eltos_lightfoot
FinHeaven VIP
Has anyone noticed that everything, and I mean everything, is different about this years fins?
1. Miami had won all of its openers for like the last 11 years. We lose to the Texans.
2. We always start off hot in September and October, so Dave lets up a little bit in practice and the preseason. We end up 6-4 heading into the stretch run. Not good. But don't they seem to have just a little more spring in their step?
3. We are always undefeated at Pro Player. We have lost three games there this year. But we won the latest there after being down by 13 in the fourth quarter!
4. We had the number one sacker in the NFL last year. Jason Taylor has been double and triple teamed this year. Adewale has stepped up. As has Junior.
5. We had the number one rusher in the league last year. Ricky is averaging a yard and a half less a carry last time I looked.
6. Going into December, our team is always limping through, barely beating teams, just trying to back into the playoffs. Last year we could all feel it slipping away in New England, and before that Minnesota. We missed the playoffs entirely. This year we are 3-2 in November and getting hot after routing the cowboys.
7. Last year it our road record was below .500 while this year we are at 5-1.
There are many reasons for these differences. I believe the biggest is clarity of leadership. The coaches are more focused on individual accountability. Like others have pointed out on these boards, Wannstedt is much quicker to call units on his team that are not performing well. And his calling up Fiedler in the fourth quarter was brilliance.
Fiedler has also come into focus as the unquestioned leader of this team. You could see it during the Redskins game, which I think people will look back on as the point at which this season changed for good. Griese had a blank, almost dazed, look on his face. I am not sure why, and I don't really care. All I know is after the muffed punt by Newson, the defense was trying to hold. They switched to the camera that was focused on Jay. He was pissed. He was ANGRY. He was focused. He wanted in the game bad.
This clarity of leadership provided on offense by Jay was mirrored on the defense by Junior Seau. This team, on both sides of the ball, has far too many introspective quiet stars. Jason, Zach, Ricky, etc. Everyone, by the end of last season, kept looking around for everyone else to make a play. This year Seau has taught them how to make the play themselves on defense. He has taught them composure. So you gave up a bad play. MAKE one to counter. BE accountable on every play. Seau's intensity has been a thing to behold this season.
Suddenly we are hot going into the home stretch. We are not taking anything for granted. We do not have an undefeated home schedule, we do not have the league's leading rusher or sacker. We have a bunch of stars that finally look like a team. These guys look like they are in this together.
We have to give Rick and Dave credit. They chose lunchpail-esque veteran free agents over the glitz and flash (not to mention overpriced) free agents out there. The leadership of Zgonina, Seau, Buckey, and Knight have really solidified this defense.
Superbowl teams have to be able to run it when the defense is playing pass, and pass it when the defense is playing the run. That is how you win games with offense. But there will be games when the offense is unable to score hardly at all. Do we have a defense that can shut down a team? Finally we do.
The fate of this much more urgent team remains to be seen. This much more focused on winning team can turn around the December slide, and I truly believe they will.
All of the upcoming opponents of the dolphins had better be careful, for this is something that this dol-fan has not seen in years at this point in the season. This years dolphins are different in a very important way. They are confident. They are hungry. And they are desperate.
1. Miami had won all of its openers for like the last 11 years. We lose to the Texans.
2. We always start off hot in September and October, so Dave lets up a little bit in practice and the preseason. We end up 6-4 heading into the stretch run. Not good. But don't they seem to have just a little more spring in their step?
3. We are always undefeated at Pro Player. We have lost three games there this year. But we won the latest there after being down by 13 in the fourth quarter!
4. We had the number one sacker in the NFL last year. Jason Taylor has been double and triple teamed this year. Adewale has stepped up. As has Junior.
5. We had the number one rusher in the league last year. Ricky is averaging a yard and a half less a carry last time I looked.
6. Going into December, our team is always limping through, barely beating teams, just trying to back into the playoffs. Last year we could all feel it slipping away in New England, and before that Minnesota. We missed the playoffs entirely. This year we are 3-2 in November and getting hot after routing the cowboys.
7. Last year it our road record was below .500 while this year we are at 5-1.
There are many reasons for these differences. I believe the biggest is clarity of leadership. The coaches are more focused on individual accountability. Like others have pointed out on these boards, Wannstedt is much quicker to call units on his team that are not performing well. And his calling up Fiedler in the fourth quarter was brilliance.
Fiedler has also come into focus as the unquestioned leader of this team. You could see it during the Redskins game, which I think people will look back on as the point at which this season changed for good. Griese had a blank, almost dazed, look on his face. I am not sure why, and I don't really care. All I know is after the muffed punt by Newson, the defense was trying to hold. They switched to the camera that was focused on Jay. He was pissed. He was ANGRY. He was focused. He wanted in the game bad.
This clarity of leadership provided on offense by Jay was mirrored on the defense by Junior Seau. This team, on both sides of the ball, has far too many introspective quiet stars. Jason, Zach, Ricky, etc. Everyone, by the end of last season, kept looking around for everyone else to make a play. This year Seau has taught them how to make the play themselves on defense. He has taught them composure. So you gave up a bad play. MAKE one to counter. BE accountable on every play. Seau's intensity has been a thing to behold this season.
Suddenly we are hot going into the home stretch. We are not taking anything for granted. We do not have an undefeated home schedule, we do not have the league's leading rusher or sacker. We have a bunch of stars that finally look like a team. These guys look like they are in this together.
We have to give Rick and Dave credit. They chose lunchpail-esque veteran free agents over the glitz and flash (not to mention overpriced) free agents out there. The leadership of Zgonina, Seau, Buckey, and Knight have really solidified this defense.
Superbowl teams have to be able to run it when the defense is playing pass, and pass it when the defense is playing the run. That is how you win games with offense. But there will be games when the offense is unable to score hardly at all. Do we have a defense that can shut down a team? Finally we do.
The fate of this much more urgent team remains to be seen. This much more focused on winning team can turn around the December slide, and I truly believe they will.
All of the upcoming opponents of the dolphins had better be careful, for this is something that this dol-fan has not seen in years at this point in the season. This years dolphins are different in a very important way. They are confident. They are hungry. And they are desperate.
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