Dolphins Giants Week 13 Preview

it's preview time. We're taking a look at Sunday's matchup with the New York Giants, a chance to make it five straight victories for the second time in as many years. Will break it down position by position, tell you how Miami can secure that fifth straight dub, give you the three keys of the game, and a whole lot more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime Podcasts Miami. A. Yeah, it's preview day and is it just me or has this week

been kind of a fun one. I've watched last week's game several times, but now I'm on to the Giants. We got another chance to make it a fun week with the Giants coming to town, and we'll have to wait to find out which quarterback is gonna be under

center for Big Blue. As Joe Judge addressed the next train suffered by Daniel Jones in the game Sunday, and he was limited in practice on Wednesday and will be all throughout the course of this week, but he would not rule Jones out as previous reports had said they were going to do. So we'll see who plays on Sunday. Their backup as Mike Glennon, and they just signed Jake from from the Buffalo practice squad, so we should find out sometime this weekend, either the Friday practice report, maybe

it's a game time decision. We shall see. But before we get into the quarterback versus the Miami safety's matchup, how did the Giants get to their current position. They brought Dave Gentleman in as GM as they searched for a return to the winning ways of really the early and before that, with that ferocious defense, the four man pass rush they could provide Plexico Burris Eli manning all those star players they had back in those Super Bowl years.

They did make the postseason back in twenty sixteen, but then dropped to five wins in seventeen, opting to bring Gentleman in from Carolina, and that was also it the end of the road for Ben mcado, a two year stint there with the Giants, and Gelman was joined by Pat Shermer for a year, but he lasted just that one season before the Giants went after special teams coaching whiz and something of a disciplinarian up there in New England and Joe Judge to fill that big chair. Gelman

was clear from day one about his initiative. He wanted to build a team that runs the ball and stops the run, and they drafted like it first four picks, say Kwon Barkley with the number two pick in that draft, and that was bandied about a lot in the pre draft process, because you might recall that teen draft class at the quarterback position produced five first rounders, and two and a half of them have been very successful. So

we'll find out on Baker Mayfield. The other two not as much, with Rosen and Sam Donald going into backup gigs at the stage's of their career. Donald has been injured and lost the job that way. But you get what I'm saying. Here's that's kind of the general point there.

But in that draft class, sake Quombarkie number two with only Mayfield off the board, Will Hernandez, Lorenzo Carter a linebacker, and b J Hill so running back, O line linebacker, d tackle nineteen, they do get their quarterback this time around Daniel Jones, who Dave Gentleman said was in full blue love going through the draft process of evaluating this quarterback from Duke. He takes him at number six overall. Then in the first round Dexter Lawrence the defensive tackle

and a cornerback in DeAndre Baker. And then back to the front seven with Oshane him and Az another cornerback, slash safety and Julian Love. Then back to linebacker Ryan Connolly. They finished off receiver, corner tackle, defensive tackle. They've draft the same three or four positions pretty much every single year. Andrew Thomas kicked off draft number four, the first tackle

taken off the board in that loaded tackle class. Xavier McKinney back at safety in the second round, then back to the offensive line Matt Pert, darn A Holmes a cornerback, then this guard, linebacker, linebacker, linebacker, cornerback, linebacker, then one Darius Tony the receiver, as these Oglari the outside backer slash defensive events slash really damn good player out of Georgia. Then cornerback, linebacker, running back, cornerback, so you get it.

A lot of resources spent on the trenches, plenty of cornerbacks in that mix, which is truly a position of strength for them in defensive backfield in general when they are healthy right now a little bit banged up. And we also go along into as they enter this four and seven, or this game rather at four and seven, and like Miami, they've been bitten by the injury buggets some of those skill positions on offense because when they have them, as Brian Flores stated on Wednesday, it's name

after name in that line up. But they've not been healthy all year long since that eleven win sixteen season for the Giants three wins, five wins, four wins, and six wins. So they are in position right now with a strong December to match or even surpass that high

watermark of these last five years. But with six games to go, they're gonna have to get some w Let's go ahead and get to this game here in Miami and start as we do weekly with the Giants quarterbacks versus the Dolphins safeties, and since there is a fair amount of uncertainty about who it will be under center, and Flora said they are preparing as if Danny Dimes will be up, we'll spend some time on both quarterbacks in this segment, but I think it's more about us,

and so we talk about these safeties like Javon Holland, Brandon Jones, Eric Rowe, and of course Jones missed the game last week, but as we talked about in the pods earlier this week, I thought you really saw the versatility of that room on display because of the absence of Brandon Jones. Has Holland and Roe have their roles

adapted to fill that void? And that versatility constantly reminds me of the question I had for two of back in Week two about the Buffalo Bill safeties and their interchangeable nature and how to us said, it was tough to decipher what the defense is because they can line up in one place and then wind up something somewhere completely different after the snap, And I think the same thing here applies with Miami, and the key there is to continue to force take away opportunities, which is obviously

a complete team effort. But the Giants quarterbacks have thrown a collective nine picks this year and taking twenty three sacks and fumbled the football eight times. That's seventeen potential turn over opportunities and twenty three sacks, working out to one point five five potential t o s per game and two point one sacks per game. Now, Miami over these last four weeks are averaging two point seven five

takeaways and four sacks per game. So you have to think that the Dolphins are kind of gearing up hoping they get the same kind of production in this contest. And we'll see if those averages play out in the game on Sunday. But how do you create that chaos? How do you get to those numbers? Well, to the

numbers again. Mike Glennon is three for nine with twenty nine yards this year in a touchdown pass and a pick against the Blitz, where Daniel Jones a much greater sample size is sixty averaging six and a half yards per pass one touchdown. That all sounds good, right, But or picks and that's been something of a formula to kind of force the issues, and not to mention fifteen of the twenty two sacks on Jones come when sending that extra rusher and with them the way Miami can

cover on the back end. Perhaps that's the formula, but also when kept clean, Jones has eight touchdowns and five picks, and five of the total picks are in that ten plus yard range. So when he throws the ball deep down the field or if there's an extra rusher coming at him, or even kept clean, there's opportunities for interceptions there, and at least as far as what he's been so far in the season. You can always improve and get better.

You can play a better game too, So I think about what we saw with Javon and the interception and kind of trying to put him in conflict, but he just kept his eyes on the quarterback's eyes and drove on the football and made a big time play. So I'm not so sure it's not quite as obvious with regards to sending the extra rushers or playing coverage and

let the thing come to you. Opposing teams have blitz Jones of the time, which is more than twelve percent fewer than Miami's season average of thirty eight point four percent, which is just point eight percent below the Bucks for the highest rate in the NFL. So again, this dichotomy exists between what the Giants do well or what kind of makes them vulnerable, and what the Dolphins do well.

And that's something Brian Flores has talked about, finding the balance between going after their weaknesses and doing what you're doing best. But what the Dolphins do best is unrelenting pressure over the last month or so. So again, very interesting dichotomy to me. But our next position group gives you something of an indicator for how the best attack like the Giants receivers and tight ends versus the Miami cornerbacks. Look, Darius Tony is a separation creating machine. He moves in

ways that many guys cannot. And I mean, we talked about Jalen Waddles impact. Tony has not been quite on that level, but he's been very impactful for that Giant's offense. And that was kind of his game coming out of Florida. A slippery guy who runs these routes that will put

you in the blender. He's tough to cover, and this group really is kind of when healthy that bass get ball line up we've talked about on the podcast for years, going back to Lockdown Dolphins days, and they've got unique skill sets across that group, and that Kenny Golladay is that big, go get the football type of guy, contested

catch guy. He's actually competed with DeVante Parker in that realm for a few years now, previously with the Lions, now with the Giants, and next gen separation stats has him at two point oh which is the fourth fewest among qualifying past catchers. Stirling Shepherd is a sure handed, primarily slot guy with an average separation of two point seven yards. Darius Slayton up to three point oh and then cold Darius Tony at three point four, and then

tight end Evan Ingram leads the crew at three point eight. Now, some of that has to do with the routes these guys run. Some of the quick hitters can be more separation because you're just if they're playing off coverage, you catch the ball with an automatic built in three or four yards of separation. How about the yak yard? And this is where I really look at this Giants offense as a possibility from Miami to rally up tackle and

have some success their yak above expected. So when you catch the football, data from decades of football gives you an idea of what they're expected to do with that football based upon previous data and big seth Wils tell me that that has nothing to do with any given player on any given game. But I digress, I love you, bro.

All jokes aside, but yak above expected Darius Tony is plus one point eight, then a drop off negative point oh two for Goladay, negative point oh three for bull Shepherd and Ingram, and negative point oh four for Slaton. And we talked about how Miami's tackling has come along, especially in the secondary and really beginning in that Baltimore game with those guys just tackling everything on the perimeter up to a season best last week just two miss tackles.

So what does this all say, Well, it looks like a recipe for being conscious of the deep ball, forcing them to play underneath and rallying up and tackling, because if they're not gonna make the big play after the catch, then it would serve you to kind of playoff and force them to do that and be consistent in that way. Then you really clamp down and win against him in the red zone on the occasions they get there. We'll

talk about that here in just one second. We'll see how Miami wants to play it, because, as is the case every week, the Dolphins flexibility gives them options. So how do you match up? First? Who was available last week? No Shepherd, no Tony, No Kyle Rudolph. That gave John Ross eleven reps. It gave Pharaoh Cooper thirty five snaps. But Sae Kwon Barkley did play despite his questionable designation,

and he played eight seven percent of their snaps. We'll talk about that as well in a later segment, but they're usedage as far as inside outside is also interesting. Cooper eighty eight point two percent inside, he's a slot receiver. Shepherd that's also a slot receiver. Evan Ingram much like Mike get Sick sixty in the slot, and then can Darius Tony in the slot. But he can play satellite, he can play that kind of offset h back, he can play in your backfield. He does it all. Then

there's a massive drop off. The next is Kyle Rudolph at thirty seven percent in the slot. In line, he's more of your kind of Drham Smith, Satellite, Ross, Golla Day, and Slayton are all outside eighty percent of the time or more. And while we talk about versatility, well, you typically wind up with Jones and X on the outside right. So Kenny Golladay's game physicality, the downfield contestant catch us.

He wants to beat you with with basically being able to win at the top of the route, and that's where X really excels among other areas obviously, So I kind of like that matchup there as far as trying to pick which way you want to go. And of course the Dolphins don't typically travel, so you'll get different matchups, but that might be an idea that you look at in terms of where to go, where not to go

when they do line up in that particular position. And Slayton has a bit of an expanded route tree compared to Gola Day, a little more elusive. Laterally, that to me matches up with Byron Jones, who is an athletic phenomen broking breaking records at the combine you know several years ago. John Ross he's a deep target, That's that's what he does. He runs down the field. We'll see how much he plays if the Giants get other guys back this week, but you want to account for that

speed regardless if he's out there. That's the thing about four three four two speed, Like it doesn't matter what the guy's production is, you have to account for it. Some slot options, I mean Nick need Um, justin Coleman. The safeties have all played in those roles and they've played well. So Cooper it's just five ft eleven but over two pounds, so he kind of has that thick lower half and maybe you want to play more physical against him as well. Kind of an option they're thinking

about how to match up on him. Evan Ingram is always also rather size, but he's also very athletic and can move. So is that Jerome Baker is that Eric Row? I tend to lead more towards an Eric Row type and tied end. Maybe you get some chips off the line and help that way as well. Darius Tony is the tricky one because again he moves so well, so you need to be able to match that. Maybe you bracket, plus you don't want to let him catch the ball

in space and get free. Everybody else is not as much of a threat to go big run after the catch, but he certainly is. And then Shepherd's the most polished route runner of the bunch, So you probably want to get a cornerback that can again move and and not take the cheese on fakes and sluggos and double moves

and that type of thing. Now, we talked about those matchups a lot last week, but the next position really kind of took center stage as Miami heat up the Panther's passing game and really didn't make the outside stuff all that event with good coverage as well. So can they replicate that success. Let's go ahead and move on now to the Giants offensive line verse Dolphins defensive line. And here are the players they started against Philly and their pressure numbers. This is out a four hundred and

seventy four pass balking snaps. You get an idea of how much time there guys have missed up front. Andrew Thomas ten pressures on two snaps. It's a two set to hit one sack. A huge jump from year one for him. Matt Scurrow, we know who he is. Eight teen pressures, two snaps, five hits, one sack. He's played well. Billy Price sixteen pressures on four hundred and twenty nine snaps,

four hits in one sack. Will Hernandez. The right sides where things kind of get dicey here Will Hernandez, twenty five pressures allowed on four hundred and seventy four pass walking snaps. Well, I guess that's pretty good compared to the averages of the left side three hits and four sacks. And then they sold our thirty pressures allowed four hundred and fifty snaps, six hits, six yeah, six hits and four sacks. Almost got that mixed up. I wrote some

of these backwards. I don't know why do that. But Andrew Thomas has three pressures allowed since returning after missing four weeks, and that was against Tampa Bay and Philly. That's a good defensive line play right there. He's really turned to the corner and becoming that franchise left tackle you expect to get when using the fourth overall pick

on the player. He hasn't surrendered more than two pressures in the game this entire season for Matt Scura, not a lot of pressure early on from him, but the last two weeks eight pressures and a lot of that Within Dominican Sue Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave. They overwhelmed him at times and past protection. Something to keep an eye on. Billy Price. He's kind of settled in with his new team here after coming over from the Bengals in the off season, a former first round pick. Five

pressures in the opener against Washington. That's different, different season almost at this point against all those big interior defensive lineman they have, like John Allen and never more than two pressures since, including just two against the Bucks and their stout interior front even without Vida Veia, Will Hernandez kind of similar to Matt Scura. Strong start, some tough matchups lately. Tampa Bay had six pressures against him, Philly had two, case He had four, Carolina had three, and

a game with the Raiders Sandwich in between. He allowed just one pressure in that game. But you see a lot of the same things power Derek Brown and Carolina, Chris Jones and Casey Sue and Tampa Bay, Cox and Hardgrave in Philadelphia and then out Wide Soldier. He's kind of also found his rhythm the last couple of weeks. PF did not like his game against Las Vegas three weeks ago, just three pressures allowed, however, in the last two games, but Shaq Barrett did get him for a

sack versus the Bucks. So the common theme is that teams with a lot of power and bull rushing experts, so to speak, have given the Giants more problems than the fleet of foot guy the one gap penetrator types. And that's well. The former is what the Dolphins do so well, both inside and outside. I don't have to break down the power of Ogba, of Phillips, of Wilkins, of Davis of Seiler, as we've seen several rush moves from each of those guys produce some production in these

recent weeks. I'll be curious to see how Miami wants to go, how often they want to go to their grush games they have upfront. The Giants just haven't had a ton of continuity up front because of those injuries. I mean, Matt pert has missed a bunch of games, Nick Gates and Shane Lemieux, those three guys were supposed to be starters going into the season, and the last two guys have been out on i R for some time and Matt Perch missing some games and not playing either.

So tough tough call there for the Giants in terms of getting that continuity. Can Miami dive deep into their game operation with the twist slants and stunts and the loopers and the green dogs and the delays, so many options there? Will they go to it? We'll see At the other position here on offense, Dolphins linebackers versus Giants

running backs, And y'all know about se Kwon Barkley. He's as talented as they come, but he's played just two D nineties seven snaps this season, fifty two of those last week, and perhaps his most effective game last game, even though it's just three point one yards per carry and a half yard departure from his three point six season average, but he averaged three point six two yards after initial contact. And one of the craziest stats is that PF didn't credit him with the forced miss tackle.

In fact, he hasn't had one of those in Week four against New Orleans. He's only carried the ball twenty one time since that time, but you still get the point like that's usually what his game is, especially behind an offensive line that hasn't played consistently. Just five runs of ten plus yards all year for him, and never more than one in the single game, so no real explosive element of this running game. Davante Booker has nine of them, but that's fourteen in twelve games. It's not

very many. And that's such an important element of what Miami does to set themselves up for success on defense. Get into third and long, send that pressure, bad things happen for the offense. So obviously this is more than just about the linebackers and running backs. But Christian Wilkins had a quote on Wednesday about how he can have the game of his life and the run to game

and not make a tackle. And I think we've seen that play out in recent weeks with how Jerome baker A laying, the Roberts and even Duke Riley have played in their all their roles, all really kind of hitting their stride here in the month of November going into December. So their speed is gonna be tested, their physicality will be tested. They'll have to have an answer for sake Qua when he flexes out two small sample size that year, but he's been either in the slot or out wide,

and they can bind twenty five snaps. It's just less than ten percent. Again, don't sleep on DeVante Booker. He's very versatile on his own right, but most of his damage in the passing game comes from the backfield. He's also at three point seven yards per carry, so a half yard better than se Quon and a bit more production with four point five times as many carries. He has seven four Smiths tackles and nine runs of ten plus. So kick guys to the party and bring him down.

That's kind of the key to the game here. As far as Giants running game goes offensively, over thirty percent of the Giants points come from field goals. That's the highest rate in the league by a long shot. I was carious with their fourth down conversion rate because are they kicking field goals on fourth and short? Not so much, I mean they're they're you know, winning for the winning in the red zones critical for the Dolphins this week, But that forty three point four percent conversion rate in

the red zone ranks thirty second. They are also an aggressive team on fourth down, who's attempted seventeen fourth down tries, which is tied for ninth most. Now their conversion rate is forty seven point one percent, and that's twenty one Maybe some of those drives go by the wayside down there on fourth down failures, but the vast majority of

that comes on fourth and very short. So if you can force them into fourth and three or longer, they're likely going to kick the football, which is mostly true of most teams. Eleven personnel that's exactly a league average twelve personnel percent. That's seven percent above league average, and no other packages greater than three percent, So not a

ton of diversity there and their deployment. You have to wonder if eleven might be even more or if some more for four receiver personnel packages might be more prevalent, or even two back personnel with Barkley healthy, If all these guys were healthy, Tony Slaton Gola Day have missed a combined fourteen games, and that is separate besides of of Evan Ingram's to miss games. Say Kwon Barkley's four miss games, and Kyle Rudolph has missed one games. Not

the best injury luck here for the Giants. Daniel Jones has started all eleven games. We'll see if he makes it twelve on Sunday or not, or if it's Mike Glenn's first start since weeks seventeen. Last year with the Jags was oh and five as a started last year, six and twenty one is a start in his career. He was sixty last year completion five point nine nine yards per pass on a hundred and seventy nine throws, seven touchdowns and five picks and a rating of eighty

point one. He's thrown just twenty five passes this season, touchdown, two picks, one six percent completion. How about the other side, Dolphins quarterback versus Giants safeties for tah we know about the two straight games with eighty percent completion. He did it earlier this year against the Falcons as well, and if he could do it again for a fourth time this year, that would tie an NFL record for number of games in one season with eight percent or better

completion percentage. I think it's a winning formula again this week, stay on schedule, protect the football, and continue to play this complementary style of football. That's what everybody wants to do.

I'm intrigued by this tour tour to an Xavier McKinney matchup because back at the Combine in I had a chance to ask Xavier about sharing the practice field with two a tongue of by Low competing against him and discussing what each other saw each practice after practice, and he was very forthright about him and to A constantly communicating. So I wonder who might be the beneficiary, if either of them at all in this. Will he know what

Too wants to do to manipulate coverage? Will to a no Xavier's disguise tactics fastening storyline to me, I'm gonna ask John Conjenny about that on tomorrow's podcast and get more insight on that. But the Giants playing Too High more frequently than single high, and teams have been able to find success in that way. A hundred and fifty passing yards against them and too High compared to ninety point one yards per game against single High, and we

saw Miami have some success with that last week. That's where a lot of those throws over the middle, working off play action, and that second level behind the linebackers is a money spot on kind of those dig routes, those in cuts, those curls deep down the field, and that's where two has had a lot of success too. So as far as the blitz and pressure goes, that kind of coincides with how the Giants want to play at philosophically, we mentioned the emphasis they have on the trenches.

They blitz right at the median, tied for sixteenth and seventeenth most in the league at twenty four point four percent. They want to win their matchups up front and play as much coverage as they can, and they have the weapons outside to do it. Now, as far as their

pressure rates, they're not great. Eighteen point seven percent pressure is the third fewest in the National Football League, same as their quarterback knockdown that's a five point seven and they are tied for twenty four with sex Julian Love. He's been encourage a lot for the safety position, twenty completions on twenty seven targets for two d and twelve yards and a hundred forty eight yacht yards. So against

some of those incut routes, those slants to waddle. If he can get those again, split those safeties and take off, that's what you want to see. McKinney has been in coverage on twenty nine targets for twenty completions, and this is that too high thing we talked about. McKinney and Love have just twenty one pass rush reps out of a thousand total, and Logan Ryan did it more with sixteen of his own on six hundred and six snaps. And Jabill Peppers is still on injury reserve, so they're

deep into their back up there. But McKinney in coverage twenty yards just eighty nine yacht yards. He's a good shirt tackler out wide. Dolphins receivers and tight ends against Giants cornerbacks. They've got some dudes here. And remember the investment we talked about at the position, Well, their best guy is a free agent. James Bradberry has had a really nice career, thirty nine complations on sixty two targets this season for four hundred and fifty two yards but

a hundred and eighty yak yards. But that four fifty two is on four seventy three coverage snaps, so less than a yard per coverage rep. He's typically going to take inside coverage. He did get out on Mike Evans two weeks ago for seven targets and held him to just forty five yards on those targets. Last week, it was only Dallas Godder and Jalen Reagor for the Eagles and then the week before Hunter Renfro and Darren Waller.

So inside matchups could mean a lot of Mike Kasiki, could mean a lot of Jalan Waddle, whoever Mighty wants to put in that regard, and Waddle has seen some brackets and doubles. That could be the case here. But when you go twelve personnel and the defense adjust more of a base type of look, he doesn't leave the field. So maybe on those snaps that he plays, you get

a few of them outside. Maybe you get him on the perimeter with a place he's not as familiar with playing, So maybe you get him on the perimeter with more of that package that is running league high, and twelve personnel by a lot is like more than the next team. Maybe you do that. Darnay Holmes went out last week.

He's down, He's played snaps. But Dorri Jackson is the other plus guy with brad Berry, he locked the Raiders down one catch on seven targets and pretty good versus Tampa as well, three on seven targets for thirty four yards and a pick, then zero catches last week on two targets. He might be the guy you try to avoid. If that's something you want to do. He's really coming into his own. Other teams have avoided him for the

most part. Take Crowder has been the most targeted cornerback the last three games, but it's all over the field against back, tight ends and receivers. We'll see if Miami wants to go after that with whoever they go after it with, I should say, and I'm most curious about the potential return here of Davantae Parker. He practiced on Wednesday. I think, given Waddles kind of coming on here, with Mike and Durham playing so much, that there could be

really another nice compliment to that offense. And I'm curious to see how they dictate those matchups. Traveling isn't as much of a thing these days, and the Giants do not have the corners travel, so they're gonna have to communicate well on some of the bunches and the stacks and things of that nature. But how about the inside matchup here the Dolphins offensive line versus the Giant's d line. Leonard Williams thirty eight pressures this year, seven sacks and

six hits. By Pro Football Focus, they don't credit half sacks, so some of those numbers are different than what you'll see on counting stats sites. Dexter Lawrence twenty eight pressure, so the interior that's where they collapse the pocket the most. Ziz Ojulari has been a big hit outside for them twenty six pressures, six sacks and two hits. His game

is speed, speed, speed, and in tenacity. He's also just a good player with solid techniques, so he can do stuff in the running game, pass rush, even fall into coverage. But up next in pressures with eighteen as another Idel Austin Johnson. So those four guys have a total of eighty four run stops amongst them as well, so four very productive player. Then you get Lorenzo Carter with twelve quarter back pressures and then a drop off down to

four guys who have seven pressures each. So we saw Miami with a great game plan last week against Brian Burns and Hassan Reddick, who are primarily outside guys. It could be a situation where you kind of work the opposite and that could mean a variety of approaches like we saw against the Jets with John Franklin Myers and Quentin Williams. Do you wham them and just let them go up field and take them out with a wham

block by tight end. Do you keep your backs and pass pro and mug them up and have them take those guys out immediately. Do you squeeze and leave your tackles one on one on the perimeter. Maybe some chip help out there too, Lots of options. I'm excited to see how Miami matches up the physicality inside. That's what Austin Jackson and Rob Hunt do best at Dolphins running back versus Giants linebackers. Finally, here in the second level, they're banged up here. They've got four in inside linebackers

on the reserve list. That includes Blake Martinez who was brought into kind of quarterback that defense there for the Giants. So the top guys now in terms of snap counts, and this fits in line with their big physical approach. Reggie Ragland you remember him, He played thirty four snaps last week, but Narderik McK any, who's a new signy there, played twenty two snaps, and Quincy Rochet played thirty one.

Teams have tried to get them to leave the middle and go outside and cover, because that's not really their game. They're more thumpers in the running game, and we know how this backfield operates in the passing game, So do

you do that? Do you keep men and pass pro We saw a lot of variety last week from these Dolphins backs in the offense really in general, and the same thing could be said about putting some conflict upon the shoulders of those backers, especially as they try to kind of acclimate here as more full time guys and the absence of the other So some good matchups there for the Dolphins. On special teams, the Giants ranked and

d v O A the Dolphins ranked twenty six. Graham Gono has three miss kicks this year, two of them from plus fifty one from inside thirty nine yards, but no missed extra points. He's good for all fourteen of those twenty five on field goals, and then Riley Dixon averages forty five point three yards per punt and on returns. Jabrill Peppers is their primary guy, but he's down. Nobody

else has more than three. That's Pharaoh Cooper with thirty five yard on three returns eleven point seven yards average, and c. J. Board has eleven kickoff returns an averages twenty four point eight per per return, no special teams touchdowns for the Giants. The Dolphins will win this game

if the defense continues to execute. New York has had injury slash continuity bugs all year, and if Miami can continue to stay multiple, formulate a Giant specific game plan that they lock in on an execute, it's gonna have a tough time for the Giants to beat this Dolphins defense. If they can do that, they could be able to have one of those relentless pressure slash beneficial field possession games. That sets the offense up for a bunch of success again,

and the Giants will win if they generate takeaways. They're gonna have to do that to get this upset. We saw them to keep Philly out of the end zone time and time again last week with all those turnovers late down the field and at critical times. I think if the offense stays patient and doesn't make the critical mistake, then Miami can make it five straight. My three keys for the game create third and long situations for the

New York offense. We'll see how this Dolphense defense can tee it up again if they get in those situations. Number two, dominate the red zone Giants have struggled downe there, keep that going number three. Protect the football, Do not give them short fields, do not give them extra possessions. Those are the three keys to the game. My Thursday night football pick this week Dallas over New Orleans. Two teams construct one right now, but give me the Cowboys

to bounce back after that tough Thanksgiving night loss. All right, that is gonna be my time. You all, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL, follow the team at

Miami Dolphins across all social accounts. Check out the fish Tank podcast with Seth and o J and of course our postgame show on five sixt w q a M. Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins Today and all of our media availabilities had some good ones on Wednesday, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time finds up Caroline, Daddy is coming home.