Speaker 1: You're listening to the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network.
Speaker 2: This is Drive Time with Travis Wingfield. Back to throw
Speaker 2: to a looking whips about.
Speaker 3: The wide Dolphin touchdown Timeriquel uncolievable, just blue.
Speaker 2: Fire for a second time.
Speaker 4: Don't know where he was going right away.
Speaker 3: I want to hit that though.
Speaker 4: Man, I'm wanna help you.
Speaker 2: Someone will step on your bandwagon.
Speaker 3: Wattle Wattle to a shotgun, back to throw, looking at
Speaker 3: them up fires touchdown.
Speaker 2: It's Waddle his sixth touchdown paras of this day.
Speaker 1: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins. Now let me check
Speaker 1: your all, baby.
Speaker 3: I'm fired up for this one.
Speaker 2: What is up?
Speaker 3: Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast, part of
Speaker 3: the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 3: It is week number two, a Friday variety hour. Here
Speaker 3: on the Draft Time Podcast. We're gonna hear from Kyle
Speaker 3: Krabs in the Finns Draft in five here later on,
Speaker 3: also a stop by the locker room and talk to
Speaker 3: some of the guys. But first and what I'm most
Speaker 3: excited about. Jeff Darlington joins us on the podcast today.
Speaker 3: You do not want to miss this interview from the
Speaker 3: Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This
Speaker 3: is the Drift Time podcast. Let's right away get to
Speaker 3: my interview today with ESPN's Jeff Darlington. Please join me
Speaker 3: in welcoming back to the show from ESPN the great
Speaker 3: Jeff Darlington. Jeff. When I turned on NFL Countdown on
Speaker 3: Sunday and they cut to the quad box with all
Speaker 3: the reporters on site, I was shocked to see you
Speaker 3: at Hines Field and not out here at so far
Speaker 3: for the Dolphins game.
Speaker 4: That's right, I was in Pittsburgh. Oddly, I don't cover
Speaker 4: every Dolphins game and we actually just have inside baseball stuff.
Speaker 4: But Lindsey Theory, a wonderful reporter who lives in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: She is now going to be more full time with Countdown,
Speaker 4: and she was out there. She lives there, and she
Speaker 4: is perfectly adequate dandal that task. But I will see
Speaker 4: you very soon, Travis. I'm sure we'll do a lot
Speaker 4: of Dolphins games this season.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say, yeah, you kind of have a
Speaker 3: front row seat to one of the most exciting teams,
Speaker 3: at least for the first week of the season, and
Speaker 3: I have to imagine that continues here going forward. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I always love having you around here. Maybe the Broncos
Speaker 3: home game, maybe, I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't think there'd be a lot. I think there'll be.
Speaker 4: I mean I might be stationed there now that you know.
Speaker 4: I don't want to go too far here, but the
Speaker 4: AFC East is looking quite different than it did not
Speaker 4: too long ago.
Speaker 3: It's crazy how that happens. And like you said, one weekend,
Speaker 3: the entire paradigm seems to have shifts so far, at
Speaker 3: least through one week, and I'm sure it'll shift again
Speaker 3: next week and a week after that. That's how this
Speaker 3: league goes, why we love it so much. But I
Speaker 3: want to get you on here, Jeff. Today we talk about,
Speaker 3: you know, speaking of a Sunday countdown, your piece on
Speaker 3: coach McDaniel, and I'll never forget we had you on
Speaker 3: the Twitter Spaces Show, one of our first ones last
Speaker 3: year with Seth and Oj and you were adamant that
Speaker 3: the addition of coach McDaniel would be one that would
Speaker 3: maybe not just parallel the Tyreek acquisition, but even supersed
Speaker 3: it in terms of its importance. And we saw a
Speaker 3: great game plan play out here. So I want to
Speaker 3: revisit that question with you about McDaniel's impact. Let's go
Speaker 3: ahead and start there and just kind of give us
Speaker 3: a week, one year two rebuffer on that comment and
Speaker 3: just what you saw in this first game with McDaniel,
Speaker 3: the Dolphins getting the win in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I would say that two things I
Speaker 4: knew about micah Ready was his brilliance as an offensive mind,
Speaker 4: which obviously was no mystery really once anybody did a
Speaker 4: deep dive to understand his impact on the forty nine ers.
Speaker 4: The second element that I believed he'd be successful at
Speaker 4: is managing a locker room in terms of the personalities
Speaker 4: that are in there. He is such a likable person
Speaker 4: but also a very open minded person, someone that really,
Speaker 4: if you get him in a room, the initial impression
Speaker 4: is a bit quirky, and beyond that you start to
Speaker 4: realize the loyalty the understanding of people. And I thought
Speaker 4: that those two things would be why he'd largely be successful.
Speaker 4: What I've been especially impressed by by him and his
Speaker 4: coaching staff is how well run the organization has been
Speaker 4: since he arrived. I think one of the very understated
Speaker 4: components to a coaching staff or any NFL organization is
Speaker 4: how difficult it is to have a well oiled machine,
Speaker 4: whether it's organized practices, whether it's clear messaging, whether it's
Speaker 4: the meetings themselves. And I think that I've been very impressed,
Speaker 4: not surprised, but there was an unknown there about how
Speaker 4: Mike would handle that component of being a head coach,
Speaker 4: and so far, to me, he and his coaching staff
Speaker 4: have knocked it out of the park.
Speaker 3: I recall the social ideas about whether or not he
Speaker 3: had the look for an NFL head coach, and I
Speaker 3: always found that to be so funny, because who gives
Speaker 3: a damn what you look like if you can do
Speaker 3: the job at a high level, and you know, back
Speaker 3: to your piece on Countdown. Can't imagine there's a person
Speaker 3: listening to this podcast right now who has not seen it.
Speaker 3: But if you have not, go check it out. It's
Speaker 3: on Jeff's timelines on ESPN and sports and there's timeline
Speaker 3: all that good stuff. But I was hoping to get
Speaker 3: some some behind the scenes from you. First of all,
Speaker 3: have you done a piece like that before? Pretty unique
Speaker 3: to be able to join up with a head coach
Speaker 3: at two o'clock in the morning and drive to work
Speaker 3: with them.
Speaker 4: No, I have not. You know, I've I've gotten really
Speaker 4: good access with players in the past, and I'm proud
Speaker 4: of the access that I've gotten players. But a head
Speaker 4: coach is a different a little bit of a different
Speaker 4: situation and a world that that really, I know many
Speaker 4: people have really entered into. And I'm really thankful to
Speaker 4: first of all, Mike and the Dolphins organization and Nolan
Speaker 4: and pr for really not only buying into the idea
Speaker 4: but really kind of catapulting it. And I think that
Speaker 4: one of the elements here that was so special about
Speaker 4: it with Mike is that not just his willingness to
Speaker 4: provide the access, but to be vulnerable in topics that
Speaker 4: are you know, both wide ranging and intimate, and I
Speaker 4: think his story, you know, one of the things that
Speaker 4: Mike is so passionate about is to make sure that
Speaker 4: if there's any spotlight on him, that it is for
Speaker 4: the greater good of the organization. He's so adamant about that,
Speaker 4: and you know, I think that was probably a concern
Speaker 4: for him, like is this I don't He's not comfortable
Speaker 4: with the idea of it just being about him. Can
Speaker 4: it be better for the team, And to a degree, superficially.
Speaker 4: I'm sure people might look at it and say that
Speaker 4: it is just a story of Mike and his past,
Speaker 4: but I would argue that, you know, whether by design
Speaker 4: or not, and I don't think it was. I think
Speaker 4: it's very helpful for the team and the organization to
Speaker 4: understand who he is and where he comes from, and
Speaker 4: he can stand up in front of a room and
Speaker 4: say it, and there can be you can read, you know,
Speaker 4: past articles, but to feel it, and that was I
Speaker 4: think my goal going into it was to show that
Speaker 4: Mike is not just a quirky, funny dude. He is,
Speaker 4: but that he is also he has a past, he
Speaker 4: has scars, and so too do so many people in
Speaker 4: that locker room. So again, not that is by design,
Speaker 4: but if that can galvanize a room and players can
Speaker 4: potentially learn something about their head coach that helps that
Speaker 4: locker room, then you know, I think that that's a
Speaker 4: positive as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, to your point, I mean, most of these players,
Speaker 3: I mean, to be able to achieve excuse me, Jeff,
Speaker 3: to be able to achieve this, you know, to get
Speaker 3: to this level of this profession, you probably had to
Speaker 3: go through some trials and tribulation. So to be able
Speaker 3: to share his story. I'm sure really connects with a
Speaker 3: lot of guys who've gone through their own, you know,
Speaker 3: issues in the past and overcome those you know, adversity
Speaker 3: as an opportunity, he always loves to say. So how
Speaker 3: perfect is that that he can kind of use his
Speaker 3: own life experience to really drill that point home. You
Speaker 3: mentioned you wanted to prove and show the non quirky
Speaker 3: side of Coach, But I have to ask you because
Speaker 3: in that piece, you're doing it for a specific reason,
Speaker 3: but you spend so much time with him. I know
Speaker 3: that Coach threw some jokes at you. You guys probably have
Speaker 3: some fun levity moments. Can you give us some behind
Speaker 3: the scenes look at the content that got left on
Speaker 3: the cutting room floor because it did not fit the piece.
Speaker 4: There is always with Mike, I mean, and always has
Speaker 4: been and always will be, no matter of the setting,
Speaker 4: whether it's with a camera there or not. I mean
Speaker 4: that literally is who he is and it can fly
Speaker 4: over people's heads very quickly. I remember saying that the
Speaker 4: second he got hired, like, hey, guys, buckle up. There's
Speaker 4: gonna be a lot of things that he says, and
Speaker 4: you're gonna walk out of the room. You're not going
Speaker 4: to have laughed at it, and you're gonna twenty seconds,
Speaker 4: a minute, five minutes literally as you're going to sleep,
Speaker 4: you're gonna be like, oh, that's what he was joking.
Speaker 3: To be at my podcast with him, you were like,
Speaker 3: Travis hasn't gotten to know him quite enough yet? Not true?
Speaker 4: Do you not now understand it? Yes?
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 4: I mean it is nuanced. Sometimes he is literally practicing
Speaker 4: bits on you because he loves comedy on me and
Speaker 4: I you know, we there was plenty of those moments.
Speaker 4: I'm trying. I can't really necessarily think of specific ones.
Speaker 4: But it was funny when we got in the car
Speaker 4: and he just the second we got to his house.
Speaker 4: We left our house, my house here with my crew
Speaker 4: at like two am. Make sure you're prepared that you're
Speaker 4: there early. You know, you never want him to be waiting.
Speaker 4: I mean we pulled up and like the second we
Speaker 4: pulled up, the garage door goes up, and I mean
Speaker 4: it's got to be two twenty. I mean it's not
Speaker 4: like he hits the alarm clock and you know, struggles
Speaker 4: to get out of bed. Like he walks out and
Speaker 4: he's like ready to go, and even in the car
Speaker 4: right again there he's like, yeah, I'll apologize like I
Speaker 4: and he's he's talking not you know, he's obviously overcome
Speaker 4: his struggles that we've talked about, and it's not like
Speaker 4: he doesn't know how to sleep in and all those things,
Speaker 4: but he goes when I wake up, I'm immediately going
Speaker 4: a mile a minute, and to like my friends in college,
Speaker 4: to anybody that I've ever known, he's like, I realized
Speaker 4: how wildly annoying that is. You know, for most people
Speaker 4: they need a minute with Mike, he does not. He
Speaker 4: is full go pedal to the metal. You know, you
Speaker 4: talk about cutting room floor one of the things that
Speaker 4: I actually thought could carry the piece. This wasn't even funny,
Speaker 4: but it's it's a good opportunity to share it. When
Speaker 4: we left his house, there was at one point where
Speaker 4: I thought this was going to be the framework of
Speaker 4: the piece. It just didn't end up being that, and
Speaker 4: we just went a little bit different way with the structure.
Speaker 4: When we left his house, we went east instead of west,
Speaker 4: towards the stadium. And this is a good opportunity to
Speaker 4: show the story because a lot of people from South
Speaker 4: Florida understand this. We go east toward because he lives
Speaker 4: near the water, and we go over one bridge and
Speaker 4: then we go come back over another bridge, very roundabout way,
Speaker 4: and I at one point I go and I'm from here,
Speaker 4: so I understand it, and I go, why did you
Speaker 4: just go that way? You realize that is not He's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 4: the GPS definitely does not like that. But he told
Speaker 4: me he never saw the ocean until he was I believe,
Speaker 4: he said in high school or in college, being from Colorado,
Speaker 4: and now he lives so close to it that he
Speaker 4: cannot help. But every day to start his drive, go
Speaker 4: over a bridge and see water. And he's like, it's
Speaker 4: the first five minutes of my drive are about perspective
Speaker 4: and about appreciating the moment. And I was like really
Speaker 4: taken back by that, Like, I mean, how cool is that?
Speaker 4: Like that this guy, yes, he is waking up so
Speaker 4: early to get to work because he has a level
Speaker 4: of urgency about him, but he's also still willing at
Speaker 4: this point to take that five minutes out of his
Speaker 4: day and kind of reflect on it. And I thought,
Speaker 4: how fitting and sort of from a storytelling standpoint, again,
Speaker 4: it didn't really necessarily go this way. He was a
Speaker 4: little too complicated to say, but like the road less traveled,
Speaker 4: I mean it is his path, the entire way, literally,
Speaker 4: very literally from the second he gets in the car
Speaker 4: in the morning.
Speaker 3: Our imitates life, right, I mean, stop and smell the
Speaker 3: roses a little bit. It kind of reminds me of
Speaker 3: what coach Darryl Bevell has you know, drilled into Tua
Speaker 3: about be where your feet are, because Mike has made
Speaker 3: that same comment several times about just kind of being
Speaker 3: present in the moment and how he owes that to
Speaker 3: the players in the organization, the coaching staff, to be
Speaker 3: president and not think about, Wow, my first NFL game, Wow,
Speaker 3: this big moment. That's you know, I could think and
Speaker 3: make it about me, but I don't do that, and
Speaker 3: it brings me my next question here, Jeff about the
Speaker 3: quarterback and with with Mike McDaniel, the relationship between he
Speaker 3: and Tua. What a performance on Sunday? Surprised expected that?
Speaker 3: What do you think about Two's first game here in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three?
Speaker 4: Certainly not surprised, I think I think anybody who continues
Speaker 4: to be surprised by two his ability is fooling themselves.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's shown it, and that's not just about
Speaker 4: two that this happens too often in the NFL in general.
Speaker 4: I feel similarly to a guy, like a good example
Speaker 4: would be a guy in Jared goth I talked to
Speaker 4: him about this ever since that game when he had
Speaker 4: against Patrick Mahomes, when it was fifth, four to fifty one.
Speaker 4: It was the most unbelievable regular season game I've ever
Speaker 4: seen in my life. And then a couple of years
Speaker 4: later people say, oh, he sucks, Jared Goff, you know,
Speaker 4: he's not good enough. I refuse to accept or believe
Speaker 4: that a player, a human being, can go do something
Speaker 4: as athletically special and gifted as that and then just
Speaker 4: not have it. That is not lightning in a bottle.
Speaker 4: And the parallel here is with Tua. Last year, we
Speaker 4: saw it. I mean it was there in front of
Speaker 4: our eyes. Yes, the injuries, I get the concern, and
Speaker 4: honestly legitimate concern, which Tua has done his best to
Speaker 4: try to alleviate those concerns literally in his preparation. But
Speaker 4: the idea that he couldn't go out there and do
Speaker 4: what he just did, to me, it's ridiculous. Of course,
Speaker 4: he can do it. He's showed us that the beauty
Speaker 4: of it is going back to Mike and the offense.
Speaker 4: And I don't want to take any credit away from
Speaker 4: Tua here, he's the one who did it. But I
Speaker 4: just love the empowerment and the confidence that has been
Speaker 4: bestowed on him, whether it's from Tyreek, whether it's from
Speaker 4: his teammates. We are seeing that, and I think that
Speaker 4: that goes a very long way in his ability to
Speaker 4: attack and be the guy that he is capable of being.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that the conference to a displayed in
Speaker 3: that game because there was a couple of throws early
Speaker 3: on into some coverage where it's like, man, I don't
Speaker 3: know that probably shouldn't have been tested in that window.
Speaker 3: But the confidence to keep going back to with the
Speaker 3: ball placement he shows. Yeah, the game went to Tyreek
Speaker 3: for instance, there's he's not open open, unbelievable.
Speaker 4: And at first you're thinking, when you see that, that's Tyreek,
Speaker 4: and again it takes a special wide receiver. The second
Speaker 4: you see the replay, you're like, wait a second, that
Speaker 4: ball disappeared through the defender, like it literally looks like
Speaker 4: it went through the body of the defender and somehow
Speaker 4: ended up in Tyreek's hands. It was unbelievable and that
Speaker 4: was absurd, I mean, and that's not I saw someone
Speaker 4: saying this the other day. It's not necessarily a timing thing,
Speaker 4: I mean, or it is more of a timing thing.
Speaker 4: It's not touch pass, yeah, because he doesn't know that
Speaker 4: the defender's going to be there. But it is a
Speaker 4: timing thing where he put it so perfectly where there
Speaker 4: was only one person at one point who's going to
Speaker 4: be able to catch that pass. That is where Tua
Speaker 4: is absolutely elite. And that, by the way, is what
Speaker 4: Mike has always seen in him from the second he
Speaker 4: got here. He didn't see all the flaws that previous
Speaker 4: people have seen. He saw the positives, namely his ability
Speaker 4: to have elite ball placement.
Speaker 3: The one that made m run around the building and
Speaker 3: tell everyone, look at the seven hundred play real ef
Speaker 3: together of this quarterback and the way he can kind
Speaker 3: of mitigate pressure and the idea of surrounding him with
Speaker 3: weapons and not you know, I mean, not that they
Speaker 3: didn't invest in the offensive line to Ron Armstead and
Speaker 3: Connor Williams were both massive gets for this team. Now
Speaker 3: getting Austin Jackson back and Kendall Lamb looks pretty good,
Speaker 3: Isaiah Win looked pretty good. But they knew that they
Speaker 3: had a skill set in this quarterback where he could
Speaker 3: really maximize playmakers on the perimeter more than you know,
Speaker 3: going out and building a you know, five first round
Speaker 3: track pick type of offensive line. I want to take
Speaker 3: a break right here and come back on the other
Speaker 3: side and talk more about Tua and Mike's relationship, what
Speaker 3: we can expect the rest of the way for the
Speaker 3: Miami Dolphins here in the next sixteen games of the season.
Speaker 3: That's next. My guest today Jeff Darlington on the Draft
Speaker 3: Time podcast brought to you by Auto Nation. Back here
Speaker 3: with ESPN's Jeff Darlington, who had a great piece on
Speaker 3: Sunday NFL Countdown detailing Mike McDaniel and the kind of
Speaker 3: history that he had to overcome to get to this
Speaker 3: position where he's now leading to Miami Dolphins out of
Speaker 3: the gates to a want to know start here in
Speaker 3: his second season. We talked a little bit about Tua
Speaker 3: on the other side there, Jeff, and I just want
Speaker 3: to go back to the relationship between those two guys,
Speaker 3: because you have this you know, like you said, the
Speaker 3: access to coach, to kind of get to know him
Speaker 3: and just know a little bit more about him than
Speaker 3: we get to see outside of the quirky jokes and
Speaker 3: the way he leads this football team. How would you
Speaker 3: describe that relationship and is it unique for a quarterback
Speaker 3: and coach to be so tight and to be so
Speaker 3: intertwined like that. I know that there are obviously, you know,
Speaker 3: coaches and quarterbacks around the league that do have good relationships,
Speaker 3: but this one seems a little bit unique to me, you.
Speaker 4: Know, is unique for I think that the most successful
Speaker 4: partnerships are often the ones that are where the quarterback
Speaker 4: is an extension of the locker room, but somewhere in
Speaker 4: between the coaching staff and the locker room. So from
Speaker 4: that perspective, on paper, maybe not, it is a very
Speaker 4: special relationship. And again I'm not necessarily one to harp
Speaker 4: on the past, but in this case, I can't ignore
Speaker 4: it either. Brian Flores as a head coach was a
Speaker 4: different type of coach, much more militant, much more, you know,
Speaker 4: coming from the Bill Belichick model, and his expectations maybe
Speaker 4: in certain regards were different. And that doesn't mean that
Speaker 4: that's necessarily bad personally, I think you have to adjust
Speaker 4: to your players, but I'll give him that you can
Speaker 4: win like that. Bill Belichick proved it with Tom Brady.
Speaker 4: The way that he handled Brady in this situation, it
Speaker 4: was clear that too, his confidence was shattered. It was obvious.
Speaker 4: I mean, it was obvious to It should have been
Speaker 4: obvious to outsiders, but internally, I can tell you it
Speaker 4: was obvious. So for Mike to come in with his
Speaker 4: optimistic and it is authentic and genuine, and I don't
Speaker 4: think that as by a coincidence at all. Steve Ross,
Speaker 4: Chris Career, Tom Garfinkel, I think recognized that that quality
Speaker 4: in Mike immediately recognized their quarterback and and where his
Speaker 4: mental state was. And I'm not saying that you make
Speaker 4: the higher just for the player, but it certainly has
Speaker 4: to be a factor. And I know that they felt
Speaker 4: that way coming out of that higher that they saw
Speaker 4: Tua and said we're going to do right by you. Yes,
Speaker 4: I mean we could look at Ted Lasso, you know,
Speaker 4: as a great example of that dynamic. You know, I'm
Speaker 4: not saying it's not that, but there is there is
Speaker 4: power in optimism, and Mike sees that and to a
Speaker 4: need of that and I think that that makes it
Speaker 4: very special. One of the reasons why last year was
Speaker 4: so difficult to watch when it came to a lot
Speaker 4: of the criticism that Mike was facing to a situation
Speaker 4: was I mean, if you had any sense of Mike's
Speaker 4: care for Tua and for players in general, you would
Speaker 4: know how ridiculous that take was. That I thought was
Speaker 4: that was tough, and I think it it will ultimately
Speaker 4: though time allows people to see who Mike is and
Speaker 4: understand that his relationship with Tua will absolutely it won't
Speaker 4: change his ability necessarily to go out there and do
Speaker 4: everything on the field. There's a lot to be seen here,
Speaker 4: but I think that everybody right now is in a
Speaker 4: really nice situation.
Speaker 3: Well, like you said, a lot to be seen because
Speaker 3: you know, still sixteen games to go. You mentioned off
Speaker 3: the top how much the landscape and just this one
Speaker 3: division seemed to shift so rastically just with a couple
Speaker 3: of ball games that happened over the weekend, and so
Speaker 3: I'm just curious to get your take on where you
Speaker 3: see things going for this team going forward, because like
Speaker 3: you mentioned, you know, and Jeff, you've been here for
Speaker 3: press conference as you've seen to us speak to the media.
Speaker 3: It is night and day compared to a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago with how he just addresses us, the confidence,
Speaker 3: the bravado he displays, and you see it on the
Speaker 3: field as well. I think so thinking about all that,
Speaker 3: you know, the offensive line performance was awesome. Tyreek Hill
Speaker 3: is Tyreek Hill. We'll see about the defense kind of
Speaker 3: getting their sea legs under them here for the first
Speaker 3: game in the Vic Fangio defense. Where do you see
Speaker 3: things going from here for the Miami Dolphins in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty three.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the good news is that the offense
Speaker 4: is usually the thing to kind of take its time
Speaker 4: to come around. That's really speaks volumes to the off
Speaker 4: season preparation for them to go in and be just
Speaker 4: firing we saw from the Bills, for instance. I think
Speaker 4: the Bills will figure it out. I don't think we
Speaker 4: should take week one as a complete litmus test of
Speaker 4: the entirety of the landscape. I'm surprised the way Josh
Speaker 4: Allen played because all off season you've expected to see
Speaker 4: a different Josh Allen in terms of not running so much,
Speaker 4: doing weird things with his legs, and throwing those picks.
Speaker 4: I tend to think that that will be corrected eventually.
Speaker 4: The Jets. Obviously, that's not changing with Aaron Rodgers. The Patriots. Look,
Speaker 4: I know they held up with the Eagles, but to me,
Speaker 4: I still think that they are still on the outside
Speaker 4: looking in of the potential playoff picture. I mean, that's
Speaker 4: just how I felt a whole off season. I'm not
Speaker 4: just using Week one as the example. So it's all
Speaker 4: in front of them. But you know, it's part of
Speaker 4: the game is we'll see what happens with injuries. You know,
Speaker 4: you got to stay healthy. I mean, you saw it
Speaker 4: with the Jets yesterday. Everything can change in a second.
Speaker 4: The Dolphins fans know as well as anybody. But if
Speaker 4: you're looking for a good, healthy start, that's exactly what
Speaker 4: the Dolphins.
Speaker 3: Had, especially in the league where offense was kind of
Speaker 3: hard to come by in this first week across the NFL.
Speaker 3: But Mike McDaniel's side and Kyle shannon and side seem
Speaker 3: to have it figured out as well as anybody. One week.
Speaker 4: Wasn't wasn't obviously wasn't on the game. Armstead wasn't even
Speaker 4: active for this game, right, He.
Speaker 3: Did not play. He was rolled out on Friday, So yeah,
Speaker 3: it was.
Speaker 4: Like Armstead's out, Jalen Ramsey's out. Uh, and you still
Speaker 4: kind of are firing that way in Week one. That's
Speaker 4: against by the way, a very talented team that some
Speaker 4: people believe will challenge the Chiefs in that division. So
Speaker 4: it can much more than.
Speaker 3: That pick for the Super Bowl from a lot of
Speaker 3: people as well. I mean, that's as talented as it comes.
Speaker 3: That defense has players up and down the roster there,
Speaker 3: and Miami just went up and down the fill on them.
Speaker 3: So very good. Jeff, appreciate your time today, man, ESPN.
Speaker 3: Where are we going to see you this week? You're
Speaker 3: you gonna be in Foxboro for the that game.
Speaker 4: I will not. We don't do a lot of those.
Speaker 4: I'll be in Jacksonville for Jaguars Chiefs see Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 4: can get back on.
Speaker 3: Track playoff rematch.
Speaker 4: Yeah exactly, Jeff. Appreciate game, and then we'll get there
Speaker 4: for the Dolphins soon.
Speaker 3: Don't worry, it's coming up. We got the home games
Speaker 3: are coming up. They kind of push it off where
Speaker 3: you shouldn't have to go in that hot suit and
Speaker 3: sweat and the like it.
Speaker 4: Man, can't wait.
Speaker 3: Appreciate you, ye, and away he goes. I told you.
Speaker 3: That was good man that I was excited to get
Speaker 3: a chance to get Jeff here on the podcast. Let's
Speaker 3: go ahead and take our last break and come back
Speaker 3: on the other side. We'll hear from the locker room
Speaker 3: and the great Kyle Krabs from Lockdown Dolphins. That's next
Speaker 3: Draft Time Podcast to your host Travis Wingfield, brought to
Speaker 3: you by a donation. A couple more items here on
Speaker 3: a variety Friday of the Drive Time podcast. Let's go
Speaker 3: ahead and first hear from Tyreek Hill when I asked him,
Speaker 3: if they want to bracket cover you, what's your mindset
Speaker 3: going into that matchup.
Speaker 5: I'm still gonna dominate that no matter what, man you
Speaker 5: feel me. I mean, I still got a job to do,
Speaker 5: and that's to run my route. So put two guys,
Speaker 5: only one guy on me, three guys on me. I'm
Speaker 5: still gonna, you know, run my route to get open.
Speaker 3: So also caught up with Emmanuel Ogball, who played just
Speaker 3: seventeen snaps in his first game back from the tri
Speaker 3: steps injury that cost him pretty much the entire twenty
Speaker 3: twenty two season. But here's a manual talking about his
Speaker 3: first game back, playing in front of you crazy Dolphins
Speaker 3: fans out in California and the matchup this week in Foxborough. First,
Speaker 3: I was curious to just ask me how it felt
Speaker 3: to get back out there after missing so much time
Speaker 3: last year.
Speaker 6: Oh, Now, it felt really good being out there. I'm
Speaker 6: not wanting more action, but it felt good just just
Speaker 6: being out there with the guys, you know, actually playing
Speaker 6: for meaning for games. But it's really felt good.
Speaker 3: How do you feel like that kind of helped you
Speaker 3: knock some rust off or just kind of get back
Speaker 3: in the flow of things.
Speaker 2: I'll say that's what preseason's for, you know.
Speaker 6: It just helped me, like get back out there, get
Speaker 6: back moving, just in that on and seeing what I
Speaker 6: can do.
Speaker 3: And I felt good, felt good to kind of, like
Speaker 3: you said, to work the try set back out of here.
Speaker 6: Yeah, kind of like striking somebody, shetting off the gloss
Speaker 6: and everything there.
Speaker 3: So, so you're facing a team this week that I
Speaker 3: don't know if you I don't know if you guys
Speaker 3: look at this, but their injury report on the offensive
Speaker 3: line there's like four or five guys on it. How
Speaker 3: do you prepare for an opponent when you could have
Speaker 3: all five of them available, all five could be.
Speaker 6: Out prepare like everybody else's point, Like everybody's could we
Speaker 6: watch from on Trim Brown? I saw about Shrimon Brown,
Speaker 6: but we watched from on everybody. Make sure you know
Speaker 6: we're ready at all time so we can't be caught
Speaker 6: off guard.
Speaker 3: So I know this is more of an offense question
Speaker 3: on the road. But Patriots fans are pretty you know,
Speaker 3: pretty loud most times. What's what's the challenge of playing
Speaker 3: in that building?
Speaker 6: I mean, they came really get loud when we're out there,
Speaker 6: but uh, I don't know, it's always a challenge, you know.
Speaker 6: You know Patriots, you know they dynasty, you know they're fans,
Speaker 6: they're die hard fans too. But I'm sure our fans
Speaker 6: gonna be there, you know, getting loud, just like they
Speaker 6: were wearing Cali.
Speaker 3: It's gonna say, show out pretty well in caliy, right,
Speaker 3: Was it anything more Dolphins fans.
Speaker 2: There than Oh?
Speaker 4: For sure?
Speaker 6: It got to a point in a game I was like, well, what, yeah,
Speaker 6: what stadium were playing there? You know, I thought it
Speaker 6: was a Dolphins stadium, But it was nice to have
Speaker 6: all fans out there.
Speaker 3: When they threw that grounding flag at the end on
Speaker 3: the broadcast, like it erupted. The place erupted, like yeah,
Speaker 3: I was like, damn, was that a good golf for
Speaker 3: the Chargers?
Speaker 6: But yeah, So it's like it's crazy because you know,
Speaker 6: we had a different environment but still had our fans
Speaker 6: travel with us.
Speaker 2: That's awesome.
Speaker 3: What's the message this week after showing that you guys
Speaker 3: probably would like to get corrected to get you know,
Speaker 3: approved next week, what's the message from the coaching staff
Speaker 3: to you guys?
Speaker 6: Stop them wrong, be more stopped on defense.
Speaker 2: Last week wasn't us.
Speaker 4: We gotta do a big job this week.
Speaker 3: So it feel like you can contribute more in the
Speaker 3: running game.
Speaker 6: Than almost definitely when I get out there, I'll do
Speaker 6: my things.
Speaker 3: So appreciate it and a way, he goes, let's go
Speaker 3: ahead and spend to Friday and Mike McDaniel, who spoke
Speaker 3: to the media and he gave us some updates on
Speaker 3: injuries and potential playing time for Sunday. If you want
Speaker 3: to see the full injury report, I'll have it up
Speaker 3: on my Twitter timeline the moment it comes out. I
Speaker 3: want to push this podcast out to y'all. First, I
Speaker 3: don't think it's impertinent to put it in the podcast
Speaker 3: because by the time you guys hear this part of
Speaker 3: the show, you've probably already seen the injury report, so
Speaker 3: we're always going to have it on my Twitter timeline.
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and get back to coach here, who
Speaker 3: was asked about the Patriots game plan. If you expect
Speaker 3: them to adjust to what you do offensively, do you
Speaker 3: expect them to do what they do best? Regardless? Here's
Speaker 3: coach on just that.
Speaker 1: Generally, in the game of football, and it goes on
Speaker 1: both sides of the ball, is.
Speaker 3: The you have.
Speaker 1: You're always given the opportunity to correct and or improve.
Speaker 2: In a phase of the game because because.
Speaker 1: What happens is if you get as an offense, if
Speaker 1: you get beat on a blitz, you're probably.
Speaker 2: Gonna see the same blitz again.
Speaker 1: Coaches get paid to assess the tape and when you're vulnerable,
Speaker 1: you kind of have to stop the blitz before you
Speaker 1: stop seeing it. Same thing is the case for defense.
Speaker 1: If if a team has success running the ball, turn
Speaker 1: the page.
Speaker 2: The next week, you know the next team.
Speaker 1: Will will have high intent so to to replicate the
Speaker 1: same thing. So there's no hiding in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: And it's kind of a cool thing, you know, that's
Speaker 1: what I told the team. It's like, it's it's weird
Speaker 1: because you have so much build up for game one,
Speaker 1: so much build up. I mean, we're talking about it
Speaker 1: endlessly and really realistically. Players after the loss of against
Speaker 1: Buffalo in the playoffs, we're talking to me about this season.
Speaker 1: So they're talking about week one and then and then
Speaker 1: in the game of football, you have a game all
Speaker 1: that build up, and it's one game that stands alone
Speaker 1: and is the identity of everyone for an entire week.
Speaker 1: And so we're all talking about what we just built
Speaker 1: up for. You know that, and then you go to
Speaker 1: another week. That's another story. Well, in that every single
Speaker 1: opportunity are on the field, you have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: define who you are and what And you know, if
Speaker 1: if you don't fancy yourself as a poor run defense,
Speaker 1: then you know, if you don't fancy yourself as.
Speaker 2: If your team.
Speaker 1: Wants to run the ball more, or you want to
Speaker 1: run the ball better, then run the ball better.
Speaker 2: You have an opportunity the next week. It's the beauty
Speaker 2: of this game.
Speaker 1: And there's people you have to you have to stop
Speaker 1: people from doing something or they'll continue to do it.
Speaker 3: Let's do just one more here from coach. He was
Speaker 3: asked about guarding against the hype the Dolphins have received
Speaker 3: as a team and their quarterback in the MVP discussions
Speaker 3: already through Week one. He was asked if he feels
Speaker 3: the need to address that this year versus last year.
Speaker 3: I found this to be really interesting here from Mike
Speaker 3: McDaniel and how the team has changed from a year ago.
Speaker 2: You know, it's an interesting point.
Speaker 1: Last year, I definitely felt the urge to, you know,
Speaker 1: I think we've spent.
Speaker 2: So much time, you know, I try to get proactive.
Speaker 1: With it and tell people as much as I can
Speaker 1: what will happen, so that when it happens, it's you
Speaker 1: don't look into it too much.
Speaker 2: You know. I think I.
Speaker 1: Haven't felt that need with this team just because I
Speaker 1: honestly feel like they understand.
Speaker 2: One win.
Speaker 1: A one win team, it is not a very good team.
Speaker 2: There's a lot more.
Speaker 1: You have to win a lot of games, and that's
Speaker 1: that's hard in the NFL. So I do think, you know,
Speaker 1: last year was a big, big help in that being
Speaker 1: able to, you know, experience what happens when you have
Speaker 1: any sort of win streak and how people are making
Speaker 1: I mean there's just so much conversation about things that
Speaker 1: are impossible to predict because one player changes the complexion
Speaker 1: of every team. You know, one one, I mean, And
Speaker 1: it's all about continuing to develop and to grow and
Speaker 1: getting too excited about one win is and what people
Speaker 1: are saying about you.
Speaker 2: Is setting yourself up for supreme.
Speaker 1: Failure because I don't I don't think that anyone will
Speaker 1: be surprised when you know, whenever the you can't be
Speaker 1: surprised what what happens.
Speaker 2: Literally with with every team.
Speaker 1: If you do well for that week, you'll you'll be
Speaker 1: considered something worth keeping your job for, and then you don't,
Speaker 1: and then it's up in the air.
Speaker 2: But that's the way. Uh, it's it's kind of the black.
Speaker 1: And white part of the game that I really enjoy,
Speaker 1: just because you have to be kind of tough minded
Speaker 1: in both avenues and whether you're getting praised or you're
Speaker 1: getting harassed, literally, it doesn't matter for the next game
Speaker 1: that fans are paying to see. That is one of
Speaker 1: the finite amount of games that they're that each and
Speaker 1: every player and coach is able to be.
Speaker 2: In because nothing is nothing is forever.
Speaker 1: So that's the biggest thing with them or it's been
Speaker 1: kind of cool because I haven't had to feel that.
Speaker 1: I haven't felt that neat. I think they understand that
Speaker 1: we're way early in the journey.
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and finish up this week of podcast
Speaker 3: with a look at the college game. Kyle Krabs joins
Speaker 3: us to break down what you can can expect to
Speaker 3: see this weekend in college football for the second straight week,
Speaker 3: and we're going to do this every single week here
Speaker 3: on every Friday podcast to get you guys caught up
Speaker 3: not just around the National Football League, but what's going
Speaker 3: on in the college landscape, to get us prepared all
Speaker 3: year long for April and the NFL's Draft, because the
Speaker 3: draft season never sleeps. He is Kyle Krabs locked on
Speaker 3: Dolphins and locked on NFL Scouting with the great Joe Marino.
Speaker 3: They do a great job giving you guys all kinds
Speaker 3: of content on the NFL Draft every single year. Kyle,
Speaker 3: how we doing, how we fill in? After Week one?
Speaker 3: It's good to be back in the swing of things
Speaker 3: I don't know about.
Speaker 7: You get a chance to kind of process these games,
Speaker 7: and then you get into your own respective game flow,
Speaker 7: just like the team does. Get ready for the next
Speaker 7: team on the schedule and then having the college later
Speaker 7: on top of it is just it's a blast, man.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, getting back into the swing of it. I agree
Speaker 3: big time. I actually, you know, the first week, like
Speaker 3: even for me as a podcaster, is kind of like
Speaker 3: a filling out process in terms of how the content's
Speaker 3: going to go. And I actually kind of messed up
Speaker 3: on my All twenty two podcast and got way too
Speaker 3: excited and did way too many notes and broke down
Speaker 3: way too many plays and by the end of it
Speaker 3: was like a forty five minute show and it was
Speaker 3: way too the third quarter six twenty three to play.
Speaker 3: Here's a play now. I'm just like, you got to
Speaker 3: reel it back a little bit, man. But we're excited
Speaker 3: about being one to zero, and I know you're excited
Speaker 3: about that and the college football weekend ahead. I want
Speaker 3: to go ahead and start here with kind of the
Speaker 3: same thing I asked you last week, and we'll do
Speaker 3: this every single week. Here is some under the radar
Speaker 3: guys that you think could potentially in twenty twenty four
Speaker 3: long way out potentially be fits for what this Dolphins
Speaker 3: offense or defense wants to do in the future. Who
Speaker 3: are some guys you're watching for Dolphins specific scouting this weekend.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I got two names. I got an offensive lineman
Speaker 7: and I've got a tight end. The tight end is
Speaker 7: very much under the radar, but has been a player
Speaker 7: who every time I've watched this team over the last
Speaker 7: couple years when he's been healthy, has really popped. His
Speaker 7: name's Isaac Rex and he plays for BYU, and he
Speaker 7: is playing BYU is playing Arkansas this weekend, so a
Speaker 7: really good opportunity to see Mountain WHI. I think he
Speaker 7: can't keep track of these conferences anymore. I think they're
Speaker 7: still in Mountain West this year, but going to Big
Speaker 7: twelve playing against an SEC program, so that'll be a
Speaker 7: good spotlight for him. I think he's got a pretty
Speaker 7: well rounded skill set. And then the offensive lineman is
Speaker 7: a guy who's probably in a lot of first round
Speaker 7: box but I only recently got around to doing the
Speaker 7: deep dive on his tape, and it's Graham Barton from Duke.
Speaker 7: He plays tackle for them. His freshman season he played center,
Speaker 7: so you hear positional versatility and how the Dolphins like
Speaker 7: having the ability to have guys be cross trained at
Speaker 7: certain spot just to be able to have the best
Speaker 7: combination of five guys. He's built like a tackle, but
Speaker 7: he moves like a center. So there's there's really intriguing elements.
Speaker 3: There for Barton.
Speaker 7: I think he's probably somebody in the right system zone
Speaker 7: system that could feasibly play all five spots on the
Speaker 7: offensive line, almost kind of.
Speaker 3: Like a Joel Tipman from last year in terms of
Speaker 3: the athletic ability and that that lengthy had on the
Speaker 3: inside there was And just speaking of that real quick,
Speaker 3: like you talk about those positions, and uh, for the Dolphins,
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, like you look at the offensive line,
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, you know, Rob Jones and Toront Arms.
Speaker 3: There are two players that you know, Toront's a potential
Speaker 3: Hall of Famer at some point in his career, and
Speaker 3: Rob Jones, the guy that you and I will feel
Speaker 3: pretty good about, not even available to the Dolphins, And
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, their offensive line with two key
Speaker 3: guys not available, is playing pretty well. So depth for
Speaker 3: the Dolphins front looking definitely sharp right now. But I
Speaker 3: definitely want to keep an eye on the offensive line
Speaker 3: every single year because every team could draft o line
Speaker 3: every year, and the thing is.
Speaker 7: Too many good offensive lineman on a roster.
Speaker 3: There's several positions against that about, but I think offensive
Speaker 3: line might be v one at this point with how
Speaker 3: the kind of talent disparity is in the NFL. By
Speaker 3: the way, there's a great clip of the BYU kids
Speaker 3: not knowing where Arkansas is on a map. Again, I
Speaker 3: had a chance to go check that out. Pretty funny
Speaker 3: ahead of this weekend's matchup against the Razorbacks. Kyle am
Speaker 3: I right here, there's no games among two ranked teams
Speaker 3: this weekend.
Speaker 7: As far as I am aware, that is a correct
Speaker 7: and factual statement to make on Drive Time.
Speaker 3: Yes, well that's lame anyway. I was going to ask
Speaker 3: you who you're going to be watching in the big
Speaker 3: games and then give us the off the radar game,
Speaker 3: but I think I'll do it this way. Let's just
Speaker 3: get some top prospects here that have challenging, prove it
Speaker 3: type of matchups this week in terms of NFL prospect
Speaker 3: versus potential NFL prospect.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 7: So there's another tight end that I have written down
Speaker 7: here who I think has the potential based off his
Speaker 7: athletic profile and stature to push pretty high up and
Speaker 7: he's going against UNC and that's Minnesota's Brevian span for
Speaker 7: this is like a six seven to sixty tight end
Speaker 7: with some really nice athleticism. Interested to see him in
Speaker 7: a spotlight against a un team that has a lot
Speaker 7: of offensive firepower, you may end up needing to get
Speaker 7: into a shootout if you're in Minnesota. So span Ford,
Speaker 7: I think, is a guy who has a really big opportunity,
Speaker 7: and the other one is maybe not necessarily super Dolphins relevant,
Speaker 7: but number eleven Tennessee is at Florida and Joe Milton
Speaker 7: at the quarterback position, former Michigan Wolverines guy, big time
Speaker 7: tools like handcannon for an army man, ridiculous ability to
Speaker 7: throw the ball, but the consistency with offensive execution and
Speaker 7: pre snap process and decision making posts like all of
Speaker 7: that is kind of to be determined in Tennessee's offense. Obviously,
Speaker 7: you saw what it did last year for Hendon Hooker,
Speaker 7: who kind of had some of the same questions before
Speaker 7: playing full time as the starter last year. So I'll
Speaker 7: be watching him Joe Milton against the University of Florida
Speaker 7: as kind of the hallmark power programs clashing against each
Speaker 7: other with I think the prospect who has the most approved.
Speaker 3: You just got that in in five minutes and once second,
Speaker 3: so Finn's draft in five zero one. We're gonna call
Speaker 3: it on this. Okay, we can take you addition right here,
Speaker 3: but I'm going to stop the clock right there, because,
Speaker 3: first of all, great stuff, and Joe Milton reminds me
Speaker 3: of like Scout dream coaches, Maybe not so much because
Speaker 3: there's so much you kind of have to rain in
Speaker 3: and kind of, you know, mold that ball of clay
Speaker 3: as it were. I love those kinds of prospects because
Speaker 3: you can kind of see how they grow over time,
Speaker 3: if it works or it doesn't work for them. In
Speaker 3: terms of the pro skills, clicking Kyle, big matchup Sunday
Speaker 3: night Football here, just real quick thoughts on Dolphins and Patriots.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it's really interesting for Miami's defense to
Speaker 7: have a bounce back opportunity. Obviously, the discussion point all
Speaker 7: week was the Russian defense, but you know, the Philadelphia Eels
Speaker 7: was the team that the Patriots played last week, and
Speaker 7: the defensive coordinators is Sewan Deci, who's worked in the
Speaker 7: past with Vic Fangio. There's some parallels in how they
Speaker 7: play defense and Philadelphia had a good amount of success
Speaker 7: in the trenches, and that's where my eyes will be
Speaker 7: obviously with the talent that the Dolphins have and see
Speaker 7: Big Fangio said, you know, he took his level of
Speaker 7: responsibility this week for getting them ready to play versus
Speaker 7: getting ready to play. I'm really interested to see how
Speaker 7: ready to play this defensive line is gonna be this week, and.
Speaker 3: I gets a Patriots offensive line that might be banged
Speaker 3: up coming into this one. Dolphins and Patriots eight twenty
Speaker 3: on Sunday Night from Foxboro, Kyle Finns Draft in five.
Speaker 3: Appreciate your time, man, Lockdown Dolphins and lockedwn NFL Scouting.
Speaker 3: We'll see you soon, my friend.
Speaker 2: Thanks Grevs And.
Speaker 3: There he goes, and there we go for our Friday
Speaker 3: show for week number two. Hope you all enjoyed the
Speaker 3: week of coverage. We'll be back with you guys on
Speaker 3: Monday morning for the recap from Dolphins at Patriots. Until then,
Speaker 3: that's gonna be my time you all. Please be sure
Speaker 3: to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Leave us
Speaker 3: a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me
Speaker 3: on Twitter and Instagram at Winkle NFL. Follow the team
Speaker 3: at Miami Dolphins. Check out Seth and Juice on the
Speaker 3: Fish Tank podcast. Check out our YouTube channel for the
Speaker 3: mag breakdown, Dolphins Today, media availabilities, and so much more,
Speaker 3: and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until
Speaker 3: next time, Finn's Up, Caroline Cameron, Daddy, It's coming home.