In the warm afterglow, we are reminded of the Tennessee game in 2015, Man
Campbell's debut - 38 -10. Almost a mirror image of this game, though
the Titans were not quite the Steelers...
What that game showed
Miami Fans was, if the Dolphin players came out with a fire in their belly,
they were capable of beating anyone. After Campbell and the Dolphins
had settled in for a long winter's nap, I rationalized that Campbell was
a motivator, but wasn't tactical enough to compete with the Belichick's
of the world. Motivation and emotion alone were not enough to carry a
team to more than .500 in the NFL.
So here we are again, I
don't think Gase can cut a few players each week and end the season with
a football team. He will need to be a better coach than his opponents
while maintaining the motivation and emotion. We've seen these players
rise and fall steeply during the course of the season.
I will
be interested to see how Adam Gase keeps the motivational edge and if he
is tactically able to outwit his opponents. My own thoughts are, there
are 15 to 20 players on this team that can be motivated for a few games,
but over the course of the season will show up at that level less than
half the time.
We can see potential in games like
this from individuals, it's the body of work that must be judged if the Dolphins are going to rise again. Gase can't say "X" player has so much
potential, look at the Steelers game.
He must look over the course of
the season, see which players show up game in and game out and keep those
players. The challenging part will be getting rid of the 50% no-shows and bring in more gamers. Changing the culture cannot be done in one season. The personnel department and coaching staff must be aligned.
The message to the Miami Dolphin players, forget the warm afterglow. If the film doesn't lie, you'd better put something consistently on there, or don't be surprised if the door smacks your ass on the way out!
