The Phinsider
Hello everyone.
It is with a heavy heart that I have to tell all of you that I will be back this season, slowly eliminating your remaining dozen brain cells week by week.
Just in the nick of time for the season opener, I will again be regaling everyone with my irrefragable predictions for the upcoming year.
It begins now.
Let’s start positive:
Oliver Ignatius Gordon (I’m forced to assume) was the 2023 Doak Walker Award winner at Oklahoma State, putting up 1,732 yards and 21 touchdowns en route to the honor. Them’s good footballin’ numbers. His third season saw a steep decline (880 yds, 13 TDs) by comparison, but I don’t follow college football in the state of Oklahoma closely enough to say why.
What I can say is that what I’ve seen of OGII so far makes me smile. He looks every bit the part of a big bruising back, the likes of which Miami has been sorely missing since probably the days of Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown. The only reason I didn’t go bolder on the yardage total is because De’Von Achane is the clear lead back through whom the rushing attack flows and, unless Achane goes down for any appreciable amount of time, he won’t get enough touches to go crazy.
I do think, however, he’ll get enough to be impressive. I expect him to overtake Jaylen Wright (if he hasn’t already) and provide the proverbial thunder to Achane’s lightning.
We all know the deal here. Tyreek says some stuff. The media runs with it at a speed that rivals his own on the field. Sometimes it’s legit. Often times it’s hot air. Every time, it’s a waste of time (at least to these anti-drama-llama ears).
I think that Hill’s happiness is tied directly to his usage and, to a lesser extent, tied to the team’s success. If he gets the kind of attention he’s used to in a high powered, fast paced offense, I doubt we’ll hear another peep. If he doesn’t get his desired volume, but the team is full steam ahead into the playoffs, I expect only minor grumblings. But if he’s underutilized on an underperforming squad: the pull start on his mouth’s motor is gettin a-yanked.
Fortunately for him, I think MM is going to try to run the offense closer to 2023 when Hill put up 1,799 yards than he will to last year, which saw Hill miss 1,000 yards for the first time since 2019.
Unfortunately for the team, I think efforts to replicate that model will fall short and, as a result:
I know. Let the boos rain down. While I don’t think the Dolphins are as bad as the preseason rankings (hovering somewhere around 29th) would have you believe, I don’t think they’re built well enough to make much noise this go around.
I...
