Speaker 1: You're listening to the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. This is
Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Wheatfield. Back to throw to a looking,
Speaker 1: what's the falca wine olfan touchtop cleric cow unbelievable, just
Speaker 1: flew byre for a second time. Don't know where he
Speaker 1: was going right away? The hit that 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
Speaker 1: touchtop again, it's waddle. It's six touchdown past day. Drive
Speaker 1: Time with Travis Winfield begins. Now let me check your
Speaker 1: pulse if not far of what is up? Dolphans And
Speaker 1: welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's
Speaker 1: it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And
Speaker 1: on today's show, it is a Wednesday. That means we
Speaker 1: get to hear from coach and quarterback. And since that
Speaker 1: quarterback is back, I'm gonna take a look at some
Speaker 1: of my favorite plays this year from QB one. And
Speaker 1: since it's Wednesday, that also means we're looking at five
Speaker 1: big picture things that I think. Plus we'll hear from
Speaker 1: some of the seventy two team, as well as Mike McDaniel.
Speaker 1: Plenty more to come your way here from the Baptist
Speaker 1: Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is
Speaker 1: the Drive Time Podcast. So I ended last Wednesday's podcast
Speaker 1: talking about Mariners and Astros and how that series really
Speaker 1: brought on a whirlwind of emotions, and I would say
Speaker 1: of that was tied to thinking about Jason Mr. Jenkins.
Speaker 1: And a week later, Jason's Astros are headed back to
Speaker 1: their sixth consecutive American League Championship series. But man, I
Speaker 1: just can't help but think about the conversations that he
Speaker 1: and I would have had after each one of those
Speaker 1: nail biding, tense tight games the entire series that resulted
Speaker 1: in a serious sweep for the Houston Astros, And it's
Speaker 1: funny to think, you know, how important we as fans
Speaker 1: think the outcomes of these games are. But if I
Speaker 1: learned anything from that series, it's that a lot of
Speaker 1: things transcend the scoreboard and the entire series. All I
Speaker 1: could think about was the true value in sports, and
Speaker 1: that is the communities it creates. That's what Jason was
Speaker 1: all about, right, bringing people together. And what better avenue
Speaker 1: than sports than to do that. I know we didn't
Speaker 1: talk about that in the lead, but I just wanted
Speaker 1: to put a bow on that from the podcast last week.
Speaker 1: But Jason, I'm telling you right now, we'll be back
Speaker 1: next year. We're gonna get y'all in three. I also
Speaker 1: wanted to make that comment because there was a great
Speaker 1: story on the Miami Herald today on on Tuesday, I
Speaker 1: should say about two a tongue of Bloa and his
Speaker 1: impact and what he means to the Miami Dolphins record.
Speaker 1: Barry Jackson wrote that piece where he talked to Duke
Speaker 1: Riley and Eric Rowe about Towa's involvement in the locker room,
Speaker 1: talking to not just the offensive players, defensive players as well,
Speaker 1: talking trash on the practice field, inviting guys over to
Speaker 1: his house to hang out after practice. Really good stuff,
Speaker 1: Barry Jackson, Miami Herald. Go check it out. It just
Speaker 1: reminded me about the connections and no kind of relating
Speaker 1: back to, you know, my relationship with Jason, about what
Speaker 1: sports is all about and the camaraderie in the community
Speaker 1: and the brotherhood not just for the players, but for
Speaker 1: the people that follow the sport, people that cover the sport,
Speaker 1: It's the most important thing to me, and so I
Speaker 1: just wanted to put a bow on that. And also
Speaker 1: we'll go ahead and turn the page here now and
Speaker 1: get into Dolphins talk on this Miami Dolphins podcast network
Speaker 1: kind of. We're about three minutes into the show right
Speaker 1: now and we haven't talked Dolphins football yet. We're gonna
Speaker 1: go ahead and do that right now. With five things
Speaker 1: that I think, and we start with number one, and
Speaker 1: to me, it's that the defense looks to be hitting
Speaker 1: their stride. Ten three and ounce last week is to
Speaker 1: me a better sign than if we had generated a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of takeaways. Don't get me wrong, Takeaways change
Speaker 1: the complexion of the game, have the biggest impact on
Speaker 1: the scoreboard. But takeaways are not as easily forecast able
Speaker 1: or repeatable. At times, they can be a little bit random.
Speaker 1: But to stym me an offense with the firepower that
Speaker 1: the Vikings have on ten of their fourteen drives not
Speaker 1: even allow first down that is I mean again, takeaways
Speaker 1: the the ultimate for a defense, but a three and
Speaker 1: out is got to be right there. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can flip the field, you can control time of possession,
Speaker 1: you can maximize the amount of possessions your offense gets
Speaker 1: by doing that. It's a really big deal. And so
Speaker 1: to sty me them on ten of their fourteen drives
Speaker 1: fifteen if you include kneel downs. We don't do that
Speaker 1: around here. We add context to our drives, pat and look,
Speaker 1: year to year carry over is hardly relevant, right, But
Speaker 1: I do think there's some moticum of relevance here given
Speaker 1: two things. Number One, the scheme for this defense is
Speaker 1: relatively similar, at least the nuts and bolts of it.
Speaker 1: You adapt, you change, you add wrinkles each year, but
Speaker 1: it's the same guy with the same principles calling this stuff,
Speaker 1: right Josh Boyer. And Two, the personnel is largely unchanged.
Speaker 1: I mean, aside from injuries mounting in certain spots, the
Speaker 1: cornerback position most no doably, largely the same rotation up front,
Speaker 1: largely the same linebacking crew, and aside from Byron Jones
Speaker 1: being down, it's like the exact same secondary against Sam's
Speaker 1: injuries Javon Holland, Brandon Jones, Eric Rowe, Xavian Howard, Byron
Speaker 1: Jones out, Nick Needam out. Those guys are or were
Speaker 1: going into the season. You know your top six guys
Speaker 1: in terms of the depth chart in the secondary, and
Speaker 1: so with that mine you look back at and it
Speaker 1: was Week five when the defense really found its stride
Speaker 1: in a blowout win over the forty nine. Last year,
Speaker 1: I think we saw the defense get it's footing in
Speaker 1: a loss the Week eight game at the Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 1: when they had kept Josh Allen and the Bills out
Speaker 1: of the end zone for nearly three quarters. Their first
Speaker 1: score came with three forty nine on the clock in
Speaker 1: quarter number three, and then from there we saw them
Speaker 1: hold Houston to nine points, Baltimore ten points, the Jets
Speaker 1: to seventeen, Panthers ten Giants nine, Jets twenty four, although
Speaker 1: when those was a pick six, and Saints to three points.
Speaker 1: A dominant run, allowing just eleven point seven points per
Speaker 1: game and winning all seven of those games. That coming
Speaker 1: off an eight game stretch where it was twenty nine
Speaker 1: point one points per game. A big shift mid season
Speaker 1: just happened, right, snap your fingers and there it goes.
Speaker 1: It was a twenty four points per game allowed start
Speaker 1: through a one in three record that the first four games.
Speaker 1: Then it was fourteen and a half points per game
Speaker 1: over another eight game stretch that produced seven victories. And
Speaker 1: I mentioned this on the Sunday Recap pod, but the
Speaker 1: style of quarterback play to meet is notable here as
Speaker 1: we try to look for reasons why this is the case, right,
Speaker 1: Why are the Dolphins going through four or five game
Speaker 1: stretches to start a season where it's not as good
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden it clicks and they
Speaker 1: get hot. Now they have had success against some mobile quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: I don't want to make it sound like they're just
Speaker 1: lost against those guys. We saw them hold the Allen
Speaker 1: Lead Bills to just nineteen points. We saw them completely
Speaker 1: stymy the most athletic quarterback the league has ever seen
Speaker 1: in Lamar Jackson last year for ten points in a
Speaker 1: horrible game for that Ravens offense. But the numbers against
Speaker 1: quarterbacks who don't scramble hardly ever or have designed runs
Speaker 1: called for them at her the proof has been in
Speaker 1: the putting there that stretched back in. Here's the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: that started with Jimmy Garoppolo, Joe Flacco, Jared Goff, thirty
Speaker 1: four points allowed in three games, eight takeaways. Then Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray shows up and it's thirty one points for the
Speaker 1: Cardinals offense still a Dolphins victory to a big game.
Speaker 1: Then you go back to Herbert, who he's certainly athletic,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't run a whole lot. He can't scramble,
Speaker 1: Drew Lock, Sam Donald, Brandon Allen, and it's back to seventeen,
Speaker 1: twenty three and seven points one. That stretch of seven
Speaker 1: wins straight is another collection of quarterbacks who had fewer
Speaker 1: than ten scrambles and design runs the entire season. That's
Speaker 1: kind of my my threshold here, have you scrambled and
Speaker 1: had design runs ten or more times or less, because
Speaker 1: that kind of tells you what type of quarterback you are. Well,
Speaker 1: that wasn't the start of the stretch, as it was
Speaker 1: with Tyrod Taylor Lamar Jackson, who obviously are two of
Speaker 1: the most athletic quarterbacks ever to play this game. But
Speaker 1: then it was Joe Flacco, a combination of a most
Speaker 1: athletic running quarterback, Cam Newton with p J. Walker coming
Speaker 1: in who's also a pocket quarterback, Mike Glennan, Zack Wilson,
Speaker 1: and Ian Book And only two of those guys had
Speaker 1: more than ten scrambles and design runs on the entire year.
Speaker 1: So what I'm ultimately getting at, that's what the schedule
Speaker 1: now produces up through the bye week. We'll see if
Speaker 1: it's Kenny Picket or Mr Rbiski on Sunday, Jared Goff
Speaker 1: Justin Fields is super athletic, So that's like I guessaid,
Speaker 1: uh detour from this course. Kobe Brissette, Davis Mills, Jimmy Garoppolo,
Speaker 1: and then Justin Herbert in week fourteen before Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, Mac Jones, Zack Wilson to finish out the schedule.
Speaker 1: So now they have to go execute. They have to
Speaker 1: put in the work to repeat those performances that they've
Speaker 1: put up in the past couple of years. But that's
Speaker 1: the point of this big picture item. I think. I think,
Speaker 1: I think the defense showed us signs against Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: and the Vikings offense of what they can be and
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to see if thing keep that rolling.
Speaker 1: And all of that is to say that even against
Speaker 1: the athletic mobile quarterbacks, I mean, going back to last
Speaker 1: year we mentioned it, Tyrod Taylor, Lamar Jackson did a
Speaker 1: good job against those guys. Lamar had his revenge game
Speaker 1: this year by in a lot of ways, Josh Allen
Speaker 1: it's been three straight games where he hasn't been at
Speaker 1: his typical dominant performances. So get the athletic quarterback thing
Speaker 1: kind of sorted out here, and then also handle the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that don't have the same type of mobility, design runs,
Speaker 1: scramble type of plays in their statistics. It's a good
Speaker 1: omen going forward against either style of quarterback. I'm excited
Speaker 1: about this Dolphins defense. Number two, Christian Wilkins, Zack Seeler,
Speaker 1: Jalen Phillips pushing up leaderboards. This could have been on
Speaker 1: topic number one, but I wanted to separate then because
Speaker 1: I want to give these guys their own limelight here.
Speaker 1: Christian Wilkins right now is second and run stop win
Speaker 1: rate of the snaps he wins against the run. He's
Speaker 1: fourth and past pass wash win weight pass rush win
Speaker 1: rate at eighteen percent among defensive tackles. Second and fourth
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl season for Christian Wilkins. Jalen Phillips is eighth
Speaker 1: among defensive ends outside linebackers, edge defenders with thirty three
Speaker 1: percent pressure rate. Sorry sorry sorry, run stop win RPE.
Speaker 1: He's also leading the team and pressures with eighteen They're
Speaker 1: picking up more and more here He's now twenty eight
Speaker 1: in the NFL at the edge position, which I know
Speaker 1: sounds like it's not a very high mark, but there
Speaker 1: are like a hundred and seventy eight of these players
Speaker 1: in the league, so he's in the top twenty or
Speaker 1: I should say, the top eight percentile of pass rushures
Speaker 1: off the edge. Zach Seeler is ten and run stop
Speaker 1: win rate at forty three percent. And just to kind
Speaker 1: of finish off her posterity here on the offensive line,
Speaker 1: ESPN measures OH line win rates as well, Connor Williams
Speaker 1: is fourth and run block win rate among centers at
Speaker 1: seventies six percent. So I just wanted to go ahead
Speaker 1: and shorten that or shoehorn that in here. I should
Speaker 1: say I believe to Ron Armstead fell just out of
Speaker 1: the threshold because he's not on the graphic, but he
Speaker 1: is at in pass block win rate, which would be fourth,
Speaker 1: but he's not in that current graphic. Thing I think
Speaker 1: number three, Tyreek is that dude, man, I don't think
Speaker 1: I really need to try to argue this point all
Speaker 1: that hard. I think most of you probably agree. The
Speaker 1: attention that he commands, the way he forces coverage to
Speaker 1: play so far off we'll talk about this in our
Speaker 1: next takeaway about how the skill group can challenge whatever
Speaker 1: defensive system you throw at us, and Tyreek is a
Speaker 1: huge part of that. Also, when you can throw a
Speaker 1: fourth down and five and a play, you have to
Speaker 1: have to a guy who's being double covered because he
Speaker 1: can generate five yards of separation against bracket coverage. I
Speaker 1: just don't think you can quantify that value. It's immeasurable.
Speaker 1: I also want to say Jalen Waddle too, for all
Speaker 1: intents and purposes, is that dude too? Because I'm just
Speaker 1: really enjoying watching these two guys together do what they do.
Speaker 1: And I'll say it here in this next takeaway. I
Speaker 1: really think we're just beginning to scratch the surface with
Speaker 1: these two guys. Might be takeaway number five, but we'll
Speaker 1: get there eventually. Because thing I think number four is
Speaker 1: that efficiency meets expanded possessions equals complementary football. Let's repeat
Speaker 1: that again. Efficiency meets expanded possessions equals complementary football. So
Speaker 1: if you look at the Dolphins offense the first three
Speaker 1: weeks of the season versus the last three weeks, what's
Speaker 1: the difference weeks one through three? Second and offensive ep
Speaker 1: A with thirty two. That's points expected points added. And
Speaker 1: the way you define that stat is this statistic used
Speaker 1: to try to define how many points a player or
Speaker 1: play is worth to a team. Every play is considered
Speaker 1: with context and my meaning down a distance and field
Speaker 1: position are used to evaluate the amount of e p
Speaker 1: A compared to the actual result of the play. If
Speaker 1: that sounds like a lot, I just ask for some
Speaker 1: trust in it. In the same way that, for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: analytics seems to be a bad word, a cuss word
Speaker 1: in football. Like now, all analytics is is just giving
Speaker 1: you additional information to help inform your decision making. It's evidence,
Speaker 1: it's not analytics. Remember the resistance that baseball had to
Speaker 1: say metrics for a long long time. Well, now football
Speaker 1: they made a movie about it. Oh, these money ball
Speaker 1: thing is gonna work worked out pretty well. Football is
Speaker 1: in that same phase right now. But the fact of
Speaker 1: the matter is this, there's no model that can perfectly
Speaker 1: predict everything. No one's trying to say that. We're just
Speaker 1: trying to maximize the resources we have to get the
Speaker 1: most accurate model we possibly can. And just like in baseball,
Speaker 1: when OPS took over as the primary stat because no,
Speaker 1: stack correlates more with winning in baseball than ops and
Speaker 1: ops allowed. It's on base plus slugging measures your total
Speaker 1: bases earned overplate appearances and at bats. Just like that.
Speaker 1: E p A is a very good indicator of success.
Speaker 1: So that's my diet tribe on EPA and advanced metrics.
Speaker 1: So Miami weeks one through three, second e p A
Speaker 1: at thirty two and one of the arguments I recall
Speaker 1: seeing was that while they're only scoring thirteen points on
Speaker 1: offense because the Patriots, they only scored twenty points against
Speaker 1: the Bills. That's why I love advanced metrics because it
Speaker 1: provides what oh context, Travis loves context, so you can
Speaker 1: look at volume and make your assumptions, but that doesn't
Speaker 1: measure efficiency. Another sport crossover reference here in basketball, who
Speaker 1: makes a bigger impact on a game? A player who
Speaker 1: shoots ten threes and makes three of them or a
Speaker 1: player who shoots two three's and makes both of them.
Speaker 1: Nine points is more than six. Yeah, but player B
Speaker 1: used two possessions to get us six points, where player
Speaker 1: A used up ten of our possessions we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to get us nine points. One of those is one
Speaker 1: less than one point per possession compared to three points
Speaker 1: per possession. You're probably asking, Travis, where the hell are
Speaker 1: you going here? Dog, big dog? Trust me, this has
Speaker 1: all been worked out, so we'll stay with me. So
Speaker 1: that thirty two e p A in weeks one through
Speaker 1: three was paired with two point eight one points per drive.
Speaker 1: For the longest time, two points per drive was always
Speaker 1: a target point. I haven't seen the numbers this year,
Speaker 1: but it's probably down given scoring being like a ten
Speaker 1: year low. Right now, those two point eight one points
Speaker 1: per game per drive, I should say, per drive, we're
Speaker 1: first in the NFL. The last three weeks we were
Speaker 1: twenty eight and offensive EPA and twenty nine points per
Speaker 1: drive at one point three. These stats, to me prove
Speaker 1: the complementary nature of the Dolphins operation during the win
Speaker 1: street compared to the opposite of that during the losing streak.
Speaker 1: And we arrive at the conclusion of all this, I
Speaker 1: think the offense is close to getting back to that efficiency,
Speaker 1: especially if you get some guys back. As we wait
Speaker 1: to see the status of players like toront Armstead, Austin
Speaker 1: Jackson obviously to Ah preparing as though he's going to
Speaker 1: start the game on Sunday Night. A return of offensive
Speaker 1: efficiency paired with the direction I think the defense is
Speaker 1: going in. That's thing number four that I think that
Speaker 1: we can get back to offensive efficiency and as a result,
Speaker 1: see the entire team get back to the complementary style
Speaker 1: of football that we love to see that produced three
Speaker 1: straight wins over three good teams. But just in case
Speaker 1: it's not abundantly clear, everyone has to do their part right.
Speaker 1: The entire fifty three special teams gotta step it up.
Speaker 1: Defense has to keep it rolling and be even better
Speaker 1: with the takeaways and splash play. So it's a total
Speaker 1: team effort. But I think that offensive efficiency can help
Speaker 1: out the other sides as much as anything else. Number five.
Speaker 1: This is five things I think, and the last thing
Speaker 1: is that the offense is really close to clicking on
Speaker 1: all cylinders. I mentioned this on the L twenty two
Speaker 1: podcast how I was a fan of the structure and
Speaker 1: spacing of the offense time and time again against those vikings. Honestly,
Speaker 1: with the way that they showed they can attack gaps
Speaker 1: and zones and the daring nature of playing man coverage
Speaker 1: against the speed this offense has like tried. If you
Speaker 1: want at your own peril. I just think the offense
Speaker 1: is equipped to be able to attack any look you
Speaker 1: give it. Now, executing is never guaranteed, but just in
Speaker 1: terms of how I think this offense is designed to
Speaker 1: be flexible and really go after potential vulnerabilities. I think
Speaker 1: that's getting better and better each week. I think the
Speaker 1: run game has a lot of moments the last few weeks.
Speaker 1: I think the passing game is obviously productive, but I
Speaker 1: think we're really on the cusp in a lot of areas,
Speaker 1: and I fully believe in the personnel and staff to
Speaker 1: execute and to get us to that point we want
Speaker 1: to go to. Injuries clearly have been a bugaboo, but
Speaker 1: you can look at any team across the league and
Speaker 1: say that, Like look at the Charges on Monday Night football.
Speaker 1: They were down to their third string center and had
Speaker 1: three rookies from left tackle, left guard to center position.
Speaker 1: That's a tough, tough way to make a living. So
Speaker 1: there you go. Those are the five things I think
Speaker 1: on this Wednesday, heading into week number seven. We'll go
Speaker 1: ahead and take a break here and come back on
Speaker 1: the other side. And here from some of the nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy two alumni, as well as looking at some top
Speaker 1: passes this year from our offense. That's next Drivetime podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: We'll go ahead and get to some of the media
Speaker 1: here from Let's see who was it. We are honoring
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventy two team the fiftieth anniversary on Sunday
Speaker 1: night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. We had Larry Sonka, Larry Little,
Speaker 1: Paul Warfield, and Bob Greasy were available to the media
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. But I want to look back here first,
Speaker 1: excuse me at five of my favorite plays this year
Speaker 1: and revisit those films and break it down. My five
Speaker 1: favorite passes of the year. Number five, stick nod to
Speaker 1: Jalen against the Ravens at second down and third team
Speaker 1: down seven nothing ball on the minus three yard line,
Speaker 1: only one personnel, empty formation with a four man front
Speaker 1: and off coverage from the defense. We pick up the
Speaker 1: foe man rush well to a works to the boundary
Speaker 1: the short side of the field, comes back to the
Speaker 1: field the wide side and does a little shoulder roll
Speaker 1: to waddle on a stick route. A stick routes where
Speaker 1: you put your foot in the ground and show the
Speaker 1: quarterback in numbers quick throw seven eight yards wherever the
Speaker 1: case maybe stick route, stick nod as if you fake
Speaker 1: the stick and go back upfield. The stick gets Patrick
Speaker 1: Queen the linebacker to take one step up and Marcus Williams,
Speaker 1: the boundary side safety, has rolled to the boundary because
Speaker 1: he's keying to his initial head movements, which takes him
Speaker 1: to the back side of the formation. It gives him
Speaker 1: three steps of width from Marcus Williams to where Wattle
Speaker 1: is because of that, so he's literally moving two people
Speaker 1: to create space from his pre snap read to his
Speaker 1: post nap application and puts the football in a literal
Speaker 1: perfect position over the linebacker on waddles back shoulder away
Speaker 1: from where the safety is key whole accuracy throwing the
Speaker 1: ball from the middle of the end zone to the
Speaker 1: twenty yard line twenty yard keyhole shot. It gives Wattle
Speaker 1: room and of course he picks up forty two yards
Speaker 1: after the catch for a gain of fifty nine yards,
Speaker 1: dealing Waddle dime number four. Waddle again touched down versus
Speaker 1: the Patriots. We talked about some of the fine details
Speaker 1: that can take this offense to another level. What better
Speaker 1: example than this one. Wattle on the top of a
Speaker 1: stack where have a receiver's stack behind him, wins inside
Speaker 1: access against inside leverage with a post safety and backside
Speaker 1: hook defender potentially impacting his slant from the other side
Speaker 1: of the formation too. Takes the snap and looks at
Speaker 1: the backside to hold that hookbacker, which creates the smallest
Speaker 1: of windows for Wattle. He then whips back to the
Speaker 1: front side and he throws the ball before he even
Speaker 1: sees it. Why because the backside read gave him front
Speaker 1: side information. That's been the biggest thing for me with
Speaker 1: two of this year is how quickly he's picking up
Speaker 1: stuff that should be blind to him based upon the
Speaker 1: information he has on what's in front of him. And
Speaker 1: then the ball is perfect and Waddle takes care of
Speaker 1: the rest. The nicest part of it all. Two accomplished
Speaker 1: all of that on one hitch. Timing the fast processing
Speaker 1: is not just the difference between completing it and getting
Speaker 1: a first down, but creating the chance after the catch.
Speaker 1: High high, high level stuff. And that's before you talk
Speaker 1: about ball placement in the right exact spot. Number three,
Speaker 1: The throat of Mike get Sicky versus the Bengal second
Speaker 1: down thirteen and in the first quarter, down seven three
Speaker 1: on the scoreboard. We are three by one to the field.
Speaker 1: Three receivers of the wide side, one receiver to the
Speaker 1: boundary to the short side, with Mike Gasicki as the
Speaker 1: two to the field, which means your furthest receiver out
Speaker 1: is your one, next guy injured two closest guy to
Speaker 1: the formation usual three. Mike is in the middle. He's
Speaker 1: a two the slot. I guess there's two slots there,
Speaker 1: but Mike. Mike takes an inside release to run a
Speaker 1: deep out route and pressure is in onto before Mike
Speaker 1: even gets the top of that route to a speed up,
Speaker 1: A drop hitches up and as he slides around the rush,
Speaker 1: the ball comes out before Mike has even come out
Speaker 1: of the break, before he's even cleared that hook defender,
Speaker 1: and there are two defenders within five yards and four
Speaker 1: defenders within ten yards, and the ball is once again
Speaker 1: exactly where it needs to be. Low percentage throw, that's
Speaker 1: right on the money for a big conversion. More very
Speaker 1: high level stuff. Number two, the first Tyreek touchdown pass
Speaker 1: against Baltimore, third and ten down by fourteen just dropped
Speaker 1: a second down pass that would have been a first down.
Speaker 1: We have tie Reek of the boundary against a two
Speaker 1: high safety look and off coverage from the cloud corner,
Speaker 1: so a bunch of cushion for Tyreek. My favorite part
Speaker 1: about this play is how to Us sees the overload
Speaker 1: pressure from the strong side the other side of the
Speaker 1: formation and just casually slides his drop away from it,
Speaker 1: and it bought the requisite time that he needed to
Speaker 1: uncork a ball from his own forty two, which then
Speaker 1: allows Tyreek, who's at the thirty yard line. By the way,
Speaker 1: he lets it go at the thirty yard line and
Speaker 1: the safety's at the twenty five, which five yards before
Speaker 1: he's even leaving elite level anticipation, and the ball drops
Speaker 1: into the bucket at the two. He slows up a
Speaker 1: little bit, but feel free to go watch literally anyone
Speaker 1: else throw deep balls. That happens like every day time,
Speaker 1: so don't get weird about it. It's a forty eight
Speaker 1: yard touchdown fifty eight yards through the air if you
Speaker 1: take where he lets it go and then where it
Speaker 1: lands obviously behind the line of scrimmage, and it puts
Speaker 1: Miami right back in the game. Dime number one, third
Speaker 1: and two, my favorite thrill by a quarterback in the
Speaker 1: post Marino Era third twenty two, trailing by three points,
Speaker 1: the eleven minutes to play against those damn Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: Buffalo brings just three They have three backers in the
Speaker 1: hook to cloud corners out wide, two high safeties, and
Speaker 1: Waddle widens one of those safeties with a great route
Speaker 1: to the fake to the with the fake to the flag,
Speaker 1: a fake to the corner on a copper route corner
Speaker 1: post to hold the backside safety with his locking on
Speaker 1: of twa or tyreek, I should say on that back side,
Speaker 1: and once again the backside information gives him what he
Speaker 1: needs on the front side so he can throw the
Speaker 1: ball before he actually sees it. Ball is out. It
Speaker 1: could not be more perfect. It's a handoff from where
Speaker 1: he throws it on his own thirty nine yard line
Speaker 1: to where Waddle catches at the eleven yard line, so
Speaker 1: fifty yards through the air, dime handoff and the time
Speaker 1: of the game. Man, what a great play. There are
Speaker 1: so many of these. The Craycraft touchdown against Buffalo, the
Speaker 1: Waddle winner against Baltimore, those are tough to leave off
Speaker 1: the list, but it's basically just to a thrown with
Speaker 1: anticipation and literally hit and the keyhole. That's just it. Man,
Speaker 1: perfect passes is passes us passes. I just can't wait
Speaker 1: to watch him play this Sunday. Let's go before we
Speaker 1: turn the page here and get to Mike McDaniel. And
Speaker 1: two was Wednesday press conference conferences. Go check out the
Speaker 1: YouTube channel for the press conferences of the Dolphins alumni
Speaker 1: who are going to be in attendance on Sunday night
Speaker 1: for a big celebration the fiftieth anniversary of the nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy two undefeated team. Larry Little, Bob Greasy, Paul Warfield,
Speaker 1: and Larry Sanko were on those calls. They'll all be
Speaker 1: out there on Sunday night Primetime Football in the throwback uniforms.
Speaker 1: We can't wait to celebrate. Let's go ahead and take
Speaker 1: our last break here and come back on the other
Speaker 1: side with those press conferences of Mike McDaniel to a
Speaker 1: tongue of by Loo. That's next Draft Time podcast, your
Speaker 1: host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. We
Speaker 1: pick it back up here on a Wednesday afternoon with
Speaker 1: the Wednesday morning press conference. First of Mike McDaniel, will
Speaker 1: hear from quarterback to a tongue of Balowa here in
Speaker 1: just a second, But we start with coach who provided
Speaker 1: some injury updates with regards to Jalen Waddle, Keion Crossing
Speaker 1: and Kater Cohu just mentioning that those guys are gonna
Speaker 1: do everything they can to get back onto the field
Speaker 1: to play on Sunday, said they're optimistic about Waddle being
Speaker 1: able to play on Sunday. He of course, returned to
Speaker 1: the game after his injury that he sustained in the
Speaker 1: game against the Vikings. Coach was asked about special teams
Speaker 1: and how he evaluates that process of kind of some
Speaker 1: some good play, some good down punts, and also some
Speaker 1: gaffs here and there. Here's coach talking about his special
Speaker 1: teams through the first six weeks and what he sees
Speaker 1: that really encourages him on that side of the football.
Speaker 1: I don't look at everything UM entirely is one thing.
Speaker 1: I kind of go through the progression of each game
Speaker 1: because one thing specifically with our crew, UM meaning our team,
Speaker 1: we've had UM a good amount of lineup changes. So
Speaker 1: you're assessing the way the way I I like to
Speaker 1: do it is, you know, what are we identifying the
Speaker 1: unit we're playing against? As how are we preparing for them.
Speaker 1: How are the players executing um, what we've prepared for them?
Speaker 1: Are we articulating things appropriately? Was were things told correctly
Speaker 1: or not? UM? I think that the results haven't been
Speaker 1: where we want them. There's no doubt about that. UM.
Speaker 1: What I do see, UM, and what is important to
Speaker 1: me and I know is the fabric of teams that
Speaker 1: are able to have success in any phase is there.
Speaker 1: You don't see loafing, you don't you don't see lack
Speaker 1: of strain. Um. These are things that um, the misques
Speaker 1: have to do uh with things that need to be
Speaker 1: coached up. And I don't continually see the same exact things.
Speaker 1: So my confidence, um has not been affected. UM. We
Speaker 1: It's more that are we continuing to get better and
Speaker 1: do those same things that happened last week or the
Speaker 1: week before happened this week relative to our opponent. I
Speaker 1: thought coaches answer about Sunday Night Football, which he said
Speaker 1: that he kind of picked up from Kyle Shanahan something
Speaker 1: like ten years ago, about how, more than anything, not
Speaker 1: the TV or the viewership, it's that you're the only
Speaker 1: game that's on that particular time, and the entire league
Speaker 1: is home from their games after Sunday afternoon, so it's
Speaker 1: an opportunity for the players to perform in front of
Speaker 1: their peers. Again. If you want to see these full quotes,
Speaker 1: go to the YouTube channel and see Mike McDaniel's entire
Speaker 1: press conference. Let's go ahead and spend this far now.
Speaker 1: As coach was asked, what do you want to see
Speaker 1: from two of this week to prove that he can
Speaker 1: be the quarterback that he was before the injury. Here's
Speaker 1: head coach, Mike McDaniel. It's pretty easy considering considering there's UM,
Speaker 1: there's an extensive amount of time spent on the relationship
Speaker 1: between the starting quarterback and the head coach in the
Speaker 1: play caller. So you know, those are hours and hours
Speaker 1: of field meeting room time and you get to know
Speaker 1: each other pretty well. So what I want to see
Speaker 1: is the same locked in guy that I know when
Speaker 1: he's on it. He's UM, he's laser focused, he's in
Speaker 1: his normal mood, UM, but he doesn't lose a tension
Speaker 1: span at the task at hand. And that's what what
Speaker 1: I've grown to love about the guy. That's why he's
Speaker 1: been able to have some success in a completely new
Speaker 1: language and system. UM, and that that would be my
Speaker 1: expectation for this week because it is um not the
Speaker 1: the the two Adolphins. He's right, it is a fifty
Speaker 1: three man roster. But we did go back to the
Speaker 1: quarterback position with our next question here, a really good
Speaker 1: follow up question about what To has kind of been
Speaker 1: about the last couple of weeks bouncing around the building. Uh.
Speaker 1: Coach mentioned his thirst for the brotherhood that comes with
Speaker 1: playing football, which that was a really cool way to
Speaker 1: describe it. But he was also asked about how he's
Speaker 1: embraced the role of that leader and the practice field
Speaker 1: last week when he knew he wasn't playing the game
Speaker 1: on Sunday, but getting back out there on the guys,
Speaker 1: the camaraderie that he illustrates, but also the way he works,
Speaker 1: and we're hearing a lot about this from coach and
Speaker 1: you know, this season, but more recently even more I
Speaker 1: should say that the way that to a works and
Speaker 1: the way he prepares and the attention span, the love
Speaker 1: of the game, all that stuff is really high level.
Speaker 1: Right now, let's go ahead and hear from coach about
Speaker 1: how TO embraced his role in practice leaves that's not
Speaker 1: um a lip service, like like the thing that you're
Speaker 1: just like, I'm going to be a leader. And that's
Speaker 1: what's cool about it. What you saw was every single
Speaker 1: play of practice. Say in the play, Um, you know
Speaker 1: as I after I say it, like he stayed in
Speaker 1: the huddle. Then UM watching the timing of the of
Speaker 1: the concept, watching the footwork of Um skylar Um getting
Speaker 1: excited when um perfect technique is executed because he knows it,
Speaker 1: Um exactly what it looks like. Um. And then you know,
Speaker 1: you go through a entire practice. You're used to be
Speaker 1: in the starting quarterback, which in the NFL season means
Speaker 1: you are taking every snap when the offense is up,
Speaker 1: So you're getting a routine where it kind of goes
Speaker 1: by fast because you have all this stuff going on. Well,
Speaker 1: to see that focus last for the entire practice, Um
Speaker 1: also speaks to the point that it's not just about
Speaker 1: him his selflessness, which is why he has He has
Speaker 1: a unique aura of leadership that people gravitate to because
Speaker 1: it's genuine, authentic and real. Finally, I thought this last
Speaker 1: one here was really good about coach on are you
Speaker 1: what your record says you are? And how do you
Speaker 1: kind of evaluate Is there any key statu you look
Speaker 1: at to kind of just determine what type of football
Speaker 1: team you have based upon the results. Coach went into
Speaker 1: this this long, really good answer about how do we
Speaker 1: evaluate the team on day by day basis. Here's coach
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel. As far as you are what your records
Speaker 1: says you are, I think there's truth in that because
Speaker 1: you uh, you you know, to spend time saying, well,
Speaker 1: but this, that or the other is a fool's aaron. However, UM,
Speaker 1: I think teams are whatever they define themselves that day.
Speaker 1: I think I think the Miami Dolphins are as good
Speaker 1: as their Wednesday. UM. It's kind of I think the
Speaker 1: approach that when you when you watch UM great competitors
Speaker 1: across all sports, UM and just people that are doing
Speaker 1: anything UM at a high level. There's a common denominator
Speaker 1: there and it has nothing to do with forecasting. We
Speaker 1: are this or that or whatever. It is present in
Speaker 1: the moment and it is UM completely convicted, committed to
Speaker 1: what you're doing, knowing that that will UM affect future outcomes.
Speaker 1: So for me, UM, you know what I've been I've
Speaker 1: been on a team that was uh that after last year,
Speaker 1: I was on a team that lost two games or
Speaker 1: won two games in the lost four in a row.
Speaker 1: It was in the n FC Championship game and two.
Speaker 1: UM we were five and oh in Atlanta and finished
Speaker 1: it and eate UM. I think whatever I think people
Speaker 1: clinging to what their record says they are UM, you know,
Speaker 1: might be not quite focused on UM the job at hand,
Speaker 1: which is continuing to get better so you play your
Speaker 1: best football UM at the end of the season, UM,
Speaker 1: which is uh what teams good teams end up doing.
Speaker 1: I think it's very hard to do that. I think
Speaker 1: there's a lot of noise about records trends. UM. You know,
Speaker 1: you're three and oh and you're awesome. You lose three
Speaker 1: in a row, and that will always be the case.
Speaker 1: But it's always going to be distraction techniques that UM.
Speaker 1: If you're truly committed UM to being your best and
Speaker 1: having your team be your best, UM, you have to
Speaker 1: and feel very comfortable ignoring that's the head coach. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and hear from your quarterback to a tungle
Speaker 1: by low and start here first with how he felt
Speaker 1: about all the support he received following the injury. I
Speaker 1: would say it was pretty cool, um with the support
Speaker 1: UH that that was shown a lot of love and
Speaker 1: support and uh, you know, I would say shout out
Speaker 1: to my neighbors, um that live in in uh the
Speaker 1: community that I live in. UM, they were very very respectful,
Speaker 1: very kind to have made some things. They brought over
Speaker 1: notes from their kids. Their kids would bring over candies,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, things that they would bake, UM,
Speaker 1: things that they would color. So you know, I thought
Speaker 1: that was super cool. Um. You know, I could feel
Speaker 1: the support and my family could feel that. And then
Speaker 1: just guys from across the league reaching out and the
Speaker 1: hardest part of the injury for TWA here's QB one
Speaker 1: watching watching my team, you know, go go out to
Speaker 1: battle and I can't. I can't do anything to help them.
Speaker 1: Um on the field. Uh, there's there's things you can
Speaker 1: do in the locker room to keep the guys encouraged,
Speaker 1: to keep the guys going motivated. UM, but it sucks
Speaker 1: as a competitor. I want to be out there with
Speaker 1: the guys. I want to be able to go out
Speaker 1: there and uh, you know, help our guys win games.
Speaker 1: And that that was a you know, that's a terrible
Speaker 1: feeling that I could only watch from the sideline too.
Speaker 1: Did also acknowledge the idea of throwing the football away
Speaker 1: and living to fight another down and the importance of
Speaker 1: longevity at the position for him to stay in that
Speaker 1: position as the quarterback here in Miami. Here he is
Speaker 1: talking about the difference between last week and what he
Speaker 1: was doing in the practice field compared to now this week,
Speaker 1: and how he was able to get back on the
Speaker 1: football field for football activities a week ago. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: went into last week prepping as if I were how
Speaker 1: we're going to play still, um, you know, just being
Speaker 1: able to get back into football, getting to do team activities,
Speaker 1: throwing routes to the guys. But I would say no
Speaker 1: different than this week. Um. You know, I'm I'm just
Speaker 1: really excited that I can prepare um and you know,
Speaker 1: uh this Sunday, and I think everyone's excited to go
Speaker 1: out there and compete, um against a really good Steelers team.
Speaker 1: So there you go. Thursday Preview podcast is tomorrow. As
Speaker 1: I'm sure you all know here my favorite episode of
Speaker 1: the week, probably besides Victory Monday podcast, But I digress.
Speaker 1: We'll have the Steelers guest on Friday with mail Bag
Speaker 1: and the College Football Weekend all that fun stuff coming
Speaker 1: your way. Here on the Drivetime Podcast. 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. Follow
Speaker 1: the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank
Speaker 1: podcast with Seth and Juice. Wednesday night equals Twitter spaces Night,
Speaker 1: so eight o'clock tonight. Come find us on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Wingfold NFL to hear us talk some Dolphins football. Also
Speaker 1: the international podcast the UK, Brazil, Spanish or i should
Speaker 1: say the Portuguese podcast, and these podcast over in Spain
Speaker 1: as well. Plenty of Dolphins content for you, as well
Speaker 1: as the YouTube channel for Dolphins Today and the media
Speaker 1: availabilities of all the stuff we're talking about here, and
Speaker 1: of course, last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1: Until next time, finds up Caroline Daddy's Coming Home