Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Now, let me check your pulse if you're not far though.
What is up? Dolphins?
And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, Week sixteen kicks off tonight. That means it's time to hear from a member of the Cowboys beat. Michael Gelkin joins us from the Dallas Morning News for a great conversation about a huge game. Really
good x's and those guys. So that fits the podcast well. Here, plus we'll hear from the assistant coaches, we'll pick the Week sixteen games. All of that and more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is.
The Draft Time Podcast. Ye daffy, sir, let's welcome in.
My guest today from the Dallas Morning News, Michael Gelkin and joining me today here on the Draft Time Podcast from the Dallas Morning News Michael Gelkin.
Michael, welcome and.
Sir, thank you for having me.
Travis.
It's a pleasure, happy to do it.
Let's go ahead and start here with you, Michael, because in watching the Cowboys, a very fun team this season, and in particular last week, gosh it, it feels like they really missed Layton vander Esh and to Mario Overshown.
I know there's a couple of players they've been without for a while now, but I wanted to ask you in general, because you know Trayvon Diggs obviously no Malie Cooker and Jonathan Hankins last week, just how the injuries have impacted this defense and in particular that second level where the Buffalo Bills kind of went rough shot in the running game.
I think it's a great place to start the conversation. It's obvious. I think in for agency in April during the draft, the way that fans and teams get excited about player personnel acquisitions. You know, players on the field matters, and so during the season there's nothing you can do about losing, you know, a top linebacker on your team. In terms of Layton vanner Esh, you know, a rookie
third round pick and Tomorrio Overshown. Safety Willie Cooker releases a tone for the Cowboys, and from his physicality standpoints one of those types of guys, one of their best tacklers, and then a big loss they felt was nose tackle Jonathan Hankins. And so when you lose those guys, as much as you want to have that next man up, you know thing that you say that that mantra, it hurts losing those guys. And so I think absolutely you know that size and that experience that the loss of
that was felt against the Buffalo Bills. You know that offensive line, it's pretty rare. They've they've started all five every single game this year. And when you've got that much continuity up front against a front seven that's missing some pieces and asking some younger guys or a practice spot elevation guy or just you know, asking guys to
step up, it's you. You feel that absence, and you certainly feel it when you're missing twelve tackles, which is about as bad as the Cowboys have been right there with a Week five loss to the San Francisco forty nine ers. So it just wasn't this defense's best at all. And most of those guys aren't an't coming back, you know for this coming game against the Dolphins.
He said, mostly guys there, becuse that makes me curious because it just it just seems so different. Like, you know, we had Tony Romo on the call last week and Jim Nantz the CBS Number one crew for that game, and they talked about Romo did the absence of Tyreek Hill. But how for one or two games you can possibly scheme around before teams kind of get a piece of your new scheme and can then adjust and then you
start to really feel the absence of those players. But like you mentioned, a few of those guys not coming back. But I'm curious about two main ones here with Hankins and Hooker. I know it's early in the week in this podcast on a Wednesday, but do you think the Cowboys will get those guys back this week?
Yeah, even though this is an early week recording, and I feel confident saying that Leek Hooker will be back on Sunday. He was very close to playing a bit like Tyreek Hill for the other the other day. You know, he had a pregame workout Hooker did, and it was just decided that he couldn't go. So I would expect, given how close he was, and it was a true
game day call, that he will be ready. There is that optimism for having Hooker back against the Dolphins in Miami Gardens, and then for Jonathan Hankins early week, I'm less optimistic. He has a high ankle spring also at knee issue, so I just think that's asking a lot for three hundred and thirty five pound man the trenches to come back, you know, a couple weeks after having sustained that injury. So we'll see how the week progresses.
But certainly more optimistic about the Cowboys ability return Hooker than Hankins.
Makes for a fun matchup this late in year two ten win teams going at it down here in Miami Gardens for twenty five kickoff, the primary Fox game you guys are used that window for the Dolphins. Is not a lot of four to twenty five Fox kickoffs for us looking forward to this one. But I usually start at this position with these podcasts, at the quarterback spot, right.
It's an obvious low hanging fruit there, and Michael, I think that Dak is a good study in quarterback discourse and how misguided it can be from week to week or even year to year, because like the conversation around Dak's pit last year, right and now it's way down back to where he typically is in terms of how he puts the ball in harm's way at a pretty
minimal rate. I'm curious what you think is the big difference though, between Dak's performance in twenty twenty two versus what he's done this year with this Cowboys offense that's going up and on the field. Yeah.
Well, first, Travis, I really like the way you framed that question. I'm thirty six years old.
How old are you, Travis, same age, good company.
Thirty six So we're probably in the same point of life where we have been in our industry for a while now, and there are certain themes that maybe bother
us about how lazy some analysis can become. And I think it's kind of hard to have a stomach for, like longevity in this profession sometimes when you just hear how lack of nuanced There is a lot of prominent conversation that's had about this sport, and Dak Prescott is a terrific example where yeah, he had interceptions last year, but if you go back and really study them, you would see that there was an element of the receiver corps that just was felt. And you know, the Cowboys
lost the more cooper. Last year, they lost Cedric Wilson to the Dolphins, and they didn't really replace either of them. You know, they tried, you know, they drafted someone in the third round who caught a couple passes literally, and then drafted James Washington who really didn't catch any or they signed James Washington one year contract. He needn't really catch any So there just wasn't much productivity there and so he's got a lot more help this year. Jalen
Tolbert is another year along in terms of that. Former third round pick Michael Gallup is another year removed from his ACL tear. That really helps in the big addition was Brandon Cooks March you know the edition via trade and that he's really been a veteran in the room who's helped get guys around him almost like a coach
on the field. Is so experienced, he's got such a great feel for, you know, how offenses operate and where to be and when to be there to timing, and then you take that in conjunction with things that Dak's doing. It's the big difference for Dak is what he's doing with his feet. You know, he's got better footwork in the pocket, that's one. He's got a cleaner pocket, that's two.
But when the play breaks down and he's having to extend plays after that initial two point three of a second, two point three seconds of a play that typically kind of went to scripted once they has to go off script, and his improvising and on the run, he's as good as anybody in the NFL, and in fact, statistically in terms of his rating on scramble drill plays, he's the
best in the NFL. So that has all been a big part of it, in conjunction as well with Mike McCarthy taking him over play calling and just I think have a little bit more balance on offense. You know, the route regressions, the way things are structured. All that is set up for Dak to have success. And McCarthy has more pieces than Kellen Moore had last year as offensive coordinator and play caller. But I do think Mike McCarthy deserves a lot of credit for what he's doing with those pieces.
You know, Michael, I don't have any connects really in the Dallas market because we play you guys every presidential term. And so when I asked Brett breckheis and our great communications manager over here. Who should I ask for a podcast with the boys? He first sent her Nam. Now I'm seeing why he understands that you would be good for the show because you just talked about exactly I thinks we talked about here on Drive Time all the time with discourse and how irritated it could be some time,
so good stuff. Start talking about this elite quarterback and this elite offense. It's so fun to watch and it makes for a game that has elite matchups all over the field. And we saw Jalen Ramsey travel with Garrett Wilson last week to a lot of success, only one target, no catches on those twenty four routes that he played on Garrett Wilson. I'm curious if we see Ramsey doing on Ceedee Lamb this week.
So my question for you, Michael is if.
He does and does it well, and let's say that he takes Lamb not out of the game, because you can't do that, but if he limits Lamb to a smaller amount of production than what you're used to, which is usually a bunch of catches and a bunch of yards and a bunch of touchdowns. What would the next major area of concern for the Miami offense be? Like, I know you all got weapons over there, but who would you say if Lamb's not you know, if he has like four for forty five, who would be the next.
Guy that would beat Miami if he didn't get enough attention?
Well, there's not an obvious answer, which is probably the answer. My mind first went to to Jake Ferguson tight end, you know, that was that was one place my mind went. I would say two is probably Brandon Cooks, And then I think there's a pretty good gap there between anyone else in terms of the passing game. Obviously, the run game is is something that the Cowboys would want to do. And you know, if it's single high safety versus too high,
you know what that looks like. You know, the numbers game in the box and all that matters in terms of box count and how you want to attack a defense. But I do think that if if you take away Ceedee Lamb, you're well on your way to really stressing this Cowboys offense. But Jake Ferguson tight end second your tight end, He's he's really crafty in the open field, he's tough. Then you know, he's got a lot of
toughness to him. He's someone that you see on tape. He's, you know, before he's getting open in the flat, he's chip blocking and outside, you know, a linebacker, edge rusher and help helping free himself open and helping his protection. It was just kind of the great and toughness to his game. So I think Ferguson has really come along his second year. By no means it's a finished product yet, but I think of safety valve, if you're taking away one guy I really trust in, Ceedee Lamb, Well, a
tight end is often that friendly option for a quarterback. Underneath, I'd say that he can't get open on a steam rout or what have you. But Ferguson is probably my answer.
Michael I put in my notes that he's like, he's kind of George Kittle light man, like he's on his way to being that type of player.
He is, Gosh, he's good.
This whole offense just has pieces like that, especially across the offensive line. That's where I go next year talking about the potential absence of a future Hall of Famer and Zach Martin, I saw him walking around the sidelines watching that game last week with the quad rap and just kind of looking like he wasn't gonna play again for a.
While, But now it sounds like he might have a chance.
Do you think he plays and if he does not, what would the absence of Zach Martin mean to the Cowboys offensive line?
Yeah?
Well, first, before we gets to Zach Martin, it's funny that you mentioned the George Kittle garrison for Jake Ferguson because they're the same guy in their locker room.
Kill you see.
Yet people don't really know Jake Ferguson as a as a personality yet. And I'm currently working to develop an article that that'll help that. It wouldn't wouldn't be this week, will probably be next week. But he's that just like guy who keeps others loose. He's the jokester who stands
in front of the entire offense and delivers jokes. Or if there's a rookie offensive lineman, undrafted rookie who is casked with making a you know, delivering a story in front of the offensive line, he pantics he doesn't know what he's gonna say in this meeting that's coming up. He says, hey, Jake, give me a story I can tell my teammates, and then he gives them like this funny story, and then the offensive line is like, all right, perfect. So he's got kind of like the glue guy in
the locker room that much like Kittle is. They even have the same agent. So funny comparison you make. Obviously, Ferguson not that type of player yet, but talk about a guy who's who's tough on the field and light off with it. That's that's that's Jake Ferguson to the Cowboys locker room. As for Zach Martin, you mentioned the left quad injury, there is optimism and I don't think he's you know, he's going to doing anything on Wednesday.
They have a walkthrough here on Wednesday. Thursday they practice. You might not see him practice on Thursday. That is undetermined, but for certain he's trending the right direction as of earlier this week to play on Sunday. And so that's a big deal for an offensive line that if Martin goes, Cowboys will have started the same offensive line combination in eight straight games. And that's not only a big deal in general, but it's a big deal when you're including
their left tackle Tyron Smith as part of that. The Cowboys don't even practice Tyron Smith. I mean that, literally, zero weekday practices for several weeks. They just bottle him up, let him stay healthy, stay fresh, you know, keeping them busy and walkthroughs in the weight room, and then come Sunday he goes and he is as dominant as any tackle in the league. So having Zach Martin as part of that, those are two potential likely Pro Football Hall
of Famers. Tyron Smith, he's been steady overly several weeks, and Zach Martin's expected to return to keep that streak alive to eight.
You pretty much just described Toron Armstead too. Doesn't practice a whole lot, but is dominant when he does get on the field, and he's best some games this year. But man, when you get him back, it's so obvious how impactful he can be.
Just good stuff all around there.
Man, these teams, these teams mirror each other so much in my opinion, And speaking of Toron Armstead in the offensive line, let's go ahead and flip it over to the other side of the ball here. For the Cowboys, defense here and where else would you start besides Michaeh Parsons. First, I'm curious how teams have dealt with him, Like how has he impacted the way teams have to commit extra
attention and bodies to him? And then the follow up, would we be a similar question to when I asked you about Ceedee Lamb, Like if you can get Parsons blocked, and whether it takes two or three guys or motions or whatever you have to do to take advantage of getting Parsons out of the game. Who's the next guy you look at in this Cowboys pass rush?
Yeah, started with Michael Parker. If anyone who is a fan of the Dolphins hasn't seen him yet, number eleven, you can't miss him during the game. He's just so explosive in space, just so explosive. Think you're in a four point three forty at his pro day after skipping the season at Penn State. He's just he's got that element of just pure speed and explosion. But then he's also really good with his hands. He understands leverage. He's a former like youth national team wrestler, so there's.
That element of him.
And then he's just so versatile where you know, on first and second down he might be at left end or right end, and then on third down he's a linebacker. Now off ball, he's standing in front of the A gap, you know, mugging the gap. You're not sure if he's if he's gonna be blitzing, if he's going to be back and out of coverage, or he might start on the left AY gap and then rush the right A gap.
And he's so versatile. And dan Quinn, the defensive coordinator here, who should be a head coach really whenever he wants to be, he can be selective, but dan Quinn does a horrific job of keeping Micah Parsons on the move, making it an identification problem. You know, when Tua or any other quarterback gets to the line, they have to be like, all right, where's where's number eleven? And do teams account for him?
Every week? Absolutely?
We've seen them double team, We've seen him triple teams. Even, we've seen him chipped, we've seen him cut block, We've seen absolutely every approach one could take toward a dominant rusher, and really the only thing we haven't seen lately is a holding penalty. Because it's been eight and a half games. I started keeping count. There's a counter going on thirty four consecutive quarters that one of the best, if not the best pass rushers in the NFL, has not drawn
a single holding penalty. I think a single hands to the face. I double check that, but there have been multiple ones that have missed there. He just isn't getting calls.
And so if.
You're if you're a fan, you're on social media and during the game and you see Micah Parsons get a holding call, I guarantee you he will be trending in the Dallas area because it finally happened. As for beyond Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence is completely I don't know if he's underrated. People talk about he as underrated, but people talk about he's underrated so much he possibly cannot still qualify. He's
just dominant against the run. If you were to look at the first two plays that the Bills ran in the first quarter and the first two plays that the Bills ran on Sunday in the third quarter, so the first two plays of each half for the Bills offense,
he shut them down entirely. He's the reason solely that the Cowboys had a chance to get off the field on third down both those series that they didn't, and the Bills end up scoring both those series, and that was kind of the hallmark of the game, is that they had some little glimpses, but they couldn't sustain it. DeMarcus Lawrence can't be everywhere throughout the entire game, but he's just so violent with his hands, and he's got
such a great motor and backside pursuit. He's one of the best block shutters, run defenders in the entire NFL, regardless of position. He's that good. So that's number ninety. So eleven and ninety, those are the two guys. And just like Micah Parsons's versatile, dan Quinn has done a great job of developing Lawrence's versatility, so you might see him in a zero or one technique, you might see him aligned over the tight end, and tight ends have been thoroughly unable to block him all year long.
Really really good stuff there, and it makes for even Again, I'm gonna keep saying an elite matchup across the board, because a few quarterbacks have been as effective against the blitz as to a tongue of b I lower. But that Cowboys blitz is just different because of what you mentioned there with Parsons' ability to line up all over the formation and just cause communication issues, especially for a Dolphins offensive line that is pretty banged up on the
interior offensive line. So man, good stuff all around there. And it's funny you mentioned the holding stuff there with with Micaeh Parsons. That reminds me so much of Cameron Wake's career down here in Miami, Like he would win the corner so fast that it was impossible, Like the physics of it didn't make sense that he wasn't getting held at least three or four times a game when he went in that corner as a pass rusher.
So good company there.
Let's go ahead and take a break rate there. Come back on the other side, I have four more questions. We'll do these ones quicker for you, Michael. On the other side of the Drift Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield. My guest today is Michael Gelkin, brought to you by Auto Nation. Finishing up with my guests to a Michael Gelkin of the Dallas Morning News. Great stuff so far in that first part of the podcast. I have four
questions for you here. This one is maybe a little bit of a question I want to hear from a perspective of a different team, because for the Dolphins, it's similar to what I think the Dolphins had to overcome.
Last week against the New York Jets.
And it's this that the Cowboys have not lost back to back games since the beginning of last year. And for Miami, I thought we learned a lot about their team makeup with the way they performed against the Jets off that really tough loss on Monday Night football. What do you think that says about this Cowboys team and how they might respond after a tough loss last week and how they come out here against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Well, it's funny because I actually think that streaks about the end. Yeah, but but to your let's focus on the streak. I know, I think it speaks to the resilience of a locker room. I think it speaks to Mike McCarthy. I think it speaks to the talent of
the football team. You know that's McCarthy, But I think the entire coaching staff that they do a good job of using failure as a lesson, and sometimes it can be more difficult on a Monday morning after a big win to get your team locked in for the next week, then it would be the Monday morning after after a
huge disappointment of a loss. And so I don't not to say necessarily that was the case or been the case, but I just think that this team uses failure as a as a great teacher, and they have a lot of great teachers and the coaching staff to frame it as such, just the way. You know, Mike McDaniel, we
saw that on on Hard Knocks on Tuesday evening. You know, coming out of that Tennessee game, you know, you gotta look failure in the eye and you got to just just just do it and take it and use this as as a great thing to have happened to us, because we're gonna learn from it and we're gonna be better for it. And you've got to get through the tough times to experience the success and the highs of the season that you're chasing. So, you know, much like
Mike McDaniel frames that, Mike McCarthy does the same. I'm sure a lot of coaches around the league do the same. But maybe not quite as well. I really enjoyed m McDaniel hearing him talk. I respect the heck of that guy. That's a whole nother conversation. But yeah, So I think there's there's that framing and that maturity in the locker room that the locker room itself with Dak Prescott. You know, there's there's just that that mental toughness within that room.
Michael.
You teased it there a little bit in the opening of that answer there, and this is how I always conclude the podcast. But I do want to come back for one more question because I think it's the most important question I'll ask you here in just a second. But my penultimate question is the Cowboys win this game if and then you fill in the blank. And I don't always do this because a lot of our games
have been against teams that are pretty big underdogs. But I will also ask you this question on top of that, the Dolphins win the game if how do both these teams find their way to the winner circle on Sunday?
So the Cowboys can win this game if they limit the explosive plays that the Dolphins have, and those are explosives in the run game. There's obviously explosives in the passing game. This is such an explosive personnel unit with such great scheme from from McDaniel. Again my respect to what is what is in place there the Dolphins have.
It's it's it's it's it's truly uh, you know, vaunted, and it's it's going to be a real, real challenge for this defense, even if they have Mollie Cooker back, Even if they had you know, some of the guys that they won't have back slowing down this Dolphins team is a heck of a challenge and it starts with limiting the explosives.
As for.
The Dolphins can win, if they I would say, protect Tua, that would probably be the number one thing. And obviously that by having a run game that helps the get rid of the ball quickly.
That helps.
By being simply able to protect that helps. But if you're able to protect your quarterback against the Cowboys defense, you're probably avoiding some of those bad turnovers. And we've seen the Cowboys, you know, dron Bland, I think he's got to an NFL record with five six pick sixes. Five it's been a while since he had the last one, but they have the ability to score on defense and to get the ball back instead of short fields on defense. So that's that's the key for the Dolphins. It's protection.
Yeah, to your point, these teams rank one and two in defensive scores as well, So top offenses, top defensive scoring, the football. Just a fun, fun matchup on Christmas Eve. Let's go ahead and finish here. Because every year, Michael, you create a list of some of the top players around the NFL and their foundations and causes and encourage fans and fantasy winners to donate to those causes. I'm curious, what have you found out about the Dolphins on your twenty twenty three champions Causes.
Yes, this is something I do every year. Like you said, I think this is year number eight having done it, and so I mean it's kind of a long story of how it started. I'll get to the basics. You know, there's obviously no requirement for someone who wins their fantasy league to donate a portion of their winnings to a cause that a player supports, and so like the idea there is you know, if you know it's Tyreek Hills, you win your league, it's kind of like tipping the
tipping the blackjack dealer before you leave the table in Vegas. Okay, I just I'm up. I want one hundred bucks. Here, here's ten, and you flip your chip and you turn around. And so it's kind of that same spirit where you know, obviously these players, they have all the money in the world, they don't need anything but their causes, you know, their passions, be it Melanoma Research Foundation, which you know, or what have you. There's there's some really great causes out there.
And so I've been doing it again for a while, and I've seen more than fifty thousand dollars be donated to Todd Gurley's cause in twenty seventeen. That was Shriner's Hospitals for Children Leave based there in Florida. And then there was another one Son of a Saint, an organization in New Orleans that benefits followless boys in the area and for Alvin Kamara that raised more than seventy thousand dollars.
And so over the years, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised from fantasy managers, and it's been really cool that the spirit of champion Causes has been applied really by dolphins fans to non fantasy moments, and so we've seen, you know, more than four hundred thousand dollars be donated to Andy Dalton's foundation because Dallon threw a late game touchdown that got the Bills into the postseason, and suddenly they just responded by donating to him. Obviously,
the most extreme example is Damar Hamlin. More than ten million dollars was donated to him and his causes after his collapse about a year ago in January, and so it's a real positive thing. I'm happy to kind of curate a list of causes. I'm still finalizing my list
for Dolphins players. I don't want to give the wrong cause for them, but I post the list on Sorry, I almost say Twitter, what a huge mistake that would have been on X. I post the list on X on the Sunday morning of Championship Week, which in a new schedule is week seventeen, So on New Year's Eve morning that Sunday, I'm posting my list on my ex account there at Gelkin NFL. And so if people want to do it and want to find it, they can find it. If not, enjoy winnings, you deserved it.
Grand slam guest. We all got smart, say Michael Gelkin the Dallas Morning News. I actually have in my closer here at Gelican NFL on Twitter, so I'm still team Twitter over x Michael.
But that's a conversation for a different day.
Appreciate your time today, man, Happy holidays, and thank you so much.
My pleasure trave has a lot of fun tick care.
Great stuff there from Michael Gelkin. You can find him on social at Gelkin NFL. Let's go ahead and pause for our last break right there. Come back on the other side and hear from the assistant coaches, Frey Smith, Vic Fangio, Sam Madison, Darryl Bevell. A great group of conversations we had in the press room on this Thursday. That's all next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
brought to you by Auto Nation. Kicking off assistant coach Audio here, and I want to go ahead and start with Vic Fangio, who touched on the concept of the pass rush connection as a team opposed to being a squad that has, you know, one or two top rushers. We've seen that in the past with the Dolphins. Right Cam Wake was kind of the the guy they brought in Dominic and seue In. There was kind of a
one two punch there. You had Jason Taylor, who was obviously one of the greatest of all time to do it, and at best he was paired with Adam walle Algunlie who had his big year. You see all these teams across the NFL right now with the high sack totals, there's usually a Nick Bosa, a Miles Garrett, a Micaeh Parsons, and the Dolphins have just like five of the guys that are in that category in terms of really good
pass rushers. Let's go ahead and hear from Vic Fangio on how this pass rush works as a team unit opposed to a singular functioning player.
Yeah, we do a good job of rushing as a unit instead of rushing as individuals and realizing that a good even rush whether you're running games or not, we run our fair share of games and we'll provide results for the entire group.
Next, I want to go ahead and play some sound here from Vic Fangil and he was asked about Jalen Ramsey participating on Scout Team defense and he would do that early in the year to go match up on Tyreek Hill and Glen Waddell.
Why did he do it? Here's Vic Fangio.
No, it's not normal, especially at this point in the season. But again, it was something that he started to do once he got back to practicing because he had no offseason, had no training camp, and he needed reps as many as he could get to get ready for those first few games that he played in. And he's just kind of carried it over. He's not doing it quite as much as he was when he first got back, but he is still doing it.
So let's jump now to the offensive side of the football, and Daryl Bevell is a treasure man. I want to go ahead and play a few soundbites from here with him talking about his quarterback to a tongue of Bailoa. And I love that this came up because it became a conversation throughout the entire press conference. The fourth question he was asked was about anticipation, and Coach alluded on what makes too a special one of his superpowers.
Here's Coach, I mean it's one of two of superpowers, you know, really, I mean there's every every player has, you know, skill sets that you know that really help them that they're really good at. And then you know there's some that you know that they're not as good at. You know, you can just stack up all the quarterbacks speaking specifically, you know, some guys have disability. Some guys
have that ability. You know, if you compared Michael Vick to a Tom Brady, both outstanding quarterbacks, but different styles of play.
Two is two.
His secret powers are his anticipation, his timing, his vision.
And his accuracy.
And he does that as well as anybody that that I've been around. And not everybody can anticipate, you know sometimes you know, not to get into the specifics, but different style of players, you know, can rely on their other skill sets, you know, whatever those may be. And
but those are the things that he does well. And I think Mike has done a great job of, you know, taking two his skill sets, those four things specifically, implementing an offense that enhances his skills as well as the other players that we have, you know, I mean obviously it's you know, whether it's Tyreek's skill sets, whether it's Jalen's, Durham's raheem h h, and I mean all those guys, and that's the that's you know, that's the skill that Mike has to be able to see a vision, implement
the vision, and then use all the.
Guys that he has their skill sets to their best.
And the follow up to that was coach, is anticipation and vision from your boy? Is that inherent? Or can you trust or can you teach? I should say here's coach once again.
There I think there is some some teaching that you can do. I know, I would say anticipation a lot of times is innate. Some of some of those guys have it. I think it's based on their skill set, based on how they've brought up with the you know, ten thousand hours of you know of reps that they get. But yeah, I think I think anticipation is probably a little bit more innate. And vision, I think are things that you can teach uh with a with a lot of hours in terms of you know, whether it's pre
snap post snap. And obviously that's what defenses are trying to do to trick you with, you know, with where guys are and where they're supposed to be going. But if you if you can get through all that, I think you can train that.
And I want to go ahead and finish up here with Sam Madison, who touched on his very final Q and A about the conversations you have with Jalen Ramsey and Xaviing Howard with regards to traveling, to getting targets, to frustration boiling over you guys surely recall the Hard Knocks clip where McDaniel pointed out out Xavier and Howard having a bad rep on the tap the Titans tape in front of the entire team, but also saying this is where you kind of get locked back in and
they're they're jumping outside of the structure of the defense, trying to make a play, pressing right. He always goes back to that when guys make mistakes, typically it's because they're pressing trying to go make a play in a big spot. And Sam Madison gave us a great SoundBite here following up on that very idea about the conversations with those guys and telling them to be patient when maybe you're not getting You know.
It's really tough, you know, and you know when he first came here, you know, I taught I sat him down as well as x and I tried to explain to him, like listen, man, y'all never been in this situation before.
This is what's going to happen. You know, it's only one football.
You know, it's going to be games, and you know, I tried to take them through the things that I had. I've been through games one, two, three, games where you don't even receive a target, you know, but the things that you put on film, it eliminates, eliminates a lot of the other targeted routes that you will see later on down the road.
You know, things come up just like last week.
Okay, they've seen these different things and know how they can beg how offensive can attack you. But he's been playing very well in all aspects short, im mediate, intermediate, and deep route. So where you're gonna throw it, you're gonna pick your poison. And that's the things that I really just try to talk to him. You know, at some point in time, they're gonna have to come your way, and when they do, you have to make them pay.
But you know, just because of what you've guys done in the past and what you've done the last couple of weeks here, it's they're gonna be very slim, and I just try to encourage them on a consistent basis, and we do tend to try to bake people up.
And you can sit here and you can talk about it.
Two weeks ago versus Tennessee, he had opportunity to he saw something and it just wasn't the right thing that he saw. And I was like, this is the fact that you get when you don't get targets. But good quarterbacks will be able to find those guys, and they found him and then he was able to settle down
and then lock back in. So the great thing is they do get frustrated because they don't but watching the score, seeing our offense put points on the board, understanding that we were winning football games.
That cures a lot of things.
That cures a lot of problem man, they are able to settle in and continue to play championship football.
So there you go.
Assistant coaches always fun to hear from them. And what a good group we had on this week sixteen Thursday. And speaking of that, that means TNF it's our second last TNF game. And isn't it so funny every single year we do this where we complain about the quality of the primetime games. I'm not watching and your boy is guilty of that. I did not watch Chargers and Raiders. I wasn't about to watch Easton Stick and Aidan O'Connell. And I think I was paid off with the result
of that game and that decision I made. That said, we have two of these left guys like enjoy them because it's going back to watching like SEC basketball in February, right, who cares?
Like?
I love golf, I love baseball. Nothing measures up to watch in the National Football League. So enjoy it and it kicks off. Go ahead and cue the music. We are one hundred and sixty one and sixty seven after a twelve and four week last week. That's seventy point six percent. I think seventy one percent still achievable, although at this stage of the year it's like batting average, not a lot of movement either direction, no matter how good or bad your week was. So twelve and four
gave us a point five I guess. I guess it was a half percentage point bump in my overall achievement this year for picking games. So let's go ahead and queue the music, and it starts on TNF on Thursday, Rams over the Saints. So many of these teams I've kind of called out for the seasons saging.
I'm not picking them the rest away.
The Saints kind of fell into that bucket, even though I picked them last week against the Giants, because the Giants are in that bucket also, right, But the Rams with Matthew Stafford, that's the game to me right there. Matthew Stafford's one of the best quarterbacks in the off. He gets over the hump, he gets the win. I think the Rams are gonna be a good team down the stretch here that gets in and possibly makes some noise like a Rams and Lions wild card game.
I would pick the Rams in that game.
And how cool that you by the way, Stafford versus goff not inn Detroit, it'd be pretty cool on Saturday. Two games that always love AFC matchups, more meeting for us as Dolphins fans. It's always fun to be invested in these games. But man, the luster of these matchups had even just a month ago. I'm taking the Bengals over the Steelers, who I don't think are gonna win a game the rest of the way, which would then disrupt Mike Tomlin's record of never having a losing record
in a season. I got Jake Browning and the Bengals fall into victory and that one in the nightcap. Hoping like hell, I'm hoping like hell that the Chargers get that interim head coach bump and knock off Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
Will I pick it?
No?
Would I have picked the Chargers if Justin Herbert were starting. No, But hopefully we get that result and they we're playing for a division championship on Sunday. On Sunday, we switch over here for these games. Washington over the Jets. I think the Jets have been broken twice this year, the game before the first Dolphins game and the Dolphins game on Sunday. I think we're gonna see a fractured team going forward, and I probably won't pick up the rest
of the way. It's Jets and Browns next Thursday, and I don't take Joe Flacco in that one. Vikings and Lions give me the home team, the Lions in this one.
No is it in Minnesota? I forget, it doesn't matter.
I'm taking the Lions either way because the Vikings offense is just completely stuck in neutral right now. Houston over Cleveland, Battle of Case, Keenum and Joe Flacco. Like another one of these games that would have been kind of cool on paper if both quarterbacks were going and both teams didn't have their injuries, although I don't care to see the Cleveland quarterback ever again, but in terms of the competitive aspect of it could have been a cool matchup.
I'm taking Houston here because I think the Cleveland magic carpet right.
Has to end at some point, and I think that I just.
Don't think there are ten or five football teams like they could get the win very easily because Texans aren't very good without C. J.
Stroud.
But I'm gonna have Houston in this one to be able to pull this one off. Green Bay over Carolina, I think that's self explanatory. Seahawks over Titan, although I'm not as convicted in this one because I think the Seahawks in a short week after an emotional victory against a Titans team that can beat you up and play bully ball, fun matchup, But give me the Seahawks because they are a better team.
Colts over Falcons.
So a lot of these teams in the AFC, right, I put it on Twitter last week, you're rooting for some of these teams in the AFC with lower records to hopefully bump out Buffalo, because ideally, the scenario that I want to see a play out and you want to see play out is we win the next two games and clinch the division, and then a week eighteen, you're playing for the one seed against Buffalo, and if you beat them, there's a possibility at ten and seven,
a very very real possibility at ten and seven Buffalo doesn't get in. And now you're talking about Cleveland, Houston, Jacksonville, Indy for these potential late or you know, wildcard seating spots in the AFC, And if you get one upset in the wildcard round and you're over one seed, all of a sudden, we're playing at home in the division round against Gardner Minshew and go Coog's. I love you,
but I'm taking Miami in that game. Big, So root for these teams, Root for the Colt, root for the Broncos, root for the Texas and all these games. I'm taking the Colts over the Falcons because the Falcons are a bit of a mess right now.
In Tampa Bay over Jacksonville.
Unless Trevor Lawrence starts the game, he probably will because that seems to be how it goes, even though I saw his head bounce off the freaking turf on Sunday night like a like a balloon, Like I can't believe he stays in that game. But if he starts the game, I'll take Jacksonville. If not, I'll take Baker and the Bucks, Dolphins over Cowboys. Listen to the Wednesday podcast if you want to know why I'm taking.
The Bears over the Cardinals.
I'm taking the Broncos over the Patriots. How funny is it that they've been running that promo on NFL Network about these the Christmas Eve Holiday series is back again?
Oh is it? Broncos and Patriots?
Cool?
What is it?
Two thousand and five.
Chiefs over the Raiders on Christmas Day? And that's a big one there. If the Chiefs can get picked off one of these games, there's a little bit of wiggle room here for Miami. So all these games are important going forward, obviously, just win, but Raiders.
Over Chiefs will be nice.
I'm not gonna pick it in Arrowhead, especially Eagles over Giants, duh. And then the funnest game of the year probably that does not involve Miami, San Francisco and Baltimore.
I think San Francisco is.
Gonna roll up these next three games and into the postseason as being known as one of the greatest teams of all time despite that three games slid slide they had back in October. But man, San Francisco is rolling. I think they beat the Ravens handily on Monday night. I think Baltimore has a short week to come back and play us after traveling all day Tuesday morning, They're gonna be a day and a half behind us in preparation for that game. So go beat the Cowboys. Get
that result. Maybe you get a Buffalo upset. I doubt it, but maybe you get that. Either way, win the game, you'll be in cood position to go make your own money in week seventeens with Dolphins are concerned.
Those are my picks. That's the podcast. Let's go ahead and get out of here.
Tomorrow I'm gonna do a fun segment on two a tongue of Bai Looa taking more Darryl Bebble quotes and talking about big games in December, so stay tuned for that. We'll also have the great Greg Olsen on the podcast. He's on the call on Sunday for Fox and also on Drivetime on Friday, so don't miss any of that. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, on Spotify, stitch your tuned in Google Play where we get your podcast from.
Go ahead and leave us a rating, leave us review. You can follow me on social at winkled NFL, follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank Podcast with Seth and Juice Dan Reno episode up right now. You do not want to miss that one. Also catch us on the postgame show one one O five six F one O five nine FM. I'm sorry about that, nine to forty Fox Sports, as well as the iHeart app and of course the YouTube channel Media Availabilities, Dolphins Today,
My Breakdowns, and so much more. Also the Dan Reno Podcast and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fins up, Carolina and Cameron Daddy you use Come and Hold