Coupla wins, but not so rosey...

[Brian Fein]

The last two weeks, the Dolphins squared off against the league's toilet, and escaped with two important wins.  But, is it really a sign of greatness?

The Dolphins are 8-5 as of now, but how much of that is due to a good team and how much due to a schedule weaker than my grandmother in an arm wrestling tournament?

Now I know you're all saying "If I had told you last year that the Dolphins would have 8 wins..." Save it.  I'm still a firm believer that last year's team was WAY better than 1-15, but suffered key injuries 2 or three levels deep on the depth charts.

Fast forward to this season.  Last week, the Dolphins go to St. Louis, a team that had been blown out 3 straight weeks by the Jets, 49ers, and Bears, and barely eek out a 16-12 win.  They could only punch the ball over the goal line once against the league's worst defense.  Granted the defense stepped up and held the Rams out, but this is the league's second-worst team.  If the Dolphins are really a "good" team, they should have crushed the Rams.

This week, the Dolphins go to Toronto and play an equally flat offensive game, scoring the same 16 points thanks to an early TD and nothing after that.  Buffalo's defense is considerably better than the Rams', but really?  Only 2 TD's in two games?

Seems like the Dolphins are either playing down to their competition, or just barely doing enough to win.  I don't think the Wildcat works anymore, unless their saving something for the playoffs (PLAYOFFS?!?), I don't understand why this is still a part of our offensive package.  It takes away half the field, because they NEVER run toward Pennington's side.  Defenses know this... 

The Dolphins have 2 games coming against sub-500 teams (although the Niners look like they might have something, unless Gore's out long-term).  I'd like to see the Dolphins stomp on their throats and blow them both out by 20 or more, and take a nice momentum streak or 4 straight wins into the Meadowlands in a game to win the DIVISION!!!

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Good pep talk, Brian.  Only thing is, I think it should be in Dolphins Discussion. 

[Brian Fein]

Its not a pep talk, please let the mods decide what forum things should be in.  Did you even read it?

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Its not a pep talk, please let the mods decide what forum things should be in.  Did you even read it?

Yes, I did.  And I have to disagree with this one part:

I'm still a firm believer that last year's team was WAY better than 1-15, but suffered key injuries 2 or three levels deep on the depth charts.

Last year's team was atrocious in every aspect.  They were poorly coached, poorly managed, poorly evaluated, and poorly disciplined.  A perfect storm of ineptitude.

[Brian Fein]

We all know you hate Cam Cameron. 

The topic of the post is to bring to light the fact that our offense has sucked the last two games.  And that if we had played like that against the Jets, Patriots, Giants, Steelers, or any "good" team, we'd have had two 38-16 losses. 

[SportsChick]

Even though the offense hasn't looked good - they're still getting the wins. Would that have happened last year? 2 years ago? You may not want to see the progress, but it's there, even if the offense is struggling at the moment

[Dolphin-UK]

I think this season we're getting the run of the luck we lacked last season.

We're showing our true colors, we're not the team we think we are, we're a well coached, well diciplined team which is making up for a lack of starting talent and depth by winning efficiently.  I think the best think for us is to narrowly miss the playoffs.

The damage is already done, the Miami sports fans are already going to be thinking they're a lock for the playoff next season, and we've slid away from those higher draft picks, although I do believe our front office will still find the good players wherever they draft.

My thoughts on the wildcat are that by keeping it in, opposition defenses still need to prepare a gameplan to deal with it, and still need to think about quirks we can throw in, we lose little by running it a few times and gain a lot in sapping their mental processes....

(edit for the wildcat stuff)

[StL FinFan]

I agree with you Brian, they have been more lucky than good.  Next year, they may have a worse record because they will have a more difficult schedule.

[Thundergod]

^^^ BINGO

[CF DolFan]

My ticket rep called me first thing this morning about purchasing playoff tickets  ... it's certainly rosey according to him!! 

[Rick]

This isn't college football and the BCS where it pays to beat your opponent by 40+ points ... The NFL is very competitive each and every week no matter who you are playing...The 1st place Vikings beat the 0-12 Lions by 4 points yesterday...teams play hard no matter what their record is.

A Win is a Win.....Period!!!!!

[fyo]

I think we'll find out soon how much we really miss Camarillo.

Bess isn't taking Camerillo's place (but has added something new). Look at the routes he's running. Fasano and Martin have been closer to filling the gap that Camerillo left behind: The ability to go up and grab one of Pennington's soft tosses and then immediately get drilled while holding on to the ball and, perhaps the hardest part, get up afterwards and do it all over again next down.

I don't recall a single hook route in yesterday's game. Those were a large chunk of Camerillo's production.

He and Ginn really complemented each other very well. Ginn attracts the deep safety (with a corner playing up close), forcing the cornerback responsible for Camerillo to give a bit of a cushion. That opens up those underneath routes for Camerillo very effectively. Buffalo tried single-covering Ginn and bringing safety help to the coverage of Camerillo in our first game against them this season. Result? Career day for Ginn.

Seriously, I don't see anyone on our roster now capable of picking up the slack. I'll be the first to admit I didn't think much of Camerillo initially, but he's the perfect fit for Pennington, especially when combined with a deep threat that takes away the safety help.

Maybe, just maybe, Wilford can start earning some of all that money he's gotten. He has the size to do it, but if he can't catch the ball...

[Defense54]

I agree with you Brian, they have been more lucky than good.  Next year, they may have a worse record because they will have a more difficult schedule.

We will also have a bunch of new Draft Picks and free agents hand picked by The Tuna himself...............

[Frimp]

How can you talk about strength of schedule? Our 2009 opponents are already decided for the most part.

Home:
Buffalo
New England
NYJets
Houston
Indy
New Orleans
Tampa Bay

Away:
Buffalo
New England
NY Jets
Jax
Tennessee
Atlanta
Carolina

Leaving one more home and away team that isnt determined. Are they going to give us the 2 Superbowl teams because we went from 1-15 to whatever we finish at this year?

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Maybe, just maybe, Wilford can start earning some of all that money he's gotten. He has the size to do it, but if he can't catch the ball...

He did have three catches yesterday.  Reason he wasn't catching the ball is because he wasn't seeing the field. 

I'd love to see 1st and goal from the ten. Wilford on one side, London on the other, and Chad Pennington throw a fade to whoever gets the single coverage.