With us going into the bye next week, I decided to so a little bit of research and see if I could find any trends. I remembered that last season, we came out of the bye and stomped Tennessee, but that was also an unusual situation with the coaching change, and the vibe didn't last very long after that. I found a few things that I thought were interesting: First, the league loves to give Miami road games after the bye. Seriously, the bye is supposed to be a way for a team to rest and recharge, and come out healthier than they went in. Sending them on the road immediately afterwards has to negate that a bit. But the Fins have played 11 of the past 16 years on the road in the game following the bye. In fact, they came out of the bye on the road seven years in a row from 2000-06. Thankfully, this year we're at home. Second, they seem to like to have us play vs the NFC after the bye, specifically against the Seahawks and Packers. 8 of the past 16 opponents after the bye have been NFC teams, which make of course only 4 out of 16 games on the schedule every year. 6 of those 8 were on the road. We played Seattle twice, both on the road, and Green Bay three times, twice on the road. For whatever reason, three of the past four times we've faced the Packers has come after the bye. Third, we've played 6 of the past 16 vs division opponents after the bye. Three each against the Jets and Bills. None vs the Patriots. All three against the Jets were on the road. Two of the three vs Buffalo were at home. Fourth, our record in those last 16 games was 7-9. Seems appropriate, I guess, since thats been the overall quality of the franchise for a while. We did not, at any point, win the game after the bye two years in a row. We lost the game following the bye two years in a row twice, but never more than that. And 5th, though various different coaching staffs in that time, the team almost always ran the ball well in that first game back after the bye. The Fins ran for 113 yards or more in 14 of 16 games, for 130+ in 10 of 16, and over 150 yards five different times. Even in a bad year, with a bad team, for that game the Fins were able to run the ball in that first game back. Often, it was the best day of the year on the ground. Over those 16 games, the team ran for a total of 2160 yards, or 135 per game. Toss out the two outliers, and the number improves to 144 yards per game. This leads me to predict that, based on our running game coming so alive the past two games, and with the OL and Ajayi healthy, and with the Jets having to travel on the road to play next week while we're on the bye (even if its to Cleveland), that we're going to come out in two weeks, and continue to pound the ball well. Thats a bit of a bold statement, since the Jets just allowed the Ravens to rush for 6 yards today, and held 4 of their first 5 opponents to 76 yards or less, but I bet it happens.
