Phinsider Faithful See Dolphins In First Place In 2023

Earlier this week I asked the question, in what position will our Miami Dolphins end the season in the AFC East? It seems, from the poll at least that the Dolphins are heavy favorites, at least among the fan base, to end the 2023 regular season in either first or second place in the division. As of me writing this post, the poll had a total of exactly 1,200 total votes. More than half of the respondents answered first place with 623 total votes or 52 percent. Second place also came in second place with a total of 505 votes, giving them 42 percent of the total votes. Third place received only 63 total votes for 5 percent and fourth place received only 9 total votes for less than one percent of the total vote.

Then we had your answers to the question. Below are some of the answers and comments from our own site members-

Luvs2drnk2.0 expects the Dolphins to improve while the rest of the division struggles with various issues throughout the season.

I predicted first for a couple of reasons: 1. I think the Josh Allen/Stefon Diggs bromance blows up this year. It already started to fall apart towards the end of the season and playoffs when Allen started struggling and Diggs wasn’t getting the ball enough. Once that happens, Allen’s confidence will crumble and he’s going to start looking like the QB he was in his first couple years. 2. Aaron Rodgers to the Jets will help slightly, but not enough for them to compete. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rodgers winds up missing quite a few games this year. 3. Lastly, I truly believe Tua is going to take that next step by staying healthy all year and putting up big numbers. Combine that with McD learning his lesson and using the run game more effectively, and a competent DC to get the most out of our defense. Yes, the OL is still a question mark, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume the coaching change is what was needed and the talent was already there.

phinman013 didn’t give us a final position in the division but I think it’s safe to assume that he expects the team to end the season in the top half of the division.

Changing a bottom-third defense into a top-10 defense and maintaining the offensive scoring output from last year says lots of Wins!

krammm takes a slightly less optimistic view, I think...

I want the Dolphins to win as much as anybody but whenever no games are being played the fans get unrealistic expectations. We only look at ourselves and no one else. The fans have spoken and said there is a 96% chance the Fins finish 1st or 2nd. Anybody who wants to give me 9.6 to 1 odds that the Dolphins won't finish 3rd or 4th in this tough division I’ll take it. I’d hope I lose but I’d take the bet.

CJT13 wants to know who the hell you are!!!

I want to know who the moron was that pick Miami to finish last? Really?

Bill Moody believes it all comes down to the O-Line's performance.

Barring injuries, it looks like it's going to rest on the O-Line performance, yet again. If they can perform as a top 16 unit, then there’s no reason we can’t be first in the division. If they perform as a top 10 unit, then there’s no reason we cannot make it and win the Superbowl. Anything short of that, and we’ll be crossing our fingers in December/January again.

Call_for_the_Priest’77 believes the talent on our roster will elevate us over the rest this upcoming season.

I picked 1st place because I think we have the most talent overall than anyone in the division. And while it won’t be quite as hard as bringing peace to the middle east the Bills are still the ones to beat and I think we are going to do that, twice. Sweeping the Bills will be such a huge boost to our winning the division that I think we are going to make every effort to see this come true. Good things happen to teams that win their division and I think our players, coaches, and even the front office are going to do what we need to do. Last year was Tua’s year for downtime. I think this year will be Josh Allen’s. Someone is going to pop him really well on one of his ‘slam dances with the defenders’ runs. Maybe something else happens too. I’m not rooting for anybody to get hurt nor do I dislike JA. It’s just that I think the nature of the game is finally going to catch up with him. The Jets have a shot here as well. If AR gets going and their O-line holds up while their D goes shutdown mode, look out! The nauseating green will be out to infect everybody. I think we split against these guys. losing in NJ though I will blame the refs in advance for the bulk of the loss (LOL). The Pats are in BB’s twilight but don’t be fooled. The GOAT master dearly wants to crash the party even though he’s missing the key QB to really threaten. Nevertheless, these guys were in nearly every game last year and I don’t see that changing this year. I feel that a few of their 7 or 8 wins I’m predicting for them will come about from teams underestimating them. I think 40 wins in total by AFC East teams is not out of the question. Miami (12), NYJ / BUF (10), and the Pats (8) would get there. Nobody knows what’s going to happen but I do know that I’ve never been this excited about a Dolphins team to start a season - ever!

Spok507 believes that splitting with the Bills and Jets and sweeping the Patriots will equal first place.

After everything they have done so far this off-season — Fangio, Ramsey, the draft, new Olinemen, etc. — feel the team has improved. So I believe they have just as good a chance as any of the AFC East teams of winning the division. This is going to be one of, if not THE, toughest division in the league. It is going to come down to who can stay healthy and who can adapt. I do believe Fangio gives us a massive leg-up on the defensive side. He is one of those coaches who can read an offense and know how to compensate and shut them down. I think his defensive prowess will be huge in keeping other teams from scoring a lot, so our offense simply has to remain as prolific as it was before. But I also think the additions on offense make it slightly better as well. If the OLine can gel, McDaniel will be better at balancing the calls, and the speed of these players should make a big difference. It’ll come down to Tua staying healthy or White being able to play at a high level if needed, so if either of those can happen, we have a very good shot at winning the division. At this point, it’ll be beating Buffalo (as we did once and came very close two more times) and having our secondary nullify any benefit Rodgers gives the Jets. If we can at least split with both Buffalo and NY and sweep NE, I’d say we have a great chance of being the AFC East Champions.

Yarganaught is entirely unimpressed with the offseasons of both the Bills and the Patriots. His take on the Jets was different but still boots Miami to the top of the pile.

Did the Bills get any better? Not in my opinion. And we are starting to see teams figure out Josh Allen. The Fins played them really well last year... all things considered. I see a healthy Miami winning out over a peaked Bills team. Did the Patriots get any better? not in anyone’s opinion. This team is in rebuild mode... even if they don’t think so. Did the Jets get any better? Yes... but the jury is still out as to how long that will last. A few rough games while a cocky QB who is past his prime calls out a younger generation of players for not making him look like an MVP again... a few too many INTs against some of the best secondaries in the league... a few too many sacks because their O-line isn’t as good as the Defensive fronts they face... Does “90% retired” increase another 10% mid-way through the season? This team has a lot of potential... both good and bad. Miami splits with them (as always)... but I don’t think their record will be enough to get them into the playoffs. Chaos in Jersey!

Blaze453 thinks that staying healthy this upcoming season will spell success for the Phins.

As it does, every year comes down to injuries. Like last year, where we had a legitimate shot to win East until he got decimated in the defensive backfield and office of line, not to mention QB one. I think we have to win a healthy, most talented roster in the AFC East. I hear all the Talking Heads and, experts, and Jets fans talking about dirt vantage is a Defense. Well, I went man for man on the defensive side of the ball with one of the Talking Heads, and afterwords he wasn’t quite so sure the Jets had the better defense which from the coaching staff to the individual players our defense is as good as an even better jets

Alpha6 is entirely unimpressed with the Jets' offseason, really unimpressed!

1. Miami Dolphins 2. NE Cheatriots 3. Blowfalo Bills 4. NY Jets suck suck suck. Because, Miami got better, NE too... Blowfalo remains the same, and NY sucks sucks sucks.

It seems as if nearly everyone, sans a few folks, thinks the Dolphins either have a legitimate chance at winning the division in 2023 or that they WILL win the division. As always, thank you to everyone that took the time to answer the question and give us their thoughts as to why!

If you would like to join in on the conversations where we highlight some of our favorite comments (and even some that I don’t agree with) be sure to sign up for a Phinsider account. The questions post will be posted during the week with the follow-up post coming every Saturday evening as well as other random evenings.