Drive Time - Travis' Tuesday Top 10, Assistant Coaches' Media

including all three coordinators and the defensive assistance. On this particular episode of Drivetime, we're gonna get into Travis is Tuesday top ten, my top ten plays with a breakdown each of those from the young season so far through three games, and we'll start getting into some little Seattle Seahawks details, a few nuggets and notes about that football team. All of that and more on this Tuesday, September twenty nine edition of the Drive Time podcast. And support for

drive Time is brought to you by Auto Nation. If you want to sell your car or truck, Auto Nation will buy it any year, any make, any model. They'll buy your car and you'll get a check on the spot. And as fast as thirty minutes Appraise your car now at auto nation dot com, and so far through three games, the appraisal of Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has been a darn good one. This guy has been playing out of

his mind unconscious all season long. He is the top passer on Pro Football Focus and Attacking Deep, vertically down the Field Passer Rating QBR, whatever you want to measure him up against. He's pretty much a top the statistic leaderboard.

And what I find most interesting about the fact that this guy has fourteen touchdown passes and with four touchdown passes in each of the first three games, he's the first player to ever do that in the National Football League, on track to break Patrick mahomes a touchdown pass record, and he has zero turnovers in those three games as well, so fifth or fourteen rather touchdown passes and zero turnovers

for the c quarterback. He's also only thrown twenty four incomplete passes on the entire season, so only a few more in completions than he has touchdown passes, computing seventy six point seven percent of his passes, and the Seahawks are three and no because of that offensive production between he dk Metcalf Tyler Lockett. Because you look at their defense right now, they have surrendered a league high fourteen hundred and ninety two yards against and a league highs

six point six yards per play against them. To kind of put that into context, last time this year, after three weeks, the Dolphins defense had allowed fourteen hundred and nine eight yards on the season, So just six few yards allowed for the Seahawks defense this year compared to Miami last year in nineteen on the defensive side of the football. So interesting matchup coming here to South Florida. We know about all the intricate details of this matchup.

A West Coast team coming east and if you look at the Seahawks passed, they start games slower. But even with you have Russell Wilson in the game in the lineup, he's gonna come out and give you at least one quarter if not too three or four and get that team back in the game. So it's gonna be crucial if that is the case in this game for the Dolphins to not let the Seahawks kind of get their momentum and get carried back into the game if they do.

When facts start off slow, as teams in the West Coast region coming over to the East coast one o'clock

kickoff due so many times before. The Seahawks defense also played eighty snaps on Sunday against Dak Prescott and that Cowboys offense, So they're conditioning going to be put to the test coming into a game with the Miami Dolphins, who had the extra three days off with the benefit of the Thursday night game, and Jacksonville Seahawks also going to be in those dark blue jerseys on the far side of the field or where the bench is gonna be on the portion of hard rock stadium that is

exposed to the sunshine in those dark blue uniforms with Miami in the home white. So very interesting matchup here between the Dolphins and the Seahawks. Will get more into that on tomorrow and Thursday's podcast taking a look at this game at this preview, A big test, a big challenge for this Dolphins team hoping to get back to five hundred at two and two against one of the NFL's best quarterbacks, best players in Russell Wilson, and a good team in the Seattle Seahawks. Before we go ahead

and get into the Coaches Meet Availability today. I want to get into Travis's top ten something I want to do on the podcast here on Tuesdays. And since we're doing it first here, let's go ahead and make it the top ten plays of the season so far for your Miami Dolphins. And we start here with number ten, and we're gonna make it. Jerome Baker's strip and force fumble out of the back of the end zone in

Week one at New England. I love the hustle he showed almost particular play because he's lined up over the Patriots right tackle, but there is a tight end in the formation and a receiver in tight to the formation as well, so Jerome Baker has lots of trash to work through. As Cam Newton does a play action rollout, the running back releases to the same side. Baker is outflanked at that point and has to catch up from behind.

He gets back in there, finds the past catcher, the ball carrier, punches that thing out, gets a big takeaway, a big momentum shift in that game at the time. That's play number ten so far on this season. Jerome Baker's hustle to get a forced fumble in week number one, play number nine. Let's go ahead and make it another linebacker forced fumble and go to Week two against the Buffalo Bills and Kyle Van Noy sprinting down the field him.

You watch this play developed, he's kind of hanging out in that hook zone, keeping down on the quarterback Josh Allen because of how dangerous he is with his legs. Van Noy sees the past go up over his head and he turns and runs immediately, gets all the way downfield on that tight end on Dawson Knox and punches that thing out from behind and stops a drive there from the Bills before it can get started. Very good job of hustling, getting after the play and not giving

up on a play once it gets behind you. Both Dolphins linebackers Jerome Baker and Kyle Van Noy get into the top ten with those hustle efforts so far. And let's go ahead and stay there with Kyle Van Noy on play number eight and his strip sack of Gardner Minshew and Thursday Night's victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. As you see Van Noy line up over the Jaguars left guard and he's gonna work upfield, come back inside and kind of sort of pick for Zach Seeler, and that

knocks off the Jaguars right guards. He works across the formation and it also opens up a hole for van Noy, who closes down the quarterback and because of pressure off the edge from Emmanuel Ogba, van Noy can get to Minshew who steps up into the pocket right into his face, and he gets him for the old trifecta, the old

triple play. There for Kyle van Nou the sack, the strip and the scoop didn't quite get the score because he had to dive on the football to get the recovery, but the Dolphins would score a few plays later on the next offensive possession play number six so far here in Travis's top ten. It's gonna be the past to Mike Gisicki at the end of the first half in the Buffalo game to set up a long Jason Sanders

field goal. The Dolphins only had a few seconds left on the clock and only or didn't have any time outs rather, and they threw a past to Mike Gasicki after a nice Miles gas Can run where Kasicki gets into the second level of the defense, Fitzpatrick has to step up and out of round pressure, and he climbs up the pocket and throws the ball before Ghazicky covers. From uncovers rather from the linebacker in that second level,

Kisiki makes the catch, gets upfield twenty seven yards. Dolphins come to the line, spiked the ball and get three points at the end of the half because of some really nifty work from both the quarterback and tight end Ryan Fitzpatrick and Mike Gisicky. We're gonna hear more from them here in just one second play number five on this season for the Miami Dolphins. How about like good old times, an old fashioned Xaviing Howard interception on Thursday

night against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Dolphins are a too deep safety look. Brandon Jones is gonna roll back into the single high position and Bobby McCain is looking at the cross was coming from the other side of the formation as he kind of sits in that little area and allows Exaviing Howard to go one on one here up against Chris Conley. He's impressed coverage on the outside. He gets the inside hand jam forces Conley into the perimeter.

Up against the sideline, using that sideline as an extra defender, and he just runs the route for him. But the ball comes out of Gardner Minshew's hands, Chris Conley is on the hash marks on the sideline. That's not where you want to be as a receiver because you give your quarterback a very limited window to throw that football in there. So Howard gets him out to that area, turns around, locates the football. By the time of the ball gets there, he looks like he is the receiver

on the play. That play was vintage xaviing Howard and our number five play so far on the year for your Miami Dolphins, play number four. How about some touchdowns we haven't covered any of those so far. Let's go back to Buffalo the touchdown against the Buffalo Bills to Mike get Sick from Ryan for Patrick. It's an eight yard touchdown pass from Fitzpatrick to Gassicki and the Bills

are kind of walling off the end zone. You're gonna have four defensive backs all up on the goal line on this particular play trying to keep Miami out of the end zone, and Ghasicki runs in between two of those defenders after fighting through some trash by the way, and we talked about this earlier in the week about his ability to kind of fight through the contact and get himself into position to make plays and not get

rerouted at the line of scrimmage. Here he is working through some trash, gets into a position where he can pivot inside and show his numbers to the quarterback. And Fitzpatrick's kind of reading the full field, so the ball doesn't come right at the time that he pivots to the quarterback, but because it's a little bit late, he has to jam that thing in there, and he throws an absolutely perfect pass off the numbers of Gassicky away

from the defense. It gives Ghasicki a chance to box out on the defensive back, reach out and make the catch away from his frame as he has wanted to do so far in his young career. A big time touchdown there from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Mike Gasicki, play number three. The touchdown on Thursday night at Jacksonville to Preston Williams is going to be our number three play of the season.

Preston Williams talked about the inside release he got on the defensive back, the outside leverage of the defensive back and if he's gonna give me that space inside, go ahead and just take it. And Preston did just that. He took the inside cheese got open and Fitzpatrick had to throw an absolute seed like he did all night long in that game, and he does just that, puts

the ball right on target. Again. Using the tall frames of these bodies, the tall bodies, the long frames to box these guys out, create opportunities for your receivers, for your quarterback to throw that ball in there and get the ball away from their frame so they can reach out, box out with their body and use their hands to catch the football. Preston Williams does just that. The ball

is right on target from Ryan Fitzpatrick. Touchdown Dolphins, and number two on the year is gonna be another touchdown for your Miami Dolphins. And it's gonna be a one yard touchdown rush from Jordan Howard. And you might say, Travis, that's not the most exciting play in the entire league. You should expect to score from one yard out. Yeah, maybe that's the case, But I love the way they got these guys moved defenders off the football. You had

so many well executed blocks on this play. Really beautiful execution from the Dolphins offensive line. Tight End and fullback Adam Shaheen closes down the edge. Solom McKinley pulls out and seals off the edge on the other side, and then you have Chandler Cox leading that thing up there. He wipes out of Jacksonville linebacker and Jordan Howard just follows those guys and plows it in. Jesse Davis also got himself involved and move some guys off the football there.

So just good overall team execution. Got to give it up to those guys for the number two play of the year, and play number one is the touchdown pass from Fitzpatrick to Mike get Sick. In the same game, you might have seen Mark Scofield, who writes for USA

Today are the USA Today Wire for the NFL. He broke this play down about how the Dolphins saw a previous play going up against Jacksonville, up against rookie C. J. Henderson, where they had a Cover three look the defense falling back into deep thirds on the defense, and the Dolphins went after that approach by running off c. J. Henderson showing him a deep route to the post route to Davante Parker going into the post, he takes one step the wrong direction. You sneak Mike Gisicky right in behind

him on the out route. The ball is perfectly on target, on time, and Gassicky makes a lunging catch because Fitzpatrick knows he has all that space to work with with that large catch. Radio So number one on the year so far from my money is the throw from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Mike Asicky. And let's go ahead and jump

now into our media availability from Tuesday. We had plenty of action here from Chan Gailey, Danny Crossman, Josh Boyer, Mary and Hobby, Anthony Campanelli, Austin Clark, and we also had Gerald Alexander on this particular podcast and Tuesday Coaches. Media availability is brought to you by Auto Nation, where Dolphins fans can sell their vehicle for cash now. Visit auto nation dot com and save on a hundred thousand

vehicles right now at auto nation dot com. Let's go ahead and first here from Chan Gailey and go right back to Mike Asiki, who made the number one play of the year so far for your Miami Dolphins on my personal top ten list. That's my list, nobody else's. You can't take that from me. Let's go ahead and here from Shan Gailey right here on how they create opportunities for this Dolphins, uber athletic tight end and Mike Asicki.

You want to create situations where he has creases in zen owns when the zone defense, and then you want to get him in a position where he can win one on one because most of the time he's gonna line up against a strong safety or a linebackers. So you're trying to create as many positions um or places for him to line up and to execute the things

he does best. And that is a challenge week to week because defenses are different different So now we have to we have to go out and see how the defense is playing and then get it situated and in some weeks it works out, in some weeks it doesn't. Gotta love chand they're kind of corroborating my talk about Mike A. Sicki there on that particularly touchdown against the Buffalo Bills in that zone. Look where he just finds those creases, finds those soft spots, sets usself down and

has that big frame to throw to. But also those situations up against man coverage where he can use the athletic ability and speed to get vertical on guys and win matchups that way. How about what Chan learned from Thursday night from US offense and what they're capable of doing. He says, confidence is the number one takeaway from that victory. Um, I learned that, I learned this, and I thought this all wrong, But I think the players got a better

sense of confidence of what we're capable of. That That's what I wanted. I want them to come out of that game with, is this is what we're capable of. Guys, Now, if we go execute and we do the little things. Um, we were capable of putting points on the board and going down there at three straight times. There's no rule against that. You know you can do that. So let's let's keep that confidence level and and prepare for this week and get ready to go to the next. Plenty

of good stuff from Chan in that press availability. He talked a little bit about Malcolm Perry and Lynn Bowden, Robert Hunt, Solomon Kinley, and Austin Jackson. He talked about how they're trying to get Robert Hunt up to speed a little bit more into the game with those extra packages, the heavy offensive line. He has six snaps on the offensive line so far down around the goal line. He

spoke very highly of Solomon Kiley and Austin Jackson. He talked about two a tongue of Byaloa having one of the greatest minds and all of football to kind of bounce ideas off of to talk about defense, talk about protection, calls, all the stuff in the NFL you don't really get in college with that complete In addition into the NFL game, talked about a little bit of quarterback and relationship there

between Fitzpatrick and Toa. We also talked to Dolphin special teams coordinator Danny Croftsman, let's go ahead and hear from Crossman to hear about a couple of guys that he thinks have stood out so far on his coverage units. I think Sam has done a nice job. M I think we've got to be more consistent as a whole.

At the Andrew Van Ginkles has shown up, um, but I think just overall, and you look at the whole, the Holy Unit, you know, we just got to be more consistent and everything we do, and that's gonna come with time. And I think you talked to any coach and no matter what phase it is, h you know, getting that consistent and that you know that come and where we're not as much uh sort of playing the play, we're playing the scheme, and then we're going to be

in better shape. I made that mistake again where I was typing right into the microphones, and my apologies for that. I did learn a few coaches into this not to do that again. So we'll get some better audio quality here in just one second. But Danny Crossman also had a question about d v O Football Outsiders. D v O A Football Outsiders has the Seahawks and Dolphins is the number one and number two special teams ranked in

the NFL. Here's coach Crossman on what makes a special teams unit good and in particular seattles, Well, I think they do. They do a really nice job. You know when you look at you know, when you look at their special teams, I think it's a it's a it's a small fracture of fraction of what they are as a team and how they played the game, and they played fast, they played physical, they're aggressive, um and they

got a good nucleus of players. Um, I think anytime you talk about, you know, playing well in the kicking game, that always arts with your specialists, you know, And I think obviously you know the punters having an outstanding year and it has the ability to flip the field when they've been stalled backed up and put them in a good field position going forward. And then you know they only had to kick one field goal because of how

they're playing on offensively. But then you know they since done a nice job with his kickoffs, get two quality return players. And then the biggest thing, they've got a nice nucleus of veteran and young core players, which when you put that all together, it gives you an opportunity for success. But they're they're well coached, they aggressive, It's going to be heck of challenge. Let's go ahead and

finish us up. For the coordinators with Dolphins defensive cordinat or Josh Boyer, who I thought just called one hell of a game on Thursday against the Jacksonville Jaguar. Is good mix of zone man, different fronts, different rushes. Like Brian Flores talked about, here's Josh talking about the challenges he has this week with a little bit of extra time to prepare for Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks. Yeah,

I would I would say he presents an immense challenge. Uh, you know, and he seems to be getting better each year, which which is hard to do because he's played at a high level for for a long time. And uh, you know, he's very good at reading defenses. He's very good at making all the throws. H He's very good at extending plays and making things happen that way, whether he runs or throws. Um, it's a huge challenge. And

he's got a good cast around him. He's got a solid old line, he's got a good group of skill players, the receivers, the tight ends, his backs. And then you know, I think, uh, you know, coach Schottenheimer does a good job of mixing his play calls, and you know, he could definitely dial up some calls against you know, certain fronts, certain coverages that you know, I think, I think it's all all rolling for him, which obviously, you know, they've produced a lot of points in these first three weeks

in the season. We'll here coaches talk about Russell Wilson's ability both to escape pressure with his feet and then create plays with his arms down the field. That's the biggest challenge this guy presents is that you never know if he's gonna do it with his arm or with his legs. He is certainly more than capable of doing

either of those things. I just we're gonna have, you know, a profession of Russell Wilson love on this podcast, because he's so damn talented and so damn special, and I'm excited to watch how this defense defends them and how they call this game against one of the best players in the national football likee one of the best quarterbacks

of all time. Frankly for my money. Up next here from Josh, we're gonna hear about a question that was asked about the way he went into the season to prepare for these three quarterbacks he faced off the top, Cam Newton, Josh Allen, Russell Wilson, with Gardner Minshew go

Coog's sprinkled in there. A tough challenge for him to the first four games of the year and the first week of October obviously, but I thought he had an interesting quote here about how September is for improvement, because you know, last year's team got better as the year went along, finished out five and four over the final nine, finished out three and two over the final five, almost four and one if not for a dicey last minute there in the game against the Jets. But the Dolphins

improved as the season went along. And with Brian Flora and Josh Boyer, we know about their roots, their patriots past. That's what those teams did for so long. They would come out of the gate two and to two, and one, one and two sometimes, and by the end of the year you looked up and they were thirteen and three a f C East champions going to the a f C Divisional Round with the home game, win that game into the a f C Championship game eight years in

a row. Improvement throughout the course of the season is the focus, and that's what Josh Boyer talks about here with what he wants to do as the season goes along. What is September all about and Josh Bowyer's mind improvement, Well, I would say for for me individually, I mean it starts, you know, with the same thing that we ask for players to do. I just try to take, you know, the day that's at hand and try to get the

most work and um, improvement that I can in that day. Um. Obviously, you know, we look, we look at the schedule obviously, you know, we go through UH teams in the you know, offseason of what you think it could be, what it might be. UH. And they again, like I said, you know, really September is for improvement. And I mean I I start with myself. You know, I need to continue to get better. Our coaching staff, those guys are working hard to continue to get better. Our players, those guys are

working hard. UM. Different opponents, you know, they bring up different challenges. I think it's it's hard in this league to win UM on a week to week basis. You know, so UM, all those things you know, you take into consideration. But I think it all starts with you know, your work, your effort, and your ability to improve over time because things don't stay the same. I mean, they either get better,

they get worse. So you know, and I think all of our effort, energy and time is you know, at the day at hand, and like this week, it it happens to be Seattle, So that's where our time and energy spent. Um, you know, and then next week it will be somebody else. Hey, coach want to go to a couple of questions ago referring to Jerome Baker. He's played one and seventy seven snaps this year roughly of the reps. He's one of two guys that has over

of the snaps on the defense. I'm curious what is the common thread between those types of players that can play that much and what does Jerome do in your opinion to warrant that many reps. Well, I would I would say that the first thing is he's in good physical condition. UM. So he's he's able to take his his many reps as we can give him, um, you know, and he's he's been productive for us. Uh, he works hard. You know, he's been all over the field. We've asked him.

And you know he's got the mental capacity that he can handle multiple roles. UM. So you know that with the physical condition, we think we're putting him in positions to succeed. Um. And he's shown the ability to make plays. So that kind of that's all the culbination of him being out there as much as he is. Jerome Baker playing and seven point to five of the Dolphins snaps for the numbers on that one seventy seven out of one eight two, So he's missed. Was it five snaps

on the entire season? Really impressive work there from Jerome Baker to just be so versatile, and we're gonna have that theme thout the course of this podcast, as well as a story up on Miami Dolphins dot Com taking a look at what Jerome Baker brings to this football team. Next, let's go ahead and get to Dolphins defensive line coach Mary and Hobby, who first was asked about the performance of Zack Seiler the other night, also had a little

bit of ray Kuan David sprinkle into this question. So here's coach Hobby talking about both Rey Kwon Davis and Zack Seeler on that Dolphins defensive line. Yeah. I think he's getting better each game. You know, he's getting better every day in practice. Um he is a big, pretty specimen, that's for sure, and UM, I think he's getting better. He's very conscientious about his game, so I think eventually he's gonna be a really good football player. But you know,

let's let's not make White this yet. I gotta love the Reggie White comment there. I talked a lot of positive stuff about Emmanuel aug Ba Shack laws and Zack Seeler, Rake One Davis, Christian Wilkins, von Gotga throughout the course of the off season. Up front, here is coach talking about the improvements and the pride the Emmanuel Oddbon Shack

Lawson showed from weeks one up three weeks three. Well, we talked about the very first game, and I think they you know, we actually grade themselves a lot of times before we ever great them, you know, so you can be your what your worst, your worst creatic sometime comes from we inside out. I don't think they were happy with the way they played the first game of the year, and I think they took some pride in and I decided they're gonna play better and it's sure

helped us out. Hey, Coach wanted to ask you about I know Jerome Baker is a linebacker, but he spends plenty of time up on the line of scrimmage as a pass rusher. Just wanted to ask how involved you are and working on his pass rush game and what you've seen from him in that area. Well, I think everybody knows that Baker has been a playmaker around here for a long time, you know. Uh, and in the offensive line to see Baker on the line of screamers.

They all know he can really run. So it's a lot of times he's you know, he's stretching offensive linement now and getting better every day with his pass rush um and sometimes he's calling the playe force. So he is like a coach on the field force in the situations without his speed is evidence in nose situations as a pass rusher and penetrated. Yeah, that speed certainly sticks out when you look at the way Jerome Baker plays the game as a pass rusher, in pass coverage and

defending the run. And you know, asking a defensive line coach about a linebacker, usually you might say, well that's a question for Anthony Campanelli or Austin Clark. But you can hear Marion Hobby, they're very welcome to answer that

question about what Jerome Baker offers. We had Channing Crowder on Drive Time back in March, and he talked about the defense kind of taking advantage of Baker's defense the or biger speed rather with his ability to kind of come down and run freely, keep him unblocked and use that speed really spearhead your defense. It's a big reason why this guy plays the snaps. He can just do

a lot of things for you on that Dolphins defense. Next, we're gonna go to his coach in the position room at linebacker with coach Anthony Campanelli, and we'll get to his quote about Jerome Baker here in just one second. But first let's talk about his teammate Cammu Gruge Hill and what coaches seeing from the Dolphins new linebacker coming over from the Eagles and free agency this offseason. UM, I think he's just done a very good job and a couple of different facets. UM, I think he's done

a really good job openfield tackling. I think that was evident the other night. I thought he did a good job, uh, in that element of the defense for us. UM, he's got past rush ability and like I said earlier, you know, last time we had talked in the summer, UM, he just got a pretty diverse skill set. Be honest with you love coaching him and you can do a lot of things for us. So I've been really happy with him. Hey, coach, we just had Marion hobby On talking about Jerome Baker's

work calling out plays and helping communicate the defense. Now that you've been in the meeting room with him for you know, a few months and three regular season games now and being around him every day, what can you say about the way he approaches the film study and the way he communicates what he sees on tape to the rest of the guy is in that room. Yeah, Bake Um is a very cerebral guy, UM, very high

football i Q. I think sees things pretty well. I think he's done a very good job communicating through the summer,

uh and through the beginning of the season. So in the in that room, honestly, it's it's a great room to be in because there's a lot of dialogue UM, and the players are always asking good questions, giving good insight UM, and that is UH, that's fun to watch the guys communicate with each other, you know, whether that's Kyle and land In bakem Uh, you know, Calvin Muntz and Sam and Blob and everybody, UM, you know kind

of contributes to that conversation. And that's just another one of those guys who I think that's a very good job of that. UM. I think at Landon Roberts has a great job of that too. It's become a theme here with coach Campanelli to ask him about his food taste or his food habits are cooking or whatever it might be. Here he is talking about cold cuts, and you can almost hear the evolution of his Jersey coming out him as he gives this answer about his favorite

cold cut he's ever had. That's a that's a tough question because my buddy used to own a great place in Jersey. And then, uh, cold cut sandwiches is a little tough because like you could go to Fiories and Hoboken and get to roast beef once Adell with the hot peppers on on a Thursday and they'll probably just change your life. You know, you're gonna have some different feelings about the world after you had that sandwich. So um. You know that will that will really make an impact

on you for the rest of your life. That's a great one. Then there's another great place up in artur Revenue with one of my favorite places that's up my dad's own neighborhood. So you gotta go a little for shoot once adel and uh and then the roast of red peppers with some bosaic on the top. That's phenomenon. That's uh, that's a great that's a collaborate ports store. That's a great place. That sounds amazing, man, thing, Yeah,

it is amazing. You just you just ruined my day on because I wish I could go get one of those right now. But but but you know whatever, he kept going on about those cold cuts. Man, it was hilarious. Love talking to coach Campanelli. He keeps it real of the time. Let's go ahead and here from the other linebackers coach, the outside linebackers coach. Here in Austin Clark, who first was asked about Kyle van Noy and what he brings to this defense. Yeah, Kyle's you know, his versatility,

uh is something that makes him really special. And I think he played hard as hell and I think he elevated everybody's game around him this week and uh, you know, saw his help, his production and he's been doing a great job. Vannoy had himself a sack on Thursday, and so did Andrew Van Ginkel. Here's coach on Van Ginkel.

I think Van Gink put an emphasis this offseason on getting stronger, and I think the way he uh uses speed uses some of his finesse moves uses his counters and then he mixed in a power move there late and paid dividends for him. He's been working his ass off and uh, I think last week it showed up for him in the game and that was good to see. And before we get schooled, here from coach Alexander to

finish up this edition of the Drive Time Podcast. One to remind you guys, the AutoNation, America's largest and most recognized automotive retailer, can help save on one hundred thousand vehicles right now at autnation dot com. Ready to learn some football, get your notepad, your pen out, and let's go ahead. And here from coach Alexander up first, talking about Bobby McCain and his transition to the safety position a year ago and now three games into a second

year at the spot. I think Bobby's transition to safety is actually going great. You know, one thing about that

position and that responsibility that we put him in. A lot of the great things that Bobby does for us as a free safety sometimes isn't represented on the stat sheet you so, in that respect, I think Bobby has done a great job in regards to what we're ask him to do, and that's communicating first and foremost, making sure that all ten guys in front of them have the understanding of what the responsibilities are, what the adjustments are, what the call is, Um, you know, being a leader

and playing with the passion that he needs to play that also will generate the energy that are that his teammates need to play with as well. Um In being able to do that in the role that he's he's in, I thought he's done a great job. I think he's done a great job so far, and those opportunities to make splash plays within our defense are gonna are gonna present itself where he's gonna be able to make those

plays when the opportunities come. Hey, coach, I'm curious if a player like Jerome Baker the linebacker spot and all the athletic ability that he has and his ability to kind of get depth on those drops into the hook zone, does that like having a linebacker like that, does that change the way you do things or does it help

your group and coverage at all? I think it helps us in coverage with with guys like you know, Bake who has the floss and to get the depth Um in his own coverage and have the speed to really break down Um on checkdowns, to be able to make open field tackles, as well as be able to do some things athletically when we want to play a man and man and match it up on certain guys. UM I think that that's a weapon force defense of being

able to utilize his skill set. And how about what he sees from Dolphins rookie safety Brandon Jones when he plugs on the tape. I'm just looking at the things on tape. You know, there's a lot of things that he can continue to do better in his development, whether it be in man coverage from a technical standpoint and being able to win with leverage, are also from a zone perspective, really being able to understand the threats and

having vision and break on the quarterback. So, you know, regardless of what he did in his past, as far as Texas is concerned, UM, I think that he's a He's a developing player that has the tools and he has a great skill set that we're continuing to build on on the day to day. And how about defending Dk metcalf, a player that coach Alexander coach against a couple of years ago when he was at Cow one.

This isn't anything that surprises me. I actually uh saw DK at Old Miss when I was at Cow I first ship there, So him doing what he's doing now, it's not a surprise to me at all, um, you know, but definitely for us defensively, we have to be aware of that, not only DK and his vertical presence out there on the field. Um. You know, sometimes it's not

just as easy as saying, exco cover. Um. You know, there's a lot of things that go beyond that, because I think Tyler Lockett also needs attention as far as the coverage is concerned. So, you know, they have weapons, they have guys like that. They obviously have a great guy who's engineering the offense. But with Russell Wilson, so we have to be smart with what we're doing coverage wise. And you know, I think first and foremost for us to be effective in the past game, we have to

stop the run. You know, we have to at least uh not allow the run game to get going. That also kind of generates their play action package. Um. And then when it is time to for for Russell Wilson to drop back and throw the ball, we got to do a good job in coverage kind of mixing in some of the calls. And how about that other stud receiver the Seahawks have on the other side, and Tyler Luckett. I think you have to have awareness where he is.

You know, a guy like that, they utilize his skill set and his vertical speed and really put him really everywhere. You know, he can line up on the outside and do some things on the inside, and he can really

stretch a defense. So as a secondary, we have to be aware of where he is, you know, and if that's uh, if that's coverage where we have the opportunity to get hands on them in the slot or obviously on the outside, and we have to make sure that we definitely have depth of the defense and zone coverage and um even in the same high stuff so um and and he has the ability to do some things

not just vertically. You know, they get them things on crossing routes and catch and run situations, and those are the opportunities where we are plan zones and we're dropping

off and stand back for the intermediate stuff. UM, we have to have vision a break on the quarterback and be able to uh swarm them and be able to leverage them and be able to get them down on the ground and not allow those checkdowns to become rewards for the offense where they go for twelve to fifteen yards when they were really designed to get tackled at

five or six. So um for us, we just gotta be aware of all those threats, you know, whether it be Tyler Lockett who does a good job for him d K and obviously the backfield of the Backs mean we know we we know it. Accept the challenge that we have coming in on Sunday, and through preparation, we hope the Ready go ahead and finish up here with the coach. A question other for coach g A about Noah egon Algady and a bounce back game for him

on Thursday in Jacksonville, Well, we knew that. That's no surprise, you know, I think no one's a competitor. We we knew that as a as as his evaluation throughout the draft process. We know that this is a guy who again as a developing player, but he's a he's a competitor, you know, and you know you're gonna have days. There's not a guy in the league and his career that hasn't had a rough day at the office, you know.

So um, looking at it, evaluating it, figuring out what we can do to continue to get better throughout the week, and accepting the challenge of a new opponent and also looking at the things that we can continue to do to get better throughout the week day to day allowed him to have what is quote unquote, I guess bounced back day. But regardless of what the result of Jackson go us for him individually, we got to use this

week to go back to work. This is a new opponent, a new challenge, a new thing that's going to be presented to him in his rookie years. So um, you know, and we knew that it's no surprise just for the mentality of the kid that we knew what would geting the make up the mentality here coach talk about it there with Noah Igbonogeny. A theme this offseason for your Miami Dolphins and acquiring players, and the theme is gonna

be going forward under Brian Flores and Chris Queer. They have clearly established the types of players, the competitive makeup of these guys, the mental toughness, the smart football like you, these guys all display going to be the theme of this team going forward and so far, given the performance of rookies like Austin Jackson, Solomon Keiley on the offensive line, Noah Egnogny showing the mental fortitude last week on a short way to come back and allow just one reception

for two yards in the entire game. You have to love the direction they're going with that regard with these young players and some of the bite these guys are showing so far early on in their rookie season, second season, and this very young Miami Dolphins football team. All right, let's go ahead and call that a day here on the podcast. That's gonna be my time. You all, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Leave us a rating,

leave us a review. Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield, NFL fallow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins, check out the Audible and the fish Tank podcast they Todd Wade on today on this Tuesday here September nine on the fish Tank Podcast, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com Until next time finds up