Dolphins Patriots Week 18 Recap

of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, the Dolphins win to get to nine and eight. That's right, it's our final victory Monday edition. Are right when when win? Win? Win? Edition of the Drivetime Podcast four season, the Dolphins win thirty three to twenty four over the New England Patriots.

We'll get that game broken down for you with the five takeaways, talk about some of the storylines I had coming in, and will also play a segment from the post game show on five sixty with myself, SETH Levitt and O J. McDuffie from somewhere in South Florida. This is the Drive Time Podcast. So it is a second win over the Patriots this season. That is the first sweep over the Patriots for the Dolphins since two thousand.

You might recall two thousand one was Tom Brady's first year there in New England and two thousand was Belichick's first year there with the New England Patriots when they were five and eleven. They then went eleven and five and won the Super Bowl in that second season. So Miami gets their first sweep over the division rival in twenty one years. They also secured their second consecutive winning season that has not happened since the O two oh

three seasons. And also the last time a team had consecutive winning seasons and did not qualify for the postseason, and either of those two years was the O two oh three Dolphins. So you can look at that and say, Wow, that's horrible luck for the Dolphins, or you can look at that and say right on the cusp, right on the fringe and kind of build momentum here going into

the off season. But I want to talk about this game on this podcast and really get to the five takeaways here here from coach Flores as well as the Dolphins put a bow on another victory here and get to nine and eight on the season to close things up, and I just finished watching the Chargers and Raiders game.

I actually got home for the from the postgame show, like middle of the third quarter, and I got myself I was eating some some dinner before I came down to the podcast and got myself sucked into the game

and just kept watching it and kept watching it. And it felt like the NFL had like twenty tricks left and it's bag if the NFL was like a person that had a bag full of tricks and they had like twenty left with only a quarter to play in the season, and was like, all right, emptied, all out right here, let's go ahead and make everything that possibly crazy can happen happen. And it did, and the Raiders get the victory of the last second field goal where

if they miss, they still go to the postseason. What a crazy finished that was. The season just makes you appreciate and I love this league, in this sport that we all love so much, especially when the Dolphins are

victorious on a Sunday. Of course, it will not result in a playoff appearance for the Miami Dolphins, as they finished on the outside looking in, but with a strong victory over their division rivals here to close the season, and a few of the things I was looking at here before we get into the takeaways and hear from head coach Brian Flores was I was curious to see how the Dolphins pressured mac Jones and what the approach

was defensively in this game. If it was going to be more coverage, if it was going to be more blitzing. We'll look at the numbers on the podcast tomorrow, but I thought there was a good mix and probably more coverage than I expected personally in terms of four man rushes and kind of daring him to break the pocket

and run and make plays with his legs. There was a couple of opportunities for him to do so, and I think on one of the instances he hit up a big thirty yard pass or so, and there was another one where he had some room to run, tried

to throw and it fell incomplete. So Miami, I thought, did well to kind of force him to do some things that maybe he hadn't done a whole bunch this year, rather than just heat him up and get those blitz is coming after him and let him get those quick hitters that he is so quick at processing and finding and and hitting in rhythm and let that offense stay

on the field for long periods of time. So I thought the Dolphins had a good plan executed it that way against this rookie quarterbacks had a very strong rookie season. Scarious about the red zone. The Dolphins first red zone possession, the Patriots score touchdown, they would force a field goal on a later one, and then right on the doorstep of the red zone the Patriots also fumbled a ball back there as well. I was curious to see about third downs, in the length of those third downs, if

Miami could get to those exotic looks. And that's a good part about this mixed game plan was they did have some instances of third and seven plus what they could dial up that pressure play, that kind of off zero look where you can't really dial up the quick hitters and get yak because you have to find a way around those off cornerbacks. Miami had a good mix of that as well. I was also curious about two was last game of the season here and trying to get to three and oh all time in his career

against the Patriots. That's a good box to check. First sweep since two thousand against the Patriots. That's a good bucks to check. And back to back winning seasons, you love to check that box as well. I wanted to play some audio here from head coach Brian Flores, and I was gonna choose one or two, but the first three Q and as in his Sunday night postgame press conference, I was a big fan of let's just go ahead

and go and order. Here's the first one. When he was asked about how his team responded and how they came out and played in the game, which of course you knew had no playoff implications, and that was a question coach answered all week and he said, hey, we're playing like it's another game. That mean you get seventeen the opportunities. We're gonna go out there and try to win it. Dolphins did, and they did. Here's Brian Flores tea proNT of the fight, their resiliency, their ability to

deal with diversity. M h. We got ups and downs and it's it's it's a year I'll certainly remember. Yeah. Coach was then asked a follow up question, or not a follow up question, just the next question and orders of the questions here about how much pride he took in the back to back winning seasons and mentioned he was the first one to do it since we mentioned two thousand three. Here's Brian Flores. Look, I mean the credit goes to the to the to the players, coaches.

I just you know, I always I'm always gonna feel like wish I could have done more. Um, and are guys they work hard from uh, you know, the players and coaches, but obviously our supports, staff, and it's it's it's a special group. Happy and proud to be a part of it. And uh excited for for for the way they played today. UM, proud of the way they played today and really the second half of the season. So here is the follow up to that first question when coach was asked about in which ways have you

grown and learned this year? Like he mentioned in that first answer, Here's head coach Brian Flores. I mean, I think, look, every year, every time you step out on the field, going to a meeting to do a walk through, I think you know those experiences. I think you're learning every time you every day, and I try to improve every day. I try to preach that to our players that that's that's the goal. Really in all areas, not just football, but m you know, as husbands, as fathers, as sons,

and really in every way. So UM, I try to take those experiences and try to be better in every area of my life. So you know, specific to football, I mean it's you know, it's across the board and from leadership standpoint, from a UM preparation standpoint, from the scheduling standpoint, from a practice standpoint, from a walk boo standpoint. I think you take all those those things and say, hey, you know, what's the right formula. But every year is

different to different players, different situations. So I think, you know, as I time to reflect all together. So many variables in football, offense, defense, special team scheduling, you know what I mean. That is just so many things, so many areas where you can learn. I try to be bettering every one of those areas. So you have head coach Brian Flores discussing this season ending victory. The Dolphins close out the season with eight victories in their final nine

games to finish eight and nine on the season. We're gonna come back into the five takeaways, but real quick, a short break. We're back on the Sunday Night Slash Monday morning recap edition of the Drive Time podcast. Dolphins win thirty three four over the Patriots in the season finale, and our first takeaway. It started early in the game. Jalen Waddle sets the record for receptions by a rookie receiver.

He has four in the game. He needed three to get the record, so he winds up with one oh three on the season for a thousand fifteen yards and seven total touchdowns. He caught six of those had rushing touchdown against the New York Jets. So Waddle, I mean, what a great rookie season he had this year for himself.

The number six picking the draft, Dolphins go back to the twelfth pick, go back up to the six picks starting at the third to move around and get an additional first round draft pick and draft this explosive playmaker

from Alabama, and he did not disappoint. And that was kind of a fun part of this early part of the game plan was not just to get Waddle involved and to get him the football and to get him the record and to get him into the end zone, to get the Dolphins offense crankin which I think really set a tone for this game, especially after the exhabing Howard pick six to put them up fourteen nothing early, which this Dolphins team sure can play with the lead,

but the way they got there with two a completing seven of his first seven passes for fifty four yards and that touchdown pass with the Dolphins altering different formations and heavy looks and unbalanced looks and more receivers, more tight ends, more backs, varying, Duke Johnson varying, Philip Lindsay, good mix of early down passing in some third it in short runs that convert and move the chains, and playing off of the some of the looks we've seen

all year long, like that little motion where Albert Wilson goes along the formation and then runs that little mini wheel route, and then Durham Smith has the dash pass option into the flat and to it has the potential zone read or keeper option, and then from there they've unveiled some wrinkles and different looks like, for instance, Durham Smith later in the game caught an eighteen yard passed up the sideline on one of those little it's not a wheel route, but it's kind of like off the

motion a wheel route up the sideline, and they were able to uh get a couple of those looks in this game. Snuck Waddle into that kind of corner of part of the end zone off of a similar look here with with two A coming rolling to that side of the formation. So just a good mix of running past different formations, getting different guys involved, different guys touching

the football. Loved the opening plan to that game. Love getting the football to Waddle, and just to kind of expand upon that takeaway and really make it about, you know, the entire season for this Dolphins team, because the takeaways ultimately about the game, but also about where the team

is at that moment. And to just look back at this draft class with Waddle, with Javon Holland, who made another big impact in this game with his physicality and his hits and his range and his speed and his ability to close short distances from deep depth and just make all kinds of plays and get to become a factor in the game whether he's down in the box or playing in that high post in the safety position.

Jalen Phillips, the other first round draft pick, didn't get credited for the sack that Christian Wilkins picks up, but he was a big part of that play that dumped Mac Jones and helped the Dolphins get off the field again on defense and a day where they were very good on that side of the field. So those first

three draft picks. Liam Eichenberg will break down the tape on the game tomorrow on Drive Time, But I thought he opened the season pretty well in New England left tackle and closes it pretty well against the Patriots at that left tackle position. Hunter Long was not active for this game, but you saw him for the course of the season, and then Robert Jones gets that start at the right tackle position as well. So some Dolphins key's continue to come along here. That's kind of a convoluted

edition of the first takeaway. But Jalen sets the record and sets the pace for a strong rookie class. I should say both Jalen's set records, as Waddle has franchise records. Also now the NFL record for most catches by a rookie in a single season, while Jalen Phillips has the all time Dolphins rookie record for sacks in a season. Takeaway Number two was how the Dolphins altered their their

game plan in this one. How they altered their defensive looks they show the young quarterback and just the preparation for your opponents. That's kind of the key part of the takeaways, how the Dolphins put themselves in position to prepare for the specific opponent, and talking mostly about the Xaviing Howard picks six where he just flat out basically so that they had two receivers to his side of the field, and he's the furthest wide out split corner

on the number one right. The number one is the furtherest split next inside is two and three and so forth and so on. And he turns the number one down the field where a safety has to come over the top, and that's that does create that turkey who they talk about in the cover to look where you have the behind the underneath corner underneath the over the

top safety. And he turned that free and jumped inside a little hookup route, a little snag route that mac Jones tried to find on his very first pass of the game after a pair of running plays put the Patriots in third and short, and he does what Xavian Howard does, gets his hands on the football, winds up with his fifth pick, his second touchdown of the season, and I just love the way they had a feeling for how the Patriots wanted to play this kind of

a similar style to Miami. You control the football, you control the clock, and that's how you wind up, you know, letting your defense do what does best and limit the amount of possessions they have on the field so that they're fresh, they can alternate their guys in there and get that pass rush going and eventually get takeaways when

the offense becomes more one dimensional. Well, the Dolphins read that red kind of the the keys for the Patriots this season, and that third and short pass right there, jump right in front of that little hookup route that has been such a reliable chain mover for that offense.

Not so fast on this one, and it quickly puts Miami out into a four team point lead, which I thought was really really key in this game for them to just kind of salt the game away, and not not salted away, but to to be able to dictate the terms of the game based upon that and force the Patriots into a bit more of a one dimensional attack, which they had to do throughout the course of the second half and really into that first half as well.

So the defensive performance, the preparation, the big play by your big playmaker and xaviing Howard. We mentioned earlier playing a lot of coverage on Mac Jones and just rushing for but then there was like a third and tent play where they had that zero pressure look where they're

all playing off coverage right at the sticks. You want to try to throw a hook up, you want to try to throw a hitch, you want to try to throw a slant or a dret, whatever you want to try to throw, We're gonna rally up and tackle because that's what this defensive Backs DNA says they're going to do. And with the pressure we're gonna put in your quarterback. If you don't take that quick hitter that we're probably gonna put pressure on him either get him down for

a sack and get a loose ball. Whatever the case. Maybe you just put the offense in into a position where they don't have many options and you forced them to play a certain way when you get into that.

And so Miami's defense with the run defense, helped them set that up early in this game with more Christian Wilkins, with more Andrew Van Geinkle, with some Zack Seedler involvement in their Emmanuel aug I mean, so many guys Landing Roberts your miss if we don't mention him, so many guys contributing to the early down success to put them in position and make the big plays on those third downs.

They wind up with two takeaways against the team who came into the game plus ten in the turnover department, which was number five in the NFL coming into action on Sunday. So, I mean, it began with the pick six, but it just kind of kept going from there. Pick six, punt, touchdown, punt, punt, field goal, fumble was the Patriots drive chart to help Miami get a seven team point lead at that point of the game. I also mentioned how it was concerned about how the Dolphins might fare on third down in

this game. The Patriots wind up five for ten after an eleven for six team performance back in the opener, but they were one for their first five and that's kind of that drive chart there, where they were able to keep the Patriots offense lead two short drives, keep him from scoring points, and help the Dolphins offense sustain in their long drives, which was a really good, complimentary brand of football for the Dolphins. So the defense knowing

your opponent and attacking accordingly was takeaway number two. We got there. Eventually, didn't really have the name for it there when we began to take away, but we got there. Takeaway number three. Robert Jones makes us first start. Now, I've been kind of mentioning him on the podcast here that the course of the season from training camp. You know, we talked I think it was I think it was Emery Hunt did the podcast back, Yeah, it was Emory,

But my good buddy, Emery. We have so many draft guests on I can't remember who says what all the time. But Emery, we had him on to talk about U d f as on the Dolphins roster and who he likes because he covers all kinds of wide scoping ranges of college football down at the FCS subdivisions, and and he does a great job calling games and analyzing games.

He's on CBS all that fun stuff, And we'll have that type of content for you here in this offseason as well, getting plenty of good draft and offseason content guests for you guys here on Drive Time. But Emory on that podcast talked about Robert Jones and when I asked him, which undrafted rookie do you think this on this Dolphins roster has the best chance to stick around long term? And he said, without hesitation, said Robert Jones.

And so we talked about him as he kind of built through the training camp program and you know, he was third and fourth team and just kind of working his way trying to get himself into a position. And we talked about his play in the preseason. We just kind of saw grow each game before eventually I thought he played really well in the Bengals game and he was kind of one of the stars of that game

on the postgame podcast that week. And then we see him get inserted into the lineup early in the season for like three or four snaps and I liked those snaps. Undered one drive like eight snaps. And then we've seen him get on the field on some heavy offensive line personnel where you bring six offensive linemen onto the field, and we've been a big fan. I've been a big

fan of his game there. And then he comes out in this one and I haven't seen the tape yet, but I remember some pretty good push off the right side where I was kind of focusing on sixty five and sixty eight, and they had some good combo blocks and some good some good work dent in the edge and kind of create in some space off the outside there for some runs. You know, Duke kind a nice twenty seven yard run to open up the first the

third quarter for the Dolphins offense. And I like what I saw from Robert Jones and the Dolphins were able to kind of mix their run game with different leads and polls. You know, they have that we talked about that dash pass to Durham Smith dash pass, not Pasha.

It's like when someone says horse shreddish. We have that little dash pass to Durham smythe where he pulls across the formation and it simulates split zone where you have the tight end peeling across the grain of the potential running game and it can cause some you know, some wandering eyes for linebackers for lack of a better term. And they work off of that with with the throw

the passing game as well. But they pulled Durham Smith around that split zone with you know, the backside guard leading up to So sometimes it was sometimes it was Robert Hunt, sometimes it was Austin Jackson and then off the edge too, with with the times that Jackson did pull to the right side, you see Robert Jones and they're just kind of kind of pinning that thing in tight to the formation man the offensive line creatings all kinds of space on the ground for the Dolphins to

rush for a buck ninety five in this game, and they open up with six straight runs on the field goal drive that moved Miami kind of from the fringe of the field goal range of field goal range down to the red zone in that third quarter and just kept running it, just kept running it and having success. So good work by Robert Jones and his first career start. I thought Robert Hunt was good, and you know, we've we've been talking about him for weeks now having a

really strong second half of the season. And then Michael Dieter and Durham Smith. I thought both had some good blocks as well as some nice work by Austin Jackson and leam Meikeenberg. You know, I think that when I when I plugged the tape on this week, I think I'm gonna see plays from all five of these guys and the tight ends in the running game. I think I'm gonna really like what I see from most of

their work throughout most of the game. But we'll find out when we watch the tape from from the live broadcast or from the live press box view. Enjoy what I saw up front, Robert Jones at right tackle. I'm intrigued by saying that all year number four, welcome home now potential stay home for Duke Johnson. I mean, you know, you could say if we know he'll be back, but he's earned an opportunity to be in that conversation, hasn't he. I mean, he starts that third quarter drive with the

twenty seven yards rushing out wide. Then he has the one yard touchdown where it's basically just hey, Duke, go win with your speed and the way he can sustain contact whether he's at full speed or working through the backfield, and he hits the accelerator the footwork to to put himself in position to explode off of those cuts where he's kind of pressing the hole and he kind of gets himself skinny behind the block and then the feet are still active and then he's out the backside or

out the front side, wherever it may be. He really sets his blocks up well, and I like the way it pairs with the size of this Dolphins offensive line that guys. You know, we talked about Robert Hunt swallowing guys up in the running game, Robert Jones off the right side as well. Austin Jackson's had some of that this year and the rest of the crew up front.

The way he can kind of set those blocks up and just give those big guys an extra inch of leverage or an extra inch of width, and where their hand placement goes, and the way they turn their butt to to create a lane and create a seal there. For Duke Johnson, I think he pairs well with how they blocked this thing up for him, and he's really maximizing what's been there in the running game. And you know, Miami ran for two fifty in the game last year

in Week fifteen. They had a hundred and forty through three quarters this time around and wind up with a buck ninety five and twenty five of those carries for a buck seventeen went to Duke Johnson and then also Philip Lindsay eleven for forty on the ground and two a tongule. Valoa had two big runs, a couple of first down conversions, on third down, including the twenty three yard or he finishes five for thirty eight on the day for seven point six yards per rush from your

starting quarterback there. So the Dolphins get the running game going and it goes heavily through Duke Johnson one seventeen. And we mentioned the defense, and how about trying to play a complimentary style of football. Four drives of seven twenty six, six fifty eight, six thirty and three fifty four really helped Miami squeeze the air out of the ball in this game and play a time possession game and get that victory and and really assaulted away there late.

If you look at the final numbers in this game, I'm he possessed the ball for thirty three minutes and thirty six seconds. To newing this, you add a pick six in there, and then you get fifty conversion on third down, although it was one for six at one point or possibly two for six at one point below. You do all that, you possess the football, you run

the ball, You're gonna be tough to beat. Let's come back with takeaway number five and a look ahead to what's next, but real quick, a short break al right back here with the Monday version, the recap edition of the Drive Time podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. We are presented by Auto Nation, and then the fifth takeaway from the Dolphins thirty three to victory over the New England Patriots is their spirit and fight to go

out and win this season finale. I think it says a lot about this team with what was not at stake. I mean, when we talked about it, I mentioned off the top of the show the Week eighteen finale on Sunday Night Football with the Raiders and Chargers and all the chaos and how much exhilaration there was in that game and around the league today in certain games that had, you know, more seating and playoff implications, the Dolphins game had that feel and that was because the Dolphins brought

that field to the game. I mean, the Patriots were playing for something. They had a potential division title to go capture, and Miami lived up to it and got out to an early start, got the crowd involved, and it was a fun day at the ballpark. It was just a whole bunch of fun for the Dolphins to be out there on that field. And we we played the clip last week with Jed Alexander talking about how you only get seventeen of these opportunities every single year.

We never take that for granted, and then he tweeted about it on Sunday. I believe a great photo of him, Javon Holland and Brandon Jones with his arms both in are locked around either of their their neck and shoulders and kind of giving them a pre game let's let's go and you know, I love you guys type of thing. That was a really cool tweet. I just thought it really embodied what Brian Floores, this coaching staff, and this entire organization's message was in this game was the let's

go out there and get a victory. Let's go out there and play hard, and they did for sixty minutes. So that's the fifth takeaway. Those are of five takeaways, and that is the final time we'll give you takeaways until next August. We'll do them for preseason after those games. But I want to go ahead and finish up with a few more points here as the well, we put a we put a bow on that game and a bow on the season here as far as the recap podcast are concerned, and if you were concerned about the

Dolphins first round draft choice next year. It looks like we will not find out when that first pick will be as the forty Niners pull off a late victory over the Los Angeles Rams and they find a way into the postseason. Had they lost, the Saints won their games, so they would have gone to the playoffs and the Niners would have been out, which means Miami would have

picked inside the top twenty. So if the Niners lose next week, that pick will be in that kind of twenty six range, I believe, depending on how the rest of the games go. So you guys know how this drill goes. We did with the Houston Texans pick for a couple of years in a row. Now we do it here with the Niners in the playoffs, Texans in the playoffs two years ago. We'll be tracking their games

to see where that pick winds up. But the Dolphins also, again we talked about cap space, you know, a while back back, and how the Dolphins are in good position there was some flexibility to go out and make some moves or working on extending their own guys or signing some free whatever the case may be. They've got the flexibility to make that happen with the draft capital as well, and just to kind of finish up this point, you know, I wanted to actually real quick, let's do this, let's

do this. Two opponents this year are also now set, and the Dolphins, of course will host the Patriots, Bills, and Jets. Next year, they'll host the Browns and Steelers in the a f C North, They'll host the Houston Texans for finishing third in their respective divisions, the a f C East and South. They'll also host the Green Bay Packers. In the Minnesota Vikings, they'll go on the road to the Patriots, Bills and Jets. The a f C North will be road games at the Ravens and Bengals.

Will also go on the road for the a f C West third place team, which is the Los Angeles Chargers, and then we'll play the Lions, the Bears from the NFC North on on road games and the forty Niners r NFC West opponent, and the additional seventeenth game will be also a road up point for the Dolphins. So Patriots, Bills, Jets, Brown Steelers, Texans, Packers and Vikings at home on the road. Patriots Bills, Jets, Ravens, Bengals, Chargers, Lions, Bears, forty Niners.

So when we get to that season, I want to finish up with my point here that with all the cap space and all the draft picks, and all the flexibility too, if you want to go move capital for veterans, if you want to sign veterans, if you want to trade back and get more future capital, if you want to stick and pick where you're at and get rookies to make impacts from those spots, those are all on the table, right But what I think draws the most

improvement for every team year to year is your internal improvement. And I've talked about this so many times, and this was kind of something we we used therapeutically in the first half of the season to kind of get us through those tough podcasts after seven straight losses. Was measuring how players grow from their rookie season to their second season, or even in their rookie season, or sometimes there's back

into their third season. We talked about Christian Wilkins. He had a career year, four and a half sax, he got another one in this game today and he winds up with eighties high eighties tackles. I forget the exact number, just coming out on like a total beast after having a good start to his career, but nothing like he did this year in terms of production and play. I mean,

he was fantastic. You know, I talked about Mike A. Sikey's rookie season, he talked about it this week, wasn't up to his standards, and then he's picked up and had a much, very productive to three and four years of his career. I mean, it's it's evident throughout the roster, It's evident throughout the national football And I point to one guy in Denver and Garrett Bowls, who I don't know if you guys ever follow le Broncos are just

general discourse about football teams. People in Denver wanted Garrett Bowls gone through his first year, second year, even third year, and then he turned it on and kind of the light went on and he found what made him a first round draft pick and he got an extension. I mean, it's Brian Flores mentions this all the time. Growth for a player, it's a case by case study. It could be immediate, it could take some time. It had never

happened but you don't give up on talent. And I think that with this Dolphins roster, whether guys have hit their peak of their development or they're still coming along, or they haven't quite lived up to what they hoped with the franchise, franchise hoped they would show. That's up to the themselves and the coaching staff to get those guys going up for next year and to continue to

build and progress and get better. And Brian Flores mentioned getting better every single day, and that's my whole point here, is that your best improvement will come from internal improvement on your roster. And I like that and it's been a theory of mine for a long time. I'm not just saying this right now because I'm in this position.

You heard that unlocked on Dolphins, and I like that theory right now because the Dolphins had so many draft picks in twenty one that have made an impact and can continue to make bigger impacts and have other players as well in the twenty nineteen class and veterans that can improve to I like the position the Dolphins are in from that standpoint to continue to get better on their own roster also while having the resources outside to

make their roster better. That's my final note here on the off season on this edition of the Drivetime Podcast. That's gonna do it for me. You all please be sure to check out the postgame show segment here after the outro, and 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. Check out the fish Tank Podcast with Seth and o J. They are off this week, but

they'll be bi weekly during the off season. Also the YouTube channel, we have Dolphins Today with myself and Joanna. I believe that's gonna keep rolling this season. Also, our media availabilities are up there as well, and you can also check out Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, Fins Up, Caroline, Daddy is coming help post game show coming your way next? What is up? Dolphans and welcome into the fifth Quarter post game Show on the Miami

Dolphins Radio Network. The Fish Tank crew is here, Seth Levitt and o J McDuffie. I am Travis Winfield, the host of the Drivetime Podcast on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, and guys, it's back to back winning seasons for the first time since I was a sophomore in high school. Juice, two thousand three, first sweep already, we have to talk the show with you guys. Right into my intro to first sweep over the pat since two thousand I was in junior high for that one, Seth, Juice, I'm not

in junior high anymore. I'll toast of that one boys. One more show to go on the season, o j And we are finishing it up here with the victory. Dolphins get to nine and eight on this two thousands. Bro. Cheers, cheers, cheers, Big Sath. We know you don't have to get down like this anyways, but hey, a win is a win is a win, bro, let's get it in. He he went straight for the what's the name of this one here? Oh my god, that's a sir, They're unbelievable. He went

straight forward. That's that's a warm one beverage, and that is a large would on the wind wood Man, that's a win would victory today? Bro, that's to play on word, Seth. What do you think, man? Think it was just this way to finish out the season here with a what was the final score? And we kick a p at there at the end. I was too busy. Let it go. Let's let it go. So finished three four is the final correct juice. Let's let's go back to juice here

like we do every single Sunday. Here. Take away from the game, man, we get another victory here, eight and one to finish out this season. What do you think? Man? Man? You know what, I just love the fact that, you know, the guys did not sit back last week and feel sorry for themselves, you know what I mean? I think that's more important anything. They did not feel sorry for themselves.

They went out there and they played hard. Man. Let's talk about the first drive and then of course when the defense came in and gave him another little you know, uh little emphasis on like getting this lead. And then next thing you know, you know, we're sitting there with fourteen nothing lead, and they went out there and play well. Man. Offense went down there and play well. Defense answered, and next thing you know, we gotta chance right there, bro.

And that's that's the way the game went down. Man. So I love the fact that a team that had nothing zero to play for went out there and played their asses all. That was one of my big takeaways too. I thought this was an important game for Miami just in terms of seeing how they would respond to being really out of contention for the first time, Seth since two thousand nineteen. I mean, every game the last two years has been a big one up until this one, unfortunately,

But I liked this right here, Seth. Drives of seven, six, six fifty, eight, six thirty and then a drive that almost went four minutes. That's a good complimentary style to this defense. And what did you think of that as far as how this game kind of played out here, Seth, because we saw that the defense played another very strong game. The offense kind of complimented what they did that come out with a victory in the end. But what do you think of the approach of this game for the Dolphins? Well?

I love the approach. You know, I was texting you guys that first drive. I was like, where were these guys last week? I mean, this is really kind of the game plan and we had hope to see last week, but you know last week is over and you talked about not much to play for. Ultimately, juice every opportunity you get, and you know how fleeting it is to get opportunities to play in the NFL, and so every game matters, regardless of there's playoffs in the line or not.

We'd love to have the playoffs on the line, right, I mean, that would have been fantastic. That wasn't the case, But it doesn't mean you go out there and lay down, especially against the division rival. And and you know, I love seeing who doesn't like seeing the Patriots fans all upset in the stands? Who doesn't like seeing Bill Belichick

pulling plays out of his sock? And you know, seeing looking all flustered on the sidelines everything, you know, who nobody wants them to come down here and go rolling into the playoffs is exactly the way you wanted to finish the season. Got a little nerve racking there late

in the game. It was a little bit closer than I would have liked, But they finished with the w and all of the things that Travis just rolled out for you, especially sets when you're rolling around the concourse down here at a hard rocks head and there's a bunch of them out here, a bunch of them out here drinking beers and having a good time. I'm glad they're going back to here because everybody wants to be here. Travis, where are you from? I'm from here now. But now

that's exactly right. Just we know you're from Cleveland, but you're here, and you stay here. All you can live anywhere in the country, you live here. Everybody wants to be here. It's a destination game. So of course I'm over that whole thing. All their fans come down here because they all wish they lived here, but they don't. But they come down here. But well, you know what's great. They got their vacation ruined because they sat in the rain and they have to go home on the walls. Yes,

they get pay next week. That's great. Good. But today, today, and I don't care about right now is today because it's the day in front of us. And as Coach Florence has taught us, we take it one day at a time and focus on what's in front of us. And they go home with the l Yeah they want thousand per saying, go home with the Yale man. And it's a it's a beautiful yil of it, And you're right, So, I mean, it's amazing. It was so I hated so much. Sometimes when you sit there and you listen to the game.

You watch the game and you see it play, and you don't know if it's for us for them. There were so many Patriot fans in the stands today, but we answered every time, every bill, and when they were loud, we got louder. Man so our fan. It's really except for the ones that sold their damn seats. The ones that were here, they showed up and they showed out. Bro it was nice. It was a beautiful thing, Seth.

You mentioned people wanting to be here. I mean, the weather, the people, the stadium down here, it's all pretty beautiful in South Florida. And we're celebrating back to back winning seasons for the first time since two thousand three. That's a pretty impressive mark. There hasn't been done since Dave once that was the man in charge for the Miami Dolphins. But one point I wanted to put that, don't rush through that yet, Travis, think about how long it's been.

I appreciate you slowing me down. I mean, I didn't want to go back to the middle school comment, but that's where I was. I was in middle school. I mean, you don't have to do that part of it. Let's focus on the Dolphins, not necessarily where you were in the fact that you were in middle school and doing Yeah you know, CALLI but he was in middle school, Juice, we were working. He's in middle school. But my point

is that you can't lose sight of the fact. Look, when Brian Flores was was higher five year contract, right, you start over. Every time you get a new coach, you're starting over. You have to build a game plan. I know this team after and the rebuild has failed and all these other things. You know, it's not happening as quickly as we wanted to be. But there's a good young core of players that this team is building

off of. They've won back to back, they've they've had winning seasons back to back years, and hopefully that's something that you can take a build upon. That good young core is a good mention there. We should get into this right off the top tier. Juice that Jalen Waddle now is the all time leading receptions man. That I said, that really really awkward. He has the most recessions by any rookie National Football League history and he got it on the first series, which I thought was pretty cool.

And he punctuated that with a touchdown catch in the corner of the ends, and I thought one of the Dolphins best offensive plays of the entire day with that's that's three in a row versus the Patriots to a tongue of by Lois now three and in his career, and I know he wasn't a big part of that offense in the second half of the game, but he

shutat certainly help them get that lead early on. And that's kind of where I want to go here to close out this opening ex seitement with you guys, is the way this team plays with a lead compared to the way they play from behind. And I know every team in the National Football League it's it's easier to do that to play with the lead, especially a two score lead, But man, juice, when this team gets out in front like that a couple of scores early, it

seems like it's over. And I made this point last year that there are so many games where teams come back and clawback and get into at the very end, and the Patriots did that, and good for them. That's that's kind of how they play. They're gonna play sixty minutes. But this Dolphins team, when they get leads they're almost unbeatable. Man. Yeah, teams with great defense is there. That's the best thing you can do for that team is when you know,

as an offense, don't mess it up. And for two, as the defense, you just want to get those those guys an opportunity dependent ears back, be able to play tighter coverage, you know what I mean, go after the quarterbacks and things like that, because they know the opposing team is they're they're fighting and scratching and clawing to make some points, you know, get some points involved. So you know, one thing about us, we're out of team that you see gets out enough in the first quarter.

We don't get enough of that opportunity to goualt terry and get that lead. When we get that lead, like any of the team is really good. And we talked about some other teams in the league that plays so well with the lead, i e. Like Tennessee guys like that. When you some teams like that, they're they're better position to play well with the lead because they're not built

to come back. And so for us, you know, it's nice the fact that we are able to go out there and get a lead, four teen point lead right away, Obviously it was huge for us because the rest of it, you know, we had to hold on and get a thing done. But the fact that the team went out to offense went down there right away, got to score. Defense gives a score right back and the next thing, you know, hey, you know New England's playing catch up the whole time. That's the best situation for anybody in

the NFL right there. I agreed, Juice. And you talk about being built to protect the lead. You know what good teams do to protect leads. They run the ball. They run the air out of the football. And today the Dolphins did that. I was like, what is going on? I mean even to uh maybe some of his biggest plays of the entire game could argue the season with his legs. So you know, they ran the ball really well. And what more can we say about Duke Johnson a day?

But since he got here, unbelievable, Like I mean, the entire league slept on this guy. Well, welcome home and stay home dude. That's kind of my message right now, because that dude, the way the way he gets those outside runs and and the way he can kind of press the hole in creation and bad angles for the defense. I want to talk about him more in a separate segment. That's a great point, seth because they rushed for a buck ninety five in this game. That's the season high

for the Dolphins. They had one eight one against the Jets back in Week fifteen. So the one passes that they also had to fifty against the Patriots last year in the game in December. So maybe they're finding out ways to beat this Patriots team. Like I mentioned, three straight victories over the New England Patriots, and you know, the fast starts of the game is kind of to your point you made earlier. Steth got another minute or so here. That the way they prepared this week after

a massive letdown. And we you know, we talked about this in our our group chats and all that, and the social media discord that we saw. It's not just Dolphins fans, it's every fan base across the National Football League guys that has these really really strong reactions to big wins and big losses. And the Dolphins fans had to be on the losing side of that last week. But for this team to come out and they're not going to surround themselves with all the virtual they see

on on social media. But to come out and kind of play to what I thought was a point Jerald Alexander made, Dolphins defensive backs coach on the on his press conference this week, he said, Man, we don't take these opportunities for granted. You get seventeen of these years. Used to be sixteen, but you get seventeen of this year. We're not gonna take it for granted. We're gonna come out here with one one more opportunity to play together. And to come out and start that way, I thought

really showed that message. Well, look, I know we gotta go in a break, So I'll give you my whole philosophy in the next thing. Look at that week eight teen seth figure out when the brakes come into play. I love that. I appreciate you on that. So the final score here, you know what hand off breaks and it cuts into my outro, just like you guys cut in my introstart the show up we're having in here. It's the final show of the year again, the final

score from hard Rock Stadium. Dolphins win this one thirty three to twenty four. You're listening to the fifth quarter post game show on the Miami Dolphins radio network brought to you by the Bomb Beaches