The Miami Dolphins return home from an unsuccessful trip to Buffalo, NY. You can look at this game from many different perspectives. You can say it was a tough task traveling to Buffalo for the 3rd road game in 4 games. You can say in general Orchard Park is a house of horrors for the Dolphins, which it is. You could also look at it from the viewpoint that if this team is really ready to compete for a division title and beyond, we need to be able to not only compete with teams like the Bills, but beat them. Well, this past Sunday we did neither, at least not past the beginning of the 2nd quarter, where the score stood at that time at 14-14. The Bills then ran away, scoring 17 unanswered points and eventually finished on top with a lopsided 48-20 victory.
One game however, does not mean that all is bad in Miami. Credit Bills HC Sean McDermott for finding a way to shut down the Dolphins offense, something the Patriots did as well up to a point. The bright side is, I have no concerns with our offense. We lost a couple of role players, WR’s River Cracraft and Erik Ezukanma, Cracraft more in a receiving role, while EZ was used in the rushing attack and seldom used as a receiver. Both players are on IR so they will both be out a minimum of 4 games. In the mean time, the Dolphins acquired former Steelers and Bears WR Chase Claypool for a 6th RD pick in 2024, the Dolphins receive Claypool and the Bears 7th RD pick in 2024. This offense is evolving constantly, and now LT Terron Armstead will spend some customary time OUT, he’s also now on IR with multiple injuries. We have seen the emergence of rookie RB De’Von Achane, and he’s been nothing less than electric. His stats are off the charts, but lest we not forget how well Raheem Mostert looks this season. I’m also impressed with big back Chris Brooks from BYU, and RB Jeff Wilson is set to return shortly from injury. RB Salvon Ahmed is also healing up, so that’s one very crowded backfield, and how the touches are divided are anyone’s guess. Achane has been used sparingly despite the outrageous returns on his limited touches, and to be fair, they might just keep it that way to keep him healthy. This may also benefit Raheem Mostert who is now 31, and although he’s bulked up and looks like a different back, he’s got quite the injury history, so splitting carries might be the recipe to keep both healthy and productive.
OK, finally, what about the defense? I loathe to talk about the defense, or lack of defense if you will. This defense scares no one. It’s toothless. We’ve been gashed on the ground, through the air, every which way. ST’s has allowed a blocked FG attempt and has allowed a return TD. The super hyped Jaelan Phillips wasn’t much when he played, and now he’s likely to miss his 3rd straight game. The defense has 10 sacks after 4 games, and if I told you after 4 games that Andrew Van Ginkel would be leading the team with 3 sacks, you’d have laughed at me. AVG is doing his best while Phillips is out and while Bradley Chubb is largely ineffective. The other 7 sacks are distributed with a sack each for Long, Ogbah, Chubb, Wilkins, Sieler, and Kohou, and hype-boy Phillips shares 1/2 sack with DB Justin Bethel. The Dolphins defense is allowing just a hair under 30 PPG, a far cry from what we all expected with the Vic Fangio hiring.
The Jonathan Taylor rumors went wild, this after the Dalvin Cook rumors went wild. OK, the problem on this team is not the run game, or the players in the run game. Now that Taylor is eligible to return, he’s eligible to come off the PUP list, and appears fully healthy from his January ankle surgery. We just traded for WR Chase Claypool, so how long before Taylor to Miami starts again, and it probably already has, although I’ve read the Packers really want him. I said we didn’t need him before, and I’m sticking to that position. We could potentially be better with Taylor, but I think we’re more than fine with what we currently have.
Back to the dreaded defense. Cam Smith, ZERO defensive snaps, has only played special teams. Our 1st pick in this year’s draft, #51 (2nd RD pick), can’t seem to crack the lineup ahead of Eli Apple for one. I love Kader Kohou, what Dolphins fan doesn’t? Kohou is a nickel back, and actually, good news is on the frontier, because Nik Needham can potentially be back as well as OG Robert Jones. Both have been designated to return in which the team has a 21 day window to be activated, much like the Colts Jonathan Taylor. It would be wonderful for Needham to get back, he’s a favorite of mine because he always seems to step up to the challenge before him. I don’t know whether Vic Fangio just feels that Cam Smith isn’t ready, doesn’t like rookies, I’m not sure, but to see Eli Apple lining up and playing like Eli Apple has, it’s disheartening to fans that Cam Smith hasn’t received a chance.
It’s looking Connor Williams may miss another game with an injured groin muscle. Both Robert Jones and Nik Needham logged back to back limited practices, so they’re not on the radar for this week. C Connor Williams also has 2 limited practices, so we’ll see whether he suits up against the Jints, who by the way will be without 3 starters on their O-line, LT Andrew Thomas, LG Shane Lemieux and C Jon Michael Schmitz, while RB Saquon Barkley will be a gametime decision. Our beleaguered defense may actually have a favorable matchup, stay tuned. You have to figure we’ll rest Phillips in this one as he’s still bothered with that oblique injury. I expect our offense to get back to normal, not necessarily 70 points, but 30 or more points in this one. The NY Giants are league last scoring only 11.5 PPG, while allowing 30.5 PPG on defense, just behind our Dolphins defense. Hopefully the Dolphins get their mojo back and come back again next week to Hard Rock for the Fest at 4-1, still atop, either tied or maybe alone after a battle with the Jacksonville Jaguars who got back on track against the Atlanta Falcons to go to 2-2.
GO DOLPHINS!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
I think Matt Milano should retire. He can’t stay healthy and if he plays next season he’s gonna lose a leg. The Bills should do the right thing here
Agreed, the Bills are really a piece of shit organization for even having him out there this game; they don’t care about Milano at all.
Exactly, they throw him out there on the field knowing full well he only has 2 legs. Now he’s got a broken one. The humane thing to do is ask him to hang up his cleats so he can have some quality of life.
Lol
Kelce ok but ankle hurt
The league needs to investigate why Matt Milano was out there
The lack of empathy for their players is really disturbing
My ribs are almost done. I can;t wait to effing eat. Twice baked taters, Homemade dinner rolls, BBQ St Louis cut ribs, and Broccoli with peanut sauce…….Oh yeah, and the fucking Dolphins are 1st in the AFC East, pushing for #1 seed in the acf.
Smoking weed, drinking run, enjoying victory Sunday- life is good.
Go FINS!!!!
When I saw your first sentence I thought maybe you played football for the Bills today too. Enjoy, sounds fantastic!!
🤣
Cheers, brother!
Broncos choking again
You know who leads the league in rushing yards? Also votes for Rookie of the Year? Yup Achane.
Well going into the week it was McCaffrey with 459, Achane now has 460 and didn’t really play the 1st 2 weeks
0-3 TOs, 24-36 TOP…
Why I hate keys to the game
The miami dolphins have the #1 running tame in the league. They have 200 yards more than anyone else and 1.6 yards per carry more than the next team and lead the league by far with 40+ runs
I’m nt watching, but I an see it!
LMAO
Felt like no one is NYC was watching the giants today
What about the jets?
Zach just threw an int on the Donkies 3 yard line, he could’ve put the game a away, now down 3 Russ has new life
They were all in Miami
This is a fun team to watch! Can’t remember when it was this fun. If they get the defense figured out, watch out! They might even win a big game at some point (yes I’m still pissed about Buffalo)
Either way, GO FINS!!
Mostert rushed for the highest average in NFL history … but it was only half as much as Achane.
Tyreek on pace for 2,231 yards
2,213, I dyslexic-ed
How were the ribs?
Glorious…we’re both currently in food coma, flopped on the couch hoping to see the Niners lose, lol
Nice!!
We’re 4-1 and in great shape.🙂
We are averaging 513 offensive yards a game
🐖💨
Glad you enjoyed those BEEF ribs Kong
😂
Alone in 1st place
GREAT JOB, PHINS!!!
Another 300+ passing yard game for Tua and another 200+ rushing yard game for our RBs. This Offense is going to break all-time season records if it maintains.
Defense looked much better today (take 7 points off the scoreboard for our Defense… pick-6 from our Offense), but it was the measly G-Men, after all.
Achane jerseys are going to fly off the shelf, just watch!
Ready for some festing
Chiefs are 1 and we’re 2 as of now.
^ Yup, see below.
And, I owe ya a beer!
Ken says:
October 8, 2023 at 8:49 pm
Alone in 1st place
———
In our division, yes. According to ESPN though, the Chiefs would have the #1 seed in the AFC after their win today.
Why? We lost to an AFC team (Bills) and the Chiefs lost to an NFC team (Lions).
Prescott just always seems to suck in big games…very Romoesque
Dak is overrated imo
That is also romoesque
Not sure where we landed after the 1 PM games, but ESPN also has us 3rd in the NFL in sacks right now with 17.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/stats/team/_/view/defense/stat/passing/table/passing/sort/sacks/dir/desc
They don’t count
QB hits are a measure of pressure, being they aren’t sacks. And being pressures don’t really count, we must throw them out! 😆
And I’m not the smartest man on the planet, but I’ve seen QB hits (non-sacks) where the QB doesn’t get back up…
So much for pressures…
Litmus tests coming soon enough for this team.
Indeed! Let’s hope our Defense has hit all cylinders when that test comes soon.
I hope the fact we are near the top of the league in pressures and sacks means we’re not that far off on defense.
We’ve all seen how many issues we have, but maybe we’re close to putting it together on that side of the ball. Let’s stifle the Panthers next week for the Fest crew and be playing good team football going into Philly.
I hope this was better than your work Kong
https://x.com/miamimike_305/status/1711188919654420572?s=61&t=NWZ–WfgKu_dYbC-fKuB3A
LOL, major BBQ foul right there…
Niners make everyone look bad
Could Brock Purdy be the next Tom Brady? I mean, dang.
He does his job. Nothing amazing but he doesn’t make many mistakes.
Yessir, just like a young Tom Brady.
Holy svucks, the 49ers — barring a catastrophic injury or two — are going to the Super Bowl this year for the NFC.
Even the Eagles’ Defense won’t be able to stop the 49ers, at this early stage in the season, IMO.
One of the coolest things about Brock Purdy? He’s always been enamored by Dan Marino… hence his #13. It was so cool to see the interview between Purdy and Dan the Man!
*by = with
Should have stated that Brock’s FATHER was always enamored by Marino. At any rate, ICYMI…
The 49ers are our big brother. But we’re saying hey bro, maybe we see you one day.😉
YUP! 100% agreed.
Our defense today reminded me a little bit of the Killer B’s. Bend a bit but they made plays in big spots. I know the Giants aren’t very good, but it’s still an NFL game.
https://x.com/backpageguynydn/status/1711187557264879724?s=61&t=NWZ–WfgKu_dYbC-fKuB3A
Yeah, it looked like a whiplash to me. Fair hard hit that snapped his neck back. And, from that angle, looks like the head and neck were twisted while being whiplashed….yikes. He seemed to stagger, too, when he took his first step or rwo to the sideline.
Hopefully, MM will keep the team focused as 14 point favorites and avoid falling victim to this perfect “trap” game.
Holy crap, are we really 14 point favorites?
I’ll take a Jets win over Sean Payton and Denver….have I mentioned, I don’t like SP…..lol
I loved MMs comment in response to a reporters question about being about having the most yardage after 5 games in NFL history (+2’500). Brilliant.
It’s top 7 now and Hill hit 22 yesterday
Look what happens when you put a child in front of a PC?
Remind you of anything?
Yep
Right before the pick 6
Ding ding ding ….. winner
Then this ………
“ Mike McDaniel, you’re fairly fun. Informed post-rout of the Giants that the Dolphins have set an NFL record for most yards in a season’s first five games, the Miami coach said: “Mission accomplished. Our whole goal this entire off-season was statistical output through five games.”” – Peter King
Thank you. Pp. I couldn’t find it, saw it, but didn’t want to do it disservice by paraphrasing it.
MM changing the culture
Lmao…gangsta
Hope Kelce isn’t out Tua long?
Tua is married.
And has a wee one. Just taking the piss out of TK and TS
LMAO
The pick wasn’t all on Tua
Remarkable
https://x.com/Marcel_LJ/status/1711082295245836625?s=20
Just goes to show stats can be used to prove anything?
During
and after
OMG, I’m speechless…………
This post actually gave me deja vu?
OK, we’ve not got exactly the same variables at play now as for my first season supporting the Fins (Marino’s SB trip), but we have a deadly accurate QB, with some amazing receivers, a scintillating Offense and just in case we go all the way, there could be a date with what looks like the most complete team in the NFL, seemingly without glaring weaknesses, and it’s the 49ers waiting to break the hearts of the AFC SB contender. What goes around comes around.
Contextual
22 of 30 for 308 and still meh. But hey there were those who preferred Mac Jones
By way of further context ………….
Looks like this weekend was the right choice for the Fest game! Hope everyone has fun!
Achane is 50 yards behind Christian McCaffrey for the lead in rushing yards
Hill 1 in receiving yards
Tua is 1 in passing yards
With a good offensive performances next week we can be 1 in all 3 stats, which I’ve never seen from any team
Has that ever happened before?
Maybe the Niners with Montana, Rice and Craig?
No they never had all 3 lead the league
We are averaging over 100 yards per game on offense more than the next team.
Tim Knight says:
October 8, 2023 at 10:38 pm
He does his job. Nothing amazing but he doesn’t make many mistakes.
Reply
And yet he leads the league in passer rating, is 2nd in completion percentage at 72.1% and second in yards per completion at 9.3 (.4 behind Tua) and leads the league in QBR with an astounding 83.7
He throws a really good deep ball
Fest week and victory Monday. Don’t think I am getting 💩 done today.
Today’s bad news is the Patriots are now in the Caleb Williams and Drake May sweepstakes
Correct .
Like I mentioned last week, we don’t want the Jets to suck too bad because that will give them a shot at one of the top QBs, the same applies to the Pats, probably even more so.
Jets should have lost yesterday but they ran into Sean Payton and the Broncos
Broncos are in the Caleb Williams sweepstakes too but they have to do something with Russell Wilson’s contract
Daquon Jones out for the season for the Bills. With Milano going down for the season yesterday as well, and Tredavious White out with an Achilles in the game against us, their D is in real trouble. That’s their best DL, their best LB and their best CB all done for the year.
Yeah injuries 😃
They don’t have much in cap space to trade for a player either.
Speaking of cap space. We have gotten ours down a little for 2024 but still way in the red. Taking a closer look among our free agents to be after this season are:
Connor Williams
Robert Hunt
Isaiah Wynn
Kendall Lamm
Austin Jackson
Robert Jones
Only OL on the roster for 2024 are:
Terron Armstead
Liam Eichenberg
Lester Cotton
Kion Smith
4/5 of our starting OL are free agents. As of right now, our entire starting OL are free agents next year. Holly shit!
I WAS SCREAMING THIS ALL OFF SEASON HOW DID YOU MISS IT?
I dunno, I don’t listen to people when they scream, I guess 🙂 lol
LMAO @ BBM
Other key free agents other than our starting OL are:
Christian Wilkins
Jerome Baker
AVG
Reakwon Davis
Braxton Berrios
Nik Needham
Deshon Elliott
Brandon Jones
Berrios has had issues in the past fitting in, in the passing game, he’d be wise to re-sign
Baker is signed thru 2026
I don’t know what Spotrac is doing. They list him as an UFA next year but when you look him up on Spotrac it shows him under contract in 2024 but 25and 26 voided???
list him as an UFA on their free agent tracker
Ken says:
October 9, 2023 at 9:43 am
Today’s bad news is the Patriots are now in the Caleb Williams and Drake May sweepstakes
———————
BB is getting old. I bet they make a move for Kirk Cousins who is an UFA next year.
Dumb move imo. That team won’t go anywhere with Cousins. Need playmakers and OL. Draft one of the 2 blue chip QB prospects and you are better off. Signing Cousins would smell like desperation
Thats why I don’t mind if it happens
Did not realize he was even in the game
baldy pointing out plays with his pudding spoon…
So, made a little extra cash this weekend. Sorry about your cousins there Piggy.
waiting on the other side of the wall with a straw to foil you
Brooks getting attention for his blocking today
But it’s not just him
The thing about our running game is everyone is blocking – everyone
I mentioned it before – when Cedric Wilson and Berrios are in the game, they do it to
Mostert is doing it for Achane
If you think about it, all that oresnap movement and outside running, sets receivers and RBs up nicely to set up crucial blocks for the ball carrier
So why did we get rid of Gesicki then? 😇😉
New backup FB in Brooks?
Cool! Unheralded but critical on some of those runs.
Lol
LOL
How nice was it to see Wilson playing and contributing? He got more snaps than Berrios.
I saw someone list Connor Williams as our most important FA to re-sign going into next season (even above Wilkins). I gotta say, unless we draft a center early, I agree that Williams has to be near the top, if not the top.
I would say Wilkins then Williams then Hunt then AVG then Wynn
Though, the FA pool for OL is not very good next year. Another reason I feel we need to go OL #1 and #2 next draft.
That was Tua’s first RZ INT in almost 2 years. 38 touchdowns in between.
Was still a bonehead pass into triple coverage with zero chance of being completed. Two different DB’s could have picked that one off.
Not spam
https://x.com/phins17and0/status/1711180205673304364?s=20
I remember Warner throwing a lot of INT’s
Great week of football. Most of the outcomes I was hoping for happened. Only the Broncos losing to the Jets and KC pulling it out spoiled the perfect week.
I am praying for NYG to somehow upset Buffalo this week. It will be frosting on the cake for our Fest week!
Jets got the Eagles this week.
Pats at Raiders
Hopefully Barkley will be back vs Bills. Don’t know what the G-men QB situation is going to be though
Ludicrous Speed
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR7mT8ou/
For Ken
https://twitter.com/theflyingpig44/status/1711436275289383278?s=21
😃
This is my case for being patient with Eichenberg
Um, talk to Ken about that one…
Jackson is proving himself more every game though.
Talk to Ken in ref to Eich not Jackson lol
Jackson at least had underlying athleticism. Then there is Eichenberg 😡
Eichenberg has the underlying ability to walk up and ask for your spare change
There are plug and play OL
And then there are most other OL
Most of the time when you draft them you are drafting the most other OL type
We finally have the kind of consistency on the organization to develop those guys
Jackson is looking really good run blocking in that video above.
He is all effort all the time
Someone posted on another Blog.
Tyreek Hill – 22.07mph
Devone Achane – 21.93mph
Tyreek Hill – 21.66mph
Raheem Mostert – 21.62mph
Tyreek Hill – 21.52mph
Devone Achane – 21.5mph
I think that was before last game (not sure) but a Bears fan posted this response.
Honorable mention: Bears offense. Time in between 1st and 4th downs. 20.5 seconds.
LOL
Rock – if the Giants and Jets knock off the Bills, I’m gonna be pissed at how we played them. I’m already pissed!
Hey at least we’re in 1st in the AFC East and 2nd in the conference.🙂
You are becoming the Hulk. We are winning and in first place. I might have to give up my avatar
Ari Meirov
@MySportsUpdate
#Dolphins rookie RB De’Von Achane dealing with a knee injury and is being evaluated, coach Mike McDaniel told reporters. He wouldn’t say anything further than that
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Ugh
🤞🤞
Good week for him to get some rest
I thought I noticed Achane get up when he ran to the left side I think it was beginning of the fourth quarter and he looks a little gimpy nothing major, but did trot off to a sideline afterwards.
I saw that too. I agree it didn’t look like anything serious.
Hopefully something minor that they just have to disclose
Yeah and no reason for MM to go into great detail. We want the Panthers defensive coordinator to lose sleep.😉
Man that guy has had rough start to his career.
HC Mike McDaniel Monday October 9 media availability coverage thread:
2:04 PM · Oct 9, 2023
Travis Wingfield
@WingfieldNFL
·
1h
Achane is dealign with something with his knee but McDaniel says the team is still evaluating it, no further information before they get full eval.
Travis Wingfield
@WingfieldNFL
·
1h
Jeff Wilson’s potential designation to return will be decided upon once the full medical evaluations this week are complete.
Travis Wingfield
@WingfieldNFL
·
1h
More on Achane: He was in and out of the game, standard rotation at the end like normal. He thought he might have something but he’s such a tough kid, it was kind of tough to read so we needed to evaluated more, that’s what we’re doing today.
Travis Wingfield
@WingfieldNFL
·
59m
McDaniel says this last week was the best week of practice for the defense. On the game, he says: “There was the most examples of the vision of what we want to be as a defense (in that game yesterday).”
CavalierKong says:
October 9, 2023 at 2:58 pm (Edit)
Eichenberg has the underlying ability to walk up and ask for your spare change
———————-
LMFAO 🤣
Fargin Bastige!
That’s clearly tripping.
Isn’t it cool that we’re one of the most exciting teams in the NFL.🙂
It really is.
all 3 facets:
The stats are there,
the W-L is there,
and the offense is just pure fun to watch
Even fans of other teams like to watch our games.
Even their players watch us.
Even players in other sports like to watch us.
🙂
That must have hurt Ben to type!
🙂
They have more than twice the yardage of 6 teams. In the past we would have been one of those 6 teams. (not that long ago)
I used to think Ben Volin was the best beat writer on the Dolphins beat when he worked for the smallest of the 3 SF papers. (PBP) Then he turned coat. He is dead to me now.
We have 1000 yards more than almost 1/2 the league! (missed half by 14 yards)
https://x.com/Sentientmodels/status/1711219376202932233?s=20
I am reposting this just because.
This twitter feed is worth scrolling. OMGoodness
While watching and commenting on the 49ers last night, I got the distinct feeling that it could be US Phins vs the 49ers in the Super Bowl this season. And yes, my mind immediately recalled the last time we were in the Super Bowl (Marino vs Montana).
As Tim stated last night, the 49ers are like our big brother. Should this occur, it would be master (Kyle Shanahan) vs apprentice (Mike McDaniel). Or for us Star Wars fans out there, Obi-Wan Kenobi vs Anakin Skywalker.
The Bills are DANGEROUSLY WEAKENED without Milano, DaQuan, and Tre’Davious on their Defense. So long as we stay relatively healthy, only the Chefs* may remain in our way to a return to the Super Bowl after nearly 30 years.
GO PHINS!!!
HELL YEAH!!!
Remember when we longed to score 28 points per game? ‘If we can only score an average of 28…” They lead the league at 36.2 and have left sooo many on the field. I can think of no less than 5 potential TD’s that were easily made if not for a bad call or mistake.
100% agreed. And if our Defense catches up to our Offensive prowess, we’re Super Bowl bound, my buddy!
Yep!
It’s rather incredible to realize that we have 2 RBs who are trending for over 1,000 yards on the season, AND the top passing yards leader in Tua.
This is — INDEED — The Greatest Show on Surf.
and trending to have a 2000+ and another 1000+ WR’s
Yep!
We’re only 5 games in, but here are my predictions
NFC Championship game
49ers beat the Eagles
AFC Championship game
Dolphins beat the Chefs*
Super Bowl
Dolphins meet the 49ers again, after nearly 30 years
And if we can beat the Chefs* in Germany, we’d have the potential tie-breaker for home-field advantage in the playoffs. That’s going to be a HUGE game for us.
It’s really going to chap Tyreek’s ass when he is the first player to finish the season with 2000 yards, but has to share that honor with rookie Puka Nacua who is also on pace to break it
Nah, man… not going to happen. The Rams have their WR1 back in Cooper Kupp. Kupp is going to be distributed the ball now, and Nacua won’t have the touches to break 2K yards.
And Achane is Mostert’s backup….
I hear ya, but I think it’s a one-way race to 2K, and it’s ‘Reek da Cheetah’s’ to lose.
All I’m saying is coach is smart enough to not put away a weapon that is 2nd in the league in yards behind ‘reek
Oh… and Justin Jefferson may get in it as well for a race to 2K.
If his Hammy is okay after Sunday
I am holding out for an AFC playoff series in Miami before a SB in Vegas. I very well may go broke if that happens. LOL
Talk about striking while the iron is hot. How many Fn commercials is Kelse in right now?