Dolphins Bears Preseason Week 1 Recap

Dolphins football game. Will break down all things from the dolphins thirteen preseason defeat at the hands of the Chicago Bears. I'll tell you about a very special uber ride, the stats from the game, my five takeaways from the game, a position by position spotlight, will hand out some game balls, the drive of the day, and a bunch more here

on this edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Well, it isn't quite a victory Monday podcast, but honestly, I just watched the tape and it kind of feels like one. The boys played some good football, got a lot of stuff on tape to give them an opportunity to make

corrections and get better. And you have to feel good about the first half production and can make an understandable explanation for why the second half went kind of in the other direction, with a highly talented first round rookie quarterback getting so many reps for the Chicago Bears and he looked great, and then followed by a Super Bowl m v P coming off the bench to run with the threes after the fact, before we get to the game.

How about a Saturday morning that you'll never forget. And I'm still a little bit star struck from I was on an Uber ride from the hotel to Soldier Field with Jason Taylor, who of course called the preseason game from CBS wfo R he and Steve gold Stein. What a fantastic job those guys did. I've done. I've been listening to, or watching rather Dolphins preseason games on the game Pass stream or previous streams before that for over a decade now and probably even longer than that, and

I haven't heard a broadcast that good. Just finished up watching the game before jumping on the podcast here to record they did a fantastic job. But talking football the entire Uber ride over there with Jason Taylor talking about what I saw a training camp that was a lot of fun to do. He was asking me some questions. Really really pleasure, really my pleasure, really kind of a surreal moment to get a talk to Jason Taylor about

this Miami Dolphins football team. And then to kind of finish that point, we got dropped off right in front of one of the gates to enter and at one point on that walk, my credential fell off of my belt and I had about a one hundred second panic thinking that's that's how you're getting into the stadium. Man, If you don't have that, you're not getting in. And JT, like the true class professional, he is, waited for me to run back flag it down. I found it it

back on. We get back up there and everything was good from there, but a bit of a panic at the end of a fantastic morning. And then of course the postgame show after the game. If you guys did not catch the announcement or the show itself, I cannot recommend it enough. It's myself driving the show. SETH Levitt and O J McDuffie, the Dolphins legend from the Fish Tank podcast on the air for two hours after the game, talking all things Miami Dolphins football with a little bit

of a touch of mirth in there as well. I had a great ball joke for Seth that he gave me some crap about. We laughed about it afterwards. Good time with those guys talking Dolphins football. I think fans of both Drive Time and the Fish Tank will love that show. It's on five six w q AM right after your Miami Dolphins games on Sundays in the regular season, Saturdays in the preseason, whenever the heck we're playing, We're

gonna be on the air after those games. We'll talk about the football game now, But first I want to get into the stats from the game, as we do every single recap podcast here on Drive Time, and we look at some of the key numbers here fifteen first downs from Miami to twelve for Chicago. But the third down number six for fifteen from Miami and one for

two on fourth downs. That gives us, by my elite mathematic calculation, seven for seventeen on third and fourth downs, while the Bears were three for eleven on third down and one for one on fourth down, so four for twelve, last year's league leading defense on third down. Right back at it again, under their total from last year at thirty three on third and fourth downs, the total yards three d and thirty nine for Chicago, three twenty six from Miami. Miami outpassed Chicago to oh eight to one

sixty eight. The Bears got the Dolphins and rushing with one seventy one to one eighteen, and Miami ran twelve more plays sixty three to fifty one plays in the game and had the t op time of possession advantage thirty three thirty nine to twenty one. But in the first half, Miami had the football for nearly twenty two minutes of the first thirty minutes. And one of my favorite stats carry over from the first two years of the Brian Flores program, m here four penalties thirty eight yards.

That's a great number to be at. That's how you wind up in the top five each of his two years here and the Bears had nine penalties for fifty five yards. And we're gonna jump right into the takeaways here. We have five of them for you here on the podcast.

Number One, you gotta finish drives. You gotta finish every element of the game when it comes to the National Football League and really any other sport you look at, whether it's at the rim and basketball, whether it's in the ninth inning and baseball, or on the goal line and football, And if the Dolphins could have managed to put the ball across the goal line after getting second and goal from the one yard line and then two failed running plays, if they punched that ball in and

go up seven zip early, you come back with a field goal later and make a ten zip and then

eventually you're up zo. That game could have gone really in the Dolphins direction early on and set the set the tempo, dictated the pace of the game, and really put the narrative out there that Miami came into Chicago and like the numbers and the production you saw on TV, on the tape that you off, you would have seen the results of that match, and then you have the narrative complete that way for people to say, yeah, the Dolphins came out to Chicago and really handled their business,

because I thought they did throughout the course of the game. And really, you're gonna make some mistakes, obviously, as coach Flores has told us, there's no such thing as a perfect game. But you're just so close to finishing off these drives, finishing up the short yardage runs. It was a bit of a bugaboo last year. Hopefully this is out an opportunity to put it on tape here in the early part of the preseason and get those things corrected going forward. But you gotta finish those drives. That

was my first takeaway. And we're gonna go ahead and go to Brian Flores now for his postgame press conference and hear what he thought about the game and ultimately Miami's inability to finish some of those drives down around the goal line. Well, I mean, we're evaluating the entire game. So but I thought we did some good things executing

some instances, didn't executing some some other instances. Um, I thought, you know, played well defensively, got off the field, play well in the kicking game apart return unit, got some um positive plays there with Kiman and Jail. Offensively, we actually moved the ball and we just didn't didn't finish drives. So, you know, we don't finish the drives. We can't point it in from the one turn it over in that

area of the field. Yeah, I come back to bite job and it did come back to buy the Dolphins at the end result of that game, and you know, thinking about not having the preseason last year. We all know the Dolphins started last year at one and three

and then finished the season out nine and three. To close that thing, you hope that maybe some of those issues like in the Buffalo game last year, the Seattle game, hopefully get those things ironed out right now and then go into the season for that opening with the Patriots and start from square one, ready to take on those challenges, ready to overcome some of those obstacles that the team dealt with last year and now in this game, because if they can find a way to convert some of

those red zone and inside the five yard line, drives into seven instead of three or even in this instance to where they got zero on the turnover. Like coach mentioned, that's how you go from ten and six, playing tight games and and really taking more ws and getting further along in your progress than that. So I thought that was a big point of emphasis. I had a note on here with two in the passing game. I just want to touch on this real quick, and this is

kind of coinciding with my first takeaway. We're gonna come back and talk about two of here in a minute. But how about the second possession of the game, This narrative about taking check downs and throwing the football short, whatever you want to call it, to go up top for fifty yards to your tight end to Mike get sicky.

I thought that was just a great play. A great throw, great job by the offensive line to get that thing blocked up, great run after the catch, a great little subtle move by Mike get Sicki at the top of that route to give just a little bit of a nudge for that separation for the ball to float and there perfectly, and then taking off and breaking tackles and getting all the way down inside the ten yard line to about the seven. But again, gotta finish that drive.

As coach mentioned, takeaway number two, first defense, and let's talk about this real quick. On the offense, no Will Fuller, no DeVante Parker, no Albert Wilson. Those are your one, two, three receivers on the depth chart starting off for this Miami Dolphins football team. So without those guys for two to have the game, he did even more impressive. Again,

we'll come back to that. But the second takeaway is your first team defense, and we use that phrasing lightly talking about missing guys, no exhabing Howard in this game, no Byron Jones, no Emmanuel Ogba, no Jalen Phillips, and they allow on the first four possessions of the game thirty five yards, zero first downs, two point nine two yards per play, and big Bonogay. Christian Wilkins, Eric Row, and Nick Needum all had pass breakups in this portion.

They finish out the first half, not allowing a first down until twenty seven seconds to play in that first half. In the second quarter, on that final field goal drive led by Justin Fields, they allowed just three point eight yards per play and five straight three and outs to kick off their preseason talk about starting off where you finished last year Number one third down defense didn't get the takeaway today, But when you're playing like that, not

even necessary because that was a great defensive effort. Again without a lot of the guys at the top of that depth chart. The third takeaway today. Special teams remain special too. To return men that I mean, that's a lot of electricity back through with Jalen Waddle and Jachem Grant on their first three punt returns, you go twenty three yards, twenty yards, and fifty four yards. At seventy seven yards and punt returns and we lost five yards

on the fourth return and then after that. I don't have the numbers in front of me here for you, but just talking about the way the Dolphins came out and really one the areas of the game we've come accustomed to with Brian Flores defense, special teams, the penalty yards of the hidden yards battle so important to find victories in those margins because those thin margins in this league and special teams is a big one that seems to be overlooked every single year by the entire football

cognist centi and I'm part to blame for that too. I do it a lot as well, but I don't want to do it anymore because it's so important to the success and outcomes of football games, especially this football team, and they demonstrate it every single time they step on the field. So the seventy seven yards of return yardage from Waddle and Jachim Grant, who just both look electric, as imaginable, like as electric as you get in this league on this planet when it comes to football players.

And then you have two kickoffs back to back pinned down inside the twenty yard line. That's great work by Jason Sanders. And the coverage crew and Danny Crossman to dialogues up to get the team short of the twenty five yard line. Again hid in yardage six seven yards here or there. It makes a big difference. And then you also come out with Michael Pollardi a fifty five yard punt to kick things off with only a forty

three yard net. Also had the great punt that center the Bears return man backwards, muffs it into the end zone, recovers that thing at the one yard line. So great work there by the punt team, the kickoff team. Jason Sanders of course does not miss field goals. He's two for two today with an extra point as well, and Blake Ferguson didn't miss any snaps. Got to mention the special teams. They continue to provide those thin margins for

the Miami Dolphins. Takeaway number four and this is something that basically was a carryover from the first couple of days of preseason action. We saw games on Thursday and Friday night before Miami and Chicago kicked off the action

on Saturday. Don't take the backup quarterback position for granted, there's some teams out there that just don't have an experienced player at that position, and once the starting quarterback comes out, and we know how often injuries happen in this league, whether it's for the entire season or for a month, or even for a game. If you need a quarterback to come off the bench in a pinch, it sure is nice to have one that has played well in one football games in this league. And I

thought that's what Jacobe Pricette did today. He showed that he can not only come in and get you into the right calls, get you into the right protections, the right looks, the right run plays, and even mitigate some of the pressure that we saw from the Bears front against this Dolphins substituted but not completely substituted offensive line. Austin Jackson, Solomon Kinley, and Robert Hunt stayed out there for the majority of the first half, if not the

entire half, I'm not mistaken. Now, Michael Dieter came out for Mats Scura and Jesse Davis gave way to Adam Panky, the old veteran getting some time off there in that first half. But Jacoby Brissette, when that offensive line pairing we just talked about, kind of allowed a little bit of pressure in that game. He did a good job to mitigate the pressure, get off of his spot, makes

some scrambled plays. He had one nice scramble that came back when I holding call unfortunately, but also just through the football well kept the team ahead of the chains and produced points on some of his drives, including a great throw and catch to savan Akman. We'll talk about Savon here in just one second because he is one of my takeaways as well. Not in my takeaway top five, but he's in there because explosive plays are the name of the game, and he certainly provides you with some

of that takeaway four. B had to shoehorn this in here because I really have like twelve takeaways, but I gotta get done a five justin Fields, I would start him for the Bears if it was my decision. He really had his way once the defense started to kind of pull some guys out of the game. And it's

good to get a tape to me. Even though I put this on Twitter and people said, well, it's the backups, Yeah it is, but it's still the tape that Dolphins are gonna watch and dissect and work on and get a feel for how to defend a quarterback of this caliber, which isn't the norm in the NFL by any stretch,

but it's becoming more and more prevalent. These guys that can get off the spot and make plays with their legs and then bite by way of the plays with their legs, they become more dangerous through the area because you have to account for both and you don't want to get caught camping back in the defensive backfield. You have to pursue and then that of course opens things up downfield. But what a great opportunity to get a game and two practices on tape against the quarterback that

can do these types of things. I mean, he was doing that at practice, getting out on the edge and throwing the football against scattered defensive looks because of the fact that he was threatening on the edge with the legs. To get that on tape, to get a chance to look at it, break it down, give this team a full month before they go into the regular season where you're gonna see a Cam Newton and Josh Allen and

back to back weeks. To me, that's invaluable, just like it is to see a pass rush like a Chicago Bears team. That's only gonna get you better going up against those guys two days of practice and one day in a game. My fifth takeaways the offensive line because I found the narrative out there and interesting or intriguing maybe I don't know the term for, but they looked really good. I thought early on as far as the past protection goes, I talked about the Mike ga sicky

throw from two, a tongue by lower. He had all day to sit back there and survey that Adam Shiheen throw was pretty similar as well. The interception to close out to was day. I thought he had plenty of time to pass on that one. I didn't get the surge you want in the running game, But as far as creating enough of a pocket for two to make plays, that's really what all you have to do for this offense to have a chance to be really explosive and really fun to watch. And things did get a little

bit compromised. Like I mentioned, when you go from what Brissette had in front of him compared to what to I had, he just I thought Brissette was under more pressure. I thought Michael Dieter had a really good day up front in terms of helping out with past protection. There was a great rep where he had to go double a Keen Hicks with Robert Hunt because you got to

take care of that guy. And then Khalil mackill looped in as the looper on a stunt and Deeter once he kind of helped Hunt get into square position up on a cheam Hicks. He comes off that block and follows Khalil Mack and just make sure he doesn't get to our quarterback. That's gonna be a critical critical element for this team this year that center position. Communicating all the games and helping keep your quarterback clean and healthy

is so key. And I think for Michael to have a whole year of experience playing fifteen games and then last year stepping back and you know, he went through the full season, didn't get injured, but his his physical body kind of got a rest because he didn't play nearly as much. He only played a few snaps on offense and some special teams reps here and there. But he had a whole year too kind of sharpen the mental side of the game. I think that's gonna be

very crucial for him at that center position. And I thought he did really well today. Now there was some talk about the goal line runs that didn't work out where he was on the ground. He was cut blocking. That's what happens when you cut block, you go to the ground. That's the idea of a cut block. So just keep that in mind. But the offensive line, that's the kind of takeaway, but a sub takeaway of the takeaways that the production they got with two in the game.

I think that's a little bit about what you like about who is game that he does elevate the performance of those around him, especially when it comes to the quick passing game, and you get that ball out quick and you pretty much take away the entire factor of the offensive line. When you catch rock throw, there's no pass rush that can account for that type of passing game, and you just can't get home. You're not gonna unless they literally turn into parking cones and you can run

right by them. But this offensive line is not that So it's more than good enough to handle the catch rock throw type of passes. But also with that mind and some of the motion and misdirection and zone read and stuff you can do, and we saw some of that today. The RPO action as well, that's gonna put just a half of the false step on the defense or a half of a delay in terms of how they key and trigger and flow. That's gonna make all

the difference in the world. And I think we saw that how to have made his offensive line better based upon the way he handles the game and the approach. So that's our fifth takeaway, and that leads right into kind of takeaway number six, But we'll just go ahead and call the position by a position breakdown. I thought

two looked really, really, really good in this game. The ball came out quick, he was off the back foot on the top of the drop, and he was stepping up and delivering the football, throwing with tremendous accuracy, and he attacked deep when he had the time, converted third downs of six, eight and nine yards. How I mean, how long have you been waiting for that as a Dolphins fan to consistently know that even when you don't win first and second down, you still have the ability

to win on the third down. Keep the offense going, keep this really good defense fresh. It just all works together, all compliments, and to convert three third and longs. I thought that was such a big part of the game that I haven't seen talked about a lot, but I'm gonna talk about it here on the podcast. Because the fifty yard to Mike Gatsicky again, great pass protection, great accuracy.

I love the way the linebacker is in chase. He's a trailing the Mike Asicky on the route, and because his back is turned too, knows that he only has a certain width or depth that he can defend. Because you can't see what you can't you can't defend what you can't see. Rather, and so to a knowing that his back is turned Mike's on top, he has to be most concerned about the vertical speed of Mike to continue running this thing all the way. So just throw it up over the top and you're not in danger

of him turning back locating the football. Because he does that, he loses a step and then Mike might be able to catch that thing and go all the way. So that location on that throw and the subtle little push from Mike to great separation. A nice piece of work there with that throw was fantastic on third down to convert and move the chains. The third and sixth row to Mike Asiki on the next drive that coverage. That

ball had no business being completed. The coverage was super tight, pressure got in pretty quickly into his face, and the dB is all over Mike like he knows that the blitz on that play, he knows the ball has to come out quick, so he drives on that little stick and out route that Goaseki ran and so he's on his back. He's turning Mike as he comes over the top and the ball's per quickly located away from Mike's frame to reach his hands out and make the catch

off frame. Now, granted, that's a very difficult catch to make, and I'm sure too, and Mike know that, like, hey man, our only chance to complete this is to throw a ball that's gonna be hard for you to catch it. I need you to make a play for me. We talked about two and making his guys better. How about

making your quarterback better? And that's exactly what Mike Asiki did on that play, but to it to give him the opportunity to make that catch and not put it in harm's way where the dB has an easy p bu. That's fantastic work right there. That again had no business

being completed, and they put it on the money. Just a great repetition there from your second year quarterback, your fourth year tight end, and they're working together here in their second year, and then the third and fourth, the third and nine throw rather to mac Hollins, there is trash it to his feet and he throws that thing out to his left. So he's trying to step left and drive with that right foot out to that side

of the field. There's a body at his feet. At his feet so he can't step into that throw, so he has to step away from the direction of his throw. Go out in your backyard right now, take a foot ball and align yourself down the middle of your backyard and throw the ball straight. But step with your lead foot, your left foot if you're right handed, step out to the left and throw the ball straight, and tell me

what happens. It's not easy. You have to account for the difference and the arm slot in the arm angle. And he put that thing right on the money on that throw for a big completion and a first down. And we'll talk about mac hollins effort. Ext Let's go

ahead and talk about it right now. Because mac Hollins how did himself a heck of a day special teams and receiving wise, he on that route the defenders underneath him playing trail technique because the safety had rolled to that side of the field, so he knows I can play the short stuff the end out, the inbreak, the outbreak,

and work on that. But Max still got on top of him, stacked him, and then had a great route to the inside to create some space and separation and to with that pressure in his face, puts the ball inside to the defensive back so he can't make a play through the ball and get the PBu Hollins makes the catch big time, first down. Keep that drive going.

Then the last one I want to talk about with the that's not the last one, but the next one, the Malcolm Brown flip where there's immediate pressure and and bodies at to his feet and he steps out of the possible sack and flips that thing out to Malcolm Brown. Instead of a six yard loss and second and sixteen, it goes for seven yards, so it's a second and sixteen, it goes to second and three. That's the kind of

off script playmaking you like. In addition to the stuff we talked about here, playing on script in rhythm and throwing the football accurately under dress and two guys in tight coverage as well as with separations. So just good stuff there. And then we have talked about the interception because that was a bad play. Let's just call it what it is. He was late to come back to that read over the middle. He talked about it, Jason Tayler talked about it on the broadcast. You could see

it from the press box. I saw Shaheen uncovered pretty quickly, thought that's where the ball should go, and it did, but it was just a few seconds late, and the end zone angle on the broadcast shows it as well. To one knows that has to be better. He owned up to it after the game and his postgame press conference, but until that point, just a really solid performance from

QB one. It's it's too bad it has to end with the pick because before the pick he was eight for ten yards, and the two in completions where a throw away and a drop that would have been good for about thirteen or fourteen yards on his first pass of the game. It looks like the quarterback we've been seeing at practice and now has a chance to stack some good days and string this thing together and continue to get better in that way. But I come away from this first game very encouraged by what I saw

from your Miami Dolphins quarterback. Let's go ahead and go to to Ah at his postgame press conference to hear how he felt he performed in his first ever preseason game. I think the better question for that is, uh, what didn't I do well? Um? You know, I thought I did all right. Um. There are a lot of things that we need to clean up offensively, Um, you know, with our communication, more saw our execution, with our plays

that we're given. But the first time coming out, you know, in a real game like situation environment, UM, I thought it was pretty good for the first time. Obviously, there's a lot of things that we need to clean up, but that's what we got filmed for. You know, when we hop on onto the plane, we'll take a look at some of those plays that didn't go the way we wanted to and uh, you know, we'll get those fixed.

And let's go ahead now and go to Brian Flores on the performance of his starting quarterback to a Toungo Byla, I think he did. I think he did a lot of good things. I thought he made several good throws. You know, I know you had to drop with your early um, I want to say you had another drop. But he fired the ball in there on a couple of in cuts, made some good decisions obviously, the one bad decision in the red zone. We talked about it and he knows exactly um what he should have done

with the ball air And it's correctable. That's what we talked about as the staff. Something that's very correctable, and he'll make the correction and we'll move on and get better from him. You gotta love that message there. It's correctable and he will go ahead and make those corrections.

Let's go ahead and go down the list here of players I thought shine and played well and made a good case for themselves in terms of either getting more playing time or earning a spot on the fifty three man roster three or four years from now down the line, which is a coach Flora's joke there, it's it's about a month away, but in terms of football days, it's years away. But here's some guys I thought performed well. Miles Gaston came into the game, uh second at the

running back position and had some nice runs. Had that nice run off the edge as well as a little scamper up the middle where he showed some of the shifty cuts back and forth. But savan Akhmed, and this goes back to my point earlier about wanting to have explosive aspects or explosive options at every position on offense. And I think the receiver position has done a great

job this offseason of adding to that component. Whether it's Jalen Waddle, whether it's Albert Wilson coming back off the opt out, whether you talk about Jachem Grant in the role that he has in this team and making big plays. It's there's so many options in this offense to make the explosive play. Mike Asiki for fifty yards, how many tight ends can catch fifty yard passes? Hit a seventy yard catch last season. But when you want to run the football to me, yeah, it's great to stay ahead

of the chains. Yeah, it's great to convert short yardage. But if I can hit home runs and chunk plays in the running game, that's my main focus. I like to move the chains and hit big plays in the running game. And Savon Achmed had a twenty yard run today and a twenty three yard touchdown reception. And he's been hitting that wheel route in practice and games. He's been catching football's left and right over the middle out to the outside. He just continues to show his big

play element. He's a guy I wanted to keep an eye on this camp because of the speedy offers and the opportunity to get a crease and hit the big play. We saw that today. Those two plays forty three yards running back, that's what you want, big time touchdown there. In the passing game, I thought Gascon and Achmed both played really well at the running back position, and also

Patrick Laird had some nice work. Unfortunately, his one reception that would have moved the chains on third down got called back by a little rub p p I on the offense on Kirk Merritt, but nevertheless he told me to play. So good work there from Patrick Laird at the receiver position. Man mac Hollins on one of the plays on special teams, I saw him bust his ass down there, split a double team and get into the

face of the return man who muffed it. But he got the guy down right away at the point after he recovered his own muff. Mac Hollins continues to shine on special teams, but also the route I talked about that route he ran on the fourteen yard completion on third and nine. He just stacked him, got a little stutter cut to the inside. Great route there from mac Hollins. He continues to uncover. The slant pattern he ran was

a good look. There. Had another catch earlier in the game where he got outside of a defender and flipped his hips to the inside and ran the out route, snapped it back off to the outside that got called back by a holding call. But mac Hollins continues to be a prevalent target and a reliable target for two a tongo by Loa and then also Lynn Bowden Jr. Had a couple of catches in this game. Made some guys miss made some runs after the catch. Good to

see him in game action. I've always thought Linn was a guy that was kind of a gamer. When the lights go on, he plays even better. So good to see him have a good preseason debut on the offensive line. I thought Michael Dieter had a good game. I talked about his work passing off some of the the stunts and the moves and the games up front and just

the communication he had upfront on the offensive line. I think that his presence and his intelligence in that position can really help this Dolphins team pick up some of the stuff. It's more mental than physical, because I do think he's a very smart, heavy player in that position. I also thought Robert Hunt got some good push today. I had some good past protection reps as well. So good on those two guys up front. We go over to the defensive side now at the tight end position.

By the way, Mike get Sicky, we talked about him, what a game he had. He looks he looks back healthy, fresh and ready to go. And that's a big time playmaker in your offense. On the defensive side, I mean, stop me if you've heard this before. Man, Christian Wilkins, Adam Butler, Sack Steeler, Ray Kawon Davis, and I put Benito Jones in the list two because he had a nice couple of plays on the interior against the run of the Chicago Bears. But Christian Wilkins, my goodness, what

a game he had today. Watching the playback the broadcast copy, I thought he had one of the if not the best game on the entire defense. This team works so hard to keep their eyes on the football while engaged on blocks. You come off the block when the ball goes past you and you try to get the tackle. And he did that so well today, stacking up blocks, shedding blocks, getting back to the ball carrier. There was a great rap where he worked down the line on

a block, came off of it. The running back bends it back because of the good work by Zack Seeler up front as well. Ray Kwon Davis upfront bends it back and Christian Wilkins is there from the Bill Goldberg style WCW pile driver to the ground. I'm surprised he didn't go for the jackhammer for the finish. That's what I would have done, but maybe another day. So Christian Wilkins, I thought was fantastic, also had a pass break up. He was a menace out there, staying in his gap,

getting off blocks, stacking things up for his teammates. Zack Seeler, penetration, stacking blocks. You just can't get penetration or you can't push this guy back. He can't knock him back. He continuously gets a surge upfront on that defensive line. Adam Butler, same story, collapsing the pocket as a pass rusher, holding up things as a run defender. And Ray Kwon Davis the same story. Man, He was in there, penetrate in

that pocket, closing things down. He is so wrong. Guys have a really hell of a time trying to block to block him out of the hole. He and Christian Wilkins had a great rap together. I think the hole was on Wilkins, but both he and Davis looked like to me they got held on a big outside run from the Bears that came back because of that flag. And then I mentioned Benito Jones as well, had a couple of plays in the running game at the linebacker position.

Andrew Van Ginkl had a great special teams tackle in this game. He also had a very strong edge set in a run game to get a big stop off the edge in a position where it was him a blocker in the ball carrier and it looked like it was gonna be a big game, but gink was able to get into the gap and make the play and shut that thing down for a short game. I thought Duke Riley's speed we talked about it on the podcast

Every Day, showed up big time in this game. He was sideline the sideline, played a lot of snaps and had a lot of good ones too. I thought eg Van's strong camp continue to show show up in the game here today. His speed again. We talked about the speed on this team, me Seth and o J. Talked about this a lot on the postgame show on w q A. M Man. This team speed has really improved this year and the line backround position is a great example of that. Both Riley and eg Vaughan really exemplifying

that team speed. I thought Brandon Scarlett had a good pass rush on justin fields as well as a strong edge in the running game. That's kind of been his m O of this training camp. A good game from him. And then Jerome Baker, I mean, he's kind of always in here because of the sideline, the sideline speed, the rushing,

the coverage of the run defense. If your defense allows zero first downs on five drives, Jerome Baker most likely is doing something right because the defense kind of funnels through his position and what he does in that scheme. So a great job by Jerome Baker in the defensive secondary. Nick Needham possibly the player of the day. It's it's either him or Christian Wilkins on defense for me, because his technique on those two in completions that he had

in the slot was perfect. Man Like two way ago from the law is a tough tough ask. But he was on the slant routes before the receiver both time where he just stayed true, kept his eyes on the hips. If his hips are there, he's not leaving. Just focus on that and you can keep your position. He drove on those balls and didn't get pass interference calls. That's a tough want to drive on where you can possibly turn the guys back with your back hand as you

reach over the PBu with your outside hand. Great work there from Nick Needham. He had a good day Noah Igbanaga and he got banged up on a tackle that was short of the sticks on third down, which, by the way, we're always going to mention that here on the podcast. That takes real grit and toughness to make that play. He also had some damn good coverage reps force and completion was in perfect coverage on a ball that fields had to check down on another play, now,

he did give up a twenty five yard completion. I think it was at one point where again he's in great position, just didn't quite get his head around in time. I think the more he continues to work and more experience he sees, he'll get better in that department as well. Justin Coleman had a great tackle in the open field on cole Commit and he didn't get any passes completed on him either, So a good day for the new Miami Dolphins slot corner there. Eric Rowe the PBu on

cole Commit as well. All he does is the race tight ends and play a strong safety against the run. Strong run game safety position as well is what I meant to say. A good job by Eric Rowe. Jim All Perry continues to make plays his tackle and open space. It was a ace picture coming onto the mound after the team has a four game skit or whatever it

might be. He was the stopper at that point because Justin Fields had gone down the field twice for touchdowns and they get the ball out of space on third and short after that muff punt, So good field position is at steak, getting off the fields at steak and Jamal Perry makes a great open field tackle and he also had a great special teams tackle in this game too. He has been really good in training camp and it

came over into this first game. And then Javarros Davis another good coverage rep on a takeoff pass, something he's been doing all training camp long, and I continue to be impressed by his work at the cornerback position. Specialist Jalen Waddle had the twenty three yard punt return that was awesome to see some shaking bake and the speed to really drop that thing in the second gear and

take off and show the speed there. Jachem Grant had two fantastic punt returns as well, and some work in the receiving game as in the passing game rather as a receiver. Jason Sanders two for two and a p a T. Michael Plardy boomed the crap out of the ball. All had a couple of balls pinned down, as had the fifteen yard line as well, and then Blake Ferguson some good snaps. Those are your special teams performers, Guys that I thought made their case as possible getting onto

the roster. Guys. Javarus Davis mentioned him, Jamal Perry mentioned him. I thought Craven le Blanc had a good game, and Patrick Laird mentioned him earlier as well. For the guys that were kind of in that second half tier of of Snaptakers that I thought played well my game balls, I'm gonna go with Nick Meedhum and Eric Rowe. We talked about both those guys and Christian Wilkins, Jachim Grant for the punt return work he did. He gets in there.

Mike Gisicky, that big catches the the fifty yard catch basically was good for points. Savon Akhmed scored a touchdown, had two twenty plus yard plays, big time from running back Jamal Perry on that we talked about him already and then to a tongue of byloa, I was gonna take him off for the pick, but after watching the game, he was so sharp and efficient getting the ball out

making his teammates better. He definitely gets in there. My top offensive performer is Mike Gisicky, it would have been to before the pick, and my top defensive performer was Nick need him with Christian will it's right there. And my drive of the game was gonna be the toa. I think it was a third team play drive. It was the one that ended in the pick, but they were going so well with third down conversions and just playing with rhythm that was gonna be the drive of

the game. But we decided to pivot over to the Jacoby Brissette because he went five for five, couple of passes to Bowd and two to Akhmed and one to Robert Foster. I believe it was before the twenty three yard touchdown pass to Savon Akmed. So all things good,

looked pretty good for a preseason debut. Plenty to work on and correct for next week heading into the Atlanta Falcons, the loan preseason game at hard Rock Stadium this year, and we have two joint practices to cover at Baptist Health Training Complex as well as a practice on Tuesday. We're gonna be back with you guys on Monday for a mail bag and kind of a deeper dive into

this game type of podcast. Stay tuned for that. Get your questions in on the Twitter mail bag when I post that, probably gonna do it on Probably gonna do it on Monday mornings. We're keep an eye out for that. Also, the post game show on Kiss FM and w q A M five six a m. Right after the Miami Dolphins game wraps. Go over to five sixty or nine point nine FM and check us out. We are on the airwaves myself O J McDuffie, Seth Levitt. You're not

gonna want to miss those shows. As for my time today that it's going to be my 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. We can follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time fits up,