That all sounds great, but I'm interested to see how this team plays when it's favored, which will happen for the first time this week.

Many times the favored team comes out complacent, and the underdog comes out fired up. Then when the underdog gets ahead, the favorite's complacency vanishes, and the two teams' "real" ability shows.

Our games against the Jets, Cardinals, and Bengals could be viewed that way, with some variation of course. I'm interested to see how this team responds when the roles are reversed, and its opponent is the underdog.

I certainly don't expect the Dolphins to come out complacent at 2-3, but what could very well happen is their inability to play well against a (possibly) better team that's been cast as an underdog against them, instead of a favorite.

In essence, they may get nowhere near the complacency from the opposing team, and that may be a new experience for them. We'll see how they handle it if so.

 

Not buying it. Like you mentioned, 2-3 is hardly a record to be complacent about. Regardless of the opponent.

 

It would be a good way for the Dolphin players to pay thanks to Jeff Fisher for dogging them and going to the Rams. This is what you didn't want Jeff, might have been the best favor possible. Go Phins.

 

Well, wonder how this defense compares to the Wanny Era units?

 

I hate overreacting either way after a game, but you can't help but get excited with how things are going. This game just feels huge and how great would it be to go into our bye with all the momentum and positive vibes. For the first time we're starting to get a little respect, Tannehill is being recognized as a kid playing well with lots of potential, and for the first time this season in ESPN's Pick'em, Miami has more people picking them than the opponent.

I had lower expectations than some but couldn't quite understand how the Dolphins and Panthers both finished 6-10, yet one was being thought of as a definite playoff team and the other as a potential first overall pick. Nice to see people outside our fan base realizing we're not a pushover.

 

"I got a bad feelin' about this drop."
"Man, you always say that!"

 

Why?

 

I liked this:

 

You misunderstood the point. The point is that the Dolphins, because they're favored for the first time this year, may for the first time be dealing with an opponent that isn't complacent.

In other words, we may get to see for the first time how they deal with an opponent that isn't taking them lightly.

 

I wouldn't call 2-3 "success", but coming off a win ... This team has ALWAYS handled success poorly, with the exception of Sparano's 2008 season with Pennington. My late Dad used to say, "they've been reading their own press clippings". This has been a problem for this team for every year since around 1973-74, with the exception of Dan's 84-85 season.

The more positive press they get, the more they seem to relax. I don't see that happening this week, or at least I hope they aren't full of themselves with this lousy record, but keep an eye on it if they put together a couple good wins and see if they "play down to the level of their competition"; that's the tell for me.

The argument can be made that there's been so little success in recent years, that old habit is not even a memory in the mind of a single current player, but we'll see. We'll see.

 

I think the issue is that you have to truly be a good team to be able to consistently beat teams that aren't taking you lightly.

When you're flying off the radar, you can pull surprise upsets here and there, but when everybody's gunning for you, you better truly be good if you're going to win.

 

Again the basis of the gameplan as is every other week, is to avoid turnovers... and take the ball away from your opponent...

I hope they have listened to Philbin, and we should be able to take care of the Rams...

 

The Dolphins are favored merely because the game is being played in Miami. If it was being played in St Louis, the Rams would probably be a slight favorite. The Dolphins aren't good enough at this time to overlook anyone on their schedule. While I expect the Dolphins to win in another close game. It would not surprise me in the least if the Rams win the game on Sunday.

The Rams are a better team than many people give them credit for and the Dolphins will need to play their best game to beat this team. If they come out complacent, which I don't see them doing, they will lose to the Rams.

 

Its probably something with my phone but when I click on it, it says something like "temperarily unavailable".
Sounds like a good article. I'm glad the players don't give a crap about the excuses that most of us make! lol. They just care about winning and they know they're capable of winning every game they play.
I predict a 10 win run starting with thr Rams!

 

"Look where your team is. They're right under the primary heat exchangers, and the whole stadium is basically a big fusion reactor..."

 

Well done

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNDteLH2vUE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

Right, but we weren't favored against the Raiders of all teams, in Miami, when we played them.

The point is that the team is being recognized as being better now, and what that may bring with it are opponents that may not be taking them lightly anymore. They may not have had to deal with that to this point. They're not flying under the radar anymore.

 

I usually don't like betting on the Dolphins. But after a couple of hours of research, I looked at the line again and remembered the whole Jeff Fisher fiasco. I layed the points at home on my Dolphins, tough choice. I really hope one of the coaches uses this for added motivation, or to not come out complacent.

Man, I'm pumped about this game. Win or lose, with the way this team has been playing...I'm confident we'll go into the bye week with our heads held high.

 

I find it hard to believe that professional athletes play less hard because a team is flying under the radar. Talent and playmaking ability trumps that.

 

I'm just as excited. But if we lose I will not be pumped up. We should and will win this game.

 

Then how are there ever upsets? You don't think those have any emotional component whatsoever for the team that has more talent but loses?

 

I'm not sure. One team played better perhaps? How would you explain an upset in the playoffs?

I just find it hard to believe that top .00001 % of athletes and coaches in the world would let up or be emotionally detached. The concept of playing down or having a letdown week purely due to psychological or emotional reasons does not resonate with me. There may be other factors at play here.

 

I'll be there!! Lower bowl tickets on the 35 yard line for freaking 50 bucks a pop!! Love this recession! Who needs season tickets when you get tickets at that price?

 

The model I've talked about seems just as conflicted as I am about this gane. They have the Dolphins covering the spread and winning, but with the lowest possible weighting at only 3 points (weightings this week go from 3 to 16 with 133 total points).

And yeah, the Dolphins giving up points to the Raiders at home was about the most ridiculous thing I've seen in the spreads this season.

 

The trap game is a well-established phenomenon, in my opinion. This week isn't a trap game by any means, but I'm speaking to your skepticism that professional athletes play less hard because of perception that the opposing team is bad.

 

And you don't think playing better could possibly be driven by gearing up to a higher-than-usual level emotionally to upset a team that's perceived to be better than you?

Likewise, you don't believe the opposite process could occur for the favorite, whereby it isn't as easy to gear up to that level emotionally, because they're "supposed" to win?

I think if you don't believe those things, you're implicitly attributing to these guys superhuman emotional qualities. They may have extremely rare physical capabilities, but I don't think they're anything extra special emotionally.

 

I love it. I love what Joe Philbin has brought to this team with his coaching. I believe he's getting full potential from this team right now. Players from the Sparano era have really improved this year and it just can't be just a coincidence.


Oh, and a franchise QB kinda helped. Haha

 

Having never been in a locker room my opinion is based solely on the assumption that these guys are motivated by the fame and rigor that allows them to play at the highest professional level possible, amongst of pool of millions that have tried but didn't have the physical/mental skills to succeed.

Perhaps it is a combination of things, like the supposed "trap" team underdog feeling slighted or the supposed favored team being worse than perceived.

Some players have the perception of choking on the big stage like Lebron did in 2011.. But do you think someone like Lebron felt too comfortable and confident in the finals, or was it something outside an emotional letdown like nerves? Who knows is my point...

I will admit though that I LOVED what Belicheck did in 2007 when the Patriots never took their foot off the pedal and demolished teams, even with big leads late. Why other teams take their foot off the accelerator when winning big never made sense to me.

 

I personally don't think that's a conscious process, and that's part of the point, that these phenomena, like many others in human nature, operate below the level of conscious awareness.

Certainly you don't think any team consciously decides to start playing more poorly when it has a big lead.

 

Disagree. When a coach runs 3 consecutive times when they have been slinging the ball across the field, or decides to implement a soft prevent D when they have been having success in press coverage and rushing the QB, they are making a conscious decision to change pace.

 

That's an awful specific guess at a highly complicated idea. The human brain isn't a one-line description.

I think the choking thing doesn't have anything to do with comfort...it's the opposite. I'm not going to take any position on whether Lebron showed a pattern of choking or not because that's an indendiary topic, but choking under pressure is also a pretty well established phenomenon in sports.

 

Sure, but that doesn't mean the players are making a conscious decision to play more poorly.

 

And all that may very well account for what gets them to this level, but that doesn't mean they're somehow "immune" to the ebbs and flows of human emotional experience that are based on situational variables in the present.

 

I just realized that Steve Smith wasn't inactive the last two weeks due to injury. He was inactive because he's a slot receiver and Danny Amendola was ahead of him, and they couldn't justify making Smith active while Amendola was out there.

That could impact the game. Smith has been pissed as hell about being inactive. Now he's active. I was wondering who would step into Amendola's slot position in his absence and assumed Smith was hurt because he was inactive. It's their good luck that they have a quality slot receiver sitting right behind their other quality slot receiver, and with Smith a little extra motivated I'm not even sure there's going to be a drop-off there. That's not good because Richard Marshall is still out and so it will be up to Jimmy Wilson again to man the slot and make sure we don't get burned there. I thought we got kind of lucky with Andrew Hawkins last week. We may not be as lucky with Steve Smith. Before Victor Cruz was Victor Cruz, Steve Smith was Victor Cruz.

 

Eli made Steve Smith. True story.

 

Great to see we are turning heads and garnering some respect. It is well deserved for sure.

Not to beat a dead horse, but we could easily be 4-1, so the chatter on the 2-3 record doesn't really bother me. Sure, it's all wins, blah blah blah.

I see us taking this game in a well-fought battle. 27-20 or something like that.

I HAD predicted us to be 4-2 by the break. 3-3 will do just fine.