Speaker 1: To on the Move, gall and Deep Speedways, peas Dolls
Speaker 1: From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1: Please God, my havn's in the playoffs?
Speaker 2: What is up?
Speaker 3: Dolphins? And Welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am
Speaker 3: your host, Travis Wingfield. On today's show, We're back Baby.
Speaker 3: I made a trip out to Orlando for Disney World.
Speaker 3: I watched a lot of football this weekend. We're gonna
Speaker 3: talk about all of that. We're also gonna talk about
Speaker 3: what has worked, what has not worked for the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 3: and take a look at what's to come post bye week.
Speaker 3: As we are here, we have gotten through these first
Speaker 3: difficult six weeks and we have twelve more to go.
Speaker 3: The stretch Run from the Baptist Hill Studios inside the
Speaker 3: Baptist Hill Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 3: I think the big news of the day comes from
Speaker 3: head coach Mike McDaniel's press conference when he did say
Speaker 3: that we will see the return of Tuatunguavailoa at some
Speaker 3: point this year.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: Adam Schefter has been reporting and other guys of what
Speaker 3: as well that it sounds like he'll be back for
Speaker 3: the Cardinals game. I think every single Dolphins fan collectively
Speaker 3: shares this thought that I've been telling my friends and
Speaker 3: Coharts and all those things people we talked about this
Speaker 3: game and this team and this sport, is that if
Speaker 3: you can beat Indy, find a way to beat Andianapolis
Speaker 3: and get to a back for the Cardinals, kind of
Speaker 3: feels like maybe season back on at that point, right. Otherwise,
Speaker 3: if it's two and four, he doesn't come back to
Speaker 3: the Cardinal game, you get the Bills on tap. Like
Speaker 3: these next couple of games are gonna kind of tell us.
Speaker 3: I think how the final part of the season goes,
Speaker 3: and that will be what today's show is about is
Speaker 3: kind of about how more now, more now so than ever.
Speaker 3: Like the early part of the year is all about
Speaker 3: like what it does to your win lost total. It's
Speaker 3: not very informal about what teams are. I think we're
Speaker 3: starting to get that clarity. I think that clarity will
Speaker 3: crystallize as we go forward. But then you also get
Speaker 3: injuries because every year, I you know, I do the
Speaker 3: NFL schedule predictor and even when you try to do
Speaker 3: them in week thirteen or we like they're always off,
Speaker 3: So this game is impossible to predict.
Speaker 2: I think you have.
Speaker 3: Someone asked me today what happened? What's going on with Jacksonville,
Speaker 3: And it's like, it's a good roster, it's plenty of
Speaker 3: good players in that team. Sometimes just doesn't work. And
Speaker 3: I don't really know what to tell you. I mean,
Speaker 3: you did hear Andre Cisco say that he fiels that
Speaker 3: there's a lot of quit on the Jags team, and
Speaker 3: you got Doug Pears I'm talking about how they have
Speaker 3: to change the culture in October.
Speaker 2: That's not great.
Speaker 3: So I guess I've just spent a lot of time
Speaker 3: this season, you know, absent a Dolphins game or absent
Speaker 3: Dolphins wins over the last five or four or five
Speaker 3: weeks here besides the Patriots game. That just kind of
Speaker 3: trying to like see how I view the league in general.
Speaker 3: And that's why you're getting these kind of you know,
Speaker 3: extended monologues here about about the league and the sport
Speaker 3: and the podcast and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: So I do want to kick off the show with this.
Speaker 3: I saw plenty of comments on me socials, whether it
Speaker 3: was Instagram, DMS, or just flat out telling me on
Speaker 3: Twitter that you guys were very happy that we actually
Speaker 3: did get out to Disney World, and I really appreciate
Speaker 3: those comments. We did end up going. I had to
Speaker 3: have the conversation on Wednesday with my daughter. We ripped
Speaker 3: that band aid off and the little face she makes
Speaker 3: where the corners of her mouth go down to the
Speaker 3: jawline and just kind of that poudy face, Like you
Speaker 3: know how kids kind of react to your emotions more
Speaker 3: so than the information you give them. Like she knew
Speaker 3: we were being somber and was just sad about the
Speaker 3: fact that we were being somber. I don't think it
Speaker 3: really hit her that we were not going to the
Speaker 3: Princess Castle, as she calls it, because she was happy
Speaker 3: the rest of the like the next twenty four hours.
Speaker 3: But then and after I made a tea time on
Speaker 3: Friday morning with actually Adam Beasley and.
Speaker 2: Chris Perkins here on the beat.
Speaker 3: Woke up on Thursday and there was no wind in
Speaker 3: South Florida and it was supposed to be like windy
Speaker 3: all day long, and I'm like, hey, I don't think
Speaker 3: it's going to be a problem driving up there. And
Speaker 3: we you know, we had a connection to Disney that
Speaker 3: got us into the park, and he was like, they're
Speaker 3: going to open on Friday. They're not gonna open Thursday,
Speaker 3: but they'll be open Friday. And best the best part
Speaker 3: about that is you're probably gonna have a less than
Speaker 3: crowded park because people aren't gonna get out there for Friday.
Speaker 3: And so we were looking at that. We're looking to
Speaker 3: possible drive up. The hotels were not booking rooms for
Speaker 3: the most part on Thursday, but eventually, after my wife
Speaker 3: spent lots of time on the phone and looking at
Speaker 3: through different websites, we got a hotel. We stayed at
Speaker 3: the spring Hill Suites on Palm Parkway there right by
Speaker 3: the park, and like beautiful hotel.
Speaker 2: Loved it.
Speaker 3: They had the game room downstairs, they had you know,
Speaker 3: happy hour from mom and dad. Just a really cool spot.
Speaker 3: We got out there and got to tell her on Thursday,
Speaker 3: Hey we're going to Disney World today, and it was
Speaker 3: just fantastic. Got a chance to meet up with a
Speaker 3: long not long lost, but a buddy of mine. You
Speaker 3: guys probably see him comment on the podcast No What's
Speaker 3: Up my Man? He made the recently made the move
Speaker 3: from the Seattle area back down to his home turf
Speaker 3: down in the central Florida area, had dinner with him
Speaker 3: on Thursday, and then got to the park on Friday.
Speaker 3: And let me tell you, when you feel that cool
Speaker 3: breeze that you feel from the Pacific Northwest on a
Speaker 3: October morning in Central Florida, it.
Speaker 2: Was like, WHOA, that's pretty great.
Speaker 3: The hurricane apparently took the humidity with it out to
Speaker 3: the to the Atlantic Ocean. So Friday was elite man
Speaker 3: Hollywood Studios Park, went to Epcot and I tweeted about this.
Speaker 3: The beer at Epcot is delicious. It reminded me of
Speaker 3: that scene. And it's always sunny when their rival bar
Speaker 3: across the street or whatever, or one of the rival bars.
Speaker 3: It's not not the not the flip cup one, but
Speaker 3: the other one. When they are they're enriching these beers.
Speaker 3: That's an enrich beer. They are putting enriched whatever in
Speaker 3: their beers. Do you think there's a pirates lives in
Speaker 3: that room back there? I see a door marked Private Charlie.
Speaker 3: That's what reminded me of. Those beers were delicious. I
Speaker 3: had one at the UK Place, one at the Mexican
Speaker 3: Place like a Mexican like a Mexican logger was delicious,
Speaker 3: and then I got one later on too after And
Speaker 3: let me tell you, Travis doesn't do a lot of
Speaker 3: drinking anymore, So three beers fill pretty good walking around
Speaker 3: Epcot and what a cool spot to just kind of
Speaker 3: walk in people watch. So that was a great day
Speaker 3: Saturday to Magic Kingdom. Woof, dude, freaking woof. First of all,
Speaker 3: going with a kid that kids that can't do any
Speaker 3: of the fun rides, that's the whole payoff of going
Speaker 3: to Disneyland, right besides seeing your kids just light up
Speaker 3: the whole time. But we were in long lines, it
Speaker 3: was hot as hell. We couldn't get a spot for
Speaker 3: the parade because Cameron just refuses to be like contained
Speaker 3: within a small space. Caroline can handle her stuff, Cameron cannot,
Speaker 3: and so we couldn't reserve a spot on the curb
Speaker 3: and I had to throw Caroline up on my shoulders
Speaker 3: in like real field ninety eight degrees and stand there
Speaker 3: for twenty minutes with her on my shoulders. It was
Speaker 3: it was a struggle. And this was after a fifty
Speaker 3: minute wait going into the Haunted Mansion, which probably a
Speaker 3: mistake to take a four year old to the Haunted Mansion,
Speaker 3: but it's like my childhood, like nostalgia kicking in. Had
Speaker 3: to get to that ride. And my two year old
Speaker 3: son had a one of those bubble machines because that's
Speaker 3: all they saw throughout the course of the park, and
Speaker 3: they got it on Saturday morning and he was playing
Speaker 3: with that thing and we had to take it out
Speaker 3: of his hands in the line because you can just
Speaker 3: going to the ride with bubbles, and for thirty minutes
Speaker 3: he proceeded to just lose his mind. But then also, hey,
Speaker 3: adults that go to Disney World that get mad about
Speaker 3: kids crying? You doing with your life? What are you
Speaker 3: doing with your life? We had a woman tell Cameron.
Speaker 2: To shut up.
Speaker 3: It's Disney World, lady, you're the weird one here. So
Speaker 3: Saturday was a struggle, but I will say Caroline's face
Speaker 3: lighting up seeing all the princesses, all of the experiences.
Speaker 3: You know how kids will will lie to you and
Speaker 3: just tell you whatever they say. Like I'd made sure
Speaker 3: to ask her several times, what was your favorite part
Speaker 3: of the day, what's your favorite part of the trip,
Speaker 3: And she kept saying getting pictures with the princesses. We
Speaker 3: have pictures with Ann and Elsa, a picture with Ariel,
Speaker 3: picture with Cinderella, a picture with Mawana.
Speaker 2: She is just giddy about it.
Speaker 3: In fact, she's probably telling all of her friends right
Speaker 3: now at school about the great weekend she had. So
Speaker 3: that was fantastic. Sunday went to the Animal Kingdom. The
Speaker 3: Safari was awesome. I think that's the best park in
Speaker 3: the entire park for me, the best part of the park,
Speaker 3: I should say God. Spend just the half a day
Speaker 3: there because wanted to get home and you know, get
Speaker 3: our kit ready for the week. Got a chance to
Speaker 3: just watch Sunday Ticket while my drive wife drove us home,
Speaker 3: which that never happened, so that was great to see.
Speaker 3: And we finished the weekend with Caroline throwing up all
Speaker 3: over herself right around Palm Beach in the car seat
Speaker 3: on the way home. So a very eventful weekend. We
Speaker 3: got to go to Disney World and it was just
Speaker 3: a weekend worth of memories made and I'm so thrilled
Speaker 3: about it. Got a chance to I pulled my phone
Speaker 3: up and went through all the photos put on the
Speaker 3: TV for a slide show on Sunday night, and they
Speaker 3: watched that and it was just really special. Man, So
Speaker 3: highly recommend it probably wait until your kids are like
Speaker 3: in the your youngest at at four years old. Because
Speaker 3: Caroline was good, Cameron not so much at the park.
Speaker 3: So that was the weekend at Disney World. But uh man,
Speaker 3: speaking of Sunday, some bad football.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 3: This whole too high thing, and it's more than that.
Speaker 3: It's not just playing too high prevents high scoring games.
Speaker 3: We've covered that at length here on the show. But
Speaker 3: you really see the lack of explosiveness dictating or a
Speaker 3: lack of explosive plays, I should say, dictating a certain
Speaker 3: type of game. Like I feel like so many games
Speaker 3: now and I say this on the heels of a
Speaker 3: Bucks in Saints game that was what was it, thirty
Speaker 3: one to twenty seven a half time, But I feel
Speaker 3: like so many games are like seven to nothing with
Speaker 3: five minutes to go in the second quarter, or seven
Speaker 3: three up against a two minute warning, or six to three.
Speaker 3: The Ravens and Commanders game was like three to three
Speaker 3: late in the second quarter, and if the Giants could
Speaker 3: do anything against the Bengals at all, Cincinnati is one
Speaker 3: and five right now. That's why I'm kind of leaning
Speaker 3: into this idea that even going back to like the
Speaker 3: last couple wins before this one. I kind of think
Speaker 3: that the the Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson pairing in
Speaker 3: the backfield for the Ravens is gonna put them into
Speaker 3: the super Bowl this year. I think that's gonna finally
Speaker 3: get him over the hump to beat the Chiefs in
Speaker 3: the playoffs. We shall see, but I think the Ravens
Speaker 3: have really really carved out their position as the best
Speaker 3: team in the NFL right now. That's how I view that,
Speaker 3: even at four and two, even over the Vikings and Chiefs,
Speaker 3: who are both unbeaten. I think the rookies have given
Speaker 3: you this really fun inflection of new quarterback blood in
Speaker 3: the league, and I think NeXT's going to be the
Speaker 3: exact same thing. But you know, Jaden Daniels, I told
Speaker 3: you guys when I saw him here, like this guy.
Speaker 3: We know about the physical traits, and I was apprehensive
Speaker 3: about his game because of you know, I saw it
Speaker 3: at Arizona State and he was terrible in Arizona State.
Speaker 3: But he matured, he developed, he became a technician, an
Speaker 3: actual quarterback to pair with that athletic ability. Nothing bothers him.
Speaker 3: He's so calm and I'm just so impressed by his game.
Speaker 3: He's already a top ten quarterback for me. I think
Speaker 3: Caleb Williams can get there. I think we saw more
Speaker 3: on structure the last couple of weeks in addition to
Speaker 3: all the playmaking that he does. But getting two really
Speaker 3: dynamic rookies into the game or into the league is nice.
Speaker 2: As we see.
Speaker 3: You know, a lot of quarterbacks fall off and maybe
Speaker 3: not as being replaced them. So a quarterback in the
Speaker 3: league has kind of been down. I think this year.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure I see it with Drake May. I
Speaker 3: know he threw for what was the three touchdowns, But
Speaker 3: the thing is with him is if he does develop,
Speaker 3: it's probably gonna be too late in New England, right
Speaker 3: Like that team is that is such a bad football team, dude,
Speaker 3: Oh man, they have a long way to go. So
Speaker 3: by the time they get things built around him as
Speaker 3: he in year like three, four five, maybe you know that.
Speaker 2: Can you know, look at Sam Darnold, I mean like
Speaker 2: they can do that. Bo Knicks, Nope, don't see it.
Speaker 3: There are some flat out awful teams. I mean I
Speaker 3: mentioned the Patriots. The Raiders are the Raiders are headed
Speaker 3: that way. They're one of those teams that you know,
Speaker 3: like rememberhen the colts Hire Jeff Saturday and they got
Speaker 3: that one win bump and then it was just like,
Speaker 3: can't even perform the rest of the season. I think
Speaker 3: that's gonna happen to the Raiders this year the rest
Speaker 3: of the way. The Jags are headed that way, Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2: Whoa wo.
Speaker 3: But then there's also, like you know, we talked about
Speaker 3: this the last couple of weeks, that nine and eighteen
Speaker 3: that squeaks in and you get the one percent chance
Speaker 3: according to ESPN FPI to make the super Bowl. When
Speaker 3: you do make the playoffs, it's the twenty sixteen Dolphins
Speaker 3: is who I'm talking about. I think my biggest change,
Speaker 3: and you know I always try to alter my perception
Speaker 3: of the league or take in new information and use
Speaker 3: that for my perception going forward in this league over
Speaker 3: the last five years, maybe even just the last two,
Speaker 3: is this realization that those teams are not a whole
Speaker 3: lot different than the six and eleven teams. And like
Speaker 3: I remember, I used to be like, oh, Dolphins went
Speaker 3: nine and seven, what do you mean they're not a
Speaker 3: good team? Went to the playoffs? Like, Nah, that wasn't
Speaker 3: a good team. And I say that earnestly, and I
Speaker 3: think if you can, you can see a ton of
Speaker 3: these teams around the league.
Speaker 2: You know, in fact, let's go ahead and do this.
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and power rank them, because I think
Speaker 3: that's a good way to kind of tell you what
Speaker 3: I'm talking about. So this first category here is like,
Speaker 3: for lack of a better term, like dumpster fire, cannot
Speaker 3: win a game unless some type of crazy break happens.
Speaker 3: And I know these teams have wins against some decent clubs,
Speaker 3: but that was early on. And this is how football
Speaker 3: goes right. The early part of the year is kind
Speaker 3: of weird. It becomes more and more concrete as we
Speaker 3: go along. And speaking of that, we are currently thirteen
Speaker 3: and oh on the week, six picks. I have never
Speaker 3: had a perfect week before, so go Bills. I guess
Speaker 3: to get to fourteen and oh on the week, I
Speaker 3: don't know because it's one of those games where I
Speaker 3: can't really root for either team. Normally, I am so
Speaker 3: happy to just root for whatever's best for the Dolphins.
Speaker 3: That's that's all I care about. I don't that's my
Speaker 3: main reason for watching football. But I don't know what
Speaker 3: is better for the Dolphins because are we fighting for
Speaker 3: the division or for a wild card spot? I tend
Speaker 3: to think it's gonna be more wildcard spot even if
Speaker 3: we get above a threshold that we haven't shown this
Speaker 3: entire year. So that's like down the road. All that said,
Speaker 3: I feel like the bottom of the barrel in the
Speaker 3: NFL is smaller than it's ever been. But the impact
Speaker 3: of that is there's all these teams in this middle
Speaker 3: portion that just are not good football teams, but they're
Speaker 3: good enough to not be like tear it down operations.
Speaker 3: To me, there are three of those right now. They
Speaker 3: are the Jaguars, the Raiders, and the Patriots. And that
Speaker 3: was actually in the wrong order. Patriots, Raiders, Jaguars. Where
Speaker 3: where I put those teams? Or no, sorry, the Panthers
Speaker 3: are also in that category. Start over, Patriots, Raiders, Panthers, Jags.
Speaker 3: I think everyone else can give you what the Giants
Speaker 3: did against the Bengals on Sunday night or like that
Speaker 3: Chargers Broncos game. I think both of these teams in
Speaker 3: our next category, or both these teams in our next category.
Speaker 3: With the teams you know, I suppose you know the
Speaker 3: Saints without car that kind of fit tracks too. Maybe
Speaker 3: even with him can hang around and keep a game close.
Speaker 3: But did I ever feel like the Bucks would lose
Speaker 3: that game against the Saints. No. So the next grouping
Speaker 3: to me is I put the Giants off the top
Speaker 3: in here. I just I mean Dangel Jones struggles so much.
Speaker 3: I got the Browns next. They are just their offense
Speaker 3: can't do anything they got. They got to move off
Speaker 3: to Shohn Watson. It's about time. Titans, Saints, Broncos. I
Speaker 3: just cannot watch those offenses operate and be like this
Speaker 3: is I just you can't trust them. It's gonna be
Speaker 3: a thirteen sixteen, drag them out game. Dolphins are next.
Speaker 3: This could obviously change like massively, it's going to change
Speaker 3: big time. But until they get to a back and
Speaker 3: that all happens, then I'm gonna keep them in this position. Cardinals, Rams,
Speaker 3: and the Rams are more of an injury plague situation
Speaker 3: right now. Colts, Bengals, Cowboys, Jets, Steelers, Chargers. Like you
Speaker 3: look at the Giants and the botb netlist in the
Speaker 3: Charge at the top of that list. In fact, the
Speaker 3: Seahawks are in there as well. The Giants just beat
Speaker 3: the Seahawks perfect example of that. Like, some of these
Speaker 3: teams are better than other teams, but like, what does.
Speaker 2: It really mean?
Speaker 3: Like nine to eight versus seven and ten, that's what
Speaker 3: it really is, or you know, six and eleven. I
Speaker 3: just don't think any of those teams are good football teams,
Speaker 3: and they make for bad products to watch. And I'm
Speaker 3: not sure this next group is a lot better than that.
Speaker 3: I think it's a group of teams that would handle
Speaker 3: the dumpster fires, but would probably play a close game
Speaker 3: against that other category as like three and a half
Speaker 3: four point favorites going in. I'm talking about the Falcons, Eagles, Bears, Bucks, Commanders,
Speaker 3: and Packers, and even all of those teams have like
Speaker 3: fatal flaws that I don't believe in. So to me,
Speaker 3: there are seven teams that stand out from the rest,
Speaker 3: those teams that will never lose a game to those
Speaker 3: first two categories. It's just not gonna happen, even though
Speaker 3: we already have had that happen. But from here forward
Speaker 3: and will probably beat the team in the previous tear
Speaker 3: pretty tier, pretty comfortably, and then compete with each other.
Speaker 3: These are the teams that have Super Bowl aspirations. In
Speaker 3: my opinion as of today, the forty nine ers are
Speaker 3: still in there even though they're three and three. They're
Speaker 3: gonna get back, They're gonna get healthy, They're gonna be fine.
Speaker 3: The Buffalo Bills, I know they have their own issues.
Speaker 3: They've lost too in a row. They've got some defensive concerns.
Speaker 3: Their quarterback gets hurt and doesn't ever miss games, but
Speaker 3: he gets hurt like every game. The Vikings, despite being
Speaker 3: five and zero, I have him in this position right here.
Speaker 3: I just think it's going to not go that way
Speaker 3: the entire year, but I think they'll make the playoffs.
Speaker 3: The Texans to me are right in there as well.
Speaker 3: I think that the defense, that quarterback, that could just
Speaker 3: all really good stuff. The Lions to me look like
Speaker 3: the class of the NFC, which is Wow, what a
Speaker 3: world return.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 3: Then the Chiefs are next, and I have the Ravens.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: I just think the Ravens are equipped to win in
Speaker 3: this style of NFL. I think they've overcome the fourth
Speaker 3: quarter like collapses they've been showing you, and I think
Speaker 3: they'll get over the hump in the playoffs this year.
Speaker 3: That's my first segment. Let's go ahead and take a pause.
Speaker 3: Come back and talk about the Dolphins and how this
Speaker 3: all impacts them. Next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 3: brought to you by AutoNation. Let's talk about Monday Night
Speaker 3: football here a little bit. This podcast might come out
Speaker 3: today morning, it might come out Monday night, so forgive me.
Speaker 3: I wanted to get ahead of it and just record
Speaker 3: the podcast for you guys, But it might come out Tuesday.
Speaker 2: I'm just not sure yet.
Speaker 3: But either way, that's I want to prepare you for
Speaker 3: that because this next part is going to be presumptive
Speaker 3: about the about what's going on here with the Dolphins
Speaker 3: and then the Bills and the Jets. So game tonight,
Speaker 3: a Jets win would create the following standings. Buffalo and
Speaker 3: the Jets would both be three and three, and the
Speaker 3: Dolphins would be two and three, a half game behind
Speaker 3: both of those teams. But is that better than Bills
Speaker 3: four and two, Dolphins two and three, Jets two and four,
Speaker 3: Because again, I do think if we are going to
Speaker 3: get this thing back on the tracks, the wild card
Speaker 3: positioning might be our best bet.
Speaker 2: So it's tough.
Speaker 3: But all that said, all of that said, to have
Speaker 3: dealt with this all before Halloween and you find yourself
Speaker 3: a half game back or even in second place ahead
Speaker 3: of the Jets alone, seems like it should be inconceivable.
Speaker 3: But that's why it's so important for Jalen Polk's heel
Speaker 3: to come down on the white line, Why it's so
Speaker 3: important to find a way to beat the Colts. Just
Speaker 3: beat the Colts, get to a back which I feel
Speaker 3: pretty confident he's back for the Cardinals.
Speaker 2: What happens from there? Who? Who the hell knows.
Speaker 3: I refuse to project forward when it comes to this
Speaker 3: quarterback's health because it's serious. But I'm not sure if
Speaker 3: you all saw this. In fact, let's mention this and
Speaker 3: we'll circle back to it just on strength of schedule,
Speaker 3: which of course isn't a tried and true measurement. I
Speaker 3: don't think playing us without Tua is the same as
Speaker 3: playing with Tua. Record be damned, obviously, but the Dolphins
Speaker 3: remaining schedule it is the second easiest based on strength
Speaker 3: of schedule. So, like I've been saying, like long season,
Speaker 3: a second straight win I think could really undo a
Speaker 3: lot of the let's just call it what it is,
Speaker 3: the football fandom pain that you've endured these first five
Speaker 3: weeks before we look at that. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 3: go back here and just talk about what's working so
Speaker 3: far for the Dolphins. So the defense, right, that's the tweet.
Speaker 3: The defense, to me, has been awesome. And I don't
Speaker 3: think the most important content, or when you look at
Speaker 3: a lot of defensive rankings, you know, is the opposing
Speaker 3: the context I should say, is the opposing offenses they face,
Speaker 3: because I do believe that can often skew defensive stats,
Speaker 3: like for instance, some of the discourse around the Jets
Speaker 3: and Robert Sala, you know, talking about how many points
Speaker 3: they gave up in defensive stats. They've also accumulated the
Speaker 3: majority of those stats against the Titans, Patriots and Broncos,
Speaker 3: three offenses that are horrible, right, they're horrible offenses. But
Speaker 3: I think the elements of this defense that we have
Speaker 3: sort of forecasted as possible strengths this offseason has come true.
Speaker 3: Their ability to mix pressures and sims to confuse opposing
Speaker 3: quarterbacks has really worked. And while the sacks haven't been there,
Speaker 3: or maybe even the pressure rate, you know, ranking tied
Speaker 3: for twenty fifth and the nineteenth in those two categories.
Speaker 3: This is another reason that individual stats, free of context
Speaker 3: can be misleading because what the pressure and sim pressure
Speaker 3: look does is forces the quarterback to decide who's coming
Speaker 3: versus who's dropping and identify the many fronts, coverage structures
Speaker 3: and what might become open. And that plan has confused
Speaker 3: plenty of quarterbacks that we've seen. Twenty five and a
Speaker 3: half percent third down conversion rate is top in the NFL.
Speaker 3: We've also only allowed twelve drives to go into the
Speaker 3: red zone. Only four teams have less than that, and
Speaker 3: three of those teams didn't play a game last week,
Speaker 3: so twenty percent fewer than us on average. Now we
Speaker 3: are sixteenth in points allowed, and there's that's the one
Speaker 3: portion of the defense that can do better, or rather,
Speaker 3: what is that one portion, and it's the explosive runs.
Speaker 3: I think the rumors of the run games demise are
Speaker 3: greatly exaggerated. I mentioned this on the pod with the
Speaker 3: Patriots game. They had the thirty three yard touchdown run,
Speaker 3: but it felt like most of the run plays were
Speaker 3: wins for the Miami defense and rundowns, and that's been
Speaker 3: the case all year long. I think success rate is
Speaker 3: a far more important stat and the Dolphins ranked six
Speaker 3: than that category, as in only five teams have better
Speaker 3: down to down win rates against the run than Miami does.
Speaker 3: We also had James Cook take that forty nine yard
Speaker 3: touchdown run against the Buffalo Bills. I think you've seen
Speaker 3: the same thing on those two touchdown runs, as well
Speaker 3: as some of the big runs we saw from Bigsby
Speaker 3: or Pawllards in those other games. I think we lost
Speaker 3: the edge, had a bad second level trigger and fit,
Speaker 3: and then over ran gaps and had two many guys
Speaker 3: in one gap and not enough guys in another gap.
Speaker 3: A perfect storm of a handful of players out of
Speaker 3: the larger equation. And I think those will get buttoned
Speaker 3: up with time and the and you know, just make
Speaker 3: this defense click on all cylinders. I think the coverage
Speaker 3: is fantastic on the back end, spearheaded by both Ramsey
Speaker 3: and Fuller, who have been great. I think the more
Speaker 3: games we get from JB and d Long together in
Speaker 3: the system at linebacker and led by Seeler and Campbell
Speaker 3: up front, I think it's very possible it keeps getting better.
Speaker 3: I am curious to see, you know, if we get
Speaker 3: some help back off the edge. I don't think, you know,
Speaker 3: we expected it to look like it does, right now
Speaker 3: with obviously Shaq and JP and Beach Hubs still down
Speaker 3: and Chub's not gonna be back this week, but maybe
Speaker 3: in the nearer future hopefully for him as well as
Speaker 3: some other guys possibly coming off IR but we'll get
Speaker 3: more information on that. Hopefully Cam good as well, Hopefully
Speaker 3: Mo Kamara is getting back. But the depth up front
Speaker 3: is my concern because when when you have Seeler or
Speaker 3: Campbell off the field, that's when the run defense does
Speaker 3: get bad, and that's where a lot of those explosives
Speaker 3: have come from. But on a down in and down out,
Speaker 3: Dolphins defense against the run has been very good. Something
Speaker 3: else I think is working, or at least has started working,
Speaker 3: is the run game. I was so impressed by the
Speaker 3: style we saw from both Jalen Wright and Raheem Moster
Speaker 3: up in New England. I thought it was much needed.
Speaker 3: Earlier in the year, I thought we left some proverbial
Speaker 3: meat on the bone with the lanes that we were
Speaker 3: afforded versus the production we were getting on running backs,
Speaker 3: and I think Right and most are really kind of
Speaker 3: exemplified that. I think it made a huge difference in
Speaker 3: that game. I think the offensive line is playing more
Speaker 3: connected every single week. I think they're opening up massive
Speaker 3: lanes inside, you know, run for two hundred yards without that.
Speaker 3: I think Brewer was a big time free agent hit.
Speaker 3: I think Liam's having his best year, albeit some ups
Speaker 3: and downs at right guard. I think Austin's one of
Speaker 3: the best blocking right tackles, run blocking right tackles who's
Speaker 3: good enough in pass pro. And I feel like Toron
Speaker 3: is off to his best start as a Dolphin, especially
Speaker 3: that Patriots game. So I'm excited to see what they
Speaker 3: can do with that where it has to get better.
Speaker 3: Not something to really harp on here, but obviously you're
Speaker 3: playing your fourth quarterback of the year. By game four,
Speaker 3: it's the passing game, twenty two second yards passing. We
Speaker 3: haven't seen reekan Walla go off outside of that first game.
Speaker 3: What if I told you Tua is still a team's
Speaker 3: leading passer despite playing just seven of the season's twenty quarters.
Speaker 3: That's crazy that his potential return and the acclamation of OBJ.
Speaker 3: Hopefully River Craycraft comes back soon. I think we just
Speaker 3: saw John who Smith's best game was a Dolphin. I
Speaker 3: think Jalen Wright's emergence could free up Devon to go
Speaker 3: back to more of his you know, scatback role. I
Speaker 3: think there's an answer there, I really do. So that's
Speaker 3: what we've been. Where do I think we're going. Let's
Speaker 3: go ahead and preview the rest of the schedule here
Speaker 3: on the rest of the Draft Time podcast, your host
Speaker 3: Travis Wingfield, brought to you by AutoNation. Twelve games to go.
Speaker 3: The bye week is gone. We have a short week,
Speaker 3: which means we have a mini by after Thanksgiving. But
Speaker 3: you get back to your one o'clock kickoffs here for
Speaker 3: a few weeks, and that's pretty nice. Five of the
Speaker 3: next six games are gonna be one o'clock kickoffs. That
Speaker 3: includes a Monday nighter against the Rams out in Los Angeles,
Speaker 3: and then I had a bunch of one clock kickofs
Speaker 3: after that as well, so that's better. I hate late
Speaker 3: games as in this job. Let's go ahead and talk
Speaker 3: about these teams. We see the rest of the way
Speaker 3: and get the hell out of here for today. The
Speaker 3: Colts are up next, and we'll talk about them a
Speaker 3: lot this week, but they've had their own injury issues
Speaker 3: at quarterback, and quite frankly, Flacco has played better than
Speaker 3: Anthony Richardson, even though it was bad on Sunday. I
Speaker 3: think Richardson could be back for the game this weekend,
Speaker 3: and if he's healthy, he's gonna be the guy. So
Speaker 3: we'll talk to my guests in the show this week
Speaker 3: in my own preview about what we think is better
Speaker 3: for the Dolphins for who to play. And they've also
Speaker 3: been without Jonathan Taylor, who I think is the bigger
Speaker 3: difference there with the position or the backfield. If he
Speaker 3: plays on Sunday, I bet you he will, it makes
Speaker 3: a big boost for them. But they've really struggled on
Speaker 3: defense man, especially with DeForest Buckner being down. They really
Speaker 3: can't stop the run and they have coverage of breakdowns
Speaker 3: in our secondary all the time. Also, Ryan Kelly went
Speaker 3: down on Sunday, So if Kelly is down for the
Speaker 3: game this Sunday and it is Anthony Richardson back in
Speaker 3: his place, I like our chances to create pressure because
Speaker 3: I don't think he can make the production calls the
Speaker 3: same way either Flacco or Kelly did when they are
Speaker 3: both in the lineup. The Cardinals are after that, and man,
Speaker 3: if you can find a way to match Murray's athletic
Speaker 3: ability in the running game, the rest of their offense
Speaker 3: kind of shuts down. They've also struggled against the run
Speaker 3: and with their own run game. I think it will
Speaker 3: be Tua. I think it's a chance to get the
Speaker 3: running game going with Tua and maybe get some of
Speaker 3: our efficient passing game back. They've just had struggles protecting Kyler.
Speaker 3: Really everything that's not Kyler. They struggle that. But he's
Speaker 3: adept at creating. So the Dolphins're gonna get a good
Speaker 3: test here these next three games of very athletic quarterbacks
Speaker 3: who can beat you with their legs. And that takes
Speaker 3: us into Week number nine against the Buffalo Bills. They've
Speaker 3: fallen into their own funk here as of late, needing
Speaker 3: a win against the Jets in the worst way, and
Speaker 3: I think they're gonna get it. We'll see when this
Speaker 3: podcast comes out if I'm right or wrong. Allen's taking
Speaker 3: an absolute pounding. They've struggled on the perimeter, but man,
Speaker 3: their run game has gone another direction this year. I
Speaker 3: think they can lean on that. They'll also have some
Speaker 3: key parts back for this one, like Terrell Bernard and
Speaker 3: Taron Johnson, and Oliver misses a game on Monday, but
Speaker 3: he should be back for this one against US, and
Speaker 3: we have to beat them first before where I can
Speaker 3: predict us to do it. So it would be a
Speaker 3: nice time to have that happen, wouldn't it. Then it's
Speaker 3: at the Rams. You know, you wonder if that's one
Speaker 3: stays in the primetime slot. But they have just struggled
Speaker 3: without Puka and Cooper. They're probably gonna both be back.
Speaker 3: I mean, imagine us without Reak and Waddle. It would
Speaker 3: be really tough even with two in the lineup. Or
Speaker 3: imagine that without Stafford. I mean, that's what these teams
Speaker 3: have dealt with, right. They've also had crazy attrition across
Speaker 3: the offensive line. But this is a one to four
Speaker 3: team that many thought had championship aspirations in them. Not
Speaker 3: so much now. Then the schedule really softens up from there.
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess the really the for of the
Speaker 3: next five games are very winnable. If it's too I
Speaker 3: think our chances are good. Just beat Indie Man, just
Speaker 3: beat Indy the Raiders. I think this is going in
Speaker 3: the wrong direction. I think they're gonna get cam Ward
Speaker 3: next year. Quarterback change. Wilkins was added to the ir
Speaker 3: DeVante Adams probably not going to be there much longer.
Speaker 3: Just a rough start to them. You have to beat
Speaker 3: this team at home, just as you have to beat
Speaker 3: the Patriots, who I think are also in that running
Speaker 3: for the top pick in the draft. Same story there.
Speaker 3: It's going to be Drake Maye at this point unless
Speaker 3: he gets hurt. Hurt, but man, they really struggle on
Speaker 3: offense a personnel and design standpoint to the first five
Speaker 3: six games here. A lot of those key defensive injuries
Speaker 3: don't figure to be any different by then. Juwan Bentley
Speaker 3: went down, he's out for the year. Jabrill Peppers has
Speaker 3: his own legal battles he's dealing with. Christian Barmore probably
Speaker 3: not gonna be back either. They just are really really
Speaker 3: rough across the board. At the Packers, I think they're
Speaker 3: getting it turned around as we speak. The game on
Speaker 3: Sunday was a good example of that. Their offense looked
Speaker 3: like the first half of last year's offense for the
Speaker 3: most part, like in spurts. They also had some spurts
Speaker 3: of Jordan Love being his MVP pick self. I think
Speaker 3: he'll probably settle into that more as we go along here.
Speaker 3: I do think he's elite, but I wonder how long
Speaker 3: it takes him to get fully back into gear. Sunday
Speaker 3: was a start. I think that this is going to
Speaker 3: be the toughest game on the schedule remaining. Then the
Speaker 3: Jets coaching change a lot of the same struggles on
Speaker 3: offense they've had the last couple of years. I think
Speaker 3: there's not a lot of buy in there. I think
Speaker 3: there's just mixed messages. The quarterback is a you know,
Speaker 3: sociopathic egomaniac that kind of runs the whole ship. There
Speaker 3: never a good thing to have that. So that's a
Speaker 3: fun game to watch it. If the Dolphins can take
Speaker 3: care of some business. Then at the Texans. As I mentioned,
Speaker 3: these next two games are against two of the teams
Speaker 3: I believe are in the elite category. Nico Collins probably
Speaker 3: comes back by this point. Tank Dell was right back
Speaker 3: and they're doing his stuff. C J. Stroud is an
Speaker 3: absolute monster. That's gonna be a tough game on the
Speaker 3: road no matter what happens from us from our standpoint.
Speaker 3: From injuries and the like. The Niners, same as the above,
Speaker 3: they've had their issues without McCaffrey. IUK has been off
Speaker 3: to a slow start. Debo and Kittle have both been
Speaker 3: banged up. They'll be in the mix. They always are.
Speaker 3: This will be a tough game at home. Then at
Speaker 3: the Browns. They're just awful, some of the lowest passing epas,
Speaker 3: not just in the current NFL, but of this century.
Speaker 3: And like Deshaun is like topping his previous low from
Speaker 3: last year. And we'll see what the weather looks like
Speaker 3: for this game. Might not be a conducive to a
Speaker 3: passing day, but I think we'll know we'll have the
Speaker 3: run game to win those types of games, especially against
Speaker 3: a defense like Theirs that has struggled in addition to
Speaker 3: an offense that cannot do anything. And then of course
Speaker 3: you finish up with the Jets talked about them in
Speaker 3: the Week fourteen matchup. Part of me wants to forecast
Speaker 3: this being the Sunday night game for a playoff spot,
Speaker 3: but that's obviously a miles of If I have to
Speaker 3: redo predictions right now, I know I've been pretty doom
Speaker 3: and gloom. I do think Tua comes back for Arizona.
Speaker 3: I don't think we can win without him. That's just
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna pick it until it happens, if it's
Speaker 3: not against a team like the Patriots. So I think
Speaker 3: you followed the Colts to go too, and four. I
Speaker 3: think you can get on a run there. From that point,
Speaker 3: I think you'll beat Arizona. I refuse to pick us
Speaker 3: against Buffaloes. That would be three and five heading into
Speaker 3: Monday night. I think you can win that game against
Speaker 3: the Rams, beat the Raiders and the Patriots and get
Speaker 3: to six and five, lose to the Packers, and go
Speaker 3: to six and six heading into the final stretch. Run
Speaker 3: kind of feels like a best case scenario right there,
Speaker 3: doesn't it. I mean, seven and five if you beat
Speaker 3: the Colts would be great, but six and six right here,
Speaker 3: I think you can beat the Jets at home. I
Speaker 3: just don't think it's a good football team, and we
Speaker 3: have the running game to punish that defense off the edges.
Speaker 3: Then a couple of losses of the Texans and Niners
Speaker 3: will get you to seven and eight, and then I
Speaker 3: think you can win the final two against the Browns
Speaker 3: and the Jets and go nine to eight and squeak
Speaker 3: into the playoffs. There you go, enjoy the game tonight.
Speaker 3: We'll have this show for you. I think Wednesday I'll
Speaker 3: have the cold to guest. Thursday the game preview. Friday,
Speaker 3: Kyle will join us. We'll do all kinds of stuff
Speaker 3: here on the show. In the meantime, you all please
Speaker 3: be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave us a rating.
Speaker 2: Leave us a review.
Speaker 3: You can follow me on social at week for NFL
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Speaker 2: Until next time. Finds up Carolina, Cameron, Daddy, Come and Home.