Heyyy Dolphin-Addicts, hope things are well for you :) !!
Between the last regular season game of one season and the first regular season game of the next season the time equates to a nine month "gestation" period..
For the most part!! This period is usually spent (with the upcoming seasons playbook in hand) at team functions, team meetings, workouts, practices, training camps etc,etc..
After an NFL league mandated 8 month lockout of the players,The Miami Dolphins as well as a few other teams that were proceeding under new coordinator-ships were finally allowed to get a glance at the new proposed playbooks, offensive schemes, game-plans, coaches and players, etc, etc a month or so before the start of the new season!!
With that being said, here's an attempted summary (tough for me) of how some of it played-out..
0 - 1) vs the power-house and pre-determined AFC East division Champ Patriots (who's had the same HC,QB, and basic playbook for 10 plus years)!! We had them where we wanted them with their backs to the wall and the score at 14 -14 until mid-way through the third quarter.. At that point their team familiarity with one another along with playbook knowledge took control of the game with their Red-Zone proficiency!! Though yardage wise we kept pace with them at around 500 or so yards apiece until with 5 minutes or so remaining in the fourth quarter a 99 yard Tom Brady TD pass to his favorite receiver # 83 gave them a hundred or so total yard advantage for the game.. The final score was 38 - 24 but it was closer than that while we held the ball for 3 minutes longer than them.. Chad Henne threw for 416 yards with a 93.6 QB rating and our jinxed number 19 blatantly dropped a TD,(maybe two I can't recall exactly)!! Lost by 14 (for the most part) in allowing a 99 yard TD, and blatantly dropping at least one TD reception of our own!!
0 - 2) vs the Houston Texans with a HC/QB/offense that's been together for awhile which resulted in their eventual AFC South Division Championship!! In a game that the Dolphins lost the turn-over battle (0 - 2), time of possession by 9 or so minutes, statistically we still basically matched their explosive offense!! Carpenter converted our first 3 points along with a 4th qtr FG while Marshall caught a contributory TD in the 3rd qtr making the score 10 - 16!! Scoring mishaps of two Dan Carpenter missed chip shots (blocked 22 yard attempt,wide left on a 34 yard miss, both in the 2nd quarter with a 3 - 13 deficit), and two blatant TD drops by our jinxed number 19 while down 6 - 0 in the 1st qtr and 16 - 10 in the 4th qtr left us on the short-end of a final 23 - 13 score.. We lost by 10 while leaving at least an easy 17 points on the field!!
(1 - 1)??
0 - 3) at Cleveland with a Dolphin 7 - 0 lead and 10 minutes to go in the 2nd qtr Dan Carpenter missed a FG attempt while our cursed number 19 blatantly dropped a TD pass at 7 - 7 with less than a minute remaining in the 1st half, we took a FG and a 10 - 7 halftime lead!!We dominated the game with a near 16 minute time of possession advantage, nearly an additional 100 total yards to theirs, though we lost the turn-over battle (2 - 1) we had a 16 - 10 lead with 3 minutes left in the game!! Chad Henne had a 90.4 QB rating in a 16 - 17 one point Dolphin loss, while others left at least 10 point's on the field!!(2 - 1)??
0 - 4) at San Diego in a 26 - 16 loss of the game and our just beginning to roll starting QB, Brandon Marshall blatantly dropped a TD reception, all of which resulted in our being dominated in all statistical categories.. (2 - 2)??
BYE (Jimminy-Crickets), only a fourth of the way through and already running long)!! Told'ya "summaries are tough for me", and I'm tryin harddd!! Sorry Folks, gotta get more brief or the 2012 season will be upon us :) ..Hopefully in only the first 4 weeks "summary" I was able to get some points across?? That being of my opinion that 0 - 4 leading to 0 - 6, and then 0 - 7 was somewhat of a farce and not something that one should concern themselves over in the future,(no-matter who the HC is or was)!!
0 - 5) at the NYjets, we statistically matched them, though we lost the turnover battle 3 - 1 in Matt Moore's first start with a 41.8 QB rating compared to El-Guanno's 95.6.. However.. With a 3 - 0 lead mid 1st qtr from the NY 15 B Marshall stumbled into the DB who helped him to the ground as that DB/Revis caught the ball intended for #19 and jogged 100 yards for a 4 point NY lead rather than a 6 to 10 point deficit, (at least a 10 point swing if not 14)!! Fins down 3 -7 with 19 seconds left in the 1st qtr, BMarshall catches a 30 yard pass with nothing but grass between he and the EZ then proceeds to mysteriously run blatantly out of bounds 16 yards later at the NY 19 yard line with 11 seconds left,(qtr runs out).. Second qtr 3rd & goal from the NY 3 cursed #19 blatantly drops TD and squashes the overwhelming momentum we had up to that point !! We kick the FG for a 6 - 7 deficit (instead of a 3 point lead) excluding the previous 10 to 14 point swing which means I realize that stuff happens, But Still :)!! NY took a 14 - 6 lead to the half, BMarshall had a 3rd qtr End-zone attempt that I can't remember if he dropped or Cromartie knocked away, and the rubber-band powered airplanes went on to win 24 - 6.. (2 - 3)??
0 - 6 vs Denver, with 3 minutes left in the second qtr, 3rd and 3 at Denver's 16 Matt Moore recovers his own fumble, we take the 3 points to a 6 - 0 lead, we extended that lead to 12 - 0 with a Anthony Fasano TD to start the 4th qtr followed by a senseless wayy too early failed 2 point attempt while the one extra point would have assured victory and the 2 point failure ended-up giving the opposition hope after 57 minutes of Dolphin domination with a 15 - 0 lead that should have been 16 at minimum!! Then, you all know what happened, 6 for Tebow an extra point, an on-sides kick that we dropped, 6 for Tebow, 2 more for Tebow and a 15 - 15 tie.. OT Matt Moore fumbles at his own 35, Denver kicks the FG and wins 18 - 15, AHHHHH!! (3 - 3)??
0 - 7 at the NY Giants the Dolphins dominated both lines of scrimmage, had an 11 point second qtr lead, and a 17 - 10 4th qtr lead until Pouncey went down for the 4th qtr's entirety and the Giants D accumulated four 4th qtr sacks stymieing our Offense while NY proceeded to a 20 - 17 victory.. Could have went either way had Pouncey not gone down!! (3 - 4),(4 - 3)??
I'm tired of pointing-out BMarshalls blatant TD drops which in total for the year is around 12!! Of which four from the arm of Chad Henne, and 8 or so from Matt Moore totaling 79 or so points not accrued to our score's and/or won/loss record!! He single handedly with two hands was the most obvious cause of at least 4 to 5 losses for the year when you factor in an additional minimum of 60 plus pnts in only the first 7 games,(not counting extra pnts), momentum lost, as well as team-wide confidence in what they were trying to accomplish!!!! BMarshalls year has been quite impressive even with all the mishaps!! Mishaps that made the entire offense, and coaching staff APPEAR incapable, plays where the other 10 gyz obviously did their job only to be ridiculed about their Red-Zone Offense because the final cog to those plays had butter-fingers!! I wonder what our Red-Zone effeciency percentage would be with all the RZ TDS dropped by Marshall (or even just half of'em)??
The rest of the season is still pretty fresh in every one's mind ,so a summarizing I will go, Yeaaaaaa :) !!
1 - 7 at Kansas City, Dolphins win 31 - 3, Hippp, Hippp-HooRayyy!!
(4 - 4, 5 - 3)??
2 - 7 vs Washington, Dolphins win 20 - 9, Yeeeee Haaaaaaaa!! (5 - 4, 6 - 3)??
3 - 7 vs Buffalo, Dolphins win 35 - 8, Giggitty, Giggitty!! ( 6 - 4, 7 - 3)??
3 - 8 at Dallas on Thanksgiving day 20 - 19 Dolphin loss, C'monnn Mannn!!
BMarshall blatantly dropped another one!! (7 -4, 8 - 3)??
4 - 8 vs Oakland, Dolphins win 34 - 14, Zippitty Doo Daaa, Zippitty Yeaaaa!!
(8 - 4, 9 - 3)??
4 - 9 vs Philly, Dolphins lose 26 - 10, and our HeadCoach Tony Sparano gets fired!! (8 - 5, 9 - 4)??
5 - 9 at Buffalo, Todd Bowles takes over the interim HeadCoach position!!
Dolphins win 30 - 23, Woooooo Hooooooo !! (9 - 5, 10 - 4)??
5 - 10 at New England, Dolphins lose 27 - 24..
Could'a went either way cuz BMarshall blatantly dropped another one!!
( 9 - 6, 10 - 5) or with a Win (10 - 5, 11 - 4)??
Week 17 vs Yew Nork Nyets
http://thefinsiders.com/video?bcpid=359371433001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAPLps31k~,TJzr-TEF9ZCBmr465_RhOYx3PAlYRdu_&bclid=260803762001&bctid=1363356374001
6 - 10 but OHHHHHHHH How SWEET the sixth WIN was ;)!!
AGAIN, one last time, as I've suggested since our Pro-Bowler Brandon Marshalls first drop of week one, and in response to Thorny's recent post of ""tds dropped by Marshall alone stands at 12""!!
I agree, while @least four of them (28 pnts) would have been credited to CH's already impressive 3 game stats with a likely 2 Wins (Houston & Cleveland), and the other 8 (56 pnts) or so would have likely led to @least 3 to 4 more Wins (Denver, NYG, Dallas, @ New England last week), even with the rest of the team doing exactly what they did through-out the duration of all games.. With those 5 or so W's to go with our actual 5 W's and possibly one more to come, we were potentially lookin at 10 to 11 W's!! While, play 4 full qtrs, and 16 - 0 isn't outta the question ;) ... We're NOT that farr away with a catch here and a made FG there from consistent double-digit wins on a yearly basis, and that's even with out the franchise QB that we all crave/know we need :) !! Is all of this inconceivable to everyone but myself, or do some have a similar positive outlook on our Dolphins immediate future while realizing how different the 2011 season could have been had winning bred winning in week two rather than week nine??
P.S. I love Brandon Marshall "the player", and I know he never has or ever again will have as many blatant TD drops as he did in 2011!! Shoot Pro-Bowler Brandon Marshall catches all those blatant drops and he's in the running for league MVP with-out a franchise QB, and our Dolphins are in the playoffs, if not in the conversation!! He'd have accumulated some 1500 plus yards and as many TD's (something like 17 or so) as the Pats TE Gronkowski who has Tom Fricken Brady!!
Now GIMME RG3 to help Reggie Bush and Brandon Marshall become unstoppable :) !!
THANX for an Open-Minded read, GOFINS!!
