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I've seen several threads lately where people are trying to predict how many wins the Dolphins will have next year. This is a pretty boring part of the offseason, so I started day dreaming about that myself and the first thing that I thought of was with 6 games in our own division, how would we stack up in the AFC EAST?
VS The Patriots
Okay, realistically, we should have no chance here at all. I mean, in the past we have been able to win some games and give Brady fits with our defense, but in truth, with all of those weapons they added on offense, Brady should be able to attack the entire field, which no defense can protect. And that was before they added Randy Moss. Now, if Moss plays like he's capable of, forget it. Their defense rates similar to ours, and just got a whole lot better with the addition of Adalius Thomas. Not sure what kind of impact Brandon Merriweather will have in his rookie year, but they did manage to improve on that side of the ball, depressingly. Their offense? They are significantly better than we are at pretty much every position on offense except for maybe running back. They have improved their wide receiver corps significantly from last year. I hope I'm wrong, but I see two losses right here.
VS The Jets
The Jets didn't seem to really improve all that much this offseason. They only had a few draft picks, and the only one worth mentioning is Darrell Revis, the cornerback. But, if he starts, he is still a Rookie Cornerback, so he'll make mistakes. Their Quarterback situation is more stable than ours, but Chad Pennington has a history that suggests he may be injury prone, so if he's gets injured again this year, then I'm not convinced that they have alot behind him. Their offensive line will be better in the second year of Dbrickshaw Feruguson and Nick Mangold. But, Our defensive front seven is better than their offensive line and we improved in our linebacking and secondary, so I think our defense matches up well with their offense. Their defense is average at best, maybe even below average, so if we can get even average play out our of our offense, then we should have a good chance to beat these guys every time we play them this year. All in all, I predict that we split with these guys and go 1-1 this year.
vs The Bills
The Bills are the one team in this division that in my opinion not only did not improve this year, but actually took steps backward. This team simply doesn't seem to want to spend the money to get to the top. They lost Nate Clements to the 49ers and you know that's gonna hurt, big time. That alone makes our passing game better when we meet these guys. They traded McGahee and now have an unproven rookie at tailback. That can only go one of two ways and no way Marshawn Lynch is as good as McGahee in his rookie season. They added Pousluszny to their linebacking corps, but he's a rookie, so this year he will have much to learn and may not even start on opening day, although if he doesn't, I'm sure he will at some point in the season. JP Lossman is okay, but still makes enough mistakes that the Bills drafted Trent Edwards despite having greater immediate needs. In short, even if we have to start Cleo Lemon against these guys, I think we have improved from last year when we were playing Harrington/Culpepper, our defense has improved, their defense has taken a step backward, we should win. I predict that this year we will win both of these games vs the Bills, and that they will be in the AFC EAST Cellar. Fins 2-0.
So, looking at that, I'd have to say, 3 losses, three wins in our own division isn't two bad. Projecting that to the rest of the schedule, I'd say 500 in general doesn't look too unlikely, in other words, I think we'll finish 8-8 this year. Not great, but an improvement for sure.
VS The Patriots
Okay, realistically, we should have no chance here at all. I mean, in the past we have been able to win some games and give Brady fits with our defense, but in truth, with all of those weapons they added on offense, Brady should be able to attack the entire field, which no defense can protect. And that was before they added Randy Moss. Now, if Moss plays like he's capable of, forget it. Their defense rates similar to ours, and just got a whole lot better with the addition of Adalius Thomas. Not sure what kind of impact Brandon Merriweather will have in his rookie year, but they did manage to improve on that side of the ball, depressingly. Their offense? They are significantly better than we are at pretty much every position on offense except for maybe running back. They have improved their wide receiver corps significantly from last year. I hope I'm wrong, but I see two losses right here.
VS The Jets
The Jets didn't seem to really improve all that much this offseason. They only had a few draft picks, and the only one worth mentioning is Darrell Revis, the cornerback. But, if he starts, he is still a Rookie Cornerback, so he'll make mistakes. Their Quarterback situation is more stable than ours, but Chad Pennington has a history that suggests he may be injury prone, so if he's gets injured again this year, then I'm not convinced that they have alot behind him. Their offensive line will be better in the second year of Dbrickshaw Feruguson and Nick Mangold. But, Our defensive front seven is better than their offensive line and we improved in our linebacking and secondary, so I think our defense matches up well with their offense. Their defense is average at best, maybe even below average, so if we can get even average play out our of our offense, then we should have a good chance to beat these guys every time we play them this year. All in all, I predict that we split with these guys and go 1-1 this year.
vs The Bills
The Bills are the one team in this division that in my opinion not only did not improve this year, but actually took steps backward. This team simply doesn't seem to want to spend the money to get to the top. They lost Nate Clements to the 49ers and you know that's gonna hurt, big time. That alone makes our passing game better when we meet these guys. They traded McGahee and now have an unproven rookie at tailback. That can only go one of two ways and no way Marshawn Lynch is as good as McGahee in his rookie season. They added Pousluszny to their linebacking corps, but he's a rookie, so this year he will have much to learn and may not even start on opening day, although if he doesn't, I'm sure he will at some point in the season. JP Lossman is okay, but still makes enough mistakes that the Bills drafted Trent Edwards despite having greater immediate needs. In short, even if we have to start Cleo Lemon against these guys, I think we have improved from last year when we were playing Harrington/Culpepper, our defense has improved, their defense has taken a step backward, we should win. I predict that this year we will win both of these games vs the Bills, and that they will be in the AFC EAST Cellar. Fins 2-0.
So, looking at that, I'd have to say, 3 losses, three wins in our own division isn't two bad. Projecting that to the rest of the schedule, I'd say 500 in general doesn't look too unlikely, in other words, I think we'll finish 8-8 this year. Not great, but an improvement for sure.