Drive Time: All 22 Review Dolphins Texans Preseason Week 2

in the concussion protocol. The staff noticed something irreg irregularities, according to coach, so the whole process began and McDaniel was told he would not be available. Once that happened, the plan was to play Mike White the rest of the way when he got in the game, but he

did not finish that obviously, and Skyler finishes up. In the meantime, the team brought back James black Men to give the team three quarterbacks this week as we surge on towards the end of camp, and the coinciding move with Blackman's return is the release of Tony Ellis, who has been with Miami a few times before. And then finally alec Ingold and Miles Gaskin, coach says, are both quote on the very close side of being able to participate in football once again.

big plays defense. But I don't want this podcast to get so convoluted because with ninety players to evaluate, it's a little bit long. So you guys already see that in the time on the podcast right now, and just want to go ahead and break these down and paint some pictures for you here with the big play breakdowns, starting with the opening interception.

you widen your release and then get vertical. I noted this throughout the course of the game, how the Dolphins really did a lot of condensed formations and that gives them chances to really expand the defense post snap, and that helps give you your spacing with those two routes they ran on that play, but with the middle linebacker getting the depth that he got, he made the entire thing work.

a theme throughout this game. Both Connor and Rob Nail a double team. The throw location was actually good if the linebacker had not made the great play like I like the way. It's an old Croft down into the backside of the zone. But obviously it's not a good throw because the linebacker jumps back and picks it off in that spot. But it would have prevented a big hit from the safety if that linebacker had bit up on the run. Again, we have to id that just

didn't happen there. But obviously we did not, and you get the point there. Another big play I wanted to break down here the second drive, a fifteen yard completion from Tua to Akmed on third and two. A big conversion on that drive. And it's a little swing route and a great example of Tua's processing here because you have two nasty splits to the boundary, which is the short side of the field field is the wide side. Will cover that every time I mention it here on

the podcast. With the two receivers and a receiver a Titan, I should say, going up against two dbs who were off and you can see they're in what's called a banjo call, and all that means is a zone coverage where you say, like, first guy in I got, second guy out is the one that I got. So you have to communicate this kind of switch released type of thing where they pass off the first in last out

player on those routes. Both the routes break in and you see Tua his helmet is right at those dbs and you see them kind of squat and peek inside, and when he sees them have that depth, he knows instantly based upon the sign of the play, there's no one that's gonna be able to get to Zavon quickly

enough to cut him down short of the sticks. And that's a big reason why he was afforded the chance to make that move in space and not just power his way through a tackle for three yards and a first down, but to make a move in space and create a fifteen yard play. And it's again good that Tua got it out fast because on that rep. And this is why I love playing at Demico Ryan's defense.

A gaps. The A gap is the gap off of the center shoulders either side, right in the middle of the quarterback's vision, and it confused our pass pro and Austin Jackson wound up kind of working inside out and when he got back outside, his heels got clicked in together, which is not great pass protection technique, and it allowed the Bowl rush to really take him right into Tua's lap, and the ball was already out so it didn't affect

the pass or even hit the quarterback. But the wide nine on that play was tough for Jackson to get out too. But good work by two, a good work by Savon and Space, and a cool play design. We'll talk more about how I think there's so many counters

with this offense did effectively last year. In just a moment the first touchdown of the game, quarter one, six minutes to play, where Hee most It's two yard touchdown run legit one of my favorite eleven on eleven blocking executions I've seen from this team.

square to the block. And then he works around the inside and holds up so that Kendall Lamb can clean him up with the wash down block.

the guy that Raheem has to beat. But because Raheem is flanked to the short side and kind of takes his initial track away from all the action, you see Peatree peek inside and gets caught in the wash. And you just cannot design the play better. You cannot block the play better. And we got lots of that in the running game in this game. Buddy, I am, I am fired up about what we saw in this game.

How about the sack on Skyler the fumble that he recovered in the second quarter with fourteen forty one to play, not much to break down. It's basically Will Anderson having too good of a get off to allow you to have any sort of delay with that backside guard pull to wall off. Isaiah Winn tried to pull from his left guard spot and go wall off the edge, but he couldn't get out there because he got caught up in the traffic and by the time he did get out there. It was too late, and then Achmann had

no chance either. There's zero chance for him to get into any kind of technique when the rushers that close in his face off of a play action. Sometimes good players make good plays, and that's what happened with will Anderson. How about a Chain's fifteen yard run on third and fourteen with ten minutes to play in the second quarter.

good seal by a way he hit right tackle. Dan Feeney climbs up to get a piece at the second level, and then Eric Sobert, his best block of camp as a Dolph in my opinion, squares up his block and it's just the rookie hitting the hole with conviction. He was faster than the Texans could react. I don't think they expected him to come out of the gates like that, and that's why he got a first down. Really impressive

on third and fourteen to convert on the ground. How about a sixty five yard rush by Savon Akman the second quarter. I think the key block there was River Craycraft. He has a down block on a linebacker, and that's a block that a linebacker has to beat. You cannot let a receiver wall you off. You have to run through it or get around it. And he couldn't and as a result, Savan's off to the races. Look at that Huskies and Cougars working together down here in South Florida.

Isaiah Winn had a terrific seal. Keon Smith held his block for just long enough, and U Lave hit a key block at the second level as well to spring Achmed. Then it was just pure speed. The ensuing touchdown pass from Skyler to Savan not much to it. Savan got outside access, Skyler gets the ball to him early.

I'm not sure what the dB covering Barrios was doing because he slowed down twice on the play, but it was pretty similar to the route that Burios caught from Tua, which we'll talk about here in a second on that second drive of the game, where he worked and worked to work to get on the upfield shoulder and then rounded it off coming back to the quarterback, which put the dB in a blind spot. And as he angles

back to the quarterback, that's the key. If he doesn't come back to the quarterback there, that's a dangerous throw. But Skyler has time to deliver a good ball and because of really really good pass pro, you get away.

number one guy on here. His very first play is the second down run stuff they bring. They bring a center downhill right at him at the goal line, and he's giving up eighty pounds to this man, and he bluffs a big collision and just side steps and throws a guy who weighs three hundred plus pounds to the ground. I don't understand how he did that. It was an

incredible play. The next drive they run swing motion and dump the ball and Nico Collins and you see Jerome Baker run to the perimeter and get him to the ground with his great speed. And that's great job by Jerome Baker to do that. But you see Long before the snap motion get out, get out wide, and Baker runs all the way and starts early to help him get to that position. I just think David Long understands what offenses are trying to do, and he sees it

before they do it. And you see it on the very next play when they motion away from the strength of the formation and the backers shift over a gap from their off ball positions. I believe that David Long shifted to a stack position behind Rayquan Davis on the defensive line, and then he immediately once he shifts, he shoots that backside B gap and before the center can get off his double team on Raquon Davis, which is

why I think that he understood alignment. And Zach Thomas talked about this a lot, how important it is to be correctly aligned so you can make these kinds of plays. That late shift I think kind of hid him behind Rayquan on that double team, and he's able to just pull the trigger and get in that B gap and goes and knocks the running or the blocker out and then knocks him into the ball carrier, then retraces and makes the tackle on the ball carrier. Textbook Teach tape

Linebacker play. Three plays later, they run a toss and once again, his anticipation is so good I froze it. When the running back caught the football, David Long starts has play five yards off the ball by the time the running back catches the toss sweep, which is like a half a second, he's already crossed the line of scrimmage and by everybody else, big tackle for loss there. And then just two plays later he slow plays his trigger this time and then comes downhill and makes another

stop at the line of scrimmage. He had two run stops on just five rundown wraps according to Pro Football Focus, and that just tracks with the production in Tennessee. He was one of the best run defenders in all of football last year. He had seven coverage snaps and no targets. And by the way, comparing tackles for loss for run defense is hilarious. David Long's a massive upgrade over what we had a year ago. Savon Achmed's number two, although

he could easily be number one. Running backs jobs aside from reading blocks and finding lanes and decision making, which is the number one thing, is to execute the plays when they're blocked right, But when you're one on one in the situation, can you break the tackle? And boy did he. He caught the swing one yard behind the line of scrimmage on third and three. The tacklers there, we already broke this play down on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And he slips him and

runs for free fifteen more yards after the catch. The ten yard run he had on our second touchdown drive is the same action as the deep shot we just missed from Skylar to Cedric Wilson, only this time they do hand it off. So I love that balance of plays. It's the short side. Savanna is very much outflanked by the entire linebacking crew, and he still wins the angle. It's Gronkowski on Kenyan Drake ESQ speed you can clearly see on his touchdown catch. I just like how he paced.

It was wide open, but didn't waste any time, like he knew he had space, didn't bother pressing the linebacker. Just get out wide and show the quarterback your numbers, and he throws the football right there. Good speed, pacing, feel, really everything. A great possession in a great game by Savon Ahmed. Then he goes back out there in the fourth courter and has back to back runs. One He's got a middle linebacker in the A gap.

running game is coming together. Year two, Pro Football Focus had him with three runs of ten plus yards two point four to six yards per route, ran five point five yards of yak per ketch per catch. He forced two miss tackles in total, and all of his catches went for first downs. In fact, three of his twelve runs did too, so sixteen touches for seven first downs.

guys do in the past. And that's a that's a process and the you know, you don't just you know, get to where you want in a week, a month, sometimes a season, and a lot of times it takes a couple years of development of of a whole group to to get it to where you want. I think are our starting group really took a step forward from from that game. There's uh, the guys that are in position, battles that did good things and and bad things.

last year, like the touchdown against Baltimore. He also had three critical or the critical down block I should say on the linebacker where he sprung Savan for a big sixty five yard run up the sideline. It's just the little things, man. There's two plays later after that where Skyler throws what could have been a grounding ball, but River sprints back to the play and extends his hands as if to say, like, I had a shot at that ball, and the refs had like eighty fives in the area.

Hill is my fourth tape on here. These aren't necessarily an order, but the first three ward but from here on I don't think i'd put him in an order. But he had a chip release where he immediately gets

into the route and it's teach tape. Chip, get off the block, show the quarterback your numbers, and stay moving so you can get upfield and just catches it six yards short of the sticks, immediately gets into that run and turns it into fourth and one that we later converted later on that drive, he comes back and has a very good run block rep where he chips and climbs and takes out the safety on a Savon akhmed ten yard run. He's got some pretty damn good feel man.

Very next play he pulls, catches a piece of the nose who won inside, and then continues on that track like I don't think he's supposed to hit the center, but he did it anyway, then attaches to the safety after he disengages for river Crai craft block our perimeter running game looks really damn good, man, Like, it looks really good. I think the work of a tight ends and receivers are.

we we have. We have some good players that have skills that we can really utilize in this offense that historically found ways to kind of utilize their skill sets, and guys are starting to kind of feel what those are within the offense making some plays in the run game and the past game. So they're a huge part in what we do offensively that sometimes relates to big

box scores. Sometimes it doesn't, but it's a very very critical position that I thought some guys that we really believe in, whether they are vested veterans or you know, young players that are rookies in the NFL, I thought they all contributed to the offense, which is one of the reasons we were able to have some success.

that block. I thought he looked really good in pass protection. He comes back a drive later and seals the edge on the eleven yard Chris Brooks run, and then again another sealed edge on a six yard run from Brooks. He was the top graded pass blocker no pressures on ten pass blocking stabs for Ryan Hayes. Putting together some good workout here. I thought Kendall Lamb looked the part.

And we heard coach talk about how comfortable they are with a depth on the offensive line, and I tend to agree, because no one has good depth on their offensive line right now. But Miami has a bunch of guys who have played for a long time, and I think Kendall Lamb's the ideal swing tackle if he's not your right tackle to begin with.

it out, handles it perfectly with Isaiah Win. Next play, there's a screen to Eric Azukama where he does a little fake pass set which sells the upfield rush and then he gets wide. These are the veteran types of moves a nine year pro can make that puts you in good position. Very next rep does something similar where he gets he has forty five I don't know who it was, number forty five isolated with a slide protection away that puts him on an island like he would

see with Toron Armston at left tackle. Lamb gets into his pass set, fake throws the hands and gets this forty five this player to show his pass rush move. Then he just punches the exposed chest that he gave him and locks down the rep.

and Ignoginy Holts contain outside. You see Tendall recognize it early and pull the trigger and go make a big hit and a tackle.

broke it up in the hook zone. He's playing really good, and he's breaking up passes and playing the run really well. He was the second highest graded player on defense from Pro Football Focus. Had a run stop on just three downs against the run and had sixteen plays in coverage, targeted just twice, and he broke both of them up. Braxton Barrios gets in the top ten tapes. His route on the first reception from Tua on that really good

anticipation ball was the exact same as his touchdown. Where you have Perriman, the linebacker is walling off a crosser with inside leverage, and how do you prevent that player from reading your break and driving it undercutting the throw. You have to convince him you're gonna run the crossing route. So Braxton breaks this thing down and gets over the inside shoulder, uses the long arm in with the foot in the ground, and breaks it back to the perimeter.

And Perriman is not in position to drive because he's not standing in an attacking position because he had to retreat to respect the threat of that crosser. It's a plus route running from Braxon burials he did all night long. I thought Cedric Wilson had a top ten tape two

really good routes the fourth and one. On Skyler's first scoring drive, He's slot one on one, does a stutter release, sells the inside, gets the defensive back to take the cheese inside, and then gets back outside for a very easy first down conversion against that same man free look, single high safety man coverage. And I just want to hammer this point home because on the first two short yards plays on third and fourth down third or fourth and short, we get man coverage and one inside the

slot position with outbreaking routes. This is just another thing that teams will have to contend with if they pull that outside corner down and it's a home run shot

up the sideline. That fourth down win he had was the exact same thing on the last touchdown drive where Skyler is knowing where he's going there because the defense was shifted to the strength of the formation, so he has a two way go for Cedric in the slot and he sells the dB on this outside move and cross his face and the ball found him.

those are my top ten tapes. Deshan Hans, Cedrick Wilson, Braxon Barrios, Channing, Tyndall, Kendall lamb Ryan Hayes, Julian Hill, River, Crai Craftsavon Achmed and David Long. Let's go ahead and take our last break right there and come back on the other side and do additional notes. We're gonna talk about Tua game and the rest of the guys that I did not mention in my top ten tapes. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to

you by I don't knowation. We are into the third segment here of a Draft Time podcast and we have not talked about Tua Tongue Bailoa's game. Despite the interception, we did talk about that to kick off the show. Let's talk about the rest of his game. The local on that Durham's My throw was perfect. There's brackets everywhere except for on Durham and Raheem. But Raheem would have to broken two tackles to get the first down, and the location got us the completion and the first down.

It's a really good ball placement and we'll talk more about that here in a second. On the savan Achmed swing, it's a great example of two was processing those two nasty split wide receiver dbs up against off dbs. You can see the banjo coverage and Tua just works those guys and understands quickly that they're off and the Savann has a lane and gets it to him very quickly, and he got it out fast because the double a gap mug ups would have put pressure on him and

had him hit if he did not do that. The anticipation throw to Brax and Barrows for the first down was just as nasty as it gets.

We're both against what was Cover six and what that means is essentially to what has to identify where the man coverages, like there's a single one on one look

that he has. Everyone else is bracketed by zones, and you just throw it from the leverage of that defender, essentially the wall defender who's taking off the middle part of the field, which he's gonna see tons of this year because the Dolphins lived their bread and butter down the middle, So teams are going to run that cover six that takes away big intermediate portions of the field, you know, on the interior, and we saw the Chargers do loss of that two man that does some of

the same stuff last year. If you can throw these routes that you know threaten the crosser but break back to the outside with that kind of timing and anticipation, there's no defense for this offense if you can do that consistently, looks like he has twice in one drive here did get picked off once, which you know it's not never a good thing. But I just think that that's a counter to what the Dolphins did so well

last year. And I want to go to the SoundBite for McDaniel in a second, but first two of from PFF two for three with thirty one yards against pressure, two for two with twenty yards win blitz. That's really good numbers there when the defense turns up the heat. But back to that counter idea, let's go back to this audio from August ninth, when coach McDaniel was asked

about showing stuff off in joint practice. I think this commentary on how a system should operate if constructed properly, is a good indicator of how this team needs to have a counter to.

I probably hide less, but there's definitely stuff that that you don't you don't want to put on tape, especially if you're iron iron the kinks out of it. So it's a fun balance. But for the most part, we're just trying to create situation, create situations that are competitive within offense that we do do so that with the idea of being you get to evaluate guys and guys are put in difficult positions like a game or hopefully more difficult positions.

He had it in rhythm for a very easy catch and run, and it's a one on one for Savon with a safety if he does put it in there on time, but he doesn't see it and invites pressure. He makes up four by winning off script. But it gets frustrating sometimes watch the tape.

when he can get to it. Pro Football Focus had him at four for seven against pressure for twenty five yards, three for six against the Blitz with thirteen yards. He did have two point sixty three seconds to throw. It was under pressure on eight of twenty four dropbacks, kept clean, eleven for fifteen with a buck thirty two and all three touchdowns, so scheme and pass blocking very good in this game.

just six rushing attempts. I just wanted to note where he most are shiftiness and how nifty he is getting through small creases four point three three yards after initial contact really kind of bears that fruit. At receiver Tyreek Hill on the speed out, just watching him throttle down and the little things he does to find details blow

me away so much. Because Desmond King is mirroring him and obviously is terrified of the deep release, and so Tyreek widens his release and King reacts to this by jumping to outside leverage like he overplays the outside leverage, but still is getting depth, and so what Tyreek does, I think in the moment is recognizes this and takes another jab step inside and this spun king all the way out and he took off run on the wrong way and then there's ten yards of separation on a

five yard throws. The easiest completion of Tua's career because against this man free look, he can just find a way to threaten deep and get back to the perimeter.

earlier at tight end. I mentioned Julian Hill Elijah Higgins cooked shat Griffin on a vertical route, swiped the hands, stacked him, but we did not get to see the throw because it didn't go there. On the offensive line, I thought Austin Jackson had some really impressive work mixed in with some not so impressive stuff.

point of attack. You know, Austin's like Tron Armstead, and he has athletic ability where he can get out wide on those toss plays. And there's a player where they cracked back with Ruver Craycraft and he goes out and pancakes the Sam linebacker. That's two really really good run blocking plays on the opening drive. But the recognition stuff

is still some work. There's a play where he washes down a two I technique which is on the inside shoulder of your guard, and you know Rob Hunt didn't need help with that, and he comes in and cleans it all up, but it gives a free guy a run on the outside. Some stuff he could work on. But I think there's positives out there for Austin Jackson. Pro Football Focus had him with two pressures on nine pass blocking snaps. Both were hurries. We mentioned those and the

stretch of the defense put on him twice. So some given take there with Austin Jackson. Rob Hunt had a phenomenal first drive, had a couple of pancakes on the first place, just move guys.

offensive line. The movement he gets in the running game is a translation of the feet where he takes on contact from a slant A guy trying to cross his face from the three technique position, stands him up, displaces him still and Skyler's second drive, Isaiah gets a pass rush off his left shoulder from a three technique and

he works over to four worth the move. The three reacts with a spin back inside, but because when did a good job staying back in his stance with a gorgeous drop step where he opens that right hip and gets himself some more depth. It just diminishes any chance with the defensive rusher to use him as leverage, and his spin moves goes for not. He settles into reposition set and snatches the rusher and brings him to the ground.

an important piece, but I can't emphasize piece more. The good games are are we're had by many, many players, and you want to see what they do with that moving forward. And you know, because the whole key is like a football team, you need to be your best at the end of the season. So you have to be a player that continues to progress week to week and we get better as as the season progresses.

learn how to pass off games. Man. There's a couple of players they got him twisted up and he was on the ground a few times.

I think this tape has a lot of team execution, eleven guys doing their job, staying true to their rules, and just getting the job done at honest, NFL is a former NFL personnel guy or something. I don't know what he did, but he's a great Twitter follow. He has a bunch of Vic Fangio tweets, and you can just see he said, you can see the scheme clicking already for Fanjo because he's in the scheme so many times,

it's not going to have those growing pains. And you just didn't see things surprise guys, like when passing off. There was no free runners down the field. The few Texans positive plays were really just solid execution and some damn good throws by C. J.

then good for you. In fact, coach McDaniel was asked about Vic Fangio and his Monday press conference and had some enlightening commentary about technique and fundamentals, but also taste and music.

stack up a run. Then he comes off and makes the play alongside Cater Kohu, who just loves to stick his face in the fan and make plays with his physicality. Just two plays later you see him and his athletic abilities. He goes unblocked with the design of the plays to take care of him, with the traffic by the running back and the tight end on play pass whose route is kind of a natural chip, he just side steps both of.

good back to back reps. On one, he undresses the right tackle and you can see him get mad because he's going to come clean on the quarterback, but the plays ruled dead for a pre snap Texans penalty. Then he worked inside and beat a polar for a run stuff on the very next play. Two pressures on nine pass rushes and it could have been three on ten for a sack if it.

Chubb's pressure didn't force the incompletion. Then on fourth down, he fights around a pick and gets himself into good shape for a little jerk route, but Stroud throws the flat and it's incomplete anyway. The Dolphins red zone defense looks really good early on. He was targeted twice to not allow catch. That's eleven total coverage steps. I thought X and Cater on X's pass breakup played that stack

switch perfectly on that Texans fourth down failure. Stays on the outside hip and carries Nico Collins vertically, and then X scraped off of that rub and fills the slant and just runs right off the hip and cuts in front of it and gets the pass breakup. Textbook play. I thought Eli Apple had a great game. I talked about him on the recap. His recognition of things unfolding just really stands out when you watch the tape from the wide shot. Did it twice in a three play span.

I thought Verme McKinley had a really nice run fit on the Texan second drive playing in the box. We saw him mostly in the post last year, but the more you can do right then he does it again when he's severely overmatched from a size standpoint against a tight end, just beats the block and makes a tackle. Elijah Campbell. I still love that near pick, even with the illegal contact call. I can see why they called it, but the way he played that and keyed the quarterback

and got that drop in coverage was very impressive. And then Perry Nickerson, he can play man those man beaters. We praised the offense for the Texans get one here with Davis Mills and Nickerson flips the hips and drives transitions very smoothly out of that back pedal and gets a pass breakup and Finn. That's the end of the podcast.