The Disappearing Miami heat advantage

The bubble thing also doesnt make any sense as neither Saban nor Cameron really used it for much more than hosting practices that would normally be lost due to the massive amounts of afternoon thunderstorms passing through Davie during camp/preseason time of the year, and to simulate certain sound situations, etc.

When the team is decent the heat advantage will return.

I don't like the Bubble because it allows our players not to have to deal with the situation in front of them, they can have a "plan B", I don't like that, to me, it means that they are thinking about moving the practice if things get tough.

The Heat used to be as large an advantage as the snow and ice are for the Bills and Pats and Jets, I think we will get it back, starting this season.

"Aqua4Ever04 wrote:

I remember stitting in shock and awe when we lost that game to the Texans. I couldn't believe the worst team in football had come in and beat a supposed Super Bowl contender.

However, I think it really depends on the teams we play. Look at the 2005 opener vs. the Broncos. They literally melted as they lost 3 starters in the secondary due to cramps (from the heat.) Sammy Morris ran a draw play for a touchdown from 10 yards out and no one showed any explosion to get to him. Later in the game Marty Booker ran right through the secondary for a 60 yard touchdown (and we all know he's by no means the fastest man in the NFL.)

Last year we got Dallas and Oakland, two warm weather citiies, to come here in September so the advantage was basically offset.

With all this said, it really comes down to the football team. It might have an impact of two teams are evenly matched but it's not going to make us beat the Patriots or some other great team. The reason for losing the past few years has been because we were a bad football team, most of our opponents were MUCH better then us. Prior to 2004, we were MUCH better then a lot of our opponents resulting in wins.

The thing that makes me question that is the consistency of the slide, we are 4-12 in early games (presumably Sept and early Oct) that is four seasons of watching that slide.

The only constant is we had old veteran Offensive lineman and Defensive linemen.

Padre, thanks for the post. You put a lot into it, but to be perfectly honest, what has really changed is that our teams just haven't been as good, especially offensively as they were in earlier years. During the time you're talking about, Marino ran DBs and LBers up and down the field, tiring them out by later in the game...Before Marino, the offense wore down other teams with the run game...

Since then, we've mostly been a finesse team, that was soft on offense. Wanny's play not to lose strategy has never been a way to go...but that's how he ran things...Couple that with his horrible personnel moves, brought us up to Saban and Cam's time where we just didn't have the talent to stay with most teams...

Funny how the advantage slipped away the year Ricky "retired", it literally melted.

Since then, it has Rb by committee or journeymen or star Rb who was quickly injured.

Or a HC who didn't understand the implications of not playing veterans in the preseason to prepare them for the heat.

Statistically, that sort of turnaround is uncommon, 4-12 after winning 12 home openers in a row?

i do think the heat advantage needs to comeback i remember seeing players on the bills and jets just lose all kinds of energy

especially after half time the looks on there faces used to be priceless while the fins would be jogging out of the locker room the bills and jets would be walking and just looking very tired

they will get it back

"Larryfinfan wrote:

Padre, thanks for the post. You put a lot into it, but to be perfectly honest, what has really changed is that our teams just haven't been as good, especially offensively as they were in earlier years. During the time you're talking about, Marino ran DBs and LBers up and down the field, tiring them out by later in the game...Before Marino, the offense wore down other teams with the run game...

Since then, we've mostly been a finesse team, that was soft on offense. Wanny's play not to lose strategy has never been a way to go...but that's how he ran things...Couple that with his horrible personnel moves, brought us up to Saban and Cam's time where we just didn't have the talent to stay with most teams...

Completely agree. There was a time when this team could make the D run all over just trying to cover guys. Lately, we've become very predictable. That would be find if we had a punishing run game, but we just don't. I think with a healthy Ronnie Brown, and a decent line, we could have that again. It's just that in the last few years, it hasn't been there.

I think the bubble can be a help or a problem according to how it's used. Just like anyother tool it's not good or bad. Really heavy rains or thunderstorms I'd use it; other than that I'd work out on the outside be it wet or dry. :up:

Its OUR defense that gets tired from the multiple 3 and outs our offense provides us at any point of the year.

"Fin-Omenal wrote:

Its OUR defense that gets tired from the multiple 3 and outs our offense provides us at any point of the year.

And that used to be reversed, in the Halycon Days, it was an all day affair for miami to drive down the field and score, and our defense played zone and did not give up big plays, you had to grind it out to score as well.

That extension of the game helped the heat to work to our advantage, as long as we were in shape that is.

Funny thing is, if we look back at the SB, the Patriots looked drained at the end of the game, they closed the roof out in the desert and the heat and humidity in the then closed stadium sucked the life right out of them.

Great post, thanks. I have said several times in earlier threads that I believe we get that heat advantage back this season with the new tough conditioning program. Some youth won't hurt either. The bubble is a good thing, not a bad one, so long as you only use it when you would otherwise have to cancel a practice due to lightning. If that's the only time you use it, then the bubble is great because you get in practices that otherwise wouldn't happen, so it contributes to your conditioning.

Dallas and Oakland both train in Thousand Oaks, CA where the weather is not very hot so I disagree with the theory those teams have the same heat advantage. And Oakland is by no means a "hot" climate.

Our September heat advantage comes back this season, but only if we field a decent team out there. It may actually take a season before we really see that advantage come back fully, because we are not likely to win very many games this season. JMHO, and I sure hope I'm wrong about that.

Well Phinsrock, our track record shows that the last time we had a major rebuild ala JJ in 1996, we did rebound...and we had a similar jettisoning of older players, so it is not an impossibility.

Whatever happened in 2004, man, it really sticks out as the year that the Dolphins headed south, the difference in records is amazing.

This is funny, I used to measure our progress based on how we did against the Bills, now, it is that early season game against the Texans, when we defeat them, we have a good season, when we lose, we will stink.

The article is right in that technology is part of the reason the heat advantage has been lost...but the wrong technology is pointed to.

Now, both the benches and pads are cooled and heated, completely nullifying any advantage weather has on the game. Indeed, unless it's a game like the Buffalo/Cleveland game last year, how hot or cold it is has no effect on the game at all.

Personally, I'm not surprised at all that the NFL allows such things to happen. They can talk about how cold or hot it is at gametime, show the crazy fans out with no shirts on, and otherwise play up the adversity of having a game in the conditions...and then have a great game on the field because the team isn't affected by it.

Reason #2 for our "advantage" disappearing? The team stinks. We've had so many new coaches and new systems installed this decade that the first half of the season is dedicated to people trying to figure out what they should be doing on the field. We're bound to lose a lot of games.

Both teams have to play in the same weather....it is just like when teams play in the cold. I think blaming the weather for losses or wins is just an excuse.

"Roman529 wrote:

Both teams have to play in the same weather....it is just like when teams play in the cold. I think blaming the weather for losses or wins is just an excuse.

The advantage was clear cut, it used to lead us to 4-1/3-2 starts, since 2004, we have not even come close to recapturing it.

Just like the Packers in Lambeau when the temperature is below freezing.

We shouldnt use the bubble unless there is lightning...period.

I remember a few times last season I could've sworn I heard them say they went in because of the heat and I was like WTH?

"TheMageGandalf wrote:

We shouldnt use the bubble unless there is lightning...period.

I remember a few times last season I could've sworn I heard them say they went in because of the heat and I was like WTH?

I do not think that will be a problem at Bill Parcell's School for Bad Football Teams"

A HC who took the stars off of Cowboy's helmets until they earned them will have taught that lesson well to HC Sparano...I think they will have to earn everything....even the Bubble.

That could be a great motivating tool, "do it right, and tomorrow we can use the Bubble"

If a player is put on the spot like that, with the entire team relying on him to perform, the incentive level will rise noticeably..:hi5:

"Roman529 wrote:

Both teams have to play in the same weather....it is just like when teams play in the cold. I think blaming the weather for losses or wins is just an excuse.

I don't agree with this at all.. That's like saying that the altitude in Denver isn't an advantage to the Broncos because both teams have to play there. When you train and practice in a climate, you become used to working in that climate. When a team who is used to a temperature controlled dome or who's high temp in the summer is 70 comes to Miami where it's 100+ in the summer and the humidity leaves a haze on the field, there's difference in conditioning. I think our younger guys will start to use this to their advantage once again in the very near future.

"Miamifan1354 wrote:

I don't agree with this at all.. That's like saying that the altitude in Denver isn't an advantage to the Broncos because both teams have to play there. When you train and practice in a climate, you become used to working in that climate. When a team who is used to a temperature controlled dome or who's high temp in the summer is 70 comes to Miami where it's 100+ in the summer and the humidity leaves a haze on the field, there's difference in conditioning. I think our younger guys will start to use this to their advantage once again in the very near future.

Altitude is a different animal than the heat. The advantage for us in the heat is even less early in the season, to some extent, because most every team has been practicing in the same heat, for the most part due to the time of year (August). But you are right that there is a certain advantage, however slight to the home team. That said, our advantage in the past has been more about the composition of the team and coaching than weather related.

"Larryfinfan wrote:

Altitude is a different animal than the heat. The advantage for us in the heat is even less early in the season, to some extent, because most every team has been practicing in the same heat, for the most part due to the time of year (August). But you are right that there is a certain advantage, however slight to the home team. That said, our advantage in the past has been more about the composition of the team and coaching than weather related.

Logical, but not factual Larry. Here's why. There's this factor called "Humiture". http://www.vhsl.org/heatgl.pdf Look at the chart about 1/4 way down the page for an explanation.

I believe the answer is science & technology. Teams have learned how to deal with the heat through proper hydration and the mist fans we see on the side lines.

But, there is still the head games that the heat plays on the individual players. Just think what goes through your mind when you first step off the plane into the sweltering 98/90 heat, humidity of the deep south.

You immediately know "sompins" up!

"Themole wrote:

Logical, but not factual Larry. Here's why. There's this factor called "Humiture". http://www.vhsl.org/heatgl.pdf Look at the chart about 1/4 way down the page for an explanation.

I believe the answer is science & technology. Teams have learned how to deal with the heat through proper hydration and the mist fans we see on the side lines.

But, there is still the head games that the heat plays on the individual players. Just think what goes through your mind when you first step off the plane into the sweltering 98/90 heat, humidity of the deep south.

You immediately know "sompins" up!

The advantage lays in not being able to train for that sort of heat, practice and preseason just does not equal the intensity of a NFL game, and our reliance on a power running game with Ricky and Ronnie "can" lead to a fast start.

My goodness, 98/90, 300 pd plus guy hitting you all afternoon and 220+ pd running backs, man, we should be able to pull a huge advantage out of our early season games, especially on long drives.

"padre31 wrote:

The advantage lays in not being able to train for that sort of heat, practice and preseason just does not equal the intensity of a NFL game, and our reliance on a power running game with Ricky and Ronnie "can" lead to a fast start.

My goodness, 98/90, 300 pd plus guy hitting you all afternoon and 220+ pd running backs, man, we should be able to pull a huge advantage out of our early season games, especially on long drives.

1) That's what I was thinking too! :up:

2)It worked in the past. I don't know if Don Shula, just brought his cold weather practice philosophy down with him in 1970 or it was something he realized when he got here.

We will have to dig up his book "The Winning Edge" and review it to see if he mentions the heat and humidity factor in it.

"padre31 wrote:

I don't like the Bubble because it allows our players not to have to deal with the situation in front of them, they can have a "plan B", I don't like that, to me, it means that they are thinking about moving the practice if things get tough.

The Heat used to be as large an advantage as the snow and ice are for the Bills and Pats and Jets, I think we will get it back, starting this season.

The bubble was erected to provide safe haven from lightning. You don't "deal" with lightning, you get away from it. You don't run from lightning because it makes the going tough, you run because it kills. If you will recall, it was an assistant getting struck by lightning during practice that prompted the building of the bubble in the first place.

"cnc66 wrote:

The bubble was erected to provide safe haven from lightning. You don't "deal" with lightning, you get away from it. You don't run from lightning because it makes the going tough, you run because it kills. If you will recall, it was an assistant getting struck by lightning during practice that prompted the building of the bubble in the first place.

Very much agree with this Marty. Florida has the highest occurrence of lightning strikes in the nation

Lightning is a killer. It claims more victims each year than do snowstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes. It keeps a low profile as the second largest weather-related killer, usually striking one person at a time. Only floods, which can wipe out towns, kill more people.

According to the U.S. National Weather Service, 73 people die from lightning strikes each year and hundreds more suffer life-debilitating injuries. Memory loss, attention deficits, sleep disorders, numbness, dizziness, and weakness are some of the maladies cited.

The highest death rates from lightning in the United States are in Florida, which is known as the lightning capital of the country. According to the service, from 1959 to 2003 lightning killed 3,696 people in the United States. Of those, 425 were in the Sunshine State. (The only state that did not record a lightning death in the period was Alaska).

Lightning has injured at least 2,000 people in Florida since 1959.