Speaker 1: Down flown, Miami Run. What is up? Dolphans And welcome
Speaker 1: to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it
Speaker 1: going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and as
Speaker 1: always I'm here to bring you your daily dose each
Speaker 1: and every day of Miami Dolphins football. And on today show,
Speaker 1: that's a rap on day fifteen and joint practices for
Speaker 1: training Camp one. The next time we talk to you
Speaker 1: will be recapping a game from hard Rock Stadium for
Speaker 1: the first time since last December. And on today's show,
Speaker 1: we've got a long list of position by position analysis,
Speaker 1: some one on one matchups, top performers, the matchup or
Speaker 1: Matt Jumps of the day, and we get some good
Speaker 1: news as far as attendance on the practice field from
Speaker 1: the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is the Drive Time Podcast and let's get right
Speaker 1: into it right There was some good news attendance wise.
Speaker 1: Preston Williams, any Land and Roberts were both activated off
Speaker 1: the physically unable to perform list and we're at practice
Speaker 1: on Thursday, so too was Hunter long back at practice
Speaker 1: and Hunter was involved as much as anybody out there.
Speaker 1: Such a great sight to see as the entire press.
Speaker 1: Row was kind of worried about that injury when it
Speaker 1: first happened because it looked to be more significant than
Speaker 1: just a couple of weeks. But he's back out there
Speaker 1: going through work again. So great to see from the
Speaker 1: Dolphins third round draft picked their rookie at that tight
Speaker 1: end position. No Albert Wilson, no Davante Parker, no Will Fuller,
Speaker 1: no Isaiah Afford on this day, and both Lymboded and
Speaker 1: Nick Needham exited with injuries on Thursday. Hopefully those guys
Speaker 1: are gonna be okay. And before we get to the
Speaker 1: practice notes for Thursday with the Atlanta Falcons, I want
Speaker 1: to play some audio here from coach and his Thursday
Speaker 1: morning presser, And first he talked about the thinking behind
Speaker 1: the Greg Little acquisition, the new Dolphins offensive tackle. And
Speaker 1: I always find this interesting because the draft season is
Speaker 1: so much work from so many people to get your
Speaker 1: board of I don't know, two hundred players and then
Speaker 1: whittle that thing down to fifty players or whatever your
Speaker 1: number is. It's definitely different and varies by each team.
Speaker 1: But to get to your draft board, all that work
Speaker 1: just to draft seven players, give or take whether you
Speaker 1: have more or fewer picks than seven. But it doesn't
Speaker 1: go by the boards just because you didn't draft said player.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Brian Flores on Greg Little and the
Speaker 1: work that Dolphins did on him back in I mean,
Speaker 1: we have some familiarity with him from the draft a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. Um, opportunity to to get a
Speaker 1: young player come and compete. Um. Look, it's a new environment,
Speaker 1: new locker room. I mean, it's just he's gotta learn
Speaker 1: the playbook, he's gotta learn his teammates, he's gotta get
Speaker 1: you know, uh, figure out the surroundings here in our
Speaker 1: building in this area. So UM, I think you know,
Speaker 1: the message to him is, let's take it one day
Speaker 1: at a time. Let's try to improve, get better learning system,
Speaker 1: get to know your coaches, get to know the players
Speaker 1: on the team, you know, figure out where the bathrooms are,
Speaker 1: figure out where the meeting rooms are, figure out where uh,
Speaker 1: you know, like is you know, I think that's that's
Speaker 1: kind of where we're at right now. We'll take it
Speaker 1: one day at a time and just try to improve,
Speaker 1: get better and uh, you know, you know, once we
Speaker 1: you know, we'll coach him up and you know, see
Speaker 1: where it goes. But you know where we're happy to
Speaker 1: add Adam. He's a he's a UM. You know, my
Speaker 1: conversation with him was very good. You know, he's he's
Speaker 1: excited to be and UM excited for the opportunity to compete. Well,
Speaker 1: we we had a Thursday thirty visit with him, so
Speaker 1: we sat down and talked to him and UM, you
Speaker 1: know there was some good rapport there. UM as far
Speaker 1: as you know, his his um, you know, love for
Speaker 1: the game and passionate about working and getting better. So UM,
Speaker 1: I think you know obviously on film there's is his
Speaker 1: athletic and has size and was competitive on film. So UM,
Speaker 1: we're happy to have him. And but look, if it's this,
Speaker 1: this is a process on UM, I will just take
Speaker 1: it one day at a time and try to improve
Speaker 1: and get better finding out where five is. No truer
Speaker 1: words have been spoken by coach Flores, because once you
Speaker 1: figure out that South Florida is basically a grid, it
Speaker 1: makes things a lot easier to get around in. And
Speaker 1: so I thought that was interesting that it was interesting
Speaker 1: to hear that the Dolphins had him in for a
Speaker 1: thirty visit, as there are rules about how many players
Speaker 1: you can have come and visit your facility and work
Speaker 1: with them in the pre draft process. Greg Little out
Speaker 1: of Old Miss back in nineteen, one of the Dolphins
Speaker 1: guys that way, and one player of the Dolphins did
Speaker 1: draft with their first pick in sixth overall was Jalen Waddle.
Speaker 1: And I liked what coach had to say about him
Speaker 1: this morning when he was asked, what has Jalen Waddle
Speaker 1: given you compared to what you expected when you drafted
Speaker 1: him back in April. Look, Jalen is a tough, smart kid.
Speaker 1: Football is important to him. Improvement is important to him. Ah,
Speaker 1: he's a good teammate. He's as supportive. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: as excited about, you know, someone else making a catch
Speaker 1: or having a good run or a good block as
Speaker 1: he is about anything he does. Um. So you know
Speaker 1: there's a selflessness there that I mean, we knew that,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know it's it's it's it's been
Speaker 1: fun working with him. You know, he still got a
Speaker 1: long way to go. He's a he's a rookie. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm still getting used to, you know, practicing in this league.
Speaker 1: And the competition in this league, and you know, these
Speaker 1: preseason games, these practices of joint practices are good for
Speaker 1: him and really all of our rookies. Um, but I've
Speaker 1: been very pleased with him. Can you see that camaraderie
Speaker 1: on the field with Jalen going and dapping guys up
Speaker 1: after a big place or whatever it might be. So
Speaker 1: two more clips here from Coach Flora's before we get
Speaker 1: to the notes, and some more soundbites from players. And
Speaker 1: actually first we don't need the audio for this actually
Speaker 1: because coach talked about it, but it's good enough or
Speaker 1: brief enough to cover just on our own here. But
Speaker 1: he said they expect most guys to play Saturday night
Speaker 1: against the Falcons, and Xaviing Howard also shook his head
Speaker 1: in agreement and said yes when he was asked after
Speaker 1: practice today if he would play on Saturday night. And
Speaker 1: I think that's a good segue into our final sound
Speaker 1: bite here that I want to play from coach, And
Speaker 1: he was asked specifically about xaviing Howard and when he
Speaker 1: thinks the All Pro corner will be up to mid
Speaker 1: season or peak form as the reporter called it, and
Speaker 1: Coach's answer took a broader scope, and I thought was
Speaker 1: very insightful. Here's coach um, and it's hard to to
Speaker 1: to get into peak form, you know, without games. I
Speaker 1: would say, you know, even in week one, no one
Speaker 1: will have played sixties seventy snaps. You know. Even if
Speaker 1: you call a dress rehearsal. Let's say, if we you know,
Speaker 1: we did that in the preseason, it's not going to
Speaker 1: be a four quarters, right, or else everybody'll be yelling
Speaker 1: at me about taking take the guy out. Right. So
Speaker 1: peak performance, I mean, you don't really you can get close,
Speaker 1: but there's no way to mimic a sixty minute football
Speaker 1: game unless you do it. Um. And I think the
Speaker 1: first time out is different than the sixth, seventh, eighth
Speaker 1: time out, you know. So if you're talking about mid
Speaker 1: season form, I think mid season form is mid season um.
Speaker 1: If that makes sense. I think that's a great point
Speaker 1: by coach. I also think it's worth noting that the
Speaker 1: Dolphins started each of the last two years under Brian
Speaker 1: floor Is at one in three last season and of
Speaker 1: course oh and seven the year before. But just last season,
Speaker 1: we saw this team really click in that Week five
Speaker 1: game against the forty nine, and then they went on
Speaker 1: to go nine and three the rest of the way.
Speaker 1: So finding a way to get that performance right away
Speaker 1: out of the gates, out of the shoots in week
Speaker 1: number one could be the big difference this year for
Speaker 1: this team if they can make that happen and continue
Speaker 1: the second half of the season effort as well. Putting
Speaker 1: that all together, so good stuff there from coach. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hear from some more stuff later on in this podcast,
Speaker 1: but for full transparency for today's notes, I had to
Speaker 1: make a decision, and yesterday I watched a lot of
Speaker 1: the Dolphins offense as they were on the nearer field,
Speaker 1: but today there was a bit of a stagger and
Speaker 1: certain team periods. What I mean by that is you're
Speaker 1: gonna have reps on the far field, reps on the
Speaker 1: near field, and it's Twa and Matt Ryan working on
Speaker 1: either fields, so you have the ones versus the ones,
Speaker 1: and the ones versus the ones, and when the snaps
Speaker 1: go off at the same time, clearly you cannot watch
Speaker 1: both teams, or both periods, or both fields, whatever the
Speaker 1: hell I'm trying to say. But when they stagger those
Speaker 1: reps where like if someone jumps off sides and they
Speaker 1: have to go back into the huddle. Then it's one
Speaker 1: rep runs, it finishes, and the next rep starts. You
Speaker 1: can't I D your fronts and your stuff like that,
Speaker 1: but you can watch the conclusion. So there were some
Speaker 1: of that today that really helped give me a better
Speaker 1: opportunity to watch both practice fields. However, just like on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: there were dueling seven on seven reps with one on
Speaker 1: one offensive line and defensive line pit drills against each
Speaker 1: other all at the same time, so four different periods
Speaker 1: occurring at once. Yesterday I watched the seven on seven.
Speaker 1: Today I focus more on the pit. So how should
Speaker 1: we do this? Just kind of thinking out loud here,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and go position by position and I'll
Speaker 1: mix it all together in a cocktail in the blender,
Speaker 1: so to speak, in that same format. Sound good to you, guys,
Speaker 1: good grand wonderful quarterbacks up? First? Well, actually, first, I
Speaker 1: want to play this audio off the top from Matt Ryan.
Speaker 1: By the way, not the best Chris Farley impression I
Speaker 1: ever did. I don't think I can do a good
Speaker 1: Chris Farley impression, but that's what it was. From Billy Madison.
Speaker 1: But before we get to the Matt Ryan clip. I
Speaker 1: touched on this yesterday, but I think this week is
Speaker 1: such a good opportunity for this defense to get into
Speaker 1: some of their pressure packages and pressure looks and see
Speaker 1: how an opposing offense will deal with that, and more
Speaker 1: than that, how a quarterback like Matt Ryan deals with it.
Speaker 1: Because for a guy that's played over fifteen thousand snaps
Speaker 1: in his NFL career, he knows the fronts, he knows
Speaker 1: the coverages, he knows the disguises, he knows the post
Speaker 1: snap rotation, and so he wants to gather all the
Speaker 1: information that he can pre snap and be right so
Speaker 1: that he knows exactly what's going to happen post snap,
Speaker 1: and that allows the ball to come out quickly, regardless
Speaker 1: of the pressure, regardless of if they have overloaded rushers,
Speaker 1: for what you have on the offensive line to block with.
Speaker 1: And we saw this a lot the last two days.
Speaker 1: And the value to that, for my money, is Miami
Speaker 1: can then find out where the potential vulnerabilities are in
Speaker 1: those defensive looks, because if Matt Ryan can't find them,
Speaker 1: then there just aren't many quarterbacks who will. So getting
Speaker 1: to that on tape, Getting that on tape rather to
Speaker 1: me is invaluable. Let's go ahead and hear from Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan on the work here with the Dolphins this week
Speaker 1: and how valuable it's been to him and what Miami
Speaker 1: deployed at the Falcons. I thought, I thought they showed
Speaker 1: us a few things. I was texting with Brian Flores yesterday,
Speaker 1: Brian and our teammates at Boston College, and so I
Speaker 1: was texting him just saying I was excited to come down.
Speaker 1: He's like, I know you've seen everything, so I put
Speaker 1: in some new stuff for you. I was like, all right, man,
Speaker 1: don't treat me like two thousand three scout team at BC,
Speaker 1: you know, like, but they had a few, you know,
Speaker 1: a few different things out there today. They stress you
Speaker 1: defensively with with your rules, you know, and they do
Speaker 1: a really good job. And they got us a few times,
Speaker 1: and um, we certainly you know, had a few on
Speaker 1: on our end too that that we did well. And
Speaker 1: you heard him say there that Flow was causing problems
Speaker 1: and practice for Matt Ryan back at BC. But Coach
Speaker 1: actually corrected that today at his media telling us that
Speaker 1: Ryan carved them up. He was a freshman when Coach
Speaker 1: Flow was a senior at BC, and they couldn't wait
Speaker 1: to get him out of their coach said, as far
Speaker 1: as Matt Ryan, and I don't have the BC backup
Speaker 1: quarterback in front of me here from two thousand three,
Speaker 1: off top of my head. Yeah, Matt Ryan was the
Speaker 1: number three pick in the NFL draft in two thousand eight,
Speaker 1: so you have to imagine that guy played pretty well
Speaker 1: from the jump in college. And so coach jokingly said,
Speaker 1: which one of those is more believable? Those him getting
Speaker 1: after us or us getting after him? The self deprecating
Speaker 1: approach is always my favorite. I'll good on your coach,
Speaker 1: and then just real quick before our own quarterbacks. And
Speaker 1: this is not about the quarterbacks either, long way, long
Speaker 1: winded way of getting their Travis good job. Man who
Speaker 1: here watched the falcons first preseason game. Dean ps is
Speaker 1: there now. If you don't know that name, he's coached
Speaker 1: football for about a million years. And if you've ever
Speaker 1: watched Dean P's called a game, you know that there's
Speaker 1: going to be a ton of pressure, a ton of blitzing,
Speaker 1: and different exotic looks. And they were getting pretty exotic
Speaker 1: exotic in that Tennessee game last week. So the same
Speaker 1: goes both ways and to a and the offense getting
Speaker 1: a good look at some pressure packages. That's good stuff
Speaker 1: as well, and that's where we start. We covered pocket
Speaker 1: presents pretty in depth on yesterday's podcast. I noted a
Speaker 1: few of tongue by Loah's subtle skills to buy that
Speaker 1: extra half set get from the fade away from pressure
Speaker 1: on throws that have a little bit more loft or touch.
Speaker 1: He made a few of those today very nicely. Another
Speaker 1: is throwing to a space, and you obviously don't rifle
Speaker 1: this type of throw. It's kind of laying it out there.
Speaker 1: But on one instance, Mike Gasiki comes across the field,
Speaker 1: across the formation and he hasn't yet cleared that linebacker
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field. And what that means is,
Speaker 1: let's say Mike's running right to left, he's still on
Speaker 1: the right side of the linebacker, which means that the
Speaker 1: linebacker has the advantage to get to the left side
Speaker 1: right because he's he's got him outflanked. But to throws
Speaker 1: ahead of time because because he's running full speed and
Speaker 1: the defender is stationary eyeing the quarterback. So lay that
Speaker 1: thing out there was some touch and then Mike can
Speaker 1: run under it and catch it and full stride, and
Speaker 1: he did that today. Another is the ability to expedite
Speaker 1: the drop back in the process of recognizing pressure. It's
Speaker 1: where you see him interrupt the drop back and get
Speaker 1: into a throwing position before he's completed that original drop back.
Speaker 1: And coach talked about to understanding his number counts from
Speaker 1: front side back side and how that can help you
Speaker 1: know where the lanes might open up to step away
Speaker 1: from that pressure from that surge. And there was a
Speaker 1: rep in Thursday where pressure got in and to off
Speaker 1: both of his legs almost like a basketball jump stop,
Speaker 1: just as a little side step, a little two ft
Speaker 1: a jump off to the side to get himself to
Speaker 1: that position on the field. The blocker then wins the
Speaker 1: rep because he can push the defender around that now
Speaker 1: vacated spot and now to a has a clean platform
Speaker 1: to throw from. So good stuff working there in the backfield.
Speaker 1: I thought it was a really good day and a
Speaker 1: nice continuation from what we saw last weekend in Chicago.
Speaker 1: Again referencing that Brian Baldinger clip talking about his footwork
Speaker 1: and how much he had praised for TUA in that area.
Speaker 1: I also thought his placement and timing was back on
Speaker 1: point today after a little bit off earlier in yesterday's practice.
Speaker 1: He did throw one pick and thanks to Barry Jackson
Speaker 1: from the Miami Herald for tracking this. It was his
Speaker 1: sixth I N T and fifteen practices and that's probably
Speaker 1: like a hundred throws a day, give or take, so
Speaker 1: pretty good average there, and the pick he threw was
Speaker 1: a nice play by the Atlanta defender to come off
Speaker 1: his ma and jump right in front of Mike get
Speaker 1: Sicky for that pick. There was a period at the
Speaker 1: end of practice where it was all balls to the
Speaker 1: back pylon in the end zone and one of the
Speaker 1: prettiest throwers of the entire training camp to a lets
Speaker 1: this thing go, and Jachim pretty much comes off the
Speaker 1: line off the jump from like the twelve yard line
Speaker 1: going in, and by the time Jachim was to the
Speaker 1: back pylon, so was the football and where Jachim usually
Speaker 1: gets all kinds of separation, he didn't on this one.
Speaker 1: Good coverage, but there's no defense for a perfect pass,
Speaker 1: and this damn thing was nearly bringing the Miami Garden's
Speaker 1: rain where used to seeing every summer day out here.
Speaker 1: He also had another throw to Jachim right between a
Speaker 1: pair of defenders for about thirty yards down the seam
Speaker 1: down the shoot in a team period that required a
Speaker 1: good zip with a tight spiral to get that thing
Speaker 1: up over that underneath defender and hump that thing over
Speaker 1: him into the second level third level before the safety
Speaker 1: is there as well. So good stuff from to There
Speaker 1: was another period where he took everything short, but that
Speaker 1: in and of itself is a great sign because knowing
Speaker 1: what the play has to offer and getting it too
Speaker 1: your guys quickly, when you quickly realized that downfield is
Speaker 1: not going to happen, is a good way to stay
Speaker 1: on schedule, stay ahead of the sticks, and who knows,
Speaker 1: maybe one of those times you're back, or you're tight end,
Speaker 1: or your receiver will spring one. So another solid day
Speaker 1: from Tua and nice bounce back. I thought. Jacoby Brissette
Speaker 1: was sharp early, including a lot of nice strikes along
Speaker 1: the end line in the back of the end zone
Speaker 1: to a plethora of wide receivers. That's been the story
Speaker 1: all camp, but the two minute period got away from
Speaker 1: him a little bit. Some high passes he was intercepted
Speaker 1: in an earlier team period before the two minute period,
Speaker 1: and staying in that backfield. Stop me if you've heard
Speaker 1: this before and moving on to the running backs. But
Speaker 1: I really like Savon Akhmed. He caught another ball today
Speaker 1: up the sideline where he had a step or two,
Speaker 1: but the ball is just a tag bit short from Brissette,
Speaker 1: so he comes back over the top and plucks this
Speaker 1: thing off the defensive backs helmet all all Randy Moss
Speaker 1: style for a poster shot. Another big time catch from
Speaker 1: savan Akhmed. He had two other plays, and they were
Speaker 1: running plays where he showed the ud nous and the
Speaker 1: shift nous. On one play, he winds this thing two
Speaker 1: or three times, sets up a key block right at
Speaker 1: the point, and then was off to the races untouched
Speaker 1: for fifteen yards and a touchdown. He to me, most
Speaker 1: consistently has created more yards than what the blocking gives
Speaker 1: him on a given plays. That makes sense like he's
Speaker 1: been more of the creator so far in that backfield
Speaker 1: and anybody else I've seen the practice now where Miles
Speaker 1: Gasking shines despite the fact that he does everything well,
Speaker 1: including some really nice reps in the passing game, he
Speaker 1: transitions from receiver to runners so very well. But the
Speaker 1: area that stood out today was past protection. And Greg
Speaker 1: Little is on a block in the team period and
Speaker 1: Miles Gaskon comes into chip and help on that man
Speaker 1: and he decletes the defensive end and it was two
Speaker 1: Who is I don't know, I don't have roster in
Speaker 1: front of me. But Miles also caught a lot of passes,
Speaker 1: and when I talked about the transition from route runner
Speaker 1: to runner with the football in his hands, you see
Speaker 1: it on these throws into the flat where he catches
Speaker 1: with us back to the defense and turns that thing up.
Speaker 1: Saw that a couple of times down around the pylon
Speaker 1: in the red zone work. He made a ton of
Speaker 1: yards in the passing game today and really has all
Speaker 1: training camp long. At receiver, I thought Malcolm Perry looked
Speaker 1: really good today. We haven't touched on his game a
Speaker 1: whole lot this camp, but he caught some balls and
Speaker 1: showed the strong hands to catch the ball away from
Speaker 1: his frame. A nice developmental sign to see when you
Speaker 1: deal with a guy that was a quarterback at the
Speaker 1: college level. He did to play some receiver too, but
Speaker 1: he was a quarterback most recently at Navy. Jalen Waddle,
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to see some of these situations play
Speaker 1: out in real games headings, because again today he caught
Speaker 1: one over the middle perfectly in stride and there was
Speaker 1: only the post safety that are trying to make a
Speaker 1: play on the pass from tungle by Loa. I want
Speaker 1: to see him stretch those legs out and the fans
Speaker 1: at hard Rock Stadium going absolutely nuts when he makes
Speaker 1: that guy miss, and when there's nobody in front of him,
Speaker 1: because when there's nobody in front of him, you ain't
Speaker 1: gonna catch him. Showing your tail lights. For now, we'll
Speaker 1: settle for the catch, the burst, the whistle and going
Speaker 1: back to the huddle. Kirk Merritt had another big day.
Speaker 1: He caught some tightly contested balls, showed strong awareness or
Speaker 1: on the sidelines and in the end zone to keep
Speaker 1: the feed in. He just makes plays every single day
Speaker 1: I hear it seems he's had a really good camp.
Speaker 1: Mac Collins pulled down a couple more red zone tds.
Speaker 1: He also dunked one over the goalpost again and got
Speaker 1: flagged again. Someone asked him after practice if he was
Speaker 1: just trying to get that out of a system, and
Speaker 1: I thought that was a great question, and so did
Speaker 1: Max too, apparently because he laughed about it. But even better.
Speaker 1: And this was a great media session all around. So
Speaker 1: I would encourage you to go check out that along
Speaker 1: with all of our media availabilities on the team YouTube page.
Speaker 1: But I asked Mac how he mentors the younger guys
Speaker 1: in terms of what Coach Crossman is looking for on
Speaker 1: special teams. And here's Mac's answer. It's funny because I
Speaker 1: think especially teams, coaches are kind of similar really just
Speaker 1: in life. They're all they got some some kind of
Speaker 1: cork about them. But for across it's like you've got
Speaker 1: to be prepared. The thing he hates the most is
Speaker 1: when guys go out on the field and we have
Speaker 1: a group go out and there's ten guys and you're
Speaker 1: that eleventh guy. Like he really hates that, And I
Speaker 1: understand that's super frustrating. Like your names up on the
Speaker 1: we got a board and air and like the rules
Speaker 1: check the board. Like there's probably fifteen TVs in our
Speaker 1: building that have the board of the depth chart of
Speaker 1: who needs to be wear on what period um. So
Speaker 1: for you to mess that up and you're telling coach said, hey,
Speaker 1: I wanna, you know, make this team or I want
Speaker 1: to play special teams, but you're not out there for
Speaker 1: whether it's the scout team or look team or the
Speaker 1: starting team. Um, that's not really a great look. Um.
Speaker 1: So I I tell all the young guys, like, make
Speaker 1: sure you're where you need to be. Uh, you're you
Speaker 1: make it to the NFL, like you obviously have some
Speaker 1: sort of talents, so when it's your time to actually play,
Speaker 1: you'll be fine. But make a nice little insight there
Speaker 1: into the attention to detail this coaching staff shows and displays.
Speaker 1: And I mean you knew that, but it's all always
Speaker 1: take those little nuggets of info here on the podcast
Speaker 1: we can get from the players back to the receiver's
Speaker 1: Jachem Grant was terrific today, just absolutely terrific over the
Speaker 1: shoulder catch, catching the football and traffic from toa hit.
Speaker 1: Another one just like that where he survived some contact
Speaker 1: going to the ground and hung onto the football. The
Speaker 1: only thing he really didn't do was get free on
Speaker 1: takeoff route. But frankly, we just haven't seen a lot
Speaker 1: of that the last couple of weeks in practice since
Speaker 1: the initial onslaught down the football field. The tight end
Speaker 1: had a big day today. Adam Shaheen has been productive
Speaker 1: really since he got back from the COVID list Mike
Speaker 1: get sick. He made another handful of absurd catches. I
Speaker 1: love the way he's become kind of the bully as
Speaker 1: the route runner through contact. There's a rep today I
Speaker 1: think we posted it on social on Twitter where Mike
Speaker 1: absorbs contact and breaks off the route with a little
Speaker 1: subtle shove, a little nuanced shove, but nothing at all
Speaker 1: close to what would deter A would rather garner a
Speaker 1: penalty flag from the official and I put the backer
Speaker 1: completely out of the equation to create that space. So
Speaker 1: good work there from Mike. And what's great about this
Speaker 1: too is Mike he's drawn several pass interference flags the
Speaker 1: last couple of days. He's a good bet to get
Speaker 1: you down to the one yard line automatically placed at
Speaker 1: the one yard line when you throw to him in
Speaker 1: the end zone, because oftentimes the only way to stop
Speaker 1: him from scoring the touchdown is to interfere with him.
Speaker 1: And finally, fun moment during the one on one period,
Speaker 1: he thought he was interfered with on one particular rep
Speaker 1: that didn't go complete. The ref didn't throw a flag,
Speaker 1: so Mike went up to him, pull the flag out
Speaker 1: for him and dropped it on the ground laughs all around.
Speaker 1: Durham Smith had some good work off the edge in
Speaker 1: the run game and caught the first ball of team
Speaker 1: period from two of for fifteen or so yards. And
Speaker 1: then Hunter Long. Not only was Hunter along out there,
Speaker 1: but he was very active. He caught some ball today
Speaker 1: and looks to be moving pretty well. I've said this
Speaker 1: a few times, but man, I just did not expect
Speaker 1: that to happen. It was a good lesson when speculating
Speaker 1: on injuries because it looked a lot worse than coming
Speaker 1: back just two weeks later. And also, happy birthday to
Speaker 1: day Hunter Along his birthdays on Thursday. And then onto
Speaker 1: the offensive line, and I got a good look at
Speaker 1: this group today, especially in the one on ones. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna go ahead and tell you who I thought
Speaker 1: did the best in those Just the names. Michael Dieter,
Speaker 1: Robert Hunt, Greg Little, Matt Skura, and Liam Eichenberg. Those
Speaker 1: were my favorite consistent reps on offense. On defense, Zack Steeler,
Speaker 1: Christian Wilkins, break Kwon Davis, Emanuel Ogba, Adam Butler, Jason Strowbridge,
Speaker 1: and Jalen Phillips. Kind of the usual sus X there.
Speaker 1: Back to the offensive line for some more in depth
Speaker 1: analysis here on the Drivetime Podcast. Subscribe, rate and review
Speaker 1: on Apple, Spotify or where you get your podcast from
Speaker 1: Michael Dieter and I mentioned this yesterday, but his ability
Speaker 1: to anchor continues to show up to me. The addage
Speaker 1: strength looks apparent in his game little extra sand in
Speaker 1: the pants as the scouting community refers to it, and
Speaker 1: in teamwork there was some good runs down the middle,
Speaker 1: and I just continue to be impressed by some of
Speaker 1: the technique as he shows patients and getting into what
Speaker 1: I perceived to be good angles in the running game.
Speaker 1: So continuing a good camp there. From Michael Dieter. I
Speaker 1: thought Liam Eichenberg was was terrific today and that that's not,
Speaker 1: you know, a superlative word that I want to go
Speaker 1: too far with, but I thought he was really good.
Speaker 1: I talked about patients all the time, and he seems
Speaker 1: to have a really good feel for the landmark that
Speaker 1: he needs to be at to be able to get
Speaker 1: the edge. Rusher prevent him from flattening that edge and
Speaker 1: taking the corner. So when he does corner, Liam knows,
Speaker 1: you know, he can run him right around the quarterback
Speaker 1: and out of harm's way and He did that on
Speaker 1: the first team rep of the day where I isolated him,
Speaker 1: and as far as watching him on that on that
Speaker 1: one play, then on the next his man crossed his face.
Speaker 1: Liam punches and gets knocked back, then gets into his
Speaker 1: past set and picks up a looper and stone walls
Speaker 1: that guy too. So good communication, good passing off, good technique,
Speaker 1: good balance. That's going to be the tray. I think
Speaker 1: that stands out most initially with him if he asks
Speaker 1: me just the understanding of rush plans, countermoves, angles, and
Speaker 1: how to use the defender's momentum against him. He was
Speaker 1: just a very smart player at Notre Dame. I think
Speaker 1: we saw some of that today at the right tackle position.
Speaker 1: I think Robert Hunt has been the most consistent member
Speaker 1: of the line. That's camp and I talked about some
Speaker 1: of the good runs coming off beaters backside, but Robert
Speaker 1: Hunt the same much true of him. In fact, he
Speaker 1: and Jesse Davis had some nice space clearing reps today
Speaker 1: and team to get back secrease off the edge and
Speaker 1: up the inside as well. And as far as pass
Speaker 1: protection goes one on one's team, whatever you know, I
Speaker 1: I rarely in fact I can't recall the last time
Speaker 1: I saw it. I rarely remember a time where Robert
Speaker 1: Hunt was chasing a guy into the backfield. He's been
Speaker 1: really solid in that area. I got a good look
Speaker 1: at Greg Little today. You see that power very quickly
Speaker 1: upon watching him that coach Flora has mentioned if he
Speaker 1: can get the pause on, you're gonna be tough to
Speaker 1: win that rep with him. It was good to see
Speaker 1: him getting instruction from coach Lemuel John Pierre for the
Speaker 1: last two days. It'll be a crash course like coach
Speaker 1: Flows had earlier, but good place to come get some
Speaker 1: coaching down here in South Florida onto the defensive man.
Speaker 1: These guys had themselves a day. Let's start by saying,
Speaker 1: first of all, how really good Calvin Ridley is. In fact,
Speaker 1: I bet you didn't see this coming, but it's the matchup, matchup,
Speaker 1: matchup of the day. In the middle of the podcast,
Speaker 1: it's really the Falcons passing game against the cover guys
Speaker 1: of Miami. I thought today was really good after Eric
Speaker 1: Rowe had mentioned some communication errors and Wednesday's practice, so
Speaker 1: pretty much all the chunk gains I saw out of
Speaker 1: the Falcons came via Calvin Ridley. So he got his two,
Speaker 1: but our guys had some good reps going up against
Speaker 1: him and the Falcons number one receiver this year with
Speaker 1: Julio Jones out of the picture. But the very first
Speaker 1: rap of the day that I watched, actually he didn't
Speaker 1: even happen. Xavian Howard is impressed up against Calvin Ridley
Speaker 1: and he had to come back, really did to the
Speaker 1: line to run the rep over again because he couldn't
Speaker 1: get off the press, and Extra shut that thing down.
Speaker 1: Physical aggressive rep from Xavian Howard. Then Byron Jones had
Speaker 1: a good rap on him, then came back later in
Speaker 1: the line for another one and one on ones and
Speaker 1: it took a third move by Ridley to get free.
Speaker 1: We saw all of our social media, but that was
Speaker 1: a win by Byron. If you ask me, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure how much you want to do that on Sundays
Speaker 1: as far as making three moves, because I've never seen
Speaker 1: a triple move work in the end zone with pressure
Speaker 1: coming to the quarterback. But to see Byron be able
Speaker 1: to start and stop and stay in phase twice on
Speaker 1: two moves, that's a great sign to see Eric Rowe
Speaker 1: had some good work on Kyle Pitts again for the
Speaker 1: second straight day. You know, everyone's asking Eric Rowe how
Speaker 1: helpful it is to see a player like Kyle Pitts,
Speaker 1: and it is, don't get me wrong, but it's great
Speaker 1: for Pitts to see a player like Eric Rowe. He
Speaker 1: had a pass break up and one once and forced
Speaker 1: Pits out of bounds when he went up and made
Speaker 1: an amazing leaping grab, but again didn't come down in
Speaker 1: bounds because twenty one was there to shove him out.
Speaker 1: And finally, I was watching Jerome Baker cover tight ends
Speaker 1: and backs again because it's so much fun to do,
Speaker 1: and he was all over Hayden Hurst. He carried one
Speaker 1: route on seven on seven's down the middle of the field,
Speaker 1: stride for stride to cut that thing off. That's a
Speaker 1: great value to have with your linebacker to go that
Speaker 1: deep in coverage. So those are the top matchups. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and stay in the secondaries. We talked about
Speaker 1: the defense. During a lot of the Falcons drills. I
Speaker 1: saw the ball coming out short and quick, whether pressure
Speaker 1: or just the coverage, holding serve and forcing check downs.
Speaker 1: A lot of throwaways and a ton of sacks late
Speaker 1: in this practice Xavian picked off Matt Ryan in the
Speaker 1: first team period and then had fantastic coverage on a
Speaker 1: deep shot to Calvin Ridley. Ridley comes back and elevates
Speaker 1: for the football, but X is right there to contest
Speaker 1: balls tipped up into the air and Javon Holland comes
Speaker 1: from absolutely nowhere for the interception. Javon Holland's range has
Speaker 1: been a joy to watch all training camp long, and
Speaker 1: X just looking like he picked up where he left
Speaker 1: off in competing, getting his hands in the football, generating
Speaker 1: takeaways from a very good offense or in the Falcons.
Speaker 1: Byron Jones I thought was terrific today as well, the
Speaker 1: whole secondary. But Byron was sticky making plays on the
Speaker 1: football and the coverage on the back end was just
Speaker 1: very solid. You don't get the splash plays, but just
Speaker 1: by the virtue of the quarterback's decisions. Very few vertical shots,
Speaker 1: and you could often see thirty and two mccordy and
Speaker 1: Holland capping things off and showing the quarterbacks color to
Speaker 1: make them think twice about going down the field. Eric
Speaker 1: Rowe had a hell of a week. Can't wait to
Speaker 1: watch him play on Saturday. So did Jamal Perry. He
Speaker 1: nearly jumped a pass to the outside for a pick
Speaker 1: that just wound up being a pass break up. But
Speaker 1: he's flying all over the place. Fun players had a
Speaker 1: really good training camp so far. Nick Needham was having
Speaker 1: another really good practice but had to leave right at
Speaker 1: the very end. I'll update you guys on that when
Speaker 1: he would get it from him. But he left on
Speaker 1: a cart. But he jumped off the cart and walked
Speaker 1: back on his own power. So I don't think that
Speaker 1: was necessarily a sign of anything to come. But like
Speaker 1: we've learned Hunter Long, we'll find out when we find out.
Speaker 1: Crave on the bloc and Nate Holly got on the
Speaker 1: notes here as players I just jotted down for good
Speaker 1: quiet work. They didn't have anything crazy like a pick
Speaker 1: or a fumble or whatever, but just being in good
Speaker 1: position with good technique and good reps. Back into the
Speaker 1: front seven. I had mentioned Baker thought he was very good.
Speaker 1: I thought Calvin Munson had a really good day. He's
Speaker 1: kind of a load coming downhill to fill gaps against
Speaker 1: the run B gap to B gap. Also had himself
Speaker 1: a p BU in the back of the end zone.
Speaker 1: In team period two, Andrew Van Ginkl had a really
Speaker 1: good day to day. He picked off Matt Ryan and
Speaker 1: took it back the other way for six in the
Speaker 1: team period. Also had a pressure later on that forced
Speaker 1: a throwaway, then had a pass breakup and the end
Speaker 1: zone in coverage, and you can find these videos on
Speaker 1: Twitter if you search my name and Andrew Van Ginkl's
Speaker 1: name and go to the video section. But I've been
Speaker 1: talking about him in coverage since his Wisconsin days. He
Speaker 1: just seems to really get it, always in correct position
Speaker 1: and knows how to close down and just doesn't just
Speaker 1: cover grass, he covers jerseys when he's in that position.
Speaker 1: In coverage position upfront, Christian Wilkins, who has had a
Speaker 1: great camp, had I think his best day today. His
Speaker 1: effort shows up time and time again. Outside runs, he's
Speaker 1: out there chasing guys down through the whistle, but he's
Speaker 1: also powering his way through blocks. And the best part
Speaker 1: was watching him and the one on ones where he
Speaker 1: seems to have a nice, maybe newly refined, deep arsenal
Speaker 1: of pass rush moves. I saw him on one play
Speaker 1: throw a double hand swipe and it completely displaced the
Speaker 1: blocker just chucked him a gap over and created a
Speaker 1: free run down the middle. He's been a beast. And
Speaker 1: also today he addressed the crowd before practice. I think
Speaker 1: it's on It is on my Twitter. I think it's
Speaker 1: on the team account for sure for a better angle
Speaker 1: if you want to check that out. Him coming out
Speaker 1: and say and thank you to the fans. That was
Speaker 1: pretty cool to see. And Emmanuel Ogba, what a monster
Speaker 1: he was in practice, just like he was last week
Speaker 1: in Chicago when he wrecked the two minute drive there.
Speaker 1: Did the exact same thing today against the Falcons. Three sacks, one, two,
Speaker 1: three sacks in the team period two minute drive. And
Speaker 1: I had a chance to ask Emmanual after practice, what
Speaker 1: was the key to the success and those two minute
Speaker 1: drives not just this week but last week in Chicago
Speaker 1: as well. Relent safe, just keep rushing, even though it
Speaker 1: is sometimes quick pass. I gotta keep rushing never no
Speaker 1: one's gonna open up. That's a good mindset to have.
Speaker 1: And he was just working that upfilled shoulder. And it
Speaker 1: sounds weird to say this, but he can really get
Speaker 1: under the block and get load of the ground even
Speaker 1: at six ft four to win those reps inside. He
Speaker 1: also was asked by another reporter about how those situations
Speaker 1: kind of help you fill out your rush for game
Speaker 1: day or game type of situations, and he answered that
Speaker 1: question talking about how it's more realistic to have that
Speaker 1: type of a period of live period to get those
Speaker 1: moves in. It does because it's realistic. You know during
Speaker 1: the game we always have too many either after before
Speaker 1: the half or after the game right before the game
Speaker 1: end is but you know, just going out there, you
Speaker 1: just execute the game plan we got and just doing
Speaker 1: my best to get back there before the QP games
Speaker 1: rid of the ball and we'll go ahead and finish
Speaker 1: you up here with Emmanuel who was asked about the
Speaker 1: identity right now of this Dolphins defense, I loved his
Speaker 1: answer playing together with lettlens effort. You know, physical discipline, team,
Speaker 1: that's the goal every time, So what more do you
Speaker 1: want than that? I also thought Jason Strowbridge had a
Speaker 1: good day working one on one pass rush moves and
Speaker 1: denting the edge and the run game and team periods
Speaker 1: as well, and Ray Kwandao has had a few more
Speaker 1: of those run through another human being type of reps.
Speaker 1: Also had a great pass rush move with an arm
Speaker 1: over that I saw that got him into the backfield
Speaker 1: very quickly, and Zach Seeler just doesn't give knock back
Speaker 1: at all, like I have yet to see someone consistently
Speaker 1: move him off the football. All right, we didn't match
Speaker 1: up of the day already. How about your top performers.
Speaker 1: Mike get sick He caught a handful of passes and
Speaker 1: really all week was getting open catching the football, showing
Speaker 1: some physicality the top of the route as well. Good
Speaker 1: week from Mike Gasicki. Xavian Howard a pick, a big
Speaker 1: part of another pick as well. Just tight coverage and
Speaker 1: and one on one, seven on seven and team period
Speaker 1: all day long. Javon Holland another interception, continuing to do
Speaker 1: a good job of limiting deep passes for the opposing offense.
Speaker 1: Christian Wilkins in the backfield, chasing things down, high effort
Speaker 1: pass rush, run defense, really doing everything. Jason Strowbridge gets
Speaker 1: in here for some good pass rush work as well
Speaker 1: as the running game. Andrew Van Ginkle's coverage continues to
Speaker 1: stand out and what he does in that area as
Speaker 1: well as rushing the edge. Savan Akha Met another big
Speaker 1: play in the passing game, some shake and some wiggle
Speaker 1: in the running game as well, Calvin Munson, the solid
Speaker 1: run defense, the pass breakup and the passing period or
Speaker 1: the Reds home period, I should say, Jerome Baker, tight
Speaker 1: coverage all day, some pressure on the quarterbacks and to
Speaker 1: a Tunga Biloa got into the notes after a strong
Speaker 1: finish to practice and just putting the ball on the
Speaker 1: money a lot throughout the course of this day. And
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and finish up this podcast with a
Speaker 1: couple of Apple podcast reviews. Paul Carpes says he listens
Speaker 1: to every episode since I found this nice podcast, look
Speaker 1: forward to it every day. Thank you, Paul. We appreciate that.
Speaker 1: And then we have a question here from that's me.
Speaker 1: Lou Lou asks number one, love the podcast, can never
Speaker 1: get enough, thank you. But number two with Kinley having
Speaker 1: a good enough season last year and not pooping the
Speaker 1: bed against the Bears, that's funny, and any chance Eikenberg
Speaker 1: moves back to tackle. Also with that second and one
Speaker 1: run play, the play was stopped because all the offensive
Speaker 1: linemen were cut blocking, not necessarily bad blocking. Who does
Speaker 1: that fall on well first, Yes, good observation. Going to
Speaker 1: the ground on a cut block will happen one times
Speaker 1: out of one times, because a cup block means you're
Speaker 1: trying to chop them down at the knees and get
Speaker 1: them to the ground. So don't look at guys in
Speaker 1: the ground and say a bad thing if it's a
Speaker 1: cup block. As far as responsibility, I just can't possibly
Speaker 1: know that without the assignment and rules of each guy.
Speaker 1: I think you can look at the execution of the
Speaker 1: cup blocks. But then there are factors like should there
Speaker 1: have been a check by the quarterback to the running
Speaker 1: back make the right read? In football, there are just
Speaker 1: so many things. I mean, we heard coach talk about
Speaker 1: this on Tuesday on the Wednesday podcast as well, about
Speaker 1: how there's seven or eight guys up in the booth
Speaker 1: pointing out different parts of the defense pre snap. When
Speaker 1: I given snap, then you've got eleven guys who run
Speaker 1: the play. It's just a lot, but still a great
Speaker 1: observation there, Lou and I think the point here remains
Speaker 1: that Miami needs to find out how they're going to
Speaker 1: be successful in short yardage. Obviously it wasn't great in Chicago.
Speaker 1: They did convert a third and short or was it
Speaker 1: fourth and short? Either way, fourth and one or third
Speaker 1: and one, But the sample sizes is pretty small right now,
Speaker 1: so maybe we revisit in a couple of weeks. Sound good,
Speaker 1: great question, Lou, And with that that is going to
Speaker 1: be my time, Caroline. Daddy is coming home. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review.
Speaker 1: You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. You
Speaker 1: can follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the
Speaker 1: Fish Tank with Seth and o J, and of course
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time fits up,