Dolphins Win Fifth Straight, Recapping 29-21 Win Over the Chargers

in a row and do you know what that's called? Street? That is in fact called a winning streak. Lou Brown, The Dolphins have won five games in a row. Special teams come up big once again, the defense heats up her burt and takes some of the shock out of the Chargers offense to to touchdowns, and a strong running game is enough for the fifth straight Dolphins win. We'll get to the stats, the takeaways, the clips from postgame pressers, individual notes and more, and we'll also welcome in John

kN Jemmy to get his takeaways from the game. All of that more on this victory Monday, November sixte edition of the Drive Time Podcast, and our time is brought to you by Auto Nation, where Dolphins fans can sell their vehicle for cash. Now visit auto nation dot com. And as we do weekly here becoming a weekly thing five weeks in a row on this victory Monday edition. Twin win, win win. That's right, that's five wins there

from Jay Rock on this victory Monday edition. Let's go ahead and start as we do with the stats from this game. The Dolphins win the yardage battle by seven to eight to two seventy three. They outrush the Chargers one eleven to nine, Miami with one and sixty nine passing yards the Chargers with one seventy four. The Dolphins were five out of fourteen on third downs, the Chargers for for thirteen against this top Dolphins defense, one of the top five defenses on third down. Both teams had

a takeaway. Miami had two sacks of Justin Herbert too, a tongue of Baloa did not take a sack in the game. Miami only had three penalties for fifteen yards, the Chargers had five for thirty one and the t op time of possession was almost a dead heat. Miami had it for six or thirty minutes and six seconds twelve seconds longer than the Chargers. I should say, thirty minutes and six seconds compared to twenty nine minutes and fifty four seconds of t op for the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Dolphins plus seventy four point first half point differential is best in the NFL. Dolphins have now scored twenty one points in eight consecutive games this season. It is the longest such streak since an eight game regular season stretch in two thousand one, the last two games of that season and the first six game of two thousand two.

The last time the Dolphins scored at least twenty one points in eight consecutive games within one single season was four We all know what happened then, Damn Reno through for five million yards and forty eight thousand touchdowns that season when that team score at least twenty one points in all sixteen games that year. So not there yet, but the Dolphins offense clicking right now. Eighth straight games of over twenty one points the best since in one

single season. And to kind of help us set up the takeaway segment of this victory Monday edition of Drive Time, a couple of storylines I was keeping an eye on heading into this football game, I was really curious to see how Miami's rush package would attack Justin Herbert and kind of try to put pressure on the young quarterback. Would they go heavy and blocks the crap out of him? Would they play coverage and try to force him to maybe play more quarterback and make more decisive reads and

kind of stand in the pocket and make plays that way. Well, it was a good mix of both those things. We'll talk about that plenty here on this edition of the Drivetime podcast. I was also curious by how much they played two deep safeties in this game, some of at some mud cover one, some cover zero. Again, we'll get

into that. Did they spread it out with more receivers and tight ends since the running back experience In the game, we had a rookie who was in a second career game in the NFL, a second year player and undrafted rookie last season or undrafted player last season, Patrick Laird, and a newcomer in DeAndrea Washington who got here twelve days ago. Would they go after the receivers and tight ends. I was curious to take a look at that. We'll get to that. How would they replace Preston Williams reps

with running backs, tight ends, receivers. Curious about that as well, and also the starting offensive line, which went Austin Jackson, Eric Flowers, Ted Carriss, Solomon Kinley, and Jesse Davis at right tackle. Let's go ahead and open this thing up with my five takeaways, and we do start with takeaway number one. I teased it in the open there. The defensive game plan and the mix of looks on defense, both in the secondary and up front. Zero pressure, too

high safety looks. You get a three and out out of that look and then a punt on another drive one drive later, and then you come back on the following drive it's third and twelve. You go seven man pressure cover zero and the throw sales high over the target. That's the kind of pressure you put on teams with those looks. They have to play it perfectly to beat you from a red standpoint, from a protection standpoint, from a route standpoint, one false step, one slip, that thing

is busted and it's over. The quarterback has to see it unfold correctly in that quick blur that he has, and then he has to be perfect from an accuracy standpoint. And that's guys, That's why you bring in all these different guys with rush skills combined with something else. Right. It's Jerome Baker who can rush but also cover. Same with Camu gruge Hill, he Landed Roberts can rush the quarterback. That guy has been coming clean once a week, it

seems like the last five or six games. He can also go in there and knock the absolute paint off the helmet of the opposition. In the running game. Van Ginkle, he can rush, he can cover, he can block punts, he can defend the run. Kyle van Noy does everything. Emmanuel Ogback can beat you outside, inside, power, secondary, move,

redirect underneath. I mean with Emmanuel Ogba. He's now got a sack in six consecutive games, which is the tied for second longest streak in the history of the Miami Dolphins. Back in two thousand to Jason Taylor had eight games in a row with a sack. We'll talk more about Manuel Ogba here in just one second. Shack Lawson, who can play the run on the way to the quarterback. You've got all these guys that fulfill different roles. They don't really have a true position, and this causes absolute

headaches because the quarterback cannot identify who is what? Who the hell is he gonna call the mike. Who's he gonna identify as a pair of defensive tackles in their their alignment, whether they're in double two techniques, they got a nose tackle, they go one and a three technique, whatever they are, those guys can fall back into coverage. And even now we're starting to see a guy like Benito Jones and Jason Strowbridge, who's gonna come up here?

In the later takeaway and one quick at side on Jason Strowbridge, Mary and Hobby talked about him a comment back in training camp saying we're gonna need him at some point. Might not be Week one, might not be Week two, but he's put together a couple of good games with a few package of plays that I've been

impressed with with Jason Strowbridge. But you go back to the last play of the third quarter of the Jason Strowbridge play, where the Dolphins are giving up a little bit of ground in the running game, but they've been

tightening up on other reps. They go ahead and throw a little game with Strowbridge, who gets a tackle for lost for negative two yards where he loops around Benito Jones, who just fires off the snap and gets immediate knock back and instant penetration, causing someone to kind of tell

off with him, and Strowbridge loops around. I mean, a fifth round draft pick this year, a U d f A this year, creating big plays through the scheme as the Dolphins go with a little twist or stunt up front to make that happen, and just the marriage of the scheme and the position these guys are putting these

players in and the execution of the players. I mean, truthfully, the only drive where I sat in that press box and thought they're gonna score on this drive was the one after the failed snap slash fumble return for Nick Vigil And that's really it. Maybe at the end of the game of the Dolphins were up two scores and you kind of play lighter and try to prevent the

big play from happening. Maybe then, but at that point, in my opinion, if you have to get an onside kick, you've got a long way to go to win the

football game. But even on the drive that started like the what forty seven yard line, if I'm being truthful, I genuinely thought on that play that two was tackle was gonna save at least four points on that drive because of my faith and not just the players on the field, the coaches on the sideline, but the marriage of those two together and how they're mixing up this scheme with the talent they have. And just real quick, a quick aside on that point, talking about that fumble

that got ran back into Dolphins territory. Let's hear what Ted Carriss had to say about that tackle. That to a tongue of Valoa maide on that play, it's it's the privilege of a lifetime to play with guys that play with effort like that. I mean, how much better praise can you give a young man than talking about the effort and the privilege of a lifetime. I just thought that was a really cool moment and the postgame presser from Ted Carriss. But back to the defensive structure.

They do that pressure. Look, they bring seven guys, they played cover zero, they drop eight and rush three. They rotate single too high, they go man coverage, they go cover one, cover three, cover six, buzz whatever it might be. I mean, they've got everything under the sun in this playbook, and maybe it took two or three weeks to kind of get this thing finally tuned and communicated, but my god, they are and it's just been a lot of fun

to watch so far. You heard the veterans in the cornerback Room Byron Jones, Bobby McCain, Eric Rowe, some of those guys talk about how these young guys are doing good to come along and they're putting the work in to get themselves in position to make an impact both in their limited roles on their Special Teams roles, but in the future as well. They're putting that mental work in. But the veteran communication they have on that back end has been very valuable and it definitely shows out there

on a weekly basis. I put a note here for you Land and Roberts because I just wanted to make a note over the winning streak. How well this guy has played. Seems like every single week he's been making this play where he's instinctively shooting into the backfield, blowing up blocks, throwing guys off the side. But he also just works around guys too in the blocking game. And Brian Flores always says, you can beat blocks in a variety of ways. You don't have to just go in

there and slam your head into a wall. That seems to be a focal point for this defense this year, beating blocks and doing it in different ways, and they're getting that job done. Takeaway number two communication We talked about it in the secondary, the constant communication of that bat group, and really the number take number two takeaway here from me is the defensive backs are as advertised.

Man Eric Row and Bobby mccame the Charger's longest play in this game prior to the Mike Williams twenty eight yard play or something like that on that final drive. I talked about where they had to score, get an on site kick, and score a game on that. Before that drive, the twenty eight year played to Mike Williams, their longest play was seventeen yards to Hunter Henry. They're playing that deep ball well and they're not getting a

whole lot up underneath either. And the Charges were trying to get some of these route concepts up the field where you would see switches towards the top of the field. I was keeping an eye on it because that's one thing you can watch live you can't see on the television all the time. Is the way the deep routes unfold. And I watched it in this game and they were

trying to shoot the ball down field. They have multiple guys down there, and Herbert would check that two man route combination deep and just check the thing off underneath, because there's Bobby McCain running everything off of the past Byron Jones, exaviing Howard, Nick Needle, whoever might have been running that thing underneath trail, getting it right into the help and really funneling and bracketing that particular deep shot

option they might have there. You just constantly, constantly see these two safeties Rowan McCain having quality communication, rotating getting there there. There's not really any bus to happen where some guy runs free in the secondary and scores a long touchdown. It's just it's just not happening right now. And the cornerbacks up front, exaving Howard, he does what he does every single week, a huge interception in this game to really swing a momentum back in the favor

of your Miami Dolphins. Byron Jones again, rarely ever gets his name even called, but the tackle he had on Jalen Guiton on a third and twelve. He picks up nine yards on the play. It's a straight crosser and Jones already has outside leverage where he's lined up on the outside shoulder of Guiton, and he's gonna run a

straight crosser. And when you're in man coverage and that guy can run as fast as Jalen Guiton can run, it is tough because you basically have to run him down from behind, catch up to him, and get him to the ground short of the sticks. That is a tough, tough ask, but Jones runs it down flawlessly. That is such a big play right around midfield, getting close to the logo there at midfield. He tracks him down and forces the Chargers punting team onto the field a couple

more first downs. Maybe they're in field goal range. Maybe he gets a bigger play out of that if Jones can't make the tackle, So big time play there from Byron Jones. We talked about the communication. It's just been

so much fun to watch these guys play. Let's go ahead and hear from xaviing Howard about the marriage of coverage and pass rush really working together right now, and that's something the players have talked about quite a bit in the past, but I wanted to ask xaviing Howard because it looked like to me from my vantage point that Emmanuel Ogba had a big pressure on his interception.

So I wanted to ask xaviing Howard how much confidence playing with that pass rush knowing these guys are gonna get home quickly, how much that helps them play aggressive on the back end, and how it might help generate turnovers for a guy like xaviing Howard, who's five picks right now in the NFL lead the entire national football You know, that's the way the coaches and the guys, that's how they want us to play and be aggressive

no matter what. So you know, everything working together and everybody making play, that's what it's all about on the defense. So they're playing aggressive up front, they're getting pressure on the quarterback and the back end. Eric Robe, Bobby McCain, Savian Howard, Byron Jones, Nick need him, Brandon Jones. These guys are out there making plays. It's been awesome to watch this defense come together here in the middle part of the season. The third takeaway, let's go to the

offensive side for some of their schematics. We see plenty of wildcat action out there, and that's just stuff you can continue to build off that the course of the season, throwing some wrinkols and really just put plenty of stuff on tape. Make the defense prepare for everything you offer. We've seen some RPO pops to have puts that thing in their rides out the mesh point, pulls it back, throws a dart to either Mike a Sicki or Tavante Parker.

They've got built in deep shots they can take off this thing where too are just kind of goes down the middle of the field, keys the sea the safety. If he shades one side, go the other direction. That's been cool to watch that screened down the red going to put Miami at the one yard line before the Dirham Smith touchdown. I thought that was a really cool design.

You get some space down there, he gives Savon augmentsive opportunity some space to run with rather and then you get the touchdown on the throwback to Derham Smith, which was just sheer brilliance with a heavy package, especially after your first touchdown of the game off the blocked punt to Savan Akhmed. They show a very similar formation. You've

got the heavy package. Here comes Julian Davenport and Robert Hunt into the package to get you that smash one yard you need on the ground, right, Well, the Dolphins did that at first. They even put Solomon Kinley's big butt back there at full back and he leads the way up for a touchdown run from Savon Akhmed. So they go back to the heavy package look and they sneak Derham Smith underneath the formation. And a lot of times that tight end will go to the backside and

try to block off that backside of the formation. It's called split zone action when you have the tight end running against the formation. Well, he shows that action, but just leaks out into the flat and there's nobody out there because everybody thought that was gonna be a running play. I think myself included. Everybody in that press box include it. And they spring the wide up and touchdown pass from two uh to Derma Smith, the easiest touchdown too will

throw in his entire career. And with that touchdown, Smith now has two receptions in the end zone on the season, and he joins fellow Dolphins tight ends Mike Sicky, who's got two touchdowns and Adam Shaheen who's got two touchdowns with multiple TV catches this season. The last time the Dolphins had three tight ends each have multiple touchdown catches

in a season we went back to earlier. We're going back to five with Bruce Hardy and Joe Rose who both caught four and Dan Johnson caught three touchdowns that season. Back to the offensive scheme, Let's go ahead and here with the quarterback to a tongue of Baloa has to say or what he thinks about Chan Gailey in this Dolphins offensive system. To be honest, I think Chan's just finding ways to put guys in certain areas or certain

positions to become successful. We're trying to put guys defensively in a bind um to where we can take advantage of them. Um and yeah, I think up to this point, um, we to continue to execute on those things. But it's still a work in progress. So we'll continue to look at the film when it comes times tomorrow and continue to grow from there. We're gonna hear from We're gonna hear about two a tonk of by later on the

show with John con Jemmy. But first I want to go ahead and just play another quick aside for you guys. Some audio from to Ah. The very last question of his press conference, he was asked about the first throw of the game to Mike Asiki, a twenty three yard rip on the move, and he kind of broke the play down for us. I just thought it was cool to listen to him and the recall he had on the very first play of the game. Here's two, what's

recall on the first past to Mike Asiki. Well, knowing I got out free and there wasn't a rusher in my face, I was able to decipher, you know, what that corner was gonna do. If he's gonna stay back, take Mike on the flag, or he's gonna step up and take Savan on the flat um, you know, and kept going out. He made his decision and you know, just stuck to my rules and gave Mike a chance. And Mike did make the play when he got that chance.

There another player who made his the most of his chances was Savan Akhmed damn near popped a hundred yards in this game. Why up with eighties six had a couple of losses. They're late to kind of push him back and this was the thing that I was kind of watching for, just like the four man pressure looks combined with the zero pressure looks they would show was what was the running back position going to look like?

With no Miles gas Can still on injury reserve, with Matt Breeda not being active for this game, with Chandler cox And and Jordan Howard both inactive as well, you've got Savon Akhmed's second career game, DeAndre Washington just got here twelve days ago, and then you've got second year pro U d f A from last year, Patrick Laird, and these guys come together for a hundred eleven rushing yards, no sacks in the quarterback and they had what Ted

Carriss thought was their best rushing day, their best year up front this season for the Miami Dolphins. Well, I think that everyone's been working really hard. We've placed a nemesis on the run game. We've been, uh, you know, not where we wanted to be um throughout the beach start of this year, but head in the second half the year, we really want to emphasize it. And I think everyone you know, had their best game in the

run game. Savan had a great game, and everyone you know, did their job and it was a great unit effort and team effort to win this game. And you heard ted they're talking about Savon whyn't we go ahead? And here from Zavon himself, who again was kind of the bell cow on the day. I love the Dolphins and rushing and rushing attempts and rushing yards had a touchdown as well. Here's Savon Ackman on what's allowed him to produce so quickly now just two games into his NFL

career eight six rushing yards and game number two. Love this answer. I think Savon Akman is going to be a guy that people start to gravitate towards in terms of his press conferences because his are a lot of fun, you know, just just practicing hard and asking questions, you know, not being not being too proud to ask questions. You know, there's a lot of older guys in that room and a lot of guys on this team that you know that want to help, especially guys, you know, young guys

like me first year. Um, you know, this this team is a family. So you know, I just asked a lot of questions and you know, go out there and attack practice the best. I here so that's your third takeaway. There the offensive schematics and some running game progress and too a tongue about Loa talking at the chemistry and the scheme there with Chan Gailey. Let's go ahead and jump into our fourth takeaway, and it's got to be the special teams, right. This team continues to make big

plays every single week on special teams. We start this game off with a blocked punt. Ball winds up at the one yard line, and I wanted to say in the podcast, and I'm not one for predictions on the podcast, I told my buddy He's I tagged it on Twitter, the Dolphins are gonna have a blocked punt in this game. I felt it was coming. They were getting close. This is an opportunity to make a big play in the kicking game, and boy did they. That was fun to see. Puts the ball on the one yard line, get the

touchdown right away off of that. Jachem Grant has pump returns of eighteen nineteen twenty one yards, a fifty yard field goal from Jason Sanders, which gets his streak all the way up to twenty two consecutive and nineteen made kicks this year without a field goal miss. He would then later miss a field goal in the fourth quarter, but he then started the streak back over again one consecutive made field goal with a fourty nine yard kick

there to help Miami get that lead. Late in the fourth quarter, Matt Hawk had a sixty two yard punt and the return man allowed this thing to draw. It turned over and over and rolled down. It's had the five yard line and it was cooking, and mac Hollins ran his butt down there and grabbed that thing, threw it back into the field of play. Get them down at the five yard line. That then turns into a jakeem Grant twenty one yard kick return and then the

fifty yard field go there from Jason Sanders. So the special teams just stacking up all these good plays. Had a couple of kickoffs that penned the Chargers deep, one at the fifteen or the fourteen rather brought back half a distance to the seven yard line. Another one later in the game right around the fifteen yard line as well. So kicking, game, punning, game, kickoff, game coverage units, return team,

they're all just getting the job done. And let's go ahead, and actually here from coach Flores, on the blocked punt, and just in general the value of the kicking game and how this team has kind of taken it upon themselves to to play well in the third phase of the game. Then crossing my special since coordinator comes up with some schemes every weekend. You know, we don't get to run it all the time, but we have an

opportunity to get that run early. You're invested with it, and you know, like you said, we had some a little bit of shift in motion moving guys around, and we felt like, you know, there was an opportunity to maybe get a rush. We got it, but the big thing is executing it. Oftentimes, you you can draw something up and it it hits the way you wanted to hit, whether it's a run play, a past play at defense,

but didn't gotta make the play. So it's a great block and a recovery and it's great to punch it in. So that was my question for coach. You heard him say you had mentioned that we had a shift and some things move around there. There was a little bit of a late shift there before the snap where the Dolphins got to look, like coach mentioned, they go ahead and make that call and make that rush and get the big block, the big payoff there on the back side of that thing. Really really cool to see the

way that worked out. The fifth and final takeaway here total team football, and this is what I'm talking about with complimentary. We're gonna talk about it later with John kN Jemmy. Two sequences to start and close the game, and we'll go ahead and put a third one in there as well, and not officially the close of the game.

The drive got the football back from Miami. The Nick need Um sack to open the game, you get Emmanuel Ogba condenses inside, rushes inside, gets a pressure on Justin Herbert forces him to flee to his right, and there's Nick need Hum on the blitz. You forced the quarterback to go where the pressure comes from, and that's how they got him on this one got him down and

that was kind of playing off the previous takeaway. They get a late blitz, I guess what you want to call it, where the jammer, the guy that jams the gunner kind of creates a void for Andrew Van Ginkle. Maybe the punter catches that with his eye and says, oh man, I gotta hurry up. This operation forces them to drop the football there and get you that punt on the low or the punt block on the low snap.

Then the Dolphins come back out and go heavy with kim Ley at fullback and Savon Akhmed walks in for a one yard touchdown. So meet him an og ballon defense, Fan Ginkl and Jamal Perry and the rest of the punt team getting the ball back on the punt team, Solomon, Kimley, savan Akhmed, all these guys from different parts of the team coming in contributing to make that big play, total team football to get that seven points on the board the defensive series the very end of the game, the

xaviing Howard pick. Big time players make big time plays in big time games. Right Emmanuel Ogba gets the sack on the previous play, coming off the block where he has to use his eyes. He he locks up the right tackle. Brian Bologa, one of the games best for a long time, locks him up, sees Herbert trying to flee up through that b gap off the left shoulder of that right tackle inside, he disengages, gets him down for the sack. Keep your eyes in the quarterback, make

a big play Awesome work again for Emmanuel Ogba. That play was set up by the Strowbridge tackle for lost we talked about earlier in the podcast, and then Exaviing Howard jumps it and gets a pick because of more pressure from Manuel Ogba which forces an early throw, gets the football out, and then X, like he does game in and game out, makes the big game changing pick. And then we finish up with the final four and out of the game to to really seal this victory

and get the Dolphins in the victory formation. Zack Seiler with the retrace on a play away from him, he comes down and bears that thing down. That's why I tweeted out that Zack Seiler is a bad, bad dude because he just buried that guy on a big hit. You get a big tackle off the edge by a cornerback I think it was Byron Jones. Will have to check the tape, and then you get the Emmanuel Ogba

pressure to force the incompletion on the final down. So they just continue to make these plays together and stack up good plays together, and I think that's a credit to what type of team this team is. As coach Flores says, as much as they play for each other so dang much. How they're hungry for each other. I think that string of plays can be traced to that, because that momentum builds and the opportunities gets guys charged up and they're talented and well coached enough to make

those plays. Let's go ahead and hear from coach Flores and what he thinks about his football team right now. I love this one. We have a manly, tough team. I think I think this this team, they know that it's important. You know, it's a week to week league. How we prepare, how we practice, how we walk through it is a direct correlation how we how we play. I think I think they understand that no there's there's This is a hungry group. They they fight for each other.

It's important to them. They're competitive, so so they work at it and understanding the fruits of that labor out on the field. It wasn't perfect. We know we had a long way to go. We know it's hard to win this league, and we just take it one game at a time. We were not looking down the road.

We're looking at you know, the next day, the next meeting, the next practice, and just trying to take it one day at a time, and I think that's the approach, that that's my message to the team on a daily basis, and hopefully they're they're, they're, they're, you know, kind of listening to it. And I think that's probably the best approach and that has been the approach for us Miami Dolphins team. Still a long way to go, seven games left in the schedule, but your Miami Dolphins six and

three the first nine games. That's the first time that's happened since the two thousand one season. So enjoy this hot start. Enjoy it so far. Before you get to John Knjemmy here for his three takeaways, let's go ahead and finish up with some individual notes here. We'll talk more about the players on the Tuesday podcast with the Yeah the Tuesday All twenty two film review podcast, but

just a couple of notes on to thought. The anticipation on the whip route from Jachim the pivot route in the end zone was a great read and great timing. He flashes his numbers to the quarterback. He shows that gets the ball right on time, and Jachem said afterwards, coaches told him all week just find that zone, sitting that soft zone and two is gonna find you with

the football there, and that's exactly what happened. He also had some really nice anticipation throws to Jachim on the out routes where he's not out of the break yet, the cornerbacks kind of key in, the quarterback key and

the receiver and he can drive on that thing. But there's a trust there, a chemistry they're developing between he and Jachim Grant on those out throws to really have that timing and dry them down to make those things happen and not have them get caught and ran back the other way because they're late, beat late on the timing on those throws. We talked about the GESICKI die on the rollout, the layers concept players coming over the formation two mentions getting out clean with the free rusher

and just throws an absolute strike right there. Talked about the tackle on the on the bad fumble, on the fumble on the bad snap there as well, and then of course the play where he broke out of that sack and almost threw a touchdown downfield to Jakeem Grant. That would have been a highlight Reil play. Forever just missed that one but it gives you an idea of the twitch and ability to escape pressure and get off

script and make plays that way as well. Had a nice couple of r P O rips one to Mike Kasicki right and stride, and I just thought he played a good game in general. We'll talk more about that again with John Conjemmi savan achmed to eighteen yard runs. That's awesome to see. I wrote down he just got really good balance where he can kind of stay on his feet with through contact. A good shifty player with

good balance that way as well. At receiver DeVante, they catch on the fifty fifty ball on third and ten. That is vintage Davanta Parker. How cool is that to see Malcolm Perry had that crazy carrier where he reverses field out of the wildcat look looks like a loss of six winds up gaining six. You see some of his running ability that led to two thousand seventeen rushing yards at college last season. At tight end, I had Smithed with awesome down block, condensing the edge on one

of the big Akmed runs. I also had Adam Shaheen with a good block to create a nice sea gap on another big savan Akman rud the offensive line. Solomon Kinley had a crushing block on the touchdown. We talked about from the fullback position. I thought Eric Flowers played the hell of a football game, creating big lanes off

the left side, getting some really good surge. I thought Ted Carriss had some good blocks as well where he created a plenty of surge upfront, and Austin Jackson and Jesse Davis as well getting some space off the edge, kind of closing that thing down for a pair of savan Akhmed runs as well. We talked about Emmanual aug Ball. He's in the notes every single week, collapse in the edge, getting his hands in the football, getting sacks. We talked

about Zach Seeler. This guy's in the notes frequently early and often. TfL beats a block, forces running backs to bubble, gets knocked backs, gets pressure on the quarterback. I also thought Rap Kue Davis had a nice couple of snaps where he stacked things up and disengaging got himself in the backfield for some plays. Kyle van Nou left and came back in the game, had an injury to his hip.

He was questionable to return he did come back. Love the way he cleans up runs in the in the running game and has his his his his run fits and his gap responsibility. Really he solid in that way every single week, talked about a landing Roberts fan Gigl had a huge quarterback hit on a third down to get the defense off the field at the end of the first half. My very first note of the game was awesome backside closed down from Brandon Jones for a

tackle after three yards. Nick Needum had a pass breakup right after his sack when I later drive to help the defense get off the field, Exaving Howard, Eric Robe, Bobby McCain, Byron Jones, all those guys making plays again as well. So this team getting it done on special teams, on offense, on defense. Check out the content on Miami Dolphins dot com. We'll break this thing down more in

depth on the All twenty two review. For now, let's go ahead and turn this thing over to my good friend John Conjemmi of the Audible podcast for his three takeaways from Dolphins twenty nine Chargers and joining me now as he does every Sunday night, a tradition like no other here on Drive time with five consecutive wins for your Miami Dolphins. Is the co host of the audible podcast and John Conjemmi. John, how you doing tonight? I am doing great, man. Another uh, kind of kind of

a nail biter, but not really. It was like a weird game to to kind of sit through because you felt good and then you felt kind of, you know, not so sure, and then all of a sudden you felt secure. So it was a fun game at the end to really sit back and enjoy. One of the things I pointed out earlier on the podcast was that I never felt like stressed out that the defense is going to have a letdown or whatever until that fumble

they picked up and ran back. But even then I was expecting them to get a stop and hold them the three points there. They did not, But like you mentioned, the rest of the game, it just never really seemed that the Dolphins lost control of their that things were starting to avalanche in that direction. Maybe that's one of your three takeaways. I don't know. Let's go ahead and start here though, first with your number one takeaway from

Dolphins twenty nine, Chargers twenty one. John, Well, it's generating early momentum. I think the Dolphins have done an excellent job not only against uh the Chargers at home, but you know in the in the last month, they found ways either by offense, special teams, or defense to generate early momentum and get points or set up points by

those exceptional plays. And Van Ginkle was uh the man on the spot today for the Miami Dolphins, not only pressuring the pocket many times and hitting the rookie Herbert, but also getting that block punt early which Jamal Perry recovers at the one, uh the offense and of line and Akmed punch it in from there, and you feel like, wow, those are those are found points that you weren't counting on, and it really just gives you a shot in the arm. It gives you the confidence to go ahead and say,

we're gonna roll the dice on defense. We're gonna show a lot of pressure. We're gonna leave the middle of the field uncovered. We're gonna get after the young quarterback and make him beat us. I think it kind of set up the Dolphins to play defense that block punt and special teams because Herbert was either gonna throw for four fifty and five touchdowns or he was gonna have a day like he had today was twenty for thirty two seven and most of those big chunkyards came in

that last drive for the touchdowns. So it was that early momentum that kind of set the stage for the defense, kind of set the stage the way the offense was gonna play because you're stealing points in the first you know, five minutes of the game. Yeah, And like you mentioned there, you know, that's something that coach Flores has talked about in the past. He doesn't really concern himself with the stats because they don't always tell the full context of

the game. I felt like Herbert, I mean, he just didn't have a good game, and coach said that we put him in position in that game to be kind of uncomfortable and have to go outside of that comfort zone. And I thought they just did a hell of a job on a quarterback who came into this game absolutely red hot. And you mentioned, you know, getting the unexpected points early. You and I are over here, like every game now, it seems like saying, wow, we're seven nothing,

fourteen nothing. By the end of the first half, we're up by a bunch of points. Last week two was fourth snap, he's got a seven zero lead. This week his second snap, he's got a seven zero lead. So, like you mentioned, good points there, John, what is your second takeaway from this game. I just thought the Dolphins did a really good job of following up that early momentum by winning the hidden yards. I thought in special teams and in field position, the Dolphins had a clear

advantage in the entire game. I thought, you can grant not only as a receiver, but as the punt returner, did an excellent job of flipping the field and moving uh, moving the ball up ten or fifteen and sometimes twenty yards. That's two big first downs. The two in the offense don't have to grind out. You know you're gonna have series where you're three and out. You just drop a pass or you're inaccurate with a thrower, you get stuff

for a loss in a run. You need to find hidden yards, and I think the team did that really well. They won field position. I think in the first half they may have had five possessions that got it on the plus one. They had a minus forty four a plus forty seven. Uh, they were in pretty good field position.

And then in the second half. I think they were in plus territory a couple of times again or around midfield, so they didn't have to go far for points, and they didn't have to go far to put a young quarterback in a hole and have them have to make

a lot of plays to get in scoring positions. So I thought I thought the team did a really good job in the coaching staff did a really good job calling the game number one, but execution and putting the charges on a long field and on his short field defensively,

that helped Miami to today. John, you mentioned the getting the two or three extra first downs because of the big returns and this at this point it's become a weekly thing with the special teams group, Like I think they have an argument for, if not one of the very best special teams unit top to bottom in the entire National Football League. And you mentioned those hidden yards. I was very adamant about that in my takeaway segment. How these big jackem Grant returns the big flip field

on Matta hawk punts. As an as an offensive coordinator or offensive player or even anybody in the team in general, do you look at that like those two extra first downs and say that's more we can keep in our playbook in our back pocket and say for more critical downs because we don't have to have a drive starter here that gets us, like you mentioned, out to midfield. Does that kind of play in the mind of the

coaching staff, I think you. I think it does because it doesn't apply unnecessary stress to the play caller and the quarterback on offense, and it doesn't apply unnecessary stress to a defensive coordinator when you're saying, hey, I gotta I have to try to create something to happen right now because they're on the verge of there in field

goal range. You know, when you're teeing it up as a defense and the opposing offense as the ball on the twelve yard line, on the eighteen yard line, on the fifteen yard line, you feel like you're gonna you're gonna catch fire. You'll get your rhythm as a defense and as a play caller to get after the opposing quarterback or be able to have that luxury to give up a big explosive play it and not really get into field position where you're in scoring range already, so

you have chances. And I think it applies to every phase of the game. It just takes that undue stress away from the play callers, and the undue stress away from the edge rusher or the corner that feels like he has to make a play, or the quarterback forcing the football. When you say, okay, we it didn't go real well, but we're still punning the football from our own thirty five or forty yard line. We're gonna we're gonna be three plays away from getting the ball back

in excellent field positions. So don't worry about taking that gamble now, Let's extend the game a little bit longer. And it's so cliche to say every week that the team plays complementary of football. Every team on the face the planet wants to do it. But I mean you said it right there. They literally are every single week just play stack on top of each other. One unit picks up together unit. It's it's a lot of fun to watch and a ton of fun right now to

be around this team. John I I can't be more grateful for how my rookie season is going so far. It's been so much fun to watch this football. You should enjoy it. You should have seen the pain that I've suffered over the past years, and I was with you in spirit and and on my couch, just not there in the press box. But I can see how that would be a little more stressful. But man, it's it's been so much fun to watch. And with that, let's go ahead and get your third takeaway from the

dolphins fifth straight victory of this season. You know, I was torn a little bit on this because I thought there was you know, I thought too of made enough place to win. You know, he's three and oh as the starter, that could be a highlight, So you know, I wanted to mention that. And I think this team is getting comfortable playing in any type of game. And I think that's my takeaway, uh, for my third one, because in tight football games, you gotta remember the Arizona

game was it was back and forth. It was like, you know, a tennis match, and you're just going, who's gonna you know, who's gonna hit the winner down the line, and who's gonna hit the drop shot to win this and just you know, and the and the set. That's what you felt like. And today you felt a little bit like the Dolphins are in control. But I'm not a hundred percent convinced, but they still played like they were in control. They didn't panic. You didn't see any

any unnecessary uh penalties. You saw a couple of false starts, but three penalties for fifteen yards. That's a win. I just feel feel like this team is getting comfortable playing in places where they weren't comfortable in the past. And I think that goes from the top down, from ownership, the way that this this organization's run, to the coaching staff, the way the coaches and the assistance, the way they run practice, the way they're demanding on whether you're a

pro bowler or you're a rookie, here's the standard. Come out and do it every day. And I think it's carrying over or at least it's starting to bleed into Sundays because this team is playing that way. Hey, big play doesn't phase us. Come back and let's do it in in two other phases of the game. We'll catch up and we'll find a way to win. That's fun to watch as a fan, and it's fun to watch these guys go out and start stacking the wins together.

So I guess getting there getting comfortable playing winning football, and it's not always twenty one nothing. Some games are tighter than others, and they have to find ways to win. And I think they're getting comfortable doing that. And coach Flores says much post game that the way these guys apply themselves in practice, the walk throughs, the meetings, that's a direct correlation to what you're seeing on the field, and they understand that they're hungry for each other. Again,

just more fun with his football team. And you also mentioned the I'm glad you mentioned two of there, because I also get this sense. And this goes back to his college days. I mean, obviously the first college game he played. I always feel, you know, as someone watching two down on the field and I don't have any control over what's going on. I always feel the utmost confidence when the offense has to have it. You know,

last week we saw in the Arizona game. This week the Chargers go down an answer and it's fourteen, and all of a sudden, the offense needs an answer and they go out there and get a field goal. So I just I always feel like there is some semblance of control when when you know the big, the big pressure moments, he seems to rise to them. So five

straight wins. John, we got a game next week on the road in Denver, hopefully another victory for us on the next Sunday Night recap podcast, and we'll see you again in two weeks, my friend, Thank you so much. Your help sounds great. Travis, thank you and the way he goes John Kin Jemmy of the Audible podcast love talking football with John, both on the press box at the practice field and here on the Sunday Night slash Monday morning edition the victory edition of the Drivetime podcast.

In the meantime, that's gonna be my time. What a great day this was. I didn't get a chance to watch the Cardinals and Bills ending, yet it was on the red zone at the press box, like I wasn't quite watching because I was writing my story and doing the postgame presses with coach and the players. So I saw the result, but I haven't seen the play yet. It's about nine ten o'clock here on the East Coast

recording this podcast. I'm excited to watch the rest of the Ravens and Patriots game, but I cannot wait to watch the highlights because I didn't see that play. But the Dolphins get their fifth straight victory. Go ahead and check out the Audible podcast with kim Bo Camper and John Kin Jemmy. Also check out the Fish Tank podcast again highly recommend their Brandon Marshall episode Seth Levitt O j McDuffie. Go ahead and give me a follow on Twitter.

It's at Wingfield, NFL. I'll subscribe, rate and review the podcast, Apple podcast, Spotify, reever get your podcast from Go ahead and do that for us. Check out Miami Dolphins dot com. The players Spotlight is the special team's unit this week, and we have the recap story up there as well. All your content every single day here Miami Dolphins dot com Drive Time Podcast Network. We've got tons of good stuff for you guys. Thank you for listening. We'll see

you back next time. In the meantime, fins up.