As Giddy As I Am...

One has absolutely nothing to do with another. The Jets have career loser Brandon Marshall. They drafted an aweful QB in round two, waffled with Fitz and Geno and they have more OL injuries than we do. They are a train wreck.

Miami is still a mess because of the roster. Winning as much as they have is definitely on coaching. That's the biggest change to the team this year. It took the owner a lot longer than we hoped but it looks like we found a coach.

I admit I thought Bowles was a great hire.

Jests got a career year out of Fitzpatrick, kinda like we caught lightning in a bottle with Pennington in '08. Or Fiedler in '01 (with Gailey here) for that matter. Foolish to think that would be repeated.

I do think this Miami team is much better coached than in 2008 (the Wildcat was the one innovative and fresh thing we saw from that staff in four years) and has a QB who is still ascending. Has a lot of holes to fill, as we've seen though.

Bowles is starting to remind me of Wanny.

I think the big caution heading into the Bills game is Miami's run defense. It sucks. The Bills will very likely run all over us next weekend. The D must once again find a way to force some turnovers and Gase has to continue to keep the offense simple for Moore and limit his mistakes. That game is going to be much tougher than the Jets game was IMO.

But to the original point - absolutely right, 316...winning 9 or 10 games this season does not guarantee success next season. It's always much easier to get your team to 9 wins than it is to get them to 12-13 wins...which is ideally where we want to be.

I think Gase + talented players will = 11+ wins.

I think the big caution heading into the Bills game is Miami's run defense. It sucks. The Bills will very likely run all over us next weekend.

I thought the same thing when we faced David Johnson, and LeVeon Bell earlier this year. I don't understand how they are doing it, but it seems when they scheme it up right they can contain very good running backs and limit the damage done. It's got to be smoke and mirrors, our linebackers are really not good. I believe we'll go into this game focused on the run and somehow, we will contain McCoy.

That game is going to be much tougher than the Jets game was IMO.

Bills are definitely still playing with some fire, and they don't have the mess at QB the Jets have. Will certainly be a tougher game, and the pressure just went up a notch in Miami with a legitimate chance to secure a playoff berth. Hopefully they stay focused and the coaches can come up with a great game plan.

I don't know what happened to our running game, just Pouncey out does not seem to make sense. We could really use a big dose of Ajayi this week, hopefully we stick to the run and he breaks a few big ones.

white1 wrote:

I think the big caution heading into the Bills game is Miami's run defense. It sucks. The Bills will very likely run all over us next weekend.

I thought the same thing when we faced David Johnson, and LeVeon Bell earlier this year.  I don't understand how they are doing it, but it seems when they scheme it up right they can contain very good running backs and limit the damage done.  It's got to be smoke and mirrors, our linebackers are really not good.  I believe we'll go into this game focused on the run and somehow, we will contain McCoy.

That game is going to be much tougher than the Jets game was IMO.

Bills are definitely still playing with some fire, and they don't have the mess at QB the Jets have.  Will certainly be a tougher game, and the pressure just went up a notch in Miami with a legitimate chance to secure a playoff berth.  Hopefully they stay focused and the coaches can come up with a great game plan.

I don't know what happened to our running game, just Pouncey out does not seem to make sense.  We could really use a big dose of Ajayi this week, hopefully we stick to the run and he breaks a few big ones.

Very true about Bell and Johnson.  We certainly held them in check.  That said, the Steelers and Cardinals are not among the NFL's top 10 rushing teams.  The Bills, however, are #1 in total rushing yards, rushing yards per game and yards per carry.  Tyrod Taylor is a big part of that, and the Dolphins certainly have had trouble with running QBs.  And Shady McCoy is healthy now and running like a beast...when we played Buffalo the first time, he could barely walk.  I don't know...just seems like a horrible matchup for the Phins' defense.  Forcing turnovers will be key.

As far as the Dolphin running game, no doubt losing Pouncey is the main reason we've gotten worse.  But the more I see, the more I think we have other problems: Tunsil and Bushrod have been absolutely awful in run blocking and Ajayi is no longer breaking tackles the way he did earlier.  The interior OL simply cannot run block, and it's compounded by the fact that the "J-Train" is running out of steam.  I do like the way Gase stuck with the run against the Jets to protect Moore a bit, but I don't like this team's chances the next two games without a legit running attack.

Agreed on the line. Hard to blame Ajayi, I'm seeing defenders in the backfield all the time. He's got to break two tackles just to avoid a loss on many plays. It's bad. We need two guards and an upgrade at backup center, desperately.

Wow, I had forgotten all about that game - but as soon as you mentioned it, I remembered T-Buck's huge pick-6 to seal the game!

DolFan 316 wrote:

JMP wrote:Wow, I had forgotten all about that game - but as soon as you mentioned it, I remembered T-Buck's huge pick-6 to seal the game!

I think I told this story before, but my mom was in a restaurant with some friends and this game was on their TV, and when that happened she literally screamed out, 'GO!!! GO!!!" as he was running down the field, right in front of everybody  

LOL That's awesome!

Reminds me of a time when my brother and I were watching a Phins game at the bar we always used to go to on Sundays. We had a pretty big Dolphins crowd back then. Anyway, we were watching the game and Calvin Jackson picked off a pass and returned it a long way...I think for a TD. While he was running, my brother and I jumped up and shouted in perfect unison "Go Calvin! Go! Go! Go!", pumping our fists in time to the chant. People looked at us like we were insane! We didn't plan it, and we had never done anything like that before...it was totally spontaneous. Classic.

LOL Yes - I think that was it - a Monday nighter!