Phins can cement the hype with a victory over the Panthers
The Miami defeat of the New York Jets wasn’t pretty this past Sunday, but a win is a win! In the NFL, victories can never be taken for granted, so even though Miami was supposed to win, let’s savory it. Bottom line: The Phins limited their mistakes, they played decent enough on both sides of the ball to get the job done, and Tua played well.
Good times!
Miami is now riding a 3-game winning streak and sitting at 4-7 on the season. It’s a pity we couldn’t have won a couple of those earlier close games, such as the Raiders, Jaguars or Falcons. A bounce of the football here or there could have earned us a few more wins and the difference would have been the Phins sitting at 6-5 and very much in the thick of the playoff hunt.
NFL wishes comes true, just not as much as fans hope
I don’t want to get ‘high hopes’ believing they have a chance to run the table because that always ends with heart ache with this franchise. Miami and their fans need to just take this one game at a time. This upcoming game against the Panthers isn’t going to be a cake walk. The various bookmaker software websites have this game as a pick’em, with slightly more juice on the visiting Panthers. Basically the Panthers money line to win the game is -118, and the Dolphins are -102. So the more expensive -118 means someone would need to risk $118 to win $100 on the Panthers.
Considering that the Dolphins are home against a struggling Panthers team, it’s disappointing that Miami isn’t actually the favorite, which isn’t the initial best sign. It will be interesting to see what this line closes at right before the game. The line moving to the Dolphins as the underdog would definitely be an ominous sign.
On defense, we should look to blitz more and take a page out of their own game book from their Baltimore contest because Cam Newton is a QB that can and has burned the Dolphins with his feet and arm. Bringing additional pressure and having our safeties blitz could be the right recipe to rattle Newton and get him off his A-game. Also, Miami will have to make it a top priority to point to bottle up Christian McCaffrey, who is a dual threat running back that’s dangerous on the ground and catching the ball out of the backfield. If they can’t contain him, this will be a long game for our defense.
Can our offense score 20 plus two weeks in a row?
On offense, it’s almost amazing how they have been able to script and execute an impressive first drive of the game that leads to a touchdowns this season. But, it’s equally amazing how they can’t repeat that success consistently throughout the game. At least last week, they tried to get the running game going, which was a must against a very poor Jets run defense. It also appears that they are slowly beginning to find out how to get Gesicki the ball in the beginning of the game and how to better utilize Waddle. These are very good signs!
Unfortunately, they still can’t figure out a way to get Waddle the ball deep. At least with these crossing routes that they have him sprinting from one side to the other side, it allows Waddle’s speed to get him open since no defender can keep up with him. Also, it was good to see later in the game that they dialed up some plays where Tua rolled outside the pocket and had some success.
Consistency, consistency, consistency!
All in all, both sides of the ball just need to be more consistent because consistency wins game! IF they can repeat their play against the Jets this week at home against the Panthers, they’ll have a chance to win this game. And if we do win? Maybe a Christmas miracle is possible for the 2021 Phins is possible?
What do the Miami Dolphins News fans think about the direction of this team and can they keep this streak alive?