New Season Starts With Run Through A Gauntlet
The new season begins with a gauntlet, where less than 2-2 could spell big trouble.
For this new season to not be a repeat of the last it must start off at least .500
With every new season comes new hope that this might be the year that the Miami Dolphins return to the playoffs. A lot has changed over this off-season, however, while there are some indications, none of the changes can guarantee that the Dolphins will actually have a better record this year.
Since the NFL season is only 16 games, unlike say the MLB, which has 162 games, every game is extremely important because a team only has such a limited amount of regular season games. This also means that if a team wants to make the playoffs then they can’t start the season off slow with losses piling up early. If a team goes 0-4 to start the first month of the season, then that team is practically guaranteed to be out of the playoffs.
The Dolphins schedule for the first month of the season is one of the harder tests of any team in the league.
Miami starts the season by going out west to face the Seahawks in Seattle, then they follow this up with a trip across the country to play the Patriots at home.
The silver lining for the first two weeks is that Miami will get the Seattle trip, which is the longest trip of the season, out of the way first; and in terms of playing the Patriots, they will be without Tom Brady for that game.
Then Miami will finally have their first home game against the Cleveland Browns, followed up with a short travel week as they head to Cincinnati to play the Bengals on Thursday night.
Each of the three away games will be against perennial playoff teams, and the best sportsbooks in the world will have the Dolphins as the underdog in each of those games. “On paper” it appears that the Dolphins will most likely go 1-3 to start the season, which is clearly not starting off on the right foot. However, anything better then 1-3 would be a strong indication that this regime might be a good one.
A benefit of playing a team like the Seahawks to start the season is that since Miami has a Rookie head coach, it means there is a lot less tape available on his schemes that Pete Carroll and his coaching staff can analyze and dissect. On the other side, Coach Gase and his team will have plenty of tape on the Seahawks to look over, so there is an outside chance that Miami might have a slight advantage in game planning with Seahawks – that is before half-time adjustments. In addition, the Seahawks have started out slow the last two years, so maybe (fingers and toes crossed) this is a trend that will continue this year. Either way, this is going to be a tough game. So with little expectations, maybe by playing a superior team, the Dolphins can use the underdog card to their advantage.
The early part of this new season will go along towards giving this regime legitimacy.
I believe that against the Patriots will be our best chance to win one of our first three away games. With Brady absent from the starting QB role, there definitely will be a negative effect on the Patriots offense. If Miami’s pass rush is truly better this season, then it could be a key to beating the Patriots in Foxborough week 2. This game will determine if this team will be good or not. Given the advantage, they must go for the throat.
The Dolphins have no alternative, they need to beat the Browns since they are truly one of the worst teams in the league. So, there is no excuse for them losing the game- ’nuff said.
The next game against the Bengals will be very tough. However, the Dolphins will have one small advantage in the fact that their new Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph had a large part in the Bengals defensive scheme the past 2 years. With a bit of an inside track on what they like to do things, this could possibly be used to help Gase’s play calling.
If Miami can go 2-2 then this would actually be a very good start to the season and put the Phins in position to at least be in the thick of things later in the season. What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans expectations for the first month of the season?
Jimmy
Win or Lose the 1st 4 games will eliminate two important Ifs?
Can our secondary learn and recover and evolved into a proficient Dolphins secondary
Can we established the run game in those 1st four games without injury?
I see 1 win (Cleveland) out the 4 games ( No need to panic)
If we can achieved success in these to area then we have a chance to win every game from Week 5 to Week 13th. Week 15th, 16th and 17th Wins.
We still have our 11 wins (If we can established a run game against New England, Seattle, Cardinals, Raven, Bengal then we will win more games.
The Key to Miami Success will determined how well they can run and how well the secondary performed? This will fueled the rest of the team.
If we think that we will win by passing every down then I would predict 4 wins 13 losses a very long season? This system has not worked for former Miami Dolphins 29 QB’s and 10 other coaches? Its been said that is the definition of insanity: To continue doing the same thing that gives the same results?
Totally correct, Steve. Weeks 1-4 will show exactly what Miami has to offer from personnel to staff. Run game will be huge – and I think it will do fairly well. I don’t see passing every down as a Gase type team. Look at his time with Tebow – very patient and never gave up the run game…I think we have sober coaches this year – now we need to know if they are competent.
…hhhmmm …I just don’t buy the idea that Brady’s absence makes the Pats game any more winnable …Brady is a good QB, no question, but Belicheat is still the coach and he has a good staff and a lot of other players just as good as Brady …one of which is Garappolo who he drafted and has been schooling for two years now …look at his stats in the games he has played in …Brady stats in the making …he could fold but I’m not counting on it …Belicheat knew all off season that this was coming but made zero effort to acquire another QB …that says he has confidence in his guy …think about that
…I’m still in the 0-2 corner and won’t panic if we go 1-3 as long as there are no blowouts …this is a learning and building year by any rational eval …I’ll be looking at how they finish the last five games, not so much the first five, eh
Well, the simply fact that Brady is better than Garappolo is an advantage simply in reduction of talent – now, is it a gimme’? No. You are absolutely correct about that. But, if this team is anything, and Tannehill for that matter, they should be able to beat them. If they are simply a team in rebuild and an average team, then no, they shouldn’t. When you have a game against the division leaders without their best player, who happens to be the QB, then a victory needs to happen. Yeah, they could pull it all together at the end, but that will be a far more difficult task with a more banged up team…I just see them needing to take week two and three and playing very close in one of the other two to really make a statement that it’s not the same old Fins. As you said, they could do well towards the end, but that would be more about next years chances rather than this year. With this tough a schedule, you need all you can get as early as possible.