Drive Time: Week 14 Variety Show with Louis Riddick

flip games in your favor against you. But I think also what are the things that really separates teams down the stretch in the month of late November and December and January is just how physical you can still play the game and how you can own the line of scrimmage in cold weather, adverse weather conditions, and just simply from a mental standpoint, you see where like a team like San Francisco, once they get inside your head from a competitive standpoint in terms of like you don't know

whether or not you can handle the kind of physical whooping they're putting on you, it really lets makes everything else easier. And I think Miami is starting to do that. I think Miami, you're starting to see the tempo, the pace, the physicalness with which they play is starting to show up,

and it shot up last week. I thought on the offense, a line in particular, and I think, if they can have their best five healthy, if they can have Tront healthy, if they can have Liam healthy, and Connor's healthy, and Robert Hunts, you know he's back in Austin stays, that group of five right there can put a hurting on you now with the run game. And I thought Austin Jackson stood out in particular to me because look, I remember I really liken Austin when he was at USC

and I knew that he was very young. Then when he got drafted, you I think believe he's still only twenty years old, when he came out nineteen or twenty years old, and then hearing about all the crap that he went through and that Touur went through in terms of like maybe having doubt put into his head about whether or not he could really be the kind of pro that he's ultimately turned out to be, just makes me look at him now and look at his performance

last week, and then see the contractor sensience they gave him with like almost this like weird sense of pride that these guys are starting around in the form individually and collectively right now in a way that the NFL

don't want to see this now. And I'm saying opponents don't want to see this because we already know that they can go ahead and flip the game on its head in a moment's notice, whether passed the jailen or but if they can start owning the line of scrimmage like this, especially in the run game, with the way that Raheem runs and the way that Jeff runs, and even Devaughon, I mean, look he we saw it at A and M, and we've seen it already this year for smaller guys, you know, in stature, this dude has

this ridiculous contact, bounce Julian Hill with the like with the way he's blocking at the point of attack, as a why, as a move why, or on the line, on the line of scrimmage. Miami. Miami is going to be a problem, man, if they can really keep this kind of developmental art going, which I don't see any reason why they don't. And I think Mike Michael handle

it right. And I know I'm going on and on and on about this, but I've really thought about this and really looked at this, you know, getting ready for this game. If he can get these guys peeking at the right time, there is no reason for me to believe any differently than what I believe at the beginning of the season, which was they will win the East and that they will be a legit contender to represent the AFCs. I don't see any reason why that doesn't happen.

Jets game as well. They had drives in the fourth quarters of both those games where they almost exclusively ran the football and went down the field for touchdowns and asserted their will on the opposition.

what the offensive line combination looks like. You mentioned the starting five, which is great to have those guys, but they've been able to plug and play guys consistently down here.

the most important individual coach on a coaching staff. And obviously, Butch Barry has done something and been able to connect with these guys in a way that transcends just teaching them plays, teaching them footwork, teaching them hand placement, half placement finished it. It goes beyond that. It becomes personal, It becomes about personal relationships. And clearly, if you take it a step further, clearly that's something that Mike McDaniel

really really really does believe in and emphasizes. In this world of instant gratification fantasy football, you either suck or you're at all pro mentality that we have. We forget all this stuff in between, We forget about what incremental improvement really looks like in the value over relationships and connection and synergy and all this other and all the other stuff, and it's it's really kind of annoying, quite honestly,

because I think it's kind of dumbed down. The evaluation that's going on in terms of football at all levels. There's a lot of people who think they know what they're talking about as far as this game is concerned, and they don't know. Quite honestly, it's part of my language. They don't know about what they're talking about. And this team is the perfect example of it. People are ready to throw Austin Jackson out, you know, on his rear end,

and say, look, you can't play hell. There were obviously there were coaches down there in Miami who are ready to do that and people down here in Miami who are ready to do that. The TUA and the way these guys were jerked around, you know, and when you just oppose that to what is happening with them now, when you're asking why is this happening? I think it's the human element. It's the connection that's happening down there, on top of the fact that these guys are just

very talented. Look, Robert Hunt was kicking people's behind in college show that missed nothing new, Okay, Connor Williams, you're right for for a guy who's as big as he is, you're talking about the dude who's six 's five, a guy who has tack who played tackle, now he's playing center. I mean, not too many guys can go from playing out on the left side, on the on the edge in college and now becoming a guy who you could

consider an all pro caliber center at this point. And I've seen the same thing as you see and look and when you see a guy like Kean Smith come in for Tehran at left tackle and you're sitting there going, well, who the hell's that guy? And that guy's playing with the same kind of pace in Temple and trying to finish like just like you see with Austin And yeah,

you have seen it with Robert Hunt. You have seen leam Meikenberger all of a sudden settled in at guard and you're going, Okay, this guy was a tackle, he's played center, he can play guard, he played left side, right. Yeah, that's the reason why that happens is one because these guys are talented, but two, they believe in what they're

being told. And there's that there's that extra like a coach told me that once this fall already, you know, like football is about finding the inches, especially when you're talking about a league that has parody. That is that emphasizes parody. It's about finding those inches. Well, one of the ways that you find those inches is the human element, is the connection, is the relationships, and Mike really does

believe that. See, some people don't really believe that. Some people just believe, well, you're a pro, you get paid money, so you should automatically just be at your very best every single week. I don't want to hear about your life. I don't want to hear about how you feel. I don't want to hear about whether you like your coach or not. You can pay millions of dollars, I'd put my arm off to do that. It's like, first of all, you're not talented enough to do that. Number two, don't

even talk to me about that. See. That's the beauty of this football team that I know that's going to be a large part of besides documenting the game, breaking down the x's and o's, that I know I'm going to emphasize on Monday Night is that there's a little something special going on here. And that's why I sensed it last year in the NFC. I sense it with a team like Seattle, although Seattle's in the division. You know, with a behemoth in San Francisco. But see San Francisco

has that. See that's why they not only are they good, they try to like teach you a lesson in physicality every single time they play. And Mike's bringing that a little bit of that over to Miami and man, oh man, it's kind of exciting.

They wanted to defend the field inside out, and they wanted to defend it top down and make you prove that you were willing to go the hard way and make you make you prove that one you could capture the line of scrimmage and then go the hard way. So if you saw Drake Greenlaw and these guys were we never line it up like like if you typically line up at about plus six from the ball. These guys were lining up at like plus seven plus eight, and they were really packing the field and saying, heay,

go ahead and run it. Prove to us that you will, because we'll just try and come downhill and smack it in. Any way, Well, when you run the football and you go okay, so you're daring me to do that, then if you're if you're telling me like you think you're good enough to like, if we can get Raheem or Devon on to the second level. At about four or five yards you think you can actually tackle these guys

in the open field. So now that they're able to do that, what happens now is, well, now these linebackers have to come back down. They have to start coming back down a little bit. Now, play action pass works, now, urpos work because these guys are frozen because they're going, hey, look, I don't want to try and tackle these guys at plus five plus six from the line of scrimmage when they got ahead of steam going on. So now what winds up happening is the second level just gets stretched

and it gets opened up. And now all of a sudden, Now then when you when you match that with well, let's integrate some motion onto this. Let's integrate some of you know tours, you know, some of their fancy little ball handling that they do. Let's give them some false keys as far as pullers are concerned. Maybe how TUA

reverses out of the pot all that. Then what happens is everything just starts building off of that, simply because of the fact that now you know that you cannot really take a I dare you to run the football type of approach. And when they start running it like they are. Now the whole field becomes available for them

to attack. And that's what's scary. That's what I would be scared of as a defender with them, that if he's going to commit to doing it, and he's okay with doing it, because you know, look, some offensive coordinators want to show you just how just how good they are with drawing up fancy pass plays. And look, I understand i'd want to get the ball to Tyreek as much as possible. I'd want to throw it to jail

On as much as possible too. But man, with the way these guys are coming off the rock, now, that's that's set up for coach McDaniel. Man, that just makes I believe the possibility possibility is infinite.

the ball out quickly. I'm curious to dive into the why behind why he's able to do that, Like what is required for Tua from a preparation and skills standpoint to be able to play as fast and odd schedule and all these great anticipation rips.

ultimately wind up manipulating and affecting the defense. And then obviously there's his own instinctive reaction ability to react to you know, the unscouted looks or rather the unscouted reactions that he gets when they're happening happening in a moment's notice.

So there's trust in the play and how it's drawn up and how it's put in, just trusting himself and his ability to then go ahead and make adjustments based off of again, like I said, the unscouted look or the unanticipated look, and then the fact that he's able to be on the same look. You heard Tyreek and him talking about the fact, you know the long pass that he had last week that to Or threw it where it was supposed to be thrown in Tyreek. Thought

that Tom, you're thrown at the wrong spot. But then you looked at the tape and then he realized, hey, you know what, you actually put it in the place that you were supposed to. There's that that connection, right,

So there's that trust also. And then like the last thing as to why he's able to play this quickly throw the football with this kind of anticipation, like you know, like I know, I've seen, like I have numerous examples where I was watching, like how they throw these what I call the bang age, the short posts, whatever you want to call them, and how too it will throw them when the receiver is still like about to hit the break point and come inside and look for it,

and the ball is long gone and the window it doesn't even look like the window is there yet. You know who else can do that? You know who else is doing that? Rock Purty's doing that on the same routes to Brandon, not you, the same things. It's a function of the system because it you know, because they rep it and rep it and rep it and they get it against the looks that they want. And it's trust as far as the quarterback trusting the system. And

then it's the individual talent. You know that these quarterbacks possess. Man, I mean, because not everybody could do that, not everybody would be able to put it right there. And I think for Tua, Tua's in his zone right now. Tua believes in himself. Right now, Tua believes that he can

put the ball wherever he needs to put it. And then again going back to the run game, with the way that the run game is putting people in conflict, anything that involves any kind of play action look or any kind of ball handling where there's the possibility that he can potentially hand the ball off is causing people to freeze for just a second to where now a window goes from here to here, and it just And I can tell you as a defender, there's nothing worse

to be in that position to know that every play, especially as a second level defender, as a linebacker or a down safety, that you're in conflict because you're scared to death because you don't want to be at a position against a run. But at the same time, you know that if I'm at a position against the pass and they hit one of these quick slants of under these banks so as they call him the Tyreek, he

gets splitch and be out the gate. Next thing you know, he's hitting his head on the goal post and they're playing the fight song and it's just not a good it's not a good thing. So I think all those things are why you're seeing to a play. It's such a highly, highly uh efficient level.

Lewis Ridck of ESPN, speaking of defense. Lewis, let's go ahead and flip the script there and talk about this Dolphins defense. It's in a really good zone right now, just like you mentioned there with two a tongue of biloa and nobody gave us more runway on the breakout

season for Jalen Phillips than you did this offseason. And before we get to see you guys on Monday night, I just wanted to ask you, you know what you saw on his gay because I know Lewis you only take your emphatic takes to television when you're absolutely convicted in them. What was the cause for your conviction behind number fifteen down here in Miami.

at when he was at Miami, when he was in college. Still, he is a he is a He's just a fantastic, fantastic athlete, number one, who plays with the kind of twitch, bend instinct power that you ideally would want in the thirty four outside linebacker or a four to three end, although you know, I don't know if you necessarily want to have him in six technique alignments all the time and getting banged on or five technique alignments getting banged on by tackles and tight ends and stuff like that.

But if you keep him on an edge, he has just got absolutely stupid get off flex the competitive motor. He's got power in his hands. I mean, he can do it all he can drop, he can play in the two point. I mean, how many more things you want me to say? I mean I saw all those things when he was at Miami. The only thing that stopped Jalen from really reaching his potential, or has ever stopped him from really reaching his potential, was unfortunately injured.

And that's why I have always been like I remember going back to his draft, his draft year. I was enamored with the dude and thought that he would wind up being the best past rush coming out of that draft, and thought that he would be a short fire mid first round pick, maybe even higher, and that if he hadn't had the injury history that he had, that he would have gone even higher. So to see him get

hurt in that Jets game was just heartbreaking. To see the response of the people you know who are playing right now and players before him. I think I saw a clip or a photo of Danny Marino consoling him because Danny I was in the game that was in Cleveland. I was in the game, I believe when Danny tore his achilles, and you know when I was with the Browns and Miami was up there. So yeah, man, I'm I'm a I'm a huge Jalen Phillips fan, and just this is how hard he plays and how he runs

to the football. And look Ben gag who plays the same way. They play like every plays their last Bradley's playing kind of like the same way. David Long plays the same way. These guys are just and Vic has him going, man, he has him going right now. So it's just it's cool. But I'm a big fan of his and I think we all got cheated by him getting hurt.

of system in Cleveland that Saban and Belichick had. He's got versatility to be able to go ahead and move into the star and understand, you know, all the different things that you need to do in there, as far as being a part of the run front, matching patterns, playing with physicality, being a good blitzer. So he's got a great database to help Cater out and you're seeing why. I mean, Cater's taking his game to another level too.

I mean, he's as fun as hell to watch. And then you've got that dude who when it comes down to third and four, third and five and you're saying, okay, look you may be here. Let to say you're on the back side of three by one. You have a really good X out here that they know, you know, if we're gonna try and pressure them, they're gon we're gonna show single. Hi, They're probably coming over to you because you're gonna be one on one like yeah, okay,

well I dare you. I'm not dude, Okay, I'm six to two hundred and eight hundred ten pounds and I will absolutely clamp you down. So and you know, you know, I mean, Jalen's Jalen, Right, there's nobody who's more confident than him. So that just kind of rubs off on everybody else. And the last part, which is not the part that is not the part that's lost on me at all, Jalen will still sting you with the way

he can hit. So I don't know, I mean that that's the kind of thing that when you combine him with Xavier, I mean you have combined him with Javon Holland, who's maybe this one of the most unsung but smoothest athletes in all football. Brandon Jones looking Brandon Jones be starting for a lot of football teams. Yeah, this dude has just got ridiculous middle of the field speed. I'm kind of shocked that he doesn't start. I mean, Nick

need him. I mean there's I mean, you just got all these dudes, have all these you got all these interchangeable parts, all these guys who have different specialties that that Vic can work with, and Jalen kind of like, you know, he's kind of the dude who probably who obviously has the biggest resume and probably has the most respect league WHYE for what he has done throughout his career.

And when you have a guy like that in the secondary, the way he's come back from injury, all that kind of thing, it just kind of makes everyone else kind of raise their level, all right. It just makes everybody else want to kind of match what he's done, what he's still trying to do. And you know, DB's are very very let's just say they're very prideful people who have a little bit of DV in on too, just

like wide receivers do. And when you see a guy, you know who plays with that kind of flair and that kind of swag that Jalen plays with, you want a little bit of that. You want to play a little bit like that, and so you kind of wind up. I played with a guy who had the ultimate amount of swagger and Deon Sanders, and when you're around dudes

like that, it rubs off on you. And that's what I think he's what's happening with him and that that's just again another reason why this football team, I think is going like this.

of here. Let's go ahead and talk about the Titans a little bit ahead of this game. On Monday actually talked plenty about the Miami Dolphins.

that'll take away a little bit of their physicality. That's where I think they will try to impose their will in this football game because that's where they look. They're best at. The offensive linemen are their interior three. They're young at offensive tackle. It's not really a position where they can really dominate. So they're gonna really try to fower them. I try and make this game between the hashes, between the tackles type of game and really test the

depth of Miami's offensive, of Miami's defensive line. Christian is fantastic. How I put that clip on Twitter about him being triple team and still making an attack. Yeah, but that's why I want to attack. I want to see just you know, just Zach, how long can you hold up in here? Ray Kwan? How long? How much do you want it? These linebackers although, and look, Duke geez, there's just so many things about this team that I like. With Duke Riley and everybody, everybody loves Jerome Baker, and

I like Jerome Baker. Did you see much of a drop off when Duke Riley came in the game? No, you didn't at all. So I like how they defend the middle of the field in the run game. But if I'm Tennessee, I'm doing what we do best, and that's playing the power run game. And then I'm going to get Will Levis and see if he can hit a big one off of play action, which is really his thing, and get him out on the edge because

that's where Will's QBR kind of jumps way up. Get him out on the edge, maybe reading half the field where he becomes a little bit of a run pass threat. Although Will's not the best runner in the world, but he's got a cannon for an arm. That's what I'm doing. I'm running inside play action, get Will on the perimeter, because it's not really so much about well and it's a little bit about maybe what in Miami's weakness is.

I would want to test the interior of the run defense, but I think for Tennessee, it's about trying to find their identity with this young new quarterback, and that's what he does best. So that's what I'm sticking.

be wearing on Monday Night football. And you can find the entirety of these cleats on Miami Dolphins dot com for what they look like, because I asked every single one of them. By the design of the shoe, which for an audio platform, not great, but still I think pretty cool. Let's go ahead and kick it off here with Bradley Chubb. All right, here a Dolphins linebacker Bradley Chub, Bradley, tell me a little about the cleats you're gonna be wearing on Monday.

stuff like that. So whatever way we can to let kids know that, you know, sport time the only route, there's a lot of other routes to go, and we're just trying to be the catalyst to them finding out something that they like and want to pursue.

different things throughout the community. Man, trying to be better the world around us.

logo on the other one. And I was gonna wear those for pregame, and then in the game, I had like an awkward color with the same type concept, not so much the space thing, but just showing off the foundation in our motto, appreciate it, sir, I appreciate you.

like that, that they were there to help. And so since that time, I've wanted to sort of repay that to them.

My Cleats Week. And so what we did was literally just put the template design of the of the you know, cleat style out on the internet on social media and said, hey, here is the template, do whatever you want with it. And then I had them send me a photo of themselves, uh, and then all so in the email explaining sort of how they're not letting type one diabetes hold them back from whatever it is they want to grow up and do. And you know, I got a ton of I was

very fortunate. I got a ton of responses with all kinds of cleat designs and you know, honestly, I wish I could wear every single one of them.

on there, which is for when you have low blood sugars. Uh, it's obviously very essential. And then the one hundred on the on the heel for obviously a healthy one hundred blood sugar. So, you know, I was very fortunate that I was able to get some some really cool designs. And this is something that I definitely foresee, you know, us doing down the road for years to come.

is Helenski's hope. And this conversation was difficult for both of us, but I think it's worth talking about me and River Craycraft talking about Helenski's hope here with Dolphins, Widrous Year and WSU Legend, River Craycraft. River, you got some cleats that I'm looking at right here in front of me for Monday night football. I want you to tell me about the my cause, my cleats and what you're supporting here.

to do that for him. So this is one way that we're able to get his name out there floating around and and you know, the whole goal behind Helensky's hope is to change the stigma around you know, mental health and and how people look at it, and I think having opportunities to showcase their foundation or organization is this is a great way to do it.

and not everybody knows what everyone's dealing with. So yeah, I think the platform that the NFL has given us with the My Cause, My Cleats is amazing and it's allowed me to express, you know, my interest in Helensky's Hope. Every single year. So and it's a it's a way, like I said earlier, to to keep Tyler's name afloat, and you know, at the very least it's important to me, So I'm glad I'm able to do it.

no matter what was going on. And that really is the story behind what happened to him and how nobody really knows, but you know, what causes things.

took me a while to get there. And unfortunately, it takes things happening like what happened to Tyler to finally open yourself up and and have some trust in people besides yourselves, and whether that be a you know, a mentor a counselor therapist, you know, friend, whoever.