John Congemi Breaks Down Blitz Pickup and Slowing Josh Allen, Plus NFL Pick, College Scouting and Mailbag Questions

Dolphins at Bills. We'll get to the college three pack, we'll pick some NFL games, and tell you about Jacoby's Halloween event from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime Podcast Miami Dolphins. Alright, So if you have not seen it already, Jacoby Brissette host and kids from Alex's Place at Sylvester Center for

a special Halloween fashion show with his teammates. And if you guys haven't seen the photos from all these costumes and the guys really making some days and some weeks and even years and lifetimes for a bunch of kids, go check out our soulcials. Go check out Miami Dolphins dot com for tons of smiling faces. Who doesn't want to see a kid smile? There's tons of it all

over the place. And the Dolphins players did a great job getting out there and not just being out there with the kids, but really embracing the entire event and really interacting with the kids. And you can see some videos of Tuah and Liam Eichenberg dancing on stage with some kiddos. It's it's a great, great little thing. They did a great event. They did, and you know, I talked about or I wrote down some some of my

favorite costumes here that I saw. I couldn't see them all, but some of the ones that I saw that I thought were great. First of all, back to Liam Eichenberg, him up on stage as buzz Lightyear is for some reason just looks right to me. But also the dance moves like, I don't William's a father, but from one dad to a possibly future father, you got the dad dance moves down only and they're looking great out there, my man. And then to as Woody was great. He

talked about that at his press conference on Wednesday. Dressing up as Woody from Toy Story to go along with a buzz Lightyear there. Jalen Waddle as Elmo was fantastic, Blake Ferguson as a teletubby, Rob Hunt as a pirate, the scariest looking pirate I've ever seen, and then Jacoby Brissette as At first I thought maybe Paw Patrol, but I don't think that's what it was. He had a fireman's hat on and a Dalmatian costuhim and a great

smile with all the kids there too. So again, go check out the Miami Dolphins socials Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, also Miami Dolphins dot com. Tons of smiling faces. Really cool for these guys to get out there and go do that. All right, It's Friday, you know what time it is. Let's get my guest in here, John Conjemmy and joining us now as he does every single Friday here on drive time. Is my friend, my press box neighbor, my

key line pie buddy, John Conjemmy. How you doing, man, I'm up to a bad two pounds Travis and going north with this key line Pie. I think I double dipped again. I tried to break uh my routine so it would bring some good luck to the Miami Dolphins. But it did not help in the end. But it got us close in the fourth quarter with that nice comeback. It just didn't hold two minutes away from victory there. And maybe maybe the third key line pie is the

key next. I'm not sure what hey on the topic of on the topic of press box food, so help me figure this out, because I think I'm still a little bit new in this area. So I always get to the stadium and I go have lunch that they provide for us, always really good food, and then they have that halftime like snack right like it's either chicken

strips or hot dogs or something to that effect. I always find myself not hungry enough to eat at halftime, and then after the game when I have to do a two hour postgame show on a podcast and half about four hours where I can't eat, I'm starving. What's the best way to attack that, well, I think the bear, as you look at an animal, has it down pretty good. They eat as much as they can and then they

go into hibernation. That's what we do on Sundays. We we have to consume as much as we can in terms of water or whatever your beverage of choices, coffee, and then eat because you're not going to see food for probably six or seven hours after that. So that's the mentality I've always had, Eat even though you're not hungry, because you know you're not gonna get anything until about

nine o'clock that night. I wrote that down. That's great advice, something that I haven't been doing for two years now. I'm going to do it at the Houston game next Sunday. But John, we have a game coming up this Sunday on the road, tough opponent, and I want to go ahead and dive in here and talk about this football

game with you. I talked about this on my Thursday show, and I just wanted to get a better sense of it from your perspective because the last time these two teams played, you know, Tunguevaloa played two series and they were they were just full of blitzes, the Skies, blitzes, delayed blitz is, ultimately pressures, hits and sacks and our quarterback and eventually knocked out of the game. How can Miami overcome what Buffalo will certainly again, right, I would

think so. I think you may see it at some point. I don't know if it's going to be right away in the first quarter on the first couple of series, like we saw at hard Rock Stadium. But the way to get away and remedy that I guess is identification.

It's communication, and it's going up tempo because if as a defense they want to be unpredictable, they want to put the pressure on your offensive line, your center, your quarterback to babel to identify, to identify, put a big guy on a big guy, put the running back on a linebacker or a safety, and they want to make your quarterback think about a lot of things pre snapped so that it confuses him and it takes him down on the play clock where he feels rushed or he

feels hurried. And I think Buffalo the Bills did a really good job of that in the first game. I think it was six sacks in the combination of of of two and Jacoby. I think they had multiple hits. I know when Jacoby was in the game, he was flu from the pocket quite a bit. He had to

extend plays with his legs. So I think it all starts up front center, identification, a lot of talking with that offensive line, either getting in and out of the huddle quickly or being able to go up tempo so you can keep the Bills a little bit more predictable and put the pressure back on that defense. And then you have to be able to make them pay. If they're gonna blitz and they're gonna come after you, you have to be able to hit a chunk yard eage

played down the field. You have to get that explosive place somewhere in that series, because you know what that does. That's like spraying off when the mosquitoes around they all go away. You know that those drives go away, those blitzes go away because you've been able to expose them for for coming after you. And that's the greatest satisfaction a coordinator can have a quarterback and have an offense can have come on after me because I got something

for you. And if you don't make them pay, that will continue to persist on the defensive side. Yeah, that well time screened that well time. When you get a two way go from your slot, maybe he wins off the release immediately you get the ball downfield. There's ways to do it, and I'm glad you made that a point of emphasis. That was one of my points of

emphasis as well. And I do feel like this team is more equipped at this stage, and they were early in the season to kind of be more aggressive because we've seen it with the quarterback now at this stage, I mean, two was throwing the ball down the field with accuracy and precision right now, and he's he's having

good success in that intermediate area. And I thought one of his best throws of the season early of his career was that throw to Mike Kasiki to get that first touchdown drive of the fourth quarter, sparked kind of falling away to his right, throwing back to his left. I think we're we'ren't sore for some more progression in that vertical game like you mentioned there this week or otherwise.

I do think we're gonna see it. And I'm glad you mentioned that, John, because the other part off that I wanted to kind of ask you about was, you know, Buffalo played the RPO concept last time. I thought so well, they would. They would blitz into the face of the back and force to it to make a quick decision, and then they would they would fill that slant route to Davante Parker, whoever the heck it was that was that route at the time. So what's a good counter

to that? If they're gonna play up, is it the shot play, is it going vertical? How do you counter off of that RPO look where they pretty much took out every option you had on it. Well, I think you can do it by running the football. You know, remember the first part of the r p O right, it's the run. And if you're in man coverage and you've got tight corners and they're squatting on that quick slant or whatever the route maybe maybe it's a stop route or a quick out. You have to be able

to run the football. That means the offensive line needs to do their part. That means to it needs to do his part in controlling the edge rusher or the edge defender against the run. If two can pull the football and get five six yards get down on the turf, that's a win. That that's why you have the r p O in. And the second part of that is once you get that run game and get two on the edge and they're not really pressuring up field with that the edge defender, you kind of hit that double move.

Maybe it's a slant and go that s Lugo route up on top of you take a shot at it, or maybe it's a rub route with a combat nation on that side that that can build off of the r p. Oh. There's a lot of things you can get to. But it all stems back to the first part of why we call it that run pass option. You have to be able to run the football. Just the threat of it without anything backing it up doesn't

really make that play all that successful. So you have to be able to give him a little bit of run both running back and quarterback that will get people off the line of scrimmage or bring more attention. And that's where you get the double move on that slant and go, or you can get use a little rub

route with a combination on the outside. Yeah, I do feel like you know, having to with the design run as far as you know, if you put the ball in the belly of the running back, the defensive end crashes, the quarterback goes out the back of the gate. There, that's that's gonna be a help helpful element. I think this time around two a four last week on the ground, let's see three for twenty two in the Jacksonville game. He had the rushing touchdown and gets the Patriots back

in Week one. So he's been very effective using his legs to create plays both designed and scrambling when things kind of break down around him. So that's the offensive side of the ball. John great stuff there. On the defensive side, I think Josh Allen right now, given just Patrick Mahomes current struggles, I don't think it's gonna last or anything, but I think right now, Josh Allen's the best quarterback in the NFL. I would I would put

my name to that. Uh And even though it was a thirty five point blowout, he had his worst statistical day of the season, and really against the Dolphins going back to his rookie season, because he's played so well against this team. How does Miami replicate that success against Josh Allen just the passing game of the Buffalo Bills. How do they replicate that success this time around? Well, I think, you know, it has to be a two

way street. You have to be able to create some pressure in the pocket and it has to be mirrored up with coverage. You know, we talked about that last week against Matt Ryan and all the weapons that they had, and you saw at times, you know, when pressure was around Ryan, and the coverage was decent. It worked out pretty well. But when he had time and he was able to select his man to man coverage, uh uh, maybe a mismatch for him, or he felt like it

was in his favor, he threw. He threw perfect passes and it beat really good coverage. So I think with Josh Allen, the same principles apply. You have to be able to pressure the pocket, but you cannot allow him to escape that. That's been the biggest thing that has hurt the Miami Dolphins over every outing that we've played against Josh Allen the Buffalo Bills. He's been able to escape, He's been able to use his legs. Maybe not so much in the first game uh this year, but in

the prior five or six contest. Yes. So Number one, you have to be able to close the net on Alan. You have to be able to limit his running ability ability because that generates momentum and extends drives for the Bill's offense. So it's pressure, it's type coverage, and it's not allowing Alan to extend drives on a third and six where he gets fourteen or first and tent when you have him on a stack and it ends up a negative play ends up being a positive play. Now

they have another down and they have momentum. That's the biggest thing I see when you're facing a big, strong quarterback. He can make all the throws, obviously, but when his time is limited, the coverage matches up and you don't let him escape with regularity. That's why he that's why he struggled in the game against US. I thought pressure matched good coverage. He didn't run crazy. He maybe had thirty some yards. I think on the afternoon, I'd have to go back and check. I think he had, uh,

maybe fifty seven yards. He was averaging. He had around forty yards in the game, so it wasn't crazy, but it was enough to keep them alive, to keep drives alive. That's what the Dolphins need to to limit on Sunday and really maintain their their rush lane integrity right because the worst place to be on the football fields behind

the quarterback. And actually, if you watched the strip sacker, I don't know if it was actually a sacking, might have been beyond the last scrimmage at this point, but oddballs, forced fumble, he winds up behind the quarterback and great effort to get back into the play on Matt Ryan. But against Josh Allen, you're not gonna flag him down, so you have to really stay in front him and now let him escape that way and hope to catch

him from the backside. So that's a great point. And then it kind of to follow up on that, John, you know, we saw I think I talked about this in the preview podcast. How I'm I'm willing to accept, you know, sacrificing on run defense to really try to put a stop to the passing offense because what can hurt you more obviously the passing game, right, but you

can't be too vulnerable against the run. And we saw the I think it was the Bills either first play of the game or maybe this is our second series where they came out there and had a forty nine yard touchdown rush from Devin Singletary. Do you try to how do you? I guess my question is how do you how do you take care of both? Like is it lesser of two evils? Pick your poison? Is there an option to take out both of the running game in the passing game here for Buffalo? No, I don't

think so. I think everybody has a job to do. You know, those defensive linemen up front seven their run first. They're not going after the quarterback. They need to stop the run. They have, you know, all their rules and all their principles built into every defensive scheme that they're going to on on Sunday. So it's it's actually, you know, gap identification and integrity, just doing your job, not somebody else's.

I think that takes care of the run by itself sometimes because if you're not letting that that other big human move you against your will and you're you're kind of in your spot and doing your job. But it's a stalemate and we'll and on defense, you'll take a stalemate. You don't always have to win. It's about creating a stalemate, not getting beat up front, because those things create issues. That's what that in my opinion, what creates huge lanes.

And to your point, that's when Devin Singletary went forty six yards. I think it was the second play offensive play the Bills had. It was a two play drive and it was seven nothing and it took you know, all of forty six seconds. Uh So it was one of those things where you know, right off the bat you get caught and you create a huge lane. I

think you went in untouched. That that's a problem. That that kind of you know, your running back to the sideline goal, we're what happens, We're down seven nothing, I didn't create a sweat. So those are the Those are the types of things on defense. Do your job, have gap integrity, take care of the run first and the other stuff. You know, there's other guys to get to the quarterback, but that interior needs to do their job

up front. That's a good point and interesting because I asked, uh, I think it was Josh Boyer this week about kind of the uptick in Christian Wilkins production. He said that his comfort ability and familiarity within his fundamentals and technique within the scheme allows him to take a little bit

more chances. And we've seen him have obviously a kind of breakout year here and your number three, we'll need that from him and Adam Butler and is actually like ray Kwon Davis, Jerome Baker, Landed Roberts the entire crutey to step it up this week against the Buffalo Bills. And that brings us to our final question here before the mailback John. The Dolphins will win if if they can keep the Buffalo field Buffalo Bills on a long field.

Um last last game out at hard Rock Stadium, first two drives, the Bills headed on the four plus forty six and the minus forty eight. Uh you know, singletary, we talked about the run on the second play from the line of scrimmage that the Bills had at seven nothing.

And then on that next drive, Alan scrambles on a third and third and six for seven yards, and then it's a shot play to Sanders for thirty five that leads to a seven play, fifty two yard drive and it's fourteen nothing, you know, and and that can't happen. You have to be able to keep the Bills on a long field. Now, whether that's you know, kick off and the Bills get it start at the twenty five,

that's great news. But you can't give him a free first down or a first down and a half where they start on the thirty five or forty yard line. A couple of first downs, they're in scoring position, you know, they're they're they're across the fifty yard line. So it has to be one of those games where you win with the kicking game. You win with a couple of three and ounce early. You keep them on a long field and that extends the game in the first half

and doesn't get it to where it's fourteen nothing. You feel like it's an uphill battle to start. So that would be my first key. Secondly, you have to keep to a clean six sacks game one. Although he wasn't in there for them, they were able to get to the Dolphins quarterback in Jacoby Brissette. I think you need to keep to a clean What does that mean? Can you can you have some balance on the offense. Can you run it with the r p O? Can you run it just going north and the south? And can

you convert on third down? Can you find those plays that keep your offense on the field. So I think communication identification. It goes back to the Bills trying to get after the Dolphins in that first game. Can you identify, can you communicate? Can you get the ball out on time? And you can? Can you have better execution from guys like Jackson and Davis, even though there may be in different positions, they still have to execute at a higher level.

And thirdly, I think you need to take advantage of the explosive plays. Uh, the Dolphins were down fourteen nothing in that first game, but you had a drop by Parker in the end zone that was clearly going to be a touchdown. You had to catch in a in a run after catch with a fumble in the red zone that was going to lead to points. You know,

the score was just a two touchdown game then. So if you can take advantage of the plays you're gonna make down the field, that's gonna, you know, return served to the Buffalo Bills because you know you're gonna they're gonna get thirst, They're gonna get some plays. And I would caveat onto that, Travis. The defense has to find a way to get off the field. On the first series of the second half, they've given up plays that everybody except Tampa Bay, and Tampa Bay didn't need points.

They're already up ten at halftime, but they've given away a touchdown I believe in five of the six other outings, and it's been a field goal to the Patriots to start the third quarter in Game number one. They have to find a way to turn that tide. If they continue to give up points, all it is is a drain on the team, so they have to be able

to do something positive in a positive manner. You know, get a strip, sack, get get off the field three now, just don't give up some points to start the second half. That was one of my keys of the game, the middle eight minutes of the game is be better in that area because it's been tough so far for the Dolphins this year. And I'm also glad you mentioned the keeping two a lane. You know, when he played in

this game last time, two series two sacks. Now the two games back, he's taken one total sack over the two games, so hopefully that's a sign positive sign of things to come here for two A tongue of Voloa. And we talked about the offense pretty significantly there on the mail bag. Here John the first questions about defense. It's from at s a f C. No at all, He asks, the Bills have had success on Miami's band coverage.

What can the defense do to fix that? Well, we talked about, you know, creating some type of pressure, and we talked about having better coverage. Now you've got some playmakers on the other side, obviously, I mean Stefon Diggs is gonna get his right, he's gonna get his opportunity. Cole Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders, they're gonna they're gonna pick, and in Gabriel Davis, they're gonna pick, you know, around

the defense, but it all starts upfront. Can you can you tighten that net on Josh Allen to make him feel a little bit uncomfortable where he's looking to escape instead of hanging in that extra half second, you know, to to a second that he's gonna be able to give his guys a chance down the field. If you can alter that timing in any way, it's gonna help. It's gonna help you maybe forced Josh Allen to be inaccurate with his throw down the field, or it's gonna

help coverage for that half second. More so, you know these are the ball is gonna come out earlier, it's gonna come out late. You just don't want it on time with a high rate of frequency. So any combination of that can help that man coverage down the field. And that's your defensive question. We're gon go right back to the offense here, John at Michael Shrum sixty four. Have you noticed any real growth from the offensive coordinators as it relates to play calling, an adjustments and before

you go in on that real quick John. Last week I mentioned the Miles Gascon touchdown reception was one of my fair plays the Dolphins have called this year because I kind of worked off of the jet motion look that Jillen Waddle has scored on a few times this season, and then they basically flooded that area and got some fall steps, then two or three back to the other side. I thought that was great place sequencing. What say you,

I do too? I thought it was awesome, And I think all you have to do is look at the numbers. Over the last couple of games, the way to A has thrown the football. Um He's strown for three twenty nine and two touchdowns. He had four touchdowns against the Falcons, high rate of completion percentage. They got a little bit

better running the football. So I think that it's a little easier for a coordinator to call plays with confidence, take take chances, take opportunities when you know you're getting a little bit more You're getting a little bit more continuity in execution, you're getting more consistency with Hey, we're starting to stack plays together. Now. I don't feel too bad about going off the board and letting to a

you know live with this play. You know this, this might be the time to to hit Kisiki down the rail, or find him in man coverage, or let him sit down and zone over the middle, or or take a chance over the top here. I'd like to see Wattle get involved a little bit more, maybe vertically down the field. But I do think you're getting more consistency for too. I thought he played really two solid games minus the turnovers.

You've got to eliminate that, obviously, but he's been playing at a high level, so you're able to get to more of your offense. And I think that trust factors coming in. And it also helps that the lines played a little bit better over the last two weeks. With the different combinations they've had, They've given them a little bit more time and they've been able to run the football. And all those passes, the gascon and augment, those are

all extensions of the run. Those checkdowns, those little flat flair plays, those are all extensions of the run. So it's nice to see that becoming a little bit bigger part of the offense where you don't have to really line up and rely on moving people. You can you can go r P O, you can go check down, you can do some screens and that's all an extension

of the running game. Yeah, you mentioned two of their a third straight good game from him, especially doing it in that building where you know, Dolphins quarterbacks just have not high lot of success in that building, even going back to the Marino days, Like it's kind of been a house of horse for those Dolphins offensively in that Orchard Park building there. So hopefully a third strate good game offensively will get some good positive juju going into

the second half of the season. Our last question here, John, we hit the offense, we hit the defense at Darth Gator double O seven. What a great handle that is? Asks under Flora. As the Dolphins had the fourth fewest penalties in twenty nine team the third fewest last season in one they have the tenth most. How does the stat change so drastically and can they get back to where they were? Well, when you're struggling as a football team, there's a lot of things that that happened. You know,

there's a lot of reasons. You know, it could be turnovers, it could be penalties that we're talking about now. It could be just missed assignments. A lot of things happen, your concentration goes to other places, and you're worried about patching up a lot of different things when the fundamentals of the game are lost. And I think sometimes when you're on a winning team, when things are rolling, you don't you know, those things come automatically because your concentration

is so pristine. And I think sometimes when things when that ball is rolling the wrong direction, you're thinking about ten other things and instead of what you should just be honing in on your fundamentals, your discipline, all those things kind of get lost in the shuffle, no matter how much you harp on it at practice, no matter how many times you talk about it in a meeting. There's just other things that take paramount. When the lights come on or you're out at one o'clock and you go, okay,

i've got two plays called on offense. I'm an offensive lineman. Um. The first one was, you know, on on one or on the first sound, they've killed it. Now I've got to go to plan B. And you just lose your train of thought for a split second and you have that tall start, or you know you have that pre snap penalty. Those things creep in and get contagious when you're not winning football games. I think that's kind of creeped in a little bit to where the Miami Dolphins

are right now. They didn't expect to be, you know, nowhere near one and six. They didn't expect to have this role going in the opposite direction. And I think some times human nature takes over and you make mistakes. You make more mistakes than you would if you were on uh pristine assignment. You're on a four game winning streak and you're you're crystallizing everything. I think sometimes that

bleeds into teams. I think you just perfectly explained why you know football can be such a volatile sport, Like there's so many things that can pop up that if you don't nip them the bud right away or take care of them on a on a day by day basis, on a walkthrough by walkthrough, meeting by meeting basis, they can have an impact and those couple of players can can ultimately determine whether or not you win or lose the football game on Sunday. So great insight there, John,

I really appreciate that. I think I have the key for the turnaround here as regards to the key line pie I can play in the last couple of weeks about minimal whip cream. I'm bringing the can of what Ready whip with me this time. I'm gonna blow up thing and we're gonna get a crank in the right way. But that's next week. John Bill's coming up on Sunday. Appreciate your time is always my friend. Thanks a lot, and be well, oh thanks, Travis, all be looking forward.

I might have to go. I might have to go into the third key line if we the lead in the second half. For sure, we're gonna be taking pulls off that whip cream can all game longer. So looking forward to it, my friend, and we'll see you in a couple of weeks. Sounds good, Travis, Thanks all right, So there he goes. Let's get to a few more of these mail bag questions here from y'all. Appreciate you guys putting those in. It really means a lot to

give us some content here on the show. And I want to hear from you guys and and make the podcast you know yours as well, because we're doing this for for us, for me, but mostly for you guys out there, so I appreciate you all putting the questions in. I want to start with the Apple podcast reviews because we haven't gotten to those in a couple of weeks. This one here from Burr Cheesy the Best five Stars. He says after Sunday's lost to the Jags. I told you, guys,

we skipped a week on this. I couldn't bear to listen to anything Dolphins related. But by Thursday I was ready and started binging this week's drive time, and man did Travis ever deliver. Thank you for that. I appreciate that. Talks about the monologue Monday show was perfect. Travis is a true true fan. It feels the pain like all of us. He had the right words and attitude that

I needed to hear. Then it was right back to breaking down the team, including great soundbites from the coach staff that you don't always get on other Dolphins podcasts. Awesome stuff. As always, Travis, keep it up, keep it going. Hopefully the team matches your production on the field here soon. Thanks for being a great voice of Dolphins Nation. Fins up well. I appreciate that very very much, and I too hope to see some wins here coming down the

pipeline very very soon. Let's go back to the Twitter mail bag in this first question from at riquet hold one, seeing where we are with defense, where do we attribute most of the problem relative Towy. Is it due to parting way with any of the veterans like van Neil McCain god Shaw or has it more to do with scheme change or simply execution. Well, you kind of hit the nail on the head there with all of it. It's it's a collection of all of those things, I think.

I mean, you know, we talked with John about the volatility of football in general, how the sample size of games isn't always going to give you a good indicator of future success. And that's true for most sports, but football for sure. So you can have you know, whether it's a coaching change or a player change, or a

different call or different whatever the case may be. There's so much that goes into the that creates the ultimate game plan for a game on Sunday that one or two bad ingredients can shift things and get you a completely different results. So I just think that this team is is close to victory and a lot of these games. I know, the production from a yardage and points and all that stuff standpoint hasn't been great, but it's not

like they're completely uncompetitive. And so I just think that you're looking at a situation where the team hasn't played as well as we thought they would across the board. Really, like coach Flora says, I think the coaching hasn't been as good as we thought it would be, like coach says, again, across the board. And then just kind of some of

the plays that go against you. I mean a couple of a couple of muff punts that just almost got called, didn't quite get called, Like just little small things like that can have the ultimate shift and the outcome of the game. And so I think it's a collection of all those things. And I hope, I believe that things will start to turn around here here very soon. At YETI Delphia asks our reporters limited from asking Brian Flora's specific questions, and I wanted to get to this one

because no, they are not. But there's a certain etiquette and respect demeanor to those press conferences where if a guy tells you something, don't ask him fourteen times over again. You know, Brian Flores has been very clear about how he's going to keep those conversations between him and whoever has those conversations, whether it's a player negotiations or talks with a different team. It's always been his philosophy to

be that way. So this is nothing new, and I appreciate the consistency of that, because if you start to say, oh, we're gonna shoot down this rumor, then that means the other ones you don't shoot down get more validity. Does that make sense? So be consistent across it on all matters and have that same answer, and that way you're gonna have the same approach from reporters. And so I am glad the reporters when I was in that room too, didn't bombard coach with those questions because he's told the

answer to us a hundred times. So that's that's why you got what you got, I believe. Next one here from at two Lucky nineteen sixty seven. Do you think the lack of veterans on this team and experience in our coordinators is the biggest reason this team is where it is. Well, again, to kind of go back to that first question, I think it's part of it. Yeah.

I mean, you know, coaches talked about development of players, and we've talked on this podcast almost ad nausea at this point about guys in this program who didn't start their career off with an absolute bang, Like it took some time to kind of season those guys and get the production you have out of them now. And I think that's true of coaches and players and anybody in

any walk of life. Like a good example, like just myself, to to speak from my own experience, I feel way more comfortable interviewing people, asking questions at press conferences, doing the postgame ring. Like everything I've I do, I have gotten better at. That's how it should be, right, And so more experience, more reps you I think you'd expect to see some improvement across the board. And this is a young team both from the coaching staff and on

the roster. We're gonna do a quick three pack today because we're getting short on time. But number six Michigan at number eight Michigan State two players to really watch in this game, even though both these teams have a lot of good players on these team on their team obviously to top ten squads, but aiden Hutchinson. He's a surefire top ten pick next April. Powers need scheme diverse

top ten pick off the edge there for Michigan. And then Kenneth Walker looks like a first round maybe second round running back from me Bell Cow three down contact balance can change the angle and the target in a blink, right at the last second when when defenders are pursuing him. I wanted a little bit in a different direction this week because we talked about so many of these same teams over and over again. So number nineteen SMU at Houston.

They have a pair of receivers there. Reggie Robinson sure like his game. He's one of the top players in that conference. Also, like Danny Gray. I like him because he's explosive and also he reminds me of Chris Chambers. He's got that high cut with long arms build and it helps him go high point the football fund player to watch and the guy throwing the football to them. Tanner Mordecai is a possible late round draft pick as well. And then Grant Calcata at Houston is a transfer from Oklahoma,

big playmaking tight end. I think he retired and came back to the game now he finds himself at Houston. He could be a draft pick this coming April. And Houston also has Patrick Turner last year, or they had Patrick Turner last year, I should say off the edge,

he was a fun player to watch there. They have another guy in the defensive line that kind of reminds me of him, even though he the defensive tackle six ft seven, two seventy five pounds and it looks weird at times because he's so tall inside at that size, but he's explosive as hell. He can play multiple spots three technique, one shade five tech name as Logan Hall,

long active hands, good array of pass rush moves. He loves the swim move in the arm over, and that height can cause some pad level issues at times, but it also helps him get the arm over moved too, so he's a lot of fun to watch. And then Fresno State at number twenty one. San Diego State a couple of matchups I'm looking for here. Receiver Jalen Cooper

from Fresno is an absolute burner. He should draw a cornerback Taylor Hawkins for s D s U, a six ft one two and five pound corner who has excellent ball skills and can get into and stay in phase on those long routes, so I'll keep an eye on that. And then defensive end Aaron Moseby six ft two fifty pound edge against offensive tackle of San Diego State Zach Thomas. How about that named Zachary Thomas, six ft five, three

hundred pound tackle with an absolute mean streak. And that San Diego State offensive line has dudes every year because they run the ball so well, and you see those guys pushing people off the football. So again, I know there's a bunch of big matchups, but I wanted to go with these guys because we always talk about those same teams and those same players ahead of next year's draft, which of course will cover very in depth here once

the season concludes. But just giving you guys a taste here on these Friday podcasts what to look for on the weekend. Last thing we do on these Friday podcast NFL picks terrible last week seven and six, seventy two and thirty five on the year, we took Arizona over Green Bay on Thursday. We'll see how that plays out. Falcons over the Panthers. Give me the Falcons to get over five hundred and get back on track there after starting the season O and two Niners over the Bears.

We gotta root against the Niers without draft pick, but in this game without Khalil Mack for the Bears, think the Niers get this one. Brown's over Steelers. I like the Lions. I'm taking the O N seven lines again over the Philadelphia Eagles. I think Jared Goffkin has some success on that Philadelphia defense, and the fighting Campbells get their first win. They have been playing their asses offic so I want to see that for them. The Bills over Dolphins. Titans over the Colts the toughest pick of

the weekend for me right there. I'll take the running game of the Titans, and I think a better a better quarterback situation there. Go with tensey Titans in that game. Give me the Bengals over the Jets, the Rams over the Texans, give me the Chargers over the Patriots and bounce back from last year's beat down the Patriots gave the Chargers. Jags over Seahawks. I'm just not buying into the Russell Wilson less Seahawks at this point. I think

Trevor Lawrence has gotten better every single games. Will give me Jacksonville, give me the football team over the Broncos, the Bucks over the Saints, Cowboys over Vikings. Although I was back and forth on that one on Sunday Night Football and then Chiefs over Giants on Monday Night Football with the Manning Cast. Be sure to watch that. And then last thing here for you guys, Jalen Phillips. I talked about the uh the charity work off the top

of the podcast. There but the Lotus House Shelter. Jalen Phillips teamed up with One Goal, One Dream as part of the Football Units initiative and they were out there first some arts and crafts kind of Electrocoby's event. Just smiles for days from those kids. It's the best thing to see. Go check out our socials and Miami Dolphins dot com to get a look at those all right, guys, that's gonna be my time on this Friday edition of

the Drivetime Podcast. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Leave us that rating, leave us that review. Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the Fish Tank Podcast with my guys Seth and o J. We do the postgame show together as well in five sixty and Kiss Country and of course YouTube channel for media availabilities as well as Dolphins Today, Up Now and of course Miami Dolphins

dot com. Until next time, Fins Up, Caroline, Daddy is coming home.