November 26, 2025 • 40 mins
The Saints are in town for the holiday as Travis gets you ready for the matchup. Scheme, personnel, keys to victory - everything you need to know ahead of the Dolphins first game action since the win in Madrid.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfields.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
it is preview day. It is one of the best
weeks of the entire year, Thanksgiving Week. The Saints are
in town on Sunday. I'll get you prep from top
to bottom as we always do, plus the off four
mentioned Thanksgiving picks from the Baptist Health Studios inside the
(00:31):
Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast.
Trying to really gather my composure here because we just
finished a little special shoot with Dan Brunskill and his
initiative for this week's Might Cause My Cleats and the
artist who designed his cleats, little seven year old Jacari,
(00:51):
was in the building to present the cleats to Dan
and uh I was fighting back some tears. So try
trying to compose myself. Coming back on a tight deadline
today to get this podcast out to you on a Wednesday.
And before we get started on Dolphins and Saints. By
the way, you can find a feature that I'm going
to write on Brunskill and the Dolphins Might Cause My
(01:13):
Cleats initiative up on the team website, I believe by Friday,
so keep an eye out for that before we get
going here on Dolphins and Saints Thanksgiving picks. I had
a great week last week. Week twelve was very fruitful,
eleven and three in fact, and that brought the season
total to one twenty five and fifty two and one,
which we know is one day. Fifty two equals one
(01:35):
to seventy seven. One twenty five divided by one seventy
seven is seventy one percent. So we are slowly inching
towards that gold number of seventy two percent. We need
a good Thanksgiving Day, which is going to be tough,
because these are some difficult games to pick. In my opinion,
I think I'm going chalk though on all three of them.
I'm taking the Lions over the Packers in the early window.
(01:56):
The Packers do seem to give the Lions some fits
in the spots, like they did a couple of years ago,
which was kind of the birth of Jordan Love, the
you know, not the rebirth, but the breakout game for
Jordan Love if you will, to become what Jordan Love
is now. But I'll take the Lions in this one.
After a tough game on Sunday. I think they can
match up and score some points in that Packers defense
(02:17):
and get enough towards the end of the game to
maybe kick a game winning field goal and steal one
late and get back on the right side of things
after nearly dropping one to the Giants on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I'm taking the Chiefs over the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
This is one of the key games of the weekend
of the week in terms of the potential Miami miracle
run to the postseason. Cowboys way would go a long
way towards making the Chiefs climb back into the postseason difficult,
but I do not think it'll happen. I think the
Cowboys can score on the Chiefs. Kansas City has had
some issues this year in their zone distributions, and you
(02:48):
know they the Spagnolo game plan against Daniel Jones was
revolved around pressure and they got to him. But I
think that Dak Prescott is a better quarterback than what
they played last week, and I think the offensive line
I can help them with that, and they have weapons
out the Wazoos. I think Dallas can score, but I
also think k C can score.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Dallas has had a turnaround here with Damarian Overshown coming
back the Quinn Williams trade. They have really kind of
fortified that defense in recent weeks. So it's gonna be
a good game, I think. But I'll take the Chiefs
to want a close one there in Big d and
then with Joe Burrow coming back on Thanksgiving. I wanted
to take the Bengals, but I don't think they have
the Jews to stop Lamar Jackson enough in the night game.
(03:28):
So give me the Ravens, the Chiefs, and the Lions
on Thanksgiving. Let's go ahead and get into the week
thirteen Dolphins and Saints matchup, and let's go ahead and
meet Meet, Meet those New Orleans Saints.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Oh, in those Saints, go mar Chin.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
A team we haven't talked about a whole lot on
this show since the twenty twenty one Monday Night Football win.
And in fact, I just heard a we have a
videographer here, Phil Phil the board, who is a lsu
alum Louisiana native, couldn't think of that damn word, who
was telling me that the Saints haven't been to Miami
(04:07):
since two thousand and nine.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And I'm like, that can't be right.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And then I was like Oh yeah, they played them
in twenty seventeen in London. So it has been sixteen
years since the Saints last trip to Miami, which was
the Sports Illustrated Picture of the Year Photo of the
Year that Reggie Bush sideline shop when they came back
from down twenty four to three. So not great memories
there for the Miami Dolphins. And as I reminisce on
(04:31):
that game, I had written down here on my rundown,
the last time we saw this Saints team was the
last game of the miracle run of backup quarterbacks we
played that year. The Ian book and Nick Needham picked
six game a team for the Saints that prior to
that twenty twenty one season was competitive and sometimes somewhat
(04:52):
frequently dominant for more than a decade. But they have
been stuck in a similar spot the last handful of
years now in this in between You know, Dolphins fans
know this all too well. Right, You're in that position
where you're too good to be bad, too bad to
be good. You win seven eight games and you can't
move the needle on that franchise shifting prospected quarterback, and
(05:13):
you kind of hang out in that middle space for
a long time, and they've almost kind of been there voluntarily,
you know, thinking about like do we fully reset the
books here and kind of take our medicine and just
prepare for a future push. And they also pair that
with making win now moves, which I think is a
(05:33):
conflicting game plan that puts you in this middle ground
that you can get stuck in in limbo, right. I mean,
they signed Tyron Matthew, he retired. Julian Blackman was his replacement.
That's a veteran that you know, I just I'm not
sure that the value matched up with your situation. And
then a player like Brandon cooks some moves that would
len him to make you think that they're pushing for
a division championship.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
But your quarterbacks were Spencer.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Ratler, who came into the year without a single win
as a starter. He did get one year, but he
has been replaced by second round draft pick Tyler Shook,
who he's what twenty six years old as a rookie
and you know, is pretty green in terms of all
the in spite of all the college experience he got. Now, granted,
they were in a tough spot because Derek Carr retired
(06:17):
back in I think it was March. I remember I
was on the golf course when he retired, and I
remember seeing like, oh, Derek Carr retired. But you know,
that whole signing, that Derek Carr signing was part of
this position of you know, putting yourself back in the
middle ground, and it wasn't effective at the game's most
important position. So now here we are and there's a
deeper fallout, a deeper aftermath. Five years after the Drew
(06:39):
Brees departure for the for the Saints, so car missed
six games last year, didn't win a single one of
those games. All the Rattler starts, they were five and
five with him. But that injury and the fallout spawned
this new era of Saints football. And I think now
the season is about finding out what Tyler Shook gives you.
Even if they win just one more game, for instance,
(06:59):
there there's no guarantee they're picking high enough to get
one of the top quarterbacks because there are there are
ten teams right now that have eight or nine losses
in this league. One third of the league is really
really bad. But to me, at least, it's stepping back
when it's needed. They needed a down year, clear the
books a reevaluation, Let's get a high draftic and maybe
attack the quarterback there. For years they just kicked the
(07:22):
can down the road, almost to the point of being
memed on social media, like, oh, they're pulling a Saints right,
So now they're two and nine, which to me was
far better than being five and five with car last
year off of a five and twelve season, last year
off of a nine and eight season in twenty three,
seven and ten, and twenty two, nine and eight, and
twenty one. None of those years resulted in playoff appearances,
so stuck in that limbo position post Breeze and with Breeze,
(07:45):
I mean they were division champs in twenty twenty twelve
and four record took the eventual champion Buccaneers to the
brink in the Divisional round.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
What a game that was.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That was the fourth of four consecutive playoff trips at
the end of Breeze's career, one of those being the
Anneapolis Miracle with Stefan Diggs going up over Marcus Williams.
And the twenty eighteen year was the missed defensive pass
interference call away from a Super Bowl appearance. The play
that spawned the reviewable DPI rule that lasted for just
one year in the NFL, and in twenty seventeen they
(08:16):
lost in the divisional round again at the Vikings. Prior
to that, they went seven to nine three consecutive years
under Drew Brees, which followed a five year run with
four posties and trips and one Lombardi Trophy. So we'll
see where it goes now with Kellen Moore the rest
of the way here into year two or the rest
of the way this year and into year two next year,
(08:37):
a team in transition that has begun getting the youth
on the field here down the stretch in twenty twenty five,
the Saint's depth chart is as follows in terms of
how they've been playing these guys in recent weeks. Tyler
Shook is the starting quarterback, Spencer Raley the number two.
They are banged up at running back. Devin Neil is
the starter. Audric Estime is the number two. They'll have
(08:57):
to call upon the practice squad if they want a
third back active for the game on Sunday. Chris o'lave
is the number one receiver, and then after that. If
you know these names, I took my cap to you.
Devon Veley and Mason Tipton are the number two and
three receivers there. The tight ends are a group I
like probably the most on the offense in the tackles
Juan Johnson, Foster Moreau, Jack Stole, and then Taysom Hill
(09:20):
is listed as the fourth tight end, but he's kind
of like their change of pace quarterback, like their red
zone and heavy grouping wildcat quarterback. We'll talk about that
here more as we go along. Weird roster, man, really
weird roster. The left tackle is Calvin Banks, the right
tackle is Talisi Fuaga, and their swing tackle who played
the last several games as seem Richards has been replaced
(09:42):
by Fuaga, who should be back this week. He was
a limited participant last week in practice. Obviously we don't
have the full breadth of our practice schedule for this week,
but I assume that means he'll come back and be
their right tackle in this one. If not, the matchup
gets even dicier for the Saints. On the interior, Dylan
Raidens is the left guard. He was former first round
pick of the Titans, a guy that was supposed to
(10:02):
be an anchor at the tackle position. He has now
gone to the Saints and kicked inside. Luke Fortner, the
longtime drive Time fans, I remember that name as a
center out of Kentucky who was a good fit for
this system, went to Jacksonville, didn't work out there. Now
he's trying to make it work out with the Saints.
The right guard is Caesar Ruiz, who's a very good player.
And if one of those guys goes down in game,
they're only two options off the bench are two undrafted
(10:23):
free agent rookies who have not played, so it gets
thinned pretty quick there. On the defense, to Von Godshaw,
you guys know who he is. He's a nose tackle there.
They surround him with a big defensive line more of
a three man front with Nathan Shepper and Brian Breese,
and then Javon Bullard's kind of the top backup there
off the edge. I like this group with Chase Young,
Carl Granderson, and Cameron Jordan, who is on his probably
(10:46):
whole eighteen of his career, if you will. I like
the linebacker group too. Tomario Davis is one of the
best player, one of the best linebackers NFL history. Quite Frankly,
Pete Warner the second guy there, and then if one
of them goes down, Rookie Danny Stutzman, a Kyle Krab's
favorite out of Oklahoma a lot next year, is the
third linebacker at cornerback kool Aid mckinstree.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
That's his name, look it up.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
And then Alante Taylor is the nickelback, but he plays
in their base packages and Quincy Riley, who plays the perimeter,
when he comes onto the field, he goes off in
their nickel defense. So Taylor is kind of the chess
piece in that defense. I like the safeties too. Justin
Reid and Jonash Sanker have been a nice complimentary combo,
although I should say that's the wrong word. They play
(11:25):
the game similarly, I should say, so maybe they need
that third combo type. And that's kind of where a
Lante Taylor fits into the mix there when those guys
come downhill and he can kind of rotate back and
place him in the post. And then Terrell Burgess is
the third safety. So injuries for the Saints, banged up man,
they're not going to have Alvin Kamara in this game.
He has been their best player for a decade now,
(11:46):
I mean going back a while. He was injured last
week and should be down for this game. His backup
Kendre Miller is also down. They traded Rashid Shaheed at
the deadline and recently granted Brandon Cooks his release that
he asked for, So what to me was a strength
at the start of the Sea has been gutted a
little bit here in terms of the eligibles with Shaheed, Cooks,
and Kamara all going down or departing. They're also without
(12:07):
starting center Eric McCoy and his backup Will Clap. Julian
Blackman was the replacement for Tyron Matthew after he retired,
and Blackman is also out, So that's where Jonash Sanker
gets his reps. But honestly, they might have kind of
struck goal on that move because Sanker looked at the
real deal at a potential strong safety position there. It
seems like they will get some help back this week
with Fuaga, who I mentioned and you die hards remember
(12:29):
how much I loved him and Troy Fatanu the tackle
out of Washington. Fuaga, of course out of Oregon State,
go back twelve rip. That's a big get back for them.
He pairs well with Calvin Banks for a really good
tackle tandem. Now, as far as the Saints offensive personnel,
this is a very different Saints team than the one
that began the season. We'll get into the quarterback and
quite frankly a move that sparks some jews for this unit,
(12:51):
but man, the pieces falling off around him are palpable.
Chris o'lave is kind of the last one standing there
among that group, aside from the tight ends. I love
his game, man, He's a technician, a smooth route runner.
I always thought he was a better player than Garrett
Wilson at Ohio State, but injuries have really, know, concussions
have really limited what he can do as a pro.
(13:11):
He's the one you have to be ready for. And
I would probably commit a lot of attention to him.
If you're not, you know, funneling him to help, you're
bracketing him, doubling him. His nuance and ability to maximize
space within this offense as well and make contested grabs
makes him a challenge. And then upfront, Kelvin Banks is
kind of where it starts. Man, the rookie out of
Texas that I was kind of down on the idea
(13:32):
of Kelvin Banks as a possible first round pick for
the Dolphins. I mean, he didn't make it to us anyways,
but I just didn't think it made a lot of
sense because well, Patrick Paul was here, and I knew
what we had in Patrick Paul. But I was a
little bit down on Banks's tape. But he's played well
so far. I think you just scrape his side in
the running game because he's playing super square and in
controlled in combinations of the lion of scrimmage and climbing
(13:53):
up to that second level where he brings his feet
on reaches and can latch on and seal you and
create space for what was Kamara and now Devin Neil.
And that's a hit for them there. They needed to
basically find a hit on Fuaga. And then now with
Banks in the post Trevor Penning draft pick they made
a few years ago, who's now with the Chargers after
not working out in the Saints, I think you can
(14:14):
fight fire there on Banks with Jordan Brooks, who right
now is the first team All Pro linebacker in the
league in my opinion, talk to a wall if you disagree,
and just see how well the rookie can handle the
game's best linebacker beating those blocks because that's what he does.
And for Banks, he'll have to get deep into his
bag because Brooks will dissect his game and find ways
(14:34):
to beat him. Kind of the matchup of the day
on this side of the football to me, because if
they can get their run game going, I'm not sure
there's there's much else they can do if they can't
get the run game going. I should say. The other
stud is Caesar Ruiz. You guys might remember him from
the twenty twenty draft class. He was a guy that
the Dolphins were interested in going into that draft, and
he got plucked and that spawned the trade back in
(14:54):
the Noah Iguinogany move. I don't think it makes sense
to throw a bunch of games at him and get
him out of position, because he's just too good to
fool that way. Although he is playing next to a
center who is relatively new to the system with McCoy
being out all year and Will Clapp being down too,
so I suppose you can attack there. But the left
(15:16):
guard is a journeyman in Dylan Raiden's and so that's
probably the side you go after more frequently. Right for Seiler,
and Phillips and for Kenny Grant. The other matchups I'm
looking at comes down to their tight end usage with
Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Both are good players.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I don't think they are the dominant point of attack
players in the way they're currently being deployed frequently within
those roles, and I'll tell you about that here in
the schematics portion of the show. But it does create
some chip release and little hookup routes where they show
the quarterback their numbers and he just sticks on them
for a game of five or six and possibly ten
or twelve if they break a tackle. I like our
(15:49):
ability to match up with that with Brooks, with Minka,
with Iffy, with Marshall. We have the size and the
temperament to match those guys' ability and what they do well.
I think that's pretty much good for the offense. We
have a lot of talk to get to here in
the quarterback in Schomatic's portion, let's go ahead and move
on to the Saints defense after the break. We'll come
back and do that here. Draft Time Podcast brought to
you by AutoNation. I think the best part of the
(16:14):
Thanksgiving shows is the return of the turkey gobble throw
to break sound drop a career.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
You disagree, I don't care. It's my show.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
I'll do whatever I want, all right, All right, let's
go ahead and move on now to the Saints defense here.
And there's a lot to like on this side of
the ball from a personnel standpoint, and it does go
back to that somewhat contrasting approach to the offense. I
think this is a playoff defense quite frankly, with a
more experienced, improven offense on the other side that could
(16:43):
help support it a little bit. Brandon Staley is the
man in charge of the side of the football. We'll
get into his defense in the schematics portion of the show.
The personnel is led by de Mario Davis, a thirty
five year old Mike linebacker who is still one of
the best.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
In the damn game.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Like a wild career for this guy who started off
kind of slow and then blossomed and then went to
the Saints and got like all pro good and he's
still doing it. He's over one hundred tackles again this
year already. He's a big matchup piece with our run game.
But but if there's one thing you get after him
with it's those thirty five year old legs.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Right. Hey, I'm thirty eight, I know how tired.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
These things get a little bit different with a professional athlete.
But the outside run game with von A Chan seems
like your answer here to their best player and quite frankly,
how to get them off the edge in their entire
structure with how they play their secondary as well, so
they've got good pieces all around. I like the secondary
and how it plays in concert with Tomrio Davis and
the other linebacker Pete Warner. There's a lot of speed
(17:37):
there and it's a physical group that flies around. Rookie
safety's Jonash Sanker. He is a heat seeking missile, and
Justin Reid has been one of the best players from
depth recently coming downhill. Ever, quite frankly, I think the
vulnerability here though, is if there's a if they're in
a quarter's look, which is one of their primary coverages.
After you have hammered the middle of the field and
(17:58):
attacked you know the uh, well, let's start with this.
When you hammer the middle of the field, your tight
ends kind of like think about Waller in that Panthers game,
which spruns a similar defense to this one with Brands
Tailey that you can then create a situation where you
can get a fly by look against quarters from Wattle
against their coverage. Because Sanker is super aggressive, he'll bite down,
(18:18):
he can be flat footed at the snap, and I
could see McDaniel and to taking advantage of him trying to,
you know, especially when you play behind an offense that
struggles the way the Saints offense has, sometimes these guys
will have taken upon themselves to try to get outside
of the scheme and make a play. I could see
Miami taking advantage of that on Jonash Sanker and capitalizing
on his aggressiveness. But they do match up well with
(18:39):
our skills spots outside of Wattle. I mean, I don't
think anybody matches up well with Wattle. But Alontae Taylor,
he's the chess piece man. He's really nice. He'll play safety,
he'll play nickel, he'll play a perimeter cornerback. He'll sneak
down and play in the fit as an now like
a quasi linebacker position, and then sprint out into the
curl flat. He got to pick on Bryce Young doing
that with ideal curl flat cover three coverage as the
(19:01):
underneath the stone defender and cover three. So just keep
an eye on him because every snap like to a
through a pick on Black Friday a couple of years ago,
where he didn't account for that curl flat defender getting
with and just didn't see him and threw it right
to him. I think it was Brandon Eckles on that
pick six, So like that, can that could happen here
with Alantae Taylor because he's well studied and they deploy
(19:22):
him that way quite a bit. I think he's gonna
be trying to get one because they're gonna have tobait
to it. They're gonna have to win the turn of
re battle by a couple here to win this game,
so I think they're gonna try to get him on
a couple of these kool Aid McKinstry all time name
has been a bit of feast or famine. I think
the outside run game, the hitches, the speedouts, is your
chance to just like Jonah Sanker, to kind of lull
him to sleep and then sneak a vertical past him.
(19:44):
But you'll have to protect to do that, and these
guys are built well to rush the passer off the
outside there's not really a good interior presence in their
pass rush. Godshaw, you guys know what he is. He's
a two down player, nose tackle at this point of
his career. Brian Breese doesn't really doesn't really dent the
pocket as a pass rusher, and then Nathan Sheppard kind
of in that same mold. But Chase Young is still
doing his thing. Luckily he lines up on the offense's left,
(20:07):
and I think Patrick Paul has plenty of power to
isolate and win that matchup on his by his self,
by hisself, on his own, by himself, which then puts
the onus on Carlo Granderson, who I like his game too,
But I think both Larry Borham and Austin Jackson, depending
on who it is, they're quick enough with their foot
you know, their foot fire to get into sets and
(20:27):
to make him redirect. And then once that happens, I
think Tula can find you know, safety within the pocket
to find a platform to throw from. I think this
is a tailor made game for Aaron Brewer to do
what he does best. That interior presence I mentioned, I
think affords him chances to get to the second level
and out into space. I would not be at all
surprised if you look up in this game and there's
Aaron Brewer once again adding to his insane highlight reel
(20:50):
this year of one of those crushing blocks out in space.
I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and rubber stamp that
right here. You're gonna see Aaron Brewer hit a key
block on an explosive Davon ah Champ play down the
fields in this game. As far as the scheme calling
cards for the Saints defense against the Dolphins offense, they
run out of their nickel fifty four percent of the time,
but they run their thirty four base thirty seven percent
(21:10):
of the time. And that's because they don't always match personnel,
which can be instructive in a couple of ways. You
can attack them with these light boxes and just run
the football at these guys all game long. They will
allow you to do that. They do run a forty
three front seven percent of the time, and they get
to their dime package very rarely in three percent of
the time. So again Brandon Staley, and it got me
(21:32):
thinking about do I have copy that I wrote down
on Staley from twenty twenty three against the Chargers, and
yes I did. I actually found it right here. I
talked about them playing Nickel at sixty percent of the
time with a twenty five percent based deployment. That's pretty
close to what you have here. And guess why they
can do that because back then and the reason the
Dolphins put up thirty six in that game on the
(21:53):
Chargers and two to three for four to sixty or
whatever it was, was because Kenneth Murray was absolutely lost
at lineback. But to Mario Davis is a much better
player than that, So I think it works more for
the Saints defense and they have better safety play there.
But also Pete Warner is better, so you know, between
those guys justin Reied Jonas Sinker, essentially linebackers playing from
(22:14):
depth fit in the run, how they hit. So there's
a we can win from light Box's mentality. But I'm
really curious to see how they match Miami's use of
big personnel, because if you're not going to match personnel,
and Darren Waller's back in the lineup, and Daniel Brunskill's
out there, and Julian Hill's out there, and Greg Dolsach
is out there, and you can get speed on the
(22:34):
field with eight Chan and Wattle among those packages, Like,
if you're not going to match you're just waiting to
get a situation where you have to match speed with
eight Chan, Wattle or Waller with like a linebacker or
a safety, and none of those guys match up well
in that arena. If we get Waller back this week,
that could really unfurl something new that could attack this
(22:55):
Saints defense and create some advantageous passing game matchups against
a defense that I don't think is equipped to cover
the athletic prowess of a heavy grouping that involves those
guys h Chan, Waller, Wattle, Dulcic and so on and
so forth. So if you line up in twelve with
one back, two tight ends, and two receivers, I expect
them to match that with Nickel. But when we get
(23:16):
into our brun scale package, that's a direct conflict to
their credo.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
As a defense.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
We're gonna play light, protect the pass, and win matchups
to account for the running game.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
You're not gonna be able to match up with that.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
If you're you know, putting Jonas Sanker on you know,
Julian Hill, or if you're putting Justin Reid on you
know Westbrook a Kine or maybe maybe it's even Daniel
brunskill in protection there. So I think from McDaniel, he's
poised for a big game off the bye week with
the possibility of a new wrinkle here or there against
a scheme that has, you know, devised some explosives against it.
(23:50):
I think it could look similar to that opener back
in twenty three in Los Angeles, but with one like
massive caveat the absence of Tyreek Hill over the middle
of the field for eighteen twenty two twenty eight yards
every single damn play of the game. It seemed like,
I think, a little more power run game to eventually
get Waddle into his catch and run game.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So like zone zone, zone, zone.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Match vacate, the curl flat vulnerable to crossers, and the
deep ball bracket beater against quarters, a lot of these things,
you have opportunities to attack here. If you're the Miami
Dolphins from multiple personnel groupings, this is kind of a
game where I think their strength could be their achilles heel.
I think to Mario Davis is one of the best
linebackers in all of football, but you could create some
spots again where he has to run with eight chan
(24:34):
maybe Waller, maybe even Dulcic, and you might be able
to get Wattle on a backer or safety with enough
ingenuity and how you create your offensive game plan. So
the coverage deployment is very heavy Cover three, Cover one,
which I think that speaks more to the strength of
the roster and maybe how Staley has adjusted over time.
That's not a very common coverage deployment from this Fangio system.
(24:57):
But you know, Staley had to kind of reinvent himself.
The Chargers experience went, you know, could put a belly
up and when they've got Alante Taylor and kool Aid
mcinstry and some good safety play like, why not run
some Cover three Cover one. So it's it's forty percent
Cover three, that's three deep zone drops one third, one third,
one third with the safety creeping down, they'll play Cover one,
(25:18):
you know, man free, single high safety man coverage across
the board twenty percent of the time. So that's you know,
almost two thirds of the defense in cover three Cover
one sixty percent. But here's where the Stately and Fangio
scheme influence comes into play. Twenty percent quarters that's you know,
one quarter of the deep portion of the field and
ten percent Cover six, which is quarter quarter half. You know,
(25:39):
three deep coverage with different responsibilities and a flat curl
flat defender that buzzes down from the cornerback position and
against those ladder looks, that's where you can get the inbreakers.
But the Cover three and Cover one looks, that's the
same key as the Commander's game was wide running game.
We had that thing cranking early and often. The swings,
the screens, the hitches, the speedouts. They have the tenth
highest blitz rate at twenty six percent, and man, if
(26:03):
you can get a well time screen on the perimeter
against one of those blitzes, you could see one of
these catches and runs finally go the distance for a
Channa for waddle if you can dial it up at
the right time. It's important for Tua to id these
coverages pre snap and find his hots against those blitzes.
As far as the Saints defensive scheme calling cards, there
are some stories that don't quite add up on tape.
(26:26):
I should say for the Saints offense, I'm gonna go
back to the poker analogy here. You gotta tell the
same story pre flop postflop on the turn and on
the river to convince the opponent that you're gonna make
this play and bluffer even tell a true story to
maximize your profit. On the hand right, and I'm watching
some of the run game design where they're faking action
(26:46):
into a side that has no other tells or keys
that take you that way. So it's like you can
fake that way all you want, but no other part
of the story. Like, Okay, the ace hit the river,
but you didn't tell me you had an ace in
your previous actions, so I'm not gonna buy that. Like
there's a thirteen personnel zone read play where Taysom Hill
with Taysom Hill where he fakes to Kamara, but they
(27:09):
get zero flow from the action because they're pulling playside
and have no action back to the fake side. That's
something the Dolphins never do, and I appreciate that about
the run game design here is there's always a story
that we're telling in our run game designs. The next play,
they run a zone read play action on second and
fifteen in high red zone, and the linebackers aren't buying
that at all. Against the Dolphins defense that is coming
(27:31):
into a mastery of its own with its disguises.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That's not going to bode well.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
You're not gonna get anything against them, especially against the
middle of the field with defenders like Jordan Brooks and
Mika Fitzpatrick. On that play I'm talking about, Shook has
to move before he even gets into his drop and
he's sacked like a dead play from the start. There's
a lot of unique to New Orleans football on this tape.
They had six carries last week inside the ten yard
(27:56):
line against the Falcons. Five of those were Taysom Hill keepers.
They run the flexbone formation, which is everybody in tight
you know, Taysom Hill, either under center or in like
a pistol formation with a back behind him, and then
two flex bone positions, which is like tight ends or
hvacs that are like angled into the formation, and they'll
like motion to try to get information and then return
(28:20):
motion back to the same position. It's it's weird and
I haven't seen it since I was the flanker on
my grid Kids team back at age twelve. Maybe he's eleven.
I switched a quarterback at twelve eleven. Maybe they borrow
that from the Eric Crouch Nebraska days. I don't know
it's been a minute. They're going to add gaps through
pre snap alignment. They want to play smash mouth downhill football.
(28:42):
Every play you've got an attached WHY and then an
additional player, whether that's another attached HY or an X
or a Z that kicks inside to a nasty split,
which is just a receiver that comes in and lines
up right next to the tackle. They want to get
to their inside zone and du game from these looks
and play power as well and develop a play action game.
(29:03):
I wrote this, then I got to another play, a
third and one backed up triple wise to the strength
three tight ends on the Alliance scrimmage attached to the
strength of the formation obviously, and then the backside X
is also attached, so it's essentially quad wise unbalanced three
by one. I haven't seen that since the kendellic Rams
(29:24):
Grid Kids team for US. I think we should be
able to win from light box alignments because of the
matchups with Phillips and Sealer and grant On Radents and Fortner,
a pair of backups at left guard and center. I
like the spacing element of their passing attack that you
can see the design there, but it looks wonky because
I don't think Shook is comfortable with it just yet.
And you can kind of see them, you know, you
(29:46):
can see him scale things back at times to try
to make it easier on a green quarterback. They give
him an outlet and then run concepts off that spot
or the short element, which is kind of like a
load of high read for him, and they can create
conflict for the defense. But the the problem is, I
don't think he sees it or trusts it right now,
which is totally expected for a guy who's gonna make
his fourth career start in this game on Sunday. A
(30:07):
lot of those issues stem from protection breakdowns, and in
particular at the right tackle spot. And they get their
guy back this week or they should in Fuago, so
that goes a long way for them. So I don't know, man.
There's a lot of unique stuff here to New Orleans.
By the numbers, eleven personnel seventy percent for the season,
twelve personnel fifteen percent, and then thirteen personnel four percent,
(30:27):
but that has shifted post deadline after they've waived Cooks
and traded Shaheed. They've incorporated unique packages, the four tight ends,
the extra offensive linemen, and those account for twenty five
percent of their offense. So it is very much a
chin strap game and both sides of the ball are
going to play heavy groupings on the offensive side. Last
break right there, come back and finish up with the
(30:48):
quarterback talks, what's at stake, special teams, and miscellaneous keys
to victory and my prediction. All of that Next Draft
Time podcast brought to you by AutoNation. You know, I
had one last year I think was an actual turkey,
but that one kind of sounds like a human doing
a turkey impression. I will never forget one time watching Jeopardy,
(31:10):
Big Jeopardy fan, and it was a guy's second day
on the show, so one time champion and.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I love the story. Man.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
They asked him, like something interesting about yourself, Dan, as
you do a great turkey impression, and he was like, well,
you know what, and like wasn't even good, and like
that's the second most interesting thing about you, Dan.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
All right.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
You know, maybe if it was like a you know,
a Trump impression or like, you know, an Obama impression,
I can understand that, but a.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Turkey, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Jim, Let's talk about the quarterback. Easy transition there. Tyler Shook,
I think there's a lot to like with him. He
was actually a guy that after the Senior Bowl last year,
I was like, hey, this could be a good Day
three pick. But he goes in the second round and
the greenness of it all is all over that tape. Man,
Like there are little a quarterback has to id every snap,
Like they run this slat slat slant flat combo on
(32:08):
first and ten and this in the UH Panthers game.
I think it was the first play of the drive too,
So like there's you know, first and ten all that stuff,
and slant flat is one of the first combos put
into a playbook when the forward pass was invented back
in nineteen whatever. And the Falcons cover it three by two,
which is typical you press up in man coverage two
man cut corners and then a safety over the top.
(32:30):
But the tail here is the safety is aligned directly
behind the slot cornerback. It's called capping, and you typically
cap when you're going to blitz. It's a one oh
one nickel blitz rule. Put a safety behind him, we're
gonna blitz him. Sure enough, the nickel comes, the safety
chases to the flat because he has to get over
there because that's his man coverage responsibility. And we've now
(32:51):
used these zone coverage on the top of the field
to blitz the quarterback, and the outside corner loses inside
leverage because he's got a two way go on the perimeter.
That's one of the vulnerable of blitzing your nickel. But
he throws the flat and it gets swatted right back
into his face because the unblocked blitzer is right there
in front of him. He throws that slamp, which he
should have recognized because of the capped nickel. It's a
(33:12):
one on one opportunity with the receiver against the safety
for an eighty one yard touchdown. And I think the
way the Saints call the game shows some of that
greenness for Shook. All the run game stuff, the Taysom
Hill stuff. They're trying to get him into design success
and I get it, you know, like he's played three
freaking games, and then from there he has some creativity
(33:32):
and how he can move out of structure and attacking
with his legs and a very live arm that has
every platform and angle within his repertoire. So I think
it's a tough matchup for Shook against Anthony Weaver that
disguises as well as anybody out there, and a defense
that's been finding its footing in that regard and doing
it against you know, a bunch of matchups that favor
(33:52):
Miami given all the Saints' injuries and departures at the
skill spots. I mean, I'm just watching a blitz reel
and it's pretty rare. They get it picked up and
have a hot answer, so he's constantly having to move
before he hits the top of his drop. So it
kind of feels like for a defense that has the
third highest blitz rate in Miami, this feels like a
blitz game for the Dolphins. In fact, Shook versus the
Blitz thirty nine percent completion is by far the lowest
(34:15):
among NFL quarterbacks right now. He doesn't get sacked a lot,
just once on thirty six drop backs against the Blitz,
but he basically tries to find a way to get
to a throwaway, which you'll take that. Incomplete passes always
a win for the defense. He's got six yards per pass,
one touchdown, one pick, and that thirty nine percent completion
rate against the Blitz is our quarterback I think it's
a good spot here for Tua against a defense he
(34:37):
has had success against in terms of how its structured.
I think our ability to run the football is going
to create opportunities against an aggressive fire zone based defense
that could become vulnerable to a deep shot because I
think this is a defense. It's going to be like
we have to make a play to win these games.
And it feels like a game where Waddle gets his
appointment forty plus yard play that he gets every single
(34:59):
week and then throw in breakers.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Attacking the middle of the field off of that as well.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
So I do think this game is more about running
the football and playing complimentary football to the defense. So
for Tua, like if I'm talking to him this week,
it's like, just protect the ball, get out of bad
looks pre snap, avoid negative plays. If we do that,
we should win this game. Special teams and miscellaneous Blake Groupie,
I think it is how you say it. Missed two
kicks in their game on Sunday against the Falcons, so
(35:24):
they cut him. Went to Cade York after a tryout.
We moved from fifth to third. And special teams EPA
after our performance in Madrid, and speaking of teams, Craig
Ackerman on the show on Friday, really excited for that.
Ak is a gem and I'm excited to bring him
to this platform for all of y'all out there in
the Draft Time universe. And the Saints are thirty second
and Special Teams EPA, and quite frankly they are. There
(35:46):
is a big gap between them and the thirty first
ranked Rams, who are twenty eight point four under EPA.
The Saints are at negative thirty seven point six, a
huge gap there. And as far as the miscellaneous portion
of this, I think this is the game that most
satisfies this category all year.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
We're off of our bye week.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
We've been playing with our backs against the wall for
about a month now. The Saints are two to nine.
Season has officially become evaluation mode for them, and they
just played what I would call their super Bowl right.
Nick Underhill from New Orleans Football dot Com said that
was the most interesting game left on the schedule, their
biggest rivals, one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL,
even though the game hasn't meant a lot in recent years.
(36:26):
But sometimes that can be difficult to match the emotion
on back to back weeks after you lose that game,
especially in fall to two and nine, So I like
Miami's spot here quite a lot. What's at stake? What
to root for? It's Thanksgiving, which means the return of
this portion. Well, the Dolphins winning games does that too,
but gotta win to stay alive the entire seasons on
the line here. The bye week was not a good
(36:46):
outtown scoreboard for us. You got the Pittsburgh loss, but
both Kansas City and Jacksonville won. Buffalo lost on Thursday,
so that was helpful in some respects. This week the
game's track and who to root for? Dallas OVERKSE we
covered that already, Tennessee over Jacksonville. They play him twice.
The Titans beating the Jags in one of two games
could be the difference if the Dolphins go six to zero.
(37:08):
I don't think it'll happen, but if it does, that
could be the difference that gets Miami over the finish
line there at ten and seven. So root for the
Titans and cam Ward the Colts over the Texans. We're
gonna root for the Colts a lot down the stretch here.
I hope they pull away and take the AFC South
and they beat Houston twice and they beat Jacksonville in
the process and get us some room against the AFC
South and then Pittsburgh over Buffalo. I know we're chasing
(37:29):
Pittsburgh too, but to make the miracle run, we have
to go ten and seven, which means it head to
head win over the Steelers, which would be their sixth
loss of the year, which would mean they would have
to lose just one more game for us to have
a ten and seven tiebreaker at worst over the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
So Steelers over the Bills.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
The Bills have the Eagles and Patriots up too, so
if they lose this game, you could see a situation
where they go ten and seven, which we would have
the tiebreaker over them at ten and seven because they
would lose the Patriots in division and we'd have the
divisional tiebreaker over the Buffalo Bills. That's a lot of
stuff to talk about there. My key's a victory buckle
that chin strap, Babit. We talked about their throwback run offense,
flex boone, thirteen personnel attached wide outs. They're going to
add gaps to the running game. Buckle your damn chin
(38:06):
strap and go hit somebody and play power football. Number two,
rush contain and plaster. The quarterback is making his fourth
career start. Disguise and call diversity can rattle most young quarterbacks,
and Shitt can get off the spot and create outside
of structure. It's vital to plaster downfield and have good
rush land integrity when you get after the quarterback. Number
three attack their light boxes. Brandon Stey's defense is predicated
(38:27):
on defending the run from light boxes. The Dolphins have
plenty of big personnel and options on offense and a
running game that's found at stride here in recent weeks.
My prediction, I think it's a comfortable win for the
Miami Dolphins, which you probably could tell by the way
I talked about this game. I am hesitant to say
that sometimes this year, but man, that offense, rookie quarterback,
franchise leader, out, young head coach taking his team to
(38:49):
Miami Thanksgiving week. There are distractions after the distractions here,
if the Fins just lock in, they can take care
of business by the fourth quarter here, and since it's
at home at one o'clock, that is my expectation. I
think if Tua was playing like twenty two through twenty
four to Tua, I would predict this as like a
thirty eight thirteen game, But I think while we can
exploit their scheme, I think they'll get one off of him,
(39:12):
maybe get a few more hands on footballs to get
some stops. I also think the Saints red zone operation
is going to be a problem for them. So I'm
gonna go with Saints kicking three field goals, no touchdowns,
and I'll pull back three scores from what I want
to say for us and go with twenty four to nine.
The Miami Dolphins win this one. You all please be
sure to check back on Friday, no show tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving.
(39:33):
On Friday, we're gonna have Craig Ackerman. We're gonna have
the my cause, my cleach chats. I talked to Dante Trader,
Kenneth Grant, Daniel Brunskill, who else I talked to Nick Westbrook,
Akine and Olie Gordon will also pick the rest of
the week thirteen games and then on Sunday we'll cover
the game for you. But until then, you all please
be sure subscribe, rate, review the show, follow me on
social at linkfeld NFL the team at Miami Dolphins. Check
(39:56):
out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ Media availabilities so
much more and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot
Com until next time. Friends with Caroline Cameron Willow, Daddy's
Coming Home. How any things giving you
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfields.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
it is preview day. It is one of the best
weeks of the entire year, Thanksgiving Week. The Saints are
in town on Sunday. I'll get you prep from top
to bottom as we always do, plus the off four
mentioned Thanksgiving picks from the Baptist Health Studios inside the
(00:31):
Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast.
Trying to really gather my composure here because we just
finished a little special shoot with Dan Brunskill and his
initiative for this week's Might Cause My Cleats and the
artist who designed his cleats, little seven year old Jacari,
(00:51):
was in the building to present the cleats to Dan
and uh I was fighting back some tears. So try
trying to compose myself. Coming back on a tight deadline
today to get this podcast out to you on a Wednesday.
And before we get started on Dolphins and Saints. By
the way, you can find a feature that I'm going
to write on Brunskill and the Dolphins Might Cause My
(01:13):
Cleats initiative up on the team website, I believe by Friday,
so keep an eye out for that before we get
going here on Dolphins and Saints Thanksgiving picks. I had
a great week last week. Week twelve was very fruitful,
eleven and three in fact, and that brought the season
total to one twenty five and fifty two and one,
which we know is one day. Fifty two equals one
(01:35):
to seventy seven. One twenty five divided by one seventy
seven is seventy one percent. So we are slowly inching
towards that gold number of seventy two percent. We need
a good Thanksgiving Day, which is going to be tough,
because these are some difficult games to pick. In my opinion,
I think I'm going chalk though on all three of them.
I'm taking the Lions over the Packers in the early window.
(01:56):
The Packers do seem to give the Lions some fits
in the spots, like they did a couple of years ago,
which was kind of the birth of Jordan Love, the
you know, not the rebirth, but the breakout game for
Jordan Love if you will, to become what Jordan Love
is now. But I'll take the Lions in this one.
After a tough game on Sunday. I think they can
match up and score some points in that Packers defense
(02:17):
and get enough towards the end of the game to
maybe kick a game winning field goal and steal one
late and get back on the right side of things
after nearly dropping one to the Giants on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I'm taking the Chiefs over the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
This is one of the key games of the weekend
of the week in terms of the potential Miami miracle
run to the postseason. Cowboys way would go a long
way towards making the Chiefs climb back into the postseason difficult,
but I do not think it'll happen. I think the
Cowboys can score on the Chiefs. Kansas City has had
some issues this year in their zone distributions, and you
(02:48):
know they the Spagnolo game plan against Daniel Jones was
revolved around pressure and they got to him. But I
think that Dak Prescott is a better quarterback than what
they played last week, and I think the offensive line
I can help them with that, and they have weapons
out the Wazoos. I think Dallas can score, but I
also think k C can score.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Dallas has had a turnaround here with Damarian Overshown coming
back the Quinn Williams trade. They have really kind of
fortified that defense in recent weeks. So it's gonna be
a good game, I think. But I'll take the Chiefs
to want a close one there in Big d and
then with Joe Burrow coming back on Thanksgiving. I wanted
to take the Bengals, but I don't think they have
the Jews to stop Lamar Jackson enough in the night game.
(03:28):
So give me the Ravens, the Chiefs, and the Lions
on Thanksgiving. Let's go ahead and get into the week
thirteen Dolphins and Saints matchup, and let's go ahead and
meet Meet, Meet those New Orleans Saints.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Oh, in those Saints, go mar Chin.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
A team we haven't talked about a whole lot on
this show since the twenty twenty one Monday Night Football win.
And in fact, I just heard a we have a
videographer here, Phil Phil the board, who is a lsu
alum Louisiana native, couldn't think of that damn word, who
was telling me that the Saints haven't been to Miami
(04:07):
since two thousand and nine.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And I'm like, that can't be right.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And then I was like Oh yeah, they played them
in twenty seventeen in London. So it has been sixteen
years since the Saints last trip to Miami, which was
the Sports Illustrated Picture of the Year Photo of the
Year that Reggie Bush sideline shop when they came back
from down twenty four to three. So not great memories
there for the Miami Dolphins. And as I reminisce on
(04:31):
that game, I had written down here on my rundown,
the last time we saw this Saints team was the
last game of the miracle run of backup quarterbacks we
played that year. The Ian book and Nick Needham picked
six game a team for the Saints that prior to
that twenty twenty one season was competitive and sometimes somewhat
(04:52):
frequently dominant for more than a decade. But they have
been stuck in a similar spot the last handful of
years now in this in between You know, Dolphins fans
know this all too well. Right, You're in that position
where you're too good to be bad, too bad to
be good. You win seven eight games and you can't
move the needle on that franchise shifting prospected quarterback, and
(05:13):
you kind of hang out in that middle space for
a long time, and they've almost kind of been there voluntarily,
you know, thinking about like do we fully reset the
books here and kind of take our medicine and just
prepare for a future push. And they also pair that
with making win now moves, which I think is a
(05:33):
conflicting game plan that puts you in this middle ground
that you can get stuck in in limbo, right. I mean,
they signed Tyron Matthew, he retired. Julian Blackman was his replacement.
That's a veteran that you know, I just I'm not
sure that the value matched up with your situation. And
then a player like Brandon cooks some moves that would
len him to make you think that they're pushing for
a division championship.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
But your quarterbacks were Spencer.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Ratler, who came into the year without a single win
as a starter. He did get one year, but he
has been replaced by second round draft pick Tyler Shook,
who he's what twenty six years old as a rookie
and you know, is pretty green in terms of all
the in spite of all the college experience he got. Now, granted,
they were in a tough spot because Derek Carr retired
(06:17):
back in I think it was March. I remember I
was on the golf course when he retired, and I
remember seeing like, oh, Derek Carr retired. But you know,
that whole signing, that Derek Carr signing was part of
this position of you know, putting yourself back in the
middle ground, and it wasn't effective at the game's most
important position. So now here we are and there's a
deeper fallout, a deeper aftermath. Five years after the Drew
(06:39):
Brees departure for the for the Saints, so car missed
six games last year, didn't win a single one of
those games. All the Rattler starts, they were five and
five with him. But that injury and the fallout spawned
this new era of Saints football. And I think now
the season is about finding out what Tyler Shook gives you.
Even if they win just one more game, for instance,
(06:59):
there there's no guarantee they're picking high enough to get
one of the top quarterbacks because there are there are
ten teams right now that have eight or nine losses
in this league. One third of the league is really
really bad. But to me, at least, it's stepping back
when it's needed. They needed a down year, clear the
books a reevaluation, Let's get a high draftic and maybe
attack the quarterback there. For years they just kicked the
(07:22):
can down the road, almost to the point of being
memed on social media, like, oh, they're pulling a Saints right,
So now they're two and nine, which to me was
far better than being five and five with car last
year off of a five and twelve season, last year
off of a nine and eight season in twenty three,
seven and ten, and twenty two, nine and eight, and
twenty one. None of those years resulted in playoff appearances,
so stuck in that limbo position post Breeze and with Breeze,
(07:45):
I mean they were division champs in twenty twenty twelve
and four record took the eventual champion Buccaneers to the
brink in the Divisional round.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
What a game that was.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That was the fourth of four consecutive playoff trips at
the end of Breeze's career, one of those being the
Anneapolis Miracle with Stefan Diggs going up over Marcus Williams.
And the twenty eighteen year was the missed defensive pass
interference call away from a Super Bowl appearance. The play
that spawned the reviewable DPI rule that lasted for just
one year in the NFL, and in twenty seventeen they
(08:16):
lost in the divisional round again at the Vikings. Prior
to that, they went seven to nine three consecutive years
under Drew Brees, which followed a five year run with
four posties and trips and one Lombardi Trophy. So we'll
see where it goes now with Kellen Moore the rest
of the way here into year two or the rest
of the way this year and into year two next year,
(08:37):
a team in transition that has begun getting the youth
on the field here down the stretch in twenty twenty five,
the Saint's depth chart is as follows in terms of
how they've been playing these guys in recent weeks. Tyler
Shook is the starting quarterback, Spencer Raley the number two.
They are banged up at running back. Devin Neil is
the starter. Audric Estime is the number two. They'll have
(08:57):
to call upon the practice squad if they want a
third back active for the game on Sunday. Chris o'lave
is the number one receiver, and then after that. If
you know these names, I took my cap to you.
Devon Veley and Mason Tipton are the number two and
three receivers there. The tight ends are a group I
like probably the most on the offense in the tackles
Juan Johnson, Foster Moreau, Jack Stole, and then Taysom Hill
(09:20):
is listed as the fourth tight end, but he's kind
of like their change of pace quarterback, like their red
zone and heavy grouping wildcat quarterback. We'll talk about that
here more as we go along. Weird roster, man, really
weird roster. The left tackle is Calvin Banks, the right
tackle is Talisi Fuaga, and their swing tackle who played
the last several games as seem Richards has been replaced
(09:42):
by Fuaga, who should be back this week. He was
a limited participant last week in practice. Obviously we don't
have the full breadth of our practice schedule for this week,
but I assume that means he'll come back and be
their right tackle in this one. If not, the matchup
gets even dicier for the Saints. On the interior, Dylan
Raidens is the left guard. He was former first round
pick of the Titans, a guy that was supposed to
(10:02):
be an anchor at the tackle position. He has now
gone to the Saints and kicked inside. Luke Fortner, the
longtime drive Time fans, I remember that name as a
center out of Kentucky who was a good fit for
this system, went to Jacksonville, didn't work out there. Now
he's trying to make it work out with the Saints.
The right guard is Caesar Ruiz, who's a very good player.
And if one of those guys goes down in game,
they're only two options off the bench are two undrafted
(10:23):
free agent rookies who have not played, so it gets
thinned pretty quick there. On the defense, to Von Godshaw,
you guys know who he is. He's a nose tackle there.
They surround him with a big defensive line more of
a three man front with Nathan Shepper and Brian Breese,
and then Javon Bullard's kind of the top backup there
off the edge. I like this group with Chase Young,
Carl Granderson, and Cameron Jordan, who is on his probably
(10:46):
whole eighteen of his career, if you will. I like
the linebacker group too. Tomario Davis is one of the
best player, one of the best linebackers NFL history. Quite Frankly,
Pete Warner the second guy there, and then if one
of them goes down, Rookie Danny Stutzman, a Kyle Krab's
favorite out of Oklahoma a lot next year, is the
third linebacker at cornerback kool Aid mckinstree.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
That's his name, look it up.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
And then Alante Taylor is the nickelback, but he plays
in their base packages and Quincy Riley, who plays the perimeter,
when he comes onto the field, he goes off in
their nickel defense. So Taylor is kind of the chess
piece in that defense. I like the safeties too. Justin
Reid and Jonash Sanker have been a nice complimentary combo,
although I should say that's the wrong word. They play
(11:25):
the game similarly, I should say, so maybe they need
that third combo type. And that's kind of where a
Lante Taylor fits into the mix there when those guys
come downhill and he can kind of rotate back and
place him in the post. And then Terrell Burgess is
the third safety. So injuries for the Saints, banged up man,
they're not going to have Alvin Kamara in this game.
He has been their best player for a decade now,
(11:46):
I mean going back a while. He was injured last
week and should be down for this game. His backup
Kendre Miller is also down. They traded Rashid Shaheed at
the deadline and recently granted Brandon Cooks his release that
he asked for, So what to me was a strength
at the start of the Sea has been gutted a
little bit here in terms of the eligibles with Shaheed, Cooks,
and Kamara all going down or departing. They're also without
(12:07):
starting center Eric McCoy and his backup Will Clap. Julian
Blackman was the replacement for Tyron Matthew after he retired,
and Blackman is also out, So that's where Jonash Sanker
gets his reps. But honestly, they might have kind of
struck goal on that move because Sanker looked at the
real deal at a potential strong safety position there. It
seems like they will get some help back this week
with Fuaga, who I mentioned and you die hards remember
(12:29):
how much I loved him and Troy Fatanu the tackle
out of Washington. Fuaga, of course out of Oregon State,
go back twelve rip. That's a big get back for them.
He pairs well with Calvin Banks for a really good
tackle tandem. Now, as far as the Saints offensive personnel,
this is a very different Saints team than the one
that began the season. We'll get into the quarterback and
quite frankly a move that sparks some jews for this unit,
(12:51):
but man, the pieces falling off around him are palpable.
Chris o'lave is kind of the last one standing there
among that group, aside from the tight ends. I love
his game, man, He's a technician, a smooth route runner.
I always thought he was a better player than Garrett
Wilson at Ohio State, but injuries have really, know, concussions
have really limited what he can do as a pro.
(13:11):
He's the one you have to be ready for. And
I would probably commit a lot of attention to him.
If you're not, you know, funneling him to help, you're
bracketing him, doubling him. His nuance and ability to maximize
space within this offense as well and make contested grabs
makes him a challenge. And then upfront, Kelvin Banks is
kind of where it starts. Man, the rookie out of
Texas that I was kind of down on the idea
(13:32):
of Kelvin Banks as a possible first round pick for
the Dolphins. I mean, he didn't make it to us anyways,
but I just didn't think it made a lot of
sense because well, Patrick Paul was here, and I knew
what we had in Patrick Paul. But I was a
little bit down on Banks's tape. But he's played well
so far. I think you just scrape his side in
the running game because he's playing super square and in
controlled in combinations of the lion of scrimmage and climbing
(13:53):
up to that second level where he brings his feet
on reaches and can latch on and seal you and
create space for what was Kamara and now Devin Neil.
And that's a hit for them there. They needed to
basically find a hit on Fuaga. And then now with
Banks in the post Trevor Penning draft pick they made
a few years ago, who's now with the Chargers after
not working out in the Saints, I think you can
(14:14):
fight fire there on Banks with Jordan Brooks, who right
now is the first team All Pro linebacker in the
league in my opinion, talk to a wall if you disagree,
and just see how well the rookie can handle the
game's best linebacker beating those blocks because that's what he does.
And for Banks, he'll have to get deep into his
bag because Brooks will dissect his game and find ways
(14:34):
to beat him. Kind of the matchup of the day
on this side of the football to me, because if
they can get their run game going, I'm not sure
there's there's much else they can do if they can't
get the run game going. I should say. The other
stud is Caesar Ruiz. You guys might remember him from
the twenty twenty draft class. He was a guy that
the Dolphins were interested in going into that draft, and
he got plucked and that spawned the trade back in
(14:54):
the Noah Iguinogany move. I don't think it makes sense
to throw a bunch of games at him and get
him out of position, because he's just too good to
fool that way. Although he is playing next to a
center who is relatively new to the system with McCoy
being out all year and Will Clapp being down too,
so I suppose you can attack there. But the left
(15:16):
guard is a journeyman in Dylan Raiden's and so that's
probably the side you go after more frequently. Right for Seiler,
and Phillips and for Kenny Grant. The other matchups I'm
looking at comes down to their tight end usage with
Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Both are good players.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I don't think they are the dominant point of attack
players in the way they're currently being deployed frequently within
those roles, and I'll tell you about that here in
the schematics portion of the show. But it does create
some chip release and little hookup routes where they show
the quarterback their numbers and he just sticks on them
for a game of five or six and possibly ten
or twelve if they break a tackle. I like our
(15:49):
ability to match up with that with Brooks, with Minka,
with Iffy, with Marshall. We have the size and the
temperament to match those guys' ability and what they do well.
I think that's pretty much good for the offense. We
have a lot of talk to get to here in
the quarterback in Schomatic's portion, let's go ahead and move
on to the Saints defense after the break. We'll come
back and do that here. Draft Time Podcast brought to
you by AutoNation. I think the best part of the
(16:14):
Thanksgiving shows is the return of the turkey gobble throw
to break sound drop a career.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
You disagree, I don't care. It's my show.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
I'll do whatever I want, all right, All right, let's
go ahead and move on now to the Saints defense here.
And there's a lot to like on this side of
the ball from a personnel standpoint, and it does go
back to that somewhat contrasting approach to the offense. I
think this is a playoff defense quite frankly, with a
more experienced, improven offense on the other side that could
(16:43):
help support it a little bit. Brandon Staley is the
man in charge of the side of the football. We'll
get into his defense in the schematics portion of the show.
The personnel is led by de Mario Davis, a thirty
five year old Mike linebacker who is still one of
the best.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
In the damn game.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Like a wild career for this guy who started off
kind of slow and then blossomed and then went to
the Saints and got like all pro good and he's
still doing it. He's over one hundred tackles again this
year already. He's a big matchup piece with our run game.
But but if there's one thing you get after him
with it's those thirty five year old legs.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Right. Hey, I'm thirty eight, I know how tired.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
These things get a little bit different with a professional athlete.
But the outside run game with von A Chan seems
like your answer here to their best player and quite frankly,
how to get them off the edge in their entire
structure with how they play their secondary as well, so
they've got good pieces all around. I like the secondary
and how it plays in concert with Tomrio Davis and
the other linebacker Pete Warner. There's a lot of speed
(17:37):
there and it's a physical group that flies around. Rookie
safety's Jonash Sanker. He is a heat seeking missile, and
Justin Reid has been one of the best players from
depth recently coming downhill. Ever, quite frankly, I think the
vulnerability here though, is if there's a if they're in
a quarter's look, which is one of their primary coverages.
After you have hammered the middle of the field and
(17:58):
attacked you know the uh, well, let's start with this.
When you hammer the middle of the field, your tight
ends kind of like think about Waller in that Panthers game,
which spruns a similar defense to this one with Brands
Tailey that you can then create a situation where you
can get a fly by look against quarters from Wattle
against their coverage. Because Sanker is super aggressive, he'll bite down,
(18:18):
he can be flat footed at the snap, and I
could see McDaniel and to taking advantage of him trying to,
you know, especially when you play behind an offense that
struggles the way the Saints offense has, sometimes these guys
will have taken upon themselves to try to get outside
of the scheme and make a play. I could see
Miami taking advantage of that on Jonash Sanker and capitalizing
on his aggressiveness. But they do match up well with
(18:39):
our skills spots outside of Wattle. I mean, I don't
think anybody matches up well with Wattle. But Alontae Taylor,
he's the chess piece man. He's really nice. He'll play safety,
he'll play nickel, he'll play a perimeter cornerback. He'll sneak
down and play in the fit as an now like
a quasi linebacker position, and then sprint out into the
curl flat. He got to pick on Bryce Young doing
that with ideal curl flat cover three coverage as the
(19:01):
underneath the stone defender and cover three. So just keep
an eye on him because every snap like to a
through a pick on Black Friday a couple of years ago,
where he didn't account for that curl flat defender getting
with and just didn't see him and threw it right
to him. I think it was Brandon Eckles on that
pick six, So like that, can that could happen here
with Alantae Taylor because he's well studied and they deploy
(19:22):
him that way quite a bit. I think he's gonna
be trying to get one because they're gonna have tobait
to it. They're gonna have to win the turn of
re battle by a couple here to win this game,
so I think they're gonna try to get him on
a couple of these kool Aid McKinstry all time name
has been a bit of feast or famine. I think
the outside run game, the hitches, the speedouts, is your
chance to just like Jonah Sanker, to kind of lull
him to sleep and then sneak a vertical past him.
(19:44):
But you'll have to protect to do that, and these
guys are built well to rush the passer off the
outside there's not really a good interior presence in their
pass rush. Godshaw, you guys know what he is. He's
a two down player, nose tackle at this point of
his career. Brian Breese doesn't really doesn't really dent the
pocket as a pass rusher, and then Nathan Sheppard kind
of in that same mold. But Chase Young is still
doing his thing. Luckily he lines up on the offense's left,
(20:07):
and I think Patrick Paul has plenty of power to
isolate and win that matchup on his by his self,
by hisself, on his own, by himself, which then puts
the onus on Carlo Granderson, who I like his game too,
But I think both Larry Borham and Austin Jackson, depending
on who it is, they're quick enough with their foot
you know, their foot fire to get into sets and
(20:27):
to make him redirect. And then once that happens, I
think Tula can find you know, safety within the pocket
to find a platform to throw from. I think this
is a tailor made game for Aaron Brewer to do
what he does best. That interior presence I mentioned, I
think affords him chances to get to the second level
and out into space. I would not be at all
surprised if you look up in this game and there's
Aaron Brewer once again adding to his insane highlight reel
(20:50):
this year of one of those crushing blocks out in space.
I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and rubber stamp that
right here. You're gonna see Aaron Brewer hit a key
block on an explosive Davon ah Champ play down the
fields in this game. As far as the scheme calling
cards for the Saints defense against the Dolphins offense, they
run out of their nickel fifty four percent of the time,
but they run their thirty four base thirty seven percent
(21:10):
of the time. And that's because they don't always match personnel,
which can be instructive in a couple of ways. You
can attack them with these light boxes and just run
the football at these guys all game long. They will
allow you to do that. They do run a forty
three front seven percent of the time, and they get
to their dime package very rarely in three percent of
the time. So again Brandon Staley, and it got me
(21:32):
thinking about do I have copy that I wrote down
on Staley from twenty twenty three against the Chargers, and
yes I did. I actually found it right here. I
talked about them playing Nickel at sixty percent of the
time with a twenty five percent based deployment. That's pretty
close to what you have here. And guess why they
can do that because back then and the reason the
Dolphins put up thirty six in that game on the
(21:53):
Chargers and two to three for four to sixty or
whatever it was, was because Kenneth Murray was absolutely lost
at lineback. But to Mario Davis is a much better
player than that, So I think it works more for
the Saints defense and they have better safety play there.
But also Pete Warner is better, so you know, between
those guys justin Reied Jonas Sinker, essentially linebackers playing from
(22:14):
depth fit in the run, how they hit. So there's
a we can win from light Box's mentality. But I'm
really curious to see how they match Miami's use of
big personnel, because if you're not going to match personnel,
and Darren Waller's back in the lineup, and Daniel Brunskill's
out there, and Julian Hill's out there, and Greg Dolsach
is out there, and you can get speed on the
(22:34):
field with eight Chan and Wattle among those packages, Like,
if you're not going to match you're just waiting to
get a situation where you have to match speed with
eight Chan, Wattle or Waller with like a linebacker or
a safety, and none of those guys match up well
in that arena. If we get Waller back this week,
that could really unfurl something new that could attack this
(22:55):
Saints defense and create some advantageous passing game matchups against
a defense that I don't think is equipped to cover
the athletic prowess of a heavy grouping that involves those
guys h Chan, Waller, Wattle, Dulcic and so on and
so forth. So if you line up in twelve with
one back, two tight ends, and two receivers, I expect
them to match that with Nickel. But when we get
(23:16):
into our brun scale package, that's a direct conflict to
their credo.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
As a defense.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
We're gonna play light, protect the pass, and win matchups
to account for the running game.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
You're not gonna be able to match up with that.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
If you're you know, putting Jonas Sanker on you know,
Julian Hill, or if you're putting Justin Reid on you
know Westbrook a Kine or maybe maybe it's even Daniel
brunskill in protection there. So I think from McDaniel, he's
poised for a big game off the bye week with
the possibility of a new wrinkle here or there against
a scheme that has, you know, devised some explosives against it.
(23:50):
I think it could look similar to that opener back
in twenty three in Los Angeles, but with one like
massive caveat the absence of Tyreek Hill over the middle
of the field for eighteen twenty two twenty eight yards
every single damn play of the game. It seemed like,
I think, a little more power run game to eventually
get Waddle into his catch and run game.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So like zone zone, zone, zone.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Match vacate, the curl flat vulnerable to crossers, and the
deep ball bracket beater against quarters, a lot of these things,
you have opportunities to attack here. If you're the Miami
Dolphins from multiple personnel groupings, this is kind of a
game where I think their strength could be their achilles heel.
I think to Mario Davis is one of the best
linebackers in all of football, but you could create some
spots again where he has to run with eight chan
(24:34):
maybe Waller, maybe even Dulcic, and you might be able
to get Wattle on a backer or safety with enough
ingenuity and how you create your offensive game plan. So
the coverage deployment is very heavy Cover three, Cover one,
which I think that speaks more to the strength of
the roster and maybe how Staley has adjusted over time.
That's not a very common coverage deployment from this Fangio system.
(24:57):
But you know, Staley had to kind of reinvent himself.
The Chargers experience went, you know, could put a belly
up and when they've got Alante Taylor and kool Aid
mcinstry and some good safety play like, why not run
some Cover three Cover one. So it's it's forty percent
Cover three, that's three deep zone drops one third, one third,
one third with the safety creeping down, they'll play Cover one,
(25:18):
you know, man free, single high safety man coverage across
the board twenty percent of the time. So that's you know,
almost two thirds of the defense in cover three Cover
one sixty percent. But here's where the Stately and Fangio
scheme influence comes into play. Twenty percent quarters that's you know,
one quarter of the deep portion of the field and
ten percent Cover six, which is quarter quarter half. You know,
(25:39):
three deep coverage with different responsibilities and a flat curl
flat defender that buzzes down from the cornerback position and
against those ladder looks, that's where you can get the inbreakers.
But the Cover three and Cover one looks, that's the
same key as the Commander's game was wide running game.
We had that thing cranking early and often. The swings,
the screens, the hitches, the speedouts. They have the tenth
highest blitz rate at twenty six percent, and man, if
(26:03):
you can get a well time screen on the perimeter
against one of those blitzes, you could see one of
these catches and runs finally go the distance for a
Channa for waddle if you can dial it up at
the right time. It's important for Tua to id these
coverages pre snap and find his hots against those blitzes.
As far as the Saints defensive scheme calling cards, there
are some stories that don't quite add up on tape.
(26:26):
I should say for the Saints offense, I'm gonna go
back to the poker analogy here. You gotta tell the
same story pre flop postflop on the turn and on
the river to convince the opponent that you're gonna make
this play and bluffer even tell a true story to
maximize your profit. On the hand right, and I'm watching
some of the run game design where they're faking action
(26:46):
into a side that has no other tells or keys
that take you that way. So it's like you can
fake that way all you want, but no other part
of the story. Like, Okay, the ace hit the river,
but you didn't tell me you had an ace in
your previous actions, so I'm not gonna buy that. Like
there's a thirteen personnel zone read play where Taysom Hill
with Taysom Hill where he fakes to Kamara, but they
(27:09):
get zero flow from the action because they're pulling playside
and have no action back to the fake side. That's
something the Dolphins never do, and I appreciate that about
the run game design here is there's always a story
that we're telling in our run game designs. The next play,
they run a zone read play action on second and
fifteen in high red zone, and the linebackers aren't buying
that at all. Against the Dolphins defense that is coming
(27:31):
into a mastery of its own with its disguises.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That's not going to bode well.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
You're not gonna get anything against them, especially against the
middle of the field with defenders like Jordan Brooks and
Mika Fitzpatrick. On that play I'm talking about, Shook has
to move before he even gets into his drop and
he's sacked like a dead play from the start. There's
a lot of unique to New Orleans football on this tape.
They had six carries last week inside the ten yard
(27:56):
line against the Falcons. Five of those were Taysom Hill keepers.
They run the flexbone formation, which is everybody in tight
you know, Taysom Hill, either under center or in like
a pistol formation with a back behind him, and then
two flex bone positions, which is like tight ends or
hvacs that are like angled into the formation, and they'll
like motion to try to get information and then return
(28:20):
motion back to the same position. It's it's weird and
I haven't seen it since I was the flanker on
my grid Kids team back at age twelve. Maybe he's eleven.
I switched a quarterback at twelve eleven. Maybe they borrow
that from the Eric Crouch Nebraska days. I don't know
it's been a minute. They're going to add gaps through
pre snap alignment. They want to play smash mouth downhill football.
(28:42):
Every play you've got an attached WHY and then an
additional player, whether that's another attached HY or an X
or a Z that kicks inside to a nasty split,
which is just a receiver that comes in and lines
up right next to the tackle. They want to get
to their inside zone and du game from these looks
and play power as well and develop a play action game.
(29:03):
I wrote this, then I got to another play, a
third and one backed up triple wise to the strength
three tight ends on the Alliance scrimmage attached to the
strength of the formation obviously, and then the backside X
is also attached, so it's essentially quad wise unbalanced three
by one. I haven't seen that since the kendellic Rams
(29:24):
Grid Kids team for US. I think we should be
able to win from light box alignments because of the
matchups with Phillips and Sealer and grant On Radents and Fortner,
a pair of backups at left guard and center. I
like the spacing element of their passing attack that you
can see the design there, but it looks wonky because
I don't think Shook is comfortable with it just yet.
And you can kind of see them, you know, you
(29:46):
can see him scale things back at times to try
to make it easier on a green quarterback. They give
him an outlet and then run concepts off that spot
or the short element, which is kind of like a
load of high read for him, and they can create
conflict for the defense. But the the problem is, I
don't think he sees it or trusts it right now,
which is totally expected for a guy who's gonna make
his fourth career start in this game on Sunday. A
(30:07):
lot of those issues stem from protection breakdowns, and in
particular at the right tackle spot. And they get their
guy back this week or they should in Fuago, so
that goes a long way for them. So I don't know, man.
There's a lot of unique stuff here to New Orleans.
By the numbers, eleven personnel seventy percent for the season,
twelve personnel fifteen percent, and then thirteen personnel four percent,
(30:27):
but that has shifted post deadline after they've waived Cooks
and traded Shaheed. They've incorporated unique packages, the four tight ends,
the extra offensive linemen, and those account for twenty five
percent of their offense. So it is very much a
chin strap game and both sides of the ball are
going to play heavy groupings on the offensive side. Last
break right there, come back and finish up with the
(30:48):
quarterback talks, what's at stake, special teams, and miscellaneous keys
to victory and my prediction. All of that Next Draft
Time podcast brought to you by AutoNation. You know, I
had one last year I think was an actual turkey,
but that one kind of sounds like a human doing
a turkey impression. I will never forget one time watching Jeopardy,
(31:10):
Big Jeopardy fan, and it was a guy's second day
on the show, so one time champion and.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I love the story. Man.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
They asked him, like something interesting about yourself, Dan, as
you do a great turkey impression, and he was like, well,
you know what, and like wasn't even good, and like
that's the second most interesting thing about you, Dan.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
All right.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
You know, maybe if it was like a you know,
a Trump impression or like, you know, an Obama impression,
I can understand that, but a.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Turkey, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Jim, Let's talk about the quarterback. Easy transition there. Tyler Shook,
I think there's a lot to like with him. He
was actually a guy that after the Senior Bowl last year,
I was like, hey, this could be a good Day
three pick. But he goes in the second round and
the greenness of it all is all over that tape. Man,
Like there are little a quarterback has to id every snap,
Like they run this slat slat slant flat combo on
(32:08):
first and ten and this in the UH Panthers game.
I think it was the first play of the drive too,
So like there's you know, first and ten all that stuff,
and slant flat is one of the first combos put
into a playbook when the forward pass was invented back
in nineteen whatever. And the Falcons cover it three by two,
which is typical you press up in man coverage two
man cut corners and then a safety over the top.
(32:30):
But the tail here is the safety is aligned directly
behind the slot cornerback. It's called capping, and you typically
cap when you're going to blitz. It's a one oh
one nickel blitz rule. Put a safety behind him, we're
gonna blitz him. Sure enough, the nickel comes, the safety
chases to the flat because he has to get over
there because that's his man coverage responsibility. And we've now
(32:51):
used these zone coverage on the top of the field
to blitz the quarterback, and the outside corner loses inside
leverage because he's got a two way go on the perimeter.
That's one of the vulnerable of blitzing your nickel. But
he throws the flat and it gets swatted right back
into his face because the unblocked blitzer is right there
in front of him. He throws that slamp, which he
should have recognized because of the capped nickel. It's a
(33:12):
one on one opportunity with the receiver against the safety
for an eighty one yard touchdown. And I think the
way the Saints call the game shows some of that
greenness for Shook. All the run game stuff, the Taysom
Hill stuff. They're trying to get him into design success
and I get it, you know, like he's played three
freaking games, and then from there he has some creativity
(33:32):
and how he can move out of structure and attacking
with his legs and a very live arm that has
every platform and angle within his repertoire. So I think
it's a tough matchup for Shook against Anthony Weaver that
disguises as well as anybody out there, and a defense
that's been finding its footing in that regard and doing
it against you know, a bunch of matchups that favor
(33:52):
Miami given all the Saints' injuries and departures at the
skill spots. I mean, I'm just watching a blitz reel
and it's pretty rare. They get it picked up and
have a hot answer, so he's constantly having to move
before he hits the top of his drop. So it
kind of feels like for a defense that has the
third highest blitz rate in Miami, this feels like a
blitz game for the Dolphins. In fact, Shook versus the
Blitz thirty nine percent completion is by far the lowest
(34:15):
among NFL quarterbacks right now. He doesn't get sacked a lot,
just once on thirty six drop backs against the Blitz,
but he basically tries to find a way to get
to a throwaway, which you'll take that. Incomplete passes always
a win for the defense. He's got six yards per pass,
one touchdown, one pick, and that thirty nine percent completion
rate against the Blitz is our quarterback I think it's
a good spot here for Tua against a defense he
(34:37):
has had success against in terms of how its structured.
I think our ability to run the football is going
to create opportunities against an aggressive fire zone based defense
that could become vulnerable to a deep shot because I
think this is a defense. It's going to be like
we have to make a play to win these games.
And it feels like a game where Waddle gets his
appointment forty plus yard play that he gets every single
(34:59):
week and then throw in breakers.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Attacking the middle of the field off of that as well.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
So I do think this game is more about running
the football and playing complimentary football to the defense. So
for Tua, like if I'm talking to him this week,
it's like, just protect the ball, get out of bad
looks pre snap, avoid negative plays. If we do that,
we should win this game. Special teams and miscellaneous Blake Groupie,
I think it is how you say it. Missed two
kicks in their game on Sunday against the Falcons, so
(35:24):
they cut him. Went to Cade York after a tryout.
We moved from fifth to third. And special teams EPA
after our performance in Madrid, and speaking of teams, Craig
Ackerman on the show on Friday, really excited for that.
Ak is a gem and I'm excited to bring him
to this platform for all of y'all out there in
the Draft Time universe. And the Saints are thirty second
and Special Teams EPA, and quite frankly they are. There
(35:46):
is a big gap between them and the thirty first
ranked Rams, who are twenty eight point four under EPA.
The Saints are at negative thirty seven point six, a
huge gap there. And as far as the miscellaneous portion
of this, I think this is the game that most
satisfies this category all year.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
We're off of our bye week.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
We've been playing with our backs against the wall for
about a month now. The Saints are two to nine.
Season has officially become evaluation mode for them, and they
just played what I would call their super Bowl right.
Nick Underhill from New Orleans Football dot Com said that
was the most interesting game left on the schedule, their
biggest rivals, one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL,
even though the game hasn't meant a lot in recent years.
(36:26):
But sometimes that can be difficult to match the emotion
on back to back weeks after you lose that game,
especially in fall to two and nine, So I like
Miami's spot here quite a lot. What's at stake? What
to root for? It's Thanksgiving, which means the return of
this portion. Well, the Dolphins winning games does that too,
but gotta win to stay alive the entire seasons on
the line here. The bye week was not a good
(36:46):
outtown scoreboard for us. You got the Pittsburgh loss, but
both Kansas City and Jacksonville won. Buffalo lost on Thursday,
so that was helpful in some respects. This week the
game's track and who to root for? Dallas OVERKSE we
covered that already, Tennessee over Jacksonville. They play him twice.
The Titans beating the Jags in one of two games
could be the difference if the Dolphins go six to zero.
(37:08):
I don't think it'll happen, but if it does, that
could be the difference that gets Miami over the finish
line there at ten and seven. So root for the
Titans and cam Ward the Colts over the Texans. We're
gonna root for the Colts a lot down the stretch here.
I hope they pull away and take the AFC South
and they beat Houston twice and they beat Jacksonville in
the process and get us some room against the AFC
South and then Pittsburgh over Buffalo. I know we're chasing
(37:29):
Pittsburgh too, but to make the miracle run, we have
to go ten and seven, which means it head to
head win over the Steelers, which would be their sixth
loss of the year, which would mean they would have
to lose just one more game for us to have
a ten and seven tiebreaker at worst over the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
So Steelers over the Bills.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
The Bills have the Eagles and Patriots up too, so
if they lose this game, you could see a situation
where they go ten and seven, which we would have
the tiebreaker over them at ten and seven because they
would lose the Patriots in division and we'd have the
divisional tiebreaker over the Buffalo Bills. That's a lot of
stuff to talk about there. My key's a victory buckle
that chin strap, Babit. We talked about their throwback run offense,
flex boone, thirteen personnel attached wide outs. They're going to
add gaps to the running game. Buckle your damn chin
(38:06):
strap and go hit somebody and play power football. Number two,
rush contain and plaster. The quarterback is making his fourth
career start. Disguise and call diversity can rattle most young quarterbacks,
and Shitt can get off the spot and create outside
of structure. It's vital to plaster downfield and have good
rush land integrity when you get after the quarterback. Number
three attack their light boxes. Brandon Stey's defense is predicated
(38:27):
on defending the run from light boxes. The Dolphins have
plenty of big personnel and options on offense and a
running game that's found at stride here in recent weeks.
My prediction, I think it's a comfortable win for the
Miami Dolphins, which you probably could tell by the way
I talked about this game. I am hesitant to say
that sometimes this year, but man, that offense, rookie quarterback,
franchise leader, out, young head coach taking his team to
(38:49):
Miami Thanksgiving week. There are distractions after the distractions here,
if the Fins just lock in, they can take care
of business by the fourth quarter here, and since it's
at home at one o'clock, that is my expectation. I
think if Tua was playing like twenty two through twenty
four to Tua, I would predict this as like a
thirty eight thirteen game, But I think while we can
exploit their scheme, I think they'll get one off of him,
(39:12):
maybe get a few more hands on footballs to get
some stops. I also think the Saints red zone operation
is going to be a problem for them. So I'm
gonna go with Saints kicking three field goals, no touchdowns,
and I'll pull back three scores from what I want
to say for us and go with twenty four to nine.
The Miami Dolphins win this one. You all please be
sure to check back on Friday, no show tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving.
(39:33):
On Friday, we're gonna have Craig Ackerman. We're gonna have
the my cause, my cleach chats. I talked to Dante Trader,
Kenneth Grant, Daniel Brunskill, who else I talked to Nick Westbrook,
Akine and Olie Gordon will also pick the rest of
the week thirteen games and then on Sunday we'll cover
the game for you. But until then, you all please
be sure subscribe, rate, review the show, follow me on
social at linkfeld NFL the team at Miami Dolphins. Check
(39:56):
out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ Media availabilities so
much more and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot
Com until next time. Friends with Caroline Cameron Willow, Daddy's
Coming Home. How any things giving you
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