Local Hour: The Miami Dolphins Are In The Mix
47:36 Share

You're listening to DraftKings Network.

Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. If you're a smoker or dipper looking to make a change, you really only need one reason to do it. But with Zinn Nicotine Pouches, you can find many. Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch. It's made with only six simple ingredients. There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zinn. Learn more about Zinn and find your reason to make a change by registering online at zinn.com.

Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show.

Chris, were you aware that when Mike Ryan joined Cain's Insight as a contributor and as a investor that he was greeted with massive commitment was the headline? Massive commitment. Massive commitment.

When Mike Ryan committed to Kane's insight to be somebody to be a voice for the University of Miami at a place where people still go to get their University of Miami information. He is a foremost authority. And I wish to ask his unbiased opinion on what Ian Hest has tweeted, which is that Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois. Miami lost to Georgia Tech.

Notre Dame's FPI is 10. Miami's FPI is 6. Notre Dame's strength of schedule is 78. Miami's is 19 spots higher, 59. 19 spots better, I should say, at 59. Why is Notre Dame ahead three spots ahead of Miami? Mike Ryan, neutral, positive.

informed insider yeah all the things that you uh describe definitely uh screams neutrality uh i will uh i will say that uh look notre dame doesn't play in a conference championship game if miami handles its business they'll be ranked again ahead of all these teams that you could poke holes and i actually have more of an issue with texas i think if you texas if you look at where's their quality when

A lot of people are like, well, I guess their win over Florida looks really good now. Florida had 12 starters out when they played Texas. I think that you can poke a lot of holes in that. I think Indiana has played three teams with a winning record all season long. They kind of cracked the code that you can actually have a weak schedule inside the Big Ten and only face three winning teams. There's a lot of...

There's a lot of SEC propagandizing that kind of frustrates me. But again, I'm in the camp that it is actually the best conference in America, but it is also simultaneously wildly overrated. None of this stuff matters if Miami just handles its business. I don't trust them to.

Syracuse throws the ball a ton, and that's where they're weak. And I think it's really hard to win on the road. And I love this Miami season. It's been super exciting. I thought they played terribly against Wake Forest. I mean, Powell drops a pick six, Restrepo fumbles, Cam doesn't look right the entire game, and they still win fairly easily. I...

think that this University of Miami team is better than the one that was 10-0, started 10-0 with Mark Rick. But that team that lost at Pittsburgh, I can see this team losing that game at Syracuse because of where Syracuse is strong and because it's hard to win on the road. I have the same lack of trust in Miami, but at the same time, I think they can win it all. Because who do you trust? Win it all? Who do you trust?

You've got to win it all. No, I'm not saying they're going to win it all. No, but win it all. It's not that I don't trust. It's that that defense is never allowed to win the championship, never since I've been watching college football. Who do you trust? And I say that about that defense, even knowing that Wake Forest didn't have a completion the entire second half. Whatever it was plaguing them in the first half was not plaguing them in the second half. I'm right there with you on the defense. While they were, to me, clearly the best unit on the field for Miami, they

For a month and a half, Miami's run into opponents that know exactly what to do to attack Miami and get the best results for their offensive game plan. You force Miami outside the hash marks, you make them make tackles in space, and...

Wake Forest just decided to attack the A-gap all game long. Kiko had to stay within the hash marks and just... It was the perfect opponent and really a truly horrific game plan by Wake Forest. So I think it's fair, even after probably the best defensive performance of the season, to still have your questions because...

Miami is going to get challenged by teams to actually show that they've improved some of their weaker aspects. I don't think Wake did that. That being said, I'm not sure Syracuse will do that either because they're pretty tied in their identity. McCord likes to hold onto the ball and then freak out at the very last second. He throws the ball quite a bit. I think he averages more passing yards per game than even Cam Ward. I think that team throws more than any in the country. I think it's going to be another defensively.

defensive line game. The D-line in this game is going to have the opportunity to get home. I'm encouraged by the opening line there. And if I told you before the season, year three of Mario Crisaball's program, all he has to do is beat Syracuse on the road to get to Charlotte. Every single one of you has taken it. How does the ACC determine who plays for the conference championship? The tie-breaking scenarios are kind of complicated. And I was running through this, and I think all the power conferences, Billy, need to take a look at this because we're seeing Indiana play

make it to a college football playoff in in the impossible situation of we are not exactly sure how good they are and they haven't been tested in what was supposed to be the most powerful conference in all of the land uh there's head-to-head tie-breaking scenarios but there were also tie-breaking scenarios in which you had four teams that probably would have been in the mix and only two of them played each other it was it needs to be looked at i think divisions are a way to fix it but

To answer your question, SMU is in the championship game, already headed to Charlotte. Miami will be there if they beat Syracuse. If they lose, Clemson's in. Clemson's only ahead of them because right now they've played more games. Clemson's done with their ACC schedule. How do you like, Stugatz, coming in here to tiebreaker talk? And there was somebody talking about it. I love a good tiebreaker. And an A-gap. Somebody was talking about an A-gap when you came in. Football. Everyone's ready to get started.

This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Chris Cody, I want you to get me the dump truck that recycles sound because Billy and Stugatz have just thundered in here from God Bless Football.

And I want to be careful not to be redundant because the award-winning God Bless Football comes out earlier than we do. And I don't want to get leftover materials on their best stuff from the Duke and from Stugat. So how much in-the-mix talk did you do on God Bless Football that the Dolphins are now

Firmly in the mix. We did not do any in the mix talk. We didn't even talk about the Dolphins, really, to be honest. I said one throwaway statement. Dolphins played the best game of the day yesterday. Like, start to finish, they were the best team in the NFL yesterday. It's a high wire act, and I feel like we do a pretty good job, and I knew this is what we're probably going to be doing in the local hour today, in the max hour today on YouTube and DKN and Peacock and all the places you can watch it. So I said, you know what?

I don't want to say I'm saving it because I would say still check out Godless Football. A lot of fun today. A lot of fun. Lucy's on there. We're talking about some college football. But we saved that for you, Dano. And so how much victory lap are you ready to take today? Because you told us all they would be five and six. You told us all they would be in the mix. And I want to see where you are firmly entrenched on what this team is going to be because –

I don't know what the weather is Thursday in Green Bay, but that would be your test. That would be an excellent place for the season to take one shape or another if you can go to Green Bay and do what you did against the Rams because you still haven't beaten a good team this season. Is it crazy to say that this game...

could potentially be the biggest game of Tua's career. And I say that because he can dispel so many of the doubts this weekend if he goes into a cold, bad weather, Green Bay, national TV and pulls off a win to, I mean, to get them back to 500, which is kind of like part of the statement that is not great. But like,

There's already people talking about how important Tua is to this team. You see the Matt Ryans of the world saying no one is more important to their team than Tua is. So if you can go out there and you can win this cold weather game, I feel like it's an injection of confidence, a boost, Dan, that you can take moving forward and say, you know what?

When the Bills overcome the Chiefs and then you go back and first round potentially is back in Kansas City or a rematch from last year's playoffs in the first round, then you know you can do it in the cold, potentially. However, here's the flip side. And this is the dirty part that we don't want to talk about, that no one wants to talk about. The flip side. Flip side. Mm-hmm.

This is the spot where Tua gets a concussion every single time. Jesus. National game. No one wants to talk about it. When everybody's watching. Nobody. No one wants to talk about it. Nobody talks about it. But this is prime concussion time for Tua. So we need to be very careful because it always happens in this exact scenario. No one wants to talk about it. No one's talking about that. But this could be the biggest game of his career if he is to survive it. He

He played in Kansas City last year. Playoff game. Okay, but I don't even know. Is this the right? Time to throw away all journalistic credibility and get reckless. A little late. Here is something we like to call reckless speculation.

You're good? I don't know if that's the right sound or not. I don't have the... It needed something, that sound. It's not reckless. He's just pointing out a trend. It's pretty irrefutable. Was it even him, though? I couldn't tell because there was a mystery voice speaking there. Was that Billy? I didn't hear who said that. It seemed like he was in character. Those are the people who want to talk about it, but they're not talking about it. I just said this could be the biggest game of his career, potentially.

That's what you said. But then in a different voice, you were saying this is the spot that he always, this is the spot that America frets for him. Who said that? Like right before Thanksgiving, right before Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving. I'm sorry. On Thanksgiving. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Yeah. No. Yeah, family gathered around the TV. No. It's a late one, though. We talked about this. The late game is when everybody's kind of tripped a fan. You know what I mean? Everybody's already kind of like, ooh. Yeah. Yeah.

What's interesting is that the postgame message from Mike McDaniel to his team was all about playing on Thanksgiving against the Packers in this moment. He and Calais Campbell, they were gassing this game up. They were immediately on the green bay. Thank you for mentioning Calais Campbell because evidently, and this I haven't seen a whole lot around the cold business of sports. Let's talk about the story here at the center of

of the Dolphin Huddle because Calais Campbell deserves a better ending than the one I think the Dolphins are going to give him. But it's not a better ending than the one Calais and Mike McDaniel seem to think that Calais can have here instead of with the Ravens because it would have made a lot of sense for them to just trade the oldest player in the league to the Ravens who could have used

Hey, that dude's been a menace off the edge and up the middle of your defense because he's bigger and stronger than most people. And he has been for about 10 years, maybe longer. Yeah, probably longer, right? What is it now? We're looking at almost 20 years with Calais Campbell. If you go back to watching him at the University of Miami, the Dolphins decided...

somewhere between 2-6 and 4-6 that their season could be salvaged. And 5-6, even though it's ridiculous to talk about what Billy's talking about, which is, whee, 12 games in, you're 6-6. That's not what this season of expectations was about. But the 49ers feel different at 5-6 than the Dolphins do.

Do it five and six, because when Tua plays for the Dolphins, what Billy says is right. Matt Ryan is saying no player clearly is more important to their team than this one is because the offense looks completely different. They've been playing. It's not just the toying with the no look passes and all the ball handling that he does that, you know, has everybody in the league, Chris Sims included on God bless football, calling him the guy who's best player.

with the football, it's that they were using so much motion yesterday. You go from what we were watching in that month-long stretch where they were 1-3 and they couldn't get to 20 points against anybody to the way they play with Tua. It's startling to see the difference. The obvious difference when you talk about the Niners and the Dolphins is the Niners are falling apart. Their players are getting hurt.

The Dolphins are getting healthy right now, specifically at that position. And Tua's been great. The last two games, seven touchdowns, no interceptions, 128.5 passer rating. He has been great, Tua. Against nobody. Against nobody. But, Dan, you know what? Waddle looks better.

Jonu Smith is amazing. Like, the team just looked better when Tua is running that offense, obviously. Dan, to your point on motion, it was their highest rate of the season yesterday. 93.7% of their plays had motion. You also saw yesterday Skylar Thompson be Skylar Thompson yet again. Like, you try to get Tua some rest. The game is a complete blow. You're like, you know what? We made it through. Dominating performance. He looks great. Let's rest him up. Short week. Going to play on Thanksgiving. Skylar Thompson comes in and says,

Nah, nah. Let's have a little fun. Let's give the other team the ball. Have them run back the other way for a touchdown. Two up back in there, buddy. We can't afford to lose this game. Football yesterday, I texted Chris Cody and Stugatz a half hour before the 1 p.m. game. So I'm like, oh, man, today's the one that hurts you guys. You guys love those big favorites on the road in a season. Yeah.

When getting points is obviously the thing to do because all of these games are so close. And both of you said you were threatening to have a bye week for gambling during the 1 o'clock games because the 1 o'clock games were so bad. Yeah. Think about this, okay? Think about the magic of this stupid sport.

At 1255, Chris Cody and Stu Gotts, legitimate degenerates, the both of them. Thanks. Thinking about a bye week on gambling, these 1 o'clock games, woof.

I was actually telling you that even gambling on these games will not make these games exciting. That's what you were saying. Yes, you were thinking about taking a gambling bye week just to get ready for December, for Thanksgiving, for the postseason. And then what happens? All at about the same time. There goes Patrick Mahomes running for 33 yards. Woo, the Chiefs escape. Oh, the Bears got an onside kick. Whoever recovers those, tie game.

Oh, the Titans beat the Texans. Really? No one saw that coming. And then also, the Cowboys are going to win on the road, are they? That finish. And it's going to be four touchdowns in three minutes at the end of the game when all of you thought the under was coming in when it was whatever it was, 3-0 at the half. It was the best Sunday in NFL history. Unbelievable. It's just unbelievable. Football. Football.

crap games, all of them. But they're just close. And they got stakes. And five and six is in the mix. Was that the best witching hour of the season? Unbelievable. It lasted two hours. It was two hours. There was a Hail Mary in one, but no, he's right. Overtime went into, it bled into the 425 games. Hanson was disoriented. Laughter

He was confused. I wanted to ask you guys on the U.M. broadcast on Saturday, I believe Mark Jones, who has been doing this for a really long time and has enjoyed it for a really long time and has gotten so good and confident at it,

Did the single most Miami broadcast I have ever heard on a national game. And furthermore, I'm pretty sure he was doing this on purpose. Use an assortment of polysyllabic words just to do it.

Just because he wanted to call the University of Miami defense intransigent. Somebody fumbled and he's like, oh, he regurgitated that one. He did it like a dozen times and I'm convinced he's playing with his friends where he's like, I bet you I get this word in today. Like he's fooling around because they're words I've never heard on a sports broadcast.

Definitely a Miami broadcast. Gave the location of the stadium, Dan Marino Boulevard, 27th Avenue. Oh, Carroll City, Liberty City, Overtown. Miami Gardens. He was saying where he got married. I've never heard such a Miami broadcast done nationally that way. Where'd he get married? I love it.

So it's church nearby. He was going to have service there the next day at 10 a.m. But that's a key. You like the broadcaster to kind of know the city of the team that he's calling. He knew it too much. Delay the land. He knew too much. He was showing off. But can you guys get him on for me? I want to ask him both these questions. It seemed like he was fooling around with his friends. He continued to use words no one uses on a sports broadcast. And I'm thinking to myself, oh, this is Mark Jones who's just bored.

He's just bored at the end of the season, and he wants to amuse himself because he's better than Miami Wake Forest. What are you making faces at, Mike Ryan? Top 10 matchup right there. Better than Miami Wake Forest. It was one top 10 team and Wake Forest. Nobody wants to watch Wake Forest on the national game. Put it on the poll at Levitard Show. Have you ever wanted to watch Wake Forest on the national game in football? The Deacs.

Roy, that still gets you after all these years. Yes, it does. Absolutely. After all of these years, him just saying the Deeks, Roy, it has no reason within any reasonable realm for you to still find that funny after 20 years. It will forever.

Hey, podcasters. It's Mike Ryan. And let me tell you something. The NBA's got a lot going for it right now. Bright young stars hitting the court. Teams playing exciting brands of basketball. And celebrities everywhere you look courtside. It's no wonder why tickets are in demand. Let me tell you about my favorite on the secondary ticket marketplace, and that is...

GameTime and their amazing new feature called GameTime Picks. It makes getting tickets to see your favorite teams play live even easier. GameTime Picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. With GameTime Picks, it helps make curation easier to save more on sports, concerts, comedy, theater, and whatever else tickles your fancy. Also, they've got all-in pricing. This feature is huge.

It's game time today.

Don Levitard. While there's nothing official and conversations are still ongoing. Was that a fake Schefter? I tried. It was pretty good. It was excellent. I feel like there's legs. I tried at the beginning and then I lost confidence in it. Why? It was good. You got this. There's nothing official. It's so good. Conversations are still ongoing. Stugatz. It is trending towards Nick Sirianni remaining the head coach of the Eagles. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz. Stugatz.

Something you mentioned on the Shadow Show as it pertains to Miami's defense, you said, when does that defense ever have a shot? Jeremy and I were looking through these CFB scores.

The bad defense is a plenty like always you need to score like 45 to have a shot to win this thing. There has only been one team in the history of the college football playoff era to win a national championship game with fewer than 30 points in that game. And that was Alabama the year they won in overtime against Georgia with two attack of Aloha. How many teams in college football do you trust on both sides of the ball?

this year. This is the thing, though. Okay, look, I would have liked Indiana to not have special team calamities this weekend because I would have liked to have seen Ohio State tested by Indiana. That game didn't appear close because they had two intergalactic mistakes on special teams, and then they were winning, and then they're down very quickly, and Ohio State wasn't even able to be tested. I would have liked to see more Indiana, but...

Where I see flaws everywhere because Notre Dame, you can make the argument that they look better than anybody and they lost to Northern Illinois at home. Who lost to Ball State, which is the worst team I've ever seen in my entire life. Miami beat Ball State 62 to something. And so, yes, all the teams are flawed and Oregon went to Wisconsin and barely won. But they won. But among the top 12 teams that I'm looking at, I've seen very few weaker total units.

than Miami's defense. I think that's a safe criticism, but I also think it's not something that they can't overcome. It might be matchup dependent. They ran into opponents for a full month that were just attacking their weaknesses. Everybody left on their schedule potentially is a team that will stick to their identity. I think that they're going to have to ascend. They're going to have to get some guys back. Tamari Brown might help with that. But like we've been saying for the last few weeks,

I don't see a dominant team in the nation. And I think if Miami gets a C-plus effort on defense in those crucial games, they've got a shot. And here is where I would like you to help me out. Because while I am on board with the idea that the SEC is overrated, but I'm also soaked in the bias of many years of watching all the best athletes go to the SEC.

I just saw Alabama not do anything against Oklahoma, and it was disorienting to me. I didn't even understand it. Oklahoma I thought was a bad team. They stink. I thought Oklahoma was bad, and then all of a sudden I see a quarterback who's been running all over the field, Alabama, all of a sudden gets seven points, and I'm confused by it. But from what I've seen of all of them this season, I really don't know whether it's my bias talking or not here, Stugatz, because my bias should be

toward whatever the University of Miami is, I would make them a seven-point underdog against a Georgia. So I've seen those things. And again, with lines, you never know because the motivation there is to get action. But I've seen like college football playoff insiders has matchup predictive analysis and they got that within like four points. So Georgia's

was in a 10-point game against UMass in the third quarter. Georgia, like, you could, if Georgia and Lagway, they're a hammy injury away from losing at a neutral site to Florida. Like, Georgia is not the same team. I don't think anybody is really all that good. Maybe you can feel the best about Oregon, but they were in a dogfight against Idaho to start the year.

But Georgia's losses came against Mississippi and Alabama. Alabama lost to Vanderbilt. Texas has some bad losses or any bad loss on their schedule. Texas doesn't have a good win. I'm telling you. But Georgia doesn't have a bad loss, I guess is what I'm saying. Just where are we going with the losses? A bad loss is still a loss. Okay, this is what I will be willing to say then, what I have seen from the University of Miami this season and saying is,

It's the best quarterback production they've ever had. It's the best offense they've ever had. If they're to win anything, it's because their defense will have to be something that can be overcome by its offense being the best. Their defense being the worst has to be overcome by their offense being the best. But...

From all of the University of Miami teams that I have seen play for and win the championship, legitimately compete for the championship, if this team were to have done so, it can only be because it's the most diluted, weakest crop of parity that you've ever seen in your life. Because this Miami team doesn't look appreciably better than the others to me at anything but offense. What you're saying doesn't really compete with me. Most diluted...

Parody? What I'm saying is that's not a championship team is what I'm saying. That defense is so bad that cannot... Sure it is. Because you grew up, most of your life, championship teams looked like that. Looked like the teams this nation. You and a lot of your media brethren

need to break yourselves of what college football looked like for the last 20 years. This is not the monopoly of the SEC where they play by different rules and all the guys getting drafted essentially go to four schools. The talent opened up. Pavi is in Vanderbilt and he and his boys are going to be a pill for you to swallow. Like it's a difficult decision

different day and age and you're going to have teams that you'd maybe assign an A- to instead of an A- that are going to win these titles. But what Dan is saying is he has seen in his opinion, and he's entitled to that, he is saying he has seen Miami teams that didn't win the national championship, and I agree with him,

the Testaverde team that didn't win a national championship that's better than this team, more talented than this team. We're several years into this whole new world. Washington was playing in the national championship game last year. We saw TCU lose 65-7 in a national championship game. We've seen them go to the very heights

all the way to the bottom. You guys got to understand it's a different sport now. Okay, and that's what I'm saying is the only way that they can win the championship. If it's such a different sport that that defense can be a champion, when in my lifetime, no, it can't. Great second greatest team. The entire time I've been living, that defense can't be a champion. And the second greatest football team I've ever seen was Joe Burrow's LSU.

I love playing this game. Name a defender. Agreed. Name a defender on that team. Stingley was the best defensive player on that team. That was an overwhelming offense. More overwhelming than this one. That was an overwhelming football team. Not playing a bunch of close games against five and six and six and five teams. Who isn't playing close games? There's close games about. We just saw how many four teams in the top ten lose to unranked teams. Winning is hard. Harder than ever.

I am going to continue to tell you guys and the audience as someone who has been an advocate for how much fun and how interesting this team is. I did not believe that the Mark Richt team looked in any way like a champion over the course of that season. This unit that the University of Miami has, and I'm talking about their quarterback when I say this unit, but I'm talking about their offense when I say this unit, it

is better than anything I have seen do offensive production at the University of Miami. But when I see how vulnerable they are to somebody who can just put together a 17 play drive but doesn't need it because they keep doing it in six because they cannot stop anybody, you need Cam Ward to never have the game he had against Wake Forest against somebody who's playoff worthy because they immediately lose the

game, the way they almost lost at Cal, the way they could have lost against Virginia Tech, and the way they did lose against Georgia Tech. Defense wins championships, but Mike is saying this is a new sport. We need to watch it differently. The best defense is a good offense. And what I'm saying is the last time the University of Miami was on the road, they lost to an inferior team playing two quarterbacks, one of whom was in the game to throw, and they knew it, one of whom was in the game to run, and they knew it, and they held the

ball all game long with a bad offense. And what I'm saying is when you face the good teams, in my experience, that University of Miami team isn't good enough. Doesn't look like a champion to me. So you have to tell me that the sport is totally different in order for them to win a championship in it. That's exactly what we're telling you because I don't think that you can really point to any team and say they're really solid in all three phases and they're not going to get sniped by one of these other teams. And yeah, I would actually...

Look, the defense only gave up seven points against Wake Forest. They were really good against Wake Forest, who had an abysmal game plan. I think you're right to actually fixate on some of the offensive troubles that we've seen lately, but where I would say is room for encouragement is Cam Ward has shown you that he's not a one-trick pony. In that game, here's where you can be encouraged.

His yards per attempt were the fewest, I think, of all season long because he's just taken what the defense is going to give him, which was why they lost to Georgia Tech, because he felt like he had to score a touchdown every time out. It was also, and you can chart this, the fewest amount of time that he took to throw. And I know he had an abysmal interception in that game, but he's showing you that he's learning to put his team in a better position.

position. It was a fluky game. You had that fumble by Restrepo that was uncharacteristic. You had a perfect dime of a touchdown pass fall through Jacoby George's arms. I think Miami, if they handle business, you look at their offensive numbers, they get a bye. They're pretty well positioned. I mean...

I'm a little sad at how this is going today, Dan. It's Thanksgiving week. I'm not saying that it's time to do our turkeys of the year or what we're thankful for. It's a great time to be a South Florida sports fan. You have the University of Miami. If you like the University of Miami, they could be playing for a conference championship. For what? First time in a long time. They've never won the ACC. They're right in the mix to be in the college football playoffs. You have the Dolphins who are in the mix who could be competing for a Super Bowl this year. Yep.

You have a Heat team that's right in the mix also. The best hockey team in the world. In the end season tournament. You have a lot to be thankful for. They are in the mix. We can't tell the seating yet because we're still in the play-in rounds of the group stages of the IST, but they could win very well, make it advance in the IST. There's a lot to be thankful for right now.

FIU is kind of imploding, but we maybe get rid of Mike McIntyre because that whole situation was crazy last week. We don't need to get into that. Who's that guy? Why is he back? Coach Mack? I like it. We don't need to get into it. We're not getting into that. You know what? The dawn of a new day may be coming down at the...

Cage over there. Fine. You want to be positive, guys? Pitbull Stadium is here. I mean, this has been a great sporting season, a great time to be thankful for. What are you thankful for? You sound very holiday buoyant there, and you sound like you're trying to uplift the show. Is that the right word? He saved this for you. I mean...

With the effervescence of opening a champagne bottle. Effervescence is a good band. Remember them? On Monday mornings when you're more prone to interrupt me than any of the other days because you come in all heated from a football weekend and you've got a lot of opinions and you've let it fly on God bless football.

See,

See how you can save on wireless and streaming versus the other big guys at T-Mobile.com slash switch. Apple intelligence available now.

Stugatz here for LinkedIn. When you're hiring for your small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. As Metalark Media continues to grow as a content studio, we strive to hire only the best and most qualified candidates. Thankfully, with LinkedIn, they have made it easy for us to find them. LinkedIn isn't just a job board.

LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else. Even those who aren't actively searching for a new job, but might be open to the perfect role. In a given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're looking in the wrong place.

On LinkedIn, 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours. Hire professionals like a professional on LinkedIn. 2.5 small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash prep. That's linkedin.com slash P-R-E-P to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

Don Levitard. That was a long story. Yeah. It's the only kind he tells. It's a short one for me. I tried to speed it up for you guys. You forgot about the League's Cup. Stugatz. Yeah. La Careta is a place where the best of the celebrations has to be the 97 Marlins celebration because it was Levante. Well, when Fidel died the first time. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz. ♪♪

But if you want me to be positive, positive voice guy, I will try. I will attempt to be, are you ready? Okay. Instead of blaming, like, I don't know. I don't know what you guys thought the interesting results were yesterday, whether it's the Cowboys somehow doing that at Washington and now putting in peril. What, what,

looked like it was going to be an 8-2 start to Washington season. And all of a sudden, they're floundering, and the Eagles and Saquon Barkley look like they're right at the top of the entire conference and the only thing that could fist fight the Detroit Lions offensive line. Offensive line to offensive line. Philadelphia against Detroit healthy. I think we'd all like to watch that. But when you looked at the Cowboys win and Tennessee wins, and we're like, what is that?

What is that? Will Levis has a pick six and they win. I thought Will Levis in the pick six was supposed to result in Will Levis. That's how he loses every time. They're going to win on the road at Houston. But if you want me to be positive, here it is. The Detroit Lions who go against the Colts and make it look easy, make winning on the road look easy, have more ways to beat you than any team in the sport. Ho-hum.

The Chiefs have a terrible point differential for a 10-1 team. The Lions will swamp you. I've never seen a Lion team be a 14-point favorite the way they were against Jacksonville last week. Never seen it. The Lions haven't had this team since 1934.

1934. Is that 40 years before the Super Bowl? That's the Great Depression. That's around the Great Depression. That's before World War II. I think it was towards the end of the Great Depression. Babe Ruth was playing baseball. Yes. The last time the Lions were this good. So you're being positive. Yes. Yeah. Yes. A rare positive with a mention of the Great Depression. Right.

The Lions are great. They're overwhelming. They need to lose a game. They are getting hot at the wrong time. I'm telling you right now. They might want to sprinkle in a loss, and Dan Campbell needs to tell his players if you're going to get hurt, get hurt this week. What are you doing? You already did this take on God bless football. I did. Twice. Billy set me up. He told me to give you the fastball. I did. It's so disrespectful. Catcher call for the number one.

It's so disrespectful. Listen to me, what you just did. You reheated that cold shit you did at God Bless Football. You reheated it and you did. And you did. Well, it's cold this morning. I'm wearing a jacket. We're all wearing jackets. We all broke into our winter. It's all shit this morning is cold, is it not? Yeah. The winter's blown in. It's almost 50 degrees. Right.

What happened? You were pointing at me and were disrespectful in my face by just reheating something you already said on God Bless Football. You can't even look at me right now because you're so ashamed because you went into performance of doing something that's already appeared on another podcast. Just playing the hits, Dano. That's what I'm doing.

I'm telling you, you've won nine straight. Like, you might want to mix in a loss before the playoffs reset. You know, the team gets grounded. It's like Mike Tomlin. He loved that loss. Now you're recycling the take that you just had seconds ago. You know what Tomlin loves to do? He loves to reset. He loves a good loss. It grounds his team. You mentioned Mike Tomlin. I'm in charge. We're not good enough. This was the best thing that happened in football this weekend. This is Mike Tomlin being asked about Antonio Brown during a press conference.

Tony O'Brown tweeted out that he wants to return to the Steelers and he'll play for free. Any thoughts on that? Walks off. Can you guys just keep playing that? Like, just play it a couple of more times so that I can just watch his face. It's the correct way to handle everything there. Tony O'Brown tweeted out that he wants to return to the Steelers and he'll play for free. Any thoughts on that?

Tony O'Brown tweeted out that he wants to return to the Steelers and he'll play for free. Any thoughts on that? Tony O'Brown tweeted out that he wants to return to the Steelers and he'll play for free. Any thoughts on that? Billy, what do you make of Calais Campbell not being? We are getting the positive syrupy Thanksgiving stories of Calais Campbell was not traded because Mike McDaniel stepped in. See, that's the guy right there. He has faith, Dan. He didn't give up on that team.

He stepped in. They were about to trade him to the Ravens. And he said, no, we're not out of it yet. You know why? We're in the mix. It's interesting that he gave that much, Mike McDaniel, there. Because he could have just been like, oh, we're moving on. Yeah, there's a lot of deals that almost happened. He gave voice to, yeah, that almost happened. And I threw an adult-type temper tantrum. That's his exact quote, which is pretty cool.

The idea that we have gone from the Dolphins were 2-6 and going to play at the Rams, Stugatz, and if they'd lost that game, the season would have been lost. And then they have three games against three teams that aren't very good. The Rams are the best of them, but the Raiders aren't any good. And now we are officially in an era where the Patriots are to the Dolphins what the Dolphins are to the Bills.

Tua's 7-0 against the Patriots. The Patriots can't do anything against Tua, and Tua can't do anything against the Bills. And in the division, that makes some of the hope of 5-6 flatten when you think of the Bills being four games up or whatever they are in the division. I thought I saw a stat yesterday that Tua is undefeated against the Bills. Or, sorry, he's undefeated against the Jets. He's undefeated against the Patriots. That's true. Can't beat the Bills. Hmm.

I think he has one win against the Bills. He has two games left against the Jets, though. I mean, the Dolphins have a real shot to be a wildcard team here. They do. And I view that, and I've got to be positive about this, but I view that as a bit of a purgatory when you're that much worse than the team that's top of the division, going to get the bye, and now you've got to beat. You understand. I understand that what we just did with college football, we could do it with the

pros it's the genius of football I'm telling you professional football this is the genius of it you're in a playoff game and tomorrow you have to play the Texans we got a shot no matter who you are we got a shot against the Texans and so you can talk yourself into yeah the Dolphins can go on the road and beat Baltimore and beat Pittsburgh and beat Houston and beat the Chiefs and then you don't win a playoff game for 20 years like because you're not quite as good as the Bills and

you're not as good as the Bills, hard stop. But Dan, one of the reasons I'm saying this team has a chance, they have two of the Jets, they have the Cleveland Browns, they have San Francisco who's banged up, and they actually go to Houston and they play Houston. And Houston's a team they're trying to track

down in the AFC. And so there is an opportunity. I'm not saying they're going to get it done. And I understand what you're saying. If they get there, what are they going to do? But there is an opportunity to get there. And if I told you that four or five weeks ago, you would have laughed me out of the room. In fact, you did. Well, you did. You guys did say this. You said the schedule was going to do exact this exact show.

What do you consider a success? Because, like, if they make it to the playoffs and they win a game, is that a success? Because, like, they're not... They're not compared... They're not at the same level as the Bills in terms of their record, right? But, like, they played the Bills a couple weeks ago pretty tight. And we were even discussing should they have gone for a two-point conversion to win that game. So, they played the Bills tight. I mean...

Aside from the Bills. Billy, they played the Bills tight in a playoff game with Skyler Thompson. Well, he was the reason they lost that game. But they always lose to the Bills. The Bills are better. We can, look, we're not going to have this discussion. No, the Bills are better, but what do you consider a success? Super Bowl or bust for the Dolphins because they're not there. The fact that

we're still talking about this team 11 games in i can consider success from three games ago but you do realize last year we were talking greg cody said they're gonna win the super bowl and this season of expectations wasn't five and six 11 games in like this but it was supposed to be a quarterback it was supposed to be a given that they would be at least here correct

Like, not three games back in the division. At least here, in the mix, 12 games in. Yeah, if they didn't lose their quarterback for four games. Like, they lost their quarterback for a significant chunk of the season. And went 1-3 during that. Correct. That's why. But they've got six losses. Like, they've got six losses 12 games in and haven't beaten a good team yet. Like, what?

What? Show me. They beat the Rams. You saw what the Eagles just did to the Rams, right? Now I've gone negative again. Right, not certain the Rams are any good. I mean, no, your point about they haven't beaten a good team yet is totally fair. They haven't. I'm just picturing what this league would be like if all teams thought the way you want them to think. We're the seventh seed. We're not even going to play that playoff game. You know what? Forgive me. The Chiefs wouldn't have played a playoff game last year. We're never going to win the Super Bowl. Let me say it a different way then. Let me say it a different way. Okay.

The country does not believe that the Miami Dolphins can beat a good football team. The country, that is. I don't believe in the Dolphins. I don't believe in them. Are you including Miami? I'm saying the country does not believe that. Look, this has been the narrative for two seasons, Stugatz. It hasn't changed. The country doesn't believe the Tua can win you a road playoff game.

off game playing well. That has not changed. It may be changed in Miami. It has not changed elsewhere. That was the story at the end of last season. McDaniel gave voice to that this offseason, and that has been the story the first half of the season. They still have not beaten anybody. I get it, but I'm guessing the country also didn't think the Giants would win the two Super Bowls they won as a wild card with Eli Manning, and they went out and won those Super Bowls. Like,

Okay, the odds are stacked against them, and no one thinks they can get it done, but that doesn't mean they can't. It kind of does. What if they beat the Packers? Does that change anything? If they beat the Packers? Or then they just beat one good team? No, if they beat the Packers, then halfway through, or two-thirds of the way through a season in which they lost their quarterback for a month, they will be .500, which isn't where they were supposed to be when we started talking about everyone's all in on the Dolphins this season. But they were supposed to lose their quarterback.

They weren't supposed to lose their quarterback. That's what we're forgetting. You're predicting that they will lose their quarterback Thursday night. I am not. No. No.

Who said that? Let's just get ahead of this right now. I am not predicting they will lose their quarterback. I do not want them to lose their quarterback. I am not rooting for anyone to get injured. Okay? If said things should happen, do not come at me. Billy was right. Billy's happy. None of that. I don't want this to happen. I'm just saying, historically, this is when it does happen. Wow. That's all I'm saying. Hmm.

I don't want it to happen. I'm not predicting it. I'm not rooting for it. I'm rooting against it. Very strongly am I rooting against this happening. Billy, I'm sorry to have done this to you, but you are cornered, okay? Because you have put all of the packing peanuts around it that you can't. I'd put packing peanuts in his helmet if I could. But...

You predicted earlier that this is the situation that this always happens in. And we all recoiled. We recoiled as a show. Do you know how rare that is for all of us to recoil as a show? No. We did. That's like saying Jim Cantore is rooting for Category 5s to hit certain spots so he can be right. No. He's just reading a map. That's all I'm doing. I'm just reading a map and I'm telling you how this has gone historically in the past.

potentially this is something to look out for. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm rooting for it. I want it to happen. I don't want it to happen. I'm rooting against it. I want to be wrong. Dan, unlike you, I want to be wrong. I learned from you. I want to be wrong. Let me say scandalous thing and then say I want to be wrong. I came in happy today, legitimately happy to talk about the Dolphins. Yes, because I'm wrong.

Because when they went from 2-6 to 3-6, they did indeed save their season because you were right. You said they would be easy games against the Raiders and Patriots. And I'm like, easy games? They're the easy game on everyone's schedule. And now they are 5-6 and we're doing exactly the show that you predicted a couple of weeks ago we would do. I hope on Friday we're not doing the show you previously predicted we're going to be doing on Friday because two is hurt again on Thursday night. We won't be. It's a holiday. Also, that Tomlin video, totally fake.

What? When you're hiring for your small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. As MetalArk Media continues to grow as a content studio, we strive to hire only the best and most qualified candidates. Thankfully, with LinkedIn, they've made it easy for us to find them. LinkedIn isn't just a job board. LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else.

even those who aren't actively searching for a new job but might be open to the perfect role. In a given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're looking in the wrong place. On LinkedIn, 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours. Hire professionals like a professional on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash prep. That's linkedin.com slash prep to

to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

How do you feel when you switch to GEICO and save on your car insurance? It's like going to work on one Thursday morning and thinking to yourself, just one more day until Friday. But then somebody in the elevator says, Happy Fri-yay! Then you check your phone quickly and discover today is actually Friday. So yes, Happy Fri-yay, random stranger in the elevator. Happy Fri-yay indeed. Yep, switching and saving with GEICO feels just like that. Get more with GEICO.