The Miami Dolphins just beat the Buffalo Bills to go to 3-0, and confidence in this team is high as it should be. It’s been a while since you could feel good about this team. With a 3-0 start, expectations have changed, and so has the conversation as to is this team is a contender or not. Some have the Dolphins number 1 in their power rankings , and record-wise, you can’t argue.
However, we aren’t through the first quarter of the season. As I am reminded, the NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint. All teams go through their ups and downs and have adversity during the season. The Dolphins have had some adversity playing from behind so far this year. They trailed by multiple scores on the road against the Baltimore Ravens, and the offense turned it on in a comeback win. Last week against the Bills, the Dolphins were dominated statistically, and yet the Dolphins found a way to win. Those are good signs of a good team.
I’ve seen the statistics that when a team starts 3-0, couples have a 76% chance of making the playoffs. However, since 2000, the Dolphins have gone 3-0 three times and each time missed the playoffs. Sure, the NFL expanded to 3 wild card teams, but it’s a reminder that the Dolphins won’t be guaranteed a spot unless they take care of business.
The last time the Dolphins went 3-0 was 2018, and the team collapsed and quit on their head coach Adam Gase. The Dolphins finished 7-9 and fired Gase, and they started a rebuilding process. In 2013, the Dolphins went into a funk and lost four straight. They also had the bully gate scandal with Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin. The Dolphins were 9-5 in the last two weeks of the season but lost the final two games and missed the playoffs. The most frustrating year was 2002 when the Dolphins had a 3-0 record led by running back Ricky Williams and a top-ranked defense. Williams led the league in rushing with 1,853 yards, but that wasn’t enough. Like the 2013 team, the Dolphins were 9-5 and lost their final two games ending their season.
3-0 is a great start and better than anyone could have anticipated, especially starting with three teams that made the playoffs last year. Plus, I don’t think anybody knew what to expect with new coach Mike McDaniel since he is a coach no one knew, and he has a different quirky personality. However, McDaniel has been a breath of fresh air, and the team is responding to him, but when the team loses a game or two, how will they respond? The best way to learn about your team and the head coach is how they deal with adversity losing some games. It would be McDaniel’s first time doing this as a head coach, and I don’t know what to expect. Brian Flores wasn’t perfect as a head coach, but he never lost his team when they started 1-7 last year or 1-3 the year before. It was a trait I admired in him.
This isn’t to say the Dolphins will collapse like the previous three times, but it’s a reminder nothing is guaranteed at 3-0. I didn’t have any expectations before the season because I wasn’t sure how things would go with coach McDaniel, but so far couldn’t have gone better. Going forward, I am optimistic that we have an excellent defense and that our offense is producing big plays. The scary thing is the offense hasn’t clicked on all cylinders yet, and this team has yet to play a complete game. They are finding ways to win. Injuries are going to happen during the course of the season. So far, the concerns in the secondary, from the Byron Jones injury and backup offensive tackle, with Austin Jackson’s injury, have held up very well. There are a lot of reasons why this team could continue to do well, but during the course of a 17-game season, anything can happen, and nothing is guaranteed.
