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Playoffs A Game Away...

SirFin

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If you put a gun to my head and asked me, "Will the Miami Dolphins qualify for the 2005 NFL Playoffs?" Well.. with my life depending on the answer.. I'd say "No." But... I don't think the Dolphin's chances at playing in the post season are as bad as they may appear.

(NOTE:Game analysis of NE & MIA remaining schedule not in chronological order.)

First, let's take a look at New England... At first glance it looks like they have a free pass to the AFC East title... but if you look closer... it may not be that much of a slam dunk. Their final 5 games are JETS, @BILLS, BUCS, @JETS, DOLPHINS. Forget the Dolphins game.. we'll get to that later. I think New England will win both games against the JETS.. That would give them 8 wins..

As for the BILLS game.. The BILLS should have won in New England.. they gave the game away. The Patriots couldn't do anything against the BILLS. They don't match up well. The BILLS Defensive weakness is against the run. With Corey Dillion injured... they PATS don't have a running game.. So the PATS will have to beat the BILLS through the air.. throwing into a Buffalo lake wind.. in mid-December... against the teeth of the BILLS Defense.. I can't see New England going to Buffalo and winning... that would bring their loss total to 6.

In three weeks the PATRIOTS host the BUCANEERS.. It is the only non-NFC SOUTH game remaining on the BUCS schedule... It will be a MUST game for the BUCS.. and the PATS.. And it should be a good one... but how will New England score against the Bucs D? They won't be running... So for again it will fall on the shoulders of Tom Brady... and for the second week in a row he will be facing a top 5 defense... and he will lose! Patriots loss total... 7.

(It is important to understand... these aren't the Patriots of last year.. or the years prior.. Right now they are not a good football team. Defensively they can't stop anybody. Offensively they are one dimensional. What they do have is Tom Brady. That will always make them dangerous... but not deadly.)

So in the final week of the year.. the 8-7 Patriots will host the Miami Dolphins... What will the Fins record be?

Miami plays three of their final 5 games at home against beatable opponents, BILLS, JETS, TITANS. (I am assuming Miami will be playing the rest of the season like they did against the Raiders, not like they did against the Browns.)

Miami could have a tough game with the defensively sound BILLS... but in the end.. the R&R show will lead the Fins to a victory. They will beat the JETS and TITANS at home... giving them 7 wins...

So it will come down to the game at San Diego.. THE GAME.. maybe one of the more important Dolphin games in 10 years.. Miami will most likely be a 10 pt. dog... Buffalo was a 12 point dog.. and they had a 4-5 record and had just beaten the KC Chiefs.. It will be a tough game for Miami to win.. but if they can.. if they do.. then they might win the AFC East crown as well. It will take a stellar game from Gus Frerotte... and the returning Zach Thomas.. So, for the sake of this post... I am going to assume Miami plays their best game of the year... while San Diego is caught looking ahead to the COLTS game the next Sunday.. and Miami wins...

So Miami heads to New England with an 8-7 record..

And the game is for the AFC East title... and in that scenario.. anything could happen...

Stanger things have happened. If you would have told me a team could have the league's top rusher on offense and pass rusher on defense and NOT make the playoffs... well I wouldn't have believed that either...
 
SirFin said:
If you put a gun to my head and asked me, "Will the Miami Dolphins qualify for the 2005 NFL Playoffs?" Well.. with my life depending on the answer.. I'd say "No." But... I don't think the Dolphin's chances at playing in the post season are as bad as they may appear.

First, let's take a look at New England... At first glance it looks like they have a free pass to the AFC East title... but if you look closer... it may not be that much of a slam dunk. Their final 5 games are JETS, @BILLS, BUCS, @JETS, DOLPHINS. Forget the Dolphins game.. we'll get to that later. I think New England will win both games against the JETS.. That would give them 8 wins..

As for the BILLS game.. The BILLS should have won in New England.. they gave the game away. The Patriots couldn't do anything against the BILLS. They don't match up well. The BILLS Defensive weakness is against the run. With Corey Dillion injured... they PATS don't have a running game.. So the PATS will have to beat the BILLS through the air.. throwing into a Buffalo lake wind.. in mid-December... against the teeth of the BILLS Defense.. I can't see New England going to Buffalo and winning... that would bring their loss total to 6.

In three weeks the PATRIOTS host the BUCANEERS.. It is the only non-NFC SOUTH game remaining on the BUCS schedule... It will be a MUST game for the BUCS.. and the PATS.. And it should be a good one... but how will New England score against the Bucs D? They won't be running... So for again it will fall on the shoulders of Tom Brady... and for the second week in a row he will be facing a top 5 defense... and he will lose! Patriots loss total... 7.

(It is important to understand... these aren't the Patriots of last year.. or the years prior.. Right now they are not a good football team. Defensively they can't stop anybody. Offensively they are one dimensional. What they do have is Tom Brady. That will always make them dangerous... but not deadly.)

So in the final week of the year.. the 8-7 Patriots will host the Miami Dolphins... What will the Fins record be?

Miami plays three of their final 5 games at home against beatable opponents, BILLS, JETS, TITANS. (I am assuming Miami will be playing the rest of the season like they did against the Raiders, not like they did against the Browns.)

Miami could have a tough game with the defensively sound BILLS... but in the end.. the R&R show will lead the Fins to a victory. They will beat the JETS and TITANS at home... giving them 7 wins...

So it will come down to the game at San Diego.. THE GAME.. maybe one of the more important Dolphin games in 10 years.. Miami will most likely be a 10 pt. dog... Buffalo was a 12 point dog.. and they had a 4-5 record and had just beaten the KC Chiefs.. It will be a tough game for Miami to win.. but if they can.. if they do.. then they might win the AFC East crown as well. It will take a stellar game from Gus Frerotte... and the returning Zach Thomas.. So, for the sake of this post... I am going to assume Miami plays their best game of the year... while San Diego is caught looking ahead to the COLTS game the next Sunday.. and Miami wins...

So Miami heads to New England with an 8-7 record..

And the game is for the AFC East title... and in that scenario.. anything could happen...

Stanger things have happened. If you would have told me a team could have the leagues top rusher on offense and pass rusher on defense and NOT make the playoffs... well I wouldn't have believed that either...

I would like it to happen but who knows, stranger things have happened. But no way does miami play like they played in oakland for 5 more games. they have shown that they put it together one week and absolutely collapse the next. so we will see....
 
I agree with mostly everything you said, but we can't really be looking ahead and saying the Buf, NYJ and Ten games are sure wins. If we lose more than 1 game the rest of the season, we are done. We just have to look at 1 week at a time.
 
Well, lets see, we haven't won 2 games in a row yet but now we're gonna win 5?...lol I guess we can always hope but I'm realistic and I just don't see it.This team has choke so many time in the last 10 year...why should it be different now?I think next year we're gonna have a winning team after another good offseason in free agency and the draft to go with what we have but this year....playoffs?....playoffs?...well, this is Disney world and we have fantasyland close by.

Ozzy rules!!
 
IF we beat New York, Buffalo and the Titans, and the Patriots find a way to lose say 2 games then that final game in Foxboro WILL be very meaningful, and be that as it may i could actually see us above 500. and competing for the division title in January....but it's just so unbelieveable. COULD it happen?
 
It sucks but I think we blew our shot when we let them(NE) slip through our fingers at home...then iced out fate by not showing up vs.CLE.

The Pat's have 2 easy wins vs the Jets..being at home vs. TB will make it winnable.

In short..the damage is done.
 
DBoston80 said:
It sucks but I think we blew our shot when we let them(NE) slip through our fingers at home...then iced out fate by not showing up vs.CLE.

The Pat's have 2 easy wins vs the Jets..being at home vs. TB will make it winnable.

In short..the damage is done.

I wouldn't be suprised if TB beat them.....who else DO they play?
 
TheFallOfTroy54 said:
if we tie with NE at 9-7, who has the better division record?


New England would. The best we can do is 3-3 and that is if we win out the rest of our divisional games. New England has already beat Miami and Buffalo. For them to go 9-7, That would mean they would have to lose two more games out of the remaining five. If they only lose two, even against divisional opponents, that puts their record at 4-2 and thus, the tie breaker.

Now, if they go 8-8 and lost all three of those games within the division...then we may have them beat on the second tie breaker, but probably not.

Most likely, the only way to beat them would be to win out and have them lose three or more games. Both scenarios are highly unlikely. I would just be happy with anything over four wins this year. It would show an improvement over last year's team.
 
SirFin said:
If you put a gun to my head and asked me, "Will the Miami Dolphins qualify for the 2005 NFL Playoffs?" Well.. with my life depending on the answer.. I'd say "No." But... I don't think the Dolphin's chances at playing in the post season are as bad as they may appear.

(NOTE:Game analysis of NE & MIA remaining schedule not in chronological order.)

First, let's take a look at New England... At first glance it looks like they have a free pass to the AFC East title... but if you look closer... it may not be that much of a slam dunk. Their final 5 games are JETS, @BILLS, BUCS, @JETS, DOLPHINS. Forget the Dolphins game.. we'll get to that later. I think New England will win both games against the JETS.. That would give them 8 wins..

As for the BILLS game.. The BILLS should have won in New England.. they gave the game away. The Patriots couldn't do anything against the BILLS. They don't match up well. The BILLS Defensive weakness is against the run. With Corey Dillion injured... they PATS don't have a running game.. So the PATS will have to beat the BILLS through the air.. throwing into a Buffalo lake wind.. in mid-December... against the teeth of the BILLS Defense.. I can't see New England going to Buffalo and winning... that would bring their loss total to 6.

In three weeks the PATRIOTS host the BUCANEERS.. It is the only non-NFC SOUTH game remaining on the BUCS schedule... It will be a MUST game for the BUCS.. and the PATS.. And it should be a good one... but how will New England score against the Bucs D? They won't be running... So for again it will fall on the shoulders of Tom Brady... and for the second week in a row he will be facing a top 5 defense... and he will lose! Patriots loss total... 7.

(It is important to understand... these aren't the Patriots of last year.. or the years prior.. Right now they are not a good football team. Defensively they can't stop anybody. Offensively they are one dimensional. What they do have is Tom Brady. That will always make them dangerous... but not deadly.)

So in the final week of the year.. the 8-7 Patriots will host the Miami Dolphins... What will the Fins record be?

Miami plays three of their final 5 games at home against beatable opponents, BILLS, JETS, TITANS. (I am assuming Miami will be playing the rest of the season like they did against the Raiders, not like they did against the Browns.)

Miami could have a tough game with the defensively sound BILLS... but in the end.. the R&R show will lead the Fins to a victory. They will beat the JETS and TITANS at home... giving them 7 wins...

So it will come down to the game at San Diego.. THE GAME.. maybe one of the more important Dolphin games in 10 years.. Miami will most likely be a 10 pt. dog... Buffalo was a 12 point dog.. and they had a 4-5 record and had just beaten the KC Chiefs.. It will be a tough game for Miami to win.. but if they can.. if they do.. then they might win the AFC East crown as well. It will take a stellar game from Gus Frerotte... and the returning Zach Thomas.. So, for the sake of this post... I am going to assume Miami plays their best game of the year... while San Diego is caught looking ahead to the COLTS game the next Sunday.. and Miami wins...

So Miami heads to New England with an 8-7 record..

And the game is for the AFC East title... and in that scenario.. anything could happen...

Stanger things have happened. If you would have told me a team could have the league's top rusher on offense and pass rusher on defense and NOT make the playoffs... well I wouldn't have believed that either...

That's a pretty big assumption that we'll finsh up playing like we did against Oakland. i remember some folks guaranteeing us to beat Cleveland and running the table. NE game speaks for itself, buf and jets whom we've not beat yet either. Problem with this team is that we've not played with any consistency. We've been too hot and cold this year, mostly cold tho. But we're due for a let down, particularly after a big road win last week. Sadly tho, it seems to have become our nature.
 
SirFin said:
(I am assuming Miami will be playing the rest of the season like they did against the Raiders, not like they did against the Browns.)

After all that great thinking, why would you assume we are going play great instead of our inconsistent track record. That is our biggest problem (inconsistency) and yet you just ignore it. We are not consistent and that does not change in one game. We didn't suddenly become consistent, all that happened is we won a 4th game.

Our fans are consistent at least. They over-react to each win and each loss.

But you have laid out an interesting senerio. Good for you I know it takes some time to write a post like that, Sir.
 
As previously posted (and just to clarify):

If the Fins win out, they still cannot win the division via tiebreak at 9-7. The only way to win the division even at 9-7 is for the Pats to finish 8-8. That means the Pats must lose any 2 of their next 4 (Jets, @Bills, Bucs, @Jets).

If the Fins and Pats both finish 8-8, Miami can win the division if the Pats not only lose 2 of their next 4 (as above), but lose those 2 against the Bills and Jets. If that happened, and Miami's only remaining loss were in San Diego, the Fins would win the division in the fourth tiebreak, conference record (6-6 vs. 5-7).
 
Fish_Fan4Life said:
I agree with mostly everything you said, but we can't really be looking ahead and saying the Buf, NYJ and Ten games are sure wins. If we lose more than 1 game the rest of the season, we are done. We just have to look at 1 week at a time.

No we are done NOW, which is why we need a truck load of help. We could win all the games and still be done. And we are counting on NE playing like a bottom feeder and that just is not going to happen. They can win 3 of 5.
 
NE is about to catch fire. Watch. What we do is irrelevant now.

We had our chances. Beat the Jets, close the deal against NE, beat Buffalo, beat Cleveland. It WAS there for us to finish 10-6. Now 7-9 is good.
 
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