Red Mosquito

You're right that Tyreek has had some very poorly timed bad plays but the troubling thing was the last series from Tua. That's what had me spiraling. He suddenly looked like a guy who wasn't good enough to be a third stringer. Those three plays were that bad. I'm not abandoning him but until Miami beats a legitimate defense I'm also not getting excited. I've seen this movie too many times.

On the positive side, the defense was very good after that first drive. Full disclosure: after that drive I said Miami should leave Fangio in Germany if the defense didn't get better fast. Thankfully it did.

wow! Tua has been clutch all year and didn't overcome his teammates' mistakes on that last drive. Could he have caught that snap? Sure, but it was off target and there were free blitzers coming from both sides. Could he have hit Cedrick Wilson? Sure, but he ran the wrong route. The fact you're expecting clutch plays as baseline from him shows how good he's become. That loss wasn't on him. Have some faith going forward. He has corn rows now!

He has been very good this season. Absolutely. But I think the Wilson play is on him, I don't think the snap was particularly bad, and I think it was 2nd down but he threw an unconscionably bad throw into the flat that just floated up there forever begging to be picked off. Hill has run the wrong route and Tua's hit him for a TD before. Wilson was running wide open for a TD and it's hard to say what that throw was. The only plausible defense was that it was a timing route, Tua was looking off the defense and started throwing it before looking at Wilson. Maybe that's exactly what it was. And he was too far into the throw to stop his release, reset, and hit him for a TD. Has McD said that's what happened? I was so distraught after that loss I didn't look at anything NFL all week. But dropping the snap and the other throw are both on him. It was very, very disappointing.

To be clear, I'm not putting the loss on Tua. Hill also had a terrible drop and Waddle seemed to lose track of a nice deep ball that sure looked like it went right between his hands. But Tua looked awful on that last drive and Miami still hasn't beaten anybody. Those two things concern me tremendously. I'm very worried about the Jets game on Black Friday.

Here's to hoping the defense has turned a corner. They say Fangio's defense has a shallow learning curve, so between the 9 games and Ramsey being back maybe the defense is going to be good now.

It's hard to say exactly what happened, but either way it was a team loss and absolutely not on Tua. The cool thing is everyone has accepted responsibility for those errors. It happens; no player is perfect. Tua has come up big in clutch moments throughout his career going back to Alabama with one of the most iconic passes in college football history to win the national championship. If that was solely on him at the end of the game, that was the exception, not the rule.

We're 6-3. That is no small feat. We are legitimately one of the best teams in the league with a fun as hell offense and as you say our defense is only getting better, and hopefully we get healthier on the o-line and get a receiver or two back. Also Waddle claims to be much healthier now. This is a fun year, dude. Get excited!

I was lol. I got too excited. I believed in them to win that game and three decades of pain flooded back into me.

I *almost* cancelled my D.C. trip to see them but I didn't lol.

I feel ya, man. But this is a different team. If it doesn't all come together this year, there's always next year and with this staff, I expect nothing but improvements.

4/5 wrote:I was lol. I got too excited. I believed in them to win that game and three decades of pain flooded back into me.

You can't be despondent losing to the best team in the league. There's a very good chance KC loses to Philly on Monday night. Doesn't mean they're cooked. It's one game. And any given Sunday and all that... The phins are in good shape. I don't think they're 100% there just yet. I don't think this is "their year." But it could be. They are in contention. As fans what else can we really ask for, you know?

well said joe

epilogue wrote:

4/5 wrote:I was lol. I got too excited. I believed in them to win that game and three decades of pain flooded back into me.

You can't be despondent losing to the best team in the league. There's a very good chance KC loses to Philly on Monday night. Doesn't mean they're cooked. It's one game. And any given Sunday and all that... The phins are in good shape. I don't think they're 100% there just yet. I don't think this is "their year." But it could be. They are in contention. As fans what else can we really ask for, you know?

The Chiefs have been in what, five straight AFC championship games? And you have Mahomes and Reid. No single regular season loss means much to you guys.

Miami hasn't won a playoff game in 22 years. Every team except the Lions has won a playoff game more recently than the Dolphins. I'm in a different universe over here.

The Dolphins are good. The future looks good. Well, not the salary cap future, but whatever. I think the KC game was exactly the kind of game Miami needed to win to establish itself as a true contender and they're 0-3 in those kinds of games now. They're 6-3. Good. But they were 8-3 last year and fell apart. I've seen this movie so many times where it ends with losing 5 out of 6. At this moment they're fake contenders.

This team seems like its miles better than last year's team, but that game was a major blow and the only thing I can do is prepare for the bottom to fall out at this point and hope it doesn't. But there's no way I'm counting chickens or assuming this team is winning double digit games and making the playoffs.

4/5 wrote:

epilogue wrote:

4/5 wrote:I was lol. I got too excited. I believed in them to win that game and three decades of pain flooded back into me.

You can't be despondent losing to the best team in the league. There's a very good chance KC loses to Philly on Monday night. Doesn't mean they're cooked. It's one game. And any given Sunday and all that... The phins are in good shape. I don't think they're 100% there just yet. I don't think this is "their year." But it could be. They are in contention. As fans what else can we really ask for, you know?

The Chiefs have been in what, five straight AFC championship games? And you have Mahomes and Reid. No single regular season loss means much to you guys.

Miami hasn't won a playoff game in 22 years. Every team except the Lions has won a playoff game more recently than the Dolphins. I'm in a different universe over here.

This is all totally fair.

I'm sure it's not helpful to have a KC fan in here trying to rationalize or explain anything. Sorry about that. I just wanted to say that I like your team and I think they have a real chance in these next two/three years to make some real noise.

But I totally hear what you're saying. And pre-Mahomes I definitely felt that way about KC, too. It was clear they were never gonna get over that hump. Maybe they'd make the playoffs. Maybe they'd win a wildcard game. But it never felt "good."

I'm spoiled now with Mahomes and Reid. You're right. It's very different. So, again, sorry. I didn't intend to diminish or dismiss what you're feeling/saying.

this is getting way too woke for sports talk

epilogue wrote:

4/5 wrote:

epilogue wrote:

4/5 wrote:I was lol. I got too excited. I believed in them to win that game and three decades of pain flooded back into me.

You can't be despondent losing to the best team in the league. There's a very good chance KC loses to Philly on Monday night. Doesn't mean they're cooked. It's one game. And any given Sunday and all that... The phins are in good shape. I don't think they're 100% there just yet. I don't think this is "their year." But it could be. They are in contention. As fans what else can we really ask for, you know?

The Chiefs have been in what, five straight AFC championship games? And you have Mahomes and Reid. No single regular season loss means much to you guys.

Miami hasn't won a playoff game in 22 years. Every team except the Lions has won a playoff game more recently than the Dolphins. I'm in a different universe over here.

This is all totally fair.

I'm sure it's not helpful to have a KC fan in here trying to rationalize or explain anything. Sorry about that. I just wanted to say that I like your team and I think they have a real chance in these next two/three years to make some real noise.

But I totally hear what you're saying. And pre-Mahomes I definitely felt that way about KC, too. It was clear they were never gonna get over that hump. Maybe they'd make the playoffs. Maybe they'd win a wildcard game. But it never felt "good."

I'm spoiled now with Mahomes and Reid. You're right. It's very different. So, again, sorry. I didn't intend to diminish or dismiss what you're feeling/saying.

Lol, no need to apologize.

I swear I'm not as down and out as it seems. I'm capable of getting very excited if they close out the regular season playing like they've hinted they have the ability to do. I'm probably going to put too much stock into the result of the Jets game, but until then when my expectations either soar or crash, I'm going to be extremely cautiously slightly optimistic.

Nothing wrong with a little cautious optimism!

Getting ready for the gym, gonna wear a Dolphins hat.

This one?

Spoiler: show

I'm cool but not that cool.

Honestly, I tried to find a pick of maybe the worst hat to work out in. Corduroy is pretty unforgiving.

It is a cool hat otherwise, though.