Dolphins Chargers Week 14 Preview

Dolph fans and welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, covering your team door, Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, it is time for a game preview coming your way on a Friday. We'll dive in to the key matchups for this primetime showdown at so FI Stadium between the Los Angeles Chargers and

your Miami Dolphins. Dolphins and Chargers positioned by position, the film, the stats, what's at stake, three keys, and the week fourteen NFL picks. All of that and a heck of

a lot more from somewhere in South Florida. This is the Drive Time podcast, and of course the reason we are somewhere from South Florida this week is that, as you all know if you follow me on social on Twitter and all the kind words are very much appreciated from myself and my wife and my family, that we had our baby boy on Tuesday, and again, I we are just overwhelmed by the outpour of support and the outpouring of just congratulations and and well wishes to me

and my family. So thank you all very much for that, and we will have a new outro for you guys on the podcast going forward. It is Chargers week, and I've had myself an interesting relationship with the Sandy Yeah you go, Super Charger in my football fandom life because I don't have a second team and I don't believe in the fundamentals of a second team, Like, how is that even possible? When I like incorporated the Heat into

my life. It took like fifteen years for me to be a real, like passionate Heat fan that cares about the outcome of games. I don't know how you adopt a second team and have the same level of love for that team. Now that said, I usually adopt a team each season, So it's not like I'm die hard Minnesota Vikings until I die. It's each year based upon their personnel, the coaches, whatever the case may be, that

makes that particular team interesting. It's my bandwagon team, and the Chargers lead the other thirty one teams in the NFL. And that distinction from myself, I was actually a full blown Chargers fan back in two thousand and seven. Unique circumstances with a one and fifteen Dolphins team that couldn't compete with anybody that year. Plus you never met a bigger Chris Chambers fan than me, And let's go ahead and open the kimono. Cried a little bit when he

got traded. That was my favorite player of that era. He was a lot of fun to watch. And then watching him catch clutch posts and touchdowns that year, especially against the Colts team that I've never liked. A a f C East in me goes beyond two thousand and two, and so the Colts to me are like the Jets, Bills, and Patriots, and watching him catch big touchdowns in that divisional round playoff win that year was awesome. And I mentioned the Vikings earlier. They were another team, the Cardinals.

At various points when Kyler Marie got drafted. I was very much in the pro Kyler Murray camp against people that were certain that he couldn't play or we get squashed like a bug was my favorite one that I always saw. Anyway, you get the idea. It's typically a strong correlation to my favorite D draft prospects and my second team. And those that know me know that one of my favorite all time prospects was Derwin James. I

was also a huge Darren Sprawls guy. I thought that old odd front they ran for seemingly ten years with Igor Olshansky, Luis Castillo and Jamal Williams was the coolest because those guys were there again for like a decade. It seemed like I was probably five years who didn't love Danian Thomas, who didn't love Antonio Gates. I was

a big Antonio Carmarti fan. I was a big Ryan Matthews fan the year we traded back with them to draft Jared Addrick and co Omici for Ryan Matthews, which should have been Earl Thomas for us, But I digress.

I love me some Phil Rivers too. I know most people didn't, but I loved Phil Rivers, and much like a lot of football enthusiasts who do preseason predictions, I can't tell you how many times I put that Chargers team all the way to represent the a f C in the Super Bowl, like every year up until like three or four years ago. It seems and times have changed since then. I still quite fancy the collection of talent they have. I think they have some of the

coolest uniforms in football, and one thing hasn't changed. They seem to be among the most snake bitten franchises in all of sports. Injuries, crazy sequences they only seem to happen in Charger games. Chip shot field goals gone awry, sixty five yard field goals against them that split the uprights. It just seems like every year they're just one game away, with like four games to have some weird happenstance that would have been the difference how they won just one

of them. Just go back to last year, the final game of the season, the Raiders are content to take a knee and take a tie and send that Week eight team game into a even draw that would put both teams in the postseason. Then the Chargers call in really an ill advised time out, and the Raiders say, hey, let's go ahead and get a first down here, and they do, and they kick a game winning field goal and knocks the Charges out of the playoffs for the

third straight year. They were a playoff team last in two thousand eighteen, and they won a very fun wild card round game over rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson, but since then lots of turnover, keyed by their quarterbacks election of Justin Herbert number six overall. The aforementioned Derwin James is the catalyst for that defense. He was actually named All Pro at two different positions as a rookie in team Joey Bosa was a home run pick for them. He

won't play on Sunday. They've also got another All Pro and Rashaan Slater, second year offensive tackle who also was out for the season, but as a rookie and All Pro. You get the picture there, right, Tom till Skill has drafted well. They also landed the superb Assante Samuel in the second round that same year. They've signed big names and traded for big names like Khalil McCoury, Lensley, J C. Jackson, They've made savvy moves, getting proven veterans like Kyle van Noy.

They've utilized undrafted free agency to land, in my opinion, the best dual purpose back in football back in seventeen and Austin Ekeler. It's a talented team, a team that's going to force you to defend every blade of grass. A team that will, with as much top of the line talent, compete with you as anybody in the league. A team that plays the game by the numbers and will make you get stops on all four downs. With Brandon Stately at the controls there, although he's backed off

that a little bit. What she would go back to the one Brandon Staley. Now you've gotten to known the Chargers, let's go ahead and see how they match up with your Miami Dolphins. Dolphins quarterback versus the Charger safeties and of course that includes Miami's offense and San Diegoes. Whoa there it is put a dollar in the jar Los Angeles defense. Mike McDaniel offense first, a Brandon Staley led defense. A fun matchup. It to me is the opposite of

last week. Last week it was strength on strength, similar styles designed to excel in the same areas of the game. This one is the converse and that the Chargers play a completely different style of football. They feature the seventh highest blitz rate in the NFL. It's just under thirty blitz right. In fact, they are one tenth of a percentage point ahead of Miami and blitz frequency. They get to this with that five man front and typically bring both edges. Van Noy and mac are the two you

have to contend with out there. But their seven team point three percent pressure rate is twenty eight And if you listen to the podcast every week, you know we usually have played teams where their pressure rate is better than their blitz rate, which is tough to contend with. And that rate there is the rub boys and girls. They just haven't had the personnel to execute this vic

Fangio style defense they run. It requires a dominant front to maintain their gap control like Olshansky, Williams and kiss Deal would have done back in the day, hold blocks and make plays at the line. They're not getting that. They'll mix in blitzes from the back end, but that's not been effective enough either. They're going to zone you and they're gonna blitz you, those are two principles they live by. This is why I think we see a Yack explosion this week. I think there's gonna be some

vacancies and the short to intermediate. I think they'll pull down their best tackler out of the equation frequently and Derwin James and I think to a tunguele By Lowa's ability to see things quickly will allow us to get the ball out, negate that rush and punish them for sacrificing guys off that back end. We've seen the Dolphins have success against both the blitz and zone this season. Right, I'm curious to see how the Chargers might adjust for that.

Do you want to play man? Probably not. They run a pretty distinct defense, so I'm not sure you'd see a major overhaul in terms of adjustments. Probably just tweaks to contend with what Miami has to offer, which is a lot. It's a defense that plays a majority too high and relies upon an odd front with those two overhang backers, essentially a five one front, sometimes five too depending on how their secondary personnel matches up. So they will start in too high and rotate to some single

high looks. Some thoughts on those facts. It's a defense that invites the run with a light box, then sneaks that rat down the hole. But they are incredibly thin upfront, man like, they've been decimated by injuries up front. And you can also negate that edge rush with a successful outside run game, which teams have done to them all year long. They want to disguise you, but who has been better at deciphering disguise than our quarterback this year?

Finding those soft spots quickly are key. This game is the opposite of last week, and that the Niners defended that intermediate middle portion better than anybody since Fred warner arrival. Only four teams have allowed more fifteen yard or more pass plays this season than the Chargers, where Miami LEAs a league was seventy five such throws in that area. Actually it's more now, right, No, it's seventy five. Maybe

mine can get back on track there. As far as their pre snap alignments, single highest thirty four percent, too highest sixty percent, they've played zero six percent this year and they operate out of twenty six percent three four defense, which you know they'll take a lot of linebackers off the field, a lot of times, sixty percent nickel defense and ten percent dime which there is your rub to the additional three four looks at turner to three three

two looks with extra dbs in the field. If the Dolphins can get the running game going and find that balance, that would be a massive boon this week because the Chargers run defense has not been good. They're allowing a league high five point four yards per rush and the fifth most overall rushing yards in the NFL. They are banged up on the defensive line. Teams have found a lot of success running the football in the second half

as the game wears on. In fact, only Houston has allowed more second half rushing yards then this Chargers team. As for the positional matchup, we talked about two of taking those quick hitters against zones, taking advantage of clean pockets, and getting back to more explosive play style of offense.

They want to dial up the blitz. Few teams have done that against Miami because one too is very good against the blitz, and two, blitzing means fewer people to run with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle common sense right, an interesting matchup and that if they stay true to that Miami must be sharp to make them pay or do they adapt a little bit to contend with this high powered offense. The key to it all to me is Derwin James. You gotta find number three out there

in that defense of backfield or linebacker position. Really, he'll rush, he'll cover, he'll defend the run at the safety's position. This year, James has eight pressures on twenty seven blitz is so when he comes, he's effective and he's got

He's been a part of four sacks. I don't know the exact sac total there, I didn't look it up, but on PFF he's been a part of four sacks, twenty six run stops for forty three are opposing teams passing against him for two and fourteen yards, so it's only like five yards per pop. One touchdown and one pick. Nasir Adder only another guy that I love coming out of the draft. Nine of fourteen are opponents passing against him for one nineteen a touchdown in a pick. He

is the center fielder. He has not blitzed, and he has like eight run stops this year. He's always in the post, and then Derwin kind of dictates what type of shell they'll play. This is another reason why I think this defense has so many issues. They just can't disguise a lot of what they do because three takes you to the football. He takes you to the defense. It's not the interchangeable safety group we talked about last week, or what the New York Jets have or what the

Buffalo Bills have. It's concrete and what they can do. And they will also bring a oh he Gilman is a third safety. He's got about two hundred and fifty snaps this year. Former Golden domer who Kyle Crabs told me he was a big fan of his. A dolph a fit in this Dolphins defense. So kind of a similar look there in that sub package, big nickel look. He's strictly in the deep area of the field though, no pass rush reps, just a handful of run defense and in coverage six for seven, one forty seven a

touchdown in a pick. Let's get to the guys too. What will be throwing too in this game? Wide receivers and tight ends versus corners, a lot of milestone opportunities. This week two was just one d forty one yards away from three K on the season. Tyreek Hills eleven yards from breaking the singles he's in franchise records by Mark Dooper back and Waddle is twenty eight yards away from becoming the first Miami Dolphin with back to back one thousand yard receiving seasons. How crazy is that to say?

The Chargers completed their secondary this off season with the J. C. Jackson signing, but he has since been lost for the season. They still have a strong compliment of corners though, starting with Asante Samuel Jr. He and Michael Davis don't leave the field, and Bryce Callahan plays about half the snap apps he's the nickel obviously, and some dime defense they do run some big nickel, so there's a lot of

disparity there with those numbers. Samuel is an instinctive, reactionary corner who is adept at the style of defense, just like his pops from the Patriots back in the day. He can key against the quarterback and anticipate plays as they happen. It's a fun match up there with our wide receivers because to and because of how he excels in that same vein. It has been a rough year for Samuel Jr. Though This year forty of seventy a

are teams throwing against him. That's actually a pretty good completion percentage, but six hundred and fifteen yards, six touchdowns in one pick. He's a quick twitch player out of four or four one and measure well and all the explosive testing metrics, albeit a three cone time in the fifties seven percentile, So not really the short area change

of direction guy. You might think he can't play inside outside, but this defense asked so much of their corners, kind of like you see with the Denver Broncos, you know with passer Tan the second last year, like the way he came on as a rookie and playing that defense

was so surprising. Similar with Houston Texans, like a lot of these Tampa two or Cover two type of defenses, there's just so much on the plate in terms of reading that curl flat that's seven route behind you, the you know tie down coming across, and split flow running backs.

It's just a lot to keep your eyes active. And if that's the case against this offense, with with what it's designed to do, by creating certain levels of spacing and trench in the defense both vertically and horizontally, any bit of second guessing is going to be an issue, and that's we saw it work really in large part against the forty nis defense, it's probably the best in

the NFL. We just you know, the quarterback didn't play his best game of the year, and he usually does play that well, so that's not a concern at all, but against this particular defense, to me, it's a good get right opportunity because a lot of thinking and processing is not a winning formula against these Dolphins wide receivers. Also, Michael Davis sixty eight yards and a touchdown allowed. He

had a fun matchup with Davante Adams last week. He does a good job of limiting completions and that really popped off the tape when watching him. He just compete at every state step of the route. His relative athletics scorecard coming out of college was just five seven six, just a seven point three three cone and that does not bode well against really anybody in this Dolphin's offense. He had better success against bigger body guys and not

as much against the speedy and shift you guys. Nonetheless, running good routes like Tygreek and Jalen Do makes it tough on a player with this physical skill set. He did run a four four, but his Verton Broad's measured well below the league average. In fact, the vert was in the two percent tile two percentile across all players measure going back to the nineteen eighties. He also measured in just the twenty seven percent tile intense splits. So

how you get off the football? And this is why I think if they play any man coverage, this is the way to attack if you can get him isolated on the boundary or condensed. Watch out just the Detroit game for Jalen Waddle from that slot fade touchdown. He scored Bryce Callahan's opposite smaller corner five nine five pounds. He is super nimble. They really have a little bit of everything in this corner room, which makes for an intriguing matchup style. Right. His numbers are thirty one, forty

eight yards, three touchdowns and three picks. I one if this is a chance for maybe Cedric Wilson to get some opportunities outside because he's a bigger slot and could potentially take advantage of some one on one downfoad openings if he gets manned up against a smaller cornerback or

Mike Gasecki. However, with how much zone they run here, it's probably more likely the guy we've been seeing all year, Trent Sherfield, doing what he does best and finding sauce spots in the zones and making every catch you can possibly make. Tackling has not been a strong suit either, which is why I think Yak is going to come into play in this game from Miami. You guys know how I look at this each week. I always like

our guys. It's been a struggle for the Chargers, and a big part of that is the pass rush has not been getting home nearly enough, especially on their butts packages. Of course, not having Joey Bosa hurts a lot. Now. That said, the only team that eclipse three yards against them passing was the Kansas City Chiefs, and that's obviously aided by allowing three teams to go over two hundred yards on the ground and eight of the twelve opponents

to go over one fifty on the ground. It could be like the Houston game, though, where you expect a big rushing output against a bad run defense, but because they're committed stopping that, you get more on the back end. We'll see on the offensive line versus defensive line. No Bosa, no Christian Covington, no Antonio Johnson, no Merril Agbania. Five good defensive lineman on the I on the injury reserve. Currently, it's a front that runs a lot of rush games

and tries to manufacture pressure through the system. I'm sure that thought was scaling that back a little bit when they landed Khalil Mack. But of course without Bosa, you're a little more limited on your four man rush options, and the games just haven't really stuck, like they're not hitting with you know, a rotating group of players because of the injuries. So that's kind of benefit for a

Dolphins offensive line. They're twenty nine against the run, seventh against the past, the two things that really work together. Let's look at some numbers here, starting with the three primary edge defenders. Khalil Mack is around a n snaptaker, Kyle van Noy's not far off that, and Morgan Fox has been a great addition for that team, playing around three four, So the team snaps pressures and run stops for those guys. Mac thirty seven and twenty one. He's

their best player there. Van Noy sixteen and thirteen and then the Morgan box again very good values signing twenty nine pressures and thirteen run stops. If Mac is against Torn Armstead, that's as good as it gets. Good on good. They move those guys around a lot, and Morgan Fox is Honestly, it's sort of the catalysts and how he plays his size and ability to move people really just with his bul rushing and physical prowess helps the rush games, and by his pressure numbers you can see that he's

having success in that department as well. We've got to deal. We've got to be able to deal with Kyle van Noy one on one. His past rush tank isn't what it used to be, and you can get him in coverage as well. He's a gotta target in this game. As much as I love Van Noy's game for a long time, it's been a bit of a step back this season here with the Chargers inside, Sebastian Joseph Day

is the key. He plays about sevent of the snaps and with how wide their splits are between nose and like a frequently used four technique where you kind of have two gaps in there and linebackers have to come down and feel that unstacked that he has a ton of responsibility in the middle of that defense. As far as the defensive tackles, pressures and run stop numbers, Joseph Dave four team pressures, twenty two run stops, so not

much interior pressure. And then the next two guys they have available Bride and Fijoko and Tyler Davidson one pressure and six run stops and zero and zero for Davison. Those numbers in the last two guys are more of us sometom They haven't played a lot of football obviously, which goes back to our original point about how banged

up they are here. I never want to say this with conviction because we have one of the most prolific passing games in the league, but you have to imagine there's a concerned effort to get the run game going here this week. Because of that, I'm curious to see the style of matchup two. Is they have those bigger gaps inside they can fill and without the one gap style we saw last week, our guys should have a little more space to fire off the ball and climb

to the second level on those chargers linebackers. The way they've done successfully in weeks prior, and it's been tough getting off blocks for those charges linebackers. Apologies to be here the kid running around starch right now. I don't have anybody to watch her, so to to to kid dad life, man, that's what we're doing. Go ahead and finish up here. Before our first break with running backs and linebackers, we mentioned the responsibility of the nose tackle.

That primary linebacker Kenneth Murray has a ton on his plate as well, and he's super ath out of Oklahoma, one of the best athletes at the position. But man, it kind of reminds me of Patrick Queen, where if you can give them the cheese, that will work pretty well. I want to reiterate that not every linebacker crew can play as disciplined and disrupt as many plays as the Niners did with Warner in Green Law. Granted to it has to play better and had he we win that game.

But this is a great get right spot right here. Murray twenty one run stops twenty nine for thirty four our teams targeting him for two yards a touchdown in a pick and then Drew tran Quill thirty seven run stops, thirty two for thirty eight two D and sixty eight yards allowed with a touchdown on a pick for most

start Wilson in the backs. If they can get into some of those matchups in coverage paired with a strong running game, man, it could be a running back type of day from Miami, especially in the second half of this game, and especially if the Dolphins can pick up the many blitzes and games without the use of a back who can sneak into the backfield. I should say sneak out of the backfield. Teams have had success in

the screen game against those Chargers defense as well. Let's go ahead and take our first break right there as the zoo was in full effect here, We'll go ahead and come back on the other side and do the Dolphins defense versus the Chargers offense. That's next Drivetime Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation Friday here on the Drivetime Podcast. This week has flown

by because I've been in the hospital all week. Man, Why do I tell you They're gonna discharge you at nine am and they make you sit there until three o'clock in the afternoon. I wrote this entire script in the hospital not really stoked about that, but here we are. And then also, why do they have fourteen different employees that come in and tell you, I am the hospital patient liaison. Just want to see how you guys are doing?

What we were doing good before you came in here and woke us up again for the fourth time in the last two hours. What's the deal with that? Dolphins defense versus Chargers offense, quarterback and offense versus safety position. And we start here with a Charger offense that has had problems staying healthy all year long. A hamstring limited Keenan Allen until recently. Mike Williams missed a bunch of time, returned then injured his ankle in the first series of

his reach hearn. The offensive line has been banged up, and Justin Herbert had a rib injury early in the season. Austin Ekeler is the engine that drives the offense, but

we'll get to him in a moment. First. How the Chargers deployed their attack eleven personnel seventy one percent of the time, so not a ton of variety, But they do operate twelve personnel fifteen percent at the time, and they use two back personnel tempercent at the time seven personnel with two backs two tights is three percent of the time. They have a similar step to the Niners, and that they will use the extra offensive linemen in the game and take on you know, multiple varieties to

different personnel packages. As you can see by the mathele on the account for nine percent of the offense. Therein lies the other four percent of the offense just extra offensive lineman. For the most part, they'll use a fullback, they'll run the football, they'll spread it out. But the catalyst is the guy we mentioned above, Eckler. Again, we'll talk about him more in a moment, but you can draw conclusions from the numbers in this offense that are

confirmed by the tape. They throw the ball to him a heck of a lot and as a result they have one of the lowest intended air yards offenses in football. That wasn't a good sentence. Only Matt Ryan and Baker Mayfield have a lower intended air yards than Justin Herbert. What's perhaps the craziest part of the stat his average time to throw is two point eight seven seconds. Only ten quarterbacks hold the football longer, and when you watch

them on tape gets indicative by what you see. They have issues separating downfield, and a big part of that, for sure is the injuries they've had a wide receiver, they don't hold up well in pass pro. More injuries there as well. And even though Herbert is adept at evading sax and getting the football out, he doesn't really do anything with it when he goes off script and scrambles and know you're gonna say, Travis, what the hell you're talking about? Yeah, you do see the one highlight

real play a week that he'll he'll make. But watch a full game and you'll see throwaways, You'll see sacks. You'll see misguided off target throws, Throws into tight coverage that gets batted up and picked off. Happens a lot in this offense. Uh Yeah, And Herbert takes sex at the eighth lowest rate in the NFL. He's tough to get to the ground and has the speed to make

you pay with his legs. Constant pressure, however, is typically the key to impact a quarterback, and that's no different with Justin Herbert, even going back to his college tape. Make him uncomfortable and he'll put the ball in Harm's way. There was an Arizona State game against Oregon four or five years ago that I'll never forget because I was like, this is it. I think the most important thing here is to hit him early. He's not the type of quarterback to absorb that type of game and bounce back

and stay in there all day. A bad day can snowballs what I'm trying to say. But if you let him get into a rhythm, he'll absolutely carve you up. By the numbers this year when blitz six for six and a half yards per pass, six touchdowns and two picks. When not blitzed, so four or less brushers six point six yards per tempt, fourteen touchdowns and five pick. I have never seen or not this year at least a near even yards per attempt like that against the blitz

and not the blitz. The truth of the matter is the offense doesn't find explosive so if you can play patient and wait for the mistakes which will happen, you can really limit this charger's offenses. Most teams have this year when pressured fifty five here's I'm talking about making him comfortable five point five yards per past five touchdowns of four picks that's awful when not pressured. Seven point one yards per pass when not pressure that's also really low.

But then fifteen touchdowns and three picks, and to me, this is the game to bring all the big dogs if they want to try to attack vertical one on one to potentially have banged up you know, Mike Williams, Okay, I'll take that challenge. They're not going to be an offense that slices you up, meticulously, goes through reads, generates longer pockets, or gets the ball out super hot by design. It's just not their game. Bring heat, hit Herbert, rattle

him step three profit. I've been loving Javon Hollands game the last few weeks. The range he showed on the McCaffrey tackle but right before the Zack Seeler stack up on fourth down that didn't quite hold up was absolutely

insane and indicative of his skill sets. Teams that have shown that zero pressure look against the Chargers all year have gotten some free hitters, including a Cardinals game where a third down Isaiah Simmons sack where he came free, unblocked and put Herbert on the turf, and then they gave the ball right back and lost the game. They should have won that game because of that play. That type of play has been happening to the Chargers all year long, and we've seen Javon Holland come down off

the edge a lot in recent weeks. I expect him to get a couple more free runs of the quarterback here against these l A Chargers on Sunday. Not football. I've been waiting all day for Sunday night. Cut it, keep it, We'll keep it. Wide receivers and tight ends versus cornerbacks. The safeties continue over here a little bit into covering the Charger's tight ends because Gerald Everett and Trade McKitty are pretty good players. That could be a

potential matchup for Eric Rowe. I just I think Eric Rose having a nice season in the role that he's kind of fell into here, especially after losing Brandon Jones elsewhere. This could be the healthiest the Chargers have been at wide receiver in a while. We'll see about Mike Williams availability, but he's been practicing on a limited basis this week. If he's healthy, they'll throw him deep shots all game,

especially into that boundary. It's a big key. Don't let him go up and post arize you all game long. I'd take him over any receiver in the game on contested catches. He's twelve for twenty in that category this year. Then there's Keenan Allen, one of the true pros of route running, is one of the most underrated receivers in all of the football the last decade. He often requires a bracket, a chip, and a reroute because he's just too tough to cover one on one, especially from that

condensed split. I would expect it to be the case this week, and exaviing Howard seems to be a great matchup to me for Mike Williams. They've got DeAndre Carter and Josh Palmer, who both have made some plays for them.

That seems to me like the matchup for kat Cohu And then inside some attention to Keenan Allen, some doubles and brackets, like I mentioned, some reroutes, and that's really been the plan for a lot of defenses that have faced this team the last couple of years, including US a couple of years ago when Allen was held in check in that game where he drew Nick Needham. But some frequent help there as well, and The fact of the matter is this they throw the ball all over

the yard. Hunter targets for Eckler seventies seven for Palmer three more guys have better than fifty targets this year. Stay sharp, don't get lulled to sleep, and you're conditioning will be tested with how many routes they'll run against you. And again, it's largely a ten and under offense, so I'm really curious to see how they deploy roonn McKinley, Javon holland Eric Rowe throwing deep this year twenty plus

eight yards. The Chargers are computting just thirty six percent of those passes eleven point eight yards per a tent. But they do have seven touchdowns and two picks, so eleven point eight yards per attempt is not a good number for how many times they throw it down the field. But the seven touchdowns is you can't completely cast it out because if you do, they'll hit you for a big play touchdown and that can obviously change football games.

On the offensive line defensive line, it's tough to tell what you'll get from an availability standpoint, as the Chargers have been really hit by the injury bug at the spot this season. Last Sunday it was Jamari Slayler, Matt Filer, Will Clap, Zion Johnson, and Foster Sarell. Their pressures and pass blocking snaps this year are As Follows Sailor twenty eight pressures on four hundred forty eight He's been a really good conversion guard as a rookie out of the

tackle position this year. Matt Filer thirty pressures five hundred eighty six snaps. He was a tackle converted to guard from the Steelers a couple of years back. Will Clap just eight pressures on two hundred and thirty nine snaps in the pivot. Zion Johnson, the rookie out of Boston College, love his game, but he struggled this year as well. Thirty pressures on five hundred and seventy eight pass blocking snaps, and then Foster Surrell twelve pressures a hundred and seventeen

pass blockings snaps. I think you'll probably see Corey Linsley back at the center of this week. That's big for them. He practiced on a a limited basis and working back from a concussion. He's a key cod getting those blitz is picked up, those games picked up and of course in the running game, just two pressures allowed from him on three pass blocking snaps. He's the best cent are in football. We also have to see about Trey Pipkins. He's been banged up a lot this year, like this whole unit

has been. They might get some help back inside, but the tackle spot has really been hurt by those injuries, and they just don't have the guns out there for Miami, They've been stout in that department all year. I think they can have success in the running game, and what's more important is Eckler in the passing game. Tackle tackle, tackle man. And we highlight this all at the time as a great trait. I should say all the time

is a great trait. But the screen game equals retracing steps right, and we've seen the effort this front gives in that regard. If they play with that effort all game long, they should be able to make some big plays, big game inside for Wilkins, Seiler and ray Kwon Sailor has been pressed into tackle duty and a quitted himself nicely out there. But I do believe this should be a big Bradley Chubb game against the rookie. It should

be a big deal in Phillips game. Off the other edge, Melvin and Gek all those guys should get constant pressure in this game. They better full transparency Miami. He's dominant here. Let's be honest about Herbers. Matt sitting Duck back the year back there. This year, he's not responding to the

pressure well and he's taking everything underneath. If Miami can win with multiple rush lanes consistently where you force him off the spot and then get that second guy home, akin to the Houston and the Cleveland game, this could be another game where he has to shave his head after the game. Running backs and linebackers, it's not often our key player comes in the final segment, although I suppose it was the case last week too with Christian McCaffrey.

Austin Ekeler is a shifty, smart, fluid runner with exceptional hands, contact balance and a nose for the goal line. Now, Jerome Baker seen his role evolved this year as it has for years. We've seen more Duke Riley of late, and I think we need both of those guys speed here.

McCaffrey had some success in the passing game last week, and you can understand how tough it is to give him attention with all those Niners weapons, right, If the Chargers have everybody back, the same thing will be true here. But if not, then give more attention to Austin Ekeler, Baker and coverage and a multitude of responsibilities off the edge, stack linebacker playing some of his best ball the last couple of weeks, and then Duke to contend with the

speed of both the quarterback and the running back. And then don't forget about a Landing Roberts, because the Chargers do operate some two back in full back game and that's where fifty two shines. Of course, they also give Joshua Kelly a decent workload, and he's more between between the tackle style of runners, so more Landon Roberts there. Eckler is just awesome. Man. Smith tackles as a ball carrier, twenty as a receiver. Again, tackling as a key to

topping that guy and this offense on special teams. D v o A ranks Miami's dead last man. It's not been good. Chargers are twelveth not much to update you with Jason Sanders and Thomas Morstead. Sanders was perfect last week. For the second straight week. He's up to eighty one percent this year on field goals, one point four on p A T s, and t Stead had his shriff

punts last week. He's penning opponents inside the twenty yard line at atto percent rate and a touchback rate of just five percent, and we're grossing just under forty yards per punt. This year. The Chargers have had injury issues of their owns and had to use three kickers, but Cameron Dicker looks to have stabilized that spot for them.

He's a perfect ten of ten from under fifty and one miss from beyond that, and then J. K. Scott has a two percent touchback rate rate inside the twenty yard line and a gross of forty one point eight. So there you go. We're gonna go ahead and take our last break and come back on the other side and do what's at stake the three keys and pick

the week fourteen games. That's next Draft Time podcast. Your host travels Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, Big big important football game on Sunday night in Los Angeles from SOFI Stadium. What's at stake in that game? Well, not to be overly dramatic, here, but everything. This is the week that we've made this segment for. Now. You might be saying to yourself, Travels, that's next week against the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, that's when it's all on the line.

If you win this game, granted it win against Buffalo after a loss, the charges would also be huge. But winning this game does two things. Number one, it keeps you in control of your own destiny. In fact, I venture to say that if Miami wins the next to no small task, they become the overwhelming favorites to win the division. And by that I mean that I expect them to take car of those final three opponents if

they can get through these first two. And now perhaps you say, well, if you believe that in this game, isn't that important? Is it? Look, no singular game is ever that important until it is right, like until the tournament, or until Buffalo, or until Tennessee one. Like. You can

lose and bounce back most of the time. But man, from a confidence and belief standpoint, and from my own goddamn sanity on social media and all these horrendous hot takes and woefully misguided discourse, damn it, I need to see a win in this game and then two, which is most important really is essentially it locks you into the postseason. I mean, you can't lose the last four and expect to get in at nine o eight. But

from a playoff picture standpoint is a big one. But whenever the Chargers puts Miami at nine and four with a head to head tiebreaker over both teams and the current eight and nine positions, now the Patriots could jump to seven with a win on Monday and the Jets with a loss of the Bills on Sunday. Not at all inconceivable I expected actually, But even then end by beating the Jets in the finale, you could then get

the divisional advantage over them. So this point holds true, and that's that by beating the Chargers, you essentially develop a two game lead with head to head tiebreakers over the nearest challengers with four games to go, and a step further if one of the Raiders, Browns or Steelers at five and seven makes a run, well, Miami has head to head tiebreakers on two of those teams and

a vastly superior conference record to the other. The Raiders six and two from Miami four and five for the Raiders, and and if the Patriots lose in Miami wins, then it's a three game advantage with all of those head to head tiebreakers and four games left to play. It's here, I'll tell you what it is. Too long, didn't read version. The Dolphins enter Week four team with an eight seven percent chance to make the playoffs per five thirty eight. If they win, that number jumps to a loss down

to sevent. So it's a very important game. Plus, like coach says, a chance to show your peers and really the nation what you've got. Never taken opportunity for granted, You really think I'm gonna go with this entire podcast without mentioning the quarterback battle here? I mean, we need a decisive victory in that department like we need air, don't we A chance for the entire nation to see that arm strength isn't the end all be all to the quarterback position, or even a top five quarterback traite

for that matter. A chance to show everyone that playing the position of quarterback is guess what a talent gosh, I sure do hate when someone says a player is more talented because of tangible traits. I even saw a tweet from a beat writer from the Jets previously. This is Zack Wilson's more talented than two A. What like helly is it's a talent to see the field, it's a talent to anticipate, it's a talent to layer of the football. So here's hoping we get some more movement

on that this week. And if not, I guess who cares. It doesn't matter. The three keys of victory. Number one, run the football. This defense has not defended the run well this year in Miami. Can help their their own defense and stay fresh and just dictate the pace of the game. And if you run the ball well, if this passing game is gonna be ontoppable as a result of that key. Number two process and attack defensive rotation. What I mean by that is this defense it pretty

much shows you what it's gonna do. So for two of to be sharp in those areas of the field like he has been all year, and just play at the level we've grown accustomed to. A post what we saw last week be a big key for the Dolphins offense this week. And number three pressure the opposing quarterback again justin Herbert, like most quarterbacks, just not the same under heavy dress. Put that pressure on the quarterback. You should have success as a defense. If you are the

Miami Dolphins. Let's go ahead and finish up with the Week fourteen picks. The Thursday night game already happened, although I'm taping this on six one on Thursday night, so uh Scout's honor. I guess you guys have to believe me that I took the Raiders over the Rams. Not that inconceivable to think about, right, I mean, the Rams are pretty dreadful at this point of the season. On Sunday, give me the Lions over the Vikings in an upset. Give me the Steelers over the Ravens. The Ravens offense

I think is a little bit broken right now. Steelers seem to be coming on strong. I'll take the Bengals over the Browns, although Joe Burrow has not beaten the Browns before. But Deshaun Watson, I think is uh something It's gonna work out for him, because well it shouldn't. Uh. Give me the Bills over the Jets, Give me the Cowboys over the Texans. To give me the Eagles over the Lines. I'll take the Titans to really put a bow on the a f C South already over the Jaguars.

Give me the Chiefs over the Broncos, like the Seahawks over the Panthers, Niners over Bucks, as brock Purty keeps rocking and rolling, Take the Dolphins over the Chargers, and give me the Cardinals over the Patriots on Monday Night Football. All right, that's my time back with you all early

Monday morning. I believe I'll have the podcast done sooner this week, provided the kidos let me get done, because uh Seth and o J gonna be holding down the postgame show the next two weeks, and we'll have the same podcast schedule this week. Next week, I should say that we had this past week, and then back at it for the regular schedule come Packers week and Christmas. In the meantime, 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, the team at Miami Dolphins, Fish Tank Spaces, postgame show YouTube channel for me to availabilities and Dolphins Today. Last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com, Caroline Camera and Daddy's Coming Home