Miami Dolphins Tired Ahead Of Raiders Game?

The Miami Dolphins are a tired football team right now. Tired of losing, tired of being asked stupid questions, and frankly just plain tired. Instead of opting to leave for London early, Joe Philbin opted to stay in Miami until Thursday afternoon and then took his team across the pond for the meeting with the Oakland Raiders at Wembley stadium in London, England. The Raiders opted to fly in last Sunday following their game with the New England Patriots.

Will the jet lag make a difference when the two teams play this afternoon?

The Dolphins not only opted for that red-eye flight but also opted for a quick check in and a walk through only hours after arriving. Brian Hartline said the team was obviously tired from the flight. That was after Friday’s practice when the team arrived. What about now?

The Dolphins are facing a 1-3 start against a team trying not to start 0-4. The irony here is that the Dolphins could give former head coach Tony Sparano his next HC gig. The Raiders are looking at the possibility of firing Dennis Allen and believe it or not there is speculation that could come during the teams bye week which starts following this game. Tony Sparano would be the likely interim HC.

The Dolphins are now five hours ahead of us here in the states so the lag shouldn’t be too much of an issue since they have been in London Town for the better part of two days. The game will kick-off at 6:00 p.m. for them so it’s nothing really abnormal from a Monday night or a Sunday night game. It would be a lot tougher if the group were playing past midnight or early morning.

A lot of this games focus will be on Ryan Tannehill who showed poise this week in the face of Joe Philbin’s media mishap. Tannehill needs to take this team on his shoulders as a leader both vocally and in action on the field. The days of his ho-hum demeanor needs to be closer to the end. The Dolphins need to pick up their game physically and execute properly.

Whether or not the trip overseas will have any impact on today’s game won’t be known until much later today but one thing is for sure. A sluggish start will not bode well for this team and a loss will most assuredly put more focus on both head coach and quarterback and you can bet that Philbin’s decision to take the team to London late will be questioned repeatedly.