Dolphins Browns Week 10 Preview

is up? Dolphans And welcome to the Drivetime 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's another Thursday, another game previewer taking a look at the tape and the stats to break down Sunday's one o'clock kickoff against the Cleveland Browns at hard Rock Stadium. Will go position by position,

matchup by matchup. We'll give you three keys, tell you what's at stake, and we'll make the week ten picks across the National Football League. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime Podcast.

The Cleveland Browns a team we have not seen since nineteen a comfortable Brown's win in Cleveland in that game, and that was a team that was in a particular phase of a rebuild that began in earnest with that season a couple of top five draft picks, but it went back well before that. Remember that was a team that had the second pick in ten and wheeled it to the Eagles for Carson Wentz and collected a bevy of draft picks in return, but almost none of them

worked out. That was where this idea of like moneyball integrating into football and you know, kicking the can down the road and pushing your assets into the future became this thought of like, that's taboo, that's not gonna work. And then we saw the Dolphins do it and it works just fine. But that draft class was why that idea with great process and poor results became basically what analytics is now where everyone just says, you know, oh, analytics,

I don't like those because I don't understand them. But Corey Coleman, Corey Coleman, Emmanuel Ogba didn't work out there, but now we know what he can do. Karl Nassib, Shawn Coleman, Cody Kessler, Joe Sholbert, Ricardo Lewis, Derek Kindred, Steath, devalved That's just rounds one through four in that draft class, and then they had four fifth rounders and the seventh

round pick. They did get Richard Higgins out of that to be fair, but then in seen they picked first again after getting a miracle December win to stave off one winless season, but they were right back in the saddle the following year, going oh in sixteen. They bottomed out in twenty seventeen without winning a football game. They take Baker Mayfield number one overall and go into team with Hugh Jackson somehow, but he was then relieved in week eight after a two and five start, and they

finish out five and three under Greg Williams. That doesn't seem to add up. That looks like seven and eight, but whatever. Yet, they promote Freddie Kitchens to head coach the next year, and as a team with all kinds of hype and hope, didn't quite have the year I think they were expected to have. But then, as is often the case, and we talked about my predictions, one

I was very bullish on this Dolphins team. I was a year early happens a lot same with the Browns because they broke a two decade long playoff victory streak by drubbing the Pittsburgh Steelers in the postseason. Then they took the Chiefs to the brink, albeit against Chad Henny in the Divisional round playoffs. And from there you might think that's the nucleus of their team going forward, right, all those high picks coming off, you know, coming of age,

I should say, in their careers, but it wasn't. After that eleven win season under then Rookie had coach Kevin Stefanski, they take a pretty significant step backwards last season as Baker Mayfield played through that shoulder injury and in my opinion, got entirely too much crap for the way he played, you know, through that injury. As they falter to eight and nine, then we get to two and it's a massive, massive shift. They make a big trade for the worst

person in football. Uh. They send Baker to Carolina. They depart from Jarvis Landry after doing the same with Odell Beckham the year prior. Longtime Pro Bowl center J. C. Trader is part of that shift, and they went to work shaping a new nucleus around some star talent, the market name of that group being, of course, Miles Garrett, the very first pick back in that draft. He's one of the best defensive ends of all time. The same year they landed Baker, they got Denzil Award with the

fourth pick in that year's draft. Although as much as I liked Baker coming out, Alan and Jackson were QBS wanted two for me and that's where the kind of going off course happened there. It's funny how one move can have a butterfly effect on the entire organization and the entire league as a result, because if you go with Josh Allen there, I mean, as Freddie Kitchen still employed, who knows? Is it still Hugh Jackson? Who knows? But uh. The same year they got Baker, they land the Denzil Award.

He's back to return this week against the Miami Dolphins after missing sometime. He's one of the best young cornerbacks in football. So they've hit on some of these draft picks. On the other side, probably the best back in football with Nick Chubb, a second round pick a couple of years back, and he never saw an arm tackle. He couldn't slip. He's the crux of an offense that operates and a lot of similar principles to what we do here, but also utilizes a lot of tight ends, twelve and

thirteen personnel packages. They add gaps and let Chub do his thing to work off that play action game, and the offense is somewhat tailored to what Deshaun Watson does in terms of, you know, big play hunting, and they have, you know, not a dollar store version, but a lesser version of Jacoby Brisette doing that same idea. But at

least Jacobey is a good human being. They remade the receiver's room around a great trade this offseason for a Mariy Cooper sending a fifth and sixth round pick to get a very town entwide receiver, a recent day to pick in the uber athletic Donovan People's jones and another day to pick in a rookie this year and David Bell. So it's Jacobe Brissette holding down the fort before the return of that starter, and he wants to be a

big play hunter off the play action game as well. Finally, the strength of their football team where the resources have been poured in year after year is the offensive line. They drafted Jeddrick Wills in the first round the same year they signed Jack Conklin, and they have arguably, in my opinions, not that arguably the best guard combination in the National Football League with Joel Ptonio and Wyatt Teller. And they made that known by giving both those guys

massive extensions before they could hit the open market. So strong in the trenches, typically playing or technically i should say, playing their backup quarterback with a roster that has pivoted off an original rebuild that began in Earnest six, seven years ago. Let's go ahead and see where the results have produced here heading in the two and the second

half of this season. So the Dolphins offense versus the Browns d fense and the quarterback to a tungle by Lowa, and the Dolphins offense versus the safeties and that Brown's defense. Miami enters this game with the hottest quarterback in the National Football League. He's playing pretty well to you know. The numbers on too. By now. The Browns defense is getting some reinforcements for a unit that started off inauspiciously

but has really rebounded recently. The eighth top ranked past defense number fourteen against the run and fourteen in fewish yards per play. Structurally, pretty good mix. Two high looks is two d forty three snaps. One high look is two hundred and three snaps. And they've played cover zero twenty four times, so too high, uh, one high, and the rest cover zero they play their base for. That's a big number, a big chunk there in that four

three base. They go nickel and they have one of the higher dime defensive package usages in the NFL eleven percent with six defensive backs on the field, and watching the last couple of games they played versus the Bengals and Rave, they tend to change the picture post nap with some rotation. They almost always start off in that too high look, and then one safety will buzz down and try to rob the crossing routes, run the seam,

come from depth on hooks and curls, things of that nature. Essentially, think about what Rashad Jones did here for years. It's the same type of principle there. Ultimately they get into their deep thirds, look cover three, one defender for each of the deep thirds, and they've got some pretty good

players doing it. They run two safeties out there on just about every snap, Grant del Pitt and John Johnson, and then Ronnie Harrison's the big nickel who packs a punch and factors into the run game like a linebacker. Former Alabama Crimson tied and Jacksonville Jagua. I believe Grant delpa is fifth on the team with thirteen run stops.

There was a great clip of him trying to come from depth and put a stick on Joe Mixon in the C gap on that Monday night game, and he read it and got there well, but then he got ran over like a like a speed bump. That was a pretty funny rep. Johnson is tied for six on the team with ten run stops, and then Harrison has a pair of them. They don't call on him a whole lot, just a hundred and fourteen snaps and forty

one within rundowns. With all the dbs they deploy, it's mostly cornerback heavy, so not a lot of safeties in the field. More on that here in the next position group. But their pre snap alignment for the two primary safeties, it gives you an indicator of how they want to play. Del Pit has two eight two snaps down in the box on the line and the slot position versus two thirteen at free safety, and then John Johnson has one

eight inside and three twelve at free safety. So typically John Johnson is the guy that rotates to that center field position and that typical Cover three or man free, which is man coverage with a single high safety look. So that ultimately tells you the short perimeter portion of the field is going to be where you kind of can attack. We'll get more into that here in just one second, but it's really, you know, a little less

pick your poison. You typically get what you think you'll get in terms of the rotation, and del Pitt wants to come up and hit, and given how Miami has attacked the middle intermediate portion of the field, I think he's the guy you play off of. You might remember

him in college. He was a big, splash play guy that relied on taking chances and arriving with a try hard mentality and a motor that doesn't quit, which is a great trait, but it hasn't quite worked out in the NFL because these are the best athletes on the planet.

I think you give him some cheese and you play off of that, and you can continue to work the middle of the field and potentially spring some big runs after the catch, since the man out of position, if he is in that position to be out of position

is one of the last two lines of defense. We haven't seen a lot of that, a lot of that this year against this Dolphins offense, where one of the primary you know, forced defenders, the rat in the hole, is that strong safety coming up because typically teams want to keep those safeties off the field or you know, off the line because you have tenants seventeen. So against the Bengals, who run tons of motion as well, there was all kinds of pre snap shifting and rotating to

counteract that motion. That's typically your indicator for the quarterback, and with the way to it has been seeing the field both pre impost snap this year, his opportunity to execute with that approach could potentially be there, and this one as well, I tend to think it will be. And off that we've seen the peril this offense can cause for opposing defenses and that man coverage, you get your man looks, you take your shots to this explosive

receiving corps. I also think one of two OF's best balls that he's thrown or that he does through I should say, is the quick set up deep shot to the boundary the short side of the field, or the slot fade to the field, just condensing how far wide that ball has to go. Think about that Waddle touchdown against Detroit. That was a slot fade to the field.

The reason I bring this up is that they played the Bengals one on one to the boundary and rolled the safety to the field against that press coverage with off coverage to the boundary. So you have your chances to take what the defense gives you short to that

boundary with that off coverage. Now granted that was with Jamar Chase not in the lineup, but if you get these looks on Tyreek and Jalen to the boundary, you take them like whether it's a hitch, whether they come and they press on that hitch, double move and go vertical. Take those chances when you get them. It's lots of man coverage, lots of cover three lots of man free.

But I just can't see them staying with that man coverage because I mean, why would you against these receivers And when they get to that zone coverage like here, go to Twitter and type in Delpit in the search bar and see what the search shows you. Fans of the Browns are constantly complaining about mix ups and blown coverage there and it shows on tape two and that you know, the Twitter search will find tweets to say like why is Delpit always barking with his hands up

after a big plays? Pretty common occurrence there. So I think the offense, should they keep executing, will have another big day. It just might look a little different as they'll probably rely heavily on that cover three with the wide nine four man rush looks that tends to open up the short outside passing game. But as we've seen with this offense, we can stretch the hookbackers and displace them and still work that middle part of the field.

Having three deep cover guys makes you one man light in the intermediate and that's a bad mix against the way this offense is playing. All defenses mix it up, but they do play man coverage more than most. They do play with a lot of cushion as well. In fact, NFL True Media says play press thirty percent and off coverage nice. But also back to the tape, they'll vary a lot, so you'll get pressed to the side, to one side with help and then off to the side

that they slide away from. And that variation between the boundary in the field is kind of how they call it. So for Tuah and what he's been sharp with all year, keep those safeties, you know, key on those safeties and make those quick decisions based upon the movement and leverage of your conflict defender, which I think is Grant delpit in this game, we'll need another big game and a sharp game with a great game plan here from quarterback one,

some coverage stats John Johnson ten of eighteen. Our team's targeting him for one fourteen and a touchdown on two three coverage snaps. That leads all safeties on their team. Grant del Pitt for eight teen with two hundred forty two yards, and the difference there, it's a big, big difference. Two touchdowns and a pick on two hundred and seventy nine coverage snaps, and then Ronnie Harrison two of three

twenty two yards on just sixty six coverage snaps. I asked coach McDaniel about Joe Woods, Brown's defensive coordinator on his Stay press conference. Here's what he had to say about Joe Woods telling you about the Cover three and Wide nine pairing together. Great stuff here from coach McDaniel. You know, it was it was. It was a cool part of the process because he you know, it was a kind of a minor football evolution at the time. Um,

there was Seattle Seahawks. UM. You know, Uh, Pete, Guess Bradley, all those guys UM came up with the Seattle three deep um ear and just literally did that nothing else and crushed people for a decade. UM. And then we had faced a uh you know, in our history we've gone we were um the Wide nine, four man front penetrating defense Tennessee was kicking our butts and Houston back in the late two thousand's UM, and then they went

to Detroit and all that. But we under Kyle Shane and Kyle kind of wanted to do to meld those two. So Joe was a part of that UM and it was such a cool part process too, because you have the problem solve. You know, it may not seem like a big deal, but um, in terms of gap integrity and how how you rule out your defense, it was a big deal and Um being there with him and seeing how Um he was such a problem solver in that process Um while also having a disposition and energy

that that players gravitated to. UM. I had heard about him UM since I was like probably two thousand and thirteen because him and he Raheem Morris would always do an impression of him UM, so I like knew of him for like seven years before I met him and he but he lived up to the impersonation and the build up and you can see the influence that he got from his time in San Francisco, which was just one year, so it wasn't like that was where he originated.

But uh, you know Robert Sala, Chris Custer, Rick and of course Joe was that one gap play with your hair on fire. Ideally pressure with four but also mixing plenty of blitz is. Speaking of blitz rate, they come at twenty five point seven percent rate. That's the fifteen highest in football. One of very four pass rush snaps. Their pressure rate is nineteen point eight, which is twenty two. So the last few teams we've played, it's been blitz

rate lower than pressure rate. This is the first team you've played in a while where it's the converse of that, which is not a good thing for your defense. I also have to imagine that blitz figure reduces this week because two has been killing the blitz, but he's also killing non blitz is too, So we will see. As far as the receivers and tight ends versus corners. Back to that Bengals game, I mentioned the seventy thirty split with off coverage versus press, you can essentially trace that

to third downs. If it was third, medium or long they were in man and they were pressing. Now last week we saw some of the same, and that's where Ta gets really aggressive and hit some of the biggest throws he's at all year. Right, it's been fun to see them not just convert but get splash plays and score touchdowns on third downs, which is how you wind up with a one forty seven passer rating, the all time best in the history of the National Football League.

And speaking of that, in terms of adjusted net yards per attempt going back to nineteen seventy two, has the

best all time for a third year quarterback. So enjoying literally the greatest breakout season for a quarterback in the history of the National Football League, and it's been a bit of a struggle for the Cleveland Browns as they incorporate, you know, this system of Joe Woods here with this new look defense that kind of changes year to year because they've just had medical issues that haven't given them

consistency in that part of the game. Their best guy, you know, Denzel Award missed three games, Greedy Williams has missed five games. They did get a hit on their first round pick one with Greg Newsom the second who has the flexibility to play both inside and outside, but ideally he's their slot guy. And then Martin Emerson has beginning most of the work out of anybody. He's played the second most snaps in the cornerback room behind Newsom and the four worth most in the entire defense. Real

quick before some stats, just watching the tape. They would often press outside and playoff coverage on the inside is where you might bring a cat blitz, a cornerback blitz and fill that with safeties or linebackers, or sometimes they

just strap trust their safeties and linebackers and coverage. Not unlike what we saw with the Bears where Jack Sanborn wound up one on one against Tyreek Hill that's where the ball goes there because but again that's without Ward and with Newsom playing out, why when they have all of them, Newsom will come up and press the slow as well. The stats of these guys Ward this season sixty five two hundred ninety three yards a touchdown in a pick on one hundred and sixty two coverage snaps.

It's been a down year for him when he's been healthy. Newsom twenty one for thirty two two hundred and twenty six yards one touchdown on two hundred and seventy one coverage snaps, so he's played pretty well. And then Emerson is forty five. It's a good completion percentage there for him, two hundred and fifty three yards a touchdown and two hundred and thirty four coverage taps. So weird that Ward has the worst stats of the three there, he's the

best and most town the player. But as far as the man coverage and a big reason why it works, a few corners are more athletic than Denz Awards a marquee matchup when he draws either Tyreek or Jalen if he plays a crazy stat on him. Out of college, he had an athletic score via next gen of nine plus and a production score over eighty five, which Graadier

College production. Only nine corners can say that going back to two thousand three, and they are award past Sortan the second Marshawn Lattimore, Shaquille Griffin, Jalen Ramsey, Trey Wayne's, Jason Verrett and the keep to lead. There's Hall of famers in there, there's pro bowlers in there. There's all pros in their couple. Not but you get the idea. So if they call upon Ward to win one on ones against our guys, that might just be the matchup

of the game. Let's see how he did against some other guys that feature uh such speed and athletic ability. Deante Johnson for the Steelers six for ten with seventy five yards. He was the only guy that went up against Ward that day, and he also dropped a massive completion downfield, so it should have been seven for ten

with like over a hundred yards. Now, he did shut down Drake London into mere bird with the Falcons the next week, three targets and no grabs, and against the Chargers he covered Williams, Carter and Palmer to the tune of five of six for eighty nine yards. It's been a tough year for him. Honestly, look at their schedule. Panthers, Jets, Steelers, Falcons, Chargers, Pats, Ravens Bengals sans Chase. They haven't seen anything close to

what they're going to get here in Miami. So with that weather and war, just hasn't had the year you've grown accustomed to. Maybe the bye week gets them going in the right direction, but there have been busts and big passing days racked up on them. I think they're passing defense numbers are skewed by the opposition because the Ravens run the ball relentlessly. They had one sixty rushing but through for just nine four in that game. They won.

The Bengals without Chase obviously a different team. The Patriots rolled up three D one passing yards the Patriots and the Chargers and their struggling group went for two seven. Falcons, Steelers, Jets, Panthers. They just haven't been tested like they will be this Sunday. We've seen the Dolphins do a masterful job spreading the football around the offense, rotating the school groups, and maximizing matchups and just effectively moving the football anyway they can.

If we can keep executing that that same rate, we put the honors on the opposition to react. And of course it's a paramount importance to get wins in this next group to allow the skill group to to flourish offensive line verse defensive line. Stick our first break and come back and do that next. Here on the Draftime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.

It takes us twenty five minutes. Twenty minutes to get through just two possession groups, but that's what we do here. It's a in depth podcast and frankly, I'm enjoying it more this year than I ever have previewing games because I look forward to these games this year so much.

We look at the offensive line verse defensive line. One of the best players in all the National Football League exists in this position group for the Cleveland Browns, and they will take are they will base rather their entire past rush plan around him, Myles Garrett. Not many teams have a left tackle like to Ron Armstead, but even with a star to offset their star, it's never a

bad idea to vary your looks against him. Last week, we saw ing gold factor and as he tends to do with chips, scan protect come across the formation on split flow action things like that. Everyone has to be hyper aware of where lines up. They'll move him across the formation and doesn't really matter where he is, he finds a way to disrupt things. They've also activated Chase

Winovitch off the i R this week. Jadeveon Clowney is there and he's actually outrapped by Alex Right to six in terms of snaps played, but Clowney has him outproduced. Third team pressures on a pass rush snaps that's nothing special, seven run stops on sixties seven run snapdowns. That's actually pretty good, and that's what Clowny has been his whole career. Great run defender. Right has just eight pressures on one fifty seven and five run stops on a hundred run

down reps. That's those are both not good. And then fourth at the position is Isaac Rochelle with six pressures and six run stops, so it's really it's kind of a one man deal off the edge here in terms of the production they have, like there's more talent than the production they have seth water of ESPN does these great pass rush productivity charts where he measures double team rate and pass rush win rate, and this is going

to tell you exactly how this pass brush works. It's all Miles Garrett for the most part, because Garrett and Micah Parsons have actually forced Seth Walter to expand that chart. Nobody has doubled at a higher rate than Myles Garrett. And he's also second in past rush win race. So even if it's Tehran, I would help there and trust your rush, you guys to beat kind of you know, mundane pass rushers. On the year, Garrett has forty one

pressures on two pass rush snaps. That's the best PRP pass rush productivity in the a f C, at second behind Michael Parsons in the NFL. He's also got fifteen run stops on a hundred and thirty two rundown snaps. He's a perennial defensive Player of the Year candidate. Teams have really instituted a go away from Miles Garrett philosophy in the run game and tracks. Baltimore ran the ball at nineteen times at the opposite edge that Garrett played.

New England had seven runs left a center where in a game where Garrett played of his snaps all that side, they had twenty two right of center, Like, don't go to ninety five. That's what teams have done, and that's you know, un how they've attacked it. They are a solid run defense group though they are bigger body guys that can play that one gap penetration style and they have an uber athletic linebacker group at that second level.

So we've seen the Dolphins do well to stretch out those bigger lines and test the conditioning with their own outside runs. I thought Jeff Wilson's added element of physicality was a thing of beauty last week with the combination of he and Raheem really expanding this offense and how much space opposing defenses have to be wary of. We can do that stretch play outside, we can get to the toss and bring it back inside with Jeff Wilson.

Got to be prepared for all of it, and off the edge, I think you just you know, I would trust to run against anybody, but I would also think about backs and tight ends, chipping and helping just to just slow him down, like one little bit before you get into your route and then Brandon Shell playing so well, particularly against those body types. You know, Clowney's a six ft five to sixty guy, Alex right to six five two sixties seven, Isaac Rochelle six three to eighty, Isaiah

Thomas goes to sixties six. So the bigger body guys, Shell has really handled them this year. It's the speed rushers that you have got him a couple of times. But frankly, you know, our tackles have dominated each of their matchups last three weeks, and on the inside it hasn't been a whole lot of different. Much of the same. For Cleveland. There are three primary guys on the interior.

Jordan Elliott's a seventy percent snaptaker, Taven Bryan sixty and Tommy togi I, the former Buckeye whose game I love is a thirty percent snaptaker. Elliott and tab and Brian both have four team pressures each six run stops and five run stops, and then togy I two pressures this year and four run stops. The production is not there, so Elliott and Brian again that outside zone running system, trying to get that rotation into the third or fourth guy.

That's the idea this might be the most fascinating matchup to me because you heard coach mentioned that wide nine thought with the pairing with the cover three look that entails one gap upfield, beat your man to the point. Well, we also play a style that fires off the football too, so if you can consistently thwart those rush attempts, you can gash them because they're going to be out of position.

But that's much easier said than done, because if they consistently win, it'll be tough to get anything going with guys flashing color in the backfield on our backs, with constant disruption. It's a great battle inside for Connor Williams to keep his terrifics. He'son going, cutting off the past, leading blocks out wide, big test for him. And then with Rob Jones, I think his sheer mass shows up

in this game. He's gotta play a little better. But in terms of his body style against this team, it it bodes well just having you know, just having him help on chipping before climbing could be an integral part. And that's true also of Rob Hunt. And then of course you get Rob Hunts, you know, penchant for five or six absolutely devastating blocks per game, which is fun to watch if you know, weren't for this staff just having answers to most everything, I think this matchup would

scare me quite a lot. But I have the faith the faith I have in utilizing those guys aggressiveness against them, you know, incorporating wham blocks, false keys and polars line slides. And then if they stay in that wide nine man inside zone with Jeff Wilson, when those toss players going inside, those could consistently pop for big gains. And then Jeff Wilson dropping his shoulder against you know, undersized linebackers and safety so finishing up with the running back in linebacker spot.

I really, you know, gonna be monitoring the availability of j Ok Jeremiah Wusu Cormo because he's one of the best linebackers in football. It looks like he won't go. He didn't practice on Wednesday. The Browns when they're healthy, have a great linebacker group, but he's out, potentially Anthony

Walker's out for the year. They traded for Dion Jones to replace him, and that was an interesting swat because Walkers B gap to B gap type of thumper like a Landed Roberts Dion Jones is more in that Jerome Baker mold. And in that Bengals game, they brought their back out wide for some snaps to see how Cleveland reacted, and they would run the backer out there. They vacate the middle of the field and play man coverage and they took one vertical shot to Chris Evans from that look,

and I'm thinking Raheem can do that. One way to attack aggressive defenses is with screen game. So a well time screen call could pay dividends if we, you know, can identify it and get to that look. I could see some big screens popping this week. Uh In In the absence of j Ok and Walker, it's been con Taki Taki who's played of the snaps. He has five pressures on twenty six pass rush snaps it doesn't really come very often, and fifteen run stops. He's pretty pretty

smart player. Dion Jones is getting ramped up more and more. Played seventy percent of the snaps last game, but only has seventy four told snaps this year. Tough to get acclimated completely, especially against an offense that does all this stuff. And then Jacob Phillips has been on the i R. But he's played seventy front of the snaps, seventeen run stops on one and fifty one snaps. We'll see if

he can come back this week. Those three in coverage combine thirty six yards, so backs in the passing game big key this week. We've seen the Dolphins backs get involved, you know, at various points. Could be a big time matchup here in terms of the run game to help slow down their past rush, but also trying to cultivate some of those matchups one on one in that passing game.

Talkie Talkie plays on a hundred at all times. And then Jones, like I mentioned the pure speed, I wonder if he'll be more involved in their past rush plan that he has been coming off the BI with some more time in that defense. He was great at that in Atlanta. Going over to the Dolphins defense versus the Browns offense, the quarterback and offense of the Browns versus

our safeties. One thing that has really piqued my interest of late is time to throw of opposing quarterbacks and how much time our pass rushers are taking to get home. The great Kyle Crabs of Locked on Dolphins and the Draft Network shared the Mooney touchdown when Phillips put a hit on Justin Fields. The ball was out in two point two seconds. If you get the ball out as a quarterback and under two point five, or I should say if the rushier gets home and under two point five,

that's a pass rush win. I mean, one more can you ask of a guy trying to factor other variables that said Russia cannot control like coverage. I don't get it, man, It's a fruitless endeavor. But you know, we do what we do. And the reason I bring this up now is that number one, the Browns pass game is built off of one of the game's best ground games, so you get some deep, deep drop play actions to search for one on one matchups in the vertical game. And

the number two even on nonplay action passes. That's been Brissette style his whole career. We saw it last year. He can shake tacklers and extend because of his size and balance, but it's the not the four four speed we saw last week. His two point nine one time to throw this year is the seventh longest in the league. He holds the ball longer than all but six quarterbacks.

Now granted fields a sixth last week. But again it's different because fields scramble ability where he can side step and flush and loop around and attackle line scrimmage with the ability to throw and run, that's always going to take more time. Like, for instance, the other quarterbacks on top of that list, Zack Wilson, whose first instinct every single play is to run backwards seventy five yards. That's

always gonna take some time. Daniel Jones is pretty athletic, Lamar Jackson, Marcus Mariota, Taylor Heineke is kind of in that Zack Wilson frame as well. Then you get two fields and then Brissette, so it's like a the Island of misfit toys. Bristit is the one is the one that's like the most misfit of that group. Then the next quarterbacks are Herbert Wilson and Bailey Zappy, So lots

of pocket mobility and scrambling ability there. That's why my you know, bold prediction this week is that the past which is gonna go ahead and get off this week. I think the Dolphins can build a lead and make them a little bit one dimensional. You can wind up with a game full of sacks, which is what I think the pass rush really needs to head into the bye week get their confidence going down the stretch. I think both Phillips and Chubb will get home this week

and make an impact play. Contributing to that time to throw stat is the fact that Brissette just is not a rhythm quarterback. Again, you guys saw it last year straight up as chewing open targets, and when he does play in rhythm, it tends to be late anyway, So stack opportunities, take away opportunities. They're going to be there this week. He doesn't anticipate at all, so if you can read his eyes and as long as you just don't miss tackles on him, you can ruin their offensive plan.

It's an offense that again doesn't fall far from our tree, with Kevin Stefanski operating a lot of the play action boots, plenty of twelve and thirteen personnel, condensed formations, lots of shifting in motion, and given the defense a lot to plan for. He's one of the top play callers and game players in the league, and everything is based off the run game, So finding a way to get those stops on early downs as it is every week more

so this week is absolutely paramount. They open the Bengals game and heavy personnel, elephant package whatever you wanna call, six offensive linemen, and from there they use just about every grouping imaginable. So for our guys, our staff and our players need to be on top of your substitutions and potentially be ready to get deep into the playbook with various fronts because half the time they're in eleven personnel the most basic package, three receivers at one back,

one tight end in twelve personnel, two tight ends. There in that eighteen percent of the time, thirteen personnel, three tight ends that's seven percent of the time. And then they're in two back sets eight percent of the time, twenty one personnel and twenty two personnel five and three percent respectively. They've also got snaps in OH three, which is no backs and three tight ends what and also ten personnel, one back, no tight ends, and a pretty

good chunk of heavy personnel as well. Extra offensive lineman Jacobe this season against the blitz sixty five percent seven and a half yards per past three tudies and two picks not blitzed sixty four percent seven point two y p a four touchdowns and three picks. I've been doing these deep dive podcasts for like seven years now, going back to Lockdown Dolphins. I've never seen someone's categories against the Blitz and not against the Blitz so identical. It's crazy.

But here's the road. When he's pressured forty six percent, six and a half yards per passed, no touchdowns, and four picks, So go ahead and make those extension plays because that's what we want him to do. When he's not pressured seventy seven point six yards per past, seven touchdowns, one pick. So again, pressure with four a big key here.

How can Miami manufacture that? I found it interesting that in his three games with a passer rating over a hundred, they're all the division games, which is weird because he's a newcomer to the division, but the Bengals, Steelers, and uh Ravens of the games, there's also a ninety eight point nine passer rating game versus the Jets, and then the other four are all lower than eighties. So it's

castle or outhouse with him and half. You know what's the common denominator there between the castle and the outhouse, Well, the Panthers blitz himcent the Falcons blitz him twenty one percent, the Chargers blitz him thirty three percent, and the Patriots. So those two blitzing undercent games a sixty eight rating and a fifty five rating don't blitz maybe because the

other blitz rates thirty one. And then there was one outlier fift So not as obvious as you'd hope, but definitely some comparisons there, And looking at that list, I mean, isn't the Patriots plan the one that makes the most sense? Like Josh Bowyer says all the time, the similarities in the system the four man play some coverage. See how many times Chubb, Phillips, Melvin Van ginkl Iman can win

their one on ones. We needed this week flood the coverage with bodies and muddle that picture even more for Jacoby because you don't have to worry about the scramble ability. He'll put the ball in harm's way. And frankly, I like our matchups enough to get pressure with our four. As for our guys, I thought Eric Roe was fantastic last week. Javon continues to have an evolving role that

takes on different looks and different approaches each week. His range and ability to eye the quarterback could come into play here. I love when we get him camped in a position where he can just stand there, drive on the football, read the quarterbacks eyes. Hopefully he gets one of those chances this week. Last week, we just didn't think the Bears could throw deep, and we were right. I mean we knew that from the Thursday preview pod, right. I think it was like eight for thirty two for

downfield numbers. Same thing this week. Jacoby's twelve for thirty throwing down the field twenty plus yards with thirteen point nine yards per pass, a touchdown in four picks. That's a fifty nine passer ratings. So maybe there's a formula of bringing up those deep zones a little bit fat during those guys into the rush or into the hook zones and coverage. My game plan centers around not keeping Javon Park in center field and bring him up and let him read the quarterbacks eyes, let him make a

big impact. This feels like a game where our defense could restake their footing sacks from fifteen and two off the edge take aways from eight. Big key for me this week. Receivers and tight ends versus corners. Amari Cooper is a fantastic route runner. X has gotta be on him. From my money, I don't want to see a rookie on Marie Cooper. He's too good of a route runner. I don't want to see Keion crossing after the way

the matchups went with Chase Claypool last week. Because Cooper uses his frame, excellent change of direction, and pure instinct and natural smarts to really create separation. And he's a great hands catcher who can pull in contest of footballs. I'm curious see if X draws him frequently because when he does get separation, great, but he doesn't do it very often. More on that in a moment. Donovan Peoples

Jones is insanely athletic. They will shoot him a couple of deep balls every game in those instances where he draws one on one matchups. That could be a nice test for kator co who should he be the one that draws DPJ. In general, the Browns are one of the lower teams in separation created from next Gen, so holding up in coverage on those four men rushes could potentially be the difference. That extra three tenths of a

second makes all the difference. There are coverage sacks a plenty to be had against this quarterback with the combination of receivers who don't separate a Marii Cooper is third from bottom this year. He's in Devonte Parker range two point two yards average separation and Donald's People Donald do the People Jones h two point five average yards of separation. That's thirteen from the bottom. If David and Joku is back,

I'm sure we'll see plenty more twelve personnel. Jesse, James and Joku was set to be some kind of two tight end set, but James on I R and and Joku returned to practice this week, but he hasn't been activated from I R yet. We'll see about him um, but People's Jones is Snaptaker, Cooper, David Belle, then you go and Joco at tight end. Austin Bryant and Pararell

Brown have played a lot as well. It's an underrated skill group and they kind of fit with Jacobe strengths of keeping plays alive and going off script and winning contested balls for our guys, plastering, not grabbing and finishing plays. Don't pull guys by their hips and their waist and pull them down. Don't put Pust in that position again this week. X's pick last week was vintage X. I didn't agree with the call, but I'm hoping we can snag one back in this game to get him on

the board for the season. I think he matches up well here and I'm curious to see what the Browns do inside with their slots and tight ends. It's tough to know without knowing which tight ends will play, but rookie David Bell plays in the slot seventies seven percent of his snaps. Then you get the two tight ends who check in between thirty and forty, and then Cooper. People's jones are both from the high twent so you kind of know how it's gonna go. Where guys line up.

You can dictate the matchups as a result of that. I was a big David Bell fan coming out of per Due, but his athletic profile is no match for Cater, so Kater needs to have a big game inside on him. X gotta shut down Maury Cooper, and then to me, you roll help to done with People's jones and help out your other cornerback there. I like the Dolphins defense this week a lot guys offensive line versus defensive line.

This is a strength of the Browns football team, this spot and their backs, and it looks like their lines are getting healthier too. So Whyatt Teller missile two games, but he's been back at practice. Jack Conklin is back after missing some time as well. Teller and Benito are the best guard combination of football, and man, we gotta come ready to compete against those guys. They can operate in space, they can win in a phone booth, and they can create those creases for Nick Chubb to exploit.

They are averaging six point six yards running left of center, five point nine running behind left guard, and five point nine behind the left tackle. It's a big matchup for Seeler, who tends to play that side. I'm curious to see the bare front we deploy to take on those guys. Heads up, I should say, head up over the center and guards. It's a great matchup inside of one on ones. Christian and Zach have been great all year, so have

Teller and Bonitos. That's a big time matchup. And then with ray Kwan playing the nose, continue to hold the point like he has because if he can disrupt ethan postage that will disrupt Botonio and Teller from getting out in space and operating why like they do. So, it's a big job for him up front to stack up bodies and get bodies to the party against Nick Chubb and pass pro. Uh. Jeddrick Wills snaps this year twenty one pressures. It's a rough year for him. Joel Betonio

is fantastic. Nine pressures on three hundred four snaps post which has been good inside three four snaps as well, just seven pressures. Teller also has seven pressures allowed because only played one snaps. I have not been as good in pass pro. And then Jack Conkin also very good two fourteen snaps just five pressures off that right tackle. Again, I say this is the day that Philips and Chubb go off. Multiple sacks for them is my bold prediction.

Jacoby percent holds the ball too long, slow to get off the spot. Just please don't miss him. Don't miss these tackles. He's strong, can stay on his feet, but he's not getting away from anybody with his athletic ability. And again, Jeddrick Will's great rookie year at right tackle not been good at left tackle. I think the Chubb narrative and how big that trade was will make itself now to be true this week with Chubb up against

Jeddrick Wills, we need that consistent pressure. We need hard edges from a group that has done well with that all year. Hopefully another week in the system for Chubb just makes him even more effective. I really don't know what to expect from a blitzing standpoint, but ma'am, if we can get into third lungs, those can create a lot chances for the defense. And we do that by stopping the running backs versus linebackers, which is the best one to punch from football. Now. The Dolphins have allowed

just two hundred yard rushers this year. Both of them are quarterbacks Lamar and Fields, who, in my opinion or two of the best quarterback runners of all time. Running backs average fifty five yards per game against Miami, Chubb is averaging one oh five for game, so something has to give. Chubb has outstanding contact balance, He's incredibly powerful, as smart and instinctive runner who always hits the right gap, and has a tremendous relationship with an offensive line that

has largely been together for a while now. Chubb has fifty one forced tackles forced miss tackles this year. He's averaging just a smidge under four yards after initial contact and Hunt has fourteen miss tackles forced and averages just three yards after contact. So a big drop off there. Actually, believe it or not, we saw a good mix of linebacker usage last week. It's a big week this week for Landon Roberts. We need his aggressiveness and tone setting

to set the tone against this run game. They'll also screen to the backs to so staying rush gaps down and keeping eyes as a key. To me, it's a four man pressure week. But we will see I don't I don't know. We'll see special teams. Kad York is fourteen of eighteen. He has three misses from fifty plus one from the forty nine range, but he has three makes and each of those ranges, whereas Jason Sanders is leving for fifteen history mrs are from fifty plus and

then one from twenty nine yards last week, bjorkes. They're punter twenty five kicks this year, forty seven point three average more steady one points, forty five point seven average d v o A. Browns or twenty two special teams. Dolphins are dead last, and I just realized I forgot to take my last break. Let's go ahead and do that here real quick and come back and tell you what's at stake and the three keys to victory. That's next Drive Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to

you by Auto Nation. What's at stake as the Dolphins take on the Browns one o'clock Sunday at hard Rock Stadium. Look, we'll see what happens with Josh Ellen's elbow and arm as we go along here. Perhaps we have some more news by the time you hear this podcast. They're calling him day today right now, and we'll see about his

stass on Sunday. Gosh, if they lose with the Vikings and the Dolphins win, you're in first place in the first throw after that shaking of the arm and four on the tingling, I know you feel in your arm on an injury like that. If he does play, it's gonna be a lot of pain. Management is something to track the rest of the year, especially in that cold weather when it's tougher to get loose. Travis, why the hell are you talking about Josh Allen and our what's

at stake right here? Well, because I thought the path the division was closed when two went down and we lost three straight. But if Alan's messed up, it definitely opens that back up. The Dolphins are tied for the most wins in the a f C heading into the game. Everything we want is in front of us. Keep winning. The a f C is wild this year. You essentially have nine teams that would make the graphic we start seeing the time of year right, division leaders, wild card teams,

and in the Hunt the three column graphic. One win separates the number one seed in the conference, Buffalo, who's ahead of k C by virtue of their tie at six and two or their head to head win at six and two, and the number nine team currently in the a f C, the five and four Bengals. One win separates those teams. So what's to stay a three game winning streak, staying left of the in the hunt column and keeping paced with Buffalo and the freaking Jets

in our in our own division? Jets are off this week again, so a win allows Miami to leap frog them in the division, and the Bills draw one of the top teams the NFL, The seven and one vikings. If it's case Keenum, you feel pretty good about it. Otherwise we'll see. But every week is big. This one is no exception. My three keys of the game, tackle, tackle, tackle. If you let Nick Chubb make big plays, it'll be tough. If you don't, you'll beat this team. It's as simple

as that. Number two, create takeaways. The Browns turn the ball over a lot, and their losses they don't and their wins. Get your takeaways. Number three, keep to a clean of two is upright and throwing the football down the field. Nobody can stop us. Let's do that and keep Myles Garrett at bay and we should be able to get a Victor Ray my week ten picks. We are ninety and forty one on the season. How about

that five? I can't count, I can't read, but it's going good right now on Thursday Night football, Give me the Falcons over the Panthers. Give me the Bucks in Germany over the Seahawks. Is a long flight for the Seahawks going all the way over to German. Give me the Dolphins over the Browns. Give me the Bears over the lines. I think Chicago's gonna go on a run here They're a good team, I think at this point,

even after trading off their best defensive players. Give me the Broncos over the Titans, and a little about that one. If Tannehill plays me by change that we'll see. Give me the Vikings over a Buffalo and less Josh Allen plays. But even then, I want to see how the arm looks. Give me the Giants over the Texans. Give the Chiefs over the Jags. Stealers over the Saints. Don't feel great about that. Give me the Raiders over the Colts. Colts

won't win a game the rest of the year. I don't know if they'll score point the rest of the year. What are they doing? Give me the card Knows over the Rams. Give me the Packers over the Foul over the Cowboys. Why am I doing that? I don't know. Give me the Niners over the Chargers, and give me the Eiggles over the Commanders. Lot of commers in Washington. That's it for the podcast. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us

a rating, and leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Lincoln NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank Podcast with Seth and Juice our Wednesday night Twitter Spaces show last night. You can find the recording of that on my timeline. Also are international podcast as well as a postgame show every single Sunday after the game is over, me Seth and o J breaking it down. Also the YouTube channel

for Media Availabilities Dolphins Today. Some fish Tank and Drift Time content up on there as well, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fins Up Caroline Daddy's He's coming over.