Miami Dolphins!! Miami Dolphins!! The Miami Dolphins are first in the NFL, first in the AFC, first in the AFC East, and first in the hearts and minds of Dolfans around the world. Oh what a time to be a Dolfan!! After all of the years of pain and misery. All of the Cam Camerons and Joe Philbins. All of the Cleo Lemons and Chad Henne’s and Ryan Moore’s and Ryan Tannehill’s. All of the field goals instead of touchdowns. All of the second guessing of taking Culpepper instead of Brees or drafting Ronnie Brown over Aaron Rodgers. All of the close losses that we explained away as moral victories. After the 0-16 that Camarillo saved us from and the countless replacements for Marino and the killer bees we have spent decades trying to find. We finally have a good- check that, we finally have a GREAT football team to root for and it feels absolutely amazing. The Miami Dolphins are a damn good football team! Today was a total fiesta at Hard Rock worthy of being poolside at the Guitar Hotel or at a weekend day party on South Beach during the height of Ocean Drive’s reign of popularity.
This Mike McDaniel offense is absolutely unreal. The motion. The misdirection. The getting the ball to playmakers in space while also having the ability to run power off tackle in the ground game. The way Tua reads and processes so quickly to protect himself by getting the ball out in 1.98 seconds so the oncoming pass rush has no chance. The Denver Broncos have a good defense or maybe they had one and the Miami Dolphins absolutely bullied them in the air and on the ground like the final days of World War II when the Nazis were enlisting 10 year olds and senior citizens into their army with sticks and stones instead of guns and grenades. This felt like Oregon versus Colorado part 2. Nope it was worse than that. It was more like Alabama versus The Citadel. This was about as comprehensive and dominant a win I have ever witnessed in an NFL game. As I write this, the Dolphins are up by 50, 70 – 20 and the Dolphins have already pulled all of their key guys, so I figured it was safe to start writing and publish this article assuming the Dolphins would hold on to win the game. Not to mention the Dolphins are driving again after a big run by Chris Brooks to give them 726 yards of total offense and a chance to break the NFL scoring record of 72 points in a game. But McDaniel is from Denver. He grew up a Bronco fan and ball boy. I doubt he will have the heart to put the all-time scoring record on his hometown team.
We all love Patrick Surtain II. He is a South Florida kid, but he had a rough homecoming today and it’s all because his defensive coordinator (Vance Joseph) decided to have Surtain shadow Hill all over the field. Note to future defensive coordinators: you don’t shadow Tyreek Hill, you hope and pray that by playing coverage and having multiple safeties deep that you can contain Tyreek Hill. Everyone’s an expert on stopping Tyreek Hill until they are playing or coaching against him on the field and realize that all he runs are option routes and it’s impossible to know where he is going to be because he goes into a quick short motion right before the snap. It’s easy to say you will put a safety on Cheetah’s side until his speed creates huge amounts of space underneath. Then if you load up to stop Tyreek the Dolphins just run the ball down your throats to the tune of 346 yards. Load up the box and to stop the run and Tua lights you up for 23 of 26 for 304 yards, 4 touchdowns, and Mike White hits Chosen for a big bad bomb of his own. None of these guys on TV who claim they have the answer for solving this Dolphins offense have a clue because the Dolphins offense is a rigged ever changing Rubik’s cube. Ask Vance Joseph after the game how hard it is to stop this Dolphins team if he still has a job after this game. It’s not easy and we know how good Vance Joseph is because he was a defensive coordinator in Miami and a very good one.
Finally some home cooking for the Miami Dolphins! The weather gods smiled down upon Hard Rock for their first home game of the season and it was a fun game indeed. I had an early morning visit to the Walmart by the stadium to pick up some ingredients to make some southern style home fried potatoes and saw a lot of Broncos fans out in full force with their bright orange jerseys! Boy were they in for one of the biggest disappointments in NFL history. The NFL has unsubtly responded to teams complaining about playing the Dolphins in the Miami heat of late summer September by making Miami start out with two games on the road and only one home game in their first four competitive matchups. However, after a comprehensive debacle like this, I believe few people will be discussing the heat and many will be discussing the historic nature of this offense. Which is exactly how it should be. Next up for Miami, a division showdown on the road against Josh Allen and the Bills. Fins up!
