When will they stop being the ‘Same old Dolphins’?
When….WHEN will this team stop being so predictably mediocre? We thought the departure of Jeff Ireland would help. We’re only 2 games into the Hickey era, so we can’t totally blame him here…yet. But, with Knowhon Moreno’s injury, Hickey made a very Ireland-like move. He re-signed Daniel Thomas. Yes, my arch-nemesis. He’s back on the Dolphins. Because the football gods think this is funny. It’s all a joke to them.
I’m guessing Hickey narrowed his list down to 3 running backs; Thomas, Ray Rice, and Mischief, my blind dog (yes my dog is blind). So he put all 3 names into Dion Jordan’s helmet (because he’s not using it, you see) and he picked Thomas’ name…..so he signed him. You know, Daniel Thomas, the guy who couldn’t pick up a 1st down on 3rd and 1 if there were a billion dollars sitting at the stupid yellow first down line? That guy.
The Dolphins mediocrity comes down to 2 key things: quarterback play and coaching. Tannehill needs to get his act together, and fast. I’m a fan of Ryan, but he’s played poorly in the first 2 games of the year. His passes, even when completed, look like they’re off the mark and some of his incompletions and interceptions are mind-numbing.
Philbin, ah Philbin. He ditched his post-game speech index cards, but that’s probably the most positive thing I can give him. I love Bill Lazor and his attitude towards always trying to make the team better, even when they win. Philbin just doesn’t appear to have it. He is 1-3 in his last 4 matchups with the Bills, 2 of those coming against the Bills 3rd string QB last year. He hasn’t won a game in Buffalo. He’s on the hot seat and it’s still too early to start talking about replacing him, but he needs improvement from this team….and fast!
All is not lost though, it’s only week 2 of the season. I’m hoping this season breaks the mould and we see a different ending. The Dolphins could realistically enter their bye at 3-1, but that will mean beating a banged up Chiefs team, in Miami and beating the winless Raiders in London. Is that doable? Hell yes. Do I think it’s more likely they enter the bye 2-2? Absolutely. I hope I’m wrong. But this team has conditioned me to think they’ll forever be in the 7-9 win range every year, until I see otherwise. I’m tired of seeing the ‘same old Dolphins’, just like you. The Dolphins can start to change that script on Sunday, but as Sunday’s game showed us, they have a lot of re-writing to do.