Week 2 Dolphin Blues

Oh, you Miami Dolphins. You had me fooled a little in the off-season. Went out and got the pricey free-agent defender. Talked up your young quarterback and gave him a big contract. Traded out some weak players for much stronger ones. On paper, you looked like you were ready to compete. Some forecasters said this was the year you would take over the New England Patriots at the top of the AFC East division. 

I kind of bought in. There was so much to like about all the moves you made. Besides, a Miami fan is ALWAYS looking for a reason to hope that we might finally beat down the Patriots. But I’m not stupid either. I’ve been a fan for a long time, and I have seen these types of moves before: Bring in the new coach, the new quarterback (15 of those in the last 13 years), overhaul the defense. No matter the change, it is always the same result. Same old Dolphins. I entered this season hopeful, but also wary and suspicious.

Last week’s game was a sad experience, but I recognized that other folks had it worse. I mean, we did win after all. It was just an ugly and frustrating win that exposed a lot of holes in our team. This week, however, was the real test. We traveled up the state of Florida to play the Jacksonville Jaguars (last year’s record 3 wins, 13 losses), which is as close to a bye week as you can get while still playing an actual game. We were supposed to win easily, so I knew that if we struggled in this game and barely won it would mean very bad things.

We lost. 

Yeeeaaah, we lost. And it was a bad, ugly loss too. Tons of penalties called on us, lots of missed opportunities and broken plays. It has been confirmed that these Dolphins are the same old mediocre Dolphins as the last couple of years. 

It doesn’t matter what happens now. Whether we continue to struggle and lose, or whether they win the next five games by blowout. I have seen the truth of this team, and I won’t trust them no matter what they do. They’ve always been able to pull out some great wins against strong teams, or rattle off a winning streak. But then they’ll fall to some team that they need to beat, and that will start a three game losing streak. This year is nothing new. 

These are the same old Dolphins, and I won’t believe otherwise. Not this year. Not after this game.