It's 3 touchdowns?!!? The spread was 13.5 Monday morning....evidently Miami isn't getting any action at all. I don't see how you take any bet -21 but at the same time, I don't see how the Pats don't cover either. It just turns into a sucker bet for everyone involved once you start hitting those college spreads.

As far as how we win- I don't have an answer there. We couldn't generate any pressure last week and our secondary couldn't cover. And I just don't see on offense how we can ever block 3-5 defenders at once during any given snap.

I do think Belichek will have pity on his former coach and only drop about 45 on us, plus maybe he starts a 2nd/3rd string in the 2nd half so we can get a few scores. So on pure gimmie from the Pats, I'll guess the score at 45-17.

If the Pats actually try though? This could be a 90-0 ballgame.

 

Well, I think that its important to remember that the Fins won that 2004 game while managing only 231 yards of total offense! :glare:

The defense picked off Brady four times, including just before and just after halftime, while Wes Welker had almost 240 yards on returns that night.

 

I expect 45 by half time.At this point I'd be happy with a scrappy effort against a superior team.

 

Don't worry about AB or DT

https://sports.yahoo.com/report-antonio-brown-accused-of-raping-his-former-trainer-003725076.html

 

Wow, I mean...wow.

 

The texts are pretty damning for AB.

 

Belichek has a habit of
1) dropping big scores on rookie coaches to establish an aura of fear; and
2) showing no mercy to former assistants.

I doubt he lets up before he has 50 in the bag. Which probably will be by the half time bell.

 

I could see this, but I also could see him slacking off a bit if they go up by 3 TDs. It's what he just did to Pitt. He does NOT like to give up much in the early part of the season. Then again, if he can vanilla offense his way to 60 he probably would.

 

I'm pretty sure if Lamar Jackson can make it look that easy, Brady will gave no issue putting up 42 before half.

The defense better come to play this week.

 

We're not just losing this game...we're going to get destroyed

 

Oh yeah, this is not going to be pretty. I still can't grasp what happened to the defense. I expected the defense would be ok and the offense to be bad but the defense was even worse than the offense. The troubling thing about that is we know we have some good players on defense, how were they so out of position and poorly prepared with a coach that has been mainly a defensive coach in his career?

 

Also the Patriots didnt miss a beat on defense.

It's just a one game sample size, so irrelevant as of now, but something to watch.

 

Well in the Orlando viewing area, you won’t get to see this Greek tragedy. You get to see Jacksonville and Houston.

Here kitty kitty kitty???

 

I liked Flores’ response to someone asking about the Ravens not letting up. He said he didn’t have a problem with it because it’s our job to stop them. I also like that Flores isn’t running away from it. He stands up there and faces the music like a man. I have my doubts about him being our long term solution, but I like a lot of things about his personality.

 

I know and it really ticks me off to no end. Ever since the Jags came into being Miami fans in Central Florida have been screwed.

 

As you pointed out, it is a sample size of 1 at this point. The bad thing really is with this cast of characters on the field are we really going to be able to get an accurate read on him by the end of the season? I think we may be able to tell somethings, but not all. Worse is that it could be well into next season before we really do.

 

Hope Gardner Minshew lights up the Texans

 

DT?

 

I kept thinking Donald trump lol.

 

I'm not sure if it will make a difference or not, but I am hoping, in time, Flores brings some toughness to our team. Our guys come to Miami thinking it's a country club and play like a bunch of marshmallows. I want to see some grit and guys playing hard to the whistle.

 

And for all 4 quarters. Can’t count how many times we’d blow a lead going into the 4th because the defense laid down

 

I saw two different sports betting handicappers giving their pick of the week as the Dolphins +17.5.

And that got me thinking- the last game was a blowout because the secondary completely crapped the bed. Maybe they worked some stuff out this week and will actually post a respectable game. That still doesn't fix other areas but still....I have a feeling we lose by less than 18 all of a sudden.

I don't gamble but I've noticed a pattern of heavy underdogs covering a big portion of the time in the NFL. Maybe Vegas bribes a ref when 90%+ bets on one team, I have no idea...but I think this one will be closer than we expect.

 

The way I always have seen the NFL is that a division game is a division game no matter how much one team sucks.

 

Think we'll get blown out but happy if we keep it respectable. Really going to miss having a great edge rusher like J.Taylor or C.Wake against Brady.

 

We can only hope, right? After the train wreck last week, if we manage to be competitive this week it would get the train back on the track.
Not saying that we will win more games, but right now we are trying to lay the foundation for who we will be as a team down the road.

 

It feels like another drubbing is on it's way this Sunday (and it might well be) but this is chapter 2 of the story where we get to see if the Dolphins have found a way to improve at all, what sort of adjustment Flores makes, and overall what lessons are learned.

Wins really aren't the expectation this season. It's going be a matter of trying to ascertain what the Dolphins now are and what they have, and see where they might be going.

Throwback uniforms will be on. Let's see if this recently assembled group of players begin to look more like a football team this week, especially in the face of the divisional champion and rival.

 

The way I see it, everyone knows that playing the Patriots at home is our annual Super Bowl. We should also have great intel on Brady's tendencies so that's a massive benefit....but then we also have the 2019 Dolphins. I don't see how we win this game but I wouldn't be shocked to see us compete- I'd definitely take Miami and the point spread in this one.

And who knows? Could the Miami Miracle II be in the works? I know a lot of you see this as a throwaway year and think a win doesn't matter, but it would mean EVERYTHING to that locker room in the weeks ahead. They have every incentive to punch somebody in the mouth and get ultra physical this game.

 

Only if...

We run the ball and control TOP
We crash the LoS defensively
We force Brady into short drops
And the LBs can stop the short slants that Brady so often throws

 

Only if...

We run the ball and control TOP
We crash the LoS defensively
We force Brady into short drops
And the LBs can stop the short slants that Brady so often throws

 

Here's something interesting. Since 2002 there have been only 7 previous cases where the favorite had a 19 point spread or greater and 4 of them involved the Patriots as favorites (now 5!). In all 7 cases the favorite won, but only once did the favorite cover!

2002 Eagles over Texans spread -19 (result: 35-17 not covered)
2007 Patriots over Eagles spread -24.5 (result: 31-28 not covered)
2007 Patriots over Jets spread -20.5 (result: 20-10 not covered)
2007 Patriots over Dolphins -22.5 (result: 28-7 not covered)
2011 Patriots over Colts -20.5 (result: 31-24 not covered)
2013 Seahawks over Jaguars -20 (result: 45-17 covered!)
2013 Broncos over Jaguars -26.5 (result: 35-19 not covered)

So if history is any indication the Patriots won't beat us by 20+ points. That is.. when epic bad is expected it usually doesn't happen.

Oh, and that 2013 Broncos -26.5 spread is the largest in NFL history since 1970.

 

To be fair, some of those were incredibly close to covering and we might be historically bad.

 

Should bring them back permanently. Maybe not this season cause those unis deserve better. But they are fire, especially compared to the unis we wear today.

 

I think we will take a drubbing but, I will consider it a moral victory if we don't lose by more than 20 points. :-)