Positives So Far

The offensive line - that years old problem for us - looks like a pleasant surprise, at least in pass protection. Even against a good Bills defense the revamped line wasn't horrible. It's not fantastic, sure, but it could be much worse. Fitz frequently has decent time to throw. Here's to hoping that as the season progresses these guys only get better and better.

Miami's run game is a bit of a head-scratcher right now. It seems like the coaches are testing out their new RB's etc. to see what they prefer, but how much of the run game issues might be due to the OL?

I, for one, will be really happy if it turns out we've got a decent OL.

Our O-Line is looking quite good imo. Gesiki seems to be the real deal same for Parker if he can stay on the field. Gaskin impressed me so far and I do like our secondary.

Gaskin has been a pleasant surprise.

Gesicki just had his best game as a Dolphin.

Austin Jackson is showing a lot of promise as a young, still underdeveloped OT.

Noah I. just got his first turnover.

Robert Hunt is already getting playing time in Big packages. Kindley and Davis are already starting. So without even seeing Tua, this years draft is already looking very promising.

Some thoughts from Wingfield:

"Galant wrote:

What do you like about the Dolphins as we progress through 2020?

I'm just happy they're playing.

Otherwise I want to see them progress from game to game, and I want to see Tua start sometime this season because there really aren't many positives so far (excepting a few individual players like Gesicki).

"cbrad wrote:

I'm just happy they're playing.

LMAO, the Fins forum I was on before this one had a "Post of the Month" feature and then we'd vote for "Post of the Year" out of those twelve winners. I swear I was just searching for that button and couldn't figure out why I wasn't finding it!

POST OF THE MONTH!

The online is playing surprisingly well , particularly in pass protection. They need some help in run blocking but they are much better than I thought they'd be this early in. Very promising.

Gesicki has picked up right where he left off, Wilkins is looking good. Parker has been playing well. Gaskin looks like we may have something there.

Beyond that, eh.....

I think the two best looking Phins are Parker and and Gesicki. Despite being banged up, Parker has looked pretty solid and is clearly our best WR.

Gonna give an honorable mention for being much more improved - Christian Wilkins. I thought his rookie year was unremarkable. This year, it seems like he is becoming much more disruptive in the pass rush. Although he has not logged a lot on the stat sheet, he certainly has been involved. As a unit, we still have a long way to go in the run game.

I agree with everyone that our o-line looks a lot better. I definitely thought it would take much longer for it to come together as a unit. As far I am concerned, if Tua was ready to go, I would have no issue sticking him behind this line.

I think we can all admit that the offense of line is actually playing pretty well at this point.

Everything I would have said has been said. Isiah Ford is looking pretty good.

longest construction project in history. Every year its a work in progress

"Alan in England wrote:

longest construction project in history. Every year its a work in progress

The difference between previous years going back 20 years and this past year is for last 20 years, the organization has tried patching this broken piece, patching that broken piece...signing high profile veterans who come to Miami and bomb.

Joey Porter
Brandon Marshall
Albert Lewis
NDomakong Suh

I know there’s many others whose names escape me at the moment but the point being, we kept putting band-aid after band-aid on a sucking chest wound. It was time to actually time to get in there and FIX the problem and that’s what the team did in gutting the roster.

This is essentially Flores’ first season with the team HE wanted. Be patient. The Dolphins were 0-7 with a roster of nobodies and that same roster of nobodies went 5-4 the rest of the season, including beating the number 1 ranked defense in New England.

If he can do that with a roster of nobodies, give him time, at least one season for crying out loud to get this rebuilt team up to speed

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

The difference between previous years going back 20 years and this past year is for last 20 years, the organization has tried patching this broken piece, patching that broken piece...signing high profile veterans who come to Miami and bomb.

Joey Porter
Brandon Marshall
Albert Lewis
NDomakong Suh

I know there’s many others whose names escape me at the moment but the point being, we kept putting band-aid after band-aid on a sucking chest wound. It was time to actually time to get in there and FIX the problem and that’s what the team did in gutting the roster.

This is essentially Flores’ first season with the team HE wanted. Be patient. The Dolphins were 0-7 with a roster of nobodies and that same roster of nobodies went 5-4 the rest of the season, including beating the number 1 ranked defense in New England.

If he can do that with a roster of nobodies, give him time, at least one season for crying out loud to get this rebuilt team up to speed

I’m having a brain fart, Albert Lewis? Do you mean Brendan Albert or am I forgetting someone.

Back to the discussion around rebuilding, we are paying the penalties for years of bad coaches, bad trades, wasting draft picks and to Dark Knights point, overpaying for Free Agents.

The positives that I see for this organization right now:
1. Flores took the least talented roster in football last year and got them competitive by seasons end
2. We saw improvement over the course of the season instead of giving up. That’s a sign of a coach who motivate their players.
3. We’re starting to see productivity out of players who were almost written off(Parker, Gesicki). Improved coaching
4. Our drafts appear to be getting better. Wilkins, Jackson, Baker, Howard(I know he’s had some struggles this week), Kindlay, Gaskin and others have all shown promise
5. Our OL has made some major strides from last year and is still very young

Are we where we want to be? Absolutely not.
Do we need to see improvement out of our defense? 100%
Is it too early to start giving up on Flores? Unequivocally

"mlb1399 wrote:

I’m having a brain fart, Albert Lewis? Do you mean Brendan Albert or am I forgetting someone.

Back to the discussion around rebuilding, we are paying the penalties for years of bad coaches, bad trades, wasting draft picks and to Dark Knights point, overpaying for Free Agents.

The positives that I see for this organization right now:
1. Flores took the least talented roster in football last year and got them competitive by seasons end
2. We saw improvement over the course of the season instead of giving up. That’s a sign of a coach who motivate their players.
3. We’re starting to see productivity out of players who were almost written off(Parker, Gesicki). Improved coaching
4. Our drafts appear to be getting better. Wilkins, Jackson, Baker, Howard(I know he’s had some struggles this week), Kindlay, Gaskin and others have all shown promise
5. Our OL has made some major strides from last year and is still very young

Are we where we want to be? Absolutely not.
Do we need to see improvement out of our defense? 100%
Is it too early to start giving up on Flores? Unequivocally

Yes, Brandon Albert. Sorry!

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

The difference between previous years going back 20 years and this past year is for last 20 years, the organization has tried patching this broken piece, patching that broken piece...signing high profile veterans who come to Miami and bomb.

LOL, like Byron Jones? It's not that he bombed, but it's the same thing when we pay a stud veteran and he ends up on IR for the majority of the season. This frustrates me to no end and it's nobody's fault...but darn it!

"KeyFin wrote:

LOL, like Byron Jones? It's not that he bombed, but it's the same thing when we pay a stud veteran and he ends up on IR for the majority of the season. This frustrates me to no end and it's nobody's fault...but darn it!

Yep, that was another one.

I'm not pessimistic about anything so far because I expected there to be chemistry problems with so many new pieces on both sides of the ball. Especially with no preseason. I know every team has new pieces and challenges due to the virus. But we're under a foundational rebuild and added key pieces everywhere. My confidence will only drop if we look at this team next week and see the same challenges and opportunities we saw last weekend. I hate Thursday night games, by the way. At least we're not traveling very far. But the nine days between this week's game and the next one might be the most important for this year's team.

"Galant wrote:

player to watch tonight https://t.co/ITeeDXOBmt

— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) September 24, 2020

These are things Damian Williams cannot do. One reason why I wasn't sad he was let go or even felt bad about it when he was doing well in Kansas City.

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

These are things Damian Williams cannot do. One reason why I wasn't sad he was let go or even felt bad about it when he was doing well in Kansas City.

But what can Drew Brees do that Jay Fiedler cant? Was it Brees that time? If not, you should still get my reference.

"AGuyNamedAlex wrote:

But what can Drew Brees do that Jay Fiedler cant? Was it Brees that time? If not, you should still get my reference.

Don't understand your point.

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

Don't understand your point.

Wasnt so much of a point as a painful memory of Wanstache your words made me remember.

Also congratulations on not being dumb like Wannstache since you were actually saying the opposite of what he did.