Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel said it perfectly. This game is 1/17 of this NFL season. If we lose, we can’t beat the good teams. If we win, we’re going to the Super Bowl. None of it matters. Look, to us Dolphins fans, we crave a win like this, need it. We hate the chatter, from NFL fans, pundits, commentators, everywhere it can be heard. The Dolphins aren’t a legit contender because they can’t beat anyone who is a contender. So far, to be fair, they’re right. We haven’t defeated a winning team this season. We beat the Chargers (3-4) in a shootout Week 1, we beat the Patriots (2-6) twice, we scorched the Broncos (3-5), we lost to the Bills (5-3), beat the the NY Giants (2-6), defeated the Carolina Panthers (1-6), and finally, lost to the Philadelphia Eagles (7-1). The teams we’ve beaten are a collective 11-27, and the teams we’ve lost to are 12-4. I think we all feel like it’s time for us to show up big against a team that is true contender, and this week, nothing better than facing the current Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.
Last week, Mike McDaniel played it conservatively. He activated C Connor Williams, but chose to rest him and start C Liam Eichenberg, who by the way, played his best game. He continued to rest LT Terron Armstead, and perhaps his wisest move, activated DB Jalen Ramsey and gave him limited snaps of game action so he can dip his toe in the water and get a feel for game action after being out the entire season. This week, it seems as if Terron Armstead will be back at LT, Connor Williams will be back at C, G Lester Cotton will be playing LG, while G Robert Hunt has vowed he’s playing Sunday, he’s never missed a game. RT Austin Jackson, who gets very little press, has been a constant at RT, and has played admirably. DB Xavien Howard was also rested last week, and it appears as if he will suit up. There has been a lot of talk that Jalen Ramsey will be charged with defending Chief’s TE Travis Kelce. That’s a difficult matchup, but Kelce is unquestionably Mahomes’ favorite target, and a key to their offense. If Ramsey can limit Kelce’s production, Rashee Rice is the next weapon the Chiefs use, hauling in 30 of 39 targets for 361 yards and 3 TD’s. Kelce has 54 receptions for 583 yards and 4 TD’s. Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney are the other receivers, besides of course the 2 RB’s, Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
Our defense is on the upturn, no doubt about that. We’re getting guys healthy, guys like Jaelan Phillips, and of course, the huge addition of Jalen Ramsey. Bradley Chubb is getting hot, and with Phillips healthy, and Andrew Van Ginkel also in the mix, that’s 3 guys, including the ever present Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler that need to be accounted for. Chubb quietly leads the Dolphins 5 sacks, and is tied with AVG for most TFL with 7. Christian Wilkins has 11 QB hits followed by 10 by AVG. Chubb is right behind with 9. Chubb usually gets the bad chatter, but perhaps that isn’t entirely fair. We also missed S Jevon Holland who didn’t clear concussion protocol but will be back this week, and my fave Nik Needham, who played a minimal amount of snaps last Sunday, might see a larger role against KC this Sunday. If Ramsey is charged with covering Kelce all day, that leaves either Eli Apple or Kader Kohou on the opposite side of Xavien Howard, who by all accounts will be playing Sunday. Raheem Mostert is still dealing with an ankle injury, but is most likely going to play. Jeff Wilson Jr. is back and saw some carries last week , 5 to be exact. He’ll probably #2 on the depth chart behind Mostert until rookie De’Von Achane returns from IR, scheduled for Week 11.
This game is a huge matchup for the NFL, a true marquis game in front of the whole world in Germany, the 2nd game that will be played there. Last year, The Seattle Seahawks faced off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Munich, but this will be the first game played in Frankfurt. The Chiefs are mild favorites as they the “home” team, at -1.5. That’s showing a lot of respect for the Dolphins, although I know some here think we should be favored. This is a good test for this team, there should be a playoff type atmosphere in this game, the NFL fans in Frankfurt Germany are stoked to get NFL action back, their last taste of American Football since the Frankfurt Galaxy played in the NFL Europe league which ended its run in 2005. I’d love for the Dolphins to make a statement, that we are relevant, we can beat a contender. It doesn’t mean that we will be going to the Super Bowl, but it doesn’t hurt our chances of it either!
GO DOLPHINS!!!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
Really would’ve liked to see them come out and run the ball a bit here.
Any words on Mostert?
He’s on the field
What a fucking waste of field position
That is BS
Don’t like the grounding call
Especially after I defended it when Mahomes did it
You gave that BS to Mohomees
Again. Penalties absolutely fucking killing us in these types of games. Start on the 45, end up with no points. This is one reason we lose these games .
Can’t get a complete game from both our offense and defense
Denver. But it probably won’t happen ever again.
Tua can’t get it out fast enough. His first read isn’t there and OL can’t keep the pressure off him
Was throwing to Waddle whilst going backwards. OL getting out-played
I thought the intentional grounding was a good call. Mahomes’ pass was a lot closer to his guy than Tua’s was.
I think so
The illegal motion I thought was kinda BS. I know the player is supposed to be fully set for a full tick before the snap, but they could call that on nearly every motion play if they held it to that standard.
We can’t seem to run against these Chefs*, but we can’t just give up on the run, either.
Mostert is hurting, Wilson looks very rusty, and Ahmed goes down easily
We have Willisms back but still playing with 2 backup OG’s. Still got to give run game a chance.
Baker was wrapped up, no holding
Damn
Did that hit the ground b4 he had control?
Our blitzers are getting absolutely stonewalled
That’s called holding
Yet another penalty. MM has to get this cleaned up, and soon.
How much was Long held there too?
Give the chiefs an Oscar
Mahomes asking for a penalty every play is getting real fucking old
Time for big time players to make plays.
D getting tired
Mahomees doing his best Brady Impersonation
This had the feel of a long TD drive after that first down catch early
great tackling
chiefs about to go up 2 scores
Bottom line – 25 mins played, 7 points conceded, 0 scored. We are behind for one reason only
MM needs to quit calling plays to get chunk yards.
Please shut these MF’rs up!
Just keep coming up short
Someone needs to get a hit on that fucking crybaby
can’t expect the defense to stop the chiefs all game, and you can’t win a game if you don’t score
our offense comes up small against good defenses
We gotta get some pressure now.
Getting out coached and outplayed. D getting gassed in the 1st half
I said please!
Can’t fucking show up against a good team
If we don’t answer here we are in trouble
Maybe we’d better start coming to terms with the fact that we’re just not an elite team this year.
We are not an elite team. We are a good team that can’t compete against better teams.
Agreed
I think we are closer with Achane and 1st string OL. Still half a season to play too
We need a fucking TD here. Let’s see what this team is made of- see if they’re pretenders or if they can step the fuck up and make this a game.
Pressure doesn’t cut it against Mahomes, we need to get to him and take his ass down
I see why Chiefs didn’t come to Germany early. They took an acting class first.
I wont be surprised if we try to force it now and Tua throws an INT
We really still have an opportunity to stay in this game with a two for one.
After 1st Chief’s drive, D was balling. Got gassed on that last drive and couldn’t get to Mahomes at the end of the drive.
Chiefs also adjusted with the 3 TE sets and making sure they were picking up a couple yards on 1st- making sure they didn’t take negative plays to give them 2nd/3rd and longs
And they started exploiting our DEs covering the flats which netted them multiple defensive holding calls
^
How we adjust to that will be huge
Chiefs, have taken Hill out of the equation. Let’s see if MM can adjust.
We need to take this clock down
Smythe has to get out of bounds there
I owe you soooooooo many beers Bri
Why didn’t Smthe try to get oob there?
Snead into Concussion Proto
Unfuckingbelievable
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me
Well that went to shit
Motherfucker!!!!Mother fucker!!!!! Put a fork in this team
game over
I hate those shitty fucking calls by McDaniel. Push the fucking ball forward.
Yeah his cuteness is never good
Really glad Hill talked all week
FUUUUUUUUCK
FUCK
What else is on this morning?
Kind of
Thought you asked who 🫣
Game over
I’m shutting the game off and doing something productive. I’m
Sick of this fucking team coming up short year after year. Someone text me if they make a comeback. I don’t expect any texts .
I think I’m going to hit the road. Long drive home. 🫤
Don’t waste any more time on this soft team.
I can’t believe how small this team has played in big games this year
Smythe missed his block
Everything the pundits are saying about the Dolphins is right. We can’t beat good teams. Until we do, the narrative will be correct.
Oh-oh yes, we’re the great pretenders. Sing it with me now!
We’re not coming back from that. Fuck me. G/f been ill with virus all week and I came down with it on Friday night. So if I’d gone I would have been down about $700, felt like shit and witnessed another Fins collapse. That’s the only consolation right now
Just kneel. The chances of a negative play are much bigger than a positive one
It doesn’t matter now, but I really hate seeing ahmed getting so much time in the game. I can’t wait for achane to come back
The chefs are controlling the LOS. Little pressure on Mahomes when it matters and our OL is getting no forward momentum.
Scoreboard was the only thing we hit all day
I hate that we’re so embarrassing in the spotlight. I with they could not be such a wussy team, or as Clubber Lang would say, paper champions
Well, that was a shit burger of a 1st half.
Mostert must be hurting because Ahmed and Wilson getting more snaps.
Fools gold
Come on!!! There’s a whole damn half left. Time to nut up. Rally caps, bitches!!!
It’s over Randy
Chiefs stayed home to prepare for the game. Dolphins went early to see the sites.
I wonder if anyone on this blog will see the Dolphins win the Super Bowl again before they die. I was one the last time they won it. Who’s the youngest on the blog?
I was 8 the undefeated 72′ season.
Dolphins won their last Super Bowl in 1974, I was born in July of ’74; maybe I’m the problem…
I hope I get a bond in the next county soon so I have to drive and miss the second half.
I’m going out to do yardwork. Not wasting any more of my day on this disappointment of a team.
I put us down for 10-7 on the season I think – could’ve been 11-6?
Not going to be far off come season’s end I suspect. Hoped we’d taken the next step but clear we haven’t at all.
110 yds of O. Definition of insipid
This loss is all on MM and the offense
The sky is not falling no matter what happens in this game
Hard to win games playing backups along your OL against the best teams. Getting tons of snaps from your OL backups eventually bites you. I think we play better with all of our starters along the OL.
***
This defense needs to do better on big downs.
Give Jeff Wilson the bloody rock. 0 rushes all game.
Was starting to plan a trip for the home Monday night game vs the Titans.
So pissed right now not sure I want to.
Stupid penalties killing us
Flag, of course
Ticky tac call
Okay most important drive of day came up flat
No illegal contact down field?
I think MM is still a work in progress as a play caller too. He can design a lot of trickeration but he still seems to struggle with feeling the game and adjusting. Sometimes a lot of trickeration makes for a lack of execution.
^^
Chiefs penalties really don’t have much impact.
Our penalties happen on key plays.
Ken says:
November 5, 2023 at 11:13 am
The sky is not falling no matter what happens in this game
‐‐———–
Agree and said as much pregame. But we have to be 100% healthy to be in game’s and still don’t play well against physical teams. We have a shot at the playoffs, but based on the 1st 9 games, we’re not going deep. We have to improve big time over the last 8 games
MM needs to game plan better.
👍
We could be a tied with Bills and only a half game ahead of Jets after today.
Or by Monday night that is
Give the fucking rock to Jeff Wilson.
No, don’t pass it to him. Hand the ball off to him.
THERE YA GO!
No, the sky isn’t falling, but it’s come creeping closer. We come up small in big games, can’t get it done. If that is our MO, then we will be one and done in the playoffs , if we make them.
Man, there are 3 or 4 guys close to Hill every damn time. We gotta take advantage of that.
MR. WILSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, what do you know? We found where they were hiding the end zone!
Time for Fangio to get more aggressive.