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: we are going to do a few things here. Number one,
Speaker 1: take a look at how this season could possibly end
Speaker 1: for your Miami Dolphins and what it would take to
Speaker 1: keep this party rolling beyond January the fourth or the fifth,
Speaker 1: in the final game of the season. Basically, what's the
Speaker 1: playoff picture looking like right now? We're going to talk
Speaker 1: about Dolphins fandom if you're of a certain age, and
Speaker 1: we'll also take a look at what the off season
Speaker 1: could look like in the event that this is the
Speaker 1: last week that you are mathematically alive ahead of the
Speaker 1: off season coming up here in a few weeks from
Speaker 1: the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is the Drift Time Podcast. So uncharted waters Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: at least recently. No, the playoffs are not dead, but
Speaker 1: it sure seems like it. And it only takes one
Speaker 1: more loss to get to that position definitively, and given
Speaker 1: a lot of the juice has been taken out of
Speaker 1: this coming game, who knows, maybe they do win and
Speaker 1: then the Browns game is no longer a night game,
Speaker 1: Well it's an evening game, but not in the dead
Speaker 1: of the cold Cleveland night. And they might even be
Speaker 1: starting a quarterback that literally cannot play at this level
Speaker 1: in Dori and Thompson Robinson. We'll see what they decide
Speaker 1: to do there, but that might be the direction they go.
Speaker 1: But then also the Jets are like kind of hitting
Speaker 1: their stride at the wrong time. Hell I even heard
Speaker 1: Dan Hansis, the notable Jets fan from the Heat the
Speaker 1: Call podcast, say that they maybe can bring Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: back next year the way he's playing right now, Please do.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't it just be fitting though, to beat San Francisco
Speaker 1: and you beat Cleveland, you get the help you need, which, honestly,
Speaker 1: like it's probably not gonna happen, but it's not really
Speaker 1: that crazy to think about. You really need like one
Speaker 1: big upset win to put you back into play, and
Speaker 1: then you go into Week eighteen with a win and
Speaker 1: in opportunity and lose that game. Wouldn't that just kind
Speaker 1: of be fitting for the way this season has gone. Man,
Speaker 1: it is tough, but my whole point is this, this
Speaker 1: is my fifth season with the team. By the time
Speaker 1: the clock hits triple Zeros in New York. Counting two
Speaker 1: playoff games, I will have covered eighty six games for
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins. Man, where does the time go? I
Speaker 1: was just telling a buddy of mine that I work
Speaker 1: with here. I haven't watched a Dolphins game from my
Speaker 1: own house since the twenty nineteen season, except for the
Speaker 1: two games in twenty twenty two when my son was
Speaker 1: born and I was on porternity leave, and those were
Speaker 1: the Chargers and Bill's game that year.
Speaker 2: Ooh rough.
Speaker 1: But through those five years, only one game was played
Speaker 1: without playoff chances existing, the twenty twenty one finale against
Speaker 1: the Patriots, when Tua helped lead the Dolphins to a
Speaker 1: win over Mac Jones and the Patriots. But like again,
Speaker 1: I'll say it again, I sort of feel as though
Speaker 1: a Charger's collapse and just going one and two it
Speaker 1: qualifies as a collapse in this instance is probably more
Speaker 1: likely than us winning out at this point, which is
Speaker 1: why I dress this up to say, again, just watch
Speaker 1: us get right there on the brink. And there's even
Speaker 1: a scenario that I don't think is that unlikely. It's unlikely,
Speaker 1: but it's not that unlikely where the Dolphins could almost
Speaker 1: go into the Cleveland game four h five, controlling their
Speaker 1: own destiny. Can you believe that that would be crazy?
Speaker 1: But just watch them get to that point, rescue the
Speaker 1: season for a little bit, and then twist that knife
Speaker 1: one last time. It just feels like that's how the
Speaker 1: year is going. And to further that point, like you know,
Speaker 1: you might finally get the breaks you've been looking for
Speaker 1: all year.
Speaker 2: Where you played your.
Speaker 1: Weakest part of the schedule without your quarterback and quite
Speaker 1: frank with the quarterback that doesn't belong at this level
Speaker 1: at least for one of those games. And then you
Speaker 1: know a quarterback that just got here off the street
Speaker 1: for three of those games and you got one win there.
Speaker 1: And somebody was telling me, you know, comparing the Brian
Speaker 1: Flores to Mike McDaniel records, and I'm like, bro. There
Speaker 1: was a six game stretch in twenty twenty one where
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks the Dolphins played were Zach Wilson and Joe
Speaker 1: Flacco for the Jets. I think Wilson might have played
Speaker 1: in both the games, but not think it matters at all.
Speaker 1: And then you had Ian Book on that stretch, you
Speaker 1: had the corpse of Cam Newton in that stretch, and
Speaker 1: you had Mike Glennon in that stretch, So I don't
Speaker 1: really care about those wins. They mean as little to
Speaker 1: me as the wins you've gotten this year that people
Speaker 1: don't care about because we can't win the big games.
Speaker 2: But man, it just hasn't been our year in that regard.
Speaker 1: Like the Broncos played the Saints, for instance, and they
Speaker 1: got to play Spencer Ratler, Like we haven't had that
Speaker 1: game all year. So sometimes it just kind of is
Speaker 1: a year like that where the team that you're chasing
Speaker 1: for the playoffs plays a game where the opposing team
Speaker 1: has a chance to go out by fourteen and drops
Speaker 1: the football right at the goal line and then also
Speaker 1: gets a pick six on a double pass from a
Speaker 1: wide receiver. Like it's just been that kind of year
Speaker 1: on top of our own futility. So that's why I say, like,
Speaker 1: I expect one last knife twist here this season. Either way,
Speaker 1: this is all a preamble into the playoff picture, and
Speaker 1: I am breaking my promise here. I told you I
Speaker 1: wouldn't do it, But what the hell else am I
Speaker 1: gonna t Man, It's Wednesday in the middle of December,
Speaker 1: and we have plenty of time to talk about draft
Speaker 1: and free agency, and we are going to do that
Speaker 1: today as well, but I have some stuff to get to.
Speaker 1: And the tagline of the show is literally the most
Speaker 1: comprehensive Dolphins coverage you can find anywhere. So if you
Speaker 1: don't want to hear it, just go ahead and skip
Speaker 1: ahead a couple of minutes.
Speaker 2: We have to win all three games.
Speaker 1: You know that that's a non starter, and quite frankly,
Speaker 1: man like, look, we'll see what happens against the Niners,
Speaker 1: but I don't know if we should expect them to
Speaker 1: shut guys down or not. But the offense, it's been broken,
Speaker 1: like without Iyuk, without Trent Williams for certain, for sure
Speaker 1: without Christian McCaffrey. Like it's just been broken, dude, So
Speaker 1: I don't think they'll come in here and light us up.
Speaker 1: And when Dre Greenlaw came into the game, it changed
Speaker 1: everything about that defense. But when he went right back
Speaker 1: out at halftime, and I don't expect him to kick
Speaker 1: it back up again for this week. Maybe he will,
Speaker 1: but I don't expect him to like it changes their defense.
Speaker 1: So maybe you can win this game.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I haven't got a lean for it just yet. I
Speaker 1: haven't even dug into the Niners tape yet, but I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't think it's impossible. So if you
Speaker 1: win that one, then you go to the Browns and
Speaker 1: they start Dorian Thompson Robinson like Jamos could easily give
Speaker 1: you a game right where he throws you four picks,
Speaker 1: but he also could easily throw four hundred yards and
Speaker 1: four touchdowns. So i'd obviously the quarterback who's literally never
Speaker 1: played well at this level. And then again, who knows
Speaker 1: what the hell the Jets look like in three weeks,
Speaker 1: So you have to run that table, and then here's
Speaker 1: what has to happen. You have to get one Colts loss.
Speaker 1: I went through all these scenarios trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how like a collection of teams being nine and eight
Speaker 1: could erase are head to head differential with the Colts.
Speaker 1: But whatever, the playoff machine that I ran on ESPN
Speaker 1: didn't there was no option to do that. Like if
Speaker 1: you're nine in eight and the Colts nine and eight,
Speaker 1: there's no wipeout scenario for the Bengals or the Chargers
Speaker 1: or whatever like it didn't. It didn't exist on that
Speaker 1: machine at least, so you know, and the Colts like
Speaker 1: they need one loss against a really easy schedule, right, Titans,
Speaker 1: Giants and Jaguars, Like you're gonna say, oh, they're gonna
Speaker 1: go three and oh, but they're not. That's just not
Speaker 1: a good football team. Because I told you guys they'd
Speaker 1: beat Denver, and I think they would have if JT
Speaker 1: didn't drop the football on the lamest move a player
Speaker 1: can make, especially at this level. I kind of understand
Speaker 1: it when a nineteen year old does it, but you
Speaker 1: like twenty six years old, Bro, what the hell's going
Speaker 1: on with that? But the game just told me there's
Speaker 1: no chance, no chance they win the final three. I
Speaker 1: don't care if they're playing Altuona High.
Speaker 2: Hel Tuona High. I like Altoona High.
Speaker 1: That is such an obscure reference that I hope anybody
Speaker 1: out there gets. It's literally a Frank Caliendo doing Jim
Speaker 1: Rome bit in two thousand and five, after the Dolphins
Speaker 1: beat the Broncos in the open with Nick Saban's first
Speaker 1: career game, such a deep cut reference. So you need
Speaker 1: that Colts are gonna lose a game if it's Altuona
Speaker 1: High or Jacksonville Jaguars, then you have to have Also
Speaker 1: this also one of these instances, the Chargers lose two
Speaker 1: of their final three games against the Broncos, which is
Speaker 1: kind of the one you need to get right unless
Speaker 1: but if they win that game, then it opens up
Speaker 1: different scenarios. But Chargers lose that game and then lose
Speaker 1: one to the Raiders or at the Patriots, so or
Speaker 1: you could get the Broncos to lose their final three games.
Speaker 1: So if the Chargers do win tomorrow night against the Broncos,
Speaker 1: the Broncos will then have to lose to just the
Speaker 1: Bengals and the Chiefs, which to me is like pretty
Speaker 1: damn doable too. That's why if the Broncos had just
Speaker 1: lost that Browns game or that Raiders game, or even
Speaker 1: the Colts game on Sunday, like I feel like we
Speaker 1: would be in the mix at nine to eight. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's that far fetch them to lose
Speaker 1: those games. They keep proving me wrong, but I just
Speaker 1: don't think they're a good football team. Or the other
Speaker 1: option that I think is not even an option is
Speaker 1: the Ravens lose their three remaining games home against Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: at Houston, and home against Cleveland. No chance to me
Speaker 1: that happens the Broncos again could see that and like
Speaker 1: you know, playing Spencer Ratlers out of Derek Carror, like god, dang,
Speaker 1: you just get the bad draw sometimes and they've gotten
Speaker 1: the better one, like neither team. Let me get this
Speaker 1: close straight. I don't think the Broncos, the Chargers, or
Speaker 1: the Dolphins are good football teams. I think that the
Speaker 1: Dolphins are better than the Chargers of Broncos despite all
Speaker 1: their our mistakes, and I think none of those teams
Speaker 1: can compete with the top dogs in the AFC. But
Speaker 1: I do think Miami's better than those teams. But none
Speaker 1: of them are good teams. All right, that work. I
Speaker 1: did play around with those nine to eight tie breakers,
Speaker 1: but there was no way to wipe out the advantage
Speaker 1: the Colts have there. And just think about that, man,
Speaker 1: if you don't lose two fourth quarter fumbles in that game.
Speaker 1: I know we're all red hot today about the Houston game,
Speaker 1: but if you're seven and seven right now and you
Speaker 1: have that Colts tiebreaker, and all you have to have
Speaker 1: is like one more Chargers loss or two more Broncos
Speaker 1: losses in a win out scenario, like we would be
Speaker 1: like we be right back in this. But again, I
Speaker 1: Digress and despite the fact that there are no situations
Speaker 1: where you get in at a tie with the Colts
Speaker 1: and other teams, there are situations that have both the
Speaker 1: Broncos and the Chargers missing out. But it literally requires
Speaker 1: a Chargers the Chargers to beat Denver tomorrow and then
Speaker 1: both teams lose their final two games, which would give
Speaker 1: you Dolphins at Buffalo and the Colts at the Ravens
Speaker 1: and the three six games. So it's most likely when
Speaker 1: these games get the help you need. Hey go face
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, who's playing the best ball of his And
Speaker 1: I also kind of felt like the Chiefs might have
Speaker 1: the one seed wrapped up by the time they played
Speaker 1: Denver in Week eighteen, although with Carson Wentz possibly playing
Speaker 1: this week, maybe not. But I will absolutely be picking
Speaker 1: the Bengals to beat to beat the Broncos, and KC
Speaker 1: to beat the Broncos as well in those final two
Speaker 1: games if they have Mahomes, So I guess TNF becomes
Speaker 1: a win winmen in that situation. I don't know, do
Speaker 1: you like that better than the Chargers was in to
Speaker 1: the Patriots or Raiders. They won't lose to the Raiders
Speaker 1: in Week eighteen but I could see them having a
Speaker 1: dud in New England.
Speaker 2: It's happened before.
Speaker 1: I think the thing you're looking for here and I'm
Speaker 1: not wishing this, but like this is probably the best
Speaker 1: path for it is. You know, Herbert's really banged up
Speaker 1: right now, and it looked like in that Chiefs game
Speaker 1: he might have been injured for a long time, but
Speaker 1: he just sat on the ground to come back into
Speaker 1: the game for whatever reason. And like, you know, also,
Speaker 1: why not do another anti Herbert bit here? Who is
Speaker 1: eight and twenty nine against teams that are five hundred
Speaker 1: and better by the way, just in case you want
Speaker 1: to flame him for that. But Herbert is once again
Speaker 1: showing you how tough he is by playing through multiple injuries.
Speaker 1: But I don't really care about that when the production
Speaker 1: is awful, like he couldn't move. They again went scoreless
Speaker 1: in the second half. He had like five completions in
Speaker 1: the second half or like forty nine yards. It happens
Speaker 1: every single week. So the best possible result is that
Speaker 1: the Broncos win the game. Maybe Herbert gets a little
Speaker 1: bit more banged up. I'm not hoping for an injury,
Speaker 1: but that's like a possibility in a situation where he
Speaker 1: can't move and can't protect himself in a behind a
Speaker 1: line that hasn't really or well it's more him because
Speaker 1: the line's good, but he holds the ball for maybe
Speaker 1: he takes a big shot in that game and then
Speaker 1: plays a stinker in New England, like, hey, it can happen.
Speaker 1: They once lost to a Patriots team post Tom Brady
Speaker 1: forty five nothing with Herbert at the helm, so you
Speaker 1: never know, and that's the route, slim, slim and almost nil.
Speaker 1: But hey, beat the Niners and at least you'll be
Speaker 1: mathematically alive and you cannot be eliminated on that Sunday
Speaker 1: should the Chargers lose this week to Denver, which means
Speaker 1: that my mark of having one game that had no
Speaker 1: playoff implications would remain intact since twenty twenty. I guess
Speaker 1: that's the new goal. Wee Dolphins fans. All right, let's
Speaker 1: do a break right here, and I want to come
Speaker 1: back and do a monologue reflecting on being a die
Speaker 1: hard fan, speaking of we a passionate fan of this
Speaker 1: team at age thirty seven, and we'll take a look
Speaker 1: at my first very very rough, very very premature mock
Speaker 1: off season and what you might be looking at this winter.
Speaker 1: That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought
Speaker 1: to you by Autoation.
Speaker 2: Gathering Gathering you all.
Speaker 1: So, one thing I've been doing lately is making up
Speaker 1: stories from my daughter at bedtime. She likes to hear
Speaker 1: daddy stories over over books that we read at nighttime.
Speaker 1: So I've been making up these stories and really challenges
Speaker 1: my creativity. So I want to go ahead and pull
Speaker 1: you guys in for story time here about Dolphins fandom
Speaker 1: for a little bit, because as most of you probably know,
Speaker 1: my love for football and writing commentary, it grew in
Speaker 1: the mid two thousands. Like I think, I first joined
Speaker 1: the message boards in two thousand and five. That was
Speaker 1: my first year on finnheaven dot com, and I became
Speaker 1: absolutely obsessed. I wanted to perfect my grammar in there
Speaker 1: because I was hoping they would have me write front
Speaker 1: page stories for Finnheaven and eventually the Finns dot com,
Speaker 1: which did eventually happen. It's really where I learned more
Speaker 1: about the game and the final points of the game,
Speaker 1: and also and more importantly, learned how to write. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was, you know, I was a high school More
Speaker 1: on that didn't know how to put together sentences or
Speaker 1: didn't have a deep vocabulary and all these You know,
Speaker 1: I had like fifty thousand posts over like a ten
Speaker 1: year period, and I was just firing off all these long,
Speaker 1: well written or well thought out written things.
Speaker 2: I learned how to write by doing that.
Speaker 1: But I remember very similar discourse regarding frustrations with the
Speaker 1: team over all of those seasons. Now, this was the
Speaker 1: very beginning of the playoff drought. The members there had
Speaker 1: bonded over those rough teams. Dude, for me, it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: five through I think I like, I think I post
Speaker 1: up to like twenty eighteen, but I was pretty much
Speaker 1: off of it by twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, and those years,
Speaker 1: the five to fifteen gosh, those were tortuous years, far
Speaker 1: worse than what you're dealing with now. Even though there
Speaker 1: was a division winner in there, we knew that that
Speaker 1: eight team was propped up by bubble gum and bandaids.
Speaker 1: It wasn't going to go into the playoffs and make noise.
Speaker 1: In fact, I contest that this season only sucks so
Speaker 1: bad because you just saw a winner. You had a
Speaker 1: two year reprieve from the same old same old Dolphins, right,
Speaker 1: and yeah, there's not even a division title in that stretch,
Speaker 1: nor a playoff win, but you were part of the
Speaker 1: conversation the Dolphins finally a national hit, number one in
Speaker 1: power rankings. I think in twenty twenty two and twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three, after both three and zero starts, people were
Speaker 1: loving the Miami Dolphins and Mike McDaniel and what this
Speaker 1: offense had become, even if only for moments at a time.
Speaker 1: And it was September and twenty two and twenty three
Speaker 1: and November when you were, you know, eight and three
Speaker 1: and nine and three in both those years as well.
Speaker 1: I'm on the back nine of my thirties. I have kids,
Speaker 1: a wife, immeasurably more responsibility than I had back then.
Speaker 1: And back then I never understood some of the posters
Speaker 1: around the late Oughts feeling detachment I will never forget.
Speaker 1: I don't know the members name, but it was one
Speaker 1: of the more popular original members of the message board
Speaker 1: saying something to the effect of, yeah, I don't even
Speaker 1: get mad anymore than they lose.
Speaker 2: I just kind of laugh.
Speaker 1: And through my twenties I never understood that approach to it,
Speaker 1: because this was always going to be to me and
Speaker 1: my mind back then, a life or death agreement. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: I still feel, as you guys know on the podcast,
Speaker 1: that insane fan euphoria when they win, when they build
Speaker 1: a three game lead division lead in late December, in
Speaker 1: mid December, I should say, that's a high that you
Speaker 1: typically have to pay very handsomely for. Obviously, my experience
Speaker 1: became unique as a fan when I got this job.
Speaker 1: But obviously that has to change things, right, At times,
Speaker 1: it's only heightened the emotions. What's better than watching Bradley
Speaker 1: Chubb get a critical game winning sack and being like
Speaker 1: seeing him the next day at the coffee at the
Speaker 1: coffee poor and being like beachub Man that was a
Speaker 1: great pass rush move like. Of course, it heightens the
Speaker 1: emotion and the experience for me, and recently that thrill
Speaker 1: of victory. It thrives, that feeling thrives. I felt it
Speaker 1: just last week against the Jets. Incredible. I would pay
Speaker 1: money for that feeling if you could replicate it every
Speaker 1: single day. But one thing has changed. The big games
Speaker 1: have changed. I almost wake up on game day feeling apathetic.
Speaker 1: Not almost, I do I did on Sunday. I'm not
Speaker 1: complaining about it. I'm just trying to share my reality
Speaker 1: with you guys, mostly in reflection of this thing that
Speaker 1: I've literally known longer than anything else in my life
Speaker 1: besides my own brother, because my mom passed away nine
Speaker 1: years ago and my dad I don't communicate with, and
Speaker 1: other family back in Washington not so much either. I'm
Speaker 1: wondering how fandom changes from here, if the second longest
Speaker 1: institution of my life becomes same old, same old again,
Speaker 1: even if for just a few years. Because I can
Speaker 1: tell you this, the feeling I had the moment my
Speaker 1: alarm went off on Sunday morning, this feeling of I
Speaker 1: am so convinced I know exactly how this day will go, Buddy,
Speaker 1: that was literally my least favorite fan emotion to date,
Speaker 1: outside of injuries like Tua's concussions, that nothing will ever
Speaker 1: top the feeling that those bring about, where you just
Speaker 1: kind of want to cancel football from there forward. I
Speaker 1: hate it more than I hated the twenty thirteen finale
Speaker 1: against the Jets, losing and losing our playoff hopes to
Speaker 1: that stink and team. I've honestly felt that since the
Speaker 1: Calie Swing in twenty twenty two. The first game was
Speaker 1: at Buffalo. I'll never forget that whole day. The Ravens
Speaker 1: and Browns were playing a four o'clock kickoff, and I was.
Speaker 2: Just like, we're gonna lose. To know, like went on
Speaker 2: a walk around the retention pond in my neighborhood. We're
Speaker 2: gonna lose.
Speaker 1: I was just like sad and apathetic, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: who the hell are you, dude, Like, this isn't how
Speaker 1: you're supposed to feel. This isn't how this game is
Speaker 1: supposed to make you feel, even if you work in
Speaker 1: the game, like I know, I steal deeply, deeply care
Speaker 1: and I take my job incredibly seriously to bring you
Speaker 1: guys the best offense coverage you can possibly get.
Speaker 2: But I don't know.
Speaker 1: It almost feels like that preemptive wallowing ahead of the
Speaker 1: game is like borrowing some cost from the other side,
Speaker 1: those post game dreariness that I feel. I think the
Speaker 1: team breaking through will be the cure for that, whenever
Speaker 1: that happens. Who knows when it happened, But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I didn't think I get to this point my life
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago. So in fifteen years from now, depending
Speaker 1: on success and failures, who the hell knows how I feel.
Speaker 1: Then I'm sure as hell ready for some success. It
Speaker 1: feels like we've been tortured long enough to not have
Speaker 1: it in the postseason. And I just wanted to share
Speaker 1: this with you guys, because I think you probably resonate
Speaker 1: with it in some way if you're like me. But man,
Speaker 1: and I allowed myself to like, I was so far
Speaker 1: up for that Week two game, dude, like that whole Thursday,
Speaker 1: like we're going to go watch the Dolphins beat the
Speaker 1: bill snight, this is the night we change everything. And
Speaker 1: then the game went the way it did and the
Speaker 1: quarterback did what he did. It was like, okay, all right,
Speaker 1: that yeah, yeah, okay cool. I felt that way in
Speaker 1: the Week eighteen game last year. I felt that way
Speaker 1: in the wild Card game last year. Maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit in the Ravens game, you know, after that opening
Speaker 1: drive touchdown, though, I was like, we're a different team
Speaker 1: this year. The Chiefs game, I felt excited about it,
Speaker 1: I guess, But now I go into these big games
Speaker 1: and I'm like, what can go wrong? And that's such
Speaker 1: a horrible way to live as a fan. This is
Speaker 1: supposed to be fun and enjoyment. And even though I
Speaker 1: cut a paycheck from this. I still have those feelings
Speaker 1: and I can't control them. It is what it is.
Speaker 1: So that's life as a thirty seven year old Dolphins
Speaker 1: fan whose first real memory was the ninety four st
Speaker 1: Anovich miss, and then a couple of playoff games here
Speaker 1: and there, the sixty two to seven game the Colts win,
Speaker 1: which was forever upik, and then like Ricky Willon has retired,
Speaker 1: and then we are in this cycle for twenty years.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to give you guys that little spiel
Speaker 1: and pivot to this. Let's go ahead and talk about
Speaker 1: we've done the playoff talk, We've done the misery as
Speaker 1: a Dolphins fan. Let's talk about what's to come, because
Speaker 1: here we are again and look like again, I've done
Speaker 1: this on the podcast back in September when things looked
Speaker 1: really bleak with the quarterback and whatnot. But I just
Speaker 1: was just such a believer in this build and how
Speaker 1: things went, and I still think that it was done
Speaker 1: mostly right. I think a couple of things got off
Speaker 1: the rails, and you even pivoted to a head coaching
Speaker 1: change in the middle of it, and your quarterbacks injuries
Speaker 1: didn't help the situation. You probably were a little bit
Speaker 1: too aggressive getting top marquee players at the cost of
Speaker 1: draft picks and didn't hit on the draft picks and
Speaker 1: the mid rounds for contributors that you needed to to
Speaker 1: help give that roster it's balance and create depth. And
Speaker 1: that's kind of how you got in this position. And
Speaker 1: I always say, like, I don't want to go through
Speaker 1: the rebuild, but like this what we do. So here
Speaker 1: is what I'm looking at for what could be a
Speaker 1: soft reset, But after I made the points, maybe it
Speaker 1: is more of a little bit of a roster deconstruction here.
Speaker 1: But the overarching theme is this if anybody, if you
Speaker 1: think that this team is like years away from competing,
Speaker 1: look at the Dan Broncos.
Speaker 2: Dude, Like, again, I don't think they're a good football team.
Speaker 1: They have a good defense, but when they play the Ravens,
Speaker 1: they give up forty two points, So, like, you know,
Speaker 1: what was a decent defense? Do you? I think their
Speaker 1: quarterback is already his ceiling as a rookie. We'll see
Speaker 1: how that plays out. But this is a team that
Speaker 1: had to eat like hundreds of millions of dollars on
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson's contract, and here they are one year later,
Speaker 1: probably gonna make the playoffs. So that's just my way
Speaker 1: of saying, like, you can never say a team is
Speaker 1: five years away, because it's not that.
Speaker 2: It's usually not that case.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about this first state of the franchise
Speaker 1: or the goals that I have going into the offseason.
Speaker 1: The Number one is to invest in the running game,
Speaker 1: because I thought for the longest time that giving two
Speaker 1: elite playmakers and forgetting about the offensive line was the
Speaker 1: best way to maximize his accuracy and decision making. But
Speaker 1: if you can run the football really well with his
Speaker 1: evolution of how he's processed and reads defenses and matured
Speaker 1: into a true professional quarterback with the downfield strikeability, which
Speaker 1: maybe it opens up more now with one of the
Speaker 1: plans I have here in the future. But teams playing
Speaker 1: these two and three high umbrella coverages makes it hard
Speaker 1: to go vertical. So if they want to do that,
Speaker 1: which is kind of a league wide thing as well,
Speaker 1: invest in your running game why a true why you know,
Speaker 1: sign up probably a guard, and then depth and developed
Speaker 1: players through the draft upfront as well around your two
Speaker 1: running backs that I think are really really good football players.
Speaker 1: Number two is to build depth on defense and emphasize
Speaker 1: athletes with juice. The first game that comes to mind
Speaker 1: here two guys. A free agent is Buddha Baker. A
Speaker 1: draft prospect is a first round edge from Texas A
Speaker 1: and M named Shamar Stewart. Look him up, He's a monster.
Speaker 1: Next is build more diversity among the l We cannot
Speaker 1: have five ten guys across the entire group because if
Speaker 1: you want to throw a cover two beaters, if you
Speaker 1: want to throw flag routes and corner routes and deep outs,
Speaker 1: you need a little bit more size there, so a
Speaker 1: small window when you're throwing those balls to five foot
Speaker 1: ten guys. Next is to feature Jalen Wright and to
Speaker 1: reduce twenty eight's roll to Alvin Kamara when they had
Speaker 1: mark Ingram because I think that's what Devon ah Chan
Speaker 1: does best. I think that that's what you brought. You
Speaker 1: traded up to get Jalen Wright to do that with.
Speaker 1: Let's do that. Next is to develop a more simplified
Speaker 1: offense for when things are not picture perfect.
Speaker 2: You heard coach McDaniel.
Speaker 1: This is this whole thing is kind of based off
Speaker 1: this McDaniel quote when he said that we have to
Speaker 1: be so connected for this offense to work. Okay, so
Speaker 1: change that, Like you if you're gonna have injury issues,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna have guys missing practice time, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna have whatever whatever causes you to not be able
Speaker 1: to get time on task, like have a simplified option,
Speaker 1: have the ability to If Snoop Huntley's your quarterback, don't
Speaker 1: run the same offense for him that you ran for Tua.
Speaker 1: So that's another big sticking point I have. And then
Speaker 1: next is to correct your in house evaluations. Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: once said that you're gonna miss draft picks, you're gonna
Speaker 1: miss free agent evaluations, but you absolutely have to get
Speaker 1: your in house evaluations correct if you want to be
Speaker 1: a winner. So like the Jaalen Wright quandary, like three
Speaker 1: snaps for a player you traded up for, it doesn't
Speaker 1: make a lot of sense to me. Robbie Chosen's presence
Speaker 1: at any point of his career here, even like Jeff
Speaker 1: Wilson over Chris Brooks seems like it was probably misguided.
Speaker 1: The Braxon Burios run here. You know, he didn't have
Speaker 1: a catch this year. Skyler Thompson in general, but especially
Speaker 1: Skyler over Mike White, which is splitting hairs, but I
Speaker 1: think White was the better player. Jordan Poyer is still
Speaker 1: playing every snap.
Speaker 2: There's just too many misses on your own in house evaluation.
Speaker 2: So those are my goals.
Speaker 1: Invest in the run game, build depth on defense and
Speaker 1: emphasize athletes with jews. Build more diversity among the eligibles,
Speaker 1: feature Jalen Wright. Develop more simplified offensive concepts to adapt
Speaker 1: to correct your in house evaluations. That's the goals going
Speaker 1: into the offseason. Let's go ahead and talk about the
Speaker 1: roster now. Actually, first, let's go ahead and take a break,
Speaker 1: come back and do that and how I do this
Speaker 1: fix roughly here on December eighteenth. That's next Drivetime podcast,
Speaker 1: your host Travis Wingfield, brought.
Speaker 2: To you by AutoNation.
Speaker 1: So you have the general blueprint and how you attack
Speaker 1: that is always going to be fungible in terms of
Speaker 1: what happens on the market with your draft picks, with
Speaker 1: guys that you keep and cut and retain and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. Let's go ahead and go position by a
Speaker 1: position here, so you guys know how I think about Tua.
Speaker 1: I think the questions are fair, but I think it's
Speaker 1: something that he it's I don't think it's something he
Speaker 1: cannot do. He's played bad in some of those games,
Speaker 1: no doubt about it, but he's not in the impervious
Speaker 1: category like Josh Allen Lamar Jackson, who also have cracked
Speaker 1: the bed, so to speak, in the playoffs here or there.
Speaker 1: Neither has a championship ring. So the truth is, every
Speaker 1: quarterback in this league besides Patrick Mahomes, has something to prove,
Speaker 1: but Tua clearly a step below those guys. That's not
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to get out here. But I think
Speaker 1: the rest of the team's performance, the fact that all
Speaker 1: of those games come on the road, where are lengthy
Speaker 1: verbie our motions and shifts and checks, all that can
Speaker 1: get bogged down when you are on the road. I
Speaker 1: think that that could have something to do with the
Speaker 1: decision making that Tua has in these games, his processing,
Speaker 1: his rushed decision making. It seems like at times, the
Speaker 1: accuracy that kind of goes by the boards at times
Speaker 1: because hey, guess what the one win when everyone posts
Speaker 1: their record, which is always different because like we disqualify
Speaker 1: wins that make our argument look worse for some reason.
Speaker 1: But that one win the Cowboys last year double digit
Speaker 1: win team was a home game, right, and Tua played
Speaker 1: pretty well. He had some misses in that game, but
Speaker 1: he played pretty well. I mean for real, aside from
Speaker 1: the Buffalo game in week eighteen, who are absolutely our daddy.
Speaker 1: So it's almost like a disqualifier at this point. He's
Speaker 1: played well in those games that are at home. It's
Speaker 1: when they go on the road that we don't. Even
Speaker 1: going back to his rookie year against the Chiefs right,
Speaker 1: the battle with Patrick Mahomes. He played really well in
Speaker 1: that game, which is another point of contention I make
Speaker 1: about how Tua has to have everything perfect around him,
Speaker 1: Like brother, we won ten games in twenty twenty and
Speaker 1: nine games in twenty twenty one with the head coach
Speaker 1: that nobody in the world wanted to work for that
Speaker 1: tried to sabotage his quarterback. It was the worst personnel
Speaker 1: you could possibly give your quarterback with, like Miles Gaskin
Speaker 1: and Isaiah Ford is like top targets and Adam Shaheen
Speaker 1: is that perfect, you know, and a defense that crumbled
Speaker 1: against every top quarterback they faced. So yeah, two was
Speaker 1: not perfect, but damn it, I loathe the way people
Speaker 1: talk about him after these games, especially when you consider
Speaker 1: the babysitting he has to do for some of the
Speaker 1: guys just to get them freaking lined up before the snap.
Speaker 1: All right, let's stop two O ranting and just FYI,
Speaker 1: this is more broad strokes roster thoughts, more so than
Speaker 1: nitty gritty contract situations, restructures and all that that's down
Speaker 1: the road.
Speaker 2: I'm not doing all that today.
Speaker 1: I think we need a running back like we need
Speaker 1: another hole in our backside. But I'm not opposed to
Speaker 1: a hammer, a big physical back like Arizona States is
Speaker 1: scatu Borough, Scatterborough. I don't know how to say it,
Speaker 1: but I also think that right is that dude? So
Speaker 1: that's my preference. I want to give a bigger future role.
Speaker 1: I have no objections against Raheem coming back in this
Speaker 1: system and totally on board with running back the running
Speaker 1: back room, although his injuries do concern me. But I
Speaker 1: can see why that might go eight chan right and
Speaker 1: newcomer because of the injury concern receiver. I think you
Speaker 1: look no further than what the Buffalo Bills offense has
Speaker 1: become post to Fon Diggs. Now you're not getting anything
Speaker 1: more than that in trade composition. If you can't compensation,
Speaker 1: I should say, if you can find it and it
Speaker 1: does open an issue that doesn't have an easy solve,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have a number two receiver at that point, right,
Speaker 1: Maybe you can find another trade partner somewhere. Hell, maybe
Speaker 1: you can even ship Reek back to KC along with
Speaker 1: giving them a pick and you get Xavier Worthy back.
Speaker 1: Never gonna happen, but hey, we can dream it's December.
Speaker 1: Because the problem is a number two receiver on the
Speaker 1: open market costs like fifteen million bucks these days, and
Speaker 1: that's like half of what Tyreek's price tag is. So
Speaker 1: maybe there's already a monkey wrench in my plan. But
Speaker 1: when I look at the quotes after the game, paired
Speaker 1: with the lack of commitment of the player, I think
Speaker 1: that ship has kind of already sailed. If they can
Speaker 1: make that happen, I think they will and help back
Speaker 1: to the Bills. We mocked the receiver room all off season,
Speaker 1: which doesn't seem to matter at all. They're playing even
Speaker 1: more efficient football than they have in the past, and
Speaker 1: we still do have john Us Smith and Devon a
Speaker 1: Chan as true weapons. So maybe your number two is
Speaker 1: actually the fourth option in the passing game. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what you know, Mac Collins kind of is right.
Speaker 1: Khalil Shaker, James Cook, Dawson Knox or Dalton Kinkaid, they
Speaker 1: all come before him. And that's before you talk about
Speaker 1: Amari Cooper and Curtis Samuel. But the free agent receiver
Speaker 1: market ain't good. Dog, I don't know. Maybe you can
Speaker 1: get like a Chris Godwin on a one year rehab deal,
Speaker 1: but he's probably gonna get a twenty five million dollars
Speaker 1: a year, so probably not. The guy that I like
Speaker 1: the most is Brandon Cooks because he's old enough to
Speaker 1: not get a huge contract. But he's also another small receiver,
Speaker 1: so another monkey rnch right here. Hey how about two
Speaker 1: two at Well, who's a free agent. He's like five nine,
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty pounds. Those are just some options.
Speaker 1: That's my number one priority of the entire offseason. It's
Speaker 1: auditioned by subtraction here and we'll figure out the next
Speaker 1: part after we do that. Keep developing in the league, Washington,
Speaker 1: I think he has potential thin for life as a
Speaker 1: role player, guy like a return man, number three receiver,
Speaker 1: number four receiver. Maybe d Eskridge is part of as well.
Speaker 1: I think you definitely draft one two. In this scenario,
Speaker 1: there are always a million good college receivers, but you
Speaker 1: have to pick the right one. And let's make things
Speaker 1: easier on him to make an impact back to the
Speaker 1: original core points by making the offense more simple in
Speaker 1: certain situations. So trade ten, elevate seventeen, develop eighty two
Speaker 1: and eighty three, draft one, sign one at tight end.
Speaker 1: I am very happy with John who is my f
Speaker 1: and with Julian is my number two why tight end,
Speaker 1: but I need a true why. My biggest scripe might
Speaker 1: wind up being not drafting Darnell Washington. That was my
Speaker 1: guy and probably to the point of annoint for you
Speaker 1: guys here on the podcast. And he's basically a sixth
Speaker 1: offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the exact player we
Speaker 1: need at that spot, and that would be my run
Speaker 1: game investment I talked about off the top part number one.
Speaker 1: I have some fixes of the offensive line, but this
Speaker 1: and getting Austin Jackson healthy, even though he's been banged
Speaker 1: up a lot, will make the run game, outside of
Speaker 1: other moves, improved by just doing those two things. But
Speaker 1: we also will not stand pat because the problem here
Speaker 1: is freegency has nothing to offer but there are some
Speaker 1: really attractive options in the class. I think Mason Taylor
Speaker 1: can develop his blocking game to go along with his
Speaker 1: dangerous pass game threat. I think you probably have to
Speaker 1: develop Tyler Warren from Penn State a little bit more,
Speaker 1: but he could probably play two roles as kind of
Speaker 1: that f why tight end that can also play in
Speaker 1: the backfield as a full back. But if you want
Speaker 1: a true why, I think Jackson Hawes from Georgia Tech
Speaker 1: is that dude. He's a legit downfield blocker and attached blocker.
Speaker 1: But it's gonna be tough because I hate needing a
Speaker 1: critical element of your team going into the draft.
Speaker 2: It's never a good spot when you have that.
Speaker 1: But Hawes is Julian Hill in that role or with
Speaker 1: Julian Hill in that role is a nice combo alongside
Speaker 1: John new Smith. Everyone's favorite the offensive line. Patrick Paul
Speaker 1: Keys of yours left tackle, big dog, and my next
Speaker 1: biggest priority is signing Mackay Beckton to play left guard
Speaker 1: next to him. Now you have two guys that can
Speaker 1: help you can pour a power run game without sacrificing
Speaker 1: the movement skills. The way Paul is built perfectly for
Speaker 1: the system. Becton is too, and once he got the
Speaker 1: Jets stank off him, he became the baller we thought
Speaker 1: he could be. And I don't think he would be
Speaker 1: a twenty million dollar bank break the bank type of player,
Speaker 1: but I think you can get him for maybe half them.
Speaker 1: Aaron Brewers a captain, Austin's the right tackle, and I'm
Speaker 1: investing a Day two pick, maybe early day three pick
Speaker 1: on another interior offensive lineman. I'm bringing Liam Eichenberg back
Speaker 1: is my seventh man, and as a man that can
Speaker 1: play five positions across the front with a considerable investment,
Speaker 1: and so a swing tackles a sixth man, maybe like
Speaker 1: a Josh Jones from the Ravens, maybe Dan Skipper from Detroit.
Speaker 1: When Taylor Decker gets healthy and back there on the
Speaker 1: defensive line, I assume we're gonna lose Kalayis and I
Speaker 1: hope he comes back, but we have to reinvest in
Speaker 1: the defensive tackle position. Sealer one of the best in
Speaker 1: the game, and I hope we can convince Klayas to
Speaker 1: come back, but I doubt it. I'm continuing forward to
Speaker 1: Sean Han, maybe even Bito Jones as well, but I
Speaker 1: need another usable piece because we cannot give snaps to
Speaker 1: a Neil Ferrell, for instance, who got cut last week,
Speaker 1: and I feel better about Deshaunabdito one rung lower. So
Speaker 1: without Kalayas, you might need two of those guys. I
Speaker 1: think you definitely have to draft one at some point,
Speaker 1: and I haven't gotten to the draft class for those
Speaker 1: guys yet. Then we're looking at like Derek Nandi and KC.
Speaker 1: Greg Gaines in Tampa May maybe a Sebastian Joseph Day,
Speaker 1: maybe Javon Kinlaw. There's some choices there. Off the edge,
Speaker 1: Chop is a star, and I cannot wait to get
Speaker 1: Jilen Phillips back to go along with him. I understand
Speaker 1: some hesitation about his availability, but it's a great start
Speaker 1: there right I imagine this will be the last year
Speaker 1: you see Ogba. I'd bring Bowser back for depth, keep
Speaker 1: developing Mo Kamara, then draft one highly again. Most likely
Speaker 1: right now, my penciled in first round pick A Shamar
Speaker 1: Stewart from Texas A and M a monster and he
Speaker 1: kills two birds because he can play defensive tackle at
Speaker 1: two hundred and ninety pounds, but he has crazy bend
Speaker 1: off the edge too. I think Bradley Chubb probably a
Speaker 1: big shoot a drop here, which I hate because he's
Speaker 1: he's the best, such a good player and good dude,
Speaker 1: but wrong side of thirty missed a full year on
Speaker 1: a third serious knee injury. Can't see them continuing that
Speaker 1: at that figure, even if it's as costly to get
Speaker 1: out of as it is. Jordan Brooks is a star,
Speaker 1: but the rest of the room has been a massive disappointment.
Speaker 1: I cannot believe how fast David long fell off Walker
Speaker 1: has been giving it his all, but like, we need
Speaker 1: more speed there. I really like Jamie and Sherwood from
Speaker 1: the Jets who might be available because they have expensive
Speaker 1: guys tied up there as well. And then I'd probably
Speaker 1: restart my development group there because there's just a lot
Speaker 1: of meat on the bone, Like Channing Tendall hasn't you know,
Speaker 1: panned out at Corner. I think You've got one more
Speaker 1: year of Ramsey as a premier perimeter guy and start
Speaker 1: to think about that safety transition down the road. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna run it back with Cater and Kendall. Like Kendall
Speaker 1: for sure because of the other needs on the on
Speaker 1: the roster. I think you continue to develop Duck and Bonner,
Speaker 1: and then you probably have to draft a mid to
Speaker 1: low round guy or sign a load to mid free
Speaker 1: agency player in freegency, and that's because you have to
Speaker 1: remake the safety room. Luckily, I think this is a
Speaker 1: great class for it. If you want to get crazy
Speaker 1: and spend. Buddha Baker checks all the boxes of temperature changer, accountability,
Speaker 1: you know, Buddy, accountabil of Buddy, and an absolute playmaker
Speaker 1: even at his age. I would do it if I could.
Speaker 1: But there's some fun draft prospects too. Malachi Starks might
Speaker 1: be like a Kyle Hamilton type, which we would love
Speaker 1: that I love, Leathan Ransom from Ohio State, Nick Amana
Speaker 1: Warrior from South Carolina, Xavier Wats from Ore Dame. I
Speaker 1: like Jeremy Chinn is a free agent and then probably
Speaker 1: probably too pricey for talanoa hu Funga from San Francisco.
Speaker 2: But he would be a cheaper version of Buddha Baker.
Speaker 1: So to recap, move on from ten seventy two and
Speaker 1: two one big guard in free agency draft and develop
Speaker 1: more offensive line. Emphasize your y position, probably do it
Speaker 1: early in the draft. Emphasize maturity, leadership and being where
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be at receiver two and remake the
Speaker 1: safety room after eight walks in a free agency A
Speaker 1: mock lineup quarterback Tua and Jimmy Groppolo or Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: and a rookie. That's my three man quarterback room. Running
Speaker 1: back eight chan right, and then a Day three rookie
Speaker 1: or Udfa or maybe even Raheem Moster will see at
Speaker 1: receiver Waddle Brandon Cooks, ma Leak Washington and a rookie
Speaker 1: because I have now John new Smith, Julian Hill and
Speaker 1: Hawes the Georgia Tech kid at tight end. My offensive
Speaker 1: line is Patrick Paul McKai, Becton, Aaron Brewer, and then
Speaker 1: Isaiah Winn Battles a rookie at right guard bring him
Speaker 1: back at cheap, Austin Jackson at right tackle, and then
Speaker 1: Josh Jones, Liam and a rookie as my three backups.
Speaker 1: Defensive tackle sealer Sebastian, Joseph Day from the Titans, a rookie,
Speaker 1: Deshaun Hand and Benito Jones off the edge, Chop JP
Speaker 1: Shamar Stewart my first round pick, Spouser and Mo Kamara
Speaker 1: at linebacker, Brooks and Sherwood, and then I don't know
Speaker 1: at cornerback Ramsey Fuller, Coohu and then a rookie, your
Speaker 1: free agent right there, and then Duck and Bonner and
Speaker 1: then at safety Hufonga, Exavier Wats. They're working from Notre Dame,
Speaker 1: Mic Morris and Elijah Campbell. That's the fix. That's the podcast.
Speaker 1: You all, please be sure to subscribe to the pod.
Speaker 1: Leabis at reading, leave us a review. You can follow
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Speaker 1: Fins up, Carolina and Cameron Daddy just come home.