Tough; What Should I Complain About?

I had very little confidence going into this game.  The Baltimore Ravens have more than a mental edge against the Dolphins; referring to the last 7-10 years.  They have or I should say they man handle Miami every time they meet.  Beat us up they do!!  And Miami seems to enter the game acquiescing to this theme. It's pretty sickening considering they are a professional team.

What really irritated me was something I have considered during games, but tonight it really got under my skin.

There were a few mano y mano competitions in the 4 week preseason.  Meaning Gase was gonna keep one of two players fighting for the same position.  I have grown to trust him because of that great turn around last year.  Here is my beef:

Baltimore's field position to start their drives was excellent ALL NIGHT LONG!!  Their worst starting field position was on the final drive of the game.  Their own 19 yard line.  Their other starting positions were as follows: Balt. 21; Dolp. 42; Balt. 28; Balt. 28; Balt. 40; Balt. 29; Balt. 37; Balt. 19!!

How did they start in such non-threatening field position?  Well, here is a listing of Matt Haack's 8 punts during the game: #1-34 yards; #2-36 yards; #3-49 yards; #4-38 yards; #5-31 yards; #6-41 yards; #7-49 yards; & #8-50 yards.  I'm sorry but that SUCKS for an NFL Punter in Prime Time with beautiful weather.  He wasn't hurried to get the kicks off.  He didn't kick them off the side of his foot.  I believe those were his punts.  His best effort.

40 to 0.  I'm not saying their starting field position won them this game.  But they sure weren't backed-up to their own end zone and feeling some pressure.  And from where Haack was punting, he should have had  3 or 4 inside the 10, with the others inside the 20.  Only one time do I remember him kicking from our end zone.

I don't care anymore about the supposed left footed kicker that makes it difficult for guys to catch the ball.  He can't even reach where they are waiting to receive his punt. 

It may not have changed the final score of this game.  It will if he isn't replaced, or we're in a close game.  Obviously if our offense keeps lighting it up like they do Haack is gonna be on the field quite often.  I've taken dance lessons, I know the cadence: One, two, three, KICK!  One, two, three, KICK!

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A Surprise From Deion "Prime Time" Sanders To Jay Cutler

And an apology from Deion Sanders to Jay Cutler at halftime!

It went like this from "Prime Time":

Jay, I want to apologize to you. This is not your fault. This offense is atrocious. Watching it live, I now see this is bigger than you. Adam Gase must do something. It's too predictable, too simplistic. Jay I am sorry"

That made watching this joke of a team worth it!

How about this Coach: your receiver screens to Landry don't work, they haven't worked all year. Please bring an end to them! LOL

How about getting Williams and Drake in the game for some snaps? Ajayi hasn't done shit all year. Could be a good change of pace. Oh wait, never mind, that won't work, the O Line is garbage!

On a side note, I wonder if the NFL is regretting giving the Dolphins so many prime time games this year???

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Yo Carl!

Hey Carl!

I think we found out if this Miami team was tough or not! They look miserable in the first half so far! 

I wish I could say that I am shocked but I am not.

O-Line sucks as usual and our offense has worn out the defense in the first half yet again. 

Everyone put on their shocked face! Here's mine...  😱

Sent from my iPad

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About To Find Out How Tough The Dolphins Are Tomorrow Night

After 2 heroic comebacks, one on the road at a Super Bowl contender's house and one in our friendly confines against a Super Bowl pretender, now comes the acid test.

Can the Dolphins roll into Baltimore, against a team who is so similar statistically that they could actually switch uniforms and no one would know the difference, and come out with another win?

Can they play in a stadium that has not been friendly to us in any way? At least not since the first time we played the Ravens back in 2009 and walked out with a 24-13 victory.

Since then its been 3 losses in 3 attempts with 2 blow outs including last year's 38-6 see ya later.

In our 14 game history with the Ravens we won 5 of the first 7 games. Since then we are a dismal 1-6. And that includes 5 home games.

They just beat us up. They diminish our will to win. They shake hands and say "Hope to see ya soon."

In only our 5th Baltimore trip to play the Ravens, tomorrow night will tells us a lot about the quit, or lack there of, in our Dolphins.

Baltimore will be pumped. They are an emotional team. They sense the importance of this game.

At 3-4, they are chasing the Steelers by 2 games. And, believe it or not, they are chasing us as well by 2 games.

So this game is crucial for their playoff chances. The Tie Breaker can come in handy later on down the road.

Yes, I know, I know, this game is important to us too. But by how much???

That is what I want to find out tomorrow night. I want to see exactly how tough we are. Can we be physical on a short week or are we just a lucky finesse team these past 2 weeks?

If you want to be a contender, a true contender, then you have to be able to go into someone else's kitchen and steal the cookie jar.  With them watching!!!

This is going to take some balls tomorrow night. Some big balls. This is not a team taking us lightly nor are they a bit cocky after beating us 3 weeks ago.

Nope. They need this bad and as sure as hell you know Harbaugh will have them frothing at the bit.

They will come out fired up and look to put a beating on us. Like a bully in the neighborhood.

Hopefully, we are up to the challenge. This is going to be our first opponent playing in a must win game this season.

Sparks will be flying!

Phins Up!!!

Carl Leone
Dolfan since 12/25/1971

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Becareful what you "BOO" About Fins Fans

No this is not my pre-Halloween column. It's my famous cliché column about the grass always being greener under the feet of ANY quarterback other than the Dolphin starter.

I was listening to that popular radio show on ESPN yesterday afternoon.  No disrespect to any other members, but the only name I can think of is Stu Gartz...(SP???).  They were talking about the injury to Aaron Rodgers & what it's like to be accustomed to perfection.  You don't get perfect passes (yet???) from Brett Hundley.  Does that sound familiar to any Dolphin fans?

I grew up cheering for Bob Griese. Than Woodley & Strock.  Then....???  I think we drafted someone late in the first round?  After several other QBs.  OH!  Dan Marino out of Pittsburgh!  And then we watched perfection for 10 plus years!!

Thing is, other than his 2nd season the Dolphins never went to the SB.  And beyond that, who really cares about a single player achieving perfection in a team sport?!?!  Hey, I was a huge Marino fan and still am!!  This is not a piece against great QBs.  This is MY personal anger against the Dolphin fans booing Jay Cutler.

It is so easy to find the faults about anyone.  It can spread like an actual wild fire with todays out of control media, and everyone that has an opinion like the hypocrite writing this.

But come on PEOPLE!!  We have a talented team.  We have a coach daggone serious about getting this team to the top.  We have a fan base......yup, we have a fan base.  What to say about them, I have no clue?

Try this!  This team was built (INTENTIONALLY) for the second half of the season.  Unfortunately Irma got in the way a tiny bit....or a lot?  What ever happened last year, in the off season, etc.  I truly felt/feel that Gase picked up something several years ago, or maybe because we made the playoffs after starting 1-4 or 2-5 (whatever our record was, percentage's said we had a 4-5-6%  chance of making the post season).

TJ McDonald I always felt would help our run defense.  Now I'm hoping he's really good at pass defense  also.  Maxwell is coming back.  I think it's been a plan.  Regardless of my crazy thinking, I wish I could convince the fans to cheer for anyone wearing a Dolphin uniform.  All I could think about when I heard the boo's for Cutler were his wife & 3 children. 

How would you explain to your children why people are booing you??

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Cardiac Kids South Do It Again!!!

No lead is safe against this current squad of Dolphins. They just keep finding ways to fall behind and then surprisingly flip the coin or switch and battle back to win in heroic fashion.

This week, Miami set up the Jets on the one yard line when Wilkerson squeezed a deflected Cutler pass as part of the Jets building a 28-14 lead in the 4th quarter.

But Matt Moore, who came off the bench for an injured Cutler, lead this "never say die" band of brothers back with two 4tb Quarter TD passes to tie it up.

Then, miraculously, McCann picks off a flutter with a minute left and Parkway splits the uprights with the game winner.

WOW!!!

Two weeks in a row, the Dolphins were left for dead and two weeks in a row they found a way to resuscitate a victory from impending defeat.

You have to love the fight in these guys. You have to love the exhilaration of these come back wins.

I just don't like the frustration beforehand.

This is just amazing that we are 4-2 and in the hunt. Starting today we were at the 6 seed. Let's see how the rest of today plays out in the AFC.

We may not have any more booing Cutler and "We want Moore" cheers because Cutler may not come back if he damaged his lower chest or sprained some core muscles getting popped by Jenkins.

It looks like it is Deja Vu all over again with Moore having to lead us into the playoffs.

Good for us it's a short week, since Moore is notorious for not practicing well. We play at Baltimore on Thursday night so he won't have much time any way.

Just how he likes it!

Remarkable comeback for an incredible win!

Phins up!!!

Carl Leone
Dolfan since 12/25/1971

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Well...Damn...

Well, son of a bitch. What can I say?

I thought the Dolphins were dead in the water. Cutler went down and Moore came in and we score 17 unanswered points to win the game?

Our offense started to click. Our pace was faster. The urgency seemed to be up and the defense played with passion. 

Moore also seemed to be making better checks and protection calls than Cutler, I may be wrong but it was just an observation.

A QB controversy anyone?

I personally think Moore should be given the opportunity to start and let Cutler play backup for the year. This gives him more time to get his feet under him in case he is needed per an injury to Moore. The more time that passes, the more evident it becomes that missing training camp has hurt Cutler. Why wouldn't he want to collect 10 Million to hold a clip board? 

I believe this give the Dolphins the best chance to compete this year. I honestly don't think we win this game today with a Cutler at QB.

If you take a closer look at the interception by Moore, you can clearly see that it was Fasano's fault. His head never turned to look for the ball at all during his route. To me, that is on him, not on Moore. 

A QB controversy in Miami! Who would thunk it! All we need to do is keep our O-Line in somewhat decent condition and we are in pretty good shape!

Go Falcons! (Tonight) and Phins Up!! 

Sent from my iPad

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