Dolphins Vikings Week 6 Preview

your pulse. If not further, what is up? Dolphans And welcome to the Drivetime podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Winkfield. And on today's show, it is preview day Dolphins and Vikings and our first cross conference game of the season. We'll take a look at the matchups in the game, the key stats, the film, a heck of a lot more, tell you what's at stake, and tell you the three keys to

victory for your Miami Dolphins. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime Podcast. It is our first intra inter conference game. That verbiage always confuses me. It's the first matchup for the Dolphins against an NFC team this season, and that of course means we have not seen them in four years, haven't

seen them down here in eight years. That trip to Minnesota, i'm sure, is one that all of us would like to forget coming off the Miami miracle game and that blowout in Minneapolis game was pretty fun though the walk off safety of Terence for Day was pretty cool, although the events are transpired after that not so cool, But

were Minnesota. A lot has changed since then, same quarterback, but a new head coach who has a connection to that tree that Kirk Cousins saw his career originate with back in d C. Of course, I'm talking about Sean McVeigh and Kevin O'Connell working under him with the Rams and bringing similar concepts and philosophies to the Minnesota Vikings. Will get into what that means on the football field in the preview section, and it's a pretty stark contract offensively,

but even more so defensively. Mike Zimmer is a great football coach. From you know, for a long time he was at least but as this league has a way of doing, sometimes is situations will fizzle and changes needed, and it was Minnesota's secondary there for the longest time just struggled to get production out of so many newcombers.

But it wasn't for a lack of trying. As we look at how this team was built to where they currently are, it was a real concerted effort to build that portion of the roster over the last several years, and that began with first round pick Mike Hughes, though it does go back further to McKenzie, Alexander and Trey Wayne's but for the more relevant timeline, he was in the late Jeff glad rest in Peace, Cam Danceler also in he's currently with the club, and then their first

two picks this year were also in the defensive backfield, Lewis Scene from Georgia and Andrew Booth Jr. Out of Clemson. They've also added Patrick Peterson as a veteran to the mix, and longtime star safety Harrison Smith is still playing at

a high level for them. The other areas of focus have been the offensive line at Ingram a second round pick this year, Christian Derris saw first round pick last year, Ezra Cleveland in the second round back in twenty and Garrett Bradberry, their center, was a first round pick in twenty nineteen, the same year they drafted Herb Smith to give them what was then the deadliest twelve personnel package in the NFL, with Smith and Kyle Rudolph so secondary

and offensive line to complement their stars at receiver and running back with Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook and a team that went the NFC Title game back that made the big move for the quarterback a year after they played three different guys at the quarterback position. Sam Bradford

was the original starter on that team. Teddy Bridgewater got some action late in that season after that really rough injury he had to come back from there at the Vikings, and then case Keenum ultimately was the player on the

field when they went to the NFC Title Game. None of them returned for eighteen as Kirk Cousins gets the big deal that was it three years, ninety million fully guaranteed, and they've just been on the cusp of getting over that hump really since his signing and currently four and one atop the NFC North It's beginning to feel like maybe maybe this is the year that it happens for them.

They've built a super strong roster under questiado fo Mensa picking up where Rick Spielman left off, and Kevin O'Connell looks like the real deal, and a defensive switch going from Zimmerman to new defensive coordinator and Dontel who has been in the NFL since and most recently running that patented cover too with the Broncos under Vic Fangio as their DC there up in Denver. So that's the Vikings, a division leader coming to town for a one o'clock kickoff.

I was pretty intrigued by the weather this week in Minnesota. As we know, it's never easy to come down here and play in this temperature. Dolphins are winners of their last eight at home and fifteen in the last twenty one here at hard Rock Stadium, and I saw that on Tuesday it was up to eighty one degrees in Minneapolis. Then Wednesday dropped down to like fifty. Crazy weather out there in the Midwest. It's supposed to be a nice

cool day here on Sunday. I think mid seventies after the low eighties, so maybe less of a factive this time around, but for the fans a little more cozy in the stands. Go ahead and pick this up with the Dolphins offense versus the Vikings defense and the quarterback versus safety position. We heard from head coach Mike McDaniel the plan right now is to start Skylar Thompson at quarterback and if Teddy Bridgewater clears concussion protocol, he will be the backup for the game. To a tongue of vloa,

also working back through the concussion protocol. He started his throwing process first time back on the practice field on Wednesday, but McDaniel said he will not play in the game on Sunday, and so we've heard that it will be Skyler Thompson with his first career start after taking over on the second offensive play of the game on Sunday, and as we covered in the film review show, the

Jets only blitzed him three times in that game. It was primarily quarters coverage, which is four deep and the best way to minimize all deep passing with plenty of three and four man rushes, and that gives you then a four or five man shell in the hook zones, so you have to really anticipate to beat coverage. That's how you do it in this league. It's why it's you know, pick your poison against some of the top quarterbacks that can process pre snap and get the ball

out there to their hot immediately. But the Vikings are gonna play a similar style. They do not blitz very often at all, the six lowest blitz rate in the NFL at nineteen point one percent, which is the sixth lowest, like I just said, but their pressure rate is twenty four at nineteen point seven, so a slight bump. But they're basically getting what you know, reaping what they so

in terms of their pressure conversion out of blisses. So it's a new system for them, and really it's an offshoot of those old Fangio principles with quarter quarter half. What that means is one deep defender covers a deep quarter, another one defends another deep quarter, and that leaves you with a half. So you have a third deep defender

that covers that portion of the field. So that's how you take away deep balls, right and looking at the tape, they're not doing whole a whole lot more than that it's kind of a get to your landmark and just assess from there, like a very old school principles, so a bit different from the continuity and really the communication we saw the Jets play with last week to effectively execute those spot drops and those zone looks, but the Vikings have had issues with it so far this year.

Justin fields through for two five yards and touchdown on that defense last December. That's the second highest total of his career so far. He threw for two oh eight in the game on Sunday, which is the third highest total and was seventy yards higher then his average per game this season, and it was his first passer rating over a hundred. In fact, it was one eight teen point seven. His next best passer rating in a single game is ninety six point six. That was the Vikings

game last year. His next best rating was one point nine. He has three career games out of seven team with a rating over ninety, two of them against Minnesota one this year. One was last week. Much to my surprise, Harrison Smith, going back to the Vikings defense here is never in the box. That's usually where he makes his money. He has a vacation home, maybe even his primary residence down there in the box through the rest of his career, spending time up around the line of scrimmage. His veteran

presence on that back end as clearly important. As they work through getting this new system installed and trying to get it running like a well oiled machine's taking them

some time. Hasn't quite clicked yet, as Cameron Binnum hasn't left the field as the other safety, playing all three hundred twenty two defensive snaps for this Vikings team, two hundred sixty four of those in the post, as Harrison Smith, the other primary safety, has played two hundred and thirty three total snaps, with one fifty eight of those outside the box. So you have safeties that don't come down and fit the run or support the run all that often.

They do eventually, but not all the time. They don't bring their backers on any pass rush, but every fifth snap and they'll start in those two high looks and they'll stay there and rotate corners and to cover three and quarters looks and whatever it might be to get themselves with a three or four man shield against the top part of the field. When a team does that, you must, must, must be able to run the football.

The Jets did it last week. The Dolphins found some footing there and it kept him in the game while the offense kind of struggle to put together the rest of the game from a passing standpoint. And Skylar Thompson met with the media on Wednesday, and he's a fun interview man. He's he really seems to get it for

a rookie. He talked about some areas he can improve and that he saw from the tape, and he mentioned that his footwork and timing and the eyes and the feet being married up together again the Tuesday All twenty two review, right, let's we talked about getting that part portion of his game on cue, trusting his feet, trusting his eyes, and he says, you can kind of tell when you're timing is not right when you hitch up a couple too many times. What do we see on

tape but too many hitches. So hopefully Skyler can get that improved and and better for his second game. Here is first start with the Miami Dolphins. I am most interested to see how the game looks from Miami's perspective. Knowing that Skylar Thompson to start in the game, I can't imagine it's easy to pivot like that after your first play. You know, you just you your game plan can't possibly be executed the same way with a different player.

You just it just there's no way. And so for on play number two to kind of take out a chunk of your playbook. And you know, I'm sure Teddy was comfortable with a few of these things that Skyler prefers to do something differently. That's tough for a coach, tough for a team to deal with that. And another point that I thought was super interesting was the fact that Teddy going out early, Skyler doesn't have a second quarterback there to bounce ideas off of and ask, you know, hey,

what do you see in here? What would you have done right here? And he should have that this week opposed to just coaches around him like a player. Is always a good thing to have around you in that instance, And of course he talked about Tyreek Hill and and Wattle as well. You can listen to the entire press conference up on the team YouTube channel. It's always what important to have your weapons operating at full capacity. It sounds like Miami might have that. As we transition to

receivers and tight ends versus the corners. Uh, sounds like we're trending in the right direction for Tyreek Hills. Adam Schefter tweeted on Wednesday that he expects to play on Sunday, and of course Mike McDaniel confirmed that he'll he'll give it his best effort to go and we expect him to go out there on Sunday. We know that Wattle, what him and Wattle do to hold the attention of the opposing defense, and who better than them to keep those safeties in that space, back them off, open up

that space in the running game. And frankly, I think this is a great matchup at the spot for Miami well because I think that both these guys are top five receivers obviously, but both for the reasons we mentioned above in terms of this defense trying to get their sea legs under them in a new system, because any hesitation against these guys and you could pay the ultimate price, but also in terms of the styles of their primary perimeter corners as well as their slot guy. Really versus

our top two guys. Look, Patrick Peterson is going to the Hall of Fame, but he is coming up on age thirty three doesn't run the way he used to write. Patrick Peterson has been targeted twenty two times, but there's eleven completions allowed for a buck forty four This year, Cameron Danceler has thirty one targets twenty three completions for

two sixty eight. And then Shandon Sullivan has been targeted twenty one times, eighteen catches two and thirty four yards, and like we talked about in the open, it's been a rough go for this group. PFF has the opponent completing seventy of their passes for eight point eight yards average. That's not good. They don't play a lot of press

on a zone out there. So if Skyler can find the matchups he likes, find the soft spot and played decisively, hopefully put the ball in the hands of those two guys and maybe they can open it up a little bit more with the run after the catch. So Peterson once clock to four three, that's that's just not it's just not sustainable. To age thirty three, Cameron Danceler was a three oh six ras guy Relative Athletics scorecard with

obvious the five is your average. He was a four six four forty guy Jandon Solivan is a four six forty guy and a four three shuttle guy. The takeaway here is the biggest matchup we've had all season in terms of mismatch at the receiver versus defensive backs position. It's this one. Hopefully we can take advantage which we

had our quarterback man. Then, of course, the rest of the guys that make up such a key part of the offense with Mike Kisicky Durham Smith of running back, Cedric Wilson, Trent Sherfield, River Craik Craft, the Vikings have just they just don't mix it up all that often. So if that's the case, it allows you to really dictate your matchups, which I always have confidence that coach can formulate a plan around his young quarterback and maximize

those strengths. I think that if you give coach McDaniel what he expects to get on Sunday and give a full week to prepare for it, I like his odds against that against really any coach opposed to happen to change your plan on the second snap of the game. Moving on to the offensive line versus the defensive line, this is where the Vikings defense really sets the tone up front and in particular with the Neil Hunter. Everywhere goes, you better find him. He can play anywhere on the

defensive line. They don't use him on the nose, but he's an absolute problem as an edge rusher, a guy who condense his inside for their NASCAR packages and just a flat out game record. I mean he can win immediately, which obviously leads to some blown up run plays or potential you know, mesh point issues, the quick sacks, the force fumbles, the splash plays when the quarterback speed up his process and makes a bad decision. Daniel Hunter can

wreck a game. Don't let it happen. If you can, if you can do anything to stop it, then do that. And they will use their two edges, both he and the Darius Smith and two point stances, which I think gives the offensive line an opportunity to work underneath the pad level and seal off those edges, and of course running the ball wide. It's such a big strength of this offense when they're going the right way, and if they can make that happen, also obviously impacts your play

action boot game too. If they're not going to support the box, you have to be able to run the football, then maybe they'll adjust and we can open it up as we go along. But running at those two guys I think is a great way to keep their pass rush at Bay. All of that said, Daniel Hunter isn't even the top guy in pressures. It's a Darius Smith who has eighteen this year. DJ Wantam has twelve of his own, and Dalvin Tomlinson has twelve of his own.

Hunter is fourth on the team with ten, and then Harrison Phillips are big nose tackle has six, but Hunter leads all defensive line with twelve run stops, so he's just a complete player. Tomlinson and Smith both have eleven apiece and then Harrison Phillips also has a six spot there.

They are deep and good upfront in the trenches. Their edges are big, kind of akin to the Ravens, you know, like we talked about in that podcast, and not unlike us with a two hundred and seventy three pounds Smith two sixty three pound Hunter, So they're capable of impacting your edge in the run game, which can force backs to bubble. And we've seen the most success in our own run game when we can get Raheem or chase on that full speed track without having to throttle down.

So finding a way to get knocked back on those guys could be so key for Tehran and Greg Little or Brandon Shell, whoever it might be. If Tahron can't go off the edge is to minimize that pushback off those edge can be so key to give a clear path for where heem moster to do what he did on Sunday and run wild. They can condense both Hunter and Smith inside to bring on their NASCAR package with multiple edges where DJ one Um comes in and you kick those two edges inside and then you have four

defensive ends. All of a sudden, He's two d sixty pounds of his own right. But that just keeps them so deadly in their rush game packages. They run so

many twists. So communication up front is integral in terms of Connor Williams getting things, you know, passed out across the offensive line a strong suit for this group so far in the way that Williams has helped kind of balance the interior of the old line, but getting those calls communicated, getting the protection slides bright, picking up the games.

It's a lot of size, a lot of strength and power to deal with off the edge, and it's not all that different when you go inside because Dalvin Tomlins him is a former state champ wrestler who just wins. He's from Bama to the Senior Bowl to the giants of the Vikings. Like, he refuses to lose that low man battle, low man wins battle. So I'm pumped to watch him go against our guys because I think that between Connor and Rob Hunt, that's something that they excel

with moving the guys off the football. He goes three pounds where Phillips is three oh seven, so they're deep in a good mix of styles and abilities. We'll see about to Ron's availability, he draws yet another mark he match up if he goes out there with Daniel Hunter, then really just you know about a note about Rob Hunt playing so well, We're getting a lot of yards

running behind the big right guard here. So it's getting to the point now where it's not so much about matchup for me, just to note say, like this guy is getting the job done every single week. Hopefully it keeps rolling here. Such a key in this game to somehow some way get more from the other two spots

on the offensive line. There have been so many plays where just one inch away off left guard right tackle from springing that big play down your top two quarterbacks this week, we gotta have that, gotta be more consistent. They're absolutely have to have it. Especially helping out with Smith off that right side is a big, big key for me. Let's go ahead and take our first break right here and come back into the running backs and linebackers and then spend this thing over to the Dolphins

defense versus the Vikings offense. That's next on the Drivetime Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation back here on a Thursday preview show, almost said Wednesday, taping it here on a Wednesday, taking a look at Miami's Week six matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. We pick it back up with the Dolphins running backs versus the Vikings linebackers and their linebackers fit the run in behind

that big defensive line as well as anybody. With Jordan Hicks, you know, raking up racking up nineteen run stops already and Eric Hendricks with eight of his own. Kendricks is more of the coverage guy and speed guy where Hicks tends to get downhill. It's kind of like Jerome and the Landing here. I mean they both do both, but you see the difference in the way they specialize in it. Kendricks has been making place for a long long time, one of my favorite linebacker prospects ever, coming out of

U c. L A. You know, almost a decade ago. Now, allowing just ten of six teen passes complete, which is so good for a lineback. Or his speed is a potential offset to the speed that we have on those wide runs. So trying to give him that I candy we talked about on the Tuesday podcast in terms of pulling guard here. You know, a wall off block here, a scoot block. They're just different things. To give them

different things to look at. Could be a good way to get some false steps created there in the running game. And like I said before, there's just not a huge rotation or a lot of mixing it up on this defense. Those guys have played three hundred and seventeen and two snaps. Their next most used linebacker is Brian Assuma. He has six snaps. Quite a departure there, I mean, Darius Smith will play that two point stands. That kind of gives

you the show of a linebacker. But he's only played coverage on thirteen snaps this year, so he's coming after you as the edge rusher there for the Vikings four man rushed most of the time, seven man in coverage, Scott has got to be sharpened the way he sees it and moves guys with his eyes and this game, you know, screams to me, help off the edges, fan that line out, get the help off the right side, get the help off the neil hunter as well, and try to see if you can get your perimeter guys

to win quickly and uncover fast so Skyler can make quick decisions and get the football out of his hand. As for our own guys, man, I hope we see Raheem open it up again. He is so close to popping a long one. Those ten to twenty yard runs are just one block missed or one miss tackle away from going the distance. Giving his speed, I think this is the week that he gets one. As I mentioned, this isn't the fleetest of foot secondary in the NFL.

That's kind of my key here, and I guess my prediction Mostar gets loose for a fifty plus yard touchdown run on Sunday. Let's go ahead and move to the other side of the football Dolphins defense Vikings offense. We go back to the quarterback position versus the safety position, and there's a very interesting dichotomy here. Last year, Kirk Cousins was averaged eight yards per pass and through twelve touchdowns without turning the ball over against the blitz or

i should say, without throwing a pick. That's a one twelve passer rating. This year though, in this new system, he's just twenty one of forty four. It's four point two yards per pass, two touchdowns and two picks and a rating of fifty five point six, less than half the production from a season ago. The Dolphins blitz numbers are down a little bit this year, which is actually

thirteen most. That number did not change last week even without x. In fact, they blitz Zach Wilson of his dropbacks because well, he struggles against the blitz as well. Now where you see a major difference is again we talked about it not having those two cornerbacks outside with x Avian Howard, We're just missing the one game and no Byron Jones were the first five games that changes the way you play. It's a big part of this defense,

and it's changed Javon Hollands pre snap deployment. Well maybe not major, but he did rush the pass or ten times through the first four weeks. That's again the departure of not having X and Byron out there, because last year he rushed, you know, four or five times a game, but last week without either of those guys, zero pass rush reps and his box snap count reduced by more

than fifty as well. So Javon holland Brandon Jones are such big keys each week and the way you use them, but they're limited in the way they can, you know, bounce around the formation without having a full compliment out there. Just they do so much to disguise us to support the run who occasionally blitz and Cousins is such a polished vet who has seen everything the league can throw

at him. It's gonna be a fun chess match to watch out there, one that I think Miami has a chance to kind of get right against because of the style of quarterback that he is. Because I like the way this defense has defended the style of offense going back you know a few years, and there's been changes obviously, but there's a lot of the same carry over here

in the system and the guys we have. You know, again, getting Buyer Jones back would be nice, but I hearkened back to match up with the Rams when we just relentlessly blitz the weak side edge and didn't give Jared Goff more than a step after turning his back to the defense, you wheel back around the bootleg, there's a guy in your face. It led to mistakes, it led to turnovers, it led to sas and it's just an

absolutely dominant day from the Dolphins defense. We need that this week because again Ron QB three, we need that defense to show up this week. As for the offense in general, again you're, you know, this system outside zone mixed with some duo inside which is double teams. You get too double teams and you climb with the second level and tons and tons and tons of play action bootlegs and the grouping they used to get to those looks.

They're an eight percent eleven personnel ty and that's one back, one tight end typically Dalvin Cook, typically IRP Smith Jr. With three whiteouts, typically justin Jefferson, Adam Thilan and kJ Osborne. They go twelve percent seven percent of the time, twelve personnel, I should say seven percent of the time. That's one back, two tight ends, and they go twenty one personnel, two backs, one tight end ten percent of the time. So you'll get a full back coming downhill at you. More on

that in just a moment. The receiver slash tight end versus cornerbacks. It starts and ends with Justin Jefferson. If you don't give him a lot of attention, he will go off. He had ten catches last week at halftime against the Bears. Teams that have gone one on one against him have paid for it. How many teams they'll have Xabing Howard just one. We'll see how the Dolphins choose to match it up, but they have some choices here.

Detroit and Philly were the two teams that made a point to take away Justin Jefferson three for fourteen against Detroit, six for forty eight against Philly and those two games. But then what did Adam Feeling and Osbourne and IRB. Smith Jr. Doing those games? Well? The Lions game, Osborne had five for seventy three and a touchdown and Feeland had six for sixty one and a touchdown and IRB Smith had two for thirty two. That's hundreds. It's a

lot of arts, almost two hundred yards. The Eagles had Feeling four for fifty two, Smith for five for thirty six, and Osbourne two for five. And the Eagles are so loaded in the secondary. So that kind of production with Jefferson sixty eight, that's how you beat this team seven like Philadelphia did. Can Miami replicate something similar? Kinkater Co, who played the level that James Bradberry plays at, can Nick don't play at the level we get accustomed to

over the last several years with him playing here. It's another instance where I just wish we had things that we didn't. But teams with multiple lockdown corners I think could really give this offense fits. It will be a challenge for Josh Boyer to craft a plan that gives them the opportunity to do that, to take away Justin Jefferson and give them issues with potentially I think what could be asked of kator Co, who this week he's

playing really well. I think this season I think has the makeup to draw and and really win against Adam Feeling because Stealans so sharpened his routes and the way co who's shown that he can change directions, might be the ability to give you the defensive production we're looking for in that matchup and force them to Osbourne to earth Smith into the running game. That will be a

nice key. I can get that done this week. Personally, I would love to get back to the press looks on the outside and just keep coming at Cousins and live and die by that sword. But we'll see. We'll see what they want to do on defense this week. The matchups with Needham and co Who you know, if it's if it's Steel and Osborne, those are good ones.

The way those Vikings receivers play, I think are areas with the Dolphins corners can kind of shine in terms of you know, sharp, quick, nifty route runners, quick change of directions, get eyes back to the quarterback and the football and hopefully we make some plays in the ball. This week. I want to set some picks. Man. We have one pick and it was five weeks ago on the offensive line versus defensive line. We mentioned the investment into the old line they made and it's been beneficial

for the Vikings. Christian Derris saw has been every bit the first round play, or they were hoping he would be and they drafted him last year out of Virginia Tech. Their scheme operates around his ability to lock down one side of the formation and slide help to the rest, much like to Ron Armstead for the Dolphins. And of course he goes out and past protection, you know, takes a dip just like the same thing without having your QB one that gets spread of the ball so quickly.

It all has an impact. Garrett Bradberry inside is their version of Connor Williams in the sense that he is super smart and helps them with the many rush games the opponent can throw at them. Their pressures allowed numbers go like this. For five guys that have not missed a single snap this year across their offensive line, uh Dery saw seven pressures, ed Ingram seventeen pressures, Garrett Bradberry eight,

Ezra Cleveland eleven, Brian O'Neal eight. So Cleveland is a converted tackle and Ingram is a rookie day one starter with veteran Bradberry between them. There's your key, right if you want to control this game, that's where you have to win. Those interior three with the likes of Wilkins and Seiler and Rake one. I expect Christian to have another monster game like he's been doing all year long.

Get dal and cooked a bubble early, forced him to make extra steps in the backfield to allow your linebackers and safety's more time to come downhill and impact Cousins, who is not as fleet of foot as the quarterbacks we've been playing here recently, going back to Game one, shutdown Mac Jones, other quarterbacks not so much. But we get back to these more stationary quarterbacks. I'm hoping the

production follows along with that. I think this sets up to be Miami's best performance since that Week one game if they win the matchups they're supposed to, and it starts here on the inside, so Miami is versatile and multiple. I'm curious, curious to see what the plan is in terms of where and how the Vikings react. I'm hopeful the defense can get back to those splash players we've

become so accustomed to here in Miami. Immediate pressure that forces the quarterback to interrupt that original hitch and you know, drive up in the pocket, make a throw faster than he wants to create negatives in the running game. And get the offense behind the change. Because we've been so close, but we just keep missing. We have to eventually execute at some point. I think last week was a good return to that, especially the seventeen yard sack on Brandon Jones,

but again, just one pick in five games. That has to change at some point. Why not Sunday. Brian O'Neill is their most experienced player, and he plays off the side we typically see Emmanuel Odd Bob play, though that often does change. It's a good matchup there, but looking at O'Neil, who's been good for them, don't get me wrong, but his issues early in his career and he's improved upon them. But we have the body types to go after. That potential weakness is what I'm trying to get out here.

He's barely three hundred pounds and though he's got four thirty four inch arms, it doesn't necessarily translate to the way that he plays. We have to shock him with our length and shorten that corner in both the running game and the passing game, and potentially overload it too,

because they're gonna slide to leave Dera Saw alone. And with that matchup, I think I go Melvin Ingram because he has the past rush arsenal and the knowledge to give a rook or a second year player like dry saw some potential confidence damage and maybe even just beat

him out right a few times. So kind of find a way to get that stop to take our last break here and come back on the other side and do the rest of this position group will tell you the special teams, what's at stake in the three keys to this game, and will make our week six picks. That's all next on the Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. We have one more position group here for the Vikings offense versus Dolphins defense

and is running backs versus linebackers. Dalvin Cook might be the best back in the game. He slips tackles, he has home run speed to make you pay, and we learned that back in eighteen. He can change the angle and tackle and a heartbeat. So the Dolphins team that's not tackling very well right now has another big challenge in front of them. And he also has exceptional vision to get where he needs to go on time every time. I just can't speak highly enough of his game. He

is phenomenal. He's averaging two point eight nine yards after initial contact this season at three point oh in his career. He's forced eight teen miss tackles. He's a big play runner man. They used to get him, They used him to get drive, started to get chunk plays. Really anyway imaginable. He keeps the whole playbook open for all three downs. He had four ten plus yard runs last week to the week before and three the week before. Like that

is nine explosive plays in three weeks. Philly was the only one to keep him without a ten yard rush, but that had more to do with the scoreboard getting down early in that game. I'm excited to watch a landed Roberts versus c. J. Ham. Those two certainly meet in the gap a few times on Sunday, and Roberts has been so good at defeating blocks with forced this season.

Just don't get caught going downhill a big fellow on play action looks they sneak the back out behind you, because that's that's kind of how you exploit that aggressiveness. But don't confuse Ham for just a blocker, because they'll slip him out in the pattern as well. Just three catches this year, but he has sixty three in his career in averages eight points having per catch, So if you flow too fast, they'll take advantage of that. Just

be aware of that. We've seen Jerome Baker run with backs and tight ends all year, really his entire career, and this is one that that's kind of a challenge for him. In this game. I mean, Dalvin Cook has eleven grabs on fifteen targets for seventy four yards. They haven't really got the screen game going, but perhaps that could be their blitzpeer if miamis in that direction. And also don't forget about Alexander Madison. He is a heck of a player and can punish you when Dalvin Cook

gets a blow. So there you go. There's the defense versus the offense. With the Vikings special teams, Miami rakes thirty right now in d v O A. That has to get better like now the Vikings rank twenty four. Hopefully it's a good chance for Miami to get back to their special teams winning the fine margins ways. Ryan Wright averages forty five point six per punt, although he has he has seventeen punts in five games, so a

little more than three points per game. That would be a nice number for the Dolphins to get three points and a couple of takeaways. Thomas Morristead averages forty four point nine with seventeen punts of his own, so we punt a little bit too much as well. More so

the last couple of weeks. Greg Joseph Hey, we remember him right, eight of twelve this season on his field goals, and all four of those misses from fifty plus, so potentially in that you know, thirty five to forty five yard line range, maybe they go for it on four thounds a lot, do the vikings, and if they don't, perhaps we get some short field off some miskicks potentially. Jason Sanders also has two misses, both of those are from fifty plus as well. The sixth frade this year,

what's at stake? Staying over five hundred, not going three and three after a three and no start for the third time since we've done this now two. I understand the circumstances are tough for this time with a quarterback situation and injuries, but you know, keeping that eight game home winning streak alive. Look, this team has been banged up,

hopefully it's starting to trend in the right direction. Get into four and two would be really really nice heading into that prime time game against a struggling Steelers team, and then two NFC North teams who are playing really rough right now to follow up after that. Win this game, get number one back, and we're right back on track. That's what's at stake. I'm hopeful. I'll give you the pick here in a second. My three keys are to create turnovers and splash plays. We gotta get sacks. We

gotta get TFLs. We've gotta get fumbles, we've gotta get picks. We've gotta start making something happen on defense because the bend but don't break system only works when you create the splash plays. Number two. And the Spikings team, with the way that they've played and the way we attack this type of offense, you can make it happen. Number two. Take what the defense gives you. They don't want to come with pressure, they don't want to attack the run.

If they give you run looks, check to if they give you quick hitters, check to it. Get the ball out of your hands. No negative plays on offense. Number three, win in the margins. Be better on special teams, don't get flagged eleven times for penalties, and find ways to win in those small margins which made this team successful the last couple of years. Do it here and you might have a chance to pull off a victory against a road favorite. My week six picks bad, Week five,

ten and six. Last week brings us to fifty two and twenty seven. Yuck on the season. Oh boy, the Thursday game. Give me Washington over Chicago. I'm taking the Vikings over the Dolphins. I hate it, but I have to do it. The Niners over the Falcons. Would love to see the Falcons get that one. Cleveland over New England. I just don't trust the Bailey Zappy magic to last for a second straight week. Give me the Green Bay

over the Jets. Big to come back and bounce back after they won their Super Bowl and after the Packers got you know, kind of embarrassed there late by the Giants. The Colts over the Jaguars. I keep picking them to beat them. I don't know why I do it, but I'm gonna do it here again anyways. The Colts over Jags. Give me the Bengals over the Saints. The Baltimore Ravens to absolute the cloud with the Giants. Give me the Bucks over the Steelers, the Rams over the matt Rules Panthers,

Arizona over Seattle. I think I'll take Buffalo over Case. Although if you get a Dolphins win, a Chief swin, and a Packers win this week, we're back in first place, so fingers crossed. I'm hoping we'll see. Obviously, my picks don't go that way. Uh Philly over Dallas on Sunday night, and I'll take Denver over the Chargers on Monday Night football. All right, that's my time. You all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Leave us

a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast, check out our Twitter spaces show on Wednesday night at eight o'clock the post game show on w q A M five sixty. Right when the game ends, we are on the air, so check us out there. You can also find the international

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