Pats, Colts, Chargers and Bengals are all leading their divisions. Pittsburgh, Jacksonville and Denver are each sitting at 6-4 which puts them in the lead for the two wildcard spots. I am not sure who the top two would be but I think it would be Jax and Denver based on Conference record. Houston has yet to play this week so they will either join the 6-4 teams or fall back to our group at 5-5. Sitting one game out of the wildcard hunt are the Ravens along with us. They have a better Conference record at 5-4 vs. our 3-3. Four of our last 6 games are against teams that are ahead of us. We can catch Pittsburgh, Jax and Houston just by beating them. What it comes down (IMO) to is tha we are going to make the playoffs as long as we take care of our own business.
Yeah, we are going to have to earn our way into the playoffs. To be frank I will be surprised if we make it just cause I think this years version of the Fins is missing something. Having said that, I am not going to be shocked if we make some noise over the next 6 weeks.
According to NFL.com - and I haven't checked any tiebreaker scenarios. It looks like this: http://www.nfl.com/standings?category=conf&season=2009-REG&split=Overall 1. Indianapolis 2. Cincinnati 3. San Diego 4. New England 5. Jacksonville 6. Pittsburgh With the teams still in the hunt: 7. Denver 8. Houston 9. Baltimore 10. Miami Just looking at it quickly, it's very alaraming the number of points we've surrendered this year. I also like the fact that Miami can sort of determine its own destiny with several teams ahead of them left on the slate: New England, Jacksonville, Houston, and Pittsburgh. If we can win against the Bills and the Saints beat New England (on Monday Night so it'll be a short week for New England) the rematch could give us a share of first place of the AFC East with 4 games to play.
I used to look at it this way as well, when we were a bad team. Now I feel they have to play us. We are just as big as a threat as any team in the NFL right now. When we play good, we are one of the best teams in the NFL.
We pretty much play all four at home. Steelers, Texans and Pats are at home, and the other is in Jacksonville. I'm going to assume there will be more Dolphins fans at that game.
Division record is ahead of conference record as a tiebreaker. We have a better division record than Baltimore.
The season is what we will make it out to be. We gotta do what we gotta do. Its up to us, not anybody else if we make it to the playoffs. We make it, awesome. We did it, hopefully past the 1st round. We don't, then hey, we have no business being there in first place then.
division record only matters within the division. baltimore isnt in our division, so it doesnt matter.
It's starting to shape up, let's beat Buff next week and see if NO can take care of the pats. I think they can. THe outlook will look drastically different. I still think that game at home vs. the pats will be the big factor on whether we make the playoffs or not.
Bottom line is that with 6 weeks to play, the Dolpins control their own destiny. Win the last 6 and they will make the playoffs. Can't ask for more than that.
Like I said in his thread....This should be stickied in the main forums until we are eliminated or our playoff seed is set
The few teams we have allowed fewer points than. 5 of them,its not a good group. Hate to say it but no matter what our offence does our def is not up for it. Dolphins-244 Browns-263 Titans-255 Lions-301 Buccaneers-294 Rams-270
What's terrible is that last year there were no pessimists in this group hoping for the playoffs. This year it's just been... Our defense hasn't given up nearly the walloping it had early in the year. Our safety and CB play is rounding into form just as it did last year. Sure we lost Ferguson but we have a couple guys who can manage to slow things down. Our 3-4 DEs aren't typical one-gap guys, they're two gappers. Starks and McDaniel will backup Soliai well. As for the LBs they're better than last year, although Crowder needs to pick it up. It's really just about winning this week and then beating New England. After that we've got a shot.
You have to look at both sides of the coin though. Miami has a few tough games left that should be up for grabs with Henne improving each week and the defense trying to pull it together. New England has a very tough schedule down the stretch and if we beat them we would own the tiebreaker by sweeping the Jets and the Bills (which I'm predicting next Sunday). If we finish out 5-1, a repeat AFC East title is not unrealistic.
Playoffs?.......PLAYOFFS? How about we just beat a team with a winning record first. Then talking playoffs is feasable. Until then this is the team with a defense that is giving up points with the worst the league has to offer and doesn't have a single win against a winning opponent.
We are going to have to run the table and win every game straight on out, in order to make it. I am amazed how the Patriots just keep winning and you know what they're going to do, and yet no one can stop them. I always felt the best way to make the playoffs is to win our division and that is a long shot. d-1
As much as i think we should be 7-3 instead of 5-5. Im still happy with how this team has fought back. With the injuries weve had and the brutal schedule, this is still good to see. I think a lot has to happen for us to make it, but you never know!
Forget the whole picture, take care of our division and take it that way. Beat bills and pats and win division. That's the only way I see us getting in. And we can do it, Bills aren't great and Pats game is in Miami. Let's go out and win the AFC East for the 2nd year in a row! We ride!!
I think we have to go 5-1.....we can probably afford a loss to the Patriots, but we have to beat everyone else. I think we can win all 6 games if we stay focused. The Pats and Steelers have to play in Miami, and the rest are all winnable.
If the Dolphins win out we would be 11-5 and guaranteed a spot in the playoffs as a Wild Card and possibly as the AFC East champs. The only way we wouldn't win our division in that scenario is if the Pats go 12-4. If we go 10-6 the playoffs are still likely but to win the division we would need to list the Bills and Pats among our victories. And we would need the Pats to lose three games. They play at New Orleans this week. That's a potential loss. Then they play us. That's a must-win. Then they play the Panthers, Bills, Jags, and Texans. I would say that a 12-4 finish for the Pats would be difficult, 11-5 is likely, 10-6 is possible, and 9-7 is not likely. If we go 9-7 the playoffs are still possible. The scenarios are endless but most of them would probably include winning our last two games against the Texans and the Steelers.
thats the real problem this year. although the offense picked up once henne started, the defense is still of the swiss cheese variety. its bending for 3 quarters and breaking in the 4th. whether we make the playoffs or not, we're not that good a team though we do have heart and guts and you end up rooting for this team regardless.
Very true. However you also have to consider the offenses we faced. The Falcons, Colts, Chargers, Saints, and Pats. Top Ten Offenses in the NFL by total points 1. New Orleans Saints 2. Minnesota Vikings 3. New England Patriots 4. Indianapolis Colts 5. San Diego Chargers 6. New York Giants 7. Philadelphia Eagles 8. Green Bay Packers 9. Atlanta Falcons 10. Arizona Cardinals Over the course of ten weeks we played five of the best offenses in the league. Now look at our remaining schedule. @Buffalo New England @Jacksonville @Tennessee Houston Pittsburgh I like our chances. We should beat Buffalo. If we don't then there's no need to even have this discussion. Then the re-match against the Pats favors us. We're at home, there's no grudge factor, and its very difficult to sweep a division opponent. After that we face a couple offenses that are not elite. The Texans will give us a hard time but now we have Sean Smith and Vontae Davis to cover Andre Johnson. We haven't had that in years past. Plus we won't have to worry about Owen Daniels. Finally we have the Steelers. Luckily we're at home that's about all you can say about that game. I would also say that if we win our next five that Steelers game will look a whole lot different to just about everybody.
very good point about the offenses we faced and clearly we are getting slightly better each game on defense as the rooks gain experience. i agree that if we lose to the bills this discussion is pointless. also agree that we should beat pats. I would argue that I dont even want to make the playoffs if we get swept by the Patriots. If we cant beat them once we dont deserve the playoffs. Now after we beat them the games that worry me the most are the Texans and Titans. Although you cant look past the Steelers, they seem to have fallen back to their typical average vanilla team following a SB, nothing special