Dolphins Beat Chargers And The Odds

The odds of the Chargers Younghoe Koo making the kick were very good

Odds didn’t favor the Dolphins, but this team has a way making luck work for them

The news was ugly pregame… and the game itself wasn’t pretty at times. Yup, Miami needed some luck with two missed field goals to secure the win. But good teams find ways to grind out a victory. As Don Shula once said, “Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.”

The Dolphins were lucky on two fronts: they have a quarterback in Jay Cutler and had the fortune of playing a snake bitten kicker.

I’ll take that 7 days a week, and twice on Sunday.

However you say they got there, the Fins are now 1-0. Yeah, it’s only the first game of the season, and there’s a lot to improve on… but a win is a win in this league. At the end of the day that’s all that matters, especially when you’re trying to making the playoffs for a second consecutive year.

The Dolphins were trailing by 7 at halftime and price per head sites were not giving them much of chance because they had the live betting line at +7.5 for the Dolphins. This basically means that they didn’t think Miami could out score the Chargers in the second half, let alone actually win the game.

However, under Coach Adam Gase this team has shown these Miami Dolphins rise to the occasion and defy the odds. In the second half they put up 16 points after only scoring 3 points in the first half. That’s double what the money guys thought. Maybe that 7.5 wins on the season that they’re predicting will go the same way?

Odds shmods, being good played a part in the win too

What stood out the most was that Gase went with a balanced attack on offense calling 34 pass plays and 32 running plays. He also did what he said he would do by getting Ajayi 28 carries on the ground which lead to 122 yards rushing for him and a 4.4 yards per carry average. While such a heavy dose of Ajayi can’t be the recipe every week, it does show Gase isn’t a pass happy fool.

In addition, Cutler played his part to perfection and went 24 out of 33 for 230 yards 1 touchdown with only 2 sacks. He protected the football and showed his elusiveness in the pocket. Several times he escaped pressure when the mostly stout protection broke-down.

Honestly, I thought he displayed much better pocket awareness than Ryan Tannehill did most of his career in Miami.

And how about that Offensive Line? Ja’Wuan James was ranked the 12th best Tackle by PFF. He did so well that Melvin Ingram flipped sides to see if he’d have better luck on Laremy Tunsil. On the downside, Tunsil was ranked only the 44th best Tackle, but it was his first week of starting at that position on the NFL level and was up against one of the best pass rushing teams in the league. While he didn’t grade out well in pass protect, he was top 10 for the week in run block.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Let’s remember that while luck did play apart in the win, two major IF’s that needed to happen for this season to be a success headed in the right direction on Sunday: Cutler and this Offensive Line looked good and were successful in nearly every facet of their game… and that had nothing to do with luck. Go Fins!!!