For Dolphins, it’s not how they start, it’s how they finish

By Hugo Guzman  |   Monday, October 11, 2010  |  Comments( 1 )

Miami Dolphins
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Dolphins fans are fretting because of Miami's two-game slide, and with good reason. It's never good to lose two straight home games against back-to-back division rivals on national television. Moreover, getting off to an initial 2-0 start made these past two losses all the more depressing.

However, the more discerning fan remembers that slow starts are more or less the norm under the current regime.

In 2008, Miami started off 0-2, then won two games in a row to even up at 2-2, but then quickly lost two in row to fall to 2-4.

In 2009, Miami lost their first three en route to a yet another 2-6 start to the season.

But in both seasons, Sparano and company were able to rally the troops and go on a mid-season tear, winning nine of their last ten in 2008 (en route to a playoff appearance) and winning four of five in middle part of their 2009 schedule before going on a three-game slide too end the season.

This is why it's perplexing to see so many fans predicting doom and gloom after just four games. Now some will say that their upcoming schedule is daunting and therefore a reason for serious concern. But here's the thing; this is the NFL, which means that every game on the schedule is daunting. Moreover, the NFL has a funny way of making seemingly fearsome match ups turn into very winnable games (example: a Green Bay team fresh off an embarrassing loss whose franchise quarterback is fresh off a bone-jarring concussion).

At 2-2, the Miami Dolphins are in the thick of the playoff hunt, and assuming that Sparano can once again get his team to improve on their weak points on a week to week basis, Miami should be in a position to battle for a postseason birth well into December.

And in today's parity-filled NFL, that's really all that you can ask for, because more often than not, the NFL does not reward teams that play well in the first few games of the season (for proof, just take a look at the early-season records in Don Shula's last few seasons). Instead, it rewards the teams that finish strong.


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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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