Ten Observations on Dolphins Schedule

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Here's a cool piece I got from MiamiSportsDudes.com:


Let’s face it. We Dolfans approach our Dolphins with the same rabid, sometimes unreasonable, ardent passion that New York tabloids approach every game for the Yankees. We live & die with every win or loss. When we lose, it's as if God is calling down the seventh horseman of the Apocalypse. When we win, its': "Oh yea -- this team is going to win the Super Bowl this year! No doubt about it!"

 

It’s in our blood. It boils in us with a festering, zealous, avid fanaticism that only dims when the team fails to clinch a playoff berth. And yet, boils up again about 30 seconds after the Super Bowl game ends.

 

So, on the same day the Heat are playing an important home match against their Eastern conference nemesis Detroit Pistons, the burning, lingering question for every Miami sports fan is not “can we make a statement against the Pistons tonight?” Or “Can we beat Detroit tonight and pull away from the Nets to lock up the number two seed?” Or "Can our defense gel and get hot for an NBA title run?"

 

No. The burning question today is: “What’s the Dolphins 2006 schedule look like?”

 

Five months away from the start of the NFL season, fans want to know who the Fins play and when. Who’s coming into town, when do they play the Patriots, Bills and Jets? Do we have any other prime time games beside the first game? What’s the road to the Super Bowl look like?

 

Yes, in Miami, football is king. It will always be king. Even during the Dave Wandstedt era – it was king.

 

So the schedule is here … and here are our 10 thoughts & observations:

 

1. Having A Solid Backup Is More Imperative Than Ever. The Dolphins start off the season with a bang, visiting the Super Bowl champion Steelers in what will be a pumped-up, fired-up environment. The Steelers will likely have a long celebration along with a ring ceremony, a Super Bowl XL Champions banner unveiling and they’ll probably have Super Bowl hero, now-retired, Jerome Bettis as the ceremonial coin-flipper. The good thing here is that the Dolphin players will get to see what it means to be a champion – perhaps fueling their desire for the rest of the season. The bad thing is there is a good chance the Fins will be trotting out Daunte Culpepper’s backup for this one. Joey Harrington is looking pretty good right about now. That’s right. Harrington. Not the old and finished Kerry Collins and certainly not the unproven, noodle-armed Jamie Martin. Another bad thing – if the Dolphins should win this game, the Super Bowl expectations will be off the charts, which is never good (see past Dolphins seasons, 2005 Colts, for examples).

 

2. First Half Looks Favorable. As usual, the NFL has given the Dolphins a seemingly favorable first half of the season. After Pittsburgh which, let’s face it, will be tough, the Fins face the Bills and Titans at home, then visit Houston, New England, the Jets then host the Packers. The Pats are always tough at home – as are the punchless Jets – but the good thing is these games will both be in the early part of the season, which means: no freezing temperature games for the Fins this year! Well, except the one December match up in Buffalo. The Dolphins could conceivably go into their Bye week 5-2 or 6-1. Nice.

 

3. The Whiney Brad Childress Comes To Town. This is an interesting one and it’ll be the “ESPN overly-hyped game of the Week.” Culpepper versus his ex-team and against the “guy who won’t stop bashing him,” Vikings head coach, Brad Childress. Should be Daunte’s finest game as a Dolphin. Mark it down – November 19.

 

4. The Pats & Jets Come To Miami in December. The home-field will certainly be an advantage in December – crunch time to lock up the division and a playoff berth. Two tough AFC East foes – New England and New York – visit The Stadium in December and this favors the Fins big time! The other obvious advantage is the late-season warmth that will benefit our boys. Now there are no excuses. We will likely need to win these games to secure the AFC East and perhaps build a great home field advantage through the playoffs. Oh and the Super Bowl is in Miami this year. P.S. the Jets will be here on Christmas Day. Let’s sell this sucker out and give the visiting Jets fans a warm welcome and show them what the Holiday Season is all about.

 

5. Tough Second Half. After the Bye week, the Fins start off the rest of the season visiting the Bears. Then they come home to host the Chiefs – who cleaned our clocks last year – as well as the much improved Jaguars and, of course, the aforementioned Pats and Jets with a visit to frigid Buffalo in between. Then, the Fins close out the season with a trip at early Super Bowl favorites, Indianapolis Colts. The second half will be a real test for this team and will mean the difference between winning the AFC East, winning the Wild Card or no playoffs at all.

 

6. Thanksgiving! The annual Turkey Day games are always fun. They are part of the American tradition – spending time with family and friends while watching the games and eating turkey and potatoes (or stuffing instead of potatoes), and sharing what you're most grateful for with grandma and grandpa. But this year, our Fins will be on the tube. And it’s the early game. Which means, come 6:00 PM, we’ll all either be happily stuffing our faces, or hitting the eggnog hard wondering how the hell we lost the friggin Lions!

 

7. Secondary Challenges. That re-vamped Dolphins secondary looks as important as ever now. With games against the Titans, Texans, Packers, Chiefs, Vikings, the Pats twice and the Colts – that’s eight games – the Dolphins new-look secondary has its work cut out for them in 2006. All these teams love to air it out, some do it better than others. Jimmy Williams at number 16 looks pretty damn good right about now.

 

8. Culpepper Should Have A Huge Year. With Observation number 7 in mind, it looks as if Culpepper will have his chance to shine big. The Steelers secondary will be a little weaker this season. The Patriots have not really addressed their sorry secondary all that much during the off-season. The Packers still have one of the worst secondaries in the league, as do the Lions and Chiefs (even with Pat Surtain). The Steelers proved that the Colts could be thrown against and the Vikings are soft in the secondary as well. Then there are the Titans, Texans and Jets – all very much susceptible to giving up yards against the pass. Hudson Houck needs to coach the heck out of that O-line to give Pep some time in the pocket. If they do – watch out!!!

 

9. The Nick Saban Factor. If we learned anything from the Nick-Tator during this past year, it’s that the man is a workaholic. There’s a reason he’s constantly compared to Bill Billichick. The man knows how to prepare for games – and you can bet that he’s hard at work, right now as you read this sentence, and has been since 2:00 PM EST today, scouting, assessing, dissecting, watching game film, and drinking 100 gallons of coffee and Red Bull, preparing for each and every game on the 2006 schedule. No sleep for the Nick-Tator. The Nick-Tator is our savior. All hail the Nick-Tator.

 

And 10 … Let the Super Bowl Hype Begin. As mentioned above, we Dolphin fans are a bit on the fanatical side when it comes to our football team. The addition of Culpepper has increased our Super Bowl chances greatly. Just ask the leg-breakers in Vegas. And you can be sure ESPN, Sports Illustrated and other football spewing media will be hyping up this team for a trip to host this year’s Super Bowl. Heck, the players themselves are fast becoming believers – just ask Chris Chambers. There are certainly a lot of questions entering 2006: How will Culpepper’s knee hold up? Will the secondary be improved? Will the offensive line hold their ground? Can we knock the Pats off the top of the AFC East? Will Olindo Mare be clutch? Who will be Culpepper’s back-up? Can Chambers build on a career 2005? And so on …

 

But as many questions as there are, the truth remains. And the truth is this. There hasn’t been serious, concrete Super Bowl hype in this town since the day the team hired Jimmy Johnson. Now, the hype is back. And the rabid Dolfans will not be silenced. There’s hope in the shape of Saban and Culpepper. There’s hope in the fact that the Big Game is being held in our own backyard.

 

It's Spring. And there's hope falling in droves from the palm trees -- especially after today (Schedule Day).

 

So, good luck to the Heat – we hope they can beat the Pistons and win the NBA title. And good luck to the young, scrappy Marlins – we hope they can prove the skeptics wrong.

 

But more than that … there’s the REAL hope and desire each Miami sports fan is longing for ... and that is ... BRING ON THE 2006 NFL SEASON.

 

 WE’RE READY.

[Jeno]

What a post Tommy!

I think that covered all my sentiments at this very moment, yes there's a few concerns prior to the Season Opener, but the belief and ambition will always remain!

Bring it on!

[fyo]

Super Bowl? This season? That's not hype, that's stupidity. I hope we make the playoffs, but I'm not betting on it.

[cyan]

super bowl in '06 is about as likely as a winning season was in '05...if not more so, and look how that turned out.

if i had to pick odds on us being in the big game next year, i'd give us about a 1 in 8 shot...which is much too high to call stupid. what would you consider stupidiity odds? 1 in 32, 1 in 16? we're certainly looking better than 2/3 of the league right now, which puts us at least at 1 in 10.

[Frimp]

^^^

Wow.