November 20, 2025 • 39 mins
Travis is joined by the Miami Dolphins 2025 Salute to Service nominee, Tom Wilson. Tom served with the Marine Corps and Fire Crash Rescue team for four years before a brilliant career that has led to his position as the Head Groundskeeper at Hard Rock Stadium. Before we get to Tom, Travis dives into the first half of the season - what worked, what can be better and everything in between. Plus, picking the Week 12 games and previewing the final six games on the Dolphins schedule.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Drive Time with Travis wing Field.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield, And on today's show,
a bit of a mixed bag.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We're going full bye week here.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
We're gonna take a couple of days off, maybe get
out on the golf course a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I don't know, we shall see.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I don't know if we'll have enough time, but we're
gonna do some self scouting on the show today, looking
at what worked the identity of the Dolphins have developed.
I can never say that word identity the Dolphins have developed.
We'll take a look at where they can get better.
We'll look ahead of the remaining schedule as we go
around the NFL and pick the week twelve games. And
Tom Wilson, our Salute to Service nominee, joins me on
the show from the Baptist Hill Studios inside the Baptist
(00:45):
Hill Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast. Here
we are at the bye week.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Little inside baseball for you.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
From a content perspective, there is no better bye week
than Week twelve. I was fired up when I learned
that back in May when the schedule came out. You're
on the heels of Thanksgiving week. It's the perfect opportunity
to get ahead of the week thirteen content to enjoy Thanksgiving.
We don't have any media availabilities on Thanksgiving. The entire
building kind of takes a step back on that day,
(01:14):
at least unless you're a coach and they're grinding tape
all day. But it's just a nice ability to kind
of give yourself two weeks to get ready for one week.
All of that, but also by far the most important element.
I feel like the bye week comes at a pretty
great time for your Miami Dolphins. You're probably gonna hear
me bemoan the first half of the season with any
one of three games a few times over the next
(01:35):
month as I continue to anticipate a nice little run
here for the Miami Dolphins to get back in the
mix that damn Patriots, Panthers and Chargers games. Right, Like,
there's one single play in all three of those games
you can point to and say, if it goes the
other way, Miami is right now four or five and six.
Right if they were five and six, I would feel
so confident about going to the playoffs a last we
(01:56):
are not.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
But I digress.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And the reason I think it's a great spot for
the by week is multi layered. First, we're getting healthy,
and one nice part about this season, which hey give
me this back in twenty two and twenty three, is
the injuries have kind of short up right, And I
think that's kind of indicative of how they built the
team this year with younger players and guys that don't
have as much of an injury history across their resume.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
It's affords you continuity.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Across the offensive line, We've had the same starters go
from start to finish in each of the last seven games,
sans a couple of blowouts. They pulled guys late in games,
but that's unheard of under this current era of Dolphins football.
And we've talked about the Buffalo Bills, who for three
years now, I've had pretty much like one misstart across
(02:41):
five offensive linemen for the last like fifty football games.
Miamis starting to get some of that, and the same
is true on the defensive line. Steelers and iron Man,
the only time he misses games is when he gets
his face broken in practice. Jordan Phillips looks that way
to me. Kenneth Grant trained that way. Jordan Brooks is
that type of player as well. There's an indestructible nature
to a few of these guys as games, and I
think you can count on that. I think you can
(03:03):
put that on these guys's scotting report when you do
exit interviews, like we can count on this guy to
play fifteen, sixteen, seventeen games a year for us. But
beyond that, Austin Jackson just had his practice window opened up.
It seems quite likely he'll be back in a position
to play in the game against the Saints. James Daniels
is eligible to return. I don't know what that looks
like for him, nor do I for Darren Waller, but
(03:24):
all those guys are eligible to come back, and just
think about who that would be and what that would
mean to this offense. That's the starting right side of
the offensive line. And I think Laria Borum has played fine.
I talked about it on the show on Tuesday. I
think he's earned at least the right to be your
swing tackle in twenty twenty six. If not, you know,
maybe counted on for more than that.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I just I think he's played in a way that's
far more valuable than what the fan base might have
told you going into the season. And then with James
Daniels at the right guard position, we haven't even seen
what that looks like because it was three snaps and
done to this point of the season. But you get
both those guys back and they returned to like their
previous resume form. That's two upgrades on the offensive line
(04:04):
and a tied end man. You want to talk about
dropping a finishing ingredient kind of that, like drop the
pinch of salt into the boiling pot on the meal.
Here the way we've evolved the offense and what Waller
could potentially do to further the point. It's the first
chance the staff will have to self scout since I
guess since the gap between the end of camp and
the start of the regular season, and if you consider
(04:26):
the offense really taking its current shape around like week
five when we lost Tyreek Hill and reimagine what the
offense would be, then we are technically seven weeks into that.
That's a lot of tape for them to look at
and assess where they can tinker, where they can add wrinkles,
and how they can use what they've already put on tape.
To develop more change ups to the fastball that you've developed,
(04:46):
and that takes us into the segment idea here that
kind of got this whole thing started.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Who are we? Eleven weeks in?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
You know, that's how Severance starts, right, The first line
in Severance is who are you?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Who are we?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I think you've seen this team take on a pretty
different shape from what it was last year on both
sides of the football. And I say last year because
I think you saw elements of it early in the
season where it was a lot of similarities from twenty
four to twenty five. And one of the biggest reasons
that I've been picking against the Dolphins for a lot
of the chunk of this season was because I didn't
think it would change, and it has for the better.
(05:20):
So it's it's been a season of evolution of transformation.
Right the Walter White reference Episode one, Breaking Bad, he
talks about the transformation and chemistry and it becomes like
the entire backdrop for the show. How much can we
transform this character from good to evil? And just looking
at the chart that tracks offensive personnel usage, eleven personnel
began the year around sixty five percent of our snaps
(05:43):
and has decreased down to under twenty five percent just
last week. In its place has been a massive increase
in the other air quote other personnel groupings, and that
is essentially heavy stuff. A sixth offensive lineman which the
Dolphins didn't run a single time before this season, and
when I talk about it going into the Falcons game,
they unfurled it and there it was, and here it
is to stay. Daniel Brunskill has played essentially tight end
(06:06):
for the last four games, and you're three to one
in those four games. And we run that from various groupings,
whether it's two backs, two tight ends to receive whatever
it is they get to those and they've borrowed from
both twenty one personnel, two backs, one tight end and
twelve personnel one back, two tight ends to get that
on the field. So you've seen reductions in those groupings
and huge increases in your extra offensive line packaging. But
(06:29):
it all circles back to the same conclusion. This is
a power offense man. This is a draw some x's
and o's in the sand, run first, attack, downhill, play
off the surge you get in the running game and
create from there. And for the longest time, the run
scheme was about wrinkles, about variation, about getting to your
core concepts, but dressing it up in all these different
presentations and fancy motions and things that can sometimes cause
(06:53):
breakdowns in your own alignment that leads to the negative plays.
But we've seen a lot more traditional line up and
go a type of football, and man the way you
can sequence from that point opposed to sequencing from the
starting point being deception right, Like if you come out
and run a trick play the first play of the game,
(07:15):
I'm not saying these are trick plays. I'm saying like
if you run like a hook and ladder or like
a double reversed pass on the first play of the game,
it doesn't work as well as doing it the twelfth
play of the game, where you have already set that
play up. I think it drastically reduces the need for creativity,
which then breeds more creativity on the backside. Like if
you try to be creative, probably not gonna happen. Like
for me sometimes in this job, if I'm not feeling creative,
(07:37):
it's tough to do the job. Sometimes it strikes at
a random point and you have to get in there
and get to work because creativity is not something you
can force. I think it's the same when it comes
to offensive game planning and designing and play calling. You know,
if I have a good fastball, I don't have to
mess around with my sinker, change up slider, sweeper, you know,
change up combination.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Did I say that already?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Because I can rely upon that good fastball and the
other stuff becomes more effective and I don't have to
go back to that deep arsenal pitches to get you out.
But when you have an insert blocker or a downhill
assignment off the edge, which is a lot of what
Daniel Brunskill has been asked to do, right, And they've
done more of that with Rouchie here and there with
Greg Dolcich. Roochie got a big decrease when Julian Hill
came back, and a lot of that rap motion and
(08:18):
the sift and kickout stuff where you have to come
across the formation and your landmark and your assignment changes.
That's kind of Julian Hill's specialty, right, And they didn't
do that a lot without him in there because it's
a tough assignment to take on. And Julian's developed for
three years into that role. It's a tough role. You've
seen him grow into that, but again, making it the
change up opposed to making it the base of the
(08:38):
offense makes everything more effective.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I think that's the positive change.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I think that, to be totally honest, I think that's
the biggest fingerprint you've seen this team develop in terms
of a true identity. I can't say that word identity identity.
The last handful of years, it's really worked defensively. I
think the shift has been more subtle, but just as effective.
This is still a very, very very zone defense. Over
eighty percent of the calls the last two weeks have
(09:02):
been zone. And we go back to the summer, we've
talking about playing more man coverage, being more physical and rerouting.
At the last scream, it just kind of where the
lore of like storm Duck came into play, Right, he's
a good physical press corner. Well, I think you'd found
out that Juju Brents and Rasul Douglas are really good
at that, and Jason Marshall can do that, and to
some degree, Jack Jones. It's not really his bread and butter,
but he's gotten better at it, and maybe the numbers
(09:24):
don't indicate that desire so much. But I think that
we got to shift somewhere around the Atlanta game where
there were more man presentations with that pressed up coverage,
and you get two man, you can get to quarters.
From there, you can be versatile in your calls. And
we have a breakdown segment coming out on Dolphins HQ
this week, I think tonight. I think this podcast is
going to drop Thursday. So the episode comes out tonight
(09:45):
on YouTube where I get into the coverage disguise, and
I think that with the sim pressure up front is
what this defense is at its core, right, But the
ability to be interchangeable with safeties and corners, Like there's
plays where Trader Melafon, Minka Marshall Jones and Brentsbrel out
there and it's like you don't know who's playing which
(10:06):
of those six positions back there, and you're in a
dime look and it allows you to invert, to disguise
and just to be so multiple that with marked improvement
week over week inside and developing an identity, identity that
to me is replicatable week over week here going forward
and year over year quite frankly going forward into next
season as well.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Now it sucks to lose Juju.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
That's a major setback in my opinion, but getting Raseouol
Douglas back could wash that out in some ways. It
sure seems like we can get right back into that
with Rasul Douglas's skill set. I know again, Jack has
been more of his own guy, but he's dabbled. You're
seeing Jason Marshall get more outside run Minca and the slot,
Iffy and the slot. There's just so much variety and
options here for this defense. So I think we have
(10:48):
a rock solid foundation, a solid id identity on either
side of the football, and those are the things that
have worked. I think when you contemplate where it can
get better, that's self scouting, right, how can we make
ourselves better by both improving our strengths and our weaknesses offensively?
To me, it's in the drop back game, and this
is something pretty much every NFL offense is trying to avoid.
(11:09):
There's a reason defenses work their butts off to get
into third long. There's a reason conversion rates are so
low on third and long. But it is something we
have excelled at in the past. Go back to the
Detroit game in twenty two. We were in third and
long the entire game and two of three for three
hundred and fifty yards. Both Threeak and Wada went for
one to fifty and Wattle had two scores. Like we
used to be really good at that. But if you
(11:29):
get just one or two more of those per game,
it would make I mean, it's like it's like getting
two takeaways because you're not putting the ball back on
that third down, you're getting extra possessions. To me, defensively,
it's finishing in those same situations, whether it's tackling the
quarterback when you have him dead to rights in the pocket,
or you don't tackle him but you prevent the long
run that extends, that moves the chains and extends the drives.
(11:50):
We've gotten into a lot of advantageous situations this year.
Then one the third down rep initially but then falling
off the quarterback lost contained somewhere to make a mistake
and they convert. That extends the drive, which again is
like a giveaway, and that can change a game if
it happens even just once in a game.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I think one thing we.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Could get better at that would help this something we've
been very good at in the past. One of the
true calling cards of the system is excelling in past
rush games. There's a massive rollodex of rush game options
and variations within the system that we saw last year.
Haven't seen as much of it this season. Haven't been
as effective in that arena. But if you can get
back to that, and I think that can really expose
(12:30):
some more Zach Sealer's success. I think this defense can
get back to being better on third downs the rest
of the way offensively, I think it comes down to
playing with more anticipation and feel and trust in the
pocket and being confident in the pocket in the passing
game to make a sharper in that regard. So that's
where I think we can tighten things up and really
get this thing rolling and hopefully get back to a
six to seven and hopefully seven and seven and hopefully
(12:52):
eight and seven going into that game against the Bucks
here at home on December twenty eighth. Let's go ahead
and pause right there, come back and talk about the
rest of the teams on the schedule, Saints, Jets, Steelers, Bengals, Bucks, Patriots,
as well as pick the week twelve games. That's Next
Draft Time podcast, brought to you by AutoNation, A bounce
back week in Week eleven picks going eleven to four.
(13:14):
That brings the season total to one fourteen and forty nine.
That causes some live math on the air. One fourteen
plus forty nine equals one to sixty three. One fourteen
divided by one sixty three is sixty nine point nine percent.
We'll bumped up to seventy. We are short of the goal,
but getting closer back to the goal. So hopefully we
can keep going with some of war eleven and twelve
(13:35):
win weeks to get us back in position to hit
the seventy two percent mark we hit a year ago.
A couple of down weeks there took us off the track.
We have to get back on that track, and it
begins tonight on Thursday Night Football. I'm taking the Bills
over the Texans. I hope I lose that one. I
think if the Bills lose this game, it opens up
some possibilities for a possible run for the Miami Dolphins
and maybe maybe make a push towards Buffalo. Although the
(13:55):
way they looked against the Bucks that I'm pretty confident
the Bills are going to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
They probably already did figured out.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think they're going to handle the Houston Texans Stroud
Mills or otherwise.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I think Buffalo wins that game pretty handily.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I'm taking the Chiefs over the Colts another game I
hope I get wrong, because if the Colts beat the Chiefs,
then the Chiefs will have six losses, and if Miami
can get to ten and seven, which again have to
win every game, I don't think it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I hope it happens. I'm rooting for it to happen.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
The Chiefs might be the team that you have to
kick out of the playoff mix to fit the Miami
Dolphins in there. And if they lose with the Colts
this week, which also reduces the Jets draft pick in
the first round next year, I like all those elements combined,
that would be a nice little boon for the Miami Dolphins.
So we turn your TV on Sunday morning without the
Dolphins playing Colts over Chiefs probably the biggest game you
can watch this week. I am picking the Chiefs though,
(14:41):
because I think they are just gonna figure it out,
because they always seem to do that. I'll take the
Bears over the Steelers. Aaron Rodgers I imagine won't play
in the game. The Bears have maybe look silly all
year long, but they're doing it by winning a bunch
of games against bad teams late in the game, so
good for them to do that.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I think the Bears are.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
A classic like good regular season record team early playoff eggs,
which for them. I'm sure the Bears fans would love
to have that because it's been so long for them there.
But I think the Bears will get this win as
the schedule just continues to benefit the Bears. They'll get
one here in Pittsburgh, which is the second biggest game
to watch behind Chiefs and Colts.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Pittsburgh loses this one, the Chiefs lose the Colts.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
All of a sudden, that back end of the AFC
Wild Card it becomes wide open. I'm taking the Packers
over the Vikings. Just don't see it.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
From nine.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I'll take the Seahawks over the Titans. Seattle had a
rough game on Sunday over the Rams. Still damn near
one the thing the four picks, but the Titans are
not looking so sharp. I'll take the Ravens over the Jets.
That's an easy pick for me this week. The lot
of easy ones in here, a lot some tough ones
as well. I'll take the Lions over the Giants. I'll
take the Patriots over the Jamar Chase Liss Bengals. I'll
take the Raiders over the Browns. It's gonna be Shedur Sanders.
(15:46):
You guys saw that game on Sunday. I don't think
it's gonna work out for that offense. It was pretty bleak.
I think it's gonna be bleak. I think the Raiders
actually blow them out in that game. I'll take the
Cardinals over the Jags. That's your four to twenty five window,
maybe a four or five kickoff. That's your biggest game
in the late window as far as Dolphins playoff.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Hope.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So you got two good ones at ten am or sorry,
at one pm. Still have West Coast brain despite being
here for six years. Crazy and then your four o'clock
kickoff window, Cardinals over Jags, a big one. I'm taking
the Cardinals after the Jags get a big blot when
at home, make the cross country trip back to the West,
I'll take the Cardinals and upset spot right there to
get one of the wins we need here this week.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I'll take the Eagles over the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I kind of thought like Cowboys could get an upset there,
but I'm gonna stick with the Eagles.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
There a better football team.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I'll take the Falcons over the Saints in a game
that I think neither team wants to win despite being
a rivalry here with Kirk Cousins and no Drake London,
I might regret that.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Choice, but we're gonna go with it anyways.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I'll take the Rams over the Bucks on Sunday Night football,
and I have the Niners as my lock of the
week over the Panthers on Monday Night.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
So there you go. We've looked at ourselves.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Go ahead and cut the music right there and talk
about the teams the Dolphins will face the rest of
the way on the schedule.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
We talked about ourselves.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Let's go ahead and look at the other side of
the ledger here and the Dolphins opponents, beginning with the
New Orleans Saints. I want to spend about a minute
or so on each of these teams and get the
heck out of here before our third and finals, like
going with Tom Wilson coming up on the other side
of the show. So the Saints quarterback change in season
to their second round pick, Tyler Shook, and he gave
them one of their best games of the season in
a win over the Panthers a couple weeks ago. Lots
(17:12):
of arm talent, some escapability, but incredibly green just in
terms of process, right, a chance for Weaver in this
defense to really get into the defensive menu and confuse
the young quarterback. They have two dynamic playmakers on offense
and Kamara and Olave. They just traded Rashid Shaheed back
at the deadline. Defensively, some veteran talent there to Mario
Davis still doing his thing. Cam Jordan's still doing his
(17:34):
thing as well, but they're in a transition year, right.
They have their rival Falcons up next, then a game
against the Jets, and I could see them winning both
those games quite frankly. One thing is for sure. Kellen
Moore Prosser, Washington native about twenty minutes from my hometown.
They have that team playing hard, So to expect to
walk in the park to me is a mistake. It's
gonna be a physical game. They're gonna bring their lunch
pails and Miami has to go punch them in the mouth.
(17:56):
I'm not saying the Dolphins would like take a week off.
They have not earned the right to really have that.
No one has. But I think at four and seven
that would be crazy if that was the case. I've
just seen a lot of pun that's talking about the
Dolphins getting back to six and seven going to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
But you got to beat the Saints first.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Let's go ahead and use some various podcast drops here
to get to our next game, and it is the
New York Jets, and you gotta beat the New York
Jets if you're gonna get to six and seven, six
seven and going to Pittsburgh. They also made a quarterback change,
making the switch from Fields to Taylor. Fields was really
struggling to see it, and I feel like this is
probably his last hurrah as a starting quarterback in the
NFL after getting bench for Tyrod Taylor. And his biggest
(18:33):
weapons against US back in Week four was his legs,
and Taylor has that, but nowhere near to the degree
that Justin Fields has that. But Taylor is better in
the process of it all, though he is still very
much a Sea then rip a quarterbacks a lot of
give and take there, but he wants to take one
on one shots vertically and then use his legs to create.
And we know the Jets want to run the football.
(18:54):
They're gonna look a lot differently defensively than they were
in Week four. No sauce, no Quinn had a lot
of success running the ball in that game. They really
struggle in zone distributions. They don't tackle very well. So
I think it could be a chance for an efficient
day for TUA, especially if we run the ball well again,
which without Quinn Williams, to me, is a real possibility.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
That's killed Carl.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
And then it will be a Monday night football game
against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I want so badly to
get this opportunity. Man, imagine you're six and seven and
playing for five hundred, coming off of a four game
winning streak, five of the last six, and it would
be all the things that you've been told, and fairly so,
(19:35):
that this team can't do right. Primetime road game December
and inclement weather. One of the NFL's differently franchised is
beating the Saints and Jets won't really do a lot
to change perception, which who gives a damn? But I
know fans, do you go into Pittsburgh and do that
and get to seven and seven, then people will talk
about you, especially ahead of Sunday Night football against potentially
(19:58):
Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
May maybe not.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
As for the Steelers, quarterback Rogers has a break in
his left wrist. It sounds like he'll be available, if
not this week, very soon and buy this game for
sure unless there's further injuries and damage there. But they
have struggled to find their rhythm on both sides of
the game, playing both sides of the ball rather playing
complementary football. They'll get good showing from a veteran defense,
but the offense will have its best days when the
d is not. Now, maybe they get it to click
(20:23):
on this night, I don't know, but it's a weird
team this year, and this could be a really fun
matchup with both teams fighting for their playoff lives. They're
going to be in the AFC North mix for the
next few weeks. They'll probably still be alive in that race.
But if the Dolphins can get a win there, and
the Dolphins stay hot and continue to roll on that,
you pretty much can cross Pittsburgh off of your list
of teams to worry about, because if you beat them,
(20:43):
and you go what you have to go to probably
get in at ten and seven. I think you can
find that would be one more loss for the Steelers
right the rest of the way to give yourself a
tie breaking advantage. Maybe two more losses to get them
to ten seven to two and have that tiebreaker over them.
But they have some tough games coming up, two more
against Baltimore as well. I think that right there be
enough to get them to ten and seven at best
for them in that situation by way dish blow. Then
(21:07):
you come home for a couple of games against the
Cincinnati Bengals in Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bengals are the
biggest wild card to me on their remaining schedule because
Joe Burrow is expected to potentially return for the Thanksgiving
game against the Ravens. But if they lose against the
Patriots and they won't have Jamar Chase in that game,
which means you can put Christian Gonzalez on t Higgins,
they'd be three and eight going into the Ravens game,
(21:29):
which makes me wonder would Burrow even bother returning for
that game? And if he loses that one, do they
just shut him down for the rest of the year
at three and nine, and if not, do they keep
going with Flacco or do they make the switch back
to Browning, which is what I'm hoping for in the
ideal situation. That's why it's such a wildcard now with
either Joe or Flacco or Burrow. That's a dangerous offense
that can score thirty eight points any given week because
(21:50):
they have the best two of the best receivers in football,
But that defense is allowed at least twenty seven points
in nine consecutive games. Imagine winning a Sunday night football
shootout to get to eight and seven over the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
That could be an absolute blast. Finally, my friends, that
don't last.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
The day has come.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Then you finish your home schedule against the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers and they're on a bit of a slide right now,
from five to one to six and four. Playing the
Rams this week, I feel like six and five is
very much in the possible range of outcomes. But make
no mistake, I think this is the best team on
our schedule left and they'll likely be healthier at this time.
You never know, but they're gonna get Bucky Irving back,
(22:27):
probably this week. They're gonna get Chris Godwin back real soon.
They're gonna get Mike Evans back at some point. Is
Mike Evans on your back? Either way, he'll probably be
back for this game, right. I don't know, No, you
book a collarbone, Travis, figure out your stuff here, but
a lot can change. They are a threat to score
every single drive with that high powered offense, a good
offensive line, good weapons, and the blitz heavy defense that
will absolutely put pressure on you every single snap. That's
(22:49):
gonna be a really tough one if we get to
that position. I hope we do, but that's gonna be
a tough game here at home. To finish up the
home schedule at Hard Rocks at AUM against the Buccaneers
who come south from northern from Central Florida.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Oh, in your mind.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
And if you can open your mind for a potential
nine to seven season finale against the Patriots, and look,
I gotta say they're nine and two. They play the
burrowless Bengals, the chaseless Bengals this week, then the Giants,
so eleven and two really well within the range of outcomes.
Then two tough games with Buffalo and Baltimore, and they
beat Buffalo earlier this year before they play the Jets
(23:25):
in the Nuts. Say they win these next two, go
to eleven and two, and they beat the Jets in
week seventeen, that would be twelve wins. If they just
beat Buffalo for the sweep and win thirteen games, the
division's locked up, and they might be in position to
have the one seed, or possibly be in position where
they only can get the two seed. They could have
their position locked up going into this game. It's possible
something to think about. Otherwise, they're enjoying a breakout campaign
(23:47):
from Drake May. Trevion Henderson looks like the real deal,
like we thought he would on this podcast. Christian Gonzalez
probably the best cornerback in football. They can stop the
roun with Milton Williams and Christian Barmore in company. Is
a tough team man on the road in Foxborough. Since
the the Bucks are at home, I think this is
the biggest test remaining, even though I think the Bucks
are a better football team, even though the Patriots beat
the Bucks in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
It's all convoluted.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
But as I said on Sunday, just having the chance
to talk about this, that's all I wanted, and why
I'm more happy, more than happy to win, even if
it might be ugly. And then just one last thing.
This is a total tangent sidebar. I was thinking about
the AFC North when I was driving into work this morning,
and how at five and five the Ravens are a
game back of a team that might be without their
(24:29):
quarterback coming up this week, and the Ravens really struggled
in Cleveland this week, and the Bengals can't seize the division,
the Browns can't get out of their own way. I
think there's a real chance the winner of the AFC
North is nine and eight, maybe ten and seven. And
that happens almost annually in the AFC South. It's really
happened in every division across the NFL for the last
twenty years except for the AFC East. Like we last
(24:50):
won the division in two thousand and eight, and we
win it. We tied with Patriots at eleven wins, right
and won the tiebreaker to get the division title, and
they missed the playoffs all together. If the Jets won
the division in two thousand and two with nine wins
twenty three years ago, the lowest wins for division titles
in the AFC East was ten wins, and it happened twice,
an five and an nine. Aside from those two years,
(25:13):
which were a decade and a half plus ago two
decades for one of them, the lowest win total for
an AFC East winner was twelve wins between the Patriots
and Bills over the last fifteen twenty you know, not
gonna work here anymore, twenty years ago. Like kind of
a tangent, but one of those Travis is annoyed situations
that finds its way into the show. Like I would
(25:34):
like just for once to be five and five, you know,
a mid season and have a realistic shot to win
a division. But no, you have to win thirteen freaking
games to win the AFC East every single year. That's
a big reason why you have a playoff drought. Some
teams get these random nine win seasons, they surprise somebody
in the first round of the playoffs and they win
a playoff game. But for the Dolphins, you have to
win freaking thirteen games to win this damn division every
(25:55):
single year.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Just one time. I want to see that end, all right,
end of the rant. Up next.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Tome Wilson Draft Time podcast brought to you by Autoation.
Welcome back in Today. We are joined by a very
special guest. He is the head groundskeeper over across the
street at hard Rock Stadium. Every time you see that
beautiful playing surface, he is the man responsible for putting
that all together for us, Tom Wilson.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Tom, thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Thank you very much, very happy to have you as
studio here and we intro you with your job. But
the real reason we have you on here today is
you are the twenty twenty five Miami Dolphin Salute to
Service nominee. And I wanted to start with that because
obviously I such an honor to have you here with us,
and we honor our troops and our veterans at this
time of year.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Thank you, And it's honestly just a really huge honor
to be selected with all the years that I have
been here and things of that nature, and to be
recognized is it's pretty cool. So how did I get
here that kind of stuff? Well, I guess I can
say is I was in the Marine Corps. I did
crash fire rescue, which is very different than what I
(26:56):
do currently.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
It was a very.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Response twenty four hours on twenty four hours off forty
eight hours on. You had to be on ready at
all times. It was a long time ago, but really
a great experience. The Marine Corps overall, I really feel
helped sharpen things that my parents my family had put
(27:21):
into place, but as well sharpened a lot of those
things being on time, the fundamentals that make a marine.
And then on top of it, once I learned emergency
response things of that nature, you know, being exact, the
precision and obviously the excitement to be honest with you,
the alarm going off and those kind of things were
(27:43):
really pretty awesome. And then when I did get out
of the Marine Corps ninety seven, I was looking to
keep on going into the fire department, and there was
a waiting list for the fire for the fire Academy,
and so long story. My first job was working for
a pest control company in Fort Lauderale, and her job
(28:07):
ad out of the paper went there and interviewed and
I remember talking to him and saying, Hey, I don't
know anything about this, but if you hire me, I'll
work as hard as I can and took me for
a tour and then we went to the back where
the chemicals were and had to kind of arrange those
kinds of things, and my attention to detail kind of
went from there. Had the opportunity to work at really
(28:28):
nice areas of Fort Lauderdale, and with that.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Had different plants.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Started going to school at at the time BCC Broer
Community College, taking courses in entomology and plants and so on,
and then gravitating to across the street to University of Florida,
taking some classes there and working full time. I think
it was about two thousand and one that I moved
over to Westminster Academy and that's where I got my
(28:54):
interest into sports fields and they were building a sports complex.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
And I got in there with.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
My fertilizer and chemical experience and then learn how to
drag baseball fields and line fields, and it really got
me with the straight lines and all those things. And
we're basically a lot of attention to detail. You were
able to pour yourself into it, and everything you did
that day you could turn around and see and uh,
it just just fueled something in me.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
A little instant gratification.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Well, I want to I want to talk more about
your job as a groundskeeper and everything you do here
for the Dolphins, but let's kind of go back there first,
and your first answer, you talked a lot about attention
to detail in terms of how that got you, you know,
on the pest companies like within their crosshairs right to
get in that job and then to make the big
jump here get these promotions to be head of grounds
with the Miami Dolphins. I have to imagine you have
(29:45):
a tie back to your time and the Armed forces,
right that kind of.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Absolutely absolutely, you know there's certain things that are drilled
into you and timeliness, being responsible, you know, your dedication
to do it's unwavery and so throw that into something
where you can literally pour yourself into and it's endless.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Years ago when I had a.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Younger crew with tarp crew and things of that nature,
it was definitely the way I led was honestly as
well as as close as it could be to running
a marine squad or you know, platoon. Yes, I want
to say the Marine Corps. Straight lines, there's a lot
of that. There's a lot of precisions there there. There's
(30:32):
there's so many things that fall into.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
That with what I do.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Your height of cut, how sharp your reels you can tell,
and stringlines. Everything is measured, and you know, my world,
there's a credo and this one that I've always held
on too, is perfection is an expectation, not a goal.
You can't tell somebody that, hey, I'm sorry I didn't
finish that, but I'll get it tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
That's not so.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
If you have a game at eight o'clock on Saturday
and one o'clock game on Sunday, you're not sleeping, you're working,
You're you're moving all night long.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
We might be wrapping up.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
That last logo about six thirty in the morning with blowers,
and then you're setting up the sidelines, and then then
you've got to act like you just walked in and
it's time to keep on going. And so yes, it's
there's been endless hours before and it's okay, this is
what we do.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
That was one of the questions I got from some
I told a couple of friends about talking to you,
and like, I'm because I'm I'm kind of a nerve
when it comes to grounds keeping myself.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
I just think it's a really cool process.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
And they were like, how do they convert it from
the night games on Saturday to the one o'clock kickoffs?
And it kind of sounds like you're working up until
you know two was out on that field getting ready
for his pregame routine. So it's an absolute lift that
you guys do, and it's so much fun to or
so it's so impressive to see all the stuff you
guys get done. And I want to go back again
to your time in the Marine Corps because I mean,
this is such a cool honor to you know, to
(31:53):
get in the NFL, this Lootal Service honor nominee.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Here, what was?
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Do you have a memory from your time serving that
stands out above the rest. I'm sure you've got a
million memories, but do you have like a story you
could tell us about what it meant to serve orly
kind of maybe a moment that really solidified, you know,
making you a marine in that sense, Like, is there
a one moment that stands out from your career in
the Armed Forces?
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I want?
Speaker 4 (32:16):
I can honestly tell you the transition through boot camp
graduation was incredible. It's something that you hold on to. Originally,
when I was shipped to after combat school at Camp
at Camp Geiger, I went to an AS Millington. I
was actually supposed to be an air traffic controller. That's
what I tested for, and I went through the first
(32:37):
part of that, and I kept on petitioning that I
wanted to do crash fire rescue and they said, well,
if you know, don't bomb the chorus, just honestly do
it whatever, And so after I after that, I was
able to say, Hey, this is what I want to do.
Being able to do that and graduate, there's so many
(32:58):
and honestly, at this moment, I look back and there's
just a lot the experiences. At nineteen, I lived in Iwakuni,
Japan really humbled me a lot. Growing up in South Florida,
we're blessed to have so many people from so many
other places, and being from here in English speaking, all
those kind of things.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Really reflected where thirty.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
Minutes outside the base, nobody understood what I was saying,
So it really kind of reeled that in. I want
to say, that's a profound human kind of moment. But
I always tried to make each place I've gone got
to see cool things like seeing the sunrise in Japan, and.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
I was in North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
I'm a last duty station in Cherry Point, the beaches,
and just good stuff, just a lot of nothing that
I could pretty much say amazingly, but it was just
all cumultively a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
You mentioned earlier your time in the crash fire unit.
I'm so fascinating by that. Can you just take us
through what that? What does the day in the life
of a person in that field look like?
Speaker 4 (34:02):
So what it was is it's actually like I would say,
once you're in the fleet, which is what they call
and I was a wing guy, so we got.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Deployed, so there'd be a regular station. Job would be
you have lived.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
In the barracks and my roommate was a combat journalist,
which was cool because somebody different.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Than what you did.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
But you would go in, drive into work six am,
go in have formation. They would do a shift change
and the one last truck that would be out on
the airfield doing hotspot would come in and they are
would be relieved and you would work twenty four hours on.
They had bunks there and so basically they had what's
called hotspot. So you would drive a truck out and
(34:46):
you would be on the airfield and it was a
crew of four people. From your left, you had the
hand line person. The next person was the driver, the
turret man, and then the rescue man.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
So p.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
Nineteen I had a license for that pretty cool truck, firetruck,
some cool things. But then you would drive out. You'd
be like, so an NCO would be the crew chief,
so it's a corporal or above, and you would be
the driver and you go out there and something happened.
And then while you were back off not hotspot, you
would be maintaining vehicles.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
You would have classes.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
They have a gym, you know, things that you would
imagine in a normal firehouse. And twenty as long as
the airfield was open, you would have hot spot where
the trucks would be out there and you'd be on
TV lounge.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
It was pretty cool. You'd teach classes.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
That was a responsibility that and actually got you to
be more open to public speaking was the intention. So
each Blant's corporal private would have to teach a class
on something from fire extinguishers to the proper operating pressure
of a hose or something. You know, it would be
(35:56):
something not the whole truck or an individual thing that
you would have to say in front of everyone and
then they would ask questions. So that was kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I wanted to finish with this Tom because you've been
so graatecious with your time talking about your time in
the service as well as as a groundskeeper. So I
don't know if you knew this, but I was once
the head of ground somewhere at ninety forty nine to
Shooge Drive in kind of Wick, Washington.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
And I was a head.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Of grounds on my backyard football league.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Remember, And that.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Is what I had in my backyard, my parents' house.
We would spend all day paying that stuff. Nowhere near
as details what you just talked about, but that was
a winter field. There's my fo football field. I was
a big Reds fan because I just traded Griffy to
the Reds. I was a mayor's guy growing up.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Wait, but I will tell you this, beautiful. This doesn't
work out, got a job.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Sorry.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
That's a free hand dolphin logo. But I did my
best that I like that. Yeah, fifteen yard field by
a two on two football. We had a lot of
fun in that backyard.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
That is that is incredible, honestly, Like that's a that's
more than I've done where I've painted a logo or
something from someone in front of someone's yard forum or
something like that.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
But yeah, that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
We used to hang out in front of the grocery
store at lunch as we were freshman high school.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Couldn't drive our we didn't have cars.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Est we'd walk to the grocery store, get lunch, and
beg for money to get paint to paint the field
in my backyard.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
We're very obsessed with the whole process.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Hey, and I wish you kids were my neighbors.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah, it was only every single Saturday Sunday playing football.
So Tom Wilson, again, we appreciate your time so much today, sir.
It's an hour to talk to you and are to
have you on the show. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Pleasure is mine.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
It's an amazing opportunity to work for an organization. One
makes me very proud that they recognized veterans too, that
I've been able to flourish and essentially I came here
from the bottom of the positions and I've worked hard
and I've become made it to the top to be
(37:48):
their head guy.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Tom Wilson a twenty twenty five salut to service Dominee.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Again, thank you for your time today, Tommy, thank you,
and away he goes Tom Wilson, thank you. For his time.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
A little bit different of an episode than we're used
to here on the show, but that's what the bye
week brings, and we're gonna take a little bit more
of a break here and kind of get our bearings,
do some more self scouting over the weekend, and get
back to you guys next week on Tuesday. That'll be
another Hodgepodge episode here of the podcast. We're gonna move
the preview show up to Wednesday. You can all enjoy
your Thanksgiving, take a day off of listening to Dolphins football,
(38:20):
watch the NFL, of course, all three games on that Thursday,
and then we'll come back on Friday with our typical
variety show. So three shows this week, three shows next week,
and then we'll finish out the season five shows a
week up until the Dolphins are not playing football anymore.
In the meantime, you all please be sure subscribe, rate,
review the podcast. Go ahead and follow me on social
at linklind NFL the team at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Check out the YouTube channel.
Speaker 5 (38:44):
Brand new episode of Dolphins HQ out tonight right now
out tonight Thursday night before Buffalo and Houston teed up
here on TNF and Last Button not least Miami Dolphins
dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Until next time, bring joke.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Caroline Cameron Willow Teddy, He's coming over.
This is Drive Time with Travis wing Field.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield, And on today's show,
a bit of a mixed bag.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We're going full bye week here.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
We're gonna take a couple of days off, maybe get
out on the golf course a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I don't know, we shall see.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I don't know if we'll have enough time, but we're
gonna do some self scouting on the show today, looking
at what worked the identity of the Dolphins have developed.
I can never say that word identity the Dolphins have developed.
We'll take a look at where they can get better.
We'll look ahead of the remaining schedule as we go
around the NFL and pick the week twelve games. And
Tom Wilson, our Salute to Service nominee, joins me on
the show from the Baptist Hill Studios inside the Baptist
(00:45):
Hill Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast. Here
we are at the bye week.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Little inside baseball for you.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
From a content perspective, there is no better bye week
than Week twelve. I was fired up when I learned
that back in May when the schedule came out. You're
on the heels of Thanksgiving week. It's the perfect opportunity
to get ahead of the week thirteen content to enjoy Thanksgiving.
We don't have any media availabilities on Thanksgiving. The entire
building kind of takes a step back on that day,
(01:14):
at least unless you're a coach and they're grinding tape
all day. But it's just a nice ability to kind
of give yourself two weeks to get ready for one week.
All of that, but also by far the most important element.
I feel like the bye week comes at a pretty
great time for your Miami Dolphins. You're probably gonna hear
me bemoan the first half of the season with any
one of three games a few times over the next
(01:35):
month as I continue to anticipate a nice little run
here for the Miami Dolphins to get back in the
mix that damn Patriots, Panthers and Chargers games. Right, Like,
there's one single play in all three of those games
you can point to and say, if it goes the
other way, Miami is right now four or five and six.
Right if they were five and six, I would feel
so confident about going to the playoffs a last we
(01:56):
are not.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
But I digress.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And the reason I think it's a great spot for
the by week is multi layered. First, we're getting healthy,
and one nice part about this season, which hey give
me this back in twenty two and twenty three, is
the injuries have kind of short up right, And I
think that's kind of indicative of how they built the
team this year with younger players and guys that don't
have as much of an injury history across their resume.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
It's affords you continuity.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Across the offensive line, We've had the same starters go
from start to finish in each of the last seven games,
sans a couple of blowouts. They pulled guys late in games,
but that's unheard of under this current era of Dolphins football.
And we've talked about the Buffalo Bills, who for three
years now, I've had pretty much like one misstart across
(02:41):
five offensive linemen for the last like fifty football games.
Miamis starting to get some of that, and the same
is true on the defensive line. Steelers and iron Man,
the only time he misses games is when he gets
his face broken in practice. Jordan Phillips looks that way
to me. Kenneth Grant trained that way. Jordan Brooks is
that type of player as well. There's an indestructible nature
to a few of these guys as games, and I
think you can count on that. I think you can
(03:03):
put that on these guys's scotting report when you do
exit interviews, like we can count on this guy to
play fifteen, sixteen, seventeen games a year for us. But
beyond that, Austin Jackson just had his practice window opened up.
It seems quite likely he'll be back in a position
to play in the game against the Saints. James Daniels
is eligible to return. I don't know what that looks
like for him, nor do I for Darren Waller, but
(03:24):
all those guys are eligible to come back, and just
think about who that would be and what that would
mean to this offense. That's the starting right side of
the offensive line. And I think Laria Borum has played fine.
I talked about it on the show on Tuesday. I
think he's earned at least the right to be your
swing tackle in twenty twenty six. If not, you know,
maybe counted on for more than that.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I just I think he's played in a way that's
far more valuable than what the fan base might have
told you going into the season. And then with James
Daniels at the right guard position, we haven't even seen
what that looks like because it was three snaps and
done to this point of the season. But you get
both those guys back and they returned to like their
previous resume form. That's two upgrades on the offensive line
(04:04):
and a tied end man. You want to talk about
dropping a finishing ingredient kind of that, like drop the
pinch of salt into the boiling pot on the meal.
Here the way we've evolved the offense and what Waller
could potentially do to further the point. It's the first
chance the staff will have to self scout since I
guess since the gap between the end of camp and
the start of the regular season, and if you consider
(04:26):
the offense really taking its current shape around like week
five when we lost Tyreek Hill and reimagine what the
offense would be, then we are technically seven weeks into that.
That's a lot of tape for them to look at
and assess where they can tinker, where they can add wrinkles,
and how they can use what they've already put on tape.
To develop more change ups to the fastball that you've developed,
(04:46):
and that takes us into the segment idea here that
kind of got this whole thing started.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Who are we? Eleven weeks in?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
You know, that's how Severance starts, right, The first line
in Severance is who are you?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Who are we?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I think you've seen this team take on a pretty
different shape from what it was last year on both
sides of the football. And I say last year because
I think you saw elements of it early in the
season where it was a lot of similarities from twenty
four to twenty five. And one of the biggest reasons
that I've been picking against the Dolphins for a lot
of the chunk of this season was because I didn't
think it would change, and it has for the better.
(05:20):
So it's it's been a season of evolution of transformation.
Right the Walter White reference Episode one, Breaking Bad, he
talks about the transformation and chemistry and it becomes like
the entire backdrop for the show. How much can we
transform this character from good to evil? And just looking
at the chart that tracks offensive personnel usage, eleven personnel
began the year around sixty five percent of our snaps
(05:43):
and has decreased down to under twenty five percent just
last week. In its place has been a massive increase
in the other air quote other personnel groupings, and that
is essentially heavy stuff. A sixth offensive lineman which the
Dolphins didn't run a single time before this season, and
when I talk about it going into the Falcons game,
they unfurled it and there it was, and here it
is to stay. Daniel Brunskill has played essentially tight end
(06:06):
for the last four games, and you're three to one
in those four games. And we run that from various groupings,
whether it's two backs, two tight ends to receive whatever
it is they get to those and they've borrowed from
both twenty one personnel, two backs, one tight end and
twelve personnel one back, two tight ends to get that
on the field. So you've seen reductions in those groupings
and huge increases in your extra offensive line packaging. But
(06:29):
it all circles back to the same conclusion. This is
a power offense man. This is a draw some x's
and o's in the sand, run first, attack, downhill, play
off the surge you get in the running game and
create from there. And for the longest time, the run
scheme was about wrinkles, about variation, about getting to your
core concepts, but dressing it up in all these different
presentations and fancy motions and things that can sometimes cause
(06:53):
breakdowns in your own alignment that leads to the negative plays.
But we've seen a lot more traditional line up and
go a type of football, and man the way you
can sequence from that point opposed to sequencing from the
starting point being deception right, Like if you come out
and run a trick play the first play of the game,
(07:15):
I'm not saying these are trick plays. I'm saying like
if you run like a hook and ladder or like
a double reversed pass on the first play of the game,
it doesn't work as well as doing it the twelfth
play of the game, where you have already set that
play up. I think it drastically reduces the need for creativity,
which then breeds more creativity on the backside. Like if
you try to be creative, probably not gonna happen. Like
for me sometimes in this job, if I'm not feeling creative,
(07:37):
it's tough to do the job. Sometimes it strikes at
a random point and you have to get in there
and get to work because creativity is not something you
can force. I think it's the same when it comes
to offensive game planning and designing and play calling. You know,
if I have a good fastball, I don't have to
mess around with my sinker, change up slider, sweeper, you know,
change up combination.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Did I say that already?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Because I can rely upon that good fastball and the
other stuff becomes more effective and I don't have to
go back to that deep arsenal pitches to get you out.
But when you have an insert blocker or a downhill
assignment off the edge, which is a lot of what
Daniel Brunskill has been asked to do, right, And they've
done more of that with Rouchie here and there with
Greg Dolcich. Roochie got a big decrease when Julian Hill
came back, and a lot of that rap motion and
(08:18):
the sift and kickout stuff where you have to come
across the formation and your landmark and your assignment changes.
That's kind of Julian Hill's specialty, right, And they didn't
do that a lot without him in there because it's
a tough assignment to take on. And Julian's developed for
three years into that role. It's a tough role. You've
seen him grow into that, but again, making it the
change up opposed to making it the base of the
(08:38):
offense makes everything more effective.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I think that's the positive change.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I think that, to be totally honest, I think that's
the biggest fingerprint you've seen this team develop in terms
of a true identity. I can't say that word identity identity.
The last handful of years, it's really worked defensively. I
think the shift has been more subtle, but just as effective.
This is still a very, very very zone defense. Over
eighty percent of the calls the last two weeks have
(09:02):
been zone. And we go back to the summer, we've
talking about playing more man coverage, being more physical and rerouting.
At the last scream, it just kind of where the
lore of like storm Duck came into play, Right, he's
a good physical press corner. Well, I think you'd found
out that Juju Brents and Rasul Douglas are really good
at that, and Jason Marshall can do that, and to
some degree, Jack Jones. It's not really his bread and butter,
but he's gotten better at it, and maybe the numbers
(09:24):
don't indicate that desire so much. But I think that
we got to shift somewhere around the Atlanta game where
there were more man presentations with that pressed up coverage,
and you get two man, you can get to quarters.
From there, you can be versatile in your calls. And
we have a breakdown segment coming out on Dolphins HQ
this week, I think tonight. I think this podcast is
going to drop Thursday. So the episode comes out tonight
(09:45):
on YouTube where I get into the coverage disguise, and
I think that with the sim pressure up front is
what this defense is at its core, right, But the
ability to be interchangeable with safeties and corners, Like there's
plays where Trader Melafon, Minka Marshall Jones and Brentsbrel out
there and it's like you don't know who's playing which
(10:06):
of those six positions back there, and you're in a
dime look and it allows you to invert, to disguise
and just to be so multiple that with marked improvement
week over week inside and developing an identity, identity that
to me is replicatable week over week here going forward
and year over year quite frankly going forward into next
season as well.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Now it sucks to lose Juju.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
That's a major setback in my opinion, but getting Raseouol
Douglas back could wash that out in some ways. It
sure seems like we can get right back into that
with Rasul Douglas's skill set. I know again, Jack has
been more of his own guy, but he's dabbled. You're
seeing Jason Marshall get more outside run Minca and the slot,
Iffy and the slot. There's just so much variety and
options here for this defense. So I think we have
(10:48):
a rock solid foundation, a solid id identity on either
side of the football, and those are the things that
have worked. I think when you contemplate where it can
get better, that's self scouting, right, how can we make
ourselves better by both improving our strengths and our weaknesses offensively?
To me, it's in the drop back game, and this
is something pretty much every NFL offense is trying to avoid.
(11:09):
There's a reason defenses work their butts off to get
into third long. There's a reason conversion rates are so
low on third and long. But it is something we
have excelled at in the past. Go back to the
Detroit game in twenty two. We were in third and
long the entire game and two of three for three
hundred and fifty yards. Both Threeak and Wada went for
one to fifty and Wattle had two scores. Like we
used to be really good at that. But if you
(11:29):
get just one or two more of those per game,
it would make I mean, it's like it's like getting
two takeaways because you're not putting the ball back on
that third down, you're getting extra possessions. To me, defensively,
it's finishing in those same situations, whether it's tackling the
quarterback when you have him dead to rights in the pocket,
or you don't tackle him but you prevent the long
run that extends, that moves the chains and extends the drives.
(11:50):
We've gotten into a lot of advantageous situations this year.
Then one the third down rep initially but then falling
off the quarterback lost contained somewhere to make a mistake
and they convert. That extends the drive, which again is
like a giveaway, and that can change a game if
it happens even just once in a game.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I think one thing we.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Could get better at that would help this something we've
been very good at in the past. One of the
true calling cards of the system is excelling in past
rush games. There's a massive rollodex of rush game options
and variations within the system that we saw last year.
Haven't seen as much of it this season. Haven't been
as effective in that arena. But if you can get
back to that, and I think that can really expose
(12:30):
some more Zach Sealer's success. I think this defense can
get back to being better on third downs the rest
of the way offensively, I think it comes down to
playing with more anticipation and feel and trust in the
pocket and being confident in the pocket in the passing
game to make a sharper in that regard. So that's
where I think we can tighten things up and really
get this thing rolling and hopefully get back to a
six to seven and hopefully seven and seven and hopefully
(12:52):
eight and seven going into that game against the Bucks
here at home on December twenty eighth. Let's go ahead
and pause right there, come back and talk about the
rest of the teams on the schedule, Saints, Jets, Steelers, Bengals, Bucks, Patriots,
as well as pick the week twelve games. That's Next
Draft Time podcast, brought to you by AutoNation, A bounce
back week in Week eleven picks going eleven to four.
(13:14):
That brings the season total to one fourteen and forty nine.
That causes some live math on the air. One fourteen
plus forty nine equals one to sixty three. One fourteen
divided by one sixty three is sixty nine point nine percent.
We'll bumped up to seventy. We are short of the goal,
but getting closer back to the goal. So hopefully we
can keep going with some of war eleven and twelve
(13:35):
win weeks to get us back in position to hit
the seventy two percent mark we hit a year ago.
A couple of down weeks there took us off the track.
We have to get back on that track, and it
begins tonight on Thursday Night Football. I'm taking the Bills
over the Texans. I hope I lose that one. I
think if the Bills lose this game, it opens up
some possibilities for a possible run for the Miami Dolphins
and maybe maybe make a push towards Buffalo. Although the
(13:55):
way they looked against the Bucks that I'm pretty confident
the Bills are going to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
They probably already did figured out.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think they're going to handle the Houston Texans Stroud
Mills or otherwise.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I think Buffalo wins that game pretty handily.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I'm taking the Chiefs over the Colts another game I
hope I get wrong, because if the Colts beat the Chiefs,
then the Chiefs will have six losses, and if Miami
can get to ten and seven, which again have to
win every game, I don't think it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I hope it happens. I'm rooting for it to happen.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
The Chiefs might be the team that you have to
kick out of the playoff mix to fit the Miami
Dolphins in there. And if they lose with the Colts
this week, which also reduces the Jets draft pick in
the first round next year, I like all those elements combined,
that would be a nice little boon for the Miami Dolphins.
So we turn your TV on Sunday morning without the
Dolphins playing Colts over Chiefs probably the biggest game you
can watch this week. I am picking the Chiefs though,
(14:41):
because I think they are just gonna figure it out,
because they always seem to do that. I'll take the
Bears over the Steelers. Aaron Rodgers I imagine won't play
in the game. The Bears have maybe look silly all
year long, but they're doing it by winning a bunch
of games against bad teams late in the game, so
good for them to do that.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I think the Bears are.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
A classic like good regular season record team early playoff eggs,
which for them. I'm sure the Bears fans would love
to have that because it's been so long for them there.
But I think the Bears will get this win as
the schedule just continues to benefit the Bears. They'll get
one here in Pittsburgh, which is the second biggest game
to watch behind Chiefs and Colts.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Pittsburgh loses this one, the Chiefs lose the Colts.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
All of a sudden, that back end of the AFC
Wild Card it becomes wide open. I'm taking the Packers
over the Vikings. Just don't see it.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
From nine.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I'll take the Seahawks over the Titans. Seattle had a
rough game on Sunday over the Rams. Still damn near
one the thing the four picks, but the Titans are
not looking so sharp. I'll take the Ravens over the Jets.
That's an easy pick for me this week. The lot
of easy ones in here, a lot some tough ones
as well. I'll take the Lions over the Giants. I'll
take the Patriots over the Jamar Chase Liss Bengals. I'll
take the Raiders over the Browns. It's gonna be Shedur Sanders.
(15:46):
You guys saw that game on Sunday. I don't think
it's gonna work out for that offense. It was pretty bleak.
I think it's gonna be bleak. I think the Raiders
actually blow them out in that game. I'll take the
Cardinals over the Jags. That's your four to twenty five window,
maybe a four or five kickoff. That's your biggest game
in the late window as far as Dolphins playoff.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Hope.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So you got two good ones at ten am or sorry,
at one pm. Still have West Coast brain despite being
here for six years. Crazy and then your four o'clock
kickoff window, Cardinals over Jags, a big one. I'm taking
the Cardinals after the Jags get a big blot when
at home, make the cross country trip back to the West,
I'll take the Cardinals and upset spot right there to
get one of the wins we need here this week.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I'll take the Eagles over the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I kind of thought like Cowboys could get an upset there,
but I'm gonna stick with the Eagles.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
There a better football team.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I'll take the Falcons over the Saints in a game
that I think neither team wants to win despite being
a rivalry here with Kirk Cousins and no Drake London,
I might regret that.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Choice, but we're gonna go with it anyways.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I'll take the Rams over the Bucks on Sunday Night football,
and I have the Niners as my lock of the
week over the Panthers on Monday Night.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
So there you go. We've looked at ourselves.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Go ahead and cut the music right there and talk
about the teams the Dolphins will face the rest of
the way on the schedule.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
We talked about ourselves.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Let's go ahead and look at the other side of
the ledger here and the Dolphins opponents, beginning with the
New Orleans Saints. I want to spend about a minute
or so on each of these teams and get the
heck out of here before our third and finals, like
going with Tom Wilson coming up on the other side
of the show. So the Saints quarterback change in season
to their second round pick, Tyler Shook, and he gave
them one of their best games of the season in
a win over the Panthers a couple weeks ago. Lots
(17:12):
of arm talent, some escapability, but incredibly green just in
terms of process, right, a chance for Weaver in this
defense to really get into the defensive menu and confuse
the young quarterback. They have two dynamic playmakers on offense
and Kamara and Olave. They just traded Rashid Shaheed back
at the deadline. Defensively, some veteran talent there to Mario
Davis still doing his thing. Cam Jordan's still doing his
(17:34):
thing as well, but they're in a transition year, right.
They have their rival Falcons up next, then a game
against the Jets, and I could see them winning both
those games quite frankly. One thing is for sure. Kellen
Moore Prosser, Washington native about twenty minutes from my hometown.
They have that team playing hard, So to expect to
walk in the park to me is a mistake. It's
gonna be a physical game. They're gonna bring their lunch
pails and Miami has to go punch them in the mouth.
(17:56):
I'm not saying the Dolphins would like take a week off.
They have not earned the right to really have that.
No one has. But I think at four and seven
that would be crazy if that was the case. I've
just seen a lot of pun that's talking about the
Dolphins getting back to six and seven going to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
But you got to beat the Saints first.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Let's go ahead and use some various podcast drops here
to get to our next game, and it is the
New York Jets, and you gotta beat the New York
Jets if you're gonna get to six and seven, six
seven and going to Pittsburgh. They also made a quarterback change,
making the switch from Fields to Taylor. Fields was really
struggling to see it, and I feel like this is
probably his last hurrah as a starting quarterback in the
NFL after getting bench for Tyrod Taylor. And his biggest
(18:33):
weapons against US back in Week four was his legs,
and Taylor has that, but nowhere near to the degree
that Justin Fields has that. But Taylor is better in
the process of it all, though he is still very
much a Sea then rip a quarterbacks a lot of
give and take there, but he wants to take one
on one shots vertically and then use his legs to create.
And we know the Jets want to run the football.
(18:54):
They're gonna look a lot differently defensively than they were
in Week four. No sauce, no Quinn had a lot
of success running the ball in that game. They really
struggle in zone distributions. They don't tackle very well. So
I think it could be a chance for an efficient
day for TUA, especially if we run the ball well again,
which without Quinn Williams, to me, is a real possibility.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
That's killed Carl.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
And then it will be a Monday night football game
against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I want so badly to
get this opportunity. Man, imagine you're six and seven and
playing for five hundred, coming off of a four game
winning streak, five of the last six, and it would
be all the things that you've been told, and fairly so,
(19:35):
that this team can't do right. Primetime road game December
and inclement weather. One of the NFL's differently franchised is
beating the Saints and Jets won't really do a lot
to change perception, which who gives a damn? But I
know fans, do you go into Pittsburgh and do that
and get to seven and seven, then people will talk
about you, especially ahead of Sunday Night football against potentially
(19:58):
Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
May maybe not.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
As for the Steelers, quarterback Rogers has a break in
his left wrist. It sounds like he'll be available, if
not this week, very soon and buy this game for
sure unless there's further injuries and damage there. But they
have struggled to find their rhythm on both sides of
the game, playing both sides of the ball rather playing
complementary football. They'll get good showing from a veteran defense,
but the offense will have its best days when the
d is not. Now, maybe they get it to click
(20:23):
on this night, I don't know, but it's a weird
team this year, and this could be a really fun
matchup with both teams fighting for their playoff lives. They're
going to be in the AFC North mix for the
next few weeks. They'll probably still be alive in that race.
But if the Dolphins can get a win there, and
the Dolphins stay hot and continue to roll on that,
you pretty much can cross Pittsburgh off of your list
of teams to worry about, because if you beat them,
(20:43):
and you go what you have to go to probably
get in at ten and seven. I think you can
find that would be one more loss for the Steelers
right the rest of the way to give yourself a
tie breaking advantage. Maybe two more losses to get them
to ten seven to two and have that tiebreaker over them.
But they have some tough games coming up, two more
against Baltimore as well. I think that right there be
enough to get them to ten and seven at best
for them in that situation by way dish blow. Then
(21:07):
you come home for a couple of games against the
Cincinnati Bengals in Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bengals are the
biggest wild card to me on their remaining schedule because
Joe Burrow is expected to potentially return for the Thanksgiving
game against the Ravens. But if they lose against the
Patriots and they won't have Jamar Chase in that game,
which means you can put Christian Gonzalez on t Higgins,
they'd be three and eight going into the Ravens game,
(21:29):
which makes me wonder would Burrow even bother returning for
that game? And if he loses that one, do they
just shut him down for the rest of the year
at three and nine, and if not, do they keep
going with Flacco or do they make the switch back
to Browning, which is what I'm hoping for in the
ideal situation. That's why it's such a wildcard now with
either Joe or Flacco or Burrow. That's a dangerous offense
that can score thirty eight points any given week because
(21:50):
they have the best two of the best receivers in football,
But that defense is allowed at least twenty seven points
in nine consecutive games. Imagine winning a Sunday night football
shootout to get to eight and seven over the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
That could be an absolute blast. Finally, my friends, that
don't last.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
The day has come.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Then you finish your home schedule against the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers and they're on a bit of a slide right now,
from five to one to six and four. Playing the
Rams this week, I feel like six and five is
very much in the possible range of outcomes. But make
no mistake, I think this is the best team on
our schedule left and they'll likely be healthier at this time.
You never know, but they're gonna get Bucky Irving back,
(22:27):
probably this week. They're gonna get Chris Godwin back real soon.
They're gonna get Mike Evans back at some point. Is
Mike Evans on your back? Either way, he'll probably be
back for this game, right. I don't know, No, you
book a collarbone, Travis, figure out your stuff here, but
a lot can change. They are a threat to score
every single drive with that high powered offense, a good
offensive line, good weapons, and the blitz heavy defense that
will absolutely put pressure on you every single snap. That's
(22:49):
gonna be a really tough one if we get to
that position. I hope we do, but that's gonna be
a tough game here at home. To finish up the
home schedule at Hard Rocks at AUM against the Buccaneers
who come south from northern from Central Florida.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Oh, in your mind.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
And if you can open your mind for a potential
nine to seven season finale against the Patriots, and look,
I gotta say they're nine and two. They play the
burrowless Bengals, the chaseless Bengals this week, then the Giants,
so eleven and two really well within the range of outcomes.
Then two tough games with Buffalo and Baltimore, and they
beat Buffalo earlier this year before they play the Jets
(23:25):
in the Nuts. Say they win these next two, go
to eleven and two, and they beat the Jets in
week seventeen, that would be twelve wins. If they just
beat Buffalo for the sweep and win thirteen games, the
division's locked up, and they might be in position to
have the one seed, or possibly be in position where
they only can get the two seed. They could have
their position locked up going into this game. It's possible
something to think about. Otherwise, they're enjoying a breakout campaign
(23:47):
from Drake May. Trevion Henderson looks like the real deal,
like we thought he would on this podcast. Christian Gonzalez
probably the best cornerback in football. They can stop the
roun with Milton Williams and Christian Barmore in company. Is
a tough team man on the road in Foxborough. Since
the the Bucks are at home, I think this is
the biggest test remaining, even though I think the Bucks
are a better football team, even though the Patriots beat
the Bucks in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
It's all convoluted.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
But as I said on Sunday, just having the chance
to talk about this, that's all I wanted, and why
I'm more happy, more than happy to win, even if
it might be ugly. And then just one last thing.
This is a total tangent sidebar. I was thinking about
the AFC North when I was driving into work this morning,
and how at five and five the Ravens are a
game back of a team that might be without their
(24:29):
quarterback coming up this week, and the Ravens really struggled
in Cleveland this week, and the Bengals can't seize the division,
the Browns can't get out of their own way. I
think there's a real chance the winner of the AFC
North is nine and eight, maybe ten and seven. And
that happens almost annually in the AFC South. It's really
happened in every division across the NFL for the last
twenty years except for the AFC East. Like we last
(24:50):
won the division in two thousand and eight, and we
win it. We tied with Patriots at eleven wins, right
and won the tiebreaker to get the division title, and
they missed the playoffs all together. If the Jets won
the division in two thousand and two with nine wins
twenty three years ago, the lowest wins for division titles
in the AFC East was ten wins, and it happened twice,
an five and an nine. Aside from those two years,
(25:13):
which were a decade and a half plus ago two
decades for one of them, the lowest win total for
an AFC East winner was twelve wins between the Patriots
and Bills over the last fifteen twenty you know, not
gonna work here anymore, twenty years ago. Like kind of
a tangent, but one of those Travis is annoyed situations
that finds its way into the show. Like I would
(25:34):
like just for once to be five and five, you know,
a mid season and have a realistic shot to win
a division. But no, you have to win thirteen freaking
games to win the AFC East every single year. That's
a big reason why you have a playoff drought. Some
teams get these random nine win seasons, they surprise somebody
in the first round of the playoffs and they win
a playoff game. But for the Dolphins, you have to
win freaking thirteen games to win this damn division every
(25:55):
single year.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Just one time. I want to see that end, all right,
end of the rant. Up next.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Tome Wilson Draft Time podcast brought to you by Autoation.
Welcome back in Today. We are joined by a very
special guest. He is the head groundskeeper over across the
street at hard Rock Stadium. Every time you see that
beautiful playing surface, he is the man responsible for putting
that all together for us, Tom Wilson.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Tom, thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Thank you very much, very happy to have you as
studio here and we intro you with your job. But
the real reason we have you on here today is
you are the twenty twenty five Miami Dolphin Salute to
Service nominee. And I wanted to start with that because
obviously I such an honor to have you here with us,
and we honor our troops and our veterans at this
time of year.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Thank you, And it's honestly just a really huge honor
to be selected with all the years that I have
been here and things of that nature, and to be
recognized is it's pretty cool. So how did I get
here that kind of stuff? Well, I guess I can
say is I was in the Marine Corps. I did
crash fire rescue, which is very different than what I
(26:56):
do currently.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
It was a very.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Response twenty four hours on twenty four hours off forty
eight hours on. You had to be on ready at
all times. It was a long time ago, but really
a great experience. The Marine Corps overall, I really feel
helped sharpen things that my parents my family had put
(27:21):
into place, but as well sharpened a lot of those
things being on time, the fundamentals that make a marine.
And then on top of it, once I learned emergency
response things of that nature, you know, being exact, the
precision and obviously the excitement to be honest with you,
the alarm going off and those kind of things were
(27:43):
really pretty awesome. And then when I did get out
of the Marine Corps ninety seven, I was looking to
keep on going into the fire department, and there was
a waiting list for the fire for the fire Academy,
and so long story. My first job was working for
a pest control company in Fort Lauderale, and her job
(28:07):
ad out of the paper went there and interviewed and
I remember talking to him and saying, Hey, I don't
know anything about this, but if you hire me, I'll
work as hard as I can and took me for
a tour and then we went to the back where
the chemicals were and had to kind of arrange those
kinds of things, and my attention to detail kind of
went from there. Had the opportunity to work at really
(28:28):
nice areas of Fort Lauderdale, and with that.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Had different plants.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Started going to school at at the time BCC Broer
Community College, taking courses in entomology and plants and so on,
and then gravitating to across the street to University of Florida,
taking some classes there and working full time. I think
it was about two thousand and one that I moved
over to Westminster Academy and that's where I got my
(28:54):
interest into sports fields and they were building a sports complex.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
And I got in there with.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
My fertilizer and chemical experience and then learn how to
drag baseball fields and line fields, and it really got
me with the straight lines and all those things. And
we're basically a lot of attention to detail. You were
able to pour yourself into it, and everything you did
that day you could turn around and see and uh,
it just just fueled something in me.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
A little instant gratification.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Well, I want to I want to talk more about
your job as a groundskeeper and everything you do here
for the Dolphins, but let's kind of go back there first,
and your first answer, you talked a lot about attention
to detail in terms of how that got you, you know,
on the pest companies like within their crosshairs right to
get in that job and then to make the big
jump here get these promotions to be head of grounds
with the Miami Dolphins. I have to imagine you have
(29:45):
a tie back to your time and the Armed forces,
right that kind of.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Absolutely absolutely, you know there's certain things that are drilled
into you and timeliness, being responsible, you know, your dedication
to do it's unwavery and so throw that into something
where you can literally pour yourself into and it's endless.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Years ago when I had a.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Younger crew with tarp crew and things of that nature,
it was definitely the way I led was honestly as
well as as close as it could be to running
a marine squad or you know, platoon. Yes, I want
to say the Marine Corps. Straight lines, there's a lot
of that. There's a lot of precisions there there. There's
(30:32):
there's so many things that fall into.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
That with what I do.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Your height of cut, how sharp your reels you can tell,
and stringlines. Everything is measured, and you know, my world,
there's a credo and this one that I've always held
on too, is perfection is an expectation, not a goal.
You can't tell somebody that, hey, I'm sorry I didn't
finish that, but I'll get it tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
That's not so.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
If you have a game at eight o'clock on Saturday
and one o'clock game on Sunday, you're not sleeping, you're working,
You're you're moving all night long.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
We might be wrapping up.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
That last logo about six thirty in the morning with blowers,
and then you're setting up the sidelines, and then then
you've got to act like you just walked in and
it's time to keep on going. And so yes, it's
there's been endless hours before and it's okay, this is
what we do.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
That was one of the questions I got from some
I told a couple of friends about talking to you,
and like, I'm because I'm I'm kind of a nerve
when it comes to grounds keeping myself.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
I just think it's a really cool process.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
And they were like, how do they convert it from
the night games on Saturday to the one o'clock kickoffs?
And it kind of sounds like you're working up until
you know two was out on that field getting ready
for his pregame routine. So it's an absolute lift that
you guys do, and it's so much fun to or
so it's so impressive to see all the stuff you
guys get done. And I want to go back again
to your time in the Marine Corps because I mean,
this is such a cool honor to you know, to
(31:53):
get in the NFL, this Lootal Service honor nominee.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Here, what was?
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Do you have a memory from your time serving that
stands out above the rest. I'm sure you've got a
million memories, but do you have like a story you
could tell us about what it meant to serve orly
kind of maybe a moment that really solidified, you know,
making you a marine in that sense, Like, is there
a one moment that stands out from your career in
the Armed Forces?
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I want?
Speaker 4 (32:16):
I can honestly tell you the transition through boot camp
graduation was incredible. It's something that you hold on to. Originally,
when I was shipped to after combat school at Camp
at Camp Geiger, I went to an AS Millington. I
was actually supposed to be an air traffic controller. That's
what I tested for, and I went through the first
(32:37):
part of that, and I kept on petitioning that I
wanted to do crash fire rescue and they said, well,
if you know, don't bomb the chorus, just honestly do
it whatever, And so after I after that, I was
able to say, Hey, this is what I want to do.
Being able to do that and graduate, there's so many
(32:58):
and honestly, at this moment, I look back and there's
just a lot the experiences. At nineteen, I lived in Iwakuni,
Japan really humbled me a lot. Growing up in South Florida,
we're blessed to have so many people from so many
other places, and being from here in English speaking, all
those kind of things.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Really reflected where thirty.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
Minutes outside the base, nobody understood what I was saying,
So it really kind of reeled that in. I want
to say, that's a profound human kind of moment. But
I always tried to make each place I've gone got
to see cool things like seeing the sunrise in Japan, and.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
I was in North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
I'm a last duty station in Cherry Point, the beaches,
and just good stuff, just a lot of nothing that
I could pretty much say amazingly, but it was just
all cumultively a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
You mentioned earlier your time in the crash fire unit.
I'm so fascinating by that. Can you just take us
through what that? What does the day in the life
of a person in that field look like?
Speaker 4 (34:02):
So what it was is it's actually like I would say,
once you're in the fleet, which is what they call
and I was a wing guy, so we got.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Deployed, so there'd be a regular station. Job would be
you have lived.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
In the barracks and my roommate was a combat journalist,
which was cool because somebody different.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Than what you did.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
But you would go in, drive into work six am,
go in have formation. They would do a shift change
and the one last truck that would be out on
the airfield doing hotspot would come in and they are
would be relieved and you would work twenty four hours on.
They had bunks there and so basically they had what's
called hotspot. So you would drive a truck out and
(34:46):
you would be on the airfield and it was a
crew of four people. From your left, you had the
hand line person. The next person was the driver, the
turret man, and then the rescue man.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
So p.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
Nineteen I had a license for that pretty cool truck, firetruck,
some cool things. But then you would drive out. You'd
be like, so an NCO would be the crew chief,
so it's a corporal or above, and you would be
the driver and you go out there and something happened.
And then while you were back off not hotspot, you
would be maintaining vehicles.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
You would have classes.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
They have a gym, you know, things that you would
imagine in a normal firehouse. And twenty as long as
the airfield was open, you would have hot spot where
the trucks would be out there and you'd be on
TV lounge.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
It was pretty cool. You'd teach classes.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
That was a responsibility that and actually got you to
be more open to public speaking was the intention. So
each Blant's corporal private would have to teach a class
on something from fire extinguishers to the proper operating pressure
of a hose or something. You know, it would be
(35:56):
something not the whole truck or an individual thing that
you would have to say in front of everyone and
then they would ask questions. So that was kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I wanted to finish with this Tom because you've been
so graatecious with your time talking about your time in
the service as well as as a groundskeeper. So I
don't know if you knew this, but I was once
the head of ground somewhere at ninety forty nine to
Shooge Drive in kind of Wick, Washington.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
And I was a head.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Of grounds on my backyard football league.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Remember, And that.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Is what I had in my backyard, my parents' house.
We would spend all day paying that stuff. Nowhere near
as details what you just talked about, but that was
a winter field. There's my fo football field. I was
a big Reds fan because I just traded Griffy to
the Reds. I was a mayor's guy growing up.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Wait, but I will tell you this, beautiful. This doesn't
work out, got a job.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Sorry.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
That's a free hand dolphin logo. But I did my
best that I like that. Yeah, fifteen yard field by
a two on two football. We had a lot of
fun in that backyard.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
That is that is incredible, honestly, Like that's a that's
more than I've done where I've painted a logo or
something from someone in front of someone's yard forum or
something like that.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
But yeah, that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
We used to hang out in front of the grocery
store at lunch as we were freshman high school.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Couldn't drive our we didn't have cars.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Est we'd walk to the grocery store, get lunch, and
beg for money to get paint to paint the field
in my backyard.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
We're very obsessed with the whole process.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Hey, and I wish you kids were my neighbors.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah, it was only every single Saturday Sunday playing football.
So Tom Wilson, again, we appreciate your time so much today, sir.
It's an hour to talk to you and are to
have you on the show. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Pleasure is mine.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
It's an amazing opportunity to work for an organization. One
makes me very proud that they recognized veterans too, that
I've been able to flourish and essentially I came here
from the bottom of the positions and I've worked hard
and I've become made it to the top to be
(37:48):
their head guy.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Tom Wilson a twenty twenty five salut to service Dominee.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Again, thank you for your time today, Tommy, thank you,
and away he goes Tom Wilson, thank you. For his time.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
A little bit different of an episode than we're used
to here on the show, but that's what the bye
week brings, and we're gonna take a little bit more
of a break here and kind of get our bearings,
do some more self scouting over the weekend, and get
back to you guys next week on Tuesday. That'll be
another Hodgepodge episode here of the podcast. We're gonna move
the preview show up to Wednesday. You can all enjoy
your Thanksgiving, take a day off of listening to Dolphins football,
(38:20):
watch the NFL, of course, all three games on that Thursday,
and then we'll come back on Friday with our typical
variety show. So three shows this week, three shows next week,
and then we'll finish out the season five shows a
week up until the Dolphins are not playing football anymore.
In the meantime, you all please be sure subscribe, rate,
review the podcast. Go ahead and follow me on social
at linklind NFL the team at Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Check out the YouTube channel.
Speaker 5 (38:44):
Brand new episode of Dolphins HQ out tonight right now
out tonight Thursday night before Buffalo and Houston teed up
here on TNF and Last Button not least Miami Dolphins
dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Until next time, bring joke.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Caroline Cameron Willow Teddy, He's coming over.
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