If.we.lose.to the Bills and bumped in first round.

Possible.

But, with Fangio's unwillingness to move even his best players around I'm going to lean towards stubbornness.

 

I know injuries are not supposed to be an excuse, but how many teams have lost 80% of their starting OL AND some of their backups? How many teams have lost both of their Pro Bowl DE's in addition to their staring LB? I think this season would be a success considering all the injuries and yet still winning 11 games and sealing a playoff spot with 2 weeks left. This team could easily have a much worse record with all that has gone on.

Hoping next year with Tua and coach both having more experience they can learn and become even more valuable. Worried about the salary cap going forward, can only kick the can for so long before it catches up. You can cut and restructure to free up space to sign Tua, but then what. Where is the money for Wilkins? Waddle, AVG etc etc

 

Agreed. People keep bringing up Tyreek's drop in the end zone as the turning point but it's by far the Howard injury that killed us. It was like we were playing with 10 on defense.

 

Phillips and Chubb are probably missing most of if not all of next season. And Howard will be a salary cap casualty. Next year is looking to be a setback.

 

Kohou has been terrible all season. And Eli Apple was brought in to fill in until Ramsey came back but he keeps making his way back in.

 

Of course it wouldn't be a success. Personally, it would be worst case scenario to be stuck in that good enough to be around playoffs, pick in the back, not draft top QB, but not good enough to actually win anything. Eternal mediocrity ala Tannehill years.

Everything is lined up though to win this game. They are the better team and at home.

 

Howard isn't responsible for giving up 33 extra points on defense than what we on average give up.

 

We don't need a high draft pick to take a QB for the foreseeable future. The Jets might need one though.

 

Agree to disagree. Jets definitely need one.

 

I realize the gravity of the situation- we are built to win now. At the same time though, we're down our two best pass rushers, our best safety, our 2nd best corner, our middle linebacker that leads the D...we are crippled compared to what we were a month ago. On offense, we've made due without most of the line and being down a top receiver and a top running back. It's been next man up and we've pulled through. But that's not possible on defense against other elite teams.

People may say that's just an excuse, but the truth is that it's reality. We can't beat top teams consistently with the current roster. With everyone back, we can hang though, and we'll have everyone back next season.

So where does that leave us going into week 18? We can look at it two ways- the season was a success or a failure. And I completely understand why some would see only doom and gloom, we failed down the stretch once again. But it wasn't due to lack of effort; we're just too banged up. And everything that happened this season...both the good and the bad...it was all real. This offense can put up 70 points on any given Sunday and we do have some of the top receivers and RB's in the league. That's real...it's not just a statistic...and it will carry over into next season.

Look, the season is not over and anything can happen in the playoffs. Miami still could go all the way, and it would have to be through shootouts putting up 40+ a game. That's our only shot right now and again, that hope is real because of our offense. It's not probable though and I accept that.

My viewpoint is that this was a success. We know what we have in Tua and the offense. We know Ramsey was a good investment and we know Holland and Phillips were good draft picks. We also know that the defense still has some holes though and the "next man up" is a huge drop-off. There's no fixing that in week 18 and I'm good with that. It was still a great season where everything almost fell into place but we're probably going to come up short.

Look at it this way- three teams have a better record than us league-wide, and three more also have 11 wins. There's 26 teams out there right now that would give anything to be in the Dolphins position right now. The roster is mostly young still and there's so much room for growth in the coming years. It's definitely not doom and gloom and it certainly isn't the "same old Dolphins" like some here are saying.

This is a powerhouse team that has caught some bad breaks in late December...and that's okay. We'll live to fight another day.

 

Apple was hot garbage on Sunday. I was wondering if Cam Smith was ever going to get a shot. I mean, Smith couldn’t have been any worse than Apple was.

 

While I appreciate the positivity, when I look at the astounding number of injuries that have plagued this team…and just this year…historically over the last decade, I can’t help but wonder what’s going on with strength and conditioning? Are we suffering the Joe Robbie Curse? Is there something in the water in Miami?

Why do we keep sustaining so many injuries at key positions? God if we could consistently field a healthy team, like so many others seem to do, we’d be unstoppable!!

 

Even if the rookie has disappointed so far, what about Needham? He was cleared to play weeks ago. He’s certainly better than Apple or Kohou.

 

That's cool. The Phins haven't lost back-to-back games all season, no reason to start now. I'll take the Phins and the points.

 

DC relies on pressure from front 4. If that does not happen we are toast. To have 2 of the best man cover corners in the league and to play them in zone is not brilliant.

 

Good point. I totally forgot he's even on the roster.

 

he was better, but how much rust is there?

 

right, that might be the only positive out of the X injury. DC is forced to change his defense.

 

no because there would be too many questions.

 

''I dont really watch any players in the offseason to get to know them''

 

Exactly why saying we lost due to injuries is totally ridiculous. Our offense, despite injuries, had fantastic first 2 drives (except for Hill not catching an easy-to-catch perfectly thrown ball for a TD). Then the Ravens adjusted. McDaniel didn't. Neither did Fangio. Fangio wouldn't have adjusted even with Howard and Phillips.

As I said before though, I would like to play the Ravens in the postseason again. The 2nd time around will be a lot different. Fangio won't make the same mistake twice because it's too obvious what he tried the first time was a complete failure.

 

Not just that, but it’s actually difficult to defeat the same team twice in a season. Look how often it’s difficult to sweep a division rival (unless they truly suck…JESTS)

Everyone remember to 2007 season? When the Patriots steamrolled the Giants in week16?

Well, everyone remembers what happened in the Super Bowl. The Patriots learned the hard way that 18-1 SUCKS.

 

They actually barely beat the Giants

 

You going to blame the coaches and cover for Grier again like you did with Iggy?

 

A big part of it is Grier has a habit of drafting/signing/extending players with major injury histories. Armstead, Tua, Waddle, Jackson, Phillips, Chubb, Williams, Ramsey, Howard, are all players who had extensive injury histories before we acquired or extended them, so it should not be any surprise they all get injured again and miss multiple games every year for us.

 

We get it you don't like Grier. Not a peep about him until this week.

 

Duke Riley has to be the slowest white man I ever seen. Last week every time to threw in his direction he was gassed and outran.. Vic needs to replace him or change the coverage cause Allen will eat that man up all day!

 

We are playing G5 G4 G3 as the interior of the line and have been for weeks. LT1 has missed more games than they have played, G1 is on IR, C1 is on IR and G2 has missed 6.5 games out of the last 8. Just actually have a think about that and it’s obvious the issues with the offence. WR1 has missed 1.5 games, WR2 has missed 3 games and now HB1 has missed a game. Even with these “issues” it’s still a top 3 offence.
Look at its production compared to Buffalo who are always a top offence and have had all 5 starting OL healthy, I think the only starter on offence that had missed some games this year is Knox and they have a 1st round pick filling in for him.
We have basically rolled out an OL that’s not far off what the Jets have but the play calling and the QB quick release have masked it. Of course it struggles against better defences in its current state because if no one is open within 2.5 seconds then the QB is under duress as the pass protection can’t hold out even an average length of time.
The fact that it is still a top rated offence while rolling out this OL is quite frankly astonishing.