Drive Time: August 14 Training Camp Recap

Offense bounces back, but defense gets theirs two. I'll tell you why I thought today was the best exchange from either side scoring wins. And we'll hear from a handful of the guys here from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time podcast.

a little bit rush. Only had a chance to listen to one player's press conference, so I don't really have any stories for you today outside of what happened on the practice field and then going back through and finding those pressers, which if I can't ask the guys questions, it makes it really hard for me to give you the story of the day. So sound good, all right?

Practice first, practice notes first, then media availabilities, and boy, I thought this practice was really really really good, like real, I got it. If you don't, if you didn't listen to Esdray's podcast, which first, what the heck are you doing? Here, you Turkey, get back on that. I talked about the very competitive red zone period and how tightly contested everything was in that period, but also how Tua shined finding

tight windows in that part of practice. We've heard coach McDaniel before talk about exactly that, about what makes Tua so sharp in the red zone, in the condensed area of the field. And remember, this is a quarterback who in small sample sizes has found himself near the top of the leader board in all time passer ratings, both in the red zone and in the fourth quarter more

on the ladder here shortly. And why he excels in those areas, it's because of the things that we, or to me I should say, are the most important traits for a quarterback vision, anticipation, processing and placement, which, by the way, who are all these TikTok analysts I'm seeing the only value arm strength? That's crazy?

in Jalen Ramsey's absence. You have a system, a DC famous for forcing quarterbacks to second guests, to double clutch and find their third and fourth options, a defensive system that has shut down some of the most prolific offenses year after year. The twenty eighteen Rams ran to an absolute wood chipper against that Vic Fangiobert's defense, and then the Patriots pretty much copy and paste of that scheme and that game plan and held the Rams to three

points in the Super Bowl. But I've got news for you here, guys. If you've if you have to get through all of that with Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb and Christian Wilkins and Zach Seeler and Emmanuel Agbaugh and on and on on going through your third and fourth options, good luck, you know, mister Gilmore, good luck making the putter on the TV tower. But then today we get more of the same. We get the defense dominant early and the same thing I mentioned yesterday about the nonverbal cues.

The head nods, the finger points, some finger guns, Hey, good stuff over there, eight good stuff, twenty five things that to me say, hey, that was good stuff. We get more of that today? Until we didn't. And how do we beat that? Tua began putting footballs in perfect spots before the defense could react. The big one you all saw by now is a beautiful rip. And I always get a kick out of the way folks describe plays differently. I try to be as descripted if I

possibly can. I think in this case I was once again because watching the video, the football had more velocity than I originally thought from Tua. I thought he wrote more layered it, but he actually kind of drove it. And I need you guys to understand how much you have to throw to a spot when you have an actual cheetah, not a human, a cheetah running around there coming out of his break at four point two seconds every forty yards, when you're throwing the ball twenty five

yards down the field, that calibration has to be. It has to be very difficult. Go back and watch Tyreek's tape in Kansas City. There's so many times where he has to come back to the football because he just outruns the play. It's not a bad thing. It's just tells you how fast he is. And even Patrick Mahomes, who has the best arm in the league for my money,

couldn't you know, consistently make him run into footballs. But in this situation, to calibrate the accuracy and the spot and the timing for all that stuff to come together toa makes it look so easy. So go watch the video. Tyreek never break stride. And I know we all marvel over a guy throwing the ball seventy five yards off

of a knee or from their butt. You know, JaMarcus Russell worked out for him, right, But this play right here is a twenty five yard play if the ball is twelve inches behind him where he has to reach back and catch it and go to the ground. If it's twelve inches in front of him, it's incomplete. But because it was where it was, it's a sixty five yard touchdown. And again I saw someone describe as a thirty five yard play. No, it was a touchdown, dude.

They were not tackling Tyreek on that play. His speed and space, it's an absolute treat. The high school teams that were well recovered in practice by the beat was an attendance, was absolutely loving it, very fun to watch. He had another similar throat in that little pocket over the middle, where again it's like Tyreek isn't even to the top of the stem, So the stem is your vertical part of the route, and then you know, you break it off to the comeback or to the dig

or down the curl or whatever it might be. Before he even got off the top of the stem, the ball's out and then he rips it and breaks it to the middle and the ball's right there. Like the timing of that stuff is gosh. It is some of the best chemistry we've seen since Walter White and Jesse Pinkman work together. I love the way Tua found the backs and found his hots. The pressure was hot today

on a very hot southward today. More on that in the moment, but Tua had multiple completions to Raheem Mostert, who looks telling you, guys, looks like the real deals, a pass catcher out the backfield and one that sprung out the backside for a huge gain. He also found the others. I had Wilson and Chan, a couple of

catches as well. I loved the blitz beaters he had on back to back throws to Tyreek and chosen excuse me, Fangio generated free runs in the quarterback and I thought it was cool to see him have answers to is because in the past, in these practices, when they've randomly popped up with blitz periods or pressure periods, the offense has kind of struggled to pick up what to do with it. And this day was not one of those days. And there was one where I should say both of them.

The football is out in less than two seconds, like catch the snap, get your mechanics aligned, let that thing rip. And the first one hit between the one and the zero on Tyreek's orange jersey. That was really impressive, and he actually let it go into his chest, which you know you're not supposed to do, but he did, I think because of the velocity and you could like hear the pot from up in the stands. That was kind

of interesting to me. And then the one to chose and was a little bit deeper down the field, but the exact same result right on the three on his jersey.

Two was cooking today, man, And I just continue to love the way he can manipulate his arm motion for the specific throws, like they have multiple different screen looks like inside outside, you know, where you let the pressure come in a certain direction, have to dump it over the top where you drop the arm down and kind of go to the almost like cornhole type of mechanic and just flick that thing, flick the bag around the side of the rusher. He was doing this very well

with with some spin and finesse on it. And like obviously those that know me in my career going back to before the Dolphins, know that I was a big believer in what Ryan Tannehill could do, you know, with pushing the ball vertically and getting the ball down the field, and his athletic ability and all the fun stuff that he was able to do as a quarterback as a top twelve or fourteen quarterback. Never thought he was much more than that. But I digress. But one thing that

drove made crazy about Tannehill was his touch passes. And you saw that on the little wheels from running backs, the little screen passes they would throw. He just didn't really have that ability to throttle down the fastball and make the touch throws, but to seeing the way he

does it makes me really appreciate it. And I think that the way he does that, the way he can kind of fade from pressure and get to those throws to you know, have the ball like almost suspend an air for a moment to let the rush continue to get upfield, and then all of a sudden, the running

back is on the other side of the line. Now you have a second level of defenders with a wall of blockers in front of you and open space like that can be a very dangerous, dangerous, you know approach for defenses when they're already run in that third level of defense thirty forty fifty yards downfield to deal with

the speed that Tyreek and Jalen have. Finally, even in the not so good day yesterday, the end of game situations where Tua put the team in position to kick field goals on three straight attempts in that same area, today was two for two and had a really nice ball to the perimeter to chose him. And they were putting Phillips and Chubb on the sidelines to kind of wall off and protect, you know, anyone getting out of bounce.

But they ran this route right over the top of that and to a put it right on the money for Chosen to get around Chubb. Now he might have taken a big shot, which from Chubb, I'm not sure he can survive that because Chosen's built kind of like me and Bradley. Chubb was built kind of like you know the shed in the back yard of my house.

He got another one too, did to Raheem Moster out in the flat for some positive yards to kick a field goal or a chance to kick a field goal, I should say in a late half situation.

cover two honey hole. Ee had to kind of change shoulders and track it from right shoulder to left shoulder and just couldn't bring it in, like he didn't track it properly, I don't think. But Mike White put it right where only his guy could get it, and Rik Azukama also slipped the tackle on a screen it ran in for a touchdown that I thought was just another example of the way he kind of glides around the football field. He's He's an impressive man. I'm very excited

about his second year. Okay, So I'm glad that Jalen Phillips went off to day because I just watched a segment last night where Lewis Riddick was on ESPN and asked to pick a Dolphins player that he expects to have a big year, and the host said, don't take to Tua, don't take Tyreek, don't take Jalen, don't take Ramsey. Give me a player that you're excited about for the Miami Dolphins. And so Lewis Riddick had this to say about Jalen Phillips.

he was a first rounder. This is a year that I think number fifteen that you see on your screen, who's one of the best athletes in the NFL regardless of position. He is the perfect match, the perfect prototype thirty four outside backer. This has to be the year that he bursts onto the scene and becomes a superstar because there's no reason for him not to. There's none. He's got power, he's got speed. He can rush from the three technique over a guard. He can line up

as a defensive end with his handdown. He can line up as a defensive end in the two point stance. This guy could play linebacker, this guy could play strong safety. One of the best athletes in the NFL regardless of position, who's had fifteen sacks in two years, fifteen plus. But he's a guy who still people go Jalen Phillips. Oh yeah, it wasn't he that guy who was drafting the first round a couple of years ago by Miami. Out of Miami transferred from UCLA thought about quitting football. So yeah,

that's cool. Whatever, who's next, Let's talk about to Let's talk about no. Jalen Phillips has to go off and he should in Dick's scheme. I can't wait to see him line it up.

at that. But the first play he shoots inside the tackle and then recognizes the run is going wide, and this I think allows him to do that because he then works back outside of the block and gets on his horse. And you heard Ridcks say he could play safety, Like you see that speed routinely out here, and he wins the race to the perimeter. I guess raheem Moster like, yeah, Moster had to kind of bubble back with The reason

was because JP kept that angle on him. Now, from this position, it's almost impossible for him to make the play. But if you can just put your head down and win the race the sideline and force the back to stop and turn up, guys will get there in time and flow over the top. And that's exactly what Eli Apple did coming from depth to make a play on that look. And again on that Riddick commentary, he talked about Phillips tape last year, working multiple spots across the line.

There was one where he condensed into the three tech you know, outside shoulder of the guard and swam over the inside and shut down a run. Play also had a would be sack from there, and it would be sacked from the outside out. An absolute heater playing all across the defensive line. This guy has like defensive Player

of the Year makeup. I'm convinced of it. So I'm just thinking about, you know, how, the way he's played and if he can do this consistently on Sundays, and if the coverage can hold the way it has been and we continue can continuously force quarterbacks to hold the ball for two and a half seconds, all things being equal with JP from last year, and they never are. But frankly, I think he'll be even better because the

way he works. I just think that he's only gonna add to his skill set at the age of what was he twenty four to twenty five. But even if things are equal, that would turn his many, many, many pressures and hits into more sacks and hopefully game changing plays where he gets the football out. There was no bigger disparity in the NFL last year than Jaylen Phillips

pressure to sack disparity. And if you look at the average time to throw on his seventy QB pressures and of the sixty two that were not sacks, the average time to throw on those was two point two to one seconds. Give him another tenth of a second, even two point three seconds, and that number is going to increase. You make it two point five. We're talking about like double digit teams numbers in the sacks and game changing plays. Well, I'm trying to say, I think the rush is gonna be better.

I think the coverage will be better, and I think we've seen that with how they've had some pretty good runs of slowing down the offense out here and a damn good Dolphins offense. Let's go ahead and take our first break right there and come back on the other side do the rest of the practice notes. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield to you by Auto Nation. How about the day in Major League Baseball? Yesterday? The Marlins erase as six run deficit to the New

York Yankees. Y'all love to see that, a four of which come in the ninth inning. Did anyone happen to watch the Mariners an Orioles game. I know you didn't, but it was one of the wildest finishes I've seen in a baseball game. First, marriage are down three to two in the bottom of the ninth and Cedric Mullens this awesome outfielder for the Orioles. The center fielder goes backhand and robs the game tying home run, kind of like Griffy did in Tiger Stadium all those years ago.

And then two pitches later, with two outs in the ninth, I'm already accepting defeat. And this guy that we just traded for that has one career home run hits it off the hit it here cafe in deep right field like a four hundred and fifty foot bomb to tie the game. I'm just losing my mind at this point. Then that same center fielder, Mullins comes up in the tenth inning and Yanks won four hundred and fifty feet foul just in front of the foul pool on right field,

Like okay, we got life again. Then the very next pitch hits a bomb to give him a five to three lead and they win the game. Pain, but good baseball is good. Baseball is so much fun. It's rare you get those moments in baseball, but when they happen, there's so much fun. And it looks at the Marlins and my Mariners for that matter, we'll both be right there to the better end. But baseball has always just

been the way we passed time until football starts. Right, And we talked about Tua, but Tua was not throwing all the passes to just nobody. He threw most of them to the guy in the orange Jersey, Tyreek Hill and the high school kids who were out and being reported on every play. Were just going crazy over his day, losing their collective minds every time he made a big play, and there were a lot of them. It's crazy what

real star power does man. So, like, my wife had a career day at her school last year, so myself, a videographer, a producer, some cheerleaders, Seth and OJ went to go do career day. And first off, all the kids wanted autographs, which is something I'm never going to forget because they just work for the team. They think that you're the coolest thing ever. Was really cool, But the thing they wanted to know the most was do

you know Tyreek Hill? And eventually I would tell the class that I interviewed Tyreek when he arrived here at after the trade happened, and they all demanded to watch the interview, so most of my presentation would get cut off because they wanted to just watch Tyreek interview with me. And then, fittingly enough, last night, my buddy from back home asked me do you have a picture of you and Tyreek together because my nephews want to see that.

I'm like, yeah, here you go. Pretty cool, but it's just cool to experience the nationwide recognize star power of Tyreek Hill, and we saw that with the high school kids out there today and then obviously the global star with Messi getting here too. It's just really really cool. What a cool time in South Florida Sport. So Tyreek went off Chosen, had some nice plays. His timing with

Tua seems to have really clicked. Chosen that is River Kraycraft caught a nice ball from Thompson in the final period where he had to tap the toes on the sideline. I just always appreciate how River excels and all the intangibles a player like that kind of has to Jim Ratt Whereheim looked really good as a pass catcher. Bit

of a story of camp so far. I think he also had a big rip after the defense was really erasing the run game early on, and it was not with JP on the edge, So that was kind of a big thing that I noted there was how he was able to get the edge when it wasn't Philip

out there setting it. But he is just so easy glide most or it is he hits those little side step cuts that put him in position to make moves and he gets through these small creases before he gets back to a squared up position to attack safeties coming down to try to chop him down before he's off to the races. My favorite part of camp so far besides you know, some of this stuff that I think can kind of counter what shut the Dolphins offense down

a year ago was or is the screen game. And remember how Mike said that everything has a counter to it if you have a good offensive system. It's been the screen game for me so far. I like the way they get to them. I love the way to a retreats and finds the targets around the trees in pursuit. I like the way our guys get in space, and I like the way our backs are making things happen with the football and the variety of screens they've run. I like some of the work of the tight ends today.

I thought Tyler Croft at the point of attack had some of the best blocks on those successful runs. Durham smythe had three grabs by my account, each of those for ten plus yards. Durham quietly had a pretty productive camp so far. I by and large looks like tight end one. It's tough to explain each rep from the trenches or claim big days when you get so much back and forth. So I just want to point some guys out who I thought got good push protected the

quarterback and then vice versa. On the other side, I thought Connor Williams had a bunch of good work in this practice. His athleticism pops so much when he gets wide in the run game or the screen game. And also just generally speaking, Rayquon Davis is like the ideal mismatch for Connor because of his length and size, and

so you see Rayquon get some wins that way. But I thought he did a really good job of finding ways to get movement on Raeque, not just today, but in the last couple of, you know, a week or so of practice. It should be stated that Rayqwan did make some plays. I had him with two run stuffs when he parked his big button the gap and just basically said you're not gonna run right here. Back to

the offensive line. The way that Rob and Connor Rob Hunt work together on the catch and climb blocks always stands out to me, and I think you add Austin Jackson to that mix. Like his run game work has really impressed this camp. And we saw that in the game Friday night. We'll hear from Austin here. In just a moment, I saw key On Smith completely thwart and inside rush move from Bradley and Keon. You had my curiosity after the game on Friday. Now you've got my

attention after that. Rep. Zach Steeler would be in my three selections for the possible orange jersey on Wednesday. Phillips and two are the others, although I don't know if they'll wear an orange jersey in Houston. They might because it's only the day after you play Houston that you won't bring the jersey back because you don't want to. Like Coach said, bring attention to the fact that we think that he whipped you yesterday. Not gonna do that.

But he was a force in side. Seiler was just continuously wrecked shop forced the quarterbacks to move off or spot. I had him with one for sure sack, maybe another, and a handful of quarterback hits. He was all over the field in this one. And then Deshaun Hann basically arrived and started playing good football last week. Right Like there, that's all there is to it. I'm just so pumped that we landed him. He's a great fit for this defense and what we needed on the back end of

the rotation there. Andrew Van ginkle Strong Camp continued today, I thought we've all seen the arms that he showed up with, you know, the gun show that he brought, as it were, and today I saw him show a wicked cross chop, which is basically where where you use the outside hand to chop to chop the the hand placement of the offensive line, which typically can be done from the inside position, but getting across the body, chop it and then's ripped through with the inside arm and

get that leverage and get that the point of contact to where you can kind of bend inside on the tackle. Did that for a would be sack? And that's a move we've seen from Emmanuel Ogbaugh you know so many times, really perfect that with the vines that he has for arms. But to see Van Ginko incorporate that on top of his lateral agility and explosiveness and two way you know, go backwards go frontwards type of ability, I think his

best year of his career. Guys, cam Good has put together a pretty good camp for himself and a chance to you know, make a dent into the edge rotation. I think every part of his game has improved from as rookie season on the practice squad, which is what you want obviously. How about Noah igbinoghany guys, another pick today that's two and two days. He gets one from Skylar Thompson, a play where Sealer for sure had the sack, but Igbo finished the play and then he ran all

the way back home the other way. Just so good to see. I say it almost daily, but it really feels like something clicked in his game for him and he's finding the football and he just feels so much more comfortable or looks so much more comfortable in this system compared to, you know, chasing trail man coverage all the time. I really like the way that Eli Apple sees the game, you know, playing the run from depth or getting depth when he's keying the quarterback in that

zone coverage. He just has this innate feel for where things are happening around him. And if you know, if Cam can't make it back for game one, then I you know X and Eli and Kterrick can hold it down. I'm confident in that X got targeted one time that I saw and he had the pass breakup, and I'm not sure I've ever seen someone so unbothered by a

pass target. He just patiently waited for Heedric Wilson to pluck this thing on a little slant from Tua and he was right in the back pocket, reached over, punched it out. Pass breakup. Javon Holland was the was only the notes one time today, but I thought it should be noted that a lot of that coverage stuff that I'm talking about eventually goes back to Javon when he's in the post. The ball just does not get vertical.

It's that simple. He had a pass breakup on Smyth today where Smyth tried to post him up on the goal line and it Tua liked it, ripped it. But I think Tua's process was this guessing because I don't know too was brain, what's going on in there? But Durham is going to be open, let's it rip and

then ohh there's Javon, let's throw it away. All of that I think process in the matter of like a second, because the ball was high and outside and away from danger, and of course you know, I don't know two is process, but he doesn't miss throws like that, So that's where I have to kind of say, hey, what happened there.

I think he was able to recalibrate mid mechanics. Those two guys, Javon and Tua, can make each other so much better by how they see the field from their respective posts, like the respective quarterback, you know, perches of the field offensively and defensively respectively. So I think that those guys just really work off each other really well, and they both have praised each other's games a whole

bunch as well. Deshaun Elliott had another big hit measured up, but of course he pulls off because we're not gonna hit our own guys. I think we're into like double digits with those now, the opportunities he's had for big, you know, lay the lumbers type of plays. He was in good coverage to cut down some of those short throws quickly after they were caught on the passes to the backs and coverage, And that's all I got for

you today. Lets go ahead to our last break right there and come back and do some media with Austin Jackson, Eric Soabert, Kedrin Smith, and Lester Cotton. That's all. Next Draft Time podcast your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Let's go ahead and kick this thing off here with Austin Jackson, who met with the media for a good portion of time after practice on Monday, was asked about the confidence that he's exuded in all

these press conferences and it's never wavering. So he was asked, where does that confidence come from.

in the world after positions respectively. And yeah, that's that's a big part of it.

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