USA Today- Okay, they sort of gave a little love....but it's more like mocking us since nobody expects us to go 19-0. If he believed that then we wouldn't be ranked 9th. ESPN- I wonder how long that loser Koontz had to look to find the worst possible stat on our defense? Does that really represent what we've shown on the field to reach 3-0? Freaking loser. NFL.com That's fair- we were inconsistent in the run game last week. Notice he praised us the most yet rated us the lowest? Still not feeling the love. Sporting News Okay, there's a little love. Thank you Sporting News! The other talking heads haven't launched their power rankings yet, but that's a good enough sample to see where this is headed. Everyone has us top-10 BUT few actually respect us so far. Also, New England is ranked higher than us in every single poll- which is a good thing if we beat them this week.
Can't criticize ESPN on this one because they specifically tried to find the worst possible stat for every team on that list. This is what they say they're trying to find for every team: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/24785984/nfl-power-rankings-fatal-flaws-all-32-teams-2018-week-4
Ahh, gotcha....I was on a conference call while posting them and didn't read any of the context. Makes sense.
I think it’s hard to rank a team that wins like we do. We are resilient and don’t give up, but it’s not like we impose our will. I would chauk up our success to something intangible, which in my mind can be more impactful, rather than the regular stats used to evaluate. We're winning. To me, that's the most important thing.
PFT actually has us up at #5! Theirs are extremely fluid early in the season, and will always give love to teams who go out and win games. By contrast, bleacher report still has us at #20, and they crap all over us in their write up. Despite their claims otherwise, I'm going to believe they won't even move us up if we win this week in New England. They just want to continue to justify their own preconceptions.
Until I see more I think any Top 10 ranking is premature. I put us in the 12-14 range honestly. If we take care of business on the road in Foxborough this week I would say that Top 10 is warranted. Then if we take care of business in Cincinnati the week after there is no question we should be top 5 by anyone's measuring stick.
I bet if we beat NE and go 4-0, there will be a huge change in media perception and no major media outlet will put us outside the top 5. I mean.. this team has been mediocre for so long that it will take something really impressive to jolt most NFL fans out of that conditioned response of "Dolphins suck" which btw was often justified. But beating NE in Foxborough to go 4-0 IMO will do that and I bet we'll get a lot of love. We'll see.
I am a fly under the radar type and sort of like it when we don't get a lot of praise from the media. I worry that we will stop to read our press clippings and lose focus.
If we're a well coached team what the media says shouldn't matter. That's another thing to look for.. how does this team perform when things are going real well and everyone's getting love? Do we get too complacent? Almost as important as how to deal with adversity.
I don't know.. I think you'll start seeing more stories of how age might finally be getting to Brady etc.. Only once in Brady's career did he finish outside of the top 10 in passer rating, in the year 2013. He's ranked #15 right now and if we win it's probably because he didn't play like a top 10 QB (hopefully due to our defense!). The media isn't wedded to anything except getting as many viewers as possible. I think they'd love the opportunity to talk about a potential demise of Brady. Well, all this is premature of course but hopefully we find out who's right in a week!
I think these ranking are pretty accurate if not a little generous in the top 10. Haven’t exactly looked fantastic in our wins. Like some have said, we will know a lot more about this team after this weekend in New England.
I was going to say the exact same thing. To the other points that we don't belong in the top 10...name 10 teams that are better than us today. Definitely the Rams and Chiefs. Probably the 2-1 Eagles and Jags. The Bucks are also solid. But then you get to teams like the 1-1-1 Vikings and Steelers....can you undoubtedly say that they're better than us with only one win? Or the 1-2 Patriots? The same goes for the Bengals and Saints. Good teams, but have they shown more than we have? My answer is no. While it's still early in the year, I think we are legitimately the #4 or #5 team in the league today once you factor in all three phases of the game. Our D is clearly #1, our special teams are top 3 and our offense is about 15th (although our QB is #3). I think that deserves top 5 honestly no matter how you look at it.
Pete Prisco ranked the Dolphins at #4: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...ake-top-spots-thanks-to-high-octane-offenses/
Power rankings are not that important. The only numbers that are, are in fact wins and losses. The rankings are basically inconsequential.
