Speaker 1: To on remove gall On Deep Speedways Pass From the
Speaker 1: Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 3: He's got my avnds in the playoffs? What is up
Speaker 3: Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am
Speaker 3: your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, our final
Speaker 3: address the wild Card round variety show.
Speaker 2: Ross Tucker, who.
Speaker 3: Will have the call on Westwood One, joins me to
Speaker 3: break down this match up, talk about his experience and
Speaker 3: playing in miserably frigid cold weather. We'll hear some final
Speaker 3: thoughts from coach and Tyreek. I'll also talk about the
Speaker 3: injury impact this team has faced this year, a player
Speaker 3: that I think is going to go off for a
Speaker 3: huge game in the wildcard matchup, and a final a
Speaker 3: monologue about Dolphins fandom and playoff football.
Speaker 2: All of that and much more here.
Speaker 3: From the Baptist Hell Studios inside the Baptist Hell Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Speaker 3: Maybe Guff, Let's get to my guest today, the great
Speaker 3: Ross Tucker, joining us Today's former NFL offensive lineman and
Speaker 3: the host of the Ross Tucker Football podcast. You can
Speaker 3: hear him on the call Saturday night on Westwood One
Speaker 3: Dolphins and Chiefs Ross.
Speaker 4: Welcome in man, Travis, my pleasure, man. Thank you for
Speaker 4: having me. I love it. The Official Dolphins podcast.
Speaker 3: Let's do this, Let's do this is right. It's a
Speaker 3: big game on Saturday night. Not where Miami wanted to
Speaker 3: be heading into this one, but let's go ahead and
Speaker 3: start here because they are in the playoffs and they
Speaker 3: have a chance to right the wrongs in the last
Speaker 3: couple of weeks. You know you've experienced the highs and
Speaker 3: lows of an NFL season. I was hoping you could
Speaker 3: take me in what the Dolphins locker room is like
Speaker 3: this week. How do they get themselves up off the
Speaker 3: mat after what has been a challenging couple of weeks
Speaker 3: that didn't just see them going from contending from one
Speaker 3: of the top spots in the playoffs the top seed
Speaker 3: all the way to the sixth seed, but also lost
Speaker 3: so many key parts to injury. What do you think
Speaker 3: is a Dolphin's mindset right now?
Speaker 4: Well, it's not easy.
Speaker 5: It's tough, and there's two things that I think that
Speaker 5: they're focusing.
Speaker 4: On right now. Right number one.
Speaker 5: Is that this is a tournament, right, I mean I
Speaker 5: think we lose sight of that sometimes. But the NFL
Speaker 5: playoffs it's a tournament almost like the NDAA tournament. It's
Speaker 5: survive in advance or it's one and done right, So
Speaker 5: I think all they realize is they just need to
Speaker 5: do whatever it takes to beat the Chiefs this week.
Speaker 5: The Chiefs are not some unstoppable team like it feels
Speaker 5: like they've been the last couple of years. This is
Speaker 5: the worst Chiefs team we've seen in several years. There's
Speaker 5: a reason why they're the three seed and not the
Speaker 5: one or the two.
Speaker 4: And while it looks like.
Speaker 5: If the Chiefs can beat the Dolphins, I'll have to
Speaker 5: play some road playoff games, as Patrick Mahomes has never
Speaker 5: had to do.
Speaker 4: So I think that that's I think that's the rallying cry. Right.
Speaker 5: It's a bumber. We lost to Baltimore. You know, the
Speaker 5: way the Bills game went was unfortunate. The injuries we
Speaker 5: have are disappointing, but we're also getting reinforcements back. We're
Speaker 5: getting Raheem Mostered back, We're getting Jalen Waddle back.
Speaker 4: And if you go back and watch the Week.
Speaker 5: Nine game, that was a very winnable game against the Chiefs.
Speaker 5: We had a play here or a play there that
Speaker 5: changed the entire complexion of the game. We can absolutely
Speaker 5: beat these guys. You guys know we can beat these guys.
Speaker 5: Let's just go out there Saturday night and do it.
Speaker 5: That's really the mindset is that it doesn't matter what
Speaker 5: your record is.
Speaker 4: Now, it doesn't matter what seed you.
Speaker 5: Are, what your record is, you have as good a
Speaker 5: chance as anyone if you just win that game that
Speaker 5: week and then.
Speaker 4: The following game the following week. You just keep taking
Speaker 4: that tact.
Speaker 3: I love that one game at a time mentality because
Speaker 3: these games can take on a life of their own,
Speaker 3: like you talk about there. And I'm curious you mentioned
Speaker 3: getting Waddle and Moster are back on my show this week.
Speaker 3: I've been talking about how this is gonna be the
Speaker 3: healthiest Dolphins offensive. Why don't they've had if they get
Speaker 3: those two guys back since their first game in December
Speaker 3: when they put forty five points up on Washington. I'm
Speaker 3: curious what you think this Dolphins attack looks like, because
Speaker 3: it does feel like they're going to have to score
Speaker 3: points because of the quarterback on the other side, but
Speaker 3: also the injuries of the Dolphins defense. What do you
Speaker 3: think Miami's game plan might be offensively here?
Speaker 5: Well, so that's when we need to start to talk
Speaker 5: about the weather, right, you know it's it's gonna be
Speaker 5: a factor. There's no question about it. It is not
Speaker 5: fun to play in weather that cold. Don't let anybody
Speaker 5: tell you any differently. I played the coldest game I play.
Speaker 5: I actually want to look that up, Travis. I'm glad
Speaker 5: we're talking about this. I played one of the ten
Speaker 5: coldest games in Buffalo Bill's franchise history, which ironically was
Speaker 5: in Cincinnati, and I want to say the wind chill
Speaker 5: was in the single digits.
Speaker 4: That was cold. This is going to be much much colder.
Speaker 5: I mean, you're not supposed to be outside in this weather.
Speaker 5: It's gonna be very entertaining for the people watching and
Speaker 5: not fun for the guys that are out there.
Speaker 4: I will say this though, Travis. I tell people this
Speaker 4: all the time.
Speaker 5: The human body can only really be concerned about one
Speaker 5: thing at a time. You ever have like a cold,
Speaker 5: and then you like stub your toe, and for the
Speaker 5: next two minutes, you totally forget about the cold.
Speaker 4: You don't even know that you're sneezing or stuff.
Speaker 5: He knows your toe is the all that matters is
Speaker 5: your toe.
Speaker 4: It's killing you. Right.
Speaker 5: So what's funny about being an NFL player is it's
Speaker 5: really bad Saturday night for the backups, really bad because
Speaker 5: they're just standing there. The guys that are playing, there's
Speaker 5: so much adrenaline and when you go out there, you know,
Speaker 5: I say this all the time. I played in Buffalo
Speaker 5: for three years. Right, it would be cold and that
Speaker 5: stinks and all that. Man, you get out there, Travis,
Speaker 5: and you got a three hundred thirty pound dude like
Speaker 5: eight inches from your nose and eighty thousand people watching
Speaker 5: and millions more watching on TV.
Speaker 4: You are not concerned about the cold anymore.
Speaker 5: You are way more concerned about getting embarrassed or getting
Speaker 5: your brains beat in on national TV. So, but for
Speaker 5: the backups, the worst thing of all times because you.
Speaker 4: Could go in any snap, any play.
Speaker 5: And be expected to perform, even though even standing there
Speaker 5: for two hours not good.
Speaker 3: You toss that park off and then it's like you're
Speaker 3: in a different planet almost with the heat you have
Speaker 3: in that parka on the heated benches, and then you
Speaker 3: expose yourself out to the elements there and it just
Speaker 3: changes entirely. And I'm gonna write this down because I
Speaker 3: am a little baby when I get sick.
Speaker 2: Stub your toe is the best way to get over.
Speaker 3: A cold, it sounds like, because that's what I'm looking
Speaker 3: forward to here.
Speaker 2: Next time I have the sniffles. But another thing I
Speaker 2: wanted to ask you.
Speaker 3: About, Ross is the time off the Chiefs had, And
Speaker 3: I talked to my Chiefs guest about this in the
Speaker 3: podcast yesterday.
Speaker 2: P a take on.
Speaker 3: I'm curious to get yours because you've played in the
Speaker 3: league when you have a week where you're still you
Speaker 3: still have a game, but you're resting starters like the
Speaker 3: Chiefs did. And this is a team that for so
Speaker 3: long under Andy Reid has been very good off the
Speaker 3: bye week. What's the benefit of that for the Chiefs?
Speaker 3: Were they able to get some advanced scouting in for
Speaker 3: the Dolphins? Like what does that week look like when
Speaker 3: you're not prepping for It's basically a preseason game ahead
Speaker 3: of what becomes.
Speaker 5: A playoff game, right, So it's not about the advanced
Speaker 5: prep because they didn't know who they were playing until
Speaker 5: after the Bills Dolphins Sunday night, so they didn't do that.
Speaker 5: They didn't spend mean, they might have had somebody spending
Speaker 5: a little bit of time getting a head start on
Speaker 5: Sunday evening when they realized it was either going to
Speaker 5: be what it was going to be, either Pittsburgh or Miami,
Speaker 5: So they might have done a little bit of stuff
Speaker 5: like start to cut up the video a little bit,
Speaker 5: but not much. The advantage is the rest, right, The
Speaker 5: advantage is getting guys to be able to be refreshed
Speaker 5: a little bit.
Speaker 4: You're not taking the injury risk. You're not.
Speaker 5: Every guy, Travis has something going on physically right now.
Speaker 5: That's bothering them, every guy. And if you don't, what
Speaker 5: have you been doing the whole season? Like everybody's got
Speaker 5: something right. So the advantage is the Dolphins, like they
Speaker 5: incurred more injuries unfortunately, and whatever is ailing those guys,
Speaker 5: it it just got exacerbated by an intense Sunday night game.
Speaker 5: Whereas the guys that didn't play for the Chiefs, they
Speaker 5: were able to rest those things that those things will
Speaker 5: feel a little bit better, they'll feel a little bit fresher,
Speaker 5: they're a little bit rejuvenated all week during the week
Speaker 5: of prep, and that's that's really the advantage I see
Speaker 5: as much as anything.
Speaker 3: It's an interesting diconomy because, like you talked about, and
Speaker 3: it's funny saying one of the worst Chiefs teams you've
Speaker 3: seen of the Patrick Mahomes era or the worst because
Speaker 3: eleven wins is what most teams would strive for most years.
Speaker 2: But that's where they are right now.
Speaker 3: And you talk about the time off and I guess,
Speaker 3: you know, for Dolphins fans hoping that rust accumulated more
Speaker 3: than actual you know, rest help them. I'm curious what
Speaker 3: you think that time off for just going into the
Speaker 3: postseason or maybe the you know, the collection of experiences
Speaker 3: of the entire season.
Speaker 2: You know, again, it must be nice.
Speaker 3: To have issues using air quotes at eleven and six, right,
Speaker 3: But I'm curious what you think they can what how
Speaker 3: you think this Chiefs offense might rebound and look better
Speaker 3: heading into the playoffs.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Again, I'm going to go back to the weather a
Speaker 5: little bit, just because I really do think it'll be
Speaker 5: that much of a factor, Travis, that it's hard to
Speaker 5: talk generally about the Chiefs offense without talking about the weather.
Speaker 4: And how it's going to impact that.
Speaker 5: The Chiefs already lead the NFL in drops this season
Speaker 5: and have the highest drop rate among their receivers. Now,
Speaker 5: now they're going to play in a game where no
Speaker 5: one has ever felt a football as hard as that
Speaker 5: ball is going to be Saturday night.
Speaker 4: They just haven't.
Speaker 5: I mean, I can tell you from playing center when
Speaker 5: I was in Buffalo.
Speaker 4: The colder it is, the harder the.
Speaker 5: Ball gets, it becomes like a rock, right, like the
Speaker 5: air expands or whatever. And it's actually why some people
Speaker 5: like the ball. When there's a little bit less air
Speaker 5: in it, right, you can grip it better, you can
Speaker 5: palm it better.
Speaker 4: We don't need to go through you.
Speaker 5: Know, the history of organizations, you know, and all that stuff.
Speaker 5: But there's no doubt in my mind when I was
Speaker 5: playing the Warmer, it was the better for me as
Speaker 5: a center to be able to just squeeze the ball
Speaker 5: a little bit get a better grip on it. So
Speaker 5: what why I say that story is it's not easy
Speaker 5: to throw and catch that ball. It's like catching a rock.
Speaker 5: There's no give to it. You know, you're gonna have
Speaker 5: to have two hands on everything. The gloves are gonna
Speaker 5: have to stick it. So I think the Chiefs are
Speaker 5: gonna lean a lot on Isaiah Pacheco, I think they're
Speaker 5: gonna think, man, who wants to tackle that guy because
Speaker 5: he's like, he's like a rolling ball of butcher knives
Speaker 5: when he gets going, And so I think that's gonna
Speaker 5: be the chief's idea is to try to run with Pachecko.
Speaker 5: But I honestly think that should be what the Dolphins
Speaker 5: try to do a lot too. I mean, for the
Speaker 5: first time in a long time. You'd have to tell
Speaker 5: me when the last time was. They should have the
Speaker 5: two headed monster of Mos Dirt and Devon h Chan,
Speaker 5: by the way, the top two guys in the next
Speaker 5: gen GPS stats in terms of average miles per hour
Speaker 5: per carry in terms of their average miles per hour
Speaker 5: when they hit the last scrimmage. I would lean on
Speaker 5: those guys. I would lean on Moster and h And
Speaker 5: you got a two headed monster of the two fastest
Speaker 5: running backs.
Speaker 4: In the league right now.
Speaker 5: And they can still get the ball to two I
Speaker 5: mean to it can still get the ball to Tyreek
Speaker 5: and Waddle on some quick hitters and stuff. But I like,
Speaker 5: I think both teams will probably at least early lean
Speaker 5: on their ground attack.
Speaker 2: It would make sense.
Speaker 3: I mean, like we talked about the Dolphins run game,
Speaker 3: has found its identity a little bit here as the
Speaker 3: year has gone along, especially in that Cowboys game winning drive.
Speaker 3: They were almost exclusively on the ground on that final
Speaker 3: drive to get themselves into a big victory and clinch
Speaker 3: the playoff spot there. I have a quick question on
Speaker 3: the football, because I want to get your experience from
Speaker 3: playing in, you know, a cold game like this, So
Speaker 3: it's gonna be hard, it's gonna be slippery, right. Is
Speaker 3: there a different way that you kind of work up
Speaker 3: the football before the game and when it's gonna be
Speaker 3: like this compared to how you would do it in
Speaker 3: a you know, seventy degree Miami day.
Speaker 4: That is a quarterback thing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so, and I never knew anything about that or
Speaker 5: was part of those discussions. The quarterbacks are the ones
Speaker 5: that get sometime before.
Speaker 4: The game to work on the balls.
Speaker 5: The kickers too, but the quarterbacks, for the those are
Speaker 5: different balls that the kickers use versus what the offensive
Speaker 5: lineman and the quarterbacks use. So I don't know what
Speaker 5: they do to it. I don't know what they can
Speaker 5: do it due to it, to be honest with you.
Speaker 5: But it's absolutely a fact that the other thing is
Speaker 5: there will be more fumbles Travis, because it's like there,
Speaker 5: it's like you're carrying a rock balloon that's matched out
Speaker 5: with air, right, and it's it's gonna be like slippery,
Speaker 5: it'll pop, it'll pop out because it's so it's so robust,
Speaker 5: it's gonna be it's gonna be fascinating. Like I'm telling
Speaker 5: you right now, there's gonna be some fumbles on Saturday night,
Speaker 5: which could be the difference in the game.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it makes you know, it makes for
Speaker 3: fun for the people to watch it home, like you
Speaker 3: talk about there and now I hope you and an
Speaker 3: inside boot on the radio call.
Speaker 5: You know what's funny about that, dude. So my boss
Speaker 5: from Westwood One said, I knew I was getting two
Speaker 5: games this weekend because it's kind of in my contract
Speaker 5: or whatever, and so I knew i'd sideline for one
Speaker 5: in the booth for the other. And he said, all right,
Speaker 5: Saturday night, you're in Kansas City. And I was like,
Speaker 5: oh my. And in the booth, I thought, oh, thank goodness.
Speaker 5: And interestingly, Trav, the Chiefs radio booth is one of
Speaker 5: the only in the in the league that does not
Speaker 5: the window you cannot open, so and usually you like
Speaker 5: to have it open so you get a feel for
Speaker 5: the crowd, the atmosphere of the weather.
Speaker 4: I am very.
Speaker 5: Happy that it's impossible to open up that window in
Speaker 5: Kansas City because it's gonna be bad. Man, It's gonna
Speaker 5: be legitimately, legitimately bad.
Speaker 3: Yeah, steal that thing shut, man, don't let any errand
Speaker 3: to that thing, and keep it that. I toast you
Speaker 3: seventy five degrees in there. I have one more football
Speaker 3: question here for you, Ross, and you can put it
Speaker 3: through the prism of the cold weather if you'd like.
Speaker 3: But I have to ask this because to me, in
Speaker 3: a normal setting, it would be the most fascinating part
Speaker 3: of this matchup. TUA kills the blitz. The Chiefs blitz
Speaker 3: no matter what. They don't care who's.
Speaker 2: On the other side of the football.
Speaker 3: They're gonna send that dime heavy defense with DB's and
Speaker 3: you know, off the lion of scrimmage blitzers and come
Speaker 3: after you. They also played twenty percent dim in the
Speaker 3: back end there. So just curious how you see that
Speaker 3: part of the matchup shaking out. Does it even happen
Speaker 3: because the weather? What do you think about Chiefs blitz
Speaker 3: versus an offense that kills the blitz.
Speaker 5: Well, that's a really good point. And one thing we
Speaker 5: haven't talked about a lot yet is just the fact
Speaker 5: that this Chiefs defense, it's the best defense they've had
Speaker 5: in the Andy Reid era.
Speaker 4: I mean, they have been really good.
Speaker 5: That side of the ball has saved the Chiefs this year.
Speaker 5: If they had an average defense this year, their record
Speaker 5: would have really been rough.
Speaker 4: But that side of the ball save them. I think
Speaker 4: their third I read.
Speaker 5: In terms of bringing dB pressure, which is interesting, and
Speaker 5: they've had a lot of success with it. I would
Speaker 5: imagine they would still do it some. But man, when
Speaker 5: you're going against Waddle and Tyreek Hill and with as
Speaker 5: fast as Tua gets the ball out, I'm just not
Speaker 5: so sure they gonna they're gonna blitz all that much.
Speaker 5: And I know what you said about their statistics and stuff,
Speaker 5: but you don't want to give up something cheap and deep.
Speaker 5: You don't want to have any guys in man coverage
Speaker 5: against those guys without any safety help or anybody behind them.
Speaker 5: I don't think we're gonna see a ton of blitzing
Speaker 5: from the Chiefs. That would surprise me. Maybe I'm wrong,
Speaker 5: you know, I know we can do whatever he wants.
Speaker 5: But that would surprise me a little bit if they
Speaker 5: if they brought the pressure a lot because of just
Speaker 5: how good Tua is against the blitz and how quickly
Speaker 5: he gets rid of the ball.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it makes for a fun matchup, man. So two
Speaker 3: teams are fun and they match up in a really
Speaker 3: good way. And again, like you said, the weather, we'll
Speaker 3: have a big impact on that real quick. Ross Foy
Speaker 3: gets you out of here. One holiday season just edited.
Speaker 3: But for those out there with a significant other, a
Speaker 3: pretty important one coming up as well. Can you tell
Speaker 3: us about the best Valentine's Day gift ever?
Speaker 5: Thank you man. My buddy started this company, Travis. It's amazing.
Speaker 5: It's called myfront page story dot com. And believe it
Speaker 5: or not, Fellas Valentine's Day is a month away. You
Speaker 5: literally talk to one of their writers for like ten
Speaker 5: minutes while you're driving home from work, or you can
Speaker 5: do it what you can just fill out an email
Speaker 5: question like five questions, tell them how great your significant
Speaker 5: other is. They write this story and get pictures. It
Speaker 5: looks like it's on the cover of the newspaper. It's framed,
Speaker 5: it's beautiful, and the key is Travis to be able
Speaker 5: to say to somebody, hey, honey, I want you something
Speaker 5: special for you this year. So I had a story
Speaker 5: written about you like that just sounds amazing. And then
Speaker 5: when she actually reads it, like the quotes like make
Speaker 5: sure you say I just don't thank her enough for
Speaker 5: a little things she does.
Speaker 4: Bet they cry every time.
Speaker 5: See, even if you can't think of any little things
Speaker 5: your your wife does or whatever, you just say that line,
Speaker 5: they will cry.
Speaker 4: You will win.
Speaker 5: It's my paidstory dot com and then it'll be hanging
Speaker 5: up in the house forever. So it's like the gift
Speaker 5: that keeps on giving. My front page story dot com.
Speaker 5: Trust me, myfrontpagstory dot com.
Speaker 3: An easy way to get yourself year long accolades from
Speaker 3: the wife. It's a great idea there, Ross Tucker, I
Speaker 3: appreciate your time today, man, the Ross Tucker Football Podcast
Speaker 3: at Ross Tucker, NFL on Social Saturday night, eight o'clock
Speaker 3: on Peacock and Westwood One.
Speaker 2: Ross, you're the man, buddy, Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: My pleasure, Travis.
Speaker 5: Yeah, make sure you check it out my social media
Speaker 5: at Ross Tucker, NFL. So those of you, if you
Speaker 5: want to listen to our broadcast, I'll post the link,
Speaker 5: and of course I'll have the video of the press
Speaker 5: box food.
Speaker 4: They better, they better have some Kansas City barbecue. Travis,
Speaker 4: I'm hoping enjoy the game and say war my friend.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: There he goes.
Speaker 3: It's not very often the show here has someone that can,
Speaker 3: I guess, match or up my energy, but I think.
Speaker 2: Ross did that for us here on this episode.
Speaker 3: So appreciate him for coming on the podcast here, and
Speaker 3: of course you'll hear him on the call on Saturday night.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and take our first break right there.
Speaker 3: Back on the other side, picked the wild card playoff games,
Speaker 3: talk about the Dolphins injury luck this season, Predict a
Speaker 3: breakout player the game on Saturday night, and I'll close
Speaker 3: the podcast with a monologue from me to you Dolphins fans.
Speaker 3: That's all next Draft Time podcast to your host, Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 3: brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 2: So the great Ross Tucker.
Speaker 3: There a lot of fun check out that podcast, The
Speaker 3: Ross Tucker Football Podcast. Fun and entertaining and kind of
Speaker 3: you know, like I said, match my energy.
Speaker 2: There, which is hard to do.
Speaker 3: But speaking of funny guys who are entertaining, I wanted
Speaker 3: to play some additional audio for you guys ahead of
Speaker 3: this game, ahead of the playoff game picks because I
Speaker 3: thought that this tone, just compared to the rest of
Speaker 3: the season was a little bit different.
Speaker 6: It's just another game, you feel me. I mean, I've
Speaker 6: been in this league eight years, no man, and I'm
Speaker 6: gonna play it as just like any any of the opponent.
Speaker 6: You feel me, So you know, I'm excited about the opportunity.
Speaker 6: And they got a great team, and it's all I
Speaker 6: can say.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: I mean last time it was I'm gonna go break
Speaker 3: double coverage and score touchdowns and backlips until the peace
Speaker 3: sign up, right. And this is the part that I
Speaker 3: really love because well, let's just go ahead and play
Speaker 3: the audio. Here's Tyreek on his team MVP season.
Speaker 6: I mean, I've been busting my tail man, you know,
Speaker 6: dealing with a lot of stuff as far as injuries
Speaker 6: and stuff like that, man, and you know, just trying
Speaker 6: to get back to the basics.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 6: I try to kiss Judge like each and every day
Speaker 6: after practice, even though I don't got to, man, I
Speaker 6: try to get back to, like, you know, the things
Speaker 6: that got me to this point, you know, which is
Speaker 6: attention to detail, the fundamentals and the techniques man that
Speaker 6: you know, the coaches taught me or even my dad
Speaker 6: taught me.
Speaker 4: Man, going back to the roots.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: So yeah, like when like when you've done so much.
Speaker 6: Man, you gotta find new ways to like create new ways,
Speaker 6: you know.
Speaker 4: To entertain yourself.
Speaker 6: Man, because the season is long, the season gets born,
Speaker 6: and you know, yeah, I've said this before. You got
Speaker 6: to find out way to fall in love with the
Speaker 6: boring things. And for I kind of got away from
Speaker 6: that and now I'm back to it, man, refocusing just
Speaker 6: on you know, catching the ball and stuff like that,
Speaker 6: and I feel like I'd be all right.
Speaker 3: Nobody works hard at their craft than Tyreek Hill. It's
Speaker 3: interesting to hear him make that comment after he was
Speaker 3: in pursuit of two thousand yards and on track for
Speaker 3: two thousand yards when the ankle injury happened against the Titans.
Speaker 3: But also you see a guy that you know, he's
Speaker 3: limping off the field every other drive and toughing now
Speaker 3: for his teammates, so you can never question his toughness
Speaker 3: in his heart. In fact, we're gonna talk about injuries
Speaker 3: here in a second, and Tyrek almost never miss his games.
Speaker 2: So it's it's interesting that way, And I don't know.
Speaker 3: It just seems to me from listening to that audio
Speaker 3: and being in that locker room yesterday talking to the guys,
Speaker 3: and you know, I had a candid conversation with TWOA
Speaker 3: about he mentioned playing up in Seattle in high school
Speaker 3: and the and the wind and the rain in that game.
Speaker 3: And I stopped by and said, like, what where did
Speaker 3: you play that? Was it that century Link? And he's
Speaker 3: he told me, no, it wasn't a century Link. And
Speaker 3: then I walked away, and he came back by the
Speaker 3: locker room and like put both of his arms on
Speaker 3: my shoulders and then took the microphone from our video
Speaker 3: team was going and interviewing his teammates around the around
Speaker 3: the locker room. So like the locker room's ready, they're prepared.
Speaker 3: Tyreek seems to be very locked in. And that's why
Speaker 3: I am predicting a monster night for Tyreek Hill. Yes,
Speaker 3: the weather plays a factor, and that's why I'm not
Speaker 3: going two hundred yards, which I would if the game
Speaker 3: were down here. But let's say one twenty five in
Speaker 3: a touchdown, and how about a big play that swings
Speaker 3: the game as well. That's what I'll go with here.
Speaker 3: The attention that Watled's gonna command. Being on the field
Speaker 3: will open up some opportunities and if they don't good,
Speaker 3: throw the ball at Gelan Waddle. But I think Case
Speaker 3: will get a little bit arrogant in the way they
Speaker 3: deal with Tyreek, and I think he'll make them pay
Speaker 3: for that. And in fact, why don't we go ahead
Speaker 3: and lock the damn thing up? You know what, The
Speaker 3: Dolphins are gonna win this game. The predictions are coming
Speaker 3: up here in a second, but I'm gonna.
Speaker 2: Go ahead and lock it up.
Speaker 3: Dolphin's gonna win this game, baby, that's my prediction. I
Speaker 3: mentioned Tyreek's injury, speaking of injuries. Before we get to
Speaker 3: the game picks here, I want to make a note
Speaker 3: of something because even though we have the quarterback and
Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell you how exciting this night should be,
Speaker 3: I also want to display some context as we could
Speaker 3: be in the off season mode, you know, twenty four
Speaker 3: thirty six hours from now, depending on when you hear
Speaker 3: this podcast and why. Regardless of the outcome, it was
Speaker 3: a special season that I hope we can run back
Speaker 3: next year. And anyone that says otherwise about running it
Speaker 3: back that doesn't understand the cap cash flow or what
Speaker 3: financial flexibility is in the national football Like, they absolutely
Speaker 3: can't run this thing back next year. So you know
Speaker 3: that we lead the league in war lost to injuries
Speaker 3: sans quarterbacks, right, and war is wins above replacement, and
Speaker 3: it's by actually quite a lot. The only team that
Speaker 3: has lost more than two point zero war wins above
Speaker 3: replacement outside the quarterback position. Like what in baseball, a
Speaker 3: two win player is a good player. That's one hundred
Speaker 3: and sixty two game season. A two to win player
Speaker 3: is a decent player. In football, let's just actually look
Speaker 3: at the players we've lost for how many games the
Speaker 3: and measure that against their career average games loss, and
Speaker 3: also use approximate value, a Pro Football Reference stat that
Speaker 3: kind of measures a player's impact in the course of
Speaker 3: the season. So here it is Raheem Moster missed two games.
Speaker 3: We're gonna start the games missed in his career in
Speaker 3: twenty seventeen because prior to that he was a special
Speaker 3: team's fifth running back that never got much action. But
Speaker 3: when he got to the Niners and seventeen he was
Speaker 3: a full time running back. He missed six point two
Speaker 3: games per year previously in his career he missed two
Speaker 3: this year, so he's one of the odd ones in
Speaker 3: terms of missed less time than usual. His approximate value
Speaker 3: this year was eleven, which is a Pro Bowl caliber season.
Speaker 3: Devon eight Chan missed six games. He's a rookie, so
Speaker 3: there's no career precedent there. His approximate value was eight.
Speaker 3: If you're above five or six, you're a very impactful player.
Speaker 3: Tyreek Hill one game missed, and he misses less than
Speaker 3: one game in his career on average, so right in
Speaker 3: line with that. His approximate value was seventeen, which is
Speaker 3: MVP level good. Jalen Waddell missed three games. He averages
Speaker 3: a half game missed per year, So that's what I'm
Speaker 3: telling you, guys, this guy's missed. I know we talked about, oh,
Speaker 3: Chris Greer, injury injury prone players, like, first of all
Speaker 3: shut up two. Like a lot of guys missed more
Speaker 3: games than their career average, so you can't really say
Speaker 3: like it was doomed from the start. Waddle's approximate value
Speaker 3: was ten. That's close to Pro Bowl caliber. Tron Armstead
Speaker 3: missed seven games. He averaged just four point seven to
Speaker 3: five games missed in his career, so he missed almost
Speaker 3: double his average. His AV was seven this year. Isaiah
Speaker 3: Win missed ten games. His career average is the highest
Speaker 3: on the list eight, but he did miss ten.
Speaker 2: Games this year. His approximate value was four.
Speaker 3: Connor Williams missed eight games. His career average games missed
Speaker 3: one point seven to five. Just bad luck man. His
Speaker 3: AV was seven. Rob Hunt missed seven games. He had
Speaker 3: never missed a game before this year. His AV was seven.
Speaker 3: Austin Jackson missed one game this year. His career average
Speaker 3: was eight, but that's because he missed all of last year.
Speaker 3: You know it just it was injury that kind of
Speaker 3: doomed his entire season. That one's a little bit of
Speaker 3: an outlier there, but his.
Speaker 2: AV was nine.
Speaker 3: We missed him for one game. Deerm Smith missed one game.
Speaker 3: He averages less than one game, missed AV four. Jalen
Speaker 3: Phillips missed nine games. He had never missed a game
Speaker 3: prior to this in his career. His AV was seven.
Speaker 3: Bradley Chubb miss one game. His career average was four
Speaker 3: point eight, so he, like most, are one of those
Speaker 3: guys that got you more than what you're used to.
Speaker 3: In his career, past. He had an AV of ten
Speaker 3: this year. It's right in the Pro Bowl range. Andrew
Speaker 3: van Ginkel technically like zero games missed this year, but
Speaker 3: he did come out in the last game, and he'll
Speaker 3: miss Sunday's game obvious or Saturday's game obviously. He missed
Speaker 3: ten games his rookie year with an injury in training camp,
Speaker 3: but prior to that or after that, he hadn't miss
Speaker 3: any games in his career. His AV this year was seven.
Speaker 3: Jerome Baker missed four games this year, hadn't missed one before.
Speaker 2: His AV was six.
Speaker 3: Jalen Ramsey missed half the season eight games prior to that,
Speaker 3: averaged less than one game missed if you don't include
Speaker 3: the holdout he had when he wanted out of Jacksonville.
Speaker 2: But injuries.
Speaker 3: He missed less than one game per year in his career,
Speaker 3: and he had AV of seven despite missing half the season,
Speaker 3: which tells you he was a DePoy candidate if he
Speaker 3: played the entire year. Xaviing Howard missed four games, he
Speaker 3: averages less than three games missed in his career per season.
Speaker 2: His AV was nine.
Speaker 3: Javon Holland missed five games. His career average point five
Speaker 3: games per year, his av was five, and Deshaun Elliott
Speaker 3: missed two games.
Speaker 2: His career average is five.
Speaker 3: So really moster Chubb and Elliott were the two ones above,
Speaker 3: but pretty much everybody else either right in line or
Speaker 3: well above their career average in games missed.
Speaker 2: It's bad luck.
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and pick the postseason here, and go
Speaker 3: ahead and fire up the music as we do that,
Speaker 3: because quite frankly, and I'll update the divisional round when
Speaker 3: I'm inevitably wrong about this, because this is the toughest
Speaker 3: plate of wild card games to pick. I can recall
Speaker 3: because it starts with the opener that I have no
Speaker 3: idea who to take. Who's gonna wait in Cleveland or Houston?
Speaker 3: I don't freaking know, dude. I'm taking the Texans because they're.
Speaker 2: At home and I like their quarterback better.
Speaker 3: But both teams are banged up as hell. I don't
Speaker 3: trust Joe Flacco's miracle ride to continue. I'll probably be
Speaker 3: wrong on that, but I'm taking the Texans. I'm taking
Speaker 3: the Dolphins over the Chiefs. I already locked it up.
Speaker 3: You already know, damn straight run the football for two
Speaker 3: hundred yards, get Tyreek going and get some takeaways.
Speaker 2: Let's go win the football game.
Speaker 3: I'm taking Buffalo over Pittsburgh. I don't want that to happened,
Speaker 3: but that's probably gonna happen. Dallas over Green Bay. You know,
Speaker 3: Dallas at home's a different beast, and you know the Packers'
Speaker 3: defense is lastrocious.
Speaker 2: Dallas probably scores forty in that game.
Speaker 3: Rams over Lions Stafford goes back into that building and
Speaker 3: tears their hearts out.
Speaker 2: How tough would that be for Lions fans? But I
Speaker 2: expect it.
Speaker 3: And then Philly over Tampa Bay, despite my buddy here
Speaker 3: JT saying that the Eagles is not gonna win a.
Speaker 2: Game for the rest of their life.
Speaker 3: So picking the Eagles to beat the Baker Mayfield Bucks.
Speaker 3: Then I'm gonna go Baltimore over Miami in the divisional round,
Speaker 3: with Buffalo over Houston in the divisional round.
Speaker 2: So Baltimore Buffalo aft championship game games Sims.
Speaker 3: Quinn, Niners over the Rams, Cowboys over the Eagles, and
Speaker 3: then Baltimore over Buffalo and Niners over Cowboys, with Baltimore over.
Speaker 2: San Francisco in the Super Bowl. So that's my picks there.
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and take our last break right there
Speaker 3: and come back on the other side. I have a
Speaker 3: monologue that I'm pumped to bring you guys. A last
Speaker 3: word I'm gonna say before we get out of here
Speaker 3: ahead of the playoff game. That's next Draft Time podcast,
Speaker 3: your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Speaker 3: I wanted to end today's show by talking straight to you,
Speaker 3: the fans, bringing in a little bit closer and let's
Speaker 3: make my contact here from one die hard from day
Speaker 3: one to another to the others. Well, I should say,
Speaker 3: you know, when I was six, seven, maybe even eight
Speaker 3: years old, I was just a football fan, you know,
Speaker 3: growing up in eastern Washington. Every Christmas and Birthday I
Speaker 3: asked for new jerseys like I remember Joey Galloway for
Speaker 3: the Seahawks, Ricky Williams for the Saints, war Done for
Speaker 3: the Buccaneers jerseys and video games. The two things I
Speaker 3: cared about in life were sports and video games, and
Speaker 3: the video games were almost exclusively sports video games all
Speaker 3: I cared about my whole life with sports for that matter.
Speaker 3: But the more memorabilia that we acquired, the more we
Speaker 3: realized the overwhelming majority of said memorabilia was becoming aqua
Speaker 3: and orange, and when I say me, it's me and
Speaker 3: my brother, who's also a big time Dolphins fan. My
Speaker 3: dad used to have a subscription to Sports Illustrated and
Speaker 3: we would always capitalize on those offers. You know, buy
Speaker 3: this bud like koozy and get a free Dolphins belt
Speaker 3: buckle with your next purchase of SI's annual membership. Yes, zoomers,
Speaker 3: that is how the world used to work in the day.
Speaker 3: The one that really sold me on the Dolphins, well,
Speaker 3: I guess it was twofold, but I distinctly remember the
Speaker 3: opportunity to purchase replica championship rings. And when I tell you,
Speaker 3: I rocked my Dolphins Super Bowl ring with pride alongside
Speaker 3: that mid nineties starter jacket, the jacket that was so
Speaker 3: puffy a windy day would take you away.
Speaker 2: Man, those were the golden days. I rocked that crap
Speaker 2: with pride.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: I remember those late nineties early two thousands playoff games
Speaker 3: like they were yesterday.
Speaker 2: I remember the Colts game.
Speaker 3: We used to pull the mattress of the futon from
Speaker 3: my stepbrother's room out into the living room to have
Speaker 3: these campouts to wake up on Sundays to football. Remember
Speaker 3: ten o'clock am kickoffs in the Pacific time zone. I
Speaker 3: also remember my basketball career interfering with most of those games,
Speaker 3: like after we had won a game on Saturday in
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety nine and breaking the team.
Speaker 2: Huddle with go Dolphins.
Speaker 3: I did that only to get home at halftime to
Speaker 3: see a forty one to seven deficit in Dan Marino's
Speaker 3: last game. And that was the week after I My
Speaker 3: dad had a pick them pool at his work that
Speaker 3: he let my brother and I do.
Speaker 2: It was one dollar a week. We all got our
Speaker 2: own picks. It was fun.
Speaker 3: And then I forget the size of the pot for
Speaker 3: the playoffs, but it was huge, probably a hundred bucks
Speaker 3: met back then. But I was the only person in
Speaker 3: the entire pool to pick Miami over Seattle in the
Speaker 3: wild card round, which actually was the first time a
Speaker 3: six to three beat a three seed in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: And my brother and dad pleaded with me, like, no, tomorrow,
Speaker 3: please pick Jacksonville Travis.
Speaker 2: Not a chance in hell, bucko.
Speaker 3: We could all learn something from twelve year old Travis,
Speaker 3: who only knew how to support his favorite team and
Speaker 3: do nothing else. I remember dancing around the Futon campground
Speaker 3: when Lamar Smith found pay dirt In two thousand, I
Speaker 3: remember I had a basketball practice actually outdoors, because we
Speaker 3: were like a AAU team that didn't have access to
Speaker 3: a gym. We had an outdoor practice in Washington State
Speaker 3: in January freezing ass cold, and I remember practicing outside
Speaker 3: for this basketball team ahead of the matchup against the
Speaker 3: Raiders that we got shut out in twenty sixth and
Speaker 3: I think it was I remember watching the two thousand
Speaker 3: and two Jets Packers finale that bumped us out of
Speaker 3: the playoffs with friends at my house consoling me that
Speaker 3: day after a late season collapse with losses to Minnesota
Speaker 3: and New England, after you held an eleven point lead
Speaker 3: with four minutes to play, blowing both those games, and
Speaker 3: the Packers, who were twelve and fourteen, losing to the
Speaker 3: nine to seven Jets to get them into the playoffs,
Speaker 3: and Jamar Fletcher did not commit DEPI.
Speaker 2: By the way, and that was kind of it for
Speaker 2: a long time.
Speaker 3: Yes, we had eight and I watched the VHS copy
Speaker 3: of that game at the Meadowlands in eight every day
Speaker 3: for the week leading.
Speaker 2: Up to the Baltimore game.
Speaker 3: That year, we had the fun twenty sixteen run with
Speaker 3: Matt Moore but were Lams to the.
Speaker 2: Slaughter in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: Aside from that, it had been which of these impending
Speaker 3: free agents on these playoff teams do I hope Miami signs?
Speaker 2: It was mock drafts.
Speaker 3: It was yearning for playing in these games, just to
Speaker 3: see Miami make it in a big playoff elimination game,
Speaker 3: even in late December in the regular season.
Speaker 2: That was all we wanted for years, me at least.
Speaker 3: And now we're back the second straight year, the first
Speaker 3: time we've had that since the Futon Campground days. It's
Speaker 3: the first time we have our quarterback, one who's also
Speaker 3: starting in the Pro Bowl and led the NFL in passing,
Speaker 3: by the way, starting in a playoff game since that
Speaker 3: eight debacle fifteen years ago. But you see, for me,
Speaker 3: it changed a few years ago. I did my first podcast,
Speaker 3: I'll Never Forget It October twenty seventh, twenty sixteen. We
Speaker 3: dropped three episodes breaking down Adam Gase's offense, fans Joseph's defense,
Speaker 3: and a game review of the Bills game that we
Speaker 3: had just won, the one that was a twenty eight
Speaker 3: to twenty five victory where Tannehill found Kenny Stills for
Speaker 3: a sixty yard touchdown on third down to put the
Speaker 3: game on ice.
Speaker 2: Kevin Durna and I, my co host back then started
Speaker 2: the podcast conceptually.
Speaker 3: When we were one and four that year, and then
Speaker 3: we proceeded to go on a six game winning streak
Speaker 3: before getting blown out in Baltimore, but then won the
Speaker 3: next three games to clinch a birth on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 3: The next year, I got hired by Lockdown, but he
Speaker 3: was but was really doing it more for fun than
Speaker 3: anything else. I'll never forget the first call I got
Speaker 3: from David Locke, who said, I can't pay you a salary,
Speaker 3: but you can go on a nice vacation with the
Speaker 3: money you make each year.
Speaker 2: Cool, you know.
Speaker 3: A few years later, though, the podcast was getting more
Speaker 3: and more traction, and I decided I wanted to pursue
Speaker 3: the dream full time of doing this.
Speaker 2: I had been writing for many years.
Speaker 3: My first byline actually was two Backs better than One
Speaker 3: question Mark, and it was about the combination of Ricky
Speaker 3: and Ronnie back in two thousand and eight. But I
Speaker 3: was in position to do that and go back to
Speaker 3: school to get my degree just a few credit shy
Speaker 3: of my AA, so I went back to JUCO before
Speaker 3: eventually transferring to WSU. And I bring that up because
Speaker 3: I always will remember those hour long commutes in the
Speaker 3: freezing cold months of the winter ahead of the draft,
Speaker 3: listening to exclusively football podcasts and literally podcasts like the
Speaker 3: Matt Miller guy, who I don't really like his takes
Speaker 3: that much or his draft knowledge because I don't think
Speaker 3: he does it the right way. I would listen to
Speaker 3: his podcast with his brother and they would do like
Speaker 3: two man mock drafts like every damn day, and I
Speaker 3: listened to.
Speaker 2: That, like please pick two with the fifth pick. I
Speaker 2: was desperate for it.
Speaker 3: I wanted to see a winner, man, And so I've
Speaker 3: been thinking about that. I've been thinking about where we
Speaker 3: are as fans of this team, where we've come, and
Speaker 3: where I think we'll go, because not that long ago
Speaker 3: we were so thirsty for any amount of success. And
Speaker 3: now somehow an eleven and six season just has a
Speaker 3: generally strange vibe around it. And that's purely speaking from Twitter, right,
Speaker 3: which we know is not real life, so who knows,
Speaker 3: but that's what you're inundated with, right. I think perspective
Speaker 3: is key. If you guys saw the Hard Knocks episode,
Speaker 3: how about the great Drew Brooks story.
Speaker 2: Our head of security here.
Speaker 3: I wasn't even aware of his backstory, just knew that
Speaker 3: Drew was the absolute best guy possible. But like perspective, right,
Speaker 3: perspective is everything, because Sunday night felt like utter devastation, right, hell,
Speaker 3: every loss kind of did this year. The only one
Speaker 3: that didn't derail my mood was the Eagles loss the
Speaker 3: NFC game. It didn't, you know, the officiating was out
Speaker 3: of whack that night. I guess it just wasn't the
Speaker 3: same one. But the other ones were brutal, each one
Speaker 3: of them. The Bills lost the first one, the freaking
Speaker 3: the Chiefs loss. I was distraught for two weeks. The
Speaker 3: Titans lost, you guys know how that was, and then
Speaker 3: the last two, my god, And even earlier this year
Speaker 3: when we were rolling, I would always tell my wife
Speaker 3: the odds are, because no one ever has.
Speaker 2: Great odds to go to the Super Bowl, the.
Speaker 3: Odds are that this season will end at some point
Speaker 3: in devastating fashion. But that's so much better than what
Speaker 3: you're used to. A fan of a certain age of
Speaker 3: this team hasn't really endured that late January devastation. Right
Speaker 3: last AFC championship game we played was nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 3: and it hurts. It hurts now more than it ever
Speaker 3: has for me personally. Yeah, oh wait, sucked, But that
Speaker 3: Ravens team was just a flat out better football team.
Speaker 3: They just were This Dolphins team, you know, six weeks ago,
Speaker 3: with a decent bill of health, I would still argue
Speaker 3: was one of the three best teams in the NFL. Hell,
Speaker 3: when it was fourteen thirteen, two weeks ago in Baltimore,
Speaker 3: I tweeted, these are the two best teams in the AFC,
Speaker 3: and it ain't particularly close. I still believe that it
Speaker 3: was clear to me they were.
Speaker 2: But lots can change.
Speaker 3: But bring it back to how devastation is worse, but
Speaker 3: in that way better than the devastation of the end
Speaker 3: of the twenty sixteen season or.
Speaker 2: Even two thousand and eight.
Speaker 3: This is something that I've been read conciling with internally
Speaker 3: for a couple of weeks. I told you guys that
Speaker 3: my family was back home during the Ravens game, right,
Speaker 3: so I felt with a lot of quiet time, I
Speaker 3: just had so much time to let my brain wander
Speaker 3: and think. And I experience this with my Mariners. I mean,
Speaker 3: the Marrors were out of contention by June every damn year,
Speaker 3: and the hurt of the season ending before it ever
Speaker 3: got off the ground.
Speaker 2: It sucks for like.
Speaker 3: A week, but then you get over it and you
Speaker 3: go for a walk or something. But losing when you're
Speaker 3: a contender, when you have the Astros on the ropes
Speaker 3: in game one of the Alds only to get swept,
Speaker 3: that is so hard to come back from. It's like, who,
Speaker 3: how do I care about may baseball?
Speaker 4: Again?
Speaker 3: It's like dying in a video game and level one,
Speaker 3: who the hell cares? Just started back over again? But
Speaker 3: level twenty and you have to climb the mountain again.
Speaker 3: It's daunting as hell, And suddenly you're no longer anticipating
Speaker 3: OTAs or training camp or even the preseason. Maybe even
Speaker 3: for some fans, maybe you're not that juice about the
Speaker 3: September games. Like I used to always ask Patriots fans,
Speaker 3: do you even get excited for an October two game
Speaker 3: against the Buffalo Bills, a team you've beaten thirty team
Speaker 3: straight times?
Speaker 2: Whatever?
Speaker 3: Because you just want to get back to this spot
Speaker 3: right here. But man, the only reason you did look
Speaker 3: forward to OTAs was because you were probably eliminated by November,
Speaker 3: so the heartbreak is harder, but I promise you it's
Speaker 3: better than all those years of boring ass football just
Speaker 3: hoping to get in, even if you had no chance
Speaker 3: to win.
Speaker 2: You just wanted to get in and compete with those teams.
Speaker 3: And that takes me to the idea of the whole
Speaker 3: replace and move on from crowd, just stop it. Like
Speaker 3: McDaniel and Tua are funny the ones man, we got them,
Speaker 3: They're here there ares. Let's grow with those guys. Let's
Speaker 3: enjoy continuity. Let's watch them standing the progress and play
Speaker 3: in big games every single year. Because even if you
Speaker 3: have to endure three more seasons like this, like Peyton
Speaker 3: Manning did, like Drew Brees did, like Lamar Jackson currently
Speaker 3: is doing, if you just break through one time, nothing
Speaker 3: else will matter.
Speaker 2: And I tweeted about this.
Speaker 3: You know, as a reporter or whatever role you have
Speaker 3: in covering football or sports, your top priority is to
Speaker 3: not be the story, right, And this wasn't me being
Speaker 3: the story, But I just thought you, guys of anyone
Speaker 3: could understand this moment I had in coach's Thursday press conference,
Speaker 3: and I'm so glad I asked it because it was simple,
Speaker 3: a simple question that anyone could have asked, but there
Speaker 3: was something special about to me that Coach answered this
Speaker 3: question while addressing me specifically. And that's how we're going
Speaker 3: to end the show today. Here's Coach on what it
Speaker 3: would mean to end the twenty three year playoff drought,
Speaker 3: and we're gonna just no outro close the show right
Speaker 3: there with Mike McDaniel Slady would be the franchises first
Speaker 3: in the postseason for twenty three years.
Speaker 2: What would that breaking that drought mean to you?
Speaker 7: Well, I mean, I've been saying a quarter century just
Speaker 7: because it's a it's more impactful. But I've been saying
Speaker 7: means that. I've been saying it a lot, which means
Speaker 7: it means a lot I've been It's one of the
Speaker 7: first things I said that talked about my first day
Speaker 7: on the job, because you have to understand what the
Speaker 7: the passions that your fan base are, the the experiences
Speaker 7: they have had, what they're harboring, and then what it
Speaker 7: will feel like to bring people that joy of, you know,
Speaker 7: rooting for a team for that long and then to
Speaker 7: to not be able to experience at least one postseason win.
Speaker 2: That's that's rough. That is rough that.
Speaker 7: Myself and the whole organization want to deliver on, you know,
Speaker 7: ending that and and doing right by all those years
Speaker 7: of passion. I also think it's something really cool to achieve.
Speaker 7: So I've been leaning on that. You know, both seasons
Speaker 7: have been here. We've talked about it on my first
Speaker 7: team meeting this week when we're beginning this prep because
Speaker 7: it that that is an obstacle, but generally obstacles have
Speaker 7: a if there's a huge pot of gold, so to speak.
Speaker 7: When there are obstacles, there's a saying that I just
Speaker 7: came up with right now adversity as opportunity just right now,
Speaker 7: live speed. But that's why because it's like, wow, that yes,
Speaker 7: that that is.
Speaker 4: That is.
Speaker 7: How great would it feel to be able to be
Speaker 7: the team that that that ends that drought? And uh
Speaker 7: for a fan base that is very steadfast and hungry
Speaker 7: and you know, we we have a lot of love
Speaker 7: for for our fans and so it's a it's a
Speaker 7: big deal that comes that that you don't chase directly.
Speaker 7: You know it's there, but you're if you worry about
Speaker 7: constantly your technique, fundamentals and execution of your job, that's
Speaker 7: that's something that is a reward waiting for a job
Speaker 7: well done.