership and how he's kind of a quiet guy that
Speaker 1: continues to put his head down and work that way,
Speaker 1: and the past protection prowess he had last season, again
Speaker 1: translating this year into the first quarter of his first
Speaker 1: year with his hometown team. Flowers is credited with only
Speaker 1: five pressures allowed on the quarterback so far through four games,
Speaker 1: and four of those pressures are hurries, which means Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick has only been hit one time from a pass
Speaker 1: rusher coming off left guard on his one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy four dropbacks. Flowers has fifteen among NFL guards and
Speaker 1: pressures allowed per pass blocking snaps. That's one pressure every
Speaker 1: thirty or four point eight snaps, again per Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1: But performing at a high level was always flowers greatest ambition.
Speaker 1: But doing it in the stadium he used to attend
Speaker 1: as a child and a fan is nothing short of
Speaker 1: a dream come true. It's been great. I mean I
Speaker 1: grew up coming to training camps, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: going to games, some hot warner the team, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Now they set it up, we're probably
Speaker 1: get to go to games. I've always followed the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: and it's really a great dream. Count truth to me,
Speaker 1: Sometimes when you hear you really really really sit down
Speaker 1: and think about it, you know what I mean. I
Speaker 1: probably probably my family more so than me. He's like
Speaker 1: realized what was going on. And he was the ninth
Speaker 1: pick in NFL draft. In that same comment, he said,
Speaker 1: the first dream was getting to the NFL, but then
Speaker 1: once you kind of have more of a chance to
Speaker 1: kind of get a bird's eye approach, my bird's eye
Speaker 1: view of that and see which teams you might want
Speaker 1: to play for. The Dolphins were certainly on his on
Speaker 1: his radar there, and he mentioned Ricky Williams and Jake
Speaker 1: Long as two players he used to grow up watching.
Speaker 1: But he also mentioned watching or listening rather to w
Speaker 1: q A M in the radio with his dad, talking
Speaker 1: about how he and his family have always grown up
Speaker 1: following this team. And in the article I conclude talking
Speaker 1: about his routine and how he really inundated himself with football,
Speaker 1: both from a play standpoint, from following the Dolphins being
Speaker 1: a fan of the game, and he eventually would earn
Speaker 1: a full right scholarship to one of the nations stop
Speaker 1: programs most storied programs in the University of Miami and
Speaker 1: earned him the honorable distinction of being a top ten
Speaker 1: NFL draft pick and eventually comes full circle here in
Speaker 1: Miami when he signed a free agent contract to come
Speaker 1: back to where the place where it all began. He said,
Speaker 1: he grew up always wanting to play here in Miami.
Speaker 1: Being able to play all three levels in Miami is
Speaker 1: a real special opportunit that he said, Eric Flowers and
Speaker 1: if you could trade places with the little kid. Right now,
Speaker 1: listening to w q a M on Sunday afternoon, he'd
Speaker 1: hear Joe Rose emphatically shout his name on what has
Speaker 1: become a routine for Eric Flowers, a quiet giant who
Speaker 1: routinely executes punishing blocks. Let's move forward now to the
Speaker 1: player media availability, as that Eric Flower story will be
Speaker 1: out on Thursday. We're gonna get a chance to talk
Speaker 1: to Eric. Will make that happen tomorrow for you guys
Speaker 1: and have it up on Miami Dolphins dot com as
Speaker 1: well as here on the Drive Time podcast. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and get to Ryan Fitzpatrick's media availability and start
Speaker 1: off with a joke with Ryan, which he tends to
Speaker 1: do this. He's one of the funnest guys you'll ever
Speaker 1: talk to you in this sport. He was told about
Speaker 1: a poll that was put up on the Palm Beach
Speaker 1: Post Twitter account or website or something to that effect,
Speaker 1: and that he was in the lead for the Dolphins
Speaker 1: quarterback positioning right now, and Fits had this to say
Speaker 1: about that pole, Well, I've got yeah. I mean I
Speaker 1: had all my kids vote in that poll. And on
Speaker 1: a more serious note, fitz was asked about the performance
Speaker 1: of Matt Britta on Sunday and the problem having so
Speaker 1: many playmakers to get the ball to that many guys
Speaker 1: on offense. Here's fits on that topic. Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I mean, he he was very explosive. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: some of those little checkdowns and things he did with
Speaker 1: the ball. So, um, you know, I think that was
Speaker 1: great to see a guy that you give him some space,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be able to make some plays and um,
Speaker 1: you know, as we go here, we're just going to
Speaker 1: continue to find our playmakers, and our playmakers are going
Speaker 1: to continue to have the ball find them. So that
Speaker 1: was a good, um, you know, a good step in
Speaker 1: the right direction for him in terms of taking advantage
Speaker 1: of some of the opportunities that he got. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure more will come, you know, as he continues to
Speaker 1: make plays like that. Hey, if it's two questions ago,
Speaker 1: you made a comment there about the ball will find
Speaker 1: your playmakers, and Chan Gilly has talked about how there
Speaker 1: are plenty of mouths to feed in this offense. I'm
Speaker 1: curious is that something that you're conscious of when you,
Speaker 1: you know, go into a play and break the huddle.
Speaker 1: Are you thinking about Okay, I need to get so
Speaker 1: and so involved or is it a hundred percent at
Speaker 1: the time, like read based and not worrying about what
Speaker 1: jersey number you're throwing the football too? Uh No, I
Speaker 1: mean sometimes when it's when it's man coverage across the board, uh,
Speaker 1: and you've got five one on ones, and sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: you're forced to make those decisions, Okay, who wears where's
Speaker 1: my best matchup? And you know, sometimes it's dictated by
Speaker 1: who is covering our guy, and a lot of time
Speaker 1: it's dictated by the particular route that we have our
Speaker 1: guys on and if we like them or not, if
Speaker 1: they've showed in the past that they can win on
Speaker 1: that route. So um. You know, sometimes it is when
Speaker 1: it's a bigger zone game, then it is kind of
Speaker 1: going through your reads and guys being in the right spots,
Speaker 1: uh and maybe making some run after the catch. But
Speaker 1: you know, I think the confidence that I have in
Speaker 1: our group is high, and you know there are guys
Speaker 1: like Preston that you know, he hasn't started off this
Speaker 1: year the same numbers wise as he did last year
Speaker 1: and and some of that is is definitely you know,
Speaker 1: on me and looking to get him, you know, more involved.
Speaker 1: Davante is always going to be a guy We're gonna
Speaker 1: try to get the ball to. Kim shown some really
Speaker 1: nice things for us. As you mentioned, Matt Giziki had
Speaker 1: had a great game. Uh, And you know, a guy
Speaker 1: need to continue to get the ball too. So it's
Speaker 1: a good problem that we have. You know, we've we've
Speaker 1: got guys that aren't getting enough touches. That means we
Speaker 1: have a lot of playmakers and you know, I'll continue
Speaker 1: to try to do my best to spread it around.
Speaker 1: And we'll go ahead and finish up here with this
Speaker 1: comment from Fitzpatrick about the importance in the NFL because
Speaker 1: sometimes the fans might see things as you're going to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl after every win, or you need to
Speaker 1: fire everybody and bench everybody after every single loss, and
Speaker 1: how it's important to manage that even kill mentality, and
Speaker 1: how he believes that the quarterback Dolphins have in the
Speaker 1: room behind him and to a tongue of Valoa helps
Speaker 1: provide that even kill balance and temperament always being a happy, smiling, happy,
Speaker 1: go lucky guy. Uh. It's it's been I mean, the
Speaker 1: week is the week is young, but it's been it's
Speaker 1: just been a normal week. I mean, he he's just
Speaker 1: a very positive guy in general. You know, a guy
Speaker 1: that it doesn't seem like he's ever had a bad day.
Speaker 1: So um, I just think it's important, especially in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Every every week is so extreme. Whether you won and
Speaker 1: you're on your way to the super Bowl, you lost
Speaker 1: and the sky is following and everybody needs to be
Speaker 1: fired and benched. It's just staying level and you know,
Speaker 1: keeping that that good vibe, those good feelings sometimes when
Speaker 1: you lose, it is tough to do, but it's an
Speaker 1: important thing to have in the building. And I would
Speaker 1: just say with him, that's kind of his personality. You know,
Speaker 1: every day he kind of comes in and has a
Speaker 1: smile on his face. So in times like this where
Speaker 1: you've lost a few and you know, at the outs
Speaker 1: by world thinks the sky is falling, it's nice to
Speaker 1: have those guys walking through the locker room upbeat and
Speaker 1: you know, with a smile on their faith. And we
Speaker 1: had a nice, short and sweet interview with Jerome Baker
Speaker 1: on the other side of the football linebacker. Here's Jerome
Speaker 1: and my question for the Dolphins linebacker. Hey, Jerome, you
Speaker 1: briefly mentioned the motion of the forty nine offense, and
Speaker 1: that's something they actually lead the NFL and pretty much
Speaker 1: every year under Kyle Shanahon, the most pre snap motion.
Speaker 1: I'm curious for you as a linebacker, how how do
Speaker 1: you stay away from kind of taking the eye candy
Speaker 1: and all that window addressing they do to kind of
Speaker 1: stay to your keys and not fall for all the
Speaker 1: motion and misdirection. Um for me is understanding your defense. Um,
Speaker 1: depending on where you at on the call, it might
Speaker 1: be your job to leverage the motion. It might be
Speaker 1: the motion might not have affect you at all. Just
Speaker 1: just understanding you know what your role is. And then
Speaker 1: throughout the week you really want to go through film
Speaker 1: and make calls and adjustments and just get used to
Speaker 1: constantly seeing it. Uh So, you know, on Sundays it's
Speaker 1: a lot easier. You more just participate motion what they do.
Speaker 1: Uh So that's the one thing out well this week
Speaker 1: I'm just take that approach. Uh just kind of every
Speaker 1: play just look forward to motion and expected. So it
Speaker 1: actually comes on Sunday, it would be the last moment
Speaker 1: and next we got new Dolphins receiver I guess not
Speaker 1: that new four weeks right Dolphins receiver Lynn Bowden, who
Speaker 1: of course was acquired back right around the beginning of
Speaker 1: September in a trade with Las Vegas Raiders. A couple
Speaker 1: of sound bites here from Lynn Bowden, the Dolphins rookie receiver,
Speaker 1: and his comments on the trade to Miami back in September.
Speaker 1: You know me, I like to think the past in
Speaker 1: the past. You know, I'm here. You know, I'm loving
Speaker 1: where I'm at. It's life. And the rookie was also
Speaker 1: very short and sweet, like Jerome Baker. Here's his final
Speaker 1: response about a question about where he thinks he best
Speaker 1: fits in an offense receiver running back. Where that might be,
Speaker 1: He just says, having the ball in his hands, maybe
Speaker 1: just having a bottle my hand, you know, my too
Speaker 1: big talking about myself. You know, I like to let
Speaker 1: the game play, you know, play for itself. So what
Speaker 1: if I had it to was just having a bottom
Speaker 1: my hand probably, And we'll go ahead and pivot now
Speaker 1: to the offensive line and Jesse Davis, the Dolphins right
Speaker 1: tackle and captain. First, I had a chance to ask
Speaker 1: Jesse about quiet leadership when it comes to both he
Speaker 1: and Eric Flowers. Hey, Jesse wanted to ask you about
Speaker 1: your teammate Eric Flowers at the left guard position. I've
Speaker 1: heard a lot of stuff about how quiet of a
Speaker 1: leader he is. We had both Chan Gailey and Steve
Speaker 1: Marshall talk about that. Just wanted to get your take
Speaker 1: on how a player can be a leader but be
Speaker 1: a quiet leader. Yeah. Eric kind of stages in lane
Speaker 1: and you know it, goes to work every day and
Speaker 1: leads by example. You know, he's always on time, He's
Speaker 1: always there to help somebody ask him for your help.
Speaker 1: But um, you know some guys are different. I'm the
Speaker 1: same way. I don't really sit there and try to
Speaker 1: you know, raw right everybody around me. But you know
Speaker 1: something that we said, then we'll say it. But ericson
Speaker 1: a good job. So Jesse was up first. Fitz went
Speaker 1: second on this day and he jumped in fits it
Speaker 1: to the to the media room when Jesse was doing
Speaker 1: his presser and here's what he did. I mean every day,
Speaker 1: that guy to give us something fun to laugh about
Speaker 1: in these press conferences. Gotta love Fitzpatrick. Up next Jesse
Speaker 1: and we talked about this in the open of podcast
Speaker 1: during Flores Media. This is a guy that's played four
Speaker 1: positions on the offensive line in his NFL career. Over
Speaker 1: the course of what has been four or five years now,
Speaker 1: Jesse talked about the transition of going from one spot
Speaker 1: to another and how it's all about reps and getting
Speaker 1: those rep counts up so you can kind of get
Speaker 1: the familiarity back, get the muscle memory back, and get
Speaker 1: the routine of a new position if you do have
Speaker 1: to move on game day or in a practice week,
Speaker 1: whatever it might be, playing multiple spots, It's all about reps.
Speaker 1: Once you do something so many times in one way,
Speaker 1: you know you do it the other way. He doesn't
Speaker 1: feel natural or smooth, but doesn't mean you can't do
Speaker 1: it or can't do it at a high level. And
Speaker 1: it's just reps. You know how many reps you can get,
Speaker 1: get it down and trusting yourself doing it. Hey, Jesse
Speaker 1: on the topic of challenges, and I'm gonna butcher his name.
Speaker 1: I never can get it right. But coach Chris Kusarec,
Speaker 1: the former defensive line coach here is now in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: and I recall him playing or you know, instituting a
Speaker 1: one gap, hair on fire, get up field type of scheme.
Speaker 1: How does that like, how do you combat that where
Speaker 1: some of the challenges that presents for an offensive lineman. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Coach Chris Um, Yeah, he's a fire guy. I mean
Speaker 1: I remember him, Houghton, Holler and everything. Great guy, great
Speaker 1: coach Um. Yeah, that's what we're gonna expect or expect,
Speaker 1: you know, this Steve line front to have a lot
Speaker 1: of energy, a lot of passion for the game. And
Speaker 1: you know it's up to us really to you know,
Speaker 1: make sure that we do our job right, keep fits clean.
Speaker 1: And so there you have it. Jesse Davis, Ryan Fitzpatrick,
Speaker 1: a little bit of Jerome Baker in there. We had
Speaker 1: some audio from coach Marshall and coach Gaily had a
Speaker 1: little bit talk there about Eric Flowers, and we also
Speaker 1: heard from Lynn Bowden. Let's go ahead and with that
Speaker 1: put a bow on this podcast, this edition of the
Speaker 1: Draft Time podcast. That's gonna be my time. You all
Speaker 1: please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast,
Speaker 1: Leave us a rating, leave us a review, give me
Speaker 1: a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL, follow the
Speaker 1: team at Miami Dolphins, and of course check out Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins dot com, the Fish Tank podcast and the Audible podcast. Tomorrow,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have the Eric Flowers piece, the game preview,
Speaker 1: we'll have flashback on Friday, and then of course the
Speaker 1: average over the weekend of Dolphins at forty nine. Is
Speaker 1: plenty of content coming your way here on Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot com and the Drivetime Podcast until next time finds
Speaker 1: up