Quietly In the Playoffs!

[miamid45]

Don't look now but at 6-6 we would be the 2nd wildcard team.  Still early, but we've shown we can win on the road.  Our D is dangerous and our O is starting to pick up momentum.  Win against Pitt and things really begin to look promising!

[EDGECRUSHER]

Somehow, we play better against good teams. Pats may have nothing to play for when we face them too. I am obviously not envisioning Superbowls anymore, but the playoffs are still very possible.

[Pappy13]

Don't look now but at 6-6 we would be the 2nd wildcard team.

I don't think that's correct. I believe if the season ended today we would lose the tie-breaker with Baltimore.

[Landshark]

Even if this team was to make the playoffs, they wouldn't get very far with that line they have blocking for Tannehill.   I'm sorry to be the party pooper but the losses to Buffalo and Tampa killed my enthusiasm for this season.

[EDGECRUSHER]

We would lose the tiebreaker, but head to head goes out the window with multiple teams tied, as we unfortunately learned a few years back.

[Pappy13]

Even if this team was to make the playoffs, they wouldn't get very far with that line they have blocking for Tannehill. 

Agreed, but that's not the point. The point is taking another step. Making the playoffs this year would be a step in the right direction. Next year we can think about improving on that. I wouldn't even mind missing the playoffs if the Dolphins ended up 9-7. That would be a step in the right direction as well.

[MikeO]

Somehow, we play better against good teams.

The Jets are NOT a good team, I don't care what their record is they are one of the 5 worst teams in the league. They got some gift wins early on this season.  Miami has played the same all year in reality. They haven't really been blown out by anyone. Some teams match-up better against us, if an opponent can totally dominate our piss poor o-line it makes our offense look silly. Other teams our o-line can at least hold our own well enough to let Tannehill do his thing and put us in a position to win.

And if Miami does somehow, some way get into the playoffs....they would play AT Indy or AT Cincy Rd 1...both are winable games. Hell we beat them both already. Indy is a shell of itself from when we beat them, they are a mess and Luck as been poor to bad for weeks now. And I have little faith in Dalton winning a big game period. Now I don't think Miami will make the playoffs, but if they did get in it's not like they are gonna get their doors blown off that first weekend vs some great team.

[CF DolFan]

It's kind of cool that Miami has beaten two of the 4 division leaders and playoff teams and should have beaten the third. 
Even with all of the other crap going on I think we've proven that we are in the ball game even when we lose.  That hasn't always been the case. It's been a really long time since I felt we could actually win just about any game that we play.

[EDGECRUSHER]

That's our problem, we go down t the wire against New England and down to the wire against the winless Bucs. Real improvement means we beat the Bucs 42-6 and then lose in the final minutes against New England.

[Pappy13]

That's our problem, we go down t the wire against New England and down to the wire against the winless Bucs. Real improvement means we beat the Bucs 42-6 and then lose in the final minutes against New England.

Tampa Bay isn't nearly as bad as people want to make them out to be. Miami had put themselves in position to win that game even after falling behind 15-0 to start the game. Miami SHOULD have won the game, but there's no reason to think they should have won 42-6. Maybe if they played flawlessly and Tampa Bay played lousy, then yes, but that's not to be expected. I don't know what the line was, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't 36 points.

Most people have this VERY flawed look at the NFL that there is this HUGE chasm between the teams at the top of the league and those at the bottom. It's not like that at all. There are small gaps. The teams at the top are a little better then the teams in the middle. The teams in the middle are a little better then the teams at the bottom. That's it. Anybody is capable of beating anybody on any given day. We see this over and over and over and yet people are still shocked when teams lose to teams who have not won a game or when teams beat an unbeaten team. It's not really that surprising at all.

You want to know the difference between Miami and New England? It's that New England is 6-3 in close games (TD or less) and Miami is 4-4. If Miami could finish out games like New England does they could be 8-4 and in the hunt for the AFC East, but they can't. That's the whole difference.

[Spider-Dan]

The difference between MIA and NE is that NE can go into the 2nd half down by 2+ TDs and win.  Many of NE's games were only close wins after they were blowout losses.

[Landshark]

You want to know the difference between Miami and New England? It's that New England is 6-3 in close games (TD or less) and Miami is 4-4. If Miami could finish out games like New England does they could be 8-4 and in the hunt for the AFC East, but they can't. That's the whole difference.

And that is why Philbin needs to go along with Ireland

[MikeO]

And that is why Philbin needs to go along with Ireland

You can say it over and over...it's not gonna happen! Philbin isn't getting fired. Ireland its 50/50...but its looking like he might be staying too

[hordman]

You can say it over and over...it's not gonna happen! Philbin isn't getting fired. Ireland its 50/50...but its looking like he might be staying too

I say Philbin stays and Ireland.  I'm hard on Philbin, only because he doesn't show the emotion and direction I think he should have.  Doesn't make me right, but that's my opinion. I would like to see what he could do with some more talent on this team, namely some some OL players.  This would allow Tannehill more time, better running game, etc.  Still would love to see Keller come back to TE next year.  He would have had a monster year this year if not for the injury.

The defense has played well at times, and then at other times, like a 4-12 team.  Hard to figure out.  Rush DEF has not been that stout this year, surprises me.  I think Grimes has been good for the most part with a few great games thrown in there.  Wish we could have Patterson on the field more, guys has like 4 Ints in 3 games or something.  Ellerbe was a great pickup, Wheeler not so much.

[Pappy13]

I don't think Ireland should be fired either.

I'm gonna go ahead and put forward the notion that Ireland has done a better job with the drafts then people have given him credit for. There have been some misses (Michael Egnew, Edmond Gates, A.J. Edds, Pat White, Patrick Turner, John Nalbone), but there have been more hits (Ryan Tannehill, Olivier Vernon, Lamar Miller, Rishard Matthews, Mike Pouncey, Charles Clay, Jared Odrick, Koa Misi, John Jerry, Nolan Carroll, Reshad Jones, Brian Hartline, Chris Clemons and Jake Long). Only Long is no longer with the team and that's mostly because of injury and he did contribute a lot to the team while he played for them.

There's a lot of other picks that didn't quite pan out for one reason or another, but they weren't total busts. Either they played well enough for a time to start for Miami or they were 6th or 7th round picks who were not expected to contribute much anyway.

I did not include anyone from the last draft since I still think it's too early to tell but again I don't think it's been as bad as some people have suggested. Just because people aren't starting doesn't mean that they haven't been playing well, it could mean that others have simply been playing better. In fact I think Dion Jordan when given the chance has played well. I thought Mike Gillislee did a nice job yesterday. Sturgis has had a little trouble with his FG's, but his kickoffs have been good and he certainly has the leg. I've seen a few appearances by others as well and they have flashed at times (Don Jones could become a legit special teams ace in my opinion)

As far as free agency is concerned, I think he's done a nice job of avoiding the big mistake for the most part. Wallace is not having the year some think he should be having, but he has been a nice addition to the team and has helped the offense. No, he's not been worth the money at this point, but part of that is on Tannehill. They need to work on their chemistry and Tannehill I think needs a little more time in the pocket to be able to find Wallace a little more. I was personally glad to see that Miami didn't go after some of the backup QB's that were being touted at one point or another. You can blame him for the offensive line issues we now have, but not all of it has been his fault. He certainly couldn't have predicted that Jonathan Martin would not be able to take the locker room jabs nor that he would turn on the team and throw Richie Incognito under the bus. Richie is no saint by any means, but he's stayed relatively in check while he he has been on the team. Had Martin not thrown him under the bus, no one would have even known the whole thing at the golf tournament even took place. That's not an excuse to do what he did, but there is no shortage of NFL players doing dumb things. I don't know why Incognito should be singled out.