Drive Time - Dolphins Patriots Week 1 Preview

it is? Football season tonight? Baby? I mean, doesn't that December trip to Foxboro feel like it was twentysomething years ago? We've got Chiefs Texans tonight on your television, but we are focused on Dolphins and Patriots on Sunday. We're gonna hear from coach some players, update, the injuries, and in between all of that. Really get into the weeds on this game. All of that and more this Thursday, September

tenth edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Season opening game is always a tradition unlike any other, and I continue that tradition of saying the home team finds victory. You just don't go against the defending champs, raising the banner in their own building on opening night. Not to mention, we do own the Texans first and second round draft picks, so technically a loss on Thursday from Houston puts those draft picks right at the top of each round, straight

out of the gate. That's something we're gonna monitor throughout the course of the season, heading into Draft season one. But I've got the Chiefs tonight, and it's largely because of their quarterback, of their m v P, of their Super Bowl m v P, and Patrick Mahomes. And I'll say this just before we get into coaches media for Thursday morning. I understand that most of the time when we talk about the all time grades, you have to

support those claims with a body of work. Right, people want to know about the number of years of production, maybe x number of championship rings. And if you dare propose that a player under the age of might be the best of all time, then you're gonna be greeted with the backlash of slow your roll, their son. But nah, my eyes don't deceive me. My eyes have never seen somebody do what Patrick Mahomes can do on a football field, even though it's only been two years of course, he's

going to have to sustain that level of play. But what I've seen so far in twenty five years of watching this game, he's the best I've ever seen. That's why I've got Chiefs tonight in the season opener. But that is tonight. Sunday is our main focus here on

the Drivetime Podcast. And with that we turn now to Coach flores Is Thursday morning media availability and up First, Coach was asked a two pronged question about the decision to bring in Antonio Callaway, the receiver on the practice squad, and also the health status of cornerback Byron Jones staff Chris Marvin Brandon. Um, you know, in our starting department obviously does a lot of We did a lot of work on Antonio Is along with a lot of other players.

We felt like it was an opportunity to had a yeah, you know, a player, a talented player. You know, we'll work with him over the next few weeks um in the capacity that we can. Obviously not you know so much because of the suspension, but when we can, we

will work with him. We'll see where it goes. Uh. The first part of your question with Byron Um Byron's working, uh, you know, extremely hard to um, you know, rehab and we'll see where he is for for for a game time, but um, you know, something he's been dealing with and but he's working to get back out there as quickly as you can, and you know to day to day to kind of the day to day thing and next for coach a question that I thought was really good

just asking him about season opening game tonight, how everybody around the country is so pumped to have football back. Can a football coach truly sit back and maybe crack open one and just enjoy a football game? Or is he always on with the football? What do you think? Coach says here he is when I watched the game, it's you know, you can try to relax, but you know, what would you do in third down? What would you

do in this situation? Too? And you just your mind kind of goes And I think that's how every coach is, uh you know, Pop Warner, high school, uh college, national football leg Once you get into um, you know list profession and those types of situations, your mind kind of it goes there regardless. So you can try, but that is relaxing in a lot of ways. For for coaches. So uh yeah, it's it's, it's, it's it's it's nice

to sit and watch a game. But yeah, your your mind starts to wander a little bit and start to work out how would you handle this situation? Of that situation still, but it's it's it's gonna be fun to have again to watch, you know, it's been such a long time, whether it's pre season. I mean, like like a lot of people, Um, you know, I love the sports, so um, I'll be watching you. I'll be working as well. So it's a nor with Thursday night ones back into

kind of a normal routine in season. And I'm with coach on that. Obviously I'm not a football coach, but that's why I watched the games to kind of trying to put myself in the situation of how would I do this, How would I handle this spot? What should this team do? Right here? And again, obviously coach sees the game in a different way than all of us do.

But I do find that answer very intriguing because I've always wondered that myself, like what is it like for a coach to watch another game on television or why they're getting ready for you know, the opponent that week. Is it enjoyable? Is that something they don't even think about? But obviously Coach tells us there that he does, in fact watch the game with a different eye, a different

lens than your average fan. Up next, Coach was asked about the leadership on this football team, and notably the three captains who are here with the Dolphins who were with him previously in New England. Here's Coach talking about his leaders on this football team. Well, I mean I think they're all you know, good players are. They're smartt tough, Um,

they care about the game. The team first to think, you know, they tried to relationships, Um, you know throughout in the locker room and you know, on defense, on offense, on special teams. Um, there are guys who care about those relationships. But um they also there's there's also a number of other guys who who are very similar. Um, guys want former Patriots like Bobby like uh, fits like gotcha out. It's always good to have those types of

players on the team. And you know, I'm happy to have you know that the reformer Patriots, but also the other guys we have it captains as well. And of course heading into a season without preseason, without the benefit of having the off season program, all the uncertainty we've

talked about all week long, annually, all month long. In the lead up to this kickoff, this season opener on September, your Miami Dolphins coach was asked about are there any benefits or anything that he likes about the uncertainty of this game one as they can maybe go into the matchup and maybe have some advantages that way. You know,

there's uncertainty for everyone. Well, the thing I like about it is, you know, you just go back to you know, your rules, your reads, um, your fundamentals, your technique, see how how far you come along from from that standpoint. And you know, I think at the end of the day, when it comes in football, when you're you know, there's a lot of different schemes, concepts, you know, defensive structures

and eventually you'll you'll see something that you haven't seen before. Um, and you have to rely on your rules and your keys, and if you do that, you should be okay. So that part of it I like there that that unknown is something that you know. A lot of players, uh, they need to feel that, the coaches need to feel that also how to respond to that will well, well, well, I think you know, help us moving forward, Let's go ahead and finish up with this one here from yours

truly good morning, coach. Earlier this week, Jesse Davis told us that he thinks whoever makes in game adjustments the best would be the one that comes away with a victory. I'm just curious, are those mostly code observations player observations? And how long does it take to make those adjustments? If you could just talk about the communication and the process of in game adjustments, I mean it's a little

bit of both player and coach. I think that you know, the players are out there on the field, you know, they hear things, they see things. Uh, And if you can get the players and the coaches on the same page, then you can make some adjustments. Now, there have been times where everybody's getting doubled. You know, there's only so many people on the field. So you know, this guy got doubled and I got double that I got double. They don't, they don't. They just don't have that many guys.

So I mean, there's gotta be some honesty and transparency there on both friends, you know, and then you look at the tablet and we have films, so we just try to tell them. Let's be honest, and you know, if you screwed up a play, then you know, tell us about it, what happened, and you know we'll get it fixed. I got cut, I got doubled. Eight guys

got doubled. You know. I mean, it's just just it's not you know, that's I've been a game when that's happened too, and that's it's not funny in the moment, it's funny the day after after you watch the tape and you see the one guy in that double, the guys whore just you know, could beat the block. But yes, to answer your question, Travis, you know the end game adjustments, you can make them, but it's got to be the communication on both sides has to be uh, it has

to be transparent, has to be honest. That that would be my first time. But you know, thank you remind our guys on that too. Hey, anyway I can help out, I'm more than happy to do it. So now you have Brian Flores is Thursday morning media availability. Let's go ahead and get into the game on Sunday. I've been waiting for nine months to preview a football game, and I just got chills, Like just saying that into the

microphone gave me chills. And before we talk about Dolphins Patriots, let's first talk about some of the new changes to I suppose league rules roster rules this year. And one of those changes is, of course, the teams can now activate forty eight players on game day. It used to be forty six. You had to get down from the fifty three down to forty six, but now you can activate forty eight players on game day, so long as

you have eight offensive linemen on that grouping. If you don't have eight lineman, if you dress only seven on game day, then you can have forty seven active. But I really can't imagine a team would do that, like why not have the extra body out there for your

forty eight players. We also know about the six team man practice squad this year, we of course, with Dervall, have the exemption, so we have seventeen on our practice squad and you can protect four of those players each week, and that means you can protect them from Tuesday through game day. But once Monday comes around, those players are then eligible to be poached by other teams. Once again, as the rule has been in the past, you can sign a player off another practice squad onto your own

active roster. That changes for game preparations this year under COVID, and you can also dress two players from the practice squad on Sunday. Whereas in the past you had to sign them off your own practice squad and get them up to your active roster to dress them, this year, you can call up to players from the practice squad to dress on Sunday. Unique season and one of my favorite podcast out there, the Move the Sticks podcast with

Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks. They talked about the practice squad and something that Jeremiah has kind of been hinting at now for what seems like forever, with the idea of development and having a secondary process for development developing players on your roster, and he mentioned on the podcast earlier this week, how maybe some teams view this thing as like a Triple A roster where you have, you know, in Triple A Baseball, you have your guys who are

basically big league ready at a moment's notice if somebody goes down. How maybe some teams might treat the practice squad that way, where you have veteran guys stashed on that protected portion of the practice squad, so that when somebody does get injured, maybe it's a positive test or whatever it might be, you can pull guys off that roster. And how he says, other teams maybe treat up more like a developmental system like your double A single, a

team where you want to develop players. Get them into your building every single day, have them practice, work on techniques you want to teach them, have them watch film. Maybe it's strength training, whatever it might be. There are so many different approaches to practice squad this year, all fascinating points, and I think it all just reminds us once again that football season is back. And with that,

how about our first preview of the season. We have the piece on Miami Dolphins dot com as well Dolphins

and Patriots Week one preview. The O and O Dolphins up against the O and O Patriots on Sunday, September one o'clock kickoff in the East Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Mass Seventy four degrees, partly cloudy, chance of rain on this Thursday as we check the weather report, and so much has changed since that Week seven team game nine months after Ryan Fitzpatrick finds Mike Gasicki for that go ahead touchdown.

The last time the Dolphins took the field, we've seen coaching changes, a draft and free agency hall and all of that crammed around a global pandemic. But thanks to the incredible work and unprecedented precautions here taken by the NFL, we have football once more. A very different looking Dolphins team in year two under Brian Flora's travels to New England to face a Patriots team with plenty of new faces of their own. For Flores and the Dolphins, twenty

four of the fifty three players on the roster. We're not here in twenty nineteen for that finale, with some coaching turnover as well, with eight new assistants in charge of their respective rooms. And the theme of change continues on the other side of the ball as New England replaces one former m VP quarterback with another in Cam Newton.

Eight of the Patriots fifteen scheduled free agents for signed elsewhere, three of them with the Dolphins, prompting New England to sign six free agents away from other clubs of their own, and all of that before selecting ten new players in April's draft, so plenty of change on both sides. The

coaching staff in New England remains largely intact. There was some shuffling on the positional roles there in the Patriots staff, but the most notable change was the addition of longtime quarterbacks coach offensive coordinator really offensive guru both in college and the NFL in Jet Fish and establishing continuity amidst the significant change will be one of the early season

storylines across the NFL. As both Brian Flores and Bill Belichick stated and their media availability this week, both teams will throw new looks at one another in the absence of traditional off season programs and preseason The mystery really amplifies the intrigue of this game and talking about the Patriots and the personnel change, no team did have more opt outs for COVID nineteen than New England. Among the eight players who did opt out where some of their

top snaptakers in nineteen. Marcus Cannon played a thousand eight snaps last year, linebacker Dante hi Tower played seven dred and twenty three snaps. Safety Patrick Chung played six hundred forty two and tied end Matt Lacosse played four hundred and thirty three. Those are four of their eight opt outs for this season. But in the end, no team demonstrates the understanding of next man up more than this Belichick led Patriots team, and that will have to be

the approach here in the opener. For the Patriots last two years, they had off ball linebackers finished one and two and then two and three in quarterback pressures among off ball linebackers according to Pro Football Focus. High Tower, who of course opted out, was in both of those pairings, and one year Kyle van Noid was part of that pairing.

He then transitioned to more of an edge position, playing more snaps down on the line of scrimmage for the Patriots last season, So then to replace him on that off ball rushing position at the linebacker was Jamie Collins, so he and Dante high Tower finished at two three that following season. And the forward thinking team they are the Patriots, they have reinforcements ready to take on bigger

roles in the middle of that defense. As is the case they planned for the next year, the next game, the next week, whatever it might be, as well as anybody in the National Football League they went out and drafted rookie josh j from Michigan who had a twenty three point three pressure rate as a pass rusher his final season in college there at Michigan, he was under coach Campanelli here who coach line actors at Michigan, and

he talked very highly. Gave a lot of high praise to coach Campanelli at the scouting combine back in February. Josh U j also has a former college teammate there with Wolverines at Michigan and Chase Winovich, who was a third round draft pick of the Patriots in twenty nine team. He played two snaps last year for the Patriots, had a little bit of injuries and Nixon bruises, but he's

due for a larger role this year. He registered twenty three pressures on two hundred and thirty four pass rush reps as a rookie last year, so that's kind of an idea where the replacements might come for that. They do have guys like John Simon Dietrich Wise up front. You heard coach reference Adam Butler earlier in the week. They have some good depth and some good bodies up front in that front. Seven to replace that production they've gotten from previous guys who are no longer on the team.

And then in the secondary, stylistically, Patrick Chung one of the opt outs. He and Kyle Dugger are just flat out different players. But the rookie safety just oozes the traits that we've heard Brian Floors and both Bill Belichick talk about in the secondary, athletic ability, ball skills, the ath this is him that he has features, range, and

coverage that Belichick will cover it out there. Dugger registered Scouting Combine testing metrics incentile or better in the ten yards split, the vertical jump, and the broad jump, so he is definitely a freak athlete. And despite all that change, the two main stays that really drove the Patriots success in twenty nine, team remained largely intact. That secondary we talked about, led by Defensive Player of the Year Stefon Gilmour. It's just chock full of athletic, aggressive cover guys that

can locate the football and take it away. Nobody had more takeaways last year than New England with twenty five interceptions on defense, and few teams, really, if any, can claim a better offensive line than New England even without right tackle Marcus Cannon and the opt out on the interior, they are loaded with guys. They they thought that Joe Tuney was valuable enough at left guard and he would have cashed in big time on the open market, but

he was franchise tagged this offseason. Center David Andrews is back after missing last season with some blood claw and his lungs. Great to see him back in healthy playing again. He has surrendered only seven sacks over a four year career. And right guard Shack Mason, once upon time, got a big contract extension in New England. One of the best right guards in all the National Football League. He's allowed

only three sacks over the last two seasons combined. Some matchup highlights I want to talk about in this game the Dolphins run defense versus the Patriots run offense. We know by now Cam Newton has over five thousand career rushing yards if you include the playoffs. He's moved the chains just shy of four hundred times and has sixty touchdowns on the ground. Again, all those stats playoffs included,

and their backfield is deep. It produced the fourth most two back sets in the NFL last year and running back Rex burkehead average four point five yards per carry and three point three two yards after contact. He led the Patriots in both those departments according to Pro Football Focus. The Dolphins have a plethora of new bodies on their defensive front to help combat that Patriots run game. We know about rookie ray Kwon Davis seventy three career run

stops at Al Obama. On the interior of that defensive line, veteran Emmanuel Ogba has a PF career run stop rate of eight point six percent. One of the better ones at his position group, Shack Lawson had thirteen tackles for lost last year that was top ten among defensive ends in the NFL. The Dolphins also added linebackers e Land

and Roberts, formerly of the Patriots. He has a ten point eight career run stop rate on Pro Football Focus, and Kyle van Noy had thirty three run stops last year again with the Patriots, and COMMU grug Hill played more special teams than linebacker in his career so far, but he has eleven career tackles for loss in the NFL.

The next matchup Dolphins offensive line versus the Patriots rush Bill Belichick schemes pressure as well as anybody, any of the defensive masterminds really in the history of the National

Football League. You think about Buddy Ryan in the past, maybe some Dean Ps and those Ravens defenses for so many years there you go back to Dick Lebau with the Steelers, Bill Belichick's right, and that entire group, and probably the top of that group, of course, with the six six Super Bowl championships and having a up six

scoring defense each of the last four years. It's not all about getting sacks on the quarterback, which of course are big game changing plays most of the time, but making the quarterback feel uncomfortable disrupting the offense is timing, and that's kind of been the theme of their past rush the last few years. They get tons of pressures. They don't leave the league in sacks, but they get so many pressures to force the quarterback into being uncomfortable.

And that last year led to the lowest passer rating against in the NFL for opposing quarterbacks going into the page or playing up against the Patriots, I should say. And the Dolphins are working in four new starters on the offensive line. We know Jesse Davis is the loan incumbent.

We'll find out the four starters along with Davis on Sunday, and communication will be the key to thwart the Patriots multiple look defense that features waves of games, stunts, twist, slants, overload, blitz is pressure looks from anybody and everybody in the box. They can walk up five, six, seven, eight, nine guys in that box, send four of them unpressure, drop the other ones into coverage. You never know what you're gonna get.

It's like a box of chocolates Forrest Gump style. You have to commute Kate, you have to pass off, you have to be aware for everything and anything they might throw at you. I'm very excited we have Ryan Fitzpatrick out there to kind of communicate those protection calls and

get these guys in the right looks. Each of the last two years, again the Patriots had loftball linebackers finished top three at their position group in quarterback pressure, So finding out who's coming getting them blocked that can be a big key to the game. Dolphins receivers versus Patriots secondary Stefan Gilmore reigning Defensive Player of the Year J C. Jackson had a lower completion rate allowed than Stefan Gilmore

by one point three percent percentage points. His was forty seven point four compared to Gilmore's forty percent completion allowed. The mccordy twins, both Jason and Devon won a corner. Devon the safety created thirteenth overall at their respective positions. Jason was thirteenth best in coverage. Devon was the thirteenth best overall safety according to Pro Football Focus. So they can come at you, and Waves didn't even mention Jonathan

Jones in that bit. There are plenty of guys that can attack you on that secondary in the Patriots defense.

And Davante Parker on our side of the football was fifth in the NFL last year in receiving yards with twelve hundred and two yards, fourth and touchdowns with nine, and he capped off a very strong finish to the season with one of his best games to date as a pro, as he caught eight passes for one hundred and thirty seven yards, and seven of those catches and one hundred nineteen of those yards, according to Pro Football Focus,

came against Gilmore and coverage. Now, Gilmore did win the week to showdown, holding the entire Dolphins team to just two catches on six targets for thirty two yards to pass breakups and an interception. We'll see where Preston Williams factors into this, because he wasn't there for that Week seventeen game, and Gilmore obviously the best cover corner in the league really for all purposes, intents and purposes. We'll

see who he draws in that game. Gonna be an intriguing matchup there on the outside, inside or outside as well. Isaiah Ford finished his late season surge last year with seven catches and fifty four yards against the Patriots. Those career highs in that Week seventeen game, and four of those five catches came with J. C. Jackson and average, including three of those for a first down, So almost double the percentage allowed of completions for J. C. Jackson

against Isaiah Ford in that final game. A good matchup to watch their Jackson never allowed more than fifty nine yards receiving all last season, so he too, is one of the best cornerbacks in all of National Football League. The Patriots system continuity is really their cornerstone when it comes to the coaching staff and offensive and defensive systems. Josh McDaniels returns for his ninth consecutive season here as the Patriots o C. It's his second stint with the team.

Of course, he spent four years previously, so thirteen years as the o C in New England. Under McDaniels, the Patriots are ultimate chameleons, able to really morph the system weekly to best attack the oppositions weaknesses. In the Patriots were one of two teams to run more than fifty plays. They ran sixty one plays from twenty personnel. That's two backs, no tight ends, three receivers, so they're really willing to adapt to a personnel package that's just not that common

in the NFL. He also dialed up twenty one personnel. It's two bad as, one tight end, two receivers ninety one times. That's thirteenth most in the NFL. So two backs in the game for one hundred and fifty two snaps last year out of just over a thousand, so they will utilize that deep backfield as they see fit. They also deployed one of the league's most popular packages, eleven personnel, which is one back, one tight end, three receivers. The thirteenth fewest number of times at five hundred ninety

two plays last year, So they will go against the grain. Defensively, Bill Belichick finds a way to facilitate production. Every single year. They are always at the top of the leaguer board and scoring defense. They had top scoring defense and total defense last year. In twenty nineteen, had the second ranked past defense and sixth ranked run defense in the NFL. As far as the coverage calls, according to PFF, no

team played more snaps and Cover one last year. That's where you're in man coverage with a single high safety up top than the Patriots, and that goes back to so they utilize Cover one a whole bunch, and they played more Cover zero, which is man across the board, no safety help. It's do or die. Everybody's coming, everybody's pressing. You have to beat us quickly. We're gonna get pressure

on you. They played more Cover zero with sixty seven snaps last year in that look, the most in the NFL, and again the most interceptions in the NFL with twenty five and lowest passer rating against a sixty seven point three. Tough order for Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Dolphins passing offense. According to Pro Football Reference, the Patriots blitzed opposing quarterbacks thirty seven point one percent of the time and that produced a top ten pressure rate and they tied for

seventh in the NFL in sacks last season. Now, some other nuggets about this game. The Patriots are one hundred and thirty and thirty, so out of a hundred and sixty games, they've won a hundred and thirty of them

under a Bill Belichick. In that home building, the all time Dolphins Patriots series goes fifty six from Miami fifty three For New England, Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick can surpass a trio of Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Troy Aikman, y A. Tittle, and Steve Young if he passes for two hundred and thirty eight yards and the opener he enters play as the thirty ninth highest yardage passer in the history of the league with thirty two thousand, eighty six career yards.

So plenty of look at here for this Dolphins team heading into New England. Now, as far as taking away with the Patriots do best, their best player on offense probably gonna be Julian Edelman. Flores talked about him earlier in the week, so you've probably got to find a way to contain that guy. Will be curious to see how the Dolphins get that accomplished on Sunday. I'm also intrigued by the tight end position again without the without having Matt lacost there. They have two rookies and Devon

as c and Dalton Keene. Ryan Izzo rounds out the tight end group there, so that tight end position can be a little bit overwhelming at times for rookies. We talked to Mike Asiki earlier, I think it was last week about all the responsibilities they have in past protection, running game, grunning pass routes as well. I'll be curious to see how Miami attacks those tight ends and how the Patriots utilize those tight ends. We talked about the backfield.

There's not gonna be any Damian Harris for this game. He is on i R to start the season. But you always have to account for James White as a pass catcher out of the backfield. He is as dangerous as anybody in that regard. They called up j A. Taylor, who was at Arizona last year in college. He was on the practice squad gets the call up. He was a guy I'm intrigued by. He's very shifty, very speedy, kind of think of Jachem Grant that way. So keep an eye on number forty two J J. Taylor the

receiving corps to kill Harry. We'll see how he looks. And your number two a former first round draft pick who is physical and tough to get down after the catch, so tackling has to be on point there. We talked about the offensive line, talked about the defensive line. The linebacker position with Josh ch Anthony Jennings is another guy I'm curious to see come up and play his first career game out of Alabama. He's a long, strong, athletic player who can play a hard edge as an outside linebacker.

And we also cover the defensive backfield there as well. So not gonna be an easy contest on Sunday. Dolphins have to bring their a game. We've heard Ted Carriss talk about it. We've heard Kyle van Noy talk about it the entire Dolphins roster saying if we don't play our best game, we will get beat. So Sunday up in Foxboro, one o'clock eastern kickoff. It's here, baby, Football

season is here. And with that, let's go ahead and turn now two player media availability on this Thursday, here from Davy, and we start with Dolphins running back Jordan Howard, who first was asked about the depth chart the importance of starting, and how it's not that important because you're gonna get your touches, your carries, and you feel your role regardless of where you are on the depth chart. I'm not that there's a really mean anything because we

all gonna have a role. I'm gonna have our plays what we're getting, so it doesn't really matter as long as we all get to play. So and how about the perception that Jordan maybe isn't a pass catching back, which I strongly disagree with that impression to begin with. But here's Jordan talking about the initial impression players getting, how those impressions kind of stick with you throughout the course of your career and talking about being a past

receiving running back. I feel like it's important because I feel like this is trying to focus in on that. But you know, you get dis label placed on you. It's kind of hard to shake, you h just try to do the best I can try to take advantaging our terms that have in the passing game. But you know, once you get the labels, kind of like hard to say good once people get a former opinion on your stuff like that, we're this fair now, but let's just try to take a mantage out of our terms, like

get in the past again. Hey, Jordan's coach talked this morning a little bit about end game adjustments, and I'm curious from your perspective, how you process the flow of the game, maybe whether it's guys are jumping gaps, whatever it might be. How do you process the flow of the game and then communicate those adjustments to your coaching staff. Yeah, just like the first few players is the first few

series you see with this showing and stuff like that. So, um me tell your coach what you're saying out there, and then we make adjustments. Maybe a halftime. Sometimes when you come out of halftime may bring you something to

new because they make adjustments as well. So just constant communication with the coach and telling them what you're saying and stuff like that so he can relay it to he needs to relay it to so we can make the proper adjustments and proper fits and when it comes to having an actual football game on television tonight, Jordan Howard is just like you and I I'm looking very forward to. Uh. I just love watching football, not even it's like a player, just as a fan. Huh. So

I'm not really gonna be like scouting the teams. I'm just gonna be watching as a fan. So I'm excited. Uh, same like you took a while to get here. Uh. And first thing like, we didn't know if we're gonna get here, but now that we're here, everybody's decided. So

there he goes Dolphins running back Jordan Howard. Up next, we're gonna hear from Dolphins safety and team captain, the longest tenured member of this Dolphins defense, Bobby McCain, And we start first with a question for Bobby from yours truly. Coach talked this morning a little bit about end game adjustments and how players might have a tendency to kind of stretch the truth about what might have happened on

a given play. I'm curious to ask you how difficult is it to process and recall how a particular play went in the heat of the moment. And how do you escalate that knowledge or that concern to the coaching staff. Sometimes I can understand that because sometimes like you may have a team plate drive to play drive. I've had even eight team played drive before, where you know, you to ask you what what happened on play three? And I mean, we'll play through his fifteen plays ago. So

it's it's tough to reurgitate like what happened exactly. But you know, the one thing that will help you as a defense and one thing that offensive as a team is if you're coming off and like not necessarily lying, but if false information is the worst information. So if you're giving good information when you come on to off to the sideline, um, that helps us to be able to get his adjusted and helps people. It helps everyone

around you to be able to play better. And who better to hear from on evaluations for the young guys than the safety A captain back there on the defense. Bobby McCain here evaluates the playoff second year cornerback Nick need Him and rookie Noah eg Monogamy. Nick is, uh, he's definitely, He's definitely the game is Yeah, it's definitely slower tune. You can see that and he's understanding his techniques better things. He's taking that that year to jump

the jets. You should. Um, he's got everybody's just gotta keep pushing everybody like we're gonna kee getting better each and every day. Um. And that's what I tell him, the same thing, and just keep doing what you're doing and keep getting better and things are all everything to work out. As far as Noah, you know, he's a young guy. He's he's a good football player, but he's smart. Guys well, he's not. He's not somebody that you know

that that that doesn't understand. He understands once he gets he makes a mistake, probably won't make the mistake twice. And that's good. That's what you that that keeps you in the league. Um and um, you know those two guys that can be real good for us this year.

And how about an evaluation on himself and if he finally feels like a safety now and you're number two after transitioning from the quarterback spot for the first four years of his NFL career, I was, I would say, yes, you know, understanding the defense is really what I would or the part that I would take you Understanding my role and where I fit in the defense, and knowing like that that I'm able to make plays on the ball from even at free safety, whether I'm at free corner, Nicol,

no matter where I'm at. Um, just understanding that it's a game everybody has. Everybody has their piece of the puzzle, and you gotta do You gotta do your piece, specially your ability. My guy Cam Wolf over at ESPN has been sneaking my questions all week long. He has a good question here for Bobby about the challenges of defending Cam Newton from that deep safety position and how much that can change the defense and the way you approach

it every single play. Just understanding that he's effective in both ways and the game in the past game and uh making plays outside of the pocket, you know, play for the play breaks down. You know, him being the athlete that he is, he can get out of the pocket and and throw the ball downfield. So you have to understand that the safety has neat defenders its corners and you gotta plash on to you guys, and I understand that the play is not over to us. So

until the plays, day is not over. Because he is I mean, he's he is cam he's he's a good athlete and use his feed. He's he's mobile, and he's got a good strong arm. And now in his sixth season, his third as a captain, Bobby McCain talks about how much of an honor it is to be a captain of this football team. Um, just honest, man, it's it's it's my honor. It is my privilege to be a captain, and especially leave these guys, Um, you know, they just knowing that they trust me and they have my back,

I have their back. That's big for me, that's big for the team. You know, there's seven other captains, a couple of new guys, and uh, you know, they're all good leaders, are all good veterans on this and they all they all play in the league and they understand that. You know, if they at the end of the day, we've all got one in go and that's to win football game. Man. If we do that, there's you know, you know, they're all use our end goals to win

football games. That's that's all I'm saying about that. Hey, Bobby, kind of on that same note about being a captain, and we know how important communication is on this defense and on this team. Uh, coaches talked a little bit about how there might be more rotation based on this opening day without the preseason games to kind of ramp up. How much more does that add to your play as far as like communicating to guys that might be coming in and out of the game more at the cornerback

and underneath spots. Just just make sure we're all on the same page, because uh, one thing like we're all wrong, We are right right, because you know, at the end of the day, we can get other play and we can play the play, and but we don't don't want to be wrong, but you know, things happen in the in the heat of the battle. And understanding that guys may be rotate and understand that guys maybe coming in up front, in the back end, no matter where, no

matter where it's happening. Um, guys got to be on the same page. And uh, you know that's me as a communicator, as a as a signal caller, understanding that, you know, we got to have the guys on the back end on the same page. Really good stuff here from the Dolphins players today and we're gonna finish up on this Thursday. Media availability before we get to the injury report, with a word from Dolphins defensive tackle Devon Gotcha, and we start with the van with a question about

his leadership role on the team. He's not a team captain this year, but he still takes that leadership role on the Dolphins defensive line very very seriously. I mean, I taking the type away. I mean it's just a

team boat, you know, it's with these voting on. But I still feel like my leadership ros is a big part of his team as the deepest alignment, you know, being my fourth year, you know, coming on, coming on, so I stepped out like my leadser bro was very important, you know, just focusing on you know, the team, just focusing on you know, having a great season. Hey, Devon, I'm kind of going with the theme here with the

questions today. Coach talked this morning about in game adjustments and how players might have a bit of a tendency to stretch the truth by saying I got doubled on that player. Everyone comes off the field saying that, I'm curious, how difficult is it for you as a player to process and recall how a particular play went in the heat of the moment. And then how do you escalate that knowledge or the concern of that way to the coaching staff. I just try to look at it on

the iPad when we get to the sideline. But like in the game about what I got double team, you know this and there, you know, I just trying to look at it when the coaches come and say, hey, look at this play. You know, I think he could be a little bit tired. I think he could be a little bit you know, more violent. You know, I just look at it on the sideline and adjusted. You know, I don't really about the game game because if I do, like, yeah, bother me on the next place. So I just kind

of take it one play of the time. Up next, here's God Show on the process of where this team is under the program of Brian Flores and how he sees this team and how they adjust and how they adapt and how they interact with each other every single day. Here's the divon God. Y'all talking about a team that's very hungry. But I just feel like a bunch of

guys are hungry, man. I mean I need myself. I mean a lot of guys, you know, Bennoid coming from New England, Rob you know, you know, Bobby McCain, you got a lot of guys on this team. You know, I probably I think the op three man roster's including the practice school. I mean, they're giving us a great looks at practice. I mean a lot of people are hume, you know, a lot of people ready to win went around here. So I mean, I'm excited about it. I'm

excited about Sunday in the first game. You know, you got a lot of rookies playing their first game NFL game. You know, we're just whole Corona pandemic, no fans. But and then the day, like I said, man, you gotta bring you on Jewics. Man, I'm excited for Sunday up next and evaluation from God show on fellow defensive lineman rookie out of Alabama Ray Kwon Davis. Man, I guess you guys just gotta wait on something that to sing.

It's gonna be interesting, you know, just him, you know, just growing in training camp, beach and every day you know what the play causing things like that. But like you know, coach Saban said, you know he's great physical ability. Man, He's you know with six seven, you know, three thirty three three you know what I mean. He's a big guy man something that speaks for herself. But I guess

you guys just gotta stay tune in on Sunday and sit. Hey, Davon, coming into year four for you, Now, this is your seventh game against the Patriots, I believe, and they've got a lot of continuity up front, the guys you match up with in Shack Mason and David Andrews and Joe Tuney. How different is it for you to prepare for a team that you've seen so many times and guys you've gone up against so many times. Don't get at to sleep,

you know. I think you know a lot of people when they see the same guy each and every time. A man, I know this guy I've been playing for three or four years. No, I mean, you know, I just see him on Sunday, you know, and then that's what a lot of people go wrong. Get You kind of used the world of being complacent, you know what I mean. So I mean, don't don't don't get complacent, you know what I mean. You know they have, you know, uh,

some big guys up front. You know, they played together well as a team, you know, but at the end of the day, man, you just gotta stay honer, never get complacent something mean. And I know I played those guys for you know, going on four years. But at the end of the day, you know, everybody has an offseason and everybody you can get better, they get worse, you know. So I mean I just kind of take

that same appro teaching every game. One thing you'll notice this week on these press conferences is that people in the league, defenders still have a ton of respect for Cam Newton heading into his tenth year in the NFL. Here's the bond on the Patriots quarterback Cam Newton. I mean, I was listening to nobody when they kind and say, you know, man, Cam, so he lost it he did this. Man, look I look at it like, man, this dude was a h v P and our league. This dude was

you know, super Bowl running up. So I mean he led Carolina coming to the super Bowl, you know, so I don't kind of look at it like man, this guy lost it. And last time I check, he still can meet every though. You know, he's taking out run people. So I'm kind of, you know, taking that same approach on Sunday. Man, you know, he's a he's a he's a profession when he get pages like I do. So I mean at the end of the day, I mean, he's a he's professionist lead. So I can't take the

same aproson undestinated nobody. So I'm taking the same apperson to Sunday's game. And so there he goes to Vaughan Godshaw finishing up our Thursday media availability there with Jordan Howard, Bobby McCain, and Davon god Shaw. And to close this podcast out here on a Thursday, we have the injury ports in now it's pretty much the same as it was on Wednesday. Clayton Federla, Mike get Sicky Xaviing Howard, Byron Jones, DeVante Parker, Kyle van Noy, and Preston Williams

all listed as limited participants in practice. Quarterback to a tongue of Bloa is on the participation list with a full participation on both Wednesday and Thursday. The Patriots Thursday list is not yet in, but on Wednesday we got Yannika Juice and linebacker Cash Maluia with DNP designations did not practice, and Julian Edelman and Gunner Olshinsky and Chase Winovich all limited in practice on Wednesday. So that's your update.

The preview up on Miami Dolphins dot com. We're gonna come back tomorrow and do flashback the two thousand game in New England the Division cleinser in week seventeen against the Patriots. We'll talk to Jay Fiedler about that. Get you updated on all the latest and of course everything you need to know about this game up on Miami Dolphins dot com. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast or

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