Why the hell is yahoo and profootballtalk picking the bills to finish ahead of us?

Because the media and most fans have very little analytical skills. It basically comes down to whether they love or hate the QB. And then just like how a QB gets too much credit when the team wins and too much blame when they lose, predictions become skewed out of proportion based on that love or hate. So all the people who hate on Henne and don't understand football enough to see the impact of the OC, will ignore how the offense and Henne looked in the preseason and won't even remember how good the defense is. And those people are not even self-aware enough to realize that's what they're doing. They'll dress it up with some pseudo-logic that lets them convince themselves that they're being analytical, but in the end it just comes down to whether they love or hate the QB.

 

So basically, anybody who doesn't agree with you has poor analytical skills?

I've seen plenty of pseudo-logic on this board on both sides of the debate.

 

That's not what I said. I said that excluding key facts was an example of poor analytical skills. The NFL is about more than one player. So people who ignore the defense are employing poor analytical skills.

 

that's a link to 2010

 

http://www.cbssports.com/#!/nfl/features/writers/expert/picks

It worked originally. He picked us to win 30-27.

 

I think it's a few things. Other than local media, not a lot of analysts know much about the Miami Dolphins. What they know are the headlines: Struggling QB, a Head Coach that was supposed to be replaced, a diva WR that was involved in a stabbing incident, and trading for a RB making him the bell-cow when he's never done it or been healthy. They look at that and say, what are they doing? What are they thinking?

Also, we're debating, when positivity & enthusiasm are at it's highest and most Dolphins fans expectations are higher because of that.

 

They do need to show us this year, and they do need to show that they have figured out how to get up for home games.

 

falling for the banana in the tailpipe..Laziness, and simply a lack of knowledge of the team and its inner workings..Bottom line, it doesn't take in depth analysis to move and sell product..and the majority of fans are not as intense as our minority here..

 

Why do people care how the media perceives us. It has no bearing on the outcome of anything at all.
Don't waste your time worrying what the media thinks of the team.
Negative publicity is the better motivator anyways.

 

and they definitely couldn't project the ascension of this particular QB unless they went back and saw the poor variables that were working with the perception that it was all his fault...This just in...It wasn't.

 

I really, really don't care what they say about us.

I am just going to enjoy the season, watch every single game, talk about my dolphins, and hope we lost enough games so we can draft Luck.... so we can finally have a legitimate shot at our next franchise QB and then talk about competing for a Super Bowl every season for the next 15 years of my life.

 

Enjoying every game hoping we lose? I would hate to have that kind of attitude.

 

If you follow ProFootballTalk and/or Rotoworld (they are loosely linked together via writers and parent organization) you'd know that this isn't surprising, as practically every significant move the team has made has gotten met with some type of non-flattering or snarky comment. They've seen the circus that has gone on with this organization and basically used it to paint practically everything in a negative light. Real or imagined, they are convinced this is one of the worst, if not the worst, run organizations in football. A lot of other national media have picked up on that vibe also.

At this point, no one should be surprised. And quite frankly, it's up to Henne and the team to show them different. IMO, this is a team on a fence right now, and they could fall either way.

 

I could just as easily see us starting 4-0.

1- We always play NE tough at home. If not for an epic ST meltdown to start the 2nd half, that game was close. We were winning at halftime.
2- Houston gets a look at the new Daboll scheme. They still have secondary issues.
3- Cleveland- Daboll's revenge. We were road warriors last year. Can that continue?
4- SD- Norv still can find ways of snapping defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

This is what we're down to? Being mad because we're picked last instead of next-to-last in our division?

****.

 

Perhaps they are looking at the fact that The Dolphins barely beat the Bills in Buffalo early last season. At the end of the season when you would suspect that the Dolphins should have been getting better. The Bills came down to Miami and beat the Dolphins. I have been stating all along that the Bills and Dolphins would battle it out for third in the AFC East and it would not surprise me in the least if the Bills end up third and the Dolphins last in the division.

 

Didn't say they were better, but I do think they end up with a better record than us. C'mon Pads don't be like that. Scheduling differences with give them the better record. I think when all is balanced out the teams are sort of even.

 

ahh its funny how people can skew numbers to push an agenda... So lets see how we can word this:
"The Dolphins barely beat the Bills", 15-10 with a late garbage time 4th down TD by the Bills and safety for Phins
"The Bills came down to Miami and beat the Dolphins", no barely this time? score was 17-14

So heres my question to the Bills lovers, are the Dolphins going to be worse than last year? If so based on what? Do you see their offense improving/declining? Do you see their defense improving/declining?

Bills offense improving/declining? Defense improving/declining?

Honest opinion of mine, Dolphins offense improving, they were 2nd to last in the NFL last year, cant get much worse, new philosophy is the key... Defense i think is improving, but even if you wish, we'll say it stays the same

Bills offense? Losing Evans and revamping their entire Oline doesn't help, i'll say stays the same... Defense i think stays the same as well, add Darius, but lost key LB and Safety, lets stay say the same... not to mention Bills have good special teams and that'll be dampened with kickoff rules...

so Bills were 4-12 last year, basically didn't improve anywhere yet will get ahead of a team with 7 wins last year, who did improve even if only slightly with practically the same schedule? makes a lot of sense

 

All could happen, but I do have an issue with the 1st POV....

2010 - NE 41, Miami 14
2009 - Miami 22, NE 21
2008 - NE 48, Miami 28
2007 - NE 49, Miami 28
2006 - Miami 21, NE 0
2005 - NE 23, Miami 16

NE 203 pts, Miami 129

In the last 6 home games vs the Patriots Miami was 2-4 and NE averaged 33.8 pts a game, and Miami 21.5 pts per game.

That's close ?!?!?!?

 

Simple. Because their qb has thrown for more TDs than INTs. QBs that throw for more INts than TD's tend to do pretty bad.

Until Henne can show he has changed, in real games, that's how it is.

And let's be brutally honest. Nobody cares about us or the Bills right now. When picking the division they're deciding whether to put the Pats or the Jets in first.

If you hacked their website and switched us around with the bills, nobody there would notice. Nobody anywhere would notice, except us and bills fans.

 

No more awful than your spelling

 

Sure. It's easy and stress free.

Remember the feeling when Camarillo scored the touchdown to avoid going winless, I think it was 2007? For the next few games to end the season, who cares! We won a game, phew, we're not going into the record books as a 0 win team.

Now it was just about finishing up the season, enjoying the games win or lose, and look towards improving for next year.

Same attitude... you can't win in the NFL unless you have a franchise QB. And the highest % chance of finding a franchise QB is in the top picks of the draft. No, it's not a guarantee, but it's by far the best success rate. I have my eyes on Super Bowls.... not wasting year after year after year in mediocrity.

 

Well, I guess it's written in stone since you've said it.

 

It takes more than a QB. We had THE franchise QB for almost 2 decades...2 AFC championship games...1 superbowl loss...Meanwhile we saw the likes of Jeff Hostetler, Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Mark Rypien, and Doug Williams all win superbowls. The Montana's and Brady's have been on both well coached and extremely talented teams. Elway didn't win until they got a dominant running game and very strong D. Hoping we suck for a rookie QB who may or may not be worth a damn is a pretty poor attitude, IMO.

 

LOL, the Bills are the leading candidate for Andrew Luck aka #1 overall pick. Looking at rosters, its them, Carolina who just took Newton, Denver, Cincinnati who just took Dalton, Washington and Jacksonville who just took Gabbert.

 

And yet some people have this view....

 

If this Bills end up getting Luck I might be worried then. He has everything you want in a Qb and then there is Chan Gailey who is excellent in developing the Qb position.

 

aqua and rose colored glasses, is that what you think some of us do?...next thing you will say is that your tired of waiting for a championship, and because of our history we better win this year or else...

Your analysis is tainted because you continue to put your foot in your mouth.

 

The question was asked as to how some individuals were picking the Bills to finish ahead of the Dolphins in the AFC East. I merely stated what I thought was the reasoning many individuals have come out picking the Dolphins to finish behind the Bills in the division. You don't have agree, but the best thing about everyone's opinion on here is that in a little more then four months, we will see how much the Dolphins have improved, or if they have at all. We will also see if they actually finish ahead of the Bills in the division.

As far as my opinion as to whether the Dolphins will be worse than last year. With the schedule they play this year, I think they may a better team than they were last year, but I think their record will be worse then last season. I see them winning 5-6 games at most this season.

 

hatas gonna hate.

 

I think its great that we get little praise. I think its just what this Young, hungry team needs a chip on there shoulder, if I was coach I would have every article and video I could and play it non stop during practice.

 

They're not picking the Bills ahead of the Dolphins, they're picking Ryan Fitzpatrick over Chad Henne and ignoring every other aspect. That's the only logical explanation.

What's worse is they picked the Panthers ahead of us, a team that will be extremely lucky to win 4 games this year. First year head coach and a rookie (project) QB in Newton, who's looked pretty bad in preseason.

The national perception is that Henne sucks therefore the whole team sucks. We'll see.

 

Didn't recognize the avy at first. Checked the name and now I understand.

 

Just who the h** cares!

Games are not won by sports writers, thank God, but by grown men playing a kids game on the field who make alot more money than those same writers! Their just jealous!

 

We have a good defense, but it doesn't take advantage of what opportunities it is given, and hence doesn't give its offense any takeaways and short drives to work with. That was the story of last year. Nothing I have seen in preseason looks like that has changed. They dropped several easy INT's in the preseason.

 

but it got us to 2 AFC Championship games, a Super Bowl, and at the time, made the Dolphins the winningest franchise in all of american sports (this was around 1997 i think, i remember that statistic on ESPN)

We failed Dan Marino because we never got him what we needed to win it all. You can blame Shula I guess, who was kind of old by then and perhaps the game changed too much for him at that time.

But you can't deny that we reached a Super Bowl, were contenders every year in the playoffs.......and we only needed the front office to bring in the rest of the talent around Marino....

I have faith we will do it this time around. I guess if you want to be a negative nancy and say "well who needs a franchise qb? we didnt win a SB with marino!" that's your problem. there's a lot of flaws in that thinking.

 

Hmmmm, what do you say now ?

 

One game is hardly a season, and doesn't make anyone's predictions right or wrong.

Knee-jerk much?