Dolphins vs Steelers Week 15 | Gruden’s Preview

Dolphins vs Steelers Week 15 | Gruden’s Preview

Okay, Monday Night Football. It’s the six and seven Miami Dolphins who have won four straight games heading to Pittsburgh to play the 7-6 Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh’s in first place in the North and they have won 22 straight Monday Night Football home games. I can’t wait for this one. This preview is brought to you by Body Armor Flash IV. Flash IV delivers faster, longerlasting hydration. Over 2,000 mg of electrolytes and no artificial dyes, flavors, or sweeteners like those other drinks. So whether you’re training, traveling, or just feeling the heat, work hard. Hydrate hard with Body Armor Flash IV. Grab yours today at your local 7-Eleven convenience store. This top of mind is brought to you by Chevrolet. Football season’s in full swing. And whether you’re grinding through the week or gearing up for kickoff, there’s one ride that’s always game ready. The Chevy Silverado. Built for the hustle, ready for the game. Silverado is America’s most dependable full-size truck. Head to chevy.com to learn more and build your own Chevy Silverado. Okay. A really cool Monday night football game. The Miami Dolphins visit Pittsburgh. The Dolphins have won four straight games. They’re six-7, clinging to small playoff hopes, but the Pittsburgh Steelers rebounded beautifully last week. They had a terrible loss at home 26-7 to the Buffalo Bills. Everybody was booing and upset and then they got to go on the road to play their biggest rival and they got after Baltimore in a big way. and they are back in first place hosting a Monday night football game. It’s going to be an exciting night. The Pittsburgh Steelers, they’re going to wear these color rush uniforms that I hate. I mean, black uniforms, gold numbers, I think gold stripes all over the place, black pants. Anyways, they’re nine and three wearing those uniforms. But on Monday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to put three great Steelers in their Ring of Honor. And it starts with their quarterback Ben Rothllessberger. What a badass he was, man. He was tremendous. He was like tackling an oak tree. Joey Porter, outside linebacker from Colorado State. I got to coach him in the Pro Bowl. How cool is that to have your son playing for the team while you’re out there getting honored at halftime? The other guys, Maris Pouncy, one of the great centers to play in the history of the game. I mean, he was awesome. Former Florida Gator. So, it’s going to be an emotional, very special night in Pittsburgh. Let’s start talking about the weather. You know, I used to coach Tampa Bay. I remember everybody saying, you know, the Buccaneers have never won a game ever when the temperature was below 40°. I was saying to myself, boy, that’s not good. Because we had to go to Philadelphia and Chicago. We had to win some games in cold weather. Well, the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to play at home where they have won 22 straight Monday night football games. Can you believe that? And the weather is going to be 20°. And when you talk about wind chill factor, woo, it’s going to be in the single digits. And when I look at the Miami Dolphins, they have lost 12 straight games when the temperature is under 40. And their quarterback, Tua, well, he’s from Hawaii. It’s not often cold there. He’s 0 and5 when the temperatures are below 40. Eight picks, eight interceptions. So, keep an eye on the weather. That could impact the game. You know, I really like both of these head coaches. Love Mike Tomlin because I know him. He used to work with me here in Tampa. And Mike McDaniel, what a job he’s done with the Miami Dolphins. They were one and six and it looked like a complete disaster. They fired their general manager and they made a couple trades. They got rid of some players and it all seemed dark and gloomy. But Mike McDaniel has the Dolphins on a 4-ame winning streak. And it all started with beating the Buffalo Bills in Miami 30-13 in convincing fashion. Since then, they beat the Washington Commanders. They beat the hell out of the New York Jets this past Sunday and they beat the New Orleans Saints. So, they’re coming in here confident, ready to roll. And Mike Tomlin, just like coach McDaniel, he’s done a great job keeping this Pittsburgh Steeler team focused. They’ve had some ups and downs in their play. They’ve made some changes on their roster. Darius Slay is gone. Thornhill’s gone. Deshawn Elliott’s hurt. He’s out for the year. They’ve had to go through multiple changes. But Mike Tomlin, Mike McDaniel, they have proven they have a team full of football character. They’ve managed adversity very, very well. You know, negativity, you can go two ways. You can dive in adversity or you can thrive in adversity. And I like the fact that both of these teams have thrived. And it really helps when you’ve got a locker room full of character guys. And if you’re a fan of football, you know what I’m talking about. A lot of teams when things go bad. Ah, you know, it’s your fault. Ah, I’m going to go on Twitter and rip your ass. These guys didn’t do that. They’ve stayed together. And character shows, good character shows and bad character shows. I love this. Aaron Brewer, the center of the Miami Dolphins. I love Cam Hayward because I listen to their press conferences after the losses. And then I listen to him carefully after the wins. And the message is always the same. Hey, lean on each other, man. Be accountable. What can I do better? That’s really cool. When your best players and your biggest badasses are saying the same thing in adversity, they don’t make excuses. They take it upon themselves to work harder, prepare better, and have a snap and clear mindset. Get on to the next play, get on to the next game. You know, all us coaches, we’re always on the firing block. I mean, even here, Malisex always criticizing me. Clay’s on my case all the time. You’re taking too long, Guden. Blah blah blah. Let me tell you this, Mike McDaniel, what he’s done is phenomenal. Four straight wins. And if they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, they’re back at 500 and they got a chance to make the freaking playoffs, man. Now, Mike Tomlin, I hear people booing him, wanting to replace Tomlin. Well, against Baltimore, he won his 190th career regular season victory. You like that, Jake? Yeah. That’s three short of Chuck Null. Was he a badass or what? Yes. He just tied Dan Reeves for 10th all-time win list in the regular season. 190 victories. Congratulations to Mike Tomlin. You know, he’s always got something to prove, too. He’s always trying to get better. He hasn’t had one losing season as a head coach, and this is his 19th season. That’s really a hell of a job with the messaging, with the approach, and with the mental toughness and leadership. Let’s talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football. Who has a better track record than Mike Tomlin? He’s 21 and3 all time on Monday Night Football. And Pittsburgh has won 22 straight at home on Monday Night Football. When was the last time they lost? I had to do the research cuz I’m nuts. 1991 New York Giants Matt Bar kicked a 44 yard field goal with seconds left in Three River Stadium, which has blown up since then. I mean, it’s been a long time since they’ve lost. And with all the chips on the table, I expect to see the best of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night. Only concern I have is the Steelers are 0 and3 this year in prime time. Been disappointing. I watched them lose to the Green Bay Packers at home in prime time. They got beat pretty good when they played the Chargers on Sunday Night Football. So, Sunday Night Football hadn’t been good to them. Thursday Night Football. Very disappointing loss at Cincinnati if you recall. But isn’t it great to have Monday Night Football? I sat up there for nine years on Monday Night Football. They love Monday Night Football. I already told you what their record was. Now, they got to get it right and get this season on track because they are very, very dangerous if they played like they did last week against Baltimore. Miami is 4-12 under Mike McDaniel in night games, but they did win a Monday night game earlier this year. They beat the dreadful New York Jets. Remember, Miami was wearing those crazy black uniforms. I don’t know if the numbers were pink or orange, but that was a ugly freaking Dolphin uniform. You know, when I sit around thinking about the Steeler Dolphins, I think of the rivalries of the 1970s. I mean, you know, Don Schula used to be the head coach of the Dolphins, Jake. Yeah. And he recommended, I heard to the Rooney family, you should consider hiring my defensive assistant. You know who that defensive assistant was? Chuck Null from Dayton. That’s where I’m from. And when Chuck Null went to Pittsburgh, the steel curtain was born. And what else needs to be said? The Pittsburgh Miami rivalry. I think of Pittsburgh winning 15 times, Miami winning 14 times, two-2 in the playoffs. They played twice in the AFC Championship game. For all you Steeler and Dolphin fans, 1972, that was the year Miami was undefeated. They were 15-0. You would think they’d have a home playoff game. They had to go on the road. Okay. To play at Pittsburgh 15-0. Can you believe some of these freaking rules? How about the college football playoff format? Well, hang on. I got to get back to the game. 15-0. They go to Three Rivers. Jim Kick scores twice. punter Larry Ciple, the rookie, faked the punt and Don Schula and the Dolphins got out of there with a huge 2117 win. 1972, they went on to go undefeated, win the Super Bowl against Washington. And then my favorite game in Miami Dolphin history was 1984. Dan Marino, rookie out of what college? Jake. Picked. You think he wanted to beat the Steelers in the AFC Championship game to go to the Super Bowl? Yes or no? He threw for 425 yards, four touchdowns, and the Miami Dolphins shredded Pittsburgh and went on to the Super Bowl they lost to the 49ers. You know, that’s the only Super Bowl Dan Marino got to. Unbelievable. That’s the last Super Bowl the great Don Shula coached. So, this rivalry gets me going. Sorry for rambling. Let’s talk about the quarterbacks in this game. Aaron Rogers, future Hall of Famer, fourtime MVP. He just turned 42 years old on December 2nd. Happy belated birthday. But let me tell you, it’s been a tough year for him learning a new offense. Remember, he didn’t really show up until training camp. And Tua for the Miami Dolphins after they lost Tyreek Hill. They’ve kind of gone into transition and become a run first team. Everything has changed a little bit offensively for Miami, but both of these quarterbacks for the most part have been dinking and dunking with their pass offense. Take a look at this air yards. How many yards in the air does the ball go? Well, it only goes 5.8 yards if you’re Aaron Rogers and it only goes 6.6 yards if you’re Tua. So, they’re catching this ball and they’re releasing like a fisherman. Catch and release. I mean, it’s unbelievable. And how long do they hold the ball? These two quarterbacks get it out of their hand quicker than anybody. A-Rod 2.67 seconds on average. Tua is at 2.6. Quick passes behind the line of scrimmage. Aaron Rogers 73 completions behind the line of scrimmage and Tua has got 70. Both these guys throw various screen passes. A-Rod has 50 and Tua has 49. So that ball is coming out fast and I expect defenses to try to get their hands up, knock down some passes, and these defenses have got to make some grass tackles, tackles in space on these perimeter bubble passes and screens. What I loved about A-Rod last week is he played with an irritated look in his eye. I think he had been hearing everybody saying, “Ah, what a dink and dunk offense this is. What a dink and dunk offense.” defense. You know what he did on the first play, Jake? They had a deep cross to Darnell Washington. He sees Metaf on his right one-on-one of Marlon Humphrey. Boom. 52 yards. He shredded the Ravens. Three bombs. He threw over 30 yards in the air and they got big plays that this offense needed in a huge victory. He also showed mobility. I mean, he got out of trouble after that 52 yard catch. He took off and he did the discount double check spike in the end zone. I freaking love this guy, man. That was awesome. You know, Tu has had a tough year with losing Tyreek Hill. There was drama going on. I could feel the tension at some of the press conferences. One and six start. There’s been a lot of interceptions this year. You know, Tua has had 14 interceptions. That’s tied with Gino Smith for the most in the NFL. And there’s this new stat I love. It’s called TWWP. Ask me what it stands for, Clay. What it stand for? Turnover worthy plays. I used to keep a stat when I was coaching. My quarterback might have zero interceptions in the game, but I’d say, “No, no, you threw two because the defense dropped them. They really were interceptions the way I saw it.” Well, that’s what a turnover worthy play is. And when you rank those turnover worthy plays, Tua leads the league right now with 23. So even though he has 14 picks, if the defense could catch, he could have a lot more picks if you ask me. He’s got to be better with his decision making. And sometimes understanding throwing the ball away is the best play because it’s the only play and your defense is playing good. Keep that in mind. I’ll tell you what though, Tua is streaky. If he’s hot, you ever heard the saying, Jake? If you’re hot, you’re hot. Right? This guy gets hot, look out. If you can get him off his first read and make him hold the ball and get to his second and third option, you got a chance to be pretty good against him. But if his number one look is open, he can dice you up as good as anybody. Extremely accurate, and he has no fear about throwing the ball early. Let’s take a look at the turnover battle. If you’re a Pittsburgh Steeler, you understand the reason you’re in first place in the AFC North is because of the turnover battle. You are plus nine. This defense, even though they’re struggling, they live off the big play. 23 takeaways, man. That is a great job by the Pittsburgh defense. They have 12 fumble recoveries. So, they knock the ball out. Nobody does it better than TJ Watt. And not only they knock it out, they go get it. They get it when it’s on the floor. The Miami Dolphins, well, they’ve taken the ball away 17 times, but they’ve given it away 18 times. So, they’re at minus one, and that’s 16th in the league. So, the Steelers, who are plus N, second overall, that is a huge ingredient. If they win the turnover battle on Monday against Miami, I can almost guarantee what’s going to happen. It’ll be a Steeler win. I think one of the really cool matchups to look at that I don’t think a lot of people are talking about is the Steeler run defense. What the hell is going on? They’re missing some players. I understand that. But in the last two weeks, I had to read it again and again. Is that right? 233 yards a game. I mean, Baltimore had over 200 and Buffalo had 250. They have been hammered on the ground. So, I’m concerned about their run defense. And I didn’t know this, but the Miami Dolphins in the last four games, they’re averaging 192 yards a game rushing number one in the NFL. So, you have a team on a cold night that probably isn’t going to throw the ball and put it in harm’s way like we want to think they are. They’re going to hand the ball off to one of the hottest backs in the world, Devon Aan. and Pittsburgh could be in big trouble if they don’t pick up their run defense. All right, the playoff picture. The Miami Dolphins right now, if you look at the NextGen stats, like I like to look at now, they have a 1% chance of making the playoffs. But if you’ve ever seen that movie Dumb and Dumber, so there’s a chance there’s a chance. Well, the only chance they have is they got to win out. And I’m sure that’s their mentality. And I really feel that in their head coaches press conferences. He’s got his swag back on the sideline. He really feels like I’m playing with house money. I look for a lot of different formations and a lot of different looks from the Miami offense and defense tonight. The Pittsburgh Steelers, they have a great chance to win the AFC North for the first time since 2020. Now, they’ve got to go two and two, but they got to beat Baltimore in week 18. That’s their final game. They just got to win two games. One of them has to be Baltimore. That’s the minimum requirement at this point in the season that they need to do. But they play Miami on Monday night. Then they got to go on the road and play the Detroit Lions, who is fighting for their playoff life. Then they got to go play at Cleveland. And you remember that game last year in the snow up in Cleveland. They always give Pittsburgh problems. And then the Ravens come calling in that final week of the season. So this is big for Pittsburgh to get this win and set the stage for a AFC North title. Let’s take a look at the kicking game. Two really good kickers. Riley Patterson of the Miami Dolphins has had a hell of a year. I mean, he’s 23 for 25 on field goals, 28 for 29 on pats. Now, I’ll say this about Miami. They play good special teams, but in the last two weeks, they have been hurt. New Orleans recovered an onside kick against the Dolphins. And against the Jets this past Sunday, they returned a punt for a touchdown. And if you watch carefully, the Jets, those dirty, rotten Jets, they faked a punt. So, the vulnerability in the Miami Dolphins special teams has shown up these last two weeks. They got to get on the details because Danny Smith, the special teams coach of the Steelers, I coach with him at Philly. He’s capable of doing just about anything. Watch out. The Pittsburgh Steelers, they have an assassin kicking for them. His name is Chris Boswell. I think he’s the best kicker in the league. Personally, he’s 21 out of 24 on field goals, seven out of eight from beyond 50. He can kick in this lousy weather like it’s not a problem at all. He’s 33 for 33 on pats. And as I said, they have a special teams coach, Danny Smith, who could take advantage of some of the errors that he’s seen from Miami in the last couple weeks. Couple injuries to report. Remember, it’s a little early here in Tampa at the FCA. So, check on the injury reports before you do anything. Devon Achan, who I think is as good a running back as there is in the AFC right now. He hurt his ribs in the second quarter last week. He had like a 25 yard run and they took him out of the game. He did not return. But I heard coach McDaniel say he expects Achan to play and Achan is highly motivated to play on the national stage. For the Steelers, they got a lot of question marks on who’s going to play in this game. And it starts with their first round draft pick, Derek Harmon. He can play defensive tackle. He can play defensive end in their base. He’s been out with a knee. Mike Tomlin won’t play him unless he sees him moving around effortlessly on the practice field. So, that’ll be a work in progress. Kyle Duger, who’s a pretty good safety they made a trade for to get him from New England. He missed last week’s game with a hand injury. I’ve heard he’s got a chance to be back. TJ Watt is the big news. Has a lung issue. We hope he’s okay. He was hospitalized overnight. I would highly doubt he plays, but knowing him, anything is possible. They don’t make guys like this. DK Metaf had a stomach ailment of some kind after the game. I guess he was hospitalized overnight. My sources say he’s good to go now. He’s had a couple pretty good days. We expect him to play. They damn sure need him. He’s about the only wide receiver that catches a pass for Pittsburgh. And Andrew Pete, who’s filled in at left tackle. Remember, Brderick Jones was out. Andrew Pete goes in there, plays left tackle. I think he’s going to be out of the game with a concussion. So Pittsburgh might be playing their fourth string left tackle. We’ll get into that. They also lost their big tight end, Darnell Washington. He’s in concussion protocol. We don’t know if he’s going to play. So when you start thinking about Watt Harmon, you look at Metaf Pete, that’s a lot of guys darn Washington that play critical snaps. Let’s get into the game. All right, this Miami Dolphin offense led by their head coach Mike McDaniel going up against Coach Austin, the defensive coordinator of the Steelers. This will be an interesting battle. Remember, Miami has become one hell of a rushing football team on offense. In the last two weeks, the worst thing Pittsburgh has done is defend the run. So, what gives in this game on a cold night in Pittsburgh? Miami is a shotgun operation. They’re only under the center about 14% of the time. That’s at the bottom of the league in terms of being under the center. So, this is a pistol offense where you’ll see Tua except in the shotgun snap and the running back is behind the quarterback. Nobody uses the pistol more than the Miami Dolphins than the Atlanta Falcons. So, look for a lot of slow developing misdirection plays and some crazy ball handling endeavors from this Miami offense. It is really cool to watch. You know, when you watch Miami in the first nine games, it looked like they were trying to be prolific throwing the ball like Dan Marino and Duper and Clayton. It looked like they were trying to get the ball to Tyreek Hill and Wadd rightfully so. And in the first nine games, they only ran the ball 39% of the time, but in the last four games, they’re running the ball 61% of the time. They are handing the ball off a ton. 22 times a game. game in the first nine games. It’s up to 34 times a game in the last four games. They averaged 97 yards a game in the first nine games. These Miami Dolphins are averaging 192 per game in the last four outings. So, it’s impressive the transition of their rushing attack. 4.4 yards a carry in the first nine games. They’re averaging almost six yards a carry over the last four games. So, it’s a hell of a job by Mike McDaniel and his staff switching gears. They have a young offensive line. They have a right tackle, Austin Jackson, who’s just returning to health. Instead of drop back, passing, and having these guys pick up stunts and blitzes, maybe we simplify the game a little bit. Let them come off the ball, use their aggressive, athletic body types, and get the ball to our best player. The best player is Devon Achan. I tell you what, if I could have one running back right now, he probably would be my guy. Don’t tell Jir Gibbs that, but both of those guys got me feeling nicy, man. This is a really unique offense that only Mike McDaniel could explain. They use a lot of shifts, crazy shifts, weird motions. And if you’re a Pittsburgh Steeler coach, you’re studying this and you have to get these cards and draw the play that you think Miami is going to run and hold it up so your scout team can run it for your defense so they can try to get ready for this stuff that Mike McDaniel’s going to do. This is an impossible offense to card. They use more two back sets in Miami than any other team in the league. I mean, when I watch them, there’s 43% of their plays they use multiple running backs. And Alec Engold, number 30, and X Raid, by the way, he is their fullback, but he rarely lines up at fullback. What they’ll do is they’ll run the outside zone several times a game. Sometimes they hand it, sometimes they toss it, but Ingold will present a look like it’s four receivers, an open formation. And on a move call, he’ll come motioning back in here and he’ll land right behind Tua. And then they’ll motion Hill, their tight end, across, and they’ll hand the ball to Achan on the wide zone. And they do an excellent job with Wadd. They try to get him at times away from the outside zone play to perhaps attract a double and make people conscious of number 17 because he’s such a great receiver. But they’ll do many different things to run the same play. They’ll put Engold as the outside guy and bunch. They’ll shift him back into an eye formation. Then they bring the tight end over and they run the boss play and they might toss it to Achan. hell against New Orleans. Wadd cracked the support and I don’t know what happened to Alante Taylor. He disappeared. Han just made him disappear. It was a 50-yard touchdown. But if you’re a Steeler on defense, a Steeler coach, you got to react to a lot of new formations, motions, shifts, and they’re going to run a play. They’re very good at the outside zone from a two back set. And these guys are physical. to make a point. They run plays I’ve never seen before. They’re playing the Jets. They have Tua in the gun. Achan is lined up behind the right guard with their tight end in front of him. And Alec Engles lined up over the right tackle. So, it looks like there’s four backs. And on the snap of the ball, they have the backside guard and tackle double team up to the backside backer. their center Aaron Brewer. He’s a big piece of this offense because he’s so athletic. But they put the ball in Achan’s chest and they get the linebackers to step up because they’re scared of hell that this guy’s got the ball. But what they do with Hill is he slips out here and Brock blocks the corner. The tackle blocks down, the guard pulls and kicks out the opposite side end. They come down and crack the defensive end. And Aaron Brewer sneaks out here and blocks the linebacker. Here comes 89 Hill. He blocks the corner. Here comes Engel coming back around to block the safety. And they fake it to Achan. And here comes Wadd on a reverse. Holy I’ve never seen anything like this. Knock on a grease board if you’re with me. The cool thing about Miamiy’s offense is last week I’m watching the Jet game and as much as I love Achan, he comes out of the game in the second quarter with a rib injury. Well, they turn it over to Jaylen Wright, young back out of Tennessee, and he comes in the game, wearing number five. He rushes for over a 100 yards and he scores a touchdown. Then they get Ali Gordon. They’re a rookie out of Oklahoma State. He scores a touchdown. I see three different Dolphin running backs running through big holes, running hard, scoring touchdowns. They haven’t had three running backs run like this since, don’t make me say it, Larry Zanka, Jim Kick, and Mercury Morris. That’s how I feel like I’m watching. They are shredding people on the ground with good running backs, really good schemes, and this offensive line, they can physically kick your ass. And I’m going on record here, Malisac. My Pro Bowl center is Aaron Brewer, number 55. He will take a bite out of your throat. This guy is something else, man. Great athlete, physical finisher, and you can just tell he’s the energizer of this whole team. They’ve asked Tua to become more of a game manager at quarterback. He may not want to hear that, but he’s only thrown 85 passes in the last four games. They haven’t thrown for over 175 yards in four weeks. So, he’s asked to do a lot now in the running game. Alerts, check with me, all kind of crazy ball handling. There are some built-in RPOS’s, which he does magnificently, but he is asked to manage the game more as they lean on this running game. I think the key formula for the Dolphins during this four-game winning streak is success running the ball, minimize turnovers, and let’s get some time of possession to help our defense. Our defense has only given up 13.3 points a game during this four-game winning streak. So, everything works hand in hand, winning the game of field position, running the rock, time of possession, keeping our defense fresh as a daisy. There are a couple things though that are concerning about this Dolphin offense. They are really struggling on third down. Tua has only a 55 QBR on third down. That’s 29th in the league. He’s thrown six interceptions in these obvious passing situations. And really in the last seven weeks, it has been not good at all. The Dolphins are only 21 out of 78. That’s 27%. That’s last in the league. So third down has been a nemesis of the Miami Dolphins and if they can get some at bats for Nick Herig and Alex Highmith hopefully TJ Watt plays Cam Hayward they could be a real problem these Pittsburgh Steelers for the Dolphins. I want to go back about the offensive line real quick. You know Mike McDaniel has done a hell of a job keeping the game in their wheelhouse. I mean look at Patrick Paul. It’s really his first year as a starter. They have a rookie at left guard, Joah Sabayina. He’s a rookie number 72. So, a lot of inexperience on the left side. Right guard Cole Strength just got to Miami. He was on the street released by the Patriots. So, he’s new. And Austin Jackson hasn’t been healthy the entire season. So, instead of dropping back the pass, picking up stunts and blitzes, let’s give the ball to A Channon. Let’s roll. What’s that thing Russell Wilson used to say? Let’s ride. Let’s ride. Speaking of Achan, ask me why I like him so much, Jake. Why? Let me tell you why. He’s got,21 yards rushing, 5.8 yards of carry. That’s number one in the league, 159 yards from scrimmage. Do you know this? He has 800 yards more than any other Miami Dolphin on the roster. He has 200 touches more than anybody else. So, who do you think they’re going to get the ball to, Jake? They’re going to get it to the man Achan. He averages 89 yards a game rushing. That’s second in Miami Dolphin history. Only Ricky Williams had 115 yards a game in 2002. Second all time. He makes big plays, highlight reel plays. And that’s what I like, man. 35 runs of 10 yards or more. Number one. He has 12 runs of 20 yards or more. That’s number one. And I counted this because this is my favorite thing. You know where they put a a speeding thing on them. You like what’s that called? A speedometer. You know, it’s like Miami Vice, man. This guy 61 runs this year. He’s been timed at over 15 miles an hour. Can you believe that? He catches a little running little shovel. Oh, he’s going like I don’t know what to say. So, obviously the Pittsburgh Steelers have to have their sight on number 28. They got to stop them. And when the Dolphins do throw the ball, it’s unbelievable how much they lean on Jaylen Wadd, number 17. Waddle leads the Dolphins in catches, yards, and touchdowns. And Miami is one of two teams in the NFL that has just one receiver with over 300 yards. Carolina has T McMillan. He did it for the Panthers, but nobody else really is a formidable option for Tua in the passing game. The other guy to keep an eye on is Alec Ingold, number 30. He’s one of my old Raida players, and I’m not just bringing him up because of that, but he’s their fullback. And Mike McDaniel comes from San Francisco where they had Kyle use check. Love him. He’s a big part of their success. But you’ll see Engold sometimes he’ll line up facing this way, then he’s lining up this way. And some of his motions I’ve never seen before. So, he is going to end up being the fullback, but he won’t always line up as one, but a lot of times he’ll take you to where the ball’s going. Let’s take a look at this Steeler defense. This Steeler defense led by defensive coordinator Terrell Austin. You know, in the preseason, everybody was talking about all these historic expectations. They had all these household names. Well, hasn’t worked out that way. Darius Slay has been released. Thornhill, the safety man, released. Deshawn Elliott is hurt. He’s on injured reserve. So, they’ve had a lot of change going on here in Pittsburgh. It’s been disappointing in a lot of ways. This is the highest paid defense in the NFL. And that should get a lot more execution and quality consistency than they’re getting. They’re 28th in the league in yardage allowed. We already talked about their run defense, but when I watch them, it’s more of a bend, don’t break style of defense. Last week, for instance, against the Ravens, they gave up 217 yards rushing, 203 passing. Lamar Jackson had the ball for 34 minutes, but they won the game 2722. They held Baltimore in the red zone to a couple field goals. They stopped them on downs. So, it was an impressive performance. When they needed to get the stops, they got them. And it was impressive in the fourth quarter. You all saw Heismith get a closeout sack to end the game. This is a defense that relies on big plays. When you look at the turnovers, we’ve already talked about it. 23 takeaways. They exist with getting turnovers. They cannot survive without getting them. and they have the edge players, the sack artists to create turnovers. And hopefully TJ Watt plays, but you can’t say enough about Nick Herbig. He’s got six and a half sacks. A healthy Alex Highmith. He’s got six and a half sacks. And they got one of the premier pocket pushers of all time, number 97, Cam Hayward. But they got to get the sacks. They got to get the turnovers against Tua and this Miami Dolphin offense. The run defense, as we said, is very concerning. And one of their young players, Derek Harmon, their first round pick from Oregon is a big part of their success. And he’s a big part of their failure. You know, when you look at the numbers, when Harmon plays nine games this year, they give up 96 yards a game rushing. When Harmon doesn’t play in the four games, they’re giving up 191 yards rushing. And I’m not putting it all on Harmon, but you all know how important certain players are to the defense. Not sure if Harmon’s going to play with that knee. Let’s assume he doesn’t. Then it’s going to be the rookie Black number 94 out of Iowa. He’s going to have to play better. He is getting better. He is emerging, but they’re going to need a lot more from him if Harmon doesn’t play. Another thing that’s really important is the Steelers got to get off the field on third down. That’s one of the reasons why they’re playing so many snaps. Pittsburgh’s defense has played 897 plays. That’s more than any other team in football. They got to be tired, man. They played 20 more snaps a game than the Steeler offense. Hell, the Steeler offense is only out there 55 plays a game. The Steeler defense is out there 75 snaps a game. They got to get off the field on third down. They got to quit giving up these long sustained drives. When the other team has the ball, they have it on an average of seven plays per possession. And that’s not fair to Aaron Rogers and Arthur Smith and a Steeler offense. They need more opportunities. Get off the field. And it starts with improving on third down. We’re 27th in the league on third down defense. And worse than that, we’re 31st and fourth down defense. Opposing offenses have gone for it 32 times against Pittsburgh and made it 24 times. That’s 75%. If you can’t get off the field, you’re going to be out there all day and it’s going to be a long dark day. Let me tell you, they have been good in the red zone and clearly that red zone defense last week was a key component in them winning. But let’s take a look at the matchups for the Miami Dolphins. I would like everybody to circle number 52. Patrick Paul, young offensive tackle, just in his first year starting. He’s a secondyear player. If you look at all the numbers, he rarely gets beat in pass protection. I mean, his pressure rate is only 5.4%. He is a star in the making. He has really improved. And their left guard, their rookie from Arizona, Jonah Savaya. I love saying that name. I’m getting better at it. He’s getting better and better. He’s a physical dude. And I tell you, if you’re a young line coach or you’re a center, you got to get some tape of this Aaron Brewer, number 55. He’ll get up on the second level. He’ll latch on to linebackers and he will block you right into the marching band, man. This is a badass. He should be in the Pro Bowl. If he’s not, there needs to be an investigation. This guy’s a great player. Right guard Cole Strange, right tackle Austin Jackson is healthy again. This is a very athletic offensive line. They’re good in space. They can all pull. They have a great screen game and perimeter running game because of this athleticism. And at the end of the day, these guys will thump you, man. They are physical. This is a talented young line on the rise. The Steelers, we all talk about the edge players, the great TJ Watt, Alex Highmith, Nick Herbig, they all have sacks. They’re all disruptive. They play with great energy. They can set the edge in the running game. They play outside linebacker in the base. They play defensive end in their sub package. But the problem with the defense to me has been the consistency inside. You know, the nose tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers has always been a highly decorated position. For years, they had Casey Hampton. He would kick the living out of you. We couldn’t run the ball with Casey Hampton out there. Before that, they had a guy named Joel Steed. He was just as bad. And then they had Ernie Holmes. Remember Ernie Holmes of the Steel Curtain? Hell, Gary Dunn. They’ve had one great nose tackle after another. And right now, Benton, number 95, he’s a good pass rusher. He’s got four and a half sacks. He’s got some pressures. He’s athletic. But on the nose in this 34 defense, he has had some moments where it’s been a struggle. And without Derek Harmon in there, they’re using a rookie from Iowa, Black, number 94, mid round draft choice, first year playing. And hell, this guy played 64 snaps last week against the Baltimore Ravens. They don’t have a lot of other options. And on the other side, it’s Cameron Hayward who leads the Steelers in just about every defensive category in terms of these inside players. Hell, he’s 36 years old. I was thinking they were going to try to get Harmon in there to rest Hayward, but Hayward, he’s played 600 plays and I’m worried about that. He is what I call an outlier, man. He’s just significantly different than everybody else. The guy has five batted passes. The guy still is a punishing run defender, but they got to get some other Pittsburgh Steeler inside interior run defenders going. The Dolphins are going to use a Chan provided his rib is healthy and they’re going to give him a lot of opportunities. He has 55 catches as well as a lot of carries from the dot, but they’re going to use Jaylen Wright. They’re going to use Ali Gordon, the rookie from Oklahoma State. And they have a lot of different alignments for Achan. You know, Achan is lined up as a receiver in the slot and he’s run routes 56 times. The great thing about Echan is he has as much versatility as I’ve ever seen and his conditioning is off the chart. How the hell does he not get tired? How does he run a corner out and then come back and run 22 miles an hour on a toss crack? This guy’s phenomenal. And I can’t say enough. Sorry for getting so excited here. But these linebackers of the Steelers, they got their hands full with all these shifts, motions, and the dynamic running ability of Achant. And it all starts with Patrick Queen, the ex-Raven. He’s been healthy. He’s made a lot of tackles. And a lot of people talked about the tackles he’s missed. If you look at PFF, he’s missed 20 tackles this year. He’s overrun some plays. Very aggressive. Perhaps he’s guessing sometimes, but I think a lot of it has to do with the ineffectiveness of their run defense from their front. People are getting up on them. He’s trying to jump around some blocks trying to preserve himself possibly, but it’s been a tough year for Queen in pass coverage as well. He’s been vulnerable and been victimized against the pass and the run. The other linebacker I see a lot of is Payton Wilson, number 41. He’s got a lot of tackles, 97. But when you watch him in their base defense against these heavy personnel groups, they were using Malik Harrison, number 50, because he’s a big run stuffer, but he ran into Derrick Henry last week. I hope he’s all right. It doesn’t look like he’s going to play. I’ve also seen a lot of Cole Hulkcom in their base defense. So, if you come out with heavy artillery, you’re going to see Hulkcom or Harrison. You’ll see Payton Wilson against these spread 11 12 personnel type packages. But Wilson can run. He’s instinctive. He’s got some ball hawking ability. The matchups on the outside. I think it’s really important that the Steelers keep their eyes on Jaylen Wadd number 17. I mean, look at his production. 57 for 812 and six touchdowns. There’s not another Miami Dolphin close. I mean, the next guy close is Malik Washington. He’s got 40 catches for 270 yards, only 6.9 yards a carry. They give him shovel passes. They put him on bubble screens. He’s more of a running back at times than he is a receiver. So, it’s Wadd. And if he lines up on the right, it’ll be Joey Porter. And he had a hell of a PBU in the end zone against Isaiah likely. He’s a physical player. He’s had some penalties in his career, but if Wadd lines up on the right, it’ll be Porter. If he comes over here on the left, I don’t know who it’s going to be. It was James Pierre, number 42, who I think’s been playing great. He has that one-handed pick last week on the scramble play against Lamar Jackson. This guy’s got moxy. He’s got 28 tackles, and as soon as they put him in the game, they got better. He got hurt last week on that long pursuit tackle when Mitchell got out of there in that short yardage play and he was replaced by Asante Samuel the excharger. So that could be interesting. I wouldn’t mind seeing Wadd over here against the sorebodied Pierre or perhaps the newcomer Asante Samuel who hadn’t played much in this system. The other receiver for Miami, we don’t know who it is really. Cedric Wilson number 18 plays a lot. He’s a very physical guy in the running game. He’s a possession type receiver. And they have number 11, Nick Westbrook Aune. He’s the ex- Tennessee Titan from Indiana. He’s got 11 catches. Neither one of these guys are go-to receivers. Obviously, Tyreek Hill is sorely missed. But keep an eye on Washington in the slot. He has punt return ability. You can ask the Patriots that. and he does have a lot of quickness making people miss on these jet sweeps and bubble screens. The slot corner of the Steelers is number 26, Brandon Eckles. And this guy’s playing his ass off, man. He played great last week against the Ravens. He had a sack. He’s uh very hard to block on his blitzes. Daniel Failele, the right guard of the Ravens, wasn’t sure who to block or if he should block him. And Eckles went in there, got Lamar Jackson. He made a couple big plays on third down. Made a nice play in the end zone. Eckles is good. And watch out for the nail blitz. Finally, the tight ends of the Miami Dolphins. We had Darren Waller in here, the X- Raider. He even has a new song. I kind of like that song. They got the whole team on them. Something like that. I’ll let you hear it. Oh They got the beam on me. Playing defense, trying to draw up a scheme for me. What you mean I ain’t the one? Every time I ran around, they had the whole team, homie. Waller had four touchdowns in his first three games. Then he hurt his pec, but now he’s back. He had two catches against the Saints for 47 yards, just one last week. But it’s the presence of Waller, let me tell you, that bothers defenses. I mean, he runs a clear out on a deep cross to Waddle. He’s running as fast as Waddle. This guy can come out of the back field, do a lot of creative stuff. He’s smart, shitty. Broke Tim Brown’s single season record. He’s got a lot of skill, man. And he looks like he’s healthy. His presence without the ball is just as important as he is with the ball. Trust me. They’re also getting a lot of mileage out of Greg Doulich. I mean, Doulich joined the Dolphins after the season started, but in the last five games, he’s got 13 catches, 154 yards. Doulich is a good player. He wears number 85. And they use Julian Hill, number 89, a lot too. Not so much in the passing game, but this guy can really run block and he can do a lot of different types of blocks. So all these tight ends, the fullback angled, and the way they mix and match these three running backs with Wadd, it’s weird. And it’s going to come down to the safety play, I think, of the Steelers to limit some of the big plays. Jaylen Ramsay is the safety of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Remember Ramsay came over to Pittsburgh from Miami in a trade with Minka Fitzpatrick. Ramsay has struggled. He’s been hurt. He’s been beat up. He played corner. He played nickel. He played safety. All in the same game early in the season, but now he has settled in in the post at safety. He has 60 plus tackles. He has the one interception, but when he’s been asked to cover, he has struggled uncharacteristically. He gave up a few touchdown passes earlier in the year and now he’s back in the post. The other safety is your best guess. I’ve been seeing a lot of Chuck Clark. He’s got 41 tackles. He wears number 21. They made the trade for Duger from the New England Patriots. He comes over. He’s got 23 tackles and he hurts his hand. They get Jabril Peppers in the game. He wears number 40. He had three tackles last week. All three of these guys are trying to be Deshawn Elliott who’s no longer there. They got to get some consistency on the back end. But this is going to be a real challenge, I think, for Pittsburgh. Stop the run. We haven’t done very good the last two weeks. Miami is very confident they can run that rock. And let’s make sure there are no breakdowns against all these Mike McDaniel shifts in motions. and let’s get the Pittsburgh Steeler defense back to where it’s supposed to be. Okay, this Pittsburgh Steeler offense led by Arthur Smith going up against Anthony Weaver, defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. You know, Anthony Weaver has a lot of familiarity with Pittsburgh. He is an ex Baltimore Raven. He played for the Ravens, coached for the Ravens, coached for the Browns. Hell, he spent his whole life in the AFC North. So, I would assume coach Weaver has a pretty good game plan for this Monday night. You know, the Pittsburgh Steelers, we talked about him during the pre-season prognostication video we made, the great Aaron Rogers comes aboard. They end up going with a new feature back. They let Naji Harris leave. They are going to lean on a young offensive line, new tight end, a lot of different moving parts. And it’s been up and down for Pittsburgh, but statistically it hasn’t been pretty. It looks hard. It looks really hard sometimes. You know, they’re 27th in total offense, 29th in running the ball, 23rd in the pass. And when you look further, they’re 29th in the league in first downs. A lot of that has to do with them not getting the ball enough because their defense is struggling. But they only have 26 minutes and 58 seconds of time of possession per game. That is unbelievable for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They average 55 plays a game. That’s the lowest in football. So, they’re not doing a good enough job staying on the field and their defense isn’t doing very good getting them back out there. Hell, they had three threeand outs in the fourth quarter last week against Lamar Jackson and that has to be addressed. They got to do more. They got to do better to stay on the field and keep some time consuming drives together to help their defense. You know, there’s been a lot of criticism about the pass offense of the Steelers. Quick passes. We talked about it at the outset. I mean, 5.8 yards of air yards per attempt for Aaron Rogers. What the hell you’re saying? Right. So, I look at the numbers and Aaron Rogers was seven for 29 passing on throws of 20 yards or more. Think about that. Seven out of 29. Well, against Baltimore, he looked pissed off to me. He looked irritated and he went out there and he went four for four. He shredded him. I looked at the first play of the game. He looked off the free safety and he hit Metaf for a 52 yard gain against Marlon Humphrey. Awesome. The second one, they got a Quaid route. They got a quick out by the slot and here goes the fade route by Metaf. The second one is a Quaid route. I mean, they got a quick out by the slot receiver and here goes Metcafe on the fade. And again, Aaron Rogers looks off the free safety Malachi Starks and he drops a dime in there. Man, it’s a beautiful play. The third one was to Thelen. Adam Thielen just acquired from the Minnesota Vikings who got cut. He’s in a tight slot. It’s press coverage. The Ravens have their third corner on him and Rogers gives him a hand signal. Woohoo! Another shred. Then the fourth one that he bombed away. Metaf just ran a four-yard stick route and Rogers started scrambling. Metaf went here, then he went there. Dime, another 40-yard gain. So, the vertical passing game showed up last week against the Ravens. I was out of my chair, man, waving my towel. Yes, that’s freaking what I expected to see from Aaron Rodgers. But they attacked man coverage and they hurt man coverage. I don’t see Miami playing a lot of that same structure. So, they’re going to have to devise some vertical cuts this week if they want to keep pushing it. You know, when you watch Pittsburgh under Arthur Smith, Arthur Smith loves tight ends. When he was at Atlanta as the head coach, they use more tight ends than anybody. He used a lot of tight ends when he was the offensive coordinator of the Titans. But when you watch the Steelers play, they’re in 12 personnel, one back two tight ends 33% of the time. That’s seventh in the league. They use 13 personnel, one back three tight ends 12% of the time. That’s second in the league. and they use jumbo where they put an extra offensive lineman in at tight end 15% of the time that’s number one. Matter of fact, I checked this. In the last decade, Pittsburgh is the only team to have over 100 snaps of 13 and 100 snaps of jumbo. And there’s still four games left. Holy And they’re using tight ends, man. If you’re a tight end and you’re at the combine and the Steelers asked to talk to you, they might take you. So, I asked myself this. And I said, “Self, why? If they’re using all these tight ends, how come they can’t run the ball? I mean, they’re 29th in the league in rushing. And I know that they lost Naji Harris, they drafted Caleb Johnson out of Iowa. Their backs are smallerized guys. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Jaylen Warren and Kenny Gainwell, but they aren’t big backs. And they do struggle at times in the end of game situations to run out the clock. I mean, you got to have a big back sometimes that can bo you be your own blocker. Knock the out of that guy and get the first down. I don’t know if they have that physical beast presence like Franco Harris. Remember Worley? God, he used to piss me off. How about Le’Veon Bell? He would ring your bell, wouldn’t he? Anyways, they got to get the running game going. If we’re going to use all these tight ends, we should be able to run the ball left or right, provided these tight ends can block like they’re supposed to. It’s been inconsistent. And we’re talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers here. This is the Steelers. They stop the run and they run the ball. They haven’t done either. And it’s hard to recognize for some of us Steeler fans. It’s a transition for them. But against the Bears on the road, Pittsburgh ran for 186 and 5.2 2 and it looked pretty damn good. But in the last two weeks, they’re averaging 40 yards a game rushing against the Ravens and against the Bills. Come on. This is a perimeter running team. A lot of their plays they do run are outside the tackle. And some of these wider toss plays, some of these wider outside plays have the potential to lose yardage more than some of the inside runs. Remember Le’Veon Bell running the duo? how he would come in there and just freeze and set up his blockers. I love that. Le’Veon Bell, where are you? Le’Veon Bell. The ball distribution in the passing game is a little bit similar to the Miami Dolphins. They go through Interstate 4, DK Metaf. He’s really the only wide receiver that they have been targeting. 52 catches, 753 yards, and he’s got five touchdowns. Hell, last week he had 148 yards against the Baltimore Ravens. He is the go-to guy at wide receiver, but when you look at the Steeler ball distribution in the passing game, it’s strange. 33% of Aaron Rogers passes go to the tight end. This is the only team in the NFL that has two running backs with over 30 catches. So, they’re throwing the ball to Warren and Gainwell. Matter of fact, they’re their second and third leading receiver. And they’re the only team in the league, the Pittsburgh Steelers, that has three tight ends with over 20 catches. So, it’s Metaf, two running backs, three tight ends. That’s kind of weird. And maybe that’s why the Steelers shook things up and brought in Adam Thelen, who is a professional wide out, a guy I think Aaron Rogers is very comfortable with. I could just sense by his comments he was charged up that Thelen was in town. They also brought in Marquez Valdez Scantling. Scantling’s been around. He’s bounced around the league a little bit. San Francisco, Kansas City. He was with Rogers in Green Bay. Matter of fact, he caught a little quick pass against me in Lambo Field and he took it to the house. Boy, I was pissed. So, I think they’re in the process of trying to get some wide outs involved in this passing game other than DK Metaf. You got to give Metaf credit. Hell, he jumped out there last week on the punt team and was a gunner. I’m like, “Holy that’s a big gunner. That’s Metaf.” But they got to get more guys that can make big plays involved in the offense. And if that big catch by Feland last week on that red line fade ball is any indication, that’s exciting. The Miami Dolphin defense hasn’t gotten much credit. You know, Anthony Weaver’s defense, they traded Jaylen Phillips and everybody’s like, “Hey man, this is a fire sale. We’re we’re selling out for for draft picks. They’re 4-0 since that time. They’ve given up 13.3 points a game in the last four weeks. Now, a lot of people are going to say, “Well, they didn’t play anybody.” Well, they beat Buffalo 30-13 in Miami. It was a rainy day, but that defense was humming, man. They got after Josh Allen. The other three wins, well, they beat the Jets last week. They crushed them. They had Brady Cook playing quarterback, who was a practice squad guy. The week before that, they played Tyler Shuck, who’s just getting his career started with the Saints. The week before that, they played in Madrid. Where the hell is Madrid? I missed the game. It was too early, but they played Washington, I think. Why are we playing in Madrid? But anyways, they haven’t been playing anybody really lately like Aaron Rodgers. And Rogers is coming off a very good game against Baltimore. And I just get the feeling based on his demeanor that he’s in a state of rage right now. I think he’s going to give Miami all he’s got. Yeah. Looking at that Jet film, you couldn’t help but be really impressed with the Miami Dolphins. Jets were one for 12 on third down, 0 for two in the red zone. Hell’s Bells 62 yards rushing and they intercepted three passes and they forced three fumbles. Gy Christmas. It was an ass kicking. They play a three four defense in their base and Ma Fitzpatrick is a huge chess piece for Anthony Weaver. He plays free safety in their base defense and when they go to their sub defense, Minka Fitzpatrick becomes the nickel and they put Melano in at safety. So, he is a guy that’s got great versatility. He plays two positions. I don’t know why the Steelers traded him. I really don’t. But, you know, when you watch Miami, Anthony Weaver has some bells and whistles. I’ll get into that in a second. He has some really cool alignments that he uses on third down. He’s a creative blitzer, but he sometimes doesn’t take a lot of risks with the coverage. He might blitz a linebacker, but drop an end, it’s just a fourman rush, but they’re playing zone coverage behind it. But when you watch Miami play, you cannot help but take your eyes off of number 20, Jordan Brooks. You know, Jordan Brooks leads the NFL in tackles. He’s got 147. We made him a Gruden grinder one week. He had 20 tackles against Washington. The game was in Madrid. Where the hell is that? And then he has 18 tackles against the Jets. The guy’s got a great instinctive demeanor about him. He’s got 32 run stuffs at the line of scrimmage or in the back field. He is a hell of a player. In his first two years in Miami, he’s made more tackles than any linebacker in Dolphin history. And I said, “Bullshit. What about Zack Thomas?” He’s got more than Zack Thomas. I coached against Zack Thomas. He made about 38 tackles against me. And their secondary has been playing really good. Rasool Douglas, 6 foot2, 209 pounds. He’s bounced around the league. This guy was the AFC defensive player of the week last week against the Jets. Five PBUs a pick. Russell Douglas has the size. He has the length to go up against Metaf, which we’ll talk about. But when I go back to Anthony Weaver, you’re going to see in the third down situations a lot of load fronts. Remember this at home, load fronts. Usually you see two defensive linemen on one side of the center. When they call a load front, they put three of them over here. Sealer might be over here. They’ll use another defensive tackle. Bigger number 93. And there’s Bradley Chub. They’ll put three defensive lineman on one side of the center. And here’s Chop Robinson on the other side. Then they put Jordan Brooks, their allw world tackling machine, covering the guard. So now the center has to go this way, but when you set the center to the load side, you’re going to see all kind of line stunts over here to the load side. It’s really cool. And there’ll be some occasional blitzing that they’ll involve with this, but you got to be alert for some load fronts and some stunts against Anthony Weaver. And then one of the cool blitzes he called last week against the Jets, I call it the Predator. It’s a fourman rush, but you don’t know which four rushers are blitzing. They lined up in a single safety look, just a straight 42 nickel. But on the snap of the ball, here’s Melanu. He comes over here on the weak side and he blitzes off the edge. They spike the defensive end inside so there’s room to blitz. The playside defensive tackle, he loops to the far a. The three technique loops outside and contains. And on the snap of the ball, they play cover two. They cloud at one corner. They cut Ashton Davis over the top. Here comes Ma Fitzpatrick back to play the half. And they use Judon in the curl like a linebacker. And here goes the mic right down the middle. They’re playing Tampa 2 just like you would, but they’re doing it with different people with a great disguise. And Melo Fanu, he was a pain in the ass last week. He had a couple sacks. I want to go back quickly though to the Steeler running game. I’ve already said how disappointing it was. We got all these tight ends. Why can’t we run it? Do we not have a big back? Hey, they got to run the ball because Miamiy’s run defense is 25th in the league. They’re giving up 132 yards a game. It’s a cold night. They’ve given up 49 runs of 10 yards or more with the great Jordan Brooks. Miamiy’s run defense, they got to be exposed a little bit. Pittsburgh. Let’s see if the Steelers can get their run game off the mat. Let’s take a look at the matchups. This Pittsburgh Steeler offensive line, there is a big issue at left tackle. And I mean big. They lost Brick Jones. They lost Spencer Anderson. They lost Andrew Pete. This is Dylan Cook. Dylan Cook, an undrafted man from Montana. He was on the Buccaneer practice squad. The Steelers claimed him. He goes in the game last week against the Ravens. First NFL action, plays 13 snaps. This is your starting left tackle. So, if you’re Bradley Chub, you get yourself motivated, man, on Monday Night Football. And if you’re Dylan Cook, take advantage of this man and play your ass off. Mike Tomlin’s excited about this kid, but I don’t know much about him. The left guard is Seamalo. He’s been around, former Philadelphia Eagle. Zack Frasier at center has had a nice year. Very good pass protector. I think they need more out of him in a running game. I want him to play like Brewer plays on the second level. Right guard Mason McCormick, secondyear player, has been solid. And Troy Fontanu, the right tackle, former first round pick out of Washington, is very athletic. I love this right side. I just think they can run the ball to the right. Let’s go. The Miami Dolphins are going to play a three four defense. I look for Bonito Jones, number 95, to be the nose tackle over the center. If they’re in their base defense, if they get out of their base defense, you’re going to see two rookie defensive tackles. I really like Kenneth Grant, their first round pick out of Michigan. He wears number 90. He’s played 51% of the time this year. That’s a lot of snaps for a rookie, and he’s got 23 tackles in one and a half sacks. I want more from him. He was one of my favorite players coming out of the draft. Bennett, number 90. The other guys, Jordan Phillips, another rookie, mid-round pick out of Maryland. He wears number 94. He’s played 45% of the snaps. Good run defender. They need more pass rush from him. But the best player in the front is Zack Cer, number 92. He had a big game last week against the Jets. Two sacks. You could say two and a half sacks. He was a pain in the ass. He plays a lot. 75% of the plays. That’s incredible for a big guy in South Florida. It gets hot down there. But he has 37 tackles and he’s a guy that can play multiple positions. The edge rushers, it all starts with Bradley Chub. He leads the Dolphins with six and a half sacks. Chub wears number two. And I look for him to go over here against Cook, an unknown at left tackle for the Steelers. Chub played opposite Von Miller in Denver. Boy, I hated those guys. And then he goes to Miami, plays opposite Jaylen Phillips. Well, now he’s getting a lot of the attention because of how good he is. The other rusher is going to be Matthew Judon, who will play a lot of snaps in the base. He plays outside linebacker. He can set the edge. Judon doesn’t have any sacks. 139 rushes, no sacks. Kind of surprising. He has a history of getting home, but they use Chop Robinson as their nickel outside rusher. Their former first round pick out of Penn State. Robinson wears 44. His numbers are down. His pressure rate is down. His production is okay. Three and a half sacks. He’s playing with a little better motor. I want to see him turn his act on, man, when the lights come on. Again at running back, Kenneth Gainwell and Jaylen Warren. Warren’s the lead dog, number 30. 159 carries, 652 yards, and four touchdowns. Kenny Gainwell’s got 80 carries, 371. Both of these guys can really catch the football, particularly Kenny Gainwell. Keep an eye on Gainwell. Last week, hell, the Ravens blow a coverage. Rogers throws the ball in flat to Jaylen War. He runs for 50 yards. They didn’t cover Frier Muth either. The Ravens made mistakes and Rogers made them pay. But these two running backs, they’re really good pass protectors and they can catch the football. The linebackers of the Dolphins, we’ve already talked about Jordan Brooks. He should be a candidate this year for the Pro Bowl without saying. The other linebacker is Tyrell Dodson. Played for the Bills, played for the Seahawks. Dodson wears 25. He is a good player as well. He’s got 98 tackles, four sacks. He’s forced a fumble, picked off a pass last week. He’s a ball hawking badass. Dodson and Brooks make a lot of plays in this defense. And if they do blitz, they love to blitz. Dodson number 25. Let’s look at the matchups on the outside. DK Metaf, he is the go-to guy. We’ve already said enough about that. He caught three bombs last week for 121 yards. th those are the most vertical catches he’s had in one game in his whole career. So don’t think for a second they’re not going to be looking for him again. You know what I mean? I mean when somebody scratches your itch, you want it scratched again, don’t you? They want to go to Medcaf again. If he lines up on the left, he’s going to see Rasool Douglas number 26. Douglas, we’ve already talked about his length to size player of the week. He’s got a lot of mental toughness. Douglas has no fear. He’s a good tackler. If you beat him on something, he’s going to come back at you again. He will jump routes. He’s very aggressive. He had great ball skills coming out of West Virginia. He’s had great ball skills his whole life. Douglas plays on the left side of the offense. He wears 26. He’s the best corner Miami has. On the other side, this is where I want to see Metaf. I want to see him going up against Jack Jones, number 23. Jones jumps a lot of routes, very aggressive, but he’s given up some touchdowns. He gave up nine last year as a Raider. He’s given up seven this year. So, if you’re Aaron Rogers, if you’re Arthur Smith, let’s put Metaf on our right against Jack Jones and take our chances. Jones is not nearly as big as Brousul Douglas. The slot receiver for the Steelers really is John Smith, number 81, a tight end. And that’s a big name in Dolphin country because John Smith was traded from Miami to Pittsburgh. Huh? Why would you trade the guy? He had 88 catches and 850 yards, which are Dolphin records last year. Well, he comes over to get with Arthur Smith, reunites. They were together in Tennessee, together in Atlanta. He’s only got 30 catches for 180 yards and a couple touchdowns. I’m kind of surprised they haven’t gotten him the ball more down the field and on third down. And when he goes in the slot, it’ll be one of two guys. Primarily Minka Fitzpatrick, if they’re a nickel, you’ll see 29 Fitzpatrick come down low on occasion. Dante Trader, number 11, another rookie safety will do it. He’s being trained the same way Minka is. Trader can play safety or big nickel. He’s got quickness and instincts and they’re good tacklers, man. The other receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers used to be Calvin Austin. Now I’m seeing Adam Thielen, number 16. What a great receiver he has been throughout his career for the Vikings. He had a big year for Carolina last year. Hell, it’s press coverage last week. Aaron Rogers gives him a hand signal. And Dan knew just what to do. He set him at the line of scrimmage. Didn’t turn it into a foot race. He worked the red line and gave Aaron Rogers sideline room to fit it in there. Thelen is wearing 16 and I expect to see more and more of him because of his professionalism, his reliability, and his ability to play in horseshit weather down the stretch. It’s not easy. The safety man for the Dolphins, we know M will be back there in their base. M’s had a hell of a year. 68 tackles. He had a strip sack. Hell, he caught a two-point play against the Saints. took it back for a house call. Two points. Fitzpatrick’s good. But when they put him in nickel, Melanu number nine will come into the game. The ex Detroit Lion. And when Melanu is in the game, they’re going to blitz him. He is very physical. He’s crafty, too. He’ll line up like, “Hey, I’m a linebacker.” He’ll make a call like he’s a linebacker when you least expect it. Here he comes. Dante Trader will play back there as well. and the ex Neww York Jet Ashton Davis number 21. He has been really solid for the Miami Dolphins on the back end. Anthony Weaver is getting some good consistent play, athletic linebackers, some spontaneous blitzing and they have been good this last month. Just 13 points a game over four weeks. Well, you got to pick somebody. I love Aaron Rogers, Tomlin. The Steelers should win this game at home. They got a lot more to play for. But I’m going with the Miami Dolphins. I just have a feeling about Han. I just think he’s the best player arguably in the AFC right now. I’m going to go with Miami 23, Pittsburgh 17.

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