Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Now, let me.
Check your pulse if you're not far of what is up? Dolphins And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going to everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield And on today's show, a tough, tough loss up in Baltimore, the Dolphins fall to the Ravens blowout fifty
six to nineteen. We'll talk about the key moments, the five takeaways we'll hear from head coach Mike McDaniel and quarterback to a Tongue Bailoa from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive
Time Podcast Miami Dolphins. Before we get into any of the stats from the game, let's go ahead and start with Mike McDaniel, who when asked about the Bradley Chubb injury and gave a very insightful answer and response to the decision to have Bradley Chubb in the game at that time and the desire for guys to be able to get the reps that they wanted lay all the guys that were in the game, wanted to be in the game to hoefully finish out with a better taste
in their mouth. As coach McDaniel described it. Didn't want to play the whole audio for you guys, but this is the back part of his answer talking about the Bradley Chubb injury, and it just kind of, I guess thirty thousand foot view right now of the football team and the focus where it already is the players.
Uh didn't see the result of the game looking at looking the way it did, and you know they're they were hungry to get right and it didn't work out for us.
But you know, at the same time, it's it's not you have to you have to you know it. Right now, a lot of.
Guys are hurting, as they should be. They've they've invested a unbelievable amount into this season. But the biggest thing is that with the locker room like this under uh, with with those failed expectations, I know, I know they're
going to grow closer, not further apart. And that's important in this this part of the year because you know, we'll have a division crown to play for next week and that's what we'll have to take everything that we've learned good, bad, and indifferent and apply it next week, because it's a you know, if we would have said that after week four or whatever, if that we you know, we're gonna play this this Buffalo team again and it will be the last game of the season and it'll
be for the the division crown. I think everyone would have accepted that. So there's there's some perspective that that the you know I talked to the team about and their their eyes were laser focused and they will be eager to uh wash away this past game. And the only way you can do that is prepare for the next one.
So we're gonna get into all of the what's ahead next week, what has to happen, and why the sky hasn't completely fallen. But I will give you guys a bit of a spoiler in that regard. I'm gonna raise some things that have concerned me that now have kind of come to a head here in week seventeen.
We'll talk about that in the podcast.
Let's go ahead, though, as we do every single Sunday night on the Recap show break down the Dolphins of Averis statistics perspective, and it was even early I tweeted out and probably going to wind up on freezing cold takes the days I thought these are the two best teams in the AFC by a pretty wide margin, and that was when the score was fourteen to ten, with Miami having a twenty yard at advantage, a five play advantage, and almost identical time on possession, because Miami in these
games against these teams have gone toe to toe for the most part, and then there's like two eight minute spans against Buffalo and against the Ravens where things didn't go their way and that reduce or produces i should say, completely lop sided scores that make it come away from these games with a very very sour taste in your mouth.
Dolphins fans are right to feel very i mean betrayed by your expectations, but just ultimately let down by the Dolphins inability to compete in a game like this with such such magnitude, such really high level achievement on the line for what you could have been this season if you had won this game, and of course next season and all the stuff that is more important to achieve
is still there. But to put this showing out in that fashion on that stage with everyone talking about how fun this game was and Miami's chance to go in there and upset the Ravens very disappointing, and you are one hundred percent justified and feeling like crap on your New Year's Eve and into New Year's DAGs you hear this podcast, actually just want to go ahead and put that out there. Let's go ahead and get over these stats.
Twenty four to twenty in the first downs, the Ravens were only four to seven on third down because quite frankly, they just never really had to deal with them. Miami was six for fifteen, which was competitive for a long time. Two for four on fourth was Miami Baltimore one for one. That one towards the end of the half where they get seven instead of potential long Justin Tuck field goal. At ten, they outgained Miami four ninety one to three
seventy five. They get let's see one turnover to Miami's three. Dolphins got sacked three times. Lamar got sacked just one time.
In the game.
They had seven penalties, We had five, and they had the ball for thirty minutes twenty three seconds to Miami had the ball for just you know what, twenty three seconds short of thirty. On their own side, they had more passing three thirty one two twenty one and just a bit more rushing one sixty to one fifty four.
So I mentioned the way the game started off, and I thought Miami had a fantastic plan, and with the Ravens having their injuries of their own, thought that Miami was gonna find a way to march up and down the field and have an MVP type of performance from Tua and Tyreek and just score forty points and go win this thing. Because they go eight plays seventy five yards eight Chan twenty five yard opening screen Tyreek with a tough catch on the back shoulder for twelve yards.
Ingle gets a little play action rollout for eighteen from Tua. We're cooking eight Chan twelve yards, puts up a first and goal, and then we get a one yard run a second down in completion, and then Tuoa threads the needle on an absolute laser into Cedric Wilson, who ran a fantastic sick route with a little shake to the outside, bend that thing back inside right behind the hook linebacker, right in front of the coverage safety.
And I told Jus and saith this.
I thought Tua was a fraction of a hair, not even a full hair, a fraction of a hair late, and that's why there was contested, a contested catch rather than just a touchdown catch than a collision. But either way, great play by Cedric to hang on to that thing. Great job by Tua to widen the hook and pump that thing in there. And we're cooking a third down
conversion in low in mid red zone. That's like MVP stuff, right, But then Baltimore gets it and already third and sixteen after an offensive pass interference after they dropped a deep shot down the field to a wide open Rashaan Bateman against xaviing Howard who got beat badly on the play. You're thinking, third and sixteen, ball gonna come right back. I gonna go score again. This is gonna be the Dolphins day, except it wasn't at all, because they get up a first down on a screen pass. Open field
tackling an issue. We'll hear that from head coach Mike McDaniel here in just a second. And then it's bang, bang bang, wide open spaces, guys running clean Flowers goes twenty five yards in a corner ut around a show on Elliott Gus Edwards, then Bateman for fourteen. Lamar just beats the Bliss with a quick shot like Lamar was
on his absolute stuff in this game. Then they get the wheel route and they got caught in the offensive PAS interference, only this time they hit it as Duke Riley tries to work under the cut under the natural rub and it's an easy touchdown. Just the offense looked, or the defense rather looked so out of sorts. Receivers wide open, the ball right on time, no pressure on Lamar. Just an absolute regression from what we've seen from the Dolphins defense on that drive, and it will continue throughout
the day. But the Dolphins offense, like that Buffalo game, takes the football right back in marches down the field six place sixty five yards. You get a eighteen yard capital, a anticipation strike as jtos Holden would say, from tyreek or from two of the Tyreek rather. Then ah Chan cruises for a forty five yard run after really fantastic edges by Julian Hill and Durham Smyth and Cedric Wilson gets a crackback and Craig Craft is downfield leading a big block.
Okay, here we go.
This is the offense that we know we have against a banged up Ravens defense. Let's go score forty points right. Then we get a loss and a short gain on to eight chan and then Tyreek has another great ball from Tua, little anticipation, popped to the back of the end zone and it's a room service catch. Tyreek's made this catch three thousand times this year in practice on air off the jugs machine can't squeeze, it goes out the back of the end zone.
Kick a field goal.
Took a ten to seven lead, and then you get a stop four play seventeen yard drive, a stop where Zach Seeler has an awesome rep. There's a great coverage sack where they just basically rush their lanes stay in good position. I think it was Steeler who got the sack, who walked the guard back for the ultimate tackle of Lamar Jackson. But good rushing, integrity, good coverage downfield. Lamar has to scramble on third and twenty five and you
get him off the field. But then Miami's offense gets it back and they punt it after what I thought was the first instance of the Ravens getting Tua off of his rhythm after he converts a third and five for twenty yards to Durham Smythe who, by the way, do we have a new seambuster? And durham Smyth like this guy's catching all kinds of passes in that part of the field and the way he blocks on the edge.
Glad we got that guy locked up here, because he looks pretty impressive the last few weeks in this offense. But then they got pressure on two where I thought his feet kind of got ugly where when they pressured him when he was in the middle of his drop. Sometimes he's very good about interrupting that drop and going and making a play elsewhere, but sometimes I feel like the feet get a little bit clunky, and they did right here, and he takes a sack and then he throws a ball to Cedric Wilson.
They're not on the same page.
Ball a little bit inside Cedric's inside outside of that ball, and it almost gets picked, but eventually just a Dolphins punt. But still it's ten to seven. You feel good about it, right, But then the Ravens march eighty nine yards on ten plays and it was almost exclusively through the running game.
Zack Stealler got banged up on this drive and was kind of dragging his arm alongside him, but he comes back into the game and continue to make plays the rest of the day, just an absolute warrior instead of a football player that he is. But they went after a Seler went down three runs twenty four yards a
fourteen yard completion in there as well. You get a great player from Zieler and Seeler and Elliott against the screen looks like it's wide open, but then Odell Beckham makes that fantastic catch in the sideline and I thought his hand shifts it off the football, but he ultimately they controlled it, so I get why it's upheld like that first and goal of the three run in for a touchdown right after that fourteen to ten, but in Miami's offense gets the ball back once again and marches
down the field forty nine yards on eleven plays. They ultimately wind up having to kick a field goal because they bogged down. But you continue to get more production, including another third down conversion from Tua to Durham Smyth with a great throw on a little high low concept that kind of caught the defense flat footed and they pick up another third lung.
That's why I'm gonna get to this.
But I had Tua in my takeaways originally as a potential like Tua quote unquote trying to be funny legacy game because he was playing so well in these such high leverage positions and put in Miami in positions to
go win a football game. But then they kicked the ball back off to the Ravens in a fourteen to thirteen game, and it's a one play, seventy five yard touchdown because we get caught on the exact same exit motion whatever you want to call that cheap motion, I don't know what it is, where Tyreek starts in and runs out into his pattern. They run that play and we bust it. Like Eli Apple and Deshaun Elliott not
in the same page. There, it's a walk in room service touchdown for seventy five yards to their fantastic rookies A Flowers. That's twenty one thirteen. All right, You're still not in bad shape, right because there's two fifty eight to play in the first half and you have a red hot offense that's playing really well. This whole season and this game, and you march it right down the field once again four yards or fifteen yards rather to von eh Chan seventeen to durham smythe again right down
the seam. But then as the clock hits the two minute mark, I thought they were gonna blow it dead because it did hit the two minute warning, But they also get that same little grace that you get on a delay of game call, right which I think is probably what happened there. But Tua tries to force a shot in here in between two in between two Ravens defenders, and it winds up being a fantastic one handed pick
by Patrick Queen. And that was kind of the story of the day at this point going forward, was the Ravens linebackers' ability to get depth and interrupt the passing game and then a running game that was either kind
of explosive player short gain and nothing at all. And that's kind of where they took over in this play right here, Tua just doesn't just kind of stares onto this one play and throws a bad ball into a bad spot where he didn't use any type of manipulation, and it results in a big, big pick and the Ravens wind up going four plays thirty eight drive thirty eight.
Yards to score a touchdown.
On the other side because of a fourth and seven conversion where we get a big third down pass breakup from Eli Apple and another pressure by Chub and David Long that winds up forcing a long third and seven. They missed that third and seven, and on the fourth and seven, Jevon Holland slips and falls to the turf on Isaiah Likely who and then turn makes his own one handed catch and beats our man coverage and goes right down the field for a thirty six yard touchdown.
So you had two plays for two yards and that drive to start, or rather three plays for two yards, and then you get thirty six on the back end for a touchdown from Lamar Jackson to Isaiah Likely. So just these big moments, not making the play us dropping a touchdown in the back of the end zone, then making two one handed catches to flip the game from possibly twenty one to sixteen, maybe even twenty one to twenty, or even twenty one to thirteen. Flipping it from that
to twenty eight to thirteen. It's almost almost good night. Nurse it puts you in a position where you can make it so on the other side of the two minute warnings. So just tough looks, I mean two of a mistake. Javon Holland gets beat on that play. Tyreek kill a mistake, some offensive line protection issues where they get through the sack. Just little a busted coverage leads to a big touchdown. Little mistakes against teams like this is how this will wind up going. And that's to
the Dolphins have been this year. That's who they've proven to be this year. Seventeen weeks into the season, Miami gets the ball back six plays, thirteen yards. They called the offensive pass interference on Cedric Wilson, which doesn't matter now, never would have made a difference in the game, But that was a call that I can't fathom. He kind of like just ran by the guy and got called
OPI for it. You wind up not scoring. The Ravens get it back, take it to end of the half and it's twenty eight to thirteen and you're thinking, Okay, get a stop, get a ball back, go score, and you're right.
Back in the game.
Didn't go that way at all, because the Ravens take a big kickoff return. So now we've introduced a third phase that gets beat in this game. The special team into this equation and all they needs three plays and sixteen yards to go score a touchdown because of a huge kick return, two chunk gains, and then once again they bust not the busted coverage, but the front side blocker on play action leaks to the backside of the
formation and no one goes with him. It happened three times in this game for scores, so it happens again here. It was one of six touchdown passes in the game for the Ravens, five for Lamar Jackson, one for Tyler Huntley. Let's go ahead and close up this first segment the same way we started it with. Coach McDaniel explained the six passing touchdowns of the Ravens and how the defense can get that fixed.
Pride ourselves on. You know, if you're gonna score, you're gonna have to earn it. And what I mean by that is, you know, we haven't had many run in touchdowns or that many run in touchdowns as we had this game, which is the function of tackling a it's a you know, it's to their credit. I think they had a good game plan and got their players that
are pretty good in space. In space, however, you know, I'm confident saying before watching the film that you know, we're gonna be very very We're not gonna be happy with the way that we we tackled in an open space. So we're got to get down to the bottom of that,
which you know, I'm very confident that we will. And you know, we have a lot of talent, talented, prideful, invested players that that know that's not the that's not what they've created with the Dolphins this season, and will be very, very highly motivated to get that stuff corrected in a short amount of time. And that's what it takes to get get something like that corrected, is high motivation because you don't have that much time to do it.
Let's go ahead and take our halftime break right there after the opening drive of the second half. It's thirty five to thirteen Ravens. We'll come back and wrap up the game as well as the five big picture takeaways and hear more.
From two A Tongue Bai Lowa.
That's all next Drift Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield brought to you by Auto Nation left off the first half of the Drift Time podcast, or the first segment, I should say, with a thirty five to thirteen Ravens advantage, Miami gets the football back and goes four plays and punts after an opening run from Devon h Chan where Miami's found these chunk gains man they get big gains on first down to open the drive and puts himself just a couple of first downs away from field goal range.
It's been cool to see, but then you go backwards, a short run, a sack and a false start makes it third and sixteen, check it down, punt the ball away, and then you're thinking one more score here. It's probably Curtains, but you don't get that. You get a hustle play from the guy that we talked about who took an
injury in the first quarter. In Zach Sealer, they go five plays thirty yards, you force a third and ten and they get a wide open another one of these coverages like man coverage mesh where they just rub us in the middle of the field and get a guy running free up the sideline for a big game. But right after that play, Zach Seeler on first down stays
with a play that gets out ahead of him. He chases it down from the back and knocks the football out of the ball carrier's hands, and Javon Holland comes up and recovers, and you're thinking, hey, we came back on this team down three touchdowns last year, Let's do
that again. Very first play, Tua gets picked off. He tried a window that was sort of there, but Patrick Queen got really good depth on that second on that drop, and you can in that situation because the run game down by that much, probably not gonna happen too much. And I took this out of the takeaways in the fourth quarter because of the shape of the game, but
I did have a two A takeaway. They'll just go ahead and talk about here briefly, and I jokingly call it the two A legacy game takeaway, like trying to be funny about it because Early, because I have downplayed the idea of a twenty five year old having a legacy game, right, it's kind of silly in practice, But Early I thought he was defining himself in a pretty cool way where when things would get wonky, he was kind of having solved those third down plays he was
thinking quickly, getting the ball out, putting it on target, some big touchdowns on third down, finding Durham for chunks, getting the good run looks the screen game going looked like an MVP type performance, right, but then things got sideways and he made a bad decision, made a bad throw. Then he comes back on the other side and presses and makes a really bad choice, and you'll hear it from him right here.
I sort of held my eyes a little long on the first interception and then with the second interception because of the score. I mean, they didn't really need to do much. They try to keep everything in front of them. They were dropping and that was just a poor decision on my part, trying to trying to throw it over a back or to get that to Tyreek when he could have just checked the ball down. So I gotta be better on that part.
So just to kind of finish the book here on Tua for this game and at this juncture of his career, like he talks about taking those steps, I think he has improved in a lot of ways and learning from those mistakes, and coach loves to rect friends of the Baltimore game last year, the second pick I remember like it was yesterday because I've seen that game twenty four times.
When he tries to shoot that one deep after we we get behind the scoreboard and Marcus Williams makes a great play on the football and picks it off, and he talked about how to kind of was able to process that real time and improve right there. But it's frustrating we see those mistakes occur continually, and they're not like super continuously, but they have happened several times since then,
so it's a little bit annoying. But I also acknowledge that he's a twenty five year old quarterback who's playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the.
League last two years.
And I think about Lamar Jackson on the other side, who has had all these regular season accolades, records and cool numbers and rushing touchdowns and such electric highlights and plays, but to this point is still one to three in the playoffs and was a fourteen to two quarterback in MVP who got bounced in the first round. And this label developed around this great quarterback that he can't win a big football game, and that I'm sure that will
change this year. They did win a wild card playoff game a couple of years ago in the postseason, and I'm sure it will change this year, but that will only further prove the point. Right, Like, this whole idea of you're not a a big time team or a big time player in these certain moments is true until it's not, and then once it's not, it's almost kind of silly to think about in hindsight. Does that make sense? Like, look, it's okay to be upset that you didn't get the
big wins, is what I'm trying to say. For a team and a quarterback, Like in this instance, the season isn't even over yet. I get when the season's over, but in this instance, the season's not over. In fact, it's far from it. There's a chance. This is kind of a silly footnote when you look back on it.
But also just remember, for a quarterback here who's so damn good with his vision and accuracy, anticipation, all that stuff, the more to it gets games like these, the more situations he has, the more disappointments and failures he experiences while also having the success you know, on a grander.
Scale, the better he'll be for it.
So that's kind of where I internalize this and I know the natural reaction for people when things don't go well for your football team or your sports team, especially in twenty twenty three, is to cut bait, move on fine replacements. How's it going to get better? It can
only get better with exterior your help. That's far from how I view things, especially with the success we've seen from this particular squad and this quarterback in particular, in this head coach, I'm excited about the fact that they're achieving this in their second year together in a program where I think the more time we get the more it just gets better and it becomes more second nature and those mistakes don't happen and you get to a big game where you are the team that it's like, yeah,
this is a week seventeen. Business is hush because for us right now, that's not who we are. But I think for this team to grow and experience and learn this stuff together, I hope we have this core in nucleus together for a long time. I do believe it's something special and I think that these moments will harden the team and ultimately there'll be a hump to get over and it could.
Be next week right, consider that it could be next week.
But eventually there'll be a hump this team has to climb, and when you get over it, it's gonna feel even better.
And I have such faith that this is a group that can do it for us.
So that's kind of my to a takeaway mid podcast there, and we'll get more into the team's overall sentiment. That might have been the first takeaway in general there that I have for you, guys. Let's go ahead and keep moving in the game. As I speak very quickly here, Ravens go three and out and you get the football right back and then it's a Dolphins touchdown. All of a sudden, you're in position to maybe make a push
at this thing. Fourteen plays, seventy eight yards, a fourth and four conversion of Braxton burials is gonna speed out. Good timing there from Tua, good catch from Braxton. Then you get a third down touchdown reception from Devon h Chan who went over one hundred and fifty all or rather yards from scrimmage in this one and scored another touchdown. So good to see that we've been back in full charge, and hopefully Raheem Moster is back with him next week.
But the defense then seven plays seventy five yards.
Ravens go up.
Forty two to nineteen, and really it's two plays, a twenty seven yard strike to Bateman to put it into plus territory and then a forty one yard justice he'll run, and that's kind of ballgame.
At that point.
They get another little throwback against the grain for a touchdown third and goal to freaking Patrick Ricard, who's like three hundred pounds and makes a one headed catch. So they're partying, they're having fun. It's forty two to nineteen. We turn it over on downs. Tua gets knocked out of the game with an injury. He said after the game that it was just sore us and he'll be fine. The Ravens throw a touchdown, or rather get another touchdown
pass just boom, boom boom. In the run game, we fumble it on the opening play the next series, a pitch from Mike White to Chris Brooks cannot be executed and they throw a pass into the en zone for a touchdown fifty six nineteen. We also lose Bradley Chubb to what looks like an acl in that play. That's
what the reports the Dolphins are fearing right now. Of course we'll have more on Monday with official I MRI as well as with Xavion Howard, but it sounds like Tua will be okay as far as he is concerned from from his own mouth right just sore on us in that shoulder. So a cavalcade of misery in that game, and I hope this podcast was therapeutic.
It was for me.
We have five takeaways still to get to, which we'll go ahead and start that right now, but I just go lee, I wrote f me and on my notes here because.
That's how I felt after the game. That's kind of how I feel right now.
First takeaway, so we'll get to the second takeaways is like my first takeaway. But I layered this in this order for a reason. And the first one that I wanted to touch on was what happens in the middle seven portion of the game, because, like I said, twenty one to thirteen to go in the first half, they get the ball to start the second half.
What's gonna happen here?
You can seize control of the game, or at least put yourself back in position to compete going forward. If you seize this opportunity right here. But it didn't happen that way. In fact, it comically happened in the entire converse way. You get an interception where we're moving the ball boom boom boom down to the midfield to a mix of board decision. I kind of wish they would have just gone to the two minute warning there and let that clock run a little bit more and run
a play on that side. But that's not what happened. You throw the ball into a tight window and Patrick Queen, this team makes you pay. That's there's a reason they have now twenty nine takeaways on the season. They came in with twenty six. They just that's what they do. They take the ball up. They took the football away from you, and that's what Patrick Queen did here. Then you get the ball back after that, and you puned it. After they score the touchdown, they get twenty eight thirteen,
they punt the ball back. Then they get the opening possession, the opening kickoff, and march the kickoff all the way into scoring territory, and then they score quickly after that. It's thirty five to thirteen with just thirty one and a half minutes into the game. So the last three minutes of the first half, the first really minute and a half of the second half was where the game was basically got.
Out of hand. And that's it.
Just the Dolphins dominated that area of the game last week. A touchdown to go ahead at the end of the first half thirteen to six over or thirteen to seven rather over Dallas. And then a game winning drive where you milk the entire clock to put it at triple zeros when the kit goes through to win the football game perfection one week, abject disaster the next.
It's funny how that works in the National Football League.
Takeaway number two is something that that's to me a bit of a one off. I think the way the end a half, end of game situation went, because that's something this team has been so locked in and so solid on really since Mike McDaniel got here, a bit of a one off there. I think Takeaway number two is who you are. It's mistakes in big games in the biggest spots. And I'm not saying it's who you were going to be forever, but right now it's who you are right because you can change it next week.
That's all fine, and well, but right now, who you are the third and sixteen on the opening drive and they eventually score a touchdown there. That can't happen. I mean, I just watched the Bengals convert a fourth and eighteen to keep a game alive. They have actually lost to
Kansas City. But come on, man, that can't happen. A touchdown dropped in the back of the end zone where you have opening two drive touchdowns, march down the field, Your quarterback's gonna be feeling good, your offense is gonna be feeling good, your defense, everyone's gonna be feeling good. And you drop it in the back of the end zone, and like, look, Tyreek's broken the franchise record back to
back years his first two years. Here, the greatest trade Miami Dolphins history, arguably one of the greatest players in the history of the franchise already just two years in. But gosh, man, let's make a play in a big game. The drop touchdown against the Eagles, the fubble against the Chiefs, the drop touchdown here. It's just like, these are things your best players have to rise up and make big plays.
And this is a guy that's caught game changing forty yard passes to set up a game winning field goal or touchdown drive in the Super Bowl, like he's done that.
It's just frustrating to me.
You bust a coverage on a seventy five yard touchdown pass that you see in practice every single day. How does that happen? Fourth and seven? We slip and fall down a man coverage for a thirty six yeard touchdo like I said, comical because at a certain point, it just gets to where you like I laughed, I chuckled. It was a natural reaction to chuckle when Tua through that second pick because the minute they gave us some life and some hope, it went the other way and
I was just like, was defeated in that moment. You've been in these spots all year. Unfortunately it has not doomed you yet. You're not to that time of year, and hopefully those experiences like I talked about can build a callus that allows us to make those plays in
those big spots. Because when I talked to Charles Davis and I asked him about the emotion coming off of a big win over Dallas versus their big win over the Niners last week, forgot for a second, how would the emotional disparity of those two teams and what they had to output, especially with the Ravens coming off of a six day or a short week of rest, how that impact the team? And he was like, this is business as usual for the Baltimore Evens And that's a really really good point.
So we haven't developed that yet. Hopefully it's coming.
But in this game, in this season, it's been once you've been the Eagles two third downs and long in the start of the fourth quarter of a seven point game. They get seven on third and eight and five on fourth and six, and what do they do but tush push to first downs on the next couple of plays. It's just frustrating. It's the cause of those nerves you feel throughout the course of these big games. Before the game, I had so much nervous energy today I don't even freaking play.
What's wrong with me?
But it's because of this, because of the big moments that you have not really played your best football at now. We did execute the big moments against the Cowboys, and Seth was great to point that out to me on the postgame show.
So it's not every time.
It's not every time, and you've done it last year too, so it's not every time, but damn it, it feels like it right now. The big takeaway, you know, you give it right back three and now a long touchdown drive, but you scheme up an open two point corner drag if a variation of smash. The ball is there and we can't convert, we can't catch it, it's a drop. And then a perfect pass to Claypool with fifty seconds left in the third quarter. That cost you two minutes
of game clock, which at that time was important. The game didn't play out that way, but at that time was important. Just consistently making these big, big, big airs. It has to change. It can change next week. I hope it does. Let's go ahead and take our last break right there. Come back on the other side, talk about next week, talk about the injuries, talk about the defense.
That's all coming up.
Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Takeaways one and two in the books from the dolphins fifty six to nineteen loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens clinched the AFC North and the one seed in the AFC. More on that and just a moment. The third takeaway from this game, these are gonna be brief. The long term impact will not not be felt from this because Bradley Chubb's injury did not look good. Like we talked about, the early fear is
in acl getting carted off. That's what it looked like when he left the field, right. We'll find out more on Monday. Xaving Howard injur leaves in a cart. Didn't look good. Shoe came off. That never looks good. Tua gets the injury that he had leave the game with, said he was okay, just soreness. But I mean, you're down Connor Williams, one of the most important pieces of your team in my opinion, on the offensive line. You are down Robert Hunt, one of the best guards in
the National Football League. You were down Rahiem most are today twenty one touchdowns for that guy this year. You were down Jalen Waddell, a guy that has three consecutive one thous and yard seasons and game breaking speed and ability. You were down Jalen Phillips, a guy that I thought could have had twelve, thirteen to fourteen sacks this.
Year if he didn't get injured.
You were down Jerome Baker, one of your longtime leaders, a middle linebacker. You lost Xavier and Howard one of the best cornerbacks in the franchise's history. On the first drive of the game. Gosh, it's tough to overcome all that takeaway number four. The defense just got absolutely thrashed in this game, right, They got shredded. First drive. It was wide open, and that's what we were so concerned about.
At the iHeart stations, me, Seth and Oj was like, Okay, We're okay if you get beat and they run the ball, you know, successfully and convert third downs. But guys are running wide open. What's going on here? We got saved by a missed forty fifty yard player and by an offensive pass interference on that drive, but that was pretty much the only time they got stopped the entire day. We kick a field goal with three minutes off to play.
We bust a coverage right after that, Eli Apple jumping inside in the motion we've seen so many times every day from this team in practice. You get a fourth down situation, Javon has a chance to the guy that you needed back so bad, and we can't cover one on one situation, we fall down in front of the play thirty six yard touchdown.
All those coverage blitz bust, but without blitzing.
There's not any like usually if you have guys open on the back ends because you committed.
Up from we weren't even doing that.
So just a really really poor defensive performance in this game evident by fifty six points. Lamar had a perfect passer rating on the day, and in fact, in his career against the Heimi Dolphins he has a perfect passer rating in the first half.
Kind of have to find a solution to that.
In fact, you can't have to find a solution to your pass defense in general and do it in six days. As coach had mentioned earlier on the sound bye we played previously in the podcast takeaway number fifteen, what do we have ahead in week eighteen? I'm already over this game.
I don't want to.
We'll do the film podcast tomorrow, probably gonna be briefer than usual, but I want to move on under the Bills game here. Man, we'll watch the tape, but let's talk about this now. So a very fun option now exists on the table. You guys ready for that option? Are we? Still sad either way. Here it is beat the Bills, win the division, get the two seed, awesome, great.
Buffalo would be the seventh seed and you would get a rematch against them, unless unless Jacksonville beats the Titans in a game that they need for the AFC South Championship, and the Titans are playing out a string and it looks like the lost Will Levis today.
We'll see if he starts next week.
But Ryan Tannehill finish that game, and the Steelers beat a Ravens team who came into this one awfully banged up as banged up as us and perform better than us. But with a lot of those key guys being fringe plays, you have to imagine with the one seed locked up, you can rest up and get almost a full strength in the divisional round that they'll play in here in a few weeks. Also, do they play Lamar. I bet he starts the game, but we'll see if he finishes.
It's a lot on the table there for the Ravens in that game to sit guys. But if you get that result, if you get a win over Buffalo, you get a Jacksonville win over the Titans and a Steelers win over the Ravens resting their starters. Potentially your wild card matchup would be Pittsburgh down here in two weeks, and if you won that game, depending on how some of these matchups go week eighteen, you'd be home with
the divisional that's for sure. And the potential matchups would be then the three seeded Kansas City Chiefs, who are locked into that spot right now.
You wouldn't play that.
You would not play the potential six seed Texans or Colts, who are the only two teams that can get that seed right now because they play each other and the winner gets the spot and the loser goes home. It would either be the three seeded Chiefs if they win their wild card weekend game against Houston or Indy, or the winner of Jacksonville Cleveland.
That's the options.
So still could potentially put yourself in a really good position to make a run deep into the postseason. Let's go ahead and hear from TUA on the filling of the locker room and get the heck.
Out of here playing the standard that we wanted to play. And when those standards are met, you know, it feels like it's very disappointing and so I would say in the locker room that that's sort of the field. But you got a lot of the leaders and a lot of the guys stepping up to you know, get our guys going for for next week and the games to follow. I mean, we still got a lot a lot of football left to play.
So there you go to us as the best right there, I think. And so those are your potential first round options. At home against the Steelers, could be at home against the Buffalo Bills, could be on the road against Kansas A Chiefs. That's what you're looking at. Next week will determine that all. I believe we'll have the I'm not gonna I'm recording this at about eight o'clock on Sunday, so I don't have the time for the game, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be Dolphins and Bills on
Sunday night. I'll go ahead and follow up on Twitter. Let's go ahead and get out of here for this podcast. Thank you guys that stuck with me here and took the therapy session and stride, subscribe, rate, review, all that fun stuff. Follow me on social at weekle NFL. Check out my fish tank boys, Seth and juice and they're great episodes. They do every single week on Tuesdays, the YouTube channel for me Availabilities, Dolphins Today, and last but
not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time. Finn's up, Carolina Cameron, I'll see you
End of this week.