Fins Path to the Playoffs

We had 80 percent chance last year at this time and how did that turn out? Dolphins will never make the playoffs with Ross and Grier in place. The Organization is one of the absolute worst in the league and to think otherwise at this point is crazy.

 

It's crazy to think Miami still has a pretty good shot to get in despite playing like this the last four weeks.

Something has to turn around and I think they clinch next week. As bad as Tua has been, he is going to be the better quarterback by alot in the next two games. The defense is going to have to make a play sooner than later and I think they do against Jones or Zappe, whoever it may be.

The Jets aren't going to Seattle and winning with their quarterback situation.

 

I'll be back to this one on Sunday at around 4PM. Some people will never learn on this forum.

 

Backing our way into the playoffs doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. We haven’t been good on the road and I don’t see us winning in Buffalo, KC or Cincy on the road.

On one hand making the playoffs is a step in the right direction but really the ultimate goal is to build a contender and I don’t see it on this roster.

The bigger problem looking into the future is that we’ve leveraged our future to win now. I’m going to assume players will execute a lot better with another year of experience under McDaniel but we don’t have a first round pick this year, don’t have a lot of salary cap to fix glaring holes at LG, RT, CB and ILB. And we know Grier isn’t a great drafter. Not to mention this whole thing relies on Armstead and Tua staying healthy.

 

Mike White will return this week. That might be the nail in our coffin. Wilson is just that bad.

I think we will bounce back a bit against the Patriots.

But that Jets defense will eat us alive… And let’s be honest, everyone scores on us. So I have the Jets winning out.

Hope I’m wrong.

 

White isn't good either, but he's better than Wilson right now, and the Jets defense doesn't get takeaways. This is not an easy game for them this week going to Seattle.

 

They can buy a ticket and sit in the stands.

 

I'm generally an optimistic guy and I try to avoid having a negative mentality, but I'm willing to bet we lose out and miss the playoffs.

 

'Ya can't fix Stupid' and Tua's 15 Wunderlic score keeps showing up irl every week now.
Is it a 'confidence thing' or is it a 'mentally slow' thing? YES!

 

My b

My bad...
Tua's '19' Wunderlic score

(Herbert got a 39 on his Wunderlic)

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl...rrow-justin-herbert/kih3mstymk6p1ngbrwfiyuzvr

 

15 was Dan Marino's wonderlic score.

 

And with as much pure arm talent as he had, he survived his fair share of bad reads/bad decisions. I dont ever remember thinking Marino was smart. Montana was smart. Montana's quick-thinking and creativity had an influence on the 1984 Super Bowl.
I love the Dolphins, in large part due to the Marino years...but I can admit that 'intelligence' wasn't Danny's sharpest tool.

The modern NFL is Way more complicated. The amount of info that has to be loaded in a QB's head prior to each snap is incredible. The complexity of defenses and playbooks is Way beyond what it was in 1999 and before. Now, pre-snap reads and being able to audible into better options within 3 seconds of a snap can make or break games.
Of Tua's 3 ints on Sunday, 2 of them were him being baited by the defense where a Smarter QB isnt.

When you often Look Stupid, your low Wunderlic score is relevant.

 

Looks like it's going to be up to Bridgewater. I've heard here anyone can run this offense and be successful because it's basically just throwing to wide open receivers every play.

 

I'd still be very happy to make the playoffs, even if we sneak in without much confidence that we can win once we get there. Hey, if we do get in somehow we'll probably see Tua in an actual playoff game. I'd really like to see that experiment good or bad.

 

It’s often easy for armchair quarterbacks to call another quarterback stupid when their only experience at quarterback is playing 2 completes is a first down and a 3 Mississippi rush.

 

Even if we make the playoffs and lose in the wildcard round, that still a hell of an accomplishment for a first year head coach.

 

That would put him on par with Sparano and Gase who both took the team to the playoffs in their first year. That bar is not very high.

 

Yeah whatever, Marino was also incredibly physically gifted and had a cannon for an arm to make up for any mental deficiencies. Tua does not have those gifts.

 

We've lost 4 games by one score ( not counting the final 49er score). We could easily be on a winning streak. Not giving up yet even if Bridgewater is our starter.

 

Of course, it doesnt help that he made have been playing the 2nd half with a concussion.

Hate to say it, but Tua being forced to retire now would probably save Miami cap space and be a net positive.

 

If you’d like, I can go through the painstaking process of showing the records of every other first year head coach if you feel making the playoffs as a rookie head coach is merely mediocre.

 

As much as I love Marino…as high of a pedestal as I put him, he never won us a championship. The Dolphins were nothing but Marino and the rest of the team, especially defense and running back was a mere afterthought.

If setting quarterback records left and right is your idea of a good football team, then good luck, but if winning championships year after year is, then quarterback is just ONE position that requires a great player.

This team is more to the latter than the former.

 

Saving cap space if you mean they may have eventually given him a new contract then maybe but having more cap space next year isn't a positive when you are forced to give even more of it away to someone who probably doesn't even increase your teams upside

 

Well Tua couldn't do it the last 4 weeks with his 52 percent completion percentage.Hard to be worse than that

 

We currently do not have a good running game or a good defense, and we dont have a great QB either, so we are a lot worse off than we were with Marino. We also never had an "is Marino the problem?" discussion when he was playing.

 

Youre too young, apparently, cuz they did exist in 98-99. 'Marino is done'...
As fans, there was the 'Get Dan a ring' fatigue that was a drain.

 

He also never had a running game back when QB’s didn’t wear skirts and you needed one and rarely had top 10 defenses. Look at the number of playoff games Brady has won without a top 10 defense, it’s eye opening.

 

Of course we didn't. The internet didn't exist then as it does now but I guarantee you if it did during the 90's, this would be the discussion we would be having.

Fans are eternal pessimists and always have to point fingers at who's to blame. Marino would have been no different.

 

2021 Season 1st year head coaches.
Urban Meyer, Jacksonville Jaguars, 3-14, fired
Brandon Staley, LA Chargers, 9-8, missed playoffs
Arthur Smith, Atlanta Falcons, 7-10
Robert Salah, NY Jets, 4-13
Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions, 3-13
Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles, 9-8, lost wildcard playoff

So last season, Sirianni was the only one that had success, but then again, he inherited a team that had made the playoffs every year since 2016, save the 20220 season.

This season thus far...
Brian Daboll, NY Giants, 8-6
Matt Eberflus, Chicago Bears, 3-12
Nathaniel Hackett, Denver Broncos, 4-11, Fired
Mike Mcdaniel, Miami Dolphins, 8-7
Kevin O'Connell, Minnesota, Vikings, 12-3

This season, its Kevin O'Connell enjoying first year success after being hired as the Head Coach following the firing of both HC Mike Zimmer and GM Rick Speilman. At least Minnesota did right and completely cleaned house.

But the point being, of the two seasons I've pointed out, most first year head coaches don't succeed and thus far, McDaniel is on the right side of the win/loss column.

 

I became a dolphins fan in 92' so I do remember 98-99. There were some thinking Marino was washed up at that point, but I guarantee you no one was questioning Marino's greatness early in his career as they are with Tua. BTW if you asked most fans in 98-99 they would not have put the blame on Marino who was playing with a bunch of pracrice squad level recievers and had no running game as usual towards the end of his career.

 

Ths

This post makes me ill. We should have been in already

 

Not many were saying Marino was the problem in the 90s, except maybe late 90s before he retired. Marino was still playing great for most of the 90s. The narrative as usual was that we could never get him a running game and defense.

And there definitely wasn't any questioning of Marino's greatness early in his career as there is with Tua.

 

Jets with Wilson dont scare me. Patriots with Jones does not scare me. Jets with White scares me. Patriots with Zappe scares me. Both teams play with much greater energy when those QB play.

 

Jets with White will beat the Seahawks.

 

You clearly have not watched White play.

 

I'm not a stat geek, I just looked at the last 15 years of Dolphins history and so, wasn't all that super impressed with making the play-offs in an unusually weak year in the AFC but, I get your point.