The day we’ve waited so long to arrive will be here in 3 more days. Yeah, there’s a game on tonight, and may even be a good one, but I’m looking right past it to Sunday, 1PM, Hard Rock Stadium. This team has made a lot of changes and we will be relying on a lot young players, but if you look at the drafts we had last year and this year, I feel pretty confident.
On the offensive side of the ball, we brought in free agent LG Josh Sitton, I feel that is a clear upgrade. Returning at LT is Laremy Tunsil, and he will most definitely benefit by playing next to Sitton. At center, we said goodbye to Mike Pouncey, and traded for SF 49ers C Dan Kilgore. In theory, it will be nice to have all our starting OL practicing together and hopefully developing a rhythm and a chemistry. Kilgore will probably be an upgrade run blocking, but Pouncey was good last year pass blocking, and throughout his career, so Kilgore will have to play very well to in that regard.
Gone is the go-to-guy Jarvis Landry who caught over 400 passes in 4 years here in Miami, and in his place will be veteran WR Danny Amendola, as well as rookie TE Mike Gesicki, and WR Albert Wilson. 3 new faces for Tannehill, each with their own particular skill set. I never loved Amendola, but that guy is a clutch performer, helping the Patriots big time in the playoffs with excellent performances. Wilson was relatively underused in KC, and my hope is it’s not because he didn’t have the goods, it’s because they had too many weapons in KC with Kareem Hunt, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Gesicki can be the TE we’ve craved here for too long, at least as far as a receiver, his blocking is a work in progress. Gesicki brings athletic ability we haven’t had, and he’s a very talented pass catcher. We’ll also have the oft (minor injured) Devante Parker and Jakeem Grant as well. Grant will bring excitement, and Parker disappointment, just the way it usually is.
Ryan Tannehill returns from injury as he hasn’t played a regular season game since December 11th of 2016. Tannehill is acutely aware this is his team now, and if he can elevate his play, the team will come along as well. This is a great opportunity for him, I hope he makes the most of it. With Kenyan Drake, Frank Gore and Kalen Ballage, I think he has the tools to succeed. I think the backs will share a workload, but Kenyan Drake is the primary back. There won’t be a workhorse among the 3, but Drake is the lead, Gore next, and then Ballage and Senorise Perry.
On defense, we let go a pro-bowl caliber DT, one who played an exorbitant amount of plays for us, and he will be replaced by the frequent rotation of Jordan Phillips, Davon Godchaux, Akeem Spence and Vincent Taylor, with an occasional sprinkling of DE William Hayes. At LB, 2nd YR Rookie Raekwon McMillan returns after missing last season with an ACL injury. He’s joined by Kiko Alonso and and a combo of Jerome Baker, Stephone Anthony and Chase Allen. The biggest change is at CB, where Xavien Howard returns at RCB, but opposite him will be Bobby McCain, who was previously the slot and nickel corner. Depth wise, Cordrea Tankersley, Torry McTyer and rookie Cornell Armstrong round out the CB position. At safety, a few veterans return in Reshad Jones, T.J. McDonald, Walt Aikens, but they are joined by do it all rookie sensation Minkah Fitzpatrick. We’re going to see him on the field A LOT!
So on to the game! Tennessee will be lead by 5th YR QB Marcus Mariota, and the run game led by big back Derrick Henry (Kenyan Drake’s RB mate at ALA), former Patriots RB Dion Lewis, former Dolphins WR Rishard Matthews, 3rd YR WR Corey Davis and veteran TE Delanie Walker. The Titans like to impose their will with a power run game led by a tough OL with excellent bookends Taylor Lewan and Jack Conklin. Henry had previously been splitting carries with RB DeMarco Murray, but with Murray out of the picture, Henry will be getting the lion’s share of carries. We have struggled defending the run, at least in the preseason, so we’ll see if we can hold here at home.
On offense, Devante Parker is OUT, so Albert Wilson will likely replace Parker as wideout. In the preseason, the offense was a fast pace, no huddle short pass game clinic. Not sure if that continues in the regular season, or if we’ll be more balanced with more of a rushing attack, and also get the TE’s more involved in the passing game as well. We have a rookie kicker, and supposedly Jason Sanders has ice running through his veins. Let’s hope we don’t need to find out!
MIA 30 – TEN 13
Finsmob Unleashed 
We tend to break a lot of Titans in recent years . 2nd time for Mariota
Our team has beat the shit out of their team and have kept their focus. This game will be felt by the Titans longer than just this week. It has put them at a disadvantage for the next few games.
Come on, one more TO. FUMBLE
During the delays, both teams Def Coordinators ate giant 7-11 sized microwavable burritos, then took big naps… while the Offensive Coordinators were slamming red bulls.
Lol
LOL
There’s a visual!
Man Gabbert is terrible
Gabbert just missed the wide open receiver: Casper (and not Dave)
NO MORE Time outs!
Let’s run this out.
This was one bizarre opening game.
Does a Turn over on Downs count as the TO I was asking for?
DOLPHINS WIN!!!! Where is Gore?
WTF? WHAT HAPPENED?
Smythe with a nice block outta the backfield
My question is: Did they sell beer during the delays? Cuz that explains the fans still there… they’re too drunk to get home.
WTF is the game???
REALLY YOU MOTHER FUCKERS!!???? REALLY?? I NEED TO LISTEN TO THESE FUCKS?? WHERE IS THE GAME?
Disappointed in the pass rush today
Both tackles out
Agree but I will take 3 ints
Me too!
South Florda FOX station switched off the game – we can’t see it down here anymore WTF? Serious?
You are just missing the clock being run out
Drake for no gain 4tha nd 10 1:35 and counting
I am surprised we did not get sacks with both their OTs out.
why did we call time out?
Because the game needed to go a little longer. 😂
It’s still on directv
Way too conservative for me
Punting
See score 25 or more you win the game most times
Keep it up
Got it on the West Palm Beach station. Geez.
Delay penalty back up 10 yds, good idea declined rolls in fro touchback 1:07 left
Minkah again
Solid game. We won the TO battle, looked ok, and didn’t have injuries. Tannehill and our DEs will have to look better soon but solid win and one step closer. Good job, guys.
Minkah had that one .. Doh
Fitz almost had one!!!!!!!!!
I can’t complain, good win overall.
…though we need to get more pressure on the QB.
who had 27-17
I mean 27-20
Fox is showing highlights from other games like the Dolphins game didn’t exist.
That’s been all day
no, they are playing the premier of “rel” what ever that is.
27-20 now onside kick coming
Of course another career long FG against us
Not sure this game told us much since most games cover 3 hours rather than 7 hours 😉
Good job Baker.. thatll do it
OMG Tannehill Kneeling !!! 😮
God darn, just end this game!!
VICTORY FORMATION!
The OL looks VERY good so far.
I’ll take this ugly win
It wasn’t that ugly, the weather was.
So was the game
1-0 nothing else matters.
Well that game took awhile. 😳
Would have sucked to lose a 7 hour game
Woohoo!!! With a game like this, you throw everything out and just take the win.
Go Fins!!!
Seems Tenn didnt throw the ball to their WRs, our back 7 may be pretty good.
First Downs 19 18
Total Yards 336 343
Passing Yards 220 222
Rushing Yards 116 121
Penalties (Yds) 5(48) 7(51)
Turnovers 3 2
Punts (AVG) 4(45) 4(33)
Time of Pos. 29:35 30:25
stats are remarkably close
Stats schmats
Fins 1 … Tenn 0 LOL
Got the win but this day and game was so fucked up we need to see another game to get a better feel for this team. LOL
Go Phins!!!!
The Miami Dolphins are Undefeated.
Fins and Pats both win at home, with the same 27-20 score…. M comes before N, and D before P… just in case ESPN still puts NE first in the ‘tie’ in standings. 🙂 hmm, this does sound bitter. lol
https://www.nfl.com/standings
look who is #1
Take a sip fellas (and gal)
I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one petty enough to worry about this. lol
Glad we won…
Lots to clean up.
Stills had two TDs and a nice article about him in Sunday’s sports section of the failing New York Times.
I liked the running game before the 1st delay. We need to do that each week. If we do, we will have a chance in every game.
Balt is way ahead as of tonight in the AFC due to their huge 44 net points… LOL
I clicked on “Playoffs” standings … page said “Fuck You Dolphin Fans” ! lol
Rhino says:
September 9, 2018 at 8:18 pm
I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one petty enough to worry about this. lol
Reply
My personal motto is “Don’t piss me off. I’m a petty little man with a lot of time on my hands and I will get you”
😉
Gore with a 6.8 yard average
Drake with a 3.4 yard average
Both backs had a good day because the oline had a good day. It’s amazing how that works.
I feel bad for Walker. That was a gruesome injury.
Somebody give Piggy a ride home. He’s too drunk to call Uber.
I’ve actually been drinking water for a few hours now
The pop up kick they ran back for a TD was a stupid call on our part. They had gotten a good gain the last time we did that, and we’re up two scores with less than a quarter to go. Why give them a chance to run one back for the possible 4 or 5 yards in field position you get IF you stop them around the 20.
Minor complaint, but at the time it was pretty infuriating.
Kick it out of the back of the endzone!
Exactly. In that situation there is just no real gain by letting them run back.
Have to give the coaches credit for keeping the team focused enough to pull out the win. 1-0 is all that really matters.
I feel like I ran a marathon
This was one of the most exhausting games I’ve ever watched. Too wiped out to even watch the Sunday night game.
Dolphins red zone efficiency 1 for 5. Awful. This game would have been a blowout if we could have executed down there. 2 for 10 3rd down efficiency. also bad.
It’s pretty awesome we were in control of this game the entire time from the 2nd quarter on with those numbers. If we can get these things cleaned up, we should have a good year.
Catch distribution:
4,5,3,4,3,1 (Stills, Grant,Wilson, Amendola, Drake, Gesicki)
Spreading the ball around
I liked our rhythm on offense before the first delay! Even with the INT in the end-zone it would have been a good call with a better pass and MG not falling down!
We never did get that Rhythm back!!!!!!
Then after the long TD, we fell back into our old to-cute selves??????
We also had more takeaways than almost all of last year 🤪
Agreed Kong. I’m not watching any more football today. I’m done. Gonna watch some Office re-runs and just be stupid until I’m sleepy. 🙂
yep, same here. The wife is already passed out, and I’ll be joining soon. Cheers!
Go Dolphins!!
Alright I think I am about to turn into a pumpkin 🎃. Time to do a little reading then off to bed. 1-0 feels good but exhausting. Peace
Very happy with the win. I saw some ugly football around the league, just glad we weren’t one of those teams that played ugly. We have some things to clean up, but overall very happy with what I saw.
Good game overall. We looked capable for sure. Still was a little sloppy. Few costly penalties. That run the time out series left a lot to be desired. Gase is t a run out the clock guy, he should just keep the petal down instead of doing something he seems to be really bad at playcalling for.
OL was really good. Best I can remember in a long long time. DL was getting decent pressure but could improve. We didn’t seem to game plan for max pressure and that’s probably because of Lewis.
Minkah was awesome. LBs were solid, Alonzo had a huge fail on that 26 yard gain by Lewis that wound up being a TD drive. We overall the defense played well. Jones is a stud.
Tanya had a nice game except two really bad passes. That one to Gesicki was a TD if he had better ball placement. Needed to be to the outside and not so much of a loft, it just needed to be a high pass.
Both Gore and Drake were very good. That’s a really solid pair. All the WRs looked great. That’s going to be an exciting group as well. Best part was it was a no injury night. At one point I thought Tanny was hurt but looks like it was minor.
Tanny not Tanya
Yeah, that pass to Gesicki was way too flat. Should have been higher and more to the back of the end zone where he would have a better chance to catch it. He basically threw it to the defender.
That end zone fade is Tanny’s nemesis. He has struggled making that a good throw his whole career.
I bet Tenn wishes they had kept Falk instead of Gabbert
Was it just me or did McDonald not look that athletic and not good tackling tonight or was it cause he just looked that way playing next to Jones and Fitz?
Damn, just finished my first beer after getting home from work and my grammar already sucks, lol
I didn’t call McDonald’s number once today. I honestly can’t remember seeing him make a single play.
He made a couple nice tackles, I thought k it’s just we expect him to blitz, make sacks and light someone up. I saw him make some plays but it wasn’t highlight stuff
He’s credited with 6 tackles and an assist. Lol, he actually led the team in tackles. So, like you said, he was there. I’ll have to look for him on my rewatch.
1ST DOWN AVG YPC
GORE 5,5
DRAKE 3.2
But he wasn’t 1.8…..
it’s a long season both guys numbers will go down, 3.2 is great for a whole season avg, if either can do that we will be playoff bound for sure
Heck yeah! Our run pass ratio was almost exactly 50%. Gore looked fresh and effective. Both backs had good days. The potential is there for a good season.
Holy crap. Bears up 17-0. Rodgers hurt.
Mack with 1 sack, 1 FF, 1 INT.
Landry had 7 for 106, 15.1 YPC.
booo, hisssssss
Steelers put up 500 yds of offense and only got 21 points. 6 TOs (3 INT/3 fumbles)
Did we come through with a win and no injuries?
A number of Titans got injured but we escaped unscathed as far as I know. We dominated physically.
Delanie Walker had a gruesome ankle injury. I’ll be surprised if he isn’t out for the season.
Man our guys beat their guys asses today. The score doesn’t really tell the story.
Wait, this does
Mia W
Tenn L
I know, only one game. Shut up!
Dolphins have two players in the top 10 in interceptions this year.
Jones #1 with 2
Kiko #4 with 1
He he he
LOL
We didn’t have good camera angles so it’s hard to be sure, but I didn’t see a hold on the Titans when their long TD run got called back. We got the benefit of that call.
only one sack today. Keeping all 5 OL practicing every snap together since spring working?
It’s weird, I’m going through the stats from the first game seeing who was best at this, that, etc. The Dolphins stats are posted, but if you sort the teams / players by the different choices (I.e. yards per game, first downs, etc.) the Dolphins disappear from the lists.
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&defensiveStatisticCategory=GAME_STATS&conference=ALL&role=OPP&season=2018&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=TOTAL_YARDS_GAME_AVG&d-447263-o=1&d-447263-n=1
Where are the Dolphins?
Ok, maybe the universe is trying to tell me something about foregoing the gameday ball this year. This may be too much to ask though. I can’t imagine watching without a football.
My old one (about 11 years old) pops today before the game, we win. Now, I’ve been to two different websites in the last hour trying to order a new ball, and both orders wouldn’t complete due to server errors with the seller, and I’ll need to try back later. WTF?
I was very happy with the balance on play calling. The run was successful so Gase kept at it and the Defense ALLOWED us to run by taking away their run for the most part.
So, we are averaging 27 points per game, is that good enough? 😉
weird right?
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&season=2018&seasonType=REG&d-447263-n=1&d-447263-o=2&d-447263-p=1&conference=null&statisticCategory=PASSING&d-447263-s=PASSING_COMPLETION_PERCENTAGE
Where is Tannehill?
Your browser must be acting funny. When I’m clicking on those links I’m seeing the Fins and Tanny, and still seeing them when I sort.
Tyrn Williams
@bigty4343
3h3 hours ago
They called the wrong number.. The hold was on #64
—————-
Ah, looks like the TD run that was called back, the refs called the wrong number. And that did look like a hold on 64. 82 was getting face masked, so it should have been offsetting, but not nearly as egregious a penalty call as it first appeared.
It’s funny seeing the Titans thread complaining about this ref’ing crew and how they have lost 7 of the last 8 games this crew called. Swap Titans for Dolphins and you would think it was us,
So Kong doesn’t get the game ball today? Maybe next week, you just have try harder. lol
LOL, I have to make it happen next week!
Unless I pay a bunch for shipping, I may not get it until after next week’s game. If we win that one too, I’ll have to watch without a football until we lose.
if the dolphins are top 10 in any stats when you sort by that column the Dolphin disappears
from the list! LOL
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&season=2018&seasonType=REG&d-447263-n=1&d-447263-o=2&conference=null&d-447263-p=1&statisticCategory=PASSING&d-447263-s=PASSING_AVERAGE_YARDS
WHere is Tannehill?
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&season=2018&seasonType=REG&d-447263-n=1&d-447263-o=2&conference=null&d-447263-p=1&statisticCategory=PASSING&d-447263-s=PASSING_TOUCHDOWNS
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&season=2018&seasonType=REG&d-447263-n=1&d-447263-o=2&conference=null&d-447263-p=1&statisticCategory=PASSING&d-447263-s=PASSING_INTERCEPTIONS
Oh, sort by interceptions…..They show him then….
ROFLMAO!! That is some wicked prejudice
With what we showed today, there is no reason to think we shouldn’t be able to beat the Jest and start 2-0. Add in Oakland travelling to the east coast where they traditionally do poorly, 3-0 going into New England looks very doable.
hold your banana’s Kong, let’s just focus on the Jets for now
Lol, you’re right, one game at a time.
I’m pretty jazzed about this win though. 🙂
BBM, this from Phinfanatic agreeing with your assessment:
“…TJ is a major liability in coverage, allowing a huge play early in the game, and then before the first delay GOT RAN THE @#$% OVER. For a player who earns his bread as a neck breaking run stopper, that was horrible.”
SOMEONE UP THE PAGE (RHINO??) ASKED “who had 27-17?” That was me. That last gasp 56 yd FG kept me from picking the exact score!!
———–
WHAT A GAME!!–Thinking of getting my game ticket BRONZED!! And, of course, attending the game with YOUNG STANGER is always something special.—Stayed thru the first 2 hour delay but had to leave at half time just to get home in time to hit the sack by 11:00. It’s about 300 miles from the stadium to our house in Pasco County, north of Tampa Bay. LONG GAME PLUS LONG DRIVE equals tired old fart!! But the Mrs. OD had a late dinner ready to go for me when I got home!
———–
REALLY IMPRESSED with the O-Line, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Frank Gore, young Mr. Grant and, of course, Kenny Stills. The run defense was mostly solid, too! Tanny, of course, was both good and bad. But has GOOD moments far outweighed his bad ones. And that physical butt kicking we put on the Titans will stick with them for several weeks. I doubt if they’ll be serious playoff contenders this season
———-
And speaking of butt-kicking, THE JETS ARE NEXT!!–Gotta get my ugly rest. Talk to U guys and gals tomorrow.
Woah, how did GB come back to lead this game?
Win..holy shit !!!
Because Rogers is a incredibly good
Bring on the Jets!
We are on to the Jets
Thanks Kong, I know McDonald had some tackles but missed some as well. That was just my feeling on him but it is only game one. We will see.
McDonald lead the team in tackles with 8.