Drive Time - Dolphins 49ers All 22 Review

And on today's show, it's Coordinator Day, as we're gonna hear from Chan Gaily, Josh Boyer, Danny Croftsman and the Miami defensive assistance after that swarming performance on Sunday in San Francisco. Will also get you caught up on Miami standing by the numbers and we'll take an in depth dive into the all twenty two from that game. All of that and more on this Tuesday, October edition of the Drivetime Podcastiphins and support for dur Time comes from AutoNation.

There are so many reasons to drive pink, but for Auto Nation, there's only one to finish the fight against cancer. In fact, Auto Nation has helped raise over twenty five million dollars to drive out cancer to join the fight now, visit the Auto Nation store near you or drive Pink dot com. We have plenty to come on today's show.

Let's go ahead and jump right now into the rankings for your Miami Dolphins after that seventeen victory over the San Francisco forty Niners, and we have the piece up on Miami Dolphins dot com, the inside the numbers, taking a look at snap counts, PFF grades and statistics and advanced metrics and the rankings there. We're gonna go ahead and account for the Monday night game last night and what a game it was between the Saints and Chargers,

into overtime back and forth affair. We've got two really good primetime games this week with Seattle and Minnesota Prior to that, all of that the cherry on top of a big Dolphins victory, and with that victory, the Dolphins twenty seven point two points per game now ranked tied for twelve in the National Football League. As far as total offense, with total yards, Dolphins ranked twenty with three

hundred sixty four point eight yards per game. The passing game ranks sixteen with two hundred sixty point six yards per game. And you go ahead and factor in two games where Miami basically had, you know, not much going in the passing game, the opener in New England and the Jacksonville game. Just because it was so efficient, so quick that Fitzpatrick didn't put up big, gaudy yardage numbers. It really tells you how good he was throwing the ball down the field vertically and stacking up yards in

the other three contest. The rushing offense for the Miami Dolphins averages one hundred and four point two yards per game that is twenty one in the National Football League, and on third down, the Dolphins offense is fourteenth, converting forty four point three percent of their third down attempts. On the other side of the football, the Dolphins defense ranks ninth in the NFL, allowing just twenty two point

six points per game. In Miami's total defense ranks seventeen in the NFL, allowing three hundred and seventy nine points six yards per game, and the passing defense ranks twenty one with two hundred and fifty three point six yards per game. The rushing defense is twenty in the NFL, with one and twenty six yards allowed per game. The sacks for the Miami Dolphins so far this season, We've got fourteen of those and that has tied for seventh

in the National Football League. And the takeaways for the Dolphins, they've got eight of them and that's tied for six in the NFL. And speaking of sacks, one stat we glossed over there on the offensive side, the Dolphins offense has allowed just eight sacks on the season. That has tied for tenth in the National Football League. The snap counts. In this game, we had Ryan Fitzpatrick and the offensive

line go the distance with sixty seven snaps. Of the snaps, Adam Pankey also played eighteen snaps on the O line and Julian Davenport played two. In the game. At running back, Myles Gascon had forty six, Matt Brita had twenty one, Patrick Laird played ten snaps, and Chandler Cox had twenty three snaps in the game. Wide receivers Davante Parker fifty three, Preston Williams forty, Isaiah Ford four, Jakeem Grant fourteen, Maccollins and Lynn Bowen both had ten each. Adam Shaheen played

thirty eight snaps and Mike Gasicki had thirty in the game. Defensively, Zach Seiler led all Dolphins offensive lineman with forty four snaps. Christian Wilkins played thirty seven, Devon god Show six, Ray Kwon Davis eleven At defensive end, Manuel Ogbad played forty three, and Tyshon Render played eight. In the game. At linebacker, Jerome Baker played sixty three snaps, Kyle van Noy played fifty six snaps, Andrew van Giegel had forty six, a

season high for him. Commu gruga Hill played thirty seven and Landon Roberts played thirty in the game, and Sam mcguavan got on the field for eight snaps as well.

In the secondary, Byron Jones played fifty six, Xavien Howard fifty four, Nick Needham thirty three, Jamal Perry thirteen, Noah Igny ten snaps in the game for the rookie and at safety, Bobby McCain played fifty six, Eric Row fifty five, Cavon Fraser and Brandon Jones both played nine snaps each in the dolphins seventeen win, and Ryan Fitzpatrick's eighty four point eight total QBR is fifth best in the National Football league, and it really didn't matter what the forty

defense did against him because he was efficient under pressure without pressure throwing to the deep part of the field five for six for one ninety nine yards and two touchdown. On throws over twenty yards, he was seventeen of nine team for two hundred eighty nine yards and two touchdowns without pressure. Under pressure five of nine with sixty one yards and a touchdown, So all those stats through Pro

Football Focus. He was dominant throughout the game. Myles Gastony had the first twenty yard run of the season, a twenty one yard gallop from Miami. We'll talk about that in the film session of this podcast. He had three point six yards per carry, but Matt Brita led the way with two point five six average yards after initial contact per PFF. Mike Kasiki caught five of his six targets and all of those came against a different defender.

He got work against two safeties, two linebackers, and a quarterback there for the forty Niners, and his fifteen point six yards per reception is second among all NFL tight ends so far in the NFL. Preston Williams is six in the NFL in yards per catch at nineteen point five minimum ten receptions. He caught four or five targets for one hundred and six yards. That's good for twenty one point two yards per target in the game. And DeVante Parker had just three targets, but he put up

fifty yards on those targets with a touch down. He has an average of sixteen point seven yards per target in the game. And the Dolphins offensive line allowed just seven pressures on Fitzpatrick and he was hit only three times in the entire game. Some defensive stats on the other side of the football. Xaviing Howard earned PFF's highest grade on defense. He was targeted four times in coverage, did not allow a catch, had an interception, and broke

up another. His counterpart, Byron Jones, targeted three times for just one catch in twenty yards in the game. In total, seven targets for twenty yards on the Dolphins two starting cornerbacks, an average of two point eight six yards per target. Jerome Baker was all over the field and all over the stat sheet as well. He made eight tackles, four of those for run stops within two yards of the line of scrimmage. He had two quarterback pressures including a sack,

and allowed just nineteen receiving yards on five targets. And Andrew Van Giegel also at linebacker two pressures, a sack, six tackles, five of those for run stops, a forced fumble, and Commu Gruga Hill had two quarterback pressures on nine pass brush reps as well, and then Zach Seeler, Emmanuel Ogball, you Land and Rob Bert's all had three pressures each for Miami that led the way, and they also all picked up a sack on the Niners quarterbacks and safety

Eric Row continues his masterful work in coverage. He allowed just two receptions on six targets in this game for thirty one yards, including just one for twelve yards going up against George Kittle, and that included two pass breakups. And Bobby McCain, fellow safety back there, did not allow a completion and intercepted a pass in addition to three tackles with no misses in the game. Plenty of good

performances for your Miami Dolphins. Throughout the course of this contest, we talked about Xaviing Howard and Byron Jones playing together as well. Xavian Howard has fifteen interceptions in his last twenty seven games, and he has a pick every eight point six targets over that stretch. A true ball hawk and a true playmaker there for the Dolphins in the defensive backfield at cornerback. And stats and the numbers are fun,

but the film is more fun. And we're gonna go now into the Dolphins all twenty two notes here in the Week five win over San Francisco seventeen, and we start on the offensive side of the football, and with Chan Gailey, He's gonna go down my notes here. I take these notes in order of the plays as I watched them in chronological order, and then frame them together with each person I talked about. So Chan Galley up first, the offensive play calling. We heard Brian Flores on his

Monday press conference talk about Chan's brilliant offensive mind. How even though coach Flora's does have some input, he largely leaves the offense up to Chan, who has many, many years of experience, and he's showing it here in this

season so far. From the Miami Dolphins. Up first, the very first play of the game, you're gonna get Chandler Cox motion from one side of the formation to the other, and that moves the safety from the hash mark nearest Preston Williams to the opposite hash mark, and all of a sudden, Preston has that one on one matchup and he won it rather significantly with a very nice catch there.

On the back end of that play. Later in the drive, Adam Shaheen scores a touchdown, does a nice little hop step into the defensive end to kind of show a fake little chip on him, and then leaks out into the flat and that hop step forces the linebacker to take one step forward, and that was all he needed to get to the flat and give Ryan Fitzpatrick that window, who of course found him. What a drive that was

to start the game off. We come back to the Gaskin touchdown run, and there was just so many good plays on this particular play. This is just about execution. Here you get Jesse Davis down blocking the tackle and wipes him out. Davin Pour off the edge, the heavy package drives a man into the end zone. Eric Flowers comes outside and flattens the furthest outside player, the force defender, Chandler Cox, squares up his lead block in the main gap.

There you have seven offensive line with a heavy package there too, offensive lineman extra in that package with a tight end and Adam Shaheen and then Chandler Cox and Miles Gascon no receivers in that formation. We're just gonna run the football and you're not gonna do a damn thing about it. On that play a tone that I touchdown run there for the Dolphins on the Jakeem Grant end around play, the action on the fake handoff to Gaskin just didn't hold the backside. That was good discipline

there by the fort defense. Sometimes that just happens. And then the Preston Williams touchdown. You get Davontae Parker vertical on the other side of the field, and the Niners have those split safeties again, so you can attack that turkey hole off the side. You can go down the middle of the football field. You'll always hear Tony Rome will talk about that in CBS against Cover two, attack

the middle of the field. Davante gets deep in vertical and that holds the safety just enough for Fitzpatrick to fit it in there between those two safeties while he gets crushed. An awesome play call against too high and an awesome execution there from the quarterback and the receivers on that place. Speaking of Fitzpatrick on the first play

of the game, an absolute dime. The ball just falls right there on the perimeter, up those hash marks along the side, right to where Preston Williams can get it

and the cornerback cannot. Later on that first drive, I noted his throw to Isaiah Ford with Ghasiki taking a double team right over the middle, and then Ford breaks in behind him for a kind of two window tier throw there, and and Fitzpatrick does a really good job of anticipating that backside of that route opening up under the barrel, gets popped and throws a strike to Isaiah Ford.

Then there's a play where he's roughed by Fred Warner and it's unblocked right up the middle, a free rusher up the middle, and he still completes it on third and three to Jachem Grant for six yards in a first down. He's just he's playing really well when he sees it out there that well, When he's seeing it that well and just lets it fly. Man, he is tough to stop. And we saw that with the near

perfect passer reading in this game. For Fitzpatrick and then the third and twenty to play the touchdown to Devonte Parker, just perfect location with the end line kind of threatening, how deep and how much you can put air under that football. He throws it on perfect trajectory, perfect accurate, right accuracy, right for that backpile on myle My he was red hot in this game. We'll talk more about him on some of these plays to the other guys.

And then with Myles Gaskin. You know, Brian Flores talked about his past protection getting better this season and the deep shot to Preston that goes incomplete. In this game, the Niners are gonna stack a pass rush there over Jesse Davis, and Gaskin just kind of sings in behind Jesse Davis and then when Davis engages the first man up, the looper comes around and Gaskin works to find him. I thought that was really nicely done there, and pass

pro from the Dolphins running back. He picks up fifteen yards on that third and six team play right before the Clayton Federalum fake punt, and it was really just a brilliant run. He presses the thing upfield like you would behind the offensive line. Only now you're in the secondary because you caught the little angle route behind the linebackers. He presses it up and then swings it outside and just beats the Niners defense at the corner and damn

near gets the first down. Then on the twenty one yard run, he had just one of the honestly one of the prettiest plays in Dolphins football I've ever seen. And it might sound like hyperbole, but when you get that money good executed blocks, it's hard to not get excited him. You get Eric Flowers who works his man inside one gap and then seals it off. Solomon Kindley pulls over and takes out the edge and seals that

thing off. And then Chandler Cox leads it right up there, perfectly squared up block on the safety trying to fill, and Miles Gaskin just follows it for twenty one yards, the Dolphin's biggest running play of the season so far. Matt Brita. You really saw his speed on the screen pass that went for thirty one yards. Jimmy Ward basically broke down and had him squared up, and he just scooted right by him with that speed, And there were some awesome downfield blocks by both Chandler Cox and Ted

Harris on that play as well. He has a twelve yard run in the fourth quarter where he finds himself one on one in the gap with Fred Warner and just drops the shoulder and bounces off the tackle. That's one of the best linebackers in football, So Matt breed Um more than just a speed guy lowering the shoulder there. And on that play, by the way, Solomon Kinley and Robert Hunt had another double team a theme we'll talk

about in this podcast, and Kimley carries that thing. He's kind of the off arm guy that has the one arm latched searching for extra work while Robert Hunt has him just locked up and driving him. Kiley catches that block and climbs the second level and wipes outle linebacker to those guys were fun to watch in this game. More on them in just one second. Preston Williams the

first play, the touchdown, the defensive passenger ference. He just continuously got on top of guys vertically and caught the football when it was there and forced the flag on the other and the catch on the post route for the touchdown from Fitzpatrick. Two That was a really nice looking catch going to the ground there for Preston Williams. Isaiah Ford, I thought his catch. We talked about the anticipation of Fitzpatrick throwing in behind the double team on

Mike Getsicki. The catch that Ford made on that play was even more impressive than I thought it was on the broadcast because that ball is down around his shoelaces and he has to go dig it out. Fitzpatrick was affected a little bit on the throw, so it comes up just a little bit short. But when you have a guy like Isaiah four that can consistently catch those footballs, you're gonna trust that guy on third down. Fitzpatrick did Fitzpatrick does, and it moved the chains for the Miami

Dolphins offense. Jachem Grant caught one pass in the game, but I want to talk about one that he didn't quite get. It was the first play of the second drive, and he has the cornerback is off about five or six yards on him, and he drives that thing downfield and breaks it back down the stem with a solid three or four yards of separation. So even with that off coverage, he's forcing guys to think about that deep

speed get some separation there. They couldn't get the completion on the play, but I thought it was a good route there from Jachem Grant Davanta Parker. I almost forgot about that twenty eight yard player where he made a very signature Davanta Parker catch, just because of how much happened in this game. So going back and watching it, what a play by Davanta Parker. Fits always talks about

giving this guys chances. He did on the first play to Preston Williams, and this play is just manned a man across the board, all the cornerbacks are up on the line, there's one safety in the middle of the field, and Parker just makes a play. And that's where Fitz was going the entire time. He's so deadly. Parker is when he can get on top and stack the defensive back, and stacking means you just get behind the defensive back and try to line him up square with your back

is between him and the end zone. And DeVante does that so well, and they either have to play through him or try to find a way to get a pass break up, and both of those are pretty much losing propositions for the defender because Davante is so good at coming back through the defender and making the catch and or drawing the DP. I call there, Mike GASICKI

lots of notes on him here. I really have impressed, been impressed this season with his releases and how much fun they are to watch him get off the line, and something you can really tell that he's worked on from year one up through now. And the completion to Jachim Grant with the roughing call from Fred Warner, he gets a chip and impacts the rush, then releases into the flat. Later he catches a twelve yard pass where he comes across the formation and motion and continues at

the snap to go to the flat. And then once the linebacker commits downhill to close down that flat route, Kausiki just cuts back across his face right into the seam and Fitzpatrick finds him with a perfectly thrown ball. His route running has just been a lot of fun

to watch this year. And then right on Q I right here that he comes right back with a little stab to the inside to the post and then right back to the corner on the seventy yard play and Fitzpatrick just puts that thing right on the money, and on that play, I tweeted about it on Monday nights. The entire Dolphins sideline. The guys that are standing up, there's there's guys standing the offensive players, defensive guys are sitting on the bench waiting for their turn to come

back on the field. The guys that are standing all run down with him. The guys that are on the field all run down after him, and I see several arms go up into the air to celebrate the play. Everyone loves watching their teammates succeed on this team, and that kind of personality and that kind of engagement can be infectious. It's fun to watch as a fan, for sure.

And then there's more work here on a third down on three to start the second half, where he releases, squares up the defense of back and breaks off the stem and Fitzpatrick finds him for the first down. And this is on Jaquiski Tart, not a linebacker but a

safety and a damn good one. And Gaziki just shows you the patients and the wiggle at the top of the stem there for a nice route and conversion on third and three and moving inside to the offensive line, I had ted Carriss with relentless effort to get outside and move the gap on the six yard gas can

run before the touchdown the play that sets up the touchdown. There, to Adam Shaheen, he just kept working and kept working to get himself outside of a reach block and get himself onto a latch himself onto the defender and really creates space there for Miles gaskhim. Then the second play of the third quarter, he has to reach a three

technique and does it beautifully, gets himself out there. He's so quick out of his stant it allows him to execute those tough blocks where you have to really get to a spot before the defensive line can get off the snap. Solomon Kinley was just pushing guys in this game all game long. I highly recommend going and checking out Baldi's breakdowns on this offensive line performance. He talks about Solomon Kinley, Robert Hunt and the rest of the guys and his power and pad level combination is just

flat out awesome. Guys can't They just can't get him to give ground because he's so low to the ground and so stout, and then he's got the footwork as well to kind of work to get himself into better position to maintain that leverage. The first player the third quarter, no exaggeration, drives this guy five yards off the football. Gaskin has a two yard run later in that quarter, and it's before the Preston Williams touchdown where he latches

on his guy and drives him. And by the end of the play they have flipped sides completely where it looks like Kindley's on defense and the forty nine defensive lineman is on offense because he just keeps working and keeps grinding to get the right position on his man. He and Eric Flowers had a massive double team to start the fourth quarter. My goodness, I wrote down, hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder. Looked like they were on a blocking sled moving that guy, Eric Flowers, same as

Solomon Kidley. The doubles with these guys are so impressive, the push they get in the running game. And Flowers just looks so imposing out there. He gets those massive myths on you and can almost just move guys with his arms because he's so strong in the upper body and just has that length. Robert Hunt his first start of his career, and you wouldn't know it from the first series because the very first rep of the game, on that deep shot to Preston Williams, he puts Eric

Armstead on the ground. That's a Pro Bowl level defensive lineman. Baldi talks about it, and that breakdown calls a two point takedown. Two plays later, he gets into a pass set again against Eric Armstead and draws out his punch by kind of throwing a dummy punch of his own, but keeps working to get into his pass set, and then once Armstead's arm comes in, he slaps that thing down and wins the rap right away. Just really impressive work.

On the fourth drive of the game, I spotted at least the second slide where Robert Hunt was on an island by himself and he holds up and Fitzpatrick takes off for a seventeen yard run. So what a debut from the rookie right tackle Jesse Davis on Gaskin's screen. On the second touchdown drive, the first and goal from the seven, he gets downfield on that play and he races Dre Greenlaw, the San Francisco linebacker. Another really good player there. All this Dolphins offensive lineman had plays in

this game. It was fun to watch on tape. And the final note, I guess we'll call it offensively even though with special teams, was on the federal Um fake. He did such a good job to pick his hole and get in there because he was contacted behind the line of scrimmage, but the hit because he was able to kind of shift there at the last moment, propelled him forward just enough for a first down to move

the chain. So a great job there by Clayton Federalum as a safety playing running back on punt team onto the defensive side of the football for this Dolphins seen win over the San Francisco forty nine. And it's a good time to remind you that this edition of the Drive Time podcast is brought to you by Auto Nation, where Dolphins fans drive pink and helped raise over twenty

million dollars for cancer treatment and research. And we start on the defensive side, like we did on offense, talking about some of the calls and the game plan here for Josh Boyer and this Dolphins defense. And we saw plenty of looks in this game, talked about it on

the podcast on Sunday night slash Monday morning. But go ahead and confirm that here on the film study portion of the Tuesday podcast, plenty of bear looks where you're gonna go head up over the center and both guards and then a couple of stacked linebackers behind that, and stacked means you're gonna line up directly behind one of those defensive lineman. Helped keep those guys clean. Saw plenty

of that throughout the course of the game. On the second play of the game, you get that look both Kyle Van Noy and Andrew Van Ginkl off either edge, and my goodness, Van Ginkle made a heck of a play on that one. We'll go ahead and talk plenty

more about him here in just one second. Then the very next play you get too down linemen, four linebackers and your five defensive backs, with Ogba and Seiler the down lineman, and then Gruge, Hill and Baker in the a gaps with Van Ginkl and Van Noy off either edge. Just so much variety in this game. You really saw the Dolphins versatility and depth in this game. We heard John Conjemmi on the recap podcast talk about that versatility and athletic ability on the defensive side of the football.

He definitely was right about that with this All twenty two review. Those guys were getting after it all game long. The very next drive, you get that bare front again with Robert stacked behind Seiler and Baker behind Wilkins, and they cross dog it where one linebacker cuts in in front of the other one and second linebacker cuts around the other side and loops off that rush as well, and that that cross dog action gets a little bit of confusion from the Niners in the blocking scheme and

Roberts comes clean without anybody picking him up. I just love the rush plan by condensing everything inside and blitzing those stacked linebackers because you knew the quarterback was coming off the injury report with an ankle, so heat him up inside and force him to take the decision to move outside and flee the pocket sideways for a quarterback that coming into the game was on the report with

the ankle injury there. So just a good game plan I thought from the Dolphins and Josh Boyer and Brian Flores on the route on the land and Robert sack late in the first quarter, just an awesome scheme, pressure and sack on that play. Dolphins bring seven to the party.

Both Van Noy and Wilkins kind of fan out to widen the offensive line to create those rush lanes inside for Roberts and for Baker, and Van Noy attacks the running back and Baker attacks the tight end to kind of force Garoppolo to come off those checkdowns because they're kind of getting engaged early and you plan on getting pressure quick gale, so go ahead and take away those quick checkdowns, and then Roberts just runs through a blocker and gets the sack. The coverage on the back end

was absolutely stellar. Xavian Howard ran his man right into help where Bobby McCain capped it off and Jones was in tight coverage on his lonesome as well. Total team win on that Robert sack. I just love how they called this game that way for sixty minutes, with aggressive mindset, Go attack, go get the football. The nine er second to last drive in that fourth quarter, it's fourth and two and they ligne up with six guys on the line.

They bluff to who pull out of the blitz package and into the hook zone, and they bring four rushers after the quarterback and once again, Jerome Baker, another linebacker, runs free on the quarterback to cause an errand throw there and in completion Eric Row individually, Oh man, what more can you say about this guy? The first third down stop of the game, he turns George Kittle free, kind of passes him off to Jerome Baker who picks

it up. Then he closes down on an out route from Jerick McKinnon out of the backfield and he's in perfect position. In fact, if that throws a little more inside, he might have had his second pick six in his last six games. And we always look for tackles behind the line or for short gains, right the big plays that impact the chains in the down on distance. But sometimes it's a seven yard game that's impressive because what

it could have been. And there was a play where he got where heem mostered down in the wide open field on the drive for just a seven yard game. So some of those safety tackles sometimes, even though they're big gains and you don't think about it during the game, they are really important to kind of that last line defense to get that guy down in the open field.

And he's he's doing it in coverage too. He picks up a backside crosser with Kendrick Bourne, who's matched up underneath on Nick need Hum, and you can kind of see Row honoring the fact the fact that Born could go to the post, he could cross face and get that over route. And Born does cross face, and he closes down on the route horizontally and closes and smacks him for a pass break up. Just what a stud

is what I wrote on the notes right here. Then the very next drive, he's fifteen yards off the ball and they turn kittle to him with kind of a two way go action, and he makes the right decision, closes down on it again and gets another pass breakup. I mean, just an incredible production and performance from Eric Row so far. Byron Jones. Cameron Wake once talked about

plays that get made before the big play. Right in the Miami Miracle Game teen, he talked about that with a sack on the play before, or some a couple of tackles short on the Patriots previous drive that allow them to get the field goal team out there to kept to keep Miami within a one score game. Well Byron Jones, made an open field tackle right before the sticks on the play before we got that fourth and one stop on defense, and on that play also Christian

Wilkins was retracing the play with exceptional effort. I always get that out of ninety four. You'd love to see it from your first round DRAFTIC A couple of years ago later, for Byron Jones, a two hand jam delays an outside release and it makes the takeoff route for

the receiver take far too long. It has to be an instant win on that route, and otherwise you're not gonna get the quarterback to look that way, and you're just not gonna take that shot with a sub four or four corner running in perfect phase with the receiver. They do test him later on on a deep shot to Brandon Ayuk, and they stacked the receivers this time, and really good communication by Jones and Nick need Um.

Need Um takes the point and presses that guy and Jones just sits back in mirrors and once again runs the route right in the hip pocket of the receiver Xavian Howard. Now he gets called on for his turn to take a man without help. There was kind of

that back and forth in this game. McCain did a great job capping everything with his help coverage back there, and you see Jones on this particular play, run his man right into McCain into the help and Xavian Howard runs all the way across the field with Deebo Samuel for a pass breakup on an over route. Really good

coverage there. And then the third and fourteen after Van Ginkl strip sack, it's another over route and x runs right with it, right in the hip pocket, right in the back pocket there, and Jones is right in phase on the takeoff route. These two guys just played really well together, knew their role, knew their coverages, and just shut the Niners passing game down throughout the course of

the game. Talked about Bobby McCain. The first note I had it was an open field tackle on a first down run on the Niners touchdown Dres the first one of the game, had plenty of open space to operate in and he got the running the running back down on that play. Then later in the game, a deep shot to Brandon Ayuk with George Kittle trying to cross face, and that's one of those things you want to put the safety and conflict by having two routes kind of go towards him and see if he takes the cheese

on one. Then you throw the ball to the other guy, but Bobby keeps his death and drives on the shot to Ayuk and gets over the top before the ball. Does really good coverage from Bobby and then does something similar a couple of plays later to stay in position to drive both on a deep post and a crossing route, and the relationship and communication between he Xaviing Howard and Byron Jones just really good on that play, really good

throughout the course of the game. Talked a little bit about Christian Wilkins on a retrace and the effort which again is always consistent and relentless with that guy. But on the fourth down stop he does so well to get into his gap and then toss his man aside to get himself in position to stack that thing up

and get that fourth down stop. He also had another hustle play in the third quarter on a run to the outside where the edge guys are out there to set it to force him back inside, and will Kins is pursuing his ass off to get the tackle out there, and he makes it happen. Nick need him here in the notes. A third and seven p BU late in the in the first quarter on Kendrick Born does a really good job on a pivot route by Born. I'm staying in there and not getting the hands on the

receiver because that's a tough route to cover. Could go either direction, doesn't turn him, doesn't get grabby, and forces an incompletion and and a punt for the forty nine. Emmanuel ogbab back down to the defensive line on the fourth down play, he completely resets line of scrimmage and forces the running back to change direction. If you have to change direction on that fourth down with all those guys in the box, bad things are probably gonna happen.

And that was plenty enough for Roberts and god Shot to come in and clean that thing up. He also got himself a pass breakup in the second quarter, rushing from a three technique position just off the outside shoulder of the guard, and he just pushes that guard right back into the backfield and gets those big mits up for the p bu and then he puts a bow on the game with a swipe to get the force fumble.

He rushed inside from that three tech spot a lot in this game, but he finishes off outside off the edge with a really ice rush and sack and strip the length on display there as well. Ray Kwon Davis thought he had got got a great look at his length on a first and ten run late in the first quarter where the center tries to reach him. He stabs it and stacks it up and then does the

arm over to win back inside. And that was where the running back was aiming off the mesh point and it forces a play for Devon god Show, who comes off of his block and makes the tackle. We talked about. Andrew Van Ginkle got several notes here for him. On the early play in the game, Kittle fakes a chip on him, he swats the hand away and then goes to work on the pulling guards from the backside and just wins that, beats that block and wins around the outside,

and man, that's the play. Strength. These guys talked about. Anthony camp and Nellie, Austin Clark, Mary and Hobby, Brian Flores, Josh Boyer all talked about him in the weight room getting strength added to his game this offseason, and we really saw that in effect in this game. He had himself a hell of a football game. Later on, he matches up on George Kittle the middle of the second quarter and Van Gigle straight up stacks him, sheds him, and throws him off to the side and makes a

tackle for a four yard game. You just don't draw a tougher tight end blocking assignment than George Kittle, and he goes out there one on one and gets the job done. Very next play, gets another tight end. It's not George Kittle this time, but he wins with the pass rush a gorgeous play. Immediately gets on the upfield shoulder and you can see the acceleration when he sees the back of a quarterback and knows it's coming. He accelerates and gets the big hit for the forced fumble.

And then on a retrace play that I tweeted during the game where he, Christian Wilkins, and Zack Seiler all retraced the play and come back. The entire defensive line peels back and Van Giegel gets out there and outflanks the running back and gets it drawn out, strung out and takes all the way to the sideline for a no game. What a game he had. On Sunday. Other linebacker play, a Landing Roberts I thought had his best

game as a Miami Dolphin. There was a play early on that where he impacted a throw from Jimmy Garoppolo where he scraped right off the pick from Zach Seeler for a free run on Garoppolo. Good job condensing that angle. I'm taking a short route to the quarterback. And he was so aggressive and in control in this game. He did really will to seek out contact and just go approach it and get it and clogged things up consistently throughout. I thought Zack Seeler played well. He plays so freaking hard.

The pursuit on that sack to get Garoppolo to the ground I thought was impressive for Zach Seler. He led the Dolphins and snaps in this game, as we talked about in the first segment, or defensive lineman and snaps. I should say in this game, Jerome Baker on the Bobby McCain pick, he just runs step for step with Jerick McKinnon down the field. Is in perfect position if he has to get his head around for that ball,

but luckily McCain was there for the pick. Huge defeated block when stacking and working back underneath for a stop. In the second half of this game, I think it was late third quarter or he stacks it up and works back underneath for a tackle. Good job to get off a block there, and then awesome closing speed on his sack. On the play, Dolphins go with eight down or not eight down, but eight players on the line of scrimmage. Four linebackers Wilkins and og bought the down lineman.

Both Rowan McCain up in there as well, but they only bring four and it allows Jerome Baker to come clean as they slide to pick up Christian Wilkins who falls back into coverage, and they schemed up that sack using your linebackers. Great burst. Just an awesome call and execution there from the Dolphins defense. And then Kyle van Noy on the third and one play he makes a TfL where he just arm over Trent Williams and throws him to the ground and meets the ball carrier in

the backfield for the TfL. Also thought he created a couple opportunities for pass rushers where he's kind of the guy that goes in there and gets that contact and sets that pick so guys can loop and scrape off of them, and does so much to confuse the rush of the blitz pick up the pass protection on these

rush schemes. With all those backers walked up into different gaps, you never know who's coming, who's peeling back, and Van Noy's very aggressive and assertive and getting that contact and forcing those linemen to really kind of shoot their hands and allow linebackers to run around them when they scrape off the other part of the play. So really good work from all these guys. I just thought it was such an impressive game plan and impressive execution, and that's

what happens. That's how you get seventeen three phases winning football. We saw it on Sunday for your Miami Dolphins. Let's go ahead and spend things forward now to the coordinators and defensive assistance for your Miami Dolphins. They spoke to the media on Tuesday. First we start with chan Gailey, who talked about the things that Ryan Fitzpatrick does that makes him able to perform on Sunday and put up such gaudy stats like we've seen in several games this

year so far. He does things with um with this offense that we have um that are truly amazing to me. He really does he sees things. You know, he will call a route and he'll change one guy. Uh, and because he sees something and he'll change one little route, one little wrinkle to it and and be able to take advantage of the defense. Um, he saw that the other day. He saw the defensive end stand so he knew the coverage, so he changed one route and we

get a touchdown. It's little things like that that he's just amazing with. He knows what the defense is doing and how to beat him, and that he's a special guy, very special guy in that respect. And how about one of Fitzpatrick's top targets on Sunday one and six yards at career for Preston Williams. Here's coach Gailey on Preston getting things going and the win over San Francisco. You know it was just a matter of time in my opinion. He Um, he's been practicing well, he's been working on

his on his routes. He's been doing some good things that just when you got several good players, everybody didn't get the ball. This is one of those times where he got the ball and he took advantage of it and made plays. Um. And to me, that does nothing but help our football team. Now they gotta worry about him. They gotta worry about DP. On the other side, Jachim got Mike. They've got a lot of things to think about. And UM, I was glad we were able to get

him more involved. UM and now it just creates more um open opportunities for everybody now that now that he's back on track. Use that term, because he won at all track. It just hadn't happened for in yet. Let's go ahead and talk to Dolphins special teams coordinator Danny Crossman, who first was asked about a Football Outsiders ranking that has the Dolphins special teams number two in the entire

National Football League. He was asked, are you happy with the performance and what's led to the number two ranking in that particular category in that particular metric for the Dolphins special teams unit. I don't know if I'm ever happy, But I think the biggest thing is I think our group is getting better every week. Um. And I think we're getting better, you know, in each phase, even though some of the plays that you'd like to have aren't

necessarily showing up. But I think we're doing a better job blocking in the return game, even though we're not getting a lot of opportunities. I think our landmarks even though we're not getting opportunities, I think we're getting betting on better on understanding that um. But like we always say, you know, if you're to be good in the kicking game, your specialists have to perform well. Uh And I think when you when you look at the punter and the

kicker of the snapper. Again, we haven't gotten a lot of opportunities in the true return game with with those specialists. But if you're specialists are performing well, you have a chance of being pretty good. And I think our specials start performing at a high level right now. Hey, coach, I want to go back something that coach Flora has talked about with Jason Sanders called him one of the most diligent workers of his craft he's ever been around.

I just wanted to maybe get a follow up from you as a person's been around him every single day that's really helped lead him to now a franchise record for consecutive makes to start the season. He's got fourteen in a row. What have you seen from Jason Sanders?

Well and again, and I think flows exactly right. I think you know what people don't realize is you know, the time that that Jason spends along with Matt, like the time he spends before we even ever get onto the field, both you know, from a mental and a physical standpoint, and making sure what we go onto the field that you know he's ready to performing a high level. Any performs and and executes and practice you know, we

call him mini games. So you know every time your your opportunities come up, whether it be at uh you know, in practice end or a game. As a specialist, there's not a lot of outside influences um as there are with some other positions. So if you can get that mindset and that that framework both physically and mentally on the practice field, you feel good about having good carry over into the game. And there is your Dolphins special teams coordinator. Let's go ahead and move onto the defensive

side of the ball. What a game this Dolphins defense had. Here's Josh Boyer and my question for coach regarding Dolphins safety Eric Rowe. Hey, coach, I wanted to ask you about Eric Rowe, a guy you've been around since when he got to New England and you really saw him fight through you know, injuries in those early days. I just was curious what does it mean to you to see him really thriving here and can you turn that into something of a coaching point with how maybe the

rest of the guys deal with an overcome adversity. Well, you know, I think the good thing is for Eric that you know, he's a mentally tough kid. He's a hard worker. UM, he's constantly striving to improve, which is what we're ask him to do, and I think he's seeing uh, you know, some results of that. Um. You know, like everybody, there's there's things that he's got that he can continue to work on. UM. As far as you know, using as an example and stuff, I think each individual's

case is a case by case uh study if you will. Um, you know, I think things, you know, sometimes things can start off good for a guy, then they have to deal with a little bit of adversity and then they can come back. Sometimes guys you know, just need a chance. And then there's other times that you know, it doesn't start off so good and guys you know, work their way to that. I think it's different, uh, individual to individual.

But again, you know, Eric is a hard worker. UM, he's been able to you know, handle the ups and downs. He's a he's a good professional, and he puts in a good day's work, and you know we're going to continue to asking to do that. And we talked about in the All twenty two review how many times the Dolphins had different guys walked up on the line and would send certain rushers, would pull certain guys back. Just a lot of confusion, Brian Baldinger talked about in his

breakdown of the game on Baldy's Breakdowns. Here's Josh Boyer talking about the structure of the defense and how that works, but how sometimes it's up to the players to make their side adjustments and to play fast within the structure based upon the things they're seeing on the field on game day. Well, I mean ultimately, like again, I mean there's no coaches out there in between the white lines

on Sunday, So I mean it's it's the players making decisions. UM. You try to build it in um so that those guys have flexibility within calls to change things, to see things, UM, so they can go out there and play fast at a high level. UM So, UM, you know, there there's a structure scheme that we put out there. Uh. And then you know within certain things or certain things that

they seed. You guys can have the ability to adapt um based on certain parameters, which you know, I think our communications and proven as a group, UM, we still got a long way to go. We're working hard at that.

We're working hard on that in the meetings and at practice and you know, hopefully it carries over to Sunday and it's you know, it's a hard thing to get you know, eleven guys all on the same page, and that's what we're working to do, UM and then you can have a variety of different guys out there from time to time. So really, again it's a credit to the players putting in the time, the effort and energy,

uh to get it right. And another thing we talked about in the All twenty two was that fourth and one stop. Here's coach Mary and Hobby, Dolphins defensive line coach on how that can help swing the momentum of a game and how Christian Wilkins and Emmanuel getting that knocked back was so crucial on that particular play man. It was a really big play fourth and one. I think it had already crossed pretty much mid field. It's

a big turning point in the game. Man, it was pretty good knocked back that you can see both of those guys really came up the ball, knocked him in the backfield and made a heck of a play. Next, coach was asked about working with Dolphins defensive tackle to Von Godcha, I'll tell you what, working with him is a treat man. I think every coach wants to um work with with someone who really loves to play football.

You know, he's very conscientious about practice, He's very conscientious about his play and one thing he man, he's a great leader. You know, his leadership in the room is is second to none. And um, you know, always count on him, um as a leader, always so counting me in first. It's big time. He's really progressed and I really enjoyed coaching. And another guy that really popped on

the tape on Sunday was Andrew Van Giggle. Here's Dolphins linebackers coach Anthony Campanelli on what Andrew Van Gigle did this offseason and the work he's put in taking himself in position to make plays on Sundays. I just you know, I had said something in regard today Gigle maybe two weeks ago. Um, he's a tireless worker. So I think a lot of times at this level people think of professional football, Hey the guy has you know, you're obviously

an elite player to get to this level. Um, but I don't think if people I don't think sometimes people understand that at this level guys still improved. And uh, you know a lot of the best players in football, they improve every day. And he's done that in a myriad of different ways. So I think he's done a really good job improving his game in the run game, uh,

and as a pass rusher. And he's another guy who has a very multiple skill set and allows us to do a bunch of different things when he's in the game. And Dolphins linebackers were responsible for several sacks in that game. Van Gegel, Baker Roberts all got themselves a sack in the game, so did Commu grug Hill, but that came off the board because of a penalty in the defensive backfield.

Here's coach Austin Clark, outside linebackers coach on how the Dolphins are getting more sacks in their past rushed the last couple of weeks. Uh, first, I would say it's early man, So all those numbers, all that stuff. We're you know, we're focused on the Jets, but um, you know, I think the players preparation effort, focus on execution, on what the plan is each week is the biggest thing. You know, I think, Um, all the guys, it's kind of been a group effort and a group contribution from

all the players. It's not just one single guy rushing the passer. You know. Um, they're all winning their matchups, they're all executing the scheme properly, and they're all bought in. And uh, that's something we're really excited about. And we'll finish up on the back end here with Dolphins defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander, he was first asked about Xavier Howard and his playmaking skill set. Well, the first thing, you know, to kind of get it as elementary as

I can put it, he does his job. Um, you know, he's aligning the right places. You know, he does what's necessary for the play call. The communication to him allows him to understand his responsibility is whether it be man or zone. And then you know, especially when we're in zone defense, which was the call when he got his interception the other day. You know, a lot of it really came from the defensive line, you know, in their ability to affect the quarterback and and force a high throw.

And that's why you know Russian coverage really go together. But more specifically the X and he's a guy that has no good ball skills from the balls in the air and there's a lot of guys a lot of corners. Um. I mean, I can look at my playing career, there's so many layups that I've dropped that were right in my hands. And so a guy like him who has the ball skills to really um defend in the zone defense and catch those balls or even in the man to man kind of defending a nine route and going

up there and catch the ball is highest point. He does a really good job hiss attacking the football once he's in phase. From one player with a great game on Sunday to another. And Dolphins safety Eric row I asked g A what he's seen from last year when he was a coaching intern here in camp to this year as the defensive back room, the coach of the defensive back room, what he's seen from Eric Rowe in that growth going from corner to safety and getting production

on the field. Here's g a. We're just the feel of the position. I think safety is such a different position than corner one from obviously the communication standpoint, which he's gotten a hell of a lot better. You know, Eric naturally is a quiet guy, and when he's on the field he has to be very verbal and be be loud and be confident to give the communication to everybody. So you you get you get some some feel up.

He's starting to get better, uh in that role as a communicator, and also in the run game, you know where he's got to have recognition of, you know, crack splits if he's a down safety and and and being able to fit in on the run game and seen pulling guards and so you know, when you're coming from the corner position, you don't necessarily you're not exposed to that. And so it's just different nuances within the safety position.

We're different keys and different movement and things like that. Um, he's now continued to expose was himself on the week to week through practice. He's got to help a lot better since I was a little intern here just trying to get information. And there you have a very lengthy Tuesday edition here of the Drivetime Podcast. But hey, that's

what you get when you get a blowout win. Plenty of information and I guess we want to talk about here with the all twenty two, the stat updates, and of course the coach is telling us what they thought about the game on Sunday and then going forward next week to the Jets, which we will pivot full stop here to the Jets on tomorrow's podcast, while here from coach and some players and get back into the Wednesday feature with Eric Rowe, Dolphins safety on this podcast. So

plenty to come here on the Drivetime Podcast. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate and review the show, give me a follow on Twitter at Wingfield NFL, follow the Dolphins, check out the fish Tank podcast with Bart Scott can't wait for that one, the Audible podcast. I believe they had Bobby McCain on this week, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com for all the latest on your Miami Dolphins until next time finds up