Dolphins Jets All 22, Stats, Snap Counts, Coordinators and Assistant Coaches

speaking on this Tuesday edition of Drive Time. It's my favorite show of the week, your favorite show of the week. Let's go ahead and jump right in to all of that and more on this Tuesday, December, the first edition of the Drivetime Podcast Miami Dolphins. Drive Time is brought to you by donation. Hey Dolphins fans, the New Year starts now at Auto Nation. Let's skip the rest of and get to big New Year's savings on your favorite

Auto Nation Chevy's Forwards, Toyotas, Hondas and more. Shops safely at the Auto Nation store near you or Auto nation dot com and save right now and as we do weekly here on the Tuesday edition, of Drivetown. We first start with where Miami ranks offensively defensively in some of the most important categories. After twelve weeks of play eleven games in the books, the NFL season heads to its

final month in December. Heading into the twelfth and final month of the year, the fourth and final month of the regular season, there's a game in January, but December still counts for most of the remaining games. Here is where your Dolphins rank offensively. Miami's twenty five point eight

points per game our fifteenth most in the NFL. Three eleven point nine yards is thirty point three yards on the ground is thirty two hundred and sixteen point six yards through the air per game is twenty five in the NFL. Miami have allowed twenty four sacks, that's right in the middle, tied for sixteen, and their third down offense, at forty point four percent conversion is twenty one in the NFL. Defensively, some good ranks here. Eighteen point six

points per game allowed. That second in the NFL. Three hundred and sixty nine point nine yards of total defense allowed per game, that's twenty in the NFL. One twenty nine point nine yards on the ground is twenty six to thirty nine point seven through the air is seventeen. Miami has twenty five sacks this year that's tied for fourteenth. Their nineteen takeaways our third most, and their thirty two point eight percent third down conversion rate by the opposition

is number one in the National Football League. And also from the inside the Numbers piece up on Miami Dolphins dot com taking a look at all the snap counts and stats and direct advanced metrics from this game. We also have this The Dolphins allowed just ten first downs to the Jets on Sunday and two hundred and sixty total yards. The ten first downs was the second fewest by a team in the NFL in a single game

this season. Miami retains their plus eighty one point differential in the first halves of games, the best in the NFL. They're allowing nine point five points per game on defense in first half that's the third lowest mark, and offensively, the Dolphins are averaging six team point nine points per game in the first half of games. That is the fifth best in the National Football League. And the Dolphins continue to get things done in special teams and in

the penalty yardage as well as fouls committed. Those small details add up so much Miami maintains their spot a Top Football Outsiders Special Teams d v O A statistics Defensive value over adjusted with the number one special teams in all of football and wide receiver jakeem Grant leads the NFL minimum ten returns with third teen point nine yards per punt return. He's also the only player with more than three d punt return yards on the season.

He's got three nineteen. We talked about Jason Sanders and Sane Stats on the Sunday Recap podcast. His eighty five point seven percent field goal percentage from fifty plus yards is the best in the NFL so at least minimum ten attempts, and he also has the best field goal percentage at eighty six point seven in franchise history. Matt Hawk is eighth in net punting average forty two point six yards. His nineteen points down into the twenty yard line are tied for the fourth most in the NFL.

In Miami's forty nine penalties and four penalty yards assessed against them are both third fewest in the National Football League. Snap counts on the offensive side of the football quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick played the entire game, so too did Miami starting five offensive lineman Austin Jackson, Eric Flowers, Ted Carriss, Jesse Davis and Robert Hunt. Adam Pankey joined them for four snaps and heavy packages at the scale positions. DeAndre

Washington leads the way. He gets about half the workload at thirty four snaps. That's forty. Matt Brito plays twenty three, Patrick Laird placed ten and a wide receiver. Listen to some of these numbers. Davante Parker almost never left the field. He played of the snaps at sixty seven reps in the game. Mac Hollins was number two with four seven reps.

Jakeem Grant played twenty four, Lynn Bowden Jr. Played twenty two, Antonio Callaway thirteen, and Malcolm Perry, who of course left the game with that chest injury, played just six At tight end. Mike Asiki played fifty snaps, Derham Smith played thirty, and Adam Shaheen played twenty five. In the game, Fitzpatrick

did most of his damage when not under duress. He was sixteen for twenty four with one hundred and fifty one yards and through both of his touchdown passes when the Dolphins offensive line kept him clean in this game. And speaking of the offensive line, the interior continues to get the job done in pass protection. Ted Carris and

Eric Flower's combined for just three pressures allowed. That gives that pairing a combined twenty three pressures allowed on eight hundred and forty eight combined pass balking snaps this season. Neither guy has missed a rep. That's a two percent pressure rate among your left guard and center. And also Robert Hunt joined the party with just one hurry allowed in the game. He also earned PFF's top run blocking

grade among all Dolphins offensive lineman. At the skill spots, Davante par Er his tenth one hundred yard receiving game. That's six of his last eighteen games with over a hundred yards. His four thousand, sixty one receiving yards surpassed Jarvis Landry for eighth most in team history. And tight end Mike Gasicki has eight touchdowns in his last seventeen games. That's tied for fourth most among all NFL tight ends since Week thirteen of last season, and his fifteen yards

per reception is best among all tight ends. Minimum fifteen receptions. On the other side of the football, the snap counts go as follows the defensive tackles. Christian Wilkins leads the way with forty two snaps. That's good for eighty two percent of the overall reps, and the Dolphins only played fifty five snaps in this game, the lowest for the

defense this season. Good job by the offense converting on half of their third downs eight for sixteen, but also obviously to the Miami Dolphins defense for getting them off the field, helping keep them fresh in this game and attacking Cincinnati Bengals next week with hopefully a fresher defense. Ray Kuan Davis played thirty three snaps that's sixty and Zach Heeler played twenty that's thirty six percent. Off the edge, Emmanuel A Ball leads away with thirty nine snaps. Shaq

Lawson played thirty four, and Jason Strowbridge had four. In this particular game. At linebacker, Kyle van Noy did not leave the field, played all fifty five snaps. Jerome Baker, after playing thirty percent last week, roughly, was up to seventy eight percent this week with forty three snaps. His roles ever changing and man he produces in so many ways for the football team. Andrew Van Ginkle played twenty

nine snaps in the game. A Landon Roberts played eighteen, and he also had three run stops on those eighteen runs on thirteen rundowns, I should say so he was contributing big time when he was out there against the run. Cornerback Byron Jones played fifty five snaps. So too that Xavian Howard. Nick Needham was next with forty four reps and the Dolphins played four. Safety's McCain played every rep. Eric Rohe played fifty two snaps, Brandon Jones had twenty three,

and Clayton Federland played one snap in the game. And Xavier Howard matched his career high with the seventh interception of the season. We talked about it on Sunday. He joined Sam Madison, Dick Anderson, and Jake Scott as the only players in team history with multiple seven intercept and seasons with the Miami Dolphins. They also tried exaviing Howard

in this game ten times. He allowed three completions thirty seven yards, had an interception to pass break up, and a passer rating of two point nine in the game, Howard also made three tackles and one run stop. Those are tackles within two yards of the line of scrimmage. His passer rating against this season is just fifty point three. That's best among cornerbacks with at least fifty targets this year per PFF. Nick Needum gets his first interception of

the season, three of his career. He also made five tackles, with two checking in his run stops. Safety Eric Row allowed just three yards receiving in the game, and all three of his tackles came on run plays within two yards of the l os. That was our run stops. Bobby McCain pretty much had zeros across the board because he was good in coverage back there didn't target him.

He also didn't come up and make any tackles because the Dolphins were so stout upfront, Like we talked about, fifteen of twenty three run plays going for three yards or less, helping Miami t off on those second down and third down and long. Linebacker Jerome Baker had two pressures and a half sack. Three of his five tackles were run stops. He also allowed just thirteen yards receiving on five pass targets. We saw that play out into the flat where he broke down and got the running

back down short of the sticks. Good work again by Jerome Baker. And how about Emmanuel Ogba leads the team again with five pressures in this game. He now has forty six on the season that's tied for the fifth most in the NFL. His eight sacks are tied for seventh, and his twenty two run stops are tied for thirteen among all edge defenders per PFF. Linebacker Kyle van Ney had four quarterback pressures and a half sack. Three of

his five tackles were run stops. He landed Roberts we talked about him thirteen rundowns and makes three tackles within two yards of the line, including that fourth and one stick in the backfield for a TfL and Ray Kuan Damis and Christian Wilkins both had three run stops and Zach Steeler had two. So the three of those guys up front eight run stops combined helping Miami get get off the field early and oft him in this game

against the Jets, and so offensively for your Miami Dolphins. First, a couple of notes on just some general ideas and and and plans. The Dolphins on the very first third conversion of this game came out unbalanced. That's where you move a tackle to the opposite side of the line of scrimmage and use a tight end like in this instance it was Adam Shaheen as the replacement left tackle Austin Jackson comes over the right side. They convert that

for a first down. Like the way there's a little bit of creativity there in short yardage, an area where I'm sure Coach Flora's in the offensive staff would like to get more conversions on those short down attempts. On those short yards attempts, I should say, And they do it here to start the game. Later in the game, they have a first down pass to mc hollins, where I like the way the structure of the play creates

space for mac hollins on a slant route. It's a fly sweep that vacates a cornerback off the side of the football they want to go to. Then you have r p O inside which forces a linebacker down to close on that play. R PO is all about putting guys in conflict that's the sport of football. Putting players in conflict. Your conflict player, make them go one direction or the other, make him choose. Dolphins did that on this play in the r p OH to get a

nice first down rip to mac Hollins. And just in general, the RPO game was cranking early in this one. Pretty much the only past calls they had in the first drive was a lot of that r p O look. So you see the Dolphins getting better in that area, growing in that area. Offensive line kind of learning the ropes of that RPO game and putting it to use here late in the season for the Dolphins. Some individual notes.

Austin Jackson. I thought he had some really good bounce back reps early in the game, showing some good work against pass protection. There was a bowl rush early on where he kept his feet active through the contact. That's a great sign to watch, the way he keeps those feet moving and keeps himself in position to anchor and recover against those power rushes. Had some just great reps early on in past protection in general. Had a good

powerful punch on a few of those reps. I also have picked up a play early in the game where they passed off a stunt. On second down, he picks up Quentin and Williams who crashes outside with an upfield power move, and I thought they made a lot of progress early in this game picking up those stunts compared to last week in Denver and blocking Quinn and Williams. This guy was dominant throughout the course of the game,

so Austin Jackson gets a nice rap on him. Robert Hunt, I thought, on the other side, had some nice protection plays as well. In pass Pro there's an incomplete third down the Jets kind of running delayed blits. The linebacker loops around from the inside and comes outside and he sees it, finds it, picks it up, handles it perfectly, and gets a nice pocket there. For Ryan Fitzpatrick, Eric Flowers and Space I thought was good in this game play. He pulled play side for a nice wipeout on a

Matt Breeder run for a first down. Early in the game. He corners and seals well on those pulling plays, and then later on a screen hits enough of a defensive back to influence his his movement on the play and then gets to the next level and looks for additional work. He is consistent in that regard and staying on the offensive line. Speaking of getting out in space, I just love watching Ted Carriss on tape for this reason. Every

single week, a six yard screen passed DeAndrea Washington. He stands up and throws the initial man out of the club. And that's after you kind of invite the defensive the defensive lineman upfield. You invite them upfield and then toss him out of the way, and at best you hope to get him a step or two off their track. But he throws the guy on the ground, then gets upfield and buries number thirty to the safety at the second level. And just the way he in general hits

double teams, the catch and climb. You catch onto that first double team block climbed to the second level. It's the same thing we see on screens. He's got a strong upper half where he can really chip and turn and toss, like on the tossing out of the club from the previous play. I'm just picturing Ted. He talked about his summer workouts in his garage. Maybe he's bailing hay. Is that a term? Hurling hay on a farm somewhere?

Just throwing hay up over the top of the rest of a hay pile and gathering that upper body strength and that kind of twist and turn strength. And I even dropped a good old rick flair on one of his blocks later in the game where he gets downfilled on a screen pass. Speaking of DeAndre Washington, some nice shakes, some nice wiggle in the open field. Thought he had a good feel for leverage on some blocks on the

screen passes that he converted on. He catches back to back passes and moves the chains as a pass catcher on those. The very next play after those two catches, picks up thirty two on a nice blitz pick up and pass protection, and then he closes things up or at least has a nice run in the fourth quarter by sixteen yard rip with a little hot step to get outside. You just see the explosion step there from DeAndre Washington staying at the skill player spots. Mike Gasicky.

We heard Josh Grizzard talk about brotherhood routes on the podcast last week, talking about guys that do things to set up other receivers to make plays. There was a play earlier in the game where mac Hollins does it where he kind of takes an outside release and slow delays that release so the cornerback doesn't want to get inside quickly before he breaks it off inside and it

creates space form that way. There's a nice play later on in the game where Gasicki takes an inside release and create some space on derm Smys third catch of the game, and he talked postgame about running through contact and and finding different ways to vary the releases. I thought we we saw on this play as well, to create space for his best friend Dirham Smith for a reception on his corner route a third down and short conversion.

Earlier in the game, Jachee runs another great route, a brotherhood route that pulls the corner down to the flat and creates that space for Mike. A very nice anticipation ripped there from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Gisicky, who shows strong hands and plucks that thing for a first down. Did the exact same thing a few drives later on I touchdown catch beats him twice really on this play where he runs through the route, initially gets on top of him and then has to come over the top and

rebound the football off his helmet. Just excellent, excellent work there from tight end Mike A. Sicki. And then on a third and sixteen, he turns a linebacker around in the middle of the field, nice little outside release, cross his face and gets those hips open and gets himself open. But pressure got to Fitzpatrick just as he went to through went to throw and they couldn't quite connect on the play. So I thought Mike Sicki had a good game.

I thought Dion DeVante Parker had a huge game, just catching multiple routes, square ins, slants open on a couple of drag plays, back shoulders comebacks. They had double coverage on a back shoulder pass the reception after the one that was reviewed and stood that stood up. There, they roll a safety over the top to Davante Parker, but

he still makes the catch. I talked about this on the podcast on Sunday night or possibly last week, where a number one receiver needs to be able to beat double coverage and catch balls on third down and catch passes in the red zone everyone knows the football is coming to them. Thought Parker did that throughout the course of this game. And a lot of these catches are such tight window throws and he's not only catching the football, he's ripping off big runs. Afterwards, he really just plagued

within himself. Well, they're a guy that does so well in contested catches, and it was fun to watch a big time step up game for Davante Parker. And we later saw him hit a comeback route for a first down on second and ten, once again with safety coverage rolling over the top, so he has to find a way back down because you're not going to get vertical

with that safety help. This is right after the Nick needed interception, works back down the stem, catches it for twenty five yards with pressure bearing down Fitzpatrick, who did a great job to get the ball out, and Parker had to uncover and win because at that point in the play with a pressure, he was really the only option in the play. He makes a big one and then finally catching another back shoulder in the fourth that helped Miami keep the clock moving with a ten point lead.

Just such a crucial element of this game, those back shoulder throws and making those contested catches. They needed him in this game, and I thought he stepped up really big that way at receiver as well. Jachem Grant the separation he created on a first down conversion that he had in this game, just a hop step to kind

of create some space between he and the defender. And it really shows you how much they feared that deep speed, because once he kind of throttles down, they're kind of thinking about the double moon and they take a couple of steps back and get more depth. He can really threaten those guys at the top of the stem and snap that thing off. And I think there's some more

meat on the bone here. As far as Jachim in the passing game, it looks like, you know, several times he's created some separation in the game and just for whatever reason, they haven't been able to connect on those. But there's so many instances, some isolation opportunities where he's so far behind the defender that the defender has to

get on his tail and get up field. And then you can either throw the deep ball, throw the vertical ball, go back shoulder intentionally under throw it and you might get a defensive pass interference like the Dolphins did in this game late in the fourth quarter to really help them put it away with the Adam Shaheen touchdown reception. So just offensively and as a team as a whole.

I think there are so many reps from these young guys you're seeing every game that are encouraging, Like it's a good feet from the offensive line, good hand placement, good blitz pick up by running backs and stuff like that, good routes from the receivers working hard for each other to get each other open. I just I think there's a good opportunity here for a lot of these guys. And that's that's the vision, right You don't draft player

for the for their first year production at all. You draft players to develop and grow them, like we saw with Devanta Parker and Mike Gasiki now in year three and your six respectively. For those two players, they developed and grew here. I think the other guys on this team can as well. Let's go ahead and turn this over to the defensive side of the film a little

more enjoyable watch on defense. Three points allowed, ten first downs, two hundred and sixty yards, the second rank scoring defense, the first ranked third down defense, and I really enjoyed watching this Dolphins all twenty two from the three points allowed against the New York Jets, now three points in two games this season against Gang green and first off the block. The very first play of the game, ray Kwon Davis gets immediate knocked back and bubble and he

did this pretty much consistently throughout the game. Thought he set good picks as a pass rusher and freeing guys up to loop inside and make plays that way. He also got some penetration himself. Just consistent disruption from ray Kwon Davis. Same thing was true of Zach Seiler. I mean early on the Jets pull the tackle and try to seal him with a tight end and he just takes him back into the lap of a running back

and then fort end up from there. Ray Kawon and Van Ginkle a lot of times, I just love seeing defensive lineman get that knocked back and disrupting the play in some form or fashion. But he was getting off blocks and making plays in this game. More good stuff from the man with a new contract. He later comes back and disrupts the pocket from the three technique by

working upfield, splits the garden tackle. The very next play, he walks the guard back in to the running back and Van Noi closes the play down on the backside. The first play of the second half, he splits the double team and overpowers the tackle for a tackle a stop right at the line. It's really impressive how many times he flashed in this game. Was a four or five there with just twenty snaps. Big impact plays again from Zach Seeler. Christian Wilkins had a very good game

as well. Hell double teams really well throughout the course of the game. I thought, you watch the way he has such a strong base and low center of gravity because of that flexibility he offers. He's stout and flexible with a really nice burst off the snap, and that kind of allows him to make to win immediately off the snap for some of those impact plays. He teamed up with the land and Roberts Fray run stuff and

the third quarter doing just this. He also plays rundowns to the backside of the formation, chasing him across the formation by following the block to the football then disengaging. He does this pretty regularly too. I thought he did that well on a certain solo tackle in the third

quarter up against Frank Gore and then Emmanuel Ogba. This guy makes impacts every single week, and early in the game he takes the right tackle right into Donald's lap on third and six, it draws a hold and the start of the next series he draws a tight end and works over the block, comes back inside to outside and gets a run stuff as well. He'll hear his name throughout the course of some of these big plays

in this podcast. I thought Shaq Lawson had control of the edge throughout the course of the game, immovable at times. I thought Miami had really good edge run defense throughout the course of this game from Lawson, from Van Nou, Van Ginkel, and Emmanuel Ogba as well. Thought Jerome Baker again played well in space on routes, both in the

hook or the flat. Whether he's in the middle of the field or out wide, he finds a way to get in that hip pocket and either prevent the catch or get the the past catcher down quickly after he makes the three set option. I thought you really saw his ability to smoothly transition in this game. Open up, drop, come forward. It's a nice pairing with his blitz and capabilities.

And we saw the speed again later in the game when he stopped Ty Johnson in the open field on a flare route where he just follows him all the way across the formation to the wide side of the field and gets him down short of the sticks on third down. Jerome Baker Speed pays dividends often and Kyle Van Noy stopped me. If you've heard this before, like you've heard about Baker Speed. I just love watching Kyle Van Nooy do his job down in and down out.

Hundred percent Snaptaker. In this game, there's a first and ten and the Jets are at the Dolphins plus eighteen yard line and they pull the backside guard as the tight end who's kind of up over Van Noy's inside shoulder. He tries to get to the second level for a reach block on the land and Roberts and get across his face, and Van Noy sees the guard come across the formation and just with absolute force, stops him right

in his tracks. It forces the running back to cut up inside because otherwise he has to bubble deep in the backfield, and then you get pursuit there and it allows a gap to open up for your land and Roberts who comes in there and occupies it, knifeing inside and makes a tackle for a one yard game. It's just good football all around from Vanoy, Roberts, Ray Kuan Davis was there his zac seeler Jerome Baker I put all at the party fifty five team football making big

plays for this Dolphins defense. Vannoy also had a pass rush where he was able to get under the pads of the tackle and just power his way to the quarterback. It forced Donald to escape the pocket, as he did throughout the course of this game with good schemed up pressure and on his half sack for van Noy, he gets there with ray Kuan Davis because both ray Kwon and aug Bas set nice little picks for him to work up field and then loop over the top and

come inside on the quarterback. Both he and ray Kwan greet each other at Donald. Then a few plays later on the fourth and one stop, that was where Roberts just squares up in the hole with Frank Gore exactly on just exactly squares him up how you want to do it. An explosive game changing play and the first

player the next series. He then beats a blitz from the running back to pick up a half sack along with Jerome Baker in the Jets backfield as well, staying at linebacker Andrew Van Ginkl I Meat out about the play where he tripped up Frank Gore, and I mean the Gangster is basically in what you would look at

as like a simulated Oklahoma drill. You've got a guard pulling with a running back into so he has to get around that block and find a way to get to the running back, and he undercuts that block and sells out to just get a piece of Gore's ankle, who's basically full throttle for that gap because if he hits it hard, there's a one on one chance there with he and Bobby McCain, who's been terrific on those open field tackles at the second level when backs break

through this season we saw many many times in previous games. But Van Gigel makes it irrelevant and just gets him down an awesome, awesome play. And then shortly after that he uses the same dip and angle to kind of get around that corner for a shot at a sack, but the tackle snatches the inside of that collar bone on the front side of the jersey and it's an easy holding call for the official ten yards push him back.

Speaking of Bobby the open field tackling, he also just caps off so much stuff deep for opposing offenses like he did in this game, and it forces Donald to kind of go through multiple looks and hold the football for a little bit. It's been such a consistent element of this team this year, with him playing a lot of middle of the field stuff and playing the deep heart of the field. He's so consistent there in that tackling. It's been fun to watch his transition to that safety role.

Byron Jones Xavian Howard, I just I've got so many notes around these guys. They're so good. I talked about them last week mirroring and running takeoff routes upfield with receivers. Saw the same thing here on a couple of deep incomplete shots first intended for Brashad Perriman on Jones. They're just both in the hip pockets of their guys on either side of the field. It looks like it's a

mirror while they're in mirror coverage. They're trying to run the exact same route as the receiver, and you see x undercut this little curl route and it really just shows you how he's able to make so many big plays. He's so often positions himself in between the quarterback and the wide receiver at the catchpoint. It's just it's uncanny how often that happens. And the way these two guys work with their safety help is just a lot of fun to watch. It's like watching foodsball. Almost one one

guy moves, they all move. There's a third and seven in completion where they try to get Xavian in a bit of conflict where they run Arounte underneath him and over the top of him, and he just carries it long enough until Eric Rowe comes over and closes the thing off, and by the time the football gets there, they're both in good shape up high and down low.

There's a third and four takeoff route with Denzel Mims where xaviing Howard'll talk about him individually here a little bit where he just pins Mims to the sideline and Donald braces contain and tries to get him coming back down the sideline, but x is right there to force him out at the catchpoint, push him out of bounds. Talking about four to five seconds there a blanket coverage. It's just it's crazy how how much how long he can cover four and and have good coverage for extended

periods of time When these quarterbacks break the pocket. On the next drive, they try and over route with him giving outside leverage, which is free inside access for the receiver, and he undercuts the route. And if this pass is flat, it's got a good chance to get his hands on it. But Donald does a good job on this particular play to put it high in a way. It's just in a tough spot so Perriman can't quite get to it.

It creates both exaviing and Howard doing this creates both a small window and a chance for a game changing play. And it's like Byron Jones said, this freaking guy he gets his hands on the takeoff route later in the game, and it's the exact same thing. He creates a small window, and if the ball is off by just a little bit, he's in position to get his hands on the football.

And this time he's got it. But you watch the slow mo replay, Perriman actually pokes out of x his hands when he lifts his hands up to try to catch the ball. Otherwise he might have made the catch on that one too. Then you see McCain come over and just clean it up with a perfect hit for a good measure. Talking about that communication, and timing between

the cornerback and safety. Play Later in the game, x literally stacks Mims on a deep ball like a receiver were due to a cornerback runs the route and gets on top and stacks him so he can't get over the top to make the play, and so all Men's can do to prevent another possible interception is jump on his back and get that O p I. Then he punches one out where it looks like pairman might catch

a forty four yard touchdown on a post. And then finally he finishes off this time by doing the exact same thing, getting undercut on a little flat throw underneath for his seven interception. He puts himself in possession four or five times throughout the course of this game and just finally got one paid off there at the end. But this was one of my favorite cornerback tapes I've

watched in quite some time. He played really really good in this game, and just the secondary in general had so many plays where everything was just blanketed there was nowhere to go Byron Jones had nice disruption on a pair of over routes. Then there was that twenty seven yard completion to Perriman where I thought he was in good shape. Did most everything right on that play was in the hip pocket of the receiver gets his head

around early. You see him snap early on the tape, but the ball is a little bit underthrown impairman is able to adjust, and that's something Byron has talked about working on locate in the football a lot this year, and I think he shows you a little bit of that growth on that play getting his head around so quickly. Nick need Um got a big interception in this game, a great example of just plastering downfield. The quarterback breaks the pocket and need Him finds a guy walls him off,

and Donald throws one direction. The receiver breaks the other and need Him's right there to find the football and collect for his first pick of the year. Very nice play. Finally, Brandon Jones the very first drive of the game. We talked about this on the Sunday podcast because I thought it was such a good example of how this team makes plays and finds different guys to make plays and

gets pressure in different ways. On this play, again, Dolphins just blanket every option in the second dary with guys sitting on routes while the pressure arrives and the offensive line kind of fans out to block the Dolphins wide rush going upfield, and from zero to sixty in a flash comes Brandon Jones. You just you can't really tell that he's coming because he's just kind of standing off the football and not showing pressure in that a gap.

But once the ball is snapped like a bullet, he's out of that stands and squares up a shot on the quarterback. And also Emmanuel Ogball comes clean splitting the garden tackle on that play too, So just more of the same man Like Flora said, Josh Boy doesn't get

enough credit. Great called game, good mix of everything fronts and coverage wise, and doesn't hurt when you get great play from those cornerbacks, that secondary communications on top of things, McCain and Road doing their work consistently, Guys like Kyle van noymaking plays and and doing his assignment play in and play out, not leaving the field, multiple contributing linebackers

and defensive lineman. It's just been fun to watch this defense kind of come together and grow and they're playing good football and we'll see if they can continue it next week against the Bengals and into Thecember and finished off the season strong that way as well. All right, let's go ahead and get two coordinators and assistant coaches media from Tuesday here December the first, the first episode

of December on Drivetime. Let's go ahead and start with Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, who first was asked about what is it the MIxS exaving Howard the cornerback that he is. I would say that, uh, he's really put in uh you know, I would say, consistently some good all around performances from um a run game standpoint, a past game standpoint, as far as his technique at the line of scrimmage, his leverage and past coverage, his his

technique at the top of the route. I would say, in the run game, um, you know, making sure that he leverages the ball, being able to crack replace, I mean, really becoming a complete corner um, you know, and doing it very consistently for for a long period of time. And it's getting better and he's working hard at it.

That's a credit to him. Um, you know, and I don't know our guys in the secondary, uh you know, Charles Burke's and g A. You know that that they work you know, extensively with those guys and Xaviens put in a lot of work and you know, and I think the good thing about Axavian he knows, you know, it's a week to week league, so he's got to put in that work each week and he's striving for improvement and uh, you know, it's really a credit to him and his work at that. Uh. I mean, we're

seeing strides on a weekend and week out basis. And coach next answered a question about the growth of so many young players and what makes this team full of all these young players, whether it's Zach Seeler, Nick Needham, Brandon Jones, Ray Kwon Davis, all these young players in the defense making strides. What makes this young defense so hungry and able to improve that the course of the season.

I'd say the credit to them and their work ethic, um, you know, and in their consistency of coming in and striving to be better. Um you know. Um that again, And I mean we preach this, and I know it sounds like a broken record. Is like things, they don't stay the same. I mean, you you either get better or you get worse. And you know, I mean you may hit some bumps in the road. But at the end of the day, the foundation, you know, it's it's like anything else in life. Uh, you know, it's your

profession as your craft. If if you don't practice it, you don't work at it, your skill sets will diminish. And UM, I would say, you know a lot of our guys they put in, you know, a lot of extra work or there's a lot of guys you know, um that maybe not playing, but you know you can see the improvement in practice, and um, you know, and we really push out with everybody. Um, you know, and I would I would say it's the same for the coaches. You know, we we try to get better from week

to week. And like I said, sometimes you have bumps on the road here and there, but I think it's the process of constantly striving for improvement. Let's go ahead and here next from coach Danny craftsman of the Special Teams, and this group just gets better every single week. There ranked one and two across so many metrics on so many different sites or whatever you want to call it. Special teams getting the job done. One area is winning

the kickoff coverage. I asked coach how the decisions to kick off consistently short of the goal on force returns and get those tackles down inside the twenty five yard line, and that confidence to win the hidden yards battle. Here's coach on that. You know, we look at on a week to week, came to game basis, based on our opponent, based on other situations once we truly get into the game. But we feel good about Jason, We feel good about

the coverage, guys. So there's a lot of things that go into it, but you know, to be able to have some of that ability to maybe for lack of a better term, dictate, Uh, what's going on is something that that flow talks about and I'm sure you guys have heard it from him time and time again. Uh, but that's an advantage we try and take advantage of.

It was short and sweet with Dolphins offensive weren't our Chang geely who answered a question about to a pre and post game and his feelings about not being able to play on Sunday in the game against the Jets. I think we kind of all realized how competitive he is and um, you know, I didn't really get a chance to talk to him, uh, you know after the game about how he felt, but just knowing him. I know it really Uh they wanted to play so uh.

I don't know uh til we get you know, back in the office lands d uh exactly what the status is. But you know, I know he's he's working hard to get ready. He's tough guy. Let's keep it rolling. Here with Dolphins running backs coach Eric Studisville, who I asked a question about DeAndre Washington his ability to get himself into a position where he was kind of lead back in that fourth quarter, getting those first downs and accending

drives and catching passes. Here's coach students Fille on DeAndre washing Inton's worth at work ethic. Easy for me to say since he arrived. Well, I think there's a couple of things that are that are worth noting regarding DeAndre. I think the first one is this is a passionate guy who prepares. He came in to learn this offense. He did a great job of working. That's that's what you see manifested in his performance was the amount of work and time and effort that he put in to

give himself a chance to go out there. And then, as all all players, I think doing coaches as well, we just want an opportunity to showcase what we can do, and he was waiting for that time and he was prepared for that opportunity when it came forward. And uh, I think that's a it's a credit to him and who he is, his work ethic, his preparation um and truly his patients for his time and opportunity that he

was ready for it when it came up. Let's go ahead and here from coach Marshall along the offensive line, who talked about the growth and fundamentals and development of young offensive line and how toy the same for this Dolphins team for young guys as it is for the veterans in that development. As we as we do every week up front, you know, win loser draw. The fundamental part of of playing in the National Football League is

utmost uh, especially where especially at the tackle position. You know, some guys are talented enough inside to kind of do what they need to do to get the job done. But out there, when you're going every week against very very you know, the top of the line rushers to to to that side, it's fundamentals, it's bend in your knees. It's the same same scenario every week. And how we get get those done, and that's that's with Austin is no different than than Rob or you know Eric Flowers

for that matter. You know the young players that we have keep getting keep doing the fundamental thing, learning something new every week. Uh you know, am I in balance? You know as my my my hands and the rights each and every week, my playing going in every week against Pacific rushers, all that is some work on every single week. Let's go ahead and hear from Dolphins receivers coach Josh Grizzard who talked about Devanta Parker. I had

a question for coach about DeVante's demeanor and temperament. But first we're gonna start off with the idea of playing man coverage and getting matchups in that man scheme for Devanta Parker. Here's coach Grizard on when teams do go man coverage against Dvante, they like that matchup. Dude, we like that matchup from week to week. Get changes on. Is it gonna be a man scheme, Is it gonna be a press man scheme? Is it gonna be a

zone scheme where you gotta find the devoted area? But yeah, we we we loved him matched up when we got all the confidence in the world in him. It was great to see that we not had a big game on on Sunday, but that's always a matchup that we're gonna try to take advantage. And I believe I played the sound for you guys on the Sunday Recap podcast where Mike Kasiki talked about him going crazy after a catch and DeVante just kind of shaking the head, quiet

lean doing his thing. I wanted to ask Coach Gizzard about that temperament for Parker and the juice it gives to the rest of the team when he has that kind of quiet confidence. Here's Coach on Parker's temperament. I think with the headshaking, all that is what you get. I mean, he doesn't he doesn't say a ton but um. When he does say something and invoices his opinion, you know that it's coming from um, something he truly believes in.

So whatever his reaction to having this success and going out there and just shaking his head and having it again the next play is what we're looking for. And I think that when guys see that kind of reaction from him, it gives juice to the rest of the unit. It could be the running backs, tight ends, and then I think the old line season. I mean they're in they're protecting for um, you know, whoever's throwing it to

get him the wall. So it's a collective effort and they see it and sparks some juice for the next play. And let's go ahead and finish this thing up with one of my favorite coaches to talk to, tight ends coach, George Gadzi, and we'll go ahead and get an answer from him here on the growth of Mike ga Sicky. I talked about this again on the Sunday podcast with Mike working on varying his releases and playing through contact and and the growth occurs week to week because of

the different variables each opponent offers. Here's George Garcia on what he's seen in the growth from Mike asiki and the ability to vary those releases against different opponents and different coverages. Yeah, that's uh, the releases. I think that's always evolving as a route runner um because you go against different guys, you go against or well you're presented a defensive linemen to get around when you're attached or

inline when you're in the slot. It may be a different player than a corner outside playing you so uh. And then obviously the safeties are a little bit more physical, um when when matching the tight end. So all those change based on the person you're going against. UM. That's what's so fun about this is each week there's new variables, UM, and it's a challenge. So putting those guys in those positions during the week, making sure that they execute the

techniques that we think will help them. UM and Mike send a good job of caring that to the game. I think it's Uh, it's a little bit easier to draw on the paper and get to the back pylon. But when he's avoiding a guy along with the rush getting two fits there on that throw that you were talking about and a high point it there's there's a lot of individual technique that we've worked on for that play to be successful and there was a big play

for us. And so there you have it. Another very very meaty Tuesday episode here of the Drive Time Podcast. In the meantime, that's gonna be my time you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast on Spotify, Leave us a rating, leave us a review, Go ahead, and cast your Pro Bowl votes for the Miami Dolphins. Right now, balloting is open. Give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield NFL. Follow the team

at Miami Dolphins. The Fish Tank has a new episode out with David Cross, The Audible has a new episode out with the Land and Roberts. Obviously, Drive Time every Day as well, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up.