Nawledge
Scout Team
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2008
- Messages
- 10,007
- Reaction score
- 6,607
Going into the season alot of people on this site said we were gonna go 6-10. I mean on paper we had a tough schedule, holes on defense, question marks on the offensive line, question marks in the secondary (maxwell/rookie corner), a new coaching staff with new systems, depth issues at several positions and so on. We then started the season with a tough close game loss to seattle, torched by the Pats and Bengals and were 1-4 before you new it. It looked like it was going to be a 6-10 season. I mean we were a couple missed field goals away from losing to the Browns. Things certainly didnt look good after 5 weeks.
Im not going to go much into the win streak because we all witnessed it. Alot of close hard fought games. The difference with that though, is those close hard fought games were all games we wouldve lost in years past. How many times did you expect to lose during our win streak where a player stepped up and made a big play. Whether it was Tannehill driving us down late in the 4th, Alonsos pick-6, Matt Moores deep pass to Stills late vs the Cardinals, Drakes kick return or Ajayi breaking off a 57 yarder in OT to set up the game winning field goal someone was stepping up and making a play. We never gave up in these games and always played hard till the end. That is the difference in this team than years past. This team has the fire in them and desire to win and be great. The passion and will is there even if the talent level isnt great at alot of spots. Gase is here to stay and i think the arrow is pointing up for this team.
To even make the playoffs with a first year head coach and so many injuries is astonishing. We lost alot of key players and still made it to the playoffs and i consider that a success. Pouncey only played 5 games, Reshad got knocked out in like week 6, Albert was sidelined for a handful of weeks and played hurt in most of the ones he did play, Parker had a lingering injury early in the year that clearly was affecting him, Maxwell missed the last 3 weeks and playoff game, Tannehill missed the last 3 and a playoff game, Misi was expected to be a starter and was out the whole year, Jenkins also expected to be a starter missed the majority of the year, Howard missed the majority of the year, Cameron was out for pretty much the whole year, Mario Williams was terrible, Quddus missed the last few weeks...
So the fact we won 10 games and made the playoffs despite all these injuries to key players is definitely a success and everyone should be excited about the future of this team. We still have holes to fill no doubt but the next man up mentality will only get you so far if the next man up isnt very talented and is only on the team for his special teams contributions. With all these players healthy next year and some new key pieces to the defense and some depth on the o-line we should be in the playoffs again next season. We have a very young team who just got a taste of the playoffs and this team is hungry and has a winning mentality. Alot of backups had to assume starting roles and tried their best to contribute but it is clear there was a major talent dropoff from Jones to Rambo and Quddus to Michael Thomas and Pouncey to Steen and so on. The fact that we were continuing to win even with the dropoff in talent speaks volumes about this team and coaching staff and i think this team will be in the playoffs again next season.
Im not going to go much into the win streak because we all witnessed it. Alot of close hard fought games. The difference with that though, is those close hard fought games were all games we wouldve lost in years past. How many times did you expect to lose during our win streak where a player stepped up and made a big play. Whether it was Tannehill driving us down late in the 4th, Alonsos pick-6, Matt Moores deep pass to Stills late vs the Cardinals, Drakes kick return or Ajayi breaking off a 57 yarder in OT to set up the game winning field goal someone was stepping up and making a play. We never gave up in these games and always played hard till the end. That is the difference in this team than years past. This team has the fire in them and desire to win and be great. The passion and will is there even if the talent level isnt great at alot of spots. Gase is here to stay and i think the arrow is pointing up for this team.
To even make the playoffs with a first year head coach and so many injuries is astonishing. We lost alot of key players and still made it to the playoffs and i consider that a success. Pouncey only played 5 games, Reshad got knocked out in like week 6, Albert was sidelined for a handful of weeks and played hurt in most of the ones he did play, Parker had a lingering injury early in the year that clearly was affecting him, Maxwell missed the last 3 weeks and playoff game, Tannehill missed the last 3 and a playoff game, Misi was expected to be a starter and was out the whole year, Jenkins also expected to be a starter missed the majority of the year, Howard missed the majority of the year, Cameron was out for pretty much the whole year, Mario Williams was terrible, Quddus missed the last few weeks...
So the fact we won 10 games and made the playoffs despite all these injuries to key players is definitely a success and everyone should be excited about the future of this team. We still have holes to fill no doubt but the next man up mentality will only get you so far if the next man up isnt very talented and is only on the team for his special teams contributions. With all these players healthy next year and some new key pieces to the defense and some depth on the o-line we should be in the playoffs again next season. We have a very young team who just got a taste of the playoffs and this team is hungry and has a winning mentality. Alot of backups had to assume starting roles and tried their best to contribute but it is clear there was a major talent dropoff from Jones to Rambo and Quddus to Michael Thomas and Pouncey to Steen and so on. The fact that we were continuing to win even with the dropoff in talent speaks volumes about this team and coaching staff and i think this team will be in the playoffs again next season.