Dolphins 49ers Week 13 Preview

if what is up? Dolph fans and welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Winfield. And on today's show, it is preview day and a long one. I spent a lot of time on this one because what a

matchup we have for you Dolphins and Niners. Wor oh five kick will preview each positional matchup with an eye on the tape and the numbers to give you that water cooler conversation for a few days, plus What's at stake and the three Keys to victory from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime podcast. At long last, the San Francisco forty

Niners game is here. So many familiar faces going back to their previous stop with McDaniel, West Welker, John Embry where he most art, Jeff Wilson, Trent Sherfield. We were Craig Craft and we remind you of that to give you an idea of how the team is constructed. That it's not that far off from what the Dolphins have built here in the short time under Mike McDaniel and Chris Greer and the rest of the staff. It starts

with Kyle Shanahan over in San Francisco. I'll never forget when I first really took my shot at getting into the analyst world and covering the league at large. When I launched my QB Grading website in the summer of I wrote about how Kyle Shanahan could maximize Brian Hoyer's skill set based upon what they did together in Cleveland. And while that take didn't age well, the Niners were eventually able to build the roster to Shanahan's liking at

the quarterback that would maximize their offense as well. Under GM John Lynch, and they rode that all the way to the Super Bowl just three years in and just fifteen mins away with a ten point lead from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, and that same quarterback website featured effusive praise for Matt Ryan and the two thousand sixteen Falcons, which was you guessed it, Kyle Shanahan and the controls and our own headman Mike McDaniel there as well, one

of the first most fun offenses I can remember watching and a historic m VP season four in my opinion, future Hall of Fame quarterback Matt Ryan, you know the drill outside zone principles that kick start the offense into a deadly play action passing game that utilizes shifts, motion play design in a very smart and accurate quarterback to pick apart holes in zone and maximize the incredible slate

of skill players and their run after the catchability. Defensively, if you thought that losing Robert Salo would sink that defense, quite the opposite to Miko Ryan's is already one of the top coordinators in the game and will be a head coach probably by next year, if not two years. Tops uh. He puts his own spice on the defense, but at their core it's an aggressive, attacking, hitting one gap, get up field, and put the onus on the offense

type of defense. More on that in a moment. So it's year six of Shanahan and Lynch here with San Francisco, and what a home run pairing that was at a time when the organization absolutely needed needed some stabilization coming off of back to back one and done coaching moves with Chip Kelly and Jim tom Sula. Who remembers Jim tom Seula. What a year that was. It brought stability to the organization and has made them a contender every single year except for when they're wiped out by the

injury bug. Like, seriously, who's had worst injury luck than the Niners since Shanahan got there? Really, and the similarities really do continue for how these two teams were built. The Niners utilized a massive early free agency hall that first year there, some wise drafting, and some big trades to round out one of the best top of the rosters in the entire NFL. There are elite players in

every room on this football team. That's how they brought in Jimmy g Back in a trade that was awesome for them for just a second round pick, and you look at the record with and without Jimmy Garoppolo, pretty safe to say he's the glue piece there. And what does Savvy move to keep him this off season? From what looked like he was for sure going to leave, even had like a goodbye post on social media to San Francisco and then a break in case of emergency situation,

they brought him back and that's what happened. On Week two. Former number three overall pick Trey Lance has an ankle injury that wipes him out for the entire season. So a big trade for arguably the most talented player as well, which is tough to peg because they have so many of them. But Christian McCaffrey also arrives via a trade to take this offense to a different level. Will monitor

his knee injury as we go along this week. Now, the wide receiver room was built primarily through the draft, but Deebo Samuel and Brandon Auk are one of the best wide receiver tandems and all of football, and like we have here, just two perfect complimentary parts. Then, of course, one of the top two tight ends in football who does literally everything, George Kittle, was a late round steel

in the draft. A few years back. They used that trade option to acquire their best offensive linemen as well, and their best lineman in the NFL for my money, and Trent Williams. You've all seen the impact to Ron Armstead has had here. That's Trent Williams in San Francisco. There have been some considerable changes along the offensive line, but they seem to really be coming into their own as the year goes along. Then, defensively, maybe the best in football, and it starts with maybe the best edge

rusher and football like Parsons Myles, Garrett and Bosa. I think that's the top dogs in my opinion. Former number two pick in the draft has been as advertised with Nick Bosa. They drafted Arc Armstead in the first round as well. Back in the beginning of that handed Lynch pairing, they brought Carry Hyder back after a stint with Seattle Sampson. Ebucom was a home run of a free agent signing

like it just keeps going. Fred Warner is probably only a couple more years of this level of play away from a gold jacket, and Dre greenlaws a Pro Bowl caliber linebacker as well. Another draft pick for them. Then in the secondary another late round gem and Telenoah who Fonga a prize free agent, and char Various Ward the other ward Jimmy also had great draft pick for them.

So you get the idea. It's a complete team with stars all over the roster, and when they have the majority of those stars available, well, it usually produces a trip to the Super Bowl and twenty nineteen and a

trip back to the NFC Championship Game. Last year was a six and ten year that ended with Bosa, Garoppolo, Williams, d Ford and Raheem most are all on the I R. You had Samuel I you can kindle all this time in the year as well, So pretty much injuries are the only thing that has stopped this team in the last five years, and now they're relatively healthy. Maybe not this week so much as they have been recent Their seven and four a first place outfit that hasn't allowed

a second half point in four weeks. And if you turn on a talk show or get on social media, you'll see the Niners touted as a team to we reckon with come January, and it's pretty easy to see why. In the NFC, let's go ahead and get right into the Dolphins offense firstus the Niners defense, quarterback and offense

versus the safety matchup. First and off the top, I mentioned the defensive surge of the Niners, and I'm excited for this game to test a theory I've been telling you guys about for some time now here on the Drive Time podcast, the theory that in the NFL, in defenses are as good as the offense they're facing. And these low point totals came from three totally floundering offenses and a Charger's offense that, for all its parts, just

hasn't been good this year. The Stafford List Rams, the Allen and Williams List, Chargers, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, the Murray List, Cardinals, and the Saints led by Andy Dalton. The week before that, the week the Street started an offense somewhat akin to Miami's in terms of their production in Kansas City, and they rolled up forty four points

with thirty of that coming in the second half. So I really really don't think, and I've been wrong before, but I don't think the Niners should expect to score like seventeen or twenty points and win this game. But we'll see maybe the theory is wrong. Let's talk about what they do well. The way we praise the offensive structure and design each week, the same can be done for the Niners defense and the way they call that defense. He just has an answer and response to everything teams

will do to them. There's a clip on a third and long against the Chargers where the back isn't a nasty split that's aligned up close to the tackle uh to Nick Bosa's side, and he comes up to chip Bosa.

So instead of having Bosa rush into an isolated tackle who is ready to get a secondary piece of the past rusher after he gets the chip dealt with, and they slide the entire rest of the line away from that, They're just gonna drop Nick Bosa back into coverage and bring the fourth man to the other side of the formation, giving you seven and coverage, two blockers doing nothing and four on four and their pass rush scheme that leaves two guys to block air to Herbert's right on that play.

It's stuff like that time and time again for this Niners defense. You've got to watch for that in a quick passing game, because botha will peel back, and with how many plays we've seen to you know, catch rock throw, you've got to make sure you I d those defensive

linemen and coverage. He did it in the NFC Divisional game in Green Bay last year too, where he wound up rerouting the three the closest receiver into the formation and passing him off and then dropping to his landmark like it's linebacker stuff and he can do it at a high level, and they've got options with which to do that too, Like there was a five man blitz from a zone look with late rotation at the snap in the game against the Saints where they eventually brought

who fonga more on him in a moment. It's such a great chess match between that defense and a quarterback who, as coach has said, is such a savant for the way he sees the game in the field. It's just constantly stuff like that. Lots of zone coverage, but they'll also dial up enough man coverage to keep you guessing. There's a third and four in the Cardinals game where they pull the extra safety down and go press man across the board and play man free single high free

safety man coverage across the board. It's not something they do frequently, but it's on tape, and then you'll see them primarily rush for drop into zones and those exceptional exceptional linebackers and expand that zone because of their athletic ability, namely Fred Warner. Will come back to those guys in a minute. The Niners man zone splits are nearly seventy one, and their third and QB are allowed in either of

those two things. Two US QBR against zone and man is both best in the NFL at eighty two point one against man and seventy eight point five against zone coverage. They blitz two point three percent of the time, that's the twenty highest rate in the league, but their pressure rates that's ninth most in football two of verse. The blitz this year sixty seven point two percent completion, eight a half yards per attempt, three teddies and no picks

versus pressure. He's the best quarterback in the league fifty six seven point seven y p A, four touchdowns and no picks, and the one h three point four pass writings tops in the NFL. In fact, he's the only qualifying quarterback over a hundred in that passer rating category. The next highest is Geno Smith at point five. Every which way you splice it, it's an intriguing matchup. As for the Niners safeties, Jimmy Ward is one of the smartest players you'll come across, and speaking of jumping the

quick game, he lives for that. Over his two snaps this year, he missed the first four games of the season, only two have come in this in the post, the free safety position, He's almost always in the box or slot and wants to disrupt the passing game. You think about these safeties as they can all play in the slot, which changes the way you kind of view things and it makes the safeties interchangeable. He doesn't rush just four blitzes on the season, but he'll play plenty of slot

and cover the slot receiver. And that's where a second year sensation speaking of blitz is tell Noah who Funga comes into play. He's nearly doubled his snaps already from a year ago. And you think he's rushing the quarterback

all the time because he's always making plays. But just twenty three pass rush reps this season, three hundred sixty one in the post and then two hundred sixty two between the box and the slow and then thirty four more as a down defensive lineman, which is crazy, but man, he can impact the short passing game to all positions, to backs, tight ends, and white outs. He is really really good this year. Throwing the ball against him. Per Pro Football Focus, opposing teams are twenty of thirty one

for a buck, seventy five for a safety. To have that kind of a number, thirty one pass attempts for a hundred and seventy five yards. Gonna pull out the calculator and do some live math for you guys right now. One sevent it's only five point six yards per past. That's really really good for a guy that plays back in the post. What did I say two hundred and thirty times this year? No? Uh yeah, three hundred sixty

one times in the post this year. He's got one touchdown allowed and four picks he's a playmaker, man, and twenty four run stops. He is. He's like defensive player of the year good this year so far. Then you've got Jimmy Ward, who uh is twenty eight and coverage like every ball gets completed, two d forty yards, two touchdowns on the pick, and he has five run stops.

But wait, there's more. In fact, nobody on the Niners defense has played more snaps than two Seawan Gibson, who has long been a very good player in this league. So while who Fonga and Ward spent a lot of time in the box, in the slot and the occasional post rep, Gibson is in the post on four hundred and seventies six of his six hundred and seventy five snaps, so like two thirds of the time, which obviously tells

you there are snaps elsewhere for him. I think this is the best safety trio in the NFL, with Brandon Jones being injured right now. They're versatile, they're instinctual, they're athletic, they they're playmakers. They're interchangeable, which expands their ability to disguise coverage, which to A talked about in his Wednesday press conference. Go check that out on the team YouTube channel.

It's why this is my favorite matchup to date because to A has been money this year getting his information both pre and post snap, and the Niners are probably the best at muddying all that up. It's good on good Man Gibson ten for twenty in coverage. He's really good. Hundred and seventy six yards allowed, no touchdowns in one pick five run stops, but he never comes down and run support. Last bit of numbers here in the high safety category almost dead even between two and single high

looks and two high three eleven and single. They have twenty six snaps from zero coverage. This year. They are first in points per game allowed, first and yards per game allowed, yards per play, rushing yards per game allowed, and passing touchdowns. What a fun matchup. Let's go ahead and take our first break and come back on the other side and get to the rest of the Dolphins offense,

First Niners defense. Plenty more to come your way. Another long edition of the Draftime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. A Thursday week number thirteen upon us and a fun matchup for Dolphins fans out there. I talked about it on the podcast last week. I love me some a f C East football ken not wait to watch Bills and Patriots go. Pats, Come on, baby, let's go. Let's get that game advantage heading into the

game here. Let's go ahead and pick it back up with the Dolphins receivers and tight ends versus the Niners cornerbacks and kind of carrying this defensive evaluation into this category. The Niners play off coverage seventy three percent of the time and press twenty seven percent of the time. We've seen this all year long. Teams are pretty reluctant to press the Dolphins receivers. They're pretty reluctant to play man coverage against the Dolphins receivers. The Lions weren't. How did

that work out? You get a lot of zone turn on the perimeter, which is eyes or butt to the sideline, eyes to the quarterback, and it pairs perfectly with all the athletic ability and intelligence in the middle at both linebacker and safety. The way we talked about how this Dolphins offense was built to compliment each piece. That's the Niners defense to a t various wards. Cornerback one thirty of fifty two are opposing passing teams throwing against him

for three seventy six, a touchdown and a pick. He has no mistackles all year. What a crazy stat. His relative athletics scorecard is interesting. I've never seen a cornerback with a lower three cone time seven point five too. He's a four or four five guy, which is really good, but it's not close to your two four two guys that you have. I don't think we'll see him pressed up, manned up or running deep. I think you'll see him squat key and seek to jump and make plays. It's

where two is. High level proficiency has to come into play on a snap by snap basis this week. And then Lenore the other cornerback, Dion Dion Mandor Lenore, I think is how you pronounce it. Thirty seven for forty eight are opposing teams this year four D and thirty and no touchdowns, are no picks. He's got a better change of direction three cone times seven point oh two. He's also a four four or five forty guy, So there's not a ton of speed outside for these two guys.

Like it's better than you know bad, Like it's it's probably like average, I would say, which makes one think it could be a lot of shells up top, which opens up the area we love to live in, that intermediate deep range between the numbers and from there. I think you really need to run the football l in this game to help influence those linebackers because we haven't seen a better ado this entire season, and I love

when this happens. And Seth and Juice on the postgame show or on spaces last night, We'll tell you this that I love bringing it up, but I love when I have an idea, put it in the podcast, put it into the notes, put it into my my script, and then like coach or TWA or somebody else confirms it to it went through and like confirmed all this stuff about Fred Warner's depth of his drop, how safeties are playing off because the speed of the offense has

Go watch twos press conference, listen to this podcast. I wrote the notes before too, as pressor. It's fun to kind of match up like that and just kind of get some confirmation from people that are smarter than you. Emmanuel Moseley is up next. But as we told you, with the safety's it's much more a big nickel team where the third safety comes onto the field over a third corner. He's played three and twelve snaps, no small number.

You've got over three thousand snaps among these top six d b s, which is a surprise for the way they aligned from a personnel standpoint, because it's percent of the time in a base four three and then the rest of it is a nickel. So what is that? Uh? They have three snaps the entire year in their dime defense. I thought would be more because of how many players they use in that position, but they just basically it's

basically a platoon. I thought we'd get more dime, but it's it's a platoon between Moseley and Ward when both are healthy. Let's go ahead and finish up with Mosley's numbers here in the slot A thirteen of twenty one, thirty five no touchdowns of one pick. Again, really good numbers. This is their primary slot corner. You know, six point eight four three cone time with four or four two speed. That's more requisite of handling a Tyreek hill or a

Jalen waddle. So the fastest guy among the group there as a manual Mosley from a straight line speed, but also change the direction skill set. I'm curious to see if he plays up in that slot and presses up at all, because if you can get that one on one situation like that for Tyreek or Jalen slot fade, let's go for against Alliance. Keep an eye on that this week. This team as a whole has nine passing touchdowns allowed and nine picks. It's by far the US

touchdown interception ratio for a defense in the NFL. It will be so imperative for TWA and the receivers to be as sharp as they've been for to uh, continue to see things with tremendous anticipation, and then for the wide receivers, be on your landmarks, have your footwork on point. Do not bobble footballs. These guys will jump routes, they'll peel off and fall into zones that they're not supposed to be in. They'll lay the wood, and they'll scoop

up tips and overthrows. You just can't have that this week if you want to win the turnover battle and ultimately the game. Again, fascinating matchup for how they want to play it. Given their zone propensity and how teams have really shown Miami not a ton of man coverage, and when they have it's been costly. You have to imagine it's more of the same. So those points of

being sharp re emphasized here. I was curious to see how teams had success attacking them, like the weeks seven game against Kansas City where they scored forty four points. The key there was spreading the football around. They targeted chart various Awards six times with four different receivers, six catches on those for a bucko four. They went after Jimmy Awards six times with five different receivers six for

six there for forty two yards. And Lenore saw four targets against four different receivers three for four there for forty eight yards. So I think the plan the last couple of weeks has been Miami's mo to get the ball to Sherfield and Craycraft and Ghasicky and Smith and the backs like use Tyreeke and Jalen's ability to give you eight ninety yards, but also utilize their attention they command to get everybody else involved. I'm I'm just can't

wait to see what happens. Are they canna put the emphasis on Tyreek and Jalen and forced us to win that way, or are they gonna proverbly throw us the challenge fastball and see if we can execute going up against those guys with our top dogs. Ideally you get a little bit of both. But if they challenge Tyreek and Jalen, I challenge anybody to make that challenge, because

I think it will favor the Dolphins. In that Kansas City game, they went after Trevarious Award when he had deep responsibility, and I think if you can create a

situation like that, that's the move to go after. Then it was quit game at Jimmy Ward with yards after the catch, And I think there's an opportunity here with the off coverage against two high safety looks, or if they sneak a safety down on the line and bring pressure to get the ball out hot and let those guys make place, get some yah going the quick run through that we saw Tareek have against the Texans up

the sideline. That's kind of where I see the plant taking you, and they have to displace when they displace guys based upon their alignment. Try to maximize the yak on the back end, and when they clamp the middle and give you those one on ones out wide, try to win deep there and maximize that green grass down the field. And this all works infinitely better with a good ground game. Before we move on here, there's also

a tremendous tackling cornerback room. So those wide runs, those matchups, blocking off the edge for guys like Trent Sherfield does a great job every single week against guys they used to see and practice for him and River Craig craft fun matchup there as well. Dolphins offensive line versus Niners defensive line. I know we're all very much anticipating this matchup here because it's where the game probably decided. Everything they do upfront is fast. Bosa and Carry Hyder are

so quick off the football. They all are. Really, that's how defensive line coach Chris Cousera coaches it. Remember he was here back with Cam Waken and Dominican Sue, and those guys pinned their ears back every single snap. We heard from coach on Wednesday that arms at his game to game and the expectations that Jackson will not play, but let's not for certain. So what happens at tackles a big question. You have to figure Brandon Shell is

the answer at one of those spots. Ideally to Ron plays and Shell can slot back in at right tackle, where he's played really well. They'll need their best this week because this defensive line gets after it, h pressures and run stop numbers bosat five and six and he has one mis tackle all year long. He's having a deployt year two, just like Hufunga, Charles Amenter, who one of my favorite draft prospects a few years ago, thirty nine pressures, nine run stops, Samson ebu Com twenty six pressures,

twenty run stops, and Drake Jackson thirteen and eight. That's the primary edge defenders. Bosa is literally good at everything speed, power, technical refinement, setting up tackles with his game long pass rush plan. He's all pro level good. And you see teams attack him that way like we mentioned earlier, with

doubles and chips, and they'll play into that. I do like the idea of running and screening and swinging the football motioning right at Bosa, split flow against him, akin to what they did against Aidan Hutchinson against the Lions. Chip with a tight end double with the back slide away from him, just make him think one extra beat longer consistently and try to slow him down by a half a step. He had fourteen pressures in one game this year, Week four against the Rams. He's had less

than three pressures in the game just twice. Carolina and Casey, both teams played, paid a ton of attention to him, which you should. Amena, who is super long and powerful, some of the heaviest hands in the NFL. A strong edge and actually a very impressive four teen point five percent pressure rate is ninth among all defensive lineman edge or interior. If it's shell out there, that is pure strength against Pierre strength to power players fun matchup, and

then ebucom Man. He is a play maker. You have to be really careful with your inside post with him because he'll bluff the rush upfield and then cross face and he's so devastating with that crossover slash arm over moved back inside and if there's no back scanning protecting their next to twa, that can result in some hits on your quarterback and as he's going to throw, which can result in turnovers. Obviously, that was an area of concerned last week with the tackles getting beat to their

inside post. Gotta sure that up. Really need both guards to have their heads on a swivel this week too, against these long, powerful ends who can condense inside and really threat threaten those b gaps. Finally, the interior, they're gonna use a Mena who is a three tech quite often so he's kind of a D n D tackle, but among the true idels, pressures and run stops. Kevin Gibbons leads the way with twelve pressures and eleven run stops. Hassan Ridgeway has eight and twelve and Carry Hyder has

seven and six. They lost Javon kin Law to injury a while back. They play the same way inside fast off. The football force you to be quick and react to the and be accurate with your hand placement and your punch. These are both areas where both Connor Williams and Robert Hunt have really excelled this year. This is a huge

test Rob Jones. That's not necessarily his game when I just told you about, but man, if he can get it right and just thwart these dudes, it would go a long way towards us winning in the trenches, and that's probably scoring in the high twenties and then thus winning the football game. Another member of the rotation Akeem Spence. Remember him. He was the epitome of that one gap, get up field style of coach Cousrec. He's played a

hundred and eight snapped on the season. Running backs and linebackers, they are a twenty percent blitz team right, but the safeties and corners almost never Blitz Lenore leads away with twelve among the dbs and Jimmy Ward is next with four pass rush reps. So what does that tell you? It's all about the backers, Blitz and Baby uh. Fred Warner eleven pressures on twenty eight pass rush reps. Dre Greenlaw four on twenty four. Not a very good number

there for green Law, but Warners is pretty good. So again, not a crazy high number twentieth in the league, but it's effective because it's a tendency breaker and that can fool protection schemes into being wrong. For just to beat and that's all it takes for these guys to get downhill. Fred Warner, I think is the best off ball linebacker

and football. As to what kind of talked about. He does everything like we don't even have to break him down because hook defender, edge center, run the scene with a three fit the B gap. It just doesn't matter. He does it all. He and Dre Greenlaw have conbined for seventy nine run stops seventy nine and it's not a big gap forty one for green Law, thirty eight for Warner. To me, these two players are the key.

Can Miami keep them guessing enough with a level of balance to just get them to take one false step or react to beat late. It's just not possible to flow downhill in the run game and cover twenty yards down the field from that position. And when Miami is hitting runs, they have attacked that area of the field with such success. But again, you haven't seen a duel like this yet all year. So if Miami can get the backs going in the running game, I think that

opens up everything else. Of course, they that can be achieved with good design as well. So it's a big test for the Dolphins offensive staff to keep those guys guessing in the run game, even if it doesn't click from the opening snap. Just thirteen miss tackles between the two with almost a hundred and seventy can bind tackles, It's crazy, and we know it would be a physical game. I'm glad we got Jeff Wilson for that aspect of it, sort of the land and Roberts of the offense in

that way. And then if we can get those hard edges solidified and get Wheheem Moster around the edge with his speed, that's one of those things that really opens up the short intermediate passing game as well, so a big key. The Falcons had their best running day on the Niners with one hundred and sixty eight yards in the ground. The Chiefs were next with one twelve, and Denver the third team to go over a hundred. They had one on one in their game. They even held

the Bears in justin fields just ninety nine yards. Then it's a drop in the sixties seven rushing yards allowed. So only four of the eleven games have surpassed sixty seven rushing yards against the Niners defense. And the Falcons had three different players top fifty yards in that game, but nobody went over fifty nine. Mariota, Caleb Huntley, and Tyler Algier were all in the fifties sixty year range

in that game. Not exactly a Dolphins analog there, so not really a carryover comparison, like, hey, let's worked here, it'll work here. Oh, by the way, they're good in coverage to one or twenty nine or twenty five of thirty nine, that's a ridiculously low, can pleacient percentage for a linebacker. But three hundred one yards and a touchdown, it's a lot of yards for that few completions. Green Law forty four fifty seven for three thirty one and

a touchdown. They are as involved as any backers because teams typically get it out quickly against the past rush, so you'll see those guys making ploys all over the place. All right, let's go to the other side of the football here before our second break. Dolphins defense, Niners offense, quarterback and offense versus the Dolphins safeties. No team has

utilized more variants of offensive groupings than the forty Niners. Now, most of these are just a handful of plays, like a lot of it is the various packages with one extra lineman that gives them the distinction. They've added an extra line from eleven, twelve, thirteen, and twenty two personnel, But on the whole, eleven personnel is forty seven percent, twelve personnel seventeen percent, twenty one personnel Kyle us check percent, and then twenty two personnel's eight percent. All others are

less than one percent. But there's like fourteen different packages they've used this year. But even within those were groupings the primary ones. You see the unique nature of the Niners offense. A lot of it is two back sets with you checking what he does kind of like alec Ingold. Basically, there's the top two fullbacks the NFL, in my opinion, plenty of tight ends. I mean they can go with McCaffrey behind you check with Debo, I you can kittle. That's the best five eligible line up any team in

football can call upon. For my money, the key here to me is like it is most weeks in the NFL. Make the quarterback uncomfortable. Don't let him scan and get to his third and fourth read. If you let Jimmy hitch up and get to the backside, he'll carve you up. But I think we can get home with four by overloading the right side and winning inside. Just overload the opposite side of Trent Williams and attack the other parts of the offensive line all game long. Let's go ahead

and look at Jimmy G's numbers. When he's blitzed sixty eight percent completion, eight point five yards per past, six tuddies and two picks. It's a better completion percentage and y p A by almost a full yard than when he's not blitzed and teams are acting accordingly. He's been bleached just ninety five times this year. Compared the two

twenty eight drawbacks against four or few are rushers. This is exactly the type of game that you go get a Bradley Chubb for a smart, accurate quarterback that will take what you give him. But you play coverage and force him to get through a couple of reads and take away his hots. You know he's not gonna scramble very much, if at all, especially after that dinged up

need from last week. Disrupt the hot throws, and then you've also, uh, you're also not sacrificing tacklers on the back end when you don't blitz him, because you need as many men behind the ball to deal with these yards after the catch guys when not blitzed his time to throw his two point six one seconds, Phillips and Chub have been getting home and similar or quicker times. So man, if we can get we've been getting from those guys, I think it will swing this game in

a big way in our favor. It's why this safety and quarterback matchups a fun one too. We talked about Holland playing a little more in little more space last couple of weeks, Eric Rowe playing his best ball of the year, and McKinley getting more reps at free safety. They are killing defenses in the intermediate for ten point five yards per past seven touchdowns and two picks, but going deep twenty plus yards it's been bad. Just completion

only nine yards perpasite. That's so low, one touchdown, one pick. Just nine percent of their dropbacks result in the deep ball and they barely ever hit them, so they'll run the ball and attack short to intermediate. It's really kind of the primary difference in the two offenses with the makeup of the skill players. Both teams are exceptional, but Miami has all the speed that the Niners just do not have that they try to catch the ball and run through tackles. It's it's more dink and duncan the

Dolphins offense spoiler. One of the keys will be formed tackling because they're fifth in the NFL with fifteen hundred

and thirty one yards after the catch. They have the number three ranked wide receiver and Yak and Deebo Samuel He's got four hundred yards after the catch, the sixth place tight end and Yak with George Kittle and two thirty seven, and the number two running back in the NFL with four nine yards after the catch and Christian McCaffrey, let's go ahead and take our last break and come back and finish up the rest of this preview. On the other side of the Draft Time podcast, your host

Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. We ended with the quarterbacks versus the safeties for the Niners offense and Dolphins defense. We pick it back up here with the receivers and tight ends versus the Miami corners. And speaking of those receivers, there are like three duo's I like more than Samuel A. Yuk. Maybe there's not a tied end in the NFL like more than George Kittle. Kelsey is great, but Kittle's play style is my style,

my toil, I should say, my preferred toil. Now, Deebo isn't running the ball as much as he was last year, and with that mine you would would you believe it if I told you he wasn't the top target guy on the team. And it's not Kiddle either, And that just speaks to how good Brandon Ayuk is. Like their safeties, they're interchangeable in terms of their priest nap alignments and hilariously enough their slot alignments for a yuk and and deebo twenty six point five percent and twenty six point

four percent one of a percentage point. They rake third and eighteenth and yak among wide receivers. That's why tackling is so imperative. Like listen to this stat. No receiver has a shorter average depth of target than Samuel's four point eight yards average, but he has four yards after the catch. So look at his receptions chart. It's all around the live of screwmage. They just throw him short screen game. Come tackle cater Cohu big challenge for you

this week, my friend. They challenge you with man and zone ideals because Jimmy is so proficient at beating zone. And then when you go man, when you made them up, they'll just throw crossers and kill you with yack. And there's not a harder route to defend than drags and overs against man coverage. They'll use them all in the blocking game as well. You know that they'll give them jet sweeps, their big physical receivers who will challenge and

invite contact when you reroute them. You have to be on point and you do have to be ready to compete at the top of the stem because they'll throw balls against tight windows, and those guys will use those frames to generate separation and really win with physicality the top of the route. And then there's George Kittle, speaking of physicality, who will control the edge in the running game and provide a whole other plate of challenges in

the passing game. We mentioned the heavier packages. I mean sometimes they do that with Kittle with a couple of extra tackles and Kittle who can function as a tackle himself. That is three really devastating options atop their target share.

They go you fifty one for six twenty five and six touchdowns, one point eight five yards per route ran, Samuel forty three grabs for five ten and two touchdowns, one point seven yards per route ran, Kittle thirty six for four fifty and four scores seven years ago and one point six four yards per route ran, and then Juwan Jennings two six one. I mean, look at those yards per route ran, all under one point eight five.

It's not been very efficient in that regard. I kind of think you go into this game with everyone talking about one defense in red and gold, and I think he'll come out of it with everyone talking about the other defense in Aquan Orange. I really like this matchup on the side of the ball. Less than twenty points should do the trick, and the Niners have scored less than twenty four times and less than twenty five and

seven of their eleven games. I am really curious to see the matchups, the decisions that Bowyer makes in terms of man and zone and blitz and coverage, and the matchups he prefers. X and Cater have both done really well against bigger, bodied, physical types of receivers, so I think you could see a fun slug fest out there, and again those guys against the screen come up and make place. It's a big part of the game this week.

To me, it's a kitchen sink game. I think a lot of combo hybrid coverage is I think you do play some man with brackets and wallops and robbers to take care of those crossing routes like Javon holland maybe Eric Rowe. Bottom line is this, we want garoppolo serving and hitching to hold the ball from thin two point

five seconds. I think playing aggressive underneath with seven and coverage is the best way to do that, and you have to trust your pass rush to get home to do it man cover six, some hybrid with zone front side man backside combinations like two man two high safeties and man coverage underneath. Mix it up and rely on that four man pass rush and dare them to go deep, kind of like that Baltimore game. Offensive line verse defensive line.

So Trent Williams is absolutely incredible. It starts with him. He can really handle anything you throw at him. Stylistically, they fire off the football just like Miami. They want to beat you to the spot and use that style to keep your second level guessing second guessing. I should say offensive line pressures allowed and pass blocking snaps. Trent Williams ten pressures on two hundred and sixty nine snaps. That's an absurd offensive tackle number. That's pass block efficiency.

You see that from the top interior offensive lineman in the NFL. Aaron Banks twenty one on three three. That's that That's kind of the one that sticks out. Jake Brendell remember him four for three two. He's developed in some kind of player there. Man Spencer Burford eleven to snaps and then Mike McGlinchey eight team pressures on three hundred sixty two snaps and then Jalen Moore and Daniel Brunskill will come into the game as extra offensive lineman.

You kind of know the matchup from a style standpoint. They want to beat you to the spot, turn you while you off, and cel the alley and get bodies up in the second level to wipe out your linebackers. So for Miami and the two gap control the point of attack style of football they want to play. It's a big game for ray Kwon Davis and do what he does best and just prevent movement and doubles from getting up to that second level. And then with Wilkins and Seiler more of the same. We do see both

of them win with quickness plenty. But at three ten and three oh five Burford and Brendle go three hundred pounds each. So getting in position to use that power to hold the point are big keys this week. And to move those guys against their will to kind of use your power and strength and balance to once they run a wide zone play, put your foot in the ground and chuck them and make the play. Our guys

are that plenty. I think it's a good matchup here from Miami in that regard Banks is three for posterity, but man, he's getting all he can handle this year. The Saints hit him with seven pressures on Sunday. Need to get that done with Christian and Seiler going up against him with their quick pass rush, Arsenals Wilkins with the get off, Seiler with the arm over. It usually starts in the trenches, but for sure it does in this game on both sides of the football and then

out wide. I'm not really sure what to tell you about Trent Williams. Like him and Bradley Chubb is a premier matchup Phillips as well when he goes to that side. But finding ways to execute games and get Williams away from locking down your top guys or one of them on a give him play would go a long way to keep in that pocket muddy for Jimmy g I think they've got you know, McGlinchey over there, a former first round pick, was a stalwart for them, just six

pressures allowed in the last four games. But I want to see Jayleen Phillips speed to power move a lot against him. It's his best move, I think, and the route to getting McGlinchey is with power paired with suddenness. He's six ft eight three tents, so we can get over his skis a little bit that and Melvin Ingram with that really really good crossover step inside into the B gap. Those two guys against McGlinchey are big keys

for me this week. Finally, running back in linebacker Christian McCaffrey. We'll see if he can go. He's dealing with knee irritation, which I've never heard that before. Elijah Mitchell will not be available for them. Their offense really took off once they traded from McCaffrey, and that should be kind of obvious. With a talent scheme fit there. There's a ton of screen game and use of McCaffrey flexed out. He runs routes from every possible alignment. He's averaging just four point

two yards per rush since coming over. But it's the passing game element that makes him who he is. He's caught twenty five of twenty mine targets for two oh two and a touch. He's forced six misths tackles in the catches, so when you give in space, he's tough to get to the ground. Tevin Coleman would be next in line. Since Mitchell's down. He was with the Niers from twenty nineteen twenty, played for the Jets last year, and then he came back this year to the Niners.

He was with Shanahan and McDaniel in Atlanta in sixteen and he was awesome for that team. He gives him that speed element like McCaffrey does that really allows that offense to get the vertical stretch to give you the election to the horizontal stretch to really widen the defense out. So for the Dolphins covering these guys out of the backfield speed with Jerome and Duke getting over the top of hopefully heart edges from Chubb, Phillips, Melvin and gink

In the whole crew. You know, I mentioned Duke Riley getting thirty plus snaps last two weeks. To me, this is another game for him to get thirty or more snaps, And I wonder if we see more of Baker off the edge to help contend with that speed, kind of like we saw in the Baltimore game a couple or a year ago. Special Teams d v o A ranks San Francisco's twenty first, Miami's thirty first, and after making

all six of US kicks on Sunday. J In Sanders is now sixteen for twenty on the year, including a perfect nine for nine on kicks in the forty to forty nine range, the one short miss, and then oh for three from fifty plus. He's thirty for thirty three on p A t s. Kind of a cool stat here. We are just three p A t attempts away from matching his career high, so we're scoring lots of touchdowns.

Do it this week? Maybe um Raheem not Raheem. Thomas Moore Stead is averaging forty six point three yards per punt on thirty seven total punts, just a five points four percent touchback rate and a thirty seven point eight percent inside the twenty yard line rate. Both of those top his career averages. On the other side, the Niners send out great Robbie Gold for their field goals. He's sixteen for nineteen this season, with two misses in the

forty nine range and one under thirty. He's twenty twenty seven on extra points, and then Mitch Wishnowski is the punter thirty nine points forty four point to average, ten point three percent touchback rate and fifty three point eight percent inside the twenty yard line. Good coverage team there for the Niners punt team, what's its stake? The cool part about winning Street did you get to put that on the line each week you keep winning and saying we're on a five game win streak is pretty sweet.

So the potential for a six game win streak is even more sweeter. Remember when I said back in September we were going to do this segment, but I wouldn't really start to click until late November and December. Well, a win keeps you in first in the division, you know, right before Christmas. Really in terms of the standings at large. Of course, cross conference games don't contribute to any tie break scenarios sans common opponents, and within our own division,

nobody else plays a Niner. So from that standpoint, you could say it's the least important game on the schedule, but we know that absolutely nobody feels that way, because let's be honest, the main thing at stake here is perception. Right, if the Niners win, everything is still on in front of Miami. We not to be true, but if that happens, the talk shows and social media and the contingency that demands perfection on every single staff of every single game.

We'll come out of the woodwork and say they were right all along. So really nothing at stake in that

regard because none of that stuff matters, right. I just thought it was worth saying obviously all wins matter, but also talk about a great way to start a three game road trip against three really good teams, well, two really good teams and one that we're kind of waiting to see on in Los Angeles, and win puts you in position where if you can, if you can get the win, you can then complete the California swing with two wins potentially, and then that week fifteen Buffalo game

gives you a chance to really increase your odds of win the division. It's probably not saying a whole lot here, but if you go three no on the road trip, like you're gonna win the division, So big, big things at stake This week. Three keys established balance on offense

to help influence those middle linebackers. They are the key, the straw that stirs to drink and those safety so running the football keeps them guessing, keeps them off balance, keeps them fall stepping Key Number two, execute your tackling fundamentals, drive rap and put them to the ground. You cannot let these guys get loose in the secondary and number

three get pressure without blitzing. Jimmy Garoppolo. Holding the football with guys win one on one pass rush moves will be a good way to keep this Nier's offense below twenty and that should be a good no to win the game. Week thirteen picks. This week we're eleven and five, and Week twelve we are now one and fifty seven and one on the year. That's sixty winning percentage. Buffalo over the Patriots night, although I'm rooting for the Patriots. Give me the Bears over the Packers. We'll see if

Rogers plays. I'm still taking the Bears unless they don't have justin fields and it's gonna go back to the Packers. Give me the Falcons over the Steelers. Give me the Vikings over the Jets, the Lions over the Jags, Eagles over the Titans, the Browns over the Texans, Gross the Giants over Washington, Baltimore over Denver, the Dolphins over San Francisco, Seattle over the Rams. I'll take Vegas over the Chargers. It's kind of my big pick of the week right there.

Take the Chiefs over the Bengals, the Cowboys over the Colts, and the Bucks over the Saints. All right, that's gonna be my time today. We'll have the team reporter for the Niners, Lindsay Parallis, on the podcast tomorrow, so don't miss that. We'll also get your questions on the Twitter mail bag, and then we'll be back with you guys on Sunday for another recap podcast and postgame show, all that fun stuff and the time you all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave

us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfold NFL, follow the team at Miami Dolphins Fish Tank, postgame show, Twitter spaces, check out all that stuff, as well as the team YouTube channel for all the media availabilities and Dolphins today, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, finds up Caroline Daddy, He's coming home.