To on the move Darlan Deep Speedless Hell.
From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. Please gotta my havans in the playoffs.
What is up Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, we're getting ready for Dolphins and Bills. Later tonight across the street at hard Rock Stadium. We're gonna welcome in Sal Capaccio to break down this matchup from the Bills perspective.
We'll pick the week two games.
We'll also hear some soundbites from the Dolphins coaches and players and react to those comments to those sound bites. All of that and a heck of a lot more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast. Joining us today on the Draft Time Podcast. Friend of the podcast, Sal Capaccio, the host of Extra Point on WGR five point fifty in Buffalo. You can also catch him doing sidelines at
Bills games. Sal, here we go again, my friend. I look forward to these games as much as I kind of loathe these games because they're tough, they're hard fought. They usually come down to the end, and lately it's been the wrong team winning. But man, here we go again, dude, just getting ready for Dolphins and Bills once more. How you doing out there from a beautiful Buffalo.
Yeah, Orchard Park right here at the stadium. The right team as.
Far as we're concerned over here. It's out on top a lot of times here. But listen, you talk about you loving them and loathing them. Yes, for me, same thing,
love hate relationship. This goes back to when I was a kid in the eighties and we all knew the scar tissue of the Dolphins being the Bills for twenty straight times in the seventies, and then the Bills get Jim Kelly and him and Marv Levy beat Dan Reno Donchulo quite a bit, and they had some back and forth and even the playoff games, and then you have the whole Brian Cox situation going against Bills fans.
It's just been such a great rival. I'm glad it's back, Glad it's renewed.
But man, so I think of an expectation from Bills fans if you better beat the Dolphins, right it's what you do, Josh Allen, but we all know it's not easy. A couple of years ago, the Bills go down there, they lose in the South Florida Sun and you know they had to go down there last year and get
a punt return from Deonta Hardy to win the division. So, by no means, I think that you could expect either of these teams because they are two familiar opponents, they know each other very well, and this is going to be a hard, bough game on a short week.
Yeah, you took it right into my first question here about this game, because you say the expectation and why wouldn't it be for Buffalo to come down here and beat the Dolphins, because they've done that a lot in recent years. But as I would kind of contend, as this game sets up for the Dolphins, if you're going to get this team, this is when you probably have to do it because it is a short week at home earlier in the year when it's tough to get
yourself turned around four days later. I'm curious from the Buffalo perspective, the challenge of going on the road on a short week just kind of take us through that.
If you can.
Yeah, for sure, it's a challenge. It's also one of the longer flights, you know.
I mean people talk about long plights going east coast, west coast and vice versa. This is a flight from all the way up, you know, in northern America, basically right in western New York to all the way down to the southern Tip.
I mean, this is a three hour plus flight.
You say, there's not a lot of time on Wednesday to get as much work in for the team. They're gonna have to get on the charter and fly down there on Wednesday, get there Wednesday night, get ready for a game on Thursday, dual walk through at the hotel. A lot of challenges here, and of course that's recovery time, injury recovery time. You got some injuries we're dealing with. We could talk about Josh Allen, Taron Johnson, Duwan Smooth a few of those. But of course it's it's a challenge.
I do think though, that the fact that you know, the two teams play each other every year, and they've had the same coaches now for the last few years, and the same personnel really over the last several years, it really helps out I don't know. There's gonna be a lot of surprises here, Travis, right. I mean it's basically, you know what we do, we know what you do, maybe a wrinkle here or there, and we're just gonna get after it as best we can.
I love it.
I think it makes the most sense, and from a content perspective, not that anybody cares about that, but you and I, I love this Thursday game in week two opposed it any other time of the year because I was able to get some work done on the front end. We're the beneficiaries of this, Whereas the team can't afford to look ahead to a Week two game a big one, but we can from content creation standpoint, so I kind
of love it. But I also love the concept of if we're going to have these Thursday games and they're great for the league. It's a product that you know, gets a lot of money in our pockets, as it were for the league. I love that they do it from a divisional perspective because, like you said, the familiarity with each team I think on a short week makes the preparation a little bit easier. At least that's what I would glean from the concept right, Like, it makes sense that that's kind.
Of how it works out for sure.
And look, I mean I know that what's the cliche, one game at a time, we're not thinking about the last game. You know for sure that these two teams were preparing for each other in their own way before this, right, even before last week.
You have to there's no way you can't.
You have to have your practice schedule setup, You have to have a game plan already in as soon as that game is over on so day, Bam, you're hiting the gun running on Monday. So I'm sure they've been looking at well, I think in both cases here right, like new coordinators for both teams. Bobby Babbage obviously's running Sean mcdermot's defense. But Joe Brady, what does he bring to the table. I'm sure that you know, Anthony Weaver
is looking at that. I'm sure that Joe Brady's looking at Okay, what do I know about Anthony Weaver For a new defensive coordinator.
All those things have to be put in place before the week starts.
And we heard from coach Weaver just a few minutes ago tapping this podcast on Tuesday, talking about the challenges of getting ready for a Jacksonville defense that, yeah, you have tape on their personnel, and yeah, you have tape of Brian Nielson in Atlanta doing his running his scheme in Atlanta, but you don't have a real concept of what that looks like together, and so you.
Have to make those in game adjustments.
I am curious who we get some of that here with Dolphins and Bills on a short week here. Like you mentioned Bobby Babbage, Anthony, we were both new pieces of that puzzle. But of course the offenses have some continuity there with Miami in their third year and the Bills coming into year two here with Joe Brady at of offensive coordinator. What's been the early returns there on Joe Brady and the way the system has gone. I know it's only one game, but we saw them kind
of pivot in season. I have to imagine that's pretty tough to put together kind of a new concept and new like you know, scheme as far as Joe Brady's concerned, or whatever you want to call it. But what are the returns after a full off season, full training camp, and now one game in on what the offense looks like under Joe Brady.
Yeah.
I talk with Joe back in the off season at the owners meetings about the combat excuse me about you know that exact thing you just said, and trying to do that, and he said, look, it's not what it is.
Really, it's Josh Allen's offense. What he likes.
You have to mesh, you know, your concepts, what he likes, and then at the end of the year you can kind of put that all together a little bit more and kind of expand what you want to do.
And that's kind of what we've seen here.
And really the messaging that we've heard really was brought to light here on Sunday, which Travis is everybody eats. That's their mantra. Everybody eats in this offense. This is not about one guy or two guys. Step On Diggs at Gabe Davis, two hundred and forty one targets together walked out the door, and you know, for different reasons, this was not a team that was going to replace those targets with two people. It's replacing them with four
or five people. That's what we saw on Sunday. The Bills threw the ball to ten different players, nine of them had catches. Every one of those nine had over double digit and yardage. I mean, it's pretty amazing actually, But that's what they want to be. They want to be this team where they can go to anyone at any time. It's not about forcing the ball to anyone.
You know, step On Diggs, he's a great player, we know that, but with him comes an aura of hey, he's your number one, he's your alpha getting on the ball, just like Tyreek Killwood.
And there's nothing wrong with that. They're great players, I get it.
But I think that the Bills wanted to go to this model where, look, we want to make sure that Joshua has come to going to anybody at any time, and we can spread the ball around. If you want to shut somebody down, somebody else is open. And that's what the Cardinals did. They took away what I think is the Bill's number one target this year, daltonkin Cage. I mean, he was getting double team, triple team, one catch eleven yards. Well, because of that, here comes Dawson
Knox with a big twenty three yard game. Here comes you know, Khalil Shakir with a nice game, and the leading receiver for the team was rookie Keon Coleman. He only had four catches for fifty one yards, but that's because everybody else was also getting in on the act.
Yeah, if you.
Mentioned that perfectly. The two tight ends there.
In Keen Kid Knocks and my preview podcast that came out yesterday, I talked a lot about the matchup with those guys and how tough they are to contend, and I think that it almost lends itself, and I'd love to hear your perspective on that. To Josh allen strengths, which a lot of that is creating off script and running the football, Like I don't want this guy to ever tucket and run because he makes plays when he does, and he makes a lot of him against the Dolphins.
When he does.
Do you find kind of feel like this, you know, new wave of Bill's offense with James Cook in that running game and these two tight ends who are both damn good players. Do you feel like that kind of more fits the mold of what Josh Allen does.
Well.
I think it fits the mold on what the Bills want to do here at this part of Josh Allen's career, So yes, it fits what he does because he gets spread it around. We all know he's got the big arm, right, but Josh is actually very good at dissecting defenses, finding the open man.
He's a very high football IQ.
And if we're gonna spread the field fifty three to third yards wide and you're gonna cover everybody, guess's gonna happen. I'm gonna open run lanes, right, and I'm gonna be able to get through those run lanes like he did.
It's so funny, Travis.
You know that One of the talking points this week here after Sunday was Bills fan saying, well, they needed Josh Allen to be Superman.
No, they didn't. Actually he just was. They actually were very good on offense, even independent of what he did.
He's just such a great player that if you look at the box score and go, well, there's Josh Allen again run in twice and throw two touchdowns. Boy, he had to put on the cape. He didn't have to put on the cape. He just happened to put on the cape because that's what he does.
He's a great player.
They actually played very well on offense. James Cook in the first half was averaging close to seven yards of carry. I mean, in the second half, the Cardinals did a nice job of shutting them down. Sure that lent itself to Josh having to make a couple of plays here and there.
I also think it's interesting. Brandon Bean was on our.
Radio program before the game on Sunday. He was asked about one player position that he's really kind of high on this year, and his answer was interesting to me. He said, I think this is the best running back room we've had since I've been here, and that just tells me that they're going to lean on James Cook, Ray Davis, and Ty Johnson to be a big part of this offense.
And a couple of names though that I'm sure Dolphins fans aren't really that privy to you there, but you saw the success they had against the Cardinals and that opener, and a big part of that, of course Josh Allen's ability to run the football. But yeah, it sounds like they kind of have this spread the ball around, spread the wealth offense a kin to what the Dolphins have in a lot of ways with two of in the
point guard stuff. And we saw a lot of that on Sunday with how they were able to in the first half, get the ball to different guys and then in the second half go back to reek and waddle for you know, both going over one hundred yards. That's pretty fun too. Before our first break here, Sally, I want to ask you, what's the word on Josh Allen's hand.
We saw him getting that tape job after the rushing touchdown, which, by the way, for a guy, a two hundred and fifty pound guy to go I don't know, eight feet in the air, however high he jumped and then land on the hand and just be like the look on his face as they were taping it up. I was like, is he not in pain right now? Like, how the hell is that possible? What's the latest on Josh Allen in that hand?
By the way, they make murals of those shots and pictures of Josh here and Buffalo, like literally the side of buildings.
He's jumping over things and people. They take those. It's crazy.
Really, He's just he is such a special, special player, but he's a little bit banged up.
He hurt that hand when he came down.
He had X rays after Sean mcdrrit Bill's head coach, told us yesterday on Monday that Josh is cleared to play. So whatever happened with those X rays, you know, good to go. And look, he did come back in the game and he did run the ball. He did take center, snaps under center, he did take snaps in shotgun. He did everything that a normal quarterback does. But hey, Jorenale's flowing.
You never know. He got X rays. He is cleared to play.
But I still wonder, you know, a little bit about ball security, especially if he's turning to his right to hand off with his left hand.
I wonder if it's compromised at all.
But obviously the Bills feel very confident about Josh Allen's ability to do what he needs to do on.
Thursday night, great stuff so far.
My guest today is Sal Capaccio from WGR five point fifty up in Buffalo, also the Bill's sideline. I'm gonna go ahead and take a quick break right here. I have three more questions for you on the other side, talking about this Bill's defense and a lot of new faces in blue on that defense. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Picking it back up here on this Wednesday preview edition
of Dolphins and Bill's actually check that it's Thursday. Sala, My days are all off on the short week with friend. I know you feel the same way, but get the w out of the way on Thursday and then go into a long weekend and enjoy that. We're all hoping that that's the case here, both Buffalo and Miami fans.
Before I get to these two questions about the defense.
And for those of you that are all of you, this is an audio platform.
You can't see. So right now?
Has the shades on right outside of high Mark Stadium. They're an Archard Park. He's got the shades brocking a beautiful tea.
By the way, Can I can I show you something here?
Real?
Quock?
I go for it.
Yeah, I'm watching you.
See that over there? That's the new stadium.
There you go. How close are we on that?
It's going to open in twenty twenty six?
And if you can see the cranes over there, yep, So the new stadium for all your listeners, is this on video?
For people? Are just audio?
Just an audio?
Oh man? Okay, so I'm showing it to you.
I'm sorry.
I apologize, I thought, but.
If people want to see it like it is, just to give an update. If you're coming to everybody's coming to Buffalo. We've got a lot of Miami fans to come here, a lot of a lot of Canadian Dolphin fans actually that come down across the border, and they're going to see this really big stadium that's going in across the street.
And you, Travis, can see the lights behind me.
The new stadium will be twenty feet higher than those lights at the top of it.
Wow, is that those lights dwarf the stadium? Yes, looking at right behind you. That's a crazy, crazy stat there, stadium stat Didn't know we those but really good stuff. And yeah, to your point about the Canadian Dolphins fans, that's the dam An Reno effect.
Baby.
Whenever you have a star player like that, you get you get a generation of fans. That's where that comes from. Speaking of lights, let's let's go ahead and start here before the defense. Curious to get your perspective, the player's perspective. Just what do the Bills think about coming down here this time of year? I mean, the game famously a couple of years ago was hot and Muggy and the
guys were getting ivs. But now they catch their second straight year of playing under the lights at hard Rock Stadium.
Are they excited about that? Do they talk about do they care about it?
Just take me through their perspective on playing a night game versus a day game here in hot, hot South Florida.
You know what, players are always going to say, it doesn't matter what the conditions are, It doesn't matter when.
They tell us to play. We got to go down to play. We'll be ready, we'll take care of our bodies.
But I'm sure that you know the preparation for what it takes to play in the South Florida sun in the middle of the afternoon is probably a little bit different.
Eas of their mind.
A little bit about playing at night doesn't mean you still have don't have to prepare, of course you do. So I'm sure that you know the back of their minds they'd rather be playing in this situation than on a sunny, high scorching Sunday afternoon, just like Dolphins fans would probably rather see the Dolphins play in Buffalo on November third, like they're gonna be playing here in Buffalo instead of December twenty eighth or January first, or whatever
it is. Because you have much less chance, not no chance, much less chance or some sort of snow precipitation.
I kind of feel like the rivalry should be play in Miami and September, play in Buffalo December. Let's let's maximize the polarization of this rivalry. To me, that's what makes the game so great in so many ways. But aside from the weather and the lights and the heat and all that fun stuff, two.
More questions here for you.
And every time I've asked to about the Buffalo defense, going back to my first year with the team, his first year in twenty twenty, it was always Poyed and Higher sorry Poyer and Hide. But the guy that he
would also direct me to was Tarin Johnson. Without him in the game, We'll talk about the rest of the defense here in a second, but I'm curious what does it look like when the Bills don't have This guy is the kind of the straw that stirs the drink, and a defense that is almost exclusively a nickel defense. How do they combat his loss?
He's a fantastic All Pro. He's the only All Pro the defense last year. I could make an argument he's their best defensive player. I think to Robert Dard is fantastic as well and could have that claim, but he's really really good. And look, the Bills are also in a fortunate situation though they have a backup Nickel and cam Lewis has been here for six years and I think cam Lewis could start on most teams in this league. The game on Sunday, cam Lewis was supposed to play
the dim safety role in passing situations. Seven plays into the game, Taron Johnson went out, so suddenly cam has to go and play Nickel nickel corner the rest of the game.
He was great.
He did a great job. The Bills are very, very confident in cam Lewis. He's not Taron Johnson, but he's a really good player. He's smaller like Taron Johnson. He's tough as nails and he'll get after you, and he's not He's not a guy that's going to necessarily show up and making, you know, big interceptions. I know Tarren Blitz is a lot, but when you look up at the end of the day, you're like, man, cam Lewis
made three or four big tackles. He was very physical and that's what they expect him to do in this game that there's gonna be no drop off as far as IQ communication understanding the defense. This guy's been here for six years. He's done a really good job.
Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
They wouldn't have this defense constructed that way and not have a contingency plan in case something happens to Terran right like, that would make no sense, So I would the Bills are too smart to let that happen.
Makes perfect sense.
Let's go ahead and finish up here because on that point, you mentioned Trell Bernard. That's one of the mainstays now on this Buffalo defense after a great twenty twenty three breakout season. We know about Daikwan Jones, at Oliver, Gregory Russeau, I mean aj Epanessa. The names upfront are pretty much the same. But give the Dolphins fans here the skinny on a pretty new look defense because I mentioned already hide pull you're white. They're all gone. No Milano, no Johnson.
I mean, those are the guys that for the last six seven years I would go into this game and be I'm like again, here we go again, because these guys are so damn good.
But now it's just different.
So if you can catch us up on some of the new pieces you did Cam Lewis already what else is new with that defense if you can for.
Us so well, one of the guys are gonna be maybe likely missing on Sunday is Duan Smooth. They got them from Jacksonville Jaguars, who had a really nice, you know run Jackson but he suffered a toe injury before the opener.
And that's a guy they actually really like.
Is a piece that they can move around the defensive line outside inside. So as you mentioned Greg grus So, he's not new, but Greg Grusso had three sacks last week.
This guy is really ascending. He's in his fourth year now.
Remember him and Jaleen Phillips came out together University of Miami the same season.
There two excellent players.
Phillips goes about Miami Ruso comes the Buffalo on the back end is where you really find most of the changes. No more hot hide employer. They did draft col Bishop of the second round. He's been dealing with an injury.
He was not active.
Now we go back to what I said about Teron Johnson and what happened with kaim Lewis, because Cam Lewis had to move from the dime safety to the nickel role last week. That forced JaMarcus Ingram, who's a third year corner made the actual active roster for the first time, to actually become the dime safety.
He's normally a boundary corner.
So that's gonna be some shuffling that they're going to have to do if they want to go dime defense, if they want to do And I wonder, now, Travis does does Cole Bishop get a jersey and actually see his first NFL action? Is he ready for that? Is he healthy enough for that? Because I think that could be the role that he fits in Tomorrow Hamlin started
last week. Look tomorrow, Hamlin is not Hied, He's not Poyer, but it's a four year veteran and he knows the defense and they trust him to know where he's supposed to be. So that could be a guy that's gonna make a lot of plays on the ball, but he's gonna try and keep everything in front of him do his job. And then Mike Edwards came over also from Kansas City. He's a guy that they are expecting to ultimately be a starter at safety, but he's been banged up.
He also he was active on Sunday, he didn't play that much. I do wonder did the Bills. I do the weekly radio interview with Sean McDermott every week, and I'm trying to ask him about those guys, and he said, well, there's some preservation involved. That tells me maybe they were holding them out knowing they had a game in five days against the Dolphins and they're gonna be used.
Akin to Jalen Phillips and Jalen Ramsey both getting thirty nine snaps of the fifty and the week one win over Jacksonville.
Sal, great stuff, man. We got a lot smart say.
By the Buffalo Bills, some information that even I didn't know going into this game. So really helpful there. He's a reporter for the Bills. You can find him on the sidelines during the games. Also the host of Extra point on WGR five point fifty up in Buffalo. At Sal Sports on Twitter. Overall, great dude, Sal capaccio as always, man, we appreciate your time and we'll see you here tomorrow.
Oh night, my friend.
Can't wait to be rocking at Heart Rock. Thanks a lot, man, Thanks for having me.
It is always great to hear from Sal. Although I hate that team, I do like a lot of the guys that cover that team as they are good people and good podcast guest as he was there TOAs a lot about the Buffalo Bills. As of course, you can learn more from the Dolphins perspective on the Wednesday podcast that came out yesterday morning, taking a look at this game from a Dolphins and Bill's perspective in the matchups
that I think Miami can exploit and go after. Let's finish up segment two here with the Week two picks. I am pretty happy about going ten and six in Week number one. That's typically a week where you just try to get over five hundred and get on too week two, because you learn so much about teams in the first game of the year. I will say I do think that overreactions are a very common occurrence in
Week number one. But like you just don't know what you're going to get going into the season, Like, for instance, I thought Carolina might be better this year.
I don't think that anymore.
Like you change your perspective on a team Atlanta with Kirk Cousins, they didn't move them out of the pocket.
They didn't run play action.
They just had him static in the middle of the pocket hope that pressure wouldn't come. Can he move at thirty nine years old off that Achilles injury? It doesn't look like it, And so my perspective on their entire season has completely shifted. What I'm trying to say is we now have some information of these teams, and that allows us to hopefully be more accurate in our picks the rest of the way forward, chasing down one hundred and ninety one wins, one ninety one and eighty one
last year, but then seven and six in the playoffs. Gross, I digress. Let's go ahead and cue the music and do the Week two picks. And I have gone back and forth so much on this Dolphins and Bills Thursday night matchup that I actually recorded it with a Dolphins prediction loss on the show. But after going back over the tape and spending more time focusing on the matchup,
I am going to pick the Dolphins. I had the Bills originally because I just think the Dolphins are in the exact same position they were offensively in Week eighteen last year. Of course, they have waddleback for the but as far as the depth at the skills spots, it's still depleted, and the offensive.
Line is the exact same offensive line for the most part, So.
I'm dubious about that prediction when I look at the loss of Arren Johnson, no Matt Malano, all the changes in the defensive backfield. They had communication issues back there on Sunday. I don't think it gets corrected in one week. I think this is the Dolphins chance to win this game. I think they get it done on Sunday. I'm taking the Cowboys over the Saints. I thought the Cowboys might
fall off this year. I think that still could happen, But Dat getting his contract right before the season began was a kind of shifter on that.
So I probably undersold their win total a bit this year.
And I am not for a second buying the Saints after they beat a JV football team in Carolina on Sunday. Give me the Lions over the Bucks. How fine does the Lions have the exact same schedules start the year as they did the first two rounds of the playoffs last year? Rams and Bucks think both those games are at home, too, So give me the Detroit Lions to go to two and zero. I'll take the Colts over
the Packers. I would have had Green Bay had Jordan Love played in that one, but I do not think Malik will can beat a team that has an offense led by Anthony Richardson and all that he can do from a scoring standpoint. The Jets and Titans. I really
want to take the Titans here. I think coming off of a short week, getting some injuries in that game on Monday night, traveling back across the country, and the fact that they're just not that good of a football team, like everyone picked them go to the Super Bowl and that's hilarious again for the second straight year. I think they'll win a tight one over the Titans because I think Will Levis kind of stinks. The Niners over the Vikings. That's obvious to me that the Niners are going to
roll all year long. The Seahawks over the Patriots as they travel way out East, and the Patriots probably had their their one win they're going to get in quite a while here to kick off the season. In my opinion, I'll take Washington over the Giants because I'm not going to pick the Giants probably all this year. The Chargers and they're boring a brand of football over a horrible
Carolina team. I think Jacksonville bounces back and beats the Browns, and gosh, how fun is it to watch Deshaun Watson play horrible football every single week?
Hope that continues all year long.
The Ravens over the Raiders and a massive stomp beat down.
That's going to be an embrassing one.
I'm taking the Cardinals over the Rams because of all the Rams offensive line injuries no Puka and Dakua. If it wasn't for Matt Stafford, Matt Rams team would not win a game. He is the third best quarterback in the NFL for my money, behind Allen and Mahomes. But I think that the Cardinals can get enough here with those injuries on the Rams offensive line to disrupt their offense just enough and score points against the Rams defense.
That man, it's not great.
I don't think give me the Broncos over the Steelers. This is probably the toughest pick of the week for me because I don't like the Broncos offense. The defense is okay, but playing in Mile High in September is a tough adjustment for anybody, and I think Pittsburgh's offense stinks, and so I think they can win like a seventeen to sixteen game at home.
Give me the Chiefs over the Bengals.
The Bengals finally get Joe Burrow for an entire summer, entire training camp, and they come out and they still stink in September. So give me the former champs to win that one after coming off of a ten day break. Give me the Texans over the Bears and a throttling on Sunday Night football.
The Bears should not have won the opener.
The Titans gave them that game. It's going to be a rough start for the Bears in my opinion. And the Eagles over the Kirk Cousin camp move Falcons in a big romp on Monday. What a crappy Sunday Monday slate this one is this week, But I digress. Those are the Week two picks ten and six in Week one, trying to get twelve wins here this week we shall see and check back on that. Let's go ahead and take our last break of the show right there. Come back on the other side and hear from some of
the players and coaches and break down those comments. That's all next Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
It is the.
Day of the game, Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, the biggest game of the year, really, I think until we play these guys again in November. And that's why I'm coming in kind of hot in this segment, a little bit annoyed by the way the press conference went with coach McDaniel and really throughout the entire week.
Now.
Granted, I understand everybody has different goals with their media approach, and they're definitely not the same as mine. I am not traditional media in the I cover this team.
And this game.
I am all about the ball and everything that happens on the field, right, But I do want to address this because I'm only gonna touch it once and then we are finito with it. Because I just keep getting tweets under every single tweet that I send, under the YouTube videos. I see them under the Dolphins accounts, and I know they're just bots doing what bots do on this new version of Twitter. I get all that, but
I do want to make my thoughts abundantly clear. My name's on the show, so you come for the Dolphins content. But you also come for the Travis Wingfield a little bit. I don't care if Tyreek Hill was a little bit lippy. I don't care if he was a little bit disrespectful. I think he was those two things. None of that, absolutely,
none of that constitutes being assaulted. That's what we witnessed out there, a legalized assault on someone that should have been something that should have been as simple as I have his license, he ruled his way back up, I scanned his plates, I issue a speeding ticket. Event over, go about your day. Go put two hundred yards on the Jacksonville Jaguars. But that ain't what happened, man, because of a total power trip.
It's not anti police, it's not any of that.
It's an anti abuse of power and anti assault. Do not put your hands on another man unless he does the same thing to you. There is no reason for that in any situation. And I will not reply to a single one of those comments on Twitter. Go get a damn life, Go touch some damn grass. Quit spending all your time tweeting into the void, because notice how none of those tweets ever have any engagement attached to
them whatsoever. I promise you the real world touching some actual physical sawgrass, although it's not the best grass in the world. Playing with your kids, I promise you it'll bring you more fulfillment than tweeting into an echo chamber. And that goes for both sides, right, But damn it, man, what happened to Tyreek Hill is in no way, shape or form deserved from anything that happened in that entire event.
And just because he has a checkered past that makes it okay for a random punk to remove him from his car and then put him in cuffs and force him to the ground.
Nah, Nah, fam, that ain't it.
I know this is a sports platform, but I just don't f with that stuff, dude. So for everyone getting in my mentions, I'm not gonna reply there. So quit as all right, tough conversation to pivot off of, but
we're going to do it here and close up this issue. Addition, I should say of the podcast with the latest from Dolphins coaches and players, including the injury report, we know the Buffalo Bills will not have Taran Johnson or Duwayne Smoot, the Dolphins will not have Raheem Mostert, and Devon Achann will be a game time decision. So that is basically where both these teams stand from an injury standpoint. Without eight Chan, I'll be honest with you, guys, my pick
for the game flips. I will go back on that. Even after I talked about it in the open. I told you guys, I fled my pick from the Bills to the Dolphins after watching more tape.
But without a CHAM.
My concern about the lack of receiving options beyond Tyreek and Waddell, concerned about the ability to take advantage of how they're going to double them bracket those guys all night long is amplified when you remove who I think is receiver at number three. I do think Jalen Wright can handle the duties in the backfield for Raheem Moster.
I don't think we.
Have the bullets, even with the bills banged up defense and their loss of all these key veterans, I don't think that we have enough beyond that to give you more than twenty twenty four points against a team that typically holds team to that number of points, especially at division rival. So without a Chan, my prediction flips. Not that you guys care, but we'll see what happens come game time.
Very important.
It will be six forty five designation there before and actives come out. Let's go ahead and getting out of some press conference audio heading into this big matchup and start with QB one, who was asked about the additions of Jordan Poyer and Sirran Neil.
Those guys help you out.
He was also asked about Mike White and the concern about him relaying signals to the Buffalo defense, and two is like, no, it's not a concern. We don't have signals and he's not in the huddle to hear our play call, So what good does that do them? And if you notice we have two Bills defensive backs, what do the Bills have in their defensive backfield? Zero x Miami Dolphins, in fact zero Dolphins on that defense. So I think the advantage in that sense is Miami, and QB one agrees.
They definitely can they know in the back end signals with what the Bills do and how they communicate things that they've done to stop us previous years, and then you know, just kind of the philosophy of that defense with what they try to accomplish against our offense uniquely different than a lot of the teams they would play against. So can take a lot of the information that I've been given from those guys earlier in the week and apply it to Thursday.
Just a quick heads up.
A lot of times the audio soundbites I have are turned all the way up, and that's the max volume I can get on those, So I do apologize if it's lighter than my audio. I don't want to drown myself down and make the whole show quiet.
So that's why it sounds like that, if you guys have noticed that. Also.
I think this is the best chance this offense has really had since twenty sixteen, when Sean McDermott wasn't there, when Rex Ryan was there, and then McDermott arrived and started putting these pieces in place on defense and incorporating his scheme. I think this is the Dolphin's best chance offensively to put Buffalo in a blender under Sean McDermott since twenty seventeen. I just it's never really happened here, and God, I wish we had our full complement of guys.
I wish we had OBJ.
I do think Devon a Champ plays in the game by the way I wish we had River Craycraft. I wish we had Raheem Moster, but they're so valuable. But I just think that if we had all those guys, I'd feel very confident about thirty five plus points in this game. Let's go ahead and go back to to on the importance of this matchup with the Buffalo Bills and how tuned in the team has been ahead of this massive, massive game.
Guys that are in the locker room, guys are are in the right frame of mind, Guys are ready to play this game. And there's there's just been a lot of guys that have been here for their off days, not just getting working, but talking to each other, communicating things that we could get better with, and then going into this week talking personnel, talking you know, hey, this guy does this really well? You know, maybe this that
or whatever. There's just been a lot of guys up here in the building the past day or so since since we've played. So I think that's that's a that's a good thing for us.
Gosh, man, like I know it's early.
I know One in one is not a death Neil by any stretch of the imagination, but from a narrative standpoint, it sure would be nice, wouldn't it. But also giving yourself a chance to go sweep them up in November. That's what is really what this is all about, and
just kind of getting off on the right foot. I think with the long rest, the schedule the way it is the next few weeks, this is a really great chance for the Dolphins to put themselves in a good headspace going into the you know, final fifteen games of the season, on top of what it actually does in the tangible standings aspect of everything, and this game is gonna tell me a lot like I will be a bit panicked if they look sluggish offensively in this one,
because there's no reason to. I know Buffalo's well coached, they know this offense very well, so there should be you know, division games tend to be tight, especially against a good, well coached defense like this, but even if they're undermanned, I just feel like this is a game where you need to be able to X K on offense because of the continuity, because of the star players.
You didn't have Waddle in the Week eighteen game last year.
You have him now, I think you're gonna have a chan which you had him in both the games last year, but we didn't have him in this capacity. Like, go do the damn thing, man, Tyreek is one hundred percent in this game like he was not in the Week eighteen game last year. Go look up on offense, go execute and get thirty points. Let's go back to the defensive side of the football here and ask coach Weaver, how long have you guys been talking about Josh Allen how to stop him?
Just go back to February January when you were hired. What do you say, coach?
Knowing what this game means to this organization? There are some things that really didn't need to be set as soon as the schedule came out and you saw this game, particularly a Thursday night game. Game two, it's when you kind of circle. So it's a short week. Thursday games aren't easy for anybody, but this one's going to be a little bit easier for our guys because of who our opponent is. It will it won't require a lot
of motivation for me. These guys will be jacked up to play and the show who we are in front of a nationally televised audience.
Highly recommend going to the YouTube Channel checking out coach Weave's entire press conference because he was fantastic. I hope this guy's here for five years, and I will wish him luck as a potential head coaching candidate that I think he will be one day. But I really hope we have this guy for quite a long time because he is great, and his answers about the Tyreek situation talking about his own experiences and his kids was very, very good. I highly recommend going back and checking that out.
And then from the football perspective, I just can't wait to see what Weaver cooks up in his own right. I keep talking about this offense, but I think this thing was built for the Buffalo Bills with these guys in mind on either side of the ball. Just as the offense has a chance, I think the defense does too. Outside of Josh Allen heroics, which if he does that thing like, I don't think anybody in the league can stop a quarterback of his capabilities when he's on like that,
So hopefully we don't get that. But he's a bit banged up, the hand is not one hundred percent short week, But most of all, this is just not the same offense they've had much like the defense. So let's make that play out on the field. Don't let this become a same old Dolphins and Bills thing. I implore you, God, I want this game. Can you guys tell already? Let's go ahead and get two more soundbites here, both from
Frank Smith. This one about the commonality across players perspectives from the issues in the game Sunday early on with offensive struggles about communication.
Here's Frank Smith talking about that.
But also the part I'm playing this for is how he describes a Week one opponent that you don't have a ton of familiarity with.
Here's Frank Smith.
A lot of it is just communication because if you have different plays have different variables, you know that you have to consider whether it's a movement or a play within a play that you're trying to get to versus
a look. You know, it's the challenge of when you play a defense that's a first year of their staff and there's some variables that we as a staff as coaches, we're trying to make sure we're getting bed, trying to not chase the certainty, find the certainty inside of what they're trying to do, what their plan is and some of that was, you know, reflective, but ultimately, you know, when you regroup and you get together and you're going, Okay, here's what we need to do, we're able to do that.
And the guys really responded and they did it together. I mean, you just can't talk enough about our guys and how they really bond together as a team and realize what they need to do to perform. And I think that was really exemplified in the first half. Hey, let's get together, let's fix what we need to fix, and now let's go play ball.
I mean, we talked about this going into the Jacksonville game, and I was wrong about the total points for the Dolphins. But you go back over the last two plus years. Now, Patriots and Bills games are the only time we've been held to a small number of points offensively in September, and I just keep thinking, you know, these divisional games tend to be tighter, but I just keep thinking, it's either going to look like that first half or it's going to look like the second half. And I'm eighty
percent on the side of second half. The adjustments made kind of been preparing for this game all summer, built this team, I think to beat Buffalo, I want to believe that. I do need to see it, however to make it one hundred percent.
Oh the nerves man.
And this answer right here to close the podcast is why I'm eighty percent compared to what I would have been probably otherwise at fifty percent.
Frank Smith one more.
Excellent, Excellent. They're very They're great communicators, and they're able to tell us what they're saying, what they're feeling, right, why things, Ay, why didn't you go here? Well it was because of this, Hey, why'd you do that? Well?
He moved into the last second. Like, the guys have excellent communication skills, and that comes into the trust that you know, you build with the guys over through all their time here, and it's just it has to be an open communication because they're playing and they have to tell us what they're saying because you know, our vantage point is different, and they can't come off to the sideline, you know, until the drive is done, so they have
to problem solve in the moment. So when they come off and they're problem solving with us, a lot of the time they kind of know and they're making their adjustments. So overall, I think that our guys in their communication was awesome and that's something that really you will be important as we go through the season.
That was about the team's communication with adjustments coming off the field after series against the Jacksonville Jaguar.
So there you go.
Let's get out of here. We'll have the game recap early on Friday morning. The All twenty two podcasts will be out Friday evening. We'll take Monday off and kind of let that All twenty two show permeate throughout the wee weekend into Monday, and then come back on Tuesday and get back to Seahawks week. But in the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast.
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Until next time, Ben's up, Carolyn and Cameron, Daddy, he's coming home.