Dolphins Falcons Week 7 Recap

Jay Rock on this episode, but we are not. It's a crushing defeat six in a row as the Dolphins fall to one and six on the season. I have some thoughts, my five takeaways, individual performances, a bit of a deep dive onto a tongue of Bloa's game and year to date numbers. Will play, some sound from the post game show, and a heck of a lot more on this recap edition of the Drivetime Podcast from the Baptist Health Studios inside the back Just Health Training Complex.

This is the Drive Time Podcast. Just a gut wrenching loss there at home to the Atlanta Falcons, and some losses hurt more than others, and personally speaking, I've always thought that these losses were way tougher than the blowout ones where your spirit is taken immediately and you just never get it back. But to go down by thirteen then charge all the way back and to lose like that, man,

that sure is tough living. And so the Dolphins fall to the Falcons, they fall to one and six, and there's a jugger not waiting for us in their house next week in the Buffalo Bills. So it's a tough year that continues with another close loss here in week number seven. We're gonna unpack it with the takeaways. But first, before that, I want to go ahead and just touch on a few key points. This I thought was probably the Dolphins best performance of the year for my money,

and that includes the win. Obviously. You know, the saying is that winning is the only thing, and it is especially in this league. But as far as analyzing this team and breaking things down, I thought this was the best overall performance today. And to come up without a win, gosh, you felt like we had that one. As the Dolphins could he used that way, I'm sure to've got a long way in that locker room for those guys to get that victory, and we thought we had it there.

As Miami takes the lead with two twenty seven left to play in this football game, you're asking the running back second in Tahan in motion. He sets up on the left side. Now with while it comes back, they give it to No, it's the pig back in the end zone. Touchdown Dolphins. It's Mac Collins. What great play action by TWA just run into the back of the end zone to it look coming open, big target in the back and it's a touchdown. What a comeback for

the Miami Dolphins. And then the Falcons went back to work as they were able to do when stretches, but the Dolphins certainly had their stretches to and in fact, at that point I thought were playing their best ball defensively of the season. The drive prior was a takeaway on an Emmanuel Ogba force fumble scooped up by Nick need Hum, and the drive before that was the touchdown on the short field after the long interception return for Atlanta.

But before that it was an interception of our own and two punts after the opening drive of the second half goes down for a touchdown. So all things told, a good second half there defensively for Miami. But the Dolphins, they outgained Atlanta four thirteen to three nine seven in this game. And I was ready to give you guys a cool stat about how Miami posted four hundred yards and back to back games. But they did it last

year in Seattle and San Francisco. But it was the second time they've done it since Week two and three of the season. And in that game or that stretch, I should say, the first leg of that was a game where Miami fell behind thirty one three playing catch up, and then the second game was an overtime game where they went to full fifteen minutes in the overtime period against the Cleveland Browns. And they also did it again in twenty and that fun to game Dan Campbell stretch

over the Titans and Texans. So four yards back to

back games few and far between. The Dolphins did it the last two games here against Jacksonville and Atlanta, also seven first down, one first downs, seven for eleven on third downs, one week after going nine for seventeen on third downs thirty four minutes thirty eight seconds time of possession to twenty five minutes two seconds for Atlanta, just one sack allowed to go along with zero sacks allowed last week and the two takeaways from xaviing Howard Emmanuel

Augba again need him on the recovery. Uh, such a tough pill to swallow. But my first takeaway is one that you guys who have been listening to this podcast for a long time should not be surprised by. And number one takeaways that I think there are no ifs ands or butts about whether or not you can build a contender around this quarterback. And let's go ahead and talk about first the interceptions. And they were terrible. They

were really, really, really really bad. One in the red zone and two US said it was covered two after the game. It was a miscommun occasion between he and Derma Smith and he took full responsibility for that interception. We'll find out later maybe or maybe we won't about what actually happened on that play to what talks about a miscommunication? Who's to blame? Who cares? At this point

it happened. And then another one in plus territory with a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter, and the Falcons got three at the end of the first half after the first interception and marching the entire field in like forty seconds is a tough pill to swallow. Also, but they also got seven points after the long run back on the second interception, So that's ten points right there.

And assume Miami gets minimum six points from field goals on those two drives, because they were one already in field goal range, two on the doorstep of Jason Sanders field goal range if not already in it. So if they get the minimum to field goals there, that's at least a six team point swing's possibly a twenty point swing if they score a touchdown, and if they score two touchdowns obviously a twenty four point swing there on

those two picks. So, look, everybody makes mistakes every single game. You're not gonna play a perfect game ever, as coach Floras likes to say, but the quarterback's mistakes can be the one that ultimately kill you, and it looked like it would in this game. Everybody thought they were toast after that second pick, right, but they weren't, and the offense went down and put the team in position the defense to two for the most part until the very

end to win that game. At the end, and to the point on the interceptions, the point I want to focus on is, how do you fix those Are they correctable? Number One, they're not missing these throws. Two is not missing egregiously with poor accuracy. That's obviously good. They're not a complete failure of understanding of the route concepts and the coverage you're seeing and the pre snap indicators for

the post nap rotation all of that. The one in Jacksonville might have been to me, that was the most damning of the entire bunch, Like the three throws and two weeks that we're gonna scrutinize here for the entire week. I'm sure not me, others. And then the New England game interception where he tried to get the ball out of bounds and got blasts. He threw the football not a great either, but you know, it's trying to fill the football away, trying to get outside and make a

play for your team. You get hit, the ball gets pulled back inside interception. And then today he got immediate pressure from Grady Jarrett working over Austin Jackson who did a swim move and was in the backfield before you could blink your eyes. And I think on that one,

I think he pressed. And that's a whole other topic that I won't go into because I'm not gonna sit here and try to get inside the mind of two a tongue of Byloa and what he's thinking on that quick reaction decision as the Dolphins just got a big takeaway, you got the momentum, the crowd behind you, You want to make a big play in a season that's been tough for you in this team, and you make a

poor decision in a snap moment like that. So they're just these these interceptions are just these really uncharacteristic plays from two and what is otherwise very consistent play where the ball is out on time and in rhythm. I mean, he completed eight percent of his passes today. He threw for two yards and four touchdown passes. Fund stat here

that I saw from Tim Reynolds after the game. The only other orderback in history to endure a loss with those numbers or superior to that yards, touchdowns, and completion percentage was Matt Ryan of the Falcons. We saw how many games that team is one over the year despite not having a great defense that allows thirty plus points and games, and the only other quarterback to do that with two interceptions to their stat line was Dan Marino. And to further this point, remember the fake Spike game.

Do you know how many picks Dan through in the first half of that game? Not one, not to you threw three picks. But what do you remember about that game? The fake spike? So in college, you know, to only

through I think it was eight picks. I went back and watched them all over and when he was coming out of college, making sure I knew everything about the picks, and for the most part, they were plays where the backside safety robbed the front side of the formation or vice versa, and comes over and makes a great ranging play. That was most of his interceptions where he just got fooled or baited or maybe the ball was just a

tick behind. Instances where you can out point to anyone thing and say that's a problem that's gonna be him going forward. Never happened in college for me scouting this quarterback. All of this is to say that I really truly believe you can coach those three throws that he made these last two weeks, and again really bad cannot have it, but I truly believe you can coach those three throws

out of him. He's twenty three years old. He's showing you all kinds of promise, and still after a two interception game, He's got eighteen touchdowns and nine picks in thirteen career starts. And that's in a time where he's never had will full or available to him. This year he had Davante Parker for a single game, the open of the one the won. Preston Williams is struggling on another level right now. Albert Wilson is to last year.

He was down Parker Grant Gazicki at certain stages of the games late in the year as well, so with an offensive line. It's also finding his way nineteen touchdowns or rather eighteen touchdowns and nine picks given those circumstances. I just I look at this quarter out. Can I see so much there? How can you not? I mean, the Falcons play this man coverage in the game, with tight coverage downfield, and to has the feel for where pressure is coming from. Four rushes for twenty nine yards,

and three of those were for first downs. On one of them in a crucial critical third down situation inside the ten yard line, no less, where he had to get a first down, he broke a tackle, ran through a guy and searched forward for the extra yardage he needed to move the sticks. Absolute gamer. On another one, he broke the ankles of Dion Jones in the open field. Do you guys know who Dion Jones is? You're in a four back in his combine way back when then

there's the resilience, the mental toughness. After the interception, what do you do? Eighteen yards to Durham Smith up the sideline, absolute dime crosser to Mike get Sicky for twenty seven yards, moving to his right, throwing back to his left, dime seven for eight nine two yards, two touchdown passes after the interception. Remember one time I was scouting Andrew Luck two thousand and eleven. The girlfriend I was dating at the time and I were on a trip for my birthday.

The World Series is going on and Stanford was playing USC. I was watching all kinds of sports in this bar, and I was really into the idea of Andrew Luck because Miami was oh and six at the time. Andrew looked through a big pick six in the too stand to the USC defense. Next drive, he goes ninety yards and takes me down for a touchdown. No one else remembered anything else. With that game, it was a big moment in his career because he showed you what he

can do to overcome. What I saw in this game today was too a tongue by lower overcoming his own mistakes some circumstances that aren't ideal. With will Fuller being out the President, Willing dropped in a couple of passes.

I mean, come on, I think there are certain things about to his game that might limit him in some areas, but those are just a smidgeon of the actual position, like the off script crazy side arm whip throws that go thirty five yards in a line that makes up like three or four plays a game maximum out of eight seven dropbacks over the last two weeks for two

a tongue by Lowa. I had text from Kyle Crabs to the Locked On Dolphins podcast in the Draft Network during the game that said there are maybe five quarterbacks on the planet that can fit that throw that he tried to make on the interception DM Smith and to us that it was a miscommunication. So maybe it doesn't fully apply here, but it gives you the idea evidence a by the type of throw that you would need on that play, and maybe fit in the turkey hole on the field side throw and to cover two is

not going to be his thing. That's fine. It's never Drew Brees is thing. There's never a lot of quarterbacks things that have been very successful in this league. Because this guy is managing muddy pockets. He's throwing incredibly accurate balls on a day where they had three draw passes.

It's got that fourth quarter mojo man a passer rating well over a hundred, and the fourth quarter and the first and fourth quarter combined, frankly, which tells you about his first quarter fourth quarter splits compared to second and third quarter. He gets the ball out quick to the tune that in the other or in the three games that he started and finished this year in New England, Jacksonville, Atlanta Dolphins have allowed three sacks in Miami's other games

fourth rather twelve sacks in those four games. Three sacks of game or one sack of game. I'm just not sure what you expect to see in a kid's thirteenth start. It's been good. At times, it's been very very good, But on balance it's been good and I cannot wait to see how he progresses as we go along. I have another point to pile on here to fit this topic in. But first, Flora said this about Two after the game, bringing us back, putting two drives together to

give us a lead. That's what you're looking for in a quarterback. That's what he said after the game. And the point I wanted to make was that I think, and kind of a one be fashion to this, add Jalen Waddle to that grouping in the offense. And you know Mike Kasicky too, but he's for another point for

another day, because we know what he is. But I think there's a connection there between two and Waddle, And I think where I really like Waddles game is that he commands attention on every single snap in a way that creates chances not just for himself but for others. We see him catching short passes and breaking tackles and making big runs after the catch. I'll have all that numbers for you guys on the Tuesday podcast talking about the stats and the PFF numbers and the film and

all that fun stuff. He was hitting those quick out routes against man coverage. You just couldn't cover it. And the way they were playing that defense to man or man coverage across the board, single high free safety, you know, off coverage. He was eating up those out routes early in the game, and it kind of set the pace for what they were going to do offensively, what the Falcons were going to do defensively. There was a chance to maybe go back to that well a few times.

Maybe you add in the wheel route off of that out route. There's some meat on the bone there in this offense for Jalen Waddle, the quick screen game, I mean just throwing the ball to him, the extension of the running game, doing that to him and giving him chances that way. And if you can get this guy going vertically or horizontally and the vertical thing, you you're gonna need better pass protection to make that happen. Even in the game where they only allowed one sack and

one stack in two games combine. You gotta hold up longer for a long shot like that horizontally, especially against man coverage like that. If you can get across the front side of the formation, through the teeth of the defense and the linebackers and the safeties inside, and you come out the back end, you can sure run. I think there's gonna be a second half of the season. Opportunities for Jalen Bottle we haven't seen yet. I hope and I think they're going to be there for you.

So that's takeaway number one, long long takeaway there. Takeaway number two almost back to the old defense, just almost we talked about in the open when it was seven. They had to strap it on and play their best ball of the year, and they did punt punt, interception, fumble, then the field goal at the end, and of course the touchdown drive there late in the game after the interception was in there, but I didn't include it because

it was like a twelve yard drive. But I want to get to the subplot of this takeaway before I start handing out some praise, and it's that there are some areas where I think Miami needs to make strides, and we saw it in those four possessions. We talked about number one linebackers and coverage has been a challenge

all year long. And Jerome Baker gets hurt early in this game, does not come back, so that obviously tests your depth there and get takes away your top snaptaker and your top cover guy everything at that linebacker position. But it's been a challenge for the Dolphins to cover at that position in the middle of the field, short intermediate all year long, number two man coverage marrying up with the pass rush. We saw a lot of it

in this game. I thought to get at Ryan off the spot to force him under pressure, to force him to throw into that tight man coverage, and that's how you wind up getting exaviing Howard picks because it's either take a sack, eat the drive, or try to fit this tight third down throw. We saw more of it today. We need more of it. We need more of that pass rush when you're in that good man coverage number

three tackling, especially on these TfL situations. I can't tell you how many times I've seen ball carriers met in the backfield and then they wind up getting two or three yards, like a six yard swing. That changes the entire outlook of the down and distance. Like a first pitch. The difference between a ball and strike on the first pitching baseball is like a fifty point batting average decrease.

It's the same exact thing, and it goes on through the counting back baseball, and it goes on throughout the down distance and football. So those three things have to get better to get better results. Just a couple of positives here, Manuel Agma, what a great season he's having. What a great two year Runni's halfter the Dolphins. Here, pressure player getting into the backfield, coming clean, swimming over guys, using the cross chop, playing against the run, setting the edge,

playing the upfiel shoulder. The effort he showed on the force fumble to not just get ran around the quarterback around the backside and wind up in bad position, but to see Matt Ryan break the pocket and hustle and be the one that gets to him. That was fantastic

effort from Manuel Augba. Speaking of effort, Christian Wilkins looks like a damn pro bowler to me, see him on the screen, passes out there, the way he retraces those screens and just puts in pure effort, and he playst fifty snaps a game at that size in this heat. It's so impressive, the condition he's in, the effort he gives down in and down out. The hands, the hand usage has been so good this year. The stack and

peek and shed and come off make the tackle. He's got more tackles than any other defensive tackle in that twenty nineteen draft class by like a large amount. I'll have that number for you guys on Tuesday. His run stop win rate is top five in the National Football League. He's out of the pass rush this year, strip stacked last week. Looks like a damn good player. If you say otherwise, I don't want to hear. I really don't want to hear. He's a really good player. Xavien Howard

three passes, defense, one pick. We saw it again today. Man, That's that's what he does at his best. He makes plays in the football. If you want to throw the football at him, do so at your own peril. But when you do it with pass rush, man, he is dangerous. Byron Jones, did you hear his name much today? I didn't really hear it much. That's the best thing possible for a cornerback. We'll have more of that on tape. And then Javon Holland, Oh buddy, this dude, this guy.

I like javan Holland a lot. That force fumble wasn't called a forced fumble, but that hit. The to put that hit on somebody in one is so difficult, and he did it so clean. The shoulder on the shoulder jar that ball loose. It was dang near a fumble. And he made a couple of big plays later in the game as well, had a nice punt return. Now he was there on the deep ball that got over

the top to Russell Gauge. I'm curious to hear. We'll talk to coaches this week and hear about that in terms of what that look is like in the cuttern go who goes deep, who comes underneath? But he an expert in the area on that play that went over the top. But all things told, Holland pressure on Matt Ryan to get a big, big takeaway, a big sack, rather playing the run up in the box, playing the deep post, playing the rat in the hole, playing some coverage.

He just does everything. He's such a good player and another guy that I can't wait to watch him develop here in Miami. Takeaway number three, the opening drive touchdown. That's three out of four now for two and four starts to get the offense down the field and a seven nothing lead. That's a great spot to start for your offense. It can help you play complementary football. It's just a great way to start games right. And what does that mean? Though I don't know the answer, I'm

just putting this out there. The opening game script, you know, do you script your first ten, twelve fift team plays. I'm not sure. I don't have that answer, but obviously it's working whatever they're doing. But then from that, the adjustments, the adjustments to their adjustments to to you, how do you adjust to the adjustment, like you know, who watches the watchman as it were. But I'm just curious about

what this all means. And then the matchups, the matchups they create on those opening scripts to get waddled the out route two of them on that first drive, third down conversions hit him up. Didn't really see much much about the rest of the game. And then just finally on this note, at the play sequencing, you know, I wanted to see them run that out route more and maybe go a wheel off of that. There's there's just different options, variations you can do off of every single

look you have. But what I did see was the jet suite motion throwback to Myles Gascon for a touchdown that was a very similar look to a touchdown past we've thrown not once but twice to Jalen Waddle this year. I love seeing the Dolphins have a plan and a sequence there to go from one play, show one look at the defense to think about it, go back in the direction for a nice, pretty easy touchdown there for

Miles Gaskon loved that play calling. I thought the coaching today in general was really good as far as getting guys in position, dialing up pressures at the right time, offensively, kind of taking advantage of what they were doing, throwing screens at the right time. Good stuff today from the Dolphins coaches just wasn't enough in the very end. Takeaway number four, I'm so tired of seeing the same movie,

the same script. I mean, Marvel has the market corner on selling the exact same movie over and over and over again. I don't want to see that with a football team. Strong start, touched on off the top. Then the Falcon score the next ten points in they're blocked field goal, and there are something fluke, not flukey, but

just something weird happening. The seven of the thirteen three lead last week in Jacksonville, the early lead against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the fourteen nothing lead over the Raiders, the three nothing started against the Colts like it's been the same script every time. The second quarter goes completely dead, and the Dolphins have only scored ten points at home in the first half of games this season. Their second quarter numbers have just been abysmal as far as points allowed,

points for. It's not the same problem every week, it's a version of the same problem. Like, let's go ahead and pick up the mistakes here in the first quarter and talk about the plays that I thought really determined this game in terms of Miami not getting a victory. And this first one really chaps my ass, and I know it did his two because of his reaction. Adam Butler was was banging his hands in the ground. Couldn't

believe he missed this play. But it was third and three at our forty two yard line, and Butler destroys a block and has Mike Davis dead to rights in the backfield, and he whips on the tackle which was about two or three yards behind the line of scrimmage, and then Davis gets three yards for the first down. They kick a field goal on that drive. I don't think it of goes for the fourth and sixth there if they get that TfL. I just don't. So it's

a three point swing that one hurts. Then second quarter, second and three and plus Terrytory the thirty one yard line driving looking to get the lead back in your favor. Preston Williams shops the passed beyond the sticks, third and three fade route to Mike get Sicky at the thirty one yard line. The ball is too far inside. Bad location, one on one opportunity, but they're pressing Mike get Sicky, and if you watch the tape, Mike is better when he's not pressed than when he is pressed. Then they

blocked the field goal. I mean, that's such a horrendous sequence. And again it's never one play, it's multiple things that go into this, and three plays right there that give you an ultimate terrible result. Then the terrible interception of dirm Smith. We know about that thirty nine yard play on the ensuing play for Atlanta. It's a great catch, but ouch that stings on the quick turnaround. The one sack after Atlanta's second half touchdown was a complete blown

assignment on the right side. Two rushers come at Jesse and Robert, and Robert doesn't get his eyes inside enough and he gets up the sack right off of the jump there drive over, couple of drives later third and one conversion with Savon Akhmed holding on Austin Jackson pushing back ten yards, drive over, next drive, Austin Jackson beat by grade Jerry inside two of compounds it with a

bad interception, terrible result. After that, you get a second down stop to force a critical third and three in the red zone on that turnaround drive roughing the pastor automatic first down touchdown score the next place. So yeah, I mean, you can point to like ten moments where Miami could have won the game, could have put the game away, and they just didn't do it. And it's happened in in three at least three of these losses. Now, the Radar game and ot there had a chance to

win that one. The Jacksonville game definitely had chances to win that one. Now this game you could I mean, I know the Dolphins are not great statistically right now, but you can make an argument there for four possible wins and three losses this season. It's so frustrating to see it go that way. And just again, so two more tidbits here. The opponent has scored a touchdown on the opening drive of the second half and sixth straight games. That has to get fixed. And the Dolphins have only

ten first half points at home this season. I knew I had that stat there somewhere there. It is. Fifth takeaway. We'll make it quick. Special teams have been just not the same. What's going on? Man, penalties, special teams, and the fine margins. It's just all been different this year. The blocked field goal, like, since when when do we do that? And then you double up Atlanta and penalties as well, the fine margins, it's tough to deal with.

Those are the five takeaways. Special teams, penalties and fine margins are killing you. The fourth takeaway was tired of seeing the same movie the same script. Third takeaway, opening drive touchdowns are great. Second takeaway almost back to the old defense, but just almost. And number one, I believe

that you can build a contender around this quarterback. A few more notes here before we close it up, and we'll get a postgame show segment for you guys at The postgame show was fantastic today, so if you haven't heard it yet, check out the five sixty, the Joe app or the the their their their podcast channel on Apple Podcast. Easy enough for me to say, I thought we had a fantastic show. Will play a segment from that for you guys here and play some more as

we go along this week. But just a few final thoughts. Lots of zone D defense today. You know. Brian Flores

talked about this. I can't remember it was before or after the Buffalo game back in Week two when somebody asked about all the crossing rocks Buffalo ran last year to beat Miami in that game, to take advantage of their man coverage and get the big chunk plays, and he said, well, you want to you want to match what the opponent does well, but at a certain point too, you want to do what you do well, and so the more man coverage to match the pass rush. I

thought we saw lots of zone in this game. Tough team to man up because of all the matchups they have, But I thought I was interesting how many guys went up against Kyle Pitts, who looks like the real deal. You saw Eric Rowe, Jason mccordy, even xaviing Howard got a rep on Kyle Pitts at one point. I thought that was interesting worth putting in the podcast. We run the most twelve personnel in the entire National Football League, and Mac Hollins at one point of this game was

promoted to receiver too. So you know, Matt is playing really good, I think above what we all thought he was going to produce this year for this Dolphins team. But it just tells you about where the depth of

the receiver position is. This year. We thought we were going to have four and five receiver sets consistently as far as what you had available to you, and right now it's down to bottle in Hollands really with you know, Wilson struggling, William struggling, and obviously Parker and active again the hustle. I talked about Wilkins retrace aug Ball on the sack, waddle on the I N T. I'm sure there are plenty more in this game, but this team

plays hard. I wanted to make that note. And then again talking about possibly having a chance to win those three games we lost bottom. The Dolphins came into this game bottom five and scoring offense and scoring defense, and bottom five in total offense and total defense, and still close to victories in those two games. It's the margin for air is slim in that regard, and my question is how do you create more margin for air if you can't execute in those moments. We talked about that. O. J.

McDuffie and Steth Levitt on the postgame show. Speaking of that, we'll go ahead and play you guys a clip. But as for my time on the podcast right now, that's gonna be my time. Hope thiss was therapeutic for you guys. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfold NFL. Follow

the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank Pdcast with my guys Seth and o J. And of course the YouTube channel for all the media availabilities and all your Dolphins Today content, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. By three takeaways are going to be up on the website today for you guys. Until next time finds up Caroline Daddy is coming home? What's up Dolphins? And welcome to the Dolphins Fifth Quarter post Game Show.

The Miami Dolphins podcast network is all here. Seth Levitt, O J McDuffie from the Fish Tank Podcast, and Travis Winkfield, host of the Drive Time Podcast two interceptions of blocked field goals, some drives killed by penalties and guys juice. Six straight losses now, and this one seems to hurt more than any other ones. I don't know, doesn't. I mean, they all hurt. They all really do hurt, man, big time.

You know, a game that you know, we didn't seem like we were going to be doing very well and we end up getting back into football game and having some opportunities at the end and still coming up a little bit sore. But it does thing, you know, the ones you get blown out, Travis, you know, when it's

already fore gone inclusion late in the game. It was a little less painful when you get a game like that, Man, and I think a team that we should have beat, especially at home, um, and you're in it at the end and you do make the mistakes that you know, we just heard Jason Taylor talk about, you know, towards the end of that of the game, you know, the penalties, the block field goals, interceptions. We're not good enough. And that's proved again that we weren't good enough to close

this game out. And that's that's kind of what happened in the fourth quarter. There at the end of the game. But Seth, I know that you you know, Juice talks about the pain, the pain level of a loss. Right. You and I were walking down here to set up

to do the post game show. We were kind of jazzed up because we had just in the Dolphins put their second straight touchdown drive together to take a one point lead right towards the end there, and the defense was playing so well we thought maybe this game was in the bag. But you keep going back to one period of this game, and it's been the script for the whole season now, right, one portion of the game

that continues to kill this Dolphins team. They're losing games in the second quarter, fellis And first of all, you shouldn't lose the game in the second quarter, right now. What happens in the second quarter shouldn't impact you. But as everybody keeps saying, this team is not good enough to over come the mistakes that they're making in the

second quarter. And when you have a blocked field goal, but a penalty prior to that black field block field goal, so that could have been a touchdown drive, Juice, right, so you lose an opportunity there. You give them good field position, they marched down and score touchdown, and and then you have the other the interception there in the

corner of the end zone. I don't even know. We'll get into that whole play, but the bottom line is is that this team is losing gains in the second quarters and not just getting dominated in the second quarter. They are losing games to teams that they have the ability to beat. In my opinion that you know, the Raider game, they could have beaten the Raiders, the Colts,

now this game, certainly Jacksonville. These are games that they are giving away in the second quarter and it's exciting to see what happens in the fourth quarter, but you're trying to make up ground and you're simply not good

enough to do it. At this point. It's a big margin between being one and six and having the fans question the entire process or being what would be four and three at this point, Like you mentioned, so many games coming down to the wire there, and you also talk about not being good enough to overcome the mistakes they did make, well, they did overcome it all, and

then they're at the very end juice the defense. You know, Matt Ryan, this this league is that This is kind of what happens in this league, right when a good quarterback gets the ball down lay, they go down and

put points on the board. And our guy did it, and our defense was doing well and kept the Dolphins in the game with a couple of big drives, a big big takeaway there at the end, offense response plays that complimentary football and then right at the end juice the defense can't quite hold on that Kyle Pitts guy,

And I tell you he's something. But when you look at that last drive, what what did you see there out of the Dolphins defense that maybe you would have done differently or how they could have approached this, Like, what did you see that led to this eventual loss? Well, you know, I thought at the beginning, I thought it was it was a good deal right there, you know

what I mean. I mean, you look at the play that they threw the two pits over X and that's just a great throw and a great cats you know, And I try to teach these young cats how to you know, no matter how good coverage is, you can play that ball with the outside shoulder. You know, you've

got an opportunity. And that's exactly where that ball was thrown. Man, just just an outstanding play, and like you talked about leading up to that, our defense was having such a great day going you know what I mean in terms of late in that game. Early in the game it was rough, but then you saw the energy. You're tightened up, you know, getting some getting off the field, making some plays.

You know, the the Ryan strip. But in that last one, man their confidence and Kyle Pitts to be able to run whatever route they want to run against whoever we have coveranty you know, it was there and Mattie Ice we talked about it. The quarterback position is so critical when you get those situations. I don't care what's happened up until that point, you get an opportunity to make a big throw, make a big play. It's exactly what

they did. Man, what a perfect throw, great coverage you know, better throwing kits and they went, they went across the board. They're trying to defend Kyle Pitts. We saw Eric Rowe early in the game, Jason mccordy had a big pass break up on him. I think in that fourth courter, maybe late third quarter, they go with Xavian Howard, your best cover corner guy who made a bunch of big plays in this game, including a huge interception that went

back the other direction. But I think that leads us into the conversation about the quarterback right seth, because this is something we came into this game looking at here company arey style football. I told you before the game, I need a four touchdown past day from two a tongue. We got it. We got four touchdown passes, the first time in his career he's done that. In fact, it was the first time he had thrown three touchdown passes

in a game. He finishes thirty two for forty completion two yards, four touchdown passes a one oh nine point five quarterbacks, but two interceptions and those were killers back breakers. And you know, the second one is the one that I really want to focus on first week. I want to talk about to a lot today because I think that's the story here for the Miami Dolphins, especially with all the stuff we've been here in the last couple of weeks. I just saw, aside from those two plays,

he was so good. But on that second one, Austin Jackson gets beat immediately off the line, right, and then here comes the pressure on too all you gotta do their juice seth whoever wants to jump in is take the sack, Eat the sack, go to second down and you're still alive M plus territory with still good down

and distance to look at. And you force a throw and it goes back to the direction, turns into seven points for them off a touchdown, so losing for sure, three points on your end, seven points on the other end. You can play as good as you want, right but the breaking mistake eventually kills you. Yeah, we talked about a couple of swings, you know, we were talking texting back and forth a little bit, talking about just point swings. You know, the field goal block, you know, that's our

three points. No, it turns into seven points center, you know, so that's ten. I'm I'm gonna give that a ten pointer. You know. Look at that situation where you talk about throw the ball away, and that's what you have to learn to do. Can't make every play. Every play is not possible. Sometimes the best play is to throw the ball away or eat it or the field I think, well, I think falling down the best job we should have done.

Eat it right there, because you're never gonna get enough to get it, you know, to the first roller stands or you know, out of bounds anywhere right there at somebody's feet. So yeah, the best play right there probably was to eat and tee it up again, you know. And that's what she has a young quarterback. It's we have to start figuring out and have to learn. You know, there's so much pressure a lot of time you see from from these guys. They think they've got to make

every single play. And I know too, it feels a little bit at pressure, you know. But look, he's coming off, honestly without those two picks. What you cannot be without those two picks because they were a huge and decide. Now coming to the the football game, you know, he's playing solid football force makes it a pretty good decision, making a pretty good throws. But those are the ones that

kill you, you know, in this game. You know, I'm sitting there counting all the possessions, you know, back and forth, you know, and I'm taking all these notes and stuff, and those are the ones that are the backbreakers. If this happened in the first quarter, second quarter might not be as big a deal unless we get down like you know, four touchdown did and bounced back from that.

When you do it late in games, you know, in the games on the line, that's when it's magnified, and especially when it comes right after your defense just made this huge place too. But two weeks in a row, the defense gets you the ball back. We talk about how important turnovers are. Part of the success this team enjoyed last year with ten wins was because of the

amount of turnovers that they were able to produce. They get one here in a critical point in the game, and literally the next play you're giving the ball back that on their side of the field too right drews, so you have an opportunity to go in there. Even if you get a field goal, you're only down three with twelve, twelve, thirteen minutes left in the game. Just cannot happen, and you know it didn't end up working out.

You got to give a lot of credit to to Waddle for running that guy down and at least giving your defense a chance. But how deflating must that be for the defense that is, as you said, starting to have that energy, starting to get things going. They get the ball back and you just give it right back to me. You just can't make those plays and if you do, you lose six games in a row. And we're gonna hear from two A here in a minute.

I'd be curious to hear what his take is on that interception, both interceptions, because maybe the first one, that was a play where I think there maybe your five or six quarterbacks in the NFL that could have fit that throw in their juice. That was a tight window that he never should have even looked at, you know, And who's he throwing it too? That's not that's not

the kind of gold there and make that play. We saw might come back and make a play in a similar situation heavily covered on a touchdown ball later in the game, But that's just a throw you can't make because one, you know, I'm not gonna bag on too. I think that a lot of his his traits that we love about him, showed up in this game to throw for eight percent completion, four touchdown passes and almost three hundred yards. But you have to know your limitations, Jewish,

you have to know what you can play within. And on that throw, he you know, I thought he just tried to shoot that one in there when he couldn't possibly do it. But on the second one. I want to hear what he has to say about that interception from a psyche standpoint, because I feel like the quick turnaround, that's always a good chance to take a shot right juice and go for the quick turnaround, the quick seven points.

On the other end, I wonder if he was pressing in that moment because of all the struggles of the team throout the course of the season, throughout the course of this game, and then he gets his left guard beat right in front of him, pressure in his face. Maybe in that moment, in that split second, he's got to be thinking, I have to rescue this play because this is our moment. Is that something that happens for

a young quarterback, It definitely does. I mean it, it happens for a lot of guys, you know, And that's one of those things you have to fight against, you know, realizing that you know, you don't have to make this game. You have to win this game right here right now. You know, you you're, like we talked about in great position defense gave you a great opportunity right here on

the field. Uh, you know, just you know, it's growing pains, but man, is it painful for us until sit and watch sort and things like that, because honestly, and let's let's keep it real, I don't feel comfortable anymore going to those situations, you know what I mean. And that's

that's even worse. You know, whereas you might look at some of these other quarterbacks, you know, Matt Ryan or Aaron Rodgers or you know, Josh, those guys getting situations like that, and you feel confident that they're going to make the right decisions and make the right moves. You know, I'm nervous all the time now with this team defensively and offensively. You know, like at the end, was I confident our defent is gonna go out there and get

another stop? I was not. Was I confident that we're gonna go down there and get the scores on offense? I was not. And that's one that's the biggest thing with the with the team. They gotta start building that, you know, that that that kind of that that comfort zone security for everybody, including themselves. I wonder in their own mind how they feel going in those situations where they feel like they can get a stop more than down exactly right, It has to rights. Do these guys

are human act that has to happen. I would love to hear some more from that. We were looking at Javon Holland right now and as postgame press con works with a heck of a game. That rookie hell out there today. I thought side from the long touchdown he allowed, but he was fantastic. Once again. We're gonna come back and talk more about to us performance because I think it was very noteworthy in this game. The rest of

the defense the Dolphins, where they go from here. We'll hear from coach Floor's, We'll hear from two A tongue of Voloa a lot to come on your way here on the on the postgame show. That was the end of segment number one. We now move on to segment number two. Head We're gonna talk on this segment about two A tongue of Vola's bounced back after the second interception where you heard the entire life come out of the crowd they're at hard Rock Stadium because everyone got

all juiced up back into the game. After the Dolphins got the interception from Xavier Howard, they come right back to it, throws a backbreaking interception that goes back nearly the distance for a touchdown the other way. Jalen Waddle has a great hustle effort to save that thing. The Falcons wind up punching it in Miami goes down by third team. But then after that, that's what I want

to talk about next, guys it to us. Bounced back after that first two plays after the bad interception, eighteen yard sideline route the Dermo Smith dime boom got him crossing route to Mike Asiki twenty seven yards, moves to his right, throws back to his left, dime boom again. He finishes the game after the second interest option seven of eight with two yards and two touchdown passes after the adversity hits him there, running of the football, four

rushes for twenty nine yards. All those juke moves, we saw first downs, third down conversions on third down. So I guess what the overall point here, juice I want to ask you about, and Saith I want you to jump into eventually, if you're the wide receiver and this is your quarterback, obviously the juice do you say to yourself, twenty three year old quarterback, we've seen him, do these have these moments and flashes? He did all the other

stuff just the bad mistakes stand out. What's your approach as the you know, viewing him as your teammate, as your quarterback now locker room, do you say we can fix those things or is that kind of who he is now? I think these things can be fixed, and I think it is a young guy in the state. Honestly, he hasn't had a full season and started he's already talked about. So I think there are some think some

things that we can fix. When it comes to too and decision making, we almost had enough opportunity to you know, when he's got a chance of scramble. We almost threw it again. You know, we talked what's happened, I think last week as well. So those critical decisions and critical moments are the ones that we can't fix. And he's got to start thinking about in his head, like you know, to throw it away, to run, get down for things

like that. So I think that some of the past he's throwing the last couple of weeks and some of the decisions, most of the decisions made the last couple of weeks or something we can be happy about, we really can't. I mean, there are some things that he's done now to some throws and some players that have been outstanding. We're still throwing two yard pass to our tight ends and doing things like that, but he's still

giving other guys opportunity. I looked at that first drive and we went down to score, and I think about seven or eight guys touched the football. You know, And sure it could be scripted that way, but sometimes, you know, you gotta have to be a quarterback, especially a young guy, to get in there and try to pull some of these other plays out. I noticed that Walla kind disappeared again the middle of the game. Can we try to find him late when he was bowling at the beginning

of game. So even too, as a young guy, could be like, yo, let's find a way to get seventeen going again. You know, he's allowed to talk like that. Go to go to all the coordinators and the you know, quarterback coach and try to get that, you know, make that happen, because he's a has been moving the ball, well, get the ball a while finding a lot today. I like that a lot. We have some guys that can

play some ball. Back to your question, though, Travis as a young quarterback making those mistakes, I think He's got some guys in the locker room. They have his back. I think they believe in and they know that those mistakes can be correct. You talk about some of the players that worked earlier in the game. I'm glad you mentioned that point because there was a point I wanted

to get to about play sequencing. You know, we were, me and Seth were sitting there kind of watching the game together and John Conjemmy involved as well, just kind of breaking down what we were seeing, and earlier in that game, it looked like the Falcons were more than happy to give some of that off coverage a little

speed out routes to Waddle. I think he had two third down conversions on that route on that drive to open the game, and for the third time in four Stars from two a toungo Bylo, they'll go right down the field for an opening drive touchdown, And so I just thought that kind of went away from that look to get the battle wattle in those spaces. I thought there was a good opportunity to go back to those and then an opportunity to go wheel route off of

that if you want to sequence those plays together. But they come back later on in that game, and there was the touchdown past two Miles Gasking where Jalen goes in motion across the nation. He scored twice on that player where they motioned him across, throw the football to him. He finds the pylon, but they faked that and go back to the direction and there's Miles Gaston wide open for a touchdown. So I thought, to a point that u Kina made seth coaching was was better today as

far as play call insition. Defense had a lot more of the pressure looks that you love, that we that we all love here, that's what that's what helps his team win. But from a coaching standpoint, what you see out there with the Dolphins coaching staff offensively defensively to put themselves in position to have a chance late why

I think he just said it. Uh. The defensive side of the ball in particular definitely dialed up more pressure and it they gave up some big plays, which, as Jews said earlier, you've got one of the all time greats in Matt Ryan who's done this for his entire career. Uh, and throwing great passes to a guy who looks like he's gonna be a great player in this league for a long time. So sometimes those guys are gonna make big plays, um, but a lot of times they were.

He was dumping the ball down and they had it bracketed. They were getting the ball in the middle of the field and being able to tackle before the sticks. And actually they had that one. We saw it right where the ball and I think was ex and Needham and they they I don't know who he threw it to, who Ryan threw it too, but it was about two yards short of the sticks, and he just happened to make a play and converted on the third down for

the first down. And it ends up being the difference because those guys continue and drive the ball the rest of the way. So but but it just felt like they dialed up pressure at the right times. It felt like they Uh, there was another one early on. I think Adam Jones should have tackle the running back for a loss and he ends up spinning out and and so the in the in the chess match there, I thought the coaches seem to be doing the right things, at least from you know, for from me watching it,

I don't know. Juicy might feel differently. You understand that a little bit more but guys gotta execute, they have to make plays. There have been games We've heard the hot hot garbage remark from Juice in the past. There have been games where we come into the studio here and we start talking about what happened afterwards, and there was a lot of question marks and play calling. I did not feel that today. But guys have to execute, they have to make they have to make plays. They

have to help their coach and staff out. At some point, those guys are getting paid to make plays. And to your point on that, it was Adam Butler mistackled on a third or a third and three play where he had a chance for a TfL and it was right on the fringe of field goal range. If he makes that TfL, I think Atlanta punched that ball back to Miami. They don't have to. They wind up going down for seven more points. And so all these little mistakes that

acrew over the course of the game. I'm sure the Falcons fans will sit there and say, well, hey, we had this go against us, we had this go against us. But it feels like two weeks in a row fills where Miami was just one of like ten mistakes away from from finding a way to win this football game. And they just couldn't get away from those mistakes. Yeah, and they can't. They're just not good enough to do that.

And you know, I'm gonna going back to one other thing, Travis, when you were asking about the coaches and game planning. Two has thrown the ball eight seven times in the last two weeks. It's great. I cannot imagine that that's the way they drew it up at the beginning of

the season, or even the beginning of the week. The last two weeks, I don't think they're going in and saying, if we can throw the ball forty times, we're gonna come away with a w. But they they've had to do that because they're chasing their tails late in the game. And they actually did go back to the run after the bad interception. I was y are, yeah, I was complaining this. I thought I was saying, we can't go software even though the bad interception happened. You have to

keep going because now you're down by thirteen points. And they did it for a couple of plays and it worked, and then they got going through the air as well, so they found a way to get themselves back into some balance there at the end of the game. Miles Gasking fifteen for sixty seven, like you mentioned, Tongue of by Low of four for twenty nine, Savant Augument seven for twenty six. Both those guys involved in the passing

game as well. Miles four catches ten yards and a touchdown Savan two for twenty six, so they were involved heavily. So were the tight ends. Juice, you got a point here, jump on in man. Yeah, I was thinking. I was thinking about seven saying, you know, the game plan, not really the pass that much. But at the same time, though, we gotta think about we talked about last week. Some of these passed are like run plays. You know, the fact that we did put it up in the air

forty times eighty seven times and two games. Yeah, but I mean a screen is that that's like a run play, you know, swing play pass, it's like play All the little to yard passed through our tight ends are a little those are like run plays to me. You know, if you put it up forty times in the air and we ran at twenty nine times, almost balanced off. The wide receiver says, he's okay with the seven past. They don't make some sort of passes. You gotta have it.

You gotta have it though, you know, so I think they're trying to be as balanced as possible. They did stick to the run, and they did get the hundred thirty two yards on the ground today. But at the same time, no, man, everything comes down to timing, you know, everything comes down to timing offensively, defensively, turnovers, penalties, mistakes. And that's the second damn quarter. It is the second quarter. They have been abysmal the entire season in the second quarter.

So Seth mentions the eight seven passes the last two week for two a tongue by lower today it was seventeen targets to tight ends, seven to running backs, and that gives us twenty four. So it would have been sixteen to receivers. You throw the ball to tight ends today more than you did receivers. And juice to kind of continue that point, we saw Preston Williams get pulled from this game for dropping too many passes. Yeah, I mean, how many opportunities do you get in this league? And

how many times can many possessions do you get? How many times you drop the ball in big downs? You know, and and you don't get very many opportunities. We see guys get cut or traded or whatever. Were fewer mistakes. You get an opportunity like this with all the big dogs out. You know, Preston is one of the big dogs, and you don't play well. That's why we're in more three and four tight end sets, you know what I mean. That's why Hollins is getting opportunities, and that's why all

these guys are getting these opportunities because of guys. When you get your chance, you you blow it. You get other guys get and other guys who can't get on the field exactly right. And then back to your point about having some of those those built in pass plays

that are essentially extended running plays to the outside. That's too is game, the quick release game, the empty backfield to get the ball in, get the ball out, and when you only have you know, two receivers that you can rely upon, whether it's you know, the Wattle is to me, he's banked into that, into that for the Miami Dolphins forever. He's a He's a fantastic player. I love what he brings to this football team. But beyond that, Davantae Parker hasn't been around the last couple of weeks.

Preston Williams gets the chance, drops a couple of balls. Mc hollins appears to be kind of that other guy right now, as Albert Wilson is no longer on the field anymore, Jachim Grant was traded, will Fuller's injured. So who is that second receiver. It's gotta be MATC Collins, right, it's one of the other tight ends. I mean, really sickly that's who it is. Yeah. So, and I thought we saw a lot of that formationally early in this game, where they would go to receiver sets and twelve personnel,

so one running back, two tight ends. They would put both the tight ends on one side of the formation the twin receivers on the opposite side of the formation, and that was successful for a lot of it, and then later in the game they kind of went empty there, so some interesting play distribution. But yeah, juice, I mean, when you're tight ends get more targets than receivers, I'm

thinking about you right there. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I mean I would love to see what the other side look like too, because seems like it's got a lot of targets ends. But we are we are you know, we we do our best work out of our two and three tight end sets with a couple of wide receivers one back. I mean, it seems like it's working well, especially when you got guys like you know, likes Mike and Shim who were doing a pretty good job of catching the ball getting north and south. And we know

what the sick he can do. I mean, he's unbelievable with the route running with Billy, catch the ball in traffica his hands are you know, are are sticky as hell. You know. At the same time, though, we had my opportunities get in the ball on the one PBu against Sicky. You know, if it's a back shoulder throw from two on the sideline, I mean, that's a great opportunity for our six six tight end slash receiver with forty invert. Which one are you referring to, the one on the

on the on the dolphin sideline? Uh, a little bit behind him and inside it got broken up. I'm not sure I got right. We've even talk about that. I want to come back and talk about that the other side of the show here, because we got we want to get into that. Me and Seth talked about that for a long time during the game. Just some quick

numbers for you here. Matt Ryan twenty five for forty three thirty six, two touchdowns on a pick, ninety five point four passer rating two was one of eight point eight today, Waddle seven for eighty three, Sick seven for eighty five, one touchdown, and juice Just for some posterity here, Falcons tight ends had fourteen targets, running backs had six, receivers had twenties, So okay, you can be happy with that a little bit