We're probably losing next week no matter who starts. Hey.. Tua started off poorly but rebounded in the 2nd half. It was enough to win. He'll improve. No reason to be down on the guy. Big question for this team is can we end the season 2-2 or better against tough opposition. Would be awesome if we can.
Got to give Tua and the staff credit. Didnt think he deserved to play the second half after his first half performance, but a great bounceback in the second half from Tua. Hopefully he can keep playing like that.
This is my question too. KC and Buf seem like sure losses. NE is a tough match up because we struggle against the run. Anything can happen but my fear is we end 9-7.
I want to see more of that second half play. It seemed like everything was on script for him and when a play did extend he had time to make his reads. Things were a lot less chaotic in the 2nd half offensively and there was some noticeable improvement from the first half obviously. We need to finish drives better and play a whole game of football, but the 2nd half was a lot more encouraging than the first.
I don't care which quarterback gets them slightly less destroyed next week. Dolphins future hinges on Tua developing and not on what happens next week.
So throw away the season, and a playoff shot. To get Tua experience the rest of the season got it. Sounds like a great plan.
Oakland barely got past the Jets today, which makes me think they're trending back down the Earth and an opportunity for us there. I think we'll beat NE as well since we always do. My big question is next week- if we lose Howard and Parker, it will be a very tough day without the defense and special teams scoring some points. I don't think we stand a chance without them. To me, Buffalo is like our final exam of the season- who is this team in 2020? A close loss is fine, a close win is even better, but with the way our D has been playing, that should be a very winnable game...especially if we have Williams back by then as well. I think 2-2 over the last four shows this team is becoming a contender, while 3-1 or better means we may already be there today on the coattails of the defense. I'm still proud of this team even if we finish 1-3...anything but 0-4 is acceptable I think (at least to me). I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll go 2-2 or 3-1 though!
A win is a win but it felt like the same old Dolphins in the first half. You cannot give a half away to KC. Hopefully Flores will get these guys up for next week. We are a young team they gotta keep emotions in check. I was glad to see everyone stand up for Grant. Man that guy is tough.Hopefully we can come right out of the gate next week with some fire.
Well if you can guarantee they make it with Fitz and not with Tua that is one thing but that isn't reality. Tua may never make them true contenders but they certainly are never going to be with Fitz.
Ok I'm jumping in here late so if I repeat something already mentioned, apologies in advance. Howard's ejection was pure CRAP! There was no violent swing. At least I'm glad Cincinnati was penalized. Now, overall the Dolphins played like absolute ***CRAP*** the first half! I don't know what Flores said to the team at halftime, but he sure lit a fire under their butts. Tua actually looked like the player we were hoping he would be. The defense stepped up and started putting the HEAT on the Bengals. The bench clearing? Did everyone see Flores getting in to it? Damned glad Davis got a hold of Flores and held him back. Had we lost Fores, that could have been catastrophic for the team. Don't really mind Parker and Hollins getting ejected. That hit on Grant was brutal and Michaels (?) should have been ejected. I'm actually surprised there wasn't more ejections, but we'll see what happens this week after the NFL reviews the bench clearing. That was twice in a row he pulled that stunt on Grant. Just glad Jakeem was ok. Tagovailoa needs to step up, bottom line. With Fitzpatrick, we all know what we're going to get. He's going to get you a lot of yards, a lot of touchdowns and sadly, a lot of interceptions. The thing is though, Fitz produces with our offense. Tua didn't in the first half. He needs to play the entire game like he did in the 2nd half. All in all, good win. Now on to the Chiefs. It'll be interesting to see how Mahomes actually handles our defense. I don't really think Mahomes is going to be AS dominant as many may think.
Mostly agree but I'll one up you. I'm glad Parker stood up for himself after getting hit. The Bengals are just a dirty team. I think Howard was ejected because his hand made weak contact with the opponents helmet which automatically escalated it from a shove to a punch.
300 yards and TD with no mistakes. He started slow and put on a clinic in the 2nd half. If Fitzpatrick did that this board would be punching their superbowl tickets.
I like our odds versus the Pats and Raiders, not so much versus the Chiefs and Bills. Still, that would be 10-6 and a very successful season, even if we lose out on the tie breakers for the playoffs. The season should go down to that Buffalo game, which is way better than most season when Miami is draft planning in early December. Also, let Tua run the hurry up offense, we don't have a run game to lean on and can't play ball control and run the clock like, say, the Titans could.
I think the game against Buffalo could take many different forms. A lot of it depends if there is anything left for them or us to fight for. If they are locked into a playoff seed but we are fighting for a Wildcard that energy could put us over the top.
Yeah, the Bills could use the Miami game as a bye-week, resting starters for the playoffs. Would they want a warm weather team up in Buffalo in the Wild Card round? Probably. The enemy you know and all that. Depends on how the Bills games with the Pats and Chiefs go.
I like our odds more against the Bills and the Raiders than I do against the Chiefs and the Patriots. Running and very mobile quarterbacks have given the defense issues this season...not to mention KC and New England both have a running game, our Achilles heel defensively.
Burrow done. Herbert has 90 passing yards at home against new England. Tua throws for 300. We're in the worst position ever!!!
A few things. First off, Howard shoved 1st, got punched, then punched/slapped back. He absolutely earned that ejection and I'm hoping he's not out next week too. A defensive leader needs to control himself and de-escalate that...can't be the face of the team and swinging. Same goes for Parker. I know he got hit first, but he comes back with 3 or 4 of his own hitting multiple people- including the knockdown on Cinci's coach. I won't lie, I enjoyed that....but you can't be knocking out coaches. Parker could be done for the rest of the season, I'm guessing the league is going to absolutely hammer him for that to set an example. I wouldn't be shocked to see a 4 game suspension that gets appealed down to 2 games. The D played great in the 2nd half even after Howard was out, but we were also facing a 3rd string QB. None of this bodes well for next week's game EXCEPT that the locker room might be mad as can be and come out like world-beaters next week. I'm afraid it might be without Howard and Parker though, we'll see. Parker's role was definitely worse since he earned the KO.
No mistakes? I don't think you watched the game then. His first half was full of mistakes, bad play and he got away with one or at least two that should have been turnovers but good luck/penalties wiped them off the stat sheet. The numbers don't tell the story of the first half here. The rebound in the second half was very encouraging and very good QB play in the 2nd half IMO. First half, he looked indecisive, hesitant and confused and he made plenty of mistakes that he got away with. Against a good team, it could have been much worse.
This excuse is getting rather old...This whole speculative reasoning? It's like saying a team should have lost the game that they won. Sure....Maybe that should have happened, but it didn't. Sorry that Tua played well in the second half. Sorry that put had an effect on your personal agenda towards him. You might actually be wrong about him. He might actually be a good quarterback in this league.
When he throws a 60 yard bomb on the money to his punt returner acting like a #2 wide receiver who drops it. It's Tua's fault. He's working with what he's got. And he still looks good doing it.
Let’s be fair here, Tagovailoa played like crap in the first half. He had more yards passing on the Dolphins 2nd possession in the 3rd quarter than he had all in the first half. Tua woke up for the 2nd half but the way he played in the 1st half, I wondered whether or not Flores was going to bring Fitz in. He was that bad. Kudos to him though for stepping up in the 2nd half.
I agree. If we hold on to that bomb to Grant and Gaskin doesn't fumble we may have had 30+ points. I'm waiting for another really clean, efficient game from the offense. We're going to need about 4 of them.
I wouldn't make that assumption. Burrow has a good reputation from college but statistically he wasn't that good in his NFL rookie season. Passer rating of 89.8 (after 404 attempts so it has some meaning) when league average is 93.3, and against one of the worst teams in the league in his last start against Washington 2 weeks ago he led the Bengals to only 9 points. The week before that against a defense similarly good to ours in points allowed (Pittsburgh) he led them to 10 points. So let's not assume Burrow would have won this game. And to be fair, there's nothing wrong with a below average rating as a rookie. It says nothing really about longer term success, but Burrow wasn't some kind of great QB this year. Oh, and worth mentioning that Justin Herbert, who actually does "look" like he's in command more than Tua and even Burrow, had a real doozer today. His offense scored 0 points (admittedly some ST issues but still..) with 2 INT's today and his 2020 rating is now down to 94.24 (455 attempts) from the massive highs it was earlier in the season where people thought this guy was great. Not so impressive now statistically. Once again, I think Herbert will be fine longer term. Just saying, it's not clear these guys are ahead of Tua right now. NFL is hard.
You know, I’m not so sure about that. There’s no question the strength of our team is the defense. It’s one of the most stout and stingiest units in the league. The Browns, particularly Burrow faces only 2 stout defenses this season, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. In those two games, Burrow put up 213 yards, 1 TD and a dismal 76.4 passer rating. Against the Ravens, Burrow put up a pathetic 183 yards, 1 int and a passer rating of 66.4. With our defense gobbling up interceptions left and right like Pac Man, I truly believe Burrow would have had a very bad day against the “Mosh Pit”.
What's funny is that you actually think that is an itelligent statement. Do you even watch the games? You're on a roll, brotha'. Keep up the good work.
^^^THIS^^^ This was a pathetic stat on today’s game. You can NOT go 1 for 10 on 3rd conversions and expect to win a game. The Dolphins offense needs to clean that up right quick and in a hurry. I know this is a young team and it still has a way to go but I think we’ve come to expect great things from the Dolphins. I don’t think that expecting at least a 50% conversion rate on 3rd down is too great of a basic expectation