- 12 minutes ago
The guys look over the Miami Dolphins' odds this weekend then debate whether the Dolphins need to prioritize Malik Willis’ long-term development over immediate results this Sunday against San Francisco.
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00:00Dolphins, of course, they're back out of this week.
00:03Week two of the NFL season, they will take on the San Francisco 49ers.
00:07Biggest dog of the week.
00:09Dolphins are 13.5-point underdogs now to the San Francisco 49ers.
00:16You think it's going to go even deeper, Vlad?
00:17I think it's going to go, well, plus, but I think it's going to go higher.
00:22I think it might go.
00:25I can't, like, even, I wouldn't even mess with it.
00:31Like, I mean, like, I don't, like, teams that I follow and root for,
00:40if I can't put a wager on them, I just don't.
00:45It's not the right matchup.
00:46It's not the right matchup.
00:48Like, Shanahan.
00:49Feels like a mis-match.
00:50Like, Shanahan versus Halfley's second game.
00:53Well, the other thing I don't like, you know what I don't like, Vlad?
00:57The Shanahan seems to be really, well, I'm just basing this off Mike McDaniel,
01:01to be fair, but, like, that dude killed Mike McDaniel any time they played.
01:06Like, he just seems to, like, his guys, his tree, he, you know.
01:11He likes beating up on his tree.
01:12He likes beating up on his tree.
01:14And so, Halfley's sneakily early in the tree.
01:18He's, like, a tree that, like, was there a little while ago,
01:22and, like, Halfley was pouring them.
01:23He's, like, oh, what an influence he was on me.
01:25I was, like, I don't like that.
01:26I don't like that.
01:27Too much respect in the early goings.
01:30Too much respect.
01:31And so, now I'm wondering, like, oh, Shanahan's, like, oh, same old half,
01:35chewing that bubble gum.
01:36Got nothing to dial up.
01:39I just think it's, like, the lack of, like, it's, like, you know what this team
01:50is going to go through this year.
01:52So, to sit here and try to hope for something that you know what the situation is,
02:00is just you're making yourself miserable for no reason.
02:04Are both these games, I guess the thing is, like, are both of these games that
02:09they're in for?
02:10Because we, that's why we looked at the Raiders game.
02:12Like, oh, it's not a must win, because what are the stakes for this year?
02:15But, like, with their win total, if you don't win that one, which one do you feel
02:20good about winning?
02:22And so, I guess the question is, do they look like they're improving?
02:26Because I think the thing that was encouraging with last week is, you know,
02:30probably the most encouraging players were the rookies, you know?
02:33Right, right.
02:34But then that's not going to kick in until next year, because here's what happens
02:38with rookies.
02:40The farther you get along into the season, you start realizing they've played more
02:46football than they've ever played.
02:48Now, it's a little different for some of the guys that went in the playoff last,
02:52the college playoff last year.
02:53Because they're getting to within two games of what an NFL season is.
03:01And you haven't played a season last year.
03:02They played 16 games.
03:03Right.
03:04So, from that standpoint, maybe that thought goes away a little bit.
03:16But, like, I think if it gets later on into the season, it's not like the
03:24Flores team.
03:25Well, I'm talking just strictly, like, the first month.
03:27Like, is there going to be a week-to-week improvement of, like, the things?
03:31Yes.
03:32I think there'll be improvement every week.
03:36But, based on the talent you have, improving every week does what?
03:45Right?
03:46Are you still able to compete on a weekly basis, even if your rookies are improving every week?
03:53At what point, like, how many games is needed to where now you can just evaluate the talent
04:01and not evaluate all the different circumstances?
04:04Right?
04:05Like, you can just put them out there.
04:07They know what to do.
04:07Everybody's playing hard.
04:08And you could go, this guy isn't quite good at that.
04:12We got to find something else for him.
04:13Or this guy can't do this.
04:15Right?
04:15How long does that take?
04:17That's the part that I'm concerned with is that, right, before you start making adjustments,
04:24there's a certain level you have to get to as far as, are we playing with energy?
04:29Is everybody doing what they're supposed to do?
04:31Are we not having boneheaded mistakes?
04:33Is everybody, you know, catching the ball when they're, you know, making the plays that
04:38they need to make?
04:39Because, unlike other teams, the room for error is so small with this team.
04:49They don't have any depth.
04:51And every time they get a situation, they got to come through because you don't know how
04:56many situations they're going to get with the talent that they have.
04:58But that puts, like, more pressure on them as young players and as a team with no depth
05:06and as, you know, then some of the teams that, like, then the Rams, who lost decisively last week.
05:15Yeah, well, I think the thing that if you're the Dolphins, what you're hopeful for is if you're going to
05:21look at where could things have improved?
05:23I mean, they didn't get the ball in the hands of their best player enough.
05:25So, like, can that be something they dictate or try to dictate early on in this one to make it
05:30a point?
05:31You know, even if it's, you know, even if it's Malik checking it down to him or just finding Devon
05:37Achan as many times as possible.
05:39I think that's one of the – but the reason why you have to be careful is because, you know,
05:45defense will see that too.
05:47Sure.
05:47Right?
05:48Anyway, one of the other things that you also have to be careful of, don't try to have short-term,
06:00you know, success.
06:02That means dunking the ball off, getting the ball out of his hands, doing all that little short stuff so
06:08you can kind of prolong drives
06:10at the risk of not letting your quarterback who hasn't played a whole season develop and read defenses down the
06:17field.
06:18Like, we see these offenses and some of these young players that check down all the time,
06:23and now when you have a situation where you have time, you don't evaluate the whole field.
06:29So, like, the development of the team along with the game plan, it all has to come together.
06:40Otherwise, you're trying to have success now without developing your players.
06:46If Malik drops back and just takes off and runs and checks the ball down real quick and you start
06:52having success,
06:53he's not developing as a quarterback.
06:57So, there's a lot of that too.
07:00By the way, the line actually has gone down.
07:03It is now 12 and a half from where it was last night, so it's fluctuating a little bit.
07:09Also, no Chop Robinson again yesterday at practice.
07:11He remains in concussion protocol.
07:13So, we'll see if that changes today.
07:16Am I the only one that's thinking he only hit one person?
07:20This happened here.
07:21He got the concussion during practice.
07:23Oh, did he?
07:23Okay.
07:24Okay.
07:24It happened during practice.
07:27Okay.
07:27Gotcha.
07:28Gotcha.
07:28So, he hit his own teammate.
07:31Somebody hit him or he hit his own teammate and now he's in a concussion protocol.
07:36I got to tell you, man.
07:37Like, I'm not – I've never gotten hurt in practice.
07:43I don't understand how.
07:46Like, I know – I've seen guys roll ankles.
07:48I've seen guys, you know, tear pecs in practice just by bad technique or whatever and you get extended or
07:56you slip or something like that.
07:58But, like, hmm.
08:01By the way, if you have Jameer Gibbs in your fantasy, you better get his backup.
08:05He's not going to survive.
08:08Because they're going to start going to him more and more.
08:11Leroy, he has nearly 70 touches in two games.
08:15And mind you, those two games were in four days.
08:18Right.
08:19Yeah.
08:20That's not good.
08:21And they even made a point of it on the broadcast to say they got to get the other guy
08:28in there.
08:29Well, the other guy's not – Pacheco is – he's out for three months.
08:33He has a bad back.
08:34And then they got some ooze.
08:35They got an ooze that's their backup.
08:38I forgot his name.
08:39Sika or something like that.
08:40Right.
08:40But, yeah, they got a Samoan backup.
08:43But that's the thing.
08:45You know, that's – when I'm looking at Jameer Gibbs, I kind of look at A-Chan the same way.
08:49Like, A-Chan's the whole offense for the Dolphins.
08:51You don't want to overutilize him.
08:53You know, it's a little different though.
08:54They only gave him 14 touches.
08:56The cool thing about A-Chan is, is that for some reason it always seems like he gets the ball
09:05in space.
09:05He has a couple of – you know, they run the ball inside and he has some tough runs where
09:09he got to get to tough yards or whatever.
09:11But for the most part, they're getting him the ball in space and in situations where he can use his
09:17speed and not have to do those Jameer Gibbs yards.
09:21Jameer Gibbs is being a 235-pound running back sometimes and a 195, 200-pound guy.
09:29Right?
09:30That'll catch up to you.
09:32A-Chan doesn't necessarily do that.
09:37Well, they got to just get the ball in his hands more somehow because it's just –
09:40Yeah.
09:40They got to be creative with it.
09:42But, again, I would say this.
09:48Don't do it at the risk of not developing your team because, keep in mind, you got a lot of
09:54young receivers.
09:55Yeah, well, I get you, man.
09:56But I think that sometimes you just can't overthink these things either.
10:00Yeah, but, again, they're looking big picture.
10:03Like, they're looking at big picture.
10:05Okay, what's more important?
10:07Like, that you have success but A-Chan has 350, 400 touches or you develop your young wide receivers, your
10:17offensive line, and kind of advance the team.
10:23But is Brock Purdy not –
10:25Huh?
10:25Is Brock Purdy not advanced because he's going to spam CMC?
10:29You know?
10:30Like, he's – it is part of the thing.
10:33Like, you got to execute the offense.
10:34Sometimes it is take the safe thing.
10:35Yeah, but the difference is they're veterans.
10:39Like, you have other guys on your team.
10:41You have a veteran team.
10:42But he's always spam CMC.
10:43So, if it calls for a situation where this game plan, we have CMC with an advantage over almost everybody
10:51on the defense, then he may get 30 touches that week.
10:55Right?
10:56But with the Dolphins, A-Chan is your most viable offensive option right now because he's done it.
11:05But if you do that at the risk of having your wide outs who are young and need to develop
11:13and go through what, say, Malachi Tony has went through last year, right, to develop into a better wide receiver
11:20and read defenses and stuff like that, when you get to where everybody is – knows what's going on, they
11:27haven't gotten any work.
11:30We'll take a break.
11:32We'll take a break.
11:32Go ahead, Vlad.
11:33I don't like the matchup.
11:34Fred Warner versus Malik Willis.
11:36There's mismatches all over the place.
11:38I don't like it.
11:39I don't like it at all.
11:41Dolphins – I mean, Trent Williams is going to get to go out there with a cup of coffee.
11:44Oh, my God.
11:45Who's going to get – yeah, like, Brock Brady's going to have all day in the pocket.
11:48Yeah, like, I mean, you know, that's – it feels like there's mismatches all over the place.
11:53Mike Evans versus the Dolphins, young secondary.
11:56And we saw, like, last week, Kirk Cousins made it a point to go after Chris Johnson.
11:59Like, Chris Johnson had moments, but he certainly got picked apart, too, because he's young and they, you know, have
12:05made the point.
12:06Like, you know, the help wasn't there for him a lot.
12:07They miscommunicated.
12:09Like, there's going to be growing pains there, man.
12:11It is.
12:12It is one of those things.
12:13And so that's why I guess I just go and say, Leroy, like, even if it's at the sake of
12:17development, like, you do want – you don't want your team getting down morale too bad.
12:21I do feel like if it – even if it's a lean and crutch to go to A-chan too
12:27much, maybe that's – maybe winning is good for the development of the team, too, just – or feeling like
12:32you can compete.
12:33Yeah, I get it.
12:34But at what risk, right?
12:41If A-chan – say if A-chan was a guy that break the all-time leading yards, you know,
12:51for passing and receiving by a running back, just say if it's possible, and you win five games, where does
12:58that put you next year?
13:00Because you basically had three wide receivers that have talent that been running sprints for a year.
13:09You see what I'm saying?
13:11I'm not saying that you don't use A-chan.
13:14I'm not saying that.
13:15But big picture, you have a bunch of young players you're trying to develop and get them ready for the
13:25NFL.
13:26And that is the bigger picture in the Dolphins' situation.
13:31I get you.
13:32But, like, then what was the point of paying them?
13:34Like, you should have traded them then if you didn't want to – if you didn't want to be part
13:37of a development program.
13:39You know what I mean?
13:39All right.
13:42Okay.
13:43So you want to just – so you would just use them as much as you can?
13:49Man, I think with matchups like this, when you're facing it, like, I think you've got to lean on your
13:54best guys.
13:54Yeah.
13:54I mean, like, look, Caleb Douglas showed himself an ability to get down.
13:57I mean, he basically felt like he fell into 95 catches, almost 100 yards, and I don't even think, like,
14:05he's got everything developed.
14:06I mean, there's clearly talent there with the receiver.
14:10Chris Bell had the one catch downfield.
14:12Malik Willis likes to throw the ball downfield.
14:14I think we've seen that.
14:15Like, he doesn't like to check it down.
14:17He's anti to it.
14:18And if, you know, he's trying to make some things happen.
14:21We saw him.
14:21I mean, dude's, like, running out of his shoes, literally.
14:23So, I think that's the natural instinct of the quarterback anyway, which is when you say it's not part of
14:30his development, I feel like it kind of is.
14:33Like, I think he kind of needs to know how to take the safe route sometimes, too, in part of
14:38his development.
14:39And part of it is seeing your best guy and being like, you know what?
14:43There's nothing – these guys are running the wrong routes.
14:45They're going the wrong way.
14:46A-chan's there.
14:47Boom.
14:47Let's go to this because I'm going to get taken down.
14:49I would say at no point in time, at no point in time, when Malik drops back and he reads
14:59the defense and the defense says, go here, that you don't go there, right?
15:05And so, I think that's the bigger issue.
15:08I'm not saying that when people say, hey, we need to get A-chan more involved.
15:12I think it's more important for Malik to drop back in past situations, read the defense, right?
15:20Now, what happens with Malik, and this is where the learning process comes in, you have to know when to
15:29scramble, when to check it down, right?
15:32Because if you wait too late to check it down, now you're just basically getting rid of the football and
15:37throwing it to a guy to get bludgeoned, right?
15:40So, the timing aspect of it, the whole learning, okay, boom, boom, boom, my check, check down, he can get
15:48me five or six yards.
15:49He might be able to break a tackle.
15:52Versus, let me scramble and make a big play and then hit the check down.
15:56Well, that's not.
15:58So, it's all about the timing and going through the offense.
16:03And it's a feel, there's a certain feel that a quarterback has when he's played enough and gotten enough reps
16:12where he knows, you know, that clock in his head and what he needs and how he needs to keep
16:18the offense moving.
16:20All that timing kind of comes together because a lot of quarterbacks that go downfield, right, they hit the check
16:27down too.
16:28But they always seem to hit it at the right time.
16:30They always seem to know that that clock is going off and I want to give my guy, who is
16:36a stud on our team, an opportunity to make a play too.
16:39So, I'm going to get it to him early.
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