To on the move, going deep speedways, Peace do Hells. From the Baptist Health Studio that's inside the Baptist Help Training Complex.
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. Here's got my advand's in the playoffs?
What is up Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, it's all twenty two review day from a big Dolphins victory.
Will break down all the good things that happened, all the bad things.
We'll talk scheme, we'll talk quarterback, we'll talk about a bad offensive line performance, and a whole heck of a lot more. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is.
The Draft Time Podcast Maggie Daffy Week ten at the LA. Let's go ahead and kick it off with some offensive notes and first off, just some straight up phenomenal work on the Malik Washington touchdown to sell the devon a chan give on what looks exactly like a counter run that we hit from time to time, where it's basically g y power guard and tight end power where they
pull across the formation against the flow of action. That's your power action and they sold that and you get a cut off block off the edge from durham Smyth and I think you know Liam Polls and that Garners a little bit of attention on the play side force defender, which is the furthest defender out wide, and that causes this player, which is Byron Young, to clamp inside to essentially give you your zone read when the quarterback keeps the ball like he clamped and crashed the edge as
the outside defender.
So the quarterback keeps it and goes out wide and he.
Had to get that with and he also eschues engaging Aaron Brewer, which allows him to get to the edge and hit the critical block to spring the leak for that touchdown run. On top of all of that, I love Love, Love Love Love two was ballfake because not many quarterbacks do this, and you'll see on play action like Aaron Rodgers is one that comes to mind. And I'm not going to to dog Rogers because he's got I think he's really good at ball fakes.
But he will extend the.
Arm out like his right arm out without the football and keep the ball in his left hand tucked in, and that if you can you can't really disguise the fact that you're not giving the ball off in those situations. Tua puts it out with the same hand and pulls it back in and then flips it back to the outside, and that sells the fake action. It's great design, it's great execution, and congrats on a memory you'll have for the rest of your life. In Lake Washington, first career touchdown.
Quick note, I think you learn a lot about a team with how they celebrate their teammates. If you have a chance, go watch the reaction after Malik's touchdown run and after John whu Smith's big catch and run.
In the fourth quarter.
Is the third or fourth quarter of the game, The reactions afterwards to me say a lot about this team. It is nice to get a win in a game where I think you were sort of taught something. And what I think we were taught here is that good power players on defense can cause disruption in terms of
our timing in the pocket. And while I thought the recovery efforts from the guard position after a rough night for both Lea Mikeenberg and Rob Jones was good after their initial losses, and the quarterback did a good job moving around those pressures to find to find vacancies in the pocket on most of the plays. But man, the rams just pin their ears back and play through our chest a little bit too frequently for my money, and
you saw it on the running plays too. Oftentimes we will like swim a guy and just leave him at that first level and trusting that they will take themselves out of the play with some indecision, because if you don't get on your horse in one direction, you can typically get left behind the play as it were, And that did happen a few times, but others it did not.
And if those guys can one gap and get up feeld, that can cause issues with your slow developing outside runs because if those backs have to to bubble, or if the lead blockers have to bubble and go towards their own goal line, it slows the entire play down. And those extra two steps of pursuit is the difference between popping it, you know, out the gate and getting downhill flow for a TfL.
So I thought that caused issues.
But if they do that the defense, that's going to open some vacancies, right. So I'm glad it's on tape now and I'm excited to see what McDaniel, Frank Smith and the entire offensive staff can cook up to combat those looks. And speaking of that man, we play this style of offense all year, or we can, I should say, the rest of the year. Teams are refusing to let Waddle and Reak get their one on one opportunities. Like it's sort of crazy the lengths they're going to to
keep the roof on the defense. Maybe it's not that crazy because we saw this offense.
Break records last year.
Like we ran this concept where Odell runs a spot route and the spot is typically just like go over the front of the football and check up and we'll try to throw a five yard hookup whatever it is. And Moleikue runs the rail, which is the it's like a wheel, but there's no fake action. It just get
to the perimeter and get vertical. And then John new Smith is the escort on the eight chan swing, so you basically have like three receivers within a fifteen yard radius, which I don't love that, but Waddle is the backside X and they don't only play press trail technique underneath, they also have a half field safety who sprints with all of his Gumpshin and Gusto to get over the
top because they're so terrified of the deep ball. For the Miami Dolphins, just keep polishing this stuff and it's a great way to support your defense and win a ton of games, especially this time of year when the weather gets bad in the road games and you have to go on the road in November and December and play a little bit more complimentary football, and you can help your defense out by playing this style of football, and it might not be the flashy forty two to
fourteen wins we came to love last year. And take it from me, nobody wants that more than I do. But this is a RepA heatable formula against better teams down the stretch. And it's why, like I mentioned on the postgame show, like I do want to get that seven seed and go to Buffalo because I think we have I think by that time we would have the best version of ourselves in this Dolphins and Bills one sided rivalry. Like I want to take that show on the road and see what we got because we got
it last week and it looked pretty damn good. Just
one more stopway from winning that football game. So that's why you really want to see this team continue to stack wins and get hot and go on to run here and and you can dictate that usage with well your usage, because Tyreek didn't play more than eighty percent of the snaps in any game this year through the first five games the Patriots game coming off the bye week, and it's the same for Wattle, by the way, it's been ninety percent, eighty eight percent, ninety seven and then
eighty seven percent. And it's the same for Wattle, never under eighty percent, which he was never over eighty percent before the Colts game, and after that eighty six, eighty six, eighty five, eighty eight. They're playing these guys a lot more. And I asked which McDaniel about at the press conference today. I'll go ahead and just let you guys find that audio on your own about the usage for Wreak and Waddle to increase their playing time and maybe how you
you know, better economize their efforts that way. But I just I think that that's a very portable type of offensive attack this team can go to. And gosh, I just wish we had one more damn win, dude, If we had one more game to play with, I would rubber stamp a guarantee into the playoffs right now. But they're gonna have to They're gonna have to go out and get games against tough teams on the road to or Well, I guess Packers and Texans, But I digress. Let's go bad and go ahead and make that for
a future podcast and continue today. I think that we also learn just how valuable Alec Ingold is. It was the first game of the McDaniel era without Alec and they they averaged three yards per carry in the ground and there was a lot of miss blocks from that position.
They did get to some of the same concepts you'd run with him, but it was like Tanner Connor, which he had one go block in his limited time, and Durham Smith who continues to you know, overrun blocks and miss Keith Key's tough in space and Julian Hill in space. That's where his whiffs come from too. He's better when he's just an in line. Why But they took turns missing those positions and I think we were not at
our fullest at that position. That is the key position for a core concept or a core package of our offense. One issue we had up front and I talked about all the games they run in the preview episode of the podcast and how our communication had to be top notch to deal with that. I don't think it was in terms of picking up games, and the issues to me were off the right side, which tracks with the absence of Austin Jackson and you saw it with the Rams too.
It is tough.
It is so tough, especially in this offense, to play connected when you have lineup changes the week of the game. And I would point to that as the reason the Dolphins offense got so disjointed down the stretch. On top of not having Reek or Waddle in any of those games and not having depth a receiver, and you didn't have your tie to end option and a Chan wasn't up to speed in the passing game of the way
he is now. Like, there were several issues, but I think that the constant change last year with all the injuries to Connor and Rob Hunt and Austin had to miss some time, and your left guard position was a revolving door and Tiest that wasn't out of the line like that's to me, that was the biggest issue for the offense because that is a major factor in how this thing runs and why they were so content or
not content. I shouldn't say that, but so gung ho about going status quo on the offensive line this offseason and focus on that chemistry and continuity. And additionally, again credit to the Rams for this too, because they forced this. But when they would run those games, the pick man would just turn into a Tasmanian devil of sorts and just relentlessly push the stack. And that's where two of their sacks came from, including the strip sack on Tua.
It almost had this sense of this rush is over, I'll just go ahead and get content here and you know, will Patty cake away to the rest of the rep and they would just keep working and they would break through and beat us on those reps. I thought one of our best play designs of the night was the thirty three yard catch and run by John new Smith. Just like on his pick you know that the linebacker that was kind of a freaking pain in our backside, Christian rose Boom.
He immediately pivots.
To the front side to wall off the crossers like he did a couple times in this game, but rather than a crossing route, Julian Hill runs this vertical scene that displaces him from the three position, which is of course the furthest inside slot, and that removes the middle of the field. And then John Whu is the two and that gives him a free inside release against a far less athletic linebacker and he wins that no issue.
And then as Jimmy's and Joe's at that point, as John new rumbles for thirty more yards bowling over tacklers. But you created that space with design to a maximize it by being on time. And then John Hu made a big play that fulfills this rhyme. After that play, watch the way the players react to the day I'm done. I'm done, but it tells you a lot because those guys were fired up after the fact.
A negative I'm probably forever good.
On the motion to the stagnant now screen where HN's in sidecar shotgun and then motions out wide and to it, catches a snap and stands up and throws it to him. It never seems to work, and it seems like it's all replacement for the second and long run, which is the worst play in football. Don't run the ball on second and ten it's not a good thing. Also, we threw a spot route to Julian Hill where all five eligibles ran spots and came back to the quarterback and
we're stagnant. Since when, Since when do we do that? I hate that play. One more thought, if we had, like I don't know, a Darnel Washington, a guy that I was infatuated with a couple years ago in the draft, maybe one of those Conference USA tight ends that Crabs is up watching at two o'clock in the morning after Dolphins losses just to make him feel something. Go back to the five finger pors Crabs.
But I don't know. To me, that's one.
Area that I think the Dolphins can go after this offseason that can really unlock another level of this offense from the current makeup.
How about the quarterback position?
Well, first off, how about the freaking third down creativity, play extension, attacking the line of scrimmage with a purpose man. In the last few weeks, he's really shown us added elements to his game. And we'll get to the stuff
that I think he needs to clean up. But that first third down of the game, it's a four man rush against you know, five and Perten and the offense have two in for a chip release responsibility, so it's a three man route concept and they're trying to give him a clean pocket to take a shot on this play, and we get an inter immediate loss with Rob Jones and nothing is available. So then then there's a game
off the offense's right side that springs another leak. Because I talked about in the pregame Liam and Lamb, it's not as connected as Liam and Austin because they haven't played together. And there's a leak there on a looper two steps up out of the pressure, evades another tackler and has his eyes downfield to see Wattle all alone. After the Rams have a three deep coverage that busts because two guys run with Reek and nobody runs with Wattle, which if it's in rhythm might be a touchdown play,
but two of finds him for thirty six yards. An explosive play creating off script. You'll love to see it. And I think I have a new nuanced thing to point out into his game, and it relates to his ability to feel the rush. I think it's really improving. We saw him wheel and deal and create, but that first third down conversion to Raheem, not the third nineteen, the third and six play, you'll see him working his progressions.
As he works the backside, he sees the rusher gaining leverage on Kendall Lamb like he's about to beat him, and then you quickly see everything mechanically align to the next man in the progression like he sensed it, he felt it, and the physical action got there. It was all sped up to account for the ticking clock that he was under with Kendall Lamb being beat on that play, he finds his man moves the chains, and I think that's part of the root issue on some of those turnovers.
And really that pick that you know, it's a pick that he's thrown a lot in his career. Not a lot, but more frequently than other picks he's thrown. Sometimes you'll get it wrong where he's convicted and trust his vision and they make the play. But like, trust me, this is a good thing to have. It's a necessity of play quarterback at this level. You know, be damned all
the negative plays that come with that. No matter what kind of physical traits you have, you have to play with that rhythm and being on schedule the way Tua is now. I thought Tua made one of his best plays of the night prior to a string of not so good ones, and I lotted it on the recap show, so no need to really go in depth on that. But the flag route that waddle dropped and blamed the line of site or whatever, such a good job of
opening that window with his body language. As the cloud corner drives on the Tyreek curl route and doesn't sink until the ball's already passed him because Tua held him there with his action. Would have been a first down in the red zone up by a touchdown, but instead it's field goal time. Let's go through the stretch of second quarter plays here after a quick break though first break here on the All twenty two review of the Rams game Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought
to you by AutoNation. So it started really good for the quarterback and then it got wonky for about three series. Let's go ahead and go through that stretch of plays here, starting with the interception. And I can't tell you exactly what Tua sees, but that freaking linebacker Rose Boom pivots to wall off the front side crosser, and I imagine that's what Two was throwing it off of is his leverage. Because his back is turned to the route, he can't
get back in front of that. But once he gets to his spot in the hook almost simultaneously with Tua's action, and there's a drag route underneath from Tyreek that I think also brings his eyes back into the equation. That turns it into a room service interception because once he locates that ball coming back to him, he's in great position to make that play, and it's if he doesn't pivot back. It is literally Jalen Waddle on a sprint
against two safeties who have thirty yards between them. It's a touchdown if we hit it, but it's not so. I would guess that Tua saw an explosive and tried to beat rose Boom with anticipation, but he was ready for it and made the play, and in fact, watching it more, I think if Tua was able to stay in the pocket, it could have helped keep rose Boom focused on that front side.
But as he rolls, you see.
That rose Boom knows well if he's rolling left, the throwback to the right is harder and a cardinal sin, so I'm gonna go with him, and he just happens to fall back into the hook zone right at the same time as Tua, So it happens. Not a great play, but it happens on the fumble. It's totally blanketed on third and long and the pass pro is breaking down all over the place, So I have no issue with
anything happening or anything that happens until the fumble. Just have to have better ball security there, but no one knows that more than Tua. But man, so much of this position comes down to trust. Do you trust your eligibles to be where they're supposed to be and can you be poisoned the pocket provided you trust your protection in front of you. On this play, he trusted the pick stunt would not break through from that stagnant position,
and he should have because it should not. But some losses are worse than others, and this loss by Rob Jones as bad as it gets to a trust that block will be will help, we'll hold up. It does not, and he was wrong to trust it. And then he goes to move and Verse pokes it out. So just a bad play all around, but mostly I would go on the offensive line for that one for Rob Jones, a left guard. The sack on the next drive is similar.
I just don't understand the idea of pulling back up into the rush opposed to moving left where you had space. And I would chalk that up as one of those plays that he could have given up on much earlier. Kind of the next evolution to his game for me. But then the second half was very, very, very good. So I mentioned ball fakes earlier. Watch the corner route, the corner on Tyreek on the touchdown catch. He crashes so hard on the fake run action, and you know
why it's possible. Another intricacy of to his game is they can make him hand off like a right handed quarterback or fake that because he has the footwork and mechanical proficiency to pivot one hundred and eighty degrees back into a threatening position and put the ball on the money. He's one of the best in the world at doing that, and it gives him six on this play. Rose Boom almost gets him again in the fourth quarter, And this one was a bit of a trend where we keep
on kept on missing and opening. But that's what defenses get paid to do right. He tries to throw the rail to Malik, but Waddle runs this deep curl and he was all alone if we just could have found him there. But then also watching the playback, the pressure starts to come through and you can see to him make the quick decision to get out of it, and it protects him.
And we can't have it both ways. So if that keeps you healthy, so be it.
Like if it cost us two plays in a game and we gonna have our quarterback all year and win a bunch of games as a result, I'll always take that. Now, the next play, his bad sack, he had options, just didn't see them. Now they did have a green dog, and my guess would be that that's what got him. And a green dog is where you basically you key the running back or the tight end, and if he stays in pass protection.
You go. You rush.
If he goes from the route you cover. But obviously only two A knows that answer. But let's go ahead and talk about the season saving play.
I don't care.
Man Like third nineteen at midfield, up by eight, I think that offense getting the football back after a massive couple of negative plays. I think they would go down and find points out of that, but you know, maybe not either way.
What a play.
So we get the rams showing five and five come with two man on the back end and three on the front end. There's a communication breakdown with Raheem and Kendall as they both squeeze the inside and then they both turn outside and it winds up turning both guys free. Not ideal, but then tu Us spins and just resets the entire play. It's gonna be a one and a half second sack end of the play, end of the drive,
and the tight coverage wasn't you know? It wasn't relevant anyway, because before he gets out and the Rushlands get out of whack, they lose track of Raheem moster because he was scam protecting and chip releasing. And what a brilliant job by Raheem, just to just watch the way it plays out when you go back to watch it. He follows to a wide and then sees the space and gets upfield and Tua throws this perfect ball and Raheem
hits it with conviction. It's the beauty of man coverage and why I think this development into his creativity can be such a big deal. If you play two man and gets out of that, you get out of that danger. There's nothing there for the quarterback or the checkdown. And in this case, we found a four to four guy for twenty five yards on third nineteen one to play by two veterans on that clip. Then the next drive, third and six, they went with four man rush and
Twas senses it and buys some time. And the best part is is that Verse beats to Ron Armstead inside and Tua knows that there's nobody else wide of him, so with that extra time and he bides it and Beckham runs the return route and Tua cuts it loose with obj not even looking back to the football.
He does get his head back.
They hook up and it's a massive first down and then he puts the bow on it with a turn key hole beater to Malik Washington for seventeen yards.
That puts us into field goal range.
And the best part he's playing off that damn rose boom again in the hook curl flat area. He's been there all night, but Tua has a little subtle shoulder roll to the flat and you can see him just take one more step of width, which creates that little window that Tua hits. Elite quarterback play there put the game away. Certainly not his best, but plenty good enough. Really three plays that if he erases, it's close to
an a film. But like you can't miss three essays and call it an a paper, So like you know, they're impactful plays, individual standouts. I thought across the board, offense and defense, there was an urgency, a temperament if you will, and it started right away. Go watch Wattle's thirty six yard play to open the game. Aside from doing a great job to come back to the ball, when Tua broke his rhythm, he drops his shoulder and
runs through a tackler for five more yards. And this was consistent on either side of the ball all night long. Now Jalen got to catch that ball in third down. Man can't have that drop. Receivers blocking across the board, just major respect what these guys do. Wee can waddle every single week now maleik as well, River Craycraft back with that big block on the leak touchdown run. It's just fun to watch these guys strain on these plays.
Raheem Moster Lowes repcount as a dolphin in a game that he finished, but man, he made two huge plays. That slip tackle on the first third down reception was very impressive change of direction in a flash, and then of course the big play with the awareness on third nineteen.
How dependable is ma Leak?
Washington excellent blocker, gives you a return man's skill set with the ball in his hands as a ball carrier, clutch catch in a pivotal moment. He's getting better every single week. Tyreek. I know it was just three for sixteen, but he blocked his butt off once again, and quite frankly, I think he had two touchdowns that we missed. One was a post against split safety on eight Chan's third down conversion on the Texas route that two have found
him with. He is screaming down the middle of the field for a big touchdown, but the ball's already out for a big game to eight Chan and the league game changing or game clinching play. He was running the deep over behind that half field safety who was jumping down on the Leak before he cut the ball loose. So he's still getting open, just not getting the opportunities
like he normally does. Aaron Brewer copy and paste territory every game, same thing, dominant, cutting off one shade of the play side, staying square in space.
In a sprint.
You can set your watch to this, dude. Tron Armstead had a couple of misses, but on balance I thought had probably the second best night of the offensive line. They had to move Verse away from him to have an impact because he's seen those tricks. It was kind of funny to watch Versco speed to power on other guys and have success, and then against Testad just not effective against the veteran. I thought Lester Cotton was the next best film, but I didn't think it was great.
It was fine.
I do think he's developing a little bit into an asset, like maybe you know a swingman on the on the interior offensive line, which you get ready to get mad next offs He's in guys because it's gonna be the same thing, like they're gonna build continuity and they're gonna go cheap on the guard positions because that's how this offense operates, and it's it's proven that way this time
again another year of proven that. But on the he got beat really bad on the third night, the play before the third and nineteen where he just stops his feet and gets beat on a secondary move individual misses John Smith that second drive, doesn't get his head around on the perfectly located Backsholer ball on the rail, not
sure what he's doing there. Then the next play he runs a spot underneath route and the dig behind tree or by tyreek is right behind him and he's blanketed and John Wyo wheels back into the throwing like, dude, you could not go back there. Oj was hot about that in the game when it happened, and I'm watching it here like that could easily brought traffic into the area for an easy pick when you didn't have to do that. So that's not good. Really tough night for
Rob Jones. He got flat footed on contact way too often, was bending at the waist and got out over his skis. I didn't think he played well with his accelerated growth in terms of attached and detached the first and second level that had been growing for a couple of weeks. Now this is reverting back to early season Rob Jones, which could have cost him his job because my god, the pressures he allowed were it was a secondary mover. He just got completely dispatched like, can't have your feet
go down on contact. Man, It's a case of many murders as it were. On the offensive line. I thought Liam was bad, but I will say this, his floor this year is so much higher, especially yet guard. I think Liam is a cheap, easy, no brain re signed this off. He's gonna be like a six or seventh interior offensive lineman. Give him the Rob Jones contract. Just make sure it's never at center and we Gucci. Rough
night for him, but far from his worst. But gosh watching him try to display some of these three hundred pound guys who can win with the back door on outside zone as well. He got beat a lot on those plays. I thought Kendall Lamb really struggled in both phases. Had a play where he lost his lid and just took himself out of the play altogether and his guy made the play.
Didn't love that.
I thought he was right there with Rob in terms of pass protection issues, and quite frankly, I think it impacted two on how he trusted his pocket durham smyth. Every week I wonder what the hell's eighty one doing? Snap counts quarterback and three offensive linemen go the distance Brewer, Liam and Tistad Rob came in right at half at fifty five percent to Lester's forty five percent. Lamb missed
two snaps. Patrick Paul fielded for him there at running back eight Chan seventy percent and then right and Raheem went seventeen and fifteen percent in favor of the rookie replacing Alec. Julian Hill played fifteen, Durham forty seven percent, John Neu forty three percent. I think that's kind of a bit of a caveat or a bit of an impact of not having Alec Tanner. Kannor gets two snaps and then Reek eighty seven percent, Wattle eighty nine percent. This has been a great change to get those guys
in the field more. Moleague thirty four percent, Obj thirty two percent, and Credi Craft had four snaps last break right there, come back on the other side, talk about the defense, and then get out of here. Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, and what a night it was for this Miami defense. So I'm gonna tell you why in just a second.
I am pretty fired up in the same way I was about the offense about the long jevity, the long term prospects for this defense based upon what I saw on this game tape and one drive in, and I love the game plan from Anthony Weaver, especially a third down play where he runs Tampa two, which nobody runs that anymore. It's basically too high coverage, split field safeties.
And you run it.
Used to be like Derek Brooks would do this or Brian Erlacker would run down the middle of the field and turn it into essentially a Cover three type of defense. The linebacker get in depth there and you can disguise it that way. And he did this with Elijah Campbell as the dimeback, mugged up as a rusher and then taking off down the seam, and you'll actually see Cooper cup put his arm up, the mailbox goes up like
I'm open. But because of how long it took to get to that, because that's a tough play to it takes time for that to develop, Stafford had to check the ball down.
So that was kind of the case all night long.
The very next drive, we get Stafford double clutching again as he's trying to parse through a coverage where Cater wheels out and plays a deep half and cover two with Javon Holland buzzing down as the robber. And this was the case all night long, the way I was all fired up by this Dolphins offense playing the brand of football I thought they could the last few weeks. The same is true of the defense. And it stinks that Kendall full is gonna miss next week real quick,
some housekeeping, So Austin Jackson's done for the year. He has to get surge. It's gonna cost him the rest of the season. That sucks. Kendall flour is gonna miss the next game as he is in concussion protocol, but you have to imagine he's back, if not by the Patriots game, by the Packers game when they really need him. And then the Dolphins also claimed Terrell Bernard the linebacker or sorry, sorry, sorry, not Trell Bard, Tyrel Dotson, the
former Buffalo linebacker twelve Bernard's also a Buffalo linebacker. Tyrell Dotson will join this Dolphins roster here this week. So just looking at the defense, though, they were so connected on the back end, like on Anthony Walker's pick, you know, he mirrors the tight end aligned as the three to the field, and we know what that means, right, He's
the closest to the line of scrimmage. He plays this trail technique underneath man coverage and then passes him off to the middle of the field safety, which was a post snap rotation. They showed too high. They pivot to single high. Then Walker gets his head back and here comes the football. When you play to your keys and you communicate that well, things like this can happen. Play to your keys, communicate and run to the football with
maxim effort. You'll get big plays. And that's what happened all night long for the Dolphins and man the return of four, eight and ninety two. What a difference Cohu, Holland and Sealer all made the way four and eight can make us multiple on the back end. And I don't have to tell you what Sealer does upfront for the multiplicity of this defensive line. I mean, they were
forced multipliers all game long. And if they can get to these these different packages where you essentially have five defensive backs that can basically do all the jobs, all the things, then shoot like it confused. Matt Stafford. He's thirty six years old, He's been playing quarterback in this league for sixteen years, and it confused him. That, my friends, is the sign of a good defensive coordinator. And I know a lot of folks thought we had that last year.
But I'm looking at Buffalo, you know, forty eight twenty, I'm looking at Baltimore fifty six nineteen. I'm looking at what else, I guess case, well, case he just sucked last year on offense. I'm looking at the Kansas City, you know, playoff game where it was basically dropp passes mistakes in the red zone that prevents the getting like forty points in that game. Every time we've played elite quarterbacks, and this goes back to Josh Boyer, it's sure as
hell goes back to Brian Flores. We get railroaded because we didn't have enough in terms of the post snap rotation and pre snap presentation to confuse those guys and force them to think more and make you know, bad decisions or just not be able to process what they are seeing. Weaver has done that time and time again this year, and in this one it beat Matt Stafford. That's what beat him. He was double clutching all night.
He didn't trust what he saw. He didn't trust his protection, didn't trust his receivers, and the Dolphins punked him because they were so flexible and versatile on the back end. And you know what else works really well when you play so well connected on the back end that the only accessible throws they have, you know, regularly available are flats to the field. Number One, throwing the ball to the field takes longer because well, it's a further distance.
And two, when you're throwing it into the flat, you have to rely on after the catch, and when you're making it, the furthest throw possible on the field. For that throw into these zone clouded corners who have this tenacity and urgency to come up and hit you, and they have their best tackling performance of the entire year. We played like our season was on the line, and gosh, that makes it fun to watch. And if you can do that for eight more games, I promise you you're
gonna get to where you want to go. If they play like that, with that spirit and that energy, and then cut down some of the offensive mistakes, we're gonna be where we want to be in January May. It's not a home game, it's not gonna be a home game, but you're gonna be in the playoffs. Like that's I guarantee you. If you do that those things, you'll be
where you want to be. Gosh, it was nice. They came from depth, they hit, they communicated tackling lanes like they said, like I got inside, you got Like it was just they didn't miss all night long. The Kalaias Campbell sack early on, they walk up six with almost a cover zero look and players playing middle of the field ten yards off and he could pivot into a
walk down role. He winds up willing out to a half field responsibility where cater Coohu once again gets his depth and plays the other half field too high and then chop backs out of the of the rush scheme, and they overload the rams left side of their offensive line and completely back out of the right side. And it took away Stafford's hot throw because he wanted to go to the short flat or chop jump that passing lane.
And then because of the protection slide they had, it puts Kalais Campbell against a stationary blocker on a loop where he runs full speed and takes him right back into the quarterback which he did that all night long, and like, have mercy because this is replicable, and after we've lost so many key rushers off the edge, it didn't matter. It just didn't matter because they had answers for how to get to those pressure looks, and it
helps when you stop the run. Kyrin Williams is a very good running back, and they did a good enough job against him. Their biggest runs were like eight nine yard pops in like backed up situations like the end of the first half drive for a field goal, or those late drives towards the end, like go, sure, take your eight yard runs and milk twenty seconds off the clock when we have a two score lead.
You're welcome to do that.
So they put themselves in position to take a game, to take advantage, and they capitalize when those positions were there for them. Some individual standouts. I thought Jordan Brooks was the best player on the field in this game. His block deconstruction, the way he stayed parallel to the line of scrimmage when he broke down after getting through that first wave of rams blockers. He was driving and
wrapping on ball carriers, wasn't missing tackles. He was so critical against some of those Rams better executed double teams up front where he would play off of those and scrape and so tight they couldn't detach and climb and attached to him. Critical, critical performance and a big win for Jordan Brooks. And man watching that near interception back
again where the ball got deflected him. If that ball's not tipped, I think he makes a play on because he was driving on the throw before it came out. What a night for Jordan Brooks, What a night for Anthony Walker. It's going to be everybody here, just fyi. He played tight to those blocks as well, the scrape linebacker role. I thought the pick was great recognition and communication.
Then the Rams missed an open third and short play on their first field goal drive because a Walk mugs up on the A gap and unleashes this for Row just pick stump where he shot out of a cannon chop Robinson, dare I say cam wake style and he slants into the center, knocks him out of the play and then just angles back into Stafford and forces this fade away throw that winds up going wide as a result. Bring the kicking team on. You guys are not seeing
the end zone all night long. Kaleis Campbell. The thing about that deflected pass, he's not just guessing or getting lucky on it. It happens because he walked Steve Avila, who is one of the best rookie guards to enter the NFL in the last like ten years. He was really good last year. He's missed a bunch of games this year, but he put him on straight ice skates
and walked him right into Matt Stafford's lap. And then go check out their third down failure in the mid red zone when it's twenty to nine late in the football game. He takes Alaric Jackson, who's been awesome at left tackle for them, and walks him right into Stafford's lap. And it was literally the only reason that ball was not complete. And we're not looking at a twenty to fifteen game with a two point conversion coming up with
like five and a half minutes to play. We're in a much better spot because Kalaias Campbell decided to kick some mass again. Zach Sieler his awareness and instincts on that tackle for loss to open the game. It's a drive vender because of how in tuned he was to what the Rams did offensively, and he played off of his block in to a anticipation fashion, like immediately recognizes
where this football is going. And you pair his toughness, his grit, his determination with that rare length and strength and good enough quickness and agility with the preparation that he puts in. That's how you get a Zach Sie. Let's how you get a guy that belongs in the Pro Bowl. In my opinion, every single year, DeShawn hand that tackle for loss late was such a massive play. But his ability to hold the point of attack and really just give us another guy in the rotation is
so invaluable to keep Kalayis fresh. We need him Zach and Kalayis every single game the rest of the way. We cannot lose one of those guys. Chop Robinson, the very best thing that can happen for a prospect to me is the ability to succeed the things that brought you success of the college ranks. On his sack, he oversets a good right tackle with a quick jab step upfield, and that's Joe oat Boom, who's played a lot of football.
Then in a flash, he cross his face and takes a quick angle down the be gap for a sec.
Buddy.
I think we're gonna point to that as a rep that we look back on be like, oh, that's what that kid can do and where he figured it out. Emmanuel Ogbah was excellent. I thought just played hard, edges and cornered very well. I thought he was one of the main reasons that fumble happened, which was in plus territory. So good on you're forgetting to take away their big dog. Jalen Ramsey just continues to see the field as well as anybody in football, and he affords us so much
of that versatility as you can. You can show help and then like back out, you can fly your help over there and then have Ramsey cheat somewhere else and just bail on his responsibility and go make a play in the backfield or a tackle in the hook zone.
He's having an all Pro year.
And then on top of that, he can sink and take away the intermediate perimeter and then come up and make a tackle from that position to the line of scrimmage against a running back like Kyrin Williams who runs over DB's for breakfast, Like damn dude, what an absolute freak.
Jalen Ramsey is Kendall Fuller.
Hope he gets well soon, because just like Ramsey, the way he sees things is elite. I saw him wipe out both the intermediate and shallow option on layers or levels concept. Essentially, you run three like you know, crossing routes, one deep, one intermediate, one short, and you try to get you get your vertical spacing that way. But he just like puts himself in a position perfectly where Stafford can't decipher if he's gonna go intermediate or shallow and
has to turf the football. I thought this was the best game of Javon Holland's season. He was very active. He was constantly flashing into passing lanes. I thought his communication from the tape was excellent. I'd love to ask Weave about this later on this week, but it felt like he had the most autonomy he's had in terms of playing multiple positions. He aligned at linebacker like seemingly half the time he was playing the deep half, the
deep third, the you know, single high. He came down and rush the edge and had a huge sack in the game. A big part of those sim packages, that's that play that that game for Jivan Holland is the prospect I fell in love with back in twenty twenty one. He played at a different level of energy and I hope we get that the rest year. And then cater Ko, who I just appreciate his commitment to sting on the outside shoulder of outside contained. He's so consistent that way.
He's also taking a big step the last few weeks and his reaction to zone coverage, which was a big knock I had on him early in the year. And then Cam Smith I thought played well in place of Kendall Fuller. My misses were thin. Benito Jones, he continues to get rolled out of gaps consistently. Neil Ferrell, same story. I thought Saraan coverage had a one brutal rep where he got smoked. And then I didn't think it was
Tyas Bowser's best game. But I didn't think this game suited his skill set because I talked about playing those tight and barren eagle fronts like they were able to condense him with the formation and then stretch him on their outside boot game. So not his best game, That's okay, Snaps Brooks, Poyer, Ramsey all the distance Walker and Jev played all but one snap. Seeler comes right back and
goes back to eighty one percent. Campbell plays half the snaps and Deshaun plays fifty four percent of the snap, So that's why he's so critical to keep healthy. Benito at thirty percent, I'd love to bump that lower and then Feral eleven percent. Like those are two guys get a lot of snaps. I think you can you can do better then off the edge. Ogball played seventy one percent, Chop sixty percent, Bowser thirty six percent, and Quentin Bell
gave you twenty percent. That's probably gonna be the rotation going forward until hopefully Chubb and Good can get back.
Maybe hopefully, I hope.
Kendall Fuoyd came out of the game at half the snap, so Cam played forty seven percent and then Cater played ninety percent of the snaps. And I just feel like, you know, I talked about the offense, where like we might have to just accept the fact that this season might not get where we want to go because we dug a too deep of a hole. But I can
look at this team on both sides of the ball. Offensively, it's like receiver depth and impact tight end, a backup quarterback, maybe a piece or two on the offensive line, all these budget roles that you can find, you know, pretty easily.
I kind of feel the same way about defense.
Maybe we do get chubbed back and he gets back to his presence this year, and you get JP next year, but I would still go heavy at the edge despite those guys and Chop all being here. And then I would say a better safety alongside eight if you can get him done, if he's playing like last night again, and then defensive tackle depth and linebacker depth, and we probs Gucci Dog. So I feel pretty good about this. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks. I expect
a couple of blowout wins here coming up. Before we got out of here, though, Top five Tapes, Number five was three players I can't I couldn't decide. They're all defense, Anthony Walker, Jayalen Ramsey, and Zach Seeler. Those guys are pretty good, right, Travis. So who the hell is four, three, two and one? Well for is Kalayis Campbell, Three is Chop Robinson, Two was Javon Holland, and one was Jordan Brooks. He was fantastic. All right, that's the podcast. Rate review,
subscribe all that fun stuff. Follow on social at Winkle NFL for all the team at Miami Dolphins. We're back on Thursday with the preview episode. We'll have Ted Win from the Athletic breaking down the Raiders on Friday as well as Kyle Krabs. Check out the Fish Tank Podcast with Seth and Jews. Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ and all the media availabilities you can your heart can desire, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fins up Carolina and Cameron
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