What Are We Rooting For These Last 3 Games?

I started rooting for them to win mid season.. Now I'd prefer for them to lose to get a better draft pick. Flores has proven to me that he is competent as a coach. We saw what we needed to see out of Devante. Our secondary has been an area of pride despite the injuries and scab level roster. Our OL, while terrible, isn't as bad as I'd thought it could be.

At this point, I want better draft picks. I can't say I was upset last week when the Jets hit that field goal.

I chose lose all three.

I've seen enough of this team to know what to expect in the future as well as to know which guys have a future spot here and which dont with a few exceptions of course.

I'd rather lose all three and have a better pick.

Honestly, I dont care if we pick 4th or 8th, Grier needs to draft a pro bowl stud at that spot. No excuses.

Can't/Won't root for a loss. EVER.

I will admit to not being as disappointed as I usually am if we lose. But if we can figure out a way to make Marcia cry the last game I will be content with that victory.

I want us to try and win out. IMO, team culture is more important than a higher draft pick.

You were against the tank before you were for the tank.

"Surfs Up 99 wrote:

I want us to try and win out. IMO, team culture is more important than a higher draft pick.

Well I dont want them to TRY and lose but if they play well and it results in a loss I'm fine with that.

Like the Jets game. I didnt mind losing that, the team fought and played hard. It's not that bad for culture to be able to say "Look how close we were to winning x number of games. We need to learn to finish this year, our second year together and with our new pieces"

Maybe not those exact words.

It's hard to see us lose to the two worst teams in football, so maybe 1-2.

Personally, I wont be sad with 3 losses unless they are truly pitiful and regressive in their nature.

As I am still good to draft Tua, his injury and Burrows ascension means we could potentially win another game or two and still be in good draft position. If not, plenty of interesting names to build on.

I'm not gonna lie. Watching this team has been a lot more fun than I had expected. I think that they have really come together and improved. In previous years, it felt like a roller coaster of ups and downs. Contrarily, this team has steadily improved. Every Sunday, I cheer for this team to win.

That being said, I had a real epiphany on my run last night. I think that the difference between the 3rd and 4th pick is enormous.

I am at peace with drafting Tua despite his medical concerns. If we chose to shake the dice, I would support it.

Picking at #3, you are telling me that we would get Burrow, Tua, or Young. Sign me up. No need to get cute and start trading our stockpile of draft picks. Just wait and see. I am completely fine with getting whoever the #1 and #2 teams don't want.

At #4, things become tricky. No one player stands above the rest. There is a lot of debate and fodder that would occur. When things start to get cloudy, the odds of making a bad pick certainly goes up. The top three picks offer clarity.

I imagine a lot of you guys are thinking that Tua is probably going to slip. Probably. But we are our own worst enemies here. It is the worst kept secret in the NFL that we are looking for a QB. Everyone on this board knows that we have been linked to Tua since before the season started. And if everyone on this board knows this, I would venture a guess other GMs know this.

Tua is going to be an enigma. My guess is that at least one team will offer some sort of positive medical prognosis. If it is the right team, and they need a QB, I could either see us getting jumped or us getting cute and giving up more than some of you guys think to move up one spot.

Truly this is a dilemma.

I'm hoping we lose all 3 because we need to have the best chance to get the QB we want in the draft.

However.. there is a downside to losing against the Giants and Bengals: it should raise questions about whether Flores is good enough as a HC. Based on our play so far we really have no business losing to both of them. So it's mixed, but I'm still hoping for better draft position.

Considering we could end up at 7 after Sunday and outside the top 10 after cinci...

losses

To win obviously! Why would you ever want your team to lose? Losing breeds losing; losing breeds apathy; apathy perpetuates losing. Draft position be damned. Play the BEST you can...be the BEST that you can. Winning breeds winning and winning breeds a culture of excitement for players to be part of a TEAM they can be proud of.

I will never root for them to lose but now that 0-16 is off the table I wouldn't be upset if they lost out.

Can you put just beat the Patriots on the Poll, if so I'm in.

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

To win obviously! Why would you ever want your team to lose? Losing breeds losing; losing breeds apathy; apathy perpetuates losing. Draft position be damned. Play the BEST you can...be the BEST that you can. Winning breeds winning and winning breeds a culture of excitement for players to be part of a TEAM they can be proud of.

I guarantee you once this season is over and we go into next year, not a single player or fan is going to care about what happened these last three games. Especially considering I expect about 75% roster turnover and most of these players wont be starting if they are here at all.

These three games are going to mean absolutely nothing in the long term.

Like I said I want them to TRY and win, be I'll be cool with 3 consecutive 1 point losses if it happens.

"Triggercut wrote:

You were against the tank before you were for the tank.

And I'm still heavily against the tank- it puts everything on Grier and I absolutely hate that in a team sport where 50+ people have their careers on the line. I still hate this path to the core....but what's done is done. From this point forward losses are more valuable than wins, so I won't be mad if we lose.

Of course, I won't be mad if we win either....it's just a very strange year.

"AGuyNamedAlex wrote:

I guarantee you once this season is over and we go into next year, not a single player or fan is going to care about what happened these last three games. Especially considering I expect about 75% roster turnover and most of these players wont be starting if they are here at all.

These three games are going to mean absolutely nothing in the long term.

Like I said I want them to TRY and win, be I'll be cool with 3 consecutive 1 point losses if it happens.

The thing is, every player on our roster is treating each week like the Super Bowl because they know that this is a 16 week audition. Our record might not matter in eight weeks, but individual efforts will mean everything and this team will certainly try to end the season 3-0. We should be favored the next two games since we will be the better team on the field (in theory anyway).

The last time I rooted for the Dolphins to lose was when they played the Jests in the last game of the season where winning meant Wannstadt survived. That was a big downer of a day for me.

I don't actively root for the Phins to lose, it simply would be better if they did

With the idea of getting to the #1 pick, a combination win/lose might be the best thing for Miami. Beat the Giants, then losses to the Bengals and Pats. This requires the Bengals to win another game (along with beating the Phins), the Browns at Bengals being the most probable. The Giants have to lose out.

The Giants would have the #1 pick, while Miami would be down around #6 or #7. Now, the cost of trading up could be too much, but if you believe Burrow is a franchise QB the cost is worth it. If you want Tua, then you probably only need to move up to #4. Or sit tight and let him drop to you. That takes nerves of steel and hoping that another team isn't willing to give up extra picks to get Tua.

Odds are Miami can wait and grab Tua without giving up extra picks. Tua won't be able to work out for the draft and you have to trust the doctors -assuming they project he will recover fully. Any doctor claiming he WON'T recover will be a HUGE red flag for most teams. A team could even leak a negative evaluation to try and drop Tua down to their pick. I honestly expect that to happen. Miami might even be the team to do that so they can grab him with their Steeler or Texan pick.

This 2020 draft is going to be INSANE for Miami. So many options, so much drama.

"KeyFin wrote:

And I'm still heavily against the tank- it puts everything on Grier and I absolutely hate that in a team sport where 50+ people have their careers on the line. I still hate this path to the core....but what's done is done. From this point forward losses are more valuable than wins, so I won't be mad if we lose.

Of course, I won't be mad if we win either....it's just a very strange year.

The thing is, every player on our roster is treating each week like the Super Bowl because they know that this is a 16 week audition. Our record might not matter in eight weeks, but individual efforts will mean everything and this team will certainly try to end the season 3-0. We should be favored the next two games since we will be the better team on the field (in theory anyway).

Like I said I want them to try to win. I think most players on the team understand changes are coming next year.

I know winning builds confidence, but I also feel like knowing you're so close but not there yet is exciting, challenging and fun too. It can make you want to work even harder to hit that mark. Especially when they know (and the players arent dumb so I do believe they know) that changes are coming.

"AGuyNamedAlex wrote:

I guarantee you once this season is over and we go into next year, not a single player or fan is going to care about what happened these last three games. Especially considering I expect about 75% roster turnover and most of these players wont be starting if they are here at all.

These three games are going to mean absolutely nothing in the long term.

Like I said I want them to TRY and win, be I'll be cool with 3 consecutive 1 point losses if it happens.

I wouldn't be quite as sure tbh. There are probably quite a few of us smarting over the loss of Andrew Luck due to winning some flukey games.

The situation would need to be pretty specific though. For example, if we draft at say #8, watch Tua get picked at like #4 and be a star while we take *insert second tier QB here/Herbert/Hurts/Love/Fromm/etc* who sucks, people will look back at the wasted wins and wonder about the what-if's.

There is probably, however, at least as good a chance of something positive happening, if not better. Maybe we lose all 3 and it's academic. Maybe we win some and still get Tua at #8 or whatever. Maybe we lose out on Tua but he sucks. Maybe we take Herbert but he's the next Rogers. Maybe we take a non-QB and get Lawrence or Fields next year ... playing the what if game this early is silly but fun. :)

"texanphinatic wrote:

I wouldn't be quite as sure tbh. There are probably quite a few of us smarting over the loss of Andrew Luck due to winning some flukey games.

The situation would need to be pretty specific though. For example, if we draft at say #8, watch Tua get picked at like #4 and be a star while we take *insert second tier QB here/Herbert/Hurts/Love/Fromm/etc* who sucks, people will look back at the wasted wins and wonder about the what-if's.

There is probably, however, at least as good a chance of something positive happening, if not better. Maybe we lose all 3 and it's academic. Maybe we win some and still get Tua at #8 or whatever. Maybe we lose out on Tua but he sucks. Maybe we take Herbert but he's the next Rogers. Maybe we take a non-QB and get Lawrence or Fields next year ... playing the what if game this early is silly but fun. :)

Okay I do concede that if we lose a player due to winning we will remember.

I meant more so if we lose noone will remember, in terms of players. I get the players will remember, but it won't matter to them anymore. If guys stop working hard next year because we lost 3 games this year...I'm pretty sure those are the guys we dont want on the team.

4-12 should keep the Phins in the top 5. So I vote lose 2 and stomp the Pats!

"Not So Fast wrote:

4-12 should keep the Phins in the top 5. So I vote lose 2 and stomp the Pats!

Based on the schedules of the teams around us in the draft, Miami would most probably have the #6 pick at 4-12. Detroit and Arizona have tough schedules and I doubt either team wins another game.

Dropping the Pats into the Wild Card Playoff round would totally be worth it though.

I dont even want to know what kinds of tanking efforts will be made these next two games by all teams on the field (giants, phins and bengals)... most likely not tuning in to watch it.

if i had to bet, id say giants can definitely win.. eli and saquon should be enough to beat the dolphins..

and the bengals game will be a close game..