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Speaker 1: Hey-o! What is up, Dolph fans? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. On today's show, it's Film Review Day, and this was a pretty good one to watch. I'll talk about all the positives, including an impressive day from the defense, some of the flashes on the offensive side, and where the corrections can be found on either side of the football. Let's go! Let's go! We start as we do each Monday night slash Tuesday morning, talking about the offense here in the week four matchup in Minnesota. And to start, I mean, the first thing that jumped off was a couple of the early running plays where we got to clean up some of the double teamwork we're getting to. I felt we too often had cracks in double teams with a hip to hip connection. We have two guys on a down lineman and we climb and turn him free and he makes the play like that should be easy money to get displacement, to uproot that player at the point of attack. to give the running back an easy gap to attack with conviction. It happened the first two running plays of the game on Sunday. And in general, and I think this can be something that we get cleaned up over the bye week with some self-scouting, and Jermon Bushrod talked about it on the post-game show, I think it would help to sort of establish and commit to an identity offensively. And look, I think, you know, where Devon Achan... when he was back there and the way this offensive line plays, that ID can be the versatility in the running scheme. And I'm all for that. I've advocated for it. I have asked questions for coach and solely in the press conferences about that. But I think that will also come with time on task and continuity, which we are developing so far four games in the same lineman have played the entire year along with the quarterback. And there's value to that. And I do think that we're going to have, the majority of this offensive line for a very long time. Four of the five guys that we have right now are under contract for multiple years. The three interior guys, who I thought were three of the best players on the field Sunday, have between three and five years of club control, and Patrick Paul has two, and I seriously doubt he's playing football anywhere else for a long, long time. But I broke down our run schemes in the game on Sunday as follows. There was one rep apiece for the following season. calls in your running game. Quarterback draw, crack toss, down, long trap, counter GT, and jet. And then we had two reps of duo, two reps of counter GY, that's guard and your Y tight end pulling across the formation, GT's guard tackle, obviously. Inside zone, three reps, and outside zone, five reps. Now, a lot of those are similar variations. I mean, duo and inside zone, the classic tweet, like, is it duo or inside zone, right? But the concept of those two particular looks, that's where the success came from, those downhill interior runs. And look, you can't just be one thing only, but I think there is value in really hammering down something over and over, kind of like the Hoosiers quote, right? We're going to do it until we puke, and we're going to do it in the fourth quarter of games when the opposition wants to puke as well. I think there's also value in keeping it wide open, but regardless of what it looks like, I'm just very intrigued to see what Bobby Slowik takes from from the first four games and how he applies it here going forward next week and beyond post-bye week. Something that didn't work was the wide runs. And the Vikings defense, I think, is just too far disciplined off the edge. And they played on the upfield shoulders and played that thing wide all game long. And we lost yards on the outside zone runs or the jet sweep run that we had to Malik Washington down in the red zone. Our screen game also needs some work. The operation just does not look clean. But again, like so many other things, I think this is a time on task issue with so many green players that makes it's tough to play a mechanism that has so much timing built into it. It becomes difficult to hit that when you are kind of trying to get this thing on the same page from, you know, ground zero, essentially. Something else I feel we could do to influence some of the congestion in the middle of the field is to high low some of those hook linebackers. And essentially what I'm talking about is the second level of the defense will play in zones where they have eyes on the quarterback. They're trying to feel the checkdowns, the routes that get spaced out to the perimeter, and also the routes that run in behind them between that second level and the safeties. And there are some plays where you get these mirrored end cuts from either side of the formation. and they wind up taking their routes into each other, which obviously when you have two receivers in one space, you can cover that with one defender, and they can get depth on those drops because there is not a route underneath to hold them outside of a chip release, and that's been too late in the pattern from late to find too frequently on those quick checkdowns. So I think there's a lot you can kind of look at in self-scout. Four games is about where you start to When you game plan for a team, you go four games back. That's kind of the standard MO in the NFL or in football in general. So now we have the four-game sample size. I'm curious to see how it develops and evolves from here. And to put a bow on this general offensive points, we've got to be able to separate against man with more frequency. That's one of, I would say, one of the bigger issues, I think, in terms of the offense scoring the amount of points they have scored is because there's so many reps where you look at the timing of the quarterback's drop and where we are in the routes, and it's blanket city across the board. And again, you have three of your top four snap takers at receiver are rookies, and the other one is a third-year player who's, you know, Malik had, what, 30 catches coming into the season? So it's a work in progress, and again, time on task. And my last bow, after putting a bow out right there, I do think Caleb Douglas, when he is healthy, you're going to see a totally different passing attack. We kind of saw glimpses in the Raider game But there are some opportunities where I think a healthy Caleb Douglas could produce some big-time numbers in this Miami passing offense. Let's talk about the quarterback play here, Malik Willis. The first play of the game was exactly what I was hoping to see against this Viking offense, or rather defense, but we didn't see it again the rest of the way. But it was a three-step, under-center, straight drop back, no play action, run the tight end right between the two hookbackers and put it on him on the upfield shoulder in rhythm off the top of that drop. Just never got back to it. And his next throw is a missed opportunity on third down where he had the right read and decision against a seven presenting box in terms of the pressure count with man free behind. So a single high safety in the post and potential man coverage, or it could look like cover three with zone drops on the outside. And then you're going to have to decipher who's coming and who's dropping from that seven man presentation. They wind up dropping two and they bring five typically how Flores does it. And bell wins on an out route, which, is separate from the interior read because, I mean, as long as you can pick up the blitz enough to kind of get that throw off, you know you've got one-on-one out there and there's not going to be a zone drop that impacts that throw underneath. And the ball goes way over his head. And I'm looking at Malik's feet in slow motion, and I think that's where it starts with some of these misses. He is not driving through that back foot, and the foot is kind of sliding out like a bowler, right? You roll that thing down the alley and the right foot kicks out and you kind of hit that pose with the right hands up in the air and the right foot's out behind the left ankle. And that tends to send the arm into overcorrection mode. And stop me if you've heard this before. I make a golf analogy. When you have a quick trigger at the top of your swing, the top of your backswing, you become reliant upon the arms. That front hip flies open and you get over the top, which reduces all kinds of drag on the golf ball. And you wind up cutting across it, slicing it. It goes right and doesn't go very far. Sound familiar, golfers? I'm sure a lot of you listening to this podcast have that exact issue. For a quarterback and for throwing a baseball or anything in sports where you're throwing and using the same mechanics from a golf swing, because it's all the same, right? Hips, feet, generate the torque from the ground up. You see it on that throw where the release point gets delayed a little bit and the ball comes out on this trajectory where it starts off high and stays there. And I don't think there's a lack of trust in the pocket for Malik. In fact, the offensive line, has been by far the most consistent unit on the offense this season so far. And they've given him plenty of good pockets to play from. And he does get vertical in the pocket a lot. I mean, there's back-to-back plays where we get that scramble where he bounces off the tackle right at the sticks and winds up spinning out and getting a first down. Then the next play, he drives up and shoots an over route to Kevin Coleman that's just out of reach. And that's one of those plays where I say, like, Caleb Douglas has the width and frame and the catch radius to make this play. But this tape does, once again, show something you won't see on the broadcast. There's just not a lot of easy decision throws. Like, again, don't get me wrong, okay? He had some misses in this game, and there's things for Malik Willis to clean up. I just don't think his first four games are, I think, 13 weeks from now, I don't think we're going to think about these first four games. I think I've done segments on the podcast here talking about quarterback play and the evolution of it, even within one season for these young quarterbacks. Going back to Jordan Love's 2023 season when he had 18 touchdowns and one pick in the second half of the year. And nobody remembers how he started that year. It was not pretty for Jordan Love. And with Malik Willis, we've had some of those on a week-to-week basis. And the scramble play that I talked about, for instance, Kevin Coleman is turned free immediately. with a 20-yard depth safety, the nearest defender, and Malik could have ripped that at the top of the drop. But some of these intermediate shots, he needs a perfect throw, and sometimes even that wouldn't be enough. So it's a collection of separation, of timing, of being on the same page, of the quarterback making the right read and the right ball placement, and the receiver setting up his break in the right way. There's a lot that goes into this, and my voice reaches that octave because I just want to explain the nuance here behind some of this stuff. But then there's also plays where the ball is out on time. The Malik Washington 16-yard play in the first quarter. The perimeter cornerback is getting depth, and the curl-flat defender, which, okay, so getting depth from that perimeter cornerback means he's sinking into a possible deep third or maybe a deep quarter for quarters or quarter, quarter, half, whatever the zone coverage might be in that way. And then the curl flat player is playing basically 8 to 10 yards and down to try to get a read on either a flat route or a potential curl, like a deep over route in that position. And that curl flat defender, the sucked up one, is pushing vertical. And so he throws it to Malik Washington with that read, with that sinking cloud corner and the curl flat defender also getting depth because he knows neither of those guys, based upon their body position and alignment, can drive on that throw. So he can make it anticipatory throw, feeling comfortable that he knows nobody can impede that throw by reading it faster than he can get it out. And I love how his drop back momentum on that play carries him to the right. He kind of drifts a little bit that way and sets himself up. It's like when you go to a stop sign, right? You're going to turn right. You don't just go to the stop sign straight and then turn right once you stop. You kind of angle your turn as you pull into the stop. It's the same idea with how he sets himself up for this throw. It was a great read and feel, and the mechanics were there to match. And the foot doesn't kick out the same way, and the ball's right there as he kind of drives that torque through his feet, up through his hips, up through his shoulders, and eventually to the release point at the wrist. So, like, the nuts and the bolts are there. To me... There's reps where you can see it. The practice, everything you want to see is there for you to visualize. You don't have to project and say, well, if he can just learn how to do this, he does do it. It's about being consistent. To me, can we increase that uptick as we go along here? And look, it's going to get easier too. Not that it's ever easy. This game is freaking tough. This league is really, really hard to be successful in for anybody and for a team. but you have to take into context the defenses that he's played, man. I mean, think about this. The Raiders, the Niners, the Chiefs, and the Vikings, and this is in no order. I went highest to lowest. First in points allowed, third in points allowed, seventh and 14th. All four teams top half the league, three of them top seven, top quartile of the league. They also rank third, fourth, sixth, and 21st in yards per play. The Raiders are seventh and 21st just for posterity in that stat. The next five teams we face, 7th, 14th, 15th, and 23rd and 32nd points allowed. And then 7th, 11th, 25th, 27th, and 31st in yards per play. I'm kind of glad the schedule went this way because Malik has had a chance to kind of get some things on tape. And now I think there's a good chance that he does start posting some big numbers. We start winning some games and things look different these next five games. Let's compare that stretch when we get there and see where we are back to the film here real quick. There's a third down sack early in the game where he gets through a full field progression with a clean pocket, but we don't uncover the Vikings are in zone on the front side and man coverage on the backside. And we have two routes plastered right out of the break. It's tough to make a living that way as a quarterback, man, you're going to, you're going to challenge, you're going to throw it into coverage and you get a reach around breakup where the ball gets batted up into the air and can get picked off. I, I don't take those chances. Not me. No one wants to take those chances. A coach would say, no, no, no, don't play that ball. The Chris Bell play, I mean, there's a career highlight type of play, right? Like that is unreal, remarkable, remarkable off-schedule play creation from Malik Willis. And stuff like this is why you develop this cat and see if he can keep progressing in the stuff we're talking about here. Rare, rare, unstoppable quarterback play when he gets to it. A DC will tell you, I got nothing for that. I can't defend that because that's God-given ability taking over in a league full of gifted players. And look, I wouldn't care about these flashes as much if there was zero evidence of playing on time. I have been vocal about quarterbacks that I feel that way about. A great example was Zach Wilson for the Jets, right? I told you guys, I never saw it in college. I didn't care about the running around and going 20 yards backwards because if you can't play in structure, that stuff won't matter. But for Malik, there are examples of it. So keep going, Malik. Keep getting these reps and keep learning. I believe in this quarterback. And I'm excited to watch him develop and grow. That's part of the process to me. That's part of what's fun. And like, not to go all coach speak on you guys, but that's like, that's the part of the game that you love to see is where they coach these guys up and they get better and they become better versions of themselves. That's the reward these coaches get, man. I think, I think Malik can be that guy. I think the miss that bothered me the most was the wheel to Kaz Marik where he throws a fade away. And yeah, Dallas Turner's in there for a pressure, but the rest of the pocket is pretty money. And he has space to step up and deliver a dime. It should have been caught, but it didn't help. He didn't help Kaczmarek at all. And he could have laid it out there further down the field. And if he does that, you have a chance for an explosive play. But like the third and goal incomplete pass to Coleman, he beats pressure before he could even step up. And he has to step up around two different blocks. The right tackle and right guard both ran blocks around him that he had to step up and move back to his right. Then he breaks contain and everything is plastered across the board, man. Yes, Malik has things he can clean up, but the passing production is far, far from a Malik Willis and only a Malik Willis thing right now. Not even close to just the quarterbacks. In fact, the throw that Malik made in the far hash in the fourth quarter, our penultimate drive, a 25-yard drive throw while getting hit with anticipation. That is so nice, dude. So nice. Then a few plays later, he does it again, this time moving to his left. And then the third down miss to end the game. He just misidentified that. It's that simple. He's reading leverage of those defensive backs and didn't read it correctly. That's all it comes down to. If it's the same thing in week 18, then I will say, hey, we got to think about the growth not being where we want it to be. But give this guy time because he's showing... glimpses of it every week on top of flashing playmaking ability, and I have the utmost confidence he's going to get there. Just getting those reps on tape, man, it's so valuable because there is so much here to work with. This tape shows those flashes, stuff to correct, a little bit of everything. This is far from a he's not the guy tape. Not even close, pal. You're not that guy, pal. Trust me. Let's take a break right there, come back and talk about the rest of the offense on the Draft Time Podcast, brought to you by AutoNation. Whew, I had to... I had to cool down there a little bit after that segment. We did the Jeff Halfley press conference here on Monday afternoon, and I came back into the podcast studio and recorded. I had my hoodie on because it's very cold in that press conference room, and that segment required me to ditch a layer there because I started to sweat a little bit. And what else made me sweat was watching this tape both on offense and defense, and I'll pick it up here with the offensive line, who I thought did a really good job against the pressure looks. And this is another week for them where I'm seeing a ton of encouraging play projecting into the future. Like, the Vikings love to mug a backer up over the center. That's the Noah's backer, right? We saw that with Sam Egwavon for years here in Miami. And they love to have him bluff his rush and then bail out into coverage. And the idea is that it messes with your slide, but Brewer is so good at not taking the cheese and getting to the overload that they're trying to expose. I'm not really trying to pile on here, but I just felt the Vikings' best pressures were when they got Dallas Turner one-on-one against Austin Jackson. Otherwise, I felt the offensive line did a pretty good job against all they feature. And quite frankly, Austin had a bunch of good reps in this game, too. We'll talk more about him here in just one second. Jonas Avaya-Naya kicks off our positive film. Another week closer to set and forget for me with him. He's arriving before our eyes. Movement at the point of attack. The feet are so much better this year. The posture too. It's technique. It's leading to better technique. He is in control and playing really good football right now. I think he's been pretty good in three of the four games we've played. Kaczmarek, this dude rocks. You guys know that Twitter account? This dude rocks, right? Well, Kaczmarek freaking rocks. Kickouts, Head up at the point of attack. He is a slobber knocker player. There are bodies on the floor when he wraps, when he inserts, when he kicks out. What a draft pick he looks like so far. Malik Washington's best game of the year of his career, if you ask me. I just like the way that he transitioned from route runner to ball carrier this week, and he slipped a bunch of tackles and had big time yak. Big game for Malik Washington. I talked about Brewer off the top. I thought he was awesome. What's new? But he had so much on his plate in terms of pass pro where he just kept making great decisions. He played with awesome hands and leg drive and overall power. Even if he oversets or like a cutoff block that he has or overplays something, he still strains to get back into position to execute the block. And then he'll go find a pile and push it for an extra three yards. I would take 53 Aaron Brewers if I could. Also, another fun Brewer rep. Go watch him on the Chris Bell play that did not count. He runs after it again. And then Proctor, speaking of the Bell play, That segment I did last Friday talking about the positive veteran influences. And in fact, Jeff Hathaway talked about his Monday press conference. Watch the way Caden Proctor chases down Aaron Brewer on that play. He's getting examples from the best in the game, right? And also his power, the way he ejects loopers with a simple punch, the leg drive in the running game, the kickouts, the pulls. He is so legit, dude. And then Ollie Gordon's the last one in here. I broke down the big run on the podcast on Sunday night, so go back and check it out if you missed that podcast. But he just looked really good taking good tracks, and he runs so hard. And when you get a motivated Ollie Gordon, that's the best version of Ollie Gordon. Just keep feeding him, man. He's the back that rides confidence. Right now he's feeling it. Great game for Ollie Gordon. Nine for 100. What a day that was for him. Corrections-wise, I thought Jalen Wright just looked like he hesitated too much. The feet were kind of clicking on his track and some difficulty scooping the ball up on the kickoffs. Just kind of a challenging game for him. Looking forward to his bounce back hopefully next week. Austin Jackson doesn't bear repeating every week, but the feet just keep stopping when he throws that punch, and it sends him scrambling trying to establish his anchor. and i mean crosby bosa uh carloftis and turner that's a tough it's a tough slate man he's getting getting some of the best in the league the first four games and trying to find that anchor against the power those guys provide i do want to give him some some run game flowers because he did dent the edge and hit some nice second level blocks but the past pro reps on third and medium where we get immediately dispatched it's hard to run a drop back offense with a frequency in which it's occurring through these first four games. So that's what has to be mentioned here in the pod. DJ Herman, just not running through guys at the point of attack the way I hoped he would. And that was the case again on Sunday. Patrick Paul, the holding calls were technique breakdowns to me. It's not something I think you worry about, just an off day for him and probably fostered by the many presentations the Vikings had. And that's what they create, right? Because there's a rep where he squeezes the B gap, which is to his right, working towards Caden Proctor against a mugged up look. And then Turner knows that he has that. They game plan. They tell the pass rushers, hey, we're going to do this to create a chance for you. So he goes bull rush. And because Pat's feet have kind of gotten stuck together, he hasn't been able to recover from that squeeze yet. So he's not in position to absorb the power. And he winds up getting his hands outside Turner's frame to try to slow him down. And that's a hold every single day. The second one's a nice job by Van Ginkle to get on the upfield shoulder. And Pat basically had to wrap him to prevent a tackle for loss. And I'm talking a five or six yard tackle for loss. And in that instance, I take that. I also thought he struggled at the point of attack in the running game a couple of times, which is, again, out of character for our franchise left tackle. It happens. Go get the Bengals next week, big dog. I thought Chris Bell. Had some really awesome effort reps in the blocking game, but there's just as many missed assignments as well. And I don't want to get on him too much for being an inch out of bounds, but that's a field awareness thing that we have to learn. We saw it with Caleb Douglas back in the preseason, right? That Washington game, he makes that catch with his foot on the sideline. And I still think he could have caught that last third down ball. And then Greg Doltz, which had a few too many losses for me in blocking assignments in pass pro and in the running game. Excuse me. Let's talk about the defense here, and I'll pause down after the general takeaways here. The effort again jumps off the screen. I tweeted about this. The first third down of the game, third and 16, they check it down. All three pass rushers sprint back to the football. The safeties and corners come from depth to sprint in there. The second level defenders fly in there and smack the pile. There are so many reps where I see 11 white jerseys and hats at the football by the time the ball carrier is getting up off the ground. That's what you want to see, man. Jeff Halfley talked about it on Monday. He was asked a question about Do you fear losing sight of the process from some of the guys when there isn't payoff in terms of victories? And you talked about, you know, this is essentially what I told the guys going into it, what's going to be a challenging year. And if you don't, if you're not okay with that, like go see Sully. but he talked about finding out who we want in the boat and who we can trust. And you see it on the tape. And it makes me excited about the future, man, because you're seeing talent flash. You're seeing a standard and effort. And like, I see tweets about like, well, that's the bare minimum. Go watch other tapes, man. It does not happen across this league the way you would think it would. It does not. And this Dolphins team is one of the teams that does that. And if that's who they can be and they keep making draft class, like the one I think we have here in 2026 and what 25 looks like and the established veterans we do have, then you're going to be a problem for a long time. If you can play with that effort and you can draft that well, that's the ingredients, right? That's the recipe right there. Back to the defense here. We're starting to get deeper and deeper into this menu, man, which is fun because I had a fun time breaking it down this offseason. The pressure creation was awesome. The games, the slants, the twists, and a better understanding of how it all works from even just two weeks ago. I love the autonomy. Halfley gives a player like Zach Seeler to make a check on a slide call or a protection change, and he just goes and wrecks shop. Big game from Zach Seeler. There was a backside invert with a frontside unchange. What does that mean, Travis? It means Juju Brents inverts, which means going from corner back into a split-field safety responsibility, and Michael Taft inverts with him and steps down and plays the hook zone coverage role with Chris Johnson in the nickel sprinting out to the curl flat from inside leverage into the slot out to the wide part of the field. That's a pretty significant frontside change that the quarterback has to read And if he can't get to initial read on that front side, that's tough for him to decipher what happens on the backside. So that can create pressure from him not getting the initial read he wants and then going to the backside. And the picture is muddy because of all that stuff we just did. They got the Vikings to check it down over and over and they rallied and tackled and rallied and tackled. Like I talked about, the next step seems to be finding someone who can cover backs and tight ends or doing it as a team, because that's really all that is hurting us on defense right now. We're stopping the run. Another game under four yards per carry. We're not really getting beat by the receivers. Our pressure plan showed up this week in a big way, and I would say next week would be the real test at receiver, but both Chase and Higgins left the game Sunday, so we'll see about that. There's a rep for Anderson. Back to the menu here. Zane Anderson presents pressure against a single high look with two off corners and everybody else pressed up in the pressure look or pressed up against their receiver. So Brooks and Uche bell from that pressure look into the hook, and Anderson from that position sprints back to the post, and that post safety steps down, and the cornerbacks fall out. So it presents as cover three, and it gets to cover three, but with the post safety stepping down and filling his vacancy as a player who was in the potential rush package. And they also brought a cat blitz with Chris Johnson who got in there for the quarterback hit. That's diabolical stuff from Jeff Halfley, man. The result of the play is a third down stop. And the last thing here, just the communication, playing to the rules, passing off and picking up. Very, very sharp in this game. So good to see four games in. I mean, the four teams you've played are a combined 15-1. And you're hanging tough with two of those teams here the last couple of weeks. I'm encouraged. Let's take a break, come back, and talk about the individual standouts. We'll do top five tapes and snap counts. All of that ahead here on the Draft Time Podcast, brought to you by AutoNation. We talked general defense in the last segment. Let's go ahead and talk about the individual standouts here on the defense. And Chop Robinson leads us off. The tape was even better, man. Have mercy. On a down-by-down basis, this was a flat-out dominant performance. I said eight pressures on the podcast last night. NextGen had them for 10, so I take their... I take their word over mine there. I mean, Zach Seeler's sack to open the game. He push-pulls on Derrissaw and is rag-dolling him. And you guys see, I'm talking about Chop on the Seeler sack play. So you guys see Kyle Long's tweet. He said, quote, would hate to play this guy. He's 6'3, but plays like a 5'11, leveraged demon. Plays hard, speed to power, swipes, push-pull, and he's a dog in the running game, end quote. Like, okay, Chop, you've got my attention, big dog. I've seen this in camps. But this was a game from him that I have not seen before. And even in his rookie year, he was doing some stuff that was crazy. This was different. I mean, they're chipping him with a tight end to get him on his heels for the pulling guard. He goes and hammers them both. That bull rush on the Uche sack might have been his most impressive rep of the day. No, I'm wrong. I take that back. The ghost move where he smokes Brian O'Neal and buries Kyler Murray, who damn near fumbles the football. That was the rep of the game. My goodness. Spoiler alert. He's the top tape of the game. Josh Uche, speaking of Uche, sign me up for more of this guy. He's a baller. He can really bend through the initial engagement of the tackle. He works the tackle's arms and elbows to set up the counter-redirect move and does it while playing with power through them and the ability to cut on a dime working off the outside shoulders. I guess shoulders are always on the outside. There's no middle shoulders. Zach Seeler, I think it's no coincidence that his play is starting to elevate as those around him do the same. That first sack, he's the pick-stunt man once again. Halfway called him the setup man at his press conference today. But you also see him bump right before the snap and attack the slide side to cause pass pro issues. He has a very heady player in that regard to be able to adjust on the fly. And again, I'll play some of the audio on Halfway's Monday Press Conference on the Wednesday podcast because there was so much to get into in terms of just football, like, digest... Football Digest? Good stuff from Jeff Halfley. But there's a play, the first of the third quarter, where he instantly recognizes a wide run and just rides the wave and makes the play out by the sideline. And he was just on their outside shoulder. There is no inside shoulder, Travis. All game long, causing protection breakdowns consistently. Great stuff from 92. Jacob Rodriguez, what do you want to know? What do you want to know? Tell me. The way he scrapes and gets downhill. to reduce the runway for the back. And there are plays every single week where the offensive line executes and gets their gap controlled. And then here comes 10 closing space and making a stop in that space. He is an eraser, man. You make a mistake up front, he'll correct it. And the functional strength and balance to play through blocks as he pursues guys. I mean, we're talking about 250 pound tight ends trying to ride him out of the play. And Jacob makes it look like he's a little gnat. Yeah, sure. It's annoying. He's buzzing in your ear, but it's nothing more than that to him. Juju Brents, that physicality, he keeps showing up, keeps telling me what he's about. I talked about Uche being one of the finds of the offseason. I know Juju was here, but this is a talent worth further development to me. We heard Halfley in the offseason talk about using his length. The way he's rerouting and then sinking where he's playing cloud on the outside, it's really damn nice. And then he throws his body in there against the run time and time again. I feel pretty good about Juju right now. I mentioned the play where he let that come back up for a chunk in the podcast last night. But that was an inverted two look where he has to get depth. And that would be no different than getting on a split field safety for not driving down that route, which is never going to happen. So even more impressed by Juju after watching the tape on that play, Taff had to get more width in that play. zone drop. Jordan Phillips, the way he's holding the point against double teams is different from the first couple of weeks. They can't move him, and it's helping him get in on more plays in addition to fulfilling his gap responsibility. Also, he's learning from Zach because he set Zach up for that second sack with an awesome pick stunt. Also has a swim move working for him now at this point of his career, too. I thought Chris Johnson was really damn good in this game. His spatial awareness and how he plays the run and how he tackles in space is such a deadly combo. He can impact multiple levels in coverage with eyes in the quarterback and then trigger and go make a play. Then you see the way he leverages a block on a swing or a wide run his way, sets his teammates up for success. There's also a ton of just pure cover corner reps where he's running the route for Jordan Addison or Jawan Jennings. We got one here, boys and girls. We got a few of these guys now. Rodney McGraw, just wanted to mention the strain on that pocket contain where I'm making these rhymes and I'm throwing dimes, just kidding, where he scores a quarterback hit on Kyler Murray. Really good stuff to play through the tackle with his eyes on the quarterback and then finishes it off. He had an awesome rundown rep also where he shot his gap and then widens the tackle to kind of give himself space to make the play and then goes and does it. Trader and Taft, there was one rep where they got deked by the concept and it removed the help from the corners playing it top down. But other than that, I was very impressed by the way they're working in tandem together in terms of picking up most of the concepts and playing off each other. There was nothing really available for Minnesota down the field, and they were a big part of that. Anderson as well, 20-plus snaps for him in the game and some really good recognition play. And then Jason Marshall to make it 3-for-3 on the corners and, quite frankly, 6-for-6 on the DBs, another good game from him where his feel and physicality really jumped off the tape to me. Corrections wise, Jordan Brooks is in here. There was a ton of good from JB, but I thought he overplayed some of his zone landmarks where he got out leveraged in coverage. And I'm not going to get on a guy for being in tight quarters and the tight end makes a catch over the top of him because Hawkinson was just kind of on a heater. But there are so many good plays in here too where he did get stuck on some blocks. He's more in here because of his own standard, quite frankly. But there are some plays where he's on the weak side of a strong side run where he just flat out whips the down blocking right tackle and flies in there for a big shot on the back. And then Zeke Biggers, there were some splash plays, but the read and react and gap discipline did not hold up on a down-by-down basis on tape to me. Now, he did make some plays, and the effort was really good, so I love the big fella up for that. I think those splashes, though, give you a lot to work with in terms of further development. Because remember, this guy's played, what, just a handful of games going back to late last season. If he can get more consistent pad level, I think it'll help cover up some of the rest. Snap counts. Malik in the offensive line for the four straight game played the entire distance, and Caden Wallace played one snap. The running backs, Ollie got 22, Wright got 12, and Herman got 20. This is out of just 39 plays, by the way. Receivers, Washington 34, Bell 32, Coleman 20, so a lot of 12 personnel with those two receiver sets. Tolbert 6 and Miller 4, and then Kaz leads the tight ends with 24 snaps, and Dulcich plays 20. On defense, out of 78 plays, Seeler played 61, Biggers played 48, Phillips 46, and Mozzie Smith makes his Dolphins debut with nine snaps in the game. Off the edge, Josh Uche played 55, Chop 50, Malik Herring 28, and Rodney McGraw 12 snaps. A nice debut for the rookie. Jordan Brooks and Jacob Rodriguez played all 78 snaps. Willie Gay played 27. At corner, Johnson played all 78. In fact, Taft and Trader did as well. Juju Brents played 69. Marshall played 60, and then Trader 52, and Anderson 29 at safety. My top five tapes, I already spoiled the top one. Chop Robinson was awesome in this game. He gets number one. Jacob Rodriguez goes number two. Zach Seeler, number three in the top tapes. Chris Johnson, number four, and Josh Uche, number five. I had Jonah, Kaczmarek, Proctor, and Brewer all in contention for the final spot, but I'm going to go all defense across the board today. That's my time. You all please be sure, subscribe, rate, review the show, follow me on social, at Winful NFL, the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ, media availabilities, and so much more. And last but not least, MiamiDolphins.com. Until next time, fins up. Caroline Cameron and Willow Daddy. He's coming home.
Speaker 1: Hey-o! What is up, Dolph fans? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. On today's show, it's Film Review Day, and this was a pretty good one to watch. I'll talk about all the positives, including an impressive day from the defense, some of the flashes on the offensive side, and where the corrections can be found on either side of the football. Let's go! Let's go! We start as we do each Monday night slash Tuesday morning, talking about the offense here in the week four matchup in Minnesota. And to start, I mean, the first thing that jumped off was a couple of the early running plays where we got to clean up some of the double teamwork we're getting to. I felt we too often had cracks in double teams with a hip to hip connection. We have two guys on a down lineman and we climb and turn him free and he makes the play like that should be easy money to get displacement, to uproot that player at the point of attack. to give the running back an easy gap to attack with conviction. It happened the first two running plays of the game on Sunday. And in general, and I think this can be something that we get cleaned up over the bye week with some self-scouting, and Jermon Bushrod talked about it on the post-game show, I think it would help to sort of establish and commit to an identity offensively. And look, I think, you know, where Devon Achan... when he was back there and the way this offensive line plays, that ID can be the versatility in the running scheme. And I'm all for that. I've advocated for it. I have asked questions for coach and solely in the press conferences about that. But I think that will also come with time on task and continuity, which we are developing so far four games in the same lineman have played the entire year along with the quarterback. And there's value to that. And I do think that we're going to have, the majority of this offensive line for a very long time. Four of the five guys that we have right now are under contract for multiple years. The three interior guys, who I thought were three of the best players on the field Sunday, have between three and five years of club control, and Patrick Paul has two, and I seriously doubt he's playing football anywhere else for a long, long time. But I broke down our run schemes in the game on Sunday as follows. There was one rep apiece for the following season. calls in your running game. Quarterback draw, crack toss, down, long trap, counter GT, and jet. And then we had two reps of duo, two reps of counter GY, that's guard and your Y tight end pulling across the formation, GT's guard tackle, obviously. Inside zone, three reps, and outside zone, five reps. Now, a lot of those are similar variations. I mean, duo and inside zone, the classic tweet, like, is it duo or inside zone, right? But the concept of those two particular looks, that's where the success came from, those downhill interior runs. And look, you can't just be one thing only, but I think there is value in really hammering down something over and over, kind of like the Hoosiers quote, right? We're going to do it until we puke, and we're going to do it in the fourth quarter of games when the opposition wants to puke as well. I think there's also value in keeping it wide open, but regardless of what it looks like, I'm just very intrigued to see what Bobby Slowik takes from from the first four games and how he applies it here going forward next week and beyond post-bye week. Something that didn't work was the wide runs. And the Vikings defense, I think, is just too far disciplined off the edge. And they played on the upfield shoulders and played that thing wide all game long. And we lost yards on the outside zone runs or the jet sweep run that we had to Malik Washington down in the red zone. Our screen game also needs some work. The operation just does not look clean. But again, like so many other things, I think this is a time on task issue with so many green players that makes it's tough to play a mechanism that has so much timing built into it. It becomes difficult to hit that when you are kind of trying to get this thing on the same page from, you know, ground zero, essentially. Something else I feel we could do to influence some of the congestion in the middle of the field is to high low some of those hook linebackers. And essentially what I'm talking about is the second level of the defense will play in zones where they have eyes on the quarterback. They're trying to feel the checkdowns, the routes that get spaced out to the perimeter, and also the routes that run in behind them between that second level and the safeties. And there are some plays where you get these mirrored end cuts from either side of the formation. and they wind up taking their routes into each other, which obviously when you have two receivers in one space, you can cover that with one defender, and they can get depth on those drops because there is not a route underneath to hold them outside of a chip release, and that's been too late in the pattern from late to find too frequently on those quick checkdowns. So I think there's a lot you can kind of look at in self-scout. Four games is about where you start to When you game plan for a team, you go four games back. That's kind of the standard MO in the NFL or in football in general. So now we have the four-game sample size. I'm curious to see how it develops and evolves from here. And to put a bow on this general offensive points, we've got to be able to separate against man with more frequency. That's one of, I would say, one of the bigger issues, I think, in terms of the offense scoring the amount of points they have scored is because there's so many reps where you look at the timing of the quarterback's drop and where we are in the routes, and it's blanket city across the board. And again, you have three of your top four snap takers at receiver are rookies, and the other one is a third-year player who's, you know, Malik had, what, 30 catches coming into the season? So it's a work in progress, and again, time on task. And my last bow, after putting a bow out right there, I do think Caleb Douglas, when he is healthy, you're going to see a totally different passing attack. We kind of saw glimpses in the Raider game But there are some opportunities where I think a healthy Caleb Douglas could produce some big-time numbers in this Miami passing offense. Let's talk about the quarterback play here, Malik Willis. The first play of the game was exactly what I was hoping to see against this Viking offense, or rather defense, but we didn't see it again the rest of the way. But it was a three-step, under-center, straight drop back, no play action, run the tight end right between the two hookbackers and put it on him on the upfield shoulder in rhythm off the top of that drop. Just never got back to it. And his next throw is a missed opportunity on third down where he had the right read and decision against a seven presenting box in terms of the pressure count with man free behind. So a single high safety in the post and potential man coverage, or it could look like cover three with zone drops on the outside. And then you're going to have to decipher who's coming and who's dropping from that seven man presentation. They wind up dropping two and they bring five typically how Flores does it. And bell wins on an out route, which, is separate from the interior read because, I mean, as long as you can pick up the blitz enough to kind of get that throw off, you know you've got one-on-one out there and there's not going to be a zone drop that impacts that throw underneath. And the ball goes way over his head. And I'm looking at Malik's feet in slow motion, and I think that's where it starts with some of these misses. He is not driving through that back foot, and the foot is kind of sliding out like a bowler, right? You roll that thing down the alley and the right foot kicks out and you kind of hit that pose with the right hands up in the air and the right foot's out behind the left ankle. And that tends to send the arm into overcorrection mode. And stop me if you've heard this before. I make a golf analogy. When you have a quick trigger at the top of your swing, the top of your backswing, you become reliant upon the arms. That front hip flies open and you get over the top, which reduces all kinds of drag on the golf ball. And you wind up cutting across it, slicing it. It goes right and doesn't go very far. Sound familiar, golfers? I'm sure a lot of you listening to this podcast have that exact issue. For a quarterback and for throwing a baseball or anything in sports where you're throwing and using the same mechanics from a golf swing, because it's all the same, right? Hips, feet, generate the torque from the ground up. You see it on that throw where the release point gets delayed a little bit and the ball comes out on this trajectory where it starts off high and stays there. And I don't think there's a lack of trust in the pocket for Malik. In fact, the offensive line, has been by far the most consistent unit on the offense this season so far. And they've given him plenty of good pockets to play from. And he does get vertical in the pocket a lot. I mean, there's back-to-back plays where we get that scramble where he bounces off the tackle right at the sticks and winds up spinning out and getting a first down. Then the next play, he drives up and shoots an over route to Kevin Coleman that's just out of reach. And that's one of those plays where I say, like, Caleb Douglas has the width and frame and the catch radius to make this play. But this tape does, once again, show something you won't see on the broadcast. There's just not a lot of easy decision throws. Like, again, don't get me wrong, okay? He had some misses in this game, and there's things for Malik Willis to clean up. I just don't think his first four games are, I think, 13 weeks from now, I don't think we're going to think about these first four games. I think I've done segments on the podcast here talking about quarterback play and the evolution of it, even within one season for these young quarterbacks. Going back to Jordan Love's 2023 season when he had 18 touchdowns and one pick in the second half of the year. And nobody remembers how he started that year. It was not pretty for Jordan Love. And with Malik Willis, we've had some of those on a week-to-week basis. And the scramble play that I talked about, for instance, Kevin Coleman is turned free immediately. with a 20-yard depth safety, the nearest defender, and Malik could have ripped that at the top of the drop. But some of these intermediate shots, he needs a perfect throw, and sometimes even that wouldn't be enough. So it's a collection of separation, of timing, of being on the same page, of the quarterback making the right read and the right ball placement, and the receiver setting up his break in the right way. There's a lot that goes into this, and my voice reaches that octave because I just want to explain the nuance here behind some of this stuff. But then there's also plays where the ball is out on time. The Malik Washington 16-yard play in the first quarter. The perimeter cornerback is getting depth, and the curl-flat defender, which, okay, so getting depth from that perimeter cornerback means he's sinking into a possible deep third or maybe a deep quarter for quarters or quarter, quarter, half, whatever the zone coverage might be in that way. And then the curl flat player is playing basically 8 to 10 yards and down to try to get a read on either a flat route or a potential curl, like a deep over route in that position. And that curl flat defender, the sucked up one, is pushing vertical. And so he throws it to Malik Washington with that read, with that sinking cloud corner and the curl flat defender also getting depth because he knows neither of those guys, based upon their body position and alignment, can drive on that throw. So he can make it anticipatory throw, feeling comfortable that he knows nobody can impede that throw by reading it faster than he can get it out. And I love how his drop back momentum on that play carries him to the right. He kind of drifts a little bit that way and sets himself up. It's like when you go to a stop sign, right? You're going to turn right. You don't just go to the stop sign straight and then turn right once you stop. You kind of angle your turn as you pull into the stop. It's the same idea with how he sets himself up for this throw. It was a great read and feel, and the mechanics were there to match. And the foot doesn't kick out the same way, and the ball's right there as he kind of drives that torque through his feet, up through his hips, up through his shoulders, and eventually to the release point at the wrist. So, like, the nuts and the bolts are there. To me... There's reps where you can see it. The practice, everything you want to see is there for you to visualize. You don't have to project and say, well, if he can just learn how to do this, he does do it. It's about being consistent. To me, can we increase that uptick as we go along here? And look, it's going to get easier too. Not that it's ever easy. This game is freaking tough. This league is really, really hard to be successful in for anybody and for a team. but you have to take into context the defenses that he's played, man. I mean, think about this. The Raiders, the Niners, the Chiefs, and the Vikings, and this is in no order. I went highest to lowest. First in points allowed, third in points allowed, seventh and 14th. All four teams top half the league, three of them top seven, top quartile of the league. They also rank third, fourth, sixth, and 21st in yards per play. The Raiders are seventh and 21st just for posterity in that stat. The next five teams we face, 7th, 14th, 15th, and 23rd and 32nd points allowed. And then 7th, 11th, 25th, 27th, and 31st in yards per play. I'm kind of glad the schedule went this way because Malik has had a chance to kind of get some things on tape. And now I think there's a good chance that he does start posting some big numbers. We start winning some games and things look different these next five games. Let's compare that stretch when we get there and see where we are back to the film here real quick. There's a third down sack early in the game where he gets through a full field progression with a clean pocket, but we don't uncover the Vikings are in zone on the front side and man coverage on the backside. And we have two routes plastered right out of the break. It's tough to make a living that way as a quarterback, man, you're going to, you're going to challenge, you're going to throw it into coverage and you get a reach around breakup where the ball gets batted up into the air and can get picked off. I, I don't take those chances. Not me. No one wants to take those chances. A coach would say, no, no, no, don't play that ball. The Chris Bell play, I mean, there's a career highlight type of play, right? Like that is unreal, remarkable, remarkable off-schedule play creation from Malik Willis. And stuff like this is why you develop this cat and see if he can keep progressing in the stuff we're talking about here. Rare, rare, unstoppable quarterback play when he gets to it. A DC will tell you, I got nothing for that. I can't defend that because that's God-given ability taking over in a league full of gifted players. And look, I wouldn't care about these flashes as much if there was zero evidence of playing on time. I have been vocal about quarterbacks that I feel that way about. A great example was Zach Wilson for the Jets, right? I told you guys, I never saw it in college. I didn't care about the running around and going 20 yards backwards because if you can't play in structure, that stuff won't matter. But for Malik, there are examples of it. So keep going, Malik. Keep getting these reps and keep learning. I believe in this quarterback. And I'm excited to watch him develop and grow. That's part of the process to me. That's part of what's fun. And like, not to go all coach speak on you guys, but that's like, that's the part of the game that you love to see is where they coach these guys up and they get better and they become better versions of themselves. That's the reward these coaches get, man. I think, I think Malik can be that guy. I think the miss that bothered me the most was the wheel to Kaz Marik where he throws a fade away. And yeah, Dallas Turner's in there for a pressure, but the rest of the pocket is pretty money. And he has space to step up and deliver a dime. It should have been caught, but it didn't help. He didn't help Kaczmarek at all. And he could have laid it out there further down the field. And if he does that, you have a chance for an explosive play. But like the third and goal incomplete pass to Coleman, he beats pressure before he could even step up. And he has to step up around two different blocks. The right tackle and right guard both ran blocks around him that he had to step up and move back to his right. Then he breaks contain and everything is plastered across the board, man. Yes, Malik has things he can clean up, but the passing production is far, far from a Malik Willis and only a Malik Willis thing right now. Not even close to just the quarterbacks. In fact, the throw that Malik made in the far hash in the fourth quarter, our penultimate drive, a 25-yard drive throw while getting hit with anticipation. That is so nice, dude. So nice. Then a few plays later, he does it again, this time moving to his left. And then the third down miss to end the game. He just misidentified that. It's that simple. He's reading leverage of those defensive backs and didn't read it correctly. That's all it comes down to. If it's the same thing in week 18, then I will say, hey, we got to think about the growth not being where we want it to be. But give this guy time because he's showing... glimpses of it every week on top of flashing playmaking ability, and I have the utmost confidence he's going to get there. Just getting those reps on tape, man, it's so valuable because there is so much here to work with. This tape shows those flashes, stuff to correct, a little bit of everything. This is far from a he's not the guy tape. Not even close, pal. You're not that guy, pal. Trust me. Let's take a break right there, come back and talk about the rest of the offense on the Draft Time Podcast, brought to you by AutoNation. Whew, I had to... I had to cool down there a little bit after that segment. We did the Jeff Halfley press conference here on Monday afternoon, and I came back into the podcast studio and recorded. I had my hoodie on because it's very cold in that press conference room, and that segment required me to ditch a layer there because I started to sweat a little bit. And what else made me sweat was watching this tape both on offense and defense, and I'll pick it up here with the offensive line, who I thought did a really good job against the pressure looks. And this is another week for them where I'm seeing a ton of encouraging play projecting into the future. Like, the Vikings love to mug a backer up over the center. That's the Noah's backer, right? We saw that with Sam Egwavon for years here in Miami. And they love to have him bluff his rush and then bail out into coverage. And the idea is that it messes with your slide, but Brewer is so good at not taking the cheese and getting to the overload that they're trying to expose. I'm not really trying to pile on here, but I just felt the Vikings' best pressures were when they got Dallas Turner one-on-one against Austin Jackson. Otherwise, I felt the offensive line did a pretty good job against all they feature. And quite frankly, Austin had a bunch of good reps in this game, too. We'll talk more about him here in just one second. Jonas Avaya-Naya kicks off our positive film. Another week closer to set and forget for me with him. He's arriving before our eyes. Movement at the point of attack. The feet are so much better this year. The posture too. It's technique. It's leading to better technique. He is in control and playing really good football right now. I think he's been pretty good in three of the four games we've played. Kaczmarek, this dude rocks. You guys know that Twitter account? This dude rocks, right? Well, Kaczmarek freaking rocks. Kickouts, Head up at the point of attack. He is a slobber knocker player. There are bodies on the floor when he wraps, when he inserts, when he kicks out. What a draft pick he looks like so far. Malik Washington's best game of the year of his career, if you ask me. I just like the way that he transitioned from route runner to ball carrier this week, and he slipped a bunch of tackles and had big time yak. Big game for Malik Washington. I talked about Brewer off the top. I thought he was awesome. What's new? But he had so much on his plate in terms of pass pro where he just kept making great decisions. He played with awesome hands and leg drive and overall power. Even if he oversets or like a cutoff block that he has or overplays something, he still strains to get back into position to execute the block. And then he'll go find a pile and push it for an extra three yards. I would take 53 Aaron Brewers if I could. Also, another fun Brewer rep. Go watch him on the Chris Bell play that did not count. He runs after it again. And then Proctor, speaking of the Bell play, That segment I did last Friday talking about the positive veteran influences. And in fact, Jeff Hathaway talked about his Monday press conference. Watch the way Caden Proctor chases down Aaron Brewer on that play. He's getting examples from the best in the game, right? And also his power, the way he ejects loopers with a simple punch, the leg drive in the running game, the kickouts, the pulls. He is so legit, dude. And then Ollie Gordon's the last one in here. I broke down the big run on the podcast on Sunday night, so go back and check it out if you missed that podcast. But he just looked really good taking good tracks, and he runs so hard. And when you get a motivated Ollie Gordon, that's the best version of Ollie Gordon. Just keep feeding him, man. He's the back that rides confidence. Right now he's feeling it. Great game for Ollie Gordon. Nine for 100. What a day that was for him. Corrections-wise, I thought Jalen Wright just looked like he hesitated too much. The feet were kind of clicking on his track and some difficulty scooping the ball up on the kickoffs. Just kind of a challenging game for him. Looking forward to his bounce back hopefully next week. Austin Jackson doesn't bear repeating every week, but the feet just keep stopping when he throws that punch, and it sends him scrambling trying to establish his anchor. and i mean crosby bosa uh carloftis and turner that's a tough it's a tough slate man he's getting getting some of the best in the league the first four games and trying to find that anchor against the power those guys provide i do want to give him some some run game flowers because he did dent the edge and hit some nice second level blocks but the past pro reps on third and medium where we get immediately dispatched it's hard to run a drop back offense with a frequency in which it's occurring through these first four games. So that's what has to be mentioned here in the pod. DJ Herman, just not running through guys at the point of attack the way I hoped he would. And that was the case again on Sunday. Patrick Paul, the holding calls were technique breakdowns to me. It's not something I think you worry about, just an off day for him and probably fostered by the many presentations the Vikings had. And that's what they create, right? Because there's a rep where he squeezes the B gap, which is to his right, working towards Caden Proctor against a mugged up look. And then Turner knows that he has that. They game plan. They tell the pass rushers, hey, we're going to do this to create a chance for you. So he goes bull rush. And because Pat's feet have kind of gotten stuck together, he hasn't been able to recover from that squeeze yet. So he's not in position to absorb the power. And he winds up getting his hands outside Turner's frame to try to slow him down. And that's a hold every single day. The second one's a nice job by Van Ginkle to get on the upfield shoulder. And Pat basically had to wrap him to prevent a tackle for loss. And I'm talking a five or six yard tackle for loss. And in that instance, I take that. I also thought he struggled at the point of attack in the running game a couple of times, which is, again, out of character for our franchise left tackle. It happens. Go get the Bengals next week, big dog. I thought Chris Bell. Had some really awesome effort reps in the blocking game, but there's just as many missed assignments as well. And I don't want to get on him too much for being an inch out of bounds, but that's a field awareness thing that we have to learn. We saw it with Caleb Douglas back in the preseason, right? That Washington game, he makes that catch with his foot on the sideline. And I still think he could have caught that last third down ball. And then Greg Doltz, which had a few too many losses for me in blocking assignments in pass pro and in the running game. Excuse me. Let's talk about the defense here, and I'll pause down after the general takeaways here. The effort again jumps off the screen. I tweeted about this. The first third down of the game, third and 16, they check it down. All three pass rushers sprint back to the football. The safeties and corners come from depth to sprint in there. The second level defenders fly in there and smack the pile. There are so many reps where I see 11 white jerseys and hats at the football by the time the ball carrier is getting up off the ground. That's what you want to see, man. Jeff Halfley talked about it on Monday. He was asked a question about Do you fear losing sight of the process from some of the guys when there isn't payoff in terms of victories? And you talked about, you know, this is essentially what I told the guys going into it, what's going to be a challenging year. And if you don't, if you're not okay with that, like go see Sully. but he talked about finding out who we want in the boat and who we can trust. And you see it on the tape. And it makes me excited about the future, man, because you're seeing talent flash. You're seeing a standard and effort. And like, I see tweets about like, well, that's the bare minimum. Go watch other tapes, man. It does not happen across this league the way you would think it would. It does not. And this Dolphins team is one of the teams that does that. And if that's who they can be and they keep making draft class, like the one I think we have here in 2026 and what 25 looks like and the established veterans we do have, then you're going to be a problem for a long time. If you can play with that effort and you can draft that well, that's the ingredients, right? That's the recipe right there. Back to the defense here. We're starting to get deeper and deeper into this menu, man, which is fun because I had a fun time breaking it down this offseason. The pressure creation was awesome. The games, the slants, the twists, and a better understanding of how it all works from even just two weeks ago. I love the autonomy. Halfley gives a player like Zach Seeler to make a check on a slide call or a protection change, and he just goes and wrecks shop. Big game from Zach Seeler. There was a backside invert with a frontside unchange. What does that mean, Travis? It means Juju Brents inverts, which means going from corner back into a split-field safety responsibility, and Michael Taft inverts with him and steps down and plays the hook zone coverage role with Chris Johnson in the nickel sprinting out to the curl flat from inside leverage into the slot out to the wide part of the field. That's a pretty significant frontside change that the quarterback has to read And if he can't get to initial read on that front side, that's tough for him to decipher what happens on the backside. So that can create pressure from him not getting the initial read he wants and then going to the backside. And the picture is muddy because of all that stuff we just did. They got the Vikings to check it down over and over and they rallied and tackled and rallied and tackled. Like I talked about, the next step seems to be finding someone who can cover backs and tight ends or doing it as a team, because that's really all that is hurting us on defense right now. We're stopping the run. Another game under four yards per carry. We're not really getting beat by the receivers. Our pressure plan showed up this week in a big way, and I would say next week would be the real test at receiver, but both Chase and Higgins left the game Sunday, so we'll see about that. There's a rep for Anderson. Back to the menu here. Zane Anderson presents pressure against a single high look with two off corners and everybody else pressed up in the pressure look or pressed up against their receiver. So Brooks and Uche bell from that pressure look into the hook, and Anderson from that position sprints back to the post, and that post safety steps down, and the cornerbacks fall out. So it presents as cover three, and it gets to cover three, but with the post safety stepping down and filling his vacancy as a player who was in the potential rush package. And they also brought a cat blitz with Chris Johnson who got in there for the quarterback hit. That's diabolical stuff from Jeff Halfley, man. The result of the play is a third down stop. And the last thing here, just the communication, playing to the rules, passing off and picking up. Very, very sharp in this game. So good to see four games in. I mean, the four teams you've played are a combined 15-1. And you're hanging tough with two of those teams here the last couple of weeks. I'm encouraged. Let's take a break, come back, and talk about the individual standouts. We'll do top five tapes and snap counts. All of that ahead here on the Draft Time Podcast, brought to you by AutoNation. We talked general defense in the last segment. Let's go ahead and talk about the individual standouts here on the defense. And Chop Robinson leads us off. The tape was even better, man. Have mercy. On a down-by-down basis, this was a flat-out dominant performance. I said eight pressures on the podcast last night. NextGen had them for 10, so I take their... I take their word over mine there. I mean, Zach Seeler's sack to open the game. He push-pulls on Derrissaw and is rag-dolling him. And you guys see, I'm talking about Chop on the Seeler sack play. So you guys see Kyle Long's tweet. He said, quote, would hate to play this guy. He's 6'3, but plays like a 5'11, leveraged demon. Plays hard, speed to power, swipes, push-pull, and he's a dog in the running game, end quote. Like, okay, Chop, you've got my attention, big dog. I've seen this in camps. But this was a game from him that I have not seen before. And even in his rookie year, he was doing some stuff that was crazy. This was different. I mean, they're chipping him with a tight end to get him on his heels for the pulling guard. He goes and hammers them both. That bull rush on the Uche sack might have been his most impressive rep of the day. No, I'm wrong. I take that back. The ghost move where he smokes Brian O'Neal and buries Kyler Murray, who damn near fumbles the football. That was the rep of the game. My goodness. Spoiler alert. He's the top tape of the game. Josh Uche, speaking of Uche, sign me up for more of this guy. He's a baller. He can really bend through the initial engagement of the tackle. He works the tackle's arms and elbows to set up the counter-redirect move and does it while playing with power through them and the ability to cut on a dime working off the outside shoulders. I guess shoulders are always on the outside. There's no middle shoulders. Zach Seeler, I think it's no coincidence that his play is starting to elevate as those around him do the same. That first sack, he's the pick-stunt man once again. Halfway called him the setup man at his press conference today. But you also see him bump right before the snap and attack the slide side to cause pass pro issues. He has a very heady player in that regard to be able to adjust on the fly. And again, I'll play some of the audio on Halfway's Monday Press Conference on the Wednesday podcast because there was so much to get into in terms of just football, like, digest... Football Digest? Good stuff from Jeff Halfley. But there's a play, the first of the third quarter, where he instantly recognizes a wide run and just rides the wave and makes the play out by the sideline. And he was just on their outside shoulder. There is no inside shoulder, Travis. All game long, causing protection breakdowns consistently. Great stuff from 92. Jacob Rodriguez, what do you want to know? What do you want to know? Tell me. The way he scrapes and gets downhill. to reduce the runway for the back. And there are plays every single week where the offensive line executes and gets their gap controlled. And then here comes 10 closing space and making a stop in that space. He is an eraser, man. You make a mistake up front, he'll correct it. And the functional strength and balance to play through blocks as he pursues guys. I mean, we're talking about 250 pound tight ends trying to ride him out of the play. And Jacob makes it look like he's a little gnat. Yeah, sure. It's annoying. He's buzzing in your ear, but it's nothing more than that to him. Juju Brents, that physicality, he keeps showing up, keeps telling me what he's about. I talked about Uche being one of the finds of the offseason. I know Juju was here, but this is a talent worth further development to me. We heard Halfley in the offseason talk about using his length. The way he's rerouting and then sinking where he's playing cloud on the outside, it's really damn nice. And then he throws his body in there against the run time and time again. I feel pretty good about Juju right now. I mentioned the play where he let that come back up for a chunk in the podcast last night. But that was an inverted two look where he has to get depth. And that would be no different than getting on a split field safety for not driving down that route, which is never going to happen. So even more impressed by Juju after watching the tape on that play, Taff had to get more width in that play. zone drop. Jordan Phillips, the way he's holding the point against double teams is different from the first couple of weeks. They can't move him, and it's helping him get in on more plays in addition to fulfilling his gap responsibility. Also, he's learning from Zach because he set Zach up for that second sack with an awesome pick stunt. Also has a swim move working for him now at this point of his career, too. I thought Chris Johnson was really damn good in this game. His spatial awareness and how he plays the run and how he tackles in space is such a deadly combo. He can impact multiple levels in coverage with eyes in the quarterback and then trigger and go make a play. Then you see the way he leverages a block on a swing or a wide run his way, sets his teammates up for success. There's also a ton of just pure cover corner reps where he's running the route for Jordan Addison or Jawan Jennings. We got one here, boys and girls. We got a few of these guys now. Rodney McGraw, just wanted to mention the strain on that pocket contain where I'm making these rhymes and I'm throwing dimes, just kidding, where he scores a quarterback hit on Kyler Murray. Really good stuff to play through the tackle with his eyes on the quarterback and then finishes it off. He had an awesome rundown rep also where he shot his gap and then widens the tackle to kind of give himself space to make the play and then goes and does it. Trader and Taft, there was one rep where they got deked by the concept and it removed the help from the corners playing it top down. But other than that, I was very impressed by the way they're working in tandem together in terms of picking up most of the concepts and playing off each other. There was nothing really available for Minnesota down the field, and they were a big part of that. Anderson as well, 20-plus snaps for him in the game and some really good recognition play. And then Jason Marshall to make it 3-for-3 on the corners and, quite frankly, 6-for-6 on the DBs, another good game from him where his feel and physicality really jumped off the tape to me. Corrections wise, Jordan Brooks is in here. There was a ton of good from JB, but I thought he overplayed some of his zone landmarks where he got out leveraged in coverage. And I'm not going to get on a guy for being in tight quarters and the tight end makes a catch over the top of him because Hawkinson was just kind of on a heater. But there are so many good plays in here too where he did get stuck on some blocks. He's more in here because of his own standard, quite frankly. But there are some plays where he's on the weak side of a strong side run where he just flat out whips the down blocking right tackle and flies in there for a big shot on the back. And then Zeke Biggers, there were some splash plays, but the read and react and gap discipline did not hold up on a down-by-down basis on tape to me. Now, he did make some plays, and the effort was really good, so I love the big fella up for that. I think those splashes, though, give you a lot to work with in terms of further development. Because remember, this guy's played, what, just a handful of games going back to late last season. If he can get more consistent pad level, I think it'll help cover up some of the rest. Snap counts. Malik in the offensive line for the four straight game played the entire distance, and Caden Wallace played one snap. The running backs, Ollie got 22, Wright got 12, and Herman got 20. This is out of just 39 plays, by the way. Receivers, Washington 34, Bell 32, Coleman 20, so a lot of 12 personnel with those two receiver sets. Tolbert 6 and Miller 4, and then Kaz leads the tight ends with 24 snaps, and Dulcich plays 20. On defense, out of 78 plays, Seeler played 61, Biggers played 48, Phillips 46, and Mozzie Smith makes his Dolphins debut with nine snaps in the game. Off the edge, Josh Uche played 55, Chop 50, Malik Herring 28, and Rodney McGraw 12 snaps. A nice debut for the rookie. Jordan Brooks and Jacob Rodriguez played all 78 snaps. Willie Gay played 27. At corner, Johnson played all 78. In fact, Taft and Trader did as well. Juju Brents played 69. Marshall played 60, and then Trader 52, and Anderson 29 at safety. My top five tapes, I already spoiled the top one. Chop Robinson was awesome in this game. He gets number one. Jacob Rodriguez goes number two. Zach Seeler, number three in the top tapes. Chris Johnson, number four, and Josh Uche, number five. I had Jonah, Kaczmarek, Proctor, and Brewer all in contention for the final spot, but I'm going to go all defense across the board today. That's my time. You all please be sure, subscribe, rate, review the show, follow me on social, at Winful NFL, the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ, media availabilities, and so much more. And last but not least, MiamiDolphins.com. Until next time, fins up. Caroline Cameron and Willow Daddy. He's coming home.
