Drive Time: Dolphins Bills Week 9 All 22 Review

I'm gonna tell you where it went right, where it went wrong, the things I love, the things I didn't love. Why I thought the quarterback played his best game or any Dolphins quarterback in the last I don't know thirty years. We'll break that down, tell you about how the defense couldn't get off the field of much much more. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.

This is the Draft Time Podcast. Mage some general points off the top here, and you know we'll start with the offense as we always do on these All twenty two reviews. I went in on this on the show yesterday off the broadcast, so I won't do it in detail again. But I just love the process and attacking areas of the field that were left vacant by the Bills defense. Like, okay, so look again, we're two and six.

I get there's mostly frustration across the fan base. This team is just too talented to be in this position. All of that justified, But I'm telling you this was the next evolution for the offense to become an even better version of the group that finished first in total

offense a year ago. I always felt like we needed to be able to take advantage of the way teams defend Tyreek and Waddle a little bit more, even if that means those guys have to go a game where they only get a handful of targets, or if they have a game where they have you know, four k just for eighty yards, it's pretty effective. It's not Tyreek's typical, you know, ten for one eighty, but it's pretty good

and they have to be okay with that. I think that based upon their blocking efforts, it looks to me like they are and like we saw this with Tua

before McDaniel got here, right. I think back to the twenty twenty one game at the Jets, where he played a great game, throwing verticals to Mac Collins, getting his checkdowns to Adam Shaheen and Miles Gaskin getting his intermediate work to Isaiah Ford, Like he's shown that he can move an offense by just going to the open guy, even if it's not the most notably explosive group in the world. And quite frankly, those eligible groups were probably

the worst in the NFL at the time. But if you can give me both of those worlds, I mean, that's how you pull teams out of the bracket funnel two man approach we've seen, and sure enough what happened late in the game. But a vertical shot to Tyreek, a deep crosser like, a deep glance to Tyreek, a dig to John new Smith, a deep out to Waddle for a critical third down conversion, a scramble touchdown to Wattle, Like, you pulled them out of that by being perfectly efficient

in your other stuff. So while they had the perfectly timed screen dialed up on three bills blitzes on two separate scoring drives, dammit, I just also loved the vision of this offensive attack, and you see it all the time,

really good quarterbacks. They catch the snap, they hit the top of the drop and the ball starts to come out when I watch a broadcast and the opposing quarterback plays like that where it's catch rock throw and you can't see the coverage down the field because for whatever reason, someone in football broadcasting decided that you should only see

the pass rushing quarterback and not the entire field. I'll never understand that, but you usually know it's a bad play when the quarterback's in rhythm because that means they saw it and they ripped it and it was to an open man when they play that fast, and that's what two was doing all game long, and it's not sexy.

It's five and six yard throws, which we'll come back to the concept of average depth of targeting the difficulty of doing these things, because I think there's a large contingent of non football people that don't understand just how

good that is or what goes into that. But it's because they know what's going to be there based upon the pre snap look with anticipation, and they can generate this you know, forward lean or even run after the catch to the receiver because they put the ball in a good location on the upfield shoulder away from the leverage of the defense, and you can steal seven or eight yards here or there with really easy over the

football throws. It goes back to the concept that you know Kyle Krabs asked this to Daryl Bevell in the summer back in training camp about trying to lighten the load of stressful reads for the quarterback. That's part of it.

When you can get those spot throws for eight yards to give yourself a second and two when it's a relatively easy spot, and it puts you in these consistent second three second two spots, which is a recipe for highly efficient football because you can attack explosives and keep ahead of the chains like you're not going to get stopped that frequently, especially when your quarterback plays at this level,

your offensive line plays at this level. You have receivers willing to block, and they're good receivers as well, and you got a stable of running backs that can hit you in any cut type of way. So like just on the first drive alone, eight Chan goes for eight followed by a spot route to Tyreek for like four or five. That moves the chains. Easy first down. It's

take that all the all the all day. The ball was out right away, Tua moves this rail defender just a little bit the sideline kind of like it's like a wheel route, but it's from the it's from the line of scrimmage, so it's not the you know, the out and up. It's just the straight kind of takeoff you call it. It's called a rail and the ball hits reek right out of the break away from the leverage. They take a sack and after that, on second and seventeen they have a spot throw to Odell Beckham to

get you right back into the down and distance. It's not like a shot play. It's not like a give up running play. It puts you back in third long. This is our third manageable I should say, this is the offense that I liked, opposed to again trying to run the ball on second and ten, which they did that a couple times in this game, but they got away with it in some spent some spots, but typically I don't like to run the ball on second and ten.

I digress. They also run this fake screen draw and it was, you know, a wrinkle off of the now throws where they stand up and throw the ball to the perimeter to the receivers and they it got us in this positive leverage situation and it pulls ed all over all the way upfield out of the play. They just had like answers and then answers to the adjustment to the answers, we cause confusion on a slow play screen to Raheem Moster, where they the receivers were all condensed.

They were all inside the numbers, you know. And this is why it worked because they short motion. Malik Washington, he was the one receiver to the field, to the wide side of the field. He was the furthest out and he motions into a stack, which means he's right behind Jalen Waddle and he's doing it on the exit motion track. We know how he used to send Tyreek

out and he would go upfield. And the motion kind of took the league by storm there for a whole season, and it caused this confusion between the hook defender and the curl flat defender. Travis, what does that mean? The curl flat defense is the perimeter defender, which he can play that like you know, eight yard curl zone, or he can play the flat on the quick stuff to

the running back. And the hook defender is quite simply the linebacker or a slot defender sometimes a safety in the middle of the field, so it's basically that middle level of the defense. Curl flat is outside, hook is on the inside. So they confuse those two guys in coverage against a Bill's three deep zone coverage, which you've earned from all the tape you have of Tyreek and Waddle beating teams deep. So what's the adjustment to that.

And here's why it worked. They brought the lead block on the play for ahemoster from the backside, so the front side of their zone coverage can't identify that because they can only play what's in front of them within their zone. And so two A patiently back pedals and lets the rush get in before he flips it right

over their heads. That's screen game one oh one. And you get John new Smith from the backside Malak Washington from the front side on these downfield blocks where they go hit unsuspecting defenders, and there's three defenders that are five or fifteen yards there was two there were fifteen yards and one that was five yards beyond the first down marker being out of the play, and then four pass rushers on the other side of the ball who

are behind the football and out of the place. So you have seven defenders all the way out of the play. You've got well timed up and good angles for Malik and John who to execute their blocks in the middle of the field, and Raheem just goes and gets it. It's when good scheme meets good execution and that is what makes me happy on a Monday morning watching this tape. Is Mike McDaniel back, I think you might be We're back. Who was that Sam Ellinger at Texas? That was a

fun drop. Later we get downhill flow on split flow action, which you guys know what that is by now right. It's when you run your zone one direction and the tight end off the opposite side of the formation comes back and picks off the backside defender to kind of make sure they can't crash freely and cut down your play from the backside. And we run this under route to John U. Smith where he has a catch and

run of ten yards. Like when you get the run game going like this, you can scheme up these walk in the park throws to make stuff easier in your quarterback and then you go ask your franchise quarterback to make five or six big time plays in a game. He had like three big time throws and two big scrambles and off script type of throws as well. That's what you're looking for. And this is exactly this is

to a T to a T toungue mailoa. I wrote my three takeaways piece to day, and I wrote to a T on offense like T o a tee to a T and then parenthetical to a T to to you tu a whatever. Who cares? I lost the thread there again, this is what Drew Brees did his entire career en route to the Hall of Fame, right he you know, and the game manager stuff like I'll say it for Mike mcdaalelau I asked him about in his

press conference. Which is the cool part about having this position is I can see what you guys are talking about and I can go ask the head coach about it. But there was a you know, it was. It was such a Drew Brees perform romans in terms of just you know, Drew used to be. He would go out four on bye weeks and he would go out at one o'clock in New Orleans at the super Dome and run the full game script. And that's just like the type of player he was. The way he visioned the game.

And I can tell you guys right now some sideline feedback that when we're talking about player interaction and I guess demeanor on the sidelines, there's there's one guy that is always locked in on the game and asking questions about the game, looking at the tablet and coverages, and it's to a tongue of by Lowa. He is a competitor. He is locked in. He is the guy you want to lead your franchise because of how he's wired in

that way. And that's where Drew Brees was obsessed with the process and the you know, the route concepts and the rush and the coverage and how all that comes together. And that's why Breeze took a while to develop and became the superstar quarterback in his late twenties and do his thirties, And here we are too at twenty six years old. It looks to me like he's unlocked that next level of his game. On top of the manipulation, on top of the anticipation, on top of the hibernation

and the consternation and the fluggabration. I'm just kidding this point, but he like took this ability to know where things were going to be after the snap pre snap and maximized it. And that's why you get these massive scoring runs and touchdowns. And you're scoring on sixty six percent of your drives since he came back. You're averaging three point six points per drive since he came back, which

is double the league average. Like this team is on one on offense, they just need more possessions which gets some takeaways, maybe get some stops from three and outs and that would go a long way. But the Cardinals and Bill's offenses both kind of got whatever they want, especially in the second half of games. But it's it's you know one o the kids say, it's giving Drew brees Man. It really is. Now. There was a single

play that I hated on offense. It was the offset dive to Raheem Moster on third and one on that opening field goal drive. Without going in depth, that play required Tyreek Hill to cut off Taylor rap across his face when he was out leveraged by two steps. He's

just not going to make that block. I don't think there's any receiver in the league that does make that block much less year five to nine speedster, I don't know this for sure, but I think that Tua has autonomy to get out of that play, and in that instance, that's one mistake that he made, aside from a drop snap that he had. And then there was one more layer of the game that I forgot, But we're gonna

get to the notes here just a second. We ran this a few times but never got to it with Reek and Waddle both getting open on stick nod and stick nod. If you are not familiar with that, it's the play that Waddle made against the Ravens two years ago when he caught it in the middle of the field and took off like a fifty seven yard run

and Ingold had that crushing block down field. You basically run stick, which is like a six yard route over the middle of the football, and then Nod is getting back up field vertical and the quarterback meets you at once you juke got that linebacker or slot defender in the middle, and we kept going to it and says, it's this great wrinkle off of all the short and quick game we hit over the perimeter, and sure enough they do come back to it on the deep ball

to Reek, which wasn't stick nod, but it was a double move, a little out and up, which is similar to stick nod. So we saw something there and went after a relentless and Tua missed the throw by just a hair on that deep shot. But it wasn't as bad as they made it seem on the broadcast. Or maybe even two was getting on himself, which you should believe too, because he knows where the ball is supposed to go. But Damar Hamlin, are you guys familiar with

the red line on the football field. It's on the practice field, it's not in game day field, but it's the line that receivers are supposed to hold when they run vertical that way. Tamar Hamlin was like one step away from where the red line would be, which means he was gonna converge. And if the ball's even a

step further inside, I think Tyreek gets blasted. Now, there was a perfect spot he could have put it for a maybe a little bit more of a catch and run, but I really don't think it cost him more than like five or six yards, and it kept Tyreek Klan from taking a big hit. Now, it did put the ball into a contested catch spot, which I don't love that, but he made the catch, so all is good here on this one. Just a quick shout out to a few guys on the a Chan Texas screen. Touchdown. Obj

has a great block downfield. Rob Jones has a crushing block at the point of attack to give him the initial space. Aaron Brewer winds up in the end zone before Devon a Chan does, which just shows you how much effort he puts into it. I love that stuff, and gosh, like, the big takeaway is kind of this. They lined up against a good football team that plays big boy football and plays connected and has coached well and usually beat you up in the trenches, and they

took it to them. You lined up and went at them. There wasn't bells and whistles, there wasn't any cute bs. They just played football and took it to them and scored on like, what was it, six of the eight possessions or five, however many it was. I think I think that was the best part about the game, even if you came up short at the end. The biggest thing for me is, for the love of God, please learn from that and keep doing it as we go forward.

That's my only thing. My final thought is this and again, I know there's a massive section of Dolphins fans that do not want to hear this, and that's okay. You are within your rights as a fan to well, for one, do whatever the hell you want, because you know that's your right in any sense. But as a fan, you can be upset about looking at black and white results,

which that's not my job here. So when I tweet something about the game and you say one in three though whatever it is like that, I'm not for you go to the newspaper and read the box score, because that's not what I do. I provide nuance and contexts and critical context too, But I feel I feel like you learn some hard lessons this year. Lessons that and this is where I can get mad too. Should probably have only taken four weeks, but it took them eight

and two. A injury is the caveat there. But still the offensive structure it was bad early on, Like it had me questioning things about the structure of the offense and what are we doing here in your number three? Like it was not what I expected coming in and that wasn't a quarterback dependent thing. It was bad for I thought all the quarterbacks early on didn't matter the

personnel choices I didn't love either. I thought Malik, you know, he was hurt early on, but we've taken a lot longer to ramp him up than I thought was required. And you can't tell me that chose him. Braxton or Grant Dubos were better options than that guy early on. And quite frankly, he looks to me kind of like River Craycraft two point zero in this offense, and probably with more juice as a receiver. What a boon that would be to the offense. So it's probably a little

bit too late at two and six. If they had won yesterday or against the Cardinals Omber three and five, I would say, this is your seventh seed in the AFC playoffs. But I think you might have given yourself one game too much of a whole. But what does Mike McDaniel always say, You have to make losing purposeful.

Let's take this year, Okay, take it on the chin, get those few week spots buttoned up on the offense, play some really good offensive football all the way down the stretch, develop further continuity and Anthony Weavers system, and go remix some of the positions you're going to have to do this offseason, like go after the edge group, go after defensive line depth this offseason, and come back and be the offense you saw yesterday, but be that in week one and the defense that you saw in

weeks three through seven. Be that from week one, Go win fourteen games, go play two home playoff games, and go to the Super Bowl. Okay, that's the vision. That's the basket I'm putting my eggs in when I'm rooting for the rest of the year, because last week I didn't know what to root for, because I didn't know if this team had the gumption to do what we saw yesterday offensively. Now that I've seen that, that's why I want the rest of the way. And again more caveats.

I know Dolphins fans have the smallest patients of any fan base and again warranted, but you have to also be logical to understand that you cannot let twenty four years of futility impede your decision making today. Right, what happened prior to twenty twenty two is not relevant to the staff. So if it's a six game period where you looked like you were not NFL worthy and you

learn from that. Okay, I can bite the bullets, so to speak, on that and invest myself into other loves I have while this season kind of plays its way out. My wife, my kids, my golf game. You know, I'm a big film and show buff, my golf YouTube channels, the Mariners, the Heat College hoops in March and April. I am more than willing to not think the world is over when the football season is kind of over at this point in life. If you can't get there

with me, understandable again. But it does feel nice to have direction once again and to be able to cope with the perspective that sometimes otherwise good operations have years where it just does not go their way. And I'm going to do this on the Wednesday podcast where I talk about some teams that had one year hiccups in the road of otherwise good builds. And that's again the

vision that I'm hoping for. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but that's what I think you can see as the positive end of the tunnel light with this whole situation. Let's go ahead and take our first break right here, come back and talk about a quarterback that I think played the best game we've seen the Dolphins quarterback play in a very long time. The rest of the offensive notes, the snapcounts, defensive notes, as well all of that. Next Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,

brought to you by Autnation. Many many thoughts on this edition of the Draft Time Podcast because that game kind of brought me back to life a little bit, even a loss, I know, but I think I explained myself pretty well there. But usually the quarterback segment goes into the first segment of the podcast, but I had so much to say here that twe do it in the second segment, second sessant sesgment on the posecast here with

DRIs Ton trist Swingfield. So again I mentioned it earlier, but you know who this tape reminded me of, and remember who he was compared to throughout the draft process. That was Drew Brees playing quarterback for your Dolphin yesterday. He knew the answers to the test before he went into the classroom. He was like me in high school with the water bottle and the rap on the back of the arrowhead bottle, having the answers written on the back of it. You unfold it, you peel it off.

You look at it, write down your test answers, turn your test in, you get a passing grade. Congratulations, you cheated away through high school. I remember Breeze efficiently spread the football to Kamara and Ingram tight ends and receivers, maximizing that duo of Kamara and Ingram to full effect after it was Reggie Bush and Ingram before Kamara got there. And I think Tua has all of that. This will be a theme on the podcast this week, but I feel like I'm as excited about where this offense is

right now as I've been during this entire three year run. Yeah. Yeah, the two and six part sucks. It sucks. I made peace with the fact that the season's too late, and quite frankly, it was kind of when Tua got hurt back in Week two where I was like, all right, this year ain't gonna be our year, just one of those years. But it's kind of continued that direction because they've only won one game since then, a barn burner

against the Patriots. And you know, I suppose making my piece with it that early on made it a bit easier to swallow now. But all the last few weeks I kept saying, I just don't know what's best for the Miami Dolphins, But now I do know. It's this offense doesn't have to lose any parts sans maybe a left tackle that retires and he's playing the best ball of his career. And hopefully the guy you drafted in the second round is ready to take that spot in

your number two. Which that's how it should work if you're going to be an effective franchise. Right, And then we get you know, we can add better depth across the offensive line, like that's really all you need at some key spots and make that third receiver spot or the depth in general a major point of contention because I'm tired of watching it play out the way it has. And oh, by the way, get better tight end depth behind John Ruys Smith. Think about that. You need what

a couple of replacement level guards maybe maybe one. You need a backup center probably would help. You need a tight end two and like a receiver three ish. Like that's like when my wife sends me to publics and says, I need bread, milk and bread. It's the easiest shop than the list of all time. We can execute that, no problem. I back to the quarterback spot here. I'm kind of I've been really thinking about like future and tying it into today's team, so like, bear with me there.

But I do have one mistake. For two on the day, it was the snap that he dropped. That's not true, I have I wrote these notes like in different times, so forgive me for that. But on tape, on that play, Austin Jackson gets beat by von Miller straight away, so

it's gonna be a stack of the way. Tua's only in completion that wasn't a throwaway was actually a drop passed by Tyreek Hill a third eleven on the opening drive, and you see Rasul Douglas's hand get in there, but it does hit Tyreek right in the chest at the sticks he drops it, And it wouldn't be a game against a really good team if Tyreek did not have a huge drop right. That's a cheap shot, but it's true. It happens every single time we play a good team.

I mean, this game was just master for his feel for space and time all game long, getting deep into his progression, finding the outlet as the fourth and fifth option, putting it on the upfield shoulder to help guys run out for the catch, throwing with accuracy under the face

of pressure, creating off script. I covered a lot of it in the general offense section, but let's start here in the end of the third with this throw to Tyreek Kill that you've seen a million times on social from all the film junkie accounts, where he cuts this thing loose with Tyreek between the two hook defenders and you'll see them both leading to their left, and that's because Tua strides that way and displaces them with body positioning, but throws it back across his body to Tyreek Hill

on the breaker and he gets clobbered by Ed Oliver on the play. The ball's right on the money and it goes for thirty one yards, a career highlight type of play from the quarterback, and he just got better from there. On that first touchdown drive of the fourth quarter. I thought he was late on the third and five throw to eight Chan to the flat, late by like one step, which I think cost him a first down on that play, But he comes back and scrambles for

a first on fourth down, So who really cares? Remember that nineteen yard seams shot the Tyreek Hill where Trent Green praised the adjustment. On the broadcast late in the game, you got curl flat displacement because Tua did this little shoulder roll to the Wattle square in it causes the byde up, but then he's able to get the ball up and down so fast when he resets. That's part

of too a superpower. Where some quarterbacks take some time to get their feet right or put themselves in position to start their throwing motion, Tua doesn't have to do that. They have to see it and then they can operate the throwing motion and the release. But Tua can generate all of that at the same time, like simultaneously see it and hit it. And it's impressive as hell. And that's the best way I can describe what makes him special.

He sees the field as well as anybody else in the National Football League and has the physical skills to rip it as fast as he sees it. And that third down throw to Wattle the out route was a thing of beauty. The blitz is on, he feels the press trail technique of the cornerback and puts the ball right on the outside shoulder right out of the break. That ball has to be perfect location and timing and

it was third and seven game on the line. Conversion two plays later is the nineteen yard touch throw to eight Chan and Tua creates this by working through his progressions and then throwing the ball on the upfield shoulder so DeVaan doesn't slow down to stare down the barrel in order to hold the defense. Then to flip back to the perimeter and get that ball out in that location.

All that quickly is flat out talent. He holds the defenders where they are and by the time he gets over there, their reaction to him because the ball's out so fast it's the same time that he goes, So he has them beat because he's faster with them with how quickly he can put the ball in that position.

And then the second touchdown the primary is not there a little stick flag combination to wreak and waddle As he resets the pocket moves, but he moves with it and kind of feels how that pocket shifts around and his movement causes the rush lanes to fall out of whack, allows him to attack the line of scrimmage, and a tremendous job by Waddle to move with his quarterback tu what throws it across his body on the move to the right on the money bang touchdown tie game late

in the game. That's the best tape I've seen from Dolphins quarterback ever. That's what it is, man, probably the best tape since number thirteen was here, almost without flaw, high level anticipation, manipulation, creativity, big time throws on third downs, maximizing space, in fact, one of the biggest pet peeves I have in this game. And I spoke to someone that does this at a high level, like they didn't give them credit because the average depth of target and

like the lack of big time throws. Just by the way, there were three big time throws in this games. Me that Tyreek Hill shot over the middle. If that's not a big time throw, then redo your big time throw type of metrics. But it doesn't. Just because the throws are short doesn't mean it's not high level quarterback play. Like if they're gonna blitz and you and you identify the blitz and throw it into that vacancy to Devon

eh Chan naked. I would rather do that than throw, you know, a covered forty yard deep shot that gets you know, a fifty to fifty ball that gets caught. That's a way more effective quarterback play. It's it's it's low risk, high reward quarterback play. And so I asked Mike McDaniel on Monday, like, how would you push back against this idea that being a game manager has a

negative connotation attached to it? And how would you also kind of reflect upon that when you consider, you know, Tua's game on Sunday and the fact that his brow chart only had x amount throws down the field, Like, how do you bundle all that together and describe what made his performance special? Let's go to the Miami head coach.

you know, specifically our offenses maximizing overplay. And if you're going to overplay with depth, you have to execute in in high percentage completions and yards after the catch that aren't necessarily the cross court gigantic plays, but are the throw at for four and you get seven? Uh, and that, And that's kind of the art of that that particular style of defense when they want to play that, when they want to play the way they've proven to have success against our offense.

find very difficult, particularly against the Buffalo Bills. So I thought yesterday was a great example of aggressively taking what the defense gives you. And you know, he was able to do some have some success that we haven't had in the past based upon his commitment to his craft and being aggressive to all eligibles, based upon overplay.

He converted a third and one play in the second quarter where Taron Johnson squeezed down on the B gap and Hn does this like accelerated jump cut where he just runs right past him, and it looked so effortless. He is a smooth glider man I put Tyreek in here because the pacing on his routes. He blocked his ass off again, that catch on the sideline was terrific,

so he gets into the notes this week. Waddle on the loan sack the second drive of the game, We're Austin got beat on the inside post by von Miller. Wattle ran that same stick nod route that he ran

in Baltimore and completely jukes out the defensive back. There's also some routes where he's pretty clearly not part of the progression, like, for instance, we hit the rail glance wheel replaced, which that's a mouthful, but you basically run a deep route up the sideline, a deep route down the seam, and then the running backs wheel route is

replacement of either the seam or the wheel. In this instance, it was the seam, and Waddle's the loan eligible to the other side of the field and he runs his butt off just to get to the area to create conflict and pull the play side coverage away. But he's not getting the ball and he doesn't look back to the quarterback. So it's a love of the game route where you just you know, be there for your brothers.

So He also had the critical third down and long conversion blocks his butt off as well, and helped create space with his effort on non primary routes. So Wattle did his job in this game as well. I thought Malik Washington could play. You know, he can play in this offense for fifteen years the way he blocks, and

I know he's tud he's like nobody else's business. There was a toss player where Rahi Moster got like twelve yards where Eleak Washington comes under the formation as the sift man, where he kind of is like a full back of sorts and tries to find out who's the available block to him, and he's looking inside, but you see Tron Armstead and Jalen Waddle execute a crackback and

a reach block for the two of them. So you see his head quickly pivot to the outside and there's a lone cornerback out there on an island, and he changes his track and goes and hits the block on a full sprint to spring raheem to that second level. I think in a year or two, we'll look at this guy kind of like a river Craycraft of sorts with more receiver juice. Which is a great thing for

depth of this receiver room. Alec Ingold just massive props to the number of times he's asked to go wham a defensive tackle or play head up on a five technique. He's giving up seventy pounds two. He's a tough dude, a big part of this offense. I'm out of superlatives to give to Aaron Brewer, I said last week. I think he's on the AFC Pro Bowl squad in the sense that there aren't two centers playing better football than

him in the conference. I'm gonna go ahead and call him the starter right now because he's just as awesome. You're talking about an out leverage linebacker the second level that he goes and gets and wipes out with five yards of depth down the field, twenty five yards of width across the field. You're talking about reaching and pinning one shades to the playsign on the regular, which is not a block. You should win all that often, much less every damn time. You're talking about flawless footwork in

transition to pick up rush games across the front. You're talking about finding work and going and getting a rack of ribs and pass protection. You don't got anybody to block. Go hit the guy that's blocked up with your guard and make him regret that pass rush like it's the best center player you've had since Mike Pouncey. I said that in the podcast last week, I might have to start going back to Dwight Freak and Stevenson. With the way he's playing, it's elite tape after elite tape every

single week. Austin Jackson is a great player too, Exceptional seals at the point of attack on many a big runs, more elite attacking defenders in space on the perimeter. He had one bad pass set where he got beaten gay up of sack, but his ability to get a piece with some quick movement and athletic ability and how that pairs with his edge that he plays with is such a fun player man. His block on the eighth Chan touchdown run, he's outflanked by a gap and a half

wins across a one gap upfield. Edge's face who wants to play downhill himself, so he has to get off the snap, quick hold his balance, and play with physicality and run him off the spot while he's trying to run the other direction like he's trying to basically move a Ford pinto from you know, going twenty five miles an hour in a school zone and he fights like hell to stay on the outside shoulder and he seals it off. Maybe the best play of his entire career.

Having another great year, really really good football weekend week out, Toront Armstead more of the same. I think it's his best year as a dolphin. He's going out and getting key blocks on screens. Looks to be in great shape, He's faster, he's more explosive. Great year for Toront Armstead. I think Liam and Rob have had a good month

as well. They have really taken to the multiple scheme and hey, you know, the nice part about being so good in the running game is you remove the spots that rushers crave all day long on true drop back passes, and we barely had any of those because these guys are getting their job done and outside zone, inside zone, duo, pen and pool everything and they do it with connectivity and physicality. Again, however, please allow me to state this.

I think the shortcoming of the offensive line are the true drop back sets from those two guard positions and sometimes Austin Jackson, but to Tyreek to a had tyreek, I should say on stick nod for a touchdown, but because Liam got abused in a one on one spot against at Oliver, he couldn't get the ball out there. But he did find the checkdown quite beautifully. So there are shortcomings, they're just not all detrimental until you get down by three touchdowns, which the game is usually over

at that point anyways. So that's where my soapbox ends. I feel like you could put the entire offense here. John Nus Smith had a big day as well. Raheem was good until the fumble. Individual misses. It's gonna sound like I'm calling somebody out, but that's kind of what it was. There was one miss in the entire offense on balance, and it's a player That've been talking about

this way for a while now. I mean, I'm looking at good pre snap leverage on outside zone against Casey two Hill, you know, not Casey three Hill, Casey two Hill, and you're a blocking tight end. He just throws on your butt like it just has to be better than that. For Durham Smyth, we missed Julian Hill, if you can believe that much. And that's the biggest area I need to address on the offense next year. Receiver three probably right there too. But I think that you just can't.

You know, Odell Is I like him on tape. I don't think he can count on the guy and I don't think he's you know, fitting in quite well enough. But yeah, it's the shopping list from earlier. And you know Durham with the false start, with zero juice in the passing game and below replacement the whole point of attack play, it's just unplayable. Let's come back on the other side, talk about the defense quickly, get out of here.

Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by automation. Defensively, we don't have the personnel that's the podcast now. I'm just kidding it, but that kind of is the case. You know. I do love that there's a real emphasis on playing the style of game that your opponent calls for.

Like the Dolphins played their most quarters coverage over a quarter of the snaps fittingly on the season, and also had no snaps in cover two, which is you know, you guys, help those coverages are and the reason you do that is is to not get man cornerbacks turning away and running off the perimeter, and for a quarterback that can beat with his legs, and when the quarterback takes off and runs, you're more likely to have defenders that can close from depth in those spots, especially when

you can you have a robber peel off and do it from those quarters looks where you can play some four high and also protect the middle of the field against those crossers and deep digs and things of that nature, Whereas in too deep you typically get even deeper drops from those safeties, and those defenders can much more easily be ran off their post by vertical routes, whereas in quarters you can pass off and still you know, keep your eyes in the backfield and just respect the quarterback

run a little bit more. The other thing from a design standpoint that I really liked was the emphasis on holding the edge against Josh Allen, especially that right edge. We saw it on the AGBA TfL early in the game.

We saw it a couple times when we were able to effectively marry up the interior pressure with the cutoff escape patch off the right to not allow him to flee, and that's when he will just sometimes fade away from it and throw the ball away and live to fight another day, which is a great development for his game because he should be willing to take another down because any given down, this guy can smoke you. And don't turn it over and you give yourself more cracks at

the apple. And that's what he's been doing for the last couple of years. I don't really have any qualms with how it looked from a scheme standpoint. I thought making the switch to Anthony Walker was the right move given David Long's I guess availability right now. I like how they used Cam on the perimeter exclusively, and they kind of used a healthy mix of both Ramsey and Fuller inside. I just think we are really, really, really

shorthanded in some key areas. I know Jaln Phillips played a good chunk of the Buffalo game in this week two, but we've now played three straight games against Buffalo without Beach Ubb and an of those games two and a half those games without JP. We didn't have Javon for

two of those games. Seler misses this one. It's like core pillars at every level of your defense and they just don't have the I mean, it's not a scheme like Buffalo's where everyone knows it for the last eight years and they have the development and depth to keep running it. Our depth is bad, and then that's what

you're seeing right now. I do think there's a miscommunication with Neil and Fuller on the mac Hall touchdown, but that's what return motion can do to you, where they motion a player away from his original position and then back to it, and it causes this confusion in the communication. And then not only does Sarran Neil not run with him, he collisions Kendall Fuller, which creates a natural row on the defensive side. It's a good play call. They got us tip your cap and it was a big play

in the game. Last note here, real quick. I thought cam Smith had his best rep as a pro on the Jordan Poyer personal foul. He stayed right on top of that double move, stayed in phase, and broke it up textbook coverage. It's just too bad Trojan Horse killed the play. Individual standouts Chop Robinson's first third down of the game. He smokes Dion Dawkins, a great left tackle off the football and forces Alan to basically throw the

ball away. He just turned into a vacant area of the field in that one, so big impact play from the jump and defense gets off the field. The sack on the last drive was one of several instances where he put Dion Dawkins on skates, falling back on his heels. But that neutral zone infraction just cannot happen, dude. Like on that final he they just ran three verticals all into double coverage and Alan just said like, I'm gonna give it a chance, and the Trojan Horse did it

for him. But if you're third and fourteen, I wonder how different that might look. Ogba played a very emmanual ogball game. There's not really a lot of juice in the pass brush, but a true forced defender off the edge that he lost contained just one time and it was a big run, But for the most part he did a good job of really holding gap integrity off that edge. Kalayus Campbell continues to be dominant. You can just see it off the tape, like jumping off every week.

He doesn't get displaced. He can one gap you, he can force your back into stopping his feet, or he can mess with the rhythm of your passing game and the quick game and he does it from so many positions. Man, the way the way he puts guys on the ground with both quickness and power, like his swim move and his crossover steps. He just messes with so much stuff

on his own. And we got to get Seeler back because those two guys together were kind of holding things together, and without Sealer, some of Campbell's plays don't quite go as noticed Ramsey. I just find it so fun to track his pre snap alignments on down the down base. They have him come down and fit the run, blitz the edge, match up on a tight end, play head up over the X, cover the slot, play the curl, flat, play a deep fourth and quarters. He does everything at

a high level. And that's why I don't think the proverbial cornerback cliff is a real thing for him. You know, most cornerbacks kind of fall off of a cliff, like xaviing Howard at age thirty. And the reason I don't think that applies to him is because I don't think he's a cornerback. I think he's a defensive player. He's the next Charles Woodson. And yeah, that pick, it's a drop pass, but the way he ripped it away was just flat out awesome. And then Kendall Fuller is the

last one here. I just love his feel and spatial awareness, like he's so adept at passing off and picking up, and that's so valuable for a guy that plays as many positions as he does. I think right now with Sealer down, he and Ramsey as a pairing are the best element of this defense, one of the best tandems in the entire NFL. Individual misses, there was lots of them, the entire front, beyond Campbell, Ogbaugh and Chop like hand Benito Peelee. It was rough Feral. I don't see it

there at all. He's constantly washed out. Without Seiler, we have almost no hope and shit short yardage, He's such a difference maker there and teams just kind of run the ball down our throats in third and short. May was not good. The mistackle on the radium a touchdown. He was also in great shape on Keyon Coleman on the two point conversion and he gets joked out by a guy who moved like a carnival cruise line. Can't

have that. Jordan Poyer, He's made more winning plays for the opposition, you know, the drop pick last week, the personal foul this week, then he's made general plays for us. It's two to nothing right now, so I would you know, I'd love to see Patrick mc morris get back and take that job. Cam Smith, I thought struggled. They ran this rub where he took the long way around the backside. You just can't do that. You'd be more aware of that.

But he doesn't have, you know, a ton of reps, so I suppose that that's something he has to kind of grow with. Next play he gets flagged for a PI that I disagreed with. I'd like to see him keep playing, and that's probably the case for a lot of the younger guys here. I do think we can go on a run, especially if you beat the Rams. It's kind of like, how do we do through the

Jets game. I think you can win all four of those games as well, and if you do that, you'd be five or seven and six going to Houston with four more games to play and the season's back on. But I think that the bigger thing you should focus on, because you know, you can lose football games in any any type of way. Sometimes they don't always go your way. Is to you know. Give Jalen Wright the one B role,

give them a leak Washington the receiver three role. Give Chop Robinson more of a role than he already has, which I guess you can't Wally to do so he's in a good spot. Give Mohammed Kamara a bigger role. I'd start Patrick McMorris when he gets back. I think the only one I would I would keep it the way it is is Patrick Paul because Tron Armstead is playing like a pro bowler and I'm not going to

mess with two was offensive line Saran Neil. Shame on me for calling for more snaps on defense in August because he was brutal in this game. That third down holding call was key on cross and Esque like everything else was covered up. We had the right call, we won based upon the call, and you just bear hug the receiver and give him a free first down. Just game changing stupidity there. I thought Jordan Brooks had one

of his more challenging games. The Ray Davis touchdown. I thought was mostly his issue because he never got out there. I could be wrong, but I thought that was his responsibility. I thought Anthony Walker was better than David Long last week, but that was a low bar to clear because Long had a really rough game. He got stuck on that mesh that or that James Cook dropped that would have been an easy touchdown, and was just out of position a couple times, like the big key on Coleman play

on their last touchdown drive. He just ran himself in the no man's land with faalse steps and Alan flips it over his head for a big play. If he could have got depth in the hook zone, could have made a play on the football there and created a negative. It was just bad man. We're playing with a lot of guys that I don't think she'd be playing really anywhere in the league. I think right now you've got Campbell, Seeler, Brooks,

Ramsey and Fuller as true lunch pins. Caterer has come on, so I'm curious see what he looks like when he comes back. Javon has what is his third injury of the year. He had like three or four of them last year, and he's not been that impactful when he has played. We're going to get you know, we're not gonna get the edge help we need this year. Like it's that's just how it is. It's kind of like

last December. It's it's just kind of over there. It's gonna be about this offense, kind of trying to carry the water the rest of the way and to do something special and run the table because that edge spot

is just not repairable in season. Man, how quickly things change because you go from the deepest edge group in the NFL last couple years with Phil and Chubb and Van Ginkel and not having any of those guys in SHAQ barrett retirement, which was a bigger blow than I think we maybe thought myself especially I just don't know how you cobble it together going forward. But yeah, it's

bad really across the board. My top five tapes Number one, TUA, number two, Aaron Brewer, number three, Devon eight Chan, number four, Jayalen Ramsey, number five to Ron Armstead and five B just for a shout out to Chop Robinson. I thought he played his best game as a pro. You all please be sure to subscribe, rate review, Follow me on social at Twinklin NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out SETH and Juice and the Fish Tank podcast.

Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins, HQ and media availabilities and last butt not least Miami Dolphins dot Com Until next time. Finn's Up. Carolin and Cameron Daddy come and hold