WEBVTT - Drive Time: How the Run Game Can Reignite the Dolphins Offense 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.559 What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.600 I am your host Travis Wingfield. On today's show, what 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.919 started as a run game comparison research project turned into 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.239 an entire monologue on how the offense can revert back 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.200 to the production we saw in twenty twenty three in 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:28.680 twenty twenty five, plus, I've got a bunch of your 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:31.480 mail bag questions to answer from the Baptist Health Studios 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:36.120 inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:40.560 Time Podcast. Ye gaffe, that's a lie off the top. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:42.879 We are not in the Baptist Health Studios. We are 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:46.680 at COSA day Wingfield, and it's a holiday weekend, which 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.400 means recording the podcast from home, which means you're probably 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.400 gonna hear some interruptions, some stomping around upstairs. The boy 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.760 I believe has some legos out, and I believe Caroline 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.360 is trying on more princess dresses as she does every 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.080 weekend to see So if you get an interruption, that's why, 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:03.320 that's that's why. 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:04.960 So let's go ahead and jump into this. 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.360 I wanted to start the show with something that I've 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.680 kind of been kicking around as a content idea. For 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.680 a few weeks and full transparency. The Dolphins have really 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.440 been great about kind of letting me carve my own 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:20.080 path a little bit as I transition from my new 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.560 weekend obsession with the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel. 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:23.280 You guys watch him. 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:28.000 He's phenomenal, a phenomenal outdoor channel. Half hour episodes, keeps 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.200 things moving, teaches me things that I didn't know about, 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:34.240 didn't think I ever cared to know about, but apparently 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.959 I'm really into outdoors content. But what I mean by 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.160 kind of carving your own path or your own trail 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.280 is doing episodes like this right and just kind of 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:46.600 allowing me to pontificate certain ideas and do some research 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.680 behind them and then provide you guys with the episode. 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.800 Because the truth is, like anybody can do this. I mean, 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:54.760 you have to put the time and research in, but 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.560 anybody could do this. And I think that what makes 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.440 for fun content is is knowing that team and what 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:04.040 the fan based desires and how to deliver that information 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.440 to them in a timely and entertaining way. So that's 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.720 what we're going for here. And as I continue to, 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.280 you know, gather data points on all of this, I 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.600 think we just roll with it and let the chips 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.799 fall where they may. And essentially it's it comes down 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.360 to this. To me, the biggest reason we saw an 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:24.840 offensive drop off in twenty twenty four aside from too 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:26.840 A missing six and a half games, And that's like 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.200 I mean, we've this has been the debate for months now, 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.680 right like to A missed over a third of the 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.720 season and we still were in the mix in Week 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:39.320 eighteen like that, that's I think that's probably where the 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.040 disconnect comes from from the from the national or rather 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.080 like the NFL giving the Dolphins five primetime games and 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.080 the fan base that feels a little bit snake bitten 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:48.560 right now. And I get it, trust me, I do. 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:50.720 It's it's been that way for for quite some time 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:52.480 for this organization, for this team. If you're a fan 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:54.960 of this team for you know, twenty five thirty years, 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.480 I get it. But I think that's why you know 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.079 they're saying that two is only missed that many games. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:03.880 That's the most games he's missed in a single season, 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.440 right So I don't think that's the expectations that every year. 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:08.400 But he has to stay healthy. And to reiterate the 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.840 point I've made so many times, on the show. I 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.520 think the Cardinals game was really what the offense should 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.679 have been from week one, right, and we got a 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:20.880 little spoiled there for two years with these red Hearts 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.320 red hot starts offensively, I mean, twenty twenty three was 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.720 a four hundred and sixty six yard passing day from 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.799 the quarterback, and then seventy points two weeks after that, 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:31.960 And I thought the Week two game against the Patriots 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.640 is one of two was best execution games just in 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:36.960 terms of running the offense and going to the correct 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:38.520 read and putting the ball where it's supposed to be 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.800 on time frequently against a different style of defense, and 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.960 that three high look, it's twenty twenty two in twenty 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.000 twenty two, Rather it was to come back against the Ravens, 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:48.920 and then Tua gets hurt a couple of weeks later, 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.280 but returns and we start rolling up thirty points every 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:54.920 single game and the offense kind of carries us while 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:56.960 the defense is kind of getting ran over by Detroit 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.320 in Chicago, right. But it was pretty much the same 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:01.560 thing last year when Tua comes back for the Cardinals 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.560 game after a really really challenging opening parts of the 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:09.120 season with Scyler Thompson, Tim Boyle, and then eventually Tyler Huntley. 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:11.680 But after that twenty seven points against the Cardinals, twenty 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.000 seven against the Bills, twenty three in a win over 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:15.880 the Rams, and then thirty four and thirty four and 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:17.880 back to back games his first five games back, So 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.600 two games over thirty four or over thirty points, I 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.039 should say, and then nothing lower than twenty three and 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.240 two games right there at twenty seven, which if you 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:26.800 ever twenty seven points per game in the league, you're 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.760 probably going to the playoffs. So we need to find 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.120 a way to get back to being inventive. Inventive I 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.279 should say, and ahead of the curve in week one, 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:36.719 not what we saw last year with this, like I 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:40.520 suppose deeper evolution of the screen game that didn't really 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.360 work aside for a couple of fun like pop plays. 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:47.159 But aside from Tua being hurt, to me, what caused 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.520 the offense to take a massive step in the wrong 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.560 direction was not taking advantage of light boxes with the 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:55.599 run game, because this passing game a fords you space 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:57.320 in that way, and you have to make the defense 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.719 respect the run game in order to get your shots 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.839 down field. And passing game and in twenty twenty three, 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.120 we excelled at this. When people ask like, why did 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.120 we not have a downfield passing game, it's because you 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.920 couldn't run the ball. That's the only reason why teams 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:11.880 are going to be happy to allow eight Chan to 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.359 have one thirty yard run per game if I have 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:17.160 eight other carries where he gets two yards or less, 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:20.440 because that's consistently putting myself in an advantageous from a 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.599 defensive play calling situation. So you can have your even 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:25.560 if you have three thirty yard runs a game, I 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.520 really don't care because the other fifteen you're gonna put 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:32.040 yourself behind the eight ball and have a negative play offensively. 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:36.120 So I don't mind going fifteen to three on a 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.560 play on a run game standpoint, and eight Chan was 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:40.039 a big part of that, the biggest part of it 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.280 I thought. I thought his rookie season vision was outstanding. 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:45.960 I think that last year was a drop off in 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:48.240 that area. He wasn't as sharp with his reads and 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.760 how he read blocks and kind of anticipated angles and 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:53.920 how to attack them. But I don't think that means 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.800 he's incapable of seeing things better, because we do have 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.960 proof of concept and Devon talked about this watching cutups 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:02.200 last year. I felt like I left a lot of 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.760 the yards on the table end quote, and in this system, 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.640 the back's decision making and the track that he takes 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.479 impressing the gap and really kind of you know, making 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:12.680 things play out the way they're designed to and then 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.120 reading the angle of the blocks and hitting the gap 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:16.640 with good smart decisions. 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:17.880 It's a lot to chew on. 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.200 And for Devon, his role went from a one B 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.000 you know, behind Raheem Mostert there sort of and kind 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:24.880 of the change of pace like look out, here comes 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.840 the you know, Andres Munios the best closer in baseball 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:30.000 out of the bullpen, throwing ninety nine mile an hour 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.720 gas every single pitch with a devastating sinker. Like then 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.960 he went to being a starter. He couldn't just go 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.400 to the fastball all the time. And we've talked about, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:41.600 you know this with with how Jalen Wright, Alexander Madison, 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.279 Oli Gordon and their ability to make you know, to 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.400 take a step ahead in the offense and reduce the 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.479 true running back load of a chan. And allow me 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.200 to make this abundantly clear, I don't want to reduce 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.040 a chan's workload I just I think he's one of 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.200 the best skill players receive a running back tight under 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:00.839 otherwise in the entire National Football League. But if we 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.719 can get more wide receiver snaps, more swings and screens 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:07.400 and varied pre snap alignments, and utilize more Jalen Wright 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:09.560 in some of those single back sets as the true 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.240 running back, I think defenses respect that more. 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:14.320 I think it challenges. 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.880 Your vertical element even more than if you didn't have 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.200 a chan in that role. I thought he really showed 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.320 his salt, right, that is as a zone runner and 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.800 where a Chance says that he left yards out there. 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.280 To me, that was on tape of him trying to 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:30.800 hit the big play, and he talked about that and 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:33.520 not taking the cutbats taking the yards that was there 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.360 and affordable to him, which is a cardinal sin in 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.240 this offense. And that's why I think, you know, he 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:40.960 probably got a little bit of an earful from the 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.640 coaching staff because the number one rule of this offense 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.600 is we're going to create overplay and then take advantage 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:48.960 of how you've done that. It's like, I mean, that's 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.720 that's all of sport, right, Get the opponent thinking one 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:53.720 thing and then zag when they think you're gonna zig. 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.600 So I think the tape don't lie. And I love 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.000 that he's attacking it head on. And it's akin to 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:01.720 what John Embreys said about John hus Smith, who broke 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:04.920 every franchise record right for tight ends last year, and 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:07.680 the first thing Embry says about him in his first 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:09.760 media availability is well, you know, he left one hundred 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.400 and eighty five yards in the field after the catch 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:12.960 that he could have had. And I'll never forget having 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.120 a conversation with coach Embo about the after the Rams 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:17.840 game when I was like, what do you think about 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:19.560 that tight end? That tight end run? Remember John who 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:21.200 had that big right after catch? And he goes, well, 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.120 I think it's about time he starts listening to me. 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:25.640 I was like, okay, so we're coaching him hard then, 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:27.960 even though he broke records and that's hey, you know 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.520 that's complacency is a death neil in the NFL. Right. 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.040 So I just love that after a record breaking season, 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:36.920 that's what we're doing and asking the question what more 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.080 can we do? That's the type of grit that will 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:42.160 make you better and progress your skills as a football team. 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.439 Back to the run game here, it wasn't just some 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.840 bad reads by Devaughan, again making that abundantly clear. This 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.480 is a comprehensive picture. This is a comprehensive game that 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.559 requires eleven people doing their job on every single snap. 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.960 Because I thought some of the decisions were because the 0:08:57.000 --> 0:08:59.680 guard play would get beat too early on in the 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:01.920 snap and not get enough movement. And you know, they 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:04.760 banked on continuity last year, and I tried to see 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:10.240 that as a potential formidable solution and it wasn't. It wasn't, 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:11.679 and they told you it wasn't because of what they 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.079 did this offseason with James Daniels and Jonah sevit Naya 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:17.880 with a top of the second round trade up player 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.079 and a high price free agent. That tells you how 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.000 they felt about that position and how it had to 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.199 get fixed. And on paper it looks fixed. And above 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.160 all of that, I felt the tape showed an inconsistent 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.600 ability to win on the edge in the running game, 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:33.560 i e. The tight end position, and sometimes it tackle, 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.920 And that tackle part really coincided with Austin Jackson's injury. 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.520 I mean, I'm gonna go back and watch these games here, 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.160 probably over the summer, which tells you how psychotic I am, 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.000 because I'm about to welcome in my third child and 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:46.480 I'll be crazy busy and probably trying to get some 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:48.400 golf rounds in there too while I'm watching, you know, 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.079 twenty twenty four Dolphins offensive tape. But I want to 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.240 go watch that game again, because we got whatever we 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.439 wanted on the ground game, really in the passing game 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.440 every single drive after most Start's fumble to open the 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:01.520 second half when we were up was at ten to six, 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.120 I think it was at that point of the game. 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:05.720 But then Austin gets hurt and the run game never 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:07.600 got back to where it was in that one. So 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.520 Austin's back Patrick Paul locked in a left tackle. We 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:13.640 improved the tight end position with Pharaoh Brown. And I'm 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.800 a big believer in Jalen Conyers. And we heard John 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.520 Embrase is a potential three down player. That's telling to 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:20.640 me in terms of how they view him. I know 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:22.120 that the team felt that he was a guy that 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.560 probably should have been drafted more so than going undrafted. 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.480 On top of the fact that I think that Julian 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.760 will play better than he did last year, just as 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.439 he played better last year than he did as a rookie. 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:33.960 We've gone over this how difficult the tight end position 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:36.560 can be to kind of pick up from a mental standpoint, 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:38.840 a mental load and how much you have to process 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:40.760 in real time while you're trying to hit two hundred 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.960 and sixty pounds moving targets who were run four four forties, right, Like, 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:48.240 that's the average defensive entities NFL is quite the moving target. 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:50.599 And to conclude the tape review with the numbers and 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.320 sort of bridge those two things together. You know, most 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:55.640 negative runs in the league last year, right, we had 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.360 eighty of them that lost Yardage's I mean you run, 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.000 give or take a thousand plays per year, that's almost 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.080 ten percent of your plays where you lost yardage. And 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.200 that's the defense saying we're gonna take those wins all 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.560 day long. If we can get those because you can't 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.360 take advantage of our light box and we can keep 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.040 the roof on the defense, that's you're gonna have to 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.520 go fifteen play drives, as the Dolphins did for much 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:20.760 of the year. So the running game, it's funny because 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.240 you think, like the way you get the more explosive 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.880 quick strike offensive drives is you got to get your 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:29.320 passing game cooking again. The way to do it is 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:31.720 to get your run game going again. And I think 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.480 you can make strides right there. You reduce those negative runs, 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:37.400 you reduce your need for true dropbacks, which reduces number 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.520 of sacks. And this quarterback, if he's taking ten true 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.240 dropbacks a game, with how quick he gets the ball 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:44.600 out of his hands, he probably takes one sack of game. 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:46.920 That's why his sack numbers are so ridiculously low. And 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:48.560 you see when he comes out of the game for Skyler, 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:51.040 if a Huntley or for Boil, the sack numbers go up. 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.400 It's just it kind of derails the system in a way. 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.720 And that's not just a Shanahan offensive feature anymore. Every 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:59.640 team wants to reduce their dropbacks and play quick gameplay 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.439 pass or play action game. I should say, but when 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:04.640 you're in second and twelve, you have to call true 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:05.319 drop back game. 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:06.800 So you can improve that. 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.200 And with a successful run game, you can also encourage 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.480 defenses to become more aggressive. If we're piling up five 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.920 and a half yards per carry and we have, you know, 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.080 a twenty to ten lead in the third quarter, and 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:19.679 we come out of the half and it's eight chan 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.160 for six, eight, Chan for five. All of a sudden, 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:24.040 it's a first and ten at to forty one. Here 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.959 comes jalan right for eight yards. He gets three yards 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:29.080 on second and two, and now it's a first and 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.199 ten at midfield. And they're not gonna just sit back 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.040 and be like, okay, we can we can watch them 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:35.880 take eight minutes off the clock and kick a field 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.240 goal and go up thirteen. They're gonna sneak a safety 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:39.679 down in the box and they're gonna try to run 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.920 blitch you, and then you get you know, potential miscommunications, 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.000 you get potential one on ones in the secondary. And 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.440 that's how Jalen Waddle catches an eight yard slant and 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.200 turns it into a forty yard play. And I mean 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:52.400 it also means you're not gonna get a bracket on 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:54.360 Reak and Waddle. You might vacate a middle of the 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.840 field zone defender when we throw that slant, and that 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:58.920 creates that one on one chance against the safety and 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.400 open space. And then if you tackle us, like okay, 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.920 it's a fifteen yard play. If you miss that tackle, well, 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:05.959 it's a seventy yard touchdown on the backside. So that's 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.640 where I go back to this offense being here we 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:12.439 go again to make a golf analogy. If my club 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:17.040 path at the downswing is one degree off, it's a 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.960 slight change that can make the biggest difference to keep 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.079 your ball straight, reducing side spin and adding thirty forty 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:25.040 yards of distance, which we all know we want that 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:26.960 you want to hit your shot into the green with 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:29.479 a nine iron, not a five iron. We love wedges 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.640 into our greens and regulation attempts, right, that's the best 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.040 way to score low. And if we can just sort of, 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.480 you know, reduce these negative runs and from a personnel 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.720 change and incumbent improvement after self scouting and working at it, 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.520 I think you can knock you know, the proverbial five 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:47.160 or six strokes off your game with just this one 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.000 minute change. Because I want to take a break real quick. 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.160 We'll come back on the other side and break this 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:54.080 down by the numbers, and just a heads up, this 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.160 podcast is going to go super long. I have a 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.200 lot to get to here, so you're looking at a 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:00.240 forty minute episode here today. First fifteen, you know the 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.000 can Let's go ahead and take our break, come back 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.960 and compare the Dolphins run game in twenty twenty three 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.920 with yards before contact versus two high structures. All of 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:10.240 that compare to twenty twenty four and give you more 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:12.480 evidence as to how this Dolphins offense can go back 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:13.760 to scoring thirty points per game. 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:14.520 By running the football. 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.960 That's next draft on podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:23.920 to you by Auto Nation. Let's get one thing perfectly 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.080 clear here off the top of the podcast. When I 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.600 say run the football more, it doesn't mean just run 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.080 the ball to run the ball. I'm talking about efficiently 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.240 running the football to make the defense respected enough to 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.640 adjust to it. That's what we're going for here. And 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:38.840 the way you do that is running it against certain 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.320 structures where there are certain down and distances, and they're 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.120 going to say, we're not going to respect the run 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.160 game here because we want to protect the Tyreek Hill 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:47.520 seventy yard touchdown, and we're not so worried about a 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.000 Devon eight chan six yard run because we know that, 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.200 you know, fifteen of the eighteen times we can keep 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.120 it for a three yard gain or less. When you 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:56.880 can get teams out of that mode of thinking and 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:58.520 you can go to that Buffalo game and you can 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.800 consistently put yourself in second three second two. They can't 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.280 stop the passing offense either, because the short stuff remains 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.240 there for them, and just that game plan is going 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.520 to fail. So the key to it all is to 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.120 have an efficient running game, to give yourself a chance 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.320 to have an efficient passing game that forces the defense 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.560 to either change what they're doing or just get picked 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.720 apart down the field while killing clock and scoring touchdowns. 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.720 So that's where the value of the efficiency of the 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.440 running game against those looks becomes so important. I'm not 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:26.920 saying hand the ball off and bang your head into 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:29.520 a wall against a base defense with a safety sneak 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:31.600 down with eight man boxes don't do that. But when 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.680 they play those light boxes and give you two high structures, 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:36.080 you have to find a way to get five plus 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.280 yards per carry. And so I went back and looked 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.560 at this twenty twenty three versus twenty twenty four the 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.320 way box. I think it's important to kind of when 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.040 you get too much info and data in a podcast, 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:48.280 to just mix it up a little bit. So there's 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.400 a little Charlie Kelly for you hitting base balls drunkenly 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:53.880 after getting off a flight, drinking fifty six beers in 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.360 the air, Wade bog style. So in twenty twenty three, 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:01.280 versus two high structures, Dolphins had two points three yards 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.720 before contact. That means the running back was two yards 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.480 beyond the last scammage before they got contacted. On average, 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.640 that was eleventh most in the National Football League. And 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.400 against those structures they averaged five point two yards per 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.280 rush that was seventh most in the NFL. Punishing two 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.320 high looks at over five yards per carry and getting 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.920 more out of what's even blocked there. Because when your 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.560 yards before contact is lower than your rushing average, that 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.200 means the running backs are doing a pretty good job. 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.840 And then this is in total total yards before contact 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:34.160 was or rather average yards before contact was one point 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.680 nine to five that was third in the National Football League. 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:38.600 So that means we blocked it up at the third 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.400 best rate for our running backs in total. Whether the 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:43.920 structure was too high or whatever it was that that's 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:48.000 the comprehensive number there. Yards after contact for our running 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.680 backs was one than six hundred and thirty and eight. 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.240 Chan's average yards after contact was number one in the 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.560 league five hundred and thirty four total yards but just 0:16:55.800 --> 0:17:00.120 under five yards every single rush after initial contact. Eight 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.560 chan was awesome, The run blocking was awesome, most was awesome. 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.639 The run game worked in every single aspect. In twenty 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:10.879 twenty four, run game versus two high structures, yards before 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.439 contact went down to one point nine to one. That 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.200 fell from eleventh down to seventeenth. Now here's where the 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.440 real rub is. And this is why, again, they told 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:21.000 you they wanted to replace the guards. They had to 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:22.760 get better guard played. They told you that. That's no 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.400 one's arguing that. But this is why there's so much 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.399 pushback from myself, from Kyle Krabs, from people that really 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.679 dig into the stuff. When you just say you have 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:33.280 to fix the offensive line, it was more than that. 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:34.800 It was the running backs. It was a tight ends. 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.040 We've covered it and this is a good example of that. 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.520 Rush average was four point six yards per carry. That 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.040 is twenty second in the National Football League. And that 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.400 disparity where we talked about eleventh and yards before contact 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:47.879 with a seventh ranked rushing attack. That means the running 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.000