October 5, 2025 • 33 mins
The Dolphins had it all working before it got away. The Dolphins fall to Carolina 27-24 and fall to 1-4. Travis has all the reaction including takeaways, pre-game checklist, game flow, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
What is up Dolphins, and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast,
your host Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
On today's show, the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Drop a brutal, brutal, heartbreaker, seventeen point lead out the window.
Panthers get twenty seven of the next thirty four points.
They run it well, they stop the run, and they
take it to the Miami Dolphins drop the fins to
one and four on the season. We'll talk about the
critical moments, talk about the game flow, and the entire
game recap. We will do the themes of the game,
the standout performers, the five takeaways, everything from the Sunday
(00:33):
night recap show you're used to here.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I have so much that I want to talk about
on the show and cover, and we will. It's gonna
be a long one. I've got a lot more copy
than I usually do for the week. But i just
want to apologize off the top if I'm not comprehensive
enough because a two hour postgame show kind of sorting
through the notes throughout the course, this game changing course
on my notes. With the seventeen point lead and then
(01:00):
the comeback happens, the Miami gets their own comeback and
then the final drive for the Panthers there puts it away,
so kind of trying to sort the notes and to
make sense of all of it. And the truth is,
when you win games, you can kind of patch over
some of the discrepancies you have some of the shortcomings.
When you lose games, they're more exposed and more vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
To be talked about.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And so I kind of battled finding my pathway with
that throughout the course of this. Let's go ahead and
get into it here though, because it felt like twenty
twenty three Miami Dolphins. Off the top right. You get
two takeaways, and to do it in that fashion offensively,
the vertical passing game, the intermediate passing game, getting guys
on the run towards the goal line thirty four yards
of Darren Waller, Davon him making an awesome touchdown catch,
(01:41):
Jalen Waddle doing whatever he wants on third downs against
JC Horn and Mike Jackson defense. Two turnovers in the
first two drives. Everything you wanted was there for you.
And then the Panthers responded and made a big play
on a critical fourth down that would have given Miami
the football up seventeen at like the minus forty three
yard line. I think it will on that Bryce Young
(02:01):
fourth down the Tech McMillan completion before their first touchdown
of the game, and they got the momentum back from
that play, and I was curious to see how Miami
would respond up ten in that spot with the chance
to make it even worse after that fourth down conversion,
and they get back to back drives and set it
up a situation where they get the ball at the
start the second half down seven points, and how would
(02:22):
Miami respond from there? Would they turn the heat up,
would they come out with a different sense of urgency
or maybe a more powerful running game or stopping the run?
And it started in much of the same way the
first half ended, where fortunately the Panthers shot themselves in
the foot on the first drive after the big play
because they get that big Rico down'll run then delay
a game and then a short run and then they
(02:43):
miss a wide open tight end on a wheel route.
Who would have called a touchdown pass on that play
And it creates the chance for Jalen Phillips to kind
of have a potential momentum shifting aspect of that sequence
with that sack. Their mistake our big play on third down,
get the sack. That's great to see and that we've
seen on the other side of the ledger before too, right,
(03:03):
the big play, get up against the clock and kind
of go backwards after the fact. There's been some moments
like that throughout the course of you know, the last
several years with the Miami Dolphins, and you're thinking to yourself,
maybe the Panthers can kind of do that in Miami,
can find their own plays. And they continued because again
operation was bad. Big plays, then a penalty, they get
the punt team out there with only ten guys on
the field and have to take a delay a game.
(03:23):
So it just felt like every opportunity the Panthers had
to come back, they would find themselves in a hole
and give the Dolphins a chance to make that play
happen or make that you know, next move to make
it a twenty four to thirteen game. It felt like
throughout for the longest amount of time. It's probably twenty
three minutes of real time, but it felt like hours
where I was just thinking to myself, if they just
(03:44):
go put this ball on the end zone on this
drive or this drive or this next drive or the
next like it's gonna be game, it's gonna be curtains,
it's gonna be game blouses, because that offense hasn't found
enough of a spark plug through their passing game enough
to be able to come back from a two score
lead in the fourth quarter. And then defensive they adjusted
completely right. And Tua talked about this after the game.
They took away the middle of the field and probably
(04:05):
the story of the game was how Miami offensively, I
should say, was unable to run the football. And my
one of my bigger I guess complaints about you know
tu after the game said that they had just basically
flooded the middle of the field and dropped their hook
linebackers and took away the middle of the passing game.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So what else is open?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Right, We're taking these check downs and you know they're
rallying up and tackling and making those plays not go
for anything. But it just feels like we consistently have
these answers to the solutions to the problems after the fact,
and that's you got to find a way to change that.
And we'll get into more of that here in just
one second. Let's go ahead and keep rolling before I
get too far off the rails. I'm curious to get
(04:46):
to the film to see what changed, because he talked
about it, and you know, we were blessed in the
last road game to have prime vision and able to
see this stuff from the quarterbacks angle and last week
in person, obviously, but it just seems like it was
too easy get Miami out of their rhythm offensively. But
then the Panthers finally do score and break the dam
and the Dolphins have to answer, and they do in
(05:07):
the biggest way possible, a bomb to Jalen Waddle for
forty six yards to possibly win the game in the
fourth quarter from Tua, who throws his third touchdown pass
of the game. It's a Dolphins fan fever dream. But
the Panthers come right back down the field and we
just Dolphins fans of a long time know this. And
I feel like every team of that hasn't had a
ton of success would say this that it feels like
(05:29):
you never get the complimentary football together, Like the offense
makes a big drive, the defense can't get the big stop.
Like that was true in this game at the critical
moments right the defense doesn't get the stop the offense responds, okay,
defense is a chance now and they don't get the
stop again. I apologize because I feel like I'm bouncing
all over all over my notes here and I just
am having a hard time compartmentalizing what happened in that game.
(05:52):
Because something I want to get to later on the
show is talking about like high leverage moments, and we'll
come back to that here in one second. Because they
have a chance with the football with three timeouts, two
minutes on the clock, you only need about forty yards
to get into makeable field goal range. Hopefully you can
go you know, seventy yards and score the touchdown and
win the game. That didn't happen, neither did the field goal,
(06:13):
and the Dolphins have to get off the field. They
asked Bradley Chubb, the local media did after the game
what happened, and he said he felt some complacency set in.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I don't know how that can happen. It's a tough
way to.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Go out when you're one and three in the first
quarter of a game up seventeen zip and to get complacent.
And McDaniel and Tua Bull said that they didn't feel
that was the case. So that's not you know, Bradley
Chubb does not speak for the entire locker room there,
but I mean it's that's one of those things where
it's like, who the hell, Who the hell do you
think you are to have that mindset in the NFL
at any point. I just don't understand that. It's tough
(06:44):
to hear that after a game that goes this way
when you had a chance to put yourself right back
in the mix in the AFC and for a minute
there it felt like blowout and like, oh, okay, this
team is ready to play. They're gonna have an answer
for the post Tyreek Hill era, and then it goes
out that way. So the story is the same. We
track this in the postgame show. Every drive the Panthers,
you know, took back to Bradley Chubb's comments here, every
(07:05):
drive they started with a run, they would score points
on those drives. If they started with passes, they would
either turn the ball over or Miami gotta stop defensively.
And that's just the story of the year for the
Miami Dolphins right now. And they're like they have to
figure it out because Mike McDaniel said it after the game.
The tape is the tape, and the tape right now
is that you cannot get any penetration. You're allowing people
(07:26):
to vertically display you in the running game time in
and time out, and time again and time times ten
times ten. You know, Like, I don't know what I'm
trying to say right here, but like the run defense,
I mean, two hundred and thirty nine yards today, one
hundred and ninety seven yards against the Jets, one hundred
and fifty seven yards against the Colts, one hundred and
fifty six yards against the Bills, one hundred and twenty
two against the Patriots.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That's what you're gonna get.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Run game and quick passing game against these soft and
off looks you've been giving, and the complacency at seventeen zip,
I just I have a hard time coming to grips
with that possible mindset. As far as the stats in
this game, we talked about two hundred and thirty nine
yards on the ground for the Carolina pan And I
told you guys in the pregame, I thought without Chewba Hubbard,
the would struggle to find rushing yards.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Well, the eggs on my face because that wasn't the case.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Two hundred and thirty nine on the ground, they outgained
Miami four to eighteen to two forty eight. And this
is a game that started off where it was what
was the numbers in the first quarter, Like, they had
five plays and Miami had driven the entire field three
times twenty six first downs to fifteen. They were five
for eleven on third downs Miamme's five for thirteen. They
were two for two on fourth downs four eighteen to
two forty eight in total yards.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Uh what else? Three sacks each. Miami wins the turnover
battle two nothing.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
The penalties are pretty much the same, nine for sixty four,
eight for forty six. Title possion right around the same
as well. So I mean two of throws for what
do you throw for today? Two fifty six and three touchdowns.
Jialen Wada has one hundred and six yards receiving, one
hundred and ten yards receiving. Sorry, it's just man difficult
pill to swallowther On that loss, they felt like that
game in so many ways was like a microcosm of
(08:54):
this season and kind of like the theme of the
entire team right now and how things look one way
and how I mean, I've got so many notes to
get you. I keep thinking about them head of time.
Let's go ahead and press on here. So the pregame
checklist was getting the ball on the edge of the
Panther's running game. That didn't happen at all. Right, This
was a soft edge group, not a team that has
built through that position through investment, through draft, through free agency.
(09:16):
They've got some second round picks and there some guys
that are bargained free agents. That is not a group
that has been invested into and Miami got nothing off
the edge of the running game.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So a big X on that one.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Increased usage of heavy personnel and over all adapting to
not having Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
It looked awesome at first.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I'll have to go back and look at the numbers exactly,
but I was tracking this from the jump from jump.
You know, condensed formations, two backs, one tight ends, two
tight ends out there. Sometimes everything in these nasty splits
intight to the formation. Molik in the backfield on the
first play of the game. On the second drive, they
go through a go ball. They throw a go ball
to Julian Hill with a three man route combination. That
was your running back was the one the slot receiver
(09:54):
was your big body tight end and you're sorry, was
Darren Waller. And then your attached tight end. You're attached three.
The formation was your big body tight end. Like that's
a heavy formation to go empty from, you know, like
it looked great. And we saw the two rails and
slide combination which is a route underneath the formation, and
then the go up the sideline with alec Ingold. Right,
(10:15):
he drops that first one. You get Tanner Connor on
a catch on that one. Later they flip it to
have it to be Malik Washington as the slide and
Taj Washington the rail route. I liked the personnel diversity there.
And you can still do it. It's still within your
realm of possibilities. All have to watch the tape to
see how they got away from it or if they
did or not on the Tuesday podcast and come back
for you guys on that one. And then speaking of
(10:36):
replacing Tyreek Hill, I mean Jalen Waddle. You know, every
catch he had in that first half was a big
third down conversion and it was against man coverage, against
the proper leverage from j. C. Horn, and he just
kept beating it over and over again. He gets a
step vertically. It makes the big play that way. He
damn near caught a long ball on the takeoff when
Aaron Brewer snapped the ball at to his feet and
to A put a decent ball out there, but to
A won that release against j. C.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Horn and stacked him.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
He was open to a just I didn't think have
had time to set his feet and deliver that football
because of the bad snap. So it's just like, you know,
your your star receiver, which I think he can be
and is in so many ways, like wins that route
and the quarterback throws a decent ball, but something happened
from your potentially all pro center who makes.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
A bad snap.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
It's just that's just how these things snowball and how
you get to these losses. So that to me was
a big check mark one for two. Can they find
a way to stop the run and do it without blitzing? No,
not at all. I mean they did early and they
that Bradley Chubb discipline play on the zone reed to
make Bryce Young effectively basically pee down his leg right
and just drop the football in front of your face.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That was awesome to see.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
But other than that, like Kenny Grant, I mean, it's
it's getting to the point to where, you know, coach,
we've talked about how he's got all the talent in
the world, but if we can't play with proper technique
and fundamentals, none of that's gonna matter. And you're in
this position where and they talked about it all spring, right,
we're gonna go into this draft with the concept of
getting players that can help us immediately. And they did
(11:58):
that they I mean, they thought they did that by
getting Kenneth Grant and Jonas ofvit Naya. But these guys
are twenty one year old players that are playing positions
where you essentially have to get production from them, and
if you don't, what's next, Like, if they don't develop
that in time, what do you do? Because then it's
I mean, you're playing the same guys you played last
year on the offensive line. You're playing guys in the
defensive line that you got here as you know late
(12:20):
summer waiver pickups. And like Matthew Butler, and I'm not
trying to knock anybody here, I'm just saying that the
construction of the team was that you needed these first
two round picks to come up and perform right away,
and your contingency beyond that was there wasn't a you know,
a great one. There's not a great option for that.
And now you're watching these two players commit critical errors
(12:40):
in week in and week out. And for Kenneth Grant
getting pushed off the football and invited in the run
the way he has, like I didn't see that in
his college tape at all. It surprises me as much
as anybody. But that's a big reason why you're getting beat.
And they know they went to more. Jordan Phillips in
this game, who I think continues to play a strong
nose on certain snaps those other players where he's getting
taken out of the washing a little bit, but we
saw him play more than three technique to play more
(13:02):
of that position that Kenneth Grant has played. Zach had
the play earlier, but he continues to get displaced and
rides the wave, you know, like horizontally out of the play.
The edge was soft at times. I thought Lnfilis played
really well, but for the most part, the edge was soft.
Two hundred and thirty nine yards A big emphatic X
on that one, and especially your safety's and defensive backs
like coming down and trying to punch the football out
(13:23):
and standing up Rico Daddle who runs for an additional
twenty five yards after you don't succeed in punching the
ball out, like got to make a tackle at some point,
so Jack Jones and Ashton Davis and it's just.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
At no level. Was it good?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Big X on that one? What was the plan for
Ted McMillan. Would you megh him, would you bracket him,
would you double him? What was the plan there? I
want to get a better look at it on tape,
but I did write this down. I loved the adjustment
on that third down at the end of the third quarter.
We had been soft and off and they were picking
it apart all game long. But we press up and
throw the timing of the entire playoff and it allows
Phillips to win a pass rush and Brooks to clean
(13:58):
it up. The next drive they get back into the
series after we blow up a first down screenplay and
they throw a slant and Iffi melafon Wu drives up
on it and shuts it down for a game of three.
Those plays previously had been gains of seven, eight, nine yards,
and then you couldn't get a stop on third down,
and they finally adjusted and played a little bit tighter.
But I guess we did get the answer to this
at the end of the game because Ted got the
(14:18):
best of Jack Jones in a lot of ways. Right.
Rough game for Jack and coverage, pass interferences, getting beat
with caught footballs, scrambled drills on time, missed a couple
of tackles on two long runs. I mean, I guess
the plan wasn't successful. So a big X on that one.
We didn't really cover anybody really well. The deep corner
to Laguette with Rasul Douglas not getting depth Like the
cornerback play had been decent through four games, and this
(14:40):
one it was not.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
One for three.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
The further evolution of the Darren Waller offense and Waddle
I kind of covered that already. I was a big
fan of that. The seam route on the middle field
close or middlefield open, Waller splits them. That's an awesome
above the rim throw and a new element to the offense.
Catching quick hitters down the middle. Verticals has five for
seventy eight and touchdown in the first half does go
to target in the second half. Wattle talked about that
at length beat Mike Jackson beat j C. Horn big
(15:05):
check mark on that one. Tua's evasion off the spot
and out of structure play he didn't need it off
the jump, but he was sacked twice. And those were
immediate losses and third and long situations, and those are
difficult to overcome. And I just put that in here
because of how much of a juxtaposition it was between
the Jets and Bills game versus the first two games.
(15:25):
But in this one it didn't materialize beyond that the
third and ten to close the game. That's one of
those spots where he misses a throw on second down
and gotta make that thrill, right, we'll get to that
here in one second. But he misses a throw on
second down and it creates a third down situation that
puts you in your vulnerability third and long, where we're
in true dropbacks and pass rushers are keyed up, your
offensive line, your receivers are tired. You can't get it
out of structure, you can't find a way to create
(15:46):
You see so many game winning drives in the league
this year, in this era, where the quarterback makes a
play with his feet, with his leg, he gets off
the spot and creates and throws down the field and
runs and converts with his legs. It's just not happening here.
And that's I think that's why you're not getting these
successful late game situations. I mean, it goes back to
the Patriots game, didn't succeed on that final drive, the
(16:06):
Buffalo game through a pick. On both those games through
a pick and one took a sack in the other.
Going back to the Packers game in twenty two, the
three picks in the fourth quarter of that game. The
Niners game that year, you had a drive that failed
in plus territory to end that game. The Buffalo game
after Jalen Phillips's stripsack in the fourth quarter up by
a touchdown. We can't convert that, like I mean, it's
just example after example. The Houston game last year had
(16:29):
a chance through a pick. Like I think, the inability
to create and be stuck in these true dropback situations
where there's no threat of the run game and no
threat of the quarterback run, I think that is the
biggest obstacle for this offense with this quarterback right now.
And you saw it come up in this position today
despite a really good game for a quarter and the
big the bomb to wadle at the end. I'll watch
(16:50):
the tape and get a better feel for it, but
that aspect is undeniable, and it showed up once again
that we cannot find creative plays out of structure after
the play breaks down and third critical latent games. Let's
come back and talk about the themes of the game next.
That's on the Draft Time podcast, brought to you by Autoonation.
You know, I really hope the message of this podcast
(17:11):
lands because I feel scatterbrain, guys, and I apologize for
that because that's just kind of where my brain's at
right now at six forty five here on a Sunday night,
try and get the show out for you guys, after
two hours of post game and certain things out there
with jermalm Bush broad and sorting out my feelings throughout
the course of the fourth quarter of that game.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Themes of the games. The Panthers just kept on rolling
at will.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
They were able to get vertical washed, they were able
to There was one play where Bernito Jones they forgot
to block him on a combo and he couldn't make
the play and it wound up getting them two linebackers
or two guards down on linebackers, and it was just,
I mean, you can't win football games doing that. So
the Panthers ability to do that. The guard play offensively.
We talked about the quarterback on the previous side. The
(17:52):
guard player right now is just giving up way too
much run and pass. I mean a general takeaway because
it's a few weeks now, but it happened again today.
The sacks were on Yon and Strange over setting in
pass sets, trying to jump set, throwing both arms up
with dead feet even on scoring drives. Jonah had the sack,
a miss combo block on a blown up eight Chan run.
He got beat quickly on one of Waddle's third down
(18:14):
wins that you don't see because they made the play.
He missed a combo block on the first play of
the second half when Ollie Gordon got blown up. Cole
Strange gives up the stack on that twist where he's
late to react inside had the Lager play where he
gets beat badly on an explosive play to Waddle. That
Ney gated that one on a holding play there backed
up against the chains. The guard play is really struggling
both in the run game, and it affects your pass game,
(18:36):
especially in those true drop back situations, which it's Groundhog's
Day again because it's the exact same thing that happened
last year and quite frankly every year that we didn't
have a healthy Rob Hunt and Isaiah Win And this
came to me at the end of the game, but
it was developing for the entire season so far. And
it's strange to say, considering one of the best third
down offenses in the league, but it's just so juxtaposed
(18:56):
against what you see every week on the other side
of the field, whether it's may or Justin Fields or
Daniel Jones or in this game, Bryce Young and I
talked about Tua and the you know, not being able
to create on game winning drives with his legs and
the kind of behind the eight ball position that puts
you in. It's across the board. It's not just Tua
(19:17):
because like in the outer structure stuff, like throughout the
course of the second half of this game, Tua was
getting out of contain and breaking the pocket and there's
just like nothing coming with him there. There's no real
feel for the outer structure offense. And on the other
side of the football, Like it seems like we're so
disjointed in how we attack the quarterback, like we overrun him,
we hit him late. By the way, the landing on
(19:39):
the hip drop penalty on Chop Robinson, what are we doing?
That is not a penalty? Like he's tackled him. He
tackled him and Bryce turned around like, guess that's just
what happens. But we can't finish those sacks when it
comes to covering on the back end and plastering, the
guys seem to get open on those plays all the time.
It's just it's a killer man. Because again, if you
finish that play at the end of the Panthers first
drive where it's fourth down and Bryce Young has three
(19:59):
Dolphins in his face and Ted McMillan's covered up, you
get the ball back up by three scores right around midfield.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Instead it's seventeen to seven.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
And it's just it's been consistent off structure plays on
either side of the ball, not in the Dolphins favors
critical moments. I mean, there's a bunch to get to here.
Do you want to go over all of them? Let's
just do it real quick. I guess, let's see the
shot to Waller was a big Dolphins win. We broke
that awl already the third and eleven on the red
zone opening drive where Jonah got overset that. That was
(20:29):
a big win for the Panthers there, and we just
kind of shot ourselves in the foot the entire second
drive of the game. The third and eight to Waddle
against outside leverage from j C. Horn wins outside. I
talk about that route from Wattle all the time. He
is so adept at getting those releases at the break
point and then finding his open outlet to the outside.
The fourth and five play on too, Darren Waller. We
broke that one down from the bunch, the location, the catch, everything,
(20:50):
but that was just perfect on the outside ball from Tua,
who was really filling at that point of the game.
Waller very heavily impacted in the game plan. Third and seven,
wallle continues to be third down coverage a third and ten,
that the touchdown by eight Chan.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
How great was that play?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
You ever seen a running back make a catch like that,
contorting his body, going dead toe and tapping those things
in the corner of the end zone. Perfect throw from
two of Miami's cruising at this point right, fourteen to
nothing becomes seventeen to nothing. I broke down the Bryce
Young fourth down scramble play like I don't think there's
you know, a point to go any further on that.
The third and goal on that drive, the touchdown to
(21:22):
Xavier Lagette was a really great throw and a great
catch on Jack Jones the third down. The start of
the next drive, after the two minute warning, you get
to stop here, you know. On third and six, the
Panthers have a chance to make it a one score game.
They dial up that twist and Cole Strange oversets against
the looper coming back inside and can't recover to a
side stepsit. But by that time the left side of
the line broke down too, so they get the sack.
There just these one like one play breakdowns on every
(21:45):
single drive they kill you. So the Panthers. The Dolphins
lead the critical moments five to four through the first half.
You get a third and eight after the Panthers cut
to seventeen thirteen to a scrambles and slides down short.
That's part of what I'm talking about, Like, I love
staying healthy and the directive to do that, but it
probably gave up a drive there because of that right
third and nine after McMillan's defensive pass interference was picked up,
(22:06):
which we caught a break there. It could be capitalized.
We rally up and tackle short of the sticks. Nothink crazy,
but Bryce tried taking a hookup. We made a big
play on that tackle, so Miimi gets it back to
a six to five lead in the critical moments the
third and eight. On the ensuing drive, we start to
drive strong, but just to find you know, no success
on third down two, it breaks the pocket, throws it away.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
There you go, two drives in a row. That happens.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Carolina wins that one. On the ensuing punt, I gave
the Dolphins a win because Elijah Campbell did a great
job of tracking that punt down the field and pinning
it deep without then the Panthers touched the football, and
then we get that entire goal line series and they
get a first down off of that. You can't let
them off the goal line there. It's it's an automatic
run situation. They get enough yards in the running game,
but they throw one of those tight slants against our
(22:48):
off coverage for an easy first down. Like it's for them.
It was too easy and that's just how kind of
how this game went on defense. The next third and seven,
Bryce Young throws it away with ten minutes go in
the fourth quarter, up by four, getting the ball back
go right there, right, potential kill drive coming, but you
can't get it on the other side, so they get
it back on third and seven with ten twenty eight
to play, seventeen thirteen. Every one of these drives felt
like for Miami a chance to call game, and this
(23:11):
would have gotten you into plus territory with ten minutes
to go. The snap never gave you a chance. It
was that low Brewer snap Ta takes a shot to Wattle.
They were getting pressure from that side. Play single man
covers with Horn on Waddle. That's a matchup. We gotta
win right for our six pick in the draft. Gotta
win that he did, but the bad snap to me
made to his footwork not good and we couldn't recover
from there. And then let's see three point thirty to go,
(23:33):
fourth and five. You could have made a stop here
and won the game up by four points. Jimmy Horn
Junior runs that corner route right. No, Jimmy Horn, I
don't even know his name. Tory Horton. No, Jimmy Horn
junr runs that corner route against our man coverage. We're
in big nickel corner Armshawn got hurt earlier. Obviously, you're
without Jason Marshall, you cut Mike Hilton, so you're super
thin there at the nickel position, and Rastuo Douglas just
(23:54):
couldn't stay in phase. Rough day for Rastuo Douglas after
he had a pretty good start to the season here
for the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Again, I apologize, guys, this is.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Like all over the place, and I think it's probably
not great podcasting, But we'll go ahead and take a
break right there, come back on the other side and
do the offensive and defensive standouts and stand downs and
talk about the five takeaways. That's next Drive Time podcast,
brought to you by AutoNation. So I had Tua in
my offensive standouts off jump, but I took him out
(24:23):
of it. I just think, you know, we'll talk more
about this here in the takeaways. But I just felt
like the ball on your hands late, and especially at
five consecutive drives where we have every one of those drives,
there was a chance to put it make it a
two score game. That to me, is the same thing
as a game winning drive in the fourth quarter, and
you didn't do it, so I took him out of there.
But there was some really good location, really good on
time throws. I thought he was seeing it well. A
(24:45):
couple of blind throws into the flat that I didn't love,
but buy and large good stuff there from two and
I'll be curious to watch the tape in terms of
how those middle drives played out. When you get no
idea what's happening downfield on the broadcast version, but can't
take a sack on that third down, the second down
miss on to wall the play before on the potential
game tye and game winning drive.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
We'll talk about that here more.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
In just one second, Wattle beating the one on one
of Horn, turning it around, blocking guys getting opened, made
two tough catches at the sticks on the first two drives,
snatches the ball above his head right, He's catching everything
with his hands. Now, I just think Waddle is the
man and we're going to see more of that as
the year goes along.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
What more can you say about Darren Waller?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I mean, big plays, five for seventy eight and touchdown
to the first three drives of the game. More on
Waller here in one second, Devon a Chan has that
one nice run where he got wide split a block,
had that amazing catch, But I thought he kind of
hunted the big play a little bit today, which was,
you know, kind of the problem last year. I want
to get into the film on this more with pass Pro.
But yeah, the guard play was rough and we'll look
(25:40):
at the rest and come back with you for you
guys on that tomorrow. Defensively, Minka Fitzpatrick, that was a
hell of a catch on the pick. Also, just watching
some of the third down stops if it's outside of structure,
off broken routes, I think a lot of that is
because of the way Minka matches and runs off and
caps our initial stuff, especially vertically. That tackle on Jimmy
Horn Junior on the end of round that he made
on the end of round that he made would have
(26:00):
been a big play, but he stopped it for a
ten yard or a five yard game rather. I think
Jalen Phillips is doing a lot of good stuff in
the four I position, but also had some good edge
presence today. He got Taylor Moten off balanced a couple
of times. One time for a sack. Did a really
good job on rush containing this game as well. And
then Jordan Brooks makes a bunch of plays. But it
is really tough on Jordan with how the defensive line
is playing right now. I mean, Kenny Zach, Jordan Phillips
(26:23):
wasn't his best game, Benito Jones struggled, Jack Jones, Rasul
Douglas had really rough games. Dot Ashton Davis struggle, Tigrell
Dotson got beat on that wheel route. It's just, man, Yeah,
it's just it's tough.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
It is tough. And I go back to.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
This thought about, you know, relying on these young players
that have to get their fundamentals and techniques right and
if you don't, you know, there's not a lot of
options behind them. And right now, I think the Dephins
are kind of dealing with those growing pains of a
very young draft class that they needed to play right away.
The takeaways five number one, the offensive diversity and ability
to pivot off of Tyreek Hill is a very real thing,
and it has me excited about the potential future here
(26:59):
of what whatever years to come are with a core
concept of the offense with Waddle and the leak and
Darren Waller, I suppose can we call him part of
the future with Patrick Paul and Aaron Brewer and you
know some of the other pieces you have across the offense.
There's a nice structure here for how you can kind
of be versual almost two things regardless of what it
looks like, you know, going forward, Like I'm excited about that,
(27:21):
but from this particular game, the heavy personnel, the condensed formations,
that empty set with you know, two backs and a
tight end in the formation, Julian Hill getting some run,
Wattle being this guy that can be a critical third
down winner for you, making the big play in the
fourth quarter as well. I just, you know, I think
there's something there. And my original takeaway is the offensive
pivot can be real, But I'm just saying like it's
(27:42):
more of a concept right now until you do it
for an entire game, But the looks of it are there.
And the number two is that Waller is a thing.
He's a legitimate threat that can help benefit this offense
or any offense with the athletic ability, the high pointing
the back five of the end zone became available. We
saw two two touchdowns in the back part of the
end zone, and I think the way he compliments Julian Hill,
it's a nice one two punch of the tight end position.
(28:03):
All of a sudden, you've got number three. Was that
Tua turned it on, but then cooled off. The first
three games were not great, but the last game and
the first quarter of this game was vintage old classic two.
And I'm sitting there and thinking, Okay, well, that's that's good.
We can We're gonna win nine ten games because of that.
To all the third and fourth down stuff, he was
awesome early five ver seven on third downs, the verticals,
the balls to the perimeter on the money, against trail
(28:25):
coverage of the cornerbacks, stretching the scene, quick decisions, catch
rock throw them, getting that thing out, getting through progressions,
knowing the backside rotation based upon your front side action.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
And how about those pockets.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
They were awesome early on right, he was comfortable and
he was dealing. This was fun, I wrote, But then
it cooled off. I thought he made some good decisions
getting down and you know, protecting himself, even if it's
difficult pill to swallow at times. A throwaway, he wasn't,
you know, going to win the edges of his play.
So I guess live to fight another day, and I
want to see the film before I comment too much
on like that second and third quarter. But the sixteen
(28:56):
yard throw to Waddle to start the drive at the
start of the fourth quarter was vintage Tua. But then
you don't get vintage Tua in the most critical part
of the game, throwing the exact same ball to the
exact same receiver in the exact same location on the field.
It was the other side of the formation. But two
was hit that throw four hundred times in his career. Right,
the little twelve to fourteen yard dig the receiver can
(29:20):
catch and take off, and it used to be Tyreek
catching those around those for long touchdowns or Wattle two.
But now they get tackled because there's you know, two
or three saved. He's keeping the roof on the defense.
But I talked about this on postgame with Jermalm bush Rod,
and it's like, man, you go back. I thought about
the Niners Game of the Day from twenty twenty two,
and how I remember early in that game, Seth and
OJ and I were talking about how like the ball
(29:41):
just kept on sailing on him. It was high, like
the heart it was up and he was just kind
of a little bit amped up and throwing the ball high,
and Tua talked about it after the game, and the
Chargers game the next week more of the same. The
Buffalo game, he was sharp after that. The Packers game
came back and had some more of those same high throws.
It happened in the Chiefs game in twenty three when
they were six and two playing for that critical one
seed in the AFC at that point. It happened in
(30:02):
the Houston game last year, and then down the stretch
of this season. Like these critical game on the line
moments or even early in these big games, it feels
like the heart rate accelerates, the arm angle drops, seem
to kind of fade away from the pressure, and these
high throws over the middle result because if he hits
that ball, we're probably gonna we're probably gonna get another
(30:23):
first down and at least hie the game. But he
misses it, and then he takes the sack on third down,
and then there's no real good option on fourth and eighteen.
I mean, the Numbers had to punt that ball away,
but the way that Panthers running the ball felt like
it was kind of game over at that point. But
for two of man, he's got to find a way
to perform in these critical moments, start of game, end
of game, whatever it is, the big game moment. For
whatever reason, the splits are just not there for him.
(30:46):
So as much as it was good at the end
of the game, it was bad. And I just don't
know where to go from there because there's so much
like about him, But he's got to find a way
in those moments. Number four is that you're gonna have
to rely upon defensive k to make this thing go
right because they ran like what seven plays in the
first twenty minutes of the game, and I was thinking, like, Okay,
(31:07):
this is how they're gonna be. Ball hawking, take the
ball away, punch out fumbles, get some picks. Mika Fitzpatrick
gets our first pick of the year. But then it's
like a little bit soft and off passive light boxes
after the seventeen point lead, third and short conversions, those
little inbreakers against ten yard cushions, it's tough to get
stops and you play like that, and then they just
kind of broke the dam by keeping the run game
going and basically the only time they didn't run the ball.
(31:29):
They didn't have success was when they didn't run the ball.
And again, this stuff is on tape for the rest
of the league to see, Like if Miami's gonna see
this for the rest of the season and they're gonna
have to find a way to stop it. So and
you can't rely on takeaways, which kind of appears to
be the only way the defense right now is getting stops.
Number five all goes for not because they blow a
seventeen point lead and fall to one in four. And
I don't have a grand takeaway for you guys. I
(31:51):
don't need to do a whole segment on this right now.
I'm gonna go ahead and close up shop right here.
But you were potentially two and three, and if you
blew them out, confidence is gonna be riding high. The
fan going to be psyched up to come back to
hard Rock Stadium. But you don't, and then you're one
and four and the picture becomes a lot murkier. It's
a tough to stomach loss issues in the line of scrimmage
on both sides of the football. Offense goes ice cold
for three quarters. I just found myself speechless at the
(32:14):
end of this, and man, it's tough, tough one out there.
Hopefully my Murners can find a way to win this
game tonight because that Saturday game was brutal to watch.
And your boys hanging by a feb right now when
it comes to his sports teams, and it's just like,
when do sports ever get to be fun? Let's go
ahead and call it a podcast. We'll review the tape
on the show tomorrow and tell you where things work,
where they went wrong, and everything in between. In the meantime,
(32:37):
subscribe to the podcast, leave us a rating, leave us
a review, Tell me how much I suck.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Go ahead follow me on social at WINKFL NFL the
team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel for
Dolphins HQ, Media Availabilities, all that stuff Miami Dolphins dot com.
Until next time, Fin's up, Caroline Cameron Willow a guy
he needs, already hoped
What is up Dolphins, and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast,
your host Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
On today's show, the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Drop a brutal, brutal, heartbreaker, seventeen point lead out the window.
Panthers get twenty seven of the next thirty four points.
They run it well, they stop the run, and they
take it to the Miami Dolphins drop the fins to
one and four on the season. We'll talk about the
critical moments, talk about the game flow, and the entire
game recap. We will do the themes of the game,
the standout performers, the five takeaways, everything from the Sunday
(00:33):
night recap show you're used to here.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I have so much that I want to talk about
on the show and cover, and we will. It's gonna
be a long one. I've got a lot more copy
than I usually do for the week. But i just
want to apologize off the top if I'm not comprehensive
enough because a two hour postgame show kind of sorting
through the notes throughout the course, this game changing course
on my notes. With the seventeen point lead and then
(01:00):
the comeback happens, the Miami gets their own comeback and
then the final drive for the Panthers there puts it away,
so kind of trying to sort the notes and to
make sense of all of it. And the truth is,
when you win games, you can kind of patch over
some of the discrepancies you have some of the shortcomings.
When you lose games, they're more exposed and more vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
To be talked about.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And so I kind of battled finding my pathway with
that throughout the course of this. Let's go ahead and
get into it here though, because it felt like twenty
twenty three Miami Dolphins. Off the top right. You get
two takeaways, and to do it in that fashion offensively,
the vertical passing game, the intermediate passing game, getting guys
on the run towards the goal line thirty four yards
of Darren Waller, Davon him making an awesome touchdown catch,
(01:41):
Jalen Waddle doing whatever he wants on third downs against
JC Horn and Mike Jackson defense. Two turnovers in the
first two drives. Everything you wanted was there for you.
And then the Panthers responded and made a big play
on a critical fourth down that would have given Miami
the football up seventeen at like the minus forty three
yard line. I think it will on that Bryce Young
(02:01):
fourth down the Tech McMillan completion before their first touchdown
of the game, and they got the momentum back from
that play, and I was curious to see how Miami
would respond up ten in that spot with the chance
to make it even worse after that fourth down conversion,
and they get back to back drives and set it
up a situation where they get the ball at the
start the second half down seven points, and how would
(02:22):
Miami respond from there? Would they turn the heat up,
would they come out with a different sense of urgency
or maybe a more powerful running game or stopping the run?
And it started in much of the same way the
first half ended, where fortunately the Panthers shot themselves in
the foot on the first drive after the big play
because they get that big Rico down'll run then delay
a game and then a short run and then they
(02:43):
miss a wide open tight end on a wheel route.
Who would have called a touchdown pass on that play
And it creates the chance for Jalen Phillips to kind
of have a potential momentum shifting aspect of that sequence
with that sack. Their mistake our big play on third down,
get the sack. That's great to see and that we've
seen on the other side of the ledger before too, right,
(03:03):
the big play, get up against the clock and kind
of go backwards after the fact. There's been some moments
like that throughout the course of you know, the last
several years with the Miami Dolphins, and you're thinking to yourself,
maybe the Panthers can kind of do that in Miami,
can find their own plays. And they continued because again
operation was bad. Big plays, then a penalty, they get
the punt team out there with only ten guys on
the field and have to take a delay a game.
(03:23):
So it just felt like every opportunity the Panthers had
to come back, they would find themselves in a hole
and give the Dolphins a chance to make that play
happen or make that you know, next move to make
it a twenty four to thirteen game. It felt like
throughout for the longest amount of time. It's probably twenty
three minutes of real time, but it felt like hours
where I was just thinking to myself, if they just
(03:44):
go put this ball on the end zone on this
drive or this drive or this next drive or the
next like it's gonna be game, it's gonna be curtains,
it's gonna be game blouses, because that offense hasn't found
enough of a spark plug through their passing game enough
to be able to come back from a two score
lead in the fourth quarter. And then defensive they adjusted
completely right. And Tua talked about this after the game.
They took away the middle of the field and probably
(04:05):
the story of the game was how Miami offensively, I
should say, was unable to run the football. And my
one of my bigger I guess complaints about you know
tu after the game said that they had just basically
flooded the middle of the field and dropped their hook
linebackers and took away the middle of the passing game.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So what else is open?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Right, We're taking these check downs and you know they're
rallying up and tackling and making those plays not go
for anything. But it just feels like we consistently have
these answers to the solutions to the problems after the fact,
and that's you got to find a way to change that.
And we'll get into more of that here in just
one second. Let's go ahead and keep rolling before I
get too far off the rails. I'm curious to get
(04:46):
to the film to see what changed, because he talked
about it, and you know, we were blessed in the
last road game to have prime vision and able to
see this stuff from the quarterbacks angle and last week
in person, obviously, but it just seems like it was
too easy get Miami out of their rhythm offensively. But
then the Panthers finally do score and break the dam
and the Dolphins have to answer, and they do in
(05:07):
the biggest way possible, a bomb to Jalen Waddle for
forty six yards to possibly win the game in the
fourth quarter from Tua, who throws his third touchdown pass
of the game. It's a Dolphins fan fever dream. But
the Panthers come right back down the field and we
just Dolphins fans of a long time know this. And
I feel like every team of that hasn't had a
ton of success would say this that it feels like
(05:29):
you never get the complimentary football together, Like the offense
makes a big drive, the defense can't get the big stop.
Like that was true in this game at the critical
moments right the defense doesn't get the stop the offense responds, okay,
defense is a chance now and they don't get the
stop again. I apologize because I feel like I'm bouncing
all over all over my notes here and I just
am having a hard time compartmentalizing what happened in that game.
(05:52):
Because something I want to get to later on the
show is talking about like high leverage moments, and we'll
come back to that here in one second. Because they
have a chance with the football with three timeouts, two
minutes on the clock, you only need about forty yards
to get into makeable field goal range. Hopefully you can
go you know, seventy yards and score the touchdown and
win the game. That didn't happen, neither did the field goal,
(06:13):
and the Dolphins have to get off the field. They
asked Bradley Chubb, the local media did after the game
what happened, and he said he felt some complacency set in.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I don't know how that can happen. It's a tough
way to.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Go out when you're one and three in the first
quarter of a game up seventeen zip and to get complacent.
And McDaniel and Tua Bull said that they didn't feel
that was the case. So that's not you know, Bradley
Chubb does not speak for the entire locker room there,
but I mean it's that's one of those things where
it's like, who the hell, Who the hell do you
think you are to have that mindset in the NFL
at any point. I just don't understand that. It's tough
(06:44):
to hear that after a game that goes this way
when you had a chance to put yourself right back
in the mix in the AFC and for a minute
there it felt like blowout and like, oh, okay, this
team is ready to play. They're gonna have an answer
for the post Tyreek Hill era, and then it goes
out that way. So the story is the same. We
track this in the postgame show. Every drive the Panthers,
you know, took back to Bradley Chubb's comments here, every
(07:05):
drive they started with a run, they would score points
on those drives. If they started with passes, they would
either turn the ball over or Miami gotta stop defensively.
And that's just the story of the year for the
Miami Dolphins right now. And they're like they have to
figure it out because Mike McDaniel said it after the game.
The tape is the tape, and the tape right now
is that you cannot get any penetration. You're allowing people
(07:26):
to vertically display you in the running game time in
and time out, and time again and time times ten
times ten. You know, Like, I don't know what I'm
trying to say right here, but like the run defense,
I mean, two hundred and thirty nine yards today, one
hundred and ninety seven yards against the Jets, one hundred
and fifty seven yards against the Colts, one hundred and
fifty six yards against the Bills, one hundred and twenty
two against the Patriots.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That's what you're gonna get.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Run game and quick passing game against these soft and
off looks you've been giving, and the complacency at seventeen zip,
I just I have a hard time coming to grips
with that possible mindset. As far as the stats in
this game, we talked about two hundred and thirty nine
yards on the ground for the Carolina pan And I
told you guys in the pregame, I thought without Chewba Hubbard,
the would struggle to find rushing yards.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Well, the eggs on my face because that wasn't the case.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Two hundred and thirty nine on the ground, they outgained
Miami four to eighteen to two forty eight. And this
is a game that started off where it was what
was the numbers in the first quarter, Like, they had
five plays and Miami had driven the entire field three
times twenty six first downs to fifteen. They were five
for eleven on third downs Miamme's five for thirteen. They
were two for two on fourth downs four eighteen to
two forty eight in total yards.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Uh what else? Three sacks each. Miami wins the turnover
battle two nothing.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
The penalties are pretty much the same, nine for sixty four,
eight for forty six. Title possion right around the same
as well. So I mean two of throws for what
do you throw for today? Two fifty six and three touchdowns.
Jialen Wada has one hundred and six yards receiving, one
hundred and ten yards receiving. Sorry, it's just man difficult
pill to swallowther On that loss, they felt like that
game in so many ways was like a microcosm of
(08:54):
this season and kind of like the theme of the
entire team right now and how things look one way
and how I mean, I've got so many notes to
get you. I keep thinking about them head of time.
Let's go ahead and press on here. So the pregame
checklist was getting the ball on the edge of the
Panther's running game. That didn't happen at all. Right, This
was a soft edge group, not a team that has
built through that position through investment, through draft, through free agency.
(09:16):
They've got some second round picks and there some guys
that are bargained free agents. That is not a group
that has been invested into and Miami got nothing off
the edge of the running game.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So a big X on that one.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Increased usage of heavy personnel and over all adapting to
not having Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
It looked awesome at first.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I'll have to go back and look at the numbers exactly,
but I was tracking this from the jump from jump.
You know, condensed formations, two backs, one tight ends, two
tight ends out there. Sometimes everything in these nasty splits
intight to the formation. Molik in the backfield on the
first play of the game. On the second drive, they
go through a go ball. They throw a go ball
to Julian Hill with a three man route combination. That
was your running back was the one the slot receiver
(09:54):
was your big body tight end and you're sorry, was
Darren Waller. And then your attached tight end. You're attached three.
The formation was your big body tight end. Like that's
a heavy formation to go empty from, you know, like
it looked great. And we saw the two rails and
slide combination which is a route underneath the formation, and
then the go up the sideline with alec Ingold. Right,
(10:15):
he drops that first one. You get Tanner Connor on
a catch on that one. Later they flip it to
have it to be Malik Washington as the slide and
Taj Washington the rail route. I liked the personnel diversity there.
And you can still do it. It's still within your
realm of possibilities. All have to watch the tape to
see how they got away from it or if they
did or not on the Tuesday podcast and come back
for you guys on that one. And then speaking of
(10:36):
replacing Tyreek Hill, I mean Jalen Waddle. You know, every
catch he had in that first half was a big
third down conversion and it was against man coverage, against
the proper leverage from j. C. Horn, and he just
kept beating it over and over again. He gets a
step vertically. It makes the big play that way. He
damn near caught a long ball on the takeoff when
Aaron Brewer snapped the ball at to his feet and
to A put a decent ball out there, but to
A won that release against j. C.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Horn and stacked him.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
He was open to a just I didn't think have
had time to set his feet and deliver that football
because of the bad snap. So it's just like, you know,
your your star receiver, which I think he can be
and is in so many ways, like wins that route
and the quarterback throws a decent ball, but something happened
from your potentially all pro center who makes.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
A bad snap.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
It's just that's just how these things snowball and how
you get to these losses. So that to me was
a big check mark one for two. Can they find
a way to stop the run and do it without blitzing? No,
not at all. I mean they did early and they
that Bradley Chubb discipline play on the zone reed to
make Bryce Young effectively basically pee down his leg right
and just drop the football in front of your face.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That was awesome to see.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
But other than that, like Kenny Grant, I mean, it's
it's getting to the point to where, you know, coach,
we've talked about how he's got all the talent in
the world, but if we can't play with proper technique
and fundamentals, none of that's gonna matter. And you're in
this position where and they talked about it all spring, right,
we're gonna go into this draft with the concept of
getting players that can help us immediately. And they did
(11:58):
that they I mean, they thought they did that by
getting Kenneth Grant and Jonas ofvit Naya. But these guys
are twenty one year old players that are playing positions
where you essentially have to get production from them, and
if you don't, what's next, Like, if they don't develop
that in time, what do you do? Because then it's
I mean, you're playing the same guys you played last
year on the offensive line. You're playing guys in the
defensive line that you got here as you know late
(12:20):
summer waiver pickups. And like Matthew Butler, and I'm not
trying to knock anybody here, I'm just saying that the
construction of the team was that you needed these first
two round picks to come up and perform right away,
and your contingency beyond that was there wasn't a you know,
a great one. There's not a great option for that.
And now you're watching these two players commit critical errors
(12:40):
in week in and week out. And for Kenneth Grant
getting pushed off the football and invited in the run
the way he has, like I didn't see that in
his college tape at all. It surprises me as much
as anybody. But that's a big reason why you're getting beat.
And they know they went to more. Jordan Phillips in
this game, who I think continues to play a strong
nose on certain snaps those other players where he's getting
taken out of the washing a little bit, but we
saw him play more than three technique to play more
(13:02):
of that position that Kenneth Grant has played. Zach had
the play earlier, but he continues to get displaced and
rides the wave, you know, like horizontally out of the play.
The edge was soft at times. I thought Lnfilis played
really well, but for the most part, the edge was soft.
Two hundred and thirty nine yards A big emphatic X
on that one, and especially your safety's and defensive backs
like coming down and trying to punch the football out
(13:23):
and standing up Rico Daddle who runs for an additional
twenty five yards after you don't succeed in punching the
ball out, like got to make a tackle at some point,
so Jack Jones and Ashton Davis and it's just.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
At no level. Was it good?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Big X on that one? What was the plan for
Ted McMillan. Would you megh him, would you bracket him,
would you double him? What was the plan there? I
want to get a better look at it on tape,
but I did write this down. I loved the adjustment
on that third down at the end of the third quarter.
We had been soft and off and they were picking
it apart all game long. But we press up and
throw the timing of the entire playoff and it allows
Phillips to win a pass rush and Brooks to clean
(13:58):
it up. The next drive they get back into the
series after we blow up a first down screenplay and
they throw a slant and Iffi melafon Wu drives up
on it and shuts it down for a game of three.
Those plays previously had been gains of seven, eight, nine yards,
and then you couldn't get a stop on third down,
and they finally adjusted and played a little bit tighter.
But I guess we did get the answer to this
at the end of the game because Ted got the
(14:18):
best of Jack Jones in a lot of ways. Right.
Rough game for Jack and coverage, pass interferences, getting beat
with caught footballs, scrambled drills on time, missed a couple
of tackles on two long runs. I mean, I guess
the plan wasn't successful. So a big X on that one.
We didn't really cover anybody really well. The deep corner
to Laguette with Rasul Douglas not getting depth Like the
cornerback play had been decent through four games, and this
(14:40):
one it was not.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
One for three.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
The further evolution of the Darren Waller offense and Waddle
I kind of covered that already. I was a big
fan of that. The seam route on the middle field
close or middlefield open, Waller splits them. That's an awesome
above the rim throw and a new element to the offense.
Catching quick hitters down the middle. Verticals has five for
seventy eight and touchdown in the first half does go
to target in the second half. Wattle talked about that
at length beat Mike Jackson beat j C. Horn big
(15:05):
check mark on that one. Tua's evasion off the spot
and out of structure play he didn't need it off
the jump, but he was sacked twice. And those were
immediate losses and third and long situations, and those are
difficult to overcome. And I just put that in here
because of how much of a juxtaposition it was between
the Jets and Bills game versus the first two games.
(15:25):
But in this one it didn't materialize beyond that the
third and ten to close the game. That's one of
those spots where he misses a throw on second down
and gotta make that thrill, right, we'll get to that
here in one second. But he misses a throw on
second down and it creates a third down situation that
puts you in your vulnerability third and long, where we're
in true dropbacks and pass rushers are keyed up, your
offensive line, your receivers are tired. You can't get it
out of structure, you can't find a way to create
(15:46):
You see so many game winning drives in the league
this year, in this era, where the quarterback makes a
play with his feet, with his leg, he gets off
the spot and creates and throws down the field and
runs and converts with his legs. It's just not happening here.
And that's I think that's why you're not getting these
successful late game situations. I mean, it goes back to
the Patriots game, didn't succeed on that final drive, the
(16:06):
Buffalo game through a pick. On both those games through
a pick and one took a sack in the other.
Going back to the Packers game in twenty two, the
three picks in the fourth quarter of that game. The
Niners game that year, you had a drive that failed
in plus territory to end that game. The Buffalo game
after Jalen Phillips's stripsack in the fourth quarter up by
a touchdown. We can't convert that, like I mean, it's
just example after example. The Houston game last year had
(16:29):
a chance through a pick. Like I think, the inability
to create and be stuck in these true dropback situations
where there's no threat of the run game and no
threat of the quarterback run, I think that is the
biggest obstacle for this offense with this quarterback right now.
And you saw it come up in this position today
despite a really good game for a quarter and the
big the bomb to wadle at the end. I'll watch
(16:50):
the tape and get a better feel for it, but
that aspect is undeniable, and it showed up once again
that we cannot find creative plays out of structure after
the play breaks down and third critical latent games. Let's
come back and talk about the themes of the game next.
That's on the Draft Time podcast, brought to you by Autoonation.
You know, I really hope the message of this podcast
(17:11):
lands because I feel scatterbrain, guys, and I apologize for
that because that's just kind of where my brain's at
right now at six forty five here on a Sunday night,
try and get the show out for you guys, after
two hours of post game and certain things out there
with jermalm Bush broad and sorting out my feelings throughout
the course of the fourth quarter of that game.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Themes of the games. The Panthers just kept on rolling
at will.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
They were able to get vertical washed, they were able
to There was one play where Bernito Jones they forgot
to block him on a combo and he couldn't make
the play and it wound up getting them two linebackers
or two guards down on linebackers, and it was just,
I mean, you can't win football games doing that. So
the Panthers ability to do that. The guard play offensively.
We talked about the quarterback on the previous side. The
(17:52):
guard player right now is just giving up way too
much run and pass. I mean a general takeaway because
it's a few weeks now, but it happened again today.
The sacks were on Yon and Strange over setting in
pass sets, trying to jump set, throwing both arms up
with dead feet even on scoring drives. Jonah had the sack,
a miss combo block on a blown up eight Chan run.
He got beat quickly on one of Waddle's third down
(18:14):
wins that you don't see because they made the play.
He missed a combo block on the first play of
the second half when Ollie Gordon got blown up. Cole
Strange gives up the stack on that twist where he's
late to react inside had the Lager play where he
gets beat badly on an explosive play to Waddle. That
Ney gated that one on a holding play there backed
up against the chains. The guard play is really struggling
both in the run game, and it affects your pass game,
(18:36):
especially in those true drop back situations, which it's Groundhog's
Day again because it's the exact same thing that happened
last year and quite frankly every year that we didn't
have a healthy Rob Hunt and Isaiah Win And this
came to me at the end of the game, but
it was developing for the entire season so far. And
it's strange to say, considering one of the best third
down offenses in the league, but it's just so juxtaposed
(18:56):
against what you see every week on the other side
of the field, whether it's may or Justin Fields or
Daniel Jones or in this game, Bryce Young and I
talked about Tua and the you know, not being able
to create on game winning drives with his legs and
the kind of behind the eight ball position that puts
you in. It's across the board. It's not just Tua
(19:17):
because like in the outer structure stuff, like throughout the
course of the second half of this game, Tua was
getting out of contain and breaking the pocket and there's
just like nothing coming with him there. There's no real
feel for the outer structure offense. And on the other
side of the football, Like it seems like we're so
disjointed in how we attack the quarterback, like we overrun him,
we hit him late. By the way, the landing on
(19:39):
the hip drop penalty on Chop Robinson, what are we doing?
That is not a penalty? Like he's tackled him. He
tackled him and Bryce turned around like, guess that's just
what happens. But we can't finish those sacks when it
comes to covering on the back end and plastering, the
guys seem to get open on those plays all the time.
It's just it's a killer man. Because again, if you
finish that play at the end of the Panthers first
drive where it's fourth down and Bryce Young has three
(19:59):
Dolphins in his face and Ted McMillan's covered up, you
get the ball back up by three scores right around midfield.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Instead it's seventeen to seven.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
And it's just it's been consistent off structure plays on
either side of the ball, not in the Dolphins favors
critical moments. I mean, there's a bunch to get to here.
Do you want to go over all of them? Let's
just do it real quick. I guess, let's see the
shot to Waller was a big Dolphins win. We broke
that awl already the third and eleven on the red
zone opening drive where Jonah got overset that. That was
(20:29):
a big win for the Panthers there, and we just
kind of shot ourselves in the foot the entire second
drive of the game. The third and eight to Waddle
against outside leverage from j C. Horn wins outside. I
talk about that route from Wattle all the time. He
is so adept at getting those releases at the break
point and then finding his open outlet to the outside.
The fourth and five play on too, Darren Waller. We
broke that one down from the bunch, the location, the catch, everything,
(20:50):
but that was just perfect on the outside ball from Tua,
who was really filling at that point of the game.
Waller very heavily impacted in the game plan. Third and seven,
wallle continues to be third down coverage a third and ten,
that the touchdown by eight Chan.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
How great was that play?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
You ever seen a running back make a catch like that,
contorting his body, going dead toe and tapping those things
in the corner of the end zone. Perfect throw from
two of Miami's cruising at this point right, fourteen to
nothing becomes seventeen to nothing. I broke down the Bryce
Young fourth down scramble play like I don't think there's
you know, a point to go any further on that.
The third and goal on that drive, the touchdown to
(21:22):
Xavier Lagette was a really great throw and a great
catch on Jack Jones the third down. The start of
the next drive, after the two minute warning, you get
to stop here, you know. On third and six, the
Panthers have a chance to make it a one score game.
They dial up that twist and Cole Strange oversets against
the looper coming back inside and can't recover to a
side stepsit. But by that time the left side of
the line broke down too, so they get the sack.
There just these one like one play breakdowns on every
(21:45):
single drive they kill you. So the Panthers. The Dolphins
lead the critical moments five to four through the first half.
You get a third and eight after the Panthers cut
to seventeen thirteen to a scrambles and slides down short.
That's part of what I'm talking about, Like, I love
staying healthy and the directive to do that, but it
probably gave up a drive there because of that right
third and nine after McMillan's defensive pass interference was picked up,
(22:06):
which we caught a break there. It could be capitalized.
We rally up and tackle short of the sticks. Nothink crazy,
but Bryce tried taking a hookup. We made a big
play on that tackle, so Miimi gets it back to
a six to five lead in the critical moments the
third and eight. On the ensuing drive, we start to
drive strong, but just to find you know, no success
on third down two, it breaks the pocket, throws it away.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
There you go, two drives in a row. That happens.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Carolina wins that one. On the ensuing punt, I gave
the Dolphins a win because Elijah Campbell did a great
job of tracking that punt down the field and pinning
it deep without then the Panthers touched the football, and
then we get that entire goal line series and they
get a first down off of that. You can't let
them off the goal line there. It's it's an automatic
run situation. They get enough yards in the running game,
but they throw one of those tight slants against our
(22:48):
off coverage for an easy first down. Like it's for them.
It was too easy and that's just how kind of
how this game went on defense. The next third and seven,
Bryce Young throws it away with ten minutes go in
the fourth quarter, up by four, getting the ball back
go right there, right, potential kill drive coming, but you
can't get it on the other side, so they get
it back on third and seven with ten twenty eight
to play, seventeen thirteen. Every one of these drives felt
like for Miami a chance to call game, and this
(23:11):
would have gotten you into plus territory with ten minutes
to go. The snap never gave you a chance. It
was that low Brewer snap Ta takes a shot to Wattle.
They were getting pressure from that side. Play single man
covers with Horn on Waddle. That's a matchup. We gotta
win right for our six pick in the draft. Gotta
win that he did, but the bad snap to me
made to his footwork not good and we couldn't recover
from there. And then let's see three point thirty to go,
(23:33):
fourth and five. You could have made a stop here
and won the game up by four points. Jimmy Horn
Junior runs that corner route right. No, Jimmy Horn, I
don't even know his name. Tory Horton. No, Jimmy Horn
junr runs that corner route against our man coverage. We're
in big nickel corner Armshawn got hurt earlier. Obviously, you're
without Jason Marshall, you cut Mike Hilton, so you're super
thin there at the nickel position, and Rastuo Douglas just
(23:54):
couldn't stay in phase. Rough day for Rastuo Douglas after
he had a pretty good start to the season here
for the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Again, I apologize, guys, this is.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Like all over the place, and I think it's probably
not great podcasting, But we'll go ahead and take a
break right there, come back on the other side and
do the offensive and defensive standouts and stand downs and
talk about the five takeaways. That's next Drive Time podcast,
brought to you by AutoNation. So I had Tua in
my offensive standouts off jump, but I took him out
(24:23):
of it. I just think, you know, we'll talk more
about this here in the takeaways. But I just felt
like the ball on your hands late, and especially at
five consecutive drives where we have every one of those drives,
there was a chance to put it make it a
two score game. That to me, is the same thing
as a game winning drive in the fourth quarter, and
you didn't do it, so I took him out of there.
But there was some really good location, really good on
time throws. I thought he was seeing it well. A
(24:45):
couple of blind throws into the flat that I didn't love,
but buy and large good stuff there from two and
I'll be curious to watch the tape in terms of
how those middle drives played out. When you get no
idea what's happening downfield on the broadcast version, but can't
take a sack on that third down, the second down
miss on to wall the play before on the potential
game tye and game winning drive.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
We'll talk about that here more.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
In just one second, Wattle beating the one on one
of Horn, turning it around, blocking guys getting opened, made
two tough catches at the sticks on the first two drives,
snatches the ball above his head right, He's catching everything
with his hands. Now, I just think Waddle is the
man and we're going to see more of that as
the year goes along.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
What more can you say about Darren Waller?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I mean, big plays, five for seventy eight and touchdown
to the first three drives of the game. More on
Waller here in one second, Devon a Chan has that
one nice run where he got wide split a block,
had that amazing catch, But I thought he kind of
hunted the big play a little bit today, which was,
you know, kind of the problem last year. I want
to get into the film on this more with pass Pro.
But yeah, the guard play was rough and we'll look
(25:40):
at the rest and come back with you for you
guys on that tomorrow. Defensively, Minka Fitzpatrick, that was a
hell of a catch on the pick. Also, just watching
some of the third down stops if it's outside of structure,
off broken routes, I think a lot of that is
because of the way Minka matches and runs off and
caps our initial stuff, especially vertically. That tackle on Jimmy
Horn Junior on the end of round that he made
on the end of round that he made would have
(26:00):
been a big play, but he stopped it for a
ten yard or a five yard game rather. I think
Jalen Phillips is doing a lot of good stuff in
the four I position, but also had some good edge
presence today. He got Taylor Moten off balanced a couple
of times. One time for a sack. Did a really
good job on rush containing this game as well. And
then Jordan Brooks makes a bunch of plays. But it
is really tough on Jordan with how the defensive line
is playing right now. I mean, Kenny Zach, Jordan Phillips
(26:23):
wasn't his best game, Benito Jones struggled, Jack Jones, Rasul
Douglas had really rough games. Dot Ashton Davis struggle, Tigrell
Dotson got beat on that wheel route. It's just, man, Yeah,
it's just it's tough.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
It is tough. And I go back to.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
This thought about, you know, relying on these young players
that have to get their fundamentals and techniques right and
if you don't, you know, there's not a lot of
options behind them. And right now, I think the Dephins
are kind of dealing with those growing pains of a
very young draft class that they needed to play right away.
The takeaways five number one, the offensive diversity and ability
to pivot off of Tyreek Hill is a very real thing,
and it has me excited about the potential future here
(26:59):
of what whatever years to come are with a core
concept of the offense with Waddle and the leak and
Darren Waller, I suppose can we call him part of
the future with Patrick Paul and Aaron Brewer and you
know some of the other pieces you have across the offense.
There's a nice structure here for how you can kind
of be versual almost two things regardless of what it
looks like, you know, going forward, Like I'm excited about that,
(27:21):
but from this particular game, the heavy personnel, the condensed formations,
that empty set with you know, two backs and a
tight end in the formation, Julian Hill getting some run,
Wattle being this guy that can be a critical third
down winner for you, making the big play in the
fourth quarter as well. I just, you know, I think
there's something there. And my original takeaway is the offensive
pivot can be real, But I'm just saying like it's
(27:42):
more of a concept right now until you do it
for an entire game, But the looks of it are there.
And the number two is that Waller is a thing.
He's a legitimate threat that can help benefit this offense
or any offense with the athletic ability, the high pointing
the back five of the end zone became available. We
saw two two touchdowns in the back part of the
end zone, and I think the way he compliments Julian Hill,
it's a nice one two punch of the tight end position.
(28:03):
All of a sudden, you've got number three. Was that
Tua turned it on, but then cooled off. The first
three games were not great, but the last game and
the first quarter of this game was vintage old classic two.
And I'm sitting there and thinking, Okay, well, that's that's good.
We can We're gonna win nine ten games because of that.
To all the third and fourth down stuff, he was
awesome early five ver seven on third downs, the verticals,
the balls to the perimeter on the money, against trail
(28:25):
coverage of the cornerbacks, stretching the scene, quick decisions, catch
rock throw them, getting that thing out, getting through progressions,
knowing the backside rotation based upon your front side action.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
And how about those pockets.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
They were awesome early on right, he was comfortable and
he was dealing. This was fun, I wrote, But then
it cooled off. I thought he made some good decisions
getting down and you know, protecting himself, even if it's
difficult pill to swallow at times. A throwaway, he wasn't,
you know, going to win the edges of his play.
So I guess live to fight another day, and I
want to see the film before I comment too much
on like that second and third quarter. But the sixteen
(28:56):
yard throw to Waddle to start the drive at the
start of the fourth quarter was vintage Tua. But then
you don't get vintage Tua in the most critical part
of the game, throwing the exact same ball to the
exact same receiver in the exact same location on the field.
It was the other side of the formation. But two
was hit that throw four hundred times in his career. Right,
the little twelve to fourteen yard dig the receiver can
(29:20):
catch and take off, and it used to be Tyreek
catching those around those for long touchdowns or Wattle two.
But now they get tackled because there's you know, two
or three saved. He's keeping the roof on the defense.
But I talked about this on postgame with Jermalm bush Rod,
and it's like, man, you go back. I thought about
the Niners Game of the Day from twenty twenty two,
and how I remember early in that game, Seth and
OJ and I were talking about how like the ball
(29:41):
just kept on sailing on him. It was high, like
the heart it was up and he was just kind
of a little bit amped up and throwing the ball high,
and Tua talked about it after the game, and the
Chargers game the next week more of the same. The
Buffalo game, he was sharp after that. The Packers game
came back and had some more of those same high throws.
It happened in the Chiefs game in twenty three when
they were six and two playing for that critical one
seed in the AFC at that point. It happened in
(30:02):
the Houston game last year, and then down the stretch
of this season. Like these critical game on the line
moments or even early in these big games, it feels
like the heart rate accelerates, the arm angle drops, seem
to kind of fade away from the pressure, and these
high throws over the middle result because if he hits
that ball, we're probably gonna we're probably gonna get another
(30:23):
first down and at least hie the game. But he
misses it, and then he takes the sack on third down,
and then there's no real good option on fourth and eighteen.
I mean, the Numbers had to punt that ball away,
but the way that Panthers running the ball felt like
it was kind of game over at that point. But
for two of man, he's got to find a way
to perform in these critical moments, start of game, end
of game, whatever it is, the big game moment. For
whatever reason, the splits are just not there for him.
(30:46):
So as much as it was good at the end
of the game, it was bad. And I just don't
know where to go from there because there's so much
like about him, But he's got to find a way
in those moments. Number four is that you're gonna have
to rely upon defensive k to make this thing go
right because they ran like what seven plays in the
first twenty minutes of the game, and I was thinking, like, Okay,
(31:07):
this is how they're gonna be. Ball hawking, take the
ball away, punch out fumbles, get some picks. Mika Fitzpatrick
gets our first pick of the year. But then it's
like a little bit soft and off passive light boxes
after the seventeen point lead, third and short conversions, those
little inbreakers against ten yard cushions, it's tough to get
stops and you play like that, and then they just
kind of broke the dam by keeping the run game
going and basically the only time they didn't run the ball.
(31:29):
They didn't have success was when they didn't run the ball.
And again, this stuff is on tape for the rest
of the league to see, Like if Miami's gonna see
this for the rest of the season and they're gonna
have to find a way to stop it. So and
you can't rely on takeaways, which kind of appears to
be the only way the defense right now is getting stops.
Number five all goes for not because they blow a
seventeen point lead and fall to one in four. And
I don't have a grand takeaway for you guys. I
(31:51):
don't need to do a whole segment on this right now.
I'm gonna go ahead and close up shop right here.
But you were potentially two and three, and if you
blew them out, confidence is gonna be riding high. The
fan going to be psyched up to come back to
hard Rock Stadium. But you don't, and then you're one
and four and the picture becomes a lot murkier. It's
a tough to stomach loss issues in the line of scrimmage
on both sides of the football. Offense goes ice cold
for three quarters. I just found myself speechless at the
(32:14):
end of this, and man, it's tough, tough one out there.
Hopefully my Murners can find a way to win this
game tonight because that Saturday game was brutal to watch.
And your boys hanging by a feb right now when
it comes to his sports teams, and it's just like,
when do sports ever get to be fun? Let's go
ahead and call it a podcast. We'll review the tape
on the show tomorrow and tell you where things work,
where they went wrong, and everything in between. In the meantime,
(32:37):
subscribe to the podcast, leave us a rating, leave us
a review, Tell me how much I suck.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Go ahead follow me on social at WINKFL NFL the
team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel for
Dolphins HQ, Media Availabilities, all that stuff Miami Dolphins dot com.
Until next time, Fin's up, Caroline Cameron Willow a guy
he needs, already hoped
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CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.