heritage (noun) – an inherited or established way of thinking, feeling, or doing
It’s been nearly a week since the Thanksgiving Night game between the Miami Dolphins and the Green Bay Packers.
Has everyone had time to cool off?
Get it?! Remember? IT WAS COLD?
DID YOU ALL KNOW IT WAS COLD FOR THE GAME???
Sweet, merciful Cheesehead, if I had to hear about the temperature one more time, I was going to drive to Lambeau myself, wielding a box of Hot Hands just to prove that such a Sysiphean burden could be overcome at any Dollar General nation wide.
Anyway.
Thanksgiving is a day of togetherness and the Dolphins’ offense and defense came together to underperform and lose in prime time, continuing one of the NFL’s longest running traditions.
I hope your family’s patchwork bird monster was at least something to celebrate.
MIA’s hot start was M.I.A.
BECAUSE IT WAS SO COLD.
Okay, I’ll stop.
Maybe.
The Fins had been cruising out of the gate as of late, but that train came to a screeching halt on Thursday. The only thing Miami loves more than losing in prime time games is losing in prime time games by getting behind immediately thanks to unforced errors.
The Packers’ opening drive went for a whopping -4 yards on 3 plays, prompting a punt that Malik Washington was not interested in fielding (probably because of the absolutely frigid temperature), which resulted in the Packers instantly getting the ball back on the Miami 9 yard line.
Not exactly the toughest situation from which to score, so Green Bay did and the game kind of just ran away from there. So, by my count, the Dolphins were in it for…………3 minutes.
Not bad.
Of course, that’s an exaggeration. However, the Fins’ tendency to put themselves in a hole against talented teams is not exaggerated and is patently terrible.
Starting out cold as ice wasn’t the only reason for the outcome, but it was a big factor. With so much working against them, they have to find a way to raise their base level of play and stop shooting themselves in both feet with a cannon.
Otherwise, their precious narratives will never be un-narrated. Speaking of which:
‘Narratives’ are character traits
Pick your poison:
The Dolphins can’t beat winning teams
The Dolphins can’t win in prime time
The Dolphins can’t win in the cold (I have it on good authority that this game actually got below freezing. Yeah. In America.)
‘Narrative’ implies a story is being told. It says that a viewpoint about something is put forth, but can be adjusted based on new information.
Well, how many times do we have to see the same thing happen before we accept that these weaknesses have become character traits for the Dolphins?
It’s that same implacable mentality that we see teams adopt when they start believing what’s said about them until it becomes self fulfilling.
The Dolphins missed 20 tackles because it was chilly?
Tua missed passes in the first half thanks to thermodynamics?
Freeze Off.
The Dolphins lost yet another big game against a good team in prime time because they expected to. When they aren’t as talented or as healthy or as prepared or as tough or as whatever: having something to blame it on makes everyone feel better. They can’t have lost because Green Bay is better, they lost because the lights were too bright, the game was on Thursday, and, worst of all, their arms had goosebumps.
The reality is that every component of the team worked toward losing this one. The offense put up 3 points in the 1st half while the defense surrendered 17 and Special Teams gets credit for giving up 7 more. 24-3 at the half in an underdog situation isn’t a hole most can crawl out of.
Mike McDaniel brought his own flavor to the dish by building some momentum with a risky 4th down conversion, only to take that momentum behind the barn with his playcalling on the next three downs.
Everything came together exactly how the Dolphins deserved it. They played scared and weak, got backed off the line of scrimmage all night, got trucked and dragged all over the field, and showcased the most embarassing tackling since the citizens of Quahog tried to catch the Greased Up Deaf Guy.
So with five games left, what do we have to go home to?
Young players are filling key roles
Miami’s young players have stepped up to fill in for—- nah, I’m just playin’!
Chop Robinson’s rapid ascent was stymied completely against Green Bay, leaving him without a stat for the game. Tyrel Dodson, Quinton Bell, Cam Smith, and Storm Duck all had 3 or more tackles on the sheet, but watching the game told the real story: they weren’t ready for this one.
So, whether for better or worse: young players are filling key roles. We fans are destined to get what we always do with youth, aka, some good and some bad.
If this is the start of a cold streak and the Fins don’t back their way into the playoffs, at least we can track the progress of the inexperienced guys.
That’s.
That’s something.
Injuries are showing up at the worst time
If you’re one of those eternal optimists who still clings to hope that the Dolphins will run the table, make the playoffs, hit their stride right on time, and ride into that Superbowl Sunset, I applaud you. Mostly for finding such effective drugs, but also for keeping the glass half full when so many see it as shattered on the floor.
Unfortunately, the health of Miami’s players isn’t making that optimism look any more justified at the moment.
Injuries of varying severities popped up for Benito Jones, Kendall Fuller, Kader Kohou, Cam Smith, and Jordyn Brooks. That’s a lot of ice packs. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that a bunch of those guys are cornerbacks. So that means we’ll be seeing street performers sliding onto the field for Miami in the coming weeks to try to defend the pass.
It’s not the best recipe for success.
On the plus side, Bradley Chubb and Cameron Goode are back practicing as of this week, so maybe the pass rush can get a little boost.
On the plus-er side, next week they face the Jets, who are bad and possibly bad enough to be beaten with drifters serving as the secondary.
The Miami faithful better hope the team can at least get past New York, because at this point:
The season is on the edge of a knife
The Dolphins sit at 5-7. They play five more games. This is because the season is 17 games. I am a math savant.
Three of those games should be wins (CLE and NYJ x 2) and two are tough (HOU and SF). They likely need to win out to be assured a playoff spot. Going 4-1 could potentially sneak them in, but is far from guaranteed.
Realistically, I suspect that another loss knocks them out. I know there will be hundreds of permutations that can still make a playoff appearance happen, but from here on out, I’m viewing the season as ‘go 5-0 or go home’.
If they play the way they did against the Packers, both of those ‘tough’ games probably come up losses.
If they play the way they’ve shown they can, they have a shot.
Did anyone else notice how the players wore coats on the sidelines? Do you think it’s because they were blocking out mind control waves that the Packers’ locker room was shooting at them? Do you think maybe 28 degrees just isn’t that cold? Provide your 10 day forecast in the comments below.
