The Christmas game vs. Green Bay seemed unwinnable at the start of the season. A perrenniel playoff team vs. a young Dolphins team with no playoff experience. But then the Dolphins started hot, and the Packers started cold. Then it seemed like a sure win for Miami.

Now, we are back to normal. Aaron Rodgers is finding cohesiveness with his ragtag group of unknown WRs, while the Dolphins have scuttled into a 3-game losing streak.

There are only 3 games on Christmas, as the NFL does its best to make money and spread “Week” 16 into games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I love the idea of Saturday games, but for decades the NFL refuses to put its product on TV vs. regional college games. Only when college has a lull does the NFL decide to finally have Saturday games.

The Dolphins can win this game. They really need to. But it’s easier said than done. Our depleted secondary is hanging on by a thread, and I don’t see any miracles coming down the path. No, our only hope is to play the kind of defense we did vs. Buffalo and Chicago, and even Detroit, where the goal is to hold them to 30 points and hope we can score 31+ ourselves.

Speaking of TV, DirecTV has lost its contract and will no longer have Sunday Ticket. We now have to switch to YouTube (a Google company) and watch the NFL over an Internet connection, complete with delays and gaps in coverage. When I watch Thursday Night Football on Amazon Internet, the delay is about two minutes. And yes, I have all modern equipment and I know what I’m doing. I hear my friends on the phone listening to a third-down play while I myself am still on first down. The technology is good, but not perfect, for the NFL to be showcased on the Internet instead of on TV.

Google has the money, but I doubt even they will be prepared for the massive amount of bandwith that will sap them from millions of fans all logging in to watch the NFL for 3 hours or more each. These are not 30-second videos about cute cats or kids getting hurt in hysterical ways. No, these are live 3-hour events where fans expect perfect HD and clarity and no buffering.

I will subscribe, because I don’t care about the platform…I won’t miss my Dolphin games. But I wonder how smoothly it will go.

And finally, I will do my best to have a live chat during the game Sunday, but I’m unsure of my availability due to it being Christmas and the inlaws (non sports fans) will be swinging by. Maybe if I beg my family for a 3-hour break, I can work it out… Merry Christmas to all.

Christmas Day

11 Comments

  1. Admin….. as you know I have been on internet games for the last two years. Last year I used YouTube and it was ok but periodically it will just freeze and you have to refresh the page to get it back and sometimes the quality gets so grainy you can barley make out the players. This only happens a few times a game but usually in the most critical moments and never during a commercial break! Overall YouTube wasn’t bad, the quality was decent but the worst part was that with the delay being in the chat room with you guys was impossible. I think I was four or five plays back from where you guys were live so that really sucked. This year I switched to NFL+ and now the delay is between 10 – 30 seconds which really isn’t bad. I can hang in the chat room now. Video quality is really good and if I’m on WIFI I never have issues with picture quality. The downside is I have to watch the games on my phone or my tablet instead of my 130″ TV and you can not screen share NFL+ it doesn’t work although I think I have figured a way around the blocking technology I’m going to try in the next week or so. If you go the YouTube route prepare for the chat room to be a tough experience. If you go the NFL+ route make sure to put it on a large tablet! Honestly for me I use a large tablet at my computer desk and its pretty easy to watch the game on and its a lot nicer to be at my computer desk and in the chat room than on my couch with my laptop. Just my .02 on all that!

    As far as the Dolphins against Green Bay I believe the team will play well enough to win. What I want to see is will McD play well enough for the team to win. This is now the most important thing for us going forward. Will McD LEARN and ADJUST or be stubborn and keep losing.

    1. Author

      Thanks, Brian. That is all interesting about YouTube and how it works. I wonder if they realize just how many new subscribers they’re going to get all of a sudden. And I can’t imagine that Google will have enough phone reps to field the questions they’ll be bombarded with…like if my signal freezes up, I doubt I can just call an 800 number and it’s fixed in 30 seconds.
      This will be a major hit to AT&T’s bank account (DirecTV’s parent).

  2. It will be interesting to see if YouTube has gotten the delay rate better this year over last. I almost think it’s mandated by the NFLs tv contract because it’s not like platforms like YouTube don’t know how to deliver video! I assume that’s why on the nfl+ app there’s really no delay but you can only watch on your mobile device. It’s all got to be related to the tv contracts. Anyhow however you chose to watch I can sync to your delay so at lest you and I will be on the same down! Maybe you can market the chat room do “Delayed Dolphins Fans”!

    1. Author

      yeah, I’m sure YouTube will prep for this, but the massive amount of bandwidth required to air 6 or 7 LIVE games at a time (not prerecorded videos) will be interesting. So with NFL plus, it’s phone or tablet only? I couldn’t use my PC or laptop and have a cable running to my TV as the monitor?

      1. I haven’t been able to get it to work on my computer. There’s no app in the Microsoft store. I screen cast my phone to my roku once but then that ability was removed. I haven’t used any 3rd party screen casting Apps but they may work just fine but the built in screen cast on the iPhone dosnt work. I will say I like NFL plus way better than YouTube!

  5. I guess we are just not that good 🙁

    Packers had great halftime adjustments

    1. Author

      I saw zero adjustments. Tua simply threw the ball to the wrong team three times in a row in the 4th Q

  7. Season is officially over for us.

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