Week 14 Film Room, Dolphins Chargers — Tape, Contextualized Stats, Snap Counts and McDaniel Commentary

Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield, And on today's show, we are looking back at the Sunday night football game against the Charges, with the tape, the stats, where things didn't work, where they did, the full aftermath, plus snap counts, and Mike McDaniels Monday press conference coverage from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.

This is the Drive Time Podcast. Let's kick it off as we do every single Tuesday here on Drivetime with the film and we start with the offensive side of the football going chronologically here and covering the players as we get to the plays and the big moments of the game. And it feels for the second straight week

like the opening drive. Well, I shouldn't say that the opening drive, because Miami scored against the Niners on their opening drive, but after that play and just the slow start in general, after that was only a few inches

away from potentially getting the offense into a rhythm. Now again against San Francisco, seven points early within ten seconds, but after that a couple of drives, think three the next four we're three and outs where they had balls that were just barely tipped by the middle linebackers are just off target to the receivers in that second level. And the Dolphins first three plays all incomplete. It passes

really similar story. The first one was a great recovery by the safety to get under that ball to Tyreek Hill. The second was another really good coverage rep where Waddle couldn't get separation, and the third was arguably the to me that one of the best throws of the night from tongue Vola. Really nice timing to to Tyreek who had cleared the hook linebacker and he throws it before he cleared the hook linebacker ball meets him right on time in the opening and we can't squeeze and finish

the play. I thought it was a great throwing one that we need to finish and execute. So from the start you can see what Coach McDaniels talking about with the issues, you know, being widespread and not any one individual thing, as we'll cover here on the rest of the show. And it continued on the next series as those quick throws where to is you know, riding the back of the belly of the back and pulls that thing out and pops the ball in behind the linebackers.

The Chargers were just pressing the issue with outside leverage and driving hard on those incuts, and our routes were those a lot of times little grant glances or skinny post or just quick catch rock throw or get off the line, get into the soft spot and take off after that, and it can be difficult against the type of defense The Chargers played so frequently against those routes to generate separation because there's not really a set up move.

It's more so just get on the inside shoulder and win with that spacing afforded to you based upon the alignment, and these guys were driving so hard, anticipating those balls in the middle and getting over the top of the play before our receivers could make the catch and get going. And they're making these windows awfully minuscule for our quarterback and receiver to work with, and we just didn't hit them consistently. But you had a lot of the same

where you were. The run action, the curl flat action opened up space in the middle, but their corners just blanketed our receivers. That's what it came down to on a lot of these plays. To me, this is a question for I guess a football coach or someone who understands the xs and os better than I do. But I'm curious what would the adjustment be to that type of play from the corner where it's aggressive outside level I should say inside leverage, driving in just selling out

to stop that glance route. I think we may have seen some of that later on in the game, and we'll cover that here on the podcast. I love that first third down conversion to Tyreeke the hook route where we are backed up to our own goal line. That's a big time catch and throw there. A great pocket has you know, the pockets had been really good the first two series, and a good rip by two or to throw the ball before Tyreek comes out of the break.

That's a nice adjustment the Chargers made to deepen their hook zones, and we found a way to throw it in under that hook zone and still get the first down, kind of like the Niners did last week with those deep drops of Fred Warner. We just didn't hold blocks long enough early in the running game, and it happened really all over the formation, you know, tackle to tackle. We struggled to get the edges sealed. We didn't get movement at the point of attack with nearly enough consistency.

There were some instances, but early in the game not at all. I understand the desire to commit to the run, but man, it's tough to want to run the ball when it's consistently second, nine second and nine second and ten. For an offense that has made more hey on first on than any other offense in the league this year, it's just a different game than we've been playing all year long, and so that put them behind the chains

and just it's tough to get going that way. Let's go ahead and break down the post route that went incomplete second and thirteen minus twenty two yard line balance one personnel that means two backs, one tight end and uh ing Gold was kind of acting as the other tied end on the other side of the formation with Thurham Smith as both of those guys were attached to either side of the line. Scrimmage single back and then

one receiver to either side of the field. Both Tyreek and Jalen are in minus splits, that's where they're inside the Numbers waddle to the boundary at the short side, Tyreek to the field the wide side, and the Chargers are showing two man press coverage with the corners two

high safeties in that three four base shell. The Dolphins do a fake toss along with Ingolds pre snap motion that creates this again really nice clean pocket and it identifies a safety driving down and creating a middle of the field safety, which is where that post route was perfect across his face because that boundary safety tries to buzz a potential cross from Tyreeke and he runs past that and basically takes him out of the play, and all of a sudden, it's one on one in space

with Tyreek running full speed and that safety having to change directions and it's perfect. That's exactly what you want in that look, you freeze it with two loading up at his own seventeen. Tyrek is at full speed at the thirty five, hasn't broken in yet. The ball is out super early before Tyreek makes that move to the post, and the ball hits the hash mark at the other forty five yard line, and Tyreeke's at the forty six yard line just outside the hash so you can tell

that he like never sees the football. The balls in the air, and Tyreek has looked back at the safety over the top before the ball hits and that safety is falling down. So if he sees it and runs under it, I don't think that safety has much of a chance to tackle him. Forty five more yards after the catch would have been a seventy eight yard touchdown if they connect on it. I think it's a tough

pill to swallow there. And then the next play, I think that might have been the first time all year I've seen to run Armstead really beat in a one on one situation. For that, Kyle Van noiss Ach a really nice spin back inside by him. Just that kind of night where things would pop up here and there throughout the course of the night. I thought they created some chances with shifts and motions, but a lot of times it was shifting with no one moving at the snap where they kind of came set and we run

the play from there. And then we had that one deep shot to Ghisicky against man coverage. I just I'm not crazy about that. Look that deep shot, and then one later to trent sherfield where he got jammed out

of out of bounds. Those are the two plays where I was like, all right, this might be a longer night for the offense because Ghisicky, just his operations not quick enough to to run that type of route where you're gonna have, you know, you need three or four seconds to pump the ball that deep down the field. It's not quick enough, the line not quick enough up the stem anywhere to make that a possibility of anything beyond you know, a fifty fifty high point catch. And

that's just not to his game. So it's kind of a square peg round whole situation there. But after that deep shot out of bounds to Gisicky, we get a nice timing throw on a dig, but the corner is driving before the ball is out. They anticipated our throws, like we've seen from our offense, anticipate their throws, and they were able to contest all those throws and frankly win just about all of them. If you can run a seven route on them, like a flag or a corner,

then maybe you prevent that type of squatting. The one in particular was a defensive past interference against Waddle and that corner part of the field, the flag area is completely vacant with a single high safety who's not really paying attention to it. So you will see the Dolphins come back that later, as we'll get to here in a second. But the run game kind of got cranking at that point as well. Back to back runs. Uh

we're big chunk games. The second one being the fumble tyreek scoop and score with Rob Jones getting excellent reach blocks and staying glued to his blocks on those, and then the fumble scoop and score. What a great job by Rob Hunt to get push shell climbs up to the second level for a big block, but then he just kind of leaves his man there and doesn't finish

the play. And that's actually the guy that forces the fumble, so it's kind of a tricky rep there, and you also had Dirham Smith wipe out the edge on split flow for Wilson to find that big lane. We talked about it on the Monday Show. Just great effort and finished from Tyreek to find that ball and take it all the way around the edge. So despite that early reference, Ron Armstead, I thought he had a great game. Still. He did get beat later on in the fourth quarter,

but just so good. He had a great down block on a big Wilson run for twenty yards where he works down the line, gets a little chip on Robert Jones's man and then feels the Sam linebacker scraping up over the top and Bank goes and wipes him out too. I thought two was first scramble the throwaway and watching it back on tape was just an instance of things

we haven't seen all year at this offense. Both Tyreek and Jalen get contact to the top of the route and then it just kind of stops, like no secondary move, no off script potential to try to make things happen, and to was just kind of stuck, forced forced to sit there and try to figure it out. It kind of reminded me of last year and a little bit where we run those one routes that are coming back to the quarterback and if it's not they're just basically cut,

baiton and move on. And we saw that a few times in this game. I thought, a play later, we get a beautiful dig route to Cedric Wilson with great anticipation, a throw where the balls out before the receiver clears the hook backer meets him right at the chains for

a big third and ten conversion. On that play, there was a potential deep shot open way through it early, so I'm not gonna get too bogged down in that great great job and pass pro really throughout the course of the night, outstanding work against the four man rush on that play, including a stunt completely wiped out by Connor Williams and Robert Jones. But as for the one to one shot that I thought was there, Waddle has a one on one opportunity to the field and got

on top of his man and stacked him. And like, you can't complain about first down conversions on third and ten, but I keep wondering how much the chargers have to adjust if we can just hit one deep ball early in this game, like on that play, then you get a false start. Three plays later on third and ten, you get the Sherefiel attempt up the sideline. It's punting

time again. But to A throws that ball when the corner jams and flattens because the half field safety to that side follows Tyreek into the post, so it clears the sideline. I'm thinking that's probably what to I saw to take that shot to the sideline, but surefield stops and you see the refs hat come off, which means

he would have been flagged for legal touching. So again that kind of night, like you can't go out of bounds there because Tyreek held the two men and the coverage, we need you to be part of the eligible portion of the route because you're taking away pretty much the conflict you've created by not being available. It's a big

miss right there. I thought the Chargers all night long did so well with their man coverage of not getting caught on rubs, but also like could have seen more of them against that coverage, Like think about that Wattle deep shot against the Bears that we missed, or the slot fade against the lines that we hit to Wattle plays like that where it's kind of like a natural rub for the receiver. So you're gonna play press man and you want to get rubbed against guys like Wattle

and Hill. It's a tough way to make a living man. I keep going back to Connor Williams a game because he was excellent once again the way he attaches himself to blocks in the running game. He's got a top ten run block win win rate according to ESPN. I thought we saw plenty of that in this game. Reach blocks, down blocks, holding the point, not letting guys get off

of his initial block. Another really great game from Connor Willie him the dig that was broken up to Mike Gisicky on the drive before the end of the first half. Jalen Waddle runs the corner open and throws the mailbox up right where the hand goes up. Hey, I'm open and right when he throws the mailbox up to what was already throwing the football took a siki, so just up and down the tape. It's different things like I don't look at it as some talent deficiency or something

unfixable at all. It makes more sense to me what coach said on Sunday about not playing up to their talent level and to their standard just on a play by play basis, something would go wrong at various spots throughout the night, and that's how you wind up with a comprehensively underwhelming offensive showing something we haven't seen much of all year. Because Twa throws the ball to the one guy that was kind of covered. You had an out route open in a corner route for a potential

like forty plus yard play to Waddle. We gotta hit those hit him last year. It's like the Baltimore game, right that corner route, the Titans game, that corner oute to Waddle, similar throws, similar openings like that. We have to find a way to exploit that area of the field because teams are leaving that open, or I should say the Chargers left that open all night long, and I think teams will do it going forward. We'll see, but that's my expectation. And just as I say that,

we get false execution on a deep ball. The motion man holds the safety showing half field help to Tyreek side who's in a plus split. But Tyreek takes the outside release and two holds that safety just enough inside by peeking to the short side of the field, and then he comes right back to Tyreeke and lets it go. With Tyreke only five yards off the line of scrimmage.

The ball descends twenty eight yards downfield, right on the money, and Tyreek never really stacked the dB, who did a good job staying in phase, but it's a perfect ball, gets his feet tangled and we get a cruise in touchdown. Big time, throw a good catch and good pass pro all around. I go back to Connor Williams here opens another big lane for a long raheem roaster run on the next possession, and then to us scrambles. I thought

we're a big part of the offensive. Uh some of the positives they did where he break those clean pockets with a good downfield coverage and made three big plays of those legs. That's an added element we haven't seen much of this year. Big big time to get that

from the quarterback, especially against man coverage. That same possession, as the first scramble to a has wattle on those little skinny posts we've hit all year, but some interior pressure forces him to sidestep and by the time we come back to look at it, it's too late to take a check down, ball goes in complete. Next play is the sacks, so you see a bit of the protection issues pop up late in the game. As part of the equation, McDaniel had mentioned they started running a

lot more outbreaking routes as the game went on. Talked about that corners comebacks out that type of thing. So I think that's an encouraging sign of endgame adjustments of the Chargers playing that aggressive inside leverage from that man coverage. Look that speed out to waddle the catch and run for twenty or whatever it was. Nineteen is a good example of that for a completion. But some of two US scrambles came on those types of route combos. I think a week back home to work on that stuff

and obviously fine tune the rest of the offense. I still feel good about them getting back on track because of that, But that was kind of kind of at the point. The screen of Tyreek Hill on third and a mile came with twelve oh eight to play in the game. They didn't get the football back until two forty to go down by two scores, so tough to overcome that. I think it's fixable. They have to make

an adjustment. Teams are gonna play this way against you now going forward, take advantage and work driving the ball to the perimeter. Whip routes, flag routes, corners, comebacks, double moves back to the corner. That's how I think you can beat teams out of the style and get them back into playing the zone that you tore up all year long as a result. Let's go ahead and take our first break and come back and get to the

defense on the next side. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. So we heard about the offense. Let's go ahead and pick it up with the defensive performance from the dolphins seventeen defeat at the l A. Chargers, and they gave a ton of attention to Bradley Chubbing this game. Man. He got chips all night long. That and getting wide against our initial rush I thought were the keys, whether

it was designed or off script. And he didn't really help with that because he kept jumping inside against those outside runs or against plays where there was no other outside contained the pocket for Justin Herbert, who would get

out there again. Whether it was a design bootleg or against you know, off script, jump outside the B gap and have all that space to operate with and process, you know, not just half the field for a quarterback that expands the field on those plays because of the arm strength, but just having him free to to either do that or run the football, which then puts your

perimeter cornerbacks in a bunch of apparel. So it was kind of two fold for those mistakes that kept offering those opportunities for that charger offense, and it creates some big plays for them. And man, we just I don't know what much what more you can do with how many injuries are in the secondary. I know it's like other teams have injury issues as well, but you see it every single week, playing so soft bell out coverage giving the quarterback really simple solutions to some of the

answers or to some of the problems. I should say that the past rush creates because they are getting into the quarterback so quickly, you know, two point three or

two point four, two and a half seconds. Pressure on the quarterback, but he's got answers, and that's part of the secondary, you know, not marrying up with the rush on a consistent basis, you have to find a better way, I think during of the hots and the answers of the offense to let this rush flourish and really give you the production that at the level they're playing with, because right now it's not happening. And I think it's because a lot of it has to do with that.

On the second level, man I love Zack healer swim move and his dip and rip package. He wins so many reps those two particular types of moves against the run or the pass rush and then the dirty work where he holds the point of attack against double teams. Such a selfless player, man, he doesn't go outside the scheme looking to make a play in those types of plays, just does his job, drops the anchor so others can take advantage of it. And we covered it plenty on

the Monday Show. But man, Christian Wilkins, what a night he had. He's winning in every conceivable way. Quickness, first off, the ball, redirect, retrace, power, speed to power everything. He's crazy, man, and it's from every position to like a lot of these are three techniques off the outside shoulder of either guard. Sometimes it's the four technique, the inside shoulder of the tackle.

But on this particular play, excuse me, the Chargers opening drive, he plays the five technique kind of a uh who plays that spot a lot? I don't know, you'll see, you know, I guess Nick Bosa plays sometimes there for

the Niners when he's not in the wide nine. But it's a defensive end position and they're gonna try to pull the split flow tight end split action coming back the other direction, and he goes in there and just wax him, puts him on the ground and then takes him right into the running back after turn of the corner and makes a play on the running back. So

it's it's power, it's speed, it's recognition, it's smarts, it's everything. Uh. Just a random note here after watching some d B blitz as we sure do miss Brandon Jones is blitzing and the way he timed it up to help the Dolphins defense maintain their disguise on defense because there's just too many instances now where they show it before or where it's too early and the offense can I D that and find their hot route because they run the line have to stop in the quarterback and make his

checks from there. That happened, I thought too frequently in this game. Kator Co who made the big stop on that fourth down on the opening drive, but he was a big part of the tackle on that third down as well. Him and xaviing Howard both got through blocks to make that play the same way that the Dolphins play action offense can suck up linebackers and create those intermediate throwing lanes. The Chargers had way too much success

doing that in this game. Some of it was just way too easy, like day one install stuff against air almost where xaviing Howard's playing inside leverage note with his butt to the sideline. Free access to the inside from Mike Williams, who just runs the simplest you know, free release, take the inside access dig route. Uh, put X on your back, cut it across the middle into an empty box. There's no linebackers there. Javon Hollands twenty five yards off

the football, not threatened to play whatsoever. Easy pitch and catch for like a fifteen eighteen yard game. Whatever it was, I just wrote down. It was a rough tape for key on Cross and he kept getting kind of picked on some of those quick throws. That's the best call the night defensively from a from Josh Boyer's perspective, was Christian wilkins sack because Bradley Chubb falls right into the curl flat that Herbert wanted to go to. They drop eight, and you saw him kind of panic in the pocket

despite just the three man rush. He has nowhere to go. Christian Wilkins has a great second effort after his initial rush is thwarted and he gets in for the sack. What a game from nine. He'll be in the notes a few more times, so will Jalen Phillips and his work on those backside stretch runs away from him. Sure do put the athletic ability on display. He can angle in there and stay tight into the line so he doesn't overrun the play and get those running plays to

the ground as well as anybody in the business. That sack at the end of the first half was more a display of athleticism where you know, one of the quickest sacks in the NFL, where it's a short corner, great get off, finished the play in like two seconds. You just don't see that very often. After the Mike Williams touchdown on the next drive. After that, he comes in and makes another great play where he sets that edge and I talked about it on the podcast on Monday.

Keep the outside arm free, play your inside shoulder into the tackle, get that outside arm free so you can get off the block and make the play. That's two for one right there. From one player, he is exceptional. I thought the Eric ro sack was a great job by two safeties him to engage the tackle and pass pro and then work back inside with eyes on the quarterback to recognize that Herbert had stepped away from that

initial surge and tried to roll out again. But Rowe was quick enough to get off the block and make that play where some of our ends we're not able to do that with those initial pass rush surges inside. And then he finishes attackle really well on Herbert gets the legs wrap pulling to the ground, and then there was a crossing route that I thought Herbert wanted to go to, but Javon Holland felt it the entire way and left his post and cut it off and it

forced Herbert to eat it for the sack. Christian Wilkins hand usage is so good. Gets an immediate pressure by just swiping the hands away when guys are not flushed when they're not square like you see in a bear tech, a bare front where you have you know, head up over the center and the two guards. When Wilkins has just one show or two attack, guys don't punch him with a two handed punch or even a one handed punch and get effective hand usage because he's so quick

to swipe those away from him. That I thought about big time in this game. I thought there were too many too easy solution situations for the Chargers offense, as I mentioned earlier, a third and four on their own, fifteen the dry before the half ten seven game, you're feeling like you're back in it, and they run Keenan Allen in motion and no, and he goes with him. We blitz to that side and it vacase the entire area. It gives Herbert knowledge of where the vacancy and the

defense is going to go. It's the easiest catching throw of his career, and he had a few of those in this game. Some of these d B blitz is just served to leave us shorthanded, where Kater comes in on blitz mrs the sack and now Herbert says, okay, well, he was covering keenan Allen. I'll throw it to number thirteen all alone for eight more yards third and ten. That same drive from the plus twenty seven again a chance to get off the field, keep it a one

score game. Herbert breaks contained after a pass rush win from Phillips, But then we're just covering grass. It was crossing. Was trying to determine whether to come up and make a play on the quarterback and a running game, or to fall back into cover. She winds up doing neither, stays flatfooded, and Herbert throws it over his head for a conversion that sequenced in the first half was a

rough man. You get a Philip sack, a great pressure by Chub and Wilkins to force a bad screen setup which allows Rohaw to come from depth and make another TfL. But then the sixteen yards on third and goal from the seventeen. It's a four point play man, and it changes the entire equation of the game, doesn't it. Like at the snap, you've got three players five yards deep in the end zone. I don't. I don't get that.

Five players at the two yard line, three rushing and this allows the Chargers offensive line to get out in space. Without having to worry about getting the initial block because Herbert just did it on his own with the space because he could, and it allows those three guys to essentially be not part of the play. And then you get a convoy of offensive lineman, three fifteen pound guys going downhill against a buck ninety weighing defensive backs. It

was is bad opening drive. The second half, another sterling open field tackle by Kater cohogs the defense off the field. That's every week with this kid. I thought Jerome Baker's found a nice groove in the middle part of the season. He was covering a lot of ground in space. His tackle on Eckler on that third and goal long or third and goal long play say the touchdown, even though they score in the falling play. He did a good

job on Herbert when he would roll out wide. Baker also has some nice reps coming down off the edge and playing more of an on ball sam linebacker type of position. We've seen him do that a few times last couple of years. Did it some more in this game. The second Philip sec which was negated, was the best

pass rush rep I think of his career. They send a chip out wide to him on his outside shoulder, and he changes his rush path from a wide look to a foot in the ground, spin back inside right when the tackle throws the punch get him leaning out over a skis run that b gap right into the quarterback for the sack. An awesome clip and I don't think you can ask him to change one thing about it,

even though he got flagged. Perfect rep from Phillips. He then gets in on the next play and teams up with Melvin Ingram and Christian Wilkins for a hit on the quarterback and man Herbert tried to throw it away but his arm gets hit and the ball still lands safely away from any defenders. We had a couple of plays like that where I thought, oh, we might get a cheap pick here, but it just was not meant

to be. And that happened all throughout the night. I thought Xavian Howard had great coverage on that second deep shot to Mike Williams was just a perfect throw, but touch him down. At the same time, we saw Javon Holland's closing speed on a route by the back for the second straight week. Right after that big play, similar play too, right before they kicked the field goal to

go up fourteen. They had Eckler and the flat after motioning across and Javan has to run all the way across the field again McCaffrey and he took away the option this time where the Niners through it and completed it short of the sticks. Herbert goes to a second and it's well covered there by Elijah Campbell in the end zone and he throws it high. How about Campbell's special teams played by the way, two huge plays by him there and a third down in completion force in

the red zone. And then once again there's Jalen Phillips getting off the ball first, winning across face Canna tackle for lost to play away from him. What a player he is. That sets up a big third and three where cater Co who occupies two blocks in space and a screen pass and keeps Jerome Baker clean and make the stop. What a play by both of those guys. So it was two times the defense got back to the offense down by six. Just couldn't find the complimentary

nature of the game all night long. And then it comes down to that last drive and how heartbreaking was that one third and five over elevenments? To play fifteen yard line co who's right there, But it's a perfect pass. Just a million moments the last two weeks, we can't help but think what if we got that play, just

that one, that was one of them. Then eight forty to go in the game, third and three, another one of those man beaters, with a quick throw to the motion man running away from us, the snap, easy pick up. It's chunk gains after that end of field goal range to all but ice it. But then you get life a fumbled snap, but they get it back and we get life again with the field goal and the on side kick and the original muff. But we can't land on it. Frustrating game that seemed like it had its

moments to see it just never happened. Even when the Charges held the ball for two thirds of the game and nearly doubled up our yards total, it felt like Miami had chances. I'm not sure what the solution is. If I did, I guess I'd be working a different

job in football. But it seems to be the same issues that offenses find success against the Dolphins and the games they lose, struggling to finish early down successes and the third down opportunities to get off the field, largely with the pass rush getting in but then missing the sack. And then it's the quarterback on the move against a secondary that has been stretched out by a broken play.

Then those long drives, quarterback taking what's there and just staying on the field milk and the clock shorten the game and forcing our guys to play seven or eight snaps. That's your offensive and defensive film review. Let's go ahead and cover a few of the stats before we get to Mike McDaniel two of just one for seven on twenty plus air yard throws for six d yards and a touchdown, the one tyreek obviously just two for six, and the intermediate for twenty five yards. It's a lot

like last year's stat line there. That's a killer combined, just three for thirteen on ten plus yard throws for eighty five yards and a touchdown. The ball was out quick in bowl scenarios two point three seven seconds in the deep shots two point three to the intermediate. He was two for six when he was blitzed for sixty yards and the touchdown when he was not blitzed, eight for twenty two and eighty five yards pressured three for

eight for twenty six yards. For the first time in a while, He's not top of the league in passer rating. He's point two points behind Jalen Hurst for the league lead one oh eight point four to one oh eight point two. He's second total QBR behind Mahomes and third and e p A per play behind Alan and Mahomes. He dropped a second in touchdown right behind Mahomes by a tenth of a point six five to six four. He's seventh and lowest I n T rate, sixth and

lowest sack rate. I give you these as a way to remind you it's been a very fruitful offensive season for the quarterback. Two games. Don't just wipe that away. Abnormally low receiving numbers, as you can imagine, Tyreek leaves the way with eight point one yards per target, lower than se an average, still a good number. Three point to four yards per route rand is still fantastic. He seems impervious to slumps even when the offense is not clicking.

Waddle just seven yards per target another week with the low y p PR one point one one is criminally low for Jylan Waddle. Jeff Wilson was at one point seven three and nobody else cleared one or even point three three for that matter. Trent Sherfield, we saw the least amount of separation all year. Next Gen had them playing press on half of Tyreek snaps against him, similar number for Jalan Waddle. These two last two weeks are pretty unique in terms of the defensive styles compared to

how most of the league operates. But it's not like it's something they never do and just started doing it. Remember, the Chargers signed one of the best man cover corners from football and J. C. Jackson, and they clearly coached up their depth to play with that style and play it well. In the game on Sunday, most Aret had three point three six yards after initial contact on four misstackles on eleven rush attempts. That's very good. Pressures allowed just six too, Ron one, Rob Jones to Hunt one,

and Shell to Williams with none. Defensively, Phillips had seven pressures, Chubb had six, Wilkins, war Row three, Cohu and Baker two apiece. Seven guys had one thirty one total pressures. We have to finish those man run stops. Phillips and Wilkins had five apiece, Baker and Roe had four cohu and Steler had three apiece, Holland and e Rob had two, and four guys had one. Xavian Howard played fifty eight

coverage snaps one hundred and six yards. He drew Mike Williams eighty two percent of the time per next Gen, and gave up three catches on ninety seven yards, all of those on vertical routes against single high coverage. That's where your star cornerback needs to excel, and he did in this game. Katr co who fifty six snaps eighty three yards, key on crossing thirty seven snaps thirty six yards. And that's short stats from this game for Pro Football Focus.

Let's go ahead and take our last break and come back on the other side. And here from head coach Mike McDaniel. That's Next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Before we hear from head coach Mike McDaniel, let's go ahead and list the snap counts from the game. What we learned from those uh In this Chargers defeat the entire offensive line and

the quarterback went wire to wire. Hasn't happened very frequently the season, but does in this one snaps for all six players. Waddle leads all receivers, playing eighty four percent. Tyreek, of course, managing the injuries and the ankle that he had thirty four snaps good for two thirds of the workload, and then Sherfield, so again those top three guys pretty consistently. Cedric Wilson gets twenty snaps, that's of the workload, and then Freddie Swain played seven snaps in the game. At

tight end. Dirham Smith leads away with thirty snaps. Might get sick, he plays twenty in the game. Alec Ingold also gives you twenty at full back and in the running back position most diret plays seventy. After the Jeff Wilson injury, he of course played just eight snaps in the game, and savon Akmed gives you five, so pretty much the same story. On offense, you go to the defensive side of the ball. Holland played all eighty snaps. Man,

he's getting his money's worth this year. Isn't name kator cohu Xaviing Howard played all but one snaps in the game. Jerome Baker missed just four snaps in the game, seventy six total for him. And then we get those two guys up front that never leave the field at tough position. Seeler sixty seven snaps, Wilkins Sixte's six good for eighty four and eighty two percent of the workload. Phillips gives you fifty nine. So it's just those three guys have

been so reliable. Eric Rowe with the injury, played two thirds of the snaps fifty three in the game. Bradley Chubb played fifty. Keion Crossing was on the field for forty four snaps. That's that's more than half of the snaps of the cornerback position, and Elijah Campbell gave me twenty five snaps in the defensive back will Veron McKinley playing sixteen and Clayton Federal was out there for three as well. Other linebackers, Roberts played forty three, just over

half of the snaps. Melvin Ingram pretty familiar or I should say, uh ordinary snap count for him thirty seven in this game. Duke Riley similar story, twenty six for him. Van Ginkl, Jenkins and Vernon McKinley all played sixteen snaps. And then Justin Zimmer gave you eight and Sam egg Von gave you once. Not a ton to learn from there. I think injuries is kind of the key, uh takeaway there in terms of how many guys were called upon to play crucial snaps. But that's your snap counts for

the game on Sunday. Let's go ahead and hear from head coach Mike McDaniel on Monday, who' said the Toronto armstead came out of the game film pretty good, so that's a good sign. As far as playing through that peck strand that he suffered mentioned Tyreek Hill did a good job of toughing it out, but he'll come in for treatment this week and from all indications it's just bumps and bruises and he should be able to work

through it this week. Eric Rowe seems more up in the air day to day type of stuff and we'll have time to figure out this week. Same story for Jeff Wilson, who's also day to day. They avoided catastrophe, as coach said, we'll see about his availability this week. I want to play four sound bites here from Mike McDaniel too. Are this kind of question and follow up

will go ahead and play those back to back. He was asked about the importance of these must win games and how you kind of manage the team and message the your messaging to the team, I should say about these very important lace season games, and then he was asked to follow up, is that on the players exclusively? Here's coach one to back to back answers. I think you have to you try your best to condition your team.

UM that that is always the case, only because you don't um, you're not promised anything and you don't know how things are gonna layout. I think, uh, you know, the the my approach has been to two make sure that the each game, UM, you know, especially since the bye, each game was treated uh with the severity of a playoff game. UM. And you know, I think that that's

something that a young team, you're you're worried about. UM. I think our our team has looked at things in terms of preparation, UM, and intent has looked at the

past couple of games that way. And you know, I think part of where we're at, you know, sitting on a two game losing streak, has to do with um, you know, certain guys possibly pressing, pressing UM and playing outside of the outside of the scheme to a degree, UM to try to make plays and and you you know, really down the stretch of a season, it will always be this way. Every game will always matter in December and January if you're in contention because you're talking about UM, seeding,

home field advantage, UM, all of those things. On top of you want to be playing your best ball. UM. You know, if you're able to make the playoffs, you don't want to be going in there limping into the tournament. So I think you know that it's been very, very valuable UM experience, UH going against UM specifically the last the last two weeks against some playoff caliber teams. And you know, whether or not that benefits us moving forward is for the team to determine. Do you learn from it?

You know it's the hardest part of professional sports, UM, but football specifically, you do so much prep for your seventeen ops, right you you worked that whole week, UM, and then when the result doesn't end up the way you want it, UM, it's a lot easier to point fingers or give reasons UM, because you know, bottom line is it it's hard to UM. It's hard to digest

that failure. You're talking a lot of waking hours and determination a lot of people in a concerted effort, and you fail, um at the at the task at hand. But those can be um the best things. And I've certainly been on teams where uh it's it's been the whole reason we were able to um get into the playoffs and do damage in the playoffs, UM and progress through the playoffs was because they they were able to take one or two of those um you know, late November, December,

January law uses and learn from it. So that that's the that's the objective of the team right now. UM from my standpoint is to identify and um and avoid you know, the natural human reaction which is like, oh this hurts too much, this is this is too hard or whatever. You know, I'm I'm not going to invest as much emotionally. No, this is this is where um you get to find out a lot about coaches, players

and and really everybody we're working with, you know. So it's a great opportunity um uh that we have right now and moving forward, is that all on the players were is there something new and your staff can do to make sure they don't absolutely not. It's not all all the players. It's far from it. UM. I think the ideal what you really want in in your football team is you want the players to think it's all the players, and you want the coaches to think it's

all the coaches, and it's somewhere in between. But not I. It's the furthest from that. I I don't UM, you know. I I try to lead by example, and I'm ill. I'm always the first one to be super critical of every single decision, you know, every single you know, trying to find the wise of why we're not performing. That's that's my job, UM, and and the job I don't think it's done very well when you're like, ah, it's somebody else's fault, you know, that's that. No, that's not

how UM. It's trying to identify and trying to learn from. Because what I do know is the I've never witnessed, UM firsthand, any sort of team that hasn't gone through some sort of turmoil, adversity or UM losing games that they feel they're very capable of winning, or UM any of those things. I've never been around a team that's not gone through that and then had success you know, you gotta pay the piper at some point. UM. This

is what what the National Football League is about. It is it's about UM giving your all, um, and when it doesn't work out, getting better from it, not worse. So we have to find a way to do that. UM. You know, I was hoping that that would be the case this past game. It wasn't. So does that UM,

I don't think that. I see it as an opportunity really because that that's I know that the only formula for the ultimate end result that everyone aspires for, the only formulas to go through that and come out the opposite end, um, uh, getting better from it, not worse. Two more here for head coach Mike McDaniel. He was asked what was the issue point blank also about how

do you get the run game going? His answer was long and in depth, and I thought very you know, very instructive about how he thinks about two games losing streak. We talk about a frustrating uh, a frustrating UM film to watch. Was you know, just just taking that to the face because UM, you know, I think we're I think we're capable of UH executing on a multitude of fronts that we didn't and so then my job is to really assess, you know, what are the common denominators.

One thing that stood out, UM on both sides of the ball were UM in certain situations. Uh, you know, there were guys went from playing within their assignment on both offense and defense to getting into a mode where hey, I'm gonna make the play. And that is and understandable emotion from competitors that are highly invested. But you have

to learn UM sometimes the hard way. And and unfortunately, I feel like that was the case with us yesterday, that that you don't you don't do that UM in eleven on eleven football, Uh, with with any sort of consistency or success. So I saw UM, you know guys guys kind of you know on offense maybe uh maybe adjusting a route or um, you know, trying to strain another revolution before looking for the ball, or um maybe uh attacking a read that you know it wasn't necessarily

primary in the progression or maybe UM. There was a couple instances of of guys really trying to UM engulf the defender at the expense of you know what our foundational techniques of how to how to block people and as a result, kind of got out of position. UM. Defensively, I saw guys be very um gap sound and and and rushed conscious when uh in terms of you know, getting after the quarterback, but then all of a sudden UM in one series, uh, you know, avoiding rush lanes

or um, you know, jumping out of gaps. It wasn't one player, it wasn't one position, it wasn't um, it wasn't one side of the ball. So to me, that's very telling UM in terms of there's a lot of guys pressing UM, and you know, the job of the coaching staff, the job of the players, all of us collectively is to identify why and fix it because it's not no one else is going to fix it for us, and if we want different results, we're gonna have to UM,

you know, kind of address things that are difficult. It's difficult to um, like I said before, fully invested into something and then fall short. But to me, that's where people are made or broken this league. It's how you respond to stuff. It's not no coincidence that my first mantras adversity as an opportunity. I saw you see this coming a mile away, and this you're not void of this UM in any sort of successful season. This is

the name of the game. But you have to be able to UM as a group, have a collection of people that are willing to be accountable UM and and UH while also you know, being able to handle that that emotional letdown because it's a lot of investment guys, I mean guys were guys were in the tank. They did not expect that result. But the National Football League you have to learn that when certain things don't get done,

you shouldn't expect anything less. That was a good football team that that had UM, that had all of their reasons to go ahead and try to win that game, and you know what they did. You have to live with that. I think if you UM, I think you have a chance UM to be happy with your game, season, year, career. If in those moments you say, okay, you know what, this is hard, that means this is just my style. I'm well willing to look look at myself in the

mirror and see how we can adjust. UM and to me, UM, you all of those things will handle themselves if collectively we're able to do We're able to do that. It's a tough task, but you know, winning stuff. Last question here from Mike McDaniel. He was asked, is this something where in self scouting you need to make philosophical changes or just do what you do better? Here's Mike McDaniel. You know, I would be very worried if within uh you know, the framework of the things that we've been

working on since August, if there wasn't answers through technique. UM. But as far as uh, you know, I don't look at any game. I look at every single game is how to apply our techniques. Um. But you don't you don't necessarily give the same presentation or you know that there's you're always adjusting to defenses that never stops. UM. And I think yet, yeah, you look at you take a hard look at, um why stuff isn't working. And I think you'd be a fool to continue to do

stuff that doesn't work. Um. You're trying to find the right formula for your matchups and and various things, UM well, positioning your players to be successful. Um. And UM, just I I don't look at it any different when you know you guys are high five and a productive offensive day, that that's in the past. To me, Um, that means nothing for the next opponent, um, And and you have to find a way to for your players to be

successful against the next opponent. So that that is very much at the forefront of my mind, um, each and every week week, and of course it wouldn't wouldn't be anything less, you know, after you have results that aren't aren't really up to your standard. Alright, there you go. We were checking in right around a half hour before head coach Mike McDaniel spoke. But he's always so interesting and gives us valuable thought. There's I thought I go

ahead and play some longer additions of his answers. There you can find the entire thing, and it's entirety up on YouTube on the team YouTube channel. And the meantime, it's gonna be my time. You all, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple's podcast podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. No podcast until Friday next when I talk to you guys, will be the game preview for the Buffalo Bills, and then next

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