The Phinsider
You know, if this team had come out Week 1, I’d be merely disappointed instead of devastated.
Alas, this was Week 2, so I was already devastated and am almost to my midseason Dolphins brand numbness before October hits.
And yet.
In contrast to their initial outing, the team that showed up for their second go ‘round reached double digits in scoring. They ran a successful two minute drill to score a touchdown at the end of the first half, going 77 yards on 6 plays in 1:23. The defense stopped a drive from ending in points for the first time since dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Those are all nice things.
There were even some young players (i.e. Malik Washington and Willie Gay Jr.) who stood out in a positive way.
Losing 27-33 with ample opportunity to drive for a game winning score is the kind of setup that an actual NFL team could find itself in each week. Sure; it’s not the outcome any Fins fan wants, but at least it’s within spitting distance of something useful.
After one of the most deflating opening weeks I’m willing to remember, it was some semblance of a silver lining that Miami made an effort. It wasn’t a great one (the results speak to that), but it wasn’t a retread of that disastrous debut.
And that’s probably as far as I’ll get with sunshine and rainbows, because even though the team looked better than useless:
Despite the *Patriots trying their level best to match serve on the total number of penalties committed, Miami showed its historical knack for timing up fouls in the most effective way to destroy anything positive they had built up to that point.
It’s one of the things they love the most.
Operational penalties like delay of game (or even those plays that are sans penalty, but break the huddle at 10 seconds on the play clock to rush out a quarter-assed attempt at execution) have been endemic since MM took over and there’s been no real improvement in all that time.
His failure to remedy pre-snap nonsense like that is one of my biggest criticisms of the McDaniel era. This is year four, my guy. The game is the same. You get as much time as before to get the play call in and have the offense ready each snap. It’s inexcusable and costs momentum throughout games and wins throughout the season(s).
As a quick aside, they hate having momentum so much they even managed the rare tit-for-tat special teams return touchdown duet, just to make sure all the joy fizzled on their side and swung hard to the opponents’.
Anyway.
That was all bad and embarassing to watch and disappointing to experience and a waste of everyone’s time.
That statement doesn’t mean that the o-line is good....
