Uncategorized (Page 6)

The “but” is that things could be promising. Could be better next year. With a few healthy players back, we might have a home playoff game in Round 1 and not a game in icy Buffalo next time around. But a “decent” season is not a successful season. Staying close in a playoff game is not winning. Mike McDaniel not knowing how to manage a game might be improved in the off season. It must be. On 4th and inches, for example, with your season on the line and the play clock ticking, simply ask for a measurement. Just asking a question right then stopsRead More →

I’ll start off with an honest prediction that this game will be something like 38-3 for the Bills. Our starting QB has had six appearances to make his presence known, and in every single case, he’s shown merely a basic skill set that is uninspiring and unexplosive. I don’t see him leading us into hostile Buffalo to beat the Bills nor their snowball-tossing hooligan fans. Our defense plays well when the offense gives them a chance. The offense doesn’t need to score repeatedly, but they have to move the ball at least, to give our D a rest. This was the formula in beating theRead More →

The Dolphins became the first team in NFL history to clinch a playoff spot without scoring a TD ! Hat’s off to the defense. Also, Mike McDaniel joins Adam Gase and Tony Sparano as the Dolphin coaches to get to the playoffs in his first year. It’s a dubious omen, because it shows you how hard the NFL is. Year-One success is no indicator of a bright future. Just ask Gase and Sparano. More to come later, but I don’t care if the Bills win 90-0 next week, at least our young players closed out the season with a win and will get a tasteRead More →

I might have written this before, but in Barry Sanders’ heyday, my friend and I used to sorta-kinda joke (while being sorta-kinda serious) that the Lions only needed one play in their entire playbook: “Give the ball to Barry.” First and 10? Give the ball to Barry. Fourth and inches? Give the ball to Barry. Third and 18? Give the ball to Barry. He truly was THAT good. The Lions handed out gifts to the opponent each time such luminaries as Charlie Batch, Erik Kramer, Rodney Peete, etc., faded back to pass. “Thank you,” said the defense, every single time they saw the QB fadeRead More →

I did not see the play live, but I started getting texts during the CPR. I got home asap to see the situation with Damar Hamlin. Apparently, the CPR stabilized him then and there on the field. That was very good news. While he is still in critical condition, we can all be grateful to the staff that revived him and hope for the best in his recovery. Putting our hearts aside for a moment, the NFL now has a gigantic mess to untangle. It’s unrealistic to think that this game will just be forgotten. There are too many ramifications to 30 other franchises forRead More →

The only thing worse than needing help is needing help from the hated Buffalo Bills. The NFL is holding the games hostage at this point, so we don’t know what time any of the games are gonna be. We may be playing a meaningless game by the time kickoff rolls around. But we might be playing for a playoff berth. We need to beat the Jets and hope that Buffalo beats the Pats. The latter should be easy. The Patriots are a very bad team. A laughably unprofessional offense, and yet they wiped us out today. Let’s start with their game plan, in which BillRead More →

Winning out now is the only way to guarantee a playoff berth. One win and One loss can still get us in, but–as usual–we’ll need help (which we never seem to get). Compounding matters is that Tua is in concussion testing again, meaning that Teddy Bridgewater will 99% being starting Sunday in Boston. This is not horrible news. Teddy’s been adequate when he’s been in there. His inconsistencies have been the result of bizarre circumstances. When Tua got hurt in the Bengals game, Teddy came in ice cold off the bench and did what he could. The following week, he got a full week ofRead More →

Three times in a row, all in the 4th quarter, our quarterback threw the ball Tua defender. Yes, I should trademark that one, but I don’t have the legal acumen. And while the Tua was the main culprit–again–in a winnable game vs. an inferior opponent, others share the blame. Namely our rookie hipster coach and our atrocious special teams. Look at the shot above from Tua’s third interception of the quarter. Look at the 31 yardline. Can Jeff Wilson (orange circle) possibly be more open? Look at the Pack defenders running from top to bottom. If Tua hits Wilson (who’s running bottom to top), he’sRead More →

The Christmas game vs. Green Bay seemed unwinnable at the start of the season. A perrenniel playoff team vs. a young Dolphins team with no playoff experience. But then the Dolphins started hot, and the Packers started cold. Then it seemed like a sure win for Miami. Now, we are back to normal. Aaron Rodgers is finding cohesiveness with his ragtag group of unknown WRs, while the Dolphins have scuttled into a 3-game losing streak. There are only 3 games on Christmas, as the NFL does its best to make money and spread “Week” 16 into games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I loveRead More →

Can the Dolphins still make the playoffs? The short answer is yes. Absolutely. I’m never ever one to candy-coat losses, but I somehow feel surprisingly optimistic after this particular loss. No blowout, no cold-weather letdown, no ineffective Tua. Just a hard-fought game vs. a superior opponent on their own frozen turf. Coming into the game, I was more concerned with how we shook off the California losses. I figured we’d lose to the Bills, but would Tua look like his September-November self? Yes! Would the defense roll over? No. Somehow, some way, the defense stopped Josh Allen much better than they stopped Mr. Irrelevant. WhenRead More →

Before getting into the upcoming game, I wanted to mention a quick note on the schedule. Only four NFL teams have to endure a 3-game road trip this season. With all the rigors of travel to begin with, the league compounds this by forcing only 4 of its teams to go three straight weeks without a home game. The Dolphins are obviously one of them. Parity is one thing, but fairness should be tantamount. And it’s not fair. It’s blatantly unfair to force only four teams to endure a 3-game road trip–especially during crunch time of December–while 28 other teams do NOT have to endureRead More →

Let me say right off the bat that I’m a Tua supporter. I’m not questioning him as our leader whatsoever, and I’ve been with him since day 1. That being said, I criticize when it’s due and when it’s fair. And December has been a disaster for #1. It’s fair to renew the debate again… unfortunate, but fair. Tua has cost us two games in a row. Yes, I know Cris Collinsworth was continually amazed at how great the Chargers’ defense was, but was it that defense who was throwing the ball behind open guys all night long? Nope, that as QB1. Remember the playRead More →

If the Chargers were a better team this year, then there would be more hype surrounding this game with the Tua vs. Herbert angle, as it’s the first time they are meeting. The Dolphins had their pick of either QB. For my money, we made the right choice. We have more weapons and a much better defense (except when we play against unknown rookie QBs) This is a hugely important game for our playoff chances, but it’s also a very accurate way to test if the Dolphins are for real. Did Tua have one bad game? I’d like to think so, but if his troublesRead More →

Well, the best piece of good news is that the Dolphins can play great without Terron Armstead. Except for a few blemishes, the offensive linemen backups played an outstanding game and gave our QBs all day to pass. The other piece of good news is that of the 53 men on the active roster, 51 of them played their hearts out, only to be let down by today’s underachievers, both of our QBs. I’ll start with the short one first, and that is Skylar Thompson not being a good player. Yeah, I know soooo many people were gung-ho for the kid when he played wellRead More →

I kept reading all the “good news” headlines about Armstead’s injury, and I got suckered into thinking that the good news is that he will be ready to play on Sunday vs. the 49ers. But no. The good news is that it’s not a season-ending injury. That’s not good news in the short run. We need him back and healthy. Desperately. We won plenty of games without Austin Jackson, but without Armstead, we looked lost. It was ugly. Can one man make THAT much of a difference? Apparently so. The easy part of our schedule is over. It feels great to win 5 straight, butRead More →

7-3 is a very impressive record going into the bye week, especially considering all the questions we had when the season began. I was concerned about Tyreek Hill fitting in. I was concerned about (yet another) first-time head coach being given the top job. I was concerned about the offensive line holding up. All of those concerns have been alleviated. On Sunday, the Browns did a fantastic job of taking Hill and Waddle away from their deep patterns. Their game plan was to stop the deep threat, and they did so. But Mike McDaniel countered beautifully. He ran the ball often, and didn’t let up.Read More →

Another no-show by our defense was overcome by a good 3 quarters by our offense. Tua looked so good on so many plays, but then he threw 3 bad balls on the 3 most important plays late. On the first 4th-down play, he missed Gesicki cutting left to right. On the second one, he missed a wide open Durham Smythe. Tua later said (as noted by announcer Trent Green) that Smythe looked away for a split second and that threw off the timing. But that just can’t happen. You can’t throw a grounder to a guy 4 yards away. The 3rd bad throw was whenRead More →