Dolphins Win 19-7 Behind Dominant Defense, Up Tempo Second Half Offense

It is another victory Monday edition here of the Drive Time Podcast as the Dolphins win win, win, win. That is seven of the last eight. So much to unpack from this Dolphins nineteen to seven win win, win win as what started off as a slow, kind of uneventful game turned into a high wire act as a Dolphins defense puts the clamps on the Bengals, not allowing a point over the final three quarters and a resurgent up tempo attack from the offense leads to the final nine

team points of the game. Will cover takeaways, individuals, audio from coach and players, and we'll get John Knjemmy as we do here every single Sunday night on the Recap edition of Drive Time. All of that and more on this Monday, December, the seventh edition of the Drivetime podcast. That time brought by Auto Nation. Hey, Dolphins fans, the

New Year starts now at Auto Nation. Let's skip the rest of and get two big New Year savings on your favorite Auto Nation Chevy's, Fords, Toyota's, Honda's Jeeps and more. Shops safely at the Auto Nation store near you or

Auto nation dot com. Some game that was out in Miami today, Hun, we had the Dolphins win this one nineteen to seven, and I finally got a chance to go back and look at the box score because there was a lot going on from quotes and articles and writing things up in the let's call it a shift in the mindset late in that game that kind of set the temple for post game and what coach and players were gonna talk about to the media. But what kind of got lost in the shuffle there for me

was the box score. Look at this Dolphins box score. We've we've long heard the conversation this year that even as the Dolphins are winning games by multiple scores, we've heard coach Flores's talk about how I don't really care about the stats without the proper context, because they might tell you one thing and I think I saw another thing. We'll look at the box score for this game from Miami,

no doubt about who played the better football game. Miami four hundred and six yards one hundred ninety six for the Bengals. The Dolphins had one hundred ten yards on the ground. Cincinnati rushed for only forty yards in the game. Dolphins passed for two nine six to the Bengals one fifty six. Miami is one for ten on third down, so that's got to get better. We know that the Bengals were three for twelve, right in line with Miami's

top third down defense in the National Football League. To takeaways from Miami, one for the Bengals on that late Miles gascon fumble, six Dolphins sacks the Bengals didn't have any, and the Dolphins eight penalties for fifty four yards. We heard coach talk about that post game. That's not gonna that's not gonna do it for Coach Flora's and the

way he wants this operation run. The Bengal six penalties sixty two yards and TP goes to Miami, who had thirty two minutes and sixteen seconds of time of possession. A couple of the storylines I was keeping my eye on, keeping a finger on the pulse of as we got closer and closer to kickoff was how the running back rotation worked, and it went how I thought it would.

Miles Gaskin played the line share of the snaps. We did see some Patrick Lard out there at times in this game, and Chandler Cox as well in the very early going. I don't know how many snaps he played, but I did see him on the field early, but it was mostly Miles Gaskin out there as he Cox the fullback of course, and Laird were the only running

backs available. Of course I was concerned or not concerned, but I was curious to see what To have played like in this game because we've heard all the stories. He hasn't played since that Denver game. So you know, everyone in the week to week league and the kind of get your reaction, get your take, gets your final conclusion on a player after every single game, reform that and propose it as a long term solution. That's how

it is in this league. So I was curious to see how to would bounce back and the second half that he played in this game, I think, I hope is what folks will remember, and how he was just comfortable and throwing on the move and making plays. We'll talk more about that here. Just one second, I wanted to know how many three an ounces they were gonna get, how many turnovers could they force? Could they hold the

Bengals to ten or fewer first downs? Those were my target points and expectations for this Dolphins defense, and they came damn close. Two more takeaways that extends the NFL's longest active street of eight teen straight games with a takeaway they get four or three and ounce in the game, a whole bunch of punts. We'll talk more about that again in the takeaway segment here. And twelve first downs with the Bengals offense, so just a little bit over

on the end of the game. A couple of first downs they're late help the Bengals get over the ten mark. But those were what I was looking for, and this defense once again did not disappoint. And then the offensive line with Robert Hunt started the game instead of in place of Jesse Davis at right tackle, with Solomonckinley back at right guard. We did see Eric Flowers get hurt

in this game. More on that in just one second, which pushed Dave Us into right guard off the bench and Solomon Kindley over the left guard where he played at Georgia. So some interesting stuff to look out there. We'll get more on the offensive line stuff on the All twenty two review. Just an easier time for me

to have more transparency with that for you guys. First though, let's go ahead and just address the elephant in the room, and here from Coach Flora's he spoke post game about the skirmish between the two teams, which saw the Dolphins sideline kind of pour onto the field in support of Jachem Grant, who was hit late on a kickoff or a punt return. I should say for a fair with a fair catch for the second time in the game. Let's go ahead and let Coach Flora's take you through

his perspective of the entire event. Yeah, I mean we got to do a better job of keeping our pois That starts with me. Have that a better job of keeping up my boys? Um, you know, look, I'm gonna stick off for my players. Um, they're gonna stick up for each other. Without getting penalties, without um, you know, hurting the team. But we got to do a better job keeping keeping our boys, you know, as a team. These are I'm just gonna be These are like my kids.

So the first time, yeah, you know, second time I got a little you know said about it. But you know, still I got to do a better job. I have to and I can't. I can't you do anything to hurt the team. My ambution's got the best of me there. But again he's you see somebody care about you know, you'll get hit like that, you know, twice. And but I gotta do a better job. I keep my punking ways better. We have to do a better job of

that as a team. And his greater point remains and will remain for Coach Flora's that he just has to maintain better composure. And coach was asked this later in the press conference about if he felt like he might have scored some points with his players, with us, with the entire Dolphins operation, and again he'll repeat the fact that he has to do a better job and his team has to do a better job of keeping their poise.

But the players talked about it afterwards after the game and they all came out and support a coach Flora's and talked about the same things Coach said, where if they're gonna do something to one of our guys like Jacheems, someone you care about, then you're gonna have to react in a certain way. And that was kind of the general theme of the message afterwards. But also the team, of course, has to keep your head on straight. Can't

have those kind of mistakes play out. And you know in a football game that maybe it's closer on the scoreboard, So we'll go ahead and leave that and bury that right there. You're not coming to show to hear me talk about the drama. You want to hear me talk about the football game. And that's where we get into our very first takeaway here with the first takeaway the value of a cornerback that takes the football away paired with the pass rush that does what it does to

close out football games. That's kind of a long winded first take here, but I couldn't find out a way to focus this thing on one singular area, so I had to bring both of them together because I think that they both go so perfectly in unison to what we talked about on Friday's top news piece. The vision of this defense, what coach Flora is with Josh Boyer and that defensive staff, what they want this defense to look like, to fit what they think they can do

best schematically. And so you'd hear them talk about making the scheme fit the players, which of course is great and you should do it. But it's also nice when you sign players that have the skill set to operate the scheme that you want to run. And that's what they did by getting these two lockdown cornerbacks and Xavien

Howard and Byron Jones. Now, the long touchdown for the Bengals, the seventy or two yards today came because of a little rub route on a flat a little pick to get a first down for Tyler Boyd on a third short, but Byron Jones went underneath the rub and that gave Tyler Boyd a chance to make a move and get up field and scored that touchdown. But besides that mistake, the defense was lights out throughout the course of this game, and the cornerbacks in particular, they continue to get it done.

We talked about the Brian Baldinger radio spot on that Friday Top news piece where he talked about you have the stout outside coverage that allows you to get all these guys that can rush from different spots and create and new different things and line up in different spots and stunt and twist, and when pass rush with the bull rush, when pass rush with the speed move, do counter moves, all these different variety of things. It confuses

the quarterback. It allows this defense to crank up the pressure with the trust and and just security of knowing those cornerbacks on the outside. In addition to two safeties who should be mentioned in that group as well, Eric Roe Bobby McCain are both having fantastic seasons. The vision of the defense coming together and as the second scoring defense in the league, the top ranked third down defense

in the league eight teen trade games. In the takeaway six sacks in this football game, you see the vision pairing up with the talent on the football field and manage. Sure has been fun to watch when we go ahead and start here with xaviing Howard who he catches it, and the press box just goes, yeah, it was ex who else would it be. It's it's weird. I don't

know how to describe it. I think shack Lawson said it best when he said he has never seen anybody doing what xaviing Howard's doing right now, and with credit to trade Avious White over in Buffalo, shack Lawson has a certain thought about xaviing Howard best going back in the league and down you get one every week, man, I ain't never witnessed nothing like that. I mean, I'm playing with good pointer back and don't get me wrong, I played with a great quarterback last year. Let's see

a guy to get a pick almost every week. It's incredible, man, It's incredible, man. And I'm mad on witness being with one of the best going in the league. That is twenty interceptions in his last thirty four games. He leads the NFL this year with eight. He got twenty picks in fifty two career games, which of course that is the same amount that he has in the last thirty

four games. I saw a staff from the great Brett Coleman on Twitter the Fame YouTube channel of the Film Room, and he talked about Asante Samuel playing for eleven years of his NFL career, so a lot longer than x so far, but averaging a pick every three games. And how absurd that is. Xavian Howard in his career is averaging a pick less than every three games, and in the last thirty four games it's like every game and

a half. So he is on an unreal ridiculous pace helping this defense out and playing that good man coverage, that good tight coverage, staying in the hip pockets of

the game's best receivers up and down the field. He and Byron Jones and Nick need him in the slot with those two safeties that pairs up so well with his pass rush that went off today, went off with six sacks in the game, three for Kyle van Noy, two for Shack Lawson, one for Zach Seeler, and Shack Lawson talked about I asked him this question post game, like, is there something about a guy making a play that gets you guys energy level at just another level, like

beyond ten even. And the reason I want to play this audio four years because I think it speaks to what this Dolphins team, what they've said they are all season long, about how they truly care for one another and how they all have a like minded mentality when it comes to how to work and how to play. Football and how they truly do believe in one another and the Dolphins emphasis this offseason on getting the right fifty three here in Miami. Listen to Shack Laws and

talk about the defense. It's the sitement when when you see a guy make a play, especially your teammate, and you know do at the weekly work hard, work hard to make plays for Sunday. I mean, you just feed off that and you want to go make a next play, and then we just feed off each other. Man, you know, people speeding off cow Alma Christian, you know Christians. The Christian is the reason why. Like I'm get us going, like its energy and joice. I know I'll be part

of that too. But Christian, it's it's been different since we've been having him back then before he was missing. You know, the energy level is a lot different having that guy. I want to focus on that last part. There's a reason I played that Christian Wilkins part because this defense. We talked about Shack Laws, and we talked about Kyle van Noy, the five sacks between those two guys. Today we talked about Emmanuel Ogba, who damn near had his ninth sack, but they just overturned it would have

given Christian a touchdown pass. Talking about Xavien Howard rightfully so and all these other players on this defense, Christian Wilkins continues down in and down out, game in and game out, to give penetration, to get knocked back, to be disruptive both as a pass rusher and a run defender, and he does so much to create chances for other players. But it's not just that we talked about the right fifty three right well, you heard Shaq talk about it

right there. Who is the guy on this team, the second year player that brings the juice and changes the complexion and the overall feeling in that locker room. It's Christian Wilkins. And he was the first draft pick of the Brian Flores and Chris Career regime, the Brian Flores Chris Career marriage here in Miami that right now is looking so good with the way this defense has come together.

Christian Wilkins was the first part they brought in for that, and they talked about that extensively when he was draft throughout the course of his rookie season into this year.

You hear it every day in the press conferences and in this game the reason I wanted to really harp on Christian here he was so it was the same Christian Wilkers performance shud get a lot of the time that goes unnoticed, just constant penetration, reset the line, scrimmage on the inside and creating big gaps in big lanes for pass rushers to blitz inside of him for the guys in the outside to get those one on one chances. He does so much for this defense. And it's not

just on the football field, it's in the personality. And I think you hear that right here in Christians audio when somebody asked him about getting that touchdown taking off the board when he scooped up the aug bas strip sack and they took it off the board after he dunked it over the goal post and lost his mind. On the same level that he would celebrate with his teammates, he got to be the one scoring. This time, he loses his mind and has a great celebration, broke out

all the dances. He's not too thrilled about the fact that they overturned it and called it an incomplete pass on the field. Here's Christian man daveson haters. That's all I got to say. I don't know who I got to talk to, but I'm a set. I didn't did every dance in the book, every celebration. I was tired all of that. And it didn't even count. Marty even got it. Took the fine, but it was worse than I had a little fun out there. Not too bad. It just didn't count. But it does what it didn't.

Glad We've got to win. So there you go. And he finishes off by talking about the most important thing on the day, getting to win, the bubbly personality, but the switch to know when to flip that thing on. I love Christian Wilkins, I love Shack Loss and those are too easy guys to to be around, to root for and to watch play football, and I'm glad that they're on our team. And I just continues this theme here. The first takeaway kind of turned into a defensive brave fest.

Here is Josh Bowyer's unit continues to get the job done. We talked about the Van Noy three sacks, all three of those sacks coming up lining up inside shack Laws and ripping off the edge for both of his sex add but in that same spot gets the the hit on the quarterback, the non sack, the incomplete pass, Zack Seeler on the three technique. It comes from all over, It comes and waves, and when you give this team a lead back to the first point, man, they sure

do know how to close out football games. The Bengals offense today punt punt, touchdown, three and out, punt, missed field goal, three and out, three and out, three and out, punt interception. So this Dolphins defense just continues to blow you away every single week. Takeaway number two calling the game to two a tongue of by lower strengths. I love the way chan Gailey got back to some of

those things in that second half. We're gonna go ahead and hear from coach Flores here about the tempo in the second half of the game, making the switch to go up tempo and how that can impact the defense and how you can also benefit your young quarterback and your offense. You think Channing the offensive staff, you know,

made that adjustment. We uh, I just wanted to pick up the pace a little bit, and um, you know, it was it was, it was efficient and we got some production out of it, so we stayed with it. I think, you know, again, that's that's hard to deal with defensively. So we were able to make some good throws, make some good runs and execute and really keep the pressure on. And that's that's that was the thought process at halftime, and we gotta we gotta accomplished. I gotta

say there's no one way to skin account. I never believe there's one blueprint in the National Football League. But I sure do like having my defensive minded coach helping rookie quarterback because of things like that, the idea that he knows what's hard on his defense, so he wants to call things for his offense that puts the opposing defense in a bind. And I just love they things they did with Two in this game, getting him out on the move, getting him out on those boots, running

some of that zone read. He got free for a run early in the game. He also had a couple of those quick twitch movements in the pocket that you grow in love with two a tongue of vloa, or you come to grow in love about him the way he can evade pressure and evade those free rushers. Got himself active that way, pressed the line of scrimmage and got outside and made throws behind the line of scrimmage as he broke through the initial pressure, the initial surge.

I thought he got comfortable that way, had that deep shot to Jakeem Grant back up on his old goal post that was just falling right into the bread basket there almost ran under that thing and took it all the way for what would have been like a ninety one yard touchdown drive. So you get him loosened up, you get him going the deep shots, the running aspect

of it, getting him out in space. Plenty of those little pot passes to Jakeem Grant to take advantage of, you know, maybe they don't follow your motion or shift

with you on the defensive side of the football. I think Jachim had two of those twenty yard or within the twenty yard range pot passes in this game, giving lynbod and some carries out of the backfield, and that RPO mixing things up and keeping the Bengals defense off balance with plenty of action where TWA does pull that thing and chuck it into that little hook zone behind the linebackers, you influence them that way, and those two

things go off each other so well. With the r P O game and the way you open up the running game as Miles Gascon hits it up for ninety yards. In this game, both those things can work off each other, finding that balance and finding that rhythm and completing those six yards RPOs to help keep those linebackers a little bit concerned about their first fall step forward, their their

first fall step backward. If two can read that and make the decision, it's gonna be a lot more difficult to defend this Dolphin's offense when they get both those things working and sync. I like the way they went empty and spread things out and create those big pockets and big windows for two of to make a quick decision catch rock throw. Your pass protection at that point basically is invalid because the balls out before the defensive

line even has a chance to get there. So spread things out created a line of vision for tow The ball out of his hands, got him in that rhythm. I just love the way they called this game for him in the second half, giving multiple options to football, spreading things out and going to the up tempo look to start the third quarter. Here's two. We're talking about the stress the up temple offense can put on the

opposing defense. I think when you're on the ball and you're going fast, it confuses the defense because they need to get lined up. They can't get their right call in at times. Then when you have guys motioning, it confuses up their call if they have a blitz on

or what coverage they're gonna run. So, you know, I think the up temple things that we did in the second half really helped us to get the ball rolling, and they did get that ball rolling for a career high two nine passing yards there four tongue BYLOA think an area of improvement for this week to look at as red zone opportunities. They had some down there close near the goal line. Just couldn't quite finish off a

few of those drives. But otherwise I thought the game was a really good one for to that play where he broke contain and found Miles gasking for thirty five yards was just vintage to getting off the spot making a playoffs had the pocket. He almost did the exact same thing and that Chargers game with the Jachem Grant peel back throw where he got out of pressure, threw it up the field and just was out of reach

of Towah. This time he finds Gasking with a floater for thirty five yards in a big game, and that's right before the touchdown pass where he finds Mike gets Sicky with just perfectly leveraged throw or get sick. He has the open back shoulder underneath the fender, big target, put it up high and away, Gassicky locates it, pulls it in. That's what he does to gave him the chance.

They're just love the way he's able to do that, the way they're aggressive out of the out of the break at halftime, I talked about that gets him in this motion where he goes seven for ten with ten yards and a touchdown on the next two drives quick ten points to really change the feel of that football game to make it sixteen seven. And I talked a little bit about Lynn Boden there. I liked why soften linbod and I think there's something there with some more

work as we go along here. Jan Guilly spoke about spoke about his skill set kind of integrating with the offense back when he first got here, not that it was a lack of talent, but a lack of just being here and having those repetitions and practice him getting more work is a positive sign for another possible option in the skill spots. Getting the football in the game and jachiem Grant on those pot passes again. Loved his activity and involvement in this game. So offense, good job

in that second half. Third takeaway. We'll go quickly here through these the injuries and the way this team responds to adversity. We lost at one point, Eric Rowe. He landed Roberts and Eric Flowers in this game, and Road did return to the football game, so that was good to see. The story was not the same for Roberts and Flowers, and Flowers went off on a car. So you hope the best for him. I felt sick to my stomach watching him get carded off. You could see

how how upset he was about that fact. Playing good football here for his hometown team. Get well, suing Flowers. I hope, I hope you're good man. I hope everything's okay with Eric Flowers in his place. They brought in Solomon Ckiley at left guard and brought Jesse Davis off

the bench to play right guard. Thought that group played well and it's not unexpected that Jesse Davis steps and employs well at a spot he's played four spots of the offensive line in his career, but that losing the bodies on both offense and defense with guys, and just the uncare acturistic penalties of this game, like not reporting on that on the fake for Matt Hawk taking points off the board, a false start from Mac Hollands on the punt team neutral zone, and fraction on the defense

roughing the quarterback on a slide down from Calvin Munson. Just some mistakes you don't see this football team normally make. We're out there in this game. Some drop passes, some mistackles, some that that weird aggressive you know, the zero blitz where Byron Jones kind of weren't worked on the inside when Tyler Boyd got the outside for the one really

good offensive play they had in the game. Some oun characteristic mistakes, but this team's metal and next band up mentality for both the injuries and those mistakes, the way they bounced back and made sure this thing didn't cavalcade into a you know, too score deficit, a three score deficit, and then all of a sudden it's the fourth quarter and you're you're done. You've lost a game that you

you need to win. They didn't let that happen. They turned it around, They showed the resiliency, turned things back up and got back in the game and one going away. So that was great to see. Love the fact that this team can respond to that. Let's go ahead and get to take away number four here, it's just that Jason Standers stays golden. Jason Sanders stays golden, four for

four on the day. What a weapon this guy is and the way it can change the way you approach the football game is really my takeaway here because you put him out there, you're okay, three points, that's it. I mean, what else is it? Twenty nine? It changes the way you can attack in key situations. It changes the target point for the offense when you're trailing in a game, when we eventually get to this point, which we're going to at some point where you need a

drive late to win the game. It's happened I think once this year and since since TWA came in once

in a long time. On top of that, where Miami had to have a drive late in the fourth quarter to put points on the board to to tie it or go ahead, and they got it down against the Cardinals and then later came back and had the game winning field goal there as well, that's gonna happen again at some point, and knowing that I can get the ball to the forty and being pretty damn good shape for Jason Sanders, that is a weapon, my friends, Jason Sanders,

an absolute weapon. Vote him for the Pro Bowl Number five takeaway here the career days for two a Ghasiki and Gasket. I thought that we talked about the offense a lot in the second takeaway, but just kind of piggyback off that and give some more individual notes here

to really on his perform. I just again thought he was really good in the second half and saw a lot of the things that you feel comfortable with him, maybe knocking off some of that rust after not playing for a week less, missing last week with the thumb, getting things going and giving yourself a chance to have some confidence and some positivity going into a tough game

next week against the Kansas City Chiefs. And it just seems like for most of the season, and really since especially since two have got back, we just haven't had all the weapons come together. And right now, I know Preston Williams was not out there today, but getting Miles Gaskon back in the running game going a little bit, and having Mike got sicky with DeVante Parker and Lynn Bowden active and ready hopefully to get Malcolm Perry back here as soon as well. He was inactive in this game.

I liked the rhythm these three, these three guys got into together to a tonk about looa most passing yards in his career at nine six. He also has now tied the franchise record with five consecutive games without throwing an interception, that ties Jay Fiedler all time. He's four and one in his five starts. Again, hasn't turned the football over pass a raining around a hundred that's top ten twelve in the league if you qualify him among enough past attempts. He's off to that start. And Mike

Gasicki's nine receptions in this game. Those are a career high for Gasiki, who leads all tight ends and yards per reception. He's third among all tight ends with touchdowns since Week thirteen of last season, so basically since he started scoring touchdowns, he's become a consistent red zone threat. That way, he has the most the highest first down conversion rate of tight ends this year in the NFL as well. So Mike Gasicky continues to get it done.

Career high nine catches and in eighty eight yards and a touchdown in this game. Miles Gaskin finishes a day with one forty one yards for scrimmage. That is a career high for him as well. So this Dolphin's team again plenty that can work on going forward. But again eight and four for the first time since two thousand and three. Just go ahead and rip through some of my individual notes here really quickly. I talked about Gaskins balanced to stay on his feet after the screen pass.

After the passage Achim Grant went incomplete deep from their own end zone. Uh, it was a second and ten. They threw a screen to Miles Gaskin and he was four or five yards behind the line and got hit. And you show you saw the balance and the lower body strength of of gasking to stay on his feet to pick up sixteen yards after what pbably shoud have been a loss and the Dolphins would go on to score that drive. So big change in the game right there by Myles Gaskin staying on his feet and making

a good play their receivers. We talked a little bit about Lynn Bowden. Davante Parker draws to passionate reference calls in the game early on to help get the offense going early. He also caught a pair of passes why I thought was a really nice anticipation right between he and tongue Bylowa early in the game. Mike is sick and we talked about him already, but that one handed catch looking like Oronde Gadsden one two days rather after he was on the podcast. Thank you for doing that, Mike.

I appreciate that. My man on the offensive line, we talked about three replacements on the interior getting the job done there with Jesse Davis. We'll talk more about that on Tuesday's podcast. Defensive line wise, we talked about Christian Wilkins a bunch he was all over my notes. Agba continues to win from multiple spots. Zach Seiler had the sack and continues to do what he does all season long. This defensive line just playing really good football in conjunction

with the linebacker corps. Van Noi three sacks in the game. Calvin Munson I thought had some good plays outside of the one penalty we talked about in this game, a Land and Roberts had some good pursuit early on before he left the game with an injury. Own Baker continues to show that speed sideline. The sideline Andrew Van Gekol makes plays as well. I talked about Byron Jones being in the hip pocket on a third down stop on a a pass target on the first possession, just always

in phase where he needs to be. And then Nick Needum gets a great pass breakup on Tyler Boyd in the first half of that was worth mentioning, in addition to his his I t that fell from the heavens into his hands. Good for him there. And then the exaviing Howard pick Man the switch release where he fights through the rub and plays the football like a receiver. Again we talked about off the top. It just doesn't surprise you anymore. Eric Rowe and Bobby McCain, the way

these guys communicate and move. We talked about the foods ball table last week. Saw more of that this week, and McCain's ability to run off routes and then close on different routes and impact multiple reads in the progression on any given play. Gosh, it's fun to watch. I love this secondary so much. And they played another great football game, another game allowing just seven points, allowed ten points in the last two games combine. So just dominant,

dominant defense for your Miami Dolphins. Let's go ahead and turn this thing over now to John con Jemmy and get to his three takeaways for Dolphins nineteen Bengal seven. And joining me now on the podcast as he do does weekly here on the Sunday edition of Drive Time, is John con Jemmy. He is the co host of the audible podcast John, How you doing tonight? I'm doing great. Uh,

nice win at home for the Miami Dolphins. So it sets uh, it sets this football team up for a strong finish and hopefully they'll be able to win enough

down that stretch to to enter the playoffs. So it's uh, it's a good conversation to have, and I'm looking forward to see what the last couple of games and in this last month having store for us first time at eight and four since two thousand and three, that was the year the Dolphins beat the Cowboys and Thanksgiving and then things kind of went arrived from that point forward.

But um, you know, John, Usually you and I have these these moments in the press box where you're going down for TV in the fourth quarter and you leave and the game's pretty much in hand. That wasn't the case in this one, although it kind of started to feel that way as the Dolphins defense got hotter and hotter. I have to imagine your first takeaway If I'm wrong, correct me, but I have to imagine your first takeaway goes some where towards that Dolphins defense. It does, And

it was really the tale of two halves. You know, Um, when I got up at the beginning of the fourth quarter, I kind of missed the fisticuff. So I need to get filled into at some point this week on what exactly happened. But it really was a tale of two halves, both offensively and defensively. I think Cincinnati left some points out on the football field that they could have had, you know, two scores or at least ten points going

to halftime. And I thought the Dolphins were very fortunate to be only trailing by a point going in a halftime. With the way they played. They were. They were a little bit lethargic on both sides. They had too many penalties, Um, they weren't efficient in the red zone. Uh, just too many self inflicted mistakes. And I don't think too I

had a particularly good half. But then you know, you turn around, you come up after a halftime, and all of a sudden, the offense goes into this up tempo, no huddle, get to a going and getting distributing the football, and they looked like a completely different football team, and so does the defense. They go with three consecutive three and outs. I think the Dolphins the total yardage in the third quarter was something like one to minus four.

So it really was a different football team after the first thirty minutes, and I it really turned the whole game around. The offense came out and was explosive. The defense came out they you know, stop Cincinnati in their tracks, and they both complimented each other and it was fun to watch for the last thirty minutes. You said minus four yards in the second half of the Bengals second

maybe the third quarter. I think it was the third quarter, Uh that they had maybe minus four yards to one Somebody, Uh, what was telling me that On the way out of the stadium after we were done doing the Channel four stuff, And I kind of jotted it down, but it was. It was. It was a total domination in that third quarter. Yeah, I was gonna say I believe it for the half because there were so many sacks and negative plays there. Towards the end, they just kept on pushing that offense back.

And that's been one of my favorite things about watching this team this year is the NFL. It seems as designed where a team has a seventeen or twenty point lead, whatever the case might be, and the other team starts inching their way back. That just doesn't happen on this Dolphins team. They closed games as well as anybody in the league right now, John, what is your second takeaway from Dolphins nineteen Bengal seven. I thought some of the star players shined. I thought Mike Kasicki was had his

best game as a pro. I know he had a career high nine catches, but just the way his catches impacted the game and the way you felt like, who is that? You know? That was eight? That was Mike Kasicki And and you know the one touchdown was again climb the ladder, ripping away from somebody, and I just thought he played really well. I thought to a really played well in the second half. Obviously, Xavian Howard with

with another interception making it eight on the season. Uh, Kyle Van Annoy with the multiple sack game and the defense with six total uh in holding, you know, holding the Cincinnati offense just they were inept in the second half. And I just thought that defense rallied, but that the star players came up and they shined when they needed to. And you know guys, and there's a lot of them on this football team, and a couple of them stepped up, and I thought they needed to to get to win

at least absolutely. You mentioned Mike Asiki that one handed catch was it looked just like a Rende Gaston back in two thousand two against the Jets, And I actually spoke to Aronde on the Friday podcast. I was very excited to have that those two things come together. He catches nine passes, like you mentioned, on ten targets, so highly efficient. Eighty eight yards on those ten targets. That is some supreme production out of your tight end. John.

He is number one in first down conversions in terms of how many of his targets turned into first downs among tight ends. He's first in yards perception among tight ends, and since Week thirteen of last season, when he called his first career touchdown pass, he has the third most touchdown receptions among all tight ends. So Mike a siky big, big time game here, John. Your third takeaway is what I think the Miami Dolphins need to play with more discipline. Um.

I know things get heated in the football game. I've been in the middle of a couple of those uh scraps myself, just by chance and just it happens, and you go support your team. But down the stretch, if the Dolphins want to get to where they want to get to, and that's the playoffs, you can't play down to your competition. And in the next four weeks you're gonna be playing up to your competition because you've got

the World champs coming into hard Rock Stadium. You're not gonna you're not gonna be within three touchdowns of that Kansas City team if you play the way you did in the first half and then you play with the discipline or lack thereof that you did in this football game. And the same goes for New England, same goes for the for Vegas, same goes for the Buffalo Bills on the road in Buffalo at the end of the season. You will not win those games. You will find a

way to lose. Is if you have eight penalties for you know, fifty four yards like they did today, or ten penalties for over a hundred yards, or if you're careless with the football, or if you uh give that first push or that that retaliation push, it just won't happen. Those hidden yards will will beat you against good football teams, and just so happens that Cincinnati and the Jets are not good football team and they're able to get away with that. So I think coach flores and starts with him.

You know, he has to get back to, you know, focusing on that discipline and coming from him, coming from the whole football team. You're not gonna win against the teams you have left on the schedule if you beat yourself and you help the teams, uh beat the Miami Dolphins.

So I think that has to be corrected very quickly. Yeah, you mentioned that you're excited for the opportunity to go into the stretch run at eight and four, and you know that's a good example of there, like this team has a chance already to kind of test themselves against some of the better teams in the league, like a Kansas City, New England just put forty five nothing on the Chargers last eye check. I was that was pretty

surprised about that that outcome. You mentioned the Chiefs. I mean, if if you don't play good, if you don't play your best game against the Chiefs, you're not gonna have a chance. The Bills obviously a big AFC East rival, and the Raiders are a good team as well. They're down the stretch, John, look forward to it. We've got two more of these together at home and then two on the road. So four more, my friend, and let's go ahead and finish the season strong. Dolphins eight and four. John,

thank you so much for your time tonight. You gotta thanks Travis, And there he goes John Congemmi of the Audible podcast. You guys can catch the Audible with him and Kim Bocamper, legendary Dolphins defensive lineman here with the organization on the Audible podcast on wherever you get your podcast from that one as well as the fish Tank. Also, please be sure to subscribe to all three the Dolphins podcast here on the Miami Dolphins podcast Network. Go ahead

and leave us all ratings and reviews. Give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Winkfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins and of course, Miami Dolphins dot com. The Sunday Spotlight, the game recap, as well as tomorrow's Inside the Numbers piece, all gonna be live there for you guys in these coming days. But until next time, fins up.