Surprising Dolphins stat

I was randomly looking at stuff online and came across this:

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/best-nfl-records-since-2020

Since 2020, the Dolphins are tied for the 8th best regular season record at 28-22, a winning percentage of .560.

19 teams are .500 or above since 2020...a great indication of the level of parity in the NFL these days.

Yeah, the Phins are average...or just a bit better than average.

The way the NFL has mandated the rules to favor the offense, the teams with the best QB play are usually the big winners.

It's hard to reduce complex systems to one or two factors, but football has a few IMO.

1) Coaching - You can have everything else required, but if the coach and the staff are clueless idjits, not much else matters. This is not just the HC and his personality and how he motivates players, but lumped in with this category are the schemes employed. The adjustments to tweak a scheme to fit the players you have or the QB you have can be huge force multipliers IMO. This is one Andy Reid's greatest strengths.

2) QB - This a difference maker even more so than it has been with the rules of the current NFL wanting more points scored. If everything else on a team is good to great, poor QB play becomes THE limiting factor!

3) Personnel - Having the right person in charge here is usually the downfall of a team IMO. Look at the Jets. They seem to be doing better now with a different person in charge off personnel, but they still drafted a QB highly "who doth stink mightily" it appears. Unless they kick Wilson to the curb this year, this millstone will continue to hinder the team. As I have stated before, in personnel matters, the ramifications from a "STINKER" in free agency or the draft have far ranging consequences for the team. A personnel manager who is invested too heavily in their free agent signings or their draft picks can cause immeasurable harm to a team IMO. If you have drafted (or signed) a "Stinker", rectify the problem ASAP instead of allowing it to be a constant source of poor play.

The Phins:
Coaching - Flores managed to garner some wins, all the while having a near total lack of unity on his staff it seems. The relationship Flores fostered between himself and Tua ultimately led to Flores own firing IMO. McDaniel seems to be an entirely different breed of HC than ToxicTeamKiller Flores, and it shows IMO. Once we see how the new Coaching Staff shakes out, we will know more, but it does seem like McD has identified some problems that needed correcting (Boyer for one...) and is in the process of doing so. This portends good things hopefully.

QB - Tua played "Bama-Good" at times this season. The whole "concussion problems" could derail his career, but we have seen glimpses of what made Saban sit Jalen Hurts on the bench in favor of starting Tua. An Improved Oline and thusly an improved running attack would make this offense nearly unstoppable IMO. THAT should be the focus this offseason, but who knows what Grier will do?

Personnel - While Grier's "hit on a few" good players is scads better than the complete and utter suckitude from what the Phins had before, you have to wonder if it is good enough to get the Phins to the promised land? How many years has Grier had to FIX THE OLINE and it is still a major weakness on the team? And he insists that Liam Eichenberg and Austin Jackson are in the team's plans for next season? Okay, Grier, but does that mean LG and RT are not in need of Upgrades? Upgrades that would push Eichenberg and Jackson to backup status where they probably should be?

Grier's free agent signings have not been the successes you would hope for from someone having NFL film to base their decisions on. Will Fuller anyone?

Grier's drafting has been hit or miss and some of the decisions one has to hope were influenced by ToxicTeamKiller and his staff. Iggy?

What we Phins Phans are left to hope for is that McD turns out to be Kyle Shanahan-like; Tua can become consistently "Bama-Good" and not have a concussion shortened career, and maybe McD and staff can affect Grier's drafting positively.

How many years has Grier had to FIX THE OLINE and it is still a major weakness on the team? And he insists that Liam Eichenberg and Austin Jackson are in the team's plans for next season? Okay, Grier, but does that mean LG and RT are not in need of Upgrades? Upgrades that would push Eichenberg and Jackson to backup status where they probably should be?

This is one of the most disappointing facts for me. We have seen the resources POURED into the offensive line, yet it's not good enough. Every season.

We can only cling to the hope (more on that below) that Grier's coach-serving style is behind it. Because most offensive staffs have been clueless, and thus their opinions on draft picks equally clueless. Combined with constant scheme changing on offense (now over), we can hope this long term problem will be resolved. Some supporting facts: Even with several down-the-depth chart players on the field, we ran at least an effective offense in Buffalo. That's encouraging.

Grier's free agent signings have not been the successes you would hope for from someone having NFL film to base their decisions on. Will Fuller anyone?

Conor Williams looks pretty good, and Armstead is great when he's on the field. Partial credit. Home run for the trade for Tyreek Hill. Love Mostert and Wilson.

Your larger point I agree. Way too many free agent busts.

Grier's drafting has been hit or miss and some of the decisions one has to hope were influenced by ToxicTeamKiller and his staff. Iggy?

I believe this is behind our poor drafting. Grier and his self-stated commitment to working with the coaching staff in order to get them what they want. Flores and Boyer clearly valued the secondary, so they reached for Iggy. And whoever made that evaluation was clearly way, way off. Once again - that's over. McDaniel values the front 7, so we will certainly see a focus there now. Our scouts were able to identify Wilkins and Phillips, and Grier brought in Sieler, so we seem to be able to scout the front 7 effectively.

Again, hoping the needle is pointing up there.

white1 wrote:

Grier's free agent signings have not been the successes you would hope for from someone having NFL film to base their decisions on. Will Fuller anyone?

Conor Williams looks pretty good, and Armstead is great when he's on the field.  Partial credit.  Home run for the trade for Tyreek Hill.  Love Mostert and Wilson.  

Your larger point I agree.  Way too many free agent busts.

I noticed you failed to mention Chase Edmunds, W1??

No, even I thought that was good move. It just goes to show that even if you have good intel and everything looks positive, it still may not work out.

We have to HOPE, the good results in these other free agents was due to McD and staff advising Grier.

I think we will have a good idea with these coaching staff hires and how the Phins approach the free agency period. Signing a a few of their own free agents
will tell us what direction Grier is heading. Let's HOPE McD and staff have a KEY ROLE in that direction.

The issue with Chase Edmonds was that the staff expected him to fit into the blocking/running scheme, even though he hadn't played in the system before.  The hope was that his skills would translate, but for whatever reason they just didn't.  That was a swing and a miss, but I can certainly see the logic behind it and I 100% agreed with the signing at the time.

But overall, I thought the first Grier/McDaniel free agent/trade list was excellent, maybe the best in Dolphins history.  They certainly did a phenomenal job of completely transforming the offense overnight.

Hits:
Tyreek Hill
Terron Armstead
Connor Williams
Raheem Mostert
Alec Ingold
Trent Sherfield
River Cracraft
Melvin Ingram
Justin Bethel
Keion Crossen
Thomas Morestead
Brandon Shell (in-season)
Jeff Wilson (in-season)
Bradley Chubb (in-season)

Misses:
Cedric Wilson (not a total miss, but didn't play up to salary)
Chase Edmonds
Tre Flowers (but showed promise before getting hurt)
Eric Fisher (basically a panic signing, but he never got healthy)
EDIT: can't forget Teddy Bridgewater

JMP - Your free agent list for this season gives my hope that Grier is working with McD and staff a big shot of endorphins!!!

I still think the Phins should be getting more from the draft and not having to hit on so many free agents, but...

The salary cap would appreciate some rookies who could play as well.

finfanatic wrote:

I still think the Phins should be getting more from the draft and not having to hit on so many free agents, but...

The salary cap would appreciate some rookies who could play as well.  

Absolutely, on both counts. I think signing so many free agents was necessary to rebuild the offense, and unfortunately we'll have to either re-sign many of those guys that were on 1-year deals or add new ones...so free agency will once again have to be key to roster development in 2023.

This 2023 draft is an important one even though we don't have a ton of picks, because we absolutely need early hits to offset the coming free agent losses and salary cap issues. And when I say "hits" I don't mean singles...we need extra-base hits! So let's see what the Grier-McDaniel duo can do with a 2nd and two 3rds...

JMP wrote:This 2023 draft is an important one even though we don't have a ton of picks, because we absolutely need early hits to offset the coming free agent losses and salary cap issues.  And when I say "hits" I don't mean singles...we need extra-base hits!  So let's see what the Grier-McDaniel duo can do with a 2nd and two 3rds...

This draft absolutely CANNOT be the complete miss the last draft was. Let's be real here, the only reason Skylar saw the field was because Tua and Turdy Bilgewater are both made of glass. And Grier passed up somebody better whose team is still playing to boot! I just hope Tindall and Ezukanma can see the field at all!

Add this to the near-complete botching of the first round in 2020 and the constant signing of injury-prone players and it's obvious who's really holding this team back. Especially since coaches keep being changed every 2-3 seasons yet somehow the record stays the same.

Also, from the Bills thread: even if Patrick Queen is no better than Baker, he still would've been worlds better than Iggy and also, he'd have been a lot cheaper. Having Player A who's just as good as Player B but a lot cheaper is actually a win.

Mark my words, Tony Pollard's playoff injury has put him on Grier's "must sign" list. He's guaranteed to be a Fin next season.

Love Tyreek but Miami needs the QB to stop prioritizing him as first read every drop back. It was detrimental in Tua's bad games. The only read he would make was to Tyreek. While Gesicki or others are wide open Tua would force the ball to Tyreek.

CarsonChris wrote:Love Tyreek but Miami needs the QB to stop prioritizing him as first read every drop back. It was detrimental in Tua's bad games. The only read he would make was to Tyreek. While Gesicki or others are wide open Tua would force the ball to Tyreek.

I think the temptation for the home run with Hill and Waddle was just too great. Tua has always been hesitant to throw short, even back at Alabama - his first thought is always to go deep. And I think McDaniel fed into that this season.

My hope is that McD can take a step back this offseason and realize that you can't just throw bombs every down. I think he'll work to build the running game and get Tua to spread the ball around more. We'll see what happens, but I think we'll see a much more balanced offense next season.

DolFan 316 wrote:Also, from the Bills thread: even if Patrick Queen is no better than Baker, he still would've been worlds better than Iggy and also, he'd have been a lot cheaper. Having Player A who's just as good as Player B but a lot cheaper is actually a win.

Mark my words, Tony Pollard's playoff injury has put him on Grier's "must sign" list. He's guaranteed to be a Fin next season.

Queen was picked two slots before Iggy, and so actually has a slightly higher contract. In order to get Queen, we would have had to draft him at 18. Now, if you want to argue that we should have taken Queen instead of Jackson at 18, that's hard to debate right now even though that would have been terrible value for Queen. Of course, the player we should have taken at 18 is Justin Jefferson - but that's another story.

Tony Pollard isn't leaving Dallas, so no need to even worry about him.

I don't believe in Pollard. He puts up stats, sure, but when the 'Boys need a grown-up RB to get a short yardage conversion or TD in the red zone, they call up Zeke.

I believe Pollard would be another Chase Edmonds. A lot of promising stats but can't deliver as a feature RB.

IMO much better to simply re-sign both Mostert and Wilson. I like Ahmed too, he's a keeper for depth.

white1 wrote:I don't believe in Pollard.  He puts up stats, sure, but when the 'Boys need a grown-up RB to get a short yardage conversion or TD in the red zone, they call up Zeke.  

I believe Pollard would be another Chase Edmonds.  A lot of promising stats but can't deliver as a feature RB.  

IMO much better to simply re-sign both Mostert and Wilson.  I like Ahmed too, he's a keeper for depth.

Great points. I like Pollard, but I agree. He's not a true #1 workhorse back, and the money he'll get in free agency will be too much to justify the signing.

I also agree with re-signing Mostert and Wilson, and keeping Ahmed. Then draft a RB in round 3 (or even later), and we're set.

With all due respect...you guys are wrong.

Pollard has more carries for more yards and a higher YPC average despite Edmonds being in the NFL a season longer.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/EdmoCh00.htm

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/P/PollTo00.htm

There's a reason why Pollard is considered one of the top FA RBs, and one of the top FAs period, while Edmonds was traded mid-season. And remember, Edmonds was also injured himself shortly after the trade.

https://franchisesports.co.uk/upcoming-nfl-free-agents-2023/

https://franchisesports.co.uk/upcoming-nfl-free-agents-2023/

This isn't just me being a Memphis homer, I knew Pollard would be a great fit for the modern NFL when he entered the 2019 draft, unlike fellow Memphis RB Darrell Henderson. (And yes Hal, I'd also love it if Singletary was signed.)

I would be okay with Mostert and Wilson returning, but they both do get banged up a lot it seems.

I also agree Pollard fits the McD scheme fairly well. I just don't know if the Phins have the salary cap to get Pollard.

I would think the Phins DRAFT A RB, and sign at least one of their own free agent RBs.

A lot still depends on the free agent moves the Phins make.

I'm going to remind everybody that right now this team has zero RBs on the roster. (Whispers.) Zero...

They *could* re-sign Mostert and Wilson, but that only fills two spots and that's only if both agree. I've even seen people say Ahmed should be re-signed. Not sure about that one but at least he *should* be cheap. That's still just 3 guys though. Gaskin's as good as gone, I think we can all agree on that. IMO at least one FA and one draft pick will be used on RB out of sheer necessity. Grier's backed himself into a bit of a corner at that position. You better believe every agent of every FA RB--including Mostert and Wilson--knows what I just told you and will use it as leverage.