Brian Flores and the 2020 Phins will have a harder this season
Last season, the Phins had their schedule and division softened up by three opposing quarterbacks not playing and some teams expected to be good fall far below expectations. While you can expect a team or two to underperform this season, the Phins likely won’t face three teams without their starting quarterbacks as well this year. Yes it’s early, but the 2020 Season does look to be a much stiffer challenge for Brian Flores and the Dolphins.
If this season does end up a tough one, that’s not a negative. Actually, it’s good news for the future! A tough 2020 Season is just what the doctor ordered for these young Phins.A hard schedule is the best way to sharpen, evaluate, and prepare this team for 2021. Next year, there will be legitimate expectations attached to the Phins.
In 2019, fate wore aqua
Last season, Sam Darnold, Ben Roethlisberger, and Andrew Luck all missed games against the Dolphins. In those games where they were absent, the Dolphins went 2-1. Add to this ‘help’ that the Phins played plenty of teams with six wins or less: Redskins, Eagles, Bengals, Giants, Chargers, and Browns. That’s nine games in 2019 where the Dolphins faced subpar teams or teams playing with backup quarterbacks… and five of those games were in Miami.
You play who you play, so I’m not knocking the 2019 Dolphins. They won’t get that lucky again. Considering the Phins made their situation more challenging by stripping themselves bear, five wins (with two more that were winnable) was an impressive feat. Considering that fifteen other teams went all-out to win and ended up with seven wins or less, the 2019 Phins far outperformed expectations no matter how you slice it…
… Still, beyond the talent gutting of 2019, favorable winds were mostly at the Phins’ backs.
If the 2020 Season ends up as difficult as it appears, the Phins’ win total should be viewed as apples to oranges compared to 2019.
My hope for the Phins 2020 Season is that it parallels the Pete Carroll’s Year 2 at Seattle. If you don’t remember, Carroll went 7-9 and 7-9, drafted and started Russel Wilson in Year 3 and went 11-5 with a playoff birth. He had a feisty team those first two seasons, despite back-to-back seven-win seasons. You could feel them coming together as all the young talent blossomed. Wilson was the spark to the gasoline.
Could the Dolphins duplicate this template in 2021?
Facing a tough schedule and tough conditions will reveal what’s really under the hood of Brian Flores and this team. Six to eight wins with a scrappy feel will mean there are good things to come. Go Phins!!!
