It’s a good post. I did not expect to beat a desperate Pats team today and grab a 3 game lead in the division by week four. So yes, I would take 3-1 for every quarter of the season and go 12-4 every year. However, there are some very alarming things we are seeing that suggest we may not be able to sustain a 75% winning percentage as we take the season in 25% chunks. Am trying to be objective but in particular I do not like the following / have concerns here:
1. The offense in general. I support Adam Gase. The team finds ways to win under him. I support Ryan’s Tannehill. He’s got talent and is a great kid. However, something is just not “normal” with this offense nor was it ever under Gase - even in 2016. We have never moved the ball consistently with long drives, penalty-free, minimal negative plays etc. We do not score early. It’s become a bit of a joke now. When is the last time we took the opening kickoff and drove down for a TD? Even bad teams do that once in a while. I don’t know if it’s the play design, execution, players, Indian burial ground or what. But whatever it is - and we saw it last year w Cutler and Moore too - it just doesn’t resemble professionally played sports. Is it so hard to get a first down? So excruciatingly painful to watch. Again, I don’t know what it is but I do know this - I’ve never witnessed such offensive ineptitude from our professional football team in 45 years of fandom. Consistently getting to only 10 first downs a game until garbage time is not normal. TOP basically 39 to 21 minutes on the season? That SHOULD make you 1-3 or 0-4 so I don’t get it. Like I said, we saw this in 2016 (games we won where the stat sheet suggested otherwise) so I’m struggling to wrap my head around it.
2. Injuries - they happen. I love Hayes as a player and McCain is really growing on me. Branch, Kilgore, Sitton etc - we are having bad luck in this department and teams that go far normally have good injury luck. That we have been bitten so early puts a damper on the rest of the season to a degree. Unless the lights come on for guys like Harris, McMillan and the guys playing on the interior o-line. Very much doubt the latter - just asking too much of backups / inferior players. We also need for Parker to get and stay on the field as opposed to come in after missing two games, catch a 36 yard bomb and then miss the next game. We need a big body out there catching balls. Perhaps give one of our PS guys a chance? Isn’t Carroo still with us?
3. Where is the run game? Specifically, where is Drake? Why so few touches? Last year we were worst in the league in balance - run/pass ratio. We are better this year but the yards aren’t coming. What gives?
I don’t “get” this team under Adam Gase. I don’t get how we win some of the games we do (since 2016) and I don’t get how we can look like a HS team on offense for the 1st quarter of pretty much every game. At the same time I can see this team going 10-6 or 11-5 and making the playoffs just as well as I can see them going 5-11 and laying a complete egg the rest of the way. I have no feel anymore. I do think Gase is trying to mold a team that plays to where the NFL is going w all of its rules for player safety - everything favors the passing game (competing 80%+ of your throws is now no big deal - when did this happen? I recall when Kenny Andersen broke 70% for the year and it was such a big deal you’d think we just landed on the Moon as a species) - splash plays, chunk plays etc. It beat Oakland. But today we saw what happens when you don’t hit on any of them. Time will tell if this trend is here to stay and if we can get with it (like KC seeems to be doing) or its just a passing fancy - and that the old fashioned type *** kicking that NE gave us today is still how the game is supposed to be played. I really don’t know anymore.
Hoping for an exciting ride the rest of the way and a playoff birth. Note: Tom Brady can go **** himself. Love that we picked him 2x. Out.
