The Long Run: Out of our control

by FishNFinz on Nov 12, 2009 6:00 PM EST

Well like I said, that Patriots game was huge. A win and we control our our own destiny, a loss and we need help to reach the playoffs. Unfortunately it was the latter, and that's not good midway into the season. Lets take a look at the division.

AFC EAST STANDINGS
	W	L	T	GB	PF	PA	Home	Road	Div	Conf	Streak
New England Patriots	6	2	0	-	225	115	5-0-0	1-2-0	2-1-0	4-2-0	Won 3
New York Jets	4	4	0	2	177	134	2-2-0	2-2-0	1-3-0	4-3-0	Lost 1
Miami Dolphins	3	5	0	3	193	204	2-2-0	1-3-0	3-1-0	3-3-0	Lost 1
Buffalo Bills	3	5	0	3	123	169	1-3-0	2-2-0	1-2-0	1-4-0	Lost 1

3 Games back, 8 to go. Not very comforting. But the weeks ahead may help the Phins chances.

MIA NEXT 4

Sun 11/15	Tampa Bay	1:00 pm
Thu 11/19	at Carolina	8:20 pm
Sun 11/29	at Buffalo	1:00 pm
Sun 12/6	New England	8:20 pm

NE NEXT 4

Sun 11/15	at Indianapolis	8:20 pm
Sun 11/22	NY Jets	4:15 pm
Mon 11/30	at New Orleans	8:30 pm
Sun 12/6	at Miami	8:20 pm

Did I forget to include the Jets in the division race? No. They are still falling apart.

In theory we should be able to come out with a win against Tampa. But in theory, communism works.

The Panthers are looking better each week. If the Falcons can beat them this week, it will seriously kill any post-season hopes and should be deflated next week when we play them.

Buffalo looks horrible, we dismantled them last meeting and I expect the same again.

Those 3 wins would put us at 6-5 going into the home NE game.

NE plays at Indy, vs Jets, and at NO. I think its safe to say they could lose the games at the Colts and Saints. That would put them at 7-4 going into the MIA game.

This means that if this happened and the Dolphins could pull out a win VS NE, both teams would be 7-5. However, the Dolphins would actually be #1 in the division due to tie breaking. The Dolphins would have a better division record at 5-1 vs NE's 3-2.

TIE-BREAKING RULES WITHIN DIVISION

Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs).
Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.
Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.
Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.

WILD-CARD STANDINGS

	TEAM	DIV	W	L	T	GB	CONF	STRK
1.	Pittsburgh Steelers	ACN	6	2	0	-1	4-1	5W
2.	San Diego Chargers	ACW	5	3	0	-	4-3	3W
3.	Houston Texans	ACS	5	4	0	.5	4-3	1L
4.	Jacksonville Jaguars	ACS	4	4	0	1	3-2	1W
5.	New York Jets	ACE	4	4	0	1	4-3	1L
6.	Baltimore Ravens	ACN	4	4	0	1	4-3	1L
7.	Miami Dolphins	ACE	3	5	0	2	3-3	1L
8.	Buffalo Bills	ACE	3	5	0	2	1-4	1L

WILD-CARD TIE BREAKING RULES

Head-to-head, if applicable.
Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.

2 Wild-Card Teams make it in. Right now those spots belong to Pittsburg and San Diego. We are 2 games back of the last playoff spot, so root for those teams above us to lose.

I still have hope, although realistically we have to win EVERY GAME to have a good shot at the playoffs. It all starts Sunday against the Bucs.

Poll

Should the Dolphins consider a new defensive coordinator at the end of the season?

Yes

21 votes

No

11 votes

32 votes | Poll has closed

This fanpost was written by one of The Phinsider's registered users.

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Comments

Interesting analysis...

my feeling on this is that the situation is remarkably similar, for us, to last year.

Meaning, we either go on a big winning streak, ala 08, run the table and win the division……OR we are out of the playoffs.

I think we are too far down to get in the WC with some other teams having good seasons but not likely to win their divisions (think: SD, Cincy, Steelers, Houston).

I’m confident NE will lose at least 2 out of their next 3 games.

As usual, all we have to do is take care of our business.

by Natalya on Nov 12, 2009 7:16 PM EST reply actions

I doubt we'll snatch the WC from the Steelers or Bengals, who'll probably go in as a top seed

but we can knock of Houston, who still has a bitch of a schedule, and it’s only a matter of time before San Diego blows up. And the Jets, in a perfect world for them, will probably come out of this year with a tie with us recordwise, but we have a two-game tiebreaker. It is actually still possible for us to win this division, but we’d need alot of help.

Head Weatherman/ Injury Specialist of the Phinsider.

Bender: Who wants dolphin? Leela: Dolphin? But dolphins are intelligent. Bender: Not this one. He blew all his money on instant lottery tickets.

by Farorefox on Nov 12, 2009 9:27 PM EST up reply actions

I voted no, for the defensive coordinator

But…if Romeo would like to coach the D, then I’d be more than happy to have him.

"Welcome to The Doghouse"

Self-proclaimed president of the J.D. Folsom fanclub

Your best? Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen! -Sean Connery

by Kdog92 on Nov 12, 2009 7:37 PM EST reply actions

Momentum for next year

We probably have very little chance of making a wildcard. Too may good teams ahead of us and we already have 5 losses. our best bet is to win the division. Another 2 AFC East victories and an easier last 8 games than the first. We can never lose hope!!

by crossborderFISHingtrip on Nov 12, 2009 11:21 PM EST reply actions