I was onboard the 7-9 8-8 bandwagon myself glad to be wrong however I'm not anointing Gase the next anything. How many times has a coach or player or team had a decent or unexpected record one year and settled back into mediocrity the next. This team has impressed me with the horrible defense and inconsistent offense this year. Look at the Jets Todd Bowles was mentioned as the savior up there and look at them this year. Look at buddy Ryan who Everyone had as playoff contenders. Things happen so I need to see more consistency and 1 year Gase has seems to improve a lot of the aspects of our team but I'm not ready for koolaid.
Yeah, I understand your thought process here. We had one crazy good/fluke year in 2008 and then things settled into average-poor. It does seem different with Gase though. It is okay to want to see success repeated next year, but we don't want to keep 'moving the goal posts' either. That will happen with some posters though, some thoughts we'll see in 2017: "Yeah, we made the playoffs again, but when will Gase get us a Super Bowl win?" Then in 2018 you'll see: "Yeah, we finally won another one, but can Gase get us back-to-back championships?" I'm going to enjoy the success we've had this year, and hope to see steady progress/consistency in the years ahead.
Iamtiv may be correct on one thing.....if we beat the Patriots our 6th loss will definitely be the end of our season.
I remember reading this thread when it was first posted and thinking the "very likely" portion was very wrong. It felt like battered dolphin fan syndrome. That and the idea that 10-6 was unlikely to get us in. Historically 10-6 usually gets you in and I felt that this year our opponents for the WC spot were more likely than we were to struggle.
The difference is that in 2008 we were winning because of a gadget offense being used for the first time in like 5 decades. That's not a trivial difference, it is significant.
There's a prediction thread around here someplace. I believe I guessed 9 wins. I told a good friend of mine (who's a Pats fan) that the Dolphins would win 10 games this season and make the playoffs. He told me I was crazy. I told him that I'd bet him $1000. He almost took that bet. Now, to be fair, I was a little scared at that moment that I was about to lose $1k to a Pats fan, but I would have taken it if he wouldn't have chickened out last minute and I'd be $1k richer right now. lol....
Well, we finished 3 games better than I thought we would. However, we got shown the truth yesterday and I think 'happy to be here' is about a Dolphin fan's best rallying cry next week as we watch that game. Let's hope we're not having to play without Lippet, and that maybe we get Byron Maxwell back. We're gonna need some kind of huge break next week, like Antonio Brown getting hurt early or something to even things out.
No, the truth about just how good of a team we are, how bad our defense plays and how predictable our offensive play-calling is.
I would have probably guessed six-seven wins...if you'd told me about our injuries I might have guessed five wins. Why was I so wrong? I certainly didn't foresee Ajayi. But the main thing I missed was our incredible record in close games. That's how we went 10-6 despite being outscored overall. Was that clutch play or luck? I guess we'll find out next year.
The fact that they played Ajayi, who has to be battling an ouchy shoulder (from what we saw at the end of the game vs Buffalo) indicates that Miami was their all vs New England and that's what they had to give. Between the Buffalo and New England games, we saw the real Dolphins as they stand on January 1st, 2017. They climbed back to 20-14 and Landry gave 110% to score a TD in a game that wound up having zero playoff implications. The games we won created an outcome that made us a playoff team, but the actual ability of our roster and coaching staff to win games right this minute is suspect. We make every team we face look dangerous, and now we're going to go play a team that could look dangerous against the late 90s 49'ers.
Sorry, but no. This is a misconception. It a gadget offense that caused Miami to win. It was a year with very little injuries and a monstrously amazing turnover ratio. Plus the leadership and accuracy of a practically fully healthy Chad Pennington for most of the season. The wildcat was helpful, however, it gets WAY too much credit for 2008.
How exactly does that work when they've won 10 games? I guess those 3 "extra" games don't count for you. That's almost 50% more wins then pretty much post. Some fans are just......nevermind.