6 Wins And No More

It cannot be more obvious now, and it would continue the bizarre, depressing pattern of finishing with one fewer win after every 3-0 start.

Without Tua, Waddle and Hill, what does this team really have? The D is bad. The O-line is trash. Even the special teams are awful now. I hate to say it, but I'll be damned if this wasn't actually a stronger and more complete team under Flores somehow!

I have them beating some combination of the Steelers, Bears, Texans and Pats but they're not winning all those games and they'll be getting thumped in all the others. The Bills may legit win the rematch by 50.

EDIT: Now that I see the Steelers beat the Bucs I'm rethinking my prediction on that one.

Also, with 5 wins they'd match the worst finish by any 3-0 team since the merger. Less than 5 wins would be a monumentally historic disgrace.

https://stathead.com/tiny/m43Gx

I think we'll turn it around when Tua comes back. The next 5 games are very winnable with Tua at QB. The schedule gets brutal after that, but if we can go into that final stretch at 8-3 or 7-4, we'll be in good shape. I just hope Tua can stay healthy.

The big issue is the line. Tua isn't going to last 5 games behind this row of turnstiles!

I really hope Ross sells this team. It's the only way to get rid of Grier and start over. We fucking used multiple picks to get Eichenberg.

Bring back the ping pong table

It sounds like Armstead and Jackson may be back next game, so that will help the line. And Tua knows better than anyone how to operate behind a poor OL...as long as he learns to get rid of the damn ball when necessary, I think he'll survive! Maybe! LOL

I really hope Ross sells this team. It's the only way to get rid of Grier and start over. We fucking used multiple picks to get Eichenberg.

A very aggravating aspect of watching Grier operate. Accumulates picks like a greedy hoarder, only to piss them away in trading up for players that don't pan out.

The point of acquiring picks is to give yourself more chances to land on the next good or great player. Not to trade up for some Xth rounder thinking "this guy is IT I have to have him!!!"

Frustrating.

Yep... For all the good to very good picks, Grier cancels them out with horrid mistakes.

As JMP says, every Gm has good and bad picks, but the really good ones have an overall positive, not a ZERO! Grier never seems to make the team appreciably better no matter what he does! The Pluses never outweigh the minuses!

The only differences I see this year are McDaniel who knows how an offense is supposed to work, and Ty Hill, but that is more than offset by the mistakes or failures to work out at other positions. I had really hoped McDaniel was going to be able to make this work, but I think the atrocious Oline play is going to be too big an obstacle to overcome.

What is genuinely sad is even if they do bring in another GM....
ONE - there is no assurance he will be better than Grier... we may get another guy who drafts like CamMueller or even... (gulp) Dave Dumbstedt!!!
and TWO - the Phins need two tackles and and a BMN Guard, or a BMN Center and slide the current center back to OG.

So how often can you find all that in one draft or off-season through free agency. Grier can't do it. I don't know if a new GM could either.

And then factor in how Dipshiite Ross has cost the Phins a 1st rounder and I tend to think the Phins are at least TWO VERY GOOD DRAFTS AND FREE AGENT OFFSEASONS away from being a contender.

And no way in heck do I believe the Phins will get a VERY GOOD from Grier. Just so-so is the best and maybe a stinker at times.

Ross should be beat with a whiffle ball bat until he cries and then start all over again! What a flaming idiot for an Owner!

To be fair, both the team's general downward spiral and the utter failure to properly evaluate O-line talent started on Huizenga's watch.

A while back I showed that Tim Freaking Ruddy, drafted in '94, has been better than any Fins O-lineman ever since! That's 28 years of bringing in mostly bumblers, busts and bums. This includes both drafted and FA O-lineman BTW. Hell, Richmond Webb is the second best O-lineman from this period BY FAR--and that's with his first four seasons chopped off!

https://stathead.com/tiny/GUrDy

In fact if you go back to '90 when Webb and Keith Sims were drafted you'll find that Webb is the ONLY O-lineman who's been better than Ruddy in that time span, and 3rd place Sims blows everyone else away!

https://stathead.com/tiny/VTQb4

Or you could go by Pro Bowls in this span (a bit dubious, I know) which shows that this team hasn't had a Pro Bowl O-lineman in seven years, ever since Mike Pouncey and Branden Albert both somehow made it despite having meh seasons. Richie Incognito is the only other one to make it in the last DECADE.

https://stathead.com/tiny/AGkAg

This points to what I've been saying for years--the part of the scouting department who evaluates O-line talent needs to be gotten rid of. I wouldn't be surprised if the same guys have been working for the Fins this entire time. I've lost count of how many GMs have come and gone in the last three decades and yet this one issue keeps persisting.

I am NOT defending Grier BTW, nor does this mean I no longer want him gone. It means that the root of the problem goes deeper than you think and will never be solved until Ross or another GM realizes this.

Really, the only glaring issue with this team is OL. Yes, the D is wildly inconsistent - but when we are firing on all cylinders on offense, the D is just fine.

For all the hatred thrown Grier's way, this current roster that he put together is absolutely playoff caliber. And as we saw with the Bengals last season, even a mediocre playoff team can get hot and go to the Super Bowl.

The OL is the one area holding this team back. As I said, McDaniel rolled the dice with the three young linemen to see if they could develop. Hunt is good enough, Eich is awful, and Jackson showed signs of mayeb being a decent RT before his injury. The line will be further addressed in the offseason, and with McDaniel helping to shop for the groceries I expect better results in the draft than we saw with Flores in that regard. In the meantime, a healthy Tua makes the line better. As long as remains the starter, we are going to win some games and make a run. Really, that's all you can ask for in year one with a rookie head coach.

JMP wrote:As I said, McDaniel rolled the dice with the three young linemen to see if they could develop.

They were Grier's picks, what other choice did he have? Well, I suppose Zach Tom could've been drafted instead of a WR who literally never plays but other than that...

The line will be further addressed in the offseason, and with McDaniel helping to shop for the groceries I expect better results in the draft than we saw with Flores in that regard.  In the meantime, a healthy Tua makes the line better.  As long as remains the starter, we are going to win some games and make a run.  Really, that's all you can ask for in year one with a rookie head coach.

The NFL wants Tua cancelled, and will literally never allow him to play in more than two straight games again until he gets off this team. Just you watch and see. It's the single most mind-blowing thing I have ever seen in my 40 years of following the NFL, but it's very real.

DolFan 316 wrote:
They were Grier's picks, what other choice did he have? Well, I suppose Zach Tom could've been drafted instead of a WR who literally never plays but other than that...

McDaniel could have said, "Hey Chris, I don't want these guys. Let's replace them." But he instead chose to work with them and see if they could develop, which I actually think was a smart decision because they are young and at least have the right skillset.

What's frustrating is that Eich actually looked salvageable in the first few week, but it's been all downhill from there.

DolFan 316 wrote:The NFL wants Tua cancelled, and will literally never allow him to play in more than two straight games again until he gets off this team. Just you watch and see. It's the single most mind-blowing thing I have ever seen in my 40 years of following the NFL, but it's very real.

That is definitely in the back of my mind.

JMP wrote:What's frustrating is that Eich actually looked salvageable in the first few week, but it's been all downhill from there.

i also think the revolving issues at LT are hurting him.

I agree... the issues at LT are not helping, but signing an oft-injured free agent for big bucks and getting next to nothing from him is what Grier does.

The problems on the Oline are systemic it seems. Nice job of pointing out the Dolphins long history of abject failure with the Oline, DF316.

Even when they draft a OLineman with the first overall pick, it is huge mistake because they failed to secure a franchise QB!!!

With all those draft picks, all those free agents, you would think just by accident, they would stumble on a good one??

Let's hope Tua can do something with the Team's morale and inspire them to beat the Steelers to a pulp!!

I've honestly lost all hope on this team and season. Thinking McD over Dabol was a mistake.

JEGnj wrote:I've honestly lost all hope on this team and season. Thinking McD over Dabol was a mistake.

Right now it sure does look that way

Then again if the Fins had hired Daboll they'd have been absolutely skewered by the media even worse than right now. Remember that whole brouhaha with the congratulatory text from Belichick that was supposed to mean the NFL was racist? Ross may have even been forced to step down like Jerry Richardson, and the Fins would be owned by a group of "woke" celebs. Sure is weird how the Giants never got bashed and trashed after the first couple of days when they hired him, though

DolFan 316 wrote:Sure is weird how the Giants never got bashed and trashed after the first couple of days when they hired him, though

and is it me or does anyone else find it odd how whenever they (the media in general) mention Miami and the Flores lawsuit, the very first thing is the racial hiring allegations when in fact that is the very thing Flores didn't accuse Miami of. that was the Giants and the Broncos, but the media always presents it as if Miami was racially biased in firing Flores - yet don't recognize McDaniel's racial status. hmm, curious. but hell, never let the truth get in the way of a good slander campaign.

mercury22nathan wrote:

DolFan 316 wrote:Sure is weird how the Giants never got bashed and trashed after the first couple of days when they hired him, though

and is it me or does anyone else find it odd how whenever they (the media in general) mention Miami and the Flores lawsuit, the very first thing is the racial hiring allegations when in fact that is the very thing Flores didn't accuse Miami of.  that was the Giants and the Broncos, but the media always presents it as if Miami was racially biased in firing Flores - yet don't recognize McDaniel's racial status.  hmm, curious.  but hell, never let the truth get in the way of a good slander campaign.

Nobody ever mentions Flores accusing Texans of racism either--right after they hired a black coach that wasn't him! Nope, he keeps getting to pay the victim.

Not to mention Pickett gets to practice on Wednesday and play the very next game after getting an actual concussion, while Bridgewater can't practice until Friday after getting yanked by a spotter who "felt" like he "wobbled" and put him in the concussion protocol without having a concussion! And Finhater Florio on PFT is DEFENDING this, of course.

The anti-Fins conspiracy is not only real, it keeps getting more obvious and more desperate by the week! I am convinced the ONLY reason the NFL spotter didn't yank Tua last night is because too many people know about Pickett's concussion that the media and NFL think is perfectly fine.

Fins aren't out of the 6-win woods yet. Believe it or not, this team has the same point differential as the 2-5 Browns and a slightly worse PD than the 2-5 Broncos who everyone's bashing and trashing They (and we) can't assume they'll beat, let alone dominate, anybody. The Lions and Tigers Texans and Bears are legit threats.

DolFan 316 wrote:Fins aren't out of the 6-win woods yet. Believe it or not, this team has the same point differential as the 2-5 Browns and a slightly worse PD than the 2-5 Broncos who everyone's bashing and trashing They (and we) can't assume they'll beat, let alone dominate, anybody. The Lions and Tigers Texans and Bears are legit threats.

With very few exceptions, I think it is safe to say the Phins can and could lose to ANY TEAM they face.

A few of Tua's off-target passes that get INTed and the team will lose.

There does seem to be a problem with he coaching or something on offense. Too many mistakes, too many times the clock runs down and they have to take a timeout, and just a degree of inefficiency I was not expecting from McDaniel offense.

And then factor in some of McDaniels decisions, going for it on 4th and not kicking a Fg to go up by 9, when to take timeout to not...

And the defense... They REALLY need a pass rusher to step up and get hot. But the way Boyer is dropping Phillips and Ingram at the oddest times and playing that suckarse zone....

I have said it before and stand behind it... The Phins are LUCKY to be 4-3.