Will Bye Week Make A Better Phins or Better Tank?

M.J.

5 years ago

Can the Phins become something other than a joke in 2019?

The Phins kindly decided to show up for the 1st Half of the Chargers game. But, they also decided to spoil the end of that half with mistakes and implode the 2nd Half… again.

In the end, the Charges branded another blowout loss on the Dolphins debacle of a season.

That’s four in row for those who’ve fallen asleep already.

The Dolphins are the punchline for most jokes about the NFL.

I’m tired of the hack writers at Deadspin (and some others) using the low-hanging Phins as the springboard for their tired agenda. Nothing would make me prouder than seeing Flores give them the big ‘heigh-ho’ middle finger by kicking off a string of wins.

At this point though, Miami has earned their role as a pinata for derision…

… So, the Phins and their fans have to take it on the chin…

… Again.

Jimmy Bourbon has embraced the ‘tank’ the best he can by focusing on Rosen. I’ve been crunching tape to find a silver lining and something to talk about. Like so many other dolphins fans, each in our own way, we have done what we can to absorb the ugliest season since 2007.

The ‘last carrot on the end of the stick’ for 2019 hangs on Week 6

While I’ll continue to crunch the tape till the season’s end (and beyond), the tenor of my tone will take a harsh turn if Week 6 doesn’t bring substantial change.

I believed Brian Flores when he said there wasn’t a tank… but so far, the results say otherwise. Is Brian Flores an honest man, a huckster, or putting on a smile as the Titanic sinks?

Now, I’m not talking about winning a Super Bowl or anything substantial in 2019. I never believed, even as a stretch goal, in some grand Cinderella season. My floor has always been 6 wins.

Why 6 wins my barometer?

The bookie website services 2019 win total is 4-.5 wins, anything less is underachieving. That would be an absolute reflection of the staff… unless they are liars and tankers. Getting 6 wins would show the ability to get more with less. This is the only way to win a Super Bowl down the road.
All the blue-chip picks in the world won’t mean squat when ‘coached down’ by an unqualified staff.
Grier’s team-building process is based on ‘coaching up’ later picks, undervalued FAs, and UDFAs. An average or sub-par staff won’t be able to do this with enough consistency to matter.
The 2019 team has been built of said ‘later picks, undervalued FAs, and UDFAs’. If they are the ‘gems among the trash’ Flores and Grier evaluated them as then they should gain strength slowly. If they don’t, this won’t bode well for future evaluations–no matter how many they have.

Nietchze, “Students with good teachers gain strength slowly, and those with bad teachers struggle in vain.”

Okay, there has been roster turnover and trimming, injuries, and a tough schedule as mitigating factors. Most of those asterisks won’t mean diddly-do against the Washinton Redskins.

Miami’s next game will be the moment of truth.

Coming off the bye against a terrible team, if Miami fails to notch the win, the ceiling of future success is lower in my eyes. The statistic of the win itself means nothing to the grand picture (unless the tank is really on), but the inability by the staff to get the win will mean a ton.

Week 6 through the end of the season is the Phins battle of Thermopylae. While the historical engagement itself determined little about the future freedom of Greece, the resilience, tenacity, and will to stand against insurmountable odds served as a rallying cry that galvanized a fractured country. Despite the defeat of the 300 Spartans (and thousand or so other Greeks), the effort meant everything. Similarly, a solid showing this season despite a weak squad would lend much-needed mojo to this staff, franchise, and tired fanbase going into 2020.

This franchise and its fans need everything they can get.

For those who pay attention to Twitter and such, notice how quiet all the boo-birds writers have been in the 1st Half of the last two games. All their ‘brave and brilliant quips’ throughout the week only reappear mid 2nd Half… when it’s safe to come out again. Typical and gutless.

An offseason them swallowing crow would be a sweet hors d’oeuvres to the ton of picks coming our way.

Silver lining time… and the last for 2019–if Phins lose

Patterns are quality ‘proof’ of trajectory. The near-exact replication of play in Week 1 in Week 2 and again in Week 3 and Week 4 does show an upward trend. Is it a pattern or quirky anomaly? There is a bit of consistency in the chaos, but it will only be confirmed as positive if the Phins win against the Skins.

The crumbs of improvement

Josh Rosen looks to be the best QB in aqua since Chad Pennington and is improving. Nothing definitive yet, but the potential is clear to be at least pretty good. As a trade chip or future QB, his success if important.
Despite injuries and player shuffle, the Offensive Line is improving.
DeVante Parker is showing more than expected. He still has a long way to go, but his run blocking and receiving was tremendous Week 1.
Raekwon McMillan is showing improvement and production.
DTs Wilkens, Jenkins, and Godchaux have shown plenty.
Taco Charlton has played well and shown high effort.
Miami did well with their Practice Squad stashing as Isaiah Ford proved this week.
Preston Williams is a steal and is being developed well.
Mark Walton has shown flashes in the snaps Phinsnews hoped he’d get. He could end up another steal earned on the cheap.
Durham Smythe is quietly making strides and earned more snaps than O’Leary this week.
Evan Boehm and Isaiah Prince showed talent in the run game.
Gamplans have been good last two games, of course, conversely, Half Time adjustments haven’t.

I’m hoping that Eleanor Roosevelt‘s quote embodies the rest of the season:

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

…. Rather than Friedrich Nietzsche‘s:

“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”

I get the raw rationale of getting the Top pick in the 2020 Draft. I do. But, if the only way this regime can be successful is to get the top pick, then at best they a group of middling minds… and they will likely aquire more duds than studs.

Off to study and cuts some tape. Go Phins!!!

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