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Speaker 2: What is up? Dolphins?
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast, part of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going everybody?
Speaker 2: I am your.
Speaker 1: Host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's episode, our penultimate divisional
Speaker 1: preview episode takes us inside our own division, the AFC East.
Speaker 1: Evan Lazar from Patriots dot Com will join us.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be all Bills, Jets, Dolphins, Patriots right here
Speaker 1: from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: Maggie, Jeff, let's go ahead and jump right into my
Speaker 1: interview with Patriots dot COM's Evan Lazar.
Speaker 2: And joining us today for the AFC East.
Speaker 1: Preview for the twenty twenty three season is a man
Speaker 1: from Patriots dot Com, the host of the Catch twenty
Speaker 1: two podcasts there for the Patriots podcast Network.
Speaker 2: Evan Lazar. Evan, how you been man? It's been a
Speaker 2: long time since we've talked.
Speaker 3: I know, it's been a long time since we've done
Speaker 3: a show together. Saw each other at the Combine, which
Speaker 3: is always fun to see everybody that you know mostly
Speaker 3: from social media, but they get to meet them in person.
Speaker 3: So that was that was cool, and uh yeah, it's
Speaker 3: I'm glad to be back and doing something with you.
Speaker 2: Were you down here for Week one last year? You
Speaker 2: had to have been.
Speaker 3: I wasn't, actually because I caught COVID in our trip
Speaker 3: to Vegas for the final preseason games. As the one
Speaker 3: road game I didn't travel to last year was Miami,
Speaker 3: but knock on wood all, I'll be back there this year.
Speaker 3: But I still can't get every road game. That last year.
Speaker 3: I was like, this is it. I'm going to be
Speaker 3: every single game, and then it turned out that I
Speaker 3: missed that one, But I always loved coming down to Miami.
Speaker 3: I've been down there before for past Patriots games. I
Speaker 3: was at the Miami Miracle. Unfortunately, I was at a
Speaker 3: few other Patriots Dolphins games, so it's always a good
Speaker 3: place to be.
Speaker 1: I sit on the furthest section over closest to the visitors,
Speaker 1: like reporters, and I remember I didn't come say hi
Speaker 1: to you. It's like I wouldn't do that if if
Speaker 1: I had seen you, So I was wondering if you
Speaker 1: were there or not. But this year, we'll definitely get
Speaker 1: a look and it'll be maybe good weather, at least
Speaker 1: better than the season opener last year, and in early
Speaker 1: September one, it was just hot as hell out there.
Speaker 1: But the game will be Sunday, October twenty ninth here
Speaker 1: week number eight, one o'clock kickoff. Dolphins face the Patriots
Speaker 1: as well week two up in Foxborough for a Sunday
Speaker 1: night kickoff on the seventeenth of September. But we're gonna
Speaker 1: start here before we get into the games against the Patriots.
Speaker 1: With the thirty thousand foot view of the afast breaking
Speaker 1: down this division. You and I both have been covering
Speaker 1: this division for a long long time, so I thought
Speaker 1: it'd be fun to talk about it with you here
Speaker 1: on the podcast. A lot's gone on here, man, This
Speaker 1: division has gone from one team that dominated for twenty
Speaker 1: years to all of a sudden, really a bunch of
Speaker 1: teams that feel really good about where they are heading
Speaker 1: into the new campaign. Kind of just talk about this
Speaker 1: division as a whole and how the offseason's gone so
Speaker 1: far in the AFC East.
Speaker 3: Well, ultimately, I still think we're all chasing Buffalo, and
Speaker 3: until Buffalo is dethroned as division champs, the Bills should
Speaker 3: probably feel pretty good about repeating as long as they
Speaker 3: have that nucleus together of Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs
Speaker 3: on the offensive side of the ball, And even though
Speaker 3: they lost Tremaine Edmonds on defense, I still think the
Speaker 3: general outline of their defense is pretty similar at going
Speaker 3: into this year as well. So for the Patriots against
Speaker 3: the Bills, that they have one win in the last
Speaker 3: couple of years, which was that Gail Force wins game
Speaker 3: Monday night in Buffalo. Other than that, they don't have
Speaker 3: a win against Buffalo since I think nineteen when Brady
Speaker 3: was here, So last so I always look up at Buffalo,
Speaker 3: but I think what's fun or interesting about this division?
Speaker 3: And maybe the Patriots, and we'll get to them. I know,
Speaker 3: individually in a second, have gone about it a little
Speaker 3: bit differently than the Jets and the Dolphins have. But
Speaker 3: it really feels like the AFC East has turned into
Speaker 3: an arms race where everybody is just trying to load
Speaker 3: up as much as they can offensively to try to
Speaker 3: compete with Buffalo. And you look at what the Jets
Speaker 3: have done with Aaron Rodgers. Obviously, Miami's done with the
Speaker 3: receivers that they've added around to and hiring Mike McDaniel
Speaker 3: to bring an offensive flavor to the Dolphins organization. So
Speaker 3: they're going to score some points in the AFC East.
Speaker 3: And I know defensively these teams are pretty good too,
Speaker 3: but I still think that the quarterbacks and the offense
Speaker 3: is going to be what ultimately decides the division.
Speaker 2: You mentioned the Gail Force wins.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad Buffalo didn't put a dome or I
Speaker 1: guess propose a dome stadium up there in western New York, because,
Speaker 1: like the weather in this division to meet is one
Speaker 1: of the more fascinating things you Hays get the wind
Speaker 1: up in the meadow lands, you get the heat down
Speaker 1: here obviously, you get crazy lake effects snow in Buffalo,
Speaker 1: and then of course in Foxborough you never know what
Speaker 1: you're gonna get with those weather winter temperatures up there
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: So it's one of the most fun divisions.
Speaker 1: Not saying that just because I'm so innundated by this
Speaker 1: AFC East Division, but man, the off season of just
Speaker 1: crazy acquisitions, a big time quarterback coming over.
Speaker 2: I agree with you.
Speaker 1: You know, last year going into that Week three game
Speaker 1: against Buffalo are kind of mantras as Dolphins fans, was like,
Speaker 1: we got to beat him first before we can start
Speaker 1: talking about how we might have a chance to you know,
Speaker 1: surpass him in the standings. And that has to be
Speaker 1: the case, you know, going into this year, just like
Speaker 1: it was for the Patriots for so many years there.
Speaker 2: But you mentioned Buffalo.
Speaker 1: We kick it off with the Buffalo Bills and talk
Speaker 1: about their off season here because you know, a change
Speaker 1: of defensive cordion they're gonna have Sean McDermott calling plays
Speaker 1: this year. You mentioned, you know, the replacing Tremaine Edmonds
Speaker 1: the middle of that defense. Let's go ahead and start
Speaker 1: there on defense for Buffalo because last year a little
Speaker 1: bit up and down performance, there's lots of injuries on
Speaker 1: that side.
Speaker 2: Of the ball.
Speaker 1: How do you see them coming back this year, especially
Speaker 1: with a new play caller who is their head coach
Speaker 1: on defense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's a really interesting way to go
Speaker 3: about things for the Bills. And I understand that they
Speaker 3: probably feel pretty good about Dorsey on the offensive side
Speaker 3: of the ball, and Josh Allen maybe even calling his
Speaker 3: own game to a degree at this point in his career.
Speaker 3: But I'm never I always have reservations about head coaches
Speaker 3: taking over play calling that haven't done it in a while,
Speaker 3: or that's not really the way that they want to
Speaker 3: go about things. It's almost like McDermott has to take
Speaker 3: it over just out of necessity because they don't really
Speaker 3: have anybody to step in to that role for Leslie Frazier.
Speaker 3: So I look at the Patriots and how they've done
Speaker 3: things too. Bill Belichick has never really been a play
Speaker 3: caller as the head coach of the Patriots. He's been
Speaker 3: more of that CEO type on the sideline that's just
Speaker 3: quality control and overseeing the entire operation, and he allows
Speaker 3: right now. Obviously Bill O'Brien coming back to call plays
Speaker 3: offensively and Steve Belichick doing the play calling defensively. So
Speaker 3: it's gonna be interesting to see how it works out
Speaker 3: for Buffalo. And I think the other thing that you're
Speaker 3: sort of waiting for this with this defense is those
Speaker 3: younger pass rushers, you know, guys like Greg Russo for instance.
Speaker 3: Are those guys and Head Oliver who just got that
Speaker 3: massive extension, are they gonna step up and really be
Speaker 3: a force up front alongside von Miller? Which when does
Speaker 3: he come back? Is he gonna come back full strength
Speaker 3: and be the same guy he was before the injury,
Speaker 3: I think is another big question. We know about their secondary.
Speaker 3: They're really well coached back there. They have a good system,
Speaker 3: They've been good in the past defense in the secondary
Speaker 3: for a long time. But I feel like Buffalo is
Speaker 3: still waiting for really Russo and Ed Oliver to truly
Speaker 3: come into their own and start to take over games.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the von Miller thing is really intriguing because I
Speaker 1: think if you add him to the mix and you
Speaker 1: get von Miller, all of a sudden, you have a
Speaker 1: front that is just going to put relentless pressure on quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: I love the addition of Leonard Floyd and Puna Ford
Speaker 1: in that defensive line to make a strength even stronger
Speaker 1: this year.
Speaker 2: And you mentioned the secondary, Like you know.
Speaker 1: We always look at the acquisitions teams making the offseason,
Speaker 1: but sometimes it's just your incumbents or guys that you
Speaker 1: get back. They didn't have Micah Hyde and Jordan Ployer
Speaker 1: for most of the year last year. Then you add
Speaker 1: Taylor Rapp and Cameron Danzler, you know, to Ron Johnson's
Speaker 1: back there, and he's one of the best nickels in
Speaker 1: the entire game. So I think that's a really intriguing part.
Speaker 1: They're on the defense. And you mentioned, you know, in
Speaker 1: the thirty thousand foot view portion, how the other teams
Speaker 1: in the arms race kind of trying to catch up
Speaker 1: to the Bills offensively in this division. I'm looking at
Speaker 1: Buffalo and they did rework the offensive line, but for
Speaker 1: the most part, didn't really do a whole lot to
Speaker 1: add to their offense. I'm curious how you think the
Speaker 1: impact of a couple of guys will will help that offense,
Speaker 1: because they really made two moves.
Speaker 2: Damien Harris.
Speaker 1: Harris, who I love and you know very well and
Speaker 1: Dalton Kin kid the rookie tight end. Curious how you
Speaker 1: think those two guys impact this offense?
Speaker 3: Well, I feel like, and then with all this stuff
Speaker 3: that's come out about Stefan Diggs, and it seems like
Speaker 3: his unhappiness was about how they tried to be a
Speaker 3: little bit more traditional offensively in the second half of
Speaker 3: the year to take some of the pressure off of
Speaker 3: Josh Allen. And that's what I felt like the Damien
Speaker 3: Harris signing was for, was to give them a true
Speaker 3: between the tackles early down back. I mean, we know
Speaker 3: Harris really well up here, and he's a power back.
Speaker 3: He's somebody that's gonna be able to tote the rock
Speaker 3: if he's healthy one hundred and fifty two hundred times
Speaker 3: on the ground. But is that really how Buffalo wants
Speaker 3: to play. It doesn't seem like that's what Diggs wants
Speaker 3: to do, right. They want to air it out and
Speaker 3: throw it and be one of those teams that we
Speaker 3: see every single year, you know, passing over expected. Buffalo
Speaker 3: and Kansas City are always like all the way over
Speaker 3: here and everybody else is like sort of middle of
Speaker 3: the pack. So is that going to continue for the
Speaker 3: Bills now that they have a guy like Damien Harris,
Speaker 3: I thought maybe not, and then they go ahead and
Speaker 3: they draft Dalton Kincaid, who's basically just a big wide receivers.
Speaker 3: So it is kind of mixed signals I think from
Speaker 3: Buffalo where they're headed, and they obviously want to keep
Speaker 3: their star wide receiver happy. So I still lean towards
Speaker 3: the Bills being a heavy pass team and really putting
Speaker 3: most of it on Josh Allen in that passing game.
Speaker 3: But I think what they need to do offensively, and
Speaker 3: this is where some of the running stuff I think
Speaker 3: was supposed to come in, is they need to be
Speaker 3: more consistent and not as volatile where they could hang
Speaker 3: fifty on you. But they can also have a game
Speaker 3: like they did against the Bengals and the playoffs. And
Speaker 3: when you heavy, is the head that wears the crown
Speaker 3: right like Buffalo. I say this all the time to
Speaker 3: Bill's Mafia when they have me on their shows. We
Speaker 3: knew it all well and good in New England that
Speaker 3: you got to target on your back and the expectation
Speaker 3: is super Bowl or bust. And when you're the Bills,
Speaker 3: the pressure is starting to mount a little bit to
Speaker 3: get that first Super Bowl championship and maybe that breaks
Speaker 3: the damn right they get one and all of a
Speaker 3: sudden they're a team that wins a couple in a
Speaker 3: few years. But until they get that first one, the
Speaker 3: pressure is going to continue to mount and mount and
Speaker 3: mount in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: That's literally the last bullet point I had to ask
Speaker 1: about was the pressure that they might be facing this year,
Speaker 1: because again, like you said, I listen to all kinds
Speaker 1: of different podcasts around the NFL, and that's one of
Speaker 1: the things I hear about is this has to be
Speaker 1: the year for Buffalo.
Speaker 2: It's like it does it? I don't know, I mean,
Speaker 2: maybe maybe not.
Speaker 1: And you know you mentioned some of the additions on
Speaker 1: the offensive line there. I thought they did a great
Speaker 1: job of going and getting Brandon Shall of Cyrus Torrance
Speaker 1: and who was the other one up here, Connor McGovern
Speaker 1: this offseason, So maybe there is a little more thought
Speaker 1: there towards the running game. But like you mentioned, I
Speaker 1: think that the best example of the passing game and
Speaker 1: being reliant on that and the pressure they felt was
Speaker 1: like you talked about in the playoffs, because before the
Speaker 1: Bengals game against Miami, Alan average like it was something
Speaker 1: like fourteen are yards per throw in that game against Miami,
Speaker 1: and he turned the ball over a lot in that game,
Speaker 1: and it kept Miami in the game till the very
Speaker 1: end there, you know, with a rookie quarterback under center
Speaker 1: for them. So I'm curious how, like, I don't know
Speaker 1: how you could possibly answlis Evan. I'm gonna ask anyways,
Speaker 1: because we don't know the psyche of the professional athlete.
Speaker 1: But I'm thinking about your time covering the Patriots because
Speaker 1: when the first they had that first like dynasty, right,
Speaker 1: they just won right away and they kept winning after that,
Speaker 1: So there wasn't like this pressure to go get a
Speaker 1: championship at that time. But I think the second part
Speaker 1: of Brady's career, when the championships weren't coming and they
Speaker 1: had lost a couple of Super Bowls, did they kind
Speaker 1: of feel that sense of pressure? How do you think
Speaker 1: that team can kind of compare to this Buffalo team
Speaker 1: in terms of we got to go find a way
Speaker 1: to win a ring because right now we have this
Speaker 1: all time great quarterback, we have to pay it off
Speaker 1: with a championship.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I look at let's face it, and now in hindsight,
Speaker 3: we don't have to worry about this in New England.
Speaker 3: But if the Patriots dynasty quote unquote had just started
Speaker 3: at two thousand and five and they never had dynasty
Speaker 3: two point zero in the twenty tens, then you're gonna
Speaker 3: look back and say they only won three times with
Speaker 3: Tom Brady, Like that's kind of a failure, you know,
Speaker 3: similar to how like Brett fav won once in Green
Speaker 3: Bay in the beginning of his career and never won again,
Speaker 3: and Aaron Rodgers won once and never won again. Like
Speaker 3: that's sort of what the narratives might have been in
Speaker 3: Tom Brady's career. And I think it's one hundred percent
Speaker 3: true that in those early twenty tens, like when they
Speaker 3: reset after the Moss years, like you know, nine to
Speaker 3: twenty ten around there, they had some really bad defenses
Speaker 3: and there was a lot of pressure to win another one.
Speaker 3: They went a decade as much success as they had,
Speaker 3: and they made two Super Bowls and they won a
Speaker 3: ton of games. The Patriots about a decade in between
Speaker 3: Super Bowls from two thousand and four to twenty fourteen,
Speaker 3: so there was a little bit of a drought in
Speaker 3: terms of championships. And I think that Buffalo is in
Speaker 3: a similar spot where they have to maximize this Allan
Speaker 3: Digs window and at some point they'll probably turn it
Speaker 3: over to a next regime around Allen because Diggs is
Speaker 3: going to age out and Alan isn't. But will they
Speaker 3: be able to replenish the arsenal at that point and
Speaker 3: will they be able to find another Stefan Diggs to
Speaker 3: pair with a thirty to thirty five year old Josh Allen,
Speaker 3: let's say, And that's really what they're up against right now,
Speaker 3: is making sure that the roster around Allen doesn't h
Speaker 3: and it doesn't wilt around him to the point where
Speaker 3: then they have to reset. So I think there's a
Speaker 3: ton of pressure on Sean McDermott and Buffalo, and I
Speaker 3: think you have to start really considering the fact that
Speaker 3: if they don't get over the hump and they don't
Speaker 3: at least make the super Bowl here soon, how much
Speaker 3: longer is Sean McDermott gonna have until they look at
Speaker 3: it and say, well, he got us to this point,
Speaker 3: but is he really the coach that's gonna win a
Speaker 3: title for us? And I kind of go always go
Speaker 3: back and cross sports, you know, like with the Warriors
Speaker 3: right with Mark Jackson, and then the finally they bring
Speaker 3: in Steve Kerr and he's the one that gets them
Speaker 3: the championship. And maybe that's a similar thing with Sean
Speaker 3: McDermott and the Bills. We'll see. But ultimately I really
Speaker 3: find it interesting to see where this offense is headed
Speaker 3: and what they do because the two things that have
Speaker 3: really stood out to me about Buffalo, and this is
Speaker 3: sort of their bottom line, is that Josh Allen can
Speaker 3: easily win the game for you as easily as he
Speaker 3: can throw it away for you. And the interceptions and
Speaker 3: the high volatility for their offense, especially like in the
Speaker 3: red zone and things like that and short yardage has
Speaker 3: been a big problem for them in these close games
Speaker 3: against playoff teams in the playoffs like last year. And secondly,
Speaker 3: they're running game without Allen being a factor. Just their
Speaker 3: traditional turn it, you know, turnaround and hand the ball
Speaker 3: to the running back style running game has been bad
Speaker 3: the last couple of years. It just has been bad.
Speaker 3: So are they going to go all in on Allen
Speaker 3: being Cam Newton two point zero and just let them
Speaker 3: keep running all over the place, or are they going
Speaker 3: to try to shift and then talking about the longevity
Speaker 3: of Josh Allen, right, like how much do you really
Speaker 3: want to put on his plate? So I think that offensively,
Speaker 3: they're at sort of a schematic crossroads of what's really
Speaker 3: best for the long term and maybe what's best for
Speaker 3: going all in on the short term to win the championship.
Speaker 2: Really well said.
Speaker 1: My first thought was, man, what a tough industry that
Speaker 1: you have a coach who, for my money, is one
Speaker 1: of the best in the NFL consistently putting his team
Speaker 1: deep into the postseason. But like you said, like you
Speaker 1: never know, and that I love the basketball baseball crossovers
Speaker 1: here in the podcast to do it all the time.
Speaker 1: So that Mark Jackson comment was perfect for the podcast here.
Speaker 1: But what a tough industry, man, Like, you're winning all
Speaker 1: these games, and you might, you know, you might have
Speaker 1: that thought in the future of like can't he get
Speaker 1: him over the hump? Like I remember Andy Reid dealt
Speaker 1: with that for years and years before he got that
Speaker 1: first championship with the Chiefs, and now it's like, looking
Speaker 1: back in hindsight, yeah, he's one of the best coaches
Speaker 1: of all time there.
Speaker 2: So very fascinating.
Speaker 1: And then the Josh Allen stuff man the way sometimes
Speaker 1: when he gets hit Evan, I'm like, there's no way
Speaker 1: he's getting up from that.
Speaker 2: He bounces right back up.
Speaker 1: He is an absolute tank and I'm curious to see
Speaker 1: if they do, you know, continue.
Speaker 2: Having him take that kind of punishment.
Speaker 1: I think the front office would like to see him
Speaker 1: not do as much, but sometimes you can't coach the
Speaker 1: player out of the player sometimes. And you know, speaking
Speaker 1: of injuries, he did take an injury last year that
Speaker 1: didn't cost him any time, but I think it did
Speaker 1: affect the way he played for a stretch of games
Speaker 1: there with that elbow injury. Facing the New York Jets,
Speaker 1: a team that did beat Buffalo once last year and
Speaker 1: competed in the second contest with him. But now the
Speaker 1: Jets all of a sudden have their answer at the
Speaker 1: biggest position that was a real weakest for him last
Speaker 1: year at quarterbacks. They pivot here to the Jets real quick.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins wi play the Buffalo Bills Week four in
Speaker 1: Buffalo on October the first at one o'clock kickoff, and
Speaker 1: then the season finale Week eighteen down here in Miami
Speaker 1: for possibly a Saturday or a Sunday game against Buffalo
Speaker 1: speaking of the New York Jets, it all starts with
Speaker 1: a quarterback, right, Aaron Rodgers. I just want to hear
Speaker 1: your opinion here of someone's opinion that I really respect
Speaker 1: in terms of the x's and o's and you know,
Speaker 1: scheme fits and all that stuff. What do you make
Speaker 1: of Aaron Rodgers' season last year where it was kind
Speaker 1: of a downturn from the previous two MVP seasons, And
Speaker 1: how do you think he can get back to that
Speaker 1: this year or will he not get back to that?
Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers last year reminded me so much of twenty
Speaker 3: nineteen Brady, And as it turns out, it was his
Speaker 3: last year, just like it was in with Brady in
Speaker 3: New England, his last year being in Green Bay last year.
Speaker 3: So you look at what happened last year with the Packers.
Speaker 3: They have a big turnover at the wide receiver position.
Speaker 3: They traded the Adams the Patriots in nineteen Rob Gronkowski retires, right,
Speaker 3: So two kind of you know, Hall of Fame caliber players,
Speaker 3: pillars of the organization. They leave, and the quarterback is
Speaker 3: stuck making it work with rookies and new guys and
Speaker 3: new faces and new places. And they get frustrated. They
Speaker 3: just naturally get frustrated. Aaron Rodgers has to look at
Speaker 3: it and say, they didn't give me enough to win
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl this year. We don't have the talent
Speaker 3: on the offensive side of the football or the experience
Speaker 3: to really win a Super Bowl. And then he's also
Speaker 3: not playing at the level that we're used to seeing
Speaker 3: him play, and all of a sudden, now you have
Speaker 3: a disgruntled quarterback. And Brady's famous line was the Patriots
Speaker 3: actually started the nineteen season like eight or nine to
Speaker 3: zero because of the defense, and he said that he
Speaker 3: was the unhappiest nine to zero quarterback in the history
Speaker 3: of the NFL. And I think that Rogers probably felt
Speaker 3: the same way, although the record was worse for Green Bay.
Speaker 3: So the question really is with the Jets. And now
Speaker 3: he's got Garrett Wilson and he's got some some tools
Speaker 3: and some pieces to work with. But can they get
Speaker 3: Rogers back dialed in? Can they get that Bucks Brady
Speaker 3: version of Aaron Rodgers. Because Brady goes to Tampa Bay,
Speaker 3: he's got weapons up the Yin Yang with you know,
Speaker 3: Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, and then Antonio Brown comes
Speaker 3: and Gromp comes out of retirement and they win a
Speaker 3: Super Bowl. So it could it could easily go that
Speaker 3: way for the Jets, or it could easily go the
Speaker 3: way of a lot of guys at this stage of
Speaker 3: their careers that move on from the team they spent
Speaker 3: their entire careers with, and it could go belly up.
Speaker 3: Like I honestly think I lean more towards them being
Speaker 3: competitive than not. But how competitive are they is really
Speaker 3: gonna come down to is Aaron Rodgers gonna be the
Speaker 3: MVP Aaron Rodgers or is he gonna just be better
Speaker 3: than Zach Wilson, which like isn't really much of saying much.
Speaker 3: So I think that that's gonna be a big thing
Speaker 3: I think in Miami and New England or hope that
Speaker 3: is still the kind of fizzled out Aaron Rodgers. But
Speaker 3: more than likely, I think that he's going to play
Speaker 3: some pretty good football.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, it's a pretty interesting conversation because
Speaker 1: you have two guys here that want to see that
Speaker 1: ladder portion you were talking about where it does fizzle
Speaker 1: out and we all get to, you know, have our
Speaker 1: laughs of the Jets that we love to get off
Speaker 1: so much here but certainly look like the most competitive
Speaker 1: team they fielded here in quite a long time. And
Speaker 1: a big part of that goes to the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the football what they were able to do last year.
Speaker 1: And I always look at, you know, top of the
Speaker 1: line defense and who better to talk to you than this,
Speaker 1: you know, conversation about sustaining defensive play because the Patriots
Speaker 1: have done it for so long. And we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that when the Patriots do come up here next. But
Speaker 1: I'm always kind of dubious about teams that, you know,
Speaker 1: they have that really dominant defense that just puts together
Speaker 1: a top of the line season that really doesn't allow
Speaker 1: many points in how many yards and just dominates teams.
Speaker 1: It's typically tough to sustain that year after year. I'm
Speaker 1: curious how you think this Jets defense can do that
Speaker 1: and kind of how it's built upon those two corners, right,
Speaker 1: DJ Reid and obviously Sauce Gardner.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the big thing with the Jets defense
Speaker 3: is that it's also built on the system. And we
Speaker 3: know that the system is sound because it's traveled from
Speaker 3: San Francisco to New York and to a few other
Speaker 3: places that Robert Salad you know, Kyle Shanahan masterpiece of
Speaker 3: really what has morphed I think in the Jets at least,
Speaker 3: you know, I haven't studied the Niners film quite as
Speaker 3: much as I have with the Jets, but they play
Speaker 3: a lot more quarters in like two high structures at
Speaker 3: this point than that true Seattle three system that we've
Speaker 3: seen with Pete Carroll and the Seahawks back in the day.
Speaker 3: So I think with this defense, you really have to
Speaker 3: have great linebacker play in order to pull this off.
Speaker 3: And we know in San Francisco they have Warner, they
Speaker 3: have green Law, they have two athletic range ye really
Speaker 3: good zone coverage linebackers. And with the Jets, it's been
Speaker 3: Mosy and it's been Quincy Williams, who's kind of an
Speaker 3: underrated player. I think in the middle of that entire
Speaker 3: defense are those two guys mostly I think is getting
Speaker 3: a little bit up there in age but still a
Speaker 3: good player. And Quincy Williams, like I mentioned, a little
Speaker 3: bit of a of an unknown to kind of under
Speaker 3: the radar player. Are they going to be able to
Speaker 3: continue to dominate the middle of the field at the
Speaker 3: second level like they have over the last couple of
Speaker 3: seasons because I think you know what you're gonna get
Speaker 3: on the outside with Reed and Sauce, Like those two
Speaker 3: guys are going to be good players, especially Sauce. Gardner
Speaker 3: is going to be one of the best corners in
Speaker 3: the league again, and especially in this system. It's I'm
Speaker 3: not going to say it's easier for corners, but I
Speaker 3: do think it's a little bit easier than some of
Speaker 3: the man heavy systems that you see across the league
Speaker 3: to just control your side of the field, play bail,
Speaker 3: play cover three, play a little bit of man to
Speaker 3: man Situationally, it feels a little bit like Sauce should
Speaker 3: basically be the same that he was last year, if
Speaker 3: not better. But I look at this defense and I
Speaker 3: also remember, you know, the two games they played against
Speaker 3: New England last year, what really stood out was how
Speaker 3: good their front was. Quentin Williams. Obviously, John Franklin Myers,
Speaker 3: I think is one of the most underrated players in
Speaker 3: the entire NFL. And now they out add Will McDonald
Speaker 3: in the first round. I thought, I don't know about you,
Speaker 3: but I thought it was a little bit early for
Speaker 3: will McDonald when they drafted him. And I know the
Speaker 3: rumors were that they were, They were after Roderick Jones
Speaker 3: and they got passed over by the Steelers. Who knows
Speaker 3: what actually ended up happening there. The Jets claim that's
Speaker 3: not what happened, but who knows. And then Bryce Huff
Speaker 3: I think is a really good situational josh U j
Speaker 3: edge rusher type that plays on third down in the
Speaker 3: passing game. They absolutely ate up the Patriots offensive line
Speaker 3: for two games last year with that front, with Quinn
Speaker 3: Williams playing out of his mind for most of the year.
Speaker 3: So I look at this defense, I think it's going
Speaker 3: to be just as good. I think the systems sound
Speaker 3: and really travels and translates year to year, and then
Speaker 3: you have good players. So I don't really see where
Speaker 3: the dropoff comes for the Jets. I think if you
Speaker 3: are a Dolphins fanner you're a Patriots fan, and you're
Speaker 3: hoping that there's a dropoff coming. Maybe it's at the
Speaker 3: linebacker level with Mosley starting to show his age a
Speaker 3: little bit, but it's hard. It's hard to see it.
Speaker 3: It's hard to see the Jets defense being much worse
Speaker 3: than it was last year.
Speaker 1: You nailed it with the how the Niners played their
Speaker 1: system for so long they're under saloon and really with
Speaker 1: Tamiko Ryan's now going forward, I'm sure with Steve Wilkes,
Speaker 1: but they the cornerback investment wasn't a position they really
Speaker 1: invested in. You see this Jets team they have, you know,
Speaker 1: invested heavily with the number. Was it the number four
Speaker 1: overall picked at saw was a couple of years ago?
Speaker 1: And then uh, excuse me, then DJ read obviously a
Speaker 1: big free agent acquisition. But then, like you talked about
Speaker 1: that front, they have gone after that position, you know,
Speaker 1: year after year here, Michael Clemens.
Speaker 2: A year ago you mentioned John Franklin.
Speaker 1: Myers got a contract, Carl Lawson got a big contract,
Speaker 1: while back Bryce Huff and Will McDonald the first round pick.
Speaker 1: This year they go out and they get Solomon Thomas
Speaker 1: as well. So, man, they have waves and waves of
Speaker 1: pass rushers. And if we can pivot back to the
Speaker 1: offensive side here, because I agree with you, I think
Speaker 1: the defense is going to be their calling card once again,
Speaker 1: and if Rogers can make it all happen, then obviously
Speaker 1: that that makes them a really dangerous out there in
Speaker 1: the AFC East. By I think you talk about potential,
Speaker 1: you know, trapdoor scenarios, because I look at what the
Speaker 1: Packers had last year and Rogers got hit a lot,
Speaker 1: he was under pressure a lot, and that Packers old
Speaker 1: line was awfully banged up. What do you think about
Speaker 1: this Jets offensive line and how you know they kind
Speaker 1: of pivot from excuse me, evan, from from that Mike
Speaker 1: Lafloor to Nathaniel Hackett and how the offensive line kind
Speaker 1: of comes together because I'm looking at a line that
Speaker 1: is really relying at that tackle position on a couple
Speaker 1: of guys that have been banged up a lot last
Speaker 1: couple of years, and Mkai Beckton and Dwayne Brown.
Speaker 3: It's a great point, and I would definitely point to
Speaker 3: the line as being the real potential Achilles Heel for
Speaker 3: the Jets. And as much as Aaron Rodgers over his
Speaker 3: career has been mobile and been able to move around
Speaker 3: at this stage at forty, like, who knows how mobile
Speaker 3: he's truly gonna be. And I look at that really
Speaker 3: that right tackle spot with Mkai Becton, like how many
Speaker 3: times are we going to do this? With Mkai Beckton
Speaker 3: counting on him as being a full time starter and
Speaker 3: somebody that doesn't just you know, half a season, but
Speaker 3: his seventeen plus games and potentially into the playoffs if
Speaker 3: he gets injured. I just don't know where the Jets
Speaker 3: go from there. Max Mitchell, I think he's more of
Speaker 3: a left tackle. He's, you know, a guy that's a
Speaker 3: little bit thinner, a little bit more athletic. Carter Warren.
Speaker 3: I saw him at at the Shrine Bowl, I believe,
Speaker 3: and he's a big, big dude. He's a massive guy.
Speaker 3: He's a rookie out of Pittsburgh, and I think he's
Speaker 3: got potential and he's got tools. But he's a developmental project,
Speaker 3: I would say. And then we know about Yodnika just
Speaker 3: up here and how that has not exactly panned out
Speaker 3: for him in his NFL career also due to injuries.
Speaker 3: So he's not really somebody that you can count on
Speaker 3: being healthy either. So I look at the tackle spots
Speaker 3: for the Jets, I had big time concerns. I like
Speaker 3: Joe Tipman. I think that was a good draft pick
Speaker 3: by them at center and kind of solidifies that interior
Speaker 3: three with Elijah Veratucker. But where do they where do
Speaker 3: they go at tackle? Do they kick ver Tucker back
Speaker 3: out the tackle? I know he's played tackle a little
Speaker 3: bit in his college career. I'm not sure if he's
Speaker 3: played much there in the pros. I think that's a
Speaker 3: big thing. But with Hackett and with Rogers, you do
Speaker 3: expect them to be a little bit Shanahan, McDaniel Lee.
Speaker 3: I'll give it, you know, McDaniel ye as well. Where
Speaker 3: there's gonna be outside zone, there's gonna be motion, there's
Speaker 3: gonna be misdirection, play action, boot action like things like
Speaker 3: that that are going to try to move the pocket,
Speaker 3: are going to try to change the point of attack
Speaker 3: for the defensive line and the pass rushers, and maybe
Speaker 3: they get by with a smoke and mirrors type of
Speaker 3: approach to an extent up front, but they're gonna have
Speaker 3: to be well schemed, well coached. I always look at
Speaker 3: it at those offenses have to be really well synced
Speaker 3: up right. You have to have the play action and
Speaker 3: the run game and everything sort of marry up so
Speaker 3: that defenses tend to fall for it and really take
Speaker 3: the cheese there. Otherwise, I think if you're gonna have
Speaker 3: to straight up with their tackle situation, especially with what
Speaker 3: they're going to face. At all three teams in the
Speaker 3: AFC East have pass rushers that can get after the
Speaker 3: quarterback as edge guys, they're going to have their word
Speaker 3: cut out for him if they're going to have to
Speaker 3: just block those guys straight up.
Speaker 1: Well, Evans providing excellent analysis here on the AFC East
Speaker 1: as a whole. We're going to take our first break
Speaker 1: right here and come back on the other side and
Speaker 1: get to Evans team, the New England Patriots talk about
Speaker 1: how they might impact this AFC East Before that, real
Speaker 1: quick Dolphins faced the Jets twice late in the year,
Speaker 1: Black Friday Week twelve at New York for a Friday,
Speaker 1: November the twenty fourth, three o'clock kickoff, and then week
Speaker 1: number fifteen down here in Miami Sunday, December the seventeen
Speaker 1: for one o'clock kickoff. Let's take that break right here
Speaker 1: with my guest Evan Lazar, come back on the other side,
Speaker 1: talk about Patriots and Dolphins on the AFC East Preview
Speaker 1: edition of the Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Auto Nation, picking it back up
Speaker 1: here with the AFC East preview for our summer preview
Speaker 1: series here on the Draft Time Podcast, My Game, Today's
Speaker 1: Evan Lazar and Evan great stuff on the Jets and Bill.
Speaker 1: So far, we saved the best for last in terms
Speaker 1: of the teams that we cover here and the New
Speaker 1: England Patriots and the Miami Dolphin. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: start up there in Foxborough with your Patriots. And I
Speaker 1: think the biggest question Dolphins fans or anybody would have
Speaker 1: for the Patriots this year is the shift from the
Speaker 1: offensive system a year ago back to Bill O'Brien this
Speaker 1: year and the impact it might have on Mac Jones.
Speaker 1: How do they get Mac Jones back to more of
Speaker 1: that rookie year production where he was a really good
Speaker 1: quarterback and Bill O'Brien's impact on the offense.
Speaker 2: What are you seeing up there so far?
Speaker 3: Well, there's two ways to discuss this. I think the
Speaker 3: biggest thing is sort of the bird's eye thirty thousand
Speaker 3: feet view of is competency on offense and competency really
Speaker 3: as an organization, because let's face it, last year, especially offensively,
Speaker 3: but I know it didn't necessarily trickle into results defensively,
Speaker 3: defense was pretty good. I think overall the operation was
Speaker 3: kind of a mess, right Bill Belichick held it together
Speaker 3: with duct tape, But let's face it, the way that
Speaker 3: they offer offensive coaching staff was set up. It was
Speaker 3: a ticking time bomb and that really set the tone
Speaker 3: I think for the entire season and the entire ceiling
Speaker 3: of the team last year. So is competency is having
Speaker 3: professional coaches in the right spots where they should be coaching.
Speaker 3: Is that going to be enough to really flip the
Speaker 3: switch for mac Jones and for the entire offense, because
Speaker 3: I still think that they have question marks about high
Speaker 3: end talent, like do they have enough high end talent
Speaker 3: at receiver? They also have tackle issues right now on
Speaker 3: the offensive line, with Trent Brown coming in a little
Speaker 3: bit overweight right tackle being an open competition between a
Speaker 3: couple names that we can go over that aren't exactly exhilarating.
Speaker 3: So their top end talent is not what Buffalo has,
Speaker 3: It's not what Miami has, especially at the receiver position.
Speaker 3: And is it going to be enough to just be
Speaker 3: a professional operation on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be the number one question
Speaker 3: going in to the season for the Patriots. Notwithstanding if
Speaker 3: they've signed DeAndre Hopkins like that obviously could change that
Speaker 3: outlook a little bit. But a thirty one year old
Speaker 3: DeAndre Hopkins. I don't think all of a sudden we
Speaker 3: look at it and say, oh wow, the Patriots are
Speaker 3: Super Bowl contenders. It makes them better, But how much better,
Speaker 3: I think remains to be seen. The other question schematically
Speaker 3: about the Bill O'Brien direction of the offense under Bill
Speaker 3: O'Brien and what it means for mac They at least
Speaker 3: in the spring had a pretty good Alabama flair to
Speaker 3: some of the things that they were doing, and it
Speaker 3: kind of looks like a combination of the Bill O'Brien
Speaker 3: traditional twenty eleven Patriots playbook and what they were running
Speaker 3: in Tuscaloosa over the last two years. So I think
Speaker 3: you're going to see a lot of twelve personnel, two
Speaker 3: tight ends with Hunter Henry and Mi Kasicki. I think
Speaker 3: you're going to see a lot of spread. I think
Speaker 3: you're going to see a lot of the same things
Speaker 3: that they did in eleven with pace and five wide
Speaker 3: and Brady in the gun just kind of surveying and
Speaker 3: making plays and a lot of stuff in the middle
Speaker 3: of the field up the seams. Like, I don't think
Speaker 3: this is going to be a bombs away offense. They're
Speaker 3: not going to push the ball fifty sixty yards down
Speaker 3: the field. Necessarily, it's going to be more of that
Speaker 3: Death by a thousand paper cuts that I think Brady
Speaker 3: obviously mastered and hopefully Matt can as well to a degree,
Speaker 3: and then some of the Alabama stuff, motion RPO things
Speaker 3: like that I think will also maybe update it a
Speaker 3: little bit. So I'm excited about that. I think that
Speaker 3: the overall approach of let's do what we do best
Speaker 3: over the last twenty years, but let's just bring it
Speaker 3: to twenty twenty three and not be stuck in two
Speaker 3: thousand and one with it, I think that's going to
Speaker 3: make good, mean good things for the Patriots. But it
Speaker 3: comes back to Ken mac Jones take that next step
Speaker 3: and can he be the high end talent piece, right,
Speaker 3: can he get into that next upper edche line of
Speaker 3: quarterbacks where he's driving the bus. I'll give you one
Speaker 3: stat the Patriots in the mac Jones era, this is
Speaker 3: going back to twenty twenty one. They're owen thirteen when
Speaker 3: the opponent scores more than twenty five points oh in thirteen.
Speaker 3: So they have not won a shootout, they have not
Speaker 3: won a thirty five to thirty two game. They haven't
Speaker 3: been able to score enough offensively to win that style
Speaker 3: of game. And when you play Buffalo, when you play
Speaker 3: Miami with their weapons, when you play Aaron Rodgers, you're
Speaker 3: going to get into a lot of games like that
Speaker 3: where it's not going to be enough to score twenty four,
Speaker 3: it's not going to be enough to score twenty seven.
Speaker 3: You're going to have to score into the thirties. And
Speaker 3: can the Patriots put up the numbers to be able
Speaker 3: to do that.
Speaker 1: Well, it's fascinating to hear you say that, because my
Speaker 1: next question for you after you just gave us a
Speaker 1: very comprehensive offensive overview, and I don't think see any
Speaker 1: holes in your argument.
Speaker 2: It's pretty much comprehensive in that way.
Speaker 1: But it's that they do always manage to find a
Speaker 1: way to have one of the top defenses in the NFL.
Speaker 1: And last year, Evan, maybe you could disagree with me here,
Speaker 1: I thought might be the year they drop off a
Speaker 1: little bit because of the personnel and the guys they lost,
Speaker 1: and just how the defense looked going into the year.
Speaker 1: But I was wrong there, obviously, and a lot of
Speaker 1: that probably has to do with Bill Belichick. What they
Speaker 1: do on defense there from a schematics standpoint, but it's
Speaker 1: crazy because, like I agree with you in terms of
Speaker 1: needing to score that many points and how offense in
Speaker 1: today's NFL is probably a little more sustainable in terms
Speaker 1: of winning games and having a great defense and not
Speaker 1: such a good offense, but talking about those defense and
Speaker 1: how they can help them win those twenty four to
Speaker 1: twenty games, because you know, I think even the personnel
Speaker 1: looks good, but even beyond that, you typically have to
Speaker 1: account for the Patriots just being better on that side
Speaker 1: of the ball than the some of their parts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they are so well coached on that side of
Speaker 3: the ball. Obviously starts with Bill Belichick, but Steve Belichick
Speaker 3: has really come into his own as a play caller,
Speaker 3: and Drive Mayo is a future head coach in the league,
Speaker 3: So they really have a guy in Mayo who has
Speaker 3: that DC head coach makeup, doing a lot of the
Speaker 3: just organizational type of stuff, I guess, like the CEO
Speaker 3: type of stuff. On the defense, he does a lot
Speaker 3: of presenting, He does a lot of coaching in practice
Speaker 3: some of the things that you would see a DC do.
Speaker 3: But Steve helps a lot with the game plans and
Speaker 3: calling plays themselves, on Sundays or on game days. So
Speaker 3: that's sort of their set up on defense and what
Speaker 3: they are defensively in terms of scheme is they are
Speaker 3: a true game plan defense. And I don't know if
Speaker 3: that many game plan defenses to the degree that the
Speaker 3: Patriots do it necessarily exist. I mean, we just take
Speaker 3: last year against the Dolphins. They played in that second matchup.
Speaker 3: I know it wasn't against Tua, but even in the
Speaker 3: first matchup, to an extent, they're playing a lot of zone.
Speaker 3: They're playing soft coverage, and they're really hoping to keep
Speaker 3: the top on it right and not let Tyreek and
Speaker 3: Jalen Wattle hit those big plays down the field and
Speaker 3: make the Dolphins march down the field. But then in
Speaker 3: other weeks they'll come out in and they'll play man
Speaker 3: the entire game, right, It just depends on who they're
Speaker 3: playing and what the opponent goes up against. They have
Speaker 3: one of the most comprehensive playbooks and rollodexes of things
Speaker 3: that they can pull in the NFL, and I think
Speaker 3: that that's what makes their defense so much fun to
Speaker 3: watch and to break down, is they have everything in
Speaker 3: their bag. Like they have post safety, they have man
Speaker 3: they have zone, they have too high, they have blitz
Speaker 3: like they can pretty much make it work with anything
Speaker 3: and anywhere at any time, and that makes them really
Speaker 3: fun and unpredictable. That's really going to be a big
Speaker 3: thing for them this year in terms of the players
Speaker 3: getting into sort of the individual players is unpredictability or
Speaker 3: just spinning the dial on quarterbacks. The one big loss
Speaker 3: that they had defensively, they only lost one starter, but
Speaker 3: it was Devin mccordy and he retired after thirteen seasons
Speaker 3: with the Patriots. Obviously a massive, massive loss just in
Speaker 3: all walks like leadership. Communication on and off the field
Speaker 3: in terms of the leadership was huge with Devin, and
Speaker 3: he's obviously played that role better than just about anybody
Speaker 3: I think you know in the last ten years. He's
Speaker 3: one of the better free safeties in the NFL. So
Speaker 3: he's gonna be a big, big shoes to fill there.
Speaker 3: But I think what they're gonna do is really mix
Speaker 3: and match and change up the look for quarterbacks with
Speaker 3: Kyle Dugger, Adrian Phillips, Tabrill Peppers, Joshua Bledsoe had a
Speaker 3: strong camp in mini camp, and then also Jalen Mills
Speaker 3: is transitioning to a more slot safety hybrid type of
Speaker 3: role versus outside corner now that they have Christian Gonzales.
Speaker 3: So their secondary, even without Jack Jones, who we can
Speaker 3: talk about if you want, goes eight, nine to ten
Speaker 3: deep in the back end of guys that can play
Speaker 3: at an NFL level. And then their front is exceptionally
Speaker 3: good as well, with Matthew, Judon Barmore, Dietrich Wise and
Speaker 3: Josh Uch coming off the other edge. They have a
Speaker 3: pass rush that was third in the last year in
Speaker 3: pressure rate, near the top of the league in sacks,
Speaker 3: so they can get after the quarterback. They're going to
Speaker 3: be sound in the back end in terms of coaching
Speaker 3: and how they structurally set up. And now they are
Speaker 3: some couple of rookies too that I think really have
Speaker 3: a lot of people here optimistic about maybe putting them
Speaker 3: over the top, because I think the one thing about
Speaker 3: their defense, Travis, is that they're a little bit of
Speaker 3: a paper tiger. Sometimes they absolutely dominate backup quarterbacks bad offenses,
Speaker 3: like if you come into New England with Skyler Thompson,
Speaker 3: like you're not scoring a very many points. But when
Speaker 3: they go up against Josh Allen, when they go up
Speaker 3: against Patrick Mahomes, when they go up against the great
Speaker 3: quarterbacks in this league, those guys can score on them
Speaker 3: and have scored on them. Allen's really kind of figured
Speaker 3: them out over the last couple of years. Lamar put
Speaker 3: up thirty seven points on them earlier in the year
Speaker 3: last year. So can they be a defense that doesn't
Speaker 3: just dominate backups and bad comp petition, but can also
Speaker 3: control the game against elite offenses? I think is gonna
Speaker 3: be the next step for the defense? Does that exist?
Speaker 3: I don't know, Like does that defense exist in the
Speaker 3: league anymore? I don't know, But if it does, then
Speaker 3: maybe the Patriots can take that next step.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's a great point.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because every time I do a Dolphins
Speaker 1: Patriots preview, I'm like, you're gonna get eight possessions on
Speaker 1: offense for either team here, and just see how many
Speaker 1: points you can get out of those, because, like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: they do a good job of keeping the top on
Speaker 1: the defense, or at least against this Dolphins offense, And
Speaker 1: it just seems like it's always a twenty to fourteen
Speaker 1: or a twenty three.
Speaker 2: To seventeen type of game.
Speaker 1: Get we match up with the y'all, and then you
Speaker 1: know John Jones comes back this year as well. Jonathan
Speaker 1: Jones and his matchups on Tyreek Hill, He's gotta be
Speaker 1: one of the best cornerbacks to ever cover Tyreek Kill.
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, he seems to have his number in
Speaker 1: that regard, So it's always a fun matchup. There a
Speaker 1: couple more names we didn't really discuss the Patriots added
Speaker 1: this offseason, Riley Reeve, Juju Smith, Schuster. You mentioned Mike
Speaker 1: get Sick he as well to go on with Jabrill Peppers.
Speaker 1: I think you mentioned him as well. So fun matchups
Speaker 1: this year. Every game this division is gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: I think the Dolphins will face the Paige. It's like
Speaker 1: I mentioned week two and then again back in Week
Speaker 1: eight down here in South Florida. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: take our last break right there and come back on
Speaker 1: the other side, and we'll finally get to the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins here with my guest today, Evan Lazar. Draft Time Podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 1: All right, Evan, you were as comprehensive as can be
Speaker 1: there talking all things New England Patriots. Didn't really have
Speaker 1: to ask you fall us, because you pretty much nailed
Speaker 1: down everything I wanted to ask you in each of
Speaker 1: your answers, So we'll kind of go ahead and spin
Speaker 1: this thing forward here to the home team here on
Speaker 1: the Drive Time podcast and one of your all biggest
Speaker 1: rivals in the Miami Dolphins, And I just kind of
Speaker 1: want to hear your perspective on the Dolphins offseason, their
Speaker 1: outlook heading into the year because I have like three
Speaker 1: things I'm focusing on for how they can get better
Speaker 1: and improve upon the nine win season a year ago.
Speaker 1: But I definitely want to hear in a punt's perspective
Speaker 1: on this Dolphins twenty twenty three operation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the big thing for Miami, besides two
Speaker 3: his health, which goes without saying, is just how does
Speaker 3: Mike McDaniel adjust to some of the things that defenses
Speaker 3: were doing to them later in the year when they
Speaker 3: came out And I know that to his injury played
Speaker 3: a big role in why their offense wasn't quite as
Speaker 3: efficient towards the end of the year as it was
Speaker 3: in the beginning of the year, but they came out
Speaker 3: as probably the best offense in football from like an
Speaker 3: EPA perspective and then it kind of started to really
Speaker 3: tail off. And then when Tua got hurt, a nose
Speaker 3: dives and is that simply the quarterback getting hurt? Is
Speaker 3: it schematically that the defenses were seeing more things on
Speaker 3: tape from McDaniel and started to catch up to him.
Speaker 3: I know the Chargers kind of put a blueprint out
Speaker 3: there about how to handle the motion and the different
Speaker 3: things that they do pre snap with Tyreek Hill. You
Speaker 3: know what point do they adjust and do they make
Speaker 3: some different things happen. I know with Sean McVay, he
Speaker 3: was able to take the Patriots Super Bowl as a
Speaker 3: learning experience and be a little bit more multiple in
Speaker 3: the run game and throw some different things at defenses
Speaker 3: to be a little bit more unpredictable, and then they
Speaker 3: win a Super Bowl with Matthew Stafford. So what's What's
Speaker 3: that one of those Dolphins decide internally was the real
Speaker 3: reason why their offense went from where it was at
Speaker 3: the beginning for six weeks of the season to where
Speaker 3: it was at the end of the year. If they
Speaker 3: chalk it up to just Tua getting hurt, then I
Speaker 3: can totally understand that, and it's probably a valid reason.
Speaker 3: But I'm curious to get your opinion on do you
Speaker 3: feel like that was all it was, or you know,
Speaker 3: is it something else, because I still feel like this
Speaker 3: team needs to win with the offense at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, especially with the division and schedules and
Speaker 3: things like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And you talk about the Chargers game and the Niners game,
Speaker 1: we're kind of the two that seemed to tilt the
Speaker 1: offense a little bit back more towards the middle of
Speaker 1: the pack and the way they produced and obviously the
Speaker 1: completion percentage went way down. The Chargers game was just
Speaker 1: kind of like the biggest blip on the radar in
Speaker 1: terms of not really being productive at all.
Speaker 2: But what was funny about both those games.
Speaker 1: In the Niners game, I thought I thought Tua was
Speaker 1: better than the Charger game in the Nighter game with
Speaker 1: how you missed a couple of throws that were schemed
Speaker 1: open for him and just didn't quite get him on target.
Speaker 1: But even in those games they struggled, they still had
Speaker 1: the explosive plays.
Speaker 2: You had the.
Speaker 1: Crazy Tyreek fumble return for a touchdown, which I don't
Speaker 1: count that as like something you can count on, but
Speaker 1: the fifty six yard touchdown pass to him in that
Speaker 1: game and then a forty five yard touchdown pass to
Speaker 1: him in the Niners game. To me, it comes down
Speaker 1: to being more efficient in the short yardage and not
Speaker 1: being so I guess, you know, negligent in the pre
Speaker 1: snap operation because there was way too many instances where
Speaker 1: that the play got in late. They were up against
Speaker 1: a late play clock, They had false starts, offensive penalties
Speaker 1: that set them back behind the chains. If they can
Speaker 1: just get those things fixed, I think they could be
Speaker 1: more efficient, keep the ball for longer, and then you
Speaker 1: have not just an explosive play offense, but hopefully also
Speaker 1: a ball control offense to go along with that too.
Speaker 1: So it's really fascinating, man. I can't wait to see
Speaker 1: what it looks like this year. Like you mentioned how
Speaker 1: McDaniel justin how he changes.
Speaker 2: Things, does he run the ball more?
Speaker 1: He does say he regretted not running the ball as
Speaker 1: much as he did, as he didn't do last year.
Speaker 1: But I also say, like you've got Tyreek kill jaylan Walla,
Speaker 1: why would you not just throw the balls then every
Speaker 1: single play?
Speaker 2: So it's it's an interesting there.
Speaker 1: But we're all finished this Dolphins discussion with you on
Speaker 1: is the defense and I respect your opinion so much
Speaker 1: on x's and o's and sitting the all twenty two, Evan,
Speaker 1: is the Vic Fangio impact because you mentioned the offense
Speaker 1: typically does win the day. In the NFL, the best
Speaker 1: offense is find a way to get to the big game.
Speaker 2: With the Chiefs and the Eagles a year ago.
Speaker 1: And Eagles defense is pretty good too, but offensively those
Speaker 1: teams could fly out role. But I'm curious how you
Speaker 1: think Vic Fangio can come back off a year away
Speaker 1: from the game and put his fingerprints on this defense
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden has Jalen Ramsey to go
Speaker 1: along with Xavi and Howard and Javon Holland and Christian
Speaker 1: Wilkins and Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb.
Speaker 2: It's it's a who's who of star players out there.
Speaker 2: Can he get them going right away? Do you think.
Speaker 3: It's to me? And I look, I this might be
Speaker 3: a little bit of a hot take, but I think
Speaker 3: the biggest addition to the AFC East is Big Fangio.
Speaker 3: And I know Aaron Rodgers is going to be the
Speaker 3: one that gets all the headlines, but Vic Fangios terrifies
Speaker 3: me because I just feel like he's going to get
Speaker 3: that Dolphins defense to the point where they aren't just
Speaker 3: a bunch of star players with big names and actually
Speaker 3: aren't playing as a unit as one. And I know
Speaker 3: under the Flores they had really good stretches, but really
Speaker 3: I felt like what happened with that was like the
Speaker 3: zero Blitch package just took people by surprise, and they
Speaker 3: didn't exactly hadn't really seen something as exotic and as
Speaker 3: different as that, and a coach that was willing to
Speaker 3: dial up the pressure as consistently as the boyer you know,
Speaker 3: Flores Era, if you will, were able to do. And
Speaker 3: then last year I was just stunned by even against
Speaker 3: the Patriots, who, let's face it, tray they stunk offensively
Speaker 3: last year. But some of the decisions that the Dolphins
Speaker 3: made on defense from a schematic perspective and like a
Speaker 3: game plan perspective, I'm mainly talking about the second game
Speaker 3: up here in New England. They were playing man to
Speaker 3: man and just allowing the Patriots to single up you know,
Speaker 3: Hunter Henry and some of their other guys that could
Speaker 3: actually get open against man coverage and making the picture
Speaker 3: pretty clear for mac Jones. They were really predictable in
Speaker 3: that game, and that was the only reason why the
Speaker 3: Patriots were able to move the ball a little bit
Speaker 3: offensively against them, because it certainly wasn't the Patriots master
Speaker 3: game plan or or they're great play calling that was
Speaker 3: allowing them to do it. So I was shocked how
Speaker 3: much you know, man blitz they played in that game
Speaker 3: and just straight cover one they played against the Patriots,
Speaker 3: because that was the one thing the Patriots could could
Speaker 3: do was if you're gonna man up against us, we're
Speaker 3: gonna give our skill guys a chance to make plays
Speaker 3: down the field. And we feel pretty good about it.
Speaker 3: It was defenses that like Fangio's that play you know,
Speaker 3: too high palms, like these different coverages that Fangio has
Speaker 3: really popularized across the league. Now that that give the
Speaker 3: Patriots a ton of problems, like deciphering the difference between
Speaker 3: you know, Cover six and quarters and three and Fangio's
Speaker 3: system is not easy, Like it's something that really starts
Speaker 3: to blend together. So I'm concerned as a Patriot fan
Speaker 3: about Fangio being in the division because you look at
Speaker 3: the talent is clearly there, right, you got Chubb, you
Speaker 3: got you know, Jalen Phillips, you got Christian Wilkins, you
Speaker 3: got all the guys in the secondary. Like this is
Speaker 3: a really, really talented defense, and they just haven't necessarily
Speaker 3: been put in the best positions to succeed always. And
Speaker 3: the last thing I just remembered about that second matchup,
Speaker 3: they were down to like their like fifth or six
Speaker 3: cornerbacks right like it was like Keon Crossing and like
Speaker 3: some practice squad guys playing and they were still playing
Speaker 3: man to man against the Patriots. So they're not going
Speaker 3: to do that this time this year. You know, they'll
Speaker 3: be well coached and they'll be ready to go.
Speaker 1: A lot of long past interferences last year that really
Speaker 1: kind of extended drives and input points on the board,
Speaker 1: Like you mentioned, the attrition of the cornerback spot was
Speaker 1: it was clearly a focus this off season going and
Speaker 1: getting Jalen Ramsey and then turning around spending your first
Speaker 1: draft pick on Cam Smith, another cornerback that can play
Speaker 1: both inside and outside there as well. So I think
Speaker 1: they're pretty well intent on not letting that happen again
Speaker 1: this year. And you know, it's kind of funny because
Speaker 1: you mentioned some of those Patriots defenses in the paper
Speaker 1: Tiger Element. I kind of thought the same thing was
Speaker 1: true of some of those Dolphins teams from yesteryear. They
Speaker 1: would really get after backup quarterbacks when you see Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes or Josh Allen, and they would go for thirty
Speaker 1: five to forty points on you. So hopefully, hopefully no
Speaker 1: more of that going into the future.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: Really good stuff there, Evan. I agree with you on
Speaker 1: pretty much everything you said. Gonna be a fun battle
Speaker 1: here in the AFC East. Let's go ahead and finish
Speaker 1: up with this real quick and just real briefly on
Speaker 1: each of these categories. Want to get your take. We've
Speaker 1: done this for all eight divisions now talking about the
Speaker 1: division superlatives, the best players in the division by these categories,
Speaker 1: and we start this one to me is obvious. I'll
Speaker 1: go ahead and throw it to anyways, who do you
Speaker 1: think is a top quarterback in the AFC East in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three?
Speaker 3: Still Josh Allen to me, I think that he's still
Speaker 3: the best and most dangerous quarterback until I see Aaron
Speaker 3: Rodgers play like he did a couple of years ago
Speaker 3: at an MVP level. I still would give it to
Speaker 3: Josh Allen. But We talked about it a little bit
Speaker 3: in the Buffalo. I know it's supposed to be a
Speaker 3: quick answer. That's not really my thing, man. Yeah, we
Speaker 3: talked about a little bit with Buffalo. But his superpower
Speaker 3: is his athleticism and his ability to extend plays and
Speaker 3: make things happen in like that playground back, you know,
Speaker 3: backyard football style. If they want him to play more
Speaker 3: in structure to preserve him, I wonder if that is
Speaker 3: making him play too left handed. And at what point
Speaker 3: do you have to just say this is our guy, like,
Speaker 3: this is what he does, this is what he's good at.
Speaker 3: So I would put Dak caveat on Josh Allen, but
Speaker 3: I still think he's the best quarterback in the division.
Speaker 1: You go back and watch the Week three game last
Speaker 1: year against Miami when he was forced to take the
Speaker 1: short stuff all game long. You could just see a
Speaker 1: bubbling and prickolating in terms of how frustrated he was
Speaker 1: by doing that and not being able to get off
Speaker 1: those those big plays and scramble plays that he makes
Speaker 1: so routinely so far this point of his career. But
Speaker 1: that's that's my pick as well, Josh Allen, until someone
Speaker 1: else proves otherwise, how about your top player on offense
Speaker 1: that's not a quarterback in the AFC East.
Speaker 3: I'm going Tyreek Hill. I think Tyreek Hill. And look
Speaker 3: the Patriots. He mentioned it with John Jones. I always
Speaker 3: ask John Jones, like, how do you cover Tyreek Hill
Speaker 3: better than anybody else? And his response is always just
Speaker 3: run really fast, Like just just run fast. He's like,
Speaker 3: there's no like secret to it. It's just with him,
Speaker 3: it's not about building up speed, it's not about like
Speaker 3: pacing out the route. It's you need to get on
Speaker 3: your horse instantaneously. And I don't think if there's anybody
Speaker 3: else and maybe in all of football that's as dangerous
Speaker 3: or as scary on a football field as Tyree Kill
Speaker 3: because he can just house it from anywhere at any
Speaker 3: time really in any type of route. Like he can
Speaker 3: take a slant, he can take a drag and go
Speaker 3: eighty yards, or it can beat you over the top
Speaker 3: eighty yards to the house. So I'm going Tyreek Hill high.
Speaker 3: I still think he's I guess maybe DeVante Adams like
Speaker 3: has a case, is the best receiver in football, but
Speaker 3: I would definitely say Tyreek Hill has got a case.
Speaker 1: We've had that We've heard that a few times in
Speaker 1: the podcast and would definitely appreciate the love for our
Speaker 1: guy down here and just the way he's so detailed
Speaker 1: in his routes who I think really gets underrated in
Speaker 1: terms of how he can create separation and continue and
Speaker 1: I should say finish each route because some guys can
Speaker 1: kind of cut those things off sometimes, but he is
Speaker 1: detailed to the to the tea and gets that stuff executed.
Speaker 1: So the next one here, I think, is where you
Speaker 1: have a lot of options. I'm curious to hear where
Speaker 1: you go. I think pretty much every team in the
Speaker 1: division could put someone forth and say this might be
Speaker 1: the best player, but the best defensive player in the
Speaker 1: AFC East.
Speaker 2: Who who you taking this year?
Speaker 3: Oh man?
Speaker 2: A tough one.
Speaker 3: That is a tough one. So the way I see it,
Speaker 3: I guess, you know, based off of last year and
Speaker 3: solely just off of last year, I'd probably give it
Speaker 3: to Quentin Williams at the moment, But I don't know
Speaker 3: if you're looking at it, you know, it all depends
Speaker 3: on how you look at it, I guess, but I
Speaker 3: think just strictly based off of who was the best
Speaker 3: player last year defensively in the division. I'd probably give
Speaker 3: it to Quentin Williams, but each team has a guy
Speaker 3: that could dominate, Like you said that that has a
Speaker 3: really good case.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's probably my pick two. If I want to
Speaker 1: go Homer, i'd probably go one of our guys down.
Speaker 1: I mean, Christian Wilkins had a hell of a year.
Speaker 1: I you know the guy that I want to float
Speaker 1: that I think is going to have a monster year
Speaker 1: this year, Stealan Phillips. He's really been coming on and
Speaker 1: was really good in terms of pressure. The quarterback just
Speaker 1: had so many pressures where it was like the balls
Speaker 1: out in two point three seconds, you know, Tom Brady
Speaker 1: style for the Patriots there for so long. So he's
Speaker 1: kind of my dark horse pick to maybe be the
Speaker 1: answer to that question next year. But I think Quinn
Speaker 1: Williams right now might be my pick as well. And
Speaker 1: then I think this one's pretty obvious as well. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna go away from the goat the legend that
Speaker 1: he is. But the top coach in the AFC is
Speaker 1: just for posterity, Evan.
Speaker 3: You know, it depends on who you ask up here
Speaker 3: right now. Yeah, He's It's funny because I think that
Speaker 3: there would be probably twenty nine teams that would fire
Speaker 3: their coach immediately and hire Bill Belichick if he became available.
Speaker 3: But yet here in New England it's a what have
Speaker 3: you done for me lately? Town? And at some point
Speaker 3: I don't think it's yet, but if this isn't start
Speaker 3: to turn around, and based off of the decisions I
Speaker 3: really think that Belichick made last year with the coaching
Speaker 3: staff has really left a sour taste in people's mouths.
Speaker 3: And Brady leaving was sort of strike one, and they
Speaker 3: were like willing to give him a little bit of
Speaker 3: a leash to say, Okay, like the greatest coach of
Speaker 3: all time, we're not going to pick you over a
Speaker 3: player that only has two more years left. But now
Speaker 3: that they did what they did last year with the
Speaker 3: coaching staff, his his good favor is starting to run
Speaker 3: a little bit thin in New England. I don't think
Speaker 3: it's quite at hot seat territory yet, but it's certainly
Speaker 3: at like warm warm butt season in New England. But
Speaker 3: it's still Bill Belichick. I'd still give it to him,
Speaker 3: although I will say that I think Sean McDermott is
Speaker 3: a really good coach as well.
Speaker 2: That's my pick as well.
Speaker 1: I think we have again, just like the rest of
Speaker 1: the division in general, I think you have four really
Speaker 1: good coaches here that I think are going to be
Speaker 1: here for a long time.
Speaker 2: So great stuff there, Evan.
Speaker 1: We got to finish this one too, which I'm going
Speaker 1: to be a homer and take the Dolphins. I'm just
Speaker 1: going to say it right now, but give me your
Speaker 1: pick for AFCAS champion this year.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna just I'm gonna play it safe and say Buffalo.
Speaker 3: I still think that they're the best team in the
Speaker 3: division until proven otherwise. I always sort of operate under that.
Speaker 3: But I think what's cool about the division and I
Speaker 3: don't know if i'd necessarily include the Patriots yet, but
Speaker 3: I do think that three out of the four teams
Speaker 3: have a real case to win the division. And talk
Speaker 3: to me in like you know, Halloween about the Patriots, right, like,
Speaker 3: maybe they show me something in the first half of
Speaker 3: the season, because I do think they have the talent
Speaker 3: in the two phases of the game, three phases of
Speaker 3: the game. You want to include special teams in the
Speaker 3: coaching to be competitive in the division, especially if one
Speaker 3: star receiver decides to come here. So I think that
Speaker 3: they have the chance to be in that mix. But
Speaker 3: right now, I'd say it's a three horse race and
Speaker 3: I'll give it to Buffalo. But if you told me
Speaker 3: in January that you know, the Jets or the Dolphins
Speaker 3: won the division, I wouldn't be totally shocked either.
Speaker 2: It's gonna make for a very, very fun season this year.
Speaker 1: At Easy Lazarre on Twitter, Evan Lazar, Patriots dot Com
Speaker 1: Catch twenty two podcasts. Evan, appreciate your time today, man.
Speaker 1: I want to give you a chance for to go
Speaker 1: ahead and promote what you're working on over the summer.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're going on vacation. That's why I'm getting all
Speaker 1: these prev podcasts cranked out right now so I can
Speaker 1: play them out over the summer. So I'm going back
Speaker 1: home for a couple of weeks, I'm not even gonna
Speaker 1: turn on a computer. What are you looking forward to
Speaker 1: doing the summer and what are you working on there
Speaker 1: at Patriots dot com.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we will have vacations.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: My my co worker is on vacation for the next
Speaker 3: couple of weeks and then I go on vacation. So
Speaker 3: we're kind of staggering them a little bit. But we
Speaker 3: have some things going on on Patriots dot Com. We'll
Speaker 3: do you know, roster projections, camp preview, summer previews, sort
Speaker 3: of roster reset versions of those, and then before you
Speaker 3: know it, as you know, Travin will be at training
Speaker 3: camp in a month and it'll be to you know,
Speaker 3: go time. So we still do the podcasts, Catch twenty
Speaker 3: twos once a week, Patriots Unfiltered twice a week. Even
Speaker 3: in the dead season here of the off season, we
Speaker 3: still do the pods and the radio shows and things
Speaker 3: like that, So we'll still have you covered the Patriots.
Speaker 3: Like I keep kind of hinting at, you know, in
Speaker 3: the DeAndre Hopkins sweepstakes, there's some hotfield stuff going on
Speaker 3: with Jack Jones that we're gonna be covering and things
Speaker 3: like that as well. So there's never a dull moment.
Speaker 3: They're always in the news somehow, so we'll have you covered.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Even the six week break of the NFL that
Speaker 1: we get every year is like still still talking football, man.
Speaker 1: I this is my time of year to kind of
Speaker 1: go back and watch them tape and look at you know,
Speaker 1: to kind of get ready for the season and just
Speaker 1: see what I might expect for the upcoming NFL season.
Speaker 2: So Evan, you.
Speaker 1: Said it all, man, appreciate your time today and go
Speaker 1: find that beach somewhere man and kick those feet up.
Speaker 3: Yeah you as well.
Speaker 2: Thanks, Thanks Evan.
Speaker 1: And what he doesn't know, or if he does know
Speaker 1: but maybe didn't realize there is I live twenty five
Speaker 1: minutes from the beach.
Speaker 2: I go there all the time. My daughter loves the beach.
Speaker 2: All right, that's gonna be it for the AFC East preview.
Speaker 2: We have one more of these to do.
Speaker 1: The NFC East will be on Thursday, and then we're
Speaker 1: going to be back to five days a week and
Speaker 1: maybe even six days depending on how the schedule works
Speaker 1: out for training in preseason games. But we have arrived, man,
Speaker 1: the season is here.
Speaker 3: We're gonna be.
Speaker 1: Doing positional previews and rolling out some more of the
Speaker 1: walking talks the next couple of weeks and then in
Speaker 1: what two weeks from now or so, give or take
Speaker 1: training camp, which you know where to go for the
Speaker 1: best reporting on Miami Dolphins training camp right here on
Speaker 1: the Draft Time podcast, also on Twitter at Winkle NFL
Speaker 1: and the Miami Dolphins dot com Training camp notebook, all
Speaker 1: coming your way this summer this fall in the meantime,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be my time. You all, please be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, Stitcher,
Speaker 1: tuned in Google Play, wherever you get your podcast from.
Speaker 1: Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can
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Speaker 1: the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank
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Speaker 1: last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time,
Speaker 1: Finn's Up, Caroline and Cameron, Daddy is coming home.