Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins. Now, let me check your pulse if you're not form What is up? Dolphins? And welcome to the Drive 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 Wingfield, And on today's show, it is the Week nine variety show. I'll be joined by the co founder of the German
Dolphins fan Club, Marcus Martin. We have an extended chat with the great Kyle Krabs for five on Finch Draft and a conversation about Dolphins developmental programs on the offensive line that has gotten those guys playing at a high level. Plus, we'll give you the latest on injuries and play the sounds of the week with regards to traveling overseas and taking in the German culture. From somewhere in South Florida, this is the Drive Time Podcast Maye Gaffe. We start
here with games, statuses and injury reports. Here for the game on Sunday, the biggest game of the season for the Miami Dolphins to date and in my opinion, the biggest game on the entire NFL calendar to date. And we got some good news regardings a lot of players that it looks like are going to come back. First no Robert Hunt and no Brandon Jones on Sunday, But it does appear as though Miami, despite some questionable distinctions on the game status report, will get to Ron Armstead,
Connor Williams, Exavien Howard, and Javon Holland back. Think about that, that's four guys that, in my opinion, belong on Pro Bowl teams within the last couple of years. Now X did make it last year, he would argue that he probably didn't deserve that one. I think Connor Williams would
have deserved one, but he didn't get it. So the whole idea of this team's getting better at the trade deadline concept, Miami's doing that with their own returning guys that already know your playbook, that already know your system. So I don't think anybody going to benefit from roster changes this time of season from the Miami Dolphins. I like the Chase Young Traine a lot for the forty
nine ers. I think he's the perfect candidate to come in there with Chris Kuseric and have a bit of a career renaissance there in San Francisco and go out and get himself a big contract in the offseason as a result. But people wanted to see DeVante Adams traded, right. People wanted to see all these big time moves for you know, marquee players around the league and to come in mid season, pick up an offense, pick up a defense,
and have an impact. We've seen the Dolphins defense with Vic Fangio take eight or so games to get clicking in Unison, right, and it still hasn't even there yet. To his point, Jalen Ramsey's not all the way back yet. When he does get back, when they get all these pieces back, then maybe you start to see the fruits
of their labor. Which how good does that work out for Miami that by the time you get to that three game stretch in December into January against Dallas, Baltimore and Buffalo, you probably have the similar level of continuity on the defensive side in terms of how comfortable you are within your systems, within your rules as you have with this Dolphins offense that came out from Game one just humming with four hundred and sixty six yards through the year for two a tongue of my lowest, So
that's a separate point. In general, I just think the Dolphins are going to have their best team on Sunday. They've shown this season. I think they're going to perform in their best game, their best performance that we've seen all year long. And if the Chiefs don't do the same and don't match it, the Dolphins are gonna win this football game. If the Chiefs do match it, the Dolphins still have a chance to win this football game. So I can't wait. I am just geeked, I am nervous,
I am excited. I am fraught with anticipation thinking the Dolphins are going to do something special and give themselves With the results that we get on Sunday, I think Miami wins this game. I think Buffalo loses on Sunday Night Football. I think you could put yourself ahead of the Chiefs in the AFC standings. I think you could create a two game cushion over the Buffalo Bills with the results of Sunday Night Football going the way I anticipate they will go. Though I've been wrong before. Did
Neil that Thursday night pick? Though, by the way, when no one else was taking the Steelers, even though they are a terrible football team, they find a way to win those games. But I digress. So I just think that the Dolphins have a chance, with the results of this week's games to put themselves in position on the bye week to make you, as the fan, feel better than you have in I would say better than you have since coming off that win in Denver to get to five and one back in two thousand and two
before you found out about Jay Fiedler's broken thumb. You might tell me the Jets finale in two thousand and eight, that was pretty great, But did we really believe that team could even go and beat Baltimore in the first round at home when you threw four picks, you know, Chad Pennington to Ed Reid in that game. Did you think that the twenty sixteen win in Buffalo as great
as that was? And I went and got messed up at my father in law's house celebrating what was about to be our first trip back to the postseason in eight years, did you think that team with Bakari Rambo and guys like oh Man who the line background forgetting the guy that called me out Spencer Pasinger on Twitter when I said that, like, as great as the twenty sixteen season was, the Dolphins roster was not so great, and he was like, hey, Dolphins fan should appreciate this team.
I'm like, hey, I appreciate this Dolphins team more than anybody else. I'm just telling you you had Bacari ramble off the streets starting in the playoff game because isa Abdul Caduz got hurt and Rashaw Jones was out, and I think your third safety, I forget who it was, was also down. So I was just trying to be relative to that point. We are so far into the weeds.
My point here is that I think a Dolphins fan come one o'clock Sunday afternoon in the East ten o'clock in the West, could potentially feel the best they have about their team in twenty two years. And then Sunday night, with a Bills result, hopefully going in the right direction, potentially feeling better than that, and then Baltimore plays Seattle, maybe the Seahawks get a big road win. I'm not picking it, but this week could be monument until either way.
If the Dolphins win, regardless of what happens in the other games, If the Dolphins went on Sunday. They'll be first place in the AFC heading into the bye week and again a potential two game advantage with the first half of the season in the books over Buffalo, with their schedule getting increasingly harder in Miami, Having for all intents and purposes, five cupcakes. After that, let's go ahead and get you some commentary from the players this week.
This is one of the challenges of not traveling with the team, as I haven't been around for press conferences to watch practice and give you guys those updates. But we do have the sound I want to play four sound bites here from guys talking about their experiences of going to Germany, how it can galvanize his football team, taking in the culture, and much much more. We start here with Dolphins outside linebacker Bradley Chubb.
Anytime you get a chance to expand the game that I've been playing since I was six years old, game that I love, game that I put my heart into. Anytime you got a chance to share that with a different group of people, different culture, no matter where it is, it's a blessing. It's a huge opportunity. And last year
Atlanda was fun had a good time. But this year in Germany, Man, I'm with a special group of guys and we got an opportunity to do something real special, so it makes the experience that much better, that much leader.
He also talked a little bit about how last year's team kind of took the trip out to California as more of a vacation and it informed them to not do that because he thought they didn't play as well in the game. And going back, I always thought the Chargers they had a good game plan, but it wasn't about the game plan. It was more that Miami just didn't play well in that game. So hopefully you learn from that lesson, you apply it here and get a
better performance in Germany. Let's go ahead and hear from Christian Wilkins, who is a man who knows how to immerse himself in foreign culture.
It's been so far, so good. I love being here. It's been a lot of fun, just time spent with my teammates, enjoying their company and getting closer with those guys, but also just you know, it's special to be in another country. You know, growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, like one thing I always wanted to do is be able to travel. I didn't think football would you know, take
me out of the country to play a game. And so this is special time for me, just you know, kind of thinking how far I've come and just being here and have an opporutility to play a game.
How about a certain Dolphins running back with heritage ties back to the country of Germany.
You know, I would love to tap into my roots a little bit more, you know, just just being who I am as a person as an individual. I love learning about, you know, my ancestry and history behind the reason why I am who I am. But also you know, what my family was like, you know, back in the day, so it's fairly important. I love the fact that, you know, the NFL is definitely taking that initiative to you know, go abroad and having these opportunities for players to get
outside the norm, you know, being outside the US. I think that that's very important to see different cultures and to pick up a few things. I know when I when we first arrived here, jaylen Watta was talking about all these different things, talking about currency and and you know he went to exchange right before, right before we departed, and he was fully invested in learning the culture and history behind you know, Germany and stuff like that, which I thought was fairly neat the.
First time I ever went to Hawaii was with my current wife, my wife, that was our first trip together, like on an airplane and everything. And when I got back, I kept saying mahaalow to everybody, even though it didn't track with what they were saying to me. And it reminded me of this clip of Alec Ingold when he was asked how he's enjoying Germany so far, and he said, donke, which I guess is thank you. So how is Germany so far? Alec? Thank you? I thought that was a
fantastic moment. Here's Alec talking about going out with a team that night and again how this entire trip has been galvanizing for the entire roster.
Yeah, we went to downtown Frankfurt a handful of guys, and no, I felt right at home, ordered some beer and some brats and had a great time. So no, it was really cool to get around town sightsee with the guys on that Tuesday. Coach obviously got us down here early just to experience a right and just get into that new uncomfortable situations with your teammates. I think
that kind of brings everyone a little closer together. You get to learn together, and I think that's this is gonna be a week that I think all of us are gonna remember for a long time. So doing our best to make it special.
I mean, I wanted to close with that one on purpose, because, like you said, a week we could all remember for a long time. And I get he's saying in terms
of the bonding nature of this team. But perhaps you win this game and you come back and you, you know, maybe you have your America's game at the end of the season and people talk about the Germany trip as the one that brought this team together, provided a chance to win a big football game to prove to them they can beat one of the teams, one of the elite teams in the National Football League and maybe springboards them into a very special second half of the season
under the watchful eye of Hard Knocks. Ooh boy, we have an exciting two months ahead and it starts on Sunday from Frankfurt, Germany. Let's go ahead and take our first break right here. I had Kyle Krabs go on the podcast. We had a couple of the people you'll see in the booth on Sunday's game lined up, but it did not work out to come on the podcast here for the variety show, So no Rich Eyes and
no Dan Orlowski. I do apologize for that, but again, I have some mega guests coming up your way on the bye week, but that's a couple weeks or I should say a week or so down the line from now. Let's go ahead and take our first break and have this extended chat with Kyle Krabs on the other side. You guys are not gonna want to miss this talking about the Dolphins offensive line and how they've gotten these parts to finally click and work out here in South Florida.
That's all next Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Autnation. A little bit different flow on this Friday edition of the Draft Time Podcast. I'm gonna go ahead and plug in my interview right now with Kyle Krabs. I just enjoyed this chat all around talking college football with a lot of Dolphins talking here
as well. Let's go ahead and get to my friend Kyle Crabs joining us as he does every single Friday here for five minutes on Finn's Draft is the Great Kyle Krabs locked on NFL scouting, locked on Dolphins at grinding the tape on social Kyle, how we feel, man, I'm feeling good. Uh.
You know, We're We're at the halfway point of the NFL season, which is pretty crazy to think. We're at the three quarter mark of the college football season before the postseason, and I'm just gently weeping at night thinking that we're getting close to the back half of football and potentially not having football for another stretch of time.
And I'm just enjoying the ride. I had a I left to voicemailt today which I guess speaks to the fact that I'm thirty six years old, and I talked about how there's only two months left in the football season, and I kind of got the similar vibes that you
did right there. And you know, it reminds me of like all these you know, TNF and Sunday night football games that and granted, like there are some tough ones, but the thing that I never get, like tonight, we're recording this on a Thursday tonight, for instance, Titans and Steelers, Like there's intrigue there on both those sides to me. But for people to be like, I'm not watching this, it's like you wait, you wait eight months for this, and then you'll be just punted on it.
Leading you'll be pleading for in three months, you'll be pleading for a UNSP Taculer Thursday night football matchup guarantee, Kyle.
I used to watch Arizona hot Shots versus the Saint Louis BattleHawks whatever the AAF. I forget, like I was into that that year because I didn't have a kid yet and I had nothing but time. But I digress. Enjoy the football. That's the larger takeaway here. Speaking of big football, like you mentioned college football that goes by so fast every year, quicker than a quarter if you were on the quarter system back into school, in high school or college.
Give me the big game of the week you're looking forward to, the scouting the top prospects that you expect come out of that game. Some matchups you like what you're looking for this weekend.
Yeah, it's tempting because you have a couple of different options between LSU Alabama, which is always a fun showcase of talent with the history those programs have. As of late of putting big time talent into the National Football League. But I would look at Washington at USC. I know USC's defense has not played particularly well as of the last couple of weeks, and USC has kind of struggled versus the standard and next dictation, they've fall into twentieth
in the polls. But you got two big time quarterback prospects, and Penix and Caleb Williams, who obviously can sling the ball all over the field. There's some gifted wide receivers in each one of those groups, and there are a number of defenders. Washington's got a couple of pass rushers. USC has safety Kylen Bullock out there, who I think is a really rangy, intriguing, probably Day two guy at safety.
So I just think you.
Can look at Washington, USC and whichever team has the ball, you're probably looking at a half dozen NFL guys that are on the field at any given point in time.
Now you're talking my language. Funny story for you. It must have been exactly four weeks ago when the Kogs were four and oh, I stopped by Austin Jackson's locker and said, Austin, I think it's going to be USC WSU in the Pac twelve Championship. What are your thoughts? And he thought, I meant Washington because that's what everyone thinks when I talk about football in the Pacific Northwest.
And I think since that time, Washington's zer and to four, Washington State rather zero four, and USC I believe is two and two. Both teams kind of training in the wrong direction. So yeah, the Pac two he no longer looking as strong as it once did with Washington State and Organ State. And let's go ahead and stay there
on that game in the Pac twelve. Because there's a player on the UDUB offensive line that I keep seeing clips of him, and I watched that Organ game and he was the prospect that I came away I thought most impressed by to the left tackle of you Dub Troy Fatanu. I thought that his tape was really, really fantastic. But I've seen some folks talk about him as a potential guard. What say you there with his pro position?
Yeah, I've kind of heard the same speculation. But at the end of the day, this guy is six foot four, three hundred and fifteen plus pounds, good on the edge in pass protection. I think he's earned the right to get a chance to play outside.
First.
I think he frames blocks really well. He's really aggressive with his hands. He's not a heavyweight puncher, but he's really active with his hands once he kind of gets you cut off with that initial angle, and he works pretty hard with his hands to try try and force you to lose leverage or give up your chest or have your hands drop down because he's countering you. And I think he showcased a pretty high level of football
IQ on the edge. So anytime you have a player like that, maybe it's not prototypical length, but at the end of the day, if he's got the foot speed in athleticism to do it, which I think he does, I would rather give him a chance to play a tackle and then if it doesn't work out, then that career evolution can happen. And you've seen that happen plenty of times with guys come into the league and sometimes
it works once they move inside. Sometimes it doesn't. But if you want to give a guy every opportunity to be successful, I think that's the pathway I would take with foot Tim.
So you probably explained this on your podcast during the offseason, I imagine, and sorry, Kyle, have to admit to you, I haven't listened to every single Lockdown Dolphins episode. I listened to a lot of them, not all of them, But I haven't heard this from you before. I think it's a good chance for you to potentially give some football one on one education here, because you know, like a player is a good tackle in college and proe scouts think he should kick inside to guard. What do
you think typically call is that conversation to begin? Because I'm looking at you know you talk about him, and if it's not just a good tackle versus a great guard, for instance, like look at Robert Hunt, Like I thought he was pretty good at right tackle, but he looks to me to be one of the best right guards in the National Football League. And then you get from Austin Jackson, who was a career left tackle at USC has now found a home with the right tackle position.
Connor Williams was a tackle in college, played guard in Dallas, and now is a center here. Like this offensive line has guys all over the place that have swap positions. What do you think it is about this system that kind of I guess changes guys from what they have been donating in the past and are so successful in their new role here. Well, I think what Miami.
I think what Miami has done a nice job of is kind of forecasting the traits. You know, when you first signed Connor Williams, and the work kind of starts to get out that they may try him at center.
Everybody's like, oh, that's that's surprising, But look at how they use the center and just how athletic Connor Williams is and how he's charged with getting up into space and in the screen game and cutting off linebackers, and so many of Miami's explosive runs this season have come courtesy of a backside offensive lineman working up and cutting off a linebacker that he doesn't have leverage on at the start of the play, but thanks to the shift
of the motion and then bumping the formation, you give him a half a step and then they're athletic enough to get up there and do that. And I think that's really helped. And as far as Austin Jackson goes, that's a prototypical offensive tackle build, right, That's how he gets drafted where he gets drafted, and teams do it
every year. But if you don't have a plan for the player, you do the player a disservice, and I think Austin getting into this system, his strengths finally align with the foundations of what you're trying to do offensively. Where it is play action pass heavy, it is you're taking advantage of his athleticism and his length and his
power in the run game, it shows up. And then when you play action pass off of that, you're negating so many of the strengths that defensive ends and pass rushers bring to the table where they're team off on you because you're still dictating terms even on the passing plays.
So I think just how in all pieces together and the athleticism of Miami's offensive line has kind of provided them with an opportunity to showcase if you could properly identify traits and then you sew that together with what your core concepts are and how you run your offense. That's where you can get cohesion on your offensive line even if they're not playing at the spots they played in college.
That might be my favorite part of watching the Dolphins taper week is what you just talked about with kind of the hesitation and almost puts on the defensive line like they fire off the ball in a passing down, you see the defensive lines first step is kind of like to pop up and it raises their pad level and just kind of takes them out of the play a lot of the time. So it's it's working very well.
And then also this conversation kind of reminds me of something that Mike McDaniel had said back when he was with the forty nine ers when he was asked in a press conference, so it must have been his last year when he was the OC that he was asked about the forty nine ers propensity for like late round draft picks that hit on the offensive line, and his first comment was, well, ideally, you know, you take the
guys you get. You would if you could engineer it, you would have every guy be seven foot tall, four hundred pounds, and those guys tend to go in the first round. I wonder how much he looked at this line coming over here and was like, I had a
line full of first round picks. I went out and signed to Ron armser it as an all pro and out and signed Connor Williams, who clearly has traits that we believe can be a top center, which is translated into a top five center in the National Football League, Like it's It kind of blows your mind on it, doesn't it.
Yeah, especially because there there had been this some of the individuals versus the sum of the entire product. And then you get you get a system like the one that the Dolphins have in here now, and these early draft picks look like early draft picks, you know. And Robert Hunt's taking his game to another level was a guy who was playing well with the previous regime that
was here too. And I certainly think there is a lot of case studies to be had about the offensive line unit in general, and I for one cannot wait to see how it continues to evolve, To continue to see these individual talents and then this group in its entirety, how they continue to progress from here.
Going a little bit longer today with Kyle Krabs locked on Dolphins, locked on NFL scouting talking some offensive line and could be a position that Dolphins look heavily into. It could be one that they wind up having no needs with regards to contract extensions. You never know what could happen. But left guard, center, right guard, right tackle all schedule for free agency at the end of this year. If they're playing fantastic, it's a good class as well
in college football. So a fun conversation to have there. Let's go back to our typical chat here, Kyle, and give me a game off the radar in college football this Saturday or maybe even tonight that you're looking at that has some prospects you're intrigued by.
I will unfortunately turn down the Washington State game on the Pac twelve network because I don't have Pack twelve network. But UCLA at Arizona at ten thirty on Fox Sports One if you're on the Eastern time zone, some sneaky talent in that game. Arizona. You know, they're five and three. They've had some success. They knocked off Oregon State I believe it was last weekend, or Washington State they beat. They got Jordan Morgan at left tackle. They got wide
receiver Jacob Cowing in the slot for them. They have some players, and obviously UCLA has is barking on the door of a ten win season this year, and they've got a lot too at defensive end, who some people think could potentially be a top ten, top fifteen draft selection when it's all said and done. So that's a game for me that keeping it again on. Ironically, in the PAC twelve, there's a lot of talent that's going
to be on the field there. I mean you're probably talking another half dozen to double digit NFL players that are on the field for that game. And it's the last game on the schedule for the FBS list this week.
It's the latest kick.
But it's worth it if you've got the sleep and energy to stay up and watch it.
Well, you're posing a strong challenge here because we're going to finish on this conversation with Dolphins and Chiefs from Frankfurt, Germany, which kicks off at nine thirty Eastern. So, Kyle, you're asking the fans to stay up until about one thirty in the morning and then to have a turnaround for a nine thirty kickoff. How do you feel about that?
Just sleap the rest of the day on Sunday, I guess, just pull the all nighter and get ready for a big game on Sunday morning.
I was almost was certain you were going to stay a sleep when you're dead, and I was gonna laugh my ass off when you said that, But you didn't, so I won't. But I will finish up with this conversation because I we do it every week, but I would hate to miss it this week. Big game, man, big fun game. I don't know how you feel about getting ready for it in terms of your coverage and content over the next couple of days, right, I should say the last few days, as we've you know, put
together our preview content and all that fun stuff. It was fun for me because it kind of it had the feel of like an important playoff game, all honesty, thinking about the potential of how I'll feel if we win, about some of the big plays you might sell a great and just in general trying to find every single little nook and cranny you can that gives the Dolphins a potential opportunity to exploit and go get themselves a dub in a big game. So what do you think, man?
Have you felt the same way this week? How do you feel out the matchup? What some big keys do you think might decide this one?
Yeah?
I think I'm a little less jittery than I have been for the last couple big games this season. Obviously, you know, Miamis was just on Sunday Night football against Philadelphia and dropped a tough one that was a one score game until very late in the game after a turnover, and I know after the game, Might McDaniel talked about that environment being really helpful for this team as they continue to try to develop and progress to where they want to go. And then you consider Jalen Ramsey being back.
I've seen you a few times tweet about thermometers or temperature changers. Yes, players to damage on my term, and that's Jalen Ramsey right, So to have him ready for this game that if Tyreek Hill ready for this game, it is going to be a great opportunity for Miami. It feels like they're gonna get some reinforcements from within for guys that are going to be ready to play in this game and really excited to see how it all shakes out.
Yeah, man, I'm glad it's Donne out of the way early. I did a spot earlier in the week and somebody asked me about having that early kickoff, and my thought was that every time you you like it, yes I do.
I would not want to wait, Like if you told me that game was Sunday Night Football, I'd lose my mind all day.
That's true. Well, my argument was that when the Dolphins win, it just makes like, my favorite part about Dolphins win is the rest of the games and then the content that comes as a follow up, you know, the highlight shows, the talk shows, the podcast that I'm into, all that stuff is just so much more fun when the Dolphins win, and a big Dolphins win, that's gonna lead every show on Monday if they so looking forward to it. Hey man,
great chat. I appreciate you kind of stretching here for us on the show on this week nine variety show at Grinding the Tape on Social, locked on NFL Scouting, Locked on Dolphins, Kyle, appreciate you man.
Thanks Frans.
How come those interviews recorded I always sound way more muffled than otherwise. I'll have to figure that out on my own time. Let's go ahead and take our last break right there. Come back on the other side and hear from the co founder of the German Dolphins fan Club, Marcus Merton. That's next Draft Time podcast to your host,
Travis Wingfield. Brought to you by Auto Nation, and I'm very excited about my guest today because we only get these opportunities every few years with the international series and the first time ever the Dolphins playing a regular season game on German soil. I'm very thrilled to be joined today by the co founder of the German Dolphins Fan Club. He is Marcus Martin. Marcus, thank you so much for your time.
Today, Alech Trevis, thank you so much. Pleasure being with you. Thanks for having me.
So, I have so many questions because it fascinates me as someone that tries to invest in you know, as we call it soccer, Marcus, and I apologize, I know it's football over where you're from as well, but investing in a sport where the games happen in the middle of the night, to me is fascinating and so I
wanted to get your perspective to start here. Just give us what it's like on a game day to be a Dolphins fan in Germany and when you watch these games, particularly the ones you know, I know you have, like I think the normal kickoff time is like ten o'clock over there, but it shifts throughout the you know, early into the early morning hours. Just tell us about your experience of game day as a Dolphins fan in Germany.
Yeah, with pleasure. So fortunately, is it is not that problematic. So usually the early games they start at seven pm in Germany when you watch them, so it's the the late games that start around ten or eleven o'clock in the ear but you know, we are looking all of these games, so we're watching from usually a double header from six to seven until one two o'clock into the night. You know, we're fans, we love football. Football is growing in Germany very much, so there's a lot of excitement.
We do have these older fans like me, you know, starting watching the games in the eighties, but over the last years there's kind of i would call it a little hype on American football. How we call it here. It is because there was a start of free TV broadcasting, so the games are available, not always a Dolphins, so it's a kind of mixture, but you can watch every evening two games, the early game and the late game
on free TV. So in the meantime, football in Germany is the number two TV sports, so it is above Formula one or rugby or whatever. It's just behind soccer and it's amazing.
It's like, yeah, it's amazing to watch me with the NFL has grown that way, it's it's you know, making its way overseas England now obviously Germany as well. And you mentioned the eighties, I have to follow up, so I assume that has something to do with a certain quarterback that played here in the eighties.
Yeah, pretty much full full hit the target. Yeah. So I grew up in Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany, and you know, there was a huge presence of US Army Air base, so everybody knew. Some guys had some friends and Sunday evening, you know, you started watching games with them, and over time it was kind of it was it was the Dolphins. It was you know, it was the name, it was the Colors, and it was the way they played. You know, in the eighties it was a very run heavy league.
And then we had this team with Dan Marino and the marks brought and they were throwing, they were going through the air. It was like like a dolphin jumping. So and you know, and there were dolphins, an animal that I always associate with intelligence, with speed, with elegence, and that was the way they were playing. So I was very quickly addicted to the Dolphins there.
It definitely hit me at a young age as well. It was a different era for me in the late nineties, I kind of caught onto it, but that same quarterback we'll still there at that time, and now we have a quarterback that hopefully can inspire some young generations as well in terms of getting plenty of Dolphins fans, not just here in South Wara, but across the globe and starting on Sunday in Frankfurt with the big game against
the Chiefs. And you know you mentioned watching the early game of seven o'clock, in the late game ten o'clock. That's you know, our primetime games. The evening game, the late late one for us starts at like eight fifteen, so that one's in the early morning hours. But I'm wondering, what is the game day set up like for you? Do you you know we have tailgates over here, people have friends over they drink a lot of beer. What is the game that look like for the German Dolphin.
Then it depends a little bit. So sometimes from from our club we are organizing watch parties where some people just sit together, meet and watch the game together. And then from a from a club perspective, we also support this with a little bit of financial support in terms of buy you some beer or some some ribs or
whatever you need and then enjoy the game together. We always open in our Facebook group or a game day post to share our emotions and our cheering, and every Sunday before the first game starts, we are doing an insta live talk. So just a little bit of preparation and hyping into the game, you know, recapitulating the most important fact who is injured. And usually it gives you the right the right feeling and the right motivation to start into the game and to feel like I'm prepared,
I know what to expect. And then then the game starts and it surprises you because it's always the same. You think about the yards and EPA and all these tactical things, and then something totally different happens.
It's a unique experience, a unique sport. And obviously you know you're part a co founder of this big fan club over there in Germany. I'm curious the origins of that. How long have you guys been together, What's how did that kind of come together? And just kind of give us the details on the German fan club.
Yeah, so it all started in twenty sixteen when some some guys were looking around if and we're worried they might be the only old fans and in hold Germany. And they started a Facebook group and tried to collect people from all over the social media. And this group has grown in to a one thy four hundred member group in the meantime with pretty active members, I have to say, and over time it became big and bigger. So some guys were starting doing a podcast, maybe inspired
by your name because it's a Dolphins Drive. Then we now play on Twitter, on Instagram, we have this insta live talk. We have a fan club homepage where we put on all the events that we are doing and especially the previews before the games. So when it comes to statistics and players and people, I would say they enjoy football within our club on totally different levels. And that's the nice thing. On football. You simply can cheer
for a team. You can enjoy watching a game with some friends, or you can dig into tactical things or game plan or even one step ahead and think we look into into the advanced analytics and check the EPA composite score of the quarterbacks, and so there are so many different levels and there is no right or wrong, so you can enjoy it on so much ways and you find your personal access to the game. So that's what I love so much.
And I'm just smiling. Yeah, I'm smiling because you're talking my language. I mean, this is the stuff I cover on the podcast every single day. So it's it's really cool to hear that. And you know it's I view, like, I'm a big fan of multiple sports. I love the Miami Heat. I love my Seattle Marris is a baseball team back from my home state. I love my Washington
State Cougar is also back home. But like the Dolphins, the one team that I really dive into every single detail and I'm almost like, you know, obsessive about it. Other sports is more casual, laid back and just kind of enjoy the show and once it's over, it's over. I don't really you know, a sweat about it. But this team really kind of good or bad, can get me thinking about the team for a couple of days
after the fact. And speaking of a couple of days after, we are just a few days short of the game kicking off over there in Frankfurt. What's the buzz around town been a like in anticipation of this game. I have to imagine you guys that are into the sport and of this team are fired up to watch the Dolphins on home soil.
Yeah, so I would say there's a lot of buzz already, even though the NFL starts the main hype train at the weekend and then continues over the week into the next weekend, because then the Patriots and the Colts will also be in Frankfurt and playing their game there. But
you can already see banners in the whole town. I think the pub that we will take over together with the Dolphins is already uh kind of decorated, so you have the the Aqua signs on on the windows, and you would easily detect this pub to being the Dolphins pub. And people are talking a lot of a lot about this game. So it's it's on the radio. So when I when I when I went to work, and the people there, they are not interested in football, but they know that I'm a Dolphins fan. And then it comes hey,
I've heard in the radio that Dolphins in town. Are you going to the game. So even people that are not, however, influenced by American football, they they got a sense that there is something going on and something coming up for the for the weekend now, So it's pretty cool to see this.
Well, I mean, if there's ever going to be a game to convert non football fans into football, might be this one, because you guys might be getting arguably two of the best teams in the NFL heading over that way to play a big game, and it's it's for a lot of you know, playoff implications down the line, hopefully for both clubs here in terms of who wins this game. So I'll go ahead and finish up with this question for you, Marcus, what are you most excited
about seeing with this Dolphins team in person? Is this your first time seeing the fans live and in person, and what are you most excited about seeing so?
Unfortunately or fortunately not so, I've seen this Dolphins several times in the States, So for me, this game day means more like having a lot of fun interacting with the fans from other countries. So we will have a lot of friends from the US, from the UK, from France, and you know, these people beat these people because you are interconnected between the fan clubs, so you're chatting with them,
you're writing text messages. And now it's the first time that we have all these guys together, you can meet them in person in a pub, fully in a Dolphins setting. So this will be a lot of fun. But what you mentioned, it will be a big thing for a lot of us because a lot of German guys cannot afford just you know, flying over the pond and watch the Dolphins in Miami or wherever. Some can do it,
combining it with the holidays or whatever. But for a lot of them, it will be the opportunity to see their dolphins.
Life and outstanding.
Yeah, and even if you did not get tickets, I think you will still enjoy all the atmosphere and Frankfurt and being around with other Dolphins and they have this exchange. But for a lot of them it will be their chance in a lifetime to see the Dolphins playing live.
You mentioned atmosphere. Do you think that the game day atmosphere is going to be just on that same level as a typical you know, soccer match or football match would be over there, Like you guys expect to be pretty lowed the entire game.
It will be totally different, totally different because when you watch a soccer game like lack one watching a football game in the States you have fans from one team and fans from the other team, and usually they try to dominate them by making noise or having their chance or something like that. And this in Germany, it will more be kind of a party. So I expect ninety percent of the fans in the stadium neither being Chiefs nor Dolphins fans, so they will be just football fans
or maybe NFL fans or just event fans. So they want to to take this atmosphere and they want to to just be part of this big, big day and this huge event. So we will have several hundred Dolphins fans in the stadium for sure, and we will try to show up all in aqua. That how our players can spot us, you know when you're standing on the field, and they should feel supported by spotting some aqua between all the thirty two NFL jerseys that they will be in the stands.
So either way, I think it's an advantage for the Dolphins because this game would have been an arrowhead stadium with you know, raucus ninety five percent Chiefs fans making noise when the Dolphins have the football, then being quiet when Mahomes has it. But it sounds like it would be loud for both teams. You're possibly quiet for both teams, so that's good for us, that's good for the podcast here. Marcus,
we appreciate your time today. Marcus Martin, the co founder of the German Dolphins Fan Club, thank you so much for your time today and soak it in, enjoy the week, and I'm so happy for you and all the German Dolphins fans out there.
Thank you. Finzip who says.
This isn't a cultured podcast, we had all kinds of fun content there from Bavaria, from deutsch Ln and looking forward to seeing that crowd fired up for two of the best teams in the NFL, hopefully going home with a big, big Dolphins win. I can't stretch it enough. I have been This feels like an AFC Championship game to me, man like, just in terms of how I imagine that feels, because I don't know how that feels, because it's been since nineteen ninety friggin two that we've experienced that. I
was five years old. I think most of you probably weren't you alive then, but it feels like that. I think this might be how it feels in terms of the anticipation of a massive game, the anticipation of every single play coming down to you know, the game coming down to every single snap. It feels like in the moment, I can't wait. Let's go ahead and call a podcast though, because we've been with you guys here for about forty five minutes. That's way too long on a Friday show.
You all please be sure to subscribe, rate, review all that stuff, follow on social, check out the fish Tank podcast and our post game show on radio with me, Seth and OJ. Go ahead and check out the YouTube channel for all these media availabilities that you heard a little bit of content from on this podcast, as well as Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, Fins Up, Come on, Cameron, Daddy, come home.
M HM.