9. Miami (4-3). Most surprising team in the league right now. Tell me: At the end of September, when the Dolphins were 1-3, with losses to the Texans, Jets and Cards, did you think there was any chance they'd be above .500 at any time before 2014? I didn't. But you're always in the game when you can play defense, and the Dolphins can play defense. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/10/29/Week-8/index.html#ixzz2Aj2HiQd4. "The Cinderella story, comin outta nowhere, with the swwwing"..
speaking of the Fins defense… They are tied for 5th in the NFL in total sacks at 22 with two teams ahead of them having played 8 games to the Fins 7. The Fins are 4th over all in points allowed per game @ 18 points per game.
what about this part? Giving love to Jimmy Wilson! Jimmy Wilson, CB, Miami. The seventh-round pick from Montana in 2011 had one of the best all-around days any player had Sunday, recording a sack of Mark Sanchez, two tackles, a pass deflection and a blocked punt when he and a fellow punt rusher ran a twist on the Jets' line, fooled long-snapper Tanner Purdue and rushed in and smothered the punt, which Olivier Vernon recovered in the end zone to give the Dolphins a 10-0 lead they'd never relinquish. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/10/29/Week-8/index.html#ixzz2Aj63nqZY
The offense is what worries me. Tannehill is going to have to score vs NE (2x) Buffalo (2x), SF and Seattle. Indy and Seattle you never know what you'll get from them. Im not sure we have the playmakers to get enough done vs those teams as we stand right now
Pats are 12th giving up 21+ points per game. The Bills are giving up 32+ points per game… The least amount of points the Bills have given up in any one game was 14 to the Browns…. ouch
We just need a surge of offense. We hold teams to 18 points on average but we aren't putting up more points on offense in most cases. Whatms the points for stat?
New England is 12th in scoring defense. I'm not saying saying they don't have their issues, but no one's really lit them up yet outside of Baltimore.
Thinking we would go .500 after 1-3, I don't think that was going out on a limb. Defense had played great and Tannehill was showing a lot of reason to be optimistic. I mean Texans are a really good team and was Tannehill's first ever game, and we just had that one bad part of the game. Then two overtime games. Now, saying we'd be .500 or better before the season, that's a different story. I thought FinD had lost his damn mind when he guaranteed 8-8 or better. We still have a lot of season left but pretty happy to probably be wrong on that one. I know some don't care what the media and others think, but I get tired of the "Miami is a joke" so it's good to start being taken seriously.
while in general I agree with you… they did give up 26 points to the Jets a couple weeks ago… yes, those Jets
This was great, standing over him and talkin' smack and then drawing a personal foul penalty. awesome, why do think cromartie was so bitter after the game lol
I was optimistic about Tannehill halfway through that John Gruden ESPN breakdown show. Now we have an emerging passing game with Gaffney and Moore contributing... not to mention Lane, Fasano, Hartline and Bess! I think this offense is only going to get increasingly better! That said, the D still has issues. They give up WAY TOO much yardage! Sean Smith needs to literally tighten up in coverage, and drastically improve in the red zone. He got lucky on that throw that bounced off the Jet, and he knew it with the "wiping sweat" from his forehead move after the play. I know he has improved but I see him out of position way too much. How about Spitler and Trusnik??? Those two are great finds! Jimmy Wilson is progressing nicely and Starks is a beast in a 4-3! Nolan Carroll is playing much better; if Marshall ever comes back we could have a solid secondary! Maybe that provides progression throughout the season with backups thrown into the lineup here and there.
I can't believe my eyes. Ireland did something right.........get otta here. I think we have had talent all along. The couching sucked and was 90% of our problem. Remember 2008 and My guy Chad "Rocket" Pennington.
Is it surprising? Not really, IMO. I think many of the fans of this team and the talking heads on the "expert" shows leaned a little too much on subjective aspects of this team and really ignored the objective data that was available. Objectively, Miami was projected to have around 8 wins at the beginning of the year using pythagorean projections. This is why I never bought into the woe is me crowd who felt this team was destined to win fewer than 6 games. Subjectively though, there are a couple things that many experts and fans underestimated. 1. The effect of having a coach that can put players into a position to succeed. 2. The effect of having a legitimate quarterback. Overall, I think this coaching staff is having even more of an effect than I felt they would overall. I'm one of those that believes coaching really doesn't have the marked effect that many people feel, but I feel this coaching staff has really made a difference. IMO, there are very few terrible head coaches and very few great head coaches. Everyone else, there is very little difference. I think what we are seeing here is the difference between a terrible coach in Tony Sparano and a guy in Joe Philbin who may indeed be a great coach in the making. At least the early signs are encouraging. Like I said in another thread, it is still early. Let's see if this effect can sustain itself. If it does, then we have our best coach since Don Shula, who was one of the few truly great head coaches.
Interesting theory. So you think given a bell shaped curve of coaching talent in the NFL we've gone from having a coach who was a negative outlier to one who is a positive outlier? I think I can buy this.
I see it as more simple than that. Is it crazy to think better coaching buys you maybe 2 wins? If its not crazy, then our records the last few years would have been 9-7, 9-7, 8-8. That's why i guaranteed at least 8-8. I think the talent level of the team has an total rating of average. I think with poor coaching we go under .500 and with good coaching we go over .500.
I like KB's argument better if I'm understanding it correctly. He is saying 90+% of the coaching in the NFL is pretty much the same. That is the level is so close to identical that over the course of the season there is virtually no difference. We went from having a guy who was so bad that he was below this 90% to having one who is above the 90%. A pretty seismic shift.
So looking at KB's logic we could say that on the positive side of the curve we have coaches like Belichick, probably Coughlin, maybe Tomlinson and either/both Harbaugh brothers. It's harder to choose the negative curve guys, maybe Rivera, Crennel, and former HC Sparano. Then the remaining coaches are relatively equal or interchangeable; even though there are huge differences in personality and style, strengths and weaknesses. Well, it's an interesting topic for discussion. It would not surprise me to see Philbin get in that positive group although it's a little soon to put him there right now.
Miami has shown it can compete, even while learning. as far as NE of NY go the at have to play us after we're contuionuously improving & I think either would have lost yesterday's game to us. no to worry.
The progress that other players are making may have a big impact later on in the season, there is alot of potential on the bench. I totally agree with your comments.
