WEBVTT - Drive Time: Midweek Miscellaneousness 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:12.600 What is up, Dolphins, And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.680 I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show, 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.960 we are going to do a few things here. Number one, 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:21.400 take a look at how this season could possibly end 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:24.079 for your Miami Dolphins and what it would take to 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.360 keep this party rolling beyond January the fourth or the fifth, 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.280 in the final game of the season. Basically, what's the 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.480 playoff picture looking like right now? We're going to talk 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.320 about Dolphins fandom if you're of a certain age, and 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:39.680 we'll also take a look at what the off season 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:41.920 could look like in the event that this is the 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:45.000 last week that you are mathematically alive ahead of the 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:47.080 off season coming up here in a few weeks from 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.239 the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:57.960 This is the Drift Time Podcast. So uncharted waters Hey, guys, 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.480 at least recently. No, the playoffs are not dead, but 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.320 it sure seems like it. And it only takes one 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.839 more loss to get to that position definitively, and given 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.080 a lot of the juice has been taken out of 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.680 this coming game, who knows, maybe they do win and 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.080 then the Browns game is no longer a night game, 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:19.119 Well it's an evening game, but not in the dead 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:21.679 of the cold Cleveland night. And they might even be 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.279 starting a quarterback that literally cannot play at this level 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:26.759 in Dori and Thompson Robinson. We'll see what they decide 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:28.959 to do there, but that might be the direction they go. 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.720 But then also the Jets are like kind of hitting 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:34.959 their stride at the wrong time. Hell I even heard 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.240 Dan Hansis, the notable Jets fan from the Heat the 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:41.480 Call podcast, say that they maybe can bring Aaron Rodgers 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.080 back next year the way he's playing right now, Please do. 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.080 Wouldn't it just be fitting though, to beat San Francisco 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.160 and you beat Cleveland, you get the help you need, which, honestly, 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.800 like it's probably not gonna happen, but it's not really 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:59.320 that crazy to think about. You really need like one 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.840 big upset win to put you back into play, and 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:04.960 then you go into Week eighteen with a win and 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.480 in opportunity and lose that game. Wouldn't that just kind 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.280 of be fitting for the way this season has gone. Man, 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.240 it is tough, but my whole point is this, this 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:17.000 is my fifth season with the team. By the time 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.799 the clock hits triple Zeros in New York. Counting two 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.240 playoff games, I will have covered eighty six games for 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:26.120 the Miami Dolphins. Man, where does the time go? I 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:27.520 was just telling a buddy of mine that I work 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.800 with here. I haven't watched a Dolphins game from my 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.520 own house since the twenty nineteen season, except for the 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.360 two games in twenty twenty two when my son was 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.079 born and I was on porternity leave, and those were 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:40.919 the Chargers and Bill's game that year. 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:42.360 Ooh rough. 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:45.920 But through those five years, only one game was played 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:50.000 without playoff chances existing, the twenty twenty one finale against 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.840 the Patriots, when Tua helped lead the Dolphins to a 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:57.320 win over Mac Jones and the Patriots. But like again, 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.480 I'll say it again, I sort of feel as though 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.840 a Charger's collapse and just going one and two it 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.679 qualifies as a collapse in this instance is probably more 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.000 likely than us winning out at this point, which is 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.680 why I dress this up to say, again, just watch 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.200 us get right there on the brink. And there's even 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.520 a scenario that I don't think is that unlikely. It's unlikely, 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.880 but it's not that unlikely where the Dolphins could almost 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.520 go into the Cleveland game four h five, controlling their 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.960 own destiny. Can you believe that that would be crazy? 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:28.200 But just watch them get to that point, rescue the 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:30.120 season for a little bit, and then twist that knife 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:31.520 one last time. It just feels like that's how the 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.840 year is going. And to further that point, like you know, 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.040 you might finally get the breaks you've been looking for 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:37.640 all year. 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:38.800 Where you played your. 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.040 Weakest part of the schedule without your quarterback and quite 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.960 frank with the quarterback that doesn't belong at this level 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:45.920 at least for one of those games. And then you 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:47.840 know a quarterback that just got here off the street 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:49.800 for three of those games and you got one win there. 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:52.840 And somebody was telling me, you know, comparing the Brian 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.840 Flores to Mike McDaniel records, and I'm like, bro. There 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:57.800 was a six game stretch in twenty twenty one where 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.280 the quarterbacks the Dolphins played were Zach Wilson and Joe 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.120 Flacco for the Jets. I think Wilson might have played 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.000 in both the games, but not think it matters at all. 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.200 And then you had Ian Book on that stretch, you 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.840 had the corpse of Cam Newton in that stretch, and 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:12.920 you had Mike Glennon in that stretch, So I don't 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.599 really care about those wins. They mean as little to 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:18.480 me as the wins you've gotten this year that people 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:20.400 don't care about because we can't win the big games. 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:22.839 But man, it just hasn't been our year in that regard. 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:25.240 Like the Broncos played the Saints, for instance, and they 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:27.440 got to play Spencer Ratler, Like we haven't had that 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.560 game all year. So sometimes it just kind of is 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:32.880 a year like that where the team that you're chasing 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.200 for the playoffs plays a game where the opposing team 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:37.640 has a chance to go out by fourteen and drops 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.360 the football right at the goal line and then also 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:42.480 gets a pick six on a double pass from a 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.440 wide receiver. Like it's just been that kind of year 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.760 on top of our own futility. So that's why I say, like, 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:52.520 I expect one last knife twist here this season. Either way, 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.400 this is all a preamble into the playoff picture, and 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.960 I am breaking my promise here. I told you I 0:04:57.960 --> 0:04:59.600 wouldn't do it, But what the hell else am I 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.040 gonna t Man, It's Wednesday in the middle of December, 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.080 and we have plenty of time to talk about draft 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:05.560 and free agency, and we are going to do that 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:07.440 today as well, but I have some stuff to get to. 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.080 And the tagline of the show is literally the most 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.760 comprehensive Dolphins coverage you can find anywhere. So if you 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:15.960 don't want to hear it, just go ahead and skip 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:16.839 ahead a couple of minutes. 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:18.240 We have to win all three games. 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.080 You know that that's a non starter, and quite frankly, 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.760 man like, look, we'll see what happens against the Niners, 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:26.040 but I don't know if we should expect them to 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.840 shut guys down or not. But the offense, it's been broken, 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:33.200 like without Iyuk, without Trent Williams for certain, for sure 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.760 without Christian McCaffrey. Like it's just been broken, dude, So 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.200 I don't think they'll come in here and light us up. 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.760 And when Dre Greenlaw came into the game, it changed 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.200 everything about that defense. But when he went right back 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.920 out at halftime, and I don't expect him to kick 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:49.560 it back up again for this week. Maybe he will, 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.719 but I don't expect him to like it changes their defense. 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:54.520 So maybe you can win this game. 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:54.880 I don't. 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:56.800 I haven't got a lean for it just yet. I 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:00.160 haven't even dug into the Niners tape yet, but I 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:01.920 don't know. I don't think it's impossible. So if you 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.400 win that one, then you go to the Browns and 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:08.960 they start Dorian Thompson Robinson like Jamos could easily give 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:11.279 you a game right where he throws you four picks, 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.680 but he also could easily throw four hundred yards and 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.560 four touchdowns. So i'd obviously the quarterback who's literally never 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:18.800 played well at this level. And then again, who knows 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:20.839 what the hell the Jets look like in three weeks, 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:22.720 So you have to run that table, and then here's 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:24.799 what has to happen. You have to get one Colts loss. 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.320 I went through all these scenarios trying to figure out 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:31.440 how like a collection of teams being nine and eight 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:35.279 could erase are head to head differential with the Colts. 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.279 But whatever, the playoff machine that I ran on ESPN 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:41.400 didn't there was no option to do that. Like if 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:42.800 you're nine in eight and the Colts nine and eight, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.320 there's no wipeout scenario for the Bengals or the Chargers 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:47.160 or whatever like it didn't. It didn't exist on that 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.560 machine at least, so you know, and the Colts like 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.200 they need one loss against a really easy schedule, right, Titans, 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.479 Giants and Jaguars, Like you're gonna say, oh, they're gonna 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:58.719 go three and oh, but they're not. That's just not 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.240 a good football team. Because I told you guys they'd 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.120 beat Denver, and I think they would have if JT 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:06.320 didn't drop the football on the lamest move a player 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:08.640 can make, especially at this level. I kind of understand 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:10.840 it when a nineteen year old does it, but you 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:12.840 like twenty six years old, Bro, what the hell's going 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.040 on with that? But the game just told me there's 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:18.080 no chance, no chance they win the final three. I 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:20.440 don't care if they're playing Altuona High. 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.240 Hel Tuona High. I like Altoona High. 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.880 That is such an obscure reference that I hope anybody 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.360 out there gets. It's literally a Frank Caliendo doing Jim 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.200 Rome bit in two thousand and five, after the Dolphins 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.520 beat the Broncos in the open with Nick Saban's first 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:40.000 career game, such a deep cut reference. So you need 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.040 that Colts are gonna lose a game if it's Altuona 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.240 High or Jacksonville Jaguars, then you have to have Also 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:48.840 this also one of these instances, the Chargers lose two 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:52.120 of their final three games against the Broncos, which is 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:54.240 kind of the one you need to get right unless 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:56.000 but if they win that game, then it opens up 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.760 different scenarios. But Chargers lose that game and then lose 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:03.120 one to the Raiders or at the Patriots, so or 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.440 you could get the Broncos to lose their final three games. 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.200 So if the Chargers do win tomorrow night against the Broncos, 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:11.120 the Broncos will then have to lose to just the 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:13.760 Bengals and the Chiefs, which to me is like pretty 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.120 damn doable too. That's why if the Broncos had just 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.800 lost that Browns game or that Raiders game, or even 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.720 the Colts game on Sunday, like I feel like we 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.640 would be in the mix at nine to eight. So yeah, 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:27.440 I don't think it's that far fetch them to lose 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.240 those games. They keep proving me wrong, but I just 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:31.600 don't think they're a good football team. Or the other 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:33.720 option that I think is not even an option is 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:37.000 the Ravens lose their three remaining games home against Pittsburgh, 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.800 at Houston, and home against Cleveland. No chance to me 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.840 that happens the Broncos again could see that and like 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.080 you know, playing Spencer Ratlers out of Derek Carror, like god, dang, 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:49.160 you just get the bad draw sometimes and they've gotten 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:51.640 the better one, like neither team. Let me get this 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.600 close straight. I don't think the Broncos, the Chargers, or 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.800 the Dolphins are good football teams. I think that the 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.000 Dolphins are better than the Chargers of Broncos despite all 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.480 their our mistakes, and I think none of those teams 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:03.680 can compete with the top dogs in the AFC. But 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:05.600 I do think Miami's better than those teams. But none 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:07.760 of them are good teams. All right, that work. I 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.000 did play around with those nine to eight tie breakers, 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.400 but there was no way to wipe out the advantage 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.560 the Colts have there. And just think about that, man, 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.720 if you don't lose two fourth quarter fumbles in that game. 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.880 I know we're all red hot today about the Houston game, 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:22.800 but if you're seven and seven right now and you 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.000 have that Colts tiebreaker, and all you have to have 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.120 is like one more Chargers loss or two more Broncos 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.640 losses in a win out scenario, like we would be 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.000 like we be right back in this. But again, I 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:35.840 Digress and despite the fact that there are no situations 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.320 where you get in at a tie with the Colts 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.200 and other teams, there are situations that have both the 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.559 Broncos and the Chargers missing out. But it literally requires 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:48.160 a Chargers the Chargers to beat Denver tomorrow and then 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.640 both teams lose their final two games, which would give 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.480 you Dolphins at Buffalo and the Colts at the Ravens 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:55.840 and the three six games. So it's most likely when 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.320 these games get the help you need. Hey go face 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:00.560 Josh Allen, who's playing the best ball of his And 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:02.560 I also kind of felt like the Chiefs might have 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:04.360 the one seed wrapped up by the time they played 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.480 Denver in Week eighteen, although with Carson Wentz possibly playing 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.320 this week, maybe not. But I will absolutely be picking 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.440 the Bengals to beat to beat the Broncos, and KC 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:16.679 to beat the Broncos as well in those final two 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.720 games if they have Mahomes, So I guess TNF becomes 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.480 a win winmen in that situation. I don't know, do 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:24.040 you like that better than the Chargers was in to 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.720 the Patriots or Raiders. They won't lose to the Raiders 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:28.480 in Week eighteen but I could see them having a 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:29.400 dud in New England. 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:30.320 It's happened before. 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.280 I think the thing you're looking for here and I'm 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.240 not wishing this, but like this is probably the best 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.840 path for it is. You know, Herbert's really banged up 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:39.679 right now, and it looked like in that Chiefs game 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:41.760 he might have been injured for a long time, but 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.480 he just sat on the ground to come back into 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:47.679 the game for whatever reason. And like, you know, also, 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:49.960 why not do another anti Herbert bit here? Who is 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.120 eight and twenty nine against teams that are five hundred 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:53.560 and better by the way, just in case you want 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.600 to flame him for that. But Herbert is once again 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.120 showing you how tough he is by playing through multiple injuries. 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.840 But I don't really care about that when the production 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.560 is awful, like he couldn't move. They again went scoreless 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.439 in the second half. He had like five completions in 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:08.640 the second half or like forty nine yards. It happens 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.320 every single week. So the best possible result is that 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.320 the Broncos win the game. Maybe Herbert gets a little 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:16.160 bit more banged up. I'm not hoping for an injury, 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.440 but that's like a possibility in a situation where he 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.400 can't move and can't protect himself in a behind a 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:24.120 line that hasn't really or well it's more him because 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.199 the line's good, but he holds the ball for maybe 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:27.800 he takes a big shot in that game and then 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.400 plays a stinker in New England, like, hey, it can happen. 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:32.800 They once lost to a Patriots team post Tom Brady 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:34.960 forty five nothing with Herbert at the helm, so you 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:40.079 never know, and that's the route, slim, slim and almost nil. 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:43.240 But hey, beat the Niners and at least you'll be 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.800 mathematically alive and you cannot be eliminated on that Sunday 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.000 should the Chargers lose this week to Denver, which means 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.160 that my mark of having one game that had no 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:57.200 playoff implications would remain intact since twenty twenty. I guess 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.280 that's the new goal. Wee Dolphins fans. All right, let's 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:01.640 do a break right here, and I want to come 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:03.800 back and do a monologue reflecting on being a die 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.080 hard fan, speaking of we a passionate fan of this 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:09.240 team at age thirty seven, and we'll take a look 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.920 at my first very very rough, very very premature mock 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.600 off season and what you might be looking at this winter. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.800 That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.160 to you by Autoation. 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:25.040 Gathering Gathering you all. 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.760 So, one thing I've been doing lately is making up 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:31.240 stories from my daughter at bedtime. She likes to hear 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:36.240 daddy stories over over books that we read at nighttime. 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.040 So I've been making up these stories and really challenges 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.400 my creativity. So I want to go ahead and pull 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.800 you guys in for story time here about Dolphins fandom 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.520 for a little bit, because as most of you probably know, 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.640 my love for football and writing commentary, it grew in 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.560 the mid two thousands. Like I think, I first joined 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.840 the message boards in two thousand and five. That was 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:59.160 my first year on finnheaven dot com, and I became 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.520 absolutely obsessed. I wanted to perfect my grammar in there 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.600 because I was hoping they would have me write front 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.160 page stories for Finnheaven and eventually the Finns dot com, 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.560 which did eventually happen. It's really where I learned more 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:12.720 about the game and the final points of the game, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.719 and also and more importantly, learned how to write. I mean, 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:17.400 I was, you know, I was a high school More 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.120 on that didn't know how to put together sentences or 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.200 didn't have a deep vocabulary and all these You know, 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.560 I had like fifty thousand posts over like a ten 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:27.920 year period, and I was just firing off all these long, 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:29.840 well written or well thought out written things. 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:31.240 I learned how to write by doing that. 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:35.720 But I remember very similar discourse regarding frustrations with the 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.560 team over all of those seasons. Now, this was the 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.800 very beginning of the playoff drought. The members there had 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.080 bonded over those rough teams. Dude, for me, it was like, oh, 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.640 five through I think I like, I think I post 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:49.439 up to like twenty eighteen, but I was pretty much 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.400 off of it by twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, and those years, 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.440 the five to fifteen gosh, those were tortuous years, far 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:58.520 worse than what you're dealing with now. Even though there 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:00.760 was a division winner in there, we knew that that 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.280 eight team was propped up by bubble gum and bandaids. 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.199 It wasn't going to go into the playoffs and make noise. 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.800 In fact, I contest that this season only sucks so 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.640 bad because you just saw a winner. You had a 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.880 two year reprieve from the same old same old Dolphins, right, 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.040 and yeah, there's not even a division title in that stretch, 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:20.680 nor a playoff win, but you were part of the 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.560 conversation the Dolphins finally a national hit, number one in 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.400 power rankings. I think in twenty twenty two and twenty 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.720 twenty three, after both three and zero starts, people were 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.680 loving the Miami Dolphins and Mike McDaniel and what this 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.800 offense had become, even if only for moments at a time. 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:38.320 And it was September and twenty two and twenty three 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.760 and November when you were, you know, eight and three 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:42.840 and nine and three in both those years as well. 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.200 I'm on the back nine of my thirties. I have kids, 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.160 a wife, immeasurably more responsibility than I had back then. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.440 And back then I never understood some of the posters 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:57.160 around the late Oughts feeling detachment I will never forget. 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.080 I don't know the members name, but it was one 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.480 of the more popular original members of the message board 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.320 saying something to the effect of, yeah, I don't even 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:04.280 get mad anymore than they lose. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:05.000 I just kind of laugh. 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:08.200 And through my twenties I never understood that approach to it, 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.600 because this was always going to be to me and 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.640 my mind back then, a life or death agreement. Fortunately, 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.280 I still feel, as you guys know on the podcast, 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.560 that insane fan euphoria when they win, when they build 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.160 a three game lead division lead in late December, in 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.360 mid December, I should say, that's a high that you 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.960 typically have to pay very handsomely for. Obviously, my experience 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:31.760 became unique as a fan when I got this job. 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.360 But obviously that has to change things, right, At times, 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:38.640 it's only heightened the emotions. What's better than watching Bradley 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:40.680 Chubb get a critical game winning sack and being like 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:42.440 seeing him the next day at the coffee at the 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:44.760 coffee poor and being like beachub Man that was a 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:46.840 great pass rush move like. Of course, it heightens the 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.920 emotion and the experience for me, and recently that thrill 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:53.400 of victory. It thrives, that feeling thrives. I felt it 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.440 just last week against the Jets. Incredible. I would pay 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:58.760 money for that feeling if you could replicate it every 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:02.320 single day. But one thing has changed. The big games 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:06.400 have changed. I almost wake up on game day feeling apathetic. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.040 Not almost, I do I did on Sunday. I'm not 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.440 complaining about it. I'm just trying to share my reality 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.400 with you guys, mostly in reflection of this thing that 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:16.880 I've literally known longer than anything else in my life 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.440 besides my own brother, because my mom passed away nine 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.760 years ago and my dad I don't communicate with, and 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.800 other family back in Washington not so much either. I'm 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:31.960 wondering how fandom changes from here, if the second longest 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:36.040 institution of my life becomes same old, same old again, 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.080 even if for just a few years. Because I can 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.360 tell you this, the feeling I had the moment my 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:45.280 alarm went off on Sunday morning, this feeling of I 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:49.480 am so convinced I know exactly how this day will go, Buddy, 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:54.120 that was literally my least favorite fan emotion to date, 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:58.520 outside of injuries like Tua's concussions, that nothing will ever 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:00.840 top the feeling that those bring about, where you just 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.080 kind of want to cancel football from there forward. I 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:05.760 hate it more than I hated the twenty thirteen finale 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:08.720 against the Jets, losing and losing our playoff hopes to 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.399 that stink and team. I've honestly felt that since the 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.119 Calie Swing in twenty twenty two. The first game was 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.080 at Buffalo. I'll never forget that whole day. The Ravens 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.360 and Browns were playing a four o'clock kickoff, and I was. 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:21.879 Just like, we're gonna lose. To know, like went on 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.160 a walk around the retention pond in my neighborhood. We're 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:25.600 gonna lose. 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:27.600 I was just like sad and apathetic, and I'm like, 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:29.800 who the hell are you, dude, Like, this isn't how 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:31.560 you're supposed to feel. This isn't how this game is 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:33.359 supposed to make you feel, even if you work in 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.480 the game, like I know, I steal deeply, deeply care 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.960 and I take my job incredibly seriously to bring you 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.120 guys the best offense coverage you can possibly get. 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:44.280 But I don't know. 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.480 It almost feels like that preemptive wallowing ahead of the 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.840 game is like borrowing some cost from the other side, 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:55.800 those post game dreariness that I feel. I think the 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.320 team breaking through will be the cure for that, whenever 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.960 that happens. Who knows when it happened, But I don't know. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:02.840 I didn't think I get to this point my life 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.880 fifteen years ago. So in fifteen years from now, depending 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.040 on success and failures, who the hell knows how I feel. 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.679 Then I'm sure as hell ready for some success. It 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:12.879 feels like we've been tortured long enough to not have 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.120 it in the postseason. And I just wanted to share 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.600 this with you guys, because I think you probably resonate 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.600