I'm trying to set my fandom aside in order to judge just how good, or bad, this team is going to be this year. Basically, I see flaws. I see injuries that will no doubt hurt the Dolphins. I see guys who can and need to play better. If the Dolphins can keep getting better I think they have a legit shot at the division. If they stay the same they will most likely finish 8-8 or 9-7. If they fall off then obviously they will do worse. My point is, they need to keep getting better because how they've played the past 3 weeks will not be good enough for the division or, most likely, a playoff appearance. But isn't that what good teams do, get better? They MUST keep evolving. They MUST get better. If they don't, they will not be a good team.
They haven't even started warming up. Tannehill and Gase have both been relatively slow starters. They don't bust out of the gates on fire. This team will only get stronger as the season progresses. The fact that we are 3-0 makes it even sweeter.
There are definitely flaws with this team. We've see some incredible performances, but also some horrible moments. That sort of fluctuation doesn't normally bode well. If the Pats become their usual dominant selves then I don't think we'll take the division, but, if everyone in the AFCE is looking flawed, then we might prove the best of the bunch. Gase has shown a tendency to improve with the season, that's could mean good things. Bottom line, I think you're right, if we don't improve it won't be a great result, but if we do, then who knows!
I know that as Dolfans, we're not exactly used to winnings streaks but we need to adjust our expectations. Gase knows what he's doing and Tannehill is a veteran at this stage who's coming into his own. You combine that with a defense that features a few quality pieces and you're going to win some games. That's reality in the NFL. Aside from the Dolphins getting better, you've also got a slew of other teams that are pretty mediocre themselves. If a team like Oakland could win a ton of games as they did a few years ago, then so could this years Miami squad. All you have to do is get hot. In the end, if Gase and Tannehill aren't what we hope they are, so be it, but in the meantime you have to expect good things to happen and make adjustments when things don't go that way.
Points scored/points allowed is the most important stat other than W/L and we're not too bad there. The right way to look at them is z-scores which I've posted here for SB winners ( https://www.thephins.com/threads/a-few-stats-to-consider-two-weeks-in.93514/page-2#post-3092932 ) but since ranks are more intuitive let's look at those: Dolphins are currently ranked #6 by points allowed on defense and #11 by points scored on offense for a combined ranking of 17. The graph on the right shows the combined rankings for SB winners. We're definitely below the average of 11.4 so yeah it's still important to improve, but right now this team is statistically within the lower part of the distribution for SB winners and that's not bad. Of course it's only 3 games.
