Transcript of The Dolphins are ALIVE because of their defense

First 10 Dolphins from the 18-yard line with the Rams' first possession. They faked the handoff. Now they got the reverse to Malik Washington. The 10, the 5. Touchdown Miami. What a gorgeous play by the Miami Dolphins. Totally fooling the Rams' defense, man. What a drive. What an opening drive for the Dolphins.

It was a great opening drive for the Dolphins. A great play. Not That may be a great night, but that was W-B-G-C. Jimmy Cefalo, Joe Rose in Miami. Malik Washington getting it done. Just three minutes into the game, we have a countdown. We think it's going back and forth. Does it end up being that type of game? The Dolphins win in Los Angeles, 23 to 15. I am here at the Chris Wesseling podcast studio. We just raced upstairs. Maybe not raced. I'm still out of breath. Just waddled up the stairs from the studio where we were on in the UK doing Monday Night Football. I am here with Bridget Condon, and congratulations, Bridget, not just for doing a great job broadcasting tonight, but it's the first time you've been on the show since you were announced you were pregnant. It's three of us here in the studio tonight.

It's four, maybe four, but we'll talk about that later. I'm excited to be back. Thank you for having me. I will say the brain diminishes a bit when you're pregnant, so bear with me here. Been a little stupid lately.

Okay.

But yeah, I mean, this game could also be similar to that.

Okay, it's good. We're setting low expectations early and then we jump over them because I agree. We don't need to put a lipstick on a pig for every game and say every game is a beautiful baby. This was not. But I think there were a lot of interesting takeaways from it and things that are going to matter moving forward. We're going to talk about some of those, starting with the dolphins getting a massive win in a surprising way, where Tua Tunkoffy low is under a lot of heat a lot of the night, take some bad sacs, But they dial up some good plays early. They overcome a bunch of turnovers because their defense plays lights out. Don't give up a shutdown all night to the Los Angeles Rams. Their offense has looked awesome in the last couple of weeks. An ugly win matters more than looking good in a couple of losses. Somehow this team at three and six is only one game out in the loss column in the AFC.

Look, coming into tonight's game, these were two teams going in completely different directions. You have the Ram since their week six by that had won three in a row. You have the Dolphins since their buy that had lost three in a row. We thought after that first drive, it was going to be a high-scoring game. Of course, it did not end up to be that, but the Dolphins still found a way to win. Tyreek Hill scored a first breakdown since week one. This was not a pretty game by either team, but somehow they found a way to win. When you look at them at three and six, the fact that they are still in the hunt, and then we can get into their schedule later, but there's a real possibility that we could be talking about a Dolphins team, sneak into the play-off.

Well, at least playing meaningful games as late as... Thanksgiving is just three weeks away, but could they win the next couple of games against the Patriots and the Raiders. Hell, let's talk the schedule now. Why not? And get to five and six heading to that Thanksgiving game against the packers make that game much more interesting. By the way, I don't know if you've peaked at the Thanksgiving slate. It's not great. We got the bears on Thanksgiving. We got the cowboys on Thanksgiving. Those games don't look as good. But Dolphins, packers, I think could look better. And I think the Dolphins have a real chance because when you look at their team tonight, it helps explain why. Yeah, Tua on the offense, especially the running game, was not as good as you would have liked to Their offense did not play well enough to win most weeks. But Tua was really good, out of structure, surprisingly. He was five of six while throwing on the run for 79 yards. When I think of the best plays that Tua made in this game, I think in the first drive, quick pressure by the Rams. Jared verse was awesome all night.

Tua escapes it, steps up in the pocket, rolls a little bit to his left, hits a long play to Jalen Waddle. Ends up being the longest play they have.

Yeah, 36 yards, I think.

For a while in that game. They have a play later in the game where he's flushed out of the pocket on a third, an incredibly long third and 19. He finds Echan for a big play that ends up leading to points at a huge moment in the game. Then also, I believe, later in the fourth quarter, after Sean McVay got conservative, we'll get to that in a second. Again, Tua Tuna Vailoa on third down is flushed out, finds Odell Beckham in his biggest moment as a dolphin, settling down in the zone, and Odell does a little bit of dance, and I think it was a little bit of a Michael Jackson move in Los Angeles. You know that felt good. They kick what ultimately was the game-winning field goal there. So Tua creating plays where you don't expect it. That is part of his game. We wanted to see him improve, and that could separate him being just a decent quarterback and him being a really good quarterback on a night where, frankly, the Rams took away a lot of their usual bread and butter plays.

Right. This was to his first win since week one. When you think about it, we're already in week 10. This is his third game back after missing extended period of time because of his concussion going on IR. But those first two games, it felt like this offense still wasn't the Tua Tungo-Viloa, Mike McDaniel, Miami, intensive offense that we're used to, but it feels like they're working their way back to being that. I thought we would be in here tonight after this game talking about the incredible play of Matthew Stafford. He has done great these past three weeks up until tonight, and for some reason just couldn't get things going tonight. When you look at the numbers, too, it's really interesting. The Rams had more first downs, they had more yards. They had more time of possession than the Dolphins, and they still lost. When you are leading in those three categories, there's a good chance that you're winning. Interesting, too. I'd love to hear what Matthew Stafford and the Rams players say about the offensive line because they have two key members back. You feel like this has got to be his best game. Well, no, he sacked four times.

They had three fumbles. There was a couple of bad snaps. He threw an interception. They finished the game with six penalties. It just felt like from the first drive, the Dolphins' first drive, it felt like the Rams were not ready to play. Sean McVay just got off the podium and said that this Ram's offense has been inconsistent. That's how he summarized it after this game, and it's true.

It's true. I don't think enough people watched that Seahawks game. To me, it was very concerning, and it confirmed my priors a little bit about this Ram's offense. Dolphins fans who are out there and want a little more love, we'll talk a little bit more about your defense and what's happening here. But my priors on this Ram team watching them is the injuries weren't everything that's wrong with this team. That sometimes, like last week, he was protected pretty well, and their defense was carrying them in that game. Their offense played a D game. Stafford, I think, has had his worst season in a long time. I don't think Stafford is playing at the level that he's played since he got to Los Angeles. You can say it's the offensive line, you can say it's Puka and Cooper Cup. But tonight, in the last few weeks, I think he has been more up and down and made more bad decisions, even when he is protected than usual and missed more throws. Not that he's been bad, but that he hasn't been top 12 level.

Okay, I want to disagree with you there because there are still moments that this season where I'm like, damn, Matthew Stafford is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. We're not talking about him enough. I think there are a lot of factors that go into what you're talking about. And I think one of them you alluded to earlier is the play calling. And some of these, why are we running on third down? What were they on third down? I believe they were three for twelve on third down. And some of it was because of the decision making. And does that fall fully on Matthew Stafford? No.

No. I think what you're saying is absolutely fair because he does more cool things on a weekly basis than almost any quarterback. It's the reason he's still been on Qby Island, although Jordan Rodriegue, our friend who will be on our show going up tomorrow on Wednesday doing some awards, she saw the passive-aggressive tweet I had where I put that, It's okay, we can admit that this is Matthew Stafford's worst season in a long time. And she was like, I'm giving up the fight on Stafford for QB Island because she knows I wanted Stafford off Qby Island last time around. And he's still doing all that cool stuff. But I just think on a play-to-play basis, if you look at his decisions, shout out to Eric Roberts behind the glass, by the way. He's solo tonight, so he's running from his computer to the soundboard. When I call for a sound, he has to get up and run. For him to make that happen, just an outstanding performance. Way more calm under pressure tonight than Matthew Stafford, or especially Sean McVay. We'll get to McVay. But I think the decision-making Sometimes holding the ball, sometimes forcing it, sometimes getting away with bad decisions, sometimes just missing throws.

Like I said, he's not been bad, but to me, he hasn't been a big asset. Sometimes, I know people don't love the PFF grades, but I'm I'm calling you, I think it is meaningful to me that his PFF grade, and it doesn't shock me, and his QBR, for instance, at ESPN, they're all way lower than they've been in a long time. Pff is supposed to adjust a little bit for situations And I do think on a play-to-play basis, he just hasn't been as great. I don't want him to be the focus of all of this because I think the Dolphins had a good defensive plan. Do you think maybe these two coaches know each other and somehow they knew how to mess each other up? Oh, absolutely.

I mean, you saw... It feels like Sean McVay got a little off his... I don't know. That first drive of the game, he got dumped with cold water because he was like, Oh, that was a shock. But I do think Mike McDaniel is one of the smartest coaches in the NFL very familiar with Sean McVeigh, and you could see that, I believe, through his defense tonight. In some of the plays that they were able to make, Matthew Stafford in this offense never really got going. For them to not score a countdown at home in prime time is very rare.

They did not even get past the 16-yard line.

How many trips to the red zone? Not a lot.

Two in what amounted to... One where he chose the field goal late, and we might as well talk about that now. All right, let's talk about it. And another one in garbage time. But before Before that, yeah, in the first half, they got so many possessions. They had seven possessions in the first half. They only got inside the red zone one time. In their first six drives, they had a total of three first downs and two turnovers. That alone, a lot of times the game is over by that point. The Dolphins should have had a 20 to 3 lead, but the Rams offense defense was balling out so much. They deserve credit for keeping them in there. But yes, that decision late in the game, the Dolphins get down to Miami four-yard line was their last line of scrimmage. The Rams, yeah. The Rams get down rather to the Dolphins four-yard line with 6:31 left in the game. Stafford missed Kyren Williams coming open on the third down, even though pressure wasn't there. Those are the types of plays I'm talking about.

Yeah, I give you that. Yeah, that was a weird play. Kyren was wide open.

Even the play before, it was a little confusing to me who he was throwing to. He got sped up today. He got sacked four times. He got hit a lot. So Sometimes that affects even the best of quarterbacks. And then McVeigh decides to kick a field goal.

I hate it. I hate that decision, especially when your kicker, of course, this is a chip shot, but your kicker already missed a field goal. You are down and you're at home. Go for it.

You're down 11. So all it does is close it to eight there. If you're closing it to eight, you're assuming- You'll have to get a two-point conversion.

Right.

You're assuming that you're not going to give up any points the rest of the game, which to me, isn't a great assumption When literally the last... You have to have a feel of the game. The last two drives that they had given up to the Dolphins were a shutdown and a field goal. One of them was on a relatively short field. But either way, it's not like the Ram's defense was just absolutely shutting them down at that point. There were two moments of the game where I thought McVay, he almost got panicked like his team. That was one of them. Then you remember after the Jona Jackson bad snap in the third quarter? At that point, I think it was a second and very long. And they ran it. Twenty-something. They did the Sean McVay thing where they run it on second and 24 or something. They get four yards, and it's like, Okay, we got Matthew Stafford, we got Pukina Kua to Marcus Robinson. They can make these cool plays that has Bridget saying Matthew Stafford can still do this stuff. What do they throw on third and 20? A little screen, and who sees it come in?

Mike McDaniel and Anthony Weaver, their defensive coordinator, deserves a lot of credit, and they lock it down. That forces the really long field goal that Cardi misses after After a special team's false start, another special team's blunder. So just a lot of self-inflicted wounds.

I completely agree. When you have young players on this team, I've been in that locker room a bunch. They always say, Sean McVay instills this confidence in us. He believes in us. He makes us play a certain way. Well, those two plays don't instill confidence in a team. If you call that play and even you don't get it, I just think you give Matthew Stafford a chance late in the game, four yards out from scoring a countdown. We could be talking I'm thinking about a completely different ending because you and I were watching this game and we kept saying, this is where they're going to score. The Rams are going to win this game. The entire night, I thought for sure that the Rams were going to find a way to come back because that's what they do. But for whatever reason, it's very untypical of Sean McVay.

Yeah, you could tell he was a little bit on tilt because even that last drive when it's essentially garbage time and you're trying to get the touch down and then hit the onside kick, they were making They were running on third and one, not taking timeouts when you would have expected to, keeping their time out, and then they kick a field goal on third and 10 with 42 seconds left. This is picking knits, but it just shows a coach that maybe isn't thinking totally clearly. Now, that said, the Dolphins put them in that position. Let's give some shoutouts here.

All right.

Pick a Dolphins defensive player.Coleus.

Campbell.okay, here we go.I'm going to say it. What he I think it was the tipped pass, right? That helped lead to the interception.

A couple of them, yeah. But that was one of them.

How many sacs did he have? One, but he helped with theChop Robinson.Another one.

Another one. He had another hurry.

Yeah. I mean, he was just fun to watch tonight. He was all over this Ram's offense. He's a player that has completely elevated this Dolphins defense, and we talked about it, like Pay this man, because he's a difference maker.

I love it. He shows up every year It was like a one-year contract, hired gun, and he always ends up being one of the best players on the team. People thought they might trade him. You can't trade him. He's one of their best defensive players. I think it was a big deal for them to have Zack Seeler and him together. Seeler is one of their best players, too, on the defensive line. Chopp Robinson made a couple of plays in this game, a great sack early. I think the Rams were on tilt, partly because they had big negative plays. The first play of the game on offense, Zack Seeler hit him for a 10-yard loss on a pass completion. Chopp Robinson beats Joe Noteboom early. A really nice sack. And Robinson has been coming on a little bit. When you look at this Dolphins team, the reason why I think they have a chance, A, offense travels. And this wasn't a great performance, but they played much better the previous two weeks. Just happens to be in losses. But they played much better the previous two weeks against the Cardinals and the Bills on offense. And then when you look at their defense, I didn't expect their defense to be this bad.

When you look at the efficiency metrics like DVOA, they're towards the bottom because they have players. Jalen Ramsey, he's been a little up and down this year. Kendall Fuller left this game with a concussion. That's concerning, but he's a good player. I think they have a new coaching staff on defense. Maybe the defense comes together and the offense carries them, and they're at least in the mix. You can see it in a way that the rest of these two and three win teams coming into tonight, I can't really see it with basically all the rest of those teams.

When we're talking about two and six teams, the Jets are what? Three and seven. The Patriots are three and seven in the AFC East. It doesn't feel like the Dolphins should be in that category, but they're right around the same. I agree to your point. They have the pieces, and it'll be interesting. Is this the game that come December, we're talking about, that completely turned their season around? It could.

It's funny because I'm talking about both sides of my mouth because I believe that they are better than all of those teams. Do I really think they're going to make the playoffs? No. I think the Broncos and the Bengals are better bets to make it.

What I think the best-But I also feel Tua is a great quarterback, and I don't know. Some of the things he does, if he's healthy, their offense could be- Good.

I'm going to give him good because he's still taking some bad sacks in this game where he just holds on to the ball too long.

It looks like he was playing like he didn't just have a concussion on that block.

I was worried for him, yes. That was an interception return.

And he tried to...

And he lowered his head to try to make a tackle. I held my breath. I don't think they even checked him for that. He started making some bad plays. I couldn't have been the only one who was thinking afterwards, I hope this man is okay. Yeah, on a night where Waddle only ends up with 57 yards, Tyric Hill, who tells Lisa Salters before the game that he had torn ligaments in his wrist and that it was aggravated by his arrest when he was put on the ground there, which is just a crazy story. He's been out of practice. He was a game-time decision for game and three catches for 16 yards. Just a lot going on with this Dolphins team, but they're getting great play out of their left tackle, Taran Armstead. I think their offensive line had a pretty disappointing night overall, and that the Rams won that battle. The Rams are now at 4 and 5. And yes, Odell. Welcome back. With a nice moment. Just because we spent so much time in the offseason talking about Odell Beckham, our regular listener, nick Wright, got on me for just always talking about Odell.

It was for moments like this, a moment that turned a season around.

It's an empty backfield trips to the left. Back to throw, two, a looking, rolling to his left, rolling, throws it, and it's caught by Beckham, and he's got the first out, I think. Yeah, he does.

He had it by a bunch.

The dance moves.

That was huge. That was a really great play by Tua, by the way, rolling out. He was under a lot of pressure like he was all night.

He looked. He had moments of looking good. Yes. Tonight, for sure.

If he doesn't make that play, the Rams are getting the ball back, although the way the Rams offense played tonight, they probably would have just gone down and kicked a field goal.

Kicked on third down.

So there you have it. Odell Beckham actually making it happen. River Craycraft returned for this game. I just thought Dolphins fans were happy about that, made a nice block. They're just getting people back. I know I'm getting to the bottom of the notes when I get to the River Craycraft of it all.

I mean, look, you have the Raiders, you have the Patriots. Let's see what we can make of this season.

How about the Rams here? Four and five, really disappointing loss. It's the tricky part of falling to one and four is you just have such less of a margin for error. If you had said then, they're going to win three out of the next four games, you'd say, Oh, that's pretty good. Okay, get to four and five. But having won the three straight, it's really disappointing. They have the Patriots next week.

Which is actually a really fascinating game after Drake May and the Patriots just come off win against the bears, which is interesting because now, Drake May, I don't know. People are buying into him. It wasn't Drake May sacked nine times. It was Caleb Williams.

It's an interesting game. Absolutely. I don't think the Rams are good enough right now to just assume they're going to win any game. They have to go across the country on a short week, so that's not easy. They're certainly the favorites in that game. But I just think, like you said with McVay after the game, saying they haven't been consistent, he's worried. I think that Seahawks game was just a little bit of a worry, because if you think about what they've done since the buy week, that Raiders game, they were awful on offense. Their defense carried them. Now, granted, they didn't have Pukunakuwa back, and so you We're thinking, Okay, we're not totally back there. But it was a really bad offensive performance. Then you have the one Thursday night game, and you think everything's fine. We're solved. It's good. You get the offensive lineman back tonight. But when you really look at it, the last two weeks, they were pretty just not right on offense. Maybe it's working out the kinks. It's like they're in their preseason getting these guys back in the mix, but they don't have much time to waste. Four and five in the NFC is not the same as the AFC.

It is going to be very difficult for them to get a wild card in the NFC. It's probably division or bust for these NFC West teams who play each other a lot down the stretch.

Yeah, it's just going to be a test. Sean McVay, remember that bad season he had two seasons ago and how on himself he was? I know that he's probably going to the office right now. He's not going home to sleep. I saw him a little bit in his press conference. You could just tell he's pissed off. And you go on Twitter right now, everybody's talking about Sean McVay and his coach.

Well, hopefully he's not.

Well, hopefully, maybe he gets a peep of it. And he's in the lounge studying tonight because there were a couple of questionable decisions that were made tonight. And you now have a chance to either fall into another trap against the Patriots gets on Sunday in New England, or you get a win. Then you host the Eagles, which is not going to be an easy game. But then you're at the Saints. So you could win two out of the next three.

Absolutely. But you got the bill still on the schedule. You got the 49ers. You finish with Jets, Cardinals, Seahawks.

You could win. Those are winnable. The Niners, they always play close.

It's a normal schedule. I wouldn't say it's overly hard or difficult, but they are right there in the middle of the end.

Find some consistency. Figure out why it's been inconsistent. Get back to the drawing board.

It's a long this season. I don't think Sean McVay is going to be easy on himself, but at his very core, he's sneaky, conservative. Him and Kyle Shanehan have that in terms of their play calling and in terms of their game management. There is a core conservativism, which is surprising to me. Jordan, our friend, I think said it well, the thing about this Ram's offense is there will be a lot of simple, seemingly avoidable things that go wrong. And then all of a sudden, they'll do the most It's a difficult thing imaginable and make it look effortless. That really sums it up. They do the hard things well, and sometimes they don't do the easy things, the running game not working tonight. But the Dolphins defense deserves a ton of credit. I know Tua Tungavailoa He has to be thrilled. His first win in the starting lineup since week one. They have a little life in this Dolphins season. We're going to listen to Tua Tunga-Viloa, and then we're going to take a break.

Felt good, brother. Felt good. I Good. I think it's a testament to the character of this team. We've come a long way through however many losses in a row, the resilience of this team with the external noise, everyone counting us out. Hopefully, this is an opportunity for us to not waste. Hopefully, we can go on a run with this win and find our rhythm towards the back end of the season now.