Miami Football Blog

Had the Miami Dolphins won in Tennessee this past weekend, they would be locked in a 3 way tie at 8-6 for the 5 and 6 playoff seeds with the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens, however the loss dropped Miami to 7-7, part of a six way tie on the outside looking in. The Dolphins obviously need to win out, but they will need some help to play twice in January.

What needs to happen first for the Miami Dolphins to make the playoffs is a loss by either or both of the teams sitting at 8-6, which is not at all out of the question. The Ravens visit the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are tied with the Dolphins at 7-7, this weekend, which is a losable game, and then close at the Oakland Raiders, who have proven to be a tough opponent in recent weeks. The Broncos, meanwhile, are in the midst of another late season tailspin, losing 6 of their last 8 and still having to visit the 10-4 Philadelphia Eagles before hosting the Kansas City Chiefs.

Should the Dolphins get help from the 8-6 teams, they would clearly need to win their final two at home. The Houston Texans visit this weekend, followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers on January 3, both of whom are currently 7-7. Should the Dolphins finish 9-7, the Steelers and Texans would be at best 8-8, eliminating those two, and the Dolphins would hold head to head tiebreakers over 9-7 New York Jets or Jacksonville Jaguars teams. However, should the Tennessee Titans finish 9-7 as well, last weekend’s loss would come back to haunt the Miami Dolphins. Tennessee has to host the 11-3 San Diego Chargers on Christmas night though, and the Chargers will be looking to lock up a first round bye, so a Titans loss is still possible.

However, none of this even assures the Miami Dolphins a playoff spot, as the tie breaker scenarios are completely muddled right now. With 8 teams still in the running and several matchups between these teams, there are simply too many possibilities to predict for sure what needs to happen. We KNOW the Miami Dolphins need to win out, and should the New England Patriots lose to both the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Houston Texans along with the Dolphins winning out, guess who would be repeat AFC East Champions? What we, as Miami Dolphins fans, need to do is get out to Land Shark Stadium this Sunday and next to support the Miami Dolphins in their critical final two games of the season. From there, if the team responds and gets a little help from others around the AFC, then we can start talking about a playoff road trip to Cincinnati or New England. Just a heads up for those interested in a more in depth look, check out the Phinsider’s playoff scenario thread here.

Coaches constantly talk about taking it one game at a time, which will undoubtedly be Tony Sparano’s plan over the next two weeks. The Miami Dolphins won’t make the playoffs if they lose to the Houston Texans, so that needs to be step one, everything else we just have to hope for.

The AFC Wild Card race is wide open, and the Miami Dolphins missed a golden opportunity to get in the driver’s seat on Sunday in Nashville against the Tennessee Titans. Winners of 7 of their last 8, the Tennessee Titans have been red hot since Vince Young reclaimed the starting quarterback position, but the Miami Dolphins were nonetheless in the game until Rob Bironas’s overtime field goal clinched it.

Down 24-6 midway through the third quarter, the Miami Dolphins showed some grit and fought all the way back to tie to the game with a minute and a half to play. In the end, though, turnovers were the Miami Dolphins’ undoing. Three Chad Henne interceptions, including one in overtime that gave the ever valuable possession away, offset the second year signal caller’s career high 349 yards while Ricky Williams coughed up a fumble as well.

Vince Young meanwhile was excellent for the Tennessee Titans with 236 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception to go with two scrambles for 24 yards. The Miami Dolphins contained explosive tailback Chris Johnson as well as could be hoped for, “limiting” him to 159 total yards and no touchdowns. The miscues were too much to overcome for Miami, though.

In overtime the Miami Dolphins looked poised to win the game, with all the momentum on their side and first crack at possession. However, an errant third and six pass from Chad Henne became an easy interception for Michael Griffin, and a Greg Camarillo personal foul at the end of the play landed the Titans in field goal range without running an offensive play. Three plays later, Rob Bironas nailed a 46 yard field goal, essentially a chip shot for the Pro Bowler, and dropped the Miami Dolphins to 7-7.

The Fins are now locked in a six way tie for 7th place in the AFC, one game behind the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos for the final playoff spots. Check back with the Miami Dolphins Tickets Blog tomorrow for a full explanation of the Dolphins playoff scenarios, and be sure to come out this weekend to the Miami Dolphins Tickets tailgate at Land Shark Stadium when the Houston Texans come to town in a game with potentially huge playoff implications!

Now sitting just a game behind the New England Patriots in the AFC East, the Miami Dolphins’ hopes for a repeat division crown are very much alive. However, with the two teams schedules in the last quarter of the season very similar (both teams have a road game and home game with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans but the Patriots face the Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills instead of the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers), neither of which is very intimidating, especially for the mostly healthy Patriots, the Wild Card might be a more realistic expectation. With two division races all but wrapped up and 2nd place in the AFC West likely to take a Wild Card spot, there appear to be 7 teams with any semblance of a chance to take the 6th spot.

Right now the Jacksonville Jaguars lead that pack of 7, and the Miami Dolphins are nipping at their heels, with a chance to take a valuable tie breaker away from Jacksonville this Sunday. With a win this week, the Miami Dolphins would be 7-6, with tie breakers over the Jaguars and New York Jets, neither of whom would be any better than 7-6. With the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, both currently 6-6, still set to face off in Baltimore in Week 16, the Miami Dolphins would be in prime playoff position with a win this weekend. The Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans are both currently 5-7, giving the Miami Dolphins the opportunity to end those team’s respective playoff hopes in Weeks 15 and 16.

So what are the keys to victory? With Jacksonville the game plan always starts with Maurice Jones-Drew. The explosive 4thyear tailback from UCLA has taken to his starting role nicely this year, already eclipsing the 1000 yard mark and tallying 13 touchdowns and over 1300 total yards through 12 games. Miami needs to slow Jones-Drew down to have a chance in this matchup as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ passing offense is very average. David Garrard is an acceptable quarterback and Mike Sims-Walker has been a huge surprise at wide receiver this season, but Tory Holt is well past his prime and Marcedes Lewis is an inconsistent tight end in the passing game. Essentially, if the New England Patriots couldn’t beat the Miami Dolphins with their passing game, then there is no reason the Jacksonville Jaguars should. Jones Drew is the real weapon on offense for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Miami Dolphins game plan needs to reflect this.

On offense, it will be important to have a good balance in the attack once again, as Ricky Williams has been great, but cannot handle the load all by himself. Last week against the Patriots Chad Henne threw for a career high 335 yards on a career high total of 29 completions. While he does not need to necessarily match that stat line, if he can throw for 225-250 yards and no interceptions, the Miami Dolphins should have a chance to win this game.

It might as well be playoff football already for the Miami Dolphins as any loss from here on could end the Miami Dolphins playoff hopes. With the season on the line week in and week out, you won’t want to miss any of the action. Miami Dolphins Tickets has you covered for both the road and home games, and still has seats and tailgate passes available for the Week 16 game against the Houston Texans and the Week 17 sellout against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Be there as the Miami Dolphins fight for a playoff spot in the homestretch of the season!

After the huge win against the New England Patriots, the Miami Dolphins have another big game with potential Wild Card implications on Sunday in Jacksonville against the Jaguars. As sweet as is it to see Tom Brady personally blow the game in front of our home crowd (and it is very, very sweet), it will not amount to much if the Miami Dolphins are not able to run off a couple more wins and secure a playoff spot.

It looks like Jason Taylor is back to speed and practicing this week along with Nathan Jones, both of whom played but were limited by injuries against the New England Patriots. Joey Porter, however, was held out of drills on Thursday, and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game at the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, there appears to be good news on the offensive line, as Jake Grove has been practicing, albeit with a heavily taped ankle, and looks like a strong candidate to play this Sunday.

Also on the offensive line, tackle Lydon Murtha was placed on injured reserve today after suffering a freak ankle injury in Wednesday night’s practice session that took a sharp turn for the worse overnight. He has been replaced on the active roster by Evan Oglesby, a former Baltimore Ravens backup CB and for offensive line depth Nevin McCaskill, who played at Hampton University with Kendall Langford and was most recently with the New York Jets in the preseason, was signed to the scout team.

Check back with the Miami Dolphins Tickets Blog tomorrow to get a full preview of the potentially big Wild Card matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium on Sunday.