To on the move, going deep speedways Peace do hell peas from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
He's got my hands in the playoffs.
What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, forty eight hours out, are you guys ready for playoff football? Have you scraped yourself up off the mat from all the woe was me the last couple of weeks? Are you ready to go into the house of the defending champions and get the first playoff victory you've seen since you were in sixth grade? If you're thirty six years old, That's where I'm at. Let's go get ourselves a big victory.
More on that on a nice monologue I have planned for Friday. I'm very excited to bring to you guys. But today let's keep the Chiefs Perspective rolling. The great bj Kissel from the KC Sports Network joins us for
the Chiefs Perspective. Plus, we'll chat with head coach Mike McDaniel, offensive coordinator Frank Smith, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, and quarterback to a tongue Bai loa about the cold, the Chiefs Blitz incorporating Justin Houston and Bruce Irvin, and so much more from the Baptist hellth Studios inside the Baptist Health
Training Complex. This is the Draft Time podcast. Hey, welcome in my guest today back from week nine, making a repeat appearance, just like the Chiefs and Dolphins rematch, bj Kissel and in time for the rematch on Saturday. Is a redo of our podcast from back in week nine from Casey Sports, the network founder and CEO, bj Kissel. Bj. Here we go again, man, How you doing, Bud?
I'm doing well.
That's the matchup that we all expected right in, you know, negative fifteen degree winshow weather whatever, it's going to be out there. But oh yeah, it's gonna be a fun one. No shortage of storylines going into this one. Traps.
Yeah, I thought that when we played that game back in Germany it was going to be a one two seeded rematch in the AFC Championship game. We get as the three to six game here in the wildcard round. Conversely, but everyone gets what they kind of wanted to see
the first time around Tyreek back in Kansas City. But I want to start here because you mentioned you know the weather and the conditions heading into this game, and I would like for you to help me convey to our fantastic video and content team here in the Calm staff, who has to also be in the sideline on game night, give me your stay warm game plan as a member of the team that does this quite frequently.
That's a great question. I'm not sure there's anything that can really prepare you for that kind of weather, especially if there's wind and you add a little bit of moisture. Any bit of being cold is one thing. You can manage that, but if it sleeps, if it rains a little bit and you get wet, there's really not a
whole lot that you could do. Now as a fan, Arrowhead has actually come out and said that they're allowing fans to bring in pieces of cardboard to stand on, a trick that I learned as a kid going to Arrowhead, and then they kind of outlawed, you know, you couldn't bring in things like that, which they've since changed because they to adapt to the people that are willing to come out and watch a game in this kind of temperature giving them every advantage possible. But yeah, just lots
of layers bundle up and then just keep moving. At this point, you know, some of the players will get like the scuba gear, like the wet suits. I've heard Alex Smith talk about that in the years past that he actually learned that from Tom. He was Tom Brady actually as the first person he here talk about that, and so I think Patrick Mahlomes does the same thing. But yeah, just I'm not sure there's anything that's going to prepare you, because that's a whole different level of cold that we
haven't even experienced so far. It's gotten cold here, but it definitely is going to fall off a cliff over the next few days.
Yeah, not that cold, just real quick. Because I heard the wet suit thing as well. Did Alex Smith ever talk about how restrictive that might be. I imagine there's risk reward with anything you do, but staying warm is obviously imperative, But I feel like that would be pretty restrictive.
Yeah, I don't I never asked him that specifically. I don't hear him talk about that, but I would just assume that nowadays, the amount of money that's being you know, earned in games like this, and the amount of technology that's out there that if it would be too restrictive, they'd create one that isn't and they would do something
to figure that part of it out. But yeah, I was spent the week talking with some former guys and you know they're talking about, well, what are day when we had cold games like this, they didn't have the heated benches and the heated helmet holders and the heated things for your feet to sit on when you're on the bench. The guys will actually be pretty decently taken care of on the sideline, even with the temperatures being what they are.
And the Chiefs do.
Have at Arrowhead, they've got the coil system underneath the field and so the field will not be rock hard. They've got a bunch of basically like tubes and pipes underneath the state, underneath the actual field that heat up, that raised the temperature of the actual playing surface, and so the field will not be super hard. It should be nice and soft, and if it gets cold enough, you'll actually see steam coming up off the field, which is a pretty cool.
It leads to some pretty cool photos.
So let your content team know they get down there, they get early enough and you really like down in the grass, we'll see it. You get some really cool slow mode videos we've done in the past. I've seen it in the past with the Chiefs video crew. They've done some really cool stuff kind of showing just how warm the field is again with you know, negative temperatures or at least negative windshill by the time the game starts Saturday night.
I think this is a game that's a great uniform aesthetic as well. So there's all kinds of scenes that we're going to see on Saturday Night that's gonna be really cool for people that shoot the stuff and just to watch on TV as well. So looking forward to that. Let's go back to the to the game back in week number nine, and we've done this from our perspective, ay, so I want to get the Chiefs perspective on this
the rematch. Not too often these two teams play twice in the same season, you know, like a divisional opponent would be what do you think Kansas City can take from that game? You know, what was that two months ago? And how do you think it benefits of heading into this one.
I think it benefits them in just that when they go into their prep at just as a core level of what the defense likes to do, what the offense likes to do. There's a foundational understanding of schematically what the teams like to do. Now, how do they call games? I mean, I know Miami's gonna be complete different. We didn't see a chain. I think it's hot.
How do you say his name? A chain? Okay, I haven't forturing that all the week. Ah, he wasn't in the game the last time.
And then on the other side, there's a bunch of injuries, so you're gonna have guys on the defensive side. I would assume, like a Justin Houston hadn't played all year with you guys that are gonna have to get out there just because of the injury situation. So I think it helps not have to learn a completely new scheme.
There's a fundamental understanding, but the way the games are called Week nine was so long ago for what the Chiefs have kind of developed into this year, which is more of a defensive minded team with the offense kind of struggling compared to what we've seen in years past, and then with Miami with the injuries obviously different guys not playing and them kind of that chess match of By the time week nine, you have a certain amount of things on tape that people are reacting to that
you're doing matchups for when you get ready to go and play week ten, week eleven, week twelve, By the time you get to what week nineteen, things can be completely different, whole different set of information and variables that are out there to try and put together a game plan. So I think it'll help, but you know, not too much.
I remember that game. We were so excited about the potential of going into a bye week with the you know, seven to two mark and a number one seed in our back pocket. Didn't happen that way. But also the idea was this team is getting healthier.
You know.
That was Jalen Ramsey's first game back, and Rob Hunt wasn't quite back yet, but it was supposed to get there, and Devon Ahm was coming off the IR the next week, and things just have gone the opposite direction. I mean, that's that's how this league works, right. It's kind of for us, you know, as a Dolphins fan, we've for so long been trying to be that six seventh seed try to punch our way into the playoffs and hope
to get a big upset. But now we've kind of taken that, you know, next step and being a top contender type of team, and you learn that even in a year that feels like your year, it doesn't always shake out that way because things can happen in the sport that are just out of your control. So it's it's been difficult in that way, but the beauty of it all is that we were good enough to get into this position and give ourselves a chance. That's what Dolphins fans have to look forward to in this one.
But they're coming into a game against a team that is, you know, famous for having an extra week of prep, and you like that to unveil some new type of wrinkles in their offense. It ultimately gives them success off of bye weeks, because you know, the Reid Mahomes off of a buye has been deadly in the past. I'm curious were they able to get extra work ahead of time because they didn't know who their opponent was going
to be. I mean, I can't imagine you would just completely sacrifice the Week eight team game even though you didn't play all your starters. I'm curious how you think the time off and resting starters, whether it's game plan just overall health. In what ways do you think that benefits kansasity in this one.
Any Wey kind of talked about during the week, and I think it falls in line with what he said in the past in these situations that you have your quality control guys, you have the guys on the personnel staff that are doing your advance scouting anyway, and so it is a benefit in that regard that they were studying Pittsburgh and some of the couple of teams that the Chiefs Houston, a couple of in Indianapolis being the other one teams that the Chiefs did not play in
their regular season. There was a chance going into last week that they may end up playing depending upon how Week eighteen played out with some of the other games. So I do think in that regard was probably a benefit that they ended up playing a team that they're familiar with.
But I don't know how.
Many resources were used to game plan against the Chargers. I think that all eyes they can say whatever they want, but their eyes were on the playoffs and who they may end up facing and so, but Andy Reid had talked about it that I think Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelseel's guys are arresting.
They were game planning for this. And you know.
I've only covered or been around day to day Andy Reid, I don't.
Know how all the other NFL coaches would do it.
I'd be surprised if they didn't all have, you know, this same line of thinking. And that one of the reasons that Andy Reid is so good at what he does and putting things on tape. And Andy Reid knows what's on tape, so he knows what defenses know about how they operate, and so he'll put out a lot of plays that look the exact same. There's a lot of window dressing with what they do anyway, but there's a lot of situations where they will have the same formation,
same personnel group. It'll look like a play that they've maybe run multiple times during the regular season that the defense will see it and think they know what's coming, and there will be a counter or a ring to it to kind of play off what they've already put on tape. They've got, you know, iterations of the same play in all different kinds of ways, and so I don't know how much of it is installing new things as it is showing things that they've repped in practiced
but they haven't necessarily put on game tape yet. Just a little bit of a wrinkle and things that you and I and nobody else would know except for the guys on the field and the coaches, seeing how guys react to certain things and then countering off that something Andy Reid's been very good at. It's a chess match that I love kind of understanding while knowing I really have no idea.
Wow, it's all working.
But that's what makes it so intriguing for me in being able to study and watch the Chiefs play and to get into the playoffs, they can start unveiling some of those plays where it looks similar to something we've seen in the past, but there's just something slightly different going on with it.
The more you learn about football, the more you realize how little you actually know about football, right, So how it always goes, that's anyone who's opinion I respect and take, you know, take seriously, that's usually their mantra as well. So it's it's good company to have that perspective and you talk about you know, I love this time of year obviously just to watch the NFL in general because
of what you talked about there. Like I go back to the I think it was twenty fourteen when the Patriots and Ravens had one of those great playoff matchups and the Patriots unveiled that ineligible like shift of guys that were eligible out wide, and like whatever it was, it's just you get those cool wrinkles. And when you see Andy Reid and Mike McDaniel, you know you're going
to get some of that vic fangiosti spagnolo. So I expect to see a bunch of you know, different new things and like you talked about wrinkles, and it's gonna be fun to watch how both teams and coaching staffs adjust to that. Speaking of Andy Reid and that Chiefs offense, let's go back to that spot of the of the field here, because it's just not what this team has
been known to be in the past. I mean, offensively, that bar is so high that when you're what the tenth best offense, it's like, what's wrong with the Chiefs. But like we've had our first top to offense in like twenty five years, so pretty good for us. What do you think has or why do you think it's been such a struggle on that side air quote a struggle and how do you think they fixed that struggle heading into the second season here?
I think it's a lot of new faces.
We knew coming into this year that they were they isn't the chief personnel staff, coaching staff, all of them together. They were banking on a lot of development from a lot of young receivers and guys understanding that in Andy Reid's offense, and again it may be the same across
the entire NFL. I don't know, but you know they're not necessarily plays called with specific routes sometimes and a lot of times these guys, the receivers don't know what route they're running until they line up and see what the defense is lined up in. And when you do that, you need all five of your guys running out routes or if a guy staying in the block, you need all of your guys knowing that you see it the
same way and that they ready. If this is the leverage of where the linebacker, where the safety is, this is where I break my route off, I break it off early. If I stem in a different way, they all have to read it and see it the same way, and Patrick Mahomes needs to trust that they'll be in the right situate, in the right place at the right time.
And that's just that has been off. Whether it's guys sitting against zone coverage, guys will kind of lean toward towards the leverage a little bit and the throw will be behind him. And it's a conversation that we have amongst chiefs fans all the time, and that you know, some fans will see like that's an inaccurate past the players reaching behind it. But then when you step back and watch the video and you see the playing zone coverage, you see him, the receiver turnaround and then start sliding
towards the linebacker getting close to him. He throws it behind him because Mahome's like, why are you sliding towards the leverage. That's where you're supposed to sit. And so it's just getting on the same page of where to sit, versa on how to stem certain routes based on where
the defensive players are. And that's a tricky thing within Andy Reid's offense, and that I heard years ago a player told me is Chris Conlin told me he's a very cerebral player, very intelligent player, and he said that Andy Reid's offense is a living, breathing thing and that there's always an answer for anything that you see. There's never a play pass, play call where there's not somebody that's going to be opened if they're reading it the
correct way. And so something in the past that they were so good at with a lot of the receivers that have been here, this young group just hasn't quite
got there yet. And when Patrick Mahomes having to let go of the ball before a guy makes his break, not one hundred percent knowing if he's going to make his break at the correct spot and if he doesn't or if he runs the wrong way, very easy interception in a lot of these cases, and so trust and believing those guys are going to be in the right spot and then getting to the right spot has just
been a struggle for this group. And they've talked about simplifying the offense, doing different things they can to try to make it to where everybody's more comfortable that at least that's what was reported of the last few weeks. We'll see how it gets to this point. But that's been the struggle and something that we don't expect just to click and all of a sudden fix itself and
everything's fine. This is a long development thing that we haven't really seen a whole lot of development from throughout the season.
I'm glad to hear your perspective on that because you know, as you know this, this Dolphins offense is very similar in the way that it attacks spots of the defense and those zones and you don't get a lot of man coverage when you have Tyreek kill and then wall on the field, So attacking those zones with timing and
precision like it's you know. Jtos Ullivan the Quarterback School, a host and creator, always talks about how sometimes these timing rhythm offenses San Francisco, Miami, Kansas City, well when it's off, it can look really bad, but it's like just barely a miss because of that timing. So really
cool perspective there. I like when someone besides me on my show says that, because sometimes, like Travis, you're just being in Dolphins home where it's like, no, it's it's how it actually is so a very good perspective there and something that you know, I think both these teams are gonna have to be sharpon to find victory in this game on Saturday Night. One more question before our break, and I'm gonna come back on the other side with
some quick hits for you, BJ. But let's go to the other side of the ball real quick defensively, because just when the offense takes a little bit of a step back, my goodness, you guys find stars all over your defensive side of the football, all three levels. What do you think is when the catalyst to that defense for Casey this year that has really just become, you know, one of the top teams or top defenses in the NFL.
It's a great question.
It's gonna be a long answer and probably not going to be as specific as I like with it, but all three levels of the defense have guys that they can count on that that make plays.
It all starts up front.
The Chiefs again that this group in twenty twenty three had I think the top five most sacks and franchise history. They've been really good at getting after the passer and it's not based on one guy Chris Jones is the problem for opposing teams that he'd be the one you have to look out for. But Charles Amene, who who signed as a free agent, missed six games this year with the suspension, still finished with seven sacks, which is
the most he's had in his career. George carl Loftis is over ten sacks and he's leading the team in sacks and has really come on and had a great season. And it's just complimentary football. With Chris Jones getting a lot of attention, those other guys playing relentless football. Mike Dana is one of the probably the most underrated player
on the Chiefs defensive front. If you ask anyone in that locker room, they would tell you the same thing, and they consistently tell you Mike Dana doesn't get enough credit for the way that he plays. But Nick Bolton on the second level, everything kind of runs through Nick Bolton. He's not laterally the quickest guy and not somebody in coverage it's going to make a ton of plays, but between the tackles he gets his hands on you. He's
a sure tackler can make plays. And then Lugarious Need and Trent McDuffie are two of the best tandem cornerbacks. I believe in the NFL. Lagarious Need hasn't given up a touchdown. There's a lot of stats out there. He gets a lot of penalties. I think he's very much on the if I'm gonna get beat, I'm just gonna take the fifteen yard penalties though, and play physical. He plays very physical. Tyreek will already know this Jayalen Waddle. If it wasn't in the first matchup, he'll learn about
Lagarious Need. We've seen it. A lot of receivers get really upset with him. He is jamming at the line of scrimmage. You saw the dust up with Jamar Chase in the game against the Bengals a couple weeks ago, which is kind of look what Lagarious Need is known for. And then Steve Spagnolo. They will send pressure from everywhere. They love to send the house. They love to go
cover zero and shot and shot areas around midfield. They will put pressure on the opposing quarterback and make the ball come out of his hand quickly.
I know they blitzed too.
I think it was thirteen times on like thirty nine drop backs in the first matchup, so every three times he drops back, they're sending an extra player. And I know that the Chiefs lead the NFL in free rushers and unblocked rushers and passing blitzing situations, and that they're very good at disguising, very good with timing and getting a free rusher going after the quarterback, and so all of those things combined, it's a very aggressive defense that's
not going to sit back. They're going to get after you. Even if they get success rushing for upfront, they will still send extra guys and give different looks to Tua. He's gonna have to get the ball out of his hands quickly.
That was I think they or I know that that was the most blitzes the two US faced all your long. Most teams don't blitzen, but you guys were able to get it done and be successful long just fourteen points. And then you know, coach mcdonalely talked about this week in his press conference about how those blitzer could be the plays that decided the game because it usually is a big play for the defense or the offense, and
Miami hasn't gotten much zero this year. So I cannot wait to watch that man, it's such a fun matchup. We'll come back on the other side here with BJ Kissel from the KC Sports Network on the Draft Time Podcast and ask him about Tyreek Hill's return to Arrowhead. That's next here on the Draft Time Podcast, brought to
you by Auto Nation. Second segment here with BJ Kissel from k C Sports Network talking Dolphins and Chiefs eight o'clock on set night on the East, seven o'clock out there in KC on Peacock Westwood one on the radio, and I believe local NBC down here in South Florida. So it's the return of the Cheetah. We didn't get it back in week nine because the game was not
either team's home field as a neutral site. What is the what's the I guess buzz around town, the locker room in the building, Like, tell me everything about Tyreek Hill coming back to KC and how folks are perceiving this one.
You know, it's gonna be very nuanced answer, because I think a lot of Chiefs fans are not split, but there's definitely some stuff there that everybody's gonna feel a little bit differently. And my perspective is Terry Kill without question is the best receiver in Chiefs franchise history. Nothing is going to change that. This is the golden age
of Chiefs football. We've talked about it before. This is a level of success that very few organizations, to be quite honest, across the NFL see this level of consistent success for about a decade with what Andy Reid has done, not just with the Super Bowls, but just winning seasons. And when Andy Reid got there, this was a franchise that I grew up rooting for that had the most
consecutive playoff losses in NFL history. So it was definitely this golden age of Chiefs football that tyry Kill has been a huge part of that, and that a lot of the greatest memories that we all have that we all kind of soak in, and that stolen the equity that we take from the players making plays and our ability to go talk trash to our friends about it that root for other teams. Tyryk Kill is on the end of a lot of those other passes from Patrick Mahomes to create those memories.
I don't think that goes away.
And the Chiefs don't obviously win the first Super Bowl against the Niners down in Miami without him, and at the same time, the Chiefs don't win the Super Bowl last year without having traded Tyreek and have the resources and the money freed up to spend to spend on some extensions, some free agents, getting Trent McDuffie actually led to Rashi Rice, and some of the picks got traded
up and used for different things. But they netted four or five different players, plus the money they had in free agency, which allowed them, during a quote unquote rebuilding year last year, to still go and win the Super Bowl. All of that being said, Kyreeks made a lot of comments about Kansas City since he's left, and I think a lot of it's in good fun. You know, he
still has good relationships with those players. I think he and Patch Mahomes are always going to have a good relationship at some level because they each made each other a.
Lot of money with the success they had together.
It was a perfect situation for those guys to get together at that point and that point in their career. But seemingly Tyreek over the last couple of years has made a lot of comments about, you know, feeling like he was, you know, thrown to the side like a piece of trash.
And you know, it's just a line.
I don't think he means it disrespectfully, but it gets a disgust enough a Chiefs fans will give you the engagement you say something like that, they'll get in and everybody will see it. And I think it just kind of annoyed a lot of us, And to me, I got annoying this year. Last year made all sense more. We'll talk about the trades their first year there. At this point, it's like, just stop talking about Kansas City.
You're ruining the fact that you are the greatest and they have so many positive memories from the plays that you made while you were here. It doesn't need it to get any more than that. But never got super disrespectful ever, you know, crossed any lines everything that was said. So I think I hope Chiefs fans give him a good ovation because of what he was able to do
while he was here. And I think for Tyreek, you know, the situation he was in here in Kansas City and getting drafted here, playing with Alex Smith and playing with Patrick Mahomes created an atmosphere for him to be get to get the highest paid contract in NFL history, and that it was a trade that I think worked out for both teams, at least from Kansas City's perspective. From Miami's perspective, don't want to speak for you guys, but you made him the highest paid receiver in NFL history
for games like Saturday Night. For what he's got to go out and do to back up getting that kind of money. So we'll see how it plays out. But I hope the ovation is positive. I don't expect it to be super negative, but with some of the comments that are made, I think a lot of fans are just kind of annoyed and kind of uneasy about it. It's gonna make a little easier from cheer against them on Saturday.
Yeah, that's split. That kind of splits perspective is probably what I would expect as well, because like you talk about, I mean, yeah, from the Dolphins perspective, all he did was go out and rewrite our franchise receiving record back to back years his own record this year, so it's
obviously very oppressive. And getting to note Tyreek a little bit, you know, I don't know him that well, but just being around him a little bit, Like remember back in training camp where he said that he doesn't watch film, he just plays mad night before the game, and he said it's so Deadpam, Like it's like Tyreek, you're one of the most detailed brat runs in the NFL, Like we know your bs and right now, but the way you say it is so convincing. So yeah, he's a
fun character man. He makes the league better with with the you know, just the I guess commentary he provides, and obviously the on field play does that as well. BJ asked this question to all my guests. This will be a second time I answering the exact same question here on the podcast two parter. The Chiefs win the game if and the Dolphins win the game.
If it's not next level football analysis, but the Chiefs will win the game if they win the turnover battle. And I'll say the Dolphins will win the game if
they win the turnover battle. The Chiefs defense as good as they've been in Matt Naggie, Chiefs offensive coordinator, spoke a little bit about it this week because this has been like a retraining of Chiefs fans brains for all of us of what this team is this year, and that it's not this high flying, thirty five points per game offense that can turn the ball over a few times. Get short, give short fields to a good defense because
you know you're gonna put points on the board. They don't want to turn the ball over because their defense has been that good, and they don't want to take unknit necessary risks. Chiefs finished second in yards allowed second points allowed across the league this year, number one in the second half, number one defense, i should say, in
the second half of games. And so the Chiefs can't offensively give Miami short fields in this game and give them easy points when points don't come necessarily as easy to the Chiefs offense as they have in the past. At the same time, as good as the Chiefs defense has been, they haven't turned over or created a ton of turnovers. They don't have a ton of takeaways. They've just been very good at not allowing these long drives.
And so if Miami is able to get a couple of short fields, whether it's turnovers or whether it's special teams, is going to play a huge role in this. With the conditions as well, if whoever wins the turnover battle, I think will end up winning this game.
Difference in the game last time a fumble six late in the first half that twenty one to fourteen. So it'll play a big part as it always does, especially this time of year in the playoffs. BJ Kissel at BJ underscore Casey SMS for Kansas City Sports Network, his network that he founded in as the CEO of BJ. Appreciate your time today, man, stay warm this week and best of luck on Saturday night.
Man right, thanks JEMs and away he goes.
Always love hearing the perspective there from Bj Kissel, who has a similar path to me. He was a fan of the Chiefs and ended up getting hired for a role with the Chiefs and worked there in the pretty similar role that I fulfill here with the Dolphins for quite a while, and then went ahead and stepped back a little bit and took more time with his family and launched his own network of podcasts across the Kansas City sports landscape. So really cool stuff to hear from
him there. Really admire what he's done professionally and as a fan of the Chiefs. Before we get to the next segment. Here of the second segment, team Awards Tyreek Hill, the team MVP, the Dan Reno MVP after his second consecutive record breaking season, the Don Shula Award for on Field Leadership alec Ingold. Who else would it be besides
that dude, What a year he has had. And then of course our ed Block Courage Award, chosen by our Athletic Training staff on professionalism, great strength and dedication is no other than Austin Jackson. What a great job he did this year coming off of the injury. And Bradley Chubb is your nap More Community Service Award winner. Also a very fitting winner there as well, So great job
to all those guys. Let's go ahead and pivot now to the second portion of segment two here, which will take us into the third and final segment on the podcast, And just real quick, tomorrow, I'm gonna have a lot of fun stuff for you guys in the podcast. Ross Tucker's in the call on the radio on Westwood One
joins me. We're also gonna pick the entire playoff bracket as well as the wild card games obviously, and then I'm gonna have a fun little rant segment for you guys about playoff football, where the Dolphins are, where they're going and the injuries and just a lot of stuff that I think Dolphins fans are gonna want to hear tomorrow. It's kind of my last word to the team before
a huge game on Saturday, So don't miss that. But let's go ahead and pick this up right here, and we're gonna take the coordinators availability and funnel it all through the game. I'm just all Dolphins and chiefs the rest of the world. Typically, I like to expand this portion and get extended knowledge on all things that cover, you know, especially things about our own team. But given the gravity of this game, like, hey, do you guys know we have a playoff game on Saturday night in
primetime against the defending champs. We're gonna do that. I didn't know if you'd heard that. But given the magnitude of all that, we're gonna keep it on that playing capeche capeche al Right Before all that, though, our last break right here Drive Time podcast here host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, I'm gonna go ahead and start here with the conditions with head coach Mike McDaniel on the cold weather.
It can be one of two things.
It can be an excuse or it can be something that galvanized as a team because you're going through it together.
Look, I'm I.
Don't think you guys would mistake me for a cold weather body, Okay, but I'm I'm really excited to go go do that with the team because it's a it's a mindset thing that you do together. Other that you have to choose for it to be as minimal of.
Uh an issue as possible.
You already know what that it's going to be the coldest game that we've had all year and might be one of the coldest in history.
So and you can you can.
Put those in a bucket with all the other things that we don't have or we we haven't done, or and that that goes in a bucket, and you can decide whether or not you want to just hang out with that bucket all day or you just want to go and try to put your best foot forward, come together as a team and chase something special.
So that's it will be.
Cold, uh it, And you know we the air conditioning gets in that in that huge space gets down to fifty or so, not even going to really I think that's kind of a insulting to the to the weather.
At this point to be oh, we're ready. You know.
The bottom line is is you have to have a collective mindset.
Everyone has to be all in.
And you know, I think that I'm I'm confident that our that our guys.
Will be up for the challenge.
I mean, at this point, it's just like, if the Dolphins can get this victory, it's gonna be such an exercising of so many demons. And just add this one to the list, right, all the narratives, all the collapse talk, all the December record, all the injury everything you add
onto that, the colds game and franchise history. Bringing on, let's go erase every single thing at one time here and go get a big victory and go to our couch on Sunday at one o'clock and root like hell for the Pittsburgh Steelers to knock off the Buffalo Bills. The next question here is for to a tongue Bay Lowo on the exact same topic, the cold weather.
Yeah, I think it's just a feel of how everything is. You know, what the ball feels like, what the what throwing feels like, what holding the ball feels like, if there's wind, if there's not wind, you have to take all those things into consideration, but you will.
We'll go there, we'll.
Test it out, and we'll see what we have to do as far as adjusting or not.
What suits, What suits are the way to go. Frank Smith, you're from Wisconsin. Tell us about the cold and how you prep for that weather as well as possibly wind and snow.
All inclement weather. Like you know, there's obviously factors that we try and make sure that you know, we're on what we can control. I mean, you can't control what the weather is going to be that day, if it's you know, minus weather or whatever. I mean, all we can do is make sure that we know how to maintain what we need to do to be at our best.
I mean when I was in New Orleans and twenty thirteen, we're a Dome team and we went to Philadelphia and it was a I think it was a twenty degree or ten degree weather day, and you know, we went through a plan how we're going to do it and how we handle the weather. But ultimately it comes down to the guys you have and you know their mindset, you know, and whatever the challenge is going to be or you want to approach it, and take it on. So, I mean, I grew up in Wisconsin. I mean so,
I mean, I was laughing. It's like, I remember when I was in high school it was minus ten the wind chill. It was miserable, and I remember it not being that cold. And then now when you're coaching and it's minus ten, you're like, it is cold, all right? Actively moving around sounds fantastic in that weather.
Vick Fangio was also asked about the cold weather, but it was asked about what is the coldest game you've been a part of me? He talked about NFC Championship game Packers and Panthers back in ninety six, also a game up in Lambo with a member as a member of the forty nine ers. Two there. So let's go ahead, Gough and stay with coach Fanja who was asked about the additions of Bruce Irvin and Justin Houston.
Not to try and do too much, you know, because the worst way you can play is to beat yourself not knowing what to do, you know, and not being in the right place at the right time, you know. So you got to be careful not to do too much. But yet you know, you still have you know, we've got half our starters out there and they're yearning for anything, you know, to help win the game. So you got to balance that.
I think Vic is one of the best obviously in the history of this game. But mostly what I'm going for here is the way he adjusts to his personnel. I think kind of makes those adjustments, so I have confidence he can find a way to get enough pass rush against this quarterback and the struggling offense. Go ahead and hear from the headman on those two new guys off the edge, you probably are gonna play a lot on Saturday.
You know, there's problem solving left and right in NFL football, and there that's a unique challenge. Everyone has that that that I know, everyone has a collective ambition.
To do something cool.
So you know that the coaches on the defensive side of the ball, and you talk about Vic and Ryan Slok and Wade Harmon are up for the challenge to try to get these guys up to speed as fast as possible. We're fortunate that there's overlap and scheme.
Uh.
We're fortunate that, you know, we yeah, fortunate that our personnel department, you know, is on top of it. The way they are and we can have guys join the team that I'm not gonna have to really, I'm not gonna have to inspire to understand what the moment is. Veteran players in this league know how precious each and every playoff game is. They know exactly what you're preparing for. It is football at its finest. You can feel the energy when when the team that loses the game, their
season is over. There's a different energy in the stadiums and that is as good as it gets. So they'll be preparing diligently. They'll know what that kind of looks like. The relationships on the team with players you know already, but then those those will grow this week and we'll see if we can do something cool with you know, a little adversity in that realm.
Let's keep it here with head coach Mike McDaniel and ask about the KC defense. I asked him about how often top quarterbacks like to a tongue of by Lowa get blitzed and how infrequent it is you see with Patrick Mahomes as well, and Josh Allen's a guy you don't blitz a whole lot. A lot of these quarterbacks that can beat you with either the extension of plays or between the ears just don't see the blitz very often.
But the Chiefs blitzed to the highest rate he saw all year, right in line with their thirty three percent blitz rate on the season. And you know, coach alluded to this in his Thursday press conference that we're going to cover on tomorrow's podcast about how the Giants blitz at the highest clip in the NFL. And in the game that they played against the Giants back in Week five, they blitzed like two times, which is, you know, a good indicator of how to we can impact the defensive
game plan. But I asked him about how blitzing of a quarterback and just blitzing in general can change the perspective of a game. Here's coach with very good insight here into what blitzing does both the defense and for the offense that sees said blitz.
You're seeing a guy that's been that's had control of his own system for an extended period of time, that has has never been afraid to be bold.
You know, there was uh, he was.
Blitzing corners when that wasn't necessarily as in vogue back in the early two thousands.
But the system is.
His own and because of that, within it it has answers for pretty much everything which keeps you off balanced. They do a great job teaching it collectively as a coaching staff. You can tell because of the ownership that the players have the nonverbal and the nonverbal communication and and how orchestrated people are. There's a lot of a
lot of communication. It's an intricate system them that you can see, you know, time is Time has just helped them, uh to the point that they're, you know, a top five defense in the National Football League and play like it every week, so that they're I think, you know, that is hit. I think they do really what they do, they're you're you're going to see coverage and you're going to see blitz and he's going to try to keep
you off balanced. So the the idea is to you know, it's it's not like blitzing is necessarily a bad thing to face. I you know, there's a lot of times that I actually prefer that just because you if you're on your p's and q's, you can there there's less field covered. However, you have to be on your p's and q's you. Everyone has to be coordinated uh and so a lot of times it can be a big play for either team.
It just depends on who's executing better.
So you know, I think that I fully expect them to do what they've done throughout the season, and you know, they're I see on the defensive side of the ball for the Chiefs, I see something similar.
To that of.
The offense they're facing this week with us, is that they they worry about themselves more than uh and and how they execute their craft and and what what they are over worrying about what other problems the opponent presents. So a lot of ownership. It's a it's a very well coached and cool unit to to to watch, and it presents pretty good challenge for us.
Let's stay with Tula on the exact same topic of the Chiefs defense and the Blitz happy no nature of Steve Bagnolo.
I think it's playing on time, knowing where my hots are. UH if I can, you know, outside of our motions, if we're allowed time to uh change protection, then we can do that. But because of how on time we do play, you know, that's that's sort of how how we we have been beating teams with pressures, the different looks that they present to us. And then obviously you
have Chris Jones. I mean that dude's a that dude's different, a lot of respect for his game and what he can do in in disrupting a game plan and disrupting a game. So we'll have to know where where he's at during the game and really just trust our keys. Uh, they give us different looks. They present you know, one high deals, then go to too high. They present two high deals, then have fire zone. So we'll just have
to be ready. And then uh, you know with with their zeros that they have too so you just got.
To be ready with that.
And yeah, here we go.
I don't know, guys, this team is fired up and ready to go get a victory for us on Saturay. Let's go ahead and stay here with Frank Smith and get his take on the Kansas City defense.
You know, their ability to.
Really communicate well, you can see that they're very well connected. They like, you know, dictate the terms, make sure that they're all you know, from the back end to the front end. You know, they're playing sound defense. You know, I worked with him in New Orleans in twenty twelve. So he's a very meticulous guy. He's gonna be on all the details, so beyond all the things that you
know we do as an offense. So it'll be a big challenge because it's like you have a guy like Steve and his staff that do a great job with you know, Andy and just the whole program. So and going an arrowhead is not an easy endeavor. So it's going to be on us to be on all the things we need to be ready for in our communication and the environment. As we're going to Saturday night.
We're gonna have full games. As for you, guys probably are on four o'clock this afternoon, four or five o'clock on Thursday, because game on Saturday, you move everything.
Up one day.
But we did hear from McDaniel and his Thursday press conference that Wattle, Moster, Holland, and Elliott will all be questionable. I'm not one to, you know, put anyone's physical abilities out on the line, but I would hope that you if you're questionable, you play in the game. McDaniel did allude to the fact that it's the big concern is having guys up that end up getting hurt in the game and the stress it puts on the reci of you numbers only having forty eight guys stress in the
game as it were. So we'll find out, but hopefully there's positive news there. What would it mean though, here's two again to get Waddle back into the offense.
Yeah, I think it helps us out a lot, you know, And then it'll it'll uncover what defensively, what they what they want to do. If they want to bracket both those guys, we're going to have to find, you know, other guys that can win their one on one matchups or if they want to double Tyreek, you know, we'll find Jalen, or we'll find someone else that you know is working their matchups.
So we'll come out, we'll see.
What they they they want to do, and we'll go from there.
Gonna be frank with you guys. I predicted the victory on the Wednesday podcast. If Walld doesn't play, I'm gonna probably change that because the way the game played out against the Bills, like, there were so many situations where drives ended because we couldn't beat one on one coverage with three way gohs. And that's a concern that I have with the roster, you know, in the playoffs and
going into next year. I think it's a big area you have to address with especially concerning the frequency of Wattle's injuries this year and then Tyreek being not right for the last month because of the ankle. But I mean Wattle, I mean training camp, got injured, played sparingly in the in the Charger game, got hurt in the Patriot game, missed the Denver game, came back in Buffalo,
was limited in that one. He got hurt in the Eagle game, I believe again it was got rolled up in the Chiefs game and played like half of that game. Got injured in a later game, didn't he against the No I got hurt against the Cowboys twice. Has been a long year for Gilen Waddle. But with these two guys in the field, I think our offense, Tygreek and
Wattle can score enough points and win this game. Let's go ahead and finish up here with one last one from Fangio, speaking of the injuries, have you stopped at all the season, coach and just kind of asked yourself, why us here's coach.
On the injuries once and some of it at you know one position in particular, you know, outside linebacker and safety in particular. You know, there's no woe as me in this business. You know, everybody looks at this as kind of Madden on the PlayStation, and I'll expect results. You know what they used to say in them Attorney Ward, don't tell me about the pain, Just show me the baby.
You can't say that anymore. But everybody's expecting a good performance from us, and we're gonna do everything we can to do it.
The vibe of this show kind of almost took a like end of week, let's go Riley cry type of ending to the show. But I do have an episode tomorrow, but I am feeling all in on this game. Let's go get it baby. But tomorrow Ross Tucker on the podcast will join us. We'll do playoff picks, both the wild card and the full bracket. We'll make changes to the divisional round picks as we need to from all the misses we'll probably have. But that's all coming your
way on the podcast tomorrow. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate, review the podcast on Apple Spotify set you're tune in where you get your podcasts from go ahead and do that for us. Also check out my guys Seth and Juice on the Fish Tank podcast. Check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities and Dolphins to Day, and so much more. Last, but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, Finn's Up, Carolina, Cameron, Daddy, He's coming home.