Here is how sports media works: Find a scandal, when that is discredited, then find something else, when buzz fades act as if the whole thing never happened We win the next 3 gms, wow, "genius" and "rallied the team" will be used Which is why, hate the patsies, agree with Belicheat's contempt for the media
Dude, you know what. Im just gonna enjoy the win. I don't want to debate ......how ever you choose to view today is truly up to you. Look forward to the write up later in the week....
I think having brandon marshall on you team has its negatives as well, schematically, and with chemistry. Sean smith cannot be trusted imo..he's always one drag route away from being that liability...I wouldn't want him as a starter, marshall to me is just overrated if your talking elite receiver..
Thing about this, however, is some players play better in certain situations than others. They need maturity and/or leaders over them to help them become leaders. I think it made a huge difference in the maturity level of Marshall to a) have Cutler at QB; b) have a veteran D; c) be in Chicago (a big time no-nonsense type city and team culture); and d) to finally get another year or two older having experienced some disappointment in Miami. Lots of players get cut and do well elsewhere with a change of atmosphere that probably would not have otherwise have happened had they not moved on. Others just take time to develop. But, Long, apparently was offered a comparable / perhaps better deal. However, he is playing for one of the best and most well-liked coaches in the NFL and that helps. And in a new atmosphere. Smith is playing on a great D and is still super inconsistent and getting burned much more regularly than he was in the early part of the season. I don't really see much more from him. I would regard him as a liability in the playoffs.
The race for the 6 seed is shaping up for us. Ravens 6-6 Dolphins 6-6 Steelers 5-7 Chargers 5-7 Jets 5-7 Titans 5-7 We can knock the Steelers out next week if we beat them. We already own the tiebreaker over the Chargers. The Jets are done. The Titans will do no better than 8-8. If we beat the Steelers next week then all we have to be worried about are the Ravens. The Ravens still have to play 3 division leaders so their schedule is tough. If we can go 3-1, we should claim the 6th seed.
As much as I would love a playoff run the reality is that it would be a very short run and while it does help morale/fan support to end a playoff drought,.. it also raises expectations for the following season. The skinny is; we simply will go nowhere in the playoffs with our current OL, kicker and run-defense. Period. Actually exclamation point.
I disagree completely. If we get to the playoffs, its because we won at Pitt....at NY, home against the Pats...and At Buffalo. We have already beaten Indy, and Cinci.
As far as run defense....we have been playing that much better as of late. We shut down Carolina's run game, as well as the Jets.
See the Baltimore Ravens of last season and this. It's all about match ups and getting hot at the right time. Regardless, I'll take it.
We won a big game today and Deej made a thread to sort of celebrate and be enthusiastic about it. And as usual you and others want to come in and sheeit in people's soup. It's not out of the question it's just obnoxious.
We also lost to an injury ridden Buffalo at home after a bye week, threw away big half-time leads to the Panthers and Pats, got crushed by NO, and lost to an 0-8 Bucs will a 3rd string starter and we almost lost to Cinci thanks to Sturgis...can't cherry pick.
No offense to anyone here, but the Jets played horrendous football all day long. Wallace's TD move/catch, for example, was ridiculous...RT overthrew the ball by 5 feet and the defender just stood there watching. On Hartline's TD, the safety is JOGGING after him even though he easily had the tackle at around the 15. It was a fantastic pass by Ryan there though...if he could throw 10 of those a game we'd be a completely different team. Then again, Tannehill also missed several key throws and probably left 21 points on the field with his accuracy issues. In the NFL, a win is a win, but this certainly isn't cause for celebration just yet. The road to the playoffs will almost definitely go through Pittsburgh so next week's match-up is crucial. Tannehill has shown more pocket awareness and better placement two weeks in a row now, so hopefully it all clicks for him within the next 2 weeks. For the record, I really like his potential and the kid has ice-water in his veins, but he has to take that next step sooner rather than later.
Im not. You don't think winning 4 of our last 5 against division opponents wouldn't be a sign we might not just...you know...roll over and die in the playoffs? If we get in, its not because we backed in.
We beat another 5-6 team with an equal record... at their stadium... and it was freaking the JETS... I will enjoy this win and happy we have something to play for next week!
We are playing better now that in the mid season, yes. But today was more of a Jets breakdown that a Dolphins beatdown. Aside from that we have given up a lot of chances out there to every team we've played so far.
DJ made a thread theorizing the the team is gelling at the right time. We're debating whether that's a valid theory. If you don't like it, don't comment. Earlier today someone started a thread about a significant piece of news dropped by Adam Schefter and you came into the thread not even debating the thread topic but trying to discourage people from even talking about it.
There have been a lot of improvements since losing to the Bills after the bye. The OL has improved, Tannehill is not fumbling the ball, Tannehill is allowed to use his athleticism to run out of the pocket, Thigpen did not stutter step on returns this game, coverage of TE's is much better. There are still enough problems to make the team inconsistent (able to win or lose any game). Tannehill's pocket presence and long ball still need improvment, the short yardage run game needs to be fixed to win consistently, Blitz recognition, run stopping, 3rd and long D, Field Goal Kicker, young players on ST, and run blocking are all too inconsistent to string 2-3 wins together IMO.
Honestly.....its to early to say we are. I think this is our most complete win of the year. But, it means a lot of nada if we don't win in Pittsburgh. I do think todays performance will give our team a lot of confidence going into Pitt.
It was our most thorough win of the year but it felt a little hollow because the Jets played so poorly. We actually played a poor half of football in the first half but it didn't matter.
Well...we didn't score, and missed oppurtunities I agree. At least this week, we actually brought our game in the second half.
I don't think that is entirely fair. Points mean everything, we all know, but those drives in the first half were quality drives just missing the final play. Sturgis missed another also but I think we were unequivocally dominating the Jets offensively and defensively throughout the whole game.
Be it rational or not, I promise you that every Miami Dolphins player or coach believes they were a huge part of the reason the Jets played like crap. It's not in a man's blood to be pessimistic about a road win in the NFL.
That's football though. You can have five good plays and a bad one and the bad one lose you points and you lose the game because you keep repeating that pattern.
Yeah but saying they played "poorly" means something else entirely. Offense played okay by my estimation and the D was just fantastic in the first half. Heck in my books Miller scored in the 1st Qrtr, still waiting for proof on that OPI....
There are a thousand threads dedicated to the Incognito situation, why go back to it minutes before a big game vs a hated rival? OTOH today's win is still fresh, it's actually a positive development, and it hasn't been talked to death. At least let us exchange some high fives for a few hours before you get all analytical.
A win is a win and anytime that happens people get confident. I realize Jets have been fairly bad these last few weeks, and Geno Smith is far from impressive but this is a heated rivalry and we just kicked their *** in their building so a little confidence doesn't hurt...Especially when we are going to Pittsburgh next week. Steelers have been bad this year but the "good team" still shows up to play every now and then and they have been pretty tough these last few weeks. Beating them in their building would be monumental for us despite Pittsburgh having an off season. They still are one of those teams that can hang with anybody in the league on any Sunday. That would be a repsectable win for us, which we really need if we want to make the playoffs. Are we gellin' at the right time? I'd like to think so despite the Carolina loss, but we can't give any more of those games away in my opinion if playoffs is a goal (which it is for me). I think we also have to find a way to run the ball consistantly. I think that makes Tannehill/Wallace all the more dangerous if that can happen.
They also beat the Pats and Saints, and have a really good defense...just sayin. We should have beat the Bills, Panthers, and Bucs...and even the Ravens...in a sense, maybe this win was expected but with this team, based on past close games...nothing can be expected. Because of solid win it may mean we are rounding the corner. Typical Dolphin team from this season, makes this game close in second half, and finds way to either lose, or just barely win. Instead, boom domination...good be a glimmer of hope.
Had the ball 24 minutes in the first half, we didn't score but the O dominated the Jets D, very frustrating we even missed a field goal not just td opportunities
Las Vegas has guys on their analytical team that people around here couldn't hold a candle to, they had the Dolphins as 2 point favorites. This win was never a forgone conclusion.
...Unless...Gene Sterratore. The Jets do have a really good D. With an offense that poor its amazing it wasnt 38-3. I mean if we had been clicking we could have really made this one ugly early. I dont want to compliment the Jets D too much but the fact that remains we dont have a running game or our red zone efficiency would be among the top 5. Gonna have to be even better against Pitt because they can actually score Its not so much about crapping on your and everyone elses parade as it is about not strictly being a homer. I can dig your enthusiasm and love for our team but at the same time we had the ball 24 minutes in the first half and had how many points? How can you objectively sit there and tell me that everything was perfect? We do that against Roethlisberger, whether people like him or not, we will be in a dog fight instead of a 1 possession game. I think Im more of an optimist then a pessimist (optimists live longer after all), but we had plenty of flaws in todays game and theres nothing wrong with pointing them out. He wasnt rude or acting like an ***.
No win is a forgone conclusion in the NFL, no? Vegas has also persisted to critically underrate Duke this year by paying more attention to their past than what they're capable of on the field. Vegas projected them losing 3 of their past 5 by a combined deficit of 18.5 points. Not only did Duke win those 3 games but they exceeded Vegas's odds by 91.5 points the past 7 games. So they're not infallible. Just sayin.
I think next week is going to be a good game. This week was a step in the right direction. But so was Week 9. And Week 11. Those weeks were followed up by Week 10's and Week 12's. Next week is an opportunity to break the pattern and for the first time since Week 3 of this year, proactively take a step into winning territory (rather than just passively staying in winning territory despite a loss). We'll see if Miami can do it. I kind of have my doubts. I thought Miami was going to win this week. I don't think they win next week. We'll see if I'm wrong.
Did you see anything from the Carolina loss, even though it was so discouraging, that made you think in a different light about the talent level on the team?, I mean you wrote a very good article on how there were some critical coaching errors that could of affected that game negatively, so my whole mindset is this, I'm trying to separate the talent from the coaching to make an informative decision as to what's wrong or right with the team moving forward.. The panther game clearly showed me that there is enough talent on this team to compete with a perceived very good team, I feel like the panthers were outplayed for the majority, so I figured the way these last 5 games shaped up, we have the talent to run the table, but do we have the coaching, would this team turn on it's coaches, could they motivate them amidst this controversy... so far so good.
It's really not a difficult theory I'm presenting, do we not feel collectively before going into that game against the jets that we may of seen a higher level of play in a few different depts in the two weeks prior? For example..did we not see Sherman move the pocket? Did we not see Ryan use his legs in quicker fashions find an exit route from the pocket? Did we not see a defense that felt like if it wasn't for those damn legs of one player, that team wouldn't of scored sh&$? When I reflected on the game something just seemed different from Ryan and the defense, and i chalk that up to paying their dues all season to get to a point where I saw some confidence against a supposed far superior opponent.. I'm talking relative to our team here, did it not feel like we were about to play our best ball?
