5 Big Picture Thoughts, Analysts Break Down Dolphins, First Word on Buffalo

I don't know what you want to call it. I call it another football day here on the drivetime podcast. I liked the segment we did last week. Five things. I think you can tell me if you don't, but we're gonna do it again anyways. We'll hear some more from around the web and social will also hear from some of the players with the first word on the buffalo bills here on this Wednesday from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the

drivetime podcast Miami. By the way, raced out there the one that said the spongebob meme to me about the pause before the Miami Dolphins first down. Really enjoyed that tweet. Good Sir, and I'm going to keep doing those long pauses because I get a kick out of it and it's my show and I have the microphone, so I will say whatever I want. Sound good. Let's kick this off with the five things. I think it's funny how these Wednesday podcasts have come together through two weeks. I

put a lot of time just thinking about it. Like once caroline goes to bed on Monday night and I'm starting, I'm watching the the MNF games, the wheels really begin to turn, especially when she's awake at thirty at night and I'm rocking her back to sleep in a dark room, just staring at dark walls. Caroline, please go back to sleep at some point in your life. UH, there's no

better time. Now there's to think, though sometimes it's podcast most time it's just staring at the dark, dark walls, thinking to myself, and in those think tanks I often come up with nothing. But then on Tuesday morning, when I'm driving a little girl to school, I'm listening to

more podcasts, more football content. I boot up the laptop after I get back and make some coffee and just kind of prove social and I think all the thinking allows my brain to get to the point that I want to be and maybe engaging more with what people are talking about on social because just like that, boom, the ideas start to froll, furl, they start to flow in. And so we start here with five things that I think,

and you saw me tweeting about this on Tuesday. I forget what day it is on the podcast every time because I record the day before. So forgive me if I'm never wrong on that, but this is the Wednesday podcast, recording on four at pm on a Tuesday. Number One, I'm all over the place. Twa and twenty two in critical areas. As I was sipping that coffee, I thought, why don't I type two ah into the search bar, and sure enough what I find is that the NFL network has this hall of frame a war they'd give

out with the picture of the week. Dolphins are two and oh in that category. Coach one last week and TWA gets it this week, unless there was a late shift in the voting, because what I saw it was like overwhelmingly the picture of Ta with Dan Marino on looking in the background. And by the way, if you haven't seen that photo, like Marino has like this look of ultimate approvals. He's putting his hands together and to a like I've been saying, this is some friends and

text and whatnot. That game to me for two was like a release valve. was was hit for him, all the frustration, all the negativity around his game. For whatever the hell reason that he gets all that negativity, I will never know. But it kind of felt like just like Ah, it's all been released at this stage. That was really, really cool to see. So that won their award after coach mcdaniel got the Gatorade Bath and won

the award last week. Also, checking on the Fedex air player of the week, when I checked it this morning, seventy eight point eight percent of the votes went to to a on a under in five k votes on that twitter, that tweeter tweet, and then also, I believe, to Uh. I assume. I don't know, but I have to assume he should be getting a F C player of the week. We'll check back on that, but I have to assume six touchdowns in almost five yards. We'll

do that, but I've been wrong before. And then yesterday I read off some fourth quarter rankings for two over the last two seasons of his career and he wasn't first in some of the major categories, in top five and others, but I wanted to include that rookie season because it just gives you a comprehensive picture. Hat Tip to Marcel Louis Jacque of ESPN for this note. And

it is Louis Jack by the way. If I've seen that name MIS pronounced a lot of times from the guy that misspronounces more names than anybody else, that one, I'll give you a heads up on how to pronounce Marcell's name. Love Marcel's work, by the way, in QB R to us since his rookie season. Second in the fourth quarter adjusted completion percentage. Second off target throw percentage, second fewest tight window completion percentage. Second completion percentage over

expected sixth. That is a stat by next Gen stats where they take years and years and years and decades and decades of data and they look at the coverage, separation and all kinds of other factors that go into that and give you a completion percentage expectation. This stat measures how much higher over that expectation you perform. So it's the norm. How much more you perform over that. He's sixth than that category in the fourth quarter since

his rookie season. Yards per attempt a little bit easier of a stat to digest. He's eighth and then touchdown to interception ratio eight. It's pretty good, pretty good. I thought it was important to provide that, not just cherry pick, because I do think it's fair to evaluate quarterbacks removed from their rookie seasons, because it's very rare that rookie quarterbacks have impressive numbers. Just go back to last year's class and I'm sure this year's class will have more

of the same. But we are comprehensive on the podcast and speaking of that, I'm a huge fan of the move the sticks podcast. Daniel Jeremiah and bucky brooks do fantastic work covering the draft and then they see the season through the scouts eyes and Jeremiah had said at least a hundred times in the show since I've been listening to it, and that might be hyperbole, but you

get it. When he goes to a prospects tape in college, the first thing that he gets from the scouting community is a third and medium to third and long reel. You want to see how that quarterback performs in dropback situations where the defense knows the past is coming. Can you complete tight windows consistently in those situations? The other thing he wants to know about is how they play at the end of halfs and games and also, finally, obviously,

your fourth quarter production in general. Well, through two games this year, here's what to us. Splits tell us in terms of the third down and medium to long numbers. So this is third and seven or longer. Ten of twelve d eighty passing yards, three touchdowns and eight first down. So s conversion, though. That's the thirty three percent, give or take uh NFL wide number usually around for third

and seven or longer. He's at through two games if you add uh the four through six yardage barrier, thirteen of sixteen, two hundred and fifty one yards. I'm just laughing because these are numbers are these are video game members. Travis Wingfield, Madden two thousand five, the quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, was putting these numbers up. Four touchdowns, ten first downs. That's ten first downs out of sixteen tries.

It gets lower somehow, but you get a fourth quarter eighteen for twenty six, two hundred forty nine yards, four touchdowns, no picks and a one thirty nine point three passer rating. One point three is perfect, by the way, highest it goes. And of course there was a touchdown in two minute at the end of the first half against the Patriots. We knelt on the football on two plays in the red zone in the fourth quarter in that game. So

at minimum you're in field goal range. I tend to think they could have knocked it in there if they wanted to, if they attempted to. And then we get another touch down in two minutes, in the last two minutes of the Game Against Baltimore. So four team points in four two minutes. Situations potential for seventeen or twenty one if not for that victory formation. So too, in the critical areas, that's your production you're getting out of

your starting quarterback. Number two, explosive plays. The dolphins have eleven explosive plays this year. Those are runs of ten or more yards and receptions of twenty or more yards. They are coming up total already through two games. This is something we've talked about at length for a couple of years and, quite frankly, a couple of decades. Here.

I mean Ricky Williams was the last time this offense was consistently productive and even then, like you know the running back, you could have games where it's like caries, nine yards and two touchdowns, but you're not really doing a whole lot in terms of explosives. Whether it's this podcast or the postgame show or the twitter spaces, every avenue we do content and we've been talking about this, where the one thing you need is more explosive plays

and to eliminate the need for so many. Mythoughts uncle drives, because a false start, a holding call, an eligible man down field, a drop pass, a miss throw, there are so many factors that can cause you to get behind the chains and wind up kicking field goals on those twelve play drives. You know how you get touchdowns out of those? You go like this. Tyreek this year has plays of sixty twenty one. Jalen waddle has plays of fifty,

ninety two, thirty three. Chase Edmonds has a twenty eight yard Gash where he moster has a pair of eleven yard runs and we saw that ninety five yard drive. I think actually yard drive was the total on that uh, that first touchdown drive in Baltimore, and actually became ninety eight because we started to drive with a two yard loss on eight was a moster or Edmunds run. Then it took four plays to get six. Waddle for fifty nine, tyreek for fifteen, Surefield for twelve, waddle for five and

the touchdown that's sure. Is Nice when you can do it that quick, that explosive. This offense has seven touchdown drives this season. They have gone this long. Seven, uh seven drives. Three minutes forty seven seconds. That was the waddle touchdown against New England, and then the rest of them are obviously last week, three minutes forty nine seconds to go yards. Seven minutes and eight seconds to open

that third quarter. Three minutes fourteen seconds, one minute twenty four seconds, one minute twenty seven seconds, two minutes four seconds. So on. Seven touchdown drives, the dolphins averaged three minutes and twenty six seconds per touchdown drive. Explosive offense. Number three thing I think after two in critical moments. An

explosive offense is the diversity of offensive production. Coach had an awesome answer Kawa talking about the one, nine two yards piled up by the non tyreek and Jalen waddle players on the offense on Sunday. You can hear that quote on the Tuesday podcast. But how about the production this team is getting out of two vastly different personnel groupings,

per nfl true media, eleven personnel is three receivers. When you hear someone say a number for personnel, eleven, twelve, one, O, O one, the first number is a number of running backs, the second number is the number of tight ends, and then you always have five offensive Lineman, unless you go heavy and bring on a sixth or seventh offensive lineman. We haven't gone there yet this season. And then you have one quarterback. So that always leaves you with the

remainder number being the number of wide receivers. So eleven personnel, one back, one tight end, three receivers. Twenty one personnel equals two backs, one tight end, two wide receivers. Were good, we caught up. Okay, eleven personnel. This year the dolphins average eight point seven one yards per play. That's third in the National Football League. They average six point six

nine yards per play out of twenty one personnel. There's your Alec Ingold Package, which takes a receiver off the field. That's first in the NFL and ingold has been fantastic. So the ability to create offensive production out of diverse packages and just the schematics, schematics of this offense. We'll we'll play a clip here for you guys from a couple of people around the analystsphere talking about how much

they love this offense. But there you go. There's some proof in the pudding, in the production, in the numbers. I don't know what I'm talking about anymore. Number four, Greg little and the next man up mentality. We saw greg get a little run upon returning from injury against the Eagles back in the preseason, and here's what coach mcdaniel hided to say about that. I thought he did a great job. I was proud of him, coach, and of Greg Little. You wouldn't have thought he was progressing

through an injury. I thought that he you can't hide from the tape and what I saw was a guy that, while he hasn't been getting physical reps, he's been getting mental reps and watching his teammates performed the desired task and learning from them, because he came back and played at a level that was higher than when he left, which is something that I never lose sight of and it's a big deal to me. I was happy for him he was able to do it. That was before

or after the eagles game, before the year started. So Greg Little comes off the bench against the Patriots and it wasn't the best performance. I think he'll tell you that. Uh, we definitely did enough to survive that game, but the pressures in that game on too largely came off of that right side. But his first start as a Miami Dolphin in a noisy, hostile environment, all he does one pressure allowed tons of good seals and reach blocks and wins at the point of attack in the running game.

And a lot of that's on Odafe Oh way, who was third among rookies last year, behind Micah Parsons and Jalen Phillips, in qb sacks. He also had fifteen qb hits as a rookie. Campaign didn't get either of those on Greg little. Good teams have an ability to do this right. It's early, but it is a great start. You can only prove what you have in front of you and in Greg Little's first game he was really up to the challenge. I think it speaks to his mindset.

I think it speaks this team's mindset and I think it speaks of the coaching job by Matt Applebaum and this entire coaching staff on this offensive line getting these guys to play at this level. Good teams survive attrition every single year. Every year teams that go deep into the postseason do it down big time plays the bills last year, Trey White. It didn't really matter until it didn't against the chiefs. But every year you lose key components and teams fight back. They bounced back and they

make stuff happen. Let's finish up here at number five, early season, big games. This is a big one, right. We know about this. I think this quote from coach really speaks to the magnitude of any one game. And look like I'm not gonna blow smoke here. You guys know it's a big game. I know it is too. It's obvious, but I think they're still perspective to be had.

In Man, teams change and evolve over the course of the year, right like we try to take lessons from each game, from each season, and one that I've picked up over the years, and you can't say it better than coach did after the week. One win is this coach mcdaniel. Theoretically not outcome oriented, but theoretically butchered that word. If we're on the journey that we want to be on, that should be the worst game we play all year.

In reference to week one against the Patriots, that you should always be getting better and that's not always measured with wins and losses, but the best teams, if you want to be a good team in this league, you have to be playing your best football in the end of November and December months. So that's what we're gearing towards.

And there was definitely no celebrations or parties today after the Patriots game, and that is true of the Ravens game right like we all had fun as fans, but you gotta get back to work and get back to Buffalo. So all seventeen games are big and you know, maybe that's the wrong phrase for it, and I wanted to make this kind of like numbers base, but there isn't really a criteria that gives me what I'm looking for because, you know, I went back to some previous big games

and it just hasn't gone well for the dolphins. I was trying to find like maybe when both teams are over five hundred. Maybe both teams have a victory. I don't know what it was, but just like I mean gets the PATS. You guys knew about that game. Seven teen. We had that opening day win, but then we lost the next two games, akin to the twenty seasons where we went on runs after slow starts. Also in we didn't use fifteen because both those seasons just stunk. Team

was the next one. You get the big opening day win over the Patriots, the next week at Buffalo. The previous year you start three and Oh and play the saints on Monday night football. Seventeen to the saints and then a four game losing streak. It's a great opportunity on Sunday, a test against a team that has given us fits, a chance to get to three and oh but maybe even more importantly, two and oh in the division. I can't wait. Also a reminder you just haven't won

anything yet. Like it's fun, enjoy it, but man, these seasons are long. You'RE gonna go through peaks and valleys. Last year I remember Buffalo Fans, after losing to Jacksonville, say we might not even make the playoffs. And this year we have super bowl aspirations and I remember telling those guys like my buddy from the rock pile report like yeah, you're gonna make the playoffs. Relaxed, Dude, you'll

be just fine. Hell, our last two playoff appearances the start of the seasons one and four and two and four. So while we're feeling great against you know the what we've done so far. Teams like the raiders, Titans and Bengals fans who are really upset about their beginnings of the seasons. Their seasons are not over and we sure as hell don't have an x, Y or Z next

to our name in the standings. Will come back on the other side and go around the web and here from some of our favorite analysts breaking the game down. That's next on the drivetime podcast. Your host, Travis Wingfield, brought to you by auto nation. Segment too, on a Wednesday here on the drivetime podcast, we're gonna go around the web here and hear from some of our favorite analysts about the dolphins production, the offensive design, the quarterback.

We start here with Brian Baldinger doing his thing. Two minutes twenty seconds buckling. That was the score in the fourth quarter, with twelve minutes and eighteen seconds to go. And right now it's third and two and there's river Craig craft. He's in the slot there because tyreek kill. He's got cramps and he's getting worked on on the sideline. Watch what Craig craft does. Here came and Mike mcdaniel

from San Francisco. He runs the speed out right there too is not looking at him, but watch Craig craft come running and never stopped running and beat the rookie right here, Williams, for that first touchdown. The US to four. I thought was one. Then you get tyreek right here down against Marcus Peters and Kyle Hamilton's rookie, and you can see what speed does. He runs right by Marcus

Peters and Kyle Hamilton's doesn't know what happened. Like he's the free safety on the play and he ran right by. So that was too. That was forty eight yards. was seven four to go. Two minutes to twenty seven seconds later there's tyreek up at the top. I don't know what these ravens are doing. This is a complete blown coverage.

That's Jay Little More Davis on the corner and he lets him run right by and everybody else is doubling jail and waddle or tripling jail and waddle, and just like that the Cheetah was dancing in the end zone again, like he had done basically throughout the pregame warm up, where he was just seeing how far he could throw the ball. Anybody could throw it farther than the Cheetah? Nobody. And then it came down to here's the throne, because you're gonna get Calais Campbell coming right at two of

white opening free. He Beats Hykenberg right here. But he was not to be distracted at all by six eight clays Campbell coming at him and just throw it to an open patch of grass and, like tyreek, do the best, do the rest. And then it was this. Right here there's Jalen wattle, emotion, Jalen Moore Davis, the rookie is with him and right here to his steps up throws it up high, puts it on the rim and just like that it was time to do the watter. And

here's what it looked like. Three men rush, so two I had the time to go find the exit right here and step up into this throat. Eyes Down the field. He's got water here. Watch where he puts it. Davis

is all over, wattle takes it away. I think it's really funny that we get an example of Calias Campbell running full speed six eight with the longest wingspan the history of the national football it come out a taken with his hands in the air at two U on the same week where coach mcdaniel talked about vision for a quarterback and the whole malarkey about like two us six FT and can't see certain things, but all quarterbacks

have areas where they can't see certain things. I think it's absolutely hilarious to begin an example of Campbell running full steam right ahead and to his face and he makes one of his best throws of his career in that situation. Next let's go to Dan Orlowski, who's pumped up about this Mike mcdaniel offense. This play basically encapsulates Mike mcdaniel, the head coach, play designer, play caller for the dolphins, and exactly what he did yesterday and really,

in many ways, who he is for this offense. Alright, so it starts with personnel. What kind of personnel am I placing on the field to the defense? So they're in twenty. One personnel, two backs, one tight end. That means my two backs are one right here. That's my tailback, and then my full back is out here. So now I've taken that one personnel and I really given you a ten personnel. One backnel. Tight ends are eleven, with

three right receivers. Formation, two backs. My tight end is up here, tyreekir tyreek Hill is there, Jalen waddle is there. So as a defense, when you see two backs, one tight end, often times you're going here, here comes a run. Personnel run place. So you match your personnel. One, two, three, three linebackers stay on the field. Okay, so now I've got you formationally exactly where I want personnel wives. Now Watch waddle. WADDLE IS gonna scene down, push vertical, run

an out route and then nod up the field. Safety Leans this way because tyreeke and Gisiki are up here. You Got Jalen Waddle, one of the fastest receivers in all of football, match down a linebacker. Okay, there's the out route. That safety leans that way. Great job by Twa. That's a great job. By to a catch the snap. Peek away. Okay, they over covered. To that side. And now you've got that speed down the field on a backer. Watching from the back angling. She's just beautiful design, design,

personnel designed by Mike mcdaniel. It's your tail back to the left. Look into his eyes, the left not they're great. I'm actually just trying to make sure that that safety I take him where he's actually wanting to go. And now Jalen waddle wide open, one of the fast receivers on a linebacker, and it strictly happens because of the personnel that I presented you with. We'll finish up here with Emmanuel Acho, who seems to be on his own mission to show everyone how good he thinks the Miami

Dolphins quarterback is. Here he is saying to US praise needs to be heard all the way in the back. I'm beyond impressed with the Miami Dolphins. To a tongue of Bioloa, beast, Mike mcdaniel beast, that offense is beastly. Shout out to that defense as well. Two had six total touchdowns yesterday. Still threw two picks. We had four hundred sixty nine passing yards yesterday. He tied the Miami

Dolphins Franchise Record yesterday. If Justin Herbert worked to have done that, but Patrick mahomes worked to have done that, we wouldn't be disappointed in the Ravens. We'd be like, man, it's Herbert, it's Mahomes, you can't stop him. So I need you to keep that same energy, because I'm gonna keep that same energy. Joe Burrow had jamaar chasing t higgins. Jamar chase is a top five wide receiver. T Higgins

maybe a top twenty writer. Solid, solid, Justin Herbert, Justin Herbert, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, like Ta, is balling now that it's a level playing field. Oh burrow, you were drafted before me. You got two dogs, the receiver. Herbert, you were drafted when I was drafted. You got two dogs, the receiver, me, me, two dogs, the receiver and I leave the NFL in passing yardage. Okay, but I mean, yeah, dog, yeah,

that's exactly what we're talking about here. So good stuff all around. Let's go ahead and do this before we get to our last break, and then we'll hear from some of the guys about the buffalo bills, something else caught my curiosity while browsing the interwebs, and that was the power rankings, which I normally don't care about. I still don't care about them, but how about this ESPN

five for the Miami Dolphins, NFL eight. That's a jets guy that does that to Dan Hans's big jets fan on around the NFL podcast, the athletics, sixth, Yahoo, sixth, the ringer eighth and bleacher report seven. Starting to take a little bit of notice. Quick segment there. Quicker show today on the heels of Tuesday's behemoth. Let's take our last break and come back on the other side and

here from the guys on the Buffalo Bills. That's next on the drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by auto nation. Finishing up here with some quotes from Monday media from the guys. I didn't get a chance to get there as other tapings took me away from those pressers. Let's go ahead and start here with Christian Wilkins, who talks about the buffalo bills come to the town. Um, they're all big. I mean you know, so you gotta approach it uh the same way each week.

You don't try to, you know, because once you start playing that inconsistency game in the NFL, you you get showed up for sure. You can't be like, Oh, let's let's prepare harder this week because it's such and such. No, like we've been. We've been building a good foundation since April, since we got started. Guys coming up with the right mindset, Um, taking care of business, being professional. Um. So from from

that standpoint it's just any other week. It's just business is as usually, how we've been carrying ourselves since since April. Love Christian captain team later. Let's hear from him next on quarterback Josh Allen. Great Challenge. Josh's heck of a player. Has Been Proven that over the last few years in the league and you know he really you know he's he's got you know he's got a lot. You can run, do a threat, throw the ball. Um, he really has

few weaknesses and we're gonna be ready. We're gonna have to have a good wee could prep to be able to pay for prepare for him. Um. But yeah, he's a he's a heck of a player. Melvin Ingram was asked about Josh Allen after that definitely a challenge when you got a quarterback that can can move around back there, and Josh Atton is really one of the best quarterbacks in this league right now as far as running in, throwing and and he he does it. Also, you gotta

try to just cancel out every phase. Really gotta gotta have have good Russian lanes and try to play complimentary football. Go ahead and finish up here with Mike Gisicki, who first told us about the implementation of the worst gritty I've ever seen in my entire life. Pretty much all

of training camp. So Durham was living meter and training camp, Um, and I would like joke around, like walk to the garbage can and like gritty to the garbage can, and like the first time I did it, he like started cracking up, and so it was just kind of a joke. And then, and obviously still is a joke, Um, and he was like all right, I said to him. I was like I was like if I like score touchdown, like I'm just gonna do it like I'm I was like, I'm gonna be trending on all social media's for doing

it in such a hilarious fashion. Um, and the opportunity presented itself, like I said, and I don't know if I made the most of that opportunity, but it was funny. Um, I really it was too excited. I hit it in about fast forward, so maybe slow it down, but you know, I mean, that's what I do, man. I have fun, I enjoy myself. Had An opportunity to make a play, made the play and then was able to celebrate it. That's exactly what I would do if I had a chance to do a touchdown dance in front of a

national audience. subduced. The same type of stuff as Mike Kasiki. Finishing up here here's Mike talking about the buffalo bills, and they're obviously, you know, one of the teams to beat. UH, they're playing, you know, exceptional ball. Um, they gotta they got a game tonight that you know. I'm sure you know. We'll be we'll be tuned into Um. But they got

playmakers all over the field and and all three phases. UH, they're extremely well coached and you know, like you said, Um, you know they're they're at they're at the top right now. So it's gonna be a fun challenge and, Um, you know something that I'm sure everybody in the locker rooms looking forward to. And there we go. I said it would be a shorter podcast. The podcast is always supposed to be thirty but I somehow never hit that mark and I can just hear Jason Right now saying, Hey,

what do you think with the length of the podcast? Well, Jason, I'm trying, man, I'm trying to get it down. I'll work on that for you. Big Doug, always looking out for me. Uh, let's let's go ahead and get out of here. Tomorrow we have the preview podcast taking a look at the buffalo bills in depth. I've already got about half of that done, so I'm excited to share

that with you guys. Once I put it all together, we'll do the Friday show, which gives you football Friday with Joe Marino, is our guest from the lockdown bills podcast. He is fantastic. You won't want to miss that, as well as college picks, NFL picks, mail, bad questions, assistant coach, media availability, tons and tons coming your way. In the meantime, that will be my time. You all. Please be sure

to subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast. Leave us the writing to leave us a review, spotify, chartable, wherever you leave your views. Go ahead and do that for us. Helps US get out to more doll fans and we really appreciate that. We'd like to stay in the top two hundred all year long. It's been since training camp opened. We'd like to keep it there the rest of the way. As well as following me on twitter at Wingfield NFL. Appreciate getting over followers at this stage. Follow the team

at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish tank podcast with seth and juice, as well as our twitter spaces. Show Tonight Wednesdays every week at eight o'clock on twitter. Also the fish tank podcast, I say that already, as well as the Youtube Channel for media availabilities dolphins today, some drive time and fish tank content as well, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins Dot Com. UNTIL NEXT TIME FINDS UP CAROLINE DADDY'S COMING HOLD