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One of the whacky and unfair quirks of the NFL schedule is the fact that every 4 years, all the teams in one division play the teams in another division from the other conference.   This year, we drew the NFC North.   And they are all tough teams. So what’s unfair about that, you ask?  Well, you have to look at the big playoff picture.   We can win our division and make the playoffs.   In our division, we have three opponents who all play the same 4 NFC North teams.  That’s fair and I have no issue with it.   However…there are two precious wildcard openings alsoRead More →

The poet Dante has a line about games/sports.  To paraphrase, he says that when the game of dice (i.e., shooting craps) is over, the crowd walks away with the winner.   The loser sits there alone and ponders every roll, and reliving what went wrong and stewing all the “what ifs.” Thus our week. It’s already Wednesday, and I’m still too sick to study for the upcoming Bears game and start writing about it.  Instead, I find myself replaying all of the mistakes from the Bengals game.   Hard to sleep at night when all you can picture is a dozen plays that Adam Gase called wrong, andRead More →

I think we all agree that Clueless Joey P stuck around far too long as our head coach.   DolphinsTruth archives are filled with stories and analysis of all the incorrect decisions this joker made.   From gifting free wins to the opponent to cutting All Pros who we desperately needed, Philbin was the pits. I often wondered what kept him around.   Why was Stephen Ross so enamored with an old man with zero accomplishments on his resume?    He was a simpleton who was in over his head, and we all knew that.  But he also had a nice, grandfatherly guy, and you felt bad forRead More →

Adam Gase blamed his offensive linemen for Ryan Tannehill’s 4th-quarter woes, and it just goes to prove how stubborn and/or ignorant he really is. With the Dolphins nursing a 17-10 lead, Tanny was flushed out of the pocket to his right. With a sack imminent, he tried to spike the ball into the ground near TE Durham Smythe. He missed. Not a typo. He tried to throw the ball to the ground, and he missed. It got tipped and ended up as a pick-6. We have a professional NFL quarterback who admitted he tried to throw it into the ground to avoid a sack. AndRead More →

With the Dolphins holding a comfortable 17-3 lead late in the third quarter, Miami faced a third and one.  Before we get into the horrible, loss-causing play that Gase called next, we have to back up . Frank Gore was blowing holes the through Bengals on every carry.   No, he wasn’t busting 30-yarders at will.  But he was doing something more effective:  He was breaking their backs with 5 or 6 yards at a time.  It was gorgeous to behold.   On second-and-five, Gore burst up the middle and got tripped up just shy of the first down, which brought up 3rd and a foot. ThirdRead More →

LIVE GAME DAY CHAT Around 1 pm Eastern The good news is that DeVante Parker is also out.  Reshad Jones is back, and that can only help. We are skating on really thin ice with all these injuries and with a scheme that is not built for the “next man up” mentality.  First-round bust Charles Harris gets the start today, and I’m going to be positive and optimistic.  But if he under-performs again, expect a less-nice report after the game. The Bangals are formidable, but not elite.  Believe it or not, here in Week 5, the Dolphins are their easiest opponent.   They are 3-1 againstRead More →

Before I could even write “Go, Colts,” it’s already 14-0.  Game over.    Good to see that the Dolphins aren’t the only team who refuse to follow Detroit’s simple and successful plan to beat the Patriots. Then again, Colts coach Frank Reich proved how stupid he was last week by handing a free win to the lowly Texans.  Don’t forget, Reich only has this job because the Pats’ offensive coordinator was not a man of his word and lied to the Colts. Patriots’ get their Thursday night game this season at home yet again, just like every year.   Again.  While Miami has to go onRead More →

In yet another head-scratching move, the Dolphins have cut a player at a position where we desperately need help.   It’s baffling, but not surprising, to see Adam Gase jettison another player simply because he spoke up about wanting to play more. Okay, truthfully, we don’t know the reasons he was cut.   He showed promise and was our starter.  It’s no secret that he spoke up about being on the bench so often last Sunday.  Here’s a guy who watched Tom Brady gut our defense, and he spoke up, wanting to get in there and make a difference. Now the difference is that he’ll be onRead More →

Time to move on from that pig of a game the Dlphins played yesterday.  Let’s hope that Adam Gase learns some lessons. If I were a Patriot (or a Patriot fan), I’d be laughing at us so heartily now.  I’d say stuff like: “Miami wasted two draft picks on tight ends that were supposed to be Gronk clones.  How’d they do yesterday?”  or “How did your other first-round picks do?  DeVante Parker was injured, and he still was more effective than wasted bust Charles Harris.” The jokes at our expense are endless. Meanwhile, the season is on the brink of being lost to injuries.   It happensRead More →

The Dlphins (there is absolutely no “O” in this team) got their annual Massachusetts Massacre out of the way today to close out September at 3-1. While the defense played poorly, this loss is not their fault.  As I wrote all week, the defense will yield points to Tom Brady.   All defenses do.   We simply had to match them on offense, and Adam Gase made certain we didn’t do that. As bad as the defense was, consider this:  What if I told you that our D would have 2 interceptions, numerous batted balls, several hurries and pressures, forced punts, and stopped 3 different wildcat/trick playsRead More →

Join our live chat at http://dolphinstruth.com/chat/ DeVante Parker is out again with a sore leg.  That’s the only good news.  Reshad Jones is out.   That is the horrible news.   I’m all for protecting players, but man, come on.   Sometimes–especially for huge division games–you have to suck it up and get out there.  Jones got hurt in the 2nd Q of the Jets game two weeks ago.   He finished the game.  He played hurt immediately after the injury. Like I said during the week, the offense just needs to focus and score score score.   Our defense is getting banged up week after week, but it won’t matterRead More →

They may not be the same old New England Patriots, but this is still the same old rivalry.   And the same old Foxboro.  And the same old Brady and Bellichick. In other words, the Patriots might be a lesser team than in years past, but they’re still a team that’s hard to beat.  Last week, the Pats dressed only 3 WRs.  I expect them to play Josh Gordon this time.  So that will be 4 WRs plus the ever-present Gronk to deal with.  The good news for Dolphans is that Brady doesn’t seem to have rapport with his WRs.   His O-line is not as strongRead More →

DE Jonathan Woodard, who did some good things in the pre-season and who probably would have made the team if we didn’t have a strong D Line already, was promoted from the practice squad.  He’ll take the place of Andre Branch, who is out for a month or so.   That leaves us still down a D lineman, because William Hayes was placed on IR. Here’s my take on this stupid rule that got Hayes hurt.  I feel it is very easy for a ref to tell if a defender intentionally and forcefully throws his entire body weight onto a QB.  If it’s on purpose, thenRead More →

There are 7 teams ahead of us in ESPN’s latest power polls.  2 of them are undefeated, so I have no problem there.   But 5 of them have a worse record than us.  That makes me scratch my head. But I see their point.  Never mind the win-loss records, you have to say that Pittsburgh and New England are probably stronger teams than us…but only going by their history.   This will all work itself out as the season progresses.  Our offense needs to start getting into the 30-point range and not settle for the 20s, where we always have to nervously await an onside kick.Read More →

Right out of the gate, we have to start with Jordy Nelson on the first series.  It’s not too bad if a receiver gets open.  It happens.  But look how quickly he gets open.   And I mean WIDE open. The ball has barely been snapped.   On the far right, you see Derek Carr is still fading back.  Nelson, circled, is running a simple slant.   The black arrow shows his route.  Look how open he is!   The play has just started and he’s in full stride already.  It was obviously a breakdown.  It didn’t help that Minkah Fitpatrick (Off screen on the far left at thisRead More →

We’ll take it.   The Oakland Raiders gifted us a nice win today, and I for one am proud to accept it.  Jon Gruden saw that we could not stop Jordy Nelson, and for some baffling but enjoyable reason, he stopped calling on Jordy. A thousand thank yous to Gruden. Thank you also for calling a long fade route when you had a first down and were about to take the lead very late in the game.  A ridiculous play call made worse by David Carr throwing a Cutler-like pass there deep. In 2013, we opened up 3-0 as well.   We beat some quality teams tooRead More →

I was hoping for 95 sweltering degrees and 99% unbearable humidity for the game today, which should give the Dolphins a somewhat advantage over Oakland, who is not accustomed to this weather, but it seems the rain will cool things down. A sloppy field causes mistakes and slips all around, and that does not bode well.   Two home games, two rainy days.  Mother Nature must be a Parriot fan. Please join us for the game day live chat beginning just before kickoff.  Talk to you then…Read More →