In addition to the obvious story lines of wanting to win a division game and go 3-0 in the AFC East, and in addition to the also obvious story line of Teddy Bridgewater replacing Tua, there is a more subtle aspect to this game, and it’s something Dolphin fans are well familiar with.

I’m talking about bouncing back after a loss. We have not been good at it. I haven’t looked up the official stats, but there have been plenty of times in the last 10 and even 20 years when the Phins had won 2 or 3 in a row, then we lose. As fans, we ALWAYS say, “That’s okay. We’ll get right back to our winning ways.” But that rarely happens.

We beat the Pats in Boston last year in Week 1, then got killed by the Bills. “That’s okay,” I said. “We have easy teams coming up and we’ll win a few more in a row.” Bad teams like the Jags, Colts, Raiders, Falcons…we lost to them all during a 7-game losing streak. The feeling of “That’s just one loss; we’ll correct it next week” THAT is the feeling that we’re all too familiar with.

Mike McDaniel has brought some palpable culture change with him, so we’ll see how he handles this. 3 wins were nice. A doubly-tough loss took a ton of steam our of us. And now it’s time to see where we go from here. Again, we have some easy, winnable games coming up. But…

Will the players still have lingering thoughts of Tua, a distraction that cost us a win last Thursday at Cincy?

Will we take advantage of a young QB and throw complex blitzes at him?

Will guys step up? Specifically, will guys with a sore groin or a tender glute or a hangnail get out there to give it all for the Dolphins?

Will McDaniel keep what is working? You guys know my philosophy. If plays are working, stick with it. Flores and Gase and Philbin had that excruciating habit of “mixing it up.” So when our RBs were carving up the opponents’ run defense, these coaches would try to “mix it up” with a pass play, and the results were often disastrous. So far, the passing game has been extremely surprising and efficient. A few sacks allowed, a lot of deep bombs, a ton of 3rd-and-longs that we pick up with ease. McD sees what works and he sticks with it. We need to keep that mentality.

The good news is that our D still hasn’t had a lights-out game where they destroy an opponent, and we are due for one!

On a side note–and I’ll soon devote a whole article to this–I am grateful that Stephen Ross is suspended and cannot involve himself in the Tuagate situation. Knowing Ross’s history of caving in to whatever the controversy of the day is, he would have blown up the whole team. I suspect that Ross would have stepped in and overruled everyone to say, “Tua is done for the year. Maybe forever. The media says he is hurt, so I have to obey the media.” Then he’d donate a million dollars to a concussion clinic and go back to rooting for his home-town Jets.

20 Comments

  1. All great points. I think with McDaniel, the players are more resilient than with Flo, Gase, and Phailbin. The D should be fully rested and there is hopefully a good game plan in place.

  2. Author

    Sean was first to report that X Howard is OUT today. I guys a soreness in his groin was too much to bear. 🙁

  3. Author

    I know this is unpopular, and a lot of you will disagree, but Skylar Thompson got his shot finally, And he let us down. At least somewhat. The pick was not totally his fault, as the lineman hit his arm. But that fumble was costly and at the worst possible time.
    Yes, I know he didn’t get reps with the first team, etc. etc… but still I wanted to see more fire and tenacity in him. They kept showing him sulking on the bench, and THAT told me a lot about how much he needs to grow. I would have LOVED to see him in our lineman’s faces, screaming at them to do better.
    One game. Not end of the world. Let’s see how improved he is next week, because I doubt Tua OR Teddy will be back with these ridiculous new protocols.

  4. Here’s a good post:
    It smells of NFLPA revenge for the Dolphins not sitting Tua in the second half of the Bills game. The spotter ruled out Teddy as a “no go” even before he was evaluated in the locker room. He passed all tests, probably never even had a concussion, but got slapped with the new “ataxia” rule.

    https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34761662/dolphins-teddy-bridgewater-protocol-hard-hit

    Bridgewater was put into the protocol after the booth ATC spotter ruled him a “no-go” after he took a hit on Dolphins’ opening offensive drive, in compliance with the NFL’s amended concussion protocol. Bridgewater passed his concussion evaluation, according to a source, but the booth ATC spotter believed he saw Bridgewater stumble and triggered the new ataxia addition to the “no-go” symptoms in the protocol.

    What the hell does “believed he saw Bridgewater stumble” mean? Either he stumbled or didn’t. Anyhow, I can’t find a replay of him stumbling at all. The fix is in…they want the Fins to suffer for another 20 years.

  5. So our third string qb comes in off the bench and scores 17 points, should have been 20, and this time it was our defense who gave up in the fourth quarter, knowing we had x and Byron out, I’m not scared at all for this team because next week tua, x and Byron will be back.

    1. Don’t disagree but all other teams have to do is nail our QB and he’s out for the game even if he’s fine. We need 4 QB’s in the lineup to be safe. The league has it in for Miami…same old same old.

      1. Yes and I agree. And we willhave to be vigilant and watch how other players are treated with the new protocols. Will they treat Josh Allen with the same protocol? That remains to be seen.

        1. No other QB will be scrutinized as much as a Miami QB. Allen could get his head ripped off and stumble like a drunk he won’t get removed from a game. Fins fans I’m sorry we are pooched. Next week Skyler will be removed in the first quarter just watch.

  6. Author

    The NFL continues to come up with new rules to screw the Dolphins, and this one occurred mid-game. Our entire lives, on a grounding play, we have heard the ref say “No penalty because Number so-and-so was in the vicinity.” But when it comes to the Dolphins, suddenly the new rule is that the player must be in the vicinity AND HE MUST ALSO not be being blocked by someone. Throw it 50 yards over a WR’s head? In the vicinity. Throw it at Durham Smythe’s feet. Penalty.
    And then that tool Mike Perrera trying to explain it was laughable. The ref on the field could say that 1+1=17, and Mike would agree with his friends in the zebra shirts.

    1. Yes last weeks non-safety was even worse as the QB threw it into the ground in the endzone it wasn’t even an attempt for a completion. You could argue that Teddy was trying to hit his guy but was flung around and didn’t make it. Either way a receiver was in the area. NFL hates the Fins only thing I can think of. Now they have a spotter who can supersede everyone and kick players out of the game. You won’t see this happen to Allen or brady but every Finds QB is fair game.

      1. Author

        FFF, I haven’t seen anything yet, but you say some NFL sideline administrator automatically benched Teddy before the docs even saw him?

        1. Yes see the link I posted above its shocking. Spotter has all of the power to get rid of anyone without being tested.

      2. Author

        “Either way a receiver was in the area.” But that is not the rule anymore. If you’re a Dolphin, you have different rules, such as you must be in the area and you ALSO MUST have no one near you.

      1. I did see Tyreek Hill slowing down twice to try and catch the ball because Skylar Thompson’s arm is too weak to take advantage of Hill’s speed.

        1. Author

          I noted something during our live chat: ALL THREE of our qb’s have underthrown Hill all year. Even on the long beautiful TD passes against Baltimore, Tyreek had to wait for the ball. He is just too fast !

        2. Author

          Speaking of Tyreek, he and Waddle have become our only reliable go-to men. We expected them to be stars, but I also expected those other new guys to contribute, but they’ve been duds so far. River Cracraft plays well. He is a practice squad experiment, and he’s outplaying high-money free agents like Trent Sherfield and Cedric Wilson

    1. Author

      Any time “interpretation” is involved, there will be inconsistency. The hit Tua took was legal, but not that one to Brady?

Leave a Reply to FlyerFinFan Cancel reply