In the first pats game it was CLEAR that the pats had very little interest in doing ANYTHING but the bare minimum to beat a team they had to play their worst game against, and the Fins would have had to play their best for the Fins to win the game.

Their gameplan was pure vanilla. bellacheat punted in Fins territory, not once but twice, when he will go for it 9 times out of 10 in a meaningful game.

And with all of that, the Fins still lost by 10. And that is with two 4th quarter field goals, when they needed TD's. Sound familiar?

I feel the 2nd pats game is MUCH closer to the difference between the two teams, than losing by 10 and "competing" against the pats, as was the case in the 1st game.

I completely agree, scot. My point is, I at least felt like the Phins were trying in that first game. Unlike the last game, where they might as well have forfeited rather than waste the time and money to travel to New England to lay down and get trampled.

But that brings up a great point: Dolphins vs. Patriots. Obviously, the AFC East goes through New England, and if you want the crown you've gotta knock them off the throne. So, the question is: on January 4, 2013, are the Miami Dolphins any closer to dethroning the New England Patriots than they were on January 4, 2012? My answer to that is a resounding "NO!", and that's all you really need to know about "improvement".

I was thinking 4-6 games won myself, so....

I think Philbin's coaching made the difference. For the most part, I could see the stratgey behind the game plans. I never got even a scintilla of that when SpongeBoob was in charge.

And I agree with JMP, there were some puzzling things going on in as fas as the playing time for Bush, Miller, Thomas, Egnew, etc....that left me scratching my head, and I still have no clue as to why?

IDLE SPECULATION WARNING: One thing I feel fairly sure about, though I have absolutely NO CONFIRMATION, NO JUSTIFICATION....somewhere along about the Colts game....SOMETHING HAPPENED with the team, the coaching staff, the players, something abominably BAD like the Louis Oliver-Gene Atkins feud that destroyed the 1995 team. The level of play bottomed out there for a few games. Itr was like the whole character of the team went away. Before, they had played hard and gave maximum effort, but for the next few games, I just did not see the same intensity. It could have beent he realization that they WERE NOT a playoff contender after Luck and the colts made them look like bums???

Anyway...the roster reeks from a total talent perspective IMHO. Bush is the only player anyone might even come close to calling a playmaker. The WR corps is a joke, the TE corps is ludicrous, the O-line is built for a different offensive scheme and NFL-era, the QB is/was a rookie, but the accuracy issues ARE very frightening, and the defense....the defense has ONE legitimate pass rusher, and a few run stuffers on the D-line, the LBs are a step slow and easily blocked IMO, and completely HOPELESS in pass coverage, and the CBs are a bunch of journeymen scrubs and Sean Smith who takes way too many plays off IMO. Jones at Safety might be a keeper, but the other guys stink on ice.

This defense lived up to my mantra for them and it is the same mantra I have had for a few years now: "When the Phins face a team with a good/great QB, they will lose."

Until THAT changes somehow, someway, the Phins will not be a contender IMO.

Great thread, all.

How I wish Hard Knocks continued into the season so we could see what went on off the field...

I'm scared as hell with how this year turned out. Ryan Tannehill has been running this offense for three years and he get's a 76 QB rating. Three years. It's not like he's a rookie comming into an offense he doesn't know. He knew it better than the players around him. Did he have the weapons, yes and no. I watched a lot of poorly thrown balls to wide open players and a lot of nicely thrown balls into tight places. That leads me to believe he has a problem with touch. Fitting the ball into tight places is where he guns the ball. The wide open players he tried to throw with touch.

The offensive line isn't getting it done. Pass blocking is attrocious and cost us more than one game. Run blocking was just as bad.

We don't have an everydown back. Danielle Thomas isn't cut out for the NFL. Bush did to much dancing in the backfield and Miller wasn't used. I wouldn't re-sign Bush since we have his clone in Miller. I would look for a bigger back and cut Thomas and let Bush walk in FA.

The receiving position took a hit with Marshall's trade. Losing a #1 receiver that can atleast get it into the endzone on occassion hurt us. I wanted Matthews to step it up when he was given the chance but he looked tentative. Hartline will be a great #2 receiver in the west coast offense if we find a #1 to pair him with.

The TE position was a disaster. Egnew was a rookie bust.

The defense lacks play makers. We can't rely on Cameron Wake for 70% of the pass rush. He needs someone there to help. Odrick is a solid player at any position you put him at. He is that blue collar guy that does enough to keep him around but doesn't dazzle or produce as much as you'd like.

The linebackers can't cover TE. Koa Misi was drafted to do just that. That hasn't happened so in some regards he's a bust or just another blue collar guy that is getting asked to do more than he can.

Are we better? Statistically we really aren't. Are we set up to be better going forward? Yes, I believe we are.

Consider this when thinking of how close we are to New England. They have the youngest defense in the NFL. It's only going to get better for them.

They had better hope it gets better. Because.. having the 25th ranked Defense overall is NOT good.

Bottom line is, this was the third 7-win season in the last 4 years. I guess technically it's an improvement over last season by a game, but last season's team started 0-7. So I'd say no.

BTW JEGnj, this is how you do it. NO!!!

As far ss the woulda coulda shouldas go, the Fins entered the Pats game 7-8 and having been outscored by a point on the season. That tells me they were exactly where they deserved to be. You talk about Carpenter's misses but what about the Rams game they only won because the other kicker missed THREE times, hmmm? What about the Seahawks game they only won because of Earl Thomas's Superman act? Fans only tend to think of the close ones that got away, not the ones their team got away with.

That ranking means nothing when the Patriot defense is #2 in the NFL in turnovers (41) and #9 in the NFL in points per game (20.7).

Stats mean nothing when they are convenient for you to mean nothing lol. Their D is not very good.