November 6, 2025 • 26 mins
We are back to our game preview Thursday show taking a look at Bills at Dolphins from every angle. Travis takes you through the tape, the matchups, the schemes and everything to get you ready for kickoff.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. On today's show. It's
preview day, week number ten already and the Bills are
in town. Can't wait to see all those Bills fans.
We'll go over the schematics, the matchups, the keys, and
everything you need to know for kickoff on Sunday from
the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
(00:31):
This is the Drive Time Podcast. Ye Daffe, it's Buffalo
week again and they just took it to the three
time defending conference champions in their building. Now they come
down here on the road. We know their history for years.
I have begun this podcast the same way, talking about
the twenty seventeen editions of Poyer and Hide and Trey White,
(00:52):
the inclusion of Josh Allen in twenty eighteen, all under
Sean McDermott, his breakout in twenty twenty Allen's that is,
and the transition of the power in the AFC East
from the Patriots reign that spanned twenty years to now.
The Bills have taken the next five division titles in
the East, and of course, Miami won and back in
two thousand and eight to break up the sixteen of
(01:13):
seventeen division titles for the Patriots, who now look poised
to be right back in that mix for the foreseeable
future again. The balance for the Bills team has shifted, though,
as they struggle on defense and they're a bit of
a juggernaut on the offensive side of the ball. They
get injuries to the same key guys just about every season,
(01:34):
with Matt Milano, Tarren Johnson at Oliver. They've lost a
couple of those guys for certain runs this season at
Oliver are now going to be out for most the season.
They've been searching for that Hide and Puoyer replacement on
the back end. They drop Stefon Diggs before last season
and didn't really replace him with a star level talent,
but rather rely on a good pair of tight ends
in a dominant ground game behind an offensive line that
(01:55):
literally never misses a game. We'll get to that here
in just one second again, like we did back in
Week three, because guess what, they're all playing again the
entire season. But all of this is made possible by
the existence of Josh Allen, who can avoid sacks that
nobody else can, that can make hero throws that nobody
else can, that can take ten brutal looking hits a
game and never miss a snap unless you hit him
(02:17):
across the bridge of his nose and break his nose
where he starts leaking blood and he misses. Then two
snaps like happen back in Week two. For the Bills,
it's about getting over the hump. They have an annual
guest pass, an annual membership to the postseason through the
AFC East Division title. Thirteen wins, eleven wins, thirteen eleven thirteen,
(02:38):
two championship game losses, three in the division round.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Is this the year for them? Probably?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Good on the intro there, because we've done this exact
intro now twelve times in my six years doing the
Drive time podcast. Let's talk about their death chart here
Josh Allen, Mitch Trubisky, QB one and QB two, but
it never matters because Josh Allen does not miss games.
At running back, James Cook is the top guy. He
has become even a better running back than he was
last year with the post contracts, so of course this
(03:04):
Bills team can pay guys and they keep on rolling
as other teams don't get that same luxury. It seems
ty Johnson the number two, who's more of a kind
of passing down spellback, almost like the Travis Minor to
Ricky Williams in some way. For you old heads out
there at receiver, Khalil Shaker and Keyon Coleman are the
top two guys, and then Tyler Shavers and Curtis Samuel
(03:25):
kind of round out the rest of the group. They'll
they'll mix a match there, but the two primary targets
outside of Khalil Shaker are their tight ends and Dawson
Knox and Dalton King Kaid across the offensive line. It's
the same as Josh Allen. I mean, they don't miss games.
Deon Dawkins elite left tackle, Spencer Brown elite right tackle,
David Edwards very good left guard, Connor McGovern very good center.
(03:46):
Osiris Torrance has played better this year, but still kind
of could use some more from him, But I mean
he's racking up the starts in the games played and
then experience in communication with the rest of the group.
You can afford to have one position be not on
par with the other four positions when you are that good.
You have that much stability, and you have the general scheme,
idea and thought and plan, and you build towards that.
(04:08):
On defense, Daikwan Jones moves into the number one defensive
tackle position, although he's had his injury issues. Jordan Phillips
got elevated from the practice squad last week and he'll
be in that spot. I imagine again this week. Larry Ogan,
Jobi and down dayon Walker. Round about that group. TJ
Standers was a third round draft pick this year, second
(04:28):
round draft pick for the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, second round
pick who has kind of been relegated to red shirt form.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Greg Russeau.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Off the edge, Joey Bosa and aj Epenetz are their
top guys there. Matt Mulano and Terrell Bernard the top linebackers,
with Joel Andresen getting some run there as well. And
cornerback their best player was a sixth round pick and
Christian Benford. They have the combination of Trey White and
Maxwell Harriston, who played a little bit in the Kansas
City game. I imagine we see him start in this game.
(04:55):
Their nickelback, of course, is Terren Johnson, who has been
replaced this year by cam Lewis. But this is part
of the beauty of the Bill scheme and part of
the beauty of the entire operation, I suppose, is what
they have available to them in terms of the quarterback
being who he is and how they can just kind
of funnel things through the rest of the roster like
they don't. It's not detrimental to them when they lose
(05:18):
Taron Johnson, even though he's one of their best players,
because cam Lewis fits the mold and he steps in
Their employees good football, Cole Bishop and Jordan Poyer where
the starting safeties last week. That is a group you
have to go after if you are the Miami Dolphins.
More on that in one second. Let's go ahead and
start with the injuries. Ed Oliver is going to be
out again. He missed last game and you saw the
impact of that back in Week three with how the
Dolphins were able to get to our power run game
(05:40):
and outside zone scheme. They also lost Michael Hoyt this week.
He too was out for the Week three game back
with a suspension. Taron Johnson missed the game on Sunday.
He should return to the lineup here in Miami Taylor
rap is down and Jordan Poyer filled in for him.
I wrote about this back in week three. I wrote this,
I should say back in week three, I think you
can negate some of the the Bills have done defensively
(06:01):
to stop you in the past with balance, looking no
further than the game up there in Buffalo last season,
you run the ball very effectively. You hit your intermediate throws,
you run your receivers to depth, force the hook drops
and safety alignments to back off and give some space,
take advantage of the checkdowns and all the space that
you created from balance, and you marry all of that together,
and you get a defense that really struggles to create
(06:21):
pressure because you keep them in third and short and
second medium and struggles to stop the run situations where
both the run and pass can stay on the menu,
because then they cannot get to their egs, two man
looks and press coverage looks where they've send all kinds
of pressure after the quarterback. And to update that, we
saw an attack in week three for the Miami Dolphins
that struggle on early downs, but it had the right idea.
(06:42):
You know, they were nails on third down, but the
idea of the balance with the running scheme and the
play action game off of that was there, and I
thought Tua had a lot of misses in that game.
There was a lot of creativity outside the structure and
constant third and long success for Tua in that game
with Tyreek Hill, with Jalen Waddle and some of the
other options they have, I don't I think that's the
formula you can expect to repeat, especially given their pass
(07:04):
rush beginning to kind of come to life here a
little bit with Joey Bosa kind of leading the charge there.
They pressured, they hit, they battered, Patrick Mahomes to a
career high and incomplete passes. On Sunday, we'll go ahead
and kick off the matchups here with that Bill's defense
to the matchups themselves. I'm gonna stay on the defensive
line here. They drafted two defensive tackles and one has
played better than I thought he would and the other
(07:26):
one has struggled in the opposite direction that I thought
he would. So Travis gets two l's there. But Dayon
Walker has had some flashes. I still think there's a
lot of room to grow for him in terms of
just being an effective three down player.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
But he has certainly beat out TJ. Sanders.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
They called up Jordan Phillips, and that should kind of
speak to the greenness of both those players, because Jordan
Phillips was essentially saying, I'm all gonna play for the
Buffalo Bills. Ever again, they put him on the practice squad,
and here he is in November, you know, taking a
twenty five snap game on Sunday. Dai Kwan Jones is
still there, Ogan Jobie back in the fold. So there
is a good mix of talent and kind of different
types of talents on that defensive line. But I think
(08:04):
the answer here for you is your power run game.
Saddle up Jonah Brew and Strange in the interior and
get alec Ingold, get Julian Hill's insert blockers, call up
Hayden Roucie, get your sixth offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill on there,
and hammer home these power runs. Twenty one gap scheme
runs against the Falcons, five against the Ravens. Don't go
out to look a lot further than that. And along
with their scheme, they invite the run. I mean, that's
(08:26):
that's they want you to run the football. And Walker's
a high cut, large human being. You can out leverage him,
which to me is the strength of Brewer, and I
would say Jonah and Strange for that matter. I think
for Cole Strange, he can kind of get in with quickness.
That's more of his game in the in the gap
scheme game, because I think that you know, Strange, although
his profile projects is an outside zone guy. To me,
he's been better on the man scheme this year. Man's
(08:47):
scheme runs this year. I hope we get Allie Gordon
back after his injury on Thursday, but we shall see
if that's the case. I think this is a take
the air out of the football game power runs and
just lean on these guys and hope you can win
the turnover battle and win the time of possession battle
and just kind of outlast them, I suppose, because if
you get into a shootout here, you're probably not going
to keep up. The marquee matchup is Patrick Paul and
(09:08):
Greg Russo, and when you're light in terms of injuries
up front and the way Pat is going, I think
you wind up with a lot of slides that puts
Pat on an island. We've seen it all year and
he's been excellent there. He's been a very good left
tackle for you. Aj Epanessa is an interesting challenge for
Larry Boram. Epanessa's more power and length and Larry is
more quickness and get off, so a clash in styles
which I think. I think Larry can handle that matchup.
(09:31):
He's been a good player for the Dolphins and against
a certain type of player, and I think Epanessa is
that type of player. Bill's fans will tell you the
safety play has struggled this year, and that's what I've
seen on the tape as well. Their angles and tackling
have both been a challenge, and that's why you have
to win at the line of scrimmage because Devon can
then turn twelve yard runs into touchdowns. We've seen him
juke out Jordan Poyer in the past and run right
(09:51):
by him for long touchdowns. We've seen Poyer misstackles in
this uniform as well, So go after that guy if
he's on the field. I don't expect this game to
be close. I don't particularly care what happens and the results,
but I would like to see the Dolphins get one
over on Jordan Port. That's kind of my top thing
I'm watching for this game. On top of the young
player success. But it's been a struggle for them all
(10:14):
year long. But you have to get yourself in those
positions to capitalize so early run success, create the threat
of the run, to get to your playpass concepts, and
take advantage of a safety duo that has very little
experience playing together with Cole Bishop and Jordan Poyer or
whoever the hell else Loom gonna put out there, because
it's been a mixed match this year. And from there
you need to get Waddle to go after the rookie
(10:36):
Maxwell Harrison. I mean, that's kind of the guy that
you're gonna be going after here. If you want to
put like the rabbit hat the sombrero on somebody, it's
probably gonna be Maxwell Harrison if he plays in that position,
or Dorian Strong, or if it's Trey White too.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I think that would be my matchup that I would
attack relentlessly.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
But Waddle on anybody besides Benford is kind of where
I want to go in this game.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Matt Mulana is back.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
He will challenge your short timing and your short passing
game and the timing passing game with both his blitz
and spot drops. That's why I think you need to
find that running game inside in particular to move him
out of those throwing windows for Tua. So big game
for a while to get back inside on those slants
and glances and spots and mesh whatever you do over
the middle like it runs him through those windows for
possible run after the catch, to attack those safeties. We've
(11:19):
seen Wattle hit the big play in twenty twenty two
right third and twenty two forty five yard pass down
the middle of the field. We saw him hit the
long touchdown in the game at Buffalo later that same season.
He has been a big play menace against this Bill's
defense because the safety play has struggled at times, and
he is your safety eraser in that regard. Let's go
ahead and take our first break right there, come back
and talk about the Bills offense. We'll get to the scheme,
(11:41):
the matchups, all that coming ahead. Here a Draft Time
podcast brought to you by AutoNation. We've covered the matchups
when it comes to the Bills defense versus Dolphins offense.
Let's go ahead and flip it over to the other
side and we will get to the quarterback. But I
want to make sure to just acknowledge that it starts
with Josh Allen. I mean, where else would you go
League MVP. He is just such a damn problem in
(12:04):
every single way with your tackling, your rush lanes, your
eye discipline. You have to be on your stuff at
all three levels for sixty minutes just to contain him.
And you can never completely stop him for sixty minutes
because he finds a way.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
He's inevitable.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
We'll come back to that, but I do think if
you're trying to find things to inspire confidence heading forward
with his football team, there's a potential here for a
good matchup with the tight ends on some young cover
guys and some linebackers as well, King Kid and Knox
versus Brooks and t Dot and Marshall and Minca and Trader,
all these guys. You have a potential here for a
(12:38):
fun matchup when it comes to your safeties. And something
I'm curious to see is how it develops over the
second half of the season with Minca and Trader and
who else kind of fills in that role. Because now
that Jason Marshall is back, can he play more reps
in the slot to give Minka some more safety freedom
back there, and Trader took on the starting role, and
I'm curious to see if it stays that way. I
have to imagine it will. With Minka playing as much
(13:00):
Nichol as he has, I think you could wind up
seeing Trader as a bit of an answer to their
tight end problems that they present. I think the biggest
challenge will be setting the hard edges against their run
heavy personnel, which lends itself to their passing game from
those same sets, with those dynamic tight ends. You need
Chubb for sure, because he's the best one standing at
this point, with Chop Robinson's availability kind of up in
(13:22):
the air for Sunday. He's in the concussion protocol right
now as I speak to you on a Wednesday afternoon.
But also Quentin Bell, Matthew Judon, Cam Good. Do we
see a Derek McClendon elevation. You have to, you must,
you must set hard edges in this game, because if
James Cook gets rolling, you've got no chance against these dudes,
and the hard edges create advantageous pass game situations with
(13:43):
the safeties and tight ends. Who if they get rolling
multifaceted again, you've got no chance to sow this runaway,
trained down trader going to be a guy that I'm
watching a lot the rest of the way, and it
kind of starts here on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.
I think we got something with this kid, and I
want to see him match up against our biggest foe
of the last ten years. James Cook is just such
a good, patient, physical runner, has an extra gear, and
(14:05):
they get him involved in the screen game. You gotta
be on top of your stuff with him as well.
They do a good job meshing him and Tie Johnson
together to keep Cook fresh, but also not sacrificing a
lot in terms of flexibility on offense because of Johnson's
impact in the passing game. On the offensive line, I
mean Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown and how they create
escape patches within good pass protection and move guys off
(14:28):
the football. It's a fantastic bookend punch they have there.
They once again have the exact same five offensive line
and healthy that we've talked about for every freaking game
in the last two or three years. And it goes
beyond that when they had Mitch Morse, like they just
don't miss guys for games. It's a tough matchup across
the board. It's a good test for the young defensive tackles.
They kind of took it to us in the game
up there in Week three, but for Kenneth Grant and
(14:49):
Jordan Phillips who have progressed. Zach Steeler always plays well
against Buffalo. I think if they get a little bit
greedy and try a single block stealer that he could
possibly have an impact on the game. And if not,
up to the young guys to make some plays. Almost
nobody has done that, but I could see Buffalo believing
in their strength in the offensive line and going after
Seiler accordingly. But communication on the interior and the concert
(15:11):
relationship with Josh and how he moves, the power of
the continuity there their offensive line and the continuity across
the board with Josh just creates this super sound relationship
of pass sets, recognition of space when things break down,
where he can get out where to reset and take
your guy when the play gets outside of structure. You
have to deal with that on top of trying to
(15:32):
be really polished experience offensive lineman.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
It is a tall, tall order.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I think we have a nice little advantage on the outside, though,
that's where if you can just kind of stay in
the fight in the trenches, you can possibly take the
matchup on the outside. I think Rasoul is an eraser
against pretty much anyone on this team. I like him
against anybody that he's going to line up against. But
I would be curious to see if you just said, like, hey,
go take out Keyon Coleman, who continues to have one
of the lowest separation rates in the entire NFL the
(15:58):
last two years, said that when he was a you know,
a prospect, it was obvious that that was his game,
you know, kind of Kelvin Benjamin two point zero. I
think you can just take him out of the game
if you do that with Rasul Douglass and possibly get
an interception, because I think Douglas is a much better
player and tracker of the football than Keon Coleman on
some of those contested matchups. But the one you got
(16:18):
to keep an eye on is Khalil Shakur because they
do have this you know, everybody eats Moniker mantra that
we heard from a from Sal Capaccio on the podcast yesterday.
But if you can take out Shakur and he kicks
inside a lot, which actually might be a good Minka
Fitzpatrick matchup, or maybe it's Jason Marshall and you play
Minco over tight ends and play Minka in the post
a little bit more, play Minka in kind of a
(16:39):
Kyle Hamilton role, and let Jason Marshall kind of get
his reps back in there getting back from his injury.
Then I think I'm sort of willing to just take
on a you know, come what may approach beyond that
with Samuel, with Keon Coleman, with Tyler Shavers, Like nothing
there really truly threatened you. If this team ever gets another,
like really good receiver, it's gonna be it's gonna be
tough to match up with them, but I mean it
(17:01):
already is. But Jack Jones is a good matchup on
really everybody here. But he also turned down some tackles
on some long runs last time, and that just can't
happen because this run game is lethal and they will
get it on the edge and they will make you
come tackle him. And we saw it not happen back
in that Week three game. Scheme calling cards here Dolphins
offense first, the Bills defense. They are a massive mix
of different zone coverages, which essentially plays out of three
(17:23):
high structures, and I'm curious if that is maintained. I mean,
that was kind of why they gave us such fits,
because that structure of their defense is the exact build
for how you attacked the Tyreek Hill Let Dolphins offense,
which was always going to try to put the ball
in the air, wouldn't take advantage of light boxes and
would still try to get to their vertical game against
a coverage that takes it away. Because they camp out
(17:45):
in thirty two percent Cover three. We know what Cover
three is, right, three h three high defenders in the
deep thirds. Twenty one percent Cover two, which is you know,
two high defenders with underneath zone coverage two man is
six percent. That's obviously a man coverage across the board,
two high safeties. They present Cover one or they play
cover one rather eleven percent of the time, twelve percent
(18:06):
in quarters, nine percent Cover six. These are all variations
of those three high structures, and they want to present
the same look and then very up there looks post
snap and they will go through the roller decks. It's
not like it's not like they look at a certain
formation or call and go in that direction based upon that,
they just want to mix it up and keep the
quarterback thinking about a new coverage every single snap. So
(18:26):
it's a lot and that's kind of where I say
for Tua and the receivers, they need to be on it.
They need to take advantage of a safety position that has,
you know, for as much variety as they call. It
can be tough to deal with because they can tip
their coverage because they're not really in tune yet to
how they play together, especially with some injuries happening. There
no Taylor Rapp, who is kind of the new you know,
sheriff in the defensive backfield there for the Buffalo Bills,
(18:48):
and they've allowed exposive plays all year long. Their nickel personnel,
it's kind of their go to right They've been a
little more game plan specific this year, but by and large,
the accumulative numbers are somewhat similar. Right now, it's sixty
two percent nickel, nineteen percent base and then eighteen percent dime,
so basically exclusively nickel and dimeouts have you know, every
fifth snap. But there's an uptick in base and dime
(19:10):
and a pretty dramatic shift from what it has been,
which previously was ninety five percent nickel coverage the last
couple of seasons, and that dime element is the same concept.
It's just like we're going to insert a defensive back
who can be a two way player in terms of,
you know, coming down and playing the box versus playing
up high, and that's a grouping you have. You just
you have to run the football against them. If you
(19:30):
can't do it, you've got no shot to attack this
defense when they get into their third long calls, which
last time you played them you had success there. But
it's not it's not a way to make a living
for sixty minutes against this Bill's defense. As far as
the Bill's offense, and there's scheme calling cards. They underwent
that philosophical shift offensively when they were six and six
back in twenty twenty three. Take me back, man, they
(19:51):
were six and six and we were nine to three
right coming off the Commander's game, feeling good, riding high.
It was fun times around here. And since that move
from Ken Dorsey to Joe Brady, and since that change,
they're twenty two and six in the regular season, three
and two in the postseason. And that shift coincided with
a massive, massive reduction to josh Allen's drop back percentage.
(20:13):
He is even more effective when that offense leans into
the running game and gives the defense two thoughts at
all times. He gets to play out favorable down distances.
And then the part that I think is vastly, vastly
understood by the casual football fan is the reduction of
complex processing. And for a quarterback, if we can supplement
his skill set with that running game, then we can
maximize his talents and keep him sharp for the big
(20:35):
third and seven we need in the fourth quarter of
these big games. And I feel like this has just
advanced joshah strings. He's playing better in the quick game
than he ever has. He's still an absolute load to
deal with as a runner, and he's running less this year,
which I think is a preservation thing, because, like I said,
they have a free pass right. They have a prepaid
car that scans him right through the little oh Man
the turnstile. I couldn't think of that name of that contraption,
(20:57):
like at the subway. They have a free prepaid card
to get to the turnstile into January.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And when he goes off scripts, he can burn you
with his arm.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
As well as anybody. We've seen it every damn matchup
we've played against.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
This guy.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
He makes a play on like a fourth and goal
where he throws it with his his you know, his
right arm facing his target, and he'll flick it out
there and make a play. It's just it's incredibly annoying
to play against. And the Bills have leaned into this,
so they're further along in the run game, RPO, quick
game stuff, and still have the intermediate deep game through
Allen's playmaking. We talked about that and the continuity and
(21:29):
relationship of the offensive line to the skill players. So
when you play this team, you have to beat them
in structure, you have to find a way to get
around a man and out athlete Josh as a pass rusher.
That's why they make the last two three weeks of
the football season every single year. It is that on offense,
last break right there. Come back and talk about the quarterbacks,
the keys to victory, and my prediction for the game
(21:49):
on Sunday, Draft Time Podcast brought to you by AutoNation.
Welcome back the quarterback Battle here Dolphins and Bills Sunday
from hard Rock Stadium. Josh Allen, you know, I watched
this cutup of him back when I did the first
game preview and it went through his progress from the
twenty eighteen season until now, and to me, he really
(22:10):
complicates an already difficult process, the process of evaluating quarterbacks,
which you know we'll be doing a lot here on
the show as we go forward. Now for a little
self promotion, the other day, I went back and looked
at my twenty eighteen quarterback evaluations where I stacked at Lamar,
Josh Baker, and then the two quarterbacks I didn't see
it with were Donald and Rosen and an emphasis on
(22:31):
how special I thought Lamar and Josh both could be.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
That was my mona Lisa.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
But with Josh that was such a projection because he
was this unbelievable playmaker. His wyoming tape was high octane
every single snap because he could make a big, boneheaded play.
He could make the ultimate highlight play, and he really
struggled as a rookie to play from the pocket, to
play on time, and to throw the ball with placement
in touch. And the reason he's complicated in the process
(22:55):
is that's not normal. People think you can draft traits
and find those things later on now, I think if
you go off traits where there's a requisite level of
pocket passing like Lamar had that and he too had
really taken it to a different level. But he was
far far more advanced than Josh Allen was in college.
And when I watched a player like Anthony Richardson for instance,
(23:16):
like it wasn't polished, but there was examples of it
in his college tape and then for whatever reason, as
a pro it just completely went out the window. And
the accuracy you know, was still scattershot at best, and
the decision making wasn't there either. He was a guy
that you know, DC's began finding like easy. It was
a pretty easy prep for him because he was just
so he missed so many throws that should have been
built into the structure of the offense based upon how
(23:38):
the defense you know, planned their vulnerabilities.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
But for most quarterbacks like that doesn't happen.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
So this balance of trying to find this guy who's
polished but has all the athletic stuff like that's that's
why Andrew Luck was such an easy evl right, he
had everything, uh, you know, thirteen years ago when he
came out for the draft and as far as what's
coming down the pike, I don't know yet. We'll find out.
But for Josh Allen, he's the standard. He's what you
(24:04):
want to find. And this is all my way of
saying that the highlights are great and what makes Josh
truly special, but you don't get to show all of
that unless you play the position. And he's become probably
top six or seven in terms of how he plays
instructure on top of the creativity, which ultimately lands him
(24:25):
as a top two or three quarterback in the NFL.
Our quarterback to for him at the entire passing offense,
I am curious if they can a exploit those areas
of vulnerability against the many zone coverages of Sean McDermott
and a safety group but still working to find their
rhythm and possibly get some busts against a highly complex
rotation disguised defense and then b open up some of
(24:47):
the bread and butter. I'm intrigued by how the Bills
play it and how we can play off of that
with the middle of the field passing game, but also
get back to the gap scheme runs and the inside
outside balance. I think the possible absence of Ali Gordon
could impact that, but give me some right too. I'd
like to see a couple of backs in this game
besides just von him. And for a more general to
a take, I think the improvement in the middle of
the field passing game the last couple of weeks has
(25:08):
been a nice uptick, not as much in the Baltimore game,
but definitely in Atlanta. And if we can get to that,
paired with the Versaalle running game, I think you can
score some points in this game.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I think you're gonna have to.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
What's at stake this week, positively, nothing keys to victory
contain the Buffalo running game. I mean, you have to
find a way to slow down James Cook. If they
become two dimensional, it's gonna be a thirty eight point
game minimum for them. Number Two, be privy to the
Buffalo defensive pre snap disguise. If you can catch them
in some bad looks, that's great. If you can avoid
them getting you in some bad looks, that's even better.
(25:39):
You have to be aware of how they're gonna rotate
post snap every single play. And Number three fine success
in the run game and the play action game, because
you're gonna have to score in this game, which brings
us to the prediction. I think we can score, I
think we can't keep pace with them, though. I think
the Phillips loss for our pass rush, paired with our
struggles against the run and what he did for our
(25:59):
run defense for sixty minutes, is going to be a
difficult recipe to overcome against a Bills offense that's kind
of finding its groove here. Maybe it's closed at half,
but I think Buffalo eventually pulls away. I'm gonna go
thirty eight seventeen Bills win this game. You all please
be sure subscribe, rate and review the show. Follow me
on social at Winfold NFL. The team at Miami Dolphins,
(26:20):
check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ, media availabilities
and so much more. And last button, not least Miami
Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Until next time. Fins up Caroline Cameron and Willow Daddy's
Coming
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. On today's show. It's
preview day, week number ten already and the Bills are
in town. Can't wait to see all those Bills fans.
We'll go over the schematics, the matchups, the keys, and
everything you need to know for kickoff on Sunday from
the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
(00:31):
This is the Drive Time Podcast. Ye Daffe, it's Buffalo
week again and they just took it to the three
time defending conference champions in their building. Now they come
down here on the road. We know their history for years.
I have begun this podcast the same way, talking about
the twenty seventeen editions of Poyer and Hide and Trey White,
(00:52):
the inclusion of Josh Allen in twenty eighteen, all under
Sean McDermott, his breakout in twenty twenty Allen's that is,
and the transition of the power in the AFC East
from the Patriots reign that spanned twenty years to now.
The Bills have taken the next five division titles in
the East, and of course, Miami won and back in
two thousand and eight to break up the sixteen of
(01:13):
seventeen division titles for the Patriots, who now look poised
to be right back in that mix for the foreseeable
future again. The balance for the Bills team has shifted, though,
as they struggle on defense and they're a bit of
a juggernaut on the offensive side of the ball. They
get injuries to the same key guys just about every season,
(01:34):
with Matt Milano, Tarren Johnson at Oliver. They've lost a
couple of those guys for certain runs this season at
Oliver are now going to be out for most the season.
They've been searching for that Hide and Puoyer replacement on
the back end. They drop Stefon Diggs before last season
and didn't really replace him with a star level talent,
but rather rely on a good pair of tight ends
in a dominant ground game behind an offensive line that
(01:55):
literally never misses a game. We'll get to that here
in just one second again, like we did back in
Week three, because guess what, they're all playing again the
entire season. But all of this is made possible by
the existence of Josh Allen, who can avoid sacks that
nobody else can, that can make hero throws that nobody
else can, that can take ten brutal looking hits a
game and never miss a snap unless you hit him
(02:17):
across the bridge of his nose and break his nose
where he starts leaking blood and he misses. Then two
snaps like happen back in Week two. For the Bills,
it's about getting over the hump. They have an annual
guest pass, an annual membership to the postseason through the
AFC East Division title. Thirteen wins, eleven wins, thirteen eleven thirteen,
(02:38):
two championship game losses, three in the division round.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Is this the year for them? Probably?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Good on the intro there, because we've done this exact
intro now twelve times in my six years doing the
Drive time podcast. Let's talk about their death chart here
Josh Allen, Mitch Trubisky, QB one and QB two, but
it never matters because Josh Allen does not miss games.
At running back, James Cook is the top guy. He
has become even a better running back than he was
last year with the post contracts, so of course this
(03:04):
Bills team can pay guys and they keep on rolling
as other teams don't get that same luxury. It seems
ty Johnson the number two, who's more of a kind
of passing down spellback, almost like the Travis Minor to
Ricky Williams in some way. For you old heads out
there at receiver, Khalil Shaker and Keyon Coleman are the
top two guys, and then Tyler Shavers and Curtis Samuel
(03:25):
kind of round out the rest of the group. They'll
they'll mix a match there, but the two primary targets
outside of Khalil Shaker are their tight ends and Dawson
Knox and Dalton King Kaid across the offensive line. It's
the same as Josh Allen. I mean, they don't miss games.
Deon Dawkins elite left tackle, Spencer Brown elite right tackle,
David Edwards very good left guard, Connor McGovern very good center.
(03:46):
Osiris Torrance has played better this year, but still kind
of could use some more from him, But I mean
he's racking up the starts in the games played and
then experience in communication with the rest of the group.
You can afford to have one position be not on
par with the other four positions when you are that good.
You have that much stability, and you have the general scheme,
idea and thought and plan, and you build towards that.
(04:08):
On defense, Daikwan Jones moves into the number one defensive
tackle position, although he's had his injury issues. Jordan Phillips
got elevated from the practice squad last week and he'll
be in that spot. I imagine again this week. Larry Ogan,
Jobi and down dayon Walker. Round about that group. TJ
Standers was a third round draft pick this year, second
(04:28):
round draft pick for the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, second round
pick who has kind of been relegated to red shirt form.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Greg Russeau.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Off the edge, Joey Bosa and aj Epenetz are their
top guys there. Matt Mulano and Terrell Bernard the top linebackers,
with Joel Andresen getting some run there as well. And
cornerback their best player was a sixth round pick and
Christian Benford. They have the combination of Trey White and
Maxwell Harriston, who played a little bit in the Kansas
City game. I imagine we see him start in this game.
(04:55):
Their nickelback, of course, is Terren Johnson, who has been
replaced this year by cam Lewis. But this is part
of the beauty of the Bill scheme and part of
the beauty of the entire operation, I suppose, is what
they have available to them in terms of the quarterback
being who he is and how they can just kind
of funnel things through the rest of the roster like
they don't. It's not detrimental to them when they lose
(05:18):
Taron Johnson, even though he's one of their best players,
because cam Lewis fits the mold and he steps in
Their employees good football, Cole Bishop and Jordan Poyer where
the starting safeties last week. That is a group you
have to go after if you are the Miami Dolphins.
More on that in one second. Let's go ahead and
start with the injuries. Ed Oliver is going to be
out again. He missed last game and you saw the
impact of that back in Week three with how the
Dolphins were able to get to our power run game
(05:40):
and outside zone scheme. They also lost Michael Hoyt this week.
He too was out for the Week three game back
with a suspension. Taron Johnson missed the game on Sunday.
He should return to the lineup here in Miami Taylor
rap is down and Jordan Poyer filled in for him.
I wrote about this back in week three. I wrote this,
I should say back in week three, I think you
can negate some of the the Bills have done defensively
(06:01):
to stop you in the past with balance, looking no
further than the game up there in Buffalo last season,
you run the ball very effectively. You hit your intermediate throws,
you run your receivers to depth, force the hook drops
and safety alignments to back off and give some space,
take advantage of the checkdowns and all the space that
you created from balance, and you marry all of that together,
and you get a defense that really struggles to create
(06:21):
pressure because you keep them in third and short and
second medium and struggles to stop the run situations where
both the run and pass can stay on the menu,
because then they cannot get to their egs, two man
looks and press coverage looks where they've send all kinds
of pressure after the quarterback. And to update that, we
saw an attack in week three for the Miami Dolphins
that struggle on early downs, but it had the right idea.
(06:42):
You know, they were nails on third down, but the
idea of the balance with the running scheme and the
play action game off of that was there, and I
thought Tua had a lot of misses in that game.
There was a lot of creativity outside the structure and
constant third and long success for Tua in that game
with Tyreek Hill, with Jalen Waddle and some of the
other options they have, I don't I think that's the
formula you can expect to repeat, especially given their pass
(07:04):
rush beginning to kind of come to life here a
little bit with Joey Bosa kind of leading the charge there.
They pressured, they hit, they battered, Patrick Mahomes to a
career high and incomplete passes. On Sunday, we'll go ahead
and kick off the matchups here with that Bill's defense
to the matchups themselves. I'm gonna stay on the defensive
line here. They drafted two defensive tackles and one has
played better than I thought he would and the other
(07:26):
one has struggled in the opposite direction that I thought
he would. So Travis gets two l's there. But Dayon
Walker has had some flashes. I still think there's a
lot of room to grow for him in terms of
just being an effective three down player.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
But he has certainly beat out TJ. Sanders.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
They called up Jordan Phillips, and that should kind of
speak to the greenness of both those players, because Jordan
Phillips was essentially saying, I'm all gonna play for the
Buffalo Bills. Ever again, they put him on the practice squad,
and here he is in November, you know, taking a
twenty five snap game on Sunday. Dai Kwan Jones is
still there, Ogan Jobie back in the fold. So there
is a good mix of talent and kind of different
types of talents on that defensive line. But I think
(08:04):
the answer here for you is your power run game.
Saddle up Jonah Brew and Strange in the interior and
get alec Ingold, get Julian Hill's insert blockers, call up
Hayden Roucie, get your sixth offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill on there,
and hammer home these power runs. Twenty one gap scheme
runs against the Falcons, five against the Ravens. Don't go
out to look a lot further than that. And along
with their scheme, they invite the run. I mean, that's
(08:26):
that's they want you to run the football. And Walker's
a high cut, large human being. You can out leverage him,
which to me is the strength of Brewer, and I
would say Jonah and Strange for that matter. I think
for Cole Strange, he can kind of get in with quickness.
That's more of his game in the in the gap
scheme game, because I think that you know, Strange, although
his profile projects is an outside zone guy. To me,
he's been better on the man scheme this year. Man's
(08:47):
scheme runs this year. I hope we get Allie Gordon
back after his injury on Thursday, but we shall see
if that's the case. I think this is a take
the air out of the football game power runs and
just lean on these guys and hope you can win
the turnover battle and win the time of possession battle
and just kind of outlast them, I suppose, because if
you get into a shootout here, you're probably not going
to keep up. The marquee matchup is Patrick Paul and
(09:08):
Greg Russo, and when you're light in terms of injuries
up front and the way Pat is going, I think
you wind up with a lot of slides that puts
Pat on an island. We've seen it all year and
he's been excellent there. He's been a very good left
tackle for you. Aj Epanessa is an interesting challenge for
Larry Boram. Epanessa's more power and length and Larry is
more quickness and get off, so a clash in styles
which I think. I think Larry can handle that matchup.
(09:31):
He's been a good player for the Dolphins and against
a certain type of player, and I think Epanessa is
that type of player. Bill's fans will tell you the
safety play has struggled this year, and that's what I've
seen on the tape as well. Their angles and tackling
have both been a challenge, and that's why you have
to win at the line of scrimmage because Devon can
then turn twelve yard runs into touchdowns. We've seen him
juke out Jordan Poyer in the past and run right
(09:51):
by him for long touchdowns. We've seen Poyer misstackles in
this uniform as well, So go after that guy if
he's on the field. I don't expect this game to
be close. I don't particularly care what happens and the results,
but I would like to see the Dolphins get one
over on Jordan Port. That's kind of my top thing
I'm watching for this game. On top of the young
player success. But it's been a struggle for them all
(10:14):
year long. But you have to get yourself in those
positions to capitalize so early run success, create the threat
of the run, to get to your playpass concepts, and
take advantage of a safety duo that has very little
experience playing together with Cole Bishop and Jordan Poyer or
whoever the hell else Loom gonna put out there, because
it's been a mixed match this year. And from there
you need to get Waddle to go after the rookie
(10:36):
Maxwell Harrison. I mean, that's kind of the guy that
you're gonna be going after here. If you want to
put like the rabbit hat the sombrero on somebody, it's
probably gonna be Maxwell Harrison if he plays in that position,
or Dorian Strong, or if it's Trey White too.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I think that would be my matchup that I would
attack relentlessly.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
But Waddle on anybody besides Benford is kind of where
I want to go in this game.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Matt Mulana is back.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
He will challenge your short timing and your short passing
game and the timing passing game with both his blitz
and spot drops. That's why I think you need to
find that running game inside in particular to move him
out of those throwing windows for Tua. So big game
for a while to get back inside on those slants
and glances and spots and mesh whatever you do over
the middle like it runs him through those windows for
possible run after the catch, to attack those safeties. We've
(11:19):
seen Wattle hit the big play in twenty twenty two
right third and twenty two forty five yard pass down
the middle of the field. We saw him hit the
long touchdown in the game at Buffalo later that same season.
He has been a big play menace against this Bill's
defense because the safety play has struggled at times, and
he is your safety eraser in that regard. Let's go
ahead and take our first break right there, come back
and talk about the Bills offense. We'll get to the scheme,
(11:41):
the matchups, all that coming ahead. Here a Draft Time
podcast brought to you by AutoNation. We've covered the matchups
when it comes to the Bills defense versus Dolphins offense.
Let's go ahead and flip it over to the other
side and we will get to the quarterback. But I
want to make sure to just acknowledge that it starts
with Josh Allen. I mean, where else would you go
League MVP. He is just such a damn problem in
(12:04):
every single way with your tackling, your rush lanes, your
eye discipline. You have to be on your stuff at
all three levels for sixty minutes just to contain him.
And you can never completely stop him for sixty minutes
because he finds a way.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
He's inevitable.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
We'll come back to that, but I do think if
you're trying to find things to inspire confidence heading forward
with his football team, there's a potential here for a
good matchup with the tight ends on some young cover
guys and some linebackers as well, King Kid and Knox
versus Brooks and t Dot and Marshall and Minca and Trader,
all these guys. You have a potential here for a
(12:38):
fun matchup when it comes to your safeties. And something
I'm curious to see is how it develops over the
second half of the season with Minca and Trader and
who else kind of fills in that role. Because now
that Jason Marshall is back, can he play more reps
in the slot to give Minka some more safety freedom
back there, and Trader took on the starting role, and
I'm curious to see if it stays that way. I
have to imagine it will. With Minka playing as much
(13:00):
Nichol as he has, I think you could wind up
seeing Trader as a bit of an answer to their
tight end problems that they present. I think the biggest
challenge will be setting the hard edges against their run
heavy personnel, which lends itself to their passing game from
those same sets, with those dynamic tight ends. You need
Chubb for sure, because he's the best one standing at
this point, with Chop Robinson's availability kind of up in
(13:22):
the air for Sunday. He's in the concussion protocol right
now as I speak to you on a Wednesday afternoon.
But also Quentin Bell, Matthew Judon, Cam Good. Do we
see a Derek McClendon elevation. You have to, you must,
you must set hard edges in this game, because if
James Cook gets rolling, you've got no chance against these dudes,
and the hard edges create advantageous pass game situations with
(13:43):
the safeties and tight ends. Who if they get rolling
multifaceted again, you've got no chance to sow this runaway,
trained down trader going to be a guy that I'm
watching a lot the rest of the way, and it
kind of starts here on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.
I think we got something with this kid, and I
want to see him match up against our biggest foe
of the last ten years. James Cook is just such
a good, patient, physical runner, has an extra gear, and
(14:05):
they get him involved in the screen game. You gotta
be on top of your stuff with him as well.
They do a good job meshing him and Tie Johnson
together to keep Cook fresh, but also not sacrificing a
lot in terms of flexibility on offense because of Johnson's
impact in the passing game. On the offensive line, I
mean Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown and how they create
escape patches within good pass protection and move guys off
(14:28):
the football. It's a fantastic bookend punch they have there.
They once again have the exact same five offensive line
and healthy that we've talked about for every freaking game
in the last two or three years. And it goes
beyond that when they had Mitch Morse, like they just
don't miss guys for games. It's a tough matchup across
the board. It's a good test for the young defensive tackles.
They kind of took it to us in the game
up there in Week three, but for Kenneth Grant and
(14:49):
Jordan Phillips who have progressed. Zach Steeler always plays well
against Buffalo. I think if they get a little bit
greedy and try a single block stealer that he could
possibly have an impact on the game. And if not,
up to the young guys to make some plays. Almost
nobody has done that, but I could see Buffalo believing
in their strength in the offensive line and going after
Seiler accordingly. But communication on the interior and the concert
(15:11):
relationship with Josh and how he moves, the power of
the continuity there their offensive line and the continuity across
the board with Josh just creates this super sound relationship
of pass sets, recognition of space when things break down,
where he can get out where to reset and take
your guy when the play gets outside of structure. You
have to deal with that on top of trying to
(15:32):
be really polished experience offensive lineman.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
It is a tall, tall order.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I think we have a nice little advantage on the outside, though,
that's where if you can just kind of stay in
the fight in the trenches, you can possibly take the
matchup on the outside. I think Rasoul is an eraser
against pretty much anyone on this team. I like him
against anybody that he's going to line up against. But
I would be curious to see if you just said, like, hey,
go take out Keyon Coleman, who continues to have one
of the lowest separation rates in the entire NFL the
(15:58):
last two years, said that when he was a you know,
a prospect, it was obvious that that was his game,
you know, kind of Kelvin Benjamin two point zero. I
think you can just take him out of the game
if you do that with Rasul Douglass and possibly get
an interception, because I think Douglas is a much better
player and tracker of the football than Keon Coleman on
some of those contested matchups. But the one you got
(16:18):
to keep an eye on is Khalil Shakur because they
do have this you know, everybody eats Moniker mantra that
we heard from a from Sal Capaccio on the podcast yesterday.
But if you can take out Shakur and he kicks
inside a lot, which actually might be a good Minka
Fitzpatrick matchup, or maybe it's Jason Marshall and you play
Minco over tight ends and play Minka in the post
a little bit more, play Minka in kind of a
(16:39):
Kyle Hamilton role, and let Jason Marshall kind of get
his reps back in there getting back from his injury.
Then I think I'm sort of willing to just take
on a you know, come what may approach beyond that
with Samuel, with Keon Coleman, with Tyler Shavers, Like nothing
there really truly threatened you. If this team ever gets another,
like really good receiver, it's gonna be it's gonna be
tough to match up with them, but I mean it
(17:01):
already is. But Jack Jones is a good matchup on
really everybody here. But he also turned down some tackles
on some long runs last time, and that just can't
happen because this run game is lethal and they will
get it on the edge and they will make you
come tackle him. And we saw it not happen back
in that Week three game. Scheme calling cards here Dolphins
offense first, the Bills defense. They are a massive mix
of different zone coverages, which essentially plays out of three
(17:23):
high structures, and I'm curious if that is maintained. I mean,
that was kind of why they gave us such fits,
because that structure of their defense is the exact build
for how you attacked the Tyreek Hill Let Dolphins offense,
which was always going to try to put the ball
in the air, wouldn't take advantage of light boxes and
would still try to get to their vertical game against
a coverage that takes it away. Because they camp out
(17:45):
in thirty two percent Cover three. We know what Cover
three is, right, three h three high defenders in the
deep thirds. Twenty one percent Cover two, which is you know,
two high defenders with underneath zone coverage two man is
six percent. That's obviously a man coverage across the board,
two high safeties. They present Cover one or they play
cover one rather eleven percent of the time, twelve percent
(18:06):
in quarters, nine percent Cover six. These are all variations
of those three high structures, and they want to present
the same look and then very up there looks post
snap and they will go through the roller decks. It's
not like it's not like they look at a certain
formation or call and go in that direction based upon that,
they just want to mix it up and keep the
quarterback thinking about a new coverage every single snap. So
(18:26):
it's a lot and that's kind of where I say
for Tua and the receivers, they need to be on it.
They need to take advantage of a safety position that has,
you know, for as much variety as they call. It
can be tough to deal with because they can tip
their coverage because they're not really in tune yet to
how they play together, especially with some injuries happening. There
no Taylor Rapp, who is kind of the new you know,
sheriff in the defensive backfield there for the Buffalo Bills,
(18:48):
and they've allowed exposive plays all year long. Their nickel personnel,
it's kind of their go to right They've been a
little more game plan specific this year, but by and large,
the accumulative numbers are somewhat similar. Right now, it's sixty
two percent nickel, nineteen percent base and then eighteen percent dime,
so basically exclusively nickel and dimeouts have you know, every
fifth snap. But there's an uptick in base and dime
(19:10):
and a pretty dramatic shift from what it has been,
which previously was ninety five percent nickel coverage the last
couple of seasons, and that dime element is the same concept.
It's just like we're going to insert a defensive back
who can be a two way player in terms of,
you know, coming down and playing the box versus playing
up high, and that's a grouping you have. You just
you have to run the football against them. If you
(19:30):
can't do it, you've got no shot to attack this
defense when they get into their third long calls, which
last time you played them you had success there. But
it's not it's not a way to make a living
for sixty minutes against this Bill's defense. As far as
the Bill's offense, and there's scheme calling cards. They underwent
that philosophical shift offensively when they were six and six
back in twenty twenty three. Take me back, man, they
(19:51):
were six and six and we were nine to three
right coming off the Commander's game, feeling good, riding high.
It was fun times around here. And since that move
from Ken Dorsey to Joe Brady, and since that change,
they're twenty two and six in the regular season, three
and two in the postseason. And that shift coincided with
a massive, massive reduction to josh Allen's drop back percentage.
(20:13):
He is even more effective when that offense leans into
the running game and gives the defense two thoughts at
all times. He gets to play out favorable down distances.
And then the part that I think is vastly, vastly
understood by the casual football fan is the reduction of
complex processing. And for a quarterback, if we can supplement
his skill set with that running game, then we can
maximize his talents and keep him sharp for the big
(20:35):
third and seven we need in the fourth quarter of
these big games. And I feel like this has just
advanced joshah strings. He's playing better in the quick game
than he ever has. He's still an absolute load to
deal with as a runner, and he's running less this year,
which I think is a preservation thing, because, like I said,
they have a free pass right. They have a prepaid
car that scans him right through the little oh Man
the turnstile. I couldn't think of that name of that contraption,
(20:57):
like at the subway. They have a free prepaid card
to get to the turnstile into January.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And when he goes off scripts, he can burn you
with his arm.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
As well as anybody. We've seen it every damn matchup
we've played against.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
This guy.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
He makes a play on like a fourth and goal
where he throws it with his his you know, his
right arm facing his target, and he'll flick it out
there and make a play. It's just it's incredibly annoying
to play against. And the Bills have leaned into this,
so they're further along in the run game, RPO, quick
game stuff, and still have the intermediate deep game through
Allen's playmaking. We talked about that and the continuity and
(21:29):
relationship of the offensive line to the skill players. So
when you play this team, you have to beat them
in structure, you have to find a way to get
around a man and out athlete Josh as a pass rusher.
That's why they make the last two three weeks of
the football season every single year. It is that on offense,
last break right there. Come back and talk about the quarterbacks,
the keys to victory, and my prediction for the game
(21:49):
on Sunday, Draft Time Podcast brought to you by AutoNation.
Welcome back the quarterback Battle here Dolphins and Bills Sunday
from hard Rock Stadium. Josh Allen, you know, I watched
this cutup of him back when I did the first
game preview and it went through his progress from the
twenty eighteen season until now, and to me, he really
(22:10):
complicates an already difficult process, the process of evaluating quarterbacks,
which you know we'll be doing a lot here on
the show as we go forward. Now for a little
self promotion, the other day, I went back and looked
at my twenty eighteen quarterback evaluations where I stacked at Lamar,
Josh Baker, and then the two quarterbacks I didn't see
it with were Donald and Rosen and an emphasis on
(22:31):
how special I thought Lamar and Josh both could be.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
That was my mona Lisa.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
But with Josh that was such a projection because he
was this unbelievable playmaker. His wyoming tape was high octane
every single snap because he could make a big, boneheaded play.
He could make the ultimate highlight play, and he really
struggled as a rookie to play from the pocket, to
play on time, and to throw the ball with placement
in touch. And the reason he's complicated in the process
(22:55):
is that's not normal. People think you can draft traits
and find those things later on now, I think if
you go off traits where there's a requisite level of
pocket passing like Lamar had that and he too had
really taken it to a different level. But he was
far far more advanced than Josh Allen was in college.
And when I watched a player like Anthony Richardson for instance,
(23:16):
like it wasn't polished, but there was examples of it
in his college tape and then for whatever reason, as
a pro it just completely went out the window. And
the accuracy you know, was still scattershot at best, and
the decision making wasn't there either. He was a guy
that you know, DC's began finding like easy. It was
a pretty easy prep for him because he was just
so he missed so many throws that should have been
built into the structure of the offense based upon how
(23:38):
the defense you know, planned their vulnerabilities.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
But for most quarterbacks like that doesn't happen.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
So this balance of trying to find this guy who's
polished but has all the athletic stuff like that's that's
why Andrew Luck was such an easy evl right, he
had everything, uh, you know, thirteen years ago when he
came out for the draft and as far as what's
coming down the pike, I don't know yet. We'll find out.
But for Josh Allen, he's the standard. He's what you
(24:04):
want to find. And this is all my way of
saying that the highlights are great and what makes Josh
truly special, but you don't get to show all of
that unless you play the position. And he's become probably
top six or seven in terms of how he plays
instructure on top of the creativity, which ultimately lands him
(24:25):
as a top two or three quarterback in the NFL.
Our quarterback to for him at the entire passing offense,
I am curious if they can a exploit those areas
of vulnerability against the many zone coverages of Sean McDermott
and a safety group but still working to find their
rhythm and possibly get some busts against a highly complex
rotation disguised defense and then b open up some of
(24:47):
the bread and butter. I'm intrigued by how the Bills
play it and how we can play off of that
with the middle of the field passing game, but also
get back to the gap scheme runs and the inside
outside balance. I think the possible absence of Ali Gordon
could impact that, but give me some right too. I'd
like to see a couple of backs in this game
besides just von him. And for a more general to
a take, I think the improvement in the middle of
the field passing game the last couple of weeks has
(25:08):
been a nice uptick, not as much in the Baltimore game,
but definitely in Atlanta. And if we can get to that,
paired with the Versaalle running game, I think you can
score some points in this game.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I think you're gonna have to.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
What's at stake this week, positively, nothing keys to victory
contain the Buffalo running game. I mean, you have to
find a way to slow down James Cook. If they
become two dimensional, it's gonna be a thirty eight point
game minimum for them. Number Two, be privy to the
Buffalo defensive pre snap disguise. If you can catch them
in some bad looks, that's great. If you can avoid
them getting you in some bad looks, that's even better.
(25:39):
You have to be aware of how they're gonna rotate
post snap every single play. And Number three fine success
in the run game and the play action game, because
you're gonna have to score in this game, which brings
us to the prediction. I think we can score, I
think we can't keep pace with them, though. I think
the Phillips loss for our pass rush, paired with our
struggles against the run and what he did for our
(25:59):
run defense for sixty minutes, is going to be a
difficult recipe to overcome against a Bills offense that's kind
of finding its groove here. Maybe it's closed at half,
but I think Buffalo eventually pulls away. I'm gonna go
thirty eight seventeen Bills win this game. You all please
be sure subscribe, rate and review the show. Follow me
on social at Winfold NFL. The team at Miami Dolphins,
(26:20):
check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ, media availabilities
and so much more. And last button, not least Miami
Dolphins dot com.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Until next time. Fins up Caroline Cameron and Willow Daddy's
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