Adversity defines you as a team. The ability to fight through the bad calls, the bad plays, penalties,
fumbles, interceptions, weather, or, as we saw this past week, just
plain lousy officiating. Winning in spite of those situations is
what shows you what you are made of. Every team in the NFL has those troubles I just spoke of. How they react to those situations
is what distinguishes them from the pack.
In the past the Dolphins have not
handled those situations well at all. A fumble or an interception
would change the entire outcome of a game. This week we saw a
team that had everything stacked against them. An officiating crew
that was so bias it reminded me of the NBA officials (pure
blatant cheating is what I would call it). We had 2 fumbles that
could not have been much worse than what we saw. One for Jorvorskie Lane
at the Bengals 5 yard line, and one close to the red zone in the
Dolphins end of the field. We saw another missed field goal attempt
that gave the Bengals great field position, but you know what? None of
that mattered.
How many times have you seen in these
pages, and in the comment fields, the words “if”? If we didn't turn the ball over we would have won that game. If we had made
that field goal we would have won that game. If the referee's
wouldn't have blown that call we would have won that game. IF IF IF. I'm tired of seeing the word “if”,
and I'm tired of using the word “if” myself. I want to see the
word “did”, as in we “did” see the team do something to stop us
from using the word “if". This week we saw that. We “did”
beat the Bengals. We “did” not let the game get out of hand
because of our mistakes. This week we “did” execute enough plays
to win, and “IF” had nothing to do with it.
Joe Philbin, along with the draft picks
this year, is the reason Dolphin fans, and myself in particular, are
feeling good about where this team is headed. It seems that we
finally have a plan in place and the Dolphins are working the plan.
We no longer are floating in the ocean without a rudder. Our direction has been defined in Ryan Tannehill. The players and us
fans finally have someone we can identify with as a leader in Ryan
Tannehill. I don't know where it will lead or how Ryan will
progress, but for this time and moment I'm going to go with the flow,
and it damn sure feels good.
