The Dolphins this week host the visiting Detroit Lions from possibly the best division in the NFL, the NFC North. The Minnesota Vikings are tied for 1st place with the Chicago Bears at 6-2, The Lions are right behind at 5-2 having played one less game, and the last place Green Bay Packers are 5-3. Now that is a competitive division right there. Head Coach Dan Cmpbell will make his return to Miami after serving as Interim Head Coach for the Dolphins when he replaced HC Joe Philbin after Week 4 in 2015. Campbell finished the season for the Dolphins at 5-7, and it took a few seasons before Campbell’s Lions hit stride. Campbell’s first season with the Lions was in 2021 when they had a 3-13 record, but the team improved significantly in 2022 finishing 9-8. In 2023, The Lions went 12-5, and went to the NFC Championship Game and fell to the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. In 2024, the Lions improved to 15-2 but lost their divisional round playoff game against the Chicago Bears 45-31.

If you want to see what the Lions organization did since Campbell took over as Head Coach, just look at the successful draft picks. in 2021, the Lions drafted LT Penei Sewell, and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown. In 2022, the Lions drafted DE Aidan Hutchinson and WR Jameson Williams. In 2023, the Lions drafted RB Jahmyr Gibbs, LB Jack Campbell and TE Sam LaPorta. The run seemed to have ended in 2024, but they brought in an excellent nucleus, hitting on 2 or 3 superstars in each draft from 2021-2024. During that same time period, the Dolphins have 1 draft pick you could call a superstar, RB De’Von Achane, and he’s out for the season. I can’t say if any of our 2026 draftees will be superstars, but there are plenty of starters in that group. Now to be fair, that’s mostly out of necessity due to the roster purge, but I believe LG Kadyn Proctor will be a long term starter here. CB Chris Johnson has flashed good and bad. LB Jacob Rodriguez has superstar potential. I think both WR’s, Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell are bonafide starters with potential to be among the top receivers. We need a QB for that to happen. I think S Michael Taaffe has shown he can play. The rest are up in the air, but either way, that’s a successful draft. We need to continue to add to that the next few years to be contenders. Chris Grier never gave us that chance.

The Dolphins continue to play competitive football. If you watched the last game, after the first half, you’d swear we were going to upset the visiting New England Patriots. We led at the half 13-3. Time of possession was pretty even, we had a slight edge with 15:45 – 14:14. We were 4-8 on 3rd down while the Patriots were 2-6. Dolphins were 1-2 in the red zone, the Patriots 0-1. As we know, everything changed in the 2nd half, and the wheels fell of for the Dolphins. In the 3rd quarter, the Patriots had the ball for a staggering 12:06, while the Dolphins 2:54, and the Patriots scored 2 TD’s for 14 points and shut out our Dolphins to take a 17-13 lead. In the 4th quarter, a quick touchdown pass from QB Drake Maye to WR Demario Douglas made it 24-13, and the Patriots put it in cruise control. The final score seemed close at 24-19, but the Patriots took this game in the 3rd quarter and that was it.

Dolphins RB Ollie Gordon has been playing well, and as we witnessed last week, he needs to wear a mouthguard so he can’t talk shit. I’m sure he was the focus during team meetings because his unsportsmanlike penalty in the 3rd quarter was a backbreaker. On a 2nd and 10, RB Ollie Gordon ran for 5 yards, and when out of bounds, started jawing at a New England Patriot defender, and was flagged for a 15 yard penalty. Instead of 3-5, it went to 3rd and 20. To me, that finished us off. I know Ollie Gordon has apologized, and hopefully that’s a learning moment for both him and his teammates. I love the attitude this team has despite our 1-6 record, and I’m sure this will be corrected.

LG Kadyn Proctor has returned to practice which is a great thing for the Dolphins. Hopefully he’s good to go against the Lions this week, but his replacement, OG Jarrett Kingston was serviceable. I want Malik Willis to have some time and I want to see our two young WR’s, Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell have a game. WR Malik Washington had a nice game last week. Malik caught 5 passes for 40 yards and his first TD of the season. Malik Washington leads the Dolphins with 31 receptions. As for the defense, they will have their hands full with RB Jahmyr Gibbs, QB Jared Goff, and receivers Amon-Ra St.Brown and Jameson Williams, along with TE Sam LaPorta.The Lions are scoring 29 PPG (3rd in the NFL), our defense has been allowing 25.9 (23rd in the NFL). On offense, we’re scoring 16.7 PPG (31st in the NFL), and the Lions defense has allowed 25.7 PPG (23rd in the NFL). We’re going to have to score points Sunday to win, a lot of them. I’m not sure how we can contain the Lions, so my guess is we’ll have to put up at least 25-30 points to win this one.

GO DOLPHINS!!!