The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

First, I'm here to eat crow.  I thought this was a game we were going to lose and likely lose big.

I did say (not sure if on the website or not) that I thought this was a game Miami could win by 3 but Buffalo could win by 30.

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I'm nitpicking, because it's great to go out and beat a better team, but McDaniel did make some early decisions I wasn't in love with.  There was an early punt where I felt we needed to keep pace.  We ended up getting a turnover, so it worked out, but I don't think that's sustainable.  You gotta go out there and score points against these high-powered teams.  It turns out, they were only gonna score 17, but nobody saw that coming.

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Weird day defensively.  We just couldn't make a play.  It was never a disaster and it wasn't blown defenses, but we just ALMOST got the sack, ALMOST got the interception, ALMOST made the tackle behind the line.  But pretty much never did...  The Bills moved the ball and kept ball control for crazy amounts of time and distance.  They converted on 3rd down every time.  I don't really know how they didn't score more than they did.

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Josh Allen is super legit.  He's someone to be scared of.  He's big and can run, he's smart at reading defenses and taking what you give and throwing into the blitz.  And he also has a good long arm, plus touch passes.  The guy really can do it all.  He spread it around and had a ton of completions.  He threw a billion times so eventually that started to wane at the end, but he really will be a pain in the ass for the next decade.

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Tua was concussed.  We're probably going to get fined or worse, because someone lied and called that a lower back injury.  But he definitely hit his head and got up wobbly.  It's pretty crazy that he was able to skip concussion protocol, but I'm glad he did, because there's no way we win that game with Bridgewater.

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It was only a couple of plays but Bridgewater looked terrible.

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Tua getting knocked out before the half really killed us.  I think there was momentum there to potentially score going into the half and then get the ball back.  Instead, we were dealing with Bridgewater going 3 and out, giving the Bills the ball with time AND coming back to Tua who needed a Snickers because he thought he was Batman.




All in all, wonderful day, great win.  I wanted to puke for most of it.

A few more things:

Home field advantage was real.  The crowd was good.  It was also hot AF.  Dudes were cramping all over.  I think the last play, running out of time, was due to exhaustion.  Those guy couldn't move.  As soon as the whistle blew, guys on both sides collapsed.

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I really though Allen got a lot of help from his line -- there were lots of 50/50 holding calls where he was able to get an extra bit here or there.  If we start making the D play instead of almost making it and if we can get a penalty here or there where it's close, the D can really grow.

We'll be analysing this until Thursday, but the Bills and Josh Allen have an abysmal record in 1 score games, something like 1-14. Seems like if Josh Allen can't win it by 45, he kinda chokes in the end. Threw a TD pass into the dirt on 4th down, horrific throw.

Our defense bent the whole game but never really broke. Major props to them.

Huge props to the crowd and the heat, some Bills players had to leave the game due to heat exhaustion. Been a long time since we had such a legit homefield advantage and it was great to see.

https://twitter.com/Ri_S_OB/status/1574129211119489026

"If Tua makes this throw in this situation he’s tied up by his ankles and drug through the streets of Miami by the national media"

This isn't anything against Allen - sometimes even the best QBs misfire - but it's just irritating to watch the double standard.

If Tua can keep hitting passes like the one to Waddle today and the ones to Hill and Waddle last week, this team can hang with anybody.

Last week he played similarly but simply threw more passes.  This week was far lower passing volume but ultra-efficient.  The 3rd and 22 play today was a game-winner.

From an efficiency standpoint alone, Tua actually greatly outplayed Allen.

I hate to rain on everyone's parade but realistically the Dolphins could very well be 1-2 right now. A few plays here or there is the difference in the last 2 games. Now having said that, it wouldn't be that bad really if they were 1-2. We knew these first 4 games were going to be tough. I wouldn't have really been worried if the Dolphins were 1-2 right now, but I'm also not SUPER excited that we're 3-0. Hey, it's great that we are. I'm GLAD we are 3-0 as it beats the heck out of 1-2, BUT I don't think it's anything to get overly excited about. I am excited that we at least were in both of the last 2 games, win or lose. That shows progress and that's what we should be thinking. That maybe we can hang with the top teams in the AFC. That's good news, but let's not break our arms patting ourselves on the back. It's 2 wins that could have easily been 2 losses. Games like the last 2 tend to even out over the course of a year and we're probably going to lose a couple that we should have probably won, but that's ok because now we are playing with house money. But that's ALL the last 2 games mean. We are competing. Been a LONG time since that's been the case. Now when we start going out and whipping teams that we should beat, THEN we can all get OVERLY excited.

Just remember this team was 3-0 to start the season just a couple years ago and finished 9-7 I believe. Doesn't really mean much to be 3-0 especially how the games have gone. Lets keep things in perspective a bit. It's a long season and it's just started. Let's just get through the Cincy game and then hopefully see the wins keep piling up. Then I will get excited.

If the team were 1-2 right now, a large number of people would be calling for Tua to be benched and the Dolphins to move on.
You know, like they were at halftime of the Ravens game.

So I think we should treat a 3-0 team like it's 3-0, not almost 1-2.

I don't believe that. Not if they just came up short in both games, only if Tua wouldn't have been good in those games. If he plays the same as he has but they lose no one is criticizing Tua's play in fact he's getting credit for keeping them in the games. Tua has kept them in both of the last 2 games with his playmaking, everyone has recognized that. He's playing at a much higher level this year, everyone can see that.

And I didn't say they don't deserve to be treated like they are 3-0, they absolutely deserve it. What I'm saying is that 3-0 doesn't mean much if they lose a couple games over the next couple weeks they probably should have won which they have done in the recent past. I'm just saying it's too early to know if they can keep this up. There's no reason to believe they shouldn't, but they still have to go out and play the games. They've almost made it through the tough part of the schedule, but the last couple games of the schedule are going to be tough too, they can't afford any slip ups over the next several weeks. You need to win as many as you can now while the warm weather is in your favor because when it turns cold, that's when Miami traditionally falters. They need to have about 9 or 10 wins before that happens to allow a couple of tough losses at the end of the year rather than having to win them all to make the playoffs. Stay hungry.

Honestly, with the way that the media has STILL been criticizing Tua after wins ("he's underthrowing on touchdowns! he's throwing to wide open receivers on busted coverages which anyone can do!  BAL's secondary was injured! he was only good for one quarter!"), I think if Tua plays exactly the same as he has, the defense allows more scoring, and MIA has two or three losses, the entire narrative would be Tua Can't Get The Job Done.

So far today, the narrative has been "Tua had less than 200 yards passing against a practice squad secondary."  If the Dolphins were actually losing?  They would be calling for his head.

Just wait until the first actual bad game Tua has this season.  Or even better, wait for Tua to throw a pick-six in the 4th quarter of a tied game, or for him to one-hop a would-be game-winning pass to an open receiver.  We got a sneak preview of what it will look like at halftime of week 2.

The Dolphins' performance so far this year may indeed seem "fluky," but consider that as of now they have the most efficient offense in the league as measured by EPA per play.  And that's driven primarily by pass offense, where again they are tops in the league.  Pass defense is worrisome, as they are currently 28th in the league in that area.  But the Dolphins are playing better than anybody in the league right now with regard to the strongest predictor of winning in NFL football -- pass offense.

True, but it seems like every year we say "You know, if we got a bounce here and didn't get called for a bullshit PI penalty here, we would be 6-5 instead of 4-7". This year, we're on the other end of the spectrum so that is a very positive shift.

Let's just say it like it is: Tua was concussed and should never have been allowed back in the game. That whole lower back story concocted by Tua was complete BS even though I have no doubt that we would have lost the game otherwise. I've been trying to confirm if Tua was actually examined by the independent neurologist or if the team managed to sneak the whole thing past the concussion protocol. If the player displays "gross motor instability", he's supposed to be examined by both the team doctor and the independent neurologist before returning to the game and if that "instability" was due to a head injury, he's automatically out. And, sorry, but you can't tell me that Tua's wobbly steps, inability to raise his head, and subsequent collapse was due to some lower back thing that happened on a sneak earlier in the game.

All that said, I'm thrilled with the Win and thought Tua played quite well. For the second week in a row there were too many drops, but it was worse this week since there were so few throws. That simply has to be cleaned up.

I have to admit I was okay with the unnecessary roughness penalty by X early in the game. He had to establish himself against Diggs and if that meant a penalty, so be it.

I was a bit disappointed that the offense didn't really find a way of taking advantage of the Bills replacement-secondary outside of a couple of (vital) throws. I know McDaniel wants to feature the run, but when you absolutely cannot generate yards on the ground and face a depleted secondary, he needs to find a way to get Hill and Waddle more involved.

And if the plan is to just mothball Gesicki, should we trade him? It really seems like we are getting nothing out of his unique abilities and the camera caught a nice shot of his face after being pulled (think it was after the catch) and he looked extremely frustrated. He's a great team player, so he's not going to say anything, but does it really make sense to pay him again next year? If the alternative is to just let him go for nothing, I'd rather trade him before the deadline. Obviously, I'd love it if McDaniel could find a way to actually make him valuable on offense, but right now it seems like he's not really contributing much.

I really felt Tua had a good game and was unfortunate with some drops on some really precise throws (and lucky on 1 that could have been an INT - so consider that 4-1 to Josh Allen in almost-INTs, which of course counts for absolutely nothing).

Looking at the stats after the game, Tua actually had the highest average completed air yards (average distance from the line of scrimmage a pass is caught). Even if you remove the long bomb to Waddle (49.8 yards downfield according to Next Gen Stats), he was still 8th (prior to MNF, obviously). In terms of intended air yards (i.e. including incompletions), he was 8th with an impressive 9.8 yards - well above his season average of 8.1 yards and just on a completely different level than last year's 7 yards (dead last). One negative was the lack of yards after catch in this game, but overall the passing offense has been on a roll this season and showing massive improvements in all the metrics where they lagged last season. The running game is still MIA ;).

18 games so far this season decided by 3 points or less. This means in all of those games each team was a play or two from winning and I'm sure you can add in several more games where it was less than a TD where one or two plays made the difference. That's how this league is played and we are finding ways to win by making plays when it counts. I don't expect to go undefeated but we've come a long way from wondering if Tua can lead us to panicking when he goes out of the game. This is a legit team who can clearly fulfill our goal of winning a playoff game and maybe even more. I'm excited as hell about where we are at right now!

Yesterday Tua's average depth of target was 9.8 yards, 75th percentile, whereas Allen's was a mere 6, 13th percentile.  The team did a good job of limiting Diggs downfield and turning Buffalo's pass offense into a shorter field endeavor.  Probably the main reason Buffalo scored but 17 points offensively.  The Dolphins' defense made them pretty inefficient.

They said on GMFB on NFL network this morning that Tua was examined by the team drs and the independent neurologist and they determined that the gross motor instability was the result of an orthopedic issue (lower back) and wasn't related to any head trauma.

So they took the steps and he cleared the concussion tests as mandated.

^ Good to hear that the independent neurologist was involved.... but I still don't believe for a second that it wasn't a concussion. I watched Tua's post-game interview this morning and didn't exactly come away impressed with the explanation.

Well I hope things are different this season.  Yes 3-0 starts are good but still have plenty of games left to go.
2002- Started 3-0 and ended up 9-7
2013- Started 3-0 and ended up 8-8
2018- Started 3-0 and ended up 7-9

2022-  ???????

We could easily be sitting at 1-2 right, fans calling for TUA's head.  Bridgewater has shown that he sux and its a reason why he is a journeyman.  Defense continues to show heart even though making a few mistakes. Coach McDaniels , I dont know man it something about him that continues to impress me.

According to EPA, Miami has the #1 offense in the league.

https://rbsdm.com/stats/stats/ (https://rbsdm.com/stats/stats/)

That's crazy.  I thought that he was lying to not have to take the tests.  I don't doubt that he had a lower back issue, but he definitely hit his head on that play, got up shaking his head and then couldn't walk.  It would've been a great coincidence.

Saw this on PFT a little while ago ...

The NFL Players Association said it would investigate the injury to see if concussion protocol was followed. At each NFL game is an Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant, a doctor who is on scene to monitor any head injury and can also give tests to determine if a player is okay to return to the game. The NFL said all protocols were followed.

^ Great.

I watched McDaniels press conference yesterday and he said the thing about the back.  I don't expect him to be straight-forward, but he didn't seem sketchy about it.

Well if you're going to count the likes of Colin Cowheard than yeah, but I don't. You shouldn't either. He's a hack and knows less than I do about football.

Let me clarify, I don't think any of the games this year have been fluky at all, great wins all of them. What I'm saying is that 3 games don't make a season. We need the same play for the rest of the season, not 3 games of it. Last year we had 1/2 a season of solid play and 1/2 of a season of shit. If they play this way the rest of the year we're in the playoffs. If they don't, well you never know. That's all I'm saying. Yeah it's been a great 3 games, but lets keep it going. The fans have been starved so long for great play that they are all going bonkers over 3 games which is nice I must admit, but I've seen this before. Play great for 3 or 4 games and then fall apart at the seams. I'd just like to continue to watch some great play for the rest of the season is all I'm saying. They're not going to play great every game or even the entire game all the time, but we need to see more consistency from the team before I start calling them a good team.

Absolutely which is great for a win or 2 here or there. If we want to continue winning we need to keep playing at a high level because if we do, we won't need a bounce or 2 here or there, we'll be up by 14 and it won't matter that we don't get the bounces. That's what I'm saying.

Interesting stat (https://twitter.com/BenVolin/status/1574382924664823809):

In the last 16 years, NFL teams are 2-106 when being out-gained by at least 275 yards. The two wins:

2020 Dolphins vs Rams (Tua)
2022 Dolphins vs Bills (Tua)

That Rams game was Tua's first start.  I don't think he made any huge clutch plays in that game like 3rd-and-22 yesterday, but it's a fun stat.

Cowherd exemplifies the national media narrative.  He's probably the most popular voice.  You can't discount him just because he's wrong.  He has a huge voice over both radio and TV.  And he's not S+ tier troll like Bayless or Stephen A.  He covers mostly high profile markets and big stories.

But that's where a lot of people get their sports take.  Then they feed each other and call in these shows and hit the internet and the Facebook pages with it.  The Cowherd Tua narrative is the prominent national narrative.

Well, we easily handled the Patriots who aren't as good as us. We had that crazy game against Baltimore who are a very good team and we just beat Buffalo who might be the best team in the NFL.

If we need some miracles against the Commanders and Bears, then I would look negatively upon that.

And how were those wins accomplished?  Essentially with defensive scoring.  The Rams game featured defensive and special teams scoring, while the game yesterday involved the defense's handing the offense the ball in prime position to score.  The sack/fumble was the most impactful play of the game yesterday in terms of EPA.

Not really. Cowheard is just a little bit more likeable version of Bayless or Stephen A. He really doesn't offer much more insight. They are all looking for viewers mostly and they get a bunch but it's mostly from people that don't really know a whole lot about sports. Sure they watch it on TV, but other than that they don't know much. Sports fans, not students of the game. You want to get some real insight listen to a former player/coach. I loved listening to Troy Aikman. He used to visit once a week with the Ticket in Dallas and he was great for insight. He actually knows what he's talking about and isn't just trying to get viewers. And it doesn't have to be at the NFL level, there are ton of podcasts by former college players etc that can break down game tape and really explain what's happening. You'll get more insightful conversation from those guys then you will Colin Cowheard. There's plenty of actual sports news out there if you just know where to get it. It might be the prominent national narrative, but I don't think it's actually the national media narrative, many of whom know better.

Turnovers are, obviously, a huge part of any game.

"Handing the offense the ball in position to score" is also very different than "a defensive score."  The reason why is simple: red zone offense.

MIA's red zone offense is currently 5th in the league (and that is including the victory formation at the end of the NE game as a "failed red zone attempt"); when your red zone offense is less efficient than what the Dolphins are currently showing, "handing the offense the ball in position to score" can turn into 3 or even 0 points.

Agreed. We need to do that with all the other games on our schedule where the opponent isn't as good as us. We have a bunch coming up. We win those games, then you will see me hopping on the band wagon, till then I'm cautiously optimistic.

Right, but none of that is likely, hence the EPA of -4.4 for Buffalo for the sack/fumble.  Certainly having the ball 1st and goal on the 6 yard line involves a far higher probability of scoring a touchdown than does mounting a drive from your own 20 for example, with a customary number of plays.

Had Buffalo simply advanced the ball to let's say the 30 on that drive and punted, giving the Dolphins the ball on their own 20, the Dolphins' likelihood of scoring a TD on that ensuing possession would've been vastly diminished in comparison to the sack/fumble and having the ball on the Bills' 6.  The defense essentially made the offense's job of scoring far easier.

All of this can be viewed within a framework of "likelihood of scoring a touchdown" -- also known as expected points (and expected points added).

Bills' OC's reaction to McKenzie cutting back into the field of play and the team not managing to get a spike off:

https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/1574130984202690564

That is fucking embarrassing.  That's a grown man breaking his desk because he sucks at work.  What a god-damned lunatic.

LOL, yeah but if it was Miami that did that I would have had the same reaction, as most on this site would have.
Especially if you add in the fact they screwed up the same way before halftime.

An offensive coordinator at the highest level of the sport should not have the same reaction as a knucklehead fan like you or me.
Show some professionalism.

Tua keeps impressing me more each week.

Skylar Thompson needs to be upgraded to the #2 QB in the depth chart.

Miami's defense is one of the best in the NFL, they have been winning games for three years now.

Miami is playing as TEAM like I haven't seen in a couple decades.

Buffalo can't use the excuse of having a banged up defense, because their defense was hardly on the field at all.

That's former Miami Hurricane's great Ken Dorsey. Had us rolling on the floor we were laughing so hard.

Uh....I absolutely would not.

That's knucklehead, amateur behavior.

My style of coach is one that knows that you win some and you lose some, so you do your best to prepare and execute calmly.

This is bush-league, hack shit.  It's hilarious to us, but troubling behavior from a lunatic.

The best part of it is that in the preseason, Dorsey was specifically asked about being moved from the sideline to the skybox because of "psychopath" tendencies.

That's pretty funny. I even saw an old tweet from Josh Allen saying somehting in response to him ... "that's what a psychopath would say" so it's already been a joke among them.

Bills OC Ken Dorsey: "It was a playoff atmosphere ... obviously we weren't on the winning end of it, so it's frustrating and, you know, reacted that way and obviously that's something that I'm definitely gonna learn from ... and make sure let's correct moving forward."

Question I'm wondering about is who covered the camera with their hand? Think it was a CBS person or a Bills person tryiing to protect him? Either way it was too little too late ... hahahaha

Looks like another Bills coach to me.  At the start of the clip, you can see an assistant coach in the top right quickly take off his headset and disappear.

How do you think the player who didn't get out of bounds felt after seeing Dorsey lose his shit? A passionate coach can motivate players because they feel like he is on their side, but it also goes the other way sometimes.

Everyone is bashing McKenzie for not getting out of bounds, but you can literally see the bright red FG TARGET LINE on the screen.  If he sprints directly out of bounds, it's a 64 yard field goal and there's about 9 seconds left on the clock.  Hindsight is 20/20.

He probably didn't feel supported and thought his supervisor was a bozo, just like I would feel if my boss started breaking his desk.  These are all split second choices and these dudes were gassed as hell.  They had their chance to make their play and Allen threw the ball in the dirt....then they needed a series of miracles and butt punts to have a desperation FG chance and it didn't work out.

Not to mention there's no guarantee he gets out of bounds. He cut back inside because the Dolphins were over pursuing to the outside.

Diggs did very similar in the first half. They tried running the Marino fake and when it didn’t work he still tried to fight for yardage rather than get out of bounds