I know, I know...the Dolphins suck this year. I've heard it all before, and every year around week 14 I have to admit to myself, "Yeah, we do kind of suck. That's about the only thing we're good at these days...sucking the life out of the fan-base." And up until last week, it was pretty darn easy to say that this year's squad sucks at epic proportions. I mean heck, our only win came from a winless team that essentially handed us the game on a silver platter. It was a down-right pathetic display of football if you ask me. But then again, we stood tall in Seattle and darn near took the W. 17- that's how many points we left on the field there. And we lost by 2. That one hurt. Then we march into Gilette and go ballistic on the Super-Bowl favorite Pats in the 2nd half, to the point where their cheating-*** coach was covering his eyes with the clipboard. One catch away from overtime and likely being 2-0 against two teams that go deep in the playoffs each season. So here me out for a moment- in three of our five games, we've hung in there with the best in the league and darn near took all three. Then we completely suck against two inferior opponents (yup, I am calling the Bengals inferior....wait for it) because we had players on the field that wouldn't currently start in college. So I want you to see the trend here, the bigger picture- When we have a competent line on the field, we hang with the best of the best. Without them, it's an embarrassment. Now, the Bills are no slouches, but they've rode the back of their stud RB so far this year. He's out and so is their top passing target. So the Bills game-plan is pretty one-dimensional at this point; pound the ball up the middle and hope for the best. This is a very winnable game though folks, especially with our starting line and Ajayi playing with a world of confidence. For the heck of it, let's call this one a win- let's pretend we're 3 and 4 after Sunday...beating two of the top three teams in the AFC and giving the third one a panic attack going into the last play. That's kind of impressive, don't you think? Now, I know what you're going to say- our D can't stop the run and we're even worse against the pass. Our stud safety is out for months as well and there's no replacing him. I hear you on all of that stuff. But if you divide our total points given up so far, we're at a measly 22.3. And we're scoring an average of 23.1 with a competent line on the field (not counting Bengals and Titans). And that's still without our starting 5 linemen for all but one game- that total should increase in time. Here's why that Bills W is so darn important- We get a bye right afterwards, then we face a broken Jets that's as close as you come to a guaranteed W in the NFL. 4-4 Then we face the Chargers, Rams, 49ers, Ravens, Cardinals and Jets again, all teams at .500 or below. That's realistically 6 in a row we could win if the team we saw last week shows up. 10-4 But let's say we split those- we win 3 and lose 3. That still puts us at 7-7 with two games to go. And the magic number for the playoffs has been 9 for three seasons now. We finish out with the Bills and the Pats at home. Let's say we lose to the Bills, and beat the Pats in Miami since we have for 3 years straight. That's a possible 11-5 record folks; or 8-8 if we split with struggling teams. But I'm sorry, where I'm sitting- I don't see us splitting anything when we've crushed the top 3 teams in the AFC and one of the top opponents in the NFC. What I'm trying to say is that this coming match-up against the Bills is huge. In fact, it's bigger than huge- it may be season defining. And it's at home, at the perfect time with a hungry team that just turned the corner. I say we win it, which is going to make our bye week feel completely different from years past. Folks, I can really see us grinding out 7-8 straight if we get this one win. Forgive me if I sound a little too optimistic, but I had a heart attack last week (at 43) that let the doctors found something they never would have with basic blood tests. It probably saved my life 5-10 years from now, so I'm definitely all about some optimistic at this point in my life (I'm 100% fine, by the way...the heart attack did no damage). So who's with me? Are we going to whip some Buffalo *** this week and give this team a true identity? I think we unleash the Kracken and start taking names.
Man! That's crazy scary on the heart attack. Things like that are eye opening. It knocks the wind out of you and lets you know that we are mere mortal beings. With that said, i'm all about optimism. I like our chances if.... #5 Our defensive line can stop the run and pressure Taylor. #4 Ajayi continues to hit it hard and not fumble #3 One of the next men up make a play or two... Gray, Aikens, Thomas, Lippet. #2 Our offensive line does it's job #1 Tannehill plays a smart under control game. We can't get behind against them, this will have to be a dogfight. If those things happen Miami 23 Buffalo 16
Coming into this season, I was ok with the defense struggling and I was willing total that risk, as long as this OL was healthy and Tannehill made strides. That example was all put together last game. However, I am cautiously optimistic, because this isn't pending on a player bringing it every game, it is dependent on injury, and the likelihood of it happening is pretty good. The thing you want to see now at least is progress, esp after the bye. You want to see the offense finally take their steps and hopefully one unit of the defense stand tall.
The 10-6 Jets were watching the play offs last season. Had they beat the Bills in December, they'd have been 11-5 with the 10-6 Steelers on the outside looking in. But I do agree, 9 may very well get you in this year. Not looking too good in the AFC.
I'm with you. I don't know how the record shakes out, but I don't see us stinking it up the rest of the way. Looks like the offense is settling in. If we win tomorrow, then we have a good shot the rest of the way at 10 wins.
I'm interested to see if the difference in the team's energy last week is sustained this week. I think the season is probably hinging on that more than anything else.
What a game today- the only problem I really saw was the stupid penalties. Otherwise, we beat the living poo out of what everyone insists is the 2nd best team in the AFC. Unless that's the Steelers- I forget. =)
