- 6 hours ago
Locked On Dolphins host and A to Z Sports NFL analyst Kyle Crabbs joins The Joe Rose Show to break down the Miami Dolphins following their tough loss to the Detroit Lions. Crabbs evaluates Malik Willis battling through injury, wide receiver production from Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell, and why Jeff Hafley's defense deserves praise for slowing down Jared Goff. Plus, Kyle gives his trade deadline expectations regarding Zach Sieler and Jordyn Brooks, along with Miami's kicker situation.
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00:00All right, let's go right to him. Kyle Krabs, host of Locked on Dolphins podcast, A to Z sports NFL
00:04analyst.
00:05Got to spend a little time with him. He was just in town with us to see the last game
00:10as we say good morning to Kyle Krabs.
00:13Kyle, how you doing?
00:14I'm doing fine, Joe. How you doing, man?
00:16Man, I'm hanging in there.
00:19So I guess you probably know after the game, everything was about Malik Willis and people want him benched and
00:27this and that.
00:28And he can't, we're ready for a change.
00:30I'm not saying everybody, but the people, a lot of what I get here.
00:34And I'm like, look at man, if you're blaming that 100% on a quarterback with that pass protection,
00:41and maybe he shouldn't play if the groin's too, hey, maybe you're right.
00:44Maybe he needs a week off.
00:46What was your take on Malik Willis?
00:49And he thought he made a bad, bad throw on an interception.
00:52But what do you think of Malik's play?
00:54Yeah, no question.
00:55On the turnover, he said there was a miscommunication there.
00:58And whether that means he was expecting Caleb to release one way or run a different route or whatever happened.
01:04Like, he said he stuck with it.
01:07And that play obviously was a big turning point coming out after the break.
01:13So that's when you want back.
01:15That was not a good decision.
01:16But, you know, I know people have, I've had some people kind of point to, like, the completion percentage.
01:22But, yeah, the drop at the end with Caleb Douglas, the drop with Will Kaczmarek when he runs the hitch
01:29route and tries to turn up towards the sticks.
01:31He had three throwaways.
01:32He had a spike.
01:33Like, I don't think the completion percentage in this game is the right number to point to.
01:38And I agree with you to the point where I respect any guy that will play through being hurt, right?
01:44But in that game with what they could offer the quarterback from a pass protection standpoint, it was pretty rough.
01:54I mean, we're having the back step up to block linebackers.
01:57And he's getting knocked on his rear end.
01:59And you're getting blocked back and hitting your own quarterback trying to block him pass protection.
02:04There's some pretty fast and rapid rushes coming that, like, he needs to be able to move.
02:10And that's a part of his skill set that for him to be effective, especially with the circumstances that we're
02:16playing in this year, he's got to have all that.
02:18And if he doesn't, then I don't expect it to look good.
02:21And it didn't look good at times on Sunday against Detroit.
02:24So, let me ask you, Caleb Douglas looks like, I know he dropped the last pass, but, again, had a
02:31nice game for himself.
02:33I think Kevin Coleman has really improved it.
02:36Had a 50-yard catch, called back in the game.
02:39Malik Washington continues to make some plays.
02:45Chris Bell has not done much for the snaps.
02:50What is your take on Chris Bell right now?
02:55I think a lot of Chris's best contributions to the offense come without the ball in the way of what
02:59he does as a blocker, I mean, physical.
03:01And there's a role for that kind of player.
03:04But we just got done talking about with some of the challenges that Malik had to try to navigate.
03:10Like, you'd love to get some quick winners in the passing game, right?
03:14And it feels like if it's not Caleb right now, or even Kevin, the big hits that he's had have
03:20been a double move late against New England
03:24and a long-developing post down the middle of the field for big explosive play.
03:28Like, it really felt like to me that Detroit said, we're going to crowd the box.
03:33We're going to get really physical.
03:35We're going to crowd these receivers and challenge them to beat us within the contact window.
03:39And if it wasn't Caleb, then you didn't get a lot of it in this game against Detroit.
03:45And I certainly think for Chris, you know, coming out of Louisville, I thought he was at his best as
03:50like a catch and run.
03:52You know, get him the ball on the run, and a lot of times that's stuff across the middle and
03:57shallow underneath routes.
03:59And so try to get him the ball with momentum.
04:02You think about that big catch and run he had against Kansas City where he caught it and took it
04:07up the sideline, right?
04:08Like, I think that's where Chris is at his best as compared to currently being a player who runs routes
04:13on the perimeter
04:14and creates separation against tight coverage.
04:17And he didn't get a chance to work on a lot of that stuff because he's rehabbing all offseason and
04:22into the summer.
04:22So it's not like you have a bunch of options to turn to.
04:28That's true.
04:30So you can only put Malik Washington and Caleb Douglas out there so much, right?
04:35Like, at some point, it's just trying to problem solve how to win the games with what you have at
04:42your disposal
04:42as these guys improve throughout the course of the season and until you can go through another offseason and have
04:48more talent.
04:48And that's one of those spots where I think they're just kind of a little limited right now with the
04:53lack of experience.
04:54And it's just going to take these guys' time to grow.
04:57And unfortunately, you can't hit fast forward on that.
04:59No.
05:00The offensive line, so good against the Jets.
05:03And I know they stepped up in competition.
05:06And I know you have to with the Patriots and now the Lions.
05:10How do you think they've played the last two weeks?
05:13It hasn't been to the standard that we've hoped for.
05:16Now, they've got a lot of heavy boxes.
05:18And I'll say this about Detroit.
05:20Between Aiden Hutchinson and Ali McNeil, those are two really good football players that created a lot of problems for
05:27you up front against Detroit.
05:31So, I think that's where you look at the penalties that Miami was hit with throughout the course of this
05:35game against Detroit.
05:37I think there was a lot of effort and strain.
05:39But also, they are in different ways.
05:42A guy on the edge and a guy in the middle.
05:43They have the ability to be overwhelming for a lot of people.
05:46And I think that's who you saw.
05:48Aaron Brewer and his performance on Sunday with the penalties that he had.
05:52And just a tough matchup in that regard.
05:57And that's what this team is trying to figure out.
05:59If somebody takes that part of your offense away, their downhill run, their being physical up front and creating gaps,
06:08you'd probably lean on the quarterback's athleticism as kind of the thing to help replace it.
06:13And, of course, we didn't have that in our back pocket.
06:15So, it kind of felt like it was just a whole bunch of variables on a whole bunch of different
06:19fronts
06:20that all kind of contributed to what was a really frustrating day offensively.
06:23Kyle, the good news.
06:24Just that defense, man.
06:26I don't know if Omar was completely sold after yesterday.
06:29But give up 270 yards, the number one offense.
06:35Give up just the one touchdown.
06:37They were stuck in poor field position.
06:40I thought they played great.
06:41And they really got some good games out of Uche and Chop.
06:45I just thought there were five or six, seven guys that had their moments defensively.
06:49I loved the way they ran around as a group and played together.
06:54I can't imagine they can play much better than what we saw.
06:57Three for 12 on third down.
06:59And we saw one of the better quarterbacks.
07:02Went off to a great start.
07:03Just really struggled.
07:05And was very complimentary about this group after the game.
07:09Yeah, I think that's a nice thing for, in my opinion, Jeff Halfley, too, from a coaching perspective.
07:16And the plan that they came up.
07:18Because that's an offense that Halfley saw four times in two years in Detroit.
07:23Or when he was with Green Bay.
07:25So there's some familiarity there.
07:27So you see him go against some other teams that maybe aren't as common opponents as what their game plans
07:32have been.
07:33I thought they had a really effective plan to kind of get Jared uncomfortable.
07:37And, you know, there were a couple beyond the quarterback hits in the sacks that they had a goff.
07:42Where he's in a pocket.
07:43And you could see how uncomfortable he was because they got to him early.
07:47And on one, he kind of just like earthworms one right at his receiver's feet.
07:51And then he has another throwaway where he was pretty quick to kind of concede the down.
07:56Like, I thought they did a really good job kind of getting to him early.
08:01And I thought it was, by far, a far cry.
08:05Like, night and day as far as being tied together in the back seven as compared to what it was
08:10against the Jets.
08:10Like, that's the irony of you win the game against the Jets.
08:13But you have a couple of coverage busts where two guys go with one receiver.
08:17And you give up a couple of explosive plays.
08:18And then you drop a guy on fourth down late in the game.
08:21And I thought they, generally speaking, were really tied together.
08:26And I thought they were better against New England than they were against the Jets.
08:29You just had the two 40-plus yard explosive plays that kind of flipped that game on its head.
08:36And then I thought they took another step forward against Detroit.
08:38So, it was interesting.
08:40You know, you mentioned I was down this week and I asked Coach Halfley a question on Friday.
08:45And part of his answer was we're really still in the infancy of what we're doing defensively.
08:51And he expects that to grow.
08:53But it's performances like these that are going to help spur them to be able to do more once they
08:59really get everything tied together.
09:00And I thought they had everything pretty well tied together against Detroit defensively.
09:04Yeah, no.
09:05And I thought Uche, you with me?
09:07Chop and Uche really, really had nice games.
09:11I thought both of them had their moments of really collapse in the pocket and were really aggressive in the
09:17backfield.
09:18Yeah, I thought so.
09:19I thought a couple other guys up front, too.
09:21I thought Zeke Biggers played his best game.
09:23I thought Kenneth Grant played his best game.
09:25I thought Jordan Philips was good again.
09:28I thought he was really good last week against New England after not – I didn't think he played so
09:33well against the Jets.
09:35So, I thought you had several guys up front, inside and outside, that really gave you strong contributions in that
09:42game.
09:42And kind of helped give you a chance to go toe-to-toe physically, like Halfley said, after the game
09:47with a team like Detroit.
09:49Is your gut feeling today they won't make a deal or do you expect them to maybe – I don't
09:54think it'll be a big splash.
09:55But do you expect any kind of deal to happen before 4 o'clock today?
10:00I get the feeling you're going to see a lot of movement across the league.
10:04I think for Miami, you know, probably there – I don't think they'll have any pieces that are going to
10:09be like somebody's preferred target.
10:11Right?
10:11Like, I don't think they're going to play ball with a lot of those bigger names that have veteran presence.
10:15But that's just a gut feeling that I have.
10:19But if you told me, you know, a team was knocking for potentially a pass rusher, and they're dreaming big
10:27somewhere across the league,
10:28then maybe they come back to Miami if it becomes apparent this afternoon that they're not going to get that
10:32deal done.
10:33I would guess they'll probably end up staying pat.
10:37I think there's a lot of conditions that would have to come together for them to end up finding a
10:41deal.
10:41But, you know, we'll see.
10:43It's going to make for a fun afternoon.
10:45Yeah.
10:45Let me ask you, if there was one or two guys on this team – there's been five or six
10:49guys that have been thrown out there on national media
10:52with every team trying to guess who might somebody get traded for.
10:58Who would the two or three players be, in your opinion, that the league might be most interested in?
11:04I think the names they're probably most interested in are the ones that the Dolphins probably have the least appetite
11:10to move,
11:10which would be Jordan Brooks and Zach Seeler.
11:14I think names like that are probably the ones that teams could maybe look at and say,
11:20hey, maybe that's a piece that can put our second level or tie our defense together at linebacker
11:27or give somebody in Zach who I thought has bounced back from what was a slow start to the season,
11:32in my opinion,
11:33and has played pretty good ball the last month and a half just for another name for a rotation.
11:38Yeah.
11:38I think those are the names that probably would have the most interest.
11:42But it sounds like from all of the reporting that Miami wants those guys in-house to help them continue
11:49to groom all this young talent that they have.
11:52And it's kind of hard to blame them unless they got an offer that just absolutely positively blew you out
11:56of the water.
11:57And if that's the price point, then I think there will probably be other players across the league
12:01that would maybe be more readily available than what the Dolphins have.
12:05So I thought special teams coverage was good.
12:07I see guys making more and more plays, good tackles on the kickoffs to get down there and good coverage.
12:13And then all of a sudden we miss a 30-yard field goal and our punter, who also kicks off,
12:20can't find the landing zone and didn't punt the ball that well.
12:24It's always something with special teams.
12:26I know they had a positive play and a nice throw, punt pass was a nice one.
12:31But what do you think happens with Zane Gonzalez?
12:34We've used his three moves from practice squad up.
12:37Do you think they have a new kicker coming?
12:40I would be surprised if they didn't have a bunch of guys in for workouts this morning
12:46and if they ended up not making a change.
12:48I would be surprised if somebody lost a 53 spot for kind of the contributions.
12:52Because Zane originally, with the Jets game, he did the kickoffs in the first half
12:57and then they turned it over to pinion at the second half.
13:00So he kind of got pulled off the kickoff element.
13:03And while, yes, he's hit two from 50-plus in the last four games or in the last three games,
13:08which is something the Dolphins did not get any of in the first four games that they played this season.
13:14Right.
13:15Just the distance has been the plus, but you're not any better as far as your average.
13:19And the kicks have come in some big spots when you're trying to keep games within one score.
13:25So I think that's the unfortunate thing about the special team summary against Detroit was
13:29it's just like your specialists have to make their kicks.
13:33You can look at some of the others with the big returns earlier in the season
13:37when they were kind of playing musical chairs and trying to figure out who's on what kick coverage team.
13:43But the shortcomings against Detroit was generally just, well, we didn't kick the ball in the landing zone
13:49and we missed the field goal and we had another punt that was like a 25-yard punt.
13:52Right.
13:53You just got kicked the ball better, right?
13:55I think that's ultimately what it comes down to as far as the special team storyline against Detroit.
14:00Kyle, thank you, man.
14:02I really appreciate it.
14:03It was great spending time with you.
14:04I had a great time tailgating with two of our favorite people out there.
14:09So it was just a lot of fun, man.
14:12Of course, Joe.
14:13It's good seeing you.
14:14All right.
14:14Kyle Krabs, host of Locked on Dolphins podcast, A to Z Sports, NFL analyst.
14:18Join us.
14:19Talk a little bit.
14:20Just tease you a little dolphin stuff there.
14:22Talk a little bit.
14:22Talk a little bit.
14:22So