Speaker 1: You're listening to the Miami Dolphins podcast Network. This is
Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2: Back to throw to a looking clips about.
Speaker 3: A wide Dolphin touchdown time Riquel uncrelievable?
Speaker 1: Just blue fire for a second time. Don't know where
Speaker 1: he was going right away? Want to hit that there, man,
Speaker 1: I'm wanna help you.
Speaker 3: Someone will stup on your man wagon Wattle, Wattle to
Speaker 3: a shot toutch back to throw looking at them's up
Speaker 3: fires touchdown.
Speaker 1: It's Waddle his sixth touchdown, Parado.
Speaker 3: This team Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Speaker 2: Now we check your pulse if enough for.
Speaker 1: What is up?
Speaker 3: Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast, part of
Speaker 3: the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 3: How's it going to everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 3: And on today's show, it's part two of the mid
Speaker 3: season review. We'll take a look at the defense, we'll
Speaker 3: hear from head coach Mike McDaniel, and get you ready
Speaker 3: for the second half of the season. From the Baptist
Speaker 3: Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is the Drive Time Podcast.
Speaker 3: Hey got a little bit of news and notes for
Speaker 3: you guys before we dive into the second part of
Speaker 3: our two part mid season Miami Dolphins twenty twenty three review.
Speaker 3: Did the offense on Wednesday?
Speaker 1: Had J. T. O.
Speaker 3: Sullivan on the podcast on Friday, go back and check
Speaker 3: those out if you took the bye week off.
Speaker 1: We'll go ahead and do defense today.
Speaker 3: But first I want to go ahead and just start
Speaker 3: here and kind of have a wrap around look at
Speaker 3: the NFL in week number ten, which if you're keeping
Speaker 3: score at home, we'll get to Buffalo and Denver tonight.
Speaker 3: This podcast will be out before that game happens. So
Speaker 3: a perfect weekend beckons here for Miami. I mean, you
Speaker 3: could not have asked for any more. Baltimore losing a
Speaker 3: game that I thought they were going to cruise to
Speaker 3: victory in against say Cleveland team that quite frankly, I
Speaker 3: think is playing well above.
Speaker 1: Its weight right now.
Speaker 3: You get a Cincinnati lost to a Houston team that
Speaker 3: you know, Houston to me could potentially win the division.
Speaker 3: I think they're a better team than Jacksonville right now.
Speaker 3: And that same Jacksonville team lost to the San Francisco
Speaker 3: forty hours at home, thirty four to three, three points
Speaker 3: at home after I was told all, you know, last
Speaker 3: couple of weeks that was the true team that was
Speaker 3: not fraudulent. As much as I hate that word, but
Speaker 3: can you imagine the Dolphins scoring three points at home.
Speaker 1: This year in a game? What the discourse would be
Speaker 1: about that?
Speaker 3: But either way, the AFC North like just kind of
Speaker 3: looking at the landscape of the AFC like, to me,
Speaker 3: there's five teams that could make real, considerable noise in
Speaker 3: the AFC playoffs. They are Us, they are since they
Speaker 3: are Baltimore, they are Kansas City, and I'm gonna put
Speaker 3: Buffalo in there.
Speaker 1: Even though I think there's an.
Speaker 3: Outside shot Buffalo MISSUS the playoffs, I don't think they will.
Speaker 3: I think they're gonna get right back on track against
Speaker 3: the Jets next week. But I think those are the
Speaker 3: five teams that could really push their way through, you know,
Speaker 3: any circumstances they might see come the postseason, which could
Speaker 3: make for a crazy, you know, potential home and away
Speaker 3: scenario for whoever might get to that point of the season.
Speaker 3: And what I mean by that is, you know, I
Speaker 3: think this race for the two seed just opened wide
Speaker 3: back up again. The Chiefs, to me, even with a
Speaker 3: tough schedule, I think they're gonna find their way to
Speaker 3: that one seed. And I think now all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: the week seventeen game in Baltimore, to me, for my money,
Speaker 3: could be for potentially the number two seed in the conference.
Speaker 3: And that's so critical because one you're gonna play the
Speaker 3: seventh seed at home on wild card weekend. And I
Speaker 3: think that this year, because of this parody we have
Speaker 3: in the AFC and because of all these crazy results
Speaker 3: you're getting, I think you're gonna wind up seeing a
Speaker 3: team that probably doesn't belong in that position in that position.
Speaker 3: Think about last year, right the Dolphins squeaked by the
Speaker 3: Jets with Skyler Thompson and made the playoffs, and they,
Speaker 3: to me were the team that deserved that seven seed,
Speaker 3: despite the fact that at the time maybe they weren't
Speaker 3: playing their best football. But a Pittsburgh team that had
Speaker 3: beaten all kinds of you know, also rans to squeak
Speaker 3: into a nine to eight record like they would have
Speaker 3: been that seventh seed, and they probably would have gone
Speaker 3: to Buffalo and gotten absolutely just trounced in that game.
Speaker 3: Every year, that seven seed seems to be a team
Speaker 3: that winds up getting in over a team that's better, right, Like,
Speaker 3: that's kind of the beauty of the NFL. And so
Speaker 3: I look at this weekend and the way the AFC
Speaker 3: has played out, I could very easily see a situation
Speaker 3: where not the Jets, because I have a three in
Speaker 3: the Jets.
Speaker 1: We'll get to here in a second. A team like the.
Speaker 3: Steelers, for instance, who they are not. They're six and
Speaker 3: three and they have not outgained their opponent in a
Speaker 3: single game. That is wild, a wild stat It means
Speaker 3: they're not a very good team. Let just be honest
Speaker 3: about that. But they are six and three. If they
Speaker 3: get in over the Chargers, who would you rather have
Speaker 3: come here in the seven versus two game come January?
Speaker 3: The Chargers of the Steelers. That's why I think that
Speaker 3: getting that two seed is going to be very important,
Speaker 3: on top of the fact that you then get the
Speaker 3: divisional round game in your house, regardless of what happens
Speaker 3: across the other games. And if you get to that point,
Speaker 3: let's say you play the three seed, who in this
Speaker 3: scenario to me, comes down to the winner of Baldo
Speaker 3: More Cincinnati in the AFC North in that divisional round,
Speaker 3: and let's say the winner the loser of that divisional
Speaker 3: race becomes the five seed, and let's say they beat
Speaker 3: the AFC South champions So now you would have Miami
Speaker 3: hosting let's say Baltimore, and you would have Kansas City
Speaker 3: hosting Cincinnati. You beat Baltimore, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: you are a Bengals road victory and arrowhead which has
Speaker 3: happened multiple times in the past away from hosting the
Speaker 3: Bengals here in the AFC Championship games.
Speaker 1: That makes sense.
Speaker 3: I think that's why this weekend was so pivotal for Miami.
Speaker 3: I think it's so pivotal for Miami to win the
Speaker 3: next five games and put themselves at eleven to three
Speaker 3: in position to go get two of the final three
Speaker 3: and potentially get that second seed in the AFC playoffs,
Speaker 3: and then from there all the top s turvy potential outcomes.
Speaker 3: Who knows what it looks like, but I like Miami's chances,
Speaker 3: and especially with the way the results went this weekend
Speaker 3: in the NFL. And my other two points I want
Speaker 3: to make on that real quick I texted this to
Speaker 3: my buddy Kyle Krabs locked on Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I know you guys know this.
Speaker 3: When you have a defensive team that plays top five
Speaker 3: defense for an entire season, but the offense cannot get
Speaker 3: out of its own way. And we've seen this before, right,
Speaker 3: Dolphins fans know this all too well that there is
Speaker 3: typically a trend that occurs where the defense begins to
Speaker 3: kind of the threads on the rope begin to snap
Speaker 3: a little bit. And I told Kyle, if the Jets
Speaker 3: lose this game to the Raiders on Sunday Night Football,
Speaker 3: I think there's a very real possibility that defense begins
Speaker 3: to unravel.
Speaker 1: And we'll see what happens next week.
Speaker 3: I think, all of a sudden, we are Jets fans
Speaker 3: against the Bills in that next week's game with Buffalo,
Speaker 3: I believe hosting the Jets the same week that we
Speaker 3: host the Raiders. But if they lose that game and
Speaker 3: they fall to four and six and they are on
Speaker 3: this current pace of scoring basically one touchdown per game
Speaker 3: going back to last year with Zach Wilson, I think
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, the defense begins to get a
Speaker 3: little bit more tired, begins to get a little bit
Speaker 3: more complacent about that performance because I know we're four
Speaker 3: and six, we're playing you know, Tyreek. To score a
Speaker 3: touchdown against us. We're not going to be able to
Speaker 3: match out the rest of the game.
Speaker 1: Like it's over. It's over for us, So I think
Speaker 1: it was critical from that standpoint.
Speaker 3: I think the results of the AFC standings on Sunday
Speaker 3: were critical. And the last this point I want to
Speaker 3: make is we all got a chance to watch, you know,
Speaker 3: ten hours of commercial free football. Right, you guys saw
Speaker 3: the rest of the league. Where do you stack the
Speaker 3: Dolphins up against most those teams. I know we haven't
Speaker 3: won the big game. I know we've come up short
Speaker 3: against the biggest competitors on the schedule, But just watch
Speaker 3: the games, use your eyes, use common sense. What do
Speaker 3: those games tell you? It told me that Miami's one
Speaker 3: of the best teams NFL. And it's not even like
Speaker 3: a conversation. So that's my How far are we were here?
Speaker 3: About eight minute dia tribe that I wasn't planning on doing,
Speaker 3: but that's that's where I'm at right now. Let's go
Speaker 3: ahead and get you the injury updates that McDaniel provided
Speaker 3: for us.
Speaker 1: On Monday. Devon A.
Speaker 3: Chan had his twenty one day window opened for activation
Speaker 3: back from ir. I suspect you will see him in
Speaker 3: the game on Sunday against the Raiders. We will not
Speaker 3: see Robert Hunt on the practice field on Monday. He
Speaker 3: was getting some additional work in off of the side,
Speaker 3: but I don't know that we'll see him for the
Speaker 3: game on Sunday. To me, if he has to set
Speaker 3: that game out and rest up for the Jets and
Speaker 3: Quinn Williams inside, so be it. That works for me
Speaker 3: because also the Washington Commanders come up after that and
Speaker 3: they have Deron Payne and John and Allen, and the
Speaker 3: Titans have Jeffrey Simmons and then the Jets have Quinn
Speaker 3: Williams again. So the Raiders game, I can understand if
Speaker 3: he doesn't play that one and comes back in a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks. He said that both Rob Hunt and
Speaker 3: Rob Jones are week to week. We should see River
Speaker 3: Craidcraft back this week as well. And for the Jalen
Speaker 3: Wonnnell folks out there, they're interested in how he's doing.
Speaker 3: I saw him catch a pass in practice and jump
Speaker 3: over like a six foot tall, like five foot withth
Speaker 3: gator rade structure thing that was out there holding. I
Speaker 3: don't know all the drinks, I guess, but he jumped
Speaker 3: over that thing like effortlessly, so he looks pretty good
Speaker 3: to go for me. All right, defensive review time here
Speaker 3: on the podcast. Before we get to that, let's go
Speaker 3: ahead and hear from coach McDaniel, who was asked about
Speaker 3: the self scouting process this weekend and what this team
Speaker 3: can learn from a week off and a week away
Speaker 3: from the game.
Speaker 4: Here's Coach McDaniel, less about x's and no's like from
Speaker 4: my seat from where I'm at with this team, I
Speaker 4: am very very happy about our pre bye week season.
Speaker 2: And why is that?
Speaker 4: Because we invested enough to the point that we've we've
Speaker 4: been able to, you know, win six out of nine games,
Speaker 4: that's the plus. But in the losses, we got something
Speaker 4: out of it each time, and that's because guys haven't
Speaker 4: ran from you know, guys really wanted to win each
Speaker 4: one of those games and we didn't, but in the
Speaker 4: process they've we're a different team because of it, because
Speaker 4: we've really held our held each other accountable and and
Speaker 4: haven't ran from any of our failures. So the bye week,
Speaker 4: I just wanted us to pick up where we left
Speaker 4: off and not lose sight of the journey that we're
Speaker 4: in right in the middle of. But all those hours
Speaker 4: of direct focus of full and other commitment to you know,
Speaker 4: the things that you that everyone's cheered for on Sundays.
Speaker 2: Those are things that.
Speaker 4: We've earned through deliberate and deliberate practice and complete immersion
Speaker 4: into our individual work day. So the bye week allows
Speaker 4: you to get back to family. It is the biggest
Speaker 4: gap that you have with your team, Like we see
Speaker 4: each other every day besides the player day off for
Speaker 4: like six months straight.
Speaker 2: There's a little break in that.
Speaker 4: What I wanted, what was important to me is that
Speaker 4: we get back to exactly. We take advantage of the rest,
Speaker 4: but we build upon everything that we've really built in
Speaker 4: the first nine games, which has been unbelievable for this
Speaker 4: team for the journey.
Speaker 2: I know in front of us.
Speaker 4: And the six it's not as easy as the successes
Speaker 4: are positive and the negatives are negative. Like we we've
Speaker 4: got really good on on time training, real life training.
Speaker 4: This team has on the things that can that are
Speaker 4: going to hit us in the face moving forward, So
Speaker 4: that us getting back to work.
Speaker 2: Us being fresh and us.
Speaker 4: Remembering the start the first quarter or the first half
Speaker 4: of the process, being attached to that and doing right
Speaker 4: by all that work each and every day starting with
Speaker 4: today is what I prioritize and not the x's and
Speaker 4: no sense stuff will work into the meetings as the
Speaker 4: week progresses, with Wednesday starting.
Speaker 3: It very interesting stuff there from coaches. Go ahead and
Speaker 3: take our first break right here and comeback on the
Speaker 3: other side.
Speaker 1: We'll pick it up.
Speaker 3: We'll talk about this Dolphins defense on the other side
Speaker 3: of the break. Your host, Travis Wingfield Draft Time Podcast
Speaker 3: brought to you by Auto Nation, Segment two on a Monday,
Speaker 3: we were gonna have a podcast for you guys tomorrow.
Speaker 3: My guest was not able to record with me, so
Speaker 3: we just took the day off.
Speaker 1: That sound good. We have a.
Speaker 3: Eight week stretch here to finish out the regular season,
Speaker 3: and then of course we'll have three or maybe four
Speaker 3: weeks of playoffootball for you guys after that as well.
Speaker 3: So we're gonna go ahead and just pick it up
Speaker 3: here on the stretch run. Let's go ahead and start
Speaker 3: off defensive rankings. Ahead of the week eleven game, the
Speaker 3: Dolphins are allowing three hundred and twenty two yards per game.
Speaker 1: That is twelfth in the National Football League.
Speaker 3: I think it's pretty cool that the last three games
Speaker 3: they've played the Chiefs the Patriots and the Eagles, and
Speaker 3: our third over those last three games, allowing just two
Speaker 3: hundred and eighty yards per game to those three offenses. Obviously,
Speaker 3: one of those offenses atrocious. Two of those are very
Speaker 3: very good. Twenty five points per game allows twenty fifth.
Speaker 3: That has to come down and will come down. Rushing
Speaker 3: yards per game one ozh six point two is thirteenth.
Speaker 3: The three point nine yards per rush is twelfth best
Speaker 3: in the NFL, so the rushing defense is slightly above average.
Speaker 3: Passing defense two hundred and sixteen yards per game is
Speaker 3: twelve yards per play five point one. That's tied for eighteenth.
Speaker 3: That has to come down. That will come down. This
Speaker 3: is a number where I think Miami's gonna make a
Speaker 3: big swing. Nine takeaways is tied for twenty fourth. They
Speaker 3: have to get that number way up. Those are Rooki numbers.
Speaker 3: You got to pump those numbers way up, and I
Speaker 3: think they will because Jalen Ramsey coming back changes the
Speaker 3: entire structure of the defensive coverage. I think our pass
Speaker 3: rush is really coming on, especially marrying up with the coverage,
Speaker 3: which means more forced passes, more forced fumbles and the like.
Speaker 3: They've allowed scores on thirty five point seven percent of
Speaker 3: the drives.
Speaker 1: That's eighteenth best in the NFL.
Speaker 3: So on the wrong half of the middle of the pack,
Speaker 3: twenty nine sacks are tied for fifth, their ninety three
Speaker 3: pressures are tied for fourth, or sixty eight QB hits
Speaker 3: are tied for third, So fifth, fourth, third. In terms
Speaker 3: of quarterback harassment, I suppose sixty seven point seven percent
Speaker 3: touchdown rate in the red zone thirtieth. That has to
Speaker 3: get infinitely better. And if we get those in games
Speaker 3: against Philly, against Buffalo, against KC, those games take on
Speaker 3: a different complexion. So getting red zone stops have not
Speaker 3: been good for Miami. If it can turn around, it
Speaker 3: can lead to a big spark and a big turnaround
Speaker 3: for this Dolphins defense. Let's go ahead and take a
Speaker 3: look at each part of this roster here, starting with
Speaker 3: the interior defensive line. I think it was fair to
Speaker 3: be a little concerned early on a new system, a
Speaker 3: new approach, and guys had to get used to playing
Speaker 3: with a man down in a lot of those looks.
Speaker 3: In terms of having one less man in the middle,
Speaker 3: with these lighter boxes, fewer zero techniques and one techniques
Speaker 3: in the game, which puts way more pressure on your
Speaker 3: three and four techniques. Think about zero technique is head
Speaker 3: up over the center, right your nose tackle. Your three
Speaker 3: technique goes out over the outside shoulder of either guard
Speaker 3: when you have no one covering up the center. All
Speaker 3: of a sudden, that center can help on the three
Speaker 3: technique and give you easy doubles, or you can climb
Speaker 3: up to the second level and get your linebacker and
Speaker 3: wash that guy off.
Speaker 1: So just I think you've seen it.
Speaker 3: Kind of gel in recent games here the Dolphins, I
Speaker 3: think Sealer and Wilkins have raised their play, which changes
Speaker 3: the entire structure of the scheme and how it operates.
Speaker 3: Their ability to take on double teams has somehow gotten
Speaker 3: better in the scheme, But then they also still make
Speaker 3: their plays when they're given a chance to go one
Speaker 3: on one or to one gap penetrate. So the tackles
Speaker 3: might be down a bit for those guys in the
Speaker 3: stats category, but man, I think they're both having their
Speaker 3: best years. And with Raykwan, I thought the KC game
Speaker 3: was one of his best as a Dolphin, and I
Speaker 3: like him over the nose and that base defense to
Speaker 3: beat a center one on one, not many other roles.
Speaker 3: I think he fits in here, but that's one that's
Speaker 3: gonna give you fifteen to twenty snaps a game of
Speaker 3: value if he can do that well. Coming into the season,
Speaker 3: we didn't know the depth what was gonna look like,
Speaker 3: and I think we still don't know. You know, Vic
Speaker 3: Fangio told us as much back in August. Deshan Han
Speaker 3: played five snaps in that last game. We'll see about
Speaker 3: the depth individually. Wilkins. You know, I wish I could
Speaker 3: give you guys more of a nuanced take here, but
Speaker 3: it's more of the same for this guy. The way
Speaker 3: he reads, you know, and puts the physical skills to
Speaker 3: use to make those reads, like to make the mind
Speaker 3: really accentuate his game.
Speaker 1: It's just fun to watch.
Speaker 3: Like he rides the wave outside and makes those plays
Speaker 3: outside the numbers. He retraces screens, he can stack up
Speaker 3: against bigger guards. He is rushing the passer with a
Speaker 3: variety of moves and speed over both a tackle and guard.
Speaker 3: Just a great player man. Twenty eight pressures, four and
Speaker 3: a half sacks, twelve QB hits, five tackles for lost,
Speaker 3: eighteen stops. Wilkins betting on himself paying off big again
Speaker 3: with his production. Zach Seeler again, it's a broken record.
Speaker 3: Nobody on this team takes on double teams the way
Speaker 3: Zach Sealer does. It's vital to this defensive front. He's
Speaker 3: just a ferocious run defender who beats you with brute strength.
Speaker 3: Has the similar read react skills that Christian Wilkins does,
Speaker 3: and I don't think he's quite as slippery, but his
Speaker 3: ability to get momentum going one way and using the
Speaker 3: grip strength and the leverage advantage, it's just so damn impressive,
Speaker 3: Like these two guys are so instrumental to what we do.
Speaker 3: Twenty eight pressures for him, one QB hit, two TfL's,
Speaker 3: twenty one stops and four sacks for him, So those
Speaker 3: guys both getting their sack production. Their pass rush production
Speaker 3: for both Christian and Sealer has been fantastic. For Rakwan,
Speaker 3: you know, I was hoping he'd take more of a
Speaker 3: step this year as a three down player, but it's
Speaker 3: pretty clear what he is at the stage fifteen snaps
Speaker 3: over the nose. But you need him because Christian and
Speaker 3: Zach have played four hundred and sixty snaps and Rayqwan's
Speaker 3: the next in rotation at two hundred and seventy eight,
Speaker 3: so we need him for those snaps like it's if
Speaker 3: he goes down, you're in trouble. But I like his
Speaker 3: work in that zero technique role against the Chiefs. Thought
Speaker 3: he gave Creed Humphrey all he could handle with that
Speaker 3: length that he offers. Ten pressures for him, a half
Speaker 3: sack this year, one QB hit, two TFLs, and a
Speaker 3: couple of run stops in there as well. We've seen
Speaker 3: variety of players play those depth reps, right Brandon Peelee,
Speaker 3: who back on the practice squad, which is where I
Speaker 3: thought that was always going to go for him. He's
Speaker 3: played twenty nine snaps. I just never saw it with
Speaker 3: his game. Deshan hann has played one hundred and he's
Speaker 3: been the next guy. But I think that he's shown
Speaker 3: you the most pass rush in those roles. Five pressures
Speaker 3: for him. I think that he's gonna be the guy
Speaker 3: that ends up giving you the most in the second
Speaker 3: half of the stretch of those next guys. And it
Speaker 3: wouldn't surprise me if at some point he actually took
Speaker 3: over Rayquan Davis's role. I'm not going to be on it,
Speaker 3: but I could see that we're gonna do something fun
Speaker 3: here called where Travis got it right, Where Travis got
Speaker 3: it wrong. Where I got it right was that ninety
Speaker 3: four and ninety two are both absolute monsters. But that's
Speaker 3: not a surprise or even close to a bold take. Also,
Speaker 3: I told you that the UDFA wasn't gonna make a
Speaker 3: big impact this year. As much as I hate being
Speaker 3: right or being the guy that says you know, you know,
Speaker 3: actually you know what?
Speaker 1: Real quick, let me go ahead and do a sidebar.
Speaker 3: You ever noticed that when someone's coverage is billed as
Speaker 3: telling the truth, it's just trying to find negatives. Like,
Speaker 3: we can discuss the negative, but I'm not gonna like
Speaker 3: dwell on it and make it my entire brand.
Speaker 1: I think it's dumb as hell.
Speaker 3: You'll take someone like Tua and Tyree can try to
Speaker 3: nitpick great seasons. Right, Here's why it's not as great
Speaker 3: as you think it is. I tell you every week
Speaker 3: where things go wrong, but the whole here's why you
Speaker 3: should be concerned.
Speaker 1: Nasan, that's done. We're not gonna do that here, be honest.
Speaker 3: But when your brand is that you don't paint stuns,
Speaker 3: shine and rainbows, I bet you the coverage is.
Speaker 1: Not good or knowledgeable. I don't know where Travis got
Speaker 1: it wrong.
Speaker 3: I thought Raykwan might become more of a three down
Speaker 3: player this year, but still waiting on that freshman year
Speaker 3: production from Alabama from him.
Speaker 1: Off the edge, talk about a good position group here.
Speaker 3: My goodness, man, it took a while to see this
Speaker 3: group at full strength this year, right with the nagging
Speaker 3: injury of Jalen Phillips. But my goodness, have they taken
Speaker 3: it to the next level here behind he and Bradley
Speaker 3: chubb Bechubbs tied for the league and the league lead
Speaker 3: and force fumbles. He has a second four straight games.
Speaker 3: JP has won on three straight games. Van Gekle's been fantastic.
Speaker 3: We get edge production from both ninety four and ninety two.
Speaker 3: Emmanuel Ogba hasn't played a whole lot this season, but
Speaker 3: you'd be hard pressed to find a better fourth most
Speaker 3: reps guy in the rotation than him. I think their
Speaker 3: ability to win one on one or just get pressure
Speaker 3: without blitzing is going to make this unit really pop
Speaker 3: off in the second half of the season. And finally,
Speaker 3: the run defense off the edge has been supreme. Just
Speaker 3: three point three yards per carry running off either tackle.
Speaker 3: That's third best in the NFL. And it starts for
Speaker 3: me with Jalen Phillips. The stats don't say it, but
Speaker 3: I think he's one of the best edges in the NFL.
Speaker 3: The getoff combined with a secondary move and sheer power
Speaker 3: just makes him so much for any like style of play.
Speaker 3: Tackle like he can give any tackle that excels with
Speaker 3: speed or straight he can give them all fits that
Speaker 3: rep of him getting Orlando Brown to overset, cross face
Speaker 3: back inside and then just steamroll and run over Tray Smith.
Speaker 3: There aren't five guys in the NFL who can do that,
Speaker 3: and he's one of them. He's already in the throwes
Speaker 3: B but I think he set up for a monster
Speaker 3: second half of the season, and he earns his pass
Speaker 3: rush with elite run defense reps so good in that department.
Speaker 3: He has twenty pressures despite missing half the first half
Speaker 3: of the season, three and a half sacks, six QB hits,
Speaker 3: two TfL sixteen stops. Fortunate to have Jalen Phillips here
Speaker 3: in your lineup. Also fortunate to have Bradley Chubb. Finally,
Speaker 3: those immediate pressures are turning into sacks and fumble production.
Speaker 3: I don't think anything has changed outside of the circumstances
Speaker 3: and process finally producing results.
Speaker 1: He's tough for anybody to face one on one.
Speaker 3: He's got enough juice, and the way he angles around
Speaker 3: the corner, around the arc to get around that outside
Speaker 3: shoulder but then angle back to the quarterback is really special.
Speaker 1: Good balance and lean.
Speaker 3: He's an absolute force against the run a bowl when
Speaker 3: it comes to slant inside, and this guy takes the
Speaker 3: B gap like better than any defensive end in the
Speaker 3: league in my opinion. And he's played the coverage roles
Speaker 3: this defense has asked of its outside linebackers really really well.
Speaker 3: Thirty four pressures, six sacks, ten QB hits, seven TFLs,
Speaker 3: sixteen stops. Chubb has been awesome. So has Andrew Van Ginkel.
Speaker 3: I get more impressed by this dude every single year
Speaker 3: in college. I knew he was fast as hell and
Speaker 3: had a good sense of spatial awareness and coverage, but
Speaker 3: he's added so much strength every.
Speaker 1: Damn year to his game.
Speaker 3: And you see in the way he defeats blocks, whether
Speaker 3: he's taking on a guard or a tight end coming
Speaker 3: across the formation on split flow. He can just ruin
Speaker 3: entire plays by side stepping those and going hitting the
Speaker 3: running backer, changing the course of the track of the
Speaker 3: running back. And then the speed he has off the
Speaker 3: edge is the best on the team in my opinion.
Speaker 3: Twenty two pressures, four sacks, ten QB hits, seven TfL,
Speaker 3: seventeen stops.
Speaker 1: The numbers just keep on coming.
Speaker 3: And then Emmanuel Ogbob hasn't been you know, his chance
Speaker 3: in the rotation with so many valuable pieces getting more
Speaker 3: run than he is, but he's as dependable as anybody
Speaker 3: on rundown plays off the edge. He's gotten the quarterback
Speaker 3: with two and a half sacks when he has gotten
Speaker 3: rush opportunities, and he can dent the edge of that
Speaker 3: length and strength. Nine pressures, two and a half sacks,
Speaker 3: three QB hits, one tackle for lost, two stops. And
Speaker 3: then Cam Good has been nearly exclusively special teams and
Speaker 3: really good at that. But this position across the board
Speaker 3: I think has been one of the strengths of this
Speaker 3: Dolphins football team where Travis got it right. I believe
Speaker 3: i'd called this a top five edge group coming into
Speaker 3: the season.
Speaker 1: I feel really good about that.
Speaker 3: I feel good about saying the coverage getting much better
Speaker 3: than last year, would finally allow you to see the
Speaker 3: pass rush production from a stat standpoint where I got
Speaker 3: it wrong. Malik Reid didn't even make the team out
Speaker 3: a training camp. I thought he'd be a key part
Speaker 3: of the rotation, and maybe I oversold a little bit
Speaker 3: of Emmanuel Ogba's impact in this defense.
Speaker 1: So there you go.
Speaker 3: Before we get to the off ball linebackers want to
Speaker 3: play you another quick SoundBite here from Mike McDaniel, who
Speaker 3: was asked about the raiders current two to zero winning
Speaker 3: streak and how being happier in the locker room can
Speaker 3: potentially produce better results on the field. Really cool take
Speaker 3: here from coach because he takes it from that or
Speaker 3: you know, the question and expands upon it.
Speaker 4: Well, I think that that is a I would love
Speaker 4: to know the statistics behind teams that make a coaching
Speaker 4: change in season, but it's it's it's not the first
Speaker 4: time it's ever happened, and it's not you know. I
Speaker 4: think that the thing that I always notice when it
Speaker 4: does occur, when you do have a coaching change and
Speaker 4: then you have immediate success followed by another game of success,
Speaker 4: is that you know the locker room feels uh something
Speaker 4: of it's like an energy uh an anti divide. It
Speaker 4: galvanizes people, brings people together.
Speaker 2: And you know, no one.
Speaker 4: Likes to say bye to people that they know that
Speaker 4: they work. You know, I don't care what you say.
Speaker 4: Even if you're going through hard times, it's tough to
Speaker 4: say goodbye to people. And when you do have that
Speaker 4: sort of change, I feel like people try to make
Speaker 4: it purposeful and come together as and it's a real
Speaker 4: it's a legitimate tool that makes teams very very dangerous
Speaker 4: because if you however it happens, if you can get
Speaker 4: a unit of players to work in one direction and
Speaker 4: play for each other, you're a very very dangerous team.
Speaker 4: In the National Football League, it is hard to get
Speaker 4: to get wins. I think the the overall records of
Speaker 4: the of the teams and how you know, there's how
Speaker 4: many teams have three to five losses like.
Speaker 2: The whole league.
Speaker 4: That it's little things like that where teams are playing
Speaker 4: together that can really forced results that maybe some people
Speaker 4: aren't expecting.
Speaker 2: So it's a it's a talented team.
Speaker 4: They they they have well coached fundamentals in all three phases.
Speaker 4: And I think what you're seeing as a team that
Speaker 4: it means something to play each and every game because
Speaker 4: they're they they feel that much more a part of,
Speaker 4: you know, a part of the the journey when when
Speaker 4: you have as much adversity as one can have in
Speaker 4: the middle of the season, which is a staff change,
Speaker 4: So kudos.
Speaker 2: I think it says a lot about the the players
Speaker 2: in the locker room. I think it.
Speaker 4: Says a lot about uh, their their talent, but also
Speaker 4: the type of people that they have that they've been
Speaker 4: able to band together and rip off a couple of wins,
Speaker 4: which is the only thing that can make you feel
Speaker 4: better when you're when your system is kind of.
Speaker 3: Un Speaking of being happy and having passion turn to results,
Speaker 3: nothing makes me happier than watching David Long play football
Speaker 3: and the passion I felt for him when he got
Speaker 3: to this football team was at an all time high.
Speaker 3: I think he is to the front seven what Gilen
Speaker 3: Ramsey is the secondary just makes everybody better. No one
Speaker 3: triggers in the running game ahead of time in the
Speaker 3: NFL like he does. No one does it, and he
Speaker 3: goes and he gets it. It's so damn. Zach Thomas
Speaker 3: to me, I see something pre snap and I'm going
Speaker 3: cover me on the backside there, buddy, like you know
Speaker 3: Junior saying I used to do. I think his presence
Speaker 3: takes away a lot of what Bakers asked to do
Speaker 3: in terms of being the key man at the point
Speaker 3: of attack and not having to deal with the physical
Speaker 3: aspect of the game so much. The depth has not
Speaker 3: been as good as we hoped, but Long and Baker
Speaker 3: seemed to be really getting used to each other in
Speaker 3: the middle. I thought early on they would sometimes fit
Speaker 3: the same gap, but now they're very coordinated on doing
Speaker 3: you know, the job that they are supposed to do
Speaker 3: individually here as advertised for David Long, so explosive, lightning, quick,
Speaker 3: first step, reckless, abandoned with how he beats blocks, whether
Speaker 3: it's physicality or taking on somebody with seven with you
Speaker 3: know has who has seventy five pounds on him in
Speaker 3: the weight department, or side stepping a back and pass protection,
Speaker 3: just constantly so impressed.
Speaker 1: But this guy, what a player he.
Speaker 3: Is twenty one stops, leads a team with sixty three tackles,
Speaker 3: four TfL, three QB hits in a sack this year. Baker,
Speaker 3: I think has really come on the last few weeks
Speaker 3: that sideline the sideline speed, never slumps, he just gives
Speaker 3: you a little bit of pass rush. Has been a
Speaker 3: very sure tackle this year, except for those hook zone
Speaker 3: plays that I always getting mad about. But twenty one
Speaker 3: stops the interception, one and a half sacks, fifty two tackles,
Speaker 3: four QB hits, a TfL and of course a touchdown,
Speaker 3: and then Duke a key special team's piece. And you
Speaker 3: know depth that you have to have because once again
Speaker 3: this position kind of thin. Beyond the top two guys.
Speaker 3: Haven't seen any of Channing Tindall this year aside from
Speaker 3: special teams. Nine total snaps on defense. We just don't
Speaker 3: go into the depth like we have in the past.
Speaker 3: Where I got it right. David Long total monster, and
Speaker 3: I still think Baker struggles to beat blocks and consistently
Speaker 3: overruns the hook zone and coverage where Travis got it wrong.
Speaker 3: I thought changing Tindall would be a dude for us.
Speaker 3: This year just hasn't happened. Hasn't clicked for him.
Speaker 1: He's young. Maybe it'll happen, but not this year.
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and take our last break right there,
Speaker 3: come back on the other side and do the secondary
Speaker 3: and get the heck out of here. That's next Draft
Speaker 3: Time podcast your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by
Speaker 3: I Dontation. We talked a little bit on the other
Speaker 3: side about the Raider locker room and being happy that
Speaker 3: Josh McDaniels is no longer there, and smoking cigars and
Speaker 3: winning football games even though they beat two of the
Speaker 3: worst teams the NFL.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, it's still good for them, right, good
Speaker 1: for them to see that.
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and hear coach talk more about how
Speaker 3: he views happiness and how instrumental that can be to
Speaker 3: success with your job.
Speaker 1: In particular in the world of football.
Speaker 4: It's passion, and your happiness will always be unintended consequence
Speaker 4: of winning. But when you.
Speaker 2: Can have passion.
Speaker 4: Towards the otherwise what people would view as the monotonous
Speaker 4: or you know, when you can have that that's joyful,
Speaker 4: Like you know, sweating is hard. You see a lot
Speaker 4: of people sweating having fun and smiling, and to me,
Speaker 4: I see it. You know, it's something that you're I
Speaker 4: can tell the The question is kind of geared towards
Speaker 4: my philosophy because I do I do prioritize people being happy,
Speaker 4: but that's because I want them to be passionate, and
Speaker 4: I want them to be one hundred percent all in.
Speaker 4: So to be one hundred percent all in, you you
Speaker 4: have to you have to you have to sit there
Speaker 4: and look to your side and notice that, Hey, my
Speaker 4: teammate is really busting his butt for me. You know,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go that much harder. Oh, this is fun
Speaker 4: while we're doing it. I think there's something to be
Speaker 4: said about.
Speaker 2: To be your best self. Uh, you have to be yourself.
Speaker 4: So when you're trying to be yourself or it's it's
Speaker 4: fun being able to do your the passionate game that
Speaker 4: you dreamed about doing. When you're able to fully be yourself,
Speaker 4: I think that there's a part of it there, but
Speaker 4: it's not.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not all.
Speaker 4: It's not just directly correlated happiness or happy work environment
Speaker 4: equals I mean completely happy player.
Speaker 2: The players want to win.
Speaker 4: But if they think that they're doing something productive regardless
Speaker 4: of how hard it is, but that can help them
Speaker 4: win and and do all the things in their individual
Speaker 4: anti oriented goals, you're you're gonna you're gonna have a
Speaker 4: more pleasant, more invested, more exuberant individual. And uh, you
Speaker 4: know so I think that that's a it's part of
Speaker 4: our jobs to create a situation where guys can feel
Speaker 4: like they can assert their best selves, because again, it
Speaker 4: makes no sense to me if we're asking guys to
Speaker 4: be their very best version of themselves, they have to
Speaker 4: find a balance of being themselves and also being constructive
Speaker 4: and focused.
Speaker 2: So it can work.
Speaker 4: Can be fun if you know that you're not going
Speaker 4: to be judged for that fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I could not agree more.
Speaker 2: That is.
Speaker 3: Preaching to the choir there, coach, let's go ahead and
Speaker 3: pick it up here in the second Dary Jalen Ramsey,
Speaker 3: I mean the absolute man.
Speaker 1: What else can you say?
Speaker 3: Allows us to look similar pre snap and rotate to
Speaker 3: different stuff. Because if you want to go a man
Speaker 3: free and let him press the opposition's best, that works.
Speaker 3: If you want to play off and ask him to
Speaker 3: be the half man and quarter quarter half, which is
Speaker 3: a three high structure to prevent long balls, that works too.
Speaker 1: He's just good at everything. I'm not sure how else
Speaker 1: to say it.
Speaker 3: No stats here, because I don't really care about the
Speaker 3: one to two picks that DB's have out of their
Speaker 3: five hundred snaps at this stage of the season. But
Speaker 3: you know, judging a dB on picks is worse than
Speaker 3: judging a defensive lineman on sack.
Speaker 1: So Ramsey awesome, Xavier Howard.
Speaker 3: If last week was a sign of things to come,
Speaker 3: I think we're about to get the best run of
Speaker 3: games X we've seen since his Like all pro years,
Speaker 3: he ran vertically with guys in face, he bodied them
Speaker 3: up coming back down the stem.
Speaker 1: He tackled well.
Speaker 3: I think getting eyes in the quarterback and playing downhill
Speaker 3: is going to lead to a lot more takeaway production
Speaker 3: from X and the entire defense. Cater Co, who's the
Speaker 3: best perimeter run defending cornerback in football. For my money,
Speaker 3: I think we could see him be even more effective
Speaker 3: as a blitzer in the second half of the season
Speaker 3: because he's so good at it. I love letting him
Speaker 3: funnel with trail technique and to help super quick, super heavy,
Speaker 3: talented player. Cater is a much needed part of the
Speaker 3: secondary thought. Eli Apple did a good job keeping things
Speaker 3: afloat when we were down Ramsey and at times X
Speaker 3: as well knew the defense didn't let the ball get
Speaker 3: behind him a lot a lot of catches, but wasn't
Speaker 3: a good shape to make plays after the fact. He
Speaker 3: was definitely the guy they went after and that was,
Speaker 3: you know, to be expected for a guy that join
Speaker 3: up in training camp. PFF has Javon holl As the
Speaker 3: top graded safety. I don't care about that, but I
Speaker 3: think it tracks he and Jalen on the field together
Speaker 3: is just unfair because of what they do to process
Speaker 3: the game and they get off their landmarks and job
Speaker 3: responsibility to go make plays elsewhere is just elite. And
Speaker 3: I know that, like you know, Poop Fart is telling
Speaker 3: you he has to make more picks to be you know,
Speaker 3: but you don't. You need to ask poop far if
Speaker 3: he understands all of what Javon's role is on any
Speaker 3: given play. I bet you can't, but I digress. Javan
Speaker 3: and Jalen make the system go. In my opinion, these
Speaker 3: guys are so critical to what the Dolphins do on defense.
Speaker 3: Deshaun Elliott maybe the under the radar signing of the offseason.
Speaker 3: His range has freed up Javon to do. But I
Speaker 3: just talked about so much. He's an imposing striker. I
Speaker 3: just love everything he's about. Absolute dog. And then you
Speaker 3: have a bunch of guys who have seen limited action
Speaker 3: and gosh, with this group, we just you know, mentioned
Speaker 3: being healthy. How good does all this depth sound? First,
Speaker 3: I think that Nick Needham looked excellent, albeit in six snaps,
Speaker 3: in that dime role. I think he's perfect for that
Speaker 3: in this defense at this point.
Speaker 1: Of his career.
Speaker 3: First year, you're off the injury getting stronger every single week.
Speaker 3: Brandon Jones made his first start a few weeks back
Speaker 3: and was back at practicing after the Germany game, missing
Speaker 3: that game. Justin Bethel's a valuable slot depth piece and
Speaker 3: awesome special team piece as well. Elijah Campbell might be
Speaker 3: the best special team core guy on the club. I
Speaker 3: think Kelvin Joseph has operated in that role as well.
Speaker 3: Perry Nickerson to a good developmental piece there. Where Travis
Speaker 3: got the secondary right, Javaon and Jalen Our monsters, the
Speaker 3: depth would be better and the stars would make our
Speaker 3: pass rush exponentially more productive. Where I got it wrong,
Speaker 3: I think Cateror has struggled more this year than I
Speaker 3: thought he would. I thought camps with that have an
Speaker 3: immediate impact as a rookie, and I did not expect
Speaker 3: Brandon Jones to, you know, be this slow to pick
Speaker 3: up the system as he has. I think the defense
Speaker 3: is hitting at stride man like I mentioned in the
Speaker 3: red zone percentage, I think that will flip.
Speaker 1: I think there will be a lot more takeaways.
Speaker 3: They covered it up so well in case, but Mahomes
Speaker 3: played such a disciplined brand of football and the offense.
Speaker 1: You know, if the offense had.
Speaker 3: Kept it close earlier, maybe he does have to take
Speaker 3: more chances in that game. But I think you're seeing
Speaker 3: the system click. I think David Long has clicked. I
Speaker 3: think Wilkins and Seiler have clicked. I think the edge
Speaker 3: has been as advertised, and then Ramsey's ripple effect on
Speaker 3: the rest of the secondary. I could easily envision a
Speaker 3: scenario where over the next three months or the next
Speaker 3: couple of months worth of games here revisionist history looks
Speaker 3: back on some early season takes on the defense as
Speaker 3: freezing cold takes. I think they'll be view the top
Speaker 3: ten unit baseline when we head into games post Christmas eve.
Speaker 3: I do have a concern note, and it's the depth.
Speaker 3: They're healthy right now, it won't stay that way. Obviously,
Speaker 3: only thirteen players play more than six snaps in the
Speaker 3: KC game. Vic told us all summer how he has
Speaker 3: some guys that he likes. I think that's an indictment
Speaker 3: of the depth. And look, there are positions where it's
Speaker 3: good where you wouldn't take the primary guys off the field,
Speaker 3: But like corner is now good, but you don't need
Speaker 3: to see Apple Smith Bethel Nickerson since you have guys
Speaker 3: up right, same at safety and linebacker for that matter,
Speaker 3: I think they could use another edge rusher and a
Speaker 3: couple of bodies inside, probably a third safety as well,
Speaker 3: So we'll see.
Speaker 1: How that pans out. As for today's show, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be my time.
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Speaker 1: Until next time. Finz up, Carolin, Cameron, Daddy. Just come on,
Speaker 1: go Broncos tonight, Broncos Country. That's right,