The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I am excited by game 1 of the NFL season - not just because I am on other side of the world and will actually see it this time, a frustrated, game starved glutton who has been hanging out to finally see his Dolphins play again (which I finally will after way, way too long - thanks for nothing Channel 7 Australia you useless pricks!).

I am also really looking forward to seeing some progression, some way up, some more solid positives to build on the pleasantly unexpected ones that came out of nowhere last season - I don't expect playoffs this year, but I expect at the very least to us to play hard and be in contention every game, and by the end of this year looking very, very good to the point where teams seriously dread coming to Florida as they will have their sorry asses handed back to them in a dodgy paper bag if they don't bring their very best.

Sorry if that seemed a drunken rant... because it was  :P

Usually the whole week leading up to the first game of the season  I’m bouncing off of the walls like a kid on Christmas Eve. But not this year. Probably because it’s been a weird year. Probably too because I’m watching a Lakers playoff game. Right now. In September. Football season. But yes, I’m hopeful that the Dolphins are that much closer to making me the happiest Dolphins fan in New England. They seem to be taking and making the right steps. For the first time in how long they appear to have some smart leadership and some direction. If they don’t make the playoffs, I’m expecting them to at least be closer to them than they have for quite a while. But if they’re only going to win two games this year, they had both better be against the patsies. Let’s gooooo Babyyyyy! Let’s Go!

Might wanna hold off on the excitement. Still looks like the team has a long ways to go.

Remind me again how Tua is developing by watching Fitz throw interceptions?

Maybe Tua could play some defense too

Well some signs off life. That fumble keeps us in it.

Defense time. Fitz redeemed himself with that 2pter

Really? Are we gonna have to listen to this all year long? Get over it already. If Tua is the saviour of the franchise it's not going to be this year. Give the kid a break to actually get his chance. It will happen soon enough.

Damn defense. Well looks like NE isn’t going anywhere.

Effin bums

Come on, Dave. You know more about football than to make that kind of statement.  That is a D4L kind of thing to say.  Not even done with the first game of the season yet. 

I don’t get it. Down 10. Easily within field goal range. Save time on the clock. Kick the field goal. Someone tell me why coaches don’t coach that way.

Yeah doesn’t make a lot of sense. You gotta score again anyway. You kick the FG, try the onside and you still might have enough left if you can get a stop for one play, and as we know that’s all you need.


Anyway I’m disappointed because it feels like the same old dolphins. Field goals instead of touchdowns, interceptions, bad run game, getting dominated upfront and getting no pressure, etc.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t Tua on the injury report. 

So, on the upside.  The new offensive line including two rookies played much better than expected.  Only gave up 1 sack.  Didn't open up a ton of holes for the running game, but as bad as the OL has been for years, I was pleasantly surprised.  Overall, the defense didn't play terribly either.  Baker was a beast.  The guy is a star in the making and true 3 down Linebacker.  Makes it very obvious as to why McMillan was expendable.

Not sure how the hell Gaskin gets double the carries of either Howard or Breida.  

I'm not delusional enough to think that the Dolphins are a playoff caliber team.  I'm simply looking for improvement over last year.  And from that aspect, I saw enough to give me hope today even if they did lose the game.

Can't wait to hear the excuses from the Defense in the upcoming interviews.  Van Noy did nothing all day that I saw.  Never set the edge.  Interior DL got eaten up, 217 yards they got punished for. Woof.

This OFF is gonna struggle early IMO, but I thought the young OL performed well, giving up only 1 sack.  The RB merry-go-ground confused me all day long. Gailey going with the hot hand?  I dunno.

Fitzpatrick falling back to earth in Year 2 with whatever team is he is on.  Still love him to mentor Tua BUT you can't have him continues games like this multiple INTs 6-7 games into the season. We'll be 1-2 wins if we're lucky.

Got to be better next week vs the Bills

Yeah, I think you're going to have to hear it all year if we're not going to have a competitive offense.

If the idea is playing Fitz is because he gives you a chance to win.  But if our offense scores TDs only in garbage time, what are we waiting for?  This idea that young people need to sit to develop is old-school and no longer applies.

It's just the same thing for 20 years.

The team can't score points.  Again.  You could tell from the first drive of the game.  3 meaningful point is disgraceful for NFL football.  Is nobody tired of this? 

Like, I can get behind playing the veteran if that players gives you an offense.  We don't have an offense.  Again.  So, I'm frustrated that our potential superstar rookie is wasting time watching and learning.  Learning what?  How not to score points?

I get ya about the frustration of 20 years.  I really do.  We have all suffered with that.  The Patriots may not be the dynasty anymore, but they still play tough defense.  Fitz had a bad day.  But he'll have better days.  He carried this team on his shoulders last year.  I'm confident we'll see Tua before the year is over.  And it could be worse.  Watching the Saints/Bucs game right now, I'd take Fitz over Brady.  LOL   

Hang in there Dave.  The Dolphins are better than they were last year and the offense will have better games this year than they had today.  You have to keep in mind that they are playing 2 rookies on the OL and it is REALLY hard to be an offensive juggernaut with 40% of your OL being rookies.  I really like our rookie OL guys.  But it takes longer for an offensive lineman to adjust to the speed of the NFL game than it does a lot of other positions.  The OL is going to look ugly at times this year.  But in another  year or two the Fins are going to have an offensive line to be proud of.  Something we have not had in a very long time. 

We are still trying to WIN games aren't we? That was against the best defense in the NFL. The BEST. Not close really. Tua may have thrown 4 or 5. You really want that on your rookie QB? Don't answer that I'll answer it for you, NO YOU DON'T.

All anyone ever talks aobut is the offense. What about this defense? 11 guys at the line of scrimmage and STILL can't stop the run. What a joke. They were pushed around ALL game. Everything was so easy for Cam, looked like he was playing in a high school game. They were LUCKY they were in the game in the 4th quarter when NE turned the ball over and made it a game. This TEAM is a year away from being average. 2 from being good. Get used to it. Tua changes nothing.

What about it?  Giving up only 21 points, especially while your offense gives up three interceptions, doesn't seem super terrible.  That's a low score when compared to the rest of the league. 

That might be a bit simple way to look at it, but in this particular game, this was an offensive failure.  We couldn't scored and turned the ball over a lot.


Also, Pappy, I hear you about the Defense being shitty.  They definitely allowed themselves to get run on.  But in this game, it was the much MUCH lesser problem.

They were LUCKY that the TE dropped the ball going into the endzone for the 4th TD. And as far as the 3 INT's, it was only 2, the last one was pass interference against Gesicki that the refs didn't see. If they call that correctly Miami has a shot at being down by 3 with a little under 2 minutes to play. The offense and defense both played about how most people expected except for delusional Dolphins fans who still think this team is better then they are and think New England is not as good as they are.

If you're not going to count that one, why count the first one where the receiver fell on his ass in the cut (looked like he was even helped a bit by the defender)? Certainly not one you can put on Fitz.

I guess what really frustrates me about this game is you KNEW they gonna try to highlight Cam's ability and he would make it about himself.

All you had to do is go back to the 2017 game vs CAR and knew what Cam would do.  My boy and I were talking about this prior to the game and that Pats would try to do the same things. 

So, either the Def Coord/team as a whole didn't see this coming (I hope not) OR they knew it was coming and couldn't stop it

They punched that front line in the mouth.  Doesn't get any better this week vs the Bills cause they want to run the ball.  MIA WANTS to get there as well, but BUF will have Allen drop back for deep throws and then he'll take off running.  I would have a spy on him this Sunday.

Make it Baker, cause he will flat out hustle and level.  And by the way, I have no problem with PF's yesterday, He plays with passion, now he'll have to reign that in, but I like the fire

I think someone on Reddit said it best...just remember game 1 from last year and you'll feel a whole lot better about game 1 this year. Small steps.

I mean, we lost by 10 against a really good defense and had some questionable at best calls against us.  Plus it's game one.  We'll see what the rest of the season has in store.

I hear that, but I just can't be optimistic.

If this were isolated, fine.  But we've been not scoring points for a long time now and this looked exactly like more of the same to me.  It's even Chan Gailey again.  It's like we're in a time warp.

It just seems like we have a regressive style.

Many week 1 games are an anomaly but one thing is for sure ... we couldn't contain the run any better than last year. We gave up a league leading 217 yards. So far the 15 million we spent on Emmanuel Ogbah looks to be a waste as he only had 1 tackle for the game and gave up containment several times.

I still don't understand why the Dolphins - who played quite well in the second half of the season despite a disparity of talent - abruptly dropped their offensive and defensive coordinators. I know that in the case of the OC, the difficulty in players learning the new offense was cited as a reason. However given that offensive production went up in the second half, it seems at the very least that the returning players would now have the offense mastered. And he brought in Gailey as a replacement, who has been in and out of the league for decades. Is Gailey's offense innovative? Does it matter?

Flores set back his team's development by what to me were inexplicable changes.

Exactly!!

Can't get too down over this loss for so many reasons.  And although I will root for them to win every game this season, I won't be disappointed if they only win 6 or 7 games.  I'd like to see some good draft picks next year, THEN they better move towards being a perennial playoff competitor.

Don't forget that our #3 and #4 Wideouts opted out of the season and Parker was hurt. Really limited the weapons we gave Fitzpatrick.

Good point. I said essentially the same thing to a buddy last night.  I don't know how many wins they will get, but the team is going to be better and much more competitive this  year in games that they were blown out in last year.

Just saw the video of the third interception.

Sadly, there is only one angle I can see of the play.

It looks similar to the 49ers play I posted about earlier

I have seen plays like this flagged, and I have also seen plays like this not flagged.

Quick takes from the game...

Compared to this time last year we are much more competitive (admittedly not hard), but we will not be making the playoffs until we fix some basics.

The offensive line did a great job in pass protection - only the one sack against Flowers who looked much better as a guard than his whole career at the Giants as a tackle...

With the running game though, they were not opening holes big enough for Howard who struggled in the first quarter. In that regard I can see why they shifted to the more agile Gaskin and speedy Breida, although I thought they would have leaned more on the latter - maybe Gailey liked what he saw in preseason, or thought Gaskin looked better as a pass option. Whatever, the OL must do a better job for the running game to be really effective.

On the defensive side of the ball we really struggled covering a mobile Quarterback, which to me was weird, like we weren't expecting it - who was the guy we are playing against? Oh, Cam Newton, who has done this all his career.... after that we got caught looking at him and guessing, guys like Van Noy were too distracted by Cam to set the edge. We needed to stack the line with all 11 players to stop the run, then McDaniels worked a way around it by the third quarter - seems like he was in the heads of some of our former Patriot players and knew how to exploit them...

The effort was there and the heart was there, to be as close as 14-11 into the last quarter seems like a world away from the shitshow of this time last year. But we if we really want to make a playoff push we got to work out how to stop the run and cover a mobile QB!

Just a couple years ago we were stacked in the WR & RB categories, unfortunately we didn't have much else, so these players were traded or let go in FA.  Next years draft & FA will probably address these positions.

^^^ I'm usually not big on mock drafts this far out, but I saw a CBS mock draft for next year today.  With the 4th overall pick they have Miami drafting JaMarr Chase, WR from LSU; and with the 10th overall pick they have Miami drafting Wyatt Davis, G from Ohio.

With the college football schedule so screwed up this year, next year's NFL draft is going to be much more of a dart throw for all the NFL teams.  It is a dart throw to a certain extent every year, but with deciding how to evaluate players who didn't even play this year in college, it is going to be a pretty wild draft.

^^^ An OG going #10 overall? Unlikely, but possible, I suppose.

#4: OT Penei Sewell
#10: CB Patrick Surtain II

In the NFL, players who voluntarily take a year off and come back don't do very well. I know the college kids are younger, but it still makes you a bit skeptical.

Yep.  I was really disappointed to see Gregory Rousseau from The U opt out for this season.  As a freshman last year, he was First Team All ACC, Second Team All American, etc etc.  If he had played this year and not regressed, he was a Top 15 pick in the NFL (if he declared which everyone assumed he would).  He will probably still declare for the draft next year, but it will be very interesting to see if he still goes in the Top 15 or not.  He would have been a real game changer for the Canes this year. 

My early guess is Miami goes receiver very early in the draft. It could just be my wish list but we need to replace Devante ... or at least have a replacement handy.  

Until the Dolphins put a defense on the field, it won't matter who the QB or the receivers are.

Wow..... I thought the Fins were going to have a good secondary this year?? They are horrible, and the defensive line is worse. I was optimistic to at least see some improvement this year. But after two games, I'm not feeling it at all.