Seeing how our intel matches up with longtime Dolphins beat writer Alain Poupart of All Dolphins at SI.com ...
You've seen a lot of iterations - a lot of iterations - of the Dolphins and coaches and quarterbacks ... since Marino. So let's start with the head coach. We know a little bit about Mike McDaniel, longtime ally of Kyle Shanahan who was with him for a long time. Smart guy, funny guy, quirky guy. ... I guess the big question is do you think he's up for the task in this game to start the season with this team, especially if things go haywire? Because we all know if everything goes according to scripts, I'm sure they look really good. And they win in a blowout. But we know it's not going to work that way, especially in the first game that he's ever coached ever called plays for ... where do you assess where he is and the control that he has of this team? And do you think he has them ready to be ready for Sunday?
Yeah, that's a big question, isn't it? Because now we're at the time of year where we haven't seen him in a regular season game. It's been preseason. And it's been training camp where they're going against each other. And of course, the players, they all love him, because he's kind of a nice guy and mellow guy, much more friendly than his predecessor, who you in Boston know very well, Brian Flores. So everything is peaches and roses right now because, like, as you mentioned, there hasn't been any adversity, we just don't know how he's going to react when things go haywire, which they will at some point, because that's just the way it is in the NFL.
Having said all that, as you mentioned, yes, he's very smart. There is reason to think, and partly because the Kyle Shanahan scheme system has worked everywhere it's been. And Mike McDaniel has been his right hand, man for a long time, there's reason to think that it's going to work. And that's a big part of the optimism around here. And now it's funny because you look around the country. And there is some skepticism. I mean, I look at power rankings, and they're 18, 19 20 that neighborhood, and you're looking at their roster, I think their roster is better than 18, 19 20 although they do have a question mark at quarterback, which is a different topic, which I'm sure he's gonna come up at some point here. But no, and the thing is you we're in the honeymoon phase right now. And I remember when Adam Gase came in from Denver, in 2016. Remember, he was the orchestrator of that great Denver offense that set records in 2013. And everything was great and actually even made the playoffs this first year, but then it came that maybe there was a reason why he was so successful in Denver, ie Peyton Manning. So the question mark is still there, but there is reason for hope. And again, among the fan base, there is a lot of confidence that yeah, that they've hit on this guy, big time.
I was gonna jump to the offensive line, but let's talk Tua ... have you noticed a tangible difference in Tua from where he was under the previous coaching staff to not only his confidence level, but also execution level under these guys.
Yeah, this is the part where if you had a lot of different media members on this podcast here they tell you wow he looks great as arm strength is much better, he's executing much better. Me? I see the same guy in terms of mechanics, arm strength and all that. And yeah, you see the highlights of the deep passes. Okay there are deep passes where he has time to set his feet. That's never been an issue as far as I'm concerned. The issue with him and the arm strength is always if the pocket collapses, he's got a guy in his face, he can't set his feet, he's got to throw on the run, if he's got to zip it into a tight window, either down the field or outside the numbers. That's the issue with the arm strength. The big difference in Tua this year is he's a lot more loosey-goosey. You also see maybe more confidence, like the little snippets of code that you've seen of him taken shots at the media where he's saying, you see that pass to Tyreek, well look pretty much on the money to me. I'm not so sure he says that last year. And then part of that, to me is playing under Mike McDaniel, who was a lot looser than Brian Flores, who was again, as you know, it's a bit on the uptight side.
And the other part of that is also that everybody in a Dolphin organization has been pumping Tua's tires since the offseason, and that started when Mike McDaniel was hired. And if you saw on social media, him FaceTiming Tua on the plane on the way here to South Florida to sign the papers and do his press conference. That's kind of unusual. I don't think I've recalled seeing that. And it's been like that, it hasn't stopped Tyreek Hill every chance he gets, he's more accurate than Patrick Mahomes — we can do it whatever we want with that. And then the latest one was when they announced their team captains last week. And you've been covering the NFL for a long time. And you tell me if you've ever heard this. Mike McDaniel made it a point to say that Tua was by far the highest point getter in the vote for team captain. I personally had I had never heard a coach say that. So this has been again, I don't want to say campaign, but it's pretty much what has been of like building up the guy's confidence heading into the season, to see if that produces better results when in fact is he's got a lot better personnel around him. He's got a guy who I think is going to scheme him up or you're going to see an awful lot of like quick rollouts naked boots where he goes outside, and if he's got Tyreek Hill running 10 yards downfield across the middle, nobody's keeping up with him. It's a pretty easy throw. So and then my final point on Tua is Jimmy Garoppolo topped 100 in passer rating for a season under that system, Jared Goff with the Rams, which has a similar system, topped 100 in passer rating twice, not once but twice. And I don't think anybody's ever accused either of those guys of being a great quarterback.
Tell me about the Dolphins' offensive line. I know they brought in Armstead. I think they moved Jackson to the right side to right tackle. How has this offensive line acclimated to sort of the new offensive system? And how do you think they've looked? Are there areas that you expect the Patriots to exploit up there?
Well, again, I hate to be evasive and revert to that old line again. But that's another question that needs to be answered as we head into this regular season. As we talk about the Dolphins and expectations, well one of the great unknown is the offensive line. Armstead didn't play a down in the preseason, which kind of makes sense because he's a bit on the older side, he's got an injury history. The scheme by all accounts and by all measures fits some of their guys better, including the aforementioned Austin Jackson, who really didn't look good at left tackle last year. In fact, the game you saw them up there at left tackle there was one of only two or three I believe starts he made at left tackle before they decided this isn't working, we got to move him inside. Now he's playing right tackle, again by what I saw in training camp and the practices and the preseason, looks better, not ready to say he's a pro bowl player. But that's a big question. Will the offensive line hold up? It's pretty difficult for it to be worse than it was last year. Even though I'm of the belief it wasn't quite the nightmare that a lot of people make it out to be. It wasn't good. And it's pretty safe to say it's going to be better. Let's say it was 28 like in efficiency around the league last year, even though some metrics had 32nd ... let's say it can jump to 15 and that might be good enough to get what they want to get done off accomplished offensively.
Connor Williams the center ... if the Patriots look at that as a sort of a weak spot and they put Christian Barmore over him and or you know do a bunch of like A gap stuff like do you think can handle that week 1?
Yeah, he'd be, I think he'd be a guy I would look to. I think Jackson is gonna be okay right tackle. I like Robert Hunt at right guard. Armstead's a very good player if he stays stealthy. The two were the two guys if you're going to look at maybe the biggest question marks are Liam Eichenberg who last year they moved from right tackle to right to left guard to right to left tackle. Now he's playing left guard. He to me would be a bit of a question mark and then Connor Williams. So there was an issue early on in camp with the shotgun snaps. I mean, there'd be one or two every practice where it wasn't necessarily completely over the head of the QB, but like Tua would have to reach up to go get and would kind of throw off the timing of the play. That calmed down, let's say the last week of practice and it didn't surface in the preseason games. Having said that, there were a couple of times in practice I saw him in one on one matchups where he got moved around pretty well. So yeah, he would be a guy if anybody's going to exploited on the offensive line by the Patriots in week one, yeah, Connor Williams would be a good guy to look at
Give me a guy on each side of the ball offense and defense could be X factors in this game and how do you feel about the defense overall which took a hit with Byron Jones' surgery?
Yeah, the problem with that is that what they like to do on defense is be hyper-aggressive upfront. And what allows them to do that is they have two complete studs as cover corners with Xavien Howard and Byron Jones and Byron Jones doesn't get the credit he deserves because he doesn't get picks and that's glaring, how much he doesn't get picks, but the dude can cover. So they can feel pretty comfortable leaving those two guys on an island and do what you want to do with the other guys. Well, Byron Jones is not there anymore. Now do you move Nik Needham their slot corner over to the outside? And if you do that, and who plays the nickel spot, and if it's not Needham, then you're looking at either Keion Crossen, and it was a special teams guy with the Texans and the Giants before they signed him. Noah Igbinoghene, who was first three years in the NFL after being a first-round pick, were how to put this very delicately... less than ideal or Kader Kohou, who was a rookie free agent from Texas A&M Commerce, which is a great success story to make the team as a rookie from a D2 school, but you really want him out there starting in his first NFL game, I'm not sure. So that's a concern to me. And I can tell you down here the folks in Boston aren't gonna like this. But everybody's looking at this game and saying, the Byron Jones injury is really going to be a problem ... not against the Patriots because they don't have any good wide receivers, but when in the next few weeks when they play the Ravens the bills on the Bengals. So I have concerns with the defense. The other part about the defense that would concern me heading into the season ... that leaves me less than 100% sold that they're going to duplicate what they did last year is I'm pretty sure Brian Flores' fingerprints were all over that defense the last 2 years. They did retain Josh Boyer as defensive coordinator, but is he going to be able to throw in the same wrinkles, work the same magic, the same play calls that Brian Flores did? I need to see it. So that's my concern with the defense.
Going back to your original question and X Factor on both sides. Think the X Factor on offense this might be like RB Chase Edmonds, I think is a guy who maybe is overlooked a little bit because there's so much attention on Tyreek Hill, but dude looked great in training camp. Still only training camp. This is a team that has no running game for like three years and he looks he looks the part. And on defense, I don't know if you can call him an x-factor ... I think Jevon Holland is going to be an absolute star at safety. Yeah, and he was good as a rookie last year and he just looks like he's got it.
You have a game pick yet for the game or how you feeling?
It's the first time since 2013 the Dolphins are favored against the Patriots, which is kind of mindboggling in itself. And yet, I'm like, based on everything I heard coming out of New England this summer about how dysfunctional the offense especially the line looks, and the expectations for this Dolphins' offense, the fact that the line is only three or three and a half is kind of mind boggling to me. There's almost got me smelling a rat here. What do the oddsmakers know that I don't? Because it seems to me all logic says Dolphins should win and win handily. They always play the Patriots well here to begin with. And the last two times they played here, they rushed for 250 yards in 2020, they rushed for 195 last year and this was with a bad running game. What's it going to be this year? 350? I don't know. So all logic says the Dolphins should win this game. That's so that's my take. And fairly comfortably.