No Need To Panic…Yet

The season isn’t over despite the song and dance of many of our national media.  Fans who are starting to put away their hopes of a playoff birth or a division title are a tad premature.  This season, the Miami Dolphins season, is far from over.  It’s all a matter of the team not panicking and moving forward.  They have put tough losses behind them and now they will have to do that all over again and this time, they do it with a rough stretch of highway in front of them.

The Phins will play 4 of their next 5 on the road with their only break coming on a November 15th game at home against the Tampa Bay Buc’s.  The truth is, regardless of where they play, they need to win and yesterdays game proved one thing if nothing else.  The team can score enough points to win.  None of their next 5 opponents have the caliber of offense that the Saints have.  No, sorry New England your Welker/Moss/Brady combination is nothing compared to Brees and Co.  A couple years ago maybe.

The Dolphins face the Jets next week in a game that will pit the two teams together in a 3 week span.  The Jets want to prove they can shut down the Dolphins rushing attack and the Dolphins will look to spring off the Saints loss.  The Jets will be playing at a high level of emotions and that could hurt a team.  Point of fact, the game could go either way but the Dolphins can win this game.

They head north to New England following the Jets game and honestly, the Dolphins have always played the Patriots well in Foxboro.  The Patriots are a tough team but they are also a team that is far from unbeatable.  The Dolphins again could win this game.  In fact, they should win this game.  The face the reeling Buc’s at home the following week and should win that game and then take their short week back on the road to Carolina for a Thursday nighter.  Another winnable game.

Following the Panthers game, the team heads to Buffalo and then home against the Patriots.  On the road once again to face off against the Jaguars and Titans before returning back home to finish the season against the Texans and Steelers.

The games are not easy by any stretch but all of them are winnable.  The Dolphins have proved to everyone that they can hang with the elite.  Teams like Indy and New Orleans.  But they need to finish them off.  They need to put them away.  The Phins should be able to come out of the next 5 games in good shape.  Meaning when they return home to face off against the Patriots, they should be sitting with 6 or 7 wins as they move down the stretch.

If the Dolphins can come home after all of this with a 6 and 5 record they will be set up to make a run for the division as one and maybe two of those wins could come against the Patriots and/or Jets.  It’s not time to panic yet.  The “road” ahead isn’t as bumpy as it could be.