A 6-2 start would be a BAD thing..... | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

A 6-2 start would be a BAD thing.....

inFINSible

Don't believe everything you think.
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I think, quite possibly we are the only team in the NFL who could start a season 7-1 or 6-2 and be worse off, mentally, than if we had started 5-3 or 4-4.
I've been thinking about it, and it's like I am dreading a good start out of the gates. Most teams gain confidence and start steam rolling through weaker competition as the season progresses, not Miami. The more games we win at the beginning of the season, the louder the doubters become.
This has got to creep over into the players' minds. I'm talking players from both teams. Our guys don't get confidence from being 7-1. They get questions, and they get predictions of impending doom and unfortunately, it's deserved.
The other teams' players don't fear a 9-2 Dolphins' team like they would a 9-2 Rams' team. THEY play with the confidence we should have.
I would like to hear some other peoples' opinions on this and how they think the Dolphins are going to get over THAT hump this year. The mole hill could become quite a midseason mountain.
 
Hopefully a more balanced offense that can kill the clock will help keep our defense rested as the season progresses. This should help lighten the "injury bug". The rest seems to be more a mental issue. For example, we get a solid 10-14 point lead. Then some how the team starts to come back on us.Somehow the wheels start to come off and we end up having to squeak out a win or we end up losing. I would like to see us get a team down and keep them down. The mental errors must be eliminated or at the very least drasticly minimized.
 
One of the reasons that nobody fears the 'Fins when they start well in the first half of the season is they win a couple of games ins good fashion, but for the most part they're winning ugly and unconvincingly. I don't believe that it's the start that means anything in the player's minds but the way they play. If they can go into another good team's house and hand them a resounding defeat, I believe that there is all the confidence in the world to be had.

Last year we all got excited when Miami handed the Titans a convinving loss on the road on opening day. Little did we know that the Titans were imposters at that point. The win over Oakland was ugly and then the 'Fins were trounced by a St. Louis team that they should have been able to keep pace with.

Also, 054 has an excellent point: The 'Fins need to step on the proverbial necks of their opponents when they have them down. I for one wouldn't be opposed to seeing them run the score up on a team or two in order to send a message to the rest of the league.

The 'Fins will likely have another good start this year but, while the record may be similar to those of years past, let's hope that everything else is different. ;)
 
well..

it seems liek we improve that hump just a LITTLE each year
 
personally, i thought the 2000 squad had that killer instinct. we got teams like detroit and san diego down and kept them down. that team could run the football and kill the clock...if things had shaken out differently(one more win- the jets monday night debacle or tampa bay), we would have been 12-4 with a 1st round bye. we would have avoided the playoff overtime game vs colts and raiders would have come to our house to face a FRESH lamar...as for baltimore, we spanked them early in the year, so that game would have been winnable at the pro. the giants in the super bowl; in my opinion, the were the worst team ever to go to the super bowl...anything could've happened
 
One more year of maturity for our core vets should help. Hopefully as a group They`ve grown into "kick ass - ask questions later" type of mentality.
 
WEATHER!!!

I think another factor is the weather!! At the start of the season, it's brutal for teams to come down here and play in this humidity!! By the 4th quarter they are dead tired and exhausted, which the PHIN players are used to, due to practicing in it for 2 months before the season! Then I think the weather bites them in the ass a bit when they go on the road late in the season to the north!( NEW ENGLAND, NEW YORKand BUFFALO) Although Buffalo hasn't been a problem of late!
 
I kinda disagree about the weather factor for us on the road late in the year. We have played decently in the past when it was cold. Now extreme weather would be a different story. Like heavy snow (Pats Raiders game). Thats why we have equipment managers. To pack up the warm gear. I DO agree about the beginning of the season as far as the humidity.
 
We aren't the Bucs. We don't play worse in the cold, and I went the the Fins game up here against the Jets and it was the 50s and 60s the whole game.
 
The Dolphins fans are SOOOOOO spoiled by the way we kick ass out of the gate, can you imagine the stretch room on the ole bandwagon if they lost 2 or 3 games out of the first 6?

All we would hear is, "Damn Fiedler sucks" and "Ricky Williams what a joke" or "Fire Dave Wannstedt."

Yup we would be kicking back, stretching our legs out on the bandwagon with nothing blocking our view but the hills. :D
 
Originally posted by dolfan87
The Dolphins fans are SOOOOOO spoiled by the way we kick ass out of the gate, can you imagine the stretch room on the ole bandwagon if they lost 2 or 3 games out of the first 6?

All we would hear is, "Damn Fiedler sucks" and "Ricky Williams what a joke" or "Fire Dave Wannstedt."

Yup we would be kicking back, stretching our legs out on the bandwagon with nothing blocking our view but the hills. :D

That exactly why it's so important to clear this mental hurdle, we're damned if we do and damned if we don't.
I think expo said it best(as usual), if we come out and run the ball convincingly and win the "tough" games, then WE WILL have the confidence we deserve.
It's all about beating the teams that are even with us, and stomping the teams that aren't.
Can't wait to get started!
 
the SB expectations will be soo high this year that a bad start would cause a media and fan frenzy. Especially if we lsoe to any bad teams which we did not do last year. The hallmark this year is beating the Jets - I do not care is we start 5-3, if one or 2 of those wins are ag. the Jets.
 
here, here 39...if miami is going to be the team that they know they can be, they must earn at least a split vs jets. the only jet team during this stretch that was actually better than miami was the '98 team
 
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