The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

stupid way to phrase the topic subject but the general idea of the post is to see what people notice is different from the 2-4 start to the 7-1 run we are on. Does it have more to do with the teams we played or are there things we are doing differently that is contributing to our success as of late.

I see several factors:

1. The dolphins are amazingly healthy this year.  By and large during the 2-4 run it was the Dolphins at full strength vs the other team at full strength.  (Pats being an obvious exception) During the 7-1 run it was full strength Dolphins vs banged up other team.

2. It often takes take time for a team to gel.  Learn what each others on the team are likely to do in a situation.  QB and WR work out timing, oline figure out who picks up who on a blitz, defense figure out coverages.  If you have the same guys, same system same coaches as last year that doesn't take as long as with a new coach and new rookies.  And the leader of the offense wasn't a Dolphin when camp opened, he was a Jet.   

3. Schedule got a bit easier.  Both in terms of teams and travel.

The dolphins haven't been at full strength in a while.  Smiley, Thomas, Camarillo are all starters on the IR.

Relatively full strength.

No team is ever fully 100%.  But the dolphins are often in considerably better shape injurywise than the team they are playing against.   

I was doing some grave digging...here is a debate between me and Jtex

440       TDMMC Forums / Dolphins Discussion / Re: Predictions: at Patriots (2008)       on: September 17, 2008, 05:09:54 PM

I do believe that your NY Giants got two pretty bad beat-downs the first two games of last season and they made out alright, wouldn't you say?


437       TDMMC Forums / Dolphins Discussion / Re: Predictions: at Patriots (2008)       on: September 18, 2008, 08:08:37 PM

I wasn't suggesting they were going to win the Super Bowl...I was just pointing out that a team can start off shaky and rebound from it.

and there is a big difference between Giants/Cowboys last year and Cowboys/Eagles this year...The Eagles were actually in that game where the Giants were playing catch-up the whole time...Giants got the last laugh in the playoffs though.

Anyways enough about the Giants...

I can't wait for the Pats/Phins game this weekend...I hate them almost as much as the stinkin' Bretts Jets...Rebound game this week....GO DOLPHINS!

Here's the deal:

1- easy schedule.  of the last 8 games, only one was against a "good" team (New England).  I don't consider the Broncos or Bills to be "good"

2- Healthy starters.  I can't recall anyone other than the three aforementioned starters missing any significant time

3- No turnovers.  Pennington is very accurate as a passer and very smart with the ball.  He doesn't try to force things and we've had pretty damn good pass blocking up front.

4- No penalties.  Discipline is something we didn't have last year.  They still commit penalties but overall they're near the top of the league.

5- Simplified defensive scheme.  Our offense isn't lighting the world on fire.  meanwhile, the defense hasn't allowed a TD in 12 quarters!  that's unheard-of, and mostly thanks to Pasqualoni's defensive game plan and schemes.

We have significantly more DPIs than any other team in playoff contention. 9. Goodman has 4 of those. (from a Washington Post article: link (http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/smarterstats/2008/12/penalties-for-potential-playoff-teams.html) ). We only have 1 unnecessary roughness penalty, though (Porter).