Drive Time: Dolphins Eagles Week 7 Preview

I am very very excited. Plus the three keys of victory and my prediction from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.

here is actually cooperating. It's been a beautiful seventy five degrees with a slight breeze. All the rhymes are coming in on time today and that's supposed to continue throughout the week. We get a low of fifty eight degrees tonight. I'm excited about that. Let's get to know these Philadelphia Eagles. We had a videographer here a couple of years ago who grew up in the Philly area. Miss you, Trey.

Hope you're doing well up there again, sir. I'll never forget sitting with him sometimes while he was watching highlights on Mondays of the Eagles games because he was shooting Dolphins games and couldn't watch his hometown Eagles, and just

talking some shop with him. And I'll never forget. There was a game against the Giants in twenty twenty one, right before they had kind of started their run to make the playoffs that season, and before eventually getting bounced by Braiding the Bucks and a lop sided a playoff

game over in Tampa Bay. But they were building to the team they have now that season, and it started with the immersions of quarterback Jalen Hurts, a star second round draft pick in twenty twenty the same class as to Hurts is one of four bona fide franchise quarterbacks from that class, in one of two to.

Lane Johnson this week. I don't think there's a chance he could play, but I doubt it's been one of the best right tackles in football for a decade now. In fact, he was on the board when Miami selected Dion Jordan. Cover your ears, Dolphins fans, Jordan Mylotta might be the best left tackle in football. If not, he's one of them. And they pair that with the best center of this generation and Taylor Swift's boyfriend's brother. Just kidding,

he's Jason Kelsey. The Kelsers are more important this podcast than Taylor Swift. Fight me about it. He's heading to camp when he's all said and done here and the other two guards spots have seen some changeover with the retirement of Brandon Brooks, one of my all time favorite players, and free agent departure Isaac Somalu. And that group was

really formed back in the Carson Wentz era. It helped them get to the Super Bowl in twenty seventeen, a year where Wentz was pacing for MVP, got injured, and you know the rest. He's now throwing footballs and Colt's helmets and Commanders jerseys and Eagles shorts. They came back with Wentz in twenty eighteen, and that was probably one of his best years.

vets and youngsters. They essentially exported those dominant Georgia defenses. Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, that might be the best defensive tackle in football, That might be the best defensive tackle combination of football, Nikobe Dean, Nolan Smith, Keeley Ringo. It just keeps going. Fletcher Cox is not from Georgia, but he's still a good player. And then he Brandon Graham have been there for you know, since the mosfit transistor

was invented. Where you see the impact of building wall to wall elite rosters, and the downside of that is on the defense. We mentioned the loss of Somalu, but they also lost Javon Hargrave, Chauncey Gardner, Johnson, TJ. Edwards, Marcus EPs Kaizer. Why all those guys either start or our key parts of sub packages wherever they are now. And the Eagles are also on top of that dealing with a ton of attrition in that secondary. More on that in a moment. All things told, they haven't been

as dominant as they were last year. They just haven't been five and one, so who the hell cares? But they've played a ton of close games. And I'm told that if you play bad teams, you can't have a success against those teams because it doesn't matter how much beat them by. But the Eagles have skirted by some not so good football teams. Close win against the Patriots, close win against the Commanders in overtime, infact, and loss of the freaking Jets. The Jets aren't a good team.

They held in the red zone against the Patriots to hang on by five points in that Week one game, staved off a comeback against the Vikings in Week two thirty four to twenty eight, they pulled away from the Bucks in the second half of a twenty five to eleven victory. And then the Commanders, when we talked about a twenty three to fourteen win over the Rams twenty three points on the Rams defense, and then lost of the Jets on Sunday with four giveaways and just fourteen points.

So the most this season for them was the four and the most they've had in a game started by Jalen Hurts since their first loss last year on Monday Night against Washington when they turned the ball over four times. So turn them over four times, probably gonna beat them. This is a good, one man, good, good football game. I was just out at practice on Wednesday and the media cant agencies about four times the size as it usually is.

entire lockdown Dolphins days will know this. But I had a buddy who was a ga at Bama, and he came on the podcast to tell us about MIKEA. Fitzpatrick way drafted him, and then later about Tua Tongua Bai Looa, and he was adamant about the professionalism that both those guys showed that entire summer, and he said, look, everybody in the program knew who the better quarterback was. It was Tula right like clearly at that stage of their careers. But Tua never complained about having to go win the

job every single day. And then Hurts was a total pro in the way that he handled it. And I imagine if you're listening to this podcast, was probably your favorite quarterback in the NFL, Hurts should be your second because as a prospect, there were some things he had to find tune as a passer and he's just one of the most maniacal workers you've ever seen in the sport, and he's improved in all the areas he had to to make himself into one of the best five or

six quarterbacks in the NFL. So that's fun to watch they duel for the first time ever and then bragging rights for the best wide receiver duo in football?

is gonna have to go down a little bit. I think the entire idea of trying to dismiss opponents based upon the record, when the truth is every game, every entity when you play that team is a different version of that team than they are comprehensively. Like, for instance, the Chargers had everybody right, Corey Lindsley played in that game, or Shan Slay or Derwin James, all the guys that have gotten hurt, not that they all have Austin Eckler, all the guys that got hurt for the Chargers were

in that game. So you beat a really good version of that Chargers team in a quarterback that everyone says is top three but can't win games late. I digress, but I think it's bad practice. And winning this game, though, would shove all that nonsense aside. So let's just do it anyways. Cool temperatures, a raucous road environment, a national television spotlight, one of the league's best teams and best rosters.

It's a win, and there's nothing they can say about you if you do that, But more importantly, the chance to prove to yourself that you can win in that environment. Right, I legitimately believe if you can win this one, it proves that you can win anytime, any place, and against anybody. Next story line, top line quarterback who forces you to defend two plays. That's what Vic Fangio always says when he's asked about a Josh Allen or a Jalen Hurts.

We've seen the Dolphins put it to struggling offenses but get completely railroaded against top level quarterbacks and top level offenses. What would be better than having a big defensive game against an explosive offense like this to really solidify Miami's position heading into the second half of the season. I think we all expect the offense to keep on rolling, you know, especially against lesser teams, but score you know, twenty five to thirty five points against these top level teams.

But if the defense can turn that dial up and make a good quarterback look Pedestrian.

I am fired up. Let's go ahead and take our first break and come back and I'll tell you why. Because I have done the lab work, I have put it all on paper. It's time to tell you why I think is gonna happen in this game. We'll do Dolphins offense first, Eagles defense. Next Draft Time podcast to your host, Travis Wingfield, brought to you back AutoNation. Here we go, Here we go, Dolphins offense versus Eagles defense and quarterback to a tongue, Bailoa is going to see

a strange mix in the defensive backfield. I think come Sunday night, because the Eagles are extremely banged up in the secondary. The three players that I presume will get the most run at that group are Terrell Edmonds, has played sixty four percent of the snaps, a practice squad player, and Makai Gardner, who came up last week and played six percent of the overall snaps on the season. He's

a cornerback who switched to safety four that game. And then Sydney Brown is a rookie who looks promising but has missed most of the year and played just four percent of his team's overall snaps this season. The receivers versus corners, you guys know the matchup here. Hill Waddle, Claypool Wilson, Darius Slays played eighty three percent of their snaps.

James Bradberry's played eighty three as well, Josh Job fifty five, and then Mario Goodrich is a inside corner who kind of finds his role in that position in the nickel, but they also use safeties in the nickel, and they just have been really banged up in that spot in fact, So just to kind of go over the secondary injuries here, Justin Evans is not going to play. Red Blankenship is probably not going to play. He's one of the top

guys in that backfield as well. They lost both safeties from last year in free agency in Chauncey Gardner Johnson and Marcus Epps. Sydney Brown's been out all year, and then again Makai Gardner was the safety there. Their starting

slot Ofvonte Maddox is down. They lost backup corners Eli Rix and Bradley Roby from that Jets game with injuries, so we're talking about potentially like cornerback seven seeing the field at least three quarters of the time in their primary base nickel package and for scorekeeping, two safeties for sure, potentially a third and their top three primary slot guys. That is tough sledding against an offense that is the best of all time through six games, so Dolphins have

to take advantage of those matchups. I think we see more of Hill and Waddle inside and not just exclusively guys like Barrios. And there's never exclusive positions on this team, but I think you'll see more Hill and Waddle inside than you generally would. And then on the offensive line versus defensive line, they go Fletcher Cox sixty one percent of the snaps, and he's a great player, don't get me wrong.

Hassan Reddick seventy percent, probably even better than Sweat, and then Graham thirty one and Derek Barnett twenty two percent of those snaps. So we know, no, Tron Armstead, Kendall Lamb didn't practice on Wednesday, but he's gonna be fine. Connor Williams didn't practice on Wednesday, but I think he'll play. In fact, that's the biggest swing hinge portion of this game for me is Williams versus eichenbergers center, and we'll

talk about the match up here in a second. But running backs most turtn Auchman you know about them against linebackers like Zach Cunningham, who's played eighty three percent of their snap and he's more indicative of the fact that Nakobe Dean's been injured. But the Eagles linebacker position has been the bane of their existence the last few years. So you go out and get a guy that is probably past his prime a little bit. Nicholas Morrow seventy percent of the snaps and then Nacobe Dean should be

ramped up to go this week. He's played twenty one percent of the snaps after landing on ir and he was basically a Jalen Phillips last game in terms of he got a pitch count of snaps at the middle linebacker position. They didn't have Jalen Carter or Darius Slate last week. I imagine both those guys will return, and I'm curious if Nolan Smith gets some more burn because Derek Barnett and Brandon Graham just don't really.

they have up front. Would they maybe usher out some new fronts to get more gaps accounted for and maybe see some of that, you know, six to one type of look that we seen the Dolphins run with Vic Fangio since Sean Desai is off of the Vic Fangio tree. But that's the problem with this Dolphins offense because if you do that, you risk giving minimal help to ten

and seventeen and man. The few times teams have gone man up against Tyreek without safety help, Well, that was the coverage that you had on a thirty five yard touchdown pass. The coverage you had on a sixty nine yard touchdown pass nice and a forty one yard touchdown pass against the Chargers, Giants, and Panthers, respectively. Now, as for the Eagles corners, I think Slays a heck of a player and a good ballhawk, and you gotta be weary of him trying to jump routes and make plays

in the football. I think if we can not turn the ball over, this game will push forty points. That's always kind of the way it goes. But I think that James Bradberry is still a really good player. He's at that kind of cornerback cliff if you will, at thirty where guys tend to see their physical traits deteriorate and then have to make more plays based upon their you know, mental aptitude. But he's a six to one,

two hundred and nine pound corner. And I saw Sean decide say that, yeah, speed can hurt you, but you can hurt speed with physicality. Okay, but you got to get hands on guys. And the way the Dolphins have operated in motion, I wonder if the plan is to try to press and bump and run and disrupt timing. Because if that's the case, if they want to play it that way, I bet you Coach McDaniel has something

for them with his motions and his wrinkles. And I just know that there's different variations off of the offense we've had so far, and I cannot wait. I think this game and then Casey in a couple weeks, which to me is the most important game of the entire year. I think you could see a little bit of you know, some of the back pages in terms of what this offense can really really do. But Bradbury does not move like high Reek and Jalen du So those are interesting

matchups there if you get them. If you can kick them inside even better, but they should have Sleigh and Bradbury available, but again several guys out on the interior that I mentioned earlier in the podcast. I just I wonder what they're going to do to mask some of those, you know, depth issues, because right now you're looking at practice squad guys playing significant snaps for this ego secondary.

But it looks like they play a little bit more of that man free coverage because the thing with all those injuries, you know, if Miami can keep Tua protected, it's just such a tough offense, to try to incorporate new pieces and develop chemistry on the fly to be able to counteract all the movement, all the eye candy, all the ball handling, all the process deliver attributes with which the Tua shines. I think we're gonna get in this game a signature to a tongue of by low.

A game, a three hundred plus yard day, a three touchdown type of day that completely silences the few remaining Barry Cunninghams of the world, the guys that can only count to potato, if you know what I mean. Big chance for Tua to have a game that really gets people talking here, and I think he's up to the challenge. And I think the answer here is ball distribution. When they play their you know, their their quarters or their coverage shells, they tend to put back the roof on

the top of the defense. And then when they get aggressive, you dial up your game breakers and you get your explosives that way, stay on schedule, and then deliver once you lull them to sleep. All of that said, I think you start this matchup with where the Jets had some success run on the football off the perimeter, and nobody has more success with that than Miami. The Jets hit an eighteen yard fly sweep against the Eagles defense. They also totaled forty two total yards on just four

carries off either end. Hey run the ball off the edge more gay. The Dolphins lead the league in rushing off the edge three hundred and eighty five yards on just fifty nine attempts and four touchdowns. That's an average of six point five yards per pot. But then again, we also average six point five rushing as a team in general. Oh and we have eleven touchdowns running the ball between tackles. So it's pretty much just good no

matter what you do. But then from there that creates so much counter action and screen game, and I just want to see these young, you know, untested corners or you know, safeties come down try to make tackles because if you can block up Sleigh and Bradbury and get on the perimeter and force those guys to tackle Waddle

and Hill and most are good luck man. And then off of that the play action game, where Miami is one of the most the offense is there too, I mean across the board, right, but Nakoby Dean working back into the flow of things, is good for them.

version of the Williams Wall. You younger folks, The Minnesota Vikings used to have two defensive tackles, Pat and Kevin Williams that were literally immovable, and they would play like eighty five percent of their snaps and just rush the passer and you'd run for like two yards in a game against them the entire game. But these guys, they're

so freaking good. Carter didn't play last week, but big number ninety Jordan Davis was the guy that popped off the tape to me more than anybody else, he just consistently walked their center back into Zach Wilson, and Carter has been even better than that. So I think where Miami has been superb is the connectivity inside. You know, Williams, Hunt and Win are all top grade, top three at their positions in past block efficiency, not right guard, left guard,

all the guards. It's two and three for Hunt and Win, and then Williams's number three among centers. So if they can do that, if they can get those big fellows moving with outside runs, tire the legs out a little bit, maybe we keep them at bay, you know, keep the edge rushers thinking about what might becoming. Look, if Connor Williams plays, I'm picking a win. It's gonna tell you that right now. If he doesn't, I'm probably gonna flip it. Just just want you guys to know that. Josh Sweat

and Hassan Reddick again game wreckers off the edge. I think Sweat has looked the toughest this year in terms of his pop and get off and the counter moves that he offers. He's just a pass rushers pass rusher. He's got a variety of swipes and hand combat moves that helped to get him free. The interesting part about this is that Kendall Lamb specializes in that department. It feels like we said this a few times regarding this matchup right, just good on good and the things that

you do well, they do well. What a treat for the neutral fan to get to watch this game. I wonder again if we might see more Nolan Smith. He was a first round draft pick. He's got all the length and bendability and pass rush you could ever want in a prospect. But Brandon Graham out reps him, but just hasn't done much this year. And here by the numbers you can see it pressures this year. Sweat twenty seven,

Runnick twenty four, Carter twenty three. Huge drop off. Milton Williams, guy we didn't talk about in the interior who left the Jets game and came back and looks pretty good too. He has twelve, Fletcher Cox has twelve, and then Graham has just nine.

Hurts and the Eagles offense. First, the Miami Dolphins defense. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. When the Dolphins defense is back on the field, which, by the way, real quick. A couple of news and notes here. Jalen Ramsey practice on Wednesday. He looks good, man, he looks good. He looks good. Also, Raheem most Aret one player of the Month for the AFC on offense, So congratulations to Raheem.

And I think we're gonna see Ramsey back here pretty dang soon. He was ruled out for the Philly game already, but his practice window has opened. We are going to see number five very soon. For your Miami Dolphins defense.

Not this week, but we will see Javon Holland and Deshaun Elliott go up against Jalen Hurts, and I continue to think the connectivity those two guys have shown and grown and improved with will only continue to make life tough on Jalen Hurts, who passing the football this year been a little bit wonky, a little bit sideways.

match his physicality and hopefully he can do that. And then do we see maybe some more Cam Smith because I just am not loving the other options outside of what we have with him with X and Cator Kohu. And then on the slot they run Alumadi Aza Kias is a pretty underrated player forty eight percent of the snaps. Quez Walkin's twenty six, but I think he's gonna miss the game. And then Dallas Godder is really the third

option in the passing game. He's played ninety two percent of their snap So Smith, Brown and Goddter and then DeAndre Swift is really the main package, and they'll they'll kind of substitute in the fifth eligible across the board from the rest of the guys they have. They've had an interesting interior three. Landon Dickerson is a former center playing left guard, and then Jason Kelsey and the new right guard. Suwa Opa is the one that I don't

I don't know. I don't know if that's a guy that can really handle Christian Wilkins on that side of the football. Obviously they go up against Wilkins. See Lard Davis and some DeShawn hand action in there, and then Jordan Mylotta and Jack Driscoll will be the tackle combination. I just don't think Lane Johnson can do it this week, So big matchup for Phillips off that side, as well as Van Ginkel. If he gets as much run as he usually does, I think we'll see a lot more

JP this week. I kind of feel like this was the game they were targeting all along for him to come back, and then Chubb on my lot, that's probably a favorite Eagles, But if he can get some production there, that would be a big, big bonus. And he's probably gonna see lots of one on ones too, So you're up Beachubb again. Lane Johnson high ankle spring Jack Driscoll replaced him and surrendered eight quarterback pressures in the game

on Sunday. I do think it's pretty common for an offensive lineman coming off the bench to struggle more so than starting Just a different story when you get the whole week of reps and start the game again. Watkins left with injury their left guard. They're normal left guard, Jergen Cox is down, so that's where Dickerson fills in.

He was a replacement for Isaac Somalu, a key free agent loss this March's almost like the guys they lost in free agency that maybe they're trying to find, you know, replacements and trying to find the rhythm in those spots. Those guys are like now injured and they're on the third option at that spot, so that could be a key to watch for in this game. They signed Julio Jones, by doubt, you'll see him on Sunday. Their personnel eleven

is seventy three percent of the time. Zakias and Watkins snap counts add up to seventy three, so that makes perfect sense. They operate from twelve personnel twenty percent of the time. Jack Stole plays about twenty one percent of the snap, so there you go. He's the second tight end. They play thirteen personnel five percent, and they do not have a fullback on their roster, but twenty one personnel with two backs is two percent of the time. Fast twenty one right, they'll go two two half backs, I

should say, alongside Hurts at times. And it all starts in the ground game with DeAndre Swift, Jalen Hurts in the design running game, and of course Hurts on scrambles. That was all he did against the Jets. Escape, Escape, Escape, and Create. They've not been as coordinated in structure this year, but I think that's to be expected a new play

caller and offensive coordinator. They ran just thirty five percent of the time in that eleven package eleven personnel package, but they run it fifty four percent of the time and twelve so when you get two ten ends in the field, you might want to bring a safety down stay in that base package. But then from there they know that and they're going to get their vertical shots to those two stud wide receivers. They're like us man, there are a lot to deal with. You have to

play a really good game to stop them defensively. First player I think about when I think about how to slow Philly is David Long. To me, this is the game that you get David Long for. He's come on as of late in an offense that can be run but also hit you with verticals against your base package, an offense that runs so much RPO.

tell you about here in a moment. They've they bogged down drives like multiple drives at a time, like you saw against the Jets on Sunday, and here's a good example of that. They ran for eighty yards against the Jets, their lowest total in over a calendar year, and they scored their lowest point total in that long fourteen points. Week one was the only other time they didn't rush for over one hundred yards this season ninety seven against

New England, and they only scored eighteen points offensively. So it kind of seems like the key here is to hold them under one hundred rushing yards and you can.

that look. So while I think the run game is first and foremost, I think the player who is first and foremost individually is aj Brown. What a problem this guy is, My god. He wins on every type of route. His run after the catch is elite, and he takes over most games like Tyreek Hill does not to the same level, but you get it. I just hope we get a healthy X because that's who he typically matches up best with. Not that he's gonna win that matchup, but he can use his physicality to help offset some

of Browns in that department. And then I think Cater has the quicks to keep pace with Devonte Smith. I don't like a cornerback over a good receiver almost any time, but you're going to give attention somewhere.

There's lots of sloppy play in there, like breakdowns and pass pro minimal effort on the top of some routes, some bad quarterback mechanics, bailing on clean pockets, just different things that lead to a passing success rate of forty four percent, which is only twenty first in the National Football League. But it is a sixty one point six percent success rate for Swift on the ground and sixty

one point nine percent for Hurts as a runner. So you pair running wins with their sloppy passing attack at times, you can bog them down. What's interesting about this, though, is that Hurts it seems like one of those passing game issues. And again they're still productive as hell, but when it gets disjointed him, it starts with one's footwork like he's not hitching in rhythm. He's not striving towards his target, and the timing of those drops is not timing up with the routes.

off the bench is different than starting. But I think with an offense like this, especially one that just had a four giveaway game and just happened in a fluky manner. I mean, one was a catch that got stripped and deflected back the other way and landed right in the lap of Quinn Williams.

there as well. So it's also important to note for the guys in coverage when he scrambles, they have to get under their man and plaster because on tape this is so consistent. They come straight back down the stem. When he scrambled off to the sideline, regardless of the coverage,

they always come right back to him. He put a couple in harm's way against the Jets, but he also completed some insane throws in that category, including one where he's literally stiff arming a three hundred pounds defensive tackle while throwing the football.

starts with an elite center. It's so hard to get interior pressure against a team with an elite center because of all the help that he provides, like on the right guard I mentioned, like he helps him so much, and the matchups I think favor Miami more on the edge because I don't imagine Lane Johnson plays six days after a high ankle sprain, so pressures, hits and sacks allowed my lotta sixteen one in one, Dickerson twelve three

and one, Kelsey three to one and zero. Jeez, Opeta or Opum sorry, eight one and one.

we won the game. According to Summer Sports on their probability scale of playoffs, that's a direct result of playing an NFC team, typically or Technically speaking, Miami could drop this one and then rattle off wins in the next seven games, which I think they will personally, and have the number one seed in their control heading into the final three games versus Dallas, Baltimore and Buffalo. That's another universal way, but I feel like it's important in the description of what's.

So it's a big game, but it isn't a big game, if that makes sense. The keys to me contain the Philly Run game forty four percent success passing rate. If you can play at that number while executing our second key, which we'll get to in a minute, and the ability to stream together run down wins, that could limit this offense. That's how other teams have gotten done against them in

terms of you know, limiting points. Eighteen points against the Patriots, twenty against the Jets last week, or fourteen against the Jets last week. Key number two, excuse me, prevent aj Brown and DeVante Smith from getting vertical. They're completing forty percent of their throws twenty plus yards down the field, but when they get them, they go for big yards eleven completions for four to forty five and four touchdowns on such throws. As we mentioned forty four percent passing rate.

Success comes from a relatively inefficient intermediate passing game. If you can force their deep shots into a high incompletion percentage, maybe pick one off, then you can get some stops and the key number three feed the Cheetah and the Penguin. It's a key every single week. But they are so banged up. Let's take advantage of that. Let's see Cheetah go for buck fifty. Let's see penguin goal for a buck fifty, and go get us a big whim on

Sunday night football. Areas of concern. I'm concerned about the run defense versus that quarterback and DeAndre Swift. They're just very good and would have me concern regardless of who's on defense. I'm concerned about Brown and Smith, especially if xaviing Howard cannot go in the game, and I'm concerned about Carter and Davis, especially if Connor Williams cannot go. Areas to exploit Jack Driscoll have to win that matchup consistently.

They're gonna help on him, but you have to find a way to make him pay when he's one on one and then capitalize on some of the erratic nature of the offense. If Hurtz puts the ball in Harm's way, if he throws a bad pass that cost them a down, don't let him get back into the down distance, get off the field if that happens, and then their secondary injuries and the matchups there exploit them. The prediction I'm taking the Miami Dolphins. I feel great about the offense,

not the defense against that offense. If it's not Connor, I'm gonna flip it to thirty four to thirty one Eagles. But with Connor, I'm going thirty eight Dolphins and the game not being.

That's what I'm saying. Let's go ahead and get out of here. Mike Tarico on the podcast on Friday, Fran Duffy tomorrow. A big week of guests here on the Draft Time podcast. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me

on social at week with NFL. Check out the Fish Tank with Seth and Juice, and the YouTube channel for media availabilities and Dolphins Today and so much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, Finz Up, Carolina, Cameron Daddy's coming home. Man give you sick