Speaker 1: Exact field touchdown, Miami Run. What is up, Dolphans, And
Speaker 1: welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins official podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: each and every day. How's it going, everybody? It is
Speaker 1: Sunday night. I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I
Speaker 1: am here to bring you your daily dose of Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins football. And on today's show you already know what
Speaker 1: time it is. We're breaking down Miami's twenty two to
Speaker 1: twelve win over the New England Patriots. Dolphins moved to
Speaker 1: nine and five, eliminate the Patriots from post season contention
Speaker 1: for the first time since two thousand eight, and maintain
Speaker 1: the Dolphins position at seven in the a f C.
Speaker 1: We'll get to the individuals here from John con Jemmy,
Speaker 1: breakdown the storylines here from coach and Towah and Christian
Speaker 1: Wilkins and some others, and get you my five takeaways
Speaker 1: from this Dolphins win. All of that and more on
Speaker 1: this Sunday, December the twentie edition of the Drive Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey Dolphins fans, the new year starts now at Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: Let's skip the rest of and get two big new
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Speaker 1: and a whole lot more shops safely at the Auto
Speaker 1: Nation store near you or auto nation dot com and save. Now,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and start this game off or this
Speaker 1: podcast off talking about this game with the stats from
Speaker 1: Sunday's contest, because it was pretty much a departure from
Speaker 1: the games we've been used to recently. With the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: the running game just gets it going in this one.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins have three eighty three total yards of the
Speaker 1: Patriots three oh three to fifty of that from Miami
Speaker 1: on the ground. The Patriots just one seventeen on the ground,
Speaker 1: so more than double the Patriots total there. With the
Speaker 1: rushing yards, Miami passes for one thirty three, the Patriots
Speaker 1: one six. The Dolphins are seven for twelve on third down,
Speaker 1: the Patriots two for nine, one takeaway a piece. Miami
Speaker 1: gets three sacks on Cam Newton, they get too onto
Speaker 1: a tongue of baloa. Dolphins had seven penalties for forty
Speaker 1: yards to the Patriots two for twenty. But Miami possesses
Speaker 1: the ball for thirty seven minutes and twenty six seconds
Speaker 1: in this game, and that was one of the I
Speaker 1: suppose storylines I was looking at heading into the game.
Speaker 1: How would the run game stop the Patriots, the run
Speaker 1: defense stop the Patriots run game, and how would Miami
Speaker 1: rush the football? And we'll get more into that here
Speaker 1: in the first takeaway. I wanted to see how the
Speaker 1: Patriots would play coverage or bring pressure against the Dolphins
Speaker 1: quarterback and then offensive line. How would the Dolphins fair
Speaker 1: against the multiple looks of the Patriots. That as well
Speaker 1: as the Dolphins pace offensively, going quickly, going aggressive, going
Speaker 1: more spread looks. Will jump into that, as well as
Speaker 1: a conversation about the Dolphins special teams hidden yards in
Speaker 1: this game, because two of these teams in this game
Speaker 1: are two of the top three teams rather in special
Speaker 1: teams production this season. So we'll talk about all that.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and jump right away to the first takeaway,
Speaker 1: and how can you start anywhere else besides the running game.
Speaker 1: They started off early in this game with ten carries
Speaker 1: and fifty yards to get things going, and I just
Speaker 1: wrote down consistent surge from Solomon Kinley. He was pushing
Speaker 1: guys all over the field in that first half, getting
Speaker 1: connected on double teams, getting to the second level and
Speaker 1: creating big, big lanes. He did later leave the game
Speaker 1: on the cart with an injury and did not return.
Speaker 1: Was replaced by Michael Dieter at that left guard position.
Speaker 1: We'll have more for you on Solomon Kinley as the
Speaker 1: week goes along, but I thought he played tremendous. I
Speaker 1: thought Austin Jackson was a big part of those double
Speaker 1: teams just wiping people out off the edge. Plenty of
Speaker 1: those big runs off the edge for Matt Breeda created
Speaker 1: off that side of the left part of the offensive
Speaker 1: line by Austin Jackson, as well as some work from
Speaker 1: the tight ends. Thought Ted Carriss was excellent as well,
Speaker 1: getting to the second level, being part of double teams,
Speaker 1: just getting leverage and getting things turned out to create
Speaker 1: gaps inside for the running game. And that really continued
Speaker 1: into the second half as the Dolphins ran the ball
Speaker 1: so well in the first half only to come out
Speaker 1: in the second half and do it even better. Season
Speaker 1: high the two d and fifty yards the second half
Speaker 1: looked like just added contributions from everybody that maybe I
Speaker 1: didn't talk about in that first part there, Robert Hunt,
Speaker 1: Jesse Davis getting pushed off the right side. You don't
Speaker 1: run for two hundred and fifty yards without everybody coming
Speaker 1: to the party. So we'll dive into the work of
Speaker 1: the offensive line a little bit more on the Tuesday
Speaker 1: All twenty two review podcast here on Drivetime, part of
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins podcast network. But they were consistently getting
Speaker 1: four to six yards early, setting up the offense in
Speaker 1: position to convert third downs, and that was a huge
Speaker 1: key in this game if you had the fourth downs.
Speaker 1: To those numbers, the Dolphins were eight for thirteen on
Speaker 1: the money downs quote unquote, and the Patriots just two
Speaker 1: for ten on those money down So Miami gets the
Speaker 1: successful short runs early, and then off of that broke
Speaker 1: some big ones in that second half runs of thirty one, fourteen,
Speaker 1: thirteen and twelve yards. I mean that's five. The first
Speaker 1: two are really kind of field flipping plays. But to
Speaker 1: consistently run the ball for more than ten yards like that,
Speaker 1: you hit those consistently, you're just not gonna be stopped.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've seen that in the past, whether it
Speaker 1: was Ricky will Games back in the early two thousand's,
Speaker 1: j G I E back in ten. You can create
Speaker 1: chunks in the running game like that. It's just so
Speaker 1: demoralizing and so crippling to a defense because you suddenly
Speaker 1: put the pass rush kind of at bay. They have
Speaker 1: to be more at it, they have to adhere more
Speaker 1: to the running game. It kind of just takes me
Speaker 1: wins out of the sales of the defense when you
Speaker 1: consistently chew them up for big chunks of running plays
Speaker 1: like that like Miami did in this game, and it
Speaker 1: helped the Dolphins score on three of those final four
Speaker 1: possessions in the second half end of the game, notwithstanding
Speaker 1: a two play drive to round the clock out there
Speaker 1: from Miami, and they were doing it in a variety
Speaker 1: of ways. Savon akhmed up the middle between the tackles,
Speaker 1: pushing the pile. I thought that was really impressive how
Speaker 1: he showed his strength and power on a couple of
Speaker 1: those runs and obviously broke some big ones. Late in
Speaker 1: the game, Lynn Bowden the double reverse little pitch back
Speaker 1: to him where he made about eight team players miss
Speaker 1: on that play and worked from one side of the
Speaker 1: field all the way back to the part of the
Speaker 1: field where he lined up pre snap. Thought that was
Speaker 1: just it showed you a little bit of the electricity
Speaker 1: that Lynn Bowden has in his game and his skill
Speaker 1: set and how he can help you in multiple ways.
Speaker 1: And then Matt Breda finding a way to win the
Speaker 1: edge consistently. I thought that was a big part of
Speaker 1: this game plan. Big tip of the hat to the
Speaker 1: tight ends as well. You don't win the edge without
Speaker 1: tight end play out there also, and Matt Brita got
Speaker 1: a few big chunks of yardage off either side. And
Speaker 1: with the running game, how do you get the most
Speaker 1: out of your running game. Well, it's gotta be a
Speaker 1: total team effort, like Brian Flores tells us post game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Chan did a great job really throughout the week. Really,
Speaker 1: the entire office staff, Jane Marsh's, Eric Scudsville, George, you know,
Speaker 1: the entire staff, Robbie Brown. But the players executed though
Speaker 1: a document ran hard, Breeda ran hard, Patrick Lad ran hard.
Speaker 1: Offensive line blocked. Well, we have received blocking down field.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, we execute. They should be proud
Speaker 1: of themselves. And it's a tough it's a world coach
Speaker 1: team over there. We played both today. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and hear from the man of the hour as well.
Speaker 1: And Savon Akmt the Dolphins leading rusher on the day
Speaker 1: of the Dolphins first one yard rusher in the last
Speaker 1: two seasons. Well, you know, it's just fun to be
Speaker 1: a part of fun, to be a part of a win. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, this is a big win for us and
Speaker 1: our team, and we work hard for it, so you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just happy to be a part of it, to
Speaker 1: be a part of organization. And takeaway number two here
Speaker 1: for us on the Sunday Night recap podcast of the
Speaker 1: Dolphins down the Patriots twenty two to twelve, is finding
Speaker 1: different ways to win. We talked about two d and
Speaker 1: fifty yards on the ground is kind of a new
Speaker 1: a new route to victory for this team this year.
Speaker 1: I think we we saw some really successful work in
Speaker 1: the ground game in the Jacksonville game, the Chargers game,
Speaker 1: for instance, but nothing like this. They nearly double up
Speaker 1: the previous season high, which was that one thirty three
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville. We've seen this team win with special teams dominance,
Speaker 1: whether it's Jason Sanders hitting five field goals, or Andrew
Speaker 1: Van Gingle blocking a punt, or Jacquine Grant having a
Speaker 1: punt return touchdown himself, or just consistently winning the hidden
Speaker 1: yards battle. As well in association with those big plays
Speaker 1: on special teams, which Miami actually probably didn't do that.
Speaker 1: In today's game for the first time maybe all year,
Speaker 1: they were dropping some pooch kicks under. The Patriots were
Speaker 1: getting some some short kickoff returns, angling coffin corner punts.
Speaker 1: Slater had the ball down the two yard line like
Speaker 1: he does every single week, it seems like, but none
Speaker 1: of that mattered today because of the running game. We've
Speaker 1: also seen the defense just shut down the Bengals and Jets,
Speaker 1: and back to back weeks we've seen them create four
Speaker 1: turnovers and multiple games this year, we've seen the passing
Speaker 1: game really get the job done and the win over
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. We've seen complete dominant team wins in the game,
Speaker 1: like the forty nine game. But today it was the
Speaker 1: first one that I really felt like the running game
Speaker 1: just put their hat in the ring and said we
Speaker 1: got this. And that's how you win in January, having
Speaker 1: the full capability of everybody on your roster, every position group,
Speaker 1: having the capability of picking up other sides of the
Speaker 1: football team. And maybe they're not at their peak, and
Speaker 1: I'm not saying we're gonna make a run to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl this year or that we're not. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying that that's the most tried and true way to
Speaker 1: win consistently against good football teams. You take away one thing, Okay,
Speaker 1: we can beat you in this area. And that's something
Speaker 1: I always harkened back to the breeze the Drew Brees
Speaker 1: in New Orleans Saints conversation, because a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago they became way more balanced opposed to a team
Speaker 1: that went up and down the field and broke records
Speaker 1: in the passing game, and he started to throw the
Speaker 1: football list so people questioned can he still do it?
Speaker 1: And he proved to them, Hell yeah, I can. We
Speaker 1: just kind of reserve that until we need it because
Speaker 1: the defense and the ground game can get us wins.
Speaker 1: And speaking of that, actually, first hold on, let's do
Speaker 1: some audio first. But I'm gonna come back to this
Speaker 1: point one second. I want to hear from coach Flora's
Speaker 1: about the resiliency of this group because it's a theme
Speaker 1: that goes along with multiple ways to win and finding
Speaker 1: depth on the roster and different units to step their
Speaker 1: game up and make big plays and get you to victory.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and hear from coach Flora's on the
Speaker 1: resilient group he has in that locker room. I think
Speaker 1: we overcame the tough first half. Look that that just
Speaker 1: speaks to the resiliency and the mental toughness of this team.
Speaker 1: Didn't play great in the first half, you know, got
Speaker 1: down into the red zone, turned it over. This team,
Speaker 1: we don't go in the tank and we just keep playing.
Speaker 1: Just battle for them. That's what they did. Came in
Speaker 1: and halftime, made some adjustments and the cha made some adjustments.
Speaker 1: Josh meet some minut ask me as dating me, just
Speaker 1: m they went up here and executing, and I think
Speaker 1: a great guy to ask about something similar to that
Speaker 1: question for coach Flora's as Christian Wilkins, because he was
Speaker 1: the first draft pick of the career and Flora's regime,
Speaker 1: or the Greer and Flora's pairing here in Miami. So
Speaker 1: we had a question for Christian Wilkins here about how
Speaker 1: does it feel to come out from where you were
Speaker 1: back in day number one, back in to be here
Speaker 1: in at nine and five with a chance to control
Speaker 1: your own destiny, to make your own success going forward
Speaker 1: the season. Here's Christian No, It's good to see um
Speaker 1: you know since day one. You know, it was never
Speaker 1: done my mind. After I Mets coach Flores and got
Speaker 1: around the organization that you know, we could you know,
Speaker 1: do some good things. Um, you know, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: I just hope that good things can continue, you know,
Speaker 1: to keep having them for us. But it's all about
Speaker 1: putting the work in. Uh, putting to work in each
Speaker 1: and every week. Uh, you know, just keep it moving.
Speaker 1: I'm just excided to be a part of it. So
Speaker 1: he is a part, a big part of this football team.
Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about Chris career here on
Speaker 1: this podcast, asked the Dolphins personnel staff and the team
Speaker 1: they've assembled, and we talked about it all offseason, the
Speaker 1: free agency, you know, purchases with Van Noy and Byron
Speaker 1: Jones and the land and Roberts and Shack Lawson, Emmanuel Ogball,
Speaker 1: all these guys having a massive impact. Eric Flower's Ted Carress.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna forget names because there's so many good ones
Speaker 1: you could put on this list. The Dolphins also drafted
Speaker 1: a bunch of rookies and today they started six rookies
Speaker 1: on offense seven in total. The rookies on offense to
Speaker 1: a savan Akhmed, Lynn Bowden, Austin Jackson, Solomon Kiley, and
Speaker 1: Robert Hunt. Was the first time since eighteen that the
Speaker 1: team started six rookies on offense and the Dolphins get
Speaker 1: the win in that game. Seven rookies in total if
Speaker 1: you count defense, because ray Kwon Davis started on defense
Speaker 1: as well, but Brandon Jones did not start, and he
Speaker 1: nearly made the play of the game with that force
Speaker 1: fumble as it was overturned after the fact after exabing,
Speaker 1: Howard picked it up and took it back eighties six
Speaker 1: yards for a touchdown. But still an excellent job there
Speaker 1: from the rookie to get Cam out in space, to
Speaker 1: stand him up in the open field. He misses that tackle.
Speaker 1: It's first and ten in the red zone with the
Speaker 1: three death and leads, so you never know how the
Speaker 1: game turns from there. But just a consistent impact from
Speaker 1: this rookie class all the way around. And it's not
Speaker 1: just with the guys that were drafted or the guys
Speaker 1: that were signed to the big money free agent contracts.
Speaker 1: Savon Akman was picked up after he was cut from
Speaker 1: the fort We saw that consistently throughout the year last season,
Speaker 1: bringing over a guy like Zach Seiler, who now gets
Speaker 1: himself a contract extension this year, trading for Lynn Bowden,
Speaker 1: who never played a game for the Raiders before he
Speaker 1: was traded, swapping fourth and sixth round picks to go
Speaker 1: out and get Lynn Bowden to bring him in here
Speaker 1: and look at the impact he's having. The best front
Speaker 1: offices don't just win in the first round of the
Speaker 1: draft and with their top free agent signing every off season,
Speaker 1: because if that was the case, everybody would do it.
Speaker 1: They win with the you know, the deals like the
Speaker 1: Linn Bowden deal, like picking up with Savan Akhmed like
Speaker 1: undrafted Nick Needom last year and bringing him in and
Speaker 1: getting him to play just really good slot cornerbacks for
Speaker 1: the whole season for you. The Dolphins find multiple avenues
Speaker 1: to get players in here and have an impact on
Speaker 1: the fifty three man roster. And it's been a whole
Speaker 1: bunch of fun to watch this then come together fourteen
Speaker 1: games in to your number two. But back to the
Speaker 1: speaking of idea that I had on the previous part
Speaker 1: before those those quotes they are from coach and from
Speaker 1: Christian Wilkins talking about the multiple ways to win. Speaking
Speaker 1: of that that's takeaway number three. A quarterback who plays
Speaker 1: winning football, and I just there's winning time in this
Speaker 1: league when things are kind of magnified and things get bigger,
Speaker 1: and certain situations become more amplified, and you just see
Speaker 1: the calm nature, the consistent poise of this this young man,
Speaker 1: this twenty two year old quarterback to be in there
Speaker 1: and to have the moment never be too big for him.
Speaker 1: And it's not like I'm breaking ground here, breaking news.
Speaker 1: We've heard that from Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks on
Speaker 1: The Move the Sticks podcast. Who got his college coaches,
Speaker 1: his his mom and dad, and Trent Dilfer his his
Speaker 1: uh his post or pre draft coach leading up to
Speaker 1: the draft process. All the people that have been around him,
Speaker 1: from Nick Saban to his teammates at Alabama to the
Speaker 1: people to talk about his spirit and his energy. These
Speaker 1: people all talk about his ability to be in the
Speaker 1: moment and to make plays no matter how how you
Speaker 1: know at the lights flash on him. And there was
Speaker 1: a play in this game where it's third and eight,
Speaker 1: Patrick Larry picks up twelve yards on a rushing play
Speaker 1: just on the fringe of the red zone, slash like
Speaker 1: field goal range. I think if they get four or
Speaker 1: five yards there, they're in a good spot to kick
Speaker 1: a field goal. But the Dolphins get the first down
Speaker 1: on the ground there and take a lead of six
Speaker 1: points with a two point conversion afterwards, opposed to kicking
Speaker 1: a field goal and going up by one point in
Speaker 1: that spot, because they finished that drive with a touchdown
Speaker 1: run from to on third down, which you know, he fights,
Speaker 1: He gets away from the initial rush and then fights
Speaker 1: his way through an arm tackle to get into the
Speaker 1: end zone. Just a big, big play there, A couple
Speaker 1: of big plays on that drive. Would have loved to
Speaker 1: have gotten a quote on this from coach or to
Speaker 1: about if he decided to change the play himself or
Speaker 1: if it was something they called in that running play.
Speaker 1: I'll ask that later in the weekend. Get it for
Speaker 1: you guys here. But you know, I just love the
Speaker 1: way he plays the game, the way he manages the situation.
Speaker 1: And you hear the word manage a quarterback and you think,
Speaker 1: oh no, that's the kiss of death, the addrested game manager.
Speaker 1: But that's that's not what it is. It's about being
Speaker 1: in control of the situation. We heard Patrick Mahomes talk
Speaker 1: about a post game last week. He was effusive in
Speaker 1: his his praise for to his ability to recognize the
Speaker 1: moment and to play within the structure of how the
Speaker 1: game calls for at that moment, and when he knows
Speaker 1: he's got the ground game in the defense going, he
Speaker 1: plays smart football. In fact, he was very upset with
Speaker 1: himself after the interception on that uh second drive of
Speaker 1: the game that got you know was yard drive down
Speaker 1: to the three yard line, throw a pick in the
Speaker 1: end zone on third and goal from the three yard line,
Speaker 1: and that interception really bothered him. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: hear from two on that pick. And I think going
Speaker 1: into the third quarter, you know, we we wanted to
Speaker 1: start better than we did in the first first half.
Speaker 1: I think the first half we we did pretty well,
Speaker 1: but you know, the decision I made down there and
Speaker 1: in the red area kind of put us back a
Speaker 1: little bit and kind of kept the Patriots in the game.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that whole first half, I I was droughting
Speaker 1: that that was you know, my fault because we we
Speaker 1: had points there and I try to force that. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know a third earth quarter and fourth quarter, second half,
Speaker 1: we we just wanted to come out and you know,
Speaker 1: to take what the defense gave us. And you know,
Speaker 1: then you guys seen what what the old line and
Speaker 1: the running backs what we're doing so pretty consistent throughout
Speaker 1: the game. They're the running backs in the offensive line.
Speaker 1: You know, the nine yard drive to start things off,
Speaker 1: plenty of running in that action to two of US
Speaker 1: seven for his first eight passes, but the one in
Speaker 1: completion was the interception, and it just got him. I mean,
Speaker 1: the pressure caved in around him. He tried to throw
Speaker 1: the ball to a receiver to make a play and
Speaker 1: try to go from three points to four points, but
Speaker 1: a bit in there on that play, so it didn't
Speaker 1: work out there. But all in all the way he
Speaker 1: manages the game. And we talked about the Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: versus rookie quarterbacks number twenty and five since he got
Speaker 1: to New England, and we saw what he did earlier
Speaker 1: this season to Justin Herbert, you know, limiting that rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback to his worst game of his rookie season, possibly
Speaker 1: a Rookie of the Year season there for Herbert and
Speaker 1: we there was a good clip from the NFL matchup
Speaker 1: with with Matt Bowden and Great Coastel and they talked
Speaker 1: about how you know team scheme things up and they
Speaker 1: show you how the Chargers game, the Patriots would show
Speaker 1: pressure and then peel off and drop themselves into a
Speaker 1: passing line and confused Herbert A few times. We saw
Speaker 1: the same looks in this game where they would get
Speaker 1: the pressure looks up front and show you five and
Speaker 1: then drop out and bring a different guy and still
Speaker 1: blitz at the quarterback. I thought, too did well to
Speaker 1: to manage that and to see that and to not
Speaker 1: play into those traps. There was a play where the
Speaker 1: edge came down and showed pressure on one snap and
Speaker 1: two saw him fall back into a hook zone where
Speaker 1: Savan akh Mad ran a slant route that was supposed
Speaker 1: to be in behind him if he rushes here on
Speaker 1: the slant route behind him, but to us saw that
Speaker 1: broke the pocket and through an off platform throw that
Speaker 1: went incomplete. But he saw it. He didn't throw the
Speaker 1: ball right into a dropping defender, kind of like Christian
Speaker 1: Wilkins got that pick back in the Ram game. Rams game.
Speaker 1: So this Patriots defense, you know, they come there with
Speaker 1: the ninth lowest blitz rate, and I'll be curious to
Speaker 1: see that number for this game. How much they blitz
Speaker 1: to ah but they were bringing five guys a lot
Speaker 1: in this game, and it was always from that kind
Speaker 1: of amba pass rush look, different guys from different gaps
Speaker 1: and backing out. Definitely a lot on a young order back.
Speaker 1: But I thought that he did well to stay in
Speaker 1: the game and to manage the game and hit the
Speaker 1: big throws and we had to and convert on third downs.
Speaker 1: Just beating five man pressure, beating coverage, a little bit
Speaker 1: of everything. Just good work there from the Dolphins. Workie
Speaker 1: quarterback because he continues to impress in the way he
Speaker 1: sees and feels the game. Takeaway number four. We talked
Speaker 1: about the Dolphins multiple ways to win. I thought one
Speaker 1: thing they did in this game that has been pretty
Speaker 1: consistent throughout the course of the season was how well
Speaker 1: they did to stop the Patriots offensive strengths the screen game,
Speaker 1: the exotic runs. There was an option play early on
Speaker 1: where they cut that thing down and we kind of
Speaker 1: saw that last week as well with some option look
Speaker 1: there are Patrick Mahomes got out on the edge and
Speaker 1: they defended that well. Just sticking to their rules is
Speaker 1: a general takeaway as well. But back to this game,
Speaker 1: taking away the Patriots strenks. Coach Flor has talked about
Speaker 1: it in the lead up to the game, how this
Speaker 1: team leads the NFL and screen yards game this year.
Speaker 1: The Patriots first two screenplays went for zero yards and
Speaker 1: for for one yard and for zero yards, so one
Speaker 1: for two on one yards, and they kind of backed
Speaker 1: that thing back a little bit after that and went
Speaker 1: to those kind of underneath crossing routes. But that's kind
Speaker 1: of what we've seen the Dolphins defense this whole year
Speaker 1: do is limit the offenses options, take away their favorite
Speaker 1: go to plays, and force them to play sort of
Speaker 1: left handed, as it were, and execute from a smaller
Speaker 1: menu of options to beat what we're going to do.
Speaker 1: And I saw some consternation on Twitter during the game
Speaker 1: about that soft defense, as those crossing patterns chewed up
Speaker 1: some yards at times in the game, But look at
Speaker 1: how it went in the red zone. Look at how
Speaker 1: it led to a takeaway and damn near another takeaway
Speaker 1: earlier in the football game. You forced the offense to
Speaker 1: execute repeatedly, and the chances for mistakes increase when you
Speaker 1: do that. Hell, we saw Belichick do the same thing
Speaker 1: with two at times. And this Dolphins offense the best
Speaker 1: way to lose a game like this is to give
Speaker 1: up a big play. So I just thought Dolphins did
Speaker 1: well to keep everything in front of them and to
Speaker 1: come up and tackle and make plays and limit the
Speaker 1: Patriots from the big play and capitalize when they had
Speaker 1: their chances for takeaways or third down stops, especially in
Speaker 1: critical areas down in the red area. I also thought
Speaker 1: the big guys up front had one hell of a
Speaker 1: game from Zach Seeler, Ray Kwon Davis, Christian Wilkins, Manuel Ogbas,
Speaker 1: Shack Lawson holding the point up there at the point
Speaker 1: of attack and running game. Zack Seeler had the big
Speaker 1: sack in the end of the game, so did Emmanuel Ogba.
Speaker 1: Jerome Baker got in there with Jack Lawson, but I
Speaker 1: think the sack went to Baker on that play. These
Speaker 1: guys found a way to get constant penetration, constant victories
Speaker 1: against the running game. They had a couple of runs
Speaker 1: that sprung for for chunky yarders. There but one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventeen yards on the ground for the Patriots in
Speaker 1: this game. And the Dolphins did so much to help
Speaker 1: themselves get into winnable third down situations, and they came
Speaker 1: through on those with both the frontline the second edge.
Speaker 1: I thought Jerome Baker's had some really great edges today,
Speaker 1: as did Kyle van Noy. Great to get him back,
Speaker 1: great to get a land and Roberts back as well,
Speaker 1: who brought that physicality he brings every single Sunday to
Speaker 1: this football team. Takeaway number five, more and more trigger
Speaker 1: ration from those Miami Dolphins. How about the Malcolm Perry
Speaker 1: sneak an empty formation they motioned him in. He gets
Speaker 1: right up under center and snaps that ball on third
Speaker 1: and one to move the chains. I love that call.
Speaker 1: How about the fake punt pass from Commu Gruge Hill
Speaker 1: to Matt Hawk or other way around, sorry, Matt Hawk
Speaker 1: to Comu grew j Hill. They wind up getting flagged
Speaker 1: for it. I'm sure Danny Croftsman is going to be
Speaker 1: very upset about the way that went down, But they
Speaker 1: converted it on the field, just didn't report as eligible
Speaker 1: out there. Got to get that taken care of. And then,
Speaker 1: of course the Lynn Bowen reverse double reverse round that
Speaker 1: he had where he had to break about seventy four
Speaker 1: tackles on that play, shifting in and out of the defense.
Speaker 1: They're making a big play that way. But I just
Speaker 1: love having all these kind of wrinkles in the back
Speaker 1: pocket that we just haven't seen that much this year.
Speaker 1: And maybe that's a good thing because you can reserve
Speaker 1: maybe some of those looks for bigger games like this.
Speaker 1: We saw one against the Chiefs last week. We saw
Speaker 1: it here against the Patriots in this big game. Maybe
Speaker 1: you see some more wrinkles added on in the future.
Speaker 1: Who knows, because we've seen this coaching staff pull off
Speaker 1: some things here this year in the past with coach Flora.
Speaker 1: So it's definitely something great to have in your back
Speaker 1: pocket in a pinch, when you need a big play,
Speaker 1: you see something you like. It's it's so it shows
Speaker 1: you the Miami's aggressiveness, but also their preparation and putting
Speaker 1: themselves in position to say, hey, they're kind of reacting
Speaker 1: this way to this, maybe we can fool them with this.
Speaker 1: I love to see it. So those are my five
Speaker 1: takeaway days. A couple more individual notes here I wrote
Speaker 1: down in my notes from the press box. I wrote,
Speaker 1: Brita spieda. I guess that's a play on the cheetah's
Speaker 1: nickname that I was thinking of at the time. I
Speaker 1: liked the way he ran the football in this game.
Speaker 1: In addition to savon akbed for the big day, I
Speaker 1: wrote Lynn Bowen becoming a reliable third down conversion guy
Speaker 1: in those short underneath passes that quick shiftiness shows up
Speaker 1: and the route running as well as his run after
Speaker 1: the catchability. Durham Smith had a couple of big plays
Speaker 1: in this game, catching the football getting upfield, making guys miss,
Speaker 1: so too did Adam Shaheen talked about the offensive line.
Speaker 1: I thought all five guys played well and Michael Dieter
Speaker 1: getting back in the lineup for the first time this
Speaker 1: season on offense. Good to see him out there as well.
Speaker 1: He was rocking the Florida Panthers jersey after the game,
Speaker 1: with Jesse Davis wearing a hockey jersey as well, and
Speaker 1: then I think it was Blake Ferguson had the Chicago
Speaker 1: Blackhawks Gris Wall jersey pregame as well, so some hockey
Speaker 1: fans here in the building. Emmanuel Ogba, I was good
Speaker 1: to see him get the splash play. Like we talked
Speaker 1: about with Jerome Baker last week. These guys that impact
Speaker 1: the game consistently and now you see them show up
Speaker 1: in the stat sheet. That's always good. To see his
Speaker 1: ninth sack of the year. You'd love to see that
Speaker 1: leading leading the Dolphins and sacks this year and hopefully
Speaker 1: gonna get double digits on the season. Talked about ray
Speaker 1: Kwon Davis, Christian Wilkins, Zack Seeler, Shack Lawson. Had some
Speaker 1: good plays in this game, Jerome Baker, Kyle van Noy
Speaker 1: that play where he falls into the hooks zone, damn
Speaker 1: near gets himself a pick, gets himself a p bu
Speaker 1: Andrew van Ginko I thought had some good sticks in
Speaker 1: there and against the run as well. And speaking of
Speaker 1: that Van Noi pass breakup man, I think Xavian Howard
Speaker 1: might have had a chance on that ball and behind
Speaker 1: him there if he doesn't get a finger on it,
Speaker 1: which you can't. You know, you can't play that way
Speaker 1: because you have to go attack the football. But it
Speaker 1: just it speaks to Xavian Howard's ball hawking ability and
Speaker 1: a game like this where it's mostly run action for
Speaker 1: the most part, they're they're playing it safe in the
Speaker 1: passing game and running the football effectively and efficiently. That's
Speaker 1: how the Patriots want to beat you. But he gets
Speaker 1: himself that fumble recovery that comes back, he gets the
Speaker 1: fumble force that does hold up and gets a turn over,
Speaker 1: his tenth turnover that he's a part of this season,
Speaker 1: whether it's interceptions or a fumble force slash fumble recovery.
Speaker 1: And then the player where he might have had a
Speaker 1: chance for a pick if it didn't get tipped four hand,
Speaker 1: three plays again where he's around the football. It just
Speaker 1: speaks to his ability to find the football. Eric Row
Speaker 1: had a great, great pass coverage play on a tight end,
Speaker 1: kind of fade there down in the goal line area.
Speaker 1: He was right in phase, broke that thing up. We
Speaker 1: talked about Brandon Jones off the top a little bit.
Speaker 1: He continues to make plays seemingly every single week. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get more into that on the Tuesday All twenty
Speaker 1: two Takeaway podcast. But now let's go ahead and turn
Speaker 1: this thing over to John con Jemmy and get his
Speaker 1: three takeaways from the game and joining me as he
Speaker 1: does on Sunday nights to recap the previous game. John
Speaker 1: con Jemmy, the co host of the Audible podcast here
Speaker 1: on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. John, how you doing tonight,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm great. Travis, A nice victory, at home for
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins. Uh I just uh, I mean elated
Speaker 1: that with two weeks remaining in the regular season, the
Speaker 1: Dolphins control their own destiny. And I know it's a
Speaker 1: week to week league, but at least you can see
Speaker 1: the delayed at the end of the tunnel that Dolphins
Speaker 1: can take care of business like, much like they did
Speaker 1: against the New England Patriots, the nemesis for over twenty years.
Speaker 1: I think the Dolphins will be happy and the fans
Speaker 1: will be happy at the end of the year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a couple of games to finish out this season here
Speaker 1: on the road, and some interesting dynamics that could be
Speaker 1: in play for both those games. As far as you know,
Speaker 1: are the are the team's gonna play their guys so
Speaker 1: they have enough guys to pull out the roster with
Speaker 1: the Raiders injuries and how banged up they are, And
Speaker 1: we'll get to that here on a future podcast, but
Speaker 1: certainly bodes well for a good conversation down the line.
Speaker 1: As the Dolphins approached the final two games of the season,
Speaker 1: but the third to last game a twenty two to
Speaker 1: twelve win over the Patriots, and John, your first takeaway
Speaker 1: from the game was the ground and pound of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. That where did they resurrect this rushing attack.
Speaker 1: I thought it was sensational today that you know, Akhmed
Speaker 1: and Brita were able to contribute equally and they did
Speaker 1: it in different ways. I thought Akhmed really had terrific
Speaker 1: vision today running with the football. He knew when to
Speaker 1: press the whole, he knew when to bounce it outside
Speaker 1: and use that speed. And and Matt Brita, for as
Speaker 1: for as decisive is augment is when he runs the football,
Speaker 1: Brita was missing that gene for some reason. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was injury. I don't know if it
Speaker 1: was lack of playing time. I don't know if it
Speaker 1: was you know, a new offense. But it never seemed
Speaker 1: to really click on all cylinders. And today it finally
Speaker 1: got into high octane gear for for Brita, and you
Speaker 1: could really see that speed on the perimeter when he
Speaker 1: just outflanked UH defenders from the Patriots and then out
Speaker 1: race defenders almost to the house on one of the runs.
Speaker 1: You know, Auchmed goes for one two. They both averaged
Speaker 1: over five yards per carry and and the one good
Speaker 1: thing there were there were runs of length the Dolphins
Speaker 1: have been deficient in running the football for twenty plus
Speaker 1: yards on on single carries. I think Auchmed had one
Speaker 1: for thirty one, Brita had one for twenty four. Uh.
Speaker 1: It was nice to see that offensive line do such
Speaker 1: a nice job and give these guys room to run,
Speaker 1: and they knew what to do when they saw a daylight.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the yards per carry average breed a seven
Speaker 1: point two yards per carry and we're not talking about
Speaker 1: two or three runs, like guy had eighty six yards
Speaker 1: in the game. So that was cool to see. I
Speaker 1: was I was so enamored by the thing you mentioned
Speaker 1: there about him winning the edge. He does this thing
Speaker 1: where he kind of like dips his back in around
Speaker 1: or like tucks his shoulder into the sideline to kind
Speaker 1: of get away from the defender, and it helps him
Speaker 1: get that edge and and get that extra step and
Speaker 1: just take off up the sideline. A big, big part
Speaker 1: of this way for the Dolphins today. John, your second
Speaker 1: takeaway was the second half turnaround for the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I didn't think the Dolphins played poorly in the first half.
Speaker 1: They just didn't have things go their way. You know,
Speaker 1: the defense had a forced fumble that X picks up
Speaker 1: and goes eighty six yards for a would be touchdown.
Speaker 1: It gets called back because I think Christian Wilkins was
Speaker 1: out of bounce and contacted the football, and it was
Speaker 1: It was one of those things where you just you
Speaker 1: didn't feel like the Dolphins were in trouble, but the
Speaker 1: Dolphins weren't playing well enough to really take over the
Speaker 1: game at that point. They're they're trailing six to nothing.
Speaker 1: But I thought the opening drive of the third quarter
Speaker 1: and in the second half, you know, you scored three
Speaker 1: times in terms of getting down and putting big drives together.
Speaker 1: It was nice to see those guys go nine place
Speaker 1: seventy two yards on that first drive to open up
Speaker 1: the second half. I thought the running the passing really
Speaker 1: complemented each other. And then and then they get right
Speaker 1: back on the horse a couple of series later in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter and you get a four team play
Speaker 1: drive for uh an achmed Uh, you know, a two
Speaker 1: point conversion after the two scramble and score. It was.
Speaker 1: It was just nice continuity in the second half. And
Speaker 1: I thought offensive coordinator Chan Gailey did a nice job
Speaker 1: of double reverse pass uh almost a bit of a
Speaker 1: flee flicker for the two point conversion on a on
Speaker 1: a you know, a little swing pass and and pitched
Speaker 1: back to Okmed and in the fake punt. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of nice things that were done in all phases,
Speaker 1: and I just thought the second half the offense really
Speaker 1: caught fire and you really felt confident that this game
Speaker 1: was going to be a win at home. I'm so
Speaker 1: glad you mentioned it and ended your takeaway with that,
Speaker 1: because I just, as someone who's been watching this team
Speaker 1: for you know, the better part of twenty five years now,
Speaker 1: I've never in a season had so many moments where
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, they're like, I'm not even sweating
Speaker 1: right now, because today I thought the defense was playing
Speaker 1: so well that getting a touchdown against that defense was
Speaker 1: gonna be so difficult. And the second half you mentioned
Speaker 1: the offense finding their rhythm, it just felt like they
Speaker 1: were going to score every time they got it. So
Speaker 1: it's been a whole season of just confidence from the
Speaker 1: Dolphins team and they're only getting better. They're not going
Speaker 1: to continue to grow from there. John, what is your
Speaker 1: third takeaway from the Dolphins two Patriots twelve? Relentless pressure
Speaker 1: on defense? I just I knew that new England coming
Speaker 1: into this game was going to be one dimensional and
Speaker 1: they were going to have to find their way on
Speaker 1: the ground and hope for a couple of explosive plays.
Speaker 1: And they got some explosive plays on offense, but I
Speaker 1: knew Cam Newton wasn't going to consistently beat you through
Speaker 1: the air, and they couldn't go They'd have to go
Speaker 1: fifty or sixty to beat the Dolphins, or at least
Speaker 1: hang in there with the Dolphins. I just thought getting
Speaker 1: your hand on the football, forcing multiple fumbles, pressuring the
Speaker 1: pocket when they when they decided to throw New England,
Speaker 1: and squeezing the pocket with multiple sacks. And it's again,
Speaker 1: it's different people. It's Seiler, it's Baker again finding a sack,
Speaker 1: it's getting your hands on the football down the field. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just it was contagious. Anytime the ball was loose,
Speaker 1: there were three or four awkward jerseys around it, and
Speaker 1: any one of them could have picked one up. I
Speaker 1: mean a Land and Roberts almost took out Eric Row
Speaker 1: on the funding recovery down the field, that X punches
Speaker 1: out after a big play by New England. But those
Speaker 1: are the types of things that make it fun. For
Speaker 1: for football teams, for defenses to kind of rally around
Speaker 1: each other when they see the offense score and they go, hey,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna keep playing our game because we've already
Speaker 1: set our standard. And they kept kept it, you know,
Speaker 1: kept hammering, kept kept taking New England and making it
Speaker 1: and go the hard road. Nothing was easy for those guys.
Speaker 1: And I just thought the pressure in the pocket, getting
Speaker 1: hands on the football. That seems to be Dolphins defense
Speaker 1: in two thousand and twenty, and I'm glad to see
Speaker 1: it continue. Twenty six takeaways. They came into this game
Speaker 1: tied for first with Pittsburgh with twenty five takeaways. Their
Speaker 1: third down defense, which was tops improved in this game
Speaker 1: after allowing just two for nine conversions in the game.
Speaker 1: Dolphins win twelve moved to nine and five. We have
Speaker 1: two games left on the road. John. We're not gonna
Speaker 1: get to talk to you next week because it's a
Speaker 1: primetime game and well, we don't want to keep you
Speaker 1: up until four o'clock in the morning, sir, So I
Speaker 1: appreciate your duties and your services here and we'll talk
Speaker 1: to you a getting after the Buffalo game. Okay, that
Speaker 1: sounds great. Hopefully we're talking playoffs after the Buffalo game. Hey,
Speaker 1: I wanted to have you say it, so I appreciate
Speaker 1: that very much. That's that's okay, I'll say it. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to say it. Perfect. We've got two more
Speaker 1: left and then we'll see from there. John can gend
Speaker 1: me the co host of the audible podcast here on
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. John, thank you as always,
Speaker 1: my friend. We'll see you next time. You got it.
Speaker 1: Travison and the way he goes always a fun conversation
Speaker 1: on the Sunday Night Recap podcast, and we heard him
Speaker 1: mention playoffs there a little bit. I was thinking about
Speaker 1: diving into the scenarios, but I think for the most part,
Speaker 1: you guys know it. I think what you gotta do
Speaker 1: is win the last two football games. There are some
Speaker 1: back channels you can find your way into. The Browns
Speaker 1: and the Ravens have to lose certain games. The Colts
Speaker 1: could possibly lose some games and get in that way.
Speaker 1: But the best way to get in from Miami win
Speaker 1: the last two games and you're gonna be in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's all there is to it. And speaking of the
Speaker 1: upcoming week, it's gonna be a different week for us
Speaker 1: here on the podcast, since we have a shorter week
Speaker 1: for you guys, and with Christmas on Friday, not gonna
Speaker 1: have a podcast for you on Friday, but we do
Speaker 1: have the flashback podcast already in the can so by
Speaker 1: the time you hear this podcast, it might be up.
Speaker 1: Jay Fiedler joins the podcast to talk about the two
Speaker 1: thousand one victory over the Oakland Raiders ahead of this
Speaker 1: week's game against the Las Vegas Raiders, so don't forget
Speaker 1: to check that out. It's a great podcast. Jay talks
Speaker 1: about post nine eleven, the game winning touchdown being on
Speaker 1: the Sports Illustrated cover. A great talk there with Jay Feedler.
Speaker 1: As for my time on this edition of Drive Time,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be my time you all. Please be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Leave us
Speaker 1: a rating, leave us a review, give me a follow
Speaker 1: on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the team at
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins and check out the fish Tank and the
Speaker 1: Audible podcast, as well as Miami Dolphins dot Com, the
Speaker 1: Sunday Night Spotlight as well as the game recap up
Speaker 1: there and tomorrow we'll have John Congemis three takeaways from
Speaker 1: the game on the website until next time fins Up