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Scouting the Fins-11-12-25 · 3 Yards Per Carry - Miami Dolphins

• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: What's up everybody?
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to another episode of Scouting Fins right here on the Throat precaried podcast feed, all support of the five reason sports network.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Miami Dolphins are three and seven and many people are thinking if this was an accident.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: that they won against the Buffalo bills.
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm here to tell you it wasn't, but in case of any accident for you, you need to be ready.
• 0:56
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• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Always ready to take your call 24 seven again 305 800 paint that is 305 800 paint and as always this show is brought to you by Thompson cigar dot com use promo code 3 yards 20 that's right use promo code 3 yards 20 for 20% off your order of 75 dollars or more
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And here we are.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Coach and Eric gentlemen from Miami Gardens to Madrid Spain, the Miami dolphins are heading overseas, writing one of their most complete stretches of football, beating the buffalo bills 30 to 13.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: What did you learn Spanish?
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Middle school.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I did two.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Spanish was actually a requirement for both of us.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, in middle school.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm surprised that you said that.
• 2:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, a coach was like, what the heck?
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have no idea what we're doing today apparently.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I did not know we were going to Spanish the better.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, no, no, no, no.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Excited to talk about this game.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: and we'll get into it.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is this I think this could be the start of a stretch of of games here that that, you know, Bradley Chubby used the word delusional last week.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think we've known the Dolphins fan base, you know, on occasion to get a little delusional themselves, this could be the start of a stretch here that gets people a little delusional about this football team.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm excited to talk about this game.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to be a little hesitant about getting delusional.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I told you guys before that I'm not letting this team hurt me and I am looking forward to the fact that this game on Sunday is going to be played at 9 30 a.m. Eastern time and that whatever happens, whether it's a win and I'm thrilled for the rest of the day or it's a loss and it's out of the way, you know, I'm looking forward to being able to wake up and watch them football, especially the dolphins this Sunday.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, on this episode, we're going to dive into how the dolphins have quietly transformed into a struggling inconsistent units on both sides of the ball to now it looks to be one of the more balanced teams in the NFL and the offense and defensive side of the ball.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: and why their new offensive identity and a certain player might just be their best weapon yet.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Plus, we're going to break down the defensive resurgence, the schematic shift towards heavy personnel, and how Miami matches up against a Washington Commander's team.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: who's down Jane Daniels, Terry McGloron, Doron Payne and others.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to take a look at some key metrics as well, but let's start with where this dolphin team stands, right?
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: It looks like
• 4:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: getting the bad man out, getting Chris Greer out.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Miami Dolphins have stabilized at least for a week.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: After parting ways with Chris Greer, it's been a transitional few weeks off the field.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: But on the field, it looks like a completely different team.
• 4:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: They look more physical.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: They look
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think it's it's really something that started against Atlanta.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, obviously the game begins Baltimore kind of sticks out like a sore thumb in this last three games stretch, but I think when you actually go back and watch that game, you know, as I kind of reference before it was really just like a series of unfortunate events that kind of snowballed on themselves.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: and made the outcome look a lot worse and how they had actually played that game outside of, now don't get me wrong there.
• 5:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're a litany of crucial errors, but it's one of those things where you play 85% of the game well, but the 15% is just so catastrophically bad that you end up losing by 22 points.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, when you look at what this team has been able to do,
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think conviction is actually a very good word, and it's something that they've been harping on.
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think the move to go back to go to a heavier person now is something that's been kind of... it was necessitated to them by injuries, but I think that they've kind of found something
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: The glimpses of the old Tua in terms of his efficiency.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that we've seen that over the last few weeks.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that that's something that we will continue to see again this week.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a preview of how I think this game is going to go.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: But then, defensively, you want to talk about conviction.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a defense that it felt really...
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: The mistakes that we're making, particularly in the run game, it really felt like the players on the field were just really unsure of what they were doing at all times.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And right now, there is just an absolute certainty in the way they're playing, they're attacking their assignments.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's just, I don't know what changed specifically on the defensive side of the football.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, it's it's it's night and day and I think it's something that can carry over throughout the rest of the season, but my fear with this team is that they that they hang over from beating Buffalo this past Sunday.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's definitely a concern and you know, I know that Chris Kaufman over on the three hours per carried discord talked about the struggles that the dolphins have had with games that are not normal and would dreadwood fall into that with the short will not shortly.
• 7:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: In terms of traveling, it definitely changes your schedule there.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So when you add that into the idea of celebrating the Buffalo game too long, that is certainly a valid concern.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: It feels to me that offensively things have gotten more simple.
• 8:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think when you go to that six offensive lines set, you go back to that.
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: You don't, you don't put Dan Bronskill in and run the most complicated things you have.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: when you add that sense off of alignment and you're going back to your base packages for a lot of that.
• 8:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that that is part of the reason that we're seeing to a return to what he was before.
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: That now we're seeing the scheme kind of the scheme be the lead for the offense versus having two of be the lead for the offense.
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're seeing
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: The skill players understand where they need to be and when much better, because it's just a simpler form of the offense, when you're adding that six offensive linemen, you're taking away an eligible receiver, a sense, so I know that brunt skill reports is eligible and hopefully something will see them catch or pass, but you're taking away a receiving option there, so it comes down to guys, you know, now we're going back to depending on water.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: A-chan, right, Malik Washington sometimes just beating their guy one-on-one instead of trying to out scheme the defense and then for the dolphins defensively You know, some I know that you brought it up several weeks ago about all of the new pieces that were on this defense that we didn't really expect and we had the scheme returning But almost everybody returning on this defense was new, right?
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's it's one thing to have a scheme but having players in the scheme
• 9:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: is a different animal.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know what we're seeing is a confidence in that scheme these last few weeks.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, when they's earlier in the season felt like guys were just trying to do too much.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were trying to play multiple responsibilities and it ended up getting them out of position.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that you're seeing them play with a speed and confidence that they know that the guys around them are going to be in the right place.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And when you have that confidence like you're a linebacker that has the big app assignment and you know that your nose tackle has the A gap or you know your defensive end has the C gap right now you can attack that B gap a lot more aggressively and now everybody has their run lanes filled and you know it's not necessarily one player standing.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know that Jordan Brooks has been playing out of this world right but
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: the way that he is playing is very much dependent on the guys around him, right?
• 10:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: The Jordan Phillips, the Matthew Joodon, right?
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's just role players playing their roles, filling their gaps and allowing other players to make the plays.
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So for me, that's the biggest difference with an offense and defense is to the difference in the team we've seen over these last three weeks, and hopefully that we'll see you through the rest of the season.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, let's talk about the shifts on both sides of the fault ball, but specifically for the offense, the X factor for a Miami's offense is the heavy person now had coach Mike McDaniel has learned a little bit from the Atlantic game to now.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: how to marry the finesse, the speed and the physicality.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Six offensive linemen, sometimes that sixth offensive linemen acting like a second or third, tight end attached to the formation.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, it's a ruchy or,
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Greg Dulcic inline attached to the formation and a little bit of a commitment to powerful ball and running the ball and it's working Not so much utilizing different types of motions, but simple motions that can also give a little bit of misdirection and confuse the defense Daniel Brunskyle, I feel like has been the expactor for this dolphins offense
• 11:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: not because he's flashy, not because he's producing numbers, but the impact that he has brought to the Dolphids, at least the last three weeks, which comes at the turn of Darren Waller, getting hurt and going on IR.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that injury of Darren Waller pretty much forced Mike McDaniel's hand to be like, okay, we need a blocker, we need to be able to get the
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: let's feast off of that.
• 12:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: From my data analysis from jumbo sets specifically six oelts from weeks one through ten in terms of EPA per play, mine is the second best in the NFL.
• 12:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: and all EPA per play, that's combined passing and rushing.
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's with 41 plays.
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, 75% of those plays came from week 7 through 10, just in the last three weeks.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: In terms of passing the ball out of, you know, six with six o'clock on there, two is the third best quarterback.
• 13:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Miami Dolphins are the third best.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is mainly 10 out of 10 teams,
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: who run six offensive linemen with the minimum of 20 plays from weeks one through ten.
• 13:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're not the best at running the ball in terms of EPA and success rate, but they're getting at least three or four yards right at the usual, you know, negative two or negative three on the crack tosses that we see out of 11 personnel or in the gun.
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yards per play, they are a third.
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: First down conversions per attempt, they are fourth and third down conversion.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are number one overall.
• 13:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: But with the only one play on third down, which was the Olig Gordon run on third and two against Atlanta.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the kicker here is based on the down and distance, so first down, which is usually first and ten,
• 14:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: the dolphins are the best team in the league in EPA per drop back.
• 14:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: So whenever two passes, he has a very high EPA, which is a 0.53 in terms of running the ball on first down out of those jumbo sets, they are the worst.
• 14:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: So coach, I want your analysis on this.
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: In terms of passing the ball, that's a lead efficiency.
• 14:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: It may not just be a gimmick, but it can provide sustainable success built on discipline and design.
• 14:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: But how can that improve in the run game specifically on first down when teams know that your tendency to run on first down is much more higher
• 14:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think it just comes down to the efficiency they've had in the passing game, right?
• 14:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: When you, when you bring Dan Brunskell out as that six offensive line, and especially on first down, a defense should know that there's a high likelihood that you are going to run the ball.
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So linebackers are going to be more aggressive filling.
• 15:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're going to see more runbluses.
• 15:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're going to see those safety's walking into the box.
• 15:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you know, why do you still need to do it?
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: It makes sense of the defense is going to play that, you know, a lot more aggressively, and that would be why, you know, your EPA is lower in that situation, but the counter to that is that it's opening stuff up in the passing game, you know, if those linebackers are being more aggressive, if they have to walk up a safety, because you now have a six offensive lineman out there right now it's going to open more stuff up we've seen them.
• 15:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, run the the boot play action where they bring dulcitch behind the line of scrimmage and two or rolls out and hits him like it just opens up more simple stuff like that.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you got to find that balance, right?
• 16:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: If your if your defense is going to give you the pass in that situation, then you know, you pick and choose your spot.
• 16:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can't you cannot come out and throw the ball every time in those situations like I said, you still have to be able to run the ball.
• 16:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: You have to be able to you know, have success.
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: even when a team knows that you're going to run the ball.
• 16:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, if you pick those key scenarios to be able to pass the ball, then you're going to continue to find, you know, some big-time benefits from that because with the way the defense is playing, it's going to open up some bigger windows or just bigger opportunities that you can hit in the passing game.
• 16:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So here's the thing, in the passing game with those six ols.
• 16:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: they're not blitzing the dolphins a lot, especially on first out, just less than a 13% blitz rate, which is, you know, last in the league, in terms of blitzing with six offends of lineman, an intern coach, as you're saying,
• 16:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: that gives to a pretty clean pocket.
• 16:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're doing play action boot plays or you're doing shot plays, or even if you run simple mesh with three pass catchers on there, you're gonna have time to throw.
• 17:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you give to a time to throw, more likely than not, he should be able to find his guy.
• 17:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: If the coverage isn't perfect, which leads me to my point, maybe they're not trying to stop their run on those second and third downs.
• 17:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: and put the dolphins in second and longs, but lately the dolphins have been the last three weeks Eric, except for the Baltimore game, and there was just a lot of miscuse in that game.
• 17:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, I think Coach really did a good job kind of breaking it down, and I think part of the brilliance of the sixth offensive Lyman with damn bronze skill is it's not necessarily
• 17:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is about the run game.
• 17:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't get me wrong, it is.
• 17:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it's also about understanding your personnel and putting your offense into advantageous matchups, because you know what the defense is going to do when they see that six-thuffence of Lyme and you come in there.
• 18:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason why they're not, or defenses are blitzing only 13% on first-down when they see, when, you know, with the six-thuffence of Lyme, with the heavy package.
• 18:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's because defense is understand that with Devon H and back there, if they get too far up, field on the blitz and he gets to the second level, he's gone.
• 18:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's really a risk that they're not particularly willing to take.
• 18:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think it also has brought back the deep ball to the offense.
• 18:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, we saw it this past week against Buffalo with, with Jalen Waddle, uh, we've seen to a talk about it too, just from a, from a mental perspective, you know, he certainly feels a lot better having Daniel Brunskill, um, in there, and I think you can see that with, with the way that he's, um, been playing lately.
• 19:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, and, and then, you know, really, I think the idea is,
• 19:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: even if you have a negative EPA, I'd be really interested to see what the splits are by quarter on that.
• 19:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because I feel like maybe in the first and second quarter, maybe it's not great, but the idea is by third quarter, fourth quarter that heavy person I'll just kind of grinds down on the defense.
• 19:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: We saw Devon H and break the two really big runs at the end of the game last week against Buffalo.
• 19:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'd be curious to see what those splits look like.
• 19:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I think that this move has just done wonders for the offense.
• 19:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously there's going to be more counters that come and we'll see how Mike McDonald adjusts to those.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But right now, I mean, it's been a fantastic development.
• 19:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, um, I think it's also a testament to the offensive lines growth and also helps, um, Dan Bronsky out there, especially once he's attached to the left side or if he's in the backfield on the left side, he can help Jonas have a knife.
• 20:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Jonas have a knife hasn't looked
• 20:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: the best this entire season, but we haven't really seen him, you know, give up something so damaging within the last three weeks, at least, and also speaks to the versatility of Devon Hain.
• 20:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: He ranks fifth in Rush, E.P.
• 20:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: paper play and is at least, is at least, you know, top 20 in success rate.
• 20:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, with Hain's, you know,
• 20:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: basically play style and how he is as a runner it helps a lot and with the addition of Daniel Brunskill doing this and whoever you know is doing the personnel on this it gives you know this offense the flexibility
• 20:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: to toggle between gap and zone concepts and different types of man and zone blocking schemes.
• 21:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Also, in the passing gate, you could have pullers, you could have split flow, action blocking, especially in the passing game, and the defense, you know, they're trying to sell out to stop the run.
• 21:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And meanwhile, you have, you know, a tight end coming across the middle, or you have a glance
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, first down, first down attempts for Miami, they are number one in first down conversions.
• 21:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Overall, when they have six offensive linemen on the field.
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: So this is making a harder for opposing defenses to read Miami's intention, pre-snap even when they simplify.
• 21:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: The motion game.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: We haven't seen a lot of motion lately, but it's more so simplifying it, not making it redundant and as coach said, make it in simple.
• 21:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, before we talk about the defense.
• 21:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here is a message from our sponsors and we're back.
• 22:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, to the Dolphins defense, I mean guys, what turn around for Anthony Weaver's unit?
• 22:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: The first six weeks were an absolute mess.
• 22:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Dolphins ranked bottom of the barrel in EPA per Rush, Pass, Play, and Successory.
• 22:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: But since week seven, Miami's defense has completely flipped the script.
• 22:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are first in EPA per rush defended.
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are eighth in success rate and they are 12th in EPA per play allowed.
• 22:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is a defensive metrics.
• 22:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is elite defensive numbers up against Arabians offense.
• 22:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: a builds offense and even a little bit of the Falcons offense as well.
• 22:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right now, as it is for the metrics, this is a top 10 defense by every meaningful metric in that counts.
• 23:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: I thought you were going there.
• 23:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, no, no, no.
• 23:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: I got it.
• 23:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, this defense has made
• 23:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: tremendous research, right?
• 23:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're, you know, we're seeing, again, a defense as playing confident playing together, Bradley Chubb has really come on lately.
• 23:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I don't, don't want to say that Jalen Phillips was ever really expendable.
• 23:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: He's a great player, not going to downplay that.
• 23:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: at all.
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: But one of the things that I noticed against the bills this past week was with Jalen Phillips no longer being on the team with chop Robinson available on available.
• 23:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Stalls ax sealer moving around a lot more than we did in previous weeks.
• 23:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: We saw his ax sealer you know playing as a one-tick technique, playing as a three technique, even saw him bump out as a defensive end where we had you know some of the young guys in there at defensive tackle and we had
• 24:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sealer playing is like a heavy end, which is really going to help those, you know, the run defense, and I like the idea, because Jalen Phillips was playing the highest percentage of snaps of edge players on the team.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: So with him no longer on the team, you know,
• 24:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: as much as I like Chop Robinson, you know, he's not the same as some of these other edges against the run.
• 24:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if you can put Zack sealer at end and bring in some of these young tackles on early downs and be able to be stout against the run, that I feel like you're going to open up opportunities to bring chop in, you know, a very fresh in those passing situations
• 24:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: some of these young guys in the secondary stepping up, Dante Trader guy they've been very high on from all the way back to the preseason.
• 24:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: The coach was talked very highly of him and he's been able to show that on the field.
• 25:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: They kind of, there's safety that they have right now between Trader between Minka with Melafon who Ashton Davis when he's back in the lineup.
• 25:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: like these guys are all very versatile in terms of the alignments that they can play in.
• 25:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that gives Anthony weaver a lot of flexibility in the way that he can call the defense.
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then of course you have the big game from juju brensis past week.
• 25:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: So as we continue to get these young guys that are stepping up,
• 25:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: that are showing that they're capable of doing more.
• 25:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: Right?
• 25:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that you're just, you know, you're expanding that toolbox that Anthony Weaver can use for the play calling.
• 25:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that's what we're kind of getting with this defense is now that he is really understanding the personnel that he has out there.
• 25:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, he's, he's been dialing up some great play calls, some great,
• 25:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: blitzes, pressures, all that stuff.
• 25:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: I certainly think a lot of it is just getting familiar with the personality has now, and these young guys growing in the roles that they have, and, you know, showing they can be trusted.
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, when you look at, particularly, you go position group by position group.
• 26:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: maybe the idea that a guy like, you know, to your point coach, you made the point earlier that Jordan Brooks, you know, looks like he's playing out of his mind right now, but is he really playing better or is the defense around him putting in him in position to showcase what he's been, you know, he could have been doing this the entire season or something close to it.
• 26:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think when you look at the growth of the young interior tackles in the run game that's been extremely encouraging over the last few weeks, I look at Jordan Phillips.
• 26:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he was just an absolute force along the inside against Buffalo.
• 27:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think you're getting, like you mentioned, Bradley Chub, I mean, nine pressures he was phenomenal.
• 27:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's been really good over the last
• 27:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: few weeks, he's been their most consistent address or just about all season long.
• 27:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that they finally got a safety combination that they're really comfortable with between Manga, Dante Trader, and if he ought to email a fondue, and then, you know, I don't know what's going to happen when Russell Douglas gets back as far as the cornerback room goes.
• 27:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I would be, I, you know, actually, I think it potentially makes for a very interesting quarterback room, because I, well, I don't know what you do with Jack Jones, because I mean, his pension for forcing turnover has been really solid this year.
• 28:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I am intrigued by Brensen Douglas on the outside and Marshall moving back to that nickel spot.
• 28:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: kind of being your, you know, your, your base set up there with those three guys, you know, I don't think Anthony we were doing anything all that different.
• 28:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think much like Mike McDonald is kind of simplified the offense for a lot of the guys, it feels like things, whether it's.
• 28:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: something's been simplified where it's just clicking with the young guys now.
• 28:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: The execution is just kind of hit another level.
• 28:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it's anything.
• 28:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, sometimes it's really just that simple.
• 28:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that it's really been a matter of execution by the players over the last few weeks that's vastly improved on defense.
• 29:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the other thing about the defense is that with the amount of depth
• 29:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: It allows for these younger guys to be a bit more fresh and even the veterans because, I mean, hey, even Zack Seeler is taking off snaps, right?
• 29:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: He looks a bit more fresher.
• 29:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can have Jason Marshall Jr. sub in for a soul Douglas who, you know, is just coming off in injury and, you know, he can take off a couple of snaps.
• 29:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can, you know, take off Melafarno, you can take off Ashton Davis.
• 29:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can put Dr.
• 29:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Trader in there as well.
• 29:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's replaced.
• 29:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Metrator has played more snaps at safety than make if it's Patrick did up against Buffalo and Baltimore.
• 29:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's more so about these young guys getting much more comfortable in this scheme and Anthony Weaver and their personal department on defense just mixing and matching combination and calling you know plays for their strengths.
• 29:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are much better now in cover three and they are much better blitzing in zone coverage now on cover two four and three as well There was also a point in the Buffalo game where they ran a cover six play Post snap and Josh Allen was confused pre step.
• 30:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, oh, it looks like Mink of its Patrick is coming down to the line and then he rolls right out
• 30:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: looks like Dante Trader Jr was coming up to the line and then he rolled right back out to be the deep third safety and Josh Allen was like, oh, so he tries to run and he gets set from behind by Zack Sealer.
• 30:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if they can do that to Josh Allen, you better believe they can do that to Marcus Mirrioro.
• 30:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: But now look, the Dolphins had to Madrid to face the Washington commanders with Marcus Maryota at the helm.
• 30:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is a team like the Miami Dolphins who do very well with six offensive linemen on the field.
• 30:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're ranked second in EPA per play out of these jumbo sets just behind Pittsburgh and ahead of Miami.
• 31:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Washington runs a very heavy
• 31:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: running, running offense that is very methodical, very precise and thrives on early down efficiency.
• 31:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: The average 5.6 yards per rush and have the second highest yards per play out of that jumbo set in those packages, which means Miami's front 7 is going to be tested.
• 31:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it looks like the Dolphins front seven defensive front has changed a little bit and how they match up at the line before was more so of a three four look for three with even fronts coach and Eric, but now they shifted more so towards an odd front where
• 31:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: They play a five to defense with the linebackers more so out on the edges, allowing Jordan Brooks and Tyrol dots to hit those gaps and make those tackles and we're seeing an increase of snaps for Jordan Phillips so that way he can control.
• 32:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: that trench plate.
• 32:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the big key here is for Jordan Phillips's axiomler and Jordan Brooks to control the line of scrimmage on those early downs.
• 32:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: We saw that against buffalo, we saw that up against Atlanta.
• 32:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: If they can minimize the effectiveness of Washington's running bags like Jacoye Cross ski merit and Chris Rodriguez and the contained Marcus Marriota and don't
• 32:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: they're going to be in very good position because I'll tell you what.
• 32:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: On second down, this commander's rushing offense is absolutely lethal in terms of this jumbo package.
• 32:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are able to get almost 1.36 EPA pro dropback, whether if it's Marcus Mirriota or Jan and Daniels, because second in shorts, whether it be, you know, second in six, second in five, second, and three.
• 33:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're opens up the entire playbook for their offense of corn here, which I believe is Cliff King's very correct me if I'm wrong, whatever the heck he wants.
• 33:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think that what we're seeing from the dolphins now is what we talked about heading into the season of what we wanted to see on these early downs.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: We wanted to see these these five defensive lines sets where we had essentially three defensive tackles in there along with the edge, right?
• 33:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: You get
• 33:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, a Benito Jones or Jordan Phillips over the nose right Zack sealer and Kenneth Grant playing out there is your three techniques a couple of edges and you keep those line backers clean so that is something they have used feels like more often they're getting more of these defense tackles
• 33:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: on the field on early downs, but I feel like even outside of that, that the way this defense has kind of transitioned, there are built to stop the run.
• 33:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: We talked about it's actually playing a little more defense of it.
• 33:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's going to be in more of those four downline in sets, right?
• 34:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: You get
• 34:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: You get Bradley Chobber, Matthew, Jude on on one side, sealer on the other, and then you throw two different attackers in between them.
• 34:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Right, that's still a very heavy defense of line that makes it difficult to run against.
• 34:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, especially if you put Zack sealer on the tight inside, there's not a tight end in the league that can block Zack sealer one on one.
• 34:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you kind of almost shut down one side of the, of the office in terms of running the ball just by doing that.
• 34:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then even when you get into the nickel looks,
• 34:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: As a season has progressed, the dolphins have used way less three corner back sets.
• 34:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: There isn't a lot more is that nickel player where you're putting three safeties on the field.
• 34:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So now even though you're in your nickel defense, you're in a lighter, a lighter defense, it's three safeties that are in there.
• 34:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we're not talking about a corner that is now on the field, playing the slot trying to defend the run.
• 34:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got Minka playing there where you can put if he there or you can put Dante trade of there right now you have another safety up there who might not be as effective as a linebacker but all of those guys are way more effective than they all can tackle.
• 35:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they all can tackle that play from Minka that the on the two point converging against the collision.
• 35:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Fantastic effort on that.
• 35:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: But just to my point, there are no matter what set the dolphins are in, it feels like they're very well equipped to defend the run.
• 35:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, and that the, the five two defense that you were talking about the top there on this segment has on right that again is what we talked about early in the season that we wanted to see them being able to do we want to see them being able to come out in those, you know, we talk about jumbo sets on offense, like that's essentially your jumbo set on defense that you're rolling out there on first down to challenge a team to throw the ball against you.
• 35:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: like you should be able to roll that out and be confident that you're not going to be in second and short because of our run, right?
• 36:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And when you can do that and make the offense a little more predictable in that sense, then it opens up opportunities.
• 36:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that you know what air
• 36:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: was a really good three game stretch to have before facing this particular commander's team because you mentioned their bread and butter is running the football in the dolphin.
• 36:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just saw three teams who's bread and butter is kind of running the football.
• 36:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And Washington, while beaten up, I mean, right now along the outside, there are no past treasures that
• 36:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I fear.
• 36:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, Demos Samuel is good.
• 36:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not even deep.
• 36:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not even deep.
• 36:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look.
• 37:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look.
• 37:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: McCatchley's not true.
• 37:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not even Demos.
• 37:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is their tight ends, Eric.
• 37:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
• 37:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: The dolphin still struggle with tight ends.
• 37:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, look what the Ravens did with their tight ends with Mark Andrews and Isaiah likely and Charlie Cole.
• 37:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, Lamar Jackson through three touchdowns to the tight ends.
• 37:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dalton Kaked was having a game before he got hurt a little bit and then also against the Falcons.
• 37:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I believe not Kyle Pissba, Charlie Warner was giving the Dolphins defense a little bit of work in the run game.
• 37:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's more so the threat of the Titans for Washington that I fear they have a very good one.
• 37:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: In Zacharts, it's their Titans and running backs that I'm fearful of.
• 37:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's fair enough.
• 37:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think right now, if you can get Marcus Mariota into situations where if you can put Marcus Mariota into the same situations that you put Josh Allen into last week.
• 38:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: you're going to get a very similar result if not better defensively.
• 38:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because Marcus Murriota is not Josh Allen.
• 38:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's not going to run around 30 yards behind a line of skirmish, and then find somebody downfield.
• 38:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like Josh Allen was able to do a few times.
• 38:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, when it comes to covering titans, I'd be interested to see what kind of recourse
• 38:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: if there is anything this season that they can do, but I think right now the key is going to be, and I think that it's something they'll be able to do relatively successfully against this iteration of the commanders is to put themselves into positions where they're not as exposed to the risk of being hurt by the tight end.
• 38:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, forcing Washington into kind of desperate situations on 3rd and 12, 3rd and 13, and you can still complete a pass of the tight end on those situations in those situations.
• 39:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: But putting yourself in position where, because you have really good tackling at the second level, between Mink of its passion, between Dante, Trader, your linebackers, even with soul Douglas is a very good, open field tackler.
• 39:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Putting yourself in positions to allow those five yard completions and then come up in rally tackle, I think they should be able to do that with some regularity on Sunday.
• 39:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think it all depends on how this front can handle this Washington offensive line coach.
• 39:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you've watched this commander's offensive line, but they got some dudes in the trenches.
• 39:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have an all pro former dolphin, Laramie Tunso at the left tackle spot.
• 39:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have Patrick Paul's brother, Chris Paul, in the left-guard spot, Senator Tyler Beaudet, right-guard Sam Cosmy from Texas.
• 40:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the second year pro Josh currently junior,
• 40:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: from Oregon.
• 40:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: They got some young guys.
• 40:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: They got some certified vets as well on both sides of the line.
• 40:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was a very good Washington offensive line.
• 40:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if they bring their six offensive linemen like, uh, I believe it's either fanned or Coleman that is their six offensive linemen kind of like how Dan Brunskill
• 40:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: is the dolphins, they can also do some damage.
• 40:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And both the Zach Erts and John Bates, their second titan, who's parmer, their block and titan, in those, you know, two titan, 13 personnel looks, that doesn't be very, very tough.
• 40:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: If they can control if the dolphins defensive line can control, you know, the commanders offensive line and get Marcus Mario to office
• 40:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think they can win this game pretty comfortably.
• 41:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if they can't, the question is going to be, can this dolphin secondary hold up against the play action shots?
• 41:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: That will come through off of these heavy formations because if they're running the ball well, these linebackers, especially Jordan Brooks, Tyrell, Dodson, and maybe even Willie Gay, they're going to try and sell out against her one.
• 41:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: because they're going to beat our linebackers and safeties with these run looks.
• 41:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think that I even outside of Jean and Daniel's not playing in this game.
• 41:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel a lot better with the dolphins playing against the commanders at this point in the season.
• 41:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: than I would have earlier in the year, like you read through that list of the starting offensive line, right, and then Brandon Coleman, Nick Allegretti, Andrew Wiley, George Fantl, like those are all solid names, like maybe not guys that, you know, are needle movers, but there's a lot of depth on that offensive line, you know, I think that even across it offensive line, there's a lot of solid players, you know, Josh Connerley, that he's actually a rookie this year.
• 42:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: But you know, there are all five of those guys
• 42:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: you know, probably average to above average players.
• 42:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, they're not going to go out there and you're not going to see, you know, that the Aaron brewer highlight blocks out of them, but you are going to see a consistent group playing together.
• 42:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: And earlier in the season, the way that our defensive line played the way that, you know, some of the lanes were left open because guys weren't playing with good gap integrity.
• 42:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: a group of average linemen being able to create a crease that can get there.
• 42:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: But with where the Dolphins defense, particularly that front seven is playing right now, I like the individual matchups across that offensive, or across our defensive line more than I would have earlier in the year.
• 42:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel that guys like Chop Robinson and Bradley Chop are going to have some success around the edges and I feel like the Zack sealer, the Kenneth Grant, the
• 43:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Even Benito Jones, I feel like we're going to be able to hold up well.
• 43:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: in the run game and keep the linebackers three, and what we should see both Tyrell Dots and Jordan Brooks being able to, you know, slice through some lanes and make some tackles.
• 43:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I just with the way the defense is playing together now, I feel a lot more confident about them playing against this line that really doesn't have an awful player on their, like we see a lot of offensive lines.
• 43:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of offensive lines have that one guy that you can say, like,
• 43:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Here's where we attack.
• 43:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't feel like wash to really has that, but I think that the consistent level of player on the dolphin's defensive line is still better than the level of individual talent on the commander's line.
• 44:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think when you look at just the death, and I can't believe that we're
• 44:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I can believe it in context of the defensive line, mentioned depth in the defensive backfield earlier in this pod, and that kind of blew my mind.
• 44:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: But when you talk about the depth along the defensive line, I think that that's
• 44:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: really what makes the difference because Washington will attempt to run the football, their game plan is going to be run, run, and run some more.
• 44:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because when you look at the past catchers that they do have out, it's no, it's no Terry McLean, it's no Luke McAfrey, Debo Samuel is still a very capable past catcher in his own right, but, you know, they're going to be very short-handed in the in the passing game.
• 44:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the Dolphins ability to shuffle their defensive line and their ability to go with different looks, whether it's a four-man front or a five-man front, the versatility of guys like Zack Sealer to kind of line up at either spot.
• 45:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And when they do go to a five-man front, I mean, is it three tackled?
• 45:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, obviously Sealer's playing the three techniques, so he's a third tackle and that spot, but he's
• 45:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, he's giving you pretty much the same skill set that an edge would give you along the middle, which makes those fronts even viable at times, you know, in past rushing situations as crazy as that sounds.
• 45:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just I think with the with the versatility and the depth that they have along that line when you think about guys like Kenneth Garant and Jordan Phillips and Benito Jones and even Zeke figures Zach Sealer.
• 45:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean they're legitimately going I think that's what five or six deep along the defensive line and that and those are guys you feel good about I think that they'll be
• 46:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: The depth of the line is going to be kind of what keeps them afloat here versus versus the commander's run offense.
• 46:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think overall, this Dolphins team looks nothing like the one we saw in September.
• 46:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: They've evolved physically, mentally, and even schematically.
• 46:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: This offense has traded flash for function.
• 46:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: This defense has traded chaos for cohesion, and the result is a balanced team that can win in multiple ways.
• 46:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: going to Madrid will be the ultimate test of this new identity.
• 46:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the big question is, can they carry this blueprint across the Atlantic?
• 46:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: If they can, I think the NFL and the League might need to start putting Miami on that graphic that says, in the hunt for the playoffs.
• 46:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: They could be in the hunt.
• 47:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: They could be knocking on the door as they always have been
• 47:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: but the storyline is going to be, can they finish?
• 47:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, stay with us here on Scattering the Finn's part of the three arts for Carried Podcast feed, also part of the five reasons sports network.
• 47:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as always, Voila, I let us.