Week 15: AFC Playoff Picture Update
By Gene Hauze
The Dolphins beat the Bills 30-23 last Sunday in Buffalo. The game featured a pretty uninspiring first half with the Bills going up 7-0 in the first quarter capitalizing on a Reggie Bush fumble. The Dolphins came back in the second quarter making it 13-7 at half. The second half saw two explosive scores that probably got Dolphans jumping off the couch — a 65 yard bomb from Matt Moore to Brandon Marshall and a 76 yards Reggie Bush run. The Bills scored 10 points with less than 3 minutes to go in the game to make it close at the end.
Despite the long TD, Moore and Marshall did not have particularly good games. Moore only completed 10 of 20 passes and had at costly fumble at the Bills 12 yard line — that is four games in a row below 60% passing. Marshall had one official drop (which should have resulted in a TD) and two others he should have caught. But, hats off to Reggie Bush who gained 203 yards on 25 carries, Vonte Davis who had two interceptions, Brian Hartline who had 3 receptions for 69 yards including another spectacular catch, and Brandon Fields who had a 46.3 yards average on 6 punts with only 2 returned for a total of 6 yards. It was noteworthy that Jake Long did not suit up for the game.
There are two games left in the regular season. The Dolphins play against Division rivals the Patriots in Foxboro and the Jets at home. Here are my prediction for their remaining games (losses are noted in red).
Dolphins (5-9): @ Patriots, Jets — Final Record Overall 6-10, Division 3-3, Conference 5-7.
I believe the Dolphins final record will take them out of the running for the top three QBs in the 2012 NFL Draft — likely getting the 10th pick. Maybe, they should trade the 10th pick and Brandon Marshall to the Rams for the 3rd pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
By the way … I had a bad week in terms of predictions. I was 5-5 overall picking in the AFC playoff picture. Many playoff contenders lost to teams with losing records — Packers lost to the Chiefs, Titans lost to the winless Colts, Texans lost to the Panthers, Jets lost to the Eagles, and the Ravens lost to the Chargers.
Here is a Week 15 AFC Playoff Picture Update including the remaining games for each team along with my predictions. Let’s start with the current Division leaders.