Drive Time - Dolphins Bills Week 2 Preview

in the National Football League. Bengals and Browns tonight on Thursday Night Football. And then that's the appetizer for Sunday as the Dolphins welcoming the Buffalo Bills here at hard Rock Stadium at one o'clock Eastern on Sunday afternoon. We're

gonna preview that game top to bottom. Here, give you the injury report, top matchups, the Bills personnel usage, their scheme, their system, their style, everything the Buffalo Bills do we're gonna talk about on this podcast and get you ready for game day for kickoff with some team notes, some player notes, all the good stuff you look for here on the Drivetime Podcast. We're also going to hear from coach Flores and a couple more Dolphins players on their

Thursday media availabilities as well. All of that and more on this Thursday, September seventeenth edition of the Drivetime podcast. And as we start out on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday podcast here on Drivetime, let's go ahead and get to the injury report for Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills.

For the Dolphins, just one change from Wednesday's report. Jachem Grant has been removed from the injury report on Thursday, and then four players limited safety Clayton Federalum, cornerbacks xaviing Howard and Byron Jones, and wide receiver Davante Parker. He Landed Roberts missed his second straight day of practice. He was a d n P on Thursday, and linebacker Kyle van Noy and wide receiver Preston Williams both were full

participants for the second consecutive day on Thursday. For the Buffalo Bills, wide receiver John Brown, defensive tackle Vernon Butler, linebacker Tyrell Dotson. We're all full participants on Thursday. That's a big upgrade from John Brown, who d NP on Wednesday and for Tyrell Dotson, who was limited on Wednesday's practice.

They had four players limited on Thursday's practice, linebacker Jermaine Edmonds and quarterback Jake From not injury related therefore From, but they added two players in defense Eve and Jerry Hughes and wide receiver Isaiah Mackenzie. They were not on the report on Wednesday. They were limited in Thursday's practice, and then two more d nps who are not there for Wednesday or Thursday's practice in linebackers Matt Milano and del Shan Phillips. All right, let's go ahead and kick off.

Brian Flores is Thursday morning media availability with a question about snap counts at this stage of the season, both on offense and on the defensive side of the football. I mean, I wouldn't take one game and you know, try to put guys in the buckets as you know, far as every down players or situational players. Um, I wouldn't take one game and do that, especially uh, in this type of this type of season. So up next, coach,

we'll talk about the quarterback receiver relationship. Specifically, he was asked about Preston Williams getting going with Ryan Fitzpatrick here's Coach Flora's on the importance of developing that relationship between the quarterback and all the receivers on this Dolphins football team. I think it's it's important to established connection, you know, receivers, excuse me, a quarterback to all the receivers, not just

one in particular. So I mean that's something that you build that report and practice and you know, hopefully that it shows itself in the game. And that's why we go out there and practice, and you know, we'll do that again today. Established that rapport with you know, you mentioned Preston, but it's the same with really all the receivers, the back to tight ends um. Same thing defensively as far as you know, guys playing together, same thing in

the kicking game. So it's something that you build over over the course of time and through practice, and we'll continue to do that. And going back to the defensive side of the football, you heard on the injury report that you Land and Robert's Dolphins linebacker was listed with a concussion. Coach talked about that a little bit, but also about who might be able to step into that role if Roberts were out on Sunday. Well, first off, you know, Roberts. You know, we'll see how that goes.

You know, we're not counting him out. You know, we obviously have some other guys in the room and always played linebacker, uh Commos played obviously uh A linebacker Baker Sam Mega von Months and we've got some other guys in the room. So you know, if that's the case, if somebody's down with what other guys will step in and look at. It will be based on the game plan, based on what they give us offensively. Uh So we

may have different different types of bodies in there. So but you know the good thing about that group is they're they're flexible, and they all have fversatility and play multiple positions. So we have a variety of options and we stay on the defensive side of the ball. As you hear a coach talking about the linebacker group there, and that was part of the off season plan, right to get some depth at that position. It's really good

depth at all the defensive positions. As you heard him rattle off some of the names some of the capable bodies in that linebacker room. Story is same is the same rather at the safety position. As coach was asked about the growth of Bobby McCain and Eric Rowe now with one game and year two under their belts as safety's here in Miami, and the importance of the communication the leadership those two have exuded so far. Eric and Bobby. Uh, they played together for um it's call it half a year. Um,

maybe less than that, but you know they played together some. Um, so they have a little bit of rapport you had, Uh Brandon too that you had Kavon Fraser to that. You know, you gotta mix of different people. UM. So, still trying to build that communication, that rapport, but you know those two guys, I mean, it's very important to them, So they'll do what it takes to to build those relationships and try to do it the way where we're asking him to do it. Uh, Brandon Jones, you know,

he's a young player. He's improving on a daily basis, but he's still got a long way to go, just like all of our young players. And um, you know, every practice is good for him, every game experience is good for him. And uh, you know they're they're working

hard this week to prepare for a very very tough opponent. Um. You know in the Bills with the quarterback and the running game and you know some receivers who are um explosive, you know, and tight ends, and I mean this is a a good offense that they've got tempo in their offense, so we haven't prepared for that as well. So we need as many guys like Bobby and Eric to communicate and uh, you know, play at a good level and

bring other players with him. And I think they're trying to do that also, And we go back to the offensive side of the ball there after, Coach Flores talks about the defensive backs in this room and again to talk about the safeties with McCain, Rowe and Brandon Jones. All three of those guys have extensive coverage history in their background. So you hear coach talk about the skill sets the Bills Haven receivers in all the different ways

they can hit you. On offense. It's always gonna beneficial to have guys that can cover on that back end because ultimately it makes your defense more flexible and it makes your defense more disguisable on that side of the football. So back to the offense and quarterback to a tog of Baloa, who was off the injury report for week too, after being listed in the Week one injury report. Here's coach Flora's on why and how that happened. He's doing well.

He's really going into the from a rehab standpoint or just a strength training standpoint. Um, he's doing what everyone else is doing. So we you know, we felt like we could take him off and he's he's he's doing well physically, um and and mentally and you know, getting the practice reps and trying to improve, you know, from a football standpoint, from you know, learning and being a

professional standpoint like all rookies, he's doing well. You know he's learning so you know, health wise though, from a health standpoint, because obviously it was it was a serious injury, and he's done a great job as far as you know, getting himself back healthy and get himself to a point where he can practice and take a lot of reps. So he's trying to get in the right direction from

a health standpoint. And you go back to the interview I had with two of back when he was drafted with the Dolphins and had that kind of in depth dive onto his background and relaying the information from the two A tongue of Voloa three sixty episode of the Move the Sticks podcast when they had Trent Dilford, his personal coach, his quarterbacks coach, on the podcast to talk about his work ethic and the two of days the

two would go through. It just kind of all corroborates there with what coach Flora said about tongue Vola's work ethic and dedication to get back to this point, to get himself in a position where he can take these reps on the practice field, because that's important, right, getting a guy to work as the backup quarterback. Those reps, those mental reps, but also those physical reps are important. So good for tongue Vola for putting the work in to get himself back on the field. After what coach

Flores says, there was a serious injury up. Next we switch over to the guys the quarterbacks throw the football to and an injury regarding Davanta Parker. He of course left Game one with a hamstring injury. Here's Coach Flora's on DeVante Parker's update with the hamstring. As far as the history, I don't really kind of look into that, you know too much, you know, how are we right now?

Where are we right now? That's kind of where you know, my conversations with Davonte are in our our trained staff. You know, he was out of practice yesterday. We'll see, we're taking this thing one day at a time. We'll see where we're at, you know, for for the game. And you know, that's really all I have for you right now. I mean, it's it's still early. We still got a couple of days before we gotta get there. He's doing everything you can to get out there, and um,

but no, we don't take you know, previous hamstring injuries. Um, we're really just focused on this particular one, which you know has limited him some. But you know, he's he's, he's he's doing everything he can to to get back out there. We're gonna go ahead and finish up with a question here for coach about playing time for rookies and real quick on this, I get asked often like

where did you school yourself on football knowledge? I suppose, And one of the things I always tell people is that just being a sponge but also a giant fan of someone that really just obsesses over the game in general and kind of taking in everything you can from

every element of football you watch. And one of those things I took in at one point was the first season of All or Nothing on Amazon with the Arizona Cardinals and Bruce Arians, when David Johnson was kind of breaking out that year behind a running back who was the starter going into camp that season, and as games began to unfold, Johnson was showing himself to be the

superior back. But Arians said, we gotta make sure we manage this guy and not get his ego or his temperament to a level where maybe it becomes a problem in the future. And here's coach talking about his rookies and how he kind of develops that plan for how to get them on the field, how he wants to use those guys. Every coach had different philosophies. Obviously, here's

coach Flores on rookie usage. It's cased by k Omar and I think, you know, it's a small role, and then that role turns into a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. I think give you guys would see that over the course of you know, five or six games, when do you realize it's not too big firm that takes a little bit more time. Um, you know, you needed, you know, stretches of games of consistency to really feel good that um,

they understand how to be a professional. Um, that complacency doesn't set in. And now we don't we watch Hey we got all the answers, and um we watch a little less tape and you know there's to me, that's the thing. Those are the things that I try to harp on good performance or bad performance. We still have to watch the film that not have to know our next opponent. We have to get our lips in with stay on course with our nutrition. We gotta stay on

course with our conditioning. Like, those are the things. You know. It's not one game, it's not two games, it's not you know. You know, once you started stringing four or five games together, then you that means you're doing something. You've been doing something over the last four or five weeks. I mean that's just my belief, UM, because I think the guys who become complacent, the guys who uh I think they have all the answers, eventually it catches up

to him. I mean that's that's been my experience with players. So UM, we just try to stay on them about um, you know, keeping to their routine and just the importance of not veering off of that because you know, in this league, but so many good players and so many good coaches, Um, they'll find you, you know, if you're if you're if you're taking shortcuts, and you know we try to not allow that. But you know that's something you know, individually for each player that they they realize that.

You know, often times you know when it's too late. But um, as you know, with the the amount of what is it, three years that guys are in the league, I mean oftentimes it's too late. So the players, the young players, I'm thinking figured out early enough, um that that routine, that that attention to detail, that the discipline of playing play after play after play and playing consistently.

Once they realized how important that is, then you can see those what you're talking about, you know, whether or not it's not too big for him. So there is Coach Flores Thursday morning media availability. We're gonna hear from a few more Dolphins players after this, and we'll go ahead and sandwich this podcast here with the Dolphins Bills

week to preview Miami enters this game. Oh and one Buffalo want to know after their victory over the New York Jets Sunday, September twenty one o'clock eastern kickoff at hard Rock Stadium here in Miami. As of Thursday, the forecast calls for eighty seven degrees with chance of precipitation, sevent humidity and twelve mile hour range with scattered thunderstorms throughout the area. Welcome to South Florida. This stuff changes every single hour, every single day here in South Florida.

And it's another divisional foe here for the Dolphins the second and as many weeks as they welcome in the Buffalo Bills, who of course knocked off the Jets in that Week one game. And really the parallels between Sean McDermott's Buffalo team and the program Brian Flora's is building here in Miami, they're pretty vast. And although McDermott is in year four, Flora's in year two, you can see some similarities stacking up between the two. Both have the

defensive minded background. McDermott ran many a good defense is out there in Carolina, Flora's and New England previously, both coaches in their second seasons put a premium on their team's draft capital The Dolphins entered this past draft with fourteen draft picks compared to Buffalo low in eighteen McDermott's second year with eleven draft picks. In that year, Buffalo

got their quarterback and Josh Allen. The Dolphins selected two a ton of Baloa with the fifth pick in the draft, so they get their quarterbacks at five and seven overall in their second year. But above all of that, both coaches really emphasized culture and people and mentality the acquisition of players who prioritize the game of football. It means a lot to them, players who are tough, smart, physical

and disciplined. And McDermott with that mentality and that makeup, and he and g M. Billy Bean Brandon Bean not Billy Beam, brought the Bills to the postseason and two of the last three seasons, and that first year in t seventeen with Tyrod Taylor at quarterback, broke the longest playoff drought in the four major sports here in America.

With that trip to the postseason and then following up last year with the second trip in three years and beating a good football team at home and evening the market, one and one would give us both one and one records Miami and Buffalo would be a nice step here. Early on in Flora's a set year, we talked about the injury report already earlier in the podcast and going

back to the Bill's personnel here. Continuity was one of those major talking points in the NFL this offseason, Right with off season programs limited, no O t A s. It was all virtual contact and classroom less than type settings. Many pondered if returning starters might play a key role early in the strange NFL season, and the Buffalo Bills were atop the charts and ESPN's off season continuity rankings. The study measured returning players and the percentage of the

team snaps for which those players accounted. All three of Buffalo's coordinators are returning this year, in Brian Dayball on the offensive side, Leslie Fraser on defense, and Heath Farwell as the special teams coordinator offensively. For day Ball, he saw four percent of his offensive snaptakers last year in nineteen for that playoff team of the Buffalo Bills come back for so ultimate continuity there that was tops in

the league. Defensive the Bills had the seventh highest returning snaptakers on that ESPN Continuity study and on paper, really a few rosters are more daunting than the squad assembled here by McDermott and Brandon Bean almost right Billy every time. Their moneyball one of my favorite all time movies. The Buffalo defense is stout and deep at all three levels, and it starts with the secondary. They added three stalwarts in the seventeen offseason alone. Safety's Jordan Player and Micah

High are the definition of ball hawks. In three years with the team, Player and Hide have combined for nineteen interceptions and forty two pass breakups. Ultimate ball production, and Sunday against the Jets, Player was right back at it. Two run stops in the game. He allowed one catch, but made the tackle on that catch for an eight yard loss, and he also forced to fumble to get

more ball production there for his defense. Then there's first team All Pro from last season, Tradevious White, seventeen first round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills. On top of game changing interceptions, he makes almost on a weekly basis, it seems, and he had a big one against the Offhans last year. In that week's seven game, he held opposing quarterbacks in his career to a sixty one point nine overall passer rating. Linebackers Tremaine Edmonds and Matt Milano

are on the injury report. We'll see if they play on Sunday, but Edmonds made his first Pro Bowl at the ripe age of twenty one last season, and Milano in pass coverage allows an eighty one passer rating against and has one and three stops against the run over his three year career so far. It just keeps getting strong on the front as well. Edge Rushers Trent Murphy and Jerry Hughes both had three quarterback pressures against Sam Donald and the New York Jets in the season opener.

Ed Oliver a top ten pick back in twenty nineteen. He's made his interior pocket collapsing impact fell early on in his career. He really picked up steam late in his rookie season, had thirty one total quarterback pressures over the course of that rookie season, but he got it going early in year two. He had six pressures and

a run stop in the season opener. On the other side of the football, offensively, Josh Allen beginning to really come into his own here in your number three he starts the season with three hundred and sixty nine total yards and three touchdowns versus the Jets. Over four career games against the Dolphins, Alan has three d eighteen rushing yards, but only eighty eight of those in the two games

last season. Doing most of his damage in two games against the Dolphins, but limiting Alan's ability to extend plays will be crucial for this Dolphins defense, and much like in the second dary, Buffalo really rebuilt their offensive line in short order under McDermott and being through both the draft and free agency, the Bills acquired a wall of physical, tough players with a nasty temperament. Dion Dawkins out of

Temple Week one. His performance was much of the same as he has been to the first three years of his career. He averages just two pressures allowed per game in his career. Very good left tackle there for the Buffalo Bills. They signed center Mitch Morris last offseason. He

helped stabilize the offensive line on the interior. He allowed just one pressure on Sunday against the Jets, and fellow twenty nineteen free agent acquisition Quentin Spain had the same stat line with one pressure allowed and he does his best work digging out bodies in that running game on the inside. Speaking of the running game, they are made up of some sizzle on spice with two juxtaposing backs

in Devin Singletarry and Zack Moss. The former single Terry rushed for seven hundred and seventy five yards last year at five point one yards per clip and the ladder. Moss was the workhorse a tough, physical Utah youth program. He was the guy back there in that backfield. Over his final three years in college, Moss average three or ran for three thousand, six hundred and eighty five yards

and thirty six touchdowns. Single Arry is very shifty, very agile, and can make big plays in the passing game as well, whereas Moss has that really stout, compact build and can really bruise guys and get that short yards for you. He's tough to bring down, usually takes more than one tackle to get into the ground, has great balance, great contact balance, and he'll run through arm tackles if you do not wrap him up. The matchup highlights in this game.

We're kind of going back to basics here, so stick with me. But the Dolphins front seven versus the Bills runner We just talked about the running backs and Josh Allen and what they can do on the ground, and when you look at team defensive rankings, like really any Staton football, they require context. Right. The Dolphins enter Sunday with the number one ranks past defense, but the thirty

second ranked rush defense. But the Patriots through the ball nineteen times and they ran the ball forty two times, so obviously gonna be some disparity there for the Dolphins ground game and passing game. On defense, Flora said on Wednesday that Buffaloes receivers are as good as there is in this league. So for the Dolphins to be competitive, stopping the run while containing the pass is a crucial

element to this game. On defense, Allen kind of similar to Cam Newton in both the size and athletic ability departments. Both quarterbacks are six ft five. Alan gives ten pounds to Newton, but they both move exceptionally well. And last year the Bills running game hit chunk plays in the same breed option look the Patriots had success with in week. Number one quarterback kind of rides the running back and then pulls it out depending on what the defensive end.

Does does he crash? You keep it? Does he not crash? As he contain he give it off to the running back inside. Once you account for Alan, it's then imperative to contain the running back, and this instance probably Devin Singletary, as he can bounce runs and hit the second level in a flash. Last year single Arry had twenty five runs of ten or more yards and he did that on just one and fifty one carry. So an explosive

player for the Bills in the backfield. And of course, the running game starts in the trenches up front, where the Dolphins are not lacking in size by any stretch of the imagination. Og Bob goes to seventy five Shack Laws in two sixty seven, Wilkins three fifteen, God Show three eleven, and ray Kwon Davis three thirty. That's some beef up front on that line. But Flores says the Dolphins have to play with better fundamentals to handle Josh

Allen in the Bills running game. He said, quote, Obviously, Josh Allen is big, strong, fast. He had something like sixty rushing yards on Sunday it was fifty seven sometimes or some similarities to what we saw at New England. Obviously, we're trying to get a lot of that fixed now from an edge setting standpoint, from a tackling standpoint. Schematically, will work on that over the course of the week, just from a technique, undamentals and practice standpoint. Hopefully it

helps us on Sunday next week. And last week, the Patriots called on sixth offensive lineman Michael on when New for twenty two snaps as he plugged in at the end of that line of scrimmage. Did you know he was three hundred and fifty pounds. I didn't know that. In the game. I knew he was big, but man three d and fifty per Pro Football Focus, the Patriots rushed off either end, going off tackle eleven times for

eighty three yards. Canbined running behind on when New and three hundred thirty five pound right tackle Jermaine Illuminoire and three ten pounds at left tackle and Isaiah Win So good edge running for the Patriots in that game. The Buffalo Bills line much of the same. They average about three d thirty pounds on that offensive line, So big

on big Dolphins and Bills. Up next the number two matchup to highlight here Dolphins dbs versus the Bills pass catchers, and the Bills are top heavy and deep at receiver, the best of both worlds for an offense. Stefon Diggs caught eight of his nine targets against the Jets for eighty six yards. He's a technician man. He sets up defensive backs with afty route running. He's got a natural feel for how to attack blind spots. He can flat

out fly as well. He led all receivers in twenty nineteen and deep passing on throws twenty plus yards down the field with six D thirty five receiving yards on such throws. So the Dolphins have their work cut out for him for them with stefaon digs, but it doesn't get any easier. John Brown is also a speed merchant. He finished nineteenth in that same category in deep receiving yards.

He turned eight targets into six receptions for seventy yards and a touchdown and five first downs and the season opener. In two games against the Dolphins last year, Brown caught fourteen passes for two D twenty yards and three touchdowns. Gotta find a way to get John Brown contained and no Bills receiver in Week one created more consistent separation than Cole Beasley. He averaged four yards of separation per next Gen Stats. The reliable slot target he has become

over his years. Over the course of his career, he has caught seventy of his targets and five of the eight seasons in his career. So very reliable inside there, and its strength on strength here as Miami matches up all that talent with Byron Jones, Xavian Howard, Noah Egmonogeny, a trio of safetyes with coverage skills, and Bobby McCain, Brandon Jones, Eric Row. You've got Jamal Perry and Nick nied him in the fold as well in that Dolphins

defensive backfield. And how the Dolphins choose to match their talent with buffaloes is one of the more intriguing storylines of the week. Who's got Digs, Who's got Beasley? Who's gonna go ahead and take John Brown on the outside. We know Byron Jones is super athletic, the testing metrics, the transition ability flipped the hips, exaviing Howard, a big, physical, strong corner who can really impose his will physically. Know what Bonogny a little bit of both of those two things. Obviously,

the Olympians, the Olympia sprinter parents he has. He showed that same athletic ability in college, so those matchups really intrigued me. Last year, Eric Rowe was a second game at safety in that Week seven game against the Bills. He limited tight end Dawson Knox to one catch for two yards in that game, so we'll see if he matches up with Knox again. As a member of the Cowboys.

In twenty nineteen, Byron Jones held Bills receivers on thanksgive to thirteen yards on three targets, including a pass breakup. So he had a good game against the Bills last season, and in his last game against the Bills and Xavian Howard intercepted two passes and allowed just two catches on

eight targets. Back the third matchup to watch the Dolphins run game, verse the Bills front seven, and again back to basics, run the ball, stop the ball, win the matchup with the defensive back talent you acquired against the receiving talent Buffalo acquired this offseason. The Bills have a strong secondary of their own, so avoiding third down in long situations in which those playmakers will have freedom to

roam and attack the football. That's critical. You have to keep them honest, keep their eyes on the running back, make sure you have balance on offense, and that starts, of course, with early down success, both in the passing game and the running game, finding balance, finding tendency breakers, that sort of thing. In the first meeting of nineteen, Miami rushed for one and nine yards and took a

lead into the fourth quarter of that game. In the second matchup, they ran for just twenty three yards, as the Bills were able to open up a seven team point and really maintain that throughout the second half of that game. Keeping the Buffalo pass rush honest against the run and forcing all eleven on defense to key the ground game is going to help Ryan Fitzpatrick operate at his highest efficiency, which we know is a very very high level. Had three hundred yards and back to back

games to close the season last year. Attacking away from Sebus White was beneficial as well. In that Week seven game last year and twenty nineteen, White limited Dolphins receivers to one catch on five targets against the other Buffalo corners. The Dolphins caught nine of twelve passes for one d and twenty six yards and a touchdown per Pro Football Focus. The Bills system we talked about it earlier in the week, nobody ran more plays than the Bills in Week one,

eight one total snaps. As a result, day Ball called the league's most common package, eleven personnel, the third most in the entire NFL. They ran fifty three plays from three receivers, one back, one tight end, and the personnel deployment that really jumps off the page is the use of ten personnel, one running back, no tight ends, four receivers.

Buffalo called that PA package twenty two times in Week one, the rest of the NFL and ten personnel packages just twenty times combined throughout opening weekends, so Buffalo called it more in their game than the other thirty one teams combined in Week number one, and then from there, Alan is able to put defenses in a bind with the decision to drop and play coverage or send extra rushers and put pressure on defensive backs to hold up against

all those weapons at Alan's disposal. Finding that rush contained Lane, keeping him in the pocket and also getting after the quarterback and covering tight downfield. Going to be key. According to Pro Football Reference, the Bills blitzed Sam Donald fifty one of the Jets offensive snaps on Sunday, that was second most in Week one behind Baltimore, and the result was a twenty point five percent pressure rate that was

sixteenth best in the league. PFRE also credits the Bills defense with three miss tackles that tied for the second fewest in the NFL, behind or with Miami, New England, and behind the Chicago Bears. A few final notes for this home opener for the Dolphins at one o'clock eastern September twenty. Dolphins will host thirteen thousand fans for the game.

The all time series favors the Dolphins with a head to head mark of sixte and one, but the Bills were victorious in the three rivals and three of the rivals for playoff games. Miami or six and two in the past eight home openers and thirty four nineteen and one all time against the Bills at home. However, Buffalo has won three in a row against the Dolphins and five of the last six meetings, and going into this week to game, the Dolphins and Jets both fell on Sunday,

so they are both oh and one. The Bills and Patriots both victorious. They both are one and oh. The Bills play Miami, the Patriots are in Seattle for a Sunday night football affair to take on the Seahawks, and the Jets host the forty Niners in Week two to wrap up the a f C East wrap around. We're gonna have recap coverage of this game on Miami Dolphins dot com as well as on this podcast on Drive

Time with me, yours truly, Travis Wingfield. Let's go ahead and get back into player media availability from Thursday, and we'll start with Dolphins happened? Dolphins safety Bobby McCain, who first touched on the rivalry between the Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills. Um, you know it's a division rival game. Um, they don't like us, well like them at the end of the day. And uh, you know they got new football players over there. We know that we have good

full of players here. They know that. So it's gonna be a it's gonna be a fight, not not physical fight, but there's gonna be a fight in the game each and every quarter, each and every play, each and every series. Because you know, like I said, it is division robbery, and they count two division games count for two. You heard it there from Bobby McCain. Up next, I asked Bobby what the challenges are of getting a quarterback like Josh Allen to the ground, a big two d and

fifty pound guy to the ground. McCain had a sack on Alan the first time these two teams met back in eighteen. Here's Bobby on tackling a massive quarterback. You gotta tackle a body, tackle the legs, make sure you get him on the ground because he has a big body. He's a good runner, he's a good athlete. I think he's about two forty two fifty, so he's a he's a big athlete, and he can get out of the park and make plays with his feet, make plays with his on So you gotta make sure you tackle the

body and and don't fall off. And one more here for Bobby who was asked is playing against Cam Newton and Josh Allen basically the same. No. I love that one. All let's go ahead and move on here. Next, Dolphins defensive end Emmanuel Ogball, who I first had a question for him about playing his own read. Yeah, it kind of just depends if you're you know, you're a force

player or not. But yeah, you gotta make sure the quarterback either doesn't have the ball or does have the ball before so you actually kind of really slow to react, but we're trained to do it, so you gotta do a better job doing it this week. So one of the guys the Dolphins call on to make plays on the defensive line alongside Emmanuel Ogball is Dolphins defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. Here's Agball on Wilkins and the growth he's seen so far from camp and through one game as

a Miami Dolphin. Yeah, he's a working you know. Whenever he's out there, he tries to make play. So that's that's what that's I go as a defensive linunge just try to make plays help the team win games. And Christian did a good job last week. Even though it's South show he lost the game, he did a good job.

He did his job. And I really like this next question here for Emanuel about the difficulties of a quarterback that can scramble and beat you with his legs and how that might change the way you approach it because you can't get up field with as much to nasty and much ferocity as maybe you like against a more traditional stationary pocket passing quarterback. First of all, the guys stopped the wrong. If we stopped the wrong making one dimension, that's gonna take care of itself. And we have guys

that could chase after they get after the quarterback. So we have to folks on stopping the round for that's the most important thing in this game. And we're going to stay on topic on brand there and ask Emmanual ag Ball, what is the most important thing with regards to setting the edge as an edge defender, as a force defender off the outside of the defensive line, you got to get to the office the tackle or the

tight end as fast as possible. Because you guys said set it, well, we tried to set the edge or one yard up the field, so we could do that. That will help a lot. And we need guys corraling to the ball and set the edge, because if you set the edge without nobody running to the ball, then you're just sitting and there's a free length him and keep running. So it takes the whole team, you know, to get after it. Up Next, a question from me for Emmanuel the Patriots rolled out that three d and

fifty pound dude in that heavy package. When they add that extra offensive lineman to your side of the of the formation, how does that change your approach? It definitely changes their approach because the first guy you got worried about. That guy either double team. You're getting a double team block or base block. So you gotta attack it a different way than a tight end. It's right there. That

makes sense. And let's go ahead and finish up here with Dolphins offensive lineman Eric Flowers, who of course played a college and high school ball in Miami, but also as a kid he grew up coming to Dolphins games Dolphins training camp. He was asked if he ever met any players or who his favorite players were for the Miami Dolphins back then, and talking a little bit about his experience growing up here in South Florida as a Dolphins fan as a child. I never really met players,

I know. I mean, I've never really got a chance to. I was just sitting there. I'll be doing a stands for my dad, or at the games. I used to watch Jake Long and all them dudes, you know what I mean, For Ricky Williams and all the dudes, you know what I mean. I used to you know, listen to w q AM in the morning. Just you know, I've always been involved with I've always followed it and always you know, my family too so and I think this next one here is a great note to finish on.

For this Thursday preview podcast with Eric Flowers, he was asked about what he wants the offense identity to be up on the offensive line. Here's Eric's answer to that question for me, I want to I want this. I would like our identity to be to be technical, you

know what I mean? Technical? And I would say really more hard notes your physical physical, but technical, you know what I mean, those like the good office and lines are technical, you know what I'm saying, from hand placements to everything in the combo blogs to games, just technical. And that's like what really wins, you know, matchup that being technicals. I don't I don't want us to go

in that direction of just being technical. That's would be my perfect in vision, like to you know, like the Cowboys in those years, they were just super technical their hands, you know what I mean. You have to love a call back there to the nineties Cowboys offensive lines there from Eric Flowers. As for today's podcast, that is gonna 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. I really really appreciate it when you all do that for us. Go ahead and give me a follow on Twitter, It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank and the audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. We have the written preview up on the website as well, taking a look at those matchups, bills, personnel, the schemes, all that fun stuff on Miami Dolphins dot com until tomorrow.

Until next time for a flashback Friday podcast fins Up