Hey, Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Now let me check your pulse if you're not far though.
What is up? Dolphins?
And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
How's it going? Everybody?
I am your host, Travis Wingfield And on today's show, a fun episode coming your way, Zach Seeler extension, updates from coach McDaniel on the injuries, and some other stuff from Sunday's press conference. We'll also took a look at the All twenty two and put a review on the a bo I should say with the review on the exhibition season, plus some words for one of the best people I ever met my entire life. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Draft Time Podcast, Maggie Gaffe.
Before we get to the podcast, let's go ahead and list off the fourteen cuts that were announced on Monday ahead of Tuesday's deadline to get the roster down to fifty three players. Of course, you'll see all kinds of moving and shaking across the league over the next week or so as teams finalize their fifty three man rosters for opening day. And remember all the veterans or players in general, I should say, that are on that opening
day roster, that salary becomes guaranteed for the year. So there's all kinds of different ways of getting different players cut and brought back and practice squad. It's just kind of a cavalcade of chaos over the next ten or so days. So the Dolphins initial wave of cuts here, they have released tackle Jeron Christian, wide receiver Kiki Kuti, and linebacker aj Johnson. Of course, Kuti and Johnson recent acquisitions here, but the release means they don't have to
pass through waivers. They can sign with any team immediately. Players that do have to pass through waivers linebacker Mitchell Lagude, quarterback James Blackman, defensive lineman Josiah Bronson and Randy Charlton, wide receiver Chris Coleman, linebackers Aubrey Miller and Garrett Nelson. Safety Kedrin Smith tackled James Tunstall in then back to d tackles Jalen Twyman and Jamal Woods who was just signed earlier this week as well. So team moves ahead
of the deadline. We'll have more coming for you guys tomorrow. Let's read off some injury updates here from coach McDaniel, who said on Sunday, Savon Achmed is not in the concussion protocol. He will be day to day. Elijah Campbell, they were fearing it could be a potential acl but they found out it is not and that is fortunate. However, they're assessing the extent of it and they feel there's a chance that could go into the season for him.
He did avoid one thing, but there was a substantial injury that coach said will take him into the season. So thinking about Elijah there, he was having a great camp, in a great preseason and looking forward to getting a look at him on the defensive side of the football in addition to what he offered on special teams. Mike White cleared concussion protocol on Friday. Coach said the quarterback two announcement will come next Monday, so.
Keep it locked for that. Leam Meikenberg.
He practiced all week and dressed in case of emergency, but was held out of the game because he was not one hundred percent and coach did not think it was fair to make him compete for that job with others in the can condition that he was in. And then Jeff Wilson's similar story. He mentioned both he and Liam Eichenberg were doing some pain management throughout the course of the week and if it was up to both guys,
they would have both gone. But he is happy with how both guys are progressing in their rehab from those injuries. Also contract extension. Zach Sealer. Let's go ahead and hear from coach on the value of Zach Sealer. Man.
I was fired up, and so were a lot of his teammates just because you know Zach has Zach epitomizes such an important, such an important thing within the journey of the NFL player.
You know, you're talking about a guy that.
Has has earned every cent that he's paid. He's been cut twice, and you know, I think the timing, as far as it relates to the team couldn't be better. For so many guys in the in the next forty eight hours that you know.
Aren't able to make the final fifty three.
I think that is something that's real and can feel in the moment like your dream's over. And I think he's an exemple exemplary example. He's a great example. Okay, we'll just do a great example of worrying about what you can control. And you know he's we're happy to get that, get that done as as well as the locker room's happy for him too.
And from the word go, Zach has been a hit down here, hasn't he. Somebody asked me on Twitter? Is he the best waiver wire claim in team history? And I'm not sure.
I don't have the.
I guess the well, this is probably the thing I know the most about is this franchise. But I don't know waiver wire specific additions like Cam Wake. I know he wasn't a waiver wire guy, but being undrafted, just random free agent signing from the CFL after it didn't work out in the NFL with several teams, that's like the go to the gold standard. But Zach Seeler as far as waiver wire claims, unless somebody else knows one from before my time that I'm not aware of, he's
got to be it. Remember the Bengals game back in twenty nineteen, it was like his third game with the team, where he had six pressures and five run stops and two batted passes on like twenty five snaps and he was one of the first players I ever interviewed after that game, and he was nice as I'll get out, and very respectful of my time and Kevin durn who was with me there at the time, and you could
just see it from that opening couple of games. I think where his best traits are exemplified are on short yardage plays when they jam their heavy twenty three personnel, two backs, three tight ends, no wide receivers, extra offensive linemen. We bring all the linebackers and safeties under the field and everyone just sells out. In the running game, you get hat on hat and Zach wins those so damn frequently.
He and Landon Roberts the last couple of years were fourth and third and one merchants man cutting that stuff down, just brute strength to take the guy where he wants to.
And then over his time here, I thought he's really developed that counter move to the bull rush that he really puts guys on their heels with where they have to be prepared to absorb that, and when they either absorb it or they go and try to attack him aggressively, then he can just use those long arms, those heavy mits and good grip strength to grab on and then utilize a swim move that I think he's really developed over four years here, which when you have that fastball
and then the I guess the circle change to work off of that to go from Felix Hernandez's cabinet of pitches. You're tough to hit man, You're tough to block for these guys, and he can hold blocks as the one shade, which is kind of what Rakwon Davis plays most frequently. A two technique over the guard, a three tech on the outside of the guard. He can kick out to the five tech on the outside shoulder of the tackle and penetrate inside with slants and twists and stunts and
be the pick man. He has some pass rush to his capability that shows up when you need it. Just one of the more underrated players of the last few years across the National Football League, and no more as he gets his payday in his recognition, and I just think that his trajectory is phenomenal. He played five hundred and thirty two snaps back in twenty twenty, his first full year here in Miami. I always thought he should have played more than he did those first couple of years.
Josh Boyer was the first one to give him like full you know, Christian Wilkins level snap counts. It decreased in twenty twenty one for whatever reason, to five hundred and eighteen snaps, but he increased his pressures and run stops marginally there even with fewer snaps, that just showed you he was getting better and better. And then in twenty twenty two gets the big jump in playtime eight
hundred and seventy four snaps. All he does is sets career best across the board with thirty one quarterback pressures forty one run stops, was sixth most among interior defensive linemen. He also finished top ten each of the last two years with batted passes four and three respectively. And as for his counting stats, last year, three and a half sacks, seven tackles for lost, twelve QB hits, he forced two fumbles.
Over his career, he has ten sacks, twenty five tackles for lost, twenty eight quarterback hits, three forced fumbles, and nine passes defense. But you just watch this tape and you know he's a productive player based on the tape. Watch him every single week, every Dolphins fan will tell you every national pundit will say Zach Seedler's a guy that makes stuff happen, and his durability and versatility are hallmarks of what makes this defense what it is, isn't
it first? You know, he and Christian do such a good job of keeping our linebackers clean to hunt for plays down around the line of scrimmage. And I think that David Long was a perfect addition to going behind
those guys alongside Jerome Baker. But Zach allows you to get to multiple fronts because anytime you need to adjust your alignments, and it can be after you've even you know, ran your personnel out there, you know that Zach is capable of taking on several of those roles at any given time and not just go out there and be a body, but dominate in that capacity. He's a great player. I'm glad we got to keep him around here for a few more years. Three year extension for Zach Sealer.
He's not going anywhere, all right. Let's go ahead and take our break after a short segment there and come back.
We have a lot to get to here.
As you can see on the time he elapsed on the bottom of your podcast app We're going to cover the All twenty two here next on the Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auntnation, our last All twenty two review of the exhibition. The next time we do one of these podcasts, it will be the Los Angeles Chargers and hopefully I think will be a big Dolphins win on opening Day. Let's go ahead and start with the big plays. I only have three
this week. The opening play of the game Tua to the Tyreek for thirty one yards. It happened on the first play of the game, fourteen to fifty five to play in that first quarter, and my takeaway from this was that Tua has the best feet mechanics in the game, and I don't think it's all that close. All those reps on Ewa beach Beck with Pops sure paid off as a child man. He's drilled it so much that
muscle memory is just in grain for the guy. And we actually saw Skyler Thompson execute something later in the game, and I thought he did.
A good job of it.
But I think that it showed you the discrepancy between two and most quarterbacks and the footwork because it took Skyler two extra steps based upon what Tua did, and I'll explain it to you right now. It looks easy, I know it does. It seems innocuous, and I'll get called out by casual fans saying that, you know, whatever the take is about, you know, the Sunshinea rainbow stuff. But I'm trying to explain football in a nuanced way. I think that I don't think a lot of outlets
give you. So he comes out from under center and fakes the toss towards the unbalanced twelve personnel side. So twelve personnel's two tight ends. You have two why's attached to the line of scrimmage when they're on the same side.
That means it's unbalanced.
So you have the weak sides where we're passing the football, showing the run to the strength to get that flow and the action going that way. Which, by the way, Mike McDaniel creating fall steps for linebackers. It's peanut butter and jelly man. It's a match made in heaven. The right foot drop, the first step he takes is also the plant leg. So in addition to you know, putting himself in position to make this throw, all this action happens in one fluid motion. It's very rare that you
see that you understand what that means. It means that we're going to spend a full three sixty on that pivot point. I'm telling you pause the podcast right now and go out in your backyard with your kid or your buddy and face him straight up and do a three to sixty as fast as you can, and then see how accurate you are throwing the ball when you get back squared up to him ten yards down the field. Add a two hundred and fifty pound human, unblocked, running
full speed at you. Best of all, I'm pretty sure this is a sight adjustment for him because the slot corant to that side comes down on the line of scrimmage when they motion Alec away from the play. So it's actually not twelve personnel by the way, it's twenty one because Aleck is part of the double whys, which be explained already quick education. The fastest way to tell a dB is blitzing is if he's capped, another defender
is right behind him. Typically that guy will blitz and that cap defender will fill the coverage assignment, so he converts to this blitz and that safety is now covering Tyreek twelve yards off the line of scrimmage.
Throw it to him now, right makes sense.
So Tua fakes the toss, the little pivot toss to Tyreek and now he's loose. These plays are so damn good to have.
In the back pocket.
The ball is out in like half a second, no threat of pressure because you know Tua can manage that unblocked man when he knows he has the hot at his disposal. And the reason the pivot is so deadly just again, look at the flow of those linebackers. You get two or three fall steps and total displacement out of all of them, and that's what puts tyreeg in open space. Chosen gets a good block outside and Tyreek damn near takes it for six. But we'll settle for
thirty one yards with twenty five after the catch. These small details are things that you're never going to see, you know, big pundits talk about in Tua game, but they show up frequently and they really really matter. A forty one yard run for savon Akma two three seven to play in the first quarter. We're going to get in some takes. I have on the offensive line and run game in a moment. But man, this play is just a snapshot of textbooked football across the board. Essentially,
you have six key moments on this play. And what's nice you have Durham and said and what essentially functions as double wise to the strong side or really triple since you've already got true double wise with both Craft and smythe attached to that unbalanced twelve personnel your right tackle, tight end, tight end, those are whys when they're attached like that. First, Craft absorbs the edges, attempt to dent
and no luck, so good rep there. From Croft, you get Austin Jackson with a really tough assignment to reach an offset mike linebacker. He's aligned outside of Austin's shoulder, so Austin has more ground to go than the linebacker does to get to the spot.
It's a tough ask.
He's five yards off the ball too, which the more space for an offensive lineman, the tougher. But Austin gets out there and gets enough of a piece of him to slow him up, and then Savon auchmed to beat that defender. He was the guy that we're kind of keying on with the speed, and he does because Savon
has plenty of it. The other keys are Rob Hunt walling off a three technique who has him outflanked aces rep he he really or shoots that punch across the bow and then gets his hips and his butt flipped around to wall him off. Connor Williams has to climb and execute the same thing he mentioned with Austin, and he goes out there and completely erases the man. But then the reason this goes for forty one yards and not just some five or six yard carry is Durham
Smyth and Cedric Wilson. Smyth has the toughest ask in my opinion. He has to creep slowly down on the nickel and kind of let him, you know, slowly play into it to not oversell the run action. And because of this it allows that nickel to old run the play and give Akmed the alley he has, and then he takes him out completely, which executes perfectly, just a great understanding of timing of the play and when to go really attack your block and be patient with it.
And then Cedric works off that same patience, working right behind Durham, who then seals the safety outside. What a freaking play. And then how about Savon just going you know, drake on Gronk on that middle of the field safety. He is twenty yards off the ball and Savon blows past him for an extra twenty two yards. Speaking of Savon Akhmed, forty two of his forty three rushing yards were after contact in this game. It's gonna make for a nice average ten point five yards after contact on
average for Savon Akmed. The last big play I have to break down is the Javon halland forced fumble and recovery with six twenty to play in the first quarter. Just a great all around play here. And first it starts with Cater Coo who playing the run and screen game down around the lion of scrimmage is maybe my favorite thing to watch on this entire football team.
With number four. He is such a dog. So they pull their right tackle.
Out in space and if Cater doesn't do what he does, that tackle has a clim I'm on Jerome Baker and he's got seventy five eighty pounds on Baker. It's never gonna happen if he gets to Jerome Baker. But Cater goes downhill as the force defender, which is your last lab of defense to set the edge and funnel things back inside.
And he not.
Only beats the tackle to the upfield shoulder, and that color flash for the running back is his indicator to bang. So bang means you're going to stick it right in the gap that you're aiming for. Bounces to go wide, and bend is to go back the other direction. He has to bang because of the way that Cater plays this and not just that, but Cater goes in and takes the tackle out of the hip so that he can't climb, and it allows Jerome Baker to flow freely
over there and arrive with a huge stick. And then Javon taking on a block and he's not just gonna
accept this block into his chest. He goes and initiates the contact which allows him to control the blocker and that allows him to disengage with his long arms right in front of the play just as the ballcarrier is coming in and as he's bracing for contact with the ground, halland throws the paw on the football finds the ball falls on at great play and honestly, I think both guys forced to Javon got the credit, but I think that Bake's hand was on the football as well. Just
a great, great all around play. Let's go ahead and get to Travis his top tapes, top tapes to a tongue of I LOOA. Just love the footwork and the timing and the rhythm he played with. The Jags played the same soft coverage that we did, and just like you to expect the pros to do. You know, Tua and Lawrence were on point with the short intermediate passing game. The throw to Chosen was before he came out of the break ball was right where he needed to be.
That's pitch and catch.
Those are layups, but Tua is so adept to hitting those layups. A clean rub on the mesh on that third and goal play would have been a touchdown for Chosen. The pick was that Smythe's drag creates gave them what they wanted, but I thought Chosen got caught on it, and I probably should have ran that crosser like he ran at the pick. Man like run under him. Just go use your speed because two is going to find you. And that allowed the defender playing off of Chosen to
work around the pick. Just in time to recover and he made the play and Tua put the ball right on the mark, but it wasn't going to go anywhere anyway because it was too slow developing from that side. The rail by Raheem is the first read on that mesh, goes rail back to the mesh over the middle, and
then you work to the backside of the formation. It's a right to left right on this particular play, and that rail paired with the rub By smyth creates this pocket you want on the mesh, but you have to get through your route clean.
It did not happen.
Tuoa was one for one under pressure, two for two win blitzed, which means he didn't miss a pass under pressure or when being blitzed this preseason, which is that's perfect. Tiny sample size but still pretty nice. My second favorite top tape River Craycraft, just so dependable. The first catch was motion onto the rail and he really pressed the dB to convince that dB of the takeoff. And look, this is not going to be a slight at River Craycraft. But when you don't have four to four speed, you
have to be precise with that detail. And that's why River gets open because he is so precise. Austin Jackson I thought had a really good game. I've been saying this about Austin showing progress as we go along, and I think that's to be, you know, expected for a guy who missed, you know, a good chunk of time last year with the injury. Kind of getting his first real action in this offense, but just eight snaps, eight
past block snaps, I should say, no pressure allowed. And he kind of gave Josh Allen the business Allen never got near to. And I thought Austin's weight transfer and awareness was really really good, two things that have kind of plugged him in pass protection. You get that out of him consistently with the run blocking hig gives you. I thought I'd make a lot of folks eat some words, including me, on that topic. So keep killing them, Austin, do your thing man. Cedric Wilson, I've been so impressed
by him this entire month. The throw that Craycraft had to pull down from Skallar Thompson to begin the half, you see Cedric run what we call a for love of the game route where Craycraft gets access to his dig inside purely because Cedric runs this post route where he removes the middle of the field safety who Otherwise, if he has no responsibility, he can come down and buzz that dig route. But because said takes that route seriously and runs at full capacity to hold that safety,
it creates that space. I thought he ran another great route on the fourth down conversion to Miles Gaskin where he crossed face to clear out the flat for Miles to have a room service pitch and catch first down conversion. Doesn't impact the box score on those plays, but man, that's the good stuff, and it tracks with the selfless minds that we heard about from Cedric all last year. And then finally he did get his on the backside
two big plays. I like the way he times his routes where he throttles down on the soft spots and then sprints to go get them when he's not in them. It maximizes the time that he has in those windows. I thought it was very beneficial for Skyler in this game. Chris Brooks Man talk about putting your best foot forward. He had no business scoring on that first touchdown, even though Keon Smith and Julian Hill wiped out the edge. Penetration from the nose had him dead to rights two
yard shy, but he would not be denied. Runs behind his pads very very effectively. He's also got no time to waste. He ripped off a thirteen yard run right before the end of the third quarter where he saw a tiny crease and just hit it, no hesitation, no surrender, thundergun. He forced four miss tackles in the game, good for twenty two yards after contact and an average of three point six seven yards after contact per rush. My final favorite tape the last player on here as a defender,
Cater Kohu. He broke down his work on the fumble, had that great reperen coverage and first he makes attack on the perimeter before that play earlier on that drive where he's covering the slot, he peeks back at the quarterback and sees the balls out, So like having knowledge of where the quarterback is thinking while you're doing your job is like multitasking. And he comes off his guy and goes and makes the tackle. And then that deep shot that he broke up was even better on tape.
Cool design as they run their clear out route first, which Jacksonville put a lot more.
On tape in the Miami deal.
I'll tell you to talk about that here in a moment on the defensive side of the football. But I like the design of this because they ran that clear out route, which gives Cater an indicator that they're gonna go ahead and throw that screen.
But it doesn't take debate.
He stays in shape, he loses phase, but gets back into phase, then reads the hands of the receiver and just separates them right at the catch point. It's patient, it's good job playing the football. It's reading the receiver to know when the ball is going to arrive. Just textbook man coverage. We've praised his work and zone all summer day at the office for caterkohu Man, one of
my favorite players in the damn league. Let's go ahead and take our last break right there and come back and finish up the offensive notes, also the defensive notes, and then my words for the great Jason Jenkins. All that's next Drive Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. More notes on the offensive
side from the dolphins thirty one eighteen loss to Jacksonville. Okay, we're gonna talk about the offensive line of the running game, the one that finished third this preseason the one that finished with fifty yards more than the average team this preseason, and how I thought they were good. I think those numbers backed that up pretty well.
But I could be wrong.
Maybe I am just shilling for the team here. I don't know, but I thought the surge of the offensive line was consistently very good. And I didn't really realize this watching the broadcast, but man, it just consistently put guys on their back feet, on their heels and created space for the running backs. Though the running backs didn't have the best game to find those creases, but they were there. And Kendall Lamb and Isaiah Winn haven't made a habit of losing one on ones this entire August.
I think those are really really valuable under the radar free agent signings the last two years. You know, Win started at left guard last two games and I see no reason for that to change. And then with Lamb, go look at the rest of the NFL rosters and tell me how many really quality swing tackles there are. What a value he looks to be in year number nine for him? And the icing on top of all that is the way it marries up with the play
action game for how this offense runs. And you know, going back to the the the big play from two to tyreek and all the play action and all the surgeis offensive line gets two operated essentially from play action in this game exclusively, and the flow of the defense
made life so much easier on him. His ball handling adds another layer of how this team gets teams thinking one way and then pulling out the proverbial rug on them on the back end after the completion to chose and go look at the next handful of plays.
Push push push.
Gives you that room service first down the fourth and one conversion to alec even the runs down low red zone. We were just one assignment away from popping both of those runs for touchdowns in my opinion. And it starts with Connor Williams, who after the bad snap goes out and hits a block from the far hash to the
opposite numbers and five yards down the field. He carries this block five more yards and nearly to the perimeter, almost like Michael Orr in the blind side and Sandy Bullet getting fired up on the sidelines for him taking a guy all the way into the high school stands over there just really good throws them too the ground for a pancake a couple of plays later. Let's just do all the offensive line here for pro football focus, because the numbers back up what I'm saying.
They were very good.
Allowed five pressures all night, and Cedric Kubwayi and Keon Smith had two a piece of those, So four of those are guys that we'll see if they're here in a couple of days. And then one for Robert Hunt the second interception. And Rob had a rough night in pass protection. Just really the awareness wasn't there that We'll talk about the pick here in a second thought. He made some poor reads and just let guys into his frame a little bit too much.
But in the run blocking game he was phenomenal.
His work is just up there with the best guards in football for my money. Both Rob and Win finished out the first half and continue to put a clinic on in that running game. He carried a two technique on a run moving left where he rode the wave a couple of gaps.
And then put him on his butt. Just a menacing presence in the running game. Again. Back to Win and Lamb really good nights.
I thought Kendall lost a block on the second down run before the sanders Field goal. But one lost rep is pretty good. He did allow a pressure or not a pressure, but you know he got beat on a pass rush earlier in the game. But he has some of the most patient hands I've seen from a Dolphins tackle not named to Ron Armstead, and win is so strong with the grip strength and has the sweet feet to match. He looks every bit of a first round
talent to me. He latches onto guys and when they try to change course, he beats them to the spot with his lower half and then slows them down with the upper strength.
He looks like a guard to me. Where he was in.
College, they kick him out. The tackle as a pro didn't work. I think we might have found out left guard here. I think he found your swing tackle and Kendall Lamb too. Come at me if you want, but we'll see how the season plays out this year. I'm pretty confident in my take there. He did blow a protection on the timing from Skyler there to River at the end of the half, but chase the looper inside with the Blitz behind him, which that's gonna happen time
the time. But good night overall Skaler Thompson. The play before the first I and T is where I just get so damn annoyed. It's a perfect snap shot of play action, but he waits, double clutches and waits until he sees it open before he throws the football, and that never ever works. Luckily, Chosen didn't get blasted there because they kind of pulled up. But that's a hospital ball.
The first pick wasn't out and out miss, just like the way Cedric Wilson peeled back to go back into broken scramble play mode and give his quarterback an option. I thought he was open earlier than the throw was, and then the throw was just high on Scalar took off on him.
A bad pick.
The second interception, though, I thought, was thoroughly explained by coach McDaniel.
You know, I think another caveat to that story that you know made me happy about the way he responded was the second interception was something that pretty much I don't put on him at all.
There was a protection misassignment, So in those situations, you know, I'm most.
Worried about a quarterback recognizing people that aren't accounted for in a protection when they aren't accounted for. You have to make split second decisions. And you know, when he let the ball go, he didn't see that defender. That that's something that if if I have a quarterback chasing ghosts on jobs that we were expecting to be done by other players, then they're going to be very effective.
So I was very worried about him. Uh naturally.
That snowballing and affecting his play, and and what I was able.
To talk to him about was, hey, listen.
He immediately came to sidelines and it was like, yeah, I didn't even see that guy. Uh we we busted the protection. I was like, perfect, Okay, So if that's the case, should that that play, that last specific play factor into anything as far as the next drive, the next play, the next assignment, read foot work and decision?
Said no. So he.
To me that that shows mental fortitude at a high degree. He went out and responded and and and.
And made some good plays.
We you need to minimize turnovers on offense, always with the turnover differential being the number one indicator of wins and losses.
But that goes.
That's with everyone, and sometimes it's not as simple as the quarterback through an interception that the second the second play or the second interception, for sure, I don't really give I don't put on him and I was glad that he didn't put it on himself.
So you heard it from coach there.
But on that play, both Rob and a boay he jumped outside for the four technique, which is the guy that lines up on right over the center of the tackle, and then the stacked linebacker behind him behind that defender blitzes the A gap and Rob was not able to get back inside to cut him off. And based on that type of information, it's totally understandable for a quarterback to assume that the will linebacker came to since the protection slide to pick that up. They slid for the
wrong thing. They slid for the outside guy to come, not the interior pressure that B gap linebacker. And that's completely on Rob Hunt in my opinion. Coach talked about the protection bust. That's what it was. We've seen that a couple times, but not too frequently. I actually think the way the passing off has been executed has been really good. You saw it throughout the night, whether it was Connor and Rob, Rob and Feeney, Isaiah in either center.
They seem to have a good feel for what's coming before it arrives, which just tracks with the second year progress we've talked about with coach to myself and Frank Smith and all these guys.
Right.
He also came back with some really good throws to Craig Craft to drive the field on the ensuing series after that second pick. Good timing taking with the Jags offer with their off coverage a kin what we talked about for the Dolphins offense or with Tua. The throw on second and ten with a minute to play in the half was the best I've seen Scalar make. Well before Craig Craft comes out of the break, pressure in
his face, anticipates it and locates it. Pro Football Focus had him four for six against the Blitz with forty five yards and a pick, three for five under pressure with twenty two yards and a pick I Like Braxson Burrios, like the way he doesn't run into traffic. Like we talked about Cedric understanding feel for soft spots, he is
very good at that. The catch he had, a zone defender buzzed the flat and got right into the way of his route, but he adjusted and stayed on the stem for a good chunk gain.
Good timing on that throw from a scalar two.
Something clicked for a scalar timing wise, in the second half, it was a lot better. I thought Feenie had a really really good night both center and left guard. He found extra work, passed off and pass pro, caught some bodies no pressures allowed, had a really nice snatch and trap rep on the third quarter. I thought Lester Cotton quietly had a very good night in the best way possible possible, just handled his business. And I wrote this
down before the second Brooks touchdown. And of course on that play he pulls playside and whacks the linebacker out of the gap, so it goes from a good night to a great one. I mentioned a boy he and Keon Smith. I thought they both really struggled in this game. I love Miles Gaskin's third down skills, both as a pass catcher and then pass pro. And then Julian Hill been in really nice development to watch how he's gotten
a feel as a blocker from those wide positions. Tanner O'Connor two man he stood out to me in this game, even had some.
Really good lead blocks. From a full back alignment.
I talk all the time about alec Ingold's role opening up so many things on offense if we lose him. I kind of like Tanner the most as far as his athletic ability to keep some of that open, not all, but some of it. I would put Tanner on the fifty three minter roster if it was me. Aszukama had a really nice whip route where he got opened, but the ball was on his back shoulder and he had to go back into the contact otherwise I think he
might have had a big play. He ran a route later with a headfake while he was engaged with the contact window in the five yard window, and the dB reacted the way we see Tyreek get reactions from guys where they get turned all the way around. Just infinitely intrigued by ee smoothness. I think we're kind of sitting
on something there that we haven't seen yet. Let's conclude the offensive notes with this analysis from coach, who was asked about the prevalence of the screen game and trying to find things to counter what defenses took away last year. I love this comment because once again in a firms we've been talking about for the last six months.
Well, I think you're always trying to find ways to you know, it comes down to the base principle of taking advantage of overplay. So there's different mechanisms and in year two that you're able to kind of get to the nitty gritty, uh details of how to execute the plays. There there's you're you're very correct in that that did fall in the off season assessment of things that we could improve upon, and that's taken advantage of the space created when when you when you are able to engender
some explosive plays. So you know that whether those show face in the regular season, but you know, I think that the more things that defenses have to think about, the more advantageous it is.
For the offense.
Defensive notes are going to be quick because very first things first, we've discussed being down specific personnel in the middle of the defense in that game. No Christian, no Zach, no Deshan hand whatever. But to entuate the run game performance of the Jags on the night, the entire first part of the game was our nickel defense against twelve personnel packages.
That's not personnel matching.
You're not calling guys onto the field to adjust what the offense is doing. And just to be baseline clear, you will never ever, ever, ever, ever ever see that in a regular season NFL game.
You won't to.
Extend that, Miami played with a front that had two three techniques and two nine techniques. Three techniques play off the outside shoulder of either guard, and nine's play outside the tight end or where the tight end would be if you had one to that side of the formation. If you have your game on DVR or game pass or wherever, go watch the Jags third play of the game.
It's a seven yard round from Travis etn and you'll see what I'm talking about because of alignment pre snap, the Jags bring over split flow action from the tight end to wall off JP, which is a pretty easy block to hit. And then you get two down blocks on Brandon Peelee in that three technique, and this gives you a river to run through. If David Long was not an awesome football player, that play might still be
running down here down the coast Jupiter. A one on one chance for Deshaun Elliott is there in space about fifteen yards down the field, but if he can't make that tackle, it's out the gate. But both the tackle and guard are able to seal pee Lee. It's like there's no way Peel can get over the top of that block. And I've been critical of Peelee because I think he's been on the ground too much and had a very rough preseason. But it was pretty simple for ETN to find that gap. That's why I like to
watch the tape. I never agree that preseason means nothing. That to me is like the shortcut that people use and they don't want to do the work themselves. Of just dismissing a college prospect against whatever the lower level school is because well he did it against a bad school. You can still find stuff within that context. I'm just trying to provide context for you guys to understand that this is not a game where you're scheming up a play to stop the Jaguars attack. Just like training camp,
you've got what you want to work on. Apparently Jacksonville wanted to work on their twelve personnel offensively, and as a result, you're just outmanned the entire game. Then in the passing game, it was tons of off coverage. We got no disguise, no post nap rotation. This was day one install stuff from fangios played. Look, I hope you guys understand that. Maybe you don't, but I.
Hope you do.
Look, I know the popular thing when I try to do this is for some of y'all to say that I work for the team in Sunshine at Rainbows, And clearly it bothers me and been talking about it all day.
But whatever.
Just understand the game and how it works if you're going to have that statement, because if you did, you'd understand how this all comes together. It's a nonsense statement and that's all. So with that, let's talk about some individuals and do that expeditiously. Rayquon made some big strides with his hands this year.
Man.
There's a play where he was able to kind of reposition himself in a way that I didn't think he could do last year, to disengage better than he has in the past. Been making good progress there. So impressed by Bradley Chubb had the pressure hit on a free run on Lawrence, but that's anyone can do that. But he made a play on second and one, a running play on that JAG's first drive where he's in that nine alignment and his nearest help inside is Rayquon as the three technique.
This means there are.
Two blockers to deal with and three gaps. For Chubb, that's three gaps. Is not what anybody ever wants to do. But he has to be concerned with all three of these gaps, and he beats the tackle inside with a quick crossover step and cuts down et and it's a hell of a play and something we've seen all camp long where he's getting to his fit before the offensive line can react and chopping down run plays before they start.
I thought Long and Baker were very impressed in this game by their limited action, but both played super fast, stayed tight to blocks to be able to scrape and make plays, and made some critical tackles where the converse of them making that play is a huge run at the backside, and the force fumble of Holland was a great play by Baker. Two. I've made no secrets about how I feel that Jaln Phillips will fair this year.
I think's going to challenge for Defensive Player of the Year, and this holding call is.
One of the reasons.
You see him start his rush upfield and the right tackle jumps way out over sets overset is when you open up your inside post and the moment that JP changes course, he recognizes this. Once he sees the right tackle open up, he changes inside, cross his face and dips that inside shoulder. And once you get that inside shoulder on the upfield arm of the tackle, it's like a receiver getting past a jam. Once you do that, it's over. He achieves that position and he has two options.
You can either let him go kill your quarterback or hold, and he chose the latter.
Wisely.
Noah inbanogany I thought he played that deep shot to really very well. Just didn't get his head back, gets your damn head back.
Man stayed in face. Didn't think it was a catch.
Tough break there, but it's been kind of the story of his career so far. Deshaun Elliott. Just love how active he is. He flies to the football, He was good in coverage and had a really good PBu challenging a slot step for step, was very fluid out of the back pedal. Just love watching him run the alley and the running game. Two That rat in the whole role is a good fit for him. Cam Smith not much to break down. He just saw a pick six in the double move and it wound up being six
the other way. I love the bounce back PBu though the wide receiver tried to push off at him at the sticks, but he absorbed the contact, stayed in the hip pocket and got his hands in there for that breakup. And then Jamal was the first play that he played, which I'm sure he was gonna get the entire fourth quarter, but we didn't finish the game obviously. But he absorbs a double team, there's trash around his feet, he stays up and then goes.
And makes the play.
He's going to be on this football team. And then three things that stood out negatively. It's just a rough day for pee Lee. I mentioned Bronson and Twineman. I thought all those guys kind of had rough days against the run, but they were putting spots. But Peeley on the ground getting rid multiple gaps just on a good night for him. I thought Duke Riley over ran several plays, not in good shape there. I thought Gink got lost in coverage a couple of times as well.
So that's it.
That's the last of your notes. I want to finish up with this statement from coach McDaniel on the great Jason Jenkins who are were celebrating today and I'll go ahead and tell you guys a story and try to not cry.
I'd like to start today recognizing August twenty seventh and what it means to the Miami Dolphins. It was a year ago today that we lost such a valuable member that you know that I think the the people that Jason touched in this organization, in the community, you know, it's so visceral and.
Real that it would it would be uh, I'd.
Be short changing, you know the reality of a lot of people in this building and a lot of people and early across America that that lost someone someone so dear to them. So you know their prayers and you know with the family that they they continue to progress and while morning and.
You know, it's a it's a it's a day that's not lost.
On anyone Miami Dolphin or all the other people who's touched in the National Football League across the country.
I feel like I'm one of those people, one of the main ones. Really.
I think of myself directly as one of the main people that Jason struck up a relationship with and really fast tracked in a short amount of time. A relationship and really became one of the most important people in my entire life. I didn't really have a father figure as a child. My dad was out of the picture pretty early on. And boy, when I was greeted by the warmth and passion and nurturing nature of Jason Jenkins, Gosh, I latched onto it. And my main goal here was
to make him proud like nothing. Nothing was better than when he would call me into his office for our annual year look back. And look, this is going to sound like self promotion, but it's not the point of the story. Drivetime does very well and across in house NFL podcasts, and the two times that he called me in for my year review to tell me then the drive Time podcast was number one in the NFL. I
mean the pride that I would feel from that. And I know I've told you guys countless Jason stories on here, but here's one for you guys that I think really sets the tone for just how he was when I first interviewed for the job. And I used air quotes there because Jason had already had a sight set and was really just meeting with me to tell.
Me the good news.
But I thought it was an interview, so I dressed up, I was nervous. I was my best behavior, and the whole time we ate. The conversation wasn't really about the job, or podcasts or football. It was about our families, our careers to date, our childhoods. That was where our bond was developed forever, I think was that that breakfast at Deli Tower and Davy. We both discovered that day our shared love of baseball. And you guys know what he
called the manors, the palate cleansers. They would always go to Houston and get just smoked by the astros, and I would find any trash can I could have around the building to celebrate his astro championships. You know, Bang Bang Jason. But come to find out, we were both just baseball nerds. We collected the same figurines as kids, the Headliner figurines. I told him about my backyard fo Football League and showed him the famous photos of the
backyard back in Kendallack, Washington. At the end of that breakfast, he just said, so you're ready to do this or what gosh?
What a moment.
That was a smile on his face like he knew he just made my dream come true, and he did. It was I have Jason to thank for all that.
So I got through that.
I'm glad I pre wrote that because I don't think I would have gotten through if I just winged it. But uh, I guess you know. Rest in peace, boss man. We miss you so much. Let's get out of here. Subscribe, rate, review, follow, fish Tank all that stuff, YouTube channel, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up Caroline and Cameron Daddy's Coming Home.