Drive Time - Dolphins-49ers Week 5 Preview

bring you your daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, Week five is officially here the Bears and Bucks tonight, and that means we are previewing yet another Dolphins football game. I don't know about you, guys, My mood always starts to improve on Thursdays in the fall during football season. You just cannot beat it. We'll break down Sunday's matchup in Santa Clara. We're gonna hear from coach Flora's and a few Dolphins players and get

you the latest injury report here from Davy. All of that and more on this Thursday, October the eighth edition of the Drivetime Podcast. Support for drive Time comes from Auto Nation. 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, visit the Auto Nation store near you

or drive pink dot com. We have a new list of injury report updates here on this Thursday edition of the Drive Time podcast. But first, as we talked about on the show yesterday, the forty Niners and all West Coast teams don't put their injury reports out until later in the evening, and so with the podcast publishing before Drive Time Karon the Mimmi Dolphins podcast Network, we want to go back to previous day and update you on what the forty listed on Wednesday. They have eleven players

on their injury report for Wednesday. Limited participants are Jimmy Garoppolo, Dre Greenlaw, Raheem Moster, a Killer Weatherspoon, and wide receivers Trent Taylor and Dante Pettis. Players who did not practice are ezekiel A Saw, Jimmy Ward, Jwan Williams, Dante Johnson,

and Emmanuel Moseley. And Shanahan did start off his Wednesday presser by saying that both ezekiel A Saw and Kawan Williams, one of the niners top corners, and their defense event who replaced both Nick Bosa and d Ford outside, who are both on injury reserve. He added that both on Saw and Williams will go to the injured reserve along

with Solomon Thomas and Nick Bosa and d Ford. This this team, it's amazing they're still two and two because they've been so banged up and they're playing so well despite the fact that they're going deep into the lineup. Will cover more of that later on the podcast. Also on the Dolphins Thursday injury report, we had one new addition. Malcolm Perry has an illness and he did not practice

on Thursday after not being listed on Wednesday. Both Durham Smith and Austin Jackson did not practice again for the second straight day. The three players that practice in full on Wednesday, we're out there again full on Thursday, Clayton Federalum, Cavan Fraser, and Xavien Howard. And then we have some upgrades Byron Jones and Solomonckinley went from limited practice participants

as well as DeVante Parker. They were all full on Thursday, and then Shack Lawson, who did not practice on Wednesday, was out there for a limited capacity on Thursday. So some good trending there on the Dolphins injury front. Great to see Shack Lawson back out there, and really good to see Byron Jones practicing in a full capacity after

missing two games for the Dolphins. And so now that we are all caught up there on the injuries, let's go ahead and spend this thing forward to Brian Flores is Thursday morning media availability, and we start here with a reference to a player who made a few big plays in the game on Sunday and has been one of the more durable, reliable, dependable receivers on this offense, as coach Floors will say here in Isaiah Ford. He also goes on to talk about tight end Durham Smith

in this sound bite. Well, Isaiah, he's like you said, he's smart. Um, he knows multiple positions, UM, where where he's where he's supposed to be. Really, you know, the majority of the time, he's dependable, he's accountable. UM. And he's gotten open and made some plays and some critical situations. UM. So I mean I think he's earned earned playing time for sure, And I think that would be the kind of the key term he's earned the playing time. Um, We're not giving it to anybody. UM. As far as

Durham again, you saw him on the injury report yesterday. Um, look, he's working hard to get back. He's already made you know, significant amount of improvement over these last three day, three four days. So we'll just you know, take a day by day. I don't want to put a timetable on it, but um, you know, he's he's definitely working to get back. I mean this could be, um, you know, hopefully as

soon as possible. Up next, we'll go to the other side of the football and talk about Dolphins defender Eric Rowe, who plays multiple positions. He was coach was asked to defend the role or the possession that he plays. But again, he's just a player on defense that has multiple roles. I mean, I think it depends on the call or if I call this the linebackers got him, I called this the strong safety has got him. I called this

us um, you know, maybe a corner's gut. And that portion was in reference to who might cover the tight end on a given play. Here he is back again to Eric Eric Row. As far as clarifying you know what Eric Row or he plays multiple positions, he's very versatile. So on one snapp you can play linebacker, and on another snap you can play from safety. On another snap you can play corner. So uh no, I don't call it a rover. But maybe in someone else's defense they

do call it a rover. But I don't, you know. I think on one snap it's you know, even a strong safety and you're a backer, and another snap, I mean you can call it rover. Feel free And Coach finishes that right there with a big smile and a laugh. Not gonna call Eric Roe rover on his defense. He has his own terms and his own terminology for what he calls on that side of the football and in

his program. So moving on here. On yesterday's podcast, I teased about the release of the Eric Flowers piece coming out on Miami Dolphins dot com. We'll have that for you guys. If it's up already, it will be up at sometime soon tonight. On this Thursday here, I asked Coach Flores about his performance so far, Eric Flowers's performance through the first four games, and his leadership for that

young offensive line up front. They Coach, we ask you a lot about the rookie offensive lineman and there's been some big strides made, you know from this point last year as far as sacks allowed in past protection. I wanted to ask you because back in training camp we would see Eric Flowers come out with his bands and his harnesses and work with the young guys after practice. Just want to ask you, in your estimation, what is Eric Flowers meant both from a production standpoint and a

leadership standpoint getting those young guys brought along. I mean, I think he's played well. Um, you know through the first four games of the season. Um, he's brought leadership since really uh he's been here. Um, he loves to play. Um. I noticed his energy on the field really every week. UM, you guys probably don't see that, but you know there's

a big catcher, a big run. Uh. He's really the first guy down there celebrating where his teammates and I think you know that that energy is infectious and that's something I've highlighted um in team meetings already. So UM, you know, I expect him to continue playing the way he's playing, giving us the leadership that he's given given us, and um, you know, helping those those those young offensive

alignement get acclimated. To playing in the National Football League and you know, just kind of bringing overall leadership and uh, you know, good play to our team, oh coach. I have, in fact seen the Eric Flower celebration rundown, pick guys up, clap his hands. I referred to on the All twenty two podcast earlier in the week on a run where he got hit with a holding call, and I talked

about the the way that play kind of developed. It looked like Ted Carriss kind of blocked the man that was already engaged there with Eric Flowers, and it almost shifted Flowers his hands to the outside of the chess plate there of the player and got the hands in a position where the official might see that and say that looks like a hold to me, I'm gonna go

ahead and throw a flag on that particular play. Flowers he didn't think he had a holding because he ran downfield and scooped up Miles Gaskin and get a bunch of applause and an excited celebration about the big run they just issued because the run kind of came off his back on that gap on that place. So I love seeing that from Eric Flowers. I've seen that from Solomon Kinley. You heard, coach, that are confirmed that for us regarding flowers and showing it to the players and

meetings as teaching tape. This is how you want to be. This is how you want to act on the field. This is how important should be to you out there on the football field. Up next, coach was asked about his team's run defense and where there might be an area that he thinks is most improved so far through the first four weeks of the season. I mean, look, it can always be better, but I think it may've

I think there's better communication. I think there's better overall technique. UM. So again it's it's been better, but I think it

could it could be better than it it has been. UM. But I mean that the improvement is because the players to put more, uh put time into it and worked at it, and there's been some improvement that We've got a great, great, great challenge in our own game this week against UM Kyle's you know run offense, good backs, good you know, good offensive line, UH tight ends with block and then just schematically, these guys do a good job creating angles and um putting themselves in good position

to so to rattle off big runs. This will be a big, big challenge for us, and that's something that I have done plenty of in the past under Shannahan. We're gonna talk about that here coming up in the game game preview rather up next here for Coach Flores, Miles Gaskin went from a player who was largely inactive for most of the year last year, got an increase in workload at the end of the season, but also got injured in that Bengals game and could not finish

the season up in New England. But now here he is getting upwards oft snaps per games so far through the first four of this season. Here's coach Floors on how ask And earned that role and earned the right to get so many carries and so many reps as the Dolphin's running back. Well, I think you saw a lot of improvement a year ago from you know, training camp too, you know, being inactive and you know it's called the first half of last season. He um. You know,

you could just see me when he was inactive. He was in the hero on his off days and training, you know, he and Patrick lab you know, kind of training on their own. I'd walk into the bubble and they'd be in the coffer in the corner with bands and just kind of just just trying to get better. So, UM, he spent a lot of time with Eric. I think Eric has done a great job with him as far as UM, you know, getting the mental mental side of

the game down. And then UM, you know, he took this pass off season and really really trained, UM and got his body fit for or um you know, and uh an NFL season after having been through one. You know, he felt like he had made some change and he made him UM. Then he goes come to training camp and he was, you know, very consistent throughout training camp. So I would say that's kind of been the and that's the history behind it. Um, all those things happened.

I think that that was happening with a lot of different players. And UM, Ultimately, you get in the game if you're productive and getting more opportunities, which which has

been the case for him. And we'll go ahead and finish up here with coach on the final question for the Thursday morning press conference about Kyle Shanahan seeing his offense in the past and if he's dusting off his old notes and old defensive playbooks here this week against Shanahan and the four Niners offense, you always kind of you know, go back, you know, back in the time and look at some things that you've done in the past. Um.

But you know, Kyle is very innovative. He's always looking for, uh, you know, something new to gain an edge offensively. UM. So again, you know, because it's you know, it's a new it's it's every years a new team. We've got different players, So you can't just grab what you did, you know a few years ago and try to you know,

recreate that. You know, you may not have. Um, you have different players, So what happened, what worked against or didn't work you know with you know in years past, you may want to do something totally different because the skill sets different. UM. And Coyle is the exact same way. He's got different players, so he's going to play to the strength of of his players defensively. You know, we've

got to do the exact same thing. So I think, you know, overall, you know, there's some things that are um, you know, I don't calm standard, but there's some things that are the core of his offense that he's probably gonna run some form or fashion. How he gets to it mean, there's guesses, there's mine because it's you know, it's a lot of uh, don't want to call it.

You know, there's a lot of shifts, there's a lot of emotions, there's a lot of missiles, there's a lot of let's call a gadget tree to get to a formation. You really don't know that he's getting to the old formation until you really look at it, um you know, hopefully on on the tablet, you know, within the game. So look, this is gonna be a tough challenge from that standpoint. He's a very good coordinator. We're gonna have to do a good job defensively with our technique or fundamentals,

our communication. Very excited to see that matchup on Sunday, a battle of two very smart minds, one offensively, one defensively. There with Kyle Shanahan and Brian Flores. And with that, let's go ahead and jump into the week five Dolphins at fort preview up on Miami Dolphins dot com. Our

first late kickoff of the season on his Sunday. It's gonna be a four or five kickoff on Sunday, October the eleventh, one of three Dolphins two and to at Levice ad M temperature calls for seventy four degrees partly cloudy sixteen mile and our wins there on the Thursday weather report in Santa Clara, and in these introduction parts

of the pieces up on Miami Dolphins dot com. I always like to take a look at some of the similarities of the two teams and the programs in the past, and kind of where they are in their particular I guess portion of the way they build their program we know by now Brian Flores in year two. Kyle Shanahan is coming into This is his fourth season here with the Niners. The first two they won six games, and they won five games, and then they won thirteen games

and went to the Super Bowl. And I talked about in the article about how success ultimately, of course is judged on the scoreboard and in the wind column. But I always love the phrase process over results, because process

is usually the best way to determine future outcomes. And I always thought that for Shanahan and John Lynch there in San Francisco, they had a pretty clear vision for what they wanted to build with the innovation and patients you heard there of Brian Flora's talking about him being one of the most innovative play callers and always trying to find end a way to get into those old formations about dressing up in a way that you don't know about it until either the play is going or

after the fact on the tablet on the sidelines one of the best elements of his offense. And I remember watching the Divisional round playoff game last year. One of my best friends is a Vikings fan. He was really jazzed up for that Niners and Vikings game last year, which wound up being a pretty a pretty not great event for the two of us watching that game on Saturday because the Vikings got Grand Rough shot over and

he was not thrilled. But in that game, Chris Collinsworth and Al Michaels, they kept talking over and over again about how much I cand either is for the defense to look at with all that motion and shifting so many jet sweet motions across the formation, which of course can get a linebacker to take one false step, and then if you displace that linebacker by a half step, that can then create a passing lane in the middle.

You can hand the ball off from misdirection and get them out leveraged and out angled, as coach Flores talked about in the Running Game two. So you have to really be like you said, as your rules, your fundamentals, and on your keys defensively to not take a false step and get yourself in a position where you get walled off by an offensive lineman or you create a passing window that way. But back to the topic at

hand here. The fourty Niners did start off that first season under Shanahan and Lynch oh and nine, but since then they acquired Jimmy Garoppolo and they are twenty four and seven in his starts, They've wanted to Vision title. They've had a third teen win season, and they went to a Super Bowl with a double digit lead on Patrick Mahomes and that explosive Chief's offense obviously didn't end the way they wanted it to, but it tells you

about where they are in terms of that program. And you're number four here with Kyle Shanahan to go into a Super Bowl and have a commanding lead in that game and a chance to possibly put a Lombardi in your trophy case. But the patients, the belief in the plan. I love the way They built that team because they knew what Shanahan wants to do, wants to be a

heavy run team that works off that run action. They went out and signed a full back to a big contract, the biggest full back contracts in the NFL, and he plays plenty. They loaded up the running back position and got themselves plenty of guys that can filter through that outside zone scheme and really not miss a beat when you go to the next guy and just continuously have fresh legs. Whether it was Raheem Moster, whether it's our

own Matt Brita, whether it was Tevin Coleman. They just had bodies and guys that can get the job done in that running game. So replaceable that way, and we're kind of seeing that this year so far with the injuries and the way they've been able to replace those players and get production and win two games and blowout

fashion when they're down. I mean, they were down games without Nick Bosa, without d four, without George Kittle, without Jimmy Garoppolo, you know, some of their biggest names on that roster, and they're out there winning games thirty six to nine. I guess it's it's wild that they were able to accomplish that. On Sunday, they'll welcome end us. The Miami Dolphins, obviously a young team who's on a mission of our own to make these daily strides. And

you're number two first and second year players. The rosters made up of of plenty of those guys. Trying to get that daily improvement and getting these guys brought along throughout the course of the season and developing players throughout the course of the season. We know by now the early season schedule here for your Miami Dolphins has been difficult. No one's gonna batten eye at that eleven and five

record for the opponents so far. For the Dolphins through the first three games, through the first four games rather of the season with a point differential of just minus three. And again going back to the Niners in their year two under Kyle Shanahan, they started off that season one and three with a negative eight team point differential and they played three playoff teams in that stretch as well, so kind of some similarities there. And for the Dolphins,

it's all about closing games in the fourth quarter. This team has been close. They've had a lead or been within one score of the opponent in the fourth quarter in all four contests so far, and again the Niners are five hundred despite a mounting injured reserve list and a handful of players on this week's report. Again, you can refer to that injury report up on Miami Dolphins dot Com on Top News on our morning Blitz article will have that update for you guys as soon as

it becomes available. We've also talked about which quarterback might play in the game. Shanahan's kept that to himself obviously as they try to evaluate. He did say on Wednesday that it will be Garoppolo if he's healthy. If it's not, then he's not going to tell us who it is. Between Mullins and C. J. Bethord, but all these guys have experience. Between Mullins and Bethard, both guys have ten career starts under them. We saw both them play on

Sunday night a little bit. Muland struggled in that game on Sunday against the Eagles. Bethard came in with you know, to score deficit late in the fourth quarter and was able to move the football down the field. So you can see both those guys have had production in this league in the past and the took Dolphins coaches and players have talked about preparing for all three of those quarterbacks to be ready in case someone does get on the field that maybe you wouldn't prepare for. Otherwise you

have be prepared for all three quarterbacks. And really the basis of this team you heard coach Florence talk about, it is built upon bowling teams up front, Robert Salas defense. We talked about Chris Kusareck on yesterday's podcast, the one gap penetrating upfield style of defense. They like to play on the offensive side, that outside zone scheme, that stretch zone scheme that gets the running backs out on the edge.

Last year they had the second ranked rushing offense, and they returned three of the five top snap takers and replaced one future Hall of Famer in my opinion, and Joe Staley with another guy who probably goes to Canton and Trent Williams, and that front pairs with a list of speedy and shift backs that are and arguably the

best tight end in the NFL. And and for me, he is the best tight in the NFL because he can I think I tweeted out earlier this summer that George Kittle is perhaps the most influential player in the league because the way he can shift the offensive formation or the way the offense wants to approach things with being a dynamic passing threat or being a guy who can line up in line and wipe out the edge in the running game and keep your your personnel versatile

because he can play tight end in line, he can flex out and move that f tight end position. He can play in the backfields and h back or a fullback. He just does so much for your offense and both phases of offense. He is very difficult to defend that way, and that just pairs well with an offensive line that can really get out there and bully teams up front.

On the other side of the football, it's the same again, despite the fact that they're gonna be down Nick bosad Ford, Zeke Ansaw, but Rik Eric Armstead is out there and he leaves the defense with eighteen quarterback pressures this year, has one and a half sacks on the season, and Dolphins veteran offensive lineman Jesse Davis talked about him, saying he's got long movement's long arms, looks like a strong player, something he has seen before, but he's never gone against

this guy. He just had. Their whole front looks pretty solid. And on that topic, the matchup highlights again we talked about the outside running. Tackling on the edge is the first one I put on here because the forty Niners not. They don't just have running backs and get on the edge a tight end who can block and seal the edge. They went after two receivers these past two drafts of Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, two guys that are very, very good with the football in their hands running after

the catch. We all saw Brandon i yuke touchdown run on Sunday night against the Eagles where he went high over a defender and made a bunch of people miss on en route to a touchdown scoring play. Both are explosive and they will find ways to get the ball in their hands, whether it's on jet sweep rushing attempts, handoffs, reverses, ends around screen passes, slip screens, bubble screens. They're gonna find a way to get the ball out in the edge and test the way you tackle on the outside.

And it's again not just the way the receivers or backs to it. It's the whole picture put together. No team last year was better than running the football on the edges. They had sixty runs off either end, left or right for three hundred and sixty three yards, three touchdowns and seventeen first downs on those particular runs. And they also picked up two hundred and fifty five yards after contact on such runs. So it's important to get

that tackling on the outside done. And all those stats were tops for San Francisco among potential gaps, whether it was ends, tackles, guards over the center, outside runs where they're most effective through the course of last season, and the same as true this year as well. And the Dolphins perimeter cornerbacks are equipped to handle that challenge. Xaviing Howard,

Byron Jones and Noah Iguanogeny are strong, sure tacklers. They have a combined twenty two tackles compared to just four missed attempts on the season that per Pro Football Focus. So that matchup really bears watching. Who can get the wrestling match on the outside one, so to speak, the Dolphins defensive backs or the forty nine ball carriers on

the outside. The other matchup to watch here for me was Dolphins pass rush versus the forty nine front, and that's mostly because we just don't know who the quarterback is going to be. But no matter who it is, that's always a good rest topee, heat up the quarterback with pressure. Garoppolo with a limited participation on Wednesday's practice with the ankle injury. Obviously you want to test that

ankle and see if he can move off of his spot. Accordingly, Nick Bollins on Sunday night had a passer rating of forty one point five when there was pressure against the Eagles, and C. J. Bethard in the same game had a passer rating of seventy one point nine with rushers closing in. So obviously that's the key to most games in the NFL put pressure on the quarterback, but I think it's especially true in this game. And you look at the

edge pressure here from the Miami Dolphins. We saw both Shack Lawson and Emmanuel Ogba gets sacks of Russell Wilson on Sunday and the forty Niners have surrendered thirteen sacks so far through four games. That's sixth most in the NFL.

And Trent Williams is at left tackle this year. He started all four games at left tackle despite missing all of last season, but he's played well been credited with only six pressures allowed so far for through Pro Football Focus, whereas Mike McGlinchey, the former Notre Dame product on the right side, we'll see more of Emmanuel Ogba. He has ten pressures allowed so far through the first four games. And the last point here is Commune came in that motion.

We talked about it throughout the course of the week, throughout the course of this podcast that no team utilizes motion more than the San Francisco for pre snap shifting or motion on seventy five point seven percent of their snaps, almost a full yard per play better when they do motion compared to when they don't motion. And the ability to create leverage in the running game and passing lanes

with that window dressing. You heard Flores talk about it, you're gonna get back to maybe a standard formation, and he was hesitant to use that term standard, but at the end of the day, they're gonna find ways to dress things up and keep it, keep the look fresh, and keep it innovative and keep you off balance up until you can make adjustments in the game, so that chess match between Flores and Kyle Shanahan and be fun

to watch. And they have the two capable receivers and that jet motion with the heavy use of two back sets, it just gives the defense so much to look at. Do you key the pulling guard, do you keep the pulling fullback, do you keep the tight end coming across the formation trying to get that kickout block off the edge. We talked to Jerome Baker about how you handled out on the podcast yesterday, and to reiterate what he said, it just depends on where you're at in the call.

It's trusting your defense. It might be your job to leverage the motion. The motion might not affect you at all. Just understanding what your role is and then throughout the week you really want to go through film and make the calls and adjustments and just get used to constantly seeing it. So on Sundays it's a lot easier. And Eric Row also talked about it, saying that we just all have to be on the same page on motion

shift kind of whatever they do. So when I talk about breakdowns and communication, if the offense they did some sort of motion and then whatever call that we have to get out, we have to get it out clean, faster, and crisp so we can execute our plays. Some of the forty Niner scheme. On offense, we keep talking about this two back sets. No team in the NFL uses more twenty one personnel, two running backs, one tight end,

two receivers than Shanahan's forty nine. The offense also uses twenty two and twenty three personnel and those three different two back packages. They have one hundred and twenty two snaps out of those packages out of two hundred and sixty three offensive snaps, so forty six point four percent of the time the Niners are in two back sets.

And that's because no full back in the NFL has blogged more snaps this year than Kyle use checks one hundred and twenty five snaps on offense, and again back to the injuries on both side of the ball, no forty nine receiver has played more snaps than Kendrick Bourne's seventy nine point one percent workload, and All Pro George Kittle has been limited to just forty eight point seven

percent of the offensive snaps due to his injury. But again he was back out there on Sunday Night against the Eagles, and emphatic fashion, fifteen targets caught every single one of them for one hundred and eighty three yards and a touchdown. And last year nineteen, he was pfs number one ranked receiving tight end and the number five ranked run blocking tight end in all of the National

Football League. And frankly, I think that last number could be higher up to number one because this guy, again, to me, is the best tight end in the National Football League. And the Niners also ranked eleventh in total offense as well as scoring offense three hundred ninety yards per game twenty six point eight points per game. Their third in both total and scoring defense as well two hundred ninety four yards against them per game and seventeen

point eight points allowed by the Niners defense. They have the twelfth ranked passing offense and the eleventh ranked rushing offense. The defense is allowing just one hundred and fifty nine point three yards per game through the air, that second best in the National Football League, while the rush defense is fifteen at one ten point eight yards per game allowed. They dial up extra rushers at the ninth highest rate in the NFL, so they will blitch you thirty five

point two percent blitz rate. That's one point eight percent higher than your Miami Dolphins, who are the tenth most

frequent blitzing team in the National Football League. And the result is the Niners have the third highest pressure rate at thirty point three percent, but they ranked eighteenth in the league with sat in sacks with eight So again kind of this philosophy about putting pressure on the quarterback, infecting the passing game more so than just trying to rack up the sack total, which they were very high in that category as well last year. So this Niners

defense can get pressure on your quarterback. And only four teams called more four defensive backpackages than the San Francisco forty Niners. They run that thirty six point three percent of the time, but the rest of the calls come primarily from Nickel, where the Niners play their most frequent defense at sixty two point nine percent, that's seventeenth most in the NFL. So they run a lot of four dB packages, which means you will have a true front

seven four defensive back, seven guys up front. That's you know, thirty six point three percents. Not your base package. Obviously, Nickel is at sixty two point nine percent, but they do run that four defensive backpackage more than most teams, more than all but twenty eight teams, to be truthful. Some final notes here. The Niners have that rash of injuries, but two and two record with a pair of runaway victories just a testament to Shanahan's next man up mentality. There.

They will be without Nick Bosa, last year's rookie of the Year, and also potentially without Raheem Moster will see about him this week in practice. He was limited on Wednesday's practice. He was a leading rusher for them last season. And the two sides are very comparable and the turnover takeaway department both have five takeaways that's tied for fourteenth

best in the NFL. The Dolphins have five giveaways to the Niners four giveaways, both ranking the top half of the league, and that stat and the comparison is similar. On third down, the dolphins forty six point nine percent conversion rate ranks ninth, while San Francisco's forty six point eight conversion rate on third down ranks tent So both these teams do a good job sustaining drives on third

down and moving the chains that way. Davante Parker's next one hundred yard game will be the tenth of his career. He would become the eighth receiver in Dolphins history with double digit one hundred yard days. He's also coming off a career high in receptions with ten in three lost to the Seattle Seahawks, and the Dolphins lead the all time series seven to five over San Francisco. And the loan playoff meeting was that Super Bowl Dan Marino, Joe

Montana and the Niners, of course took that game. We won't talk anymore about that. This is the Dolphins first trip to Levi Stadium, which opened back in all six of the Dolphins trips of San Francisco previously. We're played at Candlestick Park, and we'll talk to Randy McMichael on tomorrow's podcast, who is not a fan. He was not a fan of Candlestick Park. The Dolphins were three and

three at Candlestick and their history. We're gonna have this game recapped and coverage for you guys late on Sunday night. Not sure exactly what ti that will be. I had the routine down for the one o'clock games, but being a four oh five game, I'll get that out as soon as I possibly can up on Miami Dolphins dot com, as well as the Drivetime podcast here with yours truly

Travis Wingfield. Speaking of Drivetime Podcast, where you're supported here by Auto Nation, where Dolphins fans can sell their vehicle

for cash. Now visit auto nation dot com. Let's go ahead and wrap up this podcast with player media availability, starting first with Dolphins rookie offensive lineman Robert Hunt, and first he answers a question about the bond between he and the other rookies in this class, Austin Jackson Solomon Kinley, and how they've kind of communicated and kept their relationship going so far in this first season their rookie year in the NFL. UM it's been exciting, man. You know,

I'm very happy for those guys, you know. And I'm like, I'm very happy all the guys. I think the line is playing well. We have been playing well, um, you know, so I'm excited for all those guys. We do have a really close relationship, you know, so we tanks. We talked a kind of stuff. You know, we're here together all day and you know things like that, but to see them play and go out and they secute and

they playing really was I'm really excited. And every time the report number sixty eight is eligible on the offensive line, you can't help but think, well, he is eligible to go out for a pass pattern if he did go out for a pass, how good are Robert Hunt's hands? Here it is in his own words, if there was a call up the video called player, I think I'll do well with it. I think I got really really good hands. You know. I used to calm myself for a little Randy Moss back in the day. But you know,

I don't want to. I don't want to put that out there and then if I end up getting that chance and I drop it in everybody, oh man. So I won't say too much about that. Hey, Robert wanted to stay on that topic of that heavy package of the six offensive lineman there. Um, is that something you've done before in the past in college? And if not, what can you learn from that package and kind of playing that extra on the offensive line that maybe you

previously didn't know before the season? Um No, this is my first time I actually playing a heavy tight end position. Um, I mean it's it's pretty much the same as like a tackle. You know our gars, It's the same deal, um, same schemes. I mean, you know, everything that's pretty much ties in together. So it's not it wasn't Harvard was

gonna learn just like playing a line pretty much. Up next, Robert was asked about kind of his story and what it means to play in the National Football League for him. If you don't know about it, I highly recommend going and checking it out wherever you can find. Robert Hunt's story is background. Basically, this is a kid that showed up to a football camp and didn't really have any of their proper equipment and got offered a scholarship there and wound up at louisian A la Fagh Yet and

the rest is kind of history. Is he made haste with his professional career. Even more impressive when you consider the fact that as a kid, his family lost not one but two homes due to natural disasters of fire a hurricane involved with that. So Robert Hunt has come overcome a lot of adversity in his career. Here's what he says it means to him be able to play in the National Football League and uh, I mean a lot of you. Man may not see my story, may have ms A blessing may come from from you. I

don't take it lightly. Um, this is something that you know, kid's dream of coming from come coming from where I come from, you know, and to see and to him me. For me to be in this position, for them to see me, um and give them hope, it does mean a lot to me. It means a lot to me. Two more here for Robert Hunt. One very much football oriented,

one not football at all. We'll start with the football question about some of the main things that coach Steve Marshall along the offensive line drills and his young players and the entire offensive line room. Oh, um, you know this the basis man, you know, pad level, hands inside star like that. But the old line ritual, I would say, Um, so we all, I'm pretty much doing the same thing, you know, passing and mean hands inside pad level. You know, played fast play to school, you know when we tried

to preach um play style. You know, so you wanted to play fast, physical, you know, and straight out to play a little bit. Hey, Robert, you talked a little bit about where you came from. But I do recall when you first got here, you tweeted out about the wildlife here in South Florida. I'm curious if you've gotten any more acclaimed to seeing the lizards and iguanas out there, and have you seen any alligators or anything like that? Um?

I got them used to, you know, because I was in Louisiana for five years and plus then that is something burke too it around the area. But um, you know, they kind of calmed down with the big old um. He going to think, he's like it was kind of cool. I haven't seen any. I'm used to the little lizards now. I hate little like hey, that's like my biggest spirit, the little lizards. I'm really afraid of those. Um but I'm kind of used to not see him. You know,

I don't really run from others look at them. But I did see for the first time, maybe like a month or two, maybe a month and a half, I saw a huge going on, the biggest one I've seen yet. You know. I was in the car, so I wasn't afraid, but it was huge. So we've now got both Robert Hunt and Solomon Kindley on record talking about how they're

afraid of these little lizards. It's I mean, I find it hilarious because every time you walk by like a bush or a shrub down here, you'll see lizards hanging out on the sidewalk or on the curb, and they see you coming and they sprint back into the bushes. I always like, I always really enjoyed that aspect of seeing the lizards out here in South Florida. But let's go ahead and get back to football here and here from Julian Davenport, who first was asked to evaluate the

player we just talked to and Robert Hunt. Uh, he's definitely progressed a lot. You know. Uh, I've taken you know, we all have as offensive line, you know, uh, holding each other accountable and making sure everybody is maximizing their efforts to improve their game. You know. So I've always been talking to Rob and all the young guys, Austin Solomon, we all have, you know, making sure you know, they do the little things to make sure the technique is as good as it can be, and you know their

game is as good as can be. But you know, he's been on a steady progress going up and up, and I like the way he's next. Here's Julian on his own progress from where he was this time a year ago compared to where he is now in week five. Uh, definitely a lot better. I feel a lot more confident and you know my technique, uh my sets my pad low, you know, as a big emphasis for me. Uh. I worked real hard on you know, the things like that in the off season, and you know, I'm know I'm

still not perfect. So I'm just still working and continue to improve on all those little aspects. And then something and a year ago, Matt Brita was on the San Francisco forty Niners. Here's the Dolphins running back on playing his former team on Sunday. Uh, it's cool going back, you know, playing against my former team. I'm not gonna treat a gain different though, still like another week. I'm talking. I talked to them guys almost every week a weekly

basis because we still close. But now not about the game, not like that. Like I said, I'm thinking he's gonna treat any different. It's still a normal week. So that's the relationship with the former forty players. He has talking about texting with those guys every week, and in the past, Matt Brita has mentioned the commonality between this Dolphins locker room in early years there in San Francisco with a

competitive mindset. I wanted to ask Matt about an update on that status with the Dolphins locker room and how it comparison what he knew in San Francisco. Definitely, I would say very similar in the fact that you know, guys whould love to compete. Um, the same thing goes back as far as talking about how close the team is.

We don't got like Eagles on this team. Um, it's my of be able going in, like I said, going going into my rookie or my second and we have a lot of young guys that are playing right now, and you know, it's a process. I understand everyone wants us to be winning right now, and we're right there. We've been in every single game that we played in the factors that we're winning three So we've gotta learn how to finish as a team. And you know, I think we're on the right track and we're very close

to putting together pret soon. And on the topic of familiarity with past teams, Dolphins linebacker Commu grug Hill played his college ball at the same place as quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo here he is talking about that conversation relationship today, No, a bunch of h We got a little group chat back home or back with our boys, kind of messing with each other. So we'll see, hopefully play'll be fun.

Back to a football topic here, Comma was asked to evaluate the improvements he's seen in the running game the last couple of weeks and his evaluation of how the team is defending the run. Here's the Dolphins linebacker on run defense. I think we, uh, we're just feeling more comfortable with um, with you know, just a scheme and the game plan and uh and just we other. More importantly, we're we're learning how to play off each other and

you know, the line linebackers are playing more in sync. Um. You know, there's always room to get better, so we're trying to do that. But I definitely think every week we're progressing. And so we covered run defense. How about commus work in the passing game and how he prides

himself as a coverage linebacker. UM, I think for me, I just really uh, that's a part of the game that I really pride myself on, and you know, especially my role right now it's kind of you know, the coverage guy and and you know coverage down so um for me, it's just trying to be out there and and whoever I'm on, would it be a tight end or back or just its own coverage that um, I dominate that phase. This Niners offense you're gonna see on Sunday is uses more motion priests now than any offense

in the NFL. I'm curious how as a linebacker you kind of evaluate what you see and you react to it in real time and not take the cheese as it were. I think for us it's it's just kind of just making the game a little simple. You know, I'm knowing that whatever emotion too is like see what the actual in formation is? After that, you know, they're just the lining up and one and getting to another formation.

But at the end of the day, the snap is gonna be similar formations, and you know, just kind of the game down a little bit. And so there you have it. The Thursday media availability, we will not have it on the podcast tomorrow because we're gonna talk to Randy McMichael as well as Seth and Juice from the Fish Tank podcast. Flashing this thing back to two thousand four, the win over the Niners in O four, as well

as some of the other events around that season. The Dave wants to resigning, Ricky Williams retiring, the A. J. Feeley trade, the Lamar Gordon trade, plenty of good stuff coming up with Randy McMichael. You will not want to miss that podcast tomorrow. We've got Canes and Clemson coming up over the weekend. I know it's a big game here for the folks in South Florida. Trying to get my Miami Hurricanes allegiance going a little bit stronger. It's

just it's not naturally taking. But I will say this, I think you might be in for a long night on Saturday night, Hurricanes fans. But I'll be rooting for you guys. Go Hurricanes on Saturday Night. And you know, one more thing I wanted to bring up here because I watched a bunch of the office on Wednesday night because there wasn't any sports on. There was some baseball games, but the Rays and Yankees game wasn't close, and I wanted to make a comment. Does anybody else do this?

Do you fast forward through Jim and Pam scenes after they get together because I can't even watch it. Man, it makes me queasy. That's that's hard to watch, Like, I don't know, I can't do. I wanted to put that down. I also wanted to say that Ed Helms is super underrated. He's the perfect simp and every movie or show I've ever seen. Also, I'm contemplating watching Parks and Rex because I've as much as I talked about The Office, I you know, that's not my favorite show card,

not even my top ten. I'm more of a South Park, Silicon Valley, it's always sunny in Philadelphia type of guy. Those are my shows. But I'm curious about starting Parks and Wreck because The Office is kind of I've been through a few times now. It's a good like fall asleep to that show type of show is Parks and Wreck in that vein. I watched some of the clips on YouTube or Twitter or social media whatever it was with Chris Pratt, and I find myself laughing most of

the time. But I'm just curious. Let me know if Parks and Wreck is better than The Office, if it's equal where it falls in that category, if it's good to fall asleep to Parks and recognite you let me know anyway we've gotten off topic on this podcast. As for this podcast, that is going to be my time you all, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave us a rating, leave us a review,

give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course Miami dolphins dot com. We have the preview, the Eric Flower story, top News, the blitz, tons of content up there for you guys right now, until next time finds up