Dolphins Run All Over Patriots in 22-12 Win

twelve win over the New England Patriots. Dolphins moved to nine and five, eliminate the Patriots from post season contention for the first time since two thousand eight, and maintain the Dolphins position at seven in the a f C. We'll get to the individuals here from John con Jemmy, breakdown the storylines here from coach and Towah and Christian Wilkins and some others, and get you my five takeaways

from this Dolphins win. All of that and more on this Sunday, December the twentie edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Hey Dolphins fans, the new year starts now at Auto Nation. Let's skip the rest of and get two big new year's savings on your favorite Auto Nation, Chevy's Forwards, Toyotas, Hondas, and a whole lot more shops safely at the Auto

Nation store near you or auto nation dot com and save. Now, let's go ahead and start this game off or this podcast off talking about this game with the stats from Sunday's contest, because it was pretty much a departure from the games we've been used to recently. With the Miami Dolphins, the running game just gets it going in this one. The Dolphins have three eighty three total yards of the Patriots three oh three to fifty of that from Miami

on the ground. The Patriots just one seventeen on the ground, so more than double the Patriots total there. With the rushing yards, Miami passes for one thirty three, the Patriots one six. The Dolphins are seven for twelve on third down, the Patriots two for nine, one takeaway a piece. Miami gets three sacks on Cam Newton, they get too onto a tongue of baloa. Dolphins had seven penalties for forty

yards to the Patriots two for twenty. But Miami possesses the ball for thirty seven minutes and twenty six seconds in this game, and that was one of the I suppose storylines I was looking at heading into the game. How would the run game stop the Patriots, the run defense stop the Patriots run game, and how would Miami rush the football? And we'll get more into that here in the first takeaway. I wanted to see how the Patriots would play coverage or bring pressure against the Dolphins

quarterback and then offensive line. How would the Dolphins fair against the multiple looks of the Patriots. That as well as the Dolphins pace offensively, going quickly, going aggressive, going more spread looks. Will jump into that, as well as a conversation about the Dolphins special teams hidden yards in this game, because two of these teams in this game are two of the top three teams rather in special teams production this season. So we'll talk about all that.

Let's go ahead and jump right away to the first takeaway, and how can you start anywhere else besides the running game. They started off early in this game with ten carries and fifty yards to get things going, and I just wrote down consistent surge from Solomon Kinley. He was pushing guys all over the field in that first half, getting connected on double teams, getting to the second level and creating big, big lanes. He did later leave the game on the cart with an injury and did not return.

Was replaced by Michael Dieter at that left guard position. We'll have more for you on Solomon Kinley as the week goes along, but I thought he played tremendous. I thought Austin Jackson was a big part of those double teams just wiping people out off the edge. Plenty of those big runs off the edge for Matt Breeda created off that side of the left part of the offensive line by Austin Jackson, as well as some work from

the tight ends. Thought Ted Carriss was excellent as well, getting to the second level, being part of double teams, just getting leverage and getting things turned out to create gaps inside for the running game. And that really continued into the second half as the Dolphins ran the ball so well in the first half only to come out

in the second half and do it even better. Season high the two d and fifty yards the second half looked like just added contributions from everybody that maybe I didn't talk about in that first part there, Robert Hunt, Jesse Davis getting pushed off the right side. You don't run for two hundred and fifty yards without everybody coming to the party. So we'll dive into the work of the offensive line a little bit more on the Tuesday All twenty two review podcast here on Drivetime, part of

the Miami Dolphins podcast network. But they were consistently getting four to six yards early, setting up the offense in position to convert third downs, and that was a huge key in this game if you had the fourth downs.

To those numbers, the Dolphins were eight for thirteen on the money downs quote unquote, and the Patriots just two for ten on those money down So Miami gets the successful short runs early, and then off of that broke some big ones in that second half runs of thirty one, fourteen, thirteen and twelve yards. I mean that's five. The first

two are really kind of field flipping plays. But to consistently run the ball for more than ten yards like that, you hit those consistently, you're just not gonna be stopped. I mean, we've seen that in the past, whether it was Ricky will Games back in the early two thousand's, j G I E back in ten. You can create chunks in the running game like that. It's just so demoralizing and so crippling to a defense because you suddenly

put the pass rush kind of at bay. They have to be more at it, they have to adhere more to the running game. It kind of just takes me wins out of the sales of the defense when you consistently chew them up for big chunks of running plays like that like Miami did in this game, and it helped the Dolphins score on three of those final four possessions in the second half end of the game, notwithstanding a two play drive to round the clock out there from Miami, and they were doing it in a variety

of ways. Savon akhmed up the middle between the tackles, pushing the pile. I thought that was really impressive how he showed his strength and power on a couple of those runs and obviously broke some big ones. Late in the game, Lynn Bowden the double reverse little pitch back to him where he made about eight team players miss on that play and worked from one side of the field all the way back to the part of the

field where he lined up pre snap. Thought that was just it showed you a little bit of the electricity that Lynn Bowden has in his game and his skill set and how he can help you in multiple ways. And then Matt Breda finding a way to win the edge consistently. I thought that was a big part of this game plan. Big tip of the hat to the tight ends as well. You don't win the edge without tight end play out there also, and Matt Brita got

a few big chunks of yardage off either side. And with the running game, how do you get the most out of your running game. Well, it's gotta be a total team effort, like Brian Flores tells us post game. Yeah, I think Chan did a great job really throughout the week. Really, the entire office staff, Jane Marsh's, Eric Scudsville, George, you know, the entire staff, Robbie Brown. But the players executed though a document ran hard, Breeda ran hard, Patrick Lad ran hard.

Offensive line blocked. Well, we have received blocking down field. I think, you know, we execute. They should be proud of themselves. And it's a tough it's a world coach team over there. We played both today. Let's go ahead and hear from the man of the hour as well. And Savon Akmt the Dolphins leading rusher on the day of the Dolphins first one yard rusher in the last two seasons. Well, you know, it's just fun to be

a part of fun, to be a part of a win. Um. You know, this is a big win for us and our team, and we work hard for it, so you know, I'm just happy to be a part of it, to be a part of organization. And takeaway number two here for us on the Sunday Night recap podcast of the Dolphins down the Patriots twenty two to twelve, is finding different ways to win. We talked about two d and fifty yards on the ground is kind of a new a new route to victory for this team this year.

I think we we saw some really successful work in the ground game in the Jacksonville game, the Chargers game, for instance, but nothing like this. They nearly double up the previous season high, which was that one thirty three in Jacksonville. We've seen this team win with special teams dominance, whether it's Jason Sanders hitting five field goals, or Andrew Van Gingle blocking a punt, or Jacquine Grant having a punt return touchdown himself, or just consistently winning the hidden

yards battle. As well in association with those big plays on special teams, which Miami actually probably didn't do that. In today's game for the first time maybe all year, they were dropping some pooch kicks under. The Patriots were getting some some short kickoff returns, angling coffin corner punts. Slater had the ball down the two yard line like he does every single week, it seems like, but none

of that mattered today because of the running game. We've also seen the defense just shut down the Bengals and Jets, and back to back weeks we've seen them create four turnovers and multiple games this year, we've seen the passing game really get the job done and the win over the Cardinals. We've seen complete dominant team wins in the game, like the forty nine game. But today it was the first one that I really felt like the running game just put their hat in the ring and said we

got this. And that's how you win in January, having the full capability of everybody on your roster, every position group, having the capability of picking up other sides of the football team. And maybe they're not at their peak, and I'm not saying we're gonna make a run to the Super Bowl this year or that we're not. I'm just saying that that's the most tried and true way to win consistently against good football teams. You take away one thing, Okay,

we can beat you in this area. And that's something I always harkened back to the breeze the Drew Brees in New Orleans Saints conversation, because a couple of years ago they became way more balanced opposed to a team that went up and down the field and broke records in the passing game, and he started to throw the football list so people questioned can he still do it?

And he proved to them, Hell yeah, I can. We just kind of reserve that until we need it because the defense and the ground game can get us wins. And speaking of that, actually, first hold on, let's do some audio first. But I'm gonna come back to this

point one second. I want to hear from coach Flora's about the resiliency of this group because it's a theme that goes along with multiple ways to win and finding depth on the roster and different units to step their game up and make big plays and get you to victory. Let's go ahead and hear from coach Flora's on the resilient group he has in that locker room. I think we overcame the tough first half. Look that that just speaks to the resiliency and the mental toughness of this team.

Didn't play great in the first half, you know, got down into the red zone, turned it over. This team, we don't go in the tank and we just keep playing. Just battle for them. That's what they did. Came in and halftime, made some adjustments and the cha made some adjustments.

Josh meet some minut ask me as dating me, just m they went up here and executing, and I think a great guy to ask about something similar to that question for coach Flora's as Christian Wilkins, because he was the first draft pick of the career and Flora's regime,

or the Greer and Flora's pairing here in Miami. So we had a question for Christian Wilkins here about how does it feel to come out from where you were back in day number one, back in to be here in at nine and five with a chance to control your own destiny, to make your own success going forward the season. Here's Christian No, It's good to see um you know since day one. You know, it was never

done my mind. After I Mets coach Flores and got around the organization that you know, we could you know, do some good things. Um, you know, but um, you know, I just hope that good things can continue, you know, to keep having them for us. But it's all about putting the work in. Uh, putting to work in each and every week. Uh, you know, just keep it moving. I'm just excided to be a part of it. So he is a part, a big part of this football team.

We talked a little bit about Chris career here on this podcast, asked the Dolphins personnel staff and the team they've assembled, and we talked about it all offseason, the free agency, you know, purchases with Van Noy and Byron Jones and the land and Roberts and Shack Lawson, Emmanuel Ogball, all these guys having a massive impact. Eric Flower's Ted Carress. I'm gonna forget names because there's so many good ones

you could put on this list. The Dolphins also drafted a bunch of rookies and today they started six rookies on offense seven in total. The rookies on offense to a savan Akhmed, Lynn Bowden, Austin Jackson, Solomon Kiley, and Robert Hunt. Was the first time since eighteen that the team started six rookies on offense and the Dolphins get

the win in that game. Seven rookies in total if you count defense, because ray Kwon Davis started on defense as well, but Brandon Jones did not start, and he nearly made the play of the game with that force fumble as it was overturned after the fact after exabing, Howard picked it up and took it back eighties six yards for a touchdown. But still an excellent job there from the rookie to get Cam out in space, to stand him up in the open field. He misses that tackle.

It's first and ten in the red zone with the three death and leads, so you never know how the game turns from there. But just a consistent impact from this rookie class all the way around. And it's not just with the guys that were drafted or the guys that were signed to the big money free agent contracts.

Savon Akman was picked up after he was cut from the fort We saw that consistently throughout the year last season, bringing over a guy like Zach Seiler, who now gets himself a contract extension this year, trading for Lynn Bowden, who never played a game for the Raiders before he was traded, swapping fourth and sixth round picks to go out and get Lynn Bowden to bring him in here

and look at the impact he's having. The best front offices don't just win in the first round of the draft and with their top free agent signing every off season, because if that was the case, everybody would do it. They win with the you know, the deals like the Linn Bowden deal, like picking up with Savan Akhmed like undrafted Nick Needom last year and bringing him in and getting him to play just really good slot cornerbacks for

the whole season for you. The Dolphins find multiple avenues to get players in here and have an impact on the fifty three man roster. And it's been a whole bunch of fun to watch this then come together fourteen games in to your number two. But back to the speaking of idea that I had on the previous part before those those quotes they are from coach and from Christian Wilkins talking about the multiple ways to win. Speaking

of that that's takeaway number three. A quarterback who plays winning football, and I just there's winning time in this league when things are kind of magnified and things get bigger, and certain situations become more amplified, and you just see the calm nature, the consistent poise of this this young man, this twenty two year old quarterback to be in there and to have the moment never be too big for him. And it's not like I'm breaking ground here, breaking news.

We've heard that from Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks on The Move the Sticks podcast. Who got his college coaches, his his mom and dad, and Trent Dilfer his his uh his post or pre draft coach leading up to the draft process. All the people that have been around him, from Nick Saban to his teammates at Alabama to the people to talk about his spirit and his energy. These people all talk about his ability to be in the moment and to make plays no matter how how you

know at the lights flash on him. And there was a play in this game where it's third and eight, Patrick Larry picks up twelve yards on a rushing play just on the fringe of the red zone, slash like field goal range. I think if they get four or five yards there, they're in a good spot to kick

a field goal. But the Dolphins get the first down on the ground there and take a lead of six points with a two point conversion afterwards, opposed to kicking a field goal and going up by one point in that spot, because they finished that drive with a touchdown run from to on third down, which you know, he fights, He gets away from the initial rush and then fights his way through an arm tackle to get into the end zone. Just a big, big play there, A couple

of big plays on that drive. Would have loved to have gotten a quote on this from coach or to about if he decided to change the play himself or if it was something they called in that running play. I'll ask that later in the weekend. Get it for you guys here. But you know, I just love the way he plays the game, the way he manages the situation. And you hear the word manage a quarterback and you think, oh no, that's the kiss of death, the addrested game manager.

But that's that's not what it is. It's about being in control of the situation. We heard Patrick Mahomes talk about a post game last week. He was effusive in his his praise for to his ability to recognize the moment and to play within the structure of how the game calls for at that moment, and when he knows he's got the ground game in the defense going, he

plays smart football. In fact, he was very upset with himself after the interception on that uh second drive of the game that got you know was yard drive down to the three yard line, throw a pick in the end zone on third and goal from the three yard line, and that interception really bothered him. Let's go ahead and hear from two on that pick. And I think going into the third quarter, you know, we we wanted to start better than we did in the first first half.

I think the first half we we did pretty well, but you know, the decision I made down there and in the red area kind of put us back a little bit and kind of kept the Patriots in the game. And yeah, that whole first half, I I was droughting that that was you know, my fault because we we had points there and I try to force that. So, um, you know a third earth quarter and fourth quarter, second half, we we just wanted to come out and you know,

to take what the defense gave us. And you know, then you guys seen what what the old line and the running backs what we're doing so pretty consistent throughout the game. They're the running backs in the offensive line. You know, the nine yard drive to start things off, plenty of running in that action to two of US seven for his first eight passes, but the one in completion was the interception, and it just got him. I mean,

the pressure caved in around him. He tried to throw the ball to a receiver to make a play and try to go from three points to four points, but a bit in there on that play, so it didn't work out there. But all in all the way he

manages the game. And we talked about the Bill Belichick versus rookie quarterbacks number twenty and five since he got to New England, and we saw what he did earlier this season to Justin Herbert, you know, limiting that rookie quarterback to his worst game of his rookie season, possibly a Rookie of the Year season there for Herbert and we there was a good clip from the NFL matchup with with Matt Bowden and Great Coastel and they talked about how you know team scheme things up and they

show you how the Chargers game, the Patriots would show pressure and then peel off and drop themselves into a passing line and confused Herbert A few times. We saw the same looks in this game where they would get the pressure looks up front and show you five and then drop out and bring a different guy and still blitz at the quarterback. I thought, too did well to to manage that and to see that and to not

play into those traps. There was a play where the edge came down and showed pressure on one snap and two saw him fall back into a hook zone where Savan akh Mad ran a slant route that was supposed to be in behind him if he rushes here on the slant route behind him, but to us saw that broke the pocket and through an off platform throw that went incomplete. But he saw it. He didn't throw the ball right into a dropping defender, kind of like Christian

Wilkins got that pick back in the Ram game. Rams game. So this Patriots defense, you know, they come there with the ninth lowest blitz rate, and I'll be curious to see that number for this game. How much they blitz to ah but they were bringing five guys a lot in this game, and it was always from that kind of amba pass rush look, different guys from different gaps and backing out. Definitely a lot on a young order back.

But I thought that he did well to stay in the game and to manage the game and hit the big throws and we had to and convert on third downs. Just beating five man pressure, beating coverage, a little bit of everything. Just good work there from the Dolphins. Workie quarterback because he continues to impress in the way he sees and feels the game. Takeaway number four. We talked

about the Dolphins multiple ways to win. I thought one thing they did in this game that has been pretty consistent throughout the course of the season was how well they did to stop the Patriots offensive strengths the screen game, the exotic runs. There was an option play early on where they cut that thing down and we kind of saw that last week as well with some option look there are Patrick Mahomes got out on the edge and they defended that well. Just sticking to their rules is

a general takeaway as well. But back to this game, taking away the Patriots strenks. Coach Flor has talked about it in the lead up to the game, how this team leads the NFL and screen yards game this year. The Patriots first two screenplays went for zero yards and for for one yard and for zero yards, so one for two on one yards, and they kind of backed that thing back a little bit after that and went

to those kind of underneath crossing routes. But that's kind of what we've seen the Dolphins defense this whole year do is limit the offenses options, take away their favorite go to plays, and force them to play sort of left handed, as it were, and execute from a smaller menu of options to beat what we're going to do. And I saw some consternation on Twitter during the game about that soft defense, as those crossing patterns chewed up some yards at times in the game, But look at

how it went in the red zone. Look at how it led to a takeaway and damn near another takeaway earlier in the football game. You forced the offense to execute repeatedly, and the chances for mistakes increase when you do that. Hell, we saw Belichick do the same thing with two at times. And this Dolphins offense the best way to lose a game like this is to give

up a big play. So I just thought Dolphins did well to keep everything in front of them and to come up and tackle and make plays and limit the Patriots from the big play and capitalize when they had their chances for takeaways or third down stops, especially in critical areas down in the red area. I also thought the big guys up front had one hell of a game from Zach Seeler, Ray Kwon Davis, Christian Wilkins, Manuel Ogbas, Shack Lawson holding the point up there at the point

of attack and running game. Zack Seeler had the big sack in the end of the game, so did Emmanuel Ogba. Jerome Baker got in there with Jack Lawson, but I think the sack went to Baker on that play. These guys found a way to get constant penetration, constant victories against the running game. They had a couple of runs that sprung for for chunky yarders. There but one hundred and seventeen yards on the ground for the Patriots in

this game. And the Dolphins did so much to help themselves get into winnable third down situations, and they came through on those with both the frontline the second edge. I thought Jerome Baker's had some really great edges today, as did Kyle van Noy. Great to get him back, great to get a land and Roberts back as well, who brought that physicality he brings every single Sunday to this football team. Takeaway number five, more and more trigger

ration from those Miami Dolphins. How about the Malcolm Perry sneak an empty formation they motioned him in. He gets right up under center and snaps that ball on third and one to move the chains. I love that call. How about the fake punt pass from Commu Gruge Hill to Matt Hawk or other way around, sorry, Matt Hawk to Comu grew j Hill. They wind up getting flagged

for it. I'm sure Danny Croftsman is going to be very upset about the way that went down, But they converted it on the field, just didn't report as eligible out there. Got to get that taken care of. And then, of course the Lynn Bowen reverse double reverse round that he had where he had to break about seventy four tackles on that play, shifting in and out of the defense.

They're making a big play that way. But I just love having all these kind of wrinkles in the back pocket that we just haven't seen that much this year. And maybe that's a good thing because you can reserve maybe some of those looks for bigger games like this. We saw one against the Chiefs last week. We saw it here against the Patriots in this big game. Maybe you see some more wrinkles added on in the future.

Who knows, because we've seen this coaching staff pull off some things here this year in the past with coach Flora. So it's definitely something great to have in your back pocket in a pinch, when you need a big play, you see something you like. It's it's so it shows you the Miami's aggressiveness, but also their preparation and putting themselves in position to say, hey, they're kind of reacting this way to this, maybe we can fool them with this. I love to see it. So those are my five

takeaway days. A couple more individual notes here I wrote down in my notes from the press box. I wrote, Brita spieda. I guess that's a play on the cheetah's nickname that I was thinking of at the time. I liked the way he ran the football in this game. In addition to savon akbed for the big day, I wrote Lynn Bowen becoming a reliable third down conversion guy in those short underneath passes that quick shiftiness shows up and the route running as well as his run after

the catchability. Durham Smith had a couple of big plays in this game, catching the football getting upfield, making guys miss, so too did Adam Shaheen talked about the offensive line. I thought all five guys played well and Michael Dieter getting back in the lineup for the first time this season on offense. Good to see him out there as well.

He was rocking the Florida Panthers jersey after the game, with Jesse Davis wearing a hockey jersey as well, and then I think it was Blake Ferguson had the Chicago Blackhawks Gris Wall jersey pregame as well, so some hockey fans here in the building. Emmanuel Ogba, I was good to see him get the splash play. Like we talked about with Jerome Baker last week. These guys that impact the game consistently and now you see them show up in the stat sheet. That's always good. To see his

ninth sack of the year. You'd love to see that leading leading the Dolphins and sacks this year and hopefully gonna get double digits on the season. Talked about ray Kwon Davis, Christian Wilkins, Zack Seeler, Shack Lawson. Had some good plays in this game, Jerome Baker, Kyle van Noy that play where he falls into the hooks zone, damn near gets himself a pick, gets himself a p bu Andrew van Ginko I thought had some good sticks in

there and against the run as well. And speaking of that Van Noi pass breakup man, I think Xavian Howard might have had a chance on that ball and behind him there if he doesn't get a finger on it, which you can't. You know, you can't play that way because you have to go attack the football. But it just it speaks to Xavian Howard's ball hawking ability and a game like this where it's mostly run action for the most part, they're they're playing it safe in the

passing game and running the football effectively and efficiently. That's how the Patriots want to beat you. But he gets himself that fumble recovery that comes back, he gets the fumble force that does hold up and gets a turn over, his tenth turnover that he's a part of this season, whether it's interceptions or a fumble force slash fumble recovery. And then the player where he might have had a chance for a pick if it didn't get tipped four hand,

three plays again where he's around the football. It just speaks to his ability to find the football. Eric Row had a great, great pass coverage play on a tight end, kind of fade there down in the goal line area. He was right in phase, broke that thing up. We talked about Brandon Jones off the top a little bit. He continues to make plays seemingly every single week. We're gonna get more into that on the Tuesday All twenty

two Takeaway podcast. But now let's go ahead and turn this thing over to John con Jemmy and get his three takeaways from the game and joining me as he does on Sunday nights to recap the previous game. John con Jemmy, the co host of the Audible podcast here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. John, how you doing tonight, I'm I'm great. Travis, A nice victory, at home for the Miami Dolphins. Uh I just uh, I mean elated that with two weeks remaining in the regular season, the

Dolphins control their own destiny. And I know it's a week to week league, but at least you can see the delayed at the end of the tunnel that Dolphins can take care of business like, much like they did against the New England Patriots, the nemesis for over twenty years. I think the Dolphins will be happy and the fans will be happy at the end of the year. Yeah, a couple of games to finish out this season here on the road, and some interesting dynamics that could be

in play for both those games. As far as you know, are the are the team's gonna play their guys so they have enough guys to pull out the roster with the Raiders injuries and how banged up they are, And we'll get to that here on a future podcast, but certainly bodes well for a good conversation down the line.

As the Dolphins approached the final two games of the season, but the third to last game a twenty two to twelve win over the Patriots, and John, your first takeaway from the game was the ground and pound of the Miami Dolphins. That where did they resurrect this rushing attack. I thought it was sensational today that you know, Akhmed and Brita were able to contribute equally and they did it in different ways. I thought Akhmed really had terrific

vision today running with the football. He knew when to press the whole, he knew when to bounce it outside and use that speed. And and Matt Brita, for as for as decisive is augment is when he runs the football, Brita was missing that gene for some reason. I don't know if it was injury. I don't know if it was lack of playing time. I don't know if it was you know, a new offense. But it never seemed

to really click on all cylinders. And today it finally got into high octane gear for for Brita, and you could really see that speed on the perimeter when he just outflanked UH defenders from the Patriots and then out race defenders almost to the house on one of the runs. You know, Auchmed goes for one two. They both averaged over five yards per carry and and the one good thing there were there were runs of length the Dolphins have been deficient in running the football for twenty plus

yards on on single carries. I think Auchmed had one for thirty one, Brita had one for twenty four. Uh. It was nice to see that offensive line do such a nice job and give these guys room to run, and they knew what to do when they saw a daylight. You mentioned the yards per carry average breed a seven point two yards per carry and we're not talking about two or three runs, like guy had eighty six yards in the game. So that was cool to see. I was I was so enamored by the thing you mentioned

there about him winning the edge. He does this thing where he kind of like dips his back in around or like tucks his shoulder into the sideline to kind of get away from the defender, and it helps him get that edge and and get that extra step and just take off up the sideline. A big, big part of this way for the Dolphins today. John, your second takeaway was the second half turnaround for the Miami Dolphins. I didn't think the Dolphins played poorly in the first half.

They just didn't have things go their way. You know, the defense had a forced fumble that X picks up and goes eighty six yards for a would be touchdown. It gets called back because I think Christian Wilkins was out of bounce and contacted the football, and it was It was one of those things where you just you didn't feel like the Dolphins were in trouble, but the Dolphins weren't playing well enough to really take over the game at that point. They're they're trailing six to nothing.

But I thought the opening drive of the third quarter and in the second half, you know, you scored three times in terms of getting down and putting big drives together. It was nice to see those guys go nine place seventy two yards on that first drive to open up the second half. I thought the running the passing really

complemented each other. And then and then they get right back on the horse a couple of series later in the fourth quarter and you get a four team play drive for uh an achmed Uh, you know, a two point conversion after the two scramble and score. It was.

It was just nice continuity in the second half. And I thought offensive coordinator Chan Gailey did a nice job of double reverse pass uh almost a bit of a flee flicker for the two point conversion on a on a you know, a little swing pass and and pitched back to Okmed and in the fake punt. There was a lot of nice things that were done in all phases, and I just thought the second half the offense really caught fire and you really felt confident that this game

was going to be a win at home. I'm so glad you mentioned it and ended your takeaway with that, because I just, as someone who's been watching this team for you know, the better part of twenty five years now, I've never in a season had so many moments where I was like, oh, they're like, I'm not even sweating right now, because today I thought the defense was playing so well that getting a touchdown against that defense was

gonna be so difficult. And the second half you mentioned the offense finding their rhythm, it just felt like they were going to score every time they got it. So it's been a whole season of just confidence from the Dolphins team and they're only getting better. They're not going to continue to grow from there. John, what is your third takeaway from the Dolphins two Patriots twelve? Relentless pressure

on defense? I just I knew that new England coming into this game was going to be one dimensional and they were going to have to find their way on the ground and hope for a couple of explosive plays. And they got some explosive plays on offense, but I knew Cam Newton wasn't going to consistently beat you through the air, and they couldn't go They'd have to go fifty or sixty to beat the Dolphins, or at least

hang in there with the Dolphins. I just thought getting your hand on the football, forcing multiple fumbles, pressuring the pocket when they when they decided to throw New England, and squeezing the pocket with multiple sacks. And it's again, it's different people. It's Seiler, it's Baker again finding a sack, it's getting your hands on the football down the field. Um, it's just it was contagious. Anytime the ball was loose, there were three or four awkward jerseys around it, and

any one of them could have picked one up. I mean a Land and Roberts almost took out Eric Row on the funding recovery down the field, that X punches out after a big play by New England. But those are the types of things that make it fun. For for football teams, for defenses to kind of rally around each other when they see the offense score and they go, hey, we're just gonna keep playing our game because we've already

set our standard. And they kept kept it, you know, kept hammering, kept kept taking New England and making it and go the hard road. Nothing was easy for those guys. And I just thought the pressure in the pocket, getting hands on the football. That seems to be Dolphins defense in two thousand and twenty, and I'm glad to see it continue. Twenty six takeaways. They came into this game

tied for first with Pittsburgh with twenty five takeaways. Their third down defense, which was tops improved in this game after allowing just two for nine conversions in the game. Dolphins win twelve moved to nine and five. We have two games left on the road. John. We're not gonna get to talk to you next week because it's a primetime game and well, we don't want to keep you up until four o'clock in the morning, sir, So I appreciate your duties and your services here and we'll talk

to you a getting after the Buffalo game. Okay, that sounds great. Hopefully we're talking playoffs after the Buffalo game. Hey, I wanted to have you say it, so I appreciate that very much. That's that's okay, I'll say it. I can't wait to say it. Perfect. We've got two more left and then we'll see from there. John can gend me the co host of the audible podcast here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. John, thank you as always, my friend. We'll see you next time. You got it.

Travison and the way he goes always a fun conversation on the Sunday Night Recap podcast, and we heard him mention playoffs there a little bit. I was thinking about diving into the scenarios, but I think for the most part, you guys know it. I think what you gotta do is win the last two football games. There are some back channels you can find your way into. The Browns and the Ravens have to lose certain games. The Colts could possibly lose some games and get in that way.

But the best way to get in from Miami win the last two games and you're gonna be in the playoffs. That's all there is to it. And speaking of the upcoming week, it's gonna be a different week for us here on the podcast, since we have a shorter week for you guys, and with Christmas on Friday, not gonna have a podcast for you on Friday, but we do have the flashback podcast already in the can so by the time you hear this podcast, it might be up.

Jay Fiedler joins the podcast to talk about the two thousand one victory over the Oakland Raiders ahead of this week's game against the Las Vegas Raiders, so don't forget to check that out. It's a great podcast. Jay talks about post nine eleven, the game winning touchdown being on the Sports Illustrated cover. A great talk there with Jay Feedler. As for my time on this edition of Drive Time,

that's gonna be my time you all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Leave us a rating, leave us a review, give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins and check out the fish Tank and the Audible podcast, as well as Miami Dolphins dot Com, the Sunday Night Spotlight as well as the game recap up there and tomorrow we'll have John Congemis three takeaways from the game on the website until next time fins Up