2020 DolphinsTalk Staff Season Predictions

2020 DolphinsTalk Staff Season Predictions

This article was so popular last year we decided to bring it back and do it again this year. Some of the senior staff members here at DolphinsTalk.com have made their weekly predictions for the upcoming 2020 Miami Dolphins season. We have gone through and predicted every Dolphins game this upcoming season and make our overall Dolphins prediction. As well as give you our thought process and reasoning behind the predictions underneath. If you want to hear more about this be sure to check out our DolphinsTalk.com Podcast for Thursday, September 10th as we do a round-table discussion with everyone involved and go more in-depth with our predictions.

Mike Oliva: If this was a regular offseason with mini-camps and preseason games I would have the Dolphins winning 1 or maybe 2 more games. But I think with so many rookies who are going to be asked to contribute and play large roles, the months of September and October could be tough sledding for the Dolphins as there will be a learning curve with these rookies. That October stretch of Seattle, SF, Denver, Chargers, and Rams will not be easy. The plus side for Miami is I think the AFC East games won’t be as daunting in 2020. I see Miami sweeping both the Jets and Patriots. Buffalo is still a level above Miami, and while I think Buffalo sweeps the Fins I think those games could be close. But like with every NFL team it comes down to quarterback play. If Fitzpatrick plays well, the Dolphins will be close to a .500 team and maybe sniffing around a wild card spot. I think they come up just short this year but the outlook for 2021 is very bright.

Tom Ernisse:  Brian Flores had this team on a roll towards the end of the year.  Winning 5 of 9, they started coming into their own.  Finishing last season with a meaningful victory over the Patriots, in a game that mattered to them, showed their mental toughness.  After a massive overhaul of the roster, this team is primed for a much better season.  While the schedule is tough, I believe this team will be in contention down the stretch, with the chance to secure a possible wild card spot and dare I say, division title.  This is wide open with the Patriots massive overhaul, the Jets still Gaseing around and the Bills having a much tougher schedule.  If Ryan Fitzpatrick has this team firing on all cylinders (12th in passing last season), they will have a chance to go from worst to first.  This hinges on the defense and ground game, which I feel both have improved year over year.

Big E:  If 2019 was a foundation-building year, then the 2020 season is when the Miami Dolphins will be building the walls of their figurative home. Nobody expected the Dolphins to do much of anything during the 2019 season with the lack of talent on their roster. But, not only did Coach Flores turn the season around after losing 7 games in a row, he turned the Miami Dolphins into a team that nobody wanted to play down the stretch and a team that ended up playing spoilers to playoff-bound teams. With the plethora of draft picks that the Dolphins selected during the April draft, the talented Free Agents the Fins brought in, and some of the talented undrafted players that should be on the opening day roster, the floor should be 8 wins for the 2020 Dolphins, with my expectation of the team winning 10 games and earning a playoff berth.

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Josh Katzker:  What a difference a year makes. A year ago, even the most optimistic Dolphins fans knew what they were walking into a rebuilding year where losses were going to outnumber wins by a wide margin. Thanks to solid coaching from a new regime and explosive play from a number of young talents, the Dolphins outperformed those expectations. In the offseason, the front office stuck to the plan and made key draft picks and acquisitions to bolster both the offensive line and defensive backfield. Oh, and they drafted the guy poised to become the Dolphins’ first legitimate franchise quarterback since Dan Marino.

Now we find ourselves at the dawn of a new season—one that fans and prognosticators alike view much more optimistically. Are the Dolphins playoff contenders this year? Probably not. But if the Dolphins can build upon the performances they put in at the end of the 2019 season, there are reasons to be optimistic that 2021 will see this once great franchise begin a new golden era.

Aaron Katzker:  With Tom Brady leaving the division and the conference, the landscape has changed. New England is no longer the favorites to win the AFC East, and depending on whether or not Bill Belichick can resurrect Cam Newton’s career, Miami could legitimately be the 2nd best team in the division. While I’m not ready to write the Patriots’ epitaph just yet, Miami should be clearly better than Adam Gase’s woefully inept Jets’ outfit. The Bills certainly have the most complete roster of the group. Miami may struggle out of the gate, as they play 4 of their first 6 games on the road, but in the weirdness of 2020, you have to wonder if that even matters. What’s probably more troublesome is that 4 of their first 6 games are also against teams that made the playoffs a year ago. In spite of picking Miami to win two of their first three games (including a win in Foxboro in the opener), I have Miami dropping three straight to fall to 2-4. It’s right around this time of the year that I really expect Miami to start to gel. The offensive line and defense should begin to look more cohesive, and the wins should follow. I’ve got Miami winning five of their next six games, and becoming the talk of the league following a 4-game winning streak spanning from Week 9’s matchup in Arizona to Week 13’s tilt against Joe Burrow and the Bengals. At 7-5 entering the season’s last quarter, this is where it falls apart. Call it youth, call it a tough schedule, or simply call it the Same Old Dolphins, I’ve got Miami dropping three of their final four games of the season, finishing 8-8, and just missing out on the AFC’s final playoff spot.

So that’s how the staff sees the Dolphins 2020 season playing out. We hope you enjoyed the 2020 DolphinsTalk Staff Season Predictions article. I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming season and Go Dolphins!

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