It's only preseason...

[Pappy13]

But I can't help but think that there might be more positives to this season than negatives and that's not just being optimistic on the Dolphins, it's also a little bit of a sneaking suspicion that I have that the AFC East might not be the cakewalk that Buffalo is expecting. Hear me out.

I just watched the Bills get dismantled by Chicago and sure it's 2nd and 3rd string players, but I still think that Buffalo is overdue for some bad luck. Josh Allen and his line have stayed pretty healthy the last couple of years, some of that is the way they are built, but some of that is luck too. If the Bills run into a bit of an injury problem with Allen and/or the offensive line they could have a lot more trouble scoring points then they have in years past. Hard Knocks has a way of introducing some bad luck on teams and just the way that everyone is basically giving them a pass on the season, I think their season might not go quite as expected.

Now that doesn't mean that I think the Jets and Patriots are better than we expect, in fact in the case of the Jets I'm not sold on them at all. They might be good defensively, but offensively they could be pretty bad. I don't like Fields. He's going to have to become a much better passer then what I have seen so far in the preseason. Maybe they'll just be able to run teams to death and maybe not. Some people seem to be high on the Patriots, but I'm not really sure why that is. A new coach might help, but it might take them a year to figure things out as well. Maye will probably be better in year 2, but I'm not convinced that he's anything special yet either. I think they'll be better than the Jets but that might not be saying much.

Even though I'm not really high on the Dolphins this year, I think it's possible that things could break their way and they make the playoffs. I think they have a soft schedule which is always tough to predict before the season starts, but again it's just a suspicion that it's time for the ball to bounce Miami's way a bit and they'll have a better than expected year. We'll see.

[CF DolFan]

All I see is our holes. I used to think if this and this happens, we can be pretty good. I've lost that optimism after dozens of times of being wrong. Our offensive line has no depth and our DBs are just plain bad and or inexperienced. It would take a miracle to pull off being competitive with teams like Buffalo and Washington and I don't see it as a stretch to think we could split with New England and the Jets. Many of the other games will be a toss up IMO. I hope I'm wrong but I feel we will be arguing about getting rid of Grier and MCDaniel at the end of the season. I'm not sold that Ross would, but we as fans and media could be calling for it.  

[Pappy13]

Am I being too optimistic? Probably, but there's enough doom and gloom being thrown around regarding the Dolphins this year without me contributing to it. I read last year how Miami was one of the favorites to have a bad year and despite Tua not playing in over a 1/3 of the season and a lot of other key players being hurt for much of the season the Dolphins still managed to win 8 games. Honestly how they won 8 games is beyond me as I thought they wouldn't win 6 after the start they had, but you know what? McDaniel rallied the team. They actually played pretty well for a stretch. A lot was made of Ramsey and Smith leaving in free agency, but I didn't think Ramsey was all that terrific for the Dolphins last year anyway and while Smith had a breakout year, I don't really think he'll be missed that much as TE wasn't a feature in Miami's offense prior to last year and I feel like that only really came to pass because the backup QB's for Miami focused on him almost exclusively. Perhaps if Tua misses a 1/3 of the season again we'll miss him, but that's the least of my concerns.

I think with all the negativity surrounding the Dolphins, some of the positives have been overshadowed. I actually like what the Dolphins did in the draft. I'm not too sure about Free Agency, I feel like they lost about what they gained so that's a wash. Kohou getting hurt was a downer, but other than that I feel pretty good about where Miami is right now. Of course there are concerns, but there are reasons for optimism as well and I think that part of the equation is being left out in the narrative surrounding the Dolphins right now. Anyway that's how I feel going into the year. We'll see how it all shakes out. I could be completely wrong.

[Spider-Dan]

The over/under for MIA wins is currently sitting at 8.5, which means the oddsmakers believe MIA is about the same as ARI, CHI, MIN, NE, PIT, and SEA.  (Not sure why they are shitting on MIN so hard after winning 14 games last year, but hey.)

[Pappy13]

The over/under for MIA wins is currently sitting at 8.5, which means the oddsmakers believe MIA is about the same as ARI, CHI, MIN, NE, PIT, and SEA.  (Not sure why they are shitting on MIN so hard after winning 14 games last year, but hey.)

Yeah the over/under is fair, but the articles written about Miami are not. I read an article today on predictions and they had Miami winning 5 games. Now I'm sure that Miami is capable of winning 5 games this year, but a lot would have to go wrong for that to happen in my humble opinion. That same article had the Patriots winning 9 and the Jets winning 10. I'll believe it when it happens.

[CF DolFan]

I was at practice yesterday and I think CBS Pete Brisco said it best in his tweet.

Pete Prisco
@PriscoCBS
Watched Jaguars-Dolphins practice today and both teams looked like they were done with camp. Bad practice.
1:39 PM · Aug 21, 2025
·
113K
 Views

Outside of our defensive line there wasn't much to get excited about. Our DBs had a couple of INTs because of the multiple sacks and pressure we were getting. Hopefully that continues. It was interesting to me that our punter was the one doing the kick-offs.

[Pappy13]

I don't know if it's just me or things have changed but there's been WAY too much analysis of practices this year. I've always seen analysis of preseason games, can't remember when there's been so much about how a team's practice sessions went. Maybe on the QB position or something, but practice in general? Maybe it's just because they've had joint practices with 3 teams this year and there's been a lot of articles about the Dolphins and their practices but it strikes me as desperation for something to write about. It's practice, not a game.

[Spider-Dan]

I doubt reporters or fans in KC, or PHI, or BAL are out here obsessing over whether their team dominated joint practice.

This coverage is, indeed, about desperation.  Since CLE and DET finally won playoff games over the last few years, a lot of the Dolphins fanbase has become singularly focused on Winning One Playoff Game, like the wild card round is our championship.  It's pretty sad.

[CF DolFan]

I don't know if it's just me or things have changed but there's been WAY too much analysis of practices this year. I've always seen analysis of preseason games, can't remember when there's been so much about how a team's practice sessions went. Maybe on the QB position or something, but practice in general? Maybe it's just because they've had joint practices with 3 teams this year and there's been a lot of articles about the Dolphins and their practices but it strikes me as desperation for something to write about. It's practice, not a game.

The joint practices are all about 1st and second stringers playing against the other teams 1st and second stringers. Players like Ewers never see the field. This is what is replacing preseason games. We typically  play 3 joint practices although it's typically between only 2 teams. There are a lot of fights at joint practices so maybe that's why they didn't do 2 with one team. The Dolphins biggest fight of the day against Jax ended up going into the indoor facility from the practice field. It was like wrestling as a few minutes later every just jogged back out. Haha

Kind of funny but the preseason game was basically an extension of the scrimmage. Both teams sucked there too. We have  a good defensive line and receivers but not much else. We can't block long enough to run a route longer than 3 yards.

[Downunder Dolphan]

I don't know if it's just me or things have changed but there's been WAY too much analysis of practices this year. I've always seen analysis of preseason games, can't remember when there's been so much about how a team's practice sessions went. Maybe on the QB position or something, but practice in general? Maybe it's just because they've had joint practices with 3 teams this year and there's been a lot of articles about the Dolphins and their practices but it strikes me as desperation for something to write about. It's practice, not a game.

It's a combination of a few things. The preseason games were never anything like the real thing, but they've been tapered back as part of the deal for the league to get more real games. In their place, the media have scrambled for whatever bites they can grab - add to that the hunger and need for content on a regular basis to maintain some resemblance of relevance in an expanded and increasingly overcrowded arena, and it shouldn't be a surprise there's an oversaturation of information that amounts to a whole lot of not much.

That said, as a fan and interested reader, you try and pick out what you can out of all of this stuff to try and get what's relevant. Who's injured, who's suiting up, who's struggling, and who's on the bubble or virtually out. How that filters through to our depth, and what to expect. The coaches obviously run a lot of vanilla schemes to not reveal anything to the opposition during these occasions, but there's still something there to chew on.

[Downunder Dolphan]

So far in Australia, this is about the only thing about the NFL preseason that made mainstream TV here... as a mention in a comedy show.



So apparently the Falcons QB is a bit of a dick...   

[CF DolFan]

So far in Australia, this is about the only thing about the NFL preseason that made mainstream TV here... as a mention in a comedy show.



So apparently the Falcons QB is a bit of a dick...   

I'm sure he's heard it before but the poor guy is being heckled at games now by people saying that. The video I saw looked kind of rough.