The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

besides the horrible calls that the Patriots get so often...................

Kicking.

Look at Gostowkski's numbers this year: 28/30 on Field goals.  and 4-5.  He has made the difference in several games this year.

Look at Sturgis: 23/30 on Field Goals, and 3-6 from 50+ yards

If we look deeper, we see the effect

- Baltimore: missed potential game tying field goal
- Buffalo: missed field goal in a game decided by two points
- New England: missed field goal that swung the momentum
- Carolina: a missed field goal that was critical in the game.

Give Miami three of those games and they are 9-3

Let's go even deeper.

It seems you hear this story all the time:  The Patriots looked shaky but managed to pull out a close win in the end.  Coincidentally, Gostowski has been one of the accurate kickers in the NFL for the last few seasons.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Yes, that's it...kicking and bad calls. I'm sure it has nothing to do with New England having a significantly better QB, a significantly better head coach and a significantly better front office to bring in talent.

Definitely bad calls and kicking...

 ::)

Let's put it this way.  If Sturgis was performing as well as Ghostowski, the Dolphins would be at least 8-4, and probably 9-3

Pats have a Hall of fame coach and a hall of fame QB.....that's how they are better than damn near every other team in the league. Those are the only differences that matter.

^^^^

So, are you saying they HAVEN'T played several games that have come down to kicking?

Obviously its Brady and Belicheck, but D4L has a point.  Without an outstanding kicker NE would have (2) more losses, because the rest of the team is only average (also except for Gronk).

The difference between NE (and most of the rest of the league) is not just the kicker but all 53 players.  Lots of GMs/coaches worry about the 22 starters and don't pay too much attention to the bottom half of the roster.

BB cares about the quality of the kicker, the punter, the 6th DB, the 3rd QB, etc. 

Give us a kicker who performed like Ghostowski and the Dolphins would have made the playoffs in 2011 and 2012.

The Dolphins would have found new and heart breaking ways to lose.  Combined with a lack of talent, lack of attention to detail, and a chronic lack of killer instinct this team was going no where.  It's truly absurd to think a kicker is the major difference between these two teams.

^^^^

And I provided facts and evidence to show that it is

No, you really didn't.

I'd say the glaring difference is Miami's ability to have some very notable players blossom when they leave the Phins (Marshall, Bush, Welker) vs. the Pats ability to squeeze more out of players other teams have given up on (Moss, Dillon, Welker). -EK

Welker was never "given up on" here .. he was very productive .. NE tossed him a poison pill restricted free agent contract while at the same time offering us a 2nd for him.

the bears can keep marshall .. he was a bum here, he continues to be a bum up in chicago .. he just has better stats now .. they've been in the playoffs 0 times since he's been there

A player of Welker's talent at WR used mostly as a returner and then traded sounds like given up on to me. Bum or not, Marshall has been the best WR in football not named Johnson since he left. How do you account for that? Or Bush? Even Long and Carpenter have been better since they left. And didn't I see Sean Smith with a 101 yard INT earlier this year? Lotta players for it to be merely coincidence. -EK

Sean Smith still sucks. One lucky play doesn't change that.

Welker also led Miami in receptions the year EK thinks he was only a return man and was forgotten.

So then why was he traded? Marshall led Miami in receptions and he was traded too. That's precisely what I mean about giving up on players.

Put whatever spin you want on it, but how many other teams have let a guy go whose production increased from 600 yards and 1 TD to 1100 and 8

AND

let a guy go who immediately went from 1200/6 to 1500/11.

These guys both left Miami and starting having career years. Just a pretty big coincidence. And certainly not something that happens to the Patriots, which you'll recall, was the topic of the thread, not whether you agree with me or not. -EK

Welker was the #3 WR in MIA.  He signed a poison pill offer sheet with NE (salary fully guaranteed if he plays more than 5 games/year in the state of Florida).  NE offered MIA a second-rounder for him.  That's not "giving up," that's taking what you can get.

read my first post

At least four games could have been won if Sturgis kicked like Ghostowski

Oh, I did.  I just didn't see much evidence.

I might cede the point on the Baltimore game as the kick in question was at the end of the game (but a lot of stuff happened prior to that play that necessitated a long, desperate attempt), but the other games had very little to do with the kicker.  In all those games, the defense and/or offense faltered in the second half.  Too much bad football transpired between the missed kicks and 0:00 on the clock to even consider hanging it on the kicker. 

You say if Sturgis had made them, Miami was guaranteed victory.  I just don't see how that's possible.  It's not the kicker's fault when defenses can't tackle, offenses can't block, coaches can't coach, and referees blow calls.  On the list of things wrong with those games, the K position is not the biggest problem.  Perhaps if the rest of the team had done their jobs, a missed kick wouldn't have been so vital.  Perhaps if the offense could punch one in or the defense could hold someone out of the end zone in the 4th quarter, the team wouldn't have to desperately rely on a 40 or 50 yard kick by a rookie as the only hope of salvation in the 3rd friggin' quarter. 

Blaming the kicker for the woes of an entire team is not a fact based, rational way of looking at this team.  It's like thinking you struck out with a girl on a date because you had a piece of food stuck in your teeth after dinner and looked foolish.  Meanwhile, you completely ignored the fact that you bored her to death with inane conversation, weigh 400 pounds and didn't shower, or just plain failed to hit it off with her.  While it didn't help, it wasn't the worst thing that happened on the date.

The Patriots are winning more games because they're a better team from top to bottom with a HOF QB, fantastic coaching, and a front office that knows how to get the players they need to win.  They might be holding it up with duct tape and chewing gum, but they're making it work.  They play for a Superbowl berth every year, and we play for the hope of a sixth seed if we're extremely fortunate.  The kicker is just the tip of the iceberg when comparing these two teams.

Miami isn't the ONLY team to give up on Marshall and Bush. The Broncos and Saints did too respectively. I guess they are idiots too. As are the rest of the league (minus Chicago) who wasn't beating down Miami's door to trade for Marshall and the rest of the league who ignored Bush when he was a free agent (minus Detroit)

Horrible analogy to compare dates and football.

Football is governed by strict rules.  If you score more points then the other team you win.

A date is completely up to whim of the person you are going on a date with

I thought that Mec's dating analogy was not only extremely accurate, but wisely chosen for the person he was delivering it to. I also think that loud exploding sound you heard was the sonic boom of that analogy's wisdom rocketing over your head while you were clumsily reacting to a perceived slight.

^^^^

I didn't take it as an insult.  In fact, I chuckled a little when he posted it.

I just don't think it's a good analogy to compare a football game to a date.

Let me state it this way and see if this is better:

You can do everything right on a date, but she can still decide she's not interested in you for any reason she wants.

If you score more points than the other team in football, you win the game, and "they" (the refs? the commissioner?) can't say, oh, you don't win just because we aren't interested in you.

Thank you for explaining that...I'll never again mistake my date for a middle linebacker.