If that happens then the season would go down as the biggest disappointment in my life. Anything less than a playoff win would be a total failure.

 

Absolutely not. Losing 4 of your last 5 games would mean we really made no progress.

 

We have to win the division or win a playoff game for the claim "we improved" to be defensible, and I think we need to do both for it to be a clear improvement. The Buffalo game for me is do-or-die. It's the kind of game we often lost in the past. Have to prove we're different by winning it, and I think we will.

 

Washed Chiefs vs Fraudphins is not going be the appealing game the NFL would have thought a few months ago

And no absolutely not

 

No.

 

Win a playoff game, that’s the mark to pass. Anything less has been done recently.

 

Ideally we win 2 more games. AFC East champs + a playoff win would be huge. Either or and a loss in the other is still progress. Lose the last 2 and just another overhyped Miami Dolphins team that falls short when it matters.

 

I posted this already but I'll say again. It's would be a colossal failure, and If I hear anyone on the staff say we had injuries Im willing to fly down and smack someone in the mouth. EVERY team has injuries, the fact that we don't have talented enough backups to play is the problem. Im over the NEXT year well get em crap.

We don't make serious progression this year and we could be faced with 2 more years of 10-7 / 9-8's and miss or consent for a wildcard.
We have a lot of decisions to make this offseason, we have many holes to plug, we have coaches who may not return which means a new system possibly. What I am saying is we have to do it this year which is what this team was built for, not 2 years from now. Clock is ticking and we don't seem to have the answers.

 

I'm FinsUp all day for life. Win or lose, it's been a fun season and that's all I can ask for. Topics like this are stupid because all it does is generate negativity. I'm grateful that I don't thrive off of the misery of others like some people do.

 

I don’t know about that or it being malicious. I think many Dolphins are just tired of being let down or being one of the least effective organizations over the last 20 years.

 

It would be a huge failure. You don't have the season we had, the excitement we had, the talent we have ... and then blow a big divisional lead, end up playing on the road round 1 and bowing out in a weak loss. Because any weak 1 playoff loss would be a weak loss. It would almost feel like a step back from last year and not leave me optimistic for next season.

As a fan I'm at a low point right now. As a team, they just need to put the mess behind them and rise up and win. The Bills aren't invincible. They are hot, but also mentally wearing down from playing on the razor's edge every week.

 

Beat Buffalo, win a playoff game and I won’t be terribly disappointed. The only way I’d be happy is with a Super Bowl win.

 

We all know you were at the game today. You let us know many times.

 

Well he has to keep defending his fanhood.

 

If we lose to Buffalo and lose the playoff game, it's a complete failure and we are stuck in mediocrity again. We'll then have to do another rebuild in 2025.

 

I wouldn't say we're stuck in mediocrity. Mediocrity has been what the Dolphins were stuck in from 2005-2019.

We've had 4 consecutive winning seasons. Been a minute since we've had that.
This is our second consecutive year of going to the playoffs. Been a minute since we've seen that.

If we are one and out in the playoffs, it's still not mediocrity. It's a hump that we as an organization need to figure out how to get over.

I just don't want the Dolphins to become the Cincinnati Bengals circa Marvin Lewis era. Great regular seasons, make it to the playoffs only to consistently lose in the wild card games.

We NEED next week's game and NEED the Wild Card game in Miami.

 

The Buffalo game has been flexed to Sunday night, btw. The other two games that matter to Buffalo were moved to Saturday: Colts/Texans, Steelers/Ravens.

 

It was brutal loss. Here's hoping they bounce back. I have a feeling they will.

 

remind me how we do in prime time games!

 

Colts/Texans doesn't actually matter to Buffalo as the winner is in no matter what. Its the Jags (losing) that matters to them.

 

Yeah, that's totally what he's doing.

 

I see things very differently as a "glass half full" type of person. We had an 11-win season and won every single game we were supposed to outside of Tennessee. We also had one of the most dominant offenses of the year, a top QB in the league, and skill players who are setting team records. So even if we were to lose out, we have a highly talented team going into 2024 and beyond.

Would it suck losing out? Absolutely. But we're still an 11 win team and we'll have another year of experience under our head coach and this offense. Win or lose, I'm excited about this season and holding my head high.

Another thing- Baltimore just destroyed us...just like they destroyed San Fran last week. Those are two of the top teams in the league and we got steamrolled. Wow! That doesn't mean we suck or San Fran sucks (again, two of the best records in the league), it means that Baltimore is just that good this season and they're playing on another level. Anyone surprised by that loss hasn't been paying attention.

Plain and simple, we did what we could all year and injuries have caught us at the worst possible time. But that's football and every team faces it. Don't think for a second that a few losses down the stretch erases 11 wins and a great offense though; it just doesn't. The defense really came alive in the 2nd half of the year as well...when we had our full starting defense...and that's also encouraging for next season. I'm hoping we draft a corner in round 1 and move Howard to safety, which means it's game on right out of the gate.

Will we beat Buffalo next week? I'm really not sure since they're catching fire and we're beat up. It doesn't define the season though and I can't wait for the game. My hope is that we beat Buffalo two weeks in a row, at home, then the playoffs play out however they will. I'd be shocked if Baltimore doesn't win it all though and they'll be facing San Fran (unless Philly turns it around very quickly).

Great season folks- keep your head high! The Fins showed out this year and we're very close to being that "perennial playoff contender" that was promised to us. We have the right QB and the right coach, but we won't go all the way in year two. That's not reason for heartbreak since we'll come back even stronger next season.

 

I think the issue with this game vs the SF game is they didn't fully dominate SF. They turned Purdy over 4 times and that was the difference. 49ers look at that and see how they could have won. Miami just got destroyed. I agree with whoever said only Denver had a worse defensive performance this year.

I think the "they can't beat good teams" narrative is a bit overblown because at the end of the day the Philly and KC games were winnable and there were encouraging things but this kind of a beatdown is a different story, it just can't happen, and it has to be solved.

 

On the flipside, if the Jaguars and Steelers win next week, Miami can win the division and knock Buffalo out of the playoffs with a win.

I'll root for that instead.

 

That is very plausible.

Baltimore has nothing to play for. Expect the starters to sit the game, or most of the game out.

Tennessee this season has been a Greek tragedy. Jacksonville should easily win that game.

If we beat Buffalo? NOICE!!!!

 

This X1000..There's really nothing else to say. If we lose to Buffalo we still have a playoff game after that. I feel like as long as we have Tua, we have a chance against anyone in the league. The sad reality is that losing both Chubb and Phillips is probably too much for us to overcome on the defensive side. X is hurt too and probably done, but he hasn't been all that good this year anyway. Baker, Holland, Armstead, Hunt, Ramsey, Waddle, now Tua...The list just continues to grow with the injuries but in football you can never have that be your excuse. The Eagles won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles, the Giants with Jeff Hostettler. Injuries happen, and it's next man up in this or any league. Sometimes losing a specific player is too much to overcome. Like I said, we've got Buffalo Sunday night and ONE MORE playoff game regardless of the outcome. I would love to see us defy the odds, beat Buffalo and win the division. It would go a long way towards capping off the season. It would shut up negative feeding trolls on here and it would eliminate pointless topics/threads such as this one.

 

No Howard Sunday. Tired of his old ***, he has to go. This team is extremely talented but has proven it isn't very durable over the course of a full season and the depth just isn't there. They can't go deep in the playoffs with this roster so banged up but if they lose Sunday...man. It would be a new level of disappointment considering how this team played most of the year. McDaniel tried to hammer home building a journey to be playing our best ball at the end of the year and that would just be a complete failure.

 

Well, Vegas thinks we are going to lose - we are 3 point underdogs at home.

 

I think the depth on the team is actually pretty good considering we are 11-5 while having so many injuries. It's just not good enough to overcome the top teams who are also healthier at vital positions.

Losing Sunday would be a huge blow but they can then rectify it by beating the Chiefs in Arrowhead. Do that and suddenly everyone feels great about the roster again. Even with all the injuries I still think we match up better against KC than we do against Buffalo.

 

Cam Smith better see the field then. Eli Apple was trash on Sunday after Howard went down. I know there's been talk of Fangio not trusting the kid but I think it's time to give him his shot right now.

 

Cam Smith doesn't even practice with the team, he's on the scout team if we believe Omar. There is zero chance he plays, zero.

 

Surprising we would spend such a high pick on a guy who can't sniff the field.

 

You're surprised by that?

 

Yes. When you spend a 2nd round pick on someone he should at least see the field on occasion.

 

Fangio is a stubborn old man set in his ways.

 

Or Cam Smith really sucks if Eli Apple is beating him out.

Remember the dark old days of praying for Dallas Thomas and Billy Turner to start since the OL was so horrible? There was a reason why they weren't starting (although Turner went on to have a decent career elsewhere).

Same thing for Tindall. He can't sniff the field, they'd rather play AVG at MLB before him and we just watched a Duke Reilly special on Sunday.

It raises a massive red flag for me that Cam Smith can't beat out the corpse of Eli Apple who doesn't even want to run with WR's running a wheel route.