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