Dolphins Training Camp 2021 Day 15 Recap

the first time since last December. And on today's show, we've got a long list of position by position analysis, some one on one matchups, top performers, the matchup or Matt Jumps of the day, and we get some good news as far as attendance on the practice field from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast and let's get right into it right There was some good news attendance wise.

Preston Williams, any Land and Roberts were both activated off the physically unable to perform list and we're at practice on Thursday, so too was Hunter long back at practice and Hunter was involved as much as anybody out there. Such a great sight to see as the entire press. Row was kind of worried about that injury when it first happened because it looked to be more significant than just a couple of weeks. But he's back out there

going through work again. So great to see from the Dolphins third round draft picked their rookie at that tight end position. No Albert Wilson, no Davante Parker, no Will Fuller, no Isaiah Afford on this day, and both Lymboded and Nick Needham exited with injuries on Thursday. Hopefully those guys

are gonna be okay. And before we get to the practice notes for Thursday with the Atlanta Falcons, I want to play some audio here from coach and his Thursday morning presser, And first he talked about the thinking behind

the Greg Little acquisition, the new Dolphins offensive tackle. And I always find this interesting because the draft season is so much work from so many people to get your board of I don't know, two hundred players and then whittle that thing down to fifty players or whatever your number is. It's definitely different and varies by each team. But to get to your draft board, all that work just to draft seven players, give or take whether you

have more or fewer picks than seven. But it doesn't go by the boards just because you didn't draft said player. Let's go to Brian Flores on Greg Little and the work that Dolphins did on him back in I mean, we have some familiarity with him from the draft a couple of years ago. Um, opportunity to to get a young player come and compete. Um. Look, it's a new environment,

new locker room. I mean, it's just he's gotta learn the playbook, he's gotta learn his teammates, he's gotta get you know, uh, figure out the surroundings here in our building in this area. So UM, I think you know, the message to him is, let's take it one day

at a time. Let's try to improve, get better learning system, get to know your coaches, get to know the players on the team, you know, figure out where the bathrooms are, figure out where the meeting rooms are, figure out where uh, you know, like is you know, I think that's that's kind of where we're at right now. We'll take it one day at a time and just try to improve, get better and uh, you know, you know, once we you know, we'll coach him up and you know, see

where it goes. But you know where we're happy to add Adam. He's a he's a UM. You know, my conversation with him was very good. You know, he's he's excited to be and UM excited for the opportunity to compete. Well, we we had a Thursday thirty visit with him, so we sat down and talked to him and UM, you know there was some good rapport there. UM as far as you know, his his um, you know, love for

the game and passionate about working and getting better. So UM, I think you know obviously on film there's is his athletic and has size and was competitive on film. So UM, we're happy to have him. And but look, if it's this, this is a process on UM, I will just take it one day at a time and try to improve and get better finding out where five is. No truer words have been spoken by coach Flores, because once you figure out that South Florida is basically a grid, it

makes things a lot easier to get around in. And so I thought that was interesting that it was interesting to hear that the Dolphins had him in for a thirty visit, as there are rules about how many players you can have come and visit your facility and work with them in the pre draft process. Greg Little out of Old Miss back in nineteen, one of the Dolphins guys that way, and one player of the Dolphins did draft with their first pick in sixth overall was Jalen Waddle.

And I liked what coach had to say about him this morning when he was asked, what has Jalen Waddle given you compared to what you expected when you drafted him back in April. Look, Jalen is a tough, smart kid. Football is important to him. Improvement is important to him. Ah, he's a good teammate. He's as supportive. I mean, he's as excited about, you know, someone else making a catch or having a good run or a good block as

he is about anything he does. Um. So you know there's a selflessness there that I mean, we knew that, you know, and you know it's it's it's it's been fun working with him. You know, he still got a long way to go. He's a he's a rookie. Um, I'm still getting used to, you know, practicing in this league. And the competition in this league, and you know, these preseason games, these practices of joint practices are good for him and really all of our rookies. Um, but I've

been very pleased with him. Can you see that camaraderie on the field with Jalen going and dapping guys up after a big place or whatever it might be. So two more clips here from Coach Flora's before we get to the notes, and some more soundbites from players. And actually first we don't need the audio for this actually because coach talked about it, but it's good enough or

brief enough to cover just on our own here. But he said they expect most guys to play Saturday night against the Falcons, and Xaviing Howard also shook his head in agreement and said yes when he was asked after

practice today if he would play on Saturday night. And I think that's a good segue into our final sound bite here that I want to play from coach, And he was asked specifically about xaviing Howard and when he thinks the All Pro corner will be up to mid season or peak form as the reporter called it, and Coach's answer took a broader scope, and I thought was very insightful. Here's coach um, and it's hard to to

to get into peak form, you know, without games. I would say, you know, even in week one, no one will have played sixties seventy snaps. You know. Even if you call a dress rehearsal. Let's say, if we you know, we did that in the preseason, it's not going to be a four quarters, right, or else everybody'll be yelling at me about taking take the guy out. Right. So peak performance, I mean, you don't really you can get close, but there's no way to mimic a sixty minute football

game unless you do it. Um. And I think the first time out is different than the sixth, seventh, eighth time out, you know. So if you're talking about mid season form, I think mid season form is mid season um. If that makes sense. I think that's a great point by coach. I also think it's worth noting that the Dolphins started each of the last two years under Brian floor Is at one in three last season and of

course oh and seven the year before. But just last season, we saw this team really click in that Week five game against the forty nine, and then they went on to go nine and three the rest of the way. So finding a way to get that performance right away out of the gates, out of the shoots in week number one could be the big difference this year for this team if they can make that happen and continue the second half of the season effort as well. Putting

that all together, so good stuff there from coach. We're gonna hear from some more stuff later on in this podcast, but for full transparency for today's notes, I had to make a decision, and yesterday I watched a lot of the Dolphins offense as they were on the nearer field, but today there was a bit of a stagger and

certain team periods. What I mean by that is you're gonna have reps on the far field, reps on the near field, and it's Twa and Matt Ryan working on either fields, so you have the ones versus the ones, and the ones versus the ones, and when the snaps go off at the same time, clearly you cannot watch both teams, or both periods, or both fields, whatever the hell I'm trying to say. But when they stagger those reps where like if someone jumps off sides and they

have to go back into the huddle. Then it's one rep runs, it finishes, and the next rep starts. You can't I D your fronts and your stuff like that, but you can watch the conclusion. So there were some of that today that really helped give me a better opportunity to watch both practice fields. However, just like on Wednesday, there were dueling seven on seven reps with one on one offensive line and defensive line pit drills against each other all at the same time, so four different periods

occurring at once. Yesterday I watched the seven on seven. Today I focus more on the pit. So how should we do this? Just kind of thinking out loud here, let's go ahead and go position by position and I'll mix it all together in a cocktail in the blender, so to speak, in that same format. Sound good to you, guys, good grand wonderful quarterbacks up? First? Well, actually, first, I want to play this audio off the top from Matt Ryan. By the way, not the best Chris Farley impression I

ever did. I don't think I can do a good Chris Farley impression, but that's what it was. From Billy Madison. But before we get to the Matt Ryan clip. I touched on this yesterday, but I think this week is such a good opportunity for this defense to get into some of their pressure packages and pressure looks and see how an opposing offense will deal with that, and more than that, how a quarterback like Matt Ryan deals with it.

Because for a guy that's played over fifteen thousand snaps in his NFL career, he knows the fronts, he knows the coverages, he knows the disguises, he knows the post snap rotation, and so he wants to gather all the information that he can pre snap and be right so that he knows exactly what's going to happen post snap, and that allows the ball to come out quickly, regardless of the pressure, regardless of if they have overloaded rushers, for what you have on the offensive line to block with.

And we saw this a lot the last two days. And the value to that, for my money, is Miami can then find out where the potential vulnerabilities are in those defensive looks, because if Matt Ryan can't find them, then there just aren't many quarterbacks who will. So getting to that on tape, Getting that on tape rather to me is invaluable. Let's go ahead and hear from Matt Ryan on the work here with the Dolphins this week and how valuable it's been to him and what Miami

deployed at the Falcons. I thought, I thought they showed us a few things. I was texting with Brian Flores yesterday, Brian and our teammates at Boston College, and so I was texting him just saying I was excited to come down. He's like, I know you've seen everything, so I put in some new stuff for you. I was like, all right, man, don't treat me like two thousand three scout team at BC, you know, like, but they had a few, you know,

a few different things out there today. They stress you defensively with with your rules, you know, and they do a really good job. And they got us a few times, and um, we certainly you know, had a few on on our end too that that we did well. And you heard him say there that Flow was causing problems and practice for Matt Ryan back at BC. But Coach actually corrected that today at his media telling us that

Ryan carved them up. He was a freshman when Coach Flow was a senior at BC, and they couldn't wait to get him out of their coach said, as far as Matt Ryan, and I don't have the BC backup quarterback in front of me here from two thousand three, off top of my head. Yeah, Matt Ryan was the number three pick in the NFL draft in two thousand eight, so you have to imagine that guy played pretty well from the jump in college. And so coach jokingly said,

which one of those is more believable? Those him getting after us or us getting after him? The self deprecating approach is always my favorite. I'll good on your coach, and then just real quick before our own quarterbacks. And this is not about the quarterbacks either, long way, long winded way of getting their Travis good job. Man who here watched the falcons first preseason game. Dean ps is there now. If you don't know that name, he's coached

football for about a million years. And if you've ever watched Dean P's called a game, you know that there's going to be a ton of pressure, a ton of blitzing, and different exotic looks. And they were getting pretty exotic exotic in that Tennessee game last week. So the same goes both ways and to a and the offense getting a good look at some pressure packages. That's good stuff as well, and that's where we start. We covered pocket

presents pretty in depth on yesterday's podcast. I noted a few of tongue by Loah's subtle skills to buy that extra half set get from the fade away from pressure on throws that have a little bit more loft or touch. He made a few of those today very nicely. Another is throwing to a space, and you obviously don't rifle this type of throw. It's kind of laying it out there. But on one instance, Mike Gasiki comes across the field, across the formation and he hasn't yet cleared that linebacker

in the middle of the field. And what that means is, let's say Mike's running right to left, he's still on the right side of the linebacker, which means that the linebacker has the advantage to get to the left side right because he's he's got him outflanked. But to throws ahead of time because because he's running full speed and the defender is stationary eyeing the quarterback. So lay that thing out there was some touch and then Mike can run under it and catch it and full stride, and

he did that today. Another is the ability to expedite the drop back in the process of recognizing pressure. It's where you see him interrupt the drop back and get into a throwing position before he's completed that original drop back. And coach talked about to understanding his number counts from front side back side and how that can help you know where the lanes might open up to step away

from that pressure from that surge. And there was a rep in Thursday where pressure got in and to off both of his legs almost like a basketball jump stop, just as a little side step, a little two ft a jump off to the side to get himself to that position on the field. The blocker then wins the rep because he can push the defender around that now vacated spot and now to a has a clean platform to throw from. So good stuff working there in the backfield.

I thought it was a really good day and a nice continuation from what we saw last weekend in Chicago. Again referencing that Brian Baldinger clip talking about his footwork and how much he had praised for TUA in that area. I also thought his placement and timing was back on point today after a little bit off earlier in yesterday's practice. He did throw one pick and thanks to Barry Jackson

from the Miami Herald for tracking this. It was his sixth I N T and fifteen practices and that's probably like a hundred throws a day, give or take, so pretty good average there, and the pick he threw was a nice play by the Atlanta defender to come off his ma and jump right in front of Mike get

Sicky for that pick. There was a period at the end of practice where it was all balls to the back pylon in the end zone and one of the prettiest throwers of the entire training camp to a lets this thing go, and Jachim pretty much comes off the line off the jump from like the twelve yard line going in, and by the time Jachim was to the back pylon, so was the football and where Jachim usually gets all kinds of separation, he didn't on this one.

Good coverage, but there's no defense for a perfect pass, and this damn thing was nearly bringing the Miami Garden's rain where used to seeing every summer day out here. He also had another throw to Jachim right between a pair of defenders for about thirty yards down the seam down the shoot in a team period that required a good zip with a tight spiral to get that thing up over that underneath defender and hump that thing over him into the second level third level before the safety

is there as well. So good stuff from to There was another period where he took everything short, but that in and of itself is a great sign because knowing what the play has to offer and getting it too your guys quickly, when you quickly realized that downfield is not going to happen, is a good way to stay on schedule, stay ahead of the sticks, and who knows, maybe one of those times you're back, or you're tight end, or your receiver will spring one. So another solid day

from Tua and nice bounce back. I thought. Jacoby Brissette was sharp early, including a lot of nice strikes along the end line in the back of the end zone to a plethora of wide receivers. That's been the story all camp, but the two minute period got away from him a little bit. Some high passes he was intercepted in an earlier team period before the two minute period, and staying in that backfield. Stop me if you've heard this before and moving on to the running backs. But

I really like Savon Akhmed. He caught another ball today up the sideline where he had a step or two, but the ball is just a tag bit short from Brissette, so he comes back over the top and plucks this thing off the defensive backs helmet all all Randy Moss style for a poster shot. Another big time catch from savan Akhmed. He had two other plays, and they were running plays where he showed the ud nous and the

shift nous. On one play, he winds this thing two or three times, sets up a key block right at the point, and then was off to the races untouched for fifteen yards and a touchdown. He to me, most consistently has created more yards than what the blocking gives

him on a given plays. That makes sense like he's been more of the creator so far in that backfield and anybody else I've seen the practice now where Miles Gasking shines despite the fact that he does everything well, including some really nice reps in the passing game, he transitions from receiver to runners so very well. But the

area that stood out today was past protection. And Greg Little is on a block in the team period and Miles Gaskon comes into chip and help on that man and he decletes the defensive end and it was two Who is I don't know, I don't have roster in

front of me. But Miles also caught a lot of passes, and when I talked about the transition from route runner to runner with the football in his hands, you see it on these throws into the flat where he catches with us back to the defense and turns that thing up. Saw that a couple of times down around the pylon in the red zone work. He made a ton of yards in the passing game today and really has all training camp long. At receiver, I thought Malcolm Perry looked

really good today. We haven't touched on his game a whole lot this camp, but he caught some balls and showed the strong hands to catch the ball away from his frame. A nice developmental sign to see when you deal with a guy that was a quarterback at the college level. He did to play some receiver too, but

he was a quarterback most recently at Navy. Jalen Waddle, I cannot wait to see some of these situations play out in real games headings, because again today he caught one over the middle perfectly in stride and there was only the post safety that are trying to make a

play on the pass from tungle by Loa. I want to see him stretch those legs out and the fans at hard Rock Stadium going absolutely nuts when he makes that guy miss, and when there's nobody in front of him, because when there's nobody in front of him, you ain't gonna catch him. Showing your tail lights. For now, we'll settle for the catch, the burst, the whistle and going back to the huddle. Kirk Merritt had another big day.

He caught some tightly contested balls, showed strong awareness or on the sidelines and in the end zone to keep the feed in. He just makes plays every single day I hear it seems he's had a really good camp. Mac Collins pulled down a couple more red zone tds. He also dunked one over the goalpost again and got flagged again. Someone asked him after practice if he was just trying to get that out of a system, and I thought that was a great question, and so did

Max too, apparently because he laughed about it. But even better. And this was a great media session all around. So I would encourage you to go check out that along with all of our media availabilities on the team YouTube page. But I asked Mac how he mentors the younger guys in terms of what Coach Crossman is looking for on special teams. And here's Mac's answer. It's funny because I think especially teams, coaches are kind of similar really just in life. They're all they got some some kind of

cork about them. But for across it's like you've got to be prepared. The thing he hates the most is when guys go out on the field and we have a group go out and there's ten guys and you're that eleventh guy. Like he really hates that, And I understand that's super frustrating. Like your names up on the we got a board and air and like the rules check the board. Like there's probably fifteen TVs in our building that have the board of the depth chart of

who needs to be wear on what period um. So for you to mess that up and you're telling coach said, hey, I wanna, you know, make this team or I want to play special teams, but you're not out there for whether it's the scout team or look team or the starting team. Um, that's not really a great look. Um. So I I tell all the young guys, like, make sure you're where you need to be. Uh, you're you make it to the NFL, like you obviously have some sort of talents, so when it's your time to actually play,

you'll be fine. But make a nice little insight there into the attention to detail this coaching staff shows and displays. And I mean you knew that, but it's all always take those little nuggets of info here on the podcast we can get from the players back to the receiver's Jachem Grant was terrific today, just absolutely terrific over the shoulder catch, catching the football and traffic from toa hit. Another one just like that where he survived some contact

going to the ground and hung onto the football. The only thing he really didn't do was get free on takeoff route. But frankly, we just haven't seen a lot of that the last couple of weeks in practice since the initial onslaught down the football field. The tight end had a big day today. Adam Shaheen has been productive really since he got back from the COVID list Mike get sick. He made another handful of absurd catches. I love the way he's become kind of the bully as

the route runner through contact. There's a rep today I think we posted it on social on Twitter where Mike absorbs contact and breaks off the route with a little subtle shove, a little nuanced shove, but nothing at all close to what would deter A would rather garner a penalty flag from the official and I put the backer completely out of the equation to create that space. So good work there from Mike. And what's great about this too is Mike he's drawn several pass interference flags the

last couple of days. He's a good bet to get you down to the one yard line automatically placed at the one yard line when you throw to him in the end zone, because oftentimes the only way to stop him from scoring the touchdown is to interfere with him. And finally, fun moment during the one on one period, he thought he was interfered with on one particular rep

that didn't go complete. The ref didn't throw a flag, so Mike went up to him, pull the flag out for him and dropped it on the ground laughs all around. Durham Smith had some good work off the edge in the run game and caught the first ball of team period from two of for fifteen or so yards. And then Hunter Long. Not only was Hunter along out there, but he was very active. He caught some ball today and looks to be moving pretty well. I've said this a few times, but man, I just did not expect

that to happen. It was a good lesson when speculating on injuries because it looked a lot worse than coming back just two weeks later. And also, happy birthday to day Hunter Along his birthdays on Thursday. And then onto the offensive line, and I got a good look at this group today, especially in the one on ones. I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you who I thought did the best in those Just the names. Michael Dieter, Robert Hunt, Greg Little, Matt Skura, and Liam Eichenberg. Those

were my favorite consistent reps on offense. On defense, Zack Steeler, Christian Wilkins, break Kwon Davis, Emanuel Ogba, Adam Butler, Jason Strowbridge, and Jalen Phillips. Kind of the usual sus X there. Back to the offensive line for some more in depth analysis here on the Drivetime Podcast. Subscribe, rate and review on Apple, Spotify or where you get your podcast from Michael Dieter and I mentioned this yesterday, but his ability

to anchor continues to show up to me. The addage strength looks apparent in his game little extra sand in the pants as the scouting community refers to it, and in teamwork there was some good runs down the middle, and I just continue to be impressed by some of the technique as he shows patients and getting into what I perceived to be good angles in the running game.

So continuing a good camp there. From Michael Dieter. I thought Liam Eichenberg was was terrific today and that that's not, you know, a superlative word that I want to go too far with, but I thought he was really good. I talked about patients all the time, and he seems to have a really good feel for the landmark that he needs to be at to be able to get the edge. Rusher prevent him from flattening that edge and

taking the corner. So when he does corner, Liam knows, you know, he can run him right around the quarterback and out of harm's way and He did that on the first team rep of the day where I isolated him, and as far as watching him on that on that one play, then on the next his man crossed his face. Liam punches and gets knocked back, then gets into his past set and picks up a looper and stone walls that guy too. So good communication, good passing off, good technique,

good balance. That's going to be the tray. I think that stands out most initially with him if he asks me just the understanding of rush plans, countermoves, angles, and how to use the defender's momentum against him. He was just a very smart player at Notre Dame. I think we saw some of that today at the right tackle position. I think Robert Hunt has been the most consistent member of the line. That's camp and I talked about some of the good runs coming off beaters backside, but Robert

Hunt the same much true of him. In fact, he and Jesse Davis had some nice space clearing reps today and team to get back secrease off the edge and up the inside as well. And as far as pass protection goes one on one's team, whatever you know, I I rarely in fact I can't recall the last time I saw it. I rarely remember a time where Robert Hunt was chasing a guy into the backfield. He's been really solid in that area. I got a good look

at Greg Little today. You see that power very quickly upon watching him that coach Flora has mentioned if he can get the pause on, you're gonna be tough to win that rep with him. It was good to see him getting instruction from coach Lemuel John Pierre for the last two days. It'll be a crash course like coach Flows had earlier, but good place to come get some coaching down here in South Florida onto the defensive man. These guys had themselves a day. Let's start by saying,

first of all, how really good Calvin Ridley is. In fact, I bet you didn't see this coming, but it's the matchup, matchup, matchup of the day. In the middle of the podcast, it's really the Falcons passing game against the cover guys of Miami. I thought today was really good after Eric Rowe had mentioned some communication errors and Wednesday's practice, so pretty much all the chunk gains I saw out of

the Falcons came via Calvin Ridley. So he got his two, but our guys had some good reps going up against him and the Falcons number one receiver this year with Julio Jones out of the picture. But the very first rap of the day that I watched, actually he didn't even happen. Xavian Howard is impressed up against Calvin Ridley and he had to come back, really did to the line to run the rep over again because he couldn't get off the press, and Extra shut that thing down.

Physical aggressive rep from Xavian Howard. Then Byron Jones had a good rap on him, then came back later in the line for another one and one on ones and it took a third move by Ridley to get free. We saw all of our social media, but that was a win by Byron. If you ask me, I'm not sure how much you want to do that on Sundays as far as making three moves, because I've never seen a triple move work in the end zone with pressure

coming to the quarterback. But to see Byron be able to start and stop and stay in phase twice on two moves, that's a great sign to see Eric Rowe had some good work on Kyle Pitts again for the second straight day. You know, everyone's asking Eric Rowe how helpful it is to see a player like Kyle Pitts, and it is, don't get me wrong, but it's great

for Pitts to see a player like Eric Rowe. He had a pass break up and one once and forced Pits out of bounds when he went up and made an amazing leaping grab, but again didn't come down in bounds because twenty one was there to shove him out. And finally, I was watching Jerome Baker cover tight ends and backs again because it's so much fun to do, and he was all over Hayden Hurst. He carried one route on seven on seven's down the middle of the field,

stride for stride to cut that thing off. That's a great value to have with your linebacker to go that deep in coverage. So those are the top matchups. Let's go ahead and stay in the secondaries. We talked about the defense. During a lot of the Falcons drills. I saw the ball coming out short and quick, whether pressure or just the coverage, holding serve and forcing check downs.

A lot of throwaways and a ton of sacks late in this practice Xavian picked off Matt Ryan in the first team period and then had fantastic coverage on a deep shot to Calvin Ridley. Ridley comes back and elevates for the football, but X is right there to contest balls tipped up into the air and Javon Holland comes

from absolutely nowhere for the interception. Javon Holland's range has been a joy to watch all training camp long, and X just looking like he picked up where he left off in competing, getting his hands in the football, generating takeaways from a very good offense or in the Falcons. Byron Jones I thought was terrific today as well, the whole secondary. But Byron was sticky making plays on the football and the coverage on the back end was just very solid. You don't get the splash plays, but just

by the virtue of the quarterback's decisions. Very few vertical shots, and you could often see thirty and two mccordy and Holland capping things off and showing the quarterbacks color to make them think twice about going down the field. Eric Rowe had a hell of a week. Can't wait to watch him play on Saturday. So did Jamal Perry. He nearly jumped a pass to the outside for a pick that just wound up being a pass break up. But he's flying all over the place. Fun players had a

really good training camp so far. Nick Needham was having another really good practice but had to leave right at the very end. I'll update you guys on that when he would get it from him. But he left on a cart. But he jumped off the cart and walked back on his own power. So I don't think that was necessarily a sign of anything to come. But like we've learned Hunter Long, we'll find out when we find out. Crave on the bloc and Nate Holly got on the notes here as players I just jotted down for good

quiet work. They didn't have anything crazy like a pick or a fumble or whatever, but just being in good position with good technique and good reps. Back into the front seven. I had mentioned Baker thought he was very good. I thought Calvin Munson had a really good day. He's kind of a load coming downhill to fill gaps against the run B gap to B gap. Also had himself a p BU in the back of the end zone. In team period two, Andrew Van Ginkl had a really

good day to day. He picked off Matt Ryan and took it back the other way for six in the team period. Also had a pressure later on that forced a throwaway, then had a pass breakup and the end zone in coverage, and you can find these videos on Twitter if you search my name and Andrew Van Ginkl's name and go to the video section. But I've been

talking about him in coverage since his Wisconsin days. He just seems to really get it, always in correct position and knows how to close down and just doesn't just cover grass, he covers jerseys when he's in that position. In coverage position upfront, Christian Wilkins, who has had a great camp, had I think his best day today. His effort shows up time and time again. Outside runs, he's out there chasing guys down through the whistle, but he's

also powering his way through blocks. And the best part was watching him and the one on ones where he seems to have a nice, maybe newly refined, deep arsenal of pass rush moves. I saw him on one play throw a double hand swipe and it completely displaced the blocker just chucked him a gap over and created a free run down the middle. He's been a beast. And also today he addressed the crowd before practice. I think

it's on It is on my Twitter. I think it's on the team account for sure for a better angle if you want to check that out. Him coming out and say and thank you to the fans. That was pretty cool to see. And Emmanuel Ogba, what a monster he was in practice, just like he was last week in Chicago when he wrecked the two minute drive there. Did the exact same thing today against the Falcons. Three sacks, one, two,

three sacks in the team period two minute drive. And I had a chance to ask Emmanual after practice, what was the key to the success and those two minute drives not just this week but last week in Chicago as well. Relent safe, just keep rushing, even though it is sometimes quick pass. I gotta keep rushing never no one's gonna open up. That's a good mindset to have.

And he was just working that upfilled shoulder. And it sounds weird to say this, but he can really get under the block and get load of the ground even at six ft four to win those reps inside. He also was asked by another reporter about how those situations kind of help you fill out your rush for game day or game type of situations, and he answered that question talking about how it's more realistic to have that type of a period of live period to get those

moves in. It does because it's realistic. You know during the game we always have too many either after before the half or after the game right before the game end is but you know, just going out there, you just execute the game plan we got and just doing my best to get back there before the QP games rid of the ball and we'll go ahead and finish you up here with Emmanuel who was asked about the identity right now of this Dolphins defense, I loved his

answer playing together with lettlens effort. You know, physical discipline, team, that's the goal every time, So what more do you want than that? I also thought Jason Strowbridge had a good day working one on one pass rush moves and denting the edge and the run game and team periods as well, and Ray Kwandao has had a few more of those run through another human being type of reps.

Also had a great pass rush move with an arm over that I saw that got him into the backfield very quickly, and Zach Seeler just doesn't give knock back at all, like I have yet to see someone consistently move him off the football. All right, we didn't match up of the day already. How about your top performers. Mike get sick He caught a handful of passes and really all week was getting open catching the football, showing some physicality the top of the route as well. Good

week from Mike Gasicki. Xavian Howard a pick, a big part of another pick as well. Just tight coverage and and one on one, seven on seven and team period all day long. Javon Holland another interception, continuing to do a good job of limiting deep passes for the opposing offense. Christian Wilkins in the backfield, chasing things down, high effort pass rush, run defense, really doing everything. Jason Strowbridge gets in here for some good pass rush work as well

as the running game. Andrew Van Ginkle's coverage continues to stand out and what he does in that area as

well as rushing the edge. Savan Akha Met another big play in the passing game, some shake and some wiggle in the running game as well, Calvin Munson, the solid run defense, the pass breakup and the passing period or the Reds home period, I should say, Jerome Baker, tight coverage all day, some pressure on the quarterbacks and to a Tunga Biloa got into the notes after a strong finish to practice and just putting the ball on the

money a lot throughout the course of this day. And let's go ahead and finish up this podcast with a couple of Apple podcast reviews. Paul Carpes says he listens to every episode since I found this nice podcast, look forward to it every day. Thank you, Paul. We appreciate that. And then we have a question here from that's me. Lou Lou asks number one, love the podcast, can never

get enough, thank you. But number two with Kinley having a good enough season last year and not pooping the bed against the Bears, that's funny, and any chance Eikenberg moves back to tackle. Also with that second and one run play, the play was stopped because all the offensive linemen were cut blocking, not necessarily bad blocking. Who does

that fall on well first, Yes, good observation. Going to the ground on a cut block will happen one times out of one times, because a cup block means you're trying to chop them down at the knees and get them to the ground. So don't look at guys in the ground and say a bad thing if it's a cup block. As far as responsibility, I just can't possibly know that without the assignment and rules of each guy. I think you can look at the execution of the

cup blocks. But then there are factors like should there have been a check by the quarterback to the running back make the right read? In football, there are just so many things. I mean, we heard coach talk about this on Tuesday on the Wednesday podcast as well, about how there's seven or eight guys up in the booth pointing out different parts of the defense pre snap. When I given snap, then you've got eleven guys who run

the play. It's just a lot, but still a great observation there, Lou and I think the point here remains that Miami needs to find out how they're going to be successful in short yardage. Obviously it wasn't great in Chicago. They did convert a third and short or was it fourth and short? Either way, fourth and one or third and one, But the sample sizes is pretty small right now, so maybe we revisit in a couple of weeks. Sound good, great question, Lou, And with that that is going to

be my time, Caroline. Daddy is coming home. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. You can follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the Fish Tank with Seth and o J, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time fits up,