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