?

Believe?

Believe in magic , in a young girls heart?

Believe in the playoffs?

No poll showed initially , I believe in C.

We will have trouble scoring points , the passing game will have challenges both because of the rookie QB and the inherent bumps that entails , the dearth of playmakers for WR's and TE's and a lack of speed.

We won't be a good red zone offense .

The line while not bad is not and won't be dominant . We made too many mistakes , one which almost got Bush killed and caused a fumble. Jake Long worries me in that I don't know if he is healthy and will stay healthy if he is . He was not dominant last week imo.

RB's can produce and should. Nice balance , good receiving options.

We won't be a substantial plus in the turnover game , again.

Lack of speed on defense and the secondary will be well below average.

Lack of quality depth.

We have a strong kicking game , the run defense should be stout but may have edge setting issues . Karlos Dansby and Kevin Burnett looked more like the 2011 first half playerers than the second half players. We can't stop TE's when needed.

 

Could you repeat the question?

 

We played better than I expected for the majority of the game but we looked as I expected honestly. I still think we win a low of 6 games and a high of 10 games. My guess is 8 personally.

 

I'm presently rewatching the game, and man, during the first 24 minutes [before JJ Watt happened] our Oline was manhandling their front, to the point where one 5 yard Bush run was completely behind an entire Oline surge of roughly 4 yards. They were blowing open lanes all over the place. That definitely exceeded my expectations. If Philbin can whip their pass protection into shape (something I'm guessing the smash-mouth, run oriented Sparano didn't emphasize as much) this'll be a dangerous unit.

 

i voted better because after the preseason....

-who would have thought they would open running lanes like this....this alone makes it for me

 

Looked as good as I thought they would look. I thought Bush would get more opportunities but it didn't help giving up all those points before half.

 

I predicted we'd lose 34-10 in the prediction thread. We lost 30-10. So I'd say this team is pretty much exactly as I expected it.

 

Defense is better than I thought. Oline wasn't giving up sacks left and right. I was even slightly impressed by some aspects of the team. So I'll say better.

 

i voted better than i thought they were. I thought we would get raped for 60 minutes, but we only got raped for 5 minutes.

 

pretty sure you didn't expect it the way it happened though

 

I believe shouright has a strong fascination in making polls. ;)

 

i miss the nice chick from yesterday....:no:

 

Oh well, I can't please everybody. I got PMs from others complimenting the current girl. She'll probably stay a while.

 

Take away the last six minutes of the first half, and they played the way that I HOPED they would. I didnt expect a win, but the running game worked, and the gameplan was sound. Philbin and Sherman actually used our parts the way they best serve the team. Amazing, after the nonsense from the past four years.

 

My gut reaction was, "Ask this question after week 5 or so" when I first read it. As a whole, that first 24 minutes of the game, I was pretty impressed, and then...same old Dolphins.

I was hesitant on thinking the defense could match their performance from last year, so I'll admit, I was pretty impressed with the front 7. In particular I was impressed with how Burnett and Dansby played having missed most of the preseason, and Koa Misi looked good. I thought at times the ends and OLBs struggled to hold contain, and Foster had some of his better runs, save for the long TD run, going outside. That could be problematic, especially with Darren McFadden coming to town this week.

The secondary played about like I expected, pretty flat. Everyone took a turn seemingly getting beat, missing an assignment, not being in the right place, etc. I know Vontae Davis struggled with the Colts, but I couldn't help but think he might have made some plays that Richard Marshall didn't. Jimmy Wilson ought not be on the field as much again. He's been my biggest disappointment from a defensive side. The overall play of the safeties has been pretty bad.

Offensively, I was impressed at how well Miami's line held up, for the most part. J.J. Watt basically took over the game for 6 minutes. He's damn good and was going up against a rookie playing a new position, so I'm not overly concerned. I thought the holes for Reggie and Daniel Thomas were decent, and both ran hard. Both fumbled once though. Like it or not, there's a void in talent at WR. Davone Bess and Brian Hartline are nice players, but shouldn't be the basis of a WR corps. Other than Legedu Naanee throwing some blocks downfield, yikes. I'm still waiting for the real Charles Clay to make an appearance.

I was impressed with Tannehill, and pretty impressed how composed he was after throwing 3 picks. I don't think the play-calling did him many favors, and the offense hasn't looked like what I thought it would.

All that being said, I feel like I'd have a better grasp on team after a few more games. If Miami can't rack up some wins on Oakland, Arizona, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, then there are some more serious problems than I've estimated there could be to this point.

 

About as expected. I was thinking 37-7 final. They hung in for a while, defensively played well. But part of that may have been Houston sleepwalking.

 

Can I phone a friend?


I thought the D played better then I thought they would with the LB's being out al pre-season.

 

I think it all depends on how people view loses/wins in regards to evaluating the team.

For example, if you lose by 1 point to the best team in the league does that say you're better than a team that gets blown out by a horrible team? Now if the amount of points you win or lose by in a given game can be counted as one indication of the team's positive or negative evaluation....then can 3 minutes of a game be counted? If 3 minutes can be counted, then certainly 57 minutes can be counted as well...and for 57 minutes we played right at the level of the Texans.

 

I believe we're not good enough. We're not the worst team in the league. But I'm sick of the purgatory of mediocrity and worse. We were ballin' at the end of last year, and rather than build on that momentum, it seems we regressed. When the rest of the world saw 30-10 Texans, they thought, yeah thats about right. A fan for 30+ years, at a grand a seat...not.happy.

As down as I am on irish, and the front office...i expect to beat the Raiders. I hate that we didnt make the smart/tough decisions that could have made us the Ravens or Niners or Falcons. We're not good enough.

 

Could you give us a detailed plan for how you would "build on the momentum" from a team with a different HC, OC, DC and QB?

 

For starters, I don't trade 2 of our best players for pennies on the dollar. I would have built around the strongest parts of our roster, not removed it.

I would have gotten rid of the piece that kept us from hiring guys like Jim Harbaugh. For starters.

 

And who cares about my plan Francis. Am I on the Dolphins payroll? No, I pay them for their product. Do you? Superfan?

 

You could have typed, "No I can't." It would have been shorter.

 

Apparently you cant read.

 

I can read just fine. I asked for a detailed plan. You didn't give one. You didn't even give a non detailed plan. which is why I thought you should've just said no.

 

I don't care about your plan. I was wondering what it was since so you're so 100% sure that one we are following is the wrong one.

 

Hey Francis, go get me a cup of coffee...while were requesting things. As I said, I'm not on the Dolphins payroll. I gave you the lynchpins of what would have made us way better right now. I'm not giving your snarky *** a power point presentation. It and you aren't worth the time. Rather than your 2 sentence quips, come up with something substantial. You fail to realize the beautiful part...we could and should have built off are momentum...AND ITS NOT MY JOB TO DO IT OR PLAN FOR IT.

How bout this, you tell me very detailed, in less than 5,000 words, how it was IMPOSSIBLE to build off last years momentum.

See you at the game Sunday super fan. Oh thats right, you wont be there.

 

yeah, losing 30-10 puts us on the right track. after months and months without football, nothing like getting that first blowout out of the way. high five to not making the playoffs !!! that HAS to be what you want.

 

My take away here is, this offense is going to be fast, efficient and going to make average players look great. From here on out every player and their performance is going to be a product of the system.

A System that could not be tested at game speed during pre season and was in fact tested for the first time on the #1 defense in the NFL, yes I said it and you will see, Houston D will rank #1. With that said, the offense was moving methodically minus small miscues and a 2 minute melt down with batted balls. The miscues were first game communication, game speed, nerves, lack of time in system, rookie linemen, rookie qb. We also seen first hand what Hard Knock can do to a franchise. Everything you saw in that game that led to the lack of production in offense can be fixed and fixed fast.

If JJ Watt was not bull****ting, if the defense knew our count and was jumping it, that explains the batted balls. If the OL cannot fire off and get into the DL and own the engagement, the DL will not only be across the line, in the passing lanes, but also have position to jump and bat the ball. It has some to do with RT locking on receivers but really when he rocks back everyones hands go up period and if our OL is engaged correctly then they do not have a good position to get up and bat down the pass. I don't know what they teach at the pros level, but in high school and college, when my DL's hands went up, I was taught to throw a hand shiver to the mid section or a jab to the ribs depending on the game ;P. Fact is that can be fixed by better OL play snap adjustments, and experience.

Reggie bush looked fast, but the offense, the formations, the scheme helped with that. We do not have receivers but the D still respected them enough to allow our RB's to do well and it was not all because our OL did a great job blocking. I truly believe no matter what the receivers name is or what his pedigree is, if he can run sharp route, catch the ball, and get off the line in press, they will be awesome in this system.

I saw greatness under the heap this week and am excited for more.

 

I never said you had to give me a detailed plan. I asked for one, you obviously weren't willing to give me one. I don't see why you're acting so upset.

 

Because its rude to ask me to sit and think and type for a long time, when you're not willing to give me the same effort.

 

I went back and looked, and its clear that you were upset before you asked me to do anything.

And when you did ask, you asked:

Which was never my position.

 

It's the same for the NFL too. It's what Keith Sims said too. Philbin said words to that effect. The following link, which was posted in another thread, but you may have missed, supports what you are saying.
It's not all the singular fault of any one person or unit. Tanne needs to improve. Sherman needs to prepare him better, and the OL can help, in the way you said, and they way this article describes.
http://www.itsalloverfatman.com/broncos/entry/a-second-helping-of-tipped-passes-in-the-no-huddle

 

I'm not upset in general. But am I upset in Dolphin land? IS there a fan alive who isn't upset after a route? I've been upset for quite a while.

 

Gallery thread in Lounge pls

 

Volin's take on the game:

 

I thought we ran the ball better than I had expected. But otherwise, the valiant defensive effort wasn't really unexpected considering we do have what should be a quality defense. Outside of the running game, the offensive production (or lack of it) wasn't very surprising either.

I can't get with the notion that we should hang our hats on the idea that we played them fairly even for 23 minutes. This is the NFL, all teams have talent. 7 minutes like Sunday is often the difference between division champions and mediocrity.