Speaker 1: To on the move, Darling deep Speedways, Peace to Hellas.
Speaker 2: From the Baptist Health Studio this inside the Baptist Health
Speaker 2: Training Complex.
Speaker 3: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. He's got my advands
Speaker 3: in the playoffs?
Speaker 2: What is up Dolphins? And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast.
Speaker 2: I am your host, Travis Wingfilm and on today's show,
Speaker 2: I'm joined by the great Taylor Kyles from CLNS Media
Speaker 2: in Boston to take a look at this big Patriots
Speaker 2: matchup here on Sunday at hard Rock Stadium as the
Speaker 2: Dolphins look to get to five and six. Ended up
Speaker 2: a massive Thanksgiving night showdown.
Speaker 3: In Green Bay.
Speaker 2: But first we'll talk to Taylor about the Patriots emergence
Speaker 2: under Drake May and a whole lot more. Plus, we
Speaker 2: didn't have a Wednesday podcast last week, so don't have
Speaker 2: a chance to unveil some of the thoughts I have
Speaker 2: been kicking around.
Speaker 3: Gonna go ahead and do that today.
Speaker 2: Just take a look at a few points, mostly about
Speaker 2: the quarterback to a tongue of Bai Looa. We'll do
Speaker 2: that after Taylor from the Baptist Health Studios inside the
Speaker 2: Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 3: This is.
Speaker 2: The Draft Time Podcast. Welcome back into the Baptist Hill Studios.
Speaker 2: My guest today for Patriots Week once again, my buddy Taylor.
Speaker 2: Kyle's a research savant and overall dapper gentleman. Taylor, what's up, dude?
Speaker 2: How you doing today?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 4: Doing well?
Speaker 1: Always happy to be talking to you, brother. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for having me on again.
Speaker 3: Well, I know you were.
Speaker 2: You're kind of playing hurt right now. You got back
Speaker 2: from the dentist, so you're jumping right back onto the
Speaker 2: field force. We appreciate you stepping up and providing us
Speaker 2: with this segment, this hit, and I'm watching some of
Speaker 2: your content Taylor to before we get into the football
Speaker 2: here and in your post game hit on the field.
Speaker 3: I have this question I've been dying to ask you
Speaker 3: for a couple of hours. Now.
Speaker 2: You've got the beanie on like a sweater. It looks
Speaker 2: like under the winter coat. And so my question for you, Taylor,
Speaker 2: is was it really that cold or is that a
Speaker 2: result of your time in southern California thinning out your blood?
Speaker 1: My man, yes, it is exactly that. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it is about, la I was there for two years.
Speaker 1: The rest of my life I spent on the East
Speaker 1: Coast like New York, Boston, New Hampshire, living in the
Speaker 1: freezing cold, and for some reason, those two years in
Speaker 1: LA do something to you. My I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's my bones got dinner or what it is, but honestly,
Speaker 1: I was so embarrassed. I'm like, when we were doing
Speaker 1: some of our hits, like when we do it, I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I gotta take this off. That was
Speaker 1: just a little bit too windy for my frail self.
Speaker 1: But you it really was just I gotta be better.
Speaker 1: I gotta be better.
Speaker 3: Open the kimono here a little bit.
Speaker 2: So I'm always cold, and the press box at hard
Speaker 2: Rock Stadium, when it's not one hundred degrees, because it
Speaker 2: usually is, it gets pretty cold. I'm contemplating bringing gloves
Speaker 2: to the press box, like I am that cold during
Speaker 2: game days, but I fear for the reception of my
Speaker 2: peers there if I think it's a bad move wearing
Speaker 2: gloves in the press box.
Speaker 1: No, Travis, I wish you had told me this last
Speaker 1: year was my first time actually going through the stadium.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, I'm in Florida. I'm just gonna wear, you know,
Speaker 1: my button down, short sleeve shirts.
Speaker 4: And shorts.
Speaker 1: Dude, I'm sitting directly under the air conditioner. Literally, people
Speaker 1: could hear my teeth chattering. Are you okay? I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't even I barely remember the game. I was
Speaker 1: just trying to stay alive.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when it gets cold, it just it stays. It
Speaker 2: gets colder in there. When I say cold, I'm talking
Speaker 2: like seventy five degrees. So we are very, very blessed
Speaker 2: down here in South Florida. Enough talking about two whims
Speaker 2: that can't they can't even survive some little bit of
Speaker 2: elements in a press box. Let's talk about the guys
Speaker 2: that play football and are actually tough human beings and
Speaker 2: start here. A lot has changed since these teams played
Speaker 2: back in Week five, Taylor both starting different quarterbacks, and
Speaker 2: we've seen how things have changed here with Tua back
Speaker 2: in the fold.
Speaker 3: So I'll ask you the same question about Drake May.
Speaker 2: How has that offense that team changed with the insertion
Speaker 2: of May in the lineup.
Speaker 4: I mean it's a one to eighty. Literally, you look
Speaker 4: at like pass protection.
Speaker 1: Offensive line with the Patriots is one of the biggest
Speaker 1: question marks, one of the biggest reasons a lot of
Speaker 1: people were so hesitant for Drake to even play because
Speaker 1: obviously Jacobe Brissette was the guy for the first five
Speaker 1: weeks of the season, but Drake may one. He is
Speaker 1: so far ahead when it comes to the mental side
Speaker 1: of the game, and I think coming out of college,
Speaker 1: I thought that was underrated. Where I'm saying, this twenty
Speaker 1: two year old kid is doing things you don't see
Speaker 1: from quarterbacks who are currently in the NFL. And he's
Speaker 1: only been a starter for two seasons. So his ability
Speaker 1: to the gate pressure both with his athleticism. If you
Speaker 1: give him a big running lane, he's gonna be able
Speaker 1: to exploit it and probably get a big chunk game
Speaker 1: because he's got some speed, but also getting the ball
Speaker 1: into his hands on time, understanding when he needs to
Speaker 1: throw it away versus you know, he did have a
Speaker 1: pretty bad interception a couple of weeks ago where he
Speaker 1: tried to throw it away ended up getting picked. But
Speaker 1: every week you do see the growth. So he's making
Speaker 1: the offensive line better in terms of the passing game. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: he hasn't been able to connect deep in the last
Speaker 1: few weeks. He's been trying to hit Kaishan booty, just
Speaker 1: not that kind of guy obviously not really that big
Speaker 1: size kind of player, really better one on one and
Speaker 1: in space that kind of thing.
Speaker 4: But you still see the arm town as fantastic.
Speaker 1: His ability to throw on the run has been really
Speaker 1: big for this team and the creative abilities. So you know,
Speaker 1: Jacobe set was kind of a statue back there, limited
Speaker 1: in what he could do as a thrower, but Drake
Speaker 1: May has really opened up the offense and allowed Alex
Speaker 1: Van Pelt to do a little more in terms of RPOs,
Speaker 1: moving the pocket and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned his ability to move, but also the
Speaker 2: offensive line performing better. Do you think that's part of
Speaker 2: a function of because like when they played back in
Speaker 2: Week five, that was the Dolphins got a lot of
Speaker 2: pressure on Jacoby Brissette. Do you think it's a function
Speaker 2: of those guys are playing better, or Drake May is
Speaker 2: a little bit more mobile or a combination of both
Speaker 2: those things.
Speaker 1: Definitely a combination. I put most of it towards Drake May.
Speaker 1: I will say that there's a new center now, Ben Brown.
Speaker 1: The last time these teams faced off, the center play
Speaker 1: wasn't very good. I think that was a pretty big
Speaker 1: reason why they struggled so much. But to be honest,
Speaker 1: it's been pretty up intown Mike and one who's having
Speaker 1: a very down season. But Darien Lowe has been exceeding expectation,
Speaker 1: but even he's had his struggles as well. And then
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan and Dementtre Jacobs are guys that you thought
Speaker 1: were probably the really more practice squad candidates for most
Speaker 1: of their careers, or guys you kind of see towards
Speaker 1: the bottom of the roster and they've been thrust in
Speaker 1: the starting roles. Now that being said, these guys have
Speaker 1: performed at there have been some really rough struggles. Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan had an ankle injury for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: ended up getting playing really poorly. I thought he was
Speaker 1: gonna end up getting benched, but he was healthy. Played
Speaker 1: a little bit better in the past two weeks. But
Speaker 1: it's not a great line. But again, Drake May is
Speaker 1: making them look better for sure, But in terms of
Speaker 1: pass pro passing things off and run blocking, you do
Speaker 1: see some incremental growth that they still have plenty more
Speaker 1: room to grow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned Kayshon Booty is a downfield target that
Speaker 2: Drake May had the last couple of weeks, and you know,
Speaker 2: as I continue to look forward towards the draft, as
Speaker 2: I do every single year. I'm wondering which of those
Speaker 2: receivers of the Patriots gonna take when they have a pick.
Speaker 2: You know that maybe in the top ten this year,
Speaker 2: maybe Travis Hunter. I hope that's not the case because
Speaker 2: I love his game, but I am curious about who
Speaker 2: that might be next year. But for the rest of
Speaker 2: this season, while Drake continues to develop his rookie campaign,
Speaker 2: who do you like is his preferred target, who's like
Speaker 2: his security blanket that we have to keep an eye
Speaker 2: on that's helped him produce so much so far.
Speaker 4: That would be Hunter Henry, actually the old wiley veteran.
Speaker 1: Obviously, like all great veteran tight ends, he's really good
Speaker 1: at finding those soft spots and zones. He's got reliable hands.
Speaker 1: He's been in the league so wrong. He's not the
Speaker 1: most explosive guy in the world, but he's a really
Speaker 1: good route runner. He knows how to manipulate defenders in
Speaker 1: that way. And then when Drake may leaves the pocket,
Speaker 1: it's usually Hunter Henry who ends up on the receiving
Speaker 1: end of a lot of those passes. Kaishan Boody is
Speaker 1: a guy that he likes more those one on one situations.
Speaker 1: But really, Hunter Henry has been the guy. You can
Speaker 1: tell they have really great chemistry and he's got a
Speaker 1: lot of faith in Henry.
Speaker 2: Could be a good test with Dolphins. After brock Bauers
Speaker 2: had thirteen catches in the game on Sunday. We'll keep
Speaker 2: an eye on that matchup. Now, Drake will see a
Speaker 2: defense I don't like to keep call him Drake Drake May.
Speaker 2: We'll see a defense that is playing really connected right
Speaker 2: now and well orchestrated under Anthony Weaver.
Speaker 3: I know it's early in the.
Speaker 2: Week, and I'm sure you've got some study to come
Speaker 2: up here this week before you get ready for the
Speaker 2: game in full. But you know the Dolphins, You've seen us,
Speaker 2: you know this defense, And if you were coaching Drake
Speaker 2: May on Sunday, how would you tell him to approach
Speaker 2: this Anthony Weaver defense and how to attack what's been
Speaker 2: a pretty well communicated, well connected defense so far.
Speaker 1: First thing is, I want to stay away from the
Speaker 1: corners unless they give you some soft coverage and you're
Speaker 1: running a hitch with some decent space and you're not
Speaker 1: really challenging him too much. I just don't think that's
Speaker 1: a great matchup. I have a lot of faith in Drake.
Speaker 1: I just don't know if Kendrick Born and Kashawn Boody
Speaker 1: are really the caliber a player to truly challenge those
Speaker 1: guys consistently. So what I'm saying is it may not
Speaker 1: be easy, but try to attack those linebackers. Hopefully we
Speaker 1: see more of Antonio Gibson, his roles being kind of odd.
Speaker 1: We thought he was going to be their main receiving back.
Speaker 1: He's almost been splitting time a bit with Michael Hasty.
Speaker 1: But if you can get some one all one matchups there,
Speaker 1: like I said, Hunter Henry Austin Hooper specifically against more
Speaker 1: zone type coverages, I think he got to work the
Speaker 1: middle of the field, and Drake is gonna be happy
Speaker 1: to do that. That's where he said, like I'm six
Speaker 1: foot something guy, you know. I think he's like six
Speaker 1: 'y five or something like that. I can see over
Speaker 1: the offensive lineman. I like, attack in the middle. I
Speaker 1: think that's really gonna be the rectipe of success. And
Speaker 1: also hopefully they mix some RPOs to create some challenges
Speaker 1: for the Dolphins, because I think if you just try
Speaker 1: to line up and play ball.
Speaker 4: It's going to be a really long day in the office.
Speaker 3: I'm such a huge hunter, Henry Fan.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure the Dolphins rolled down some Holland and
Speaker 2: Jillen Ramsey on him back in the week five games,
Speaker 2: so it shows with their level of respect for his
Speaker 2: ability to be a playmaker as well.
Speaker 3: On the other.
Speaker 2: Side, when we saw guys back in Week five or so,
Speaker 2: we only had, you know, what was four games to
Speaker 2: go off of. So I'm curious to reput this question
Speaker 2: to you here eleven weeks in. How has the defensive
Speaker 2: structure change going from Bill Belichick to Girodmeo in New England.
Speaker 1: Honestly, not a ton. I'd say the biggest thing is
Speaker 1: they use a lot more base defense. You're gonna see
Speaker 1: a lot more of that. Sometimes we'll use three corners
Speaker 1: where Jonathan Jones have been using him a lot more
Speaker 1: as a safety sometimes free safety. But also if they're
Speaker 1: using man coverage, it gives them the ability to have
Speaker 1: that base front that's stout against the run, at least
Speaker 1: on paper, had been a bit inconsistent, although they have improved,
Speaker 1: and then Jonathan Jones can just walk down and cover
Speaker 1: whatever third receivers on the field. Now, obviously that makes
Speaker 1: it risky when it comes to tight ends, but honestly,
Speaker 1: in this day and age, there's not a whole lot
Speaker 1: of tight ends in the league who are the kind
Speaker 1: of receiving threats that really scare you enough that you say,
Speaker 1: we got to put a safety on him. That said,
Speaker 1: Chrishanella has got burned on play action for a touchdown
Speaker 1: last week, So there's some risk and reward there. But
Speaker 1: I mean it's still a very man heavy defense. They
Speaker 1: still use a lot of line games up front and
Speaker 1: that kind of thing cover zero mixing in, so schematically
Speaker 1: there's not a ton of sick magnificant differences. I'd say
Speaker 1: early on in the season they did try to use
Speaker 1: a lot of disguise cover too, kind of like what
Speaker 1: you see from like the Weaver and you know that
Speaker 1: whole Mike McDonald tree. They got burned by it a
Speaker 1: few times. So they were like, you know what, we're
Speaker 1: a man defense. Let's try to stick to what we're
Speaker 1: good at. It's worked for them overall, although they really
Speaker 1: did struggle against Pooka Cup and or Cooper Cup and
Speaker 1: Pooka Nakula laugh. Yeah, but really, I mean, the biggest
Speaker 1: difference is that based defense on early downs. Are going
Speaker 1: to see that quite a bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's interesting because the Raiders, we heard coach McDaniel
Speaker 2: after the game say that we expected morizone coverage and
Speaker 2: they came out and pretty much play exclusively man coverage,
Speaker 2: and so the Dolphins went to a lot of rub
Speaker 2: routes and man beaters that they were able to get
Speaker 2: to in that game to have six drives and score,
Speaker 2: you know, six times with all those drives. I want
Speaker 2: to ask you about his football as well, but my
Speaker 2: first concern here about Christian Barmore is just the health
Speaker 2: returning for his getting back to full health, because what
Speaker 2: a scary situation that was a blood clots. First off,
Speaker 2: have you talked to him, how is he doing? And
Speaker 2: then of course how does adding his Pro Bowl caliber
Speaker 2: talent back to the defense change the defense?
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's doing better.
Speaker 1: You can tell the environment that Drod May was trying
Speaker 1: to create in that locker room where he once injured
Speaker 1: players to stay in the building, stay around the team,
Speaker 1: because he understands this guy who had a couple of
Speaker 1: season ending injuries, how much it can weigh on you
Speaker 1: mentally to be away from the team and feel kind of.
Speaker 4: Isolated and alone. So I know that's helped him a ton.
Speaker 1: He had so much to say about the medical staff,
Speaker 1: for one, finding the blood plot.
Speaker 4: He didn't even know anything was wrong.
Speaker 1: He said one of his calves was bigger than the
Speaker 1: other and had like a mark on it that he
Speaker 1: didn't even know about. So Jim Whalen also found David
Speaker 1: Andrews blood clott. I believe it was back in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: I think that was a while back. So really credit
Speaker 1: to the medical staff and the environment that the Patriots
Speaker 1: have that kept him his head up. And you know,
Speaker 1: he said, I'm a warrior. You know, I said, I
Speaker 1: wasn't going to lose this battle. So he's in really
Speaker 1: good spirits. He played more than I expected. Actually in
Speaker 1: the game against the Rams. He only practiced on Thursday,
Speaker 1: which as we know, is usually a third down day,
Speaker 1: so I figured, okay, he's just going to be a
Speaker 1: situational rusher. But he played about twenty snaps. He played
Speaker 1: in base, he played in dime, he played in nickel.
Speaker 1: Obviously still getting his legs under him. Pad level wasn't
Speaker 1: great as you kind of expect for a guy who's
Speaker 1: still getting football shape sometimes those fundamental slip away still
Speaker 1: had three tackles against the Rum though you can see
Speaker 1: that space eater he is. The Patriots don't have a
Speaker 1: guy like that outside of Devon Datchaw. Danie Lacauley's been
Speaker 1: doing his absolute best, but that's just not the kind
Speaker 1: of guy he is as a pass rusher.
Speaker 4: You still see that he is a load to deal with.
Speaker 4: The moves weren't.
Speaker 1: Quite crisp, obviously because he hasn't practiced since early early
Speaker 1: in the summer. So I wouldn't expect like the classic
Speaker 1: bar More game that you saw when he based off
Speaker 1: against the Dolphins last year, but obviously still somebody that
Speaker 1: you have to account with.
Speaker 2: They'll be chasing his former Alabama teammate or I guess
Speaker 2: did they play together?
Speaker 3: Did Tua and Barmore play together?
Speaker 4: I don't know if they. I think they did for
Speaker 4: one season.
Speaker 2: I think for one season, So my whole segue might
Speaker 2: be blown up there, but either way, they both went
Speaker 2: to Alabama.
Speaker 3: That's the transition there to.
Speaker 2: My last question for you, Taylor, which is how do
Speaker 2: the Patriots get down here and steal a win from
Speaker 2: a Dolphins team that's red hot, playing really good football
Speaker 2: and kind of has their eyes on a larger prize.
Speaker 2: How do the Patriots come down here and spoil the
Speaker 2: Dolphins season.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, for the offense, they can't go backwards.
Speaker 1: That's been the biggest thing. Honestly, Alex Van Pelt caught
Speaker 1: a ton of flak for most of this season. People
Speaker 1: were saying he can't call plays, he can't design plays,
Speaker 1: when really he's dealing with a lack of talent and
Speaker 1: also a ton of inexperience on both the offensive line,
Speaker 1: quarterback and at the wide receiver positions. But the past
Speaker 1: two games you've seen because they've been able to run
Speaker 1: the ball somewhat, the playbook opens up and you see
Speaker 1: the play action, the RPOs just being able to actually
Speaker 1: call more than just drop back passes, which really no
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator can live in that area. So I think
Speaker 1: the Patriots just need to stay on schedule, not to
Speaker 1: shoot themselves in the foot with penalties and things like that,
Speaker 1: and communicate along the offensive line. Those are going to
Speaker 1: be the big keys. And also not turning the ball over,
Speaker 1: which Drake may has done. Really, he's had like a
Speaker 1: couple turnover where he plays at least in almost every game.
Speaker 1: Then defensively, it's gonna sound kind of like phoning it in,
Speaker 1: but execution really, because you know, against the Rams, there
Speaker 1: were so many issues with those receivers. People are saying, oh,
Speaker 1: why is't Christian Gonzalez shadowing Pookin cool, which I thought
Speaker 1: at the time.
Speaker 4: Looking back at the tape, I'm just like, it's execution.
Speaker 1: You're not passing off a bunch as well, you're not
Speaker 1: covering and playing to your weverage and things like that,
Speaker 1: and also disrupting the Dolphins so that like we always
Speaker 1: see in these games, the Dolphins have a full PLAYBOK
Speaker 1: for the entire game.
Speaker 4: Rarely, very rarely are they behind.
Speaker 1: So I think if you can at least stop the run,
Speaker 1: that should really really help.
Speaker 4: The back end.
Speaker 2: I always have this conversation about, like, you know, if
Speaker 2: something negative happens, is that the conversation is like, got
Speaker 2: to replace that guy, I got to get someone else
Speaker 2: in there. It's like, sometimes you can just play better
Speaker 2: and execute better. So it's not always a bad thing
Speaker 2: to say that. It's it's accurate most of the time,
Speaker 2: or some of the times. I should say he is
Speaker 2: Taylor Kyle's on the Patriots beat, and I love this
Speaker 2: combination of jobs where you cover the beat. You're on
Speaker 2: the beat, cover of the team, but also provide the
Speaker 2: best analysis in that reagion of the country. For my money,
Speaker 2: Taylor for Patriots CLNS at t Kyles thirty nine on
Speaker 2: Social You're the best. We'll see you on Sunday. Dress
Speaker 2: hopefully a little bit warmer this time around.
Speaker 4: Yes, sir, I'm bringing a sweater. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Appreciate you, buddy, And there he goes.
Speaker 2: Always a fun chat that teaches us more about not
Speaker 2: just the Patriots, but the mind Dolphins. When we have
Speaker 2: Taylor on the show, let's go ahead and take our
Speaker 2: first break right there, come back on the other side
Speaker 2: and talk about some notes from my notepad. Basically, that's
Speaker 2: next Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you
Speaker 2: by Auto Nation. You better call me Steve Balmer right
Speaker 2: now because I am just fired up to be here
Speaker 2: to bring you this next segment. I've been tweeting about
Speaker 2: it all day on Tuesday, and I cannot wait to
Speaker 2: bring you the results of this research project I just
Speaker 2: put together to break down Tua's game and the offense.
Speaker 2: And while we are on the way to becoming a
Speaker 2: championship contender, maybe not this year, but down the road.
Speaker 3: And here's why. Well, there's a lot of reasons why.
Speaker 2: The good thing about being a good team is that
Speaker 2: you get a lot of exposure via primetime games. You'll
Speaker 2: win eleven games, you get rewarded with five primetime games,
Speaker 2: and the fourth of those five scheduled comes next week.
Speaker 2: So no typical Wednesday episode next week, and we didn't
Speaker 2: have one last week because of the short week in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles. And when that happens, when we get two
Speaker 2: weeks without a Wednesday episode, that's when I fill up
Speaker 2: the notepad on my phone with thoughts, and there are
Speaker 2: several of them. And I got to thinking, you know,
Speaker 2: I love to bust narratives, call me the narrative or
Speaker 2: the MythBuster on here that I personally I don't think
Speaker 2: has a leg to stand on on this show. Like,
Speaker 2: for instance, when I went on that whole damn tour
Speaker 2: of doing podcasts this summer trying to explain why the
Speaker 2: offensive line and the passing game would be just fine,
Speaker 2: And wouldn't you know it, here we are and I'm
Speaker 2: not hearing a lot of chatter about that anymore.
Speaker 3: Before you tell me they got too hurt. Just stop that.
Speaker 3: Stop it.
Speaker 2: He lowered his head and then the Rams tackle like
Speaker 2: that's on him as well.
Speaker 3: He's got to be smarter.
Speaker 2: And I think McDaniel's reaction when he was asked that
Speaker 2: every day of media the following week would tell you
Speaker 2: that he thinks he has to be smarter there as well.
Speaker 2: Now that said, this isn't really a narrative debunking so
Speaker 2: much as it is looking at the elements this team
Speaker 2: and this quarterback needed to improve in more micro that
Speaker 2: Tua himself wanted to improve this offseason. He even told
Speaker 2: us that back in the winter after the KC game
Speaker 2: last year, that he had four things he wanted to
Speaker 2: work on ahead of the twenty twenty four campaign. And
Speaker 2: while we still don't know exactly what those things were,
Speaker 2: I think the body of work reveals at least part
Speaker 2: of it. Let's look at the stats here. Number one.
Speaker 2: I have a catalog of plays from going back to
Speaker 2: rewatching the games, and for instance, his first game back
Speaker 2: against the Cardinals, that first drive we convert a third
Speaker 2: and seven. I think it was to Tyreek Hill on
Speaker 2: a deep curl route and the ball hits him right
Speaker 2: out of the break. But on that play you can
Speaker 2: see Tua adjust the angle of his drop back and
Speaker 2: throw the football on the move. He did it on
Speaker 2: the critical DPI called on waddle just before the big
Speaker 2: John new Smith touchdown against the Raiders to put them away.
Speaker 2: And this is going to be a tangent that's probably
Speaker 2: a little bit off the tracks, but it's the Draft
Speaker 2: Time podcast.
Speaker 3: Baby Does Well way O.
Speaker 2: And you know it goes against what I call the
Speaker 2: Judge Judy rule. You guys ever watch Judge Udy. Phenomenal program,
Speaker 2: been on the air for thirty forty years, whatever it is,
Speaker 2: and that's because it's great. She asked the plaintiff and
Speaker 2: the defendant questions that require only fact telling responses, and
Speaker 2: if they ever say he thought, or he assumed or
Speaker 2: he knew, she will cut them off. Don't tell him
Speaker 2: what he knew. You don't know what he knew. She's great,
Speaker 2: love Judge Judy. So I'm breaking the Judge Judy rule here,
Speaker 2: But I'm pretty sure I think that Tua changes those
Speaker 2: drop back angles either at live reaction speed or his
Speaker 2: pre snap accounting for where the pressure is coming from.
Speaker 2: How his protection is called and where he can do
Speaker 2: his own assistance against pressure by simply changing the launch
Speaker 2: point to a safer position where there's less danger from
Speaker 2: the defense. So go watch that Wattle play because he
Speaker 2: drifts just slightly to his left to get better access
Speaker 2: to a throwing platform, and he did this to a
Speaker 2: less degree on the John Woo touchdown. The bottom line
Speaker 2: is this, he's throwing more footballs this year with his
Speaker 2: cleats not attached to the grass. Watch Jtosulivan, Colt McCoy,
Speaker 2: any of the quarterback content creators slash ex players out there.
Speaker 2: They love talking about having your cleats in the ground.
Speaker 2: Your cleats are your feet. Your feet is your base.
Speaker 2: And anyone that's ever played any sport knows that you
Speaker 2: generate force from your base. You got to be a
Speaker 2: power bottom who generates the force from the bottom up.
Speaker 2: Power hitters always sunny aside, usually have the biggest legs
Speaker 2: most of the time. Kingry Virginia is a different story,
Speaker 2: but I digress. Now there's plenty of exceptions to that rule.
Speaker 2: For instance, Aaron Rodgers. You ever see his feet when
Speaker 2: he throws. He does that little hop step kind of
Speaker 2: like a second basement turning two with the base runner
Speaker 2: bearing down on you trying to take out your legs.
Speaker 2: To break up that twin killing, you have to throw
Speaker 2: the ball and then once that left foot hits the dirt,
Speaker 2: you bounce right back up over the sliding base runner
Speaker 2: to avoid getting your legs taken out from under you.
Speaker 3: I live there.
Speaker 2: I did that for every summer for fifteen years, and
Speaker 2: that approach has become more commonplace over the years. Rogers
Speaker 2: was the first one to do it with regularity, but
Speaker 2: you see mahomes do it all the time, for instance,
Speaker 2: or watch the college game. It's all over the collegiate level.
Speaker 2: And I think these stats will prove that the work
Speaker 2: to what has done this offseason to get more elusive,
Speaker 2: to get more creative, to be able to throw the
Speaker 2: football stronger and more accurately without cleats attached to the
Speaker 2: ground has paid off. First, we know last year one
Speaker 2: of his off season goals was to add weight and
Speaker 2: train jiu jitsu to improve his ability to be available.
Speaker 2: Mission accomplished, played all seventeen games in an eighteen playoff game.
Speaker 2: But then this offseason he's talked about his regiment, including
Speaker 2: losing some weight, which is clearly evident by his body
Speaker 2: and getting some of that nimbleness back. And he's even
Speaker 2: alluded to this in press conferences that he doesn't believe
Speaker 2: that his mobility will ever be what it was at
Speaker 2: Alabama thanks to the hip injury.
Speaker 3: But watching him this.
Speaker 2: Year, he has definitively clear to the threshold that I
Speaker 2: thought was necessary for him to take a huge step,
Speaker 2: Like the littlest change could have had the biggest impact
Speaker 2: because he's so adept at processing the accuracy, the placement,
Speaker 2: the anticipation, the managing of the entire operation, all the
Speaker 2: intangibles that are difficult to quantify that we talk about
Speaker 2: on the podcast here literally every friggin week. But then
Speaker 2: you add creation to that and just a couple of
Speaker 2: times a game and that's all it takes. Because who
Speaker 2: it's big time. Like the third nineteen to most against
Speaker 2: the Rams, that's one drive that he had to have it,
Speaker 2: and it gave us more points in a punting situation.
Speaker 2: Otherwise the third and five to OBJ against the Rams
Speaker 2: and the games ceiling drive doesn't do that. Matthew Stafford
Speaker 2: gets the football back with a chance to go win
Speaker 2: the game. These are subtle moves slash escaping to green
Speaker 2: grass to get the throw away. Then there's the touchdown
Speaker 2: against the Bills where he purouettes and creates that way.
Speaker 2: It has just all improved, and I think the numbers
Speaker 2: against pressure detail the intentionality he had this offseason or
Speaker 2: each off season for that matter, because verse pressure.
Speaker 3: His passer rating this year.
Speaker 2: Number one in the National Football League. It's one twenty
Speaker 2: six point three. Last year it was fifty two point eight,
Speaker 2: So Tubby Tua not so nimble against pressure. In twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two before the Tubby Nis got there, ninety one
Speaker 2: point six, so that was good. You know, it was
Speaker 2: like eight in the NFL that year, but it wasn't great.
Speaker 2: This year it's astronomically like all time great by ways.
Speaker 2: How about throwing outside the pocket, Well, one thirty one
Speaker 2: point three passer rating is you guessed it tops among
Speaker 2: qualifying quarterbacks who've had two hundred dropbacks. Jamis Winston has
Speaker 2: won thirty five point four, but he doesn't quite hit
Speaker 2: the threshold. Jamis what a crazy guy he is. And
Speaker 2: just for posterity, the other quarterbacks in this echalon of
Speaker 2: both pressure and outside the pocket passer rating are Matt Stafford, Kyler, Murray,
Speaker 2: Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jaden Daniels. You get where I'm
Speaker 2: going here, right. The best quarterbacks in the league, and
Speaker 2: most guys who you would say they're the first trait
Speaker 2: you think about is their creativity and their athletic ability.
Speaker 2: The numbers, the tape, that's all there. But how did
Speaker 2: we get to this point? This all kind of clicked
Speaker 2: for me the other day when I was watching practice.
Speaker 2: So if you've ever been to camp, and you know,
Speaker 2: you saw this over the summer, but this is just
Speaker 2: from the open portion of practice when the quarterbacks are
Speaker 2: getting warm, so they'll do their work in the indoor
Speaker 2: to get the body that the blood flow and the
Speaker 2: body moving. It's a like dynamic movement before you stretch
Speaker 2: to really help you, you know, access a soft tissue
Speaker 2: and you know, loosen it up or soften it up.
Speaker 2: So they then come out and while the special teams
Speaker 2: unit is going through their work and drills, the quarterbacks
Speaker 2: come out to the other field and they'll throw and
Speaker 2: just get loose like you did in baseball as a kid,
Speaker 2: Like you go down the line, you get your arm
Speaker 2: loosened and get ready for practice. You usually have a
Speaker 2: quarterback next to a coach or a QC or an admin,
Speaker 2: someone that's not a player, someone there to catch the
Speaker 2: pass because the quarterbacks don't catch passes because those hands
Speaker 2: are worth lots of money. So the quarterback throws to
Speaker 2: a QC who hands the ball to the quarterback next
Speaker 2: to him, and that quarterback throws the ball back over
Speaker 2: to a different AD or QC and he hands the
Speaker 2: ball back to Tua and round and round we go.
Speaker 2: And this is usually flat footed. Sometimes there's like a
Speaker 2: one hit or even the occasional like soft jog occasional
Speaker 2: three step drop in these warmups.
Speaker 3: But when I watch.
Speaker 2: Tua, he will take the football and he'll do this
Speaker 2: like jog, slash, run towards the line of scrimmage and
Speaker 2: throw the ball on the move with the cleats out
Speaker 2: of the ground, and you can hear the sizzle of
Speaker 2: the damn football even from twenty five yards away behind
Speaker 2: the end zone. But the more I watch, the more
Speaker 2: I noticed, Oh, he does this every day, And here
Speaker 2: we go with another different sport comparison. It got me thinking,
Speaker 2: this reminds me of when you make a swing change
Speaker 2: in golf. And that sound you just heard was Seth
Speaker 2: Levitt exiting the podcast.
Speaker 3: Come back to a seth into the weeds. We go here.
Speaker 2: For a golf swing change you for to take hold,
Speaker 2: you have to overemphasize it. So if my swing path
Speaker 2: is making me hook the ball, that's an out to
Speaker 2: end path. So I need to overemphasize an into out
Speaker 2: swing and that will then even it out somewhere in
Speaker 2: the middle. When you even it out, you then rep it.
Speaker 2: You rep it, you rep it, you rep it some more,
Speaker 2: and when you're tired, you rep it again. And if
Speaker 2: you're doing it right, it becomes second nature and you
Speaker 2: don't have to think about it anymore. And every golfer
Speaker 2: knows the less swing thoughts you have, the better golf
Speaker 2: you'll play. Let's actually, let's go to coach right here
Speaker 2: real quick, because there's a SoundBite. I'm not gonna play
Speaker 2: the audio, but I'll read it to you guys real quick.
Speaker 2: This is what he said after the Rams game when
Speaker 2: I asked him about Tua's ability to add lib It's
Speaker 2: part of his game that he's focused on. And I
Speaker 2: think what we're all seeing is what's kind of old
Speaker 2: hat for Tua, which is whatever Tua you used to know.
Speaker 2: He's getting better at something and ready to put it
Speaker 2: on display early and often. I'm happy that he's found that,
Speaker 2: and so are his teammates, especially the eligibles that are
Speaker 2: catching the football. He's twenty six, he's playing the smartest
Speaker 2: football of his career. He's play making more than he
Speaker 2: ever has. I know we had a rough patch of games,
Speaker 2: but a star quarterback taking this type of step forward
Speaker 2: is literally the second best thing that can happen for
Speaker 2: an organization outside of your team success, which is always
Speaker 2: obviously obviously the number one goal, but quarterback play like this.
Speaker 2: I mean, look at the perennial contenders, the Chiefs, the Ravens,
Speaker 2: the Bills, the old Patriots, Steelers, Saints.
Speaker 3: What did those teams have? You guessed?
Speaker 4: It?
Speaker 3: Upper echelon quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: And that's what Tua has been since he came back,
Speaker 2: and quite frankly for the last three years. But these
Speaker 2: improvements that he's made to his game, I think take
Speaker 2: him from that like eight to twelve best quarterback range
Speaker 2: to where he can if he does this from now on,
Speaker 2: if this is who he is, he's a top five
Speaker 2: quarterback because he's adding three drives that get more points
Speaker 2: out of them per game. Based upon this creativity, and
Speaker 2: he's also getting better the other stuff that already is
Speaker 2: a superpower, So it's just.
Speaker 3: Like, whoa man like, he's really good.
Speaker 2: One more thing I think people wanted to see was
Speaker 2: how he performed against the top teams. Let's go ahead
Speaker 2: and take our last break, come back and do that
Speaker 2: on the other side. Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 2: brought to you by autoation. So the creativity and off
Speaker 2: schedule plays have all been there for Tua. How about
Speaker 2: when he goes on the road or faces a top
Speaker 2: team in the league. Wait, and how about playing on
Speaker 2: the road against those top teams that all qualify to
Speaker 2: me as good teams or at least the three of
Speaker 2: those teams do Just wait on the Rams because they're
Speaker 2: gonna rip through the second half of their schedule with
Speaker 2: all the guys they have coming back and getting continuity together.
Speaker 2: So the Rams, Cardinals, and Bills are three playoff teams
Speaker 2: in my opinion, and two of those games were on
Speaker 2: the road. And then, oh yeah, by the way, here's
Speaker 2: where those teams ranked defensively an EPA, Cardinals fifth top
Speaker 2: five defense, Bills eleventh, Rams seventh, and Raiders thirty first.
Speaker 2: But three of those teams are top third of the NFL,
Speaker 2: and that's where two was playing his best ball. Lastly,
Speaker 2: how about the gotta have it situations. I'm looking at
Speaker 2: drives where you were either trailing by one score in
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter or you were in a kill situation,
Speaker 2: which is where you have the ball and the lead
Speaker 2: and the other team probably has one more maybe two
Speaker 2: more possessions remaining, aka a score or a touchdown kills
Speaker 2: their hopes of a comeback. Here's what it looks like.
Speaker 2: Should we go individually, Yeah, let's do it. In Arizona,
Speaker 2: touchdown to go up by two scores and then a
Speaker 2: punt in the fourth court is the only punt they had.
Speaker 2: They averaged three point five points per drive. He went
Speaker 2: eight for ten for sixty yards in those drives against Buffalo,
Speaker 2: touchdown drive to tie it up, touchdown drive to tie
Speaker 2: it up. Two for two in those possessions, seven points
Speaker 2: per drive, nine for ten, one hundred and nine yards
Speaker 2: in a touchdown. He also had four yards rushing. That
Speaker 2: was a four yard run on fourth and four to
Speaker 2: move the sticks against the Rams.
Speaker 3: Field goal to go up by two scores.
Speaker 2: In the fourth field goal to go up by two scores,
Speaker 2: in the fourth two for two on scoring opportunities, three
Speaker 2: points per drive, seven for eight for seventy yards for
Speaker 2: two against Las Vegas. Touchdown to go up to two scores,
Speaker 2: touchdown to go up by two scores, field goal to
Speaker 2: go up by three scores, three for three in scoring
Speaker 2: five point six seven points per drive, eight for nine,
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirteen yards in a touchdown total. He
Speaker 2: was thirty two for thirty seven three hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: two yards, two touchdowns, a passer rating of one twenty
Speaker 2: four point three red. That's nine drives, that's one punt,
Speaker 2: that's five touchdowns, that's three field goals. That's four point
Speaker 2: eight nine points per drive. Wait blaw to quantify entirely.
Speaker 2: Tua is tops in the NFL and EPA per dropback
Speaker 2: in one score games.
Speaker 3: In the fourth quarter. Way blah, that's my Tua talk.
Speaker 2: And I just want to go ahead and put this
Speaker 2: on the podcast real quick, because I tweeted about it.
Speaker 2: Are blueskided, I forget where I put it. I just
Speaker 2: want to finish with this in hopes of quelling this
Speaker 2: idea that the Dolphins are some perennial letdown outfit against
Speaker 2: inferior competition because I saw it against the Raiders. I
Speaker 2: know we're going to see it against the Patriots, but
Speaker 2: I wanted to put this out there since Tua got here.
Speaker 2: In games that Tua has played or since twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: I should say, the Dolphins in games that they are
Speaker 2: favorites in are eighteen and four.
Speaker 3: Their record in games since twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: In games they're favored by a touchdown or more, which
Speaker 2: they are against the Patriots, they're nine and one in
Speaker 2: those games. The one loss is the Titans games, So
Speaker 2: I get why you're apprehensive because that was a game
Speaker 2: that pretty much derailed the season. But they're nine and
Speaker 2: one in games that they're touchdown or more favorites in,
Speaker 2: and they're seven and three against the spread, which means
Speaker 2: they usually cover that large spread. The games they didn't
Speaker 2: was the Steelers in twenty twenty two. They were seven
Speaker 2: and a half point favorites and won that game by six.
Speaker 2: Last year, they were thirteen and a half point favorites
Speaker 2: over the Raiders and they won that game by seven.
Speaker 2: I'm missing one here because they beat the Texans by
Speaker 2: they were plus fourteen and twenty twenty two and rail
Speaker 2: beat them by fifteen. They beat the Giants by fifteen
Speaker 2: when they were thirteen point favorites last year. They beat
Speaker 2: the Panthers by twenty eight when they were fourteen point
Speaker 2: favorites in that one. They beat the Patriots by fourteen
Speaker 2: when they were eight and a half point favorites last year.
Speaker 2: They beat the Jets when they were nine and a
Speaker 2: half point favorites by twenty one last year, and then
Speaker 2: also thirty in the other game, No, the home game
Speaker 2: they put him by thirty because I was the home
Speaker 2: game of the road game.
Speaker 3: They were not seven point favorites.
Speaker 2: Against the Commanders, they won by forty points in a
Speaker 2: game they are nine point favorites. And then on Sunday
Speaker 2: they beat the Raiders in a seven point favorite game
Speaker 2: by how many points is that?
Speaker 3: Fifteen? So there you go. So quite literally, the opposite
Speaker 3: is true.
Speaker 2: If this team plays an inferior punk, they pretty much
Speaker 2: stamp them out. That's my time Tomorrow game preview Friday,
Speaker 2: John new Smith, Great stuff coming this week on the podcast.
Speaker 2: You all please be sure to subscribe rate review all
Speaker 2: that stuff. Follow me on Blue Sky on Twitter, and
Speaker 2: guests on Instagram at Wingfold NFL. Follow the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 2: at Miami Dolphins, check out the Fish Tank podcast with
Speaker 2: my guy Sethan Juice, the YouTube channel for media availabilities,
Speaker 2: New Dolphins HQ, and much much more. And last button
Speaker 2: not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, Finn's up,
Speaker 2: head on Cameron Daddy
Speaker 4: Just coming home.