http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/ Armando has this one right, who are the 2010 Dolphins, and if they lose are they who we thought they were? One thing to keep in mind is the Bengals are among the league leaders in 4th Qtr points scored with 48, the Dolphins are among the leagues' worst in 4th Qtr points with 17. If an identity is not established, say pounding the ball early, often, and all game, or even 3 wide passing, we could be inline for yet another SparanoPhins exciting finish. And we really shouldn't, Bengals have lost several games in a row.
Maybe Tony needs to "implore" his coaching staff to call a more agressive game. If we keep calling these vanilla, safe, middle of the road game plans, that's all this team will be; middle of the road. The return of Wannyball.
I remember a lot of people said that before the season if we could get to 5-3 after the Ravens game, which is still possible, many thought that we'd be able to make a run based on our second half schedule. I think that's still a possibility, and seeing that only the New England game, thanks to our special teams, is the only loss where we've completely come undone, this team could very easily be 4-2 or 5-1 if a bounce or two goes our way. That said, we've got a lot of issues that are still glaring. The interior OL has been an issue since year one, and to this point in 2010, I think the only issue that's somewhat settled is Joe Berger can be a starting C into the future. We still need a playmaker in the secondary to team with Vontae Davis - how nice would Antrel Rolle be back there right now? Our supposed strong running game is floundering, no thanks in part to the OL, but Ronnie will be 29 and Ricky will be what, 34 by next season? It wouldn't shock me one bit if both of them aren't in Dolphins uniforms next year. Those being our primary weaknesses, we've still been able to compete with every team that we've played, and I don't think a wild-card spot is out of the realm of possibility. But this week is definitely a must-win game.
If we get to 5-3 we have a great shot at the playoffs. Beating Baltimore would be a huge accomplishment. In my mind they're pretty much as good as the Steelers are. These next two weeks are probably season defining.
Two more weeks to determine whether were hyped for our last home game that could mean somethin against the titan's, or, we go what I call, Gm'n.
We are not going to be an elite team with a cobbled together interior line that can't get any push up the middle. For whatever reason, that is unfortunately what we have now. Ricky and Ronnie are both power backs, and backs like that have to get a crease they can pound through. We criticize Ronnie because he dances too much, but the reason he does that is that there is no crease. Same old story -- The Oline is good at pass blocking, which is passive, but there's no push for run blocking, which is aggressive. A makeshift center, a castoff-because-of-head-issues left guard and a sick rookie are not what we need in the interior if we're going to live by a power running game. And if you think back, even Marino had the same problem. Groves would have been the lynchpin of the solution if he weren't so injury prone. Truth is, we haven't had a dominating center since Stephenson or road grader guards since Jamie Nails, and you keep seeing the result. Same with the play calling. These are NFL coaches who not only are infinitely more knowledgeable than you and I; they also see these players every day in practice. If they had confidence that these players could actually execute more aggressive plays, they'd call them. The reason they don't is that they don't feel that these guys can execute what is called, or have the ability combined with the cohesiveness to execute it machine-like, so we have the best we can do under the circumstances: Wannyball. Can't blame the coaches. They're playing the odds with the horses that they have right now. It may get better in time. It may not. Unfortunately, what I'm seeing is that we're a couple of drafts and free agencies, plus a couple of years of experience playing together and successfully executing more and more plays, which brings confidence and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, from elite. If you're old, you have to think of the early seventies offensive line. Just how far we are from that, djphinfan is right. We'll see in the next two or three weeks. We need to forget the arbitrary three-year Tuna timeline, embrace reality, and own up that the damage that Dave Wannstedt did to this team cannot be cured quickly.
We're 3-3. every single game from here on out is a "key moment". IMO, we need to beat the Bengals. I think we then lose to the Ravens to go 4-4. Finish the season 9-7, mostly because we lose to one team that we should beat, due to special teams again.
we MUST be 5-3 after the ravens game, no ifs ands or buts. 4-4 would not be acceptable if we lost to the ravens. if u look at that scenario, we would have 4 losses to 4 teams who could keep us out of the playoffs in pitt, ne, nyj, and balt. 2 of those teams have a good shot at the divisions, and the other 2 will be their for the wildcards. if we lost to balt, they would be 2 games ahead of us, then 3 because they would have the tiebreaker, same goes for the pats, right now we are 2 games back, but really 3 due to the tiebreaker, and same for the jets and steelers. we need to be 5-3 after these next 2 games, and then we can go on a big run, being our next real tough test, although tenn can be an interesting game and them being 5-2, i still think we r better than them, so our next real tough task would be at the jets on dec 12th. lets do this boys. lets get to 5-3 for the 2nd half of the season and show the whole league, goodell, and his ****in zebras who is boss.
You speak as though we have already beaten the Bengals. Winning tomorrow is the first order of business. It's a must win situation IMO. Do that and then the Baltimore game will enter the discussion. One game at a time my friend.
This cant be more true. Tomorrow we learn if we are a attacking offense and a attacking Defense! DjPhinfan had a great post on how this game will show us were we are. Will we rise up or fold? Will we conquer again on the road or will we let that game last week haunt us? WE DONT HAVE TO WIN. Winning is nice but we must show we will again battle to the end. 2011 we truely compete IMO THIS SEASON IS FAR FROM OVER
Strange how everyone is melting down and hitting the panic button because we’re 3-3. Wasn’t popular consensus that if we came out 4-4, we’d be a playoff team because of the easier second half schedule? Really, it’s not just this Bengals game, but the next four games that determine what type of team we are. At Cincinnati, at Baltimore, Tennessee, and Chicago. 4-0 is entirely possible against that schedule. But if we go 2-2 against that slate, with one of those 2 wins coming against the Bears, then go ahead and save your money for Heat playoff tickets.
Getting below .500 tomorrow would be a travesty.... Look yourself in the mirror in the morning folks. It's a must win! Dolphins have to win this pivotal game
Bengals are lead leaders in the fourth because they are racking up garbage time points and yards. This team is terrible and we have no business losing to them.
Agree, the matchup of a running game vs a poor run defense should favor exactly what Sparano likes to do on offense.."but"...if we keep it close that passing offense can bite us on the *** in the 4th qtr...
o boy, we could have been going for a record of 5-2 tomorrow, in disucssion and being one of the elite teams in the nfl, now bc those *** wipe zebra pieces of ****s robbed us, the best we can be tomorrow is a 4-3 record. i know i may have some major problems, but i am still irate as **** about last weeks game, and until we clinch a playoff berth, or this game has had no baring on our season, i will not get over it. i love my fins to ****in death, more than anything in the world, and i hate when they get robbed of a hard fought win.
I worry about cincy starting fast with a big play one thing noticed this season is we can lull a team into our game We won't win if we play from behind
Depends on how effective the running game is, a fast start for the Bengals say 10-0 would not knock us out of the running game. And I like our D vs their O, on the turf, our speed should show back up for this game.
We are currently .500, and have lost 3 games at home. 2 Of those of course are KEY Division losses I could easily argue that every single game from here on out is a "Key Moment"!
Stack the damn box today PoD. Send everyone. Force Palmer to throw the football. Bengals are 0-3 when he puts up 300 yards plus.
I hate to be a Negative Nelly, but I don`t think there will be anymore key moments this season. Unless we literally go 8-2 in the final 10 games this is a wasted season. I know I will get flamed for typing this, but if you really analyse things and look at how the AFC is shaping up, we`re kinda screwed.
I hate to be a Nefarious Nick, but I'm not gonna be watching any more games this season until it's confirmed that the Dolphins made the play-offs. I might tune in for the first game in the play offs unless they happen to lose, in which case I really won't be watching Dolphins football this year. I will however, watch the rest of the games during the playoffs leading up to the Superbowl.
I didn`t say I won`t be watching or that I am giving up. I`m just stating how things are shaping up for this team, playoff picture wise. Which at the present moment isn`t very good.
Ya know, it's not the record of this team that has me troubled, it is the lack of inspiring play. At 3-3 the season is far from over but they have shown nothing on the field yet with the exception of having a great field goal kicker. They need to come out and knock the Bengals collective d#*%s in the dirt and dominate a game on both sides of the ball.