Dolphins Bye Week Notes

Dolphins Bye Week Notes

The Miami Dolphins enter their bye week with a 7 and 3 record. They sit atop the AFC East as the other division teams play this weekend to get up to their tenth game. Two of their divisional rivals play each other this week as the New England Patriots host the New York Jets. While the Buffalo Bills play the Cleveland Browns. It is a home game for the Bills, but the game will be played in Detroit as a result of the weather in the Buffalo area this weekend.

Dolphins Bye Happiness

It has been a long time since Dolfans have felt so confident about the Dolphins after 10 games. The offseason started with the surprising news that Coach Flores had been relieved of his duties in Miami. Most people were not expecting a coaching change this year for the Fins. Yet, it seems to be a good decision as we sit here today (11/18/2022).

The additions to the 2022 Dolphins started with the hiring of Mike McDaniel as the team’s next head coach. McDaniel is a first-year head coach. But, it took him little time to get the fans to support his ways. After two seasons, with a coach that never seemed to be on board with QB Tua Tagovailoa, it was awesome to see McDaniel reach out to Tua from the start. Things were changing.

Then the offseason really went nuts in a good way. The Dolphins signed Terron Armstead to a big contract to help protect Tua. Then boom! The news broke that Miami had pulled off a mega trade to bring Tyreek Hill to South Florida. Things were really changing now. The Dolphins gave up a lot to bring Hill to Miami. But, it was worth it!

Hill has brought his amazing talents to Miami both on and off the field. As expected, Hill has been a superstar on gameday. His leadership outside of the football sidelines has been of superstar quality as well. Just like McDaniel, Hill showed all of the confidence in the world in Tua. You could see Tua’s own self-confidence grow as well.

Deadline Dealing

You might think the Dolphins would have been satisfied with those off-season additions. Yet. you would be wrong. They made two trades at the deadline that once again made impacts on and off the field. The Fins acquired Bradley Chubb and Jeff Wilson in two different trades.

The Chubb trade once again cost the Dolphins big but seems like it was a good move. Chubb has picked up a half-sack in his two games but he has gotten pressure on several plays. The reason this is a big off-the-field move is that it falls in the mindset arena. Miami sent a very clear message to Tua that he was the guy! There will be no draft ammo or money to land a QB. Tua is the man! He knows it and it shows in his play.

Wilson has paid immediate dividends by scoring a TD in each of his two games as a Dolphins player. He also went over the 100-yard mark in his second game as Miami bashed the Browns.

Dolphins Moving Forward

The Miami Dolphins will come out of the bye to host the Houston Texans. I do not like counting wins before their time. But, Miami has a good chance to move their record to 8 and 3. Then Miami hits the road for a really tough three games away from Hard Rock Stadium. They will play on the road against the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers, and the Buffalo Bills. As you can see the schedule makers did not do Miami any favors in that stretch of games.

Two of Miami’s last three games will be at home. They will host the Green Bay Packers on Christmas Day. They will then travel to take on the New England Patriots before closing out the regular season at home as the New York Jets fly into South Florida.

So tell us here or on Twitter how you feel about the Dolphins’ chances of making the playoffs! When they make it, will they advance with at least one postseason win?

Test your Dolfan IQ to pass time in the bye week!