Miami Dolphins.......Pretenders or Contenders?????

[emoticon]

There is nothing wrong with our QB, the OL is what is still making me say up and coming. Tua and the play calling over this win streak (along with the defense obviously) has carried this team. If not for Tua's pocket movement, quick release, and accuracy, we wouldn't even be close to where we are. If you can't see that you are blind, ignorant to the game, or have a serious case of Omar Kelly.

I disagree with the playcalling. It's great in spurts but there are times where it's horrible. Running Gaskin when you have Johnson and Lindsay and putting Brissett in the game are head scratchers.

 

[ONole1]

Perspective - Something "Lemmings" lack - LOL

Na, we are good, he thought I was talking about Davis and I thought he was talking abut Jackson

 

[vcip]

Always content with a win.

Any idea why Duke wasnt the guy last night?
Get him established as the guy if playoffs are made rather than flip a coin?
I know some mysterious reason like when he kept trotting Ballage out there

 

[cltchperf]

I really believe next week vs Titans will be the real litmus test to see how good miami actually is. Titans don't have henry but they are a good team. This will be tough but miami is capable of slowing down Titans offense vs tannehill. Tua and offense needs to kick it into gear. There needs to be better play calling and not be too conservative because Titans can score pts and will need to let Tua push it down the field. Not force passes, but can't just hope to win scoring only 20pts. The defense is good, but it's hard to stop good offenses with calls benefiting offenses to 20 pts.

 

[CA Dolfan]

Jason Sanders has been underwhelming this year compared to last year. Am I the only one who gets nervous when he comes out to kick a FG. I hope the game doesn’t come down to him kicking a game winner.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

We are certainly not there yet, when our QB hardly ever gets time to throw from the pocket it’s a massive problem. I do believe Flo had a plan starting with defence and moving to offence.

This was a massive project, the first season we had around 14/15 players who just walked in with a weeks’ preparation.

Those players were always going to have to move on in a year or two as they were short stop gap signings. This was always going to create a fast turning revolving door until we filled positions with decent quality.

Next season, if he doesn’t resolve all this I can’t defend him. 4th year, no excuses for me. We should be in playoffs with a good start putting us in a position of strength, rather than a mad dash at the end.

We have finished really strong every year under Flo, next season with fewer new players we should start strong.

Agree. It's hard to see Miami as a playoff team with the struggles along the offensive line. That's just not a weakness many playoff teams have.

Go up against teams with multiple good receivers and the defense can only do so much. Turnovers can obviously change games, but can the offense keep Miami in games against the better quarterbacks and passing attacks?

I think Miami is close. The Dolphins have a reported $80 million in cap space, a quarterback who has had a really good second season, and one of the better defenses in the NFL.

That's a good start.

 

[state06]

IMO, our best bet is if we use Duke Johnson and "Duke and dunk" down the field to mask the horrible pass protection.

 

[mwestberry]

We are good enough to compete with any of them ... our defense makes us worthy IMO ... add to that minimal mistakes and a plus on turnover differential with T.O.P. on our side (complimenting the defense) and there you have it.

Our offense has responded well when down and has, at least, kept pace ...

Defense STILL wins championships.

 

[brumdog44]

The funny thing that some regular season pretenders have went on to win super bowls.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

This team reminds me a little bit of the Seattle team that made it to the super bowl a few years ago. Wilson was further along than Tua, but the Seahawks won with a dominating defense and a less than desirable offensive line. I doubt that offensive line graded out as the worst in the NFL, but it was probably bottom third.

Not really a formula for success, but I guess you could say it's possible.

 

[1972forever]

Agree. It's hard to see Miami as a playoff team with the struggles along the offensive line. That's just not a weakness many playoff teams have.

Go up against teams with multiple good receivers and the defense can only do so much. Turnovers can obviously change games, but can the offense keep Miami in games against the better quarterbacks and passing attacks?

I think Miami is close. The Dolphins have a reported $80 million in cap space, a quarterback who has had a really good second season, and one of the better defenses in the NFL.

That's a good start.

The Bucs destroyed the Chiefs in the SB because the Chiefs OL had been decimated with injuries and they had to go into that game with a lot of backup players on the OL.

Many of the starters on the Dolphins OL would be no better than backups on the better teams in the league. So basically Mahomes could not move his team or score more than 9 points with an offensive line that Tua has had to play the entire system with.

 

[bdizzle00]

Right now they are the 7th seed, I think anywhere from 7th to 9th best team in the AFC is reasonable for them right now. So in that regard, I don't see how they can be "pretenders" when they are ranked right around where they should be ranked. But they aren't "contenders" either. So i would say "up and coming but not there yet".

 

[deester11]

I’m tired of the will be good next year.

While I agree, it's beats, let's do 8-8 again...let's be just bad enough to get a middle of the road draft pick, miss on it, spend too much on bust free agents....rinse and repeat.

I honestly think the team is NOT a contender until they fix the issues many of us have bytched about since...everyday : Oline, rb, WR. OC! Other than that, we ready!

 

[tommyp]

Funny how ESPN can see how bad this O line is but some fans on this site can’t because of there pure hatred for Tua.

so true, every analyst, former player, former coach and announcer can see our oline is the worst in the league yet we argue on this sight about Tua.. steve young last night, who might know a thing about qb's, said you can't even evaluate Tua when the line is this bad.

 

[TheMageGandalf]

We have won 7 in a row....that's a 7-0 stretch.... Whether they are good ,bad, ugly...Have not seen that since the 6-0 in 1990...historically we haven't done that since1985?....So if not for the Oline and we could use a couple of better receivers opposite Waddle...we'd be straight