Thoughts after the Cowboys win.

[Dave Gray]

Tua started off super hot.  The original Tyreek throw should have been a TD and the Waddle throw right after was also amazing.  Credit to Dallas' front 4, though.  They didn't really get to Tua, but they got really near him a lot and threw off his rhythm or timing or step-up or something.  Tua got the yips and missed routine open throws throughout the game on mid-routes.  I've seen him make too many of those all year to think he just had an off-day.  It looks like he was disrupted.

I wouldn't have personally made the choice, but I was OK with McDaniel going for the TD over the FG.  I really do hate the play call, though.  It's weird, too, because to anyone who watches Hard Knocks, they start the episode with McDaniel blaming himself for calling some trash plays and the example he uses it the exact same jump ball/fade to the corner on 4th and 1.  So, it's just odd that he recognized how limiting that play call is and then he called the exact same play again.

Sanders deserves all the credit.  He made several of the most important kicks in his career in one game.  That was an all-time great kicker performance.  I'm also just really happy for him, because he's gotten a lot of fair criticism, but it's hard to watch someone you like struggle.  He was getting carried around on guys' shoulders in the locker room.  It was a special moment.

Everyone knows this already, but the roughing call on Wilkins is an all-time bad call, made worse by Dak pulling him down and then made double worse for Dak begging for a call.  That's bush league shit.  The NFL has to address these penalties and acting and begging.  It's just game changing to basically make a team punt from the edge of the endzone and then instead they get 15 yards and a first down.  ...especially when video has all of the info right there.

Our 3rd and short yardage package still sucks.  I don't mind the 5 yard flip-back play.  It can exist in the playbook and I understand that you might lose 2 yards, but you're taking a risk to maybe gain 8+.  But that play sucks on 3rd and short.  You only need 1 yard, so prioritize that yard over getting a big break.  Also, you know the line is gonna be stacked.  I am all for McDaniel's cute plays, but on 3rd and 1, you need a Lousaka Polite, I-formation, meat and potatoes play that you can go to.

I expect the goalpost to move.  The "Dolphins can't beat a good team" narrative was and is bullshit.  It was dumb and a low-effort take from national pundits that don't watch our games.  They wanted to put us in a box, when really any game this year outside of the Buffalo game was pretty much one play from being flipped.  Haters will still hate and say that the Cowboys gave it away or whatever else.

I don't think that the team played super great, which, in a way, is even more great.  I could feel this win slipping away.  I know we only won on a last second field goal, but we did the thing -- we had a quality opponent that gave us a hard time, we know we needed to drive the field and get points and we did it, to perfection.  We not only moved the ball, but we did it by pounding the ball, controlling the clock, and making the Cowboys use their timeouts.  We left nothing on the table and we got the win.

So much pressure is off now that we are in the playoffs.  Also, though it sucks, the Bills are making the playoffs, it seems.  ...so now you just win your games and get the BYE.  I am starting to wonder how you might have to engineer the last week of the season to not play Buffalo.  I think you really, REALLY don't want to have to play the Bills two weeks in a row, under any circumstances.

[masterfins]

I Thought it was a solid win.  Both teams' defenses played great football against good offensive teams.  Miami played a really good ball control offense, eating up the clock when they needed to.  The only two things I didn't like were they again wasted time outs in a close game, and I wish they had not run the clock down to 2 seconds before kicking the final FG.  They kicked it on 3rd down, IMO it would have been nice to leave a couple extra seconds in case there was a bad snap, then you would have the ability to try the kick on 4th down.  Sure it opens up the possibility of a crazy kickoff return, but I think it would be worth the risk.

I'm happy for Sanders, I think he has gotten some unfair criticism; he really is one of the best kickers in the league.

[Dolfanalyst]

I expect the goalpost to move.  The "Dolphins can't beat a good team" narrative was and is bullshit.  It was dumb and a low-effort take from national pundits that don't watch our games.  They wanted to put us in a box, when really any game this year outside of the Buffalo game was pretty much one play from being flipped.  Haters will still hate and say that the Cowboys gave it away or whatever else.

I'm not sure why that would be bullshit as opposed to simply revising an hypothesis in light of new evidence.  If you haven't beaten any of the good teams you've played, the hypothesis that you "can't beat good teams" certainly can't be refuted until you beat one.

[Dolfanalyst]

I Thought it was a solid win.  Both teams' defenses played great football against good offensive teams.  Miami played a really good ball control offense, eating up the clock when they needed to.  The only two things I didn't like were they again wasted time outs in a close game, and I wish they had not run the clock down to 2 seconds before kicking the final FG.  They kicked it on 3rd down, IMO it would have been nice to leave a couple extra seconds in case there was a bad snap, then you would have the ability to try the kick on 4th down.  Sure it opens up the possibility of a crazy kickoff return, but I think it would be worth the risk.

I'm happy for Sanders, I think he has gotten some unfair criticism; he really is one of the best kickers in the league.

I'm very happy with the win, but there was also a huge mistake made late in the game, when McDaniel let the clock wind all the way down to two seconds remaining, as opposed to leaving about 10 seconds on the clock in the event something went amiss on the FG try and they had to down the ball and line up and try another one on fourth down.  The FG was on 3rd down, not 4th.  If McDaniel is going to make it in the league on intellectual brilliance primarily, he can't miss stuff like that.  That could've very well cost the team the game and perhaps the season (in terms of playoff seeding and home-field advantage, etc.) in a highly embarrassing and avoidable manner.

[Engineering Owl]

The risk of return on kickoff is higher... This was not a mistake.

[Dave Gray]

I'm not sure why that would be bullshit as opposed to simply revising an hypothesis in light of new evidence.  If you haven't beaten any of the good teams you've played, the hypothesis that you "can't beat good teams" certainly can't be refuted until you beat one.

That was and is a lazy take. 

The only game the Dolphins couldn't hang with a good team all year was Buffalo.  Else, we lost close contests to Eagles and Chiefs.  Meanwhile, all of the supposed "good teams" were losing to the bad teams that we stomped.

It was never true.  The idea that there's this clean dividing line between good teams and bad teams is lazy.  It's a game of matchups and circumstances and paper/scissors/rock.  It's the NFL and all teams can be good teams.  But it's just easy to have a 4 hour national-media radio show where you say "Dallas can't win on the road.  Dolphins can't beat a bad team."  Also, they're considered bad at this arbitrary .500 mark, not considering circumstances, nor that they have a loss because you gave them one.

Had one fraction of one play happened differently in both the Dallas and Titans game and we flipped those results.  ....if we drop one pass and don't get into FG range against the Cowboys and the Titans do the same -- it's the same result.  In fact, it would actually be BETTER for us, because the win would come against a conference opponent.  ....same game, same situation outside of one dropped pass, and all of a sudden the narrative would be completely different.  It's just lazy and untrue, but these talking heads aren't actually trying to evaluate and help viewers understand the nuances of anything.  They want to craft simple narratives and judge games against that.

[masterfins]

I'm very happy with the win, but there was also a huge mistake made late in the game, when McDaniel let the clock wind all the way down to two seconds remaining, as opposed to leaving about 10 seconds on the clock in the event something went amiss on the FG try and they had to down the ball and line up and try another one on fourth down.  The FG was on 3rd down, not 4th.  If McDaniel is going to make it in the league on intellectual brilliance primarily, he can't miss stuff like that.  That could've very well cost the team the game and perhaps the season (in terms of playoff seeding and home-field advantage, etc.) in a highly embarrassing and avoidable manner.

I agree with you on this point, I mentioned it in another thread.