Drive Time: Dolphins Ravens Week 17 Preview

We're breaking down the top two teams in the AFC, how they match up, how the Dolphins can win, the critical matchups, keys to victory, intriguing numbers, what's at stake, the prediction, all of that and so much more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast. Maggie dafir So, the wife and kids went back home for New Year's Eve.

I guess to celebrate Christmas with the family back in the Pacific Northwest, And so after this podcast, I'm going home to an empty house for the first time and like, I don't know, like two years. It's I think it's been a little bit sad to miss them, but also pretty excited to do absolutely nothing all day, every day for a few days. I'm sure the fellow fathers out

there could understand how that goes. But let's talk about a big football game here and go ahead and start with the opening introduction to the Baltimore Ravens before we do that, because this could be the last road trip of the season outside of a potential neutral site game at the very end of everything. As Uncle Dan said, we'll get better at golf after the Super Bowl, right,

But if you keep winning, that's what it means. And again, I made sort of a habit of doing this with a weather reportsin since we're on the road and it's not going to be seventy five degrees and Sunday like it is in South Florida every day this time of year. Partly cloudy, seven mile an hour wins, five percent chance of rain, and high of forty nine. Can't ask for much more than that. If there's one good thing about climate change, it's that it means fewer cold weather games

for the Miami Dolphins. Let's go ahead and meet the Baltimore Ravens here. We're gonna have Charles Davis in the podcast this week. In spoiler, it has already been recorded, and he talked about big game experience and managing emotions on a week to week basis. He even made the great point that this is a business as usual game for Baltimore. They've been here now. They have had postseason failures recently, especially with that quarterback, which wasn't always the

case in John Harbaugh's career. They're one to three in their last four playoff games, and they missed the postseason two years ago, which usually doesn't happen for the Baltimore Ravens, and Lamar ended that year with an injury, same thing as last year, but Tyler Huntley won them enough games to make it into the postseason and almost beat the

Bengals in that wild card roun game. So it starts at top with the aforementioned John Harbaugh, one of the best coaches in the National Football League, a special teams coach by Trey, but just a great leader of men. A la a Mike Tomlin, a lah a Mike McDaniel. Ozzie knew someone was probably the best GM in the league for a decade plus and then he turns things over to Eric DaCosta and then ends up taking a secondary role, which he wasn't supposed to do, but he

does that. And now he and DaCosta are basically freaking jobs in Wozniak. I mean, they're incredible. They know what a Baltimore Raven is and they draft them accordingly. Now, the landscape of their approach changed entirely when they went from L Flacco L Fluco, who is forty seven years old right now, ball them for the Cleveland Browns, which

is crazy to me. And remember that, you know what, quick aside, remember last year when I praised the game that Joe Flacco had in that week eighteen eleven to six game, not because he had a monster game, but because there were like eight plays where Miami had him in the grasp within one point eight seconds and the ball would still get out somehow. And sometimes you've ben complete those passes. Why is Joe Flacco still playing? Well? What the hell's going on with that guy? What did

he did he find? Tom Brady's like snake oil. I don't know, oh man. So the landscape of that football team changed when they turned to a rookie Lamar Jackson back in twenty eighteen, and they were fluttering that year until he came in, and then I think he went like six and two down the stretch and took him to the playoffs. And then the next year they had that MVP season fourteen to two. But that year they moved up to thirty second in the draft. Member four

quarterbacks were selected ahead of this guy. And I never knew how you watched Louisville tape and thought he was the fifth best quarterback in that class. I was a huge Josh Allen fan. I was also a huge Baker Mayfield fan, but I was also a huge Lamar Jackson fan. Was not so much Rosen and Darnold. Sometime you get it right, but you know what a class that was for the Ravens in general. They get Hayden Hurst, who

the Ravens even thought was worth picking over Lamar Jackson. Right, They get Lamar next Orlando Brown, junior, Mark Andrews to Sean Elliott, Zach Seeler, and only Andrews remains on that team and he's on IR So that class is Lamar right now for the Ravens. But that's the thing about

their drafts. They get return value for a as they move on from whether it's compicks or trading Hollywood Brown for a first round pick in twenty nineteen, Who was you know later repurpose to the Cardinals for that first round draft pick? Go to twenty twenty, Patrick Queen, JK. Dobbins, Justin Matdabweke, Devin Duverney. You guys remember having a punt return or a rather opening kickoff return for a touchdown

in the Week two game last year, Gino Stone? How about the next year in twenty twenty one, Rashad Bateman. He caught a seventy five yard touchdown reception against us o'daffe Oway. Fantastic pass rusher, Ben Cleveland, Brandon Stevens twenty twenty two, Kyle Hamilton the best safety the NFL for my money. Tyler Linderbaum, a surefire lockdown center prospect that is playing like it. Travis Jones, Isaiah likely this year's

Theay Flowers. I mean, who remember the draft exercise we did during the bye week to kind of measure up Chris career against the rest of the NFL since he got the GM job back in twenty sixteen. The Ravens and the Saints were the only teams higher than the Miami Dolphins on that list, and then they add key veteran parts that fit their program too, because they know what they want, kind of like the Miami Dolphins. In fact,

keep a lookout for tomorrow's podcast. I'm gonna do a fun segment talking about Chris Career and Durham Smyth and how those two have proven together this year, how good of a GM Chris Greer is. Stay tuned for that. But like Kalais Campbell for instance, like he's not there anymore. But was there ever a player that screamed Baltimore raven more than Kalais Campbell? I liked a good talk of a quarterback, like his big booming voice, and I just

made him sound like he's you know yeah. But guys that just look like Baltimore Ravens and talk like Baltimore Ravens, you know, Patrick Ricard, Gus Edwards, Morgan, Moses, even his name sounds like Baltimore Ravens. Michael Pierce, who was actually drafted the same year as Ronnie Stanley back in twenty sixteen, the two old heads and then he left and came back. They signed Kevin Zeitler away from rival Cincinnati. The Rokwan Smith trade maybe the most raven ever since Kalais Campbell.

At least you got the idea. It's a college style powerhouse that replaces and repulnishes its whole roster every couple of years to dominate the NFL. It's crazy, key cogs replace the other parts. Well coached, aggressive, adaptive to the modern game. There's a reason that nobody else in the NFL has as many wins as the Baltimore Ravens. They are a phenomenal, phenomenal football team. How about the storylines

for this one, because they are a plenty. Had to kind of narrow them down here, But I start with this one because I'm so intrigued by this, and I asked Charles Davis about this, and you'll find that on the Friday Podcast with Charles Davis the Week seventeen Variety Show.

Is both of these football teams coming off the biggest win of the year for them, right because the Ravens, and I kind of get intrigued by the clapback they're doing to Mike Florio and other members of the media as if to say, like, this was the game we geared up for. This was a kind of a super Bowl matchup for us, and we're gonna bring our best and prove you all wrong. Can you match that juice the following week? I tend to think you can't. Like

it's very difficult to do now. This time of year is a little bit different, but I think that human nature dictates that you don't always have that same level of motor quick aside. Travis's sports career, high school basketball in eastern Washington for a where it's basically kids that look like me, you know, not the best basketball players.

But my senior year, we were playing our rival high school, cross town Kenwick High School, and we needed to beat them because we were like a middling team trying to get into the playoffs. We knew that going in we weren't like the best team in the league, but we had to beat Kennewick because it was a matchup that we just need to get a dub on our schedule. And remember being so charged up, Like our first play of the game, first play the season, I ran this,

you know, I got into the offense. I was a point guard, got the dish off to someone for a three pointer, cashit, and I was like, whoa whoa like fire, let's play some defense points. That's fire up. Now. We lost the game by a few points, but the very next night we traveled to Eisenhower High School and had nowhere near the same energy, and after like a four point loss, lost by like twenty seven. So I just think it's human nature that you can't possibly match that

energy for consecutive weeks. For the Miami Dolphins, they're coming off a huge win as well, So who can find the closest replicated energy that they provided in the Dallas game and come out and punch their team in the mouth and have more effort and just play harder and better. And I think the team that does that will find a way to win. For the Ravens, this is a real thing. Man short week with a long night's travel. On Monday night, the game ended, I was tracking this.

I was hoping that Sam Darnold could lead back the Niners and tie the game up and make it an overtime game because the game was already getting late. But obviously more snaps played impacts you know the next game, next week's effort. Like last year when the Dolphins had eighty four snaps on defense against Buffalo, and then had

to go to Cincinnati for a short week. Like, there's a reason that in the fourth quarter of the Bengals just wore us out in that game and we couldn't get a whole lot done because they had no gas left, no juice left. For the Ravens. They played against the Niners and a tough, you know, physical team, and they played sixty eight snaps on defense, and they flew across the country and that game ended right before midnight, so they're probably not getting on the plane till about two am.

They probably didn't get off the plane in Baltimore until like eight am. By that point, Mike McDaniels already had five hours of game prep and film watching here in the building. So short week. That's a tall ass, man, It's a tall ass turn around that fast. Other key storylines, the Ravens off a game against the offense that most closely resembles ours. Right. I find this so fascinating. They

just faced a Shanahan offense, right, the Shanahan offense. Well, this week there's another one, and of course McDaniel's got the exact same offense, but seventeen years together, a little bit rubs off is it a benefit to Miami? Is it a benefit to Baltimore? I'm gonna ask Charles Davis that question on Friday. Next storyline, the winner is in the driver's seat for the one seed, but also the unanimous best team in football, which doesn't matter power rankings?

Who cares? And also, real quick, hey, Colin Cowherd eats because you guys retweet him, don't give him the time of day. And I get the aggregators in our industry, the guys in the beat that want to get the tweets off, and they show all the videos and all the leaks and all the stuff. I get it. There's money to be made in that progress. But can we just let him die? Like he's doing this on purpose? Guys, just leave it alone. He's a jackwagon like he's not.

He's not someone you concern yourself with. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Who cares about power rankings? But the winner of this game will emerge as the favorites for the Super Bowl? Right, And that's that's kind of cool. I guess, I don't know. But more importantly, the Ravens are already clinched a top two seed barring a Cleveland miracle, So I guess I shouldn't say clinched already, but unofficially, if they lose both their games and Cleveland wins both

their games, then the North goes to the Browns. But I don't think it's gonna happen. So Baltimore's not losing to Pittsburgh in week eighteen and Cleveland I don't think I win both their games either, so either way, but we, on the other hand, could slide as far as the sixth seed if we lose out. But a win in this game or next week means no lower than the two seed, and that means you're not going on the road until at least Championship weekend, maybe even the Super

Bowl at best. The reunions here, So Lamar not quite a South Florida native, but he was a Palm Beach guy or Pompino Beach right, the closest team to him in the National Football League. Zach and Deshaum are both draft picks of the Ravens. George god Sees the tight end coach there, and Vic Fangio was a linebacker coach in two thousand and nine. So that's your storylines and

introduction to a very very good Ravens team. Let's go ahead and spin at four now to the tape, and let's go ahead and get down to the matchup tables here before our first break. So for the Ravens, a key, key injury that will be tracking all week long. In fact, I don't have the injury report for Wednesday just yet. I would have to imagine he did not practice, but I don't have that information at my disposal just yet.

Kyle Hamilton ninety one percent snaps, Marcus Williams, the other safety, plays fifty percent, and Gino Stone plays eighty one percent. So Stone is supposed to be the third safety and he is right now. But since Williams missed some time, he filled in, and when Hamilton went down against the Niners, he filled in that role as well. So three safeties all can play their corners. Really, if they get into their depth, it's a struggle, but gosh, they're good up top.

Marlon Humphrey is the top perimeter guy, but he's only played a half the snaps this year because he missed so much time. But Brandon Stevens has turned into a very good like lockdown number two, maybe even number one cornerback plays a very physical brand of football zone turned good job out of the break. And then their interior guy is either Ronald Darby who's played a little bit, but also Arthur Malette, who's a kind of a more

of a fit, I would say in that position. But either way, one of those guys will get slot reps. If anybody goes down. It kind of throws the whole rotation into a bit of a into a kind of a mess almost because they don't have the additional bodies there. But up front, the depth is the good. So justin Mattabueke sixty seven percent snap taker all. He leads all defensive tackles and sacks this season, and he plays alongside Michael Pierce, who is the biggest man in the National

Football League. He's a three hundred and fifty pounds beast. Broderick Joe, or rather Broderick Washington plays thirty four percent of the snaps, and then Travis Jones, a Yukon grad who is quick as all get out, thirty seven percent of the snaps up front off the edge. It kind of reminds me of the Flores teams down here, like ogbab builds Odafe always played thirty nine percent. He's missed some time this season, but Jadavian Clowney's having maybe the

best year of his entire career. Another guy that just looks like a freaking raven, right, but they're so big and so long. And then Kyle van nid Duh like forty one percent of the snaps, and then Brent Urbans played twenty two percent, and then off ball linebacker Rokwan Smith ninety eight percent, Patrick Queen ninety eight percent. Defense is loaded, guys. We have our hands full. It's a big time matchup physicality against speed, but Miami also has

their own physicality. Kyle Hamilton, it's worth noting that if he misses the game, like he's their top slot guy. He plays four hundred and eighty snaps in the slot. He's their top blitzing defensive back. Nobody else comes close to his blitz production. He's a center field, rangey safety who can pick off Brock Purdy in the end zone like. He does everything so well. If he misses the game,

it's a huge, huge loss for them. Patrick Queen was in and out of the game on Monday with a shoulder injury, and I thought he was gonna be test for a while, but sounds like he's gonna be just fine. And then the guys they already have out are David Ajabo and our Darius Washington, a rusher and a defensive back for the Ravens. Their personnel usage, let's go ahead and do some numbers here before we get into the

actual nitty gritty of the tape. For the Baltimore Ravens, so they run their three four sixteen percent of the time, and they run their nickel package eighty two percent of the time. And there's some heavy personnel and there's some diamond there, but that is a what is that ninety eight percent there for? Right? No, yeah, ninety eight percent usage of there nickel and three four they blitz just twenty three percent of the time. That's twenty second the

National Football League. Primarily on third downs, they'll often bring a defensive back Kyle Hamilton Arthur Malette and drop a rusher back into the hook. Like you have to be aware of your fronts and your coverage and how they marry and how they could possibly switch aspects of who rushes and who drops back. But their pressure rate is twenty percent, which is actually just twenty third so really,

in terms volume, the pressures are not that great. However, fifty four sacks leads the National Football League, two more than your Miami Dolphins. When they get pressure, it typically impacts the game. So between fifty four sacks and twenty six takeaways, both league leading, you have to prevent this defense from making their splash plays. Sixteen point three points allowed points allowed per game, that's also tops, and for posterity, thirty six percent allowed on third down is fifth best.

It's the best defense in the NFL. Guys, Miami might have a case for that as well, but Baltimore right now is the top defense. Let's go ahead and get to know them on the tape on the other side of our first break here, that's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, picking it back up previewing Dolphins and Ravens, the biggest game on the National Football League schedule this season in terms of what it might mean for playoff seeding. Let's

go ahead and get more into this Ravens defense. So it's a great unit. How do they do it well? Mike McDonald is quite frankly, nothing short of a defensive genius. And he's been helping the Hardbaughs for quite some time now. He was an intern with the Ravens back in twenty fourteen before getting promoted to defensive assistant, then position coach.

Then he jumps positions before leaving to Michigan to run Jim's defense for a year, but then one year later right back to John to run his defense and replace Wink Martindale. And he's changing up. It's not blitz heavy, it's not the same attack attack approach of Wink Martindale, and it's been a lot better. And what you get is an ever evolving picture. You never get the same coverage twice in a row. You get different blitzers coming

from the same package on different types of snaps. Let's put it this way, Tua has his work cut out for him one of the smartest, most intellectual approaches of the game at quarterback, and Tua is going to have to really prove that he's strong in that area. That's why, Spoiler, one of the keys here is going to be to

just prevent the Ravens defense from making splash plays. If you can do that, you will at least be in this game at the end of the fourth quarter Because teams average starting field position against the Ravens is their own twenty seven point one yard line. That's fifth lowest. But see here's where you really get the impact of

the defense. Their offense has the best average starting field position in the National Football League by more than a full yard thirty two point five yard line average start position. The gap between them and the second place team in that regard is the same as the gap between second place and twelfth place, so they dominate the field position battle. They're always good on special teams, but the sacks and the takeaways they get the hidden yardage that puts the

offense in advantageous situations backs you up on defense. But also Miami does the same thing too, fifty two sacks their help. Our average starting field position is fifth at the thirty point three yard line. I want to take a look at two games of the Ravens, the forty nine ers and the Rams games, the two offenses that most closely resemble what the Dolphins do from a structure

and philosophy standpoint. So first was curious to look at zone versus man because the way the Ravens can play with physicality all across the defensive line with huge defensive tackles, long and strong edges. They meet you where you are. I thought Dallas did some of that, especially against our jet sweep action and our toss game and reverse game end around all that stuff. And we have to be so much better in this one than we were in that one, because these guys are even better and they

will knock. I mean, that's how we lost several drives in this game, was losing yardage on those wide runs. They'll penetrate, they'll lock out, they'll shed, they'll funnel you back inside, and they'll rally back to tackle. It's impressive team football with very strong gap discipline and again just sheer overwhelming power plus. In our win over Dallas, there were more gap man calls than we've been getting and

it worked, especially on that final drive. We went fourteen zone runs eight gap runs per Pro Football Focus, which also checks out on the film and also was our highest usage of gap running this year in our entire season. Now, the forty nine ers didn't do that. They're the most prominent zone football team in football, and they went eleven zone runs and three gap runs. The Rams, however, and this is something that Sean McVay has pivoted to this

year fourteen gap runs and four zone runs. The Rams in that game also played the most condensed offense of any offense in a game this year. What does that mean? Everything is jammed in close to the offensive line, nasty splits. Extra gaps probably allows you to help get more bodies on those edges and just control things a little more

in terms of not getting one gapped and beaten. With the combination of power slash get off Laika Jadevian Clounie is capable of or odafe Oway or inside with Michael Pierce's massive build, or Travis Jones and oh, by the way, the most productive pass rushing defensive tackle in football this year in justin Mattaweeka. This group is rugged, they're explosive, they're big. I think you could possibly see a lot

of twelve personnel, maybe some thirteen. Maybe you activate Tyler Croft, maybe you put alec Ingold in line, because you're gonna have to find a way to help the tackles even more than you already do. Because this group, let's just talk about him so size wise. Puerce three fifty five the truest best nose tackle in the National Football League

bar none to me? Uh, Travis Jones three thirty eight and by the way, a nine point four rass a ninetieth percent tile and forty yard dash at that size, also in the three cone and his weight also is in the ninety percent tile as well. Broderick Washington three fifteen, he's a three technique in a five technique, basically a Seiler esque kind of guy. Speaking of Steeler, was there besides Kalais Campbell and Rokwan Smith? Was there ever a better raven than Zach Seeler? How did he got out

of the building? That was a mistake. I'm sure Glaids shook freeing and got to us. Justin Maddowueke is three zero five, but oh yeah, a four eight three forty at that size, that's ninety eight percent tile. He's also in the ninety percent tile in the twenty and ten yard split, so the get off is absurd. Then off the edge. Clowney two hundred and sixty six pounds, Oh wait, two hundred and fifty seven pounds and Brent Urbans three

oh nine. Like my god, man, remember Shaq Lawson back in twenty twenty in training camp, you got some heavy ass hands, Bro talking to Emmanuel Ogbah. That's all these guys, heavy handed dudes up and down the lineup. I think the other part that lends itself to that idea of running more gap and gap man gap scheme. Your interior line is right now built better for it. Liam is nowhere near the athlete Connor Williams is, but he's strong. Rob Jones is a He's a good road grader, maybe

not as effective in space. And Lester Cotton is more lost in space than George Clooney than that terrible movie from like ten years ago, but at least he's big and can push people around. Right. So, I think that where this matchup really is one is there. How can we execute on early downs both with the run on the pass. Can we mitigate the way the defensive line wants to play and match their physicality? I think you can hopefully Austin Jackson's because he's a pusher, wig back

type of guy. That's his game. He has an edge, so does leam Meikenberg, Rob and Lester are bigger dudes in Tehran. I just think he beats whoever he sees across from him. Let's go ahead and talk about the numbers here because they are staggering for the Ravens pressures and stops. Clowney sixty six and twenty two. He's having a career year. Matabueke sixty one thirty five. What what sixty one pressures a defensive tackle? O Way has forty seven and twelve, so he's kind of a rush exclusive player.

Kyle Vanni has forty three and eighteen, remember him, great player. Pierce twenty nine and twenty. He has twenty nine pressures at that size, and Travis Jones is twenty and eighteen.

Raheem Moster has to be at his best because in that Rams game, Kyrine Williams broke eleven tackles and produced eighty nine yards after initial contact, just grinded them out and stayed in manageable third down situations where Stafford then hit big third down throw after big third down throw with anticipation largely to Puka Nakula where he's getting pressure and just kind of losts this thing out there, just like the ball that two or threw a Tyreek on

that critical third and eight against the Cowboys. You're gonna have to get some of that here because the pass rush will get home. I think there's something to that game where they were able to chip away and really hold the attention to the linebackers, because guess what, when you get past that massive defensive line we talked about, they have arguably the best off ball linebacker duo that hangs out before them. I would take Greenlaw and Fred Warner,

these guys would be second to me. Smith has thirteen pressures on ninety one pass rush attempts. They don't blitz him very often, but also has forty seven stops. Queen has twenty four pressures on one hundred and four attempts. Okay, cool, twenty five percent pressure rate. That's like elite. That's your blitzing linebacker. By the way, number six, he also has forty one stops. They have a first down run stopping

success rate of seventy two point two. That is why they have so many sacks and so many takeaways because teams are always in third and long. It's the best in the NFL. And how they get you into those long third downs. Speaking of that third downs, seventy five point seven passer rating, twenty sacks, seven touchdowns to five picks, fifty seven percent completion six point zero yards per attempt. A lot of that funnels through those two backers. Man,

they can get their depth and coverage. They can win with speed to the perimeter. They can match up with size and power down the trash. Just watch that Niners game. They tighten all those windows. And we've seen what happens when offenses. This offense is timing is impacted. There are misses that just go awry. So I can imagine. I imagine they can create some of those misses. But if we're sharp and we're on our stuff, we can compete. We can hit some big plays. The Niners had their

big plays when they were sharp early on. It's a big time to a game man. How he influences those guys, how quickly he sees things. We'll get into the schematics here shortly. Let's go ahead and finish up with personnel and their defensive backs. Now, I don't know if he's gonna be able to go, but gosh, Kyle Hamilton, this guy changes the game. He changes the picture postnap. You cannot be late with him in the equation. Watch the

party interception the first in the first quarter. He might be the best safety in football, right now, his instincts, his range like Ed Reid's the camp man. He and Marcus Williams make up the best ball hawking safeties in football, and they're combined range with how Hamilton sees things. It allows them to be so exotic and make the quarterback hitch that one extra time and that's all the pass rush needs. Now, if Hamilton is down, how much more

vanilla does the scheme become? Because I kind of think it's like us with with Jalen Ramsey being out, And I just mean in terms of switching, bumping, rotating, like if you have less of that, if guys are more ingrained and we're gonna stay right here, we're able to get our motions and dictate the matchups and play on time, then we won't be stopped. So that could be a big absence. But also maybe Gino Stone steps in and has it down pat and they're still to doing the

exact same stuff he has experience. But I just think there's a different level of play you get with Kyle Hamilton. He's the best safety in football. For my money, I would take him right now over anybody else. They also really only blits him when they do send a defense, he has thirty seven pass rush reps. The next most is Arthur Malette with fourteen so, and Ginostone has eleven so out of the eight hundred and thirty four stats

that he's played. He replaced Marcus Williams earlier this year, so, like, I mean, you're gonna change the way you play the game if they don't have Kyle Hamilton. Speaking of defensive backs, Brandon Stevens has developed into a true lockdown corner. He and Marlin Humphrey together make that system kind of go akin to how I think Ramsey and X do it here.

Like the rest of the defense, they're smart, they're long, they're physical, they find the football, and Stevens has such a good feel for the concepts with the requisite feel and twitch to see it ahead of time and go get it. I think his ability to anticipate what our receivers are going to do is a big key in this game because our guys are so good at holding their route and kind of making it a mystery where

the break is gonna come from. And Tyreek is such a good route runner that I don't think he really gives up his tail at all, and he can play off of their outside leverage which kind of funnels routes to the inside and those cover three cover one looks, and I can think you can find those pockets. I think that's how Miami can really get their chunks and move the football. Hopefully we have Waddle sounds a little more promise than I thought it would at this point

of the week, but we'll see with him. And quite frankly, the two drives that we had against Dallas at the end of the half is what I think you could see here where the ball is out now inside access to Durham to said to Braxton to riv if he's up and hit enough of those, run the ball well enough and start softening up those intermediate lanes that we love. And man, this is such a good matchup, like all

across the board. To me, this is two of the top three teams in the NFL, and the styles they play make it such appointment viewing, like it reminds me of those legendary Colts and Patriots matchups in a lot

of ways. They run man coverage thirty percent and zone seventy percent, but get a load of this against man coverage eleven touchdowns and one pick, fifteen sacks, but also just five point three yards per past against zone teams have four touchdowns, fifteen picks, thirty nine sacks, but more yards per pass at six point oh so kind of interesting splits there. Sorry to get repetitive. It's another top tandem in the league, the cornerbacks. There's a reason that

this is a top defense in the NFL. They can both move to Stevens nine point two relative athletics score Humphrey eight point nine their numbers. So Stevens has seven hundred covered snaps and seven hundred yards allowed. That's a phenomenal year. Two touchdowns, two picks for Humphrey three sixty three and two hundred and twenty four yards like Damn

one touchdown, one pick. So Hamilton's absence also changes their structure because they love to roll into single high and let him come down and match up in the slot. He leads a team with four hundred and three snaps inside. Next is their top slot corner, Arthur Molett. He's allowed three hundred and forty yards on two hundred and forty four covered snaps and they're my friends, is your sombrero. If there's one place to go, it's after him, and then I'd say Stone if Hamilton misses, this is maybe

the most important non quarterback in the game. Hamilton is besides Tyreek and he could be out. Their coverage structure, and this is where the variety we talked about occurs. Cover one twenty two percent, Cover three twenty two percent. Those are the two coverages that Dallas runs primarily against US that in Tampa two, so it gives you the most inside access throws they run quarters twenty one percent. That's a variation and it always changes, so it's tough

to decipher. But also cover six fifteen percent. All those coverages marry off of each other and they mix it so well. They go zero seven percent of the time, which actually is fifth most. But I doubt they would do it against Miami because you'd have to be stupid to do it against Miami. So there you go. That's Dolphins offense versus Ravens defense. Go ahead and take our last break right there. Come back on the other side

and do the Ravens offense first. The Dolphins Defense Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Well, I definitely did not expect to come away from the tape more impressed by the Ravens offense than I was their defense, simply because of how good their defense is. But yeah, that's where we are. My god,

what a football team. So Lamar Jackson's the quarterback, the receiver Ze Flowers plays eighty six percent, and then a big drop off for Sean Bateman fifty three, Odell Beckham four forty four. Both those guys get banged up. Both those guys leave the field. Zay Flowers is their number one since Mark Andrews got injured left and replacing Andrews is a really good tight end and Isaiah Likely, who plays forty four percent, runs a lot of his routes from the slot in the on the in line attachment.

Their key slot receiver is Nelson Aguilar, who plays half the snaps, and then tight end two is uh, what's his first name? Kolar got his first name, the tight end that plays sixteen percent of the snaps alongside Likely tight end three. Because Mark Andrews is hurt. On the interior, it's John Simpson, Tyler Linderbaum, and Kevin Zeitler off the edge. Interesting combination here because Ronnie Stanley was once the best left tackle in football. And has had a lot of

injuries that have kind of robbed that from him. And then Morgan Mo's this is another big kind of plotting right tackle, but they've used Patrick McCarry to shuffle in at left tackle, but he got hurt in last game, so interesting decision there. And then Daniel Fallele is a four hundred pounds right tackle who comes into as an

extra offensive lineman sometimes, so Mark Andrews, JK. Dobbins, Keaton and Devin DuVernay all on ir key parts of that offense and special teams, and a lot of the explosive plays the offense had came out of those guys, but they still have more guys behind that. As far as personnel, one of the lowest eleven personnel groupings in the National Football League just forty seven percent of the time. That means often just two receivers on the field, hence these

splits we just heard about. Twelve personnel is thirteen percent. You think it'd be higher, but here's why it's not. Because twenty personnel two backs, no tight ends is ten percent, But twenty one personnel with two backs and one tight end, which is often Patrick Ricard and Isaiah likely is twenty four percent that by far leads the National Football League

twenty two personnel, two tight ends, two backs is four percent. Well, it's a lot going to be a challenge, guys, because we know how Lamar runs with the football, right, scrambles, zone read, RPO, quarterback power like everything's on the table with this damn guy. And early in his career it was keep him in the pocket, force him to stand and scan. And even though that was tough, if you got bad Lamar, he was still able to kill you with his legs or a couple of explosive plays on

broken plays in the passing game. But guess what. He has improved his willingness to stay in there. He's scrambling to throw more. He's improved the touch and layering throws in that second level. And this Dolphins defense has probably been the best in the NFL since Jalen Ramsey came back top three minimum. But this is the test. This is the game that you built this dominant defense for

vic Fangio four for games like this. So the other element they have is that when Lamar breaks the pocket, now he has playmakers on the perimeter to break off and make explosive plays, and it's not even exclusive to the off schedule stuff. They can dial up these slow developing routes because Lamar can buy time inside the pocket by showing that short area mobility. Like the game I watched, one of the games I watched, the Lions have mercy,

want to SmackDown. That was and Lamar was consistently getting to the backside of what I assume our three and four regions progressions because the Lions could not get any pressure on him, and then it would go out the gate with the say Flowers or Odell Beckham or Isaiah Likely you catch a slight break that Keat Mitchell's down because he's an explosive element of the offense. He's out. But man, this roster like ours, it's good. It's deep

everywhere because Justice Hill can play. Gus Edwards has some as my man Seth Level would say, some ish to him. I was trying to find games against similar systems for Lamar, and there's only one game against a Fangio descendant this year. Is that the right word Fangio disciple is at the

Chargers back in week thirteen. Who's now been fired actually in Brandon Staley, but Lamar was eighteen for thirty two for one seventy seven and a touchdown pass and an eighty two point four passer rating, his lowest of the season. That's not very good. The thing the Chargers did so well was threefold and not dissimilar from their game plan against US last year. Lots of two man pressed to negate the timing of the offense. They defended the run

and contain Lamar pretty successfully. He didn't hit the big plays in the passing game offscript, and if you limited to just running plays for big plays, then you have a chance. It's when he does both that you're dead in the water. And I think Lamar was just a bit off, which happens for every quarterback sometimes. So I'm

not sure it's a replicatable plan. I'm not sure there is a great plan for this guy, because, like Vic always says, you have to defend the play they called and the scramble stuff a second play after it all breaks down, hopefully, And I'm optimistic here because he looked good at practice that we see Javon Holland this week. He was back out there getting some good work in.

He and Deshaun Elliott's range and physicality and coverage and their discipline and their communication and the way they play together. I think makes a huge difference. If you get Javon back and Kyle Hamilton's down, that's like maybe a touchdown swing Like I'm not even joking about that if you can get it. But plus, I always think back to that third down open field tackle Javon had in Buffalo

last December on Josh Allen. I like the speed of those guys, and then with Duke and David in the middle, we have the speed to compete there as well. And as much as I love their playmakers, I always like our guys when we can match up with five, twenty five and four at the corner position but nobody else please, And we've seen this defense is really about not traveling. It's not you don't match up specifically. You can get into that within the game, but by and large, it's

about the scheme and the way it functions together. I like the way that ck at Chris or at ck Parrott on Twitter said, do you want to make your game plan for Ceedee Lamb or for Dak Prescott. It's a pretty obvious answer there. I think fanjo has proven for oh I don't know, two decades, he's got a pretty good grasp on limiting elite quarterbacks. And we heard from coach McDaniel on Monday. He said, the beauty of this scheme is that the offense often has little idea

what's coming before the ball is snapped. I think that's your only hope of hemming down Lamar's production. You have to give him a post snap picture that confuses him. You need to get into a second and third hitch. You need the best gap discipline you've had all year, and you have to finish your tackles with flowers. Sharp route runner can eat up one on ones, can really hit the gas to run away from you. Beckham's still one of the top route runners in the entire National

Football League. All of it to me says you can't really play man because of that and his threat of the run. But we play lots of zone anyway, So maybe it works out with Isaiah likely. I mean, they lose Mark Andrews and there's almost no drop off there because this guy's big, physical, has long speed, he's shifty, he can run through you like he makes you miss in space. He's a great player. And then Rashaan Bateman, he's okay when we saw him go for seventy five

yards on the slant last year against US. Like I said, huge test, But if anyone's up for it, it's this Dolphins defense. Before we get into the matchups. Down on the trenches, some numbers here the coverages the Ravens have seen the most of twenty three percent Cover one, only five teams have seen more. That's more hats in the box. That's the running game. Coverage Cover three thirty eight percent, only seven teams have seen more. That's a deep defense.

Take away the deep shot mold or type of defense. Cover two six percent, nobody sees less. And then thirteen percent quarters and seven percent Cover six. These two coverage we play a lot of. That could be your fashion here. I cannot wait to see what looks like maybe a lot of Cover one with Javon Holland roaming down in

the box. We'll see some more numbers here so that deep cover three look twenty plus yard air throws this year not their game sixteen for fifty six terrible five hundred and forty eight yards, four touchdowns, two picks, just a seventy six passer rating. Now where he Eats is extending plays and finding guys on horizontal runs after the catch.

He's in that ten to nineteen yard range. He's seventy two percent sixty eight for ninety four one thousand, seventy three yards and nine touchdowns to no picks in a passer rating of one to forty best in the National Football League, which is kind of crazy because teams are playing those cover one, cover three looks where against your cover one you invite the deep shots and against cover three, well that's a defense you want to run the football,

all right, So interesting splits there, and to cap it off, Agalar and likely their top two guys inside Andrews was that guy eighty percent, but they're down to seventy four percent. Agalar fifty five percent likely, but he runs forty percent of his rouse inside on the on the attached to why so it's kind of that's slot as well. But Man eleven point five yards after the catch on average as a team, the best run after catch team in football.

Their past block efficiency scores Stanley and Moses are ninety four point five and ninety six point six on the perimeter inside. Nobody's lower than ninety eight in fact, Simpson and Zeiler, the two guards are both ninety eight flat and linderbamas ninety eight point four. I think this number is indicative of the team's strength on the interior of

the offensive line. That's where their best. But also when you have a quarterback like Lamar, you kind of squeeze it and you keep those gaps tighter because if you went off the edge and sacrifice your help off the edge, those are easier rushers to make miss and he does

it so well. So the thing from Miami I love here is that Chubb and Gink are both a great combination of fast and big enough to run through things, but also they have such good eyes that really help them key the quarterback and not get overextended beyond the quarterback. Not to mention, I laud Wilkins and Sealer for the way they keep their eyes in the quarterback for the

last five years now while playing through their blocks. And quite frankly, if you can give it to Dallas and the way Zack Steeler whipped the crap Tyler Smith, one of the best guards in football, And the way that Zach Martin, a future Hall of Famer, got his ass handed to him by Christian Wilkins, even though he was getting through some things there. If you can do that to those guys, you can definitely do it to these guys. But you have to earn a chance to do that.

And how do you do that? Well, you guys know the drill. You have to stop the run, which is obviously a challenge when the quarterback can pull it out and take it around the end himself for seventy five yards. David Long and Duke Riwley have played awesome together. You need that again here. The Ravens are tops in the NFL running the football versus light boxes, so they're gonna try that. But those guys ability to beat blocks and

make plays will go a long way towards winning. When it's Justice Hill, you probably get more outside stuff, screen game, more speed and with Gus Edwards wants to get north and south and be that hammer. What a fun matchup. We've been waiting a long time to play games like these, and quite frankly, I think this is a primer for a rematch in January, hopefully down here this time. But

what's at stake in this game? Probably the last time need this segment, and truthfully probably don't even need it here. But with the win, the lowest you can finish in the AFC is second place. That's the old first first round by range. Remember kids few years ago, you get a first round by for getting the second place in the conference. But even then, a win keeps you in position to get that buy if you can beat Buffalo or a Ravens lost Week eighteam with aint losim to

the Steelers. We agree upon that right. A loss makes Week eighteen the difference between the two seed and the six seed. Most likely Buffalo, who could lose to New England, and Cleveland could lose to both the Jets and the Bengals to give us the five. But yeah, that's basically what it comes down to. I think if you win this game, you come out on the other side as Super Bowl favorites. Doesn't matter. But it is a hat

and T shirt game. It's a game where you can guarantee that the next time you leave South Florida would be the championship round. Minimum. My keys to victory you probably know him by now. Win when the Ravens go off script on offense, the best running quarterback in the league, the best YAK average as a team, pretty simple there key Number two. Prevent the Ravens splash plays on defense. Simple again, fifty four sacks, twenty six takeaways. You cannot

let them do that to you. San Francisco is in the game until they're barrage began, and then number three. Win on early downs offensively, and you can prevent number two by being sharp here at number three. Run the ball successfully. Get those chunk plays that we had against Dallas that kind of started those drives very tough due of off ball linebackers influenced them, and that strong front

of the Ravens. Win on your early downs. My areas of concern their physicality inside, but also their ability to win off the edge on defense, their linebackers range going forward and backwards. Lamar Jackson, scramble and offscript ability more concerns than usual. Right Zay Flowers unbroken plays areas to exploit. If Hamilton's out, their slot and cover structure is not the same. Run them out of those heavy base fronts by getting the ball on the perimeter and then Lamar

in the pocket. If he has an off game it does happen, that's an area to exploit as well. And my prediction, I'm very stuck here because I think these are the second and third best teams in football. I'm still sticking with the Niners as my top team because what do we not do here? We don't trash our process because of one result, because we're smarter than that. Right. Do you guys remember the Eagles preview podcast. I said we'd win if Carnor Williams played, and he did not,

so I changed it to a loss bummer. But I'm going to go in the exact same direction here with the Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton. With Kyle Hamilton, I'm going twenty three to twenty Baltimore Without him, I'm going Dolphins twenty seven Baltimore twenty three. That's your podcast Tomorrow. The Great Daniel Oyafusi, the Baltimore native, will be on the

show talking about this game. On Friday, Charles Davis plenty to come your way here on the Draft Time Podcast in a fun week of shows getting ready for the biggest game the franchise has played in a very very long time. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave us a rating and leave us a review. You can follow me on social at Winfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins.

Check out the fish Take with my guy Seth and Juice. Check out the YouTube channel for Media Availabilities and Dolphins Today, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com Until next time. Finn's up, Caroline and Cameron that is coming home to an empty house tonight