November 24, 2024 • 36 mins
The recap show is live as Travis takes a look at how the Dolphins were able to cruise to victory over the Patriots. The takeaways, breaking down the game’s key moments, audio from Coach and the QB and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
To on the Move Gallan JEP Speedways, Peace Jo Hell,
peas do from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist
Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
He's got my havnds in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, well,
the Dolphins are streaking.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thanks twin s win.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Win win win.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, everything goes win win.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Win win. As Jalen Waddle said again again again three
in a row, back to five and six. We got
the Thanksgiving Day game setup we all wanted before we
talk about winning that one. Let's go ahead and focus
on the thirty four to fifteen thumping of the Patriots
here at home. Takeaways, a game scripts, some stats we'll
hear from coach Tua and Chop Robinson from the Baptist
(01:05):
Hell Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is
the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Excellent another of Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So the Dolphins that you kind of got used to
the last couple of years and had to take a
short hiatus during the stretch that Tua was down. Basically, well,
the Dolphins team that you had been looking forward to
seeing all year is officially back, and with this resounding
victory over the Patriots, especially in the way that first
half went, that kind of felt like old times again,
but in a much more improved and evolved and more
(01:36):
complete way, didn't it. Let's go ahead and talk about
the stats from this one, because Miami was dominant. There
was one point in the game where it was two
eighty to eighty in total yards. And in the second
half things got a little bit sloppy at times, and
we'll cover that and hear from head coach or from
Tua tongue by lower rather on how they can clean
that up. But I mean in the game, twenty three
first downs to fourteen for the Patriots. This was our
worst third down game in quite a while, four for twelve,
(01:59):
which is good for some teams. For us, it's a
pretty big step in the other direction. The Patriots were
just three for fourteen. Miami had no fourth down attempts today.
The Patriots were one for three on the critical down.
Miami had three hundred and seventy three yards of offense.
I mean, I talked about it back when you know,
playoffs seemed a little bit lost and now they're back
on again in terms of where the Dolphins are in
(02:20):
the standings. But if we can just continue to post
four hundred yard days with thirty points of offense, I
would feel very good going into the offseason. But we've
done that and accomplished the wins to put ourselves back
in the mix. So three seventy three to two sixty nine,
Miami had three zho eight through the air compared to
one eighty three for the Patriots. We did get out
rushed in this one eighty six to sixty five. We
(02:40):
ran three more plays in the Patriots sixty six to
sixty three, one turnover for the Dolphins, two for the Patriots.
The Dolphins were sacked twice. They had four sacks of
their own and just three penalties for seventeen yards for
Miami in this one. We're gonna come back and talk
about that later in the game. The Patriots had ten
for seventy five. Miami had the football for just over
(03:01):
thirty two minutes, and the game started off kind of
like you hoped it would, kind of like you'd expect
it would. They get a three and out on defense,
and my first note was the Benito Jones on a
stack and shed rep right away. He took the guard
back two yards, stacked him, shedded him, made the play
right there. For I think it was a one yard
game once the running back fell forward. Then the Dolphins
(03:21):
came out of this look that looked to me like
covers zero, but I think they rotated and to cover
one like man free with the single high safety. And
I put that note in there because I'm thinking about
the Raiders game plan last week and how it seemed
to kind of rely upon like let's just keep them
in front of us and rally up and tackle. They
got after Drake May with a game plan today and
I'm looking forward to watching it on tape to tell
(03:42):
you what I think happened in terms of how they
called that game. But they got the checkdown, they got
the rally up and the tackle short of the sticks
to get a three and out right away. And then
Malik Washington has a very smart, like veteran presence play
for a rookie to let this punt drop and he's
playing it in front of him, and then it keeps
quiet hands like receivers do on deep shots, where he
(04:03):
didn't like show that he was gonna grab it, and
he gets rabbed next to the football and then cradles
it and takes off and takes it back to the
seventeen yard line. When he did that at the five
yard line, had that ball bounced again, maybe the Patriots
down that thing inside the five yard line. So a
smart play there from the rookie, but Miami can't do
anything with it. A four play nineteen yard drive, you
get eleven yards and the opening play to John new Smith,
(04:23):
which like, here we go again, right, and then Devon
h Chan broke some tackles and turned to a zero
yard gain. I thought into seven yards pushing the pile,
but then the Dolphins got kind of stuck in the mud.
They were playing aggressive man coverage with a zero look.
On third and two, they pressed up and two. I
tried to throw a speed out to John new Smith, which, man,
the more we watch John new Smith get involved in
this offense, the more it looks like he's kind of
(04:44):
being schemed for, being planned for in terms of like
critical throws and money moments, and he's been executing those
for the last month or so here, So a big
time boost for Miami in terms of their offense having
another go to guy in that situation that they couldn't
convert here, thought the defender was a little early no flag,
I wouldn't I probably wouldn't throw a flag there either.
Then the Patriots had what I thought was their best
(05:05):
drive of the entire game, a twelve play sixty yard
drive that took seven and a half minutes off the
clock and produced a missed field goal of forty five yards.
And it was basically a little bit of run game success,
not a whole lot, but Drake may just finding his
way in terms of creating off schedule, off script and
creating out of the structure and getting on the edge
and running the football and then throwing some passes off
(05:25):
those looks as well. But they kept getting behind the
chains offensively all day. They had a false start that
put him at first and fifteen a positive gain, then
another negative game that put him at second in sixteen.
And that's kind of the modern theory of NFL defenses.
You can force these offenses to play, you know, ten
twelve play drives, then you put yourself in a position
where a couple of mistakes can put you behind the
(05:46):
chains and you can't get out from behind that, and
so they did keep getting out from behind that because
he would find a way to you know, get off
the edge and check it down to Antonio Gibson or
Pop Douglas or Hunter Henry and they would create form
after the fact. Now they did bog down. There was
a second and six of the Patriots at the twenty
yard line and they were offensive off sides and the
guy that was the right tackle blocking, Chop Robinson, holds him,
(06:08):
so it makes for second and sixteen. They have a
miscommunication on that throw creates a third and sixteen. They
run the ball to get a better field goal situation,
but Kalaeis Campbell is not fooled and stops it for
a three yard gain. So the Dolphins just found ways
to win despite getting you know, on their back heel
on that drive, and the Patriots paid off by missing
the field goal. And then Miami goes back to what
exactly they've been doing for the last month. An eight play,
(06:29):
sixty five yard drive that took four minutes off the
clock and it results in a seven yard touchdown pass
his first of four on the day from Tua to
tight end John hw Smith, and it started off the
drive the same way stick nod to John who Smith
stick nods when you basically get down the field, turn
your head back to the quarterback with one step, and
then go right back vertical down the field. And he
hit that for a twelve yard gain, and then Waddle
(06:51):
catches the dig route against man coverage, and the Patriots
were in this man coverage look throughout most of the game.
I'm really curious to see how that comes out from
Next Gen or from True Media in terms of how
they played this, because I thought it was man coverage
almost exclusively in this game, which that's a big deal
to me because we'll talk about it later on. But
I feel like the Dolphins have earned themselves back into
(07:12):
the coverage from the opposing defense that you don't want
to play against these guys, which is man coverage because
all they have is man beaters and Tyreek and Waddle
and now John new Smith and OBJ can do it
and great Craft can do it. Eight Like, that's not
a good place to be when you're facing this Dolphins offense.
But what's worse that or in being aggressive and trying
to force the issue, or staying on your back heel
and playing this soft zone that Tua just carves up
(07:33):
and eats up and down the entire field while chewing
off eight nine minutes of the clock. You can't win.
But they run this single high look and Tua throws
this shot to Waddle, who gets across the face of
the corner back and then it's a safety trying to
basically chase him down from a flat foot position and
he can't do it. And you see Wattle streaking across
the field for twenty four yards and he ran the
width of the entire field too, And I'm just been
(07:55):
dying to see that, and it was so beautiful to
get a look at it. Do the exact same thing
in Tyreek. One play later, he could tackle Bill for
eleven yards. And then they get themselves into a third
and three at the twelve yard line too. Was hardcount
gets them to come over the last scrimage for a
first down. That's two weeks in a row that he's
had a hard count that worked, And then the first
and goal went for nothing. Second goal was an inside
slant to Obj against Christian Gonzalez, a pretty tough matchup.
(08:17):
That's their best player, and he has a perfect rep
to break it up. But then Tua finds John new
Smith on the crosser for six where he felt pressure,
stepped up off the spot and found John who on
that little drag route for a touchdown, which to me
looked like it was deep into the progression. And let's
actually go ahead and hear from Tua on his ability
to get through progressions, because that was kind of the
story of the day for me, was his ability to
find time in the pocket through good pass protection from
(08:38):
the Dolphins offensive line, survey the defense and do what
he does best and make good decision. Let's go ahead
and hear from Tua on the progression of the offense.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Well, it's just going through the progressions. I think that's
where we've taken a step forward in this offense in
retrospect to last year. Is one and two, aren't there.
We're able to flip our feet work through the progression
and what that entails for us if he's open, if not,
you know, knowing where our checkdowns are. I think that's
(09:06):
the biggest difference.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
And we've made no mistake about it here on this
show that that's an area of growth for two of
this offseason that has really really made a big impact
on what this team has been able to accomplish here
through the last I guess five weeks. With his return
to the lineup, the Patriots get the ball back. They
go three plays minus fifteen yards in less than a minute.
Sealer bowls up a play for a six yard loss
as him and Jordan Brooks arrive to clean that thing up,
(09:28):
and Stealer wins so dominantly that he gets into the
line of scrimmage like before the offensive line can you
even get to that spot? And it forces these backs
to like bubble and go backwards, and then once he
doesn't make the initial tackle, they go further backwards, and
then Jordan Brooks and Jaylen Ramsey can rally up and
make the tackle. And then we get a Quinton Bell
Chop Robinson meet at the quarterback where they come as
(09:49):
they kind of sandwich Drake May together cater Coho's in
phase down the field incomplete pass and then Chopp gets
a big sack a third and sixteen win where he
smokes the right tackle. The entire defense runs down to
the opposing end zone and does the chop celeration in
perfect synchronization in the end zone. What a fun series
that was. Miami gets the ball back and pays it
off with another touchdown drive nine plays sixty six yards,
(10:11):
almost five minutes off the clock, culminating in a nine
yard Devon eight Chan touchdown reception, and alec Ingold gets
back into the game today, his first game in a
couple of weeks, and he has a nice lead block
for an eight seven yard eight Chan run, and then
that gets us a third down play where Jalen Wattle
takes the slant and takes he catches the slam, the
cornerback jumps in his back and he carries him from
(10:32):
for like twelve yards. It's like a five yard completion.
Waddle carries this defensive back and picks up seventeen for
number seventeen and once again they're still in single high coverage.
And they tried this one on one ball with Christian
Ellis to Devon Achan. That's a matchup I like a lot.
The Dolphins did too. I thought he had a step,
but the ball was just a tiny bit underneath where
it had to be and allowed Ellis to make a
(10:52):
play on the football to break it up. They go
quick swing to Maleague Washington for one yard, and once
again it's a third long situation, but Luckily we have
this quarterback who can deal in those situations, and he
finds waddle on inside access to get thirteen yards down
to the ten yard line, and then the now screen
to Devon eight Chan weaving his way for six yards.
And you know, I'm gonna talk about some takeaways, but
I just feel like the Dolphins have kind of found
(11:13):
a solution to some red zone not I wouldn't say woes,
but just where they could get better at. Last year,
they found a way to get better at that. We'll
come back and talk about that more in the takeaways.
So Miami is a fourteen to zip lead. Patriots go
three and out a three play, one yard drive, A
hold puts him behind the sticks. They throw two short completions.
Then the Dolphins heat up. Drake made with the blitz
(11:34):
and he misses. He had the hot route figured out,
but he just missed the receiver. Whether it was miscommunication,
miss timing the wrong route, whatever it was, the ball
was not where the receiver was and that leads to
a quick three and out and Miami goes right back
down the field ten plays, eighty yards, four minutes and
thirteen seconds, and again it's Devon eight Chan with a
touchdown reception. They did have a second and nine drop
(11:55):
in the drive that looked like it could have maybe
put the drive in some peril that looked like a
fumble as well, but it was ruled a Julian Hill
incomplete pass. And then on third and nine, Tua gets
off the spot and fires to Waddle with anticipation right
on the money. Wattle elevates to pull the ball down
from the traffic there and the Pats are they just
continue to challenge the Dolphins with their safeties either cheated
(12:15):
up or playing straight single high safety, and Miami said,
all right, well we have two very good receivers. We're
going to attack them. And that's what they did. And
then Jalen Wright gets a ten yard run on an
end a round where he takes that little no look
flip that Tua does. And then Tua had this really
sick throw to Jaalen Waddle on a deep out against
outside leverage. And there are a few receivers in this
league that can do this like Wattle does, where he
(12:36):
can win the route to the leverage the defense is playing.
This defensive back is outside leverage trying to take away
the outbreaking route. He gets around him, stacks him. Tua
throws this really good ball to like the low perimeter.
He digs it out, makes the catch, first down Dolphins
and then a third and three in the red zone
the plus eleven yard line. Maybe my favorite design of
the entire year, where I'll look at it on film
(12:57):
more tomorrow, But I think what I saw was Reak
and Waddle were shot gun sidecar to Tua and not reaking.
Wattle reaking and a Chan, and they had the bunch
trips to the one side of the formation, and they
fake the give to Tyreek to that side, and the
entire defense collapses over and then a Chan just sneaks
out into the flat the other side, and nobody goes
(13:18):
with him for a walk in touchdown twenty one to nothing.
At this point of the game, Patriots three and out
minus ten yards. Chop comes clean and drills Drake may
I still think that the ball was fumbled. The arm
was going forward to the letter of the law technically
tells you it's an incomplete pass, But just like the
physics of the game, the way the ball popped out
of his hand as he was coming forward with it,
(13:39):
it kind of looked to me like it was a fumble,
but I get the call and then agbad does get
the sack on third down to clean up the drive,
get the Dolphins off the field, and then it's a
twenty one yard field goals. Miami drives at seven plays
fifty six yards. Wattle has this gorgeous adjustment coming back
to the football on a slot fade, which is one
of two's best throws in the entire bag. He comes
back in and gets it for a twenty nine yard gain,
(14:01):
and he has one hundred and eighteen yards in the
first half. At this point, he became the first Dolphin
with one hundred yards plus in the first half of
a game since Jalen Wadda last year against the Jets
in the game when Tyreek Hill was out, then Tyreek
runs a beautiful corner route down to the three yard line,
still in a man coverage, he gets big separation. Tua
finds him for twenty yards and then two incompletions where
Tua kind of got a little bit. I thought, slop
(14:23):
you at the ball, putting it in harm's way. He
even mentioned it. In fact, let's go ahead and go
to Tua here, who talked about or no, rather we'll
come back to that. He talked about this later on,
but he mentioned there was just too many hands on
footballs down there in the end zone on that final
drive and Waddle damn near caught a deflection off of
the one of those pass breakups. So they kick a
field goal there, go up twenty four to nothing the Patriots,
(14:43):
and the half with a nil down there at the
end of the half, So let's go ahead and take
our first break. Come back on the other side to
the second half and the five takeaways, and I have
a bunch more soundbites for you guys from coach and
Tua and Chop. That's all next Draft Time Podcast, Your
host Travis Wingfield brought to you Bye Auto Nation. Before
we get to the second half game script here, I
(15:04):
want to just hear some sound from Tula because I
thought this was very instructive about the team's mindset and
the quarterbacks approach to things. Because just because you have
one half of dominant, you know, put them away football,
which you kind of did in the first half of
this game. There's a higher expectation for both this player
and this team, especially if they want to get to
where they want to go to and That's what Tua
talks about here with how happy he was with the
(15:26):
performance and then going into the game on Thursday against
the Packers. Let's go ahead and hear from the quarterback
before we do the second half games.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
You know, it's always great to win, it's always great
to enjoy the win. But there are some things second
half wise that we knew we could have capitalized on
that we didn't, Things that we said we wanted to
do coming out in the second half that we didn't,
and you know, those can be frustrating, but I would say,
you know, it's we're still below the five hundred threshold
(15:55):
and it's a long way to where we want to
get to. So we'll enjoy this win, but you know this,
this next one is going to be big for us,
and we're excited to go down there to Green Bay
and you know, show everybody on primetime a wee can do.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And it began with the Dolphins having the football to
kick off that second half with a three play, four
yard drive where they tried to run the little glance
off of the fake swing that wasn't there. But I
liked how Tua and we'll get to this as well
as Tua Man. They just have like options and then
like options for when the options on available, like they
run this. They want to hit the glance down the
(16:29):
middle of the field. It's not there. And the reason
they can pull guys away from the attention of that
part of the field is this little flat route that
you can run. But because they, you know, give more
attention to the glance route, the flat route is there.
And he did that and they got a compleation. They
got a nice gain. But then Christian Barmore Saximon third
down and they get their second Jake Bailey punt in
(16:51):
the last nine quarters. After having some very highly efficient
offensive football, the Patriots get it back and they have
a ten play twenty seven yard drive that ends in
a punt where they brought Javon Hall and the Dolphins
off the edge. Him and Ogball both forced May to
bubble all the way around this particular formation, which, by
the way, Drake make him play man. He's got some
real skill to his game. But on this one, and
(17:11):
this was constant about the course of the game, he
had to like flee and take you know, five eight
yards backwards just to get himself in position to have
a chance to attack the line of scrimmage, and the
Dolphins were doing all this different stuff with their linebackers,
their safeties, their corners and blitzing, and I'd love the
game plan. But he found a way to get four
yards there, and they move the chains eventually on the
hands of the face penalty of the Dolphins, first penalty
of the entire game at that point, and then they
(17:33):
get a first down hold the Bodito Jones draws with
his pass rush really coming alive the last couple of weeks.
They get a third and ten where May extends and
creates and finds Kendrick Bourn for eleven yards. But then
Quentin Bell gets a big pass rush win and forces
a throwaway after another Patriots penalty, and then third and seventeen,
they tried a double pass and the Dolphins had discipline
to match the downfield shot, the throwbacks shot. Everything on
(17:55):
that play was covered by Miami, and they have to
punt the ball after having the ball for five minutes
and ten plays. Not where you want to be. Miami
gets it back though, and they punt it themselves, and
it was kind of the Jalen Wright show in that
third quarter. He had a nice explosive run, ripping through
two arm tackles and picking up twelve yards to get
the Dolphins off the shadow of their own goalpost. And
then they had the fake toss cross to Tyreek Hill
(18:15):
where he gets eleven yards going across the linebacker's face,
where the ball is out before he's even clear the linebacker.
Just more vintage Dolphins stuff. Looks awesome. They get a
DPI on Kyle Dugger on john Y Smith. Then they
lose three yards on a swing route Raheem Moster, they
pick up eight yards to Julian Hill, and then third
and five was maybe my favorite throw of the entire day,
(18:36):
where he runs this takeoff this slot fade from a
bunch set and the ball was right there and he
lays out and it's like right in his hands. It
looks like it they'd be a vintage like Odell Beckham.
Nice catch with a perfect throw from Tua, maybe his
maybe his Dolphins, you know, welcome to Miami moment in
a way, and he just can't secure the catch as
he goes to the ground. I'm sure that he'll he'll
(18:57):
have that one next time. But what a throw from
two of that was, even on an incomplete pass, so
they punt it back and then the Patriots fumble it
back to Miami with Zach Seeler bull rushing his man
running right through him, and then he pokes the ball
three free while holding Drake May up to ensure that
he doesn't lose track of May as he's this elusive,
slippery strong quarterback. It's his four sack of the year.
(19:17):
He forces the fumble, Jordan Brooks picks it up and
runs it back to the twenty five yard line and
the Dolphins paid off two plays later, twenty five yard drive,
forty two second drive where two throws the glance to
Wattle where he threads the needle and then Waddle puts
his shoulder down and runs into the end zone through
a defender and does a great dance. It's not the Wattle.
I kind of missed the Wattle personally, but this was
(19:38):
not the Wattle. But it goes for a touchdown and
it is thirty one nothing Dolphins. But the Patriots answer
back and they get themselves a touchdown with some good
plays from Ramsey on to four Strake May backwards. Jordan
Brooks had to run stuff to create a third and nine,
but Hunter Henry converts that on the sixteen yard play,
and then Chopp has this huge hit on May where
I thought May might not get back up where he
(19:59):
kind of, you know, build Goldberg speared him. But on
that next play on a fourth and fifteen, I think
it was Austin Hooper gets turned free as it looks
like two defenders in the backfield for the Dolphins like
Chase the same route, and Austin Hooper uncovers and May
throws this ball across his body down the field, just
enough strength to get to the receiver and he crosses
the goal line for the Patriots first touchdown and a
(20:19):
thirty one seven lead for Miami. Miami gets it back
and it's three and out again. Patrick Paul checks into
the game for toront Armstead. We still had Jalen Wright
in there for Davon Hchan. You kind of feel like
maybe they're going to start pulling some guys out of
the game as this game gets out of reach with
a short week next week against the Packers on the road.
But then we get a four yard run and then
back to back in completions and that's it. But then
(20:40):
the Patriots turn it back over on downs and You're like, okay,
now we can do that where Chopp gets a PBu
falling back into coverage a fourth down DPI on cam
Smith extends the drive, but we get another fourth and
down and four and Javon Holland has fantastic coverage from
a halfield safety look to undercut this corner route to
Hunter Henry force the incompletion. Miami takes it back and
Scalar Thompson checks into the game, but then he and
(21:03):
Jalen Wright have an exchange issue as the ball bounces backwards.
Christian Gonzalez scoops it up and Skyler had a chance
to make a tackle and I thought he was gonna
get him down. He gave it a great effort, but
Gonzalez breaks the tackle because well, quarterbacks literally don't practice
tackling since like high school before. That so makes sense.
But it's a three play four yard drive and ends
in a sixty two yard Christian Gonzalez scoop and score,
(21:24):
so Miami leads thirty one to fifteen after a successful
two point conversion, and then it's a five play eight
yard drive that takes three and a half minutes off
the clock. As Tua had some screens and some successful
run game with Davon ah Chan back in the game.
But then Tua took a pretty hard hit from Christian
barr More on a third down sack, but it did
take the clock under six point thirty before they punt
it back. And then Tyrrel Dotson Welcome to Miami. He
(21:46):
gets a pick on Drake May when some more pressure
gets in to flex the ball up into the air,
he snags with one hand Dolphins football and the Dolphins
would take a six play twenty one yard drive, some
more screen and run game action to kick a fifty
plus yard field goal for Jason Sanders. He is now
seven for nine on fifty plus yard kicks this year.
And that's how the game ended. So the Dolphins find
a big win despite some sloppiness in the second half.
(22:09):
That you heard two address there off the top. Let's
go ahead and hear real quick I mentioned Chop Robinson's work.
Actually no, let's come back to Chop. I have McDaniel
audio here on Tua Tongue Bai Lowe. He spoke about
his quarterback after the game.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Another game where you know he's he's found a way
to improve the way that he plays the position throughout
the game. So in previous years, you know, we've just
spent a lot of time talking about the most monumental
(22:45):
thing that you have to overcome as a quarterback is
playing the position regardless of the ebbs and flows of motion.
So not changing how you play based upon positive or
negative results and letting every plays stand on its own.
And I think, you know, since maybe the Buffalo game on,
(23:07):
I think he's really taking a step forward in that direction.
So him him playing at the level that I think
that he has the last couple of games was a
feat in it in it of itself, because it's it's
become more of the norm and not the exception. So
I think making the plays that he needs to make,
(23:29):
understanding the progressions and how to get completions, when to
extend plays. Came in at halftime frustrated that he there's
too many hands, as he put it, on a couple
of those red zone ops where he almost turned the
ball over and was frustrated with himself, but then moved on.
(23:52):
And that's the key for our team is when you
have a confident player touching the ball every play that
is pervious to the emotions of the game. Good or bad.
As a collective unit, you can be a problem for
people to defend.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Yeah, I'm just really excited about the growth of this quarterback,
of this offense, of this head coach, and really where
it can go from here. Let's go ahead and take
our last break right there, come back and do five takeaways.
I'm really excited about this segment. I also have more
sound from coach and from Tua and from Chop. That's
all next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought
to you by AutoNation. Five takeaways from a Dolphins thirty
(24:34):
four fifteen win over the Patriots that was actually thirty
one to nothing quickly after the second half began. So
a game that felt like it had kind of gotten
sideways pretty early on, and the Dolphins do, in fact
close it out to put themselves right in position to attack.
As we head into the Packers game in week number thirteen.
Let's see, the Raiders are currently trilling the Broncos by
a touchdown, so they have to finally get that ball back.
(24:56):
So the hope was the Broncos could the Raiders could
pull the upside in Denver, and Miami could then win
in Green Bay, which would then put them in the
seventh seed in the AFC playoffs heading into the week
to the Sunday action of Week thirteen. But let's go
ahead and focus on playoff standings down the road. Let's
talk about this game. Five takeaways. Number one. If you're
gonna play man and single high, we still have that
back of tricks John Who's touchdown third down conversion on
(25:19):
the next drive, both man coverage with single high safeties.
Waddle has that twenty four yard catch and run against
the on a dig against that look, Reek had one
for eleven yards. Wattle had one for seventeen and thirteen
yards on the next drive. That's what this offense kind
of originated in because you didn't want to play two
one zone because he's so meticulous and precise with his accuracy.
(25:41):
And I never thought we were gonna see this much
man coverage again. In fact, the last time I thought
we saw this much man the Chargers ran some two
man in that Week one game last year. But it
was really that Lions game in twenty twenty two when
they kept challenging US and Tua just went nuts in
that game with Tyreek and Waddle both going nuts, and
you really haven't seen much of it since then, But
the Patriots unveiled a bunch of man coverage and the
(26:02):
Dolphins just went crazy against it. And I wonder if,
I kind of wonder if our ability to put other
stuff on tape and be patient and take the short
stuff and take the run game and take the profit.
I wonder if becoming one of the league's most efficient
offenses that way perhaps changed the way teams wanted to
play us. Then again, after what the Patriots did, maybe
it won't because Miami was very tough to stop. And
(26:24):
this one Tua goes twenty nine for forty three hundred
and seventeen yards, four touchdowns, thirty four points. In the game,
we've scored twenty seven, twenty seven, twenty three, thirty four
and thirty four since he came back. I watch a
guy that you know, you heard McDaniel talk about his
ability to improve within the game and the emotional maturity
we've learned. We've seen him, I think, get better against
(26:44):
cover two against two man, how to use his legs better,
how to attack offscript better. Then we finally saw a
team be like, all right, we'll try man coverage against
this and probably shouldn't do that either, because you know
he'll spread it around and when after these dudes, like
the franchise quarterback that he is since he came back
to is one hundred and thirty pass completions on one
hundred and seventy attempts. That's seventy six point three percent
(27:06):
for twelve hundred and seventy seven yards. That's seven and
a half yards per attempt, eleven touchdowns, one pick, and
that is a passer rating of one sixteen point two.
It has been sharp, it has been effective against multiple coverages.
And let's go ahead and hear from Tua after the
game when he was asked about the Patriots heavy use
of man coverage.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
You know, honestly, going into the game, have in my
mind with what they put on film this year, what
they do, and then you go back and look at
the rest of the years where they were successful in
stopping some of our in routes and whatnot. So you
kind of have in mind, Okay, these are the ways
they could potentially play us. But then I also still
(27:44):
have in the back of my mind, you know, be
ready for two, be ready for two man variations of
four whatever that looks like. And so you know, preparing wise,
that's that's sort of how we well, that's sort of
how I go about my process so that I don't
get stuck on you know what the progression is, and
I can progress past their knowing what the coverage is.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
My second takeaway is that the red zone answer you've
been looking for is Devon ah Chan as a wide receiver.
And again I cautioned to say, like they needed to
find solutions to you know, problems because it was number
one offense in the NFL, but they needed to find
ways to be better in the red zone, I thought.
And the answer to that you usually you think, like,
you know, a big tight end, which John new Smith
(28:25):
works pretty good, But how about Devon h Chan as
a pass catcher in the red zone. He caught that
swing touchdown against the Bills back in week two, He
caught a Texas route against the Cardinals in Week eight
for a touchdown. He had the screen touchdown against the
Bills in the second game, and now he has this
one on a quick screen to kick off the game.
It just winds his way through traffic and Aaron Brewer
comes and destroys another defensive back like he has been
(28:47):
doing all year long. They also tried that takeoff I
mentioned to a Chan against the linebacker one on one
from the twenty five yard line, So like, yeah, John
new Smith's been a big part of it, and that
tracks with the stature he provides. But I love that
a red zone solution is this one hundred and ninety
pounds back that's been freaking awesome. And I wrote this
before the second touchdown. They throw a swing route to
him again with Reek in the backfield alongside Tua, and
(29:08):
it gives him a walk in touchdown. So that's five
red zone receiving touchdowns that eight Chan has didn't even
play in the second half of this game, which is
a huge benefit. No, he did play, but he came
in late. It's a huge benefit in a short week
to rest your belcow back, which he is when you
put up that four score lead at halftime. So that
was my second takeaway. My third takeaways the defense bounced
(29:28):
back in a big way after an up and down
performance against the Raiders. Right, the Patriots had that good
drive in the first half, but otherwise it was three
to three and outs. They had multiple three outs in
the second half. They put himself behind the sticks and
I liked how Miami dialed up the pressure on those
third downs and forced may to some mistakes, forced him
into some you know, getting off the spot, and he
created off of some of those plays. But it was
(29:50):
a good mixture of pressure of sim pressure of single
high too deep. They even ran, but I thought looked
like some cover zero, but it would adjust after the
fact nicely. They really adjusted to that drive where he
took him down the field with some scrambles and some
run game, and they went on to force punts on
five of the next six drives after that, with a
missed field goal being the other. And that includes four
to three. Now, so defense, big big game, Seeler Campbell,
(30:11):
both were awesome again, just really good stuff all around
all across this defense. My fourth big takeaway it's the
reinclusion of the Wattle baby. I did the breakdown HQ
showing you guys that there were balls that could be
there for Wattle, but Miami's just taking the high percentage stuff. Well.
Three third down conversions in the first half. He caught
the six for one to eighteen. In that first half.
We saw him catch one and get loose running all
(30:32):
the way across the field. Getting him back to this
production begs the question if they get that from him,
if they have Tyreek, if they have John Eu, if
they have eight Chan, if two was this red hot,
how the hell do you stop this offense? I don't
have that answer right now. I mentioned earlier he was
the first receiver since himself to have one hundred yards
in the first half and on balance on the entire day.
He did end. Let's pull him up real quick, Jalen
(30:54):
Waddle did have eight catches for a buck forty four
and the touchdown. Let's go ahead and hear from McDaniel
on While this is a great SoundBite here talking about
how Waddle state invested when the targets maybe weren't coming
his way, but it's a testament to how this guy
prepares works.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
It's one of my favorite things about this game that
I'll remember is Waddle has been taking his his route,
running his release work the nuances of the receiver position.
He's had so much growth over the last month and
a half while also fielding questions left and right, whether
(31:30):
it's in the in the media or even at home,
or like where's the production, where is the production? Where's
the production? And to get better when the ball isn't
coming your way, so that you're aptly prepared when the
ball does. It's everything that I believe in everything that
it was an earned, earned game for him. He got
(31:54):
the opportunities, and because his mind has been in the
right spot where he's been focused on what he can
control and not all the other noise, he was able
to really make some big time plays in those moments.
So I you know, it's something that I don't think
people uh truly spend the time, uh really putting themselves
(32:20):
into receivers shoes in the National Football League, especially if
you're you're one of the better receivers in the league.
The you have expectations of output that you have no
A lot of times you have no ability to control.
So a lot a lot of players get worse from
(32:41):
situations like that. He's been eager to help the team
win and he's been doing that. We can weak out
by plays off the ball or plays when he doesn't
have the ball, So for him to make some plays
on the ball, this game was much deserved and and
we had a lot of teammates that were fired up.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
My fifth takeaway is chop on one drive, he had
a pressure that forced to throw away. Then the sack
on third down to end the drive, he gets the
near strip sack that gets overturned and the arm wasn't
going forward. It looked like a fumble to me. But
the point was if he just is he's been dominant,
he's been pushing guys back, he's been really incorporating a
secondary move. I was talking to Seth about this. There
(33:22):
was a play against the run where he fought like
hell to get on the outside shoulder of the tight
end and he ended up kind of getting like pushed
back and almost ran over to a point, but he
forced the play back inside and then worked back over
the top of the block to put himself into the
gap to really help, you know, slow the running back down.
So he's getting better in that way. I love the
way he can like set a tackle up to show
(33:43):
an inside move and then dip back onder the outside
shoulder and kind of pin him there with the inside
hand and then use that cornering speed that he has.
He is coming on now. Man, the pressures, the sacks
are piling up, the game changing plays. I want to
go ahead and play a sound by here from Chop Robinson.
We talked about McDaniel's you know press press audio there
on Wattle on the work he's done. Here's Chop talking
about leaning into the presence of Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Mean you feel amazing and just taking taking everything from
the film room to practice, from prajuice to on the
field of news.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
It just it's showing.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Now you're showing me me learning from Chubb, JP, me
doing extra work with my coach and everything they just
taking taken from the guys who know the game so
much or just executing this.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Big game from Chop. He got Seth Levitt's game ball
after the fact on the postgame show. We also gave
it to Tua and Waddle and I also have a
five B for you guys. The Dolphins had one penalty
for the first three quarters, and that would be two
of the last three games the offense went without a penalty.
They had one for fifteen against the Rams on punt team,
but Miami had an illegal motion with nine men's to
play in the game. Now again that said, not the
(34:43):
cleanest finish to a game. You know, a lot of
punts of fumble. Six of the backup quarterback in the
game the sack on two and bar More landed on him,
I just looked a little bit disjointed. I don't really
fault the team for taking their foot off the gas
and essentially killing in the clock, but it wasn't the
prettiest execution down the stretch. But the penalties and the
lack of pre snap penalties is really I think helping
this offense find it stride. So there you go. That's
(35:05):
the podcast. Welcome back tomorrow and break all, break the
tape down as I access the all twenty two and
tell you guys what I think I see from that.
We'll have a short week this week, so I think
I'm gonna have wes Hodgwitch from Packers dot Com on
the show on Tuesday, the game preview Wednesday, and then
Happy Thanksgiving. We'll do it all again with a Thursday
night Friday morning recap. I'll have the film review podcast
(35:25):
for you guys up as well, and we'll do it
all again. So in the meantime, Dolphins five and six
big win. You all please be sure to subscribe to
the podcast, Leave us a rating, leave us a review,
Follow me on social at Wingfold NFL, and the team
at Miami Dolphins. Check out my guys, Seth and Juice
on the Fish Tank podcast. Check out the YouTube channel
for Dolphins, HQ, media availabilities and so much more, and
(35:46):
last button not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time,
fins up, Caroline and Cameron. Daddy, He's coming home.
To on the Move Gallan JEP Speedways, Peace Jo Hell,
peas do from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist
Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
He's got my havnds in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, well,
the Dolphins are streaking.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thanks twin s win.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Win win win.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, everything goes win win.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Win win. As Jalen Waddle said again again again three
in a row, back to five and six. We got
the Thanksgiving Day game setup we all wanted before we
talk about winning that one. Let's go ahead and focus
on the thirty four to fifteen thumping of the Patriots
here at home. Takeaways, a game scripts, some stats we'll
hear from coach Tua and Chop Robinson from the Baptist
(01:05):
Hell Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is
the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Excellent another of Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So the Dolphins that you kind of got used to
the last couple of years and had to take a
short hiatus during the stretch that Tua was down. Basically, well,
the Dolphins team that you had been looking forward to
seeing all year is officially back, and with this resounding
victory over the Patriots, especially in the way that first
half went, that kind of felt like old times again,
but in a much more improved and evolved and more
(01:36):
complete way, didn't it. Let's go ahead and talk about
the stats from this one, because Miami was dominant. There
was one point in the game where it was two
eighty to eighty in total yards. And in the second
half things got a little bit sloppy at times, and
we'll cover that and hear from head coach or from
Tua tongue by lower rather on how they can clean
that up. But I mean in the game, twenty three
first downs to fourteen for the Patriots. This was our
worst third down game in quite a while, four for twelve,
(01:59):
which is good for some teams. For us, it's a
pretty big step in the other direction. The Patriots were
just three for fourteen. Miami had no fourth down attempts today.
The Patriots were one for three on the critical down.
Miami had three hundred and seventy three yards of offense.
I mean, I talked about it back when you know,
playoffs seemed a little bit lost and now they're back
on again in terms of where the Dolphins are in
(02:20):
the standings. But if we can just continue to post
four hundred yard days with thirty points of offense, I
would feel very good going into the offseason. But we've
done that and accomplished the wins to put ourselves back
in the mix. So three seventy three to two sixty nine,
Miami had three zho eight through the air compared to
one eighty three for the Patriots. We did get out
rushed in this one eighty six to sixty five. We
(02:40):
ran three more plays in the Patriots sixty six to
sixty three, one turnover for the Dolphins, two for the Patriots.
The Dolphins were sacked twice. They had four sacks of
their own and just three penalties for seventeen yards for
Miami in this one. We're gonna come back and talk
about that later in the game. The Patriots had ten
for seventy five. Miami had the football for just over
(03:01):
thirty two minutes, and the game started off kind of
like you hoped it would, kind of like you'd expect
it would. They get a three and out on defense,
and my first note was the Benito Jones on a
stack and shed rep right away. He took the guard
back two yards, stacked him, shedded him, made the play
right there. For I think it was a one yard
game once the running back fell forward. Then the Dolphins
(03:21):
came out of this look that looked to me like
covers zero, but I think they rotated and to cover
one like man free with the single high safety. And
I put that note in there because I'm thinking about
the Raiders game plan last week and how it seemed
to kind of rely upon like let's just keep them
in front of us and rally up and tackle. They
got after Drake May with a game plan today and
I'm looking forward to watching it on tape to tell
(03:42):
you what I think happened in terms of how they
called that game. But they got the checkdown, they got
the rally up and the tackle short of the sticks
to get a three and out right away. And then
Malik Washington has a very smart, like veteran presence play
for a rookie to let this punt drop and he's
playing it in front of him, and then it keeps
quiet hands like receivers do on deep shots, where he
(04:03):
didn't like show that he was gonna grab it, and
he gets rabbed next to the football and then cradles
it and takes off and takes it back to the
seventeen yard line. When he did that at the five
yard line, had that ball bounced again, maybe the Patriots
down that thing inside the five yard line. So a
smart play there from the rookie, but Miami can't do
anything with it. A four play nineteen yard drive, you
get eleven yards and the opening play to John new Smith,
(04:23):
which like, here we go again, right, and then Devon
h Chan broke some tackles and turned to a zero
yard gain. I thought into seven yards pushing the pile,
but then the Dolphins got kind of stuck in the mud.
They were playing aggressive man coverage with a zero look.
On third and two, they pressed up and two. I
tried to throw a speed out to John new Smith, which, man,
the more we watch John new Smith get involved in
this offense, the more it looks like he's kind of
(04:44):
being schemed for, being planned for in terms of like
critical throws and money moments, and he's been executing those
for the last month or so here, So a big
time boost for Miami in terms of their offense having
another go to guy in that situation that they couldn't
convert here, thought the defender was a little early no flag,
I wouldn't I probably wouldn't throw a flag there either.
Then the Patriots had what I thought was their best
(05:05):
drive of the entire game, a twelve play sixty yard
drive that took seven and a half minutes off the
clock and produced a missed field goal of forty five yards.
And it was basically a little bit of run game success,
not a whole lot, but Drake may just finding his
way in terms of creating off schedule, off script and
creating out of the structure and getting on the edge
and running the football and then throwing some passes off
(05:25):
those looks as well. But they kept getting behind the
chains offensively all day. They had a false start that
put him at first and fifteen a positive gain, then
another negative game that put him at second in sixteen.
And that's kind of the modern theory of NFL defenses.
You can force these offenses to play, you know, ten
twelve play drives, then you put yourself in a position
where a couple of mistakes can put you behind the
(05:46):
chains and you can't get out from behind that, and
so they did keep getting out from behind that because
he would find a way to you know, get off
the edge and check it down to Antonio Gibson or
Pop Douglas or Hunter Henry and they would create form
after the fact. Now they did bog down. There was
a second and six of the Patriots at the twenty
yard line and they were offensive off sides and the
guy that was the right tackle blocking, Chop Robinson, holds him,
(06:08):
so it makes for second and sixteen. They have a
miscommunication on that throw creates a third and sixteen. They
run the ball to get a better field goal situation,
but Kalaeis Campbell is not fooled and stops it for
a three yard gain. So the Dolphins just found ways
to win despite getting you know, on their back heel
on that drive, and the Patriots paid off by missing
the field goal. And then Miami goes back to what
exactly they've been doing for the last month. An eight play,
(06:29):
sixty five yard drive that took four minutes off the
clock and it results in a seven yard touchdown pass
his first of four on the day from Tua to
tight end John hw Smith, and it started off the
drive the same way stick nod to John who Smith
stick nods when you basically get down the field, turn
your head back to the quarterback with one step, and
then go right back vertical down the field. And he
hit that for a twelve yard gain, and then Waddle
(06:51):
catches the dig route against man coverage, and the Patriots
were in this man coverage look throughout most of the game.
I'm really curious to see how that comes out from
Next Gen or from True Media in terms of how
they played this, because I thought it was man coverage
almost exclusively in this game, which that's a big deal
to me because we'll talk about it later on. But
I feel like the Dolphins have earned themselves back into
(07:12):
the coverage from the opposing defense that you don't want
to play against these guys, which is man coverage because
all they have is man beaters and Tyreek and Waddle
and now John new Smith and OBJ can do it
and great Craft can do it. Eight Like, that's not
a good place to be when you're facing this Dolphins offense.
But what's worse that or in being aggressive and trying
to force the issue, or staying on your back heel
and playing this soft zone that Tua just carves up
(07:33):
and eats up and down the entire field while chewing
off eight nine minutes of the clock. You can't win.
But they run this single high look and Tua throws
this shot to Waddle, who gets across the face of
the corner back and then it's a safety trying to
basically chase him down from a flat foot position and
he can't do it. And you see Wattle streaking across
the field for twenty four yards and he ran the
width of the entire field too, And I'm just been
(07:55):
dying to see that, and it was so beautiful to
get a look at it. Do the exact same thing
in Tyreek. One play later, he could tackle Bill for
eleven yards. And then they get themselves into a third
and three at the twelve yard line too. Was hardcount
gets them to come over the last scrimage for a
first down. That's two weeks in a row that he's
had a hard count that worked, And then the first
and goal went for nothing. Second goal was an inside
slant to Obj against Christian Gonzalez, a pretty tough matchup.
(08:17):
That's their best player, and he has a perfect rep
to break it up. But then Tua finds John new
Smith on the crosser for six where he felt pressure,
stepped up off the spot and found John who on
that little drag route for a touchdown, which to me
looked like it was deep into the progression. And let's
actually go ahead and hear from Tua on his ability
to get through progressions, because that was kind of the
story of the day for me, was his ability to
find time in the pocket through good pass protection from
(08:38):
the Dolphins offensive line, survey the defense and do what
he does best and make good decision. Let's go ahead
and hear from Tua on the progression of the offense.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Well, it's just going through the progressions. I think that's
where we've taken a step forward in this offense in
retrospect to last year. Is one and two, aren't there.
We're able to flip our feet work through the progression
and what that entails for us if he's open, if not,
you know, knowing where our checkdowns are. I think that's
(09:06):
the biggest difference.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
And we've made no mistake about it here on this
show that that's an area of growth for two of
this offseason that has really really made a big impact
on what this team has been able to accomplish here
through the last I guess five weeks. With his return
to the lineup, the Patriots get the ball back. They
go three plays minus fifteen yards in less than a minute.
Sealer bowls up a play for a six yard loss
as him and Jordan Brooks arrive to clean that thing up,
(09:28):
and Stealer wins so dominantly that he gets into the
line of scrimmage like before the offensive line can you
even get to that spot? And it forces these backs
to like bubble and go backwards, and then once he
doesn't make the initial tackle, they go further backwards, and
then Jordan Brooks and Jaylen Ramsey can rally up and
make the tackle. And then we get a Quinton Bell
Chop Robinson meet at the quarterback where they come as
(09:49):
they kind of sandwich Drake May together cater Coho's in
phase down the field incomplete pass and then Chopp gets
a big sack a third and sixteen win where he
smokes the right tackle. The entire defense runs down to
the opposing end zone and does the chop celeration in
perfect synchronization in the end zone. What a fun series
that was. Miami gets the ball back and pays it
off with another touchdown drive nine plays sixty six yards,
(10:11):
almost five minutes off the clock, culminating in a nine
yard Devon eight Chan touchdown reception, and alec Ingold gets
back into the game today, his first game in a
couple of weeks, and he has a nice lead block
for an eight seven yard eight Chan run, and then
that gets us a third down play where Jalen Wattle
takes the slant and takes he catches the slam, the
cornerback jumps in his back and he carries him from
(10:32):
for like twelve yards. It's like a five yard completion.
Waddle carries this defensive back and picks up seventeen for
number seventeen and once again they're still in single high coverage.
And they tried this one on one ball with Christian
Ellis to Devon Achan. That's a matchup I like a lot.
The Dolphins did too. I thought he had a step,
but the ball was just a tiny bit underneath where
it had to be and allowed Ellis to make a
(10:52):
play on the football to break it up. They go
quick swing to Maleague Washington for one yard, and once
again it's a third long situation, but Luckily we have
this quarterback who can deal in those situations, and he
finds waddle on inside access to get thirteen yards down
to the ten yard line, and then the now screen
to Devon eight Chan weaving his way for six yards.
And you know, I'm gonna talk about some takeaways, but
I just feel like the Dolphins have kind of found
(11:13):
a solution to some red zone not I wouldn't say woes,
but just where they could get better at. Last year,
they found a way to get better at that. We'll
come back and talk about that more in the takeaways.
So Miami is a fourteen to zip lead. Patriots go
three and out a three play, one yard drive, A
hold puts him behind the sticks. They throw two short completions.
Then the Dolphins heat up. Drake made with the blitz
(11:34):
and he misses. He had the hot route figured out,
but he just missed the receiver. Whether it was miscommunication,
miss timing the wrong route, whatever it was, the ball
was not where the receiver was and that leads to
a quick three and out and Miami goes right back
down the field ten plays, eighty yards, four minutes and
thirteen seconds, and again it's Devon eight Chan with a
touchdown reception. They did have a second and nine drop
(11:55):
in the drive that looked like it could have maybe
put the drive in some peril that looked like a
fumble as well, but it was ruled a Julian Hill
incomplete pass. And then on third and nine, Tua gets
off the spot and fires to Waddle with anticipation right
on the money. Wattle elevates to pull the ball down
from the traffic there and the Pats are they just
continue to challenge the Dolphins with their safeties either cheated
(12:15):
up or playing straight single high safety, and Miami said,
all right, well we have two very good receivers. We're
going to attack them. And that's what they did. And
then Jalen Wright gets a ten yard run on an
end a round where he takes that little no look
flip that Tua does. And then Tua had this really
sick throw to Jaalen Waddle on a deep out against
outside leverage. And there are a few receivers in this
league that can do this like Wattle does, where he
(12:36):
can win the route to the leverage the defense is playing.
This defensive back is outside leverage trying to take away
the outbreaking route. He gets around him, stacks him. Tua
throws this really good ball to like the low perimeter.
He digs it out, makes the catch, first down Dolphins
and then a third and three in the red zone
the plus eleven yard line. Maybe my favorite design of
the entire year, where I'll look at it on film
(12:57):
more tomorrow, But I think what I saw was Reak
and Waddle were shot gun sidecar to Tua and not reaking.
Wattle reaking and a Chan, and they had the bunch
trips to the one side of the formation, and they
fake the give to Tyreek to that side, and the
entire defense collapses over and then a Chan just sneaks
out into the flat the other side, and nobody goes
(13:18):
with him for a walk in touchdown twenty one to nothing.
At this point of the game, Patriots three and out
minus ten yards. Chop comes clean and drills Drake may
I still think that the ball was fumbled. The arm
was going forward to the letter of the law technically
tells you it's an incomplete pass, But just like the
physics of the game, the way the ball popped out
of his hand as he was coming forward with it,
(13:39):
it kind of looked to me like it was a fumble,
but I get the call and then agbad does get
the sack on third down to clean up the drive,
get the Dolphins off the field, and then it's a
twenty one yard field goals. Miami drives at seven plays
fifty six yards. Wattle has this gorgeous adjustment coming back
to the football on a slot fade, which is one
of two's best throws in the entire bag. He comes
back in and gets it for a twenty nine yard gain,
(14:01):
and he has one hundred and eighteen yards in the
first half. At this point, he became the first Dolphin
with one hundred yards plus in the first half of
a game since Jalen Wadda last year against the Jets
in the game when Tyreek Hill was out, then Tyreek
runs a beautiful corner route down to the three yard line,
still in a man coverage, he gets big separation. Tua
finds him for twenty yards and then two incompletions where
Tua kind of got a little bit. I thought, slop
(14:23):
you at the ball, putting it in harm's way. He
even mentioned it. In fact, let's go ahead and go
to Tua here, who talked about or no, rather we'll
come back to that. He talked about this later on,
but he mentioned there was just too many hands on
footballs down there in the end zone on that final
drive and Waddle damn near caught a deflection off of
the one of those pass breakups. So they kick a
field goal there, go up twenty four to nothing the Patriots,
(14:43):
and the half with a nil down there at the
end of the half, So let's go ahead and take
our first break. Come back on the other side to
the second half and the five takeaways, and I have
a bunch more soundbites for you guys from coach and
Tua and Chop. That's all next Draft Time Podcast, Your
host Travis Wingfield brought to you Bye Auto Nation. Before
we get to the second half game script here, I
(15:04):
want to just hear some sound from Tula because I
thought this was very instructive about the team's mindset and
the quarterbacks approach to things. Because just because you have
one half of dominant, you know, put them away football,
which you kind of did in the first half of
this game. There's a higher expectation for both this player
and this team, especially if they want to get to
where they want to go to and That's what Tua
talks about here with how happy he was with the
(15:26):
performance and then going into the game on Thursday against
the Packers. Let's go ahead and hear from the quarterback
before we do the second half games.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
You know, it's always great to win, it's always great
to enjoy the win. But there are some things second
half wise that we knew we could have capitalized on
that we didn't, Things that we said we wanted to
do coming out in the second half that we didn't,
and you know, those can be frustrating, but I would say,
you know, it's we're still below the five hundred threshold
(15:55):
and it's a long way to where we want to
get to. So we'll enjoy this win, but you know this,
this next one is going to be big for us,
and we're excited to go down there to Green Bay
and you know, show everybody on primetime a wee can do.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And it began with the Dolphins having the football to
kick off that second half with a three play, four
yard drive where they tried to run the little glance
off of the fake swing that wasn't there. But I
liked how Tua and we'll get to this as well
as Tua Man. They just have like options and then
like options for when the options on available, like they
run this. They want to hit the glance down the
(16:29):
middle of the field. It's not there. And the reason
they can pull guys away from the attention of that
part of the field is this little flat route that
you can run. But because they, you know, give more
attention to the glance route, the flat route is there.
And he did that and they got a compleation. They
got a nice gain. But then Christian Barmore Saximon third
down and they get their second Jake Bailey punt in
(16:51):
the last nine quarters. After having some very highly efficient
offensive football, the Patriots get it back and they have
a ten play twenty seven yard drive that ends in
a punt where they brought Javon Hall and the Dolphins
off the edge. Him and Ogball both forced May to
bubble all the way around this particular formation, which, by
the way, Drake make him play man. He's got some
real skill to his game. But on this one, and
(17:11):
this was constant about the course of the game, he
had to like flee and take you know, five eight
yards backwards just to get himself in position to have
a chance to attack the line of scrimmage, and the
Dolphins were doing all this different stuff with their linebackers,
their safeties, their corners and blitzing, and I'd love the
game plan. But he found a way to get four
yards there, and they move the chains eventually on the
hands of the face penalty of the Dolphins, first penalty
of the entire game at that point, and then they
(17:33):
get a first down hold the Bodito Jones draws with
his pass rush really coming alive the last couple of weeks.
They get a third and ten where May extends and
creates and finds Kendrick Bourn for eleven yards. But then
Quentin Bell gets a big pass rush win and forces
a throwaway after another Patriots penalty, and then third and seventeen,
they tried a double pass and the Dolphins had discipline
to match the downfield shot, the throwbacks shot. Everything on
(17:55):
that play was covered by Miami, and they have to
punt the ball after having the ball for five minutes
and ten plays. Not where you want to be. Miami
gets it back though, and they punt it themselves, and
it was kind of the Jalen Wright show in that
third quarter. He had a nice explosive run, ripping through
two arm tackles and picking up twelve yards to get
the Dolphins off the shadow of their own goalpost. And
then they had the fake toss cross to Tyreek Hill
(18:15):
where he gets eleven yards going across the linebacker's face,
where the ball is out before he's even clear the linebacker.
Just more vintage Dolphins stuff. Looks awesome. They get a
DPI on Kyle Dugger on john Y Smith. Then they
lose three yards on a swing route Raheem Moster, they
pick up eight yards to Julian Hill, and then third
and five was maybe my favorite throw of the entire day,
(18:36):
where he runs this takeoff this slot fade from a
bunch set and the ball was right there and he
lays out and it's like right in his hands. It
looks like it they'd be a vintage like Odell Beckham.
Nice catch with a perfect throw from Tua, maybe his
maybe his Dolphins, you know, welcome to Miami moment in
a way, and he just can't secure the catch as
he goes to the ground. I'm sure that he'll he'll
(18:57):
have that one next time. But what a throw from
two of that was, even on an incomplete pass, so
they punt it back and then the Patriots fumble it
back to Miami with Zach Seeler bull rushing his man
running right through him, and then he pokes the ball
three free while holding Drake May up to ensure that
he doesn't lose track of May as he's this elusive,
slippery strong quarterback. It's his four sack of the year.
(19:17):
He forces the fumble, Jordan Brooks picks it up and
runs it back to the twenty five yard line and
the Dolphins paid off two plays later, twenty five yard drive,
forty two second drive where two throws the glance to
Wattle where he threads the needle and then Waddle puts
his shoulder down and runs into the end zone through
a defender and does a great dance. It's not the Wattle.
I kind of missed the Wattle personally, but this was
(19:38):
not the Wattle. But it goes for a touchdown and
it is thirty one nothing Dolphins. But the Patriots answer
back and they get themselves a touchdown with some good
plays from Ramsey on to four Strake May backwards. Jordan
Brooks had to run stuff to create a third and nine,
but Hunter Henry converts that on the sixteen yard play,
and then Chopp has this huge hit on May where
I thought May might not get back up where he
(19:59):
kind of, you know, build Goldberg speared him. But on
that next play on a fourth and fifteen, I think
it was Austin Hooper gets turned free as it looks
like two defenders in the backfield for the Dolphins like
Chase the same route, and Austin Hooper uncovers and May
throws this ball across his body down the field, just
enough strength to get to the receiver and he crosses
the goal line for the Patriots first touchdown and a
(20:19):
thirty one seven lead for Miami. Miami gets it back
and it's three and out again. Patrick Paul checks into
the game for toront Armstead. We still had Jalen Wright
in there for Davon Hchan. You kind of feel like
maybe they're going to start pulling some guys out of
the game as this game gets out of reach with
a short week next week against the Packers on the road.
But then we get a four yard run and then
back to back in completions and that's it. But then
(20:40):
the Patriots turn it back over on downs and You're like, okay,
now we can do that where Chopp gets a PBu
falling back into coverage a fourth down DPI on cam
Smith extends the drive, but we get another fourth and
down and four and Javon Holland has fantastic coverage from
a halfield safety look to undercut this corner route to
Hunter Henry force the incompletion. Miami takes it back and
Scalar Thompson checks into the game, but then he and
(21:03):
Jalen Wright have an exchange issue as the ball bounces backwards.
Christian Gonzalez scoops it up and Skyler had a chance
to make a tackle and I thought he was gonna
get him down. He gave it a great effort, but
Gonzalez breaks the tackle because well, quarterbacks literally don't practice
tackling since like high school before. That so makes sense.
But it's a three play four yard drive and ends
in a sixty two yard Christian Gonzalez scoop and score,
(21:24):
so Miami leads thirty one to fifteen after a successful
two point conversion, and then it's a five play eight
yard drive that takes three and a half minutes off
the clock. As Tua had some screens and some successful
run game with Davon ah Chan back in the game.
But then Tua took a pretty hard hit from Christian
barr More on a third down sack, but it did
take the clock under six point thirty before they punt
it back. And then Tyrrel Dotson Welcome to Miami. He
(21:46):
gets a pick on Drake May when some more pressure
gets in to flex the ball up into the air,
he snags with one hand Dolphins football and the Dolphins
would take a six play twenty one yard drive, some
more screen and run game action to kick a fifty
plus yard field goal for Jason Sanders. He is now
seven for nine on fifty plus yard kicks this year.
And that's how the game ended. So the Dolphins find
a big win despite some sloppiness in the second half.
(22:09):
That you heard two address there off the top. Let's
go ahead and hear real quick I mentioned Chop Robinson's work.
Actually no, let's come back to Chop. I have McDaniel
audio here on Tua Tongue Bai Lowe. He spoke about
his quarterback after the game.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Another game where you know he's he's found a way
to improve the way that he plays the position throughout
the game. So in previous years, you know, we've just
spent a lot of time talking about the most monumental
(22:45):
thing that you have to overcome as a quarterback is
playing the position regardless of the ebbs and flows of motion.
So not changing how you play based upon positive or
negative results and letting every plays stand on its own.
And I think, you know, since maybe the Buffalo game on,
(23:07):
I think he's really taking a step forward in that direction.
So him him playing at the level that I think
that he has the last couple of games was a
feat in it in it of itself, because it's it's
become more of the norm and not the exception. So
I think making the plays that he needs to make,
(23:29):
understanding the progressions and how to get completions, when to
extend plays. Came in at halftime frustrated that he there's
too many hands, as he put it, on a couple
of those red zone ops where he almost turned the
ball over and was frustrated with himself, but then moved on.
(23:52):
And that's the key for our team is when you
have a confident player touching the ball every play that
is pervious to the emotions of the game. Good or bad.
As a collective unit, you can be a problem for
people to defend.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Yeah, I'm just really excited about the growth of this quarterback,
of this offense, of this head coach, and really where
it can go from here. Let's go ahead and take
our last break right there, come back and do five takeaways.
I'm really excited about this segment. I also have more
sound from coach and from Tua and from Chop. That's
all next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought
to you by AutoNation. Five takeaways from a Dolphins thirty
(24:34):
four fifteen win over the Patriots that was actually thirty
one to nothing quickly after the second half began. So
a game that felt like it had kind of gotten
sideways pretty early on, and the Dolphins do, in fact
close it out to put themselves right in position to attack.
As we head into the Packers game in week number thirteen.
Let's see, the Raiders are currently trilling the Broncos by
a touchdown, so they have to finally get that ball back.
(24:56):
So the hope was the Broncos could the Raiders could
pull the upside in Denver, and Miami could then win
in Green Bay, which would then put them in the
seventh seed in the AFC playoffs heading into the week
to the Sunday action of Week thirteen. But let's go
ahead and focus on playoff standings down the road. Let's
talk about this game. Five takeaways. Number one. If you're
gonna play man and single high, we still have that
back of tricks John Who's touchdown third down conversion on
(25:19):
the next drive, both man coverage with single high safeties.
Waddle has that twenty four yard catch and run against
the on a dig against that look, Reek had one
for eleven yards. Wattle had one for seventeen and thirteen
yards on the next drive. That's what this offense kind
of originated in because you didn't want to play two
one zone because he's so meticulous and precise with his accuracy.
(25:41):
And I never thought we were gonna see this much
man coverage again. In fact, the last time I thought
we saw this much man the Chargers ran some two
man in that Week one game last year. But it
was really that Lions game in twenty twenty two when
they kept challenging US and Tua just went nuts in
that game with Tyreek and Waddle both going nuts, and
you really haven't seen much of it since then, But
the Patriots unveiled a bunch of man coverage and the
(26:02):
Dolphins just went crazy against it. And I wonder if,
I kind of wonder if our ability to put other
stuff on tape and be patient and take the short
stuff and take the run game and take the profit.
I wonder if becoming one of the league's most efficient
offenses that way perhaps changed the way teams wanted to
play us. Then again, after what the Patriots did, maybe
it won't because Miami was very tough to stop. And
(26:24):
this one Tua goes twenty nine for forty three hundred
and seventeen yards, four touchdowns, thirty four points. In the game,
we've scored twenty seven, twenty seven, twenty three, thirty four
and thirty four since he came back. I watch a
guy that you know, you heard McDaniel talk about his
ability to improve within the game and the emotional maturity
we've learned. We've seen him, I think, get better against
(26:44):
cover two against two man, how to use his legs better,
how to attack offscript better. Then we finally saw a
team be like, all right, we'll try man coverage against
this and probably shouldn't do that either, because you know
he'll spread it around and when after these dudes, like
the franchise quarterback that he is since he came back
to is one hundred and thirty pass completions on one
hundred and seventy attempts. That's seventy six point three percent
(27:06):
for twelve hundred and seventy seven yards. That's seven and
a half yards per attempt, eleven touchdowns, one pick, and
that is a passer rating of one sixteen point two.
It has been sharp, it has been effective against multiple coverages.
And let's go ahead and hear from Tua after the
game when he was asked about the Patriots heavy use
of man coverage.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
You know, honestly, going into the game, have in my
mind with what they put on film this year, what
they do, and then you go back and look at
the rest of the years where they were successful in
stopping some of our in routes and whatnot. So you
kind of have in mind, Okay, these are the ways
they could potentially play us. But then I also still
(27:44):
have in the back of my mind, you know, be
ready for two, be ready for two man variations of
four whatever that looks like. And so you know, preparing wise,
that's that's sort of how we well, that's sort of
how I go about my process so that I don't
get stuck on you know what the progression is, and
I can progress past their knowing what the coverage is.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
My second takeaway is that the red zone answer you've
been looking for is Devon ah Chan as a wide receiver.
And again I cautioned to say, like they needed to
find solutions to you know, problems because it was number
one offense in the NFL, but they needed to find
ways to be better in the red zone, I thought.
And the answer to that you usually you think, like,
you know, a big tight end, which John new Smith
(28:25):
works pretty good, But how about Devon h Chan as
a pass catcher in the red zone. He caught that
swing touchdown against the Bills back in week two, He
caught a Texas route against the Cardinals in Week eight
for a touchdown. He had the screen touchdown against the
Bills in the second game, and now he has this
one on a quick screen to kick off the game.
It just winds his way through traffic and Aaron Brewer
comes and destroys another defensive back like he has been
(28:47):
doing all year long. They also tried that takeoff I
mentioned to a Chan against the linebacker one on one
from the twenty five yard line, So like, yeah, John
new Smith's been a big part of it, and that
tracks with the stature he provides. But I love that
a red zone solution is this one hundred and ninety
pounds back that's been freaking awesome. And I wrote this
before the second touchdown. They throw a swing route to
him again with Reek in the backfield alongside Tua, and
(29:08):
it gives him a walk in touchdown. So that's five
red zone receiving touchdowns that eight Chan has didn't even
play in the second half of this game, which is
a huge benefit. No, he did play, but he came
in late. It's a huge benefit in a short week
to rest your belcow back, which he is when you
put up that four score lead at halftime. So that
was my second takeaway. My third takeaways the defense bounced
(29:28):
back in a big way after an up and down
performance against the Raiders. Right, the Patriots had that good
drive in the first half, but otherwise it was three
to three and outs. They had multiple three outs in
the second half. They put himself behind the sticks and
I liked how Miami dialed up the pressure on those
third downs and forced may to some mistakes, forced him
into some you know, getting off the spot, and he
created off of some of those plays. But it was
(29:50):
a good mixture of pressure of sim pressure of single
high too deep. They even ran, but I thought looked
like some cover zero, but it would adjust after the
fact nicely. They really adjusted to that drive where he
took him down the field with some scrambles and some
run game, and they went on to force punts on
five of the next six drives after that, with a
missed field goal being the other. And that includes four
to three. Now, so defense, big big game, Seeler Campbell,
(30:11):
both were awesome again, just really good stuff all around
all across this defense. My fourth big takeaway it's the
reinclusion of the Wattle baby. I did the breakdown HQ
showing you guys that there were balls that could be
there for Wattle, but Miami's just taking the high percentage stuff. Well.
Three third down conversions in the first half. He caught
the six for one to eighteen. In that first half.
We saw him catch one and get loose running all
(30:32):
the way across the field. Getting him back to this
production begs the question if they get that from him,
if they have Tyreek, if they have John Eu, if
they have eight Chan, if two was this red hot,
how the hell do you stop this offense? I don't
have that answer right now. I mentioned earlier he was
the first receiver since himself to have one hundred yards
in the first half and on balance on the entire day.
He did end. Let's pull him up real quick, Jalen
(30:54):
Waddle did have eight catches for a buck forty four
and the touchdown. Let's go ahead and hear from McDaniel
on While this is a great SoundBite here talking about
how Waddle state invested when the targets maybe weren't coming
his way, but it's a testament to how this guy
prepares works.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
It's one of my favorite things about this game that
I'll remember is Waddle has been taking his his route,
running his release work the nuances of the receiver position.
He's had so much growth over the last month and
a half while also fielding questions left and right, whether
(31:30):
it's in the in the media or even at home,
or like where's the production, where is the production? Where's
the production? And to get better when the ball isn't
coming your way, so that you're aptly prepared when the
ball does. It's everything that I believe in everything that
it was an earned, earned game for him. He got
(31:54):
the opportunities, and because his mind has been in the
right spot where he's been focused on what he can
control and not all the other noise, he was able
to really make some big time plays in those moments.
So I you know, it's something that I don't think
people uh truly spend the time, uh really putting themselves
(32:20):
into receivers shoes in the National Football League, especially if
you're you're one of the better receivers in the league.
The you have expectations of output that you have no
A lot of times you have no ability to control.
So a lot a lot of players get worse from
(32:41):
situations like that. He's been eager to help the team
win and he's been doing that. We can weak out
by plays off the ball or plays when he doesn't
have the ball, So for him to make some plays
on the ball, this game was much deserved and and
we had a lot of teammates that were fired up.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
My fifth takeaway is chop on one drive, he had
a pressure that forced to throw away. Then the sack
on third down to end the drive, he gets the
near strip sack that gets overturned and the arm wasn't
going forward. It looked like a fumble to me. But
the point was if he just is he's been dominant,
he's been pushing guys back, he's been really incorporating a
secondary move. I was talking to Seth about this. There
(33:22):
was a play against the run where he fought like
hell to get on the outside shoulder of the tight
end and he ended up kind of getting like pushed
back and almost ran over to a point, but he
forced the play back inside and then worked back over
the top of the block to put himself into the
gap to really help, you know, slow the running back down.
So he's getting better in that way. I love the
way he can like set a tackle up to show
(33:43):
an inside move and then dip back onder the outside
shoulder and kind of pin him there with the inside
hand and then use that cornering speed that he has.
He is coming on now. Man, the pressures, the sacks
are piling up, the game changing plays. I want to
go ahead and play a sound by here from Chop Robinson.
We talked about McDaniel's you know press press audio there
on Wattle on the work he's done. Here's Chop talking
about leaning into the presence of Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Mean you feel amazing and just taking taking everything from
the film room to practice, from prajuice to on the
field of news.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
It just it's showing.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Now you're showing me me learning from Chubb, JP, me
doing extra work with my coach and everything they just
taking taken from the guys who know the game so
much or just executing this.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Big game from Chop. He got Seth Levitt's game ball
after the fact on the postgame show. We also gave
it to Tua and Waddle and I also have a
five B for you guys. The Dolphins had one penalty
for the first three quarters, and that would be two
of the last three games the offense went without a penalty.
They had one for fifteen against the Rams on punt team,
but Miami had an illegal motion with nine men's to
play in the game. Now again that said, not the
(34:43):
cleanest finish to a game. You know, a lot of
punts of fumble. Six of the backup quarterback in the
game the sack on two and bar More landed on him,
I just looked a little bit disjointed. I don't really
fault the team for taking their foot off the gas
and essentially killing in the clock, but it wasn't the
prettiest execution down the stretch. But the penalties and the
lack of pre snap penalties is really I think helping
this offense find it stride. So there you go. That's
(35:05):
the podcast. Welcome back tomorrow and break all, break the
tape down as I access the all twenty two and
tell you guys what I think I see from that.
We'll have a short week this week, so I think
I'm gonna have wes Hodgwitch from Packers dot Com on
the show on Tuesday, the game preview Wednesday, and then
Happy Thanksgiving. We'll do it all again with a Thursday
night Friday morning recap. I'll have the film review podcast
(35:25):
for you guys up as well, and we'll do it
all again. So in the meantime, Dolphins five and six
big win. You all please be sure to subscribe to
the podcast, Leave us a rating, leave us a review,
Follow me on social at Wingfold NFL, and the team
at Miami Dolphins. Check out my guys, Seth and Juice
on the Fish Tank podcast. Check out the YouTube channel
for Dolphins, HQ, media availabilities and so much more, and
(35:46):
last button not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time,
fins up, Caroline and Cameron. Daddy, He's coming home.
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