Happy we have a chance at the playoffs. But i hate that it's always based on if X happens and Y happens then we *could* get in.
I'm patiently waiting for the day this team makes the playoffs without assistance from anyone.
Same. The 6th seed is not particularly interesting to me. There have been some examples of teams thriving from that spot but they were teams that either led the league in YPPA Differential or within the top handful. We are second to last.
In the decades I have followed that stat I have never seen a team anywhere close to that low make the playoffs. I still don't think it is acknowledged around here how bizarre our won/loss record is, given key statistical categories like pass defense.
I remember how deflated Don Shula always was, when the Dolphins needed help. Basically no energy in his voice. He would bemoan, "We don't control our own destiny."
I predicted 9-7 so this season is turning out roughly as I expected from a bottom line standpoint, although the path is astonishing. If the Dolphins do wind up with 9 or 10 regular season victories, I am predicting 8-8 for next year. That will not be popular around here. The way this season is playing out I'm sure it will be an offseason flooded with projections of 11 or 12 wins, if not higher, in 2019. "Just wait until Tannehill is healthier and plays a full season...we get Wilson and Grant back...not as many injuries...Brady a year older....etc, etc, etc."
I don't favor that type of subjective adjustment-based thought. It is a bounce league, which is why a team that dropped from 10 wins in 2016 to 6 in 2017 was eligible and likely to rebound in 2018. But if we go from 6 wins to 9 or 10, then the opposite path becomes most likely, which is why I forecast a drop off to 8-8.