With the loss of the Bye Week, adversity has been dialed up to 11 for the 2017 Dolphins
Adversity either breaks you or makes you stronger
“Zero In” is the motto Adam Gase has attached to the 2017 Season.
For me, Buzz Lightyear’s motto with a slight twist works much better: “To Adversity and Beyond”.
Dolphins ongoing theme of extenuating and challenging circumstances has seamlessly continued into the 2017 Season with the official postponing of their Week 1 game against the Bucs to Week 11 on November 19th.
Yeah, Miami won’t lose a second home game; however, they will lose their one and only bye week. While losing a bye week isn’t the end of the world, football is such a violent sport that there’s no denying that the loss of a week of healing for weary players is a sizable disadvantage.
But, let’s remember what ole’ Friedrich said, ‘That which does not kill you makes you stronger’.
This is one of the primary reasons why I’m so excited for this season… my Miami Dolphins have the chance to be epic. And ladies and gentlemen, if they make it to the Playoffs this season that’s exactly what they’ll be: EPIC.
For decades I have sweated any added challenge because I knew in my heart of hearts that the coaching couldn’t handle even the slightest amount of extra adversity. For the first time since the very early years of Jimmy Johnson, I truly believe we have a coach that can weather whatever may come.
No ifs, ands, or buts: This is the season we find out exactly what Adam Gase and this regime is made of.
I’m so damn ready for some Dolphins football.
Greatness only come through adversity
We know the long, laundry list of issues that Miami has faced so far. Each and every extra bump will only make a successful season that much sweeter–if they overcome, of course.
But let’s be sober, this will be a long stretch of 16 games starting out with a trip to L.A., then back across to N.Y., and then across the pond to London.
Depth, depth, depth will be even more key to this season than it’s normal crucial value. Depth has been a weakness of the Dolphins and it will be THE reason they have success or failure in this long haul.
But before we go any further on trivial ‘football stuff’, let’s keep a proper perspective: Irma is a genuine nightmare on a real life level. People are going to, and have already, lost homes, their lives, and the lives of loved ones. So let’s stay grounded as we lament on the ‘adversity’ the Fins will face.
And as a second, and much less important, caveat to keep in mind: Despite the general dislike for Roger Goodell, this situation posed a real logistics, personal, and monetary quandary for him and the league to resolve on such a short notice, there’s no doubt.
If this game was moved to a neutral site then Miami would have lost a second home game due to the London game against the Saints, and players wouldn’t have been able to be with their family and friends through the storm. And then they may very well have had to wait days before getting home and communicating with them.
As a family man, that would be an unbearable hell.
Real life adversity trumps any difficulty in scheduling
Then there’s the cash consideration. Having to refund Week 1 and the loss of another home game, due to the London trip, is a lot of dough for even Steven Ross to eat. Of course, the word out there is that the London game was a trade off to host a Super Bowl… but who knows. And no matter what you say about Ross, he has zero history of being cheap or being primarily focused on turning a profit.
So in my mind, Ross gets the benefit of the doubt.
Then there was the option of moving the game up a couple of days. If they moved it to Thursday, it would have clashed with the champs opening the season, and maybe would have been too close to Irma’s arrival. To me this seems like the only real alternative to moving the game to Week 11. Players could have been with their loved ones, there would still have been a home game, and most fans may still have made the game.
Yet, given what’s barreling down on Florida, it would have been cutting it pretty close with a Saturday landing of Irma… So, I completely get it.
But in reality, no matter what the decision ended up being, it was a ‘pick your poison’ result. It doesn’t take the best bookie website software programs to figure that there wasn’t a perfect option available…
…And yet, I can’t help but feel that the discussion with Goodell was predetermined and went something like this scene from the movie Spinal Tap:
No matter how you slice it, this was a lose-lose situation
So now Miami will set their focus to week 2, where they will be facing the Los Angeles Chargers in LA. Miami will get one extra week to rest up and heal from any pending injuries. However, the Chargers will have the advantage of cutting their teeth on a regular season game, which should help them be a little crisper and sharper compared to the Dolphins.
But again, let’s remember, the higher the mountain the greater the feat and the greater the glory.
This is where my heart is–beyond the hope that Irma miraculously turns out to sea for a quick death: That all this adversity will be a springboard for the 2017 Dolphins prove they are of heroic bloodline.
Coach Gase is no stranger to adversity, and in a best case scenario, all these difficulties will be fuel to inspire the type of passion needed to achieve greatness. Go Fins!!! And pray for Florida!!!