Miami Is Likely to Face ‘Win-and-In’ Scenario in Week 17

It's entirely possible- I wouldn't be shocked at 4-0 or 0-4. The part I keep reminding myself of is that we have a defense that can play at elite levels when it matters (like all the goal-line stops earlier this season). If the D really turns it around, anything is possible. And hey, the offense has scored on its first drive two weeks in a row with Tannehill....definitely progress. We won't be scoring 45 anytime soon but I think we can be "good enough" with the D playing well.

LOL, or we can choke and go 0-4....that's the fun of having a rag-tag team that can barely put together a full roster for kickoff. I honestly wouldn't dare try to predict a single game from here on out.

 

I almost didn't click since I knew it would be mostly BS- but that was freaking awesome! Dolphins are ruthless killers who murder for sport!

 

The Dolphins haven't gone on thier giving me hope win streak this season. Unless you count the first three games.

They need to crush my soul

 

I didn't say anything about that season overall. The next season, we had win and in games at the end, and we lost, as I recall. As to this year, losing to NE wouldn't have been terrible, but we got absolutely dominated.

For me, in games where we need to show up, it just seems that we don't.

 

Parker on IR?

 

I know you said "with Gase" but this inability to win when it counts has plagued us for much longer. I still can't get those last two games in 2013 out of my head. We were 8-6 and only needed to beat either the Jets or Buffalo to get a playoff spot (we beat San Diego that year so with a 9-7 tie we'd get the last WC spot over San Diego) and we lose miserably to both to end the season.

"Win when it counts" is something we've missed for almost 2 decades. Really the last "must-win" game I think we slam-dunked was that WC game against Indy in 2000 where Lamar Smith ran for over 200 yards.

 

Ohhhh...glad it wasn't Parker. Although I wouldn't have been surprised. Lol

 

I was just waiting to hear it...he stubbed his pinky toe and is out for the year.

 

I'll have 3 Bloody Marys, an edible, and maybe a couple Vicodin in me by halftime for sure!

What can I say, I'm a bad example for the children

 

I dont disagree that sometimes it feels like we need to win and come out flat. I agree with that. Just saying in terms of games we actually have to win to define a season its hard to say so far.

We still have the chance to win the games we need to this year so we can judge the next few weeks.

 

This upcoming Sunday you mean. We lose to NE and that will "define our season" as once again missing the playoffs by losing a must-win game. There's really no realistic way we get in if we lose to NE. But if we beat them we're still in the hunt.

 

this is literally going to be RT and Gase coming out or going home party, if we lose to either minn or NE we are done. simple as that we have to run the slate to even have a chance at a tie. Tennessee and Denver both have easy schedules i think and honestly both are better teams than Miami.

If NE wins they will win 10 straight divisions titles which has only ever been done by the Atlanta braves. I read that last night and i sat there thinking how NE could be that good then i realized how literally bad our division is. We literally have the jets and bills who have been bad since as long as Miami has. Then i realized how Miami can literally always be a 500 team, then it hit me we literally play crap opponents every year and still come in the middle of the pack. Literally 4 games of 17 against below 500 teams (jets, Bills) then we play another 13 games against 2 other divisions who usually have 1 or 2 bad below 500 teams, there is your 6 games. get lucky against 2 mediocre teams and you have 8 wins. only win we have that is worth while is Chicago this year and we are talking about running the table against 2 teams who are as we speak in the playoffs, NE is playing for a first round bye and home field and Minnesota is the 6th seed trying to stay in. Its crazy to me we couldn't even beat cincy or indy!!!! but we are supposed to take out 2 teams in the playoffs right now back to back. we havnt won back to back except for the beginning of the yr to 2 teams at the bottom respectively in the AFC. I don't count the first game against tenn since it was 20 hours long and 19 people got hurt.

but one game at a time if we beat NE at least i can be happy for a the rest of the year regardless of the outcome!!!

 

When did they add another game to the NFL season? lol

 

This season we've lost to the 9-3 Pats, the 5-7 Bengals, the 4-8 Lions, the 9-3 Texans, the 3-7 Packers and the 6-6 Colts....three good teams and 3 average teams. Meanwhile, we beat the 8-4 Bears, the 7-6 Titans, the 2-10 Raiders and we've swept the division so far against the Bills and Jets.

The only problem with your "theory" is that we didn't have our QB1 for five of those seven losses.....and the 6th game is where he got hurt and threw the two picks from the pocket. The only "bad" team we defeated this year is the Raiders.....everyone else has been average or good.

 

I probably should have said "big games" not "must win," but I think of them pretty much synonymously.

 

Hard to excuse this team/staff for “not having Qb1” when Qb2 had the most impressive win on the season by a mile in Chicago.

Jay Cutler and the Dolphins came out of the gates hot last year home vs NE in a game they needed to stay alive. Take away the Monday night lights and this situation is similar.

It’s time for that break out game

 

Tannehill? How about this is literally going to be a Defense and Burke coming out party or going home party? This defense hasn't been able to stop anything this season!

 

Yes, and then that QB2 lost half his line and his top 3 receivers the following week.

 

Have a good feeling about today. Miami wins. Ravens come back down to earth. Colts lose. Broncos get stunned in San Fran.

 

Well shoot today we fought to the end. Lets see how the season unfolds.

 

We're now tied with the Ravens for "best" among remaining 7-6 teams for the WC spot because of a 6-4 conference record, meaning the tiebreaker goes to common games record.

If I'm reading this correctly, we actually beat the Ravens if we win out because common games between Dolphins and Ravens are: Bills, Bengals, Titans and Raiders, with the Dolphins having played the Bills twice and Ravens the Bengals twice. Both teams beat the Raiders and Titans, and IF Dolphins win out we'll have two wins vs. the Bills while the Ravens lost to the Bengals once.

That means we're in if we win out!

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I just fooled around with the playoff generator a little bit and it seems like if Miami wins out they're in.

 

First off, as you've stated, the Dolphins HAVE to win out. Minnesota makes me nervous, seeing our past against them. Jacksonville is injured worse than we are and the Bills....lol, what can you say about the Bills?

Secondly, the Ravens are going to lose at least one more game against the Chargers...and POSSIBLY against the Browns (although personally I feel Mayfield is going to get a hard lesson against that defense)

The Colts host the Cowboys, Giants and then face off with the Titan in Nashville to close the season. I see at least one more loss there for them.

The Dolphins have to treat each and every remaining game as a playoff game...if you win, you move on. If you don't, that's the season.

 

Winning out is the easiest way in, but we can still make it in at 9-7 with a loss to the Vikings.

We would need either:
1) A two-way tie with the Titans at 9-7 (Colts finish 8-8)
2) A three-way tie with the Titans and Colts at 9-7.

What we absolutely can't have is a two-way 9-7 tie with the Colts cause then we lose out on the head-to-head tiebreaker.

I didn't factor in the Steelers and Ravens, but if BOTH finish the season with only 1 loss (unlikely, I think), the loser of the division takes the last wildcard. If either of them loses more than 1 game, they are out.

EDIT: After playing around with the ESPN playoffs machine, 9-7 with the lone loss to the Vikings is atually a pretty realistic possibility.
We win most, if not all, 3+ team tiebreakers in that scenario and only lose the the 2-team tiebreaker against the Colts.

 

I hate getting overly optimistic with this team cause it has bitten me in the *** before but I find myself thinking we can win out and make the playoffs.