And the Dolphins aren't a playoff caliber team.
not sure what playoff caliber means? are we automatically giving away playoff spots based on 2010 regular season records?
we're talking 2011, not the past... not sure anyone can predict with any accuracy who will go at least 9-7 this year to make the playoffs.
I'm with dolfan13 on this one--how can you say, with all of your *clairvoyance*, that the Dolphins aren't a "playoff caliber team", Hoodie? Based off the last two seasons? Okay, obviously not, but who in the hell would have thought that either the Chiefs or the Bucs (I know TB *missed* the playoffs last season, but they were one of like 6 or 7 teams in the 12 team playoff field era [starting in 1990] that have missed the playoffs with a 10-6 record, along with the New York football Giants last season as well, so they were right there at the cusp), would have made the playoffs/played as well as they did over the course of a season, based off of their 2008 or 2009 seasons? I don't think many. Don't get me wrong, I was kinda high on the Chiefs after their first game against SD last season, just because I knew they had a lot of youth and explosiveness (a lot of SEC players as well), and thought Charlie Weiss might be able to help that offense a lot as well, but in general, I don't think many people were calling for them to be too hot based off of their previous couple of seasons...and I sure as hell know people weren't about the Bucs, who didn't win their first game 'till like the 9th or 10th game of the previous season, it seemed.
Why am I saying all of this? Just because I think you know better. Yes, the Pats, like the Colts, Eagles and Steelers and, at one point in time, the Titans, have been pretty consistent forces throughout the 2000's, and they've definitely been the better team year in and year out than the 'Phins most of those seasons (still think we were actually a better team than y'all in 2001 and 2002 and just collapsed while y'all excelled at the perfect time in 2001), but that doesn't mean it has to stay that way. I don't recall if it was in this thread or another one, but I'm with Doc-phin or dolfan13 or whomever it was that said they weren't particularly impressed with your offseason pickups. Most certainly I was not.
All of this to say, I'm not certain that the Dolphins are a playoff caliber team this season, either. As a matter of fact, though I won't predict on this season with an actual win total nor this game's outcome/score (sorry, just pretty superstitious with my team!), I think we'll probably miss them again, though I think we'll be a borderline team this season and finish closer towards them than we have the previous two seasons. However, just because we've been fairly middle of the road the past two seasons, I know we've shown flashes throughout both of those times, and IF (quite the big 'if', I'll give you that) Henne can actually turn things around this season and be at least average to just above-, I think we have a really good shot at going somewhere in the next few seasons.
That's about all I got, though. Would I be surprised if y'all beat us tonight? Not at all. I still think y'all are a good, maybe even a great, team. But would I be surprised if we beat y'all tonight, either? Ecstatic, yes. But surprised? No. For whatever reason, we usually play y'all really tough, even with all of your success this past decade, except for the 2007 season, of course (when y'all were great and we were...well, you know.
), and we all know how that special teams debacle played into things in the first game last season. As for the 2nd meeting, not just to offer it up as an excuse, since y'all already clinched homefield as well, but we were done with our season after the home losses to the Bills and the Lions, even if it was depressing that y'all kept scoring on us with Hoyer in there the last game of the season.
So, we shall see. I'm hoping (but not necessarily banking on it!) for an exciting and fairly successful season out of the Dolphins this year!
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