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 
They should convert Fejedelum to RB. lol
Page turn!
I m hoping so 🤡
Herd
It must have been laundry day for Warner too…
Lol, I get it now
The Raiders came out flying with their playoff lives on the line and they’re up by a TD. We’ve seen this before. Not worried at all at this time. 🙂
Hated the Patriots for too long . I have learned the phrase Lotsa football left ,
I feel like they need to come out and play with more pace on offense
Tua does well with the hurry up … but we need to convert some 3rd downs
no vertical passing game, the raiders are crunching the field on us, grant needs to go deep and Tua needs to hit him!
And then Grant needs to actually catch it?
there he caught it
Nice tun
Or run
Grant got 3 yards On the tackle
Bookman : coach is reading us 😊
Yep! Lol
They seem to be a little more up tempo now on offense
I was laffing at that .. it was a good catch , possible face mask
Grant is hurt
Somebody hurt under that pile
Grant ..
Grant blew out his knee
Speculation, sorry
Much as I diss on him , can’t really afford to lose him now
Grant just has bad hands. geez. bobbled it and then got control, then fumbled anyway.
I retract criticism if he is hurt. 😕
I think the ball came out after he was tackled and he was hurt
They were calling to sidelines really early
the call sucked
Seemed like we were playing with pace until that play, it seems like Gailey slowed it down
That’s probably all for Grant.
i think the play calling is an attempt to cover up tuas deficiencies
Or lack of separation by WR
Nice !!!!
Terrific play for Gaskin!
Guys we’re playing with rookies and backups on offense. It’s not like we’re a juggernaut offense. Geez!!!! Stay with the plan.
yeah baby!!!!! Gaskin!
what a bomb by tua,!
Mahoney throws that pass he BRILLIANT
Fucking auto correct Mahomes
I thought you were talking about the guy from the Police Academy movies
LMAO
Nice drive
I never lost faith
glad we tied it up
DEFENSE!
What a great TD pass by Tua!!!!
He sure is lighting it up, he may break 100 yards!
Complimentary football .. let’s go D
Time for a turnover!
Dilly dilly
Gaskin and Ahmed are a pretty good tandem. They’re light backs but they play bigger than they are and they have some quicks.
need to cover that TE
Yep he’s a killer
Guys it’s a football game. Nothing is perfect with any team and definitely not these two teams.
Stuff !!!
Done !!! 👍👍
Like turkey sausage
Wilkins!
Wilkins!
🍻
With Sieler hanging on his leg
Ok, here we go!
I mean he didn’t even get back to the LOS
Didn’t look even close
It wasn’t unless the spot was atrocious
Cause that’s NEVER happened to us before
wow, what a stupid decision by gruden
It’s a head scratcher
The play or the challenge ? Take yer pick
That might be this game’s turnover
Even though statistically it isnt
We still have time for X to have an int or Ogbah to strip carr
Nice stop defense!
Ankle for Grant. Questionable
Getting real aggressive trying to rip out the ball … can’t cover that any better
Waller is ridiculously good. not a bad pass either
He’s becoming a monster. Had him on my FF team and didn’t make the playoffs. But I’m in a protect league and he’ll be one of them.
Why can’t we get gesicki on matchups like that
So t think he has 4.4 speed
Dont
Robert’s hurt now
Robert’s hurt now
Roberts hurt
I lol get this round 🍺🍺🍺
Okay guys…
Who got hurt
(Piggy ducks)
The glazed ham 😊
Speaking of ham , great tackle
We have no playmakers
The problem is our record is so far ahead of some of our talent and timeline, we’re caught in this weird football universe. I’ll take this in late December every time. 🙂
I don’t care for our strategy of covering Waller
Neither does the rest of the league. He’s a new monster weapon.
Let’s go!
Eric Rowe has actually had great coverage on most of those Waller catches
The OL picked a great game for their worst performance
Yeah, we are in big trouble
Fuck!!! We just can’t get it done on offense, it’s disturbing.
We just have no weapons . 2021 draft!!!
Renfroe is eating us a,Iive on punt returns.
Blame me, I picked up and started Tua in 2 fantasy leagues in mean nothing games
Not Tua’s fault entirely but he moved right into the pressure
We really need to just pick on O this draft. Lots of work needed in that side. Our STs have been pretty bad this game too.
Baker is really hustling tonight
Tua benched
Flores would call it “substituted”
There ya go Rob
Lol, same play calls
Yup
Kindley being out really shows his value in the run game.
Ice throw and catch
I’m bracing myself for the INT in the endzone. 😬
Go team!!!!!
Lol
any questions?
yes, what happened in Denver? lol
they kept tua in tua long!
Nicely done !!
It doesn’t feel like the same okay calls
But i think Warner is right Tua is just a little tentative
so thats what a qb looks like!
He has sparked them and moved them… no picks
Run this in. No passes unless it’s a TD. LOL
ORob, Tua is better in throwbacks. ☺️
Tua would have completely that 🤡
Unless it was to Grant
Hollins blows
He’s out 3rd string TE
I don’t think we should be relying on him
yup. He won’t be on future Miami teams. Once we draft/sign/healthy a WR core.
damn!
He was open. shitty throw.
Now the first TO?
Yep it’s officially X Time
Fitz missed a TD there
He’s giving us a good surge though
Nice throw to Gesicki
Disappointing end to a good drive
That 2nd down pass was all Fitzpatrick’s fault. He should have thrown that better. Third down was very inaccurate as well. Where the Fuck is Tua when we need him Orob?
Rob – i have a question
Why did Fitzgerald rush that throw and throw it with way too much pace? Could have had a TD to Gesicki.
fitz moved the offense right down the field
So much for the
“it’s the wr’s fault
Thinking Hollins/Ford/Grant can be a WR core reminds me of current Dubs fans thinking Tuscano-Anderson, Mulder, Poole, etc deserve to be anywhere but G-league. (Jahn, are your there? not sure anyone else will know what this means. lol)
The tit for tat thing amongst us as fans is fuckin weird. Dolphins first!!!!!! Oh look at me my opinion about someone was right or not. WTF?!!!!! Nobody cares other than the team results.
Go Defence!!
I was just thinking the same thing!
at least i’m glad we now all agree Tua Sucks!
SBJ!
Ugh!
that sucks!
pushing off. come on
Okay that missed XP leaves the window open for Fitz to show us
No one cares about that hold on Ogbah I guess
need a big play to Gesicki again.
Meanwhile the raiders have all their receivers, rbs and tigh ends
Gotta dance with who ya bring … Let’s Go !!
Woohooo!
GASKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!