Sunday Morning Miami Dolphins/Phinsider Poll: Playoff Prediction Edition

Last week following the article by Kevin on the stadium and the upgrades that the team wants to must make I posted a poll (here) and some of the slants or ideas that the team might run with. The top answer was "Ross owns the house and it needs work. Time for Ross to fix up his own house." with 33% (24 votes) of the vote. I agree with this answer 100% but like I stated before these owners see all of the other owners around the country getting tax payers to foot the bill or at least part of it for them. Ross is first and foremost a business man so I suspect he will turn over every rock in search of that public financing before he commit's any of his vast wealth as that would be best for his bottom line.

Second most popular answer was "Fix the current stadium and update as best as possible using whatever they can get from the taxpayers." with 23% (17 votes) of the vote. I see this as the most likely to happen. I doubt he will get 100% of the financing from taxpayer monies but if he combines that with some of his his/the teams money and the low interest loans that the league will make to owners wishing to build or update stadiums I think it will get done.

'Build a new one right next to the old one and then demo the old one after raising money from the taxpayers." came in third with 14% (10 votes) of the votes. This is the one that I would most like to see happen as a new stadium would be great and the other one, while not really all that old is becoming old by league standards. Of course I am fairly sure this option is not even one that they are looking at at this point but on never knows...

The fourth place answer was "Lobby the surrounding cities/counties for a new stadium and then go to the highest bidder." with 8% (6 votes) of the vote. If I am Ross I at least try this option. Like I stated in my post last week, even after a local city was burned by another team ala the city of Miami with the Marlins, Jerry Jones let it be known that he would like to build a new stadium and that he would listen to any offer from any city in the surrounding area. If I am Ross I at least throw that out there because you never know who will bite and think they can make a name for themselves by bringing a major stadium and franchise to their city. If it does not work then nothing lost!

Fifth place went to the answer "Build a new stadium next to the old one but Ross needs to dig in to his own pockets and finance it himself." with 7% (5 votes) of the votes. I am fairly sure that there is no way that this happens. I would also be happy with this option but he has an existing building that holds value that he owns outright. He would be throwing that value away and then spending a ton more money to build a new one. The only way this happens is if someone else either pays for it or pays for a large portion of the new building.

The rest of the vote went as follows- "I am a troll. I live under a bridge. I don't even go to stadiums." received 5% (4 votes) of the vote. That's about an average troll count for any given Sunday morning. "Build a new stadium in another area in S. Florida but on Ross' dime." received 4% (3 votes) of the vote. This also will not happen as Ross already has the land that he owns so no need to go elsewhere unless someone makes it financially attractive to do so. "Nothing. Its fine like it is." received 2% (2 votes) of the votes. I suppose that compared to some stadiums it might seem fine but in the wold of the NFL where there are many new shiny stadiums popping up everywhere with all of the latest, greatest upgrades that an owner of Ross' stature wants something with a little more gloss to it and they have now come out multiple times and said as much.

So this weeks question is an easy one that take's little thought. Here is the current playoff seeding in the AFC as it stand's today down to where the Dolphins are and in parentheses is each teams reaming opponents-

1. Houston (@ Tennessee, @ New England, Indianapolis, Minnesota, @ Indianapolis)
2. Baltimore (Pittsburgh, @ Washington, Denver, NY Giants, @ Cincinnati)
3. New England (@ Miami, Houston, San Francisco, @ Jacksonville, Miami)
4. Denver (Tampa Bay, @ Oakland, @ Baltimore, Cleveland, Kansas City)
5. Indianapolis (@ Detroit, Tennessee, @ Houston, @ Kansas City, Houston)
6. Pittsburgh (@ Baltimore, San Diego, @ Dallas, Cincinnati, Cleveland)
7. Cincinnati (@ San Diego, Dallas, @ Philadelphia, @ Pittsburgh, Baltimore)
8. Miami (New England, @ San Francisco, Jacksonville, Buffalo, @ New England)

So given that information what do you think the Dolphins chances are of actually making the playoff's this season?