The Audible Ep. 113 | Schedule Release

know you're not sitting there. You're not sitting there two days before training camp starts and you've got your your top two draft picks unsigned and you're wondering when when they're gonna show up. Now, now it's pretty much a done deal. Uh. Your Dolphins already have what uh six players signed out of their draft class and uh and I would expect over the next couple of weeks, Uh,

they'll they'll get them all. I'll put to bed here pretty quickly because John, really, in reality, with the draft and the way it's set up now, wherever you a drafted, whatever slot you're in, you're gonna get about three percent of what of over what they got those players at that spot got last year, so it makes it pretty easy. It really doesn't leave very much room for players to

to hold out every now and then. I think you saw the Bosa kids that you know hold out a little bit, uh, and every now and then someone else spoke. For the most part, John, it's draft and signed for the league these days, and no different for the Miami Dolphins. Yeah.

I agree with you though, And in terms of I never thought i'd use a four letter word more than I've used zoom in the last NABE four to six weeks, right, And I think the league is starting to adapt to to being able to function at a distance, and I'm not so sure that the signings would have been any different. But I I think for the young guys it's just

a matter of catching up. And I think there's there's a little apprehension I would think on all the coaching staffs throughout the entire NFL, all thirty two teams wondering and crossing their fingers if those guys that are saying, yeah, I got it, yeah, I got it, Uh, maybe don't

have it until you can see him in person. But with the signings, I don't think there's any difference, you know, I think you know, there's been six Dolphins that have been able to to ink their contracts and and like you said, both they're all gonna be slotted in, no matter if you go first, or you go in the middle of the pack, or you go last. There's a whole there's not a whole lot of room for negotiation.

You know, there might be on some minor individual contracts depending on what position you play, and maybe some incentified things that you have in your contract, but pretty much everybody's gonna be slotted in at a price range and you're gonna go accordingly. So I think that's been very smooth for for you know, what we're having to deal with on a daily basis of dealing with business and dealing with operational and function reality of the league. I

think all that's pretty much seamless now out. And I would think that hopefully as we inch closer to getting some type of normalcy in our lives are are regular daily lives, it would it would inch back into the business side as well, and and so certainly the NFL

falls into that category. Yeah, it's uh, it is from a signing standpoint, pretty much business is usual and usually usually John, the only guys that really have any anything, really any anything to deal with as far as the draft of the you know, the top few rounds of guys, and you know you'll see somebody and usually it say they want some setback kind of deals that the numbers are pretty well firmed. But you know, some of it's whether you know, if uh that fifth year extension or whatever,

different things that they they they talk about. But it's it's become a lot more reasonable than that it's been in the past, where your your draft guys high and you don't have them for the first month of the season because they've held out, and then they're virtually worthless to you the rest of that year, and you kind of toss away their first year and try to get them back on speed next year. And so I like the way the NFL has done that, gotten that out

of the way. You touched on a little bit, John, something else I want to talk about these the teams an now, ur I think I think virtually every team in the league has gone through virtual meetings right now, be a zoom or whatever whatever app upparatus they used for that UM And and like you said, you know, it gives you an opportunity to kind of uh speak to your players, start putting some install in, you know,

the basic stuff. But John, it's it's I can, I can, I can guarantee of these coaches, UM personnel people are probably a little bit uncomfortable for this because, like you said, you know you can, you know you can, you can be you can be on one of these virtual chats and you know, and the coach was, Okay, we got this, this, this,

and you get that there's like you're in it. Yeah, yeah, where in the back of their minds going I'm gonna shake my head, yeah, because I don't want to be the dummy out there, but I don't know what the hell they're talking about. Whereas whereas if you're in a meeting room, you know, and you're in your meeting and you're looking and you know there's there's something you know, you're never gonna have that closeness that you would have

with your head coach, your position coach, your coordinators. Where you've got a meeting where you're actually sitting in a meeting room and you talk about it, and and as as as a meeting branch and you head out to practice. You know, you can pull that coach aside and say, coach, I'm not sure what you were talking about this, or get a little and get a little that personal insight that those are the types of things I think you

meet with miss with these virtual meetings. Having now having said that, the entire league is dealing with it's like anything else, playing on a on a muddy field or a snowy day or a really hot day. Both both teams got to play in the same and the same circumstances,

and it's no different with this. Yeah, I would think as a coach, just putting you know, your coaching had on for a minute, you would have maybe three or four guys out of say you're holding a defensive meeting and there's probably three or four guys you're walking into the meeting going I need to look this guy in the eye and make sure when I explained this particular scheme on this particular blitz, that I want to hear it from that guy because there's you know, he's very

important to us disguising or us getting in the right formation, or us having the right leverage. And I think you don't get that that instant, uh, that instant feedback when you're virtually kind of going as everybody have it, every go, yeah, everybody hits a button, Yeah yeah, yeah, I got it,

I got it. So I think you missed that personal touch in terms of, as you said, your example, from player to coach and you're walking to lunch or you're walking out to practice and where you're walking to a walkthrough and you're able to go, hey, coach, just go over that one more time about where do I need to be in my outside the hash and then and then disguising and you know, and then and my is my depth six and a half yards on that or my eight and a half yards? And where do you

want me to be? And I think you miss those little things of being able to tease a guy also to say I knew you didn't have that, and let's do it again. And now you get that kind of bond going with your coach in terms of a report of communication, and you don't get to break that down when you're sitting in your room and maybe you know you have a family and you have a you know, kids running around, or you're single, and you you can't wait to maybe do something else, and you're kind of

going through saying yeah, I got it, but really you don't. Well, you know, it's it's funny, John, because you know, you look at on a the way, the way, the norm, what norm has been in the National Football League over the last a dozen years or however long. You know, you you've had these O t A s and all

these different types of things going on. You know, we've seen, John, We've seen the times where you know, you you kind of look at these O t A s and then then you watch a mini camp and and you're going, geez, all right, you know this guy, you know? And and and basically now talking about the rookies or or new guys that have come into the team and young guys not not not guys have been five six seven year boards in the league because they catch on pretty well.

But from a rookie standpoint, where the change of terminology, the way they go about business, the way you get in the huddle, the way you get out of the huddle. You know how practice works. Where do you where do you go first? What do you all all those things that that you go through. And so you did all that through the O T A s and through mini camps.

But John even with all that, and we've all seen it over the years where you're looking at the young guys, you're looking at the rookies and Washington progressed through through mini camps and and O T s. You go, know that, kids looking pretty good and then all of a sudden you put the pads on and you go out on the field and the kid doesn't know where to go, doesn't know what to do, and just kind of loses everything.

So I think, yeah, so I think that you know that that that unknown of does it sink in or are they getting it? Is much more difficult between coach and player under this circumstance. I know technology is great, and I know you can get all these people on, but that that that physical contact that like you said,

just walking and talking. Um. You know, and we've seen it, like I said, over the years where you've had a guy in New Hey, guy looks pretty good and then all of a sudden they can't remember how to run a route. You know, he doesn't know where he's supposed to be, and you know, how can you do that? They've been through O T s. Now you're gonna run

into that at some point when camp's open up. Here, and it's probably gonna be a lot more so John, with these virtual meetings, because you know, if you're a young guy, you don't want to be the guys that every time the guard guy puts an install we have to stow down just because well, when you talk about the deep third coach, I mean, how far that am I supposed to be on, you know, closer to the line, to the sideline, And are I supposed to be the number?

You know, all those little things that you can little nuances. I think of the things that you miss when when you have virtual meetings rather than what you would normally have on the field, you're on the field work that you see, well, I think so Bo. And also, you know you mentioned something about us kind of sitting around and watching the O. T A s when they finally get out onto the field. And not for the veterans, but for the young guys. We we would have an example.

We'd say, hey, who check it out. They use Curtis Weaver again in this, you know with the ones and and he was able to be at an outside linebacker position and dropping or starting a defensive end and moving or we saw uh, you know, somebody else moving it at a dB spot and he's you know, running now the nickel the slot nickel, And we didn't think he could do that, but he's fast enough to do that. You know, It's funny how you pick things up and

you see guys getting more reps. You know, our offensive line is gonna endure a significant change, hopefully for the better, in two thousand twenty. But now you have guys like Austin Jackson and Robert Hunt and Solomon Kinley. All three of those guys are running what the wants? This is great. Let's check it out. Somebody you know, so and so is it center instead of Ed Garter a tackle? Let's this? You know, maybe he has position flexibility all over the place,

so you miss things like that. And and I believe the NFL. Once we finally get too closer to the month of July and closer to you know, to maybe a penciled in start date where camps were originally going to start, I would think there's gonna be some type of provision to bring these guys in maybe a week to ten days even earlier than the original start date, and and not to be out on the field, but just to go through the normalcy of getting your physical which might be a little bit more uh entailed in

terms of health. You know, your your original health start, you know, for each guy where you're at with your numbers, and then being able to go into meetings with Hey, today's just defense, and you know, let's spread out throughout

the building. Tomorrow is just offense with the offensive coaches, let's spread out within the building and let's you know, get get up maybe ten seven to ten days heads start on training camp, so everybody kind of gets that, uh being around the building feeling and being around the coaches and being around how how it's gonna be hopefully throughout the entire season, and and give these guys an opportunity to maybe pick up on some of the lost things that they were missing out on in the months

of you know, May and early June. You know you

talking about missing out too. I mean, I mean, you know, to me and one of one of the great things that one of you know that about as much as much like going from high school to college, you know, you go from college to the pros, and you know how it is when you're you know you're going to well you're coming to high school and you go to college, John, And you got your recruiting class, right, all the guys that got recruited your year, and you're gonna be there

with him for three or four or five years, depending on what your situation is. And and there's always a kinship between those groups, right, those those classes, And and it's the same in the NFL. And and and I think one thing that these guys are are are missing out on is is just that that hey, we all got drafted. We got what they got? Was it what they end up eleven eleven picks, right, eleven draft picks that they ended up with after moving the trades and

stuff like that. You got eleven guys that are kind of tied at the hip together throughout their career. Where you you know, you go, hey, this is these guys, Well, we all came into the Great Zay in the same

draft class. And I just remember the first mini camp I went to where we had like two days where it was just the rookies before the veteran came different obviously different than what it is now, but where you get a chance to just be with those with that rookie class, whether it's draft choice and free and free agents and and just get to know him and just get the bond and you know, and just to share the experience of being, hey, man, can you believe we're here?

You know, and jeez, you know, and you get to meet these guys and get to bond with them, and I think, you know, those little things like that that they miss out, that they they're missing out on, you know, to me, a lot of that stuff was was pretty special.

I can remember, you know, we had seventeen when when I got draft, we had seventeen rounds, and I can remember almost every guy from my rookie draft class and there's some that didn't even make the team that I still stay in contact with others, others obviously that made the team, where you develop relationships with and it was It's really one of the special things in in my

life and a lot of those guys life. And it's unfortunately these guys don't get the opportunity right now to go through that, because that's basically what they would be doing right about now with this this distance after the draft. Yeah, and I'm sure they're they're getting together virtually in terms of you know, all the young guys have to catch up and get some things done that maybe the veterans

don't have to do that. They went through either two, three, four, or five years ago whenever they were drafted or you

had a contract signed by an undrafted free agent. So you you have all these guys getting together, but there's nothing like going from a meeting and then going into lunch and kind of sitting around and seeing where everybody decides to sit and seeing this, you know, decides who's gonna talk to who and who's gonna you know, get this relationship going where that bondmate and in a month or two or it may end in ten years or twelve years from now, and and like you said, or

may never end. Like you said, there are certain guys that were either on the team or not that you still have a relationship with that are built within the first maybe a couple of weeks or month that you're together at training camp or at that camp that you're at, which would be for the modern day player, the o

t A that they've missed out on. So you're right there, there is a special bond that these guys are are a little bit missing out on the human aspect of it in terms of being a in person relationship, but hopefully they'll be able to fast that track that in the month of July. Yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting to see Johnny. You know, it's it's it's like everywhere else.

And uh, you know, the conversations now that that that a lot of people have, whether whether you're a professional football player, whether you're a college athlete, whether you're just a you know, just a just a guy doing his living his life or girl living his life, family living their life, is when are things gonna change? When are thing's gonna open up? When when's our city gonna open up? When's our state can open up? You know? When when

can I go out and get my haircut again? I can do that, do that, all those types of things, And the NFL is going through the same thing, John, And then the conversations get to be they're getting to be a little longer now and they're getting to be a little more uh you know, you're get a little

closer to that situation. So so the thought about the NFL itself opening up, Uh, it's it's interesting, John, because you've got you have different situations that they're dealing with, you know, I know, and I've been reading about the teams in California, the two l A teams UH San Francisco.

You know that the you know, California is a state that may not open up for quite a while UH and and may not allow UH sports teams to to get together where now I've heard that those California teams are looking outside in the state to set up training camp, to get away. Just the thought of opening up is another thing that that really has become at this time.

The draft is behind us, They've signed free agents, and now now they're their focus is on, Hey, how can I get my team ready to play whenever the season starts in a not not knowing when and where or how it's going to open up for him. Um, you know it's gonna open sometimes, John, But boy, I'll tell you. You know, you're you know, you're listening. You're listening, you'll read, and you're just you're you're trying to figure out where

and when. And it's hard to imagine what this league is gonna be like when they do open up and allow people to start getting together in some form or fashion. Well, that is the dilemma now, not only for the NFL, but as you said, you know, a regular guy or or a woman that are trying to open up in a barbershop or a salon or a nail technician or a restaurant or whatever it is, depending on where you live and what type of local government say. Um, in terms of being able to say, are we allowed to

open up at the end of May? Is it May fifteenth? Is it? Is it now? June one? Is it June fifteenth? You know, everybody is a little bit different, and I guess the best way to do it is going through the protocol where you are, uh nationally in that in that cycle where that wave, you know, and in terms of suppressing the virus, And I guess everybody has their own stance and their own say on where they are, but you can look and see pretty much it's universal.

You know, if it's trending down and continuing to go down, your chances should be pretty good that you're going to be able to open up uh relatively soon. And I'm you know, certain states and certain counties within those states are doing better than maybe other parts of the states, so naturally they would have a chance to open up quicker. But I would say for the NFL aspect of it,

we still have a long way to go. And I've been reading a lot for only the NFL, but for college football that you know, fans around the country you know, definitely want their college football. And I think we're just you know, we have some time still to wait. I don't think there needs to be any concrete decision in terms of government, especially telling us it's not gonna there's not gonna be football in the fall. Well, we don't

really don't know that yet. Let's start play out. Let's let's let it kind of see where we are at June one, and then June fifteenth, and then you know, at the end of June, and where are we out after July fourth weekend? You know, where are we at, you know, in July, and you kind of go along the calendar. And I think those decisions should be made easier as we know more and as the doctors and the science and all those things kind of melt together.

We should know more by uh, you know, a month and a half down the road than we are right now. So I think patients is should be on everybody. Everybody should be heating some patients, and some time to see where we are, you know, fifteen days, twenty days from now, compared to where we are right you know, at this a moment in time. Yeah, It's it's funny, John, because you look at and I think we've kind of been under this, under this whole umbrella now for what about

two and a half months right about there. But but you look at what has happened over those two and a half months. You know, from the very beginning where it's just okay, look, you guys gotta you know, you gotta stay away from people. We're gonna shut businesses down, all these things, and and how much we've advanced, you know,

from the medical standpoint. You know that they're they're doing the testing they're doing, you know, they're getting different, different, different things that have hope, uh that this thing is gonna gonna be better and we're gonna be able to control it better than all these things. And then come a long way in two and a half months. And if you go to the normal start day for NFL camps, it's normally around which which which from from from today,

it's really about two and a half months away. It seems like from what the way the days have been crawling around over the last you know, month and a half to two months, you're right, Bo, But but I'm also looking at how much we've advanced in those two and a half months and how much can we advance in the next two and a half months to make

it safe for everyone to do thing right now? As I talked about you, you you know, the other thing with the with the NFL were opening and letting people get back to work and get back into their facilities, or how that they're gonna do it. You know, the NFL has got to play the game of hey, everybody's gonna

be in the same field. In other ways, if if California and the teams that are up in New Jersey um can't start get back, you you can't let every You can't let all the other teams in the league get to work and have those guys be just to sitting on the sidelines, you know, waiting for another two or three weeks until they're able to go. So at least got to manage you know, both the safety of a players, the safety of staff, the safety of everybody's,

safety of fans, all those types of things. But there's always gotta there, but there's it's gotta be equitable too. I think Mike Tomlin came out and spoke about that the other day in terms of, you know, everybody's got to have the same start data. You know, there shouldn't be a team that has an advantage just because they're in a state where they've been open for you know, a month and we're still kind of waiting to get the green light to go, right. Yeah, So that's you know,

that's that's the other thing that plays in there. But um, you know, it's it's you know, I wish somebody had an answer, but every day, you know, you I mean, we're all the same. We're kind of reading what we can read, listen to what we can listen to listen to. But still it's, um, it's gonna be a well, like every everything since this thing closed down, is gonna be

an interesting, uh exercise to see how this thing goes. Well, I'm just anxious to see where it goes because I know, I'm hoping that, you know, the positive start to outweigh the negative in terms of where we are, and as you said, we've we've come a long way within the last month and a half, in two months, and I'm hoping that that that progression continues, that you know, it relieves not only of the tragedies, you know, that are brought along with this virus, but some really positive stories

that start emerging that you know, people getting back to work, people getting back to their livelihood, and people actually trying to survive instead of maybe just crossing their fingers and hoping for the best that you know, you hope that for the betterment of humanity around the world, that we get back to some sense of normalcy, that we find something that can at least, you know, fend off this

this deadly virus. Yeah, you know, you know, I was you know, he talked about looking you know, you're looking at TV. Everyone's been you know, every every every sports fan, every quasi sports fair, every sports talk host, uh everywhere, every sports network on TV seems like they've been living off the Michael Jordan's you you you the every day was Sunday. It's right, they put the they put the show on the Last Dance on on Sunday night and on Monday. Every sports talk station in the in the

in the United States. That's what they're talking about, right, and really really nothing else to talk about. But but along that line, so the you know, ESPN in this last week and I caught myself watching started playing, started playing the Korean Baseball League. Have you seen this? Oh yeah, I have seen that. So so they're running and as it comes on like yeah here for us, it comes on like it, you know, five o'clock in the morning or whatever whatever time was. But I did catch one

game and they got no fans in the stand. But you know what they've done. It's I don't know if you watched it, but you know what they've done is they've got in the stands where the I guess kind of along the camera line you or the camera line season the fans. They got like cutouts of fans back there cheating at the popcorn everything, and they piped in. They piped in the the crowd noise, and you know what, it sounds all right, it looks all right. I know what.

And every time I peeked in, I've seen an overthrow or an air and some with base hit there's a fielding air or or there's an overthrown. Guys just run around the basis. That's what I've like. I was watching the other night. I was watching part of the game the other night, and they're showing the the scoreboard for the other teams, and I think that you know, I mean, the score is like four teen to ten seven, But

you know what, that's my kind of baseball. I know I'd rather have that than a one nothing nothing pictures d you know what I mean exactly. Hey, yeah, the one thing John, before we go, let's uh, you know that one of the other things that came out obviously the draft and everything. But you know, after that, everyone was awaiting the release and you know, if everything that happened with coach Sula and uh and everything, and I

think we're all waiting to find out. And I'm sure that at some point, John, there's gonna be a you know, a public memorial for for Coach Schulan my guests would be able to be at the stadium somewhere or somewhere like whenever it is, whether it's a month from now, too much from now, six months from now, whatever, Um, uh, we'll we'll all be we're all looking forward to that.

But you know, last week we kind of spent a lot of time or the whole show talking about you know, coach Schule and his influence on everybody and our thoughts about him, and and and and we didn't really talk much about the schedule. So let's gotta run through the schedule a little bit here and UH and uh as the Dolphin is going here. Since you open up with a couple a f C East games, and and they're gonna be you know, these two games are gonna be I think you're gonna be very You're gonna tell you

a lot about um. I think the FC East what it holds because you've got New England, the New England Patriots up in New England at Foxboro or uh to to open the season of Gilette, and then you got the Buffalo Bills coming down uh to Miami for the first game. And so you'll see the Dolphins, the Bills, and the Patriots playing each other in the first two weeks. You're gonna give you a little snapshot of what the a f C is gonna be, a little precursor, I guess if you will to the to the remainder of

the season years. I agree with you, Bow because you know, everybody's talking about how the a f C East might be a little bit more obviously wide open than it has in the past with the departure of Tom Brady in New England. But but the Miami Dolphins are going right back to where they ended their two thousand nineteen season with a three point win. And it's been twenty years since this franchise have won back to back games in New England, and that it really you know, culminates

with Tom Brady's arrival and departure in New England. So you have a chance to get a win in New England again for the first time in twenty years, back to back variety. And then you get the Buffalo Bills, and everybody's talking about Buffalo beat at the top of the list in the af C. They're the team to beat. So right away you get you get two teams that you want to be able to at least split. You know, you'd love to you'd love to find a way to beat one of those two teams twice, but you at

least have to beat them once. And I think getting Buffalo down here in the heat is finally an advantage because you know you're returning back there, had to finish off the season, yeah, no doubt. And in New England, you know, you just you know you you you look at all the different prognosticators and what's going on there, and they there's still get a lot of respect because Bill Belichick's there. You take out you take out Brady. Uh. You know we saw with that when you saw that

team without Gronk was a completely different team. Uh. You know that that's van noise on our on our vans over here. They've lost players and and so um, it's gonna be interesting to see what that what that team can be with Bill Belichick and without Bryant, without Tom Brady. Uh. And you know you have to to that. You've got Jacksonville, a team that's you know, big disappointment last year and they seem to be a little bit of a little bit of a mess. They're going going up to Jacksonville there.

Uh and then you got Seattle coming to coming to town for a week four. So next couple of games pretty interesting with Jacksonville team that they're trying to rebuild. The Seattle team that uh, you know that they're always in contention, always gonna be good. With Russell Wilson in that group, you know they're gonna you know, they're gonna come in and be uh be a tough out for

the Dolphins and the really anybody they played. Yeah, you get a premier quarterback in the National Football League and Russell Wilson coming to hard Rock Stadium on October fourth, and and I guess both anytime you have that Thursday night game, it's better to get it early when hopefully your your roster's healthy, and especially you only have to get on a flight from what fifty minutes you go to Jacksonville. So I guess that's the boat, the best

of both worlds in terms of travel. And when you have to play that on the short week against the team that's searching, you know, you get Gardner Minshew in his second year, you got Burnt still to deal with. But that's a lot of turmoil that Doug Moron has

to has to go about up in Jacksonville this year. Yeah, then you got uh, you got which which I would assume would be a trip that the Dolphins probably stay out in the West Coast right at San Francisco on on October eleventh, and then the week next week, uh there at Denver. And my assumption would be the probably would go out to San Francisco and then either stay in stay in the Bay Area, or head to Denver

to get used to the altitude. Uh. But I would assume that's gonna be a a trip where the Dolphins would stay out there and instead of coming back and forth. Well they've had experience in doing that when they've played the Chargers when they were in San Diego and then going up to LA to play the Rams. So you you, as you said, you're gonna get a team that was maybe a quarter away from winning at all in San Francisco that is so talented in terms of offense and

defensive lines and how they get after you. And and Denver has improved in terms of getting some firepower around Drew Lock with Jerry Judy and kJ Hammler and they get a new center and cush Berry from l S Shoes, So that this is this is gonna be a tough, tough out for sure in San France. But Denver, that's the one you're circling. You're hoping that you can find

a way to win that game. Yeah. Then then you got the to uh to l A teams coming to town, the Chargers uh coming to town in the then the Rams coming to town and you know, both of them in interesting teams new quarterback and uh in for the Chargers, the Rams a team that was you know, right in the Super Bowl a couple not so long ago, a couple of years ago, uh, and trying to get back and they're a very talented team. Make both of those teams, both those are gonna be big, big time challenges uh

at hard Rock Stadium. And I think the challenge for the Dolphins, you know, as you mentioned, if the Dolphins stay out in San Francisco in the Bay Area after they play the forty Niners or go to Denver, and that's a lot of travel going from west coast back to east coast and then trying to get yourself ready to play two teams that are coming from coast to coast.

I just think it's gonna be one of those cross your fingers, you hope you can get through the month of October and early in November when you play the Rams at least at five hundred, because they're two talented football teams at the book ends, San Francisco and l A Rams. L A Rams have a solid receiving corps. And then if you don't block Aaron Donald Donald, You're in trouble for a four quarters. So you're gonna find

a way to do that. And after that you gotta head back out to the out west of the Arizona Cardinals. That's a long trip, uh, that you gotta get and then and then the Jets. You can talk to you to catch the Jets for the first time in Week ten and and to see what that football team is all about. And John, you know when you when you talk about the a f C East, we talked about

the Bills, we talked about New England. You know, I have a hard time wrapping my arms around the Jets right now and figuring what they're gonna be, how they're gonna be. You know, they helped their offensive line with the draft. Uh, you got Sam Darnald coming back for them, hopefully for a season where he's health. He had that mono nucleosis last year. But when he came back while he looked really good for the Yets and they were

to do something. So you know that's uh, you know, it's you know, the for the last two decades, it's been New England and everybody else in the a f C East. But I think, as we talked about earlier, I think the a f C East is wide open and I think everybody everybody in that camp, in that division really has a chance to to win the division or everyone has a chance to come up last in

that division. There are a lot of a lot of unknowns, really a lot of unknowns, and more more unknowns in the a f C. East John than I think we've seen in quite a while. Well, it's an interesting schedule for the Dolphins because, as you mentioned in the top, you get New England and Buffalo and back to back weeks to start the season, and then in the month of November you have a bye week wedged in between

the two meetings with the New York Jets. And I'm not so sure that that hasn't happened in quite some time. I can't, I can't remember it. Yeah, and that it's good that you get the same opponent, and it's you know, it's probably for for both teams if it works out that way, that you're able to do less prep on on the Jets because you know them and you move on to the month of December. But yeah, you're right, it could be feast or famine for really anybody in

this division. And it's you're you're gonna learn a lot with those back to back games against the Jets. The Dolphins should have swept the Jets last year and have a chance to do that this year. Yeah, it's it is odd. You know. I remember a couple of years ago and it was it was it was it was the last year we did they had the Jets, had a bye week and then have the Giants the next week, right right where he went. So he went back up

to the mental ends twice. But to get up and play the Jets one week and then get to buy and have them come back the next week. I don't know what I've seen, but you says, as you said, you know that that's the type of situation you'd like to have, like for a Thursday night game, right but him once and then and then you've got you've got

half your preparation done for the next game. But uh, one way or another, you're to have a bye week to to kind of look back at what you did in that game, and you'll be seeing those guys for two weeks. Gonna be said a lot of Jets on the on the tapes as they get ready for the game. Um, Cincinnati after that and then Kansas City Cincinnati, uh in Kansas City boasted and both in hard rock. Both can be really interesting games, you know, you look at Joe

Burrow coming in with Cincinnati. If A j. Green comes back and he's healthy, with those guys, um, how good are they gonna be? And look, we we know what Kansas City brings and uh and and you know, tough game before I tell you, if you're a football fan, you're you're you gotta be excited about seeing the Kansas City Chiefs come to hard Rock Stadium because you know,

you know they're gonna put on the show. Yeah, you get some really interesting quarterbacks visiting hard Rock Stadium, Seattle with Russell Wilson and another guy who might be at the top of the heap and Patrick Mahomes. December thirteenth, you get the Heisman Trophy winner and the first overall draft choice and this year's draft Joe Burrow coming in the week before. So you feel good and you feel confident about getting a victory, hopefully against Cincinnati and their

young quarterback. And you never know by that time who's gonna be playing quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, whether it's two from the beginning, or it's two in the middle, or maybe at the end of the schedule. But you at least you get three home games in a row with Cincinnati Kansas City and then on December twenty if you get New England again for that return trip at hard Rock Stadium. Yeah, that's uh, it's gonna be Uh, it's gonna be gonna be nice to catch him later

in the season at the end of the year. Uh. Then you then Las Vegas last, your wrap up the season at Las Vegas first, first opportunity to get out there for uh to play the Raiders and then Buffalo at home and John that uh, that first trip to Las Vegas. Uh, Yeah, it's kind of concerning. Yeah, there's not a whole lot to say. You just kind of put your hands up in the air, right and hope

for the best. Hope for the best. You know, the you know, the the Heat for the long time had that uh had that South Beast but South Beach advantage. You know, they played basketball teams that had that vodka virus coming from a night on South Beach to and then go out and play the Heat, you know that night. But Las Vegas. That's gonna be a big home field advantage for the Raiders. Uh, although you look it could it could your road their team too. From you got

guys sitting in the the casino. It's it's it's don't mean it's gonna be a really interesting dynamic to me. Uh, whether it's the Raiders or whoever would have been would have gone into Las Vegas to have a team in Las Vegas and and just see what the impact is gonna be on on both players that play there and teams that come to visit Las Vegas. Well, it'll be interesting how the fan base reacts, you know, around the

National Football League. I'm sure everybody that has the Raiders on their schedule or putting that in like a sharpie highlighter today, I gotta go to that game. You know, I want to go to that game. Let's make a trip out of that game. And you're wondering how teams do react. You know, the fan bases are gonna be amped up and ready to go, but how do the

players react to going out there? And and then, as you said, it seems like all the time we're either at New Lengland, or at Buffalo or at the Jets to end the season, you always finishing in the cold. So hopefully Sunday, January three, as we turn the calendar, that that game, you know, those last two games mean something for the Miami Dolphins. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. It looks like a good schedule, a lot of good stuff, a lot of good teams coming in, a lot of excitement.

So all we need to do, John is get this thing going and uh, get get teams into training camp. At time will tell and we'll see. But I'm just you know, I'm I'm really I'm really glad that the NFL is going through the motions of normalcy right now as much as they can with the schedule. Didn't change the schedule outcome, and a lot of people saying that they should push it back and and this and that, and they said, now we're gonna we're gonna stay with our schedule and and and I kind of like that

leadership from upfront. I do too. Have to stay with stay with what you have, have a plan, have some contingency plans for how you're gonna be able to deal with fans and how you're gonna deal with schedule, and if you have to move, you move back to a little bit of a later start date. But I I agree it gives you a sense, give you something to shoot for, and let's see where we're at you know,

at the beginning of June. Let's see where we're at the beginning of July and see if we can you know, pull this off in terms of being able to have a regular start date, have fans in the seats, and enjoy a two thousand, twenty NFL season. Yeah, John, I know there's some some talk also about the about the Dolphins or or somebody else getting together with Atlanta. They're talking about, you know, the the going up early practicing and then and then playing the game. Uh. They playing

Lamb the first preseason game. Uh. And I think this is kind of one of those years. And I like those I've always liked those things, always like those situations where you go and play get practiced against somebody. They did it in Tampa last year, They've done it when they've done in Philadelphia a couple of years ago, and it's so forth and to me, that's you know, I

would rather have those practices than a preseason game. And so I'm hoping that the Dolphins and and I would think most teams this year is particular, would embrace that idea of of of having one of those weeks in training camp in preseason games where where you do go out and practice against that team that you're gonna play on the on Saturday or Friday or whatever day that's gonna be on UM and and then play the preseason game.

I think I think teams get a lot of And John, we're both out in Tampa last year and I think we both felt that they got a lot of good work, both sides out of out of those uh those meetings, Well they did. And you and you get to be around your team in terms of getting to know how

you play against an opponent. Instead of practicing against you know, the same the same team, the same player, the same place, you get to kind of go against somebody else, and it does elevate the practice into more of a game type that wation and I think you're able to get more out of it, and especially getting more out of it in terms of going through the practice and then breaking down the film and being able to evaluate yourself against UM a different opponent, and then going through the

preseason game. It's always a benefit, all right, John. It's things you're changing pretty quickly. I'm not sure what they're gonna be next week and the week after that, but but we'll be back here for the audible, and try to keep everyone up to date on it. And like we said, like we've been saying all along, just make

sure that you're doing what you're supposed to do. Uh, you know, stay, stay separated from people, Stay in your house as much as possible, where your masks, do all the right things, and and hopefully we'll all be be better for it a month or two down the road. Well,

I sure hope so both. You know, it's one of those things where you're kind of going through it, and you're right, two months ago it looks a lot different than it does now, and hopefully a month and a half or two months from now looks a lot different than where we're at. So I'm just the glasses half full when we're trying to push forward but stay safe and stay healthier. Yeah,