Well, I suppose we should've seen this loss coming. From the Dolphins dismal 4th quarter track record this year, the loss of Ronnie Brown and even the Bills' somewhat new-found confidence and injection of energy since beating the Jets on the road and interim Head Coach Perry Fewell taking over the team.
Regardless of all those factors, the Dolphins SHOULD have won the game. To go from up 14-7 after the third quarter to the Bills scoring TWENTY FOUR unanswered points is nothing short of an inexcusable and disgraceful embarrassment.
I will start off first by saying that this team misses Ronnie Brown more than any coach or player will openly admit. Case in point: Ricky's interception in the end zone. With Ronnie, Ricky doesn't throw the ball and that poor decision from lack of experience just doesn't get made. Secondly, Chad Henne is, for all intents and purposes, a rookie. He'll make a great throw during one series and make you pull your hair out the next. Third, we're still far too inconsistent in the secondary, but that comes with sacrificing experience for talent. Fourth, we don't have a receiver who can legitimately threaten the opposing defense vertically. Ted Ginn is a decent kickoff returner, but nothing more.
At 5-6 with our schedule, I hate to say that we're out of the playoff hunt, but I don't see any way that the Dolphins can even lose one more game and make the playoffs. It's either 6-0 or bust from here on out, and even we are far from a playoff lock. A situation similar to last season may arise: it's either win the division or miss the playoffs, so this week's game against the Patriots may either essentially end our playoff hopes or keep us alive in the division.
Unfortunately, I have the Dolphins finishing the remainder of their season at 3-2 with an 8-8 overall record (which is the record I predicted before the start of the season). The schedule is just a murderer's row this year.
Moving forward: we're going to need to start finding replacements on defense, specifically Joey Porter and Jason Taylor. I know, they're still performing at high levels right now, but winners plan for the inevitable future and losers react to the obvious present. Secondly, we must - MUST - find a legitimate vertical threat at wide receiver. Have I mentioned that I have a man-crush on Dez Bryant? Well, I do. The field trip to Prime Time's house is merely a blip on the radar recorded in pencil.
The good news is that I believe the Dolphins (finally) have a young quarterback that they can legitimately build around (knock on wood). Granted, I don't think he's the next Marino, but he's clearly not the next Ryan Leaf. Have you watched Henne throw the ball. I knew he had a strong arm, but GOOD NIGHT. Also good news is that, assuming Ronnie Brown makes a full recovery (which I expect him to), we have a solid stable of RBs (even if Ricky decides to hang it up, which, if he decided to do say after next year, wouldn't surprise me in the least). Lex Hilliard reminds me a lot of the vastly underrated Kevin Faulk, and RBs are a dime a dozen in the draft, but here's to hoping that Ronnie can stay healthy for a full season and make a full season's claim to being one of the 5 best running backs in the league as I fully believe he is.
Ryan Fitzpatrick is still running.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment