 Time now to go behind enemy lines presented by Windows 11 so pleased to be joined out by Travis Wingfield He is a writer fought for Miami Dolphins.com and the host of the drive time podcast with Travis Wingfield So much for the time. Yeah, I appreciate you guys have me on. I'm happy to be here All right Titans Dolphins this Sunday at Nissan Stadium the Dolphins were left for dead at the end of October at 1 and 7 But that football team has turned it around to get right back in the playoff race Travis What spurred this big comeback? You know I think it actually began really the week before they began the winning streak and a loss to the Buffalo Bills when they held Josh Allen and the explosive Bills offense really down for about three quarters of that game and the fourth Quarter kind of got away from them But since that time this defense has gotten after the quarterback They've gotten back to creating takeaways the third down defense has been stellar all the hallmarks that made this team a ten-win team a season ago You're seeing that here over the course of a six-game winning streak says a lot about Leadership in the locker room though that they could fight back from bed Who are those leaders that are sort of the backbone of this team? Well it starts at the very top with head coach Brian Flores and his message of you know one meeting one walkthrough one practice One play one game at a time and the team has really taken that approach I think Jerome Baker the Dolphins middle linebacker has really kind of taken on that role and on offense quarter back to a tongue of Iloha has certainly taken on a leadership role with this offense and coming back off the injury He's been a big part of that run as well Since tongue of Iloha came back from the injury. He has played stellar football. What is he doing so much better Travis? He's just highly efficient right now The underneath passing game has been very accurate and staying on schedule to compliment was a good running couple weeks ago against the New York Jets and Also mixing in the explosive play with Jalen waddle He's found Mike Gasicki and Matt Collins some of the big playmakers down the field for some deep explosive passing plays They've been on schedule and sprinkled in the explosive plays here and there to really compliment that defense and special teams As wide receiver Jalen waddle had a better rookie year than you even thought he would He was pretty heavily involved back in training camp and made a bunch of plays back then as well So the anticipation and expectation was I think that he was going to be kind of the go-to guy in the offense And he's certainly developed into that you think Mike Gasicki is one of the most underrated tight ends in the NFL Yeah, he certainly is one of those big playmakers and get down the field and really kind of play that big body receiver You know, he's a tight end part of the time slot receiver the other part of the time So he plays a little bit of both of those two positions But he's definitely kind of on track with those higher end producer tight end NFL Talk about waddle being a great rookie Jalen Phillips has been absolutely super rushing the passer His strength, I guess his strength Yeah, you could put it that way that it's either that or his multiplicity He can play inside or outside, but you watch him get his hands on guys sometimes He can certainly run through them with that bull rush and he already has the rookie record for Dolphin sacks And he's been red hot during the winning streak Dolphins have six players with three or more sacks. How are they creating the pressure? Is it a lot of blitz? Plenty of blitzing. Yeah, the dolphins have actually really Incorporated their two safeties into the mix as far as blitzing goes with Javon Holland and Brandon Jones a lot of the back end guys coming up They can cover some of the dolphins cornerbacks are really good in coverage as well So they have a good mix of who's coming who's not coming and oftentimes it is those two young safeties How has Zavian Howard played I know about the Pro Bowl again his third, but what kind of season is he at overall? The interceptions are down just a little bit because teams are mostly throwing away from him He and Byron Jones work so well in tandem to really kind of lock down the outside of that dolphins defense But if you test him you better be careful because he's gonna find a way to get his hands in the ball He's also incorporated a lot more fumble production this season with a couple of times He's poked the ball out to really help the dolphins win a couple of games this year Travis what has surprised you most about these dolphins in 2021? Just the way they fought back it looked early on like they weren't going to be able to get back to the same defense They displayed a season ago the quarterback position with 200% and injuries And they found a way to really correct a lot of the things that were plugging them during that one and seven stretch there And they've kind of gotten that turned around so just the resiliency of this football team I would say seems like they're having a lot of fun as well Absolutely. I mean, I'm sure you saw the Christian Wilk in celebration after he found a way into the end zone They all kind of rally around that making the big plays It's all business when you're in the building and when you're talking about football But they also have found a way to kind of have fun with it Travis wingfield a writer from imidolphins.com and the host of the drive time podcast with Travis wingfield Thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it. Mike. Thanks a lot. That's behind the enemy lines presented by windows 11