How’s your Monday going so far? I posted a tweet asking fans this question early this morning and to respond with gifs. Here’s the thread of several fans expressing their feelings toward it.
How's everyone feeling this morning? Feel free to reply with a gif. This me. pic.twitter.com/qsqHJNBhd8
— Kathleen (@kathleen_noa) September 9, 2019
I didn’t know exactly what to expect on Sunday. None of us really knew what to expect as fans. We have a new coaching staff and we just watched out team trade away some of our best players a week before the season opener. All the press conferences of Flores stating, “We’re not tanking” were hard to believe after realizing we didn’t have much of a team left. That being said, I don’t know a single fan who was actively rooting for our team to lose. Yes, I have tweeted to embrace the tank or just look ahead to the future, but come Sunday morning, we all were hoping we would witness our team come out there and destroy the Ravens. It’s what you do as fans. It’s what our team wanted and what our coaches wanted as well (at least I believe so). However, it’s not what happened and actually quite the opposite. Our team had the worst opening performance in franchise history and now we as fans are left wondering, “Is this all part of the rebuilding and what’s going to happen with the next 15 games?”
The Dolphins have allowed the most points in franchise history.
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) September 8, 2019
I don’t have any answers for you, and the only advice I have is to take a few seconds and take a deep breath, think about the past 20 yrs or so as a Dolphins’ fan, and say a prayer that “trusting in the process” will pay off gloriously in the end.
Here we go fam! We may not know what to expect, but we'll suffer through it together. #FinsUp
— Kathleen (@kathleen_noa) September 8, 2019
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Raven’s Loss
I started this last year of listing all the good, bad, and ugly parts of games. This may very well be the shortest game reaction review I’ve ever written. Let’s be honest, who wants to rehash the hot mess from Sunday?
The Good: DeVante Parker, Preston Williams, and Xavien Howard
Just think about it. This past off-season most of us expected Parker to be gone and at the very least traded away for something. Who would have thought he would be here and having a decent game. It makes you think, was it really just bad coaching?
Preston Williams will be a star. I can just see it. It may not be pretty this year, but he will do some amazing things. I’m so happy we snagged him. He had his first NFL touchdown and he deserves a big congratulations from us fans. Also, this too.
the #glitch broke his ankle pic.twitter.com/316iAGHhdw
— josh houtz (@houtz) September 8, 2019
Thanks for the laugh, Houtz.
Now on to the bad and ugly: The rest of the game
Y’all...it was rough. It was so bad. Now, I didn’t expect our team to win whatsoever. If you’ve been following me and reading my articles, you would know I love this team with all my heart and I will stand by them always. That being said, we’re gonna be bad this year and I’ve made that known. Now, I didn’t think today would be 59-10 bad, but I figured it would be rough. I feel like we had players who went out there and put in effort, but with the lack of quality players at certain positions, we couldn’t expect much. However, good gosh it was horrific. Where was this defense that we were hoping to see? So many questions. I honestly felt terrible for players like Albert Wilson. The guy who missed the second half of last season and worked hard to come back and this was what he was dealt. Those kind of things do bother me as a fan. There’s that part of me that hopes players like him stick around. For real though, we need to keep some players for this fan base to stick around.
Then there is that thought that the team may be trading away too many players for this “rebuild”. Like Simon Clancy tweeted during the game today.
Devante Parker has played a nice game. Expect him to be traded soon.
— Simon Clancy (@SiClancy) September 8, 2019
Is that a legit concern? We laugh at the idea, but he has a point. Look at everyone we lost already. Nobody knows what’s going on with front office/staff/owner or whoever you want to point fingers at for this rebuild.
Reactions/What’s to Come/Around the League
It was a rough start to the 2019 season and I’m just here to tell you to be prepared. I don’t see it getting better. If you’re a season ticket member do you agree with this fan?
This Dolphins fan echoing the sentiments of plenty others. Feels “cheated.” pic.twitter.com/pidC2iFE4B
— Clay Ferraro (@ClayWPLG) September 8, 2019
Do you feel cheated? I’m a season ticket member myself and I’m curious how others feel. I’ve seen several tweets of people stating how they feel bad for us. I ask you, what did you honestly expect from this season? Be honest. Take a moment to think about everything that has happened and what did you really think would be the outcome? Do I feel cheated? Nah. Maybe if I’m one of those people who buy seats just to sell tickets all year, but otherwise, I don’t. I’m not as excited about the season, because I know we won’t be competitive, but I’m also okay with this if it all turns out for the best in a couple years. What are your thoughts?
Oh and just so you know, this will be me my mood most the season during games.
Current mood pic.twitter.com/qLtre4BFnd
— Kathleen (@kathleen_noa) September 8, 2019
I gotta get through this season somehow, right?
I had some of the head table peeps from my fan club ask if I was okay today, because I was quiet most the game. If you know me, you know that’s rare. Here’s my take on what will happen with our team and what they are doing this season.
It’s going to be a long season. I’m holding on to the “trusting the process” quote by Howard. Like Omar tweeted, it’s either gonna end in two ways.
I say this with my chest. Either this is the best tank job ever in sports history, or the most incompetently run franchise in sports history. You pick? https://t.co/MZgv08T0YW
— Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) September 9, 2019
I don’t know anything about our head coach and I’m going to trust he, along with Grier, will lead us in the right direction. I’m still upset over players we lost (this one still stings),
https://t.co/zR8BYFklYx pic.twitter.com/QgRcLyhfJO
— Kathleen (@kathleen_noa) September 9, 2019
but we have been bad for a long time. You can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results. It’s like something my local minister said about dating and relationships but applies to this, “If you don’t want the next time to be like the last time, do something different in the meantime.” If we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get the same result. If we want to change things, it’s going to take some hard work and tough decisions. It’s not going to be easy, but it will be worth it in the end. We just have to hope it will all work out for the better in the end. It’s all we have for now fans, because we sure as heck can’t expect any kind of winning season. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Just hang in there. We all are going through this together.
If you’re still frustrated this Monday at least take joy in the fact that Adam Gase bragged about being a winning team and they lost at home as well. So there’s that. Remember all the hype about the Browns? Well, they got killed by the Titans. Speaking of Titans, it would be so Dolphins for them to make it to the Super Bowl with Tannehill and Wake on their team. Even worse with the Super Bowl being in Miami. Honestly, I would be happy for them. I believe it’s going to be an interesting NFL season overall and some teams may surprise everyone.
One other note before we part ways until next week. This is filling up my newsfeed post-game.
Florio doubling down on report, saying on NBC just now that multiple players have told their agents today to "get us out of" here https://t.co/ZtOiQvHCwF
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) September 8, 2019
What are your thoughts on this? Any real truth to this? If so, which players do you believe are trying to be traded? I saw fans mentioning Drake or Wilson. I sure as heck hope not. I love both those players and I’m hoping it’s mostly click bait. However, you also can’t expect young talented players to stick with a team with a two year plan of rebuilding and playing every game like they did on Sunday.
Regarding PFT report about some players wanting out, one player who did NOT ask for trade today is Xavien Howard. Dolphins have told him they value him and he said he wants to stay
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) September 9, 2019
I’m really hoping none of this chatter is true, but I guess we just have to wait and see. I also never thought we would have traded Tunsil, so nobody really knows anything. With all that being said, I have to agree with Houtz on this one.
I’m sorry, but unless the plan was to clone each player three or four times, the dolphins weren’t going to look much better with tunsil, stills, kiko, or anyone else they purged. https://t.co/xkAQ24w2UT
— josh houtz (@houtz) September 9, 2019
Did you really expect our team to be much better with Tunsil, Stills, and Kiko? If we still had James, Tunsil, and Wake maybe slightly. As in, we would lose by just one or two touchdowns. Just look at the past 20 years or so, what have we really accomplished? Exactly.
My last question for you fans is this. Tank for Tua or be extra terrible for Trevor? Lawrence is a stretch, but Tua is not and maybe we need to start looking at him some more.
https://t.co/ihMYlFgaqJ pic.twitter.com/f2gocGXmvc
— Kathleen (@kathleen_noa) September 9, 2019
The Week Ahead
If you thought Sunday was rough, be ready for next Sunday as we take on the Patriots at home. You never know, our team may just surprise us. If the Dolphins can pull off a win at home against Brady (with this current roster), we may very well witness a second Miami Miracle. Brady does always have a rough time in Miami and we have beat them with Cutler and Osweiler. Plus, maybe this is the one game our new head coach will be determined to win since it’s his former team. Either way, I’ll be there to witness it firsthand. Watch for me and my flag somewhere in the end zone.
See you here next week and as always, go Dolphins!