OK, Patriots' game - what's it mean if... | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

OK, Patriots' game - what's it mean if...

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zor

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If Dolphins win against the Patriots by a large margin?


If Dolphins just barely win against the Patriots?


If Dolpins just barely lose to the Patriots?


If Dolphins get blown out by Patriots?



So please pick one of the scenarios above and give your opinion on what the ramifications of the result will be as far as your opinion.....for me:
my heart wants me to say the Dolphins will just barely win against the Patriots while my wallet says the Dolphins will get blown out. Should the Dolphins barely win out against the Patriots i think my opinion on the dolphins will be that they're still a year away from really being a powerhouse team. they have a lot of the parts in place but that this shouldn't be our year for contending...it should be a year where we really fine tune parts of our offense and defense and develop some of our players more. granted the best way to develop is to compete but there is still a lot this team needs to figure out - what exactly is the identity of our pass attack? who is and should be our permanent returners for punts and kicks? where is our go-to threat at WR? are the 3 rookies in the secondary our future? are the current TEs on our roster the guys to keep? but the main question if Dolphins just barely beat out the Patriots will be: is a year for contention or should we focus on development - there is a difference.

now should the patriots blow out the dolphins there won't be any doubt what the remaining games should be about - developing certain players, new guys, patrick turner, etc. possibly even bringing in new guys. if we get blown out it will really cement the fact that our defense is just no good against quality teams. should we get blown out it will really put our record into the correct perspective which is that we've lost 4 games against good teams and won 3 games against crappy teams (let's be honest about the jets - they are NOT good) and that does not equal a quality Dolphins team.

so there you have my two likely game results and how they'll impact my opinion on the dolphins.
 
If Dolphins win against the Patriots by a large margin? We Lost


If Dolphins just barely win against the Patriots? We Lost


If Dolpins just barely lose to the Patriots? We Lost


If Dolphins get blown out by Patriots? We Lost
 
zor said:
now should the patriots blow out the dolphins there won't be any doubt what the remaining games should be about - developing certain players, new guys, patrick turner, etc. possibly even bringing in new guys.
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Are you saying the season is over if we lose on Sunday?
 
This is how ESPN would answer this:


1) If Dolphins win against the Patriots by a large margin?

The patriots screwed up and/or Tom Brady/Randy Moss/ Wes Welker was sick/injured. The Fins got lucky again. Trap game/Caught looking ahead to the Colts.


2) If Dolphins just barely win against the Patriots?

See #1 but also add The Fins Fought off/Scrapped out a win against a hobbled team who just played poorly/got bad calls/is hungover from the london trip.


3) If Dolpins just barely lose to the Patriots?

The patriots didnt look themselves today because of (see #1 and #2), and good teams can play poorly and still win/finding ways to win/Tom Terrific/ Belichick/The brain trust/Mastermind....blah blah blah. (If #1 applies then - Belichik can win with any one, one guy goes down he just plugs another one in....etc.)


4) If Dolphins get blown out by Patriots?

They put Miami in its proper place. Business as usual for the Patriots. It could have been alot uglier....
 
Doesn't matter if its close or if its a blowout. If we lose you could just about stick a knife in us. We win, we are right back in there. I guess even if we lose it might not be the end of our season, but really freakin close.
 
Unless you believe that our ONLY chance this year is to sweep the Pats, then the season will not be over with a loss on Sunday. We get another shot at them, at home, later.
 
It really isnt a must win for us. It is hella important, but we could lose it and still contend.

Problem is, we just got off to a bad start, we lost games we should have won and won one we should have lost.

A loss puts us at 3-5, not good but not the end of the world. Keep in mind, the toughest part of our schedule is behind us.

ATL, IND, NO, SD, Buff, and Jets twice.

Assuming we win, we would go to 4-4 but more importantly 4-0 in the division and the Pats would drop to 5-3 (1-2 in the division) And remember, tie breakers are 1) head-to-head and then 2) division record.

We would ensure a tie in the division tiebreaker at the very least and possibly be able to own that tiebreaker with a win at Buffalo or against the Pats down in Miami.

If we were to lose, we would only fall to 3-1 in the division with the pats at 2-1, it would make the home game against them more important, but a loss wouldnt kill us.

Even if we came out at 3-5, we have much easier opponents than the schedule initially looked back in the spring. Our remaining games are:

Home against the winless Bucs (trap game for sure, but winnable)
At Carolina (Very winnable, Panthers look bad this year)
At Buffalo (Need I say more?)
Home for NE again (Big game and must win, especially if we lose this week)
At Jags (no comment)
At Tennessee (Might not win another game this year)
Houston at home (Huge game, we stil havent beaten them, but winnable)
Home for the Steelers (Toughest game other than the Pats, but Steelers may be resting starters at this point)

We could very easily go 6-2 in the second half of the season.

No, 9-7 isnt great, and it wont win the AFC East, but it just may get us a WC.

We started slow last season, we were 3-4 right at this very time last year.

NE still has to play Indy, NO, Jets, and US. So they don't exactly have an easy road in the second half of the year. Even if we lose this week, we could still catch them at 10-6 and win the tiebreaker with them, but we can't get swept by them, and will need some help.

Right now though, our destiny is in our own hands. We win out, we take the division. We lose to the Pats, and we will need some help.
 
Shula's Legacy said:
Are you saying the season is over if we lose on Sunday?
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yeah, i kinda am saying that....at least i think that is what my opinion will be because not beating a quality team like the patriots pretty much solidifies the suspicion that the dolphins are just mediocre...not good, not great. although we've seen great games, seemingly good offense at times, a powerful rushing game at other times - nothing is consistent. think about it, we've ONLY beaten the jets two times and the bills once......all year long! ok? 3 games. against losing teams. so i'm saying, if we lose to the patriots, then you know what? it makes sense why we lost to san diego, why we lost to atlanta..... it makes sense why we blew leads to the colts and why we blew a lead against the saints because that's what mediocre teams do - they LOSE TO GOOD TEAMS. losing to the patriots will only lend support to the suspicion that miami is NOT GOOD YET. so if miami doesn't win......and win convincingly, i'm not sure i can consider this 2009 team a playoff caliber team. i would consider them LUCKY getting into the playoffs...i would say the dolphins made it to the playoffs beating all the weak teams yet losing to any good team.

hence the questions i posed... pick one outcome of the four...... tell me how you will feel immediately afterwards for the rest of the season. for me, only ONE outcome will make me feel this team deserves to be considered a playoff team....if they beat the patriots at their house convincingly. not with special teams TDs, not with a last minute field goal, not because brady has a completely off day and throws 3 picks... no, the dolphins MUST BEAT THE PATRIOTS CONVINCINGLY AT THEIR HOUSE.

so unless i see that happen, unless i see our defense smash the patriots mouths, unless i see henne put some numbers, unless i see the wildcat back in action and R&R train get some yardage ............unless i see these things, yeah, i think we should consider the season lost and start working on 2011. that is not to say i'd be opposed to seeing the dolphins win out the rest of the games, but let's be honest guys...winning out is the exception.

dolphins have to win this sunday to convince everyone. remember, they've only won three games! against two teams!! one team is really crappy the other team is 1-4 the past 5 games!

we haven't beat anybody!!!!!!
 
the pats are not any better than the colts or the saints. and until late in the game, miami has hung with the big dogs. So if the defense can step up, i don't see why miami can't win comfortably
 
truedolfan57 said:
the pats are not any better than the colts or the saints. and until late in the game, miami has hung with the big dogs. So if the defense can step up, i don't see why miami can't win comfortably
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I agree, but of late the defense has been making plays (still giving up quite a few but I'm talking about key turnovers and sacks) so the offense is the one that I need to see step up.
 
truedolfan57 said:
the pats are not any better than the colts or the saints. and until late in the game, miami has hung with the big dogs. So if the defense can step up, i don't see why miami can't win comfortably
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i really hope so....... we all know what the patriots can be when brady is behind center...

unless our defense comes to play some serious ball i wouldn't hold my breath on coming away with a win.
 
I agree with truedolfan57 in that the Pats aren't better than the best teams we've played so far. I'd take the Saints over them if they played tomorrow. Maybe the Colts, too.

On defense we're getting gashed, albeit by some pretty good offenses, but it's still a concern. To go into New England and beat them by any amount, while keeping our defensive play composed and solid... I'd feel good about our chances the rest of the way.

Specifically, we should be clamping down on teams rather than letting them claw their way back in to steal games from us late. This game we just had against the jets almost went in the same rubbish bin as the Colts & Saints games--because we couldn't slam the door on them, either. As a defense with a lot of young players on it, their play is understandable--but this is an important lesson they need to learn. Otherwise all the heroics on offense & special teams in the world will be wasted.

So if we win this weekend, I think that means we're making progress towards becoming a consistently good team, because you don't beat the Pats when you play sloppy football. If we lose, I'll blame it on 2012.
 
zor said:
i really hope so....... we all know what the patriots can be when brady is behind center...

unless our defense comes to play some serious ball i wouldn't hold my breath on coming away with a win.
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they always come and play serious ball when they face the pats.
 
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