November 9, 2025 • 31 mins
The Dolphins took it to their divisional rival Sunday in blowout fashion. We’re breaking down how Miami did it through a balanced offense with a mix of run scheme and deep shots. Plus, the special teams paired with a dominant defensive showing - on the back of a beautiful game plan and emerging young players, to trounce Buffalo 30-13.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. Last year old fans Z.
What is up Dolphins?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host,
Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, the Dolphins blow out
the Buffalo Bills thirty to thirteen, big win, our first
against that team since twenty twenty two and end a
seven game losing streak with a dominant defensive performance, outstanding
special teams, balanced offense with explosive plays by type by
Jalen Waddle and Devon a Chan, a total team win,
(00:34):
and we're breaking it all down here from the Baptist
Hill Studios inside the Baptist Hell's Trading Complex. This is
the Drift Time Podcast, our story of the game, slash
big moments of the game. It was the exact perfect
game plan. WHOA what did I just do? Hang on,
let me get that audio for you guys, real quick
waits twin.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Win win, win, win, yeah everything.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Else, yeah, let it right out, win win Winlins beat
the Buffalo Bills. And it was the exact perfect game plan,
script execution and what it takes to beat that Buffalo
Bills team?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Was it not?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You pressured Josh Allen all game long with rush lane integrity.
You strapped his eligibles all game and fit the run
to force them into true dropback situations and force them
to go off schedule. I can't recall a play where
Josh Allen played in rhythm until maybe late in the
fourth quarter, and you complimented that with exceptional, exceptional special
teams work on top of a balanced offensive attack that
(01:33):
won the line of scrimmage and hit explosive plays In
the passing game. Osh set olfrins up a nice mix
of run schemes with play action concepts that had both
screen and shot plays built in off of max protection
looks on offense, on defense, press man coverage, post snapped
rotation and disguise, great sim pressures and blitz combos that
all looked the same and had that quarterbacks headswimmen. For
(01:55):
sixty minutes, it was just sixty minutes of good football
and dominating a good team here at home. The Dolphins
opened a sixteen to nothing lead in the first half
of this game. Buffalo has a long drive to start
the third quarter but got nothing from it. A nine
minute march as if emalafam Wu picks off Josh Allen
and the end zone on third and goal from the
five yard line. They get the ball back and they
(02:17):
score a ninety eight yard touchdown drive on the next possession,
but they couldn't convert a two point conversion as Minka
Fitzpatrick makes an outstanding play at the goal line. We'll
break that down here in just one second. Miami punts
it back with eight forty to play, leading by ten,
but the Dolphins get their third takeaway of the game
as Jordan Brooks, the captain, the best player on the defense,
one of the best players in the entire league, finishes
(02:39):
a play where Josh Allen's carrying a pile of Bills
and Dolphins. He strips it out, Mika Fitzpatrick recovers, and
then Devon h Chan ices it with a fifty nine
yard touchdown run gets it back again after going up
twenty three to six with six and a half minutes
to play, and the Bills go score a touchdown and
make it twenty three to ten, No, twenty three to
thirteen rather and then eight Chan goes in from thirty
(02:59):
five yards once again, and the party was on the Bills.
Fans were on the escalators, they were hitting their hey.
Good thing, they have the hard Rock shuttle back to
the hotel because they were on that thing early, heading
back home after an absolute drubbing by a team that
they thought they were going to come in here and
walk all over. So the Dolphins big time game, it
was so much fun to watch. I was looking up
like shutout stats and different types of like first since then,
(03:22):
you know, first since year X performances, and yeah, it
friens up. You know, That's where I'm at today. I
just don't even know what to say right now. Three sacks,
three takeaways, seven quarterback hits, just a really really fun game.
The stats from this game, in fact, I haven't looked
at this yet, so let's go ahead and pulled up
for the first time. The Bills actually had twenty first
downs to Miami's nineteen, but they were five for fifteen
(03:44):
on third downs. You hold that quarterback to thirty three
percent third downs. That's pretty dang good. Miami also thirty
three percent, three for nine. The Bills were one for
two on fourth down. They actually outgained Miami three seventy
six to three seventy. They had two eighty nine through
the air eighty seven on the ground. Miami had just
one seventy three through the air, one ninety seven on
the ground.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
That's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
We turned it over twice, but there were essentially punts
to deep shots by Tua on third and long that
were pretty much longer than any punt and coverage you
could expect. The Bills turned it over three times. Miami
allowed zero sacks up Tua today they sacked Josh Allen
three times. Miami had five for thirty five and penalties
Buffalo six for sixty seven and we had the ball
for twenty eight minutes and thirty seven seconds. So the
(04:26):
scoreboard says it was dominant. And that's all I care
about in this game. Let's go ahead and get to
my pregame checklist here just really quickly, because there was
a few things that I was looking for in this
game that Miami checked the box, if you will, in
a big time way. So the run game success and
the design was Allie Gordon gonna play in this game?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Was it zone? And man is it successful?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And it was off to a great start in the
sense we'll cover it here in the theme section of
the show. But Jalen Wright got some run in this game.
He had an eighteen yard run and finished just five
for seventeen. But I thought it was the It was
showing what right and that offense does well with him
in the lineup. That opened up other stuff for the
outside zone game, some big second half runs. We saw
(05:06):
Cole Strange and Larry Borham get some wash and a
couple of dvon Echan runs off the right side. We
saw Devon him make some guys miss in gaps where
he shouldn't have made guys miss. The fifty nine yard
touchdown run was him making a man miss on I
think it was duo. I think it was a duo
call where he made an unblocked defender in the gap
miss because we didn't pick up the assignment. But when
you have a superstar running back, sometimes he makes you
(05:27):
right when not all ten guys are attached in their assignments.
But I thought that was the entire theme of the game,
which we'll get to here in just one second. So
a big check mark on the run game design and
success of it all. Number two was how would they
supplement the pass rush absent Jalen Phillips. Would it be elevations,
would it be more blitzing, would it be different schematics
what would we do, and it was a whole different
(05:47):
buffet of things they did. We saw a bunch of
different looks and coverage as well, some man free presenting
a zero willing back into cover two. We saw Jason
Marshall and Juju Brents, which is going to be informative
element of how this team can play here going forward.
Those two guys and what they did in this game.
We saw big Nickel with Minka and Trader walk down
with Iffy back in the post. We saw the return
(06:09):
of the sim pressures and the effectiveness of that big
check mark on that aspect of the game, the tight
end position evolution. I thought we were going to get
Julian Hill back for this game. He did not play
in the game. Tanner Connor was waived earlier in the week.
He did sign back to the practice squad. Greg Dolcich
is on the active roster and they signed up Hayden Rucchie,
who I'm going to go back and watch the tape
for you guys in the podcast on Monday night, but
(06:29):
I think he played pretty well, and I know Greg
Dolcitch played pretty well. He was a big part of
the passing offense. Early in this game. He was the
decoy route on both of Tua's two touchdown passes. Also
had a great block on an eight chan jet sweepcerry.
So once again, tight end position. I'm seeing some stuff here. Dolcich,
youre f Roochie, You're why there's Julian Hill's going to
be a why Darren Waller is going to be There
(06:50):
is a lot to work with here in this tight
end room, as they have developed this season and gone on.
Might be a good problem to have there, just like
we might have a good problem to have in the
defensive backfield. Do the Dolphins all of a sudden have
too many good cornerbacks? Because I was thinking about this,
Rasul Douglas didn't play in this game, and he was
your best cornerback all year.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
He was one of the best cornerbacks.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
In the league all year, and Jack Jones is playing
his butt off, and all of a sudden, Juju, Brents.
Was that the best cornerback performance by a Miami Dolphin
this year?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
It might have been.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, the arsto friends up. The voice is getting high
on me. We'll talk about that more on the film tomorrow.
That wasn't even part of the podcast just kind of
got off the rails there. And then also I was
looking to track things that were different. Did we get
any changes with personnel, with scheme different things? Would would
Jason Marshall kick back outside after playing all sixty six
snaps of his career so far in the slot, and
(07:36):
we did see that. We'll get into that in the
game themes as well, but the answer is a definitive yes.
Also in the running game that Jalen Wright usage, the
full back dive that he got was like full back trap, right,
we saw alec Ingold get six yards in a full
back dive. The screen game was working and in concert
with the Deep Shot game in the play action game.
The way that the Deep Shot game was working off
those two man route combos and max protection, it looked
(07:57):
the exact same as some of the screen stuff they did.
So when you can mirror things together like that and
balance everything and give the defense vertical, horizontal, stretch, downhill,
running outside zone, you hit them with everything today and eventually,
over the course of a sixty minute football game, the
levy is going to break. And that's what happened. The
game themes here for the Miami Dolphins man physical, physical
(08:19):
football with run game mixture, creating advantageous opportunities for Tua
Tongue Bai Looa to do what makes him special. And
there are special elements of to his game despite a
rough year he's had so far this year. Anticipation, placement, timing,
playing in rhythm, the deep ball accuracy, all that on
display in this game today. I don't care about the
two picks, but let's get back to the main point here.
(08:39):
Jalen Wright getting the run along with Devon ah Chan.
We were seeing pin and poll, we got lead io,
We saw the full back dive, the trap that I
talked about on top of the outside zone stuff. The
Jets sweep from there, and then from that point to
a touchdown pass to Maleak Washington where you throw off
the conflict defender. You motion Greg Dolsch in from the
one position out wide on the trips to the field
(09:00):
basically to a stack off in Leak Washington and just
runs basically a pick route, although it wasn't a pick route.
It was like a little drag that was right under
the lap of that hook linebacker and you saw him
just take the cheese for a half a step. He
displaces himself by a half step. And that's where when
you have a quarterback they can play on that level
of cadence with his receiver and be on that level
(09:21):
of no like wherewithal of where the defense is rotated
to a perfect pass after really holding that conflict defender
and throwing it around him. Great location, lak Washington, a
good spinning catch on the end zone. Fantastic stuff all
across the board. The very next play to start the
next drive was a slant to Waddle off play action,
wide up and for fourteen yards, akin to the one
(09:42):
he had in Atlanta. That's what happens, man, You do
this stuff. You fringe him up, you friends him up
down the field, and you can find him up down
the field. Later on in the passing game, that same
drive ends on a two man route combo play action
bomb to Waddle for a thirty eight yard touchdown. They
ran Wattle on a go. Dolcich runs us little fake
over back to the corner. He was also wide open,
(10:03):
and Tua drops it right in the bucket.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
A thing of beauty.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
He had about three yards in the back of the
ends one to drop that ball in two He did it. Perfectly,
and Waddle makes a great catch through traffic through a
defensive pass interference call. But hey, that would have taken
away thirty eight yards off your total and taken away
a touchdow off the board. So make that catch, make
your fancy honors happy and get the statue. Deserve penguin
you certainly do. And then secondly, this is all I
have two themes. The defensive game plan was brilliant, a
(10:28):
lot of variety and coverage. Will cover it more in
depth on the podcast tomorrow, excuse me. On the All
twenty two show, they were walking up corners, they were
inverting coverage, they were wheeling out, you know with the
skies after the snap, they were pressing, rerouting. They weren't
worried about their cornerbacks being on an island, with Juju
Brentz being a big reason for it. He was outstanding
(10:49):
in this game. But they also had variety with Jason
Marshall playing out there, with Jack Jones having his best
game as a Miami Dolphin, Mika Fitzpatrick having his best
game as a Miami Dolphin, Dante Trader coming down and
covering inside with Minca as well.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
If he in the slot, if he in the post.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
A true positionless defensive backfield with a variety of coverages
that paired up with your fronts and your sim pressures,
and a run defense that has all of a sudden
figured out how to play together in that in the trenches,
and they're taking it two teams. They beat Buffalo both
on schedule and off script in coverage plastering after the fact.
What a brilliant, beautiful, beautiful football game from this Miami
(11:27):
Dolphins defense. First, break right there, come back and break
down the critical moments of this game. We'll get to
the individual standouts as well in five takeaways. All that
coming away here on the Draft Time Podcast, brought to
you by a donation. All right, welcome back to Dolphins
beat the Buffalo Bills thirty to thirteen here at hard
Rock Stadium. What a day, What a beautiful day it
(11:48):
is here in Miami Gardens.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I can't wait to just go home and watch the
Chargers and Steelers and just feel good about football today.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
What a fun day that was. So critical moments breakdown here.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
The Dolphins first red zone visit of the game is
a two to nine yard touchdown pass to Malak Washington,
I kind of broke it down already. They motion Dulsag
into the drag from a condensed split, and they get
that little conflict on the hook linebacker where they get
displacement he takes a step up. It creates that window
in the back of the end zone. Those are the
kind of throws that I kind of feel like they've
been missing a little bit this year down that area
(12:20):
of the field. Letting to attack the back five of
the end zone, right. We saw it with Darren Waller,
but his absence kind of, you know, makes it more
difficult to threaten that area of the field. But with
Malik Washington on this day, I wish you guys could
have seen that. I just grabbed my charger off the
ground and tried to pull my mic arm with me.
Didn't quite go with me all the way, but they
conflict the defense in a way that Tua can then
(12:41):
dissect from there. Made a great read and a great throw,
and they cash in our first critical moment of the
entire game. The ensuing drive Bills get a fourth and one.
They got eleven yards on third and twelve. It was
gonna be that third down play, but they wind up
going for it on fourth and one, they try to
boot Josh Allen because guess what we are all of
a sudden are tough to get the ball down the
middle on in our run defense, like sneak, fullback, dive,
(13:04):
running back, lead, like whatever you want to do. They
weren't doing it because the Dolphins were clogging gaps and
fitting the wrong with linebackers, and Jordan Brooks and Tyrell
Dotson were all over that bootleg. They both got over
the top of what could potentially be a sealed edge
for a quarterback sweep and for Allan to keep that
ball and pick up the first down with his legs,
but Brooks beat took He basically took the corner away
from Josh Allen while staying on I think it was
(13:28):
the second the flat receiver that it was a flood concept.
They had layers that had short, medium, high, and I
think it was the flat route, the short route that
Brooks also took care of. And then Dodson, like shot
out of a cannon, comes rolling in right behind that
and runs the angle off, so Josh has to pull
up and it forces him to take a hell Mary
prayer and down the field there's Mika Fitzpatrick on a
(13:49):
tight end who he's giving you know what, six seven
six seven inches to in height down the field and
he swatchsed the ball away. You also had Dante Trader
on Dawson Knox and there's guys I miss but the
entire defense, to a man, played awesome on that play.
Two wins and two critical moments so far for the
Miami Dolphins. Bill's gay third and nine with nine thirty
to go in the second quarter, down thirteen zip ball
(14:12):
at midfield. They screen it against the Blitz. The Dolphins
were on it but miss a tackle that could have
made it fourth and six. They wind up getting to
fourth and one and they go for it, but don't
have to snap it because Barito Jones winds up in
the neutral zone. I think it was encroachment actually, But
on the very next play, Miami turns them over as
Jack Jones punches the football out, Juju brent scoops it.
The ball's bouncing all over the field, but he scoops
(14:33):
it up off the pile and makes a big play there.
Hustle and effort and want to was all over this
tape today. I cannot wait to watch it. The Dolphins
get a big win here in a critical moment to
make it three zero in these spots, the Bill's third
and seven, two minutes to play in the first half,
sixteen to zip game and you get a saualiler first
one of the season. Sim pressure, you show cover zero,
(14:56):
they wheel out of it. They were on top of
these post snap rotates today like it was zero all
the way until the ball was in Josh Allen's hands
and he has to change the entire complexion of his
read from that point. Stealer sheds his block with Bradley
Chubb getting good surge as he did all day long.
Josh Allen tries to go off schedule and gets swallowed
up by big sack Steeler his first of the year.
(15:16):
Welcome back to the call on Zach. I think they're
going to start adding up for him here in the
second half of the season. Dolphins third and ten and
of the first half they went past pass run after
getting a first down to eight Chan on the first
play of the series, and that was like the start
of some stuff I didn't love, quite frankly, in terms
of how the offense operated it In like the second
and third quarter of this game, they were only twenty
(15:36):
yards away from field goal range. Incomplete, incomplete. Then on
third and ten, they ran the ball when they could
have gotten maybe another first down and potentially put three
more points on the board. Although I will say I
get that that's like a fantasy football perspective because the
previous two balls that two of three came out of
his hand looking like ducks like it.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
The ball was wet.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Even the Bills kind of you know, took the air
out of the ball when they got it back, and
they just came out of his hand wrongs. Maybe you
think about that sixty to nothing game, like let's get
out of here and not give the Bills a cheap
turnover here and some cheap points. So I think it
makes sense from that standpoint, but like maybe run, run,
then pass, Like it felt like that was kind of
backwards in that scenario. The third down, run got three,
you punt it back to Buffalo. The Bills are the
exact same thing on their drive third and six, and
(16:16):
they run the ball and kill the clock. The Bill's
third and six on the open drive of the second half,
they get a holding call that backs him up to
make it third and sixteen, And then you got that
crazy Josh Allen play, which he did that what once
or twice in this game, but other than that, pretty
good across the board to hold up on him and
not let him just get go crazy for some big plays.
But he did get that one to Curtis Samuel for
a twenty yard game on third and sixteen.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
That one hurt.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Felt like it was gonna be one of those plays
where it's like, gosh, you know that that's the one
that's gonna we're gonna look back on. It is like,
if we just made that play, we would have won
this game. But luckily that's not the case here. It
felt like that was the only explosive player they had
to the in the game to that point, and they
had to move heaven and Earth just to get it.
So Dolphins defense really dominant in this game. Then the
Bill's red zone drive a first drive of the second half.
(16:58):
Jordan Phillips creates a run stuff on first down, then
more really good coverage in a high low mesh call
that sets up a third and goal at the five
yard line. This drive took nine minutes off the clock.
And then pick if he Mela fan will what a
great play weaver in his bag. They blitz six. The
seventh guy comes down after a late green dog rush call.
It's a cage rush technique where you try to basically
hem Josh Allen into a spot. They do it beautifully
(17:20):
and there's a spy rate there ready to pick him up.
That's the green dog blitz essentially. The man coverage is
good across the board, Allen forces it and Melafan who
makes him pay with a big pick the two point conversion.
They get a swing to Khalil Shaker. It's about to
be potentially a sixteen to eight game with almost a
full quarter left to play, and Jack Jones on that
surface that had just taken rain the entire game was
(17:42):
a little bit slippery and he slips going in for
the tackle and Shakur is he's gonna get into the
end zone by like a full yard. But here comes Minka,
who was so passionate and inspired and wore his emotions
on his sleeve in this game. And it was so
great to see because I feel like there's been the
opposite of that for him this year, and I get
why because it's been frustrating on the back for him.
But he comes in and just makes this hit where
(18:03):
Shakur didn't move another inch forward after he hit him
in the ball wasn't like tucked back in his arm,
and I feel like he almost kind of punched the
ball backwards as well. So just a crazy impressive play
by Maka Fitzpatrick to keep this a two score game.
The ensuing drive, the Dolphins got a third and six.
It was a nice rip by Tua to Nick Westbrook
Akine to move the chains and show up in their
you know, three minutes off the clock right there, full
(18:24):
extension from the hook linebacker couldn't get there. Tua was
put in the ball with timing in this game through
the proverbial tire swing for some big time throws, and
he was the exact type of quarterback play you needed
in a game where you ran the ball like you did.
If they can do that, they're gonna be really hard
to stop and really hard to beat on the offensive
side of the football. The same drive, third and nine,
they wind up getting a second arm punt, a deep
(18:44):
shot down the field. You know, it seemed like at
that point in the game the Dolphins were kind of
like playing not to lose, which that's like usually a
death knell in the NFL. But I felt like they
kind of got themselves out of that later on, But
for a couple of series there, it got a little
bit wonky. The individual stand outs from this game offensively,
Jalen Waddle absolutely cooked Maxwell Harris on that thirty eight
(19:04):
yard touchdown pass.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
He does it every week. He has a big play
every week.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
He's top five in like yards per target, he's top
five in EPA per target. He's got the yards, the touchdowns,
the explosive plays. Do don't let jilln Waddle play anywhere
else the rest of his career. I know that he
didn't and they didn't trade him. But like all those
reports about the Buffalo Bills and stuff like he's ours,
keep your hands off the merchandise. How about Devon Hchan
Even on a wet field where guys were slipping, he
(19:29):
was putting those cleats on the ground and cooking people up.
Hey man, you make Jordan Poyer look ridiculous. A couple
of plays in a row there that was fun to see.
Fifty nine yard house call where he makes the unblocked
man in the gap miss and then just runs right
by a terrible angle by Poyer for a long touchdown.
Also Greg Dolsitch dropped his shoulder and ran Poyer over
in this game as well. That was cool to see
fun receipts there for him. But devon ahchan Man special
(19:51):
Special Day two hundred and twenty five yards from scrimmage,
a career high, two long touchdown runs. He is a
superstar running back and he's all ours. Also, Tua two
sick touchdown throws in the first quarter. Well technically the
second one one was the first play of the second quarter,
but I don't care. Tight throws, third downs, third goal,
touchdown to League Washington, a bomb to waddle, a little
(20:11):
bit of everything in this game for Tua. I mean,
the first touchdown drive was twelve plays, ten runs to
two passes, so that's why he only has one hundred
and seventy three passing yards. And quite frankly, the picks,
I don't really care about them. They both for punts.
I don't think they mattered at all in the grand
scheme of things, and it kind of kills his stat line.
But I don't care. To have played really well in
this game. I thought Patrick Paul was awesome. He had
a big block on the second h chan touchdown run
(20:33):
on a little crack toss. He and Cedric Wilson clearing
that space for him out in space, knocking heads in
the running game. Patrick Paul was awesome all game long.
Same story for Aaron Brewer.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
You know the drill.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
If there's a run that pops fifty five is usually
out there in front of it, making the block legitimate.
Every time you look at him, you look up and
we're making a play. He's making the play. Eight chan screen,
end of the second quarter. There he is again, he is.
He is the best center in the National Football League
right now. Jalen Wright, I know it was five for seventeen,
hard tough, physical runs, stiff arms, a defensive tackle to
(21:03):
the ground on that little full back trap. Let's go Jalen.
Then he drops his shoulder and finishes the run too.
I loved seeing that. And then Greg Dolsuch blocking his space.
Good routes the decoy on two Tua touchdown passes. Oh A,
friends up, Let's go ahead and take our last break
right there. Come back on the other side, talk about
the defensive standouts as well as the five takeaways. That's
next Draft Time podcast, brought to you by Auto Nation.
(21:28):
When I'm talking about old friends Up. I'm talking about
a thirty thirteen win. Harsh heard old friends up. That
is a little inside joke we have here on the
content team. We say that a lot ourheto friends up.
And I told my buddy who I met in the
parking lot before I came into the record the show.
He was dropping off some photo stuff, photo Peat. Shout
out photo Peat, the best director of photography in the
(21:50):
damn game. I told him I was gonna do ohet
of friends up for him, like twelve times in the show.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
So that's for you, Pete, You're the man. You're the
absolute man. Pete.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
On defense, make a Fitzpatrick was all over the field
in this game, covering receivers, covering tight ends, fitting the run,
rushing the quarterback, the big fourth down play, swatting that
thing away. He was in there on the James Cook fumble,
the two point play, then a fumble recovery of his
own Have a Day twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
He was awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And I want this guy here because he is a mindset,
he has a dog, he is a difference maker. I
would like to keep making Fitzpatrick around for as long
as he'll be around for the Miami Dolphins. Speaking of guys,
I want to stick around for a long long time.
Jordan Brooks, I think is like Listen, he's in his
second year here and he didn't start his career here.
But this is the kind of player that is like
(22:38):
Ring of Honor worthy, right, Like the leadership, the personality,
the way he plays the game, the temperament, the way
he's seen by his peers, and then the performance itself,
his vision. His decision making in the running game was exceptional.
He had a coverage play on a fourth down stop
where he was fantastically broke that down already, the quick
trigger on a hook drop on a second down completion
at the end of the first half where he just
(22:59):
is tight to the sticks and go hit that man
and cut him down for a third and seven compared
to third and two. It changes the complexion of the
game of the series. How about finishing straining on that
Josh Allen fumble. He forces that thing out, which just
about ice is the game away. Big time stuff from
your captain in the middle of the defense. I thought
Tyrol Dowson had his best game of the entire year.
He was playing fast that fourth down play on the
(23:20):
Allen on the Josh Allen incomplete pass, made a run
stuff earlier in the game. Just played decisive in this game.
And I think these defensive tackles playing better football is
going to make for better performances for both Jerome George, Jerome,
Jordan Brooks as well as Tyrel Dotson. Bradley Chubb was
excellent and he had to be right no more. Jalen
Phillips chop Robinson down. He stepped up in a big way.
That third down stop on the opening drive just cuts
(23:41):
across the right tackles face for what amounts to a turnover.
He was getting pressure, he was getting double teams, he
was creating chances for Zach Seeler had the big sack
that got him a taunting penalty, which you know, but
a big game here for Badley. Chubb also had what
I thought was his best game. Jordan Phillips is in
here a lot because he plays the same game every week,
and now he's getting better because not only is he
not getting moved off the point of attack, he continues
(24:03):
to toss and shed guys and make plays at the
point and get tackles in the stat sheet and create
chances for guys around him. How about Juju Brentz who
I was this close. I gave a game ball to
Minka Fitzpatrick. We did one on offense, one on defense
each and Jalen Waddle I was this close to go
into Brent's. I mean, Keon Coleman had felcro to him
and the other strap of the velcrow was on Juju Brents.
He was all over him all game. Long pass breakups,
(24:25):
sticky man covers down the field, that fumble recovery, all
all great things, all great things. Ruben Feffer and then
Jason Marshall junior too. I think I think there's a
future for him at a perimeter cornerback position like Jack
Jones had a big game, the big hit on the
swing for a four yard loss, punches out the fumble.
He was all over the field to the are the
Dolphins suddenly like deep at cornerback? It kind of feels
(24:45):
like they are. Dante Trader. I love this guy, you know.
I love Dante Trader making plays to the catch point
in the post, stuffing the running game from the strong
side seed gap. He's an absolute baller, man. I can't
wait to watch him on tape again. If I Mela
fan Wu just a fantastic play on the p bodied
up in man coverage. Felt the route Die found, the football,
makes the catch that saves points.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
They likely kick a field goal in that spot.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
If they don't get it, maybe they go for it
on fourth and goal with the five they've got Josh
Allen still, he says, no, sir, you're gonna get nothing,
and you're gonna like it.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
That's what it's gonna be right now.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And I picked this pass off and we're gonna take
it the other direction and put this game away.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
And then Jake Bailey, how about Jake Bailey two.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Big punts putting those things down inside the five yard line.
Elijah Campbell had the coverage on the first one, which
is actually I think was the eight yard line, give
or take that signs at the five year old line travers.
But the second one dies right there on the wet turf.
Good day from Jake Bailey having a great season. I
thought Larry borm had an up and down day a
little bit the right tackle position. Cole Strange had a
couple of miss assignments on defense. Bnido Jones had that
(25:41):
off sides in the fourth and one, and Ethan bonnerd
didn't have good coverage on the long touchdown to Keon Coleman.
Outside of that, I didn't think there was much to
complain about. We'll see more on the film on the
show tomorrow. My five takeaways is that Number one, there
is a play style that makes this team really good,
and when they commit to it and they find it,
they can beat anybody.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And they did beat anybody today. They beat the Buffalo Bills.
We saw it.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Power run game, downhill, smash mouth football that simplifies, simplifies,
you know, you know, simplifies reads and reduces high leverage
snaps for Tua. When he gets that, he can rip
that Malake touchdown, he can drop that Wattle bomb in there.
And from the running game, which was Jalen right this
time with eight chan, I think Olli Gordon got what
one carry in the game. He clearly wasn't right, But
(26:24):
uh rest up and we'll see in Madrid they're Ali,
but they can get to those ISO looks for Wattle.
Balanced offense, explosive plays, steady run game. On defense, it's
the front seven playing like we anticipated they might back
in camp, with a variety of rush games and solid
point of attack play. The rookies are now there. You know,
it was a slow start, but they're they're there, and
it frees up the linebackers to make the plays. And
(26:45):
then on the outside, physical press coverage with interchangeable safeties
and quite frankly, interchangeable defensive backs across the board, those.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Big nickel looks. Anybody can play anywhere, you know, is utopia.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Anybody can be anything that's less not ive top my
o are so far five years into her life. I
cannot wait to see how they deployed Mika and Trader
and all the guys really on tape defensively because it
was awesome, and again we might have a problem at
the cornerback position, might be too deep there. I had
a thought I wanted to interject here, but I forgot
what it was. Hold his keep roll number two more
core roster parts showing up. I talked about how I
(27:20):
think Greg Dolsich as a keeper. He's a solution waddle.
We know about him, but how good was it to
see him do his thing in this game. Trader is
there for me as well, maybe unknown to the casual fan,
but he's just a guy for me and continues to
show his stuff. I think Brents is going to wind
up in that category again. Your boy is a huge
fan of his coming out of Kansas State up to
the Colts and we get to take advantage of them
cutting him free on the scrap heap, and I think
(27:41):
he's going to be a guy for you going forward.
A good example of what he can do right, crazy physical,
crazy athletic. I think we saw a lot more play
style today that suits his game, and I thought we
see I thought we'd see more press man this year
in general, and it looked like there was a good
amount of it today. So I think whether it was
a change at the top at the GM position to
(28:02):
get the Dolcitch in for Connor, the Rouccie in for Connor,
swap Jalen Wright getting some more run, whether it was
you know, juju, Brent's playing a lot more in that
defensive backfield like whatever they had working today, I think
is a good sign going forward. Number three, And this
is a bigger point that I wanted to make, and
there was the point that I forgot about on the
first takeaway and I'm glad that I didn't talk about
(28:23):
it because it's right here for me. Number three playing
connected in the secondary and Weaver being in his bag
and personnel decisions shining on top of that, which is
kind of part of number two. But this was the
element of Weaver's defense that was so good last year, right,
They paired all these great sim pressure packages up front
with disguised zone coverages that were hard to decipher for
(28:44):
a opposing quarterback. And last year it was Jayalen Ramsey,
it was Kendall Fuller, and it was Cater Kohu. That's
about twenty years of NFL experience and three guys that
have played inside and outside in their careers and have
all been really good at that, and they're all gone.
And Weaver had a bunch of corners who got here
in August. Raeull Douglas got here in August, Jack Jones
(29:05):
got here in August. I forget about like you know,
Artie Burns and cam Dan Like, we had guys that
came through here and were in and out and had
to reteach a bunch of guys. So maybe maybe it's
fair to say with that paired with a bunch of
youngsters up front and your edge group kind of you know.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Maybe not playing with what you thought it might.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I think it's fair to say that like it might
take some time, and the Bills didn't score until their
eighth drive of the football game. Part of my thing
is let's do this early and just take the growing
pains and get the fruit of our labor earlier on.
But we're here, and I'm happy that we have found
this defensive leaks. I think there is something here to
build upon with how you call this thing, and I
(29:43):
think the key is the connectivity and the intelligence and
the experience of the defensive backfield. Number four you can't
have him. You can't have Viilan Waddle. He's ours. How
good is he? Bona fide number one receiver? That would
have killed me to watch him go to Buffalo the
Bills are. That's exactly what they needed to break through
the barrier to beat Kansas City in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
They needed a Jail and Waddle, and.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
They don't have them now because we didn't give them
to them, and then Wattle beat them today. You see
how much they struggled to get open down the field,
how much they don't have a downfield threat. I loved
seeing this game play out the way it did with
our exceptional coverage and with Waddle getting his big plays off.
He is here to stay, hopefully for the rest of
his career at number five. You beat Buffalo if nothing else,
(30:26):
for this day, I'm on cloud nine. Nothing beats, Nothing
beats watching all those sad Bills fans walk out.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
I'm gonna go to the elbow room.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I guess, so better go back to Buffalo where it's
thirty degrees. Records aside, None of that stuff matters today.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
A win is a win, is a win. What a day.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And I want to make this last point because we
talked about on the show before, where I say, like
this year, the theme of the Dolphins has been like
the biggest moments when they've had games to win, they
couldn't find a way to make those plays. Today Miami
made all those plays, the big moments. The Dolphins shine
the brightest against the Buffalo Bills, and that feels fantastick
to say, let's get out of here. It's about seven
o'clock on Sunday, go to publish the podcast and as
(31:04):
soon as I get this thing uploaded, and they'll come
back on Monday show and give you the all twenty
two review.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
We're gonna have HQ this week.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
We're gonna have the whole slate of podcasts and content
for you guys before the game in Madrid than the
bye week. Lots to come here, but let's go ahead
and call it a podcast. Subscribe, rate, review the show,
leave me a rating, leave me a review.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I just said that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Follow me on social at link with NFL law shuttle free,
enjoy up. Follow the Miami Dolphins at Miami Dolphins. Check
out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ, media availabilities, and
so much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins
dot com. Until next time, fins Up, Caroline Karen Willow
Daddy just coming up,
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. Last year old fans Z.
What is up Dolphins?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host,
Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, the Dolphins blow out
the Buffalo Bills thirty to thirteen, big win, our first
against that team since twenty twenty two and end a
seven game losing streak with a dominant defensive performance, outstanding
special teams, balanced offense with explosive plays by type by
Jalen Waddle and Devon a Chan, a total team win,
(00:34):
and we're breaking it all down here from the Baptist
Hill Studios inside the Baptist Hell's Trading Complex. This is
the Drift Time Podcast, our story of the game, slash
big moments of the game. It was the exact perfect
game plan. WHOA what did I just do? Hang on,
let me get that audio for you guys, real quick
waits twin.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Win win, win, win, yeah everything.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Else, yeah, let it right out, win win Winlins beat
the Buffalo Bills. And it was the exact perfect game plan,
script execution and what it takes to beat that Buffalo
Bills team?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Was it not?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You pressured Josh Allen all game long with rush lane integrity.
You strapped his eligibles all game and fit the run
to force them into true dropback situations and force them
to go off schedule. I can't recall a play where
Josh Allen played in rhythm until maybe late in the
fourth quarter, and you complimented that with exceptional, exceptional special
teams work on top of a balanced offensive attack that
(01:33):
won the line of scrimmage and hit explosive plays In
the passing game. Osh set olfrins up a nice mix
of run schemes with play action concepts that had both
screen and shot plays built in off of max protection
looks on offense, on defense, press man coverage, post snapped
rotation and disguise, great sim pressures and blitz combos that
all looked the same and had that quarterbacks headswimmen. For
(01:55):
sixty minutes, it was just sixty minutes of good football
and dominating a good team here at home. The Dolphins
opened a sixteen to nothing lead in the first half
of this game. Buffalo has a long drive to start
the third quarter but got nothing from it. A nine
minute march as if emalafam Wu picks off Josh Allen
and the end zone on third and goal from the
five yard line. They get the ball back and they
(02:17):
score a ninety eight yard touchdown drive on the next possession,
but they couldn't convert a two point conversion as Minka
Fitzpatrick makes an outstanding play at the goal line. We'll
break that down here in just one second. Miami punts
it back with eight forty to play, leading by ten,
but the Dolphins get their third takeaway of the game
as Jordan Brooks, the captain, the best player on the defense,
one of the best players in the entire league, finishes
(02:39):
a play where Josh Allen's carrying a pile of Bills
and Dolphins. He strips it out, Mika Fitzpatrick recovers, and
then Devon h Chan ices it with a fifty nine
yard touchdown run gets it back again after going up
twenty three to six with six and a half minutes
to play, and the Bills go score a touchdown and
make it twenty three to ten, No, twenty three to
thirteen rather and then eight Chan goes in from thirty
(02:59):
five yards once again, and the party was on the Bills.
Fans were on the escalators, they were hitting their hey.
Good thing, they have the hard Rock shuttle back to
the hotel because they were on that thing early, heading
back home after an absolute drubbing by a team that
they thought they were going to come in here and
walk all over. So the Dolphins big time game, it
was so much fun to watch. I was looking up
like shutout stats and different types of like first since then,
(03:22):
you know, first since year X performances, and yeah, it
friens up. You know, That's where I'm at today. I
just don't even know what to say right now. Three sacks,
three takeaways, seven quarterback hits, just a really really fun game.
The stats from this game, in fact, I haven't looked
at this yet, so let's go ahead and pulled up
for the first time. The Bills actually had twenty first
downs to Miami's nineteen, but they were five for fifteen
(03:44):
on third downs. You hold that quarterback to thirty three
percent third downs. That's pretty dang good. Miami also thirty
three percent, three for nine. The Bills were one for
two on fourth down. They actually outgained Miami three seventy
six to three seventy. They had two eighty nine through
the air eighty seven on the ground. Miami had just
one seventy three through the air, one ninety seven on
the ground.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
That's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
We turned it over twice, but there were essentially punts
to deep shots by Tua on third and long that
were pretty much longer than any punt and coverage you
could expect. The Bills turned it over three times. Miami
allowed zero sacks up Tua today they sacked Josh Allen
three times. Miami had five for thirty five and penalties
Buffalo six for sixty seven and we had the ball
for twenty eight minutes and thirty seven seconds. So the
(04:26):
scoreboard says it was dominant. And that's all I care
about in this game. Let's go ahead and get to
my pregame checklist here just really quickly, because there was
a few things that I was looking for in this
game that Miami checked the box, if you will, in
a big time way. So the run game success and
the design was Allie Gordon gonna play in this game?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Was it zone? And man is it successful?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And it was off to a great start in the
sense we'll cover it here in the theme section of
the show. But Jalen Wright got some run in this game.
He had an eighteen yard run and finished just five
for seventeen. But I thought it was the It was
showing what right and that offense does well with him
in the lineup. That opened up other stuff for the
outside zone game, some big second half runs. We saw
(05:06):
Cole Strange and Larry Borham get some wash and a
couple of dvon Echan runs off the right side. We
saw Devon him make some guys miss in gaps where
he shouldn't have made guys miss. The fifty nine yard
touchdown run was him making a man miss on I
think it was duo. I think it was a duo
call where he made an unblocked defender in the gap
miss because we didn't pick up the assignment. But when
you have a superstar running back, sometimes he makes you
(05:27):
right when not all ten guys are attached in their assignments.
But I thought that was the entire theme of the game,
which we'll get to here in just one second. So
a big check mark on the run game design and
success of it all. Number two was how would they
supplement the pass rush absent Jalen Phillips. Would it be elevations,
would it be more blitzing, would it be different schematics
what would we do, and it was a whole different
(05:47):
buffet of things they did. We saw a bunch of
different looks and coverage as well, some man free presenting
a zero willing back into cover two. We saw Jason
Marshall and Juju Brents, which is going to be informative
element of how this team can play here going forward.
Those two guys and what they did in this game.
We saw big Nickel with Minka and Trader walk down
with Iffy back in the post. We saw the return
(06:09):
of the sim pressures and the effectiveness of that big
check mark on that aspect of the game, the tight
end position evolution. I thought we were going to get
Julian Hill back for this game. He did not play
in the game. Tanner Connor was waived earlier in the week.
He did sign back to the practice squad. Greg Dolcich
is on the active roster and they signed up Hayden Rucchie,
who I'm going to go back and watch the tape
for you guys in the podcast on Monday night, but
(06:29):
I think he played pretty well, and I know Greg
Dolcitch played pretty well. He was a big part of
the passing offense. Early in this game. He was the
decoy route on both of Tua's two touchdown passes. Also
had a great block on an eight chan jet sweepcerry.
So once again, tight end position. I'm seeing some stuff here. Dolcich,
youre f Roochie, You're why there's Julian Hill's going to
be a why Darren Waller is going to be There
(06:50):
is a lot to work with here in this tight
end room, as they have developed this season and gone on.
Might be a good problem to have there, just like
we might have a good problem to have in the
defensive backfield. Do the Dolphins all of a sudden have
too many good cornerbacks? Because I was thinking about this,
Rasul Douglas didn't play in this game, and he was
your best cornerback all year.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
He was one of the best cornerbacks.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
In the league all year, and Jack Jones is playing
his butt off, and all of a sudden, Juju, Brents.
Was that the best cornerback performance by a Miami Dolphin
this year?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
It might have been.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, the arsto friends up. The voice is getting high
on me. We'll talk about that more on the film tomorrow.
That wasn't even part of the podcast just kind of
got off the rails there. And then also I was
looking to track things that were different. Did we get
any changes with personnel, with scheme different things? Would would
Jason Marshall kick back outside after playing all sixty six
snaps of his career so far in the slot, and
(07:36):
we did see that. We'll get into that in the
game themes as well, but the answer is a definitive yes.
Also in the running game that Jalen Wright usage, the
full back dive that he got was like full back trap, right,
we saw alec Ingold get six yards in a full
back dive. The screen game was working and in concert
with the Deep Shot game in the play action game.
The way that the Deep Shot game was working off
those two man route combos and max protection, it looked
(07:57):
the exact same as some of the screen stuff they did.
So when you can mirror things together like that and
balance everything and give the defense vertical, horizontal, stretch, downhill,
running outside zone, you hit them with everything today and eventually,
over the course of a sixty minute football game, the
levy is going to break. And that's what happened. The
game themes here for the Miami Dolphins man physical, physical
(08:19):
football with run game mixture, creating advantageous opportunities for Tua
Tongue Bai Looa to do what makes him special. And
there are special elements of to his game despite a
rough year he's had so far this year. Anticipation, placement, timing,
playing in rhythm, the deep ball accuracy, all that on
display in this game today. I don't care about the
two picks, but let's get back to the main point here.
(08:39):
Jalen Wright getting the run along with Devon ah Chan.
We were seeing pin and poll, we got lead io,
We saw the full back dive, the trap that I
talked about on top of the outside zone stuff. The
Jets sweep from there, and then from that point to
a touchdown pass to Maleak Washington where you throw off
the conflict defender. You motion Greg Dolsch in from the
one position out wide on the trips to the field
(09:00):
basically to a stack off in Leak Washington and just
runs basically a pick route, although it wasn't a pick route.
It was like a little drag that was right under
the lap of that hook linebacker and you saw him
just take the cheese for a half a step. He
displaces himself by a half step. And that's where when
you have a quarterback they can play on that level
of cadence with his receiver and be on that level
(09:21):
of no like wherewithal of where the defense is rotated
to a perfect pass after really holding that conflict defender
and throwing it around him. Great location, lak Washington, a
good spinning catch on the end zone. Fantastic stuff all
across the board. The very next play to start the
next drive was a slant to Waddle off play action,
wide up and for fourteen yards, akin to the one
(09:42):
he had in Atlanta. That's what happens, man, You do
this stuff. You fringe him up, you friends him up
down the field, and you can find him up down
the field. Later on in the passing game, that same
drive ends on a two man route combo play action
bomb to Waddle for a thirty eight yard touchdown. They
ran Wattle on a go. Dolcich runs us little fake
over back to the corner. He was also wide open,
(10:03):
and Tua drops it right in the bucket.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
A thing of beauty.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
He had about three yards in the back of the
ends one to drop that ball in two He did it. Perfectly,
and Waddle makes a great catch through traffic through a
defensive pass interference call. But hey, that would have taken
away thirty eight yards off your total and taken away
a touchdow off the board. So make that catch, make
your fancy honors happy and get the statue. Deserve penguin
you certainly do. And then secondly, this is all I
have two themes. The defensive game plan was brilliant, a
(10:28):
lot of variety and coverage. Will cover it more in
depth on the podcast tomorrow, excuse me. On the All
twenty two show, they were walking up corners, they were
inverting coverage, they were wheeling out, you know with the
skies after the snap, they were pressing, rerouting. They weren't
worried about their cornerbacks being on an island, with Juju
Brentz being a big reason for it. He was outstanding
(10:49):
in this game. But they also had variety with Jason
Marshall playing out there, with Jack Jones having his best
game as a Miami Dolphin, Mika Fitzpatrick having his best
game as a Miami Dolphin, Dante Trader coming down and
covering inside with Minca as well.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
If he in the slot, if he in the post.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
A true positionless defensive backfield with a variety of coverages
that paired up with your fronts and your sim pressures,
and a run defense that has all of a sudden
figured out how to play together in that in the trenches,
and they're taking it two teams. They beat Buffalo both
on schedule and off script in coverage plastering after the fact.
What a brilliant, beautiful, beautiful football game from this Miami
(11:27):
Dolphins defense. First, break right there, come back and break
down the critical moments of this game. We'll get to
the individual standouts as well in five takeaways. All that
coming away here on the Draft Time Podcast, brought to
you by a donation. All right, welcome back to Dolphins
beat the Buffalo Bills thirty to thirteen here at hard
Rock Stadium. What a day, What a beautiful day it
(11:48):
is here in Miami Gardens.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I can't wait to just go home and watch the
Chargers and Steelers and just feel good about football today.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
What a fun day that was. So critical moments breakdown here.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
The Dolphins first red zone visit of the game is
a two to nine yard touchdown pass to Malak Washington,
I kind of broke it down already. They motion Dulsag
into the drag from a condensed split, and they get
that little conflict on the hook linebacker where they get
displacement he takes a step up. It creates that window
in the back of the end zone. Those are the
kind of throws that I kind of feel like they've
been missing a little bit this year down that area
(12:20):
of the field. Letting to attack the back five of
the end zone, right. We saw it with Darren Waller,
but his absence kind of, you know, makes it more
difficult to threaten that area of the field. But with
Malik Washington on this day, I wish you guys could
have seen that. I just grabbed my charger off the
ground and tried to pull my mic arm with me.
Didn't quite go with me all the way, but they
conflict the defense in a way that Tua can then
(12:41):
dissect from there. Made a great read and a great throw,
and they cash in our first critical moment of the
entire game. The ensuing drive Bills get a fourth and one.
They got eleven yards on third and twelve. It was
gonna be that third down play, but they wind up
going for it on fourth and one, they try to
boot Josh Allen because guess what we are all of
a sudden are tough to get the ball down the
middle on in our run defense, like sneak, fullback, dive,
(13:04):
running back, lead, like whatever you want to do. They
weren't doing it because the Dolphins were clogging gaps and
fitting the wrong with linebackers, and Jordan Brooks and Tyrell
Dotson were all over that bootleg. They both got over
the top of what could potentially be a sealed edge
for a quarterback sweep and for Allan to keep that
ball and pick up the first down with his legs,
but Brooks beat took He basically took the corner away
from Josh Allen while staying on I think it was
(13:28):
the second the flat receiver that it was a flood concept.
They had layers that had short, medium, high, and I
think it was the flat route, the short route that
Brooks also took care of. And then Dodson, like shot
out of a cannon, comes rolling in right behind that
and runs the angle off, so Josh has to pull
up and it forces him to take a hell Mary
prayer and down the field there's Mika Fitzpatrick on a
(13:49):
tight end who he's giving you know what, six seven
six seven inches to in height down the field and
he swatchsed the ball away. You also had Dante Trader
on Dawson Knox and there's guys I miss but the
entire defense, to a man, played awesome on that play.
Two wins and two critical moments so far for the
Miami Dolphins. Bill's gay third and nine with nine thirty
to go in the second quarter, down thirteen zip ball
(14:12):
at midfield. They screen it against the Blitz. The Dolphins
were on it but miss a tackle that could have
made it fourth and six. They wind up getting to
fourth and one and they go for it, but don't
have to snap it because Barito Jones winds up in
the neutral zone. I think it was encroachment actually, But
on the very next play, Miami turns them over as
Jack Jones punches the football out, Juju brent scoops it.
The ball's bouncing all over the field, but he scoops
(14:33):
it up off the pile and makes a big play there.
Hustle and effort and want to was all over this
tape today. I cannot wait to watch it. The Dolphins
get a big win here in a critical moment to
make it three zero in these spots, the Bill's third
and seven, two minutes to play in the first half,
sixteen to zip game and you get a saualiler first
one of the season. Sim pressure, you show cover zero,
(14:56):
they wheel out of it. They were on top of
these post snap rotates today like it was zero all
the way until the ball was in Josh Allen's hands
and he has to change the entire complexion of his
read from that point. Stealer sheds his block with Bradley
Chubb getting good surge as he did all day long.
Josh Allen tries to go off schedule and gets swallowed
up by big sack Steeler his first of the year.
(15:16):
Welcome back to the call on Zach. I think they're
going to start adding up for him here in the
second half of the season. Dolphins third and ten and
of the first half they went past pass run after
getting a first down to eight Chan on the first
play of the series, and that was like the start
of some stuff I didn't love, quite frankly, in terms
of how the offense operated it In like the second
and third quarter of this game, they were only twenty
(15:36):
yards away from field goal range. Incomplete, incomplete. Then on
third and ten, they ran the ball when they could
have gotten maybe another first down and potentially put three
more points on the board. Although I will say I
get that that's like a fantasy football perspective because the
previous two balls that two of three came out of
his hand looking like ducks like it.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
The ball was wet.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Even the Bills kind of you know, took the air
out of the ball when they got it back, and
they just came out of his hand wrongs. Maybe you
think about that sixty to nothing game, like let's get
out of here and not give the Bills a cheap
turnover here and some cheap points. So I think it
makes sense from that standpoint, but like maybe run, run,
then pass, Like it felt like that was kind of
backwards in that scenario. The third down, run got three,
you punt it back to Buffalo. The Bills are the
exact same thing on their drive third and six, and
(16:16):
they run the ball and kill the clock. The Bill's
third and six on the open drive of the second half,
they get a holding call that backs him up to
make it third and sixteen, And then you got that
crazy Josh Allen play, which he did that what once
or twice in this game, but other than that, pretty
good across the board to hold up on him and
not let him just get go crazy for some big plays.
But he did get that one to Curtis Samuel for
a twenty yard game on third and sixteen.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
That one hurt.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Felt like it was gonna be one of those plays
where it's like, gosh, you know that that's the one
that's gonna we're gonna look back on. It is like,
if we just made that play, we would have won
this game. But luckily that's not the case here. It
felt like that was the only explosive player they had
to the in the game to that point, and they
had to move heaven and Earth just to get it.
So Dolphins defense really dominant in this game. Then the
Bill's red zone drive a first drive of the second half.
(16:58):
Jordan Phillips creates a run stuff on first down, then
more really good coverage in a high low mesh call
that sets up a third and goal at the five
yard line. This drive took nine minutes off the clock.
And then pick if he Mela fan will what a
great play weaver in his bag. They blitz six. The
seventh guy comes down after a late green dog rush call.
It's a cage rush technique where you try to basically
hem Josh Allen into a spot. They do it beautifully
(17:20):
and there's a spy rate there ready to pick him up.
That's the green dog blitz essentially. The man coverage is
good across the board, Allen forces it and Melafan who
makes him pay with a big pick the two point conversion.
They get a swing to Khalil Shaker. It's about to
be potentially a sixteen to eight game with almost a
full quarter left to play, and Jack Jones on that
surface that had just taken rain the entire game was
(17:42):
a little bit slippery and he slips going in for
the tackle and Shakur is he's gonna get into the
end zone by like a full yard. But here comes Minka,
who was so passionate and inspired and wore his emotions
on his sleeve in this game. And it was so
great to see because I feel like there's been the
opposite of that for him this year, and I get
why because it's been frustrating on the back for him.
But he comes in and just makes this hit where
(18:03):
Shakur didn't move another inch forward after he hit him
in the ball wasn't like tucked back in his arm,
and I feel like he almost kind of punched the
ball backwards as well. So just a crazy impressive play
by Maka Fitzpatrick to keep this a two score game.
The ensuing drive, the Dolphins got a third and six.
It was a nice rip by Tua to Nick Westbrook
Akine to move the chains and show up in their
you know, three minutes off the clock right there, full
(18:24):
extension from the hook linebacker couldn't get there. Tua was
put in the ball with timing in this game through
the proverbial tire swing for some big time throws, and
he was the exact type of quarterback play you needed
in a game where you ran the ball like you did.
If they can do that, they're gonna be really hard
to stop and really hard to beat on the offensive
side of the football. The same drive, third and nine,
they wind up getting a second arm punt, a deep
(18:44):
shot down the field. You know, it seemed like at
that point in the game the Dolphins were kind of
like playing not to lose, which that's like usually a
death knell in the NFL. But I felt like they
kind of got themselves out of that later on, But
for a couple of series there, it got a little
bit wonky. The individual stand outs from this game offensively,
Jalen Waddle absolutely cooked Maxwell Harris on that thirty eight
(19:04):
yard touchdown pass.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
He does it every week. He has a big play
every week.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
He's top five in like yards per target, he's top
five in EPA per target. He's got the yards, the touchdowns,
the explosive plays. Do don't let jilln Waddle play anywhere
else the rest of his career. I know that he
didn't and they didn't trade him. But like all those
reports about the Buffalo Bills and stuff like he's ours,
keep your hands off the merchandise. How about Devon Hchan
Even on a wet field where guys were slipping, he
(19:29):
was putting those cleats on the ground and cooking people up.
Hey man, you make Jordan Poyer look ridiculous. A couple
of plays in a row there that was fun to see.
Fifty nine yard house call where he makes the unblocked
man in the gap miss and then just runs right
by a terrible angle by Poyer for a long touchdown.
Also Greg Dolsitch dropped his shoulder and ran Poyer over
in this game as well. That was cool to see
fun receipts there for him. But devon ahchan Man special
(19:51):
Special Day two hundred and twenty five yards from scrimmage,
a career high, two long touchdown runs. He is a
superstar running back and he's all ours. Also, Tua two
sick touchdown throws in the first quarter. Well technically the
second one one was the first play of the second quarter,
but I don't care. Tight throws, third downs, third goal,
touchdown to League Washington, a bomb to waddle, a little
(20:11):
bit of everything in this game for Tua. I mean,
the first touchdown drive was twelve plays, ten runs to
two passes, so that's why he only has one hundred
and seventy three passing yards. And quite frankly, the picks,
I don't really care about them. They both for punts.
I don't think they mattered at all in the grand
scheme of things, and it kind of kills his stat line.
But I don't care. To have played really well in
this game. I thought Patrick Paul was awesome. He had
a big block on the second h chan touchdown run
(20:33):
on a little crack toss. He and Cedric Wilson clearing
that space for him out in space, knocking heads in
the running game. Patrick Paul was awesome all game long.
Same story for Aaron Brewer.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
You know the drill.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
If there's a run that pops fifty five is usually
out there in front of it, making the block legitimate.
Every time you look at him, you look up and
we're making a play. He's making the play. Eight chan screen,
end of the second quarter. There he is again, he is.
He is the best center in the National Football League
right now. Jalen Wright, I know it was five for seventeen,
hard tough, physical runs, stiff arms, a defensive tackle to
(21:03):
the ground on that little full back trap. Let's go Jalen.
Then he drops his shoulder and finishes the run too.
I loved seeing that. And then Greg Dolsuch blocking his space.
Good routes the decoy on two Tua touchdown passes. Oh A,
friends up, Let's go ahead and take our last break
right there. Come back on the other side, talk about
the defensive standouts as well as the five takeaways. That's
next Draft Time podcast, brought to you by Auto Nation.
(21:28):
When I'm talking about old friends Up. I'm talking about
a thirty thirteen win. Harsh heard old friends up. That
is a little inside joke we have here on the
content team. We say that a lot ourheto friends up.
And I told my buddy who I met in the
parking lot before I came into the record the show.
He was dropping off some photo stuff, photo Peat. Shout
out photo Peat, the best director of photography in the
(21:50):
damn game. I told him I was gonna do ohet
of friends up for him, like twelve times in the show.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
So that's for you, Pete, You're the man. You're the
absolute man. Pete.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
On defense, make a Fitzpatrick was all over the field
in this game, covering receivers, covering tight ends, fitting the run,
rushing the quarterback, the big fourth down play, swatting that
thing away. He was in there on the James Cook fumble,
the two point play, then a fumble recovery of his
own Have a Day twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
He was awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And I want this guy here because he is a mindset,
he has a dog, he is a difference maker. I
would like to keep making Fitzpatrick around for as long
as he'll be around for the Miami Dolphins. Speaking of guys,
I want to stick around for a long long time.
Jordan Brooks, I think is like Listen, he's in his
second year here and he didn't start his career here.
But this is the kind of player that is like
(22:38):
Ring of Honor worthy, right, Like the leadership, the personality,
the way he plays the game, the temperament, the way
he's seen by his peers, and then the performance itself,
his vision. His decision making in the running game was exceptional.
He had a coverage play on a fourth down stop
where he was fantastically broke that down already, the quick
trigger on a hook drop on a second down completion
at the end of the first half where he just
(22:59):
is tight to the sticks and go hit that man
and cut him down for a third and seven compared
to third and two. It changes the complexion of the
game of the series. How about finishing straining on that
Josh Allen fumble. He forces that thing out, which just
about ice is the game away. Big time stuff from
your captain in the middle of the defense. I thought
Tyrol Dowson had his best game of the entire year.
He was playing fast that fourth down play on the
(23:20):
Allen on the Josh Allen incomplete pass, made a run
stuff earlier in the game. Just played decisive in this game.
And I think these defensive tackles playing better football is
going to make for better performances for both Jerome George, Jerome,
Jordan Brooks as well as Tyrel Dotson. Bradley Chubb was
excellent and he had to be right no more. Jalen
Phillips chop Robinson down. He stepped up in a big way.
That third down stop on the opening drive just cuts
(23:41):
across the right tackles face for what amounts to a turnover.
He was getting pressure, he was getting double teams, he
was creating chances for Zach Seeler had the big sack
that got him a taunting penalty, which you know, but
a big game here for Badley. Chubb also had what
I thought was his best game. Jordan Phillips is in
here a lot because he plays the same game every week,
and now he's getting better because not only is he
not getting moved off the point of attack, he continues
(24:03):
to toss and shed guys and make plays at the
point and get tackles in the stat sheet and create
chances for guys around him. How about Juju Brentz who
I was this close. I gave a game ball to
Minka Fitzpatrick. We did one on offense, one on defense
each and Jalen Waddle I was this close to go
into Brent's. I mean, Keon Coleman had felcro to him
and the other strap of the velcrow was on Juju Brents.
He was all over him all game. Long pass breakups,
(24:25):
sticky man covers down the field, that fumble recovery, all
all great things, all great things. Ruben Feffer and then
Jason Marshall junior too. I think I think there's a
future for him at a perimeter cornerback position like Jack
Jones had a big game, the big hit on the
swing for a four yard loss, punches out the fumble.
He was all over the field to the are the
Dolphins suddenly like deep at cornerback? It kind of feels
(24:45):
like they are. Dante Trader. I love this guy, you know.
I love Dante Trader making plays to the catch point
in the post, stuffing the running game from the strong
side seed gap. He's an absolute baller, man. I can't
wait to watch him on tape again. If I Mela
fan Wu just a fantastic play on the p bodied
up in man coverage. Felt the route Die found, the football,
makes the catch that saves points.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
They likely kick a field goal in that spot.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
If they don't get it, maybe they go for it
on fourth and goal with the five they've got Josh
Allen still, he says, no, sir, you're gonna get nothing,
and you're gonna like it.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
That's what it's gonna be right now.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And I picked this pass off and we're gonna take
it the other direction and put this game away.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
And then Jake Bailey, how about Jake Bailey two.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Big punts putting those things down inside the five yard line.
Elijah Campbell had the coverage on the first one, which
is actually I think was the eight yard line, give
or take that signs at the five year old line travers.
But the second one dies right there on the wet turf.
Good day from Jake Bailey having a great season. I
thought Larry borm had an up and down day a
little bit the right tackle position. Cole Strange had a
couple of miss assignments on defense. Bnido Jones had that
(25:41):
off sides in the fourth and one, and Ethan bonnerd
didn't have good coverage on the long touchdown to Keon Coleman.
Outside of that, I didn't think there was much to
complain about. We'll see more on the film on the
show tomorrow. My five takeaways is that Number one, there
is a play style that makes this team really good,
and when they commit to it and they find it,
they can beat anybody.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And they did beat anybody today. They beat the Buffalo Bills.
We saw it.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Power run game, downhill, smash mouth football that simplifies, simplifies,
you know, you know, simplifies reads and reduces high leverage
snaps for Tua. When he gets that, he can rip
that Malake touchdown, he can drop that Wattle bomb in there.
And from the running game, which was Jalen right this
time with eight chan, I think Olli Gordon got what
one carry in the game. He clearly wasn't right, But
(26:24):
uh rest up and we'll see in Madrid they're Ali,
but they can get to those ISO looks for Wattle.
Balanced offense, explosive plays, steady run game. On defense, it's
the front seven playing like we anticipated they might back
in camp, with a variety of rush games and solid
point of attack play. The rookies are now there. You know,
it was a slow start, but they're they're there, and
it frees up the linebackers to make the plays. And
(26:45):
then on the outside, physical press coverage with interchangeable safeties
and quite frankly, interchangeable defensive backs across the board, those.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Big nickel looks. Anybody can play anywhere, you know, is utopia.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Anybody can be anything that's less not ive top my
o are so far five years into her life. I
cannot wait to see how they deployed Mika and Trader
and all the guys really on tape defensively because it
was awesome, and again we might have a problem at
the cornerback position, might be too deep there. I had
a thought I wanted to interject here, but I forgot
what it was. Hold his keep roll number two more
core roster parts showing up. I talked about how I
(27:20):
think Greg Dolsich as a keeper. He's a solution waddle.
We know about him, but how good was it to
see him do his thing in this game. Trader is
there for me as well, maybe unknown to the casual fan,
but he's just a guy for me and continues to
show his stuff. I think Brents is going to wind
up in that category again. Your boy is a huge
fan of his coming out of Kansas State up to
the Colts and we get to take advantage of them
cutting him free on the scrap heap, and I think
(27:41):
he's going to be a guy for you going forward.
A good example of what he can do right, crazy physical,
crazy athletic. I think we saw a lot more play
style today that suits his game, and I thought we
see I thought we'd see more press man this year
in general, and it looked like there was a good
amount of it today. So I think whether it was
a change at the top at the GM position to
(28:02):
get the Dolcitch in for Connor, the Rouccie in for Connor,
swap Jalen Wright getting some more run, whether it was
you know, juju, Brent's playing a lot more in that
defensive backfield like whatever they had working today, I think
is a good sign going forward. Number three, And this
is a bigger point that I wanted to make, and
there was the point that I forgot about on the
first takeaway and I'm glad that I didn't talk about
(28:23):
it because it's right here for me. Number three playing
connected in the secondary and Weaver being in his bag
and personnel decisions shining on top of that, which is
kind of part of number two. But this was the
element of Weaver's defense that was so good last year, right,
They paired all these great sim pressure packages up front
with disguised zone coverages that were hard to decipher for
(28:44):
a opposing quarterback. And last year it was Jayalen Ramsey,
it was Kendall Fuller, and it was Cater Kohu. That's
about twenty years of NFL experience and three guys that
have played inside and outside in their careers and have
all been really good at that, and they're all gone.
And Weaver had a bunch of corners who got here
in August. Raeull Douglas got here in August, Jack Jones
(29:05):
got here in August. I forget about like you know,
Artie Burns and cam Dan Like, we had guys that
came through here and were in and out and had
to reteach a bunch of guys. So maybe maybe it's
fair to say with that paired with a bunch of
youngsters up front and your edge group kind of you know.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Maybe not playing with what you thought it might.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I think it's fair to say that like it might
take some time, and the Bills didn't score until their
eighth drive of the football game. Part of my thing
is let's do this early and just take the growing
pains and get the fruit of our labor earlier on.
But we're here, and I'm happy that we have found
this defensive leaks. I think there is something here to
build upon with how you call this thing, and I
(29:43):
think the key is the connectivity and the intelligence and
the experience of the defensive backfield. Number four you can't
have him. You can't have Viilan Waddle. He's ours. How
good is he? Bona fide number one receiver? That would
have killed me to watch him go to Buffalo the
Bills are. That's exactly what they needed to break through
the barrier to beat Kansas City in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
They needed a Jail and Waddle, and.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
They don't have them now because we didn't give them
to them, and then Wattle beat them today. You see
how much they struggled to get open down the field,
how much they don't have a downfield threat. I loved
seeing this game play out the way it did with
our exceptional coverage and with Waddle getting his big plays off.
He is here to stay, hopefully for the rest of
his career at number five. You beat Buffalo if nothing else,
(30:26):
for this day, I'm on cloud nine. Nothing beats, Nothing
beats watching all those sad Bills fans walk out.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
I'm gonna go to the elbow room.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I guess, so better go back to Buffalo where it's
thirty degrees. Records aside, None of that stuff matters today.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
A win is a win, is a win. What a day.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And I want to make this last point because we
talked about on the show before, where I say, like
this year, the theme of the Dolphins has been like
the biggest moments when they've had games to win, they
couldn't find a way to make those plays. Today Miami
made all those plays, the big moments. The Dolphins shine
the brightest against the Buffalo Bills, and that feels fantastick
to say, let's get out of here. It's about seven
o'clock on Sunday, go to publish the podcast and as
(31:04):
soon as I get this thing uploaded, and they'll come
back on Monday show and give you the all twenty
two review.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
We're gonna have HQ this week.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
We're gonna have the whole slate of podcasts and content
for you guys before the game in Madrid than the
bye week. Lots to come here, but let's go ahead
and call it a podcast. Subscribe, rate, review the show,
leave me a rating, leave me a review.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I just said that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Follow me on social at link with NFL law shuttle free,
enjoy up. Follow the Miami Dolphins at Miami Dolphins. Check
out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ, media availabilities, and
so much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins
dot com. Until next time, fins Up, Caroline Karen Willow
Daddy just coming up,
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