Mike Rodak 2018 Game-by-game Predictions What Do You Guys Think?
- Thread starter Throw It To Parker
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A little OT, but one of my favorite things to do about July is go to the sites of all Miami's opponents and get THEIR projections of how they will do against Miami. Not sites like the equivalent of FH, but writers for the local papers. Not surprisingly, the resulting record for Miami is 'worst case' since all fans tend to be optimistic about 'their' team. Lat year, opponents predicted Miami would win 2.
I'll not make game-by-game predictions, but I expect Miami to get better as the season progresses.
Throw It To Parker
Active Roster
I think as the season goes along well get better especially since we have guys who will want to learn the playbook and know what they are doing and will want to actually have a good season.
I disagree with some of that guys picks. I believe the Jets and Bengals are going to be bad teams in 2018. Don't see the Dolphins losing to either of them. Don't see an average Bills team sweeping the Dolphins again in 2018. The Bills were lucky to beat the Dolphins with David Fales playing most of the game in week 17.
I think we go 10-6.
Throw It To Parker
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Yeah and the jets and the bills will have rookie Qb's and won't know what to do with our outstanding defense.
I don't think the Fins lose to the Jets Week 2. I just don't see it.
Dolphins81
Basement Dweller
10-6
Michael Scott
Club Member
Sounds like he's basing everything off the last time the teams met. He has us winning against the Titans for the sole reason that we've won 4 out of the last 5 season openers.
So not the worst team in history? I’m in.
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Oh F it. I'm calling 10-6. Seeing Tannehill after week 5 of 2016, I'm a believer. We got decidedly worse at DT, but honestly, we upgraded considerably at QB (Tannehill), OL (Sitton, Kilgore, Larsen), TE (Gesicki, Smythe), DE (Quinn), LB (McMillan, Baker) and DB (Fitzpatrick, Lippett). Those additions are significant, plus the improvement of young guys at DB (Howard, Tankersley), RB (Drake), OL (Davis). Sure, we had some positions with changes like WR (-Landry, +Amendola, +Wilson), OL (-Pouncey, -Bushrod, +Sitton, +Kilgore), DL (-Suh, +Quinn, +Spence).
But honestly, I think we will be fine without Landry, spreading his catches around between Amendola, Wilson, Grant, Parker, and Gesicki. I think we are significantly improved along the OL, as Bushrod was poor 2 years ago and horrible last year. Pouncey was OK last year, and played the entire season, but he was not awesome, and has had significant injury issues most years, so I see Kilgore as a push overall and Sitton a fantastic improvement. Add in a healthy Larsen at reserve, and hopefully an improved Asiata, I feel we have better depth. Jesse Davis really blossomed last year, and I'm looking forward to his continued development this year. Drake will need help, but he ended up trending up very well towards the end of the season. Gore is a solid veteran. Ballage has 3rd down back skills. We should play better assignment-sound offense this year, as well as have better protection and open up a lot more run lanes. With a huge and fast seam threat and red zone threat security blanket for Tannehill, I see far more sustained drives, allowing the offense to help the defense, and scoring a lot more points this year.
On defense, adding injured Raekwon McMillan will be huge. Having Jerome Baker and an improving Chase Allen helps our depth. So, I'm expecting a significantly improved LB corps this year, after what seems like decades of incompetence since our 2012 LB corps that included Karlos Dansby and Kevin Burnett. Seriously, has it only been 5 years?!?!?!!?!?! Seems like an eternity!
Our DT situation needs to improve. We are going to miss Suh tremendously. He played 85% of the snaps, which means 85% of the plays the rest of our DL were single-teamed … and still couldn't stop the run or generate an inside pass rush consistently. Without Suh … we're going to have a lot of problems. We need a dominant DT. Don't be surprised if we make a run at Hankins.
But our secondary is developing nicely. Reshad Jones is exceptional. I still have faith in TJ McDonald, so we're covered at SS if Jones goes down, we have a guy we can play as a SS/LB hybrid if we choose, and he is a run game enforcer. In Minkah Fitzpatrick, we have a true FS if we choose, or a lock-down slot CB who can cover TE's not named Gronkowski. Fitz is also going to become the leader of our defense in time. This allows us to use McCain situationally against players he matches up well against. Lippett was showing nice progress before his injury last preseason. Howard had a breakout year. Tankersley really flashed and improved as a rookie. That secondary is definitely trending up.
On offense we will finally have an OL capable of generating run lanes against almost everyone, meaning we can be more balanced and have a run game of sorts every game. That should help make the passing game more effective. Bringing in the super-athletic Gesicki, who also had the best contested catch rate (75%) of any TE in the draft, helps move the chains, get 7 points when in the red zone, and generate chunk yards being dangerous on the seam routes. We still need a RB who can break tackles and pound the defense into submission, but hey, we've made phenomenal progress this offseason, so I'll try not to get greedy.
But honestly, I think we will be fine without Landry, spreading his catches around between Amendola, Wilson, Grant, Parker, and Gesicki. I think we are significantly improved along the OL, as Bushrod was poor 2 years ago and horrible last year. Pouncey was OK last year, and played the entire season, but he was not awesome, and has had significant injury issues most years, so I see Kilgore as a push overall and Sitton a fantastic improvement. Add in a healthy Larsen at reserve, and hopefully an improved Asiata, I feel we have better depth. Jesse Davis really blossomed last year, and I'm looking forward to his continued development this year. Drake will need help, but he ended up trending up very well towards the end of the season. Gore is a solid veteran. Ballage has 3rd down back skills. We should play better assignment-sound offense this year, as well as have better protection and open up a lot more run lanes. With a huge and fast seam threat and red zone threat security blanket for Tannehill, I see far more sustained drives, allowing the offense to help the defense, and scoring a lot more points this year.
On defense, adding injured Raekwon McMillan will be huge. Having Jerome Baker and an improving Chase Allen helps our depth. So, I'm expecting a significantly improved LB corps this year, after what seems like decades of incompetence since our 2012 LB corps that included Karlos Dansby and Kevin Burnett. Seriously, has it only been 5 years?!?!?!!?!?! Seems like an eternity!
Our DT situation needs to improve. We are going to miss Suh tremendously. He played 85% of the snaps, which means 85% of the plays the rest of our DL were single-teamed … and still couldn't stop the run or generate an inside pass rush consistently. Without Suh … we're going to have a lot of problems. We need a dominant DT. Don't be surprised if we make a run at Hankins.
But our secondary is developing nicely. Reshad Jones is exceptional. I still have faith in TJ McDonald, so we're covered at SS if Jones goes down, we have a guy we can play as a SS/LB hybrid if we choose, and he is a run game enforcer. In Minkah Fitzpatrick, we have a true FS if we choose, or a lock-down slot CB who can cover TE's not named Gronkowski. Fitz is also going to become the leader of our defense in time. This allows us to use McCain situationally against players he matches up well against. Lippett was showing nice progress before his injury last preseason. Howard had a breakout year. Tankersley really flashed and improved as a rookie. That secondary is definitely trending up.
On offense we will finally have an OL capable of generating run lanes against almost everyone, meaning we can be more balanced and have a run game of sorts every game. That should help make the passing game more effective. Bringing in the super-athletic Gesicki, who also had the best contested catch rate (75%) of any TE in the draft, helps move the chains, get 7 points when in the red zone, and generate chunk yards being dangerous on the seam routes. We still need a RB who can break tackles and pound the defense into submission, but hey, we've made phenomenal progress this offseason, so I'll try not to get greedy.
tazthenomad
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Since I don't have a crystal ball I won't go crazy arguing against his or anyone's opinion but the logic used for some of those decisions was about equal to flipping a coin. Which is probably why he ended up predicting 8-8. IMO we are a better team than that barring a rash of injuries.
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If it is any consolation, the Dolphins history has been pretty good in the first month of the season. Practicing in the Miami humidity tends to make us ready for exhausting games early in the season. Visitors to Miami have trouble dealing with the heat and humidity. And when we travel it tends to translate into us having more cardio and stamina to perform at peak efficiency well into the 4th quarter. So, regardless of the record he is using, I also think we'll do quite well at the beginning of the season.