Drive Time: Dolphins Drop Heartbreaker to Bills 30-27

to the stats in this game. And when I read you, guys, these stats are gonna say, Wow, the Dolphins beat the Bills on the road, didn't they? But they did not because they really outperformed Buffalo by many many metrics in this one twenty six first downs of twenty four. The Dolphins were four for eight on third down Buffalo five for ten. Both teams were one for one on fourth downs.

The Dolphins had three hundred and seventy three yards of total offense, which actually was over four hundred prior to that Waddle play at the end of the game where he lost a bunch of yards trying to run around. The Bills had three twenty five. The passing was pretty even, two thirty one to two twenty four. Again, Miami would have clipped that had that last play not happened. A buck forty nine on the ground for the Dolphins, ninety

four for the Bills, sixty plays to fifty nine. I mean, the Dolphins turned over once, the Bills turned it over once. Both teams were sacked once. The Dolphins had eight penalties for fifty seven yards, Buffalo four for forty and Miami had the football for about thirty two minutes, just a little bit less than thirty two minutes in this game. And I just wanted to look at these last few

Dolphins drives going back the last two weeks. Here's what it looks like going back to the Cardinals game, touchdown, field goal, punt, field goal, touchdown, safety, touchdown, punt, punt, field goal, touchdown, fumble, field goal, touchdown, touchdowns, fifteen drives, six touchdowns, and four field goals, So scoring drives on

sixty six percent of your drive drives. That's twenty seven points per game, obviously, but points per game is a stat that you need context behind, because typically most games have ten to twelve drives per game in them, ten eleven, twelve, whatever that might be. But the Dolphins have gotten seven and a half drives per game, and sure part of that has to do with our offense being able to kind of take the air out of the proverbial football

and milk the clock that way. But man, that is three point six points per drive and the NFL average is two points for drive. So they're scoring like one and a half times more. Is that the right math? Double one and a half times more than what an

average offense is doing right now? The offense that we that I talked about all off season, how excited I was for the extra pieces, the offensive line that I thought did a good job of retaining continuity and chemistry up front, All of this has shown up the last couple of weeks, and this deep backfield is providing a compliment this offense, I would say even last year didn't have with their ability to milk out long drives and get tough yards and move the football that way.

the Colts game. Two fumbles that gave the Colts a tying touchdown drive, and a fumble at the eleven yard line when you're about to go in for your own go.

put them in a very tough spots. Go ahead and cover this game top to bottom, and I have a lot of notes in this one because I was having fun. It was fun to watch the Dolphins on this Sunday compete against another top level team, a top level quarterback that has given us issues for years. I thought the Dolphins showed themselves in a road environment and competed their butts off offensively, loud, raucous crowds that converted critical third

and fourth downs. We'll get to all that here shortly, because the game began with a Buffalo three and out, a three play, three yard drive where Emmanuel Agba really understood his role today as that forced defender off the edge. He said it hard edges all game long on the

third to set up a third down play. On this particular drive, he has a second downplay where he creates a third down by a very hard edge that creates a situation for Chop Robinson to get a very quick pressure on Dion Dawkins, who he beat several times in this game with speed to power, taking him right back into the quarterback sped Allen up on this drive. He throws it away and the Dolphins are off the field

straight away. Dolphins get the ball back themselves and we go punt as well with a five play twelve yard drive where Austin Jackson gave up the inside post on the play that tu Would dropped the snap on. He ends up eating the sack. It's a seven yard loss. After Miami ope with a first down, we did get back into the count and I love the offensive game plan all day. It'll be a point of contention on

the end of the podcast. Are the takeaways I should say where Obj makes a catch to create a third and eleven, and then we get Tyreek on a little like stick nod but not really a stick nod where he puts his foot in the ground and gets back up the seam on the glance route widen the cornerback and creates a window. The ball is there, but Tyreek cannot make the catch and it is punting time. But then it's the only punt of the day, and it's a short punt followed by a thirty yard return that

once again gives the Bills a short field. Like we talked about all week long, you can't do this and give thee this team short fields. And they paid off with not a touchdown but a field goal on a seven play, fifteen yard drive, a drive that began at the plus thirty seven yard line. You got yourself into a third and four situation, but they go back to their mister reliable and Khalil Shaker, who has a catch and moves the chains.

stretched out the pocket man. Some of these right handed quarterbacks, they want to get loose to their right because they are most dangerous when they have a head of steam towards the lion scrimmage and you force them to bubble on that route, which Agba did. It makes for a tough spot and he gets a big TfL and brings the big fellow down for a huge loss. That's two drives with eighteen yards allowed, a defensive win. But Buffalo

would find their footing later on in the game. They take a three other lead here, almost get the football back and take a nine play forty nine yard field goal drive where they just put themselves in it behind the chains once again, but they on and behind the

chains play on third and eleven. They throw this middle screen to Raheem Moster who puts a shoulder down and runs over Taylor Rap and it was a Buffalo blitz and Miami had the right call at the right time to get him into space to create a long catch and run. There was a flag on Taylor Rap for getting truck sticked. I don't know why that was called. We thought it was going to be on Raheem for lowering the crown of the helmet, which they also like

never call that. But I couldn't believe that was fifteen yards. But hey, we're gonna take it because we got great blocks by John uy Smith League, Washington Jalen Waddle. I thought Miami's entire receiving a tight end room did a pretty damn good job today. In the blocking game, it's the attack on fifteen yards. It puts us to the plus forty five. A chan catches a rail and goes for you know, ten yards. After a running play with that to put it the plus twenty nine yard line,

you get nine more yards. Miami consistently got seven eight nine yards in a first down in this game, and it made it pretty pretty easy. But then you go third and one and you run that like up back dive, which worked twice against the Jags on opening Day, and it worked for the Ingle touchdown against the Patriots. But other than that, that play has been tough sledding. And later in the game they executed a third and short

run by just doing the traditional running game. So it kind of feels like when they just go with their bread and butter and what they have blocked really well

all year long, it tends to move the chains. And I love the idea of mixing things up and being multiple and how you can attack, but it kind of seems like that play has been a little bit fit figured out I'll be curious see how the Dolphins are just based upon that, if they can execute it next time, or if there's a wrinkle off that just thought it was worth mentioning that play seems to have kind of stalled out a little bit on those third and short situations.

But I just think you have to find a way to convert in that spot because again, against that team and that environment, and I've talked about it in every Bills matchup, you can get Buffalo to like kind of go into the tank for a little bit offensively in terms of multiple drives in a row where they're not clicking and they're not firing in all cylinders and converting

first downs and putting points on the board. But it just felt like, in that moment, third and one at the twenty yard line about to be in the red zone, you gotta find a way to get you know, that first down at least to give yourself a chance at six. They do not, But I just love the sequencing and the game plan in this part of the game to take the run game, take the short quick game stuff, and be a very efficient offense. Which we'll come back to that more in just a moment.

I mean, I can't. We'll talk about it on the film tomorrow. It's every guy. Every guy's playing well on that offensive line right now. They got great surge, a good run behind Brewer, Lee and Jackson Ingle to key block that gets Raheem Most at seventeen yards downhill. They take a toss sweep wide for ten more yards to Raheem Most. It were Meleik and Waddle hit big blocks off the perimeter to seal that lane. They go four

straight runs to open the drive. They lost a yard, and then they went four plays for twenty seven yards. Rather they went four places twenty seven yards. Let's see if that softens up a little bit. I'm writing my notes live as I'm watching this game. And we then take advantage of them paying their ears back when they blitz it on second eleven after a loss on that fourth run for a yard with a little flip screen

inside to John uy Smith. It goes against a five man rush, which gives them less guys to tackle on the back end, and we get ten yards. Third and one eighth traditional run behind Toron Armstead. He takes his man all the way out of the B gap. He was out leveraged, but hit the key block and it freeze a lane for eight Hn to convert for a

first down. They get the ball at midfield, they throw that slant to the X. In this position, it was OBJ to the short side of the field, and good on OBJ for winning that route because it was inside leverage. Tua puts the ball right where it has to be. He knows he has a hit coming from the front end the back. He makes the tough catch and we get upfield again. And then two had I thought one of his better processing plays of the day at the plus forty four yard line where he wanted to go left.

He's able to come back all the way to the right and swing this ball to h Chan up the sideline, gives us a first down at the plus three seven yard line. Two have made that play a couple times in this game, where he's able to get to his third, fourth,

fifth read in the progression. And then Malik Washington has that end to round play looks like a punt return where he's weaving his way through gaps and Dolphins are hitting more key blocks down the field and your you know, punt return and level receiver just has a vision for how to set up those blocks and make those key cuts and impressive drive so far where they're just mixing

that quick game. They're throwing the short you know, quick game with i should say, the running game with the quick game to the short flats and the short intermediate part of the field. And then you're going some well timed end a round, some well time screens like they just had it all figured out, and they get a downhill run from Raheem Moster for a first down at the twenty three yard line. Nine more yards devon eight chan where Austin Jackson clears this massive lane alec Ingland

has a dig out block. It's second and one from the plus fourteen. Then we run into a wall sets up a third and short and you gotta have this, I'm right, and you gotta have it. And we go tempo and force the Bills into a substitution air which forces a time out. And I love how you kind of reverse the script on the team that has done that to you in the past.

half minutes to play in the first half. Buffalo gets it back though, and takes it forty nine yards for a field goal drive to make it ten to six at halftime. But at this point they had three red zone drives and no touchdowns. So the defense, you could argue they were playing really well. I think they were in some spurts, But I think you could also make the argument that the Buffalo offense had kind of struggled to finance rhythm. The drop pass on the pick obviously

as a killer for them. They had a mesh play to James Cook on this drive that he drops and then that would have probably been a touchdown because there was nobody there to catch him. They have a couple of big runs from Josh Allen to get called back on holding calls, and again Chopp was giving Dean Dawkins, a premier left tackle in this game. Issues with his speed and speed to power moves and he tried to snatch him and ends up pulling him down by the face mask and it gets called for a holding call.

They said they created some bad throws on the turf by Josh Allen got him playing off of his back foot. It was a good half for both the offense and the defense. On third and thirty at the plus thirty one, they just throw the ball out of bounce. I was hoping they would put the ball in play. Allen has done that in the past. He's at risk reward quarterback.

He plays a smart throws it away. They kicked the field goal from forty eight yards to make it ten to six, and I thought, you know, four possessions for Buffalo, three from Miami and you lead the game ten to six. Getting it out of the break, Dolphins took the air out of the ball. They had tacked the Buffalo defense vulnerabilities. I thought the story of the day on the other side was Buffalo's mistakes. That that mess drop by Cook, the Coleman drop, turned to pick the penalties the end

of the half. That took a touchdown off the board. But that said, the Dolphins capitalized on all of it. Ramsey makes the hell of a play for the interception. Our Russian coverage was pairing so well off those penalties and drops to put pressure on Allen, force him off the back foot to throw check downs that he has to kind of lob because he has to get the ball up.

brought to you by Auto Nation. So it's ten to six at the break back here in the Draft Time podcast, the Dolphins have the football and they go right back down the field. Three plays thirty yards, but that third player is a long run from Raheem Moster where he coughs up the football and the Bills fall on the fumble. He broke a tackle in the backfield in the first play,

runs for seven yards. Another big John who Smith Block, who's having a hell of a day in a hell of a month, quite frankly as a Miami Dolphin.

can't cover all those spots. And I think Tua kind of has that figured out, and so was Mike McDaniel, and they're hitting these swings routes to Moster to eight chan in the future to Jalen Wright, and they're picking up ten, twelve, fifteen yards of pop on these and then we get another strong lane off the right side behind Austin Jackson's having a hell of a year at right tackle, and we get eight yards before Tarren Johnson Peanut Tillman punches the ball and knocks it out and

it would have been second and two at the plus thirty six. Instead it's Josh Allen back on the field trailing by four, and I think that if you could have found a way into the end zone there to go up seventeen to six, the way you run the ball, the way you were finding those short passes, I don't know, man,

I don't know if they can overcome that. It was our seventh fumble and three games our third loss fumble, and again the two of safety's not a lost fumble, but I would say it's a pretty big negative play to give up two points. They're backed up on your own end zone. But that play in a game you lose by one, a lost fumble on a drive going into the red zone close or thereabout in the game you lost by three and then two loss fumbles in a game you lost by six of the Colts when

you were up by ten in that game. It just like you know coach mentioned at halftime his interview with I think it was Melanie Collins, like fundamentals and technique and like just those the first fundamental of football is putting the ball away when you're carrying it. And gosh, I just cannot help but think, what this what we be talking about right now? We're gonna get into it more and let's keep going with the game script. I

have my big picture takeaways. So the Bills get it back, and of course they paid off with a eleven play, sixty four yard touchdown drive to take six and a half minutes off the clock, but Tyler Bass misses the pat It took them three plays to get into plus territory with short throws, a keen kid and knocks and an eight yard dalvilin Cook James Cook run. Then it

gets two more yards for a first down. So four plays and the balls of the plus forty three yard line, and this game had become this physical battle between two teams and the trenches that are performing at a high level, and they're they're throwing, you know, quick game, they're throwing sticking.

down and goal from the two. Oppost a second goal from the seven. We do bow up on second and third down, get outstanding discipline once again from the edge, Tyas s Bouser has fantastic contained to force a Josh Allen throwaway, and then Matt Collins gets free behind Kendall Fuller and he was like outflanked on this really cool toss action fake the swing throw, throw it back to the over route against the inside or the outside leverage of the cornerback from a nasty split. It was just

a good play call. They skied up a touchdown fourth down and one, and they take a lead, you know, despite feeling like we kind of outplayed him twelve to ten at that point of the game because of the miss pat and Miami takes the ball right back down the field to as a fifteen yard shot to johnais Smith where he moves the hook linebacker and replaces him with the football just vintage to a And you're kind of getting that built off this run game and quick game,

and if you can do the other two things enough, you start to free up some downfield shots. And that is exactly what happened and why I'm like thinking about the possibility this offense. And it sucks that we're two and six, but this is the offense that I envisioned all off season long, and I think you can build upon that and kind of see it go from here.

So you get yourself, you know. Raheem gets the first carry off the fumble and we beat him to the edge once again for seven more yards balls already in plus territory. We have to throw it away on second and three, which by the way to was twenty five for twenty eight two incompletions were throwaways. More on him in a moment, and then third and three at the plus four eight they come over the line off sides

automatic first down. Hi gets us four yards and right back into field goal range and over one hundred yards on the ground. Second and six, Tua takes his shot the Tyreek and you could kind of tell on the broadcast that he felt he missed that throw a little bit, but great concentration by Tyreek to Hallard in over the shoulder,

get the feet in bounds. At first, I thought he'd put that ball there on purpose because of the safety coming over, But if you see the angle, he actually probably had a bigger play if he connects with Tyreek

up the sideline. But then we have a run that goes for not a short screen that creates a third and goal, and we threw what I think was probably a two down situation where if John Hu can get like six or seven yards or even more for a first down, great, but they kept the offense on the field and fourth and four they pull him back and go to the field goal team. I feel like that call was one of two things one talks about in the pregame show with OJ. You cannot get behind the

chains on this Buffalo defense. That's where they feast and they kill you. And that's where Miami has been far too frequently in this matchup. And so when you get in the red zone, like it makes sense to play it safer and play a little more conservative, to give yourself a chance opposed to a possible sack and a longer field goal or a takeaway situation. And I thought that if John who didn't get chopped down where he did it, which a great tackle by Buffalo, you could

have possibly gone for it there. And I kind of would like to see that because I knew that this sleeping giant of a quarterback was not going to stay asleep for it forever. And sure enough, Miami takes a lead on a field goal thirteen to twelve. But then it's a two plays, seventy yard touchdown drive where Josh Allen finds Ray Davis and it's I mean he catches a swing in space. It caught Miami and man coverage against a blitz. Just another good time played by the

Buffalo offense. Those guys get paid to and Marcus May comes down and misses a tackle and they go sixty three yards for a touchdown. That safety group has had a few missed tackles like that this year that have led to big plays, and they'll come back layer in the game here with a bigger impact as well. But just feels like, ah, we're just a couple of plays or spots away from making things not the way they

are right now. They get a two point conversion on a good secondary read with the front sides covered, but Josh has all day to throw and he finds key On Coleman naked in the back of the end zone for two to make it twenty thirteen. And that's where most Dolphins fans are saying, like, here we go, same old Dolphins. But it wasn't because you had two more

drives and the Dolphins went nine and eleven. Play drives to score touchdowns to tie the game up twice, and this one was an eight yard touchdown run from Devon eight chan where Jalen Wright had back to back runs. He's in the game now on this nine play, seventy yard five minute drive to move the chains.

you know, the cost him points in certain spots. We then go false start for a first and fifteen at the plus thirty six yard lind and kick off the fourth quarter, but we overcome with a seven yard run from Devon Hm. We're tough, tough yards where he is

getting you know, through tacklers and pushing the pile. Then a three yard shot to Obj for a third and five, and then he had he This play was Me and OJ were annoyed by this because Tua had eight Chan the flat early, but I also understand if he's got other reasons trying to go through where maybe you have to parse things out first. But I thought he missed eight Chan early gets in the ball anyway, but it

only goes for two yards. And then Tua creates and scrambles and dives for a first down to move the chains.

They get thirty yards on back to back plays with a swing to the sideline, and OJ's like, if they're gonna keep giving him that, they're gonna keep taking it, and they were, and then Keon Coleman got a crossing route for a big game that's been their offense all game. Little mesh and little swings and just continue to get yards after the catch. And then we struggle to tackle once again as Khalil shakerb breaks a pair of tackles and get fourteen more yards three plays right down to

the plus twenty four yard line. Then you get yourself a third and two at the plus fifteen they get four yards and convert.

And then Josh makes this play where he's getting hit as he throws, and he flips it into an area where it's like that is an inch away from off the finger the wrong way, or if he gets hit a certain way to that ball getting popped up into the air and possibly being in harm's way for a pick. It doesn't go that way. They get the touchdown. That's why I'm like, I'm so tired of playing this guy like he he puts himself in these such dangerous spots,

but he makes the play. And if it's just like a fraction of a shoulder pat in different direction, you get a different result. But he always finds a way to make those damn plays. They take a twenty seven twenty lead with six minutes and fifteen seconds left and once again like here we go to what do you got man? And once he got with eleven play eighty one yard drive and four forty we get it back with six fourteen to possibly you know, quote unquote save

our season. And eight Chan takes a ten yard run to a drives when the ty Reek with a great side adjustment. They they sit a stop route down into the soft spot of coverage where it looks like he wants to run the vertical, but he sets it down. Two is in the same page, hits him up bang big play. Right has a physical three yard run And I'm telling Seth and Oji like we have to keep on hitting these three and four yard runs because I

don't want Josh Allen touch the ball again. I want to score and go for two and end the game there, and we throw a now screen that gets us to the thirty eight yard line with key blocks from Tron Armstead and once again a league Washington and the Dolphins doing an awesome job just taking time off the clock because I felt you had to score with no time

left and go for two. So it's a first down at the thirty eight yard line with three twenty two, a three yard run from Jalen right second and seven, you go incomplete backshore throw John Smith that was two was kind of a throwaway, but one of us three incompletions of the day. Then that out route to Waddle on third and seven, fantastic route, chase the blind spot to a perfectly on time, great location, is fun to watch, really good quarterback play with good receivers, make high level throws.

Then you have a first intent at the twenty three yard line with two twenty nine, and we get a no gain to Devon ah Chan and run the clock to the two minute warning. And look, I'm never gonna complain about scoring or getting too many yards, but like if they could have found a way to milk more time. And McDaniel mentioned this after the game in his press conference, like, we got a play to eight chan that actually you know, sped up our equation, our math equation for how that

drive was gonna go. And once we got to that point, we determined we were not gonna go for two because there was a minute forty five whatever it was left in the game we scored, and that quick swing route was actually two was fifth read in the progression per McDaniel that he got to and it springs an explosive play you go first and goal run for negative two.

And then Tua gets pressure on second down and creates and throws a ball running to his right across his body too waddle for his first touchdown of the year and ties the game up with a minute and some change to play. But then the Bills had a nine play twenty seven yard drive that produces a sixty one yard field goal for a guy that's missed three Pats had another short field goal go off the upright and end of course he makes it from sixty one yards. Right,

of course he does, because that's just our luck. So they win the game on that. You get a chop Robinson sack to begin that drive. Speed to power on Dion Dawkins gets his first sack of the year. You get a batted pass by Deshan Hand and if it bounces a foot closer to him, he picks it off and you can milk the clock and kick your game winning field goal. But of course that's not how it works. And then we go off sides, which chop. You gotta have better discipline than that man than to jump off

side on third and fourteen. And then they take their deep shot, which like we had it covered up well and Cam Smith is in great shape, knocks the ball away and Jordan Poyer comes in and puts the crown of his helmet on the face mask of the receiver, and now it's a first intent at the forty six yard line, and we continue to battle. It's a first down and complete seven yards of Matt Collins last time out right there, thirty seven seconds left, third and three

ball at the plus forty seven yard line. They get four more yards to Hollins the second down, they clock the ball, they get incomplete to third down with seventeen seconds and they throw that one.

We'll cover the rest of it here, a Draft time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. So the Dolphins drop another game. They're third straight, their second three game losing streak of the year, thirty twenty seven up in Buffalo and.

it's looked like for the last couple of years. I'm not saying it hasn't at all this year, but you saw glimpses today was the full product with again the run game, the quick game to the perimeter, you sprinkle in the digs in the middle of the field, the deep shots up up the sideline, like this game had everything from an offensive perspective. And the second part of that takeaway is that tow a tongue of by Loa

is still him. I mean, gosh again, I mentioned that the players they ran screens against blitzes to get conversions on long situations against a team that usually tease off against the deep when you're behind the chains offensively, so that's part of the game plan and the sequence. But twenty five for twenty eight for tu he was over two fifty prior to the last throwat end of the game, so it's two thirty seven, two touchdowns a one to

twenty four point nine passer rating. His EPA in the game total was like point sixty nine per play, which was like six times more than Josh Allen. It's like he played one of the best games of his entire career and he was dealing. I thought he showed you creativity,

some scramble ability. I thought he showed you the really good knowledge of the offense and where the ball is supposed to go, Like this is the quarterback that you paid a bunch of money to the way he looked today and quite frankly last week, playing with anticipation, playing with creativity, playing through his progressions, knowing when to get

to the right run checks and the past checks. I just need to find a way to keep this guy healthy because I want to watch this guy for fifteen more years, because that quarterback play is going to win you a whole bunch of games and eventually one day a championship.

Barrett's retirement. You know, it's it's just you're so thin and you're so stretching at some key spots, like I don't know what else you can do, especially when they're they're clicking like they were with that quarterback, and they went after us on the edge. They got a lot of those throws out in that position. They ran the ball down the middle. We're also thin in that position, and we just missed way too many tackles. I put from the safety position, but in general, too many miss tackles.

That long touchdown was a mistackle by Marcus May. That was a killer at that point of the game. And you had chances at the very end, but Buffalo scored on their final five drives, including the game winning field goal drive that saw I third and fourteen convert off two penalties. You just have to find a way take it off the field there, especially on the deep shot where Poyer hit the receiver in the face. Max so brutal man. Despite all those deficiencies are right there. I

had a chance to win the game late. Maybe de Sean Han gets that pick. It's a different story we're celebrating tonight. But I digress number three was that the fundamental area of the game came up just short in one regard. And I want to be very careful with how I say this, because I thought, look, this is a team last year that we talked for you know, the discourse on the team was they can't go on the road, they can't win in cold weather, they can't

compete in tough environments. I mean, that crowd was as loud as I've ever heard the Buffalo crowd against the Dolphins team, and they continuously made plays. And like you know, we have been really good about not losing fumbles the last couple of years. The fumble numbers are kind of high, but we don't lose that many of them, especially from running backs and receivers, like quarterbacks getting sacked or failed exchanges.

with three straight wins. But that's that's how it goes, right, That's the NFL Odell Beckham talked about early the week, like the difference between a two and five team and a five and two team is a few plays and that goes right there, I mean, and it goes from That's just the perception shift that this league deals with. Like if the Dolphins are five and three, it's like, Okay, what's next, how do we beat the Rams and what's going on for the rest of twenty twenty four and

twenty twenty five and beyond. But instead, when you don't make those few plays, it's like the fan base starts talking about calling for jobs and you got to find a new player at this position. Like that's live in the NFL. And I don't think reality matches the perception right now. But I think that as we go along, we'll win some more football games and now I'll get closer. But you did ultimately in the beginning of the year.

Maybe major margin for air too thin by the way you played early on, especially when the quarterback was down. Takeaway number four is we saw a physical football team today. Man. You guys know I've been singing the praises of the offensive line for a few weeks, especially you really all year, with the last few weeks especially, and today was a big test against a very good front that is well

connected and well coached, and we pushed them around. We did whatever we wanted to do, and that's why, like, man, we ran it downhill. We got pancakes, we got surge, we got displacement. That first player of the fourth quarter a first and fifteen run to Devon Chen. He is wrapped up a few times and he just kept coming. We block it with full effort the receiver position down

the field. I just feel like this team has developed its physical side, and again, damn it, man, I just wish it were a little bit different than two and six, even three and five. I would say, like, I think this team is the best of any Mike McDaniel team in terms of being suited to take this product on the road in the bad weather and to go win playoff football down the stretch or you know, December football underlayoff football and just win those games and take it

to them while you do it. That was my takeaway from this game, and that's what I want to see the rest of the way, is to see that thing built out. And then takeaway number five is much more big picture than even just the rest of the season,

which I usually cover. Where I think this team is headed right now, and you know, I've been very up and down, very emotional about my state of mind with this football team over the course of this two and six start, and this one feels more like a it's just one of those years that you kind of have to take on the chin versus this is a team that cannot do it, and that's provided the caveat that they look like they've looked the last two weeks, and

by that, I mean the offense can really score with anybody. We've seen they can do it right, We've seen it for stretches, full games even, But when was the last time this team was that competitive in Buffalo? Twenty twenty two was right there, but really the answer is twenty sixteen pre Josh Allen, which just shows you where this

team is kind of at. But again, sometimes things don't always break your way, and that's kind of how I feel eight games in which obviously the quarterback going down is the biggest issue involved in all of that, because I think we most agree that the Dolphins' worst case scenario with Tua for the four game stretch is three to one, and if that's the case right now, then you are five and three, at worse, probably six and two with two losses of the Buffalo Bills that you

feel tough about, but at least you know you're on the precipice of being there and you can say you are, which your record says you.

beat by thirty one points. You can just tell, like there is eyeball test is a real thing, especially when you know what you're doing with this evaluation stuff. So I just don't think that team that was on the field today was a two and six football team. But yet that's what we are. So that's it's really tough

to cope with that fact. But to kind of piggyback off of this, what that told me today was there are teams that go through years like this in the history of the National Football League and especially the recent history of the National Football League, And by that I mean, for instance, I think it was the twenty eighteen forty nine Ers ahead of their Super Bowl year, where their quarterback got hurt and they just couldn't get the backup

quarterback playing at a high enough level and injuries mounted and they fell all the way to the second pick in the draft where they took Nick Bosa and he became the pillar, the cornerstone of their defense. I think about let's see, who's a good example of this, the Ravens, who you know, when Lamar Jackson got hurt back to

back years, wasn't for a long period of time. He missed a few games one year, and then I think like five or six games the next year, and they couldn't compete offensively with their backup quarterback, and they wind up missing the playoffs and playing a boring wild card game where they lost late in the game because Huntley had a fumble the goal line that cost him that game. And now look at them after the fact, Lamar comes back, he's fully healthy, they have an MVP in their back pocket.

Last year, first seed in the playoffs, go to the AFC Championship Game. Today they're six and three quarterbacks playing like an MVP again, and they're probably going to be right back in that position again this year. I will take that, even though they have had tough ends to seasons, and I think that sometimes you have to accept tough year where things just don't break your way and injuries just go against you. And it kind of feels like

it's been that way for a long time. I think Dolphins fans have much less patient and rationally so patients because of where we've been the last twenty five years. And I fully get that and understand your frustration and think you are well within your rights to feel that frustration. But like we're adults, right. I think most of us are grown ups and have kids and families, and like

you can appreciate certain situations. And I feel like, if you can get Bradley Chubb and Jalen Phillips back, and you can make a couple of you know, fixes here and there in some certain spots, you've got this offensive line that is signed up for the next foreseeable future, might as possibly to Ron Armstead that has developed this great continuity and chemistry up front with a quarterback that's playing his best football of his career, which is already

a top ten quarterback going into the year, Like that's kind of what it looks like from his perspective and his knowledge. It should only increase and get better as he goes along. You've got this young running back corp that looks like the best duo in the National Football League. You've got two star receivers that aren't playing like it in terms of the numbers right now.

of your player development. But I digress on that point because I think you can look at this team the way it's constructed with all the things I just said, and you can inject some key things and the one caveat to it all that I hate to admit because this is what has me kind of out on the business of the quarterback is the health issue and the whether or not the fact that he can play a whole year and stay healthy if he can cool, I'll book my playoff tickets.

Juice not me, I'm not part of that. Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins, HQ, Media availabilities, and much much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, finns Up, Calin and Cameron Daddy's covering