Speaker 1: What is up, Dolphins, and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show,
Speaker 1: the schedule is here. You have certainly seen the list
Speaker 1: of opponents by now, but we're gonna go through this
Speaker 1: and talk about how the schedule plays out in terms
Speaker 1: of when the games are played, our rest and the
Speaker 1: timing of the matchups, and all the quick hitting analysis
Speaker 1: on the Miami Dolphins twenty twenty five schedule. If from
Speaker 1: the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 1: So before we get going here, this is part one
Speaker 1: of a two part schedule release podcast series we're going
Speaker 1: to do. I was putting my pre show notes together
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the week and realized you're gonna
Speaker 1: have like an hour and fifteen minute episode here, bub
Speaker 1: So let me go ahead and break it into two.
Speaker 1: We're gonna really get into the nitty gritty behind the
Speaker 1: actual skeedule itself, like how these were, how it plays
Speaker 1: out in terms of the timing of these games, and
Speaker 1: then tomorrow on the podcast, I'll drop it first thing
Speaker 1: in the morning. We're going to do a week by
Speaker 1: week prediction breakdown, matchup, all that stuff of the teams,
Speaker 1: and give you a record for the eighteen week schedule.
Speaker 1: Seventeen game schedule, so let's go ahead and just off
Speaker 1: the top, give you the entire schedule. We opened the
Speaker 1: season on the road in Indianapolis September seventh, Sunday, one
Speaker 1: o'clock kickoff against the Colts. Week two, we're back home
Speaker 1: for the opener against the Patriots on September fourteenth, also
Speaker 1: a one o'clock kickoff, and then it's a short week
Speaker 1: on the road in Buffalo to face the Bills excuse
Speaker 1: me for an eight to fifteen kickoff on Thursday night football,
Speaker 1: So you get Buffalo. We've gotten Buffalo early really every
Speaker 1: single year recently. I mean, twenty twenty was back in
Speaker 1: week two, twenty twenty one was later, but twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two was in week three, twenty four was in week two,
Speaker 1: and now twenty five was in week three again. Week four,
Speaker 1: we're hosting the Jets on Monday now football, a September
Speaker 1: twenty ninth game, a seven to fifteen kickoff, so it's
Speaker 1: a nice little earlier start than usual. And then back
Speaker 1: on the road on October the fifth for the Panthers,
Speaker 1: and Week five a one o'clock kickoff, the first of
Speaker 1: four consecutive one o'clock kickoffs. Week six, we're back home
Speaker 1: for the Chargers on October the twelfth, a one o'clock
Speaker 1: kickoff there, and then we're on the road for back
Speaker 1: to back games at one o'clock. Week seven, October nineteenth
Speaker 1: at the Cleveland Browns, Week eight, October twenty sixth at
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons, and then another short week for a
Speaker 1: home game, this time against the Baltimore Ravens for an
Speaker 1: eight to fifteen kickoff here in Miami on Thursday Night
Speaker 1: Football the night before Halloween. And then a nice little
Speaker 1: long layoff extended ten days rest for the Buffalo Bills
Speaker 1: at home here, a one o'clock kickoff on November the
Speaker 1: ninth for Week ten, and then week eleven we're on
Speaker 1: the road in Spain for a home game to face
Speaker 1: the Commanders, the last international game of the season. I'd
Speaker 1: say nine to thirty am kickoff here in the East.
Speaker 1: Week twelve is the bye, that's the Sunday, November twenty third,
Speaker 1: will be off that week also the week before Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: so you get a game international game, you get the
Speaker 1: next Sunday off, and then you roll into Thanksgiving, so
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a lot of football between that Commander's
Speaker 1: game and your next Miami Dolphins game, which is the
Speaker 1: Week thirteen game November thirtieth against the New Orleans Saints
Speaker 1: a one o'clock kickoff. Then we're on the road for
Speaker 1: back to back games December the seventh and Week fourteen
Speaker 1: at the Jets for one o'clock game, and then another
Speaker 1: Monday night football game in Week fifteen, December the fifteenth
Speaker 1: against the Pittsburgh Steelers eight fifteen kickoff there on Monday
Speaker 1: Night Football, and then another primetime game here a home
Speaker 1: game Week sixteen, twelve twenty one, the week of Christmas
Speaker 1: at home against the Bengals on Sunday Night Football, and
Speaker 1: then a one o'clock kickoff the following Sunday against the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers here at home as well. That's twelve twenty eight,
Speaker 1: Week seventeen, and we finish up on the road in
Speaker 1: New England, the first time finishing the season in New
Speaker 1: England since the twenty nineteen season when Ryan Fitzpatrick Company
Speaker 1: led that big time upset win there in Foxborough. So
Speaker 1: at Colts Home, Patriots at Bills home Jets at Panthers,
Speaker 1: Home Chargers at Browns at Falcons home Ravens Home Bills
Speaker 1: home Commanders in Madrid home Saints at the Jets at
Speaker 1: the Steelers home Bengals home Buccaneers at the Patriots, And
Speaker 1: of course that Patriots game can be flexed to whatever
Speaker 1: time they deem Necessarily, there's always a double header on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and we also get the Sunday Night flex there, which
Speaker 1: is usually the last game of the year, which has
Speaker 1: playoff implications, So we'll see when that game winds up
Speaker 1: getting played. Let's go ahead and go through the entire
Speaker 1: thing here and talk about how these games impact the
Speaker 1: Dolphins from a timing standpoint. Starting with Week one, September seventh,
Speaker 1: at the Indianapolis Colts one o'clock Lucas Oil Studium.
Speaker 2: That was me.
Speaker 1: So they have a new defensive coordinator, with a new
Speaker 1: starting cornerback and potentially two new starting safeties, and early
Speaker 1: in the season I try to look at those types
Speaker 1: of parts of rosters to forecast where things could possibly
Speaker 1: go wrong in a season opening game or even Week two, because,
Speaker 1: like going back to the Week two game in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, a lot of those big plays that led
Speaker 1: to the one of the best comebacks in NFL history
Speaker 1: happened because the Ravens had communication busts on the back end,
Speaker 1: and we took advantage of that and won the game. Accordingly,
Speaker 1: you get that sometimes when you have new parts working
Speaker 1: in together. And let me just first say that I
Speaker 1: think that lou An a Arumo was one of the
Speaker 1: best hires of the entire offseason or the best gets
Speaker 1: by anybody, coach, personnel or otherwise. So I don't say
Speaker 1: that to disparage the Colts for that, but early on
Speaker 1: with you know, cam bind them their new kind of
Speaker 1: signal caller in the back end there with Tarvarius Ward,
Speaker 1: with potentially you know, a younger cornerback if Juju Brants
Speaker 1: is not up to is not ready to go yet
Speaker 1: like there.
Speaker 2: Could potentially be a whole new.
Speaker 1: Nucleus being built into that secondary and with the offense
Speaker 1: and continuity, that could be a bad recipe for an
Speaker 1: opposing defense, especially in an indoor fast track like that.
Speaker 1: This does remove the potential of a late game, a
Speaker 1: late season road game that would get you out of elements. Right,
Speaker 1: you want to play at the Colts in December because
Speaker 1: there's no weather element to that. Also, who's their Week
Speaker 1: one quarterback going to be? I have a feeling it's
Speaker 1: going to be Anthony Richardson, But they also benched him
Speaker 1: last year pretty early in the season when he needed
Speaker 1: those reps right, and that was a decision they probably
Speaker 1: didn't take lightly. I imagine we'll come back with him,
Speaker 1: But is he going to have the confidence and get
Speaker 1: ready to roll here right away? I don't know, but
Speaker 1: I think it's I don't want to think there's an
Speaker 1: advantage to either starting quarterback between him and Daniel Jones.
Speaker 1: I just mention it for a potential storyline for us
Speaker 1: to track as you watch the Colts this preseason and
Speaker 1: see who wins that battle. But really, the lack of
Speaker 1: continuity in the secondary is probably the best part about
Speaker 1: drawing this matchup early on in the season. Week two,
Speaker 1: September fourteenth versus the New England Patriots, one o'clock kickoff
Speaker 1: at hard Rock Stadium. I thought getting them early was
Speaker 1: one of the quote unquote breaks that we could get,
Speaker 1: just because it's a massive overhaul for them this offseason,
Speaker 1: the same way as for the Colts on the back end,
Speaker 1: tons of new talent, breaking in a new system with
Speaker 1: a new coaching staff. They have a new receiver one
Speaker 1: and receiver two and Kyle Williams Stefon Diggs. It's how
Speaker 1: I think it's going to go. A new running back
Speaker 1: one in Traveon Henderson, in a new offensive system and
Speaker 1: a new defensive system. The Patriots have traditionally struggled down here,
Speaker 1: even with Brady, especially early on in the season. We
Speaker 1: beat them here in twenty twenty two on opening Day.
Speaker 1: It's our home opener that usually comes with a bit
Speaker 1: of a little added boost.
Speaker 2: For the home side.
Speaker 1: It's a short week on the horizon though for us
Speaker 1: after this game with our biggest foe the last handful
Speaker 1: of years in the Buffalo Bills. And it was a
Speaker 1: while back that I checked this, But it's the records
Speaker 1: and the records against, like spreads and whatnot that kind
Speaker 1: of determine who's the favorite to win the game. It's
Speaker 1: not great for the team that has the short week
Speaker 1: coming up. And also when there is a international trip
Speaker 1: coming up is a big one to look at too.
Speaker 1: But when you play on Sunday before a Thursday game,
Speaker 1: that can kind of be like a trap game spot
Speaker 1: just something to keep an eye out here as you
Speaker 1: look into that one. But man, if you get that
Speaker 1: win against the Colts and then you're a win against
Speaker 1: the Patriots at home away from starting off two to zero,
Speaker 1: that could be a pretty nice landing end of the season.
Speaker 1: To kick things off Week three, September eighteenth at the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills for an eight to fifteen kickoff on Thursday
Speaker 1: night football. Going there on a short week is brutal
Speaker 1: playing in front of that crowd in primetime, which is
Speaker 1: already raucus, one of the most in the entire league.
Speaker 1: Not much else to doing Buffalo besides get drunk and
Speaker 1: go to a football game, right, but now they have
Speaker 1: all day to drink a posted just drinking until one
Speaker 1: o'clock in the afternoon, with their five am wake up
Speaker 1: calls and getting after the tail getting early in the morning.
Speaker 1: It does mean, though, we are not going to have
Speaker 1: to go up there in the cold weather. And if
Speaker 1: you find a way to steal this, it means you
Speaker 1: get a chance to sweep them at home in November,
Speaker 1: which is obviously would be fantastic. You'll also catch them
Speaker 1: sans Joey Bosa and Michael Hoyt, who were kind of
Speaker 1: two of their massive additions off the edge, trying to
Speaker 1: replace Leonard Floyd uh and Von Miller who wasn't very
Speaker 1: good for them. But they're I mean, they're going to
Speaker 1: be pretty short on edge guys in that Week three
Speaker 1: game because two of their big offseason acquisitions were suspended
Speaker 1: for the first six games of the season. Week four,
Speaker 1: September twenty ninth versus the New York Jets seven point
Speaker 1: fifteen kickoff Monday Night Football. Bet Up it up long
Speaker 1: rest coming into this game eleven days between the previous game,
Speaker 1: which is always a nice thing to have. Still going
Speaker 1: to be hot and human for a team from the Northeast.
Speaker 1: It's the first primetime test for a new Jets regime
Speaker 1: and on the road against Arrival. The pressure is kind
Speaker 1: of on them in that spot in my opinion, especially
Speaker 1: if we're two to one or maybe even three and no.
Speaker 1: Probably probably more accurate to predict two and one going
Speaker 1: into this game, and the Jets have a pretty rough
Speaker 1: h to start the season with, so maybe they're kind
Speaker 1: of reeling a little bit here. It's still pretty early
Speaker 1: in the season for a new head coach, offensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: a defensive coordinator, quarterback combination, so maybe they haven't hit
Speaker 1: their stride quite yet.
Speaker 2: And by the way, with.
Speaker 1: This game, depending on how the Cowboys schedule works, the
Speaker 1: Dolphins will surpass the Cowboys in terms of the all
Speaker 1: time Monday Night appearances. Our ninetieth appearance on Monday Night
Speaker 1: football or I think the second oneild be the ninetieth appearance.
Speaker 1: But us and the Cowboys the most Monday Night games
Speaker 1: in NFL history. We get two more of them this year,
Speaker 1: so we'll probably surpass the Cowboys. I'll take it back
Speaker 1: and on and on and on. We have three home
Speaker 1: primetime games this year. It's the most enfranchised history. Week five,
Speaker 1: October fifth at the Carolina Panthers, one o'clock kickoff from
Speaker 1: Bank of America Stadium. I don't know what do they
Speaker 1: call the state of change every year these days?
Speaker 2: This could have been a warm weather, late road game.
Speaker 2: That's all I really have here.
Speaker 1: Their secondary has a bunch of changes, but they're a
Speaker 1: month in the season at this point with the same dcs,
Speaker 1: I don't expect continuity issues to really exist there, but
Speaker 1: I will mention this is kind of where the first
Speaker 1: quarter of the season ends. To me. I like to
Speaker 1: now that we don't have sixteen games. I like to
Speaker 1: add one to the first quarter of the season and
Speaker 1: go five four four four. So if you make it this,
Speaker 1: this is an opportunity for a hot start, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Panthers picked what was it, eighth, the Jets picked seventh,
Speaker 1: the Patriots picked fourth, and the Colts picked fourteenth. So
Speaker 1: you have three teams that were in the top eight
Speaker 1: of the draft, one team in the top half of
Speaker 1: the draft.
Speaker 2: Those are teams you should be.
Speaker 1: And the only reason that we were ahead of the
Speaker 1: Colts was because we missed our quarterback for six games.
Speaker 2: And I will get into that.
Speaker 1: My whole point is you should be a better team
Speaker 1: on paper than four of the first five teams that
Speaker 1: you play. And if you chalk up a short week
Speaker 1: road trip to Buffalo on Thursday night as a scheduled loss,
Speaker 1: which you know every team kind of has a couple
Speaker 1: of those in their schedule here and there. But you know,
Speaker 1: if you steal that one like you should have done
Speaker 1: last year, if not for that Jordan Puler late hit,
Speaker 1: you could start off five and oh and I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna get like you know, they should be five to oh.
Speaker 1: Just it's a possibility. There's only one playoff team in
Speaker 1: my opinion, in the slot I mean, coming off last year,
Speaker 1: there's one playoff team. But to me, only one of
Speaker 1: these teams will be back in the playoffs this year.
Speaker 1: It's the Buffalo Bills. As long as we have our quarterback,
Speaker 1: I think we win those games. And before you bring
Speaker 1: up a Titans game in twenty twenty three, please go
Speaker 1: back and I have a tweet about this. I have
Speaker 1: to update from last year. But go back and look
Speaker 1: at Twoa's whole career and tell me our record in
Speaker 1: games where we are favored, Professor lewis not gonna go
Speaker 1: well for you, my man.
Speaker 2: Everyone points like the Dolphins could lose any game.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, they really can't because they've been very
Speaker 1: good in those spots. So can you contest that we
Speaker 1: need to play better against the better opponents. Absolutely, But
Speaker 1: I hate the argument that the Dolphins are no sure
Speaker 1: bet against anybody, because they have been a very sure
Speaker 1: bet against bad teams for a long time. Now, okay,
Speaker 1: if kicking off quarter number two, let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: take our first break. Come back and do that on
Speaker 1: the other side. Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Auto Nation first quarter of the
Speaker 1: season in the books here for our schedule review and
Speaker 1: quarter number two kicks off on week number six, October twelfth,
Speaker 1: first of Los Angeles Chargers a one o'clock kickoff at
Speaker 1: hard Rock Stadium, early home game at one o'clock, our
Speaker 1: second of the season. Two out of the first three
Speaker 1: so far as not bad, but we pretty much only
Speaker 1: get two of these before November, so that's not great.
Speaker 1: It was similar last year we had the Jags for
Speaker 1: the opener. Then Buffalo is a night game, Titans a
Speaker 1: night game, Like it seems like that's kind of something
Speaker 1: they want to do across the league, primetime games early
Speaker 1: down here in Miami. But I don't love it because
Speaker 1: our biggest advantage is playing those games at one o'clock.
Speaker 1: But playing the Chargers are only West Coast team at
Speaker 1: a one o'clock kickoff, ten am body clock game for them.
Speaker 2: I like that quite a lot.
Speaker 1: This figures to be a pretty big factor for a
Speaker 1: Chargers team who plays in a pretty cool climate, plays indoors.
Speaker 1: They have a long travel A five hour flight to
Speaker 1: get over here is going to be a lot more
Speaker 1: human here than it is in Los Angeles. And yeah, again,
Speaker 1: the West Coast team coming for a ten am body
Speaker 1: clock start. That used to be like a pretty big deal.
Speaker 1: Maybe not so much anymore, but it's a factor. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to wake up at five o'clock in the
Speaker 1: morning my body clock time to get ready for a
Speaker 1: football game. That's a bubbly guts if you asked me.
Speaker 1: But I digress. Week seven, October nineteenth at the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns one o'clock kickoff from First Star Stadium. I don't
Speaker 1: know the stateium names they change every year.
Speaker 2: I feel like.
Speaker 1: This could have been a cold weather game. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: rainy and windy, but it's not going to be freezing temperatures.
Speaker 1: It's not going to be like it was last year,
Speaker 1: which was pretty cold. A decent chance there's a quarterback
Speaker 1: change at this point in the season, because who the
Speaker 1: hell knows who opens the season. Will it be one
Speaker 1: of the two rookies, will it be freaking can you
Speaker 1: pick it? Or will it be Joe Flacco? Who I
Speaker 1: My money is kind of on Joe Flacco because Kevin
Speaker 1: Stefanski's best version of his offense was run through Joe
Speaker 1: Flacco a post. When he had to adjustice system for
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson, who was not a West Coast style, quick
Speaker 1: trigger quarterback. He's a big play hunter, hold football and
Speaker 1: take big shots in the pocket type of quarterback. I
Speaker 1: think that Flacco could have the Browns offense, maybe surprising
Speaker 1: early on, but will he be there in week seven?
Speaker 1: Will they be winning enough games to justify going with
Speaker 1: him over a Dylan Gabriel or a Shador Sanders or
Speaker 1: even a Kenny Pickett who still has I guess some
Speaker 1: developmental upside. Does Flacco stay healthy for six weeks? I
Speaker 1: also think there's a pretty good chance that we start
Speaker 1: to see this Browns team deteriorate at this point of
Speaker 1: the schedule because they have in the past. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about on the preview podcast tomorrow, but their offensive line injuries,
Speaker 1: it's the same guys coming back have just wiped out
Speaker 1: the last couple of seasons in terms of like having
Speaker 1: eighty percent of their ow line down. Does that attrition
Speaker 1: begin for a group of offensive lineman who's all pretty
Speaker 1: much on the wrong side of thirty that's worth tracking here.
Speaker 1: Week eight, October twenty sixth at the Atlanta Falcons one
Speaker 1: o'clock kickoff from Mercedes Benz Stadium, I know that one.
Speaker 1: This is another game that could have been late in
Speaker 1: a dome on a road game, which could have reduced
Speaker 1: a cold weather game for you. It's also another game
Speaker 1: that comes before a short week, as we have a
Speaker 1: Thursday game after this.
Speaker 2: That's really all I have here.
Speaker 1: I think you kind of have to get fat on
Speaker 1: these five games post Buffalo, because you go Buffalo for
Speaker 1: a short week on Thursday, but then you're home for
Speaker 1: the Jets, at the Panthers, home for the Chargers, at
Speaker 1: the Browns, at the Falcons. I think you're a better
Speaker 1: football team than all of those teams except maybe the Falcons.
Speaker 1: And we can argue with the Chargers building who they
Speaker 1: are for you know, until we're blue in the face,
Speaker 1: but that I think we're a better team. Plus the
Speaker 1: fact that we have that game at home on the
Speaker 1: ten am body clock time for the Chargers, that I
Speaker 1: like that advantage. So those five games is a good
Speaker 1: chance to really kind of get yourself fat for the
Speaker 1: stretch because it gets tough right here.
Speaker 2: If you get past.
Speaker 1: Buffalo four and one, you know minimum hopefully a two
Speaker 1: and oh start, and then maybe you drop the Buffalo game,
Speaker 1: win the next couple of games and you go into
Speaker 1: the stretch at no less than five and two, hopefully
Speaker 1: maybe six and one.
Speaker 2: Hope hopefully, because.
Speaker 1: At week nine, October thirtieth, first the Baltimore Ravens at
Speaker 1: eight to fifteen on Thursday nine football. It's a tough game.
Speaker 1: I think it's the best team to play this year.
Speaker 1: I always love getting a good team when you're hosting
Speaker 1: them on a short week. It's a big advantage, I think.
Speaker 1: And last time we played them in the spot right
Speaker 1: around this time too, back in twenty twenty one, we
Speaker 1: upset them. Now, sometimes I'd probably rather play teams like
Speaker 1: this early in the season, just because they tend to
Speaker 1: find themselves later on. I think the best teams, you know,
Speaker 1: the old Patriots, the current Chiefs and Bills do this.
Speaker 1: They get tougher as the year goes on. And for
Speaker 1: the Ravens, they seem to find their defensive like mojo
Speaker 1: this time of year every single year. Last year they
Speaker 1: struggled early on, just like in twenty twenty two when
Speaker 1: we beat them with forty four points whatever. It was like,
Speaker 1: this is a team that usually finds itself, you know,
Speaker 1: past October and plays their best football beyond that.
Speaker 2: So that's not great.
Speaker 1: But I think if you look at this quarter as
Speaker 1: another like three to one after hopefully a four to
Speaker 1: one stretch to kick things off, you know, in terms
Speaker 1: of the teams that you're favored against and the game,
Speaker 1: I assume where Dogs in is at home on a
Speaker 1: short week, This Ravens game, the Chargers in that early win.
Speaker 1: So the Browns are, you know, they're kind of a
Speaker 1: disaster going into the season right now. The Falcons, I'm
Speaker 1: not really sure what they are yet, but I think
Speaker 1: we can score on them in that dome and then
Speaker 1: a real test against the Ravens. But this quarter ends
Speaker 1: with a test and leads to another massive test and
Speaker 1: a bigger game than the Week three game in my opinion,
Speaker 1: because you're home for the Buffalo Bills for a one
Speaker 1: o'clock kickoff, and if you can win this one, you
Speaker 1: will at least split.
Speaker 2: That season series.
Speaker 1: I think if you win this game, you'll I would
Speaker 1: venture to guess you'll get at least four division wins
Speaker 1: if you can pull that off. But it's a week ten,
Speaker 1: November ninth, kickoff against the Buffalo Bills, one o'clock at
Speaker 1: hard Rock Studium. It's nice to get them coming off
Speaker 1: of ten days rest for ourselves because we had a
Speaker 1: Thursday game previously. I like being done with Buffalo by
Speaker 1: November ninth. We were done with them last year in
Speaker 1: week nine. This year it's week ten. So if you
Speaker 1: can get one of those games and split that series,
Speaker 1: you know you don't have to play them for the
Speaker 1: final what is it, eight games of the season. It's
Speaker 1: pretty nice and the weather starts to cool down, but
Speaker 1: this could be I mean, it gets hot in early
Speaker 1: November and on that sideline it could be hot for
Speaker 1: the Bills, so maybe we have an advantage there. Week eleven,
Speaker 1: November sixteenth, first the Washington Commanders for a nine to
Speaker 1: thirty am kickoff from Madrid at San Diego Bernabal Stadium
Speaker 1: in Madrid, Spain. I think the best thing for us
Speaker 1: here is we have a pretty recent experience making this trip.
Speaker 1: I mean Tua Freak, Wattle, Zach, JP Chubb, mostly coaching
Speaker 1: staff has done this. All these guys made that Germany trip.
Speaker 1: Right the Commanders, this is their second international game, which like, hey,
Speaker 1: welcome to the club, right, we had two before before
Speaker 1: their first one. Their first one was in twenty sixteen
Speaker 1: and they haven't been back since. Their current roster has
Speaker 1: zero players that have made an international trip with the Commanders.
Speaker 1: They probably have had guys that made it with other teams,
Speaker 1: but nobody has made this trip with the Commanders, So
Speaker 1: that's good for our experience sake. And you know, we
Speaker 1: saw the Commanders had been of a loll last season
Speaker 1: before coming back out of that lole, and it was
Speaker 1: like deemed the Cliff Kingsbury Cliff that was a thing
Speaker 1: for him in Arizona where the Cardinals would start super
Speaker 1: high and then fade towards the down the stretch, and
Speaker 1: they had that middle season loll and then they came
Speaker 1: out of that and became one of the hottest teams
Speaker 1: in football down the stretch. But maybe you catch them
Speaker 1: in that similar vein right here Week twelve. Wait, hang on,
Speaker 1: got one more thing here, I put my in my
Speaker 1: pre scheduled notes reveal notes that it might be better
Speaker 1: to get them early because they're working in a pretty
Speaker 1: new offensive line. They have two new tackle starters probably
Speaker 1: and potentially one new start on the interior. So maybe
Speaker 1: that could be a good thing early in the season.
Speaker 1: But now we get them later in the year and
Speaker 1: they should be tuned up braty to rock and roll.
Speaker 1: But also, you know, Tunzel's got an injury history. Jayden
Speaker 1: Daniels has an injury history, so maybe, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: we catch a break here. I feel like it's been
Speaker 1: a long time since we played like a backup quarterback.
Speaker 1: It feels like we always get every team's best shot.
Speaker 1: So maybe this is the year we catch some breaks
Speaker 1: that way where it seems to have gone against us
Speaker 1: for three years running knock on wood though, because I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to wish out on anybody. Week twelve bye,
Speaker 1: that's the Sunday, that would be November twenty third. We
Speaker 1: have that week off. It's the week before Thanksgiving. It
Speaker 1: is my favorite time to have a buy on the
Speaker 1: entire schedule. And we come out of that buy with
Speaker 1: Week thirteen. Week thirteen, November thirtieth, first, the New Orleans
Speaker 1: Saints one o'clock kickoff at a hard rock studio. And
Speaker 1: although Madrid is technically a home game, and with that mind,
Speaker 1: this marks the end of a five week stretch where
Speaker 1: we don't have a true road game. Yeah, we do
Speaker 1: have to make a long travel over to Spain, but
Speaker 1: you're not playing in anybody else's home environment for five
Speaker 1: straight weeks. You go home for Baltimore, home for the Bills,
Speaker 1: You go h Madrid for the Commanders by a week,
Speaker 1: and then you're home for the Saints. And what a
Speaker 1: nice kind of like soft landing that is off the
Speaker 1: exhausting trip over there off of the bye week. It's
Speaker 1: a long week and we'll have a We'll catch a
Speaker 1: team who's probably at this point of the season I
Speaker 1: think will be in contention for the top pick of
Speaker 1: the draft, because right now their best quarterback is a
Speaker 1: guy that didn't look good last year and was a
Speaker 1: fifth round pick and went ohen six as a starter.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, if we start off the game slow,
Speaker 1: like can happen sometimes off the bye week, it's a
Speaker 1: good team to have that happen against Forere. Maybe the
Speaker 1: defense can hold the fort for a couple of series
Speaker 1: while you get your rush shaken off there after the
Speaker 1: buy week, and then after that game a week fourteen,
Speaker 1: December seventh, at the New York Jets for a one
Speaker 1: o'clock kickoff at Metlive Stadium. If and who knows, just
Speaker 1: saying this, if they start slow, this could be a
Speaker 1: much different looking team than the one you saw in
Speaker 1: Week four like they'll be hyped up for that game regardless.
Speaker 1: But if they struggle and they're like four and nine,
Speaker 1: or maybe they're five and eight coming into this game,
Speaker 1: it could be a little bit more of a mentally
Speaker 1: defeated team. And that's just peer speculation. Maybe justin fields
Speaker 1: didn't quiet work out and they want to get a
Speaker 1: young quarterback some reps. I don't know, but just trying
Speaker 1: to make the point that your divisional opponents, when they're
Speaker 1: this far apart, can typically be two entirely different teams
Speaker 1: from when you play them. It'll be the first of
Speaker 1: a few cold weather games, potentially here December game in
Speaker 1: the meadowlands.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's balmy and nice.
Speaker 1: I'd never forget the two thousand and eight division clinching
Speaker 1: game when it was like fifty five degrees up there
Speaker 1: in late December. Or it could be horrible, miserable, sideways
Speaker 1: rain and win.
Speaker 2: You never know. So that's the end of the third quarter.
Speaker 1: If you can get those two or one of those two,
Speaker 1: I should say, before the bye, and then come back
Speaker 1: and beat two teams I think you're better, then that
Speaker 1: would put you on a really nice course into what
Speaker 1: I think is probably the toughest quarter of the schedule,
Speaker 1: and for me, I like it when the toughest part
Speaker 1: of the schedule is the back part, because like, teams
Speaker 1: could be down key players due to injuries and stuff.
Speaker 1: You never know, So I like getting fat early and
Speaker 1: trying to ride that wave and success in December. I
Speaker 1: don't know how you guys feel about that, but that's
Speaker 1: how the schedule sets up to me. And I want
Speaker 1: to prove people wrong with cold weather wins and a
Speaker 1: Monday night primetime game on the road in Pittsburgh, like
Speaker 1: beating the Bengals at home and sending Joe Burrow home
Speaker 1: with a lot like I want those opportunities to help
Speaker 1: prove folks wrong. And let's say we hit my metric
Speaker 1: and expectations here and we'll toss in one additional just
Speaker 1: for the hell of it. That makes, you know, one
Speaker 1: more loss for the hell of it, you know, compared
Speaker 1: to what I had, that would be nine and four.
Speaker 1: Going into a Monday night football game in Pittsburgh, a
Speaker 1: team is probably going to be on the fringe of
Speaker 1: the playoffs. And if Aaron Rodgers goes score, ear think
Speaker 1: be it's differently. But I don't know who's going to
Speaker 1: be the quarterback in this game. I don't know, but
Speaker 1: I do think this is a good chance to go
Speaker 1: into the final quarter of the season with nine, maybe
Speaker 1: ten wins and see how the chips fall from there.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and take our last break right here,
Speaker 1: come back and talk about the final four games and
Speaker 1: the whole schedule, comprehensive thoughts as a whole. That's next
Speaker 1: Draft Time podcast, brought to you by Autnation Week fifteen,
Speaker 1: December fifteenth at the Pittsburgh Steelers from Hinz Field, Agrosure Field,
Speaker 1: Mustard Field, eight to fifteen Monday night football as the
Speaker 1: autumn leaves blew in from John Fasudenda. I don't know,
Speaker 1: man like the Dolphins and Steelers on primetime, just feels
Speaker 1: like classic NFL, A tough place to play in primetime.
Speaker 1: We talked about the Buffalo Bill's crowd being a little
Speaker 1: bit raucous and rowdy, and same goes for Pittsburgh playing
Speaker 1: renegade after the third quarter, waving those yellow toiles around.
Speaker 2: Great crowd, great fan base.
Speaker 1: Probably going to be a cold game, night game in
Speaker 1: the bad weather, which I welcome the opportunity. And who
Speaker 1: the hell is gonna be the quarterback. I really I
Speaker 1: think it'll be Rogers. I can't imagine you go into
Speaker 1: this offseason and pass on the entire veteran market, pass
Speaker 1: on really the entire rookiet class outside of Will Howard,
Speaker 1: who I like, but not as a starter. In twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, it's Mason Rudolph and Skyler Thompson. Like, it's
Speaker 1: got to be Rogers, right, And for that reason, I
Speaker 1: was kind of hoping to get Pittsburgh early because like
Speaker 1: we would have a whole spring worth of an advantage
Speaker 1: over Rogers probably not being there until like he before
Speaker 1: training camp, right signs in June or July or some point,
Speaker 1: and that gives you the entire off season program of
Speaker 1: advantage of having your quarterback in the building for that
Speaker 1: whole process. But it's not going to be that way.
Speaker 1: And you know, he's what is he forty one forty two?
Speaker 1: If he is on the team, does he make it
Speaker 1: to fifteen games? Like, you know, the body can betray
Speaker 1: you at times. And that's also something else to talk
Speaker 1: about in terms of this is a defense that is
Speaker 1: aging and is often banged up. I mean Mega Fitzpatrick, TJ. Watt,
Speaker 1: Cameron Hayward has missed a bunch of time. All those
Speaker 1: guys have missed games. They're all getting closer or are
Speaker 1: already on the other side of thirty, So getting them
Speaker 1: late in the year. Like every year, this defense kind
Speaker 1: of gets decimated by injuries, and I think the age
Speaker 1: probably has something to do with that, and it's not
Speaker 1: allowed to change this offseason. So maybe you go into
Speaker 1: this game without a TJ. Watt, without a Cameron Hayward.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a different type of game than it looks
Speaker 1: right now. But Pittsburgh Week fifteen, Week sixteen, December twenty First,
Speaker 1: first the Cincinnati Bengals for an eight to twenty kickoff
Speaker 1: on Sunday Night Football. That's a big spot man second
Speaker 1: Tua and Burrow matchup, and the second time they're putting
Speaker 1: it in primetime. It'll be a short week for us
Speaker 1: off the Monday game, which is a bit of a bummer,
Speaker 1: but six weeks six days is better than a four
Speaker 1: day rest, whatever it is in the Thursday games. The
Speaker 1: Bengals were a team that I kind of wanted early
Speaker 1: because they have a new DC and they're going to
Speaker 1: be very rookie reliant on defense this year. And as
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier. That can cost some some gaps
Speaker 1: in your coverage and whatnot. Now all that said, I
Speaker 1: mean Burrow has an injury history. T Higgins has an
Speaker 1: injury history. The offensive line seems to get banged up
Speaker 1: every single year, and playing them late in the season,
Speaker 1: who knows what they look like at that time of year.
Speaker 2: So maybe that's an advantage from Miami.
Speaker 1: But all these things work for us too, so like
Speaker 1: it's not like this is all just our favor because
Speaker 1: the Dolphins have their own injury history too, right, I'm
Speaker 1: just telling you the positives of the schedule and how
Speaker 1: it could benefit the Dolphins with this schedule release Week seven,
Speaker 1: Week seventeen, December twenty eighth. First, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Speaker 1: one o'clock kickoff, hard Rock Stadium. You think i'd get
Speaker 1: that down by now seventeen games into this. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I have a single note here. I really
Speaker 1: like the Buccaneers this year. I think they're gonna be
Speaker 1: a good football team. They do have a new OC
Speaker 1: so the continuity would have been something to look for
Speaker 1: early in the season. But it's Week seventeen, so they
Speaker 1: should be rocking and rolling by then. And then Week eighteen.
Speaker 1: The Sunday is January the fourth, but that date is
Speaker 1: to be determined at the New England Patriots Gillett Stadium
Speaker 1: field at a time that is also to be determined.
Speaker 1: I think both teams could be in the mix. Hears
Speaker 1: maybe it's a primetime flex, maybe maybe a Saturday game,
Speaker 1: you could get one of those. I think the same
Speaker 1: thing applies as the Jets here. The Patriots could be
Speaker 1: a much better version of themselves. In fact, I think
Speaker 1: the Week two game is a great spot to get them.
Speaker 1: But getting them here, I think you might see a
Speaker 1: team that's really on the rise. Maybe they're like seven
Speaker 1: and nine going into this game, and a lot of
Speaker 1: those wins came down the stretch, and they're a team
Speaker 1: that's really looking forward to twenty twenty six, and this
Speaker 1: is kind of like their last you know, let's go
Speaker 1: beat the Dolphins and ruin their season. I could see
Speaker 1: it being kind of like that. But I think the
Speaker 1: Patriots will be a better version of themselves in Week
Speaker 1: eighteen than they were in Week two.
Speaker 2: So there you go.
Speaker 1: I mean, those those late season home games to me
Speaker 1: are nice. The Burrow and Tua SNF Week sixteen game
Speaker 1: is pretty nice.
Speaker 2: That's a big, big spot, man.
Speaker 1: I think putting us on that stage there for our
Speaker 1: fifth primetime game and you know, could be six if
Speaker 1: you count Commanders as a primetime game where there's a
Speaker 1: standalone game, but that kind of tells you what the
Speaker 1: league expects from us this year. The Bucks and the
Speaker 1: Bengals are two of the best offenses will face this year,
Speaker 1: and I think the Patriots could be a playoff team
Speaker 1: for you know, or could be a spot, could be
Speaker 1: fighting for a playoff spot in that game. But I
Speaker 1: do think they're a year away from that. But this
Speaker 1: final quarter of the season kind of it's it could
Speaker 1: go either way for in terms of how tough it is,
Speaker 1: I think, but my cumulative reaction to the schedule what
Speaker 1: I like, what I think is tough, et cetera. The
Speaker 1: divisional chunk early on is either a chance to get
Speaker 1: off to a great start or a horrific start if
Speaker 1: you play well or don't. But Patriots Jets, Bills, you know,
Speaker 1: weeks two through four, I'm not sure that's ever happened
Speaker 1: before in our schedule, not in at least modern times.
Speaker 1: Jets and Bills in primetime, great chance to get off
Speaker 1: to a great start in the conference and the division
Speaker 1: in the first quarter of the season. If we if
Speaker 1: we're three and one with a two in one record
Speaker 1: in the division and a three and one record in
Speaker 1: the Conference, that could be a pretty nice little start
Speaker 1: to the season. Five primetime games six if you count Madrid.
Speaker 1: You know, that used to be the max before they
Speaker 1: recently changed it. But I think some teams have like
Speaker 1: seven to eight primetime games now, so maybe it's not
Speaker 1: as crazy. But yeah, Madrid a global spotlight game as well,
Speaker 1: that would be six primetime games. Kind of cool that
Speaker 1: we're still thought of in that way. And I know
Speaker 1: this isn't a big deal for non NFL employees, but
Speaker 1: the seven to fifteen kickoff on Monday night in the
Speaker 1: Jets game is very very nice. One extra hour of
Speaker 1: sleep that night, And in an ideal world, those Jets
Speaker 1: Stealers and Patriots games would have been earlier, with Colts,
Speaker 1: Falcons and like maybe the Panthers in December, you know,
Speaker 1: dome teams or warm weather cities. We also only have
Speaker 1: two one o'clock kickoffs in Miami before November. I don't
Speaker 1: love that. So it didn't get the best draw on
Speaker 1: the weather aspect. Of the schedule, but hey, good chance
Speaker 1: to prove The point here is that I would love
Speaker 1: to see this season unfold.
Speaker 2: For the Miami Dolphins, we.
Speaker 1: Were done with Buffalo by week nine last year, done
Speaker 1: with them by week ten this year. Those games were
Speaker 1: seven weeks apart, same as this year, and the Patriots
Speaker 1: and Jets have massive gaps between those two games. Our
Speaker 1: first back to back games one way or the other
Speaker 1: is Week seven and Week eight on the road for
Speaker 1: the Browns and Falcons, because the schedule starts road home
Speaker 1: road home home, road home road, and then road again
Speaker 1: before home home home by home, and then one more
Speaker 1: back to back road trips in week fourteen and fifteen
Speaker 1: to the Jets and Steelers, followed by back to back
Speaker 1: home games. So the longest road trip is two games,
Speaker 1: and it's twice with a five game homestand or five
Speaker 1: week homes. Now I should say in that stretch again,
Speaker 1: although not all games at home and the furthest we
Speaker 1: travel west is to Indianapolis. We do have the twelfth
Speaker 1: most travel miles, but over one third of that is
Speaker 1: the single trip to Spain, and the only West Coast
Speaker 1: team we face is a one o'clock kickoff so there
Speaker 1: you go. We'll have another brand new episode of There
Speaker 1: Was a Labor of Love that I is going to
Speaker 1: be like a fifty minute episode dropping tomorrow morning, where
Speaker 1: I go through every single game, talk about the matchups,
Speaker 1: the x's and o's, the interesting facts about those games,
Speaker 1: and I'll predict the games and predict the schedule and
Speaker 1: the record. It's a landmark on the calendar as we
Speaker 1: pivot out of the team building portion and into analyzing games,
Speaker 1: my favorite thing to do here on the podcast. I
Speaker 1: will also go through and pick all the those games
Speaker 1: and give you my first twenty twenty five record prediction.
Speaker 1: But until then, you all please be sure subscribe, rate review,
Speaker 1: follow me on social at Wingfold NFL. For all the
Speaker 1: team at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish Tank Podcast
Speaker 1: with Seth and Juice, the YouTube channel for Dolphins, HQ,
Speaker 1: Media Availabilities, and so much more, and last but not least,
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fins up Carolin Cameron,
Speaker 1: Daddy's coming on