Two on the Move, Glan Deep Speegless Peas.
Do Hells from the Baptist Health Studio. This inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. He's good, My Havens 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, no practice, So we're gonna go back over the game film and cover some things we've missed. I want to really hone in on some detail, including the way coach Weaver has drawn up some really fun stuff in two preseason games of action, as well as the offense and the motion the pre snap shifting. Plus I watched a
decent amount of football from this weekend. Some thoughts from around the league, and we'll hear from coach Kaleis Campbell, Jordan Poyer, Austin Jackson, and Durham Smyth from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This it is the Drive Time Podcast. We kick off the pod with some updates in terms of news and injuries, well
really just the injuries that are the news. But we heard that River Craycraft will miss some time into the regular season, not a season ending injury, but he did endure an upper body injury as you guys saw him leave the game on Saturday night. He will not be back anytime soon, at least in the coming weeks. It
sounds like he'll be out for a while. Braylen Sanders is week to week with a lower body injury per coach, and Chris Brooks dodged the long term injury in terms of, you know, ligament or something that was more serious, but obviously concussion protocols where he lands. Not that that's any less serious, but you can return from that quicker than you can a broken bone or a ligament tear or something like that. So I guess in that regards some good news there
for Chris Brooks. Cam Smith will miss some time as well. No timeline there. Coach praised the way he maximized his opportunity he got in last week, plus hopefully that com friends can kind of carry him through. Coach did say it was a different spot for the injury with the rap that we saw after the game being on the hamstring, but a different portion of the hamstring. It sounds like
for cam Smith. Jordan Poyer is out of his cast that he was once in he told us that he fractured the bottom part of his thumb on the fifth or sixth day of practice and said he is good to go. And Odell Beckham Junior's presence, or I guess
lack thereof, has been this kind of mysterious thing. And I think that Coach's answer here with regards to when they should expect to see him is telling about the timeline, or rather how they view his importance to the team as not being right away, but maybe down the stretch. I've said too much already. Let's go ahead and just let coach tell you what he sees it. As far as Odell Beckham's status.
One thing I've note that I've learned about Odell is he is putting his best foot forward. I've been he's had some guys on this team that he has been teammates with on previous teams, whether in college or in the pros, and the way he's committed, they've they've really reassured me on how this is the best version of a rehab and meeting meeting room version of Odell, like he's really going after it. But I promise you he didn't he didn't sign up for that, so I know
there will be progression. There will be progression. There's been progression every week, but you know, I just I just know what he signed up for. What what we signed up with him is for a development within within the offense during the course of the season to be at our best and have be at our best, and our best is required. So I'm I'm not rushing the process.
I'm not worried about it because I know the intent is right on both sides, and the intention is to not have something holding him back once he gets on the field.
All right, I want to go over some additional notes that did not cover in the Sunday Am or if you were still awake on Saturday night late night podcast recap show. So, for instance, I am not going to break down the Tua to crey Craft touchdown because we already did that in depth on the previous show. So if you don't hear something obvious and you didn't hear the recap show, I can't imagine how many fans skip in the game recap and coming to this one. But if you did do that, just know you can find
it on the previous podcast. So as I'll do on Tuesdays throughout the course of the season. I will watch the tape, I will send tweets, I will talk about it on the podcast, and you'll get more analysis here on the podcast than you will on Twitter. Just an FYI for everybody out there. I see lots of comments about what I will and won't say. Come to the podcast. You'll get the most in depth, comprehensive, honest opinions on this team on this podcast as you will anywhere else.
I'll give Kyle his foule out flowers. He's very good at this too, but you know og right here, let's do it. Speaking of the offense here, I always like to watch the broadcast and the tape, and that's what we have here. Yes, even for a preseason game. I will be the psychopath that does that. Like Kyle likes to do full on film grades, which I commend him for that, I'm not going to do that for the preseason.
And the reason that I watch both of these broadcast and tape copies is that maybe some of you fans are out of town and saw the game on the
Commander's broadcast crew and didn't get it here. The sweet musings of Kim Bokamper in the booth, and I wanted to share what Goldie Steve Goldstein said on the broadcast, mentioning that they asked to and Tyreek in their pre production meeting which player has kind of caught their eye the most is maybe a bit of a surprising up and comer, and they said, without hesitation, Malik Washington from both of those guys, and you might as well put it in here. I think that Malik has been the
best return man all camp in preseason. I love what he's on as a blocker in the running game, and that showed up in the game on Saturday as well well. And think that you know, as as we've seen for two years in a row, I think that'll get you reps, particularly in the red zone where they love to give Hill and Wattle their blow after they give us a thirty five yard catch and run that puts us at
the eighteen yard line. And man if I don't have those two on the field, and I still want a two receiver package down at you know, first and ten from the plus seventeen yard line in the high red zone, that will allow me to get two quality blockers on the edge and be where they're supposed to be and be sure handed. I think those two receivers are River Craycraft and Molik Washington. Now when does Craycraft become available?
We'll find out more about that. I think it certainly shakes up how this receiving group is going to be, how it's going to look going into week one, And I will do a roster prediction for you guys next week on the show. But that shook it up for me. I mean, it's obviously Reek, Wattle and OBJ if OBJ doesn't go into the year on PUP. I think Craig
Craft was comfortably the next guy. I think that Malik Washington was one of the comfortable on the rough guys, and I said for a long time now that I think that his emergence kind of makes Brax and Burrios relatively redundant on the roster. And the flashes we saw from Eric Azukama has really changed my perception of the receiver's room. We'll talk more about that today and later on.
I do think that we have two running backs that are better suited as I changed topics here totally for power and downhill runs to kind of go off the idea of running the ball in the red zone because we failed to get push on those short yardge runs right, and I think that we have two running backs that weren't dressed. They're better suited for that role, and we didn't block it well. I don't think we ran it well either, And that's not a knock on Raheem Moster's physicality.
I think he's one of the most physical backs in the entire league, but he's just more of a get on your track and get ahead of steam guy, whereas I think hefe Jeff Wilson and then definitely Jalen Wright, who I think has a big future here with this team, are both a little bit better at finding creases quickly and then finding that yard and where they can burrow in for that, you know, the one yard that you need on third and one or fourth and one, especially
in a poorly blocked play, which we got a few of those in the game on Saturday night. More on
that in a minute. I wanted to also mention the different motions that you see out there, and I actually had a chance to talk to Klays Campbell about this behind the scenes, about how tough this is and we're gonna run some audio from him that he talked about in a public setting, but he gave me a bit further to break down privately about how much this offense messes with your eyes, even these slight little shifts and emotions, like, for instance, the second snap of the game, John new
Smith goes in motion at the snap and he's behind the left tackle or where he's behind the left tackle and allows him to hide from the the Will linebacker and he gets him outflanked at the snap and it turns into a layup for Tua on that little speed out that he threw him because he kind of ducks him behind Kendall Lamb and the Will linebacker doesn't react to him there because he's not cleared the lion of scrimmage, and I think the earlier snap kind of made him think, like,
I've got time to get out there. No, you don't, because the snap is coming right now, and it creates this layup throw for Tua, which we know he doesn't miss those. So you're building in five and six yard plays, which whether it's first and ten to get you the drive started, or if it's second and ten to put you into third and manageable sort of valuable, valuable reps that you have to hit, and the Dolphins typically do and they can find ways to create those to put
themselves in advantageous situations. On the very next snap of the game, another very subtle motion that had a big impact where Julian Hill's in his balanced why alignment? What does that mean? Why? Tight ends are guys that are attached next to the tackle. When you're balanced, they're on either side of the formation. When they're unbalanced, they're on
the same side of the formation. Got it. So Julian Hill is off the left tackle as the why and he runs this short motion where it's like a chop step in that once again puts him in behind the tackle. And what does it do but create a better leverage for him off the force defender and Julian gets out there and completely erases him out of the play. It's so much to deal with as far as a defensive respective because it changes your rules in a short amount of time and you have to react on the fly.
It's why these not good defenders that we see, you know, these these bad defenses that have young defenders who have bad eyes and bad discipline and bad reaction skills. That's why they get forty hung on them because it is too much for those guys to deal with. Just a few plays after that, John u Smith gets the carrier. I guess a pop pass, so it's a reception, but John who goes in motion before the snap, goes off.
But they also bring Durham Smyth right behind him at the snap, so it looks like double split flow, which is actually kind of it's a counter tray look where you pull a couple of guys from the backside. But Durham's block doesn't do anything because he's behind the play.
He can't lead block for John new Smith when he's behind him, so it creates this illusion of we want to maybe throw the ball in the flat, but there's also other guys to throw too, so I have to, you know, be responsible for my coverage area because Tua still has the ball. At least that's what these defenders are thinking as Durham Smyth flows into this pass protection position, which doesn't do anything because you don't have to pass protect for Tuoa because he didn't have the ball anymore.
The ball's already outside that outside contained defender. It just gets more eyes caught inside and this illusion of a play action bootleg where he would need the blindside protector was valuable on that play because it caused hesitation with every single eyeball being stuck on the conflict of the mesh point between the quarterback and the running back and the ball's already out the backside gate. Like that's that's
tough to deal with. And you would see it sequenced later on, and we saw action deviation on the Julian catch as well, where they bring Durham across the formation to sell that exact same split flow on play action, and Julian this time sells that blindside protector route then releases into the route. Gosh, Julian looks like a baller. I've been tweeting about it. I'm gonna talk about it a lot. Here he is to me, it's a there's a clear tight end one and two in this team,
and it is john Us Smith and Julian Hill. And this kind of continued throughout the course of the night.
Not gonna go over each motion, but it has me so excited to see what we can get come the regular season, especially with this tight end room that has three guys that I think really understand these fine details, these fine you know what one step inside can do from a leverage standpoint and an angle standpoint, and you know two of them are basically running backs and tight end bodies, which I think is massive for how this offense creates space and can give you checkdowns to guys
that can actually make haste with it after the catch and not just get what's there. You know, this offense is all about playmakers that you know, we will get you to a certain point, but we want you to go make the play affter that and give us more yards. I think they finally have that the tight end position, where in the past they haven't had that. And the third guy, to me, Durham Smyth is probably the best in terms of all those details and the position flexibility.
It's the deepest, best group of tight ends McDaniel has had since they got here. I think it allows the offense to evolve. And yet another way, I think it tracks with the famous quote that I use all the time here on the podcast, going back to the Christmas game against the Cowboys last year, when Great Goalson said, coach, love your offense, but where's the tight end? It's coming
next year? Greg You're damn right it is. And we had the question that Kyle had asked coach back in training camp earlier when he was asked about the versatility and kind of the melting pot of skill sets in this tight end group, and Coach said, you can track your offensive versatility back to the tight end position. Like I think when you this is going to be a
theme today and every podcast really going forward. I think if you go back and look at how they attacked the offseason, they told you what they thought the issues were, and it wasn't on the interior offensive line. And we'll get to this about how they can negate that, but the tight ends and how much more flexibility and how their positions and their ability to hurt you with the football on their hands, their ability to be lead blockers and go across the formation and the split flow and
you know, be vertical threats and be hookup threats. All these things these tight ends can now do makes the stress of your offensive line and an offense that game plans their way around pass rushers. It makes it even more like itself. It exemplifies what this offense wants to be. Let's run two soundbites here, first from Durham Smith on how Julian Hill has gotten better.
I think at all facets. He's a guy that I think I said a couple of weeks ago, it really sticks out how much this means to him and how this is priority one, far and away for him. Then he came in with you know, talents, his strong, kid, fast, whatever, physical but he's gotten so much better at really everything along this last year, whether it's you know, catching the football, timing in terms of the run game, things that kind of come with experience, and he got a good amount
of that last year. And he's he's really improved in all facets, like I said, and I'm really excited to see, you know, what his ceiling is because I don't think we've seen it yet.
And then Kalais Campbell gave us the defenses perspective on all the motions and how tough it is to get ready to face this Dolphins offense.
Yeah, it's one of the toughest things you can do because you know, you usually want to look for pre step information, especially a guy like myself who has the experience to take advantage of information you know like this. You know, they don't really allow you to do that because they're doing so many things that you kind of kind of got to just, you know, just play your technique and you know, just reach your key and just
kind of go forward. You know, you really can't see and get advantages that way, so kind of limits you to going back and just playing like kind of just regular day one ball. And for someone like me, that hurts because it's, like, yo, that's the best part my game has been able to see things before happens.
Let's get more into the individual players here and talk about the quarterbacks to jump to kickstart things here, jump start whatever you want to say. So the footwork on the flat the two A had to Julian Hill and there was one drive, so you guys probably know what I'm talking about. Where he's able to kind of sense that closing rusher and put himself in position to both protect himself to make the throw and to do it quickly. It just looked different to me than what we've seen
from him rolling right in the past. And you know, maybe not to me because I've seen it every day in practice and I tweet about it, and you know, I get the occasional credibility tweet back to me, but I love what my track record does in terms of calling these things out in camp and then you guys get you to see it in the preseason. Another example of that, I mention it just about every day on the show that he's making those types of plays on
the rig. It's different. It's faster, it's quicker, it's more athletic. It's just everything is a beat faster for the fastest beating quarterback in the NFL. And like that's that in and of itself, is a massive evolution in this offense. And this is sort of a dead horse. But the ball handling, man, if you ever got to practice, which is now going to be a next training camp because it's over, just watch how much they drill ball handling
for the quarterbacks and individuals. And if you ever wonder why it's so important, I believe it was John Gruden, Eat your heart out, John Gruden, who has a whole quarterback school series on YouTube, or maybe it was even one of his shows that he did for ESPN where he talks about this, and you can see the way the entire defense follows the fakes that he carries out.
All five of the snaps were to a register to pass the defensive line was negated on all of them and never had a chance do in large part to those motions, to the keys being throwing your eyes off, to what Max Crosby said to coach McDaniel last year, saying, you're the toughest offense I had to prepare for my entire life. If pass rushers are telling you this like weird,
isn't it. It's almost like that's how the offense is designed and why you don't spend a significant portion of your cap space on positions on the inside that get negated on like seventy five percent of your pass reps. I'm just saying. I'm just saying, let's go ahead and hear from a guy that has seen this offense from the other side and now is here in training camp watching it from the same side, Jordan Poyer, what do you think about this offense?
I'd say like this, I'm glad I'm on this side because game planning against that offense is already hard seeing a few new wrinkles, few things that they've done in from OTA's in training camp obviously, with the players that they have. I'm glad I'm on the side and I got a game plan from no more so. It's a fun offense to watch. It's a really tough offense to
go against. But their speed and their timing, the way they work, they're making us better and we're trying to do the same and make them better.
Now, I must concede this because I'm not going to just sit here and tell you, guys, the offensive line are great and it's going to be fine. I do think it's going to be fine because that's how it's built. It's designed this way. It's not a gimmick or a faction of the offense. It's the pillar of the offense and how it's how they philosophically believe this thing runs. But I must concede that, Yeah, that makeup gives you
deficiencies in a certain area. And where I think that gives you a deficiency is in the short yardage game. I'm not sure there's a solve there. You know. Again, I think there's better running backs for those and Jalen Wright and Jeff Wilson, maybe even alec Ingold. I like it out of the pistol better than like it out of under center. And then also in your true drop back game, if it's third and long, which in twenty twenty two they were the best third long offense in
the NFL. So you know, eat your heart out once again. But I do think that that aspect of it is fixable by the passing options that we added and having reak and waddle at full go and spread the ball around those guys. I think that's where the big change can occur. Let's go ahead and bookmark this. Take a break right there, come back on the other side, finch
up the quarterbacks. I have some thoughts on the other quarterbacks, and we'll do the entire team here in the film, and some other thoughts around the NFL, with some more soundbites. All of that. Next Drift Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by it Aunt Nation. Picking it back up here segment two on this Monday edition of the
Draft Time Podcast. No practice to day or back on the grass tomorrow, and then in Tampa on Wednesday, and then the game on Friday, and then we're pretty much getting down to cut down day. We're gonna have some
new scheduling. Here's the routine gets broken late in the training camp on the podcast, but I'll keep you guys up to date on that as we get there, Let's go ahead and pick it back up here with some more of these thoughts about this tape and what we've learned from this team throughout training camp and in these games.
And I want to talk about Skylar Thompson here in just one second, but just to kind of put a bow on that previous point, like I'm hearing Kalays Campbell tell me about how tough it is to deal with the interior of the Dolphins offense because he can't get his keys and has to strip it down to being a day one college player where he has no knowledge of anything football, just like technique, key go, and that's all you can do because if you don't do that,
you're gonna get picked off in this offense. About Jordan Poyer and how tough it is to game plan for this offense, I don't hear anybody, and I'm not gonna say that's in a press conference, but there's not a lot of well, our guard play is not good enough. I'm just telling you it's designed that way. It's gonna be fine. You're gonna find out. That's that's my whole spiel.
Let's get off of it. I feel like I've been beating this dead horse for weeks now, but it is prevalent, and maybe arguing to you guys is the wrong way to do it because the fans on this podcast, I don't think of the ones largely coming after me on social when I have these tweets. But maybe I'm having my argument in the wrong place here. I'm just not gonna do it on social because you know what's the point.
Let's go ahead and talk about scholar Thompson. Ah Gee, Rick, first snap and they get wide open shot play with a max Pro and the quarterback has five plus seconds. Weird how that happens Right now, I'm just kidding, not gonna keep doing that. And look, I was encouraged and this is why I say that Tua I You know, I speak so highly of Tua and this offense, and that's because it's designed in a way that he maximizes and you see that drop off the other quarterbacks when
they get out there. Because I was encouraged this training camp by what Skuylaer did in a few practices. But I think I got to get off this train. Like I'm pulling the rip cord. I don't think it'll ever happen at the current rate of development. The first play deep shot that was just an embodiment of everything that's
wrong here. Malik Washington's all alone on a crosser on a two man route with max pro where he's the conflict defender is moving the wrong direction and he's going to clear him and get wide open for like twenty five and then some run after the catch, but also the deep hook in behind that or the deep like post I should say, was wide open too, and he just horribly threw it in the wrong part of the field. Like so the read, the accuracy, just these simple things
that aren't being executed in year three. And there's one player that told me all I needed to see. It was the first it was I think it was a second quarter going south into the south end zone. So it's it's a simple read where the rail is alec ingold.
I think it was Alec all alone up the sideline, and both defenders to that side to the boundary the short side of the field are inside the numbers, and you have the glance and the rail, which the rail is up the sideline a vertical route the sideline and the glance is like down the numbers. A little hookup route, like a little slant almost in the middle of the field, and you just threw the hole shot twice. Both defenders
are inside those numbers. But instead of throwing to the rail that's wide open with two guys kind of getting conflicted in the middle part of the field, you throw the glance that's both well covered and capped, and the rail was the first read off of that. The second hole shot to Durham didn't work because he stared that thing down and the safety took his eyes. He followed Scholar's eyes over to the play and then didn't take
advantage of the displacement that created on the backside. As Malik Washington again was wide open on the backside, dig between that and the pockets. He just bails on for no reason. I just gotta say, man, ah.
Don do what you want. Pull the plumb. I'll kill you little.
I think you should leave there. And then you know, you see Mike White and he locates, you know, the conflict defender and makes a decision off of that and plays, you know, ahead of the rate of the play. It's just faster. It's more of what you see from a successful NFL quarterback. And I'm not saying he's gonna be that even in a pinch this year. But to me, it is so clear which one is better than the other,
Like it's so obvious. And you know, I think coach will tell you here about how they're trying to cultivate, you know, the best version of the backup quarterbacks they can get. So here's Coach McDaniel on his comfort level to the backup quarterbacks after everything I just told you.
It's it's quite literally handling difficult situations and saying, hey, you have to go do this. Uh, I'm gonna call this play, probably against a non premier coverage and uh, let's see what you do. I'm gonna you're gonna play a quarter with uh, with a receiver playing running back?
How how do how do you respond? And so from from my advantage point, I I kind of I feel bad because all that information if I were whether I was a fan or I was sitting in your guys' seats, you know, it would I'm not sure if it totally reflects the entire process and all the information. So the the I'm looking for nuances resolve the conviction after a
bad play happens. How the offenses coming to the line of scrimmage, how you're leading them all sorts of different things on top of what what I've already learned about them, you know, So how that's manifested in preseason games, I've tried to do the opposite of what I generally do, which has put players in advantageous situations, because I think that's collectively as the staff, we kind of looked at it like we need to try something different to separate
these guys because their games are are are when they're comfortable, their games are are going the same direction we need. We need to figure this out, and we see tho as our responsibility. So, uh, I've put them in a tough a bunch of tough situations, and I will continue to do that this week and through the through the next preseason game, so we can have all the information possible, uh to who who best is suited to be the guy behind to.
All right, go ahead and get to the rest of these positions. Here the running back room demon chan Man, That's that's all I wrote down. I mean, we are getting almost nothing, and then he takes it around the edge and just beats everyone to the edge for eight yards. Then we screen it to him and he maneuvers his way through traffic for another big gain. And then that outside release as the one to the field, the furthest split out receiver and his ability to make that catch
and run and accelerate through it. I'm telling you, guys, this guy has receiver skills. And you add that to an offense. Even if the ball doesn't go there, it's gonna tilt the field because oh there's a four to two guy that knows how to get a release and get vertical up the sideline. If we don't cover that, you know, one of the best deep ball throwers in
the game's gonna hit it. He's gonna find him. And I thought last year, you know, chemistry just needs a little bit of seasoning and some tweaking, and I think they have that now based on what we've seen in practice and just Devaughn's overall comfort level in year two. You know, Tyreek had an amazing first year. This passing offense is awesome in the first year, but if you go to the ball location and the deep balls from year one to year two to Tyreek, they were different
and much better in year two. Receivers and tight ends you know, I went on and on about John Who and Julian earlier. Those guys are so good and they're going to change this offense, I think. But it was once again Hayden Rouchie that had a two person deleting block on the long Cris Brooks run for fifteen on yours.
That's just kind of what he does. And I just also want to reiterate in this position here that Aszukomma as a vertical threat, especially when he runs them from that slot alignment, and how that pairs with his ability to be a runner in the screen game, a blocker in the screen game, even a ball carrier on jet sweeps, and a guy that gets carries from the backfield on tosses like we saw last year, you know, and with the Craycraft news and you know, not that he was
this guy, but to me, it really highlighted some of the issues I had last year. There was a rep where Braxton and Malik and Britlan Sanders were trips to the side of the the field side and no one did anything to get open. And then you had Malik run a slot take off on a third and two where there's just no separation and you're trying to, you know, make a very low percentage throw to stay on the field. You know, I love Malak, but you just that's not
his game. And that's why I think you need Eric Azukama to become that dude at least while Odell Beckham Junior is trying to get back. I need one of those guys to be at their best for this offense to take that next step as far as having a secondary option beyond reecan Waddle at the receiving position. And even if I have John Who and Julian and Jalen Wright to expend a Chan's role, those are great and
those are gonna make this offense better. But if I can get that other element, I really don't care about the the offensive line issues and the short yard issues and the true dropbacks because those are just ever gonna happen, like they will sometimes. But when you score forty two points in a game, you're not gonna be worried about the two drives that got killed by you know, an inability to convert a third and two or a you know,
a third and twelve sack that happens. So that's the way I see it, And also just real quick on the receivers, Like is Willie sneed making business decisions out there that allows a missile to come free and hit Eric Azokama on that wineback run. Like you see your teammates training to the max and to make a play and that's what you do. It reminds me of the Dan Campbell on Michael Agnew and hard Knocks go plot
for him freaking Agnew on the offensive line. Before we get into that, Austin Jackson talked about his perspective on how the Dolphins have evolved this offseason to get better as an offense. What have you seen in terms of how you want to work on things to get better or the point of emphasis you wanted to get better at that offseason A one to two punch here from Austin Jackson.
I think the most encouraging thing is that we've been able to execute a lot of the things we wanted to get better at that we kind of stated in OTAs, and you know we address them in OTAs. Some of them carried over from last year, some mistakes wanted to get better at. I feel like coming into camp so far we've done a good job of excelling at the things we feel like we need to get better at as offense.
Like like what would be at the top of that list.
Do you think what a couple of things for offensive line? I would say some of those things is like our second level blocking, like blocking linebackers, being more consistent in our in our identifications because we have a lot of motions we're timing offense, we try to disrupt the defense. So with that, we need more knowledge of what's going on in the back end, you know, as offensive line, that's huge, and just some of our not some of our fits, but our fits on the defensive linemen after
the way. So there's like a type of strain and a level of blocking in our offense where we have to be on angles to be identical with the running back. So we just got better at, you know, being on those angles longer.
And the follow up was this question about this concept that alec Ingold told me last week about pushing the limits what this offense can do. Here is what Austin Jackson had to say about that.
You know, we made adjustments on some of our plays that became a little bit i would say predictable, just because we had X. We had a lot of Wow we're just left. We had a lot of success with some plays in the season, and you know c NFL so coaches are smart, they adjust, and I feel like we did a great job on our end adjusting to their adjustments. So, you know, causing the issue, causing more adjustments is what we want as offense and as players, you know, we have to take in you know, that
new instruction and execute it. So I think we've done a good job at that.
I thought Kendall Lamb had some really nice work in this game. Had a good down block on every heem first down run, had a beautiful block on a second one conversion. On the opening drive. He took the four eye technique who which is the inside shoulder of the left tackle and wanted to slant across his face, and he just took him down there and buried him, which created this lane for Raheem to convert on leam Meichenberg was on the ground a lot. Again. I just I
don't get it. It's constant losses. I talk about that line we have to play above, right, we have to have a certain amount of guys above this line. I think that he's so far removed from that line that it's not playable. That's how I see it. It just there's no catching and climbing, no second level attachment. He whiffs on the first level all the time. I just don't see it. And that's as far as I'll go
on that. I don't think Lester Cotton's striking has gotten any better where he can kind of miss, you know. Chris Coffin from the three Yards per Carry podcast, also another good Dolphins podcast, has this point. He makes about batting average on the offensive line and how some guys are slugging percentage players, which I love the baseball offerences, Chris, but in an offensive line play, you want to have a high batting average, and I don't think that Cotton
does that. I also don't think he slugs that high particularly high either. I thought Rob Jones outside of that one fourth and one seal had some rough blocks as well. So again I'm tracking all this and I'm acknowledging that there are some failed blocks. But in the grand scheme of things I talked about all those misses, what happened on that drive? They score a touchdown. So that's been my point since freaking twenty twenty two, when I was
arguing with Mina Kimes about this on Twitter. I'm pretty sure Jack Driscoll is the best offensive lineman we've seen through two games. He's playing very fast out of the blocks. He's playing square and low to his man. He reached and sealed a three technique and put him on the ground in that first eight chan run for eight yards, fast, physical, elite technique. That seems to me like that's how he's
playing in these tapes. I thought Andrew Meyer was very good once again until the very end of the game. He had some rough couple of drives at the end. I thought there was some communication issues across the line once Jack Harlow went down and they went to Hines, Jones and Meyer, and it was rough from that point forward. But I'm liking what I'm seeing here in two tapes here because I'm a big processor guy. You guys know that,
and just watch him on games and delays. He has a great feel of where he can help, where he can kind of drop step slash like fluid hip movement to get that combination of actions to put your self in the right position getting depth from the pass rush. So like what I saw from him. I thought Patrick Paul overset a couple of times and had the worst consequences on one of those, a sackophone on your quarterback who gets hitt in his blind side. We can't have that.
But he's still making some blocks in the running game and also getting his share of pass pro wins too. I want to make that perfectly clear that the run game stuff is rare, rare, rare positives where the pass protection shaky, but the run game stuff like you can see the thinking there, right. I thought Ryan Hayes had his best game as a dolphin caught a body on
the long Chris Brooks run as well. So some up, some downs, not great across the line individually, but the results are the results, and that's cause a good process. Let's go ahead and take our last break right there, come back into the defense on the other side and talk about this trend I not sing in the college level that will have an impact in the NFL level here coming up very shortly in this year, probably in
years to come as well. That's all next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Autnation Off the Top by He's the concept of how we see a little bit of scheme coming into play from Anthony Weaver. Maybe not necessarily all the you know, kitchen sync that you might see from him this year, but really just with regards to how he wants to coach this defense, how he wants to get his stops, how he wants to put guys in positions to trust what's gonna happen
with the other ten guys in the field. I love the opening drive, third down play that got him off the field, where Daniels kind of just threw away the slot fade and you know, basically the same thing that Skylar did on that third and two to leak Washington, Like, we're gonna throw a five percent completion ball, which if you can get that, it's a defense you take it every single day. It's like putting a hand in a three point shooter's face, who's beyond the three point line.
I just love how they overloaded the pressure to create a free run from Chop and a dB to that side, because if Chop has a free run, what's a one six ten split time gonna do. It's gonna get to the quarterback fast than anybody else on the freaking planet
can do. And it makes me very excited about the possibilities we have when everybody is back with JP and Beachub and all these guys that can you know, allow Chop to get those situations, can allow Weave to dial up player Holland or Cater or Jalen Ramsey, whoever wants to come on the blitz. They have so many options. Now, we busted a coverage on that long Jeff Driscoll run. That's why he was able to gallop through there like that. Cam Smith chased a deep over from like ten yards
behind it and what looked like cover three. So when he could have been guarding grass and been there for the run, he winds up chasing a player out of the play, which I don't understand that. I don't know what happened there, but it wasn't good on film, and he just kind of got stuck there up in the front seven. I was underwhelmed by Hand and Harris, but nothing too crazy. I still don't see it with Peelee.
He looks a little bit stronger to me, but the lack of mobility to me turns him into an immediate stalemate like immediately way too often. That sack was because the center tripped over his guard and just got tackled right into the quarterback, So I didn't really put a lot stock into that. I thought Nellell Gallimore had another one of his nights. He had played some double teams and rushed the best out of those rotation guys. We talked about hand Pee Lee Harris Putito's on out there,
but he's a rush with them, Benito. You know, I think Chop might be ready to be an impact rusher like right now. His first rap of the day was speed to power. He got Andrew Wiley, who started for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, on skates and forced Daniels to speed up his throwing process, and he missed the out route that should have been a layup one that he hits in the very next play,
by the way, when he has protected. I do think that he got caught in the washing a little bit in the running game, and that's where as a rookie, you'd expect him to have his losses. That was kind of his scouting report coming out. But he can grow and improve upon that. Now. Mohammed Kamara did some things that make me think that maybe he's the base down defender. Early while you wait for two and fifteen to get back or if two's not back right away, because he
showed really well in both areas. The rush win was awesome, but playing the run like they pulled a backside guard and he went and whacked him and he got knocked back. That's a big due that he put on his butt, and I just wonder if maybe he's in line for some more base down work opposite Emmanuel Ogba while you wait for for Chubb and Phillips to be full go. I think Quentin Bell has really flat lined in the games,
like after a really good camp. I just had an made a lot of plays in the games and we'll see if he can get one on Friday. But just worth noting, I thought it was a rough night for a couple of the depth backers and Zeke Vandenberg and Curtis Bolton. Speaking of linebackers Jordan Brooks and David Long, you know I mentioned the fast, physical elite technique signs throughout the building. That's kind of one of McDaniel's or is his staple. It's all I can think of when
we watch these two guys play. The first play, the Commanders go with a counter tray, which is two pollers usually your garden tackle, you pull them, you down block, you try to pin guys, and it's like a pin
and poll type of scheme. And Brooks fires the a gap and takes one of those pollers out of the equation and it creates this scrape and fit for David Long, where you you scrape off of the stack, you know, defensive tackle who's taking on a blocker and then you have this pulling guard on his butt because Jordan Brooks just went and put him there. And then it creates this run for David Long, who is so fast and
physical that he hits it and makes the play. And you watch the way that the Ravens used Rokwan Smith and Patrick Queen and Baltimore. It looks similar to me in terms of usage and how they want to use their skill sets together and pair them together fast, aggressive, big hitters, great key readers, two of the most instinctive backers in the game. I am very, very excited about
these two. But I will say there was a couple of snaps where David Long did get caught up in the wash a few times, but that's they'll get that ironed out. Without doubt. To me, I thought Channing Tyndall's traits are showing to translate in this defense as a sub rusher and special teams guy, which he's done those
things well. In the preseason, he had a stunt rep where he squeezed and what that means is there was a gap for him to run through, and he could have bailed in the assignment and ran through that gap, and he would have found out that the reason we have this particular thing is because we can squeeze it and create more opportunity more space. It's like I talked about with Tyreek Hill in the way he runs his routes. He's not gonna cheat on the route. He's gonna finish
the route to maximize the space. Like, yeah, there's space there and I can go get it now, but I can really finish the route and maximize it. And on the stunt he takes the center and squeezes him in close to the guard and it gets the defensive tackle to run this loop off of him. And when the center sees that loop, he ends up getting more with which creates a run for Chang Tyndall and he goes and hits the quarterback. It's really really nice growth to me.
I think that's he's seeing it better and as allowing him to play faster in his third year here. Defensive backs Cater Kohu speaking of seeing it well, he's playing really fast and especially in coverage. He had a great read on this cover three play where he kind of came over and challenged the route even though it got caught. He had a really nice play getting Jayden Daniels to the ground on a read option play where he played the outside contained but also like converged and kind of
shortened that angle. Just playing fast, That's what I look for in these games. I thought Marcus May and his ability to come from depth like twelve yards off on a two y two bubble screen and make the tackle at the line of scrimmage. That's the type of heat seeking missiles I love to see in my safeties. And then Storm Ducks feisty as hell. Man. I bet receivers hate playing against this dude. He challenges you in everything you do. All Right, A couple of thoughts from around
the league. And I'm gonna dunk on another guy that dunked on last week because I just see Bill's fans saying like, oh, I'm so glad we have a contested catch guy now over Stefan Diggs. Okay targets in the preseason two catches twenty yards oh for three on red zone targets, alligator armed a slant, which if you can't make that play, keyon Coleman, what play you're gonna make? I think the Bills are in for a root awakening
and how they constructed this receiving corps this year. Speaking of receivers, I think Malik Neighbors is going to be really, really good. I think I'll go down as receiver one in this class. I was a realm of doonesay guy, but I've kind of changed my flavor on that. I think that it'll be you know, all three of those guys, Harrison two are going to be great. But I think the big takeaway here is what you doing San Diego or Los Angeles whatever. Joe Walt's going to be fine,
no harm, no foul there. But like you passed on Elak Neighbors when you have a two hundred million dollars quarterback, Why would you do that? Why would you do that? I talked about this last week, but man, I think we are going to get a solid replenishment of young
quarterbacks in the league this year. I said in the podcast, I think the best quarterback on tape last college season was Michael Pennix from dub Go Koog's Wrong School, by the way, that we hate those keys, and nothing he did in the two practices down here or in the game did anything to change that opinion. In fact, this slidified it for me. I thought he was fast and on time, he hit deep shots in practice and in
the game. The Falcons are so impressed by him they shut him down for the preseason game, saying we've seen enough from Michael Pennix, which I can never remember a backup who got that kind of treatment. He's only a backup because they have a top ten twelve quarterback in Kirk Cousins. The top twelve thirteen, let's call it that. But I digress. I thought Jayden Daniels looked as comfortable as ever as a rookie can. That's crazy because I didn't think he was that at Arizona State, and he
obviously got there at LSU. But pairing that big arm and creativity and the read option possibilities, I think I've kind of flipped my take on him, And my only concern now is he puts himself in harm's way way too much. We saw it for a skinny quarterback, you know, much of the chagrin of Dan Quinn, the entire commander's sideline in the game. He almost got himself killed in the game. It's the preseason game. Caleb Williams me the highlight plays, but I thought the game was indicative of
who he was in college. Lots of wow highlight plays that got Twitter all crazy. But did you guys watch the first three drives where there was no offstructure stuff, and he was like one for six and they went three and out three consecutive times. The difference of course here with you know, with Caleb compared to Daniels or Knicks, what do you think it is? Because Bo Nicks all
beat against backups. You know, the two weeks he's played in the preseason looks very comfortable and he probably starts there. And he made sixty college starts. Pennis made forty five or give or take, and Caleb did have over thirty starts. But I think, you know, each extra start, I mean, that's like a full season for Penix. It's two plus
seasons for bon Nicks. It kind of has been thinking about the same thing I talk about with the offensive line play where you know, us football diehards have always wondered what would a professional affiliate system look like for football like it does a baseball Well, they aren't affiliated, but that's basically what college has become now because you can get paid and develop your game the miners quote unquote without beginning the clock on your rookie contract. Why
not do that? We see all these offensive linemen in their third or fourth year, sometimes on their second contract with the team, and that's where they find their footing. Well, if these quarterbacks can develop their game further in college, maybe that's the way to go. But the general point here is after the twenty twenty three class gave us, you know, one certified stud and C. J. Stroud, and we'll see what happens to Bryce Young. I don't think
it's gonna happen there, but we'll see. And then Will Levis also don't think it's gonna happen there, but I do think Anthony Richardson's gonna be an absolute stud. So if we get two from that class after basically a wash in twenty twenty two, outside of Rock Perdy, who by the way, was two for six was six yards when all the stars didn't play for him, which is a little bit different than five for five with fifty
one yards and a touchdown. I'm just saying, Kenny Pickett and that twenty twenty two class is a backup now who's not gonna see the field anytime soon. Malik Willis is not even a two anymore. The twenty twenty one class basically gave us Trevor Lawrence and that was it. As Jones, Wilson and Fields are all backup quarterbacks or we'll see how long Field is on the bench, but it's not getting better for him there. I don't think Trey Lance going the wrong way. This league thrives when
the quarterback plays adds best. And if we start to lose stalwarts that have been in the league for a long time like Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Stafford Kirk Cousins, as those guys retire, we'll have a nice crop here to play. Those guys here coming down the pike. I think, all right us tomorrow Wednesday in Tampa Bay, we'll have the preview pod Thursday and do a final camp notes portion in that one as well. But until all of that,
that's gonna be my time. You all, please be sure to subscribe, rate, review the podcast, go ahead and follow me on social at Wingfold NFL and the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank Podcast with my guy Sethan Juice. Check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities, drive time content, and so much more, and last but not least, to Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up Calin and Cameron. Daddy, He's coming home.