Week 16 of the 2020 NFL Season. 2020 has been a really trying year for all of us, some more than others of course. Some have lost friends or relatives to COVID-19, others struggle to keep their businesses and/or households intact due to COVID-19 restrictions. I feel for all of you. One thing we can all say has been a blessing is the rise of our favorite football team, the Miami Dolphins. We won’t win the division this year, the Buffalo Bills have already clinched that. At 9-5, we are right in the thick of it though and currently hold the #7 seed in the AFC. Our team’s development has been a shining light, and that light still burns bright as we head to Sin City, Las Vegas Nevada to play the 7-7 Raiders. The Raiders have built a beautiful new stadium there and nothing would be better for us to take one more big step towards our first playoff berth since 2016, when Ryan Tannehill was our QB and then tore up his knee in Game 13, and Matt Moore faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs and ended our season on a sour note. Not coincidentally, that was the last year the Miami Dolphins had a 1,000 yard rusher, Jay Ajayi.
This is an exciting time for our fanbase our franchise. It’s so different than 2016. In 2016 I never felt like we really belonged with the other playoff teams, and no offense to Ryan Tannehill, but even if we had his services against the Steelers, I’m not sure we would have fared much better. We weren’t nearly as well rounded as we are now. It’s amazing the transformation we’ve gone through in such a short time. I truly feel like no team wants to face the 2020 Miami Dolphins while I think in 2016, they were licking their lips to face us in the playoffs. We have made major strides on the defensive side and now are the #1 defense in points allowed at 254 which is a stingy 18.4 PPG. In 2020 in the NFL, that’s really saying something. I was listening to WQAM and I wish I could find the record to confirm what I think I heard yesterday. I believe they said since Brian Flores took over as Head Coach, the Miami Dolphins are 20-6 against the spread. That’s unbelievable.
So here we sit at 9-5, heading to Las Vegas to play the Raiders in their beautiful new home. It’s looking very much like Derek Carr will be starting, but with our defense, I’m sure there must be a side bet as to whether he finishes. Carr has been practicing and is on track to play, but Marcus Mariota will no doubt be ready to play. A QB with an injured groin for the Dolphins defense is like throwing chum in the water to a sea of sharks. The Dolphins have so many players questionable for this game it’s absurd, but the big ones to me are the availability of DeVante Parker, Mike Gesicki. We already know that Myles Gaskin will likely settle in as the lead RB, but will probably share the workload at least this week, more evenly with Salvon Ahmed who eclipsed 1oo yards last week against the Patriots, and to a lesser extent Matt Breida who is now healthy as well. I won’t be surprised if we have a running game against the Raiders but it will depend on how their defense fares. We might need more Tua than I expect. The other players I’ll be watching for is whether LG Ereck Flowers is able to suit up, right now it looks like rookie Solomon Kindley will miss this one. If Flowers can’t go, this will once again thrust Michael Deiter to start at LG with veteran Jesse Davis filling in at RG. Both players played well last week against the Patriots. Also, it’s unclear as to whether WR/PR/KR Jakeem Grant will be able to play. While he’s been uneven as a receiver, he’s provided plenty of pop in the return game. Out of the 12 players the Dolphins have listed on the injury report, only 2 had full participation, CB Xavien Howard and S Kavon Frazier. G Solomon Kindley and S Clayton Fejedelem both did not participate.
While the Raiders at 7-7 have a very uncertain path to playoffs, unlikely even, the Dolphins with wins on Saturday against the Raiders and then against Buffalo will guarantee them a spot in the playoffs. If that were to occur, it’s likely the Dolphins would have to play the AFC East champion Bills back to back weeks. Let’s take this one week at a time though, shall we? Let’s take care of business this week first and then we can thirst for a chance to make the playoffs a real possibility. I hope all of you here at FMU have a wonderful holiday season and a very Merry Christmas to all of you and our readers who don’t post here (If there are any)
GO DOLPHINS!!!!
Merry Christmas!!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhh!!!hhahah
What did you just find?
WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!@!!!!!!!!
Next Gen stats says that Ryan had a 10.9 percent chance to complete that pass,
However, they DONT factor the facemasking, which made the degree of difficulty MUCH higher.
no way that Ryan could even see the receiver anymore while his arm was in motion, and how Ryan had enough strength to get the pass downfield with the facemask and body getting twisted sideways, is the stuff of memories!
this team never fails to surprise, gotta love the never say die mentality
Naples – No, Fitz has never played a playoff game
That truly was an incredible play. It truly was a no look pass
What kind of defense was that?
A blown cover 2
Patrick Mahomes II
@PatrickMahomes
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12m
I know I’m late but best no look pass of all time
Like I am really going to be able to sleep now
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, at the bottom of the last page, I stated I thought Fitzy started ONE playoff game for the Bills many years ago, WHICH HE LOST. SOMEONE please double check me on that.
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MY WIFE, who went to bed early, just came out of the bedroom wanting to know “What’s all the noise about?” She was flabbergasted when I told her what happened!!!
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AGAIN, AS THE UNOFFICIAL HISTORIAN OF THIS WEB SITE, I DECLARE THIS GAME TO BE THE GREATEST GAME IN THE HISTORY OF THE MIAMI DOLPHINS FRANCHISE!!! –That said, I kinda agree with Larry Csonka (the birthday boy) when he says “I’m getting too old for this stuff!” –BUT I’D SURE LIKE TO SEE ANOTHER ONE!!
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BRING ON THE COLORADO KOOL-AID!!
Ftz has never been to a playoff game
A little Christmas (Fitz) Magic
Great job by Fitz and Sanders is money
Shit PI call on Jones
For just a couple of minutes I knew how Saints’ fans felt when they were victimized by a bad pass interference call.
Yup, that would have been reversed if they were still reviewing them
Ha….I have spoken.
Well stated 🙂
Dolphins win on The Exorcist play!!!!
Fitz gets his head spun completely around and still completes a 34 yd pass with 15 tacked on Woohooo!!
Dolphins are a team of density!!
If the rams give up 13+ and the Steelers give up 18+, the Fins stay the #1 ppg defense in te leagye
Dolphins now have 21 games straight with a turno ver. We force a turnover next week, and we have an entire season with at least 1 per game.
Still don’t know how the hell he got the football that far downfield – the slo-mo replay showed the ball starting to slip out of his hand as he released it, from his head practically being ripped off his body at the same moment. He willed it out there.
lol – it was indeed otherworldly…
For the 1st time in like 50 years the Dolphins have the series lead on the Raiders at 18-17-1
Fuck Parker for missing these games. None of our WRs can be trusted- we need a new #1 and #2, and Parker, Williams, Grant all need to be our 3-5. Grant with another huge drop, but he made some plays, and at least he was out there giving it a go.
I love Grant’s grittiness – but his hands are super suspect. Reminds me of James Pruitt (there’s a name from the past), well except for the height difference. Parker is always dinged – ditto for Preston Williams. Doesn’t do any good if you aren’t on the field or can’t consistently catch. Kudos to Gesicki for being out there and making plays with the shoulder though. Thought I saw him on the sideline holding it a bit near the end of the game – hope he can hang on a little longer.
Man, when Gesicki got injured, we all thought he was done for the year. It’s such a credit to his toughness he’s already bac out there. And he was so big for us in the 4th. Fingers crossed he can give us at least one more game.
Win and we’re in!!!
We have really good HC and staff. The game is never over. 🙂
This staff really shows, by contrast, just how bad we’ve been at the coaching level for the last 15 years.
Next man up happens, sound fundamentals-these things are reality, not just lip service. Even when we have a bad game, we are still in it, we’re not losing by 30 points. We’re always in the game. We’re winning games with no flipping WRs
^
After Grant went down, we had Bowden and Ford at WR, and it seemed to me most of the 4th quarter was played with our coterie of TEs at all the wideout positions. How many big plays has Mack fucking Hollins made for us this year? The very definition of next man up.
And hell yeah to Gesicki for getting out there 2 weeks after dislocating his shoulder and coming up with some big plays dwn the seam at big moments.
And of course FItz, breathes fresh life into the offense and snatches the win for us.
And FUCK that ref for throwing that flag at that moment in the game. Jones grabbed at the shoulder. but in no way turned or impeded the WRs momentum. It should have been 3rd and 7 from the Raider 28.
And Jones got his ass handed to him again in this game. Can we just flipflop Jones’ and Howard’s salaries , lol.
Jones is good, but wow you can see the difference between him and the best CB in the league in Howard. The Raiders stayed away from Howard most of the game. A pass or two went his way in the 1st and a few in the 2nd half, one which Howard popped up into near INT. So 3 or 4 passes his direction and he created a INT opportunity on one of them. Turnover machine.
Tua was hot garbage today. He was not seeing the field well and did not move well in th epocket either. He stepped into one sack, took another by not stepping up, missed more than one 3rd down throw. He’s a rook, you expect some bad games, not a b9g deal. Credit to Flores for pulling the trigger and giving us a chance to win. We likely had it outright if the ref didn’t make that call.
Wow.
Team win! I love it!
Waller was amazing today, and credit to Carr for placing throws throws perfectly time and again. I thought Rowe actually had good coverage most of the time, it was a case of perfect offense beating good defense.
Waller is a monster. Nobody can cover him.
The refs missed a big block in the back on the long punt return that set up the Raiders first score. It’s hard for me to judge what is my own bias, and what is reality, but it really feels we’ve had to overcome the refs 3 out of the last 4 games.
If I am remembering correctly, this is the 2nd straight week our opponent had no penalties called against them in the 1st half.
I’m supposed to sleep tonight? Not sure how that is going to happen
Flores is Coach of the Year, right? Shouldn’t matter what happens next week, is there anyone that can do something in one week to change that? Tomlin shouldn’t be in the running anymore with 3 straight losses, maybe more to end the season. He was the only competition
Well Chubb and Hunt don’t matter along with Myles Garrett and Co.
Kevin Stefanski won with a team that should be competitive. We were the worst roster in the history of the NFL last year and now everyone is backing off of that. That’s convenient. LOL
Brian Flores is coach of the year. Anything else is nonsense. The officials
tried to give the game to the Raiders and we overcame that too. 😉
Yep!! I still can’t believe we’re going into the draft with a top 10 pick and 4 in the first 2 rds. It would be great to get a playoff game under our belt, but next week really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme.
If we miss the playoffs, it’s still been a really successful year. We are going to get an influx of talent to bolster our deficiencies next year. The future is bright!!
OD,
FYI, some verification about Fitz and the playoffs –
https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=401220230
“I want to go,” said Fitzpatrick, who hasn’t made the playoffs in his 16-year career. “I want to feel what it’s like. I feel like we have a special team. I’m proud I’ve been able to contribute to that.”
“The Dolphins became the second team in the past 20 years to take over that deep in their territory in the final 30 seconds when trailing and drive for the winning score. Green Bay did it to Detroit five years ago on a desperation pass from Aaron Rodgers to Richard Rodgers.”
On the Gaskin catch and run for a TD late in the 4th, Gaskin scored after breaking a tackle by ex-Dolphin Raekwon McMillan.
Fejedelem converted a 4th down fake punt with a 22 yd run, then was the player to recover the Raiders fumble on the final play of the game to keep our TO streak alive.
Kong, every team in the league is watching what we do from here on out and in the offseason. You don’t want to play us. I’d be saying this if another team fit that profile. We’ve eliminated two teams from the playoffs in back to back weeks as we stay in the mix. 🙂
Yep, we’re that dangerous team that could win in an upset against one of the juggernauts in round one. No one wants to see the Fins. Man it would be great to cap this season off with a playoff game or two.
^
Both teams got 3 sacks, both teams scored points in every quarter, and both teams were 1-4 in the redzone.
The Raiders were 0-10 on 3rd down.
Man…if this team had any WRs…..
Last game of the year against what will be a nemesis for years to come in the Bills. 10-5 vs. a very good Bills team at 11-3. This is what it’s all about. 🙂
Yards don’t matter, points do. It’s all about the scoreboard and PA. Enjoy the ride folks! 🙂
So I was only able to watch the game until halftime. I can’t really tell from your guys posts if I missed anything exciting. Did I?
CavalierKong says:
December 27, 2020 at 2:19 am
Yep, we’re that dangerous team that could win in an upset against one of the juggernauts in round one.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
if we keep playjing Tua we will be Jugger …NOTS!
Right on time. Morning Ms. Home.
lovely day, isn’t it mrs David?
how long have you been Davids Bitch?:)
Looks like I missed a good one. I thought this game was tonight.
Fell asleep with game tied 16-16 and 10 minutes left in game after one of the injury timeouts…..doesn’t take long.
Woke up and finished watching this morning.
Amazing never say die effort!!!
10-5!!!! Just wow!
Thank the Heavens for the Facemask!
When Fitz threw that ball the facemasking actually helped complete that ball, the safety was taking an angle to break up the pass, the throw being short slowed the wr down and the safeties angle was no longer good.
to add the cherry on top the 15 yard penalty gave Sanders a chip shot!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-ss-prem-hyde-dolphins-raiders-20201227-bh7p3shpw5cppmn347jsppdjia-story.html%3foutputType=amp
Browns and Colts have losable games today. If only the Giants could pull off the miracle upset Miami would have some breathing room.
Giants have had some great upsets, i think they beat Seattle at Seattle.
They have and did but they lost their mojo since. Here’s hoping they find it again today.
https://dolphinswire.usatoday.com/2020/12/27/no-controversy-as-brian-flores-confirms-dolphins-starting-quarterback/
Hell Yeah! you spent a #5 overall on that guy. You can’t be wrong on that pick!
not sure at this point if that’s the right thing to do team wise, kinda kills the momentum when the whole world knows they are not playing the best guy for the job.
Whew! Woke up, thought, did that really happen? Had to double check, just to make sure the end to that game wasn’t some wild crazy dream.
Miami Miracle 2.0
Fitz needs to start and we need to draft another QB and continue to do so every year until we get it right.
Oh Jesus give it a rest. Tua is the starter and the future. He didn’t have a great game last night but he has done nothing to warrant panicking and drafting another QB. Fitz had a great moment last night and I am happy we had him but Tua is the starter
Waller is a beast. He was the best player on the field last night
I really respect Mahomes for posting that. Very cool. Magnanimous. And f’ing Right On!!
+++
Another thought if X wants more money give it to him and move on from Jones
One more thought. The value of Sanders cannot be underestimated. Once that play happened I knew the game was over. There was no way Sanders was going to miss
I think a play like Toney might fill the void for what we want Grant to be able to do consistently
He’s a really athletic receiver who can make a ton happen after the catch
If we draft a WR like Chase, Waddle or Smith early, we can look for a player like this a little later
Surprised he’s not getting more attention
A really polished WR like Chase In the first rewound and a freak athlete like Toney on day 2 would be a nice haul
And that leaves us room to add a RB (Harris please) and another pass rusher to bring along
Maybe even a Interior DL
I thought it was weird that the raiders got away from running Jacobs last night
He was killing it getting 5 upyards a carry and in the way to a 100+ yards
All of the sudden, they stopped giving him carries
I mentioned that to my wife in the 3rd. They kept running Booker to the point I asked if Jacobs got injured.
Also Waller was amazing last night
I thought Rowe had him covered well most of the night and Waller made freakish plays without any room
I also like the scheme in general
If Nelson anghalor doesn’t break a big play, you live and die with big Waller plays
The raiders were sitting at 16 points until late in the game
They were mov8ng the ball but could not finish
Rooting for Jets and Steelers today will be weird
But it must be done
Hope the Giants win too
Feels weird to root for jest and patsies both, but gotta do it.
Ken says:
December 27, 2020 at 9:11 am
Oh Jesus give it a rest. Tua is the starter and the future. He didn’t have a great game last night but he has done nothing to warrant panicking and drafting another QB. Fitz had a great moment last night and I am happy we had him but Tua is the starter
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I like the way you judge QBs, i listen very carefully, i would give you all the data to make an informed decision, give me your best and your worst.
I’ll take your worst every time! # dont get manning
This confirms my thoughts! DUMP TUA!
I’ll tell you who else had a great game, Myles Gaskin, he’s definitely the best RB on this team!
the problem with Tua is he plays small, he’s overwhelmed by the sheer size of the players in front of him and has trouble locating his rec’s.
that’s why he can’t get the ball down the field.
Fitz is more upright with his stance and his throwing motion and that’s why he succeeds.
Tua had 95 yards in 3 quarters
Fitz had 185 yards in 1 quarter
what’s really amazing is most of you will not let go of the #5overall blindfolds!
NEW BLOG UP!!!!
Tua is 6ft with high heels on, he has a low head semi sidearm throwing motion, he’s not an upright thrower. his arm path in his throwing motion is (more slanted & parallel to the ground) vs Fitz is (more upright)
this makes him even shorter than 6′
OD, 1982 SD v Miami game … I was senior in high school … the day after I couldn’t go to school, couldn’t workout, called in sick to work … while it was an amazing game it left me a wreck!! That game is second to Stabler’s “sea of hands” as my two most haunting memories. LOL
BUT, I certainly get the sentiment. The endings are starting to land on OUR side. 😅