Assessing the Coaching Change, Requested Candidates, What's Next and the Week 18 All 22 Review

Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, the off season is here and we bring in the new year with a change. We'll look at the news at the head coach position. We'll look into the roster and why it's a good tool to attract the next head coach of the Miami Dolphins. And we'll do a quick review of the tape from the season finale, the victory over the New England Patriots. One more time for the all twenty two review from somewhere in South Florida. This is the

Drive Time Podcast. So the news of the week was the Dolphins made a change at the head coach position. Brian Flores after three years in charge of the Miami Dolphins has been dismissed of that position. Stephen Ross met with the media on Monday morning to discuss what went into that decision, and he said, I've been looking at this over three years now and watching the organization grow. I think an organization can only function if it is

collaborative and if it works well together. I don't think that we were really working well as an organization that it would take to really win consistently at the NFL level. So Brian Flores is out as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, and you know, he had his his hand in building up what we all really believe is a talented young core here in South Florida. So thanks to Brian Flores for his time here, and nothing but the

best to him in his future endeavors. I'm sure we'll see him in a head coaching job sooner rather than later. So that move has been made and just kind of put a bow on the era I suppose here. You know, I thought the things this team accomplished under Brian Floors was building up a really strong defense that produced over the last couple of seasons some good numbers in terms of takeaways and the sacks and third down, getting that pressure and having the identity of that defense to go

ahead and heat up opposing quarterbacks. And you can argue whether or not it was successful against some of the top line quarterbacks and Dolphins faced or not, but they were overall productive in that time here, and that defense will stay intact as far as a big majority of that personnel with all the young players on that side of the football. He also developed a discipline team that would really be on the low end of the penalties and making the mistakes to beat yourself. And also the

versatility within the roster. I think you have to take your cap to that as well. Where do the Dolphins go from here in terms of things they can maybe improve upon. I think we'll probably see staff changes happens. I mean every time a coaching change happens, the staff changes as well, but just the consistent change on the offensive staff and the production that carried along with that. Just to struggle to score points and move the football consistently.

The Dolphins have for a long time have been one of the bottom third of the league ranking offenses in this really for the last couple of decades, it's been the majority of the time on that part of the hierarchy. But over these last three years the Dolphins did not farewell in that department either. So that's really the solve I think you're looking for. How do we get the offense up to par or preferably above or I guess

the correct term would be under par. But how do we do that while maintaining what this defense has produced over the last couple of seasons. So the reports out there from you know, NFL Network, ESPN insiders, the biggest heavy hitters in the game have been very busy, as they are this week every year on the calendar, updating us on who has been interviewed, who has been requested to be interviewed, and according to reports, the Dolphins have

requested interviews on three potential head coaching candidates. They are Brian Dayball, the offensive corner with the Buffalo Bills. They are playing in the post season for their second consecutive a f C East championship and their third consecutive year. He was the offensive coordinator here in two thousand eleven. Might recall the left lane offense they called at the

high up tempo passing offense. He also was the guy that coined the phrase keyhole type of accuracy onto a tongue of by Loo when he was his offensive coordinator back in twenty seventeen with the Alabama Crimson tied, and that was actually a story about how he wanted to get to a into the game earlier than they did that season, and he was a really big fan of the lefty quarterback. And then also he coaches Josh Allen

with the Buffalo Bills. And then of course, you know, Alan makes so many plays off schedule an off script to really get that offense driving. But day Ball has been the play caller there with that Buffalo offense and the explosive nature that they bring. We see it every year here, twice a year. Mike McDaniel a assistant with the forty niners. He's an interesting one to a thirty seven year old graduate of Yale. He's been part of

the shanaham system pretty much his entire career. He really followed uh Kyle Shanahan almost said Mike everywhere he's been in his career, and in fact, a couple of years back, Shanahan blocked him from an interview because he thought he was too valuable to their coaching staff. To lose him. Now, last year he did kind of hit some interview circuits there across the National Football League, but he was then elevated to the offensive coordinator position with the forty Niners.

So he's a reported head coaching or interview request candidate there for the Miami Dolphins. Then finally dan Quinn, who coached in a Super Bowl with the Falcons, and you know that team as far as their win lost record, never really recovered from that Super Bowl that they lost to the Patriots. But I think the most important thing he's done really in recent memory is this Cowboys defense, and my goodness, are they good. I mean, Mike Michael Parsons didn't really rush off the edge at Penn State.

But that's what dan Quinn's got him doing in addition to a million other things. And he had himself a defensive Player of the Year type of rookie season where he'll definitely run away with the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. So those are the candidates have been reported so far as of this Tuesday evening recording of the Drivetime Podcast, and since it is Tuesday, and a Wednesday edition of the Drivetime podcast every Tuesday during the season

we typically did are scanning the social segment. And there was two things I wanted to address here before we get into the All twenty two review, the final one of the season. And I've seen these discussions out there in regards to everybody wants to assign blame to whichever party is responsible for move A, B, C, D, E, F G all the way down to Z right. Every every move is so heavily scrutinized in this era of

the National Football League. And look, I don't think you can say any move is any one person or that you can even assign, you know, percentage points of blame, like hey, player X, was his callt my call, and that's how we went ahead with it. But I will say because two things I've seen complaints about our well the major two player acquisition periods on the calendar of the National Football League. Here's what Steven Ross had to

say about the Miami Dolphins roster on Monday. I think if you look at our roster, I think we have a very fine, excellent roster of young players. This was all done in the last three years. We had an old aging roster before that was leading us nowhere but to mediocrity, and I think that if you look at our roster today, you see our salary cap and our players we have, I think we are well suited for the future. More on that in just one minute. But look,

there are certainly misses in those drafts. But if I worked for any other team in the National Football League and said that, it would still be true. You guys know, I mean we we did the Draft Comparison podcast back in the bye week and talked about how Miami's hit rate compared to other teams, and it was consistently one of the best ones over the last four or five years.

I mean, this is a team that has drafted Xavian Howard, It's an all pro Laramie Tunzils had Pro Bowl years with the Houston Texans, and he also turned into Jaillen Waddle and Javon Holland. By the way, as far as his trade compensation coming back, Jerome Baker, we know what he can do. Mike KASICKI, we know what he can do. Minka Fitzpatrick didn't play the majority of his career here,

but he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins. Christian Wilkins, coming off of a fantastic season, Andrew Van Ginkl's played two good years in a real rob hunt has really blossomed. Brandon Jones, Rey Kwan Davis, Jalen Phillips mentioned Waddle in Holland to a tungle by Looa. There are all pros, Pro Bowls, and tons of promise in that list with young players that haven't hit those marks yet but are trending that direction. And that's not including more guys that

are coming along and developing in their own right. If you want the full version, just go back to the podcast about a month or so ago and check it out. It's the proof is in the numbers, So mrs be damned man. It's it's like in baseball, where you fail seven times out of ten and you'll go to the Hall of Fame for your hitting prowess for batting three hundred. This is an exhaustive, twelve month process of evaluation with

a full team of professionals putting in countless hours. And still if you bet five hundred, if you beat four hundred in this draft game, you're a legend. So that's my first take that previous drafting has created an attractive roster for perspective coaches, but from scanning the social that's not the opinion of everyone. So I'll give my thoughts on that. And look, we've all been doing this for a long time with this team, right, That's that's why

you're here. That's what you're listening to a podcast one week after the season or four days after the season has ended. You know, Miami hasn't had a top ten offense in terms of overall ranking since n and that's the longest stretch by twelve years. Did you know that?

I mean following this team since about that time, I could tell you because besides those late nineties dudes like O. J. McDuffie and Irving Friar, and then Chris Chambers for a couple of years in the late two thousand's your Brandon Marshall for two years, but not only the best years of his career. You get the point. There hasn't been that big time game breaker consistently on the outsid side.

This roster now has Jalen Waddle, who we heard Marlon Humphrey praise as a future top ten receiver in the National Football League, who set a record for receptions by a rookie in the history of the entire league, who broke franchise records for receptions and yards by a rookie

who was the focal point of the offense. The point is, this roster has that dude something that can help them achieve something they have not done in decades because they haven't had that type of point man, that type of front man to be the leading man to get you into that position. That was one rookie. Do you guys remember a rookie recently making the impact that Javon Holland made in his rookie season. I can't. I can't think

of one. I mean, am I crazy to go back to the first pick in two thousand and eight with Jake Long and the great rookie season that he had, And that's about where I'm thinking. I mean, oh, nine, ten, I think I think it had to be back that far. So another one, hey, Jalen Phillips went out and broke the rookie sack record for this franchise. Check check check.

That's three players who we won't label them of course after their first season that be fools to do so, but based off of one year of tape, they look like absolute hits at premium positions. And again the development of other guys is coming to right. We see it every year, we cover it seemingly monthly here on the podcast, if not more about the way guys have grown and

developed here. So then the second portion to that, and it's intertwined with the second portion of why I think this is an attractive head coaching job that's currently vacant is the team is positioned with the most projected caps based for the off season, and we have to acknowledge thee free agent class was not a super fruitful one. It's tough to swallow the highest earning player getting hurt

and missing almost the entire season. Jason mccordy gets hurt early on, but Nargerk McKinney wasn't a free agent, but he doesn't make the team out of camp. Now, I thought Adam Butler had a very nice first season here in Miami, and Justin Coleman had a damn good run in the middle of the season too, and on balance had a good season. But on the other side, we mentioned fuller Malcolm Brown missed a huge chunk of the season. Then you have Matt Skur also didn't make the team.

Started fourteen games with the Giants, Germano Luminore played in fourteen games for the Raiders after not making the team, and d J. Fluker didn't even make it to camp with the medical issue. I just didn't work out there. So you look back at class, we wind up with Byron Jones as the big prize of the class, and he's been as advertised and really the last few years

he was probably the premier guy of that crop. But you got production from guys that were one and done here in Van Noisen, Flowers and Shack Lawson, and I think that brings us back to the earlier point about flexibility to be able to pivot out of those deals when the decisions were made to look elsewhere after just one season within signing them, and again not here to say those transactions were proof that someone was right and someone was wrong, just that the guys that were acquired

here have had success either here or elsewhere in the draft and free agency and showing their medal in this league.

So the conclusion to me is that you have explosive, productive young players largely on their rookie deals up and down this roster, every single position group, with future flexibility, draft capital and three draft capital to make a move if you have identified one big move you have to make after in new head coaches second season, we'll keep you up to date on the latest here on Drivetime.

With all of that, let's go ahead and take our first break though, and then jump into a quick film review from Sunday, one last time around the Horn on the All twenty two Drivetime podcast. Travis Wingfield, We're back here on Drivetime taking a look at the All twenty two review of Miami's season finale victory over the New England Patriots twenty four on Sunday at hard Rock Stadium.

And I do want to make this a little bit of an expedited version of the All twenties to review with the focus on some individuals I thought had some really strong showings in general takeaway. So we go ahead and start this podcast, or this portion of the podcast with two a ton of iloa. And you know, after the bye week, I think there was a bit of a dip from what we saw in that run before, when it was all really all kind of firing for twa and all those one passer rating games and high

efficient games and the completion percentage games. And I'm not saying this game was on really either side of that spectrum. I think that too, was more of a sidecar passenger in this game plan because the running game was working so well and the defense played so well, and just wasn't a whole lot asked of him. And I'll never hold that against the quarterback, but I think it's fair to mention that you can kind of talk about other

folks games when it comes to that. But I continuously see a few things here and I want to mention that here on the podcast. When two has got a clean pocket and can hitch up and get the ball out, Gosh, it's pretty and he can really generate the requisite power needed for really any throw in those instances, and we know about the ball placement. Now. The obvious objection to that is, Travis, this is the NFL. It's never going to be clean. Well, yeah, did you see this game?

Because those two third down conversions, even in the league full of athletes at the position, half the quarterbacks can't do what he did on those plays. And I'm not even talking about the lengthy runs once he broke contain.

I'm talking about the twitch under duress, that little shuffle step on the twenty three yard of the hitch up the light feet then to juke Kyle van Noy and the whole That was some nifty nifty stuff there from tah And so, well, you're obviously not going to get Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray type of runs because those

are one of the kind quarterbacks. I und just don't understand this whole notion about mobility being a concern because his ability to get out and do that, do just that just means that when you want to play man coverage and only rush for against him, that's just another way that he can beat you, another coverage that he has a solve for. So I liked that. A couple of other plays. I liked opening drive completion to Wattle

his third reception. They went Wattle Wattle on waddle or some combination of that, and to a pulls the ball back from the mesh point on play action, which, by the way, I see this all the time, but this

podcast is about football education, right. There's a difference between r p O and play action or zone read, where r PO is when the receivers are running routes because they have options in the passing game, but the offensive line is blocking for a running play because there's options in the running game, so this is a play where it's play action and to A rolls to his left, and no Patriots really had pursuit on him because they did a good job to negate that potential pursuit on

that little role with a four man rush from the Patriots and the run action to the right with two to A rolling to the left, and the run action was Duke Johnson on a little fake zone read to the right side of the formation with the offensive line sliding over there but still in pass protection mode dropping into pass sets, so that's play action. It's not r

p O anyway. This gets to a to a free space of land to operate with, and the Patriots are three by two in their coverage to the field on Parker and Waddle with a post safety on the hash to the boundary, so the over the top coverage pre

snap the look is not a concern. Waddle is stacked behind Parker and Parker runs a clear out route which removes twenty seven J. C. Jackson, who's in trail technique, takes him out of the equation, and then number two, the corner for the Patriots, gets depth kind of taking an eye on that deep route and there's twenty one. Another Patriots defender is kind of the overhang defender, just eyeing to A as kind of responsible for potential run or maybe where he might try to undercut one of

those routes. He's the guy that to A is largely responsible for most players you have. You know, everyone has a responsibility quarterback. On this particular play, I think it is probably that player, and to A does a good job of When he rolls left, he kind of sees the out that he wants to waddle, but he holds that overhang defender in place by staring down the seam vertical the Davante Parker is running and then whips back out to the slow plate out route for Wattle for

an on target, on time completion. It's the eyes with still minimal NFL experience that I think that he can only continue to improve. But it's also another big factor in my ultimate belief into his game. A few more plays here from his game, a third and three conversion. On the opening drive, they bring a linebacker down to reroute Mike Asiki, who is the point on a stack formation with Parker, and then he chases the crossing route to Parker, which creates a void right into that soft spot,

and Miles Gaskins sets it up right there. Good job of seeing it and getting it out early to extend that drive. Then I just noted the footwork on the next play, the slant route to Davante Parker, the glance route. He isn't a pistol, so he has to fake the handoff to his right, which means the footwork is backwards, has to come all the way back to the left with a strong, accurate throw. And that's tough to defend because your key, as that potential hook defender, has to

honor that run. You have to be willing to go and pursue the other side, the backside or the play side run. When you're on the back side, it's tough to get all the way back around with the correct mechanics. And two, I did it and does it routinely. On the ball that Devin mccordy dropped for potential I n T.

I thought it was actually really good. By two of the Patriots are in what looks like one free or man free whatever you wanna call cover one with a with man coverag underneath the single high safety with Miami having trips to the field, Wattle runs an out, Gasicki runs an over across the formation, and Parker runs a dig route where he presses up and then angles that thing off square back to the quarterback, and he he this portion of the field that he's trying to run.

This two clears up because the over route with Gassicki pulling the coverage down on kind of a levels concept, and the inside portion is accessible for DeVante because he has stacked J. C. Jackson on an inside release and has that leverage on him to where he should be able to hold him off of his back and not let it interfere with the flight of the ball. And McCarty over the top has too much depth to impact the route playing the overthrow, which in this case is

what happened, but Parker has him stacked. And two of throws with that look before Parker has come out of the break, but you can see that he hasn't stacked. So I like the idea of seeing the way your receiver has the route one at that point it's like getting your hands into the plot and poker with the

better hand, right, you always want to do that. The ball is to a spot, but Parker can't elevate to get through the what j C. Jackson is doing to disrupt him to get to the spot and based on the look, to me, that was the only open spot in the progression. The ball was out on time with good anticipation and he just gets tagged by a pass rusher as well. To me, this is why the ALL twenty two is important because the ALL twenty two told me a story that the broadcast version did not tell.

It looks like a really bad throw from tah I thought it was a good one. Based upon the ALL twenty two, I thought the fate in the end into Davante Parker was not a good throw that j C. Jackson broke up. Thought it was left too short. Get that thing high in a way. That's the last two A note there, So we'll come back and you evaluate the entire season of all these guys here on a

future podcast. But that was this game. And then Jalen Waddle in this game, the touchdown catch that he made to me is just another example of his skills as receiver. You high pointed you keep the feedback, tapped me into the orange partion of the end zone for a touchdown.

That play was the play we've talked about a lot that jet sweet motion kind of where the man just runs that wheel route and every now and then teams lose him up the sideline while dealing with the conflict of the possible run with Durham Smith coming across for either a split zone run play or a possible dash pass Parker on the slant. Then you kind of sneak Wattle behind all of it, same type of thing that happened in the Ravens game with Albert Wilson just a

lot less field to work with. So that was a cool play design. Good job by Wattle to just secure that catch off his body, get the feet down, just does everything so well. And I also just the point about the Parker and the ball that two or three

that mccordy didn't get didn't intercept. The way Waddle consistently creates separation in those situations I think is probably why he got so many targets this year, because it's throwing to those to those spots like you need to be able to know that ball is not gonna get picked off like that, and seeing Wattle do it consistently really made me appreciate it in this game and throughout the

whole course of the season. And last note on Wattle here, he ran so many slow release out routes where he's just kind of, you know, helping move a guy off of a certain coverage and just kind of slow plays it. And then on the slant that Van Noyd tipped where it looked like he might have caught it and ran for a while, he widens his route like he's doing

the exact same thing again. Then bang, he crossed his face with one step and hits the accelerator and he's out like Lewis Hamilton's off the line at Monaco, and if he catches that thing quickly, it's eighty five yards to the crib. And he can set those types of situations up at the course of the game. I like the way he's a methodical player and the way he has a game plan with the course of the game,

in addition to the electricity that he provides. Next year, though, we gotta hit some of those and take advantage some of those opportunities were Wattle does that by running those routes look the same and then boom, snap it off for one quick one and you get that chance for a big play. Gotta hit those next year. Moving inside to the offensive line, Robert Jones, I have some things to say about his game. He seems to have a really good feel for the position or just the general

idea behind playing the offensive line. Like when the Patriots would mug up and show pressure with linebackers or safeties or whatever, the extra bodies in the B gap or a gap, he was quick to squeeze, which means you condense in close to your guard to just eliminate gaps and force longer rush lanes to the quarterback. And when they would have a four eye defensive line, which is on the inside shoulder of the tackle, but not bring any rushers further outside than that, so no you know,

five tech or No. Seven or nine technique out wide. So the only person he has to contend with as far as his outside post goes, is lined up on his inside shoulder. He would always squeeze those down and just help the guy next to him. I love seeing that. And on double teams, man, he gets the shoulder and the hip attached. And there's one on the second drive of the game, it's fourteen zero because excess pick six

where Jawan Bentley is act behind a one technique. What's a stack, It's when your linebacker is directly behind the defensive lineman right in front of him. One technique is off the outside shoulder of either outside shoulder of the offensive center. So Deeter and Hunt double the one, and Jones, because there's no work for him at the first level, comes in for an extra chip because his assignment is at the second level, and he just helps and knocks

this nose tackle off the football, knocks him over. Then from there he climbs and squares it up and sticks on the block, just completely square the entire time where Duke winds it back for a six yard game. I just so impressed by it. And then finally, the way he closes distance on guys, like he goes out and gets that wide nine or that stand up outside rush linebacker closes distance and creates a shorter runway for that rusher. But he's not lunging when he does it, and I

think he also comes with pretty loose hips. There's a run play in the second quarter where he squeezes a gap with rob then has to open back up because Matt Judon is trying to flatten around the backside edge, and so he leases inside to help with the the interior surge and then uses that right foot and swings open the gate with the hips kind of popping and walls off that backside. I was very impressed by his

performance in this game. I was also very impressed by Rob Hunt, as I have been all season long, just so impressed with his ability to play both in a phone booth and in space. I think it's because the techniques are just really have really stabilized this year and have been consistent for a long portion of the season. Plays behind his pads, stays low, common, confident, second level blocks pulling play side. He's really blossomed this season, and

those guys helped out. Duke Johnson, who I you know, talked about this at length on Sunday. But the urgency he shows to get to his initial target point then the ability to cut off of that spot. He forces second and third level defenders into quick decisions, and that can create guesses which can then create misses. Let's take our last breaker. We'll come back and talk about a few of the guys in the defense. The Drivetime Podcast All twenty review here of the season finale victory over

the Patriots. Just a few more notes here on the All twenty two review of this edition of the Drive Time podcast, we're taking a look at the week eighteen victory over the New England Patriots. We pick it back up here on the defensive side of the ball with

who else besides Christian Wilkins. I just noted that even when he's not, you know, backdoring a play on the front side, or when he's not working down three gaps to make a play in the running game, or he's not setting a pick for a big sack or bowling over a guy with a swim move or a club and rip move to get after the quarterback, he's finding

ways to make plays when he probably shouldn't. Like there's a double team early in the game where he gets knocked back a little bit, but he recovers and anchors and gets off the off the block and makes the tackle. That's why he winds up with eighty nine tackles, the most by defensive lineman in team history, because he can always find a way to shed a block or shed

a double team when he has to. There was a play in this game where him and Zack Seeler met at the ball carrier for a tackle for loss, and it was so pretty just to watch the synchronicity of it all. They're both playing the four eye position with her on the inside shoulder of the offensive tackle, and Christian Wilkins does a little club and rip and just throws Shack Mason to the ground. On the other side, Zack s Heeler goes over the top of Isaiah Win with a swim move and you see him kind of

looking back and chasing back to the play. The year those two guys had kind of embodied on that rip. I just wrote down it was awesome to see Xavian Howard on the pick. It's just like we talked about with him all the time. He's the kind of player while he's going to do his job on the majority of his one thousand snaps in the season, he's also going to find a way to make those impact plays five, eight, ten, twelve times a year, and this is one of those instances.

So you've got split safeties with x and Byron and need him pressing up in man coverage or showing man coverage, and Byron looks like he's in man squared up to his man, so does need him but X has his butt turned to the perimeter, which typically indicates zone. It's called his zone turn. But then he flips with the snap and presses, and you see Mac Jones him to that side of the field to survey, and the Dolphins have rotated quickly into the zone. But X is kind

of showing man coverage. And then you have Brandon Jones over the top, who's gonna take anything vertical on that split safety. Look to that side of the field, you've got Nick need Um squatting inside trying to pick up a backside crosser, and that slot receiver runs a little hook up off the inside leverage of Nick need Um. And so the entire outside portion of the fields there to work with. Because X took off right Nope, he planted his feet and just sneaks in right underneath it

and no one saw him coming. After he turns his man free, he gets his eyes in the quarterback, steps in front, and then finishes it off with a thirty seven yard run for a touchdown. Special special play. Right there, I wrote down Jerome Baker and just an appreciation for

the range he shows. I mean, he's always worn a ton of hats, but this year he played a lot more down on the line of scrimmage off the edge, and so for him to be able to do that, but then also like wheel out like he did right before the two minute warning in the first half and get twenty yards of depth on a crossing route and to kill Harry to disrupt that ball and make it incomplete. I don't think that's appreciative enough for Jerome Baker, and I'll put a more comprehensive bow on the season on

the Friday podcast. We'll go ahead and just finish here with this. Holland and Jones man, the way they interact with each other, it kind of reminds me of Jones saying earlier this year that they can almost telepathically communicate at the stage, which is erie for how quickly it happened, but I think it's only gotten better since that time.

They were a big part of all those coverage plays where Matt Jones had to kind of hold the ball or throw it away or get into his third or fourth option, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, and their versatility to play a little bit of an interchangeable tandem. Very excited about what we can have there with those two guys for

the foreseeable future. All Right, Friday, we're gonna start taking a look at the off season with some maybe Senior Bowl reviews or previous I should say, as far as the rosters go, we'll definitely take stock of our own inventory, all the fun stuff that comes this year, this time of year, I should say on the podcast. In the meantime, it's gonna be my time. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me

on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. You can follow the team at Miami Dolphins across all social platforms. Check out the fish Tank podcast and our YouTube channel for Dolphins Today, as well as media availabilities, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins Up, Caroline. Daddy is already home.