Kelly: Dolphins fans should enjoy this ride, and not focus on making playoffs

[CF DolFan]

This is a great article writtten by Omar. Our fans, as most seem to be, are either all in or all out. We either suck or we are the greatest. Jut look at some of the threads and posts in here. This is a great season where we need to quit analyzing everything and just enjoy the improvements we have been making. If I rememebr correctly ... my preaseason prediction was unknown but I was looking forward to seeing how we played the last third of the season. So far I have been pleasantly surpised and regardless of making the playoffs .... I hope we continue to play solid football while cleaning things up. Our coaching staff has shown that they are capable of improving players and that is extremely encouraging.



Omar Kelly   
Sun Sentinel Commentary

 
A parent on a prolonged road trip with their child will confess that the most annoying thing you can hear from the back of the vehicle is "are we there yet?"

This microwave society's obsession with the destination – and not the journey – has infiltrated every aspect of our lives.

Miami Dolphins fans have taken that approach with the team's four-game winning streak, they've become obsessed with this team making a push for the playoffs instead of enjoying the ride.

But fans should stop worrying about when the Dolphins will get back to the postseason, and just focus on the journey back to relevancy.

At the beginning of the season I predicted that this year was a rebuilding year, one that should be measured by progress. Fans were supposed to watch for growth from these young coaches, development from an inconsistent quarterback, Miami's unreliable offensive line and running game, and seek improvement from offense overall.

Well, head coach Adam Gase and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph have steadily dug their units out of the basement, and made Miami's offense and defense respectable.

"It's a belief in the system, a belief in the coaches, play calling and preparation," said linebacker Jelani Jenkins, who has been with the Dolphins for the past four years. "Everyone is buying in."

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill seems to be trending upwards now that Miami's running game has become impactful, and the offensive line is providing adequate protection (three sacks allowed in the past four games).

Jay Ajayi has emerged as the Dolphins' biggest rising star in 2016. He's 275 yards shy of becoming the fourth Dolphins tailback to rush for 1,000 or more yards this decade, joining Ricky Williams, Reggie Bush and Lamar Miller.



And despite all of the struggles Miami's defense has had in the first nine games, that unit keeps moving up the NFL rankings game-by-game.

The bottom line is that the Dolphins are making progress, and becoming a better football team in Gase's first season.

We all know the AFC East belongs to the New England Patriots, who are once again dominating the division despite beginning the season with quarterback Tom Brady suspended for the season's first four games. That means the Dolphins are realistically competing for a wild-card spot in the final seven regular-season games.

It appears that at least one of those spots will go to an AFC West team, because the Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs are all hot. All those teams have to do is win three of their remaining games to achieve 10 wins.

To match their pace the Dolphins must win five of their final seven games. While that is possible, it is also very unrealistic unless Gase's team finds yet another gear.

That's why Dolphins fans need to stop trying to make this season about something it is not.

Given this franchise's disastrous recent history in December, pushing for the team's first winning record since 2008 is a realistic goal. That is proof of progress considering it has been nearly a decade since anyone could call the Dolphins a winner.

This Dolphins team has fought hard to make it back from the 1-4 abyss they placed themselves in. Miami has beaten four consecutive teams that were riding a winning streak before they locked horns with the Dolphins, who have averaged 29 points in wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets and San Diego Chargers.

It is time for Dolphins fans to roll down the window and enjoy this ride. It is understandable to focus on where the Dolphins are headed, but keep in mind there's beauty in the journey.

"That belief is there," Tannehill said. "There is no panic, no stress. We just go play. This team finds a way to win."

Copyright © 2016, Sun Sentinel
  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-dolphins-kelly-column-1116-20161115-story.html

[Phishfan]

I was concerned about Gase after the first few games but he and the team are winning me over.

[Spider-Dan]

Gase sure looks a lot smarter when his offensive line is healthy.

[Dave Gray]

I agree with Omar.  Gotta focus on the product and not the result, for now.

[Spider-Dan]

Gotta focus on the product and not the result, for now.

This is a strange-looking sentence.  Product and result are synonyms.

[Run Ricky Run]

They would need to go 5-2 the last 7 games. They play buf,bal,ne and ari. Probably not possible

[masterfins]

Good article.  I don't think Miami needs to "find another gear" to get 5 wins though.  If they keep playing as they are they should beat San Fran, LA, and the declining Bills & Jets (although those are both northern games, hopefully the warm weather up here will continue.).  Another win could come from either the Ravens or Cardinals, who don't seem to be playing like world beaters this year.  Sadly the Dolphins playoff hopes could come down to the year end game against the Patriots.

[fyo]

^ Bills are (still) way overrated. They got a huge boost by beating the Patriots with a third string quarterback at the helm. Their other wins have come against the 49ers, Rams, and Cardinals. The Rams and Cardinals *can* play some decent football, but the Rams certainly aren't a *good* football team. The Cardinals, I just don't know. Carson Palmer is a decent quarterback, but 9 fumbles along with 8 interceptions and 27 sacks makes it hard to sustain much of anything on offense. I haven't watched a lot of the Cardinals this year, so I don't know if Carson Palmer suddenly got old (he's 36) or if the offensive line and receivers are to blame.

Anyway, not saying the Dolphins will win over the Bills, or any other team for that matter (I wouldn't be surprised to see the Dolphins lose to *any* team). Just saying the Bills are overrated compared to what popular opinion (and ratings) seems to have them at.

[Dolfanalyst]

^ Bills are (still) way overrated. They got a huge boost by beating the Patriots with a third string quarterback at the helm. Their other wins have come against the 49ers, Rams, and Cardinals. The Rams and Cardinals *can* play some decent football, but the Rams certainly aren't a *good* football team. The Cardinals, I just don't know. Carson Palmer is a decent quarterback, but 9 fumbles along with 8 interceptions and 27 sacks makes it hard to sustain much of anything on offense. I haven't watched a lot of the Cardinals this year, so I don't know if Carson Palmer suddenly got old (he's 36) or if the offensive line and receivers are to blame.

Anyway, not saying the Dolphins will win over the Bills, or any other team for that matter (I wouldn't be surprised to see the Dolphins lose to *any* team). Just saying the Bills are overrated compared to what popular opinion (and ratings) seems to have them at.

And that could've very well happened.

It's common ground in sports analytics to measure a player's improvement and then their decline as they age. This helps teams project performance over a player's career and yields insight during contract negotiations. Quarterbacks tend to peak around age 28 and, on average, appear to steadily decline after that. But that apparent steady decline with age obscures what's really happening. The final year of a quarterbacks's career averages a decline of 0.75 yards per attempt (adjusted for interceptions). In simple terms, this is far worse than any one year of average decline due to age.

In fact, the last year of a quarterback's career falls off by an equivalent of about six years of average age-related decline. If we remove the last season of every QB's career from the data, age-related decline disappears.

The bottom line is successful quarterbacks -- players such as Manning -- don't become worse slowly. All of sudden, one year, their numbers just seem to fall off a cliff, and Manning's numbers fit this profile perfectly.

Established franchise quarterbacks are successful right up until one day when they're not. One day it will happen to Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, too. And we won't see it coming. But, of course, everyone will pretend they did.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/14141359/great-quarterbacks-often-just-fall-fast-peyton-manning-has

[dolphins4life]

I disagree.  The Dolphins have been in this situation before where they thought they were making progress for next year, but then they just fell back to where they were.

Go for the playoffs.