Speaker 1: Now Miami. What is up, Dolphans and welcome to the
Speaker 1: Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins Official podcast network,
Speaker 1: covering your team, your Miami Dolphins, each and every day.
Speaker 1: How is it going everybody? It is Wednesday. I am
Speaker 1: your host, Travis Wingfield, and I'm here to bring you
Speaker 1: your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show,
Speaker 1: Wednesday means the guys are back at practice, and that
Speaker 1: means we've got media from coach and some players as well.
Speaker 1: Plus will dive into the tape on DeAndrea Washington to
Speaker 1: trade details there and the details of the Isaiah Ford trade.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna spend some time talking about the Dolphins
Speaker 1: special teams you know today with Mac Hollins. All of
Speaker 1: that and more on this Wednesday, November the fourth edition
Speaker 1: of the Drivetime Podcast. Support for Drive Time comes from
Speaker 1: Auto Nation, where Dolphins fans drive pink and helped raise
Speaker 1: over twenty five million dollars for cancer treatment and research.
Speaker 1: Auto Nation, where every vehicle sold in service is sanitized
Speaker 1: keep driving safe at auto nation dot com. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get into Brian Flores media from Wednesday morning here in
Speaker 1: just one second. But first some housekeeping. The Dolphins traded
Speaker 1: Isaiah Ford to the New England Patriots for draft pick.
Speaker 1: Ford played in sixteen games in his Dolphins career, catching
Speaker 1: forty one passes for four hundred and twenty eight yards.
Speaker 1: He had one carry for eleven yards. He was a
Speaker 1: seventh round draft pick number two thirty seven overall in
Speaker 1: that two thousand seventeen draft class. And Isaiah Ford. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and hear what coach Flora's had to say
Speaker 1: on Wednesday morning about Isaiah Ford. Look, I have a
Speaker 1: lot of respect and admiration for Ford at the Keys.
Speaker 1: You know, a kid who worked extremely hard, made a
Speaker 1: lot of place for us. His work ethic and team oriented,
Speaker 1: put the team first, just great attitude and he was
Speaker 1: just really enjoyed working with him. But you know, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day before, like you know, the
Speaker 1: best thing for for us was to make make that
Speaker 1: particular trade. So Isaiah Ford traded here in his fourth
Speaker 1: season the Dolphins, like Coach Flora says, that trade was
Speaker 1: in the best interests of the Dolphins, as is going
Speaker 1: to be the case with any trade they make or
Speaker 1: any roster move they make throughout the course of time.
Speaker 1: Really and the other trade they made on Tuesday was
Speaker 1: the trade for DeAndre Washington. The Dolphins pick up the
Speaker 1: former Kansas City Chiefs running back for a swap of
Speaker 1: conditional draft picks. And I always start, too, I like
Speaker 1: to start with the workout metrics of a player when
Speaker 1: I want to go back and kind of look at
Speaker 1: what I what I thought of them previously, or what
Speaker 1: I do think of them now as far as their
Speaker 1: on field production, because I think that gives you a
Speaker 1: good clue into what type of player you're dealing with
Speaker 1: from a movement from appliability explosive standpoint. And you look
Speaker 1: at Washington's combine metrics back when he was draft eligible,
Speaker 1: a four or for nine forty yard dash, a thirty
Speaker 1: four and a half inch vertical, nine oh eight on
Speaker 1: the broad jump, a four two shuttle, and a seven
Speaker 1: oh three three cone time. All of those, except for
Speaker 1: the broad jump measurement, measure out in the elite category
Speaker 1: on the r A S the Relative Athletics Scorecard, which
Speaker 1: measures a collective score of every combine workout dating back
Speaker 1: to by Kent Lee Platt, and he scored a seven
Speaker 1: point six to Washington did out of ten, and that
Speaker 1: ranks to one out of one thousand, two hundred and
Speaker 1: eighteen running backs that Mr. Platt has scored, so he's
Speaker 1: up there in the upper echelon. Then you pair that
Speaker 1: with the offensity came from. He played in that wide
Speaker 1: open throw the football seven hundred and thirty three times
Speaker 1: per game there at Texas Tech along with jakeem Grant.
Speaker 1: He caught the football a lot. He had one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty four catches for one thousand ninety one yards.
Speaker 1: And you see that in a variety of ways, whether
Speaker 1: it's the Texas route, which can be called Texas or
Speaker 1: angle or arrow, where you basically widen the linebacker from
Speaker 1: the backfield and cross face. It's a it's a to
Speaker 1: the right and then back to the left, or to
Speaker 1: the left and back to the right. You want to
Speaker 1: cross that linebacker's face. Routes, wheel routes, the whole running
Speaker 1: back route, tree, gamut. He ran it nice rhyme, nice rhyme.
Speaker 1: And you jump to his NFL career and he's caught
Speaker 1: eighty three of his targets for an average of five
Speaker 1: point seven four yards per target. I pulled up his
Speaker 1: reception real from last season in Oakland, where he caught
Speaker 1: thirty six out of forty one passes there and gained
Speaker 1: two hundred and ninety two yards on those receptions, So
Speaker 1: that's a nice bump from his career yards per target
Speaker 1: up to seven point one two and early you noticed
Speaker 1: he's often used to stay in and chip and then
Speaker 1: release out into the route, so he's in that third
Speaker 1: down mold where you can keep him in and trust
Speaker 1: him to pick up the additional pressure or get that
Speaker 1: chip on a defensive end, like you see with some
Speaker 1: of the monsters the Raiders face in that division, like
Speaker 1: a Joey Bosa for instance. When watching him up against
Speaker 1: the Chargers and in his career, Pro Football Focus has
Speaker 1: him in pass protection for seventy four snaps. He's allowed
Speaker 1: one hit and one hurry. That's it, no sex, just
Speaker 1: two pressures allowed. He's also shifty enough to make a
Speaker 1: man miss in space. They'd get him the ball on
Speaker 1: those screens and swings out on the edge where he
Speaker 1: gets squared up with one defender in space, and he
Speaker 1: does have some wiggle out there. Pro Football Focus had
Speaker 1: him last year with seventeen four Smiths tackles on one
Speaker 1: and eight carries and two hundred and ninety one of
Speaker 1: his three hundred and eighty seven rushing yards came after
Speaker 1: initial contact. That's good for a two point six nine
Speaker 1: average yards after contact that would lead this Dolphins team
Speaker 1: currently and just a smidge under his career average of
Speaker 1: two point seven two yards after initial contact. And you
Speaker 1: see that a lot in the passing game as well.
Speaker 1: Again back to the swings and screens where he gets
Speaker 1: out on the perimeter and makes that first guy miss.
Speaker 1: He also has played three hundred and eighty one special
Speaker 1: teams reps in his career, to which is obviously something
Speaker 1: you want from a back. It's on the roster to
Speaker 1: give you add a depth, as coach Flora says, here
Speaker 1: was part of the purpose of the trade. Here's coach
Speaker 1: on Gaskin in the running back room after the Washington trade. Okay, Miles,
Speaker 1: and Miles is thinged up a little bit. Um. We'll
Speaker 1: see he's a tough kid, he's a competitive kid, and
Speaker 1: we'll see where this goes here. So, what like, I
Speaker 1: want to add some depth there at the running back position.
Speaker 1: So DeAndre is a good player, an opportunity to get
Speaker 1: one and try to take advantage of it. Up next,
Speaker 1: we'll kind of hear a bit of a fun, lighthearted
Speaker 1: moment here from coach Flora's but also serious as well,
Speaker 1: as he was asked about the past receiving prowess of
Speaker 1: defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. It's gonna be a hard no,
Speaker 1: hard no on the you know, pass catching opportunities. Hard
Speaker 1: hard no. I mean, we've got other guys we would
Speaker 1: like to rather see what the balls Christian. He's yes,
Speaker 1: he's got some athleticism as a defensive tackle and we'll
Speaker 1: try to use him a variety of ways, you know,
Speaker 1: stunts games in the past rush. But he does a
Speaker 1: good job, really really in all areas. And he's he's
Speaker 1: he's somebody who's improved, i would say from year one
Speaker 1: of year two, and it's important to him. And he's
Speaker 1: got leadership and energy and he's been he's been fun
Speaker 1: to coach. But I don't really the pass catching future
Speaker 1: form On the topic of past catching futures for Christian Wilkins,
Speaker 1: who did catch a touchdown past last year, obviously had
Speaker 1: the snap but fullback this past Sunday where he helped
Speaker 1: clear a lane four Miles gaskin touchdown run You here
Speaker 1: Coach Flora's talk about the athletic ability and how it
Speaker 1: creates opportunities for him and stunts and games upfront kind
Speaker 1: of twisting and working down the last grimmage to help
Speaker 1: create opportunities for other guys in the game. Christian Wilkins
Speaker 1: been a very good player here for two years here
Speaker 1: with the Dolphins. Speaking of past catchers and speed on offense,
Speaker 1: Coach Flores was asked how speed can affect a defense
Speaker 1: and how important it is to have it on the
Speaker 1: offense with guys like Antonio Callaway friends is coming back
Speaker 1: off the suspension list, or a Malcolm Perry Lynn bowed
Speaker 1: and getting more active playing time as they have in
Speaker 1: recent weeks here for the Dolphins. Here's Coach Flora's on
Speaker 1: speed on the offense. Speeds hard to deal with defensively
Speaker 1: and in the kicking game. So anytime you can add
Speaker 1: you know that element, you know forces defenses to deal with.
Speaker 1: That worse thing that can happen is you know you
Speaker 1: allow that speed it um you know, create a big
Speaker 1: play defensively. Obviously offensively you want to create big plays.
Speaker 1: You could use that type of speed to your advantage.
Speaker 1: So we've got some guys um who can run. But
Speaker 1: again there's a lot more that goes into no planing
Speaker 1: receiver position than just speed. Um, you know, blocking route
Speaker 1: route running, catching football and then getting open. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of fast defensive backs as well. So up next,
Speaker 1: coach was asked about the defensive structure or the exotic
Speaker 1: blitz looks of Vance Joseph and the Arizona Cardinals. They'll
Speaker 1: come to find out on the preview podcast tomorrow. This
Speaker 1: Cardinals defense blitzes at one of the highest frequencies in
Speaker 1: the NFL. We're gonna talk about how you can mitigate
Speaker 1: that and work around that. Here's Coach Flora's on the
Speaker 1: blitzing game of the Cardinals defense. Yeah, I mean Vance
Speaker 1: does a does a very nice job over there. Um,
Speaker 1: Cliff doesn't. I mean, they got they got good coaches
Speaker 1: over there, and they do a good job really offensively,
Speaker 1: defensive leading in a kicking game. It's a good team.
Speaker 1: And just kind of watching the film and watching what
Speaker 1: they do defensively. Yeah, there there's a lot of looks.
Speaker 1: So and I'm sure I'm sure he's over there cooking
Speaker 1: something up that we haven't already seen on film as well.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: with the exotics. It's about following your rules, um and
Speaker 1: playing good with good technique and fundamentals because oftentimes, well
Speaker 1: it looks like it's a game plan to game plan
Speaker 1: Russia game planned scheme. And he does a good job
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, a really a really nice job. Create
Speaker 1: some confusion. We're gonna have to do a good job,
Speaker 1: like I said, following our rules, reading our keys. Really
Speaker 1: they do that in really all three phases, offense, defense,
Speaker 1: and special teams. So go ahead and finish up with
Speaker 1: Coach Flora is here on a Wednesday morning, with a
Speaker 1: good segue into our next segment. Talking about special teams.
Speaker 1: Coach was asked about jakeem Grant, the electric return ability
Speaker 1: of Jachem and what it means to be able to
Speaker 1: flip the field on special teams with his return unit,
Speaker 1: not just with Jachim but the guys that contribute, the
Speaker 1: other ten guys on the field as well. We talk
Speaker 1: about field position, you know, really on a weekly basis,
Speaker 1: how important import and that is. Um. I think Jakim
Speaker 1: has donna really Uh. He's worked extremely hard just um
Speaker 1: really in all areas of his game as a receiver,
Speaker 1: as a returner, and you can kind of see some
Speaker 1: of that starting to manifest itself on the field. Look,
Speaker 1: we all know he's an explosive player. UM, but I'm
Speaker 1: I'm proud of the ways of working kind of seeing
Speaker 1: some of that. But we need to continue and I
Speaker 1: think he knows that he's in here continuing to work.
Speaker 1: And you know, watching the film on the punters and
Speaker 1: the kickers and their walk offs and you know, any
Speaker 1: kind of tell he can he can get um so
Speaker 1: you can get a better read on the ball give
Speaker 1: and put himself in position to to get himself going UM.
Speaker 1: And then I think our team, especially in the kicking unit,
Speaker 1: you know, let's call it the return units, that they
Speaker 1: understand that UM block. If we you know, finish, if
Speaker 1: we finish our blocks and we got a chance to
Speaker 1: creet Big Blaze, that's always good. So he's he's done
Speaker 1: a he's done a nice job. I'm happy he won
Speaker 1: that award. I know his focus is on Arizona. That award,
Speaker 1: of course, being Special Teams Player of the Week going
Speaker 1: to Dolphins receiver slash return man Jachem Grant. So congratulations
Speaker 1: Jachim for winning that award. And on the topic of
Speaker 1: special teams that's going to be our Wednesday feature here
Speaker 1: on the Drive Time Podcast, as well as an article
Speaker 1: up on Miami Dolphins dot com taking a look at
Speaker 1: the impact of this Dolphins special team's unit has had
Speaker 1: under Coach Flora's and on this team this season. And
Speaker 1: you start here by this quote the coach said a
Speaker 1: while back, quote, I started in the kicking game. That's
Speaker 1: where I got my coaching break. I know and understand
Speaker 1: how important those guys in those possessions are, whether it's kicker, punter,
Speaker 1: long snapper, returners, ball security and things of that nature.
Speaker 1: And you'd be hard pressed to go a week or
Speaker 1: so without hearing Coach Flora's speak about the importance of
Speaker 1: the kicking game. And it really shows. Nobody in the
Speaker 1: NFL right now has more punt return yards than Jachem
Speaker 1: Grants two and twenty seven. Jason Sanders is the only
Speaker 1: kicker with ten made field goals who hasn't missed one.
Speaker 1: He's fifteen of fifteen. Also has not missed a point
Speaker 1: after try and Matt Hawk is ninth in punting average
Speaker 1: net punting average at forty two point three yards and
Speaker 1: fourth with fifteen punts down inside the twenty yard line.
Speaker 1: Last month, Jason Sanders took home a f C Special
Speaker 1: Teams Player of the Month. Jachem Grant wins it this
Speaker 1: week after breaking a franchise record eighty eight yard punt
Speaker 1: return and resetting his own record with his fifth return touchdown.
Speaker 1: In the story history of these Miami Dolphins, and you
Speaker 1: think back to how some of these players were acquired,
Speaker 1: guys that were brought here to really help not just
Speaker 1: on offense and defense, but to round out the special
Speaker 1: teams units. A guy like Clayton Federlum signed in the
Speaker 1: off season, a guy like Camu grug Hill who plays
Speaker 1: some reps on defense but has been crucial as Danny
Speaker 1: Austin will tell us on special teams as well. A
Speaker 1: guy like Blake Ferguson drafted in the sixth round to
Speaker 1: be a long snapper. The operation has been crisp this year,
Speaker 1: no bad snaps or or failed exchanges between he and
Speaker 1: Matt Hawk as a punter and as a holder. We
Speaker 1: saw Mac Hollins acquired in season last year, and we
Speaker 1: heard Danny Crossman talk about his strength as a gunner,
Speaker 1: crediting both he and Jamal Perry as really being guys
Speaker 1: that kind of at the table as those gunners, saying
Speaker 1: that you cannot have a good special teams unit without
Speaker 1: having your gunners down the field. If your gunners are
Speaker 1: not downfield disrupting things, at minimum, you're going to have
Speaker 1: a hard time, Coach says, So plenty of factors going
Speaker 1: into why the special teams unit right now is playing
Speaker 1: so well, and the Dolphins on Football Outsiders d v
Speaker 1: o A a metric we've talked about a couple of
Speaker 1: times over the last couple of weeks. It's defensive adjusted
Speaker 1: value over metric. Essentially, what they're trying to do with
Speaker 1: that metric is removed outside factors in d v o
Speaker 1: A and using their percentage points, the Dolphins are a
Speaker 1: ten point five percent d v o A on special teams.
Speaker 1: That trails only Baltimore, who's at twelve point three percent.
Speaker 1: Third place is Seattle at six point one percent, So
Speaker 1: Miami is four point four points higher than third place
Speaker 1: and almost double them. In fact, the Dolphins are double
Speaker 1: the fifth highest ranked special teams unit in the NFL,
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints at four point seven percent. So
Speaker 1: not only is Miami a top of the class with
Speaker 1: Baltimore up there, they're well ahead of the rest of
Speaker 1: the group in terms of special teams d v o A,
Speaker 1: and we mentioned mac hollands work as a gunner on
Speaker 1: the punt team and being one of those core special
Speaker 1: teamers along with so many other players on this roster
Speaker 1: that have helped contribute in that third phase of the game.
Speaker 1: On Tuesday, I had a chance to ask Coach Grazzard
Speaker 1: about mac Hollins and the impact he has as a
Speaker 1: worker in the receiver room but also on special teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he works incredibly hard in terms of being in the
Speaker 1: meeting room. He's also really good for some of these
Speaker 1: younger guys because he's been around and he really he
Speaker 1: grinds for everything that he gets, and and that came
Speaker 1: through special teams, even from the time that he was
Speaker 1: at Carolina. So to see that and show that you
Speaker 1: can carve out a roll and get you on the
Speaker 1: field and make plays on special teams and come in
Speaker 1: and do things we asked me to do on offense
Speaker 1: as well, I think it's a great example for everybody
Speaker 1: really to see in the room. And he just brings
Speaker 1: juice every day. It's a great personality and great teammate.
Speaker 1: Speaking of that juice, I saw Mac do a back
Speaker 1: hand spring like misty twist spin move after the team
Speaker 1: got done stretching on practice on Wednesday. So talking about
Speaker 1: bringing that juice. You also heard coach reference his time
Speaker 1: at North Carolina and he was a fourth round draft
Speaker 1: pick of the Eagles out of U n C. And
Speaker 1: I recall back to that draft year when Daniel Jeremiah
Speaker 1: of The Around of the Move, the Sticks podcast and
Speaker 1: NFL Network and NFL Media said that he doesn't think
Speaker 1: that there's a better gunner, a better punt coverage guy,
Speaker 1: a day one core special teamer in this draft than
Speaker 1: Mac Hollins. And I think you're kind of seeing that
Speaker 1: here with Hollands in Miami. And with that, why don't
Speaker 1: we go ahead and hear from the man himself as
Speaker 1: we welcome in Mac Collins to the Drivetime Podcast. And
Speaker 1: I am thrilled to be going now by Dolphins wide
Speaker 1: receiver slash gunner, slash special team's core component. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know how many jobs this guy has he
Speaker 1: is Mac Hollins, Mac, welcome into the Drift Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you, trys to really appreciate you having me. I
Speaker 1: saw you at practice as I do some form and
Speaker 1: I'm going to butcher the name of this. But like
Speaker 1: a backhands, a backhand spring, or like a misty flip?
Speaker 1: Is there a gymnastics background there for you? Oh no,
Speaker 1: it's just a little round off I'll do. I'll do
Speaker 1: it right after you stretch. It kind of gets me, um,
Speaker 1: I don't know. It reminds me to be a kid,
Speaker 1: to have fun with with what I'm doing. So I
Speaker 1: do a little round off right after stretching to whatever
Speaker 1: drill we're going into, and then I, uh, start the day.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. So you do it every day? Then, yeah,
Speaker 1: right after stretch. Yeah, I didn't even notice it. That's
Speaker 1: I guess a bad job on my part there do
Speaker 1: not notice it? But I did notice it today. And
Speaker 1: you know, out there at practice it was windy and
Speaker 1: and not not the best South Florida weather, but you
Speaker 1: guys still got after and worked hard. I'm curious to
Speaker 1: ask you, Mac, because I think a lot of folks
Speaker 1: and myself and fluded. Maybe you don't really know how
Speaker 1: the week goes for a player who plays both an
Speaker 1: offensive or defensive position but also has such a significant
Speaker 1: role on special teams. What does that week look like
Speaker 1: for you? Trying to prepare for both elements of the game. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just it just adds an element of
Speaker 1: you know, being able to manage your time and manage
Speaker 1: what what you're studying and what you're looking at. You know,
Speaker 1: if you look at offensive or defensive starter, you know,
Speaker 1: main guy, they're going to study the defense or offensive
Speaker 1: opponent really well. Whereas for me, I have to study
Speaker 1: special teams really well, but then also offense defense for
Speaker 1: any opportunity that I get in in that component of
Speaker 1: the game. So it's a it's a it's just about
Speaker 1: time management and knowing how to how to make the
Speaker 1: best decision that's going to make the team and yourself
Speaker 1: the most successful on game day. I have to imagine
Speaker 1: you learned quite a bit of that from your time
Speaker 1: back in college. And you know, I fancy myself an
Speaker 1: amateur draft guy, and I followed Daniel Jeremiah on the
Speaker 1: NFL network, and I never forgot when you were coming
Speaker 1: out North Carolina, he said, this guy might be the
Speaker 1: best gunner slash special teamer in the entire draft. So
Speaker 1: it's something you've kind of always taken pride in, right,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean especially this is how I you
Speaker 1: really made it in college because I walked on in
Speaker 1: North Carolina especially is how I got really to make
Speaker 1: the team and then my role developed as a receiver.
Speaker 1: But yes, special teams has always been my my roots.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us more about that with walking on
Speaker 1: it and see and how you wound up there? I mean,
Speaker 1: I know it's a bit of a basketball school. I've
Speaker 1: heard you play basketball next door. Did you have hoop dreams? Like?
Speaker 1: How did you get in that spot? Uh? So, I
Speaker 1: coming out of high school, was on a visit to
Speaker 1: North Carolina with my older brother who was applying there
Speaker 1: and other schools. He went ended up going to Stanford.
Speaker 1: But I was there and went to the football facility
Speaker 1: and was talking and ended up meeting guy named Marcus
Speaker 1: Barry who suggested going to for Kenyan Military Academy, which
Speaker 1: is a prep school's coming out of high school. So
Speaker 1: I end up going to the prep school. Still didn't
Speaker 1: get an offer from anywhere, but I ended up emailing
Speaker 1: like a hunter coaches of schools that I you know,
Speaker 1: I would like to play at whatever and macollins, this
Speaker 1: is my highlight tape, this and that from high school,
Speaker 1: this and that from Kenyon. I just want to chance
Speaker 1: and ended up getting a whole bunch of people hitting
Speaker 1: me back for UM, it's just like opportunities to walk on,
Speaker 1: And then North Carolina was one of them, so walked on,
Speaker 1: actually walked on as a defensive back because that's where
Speaker 1: the spot was. I got into the school and they
Speaker 1: had a spot at defensive back, So I was a
Speaker 1: defensive back at the start, and then transition transitioned over
Speaker 1: the receiver because of a bunch of injuries, and guys
Speaker 1: had seen me play basketball and they knew I was athletic,
Speaker 1: so they're like, why not just try Mac at receiver
Speaker 1: and I guess the rest of the system. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: Do you ever talk to know what I banogay about that?
Speaker 1: Because he started off as a receiver Auburn and made
Speaker 1: the switch to cornerback there in college. You ever talked
Speaker 1: to him about that? Um? I actually haven't, Um, but
Speaker 1: you can tell, I mean know it was a great athlete,
Speaker 1: so you can. You know, most guys that can transition
Speaker 1: have good hips are usually from the offense side of
Speaker 1: my opinion, Yeah, yeah for sure. Selfish, Well, maybe he
Speaker 1: can come over and join some of the some of
Speaker 1: the hoop action and the receiver's amoute in the suburbs
Speaker 1: now as we're gonna call him here on the Drivetime podcast.
Speaker 1: I've got Mac Hollins here on the Drivetime podcasting and
Speaker 1: speaking of the suburbs and the receiver's room. UM coach
Speaker 1: Gizard on his Tuesday media availability talked about you kind
Speaker 1: of accepting this leadership role and being a good example
Speaker 1: for the younger guys on this team, and Mac, you're
Speaker 1: not necessarily a grizzled vet at this point. You're still
Speaker 1: in your mid twenties and and you've you've been around
Speaker 1: the block for a few years, but still a pretty
Speaker 1: young guy. But you came to this team last year
Speaker 1: and I assume you know pretty quickly took on that
Speaker 1: leadership role. Can you talk about about how quickly you
Speaker 1: were able to get yourself in a position where guys
Speaker 1: started to look up to you here in Miami? I
Speaker 1: think I think it's a mixture of the situation I
Speaker 1: came into and the situation I'm coming from. So, you know,
Speaker 1: when I got here last year, there was a bunch
Speaker 1: of injuries in the receiver room and a lot of
Speaker 1: young players, and I was coming from, you know, a
Speaker 1: team where I had won a Super Bowl, and I
Speaker 1: had been to the playoffs every year, so I had
Speaker 1: that type of experience. You know, I was privileged enough
Speaker 1: to have that, so to be able to bring that
Speaker 1: to the table of guys. Can guys can usually tell
Speaker 1: the guys that have, you know, experienced a lot, and
Speaker 1: usually experience is the best way to lead somebody. They
Speaker 1: don't make the same mistakes you do. So you know,
Speaker 1: I was lucky enough to be able to try and
Speaker 1: lead these guys. I mean, I wouldn't say I'm a
Speaker 1: leader of the group by any means, but I tried
Speaker 1: the best I can to you know, teach the young
Speaker 1: guys the mistakes that already made so they don't end
Speaker 1: up making it. That's, I think, in an invaluable asset
Speaker 1: on any any team or any place of employment in
Speaker 1: any industry. So that's cool to hear. But I want
Speaker 1: to you mentioned you're not the only leader on that group.
Speaker 1: I'm curious to get your take on on the rest
Speaker 1: of the kind of the core guys, the glue guys,
Speaker 1: and that special teams, you know, because there are so
Speaker 1: many of them, whether it's Clayton Federal in the Personal Protector,
Speaker 1: Cavan Fraser and Cammu, Gruza Hill, Andrew Van Geek. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, i know I'm leaving names off, but I'm
Speaker 1: curious if you guys have this general kind of mindset
Speaker 1: or is it like a mantra that you guys work
Speaker 1: together off of you take a lot of pride in
Speaker 1: with the special teams or or is it just something
Speaker 1: you can talk about with that entire group collectively and
Speaker 1: how they kind of approached the game. I think one
Speaker 1: thing about special teams is that it's it's more of
Speaker 1: a decision than offensive defense. Offense and defense. You know,
Speaker 1: you can have a good play design that will end
Speaker 1: up being the success, whereas in special teams are either
Speaker 1: going to decide that you're gonna give it your all
Speaker 1: and go make a play, or you're gonna decide to
Speaker 1: take a playoff and something bad might happen. Um. So
Speaker 1: for for our group, I think we just have a
Speaker 1: lot of fun and we really enjoyed being out there.
Speaker 1: When we're out there, you know, we don't look at
Speaker 1: his like, ah, dang, here coming here comes another special
Speaker 1: team snap. It's who's who's gonna make the play. We're
Speaker 1: arguing over who's gonna make the tackle and who's gonna
Speaker 1: make the touchdown, making block and stuff like that. So
Speaker 1: we just have a lot of fun with it and
Speaker 1: we enjoy being out there. I want to go ahead
Speaker 1: and transition back just maybe some more lighthearted stuff here
Speaker 1: and ask you first, coach Croftsman during training camp this year,
Speaker 1: I set up in the media row, so I'm about
Speaker 1: as far from the fields you can be, but I
Speaker 1: can hear him from up there because he can yell. Man.
Speaker 1: I want to know what's it like to be on
Speaker 1: the other end of a of a crossman uh, a
Speaker 1: shouting event there. I mean, you definitely don't want to
Speaker 1: be the recipient of it by any means. Nobody likes that. Uh.
Speaker 1: But as like an older player, it's you know, you
Speaker 1: kind of laugh because you've been in the in the
Speaker 1: shoes of younger guys or rookies that they're getting yelled at.
Speaker 1: You've been in those shoes before, so you kind of
Speaker 1: laugh on the inside. But he'll he'll fix it and
Speaker 1: be a better player because because of it. Obviously not
Speaker 1: gonna laugh out out because it is serious and whatever
Speaker 1: he's yelling asked for a reason. But you know, you
Speaker 1: know that player is going to learn from it, and
Speaker 1: I promise you who won't make that same mistake again
Speaker 1: because of the chewing out. He just got that that's
Speaker 1: exactly right. And they always say right if you're not
Speaker 1: and yelled at, then the coaches if it's better to
Speaker 1: be yelled at than it is to be ignored, because
Speaker 1: they actually care about you and think there's something there.
Speaker 1: Um One more question for you about the coaching stuff.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to last year with the
Speaker 1: Mountaineer shot. I'm sure you've talked about it plenty of times. Uh,
Speaker 1: just the general vibe of how the special teams was
Speaker 1: so adaptable to to making to taking chances and getting
Speaker 1: big plays out of it. I'm curious for you guys,
Speaker 1: does that give you more confidence that the coaches are
Speaker 1: willing to put so much trust in you guys to
Speaker 1: execute in big moments like that. Yeah, I mean, as
Speaker 1: as players, we don't. I mean it's rare, but you
Speaker 1: don't find so many players who are analyzing the percentages
Speaker 1: of getting first downs and on fourth down and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. And when do you use trick play? So
Speaker 1: for us, any time it's fourth down and five or less,
Speaker 1: or any time the game is close and we feel
Speaker 1: like we can do it, like a player is gonna say,
Speaker 1: let's run a fake, and and in this league, it's
Speaker 1: such a conservative league, it rarely happens. So to be
Speaker 1: on a team we're we're able to run fakes and
Speaker 1: not just practice them, but actually run them, it's a
Speaker 1: It gives the players just a little bit more confidence
Speaker 1: to go out there and go really hard on the
Speaker 1: places where we're not running fakes so that they set
Speaker 1: up the fakes later on. Yeah, that's that's uh. You
Speaker 1: mentioned right there, the analytics aspect of it. I'm sure
Speaker 1: every player throws those out the window and says, let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and go for it right here. Two more
Speaker 1: questions for you, mac one. It goes back to a
Speaker 1: touchdown celebration. I recall you having in Philadelphia. Were ever
Speaker 1: going to see the floss here in Miami? Oh, we'll see.
Speaker 1: Usually I just make up dances. Um, I'm kind of spontaneous.
Speaker 1: That was That was a spontaneous one. But I got
Speaker 1: all types of moves the guys are. The guys have
Speaker 1: seen a little glimpses of each of them, but you
Speaker 1: never know what. It all depends on how I'm feeling
Speaker 1: that day and if I'm lucky enough to get an
Speaker 1: end zone. Oh I want to correct me if I'm
Speaker 1: wrong here, But didn't you wind up on the jumbo
Speaker 1: tron there at a Sixers game because of that? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was It was like the week after I had scored,
Speaker 1: I ended up going to a six Years game and
Speaker 1: I was told by a veteran, hey, go up there
Speaker 1: and dance when the camera comes over. So, as a rookie,
Speaker 1: I did what I was told to do. There you go,
Speaker 1: smart move. Last question for you here. I mentioned the
Speaker 1: wind earlier today I saw that the hair was was
Speaker 1: looking rather magnificent. How long is that going to go? For? Um?
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. It's kind of just just living its
Speaker 1: own life. I do need to get a trim I needed.
Speaker 1: I need to cut a few split ends off. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I've had fun with it. I let it, let it
Speaker 1: live its life. And now it's cooling down a little bit.
Speaker 1: It's not as hard to deal with. It's not as hot,
Speaker 1: so I can actually manage it. But it's been fun
Speaker 1: to have because I always had short hair in my
Speaker 1: whole life, so this is a new bonus. Yeah, there
Speaker 1: you go, heading into the I guess cooler months here
Speaker 1: in South Florida as we pressed onto the second half
Speaker 1: of the season. Dolphins receiver Mac Hollins Dolphins Special Teams Days,
Speaker 1: Mac Collins, appreciate your time today, Man's that's a great
Speaker 1: to talk to you. Thank you so much, and there
Speaker 1: he goes Mac Hollins, What a fun interview that was.
Speaker 1: Look forward to seeing if we can get some flossing
Speaker 1: here in the near future in Miami. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and finish up this podcast with our Wednesday player media
Speaker 1: availability before we get to the injury report here on
Speaker 1: this Wednesday podcast, and start with Dolphins quarterback to a
Speaker 1: Tongue Violoa, who was first asked about his individual goals
Speaker 1: this season, now that he's got a game under his
Speaker 1: belt and what might be realistic goals for himself and
Speaker 1: of course to have brought it back to the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins because team over the individual. Well, I think it's
Speaker 1: hard to speak individually, um, because this is a team sport.
Speaker 1: You know, we play we play this together. You need
Speaker 1: all eleving guys on the offense. Are e leving guys
Speaker 1: on the defense, now you leving guys on special teams
Speaker 1: and in order for you to win and accomplish your
Speaker 1: individual goals. It contributes everyone. Everyone needs to contribute and
Speaker 1: do their part. Um, you know, and and that's what
Speaker 1: we're hopefully looking to improve on as an offense. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, this upcoming week and this upcoming week features
Speaker 1: a quarterback that to has played against before, actually in
Speaker 1: hard Rock Stadium this Sunday, they'll be at State Farm
Speaker 1: Stadium there in Glendale, Arizona. But going up against Kyler Murray,
Speaker 1: another player who wears Gregy number one saw M in college.
Speaker 1: Here's two were talking about the Heisman Trophy presentation, being
Speaker 1: there with Kyler Murray and his family and what he
Speaker 1: thinks about the Cardinals quarterback. I'm very excited to go
Speaker 1: up against them, I would say. First impressions when I
Speaker 1: when I met him, he's, you know, he's pretty jacked up,
Speaker 1: you know, for for as you know, short as he is,
Speaker 1: he's he's I mean, this guy's rocked up. Um. But
Speaker 1: he he's very competitive. Um, you know, he's very personable too.
Speaker 1: I got to meet his parents as well at the
Speaker 1: Haysland ceremony. Very good family, um, you know, but against
Speaker 1: going against guys like that who are very competitive and
Speaker 1: you know, you're gonna get their best. UM. I think
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a fun one. And with the Cardinals
Speaker 1: coming up and the Rams game in the rear view,
Speaker 1: it's all about making corrections and getting things applied for
Speaker 1: the following week. So two of us asked, what are
Speaker 1: some things he looks back on the he think he
Speaker 1: did well and some things he thinks he can work on.
Speaker 1: I I think there's there's room for improvement every day
Speaker 1: for me, UM, you know. I I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: getting more comfortable in the huddle, talking to the guys,
Speaker 1: giving the plays out and kind of seeing where everyone
Speaker 1: needs to go. UM. I think the biggest thing for
Speaker 1: me is pocket presence UM, being able to just step
Speaker 1: up into you know what feels slight pressure. UM. And
Speaker 1: then also just just making the throws that I need
Speaker 1: to UM, you know, give the receiver's good run after
Speaker 1: catch up. Next two was asked about the comments from
Speaker 1: chan Gailey about how the Dolphins were ahead and had
Speaker 1: a different game plan because of being so far ahead
Speaker 1: in that game and the restrictive nature of the game
Speaker 1: plan for the quarterback and really trying to play more
Speaker 1: of a conservative approach. Gailey had those comments on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: Here's two, A tong about Lows reaction to Gailey's comments
Speaker 1: with the game plan, I believe my job is to
Speaker 1: is to you know, do whatever play call where we're given.
Speaker 1: If it's a run twenty times and it's a past
Speaker 1: one time, I gotta make it work at one time.
Speaker 1: You know, the past is given, and I got to
Speaker 1: carry out my fakes those twenty times. UM. But I
Speaker 1: you know, I I trust, and I think our offense trust.
Speaker 1: You know what Chand has planned for us offensively. Um.
Speaker 1: And we go into the to the week knowing the
Speaker 1: game plan, what we're gonna do, and you know how
Speaker 1: we're going to try to attack their defense. Um. But
Speaker 1: you know, we have full trust that whatever chance calls,
Speaker 1: we gotta go out there and you know, do good
Speaker 1: with it. And we'll go ahead and finish up with
Speaker 1: my question for two, I asked him, since I previously
Speaker 1: spoke to about learning behind Fitzpatrick and getting the mental reps,
Speaker 1: how important it is for him to have actual NFL
Speaker 1: tape he can go back and look at and make
Speaker 1: improvements and make corrections. Here's two on having his first
Speaker 1: NFL tape to dissect. I think that's that's almost the
Speaker 1: best way. I would say that's that's pretty much the
Speaker 1: best way I think for anyone in the NFL to learn.
Speaker 1: You can sit down and anyone can watch film, really,
Speaker 1: but being able to go in and get some actual
Speaker 1: game wraps, seeing actual rotations of the defenses, and you've
Speaker 1: got to make actual mic points, UM, and do things
Speaker 1: like that. I think those things go a long way.
Speaker 1: And sticking in your head and knowing, Okay, if this
Speaker 1: comes up, I know what my answer is, UM, and
Speaker 1: then just being comfortable UM. You know, as the games
Speaker 1: go on, you you just get a good feel of
Speaker 1: the game. UM. And then you can also get into
Speaker 1: a good rhythm and from the guy in the middle
Speaker 1: of the offense to one of the guys in the
Speaker 1: middle of the defense. We next hear from Dolphins linebacker
Speaker 1: Jerome Baker, who first was asked by yours truly about
Speaker 1: the challenges and offense will see with taking care of
Speaker 1: a pass rush that has so many different looks and
Speaker 1: so many different ways they can come and put pressure
Speaker 1: on the quarterback. Here's Jerome on the Dolphins pressure packages
Speaker 1: and our defense. Anybody can come, so you got to
Speaker 1: prepare it like that, and it's it's hard to really
Speaker 1: prepare for, you know, anybody else field to come. So
Speaker 1: that's pretty much how we do it. Just we kind
Speaker 1: of make it that anybody can come and their different
Speaker 1: looks and that's how we get a few open runs
Speaker 1: to the quarterback. Up Next, the Miami linebacker was asked
Speaker 1: about how he feels about how the Dolphins statistical rankings
Speaker 1: are right now in the NFL being the number one
Speaker 1: scoring defense in the National Football League. We don't know
Speaker 1: all the you know, citasis, we are part of whatever,
Speaker 1: but I can tell you it doesn't feel like whatever
Speaker 1: it says. Um. I mean, one thing about our defense is,
Speaker 1: you know, we we're pretty hungry. So every snap, every
Speaker 1: rep we have, you know, we're definitely getting on each other.
Speaker 1: We hold each other accountable to to do better. So
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like whatever it's read on papers. You
Speaker 1: gotta keep it up and keeps taking one rep and
Speaker 1: getting better, you know. As a deference, And we heard
Speaker 1: to talking about Kyler Murray, Cardinals quarterback. How about the
Speaker 1: guys that have to defend Kyler Murray. Here's your I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the challenges that quarterback presents in Arizona. Um,
Speaker 1: how we preform it's hard to tell you that. It's
Speaker 1: very hard. Um, he's one of those quarterbacks that's he's young,
Speaker 1: but he's definitely dynamic. So um, we just gotta do
Speaker 1: a lot of different things, um, you know, to make
Speaker 1: it harder. He's throwing different looks, just throwing pressure as
Speaker 1: whatever it is in our coach had to do a
Speaker 1: great job. I'm doing that and getting this you know
Speaker 1: ready for that. Guys like that, it's it's hard to
Speaker 1: stop them pretty much. Just had to contain them. So uh,
Speaker 1: that's that's our game plan. We're just gonna to contain them.
Speaker 1: And I shouldn't play as the defense page Rome again,
Speaker 1: just just curious. You guys had four takeaways in the
Speaker 1: game Sunday, but a couple of opportunities for more. I'm
Speaker 1: just curious if there's any like rising that goes on
Speaker 1: between you guys and like for instance, Eric wrote who
Speaker 1: had a chance and maybe a pick six there, or
Speaker 1: or Van Gigel who almost had that pick on the
Speaker 1: on the ball he batted up. Do you guys give
Speaker 1: those guys a hard time for that type of thing? Yes,
Speaker 1: very very hard. Like it's uh, it's it's not just
Speaker 1: okay just to get the interception and pick up a humble. Um, well,
Speaker 1: we pretty much and this is all players. We hold
Speaker 1: each other accountable. So if that's uh, you pick up
Speaker 1: the fumble, and we respect you to score, but not
Speaker 1: just score. We respect everybody to block for you. We
Speaker 1: get the interception. We we just hold each other accountable.
Speaker 1: And it's not just you have to do it as
Speaker 1: a defense. We have to uh work together as to
Speaker 1: score points. So um, that's what's cool about our defense.
Speaker 1: We hold each other accountable. We we want each other
Speaker 1: to get better. And uh that makes it, you know,
Speaker 1: more enjoyable when the coaches don't have to say anything.
Speaker 1: And Jerome continued that thought with a follow up question
Speaker 1: about Kyle van Noya getting down to the one yard
Speaker 1: line on his peal recovery, just one yard short of
Speaker 1: that elusive defensive touchdown. The one thing I say about Kyle,
Speaker 1: if you look at the video, I was the first
Speaker 1: one on them. Uh. I definitely got on about that. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, we watched each other in high school highlights
Speaker 1: as a linebacker court and U. Everybody score touchdown. Everybody
Speaker 1: do their thing, so we all bring it up. You
Speaker 1: score all these touchdowns and all this why you didn't
Speaker 1: do that, but no, it's just a fun way just
Speaker 1: to get on each other and just have fun with it.
Speaker 1: But you know, I definitely I don't know about that.
Speaker 1: Uh and the shorts you get, I was my black
Speaker 1: but it's part of business. But uh, you know, we
Speaker 1: definitely gonna miss it. So there you have it. To
Speaker 1: a Tongue by lower Jerome Baker. We heard from mc
Speaker 1: collins and Brian Flores on this podcast as well, a
Speaker 1: very busy one. As for today's podcast, that is going
Speaker 1: to be my time you all please be sure to
Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us a rating,
Speaker 1: leave us a review, give me a follow. On Twitter.
Speaker 1: It's at Wingfield, NFL. You can follow the team at
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. Check out The fish Tank and the Audible podcast.
Speaker 1: I know the fish Tank just dropped a J. Doway.
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Speaker 1: Until next time finds up