UKBillFan

Better for all of this to happen now after week three than week thirteen? *Clutching at straws*

Just posted elsewhere about last year's match. Last year we were far more balanced between defense and offense because we weren't shredded on one side of the ball. This year we prolonged the offense's time on the field to protect the defense, but it ended up to the detriment of the offense.

In that sense, I think you're actually agreeing with Royale with Cheese - the weather and heat benefited Miami? Especially when, if you look at last year, we had a fit defense, the offense actually had less time on the field, and the play design was not so focused on prolonging the latter's time on the field to save the former.

I think it's fine as long as it doesn't affect the player's health. When you have the opposing quarterback seemingly throwing up on the sideline and others breaking down from the heat then it should be looked into.

I'm a bit confused what you're saying @Billz4ever. In one way you seem to be suggesting that the weather did play a part because the Dolphins are more acclimatised to it and then in another part say it didn't have an impact?

If the Dolphins fans think they've got a great team then they're in for a rude awakening. They'll enjoy the win but need to play muh better than they did yesterday to finish the season with a winning record. And the first two weeks hardly stand out either - a victory over a poor Patriots team and beating up a shredded secondary in Baltimore. And that's how I'm try to placate myself. They didn't beat us, we beat us. And yet only lost by two despite how many injuries we had at the end of the game.

Yes, that as well, they are more acclimatised to the heat. But the set up of the stadium is as such to take advantage of it from a sidelines point of view. I do think the injuries played a big part and possibly led to the mistakes on offense as the game came to the end. The play design was such to try and keep the offense on the field for as long as possible, because we didn't want to expose our defense. But that drove them into the ground to the point they were physically and mentally fatigued.

Because the Dolphins defense could get off the field into the cooler shade between plays whilst the offense was still in baking heat? You wonder why the Bills offense went down with cramps and sickness (Josh threw up on the sidelines at one point) whilst their defense was fine?

I really don't understand the coaching getting called out for yesterday's loss. It was individual errors which led to our defeat. Yes, there were a couple of questionable calls but the bigger problem was execution.

It was a perfect storm - players making simple mistakes, coaching errors, heat, injuries... yet we still got within two. Considering what we were working against it shows how deep our roster goes, and those who came in did us proud. But it's annoying and frustrating at the same time.

The afternoon after the night before and I actually look back on this and feel embarrassed. It was an emotional take posted straight after the loss. I should have waited by it was cathartic at the time. Saying that, I do still have concerns about our ability of getting over the line in close games. Seven straight losses is not good for Super Bowl favourites, and we seem to find interesting new ways to lose as well - McKenzie running in the wrong direction and failing to stop the clock being the latest. I love the blow outs, it's great when things click we can blast teams away. But sometimes we need to grind results out. Injuries are the primary concern now. Offense were spent having to be on the field so much to try and help the defense. We need to be able to trust both sides of the ball and we understandably can't at the moment.

I don't think I would blame the coaches for yesterday's loss. The offensive plays were deliberately called to use up as much time as possible because we did not want the defense on the field. In terms of plan, it worked. Yes, there were some bad calls - the second offensive drive and 3 & 22 stand out - but in general the coaching did not result in the errors being made by the starters in terms of a particularly poor throw, dropped catches, a missed field goal, a lost pick six and dancing round the field rather than getting out of bounds whilst the clock ticked down. And if just one of those mistakes hadn't been made we would have won, all other things being equal. I do agree the O Line has been overlooked for too long and, if we do not win the Super Bowl this year, it will probably be down to that. And, because we wanted the offense to keep the defense off the field for so long, they were absolutely spent during the fourth quarter which led to mental and physical errors. But I can see the logic behind it and, if we had trusted the defense more, would it have been so close? Or would the Dolphins have got into a groove and exploited our injury-enforced weaknesses?

Right, got you. So 0-7 in close score games is more than acceptable. No, only got hooked into NFL and the Bills in 2020. Maybe that's part of the issue - haven't lived through the bad times.

Why does it have to be binary? Why does it have to be a case that we can’t have the blowouts in order to win the close games?

I may regret saying this when the Dolphins go 4-0 but it feels a bit like the Championship game last year. The Chiefs slugged it out against us, went to the Bengals and had nothing in the tank. Have to wonder if the same thing will happen.

Interesting how teams can beat us thanks to extreme weather, when they have the same conditions.

I’d rather us have a better record than 0-7 in one score games from the start of 2021.

FFS who said anything about cutting him? It’s getting to the point where no one can say anything negative or critical about Josh without a defence of you want to trade him, cut him etc.

The OP mentioned Milano, Brown and Bass, to be fair.

In fairness, I have pointed out the errors made by Davis, McKenzie, Milano and Bass. Had overlooked Dawkins, though! Brown was a mess; he’s been generally good for us but was awful today.

Gabe was clearly not 100% fit. Have to hope the minutes he gained today will set up on the right track for next week.

Because it was a throw which could have cost us the game. $250m means expectation and pressure. Our defense rose to the occasion for the most part when it needed to. It just needed clean execution from the main man in one key moment and it didn’t happen. Making clutch plays at the death are so important. For me, the most concerning thing is it was the starters who made the errors today which cost us the win, rather than the back ups. The throw was just one of a multitude of simple errors made across the game which cost us. In a way it’s good; despite tripping over our own feet time and time again we came within two. Josh was a key component of keeping it close. But three offensive points in the second half is a poor return considering the opportunities we had.

True, but for the most part the defense stood up when it mattered. The Dolphins punted far more than I expected them to today.

I’d say today was his worse game of the season so far. Despite the INT (I’m only counting one, as the other wasn’t on him), the Rams was his best, closely followed by the Titans. I don’t think missing half the offensive starters prevents him from completing a 5 yard pass. I do wonder why our red zone play was a mess on the second half. We could move the ball up the field at will but, when we hit the red zone, we couldn’t convert.

True. But then the defeat would have been on the defense, akin to 13 seconds. But, considering how depleted we were, I thought the defense did great overall today.