Drive Time: Quarterback and League Lesson Deep Dive

valuable commentary among his Tuesday press conference. All of that and more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast. Fans of old Locked on Dolphins prior to Kyle Krabs when I was the host of that show the twenty nineteen season, and one of my favorite comments to read was how that podcast got a lot of Dolphins fans through a very tough season. And not that we're there already, but

you can see remnants of it. I've spoken about it on the Film podcast, on the Sunday podcast about my fears of this thing potentially going off the rails quickly if things don't change and if you don't get the quarterback back. And that year, I had a lot of content that was based around other NFL happenings and a lot a lot of draft content and college football content as we geared up for that run and that build

with all those picks and all that money. Of course, you don't have the picks and the money this time around, but you might. You might, depending on how everything goes. We have fourteen games left, you might be dipping back into that quarterback pool once again. So I want to start today's podcast with some commentary, and even before that, some commentary to set up the commentary. So the first thing here this is show housekeeping. That dolphin sound drop

in and out of breaks was mostly a joke. I thought it was funny, and sometimes I use this podcast as my own playground for funny one thing or one that I probably let it run a little bit too long. To be honest with you guys, I kind of space it on that a little bit.

housekeeping done off the top here. Second, I've been thinking a lot about this, and I want to make perfectly clear that I don't know what the future holds with one with OOS, But I also don't think it's as simple as you are eligible to come off the ir you are the starting quarterback against the Arizona Cardinals when you get back.

You have to know that. Hell, this podcast has finally gotten back to more truth than my own thoughts opposed to you know, I guess, more bureaucratic type of podcasting these last couple of years, And I'm just happy as hell about that. I think the audience here can come along with me on that thought right, understands that thought right. But the way I see it, man, if ain't to at some point, then brother, what is even the point? And I hate saying this because it's so much bigger

than one player every team in the league is. It's so much bigger than the future. You have a ton of people that put in more time than even humanly comprehendible to put their bodies on the line each week, and they deserve a fighting chance. Like when I think about the future and changes in the draft, all of that stuff, even thinking about now, it makes me like

sad that it's September I'm having this conversation. But when I think about that, I harken back to a Zach Steeler who works his butt off and does everything the right way and refuses to come off the field and dominates the opposition all day long. And for what for the offense to score three points and for the fans to be interested in the draft next season? Like, it's tough. It's a tough dichotomy. And I absolutely condemned the reaction after a game or two to call for replacements, whether

it's on the field or in the coaching positions. I think it's just knee jerk reaction that has been amplified by the onset of social media and our addiction to takes and firing off our emotions every chance we get. And I say, all of that is someone who's starting to have the exact same questions about the same issues persisting and what that might mean and if it continues, then what is next. So please don't take that as a holier than thou comment. I promise it's not that.

But damn it, man, there are two things I've learned recently, and I think you have to approach this sport and really this league, because it's you know, there's so much parody and it's so tight every single week. You have to approach it kind of like professional poker players do. And for those that never watched poker, you know, during the boom back in the early two thousands, like Doyle Brunson, the legend og of the game, used to always say, you spend your whole life trying to master this game.

But it's a useless pursuit because it is impossible to master it. And I think about covering the NFL in that way a lot like, I feel like I really really know what I'm talking about with quarterbacks. I think the track record speaks for itself. There I have plenty of blind spots. I think I've probably missed on cornerbacks more than any other spot. I thought Noah Igbinoghny was going to be a really good player, way wrong, way wrong on that. But there's definitely positions that are worse

than others. But one thing I picked up over all that time was the importance of the operation and coaches.

Like when people can't fathom why, for instance, all the firepower this team like the Bears has, why is it such a slog offensively, It's like, yeah, dude, are you from earlier with Shane Waldron's history, are you aware of how he basically kind of removed the combination of DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jackson Smith and Jigbo and that offense to what it should be and how criminal that kind of is sprinkling a quarterback whose first instinct is to

create an out athlete better athletes than he is. Wasn't that way in college, right, and it worked, But now you get the sloppy offense like the Bears have run out and any semblance of competence in those two positions. They're three and zero right now, but they haven't got that so staking quality coaching and play designers. That was a lesson I took a while back, and damn it, it's why I've been so bullish on these Dolphins the

last three years. And I'll tell you why. I don't think the Dolphins are gonna be a good team I think right now. And it's not a good situation.

for Dolphins fans. Go to the playoffs your first year, by year three, it's like, what the hell do we have here? And I'm not saying that's where we are right now, but it's trending that way, right, despite the fact that year two was the best year two of really any coach since Wants Dead, I suppose. But the best example of that of how sometimes it's changed within is the Buffalo Bills last year. Remember how dead in the water that team was, had the three game lead

in the division. There was a thirty two page column with twenty three sources bagging on Sean McDermott and the entire operation around there. All they did after that was go five and zero, beating US Kansas City and Dallas, all teams that won eleven plus games last year. And you might say, well, Travis, you had they fired their offensive cooridator.

freaking Brady. You see did you guys see this? I'll a call out names. It was Aaron Shatz and Kevin Cole talking about, like it's too bad that Brady's two ingrained in football nature to not understand the establishing the runs, not even a real thing, like pushing their sunglasses up the bridge of their nose, like well, actually, like get the hell out of here, dude. God, I hate I hate that we now have discourse where you can tell

Tom Brady what matters in a football game. The nerve of that, right, I think you see it here with the Fins. Granted, the quarterback play in Seattle was a non starter. You had zero chance to win that game. In those circumstances. It's like throwing me out there on the pitcher's mound for the Seattle Marris. If I pitch a game, we're not gonna win that game. I get, they're like sixty, it's gonna get hit over to lumenfield,

over that left field wall and safeg field. But my god, man, a good team, A good team, a team element is more important than a collection of good individuals. And that probably sounds like duh, but I don't think we actually adhere to that. And look no further than the Buffalo Bills last year they lose or this year, I should say they lose to Fon Diggs and what happens the offense looks like the best version it's ever been of itself. I just think there's a heartbeat with a team that

we can never measure on paper. And it's the core reason why every year, myself, other pundits fans do these predictions and just say, well, I guess I don't know nothing about the league. It's impossible to predict. Yeah, it is, but I thirst to know why that's the case. And in a sport where most games come down to three or four critical plays or officiating calls or decisions that

you make, I think that team element. I think that's what galvanizes better play in those moments that ultimately decides winners and champions. The next thing is this, and this all ties together to me. Spotting quality quarterback play is easy. I just think it is. Now that probably reads super super super conceded in a league where half the first round picks or busts. I won't dispute that, but it starts with this. How does this person understand structure, design, movement,

game theory, their internal clock. Do they have a relationship with their brain and their arm that understands how to properly adjust the arm to make the required throw for any given pass? And then their field vision and anticipation trumps all of that. And the play I'm gonna use for an example is the same quarterback from the team we just talked about, Josh Allen. He was this marvelous, marvelous ball of clay, the singular most impressive spece him

in the position has ever seen. Right, Cam Newton says, hello, but man, Josh is one of one to me. And if you're looking for a silver lining, here quick tangent Dolphins fan Cam Newton's play fell off of a cliff after the twenty eighteen season. That was his eighth year in the pros. He played three more, but he was

not a good player anymore. Josh Allen's in his seventh year, and while I think he'll get more years than that, I do think it's fair to wonder what his game might look like in year ten with a very similar

play style to Cam Newton. I just don't think that lasts for twenty years, and brother, man, it sucks that we did that with Brady for what a solid seven or eight years, Like from twenty thirteen on, we're like, this might be the year the production tails off, and then he played till he's forty six or whatever it was forty four. Now here we are again with a player who, while not as accomplished, I mean, seems even tougher to defend than Brady was. Right, and he certainly

is that way against us. We actually beat Brady a lot, never beat Josh Allen. Okay, tangent over reason I bring up Josh and the physical traits. There are two things with him that tell me, yeah, he is in fact him. First, he developed the ability to be a plus player in that first category the vision word salad I gave you earlier. That's a baseline, non negotiable skill set that you must have to play this position at this level, no question

about that. That's why JaMarcus Russell, Jake Locker, Zach Wilson, Josh Rosen give me any bust quarterback with physical skills, and Rosen kind of feels like a black sheep of that group. But people loved his arm coming out of college. But give me any bust quarterback with physical skills, and I can show you on the tape the inability to see the football field. That's why when people were saying Schyler Thompson's the best quarterback on the roster, I was like, Bro,

you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Watch Josh on second and ten plays, he sorts through the defense that knows passes coming. They're not going to run the ball on second and ten. When you have Josh Allen shouldn't run the ball on second and ten ever, But I digress. They'll play passive and prevent the big plays.

And he's plenty happy to one hitch timing catch rock throw, shoot this hookup route to the second level of the defense, six yards over the football, easy catch, and if we get another two yards from forward, lean and cool, it's gonna be third and two. If not third and four, also fine. He takes those plays and puts himself in position to make plays elsewhere out of structure when things break down. But without those plays, without those core setup plays,

the playmaking cannot exist. See Caleb Williams right now. It's the same exact thing for Josh, specifically becoming a beast against these soft spots in the short passing game against zone coverages was such a diabolical element to add to his game because you cannot play man coverage against that guy and contain him in the pocket for the entire game. He will burn you with his legs and physicality if

you do that. So that's where quarterback discourse to me should start with the process, and then we can talk about the playmaking. And with Jaden Daniels buddy on Monday night, he sure feels come fable back there.

adversity during a very developmental stage of a young man's life. Right, These young men don't even have fully developed brains. Their frontal cortex is not fully developed until age twenty five, right? Is that kind of how that works? So in those formative years, if it's all sunshine and rainbows and five stars and competition, that you are flat out better than across the board. Is it cake walk games until your rivalry game in the college football playoff and you basically

only have two tough challenges a season. Or are you trying to will these glorified high school pros to Mountain West victories? Are you told that you're not good enough by a major program like Borough Ohio State or Daniels at Arizona State, both eventually going to LSU where they

want heismans and all this ties together. I think about one element of quarterback scouting that I'm putting more stock into this year, And though it might be a hey, don't fix what ain't broken, baby situation, I look at this as adding skills to my rollodecks, much like Josh learning how to decipher his own coverage rules and how to exploit it. I want to go ahead and put

a pin in it. Rate there we're up against a break, comeback on the other side, and continue this monologue next in the draft time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by AutoNation. So I mentioned how this all ties together, how I want to add this quarterback scouting element to my rolodecks of scouting quarterbacks. I think you have to be able to do the background on a

player to find out what he's made of. I need to see how he interacts with his teammates on the sideline, What is his demeanor in the fourth quarter down by a touchdown with the football in his hands, what's his demeanor like at the podium? How does he communicate the way he sees, the way he leads, the way he's coached,

the way he communicates with his teammates. I previously had more of an analytics approach to it, where I just focused on the tape and what I learned from the tape from a trades perspective, and that has value, but I think it doesn't uncover some of the maybe timidness or just the way a guy's heart beats.

It's why he's a two hundred million dollars quarterback. I think that's proof of concept that that is the most important trait because we know too was not a creator, but he's a high level quarterback capable of hitting intricate concepts, maximizing players' ability to make plays after the catch because of his location, but also the timing out of breaks and maximizing separation to create the most amount of space

for those playmakers to operate within. He's a high level processor, a decision maker with a wicked release that is kind of transcend into the game. All winning traits that are

kind of imperative to play the position. I think the questions are heart rate in those big moments, which has proven out over the first few years of his career, and I would say this is more of a younger brother element, but true drop back downs to operate consistently and create when out of structure when things aren't there,

which again I think is overplayed. But I digress, and that first part ties back to the football background, and I bring it up because it informs me for what else I think needs to be accounted for when doing all of this. That aside the reason I wanted to get to this and the reason I think we are all we all feel like football's we know it is kind of over, at least for Dolphins fans perspective. I keep making the comparison it's so freaking brutal to watch

bad football. I mean, let's call it what it is. And here's another lesson that I learned. I remember one time I was in Seattle with my girlfriend at the time now wife, and we took an Uber to a Mariors game and the Uber driver was dogging my Dolphins. I think I was wearing a hat or something. The year after they made the playoffs in twenty sixteen, and I'm like, they're a good team. They're in the playoffs,

but I don't think that's a qualifier. Now I've changed my mind on that, and as I trace it back, like damn man, I defended that twenty thirteen team that blew it late in the year, saying that was a good team. The twenty eighteen team, like I was a good team too. Hell, even the twenty eighteen that won the Division. I defended those squads as good football teams, but they weren't that.

But last year's Dolphins went healthy. Man, that was a good football team. Twenty twenty two when they were rolling, that was a good football team. And please spare me with the losses. All good teams lose games to good teams on the road. Granted they never got over the hump ultimately, but those were good teams. And if you couldn't see that. That's on you, dog. But you know what, getting two years of good football teams did kind of ruined the damn game, didn't it in the lens of

this team? Ain't that good? Like I go back to the Dolphins, and this is where this all leads to look at the playoff years you've enjoyed as Dolphins fan, the last twenty years. Two thousand and eight, what they have Chad Pennington was a good quarterback that year, right, wasn't great, was a good quarterback twenty sixteen. This is an outlier because Tannehill had plenty of years here, but you and I know that that was the most efficient

football of Ryan tannehills Dolphins career. And he went on to prove in Tennessee that you can win with that guy because he has those straits that are good enough. He's not great quarterback, they were good enough from the Pittsburgh went on that year, he was mostly sharp right, supporting Jagie in that running game. Twenty twenty two was Tua and twenty twenty three was Tua. Those are the four playoff years going back to the freaking Bush administration

or even Clinton. I don't even know and now about every other year not good quarterbacks. Now, again, those twenty eight twenty sixteen teams were steep playoff dogs. They were not good teams. They were above average teams who found ways to close out games against less ends like beating A four and eight Seahawks teams.

play to win consistently in this league. It's why like when Titans fans like, well, we made a good defense this year, built a good defense. Yeah, who's your quarterback, bruh? You know, like it matters, and the more elite your quarterback is, the better your odds of making it up the mountaintop. And that brings us to the final conclusion here. I keep thinking about that hit that Tua took or the hit that he gave out to tomorrow Hamlin that

that knocked him unconscious in the field. I keep thinking about how easy it was for that to happen on a pretty routine football play. I don't think it's possible to completely remove, you know, that possibility in a violent, dangerous game that is football. And I think about the optics, you know, whateveryone says after these injuries happen, the quick trip right to the ir what the outpouring of commentary is about him when this happens, When it happens again

down the road eventually. So if we are indeed back in this position, let's say he gets bad advice and doesn't come back this year and you can't like continue on that, and if he gets hurt again and you have these guarantees, then what do you do. So let's say that you get to that position after twenty years of searching and finding the and losing it just like that,

freaking torturous again. This is why you can come for the scouting reports right here, because if that happens, I am going to be watching every single snap of all these top college quarterbacks. And before I mentioned a few of the guys, the final conclusion is that without that guy. You are wasting your time in this league now if you have to have that elite quarterback and you want him to be as close to Mahomes and Allen as possible.

I think that's cam Ward. You guys do that though I'm in the very early stages of the rest of this class. But cam Ward man the leaps and bounds. That what I talked about with Jaden Daniels and Joe Burrow and getting that development in college. You have seen that with him. He's the guy that lines up in the line of scrimmage and says, we're gonna run the ball right here down your throats. He's the guy that waives the crowd after his fifth touchdown pass the night

did after his first touchdown pass the night too. I think he has that dog. He has the creativity, he has ability to win with instructure. He can stress every level of defense because of his arm talent and that relationship between brain and arm, flexibility and elasticity that can whip the.

I'm intrigued by Shadur Sanders's game. I'm totally shell shocked by the character and probably want nothing to do with it. Carson Beck, I haven't watched enough of him either, but I just I don't know if I see it off the jump right away, but I haven't studied him yet.

That was a long winded segment I didn't mean to do that that long, But anyway, let's go ahead and take our last break, come back on the other side and hear from coach to discuss some of the things he said at an interesting Tuesday press conference. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you

by automation. Let's pick it back up here with some of the Tuesday Commander commandary commentary from head coach Mike McDaniel, who was asked about Tim Boyle and him moving the offense and Tyler Huntley and the decision to go with Boyle over Huntley in that second quarterback role last week.

let it play out. At the end of the day, we just thought that you know, the quarterback effects a lot of players every down and down out, and that that Tim was the better option for that moment on that day.

some things he wishes he had back. There's flat out just an inability to see the field at all, Like he threw a full back cross checkdown into leverage bypassing the digged tye that was wide open into space, and also the flat for a two by one combination with a blocker in front that he could have had for big yards. Also just horrendous quarterback play. Let's go ahead and play this last part though, that I think is is very informative and very good.

he is right about that. And I can see the frustration in his voice when he answers that question, which I think largely is like, you know, that's what he'd

here for, is to call this offense. But I thought that the annoyed part matched his tone on the answer that he had through the entire press conference, which to me was a different Mike McDaniel we have gotten in the past, and I'm hoping, I'm hoping what that means is this team is kind of like enough of all the fluff and pomp and circumstance and bs, let's go put our noses down and get to work and make

this right. And you can say that should have been the case earlier, and I would agree, but better late than ever. Right, This next one here, I thought was very instructive about the philosophy of outside zone and how the inside runs have worked more this year.

And as a result, we've we've tried to uh to to get some some stuff going with UH, some alternative schemes that that we've always ran, but I think that it we've gotten those called a little bit more and you know, we're we're still uh, you know, working and developing those types of results. So you know, the the four yard plays and eight yard play, the yard plays, sixteen yard play, et cetera, et cetera. So that's, uh, you're always kind of adjusting for the defenses as well

as the players that you have. We've had some good combination blocks on the inside zone gap stuff, so well, we'll see how that plays out moving forward.

is there. And you know, I like the mention of different schemes too, like gap stuff and having more pullers and doing things with more man blocking combinations. So we'll see how that works going forward. And then let's go ahead and end it right here with a part that has me hanging on to some excitement because, as you guys can probably figure, I am not interested in watching

certain quarterbacks play. But there is one quarterback on the roster that I think can give you a semblance of an offense that can win football games.

Can you add some stuff? If you do? How is there any The only way that you can is there has to be some overlap into what you already do. You're just because you know, you don't go in and completely change from ground zero everything you do. It has to be within your verbiage and and ways that they've learned how to identify people and and who you're reading and all that. You know, I think there's a balance.

You know, you had you had you had some stuff to feature a feature a player, if it's worth it, you know, that's something that can fit within the framework of the other stuff that players do. How to block it and then how can you bridge some of the some of the stuff that people have done in the past to uh, what what you're going to do this week?

And you know it's a fine balance. That's not exact science, but you know it's the same thing as there was plans built within or there was plays built within the plan for for Boyle when he came in two know what his what his history had been too. You know, have evaluated on tape to no concepts that overlap with the stuff that we do, and you know that you try to call those when those players are in so that guys can perform, you know, at their optimal.

been here. And you know, I think in the first training camp install, I had a couple zone reads in and I think I think I'm pretty sure that in preseason twenty twenty two game two, maybe Skyler actually Ransom And.

please be sure to subscribe, rate, review the show. Go ahead and give me a follow on social at wingfld NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins.