Want to know what’s worse than no hope?
False hope.
With no hope, right from the start you know you don’t have a chance,
With false hope, well, you get your hopes up. Like Charlie Brown trying to kick that football, thinking he’s going to actually do it this time, that Lucy isn’t going to pull the ball away at the last second.
— DolphinsTalk.com (@DolphinsTalk) October 29, 2019
Monday night’s game, in which the Dolphins lost 27-14 to the Steelers was again unfortunately the football being yanked away from Charlie Brown, false hope.
Us, as Dolphins fans, know what this season is about — “The Tank” — but maybe for one game, our team would show the rest of the nation in our lone scheduled primetime game that we weren’t as bad as they heard. We’ve come close the last couple of weeks, the one-point loss to Washington where we came one play from winning. Then last week’s 31-21 loss at Buffalo where we outplayed the Bills in the first half.
Maybe Monday Night Football, the night the Dolphins have played more than any NFL team would be the stage where the team’s fortunes would change. The Dolphins again were wearing their fabulous throwback uniforms (Memo to Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel: MAKE THEM THE FULL-TIME UNIFORM, thanks), maybe some of that old-time Monday night magic would resurface?
I was curious how Miami would play at the start, after running back Kenyon Drake was traded to Arizona earlier in the day, would the departure of another high-profile player affect the remaining Dolphins?
At the start, the answer was a clear no. The first quarter was like a dream. Fitzmagic was in the air and X marked the spot with his first interception of the season. 14-0, ESPN showing Steelers fans bewildered, and Dolphins fans thinking, maybe, just maybe, this is the week the planets align and we see our team win for the first time in 10 months.
But we also knew there was a lot of football left and the Dolphins weren’t going to play perfect football for 60 minutes, the team isn’t capable of that, sometime, something was going to happen.
It started late in the second quarter, the Dolphins potentially leading 21-3 at the half. Then the football was yanked away at the last second. Sadly, it came in the form of the ball hitting off Nick O’Leary’s pads, caroming into the night sky and of course, landing in the hands of former Dolphin Minkah Fitzpatrick.
We all knew what was coming next, the pessimism started to creep in, like a hazy fog. Then boom, 3rd-and-20 at the Miami 45, the Dolphins blitzed, leaving three defenders in pass coverage.
Diontae Johnson caught the ball, streaked up the middle with nary a Dolphin in chase, then zig-zagged his way into the end zone. Just like that, 14-3, was 14-10 and the Monday night magic went poof.
But as bad as that call was on defense, there was still a half of football to be played. The Dolphins could have overcome one bad play and come out in the third quarter and won the game. But Miami had no chance after being shut out in the second half. You may not believe this but the Dolphins never punted in the second half. Three possessions ended with turnovers and two more ended on downs. You’re not going to win many games with three turnovers in a half and four overall. Miami has to play a turnover-free game to have any chance.
You also don’t expect a defense that is piecemeal to begin with, missing two of its best players, Xavien Howard (in the second half) and Rashad Jones to be able to hold Pittsburgh, even with its second-string QB.
So chalk up loss No. 7. “The Tank” rolls on.
For some Dolphins fans, the hope that the team will win will return Sunday against the Jets. But as we’ve seen so far this season, even against a bad team like the Jets, you may want not to get those hopes up.
