I was certainly confident that the Cleveland game would get us out of our home record funk. At this point in the season, 1-5 at home and 6-1 on the road has to be more than just a coincidence ---- or is it?
Home losses so far this year:
Jets, Patriots, Steelers, Bears, Browns
Homes win: Titans
Road wins this year: Bills, Vikings, Packers, Bengals, Raiders and Jets
Road loss this year: Ravens
4 of our 5 home losses are to potential playoff teams, with the only exception being the Brownies --- most of which are almost locks at this point. Out of our 6 road wins, only 2 of the 6 were against potential playoff teams in the Packers and Jets, with the Raiders needing a miracle to win the West, and the two (Packers and Jets) not locks by any means.
Overall, the Dolphins have only beaten 2 teams who have legitimate playoff shots for the entire year in the Jets and the Packers, while the team also has a loss to only 1 team who has no shot at making the playoffs in the Brownies. This all tells me that we are who we thought we were -- we can beat the teams in general who are not playoff caliber, but we can only come close to beating (Steelers) most of the playoff teams. Let's face it, the Jets did not play like a playoff bound team on Sunday, and while our defense can take partial credit for that, the Jets putrid offense had just as much to do with it. Maybe the Jests won't be playoff bound! We need to take care of our business....
.....and with that said, the Bills scare me this weekend --- they are playing with a different mentality and energy compared to what we saw in week # 1.
I think the home record and road record have just been a function of our schedule this year -- we got the toughest teams in our yard, and the weakest opponents to date have been on the road. Let's hope I'm right and that we break this 1 win/1 loss trend this weekend!
Go Phins!