More context from our 1st Rd loss

[Etuoo33]

IMO, the difference in the top teams and ours is missing pieces in key places. Take for instance center, when CW went down our OL became ineffective at the inside positions. LB and TE are other weakness', we have them but they tend not to make game changing plays. If we can come up with the pieces to fill the puzzle before we reach the point where our studs begin to decline we will have a better chance to compete with the upper echelon teams.

 

[OrangeBowl]

The time for doom in gloom and all these negative posts were in 2014 2018 2019. Not now. We are heading in right direction. But a lot of guys just don’t know ball or watch tape.

Usually the ones who cry "you dont know ball" are the ones who dont know ball. That is a sports board universal blanket tag for "i cant back my claim so YOU dont know ball" or the doltish "do you even watch football".

As a recent poster recently noted in his thread...."Passion and reason never mix". No truer statement there! And when that happens the "you dont know (place sport here)" statements appear in droves whenever fans go off the rails when faced with fact.

I used to think this was some sort of a social phenomenon on sports forums but in the end its EXACTLY as the poster said, emotions covering over reason or fact.

 

[Buff]

Miami didnt play well V KC, and KC were far too good for the Texans. Todays game was not what I expected too see. The poor decisions from LJ was simply caused by KC's pressure. It was that simple. Miami in all reality were never in a position to pressure KC, simply because our starting defence was down 5 starters.

That said, both sides of the ball were pretty poor. Miami couldn't do anything against the KC defence, pretty much like Baltimore today. Todays game was pretty ugly IMO. As was Miami's game. Perhaps, just perhaps the KC defence is much better that first thought.

Go Niners.

 

[bane]

Usually the ones who cry "you dont know ball" are the ones who dont know ball. That is a sports board universal blanket tag for "i cant back my claim so YOU dont know ball" or the doltish "do you even watch football".

As a recent poster recently noted in his thread...."Passion and reason never mix". No truer statement there! And when that happens the "you dont know (place sport here)" statements appear in droves whenever fans go off the rails when faced with fact.

Fair enough. Do you think the situation Miami is that bad? Coming off two years making the playoffs when this franchise has not had any success like this since 2000 2001. I understand people are upset we didn't win a playoff game. But there is a context I keep when looking at this team. Are we better compared to recent years? Like it or not we are because this team has not made playoffs in back to back years since 2000 2001. There are issues.

We need to get more physical in the running and passing game. We need to fix the injury situation. That is the big concern and it is not dumb luck all these injuries. And not every team has this many injuries two years in a row. Grier's comments at the end of the year presser are a concern to me regarding the injuries. But there is a lot to like compared to the years 2002-2021.

 

[cullenbigcstill]

We don't have an experienced offensive play caller on the staff. All the coaches on staff are young coaches. Our OC was a OL coach in San Diego and had never been an OC. The lack of experience is glaring.

We don't seem to call plays in a way to strategize for the end of games, from play calls early in the game, and, we rarely ever make in-game adjustments.

We do not need a different offense, we need experience to help the overwhelmed and confused play caller that becomes befuddled in the late stage of games, especially those verse veteran coaching staffs or on primetime. Being able to rely in-game with an experienced veteran play caller would do wonders for this staff.

 

[fishfanmiami]

One play away from the #2 seed and knocking the Bills out to face a not so great Pitts team at home in the sunshine

Would still have to play at KC then but maybe under better condition than 0 degrees

I try to keep that in mind when thinking about wholesale changes

Let see what the team looks like next year after the draft and free agency and then go from there

It's not like we are calling the shots anyway

 

[eMCee85]

Some aren’t gonna want to hear it, but I will pound the table in the name of context mattering.

KC is officially 1 half away from yet another SB appearance and they are making the #1 seed and presumptive NFL MVP look absolutely silly in the process.

I’m of the firm opinion that the more you love a team, the more you overcomplicate the answers to their troubles. Passion and reason never mix and everyone in here is passionate about the Miami Dolphins.

Miami went into KC with a defense in absolute ruins and weren’t even close to being up to the task while facing the defending champs. Well so far, it looks like nobody is up to that task.

Yes, there’s work that needs to be done and plenty of offseason issues to fix, but maybe Mike McD isn’t a moron and maybe we are actually moving in the right direction. I dunno, just food for thought…

And yet the defense did what they were asked and the offense failed us. Hmmm

 

[utahphinsfan]

One play away from the #2 seed and knocking the Bills out to face a not so great Pitts team at home in the sunshine

Would still have to play at KC then but maybe under better condition than 0 degrees

I try to keep that in mind when thinking about wholesale changes

Let see what the team looks like next year after the draft and free agency and then go from there

It's not like we are calling the shots anyway

I agree about changes and the future.

That said, having the #2 seed this playoff cycle was, for all intents, a non factor

 

[fishfanmiami]

That said, having the #2 seed this playoff cycle was, for all intents, a non factor

I think it was fairly large

Home game in the sun vs 0 degrees plus Pitt vs KC. That's a big difference

Of course this is just my opinion but I think we at least make it to the second round

 

[Lionstone]

There are two thing as I take from the first round loss and Ravens versus KC.

• KC defense excels so perhaps cut O a little slack
• Our defense was not good enough for the playoffs.

 

[Fred Bear]

We lost and we must to better

 

[Cheetah]

We know McD is a scheme inventor. But him calling plays ain’t working. He is pretty terrible at it. Two years with homerun or bust and no adjustments do not win football games. McD is wasting money on his OC at this point. Hire a pro OC who will implement McD schemes and call it a day. I want an OC that moves chains and eats time on the clock

Totally agree, that was my point, we get guys that NEVER even called plays as OC's and take their training wheels off here. He is terrible at making adjustments, time management, etc.

 

[Fin_Frenzy_84]

Some aren’t gonna want to hear it, but I will pound the table in the name of context mattering.

KC is officially 1 half away from yet another SB appearance and they are making the #1 seed and presumptive NFL MVP look absolutely silly in the process.

I’m of the firm opinion that the more you love a team, the more you overcomplicate the answers to their troubles. Passion and reason never mix and everyone in here is passionate about the Miami Dolphins.

Miami went into KC with a defense in absolute ruins and weren’t even close to being up to the task while facing the defending champs. Well so far, it looks like nobody is up to that task.

Yes, there’s work that needs to be done and plenty of offseason issues to fix, but maybe Mike McD isn’t a moron and maybe we are actually moving in the right direction. I dunno, just food for thought…

I absolutely agree with all of this!

The fact we lost to the defending champs on the road in a historically cold game while dealing with an insane amount of injuries is definitely no reason to hit the panic button yet. Especially since Mahomes and the Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl again and it was also Tua’s very first playoff game and Mike’s first playoff game with his starting QB.

Playing poorly to finish the regular season and getting bounced in the 1st round still sucked but there’s absolutely no reason to hit the panic button and make a drastic front office, coaching, or QB chang yet.

As much as I wanted to see Miami beat the Chiefs, I definitely didn’t expect us to get the job done this season. Odds were stacked up against us the moment the playoffs started.

Losing in the 1st round is the least of my worries. The main thing we should be worried about is how we collapsed late in the regular season and fumbled the chance to win the division.

We had so many opportunities to win the division but blew it. The injuries are no excuse for the way we finished the regular season one bit.

The first opportunity we blew was letting the Titans comeback on us late in the game while we were home. The second opportunity we blew was not finishing the 2nd half strong against the Bills at home. I wouldn’t consider the Ravens game a blown opportunity like that just because that was a disaster from the start. Getting destroyed by the Ravens like that hurt just as much as the blown opportunities against the Titans and Bills tho.





All that being said, we still showed a ton of positives and promise when you look past the negatives from the season. One of the biggest positives was Tua staying healthy all season imo.

When you compare the positives and negatives from this past season, I feel the positives outweigh the negatives.

So I don’t believe there’s any reason to panic yet. I do believe that this offseason is make or break when it comes to us building a team that really looks like a true contender tho.

There’s a good amount of changes we need to make with our roster and there’s definitely things that our returning players need to improve on. Mike definitely has to improve the offense as well and work on becoming a better play caller this offseason too.




I believe if Miami can pull of the right changes when it comes to our roster and Mike manages to add to the offense the right way as well as get his play calling down this offseason then we can definitely establish ourselves as a true contender next season.

Everything going right this offseason still doesn’t mean a guaranteed Super Bowl next season just because Mahomes and the Chiefs are the new dynasty that’s gonna throw every team fits for the next decade. If we can manage to finish the regular season strong, win the division, and get out the 1st round at the very least after this offseason then I believe that will be extremely promising when it comes to the future of our franchise.

We absolutely cannot repeat we did this past season and have to show a leap of improvement next season. Showing a leap of improvement next year would mean we’re continuing to head in the right direction which would be huge. We’ll know what little tweaks and changes we’ll have to make in our future offseasons as we prove we’re heading towards the right direction next year. That’s the key!!!

 

[NY8123]

Anyone with a clue knows “we’re headed in the right direction” but MM had issues with his playcalling and offensive adjustments in more than just the KC game.

Anyone with a clue also knew we had grocery baggers starting at OLB at a time when you need all your starters healthy. Jackson, Allen and Mahomes on backups to backups with the pass rush. No good at all.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

I was thinking along the same lines. A focused, must win KC team is still the best in the conference.

I have no idea how consensus ever shifted away from that.

It's okay to watch games. The disastrous residue is to watch games and allow what you think you are seeing to overrule foundational realities.

I didn't watch the Chiefs all season. From the consensus low rating here and elsewhere you would swear either Mahomes was hurt, the offensive line was devastated by injuries, the defense was ravaged by injuries, or some combination of the above.

Yet nothing. What was their crime? Losing a few low scoring games?

The defensive stats were terrific. I emphasized that more than once.

I was a bit surprised the Chiefs didn't blow out the Ravens, once they got the early lead. But that Ravens defense really showed pride and toughness during the second half. The Dolphin defense is not close to the equal of those two teams in terms of run and snuff.

Mahomes realizes he doesn't need to get into a shoot out, given his current defense. But if it turns into a shoot out like last year he can seamlessly transition.

The 49ers have displayed vulnerability in both playoff games. Big deficits. Everybody remembers the Chiefs/49ers Super Bowl. Not many seem to remember the subsequent regular season game in which the Chiefs went out there and totally destroyed San Francisco in the second half, after a slow start.