Drive Time - Tape Tuesday with Advanced Metrics

Dolphins football. And on today's show, a few more notes on that Dolphins Patriots open and before we officially turned the page to Buffalo, we're gonna hear from Coach Flora's his Monday press conference, a couple of sound bites from

rookie safety Brandon Jones. The Dolphins coordinators will talk today on this Tuesday, and we're gonna go inside the numbers with all the snap counts, personnel usage, some all twenty two notes from late Monday night, and much much more as we begin to turn the page to the Buffalo Bills. All of that and more on this Tuesday, September fifte edition of the Drivetime Podcast. We heard from Coach Flora's

on Monday afternoon. Let's go ahead and first start by playing his press conference from Monday afternoon, some final notes from coach on the week one loss up in New England. Coach was first asked about some things the Dolphins have to work on, including creating more explosive plays on the offensive side of the football. There's a lot of things we gotta work on. Exposed to plays part of that.

So we'll look at different schemes, personnel, We'll look at everything and try to do what he feels best for the team from exupposed to play at standpoint, but also just an overall offensive team. And up next was kind of an accountability checker here for coach Flora's as he takes accountability for the loss on Sunday, talking about how this team just has to be better across the board. You know, I mean, as a team, we've got to

be better across the board offense, defense, special teams. I mean, there were some opportunities that you know, we didn't take advantage of after watching the film. That includes the quarterback position, but it includes all the positions. Um, we need better play from everybody. We need better coaching. That starts with me. So you know, there's there's a little a little bit to go around at every every position. Um, every position,

every position, coach, we all have to be better. And of course with two d and seventeen yards on the ground from the Patriots, coach was asked about how the Dolphins can get better working off the edge and improving that run defense that they showed in Week one. There were there are obviously a lot of issues so setting the edge, you know, those quarterback read plays, who's got

the quarterback who? You know, there's just some miscommunication on that. Um, we had a couple of calls there where it was just a miscommunication. We try to get fixed on the sideline. Gotta fix one guy's gout at once, somebody does else doesn't have it, you know, change the grouping. I mean, there's a there was a plethora of things we gotta get fixed. And um, we'll work on that all week and again that that falls on me and uh, we'll

get that. We'll get that corrected. We're looking forward to another opportunity to go out and compete next week and we are going to come back later in this podcast and revisit coaches kind of initial thoughts going into Week two as you heard him talk about the need for improvement heading into the Buffalo Bill's game. Let's go ahead and finish here with his press conference with my question for coach to evaluate the past protection on the offensive

line in Week one. But the protection was was was solid. We had we had a room to step up and time to throw it. That was good. Obviously, you know we can always improve in that area as well. We were gonna need that. We're gonna need, you know, similar protection this week against a really really uh good front, good defense. So go to those young guys. Got off to a solid start. But I mean it's about consistency

in this league. We really need more consistency across the board on this team, offensively, defensively, end in the kicking game, but I did think they got off to the start. And let's go ahead and pivot now to a piece we're gonna do every Monday post game, and it'll be Friday post game after the Jacksonville Week three Thursday night football game there in Jacksonville. We'll have to do that on Friday, But for the meantime, we're gonna do these

things on Monday morning following the Dolphins Sunday games. Taking a look at team stats, individual performances, snap counts, and personnel usage, all that fun stuff. We did a weekly back at Locked on Dolphins. Gonna go ahead and continue that tradition here with the Miami Dolphins, and take into account that these were recorded before the Monday night game. According to Pro Football Reference, Pro Football Focus, next Gen

NFL Stats, plenty of good stuff. First off, the Dolphins game was the shortest on Sunday, two hours and forty five minutes. Everybody loves a quick game, and just to kind of go off the top here, you always have to recall or think about sample size sixty snaps, give or take either side of the football. A lot of volatility in these stats as we go on here in the NFL season, even a sixteen game sample size can be too small sometimes, so take that into account here

when hearing the stats. Won sixteenth of the season. Now in the books, Dolphins are ranked twenty five on offense and thirteen on defense, both those in total yardage and those rankings bear out in the scoring category as well, as the Dolphins allowed the twelve fewest points in the NFL Week one and have the seven rank scoring offense. Again, this out of twenty eight teams without Monday Night in Pittsburgh,

the Giants, Tennessee and Denver. The Dolphins eighty seven yards on the ground ranked twenty one, and the two hundred and seventeen rushing yards allowed was in the NFL. The Dolphins passing offense ranks twenty four, but the past defense allowed the fewest yards in the NFL. On Sunday, Miami allowed a fifty percent conversion rate on third down that was twenty one in the NFL. The offense converted thirty six point four percent of the time on third down,

ranking nineteenth. In the crucial red zone, the red area the biggest portion of the field of Dolphins were one for two on offense, giving them the seventeenth ranked red zone offense and also tied for seventeenth on defense, allowing three touchdowns on four red zone trips and seventy of the time. The Dolphins ran majority of their offense through eleven personnel packages. That's one running back, one tight end,

three receivers. They played thirty six snaps in that package, and then from there it was really a veritable use of different packages. They called on twelve personnel and twenty personnel six times each. That's gonna be one back, two tight ends, two receivers, and then twenty personnel is two backs, no tight ends, three receivers, so plenty of rotation that way.

They also had five snaps out of twenty one personnel two backs and one tight end, and four snaps came out twenty two personnel where you go heavy to running backs, two tight ends try and jam it down the other team's throat. They ran four of those snaps, two with five offensive lineman and two of them with six offensive linemen as well, so plenty of beef on the field for those plays. The Dolphins ranked fourth last year and

penalties committed both yardage and penalties assessed on Sunday. That continued with the fifth fewest penalty yardage and overall penalties against the Dolphins snap counts offensively, the offensive line and Ryan Fitzpacked all went the distance sixty two snaps for Fitzpatrick, Austin Jackson, Eric Flowers, Ted Carris, Solomon Kinley, and Jesse Davis. Robert Hunt got two snaps as the extra offensive lineman at running back. Miles Gascon led the way thirty nine snaps.

That was sixty of the workload. Matt Brida had fourteen snaps, Jordan Howard had nine, Patrick Laird had four, and Chandler Cox, the fullback, played eighteen percent of the snaps with eleven reps. On Sunday, at receiver, Davante Parker only played twenty three snaps that was thirty seven percent because he did leave the game at halftime. Preston Williams led the way with fifty six reps, Isaiah Ford forty six, jakeem Grant thirty nine,

and matc Collins had three. On the day, Mike Gasicki was the most snap getting tight end in the game. Does that sentence make sense, Probably not, but he played forty five snaps seventy of the time, Durham Smith had thirteen, and Adam Sheheen had twelve. Some advanced metrics on these guys. Fitzpatrick was sixteen of twenty four for one hundred and sixty six yards with no pressure, kept cleaning the pocket, and he also had eight point five percent passes completed

above expected completion rate. That takes into account for separation downfield. We know by now this Patriots defensive backfield is as sticky as they come. Those guys were in tight coverage all day on the Dolphins big tall targets making for some tight windows, but Fitzpatrick completed eight point five percent passes above the expected completion rate according to next gim. He also averaged two point five seven seconds to pass

from drop backs this game. The offensive line allowed only two hits on the quarterback one sack and one hit, and just five total pressures on the thirty eight dropbacks. Really good performance there statistically from PF On the Dolphins offensive line, Austin Jackson pitched himself a clean sheet and pass protection. No pressures, no hurries, no sacks, no hits, none of that stuff. In his rookie debut, fellow rookie Solomon Kinley allowed just one pressure and that was merely

a hurry from the Patriots pass rush. We're actually gonna have Solomon Kinley on tomorrow's podcast for the Wednesday feature, so check that out. He also had the second best run blocking grade from Pro Football Focus. He was behind only Ted Carriss along the offensive line, and carrass allowed just one hurry of his own as well. Running Back Myles Gaskin had forty yards and some passing game contributions as well. Thirty two of his forty yards came after

initial contact. That gave him an average of three point five six yards after contact on Sunday. After last year, he led the Dolphins among backs that finished the season on Miami with three point to eight yards after contact, So now he's right down the middle at three point three three in his career, he led the team in that category on Sunday and rushing yards as well ten plus runs. He had one of those, and he tied for the team lead and rushing first downs with two

with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Matt Brita. And Matt Brita also tied with Gasking for the team lead in average yards per carry at four point four, and Mike Gasicki was the team's best run blocking graded tight end our player rather on PFF with an eight eight point two and run blocking on defense. The snap counts up front for the defensive tackles a solid rotation in there, with the Von gard Shop playing forty four and Christian Wilkins playing

forty three snaps. That's seventy and six respectively. Ray Kuan Davis got twenty seven reps. That's Zack Seeler played four snaps on Sunday, Shack Lawson Emmanuel Ogball played sixty and fifty five snaps, respectively, a heavy workload for two defensive events on that Dolphins defensive lyne good to see those guys getting plenty of reps. At linebacker, Jerome Baker led the way for the Dolphins crew there on the second level sixty one snaps nine seven percent. On Sunday. Kyle

van Noy had forty one snaps. Eland and Roberts had forty making up sixty five and sixty percent of the Dolphins total snaps. On defense, Commu gruge Hill played eighteen snaps and Andrew van Ginkl had eight. In the secondary, Byron Jones played all but one snap sixty two snaps on the day. Noah Ignogamy was second among the cornerbacks with thirty seven snaps. Jamal Perry played thirty one snaps. That was for your kind of brometer there on half

the snaps of the game. Xavien Howard got twenty seven snaps playing of the total reps, Bbby McCain had fifty eight, Eric Row had fifty four, and Brandon Jones had thirty four snaps. We're gonna hear from Brandon here in just one second, but Christian Wilkins took the honor for highest graded Dolphins defender on Pro Football Focus. The thirteenth pick in the draft of the NFL Draft, kicked off his second season with six tackles, two of those for a loss,

and two run stops as well. Obviously, he had a sack and two batted passes at the line of scrimmage. Kyle van Noy was the only player with multiple quarterback pressures per PFF. He had two hurries on the day and earned the third highest grade from the Dolphins defense with five tackles and no misses on the day. Bobby McCain we talked about him in the snap counts. He was the second highest graded player. He broke up the loan pass targeted in his area for coverage on the

p BU up against Julian Edelman. Really good job putting his hands on the football and separating it from Julian Edelman. He also made four tackles and did not miss any on the day. Jerome Baker led the way with sixteen tackles and didn't miss any in his own right per PFF. He also had the sack and a forced humble Now Rookie safety Brandon Jones made ten combined tackles in the game with zero failed attempts. Only four other NFL players have had double digit tackle numbers in their first NFL

game since Team xaviing Howard's one of those guys. Seattle cornerback Shaquille Griffin, San Francisco linebacker Fred Warner, and Pittsburgh linebacker Devin bush All did that on the day. The Dolphins only missed two tackles in the game, leading to Pro Football Focus is highest grade and tackling at eight seven point seven, Let's go ahead and hear from Brandon Jones on how he was able to prepare himself to

play fast and play instinctive. Like Bobby McCain said on Sunday after the game, here's Brandon Jones on his preparation for game day preparation. Um, and what I do and just the type of guy I am. You know, I'm a firm believer in the relentless effort and that's one of our pillars too in the program. And you know, just doing whatever I can to to get to the ball, you know, Um, you know, going through through college with coach Herman, uh you know the plays, the play is

not dead until the to the Wilson blown. So that's just kind of my mindset and how how I'm wired to to just go, go, go, and so I hear whistle and really just trust, you know, trust my techniques and you know, all the stuff that I've been able to accomplish up to this point. And like I said, just being able to read your keys and you know, see see what you need to see and not see too much. I think um I did a really good job with that and just realizing if this happens, what's

what's what's next to come. So I think that's the biggest reason why I was able to play um at the speed I was yesterday. Really helps kind of exemplify the priority the Dolphins have for players down here in the way the foot the game of football rather is important to them in their preparation, their study habits and getting themselves ready for game day all week long, taking every single day approach the same and just being consistent.

As coach Flora's talks about continuing back on the numbers here, Davon Godchaw picked up three more tackles on Sunday, giving him one hundred and sixty six in his career since he entered the NFL in seventeen, a fifth round draft pick for the Dolphins, he is fourth among all defensive tackles and fourteenth among all defensive linemen in tackles over that span. With the one hundred and sixty six and specialists, Jason Sanders may his only field goal attempt on Sunday

from forty six yards. That improves his franchise best eighty two point four percent field goal percentage. He's forty two fifty one in his career. And let's go ahead and put a bow on these metrics and these numbers by talking about Patriots yardage gained against different packages. That's kind of one of the things you look at when you self scout, try to find out how teams are attacking you in each package. And we have a look here

at the rushing yardage gained per Dolphins defensive deployment. We talked about all offseason how frequent the Dolphins can call on the nickel and dime packages five and six defensive back looks. The Patriots carried the ball eighteen times against those nickel and dime packages for one hundred and twenty six yards. That's an average of seven yards per carry

against the Dolphins nickel and dime packages. And that can be difficult against a quarterback like Cam Newton because you saw how often they ran that kind of quarterback lead where you get an extra body in the game because the quarterbacks carrying the football, he doesn't have to turn around and hand it off and take himself out of

the play. So you can be in eleven personnel with three receivers, one tight end, one back and get that back flexed out, get the Dolphins defense in the nickel or dime package, and then have the quarterback run against a lighter defense against more defensive backs opposed to a heavier linebacker who's more suited to come up and play

the run. A difficult task there for the Dolphins on opening day as you look at the way the Patriots attacked their more base defense with more linebackers and defensive lineman on the field as the Patriots rushed the ball twenty one times and those instances, so still four point six yards per carry in those instances, but almost two and a half yards difference compared to base defense and nickel and dime defense. So again a good job by

the Patriots offense. Kudos to Josh McDaniels and that offensive call, our coaching staff and the play calling. They really had themselves the hell of a game on Sunday, and it is Tuesday, which means we have the all twenty two out available for us late on Monday night. Was able to get a look at that and take some breakdowns with some things I liked on the table. Let's go ahead and start on that Dolphin's offensive line. You noticed Solomon Kindley's movement. We talked to him in training camp.

I forget when it was about kind of how nimble he is at that size at nearly three forty pounds or over three forty pounds, how impressive he can kind of keep his feet under him, stay on balance and really get push and movement in the running game, but also just have that sheer density and pass protection that checked out well on tape in this game, I thought. I thought Austin Jackson's kick slide and ability to readirect as pass rushers tried to go upfield and then work

back underneath was really impressive. He also showed a very sturdy anchor again to allow a clean sheet and pass protection. We talked about Brandon Jones instincts, his ability to make plays and fly around and kind of key things. You see that priest nap with all the movement he does, running around, chasing guy's emotion. Very active player and Brandon Jones. I noted Bobby McCain's communication because we know he's the one back they're communicating the defense for the play calls

or for the second area, I should say. And there wasn't a whole lot of passing to talk about, but I would say there probably weren't any busts. We have to ask coach Flora's on that. But the Patriots completions were pretty much catch rock and throw. Cam would get the snap, get it out quickly and take what the defense gave them. So no big plays in the passing game. Good job communicating on the back end from the Dolphins

captain and Bobby McCain. Christian Wilkins talked about how trimmed down he is this season coming into your number two. You heard him talk on the Sunday Night Recap podcast about how he really worked hard to get himself in position to make plays this year, and you can see the way he looks just look slimmer and trimmer, and he's got those active hands, that quick first step that helped him get in the backfield a few times there

against that Patriots offense. Miles Gaskins balanced. The way he keeps his feet under his hips under his shoulders allows him to absorb that contact and then not be really ultra affected by the contact. And from there it's about acceleration. And obviously we know about the vision that really helped him produce four straight seasons of yards rushing in college. So a few notes there on the Dolphins all twenty two.

Definitely some positive to look at with the offensive line and past protection Miles Gaskin, some of the guys playing up front, like Christian Wilkins had some nice games, Jerome Baker all over the football field, and the communication of the back end. I think when this team faces more pass oriented teams, you can see more production on that defense from these dbs because those guys get after it

and play some good football. Week one in the books, not the best start, but hey, there's broom to grow, room to correct, and as Josh Boyer and Brian Flores have said so many times, this team will play better football at the end of the season than it did in the beginning. Let's go ahead and hear from coach Flores here one more time, and here his first take on the Buffalo Bills heading into week number two before we conclude this podcast with the assistant coaches. Here's Coach

Flores on the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, I mean I watched it this morning. Um. Obviously Josh Allen's big, strong, fast and he had something succeedge Russian yesterday. Um. Some similar some similarities of what we saw yesterday. Obviously, we're trying

to get a lot of that fixed now. I'm an edge setting stamp point from a tackling standpoint, just from a thematically hopefully well, we'll work on that over the course of the week, just from a technique, fundamentals and practice standpoint, and then hopefully it helps us on Sunday next week. So that was Coach Flores on Monday and

his press availability. He will not speak to the media today on this Tuesday, but we did hear from the Dolphins coordinators and Chan Gaily, Josh Boyer, and Danny Croftsman, as well as the Dolphins offensive possession coaches. Let's go ahead and get things started. Right here with Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, who first was asked about some of the issues the team had on Sunday defensively. Well, there

there was a number of issues. I would say, some of it was just individual technique, um, you know, getting

all eleven guys on the same page. Um. And then I would say, you know, some of it was you know, just overall in general, like we were in some different things on different things, and they they you know, it came up versus the various fronts and options and and you know, there was just a couple of corrections that uh, you know, we just needed to correct on each play and then obviously we could coach it better, we could play it better. Um. So that's kind of what happened there.

Up next, coach was asked to find the jobs of the defensive edge players against the run in his defense. Okay, yeah, so again a lot of it and I would say a lot of it depends on the particular scheme, so it might not actually be the same every time that we do something, um, you know, um with with our edge guys. Um. But I would say, look, first of all, it's it starts with me, so you know, I've got

to put the guys in better spots. I gotta coach it better and uh, you know, and everybody's got to understand and know what their responsibility is with within and each every call, and you know, so like it could vary from call to call, Um, it can vary worth they are in the defense, what defense we're in, um, which I think is ultimately what you want to do, um, because if you just line up in the same thing over and over again, you know, then that makes it

really easy for the offense there. So again, like look all of that, basically it starts with me, um, um, and we're gonna work hard to get it corrected because, like I said, we're gonna see it again this week. Hey, Josh, a couple of questions ago, you kind of mentioned the similarities of some of the offenses you're gonna face a

week one, week two. I'm just curious, as you guys turned the page here, what can you learn from that first game to kind of apply to another athletic quarterback that's pretty big, Like Josh Allen Well, I think again, the focus starts with us and correcting the mistakes that we made and making sure that we have things uh, solidified as a unit. Um, and they were definitely you

know again Buffalo they have they have very talented offensive personnel. Uh, they have a very good play caller who for sure is going to test us on things that that we struggled in with week one. Um, he's gonna test us on things that he proceeds as our weakness from a year ago. Um, you know, And and they're doing a variety of different ways. It won't look exactly the same. Um, but uh, you know, so we we gotta work very

hard here this week to get the things corrected. Uh, where we made mistakes, And the good news is it's all correctable. And it's just gonna take a little bit of for a little bit of work and getting everybody kind of on the same page on some things. But it's all correctable and we're working hard to do that. And the final question here for coach boy are referred to the difficulties of trying to stop maybe a heavier run package when the sub packages are on the field

defensively with your nickel and dime packages. Here's coach on matching up personnel on defense. Yeah, so I mean again, um, you know, based on the game plan based on the week. You know, we we can be in different packages. We were in a little bit more big people with them, we've we've probably been in Um, you know, you just kind of you know, the game is gonna kind of dictate itself a little bit by what they do personnel wise, and we we got to be ready to adjust. And obviously,

like I said, it all starts with me. I need to do a better job at making sure that we got the right groups in there. And then all eleven guys that are out there and and are different groups, uh, you know, know what they're doing and do their job to the best of their abilities. So um, and like I said, I mean, we're gonna work very hard to make sure that that we have that. Now, up next, we're gonna hear from coach and Danny Crossman, Dolphins special

teams coordinator. Let's hear from coach regarding Jackeene Grant spot as a top kick returner and punt returner on Sunday. Uh, he's earned that right, he's had you know, he had a good camp. You know, he's got a good production in the past. Obviously, there's always things we need to improve on, and we will improve going forward, but he earned the right to be the guy to start in both those phases. Hey, coach Clayton Federland popped up on

the injury report late in the week. I'm just curious how much of a challenge it does for you guys to, you know, lose a core special teamer like that so late in the week and kind of have to alter your plan. Yeah, it's always hard any time you lose anybody, But you know, the truth be knowing you'd rather be in practice as opposed to being in the game because then you're a little bit more of a scramble and then you're down a body too based on game day rosters.

So yeah, you never want players to go down, whether it be in practice or in a game, but a little bit easier when it happens in practice. Short and suite there from coach Crossman. Let's go ahead and spend forward now to Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, who was first asked about asked about the offensive line performance both in past protection and in the running game. Did a good job, I thought in pass pro for the first time out, We've got some communication things that we've got

to take care of. Uh. In the offensive line, but as you continue to develop, um the connuity there along with young players there. Um for the first time out, they did a pretty good job. But it's gonna keep you know, the tempo and the speed is gonna keep getting bigger and faster every week. Just because we missed some stunts, but we picked them up, so they're gonna keep trying that. In the run game, they moved to uh, some of their people more than we had seen before,

and we didn't handle movement very well. And we're gonna get that too in the run game. So we've got to We've got to improve that that facet of of what we're trying to get done. We we just didn't get our base package run game running like I wanted to. Miles Gaskin was the offensive performer of the day in

the Dolphins backfield as far as production goes. Here is chan Gailey on the usage of Miles Gaskin and his running backs and how the game plan and the scoreboard and many things dictated what the Dolphins did offensively on Sunday. We actually didn't know how it was gonna play out in the ballgame. When we have players that play certain packages for us, the package that we were using. Jordan's

far wasn't doing as well. UM. It ended up lessen in his playtime and Miles went up because we were more in the spread offense and and doing things that he um that we had him in. Therefore, we were trying to use all the packages and where it would get spread fairly evenly if we could, but it just didn't work out that way. By the end of the ginning. I don't know that I could ever say that we're gonna at this point have a guy, you know. I think that we're going to uh let the guys try

to do what they do best. Uh. We'd like to play breed of more. I think we. I think we'll try to incorporate some of his um skill set into what we do. Uh. But there's a certain number of plays in the game. You can't get them all in there at once, and so we'll we're gonna try to expand all of them's role, but at the same time, there's only a certain number of plays for guys to get in. UM. I think we I think we'll look and see what fits each player the best and try

to do that with them. And so there you have it. Dolphins coordinators Danny Crossman, Chan Gailey and Josh Boy. You're speaking on this Tuesday, on this player day off, We're gonna go ahead and get out of here on this edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Nice and short and sweet for you guys. On this Tuesday, we had the

offensive assistant coaches speak on Tuesday as well. If you want to go check out those press conferences in their entirety with Robbie Brown, Eric Studisville, Josh Grizzard, George Gottzi, and Steve Marshall. Go ahead and check out Miami Dolphins dot com as well as the Dolphins YouTube page. New episode of The Fish Tank is out right now with Jason Cole, both Seth and Juice talking to a former

Dolphins beat writer. Of course, we have Dolphins Today on Tuesday, and we'll have the top news story out on Tuesday here as well. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Leave us a rating, leave us a review, Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield, NFL, follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins. Of course, the Fish Tank and the Audible podcast for you, and Miami Dolphins dot com until next time. Until Tomorrow finds up