Fins Sent Packing, Hope to Soar Past Jets

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up Dolphins. This is Juice and Big Seth from
the Fish Tank podcast. But right now you're listening to
the Dolphin UK podcast and Juice I can't wait to
dive in. Let's go.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Around.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Hello and welcome to the Dolphin UK Podcast. Unfortunately not
back with another victory podcast, but we're going to dive
into the gaming Green Bay. We're going to look forward
to upcoming matchup against the New Jets back at hard
Rock Stadium. But first I have to introduce my co host,
Simon cy. How are you doing?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, I'm okay, Lee. Thanks Yeah. Disappointing not to win
last week against the Packers on Thanksgiving, but we look
forward to bringing everyone a victory podcast next week.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Hopefully, Yes, hopefully we can look forward to more victories
coming up before we get into a Thanksgiving Day game
at lambeau Field against Green Bay. And we have a
couple of things to talk about. First of all, big
congratulations to Tyreek and Keita on the birth of Venue baby.

(01:37):
It's always amazing, doesn't it, see life brought into the world.
I know as a parent it's a special moment, right.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
It is a special moment, and to be honest, I
credit Keita and Tyreek for sharing that moment on social
media and sharing it with the world, because it is
a very private and very special moment. So credit to
them for sharing that information and good luck to them
being new parents to a nice baby girl.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
I believe, I'll be honest, at that moment in time
after my daughter was born, I was definitely not thinking
straight enough to post anything on social media, let alone
anything else. Yeah, head spinning this my first time, must say.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
But yeah, when when Danny and e Media were born,
I don't think there was any such thing as social media,
so I had no choice back then.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
But yes, congratulations to Tyree Conkeita, and I think also
we're going to mention that two time Rollo has been
nominated again for his performance during Thursday night's game against
the Packers for the FedEx Air Performance of the Week,
and this would be his second nomination in a row.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, great for him. He's certainly in good form at
the minute. We'll talk a little bit more in depth
about his performance shortly, But he did play okay against
the Packers. I thought, yeah, there was some throes he missed.
But and when we take a deep dive in his
stats later on you'll see just how well he played.
I think they speak for themselves and another well deserved
nominale at least.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Absolutely, Yeah, I think it was. I mean, let's get
into it. Let's talk about the Green Bay game, because
I think we're gonna try and not spend too long
on it, because you know, it wasn't the most fun
you've ever had at three o'clock in the morning. To
his performance was good. I thought, you know, in the
first half, things weren't necessarily all going right for the Dolphins,

(03:23):
but up until the last driver of the first half,
he'd only missed three three completions. There was the two
weird throws at the end of the first half which
just seemed a little bit off, just uncharacteristically off. But
I'd say the rest of the game he seemed back
on track. It didn't seem like a huge, a huge thing. Say,
there was just two froze in particular at the end
of the first half. They did seem uncharacteristically off for Tulla.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, they were, and I'm sure he'd like to have
taken them back, But at the end of the day,
I don't think they impacted the overall outcome of the game.
By any means, because these performance levels in general were
pretty good, So I don't think those two attic throws
were significant enough to have any impact other than a

(04:07):
brief conversation about them now. So yeah, I just wanted
we watch the game. Obviously, leeat like middle of the
night in December in the UK when it's cold. It
was cold in Green Bay, of course, as has been
well documented. But I just want to ask you about
that because it's an interesting conversation. Do you think the
cold got to the Dolphins at lambeau Field? Where do

(04:28):
you stand on that? Because we heard a lot of
narrative before and after the game about the weather. Where
do you sit on that?

Speaker 1 (04:35):
This one's really interesting to me, and I've been kind
of going over it even before the game. You know,
you look back at the historical numbers when the Dolphins
have gone on the road and playing the cold, and
then what happened on Thursday night, and then you kind
of like the do the autopsy of it afterwards. It's
I've got some comparisons that I want to give in particular,

(04:55):
which I don't know if it shared some context, but
I think there's this weird thing at the moment where
leading up to the game, we hear there's a narrative
that you can't win in the cold, and almost like
the cold shouldn't be a factor, and it's like, yeah,
maybe maybe you don't want it to be a factor,

(05:17):
but anyone that's ever been cold, No, it's not by choice,
and it's not by choice that you start to you're
not necessarily, you know, perform at the top of your game.
It's a weird scenario to think that just because you
want to try and put it out of your mind
that you're no longer cold. It doesn't really work for

(05:38):
teams coming to South Florida when they say, well, don't
worry about the heat, then do you know what I mean?
It doesn't work there, And it's no real surprise that
the inverse doesn't work. And this has been you know,
it gets almost put on this team because obviously they're
the players right now, they're the head coach, they had
a quarterback right now, and too obviously coming from Hawaii

(05:58):
playing in Alabama, like it's easy to look back to
his stays, but there's been a problem like going further
back than that, and the one constant thing is is
to climate in Miami and I think that almost makes it.
That's what makes it hard to go and play in
the cold. It's not the actual being in the cold
at the immediate time, it's the spending the rest of

(06:18):
the time in the humid weather that I think makes
the biggest difference. I mean, I just came back, as
everybody knows, from ten days in Florida. I was in
Miami for three, I was in Orlando for seven. As
someone who generally doesn't feel the cold, I got back

(06:39):
in those first two days when I first got off
the plane, like I was frozen. And I know it
was warm, and it had been during the week, you know,
I'd spoken to you, Simon and my brother, and you'd
had like people had snow, and it was frost. And
I got back in the middle of the day on
a Thursday and sorry on a Wednesday, and it was
you know, I was cold. I was cold for a
couple of days before I got back to you know

(07:00):
if my UK temperature almost and that led me to
lay down the road of well. When the World Cup
was in Katar, the teams didn't go out there forty
eight hours before the tournament started. They were out there
weeks in advance. They went on training counts to acclimatize,
the same as when the World Cup was in Brazil
and when it was in South Africa. When Olympians go

(07:21):
to the Olympics, they don't arrive just before when it
is in a country with a vast climate change than
their own. So is it almost unreasonable of us to
think that the dolphins should be able to go out
after forty eight go out forty eight hours in advance,
and then perform at exactly the same level they would

(07:43):
in their natural climate. The other thing is it, you know,
we kind of forget sometimes that with America being the
size that it is and the different climates and time
zone it has across it, it's very different than you know,
I've lived near Brighton, then Brighton go into play against Liverpool.
The climate difference is do you know what I mean?

(08:04):
It doesn't change that vastly. I say. We always see
the inverse as well. We know how much of an
advantage playing at hard Rock Stadium is and being in
the sun and the way the canopy is, desire, all
those things that you hear all the time when teams
come and lose in Miami. It kind of makes sense, right.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, it's almost like you can't have your cake and
eat it, can you. If you're having an advantage in
the hot weather, and it's a home field advantage, you've
got to expect the opposite when you go to cold weather.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, and it only seems to be you know, extremes
probably the wrong word, but very low temperatures. We've gone
and played in New York where it would you know,
late in the season where it would have been cold,
not snow and ice cold, but cold. And we've been
one in New England in the cold. We went to

(08:53):
play Buffalo, was it two years ago now? In the
game in the snow at night on the last second
field goal, like you know it was. The performance was good,
but it's just a weird one say. I think it's
difficult to to sort of go along with what a
lot of the media say, where it should almost be disregarded.

(09:14):
You should be able to put it aside because you
know it's cold, so you shouldn't let it affect you.
And I think it's maybe not quite that simple. You
were We went to Miami in September, right, and we
found it pretty warm. I think it's safe to say
we found it fairly warm. But if I'd said to you, Simon,
I just needed to just ignore it being hot. I

(09:35):
just need you to just to stop sweating. I don't
know why you're sweating. That doesn't work that way. But
it seems like that there's this almost expectation that that
should be able to happen for four players. And this
is more It's not me trying to defend the performance
or anything. I'm just more intrigued as to what is

(09:58):
the cause of it and how can you possibly change
it going forward? And I'm sure Mike m Daniel and
his team are looking into exactly the same thing.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, it's difficult one, isn't it, Because and I'm not
trying to relate to this in any way, but in
my younger days I did play football, and you know
this normal Sunday league stuff, which you're play in all weathers.
You're play in the rain, you're playing the snow and
the cold, and you're playing the warm weather too, And
there is, if I recall, a noticeable performance difference in

(10:30):
playing in the different weather types. In the cold, your
body is slower to adapt to cold weather. And this
is football, not rugby. By the way your body is
slower to adapt. The ground is harder, so you're more
tentative psychologically. The ball if it hits you is going
to sting more so your hands are cold, and that

(10:53):
perhaps takes your mind off focus away. So there are
subtle differences. Now, not pretending that that should still apply
at a professional level. Of course, this is very low
level Sunday League stuff, but the principle is there around
how your body adapts to different weather conditions.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
But I think it's really interesting what you said there
that you're not a professional, But I'm not sure that
makes a difference in this case. Do you know what
I mean? If you go from one climate to the other,
either way hot to cold, culture hot, they there is
a change. There is a big change that there's always

(11:29):
going to you know, to not acknowledge that there is
going to have some sort of impact is kind of insane. Yeah,
exactly like you said, teams have come to Miami, you know,
very quick to put up have people up there holding
their shades up, and to stay more hydrated, and to
do all those things because they acknowledge that, you know,

(11:52):
this is a thing and we need to try and
counteract it.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Nevertheless, the dolphins didn't come out with a win spite
and improved performance in the second half when arguably the
game was getting a bit out of reach. Anyway, does
the result end the Dolphins season?

Speaker 1 (12:08):
League?

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Where do they stand now with a five and seven
record heading towards the home stretch.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
I think that obviously people were disappointed after the game.
I'm not sure if it was more in the result
or the performance. Either way, it guess doesn't really matter.
As we say so many times, it's only worth one
winn or one loss in the column, regardless of the
size of the victory or defeat. No, I don't think
the season's over at all. I mean I'm looking at

(12:34):
the ol Cooning schedule now. We have to play the
Jets this weekend, which we'll get onto it in just
a little bit, and then we go on the road
to play the Texans. We come back home to play
the forty nine ers, and we go on the road
to play the Browns, and then we finish up on
the road against the Jets. There's enough games there to
get to ten wins. And you know, like the teams

(12:57):
that we're playing, it's late in the season. There's playing
of teams deal with their own issues right now, and
I mean the forty nine ers are shellers themselves right
now with the injuries they've suffered, which is terrible. And
then they you know, suffered a bunch of more injuries
on Sunday night when it you know, they just thought
they were getting some players back, and you know, does
that mean that I'm not saying that makes it an
easy win, but I'm just saying, you know, there's a

(13:20):
lot of factors to take into account here. Dolphins have
five games left on the schedule get to ten wins,
so I think until they've mathematically eliminated, the goal has
to be to keep playing. There's no you know, you
have five wins now, so you're you know, it's not
like you can start looking at the draft. It's not

(13:40):
that sort of position compared to some of the teams
in the league right now. Whereas you know, for the Dolphins,
ten wins still has to be the goal. I think
when Tuurre returned and we looked at the schedule, I
don't think anyone thought that realistically the team is going
to run the table, because that's incredibly hard to do
in the NFL, and that's not an indictment team that

(14:02):
is more, it's hard for any of the airfielding to
go on that sort of run, and that's why when
teams do do it, it stands out so much. So
there was going to be losses on the schedule. Do
you wish you hadn't lost? Obviously, still games ahead, still
plenty of games, and still a couple of home games
there as well.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Let's move on, and we've already talked about too and
his performance, and I just want to read some Finns
facts for you with regards to his performance last week.
He completed thirty seven or forty six for an eighty
point four percent completion rage, which is extremely extremely high
for a quarterback. Attempting forty six passes, he had three

(14:41):
hundred and sixty five yards and two touchdowns, with zero
turnovers and a passer rating of one hundred and fourteen
point two. He completed at least seventy percent of his
passes for the sixth consecutive game, adding to his longest
streak in his career, and that is the longest active
streak in the NFL. His streak is tied with Detroit
quarterback Jared Goff for the longest such streak in the

(15:04):
NFL this season. He's three hundred and sixty five passing
yards are the most in a game since the four
hundred and sixty six against the LA Chargers back in
twenty twenty two. It's his fourth career game with three
hundred and fifty passing yards and multiple passing touchdowns. It's
the third time in his career is recorded back to
back games of three hundred plus passing yards, and he

(15:25):
has a three game streak with a passer rating of
at least one hundred and ten, tying his longest streak
set in twenty twenty two, so even better than the
last season. He's one hundred and eight passer rating ranks
third in the NFL this season through Thursday's games, behind
Lamar Jackson, Jackson and the aforementioned Jared Goff. So clearly

(15:46):
from those starts, he is performing at a really high
level since his return from injury. And if there's one
person that can direct you to run the table for
your last five games or whatever, he's certainly the man
to help achieve that.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Absolutely, there was there was plenty of good I think
in that performance as well, do you know what I mean?
There was the fourth down stop wasn't there near the
goal line where you score there. Okay, it's a touchdown,
a two point conversion, but you cut the game to
a one score game, and the frustration is not being
able to punch it in and with the run game
not really being as on track as it has been

(16:22):
over the last five six weeks. I think that's more
of an issue than you know. Two his performance in isolation.
Obviously it goes against the entire offense, but you know
you're in a position there late after things hadn't necessarily
gone your way to cut that to a one score game,
but it'd been really interesting to see what had happened.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
That brings us to half time in this In the show,
Leaue and time to deliver the usual trivia section, did
you want to go over the old question we had
last week for the listeners.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yes. So last week's question was, at one point it
looked like the Dolphins might have had a chance to
shut out the Patriots, but when was their last shutout?
And so I should have got this, and I don't
think I would have.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
It's more recent than you might think. It was a
thirty to zero shutout of the New York Jets. On
the seventeenth of December twenty twenty three, so nearly a
year ago today, which just happened to coincide with my
wife's birthday. So a nice birthday present for her with
the Dolphins delivering a shutout for me. Got good performance

(17:40):
by the Dolphins means happy husband, which means happy wife.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Good all around and with them. He said, do you
want to take us on to set in our question
for this week?

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, of course. So which game in Dolphins history has
had the highest number of points scored for by both
teams combined? And this is one that I do remember fondly,
not just because it was on my mum's birthday this
time on the twenty first of September. But there's a clue.
But it was a significant game for me personally in
terms of watching the Dolphins early in my fandom.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Interesting, I'm going to say I absolutely would not have
got this answer because I wasn't even born yet. So
there is a clue for you. If you think you
know my age, then that might give you a hint
as to when this game was plowed.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, it was a very good game, I have to say,
and it went backwards and forwards we'll share more details
about that in next week.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Interest I might have to find it so we can
watch it anywhere online.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
I'm sure it'll be on YouTube. Yeah, definitely go and
take a lot because it's a good one.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
So that being said, should we get onto the Pickham
League for this week?

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yes, at the bottom of the league. Unfortunately bluie Co
has now dropped to the bottom on ninety seven points.
Up ahead of him now is Prismark fifty nine who
has one hundred and fourth. A little bit of a
gap now between those two, but an even bigger that
gap now between Brismark fifty nine and Lee Finn's fans,
so you've pulled away a little bit. Miami O five

(19:10):
oh one has got one hundred and nineteen points. Jojo
Chi Meyer has one hundred and twenty, followed by Dan
Crow who had one hundred and twenty one. Did you
want to go through the top the other table there,
because there's been quite a little bit of movement.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
A little bit of movement. Oh no, that looks like
a new name. Why do I not know this name?
Tied for seventh? Do you have the full name Sigmon?

Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah, the real David Meyers.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
I'm sorry I should have known that, because I have
seen with one hundred and thirty two points, is tied
for seventh. Yeah, Tide fourth is builto one hundred and
thirty three points with Stokey Dolphin and Danny Meyers as well,
and I'm sure very pleased that he is leading the

(20:00):
family right now is silent and has on one hundred
and thirty nine points, sitting in third place. Seventy two
Eagles Perfection has one hundred and forty one points in second,
and Robots seventy nine tops the pile with one hundred
and forty four points.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
I'm glad I'm getting one over Danny and my brother
this week because me and Danny played each other in
fantasy in a league. He's playing Fantasy proper Fantasy for
the first time this year, and he played me this
week to clinch a playoff spot, and he's top of
the division and he's I'm almost eliminated if I don't
win next week, so he's he's got bragging rights over
me for now, but I'm hopeful we'll meet again in

(20:37):
the playoffs so I can get on over him. But
he's he's doing really well. Bless him. For his first
time ever in fantasy is he's worth his way in
gold really for doing as well as he had And
I just wanted to flag this week. Actually in the
pick and Report there were some good scores and that
I got fifteen and I was only one game away

(20:58):
from getting a full house correct predictions in that I
selected the Patriots to beat the Colts and of course
it went to the on that two point conversion, so
nearly got a full house and Chef Randall got fifteen
points as well, so he nearly got a full house.
But the movers this week, Danny Meyers went up three,
Rob Ashton, Picture of Floor, Funky five and the real

(21:22):
David Myers all moved up one place. However, the only
Beaver went down four, Somerset Tim went down three, Paul
five one six went down three, Flashart Finn two on
bluey Co one. So movers and shakers are plenty this
week in the Pickam League.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Absolutely, they're still great fun to be taking part. Yeah,
I had an interesting week in fantasy all kind of
went a little bit sideways at the last minute, looked
on for three good results and ended up one and
two on the weekend. But I must say, for the
first time ever, had terrible fantasy football because I picked
placed on my love of the Dolphins and absolutely nothing

(21:59):
to do with stat for what might actually happen. But
I have three teams always a winning record well above
five hundred, so which is good for me for the
first time.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, that's unreal. To have every team above in above
five hundred. That's pretty good fantasy wise.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, I am happy to admit that I am not
great at fantasy and play in the league with some
people who are far more invested in it than No,
they're not more invested, but they are far better at
it and knowledgeable about fantasy than me. So yeah, please
to have a winning record in that league.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, but there is a lot of luckily, isn't they're
not saying luckily?

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Oh no, probably it is. Don't worry all right.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Should we move on to the state of the division. Yes, absolutely, yeah,
as we know, the Bills beat the forty nine or
Sunday Night Football thirty five to ten to move to
ten and two and clinch the AFC East. The Jets
sealed their ninth consecutive losing season with a twenty one
twenty six loss to the Seahawks, and the Patriots are

(23:00):
now officially eliminated from playoff contention with a twenty four
to twenty five last gass defeat against the Indianapolis Cults,
and they now sit at three and ten.

Speaker 1 (23:11):
Absolutely could have done us a favor the winning that game.
But it's interesting because I was having this conversation with
my brother who's a Buccaneers fan during the Tampa Bay
Carolina game where Tampa managed to somehow come out victorious
after really, to be honest, messing it up. Caroline absolute
should have won this game. But I was like, we've

(23:33):
only with them only having four wins and being well
out of contention in the NFC, I was like, actually,
probably the perfect result of the Panthers is to be
close and though that you've got some you're kind of
moving a little bit more in the right direction, but
to ultimately come out with a defeat and have that
draft spot is probably the best of both worlds. And
I wonder if the Patriots are slightly in that boat
where you think, to yourself, Okay, they are now officially eliminated,

(23:57):
but you know, close defeats and almost as good as
victories because you get the benefit of the draft pick,
but also can still see progress within your squad.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
It's going to be similar for the Jets as well.
They're almost officially eliminated. We'll go on to the playoff
picture in a moment, but they're going to be in
the same boat, aren't they, in terms of playing for
a bit of pride and playing spoiler if you like,
for the remaining games they've got on their schedule.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Hopefully not this week, and hopefully we can put them
to the playoff elimination sword, so to speak.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Talking to playoffs and eliminations, Where does the Dolphins stand
now lee in terms of their playoff picture projections after
losing in Green Bay?

Speaker 1 (24:39):
So their playoff percentage probability dropped by five percent down
to ten percent, which I know sounds bad that I
said five weeks ago. It's still still time. We just
got one game at a time, sorry, and we'll see
where this stacks up, but obviously involves the Dolphins essentially

(25:01):
winning out, being close to winning out. We know ten
wins is almost what you need. Nine wins might get
you there depending on other results, but it will be
very interesting to track everything over the next few weeks.
And I think we're gonna switch out our state of
the division now with the Patriots being eliminated and the

(25:22):
Bills being ABCUS champions, and next week we will start
looking at some of those teams around us.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, we will, because it's getting to the point now
where we have to look at other results, don't we.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
You have to still have to take care of your
own business, of course, And the Dolphins won't get in
the playoffs unless they can pretty much win out is
they've got very little margin for error, I think. And
but will certainly be taking a look at the opponents
for the Broncos, the Colts, even the Charges and the
Bengals might come into play depending on depending on how
results are over the next few weeks. But we'll start

(25:54):
to do a bit of a deeper dive, so to speak,
into those teams opponents.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
Absolutely, So that being saidh we move on to this
Sunday's matchup at hard Rock Stadium against the New York Jets.
So the Jets offense ranks first overall, which is incredible
to say with a future Hall of Famer at quarterback,
especially when you hear the way arguments go over some

(26:22):
of the other quarterbacks in the NFL. That's just astonishing.
Their rushing rank is twenty ninth in the league, and
they're passing rank is third. Defense ranks third overall, which
is really it's really kind of weird how this one
averages itself out, isn't it. So the defensive rank is
third overall, they're passing defense ranks second overall, but they're
rushing defense ranks in ti IF overall, they're almost in

(26:44):
the bottom third of the league, but it averages out
to third overall, So interesting to see how that plays out.
Simon is well documented the troubles that Jets have had
off the field this season. Robert Saler's gone, general manager
Joe Douglas was let go. But have there been issues

(27:04):
on the field as well? With the Jets struggling, particularly
on offense. Where have they struggled? Now when the GM
and the head coach get fired, I guess think there's
going to be some problems.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
You're right. I think a struggling coaching team has impacted
on their on field performance. For sure. Penalties have been
a big concern, given that with only with interim coaches,
there perhaps is a discipline issue. They had eight fourth
quarter penalties against the Seahawks, two of which were on
fourth downs. Their defense can't get off the field in
big spots, the offensive line gets bullied, and perhaps the

(27:38):
most alarming thing for them is that Aaron Rodgers can't
seem to find any consistency quarter by quarter, never mind
game by game. With some talented playmakers and offense the
likes of Garrett Wilson, DeVante Adams, Brice Hall, they do
get in positions to win games, but it just hasn't
happened for them. They seem to find ways to lose

(27:59):
games in good positions, and that starts with the coaches
and the quarterback play. I think they hold the keys
to the engine to the vehicle, if you like. And
if there is kind of disruption on in either of
those groups, then it's inevitable that the on field play
is going to suffer, I think. And they just haven't
had that stability or that consistency to put up a

(28:23):
consistent run of results.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
So what about Aaron Rodgers you mentioned there. You know,
it's almost unfathomable that you're in this position with with
Aaron Rodgers. He was supposed to take the Jets of
the Super Bowl, or at least make them super Bowl contenders.
But they've really looked anything but that. This year obviously
lead into the firing of both guys. Is it, as

(28:47):
you just said, is it largely down to inconsistency in
its play? The interim head coaches confirmed that he will
start this Sunday against the Dolphins. You know, what can
we see from him? It seems like an unfathomable position
after last year. And I will let you answer this question.
You know, last year, after they're suffering that injury Week one,
the excuse all year was, well, it'll be fine since

(29:10):
you get Aaron Rodgers back. That's not really materialized.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
There's no doubt he's under the spotlight right now. I mean,
you don't need to be a genius to see he's
a shadow of his former self. He's just literally turned
forty one this week, and a reducing arm strength has
started to be reflected in his stats. For example, last week,
he completed only two of fourteen pass attempts over ten
yards for a total of thirty five yards, and has

(29:37):
recorded a thirty eight point nine percent completion percentage on
past his ten or more air yards this season, which
is the lowest on such throws since twenty sixteen, Rogers
was brought into in close games, but the fact they
are more and five this season when needing a TD
to win in the fourth quarter shows this hasn't worked

(29:57):
as expected. So in terms of this game, I don't
think we are going to see him take plenty of
shots downfield. That's not really in his arsenal anymore. However,
he could easily sustain one or two good drives, particularly
early in the games, as that's when they've tended to
produce it's and he'll likely take what the defense gives him.

(30:18):
I think, given his age, I do wonder whether he
struggles lat in games due to For that reason, mobility
also has never been a strong point of his either.
He's a traditional pocket passer, and I think this probably
plays into the Dolphins' hands. Having said all of that,
though he's got a pretty good record against the Dolphins,
he's only ever lost to them once in his career,

(30:39):
back in twenty ten. The last time he played them
was of course, on Christmas Day in twenty twenty two,
and that was one of the coldest games ever at
hard Rock Stadium if I remember rightly, if not the coldest,
I think the game temperature was eight degrees CENTI grade
forty six degrees fahrenheit. And we talk about earlier about
adapting to adverse weather conditions and maybe the Dolphins needed

(31:03):
to adapt on that particular occasion because it was unusual.
But hopefully Rogers will get a hotter reception on Sunday
in more ways than what.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Hopefully. With that being said, we move on to some
past the victory and ways that we can see the
Dolphins winning this Sunday in Miami.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
And given the struggles the Jets have had an offense,
defense are almost a polar opposite if you like, ranking
really high overall and against the pass, and with the
pressure off playing away from MetLife, I think they're going
to be a bit of a handful in this game. However,
reports coming out of New York car that Sauce Gardner
has got a bit of a hamstring injury and his

(31:44):
status for Sunday is very much up in the air.
He's their key playmaker on defense as well, so without him,
you'd expect the likes of Hill and Waddle to thrive.
Having said all of that, for the Dolphins offense, I
think the key is to get off to a good start,
something that they didn't do really against the Packers and
it killed them in the end. The Jets are not

(32:05):
built to come from behind and win, so an early
lead I think we'll set the Dolphins up well for
that game. I do have a part of victory on
when the Jets are on the ball and the Dolphins
are on defense. Do you want to give your part
of victory first, and then I'll move on to mine after?

Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah. Absolutely. I think the Dolphins, you know, they want
to return to their winning ways this week. I think
it's going to start by maybe getting the run game
a little bit back on track. It seems to struggled
a little bit the last couple of games, and I
think it was kind of highlighted on Thursday night when
you couldn't punch the ball in from being close where.

(32:43):
You know, as the run game stopped being a threat,
things became harder in the passing game as well. So
I think, you know, this is an opportunity to try
and get that back on track. Like you, says Garden,
the potentially being well, it's going to being a doubt, sorry,
his status being in doubt for Sunday's game. You know,

(33:05):
there is an opportunity there to maybe attack with some speed,
which is not something we've seen at all yet this season,
I would say from the Dolphins. But also there's been
some good matchups there between Source Gardener and especially Jalen Waddle,
So it's always fun when you see elite players go
against each other. But yeah, I think start off by
getting a run game back on track.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
I mean we mentioned about their passing defense is ranked
second in the NFL overall, sorry, second in the NFL,
and their overall ranking is what third, So given the
fact that their rush defense is twentieth, that speaks volumes
to me that their secondary is almost playing lights out
to bring up their overall ranking to to account for

(33:49):
a passing defense that's twentieth. To bring all of that
up to third overall must mean they're doing something right
on their passing defense.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Absolutely, So yeah, good time to attack a weakness and
with something you want to improve on.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Looking at the Jets on offense, though, I think the
Dolphins d are more than capable of keeping them quiet,
but we have seen the Jets can be half decent Inspurts.
The key to keeping them contained will be to I
think consistently pressure Rogers. We saw what they did to
another immobile Cords bucking Matt Stafford, but also to guard
against their other key playmakers, the likes of Preese Hall,

(34:29):
for instance, as he is the potential to do some damage,
even though he hasn't been particularly productive as normal this season.
Rogers did connect well with his old power DeVante Adams
as well against the Seahawks, so he poses a bit
of a threat, but again has been largely quiet. Garrett Wilson,
who is their wide receiver one, did that outstanding catch

(34:51):
a couple of weeks ago for a touchdown, but you
do wonder whether he'll be shadowed by Ramsey. So you
can see they've got some playmakers on offense, so rising there,
and they're not ranking that high. In fact, was at
thirty fest overall, so that's very surprising given the talent
they've got. So I don't think the Dolphins can afford

(35:11):
to look at their rankings, see the rank low and
take them lightly, but Overallly, I think the Dolphins have
so much more to play for in terms of the season.
The Jets are looking to play spoiler, as I said earlier,
so I think desire will be now in the end,
and the Dolphins should be victorious come nine pm Sunday evening.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Yeah, it has to be a game, doesn't it where
you go in there with a sense of urgency. There's
so little margin for error now you can't afford to
take anyone lightly regardless of who turns up. I think,
agreeing with what you said, I think the defense would
hopefully get a boost with Kendall Fuller potentially returning to

(35:54):
the lineup and maybe freeing up some ways of keeping
things a little bit more locked down on the back
end of the defense and land in the front and
to go to work and let you say, provide that
pressure and maybe be a little bit more stout against
the run. And we definitely saw that Thursday night. Tackling
was a bit of an issue. I think that was
a cold But if you want to make sure that

(36:14):
that doesn't become a narrative or something teams try to attack,
you need to get that back on track this week.
And you know that's going to help keep the Jets
passing attack in check. So yeah, keep the yards after
the catchdown. Let's say, make these long sustained drives, because
you know, this season the Jets have shown that it's
not really something they're capable of doing on a on

(36:35):
a consistent basis.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
It's not like the Dolphins defense just forget how to tackle,
is it? Because they're professional athletes who are expertly trained.
It's just about getting the fundamentals right, making sure you've
got the right angles to make the tackle and the
right being in the right spot on the field. So
they haven't lost the ability to tackle. I know it
wasn't a particularly good effort against the Packers, but the

(36:59):
good thing is that that sort of thing is correctable.
Isn't it through good coaching?

Speaker 1 (37:03):
Absolutely, because we've seen him do it at a high
level this year. So definitely saying that is it's fixable
heading into this week and can help lead us to victory.
With that being said, side, what's the weather looked like
this week? Tell me it's not going to be cold.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
It's not going to be cold, however, for Miami, I
think it's twenty three degrees centigrade, so for us that's
probably warm. I do wonder whether Travis will be bringing
out his gloves again.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Actually I missed this Travis from the other side of
the box. I might have mentioned this last week to
mention his gloves. It was very funny spending the week
in in Orlando because the weather was cooler, did we say,
And you know, the people who were working, they were
in coats and hats, and I was like, I was

(37:52):
still wearing shorts and the T shirt and it was
it was still warm enough. It was very pleasant. So
it definitely wasn't Florida warm, but it was you know, sorry,
normal Florida warm, but it was. Yeah, it's still sure.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
So it's going to be sunny, bit of cloud about,
but twenty three degrees at kickoff with no sign of
rain or any significant win, so should be a good spectacle.
And talking to spectacles, where can we watch the game
league this week?

Speaker 1 (38:17):
So at the moment, we don't know the game slated
for Sky this week, so you will be able to
watch it on game pass. I think I'm just looking
at the schedule now and looking at what we've got.
I would be jocked if we are the game on
during the six o'clock slate. If the Jets have truly

(38:37):
been Super Bowl intenders, then maybe this game would have
been on TV and had we not had the unfortunate
situation it dropped us to seven losses. But that being said,
I think you might even see even though they're a
three win team, because they're very exciting. You may see
the Brownings against the Steelers, that being another divisional matchup
as we had this week on Sky. But yeah, I

(38:58):
think it's unlikely to be the Dolphins.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Yeah, talking to the Browns due to play the Dolphins
in Cleveland on Sunday Night Football and the twenty ninth
of December. Now, given the relative positions of the two
teams in terms of qualifying for the playoffs or not,
what's the latest they can flex that game? If they
do decide the NFL to flex it. I don't know
what the what notice they have to give to change

(39:21):
any potential games late December, do you know, only off
the top of your head.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
I absolutely do not know off the top of my head.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Because I do wonder whether that would be flexed out
and make it a more reasonable time for UK fans
to catch that game rather than the middle of the night.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
Yeah, you would think so, wouldn't you. You think there's
probably going to be some games there on the slate
that have more national implication of just having a look
down the slate for that week. Now you've got you've
got the nine to three Packers playing the ten and
two Vikings at the top of that division.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
That's got primetime written all over it, hasn't it.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah. I mean that's definitely got to be one that's
for consideration.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
I mean, is that on a Sunday then? Is that
not already in primetime?

Speaker 1 (40:12):
That's Sunday six o'clock kickoff? And of course that's Christmas Week,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (40:18):
I wonder it does get changed. It's Christmas Week. That's
interesting because you've got the eleven and one cheap. I mean,
obviously these all currents. That's the eleven and one Chiefs
playing them at the nine and three Steelers on Christmas
Day and that's going to be a good game. The
Ravens and the Texans on Christmas Day as well. Then
moving on to the twenty seventh, so Thursday Night Football

(40:39):
we have, sorry, it will be Thursday Night Football here
twenty seven because of the way the graphic works here,
that's actually Friday's date will be the twenty sixth Thursday
Night is the Seahawks at the Bears. So don't see
any of those games being moved. But then when you
get onto the Sunday slate, You've got Jets at the Bills.
Don't see them swapping it out for that game unless
the Jets go on some sort of there was already

(41:02):
be division champions would seem unlikely. Titans at the Jags.
I mean, it's definitely got some implications for the first
overall pick. But are they Raiders at the Saints, Panthers
at the Bucks, Cowboys at the Eagles. That's it? So yeah,

(41:22):
I would say if it's going to be done, it's
going to be done for the packers of the Vikings.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Is there a Monday Night Football that week?

Speaker 1 (41:28):
There is Monday Night Football that week, and it is
the eleven and one Detroit Lions heading to San Francisco.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
That'll be a good matchup as well.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
Okay, yeah, well, hang on, I've completely misread the graphic.
Hold fire. There are some games that are not yet scheduled. Okay,
let me look through these and see if there's any here.
The Broncos and the Bengals. The Bengals that have to
win some games, yeah, going forward to make that competitive
for a wild card spot could be interesting. Six and
six Cardinals at six and six Rams visional game, But

(42:02):
it's going to be out the playoffs in the UFC's unlikely.
Charges at the Patriots seems unlikely, Colts at the Giants
seems unlikely, and then the six and six Falcons against
the eight and five Commanders. This could be in with
a shot of winning the division.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Yeah, they could, couldn't name the Commanders are in the
playoff hunt as well, so that could be one potential
that they move.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
But you still have to think that the favorite has
got to be that Packers Vikings game.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Yeah, and the fact that there are numerous games yet
to be scheduled says to me that they can move
that Sunday night football. Then if they decide to put
one of those games in at the very least.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
Yeah, So that'd be interesting, but would be interesting if
it was moved to a mid day kickoff as opposed
to a late kickoff there. Yeah, potentially as a cold
weather game.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Yeah, exactly right. We're coming to the end of the
show for another weekly Is there anything you want to
go through or discuss before we call it?

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Nope, I think that's everything. I think we just look
forward to hopefully doing a victory podcast next week.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Yeah, just don't forget the Pro Bowl games. Voting continues
so go online and vote for all your favorite Dolphins players,
as I'm sure we will do, and we'll see how
many of them make the Pro Bowl Bowl games in
due course. In the meantime, don't forget to check out
all the other Dolphins' content on Travis Wingfield's Drivetime show,
and the fish Tank podcast is a good one this

(43:28):
week with Tim Ruddy, so encourage you to check that
out if you haven't already. And in the meantime, Lee
and I will be back with you next week. And
as we said, we very much hope that the Jets
will be grounded and the Dolphins will saw to another
victory by from us for now, might