Our 8-3 AFC East Division leaders travel to Washington this week to take on the 4-8 Washington Commanders. Yeah, still hard not to think Redskins, but it is what it is. The Commanders defense is dead last in the NFL, 32 of 32 allowing 29.2 points per game. This bodes well for our team, which is scoring 30.8 points per game.The bright spot for the Commanders is they appear to have a QB, potentially a franchise QB. Although his play has been uneven, QB Sam Howell has thrown for 3339 yards, 18 TD’s and 13 INT’s. That’s 162 more yards passing than our own Tua Tagovailoa for Howell, in his rookie season no less. Howell is also completing 66.5% of his passes, just a shade less than Tua at 69.8%. This is an opportunity for our offense to get back on track, but also a chance for our defense to continue to show that this is one of the top units in the NFL as we get closer to the playoffs.
It was a crushing blow last week when OLB Jaelan Phillips season ended after a non contact achilles injury. He was playing at a very high level, equal to the amount of hype he received before the season. Now, the forgotten man in this defense, DE/LB Emmanuel Ogbah moves very much to the forefront. Of course AVG, Andrew Van Ginkel will probably see more snaps now at OLB, Ogbah will most certainly see a lot more snaps than he has all season. The good thing is, Ogbah has fresh legs, and is completely healthy, playing nearly a 1/3 of the snaps this season (21%) compared to the usual 65-77% of the snaps in other years. Besides the pass rush, one thing that directly affects the pass rush is the pass coverage. Right now, our defense couldn’t be any better, with a healthy CB Xavien Howard on the left side and the scalding hot CB Jalen Ramsey on the right. Safeties Jevon Holland and DeShon Elliot round out this excellent secondary. Holland, of course, had the amazing “Hell Mary” 99 yard TD interception return on the last play of the first half against the NY Jets.
It seems as if we may be getting some players back on the offensive side, as RG Robert Hunt looks like he may be ready to play, although he may be on a snap count. It seems as if the entire team logged a LIMITED practice session yesterday, and it’s impossible to tell if that’s just precautionary, like injury maintenance or if that’s the best those injured players could manage. RB De’Von Achane looks like he’s going to be QUESTIONABLE unless he manages to get in a FULL practice today. The same goes for Raheem Mostert, although we’ve seen Mostert with the QUESTIONABLE designation for weeks and he still manages 20 + touches on offense. C Connor Williams returned last week and should be good to go this week as well. RG Liam Eichenberg played very well against a tough NY defensive front and if Hunt can’t go, I won’t be too concerned since Eichenberg is handling the job sufficiently. Hunt, incidentally, did suit up for the Jets game but did not play.
The Dolphins are now a 1/2 game behind the Baltimore Ravens who are 9-3 but have their BYE week this week. We’re ties with both Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Kansas City Chiefs, but we are currently the #4 seed in the AFC. We must win this week to continue to stay near the top of the conference. Nothing will help this team more than to play as many playoff games in our house as possible, considering besides the Eagles and the Cowboys who are in the NFC, we’re the only undefeated AFC team at home. Home is where we play our best football. On offense, we’re not a physical team, although we can and have run the ball well. We’re actually #2 in the NFL in rushing behind the Ravens, this despite the fact that we have nearly 100 less rushing attempts, 390 rushes for 1903 yards (4.9 YPC) for the Ravens while we have 292 rushes for 1597 yards (5.5 YPC). The Ravens are just a more physical team, they run the ball more, and their QB is a huge reason. Yes, they have a big, imposing RB in RB Gus Edwards, who has 590 yards on 141 rushes for 4.2 yards per carry. He’s a grinder, but the Ravens second leading rusher is their QB Lamar Jackson. Jackson has 574 yards rushing this season, but the Ravens alos have a weapon very similar to our own De’Von Achane, RB Keaton Mitchell. Mitchell is also a TD waiting to happen, he’s averaging 9.3 yards per carry, 29 carries for 269 yards and 2 TD’s rushing. De’Von Achane, for comparison has 39 carries for 461 yards and 5 TD’s rushing and Achane also has 2 TD’s receiving. The big question is though, do we see a healthy and productive Achane again this season or does he get shut down? In addition, we play the Ravens New Year’s Eve day in Week 17, and I believe that game will tell us an awful lot about our team going forward into the playoffs.
The Dolphins are the biggest road team favorites in the NFL this week, a hearty 9.5 point favorite. I don’t mention this because I’m a betting man, I’m not, but this is a game we should win, and absolutely need to. We need to clean up the turnovers. Our opponents have fumbled 20 times against us, 9 forced fumbles. OLB Bradley Chubb has 4 of them.We have 38 QB sacks on defense and have allowed only 18. That’s remarkable. We have the 3rd most sacks, behind the Bills (41) and the Ravens (47). On offense and sacks allowed, the Chiefs (referees) (14 sacks allowed) and the Bills (Josh Allen) (15 sacks sacks allowed) are the only teams better. We have 11 INT’s, Tua (10), and Mike White (1). We have fumbled 20 times, lost 12. We have one of the worst turnover differentials in the league at -5, we have 9 interceptions and 5 fumble recoveries for 14 takeaways, while on offense we have 11 interceptions and 9 fumbles lost for 19 turnovers. Tua and Mostert have bosh lost 3 fumbles, and I suppose we’re a bit lucky, because Tua has 10 fumbles this season. Both of these guys need to be more aware of ball security. If De’Von Achane can’t go this week, RB Jeff Wilson will share the lesser amount of carries with RB Raheem Mostert, as long as Mostert plays as expected.
GO DOLPHINS!!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
Did you guys see the Sean McDermott 9/11 controversy?
The Bills can’t get out of their own way this year
No what is that about?
He used a poor choice of examples of teamwork and coordination. Basically that the 9/11 hijackers were really good at it. in a team meeting….four years ago
someone chose to look for something to be offended by
just old news from 2019
This is Mike McDaniel’s first Monday Night game as HC. Hope he starts a long winning streak.
I’m glad Fangio called AVG personally this offseason to get him to come back to play for the Dolphins. It seems Grier was perfectly fine with letting him walk.
Ken
Or anyone else
Here is the story – McDermott said it in 2021 but somehow it came out recently
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/bills-sean-mcdermott-used-9-11-terrorists-illustrate-team-come-together
What a dick. Mike McDaniel will not share a vape with him
He apologized for it today
I am so thirsty to be offended, please someone do something to offend me!
I’m watching Dolphins Today on Bally sports and they had the Ingold Mic’d up.
I couldn’t get it when it was posted earlier because Youtube is blocked at work, (which I am getting undone by continually sending my boss Youtube videos of a subject when he asks, LOL) but I digress, Ingold is funny.
He is and he is a pretty smart guy by all accounts
CavalierKong says:
December 7, 2023 at 1:02 pm
Dolphins lead the AFC pro bowl voting with 9 players as the top vote-getters for their respective positions. Armstead is the top voted player at LT with his whopping equivalent of 4 1/2 games played this season. Dolphins fans rule 😆
Knock that shit off duumbasses
Lol, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Good for Austin Jackson. He’s played well this year. The coaches like him and he fits well with what we do.
Tonight’s game is going to be a shitfest
Go Pats…erp…erp… play spoiler to contenders and worsen your draft pick to middling
I’m not willing to say Van Gingle will get huge bucks cause of one great game.
———-
AVG has had quite a few great games this year.
He will be paid a starter’s salary. The question is will we be the ones paying it?
I hope so- I love the guy. We can’t re-sign everyone though, so there will be some key guys who walk.
He has been supremely productive in limited snaps. PLAYER
My prediction is Baker will be gone but AVG will be here
TD NE
Zappe starting?
Yep
I’ve always liked Van Ginkel’s game but don’t care about the offseason at this time. We’re fucking 9-3 and the #1 seed for the first time in a long time.🙂
just keep plugging. AVG showed promise and now is promising to be better. I remember you were there preaching continuity back when things were black and white before they invented color…
when blogs were cutting edge…LOL
I think Fangio hinting that AVG could play MLB was a sign he intends to put him in Baker’s spot next year. Physically they are both similar players.
Hope so
Gotta keep the playmakers
2 key penalties called against the cheats, that wouldn’t have bbbeen called against the Brady cheats
Looks like they’ve lost their officiating appeal
well they are playing the league darlings in the Steelers
Rockphin says:
December 7, 2023 at 7:44 am
MF13, I made the same prediction to my boss yesterday. He wanted to put money on it, but I am not that confident. LOL
He is trying to get out of paying me $100 for the Dolphins winning 11 or more games. He is getting more desperate every week as we get closer. LOL
He can certainly afford it, he just HATES losing as much as I do.
—————
LOL
I’m not a gambling man, but if I were, I’d almost bet on it being us Phins and the 9ers in the Super Bowl this year. However, I’m not confident we can remain healthy enough.
We shall see! 🙂
Baker’s best fit is as a traditional 4-3 WOLB. The speed to cut runs back inside, sideline to sideline tackler, good blitzer and decent in coverage. He’s not really an inside guy though he’s solid.
Exactly what I think AVG is
We are watching 2 QBs tonight who should not be starting in the NFL
Yeah but AVG is much larger than Baker. 6’4 245 versus 6’2 225.
ukfinfan says:
December 7, 2023 at 1:14 pm
…M – here’s my post from Monday which I posted on an NFL thread of a soccer forum (great minds think alike):
For the NFC, the Niners have played the 2 best teams in the NFC – the Eagles and the Cowboys, and have won by a combined score of 84-29. Assuming no more injuries to Purdy, it seems a massive reach to predict any other team to lift the Lombardi at this stage of the season.
For the AFC, the fins sit at #1 seed, but a Jags win on MNF puts them in #1 after GB came out on top @ Lambeau last night. This has created a bit of a logjam in the fight for HFA in the play-offs. I’m certainly not counting any aquatic chickens yet – we have three games to finish the season in Dallas (H), Ravens (A) and Bills (H), which will give us chance to dispel the narrative that we can only beat bad-medium teams. If we can do that, we may be in shape to make a decent play-off run. Ironically, I started following the Fins in Marino’s first year when he made the SB and lost to the niners. Sadly, even if by some miracle the Fins did make it to the big bash, I suspect the same fate would await. Karma is a bitch!
————
Great minds, my friend! LOL
Just know this: if we make it to the Super Bowl healthy (and that is SO key), maybe we can learn from the past. Just as Coach McDaniel stated on the last episode of Hard Knocks, that we were 8-3 just a mere year ago… then December hit us hard.
We’re learning from the past, building from lessons learned, and keeping our heads up while having fun. Perhaps we can finally avenge that dreaded Super Bowl loss to the 9ers all those years ago, right?!! HELL YEAH!!!
But in the meantime, onto Tennessee. 🙂
This game is like a USFL game, shitty QBs = shitty game
Ken – I thought Achilles rehab was a year, which would keep Phillips out until next November. Could be wrong. I agree that Baker is more likely to go.
No it should be around 6-9 months which should put him back at the start of the season
Tim Knight says:
December 7, 2023 at 5:12 pm
Just wanted to let you all know I brought my mom home today. She’s doing very well.🙂
————-
OUTSTANDING news and in the Christmas season to boot!!! I’m very happy for ya, my Bro! 🙂
Thanks man. Best Christmas present ever!🙂
Did not know what is going on but glad to hear your mom is home for the holidays
TD Patriots
Howie’s List
Week 14
🐬 vs ☄️
🦬 41 – 16 🐬
🐷 52 – 14 🐬
🎰 40 – 10 🐬
🌴 38 – 17 🐬
🗿 42 – 24 🐬
🇬🇧 48 – 20🐬
stang 27-21 🐬
I’m assuming 🐬for you stanger. And what is your emoji choice?
This is exhausting. I can’t believe Howie used to do it without cut and paste. And a longer list too.
Do me a solid, Herd. Or someone else. I’m tired but awake.😉
Phins 38-13.
Howie’s List
Week 14
🐬 vs ☄️
🦬 41 – 16 🐬
🐷 52 – 14 🐬
🎰 40 – 10 🐬
🌴 38 – 17 🐬
🗿 42 – 24 🐬
🇬🇧 48 – 20🐬
stang 27-21🐬
🗡️ 38 – 13 🐬
If you boo your QB, he has zero chance
Idiot fans
I don’t think Trubisky’s play is affected by the crowd. He doesn’t have a chance even if they were cheering for him
WOAH!!!
Zappe to Hunter Henry for the TD!!!
Dangerous pass by Zappe but it’s a TD
The Steelers have been an embarrassment the last two weeks
M13,
Did you see Manny Diaz is going to Duke to be the HC?
No, I didn’t see that! WOW
Any thoughts as to who we could replace him with?
They have to promote from within this time. It’s got to be Poindexter. They can’t try to bring someone in with a different scheme.
I absolutely agree with that. Gotta keep the same great scheme, first and foremost. Otherwise, we’re hitting the reset button on the D side of the ball for no less than 3 years.
In case you needed any verification of how bad flores was for Tua from so,e one that witnessed it
https://x.com/shammbr0w/status/1732927040368619816?s=61&t=NWZ–WfgKu_dYbC-fKuB3A
Flores was an Azz
He was a strange dude. Glad Grier recognized it early on
I hope NE wins out.
That makes two of us.
chiefs broncos bills jets
I am going to be controversial here but I don’t care about Shula’s record.
I wasn’t even thinking about Shula’s record… rather, keep the Patsies* from getting a top-10 pick in the Draft and in the ensuing rounds.
Belicheat* will ALWAYS have an asterisk by his name.
Someone told the Patriots about their draft pick
Dumb ass play call by the Steelers
Tim, that’s great news I’m happy for you and you’re mom especially. 👍💪❤️
Thanks man.🙂
My world would not be the same without my mom in it. I’m so grateful for the doctors, nurses and therapists. They saved her life and got her home. ❤️
That’s awesome thank God for them
Congratulations Tim, I’m happy to hear your Mom is back home and recovering. Great news for the holidays.
I am glad NE dropped Pitt three spots in the playoff race yesterday. Now if Buff can knock off KC this weekend, the Rams beat Balt, the Bungals beat the Colts, Cleveland beats the Jags, the Jets beat Houston, Min beats the Raiders and the chargers beat Denver it will be a GOLDEN week for Miami. (With a blow out win against Tenn on MNF of course)
RAVENS CHIEFS AND JAGS TO LOSE!
RAVENS CHIEFS AND JAGS TO LOSE!
RAVENS CHIEFS AND JAGS TO LOSE!
GO DOLPHINS!
Damn, Dolphins released Verone McKinley
Tua on how Jackson and he were treated by Flores
Both players were criticized by the coaching staff led by Brian Flores.
“Yeah, not this year,” Tua said. “Past years. It’s awesome. Truly remarkable to sit in those meetings and have things told about you that you know aren’t true but get planted in your head. And you have the media on you as well. Then you have someone like Mike (McDaniel) and his coaching staff come in and basically just build you back up.”
Chris Brooks entered the 21 day window 11/29. I wonder if they are going to reactivate him in the next two weeks or let him sit until the offseason?
Howie’s List
Week 14
🐬 vs ☄️
🦬 41 – 16 🐬
🐷 52 – 14 🐬
🎰 40 – 10 🐬
🌴 38 – 17 🐬
🗿 42 – 24 🐬
🇬🇧 48 – 20🐬
🏉 27-21🐬
🗡️ 38 – 13 🐬
I put Stanger down as a rugby ball as he used to play when younger (M is pigskin NFL variant – different but similar icon). I Googled it. but got this …. German: occupational name for a maker of shafts for spears and the like, from an agent derivative of Middle High German stange ‘pole, shaft’. Thought that might get difficult, although “maker of shafts” is a cool handle.
I always thought he was called stanger because he was or is the owner/aficianado of a mustang car.
Thanks UK — but former flanker works well for me. 🙂
Just finished Hard Knocks – thx for the link Kong, it has been taken down now – lot of fun though, like our team.
Gink the star of the show. Best moments were all related to him
– Fucking Van Ginkel (coach)
– The joy of his wife when he scored and she said it’s still like they were HS sweethearts
– His logon to HBO premium as Hugh Wang
Not sure if this was a badly written double entendre (heard Hugh Janus before, but surely that would have been Hugh Jwang?) or just a co-incidence but folks have already googled Hugh and found LinkedIn contacts and T-shirts are following. You’ve got to love the internet.
My gut tells me he won’t be leaving. I read a while back that Fangio loves him and he has position flexibility and availability. Keeper for me.
I’m thinking Van Ginkel is too good to be our 3rd edge, but could be a starter inside.
Great to hear about your mom Tim
I’m happy for you !
Bills (6-6) at Chiefs (8-4)
4:25 p.m. ET | CBS | Spread: KC -1.5 (48.5)
Storyline to watch: The Bills have beaten the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in the regular season in each of the past two seasons in large part because Buffalo QB Josh Allen (six touchdowns, zero interceptions) has outplayed Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes (four TDs, four INTs). The Chiefs had been playing well defensively but had their two worst games on that side of the ball in the past two weeks, casting doubt on whether they can prevent Allen from having another big game this time around. — Adam Teicher
Fingers crossed! I hate rooting for our division to win, but on the bright side it is only because they have a worse record than our that I can.
Rooting for all three of our division rivals to win this week is icky. But I hope their opponents lose.
So I see that GTA6 is supposed to be released next year. (WAS supposed to be this year too, LOL) It has been 10 freaking years, and two playstation platforms. WTH!
I will probably break down and buy the PS5 once it does come out.
NEW BLOG UP!!!!