Dolphins have hardest strength of schedule | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Dolphins have hardest strength of schedule

Well, if we win the division this year.....no complaints from critics on our weak schedule.
 
I don't think it is that big of deal. There are a lot of media critics already crowning the Patriots the Division champs in 09' and using the SOS as the reason for our downfall. They also say we won the division last year with a "soft" schedule.

Here are the facts though, besides the Steelers and Chargers games, our 2009 schedule is IDENTICAL to that of the Bills, Jets and Patriots. We may have a tough schedule, but so does the rest of the AFC East.

As for last year, besides the Texans and Ravens games, our schedule was once again IDENTICAL to that of the Bills, Jets and Patriots. Oh, by the way, those two different games we played we lost BOTH. That means of the 14 teams the entire AFC East played, the Dolphins won more often.

Some say "Well, you just squeeked by the Raiders and Seahawks". Guess what, those Raiders and Seahawks beat the Jets. "Well, you almost lost to the 49ers." The same 49ers who went into Buffalo and beat the Bills. "It took a goal line stand to beat the 8-8 Chargers." You mean the same 8-8 Chargers who blew out the Patriots 30-10?

The entire soft schedule in 2008 and hard schedule 2009 debate doesn't mean much. Yeah we have a tough schedule, but so does the rest of the division.
 
Good points. Also interesting to point out is that the Steelers had the toughest schedule last year. If you get through the tough regular season you'll be better prepared for the playoffs. At least we can hope...
 
Yes, we have the hardest but its not like the patriots jets and bills are playing an easy schedule. The entire AFC East plays a tough schedule.

Should be a real test for our division, lets see who really is the real deal?

Is it the Fins? 11-5 last season, hmmm.
Is it the Jets? they keep adding players./
Is it the Bills? Lets see what TO can do to that offense, that was cranking early last season.
Is it the Patriots? The NFL dreamboy is back, lets see if he can pick up where he left off.

No excuses this year, who ever makes it out of our division and into the playoffs definately deserves recognition.
Chubbs
 
Not to be negative but we clearly benefited from an easy schedule. I went through and added up Miami's point differential and New England's differential last season against common opponents and the Patriots were far more dominant than we were. They outscored those opponents by 132 points and we only outscored them by 38.


HERE ARE THE MIAMI AND NEW ENGLAND POINT DIFFERENTIALS PER GAME OF COMMON OPPONENTS FACED
Jets:
Dolphins -6
Patriots -3
Cardinals:
Dolphins -21
Patriots +40
Chargers:
Dolphins +7
Patriots -20
Bills:
Dolphins +9
Patriots +10
Broncos:
Dolphins +9
Patriots +34
Seahawks:
Dolphins +2
Patriots +3
Raiders:
Dolphins +2
Patriots +23
Rams:
Dolphins +4
Patriots +7
@ Bills:
Dolphins +13
Patriots +13
49ers:
Dolphins +5
Patriots +9
Chiefs:
Dolphins +7
Patriots +7
@ Jets:
Dolphins +7
Patriots +9
 
Not to be negative but we clearly benefited from an easy schedule. I went through and added up Miami's point differential and New England's differential last season against common opponents and the Patriots were far more dominant than we were. They outscored those opponents by 132 points and we only outscored them by 38.

I think point differential is overrated. The way we won last year was to keep the game close and get the win with a great drive late in the game. Wins are wins especially if you're consistent with them. No doubt we had help from an easy schedule, but we got the job done.
 
Miami runs a ball control offense, the patriots have a high octane passing attack. Their games will have more points scored, while ours will not.
 
I think point differential is overrated. The way we won last year was to keep the game close and get the win with a great drive late in the game. Wins are wins especially if you're consistent with them. No doubt we had help from an easy schedule, but we got the job done.

Point differential is not overrated. It is very highly correlated to winning. When a team can't win big it means that their games can swing on one single play. Like the Raiders game where we almost lost when we gave up the punt return for a TD because we didn't have the ability to put distance between ourselves.
 
Also let us not forget that last year going into the season, the team that had the easiest schedule was the Patriots, that changed quickly when the Dolphins, Bills, and Jets did better then the year before.

We could go into the season with the toughest schedule, but some of those teams we will be facing could have setbacks, major injuries, distractions, and all of a sudden we don't exactly have the toughest schedule anymore.

2 years ago Miami was hit badly with injuries, bad coaching, yet many thought it was Miami being that bad that allowed them to win (Barely) just 1 game, all of a sudden, last year Miami wins 11 games, and they think it must have been the easy schedule...schedule helps a team, but you really don't know how tough the schedule is until mid-season, and who are the real tough teams in the that year.
 
We played conservative?
Chubbs

Yes we did. I've been rewatching the games and although we used some cool formations and the wildcat we were still a conservative team. There were many instances where we would make little effort to convert on a third down when in field goal range and when we had leads against some of the bad teams we just sat on the leads and ran the ball. I just rewatched the Raiders game and it looked like the offense had no interest in trying to get a first down until the Raiders got the lead on the punt return.
 
Also let us not forget that last year going into the season, the team that had the easiest schedule was the Patriots, that changed quickly when the Dolphins, Bills, and Jets did better then the year before.

We could go into the season with the toughest schedule, but some of those teams we will be facing could have setbacks, major injuries, distractions, and all of a sudden we don't exactly have the toughest schedule anymore.

2 years ago Miami was hit badly with injuries, bad coaching, yet many thought it was Miami being that bad that allowed them to win (Barely) just 1 game, all of a sudden, last year Miami wins 11 games, and they think it must have been the easy schedule...schedule helps a team, but you really don't know how tough the schedule is until mid-season, and who are the real tough teams in the that year.

I agree. every year there are teams that don't do nearly as well as expected like the '08 Jags or Chargers. also, there are many teams that do better than expected like the '08 Ravens and Dolphins. I bet there were many teams that saw the Dolphins on their schedule last year and counted an automatic win
 
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