Give Thanks, Enjoy The Turkey, And Relax About The Dolphins

This has certainly been a painful season to watch as a Miami Dolphins fan, even after only 11 weeks. You would think by now that fans would be numb to painful seasons from the Dolphins, but this season has been slightly different. After week 1 things were exactly as planned when they lost to Houston, which I don’t think anyone was too disappointed with. From there they were off to the races winning important games and losing extremely tight ones.

Clearly a lot has changed since that Jets game after the bye. The Colts game was a tough loss where the defense just couldn’t keep up. The Titans game….I don’t think we need to discuss the Titans game. Finally, the Bills game was just sickening to watch. This was a game the Dolphins should have been able to easily control, but they couldn’t.

Thankfully, these 3 losses have helped to remind us that this is a growing team. This year was always meant to be a rebuilding year, and after a flash in the pan, things got a little too exciting. There has been plenty of finger pointing as to whom we should blame for the losses, but realistically the blame goes team wide with very few exceptions.

For whatever reason the 2 most blamed figures have been Joe Philbin and Ryan Tannehill. Now this makes sense that the 2 most talked about and often seen figures, as well as the 2 newest major components would get the blame, but do they actually deserve it?

I have listened, watched, and read many different opinions on why the Dolphins are as bad as they are. One reason that seems to keep surfacing is because Ryan Tannehill was started instead of Matt Moore.  I go back and forth on this for 2 reasons. The first is that we have no realistic idea how Matt Moore would have been over 10 weeks aside from saying he probably isn’t Matt Schaub. Secondly, when the Dolphins were winning NOBODY was complaining about Tannehill saying he should be benched.

Ryan Tannehill is a rookie. He might turn out to be a star, and to the same regards he may turn out to be a bust. We don’t know what he’ll be, but we have to continue to let him play in order to find out. Impatience at quarterback has been a constant problem for this team, let’s give it a little time.

Also on the proverbial chopping block has been Joe Philbin. I have seen everything from demote him to fire him. It has been 10 games and we are really ready to fire him? We gave Cam Cameron a bigger leash, anyone remember that season? Then we allowed Tony Sparano to be the head coach for almost 4 full years. He did get us to the post season with the help of the Matt Cassel led Patriots, but other than that he was terrible.

We have absolutely no idea what Joe Philbin is doing or can do for this team. Maybe he is losing the locker room because he is too strict or maybe he is helping to straighten out a team that has been undisciplined for too long.

I am not saying we should be pleased if the Dolphins finish 5-11 or 6-10, of course that isn’t a pleasant thought. All I’m trying to express is that expecting an 11-5 record from this team was ridiculous. A true fan is a fan whether their team wins or loses, we will all still be here next season and the season after that. I doubt any of us will randomly switch teams, if so we would have long ago.

-On a side note, it is ok to be mad at this team without overreacting. If you want to suggest that Dan Carpenter get cut immediately, then by all means let’s do it-

In the off chance I do not get to write again before Thursday I would like to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I hope everyone has a great day of family, food, and football. Remember to be thankful for what you have, there is always someone that has less.