Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Now, let me check your pulse if you're not for What is up?
Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network covering your team, Your Miami Dolphins. How's it going to everybody? I am your host, Travis Winfield. And on today's show, we're gonna welcome in the great Michael Kuno from CBS four to talk about this big game on Sunday, December NFL football and the importance of the stretch run for your Miami Dolphins, Plus the return
of JPP covering your hometown team. We'll talk nap more trophy fun chat with Mike Kuno, plus Kyle Krabs joined us, a break down the weekend and championship weekend in college football. We'll hear from Mike McDaniel and a heck of a lot more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Maggie Daffy.
My guest today, CBS Four's Mike Kunyo Joining me today is CBS four his own Mike Kuno. Kuno, what's happening my man?
What's up? Travis? How's it going.
It's going pretty good.
I had my first question for you here is did you ever think there was more to life than being really, really ridiculously good looking?
Stop?
Stop, but no, no, this is what I've been looking for. It's it's been an ugly, duckling sort of thing most of my life. So I don't know what you're talking about. But if you see something that I don't, thank you.
Broadcasting one on one is to make your guests as uncomfortable as possible off the start, right.
You nailed it. You nailed it. I am now sweating under here.
Well, I was.
I was running over some show notes last night before I went to bed, and I was thinking, you know what I read.
I read the story in.
The Miami New Times about when you won your Emmy, and the way that the writer positioned it was like, it's almost annoying how good looking Kuno was, and its just it was a whole thing. It was hilarious to me. So I thought about the great Zoolander quote there. Put it in here. It's staying in the show. I think, okay, but we'll go and move on here, and I do want to talk to you about about that. It's about your your upbringing here in South Florida and you know,
pursuing a life in sports. I was the same way, man, Like every day I was out in my backyard throwing the ball down to myself and you know I would I would run back like a Super Nintendo NBA game and just read the scores or partid I was doing broadcasting, like I love that stuff. So this stuff fascinates me.
I want to hear about your journey and how special it was to you to achieve the position you're in now as a kid that grew up loving sports in South Florida to now work across the entire you know, professional sports spectrum here in the South Florida area.
Yeah, it's it's been wild. It's definitely not the normal route a lot of people have taken. I remember telling telling friends like in high school and college, when they ask you, what do you want to do? I said, yeah, I want to I want to be a broadcaster. I want to be an analyst. And I even realizing what that what that really was in terms of sports, because obviously not analysts. I'm more of a host and anchor and reporter. But that you know, just your friends kind
of looking at you like you're crazy. And then getting to college and not really having any direction and what what like classes you need to take. I didn't take like a single television class. Probably not something good to admit, but yeah, you know, I kind of got got my way on there through through internships and all that stuff. But listen, growing up down here in Miami was a huge Minding Hurricanes fan. My dad was a big Dolphins fan,
my mom loved the Heat. We kind of all rallied around the Marlins and Panthers as they as they came, you know, into their own here in the market. So kind of being able to grow up with all these teams because miney sports relatively young, you know, Heat in the eighties, Panthers, Marlins in the nineties. You get to like grow with those teams. And so that's kind of
where my passion for South Florida sports started. And it's just been that, you know, a dream come true to be able to do this down here in my home market. And have you know, my friends and family also see you know this kid who said he wanted to do it and then eventually did it.
I mean, it's it's wild. I pitched myself every day. For sure.
The fact that it is your own market is pretty cool. Even though I grew up a Dolphins fan, everyone knows about that, and this is where I wanted to be ultimately, Like I got a text my buddy last night that was like, you're on the y'all who's sports fantasy update about devon a chain being limited. In practice, all I did was post the image of the injury report on Twitter and they found it, so I guess the right
people are following me, So that's cool. I suppose you also mentioned, like you know, when you announced that this is the path you want to pursue. The people that are like a little bit dubious about it, and my step or my wife's stepfather, I was like four years into it. Lockdown Dolphins was like the top, like top one hundred Apple chart every single week, and he was like, Travis just sits in his househol they didn't do anything. I don't know how Caitlin supports is still, but so like people.
Don't get it.
And that's why it's so funny to me to hear you because you took a more conventional path than I did, for sure, but one of those stops on that path is a really cool thing that South Florida does, and I don't have this back in the Northwest. Of course, South Florida is the football mecha of the universe.
In my opinion, is the not more trophy.
I just wanted to ask you about that in general, your involvement in that this year's crop of kids, and just how cool and special it is to win that trophy down here, to be honored by one of the all time Dolphins greats in an area where if you're the best high school fotball player here, you're probably gonna play in this league someday.
Yeah, it was long overdue for the area when we started this, and it was five years ago. Now we had a brief pause one season because of the COVID year, but this is the fourth year we're handing out the trophy.
And it's been really cool.
I mean, everyone talks about, you know, high school football and which state is better, and Florida is obviously always
mentioned with states like Texas and California. I know in Texas CBS station out there has a similar style an award, and that's kind of where we adopted the idea here at CBS Miami, and no one was doing this, and it just seemed kind of silly to us that we don't have, you know, kind of a best of our Final four, like Heisman style trophy for these kids when each and every year heck on Sundays, you're watching and you hear, oh, so and so into Miami Northwestern, so
and so went to powerhouse Saint Thomas Aquinas. So let's you know, let's recognize these kids and their families and their coaches and their teams. And so that's what we've done. And this year, you know, every year, the you know, it's not just like a quarterback award. I mean, this year we have three wide receivers and a running back. In years past, we've had mostly defense. You know, we've had offensive linemen. So we really try to find who truly are the best football.
Players in the area.
This year, you've got two kids at a Shamana Madonna wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and Jasiah Trader. You got Lwayne McCoy, who's a guy who could play both sides of the ball over at Central. And then you've got Jordan Lyle running back from Saint Thomas Aquinas.
And if you're ever the running back at.
See Thomas Aquinas, you're probably a really good, you know, football player. So we've got a healthy crop of kids this year, and it is just so hard just to narrow it down to those final four. So for anyone who's listening to this, who follows along with the neat more stuff, just know that this is very difficult to wind it down to four, let alone the final one. But it's it's very cool. We've seen it kind of pick up steam.
Last year.
We had Ruben Bain who's just been an absolute scud at the University of Miami and acc he won the award and then committed to Miami on the show, kind of surprising people as they're handing him the trophy. He's like, oh, yeah, by the way, I'm stay at home going to Miami. So yeah, it's been it's been really cool. It's been fun to watch the families, the schools, the coaches, and the players all kind of get behind this in kind
of such short order. And again our fifth year, but really our fourth trophy were given out and I mean you just see the amount.
Of votes that come in and denominations and that's been really cool to see.
That's awesome.
Man. The stars are tomorrow, like you mentioned, because all those kids wind up playing at Miami, at FSU at Florida maybe even a little bit like they're playing at the biggest schools in the entire nation. So it's definitely big time talent there. And speaking of big time talent, and a local kid that you know, hit it big and is coming back home here, one of the many South Florida natives who made the league now gets a chance to fulfill his dream of playing for his hometown
team in Jason Pierre Paul. I just wanted to hear from someone who's from here, who lives it. You just told us about the not More trophy and the importance of the local you know, high school level football down here.
Someone who understands the scene.
Just tell me about the importance of that and why that's so damn cool for him for folks that are from here. For yourself, like, why is it always so cool when you get a Mike Wier, Robbie Chosen or JPP coming back here to South Florida.
Because you like so I've actually covered like Pop Warner football.
That's kind of like where my TV career started, like doing little league games where you go out and report on these games and do highlights for the Man Air you know, on TV the next day. When you're out there, you see these families and it's not just mom and dad are out there. You see aunts, uncles, cousins, everyone out there going through these games at these local parks.
And then you know they move on JPP obviously with the South Florida so University of South Florida, so that kind of family connection was probably easy for him to migrate north to Tampa. And then when it just always seems like somehow these guys find their way back home. And when that happens and you hear them make a play and you hear that faint like.
You know, whore in the crowd.
Yeah, you're like there's the section right, like there's the White Mike White section, or there's the Duke Johnson section.
Like these these guys.
Grew up literally in the shadow of hard Rock Stadium. I remember when we covered Duke Johnson when he was in high school. You can literally see the stadium from their football field. So it that means a lot that they get to play in their backyard and have their families come check it out. And because it's such a rich area of high school football. It's not like it's not like this is a rare occurrence. So all these families also know each other, you know, the you know,
I'm sure when Alan Hearns is here. Obviously I don't know their families, but Alan Hearns Duke Johnson's families probably sat in in you know, at little league parks next to each other, and then to sit next to each other at hard Rock Stadium one day. It's it's just, I don't know, it's very unique I think in the NFL, and it's wild and it's always cool to have these guys come home.
Yeah, I like, you know, like I keep saying, I'm not from an area where that's common at all. Like I think we had like one NFL guy like two decades from my local area. So it just doesn't happen up there, but down here it's a way of life. Man, Like you said, the family experience of it all is
really really cool, great stuff, Kunyo. I want to pivot now towards more Dolphins themed type of conversation here on the Draft Time podcast on the Miami Dolphins PODCAS Network, and one of the things we've been hearing from a theme perspective this weekend with you know, reporters and the players and coaches are talking about at the podium and we just it's a common thing across podcasts and TV shows is December football? Right? Oh?
J McDuffie always tells me they.
Never remember what you do in December, like it says, go to quote, and I'm wondering how you feel like last year's experience where the wheels kind of fell off in December, and of course you had an injury to your quarterback that played into that. You had three really
difficult road games. In fact, thinking back to that, a West Coast swing in two tough places to play against two good teams and the Ninners and Chargers, and then a short week at Buffalo on a Saturday night that was a tough, tough road to hoe and they were in those games and came up short in those How do you think that taught this team maybe some perseverance, maybe the ability to overcome some of those, you know,
the obstacles that come with an NFL season. How do you think last year, in Mike McDaniel's first year, prepared this team to make a run this year in December?
Well, I think when you look at the schedule now and yet there the end of the season that isn't necessarily on the road, but you go, hey, remember those tough games against you know, the Chargers and the Niners and the Bills.
Well, you have a stretch like that coming up for the Dolphins.
You know the Bills, I know they've been had an up and down year by their standards, it's still a good football team. You got the Cowboys and then you got the Ravens. Right, So those three games stacked up, while not all of them are are on the road, they do kind of mirror the challenge you had a year ago. And how if you don't hold on to that rope and you do not focus, it can slip away and then it feels like, you know, you're pushing
uphill and that's not where you want to be. I think Christian Wilkins said it this week that you know, earlier in the year, September, October, you're playing ball December. It's like it's where you make your money, right, this is where the Dolphins have to show that they've improved.
And the thing that I've liked about.
In this Dolphins team is even if you go back to like week one and week two, say hey, the run defense didn't show up this week.
The next week you saw improvements.
Hey on the road, they had struggles communication, They can't win on the road. You know, they're back to five hundred now away from hard Rock Stadium. So to me, I think it shows growth. I think they learned a lot of things last year that you can't just a look ahead and be if you're not just in the moment in that game right now, you have the chance of dropping or getting steamrolled in a situation where you shouldn't.
And so I think they've done a good job this year of staying where their feet are and making improvements week to week. And that's what I like to see. If they can do that kind of on the macro, now do it in December football, I think they'll be okay.
I love that you mentioned that stretch because to me, it almost simulates like a playoff run. Like you take care of business the next three games, right that would make you eleven and three. That would make Dolphins fans very very happy. It's easiersad than done, but the opportunity is there to do that, and then you get a
trial run, like if you lose, you get to try again. Like, it's kind of cool how they have that up there for them to really get their biggest test late in the season with you know, potentially a division title already in hand. If they can take care of business and get one more Buffalo loss, that's all it would take.
So look at the Vision title, AFC title.
I mean, there's a lot like those games are going to mean something. It's not just another regular season game. Those games actually have implications, and I think that's even better for them because now it's like you get that sense of an elimination style week.
To your point, I mean you talk about home and road, like some of those games could decide whether you're playing down here or up in Kansas City or up you know, wherever it might be in the postseason. So I was looking at the other day when the last time they were favored in a playoff game.
Do you know what that was?
Was it against the Cults in two thousand close.
I didn't look that far back because there was one after that. It was actually the next year when they got bounced in the first round by the Ravens. They were actually favored in that game at home, and it was a low out for the Ravens, So I just was curious about that because, like I'm thinking, the last time Miami had their starting quarterback in a playoff game was two thousand and eight with Chad Pennington, and he
got picked off four times in that game. So it's just like, this is the opportunity Miami has to actually go into the postseason with a team they feel like they could possibly make a run and win some games, opposed to the last you know, a decade and a half or it just hasn't been that way. So it's it's a fun conversation to have, and it starts this weekend Mike and Washington. Are you gonna be on the road in Washington, And whether or not you are, what are you looking forward to in this one?
I'll be home for this one, so I probably end up traveling later in the year as we get closer to the playoff. But the thing I'm looking forward to this is how they bounce back from the Jalen Phillips injury, and I think they have a good at least Litness has to see where that rushes from the edge with guys like Ben Gangko and Ogba. Just because Sam Howe has been sacked more than any other quarterback in the league. I'm sure it's a stat you guys have talked about,
you know, a lot this week. So I think it's opportunity for that defense to really show what they can do without Jalen in there and maybe give those guys confidence that, Hey, down the stretch, you know, you'd love to have him in there, but maybe.
We'll be okay.
And I think they will be because everyone speaks so highly of a guy like Andrew Van Ginkle. So that's what I'm looking forward to. And then on the other side of the ball, the turnovers. I mean, they got to stop giving the ball away, whether it's fumbles or interceptions. You can't be minus five at this point in the season in the turnover margin. When you're this good like it can't like it can't look that bad. You can't be in the red there when it comes to turnovers.
If you're if you're going to be a team that's going to compete, because at some point you're gonna run into a jugger nut that'll make you pay every single time you turn the ball over.
We've seen it happen in the KC game.
The one big turnover in that game was kind of the difference in that game there with the fumble that I'm still not so sure was actually a fumble, but I digress and we move on here.
So it's good stuff.
Man.
It's the thing is like, if they do that, though, what's going to stop them?
You know, because it's been the only thing that's been bothering them so far this late to the defense surging and the offense being capable of what it can do.
It's I cannot wait to watch it play out.
But I also want to be present, like you talked about the Daryl Bevell quote, be where your feet are and just kind of appreciate this team what they're doing right now.
So good stuff.
There a couple more here for you, Mike, and these are going a little bit back towards the personal stuff. So you had your first season on the sidelines this year, Dereck Dolphins preseason, and you got to talk to Mike McDaniel to a tongue of my low like you did the whole gambit, right. I'm just wondering, is there a moment that maybe for a first time or made you nervous.
Was there a moment that was surreal to you. I just want to hear about your experience down there and maybe a fun story to go along with it.
Yeah, so it's this story is kind of like, will wrap all that up in one But right before my first hit, they go on the first preseason game, they're like, hey, like, I want to just do a real quick run through with you, just a quick rehearsal, and I'm like, yeah, sure, let's do it. And I'm looking at my watch. I'm like, we're like two minutes from the broadcast starting. It's like, there's a great time. There's a great time to just but listen, those guys are bit I get it. So
they come to me and I couldn't try it. I couldn't get the words out of my mouth. I'm like shaking. And this was like the rehearsal and I'm like, this is gonna be terrible. And even my boss afterwards was like, yeah, I was a little nervous about you going to that first hit. And then and then once it became alive, I don't know, like something came over me and and
it was all fine. I think it's just that thing like we sometimes we talk about it in like TV and broadcasting that like when it's live for whatever reason, you don't mess up because you can't, like you do, you just have to do it. But when you know it in the back of your mind it's it's a rehearsal. Then you start to overthink and you're like, am I doing this right? And then and so you trip up.
So that first hit right out of the gate.
I was like, oh my god, all this is like the one of the biggest moments of my career and I'm I'm about to fall flat on my face and uh no, it ended up it ended up working out great doing the Uh the real I think the pinch myself moment was you always hear like on the NFL broadcast, like, hey, we caught up with Mike McDaniel this week.
Who got to sit down for with him for like an hour in our production meeting or whatever it is.
But being able to do that and just kind of really get the sense every week where these guys are at, what like makes them tick, where their headspace is at that point in training camp and preseason, what they're looking forward to having those kind of like moments where there's no cameras, it's just you and the coaches or you and the players talking catching up to me, that was is my favorite part of the whole thing, just because I think he got a real sense of who these
guys are, what makes him tick, and you know their passion for folk on how hard this this actually is. So that was each and every week I've looked forward to that, I think more than I think.
It's like when Mike leaves the podium and like has a couple extra words for us about his energy drink or whatever it is for the day, Like those are the best moments of those press conferences.
I agree with you there. I did a live hit once. I wasn't live.
It was recorded in front of the facility at Davy during the pandemic year because NFL thatsing talent out to the building, so they had the on air talent or the in house talent and do it.
And I wasn't like that polished at the time.
It was my first year on the job, and it took like eight takes and there was cars whizzing by right behind me at that on that street building there in Davy, and the nerve I felt for these guys I just met that we're shooting this thing like I keep messing this uff. These guys are gonna leave me. They're gonna they're gonna cut me from the program. It was. It was incredible nerve wracking. So I've been there, my friends.
I love sharing those stories. Speaking of that, one more here for You'll go ahead and get you out of here. Mike Kuno, CBS four.
You're the man, Mike. I appreciate your time here on the show.
Tell us what you're working on for some potential features or stories coming up, Like what are you looking forward to coming up on CBS led by you, my friend?
Well, we've got each and every week we do Dolphin's Weekly Live, the Fifth Quarter post Game Show, and the Coach Mike McDaniel show.
We have all of these kind of Dolphin Shows entities and we get to talk to players one on one. The thing I tell you this week right now is we've got Deshaun Elliott on.
Dolphin's Weekly Live.
I got to talk to him and in one of those production meetings during the preseason, he told us Jevon Holland's gonna be a Hall of Famer. He's got all pro potential, no doubt about it. And so you know, coming off that ninety nine yard pick six. We got to talk to him about it, and he's like, I would never tell you a lie. I would never tell you a lie.
I'm not lying.
So deshan his interview. I think he's great this week. He's a fun guy. He loves movies. If you're into scary movies, he's got a really good one that he's uh that he's gonna suggest fourth fans out there if you can, if you can handle it. But yeah, so so that's what we've got this week. That'll be that'll be fun. That will air Sunday, eleven thirty am on CBS Miami.
The first time I met to Sean, I knew right away this guy is gonna be a fun character for all content creators across the South Florida.
Big hitter too, the best man to hit.
Yes, I love to Sean. He's the man. That's a great company. Do not miss that.
Big horror fan, big horror movie fan myself as well, So definitely gonna tune into that.
Mike Kuno, appreciate your time.
Man.
We'll see you next week.
Maybe, yeah, you'll see. I'm always around, man, I'm always around.
I'm always around appreciate you, big Doug. All right man, thanks ving and there he goes the great Mike Kuno.
Let's go ahead and take our first break right there, come back on the other side. I we'll hear from head coach Mike McDaniel before getting to my final guests of the day, Kyle Krabs. That's all next Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Onto Nation. Segment two on a Friday, going to be very brief here. Let's go ahead and hear from head coach Mike McDaniel.
But first before that, the latest injury news for your Miami Dolphins, and we start with a really fun one as coach as transparent as he can be told us that Devon Achan will play in the game on Sunday.
I continue to speak about how important it is to get him back as well as getting Waddle cranking full steam to go along with what Tyreek Hill has been from the word go to me, there's not a better trio of skill players of playmakers in the National Football League, and I think Miami will rely upon those guys to carry them as far as they possibly can go this year. Don't count o Raheem most from that equation either. But great news to get Devon a Chan back fresh legs.
Hopefully to have him for the stretch run could be very, very vital to the Dolphins offense. And you know, I just I continue to think about where this team has been, where this team is gone, and we'll play some more sound here from coach talking about being in the exact same situation in terms of being eight and three heading.
Into the month of December.
And it was actually December fourth against the Niners last year when the season began to turn in the wrong direction. And now here we play the Commanders on Washington or on Washington on December third, again at eight and three with a chance to you know, really make things different this time around. We'll hear from coach on that in just one second, but real quick sounds like Javon Holland has a chance to play as he was limited in practice on Friday, and I imagine we'll be questionable on
the injury report and that comes out later today. Go check out my Twitter around four o'clock or so when we should have that, So check it out there on social I will have the latest for you guys. But he is dealing with two knee injuries, and he is very eager to play, but as coach McDaniel has been all year long to provide caution or I should say,
exercise cost with regards to his playing ability. Both to Ron Armstead and Kendall Lamb practiced on Friday as well, So a chance to see either of those guys back on the field at left tackle for the Miami Dolphins. And Isaiah Win there's it's not inconceivable that he returns, Coach McDaniel said, but he wouldn't put a timeline on it to you know, short change the process. So that's the latest injury updates. Let's go ahead and play two soundbites from coach McDaniel, and I alluded to it already.
I asked him how instructive was last year but also the experiences of this season leading up to this point, being back at eight and three heading into the final month or by you know, by all intents and purposes, the final month of the regular season, how instructive can last year be for this year's squad? And he gave me a great, detailed, lengthy answer. Here is Coach McDaniel talking about lessons learned from year one and applying them here in year two.
Are you saying there's some similarities, Oh, the exact same record, got it?
Yeah?
I have two really two things to kind of set my feeling towards what you're speaking of. You know, eight and three last year, and you go through something that's very very difficult, which is watching you know, having to fight in the last game to even get in the playoffs, when at eight and three, that's not really what's on your mind. So you're very interested in, you know, how
how people use that. For me, you know, it falls right into the way I look at how to do everything, which is, you know, for us to say that's a bad thing or a good thing, it has to do with how we respond to it. I have two examples, that's Wednesday's practice and Thursday's practice, and those lend me to believe that that we have a committed football team. Two, to make right those lessons learned last year, to make that last year actually purposeful as opposed to just, uh yeah,
we let we let opportunities slip through our fingers. We possibly could have had a home playoff game, and we uh we messed that that year up. I I've felt this week with the players that that that hurt cut deep, deep enough that there's a completely different mindset. This practice Wednesday, and this practice Thursday night and day difference from last year. And and and that's.
What you want.
You wanted to if you're going to go through it. You wanted to be of some purpose. And I see a team that understands what it means to build during the season, to continue the growth as a team so that we're our best version of ourselves when it matters most. I see a team that is excited to play together. I see a team that's that is used to you know, the spotlight or the headlines you know we have, and
and that isn't enamored by that. I see a team that takes the Washington Commanders as serious as every other team that we've played this year, and a team that's excited to go compete against them, and that's the only
thing on their mind. You know that, I'm very proud of where our team's at, because our team is connected to each other, plays hard for each other, invests in the responsibilities for one another so that they can truly take advantage of each and every Sunday, which you know, we only have a finite amount, and each one of
them's very special. There's a lot of people that pay really, really good money to come watch us do what we do, and this team seems to not take any of that for granted, which gives you the opportunity to be your best self, which is all I care about.
So I fancy myself a Miami Dolphins analyst, right. I actually prefer that as my title compared to like podcaster or even writer, whatever it might be. And all year long I have been shouting from the rooftops how good I think this football team can be. And last year I was doing the exact same thing, and of course the quarterback's health was kind of the deterrent in that ability to do that. We'll touch on that here more
in a second as well. I think I'm ready to kind of put my stamp on this and kind of, you know, stake my claim on this that I think this Dolphins team has as good of a chance to make the run to February as anybody else in the AFC. I think Philly in San Francisco could probably you know,
lay stake to a larger claim. Maybe even Dallas in the NFC, But we'll see about that, but I think in the AFC, this Dolphins team, with the combination of offensive firepower and defensive playmakers and rush and coverage and all the stuff the running game, passing game, you can win in multiple ways. You have an advanced coaching staff that understands how to you know, adjust and make changes and understands what it takes to win in today's NFL.
And that answer the coach just gave us, paired with the experiences of last year and how sometimes good teams in this league have to kind of get kicked and you know, be down before they get over the hump
and ultimately achieve their ultimate goal. And what coach said there about the makeup and the practice of Wednesday and Thursday, and what we've talked about really since you know, they began assembling this roster, you know, years ago, and the importance of character and locker room presence, and how very careful coach McDaniel has been about massaging those particular traits that he feels are very important to winning football games and making a deep run at this All of that
jumbled up with the talent on the football team and my own personal scouting of the team. I think we're about to see something very special. Could be wrong, But like what I mean by that is like, I think there's a chance. I think there's a chance you might have seen the dolphins last loss this season. Why don't we go ahead and leave it at that. That's how a special I think this season could be. Let's go ahead and finish up here, because the biggest part of
that is the health of the quarterback. And coach touched on the fact that two was about to play his twelve consecutive game and this is a sidebar an additional fact, he's twenty three snaps away from eclipsing his career high. How important that's been to this Dolphins team, and now they have him healthy for the stretch run. Here's coach on how important that's been and what Tua did to put himself in this position by his diligent work in the offseason.
You're always happy when people get, you know, results from you know, diligently working at something, whatever it is. So like you go and attack what you can control. In the midst of a ton of narrative about yes, you can, no, you can't, all this other stuff, he worries about one thing, and that's all right, well, what's the problem staying on the field? What can I do to fix it? And
that's all he worries about. It doesn't surprise me that we're in the position we're in at this point the season where he's played twelve games in a row, because I've never seen someone attack attack an off season with that much. It's not a chip on his shoulder. He was just so motivated to control what he can control, so motivated, So h doesn't surprise me. I think the you know, the results speak for themselves in that way.
Football is a uh, you know, a game where you can't predict, you know, really anything that's gonna happen, but you can control the certain things. I think he's done an unbelievable job of that. I'm really proud, just just really proud and happy that we're at this position in the season with him playing twelve games in a row, because I know how much he directly has to do with that and that it's it wasn't an easy position
for him to be in. But what he did do is, uh is take himself as a man, as a player to a to a different level within that commitment, and you know, I think just his overall command just just it affects everyone. I think he his confidence with his
ability to stay healthy. Guys, guys can feel and you know, we're we're just very fortunate that our quarterback is wired the way he is from a mental standpoint because he he you know, I'm not sure if you guys were placing side bets, but there's a lot of people that were betting against him. He knew that, and you know, so he as a result, he gets better from everything, good, bad or indifferent.
Last break right here, let's go ahead and come back on the other side. And here from my good friend Kyle Krabs, that's the next Draft Time podcast. Your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by I donation, joining us today as he does almost every Friday. Didn't have him on last week on the Black Friday Game. Is the great Kyle Krabs from Locked on NFL Scouting and of course Locked on Dolphins covering your Miami Dolphins. Kyle, how we doing, my friend?
How was the holiday?
Hotday was good? I hope everybody had a good holiday. Who's listening here? And obviously Travis Hugh and then the rest of the Miami Dolphins group that put on a good show for us on Friday, Black Friday. It's always nice to get a divisional win. They are especially nice when they come by three touchdowns. So that was a really nice treat to bring the holiday weekend into full swing.
If there's anything I learned from the Spotify wrapped thing this year, the thing I don't know about to call it, it's that the audience you're talking to right now probably is your audience as well. So locked on and draft time listeners are pretty pretty big ven diagram.
There with a big circle in the middle.
Let's go ahead and talk about this weekend in college football because Kyle one left one left before bowl season, and you know, ball season has kind of been watered down in recent years with all the players that leave and don't play in those games. So this is kind of the last big college weekend until we get to the playoffs. And my question for you is how important do scouts view these games in relation to the rest
of the schedule. Are the bigger games amplified more in a bigger way for scouts for the next level?
I certainly think, especially when you're evaluating for a team that wants to aspire to compete for championships and be in big moments. You want to see the players and how they perform and meet those big moments. So I do think that is one element of this. You think about the game tomorrow with Georgian and Alabama, with the SEC championship game, that stands out. I do think the game tonight with Oregon and Washington is big for a
different reason. It's relevant for that same reason. There's obviously college football playoff spot that's on the line for that. But these two teams played each other before this season and it was a barn burner and Michael Penix puts together a killer drive at the end of the game in the final two minutes to go down and take the lead in a thirty six thirty three win against to the Oregon Ducks. Now, it's like divisional football in
the NFL. When you're evaluating players, you always covet the second matchup because it showcases there's an awareness of what they do well, what they do didn't we played them before. There might be some new wrinkles, some tendency breakers that are involved, but by and large, evaluating players at any level, when there's a familiarity with all the players that are on the field. Is a really really nice kind of
extra lens to put on the evaluation process. So I love getting these conference matchups that are rematches from regular season games because it's like cards were on the table the first time you played. Now it's go out there and execute. And for an Orgon team specifically, do you think about that team last year and how they got handled by the utah Utes twice last year, got their teeth kicked in? Really a chance to have a mulligan game in the Pac twelve championship game against Washington for
those organ Ducks players. I'm really dialed in on that one.
Yeah, you really cut through the deception that could possibly be there from the first time you meet up with that team.
That's it's a great point.
I hadn't only thought of that from a divisional you know, NFL perspective, but in the same way in college and just full transparency. Supposed to be partial in this I should say impartial in this industry.
Go Ducks, man.
The Kougs had the dogs on the ropes last week and they let him off the hook. We knew who they were and let him off the hook. And Michael Pennox he looked injured me in that game. He was like limping around and he was, you know, kind of off by himself on the sideline. So I'm curious to see how he looks in that game, because he didn't look at the Michael Pennis we've seen all year long against.
A not so great WSU defense. But I digress.
Speaking of that, you mentioned that game. You talked about Georgia Alabama. The getting is good this weekend, my friend. I know there's plenty of options you could choose from here. What's some games and some matchups for the NFL draft perspective of things that you're keeping a close eye on this weekend.
Yeah, I think you can look at any of the teams that feature teams in the top three. I'm not as dialed in on Louisville, Florida State the ACC championship game tomorrow night, but Oregon, Washington, Georgia Alabama, and Michigan Iowa. It's a little bit of a bummer that iowa't have Cooper dejen in that game. I know he had a foot injury. A couple of weeks ago. University of Michigan lost Zack Zenter with a pretty ugly leg injury in
their most recent game as well. So there's some prospects in that Big ten matchup tomorrow night at eight o'clock that will be missing some of their NFL talent that will be eligible for this year's class if they choose to make that leap. But anytime you have the number one and number eight team in the country in Georgia and Alabama, you kind of know what you're getting when
you have three and five in Oregon. And I love that Oregon is the PAC twelve game, is the standalone game tonight if you're not counting New Mexico State and Liberty, just because so much of that West Coast matchup is missed by casual fans, right, So you now get this spotlight in conference championship weekend for Oregon Washington, where whether it is Washington with their offensive line, they've got three wide receivers that are viable NFL wide receivers. You obviously
have the quarterback position as well. Then you flip things over to Oregon and we know about bo Nix and Bucky Irving and Troy Franklin, and they've got a center that I have yet to lay eyes on that I know a lot of people that I have a lot of respect for have called out as a viable NFL prospect, and then on the defensive line, guys like Bradon dor Liss. Like, it's a loaded game, So I would look at Big ten, SEC and PAC twelve games that are all loaded with talent.
If I had to rank them, I'd probably say SEC Championship, PAC twelve Championship, and then this year's Big ten Championship.
That's a good point.
They probably do on purpose that way with the PAC twelve on Friday, because it's always been that way for the PAC twelve Championship to avoid putting them in the ten o'clock Eastern window on Saturday, when again everyone's in bed not watching football at that point.
But also I think this is.
The first year of the game's Vegas, which is a huge boon because they used to put it out in Santa Clara, and you know, fans of schools, they want to go down there to the game, but you're forty five minutes away from any the nearest metropolis, so like it kind of discouraged fans from going to those games, and energy in those games was never great, but Vegas that has a different energy that typically comes built in
when you play in those venues. Let's go ahead and talk about the main reason you're on the podcast here in sport in that beautiful, shimmering aqua throwback Dolphins starter level like warm up bullpen, pitcher's jacket.
That's a lot of words. It looks great, You look great, Kyle.
It'll look good to feel good, you know, big subscriber, Maybe.
Coach Probin to have uh No, let's go ahead and talk about some December Dolphins football here, because I just talked to Mike Kuno on this on this episode, we were talking about the importance of these games and how it's kind of cool how Miami has a stretch run here, you know, coming up in December, right around Christmas Eve against three teams they're probably going to be in the postseason, maybe not the final game of the year, hopefully not, but it's a good little test run for the Miami
Dolphins here. But just kind of want to get your take on December football, what this team could have learned from last year's experience where things kind of went you know, upside down this time last year, and also what this year's team could do to you probably do believe in them as a championship potential contender, But what's one thing they could do that would really make you feel very good about their chances once they do get beyond that threshold of the regular season.
So I think if you, I think if you can improve your offensive efficiency in protecting the football, I think that really changes the conference. Like you could talk all you want about kind of the early season performance of this team and getting settled into the new scheme with vic Fango on the defensive side of the ball, and obviously the improvements in total yardage that this defense has experienced, this scoring defense. They're still ranked twenty second, but you've
had three pick sixes this season. You had multiple possessions against the Raiders where you turn the ball over in scoring territory and directly yielded points. You had a Special Teams touchdown on Week three against Denver, but they're the
fumble to start the second half against New England. All of these instances of short fields directly yielding points on the board, not ending in a possession and a kick, And I know that that's kind of every special team's coach mantras, right, is every possession that ends in a kick is a good possession, but it's in this case it's not wrong.
So I think for.
Miami, and you know, we heard two a tongue of Lawa talk about it this week when he was asked about it. Making sure that the efficiency is not putting the team at a position where it's it's giving away more points than teams have to earn against you. If you forced teams to go to the field against this defense,
it's gonna be hard sledding. Case in point there, there has not been a single team that has scored more than twenty one points in the last four games, and you can go back to the last six game, there's only one game in which the team yielded more than twenty one points. So they haad some good offenses in that stretch. They protect the football, and I think this conversation really changes for the ceiling of his team.
I can't I literally cannot wait.
Like I want to enjoy these last six games we have promised to us, and then I mean, we're very close to getting promised to a seventh but like I want to enjoy them. But man, I just can't wait to see how it plays out, because I think this team has it in them to make those corrections and then be the best version of themselves, you know, when the calendar turns twenty twenty four, and if that happens, like we're going to be in for a very fun
ride here. And just real quick, my co host on the post game Show, Steth loveoc gonna love the mention there of the any drive that ends and a kick is a good possession.
There a little old school thinking.
There, but you're I get where you're coming from in that frame of mind where just don't turn the ball over and you're probably gonna be pretty damn good and.
Tough to beat.
Kyle Crabs, you're the man buddy at grinand the Tape on Twitter, locked on NFL Scouting, locked on Dolphins Podcast. You can find him all over the webs, the interwebs as we call it. Kyle, Thanks for your time today and my friend and enjoy the game on Sunday, Thanks Travis, and away he goes, and away we go for the weekend. You can find us back here on Sunday evening slash
Monday morning for the Commander's Recap podcast. Of course, check me out on the Postgame Show with My guys Seth and Juice also find the podcast subscribe rate review it. The guy that gave us the one star review because of Connor Williams bad snapping don't get it. But if you always want to go ahead and give me a five star review on top of that to push it back to the back, that would be cool. Also go ahead and follow me on social at Winfield, NFL. Follow
the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the aforementioned Seth and Juice on their podcast The Fish Tank and also the YouTube channel for Media Availabilities and Dolphins Today, and last button not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up, Caroline Cameron, Daddy is coming home.