Great preparation, game-planning and execution by the coaching staff, players on all three sides of the ball. VS. A lesser, relatively untalented, jet-lagged Oakland Raiders team. I'm leaning 65/35
Team executed well, caught the ball, good play calling by Lazor, defense played well. Also they were Eager to play this week with all that went on this past week.
Its probably 50-50. We lost last year to 1 win Bucs, (AFTER an an honest to god, real live distraction.) We've shown the level of the opponent doesn't guarantee a win.
I have it at 20% us executing the gameplan well, 80% due to the Raiders not being a very good football team.
The Raiders haven't been to their own homes, their own beds, their own facilities, their own film room or their own practice field since September 18th. Why are we pretending that had no effect? The NFL completely screwed them when they set the schedule and had the Raiders going cross-country from west-to-east (a daunting road trip during the best of times) one week, and then going to London the very next week. I'm not absolving the Raiders, for all we know Dennis Allen freaking ASKED for that because he had some genius idea that the entire team being homeless living in hotels and airplanes for two weeks would be a good thing. Whether he asked for it or not, it was a devastatingly bad idea. If anyone thinks that was the same team that played NE tight last week, then they didn't actually watch both games.
Don't forget that there is not only the win, but the nature of the win, as well. This was a very dominant win.
Honestly No offense but who cares. Really. Lets say we just beat Seattle like that. None of us is crazy enough to believe that makes us contenders..weve beaten really good teams before..only to loose to someone ****ty the next week. Personally..I dont want to see a win..I want to see consistant winning....till then its a great win...but slate is clean tommorow and its back to what have you done for me lately. We are capable of playing this good against anyone..and we are capable of playing as bad as we had against anyone. If we played as poorely as we did last week..against the raiders...what would have beem the result?
Yes it was. And it may have been a mistake. However one could easily argue that flying home Sunday night then back to England Thurday afternoon would have been just as detrimental, if not more so.
Hey...for once we got tossed a softball and hit it out of the park. We havent done that in awhile either
I expected us to either dominate this game, or get dominated. Neither would have surprised me. I still say five wins max for this team, unless we get consistent good play from our QB.
As somebody who has done a lot of time zone hopping, though I am not an athlete, I think flying back to Oakland before flying to London would have been a terrible idea.
The Raiders suck. But we've occasionally lost to teams that sucked, so I'll take the damn win. Doesn't change the nature of our team though. We're still mired in mediocrity.
Sources say Dennis Allen will be fired. I think the team played great, but it was favorable matchup for us and the NFL screwed the Radiers with that schedule.
I don't care about the Raiders, but playing on the road last week and traveling to England is tough. Should have at least been a home game for them last week. Anyways Dennis Allen watch is in effect
Reading all your comments feels like a loss. We are 2-2 like plenty of other teams right now. I enjoyed the win today. Thanks for the buzz kill.
This week everyone lost except for the Ravens. Outstanding week for us in the standings. If KC wins, then it's almost a prefect week for the Dolphins.
I agree, having made a lot of trips as well. You'd think at some point the NFL would be giving west coast teams heading east a break, but they never do
When I was young (18 to 27'ish) and in great shape, I flew back and forth to Guam/Hawaii/California several times...never had jet lag. Just didn't happen...dunno why.
At bare minimum every team expected to travel to London should have: 1. A Thursday or Sunday home game the week before. 2. A bye week the following week. They're only getting one of these two correct. I honestly have never seen a scheduling snafu as bad as one that forced the Raiders to be gypsies for two weeks. I've just never seen one. Theoretically it could be worse, but only theoretically. I think it would have been worse if they'd scheduled Oakland for a road MNF game and then a road TNF game the following week. That would have been worse. Thankfully even the dumb@ss NFL has never made a mistake THAT big I don't think.
That's false. Every single win is meaningful. Especially games that should be wins. These are the types of games that bite you in the *** at the end of the season if you lose.
Oh, I agree. I saw both games and they played a much better game last week. But they weren't jet lagged. They were just stuck on a two week road trip and I totally agree that that was probably NOT something that helped them.
Wins are meaningful because that one victory could represent the difference between getting into the playoffs and not getting into the playoffs.
This is the NFL paying back Al Davis for his ultimate slight, leaving Mark Davis in charge of a NFL Franchise.
I had similar thoughts, but you know what? At the end of the day, it was 100% a win. I don't care if it was against the Bad News Bears little league team; if the league counts it, then I'm happy.
West to east is always tough, especially when they schedule these things at what would be 10 am for the west coast team. The raiders always get get shanked with their scheduling, for whatever reason.
West to East is always tougher.I never get jetlagged on East-West Even on straight Singapore-London hops, but West-East burns me out. If I was in charge of the NFL schedule and wanted to screw the Raiders deliberately this is exactly what I would have done.
You play the games the league assigns you. Does it matter how good or bad the Raiders are? If they suck, good, pound them. But if they lost to them? It would be the end of everything. A win is a win is a win. You play the schedule you're given and win the games you should. In the continued dick measuring contest NE beat Oakland 16-9. The Dolphins beat the Patriots and pounded the Raiders. A 3 point win or a 21 point win is a win either way. The entire team seems to have a little confidence. Not like that's a bad thing to have.
The Raiders being a bad team doesn't take away from our performance. We completely dominated them in every phase of the game following that opening drive. It was a complete thrashing and we should be praising it.
When I fly from the west coast on a trans-Pacific flight to the Pacific Rim/SE Asia countries, I am far more jet lagged when I first arrive there than I am flying back to the west coast US from the same locations.
Every win damn well does matter when it comes down to trying to make the playoffs. I understand it wasn't a good team we were playing, but a win is a win, and that was a beat down.
There's really no "should". For many fans who've gotten their hopes up based on strong single-game performances followed by bad egg-laying losses, this falls into the category of "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me". Well, last year we beat the Pats at home and got excited... then laid down for two bad losses. Opened this year with a great victory.... then laid down for two horrible losses. Just had a "Dominant" win...... Some fans aren't in a rush to be 'fooled' a third time and now require additional proof before getting excited at all.
Btw, people having a more positively skewed view of the future outlook and how good the team really is, despite the fact the team is 3-4 in the last 7 games, is because of something called the 'Recency Effect'. We're only human, after all.
100% coaching decisions. Dolphins with this roster are quite capable of losing to the Raiders. Dolphins are not a team with superior talent to just let is loose and let the talent shine. They need to be managed and luckily they were managed well today by the coaches.
I understand that, Barry. Really, I do, and I'm not saying we have turned it around yet either. But as a fan, you watch that game today and you can't be anything other than happy. That was so fun to watch and that's what good teams do. It's a good sign and let's hope we can continue to ride this wave as the season goes on.