You were listening to the Miami Dolphins podcast Network. This is Drive Time with Travis wheat Field. Back to throw to a looking at wine olfan touchtop, clerk kill, un believable, just blue fire for a second time. Don't know where he was going right away. Want to hit that man. I want to help you soon. Looked up on his bay Wattle, waddle to a shotgut back to throw, looking steps up fires, touchtop again, it's waddle. It's six touchdown.
Pass out of this thing. Drive Time with Travis Winfield begins. Now let me check your pulse if what is up? Dolph fans and welcome to the Drivetime podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going to everybody? I am your host, Travis Winkfield.
On today's show, it is a preview Thursday day. As we turned the page to Week nine of the two NFL season, we're breaking down all things Dolphins and Bears with a look at the matchups position by position, key stats and tape study. What's at stake this week, the three keys to victory, and we'll also hear from quarterback to what tongle by Loa from his Wednesday press conference. All of that and more from the Baptist Health Studios
inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast, A trip to the Midwest the Monsters of the Midway. First game in Chicago since a pretty resounding victory back in and if I recall correctly, Mike Wallace had a couple of touchdowns in that game. Ryan Tannehill had a long run on a designed zone read on fourth and short. Was that also the game where Tannehill got shoved and face planted into the grass and if you screenshot at it at the right time, he looked
like the actual Dolphins logo. I think it was also played a crazy game back in ten with a dolphin is one at the buzzer on a Jason Sanders field goal. I believe that was for the Bears. Wins have been hard to come by since that ten season. They had that team that year who won twelve games and looked like a real threat, but the double joint kept them out of the divisional round that season, and that's where we'll pick it up. Since then, they have pivoted to
a new head coach, GM Combo. After that twelve win NFC North title winning season. It's been eight Nate, eight Nate, and six and eleven enter Matt Eberflus, who operates one of the most creative defenses in the NFL and has consistently produced results with the Colts and then now with
the Chicago Bears. The GM is Ryan Pulls, a former player who has been busy putting his fingerprints all over the roster and most recently with the acquisition of Chase Claypool of the Steelers or formerly of the Steelers, who is just the latest of a busy remake in the wide receiver room. This regime inherited the very talented Darnell Mooney, but then went to work adding receivers like Chase Claypool, Byron Pringle and to kill Harry Vellis Jones Jr. Equanimius st. Brown.
They also brought in Ryan Griffin to pair with Cole Comet, and drafted David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert the last couple of years, so they have their young nucleus assembled around one first round graft pick and uber talented quarterback with rare, rare running ability, a player they also traded up for in Justin Fields. Now just because it's been a bunch of moves doesn't mean it's been, you know, all that effective.
That wide receiver corps kind of reminds me of twelve Dolphins on hard knocks when Jeff Ireland said we've got a bunch of fours and fives and six is though I do feel the Bears have a bunch of threes and fours and Mooney is a dynamite number two. But you get the idea. And we've seen a little bit of a jump here from Justin Fields in the last couple of weeks. I think the offense is catering more and more to his skill set, particularly in these last few weeks. He has a lot to handle when he
goes off script or keeps it on designed runs. He's adding in the in more explosive downfield passing elements, and we'll break his game down here in the preview, but he was far and away my QB two in that class behind Trevor Lawrence. It's not a great class so far, but I'm a big believer in what Justin Fields offers, and I still think that there's a path for I'm gonna be the best quarterback out of that draft. Right now, I might take him over all of the other quarterbacks.
So far in that twenty one class. They've invested the Bears a little bit into the offensive line, most notably a second round pick on Tevin Jenkins, who's looked better since kicking inside the guard from that right tackle to right guard position. But they've really had to shuffle up front with some injuries. It's good to see the roster overhaul on offense to pair with a defense that has been, you know, pretty good for a long time, regardless of
the personnel. They did lose stalwart Achem Hicks this offseason. They just traded Robert Quinn and Roe Kuwan Smith, so three really big losses and they've had a tough time replacing those guys. It is a big front, guys like Alcoin, Mohammed Mike Pennell, armand Watts, Justin Jones, Angelo Blackson, and Trevis Gibson. It's not all that dissimilar of what eber Flus had an Indianapolis, the big defensive line to free
up their athletic linebackers. Even in a post ro Quan Smith world, they had Grover Stewart, DeForrest Buckner, Quitty pay gap control with good rush integrity to help keep your linebackers clean. They went heavy in the secondary of this draft, and a lot of folks said, hey, go get your quarterbacks some help, but they went with Kyler Gordon and Jakwan Brisker. More on them here in just a minute.
They do give the Bears, in my opinion, the strength of their roster and that secondary as they pair with Eddie Jackson and Jalen Johnson, it's a team that can burn you with the full complement of the running game. That's really you know, the secondary is probably the strength of the team, but the backs with the quarterback in
the running game is how they operate. Uh offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who worked under Matt Lafleur in Green Bay, off that Shanahan Tree, so stuff we've seen here before. To power backs and a quarterback who's up there with Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts and the athletic quarterback department, and a defense that generates takeaways under a great defensive minded coach and Matt Eberflus. His defensive coordinator is Alan Williams. Let's go ahead and dive into how they do it all.
Dolphins offense Bears defense. Starting off here with the offense and quarterback of the Dolphins versus safety and structure of the Bears defense. So it's a region react defense. They like to control the point and play read and react on the back end, get disruption up front, and play top down football where they flow from the second and third level, using safeties and linebackers to clean things up and make all kinds of tackles. More on that here
in just a second. It's why I think that this misdirection I Candy false keys offense could potentially give them issues. If we draw up a great game plan, you have athletes at key spots like look at what he had there in Indianapolis, and three critical areas that the three three of the most important positions in this defense from what I've you know, researched and found, is the three tech.
The defensive tackle. They had to Forest Buckner there, your weak side linebacker Shack Leonard was the guy there, and your nickel which was Kenny Moore. All three of those guys were Pro bowlers. They put a lot on their plates and they executed a high level. So what are the analogs there or this Bears defense? Well, it was a Chem Hicks and Roquan Smith and then Kyler Gordon, who's still there in a good player. But for the Bears,
you know, Nicholas Morrow is the will. Justin Jones plays that three technique, and then rookie Kyler Gordon, one of the best athletes I've ever seen that slot nickel spot. But he is a rookie and teams have gone after him. Accordingly, You'll see a lot of zone on this defense, lots of eyes back on the quarterback. They want to generate takeaways again, they did that. Indeed, they're doing it here in Chicago with thirteen takeaways, is tied for the sixth
most in the NFL right now. And it's not just picks. They punched the ball out just like they always have done going back to the Peanut Tillman days. In fact, of their seven forced fumbles, six of them have come from defensive backs. Two hands on the ball after the catch is paramount, and if you can read the breadcrumbs at this point you can probably predict this. Their blitz rate is fourteen point two percent. That is the lowest
in the National Football League. So four man rushes for to all day long on Sunday, so it's less than every one of every six snaps where they do the extra pass rusher. I would imagine they probably back off of that against the Dolphins, because as quarterback is slaying the blitz was also slaying the non blitz also slaying man coverage and zone coverage, and your mom's, your uncle's, your bob's, your uncle's ants and stuff like that. He's
pretty much beating everybody right now. But they do generate pressure thirty second blitz rate and the nineteenth highest pressure rate at twenty two point three percent. They haven't converted those into many sacks, just thirteen, but again, pressure is about so much more than sacks, and they'll get those takeaways by disrupting the posing passing game. As a result, I do want to be abundantly clear that most of that pressure came from Robert Quinn's speed off the edge,
giving heavy footed left tackles issues. That element is of course gone. Speaking of two of stats versus the Blitz and versus coverage against the Blitz, seven sixty completion nice, eight point four yards per pass, two touchdowns, no picks. That's a one oh eight point to pass a rating on fifty three dropbacks against the non blitzing coverage looks se nine point two yards per past, ten teddies and three interceptions. It's a one fourteen point three ascerating on
a hundred forty seven drop back. So pick your poison. It will be important for us to win those one on one rush matchups, and for too of a play like he has been in terms of the speed and processing and decisions that he has put out there so far, putting the ball into soft spots where you're basically throwing to a spot before your guy gets there with that
pristine accuracy anticipation. It's akin to the Ravens game where I mentioned how tips and overthrows typically go back the other way, and we saw that with Marcus Williams getting that one tip ball on Tyreekill that turn into an interception. You have to be sharp there because this defense will keep their eyes in the quarterbacks and clean up mistakes, but it does offer some openings as well. So it's
given take for a defense how they align. Of the time they're in the thirty four three of the time they're in the forty three, So it is a three four defense and base Nickel is s they do have two snaps and dime and two short yardage heavy personnel snaps. So it's two groupings, your three, four and your nickel. So does Miami want to go heavier? Do they want to go spread and open it up and force the Bears to get more defensive backs on the field. It's
a lot of off coverage where they basically slot. They exchange their slot linebacker for rundowns and passed downs. Off coverage three to one ratio of off versus press. So for every four snaps they play, three is gonna be off coverage, one's gonna be pressed. Lots of zone, some man, but plenty of hybrids on both with zone on one side, man on the other side of the field. So it's a lot to kind of decipher, as Matt Eberflus is getting his fingerprints on this defense the way Mike McDaniel's
getting his fingerprints on the Miami offense. In the Dallas game, when the Cowboys would get to their three by one sets, they would often isolate a one on one matchup to the boundary the short side of the field your ex receiver and Dallas trust of that receiver to win that matchup and they did time and time again in that game, and you can see the function of their defense based on how the next gen charts of the opposing quarterbacks look.
It's almost exclusively passes between the numbers inside the ten yard bucks. For the teams going against the Chicago Bears, the zone turn, put their butt to the sideline eyes and the quarterback and funnel you inside. The good news for us is that too has been like he has been every single other element of the game, but he's been seeing those intermediate windows over the middle of the
field and reacting before the defense can. You're gonna get light boxes, you're going to get inside access, and you'll run into some shoddy tackling in the back end. This feels like a run game, swings screens, quick pops, and a big yard after catch game. From my perspective, I think this is the week we see Raheem rip off a big run, and I would venture to guess we challenge our season high in YAK yardage. Those are kind of two areas I'm looking at. Really, the entire defense
funnels through the safety play. They are getting Jaquan Brisker. He's had an up and down rookie season, but you can see the potential there. Sixty completion going after him with a hundred twenty two yards on two hundred and fifty four coverage snaps, a touchdown, a pick, four QB pressures on just third teen pass rush snaps. He is has a very quick burst and get off from the last scrimmage just thirteen pass rush snaps though, and he has twelve run stops too, so he can certain against
the running game. Eddie Jackson, it's one of my favorite players in the entire league. Fifty completion with just fifty nine yards allowed on two d and fifty nine coverage snaps, two touchdowns allowed, but four picks and seven run stops. He is as good as it gets. Keep your eye on number four back there. He is the glue to that defense. They are uber athletic and can mask all kinds of potential mistakes with their speed. Now that said, Brisker and the backers sounds like a band will over
pursue the running game. Briskers run fitting versus Dallas was not good. He also got caught and coverage several times. Like Dallas could I d their man coverage and would go after Brisker when they got the matchups they want. They scored a touchdown on Brisker with Ceedee Lamb in the game on Sunday. I think the I candidate we can give the rookie will cause all kinds of problems. Whereas Jackson, I just probably stay away from him. He's a bad, bad dude. They rotate and feel really well
to replace their blitz is uh. The defensive backplay has been solid. Brisker plays fast, Eddie Jackson has that range. I think we can force their corners out of man coverage though where they want to play. And as for their priest nap alignment, it's been fairly evenly split between single high and two fifty three percent of the time. They're in single high there and two high and they have sixteen snaps in zero coverage to dial up that
pressure look. And they have one snap and a three high look that of course as the one of the two dime package calls they've made. So yeah, not a ton of variety. So hopefully the Dolphins had a great game plan ready to attack what they do best at the receiver and tight end versus cornerback match up. Here, Dallas went after Kyler Gordon when he was in on those one on one looks and they went after Kindall
Vildoor as well. They completed four or four on him for just thirty nine yards, but they were critical downs, all first downs, and it was clear they were isolating that matchup in that game. You know, we love the relative athletics scorecard here on the podcast. Kendall villed Door is a four or four four guy, but he also measured the forty four percentile and short shuttlet in three cone and forty seven and ten splits and not a lot of burst in his game for Johnson four five
forty not a lot of long speed there. He was seventy seven percent talent short shuttle, but fifty first on three cone and fifty five and ten split again short range. So I think it's a quick game for the Miami Dolphins here, not a lot of change of direction skill. Then Kyler Gordon was elite just the four or five speed vertically, but ninety plus percentile and all the quickness measurements. So we get our when we get our race cars
on the perimeter tenants seventeen. I think you can win quickly and get into run after catch positions, and then against Gordon maybe see if you can hit some of those slot fades. I think we can see a lot of stacks and bunches to create some of those free releases and also force the Bears to think. You know, thinking against speed can be costly, like if if they're not processing fastly, it's gonna be costly form in the end. The three top cornerbacks in terms of snaps play in
their stats. Gordon to fifty nine snaps four ninety six yards allowed. You want to be around one per coverage snap. That is not a good number for him, but it's again rookies. It's tough to play a corner well in this league. It was a rookie, especially especially in the slot. Kindle willed or two forty six snaps to thirty two. It's a little bit better. Pretty good, actually, I should say. And then Jalen Johnson one d and fifty six coverage snaps and one hund in twenty yards allowed. Teams are
going after the rookie, pretty obvious. Bildor and Johnson are bigger corners, longer corners that play with physicality. I shouldn't say bigger, they just play more with more physicality. And Gordon is that superb athlete with with really good change
of direction and you get in place primarily inside. But the crazy part about that is that Gordon's the biggest body of the group, So like, how does that how do you figure if you include Jalen Jones their fourth highest snaptaker cornerback, Gordon is the only one who tops six ft and two hundred pounds. He's right at those benchmarks. The other guys are five ten, five eleven between one
and one. They don't run that fast, so it's like you have fast guys that are also small, Like I just I don't really see where the matchup is there for him in terms of positivity. They'll play off coverage eyes and the quarterback and they'll come up and tackle. They're really good tacklers, so it could be interesting to see if they counter to the off coverage in the screen game. And then from there, it's a lot of good on good in terms of what can tenants seventeen
do with the ball in their hands. On top of the perimeter block we get from the entire room, most notably Trent Scherfield, who has a couple of great blocks every single week, we continue to see Tyreek and Jalen pushed the top of the defense off, removed the roof of the defense, and we see a lot of separation, and we've seen some good mix of getting the football to the rest of the eligibles, you know, Mike River
Trent the backs. It's an interesting matchup, and then the Bears funnel everything inside and that's where Miami has been so so dangerous. So I like that matchup quite a lot. As the tight end position. We're seeing Mike get more involved in some key moments in the passing game and cashing in with some touchdowns. That sort of plays into their funnel funnel in top down defense. You know, Dalton Schultz had six for seventy four last week, and a lot of that was quick passing game off free releases
and finding soft spots in the zone. That's where Mike has picked up most of his production this season. You go back to Week four, a lot of the same for earth Smith of the Vikings. He had four for forty two in that game, doing a lot of that working into the flats off split flow action, which of course is what Miami does. We move inside to the offensive line versus defensive line, and boy, they sure felt
the absence of Robert Quinn. Last week, the Cowboys ran right at that spot over and over again, and that was very effective. Dallas ran for two hundred yards last week. One oh two of that came running off left end. The next biggest gap of production for them was off right guard for thirty four yards east. You can tell they knew where to attack really in the run game in the passing game, were effective in both. They'll rotate the Bears arm On Watts, Justin Jones, and Angela Blackson.
Inside they all have between ten and thirteen run stops and their pressure numbers there of those three three for Watts, ten for Jones, and three for blacks In. So not a lot of disruption inside. Justin Jones has been disruptive. But this is a team that gets their pressures off the edge primarily. And off the edge, they called upon Trevis Gibson to take on a lot of the workload left behind by Robert Quinn, and he's a similar build in terms of the length and power he plays with.
He's not going to fire up the field and bend the edge of the same quickness and an urgency that Quinn did. I mean, who can but he's a smart player who can play off contact and keep eyes on the quarterback and running back. Again, the Cowboys just ran right at that. The Bears are general, are incredibly soft
off the edges in the running game. And I think Miami can really hit that outside zone, quick passing game, jet sweeps, screen game, and really control the ball in this game and get whatever they want in the small chunks the five to fifteen yard range. Maybe maybe we'll I mean, I don't know. I'm not gonna doubt this team's ability to go you know, vertical, but maybe it's less like vertical passing and more ball control. This week, the Bears also kept getting ro Quan Smith sucked up
into the wash. But I think it's a function of their system to play that read and react defense. That's why I think a play action heavy team that uses you know, you know, counter looks and fake polls and stuff that sells the play action like Kellen Moore does in Dallas, I think can give them fits. In fact, that read and react style puts a lot of emphasis on their backers to get it right, and that's why
play action passing has absolutely killed them. Thirty one of forty are opposing teams over the last four games on play action passing for three sixty three, three tugs and a pick. So getting the run game going and using play action off of that is going to be a very big part of that. They play so aggressively upfront. Uh that's that's how teams attack them. With that aggression, you use it against them to get them going one way,
go back the other way. And there just has been no interior your pass rush for this Bears front, and without Quinn there's not going to be much off of to his left side either, So you need to get Jones inside blocked. But I think two was going to have another day of a pressure rate under ten percent,
and we've seen what he does with that. He is really tough to beat when you can't pressure him consistently, and they offer, you know, varying size and styles inside to three hundred ten pounds of the sizes of Watts Jones and blacks him. Jones is incredibly explosive, So finding a way to cut him off and prevent him from creating creases in the running game, uh and and and also in pass pro. It's a tough matchup to watch, but that's kind of the guy. I'm keeping an eye
on Jones inside. His work against Connor Williams and Big rob who typically he typically aligns that three technique to the right side of the offensive line, is a fun one to keep an eye on, but otherwise I expect Miami to get movement all day and really hold down the pass pro and just keep a focus on Justin Jones inside. Off the edge of the pressures and run stops, Trevis Gibson has nineteen pressures on just a hundred thirty one pass rush snaps, so he's been productive, but only
seven run stops. Robert Quinn was next with four team pressures. He didn't do much in the running game either. Alkaden Mohammed has eleven pressures this year and six run stops and Dominique Robinson seven pressures and nine run stops. It's just not a lot of production off the edge in the pass rush game or against the run, and this defense is designed to create chances for the linebackers. Just looking at the raw tackle numbers, there never leave the field.
Middle linebacker ro Kuan Smith led the team with eighty three tackles, and it was Eddie Jackson with fifty eight. A big drop off there between one and two. Then Nicholas Morrow the linebacker had fifty six. Then you get three more dbs. Then we get Justin Jones a d tackle with twenty four. And the first edge on the tackles list is al Kaden Mohammed, who has just eight teen tackles. He's tenth on the team. You have thirteen tackles Robinson, thirteen for Gibson, and then Quinn had eight.
They do not make many tackles on their d line. Quinn and Armstead would have been a great heavy wait five, but I think this one with Gibson's pretty good too. Gibson has incredible length. We've seen how to Ron can cut that off when he goes and just gets his guy and shortens the runway. And if Gibson plays that upfield shoulder, that might just help to Ron like say, okay,
go ahead and go round the quarterback. I'll be right here waiting for you when you get back, and also give two of those clear lanes, but also minimize him in the running game the way teams have minimized his effectiveness. And of course, you know if myamy can get out to a lead is to just run the ball right at that spot. Run production hasn't been there. The Dolphins should dominate that matchup. Go ahead and finish up with Dolphins running backs versus Barras linebackers. We've got Jeff Wilson
in the house and coach said he will play. How much we will see, but Raheem Mostart has been rolling and we know Wilson knows the system pretty well too. So I have to imagine that your one to punch. Chicago held the Patriots to seventy rushing yards two weeks ago after getting out to that big lead, but their totals with Dallas and then the games before that two hundred yards against Dallas before New England seventeen to sixty two oh three one seventy six. Teams can run the
all on this Bears defense. Nicholas Morrows signed there the spring after playing in Las Vegas for the first four years of his career. He has the athletic ability and speed to pursue wide against these fast Miami backs, but again, teams have gone after him in coverage as a result. And you know he's just two d and twenty five pounds, So you have to think if Miami can get downhill on him and block him up and wall him off with the work they've been getting from the interior three
all season. It's another good matchup from Miami that does look like a strength of the Dolphins in terms of, you know, handling the athletic speed outside, so good on good in that regard. They acquired a J. Klein in the trade, so I'm curious to see if he steps in for Smith right away because he's the closest analog on the roster. Smith was two thirty five six one. I don't know I did that backwards. Clients six to forties,
so almost the same body type. Client is a far cry from Roquan speed four six six compared to four or five and Clients played just fifteen snaps this year, but he has blogged over forty career snaps and has been one of those downhill run game disruptors, kind of like a Lendon Roberts outside of a Joe Thomas. Playing snaps this year almost exclusively in the running game, with sixty two of his snaps coming against the run. He has nine run stops, and rookie Jack Sandborn has played
just thirteen snaps all season long. Nicholas Morrow is the straw that stirs the drink. Now his numbers twenty run stops under ten percent but pretty good. Number three pressures on thirteen pass rush snaps and again targeted twenty four times in coverage on two and fifty three snaps. The
results one twenty four for two oh seven. Throwing the ball against Bears linebackers should be fruitful, which plays off the running game too, so like the chances for the offense to put a number another thirty spot on the board this week. We've seen Raheem getting quicker, more decisive each week, and I feel that's certainly a credit to him, but the offensive line staff for joining the fundamentals and getting this run game and system more and more familiar
each week. Again, my bold prediction this week is where Heem hits his first fifty plus yard run, or maybe it's like a forty yard touchdown, but it's a big run for him, his biggest as a Dolphins. My bold take for the Dolphins offense this week. Let's go ahead and take our first break way deep into the podcast, come back on the other side and talk about the defense that next Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield brought to you by Auto Nation Busy Busy podcast today all
week long, you guys are getting basically double podcast. This week we pick it back up here in segment too on this Thursday, November, the third edition of the Drivetime Podcast, taking a look at the Dolphins defense. First, the Bears offense, week number nine, one o'clock kick off from Soldier Field in Chicago. We look at the Bears quarterback and offense
Firsus the Dolphins defense and safeties. This is the Bears offense that's starting to find it's footing a little bit, finding out how to play the strengths of their quarterback, and they're scoring some points. After a pretty rough outing on TNF against the Commanders back in Week six, a twelve to seven barn Burner, they've scored sixty two points and gained seven hundred sixty one yards far and away the most over a two game period under Justin Fields.
And in those games, Fields has a hundred forty two on the ground, three thirty through the air, five total tuddies and just one giveaway a pick, although he did have four fumbles in the Patriots game. More on him here in just a moment. How they line up a unique personnel grouping on offense as well, eleven personnel just fifty six percent at the time. That's about twenty percent
below the average. They run twenty one personnel, two backs and one tight end with you know, fullback seventeen percent. They go one back, two tights seventeen percent, as well as lots of that two receiver sets thirteen personnels. You're one back, three tight ends. They run that five percent
of the time. And how about two backs and two tight ends with one receiver twenty two personnel four percent, So half the time into eleven half the time not eleven personnel, and there's a lot to get ready for. We saw a lot of three and four defensive back looks from Miami last week, and you could get more of that with the Bears lining up in two or
less wide receiver sets nearly half the time. Could get a first look at Bradley Chubb and how he slopped into that group up front with plenty of snaps to go around. I love his matchup this week. By the way, their offense has been a methodical approach all year, so if you can get red zone stops, you can keep the score pretty low on this team. Like less than
twenty points. They have thirteen touchdowns on twenty five red zone trips, they've scored twenty plus points and four of their eight games each time they are better than in the red zone. That's how they got twenty points. So if you hold them below fifty percent in the red zone, they're probably gonna have in the teens or even less. Red zone Stops and takeaways the surest fireway to limit their scoring. They do have a turnover in every single
game and three games with multiple turnovers. Hold them to fifty in the red zone, get multiple takeaways, you should be just fine in this game. So with Fields an absolute dynamic runner, and the build of the offense off of that, I mean they add gaps with multiple attached inline blockers, they condense their formations. They use two back sets and run the ball behind a full back. They'll
utilize zone read from the shotgun. You know, Fields catches a lot of flak and he has some wartz to smooth out for sure, But they would be lost without this guy. Everything is built off of him in the way the Baltimore Is Running game works through Lamar Jackson to help give those backs more production. In the running game. Fields red zone running is where they ramp it up to another level. He gets even more carries down in that area. But then you also have the element of
the scramble. He's just a lot to deal with. The Cowboys had him dead to rights in a play where he rolled to his left part of the design of the play, and then they left the backside edge unblocked and he comes right down the barrel into Fields's face and he just stepped around it like child's play and ran for like fifteen twenty yards on third and four. So you have to be you know, come in control and break down and get him to the ground. He
did miss some underneath throws in that game. There was one ball that was high and carry his receiver out of bounds on an easy speed out first down conversion that the Cowboys just basically gave him, and he missed that throw. He put a few balls on the wrong shoulder that looked like it would limit yack ability, But man, you can work around that stuff and and you know, miss a few layups like he has wanted to do
when you have that type of running ability. My plan this game probably looks a lot like Baltimore from last year, zero coverage, extra extra hats in the box off coverage, and see if fields can consistently one hit those layups in the short perimeter part of the field or to beat us deep over the top. They've been unable to do that all year long. Deep passes, They're just eight on deep passes two seventy eight yards, three touchdowns and
three picks. When throwing twenty plush yards down the field, it's a sixty four point three passer rating. We know Javon Holland has played a big role in limiting deep passing this year, though it's obviously a team effort, but I'm curious to see Javon's usage this week. He had by far his highest number of snaps in the box last week, one compared to previously high being a fifteen, he could attack. He could be a good eraser off that scrambled ability, both as a blitzer and just coming
from depth to attack fields. Number eight is a big key this week. They also have very little from a downfield threat standpoint, minimal separation and minimal ability to make contested catches at full speed on those verticals. They have some chances. They'd always convert them, though justin fields versus blitz fifty completion, seven point six yards per past, four touchdowns and two picks, thirteen sacks on sixty three drop backs,
so they've gotten to him when you blitz him. Non blitz is also get to him sixty one seven point five y p a, three touchdowns, four picks, and eighteen sacks on one hundred and sixty five drop backs, so you can get fields under pressure, get him to the ground, and get some negative plays on offense. Last week it was a lot of Ronan McKinley deep when jave On came down. I think that his instincts serve him well there, but it's a lot to put on his plate if
you're gonna play that zero. Look how about the guys that fields has to throw to the receivers and tight ends versus corners. The majority of that room is built around big body guys who either excel with their contested catch ability or nuance to create separation. Darnell Mooney is a monster with the ladder. Vellis Jones Jr. I think is their fastest guy. He took a jet sweep around
an unset edge for the against the Cowboys. For a big game, he also got on top of their defense and fields hit him, but he couldn't finish the catch going to the ground. If they can get those deep ball connections going, they might be tough to defend. But right now it's not working for him. The problem is that issue. You know that Vellas has not pulling that
contested catch down the field. It's kind of unanimous across the board, like if you're in the area, you typically can get a p BU on it or just in completion. Even when their speed guys get verticals, they just don't make plays in the football, whether it's Pettis, st Brown, Claypool, that those guys don't separate. But the the vertical skill set got vertical speed guys have had trouble hanging onto
footballs down the field. We saw Claypool here a couple of weeks ago the Bay do some of the same things that the Steelers did in terms of throwing that vertical pass to the X the short side of the field and three by one sets. Get your attention over here, get one receiver on the backside and throw him the football one on one. That's where Claypool made a lot of his big place with the Steelers. And George Pickens too.
If they can get him in that spot, I'd imagine they at least think about some shots to chase Claypool against US, he went against X one for two on the targets and completions for eleven yards. Justin Bethel two of three for fifteen yards. Clayton Federalum was over one in terms of catching the ball. In Federalum that he caught a pair of passes that were attributed to Duke and Gink and coverage good for a total of fourteen
yards on two of two. So a little bit interesting to see if he gets a heavy workload coming to a new team. Here. One guy that we know will is Darnell Mooney. Now, the Cowboys took him out of the game in the first half last week, but he responded with five for seventy in the second half. He doesn't by chasing blind blind spots, setting up his rouse with a purpose, attacking leverage, stemming and stacking like a ten year vetman. He is so good, really really good
player on the areast. Just twenty five or forty one targets for three sixty four but no touchdowns. This team doesn't throw the ball very often. The team as a whole has just twelve d receiving yards and seven touchdowns. They are the definition of a run team as much as you can be here in kill Harry came back off the i R last week and caught all three of his targets for thirty eight yards and a touchdown. And then Equanimius st. Brown has eleven grabs on twenty
three targets for one, six, four and touchdown. That is like Davante Parker numbers. It's I've been in a productive group this year for the Bears. How do you approach it? The problem here is against a group that has had more success against Zoe and struggled separate against man coverage. Is this, You play man coverage and you don't maintain good rush lane integrity on every single play, fields will
get you eventually. So trying to find a way to marry your man coverage with your effective rush package is going to be key. Their physical wide receivers across the board. From a style standpoint, you probably have to find a way to match up against that across the board. I absolutely love the way Kator co who plays from a competition and physicality standpoint, I think he's getting really close to us being able to go back to a place where it's like we have two really good outside corners
with prominent man coverage. Because he's so good at being physical and disrupting timing inside or outside. He's really been only beaten on zone looks this year. But also you do have to be able to match our mix and match i should say, his zone and man to effectively disguise your coverage. So hopefully he's getting better in that area each week. I think he is. Last week we saw X play every snap co who all but three snaps, and then Nigbo played nineteen crossing fourteen with Bethel giving
you eleven. So I'm curious to see if that's a look this week. X and cater full time with a mix for that third cornerback role. And this defense largely stays to their side, so as far as matchups, kind of up to the Bears to make that decision. Offensive line verse defensive line. It's tough to build great offensive lines in this league, and the Bears have invested their resources, but it hasn't really panned out for them. They've drafted Tevin Jenkins, who's getting you know, a bit of a
baptism by fire. At right guard, he's played alongside Riley Reef in for the injured Larry Borom. Reef is a
stabilizing force, but he can struggle with speed rushers. Braxton Jones at left tackles having a really tough time and his worst game was against a team that's kind of like us in terms of big, heavy defense eve vents like Zack Seiler and Christian Wilkins kicking outside six pressure night allowed versus Washington, and then Lucas Patrick the left guard, Sam must Offers the center, and the pressures allowed Braxon
Jones twenty five. This year, it's a lot. Lucas Patrick sixteen on just a hundred forty six pass rush pass blocking snaps. Sam Mustafer has eleven inside that's a very good number for two hundred forty pass blocking snaps. Tevin Jenkins just eight on on two hundred pass blocking snaps, and then Riley Reef was his first game last week.
He allowed just one pressure in that game. He's been a nice stabilizing force for them, or for the one game, I should say, in the absence of Larry Borum, who had just ten pressures allowed on two hundred eight pass blocking snaps. That right tackle position has been their most productive this season. I think I'm most looking forward to Zach Seler matching up with Tevin Jenkins because they're both massive, strong,
and play with a bit of an edge. Now on the other side, Patrick goes three fifteen, Jenkins and Mustafer are three five, and at tackle, Jones and Reef are both just three tens. So literally no left tackle left guard Comming has surrendered more pressures this year than Chicago, just in time for Bradley Chubb to get here. That left sides under size, I think it's gonna be a long day going up against Chub, Seeler, Wilkins, Ingram over there.
And then you have the speed rush and speed to power for Jalen against Riley Reef watch fifteen this week. I bet you he gets a sack on speed to power. That's my defensive bold prediction, and that Bradley Chub gets a lot of pressure as well. That and a lot of tackles for loss and quick penetration from the left
side of the Chicago offensive lines. When I'm thinking, those pressures they have surrendered don't necessarily mean success for the defense, though fields can absorb those and make big plays out of them. So the key is getting multiple wins and staying true to your rush lanes and keeping the bears and passing downs is obviously a key. When they get the run game cranking, they can really turn that on.
So a big part of that. Our last position group here on this side of the football, running backs versus linebackers. Khalil Herbert's alone man. You have to bring sound tackling against him. He's got three hundred and seventy three yards after initial contact on twenty three miss tackles force and four point one yards on average after initial contact. That's on ninety one to ten. It's one of the top
ten missed tackles forced rates in all of football. So was David Montgomery, by the way, two ninety yards after contact on nine two carries with twenty six forced miss tackles. You must, must, must tackle against these guys. Between the two of them in fields, they have a combined sixty eight miss tackles force that as far and away than most by any tree of teammates in the NFL. Herbert is five ft nine to twelve, Montgomery five ft eleven
to twenty four. They're bowling balls. They play low, They'll hit you in the face. They've also caught nineteen of their twenty targets combined this year for a buck ninety seven and a touchdown. So a big day for Baker Roberts Riley. The entire linebacking crew to recognize screens, take on blocks, and bring their lunch pails, and tackle in the running game. On special teams, Jason Sanders still perfect under fifty, eleven for eleven, still over three on fifty
plush yarders, hasn't tried one since the Vikings game. He's nineteen for twenty on p A T s for the Bears. Cairo Santos is a perfect two of twelve this season, including four makes from fifty plus, although interestingly all of those are either fifty or fifty one yards. He's eleven for thirteen p E T s in the punting game. Thomas Morrison had one point last week, thirty eight yard that pinned the line to the eleven yard line. He's averaging forty five point five per punt on thirty kicks.
His hang time has been great minimal returns. He's not hitting touchbacks hardly ever. For the Bears. Trenton Gills averaging forty eight point five per punt on thirty one points. Let's go ahead and take our last break right here, come back and tell you what's at stake, the three keys to victory pick the week nine games, and we'll hear from quarterback to a tongue by low all of that next on the Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. What's at steak when
the Dolphins traveled to Soldier Field on Sunday? Really the same set up as last week. It's a cross conference game. Doesn't have an impact on tiebreakers in the a f C, but it certainly impacts the most important column, the win column. Another chance to prove that you can win on the road,
outdoors and potentially crappy weather. We'll see about that though those Midwest weather reports change all the time, but current it says like winning gusts will see a two game streak is at stake now that we've crossed the or will cross the halfway point at halftime of this game. For the symmetry of the schedule, the Dolphins are currently in the wild card position number six, so maintaining that
keeping pressure on the Bills atop of the division. There's always a lot at stake in these games, right, but in general not much in terms of anything outside the win or loss. My three keys of the game contain the explosive Bears running game. At first, I said, don't let Justin Fields beat you on design runs or on scrambles. But I have to add Herbert and Montgomery here, because those guys are just a load tackle. Well, get those guys to the ground. You hold that Bears running game,
You're gonna win the game. Number to protect the football. Do not give this team extra possessions. You're more talented. You should beat them if you give the football away, though, The quickest way to have the game go the other direction. Just like last week, down fourteen nothing because of a turnover on our first drive. Number three, continue to utilize the play action passing game. Everything rides off the running game.
The outside zone and the Bears fast read and react defense can potentially be susceptible to play actions and misdirections. So use that play action game in the middle of the field gets the defense that wants to zone turn and funnel everything inside. Week nine picks thirteen and two, last week Baby one and one on the season Dolphins Country. Let's right, Uh No, I was terrible edited out. Now I'll keep it in Philly over Houston tonight du Miami
over Chicago. This is a tough one Chargers over Falcons, but I can see that one going either way. Packers over Lines, same deal there. I think the Lines are gonna get one eventually. Packers haven't looked very good. Take the Patriots over the Colts, although I do want to see the Colts win that game because I want them to win the a f C sal because it could be a potential five vers four matchup in the wild
card round. Since over Carolina, Buffalo over the Jets, Big Vegas over Jacksonville, gave me the Vikings over Warkner Industry, Arizona over Seattle. It's a tough one to Tampa over the Rams, Chiefs over the Titans, and Ravens over the Saints on Monday night. Football's go ahead and finish up here with two A tongue of Iloa's Wednesday media availability. He was spicy, he was salty, he was fun. Uh. We shared a fun moment in the media room on the Mini Hoop talking about to a brick of Voloa
to a ball or viola more like it. Let's go ahead and talk here first about two h's confidence level after the team traded away that first round pick and built around the roster in a way that says, we have our quarterback. Let's get the rest. I would say I felt supported. Um, you know, from the time you know, Mike came in, you know, getting guys like Tyreeke. Um, you know, obviously we had Jalen, we had Mike Gasecki. I'm bringing guys like um Raheem moster, guys that kind
of understood the offense. Um, you know that have been with him, you know, with Trent and a River. So you know, I would say I felt supported. Um, you know before all of that. Next we see this quarterback have the highest passer rating on third downs in a single season of all time, and that stack goes back to one point seven. How are you doing that too? Uh? Why? I think we do a really good job in practice
on you know, with with the scout team. The scout team gives us great looks on what their team plays on third and long, and um, we're also you know, talking about things that could potentially come up. So if they did come up, you know where could we go if this doesn't show up? So um, I would say we have a lot of answers for our third down place, whether it's third and long, third and short, um of
potential coverages we could be getting. All right, there we go, another forty plus minute podcast for you guys this week. I hope you're enjoying those as much. I'm enjoying doing all the research and all the planning for these shows. It's a lot, but it's fun to do, especially when the team is right like it is right now. We'll go ahead and come back with you guys tomorrow to get the perspective from Chicago. We'll hear from the assistant coaches.
Might have some additional media. We'll see about that as well. But in the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Leave us a writing, leave us a review, give me a follow on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Check out the Twitter space and show on Wednesday night at eight o'clock has been recorded from last night, so go back and check it out if you have not seen it. Fish Tank Pad with Seth and Juice International Podcast postgame show on five sixty all
of that, and a heck of a lot more. Also the team YouTube channel for media availabilities of Chris career, Mike McDaniel, Ta Tuggle by Loa some fish tank and drivetime content up there as well, And last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time finds up Caroline Daddy, He's coming home.