Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz and Frank Schwab discuss why the Miami Dolphins need quality wins this season to prove they are legitimate contenders. Listen and subscribe to the “Zero Blitz” podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video transcript
Miami Dolphins always talking to Tua.
But what’s your big talking point for the Dolphins?
Franco?
Yes, my one big thing for the Dolphins is something we talked about all last season and I’m going to dig that up for Dolphins fans.
Sorry.
But are they paper tigers?
I, we, talked all last season about this team not having any quality wins.
Just like them, they are beating bad teams and they are beating bad teams and that is also a sign that it is a good team.
But when it came to quality teams on their schedule, they lost most of them.
Their only big win last year, in Week 16 at home, they beat the Dallas Cowboys on a last-second field goal.
Beat them by two points.
A win is a win.
I understood.
But we are basically talking about a coin toss result.
This is their only good victory.
They had it all season when you go back and look who they beat.
They were the Denver Broncos of the world.
It was a losing New York Jets team that didn’t have a quarterback and that really came back to bite them late in the season when they were eliminated by the Ravens.
They lose the Bills in an AFC championship game.
They lose to the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs.
So we come into this year with the Dolphins coming off a really good season and you like their talent and Tyreek in Tu, uh and the running backs and Mike Mcdonnell is a really good coach.
But the question in the back of my mind is: are we just overestimating them now?
Because of all the wins they had last year, because most of those wins were against bad teams.
I need to see them prove they can beat good teams on a regular basis before I put them ahead of the Bills or even the Jets for me with a healthy Aaron Rodgers.
I’m a little down on the Dolphins just because I think they’re more unproven than you’d think of a team that just made the playoffs.
Look, I’ll give credit to my friend Mike Gold Junior, who last year, at the end of the season, asked our group of friends this question.
If they hadn’t bet 70 on the Broncos, would we still give them the same level of street cred?
I think the answer to that is no.
In fact, if you look, I pulled their scores from last year and if you look at who they scored a lot of points in 70 points on the Broncos.
Yes, that’s a draft of 42 for Carolina, which we all know is the worst team in the league, 31 against New England, which we know was one of the worst teams in the league 34 against the Jets later when there was a destruction 45 of themselves against a team of bad commanders who were in the middle of a change, right?
When you look at some of the best teams, 14 against Buffalo, 19 against the Ravens, 14 against Kansas City, 17 against the Eagles.
Even the offensive production of the not only wins, the offensive production against the Dolphins last year was like two totally different conversations.
How are they against bad teams?
In my opinion, as they are against good teams, when you look at what you have to see from them, we still need to see greatness sustained against great teams.
This is why everyone wants to anoint the Dolphins or Jets as the future winners of the AFC East.
I still believe in the Bills because I’m not sure the Dolphins can beat quality football teams or score points against quality football teams.
And I talked about the Jets before.
So it’s interesting to me that the Dolphins don’t just care about winning.
They’re all offensive, sometimes the production is a bit of a paper tiger.
So uh uh that’s why I know the Bills game was in the cold and everyone is going to talk about that kind of element.
But, uh, that’s how things work out.
Like, uh, and this, this, this is how life goes with the situation.
In fact, January’s defeat was at home.
They lost 2,114 to Buffalo.
How can you only score 14 points when your offense should be so good?
And there was a lot at stake.
