Awesome to see the Dolphins win yesterday against Pittsburgh, and win well. As good as Pittsburgh are, though (Warning! This next bit might sound crazy) the Bills feel like a bigger test. Aside from the fact that it's a divisional game it somehow feels like the Bills have our number. Changing that fact will feel like a real sign of progress to me. Here's my realistic ideal for the Dolphins - every season while Belichick is in NE I want to see the Dolphins at least split their games with NE and I want to see them sweep the Jets and Bills - or at least win no less than three out of this four games. Obviously that's not where the Dolphins are right now but that's where I'd like to see them, year in year out, at least. If they can simply dominate the division and sweep it great. But my desire is to see the Dolphins on equal footing with the Patriots, every year, at the very least. So this game against a team that always seems to not only threaten us but enjoying bullying us, is a big game for me, and wins against the Bills will be a real sign of growth.
this is a big game, win and there is hope.. This will be reshad jones game of his life spying the running attack of Taylor and Jones.
Per season, in terms of making the playoffs, sure, every game is equally important. However, in terms of evaluating the team's growth and overall progress as a unit, not every game is equal. A game played against a frequent opponent is more valuable in making that assessment - especially one that been a difficult opponent. Bottom line - if forced to choose, I'd rather lose consistently to the Steelers and win consistently against the Bills than the other way around. I feel like the Bills present a 'personal' challenge for the Dolphins whereas perhaps the Steelers present a 'technical' challenge. The Steelers are a good team, beating them is great. But with the Bills there's a little something extra. I want to see the Dolphins overcome that. That, for me, will be significant.
I'm still not optimistic for this week. Our run defense still wasn't good enough yesterday and their running game is kicking butt right now. I think we lose a close one vs the Bills and then beat up the Jets the folllowing week.
So uhmmm how's Mario Williams doing? I'm not being snarky it's just that I don't get to watch a lot of dolphins games and was wondering if he was still disappearing for most of the game like he did for us last year.
Aside from the 1 missed tackle that gave up 60 yards on the TD they only had 68 yards for the rest of the game. Not too sure what more they would have to do to be "good enough". "THEY GOT 5 YARDS OF RUSHING - WHY CAN'T THEY KEEP THEM TO ZERO".
Here are my thoughts- - We beat the snot out of Pittsburgh, despite dropping one TD and having a ref steal another. We also got unnecessary roughness penalties left and right when both teams were playing physical and pushing after the play. And we missed a field goal...and we still kicked some major ***. - The defense played with a grudge all day long and when that happens, everyone plays on a different level. So even though we had some injuries, I am hoping and praying that the energy can spill over to the next game. If so, we will have a chance at winning. - The biggest change, however, was the offensive line. Tannehill played well....and "well" is all we need to win games with huge holes to run through and the defense not being able to stack the box. That opens up Landry underneath, Parker and Stills deep....it's like poetry in motion. - Combine those last three points, and it's a recipe to BEAT ANYONE in the NFL. Motivated D, good blocking and shrugging off the mistakes. The rest really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. So the question of the day is if we can repeat that level of energy six days from now. If so, we torch Buffalo's ***. If not, then it's a close game and Buffalo likely wins. But here's the saving grace- Ajayi is on top of the world. The line are at a 5 year high with this team. Nobody is talking about Tannehill, which is great in its own right. And some scrubs on our defense are feeling pretty darn special today. So it's all good indications that they'll take the field motivated...and that's all we can ask. That's how every team start's a winning streak.
Joseph's unfamiliarity with the Pats offense was extremely vexing to say the least. Bills always crushed our oline in the past. That's really been the story the last few years. That's where we might see some glimmer of hope. Phillips can really endear himself to me by beating Richie soundly. Tyrod Taylor is the wild card. I could easily see us injuring him or him having a big day.
A good test for the new and improved OL, as the Bills DL has dominated in games against us for far too long. I just want to see how things turn out when we actually have a rushing attack and Tanny has at least 3 seconds to find an open receiver.
