Drive Time: Dolphins 2025 Schedule Matchup Previews

Travis is back for a second go at the brand new schedule, this time breaking down the opponents and the matchups. Nothing says football is right around the corner like breaking down the X’s and O’s and Travis is getting into the weeds and assessing this year’s schedule from a film room standpoint for an extended version of the pod.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Buckle up for some breakdowns. What is up, Dolph fans,
and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host,
Travis Wingfield. On today's show, yesterday's schedule breakdown was kind
of the appetizer to the main course, which is today.
This is basically a Thursday in season game preview show
seventeen times over condensed into one episode from the Baptist

(00:32):
Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
This is the Draft Time Podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
First, please start off by pulling out the world's tiniest
violin while I'll tell you that I had half the
schedule done with before my word doc just up and
vanished like the podcast Tara Grinstead style.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
So I hope the rehearsal run.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Just means my show is going to be even better
because I had to rewrite about half of my copy
notes and facts and observations and x's and oh's breakdowns
for this episode for you guys. So two times is
a charm apparently, And I'm not going to read off
the schedule again. It is Thursday morning. You've heard the
schedule by now go check it out if you have
not seen it. We're gonna get into the entire schedule

(01:16):
and break it down starting right now. And the Colts
one of the teams that I was hoping to catch
early on for a few reasons, number one being the
lack of defensive continuity they come into the season with.
But this is also one of the few teams on
the schedule who we don't really know who the opening
day quarterback is going to be. And I'm a Colts
fan and they start this season with Daniel Jones, I'd

(01:39):
be kind of irate because I just don't get drafting
Anthony Richardson at that position and then giving him the
runway you gave him and settling for a quarterback that
just proved for what six years, he wasn't the answer
in New York. I wouldn't understand that if that happens.
I still think Richardson should have gotten more reps last
year to close out the season or to not get benched,

(01:59):
I should say during the season. But I think that
the best way you can rectify that is to get
him a full season's worth of work this time around,
provided he can stay healthy. And those two quarterbacks I
mean talk about being diametrically opposed. Richardson has really struggled
with his processing and accuracy, but still has some pretty
crazy flashes of brilliance. And he's had games when he

(02:20):
puts it all together, especially when he can, you know,
get down to the red zone and use the added
threat of the running game with his legs and what
he offers in that aspect of it. Whether it's him
or Jones, you know, Shane Steichen's going to construct a
solid plan of attack that challenges your rules. And they've
built a pretty interesting group of eligibles between Downs and
Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman and Ashton Doolan and a

(02:45):
Donnie Mitchell and Tyler Warren did I get that name wrong?
And they're all different players, and while there's probably not
a clear cut number one among that group, they're pretty
deep and diverse. And that's after a pretty strong running
game with one of the best running backs in the league,
or at least it won. They've got to now replace
stalwarts Ryan Kelly and Will Fries. But and that's another

(03:05):
part that I like about this is they're going to
have a brand new battery combination a new guard as
well to deal with Zach Steeler and Kenneth Grant, who,
by the way, early returns on KG. We like what
we see so far, but there is a likely competition
to find out who's going to be that center and
right guard, and that's a pretty sizable shift from their core.
You know, if you can stifle their run game with

(03:26):
a quarterback who doesn't see the fill particularly well and
eats a lot of sacks, you know, either quarterback for
that matter, that could be a good combo for the
Dolphins in this opening game. I really like their front
with with Layatu Latu, DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart, Quitty, pay
sandsim Ebu, kom Taekwon Lewis, the rookie j T. Tomolalu
got that wrong. It's a deep group with Zayire Franklin,

(03:47):
a Pro Bowl linebacker behind them. But cornerback depth has
kind of been the bugaboo for them for a while,
and a lot of teams have that as a potential
hole on their roster right now. If cornerback's a tough
position to fill out, and especially with all the you know,
all the big time athletes go to receiver in college
these days, so cornerbacks are tougher to find. But they
did bring in Travarius Ward, the former Niners cornerback who's

(04:10):
on the wrong side of thirty, so they're gonna have
to find the fountain of youth there. But with Juju,
Brents Blossoming, and Kenny Moore, there's a pretty good one
through three. But that's one newcomer. They're gonna have a
new safety alongside new safety Cameron bind him as well,
so I think that that's gonna be a tough adjustment
for them to get those guys ready to rock and
roll from day one with a new DC. No less,
I think one of the biggest additions that any team

(04:31):
made this offseason. We talked about this on the Wednesday
podcast was lou Anarumo, their defensive coordinator. But I think
that he'll get that back seven coordinated and have plenty
of rush options at some point. Will it happen in
Week one? I ventured a guest no, but could be
wrong on that. I think it's they'll have all their
rush options that he can feature with a pretty an

(04:52):
improved back seven, assuming they can get you know, up
to speed in time. So not the biggest test in
Week one on the schedule, but not the game either,
so kind of a good spot to land there. Week
number two against the Patriots the one o'clock kickoff. The
Patriots went through a dip. There's almost like a necessity
after the run they had right for twenty years of
just brilliance and championships and banners, and the season starts

(05:14):
on Divisional round weekend. But they appear to be on
the correct side of climbing out of that. And Mike
Rabel was a great hire for them, if nothing else
then employing a defensive system that has provided some issues
for the Dolphins when he was with the Titans. Of course,
twenty twenty one game that was against an offense that
lacked imagination, so I don't put too much stock into that,
but they clamped us pretty good in that game. But

(05:36):
more recently and more applicable, the twenty twenty three game,
the Monday Night game that was really kind of the
downturn of things that season, but they kind of got
the most of the Dolphins in that game. But also
last year's Monday Night game with Tyler Huntley at quarterback
completely stomped us out in that one. So I think
Rabel does a good job of making offenses play left
handed and kind of spam the middle of the field.

(05:59):
Find out where the back side of your reads going
to be and maybe make that week side corner or
weak side linebacker kind of fit into the run game more,
maybe abandon his post as a pass player a pass
game player. And it's going to be important for the
Dolphins and Tua McDaniel to be to identify that stuff
and get themselves a win. And what I think is
a pretty big early season test for Miami and the Patriots,
both teams. If either team comes out of this game

(06:21):
with a win, they're going to feel good about their
season going into week number three. So I think we
have to find a way to attack that approach defensively,
because they want to let you have that completion if
you're willing to take it and then rally up and tackle.
And if they give that to John hus Smith, or
if they give that to Devon a Chan, or they
give that to even Pharaoh Brown, like, okay, we'll bet,

(06:41):
We'll try to see if you guys can tackle them.
We've previously picked apart the Patriots defense, and there's a
reason Tua is unbeaten against them because he just had
the answers to that test. He would identify stuff motion
pickoff man coverage, anticipate and put the ball on the
money throughout the course of those games and put some
gaudy stats up. But there's been a philosophic shift for
this defense. Where previously it was like light boxes, invite

(07:05):
the run. We'll be happy to have you guys run
for two hundred yards if you just don't throw the
ball against us. But Rabels Titans teams and this is
kind of an old school thing for him, was like,
you will not run the ball at all. And that's
why we drafted Demandre Sweat to play inside last year,
even though Rabel's gone. But this will be yet another
example of running out a bit of newly focused offense

(07:26):
with bigger bodies versus you know, inside versus a team
that has paired Milton Williams with Christian Barmore and paired
July Tavia with Robert Splaine. And this is not the inside,
but getting Carlton Davis to go with Christian Gonzalez, with
Marcus Epps teaming up with Kyle Dugger on the back end,
they got a lot better than the teeth of their defense.
And I imagine that Rabel's going to have a kind
of run first mentality there. But the big question for

(07:48):
the Patriots in terms of their defense, it looks vastly
improved from a personnel standpoint, is where is the pass
rush going to come from? Because they did sign Harold
Landry off of an injury, and he was struggling before
he got hurt, So I don't know if that's the
kind of jewel that you're looking for there. But man,
I think this defense is poised to be pretty damn good,
and most of that comes from the structure and the
coaching of it and present some new challenges to the

(08:10):
Miami Dolphins. And this is a good early season test
to see how far we've come in our ability to
adapt and adjust our scheme to what the league has
done to kind of take things away from us. And
I'm happy this game is in Week two because I
think you can kind of introduce some potential breakdowns or
miscommunications with how they want to be interchangeable from those
safeties which I think they're going for with you know
what the Bills had for Poyer and Hide for so long,

(08:32):
but that and the matchup of Wreak and Waddle on
gunzale Sin and Davis is about as good as the
Sauce and Reid battles over the year against the Jets.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
So there's a bunch of good on good in this game.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
But the big question will be for the Patriots on
offense the second year growth of Drake May, who folks
have kind of already like planted the flag that he's
a franchise quarterback.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
I see it.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
I can see where they're going with that, but I
tend to want to give those guys more time. I
think the second year of rookie quarterback, of a newly
highly drafted quarterback, people tend to think like that's going
to be some revelation year.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
It doesn't always go that way, but he did.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Far exceed expectations last year, especially to me with how
he saw the field.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
I think he looks really good.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
I love how they've built it around him, even if
it's not ready to mature just yet, maybe a year
or two away. With Kyle Williams and Trevion Henderson will Campbell,
I think he's gonna be just fine.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Tackle.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
I thought that if Henderson, if it wasn't for Ashton Genty,
that Henderson would would have been running back one this
year and most years for me. But with Stefan Diggs
and some good tight ends. Beyond that, it's still very thin.
Like if they lose one of those guys to injuries,
all of a sudden, you're talking about playing Javon Baker
or Jalen Polk who had really rough rookie years, or
Matt Collins, like that was the big acquisition outside of

(09:41):
Stefon Diggs. And since our secondary is kind of the
question mark, I think you can win that matchup that
matters here and get them where you're stronger elsewhere. They've
made some progress on an offensive line that has been
really bad the last couple of years. Morgan Moses provides
some stability if he can stay healthy, because if he
just he's been healthy, but he's aging, and that allows
him to keep Michael on Win who inside. I liked
the Garrett Bradbury signing. They were kind of kind of

(10:03):
weak at center for years because David Andrews had so
many injuries and health issues but nothing he can control there.
But Garrett Bradbury brings some stability if they want to
play him at center or play a cold strange at
guard or center who also has his own injury history.
Josh McDaniels is back, and that's perhaps the most fascinating
point to me. I thought we did a terrific job
in both matchups last year, but the game down here

(10:26):
because it was Drake May. You know, we're jumping hot
routes and getting after their banged up offensive line, but
then May would have some creative play type of reps
off structure, but outside of that, we really suffocated that offense.
So this year, he'll have more answers and a more
experienced play caller, So I think this will be a
tough matchup provided we can generate some of those same pressures,
get his head swimming a little bit, and hopefully keep

(10:47):
their point total down because I think that this will
be probably one of those, you know, twenty four to
seventeen type of games like they tend to be against
these Patriots, at least the Patriots of old before we
kind of stomped him out the last couple of years.
And then Week three on the road Buffalo Thursday Night Football,
my obligatory divisional matchup commentary that is often about execution
when it comes down to this level of familiarity. We

(11:08):
are now on year four of Mike McDaniel versus Well
mc Sean McDermott. I had mcdee versus mcdee second straight year,
if weaver versus Joe Brady, But it starts with McDermott
and that defense against our offense. Right we've seen this
offense have a ton of success in the run game
against Buffalo, and when we run the ball versus when
we don't is usually the difference between the game staying

(11:29):
close and coming down to the wire versus it getting
away from us, where we have to kind of go
for these fourth downs and turn it over on downs
and give Josh Allen short fields and before you know it,
it's a twenty one point difference. But when we run
the ball and control the clock and keep Allen off
the field, it gives us this offensive balance for efficiency.
That Week nine game last year was the second highest
EPA per play allowed by a Bill's defense since McDermott

(11:52):
arrived back in twenty seventeen. So you almost couldn't have
played it better offensively. Of course, we lose a damn
game on a sixty yard field goal after egregious fifteen
yard penalty on Jordan Poyer. Not an ingregious call, it
was a great call, but an egregious penalty, and that
game up there in twenty twenty two came down to
the end as well. We went over two hundred yards
on the ground on that one. The game we won
that season here in Miami was not as good on

(12:14):
the ground, but we had the run game going the
twenty twenty three finale, we were rolling on the ground
in the first half of the game before kind of
getting away from it. So they're going to play that
nickel base defense led by Tarren Johnson, the best slot
cornerback in football. And we've been over this, right, but
I'm so fascinated to see what our offense looks like
in general, but mostly against Buffalo because to me, this

(12:34):
is a defense that you have to have your ability
to pivot and adapt against that we haven't seen for
the last couple of years. If my inclination is right,
and we see more power football, more under center, more balance,
more of a true bell cow back option, then I
think Buffalo is the team that we stand to upgrade
our most the most against with that change in approach.

(12:55):
They're built to beat us as previously constructed. So do
we have a change up to the fastball now and
McDermott is so damn good at coaching up a secondary
to play to its rules and spam the middle of
the field and create defensive vulnerabilities that are tough areas
to attack and to access. And we have to find
a way to access those areas. But they want to
squeeze us and limit our big play offense and try
to you know, compeun mistakes which in front of that

(13:17):
crowd can happen with false starts and holding calls and whatnot.
Now offensively for them, yeah, it starts with Josh Allen, right,
I mean, the guy has been a pain against US forever.
You know, you can get a series or a quarter
sometimes even in an entire half where he's not feeling it,
but it's pretty rare that you hold him down for
sixty minutes.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
So you need to score to beat them.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
But I really felt that Anthony Weaver's playing against them
last year with bracket rushing, the sim pressures, look the
occasional bits that does come and hopefully get home. I
think it did well enough to limit him enough last season.
In fact, Allen had the lowest season cumulative passer rating
in the two games against US since his rookie year
back in twenty eighteen. He also had a lower cumulative

(13:57):
passer rating against US last year than he did the
other fifteen opponents. So I think it's the Anthony Weaver
effect that you effectively got the worst Josh Allen performance
against you in his entire career, even though it's still
pretty good. I think this defense, our defense has better
athletes this year to contend with Josh Allen as a runner.
And then the part that made Buffalo really tough last

(14:18):
year their emphasis in the running game because of not
just the defensive tackle additions, but the type of defensive
tackle additions. I think we're better equipped to defend the
run from those lighter boxes because of a player like
Kenneth Grant. I almost haid Kevin Grant and the linebacker overhaul,
and their question remains at the receiver position right, and
ours is the defensive backfield. So it's kind of an

(14:39):
interesting offset there. They keep adding the same type of guys,
you know, Elijah Moore. I like Curtis Samuel, but he
hasn't produced in a long time. Keon Coleman, I thought
the way they draft has been interesting to me. I
wasn't a fan of key On Coleman's game. I don't
care for Landon Jackson or Dion Walker's game, who at
three hundred and forty pounds got pushed around a whole

(15:00):
bunch in the SEC. And they're gonna have to have
Maxwell Harriston hit otherwise they're gonna be playing like Dane
Jackson and I don't even know who's beyond that in depth,
some younger rookies too, because they're gonna have to find
you know, Maxwell Harrison as a starter. Otherwise is gonna
be going deep into an area that's not very deep.
They had such good health on the offensive line. Their

(15:20):
lowest offensive line snaptaker last year was nine hundred and
fifty one freaking snaps over eighty five percent, and that's
coming off a season where they had all five guys
not miss a snap on the offensive line. Those guys
Cook and Allen, that's the calling card. With a more
balanced run game nature and then well coached defense, hopefully
we can find a game plan that works. You get
a sharp two of performance, you run the football, maybe

(15:42):
Josh Allen's a couple of mistakes wind up in your hands,
and you get a defensive a big defensive takeaway and
you score would be a massive, massive early season to win.
Always a tough matchup against these dudes. It's gonna be
a long podcast. We're gonna keep rolling here before we
get to the breakers too. One more game they will
take our first break week four against the Jets. It's
nice to get some new blood in the division, just

(16:02):
because I feel like I've kind of done the same
preview show the last few years here on the Jets
and Bills and sort of the Patriots. Even with the
coaching change last year, it was still a Belichick protege,
so it's similar. And I say this in the Jets
matchup portion because even though it's new, I'm not sure
how different it'll be. I'm talking about style core philosophy.

(16:23):
Aaron Glenn oversaw the most aggressive defense in the NFL,
and they earned that honor in spite of having the
most injuries on defense in the entire league. But they
weren't going up there with a sacrifice bunt mentality. They
were trying to hit the ball over the fence and
put up a crooked number on you and force the issue.
The most man coverage in the league, second highest blitz
ray and of course it's a Dan Campbell philosophy. But

(16:46):
Dan Campbell sought out Aaron Glenn because he didn't share
those philosophies. No, of course Aaron Glenn felt the same
way and he thrived in that environment. Aaron Glenn did
and with Sauce and Michael Carter. No more DJ Reid
who went to You guessed it the Lions that was
built over the course of four years to play one gap,
hair on fire, get downhill defense. I would be pretty
shocked if that changes. What did change was the aforementioned personnel.

(17:10):
With DJ Reid gone, it'll likely be Brandon Stevens, who
had a really really rough twenty twenty four year at
the Ravens or rookie Isaiah Thomas, who is a third
round draft pick out of Florida State who didn't run
very well at the combine. It's pretty similar in the
front though. The Williams Bros. With Quinn and Quincy, Jamie
and Sherwood replaced CJ. Moseley last year very effectively. He
steps into the starting role with a new contract. They

(17:31):
need young players to step up to provide them with
a pass rush off the edge because I think, like
I think, this matchup is Taylor made for us to
really get after them, And it would be nice to
be at least two and one coming into this game
and then get like a lopsided victory over your rival
on Monday night to kind of dispell the you know,
the whole the nationally televised game idea. And I think
this matchup sets up well for you to do that,

(17:53):
because if you want a Blitz to always be my guest,
I think that's where he's best. And I think our
pass protection is vastly to what they offer as a
pass rush on paper right now. And then if you
want to play press man without a quality four man
pass rush, which they just don't have the guns for
that right now, on us on me, Tobias Harris over me,
Sorry for a Jimmy Butler dropped there, but you want

(18:15):
to play one gap downhill against an outside zone team.
To me, this scheme is where we go back to
our old ways and we face Buffalo. You see the
pivot vision, but this game, I think you can attack
them with what you already have built in and you
can you can put some points up on these guys.
The bigger changes for them are on the outside, you know,
on the other side of the ball. I should say
Justin Fields bring some of the best legs in the
league at the quarterback position, and Glenn brought Tanner Engstrand

(18:39):
from Detroit with him. He was the pass game coordinator there.
I think you're asking for a pretty you know, pretty
challenging start or year for the offense with a quarterback
that doesn't see the field. It's been a knock on
him for his whole career, a first time play caller
whose experience is very limited, and a skill group that
beyond Garrett Wilson to me, is pretty below average. The
offensive line, though, is where the investment is on the
side of the ball, and it's it's very good. I

(19:00):
think it's the best offensive line they've had since the
AFC Title Game teams with the brickishaff Ferguson and Nick Mangold.
I think Josh Myers is their first reserve off the
bench and he starter quality. So to have Fashanu who
is awesome and Membu at tackle, I think both those
guys are going to be studs. With Simpson who was
excellent last year, Vera Tucker who's very good when he plays.
He's been injured a lot and then Joel Tipman a

(19:21):
very good center. There's not a weak link in there.
I imagine they'll hope to recreate what the Lions had
with Montgomery and Gibbs, with Bresee Hall and Braylan Allen,
but you're kind of lacking in the skill department there,
and try to utilize some of the zone read stuff
and get Fields as a dangerous runner to go with
a good defense. I imagine that's the vision that Aaron
Glenn has. Well, it happened this year. We'll see, but Fields,

(19:42):
he's the only runner that concerns me. I think that
Breeze Hall's pretty much a replacement level. But then Garrett
Wilson's also the only skill player that I think can
truly hurt you. But I think Weaver can kind of
take those two aspects and handle them and put the
rest of the offense in a locker. To me, this
is the the on paper, the easy matchup of the
year so far. To me, it was Brown Saints and

(20:03):
Jets twice, not because the Jets are necessarily gonna be
really bad, but I think the way we match up
against them really really benefits the Miami Dolphins. All Right,
we are what twenty minutes in first break in the
podcast right there, come back on the other side and
get some more opponent breakdowns. Draft Time Podcasts brought to you.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
By Auto Nation.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
I only just now realized after doing schedule stuff the
entire week that our first four games are against.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
The old AFC East.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Like I knew the Bills, Jets, Patriots obviously, but week
one against the Colts, We're all playing old AFC East
teams to kick it off, and then in week five
we go across the conference of the Carolina Panthers, and
they're gonna have a lot of positive buzz and expectations
going into this year, which is a lot more than
you thought. After they benched Brice Young last year, it
kind of fe like they're gonna have to go through
another like quick.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Hard reset, especially at the quarterback position.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
But he responded nicely and finished out the year with
a competitive team, a nice change from early when they
were just getting destroyed every week and had an offense
that couldn't really compete. With Bryce on that rookie deal,
They've been aggressive the last two years and they've reshaped
his confidence with an aggressive mindset that utilizes vertical concepts
that requires elite communication and challenges in your deep and
intermediate seams with that great Dave Canalis system. But a

(21:16):
big reason why I want to see the Fins attack
the back seven with players like ify, like Willie Gay,
guys that can impact multiple levels of the defense, was
to take on this new age offensive concepts that want
to stretch you vertically and replace you in the intermediate
with the football. And that's what Canalis has done with
Baker Mayfield two years ago. And now I'm getting text

(21:39):
from somebody, and now with friggin Bryce friggin Young.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
You know.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
But see, here's the thing with resources is you have
to spend them correctly. And here we are going into
the third year of Bryce Young and it's Chuba Hubbard,
Rico Daddle in the backfield, Ted McMillan, Adam Thielen, Xavier
like Get and Tommy Tremble and Jade Sanders. I mean,
is that any better than like the twenty eighth best
group of eligibles? You know, they went hard after the

(22:06):
offensive line a year ago and Rob Hunt and Damian Lewis,
which a little fighted in the middle of the offensive line,
Cade Myers at center. They clearly wanted to go big
across the interior and kind of protect a five foot
nine quarterback. But we also have the gun to compete
with that with Zach Seeler and now Kenneth Grant, who
I think can give anybody issues with what I've seen
from him against this quarterback. I just overload the a
gaps and pressure and interior with with Brooks and Gay

(22:28):
and Doddson running off Stealer and KG and just folding
him or making him flee out the pocket and make
poor decisions out there. I really like their defense from
a structure and personnel standpoint. It's a Fangio offshoot with
zero everro plenty of variations of cover two and four
and six where they can get to those looks with
pre snap presentations and disguises. J C.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Horn is the star of the show.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
Back there got a big time contract and we'll see
if the former Koug Go Koog's Shaw Smith Wade can
capture one of the other two jobs up for grabs.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
But that's kind of where they're thin. Bigs.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Cornerbacks and secondaries are a bit thin these days. But
the safety is they got I like quite a bit.
Trayvon merrig Nick Scott will compete with lath and Ransom,
I imagine for the other starting job, but I think the
rookie will win that position. That's a really smart to
good group back there on the back end. Now, even
with stability on the coaching staff, that's a whole bunch
of change, and I think our refocused approach could help
us kind of set them up to tenancy break. Maybe

(23:22):
you come out of the gates a little bit early
and they're like expecting one thing and you hit them
with something else and before you look, it's fourteen to nothing,
And just be deeper into our menu and we can
win the game early with our weapons versus a pretty
new secondary struggle to find their footing, and with our
guns as a pass rush up front to reck shop
against a five foot nine quarterback. In week six, we'll
face the Chargers, and so much has changed since we

(23:45):
saw them in that twenty twenty three opener. Down to
the total philosophical shift from Staley to Harbaugh. No one
popularized going for it on fourth down more than Staley
as a rookie, right while Harbaugh subscribes to the notion
that any drive that ends in a kick is a
good one. Hey Seth and OJ eat your heart out,
but I hate that philosophy. Ball control early two thousands,
keep it close to the fourth quarter, try to win

(24:07):
the game there Dave Wanstead's style. I imagine this game
will come down to that again, and I'd much rather
our guy than their guy in that spot, who constantly
takes game clinching sacks, who throws picks to close out games,
or just flat out fails four downs and out, much
like when Tua went down the field and put a

(24:27):
game winning touchdown on the board and then Herbert took
two sacks on his encore opportunity and the game came
to an end. And while that was their m last
year to keep the game close, and quite frankly with
how the league has changed quick aside, like I forget
who set up, but I fully subscribe to the idea
that more games are lost than one in the NFL,
and in this new era where the bridge like middling

(24:48):
quarterback has kind of viewed as taboo and teams rather
trot out like a Spencer Ratler than a Derek Carr,
for instance, as long as you can play mistake free,
there's a lot of wins to be had out there.
Where you I don't have to be spectacular, just don't
make mistakes like the Chargers and Falcons game last was
a great example of that, you know, watching for our
playoff hopes, and the Falcons had chances to win that
game five freaking times, and they turned it over five

(25:10):
times and the Chargers still won by four points. In
that game, the Chargers just kept going three and out
and keeping the Falcons in the game, but the Falcons
lost it rather than the Chargers winning it. So if
you do that, you can win eleven games and then
get embarrassed in the playoffs by a quality team. But
back to the point, they are even more that style
of that team. Now, Nage Harris was the start, and
you guys heard me in the Freesing podcast, I didn't
see the vision for that player there. But then they

(25:31):
draft Omary and Hampton, and I like Hampton, He's fine.
Harris's I think, is already long in the tooth, and
to me, going Hampton over Matthew Golden, that kind of
solidified who they want to be, right, especially coming back
with Trey Harris. In the next round, they brought back
Mike Williams, and this is probably a Herbert thing because
it's always been that way pre dating Harbaugh. They get

(25:51):
these tall, contested catch guys opposed to Lad McConkey. Who, Hey, look,
you got a quick twitch guy and he's a freaking
already one of the best players in the game. So
all of that tell me this that you need size
across the board, really, but especially in the secondary. And
haven't we been talking about that in the podcast as
a theme now even the udfas they targeted and BJ
Adams right, they are big, long, lanky press corners. We

(26:12):
heard about Rasul Douglas as a possible fit here and
getting Iffy and Ardie Burns and BJ Adams like length
man coverage. The vision it's you can handle guys like
this when you have that style of football player. This
is another good example of how you need a multifaceted
team in this league. You probably stay in a base
defense in this game because they're going to be a
lot of two back and two tight end sets and

(26:32):
run the ball and second down to nine. They're going
to try to win the one on one contested options
on the outside and the vertical routes. This is one
of those quarterbacks that we talked about Stafford perty Stroud,
Gino Smith, you know when when there's mobility, but you
can collapse a pocket on him and fool him with
presentation and get sacks that way and game changing plays
that way. That's all the makings of a fun matchup.

(26:54):
To me, I really can't wait for this game, and
I want to. I really want to beat them by
quite a lot, and that defense, to me, is still
kind of a work in progress. I love dayon Henley
Go Koog's, but there's no real edge rush presence outside
of Tapolut. I can't say his name. It's the Polynesian
dude that had a great year last year. He's a
good player. Khalil Mack, I think is on the back
end of things. But the secondary is the same as

(27:15):
the receivers. They're longer and slower players. I think that's
a terrible matchup against Tyreek and Gilen Waddle and League
Washington and all the guys we have done here. I
think we can compete with their physicality on defense and
then hopefully shred them offensively and get things we want
done that way. Week seven at the Cleveland Browns, one
of the few teams on our schedule where I truly
have no idea who the hell of quarterback's going to be.

(27:37):
I guess Flacco, but they traded a fifth for Pickett,
spent a third on Gabriel, a fifth on Sanders, and
Watson still there despite retelling his achilles probably not playing
this year. I don't think we have to do a
lot beyond this. If there's any of those guys starting,
you have to dominate this game. The theme across all
these quarterbacks is there really isn't a fleet of foot
player in their group, and the way that we can
create game plans that force those quarterbacks deep into their progression,

(28:00):
changing the launching point with all the rushes and the
sim pressure looks. I mean, even again, Stafford Stroud, Gino
Purdy to some degree, some of the best quarterbacks in
the league who are elite, who are not elite runners.
We kind of got after those guys, and I would
say Rogers was the one quarterback of that protype that
really gave us fits last year, but he's also so
known for his processing. The offensive line is healthy for

(28:22):
the first time in a while for the Browns, but
I think you could say that we're close to the
end of the line on that group, right it's been
together for like five plus years now, and I say
that because they're all beyond thirty, and they fought a
lot of injuries lately with Ethan Posik, Wyatt Teller, Joel Botonio,
and Jack Conklin. Only Buttonio last year didn't miss multiple games.

(28:45):
Everybody else has missed multiple games each of the last
three seasons. And that's without talking about the young guys
in Jedrick Wills and Dewan Jones, who both have been
on IR the last two years also, So it's a
tough group to project. I'm really curious to see what
it looks like schemat because Stefanski is off the same
tree as McDaniel, right, but he adjusted his entire system

(29:05):
for Watson and now it's back to Flacco, who had
that great run at the end of twenty twenty three
in this offense. So I'm curious to see what that
looks like. But defensively, they're pretty loaded. I mean, I love,
you know, Mason Graham and Carson Schweeshinger are good fits there.
They did already announce that j Oka Jeremiah Wusu Koramoa
is going to miss the entire season. I just hate injuries.
Turn them off Madden Game please. But Sweeshinger, as you

(29:27):
all know, is a plug and play guy for me. Garrett,
Denzel Ward, they have some nice parts there. For that
Jim Schwartz defense who blitz at the tenth highest rate
last year, I imagine he wants to reduce that a
little bit. So we have to be on our p's
and ques. With the timing rhythm nature of the passing
offense against a drop seven, they can create pressure upfront
with Mason Graham, with Miles Garrett and company upfront. They

(29:48):
passed on the second pick of the draft and I'm
glad we don't have to face Travis Hunter now this
year and really loaded up on future capital. So it's
possible that this team is a threat a year or
two down the road. But if they come into this
game zero to five or one and six, whatever it
might be, my math is off there, Like you could
see a team that's already like on to twenty twenty six.
What time to get to this game? We gate the

(30:08):
Falcons the match up here. I'm really excited to see
what Michael Pennix looks like this year, and I'd feel
pretty pretty good about it. If I'm a Falcons fan,
he kind of has to be right. They traded next
year's one to get back up the twenty six for
James Pierce. So for that trade to have good value,
you have to the Falcons basically have to go to
the what divisional round of the playoffs to pick later

(30:28):
than twenty six and even then, Like it's not exactly
how it works, but man, you could that could be
like a top fifteen pick. They gave it to get
James Pierce. Kind of weird for a team that's young
but needs to win now with a GM head coach
combination that hasn't really had the success they need to
keep things going there. They've been looking for a pass
rush for what seems like two decades now, and they
do double dip. It'll be up to Raheem Morris and

(30:49):
Jeff Olbrick to create a scheme around the athletic rush
ability of Jalen Walker and James Pierce. But the first
mission is to find where Walker fits exactly. I mean,
I'm sure they know and have a plan for that,
but that was part of the pre draft conversation. Where
does he play and how fast can he get up
to speed? I think that we have the guns and
the tackles to handle guys that are trying to figure
things out, because I think that Austin Jackson is a

(31:11):
technical monster, and I think Patrick Paul's going to be
just fine, as you guys have heard on the podcast
many many times. And I think this was a good
landing spot because this whole defense for those two players,
I should say, because this whole defense is built on speed,
lean muscle mass, and quick twitch movement to contend with
today's speed. I mean those guys, you know, Leonard Floyd
also is an edge Troy Anderson, Caden Ellis. It kind

(31:31):
of reminds me of those Colts defenses of the Tony
Dungee years with Gary Brackett and Dwight Freeney and Robert Morris.
Like finesse is the wrong word, but it's more sacrificing
size for speed. And that's where some added beef and
a deeper run game menu comes into play for the
Miami Dolphins. Right. I feel like we're at this critical
intersection of NFL football where some teams are still in

(31:52):
the speed range mode and other teams have begun to
pivot more towards bigger, physical at the cost of speed.
So if you can find kind of the happy medium
there and be both, like we've talked about with the
Jonah Saba Naya edition the James Daniel addition, then you're
equipped to deal with the changes of opponents on a
week by week basis, maybe you can get the best
of both worlds. But back to their offense, Man, you

(32:15):
have to impact this offense by limiting the run game
and getting after the quarterback. Penex is not a big
time mover and he can sometimes get a little bit
bogged down in the middle of the field, and b
John Robinson could be the best damn back in the
game for my money in football.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
So easier head than done.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
But man, with London and Pitts and Mooney and Bijehon
and Tyler Algier, Penex is a pretty good cast around him.
It's the second year under offensive cording to Zach Robinson,
who comes from that Rams tree, so identifying matchups, being
on the same page from jump picking up motions and
shifts and bumps and maintaining gap control. I think what
we've done up front and the verstail linebacker room we've

(32:50):
had we've built here gives us our best chance to
match up with these dudes and go get a big
w All right, should we take a break? Greade there,
Let's do one more team here, So the Ravens in
Week number nine. Since missing at least one game for
the first five years of his career four in twenty
twenty one, four and twenty twenty two, Laura Jackson has
played every game each of the last two years, except

(33:11):
for resting in Week eighteen when they had nothing to
play for back in twenty twenty three. I lead off
with this because well, that's where it starts, right. They
added Derek Henry and that was just a perfect, perfect
compliment to one another. And I think if you could
ask for more of the Rayvens offense, it would be
in the passing game. But Lamar has has become so
advanced in both his decision making and the way he

(33:35):
processes from a running standpoint, and the way his legs are.
At this stage of his career, you can't really stop him.
You can contain him a little bit, I guess, because
he can tear you apart on schedule, but also reduce
the mistakes that he might make because he's not seeing it,
because he knows that he has a legs to get
himself out of the trouble. He just presents so many challenges.
He's an MVP candidate every single year. And with Henry

(33:56):
you kind of have to pick one or the other,
especially after this offense line, which underwent an overhaul last year,
really gelled about mid season and with Todd Monkin marrying
all of that together into this perfect scheme that can
stretch you, that can dominate the point of attack, that
can play explosive or grind it out. This isn't like
a top offense, and I think you try to limit

(34:17):
Lamar Jackson first and just deal with the repercussions of that.
Maybe try to take care of the run game through
your own offense having success. But for sure a game
you have to have probably thirty points to win, right,
especially with them getting brent Zay Flowers back, who missed
the playoffs last year and was a big reason why
that they lost the Buffalo game. On the other side, well, hey,
we practice against this scheme every single day, right. Zach

(34:38):
Orr is in year two of that DC roll up
there just as Weave is here for us. But where
I think the Ravens can carry over their end of
seasons success compared to early in the year. When they
really struggled last year was by drafting Malachi Starks. They
leaned on Kyle Hamilton when he replaced Marcus Williams as
the free safety back there, but it really reduced his
ability to be the kind of problem solver across the defense.

(35:00):
He had to play more in the post to make
sure things were tidy up top. I think Starks allows
Hamilton to move back into that role, and I wrote
our Darius Washington is a huge, big nickel safety, but
he just tore his achilles, so they have a huge
gap there at safety, which imagine they're going to go
after someone on the market now that Washington's down. But
they also got another cornerback in chidoh Woose who I
think is good enough to give them some life there.

(35:22):
And Marlon Humphrey and Jalen armor Davis who really elevated
his game last year. They did lose Michael Pierce to retirement.
And if you recall that twenty twenty three game, we
ran the ball really well, including early in the game
with the screen game as well. That's a good way
to remove, you know, Nom Deimatawik from things so to me,
you have to get the ball on the edge and
get him. Travis Jones, Broderick Washington, all these big bodies.

(35:44):
You gotta wear those guys down. They have waves of rushers.
It's all tied together by roquand Smith. I think it's
the toughest game we have all year, even at home
on a short week. But this is to me, this
is probably the Super Bowl team I'll pick again I
did last year. I'll probably pick him again. I just
think the Ravens are a very very good team. All right,
let's go ahead and take our last break right there.
We have three more repeat games. We'll skip over those

(36:05):
and get to you guys, the Commander's breakdown. The Saints,
the Steelers, the Bengals, the Bucks. That's all next Draft
Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by
Auto Nation, and we're off to Spain for a Commander's breakdown. Here.
I am so so fascinated to see what the Commanders

(36:25):
look like this season. A terrific run to the NFC
Championship game a year ago. A rookie quarterback who was
better than Stroud in twenty twenty two, better than Herbert
in twenty twenty. I mean he has a chance to
be something really, really special, and that was evident last
year after one period of joint practices down here. Like
any team in that spot, they went aggressive this offseason

(36:46):
and one offseason after. It was sort of an afterthought
in terms of guys like Eckler and Bobby Wagner and
Dorence Armstrong, like it wasn't sexy, but those guys were
all critical parts of a title team, right, a title
game team, I should say, I love them getting Tunzel
and Josh Connery to solidify the outside with a pretty
good interior already in place. They add Michael Gallup and
Deebo Samuel to Terry McLaurin zach Ertz still there right.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
What a loaded group that is.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
And the way Daniels can spread the ball around and
see it and get it out quickly. This is an
offense you kind of have to take your lumps against
because the horizontal spacing paired with how Daniel sees it
and can get it wide like on the perimeter with
easy gas, but can also hurt you with the run.
He can just really stress so many areas of your defense.
It's a lot. We've said this about a few of

(37:32):
the teams on here, but you have to pick your
poison with these quarterbacks that have both the running feature
and the big time processing on defense dan Quinn structure
of the zone heavy defense. They want to confuse your
protection with alignment and rush games and this uber athletic front.
It's imperative for us and by week eleven, you hope
you're at this level for us to be super well

(37:52):
communicated and for Tua to be able to get to
the lane scrimmage and really decipher what he's seeing. Frankie
Luvu go Koogs is a big for them, kind of
their their chest piece in the middle, but he's like
the wild card that changes the way they can get
to their pressure looks and back out. And when you
do all of that, the run game is where you
can find success and get them out of their all
their window dressing. And that's where I think you have

(38:14):
to attack this game with the Dolphins heavy heavy inside
run game and try to force those guys to bring
players down into the box and not play from light
boxes and not allow them to get into their their
deep pass rush menu. So look at this one, perhaps
loading up a heavy inside run game to limit Daniel's
possession and effectively reduce what makes their scheme go best
of both worlds by week in week twelve and then

(38:35):
the Saints in week thirteen. The Derek Carr news broke
last weekend, and now it's Tyler Shook, Jake Hayner and
Spencer Rattler. They were zero and six last year under Ratler.
Kellen Moore takes over now with Doug nust Meyer, who's
the father of Garrett nuss Meyer Lsu who could be
a first round pick next year. That's the OC think rhythm, quick,
set up, ball out, and man, they have some weapons

(38:56):
a lave. I wish Love could stay healthy because he
is so damn good. Hid Shaheed's fun. I love Brandon Cooks,
Foster Moreau, Taysom Hill, Jawan Johnson, and then with Alvin
Kamara and the offensive line that on paper has the parts.
I mean, they've had to kind of reinvest in a
position group they missed on. They missed on Trevor Penning,
he has not worked out. Ryan Ramcheck is probably going
to call it a career. He's going to be out

(39:17):
for the year already. And Kelvin Banks their first round
pick slots in there so you've kind of had to
replace mistakes with high draft capital. It's a good way
to lose, you know, areas of your football team. They
took t Lasi Fuaga last year in the first round,
so like to three tackles in four years with a
solid interior and Caesar Luiz and Eric McCoy and competition

(39:37):
for the other spot. I think this figures to be
a run heavy attack with a young, inexperienced quarterback. I
don't know, guys, I'm trying my best here. This is
the worst quarterback room a team has gone to a
season with in a very long time. Brand Stalely's back
is the DC. I think that he could go back
to shining with what he does best at creating pre
snapped diskuise that finds a way to generate pressure through
fire zones paired with sim pressures and the same defense

(40:00):
presentation that rotates differently. And he's got some pretty good
parts for it with with Chase Young, Cameron, Jordan, Carl Granderson,
a nice one through three on the outside, and then
with Kaylen Sander, Kaylen Saunders, Devon Godshaw, Nathan Sheppard and
some more guys inside, it's a very deep defensive line
to Mario Davis still there at middle linebacker. It's a
pretty good secondary. I think though, this is a defense

(40:22):
it's going to like play well for a couple of games,
and then when the offense just continues to put him
out there, they're gonna wear down quickly. And I think
this could be a nice little soft landing spot for
the Dolphins coming off of that bye week after the
Madrid trip. We already covered the Jets the Week fourteen game.
Let's go ahead and jump ahead to the Pittsburgh Steelers
in Week fifteen. Here eight to fifteen kickoff one night football.
This is by far the toughest one to ride out

(40:46):
because will Aaron Rodgers be there or will he not?
I mean that drastically flips the entire equation right, and
I'm not even sure the best way to cover it, Like,
I think I'll assume that he will be there, because
if not, it's Will Howard and a Scalar Thompson and
Mason Rudolph. Cannot imagine they're going to go into the
season with that, and the Rogers of it all is
so friggid impossible, because on one hand, he was outstanding, marvelous,

(41:09):
in the games against US, but he also had other
games where he was like looked like it was over
for him. And we also mentioned the many problems that
he created for the Jets and kind of left the
mess there. And I would believe that he'd be humbled
by the experience, but I also have a hard time
that he would be so those things exist. I do
think Rogers in Pittsburgh has a better chance of success
than it did with the Jets, where this is a

(41:31):
veteran team with one of the most established coaches in
the entire modern era.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
And if you swap.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
Metcalf or Pickings, you know, Metcalf is a perfect Rogers receiver.
A loaded tight end group with Dartnell, Washington and Pat
Fryermuth some smart receivers behind a really good offensive line.
It seems like it has some potential, especially with Arthur Smith.
You know, call on the offense there. It makes me
think back to what Smith and Tannehill had in Tennessee
it when he was under center there, you know, twelve personnel,

(41:56):
play action game. Try to get some of that the
deep drops and throw the football deep down the field
to aj Brown. I think you could incorporate that here.
With an even better quarterback, and that Tannehill had like
a one to ten pass ray in that year, So
to say that better than that is pretty impressive. But
I think Rogers could be that in the system. Defensively,
they've aged, but they still play to the name power.
Watt and Hayward upfront are awesome, but they've been injured

(42:17):
a heck of a lot, and typically when you played
older team like this, that's usually beneficial to get them
later on. So Week fifteen, maybe some of those guys
will be down for the game. But you know, I
think Minka Fitzpatrick has has kind of fallen off last
couple of years. Patrick Queen was not the same without
Rokuwan Smith in Baltimore High Smith, Keanu Benton, Nate Herbig,
Malie Harrison, Brandon Eckles, Beanie Bishop had a breakout year
last year. Joey Porter Junior is a really good cornerback.

(42:40):
There's a lot to like on that side of the ball,
and I think their continuity, veteran experience and the direction
of Terrell Austin will have them playing on their best
preparation standpoint. So it'll be a tough matchup, especially again
in that Monday night environment, But how can they flood
zones behind a pass rush that can really give you
fits without bringing extra guys is kind of the key

(43:02):
in this game. Interesting matchup in that I want it
early for the weather aspect, but I wanted it later
for the attrition and potential blow up factor of Rogers there.
So we'll see what happens. Who knows who the Steelers
are going to be this year by week fifteen. Week sixteen,
the Bengals change on defense. Offense is running it back
after a down year on the whole where they missed
the playoffs despite some historic offense. I think you look

(43:25):
at the slight downturn in the middle of Burrows prime
as a result of some misses in the draft. They
never really replaced Jesse Bates and Von Bell from a
couple of years ago. They tried it with Dax Hill
and Nick Scott. They're both gone and that was a
or no. Well, Dax Hill's still there, but he's changed positions,
and that was a defense that was highly complex and
best operated by veteran communications. You know, I think you

(43:47):
lost lou An Arumo, a brilliant mind because of the
misgivings of your personnel decisions. It's like when an umpire
makes a bad call and then rings the player for
arguing doubling down on a bad decision, and then you
look at Trey Hendricksim a fifteen sets per year guy
not getting his come up, and you got, you know,
Shamar Stewart holding up there. Interesting year for the Bengals.
What might happen with some of those guys? Does does

(44:08):
Hendrickson play? Did he come back at the stage just
missing camp cause a soft tissue injury? Like these are
all questions you have to answer before Christmas when this
game happens. It's one of the more interestingly constructed football
teams there is. The offense is ready to roll. They're
gonna score thirty points per game. It's gonna be a
tough matchup for our defense. Burrows process his short area burst,
the way he anticipates not just coverage downfield but the

(44:30):
rush simultaneously, for how he can exploit it as a runner.
It's what makes him so special, especially when you have
freaking Jamar Chase and t Higgins where you pretty much
have to rule out man coverage. You can't really take
one of those guys man up. It's like us to
pick your poison attack. If you ask a Bengals fan,
the investment on the offensive line is where they should
go next, and they have recently with Amarius BIMs, who

(44:51):
looks the part as a rookie. They signed Orlando Brown,
who's really struggled for a couple of years now. Always
be aware of the tackle that hits the market. Usually
there's a reas for that, and they also drafted Dylan
Fairchild on day two. Ted Carriss has been the anchor
inside for a while. Cody Ford's kind of like a
swing starter guy, but he'll probably start for them this year.
And the biggest thing is that Burrow can cover up
so much on that front for them.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
But you have to score to beat this team, you know.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
Al Golden as introduction press conference talked about an expense
expansive menu, putting a lot on his players, and I
was hoping we'd see them early because of that. But
also this has the makings of like we had to
simplify the defense, and maybe that'll happen down the stretch.
But they did bring over Gino Stone to help communicate
that defense as the glue piece in the back end.
If the physical skills are still there for him. They
lost Mike Hilton, who was a big experience piece for them.

(45:37):
Cam Taylor Britt is kind of the only solidified corner.
It's going to be rookies otherwise probably there. So I
expect the Bengals are going to be much improved a
year ago, and they match up offensively well with us
in that quarterback matches up well with anybody, and I
would say that the same as true for our offense. First,
the Bengals defense could be a shootout here in South
Florida in Week sixteen. Our last team to preview here

(45:58):
Week seventeen, home for the Buccaneers, one of the most
dangerous offenses in the NFL got even more explosive. I
love their idea of adding strength to strength. Ika Agbuka
is going to be a stud and they got Mike Evans,
Chris Godwin, and Jayalen McMillan from a year ago. It's
pretty nasty. Bucky Irvin's really good, Kate Auten koe Keief
paym Durham is a nice tight end room, and the
offensive line might be the best part of their entire offense.

(46:20):
Tristan Wurfs is the best left tackle in football. I
like Cody Mack and Graham Barton. Ben Brettison's kind of
the next guy in line to start on the interior.
Luke Adecki's a good right tackle. I was always a
big Baker Mayfield fan. And while there are the occasional
lapses and judgment and reads and kind of some mistake
prone football, I just think he's wired like a winner,
and he finds a way to make plays, and the

(46:41):
more reps and experience he gets, he just gets better.
He's too alike in that way, And there's a reason
I was so high on both those guys coming out.
Exceptional footwork, hardwired to the eyes to rip through progressions
and take it all in. The information that's not even
presented in front of you. Just kind of like, Okay,
the front side of the puzzle is that, that means
the backside of the puzzle is that if you have
one one question about the offense, it's replacing Dave Canalis

(47:03):
who went to the Panthers a year ago, right, But
then Liam Cohen who went to the Jaguars this year.
Familiar face, Josh Grizzard, What up, coach, It's great to
see your name on here. He gets the call to
the OC position. He was our old quality control, then
receivers coach, and then left to Tampa Bay when Flora's left.
I was hoping we draw drew them early because of that.
But they get here as late as possible so they
can score. But with all those resources on offense, and

(47:25):
the only real change on that side of the ball
was a pair of Day two cornerbacks in Benjamin Morrison
and Brent Jacob Parrish. And you guys know, I love Parish.
I didn't think Morrison was as good as a prospect,
but they've got to replace Carlton Davis. Where I think
is where Morrison probably figures in, but they wind up
starting him and Perish. Possibly that could be two rookies
in your secondary in a league that's dominated by wide receivers.

(47:48):
You know, Zion McCollum, I suppose could kind of factor
into that. I think the safety position could help them
stabilize some stuff there with Antoine Winfield in the back end.
But every team has areas of strength and areas where
you have some unknown for them.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
It's right here too.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
They feel like this is the fourth or fiftheen we
talked about where cornerback is not very deep. They added
to the pass rush banking on a bounce back from
Hassan Reddick. We'll see what happens there, but it's mostly
an inside presence with Vida Veya, who just destroys run
games for his entire life. Elijah Cantie greg games their
deep at defensive tackle. With Veya, you just have to
avoid him. Try to run the ball wide your outside

(48:22):
zone game, but he can wreck shop in that as well.
They'll offset some of the outside game with their blitzes
and try to overload the edges. Bowls loves to bring
a pass rush, so it's fun to chess match with
Tua and Antoine Winfield versus Levante David. I just like
them to have more of a freak type, like a
Derwin James type, to make that defense tie together. I
think they're super complex in their scheme, but if you

(48:42):
blitz too much too, it can get after you. So
I'm curious to see how that plays out. What is
it five months down the road from the seven months
down the road from now very high and the Buccaneers
think this is a tough matchup. They should be a
good team this year, and then the Patriots finish it
up and that's it. So you're probably wondering, Travis, what
do you think it's gonna be. So, if I had
to go through it and pick individual games right now,
I'll go win the first two over the Colston Patriots.

(49:04):
I think we match up good in both of those games.
Catch the Patriots early enough here at home home opener.
The teams from the Northeast don't usually travel down here
in September very well. Two and the start of the year.
I can't pick us to win in Buffalo until it happens.
I think we'll beat the Jets on Monday for a
three and one start, go to the Panthers, win that game,
have the Chargers here and win that game. So you're
off to a five and one start here for Travis.
And hey, you said the same thing last year. Well,

(49:26):
two of got hurt. If two gets hurt, I'll change
it again. I think they'll beat the Browns. I'll go
ahead and pick a loss at the Falcons, just to
kind of throw one off there. I think that Penex
will be really good. That'll be a fun offense, tough
to stop. Maybe it's like a late game, like a
last second field goal. So we go to six and two. There,
I will say we drop one to the Ravens, drop
one to the Bills at home to fall to six
and four. Also, we bounce back in Madrid, get a

(49:48):
big win before the bye to go to seven and four.
Come back off the bye, beat the Saints, get to
eight and four, win at the Jets on the road
once again, get to nine and four, go into Pittsburgh.
People thinking like the this is where the collapse begins,
and you say, nope, no, sir, win that one.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Ten and four.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
Lose to the Bengals in primetime, with another fun game
back and forth, make it ten and five, and then
I'll say we beat the Buccaneers to get to eleven
and five and then drop the finale at the Patriots
to make it eleven and six. That's my season prediction
for the Miami Dolphins. We'll see what it holds up
to when we get here in training camp, but that's
what we're going right now. Eleven and six, and I'll
say I won't do playoffs just yet, but there you go.

(50:25):
That's the record prediction. In the meantime, you will please
be sure. We're gonna have a podcast on Monday, which
is more of a mixed bag of just random things
here and there, so check back for that. We'll have
OTA recaps for you guys when those practices begin. We're
gonna have some of the players from media Day on
the show. We'll preview the entire league this summer. Plenty
of content coming away, but in the meantime, you all
please be sure subscribe, rate, review, follow me on social

(50:46):
at Winklin NFL, the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out
the fish Tank podcast with Seth and Juice, the YouTube
channel for Dolphins HQ, media availabilities, and so much more,
and last, butt not least, Miami Dolphins dot com.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
Until next time, fins up, cal On and Cameron Daddy
Come no