September 25, 2025 • 40 mins
Our opponent guest this week is Connor Rogers. He takes us through all things Jets ahead of the Monday night matchup in Miami. Plus, Travis makes his Week 4 NFL picks.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
our normal Wednesday slot kicks back to the Thursday position
here as I welcome in Connor Rogers to preview the
Jets ahead of Dolphins and Jets on Monday Night football.
We're also gonna pick the week four games across the
National Football League, and we might stop by the podium
(00:33):
for some press conference audio if we have time.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Don't know if we're going to have time. Busy little Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Here ahead from the Baptist Hill Studios inside the Baptist
Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast. Joining
us today is a man with many jobs, and for
the purpose of today's show, we'll focus on his Jets coverage.
He is Connor Rogers, and Connor, can I start the
show with a question that is purely just for me?
(00:58):
This is only a Travis fueled type of segment. Here,
your co host on NFL Stock Exchange is one of
my favorite people in the entire industry. A Florida man
through and through. He's the one that taught me about
pub subs like ten years ago. Can you give me
your best Trevor Sick of a story that you've got?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Oh man, there are so many, because we've now done
the I've been friends with Trevor for years before we
did the podcast, and now we've done the podcast for
coming up on half a decade, which is just ridiculous.
I think the most funny one that's recent that comes
top of mind is just that he was picking me
up from the airport for the Senior Bowl one year
(01:34):
and he didn't like tell me anything, and I'm waiting
and you've been to Mobile before. I feel like, so
you know the deal of how like small of an
airport is You're like the only one outside waiting around
in the middle of nowhere, and it was late at
night because you have to connect from New York to
get to freaking Mobile, Alabama. And this giant Jeep gladiator
pulls up and like whizzes by me, and all of
(01:55):
a sudden, Trevor's head comes out of the way and
he's like, hey, dude, and it was a rental car
he was supposed to have like this little like little
you know, rinky dinks to Dan for us.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And he pulls up this giant jeep Gladiator.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
We hop in and we're like, all right, let's do
Senior Bowl week man, let's rock and roll. So like
that's the kind of stuff you get with him where
it's just like everything is just like a surprise at
any moment of just ridiculousness. So we have a lot
of laughs over the years. I love hanging out with
the guy. I mean it's yeah, he's the best. I'm
with you all the way. He is a true Florida man,
like no matter where he wherever life takes him, he
(02:31):
is he just truly like defines Florida man by theo.
I make fun of him right now about his gators
all the time, and he's such a good sport about it.
He's a Lightning fan, so he's always had one up
on me with the me being a Rangers fan.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
But we always have a good laugh about it.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I'm sure when he poked his heat with that ragtop wrangler,
the hair did not move an ounce.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
No, no, it's like a movie star picking you up
the from the airport and yeah, yeah, it's like it's
like ridiculous. It's just it's one of those things where
like it probably was funnier for me in the moment
than it sounds.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
But it's just like so ridiculous of a human.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I don't even think the thing with Trevor and I too,
we don't even have to like text. We're like a
high mind at this point. So like he knew when
I was laying at and it'd be like, hey where
are you? Or hey, I'm on the way, it's just
like peels up, stop short, there's nobody around. I'm like,
damn man, am I ever getting out of this place?
Like I hate this airport? And they're enough there. He
was ready to go, and like you said, not a
hair out of place. Hey man, that's exactly what I
(03:24):
was looking for. That's a perfect story to kick us
off here. Let's go ahead and get into business here,
because the Jets come into this one looking for their
first win against the Dolphins team in search of the
exact same thing. And I always start at the quarterback position.
Where else would you go when it comes to previewing games.
And I assume we're tipping this on a Wednesday for
full transparency, episode comes out Thursday. I assume it's going
to be justin fields, but small sample size for him,
(03:46):
you know, playing what five or six cores before he
got knocked out of that Buffalo game. I'm just curious
to kind of ask you what stood out from those
five or six cores of football that he's played in
this Tanner extra and offense. Yeah, it's really interesting because
you had week one where it felt like everything went
right for him pretty much. And even if you want
to nitpick something, when they had the ball with fifty
seconds left to try to get into field goal range,
(04:09):
I mean on that drive, he did a lot of
things the right way. But first off, nobody besides Garrett
Wilson can get open. They don't have a number two receiver.
So there was one play where the pass pro was perfect.
The Steelers, actually, you see a lot of teams kind
of sit in a shell. They rushed six, the back
picked up somebody, the membo buried TJ. Watt, the Jets
(04:29):
rookie right tackle buried him. Fields made someone miss, stepped
up on a comeback, and Jalen Ramsey, old friend of yours,
Jayalen Ramsey, broke up the pass. It's just the guys
can't generate separation. And in the last pass of the game
that was for a first down to keep things going.
Garrett Wilson dropped the ball when he got smashed on
a hit, So like, it's crazy how good Fields played
that game. But then you know, the Bills have tape
(04:51):
on your Week one. What you want to do? The
Bill sold out against the run in Week two, and
that was good business by them. They were blitzing corners,
they were selling out field. It's missed a wide open
Garrett Wilson on a route across the middle of the
field on the opening drive that.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
He's got a hit. It would have been a twenty
plus yard play.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
And it felt like Fields just never had its like
legs under him that game. He was missing throws, he
got hurt, Like you said, he was never comfortable. So
we've seen one great game, one of the best games
of Justin Field's career Week one with the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Loved the game plan.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
We saw a uncompetitive game against the Bills, right and
like you said before, he got hurt and there was
bick enough sample of that offense where it was uncompetitive.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
It wasn't like he was hurt on the second drive.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
And then you know obviously didn't play Week three, so
that's kind of the Justin Fields experience right now is
the roller coaster of it, and the Jets are trying
to find some kind of happy medium of consistency.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
It's funny you mentioned the committing to stopping the run
game for the Buffalo Bills, because I went on my
pregame radio spot before the Thursday night game against Buffalo,
and so I know this sounds crazy, but I feel like,
for Buffalo, you have to stop James Cook because once
they get multi dimensional, you can't live in that world
because then Josh Allen becomes, you know, the MVP of
the league when that happens. And I went back before
I got on the air with you and looked up
(06:04):
the numbers, you know, the PFF numbers for Jets and Bills,
and they didn't throw a ball twenty yards down the
field in that game, and so that kind of tells you,
you know, the Bills can beat you multiple ways. And
for the Jets and Dolphins, they both experienced that the
last two weeks. And I was going to ask you about,
you know, a big picture Aaron Glenn question, but I'll
come back to that because you allude to this next
question I have for you speaking of Garrett Wilson, because
that stands out on tape obviously, man like it's Garrett Wilson,
(06:25):
who's really really dang good.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And then beyond that, what do you have?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
And so my question for you is from the outside
looking in, like, again, Garrett Wilson, everybody else is it
sounds like that's how you see it? But how have
teams you know, I guess tilted their coverage to account
for that here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, it's kind of weird, right because you look at
last week's tape. You have Tyrod Taylor, who's a better
thrower than justin fields. He's just he's more accurate, He's
he throws a better ball consistently. And when the Bucks
went up by two scorers and is the second half,
Todd Bowles kind of does what Todd Bowles does where
they sit back and they lose their aggression. And Tyrod
(07:03):
was able to hit Garrett on pretty simple, quick hitting
throws and looked more comfortable. And I don't think the
Dolphins are going to go into this game and right
out of the gate allowed the Jets to do that
and say like hey, Garrett Wilson, like, yeah, we'll give
you an eight yard out or a little inbreaker over
and over again, and Garrett's good enough to generate intermediate
separation even when he sees guys trying to bracket him,
(07:24):
or or he's against man coverage, or he's finding a
soft spot of his own. But the end of the day,
you just can't have one wide receiver carrier offense.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
You just can't. He can't get every target on the field.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And also it allows the defense to shift and shade
a different way. And the bottom line is before Josh
Reynolds got hurt, it's I call it like this, Travis.
The Jets went into the year and this is egregious.
This is a horrible look for their GM, Darren Mougie,
who's done some good things here, but this is one
that like you got to learn from your one. You
went into the year with Garrett Wilson. He could be
(07:56):
a number one on a lot of teams in this league.
No one's denying that. At number two wide receiver, you're
trying to force in Josh Reynolds, who's been a number
four throughout his career, Alan Lazard, who's barely a number
four at this point of his career. You took Arian
Smith in the fourth round, which you love his speed.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
That's fine.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
He's a developmental number four, number five right now, and
he's closer to a developmental number five right now. So
you're trying to force all these guys into a number
two role where it's not like their number threes. We've
seen offenses survive with number three wide receivers having to
step up into a number two wide receiver role. I mean,
with the injuries that Jayalen Model has had over the years.
The Dolphins have had times like that, and they have
(08:36):
guys that are capable of.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
It more often than not.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I like Molikue Washington a lot, by the way, not
to get too off topic, but the Jets.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Don't have that kind of guy. And their argument is, well,
they want to play heavier.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Okay, Mason Taylor looks like a solid second round pick
at tight end, but their tight ends after him aren't
good enough to live in twelve personnel.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Jeremy ruckerd is more of a tight end.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Three Stone Smart's rarely ever active, but he's really just
a big wide receiver. So then the promise was, Okay,
we're gonna throw the ball a lot to breeze Hall.
I like that idea but they're they're not executing that.
They don't have creative enough routes and skiing screens for
him to get going. So that's the big problem with
the pass game right now is really and Tyler Johnson
is another career number four that they are now playing
(09:15):
as a number two, and he's dropped some big passes
this year that just he can't drop in this league.
So you know, it's weird. They've made multiple moves on
the defensive line. They traded for Jarvis Brownlee at corner
this They've made some savvy moves for Day three swaps,
but they just have never made the move for a
receiver and I think it's going to continue to hurt
the team.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
That reminds me of the Hard Knocks Dolphins in twenty
twelve when Jeff Eiley was talking about we got a
bunch of fours, fives, and six's. We need some one
to twos and threes out here, and it was like, Yeah,
that would be very helpful for the offense to move
the football down the field.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Get those guys.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, those guys are easier to get than than the one,
twos and threes, that's for sure. And that's a pretty
good preluded too this next question that I had for you,
because you know, over the years, it always felt like
the Jets offense was just missing something. Right, it was
the quarterback, then you get Rogers, he gets hurt, that
whole thing plays out. You had some weapons, and then
maybe the offensive line wasn't good enough. And now it
feels like, I look at this offensive line on paper
(10:10):
before the Elijah Vera Tucker injury, obviously I'm like, damn,
that's a good group. They've got swing interior swing tackles
that are good guys behind a really good front five.
And I thought Armand Membu was the best offensive lineman
in the class, if not the best damn player in
the class. And he looks like that so far out
of the gates here. But so I liked the offensive line,
but had the same concern as you did about the
skill groups there. And so I guess my question is
(10:31):
the early impressions of the Aaron Glenn era. And we'll
get to the defensive side here in just one second,
last offensive question, what is the identity they're trying to
establish on that side of the ball, or maybe just
in general despite the zero to three record, how do
you think that's taking hold so far.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
On offense, they want to be a team that you
have to respect their ability to run the football, and
I think we just saw this on Monday Night where
Aaron Glenn comes from. Not that he was the offensive coordinator,
but he was ingrained in that culture that the Lions
make you respect run game they and they do it
with two different running backs. They'll run obvious, they'll run
(11:05):
manufacturer touches to their wide receivers as well. Really everybody's
involved in that. And the thing is too the Lions
are a team that when they need to, they can
live in twelve personnel. They have a receiver in Jamison
Williams that doesn't get a high target share, but he
stretches the field and stresses the defense with this speed.
The Jets want to replicate a lot of those things,
but they just don't have the horses.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Right now to do that.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Week one, they did make the Steelers respect their run game.
The offensive line, even though without Elijah Vera Tucker looked
really good. Joe Titman has settled right into right guard.
Membu doesn't look like a rookie. I know the pressures
allowed by OLU Fashionu are high on the database, but
if you go back and watch the tapa Olu, some
of the pressures are my new fields and Tyrod hold
(11:48):
the ball as long as any quarterback in the league,
like they Fields holds the ball longer than any quarterback
in the league. Tyrod's about twenty fifth last week twenty sixth,
So that puts more stress on the tackles. But they're
not giving up quarterback hits or sacks to edge rushers.
It's a lot of safety blitzes and stuff like that.
So the offensive line is exactly what Glenn wants, and
that's why they took Membu with a top ten pick
(12:09):
when they had other problems, whether it was that wide
receiver or you know, you could sit there and argue,
like and I didn't want this, but you know, should
they have taken Jackson Dharr all these players? You could
and they said, no, we're gonna take the right tackle
with the seventh overall pick, and that looks like the
right choice.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Membu has been really good.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
The problem is five offensive linemen cannot block seven defenders.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Right. It's a numbers game. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
And I don't think NFL defenses at the moment out
of the gate, respect them enough where they are gonna
they're gonna say, beat us by throwing the football, and
preferably beat us by throwing the football to somebody besides
Garrett Wilson. So I think the Jets can run the ball,
but until they show any threat of passing the ball,
(12:55):
it is very hard to run the ball because teams
got all of that tape on it.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Against the Steelers where the Jets just ran at will.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
What I liked from Tanner Ingstran was he knows this,
and how I know he has a full understanding of this.
The first play against the Bucks, what do they do?
They run play action? The Bucks completely sold out against
the run. Arion Smith clears out the safety on a
deep route. Garrett Wilson on an inbreaking route that would
have been a fifteen plus yard completion is wide open.
(13:24):
The problem was Tyrod Taylory needs to get his legs
under him. Hasn't played a lot of football in the
last couple of years. He just didn't get the ball out.
The rush came to him eventually and he ran for
a couple of yards. But I looked at that and
I said, Tanner ing stran learn from the sins of
Week two, where the Bills are plitzing corners basically laughing
at your passing attack and tried to keep a team
off balance.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Tyrod just didn't make the throw.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Credit to Tyrod, he made all the throws in the
second half and it's the only reason the Jets lost
on a last second field goal.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So I think that's what Glenn wants to do.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
He wants to constantly force you to respect his run
game as a defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
And you brought this up perfectly.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
When the Bill can run, good luck because if the
run with James Cook and you start to allocate more
attention to that, Josh Allen's going to kill you. And yeah,
Jared Goff doesn't have the ability with his legs that
Josh Allen has, but when Jared Goff is asked to throw,
he's ripping teams apart. And I think Glenn wants to
find the balance of that, which always made Justin Fields
an interesting fit because he does add a dimension as
(14:21):
a runner to this playbook, but we've never seen him
be a consistent passer, and I think that's what the
Jets want to find out this year with that contract.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
And that tracks with how teams you mentioned are attacking
them right, because his process over the middle of the field,
going back to Chicago days was always an area. It's like,
we can get more out of this part of his game,
and if you do, then you've got something dangerous because
you know the good deep ball and the ability to
make plays with his legs, like you mentioned, one hundred
and seventy eight yards against the Dolphins last time he
saw them in Chicago, his career high on the ground.
So good stuff all around. Let's take a break right there,
(14:50):
come back and to the other side of the football.
Dolphins offense versus the Jets defense. Almost got that mixed
up there. My guest today Connor Rodgers, coming back on
the other side of Draft Time podcast brought to you
by AutoNation. My guest today here on the Thursday edition
of the Draft Time Podcast is the great Connor Rogers,
covering all things New York Jets. He covers the NFL Draft,
(15:10):
he does a little bit of everything in this great
sport of ours. And Connor, we talked about the Jets offense,
So let's go ahead and pivot back to the defense.
And one of the nice parts about having like coaching
continuity in the division is my preview content is kind
of like copy and paste year to year because I
know the scheme, I know how you attack it, all
that stuff. But this is a new one, just like
the Patriots Mike Frabele up there in New England, and
I'm curious, I just want to start with this, in
(15:32):
what ways has the defensive system change going from Robert
Salah and Jeff Ulbrick to now Aaron Glenn and Steve
wilkes Man.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
It feels like they just when they need to get
off the field on third down, which they've been abysmal at,
they just play man coverage almost if to a point
of arrogance at this point, and Sala did that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I remember early.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Phases of Sala's defense when they were really humming in
New Year two because You're one was a rough adjustment
as well. Sala's defense on first and second down they
like to play a lot of quarters coverage. They really
trusted their front four as much as they could to
get home. And then on third down they go, okay,
we might blitz one of our fast linebackers, make you
get the ball out against our man cover corners. And
(16:14):
the Jets at that time, they had the corners to
do it, whether it's Sauce Gardner, DJ Reed, Michael Carter
developed into a really nice slot corner for them this year.
The problem is with the Jets playing a lot of
man coverage right now is they don't have the safeties
to do it. They have Sauce Gardner, who's a good player.
They signed Brandon Stevens to be a high end cornerback
(16:35):
two and it's it's been a whiff. There's no way
around it. Like he's just he's giving up big plays.
He's not confident right now. Michael Carter actually doesn't look
like himself right now, and you know he's battling some injuries.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
So they have some problems in the slot they're not
accustomed to.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
But when you'll see quarterbacks wisely go after it was
Tony Adams who's now hurt, the rookie safety Malachi Moore,
Baker Mayfield missed the deep shot over him at the
end of the game, and Andre Cisco. So the problem is,
you know, you get into those situations right now and
I think it's a coach that.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Goes, well, this is kind of who we are.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
But it's a it's a roster that says, I don't
know if we're ready to graduate to that yet, and
I'm not going to sit here and pretend the answer
is sitting in cover three or cover two and just
kind of hopefully, you know, allow them to take the
paper cuts against you. But the Jets are giving up
a lot of big plays. I've noticed when going to
man coverage and a guy like Baker Mayfield, he's going
to kill you in man coverage. Guy like Josh Allen,
(17:30):
he's going to kill you in man coverage. A little
differently when you turn your backs to Josh Allen, he
just runs by you. Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield throws lasers
at your safeties. So that's been something that's been new,
and they're just they're not up to speed yet with it.
I think that's been a problem. It feels like they
haven't fully leaned into being entirely different because they probably
(17:51):
think the roster isn't ready for that yet and they
need more of their guys in there. But yeah, it's
been a tough go of it for the Jets defense.
The one thing I'll say that is noticeably different in
a positive light here Travis that you probably noticed watching
the Jets defense last year. They are finally not small
at defensive tackle or just you know, not responsible against
(18:12):
the run. Last year, Javon whether it was Javon Kinlaw,
all the rotational defensive Solomon Thomas, all these rotational defensive
tackles they had next to Quinn Williams were horrible against
the run and they weren't good enough pass rushers to
make up for the difference. And you look at solid traditionally,
you look at the same defense with Demiko Ryans down
in Houston. They play small defensive tackles. They like gap shooters.
(18:34):
That's not Aaron Glenn. They went out, they traded for
Harrison Phillips, run stuffing.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Nose tackle. He's done his job perfectly so far.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
They traded for Jawan Briggs because Cleveland with just had
so many riches on the defensive line. Briggs is a
really nice rotational defensive kind of like a he feels
like a three to four end kind of a player,
but they'll play him in multiple alignments just so strong
pound for pound, He's been good against the run. The
way to run against the Jets is against their edges.
Will McDonald and Michael Clemens. They have not been good
against the run, but it's hard to run right up
(19:03):
the middle against this Jets defense, and that was very easy,
I thought in the sala era.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Well, yeah, I'm getting tired of the Jets making these
To your point, the savvy moves right because Jarvis Brownlee
to me, was a good move.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Harry Phillips is a great move there.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And Jawan Briggs is playing his butt off too, So
they're finding these rotational pieces.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
And I was gonna ask you a question.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
About because I had Dan Orlovsky on the show earlier
this week and he talked about some of the blown
coverages in the back end, but you covered that pretty well.
I've been dming with my buddy Joe Blewett. I'm sure
you know that name that the films that they got
on Twitter, and he was talking about the Jets miss
tackles on defense and how tough this matchup is going
to be for those two reasons combined. But I guess
my question would be, is are we gonna see Jarvis
Brownlee start this game?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
You think? Or is he gonna get some reps? So
do you think some run in this game? So the
weird thing I can't figure out. He was in a
boot it looked like last week.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
So it's always weird when you trade for a player
and you just don't know the status of his health.
So maybe Aaron Glenn will have an update on that
throughout this week. I would think that Sauces banged up,
Michael Carter, banged up Tony Adams, their safety has been
banged up. Like they drafted Assare Thomas, and they're gonna
want to play him, but they might need some help
(20:08):
in the secondary. If Brownley's healthy and you nailed it.
The thing with Browne is he's physical. He'll come up
and tackle against the run. The Jets have been so
bad at tackling on the back end, and that's scary
against the Dolphins. In my opinion, I really the Dolphins.
They get the ball out, they make you play in space.
Jets aren't good at that. The Steelers Aaron Rodgers, he
didn't have to really do anything week one. Quite frankly,
(20:29):
he made a couple of throws, but the Jets didn't
tackle DK Metcalf.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
They didn't, you know, they didn't make their tackles.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
So I think that's one of the additions, like that's
an addition to Brownlee of like, hey, we need a
little bit more bark on, a little bit more sandpaper
in the secondary. That's just allowing too many plays for
inexplicable reasons. So yeah, if he's healthy, I think they
would love to get him on the field.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
That's the big question.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It's funny you talk about the way to attack this
Jets defense, because my audience knows. I think the reason
that you have this to unbeaten against the Jets is
because of the style of the fights over the last
couple of years. I mean that one gap penetration upfield
defense against an outside zone team that's you know, graduate
PhD level in it. They they couldn't stop the Dolphins
outside run game, and from the past game and those
(21:12):
those third and shorts, you know, the deep ball opens
up to Waddle and Tyreek and that's kind of how
the Dolphins offense has gotten their money against this Jets defense.
And the one big thing I'm looking at this week
as well, my penultimate question here for you, Connor is Man,
the absence of Quincy Williams. I was watching, you know,
Jets tape the last couple of days, and I thought
the base linebacker play was an area to kind of exploit.
If you're a Dolphins offense and now you're gonna be
(21:33):
down another man in that position group, How does the
absence of Quincy Williams you think impact this matchup?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
It's massive. I mean they're looking for answers right now.
They extended Jamie and Sherwood in the offseason. I thought
he played pretty well against the Bucks. He really struggled
weeks one and two. He just looked like a guy
without the answers to the test. And now it's you know, guys,
They've just brought in Mark Robinson off New England's practice squad,
Cam Jones from Kansas City. They drafted Keiko mawing Oh
(22:01):
from Miami in the fifth round, but that's I don't
think that's a guy they want to put on the
field with heavy snaps. So I think when you look
at it, I'm fascinated to see, like what the chess
piece answer is here, And I think it's a huge problem,
especially for a Dolphins team that can throw to their
running backs and have no problem finding success doing it.
So the Jets. Do you like the Jets defense in
(22:21):
the middle of the field, that's a lot of problems
right now. It's Quincy being out, it's the problems at safety.
I like Malachi Moore, the future of him and the
idea of him, I think being thrown to the fire
right now.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
He looks a little overwhelmed at times last week.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
So I mean, looking at this game and looking at
Miami's defense, how things have gone. I know the total
is at forty four and a half. I think we're
going for a lot of scoring on Monday Night.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Honestly, fans love seeing points man that, that's no doubt
about that. And that kind of brings us into our
last question here, and I kind of have a feeling
I know where you're leading, but maybe I'm wrong. I
always conclude with this question the Jets win this game,
and then the guests can fill in the answer.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
If you can fill in the answer.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
The Jets win this game if they finally tackle, And
I know it's the most cliche, I mean the answer
I can give you, but they don't tackle in space
and they give up plays. It be like that are
throws short of the sticks that somehow get beyond the
sticks on third down over and over again. So I'll
combine it with if they tackle on third down because
(23:21):
the Jets have been the kings of getting into these
third and longs and they'll either get a penalty or
they'll allow a chunk play. And I don't really think
Miami is the anecdote, the elixir to that. They're a
team that can attack the Jets in space. So that's
why my confidence in this one, depending on what the
offense can do, isn't really sky high, because.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Then Dolphins fans are listening to that.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Like this guy said, if they tackle like watch you
watch this game, and when you see that they don't
rally to the ball, that's what drives me insane. Guys
mistackles in this league. You're tackling athletes with four to
three speed and all time agility. The problem is the
second guy isn't there enough, the third guy isn't air enough.
So this is a team that needs to rally to
the ball and understand that if the first guy misses
(24:06):
any of these skill players, it could be housed.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
And that shit scariest.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
So it's something I'm sure they've been in their ears
about throughout the week coaching wise, but you actually have
to see it translate. They can knock get off the
field on third down. It is unlike anything I've seen
through three weeks of an NFL season.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Miami coming off a game where they were ten for
fifteen on third downs. And I just checked this before
I came on the air on Profoiable Reference. The Jets
have thirty six missed tackles this year. Miami has eighteen,
so double the miss tackles through three games so far.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, it's a crazy number.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
He is at Connor j Rodgers on Twitter, at the
bad Lands Podcast and all the content they do with
Joe Caparusso, the NFL Stock Exchange Show with Trevor Sikima,
NBC Sports, SNY, the Phil Simms Podcast. Man, So I'm
so happy to see that for you. Congrats and all
your success, Connor, and I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Man, we'll see it. You're gonna be down here for
the game on Monday.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I wish, man, I would love to come down to
the nice weather, maybe play some golf, but I'll be
up in our studio at SNY doing pre and post game.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
But I appreciate you having me on, man. It was
a lot of fun anytime. Man, thank you for your time.
We'll talk to you sou Man and away he goes,
and before we get into the week four picks. In fact,
I'll go ahead and just bump this today end of
the show, and we'll go ahead and bump press conference
audio from coaches here. Because I'm recording this on Wednesday morning.
The show will come out tomorrow morning, so by the
(25:21):
time you hear this, it will already be outdated in
terms of the factual numbers and data of it all.
But I want to just put this out there because
I feel like it could resonate among Dolphins fans. So
I've made this point on the show on Twitter. In
circles of my life, I've been a diehard Mariners and
(25:42):
Dolphins fan my entire life, and a lot of that
stem from the fact that I grew up in the
Pacific Northwest in the nineties, where again, King Griffey Junior
was Michael Jordan in baseball, right, he first baseball player
to have a shoe from Nike, and everywhere you looked.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
You know, the Little Big Lee movie when.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Lou Collins blast won the center field and the Twins
with a kid manager might win the pennant, But nope,
here comes Kingerford Junior taking that ball over the wall
and back into play and making the big out to
win the game for the Mariners. Like I cheered in
that moment in the movie Theater, you could not be
a Mayors fan if you lived in the Pacific Northwest.
And then for the Dolphins sake, like primetime games all
(26:21):
the time, the best record on Monday Night football, the
coolest colors in the league, the coolest starter jacket, and
the best quarterback on the planet certainly helped direct me
in that direction. And I was talking to a friend
who actually used to work for us here on the
video team now with the Ravens, and he was like,
what would you what would mean more to you? Dolphins
are Mariners? And I was like, look, there's a huge
(26:41):
gap after the two teams, but it is not even close.
It's not even in the same stratosphere when it comes
to how I feel about the Dolphins versus how I
feel about the Mariners. But I'm saying this to you
all because on Tuesday night, the Mariners were a win
away from clinching a playoff berth and there's still five
games left they were going to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Eventually.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
They're playing the worst team in the National League in
the Colorado Rockies, and they've got two more games against them.
They were going to get that win, they were going
to get in there's more to achieve ahead of them
in terms of clinching the division, which by the time
you hear this podcast, I'm betting they will have done
that because they probably beat the Rockies again on Wednesday
to clinch the division, and then they can also put
themselves in position to get a first round by with
one more win or one more Tigers loss after that.
(27:25):
And it's exciting because for you non baseball fans, if
the Mariners can't get that first round by and reset
the rotation to be fresh for the American League Divisional Series,
they're going to be a tough out because they have
the best lineup in the American League and on paper,
they have the best rotation pitching rotation, and if that
lines up healthy and fresh, baseball can go in any direction.
(27:46):
In fact, it usually does in the playoffs. But the
Mariners on paper look to be a real threat to
make the World Series, and that would be the first
time for that franchise, which is the only franchise in
Major League Baseball that has not played in a World series.
And the reason I just gave you how long has
this gone? Three minutes on Major League Baseball on a
(28:07):
Thursday football podcast is because they were down by two
runs in the bottom of the eighth inning of that game,
and there was two outs, bases were loaded, and this
guy they brought in, Josh Naylor, who has got an
ops of eleven hundred at home since he got traded
to the Mariners. He's the best hitter in t Moble
Park history at this point, small sample size. He drives
(28:29):
a double into the gap and the manners clear the
bases and they win the game four to three, and
the celebration ensued. They had Cal Rawley takes a microphone,
addresses the crowd and drops an F bomb live on
Root Sports, which by the way, kept the broadcast at
the park and basically said no thanks to commercials and
(28:49):
showed the Mariners all star closer come out of the
bullpen to shut that thing down and clinch a playoff spot.
And fans in Seattle are taking to the streets after
a twoesday night win over the Colorado freaking Rockies and
celebrating in the streets of Seattle. And I'm telling you
all of this because damn it, the way I felt,
(29:12):
the way those fuzzies that trickle down from the back
of your brain, the chemicals that get released from just
good vibes, right from feeling good, and the tingles that
sends across the rest of your body, like and I
know it's gonna be substantially more for the Dolphins one day.
It just made me think, like, yeah, it kind of
(29:32):
if this doesn't get back on the rails and we
have to, you know, bid ado to the season and
this entire cycle and build, which we've talked about in
the podcast for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Now that it feels like it's going that.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Way, like I'm not gonna not watch this team and
invest in this team, and I get we're so frustrated
by it, but holy molly, the payoff, man, the payoff.
It's it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible the way it felt.
Some of you guys out there are like, yeah, do
we're Heat fans? And I'm a Heat fan.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
It's nowhere near the level of the Dolphins and the
Mariners for me since they took my damn basketball team
from Seattle from me. But you guys have probably enjoyed,
you know, experience with teams that feel that you feel
similarly about the Dolphins to you're whatever a Yankees or
a Mets fan out there, or you know, a Marlins
fan that saw World Series championships back in the ninety
seven and o three seasons. So maybe I'm just like
(30:25):
the only forty year old out there that has literally
never seen my team win a damn thing. I'm thirty seven,
by the way, turn thirty eight next month. But like
I went to Washington State, I root for the baseball
the one baseball organization that hasn't been to a World Series,
and I root for the team that has the longest
playoff wind route in professional sports. I don't care about hockey.
(30:47):
I watched the Panthers in the finals. That's fun to watch,
but I don't care about it. I don't really care
about basketball the way I do these two teams.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
And I just.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
That feeling I got from watching the Mariners do their
thing and clinch a playoff spot and the upside and
the excitement about where this team can go. It almost
made me feel like, all right, yeah, maybe maybe we'll
have a year or two where it's dark for the Dolphins.
After a couple of fun years, right, and like twenty
twenty three was so much fun, But like, I'm not
(31:20):
gonna I'm not going anywhere. You know, we got another
forty years of this if I make it to eighty,
you know, and one day it'll happen maybe, And I
just I can't wait for that day because even if
it's forty more years of misery and I have to
be eighty years old and celebrate in that championship for
the Miami Dolphins, it's gonna be worth it.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
That's my entire spiel there.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So let's go ahead and take our last break right there,
come back and pick the week four games across the
National Football League. Drift Time podcast, brought to you by
Auto Nation. You know, I saw somebody tweet it at
me the other day about their enjoyment of the recent
coverage on the podcast. In fact, called it my best
content I've ever done, which I don't know if I'd
(32:02):
go that far. Some of the quarterback breakdown stuff I
did before the Dolphins is pretty good too, but I
appreciate it. I really appreciate those kind words. I did
get a negative review talking about how much I'm critical
on Tuoa and that is a reason to not listen
to the podcast anymore. So you win some, you lose some,
I guess. But I do think we're going to probably
be injecting more of these types of monologues and thought
(32:24):
provoking type of segments into the show to replace the
void that I guess you're kind of experiencing. So if
you like it, let me know. If you don't, let
me know. I like to produce the show from what
you guys prefer, so let me know how you feel
about those on social media. Let's go ahead and conclude
the show. I forgot to do this, and I feel
(32:45):
dumb for doing it, but I'll tell you why I'm
not lying to you, guys. I didn't put the Week
three picks on the podcast last week. I wrote it
on my notepad. That is my kind of playbook that
I have on my desk every single day, like I
go through my notes and my list of things again done.
And I had put your picks on the film Recap podcast.
I've I taped that podcast from home, so I didn't
(33:06):
have my notepad didn't do it, so I didn't put
the picks on the show. But I went ten and
six in week three, and you guys are probably saying, like, well,
how do we know that, Well, it's my worst week
of the season. I went eleven and five in Week one,
fourteen and two in Week two, and then ten and
six last week.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
The losses.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I had Houston over Jacksonville, I had Atlanta over Carolina,
at green Bay over Cleveland, obviously, I had Denver over
the Chargers, I had Dallas over the Bears, and I
had the Ravens over the Lions. I was with my
six losses on the week this week, cue the music.
We are thirty five and thirteen. It's a pretty good
record here heading into the fourth week of the season.
We've got sixteen more games I think by weeks start
(33:46):
next week. You've got a quadruple header this weekend, and
you don't have the Dolphins on Sunday, So that means
you get to watch four consecutive football games if you
are a true sicko, which I know you guys are,
So cue the music, jump into the pod, into the picks. Here,
We're going to take the Cardinals over the Seahawks tonight.
Do I feel good about that? No, I sure don't.
I feel like the Seahawks have kind of developed this
(34:09):
approach and this identity that a lot of Dolphins fans
probably want to see happen. And it's occurring with a
Mike McDonald defense that kind of has the parts to
run his defense, but a physical, pound it down your
throat type of ground game on the offense, with two
backs that can really get after it, and then a
star receiver in Jackson Smith and Jigba, And damn it
if you don't have the exact same makings of that
here in Miami with a chan Ollie Gordon and potentially
(34:31):
down the road, Jalen Wattle as that top guy. Wattle
is just as good, if not better than Jackson Smith
and Jigba. They're both elite, elite playmakers. In my opinion,
I really like what they've done with that operation. I
think it's happened quicker than I thought it would. I
was kind of having to shed my preconceived notions of
the Seahawks after I vehemently disagreed with the decision to
(34:52):
go from Geno Smith to Sam Donald. But watching Geno
Smith play quarterback for the Raiders it's ugly, and watching
Sam Donald do it for the Seahawks it's been pretty
so Seahawks look pretty good, but I'm gonna take the
Cardinals because I just feel like this is a spot
where they can kind of pick off the Seahawks here,
even though in recent years the Seahawks have given the
Cardinals some pretty tough games. So I'm taking the Cardinals,
but it's probably the game I feel worse about all
(35:13):
weekend long. Let's keep this rolling and go on over
to Dublin, right, that's where the Pittsburgh Minnesota game is
going to be played. And look, I like Minnesota's defense
as much as anybody, but I think that only works
against quarterbacks like Jake Browning. I don't think it works
against the quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, and he'll pick out
the disguises. He'll go ahead and get after that Minnesota
defense and get enough points on the board to overcome
(35:35):
a Vikings offense led by Carson Wentz that I don't
think is going to be a sustainable successful operation there,
or if it's J. J. McCarthy, who you guys know,
I don't feel very strongly about, is his long term
prospects as a franchise quarterback. So I'll take the Steelers
in Dublin. Typically veteran teams travel overseas better, and I
think Pittsburgh's one of the most veteran teams in league.
Pittsburgh over the Vikings in that one. I'll take the
(35:56):
Falcons over the Commanders.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Why. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Jade and Daniel might return banged up. The Falcons looked
like absolute doodoo on Sunday. I think they can bounce back,
maybe get Bijon Robinson going back again. I'll take the
Falcons in another game that I don't feel that comfortable about,
but we're gonna pick anyways. I'll take the Chargers over
the Giants. I continue to just lose games on the Chargers,
so let's stop doing that. They play a bad football team.
Easy pick there. Even going east in the early time slot,
(36:20):
I'll take the Texans over the Titans. I mean I
picked the Titans to win like seven games this year
because of cam Ward, but he's playing like I thought
he would. I just didn't realize how bad the rest
of the operation was going to be. And the Texans
might have a quarterback problem, Like I love CJ. Stroud
coming out, but he has not played well at all
at all. So I'll take the Texans over the Titans,
just because the Titans don't seem to be doing anything
(36:41):
right right now. I'll take the Eagles over the Bucks,
and I do this only because of the Bucks injuries.
The Bucks were so depleted on the offensive line. I
just don't think they can handle the Philly defensive line.
Of all they can throw at you. From that perspective,
if they had Luca Decki and Tristan Wursch and the
entire compliment up front, I would take Tampa Bay. But
I'm not going to take a depleted offensive line against
(37:01):
that Eagles front. I'll take the Patriots over the Panthers.
I don't feel good about that one either, don't. I
think the Patriots are kind of in the same boat
as us in terms of their prospects for the season.
They threw away the game against the Steelers on Sunday,
But I think the Panthers are also kind of a farce.
So I guess may the best team win. I'll take
the Patriots in this one. The Bills over the Saints
don't need any explanation behind that. The Lions over the Browns.
(37:25):
I would say the same thing here, but the Browns
are coming out of one of those impressive wins, but
they also get one of those, like every single year,
it seems like, and it usually comes because that really
good defense led by Miles Garrett and Denzel Ward.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
And Carson Sweshinger.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
By the way, we talked about him a lot on
the podcast My Goodness, defensive Rookie of the Year candidate
right there. It happens because that defense is really good.
But the Lions, I'm telling you, man, this is a wagon.
And we saw it up in Detroit and joint practices.
You saw it against the Ravens, Like that is a
freaking wagon. Lions roll over the Browns, the Niners over
the Jaguars even without Nick Bosa, and I think it's
supposed to be brock pretty again this week. It doesn't
(37:59):
matter because I think the Niners defense schematically and even
without Bosa can get after Trevor Lawrence and a shaky
Jaguars offensive operation. I'll take the Rams over the Colts
to end the dream season.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Am I gonna? I think I'm like zero and three
on the Colts.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
No. I picked him last week against the Titans, But
I'm gonna stick to that preseason prediction here. It's either
gonna come true I'm gonna have to pivot right now.
I'm gonna stick with it. Rams over the Colts. I'll
take the Raiders over the Bears. Don't feel good about
that either, but I think the Bears offensive explosion was
more of the Cowboys defense, who also, by the way,
allowed thirty seven points of that Giants offense just two
(38:33):
games ago. I'll take the Raiders to bounce back over
the Bears, even though the Raiders offensive line has been
by far the worst in football. I'll take the Ravens
over the Chiefs, And this is probably one of the
games I feel best about. And both these teams right
one and two. The Ravens have two tough losses against
two good teams. The Chiefs have a couple of not
great losses against one good team and one not great team.
I think the Ravens role in that game.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
The Chiefs offense is broken.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Man. I'll take the Packers over the Cowboys. How funny
is that gonna be? Didn't Jerry Jones just talk about
how if the Packers wanted to give him a player
like Michah Parsons, they would entertain the idea of a
tray or something like something crazy like that. Right, Packers
big over the Cowboys as Michael Parsons gets fourteen sacks
in that game.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I took the Dolphins over the Jets. I feel pretty.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Good about that, which as good as I can feel
about a Dolphins team that I'm not feeling great about
in general. But I think the Jets coming down here
is a tough spot for them. Miami gets their first win,
and I'll take Denver over the Bengals. I think the
Bengals are going to be a team that picks top
five this year. Man, that defense without Joe burrow is
is not a good recipe for success. I know people
fell in love with Jake Browning, but if you watch
that year in twenty twenty three, it fell off towards
(39:34):
the end, and that's always kind of what I thought.
Jake Brian would be ANFL quarterback, just not quite a
guy that can start for fourteen game fifteen games, right,
That's what he had to do for this Bengals team.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Those are the week four picks, thirty five and thirteen
coming in. We'll see how we fare. Let's go ahead
and get out of here tomorrow On the show, dan
Orlowski joins me to break down Dolphins and Jets. We'll
have Kyle Krabs in the podcast and we'll start with
the locker room talking to a few of the players.
All of that on tomorrow's show, and then the Monday
recap pod cast will be the next time you hear
from me. In the meantime, you all please be sure subscribe, rate,
review the show, follow me on social at wink the NFL,
(40:07):
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel
for a brand new episode of Dolphins HQ, Media Availabilities,
under the Sun, and so much more, and last button
not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, Friends Up, Caroline,
Cameron and Willow Daddy. He's coming home.
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show,
our normal Wednesday slot kicks back to the Thursday position
here as I welcome in Connor Rogers to preview the
Jets ahead of Dolphins and Jets on Monday Night football.
We're also gonna pick the week four games across the
National Football League, and we might stop by the podium
(00:33):
for some press conference audio if we have time.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Don't know if we're going to have time. Busy little Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Here ahead from the Baptist Hill Studios inside the Baptist
Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast. Joining
us today is a man with many jobs, and for
the purpose of today's show, we'll focus on his Jets coverage.
He is Connor Rogers, and Connor, can I start the
show with a question that is purely just for me?
(00:58):
This is only a Travis fueled type of segment. Here,
your co host on NFL Stock Exchange is one of
my favorite people in the entire industry. A Florida man
through and through. He's the one that taught me about
pub subs like ten years ago. Can you give me
your best Trevor Sick of a story that you've got?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Oh man, there are so many, because we've now done
the I've been friends with Trevor for years before we
did the podcast, and now we've done the podcast for
coming up on half a decade, which is just ridiculous.
I think the most funny one that's recent that comes
top of mind is just that he was picking me
up from the airport for the Senior Bowl one year
(01:34):
and he didn't like tell me anything, and I'm waiting
and you've been to Mobile before. I feel like, so
you know the deal of how like small of an
airport is You're like the only one outside waiting around
in the middle of nowhere, and it was late at
night because you have to connect from New York to
get to freaking Mobile, Alabama. And this giant Jeep gladiator
pulls up and like whizzes by me, and all of
(01:55):
a sudden, Trevor's head comes out of the way and
he's like, hey, dude, and it was a rental car
he was supposed to have like this little like little
you know, rinky dinks to Dan for us.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And he pulls up this giant jeep Gladiator.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
We hop in and we're like, all right, let's do
Senior Bowl week man, let's rock and roll. So like
that's the kind of stuff you get with him where
it's just like everything is just like a surprise at
any moment of just ridiculousness. So we have a lot
of laughs over the years. I love hanging out with
the guy. I mean it's yeah, he's the best. I'm
with you all the way. He is a true Florida man,
like no matter where he wherever life takes him, he
(02:31):
is he just truly like defines Florida man by theo.
I make fun of him right now about his gators
all the time, and he's such a good sport about it.
He's a Lightning fan, so he's always had one up
on me with the me being a Rangers fan.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
But we always have a good laugh about it.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I'm sure when he poked his heat with that ragtop wrangler,
the hair did not move an ounce.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
No, no, it's like a movie star picking you up
the from the airport and yeah, yeah, it's like it's
like ridiculous. It's just it's one of those things where
like it probably was funnier for me in the moment
than it sounds.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
But it's just like so ridiculous of a human.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I don't even think the thing with Trevor and I too,
we don't even have to like text. We're like a
high mind at this point. So like he knew when
I was laying at and it'd be like, hey where
are you? Or hey, I'm on the way, it's just
like peels up, stop short, there's nobody around. I'm like,
damn man, am I ever getting out of this place?
Like I hate this airport? And they're enough there. He
was ready to go, and like you said, not a
hair out of place. Hey man, that's exactly what I
(03:24):
was looking for. That's a perfect story to kick us
off here. Let's go ahead and get into business here,
because the Jets come into this one looking for their
first win against the Dolphins team in search of the
exact same thing. And I always start at the quarterback position.
Where else would you go when it comes to previewing games.
And I assume we're tipping this on a Wednesday for
full transparency, episode comes out Thursday. I assume it's going
to be justin fields, but small sample size for him,
(03:46):
you know, playing what five or six cores before he
got knocked out of that Buffalo game. I'm just curious
to kind of ask you what stood out from those
five or six cores of football that he's played in
this Tanner extra and offense. Yeah, it's really interesting because
you had week one where it felt like everything went
right for him pretty much. And even if you want
to nitpick something, when they had the ball with fifty
seconds left to try to get into field goal range,
(04:09):
I mean on that drive, he did a lot of
things the right way. But first off, nobody besides Garrett
Wilson can get open. They don't have a number two receiver.
So there was one play where the pass pro was perfect.
The Steelers, actually, you see a lot of teams kind
of sit in a shell. They rushed six, the back
picked up somebody, the membo buried TJ. Watt, the Jets
(04:29):
rookie right tackle buried him. Fields made someone miss, stepped
up on a comeback, and Jalen Ramsey, old friend of yours,
Jayalen Ramsey, broke up the pass. It's just the guys
can't generate separation. And in the last pass of the game
that was for a first down to keep things going.
Garrett Wilson dropped the ball when he got smashed on
a hit, So like, it's crazy how good Fields played
that game. But then you know, the Bills have tape
(04:51):
on your Week one. What you want to do? The
Bill sold out against the run in Week two, and
that was good business by them. They were blitzing corners,
they were selling out field. It's missed a wide open
Garrett Wilson on a route across the middle of the
field on the opening drive that.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
He's got a hit. It would have been a twenty
plus yard play.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
And it felt like Fields just never had its like
legs under him that game. He was missing throws, he
got hurt, Like you said, he was never comfortable. So
we've seen one great game, one of the best games
of Justin Field's career Week one with the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Loved the game plan.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
We saw a uncompetitive game against the Bills, right and
like you said before, he got hurt and there was
bick enough sample of that offense where it was uncompetitive.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
It wasn't like he was hurt on the second drive.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
And then you know obviously didn't play Week three, so
that's kind of the Justin Fields experience right now is
the roller coaster of it, and the Jets are trying
to find some kind of happy medium of consistency.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
It's funny you mentioned the committing to stopping the run
game for the Buffalo Bills, because I went on my
pregame radio spot before the Thursday night game against Buffalo,
and so I know this sounds crazy, but I feel like,
for Buffalo, you have to stop James Cook because once
they get multi dimensional, you can't live in that world
because then Josh Allen becomes, you know, the MVP of
the league when that happens. And I went back before
I got on the air with you and looked up
(06:04):
the numbers, you know, the PFF numbers for Jets and Bills,
and they didn't throw a ball twenty yards down the
field in that game, and so that kind of tells you,
you know, the Bills can beat you multiple ways. And
for the Jets and Dolphins, they both experienced that the
last two weeks. And I was going to ask you about,
you know, a big picture Aaron Glenn question, but I'll
come back to that because you allude to this next
question I have for you speaking of Garrett Wilson, because
that stands out on tape obviously, man like it's Garrett Wilson,
(06:25):
who's really really dang good.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And then beyond that, what do you have?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
And so my question for you is from the outside
looking in, like, again, Garrett Wilson, everybody else is it
sounds like that's how you see it? But how have
teams you know, I guess tilted their coverage to account
for that here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, it's kind of weird, right because you look at
last week's tape. You have Tyrod Taylor, who's a better
thrower than justin fields. He's just he's more accurate, He's
he throws a better ball consistently. And when the Bucks
went up by two scorers and is the second half,
Todd Bowles kind of does what Todd Bowles does where
they sit back and they lose their aggression. And Tyrod
(07:03):
was able to hit Garrett on pretty simple, quick hitting
throws and looked more comfortable. And I don't think the
Dolphins are going to go into this game and right
out of the gate allowed the Jets to do that
and say like hey, Garrett Wilson, like, yeah, we'll give
you an eight yard out or a little inbreaker over
and over again, and Garrett's good enough to generate intermediate
separation even when he sees guys trying to bracket him,
(07:24):
or or he's against man coverage, or he's finding a
soft spot of his own. But the end of the day,
you just can't have one wide receiver carrier offense.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
You just can't. He can't get every target on the field.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And also it allows the defense to shift and shade
a different way. And the bottom line is before Josh
Reynolds got hurt, it's I call it like this, Travis.
The Jets went into the year and this is egregious.
This is a horrible look for their GM, Darren Mougie,
who's done some good things here, but this is one
that like you got to learn from your one. You
went into the year with Garrett Wilson. He could be
(07:56):
a number one on a lot of teams in this league.
No one's denying that. At number two wide receiver, you're
trying to force in Josh Reynolds, who's been a number
four throughout his career, Alan Lazard, who's barely a number
four at this point of his career. You took Arian
Smith in the fourth round, which you love his speed.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
That's fine.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
He's a developmental number four, number five right now, and
he's closer to a developmental number five right now. So
you're trying to force all these guys into a number
two role where it's not like their number threes. We've
seen offenses survive with number three wide receivers having to
step up into a number two wide receiver role. I mean,
with the injuries that Jayalen Model has had over the years.
The Dolphins have had times like that, and they have
(08:36):
guys that are capable of.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
It more often than not.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I like Molikue Washington a lot, by the way, not
to get too off topic, but the Jets.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Don't have that kind of guy. And their argument is, well,
they want to play heavier.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Okay, Mason Taylor looks like a solid second round pick
at tight end, but their tight ends after him aren't
good enough to live in twelve personnel.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Jeremy ruckerd is more of a tight end.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Three Stone Smart's rarely ever active, but he's really just
a big wide receiver. So then the promise was, Okay,
we're gonna throw the ball a lot to breeze Hall.
I like that idea but they're they're not executing that.
They don't have creative enough routes and skiing screens for
him to get going. So that's the big problem with
the pass game right now is really and Tyler Johnson
is another career number four that they are now playing
(09:15):
as a number two, and he's dropped some big passes
this year that just he can't drop in this league.
So you know, it's weird. They've made multiple moves on
the defensive line. They traded for Jarvis Brownlee at corner
this They've made some savvy moves for Day three swaps,
but they just have never made the move for a
receiver and I think it's going to continue to hurt
the team.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
That reminds me of the Hard Knocks Dolphins in twenty
twelve when Jeff Eiley was talking about we got a
bunch of fours, fives, and six's. We need some one
to twos and threes out here, and it was like, Yeah,
that would be very helpful for the offense to move
the football down the field.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Get those guys.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, those guys are easier to get than than the one,
twos and threes, that's for sure. And that's a pretty
good preluded too this next question that I had for you,
because you know, over the years, it always felt like
the Jets offense was just missing something. Right, it was
the quarterback, then you get Rogers, he gets hurt, that
whole thing plays out. You had some weapons, and then
maybe the offensive line wasn't good enough. And now it
feels like, I look at this offensive line on paper
(10:10):
before the Elijah Vera Tucker injury, obviously I'm like, damn,
that's a good group. They've got swing interior swing tackles
that are good guys behind a really good front five.
And I thought Armand Membu was the best offensive lineman
in the class, if not the best damn player in
the class. And he looks like that so far out
of the gates here. But so I liked the offensive line,
but had the same concern as you did about the
skill groups there. And so I guess my question is
(10:31):
the early impressions of the Aaron Glenn era. And we'll
get to the defensive side here in just one second,
last offensive question, what is the identity they're trying to
establish on that side of the ball, or maybe just
in general despite the zero to three record, how do
you think that's taking hold so far.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
On offense, they want to be a team that you
have to respect their ability to run the football, and
I think we just saw this on Monday Night where
Aaron Glenn comes from. Not that he was the offensive coordinator,
but he was ingrained in that culture that the Lions
make you respect run game they and they do it
with two different running backs. They'll run obvious, they'll run
(11:05):
manufacturer touches to their wide receivers as well. Really everybody's
involved in that. And the thing is too the Lions
are a team that when they need to, they can
live in twelve personnel. They have a receiver in Jamison
Williams that doesn't get a high target share, but he
stretches the field and stresses the defense with this speed.
The Jets want to replicate a lot of those things,
but they just don't have the horses.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Right now to do that.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Week one, they did make the Steelers respect their run game.
The offensive line, even though without Elijah Vera Tucker looked
really good. Joe Titman has settled right into right guard.
Membu doesn't look like a rookie. I know the pressures
allowed by OLU Fashionu are high on the database, but
if you go back and watch the tapa Olu, some
of the pressures are my new fields and Tyrod hold
(11:48):
the ball as long as any quarterback in the league,
like they Fields holds the ball longer than any quarterback
in the league. Tyrod's about twenty fifth last week twenty sixth,
So that puts more stress on the tackles. But they're
not giving up quarterback hits or sacks to edge rushers.
It's a lot of safety blitzes and stuff like that.
So the offensive line is exactly what Glenn wants, and
that's why they took Membu with a top ten pick
(12:09):
when they had other problems, whether it was that wide
receiver or you know, you could sit there and argue,
like and I didn't want this, but you know, should
they have taken Jackson Dharr all these players? You could
and they said, no, we're gonna take the right tackle
with the seventh overall pick, and that looks like the
right choice.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Membu has been really good.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
The problem is five offensive linemen cannot block seven defenders.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Right. It's a numbers game. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
And I don't think NFL defenses at the moment out
of the gate, respect them enough where they are gonna
they're gonna say, beat us by throwing the football, and
preferably beat us by throwing the football to somebody besides
Garrett Wilson. So I think the Jets can run the ball,
but until they show any threat of passing the ball,
(12:55):
it is very hard to run the ball because teams
got all of that tape on it.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Against the Steelers where the Jets just ran at will.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
What I liked from Tanner Ingstran was he knows this,
and how I know he has a full understanding of this.
The first play against the Bucks, what do they do?
They run play action? The Bucks completely sold out against
the run. Arion Smith clears out the safety on a
deep route. Garrett Wilson on an inbreaking route that would
have been a fifteen plus yard completion is wide open.
(13:24):
The problem was Tyrod Taylory needs to get his legs
under him. Hasn't played a lot of football in the
last couple of years. He just didn't get the ball out.
The rush came to him eventually and he ran for
a couple of yards. But I looked at that and
I said, Tanner ing stran learn from the sins of
Week two, where the Bills are plitzing corners basically laughing
at your passing attack and tried to keep a team
off balance.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Tyrod just didn't make the throw.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Credit to Tyrod, he made all the throws in the
second half and it's the only reason the Jets lost
on a last second field goal.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So I think that's what Glenn wants to do.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
He wants to constantly force you to respect his run
game as a defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
And you brought this up perfectly.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
When the Bill can run, good luck because if the
run with James Cook and you start to allocate more
attention to that, Josh Allen's going to kill you. And yeah,
Jared Goff doesn't have the ability with his legs that
Josh Allen has, but when Jared Goff is asked to throw,
he's ripping teams apart. And I think Glenn wants to
find the balance of that, which always made Justin Fields
an interesting fit because he does add a dimension as
(14:21):
a runner to this playbook, but we've never seen him
be a consistent passer, and I think that's what the
Jets want to find out this year with that contract.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
And that tracks with how teams you mentioned are attacking
them right, because his process over the middle of the field,
going back to Chicago days was always an area. It's like,
we can get more out of this part of his game,
and if you do, then you've got something dangerous because
you know the good deep ball and the ability to
make plays with his legs, like you mentioned, one hundred
and seventy eight yards against the Dolphins last time he
saw them in Chicago, his career high on the ground.
So good stuff all around. Let's take a break right there,
(14:50):
come back and to the other side of the football.
Dolphins offense versus the Jets defense. Almost got that mixed
up there. My guest today Connor Rodgers, coming back on
the other side of Draft Time podcast brought to you
by AutoNation. My guest today here on the Thursday edition
of the Draft Time Podcast is the great Connor Rogers,
covering all things New York Jets. He covers the NFL Draft,
(15:10):
he does a little bit of everything in this great
sport of ours. And Connor, we talked about the Jets offense,
So let's go ahead and pivot back to the defense.
And one of the nice parts about having like coaching
continuity in the division is my preview content is kind
of like copy and paste year to year because I
know the scheme, I know how you attack it, all
that stuff. But this is a new one, just like
the Patriots Mike Frabele up there in New England, and
I'm curious, I just want to start with this, in
(15:32):
what ways has the defensive system change going from Robert
Salah and Jeff Ulbrick to now Aaron Glenn and Steve
wilkes Man.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
It feels like they just when they need to get
off the field on third down, which they've been abysmal at,
they just play man coverage almost if to a point
of arrogance at this point, and Sala did that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I remember early.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Phases of Sala's defense when they were really humming in
New Year two because You're one was a rough adjustment
as well. Sala's defense on first and second down they
like to play a lot of quarters coverage. They really
trusted their front four as much as they could to
get home. And then on third down they go, okay,
we might blitz one of our fast linebackers, make you
get the ball out against our man cover corners. And
(16:14):
the Jets at that time, they had the corners to
do it, whether it's Sauce Gardner, DJ Reed, Michael Carter
developed into a really nice slot corner for them this year.
The problem is with the Jets playing a lot of
man coverage right now is they don't have the safeties
to do it. They have Sauce Gardner, who's a good player.
They signed Brandon Stevens to be a high end cornerback
(16:35):
two and it's it's been a whiff. There's no way
around it. Like he's just he's giving up big plays.
He's not confident right now. Michael Carter actually doesn't look
like himself right now, and you know he's battling some injuries.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
So they have some problems in the slot they're not
accustomed to.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
But when you'll see quarterbacks wisely go after it was
Tony Adams who's now hurt, the rookie safety Malachi Moore,
Baker Mayfield missed the deep shot over him at the
end of the game, and Andre Cisco. So the problem is,
you know, you get into those situations right now and
I think it's a coach that.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Goes, well, this is kind of who we are.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
But it's a it's a roster that says, I don't
know if we're ready to graduate to that yet, and
I'm not going to sit here and pretend the answer
is sitting in cover three or cover two and just
kind of hopefully, you know, allow them to take the
paper cuts against you. But the Jets are giving up
a lot of big plays. I've noticed when going to
man coverage and a guy like Baker Mayfield, he's going
to kill you in man coverage. Guy like Josh Allen,
(17:30):
he's going to kill you in man coverage. A little
differently when you turn your backs to Josh Allen, he
just runs by you. Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield throws lasers
at your safeties. So that's been something that's been new,
and they're just they're not up to speed yet with it.
I think that's been a problem. It feels like they
haven't fully leaned into being entirely different because they probably
(17:51):
think the roster isn't ready for that yet and they
need more of their guys in there. But yeah, it's
been a tough go of it for the Jets defense.
The one thing I'll say that is noticeably different in
a positive light here Travis that you probably noticed watching
the Jets defense last year. They are finally not small
at defensive tackle or just you know, not responsible against
(18:12):
the run. Last year, Javon whether it was Javon Kinlaw,
all the rotational defensive Solomon Thomas, all these rotational defensive
tackles they had next to Quinn Williams were horrible against
the run and they weren't good enough pass rushers to
make up for the difference. And you look at solid traditionally,
you look at the same defense with Demiko Ryans down
in Houston. They play small defensive tackles. They like gap shooters.
(18:34):
That's not Aaron Glenn. They went out, they traded for
Harrison Phillips, run stuffing.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Nose tackle. He's done his job perfectly so far.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
They traded for Jawan Briggs because Cleveland with just had
so many riches on the defensive line. Briggs is a
really nice rotational defensive kind of like a he feels
like a three to four end kind of a player,
but they'll play him in multiple alignments just so strong
pound for pound, He's been good against the run. The
way to run against the Jets is against their edges.
Will McDonald and Michael Clemens. They have not been good
against the run, but it's hard to run right up
(19:03):
the middle against this Jets defense, and that was very easy,
I thought in the sala era.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Well, yeah, I'm getting tired of the Jets making these
To your point, the savvy moves right because Jarvis Brownlee
to me, was a good move.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Harry Phillips is a great move there.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And Jawan Briggs is playing his butt off too, So
they're finding these rotational pieces.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
And I was gonna ask you a question.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
About because I had Dan Orlovsky on the show earlier
this week and he talked about some of the blown
coverages in the back end, but you covered that pretty well.
I've been dming with my buddy Joe Blewett. I'm sure
you know that name that the films that they got
on Twitter, and he was talking about the Jets miss
tackles on defense and how tough this matchup is going
to be for those two reasons combined. But I guess
my question would be, is are we gonna see Jarvis
Brownlee start this game?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
You think? Or is he gonna get some reps? So
do you think some run in this game? So the
weird thing I can't figure out. He was in a
boot it looked like last week.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
So it's always weird when you trade for a player
and you just don't know the status of his health.
So maybe Aaron Glenn will have an update on that
throughout this week. I would think that Sauces banged up,
Michael Carter, banged up Tony Adams, their safety has been
banged up. Like they drafted Assare Thomas, and they're gonna
want to play him, but they might need some help
(20:08):
in the secondary. If Brownley's healthy and you nailed it.
The thing with Browne is he's physical. He'll come up
and tackle against the run. The Jets have been so
bad at tackling on the back end, and that's scary
against the Dolphins. In my opinion, I really the Dolphins.
They get the ball out, they make you play in space.
Jets aren't good at that. The Steelers Aaron Rodgers, he
didn't have to really do anything week one. Quite frankly,
(20:29):
he made a couple of throws, but the Jets didn't
tackle DK Metcalf.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
They didn't, you know, they didn't make their tackles.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
So I think that's one of the additions, like that's
an addition to Brownlee of like, hey, we need a
little bit more bark on, a little bit more sandpaper
in the secondary. That's just allowing too many plays for
inexplicable reasons. So yeah, if he's healthy, I think they
would love to get him on the field.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
That's the big question.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It's funny you talk about the way to attack this
Jets defense, because my audience knows. I think the reason
that you have this to unbeaten against the Jets is
because of the style of the fights over the last
couple of years. I mean that one gap penetration upfield
defense against an outside zone team that's you know, graduate
PhD level in it. They they couldn't stop the Dolphins
outside run game, and from the past game and those
(21:12):
those third and shorts, you know, the deep ball opens
up to Waddle and Tyreek and that's kind of how
the Dolphins offense has gotten their money against this Jets defense.
And the one big thing I'm looking at this week
as well, my penultimate question here for you, Connor is Man,
the absence of Quincy Williams. I was watching, you know,
Jets tape the last couple of days, and I thought
the base linebacker play was an area to kind of exploit.
If you're a Dolphins offense and now you're gonna be
(21:33):
down another man in that position group, How does the
absence of Quincy Williams you think impact this matchup?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
It's massive. I mean they're looking for answers right now.
They extended Jamie and Sherwood in the offseason. I thought
he played pretty well against the Bucks. He really struggled
weeks one and two. He just looked like a guy
without the answers to the test. And now it's you know, guys,
They've just brought in Mark Robinson off New England's practice squad,
Cam Jones from Kansas City. They drafted Keiko mawing Oh
(22:01):
from Miami in the fifth round, but that's I don't
think that's a guy they want to put on the
field with heavy snaps. So I think when you look
at it, I'm fascinated to see, like what the chess
piece answer is here, And I think it's a huge problem,
especially for a Dolphins team that can throw to their
running backs and have no problem finding success doing it.
So the Jets. Do you like the Jets defense in
(22:21):
the middle of the field, that's a lot of problems
right now. It's Quincy being out, it's the problems at safety.
I like Malachi Moore, the future of him and the
idea of him, I think being thrown to the fire
right now.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
He looks a little overwhelmed at times last week.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
So I mean, looking at this game and looking at
Miami's defense, how things have gone. I know the total
is at forty four and a half. I think we're
going for a lot of scoring on Monday Night.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Honestly, fans love seeing points man that, that's no doubt
about that. And that kind of brings us into our
last question here, and I kind of have a feeling
I know where you're leading, but maybe I'm wrong. I
always conclude with this question the Jets win this game,
and then the guests can fill in the answer.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
If you can fill in the answer.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
The Jets win this game if they finally tackle, And
I know it's the most cliche, I mean the answer
I can give you, but they don't tackle in space
and they give up plays. It be like that are
throws short of the sticks that somehow get beyond the
sticks on third down over and over again. So I'll
combine it with if they tackle on third down because
(23:21):
the Jets have been the kings of getting into these
third and longs and they'll either get a penalty or
they'll allow a chunk play. And I don't really think
Miami is the anecdote, the elixir to that. They're a
team that can attack the Jets in space. So that's
why my confidence in this one, depending on what the
offense can do, isn't really sky high, because.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Then Dolphins fans are listening to that.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Like this guy said, if they tackle like watch you
watch this game, and when you see that they don't
rally to the ball, that's what drives me insane. Guys
mistackles in this league. You're tackling athletes with four to
three speed and all time agility. The problem is the
second guy isn't there enough, the third guy isn't air enough.
So this is a team that needs to rally to
the ball and understand that if the first guy misses
(24:06):
any of these skill players, it could be housed.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
And that shit scariest.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
So it's something I'm sure they've been in their ears
about throughout the week coaching wise, but you actually have
to see it translate. They can knock get off the
field on third down. It is unlike anything I've seen
through three weeks of an NFL season.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Miami coming off a game where they were ten for
fifteen on third downs. And I just checked this before
I came on the air on Profoiable Reference. The Jets
have thirty six missed tackles this year. Miami has eighteen,
so double the miss tackles through three games so far.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, it's a crazy number.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
He is at Connor j Rodgers on Twitter, at the
bad Lands Podcast and all the content they do with
Joe Caparusso, the NFL Stock Exchange Show with Trevor Sikima,
NBC Sports, SNY, the Phil Simms Podcast. Man, So I'm
so happy to see that for you. Congrats and all
your success, Connor, and I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Man, we'll see it. You're gonna be down here for
the game on Monday.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I wish, man, I would love to come down to
the nice weather, maybe play some golf, but I'll be
up in our studio at SNY doing pre and post game.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
But I appreciate you having me on, man. It was
a lot of fun anytime. Man, thank you for your time.
We'll talk to you sou Man and away he goes,
and before we get into the week four picks. In fact,
I'll go ahead and just bump this today end of
the show, and we'll go ahead and bump press conference
audio from coaches here. Because I'm recording this on Wednesday morning.
The show will come out tomorrow morning, so by the
(25:21):
time you hear this, it will already be outdated in
terms of the factual numbers and data of it all.
But I want to just put this out there because
I feel like it could resonate among Dolphins fans. So
I've made this point on the show on Twitter. In
circles of my life, I've been a diehard Mariners and
(25:42):
Dolphins fan my entire life, and a lot of that
stem from the fact that I grew up in the
Pacific Northwest in the nineties, where again, King Griffey Junior
was Michael Jordan in baseball, right, he first baseball player
to have a shoe from Nike, and everywhere you looked.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
You know, the Little Big Lee movie when.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Lou Collins blast won the center field and the Twins
with a kid manager might win the pennant, But nope,
here comes Kingerford Junior taking that ball over the wall
and back into play and making the big out to
win the game for the Mariners. Like I cheered in
that moment in the movie Theater, you could not be
a Mayors fan if you lived in the Pacific Northwest.
And then for the Dolphins sake, like primetime games all
(26:21):
the time, the best record on Monday Night football, the
coolest colors in the league, the coolest starter jacket, and
the best quarterback on the planet certainly helped direct me
in that direction. And I was talking to a friend
who actually used to work for us here on the
video team now with the Ravens, and he was like,
what would you what would mean more to you? Dolphins
are Mariners? And I was like, look, there's a huge
(26:41):
gap after the two teams, but it is not even close.
It's not even in the same stratosphere when it comes
to how I feel about the Dolphins versus how I
feel about the Mariners. But I'm saying this to you
all because on Tuesday night, the Mariners were a win
away from clinching a playoff berth and there's still five
games left they were going to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Eventually.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
They're playing the worst team in the National League in
the Colorado Rockies, and they've got two more games against them.
They were going to get that win, they were going
to get in there's more to achieve ahead of them
in terms of clinching the division, which by the time
you hear this podcast, I'm betting they will have done
that because they probably beat the Rockies again on Wednesday
to clinch the division, and then they can also put
themselves in position to get a first round by with
one more win or one more Tigers loss after that.
(27:25):
And it's exciting because for you non baseball fans, if
the Mariners can't get that first round by and reset
the rotation to be fresh for the American League Divisional Series,
they're going to be a tough out because they have
the best lineup in the American League and on paper,
they have the best rotation pitching rotation, and if that
lines up healthy and fresh, baseball can go in any direction.
(27:46):
In fact, it usually does in the playoffs. But the
Mariners on paper look to be a real threat to
make the World Series, and that would be the first
time for that franchise, which is the only franchise in
Major League Baseball that has not played in a World series.
And the reason I just gave you how long has
this gone? Three minutes on Major League Baseball on a
(28:07):
Thursday football podcast is because they were down by two
runs in the bottom of the eighth inning of that game,
and there was two outs, bases were loaded, and this
guy they brought in, Josh Naylor, who has got an
ops of eleven hundred at home since he got traded
to the Mariners. He's the best hitter in t Moble
Park history at this point, small sample size. He drives
(28:29):
a double into the gap and the manners clear the
bases and they win the game four to three, and
the celebration ensued. They had Cal Rawley takes a microphone,
addresses the crowd and drops an F bomb live on
Root Sports, which by the way, kept the broadcast at
the park and basically said no thanks to commercials and
(28:49):
showed the Mariners all star closer come out of the
bullpen to shut that thing down and clinch a playoff spot.
And fans in Seattle are taking to the streets after
a twoesday night win over the Colorado freaking Rockies and
celebrating in the streets of Seattle. And I'm telling you
all of this because damn it, the way I felt,
(29:12):
the way those fuzzies that trickle down from the back
of your brain, the chemicals that get released from just
good vibes, right from feeling good, and the tingles that
sends across the rest of your body, like and I
know it's gonna be substantially more for the Dolphins one day.
It just made me think, like, yeah, it kind of
(29:32):
if this doesn't get back on the rails and we
have to, you know, bid ado to the season and
this entire cycle and build, which we've talked about in
the podcast for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Now that it feels like it's going that.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Way, like I'm not gonna not watch this team and
invest in this team, and I get we're so frustrated
by it, but holy molly, the payoff, man, the payoff.
It's it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible the way it felt.
Some of you guys out there are like, yeah, do
we're Heat fans? And I'm a Heat fan.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
It's nowhere near the level of the Dolphins and the
Mariners for me since they took my damn basketball team
from Seattle from me. But you guys have probably enjoyed,
you know, experience with teams that feel that you feel
similarly about the Dolphins to you're whatever a Yankees or
a Mets fan out there, or you know, a Marlins
fan that saw World Series championships back in the ninety
seven and o three seasons. So maybe I'm just like
(30:25):
the only forty year old out there that has literally
never seen my team win a damn thing. I'm thirty seven,
by the way, turn thirty eight next month. But like
I went to Washington State, I root for the baseball
the one baseball organization that hasn't been to a World Series,
and I root for the team that has the longest
playoff wind route in professional sports. I don't care about hockey.
(30:47):
I watched the Panthers in the finals. That's fun to watch,
but I don't care about it. I don't really care
about basketball the way I do these two teams.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
And I just.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
That feeling I got from watching the Mariners do their
thing and clinch a playoff spot and the upside and
the excitement about where this team can go. It almost
made me feel like, all right, yeah, maybe maybe we'll
have a year or two where it's dark for the Dolphins.
After a couple of fun years, right, and like twenty
twenty three was so much fun, But like, I'm not
(31:20):
gonna I'm not going anywhere. You know, we got another
forty years of this if I make it to eighty,
you know, and one day it'll happen maybe, And I
just I can't wait for that day because even if
it's forty more years of misery and I have to
be eighty years old and celebrate in that championship for
the Miami Dolphins, it's gonna be worth it.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
That's my entire spiel there.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So let's go ahead and take our last break right there,
come back and pick the week four games across the
National Football League. Drift Time podcast, brought to you by
Auto Nation. You know, I saw somebody tweet it at
me the other day about their enjoyment of the recent
coverage on the podcast. In fact, called it my best
content I've ever done, which I don't know if I'd
(32:02):
go that far. Some of the quarterback breakdown stuff I
did before the Dolphins is pretty good too, but I
appreciate it. I really appreciate those kind words. I did
get a negative review talking about how much I'm critical
on Tuoa and that is a reason to not listen
to the podcast anymore. So you win some, you lose some,
I guess. But I do think we're going to probably
be injecting more of these types of monologues and thought
(32:24):
provoking type of segments into the show to replace the
void that I guess you're kind of experiencing. So if
you like it, let me know. If you don't, let
me know. I like to produce the show from what
you guys prefer, so let me know how you feel
about those on social media. Let's go ahead and conclude
the show. I forgot to do this, and I feel
(32:45):
dumb for doing it, but I'll tell you why I'm
not lying to you, guys. I didn't put the Week
three picks on the podcast last week. I wrote it
on my notepad. That is my kind of playbook that
I have on my desk every single day, like I
go through my notes and my list of things again done.
And I had put your picks on the film Recap podcast.
I've I taped that podcast from home, so I didn't
(33:06):
have my notepad didn't do it, so I didn't put
the picks on the show. But I went ten and
six in week three, and you guys are probably saying, like, well,
how do we know that, Well, it's my worst week
of the season. I went eleven and five in Week one,
fourteen and two in Week two, and then ten and
six last week.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
The losses.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I had Houston over Jacksonville, I had Atlanta over Carolina,
at green Bay over Cleveland, obviously, I had Denver over
the Chargers, I had Dallas over the Bears, and I
had the Ravens over the Lions. I was with my
six losses on the week this week, cue the music.
We are thirty five and thirteen. It's a pretty good
record here heading into the fourth week of the season.
We've got sixteen more games I think by weeks start
(33:46):
next week. You've got a quadruple header this weekend, and
you don't have the Dolphins on Sunday, So that means
you get to watch four consecutive football games if you
are a true sicko, which I know you guys are,
So cue the music, jump into the pod, into the picks. Here,
We're going to take the Cardinals over the Seahawks tonight.
Do I feel good about that? No, I sure don't.
I feel like the Seahawks have kind of developed this
(34:09):
approach and this identity that a lot of Dolphins fans
probably want to see happen. And it's occurring with a
Mike McDonald defense that kind of has the parts to
run his defense, but a physical, pound it down your
throat type of ground game on the offense, with two
backs that can really get after it, and then a
star receiver in Jackson Smith and Jigba, And damn it
if you don't have the exact same makings of that
here in Miami with a chan Ollie Gordon and potentially
(34:31):
down the road, Jalen Wattle as that top guy. Wattle
is just as good, if not better than Jackson Smith
and Jigba. They're both elite, elite playmakers. In my opinion,
I really like what they've done with that operation. I
think it's happened quicker than I thought it would. I
was kind of having to shed my preconceived notions of
the Seahawks after I vehemently disagreed with the decision to
(34:52):
go from Geno Smith to Sam Donald. But watching Geno
Smith play quarterback for the Raiders it's ugly, and watching
Sam Donald do it for the Seahawks it's been pretty
so Seahawks look pretty good, but I'm gonna take the
Cardinals because I just feel like this is a spot
where they can kind of pick off the Seahawks here,
even though in recent years the Seahawks have given the
Cardinals some pretty tough games. So I'm taking the Cardinals,
but it's probably the game I feel worse about all
(35:13):
weekend long. Let's keep this rolling and go on over
to Dublin, right, that's where the Pittsburgh Minnesota game is
going to be played. And look, I like Minnesota's defense
as much as anybody, but I think that only works
against quarterbacks like Jake Browning. I don't think it works
against the quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, and he'll pick out
the disguises. He'll go ahead and get after that Minnesota
defense and get enough points on the board to overcome
(35:35):
a Vikings offense led by Carson Wentz that I don't
think is going to be a sustainable successful operation there,
or if it's J. J. McCarthy, who you guys know,
I don't feel very strongly about, is his long term
prospects as a franchise quarterback. So I'll take the Steelers
in Dublin. Typically veteran teams travel overseas better, and I
think Pittsburgh's one of the most veteran teams in league.
Pittsburgh over the Vikings in that one. I'll take the
(35:56):
Falcons over the Commanders.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Why. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Jade and Daniel might return banged up. The Falcons looked
like absolute doodoo on Sunday. I think they can bounce back,
maybe get Bijon Robinson going back again. I'll take the
Falcons in another game that I don't feel that comfortable about,
but we're gonna pick anyways. I'll take the Chargers over
the Giants. I continue to just lose games on the Chargers,
so let's stop doing that. They play a bad football team.
Easy pick there. Even going east in the early time slot,
(36:20):
I'll take the Texans over the Titans. I mean I
picked the Titans to win like seven games this year
because of cam Ward, but he's playing like I thought
he would. I just didn't realize how bad the rest
of the operation was going to be. And the Texans
might have a quarterback problem, Like I love CJ. Stroud
coming out, but he has not played well at all
at all. So I'll take the Texans over the Titans,
just because the Titans don't seem to be doing anything
(36:41):
right right now. I'll take the Eagles over the Bucks,
and I do this only because of the Bucks injuries.
The Bucks were so depleted on the offensive line. I
just don't think they can handle the Philly defensive line.
Of all they can throw at you. From that perspective,
if they had Luca Decki and Tristan Wursch and the
entire compliment up front, I would take Tampa Bay. But
I'm not going to take a depleted offensive line against
(37:01):
that Eagles front. I'll take the Patriots over the Panthers.
I don't feel good about that one either, don't. I
think the Patriots are kind of in the same boat
as us in terms of their prospects for the season.
They threw away the game against the Steelers on Sunday,
But I think the Panthers are also kind of a farce.
So I guess may the best team win. I'll take
the Patriots in this one. The Bills over the Saints
don't need any explanation behind that. The Lions over the Browns.
(37:25):
I would say the same thing here, but the Browns
are coming out of one of those impressive wins, but
they also get one of those, like every single year,
it seems like, and it usually comes because that really
good defense led by Miles Garrett and Denzel Ward.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
And Carson Sweshinger.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
By the way, we talked about him a lot on
the podcast My Goodness, defensive Rookie of the Year candidate
right there. It happens because that defense is really good.
But the Lions, I'm telling you, man, this is a wagon.
And we saw it up in Detroit and joint practices.
You saw it against the Ravens, Like that is a
freaking wagon. Lions roll over the Browns, the Niners over
the Jaguars even without Nick Bosa, and I think it's
supposed to be brock pretty again this week. It doesn't
(37:59):
matter because I think the Niners defense schematically and even
without Bosa can get after Trevor Lawrence and a shaky
Jaguars offensive operation. I'll take the Rams over the Colts
to end the dream season.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Am I gonna? I think I'm like zero and three
on the Colts.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
No. I picked him last week against the Titans, But
I'm gonna stick to that preseason prediction here. It's either
gonna come true I'm gonna have to pivot right now.
I'm gonna stick with it. Rams over the Colts. I'll
take the Raiders over the Bears. Don't feel good about
that either, but I think the Bears offensive explosion was
more of the Cowboys defense, who also, by the way,
allowed thirty seven points of that Giants offense just two
(38:33):
games ago. I'll take the Raiders to bounce back over
the Bears, even though the Raiders offensive line has been
by far the worst in football. I'll take the Ravens
over the Chiefs, And this is probably one of the
games I feel best about. And both these teams right
one and two. The Ravens have two tough losses against
two good teams. The Chiefs have a couple of not
great losses against one good team and one not great team.
I think the Ravens role in that game.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
The Chiefs offense is broken.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Man. I'll take the Packers over the Cowboys. How funny
is that gonna be? Didn't Jerry Jones just talk about
how if the Packers wanted to give him a player
like Michah Parsons, they would entertain the idea of a
tray or something like something crazy like that. Right, Packers
big over the Cowboys as Michael Parsons gets fourteen sacks
in that game.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I took the Dolphins over the Jets. I feel pretty.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Good about that, which as good as I can feel
about a Dolphins team that I'm not feeling great about
in general. But I think the Jets coming down here
is a tough spot for them. Miami gets their first win,
and I'll take Denver over the Bengals. I think the
Bengals are going to be a team that picks top
five this year. Man, that defense without Joe burrow is
is not a good recipe for success. I know people
fell in love with Jake Browning, but if you watch
that year in twenty twenty three, it fell off towards
(39:34):
the end, and that's always kind of what I thought.
Jake Brian would be ANFL quarterback, just not quite a
guy that can start for fourteen game fifteen games, right,
That's what he had to do for this Bengals team.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Those are the week four picks, thirty five and thirteen
coming in. We'll see how we fare. Let's go ahead
and get out of here tomorrow On the show, dan
Orlowski joins me to break down Dolphins and Jets. We'll
have Kyle Krabs in the podcast and we'll start with
the locker room talking to a few of the players.
All of that on tomorrow's show, and then the Monday
recap pod cast will be the next time you hear
from me. In the meantime, you all please be sure subscribe, rate,
review the show, follow me on social at wink the NFL,
(40:07):
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel
for a brand new episode of Dolphins HQ, Media Availabilities,
under the Sun, and so much more, and last button
not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, Friends Up, Caroline,
Cameron and Willow Daddy. He's coming home.
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