Game-By-Game Schedule Recipe For Miami Dolphins Meeting Expectations In 2024

Intro the Miami Dolphins 2024 schedule has been wellestablished for months now but we're looking at things through a Different Light here today when locked on dolphins you are locked on dolphins your daily Miami Dolphins podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day all right Miami welcome to another episode of lockon dolphins it is your team every day here on the lockon network I'm your host KY Krabs a lifelong Miami Dolphins fan host of lockon dolphins co-host of lockon NFL scouting you can find our shows on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast tip of the cap to our every dayers because it is your team every day we don't just say it we live Joint Practice Recap it here on the lockon network today's episode of lockon dolphins is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply the Dolphins coming off of joint practices against the Washington commanders yesterday one and done for the joint practices preseason game tomorrow so we got a little bit of a lull uh in between the joint and the the pre-season game itself to be determined who is going to play amongst the starters credit Washington you know they came out hot offensively Miami down a couple of key guys but you get to go out there and perform with who you got the Dolphins in the joint practice yesterday Jane Daniels very successful Red Zone period sounded like the team bounced back really well you got into into some other team situations and the pass rush really heated him up the Dolphins created several turnovers and practice off of Daniels including uh kind of a cool subplot in storyline is Kendall Fuller wears the orange Jersey against his former team and on the last play of practice gets an interception in a simulated team setting so uh that that's fun and uh we we'll see who gets a chance to go tomorrow in the preseason game I didn't think there'd be a lot of value me speculating with us not knowing really who's going to suit up and who's not so we'll just react to the game after it happens in the same way that I wanted to touch base on the joint practice but me not being there and and not really getting a chance to talk to some of the people that I would usually talk to to help give me the right perspective on practice uh didn't think my time with you would be best spent trying to piece together uh the right talking points out of something that I didn't see and I didn't get to get the soundboard off of anybody who was there so instead we're doing one of the big shows from last year that every really enjoyed been getting asked Kyle when are you doing this for the the 2024 season today's the day it's your lucky day if you've been asking looking at the schedule through a little bit of a Different Light obviously who you play and the order in which you play them uh it can help push things for or against your favor and your lik who do a football game and you also have quality of teams to account for and uh when I did this for the Dolphins last year you looked at layups games that you should win I think also kind of just broke out the division and said the the the fastest track to winning your division or to to winning enough games to make the playoffs is to win your division the way you do that as you win play or win division games right Dolphins won four division games last year they needed five or they needed four and a different four uh than what they got so I decided to kind of do away with the divisional narrative and instead look at um games that you as Dolphins fan know that if a Dolph the Dolphins lose one of the games in bucket X on the schedule it hurts a lot because you're really banking on that one being a win if they lose a game in bucket why it kind of hurts but you know you got wiggle room at least early in the schedule amongst those games you're going to have to make up the ground later and then you've got a collection of games that I have that I think if you take care of business in the other areas of the schedule what you do in the alak cart bucket of games is really good to determine whether or not you're a wild card team whether you're playing at home or you're really high seed or you're sitting sitting at home if you if you completely flop in that bucket all together so it's kind of it's It's almost like confidence points looking at games on the schedule and case in point the Dolphins we we mentioned they won four division games last year and one of the ones they lost was um uh a game in week 18 that they needed to get to 12 wins but if they'd want a different game somewhere else uh maybe they would have not needed that week 18 game so theoretically if you would have not lost the game that we had labeled at the beginning of the year as a layup and that you were up 14 points in the final five minutes of that game I think that's why a lot of people felt it it was not just a Monumental collapse but it was the understanding of this is a game you were banging on having based on what that team was supposed to be and sure enough they picked in the top 10 and you still dro the game spoiler alert Tennessee not in the layup bucket this year we'll not do that again there are few games that I consider to be layups on the schedule games that you should win there's three and I think that's good news for the rest of the schedule last year there were four games the Dolphins went three and one in those layup games and the one that they lost cost them dearly at the end of the year I think the less layup games you have that you're banking on obviously you'd like to have a few games that you have a very high confidence that you're going to win but even the games that you you should win bucket it's a healthy group this year there's six games in that bucket so layups three games who should win six that's at nine so the alak carts really going to determine how high in the pecking order you get in in potential playoff field so let's start with these layup games who are they the first two are games that were played against the team or our games that are played against the team that played last night the New England Patriots are going to not be a very competitive football team this year and the Dolphins have had success against New England as of late that success needs to continue if you drop a game that you shouldn't to New England this year shame on you as the Dolphins and it will dearly hurt your outlook unless you really kick butt in the alicart area of your schedule but at New England you play that one first it's not a cold weather game and then you get New England later in the year I think around week 10 or 11 and that one is at home um between the coaching staff changes the offensive system changes they just traded Matt judon uh they have a a health issue with Christian barmore who's their other best defensive lineman who's kind of Mia uh with blood clots and you hope to see him back on the field as soon as possible but his absence hurts that team significantly you're potentially looking at jacobe brassette starting the first game that's a week five game um those are games you as the Dolphins as the Dolphins fan base you should expect your team to win both games against New England like to the point where I would consider them layup games on the schedule as much of a layup game as there is in the NFL and if you don't show up on any given week you will lose case in point what happened last year in a layup game against team that picked in the top 10 but there's enough questions with New England there's enough Talent disparity and then the where each team is respectively at you look at those two games and then you acknowledge the team has had success against New England recently and you say you should win those two games not only should you win those two games you should expect to win those two games the only other game I have on the schedule that I consider to be in the layup category as a game that would really hurt if you lose it is the Arizona Cardinals uh and the reason why is you look at the talent that Arizona has to come their West Coast team coming east for an early kick home field advantage time change Advantage Talent disparity this team has drafted a ton of players they got a lot of young players they a talented quarterback in Kyler Murray but Kyler Murray largely where he wins is extended plays and outside the numbers and down the field he's not a big middle- of the field Target area where's Miami's biggest weakness been from a defense perspective and they've tried to address it this offseason they've gotten hurt by backs and tight ends and slot receivers over the middle of the field so you take that element with a really young roster a team that wants to run the ball and if you want to run the ball and if the team is able to put up points against you like we expect Miami is going to be capable of doing what does that mean for your game script doesn't give you a large margin for error and if you just acknowledge who the Cardinals have on their death chart right now defensively the starting death chart Bal Nichols Roy Lopez Justin Jones Dennis Gard Kaiser white Mack Wilson zav Collins Shaw Murphy bunting Buddha Baker Jaylen Thompson Max Melton Garrett Williams uh other prominent rookies on the two deep first round pick Darius Robinson third round pick Elijah Jones fourth round pick Adrien Taylor demerson um it it it's a lot of Youth and it's a lot of inexperience and it's it's a that is probably another year foundational year away from kind of really turning the corner you get a game like that on the schedule at home they're coming several time zones across to come play at your house that you got to win that game and that's kind of where the first part of the schedule stands as it pertains to the Dolphins now the rest of the schedule we're going to get into that next including games that you look at the Dynamics between the two teams and you say hey they should win that game if they sweep that bucket you're going to feel really good about what the Outlook looks like for the alak hard portion of the schedule that's next here on locked on GameTime Dolphins NFL season is here and perhaps you want to get a chance to head down to the stadium and catch the Dolphins play at Hard Rock stadium get your tickets through game time game time where you could save up to 60% off last minute tickets for sports concerts comedy theater and more they have Flash and Zone deals to help you maximize your savings they have Allin pricing so that you can see the total cost of your tickets no surprise fees when you put the tickets into your cart you get panoramic seat views from your seats so you know what you're signing yourself up for before you buy your tickets and a game time guarantee where if you find lower cost tickets in the same row and section for less somewhere else game time will credit you a 110% of the difference take the guest work out of buying tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms to apply again create an account redeem code locked on NFL for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets with the lowest prices Wins guaranteed games that the Dolphins should win and if you told me they win five out of six here you say okay that still gives you a lot of wiggle room with alak cart you win four out of six is probably the least comfortable I would be if you win all six that' give you nine games if you take care of your layup games um so I would say at minimum you need three quarters of these games to feel on schedule for where you want to be as a football team and they're not easy games now most of them are at home couple there's two four home games and two Road games that are in this you look at where you expect both these teams to be right now and you should win the game I've got Jacksonville week one on that in this bucket it's not to say they're going to win the game but I I think my Miami at home with the track record of what Mike McDaniel has been able to put out in early season showings with having new wrinkles uh going against Jacksonville with new defensive coordinator with a team that has kind of reworked a lot of the targets for Trevor Lawrence where Miami has a little bit more continuent on the offensive side of the ball they're going to be a little bit more pressure oriented Jacksonville's off line Miami's offensive line didn't perform particularly well in the pass rush metrics or pass protection metrics last year anyway but their scheme kind of builds around that Jacksonville also did not farewell in the pass rush protection metrics and uh I I think the Dolphins offense provides a little bit more wiggle room in the way of scheming around pressure you should win that game at home season opener fans should be fired up at Seattle week three and a lot of this for me stems from uncertainty with their offensive line group a new offensive system as a whole which maybe takes away from some of the uh fortitude of of Gino SMI SM Smith being an established starter there so it kind of creates multiple questions on offense Miami has extra rest coming into this game even though they're going to the West Coast because they play on Thursday the week before and week two and then defensively there's a lot of familiarity uh I think Miami practicing against Anthony Weaver's defense will help them be prepared for playing against Mike McDonald's defense for the Seahawks I look at that game on the schedule week three and I say hey that's that's a game I think you should win Tennessee I would consider to be in this bucket again a lot of new wholesale coaching staff changes wholesale roster changes for Tennessee you are at home there is a Revenge factor that I promise you you think about the 2022 Revenge game against the Chargers the Brandon Staley game and the storyline that that carried into the week the season one opener or the week one season opener last year in 2023 and two a throws for all the yards and all the touchdowns and Miami scores all the points and wins the game um I think that element is going to very much be real again this year and you kind of have seen Mike McDaniel in some of the glimpses behind the curtain be very transparent and with with his team and taking that kind of stuff head on so I think Miami has more high-end talent I think Miami is a little further ahead you know they have a rookie coach with a second-year quarterback that is largely an unknown factor go ahead put me they don't have Derrick Henry which is nice uh so go ahead and put me down I I consider that to be a game that you should win and a reminder at minimum the Dolphins need to win out two out of every three of these games so the first first three on the schedule in the first four weeks so at minimum if you're looking at two and two depending on where the wins come in the first four weeks that could potentially be on schedule you'd like to be ahead of that pace if you're going to really exceed expectations this year the next game I have down at Indianapolis you're coming off of a buy you have an early buy this year you got to go to Indie their offense going to be very run oriented much like Arizona got Anthony Richardson a quarterback that can run the ball have Jonathan Taylor obviously with the explosive plays that he's able to create but the big question with Indianapolis is they're secondary they're the guys that they have in the secondary the Colts fans have been begging their team to add either quandre Diggs or Justin Simmons both of those players off the market now Simmons signs in Atlanta and a secondary for Indianapolis that has seconde corners Juju Brent and Jaylen Jones projected as starters Kenny Mor the Nichols a great player but then Nick cross and Julian Blackman Blackman's a good player too but uh that secondary and they've lost Samson ebukam for the year already defensively I feel like that has enough matchups for Miami coming off of a buy you should expect to have success in that game Raiders at home has a quarterback disparity there Raiders are tough out they're not going to be an easy team defensively to have success against between Christian Wilkins being added to Max Crosby uh they got some really physical guys on the back end in the back seven their linebackers can really thump but I do think Miami speed can test them and you're at home it's another West Coast team that's coming east for an early game and the quarterback situation the grand mystery there with the Raiders is it going to be Aiden OK Connell a quarterback by that point in the year again the Dolphins played him last year um Miami aided a lot of the points that got put on the board with self-inflicted wounds last year don't do that don't be too and scramble and fumble and give the Raiders ball in plus territory and give them three points don't come out to start the second half and have a turnover and set the Raiders up on a short field right like that should you don't do those things you win that game comfortably so so that's a game I expect the Dolphins to win they also lost the entire right side of their offensive line and Josh Jacobs the Jets at home you've had recent success at a high degree against the Jets uh it's late enough in the year where some of their players you know for all the injury discussion points that happen with the dolphins the Jets are a team that has a lot of talent uh that has some of those same questions and I I don't think a it is unreasonable to expect at minimum a split with the New York Jets this season the Jets make it on that list as well so three layups games that you have to win and if they don't it really hurts you're GNA have to really work to make up that ground elsewhere Both patriots games in Arizona six games that at minimum you need to go two out of every three on so at least four wins out of this bucket Jacksonville Seattle Tennessee Las Vegas Indianapolis and home against the New York Jets the rest of the schedule sits in the alart bucket we're going to talk about that next here on this episode of Locked on dolphins stick with Sponsor us today's episode of Locked on dolphins is sponsored by LinkedIn jobs if when you're hiring for your small businesses you want to find the right quality professionals that are right for your roles and that's why I have to check out LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help you find the right WR Professionals for your team faster and for free LinkedIn is not just a job board LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can find anywhere else even those who aren't actively searching for a new job but might be open to the perfect role in any given month over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites so if you're not looking in LinkedIn you're looking in the wrong places on LinkedIn 86% of small businesses is good a qualified candidate within 24 hours so hire professionals like a professional on LinkedIn post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon NFL that's linkedin.com lockon NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions do Schedule Breakdown apply so you have a pretty big menu of alicart games this year I'm not a math guy but I know you got three in one bucket and six in that's nine and there's 177 games you got eight games in the alakar bucket there a lot of flexibility especially if you you sweep the first two buckets if you go six for six and you go three for three um that's the scenario in which you can really put yourself in position to have all those home playoff games that we're talking about the Dolphins need in order to have success late in the year now The Gauntlet at the end of the year from a regular season perspective including the final four games that's all in the alicart bucket so that's the good news is I don't think there's a single game here on the schedule that sat in the layups or or should win bucket that's any later than week 11 week 12 I want to make sure I get that right so we're g to visit my favorite website on the planet playoffpredictors decom the Dolphins schedule uh Dolphins homing against Jets is week 14 excuse me then you have Patriots home versus Patriots week 12 and home versus Raiders week 11 so you do have some games that that dip into the middle third or third quarter early fourth quarter of the season schedule but uh a lot of this you're going to have a feel or just how big the opportunity is for Miami by thanks that Thanksgiving game against Green Bay you're kind of going to know like hey they they can really make a run here if they can win some of these competitive games including a game against Green Bay that sits on the schedule as an alakar game both games against Buffalo I have it as alicart games because it' be very easy for me to say hey you got to win four games in the division um to give yourself a chance to win the division they did that last year they didn't win the division they had a chance to but they needed five so I I chose to of omit the divisional breakout here and instead say it's both bills games at Rams on Monday Night Football and their defense there's a lot of questions around that defense for the Rams they'll be able to score points no question a lot of questions for the defense though at Green Bay at Houston home against San Francisco at Cleveland at New York Jets those eight games is where you're going to I think determine whether you are 8- n or n and8 team which I don't have that expectation for who you're going to be as a team this year to an 11 win team to potentially a 12 win team right like that's I think where the wiggle room comes because I do think they take care of business in those first two buckets do I think they maybe sweep the the should win bucket probably not but I think you at least go five- one which means you're eight- one through those games so now you got eight games on the schedule with eight wins already to your name can you go four- four because if you go four and four and you go eight one and the other nine games you play on the schedule you're talking about 12- win football team and two of those games are at home where you're you're tough out at home now they against Buffalo and San Francisco but at least San Francisco is coming cross country at least Buffalo's coming on a short week know you you have variables for both of those games to say hey they have things at their advantage but you got to go out and do it right I think at minimum I I do think they get a minimum three games out of this alakar bucket which means if you have the margin for error and you don't live up to expectations in the should win buckets say you win your layups and say you go three and three then you get at least three wins out of the alart bucket which is what I think they the prob outcome is for Miami you're still looking at nine wins it's still going to put you in it at the end of the year it's just a question of taking care of business the way that you're supposed to because if you do that I think you're in a hierarchy of 11 wins again or potentially more this year so I hope that's put some perspective on not just like hey here's the schedule it's a race to this many wins but also kind of the magnitude of the games as far as what they mean to your expectations a a week 13 loss on a short week on Thanksgiving in Lambo against the Packers wouldn't hurt the Dolphins and their outlook for this season half as much as a home loss to Arizona at 1 pm in week eightwood maybe that makes it more stressful maybe it makes it less stressful to know when you're playing Arizona hey really banking on this win for your big picture Outlook whether how you choose to interpret that is up to you but I know a lot of people liked hearing this kind of composition of the games on the schedule as far as how important they are for Mi me reaching their wins goals this year that's going to do it for us here today on locked on dolphins it is your team every day we get any extra news coming your way we will be sure to check in and talk about it and if not then you will hear from me tomorrow night after the Dolphins week two preseason contest against the Washington commanders so keep it locked in right here on locked on dolphins I'm out of here