Even though I spent 24 of my first 26 years in WV, I've only been to the Southern parts a handful of times, and most of that was driving though on the interstate. I'm pretty sure that the last time I was actually in Charleston was my freshman year of high school in 1991 for the state championship football game. My school got jobbed by the officials and they have the title to Capitol.
Stripping it all down and giving this coach a chance in his 2nd year, if you aren’t happy with the progress of this football team then you ain’t happy.
Regarding playoff scenarios, check out how similar in difficulty the remaining opponents are for Miami vs. Buffalo: One really strong team (KC vs. Pitt), one WC contender (Raiders vs. Cards) and the rest relatively weak teams. Buffalo has a bye while we don't, but we play the Jets so that's like a wash lol. If Buffalo loses to the Cards today (Vegas favors the Cards with a -2.5 spread) there's a decent chance the division winner will be crowned in our last game against Buffalo. The other game to watch today is Eagles (3-4-1) vs. Giants (2-7). If the Giants win, there's a really good chance the winner of the NFC East this year will have only 6 wins, which would be a first in NFL history (for 16 game seasons). EDIT: Actually, tiebreakers make this complicated. After head-to-head it's division games won, and Buffalo is 4-0 there right now while we're 1-2 so to win the division the Dolphins will likely need an outright better record than Buffalo. So it's a bit more difficult but doable!
What a throw and catch. OMG. Bills were stunned. I don’t know if I was happier for the Fins win or the Bills loss almost at the same moment. it’s great to be relevant again.
I don't like that this instantly got bumped into another thread because it's HIGHLY RELEVANT for Dolphins news- it's one of the biggest developments this weekend since we're legit in a battle for the division. That was an incredible, Herculean win by Arizona at the last second!
Understood. But rather than set a precedent for posting game threads for any non-Phins games that might have relevance, and to avoid diverting a long-standing conversation from one thread to another, I thought it was better to merge. The thread-owner can update the title of the thread if they want to, to include the headline.
I still think Buffalo will lose to the Steelers and us- making them 11-5. For us to flat-out have the better record, that means we have to beat everyone but the Chiefs. Either that or the Bills have to drop a few games they'll be favored in. With Buffalo beating Seattle last week, I don't love our chances of taking the division anymore (LOL, I told you I'd need a few weeks to be interested in your WildCard scenarios!). We are a serous contender this year, but it seems unfathomable that we'll win 12 of 13 to close out the season. It seems like the better I think this team is, the more I get nervous about them living up to their potential. In any case though, I'm still not thinking about WildCard because I think we'll have that locked up with 10 or 11 wins....maybe as high as the #4 seed. But if Buffalo has a bad week, I still think we're taking the darn division!
If you would have watched it live like the rest of us did, I have a feeling that you'd have a different opinion, LOL. Arizona completely had the wind knocked out of them in the last minute and Dolphins fans everywhere were cussing at their televisions...and then everything changed in an instant! That may have been the play of the year in the NFL- just incredible!
I don't think it matters so much who wins the division in this covid year where home field advantage is so small. Only advantage really is for the #1 seed that gets a bye, that's basically it. Just make the playoffs, that's good enough. The future is bright for this team. We have our HC, QB, a ton of picks next year, and are likely making the playoffs in just the 2nd year of a massive rebuild. No need to be nervous. This team is solid.
Very true- I didn't even think about that aspect. Winning the division is bragging rights though and I think it makes it a little sweeter that the Bills have a really solid team as well. Hopefully we see these battles for the next decade with the Jets and the Pats watching from the sidelines come December. Then again, the Jets with Lawrence could make things really interesting really fast! It's just super fun to be relevant and I agree with you, this should continue well into the future.
Does anybody see a scenario where both us and Buffalo are resting players week 17 ahead of the playoffs? Wouldn't shock me if the team went 4-3 over the last 7, I see Buffalo, Kansas City, and the Vegas Raiders all being tough games that wouldn't shock me if we ended up on the wrong side of.
Interesting idea. Depends on what's at stake, as in which opponents you might have. Thing is this.. there's so much competition right now for those WC spots that it's unlikely the Dolphins could take it easy. We'll see. I will say this though. People need to stop worrying about our draft position and root for teams in the WC hunt to lose. So many posters were happy Cleveland won (against Houston) but that was a bad result for us. Cleveland is now 6-3.
For this team, the way they prepare...I don't see Flores resting players in week 17. They rested players in NE when they were undefeated that season several years back and it totally backfired on them. Plus, this team is just too hungry to rest people unless they absolutely have to. I agree with you that the Bills and the Raiders are tough match-ups...it really stinks we played the Bills the 1st time so early in the schedule. If we can't beat Buffalo though in week 17 then KC and Oakland don't matter as much- 10+ wins will get us to the postseason. So I really think it comes down to if the Bills can keep winning. Hopefully they drop a few and things get much more interesting without us having to be perfect every single week.
Plus they still have the Eagles, Jets, Jags, and Giants to go although offset by also having the Ravens, Steelers and Titans. The thing with that Browns team is they're just about odd enough where I could see them winning or losing every game on that schedule.
Titans and Colts are frauds, one has to win the AFC South though. Seems the Ravens are suspect now too. I despise the Oranges. Unlikeable QB and Jarvis Landry taking his act out there. I would have been fine with the Texans winning yesterday though though we want them to lose to keep a high pick for the Phins.
The Ravens are suspect anytime their run-pass balance has to tilt heavily in favor of the pass, as it did last night. That's when Lamar Jackson's flaws show.
Every year for the past few years we see a not so good Patriot team suck in their first month or 2 and then pour it on and get into the playoffs and go to the Superbowl more often than anyone wants to see. For the first time in a while I was thinking that we wouldn't have to worry about them but they are 2 games back with a better divisional record AND if this "extra teams in the playoff thing" happens they could somehow slip in and cause trouble. I hope they lose the rest of their games but beating Baltimore just makes me think "oh No, not again."
That's just not accurate. Last year they started 8-0 only to finish 12-4. The year before that they started 6-2 then went 5-3 in the 2nd half of the season. Granted in 2017 they started 6-2 and went 7-1 the rest of the way, but it was 7-1 7-1 the year before, and in 2015 they started 10-0 only to finish 12-4. So it's exactly the opposite. NE lately has started off better than they finish. You're remembering things from 15-20 years ago. That's not the way NE has been since about 2013 (2013 and 2014 it was 6-2 6-2 in both years).
This is a very detailed article that explains the Dolphins' cover-zero defense and how it's been effective as of late: https://theathletic.com/2203644/202...-brian-flores/?source=dailyemail&redirected=1 This is quite a big deal because if you can routinely limit other teams' passing games, you stand a far better chance of beating them, as much as the league hinges on that part of the game. Flores and company have created quite a competitive advantage for themselves with this.
Rewind this thread to the point just after Tua started his first game and I expressed significant concern about the team's playoff chances. Well that's where I am again here.
Here's where the Dolphins have been during the weeks Tua has started: When you add today's game the offensive EPA will be even worse. That's all fine and dandy if you're getting big plays like blocked punts, strip sacks returned for big yardage, and interceptions. But those plays can't be relied on, and so this team's playoff hopes will hinge on whether there can be significant improvement in what we see above. The team you see above isn't making the playoffs.
We're still right in the thick of things, especially if the Raiders lose to KC later. Can't believe Indy is about to beat GB though. That doesn't help us at all, but yeah playoffs are still very much realistic.
Expanding on this a bit, in weeks 1-7 with Fitzpatrick starting, the Dolphins' offensive EPA per play was 0.44 standard deviations above league average. In weeks 8-11 with Tua starting, that figure has dropped to 1.24 standard deviations below league average.
