Our schedule really works against us this year.

[dolfan94]

Yeah. Injuries are the great equalizer. If you have depth, then they shouldn't kill you. If you don't, then you're done.
Let's say that Henne and Ronnie BOTH get injured in week 1. We still have a great shot as we are very deep at those positions.

But lets say that the Patriots lose just Tom Brady. They are pretty much done. But if we lose Yeremiah Bell? We're not done but who do we place there?

Its a matter of luck with injuries. It was mostly on our side in 2008 except for a few exceptions, and it was against us last year heavily.

Had we not been healthy in '08, forget about the playoffs. Had we been at least a little bit more healthy last year, who knows what could've happened

 

[hoops]

if we lose henne in week 1 i don't think there's a chance in this world that chad pennington could lead us to the playoffs...not with a dink and dunk nothing outside the #s offense...the teams we play in the first 8 games can all score points...i don't think with penny we could match them

and i also don't think penny would make it out of week 8 without being on ir...

but if we did somehow make the playoffs and penny stayed healthy i think we'd be one and done...pennys just too easy to defend for a good defense imo...

 

[sharp]

I love the dolphins, the NFL, and football altogether because of the competition. When I wake up on monday after a win or a loss, im looking foward to next sunday already. Now while I enjoy a nice stomping of say the Browns, i definitely like going up a against the Jets or Pats or a good team the next week. It just makes it all the more exciting to look foward too and keeps your on your toes all game.

 

[Lilseb93]

nah....just sayin green bay...baltimore...minnesota are loaded and legitimate super bowl contenders and that's just the outside of the division foes in the first 8 games...and all on the road

some challenge ahead...

And if we succeed in beating them, it means we're SB contenders. To be the best, you have to beat the best.

 

[PhinsPhan11]

There's a tough challenge ahead for the Phins. If they can maintain a .500 record or even 5-3 they would be in perfect position to make a playoff push.

 

[ROADRUNNER]

I dont mind who we play, aslong as we play well...............

 

[jetsman]

Sure you can say that and you can say the same thing if key members of your teams get injured. But it is still a fact. Who , when and where we play does make a difference especially in a tight conference like ours. Here are 4 key teams out side our conference that the Jets, Pats and Phins all play. Baltimore, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Greenbay. All 4 teams have a very big home field advantage. We play Pittsburg at home the rest on the road. The Jets and Pats play Pittsburgh on the road and the rest of teams at home. Advantage Jets and Pats to Phins 3-1. Take into consideration that we are playing most of these teams back to back on our schedule where the Pats and Jets have a Buffalo type games between playing those teams to prepare and rest up and that is even more to their advantage. Pats do have Indy and San Diego which gives an advantage to the Jets and to us for that consideration. Still though going back to our conference it is to our advantage to play the Pats and Jets down here in the winter but the schedule is just the opposite and we play those 2 teams early back to back down here early. Advantage Jets and Pats. Tony will have to be at the very top of his game at the start of the season!!

I totally disagree about that.It is to the Dolphins advantage to get both the Jets and Patsies at home early in the season when the heat and humidity can take a toll on them.The Jets will be coming off two hard fought physical games against the Ravens and then the Patsies before we play the Fins in week 3.This is most definitely an advantage for the Dolphins.If you don't beat us in that game you probably won't beat us this year as we get you at home in December.

 

[zackmandude63]

There's no such thing as a "cupcake game" IMO. All teams have professional football players, they all get paid to do the same thing. If you look at a game as "cupcake game" you are most likely to get burnt! Miami should look at every game as if they had to win that game to reach the playoffs. Go big, or go home!!

 

[cafinfan408]

Cold Weather should not effect this team to much.
Most of our boys have played ball in cold weather a lot.

 

[Krie30511]

This is probably one of the scariest weeks 2-8 we have seen in a long time.

 

[NY8123]

I don't care what schedule we have or don't have the bottom line is it would be nice if Miami got out of the first quarter of the season at or above .500 for a change.

Digging yourself out of a hole in the first quarter of the year is never good and that is my one knocks about Sparano coached teams right now, 3-5 collectively is not getting it done at the start of the season.

 

[In_Bill_WeTrust]

I think this is actually going to benefit us....

Here's how i look at it. Mike Nolan was able to cover up some of the Denver's flaws and personal mismatches using his insane blitzes etc. In the first half of the season that D looked like Denver might be a legit Superbowl contender. What happened in the 2nd half? Well, other teams had plenty of tape to work with and were able to prepare and find ways to take advantage of those holes.

Now, I think i would rather play these tough teams when they don't know what to expect from the Dolphins this year. Preparation is key to success and quite frankly, we don't know what our team will be like this year, no one does, including our opponents. They don't know how we are going to blitz, what type of coverage we are going to use, how much is Marshall going to be used and what type of offense in general are we running ( let if fly like they promised now that we have Marshall, or are we still pounding the ball and where does Wildcat fit in or does it even still exist).

I'm just saying, we could really surprise some of these good teams. And when a team throws something at you that you haven't seen on tape before, it's usually not a good thing. Just ask the Patriots when they saw Wildcat for the first time.

 

[ckparrothead]

I think this is actually going to benefit us....

Here's how i look at it. Mike Nolan was able to cover up some of the Denver's flaws and personal mismatches using his insane blitzes etc. In the first half of the season that D looked like Denver might be a legit Superbowl contender. What happened in the 2nd half? Well, other teams had plenty of tape to work with and were able to prepare and find ways to take advantage of those holes.

This is how I see it.

This schedule stuff is overblown. The Dolphins don't have a ridiculously tough schedule period. Whether the tough games are played at the beginning or the end of the season doesn't matter a whole lot, and if I had my choice I'd rather play them at the beginning of the schedule.

What do people expect? For the Dolphins to win the Super Bowl without being able to beat tough teams?

 

[SabanHater]

you know teams look at their schedules too and wish they didn't see Miami on it, right? This team is no push over. We will compete and stand a chance against them all.

 

[ckparrothead]

No team ever thinks they're "out of it" just because they start 4-4, or even 3-5. If anything, that only leads to the teams further up on the schedule falling asleep on this team and then getting surprised by them.

A loss is a loss. You either beat the tough teams or you're not really contending for a title. Let's say the Dolphins walk away from the first 8 games at 3-5, having beaten the Bills, either the Jets or Patriots, and either the Bengals or Steelers.

Then what? Does that mean Miami's playoff hopes are erased? They're going to go in the tank now? History shows otherwise. You never know how teams are going to fare any given year until you see it play out on the field, but as you look at the next 8 games, based on 2009 records, the Dolphins should be able to SKATE thru to a 5-3 record...to end up at 8-8.

And from there, add wins onto the front part of the schedule or the back part of the schedule, it doesn't matter. Either way, the Dolphins are going to have to come out of this season with some tough victories or else they don't deserve to be competing for a Super Bowl, and they'll get blown out of the playoffs embarrassingly just like 2001 and 2008, and coincidentally enough perhaps by the exact same team (the Ravens).

The Dolphins are going to have to win more than one of the four division games against the Patriots and Jets, and win more than one game against the Titans, Ravens, Bengals, Steelers, Vikings and Packers. And if they can't do that they don't deserve to be in the playoffs, because they're not going anywhere during the playoffs anyway.

If the Dolphins beat the opponents they should beat (the Bills x2, the Bears, Lions, Browns, Raiders), go 2-2 versus the Patriots and Jets, and then merely go 2-4 versus that group of teams above (Titans, Ravens, Bengals, Steelers, Vikings and Packers)...they're 10-6 and should have a playoff spot.

Is that really that scary?