Fins Still In The Hunt(ley)

The Fins’ Christmas wishes came true and they are still in the playoff race heading into Week 18! The lads provide some colour to the Browns win, discuss the Chiefs-Broncos game and if the Fins can land another win over the Jets in the regular season finale.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Tyreek Hill and you're now listening to Dollhan
UK podcast. Doth On jeep steinhast time take them away

(00:27):
home around circus. You're all right, he's gonna keep it himself.
At the ten five he cuts it up to the
end zone. Touchdown, second and goal. Honly throw in that
one's gone Potchohn new Smell touchdown. Hello.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Welcome to the Still Keep Believing edition of the Dolphin
UK Poker. The Dolphins are still alive as we enter
the final week of the regular season. Stay with us
as we look forward to a do or die matchup
against the Jets, and look back at week seventeen as
the Dolphins went in Cleveland to remain in the Hunt League.
Did you see what I did there?

Speaker 1 (01:16):
I did see what you did there? I liked it
on all frunts all the way through that intro.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
That of course was my co host Lee.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
How you do So?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Did you have a good Christmas?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
I did have a good Christmas. It was definitely made
better buy a Dolphins victory on Sunday Night.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, it was one of the best Christmas presents. Talking
of a Dolphins win, of course, talking of presents, did
you get anything Dolphins related for Christmas.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
I got a couple of things Christmas related and Dolphins
related for Christmas. I've got some decorations for our tree
which are Christmas related, so they will go on because
it's always been so I was doing this weird thing
where my wife has told me you can't put anything
dolphins related. But now a couple of people bought me
ornaments that dolphins related to go on the tree. So

(01:59):
that would be Shane. They're already up there, my daughter,
but much she's very excited. And then laptop case and
T shirt and a couple of bits. So yeah, pretty good, excellent.
I got one of those.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
I got one of those Dolphins Primark T shirts that
everybody seems and I know we've had a feeling. I
was going to get one of those anyway, and mentioned
it to you before, and I think we should, and
I know you've got one, and I think we should
coordinate and both wear it on the pod at one time.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
I think we should absolutely do that right on with
the show.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Then a couple of things we want to talk about
before we get into the Browns game. Richmond Webb didn't
make the Hall of Fame finalists for the upcoming selection. Lee, Obviously,
we know there was a kind of a big fan
campaign to get him at least on the final list
and even hopefully gets selected for the Hall of Fame,

(02:55):
but he didn't quite manage it this time around. What
are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Lee?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
I think his time will come eventually, he'd like to think,
given the type of player he was and the importance
of his role in that on that offensive line in
terms of protecting Dan Marino, et cetera. But what are
your thoughts on on Richmond Web not unfortunately making the
list of finalists for the Hall of Fame this year?

Speaker 1 (03:17):
First off, I've been lucky enough to meet Richmond Web
in the US, and what an amazing and friendly guy.
I'm sure he must have seen so many fans coming
up to him, but he was very gracious and sad
spoke of us, which was which was awesome. He was
super nice. But I think this is just it feels.

(03:40):
I know it shouldn't be with the Hall of Fame,
but it feels like there's like a generational gap, do
you know what I mean? Where there's fans like myself
that wouldn't have seen Richmond Web play. They don't necessarily
see why ins it is that he's not on that
finalist list and that you say, hopefully he will get
there one day. But it just feels like there were
some names on the on the list this year that

(04:00):
we're almost I think people have been waiting for them
to come up, do you know what I mean to
go in? So it felt like a tough year, but
hopefully we can get behind him and make the committee
realize that they've made a mistake heading into next year. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
I met Richmond Webb in twenty eighteen at a whiteout
event that was put on the week before the Miami Miracle,
and I got introduced to him, and you literally have
to look up to the man because he's an absolute giant,
isn't he. He's must be close to seven foot tall,

(04:44):
but he's almost like a big, friendly giant, isn't he
in terms of very engaging, very welcoming, very friendly, and
an awesome human being to talk to? Absolutely, I'm just
looking at the corner of the Fame finalists for this year.
He's up against some pretty good candidates, isn't he in

(05:05):
terms of who's made the list, and Torry Holt is
on it. I noticed yet again, he's been on it
a few years. Luke Keikley is probably in his first
year of eligible. Eli Manning's on it.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Steve last year as well as he is.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yeah, Fred Taylor, Adam Vinitieri, Reggie Wayne, Darren Woodson. There's
some good names on that list. So he had some
pretty decent competitors, didn't.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
He to go up against? Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Okay, we wish Richmond were well for next year, of course,
in terms of making it to the Hall of Fame.
In the meantime, let's talk about the Browns victory League. Obviously,
Dolphins won twenty to three in a fairly straightforward in
the end type of victory. But were you impressed with
Tyler Huntley's performance?

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Lee, Yeah, I mean I was a little concern when
the game started. It felt like the first drive and
maybe even the second drive, that it was a little
bit two steps forward three steps back, do you know
what I mean? There was a lot of self inflicted wounds,
just seemed a little bit disconnected. I was like, oh no,

(06:16):
this is what we saw in those four weeks that
two are missed early in the season, and not just
from Tyler Hunty but just from the offense in general,
they just seemed to lose all sense of cohesiveness during
that period, a lot of penalties. But then he started
to get things on track, and I thought he showed

(06:36):
how much he's grown in the offense in this time,
how much he obviously understands it more. And also I
think how much coach McDaniel is understanding Tyler Huntley and
what he wants to do to get the best out
of him as well. I think it works both ways.
But I thought he was very comfortable and managed to
really kind of like manage the game. Well. We saw
the penalties come right down there in the second half.

(06:58):
I think everyone was just again a little bit more comfortable,
and he was able to execute the plan. The perfection
might be a step too far, but certainly to a
very high level and keep this team and heading in
the right direction.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
It was almost perfection in a way if you look
at the stats, because I think it was twenty two
of twenty six, which is a pretty high completion rate.
Admittedly they were the types of passes were low risk,
high completion percentage rate type passes, weren't they And that's
all you could really ask him to do.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
When he delivered it's also though very similar to what
TOO has done a lot over the last few weeks.
You know, we heard in the broadcast last week against
the forty nine ers. You know, there's a lot of screenplays,
there's a lot of balls at the line of scrimmage,
there's a lot of short partses. You know, that is
kind of what the offense has been. I do think
there is a slight tailoring to Tyler Huntley over TOO,

(07:52):
And I think, you know, there is a difference in
the way when you see tour go through his progressions.
When he gets off his third fourth read, he's going
back to the begin you know, he's going back through
the players, whereas Tyler Hunt's last read is to run himself.
And we saw him do that few times effectively, even
though there was a pirouette there which which was slightly frightened,

(08:16):
slightly frightening in the second half, like it's cool, you've
got first duds go down, like you've done enough. Like
what he was what on earth he was doing?

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Was he going on roundabout or something?

Speaker 1 (08:26):
But you know, in all seriousness, you know he did
a really good job. He did.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
I said he completed twenty to twenty six nine of
those passes went to Tyreek Hill. But did you see
a different Tyreek kill this week to what we've seen
over recent weeks.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, there was kind of a confusing comment, wasn't there
that coach McDaniel mentioned last week that he was catching
the ball more aggressively, and it's you know, I know
the media asked him, you know kind of what that meant,
and coach and Daniel as he does, give a very
detailed answer on what that means. But I think the
easiest way to understand it was to watch his performance.

(09:05):
He did seem more aggressive at taking the ball out
of the air as opposed to waiting for it to
arrive at him. He seemed to be kind of, yeah,
snatching it out there would be the way I describe
I would describe it, and it showed this play. He
looked more confident, He looked more fired up going through
the game. I think it. You know, again, those drops

(09:27):
against the forty nine ers came early in the game,
and you might be Tyreek Hill, but I still didn't
It affects your confidence, do you know what I mean?
When your game is catching the football and when you're
used to doing it. Obviously, at the level that Tyreek
Hill does. You know, he is not used to dropping footballs,
so I think that was probably a bit of a shock.

(09:48):
But it just goes to show you got into a
practice week with a clear goal and he was able
to come out the other side with a clear improvement
and performance. So you know, practice paid off.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
You talk about practice. He mentioned in the postgame presser
against the Niners, or it may have been a press
conference later in a week, I can't remember which, but
he said he was missing those VET reps on Wednesdays,
wasn't he, which he tends to take the day off.
Do you think that's made a difference, recognizing that in
terms of needing to put in the additional work on

(10:21):
that what would normally be arrest day. Do you think
that's made a difference or is it not significant enough
that he should have that rap orward Tour or whoever's
at quarterback already in order to produce it on the
field on a Sunday.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
I think you definitely defer to Tyreek Hill when it
comes to that. If he says he needs more reps,
I'm going to take him at his word. Because he
wasn't happy with his performance. He identified that as a problem.
He practiced accordingly and came out with a better performance
the following week. Probably safe to assume that he was
right in his assumption, and you know, the performance reflected it.

(10:59):
I think it's very easy as fans to get caught up,
especially when you see him have a year like he
did last year, where it's it's easy for Tyreek just
turn up on a Sunday and play football, and it's
not that easy even for someone you know who's got
the god given talents that that player like Tyreek Hill does.
So it's yeah, I think it just goes to show
there's always that learning. You always need more reps. And

(11:22):
then when you see a player who can do it
without the reps now and again obviously that's not ideal.
But when you see someone like Tron Arms, they're dealing
with the stuff he does and having to practice in
the way, in the in the kind of measures that
he does to get through to a Sunday and play,
can appreciate how hard it is for him to go
out and have played at the level he has this season,

(11:43):
knowing that obviously he has to work in a completely
different setting to get you know, to get to Sunday
and you provide a performance like he does.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
He needed to step up as well in the absence
of Jail and Waddell, who missed the game through that
knee injury, of course, So for him to to step
up was what was a welcome display of welcome performance
from him, and it was very much needed given the
relative inexperience of the rest of that wide receiver corps.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, it's a leader's performance, isn't it, Because one's waddle
isn't in the lineup, and we're very excited about the
other guys that are on the team. But I can't
deny that Tyreek Kill is going to be a focus.
Everyone know knows Tyreek Kill is the guy. The Browns
know he's the guy. We know that, every everything, everybody

(12:33):
knows what's going to happen. But to then still be
able to execute it, you know, is a is a
real leader's performance. It's I'm not going to be stopped.
And he was friendly to the quarterback, you know, making
sure that he was open and he wasn't having to
throw him contested balls as such. You know, he was

(12:53):
able to make sure he was getting himself open and
giving giving Tyler an opportunity to see it and let
it go.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Talking of performances, we taught last week around how we
thought it was an all round complete performance against forty
nine ers, with both the offense and the defense and
special teams all contributing to that win and they all
played well. What about this week? Do you think this
or last week should go against the Browns? Do you
think that was a complete performance as well?

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, I think it was close to it. And I'm
sure there's people sitting screaming at me now saying that's
not You know, we don't expect to put up twenty
points against a three win Browns team, and that's probably true,
but I don't think that's necessarily what constitutes a complete performance.
I think we saw the offense make sure they were

(13:44):
always doing enough that they weren't putting the defense in
bad positions or leaving them on the field for too long.
So the defense play again at incredibly high level, keeping
the Browns to three points. Did they give them three points? Yeah? Sorry,
it was late when that game finished. You know, the
Browns did have an opportunity to score, decided to go

(14:06):
for it on fourth down rather than kick a field goal.
Jayden Ramsey comes up with a huge stop. They did
what they've been doing after over the last few weeks.
They've been really stifling opposition. Now, granted it's three win
Browns team, but complimentary Football says that each side of
the ball does what they need to do. We saw

(14:28):
Jason Sanders make all of his kicks. We saw Jake
Bailey with that credible long punt at the end of
the game after a punt that wasn't so good, but
Kate didn't cost the team, came back in, you know,
kicks a much deeper punt. I think he had two,
didn't He had one of dropped in the end zone,
one that almost dropped in the end zone, and the

(14:48):
deep one. So it's you know, every side of the
ball did what they needed to do to get through
a game that you might be expected to win. But
under the circumstances, you did a good job to win
in the fashion that you did. I don't think the
result really felt in Jeffardy at any point. It was
just probably annoyingly closer than you would like it to

(15:11):
have been.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, I think there weren't too many outstanding individual performances.
Where then we'll come onto our game balls shortly anyway.
But it was more of a team performance.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
Wasn't it?

Speaker 2 (15:24):
All the individual units needed to perform together as a
team in order to come out with a victory. But
I do want to ask you very quickly on the
performance of Devon Ai Chan because he was relatively quiet
in comparison to the game he had against the forty
nine ers. He led the team in rushing attempts with ten,
but really struggled I think, and only rushed for twenty

(15:46):
five yards, which is probably more to do with the
Browns rather than themselves. Yet Tyler Huntley rushed was the
second leading Russia for seven attempts for fifty two yards.
Any cause for concern They're heading into another game in
week eighteen against a very similar type of opposition. Was

(16:09):
it a result of the Browns recognizing the importance of
de wan ah Chan having seen the take from the
week before, or was it just a kind of a
below part performance from him.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
I think I don't think it was a below part performance,
but I do think there's a few factors that go
into it. I think he's had an incredibly high workloads,
especially the last few weeks. I mean, there's been a
couple of games there where he feels like almost the offense,
do you know what I mean? And he's doing it

(16:41):
all and we saw that, you know, even Sunday night
he had a great catch there was called back on
a penalty, but you know, a wide receiver's catch anything,
you know, and ty Read and Jalen Malik, they'd all
have been happy having having pulled that catch in. I
think once you saw that that he was art into struggle,

(17:02):
especially with the outside run, that it was probably an
easy decision to try and give some more reps to
other guys to get them going, because it gives you
kind of two elements of one we're trying something different,
giving someone else to see if someone else is going
to get a hot hand against this defense, but also

(17:22):
gives Devon Achan the ability to rest is the wrong word,
but not just keep taking a pounding in a in
a loosing effort. And I think you saw in the
second half it got spread around, you know, between Jeff Wilson, Raheem,
Moster got a lot more looks. Jen and Wright got
at least one carry there didn't he So it was
it was kind of spread around a little bit more.

(17:42):
I think probably the first half looked a little bit better,
but then that's when Tron Armstead was playing. He got
hurt in the end of the late in the second quarter,
and we saw against the Houston Texans. Once that happened
when he wasn't in the game, seems changed a lot.
And that's not a popper Patrick Paul, who did a

(18:04):
good job when he came into a place Toron Armstead.
But I think it would be daft to pretend that
there isn't an impact on the run game when you
go from someone playing at Ron Armstead's level, an NFL
veteran to a rookie who also has to deal with
Myles Garrett at the same time. It's an incredibly hard assignment.

(18:27):
So I think there's probably a few factors in play there,
but it'll be interesting to see what happens heading into
into next week's game.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
I did mention the game balls lead, so let's do
them now, shall we. Before we move on to our
Finn's facts, did you want to go through the fan
vote in terms of the thoughts and opinions of those
who voted on social media?

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, so an interesting fan vote again because it was very,
very not split. Sorry, it was very much just one
guy getting most of the votes. To be quite honest,
only two players out of the four got any votes,
and Tyler Huntley, with eighty one percent of the vote
gets a fan game ball just to let you know.

(19:13):
Tyreek Hill got zero percent, Kalse Campbell nineteen percent, and
Jason Sanders also got zero percent. That is I think apt.
I think it's well deserved, and we'll come on to
us in a second.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
But yeah, yeah, recognizing the contribution he made to the
leading the team to win, I.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Think, yeah. I don't think he's anything to do with
not appreciating the efforts of those other guys.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
I think it is just yeah, so it sounds like
you may also go for Tyler Huntley, then League.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
I only going to go over Tyler Huntley. And the
biggest thing for me was just the difference between the
first games that he started, which were under difficult circumstances.
You know, he'd only just joined the team, had to
go straight in and play games early in the season,
without knowing the playbook all of that stuff. They look
like those sort of performances, in my opinion, you know,

(20:06):
they look to struggle, whereas just that he looked a
lot more comfortable. Like I said, was able to keep
the team on track and doing the right things. And
I think you know, he deserves an awful lot of
credit for the for the steps taken between now and then,
and I'm sure the game pan was also part of it,
but it's also having been now with the team long

(20:26):
enough to tell them what you want, to show them
what you need as well. So you know, I don't
think there was any one of us as a fan
who wasn't concerned about losing the game, a must win
game when you heard Tour going to play, because we
know what it's been like in the past, and Tour
doesn't play, and we know how good he is as
a quarterback. So for Tylers come in and again, like

(20:50):
you said, but that game away the way it should be,
deserves all the great in the world.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
I'm going to make it a hat trick of Tyler
Huntley game balls. He absolutely did what was asked of him,
nothing too complicated, didn't make mistakes, made plays when he
had to, and he got the win for the team,
which is what mattered most at the end of the day.
And given all of this, I'm not sure how you
cannot give it to him for his efforts. Yeah, there

(21:17):
were some other notable contributions to the win, because it
was a team win after all, but given the nature
of his performance, he absolutely agreed with what you're saying.
It really happened to be him, just for the recognition
of his play.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
I think so that leads us on to some Finns
facts from the game. We know there's always a few
more when the Dolphins win, but obviously the Dolphins win
moves them to eight and eight in the season and
keeps them in the hunt for a playoff spot, which
seemed far fetched a few weeks ago, but we've arrived here,
which is fantastic. Sundays win marked the fifth consecutive season

(21:54):
the Dolphins have won eight or more games, and the
franchise longest streak it recorded fifteen consecutive seasons between eighty
nine and two thousand and three. I'm pretty sure we
know why that happened. Coach McDaniel becomes the fourth head
coach in Dolphins history to win at least eight games
in three consecutive seasons, joining Don Shuler, Jimmy Johnson, and

(22:16):
Dave Wanstad. The win was the Dolphins' twentieth victory against
AFC opponents under Mike McDaniel, only the Chiefs and Bill
Only the Chiefs, Bills, and Ravens have more during that span.
Between twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four, the Dolphins
have won six to the last eight games dating back
to the Miami's twenty three to fifteen win over the Rams.

(22:39):
Since Week ten, Miami is one of sevent teams in
the NFL to record six wins, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Kansas
City being the only other teams with the win that
Miami improved to eleven and nine in regular season contests
against the Brown and earned their first win in Cleveland
since twenty thirteen. Miami's victory against Cleveland was a Dolphins

(23:02):
third win in the month of December this season, the
second consecutive seasons the Dolphins have won three games in
the month.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
I just want to give a shout out to Turold
Dodson actually Lee, because reading these stats here, he should
really have gone on the potential candidates for a game ball,
I think, but I think his performance has been relatively overlooked.
He registered fifteen tackles, including eight silo, the interception of
pass deflection and a quarterback hit in the contest. The

(23:33):
fifteen tackles are the most by Dolphins player this season
in a game and the most since Jerome Baker had
sixteen against the Patriots back in twenty twenty. Dodson became
the seventh Dolphins player since tackles have been tracked in
nineteen ninety four to record fifteen plus in a single game.
His fifteen tackles were a career high and the most
he has had since he recorded thirteen against the Browns

(23:55):
in twenty twenty two. And he's got one hundred and
three tackles this season, fifty six solo, adding to his
career high and marking the first time he has reached
one hundred tackles in a season in his career, and
he seems to be adding some value to that defense.
Dosney Lee in terms of his contributions, having been picked
up from Seattle, he came from he was because he

(24:20):
played against the Dolphins earlier in the season, didn't he?

Speaker 1 (24:22):
He did? And yeah, I mean he was everywhere. It
wasn't he Sunday night, was all over the field, kept
hearing his name pop up. Obviously, got rewarded with the interception,
which was a great, great pick as well. And I'm
sure you heard it from the coaches after taking his
helmet off afterwards, But I can't say that I wouldn't
do exactly the same thing in that situation.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yeah, And I just want to also mention a couple
of stats on Tyre Kill. He recorded his third game
with one hundred receiving yards. As we said, catching nine
for nine. He became the forty third player in NFL
history to reach the eleventh and receiving yard mark, and
just the seventh to accomplish the feat within their first

(25:05):
nine seasons in the NFL. So good performance, good career obviously,
So far from Tyrek Hill. Since entering the league, only
the only DeVante Adams has more such games in terms
of one hundred yards receiving in a game. It was
his eighteenth touch game since joining the Dolphins in twenty
twenty two, and only Minnesota wide receiver Justin Jefferson with

(25:28):
twenty has more during that span. And finally, heals eighteen
games with Miami with one hundred plus receiving yards. He's
the third most in franchised history, behind Mark Clayton with
twenty two and Mark Cooper with twenty eight. So he
has the possibility of at least catching Mark Clayton in

(25:51):
the foreseeable future heading into next season. So there are
some good Vinn's facts for you this week, okay, And
that brings us to halftime of the show. As always,

(26:12):
we are going to continue with the second half and
our trivia Lee, So we had one question last week.
I'll just go through that again for the benefit of listeners.
Who was the last non wide receiver to lead the
Dolphins in receptions in a season? The choices were A.
Randy McMichael, B Terry Kirby, C Charles Clay and D
Jim Kick And the answer.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Was Lee, Randy McMichael.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
It was yeah, the answer to our trivia question two
weeks in a row. Now, did you want to set
the new one for this week?

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Then? For the listeners, absolutely, who was the first member
of the Minami Dolphins to be elected to the Hall
of Fame? And we have four options again with A
being Larry Zonka, B being Jim Langer, see Brian Greasy
and dbing Port.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
Warfield all awesome players in their own right. I wouldn't
have got the answer to this question obviously. We know
they're in the Hall of Fame, but in what order
they went in. I wouldn't have been able to pick
that one out at all.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
I wouldn't have known. If I'm being honest, I might
take it that's not who I would have guessed. I
can see you've putting it off on the document now,
and that's not who I would have guessed.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Well, let us know if anyone does know who the
first member of the Who Dolphins to be elected into
the Hall of Fame was, let us know. Right on
to our weekly pick them League. As we approached the
culmination of the season with one week to go, it's
getting tight at the top. But firstly, how's the bottom
of the table looking?

Speaker 1 (27:49):
The bottom of the table is looking so? Aree just
bringing up my results from the weekend because in twenty
fifth position at the moment we had bluie Co with
one hundred and thirty nine points. Then I am in
twenty fourth place with one hundred and fifty four points,
Miami five one with one hundred and sixty two points.

(28:12):
Paul's five to one six is in tied for twenty
first place with one hundred and sixty five with the
only beaver. Beaver also tied with one hundred and sixty
five points.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Unfortunately, the only beaver is Stephen Robertson, who forgot to
make his selections this week, so he plummeted right down
the table from being relatively near the top of the
table last week to now down the bottom. And that's
just shows you how tight the table is at the moment.
So unlucky Stephen.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Absolutely, I took a bunch of chances. I have forgot
my line up, so I missed one one game because
usually I do it during the show, ironically, so I
don't forget. It's the kind of routine that I've got
into for some reason. Last week was a the weird
recording schedule, we I just didn't do it. But then
I decided I was going to try and take some

(29:05):
chances to see what would happen, because I was a
few points above the person below me and a few
points away from the one of the times, I might
as well frozen stuff at the wall and see and
see what happens.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, I took a one or two chances, and I
picked the Steelers to beat the Chiefs given that they
were at home, but obviously got that one wrong. So yeah,
I didn't have as good a week as what it
could have been. But how's the top looking now?

Speaker 1 (29:33):
So at the top, it's still extremely close at the
top with one week to go, but Peter W ninety
nine is in fifth place with one hundred and seventy
seven points. Danny is in fourth place with one hundred
and eighty points. Only just behind you is dead one

(29:54):
hundred and eighty four points. That's got to be close
next week. Yeah, I'm rooting for Danny. I'm just saying.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
Fair Robots seventy nine is the second place of one
hundred and ninety one points and seventy two equals Perfection
is just one point ahead with one week to play,
so one hundred and ninety two points.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Taking the lead, hasn't He's been Ray at the top
for most of the season and now Keith has exceeded
him by a point. So it's going to go down
to the wire, isn't it. Are they going to play
safe or are they going to go for a few
risks to try?

Speaker 1 (30:28):
And who cost them at the weekend? That's the question?
Who costs Robots? Oh? I can't see.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
So Keith got fourteen correct answers, Ray got thirteen and
he didn't get the Giants to beat the Colts, and
he didn't get the Raiders to beat the Saints, and
he also predicted the Browns to be the Dolphins. Ray,

(31:04):
have some faith in your team mate.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
The Dolphins are currently cost you top spot in the
pig of league. This is this is.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
Bad, right, So talking of playoff pictures, Lee, we move on.
It's a lot lot clearer now, isn't it in terms
of what the Dolphins need to do and all the
different permutations. Because Indianapolis have been eliminated as a result
of their surprising defeat to the New York Giants.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
We know the.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Chargers have clinched already, so they're kind of a non
factor as far as the Dolphins are now concerned. So
now boils down to the Broncos, ourselves, the Dolphins, and
the Bengals who are fighting for that last remaining spot
as it stands right now. Last week we had an
eight percent chance of winning, and we did say, Lee,
if all the results fell our way this weekend, and

(31:51):
they did pretty much, with the exception of maybe the
Steelers not beating the Chiefs because we would have wanted
the Chiefs to win. To have to win this week,
all the other results went our way, and our probability
of getting the playoffs has now jumped by twenty percent
and it stands out twenty eight percent compared to fifty
five percent for the Broncos and seventeen percent for the Bengals.

(32:15):
And the permutation is very simple, isn't it. We need
to beat the Jets and the Broncos need to lose
at home to the Chiefs in order for the Dolphins
to get into the playoffs. So we're going to I
think we should talk about that, lee, shouldn't we? In
terms of that Denver game against the Chiefs, And obviously
there are some pending questions. Are the Chiefs going to
play their starters? What does Denver's recent record versus the

(32:40):
Chiefs look like at home? And obviously we've got to
control what we can control first in terms of making
sure we get that win. But what about that Broncos
game against the Chiefs. League, you did a bit of analysis,
I know, around the Broncos performance, the Broncos opponents this
year and who they've won and who they've lost. To

(33:00):
want to share that with the listeners because it was
it was fairly interesting, wasn't it when you look at
their the bigger picture in terms of who they've managed
to be.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
I would absolutely love to read that own to you.
I do have it here, but yeah, I was kind
of interested because watching the national media and even watching
sky Sports over here, is kind of assumed that the
Denver are the ascending team based on the teams that

(33:34):
were trying to get in and in that group, I'm
going to put us in there, Denver, Cincinnati, Indianapolis. The
Denver were kind of the team that are on the
up and up. But I thought to myself, I'll go
and have a look at the results because the performances
seem to have been good, but who have they really beaten?

(33:55):
And I'm not going to the judge either way. Here.
You can give me your thoughts on it, but I
think the listeners can you know, are going to kind
of gauge their own thoughts on whether you think they've
they've beaten teams that are good or bad. So the
teams they've beaten this season are Tampa, the Raiders twice,

(34:16):
New Orleans, Carolina, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and the New York Jets.
And they've lost to Seattle, Pittsburgh, the Chargers twice, Baltimore,
Kansas City, and Cincinnati. So they they to me, look

(34:37):
very much like what the Dolphins were accused of last year,
which was winning the winnable games and getting beaten the
ones that were tough. And obviously there's more context that
needs needs to put into this, because I think the
game against the against Kansas City I think was sixteen fourteen.
It was a close game, but you know, as we

(35:00):
keep we've said so many times over the years, it's
still equals one in the lost colum people love to
tell us there's no such thing as moral victory as well,
so will find out won't it this week because they're
going to get the Kansas City Chiefs with a chance
to play, probably not their starting lineup. I think the
Chiefs have already come out and said, so, you know,

(35:20):
there's going to be a number of players who sit
this game out. But you know, there's some interesting permutations there,
and we'll get into those in a minute. But you know,
I'm looking at the games that they've won and I think,
you know, I watched the game week three against Tampa
Bay and they demolished Tampa Bay on the road, and
they just look superior in every way.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
But that's the playoff team, isn't it? Or with that
with a winning record, because yeah, like you're looking at
that list and it's not that impressive, is it.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
That's what I mean. So they beat Cleveland, We beat Cleveland.
They beat the Jets. We beat the Jets, They beat
the Colts. That was one of those games that you know,
we played with a backup quarterback where they beat a
team that we didn't beat. So let's put in there.
They beat the Raiders twice, We beat the Raiders. They
I don't know if that constitutes a great schedule or

(36:22):
if they've won games at the right time, because they've
also come up against the right opponents. So I think,
you know, obviously, and we know we're going to talk
about this in a second, but obviously a lot's going
to depend on Kansas City as much as it is
going to be about Denver.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
You look at also, they've beaten every team in the
NFC South, which arguably is the worst division in the NFL.
That's the Saints, the Panthers, the Falcons, and the Buccaneers.
The beating all of those teams, but that's not exactly hard,
is it. If you think about the quality of that
division overall, and what seems more significant potentially is if

(36:59):
we want to focus on the losses league around the teams,
and I'll let you give those in a second, that
seems to be more significant in terms of a barometer
as to where this team truly is.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yes, I mean they lost the Seattle, Pittsburgh, the Chargers twice, Baltimore,
Kansas City, and Cincinnati. That's all the better teams on
that schedule, with the exception of tamber who are currently
leading their division. But again, like you say, that is
they probably fall in that middle ground. Do you know
what I mean? They're winning a division almost not by

(37:32):
the fault, but it's not the best division of football.
I wouldn't say they've played their best football throughout the season.
But they played them Week three, and if I remember rightly,
Denver were row and two. The Bucks are two and zero,
and it looked like a team that thought they were
going to play a home game and steam rolling oh
and two team with a rookie quarterback, and it just

(37:53):
didn't happen. And they were Denver got going fast and
just outplayed them. But it was one of those early
season results and you know, again, can't take anything away,
but that's the best result on schedule. I think that's
the best win. All the losses come against teams like that.

(38:14):
But what do you think since Kansas City are going
to do on Sunday with their players? Because there's a
few ways to look at it, isn't there? Yeah? There is.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
I mean it's the end of a long, hard season.
Players need that recovery time, don't they. Because everybody's beaten
up at this stage. They need to maximize the opportunity
to recharge and rest. Having said that, though, you look
at the other argument to say, if they don't play
this week because they're rested, they're not going to play

(38:46):
the following week because they get the bye and they
play their first playoff game the week after, So they're
going to have literally a three for any starter that
doesn't play this week. They can have a three week break,
aren't they from in between the last game and their
next game, which is a huge amount of time to

(39:06):
not take the field in the NFL, and you're going
to be playing against the team in their first playoff
game who would have won the previous week so would
have got a bit of momentum and so it's finding
that balance, isn't it, between keeping that momentum and getting
some rest and recuperation. And that's where the coaches coming

(39:30):
to play, isn't it. They've got to decide what's best
for their team. Look at who are the players that
with the most significant injuries that need the most rest.
Perhaps the more beat up players or the older veteran
players would perhaps need more of a rest. Or even
the rookies, have they hit that rookie wall? Do they
need a rest even though their bodies are perhaps younger

(39:53):
and are quicker to heal. So it's a tricky one
to fathom out, isn't it. In terms of one thing?
We do know though, they can't rest all of their
starters because they're not going to have enough players or
enough depth to take the field on offense and defense
and special teams. So it's a case of prioritizing, isn't it,
which ones?

Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, it's so difficult, isn't it. And obviously we also
have to take into account our fan bias. We're looking
for which to Kansas City to win this game because
it impacts our team. But I think there's rumors that
even they may even go as deep as QB three

(40:35):
on their roster. I think, ideally, do you want to
descending Broncos team in the playoffs. This is why the
NFL also puts these matchups in the last week and season. Hey, look,
the Jets have a chance to stop us having any
chance of getting into the playoffs. And we'll also get
onto that in a minute. But also Kansas City have

(40:59):
a chance to stop a division rival getting into the playoffs.
It's still a big matchup. There's still gonna be players
that are playing for more time, who want more playing time.
Carson Wentz if he's expected to at least start the game.
He was an MVP front runner on a Super Bowl

(41:23):
winning team. It's not like they're putting in an undrafted
player as a backup or a serial back up. This
is a guy who has won, and you could argue
he's going to be playing, you know, under one of
the best coaches in all of football. So if there's
anyone that's going to find a way to win with

(41:44):
some backup players in, there's probably Andy Reid going to
be at home. I know it's funny because you feel
like Denver in the driving seat, don't you, Because they
have the position right now. If all the teams lose,
they still go to the playoff. So let's say everybody loses,
say everybody the three teams they want to lose, US, Cincinnati,

(42:06):
and Denver all lose, they still go to the playoffs.
So they're kind of in the driving seat. But really
the pressure is on them because they're also playing the
best opponent this week.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
So it's on that note. The Broncos have only been
the Chiefs once in their last nine meetings, which stretched
back stretches back ten years, and their only victory at
home against the Chiefs was last season when they won
twenty four to nine, fairly early on in the season
as well, from what I can recall, So the Broncos

(42:38):
traditionally don't play well against the Chiefs at home.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
So it's an interesting statistic, isn't it. It's an interesting
way of looking at it. And we know last week
when we were looking at the Colts, it was mentioned
that the Colts needed to win three games in the
row and it was something they hadn't done all year,
and that held true. So yeah, I don't know, there's
a lot of a lot of permutations. I don't think

(43:03):
it's impossible that Denver do lose. Yeah, is it? Which
would you rather have Kansas City been playing for the
number one seed? Yeah? Of course, they mean you're going
to get Kansas City at their absolute best. But I
don't think they'll be throwing this game in either. I
don't think they want to go into the playoffs off
the back of a loss. They want to go three
weeks without some of these guys playing. Will he get

(43:24):
treated more like a preseason game in regards to some
of the starters, maybe even playing a little bit and
being pulled out. There's so many different ways to approach it,
so until we see it, just have to have our
fingers crossed and hope for Kansasy to pour out for us.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
Yeah, a lot depends on the quarterback play as well,
because yeah, we don't know whether Mahomes is going to play,
as discussed, but also Bo Nicks, who's in his rookie
year and arguably is one of being one of the
better offensive rookies in the year and probably we'll be
in consideration for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Now, he
hasn't faced this situation before. Will he handle the pressure?

(44:04):
How will he cope with having a lot on the line,
putting a lot of responsibility on his shoulders because it's
almost to do or die for them. But he's also
playing against the top quality team, and he, as we
alluded to earlier, he doesn't hasn't played well against top
quality teams. Just to confirm, his losses this season have
come against playoff caliber teams, with exception of the Seahawks,

(44:27):
who until last week were in playoff contention, but they
still have the same number of wins as the Broncos
with nine, so it's not going to be easy for him.
Probably the one advantage is the home field, given the
fact that he's in a familiar environment. But this is
almost like a fifty to fifty game, isn't it ly

(44:48):
a touss of a coin type thing, and it could
boil down to something like whoever gets the rub of
the green on the day, whichever way the ball bounces
a lucky deflection for a pick. Something very simple as
that could be the determining factor on this game, couldn't it.
I mean, let's just face it, if the Chiefs played
their starters for the whole game, you'd like to think

(45:08):
they were good enough to win. Given the fact that
they're fourteen and one or fifteen and one, whatever their
record is, and they should be beating teams like the
Broncos were easier to thought. But it's not going to
be the case.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Is it.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
They're almost going to have Prince Harriet quarterback or aka events.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it interesting? You've got everything crossed,
But like you said, the only thing that really matters
is taking care of business from the Dolphins point of view,
and then let the chips fall where they may. You've
got yourself into a position where you're playing a meaningful
football game in Week eighteen. I don't know how many

(45:47):
of the fan base thought that was possible four or
five weeks ago. So look, you've done everything you needed
to so far managed to get win Sunday. Do it again.
Just get away and put ourselves in a position and
hope for the best. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
I think it's And we'll talk about the Jets game
in a moment, but it's almost like they've gone from
two and six tour and then they've gone the next
eight games have gone six and two the Dolphins, so
they in the whole scheme of things, they couldn't really
have asked for much more, and we'll obviously cover that
in more depth in our season review episode whenever that
may be. But at least to like, say, to put

(46:26):
themselves in a position in week eighteen to still have
a chance in getting in the playoffs. We'd have taken
that after eight games earlier in the season, wouldn't we?

Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yeah, exactly, and I would have taken it. You know.
A few weeks ago I mentioned to a friend of
ours the night two have got hurt against Buffalo, if
he was to go on ir the wild card is
then becomes the goal, I think, because we know there
is a gap in class between two and a lot

(46:56):
of other quarterbacks, and then you know, you put a
backup quarterback and there's obviously going to be a drop
off in performance. So I thought this was the goal.
I think we can you know, it's have to consider
it successful if we get to that stage. But as
that being said, should we get onto the most important

(47:20):
part of this whole equation, and that's our Miami Dolphins
heading up to New York to take on the Jets
on Sunday with a potential playoff playoff birth on the line.
The Jets are four and twelve, They're currently third in
the division. They ranked twenty fourth on offense, the first rushing,

(47:41):
seventeenth passing. Defensively, they ranked sixth, fifteenth against the run,
and fifth against the path. So an interesting matchup a
team that we've already seen this season. So obviously Sundays,
which you say must win so many times, but is

(48:03):
obviously a must win game. It'll be straightforward, right, tell
me to be straightforward.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Yeah, it should be, But a lot depends on who
is quarterbacking this team with t A leading and what's
at stake. You know, I'd expect the Dolphins to step
up and win, but we don't yet know that. If
he's going to play, if it's Snoop that plays, then
I think we can expect the same kind of game
as what we saw against the Browns. Similar to the Browns,
the Jets are a good defensive team, but little to

(48:34):
play for in terms of the overall picture. From the outside,
the Jets themselves look to have checked out. They lack discipline,
having been the most penalized team in the NFL in
Week seventeen, with sixteen flags for one hundred and twenty yards,
including a four to four unnecessary roughness. Their quarterback took

(48:55):
himself out of the game against the Bills. Their star
cornerback has been on social media telling people he wouldn't
make recommendations to other players to join the team, and
there are rumors the star wide receiver wants a trade.
So they have the hallmarks of a team needing a
complete reset with the season about to end. However, they

(49:16):
do have the ability to play spoiler and keep one
of their main division foes out of the playoffs, and
I think you mentioned that earlier, of course, Plus who
knows whether it will be a farewell for Aaron Rodgers.
I don't think it's unreasonable to think he might retire
at the end of the season, so he's going to
want to go out with a good performance, and he
showed us the other week he likes playing well against Miami,

(49:38):
so I don't think it will be straightforward, unfortunately. But
I just think the Dolphins need to focus on themselves,
and we've said it before, control the controllables, and worry
about everything else after.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
So if tour can't go Sunday, can Tyler Huntley lead
the team to a second consecutive win. We spoke glowingly
about his performance last week and how much he'd improved.
What do you think heading into Sunday?

Speaker 2 (50:05):
I think we need to be clear at the moment,
at the time of recording, we don't yet know the
status of tour and his availability to play. Mike McDaniel
did come out in his presser the other day and
highlighted that Tyler Hunty will take more of the snaps
in practice this week and there is going to be
a bit of doubt over to his availability. But assuming

(50:26):
Snoop does play, though, and had you asked me this
question several weeks back, I wouldn't have answered this with
any great deal of confidence. But thankfully we've now seen
him play a good game for sixty minutes without making
any mistakes and against a good defense too, So he
just needs to do more of the same again for
another sixty minutes. But because of the aforementioned factors that

(50:49):
favor a good performance by the Jets, I think he'll
find it harder this time to duplicate that performance. Don't forget,
of course, that the Jets have tape on him playing
well now, albeit a small sample size, which is something
the Browns didn't have, nor did they have any time
to prepare for snoop to play, as Tour was ruled
out relatively late in the week, the Jets won't have

(51:13):
that element of surprise, as they must surely gain plan
defensively for both quarterbacks as if they're going to play.
So this is going to be a really difficult test
for Hunting, but only time will tell whether he passes
it or not.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
Do you think it's almost a competitive advantage to not
let on who will be the starting quarterback? I know,
obviously you have to put out the injury report and
you have to be obviously sincere, but you know it
tell the truth on that. I'm not saying, you know,
doing anything the farious, But at the same time, as
difficult as it was for the Browns to prepare for

(51:49):
Tyler Hunting, you know with two are only receiving that
doubtful designation on the Saturday, It is the kind of
inverse true of the New York Jets. Or does it
not matter as much because they've faced two once a
year already and.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
They know to her really well anyway, So I don't
think they need to concern themselves too much with looking
and analyzing the Dolphins' game plan if he does play,
because they're familiar with that already. I think, however, they'd
be silly to not account for every scenario possible that

(52:21):
I mean, that's what coaches do, isn't it. They play,
they know there's a doubt now over to her. They
have to game plan for both. But to answer your question,
I think the kind of is a slight competitive advantage
for not disclosing your hand, and they kept it relatively
under wraps towards the bat until the back end of
last week when it became apparent Tour was not going

(52:41):
to play, and then I think the Dolphins do well
to keep the options open at this stage and not
rule to it in or out until they have more
information and get a better sense of how his health
and how his hip is looking later in the week.
So it's a competitive advantage they can maximize without breaking
rules anyway, So I think they'd be silly to not

(53:03):
utilize that option.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
Absolutely. So with that being said, I'm going to ask
you first because I want to know what is the
path to victory. Tell me how we're going to win,
and make sure that this result comes down to Kansas
City and not down to the Miami Dolphins this week.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
I think they just need to play the game and
not the occasion. I mean, the Dolphins are more than
capable of winning, but to do so, they can't afford
to make any glaring mistakes. Keep the discipline, execute well,
play to their strength, and don't underestimate the opposition.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
Do all of that.

Speaker 2 (53:39):
That's all we can ask for, and the performance should
take care of itself. I think we also need, though,
to look at who is going to play quarterback for
the Jets. I mentioned earlier that it could be the
final hurrah for Amon Rogers, could be we don't know.
We don't know whether he's playing on we don't know
whether he's coming back to the Jets, but the Jets
have already said he'll be the starter for this game.

(54:00):
But he didn't complete the game against the Bills, and
as I said earlier, he took himself out early, even
though yeah, I know the game was effectively over, but nevertheless,
he did take himself out of the game. If the
same thing happens again, or he gets pulled due to
the quality of of his play, for example, I'd be
far more worried about Tyrod Taylor. If I'm honest, and

(54:23):
I know you feel kind of roughly the same, don't you.
He's played well against the Dolphins in the past, and
he has the skill set they tend to struggle against
being the mobile quarterback that he is, so something to
keep an eye on there. Overall, though, I think the
Dolphins are a better team than the Jets. I don't
think there is any doubt about that. And this is
the type of game. This is why the Dolphins signed

(54:46):
players like Kalais Campbell, Jordan Poyer, Jordan Brooks, players that
have the experience to guide the team through what is
effectively a playoff type game. If they can do it
one more time, they can win for sure.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Absolutely, And like my part to victory is not dissimilar.
I think you need to learn though from the game
against the Jets earlier in the season that Aaron Rodgers
had probably his best performance of the year, and that
happened against the Dolphins in Miami, So we need to
learn from that. If he's going to start, we need
to not let them get a rhythm, and we need
to start this game and make it turn into another

(55:24):
one of those Sundays for the Jets. And the way
this season has gone for them, we know there's been
some miserable ones. I'm front with the Jets fan and
he's been going through it this year to say the least.
But we need to make sure it's another one of
those weekends where it's, oh no, here we go again,
especially against a division rival. I mean Tours record. He's

(55:45):
never lost to the Jets, so if Tour was to play,
you wanted to keep that record and continue. But there
ways to go and win this game. Just don't let
this come down to Aaron Rodgers doing what he did
in Miami, which is hitting Garrett Wilson, hitting Davonte Adams,
because you know they're going to be looking to play

(56:09):
spoiler because they're not high enough for the loss to
really impact the draft for them in regards to being
in in play for the top draft picks. So their
best opportunity Sunday for a good day is to just
play spoiler. And we've been that team in the past.
We know what it's like to play again. It's kind

(56:30):
of almost meaningless for you and then go and just
spoil somebody else's season. So we need to make sure
that doesn't happen. And it's going to come down to
a good game plan and clean execution.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
So what's the weather going to be like in New
York this Weekendly, I'm kind of been watching with interest
on social media because we've got a trip book to
New York ourselves as a family next July, in the
middle of summer. So I've been looking at these Facebook
groups to pick up some hints and tips of New
York and people that are there at the moment of
shared pictures. And it looks cold and snowy as well.

(57:07):
And now I don't think there's going to be any
snow for the game. But what's the weather forecast like
for the New York area this week?

Speaker 1 (57:16):
Old enough, zero degrees where it's going to feel like
minus five with light breezes, but dry, And I think
the dry is important when it comes to jam and Warder.
We heard coach McDaniel in his press conference yesterday mentioned
that one of the biggest factors for him not playing
on Sunday was his chance of reaggravating it on a
wet surface in Cleveland. So you know, you'd hope that

(57:42):
would that he can continue to trend in the right direction,
but hopefully that you know, the weather doesn't impact his
ability to return.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
And I do wonder whether that's going to be a
factor for somebody like Tour as well. I'm not, obviously
just purely speculating here, but the turf at MetLife Stadium,
he's not the greatest surface to play on. We've seen
players over the years get season ending year injuries. Obviously
happened to Jay and Phillips a couple of seasons ago.
It happened to Raining Moster when he was at the

(58:10):
forty nine ers suffered a serious knee injury. So we
know that he is not the best surface to play on,
and particularly in the cold winter as well, it's going
to be hard. And if all it takes is one
awkward fall on a onto a already weakened area of
the body, and that's just going to play havoc with

(58:34):
the ability to complete a game. So I'm not saying
it will be a factor in determining who who does
or who doesn't play, but it has to be a
factor in the overall consideration of how a player may
perform on that particular surface.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
Yeah, I mean, it's obviously a huge a huge week.
Can I expect ninety percent of the questions Mike McDaniel
gets in any any sort of availability between now and
game to be about tour because we know what a
lightning rod he is anyway for the earlier but when
it's just starting quarterback in a must wing game, you're
going to fiel those questions, so.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
You might as well be prepared to answer them.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Yeah, So we're going to be watching it on game Pass,
I guess for twenty five Eastern time kickoff, which is
nine to twenty five in the UK. Can we see
it elsewhere?

Speaker 1 (59:27):
Lee?

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Are we able to see it on Sky off? Have
they not determined the Sky games yet? Because the schedule's
only just been released by the NFL, So.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
With the schedule being released late, I haven't actually seen
the games for Sky. I'm just double checking now because
obviously there's games on the Saturday night as well. So
we've got the AFC North playing each other on the
Saturday night with the nine to thirty kickoff UK time
and being the Browns going to the Ravens, and then

(59:56):
the one am game being the Bengals traveling to the Steelers.
Of your the huge implications there because you've got the
Ravens and Steelers at ten and eleven wins each, and
then the Bengals obviously trying to get in, so they
need a win and then to wait the twenty four
hours for everybody else to play, So it's an interesting one.

(01:00:16):
The Dolphins play in the nine in the nine to
twenty five slate of games, and just for reference, the
nine to twenty five games are San Francisco at Arizona,
two teams both eliminated from contention. The fifteen to one
Chiefs playing the Broncos obviously could be the game that's on,

(01:00:40):
even though Kansas City is expected to play their backups. Obviously,
Denver team there that need to win, Seahawks going to
the Rams, the Chargers playing against the Raiders, and then
the Dolphins against the Jets. It's I don't know, no, like.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
You, I think it's it's to be the Dolphins at
the Jets, or it's going to be the Chiefs that
the Broncos, Isn't it you would have thought because they're
the two games that have got playoff spots on the line.
The rest of them don't, So it's going to be
one or the other, isn't it?

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
For sure? I think I think it would be Chief
Broncos if I'm being honest, because I think they'll take
the fifteen to one Chiefs against the nine to seven
Broncos over the eight and eight Dolphins in the four
and twelve Jets, just because they still rely on the
other results, so you might as well have the result,
Like the Broncos can still lose that game and get
into the playoffs, so they'll still be talking points all

(01:01:34):
the way through that game. So that would be my
bet if I had to have money on it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
But what Sky should do is start with the Chiefs
that the Broncos. If the Broncos win, then great for
Sky because they're going to see a playoff team clinch
as part of their coverage. If the Chiefs start to
pull away and it looks like the Broncos are going
to lose, then obviously all attention is going to then

(01:01:59):
be on the Dolphins game against the Jets, and the
Dolphins snatched that playoff spot from the Broncos. I wouldn't
be surprised if Sky switched their coverage to the Dolphins
to catch the end of the Dolphins in the Jets game,
just to see how that pans out.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
Absolutely, it's tough evening, isn't it. And I think there
were a lot of people a lot of eyes on
Red Zone as well over here trying to keep track
of both games going on at the same time. I
think I might two screen it at home, have both
games going on at the same time. I mean I
did for my sins. I did sit and watch the

(01:02:38):
Giants and the Colts at the weekend, and it was
actually better than I thought it was. I thought it
was going to be, but I was concerned in the
first half, thinking what am I doing here? I could
have picked any game on the slate today, but this
is the one. But that's the one had impact on
our Dolphins. So that was the game I watched.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
I caught the end of that game as well, and
that was pleasantly surprised by former Broncos quarterback Drew Locke.

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
Of course, I gotta be honest. I like Drew Locke
coming out of college. I liked his college tape. It
just felt like he's the sort of guy that needed
the right coach to nurture him along. I don't think
he's ever really got that, but I think that that
kind of performance has always been in there, and I
don't think he did think particularly wild. I think there's

(01:03:22):
as much the Colts, maybe losing that game as it was,
but he was able to take advantage of all the
opportunities given to him.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
So right, a couple of things just before we bring
the episode to a close, Lely, I just want to
give an acknowledgment to Ian Berger aka Big, who's not
very well at the minute, and he is not the
best of health, so we wish him well and hope
he gets better soon. And also Andy Davis, friend of
the show, who appeared earlier on this season. He got

(01:03:51):
bought a trip to New York by his girlfriend for
his birthday, which I believe is coming up, and he's
going to matt Live to see the Dolphins play. Now
why am I mentioning this, Lee, You're probably wondering, because
we wish Andy a good trip and hopefully has a
great time. He is winless seeing the Dolphins play, Lee,
So if you believe in omens, it means and Andy's

(01:04:12):
now going, it means that the Dolphins are not going
to win. However, he has to break that duck sometime,
and there is no time like the present.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
As they say, absolutely, this is the time to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Andy, right, do you want to take us home?

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
Then? Lee, that's it. That's the last podcast of twenty
twenty four. It's been a fun year, it's been exciting,
always been a pleasure doing it with you. Simon. Likewise,
hopefully next week we are back to talk about playoff football.
But either way, we will be back next week and
we will be talking about the Dolphins game against the New

(01:04:48):
York Giants. We'll be bringing you anything else that happens
during the week. Don't forget to check out us on
all the social media platforms at Dolphin UK podcast, the
Dolphins social media channels for the presses and the latest news.
I think there'll be a lot of people doing that
this week. I will certainly be doing it the YouTube

(01:05:09):
channel for all of their content there, which I love,
I must say I like. I even like going back
and watch some of the old content, even like the
stuff on how the team travel and stuff like that.
Always find out interesting. Travis and his daily drivetime podcast
and the guys over at the Fish Tank who are
always producing great content. But until next week, have a

(01:05:30):
good new year and we will see you