Dave Hyde On The Implosion Of The AFC East And What It Means For The Dolphins

[GatorFin73]

Closest to beating kc 3 years ago dude. Look at what you just said. They haven’t been close to anything since then. In the last 5 games against them we have played them down to the last min except for one game. Bills fans our probably more pissed than dolphin fans right now because they totally blew their opportunity. We still have a shot

Closest to beating KC 3 years ago and last year. Buffalo missed a late FG to tie and lost by 3 in the divisional round of the playoffs. They beat KC in the regular season last year. If we were able to do anything remotely similar people would be jumping for joy around here.

 

[Fin-Loco]

The "loss" of Diggs is being overrated.

He was bad the last 9-10 games of last year and The Bills were better than when he was putting up numbers early.

We have to hope The Pat's f-up their QB search and The Jets are a 50/50 coin toss. They have a pretty solid roster but everything depends on Narcissus The QB and he was fading BEFORE he tore his achilles and Saleh looks to be quite capable of running the ship on to the rocks..

Yeah but he was a coverage magnet each and every game regardless how he played. You had to put your best CB on him and provide double coverage just like people have to do to Hill AND Waddle. That mattered because it sucked up 2 defenders.

 

[Fin-Loco]

It is interesting to me how many are able to so quickly write the Bill's off. They have won the division 3 or 4 years in a row, including beating us at home at the end last year. So until proven otherwise, it is still their show. They also have the advantage of being a cold weather team, and that is when the playoffs and crucial late season games happen. Hopefully we knock the Bill's off the pedestal this year - we have a decent chance. Personally, I am not taking the victory laps until we actually do it. Not to mention, I don't want to jinx it either. So fingers crossed.

Have you looked at what they lost vs what they brought in? That team lost its top 3 WRs, it's top two safeties, and thats just the top of the list. Sure, they have Allen and their TE and Cook at RB but they are hurting talent wise. I project them to be a 7/8 win team next year.

 

[tay0365]

First link is the Hyde article, where he is pretty optimistic about Miami's chances of winning the division, primarily based on the competition getting worse or not improving. I agree on the Patriots (schadenfreude remains one of my favorite concepts), I would not write off the Jets there is a chance they could be pretty darn good, and I am uncertain on Buffalo as they still have Josh Allen and sometimes getting rid of a guy can be addition by subtraction. Having said all of that, I still like our chances. 2nd link, Vegas still has Buffalo very slightly favored over Miami to win the AFC East. Jets in shouting distance, and the Rats nowhere to be found.

MSN

2024-25 AFC East Division Odds - Conference Winner

2024-25 NFL - AFC East Division Winner betting odds, contenders, history and wagering information provided by VegasInsider.

www.vegasinsider.com

As seems to be the major issue with Miami, if they can control the injuries, I like Miami's chances, but if they start losing key players, it will start to look a lot like 2023, that looked a lot like 2022, and so on.

 

[MrChadRico]

Agree.
Roster not finalized- Yes. But we have a small number of higher picks (2). We need to really hit on the draft with our picks (and UDFAs). Due to the small number of picks we still need some FAs.

Pats a dead horse - Hopefully correct as we need to sweep at least one team in the east to be 4-2. A 5-1 record would be stronger for play off seeding. C. J. Stroud sure helped Texas as a rookie. Drafting a QB with that type of first year could change the Pats record.

Stroud had the best rookie season of all time, I doubt very much the Pats QB puts up numbers half as good as Stroud wad in 23.

Hell, it's gonna be hard for Stroud to match what he did in 23

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I think we have the opportunity to be a more talented team next year. We’ve improved vastly at LB, TE & the secondary. Potentially at oline & wr too. Plus let’s not discount what Achane will bring. He could be the best rb in the leleague.

I do agree that Miami is stronger in a few areas, specifically at linebacker. Plus, I think Weaver prefers more 3-4 alignments which might be another reason Wilkins wasn't kept.

Wilkins, Hunt and Van Ginkel are a lot to lose, but Grier rebounded pretty well, at least on paper.

 

[Etuoo33]

We added 2 fast LB's and an edge to address the Josh Allen syndrome, and when our other 2 edges get healthy we may be better suited to stop their offensive weapon. Maybe the 3 safety look will also work against JA. Knock his **** off defense. Their defense despite the loss of starters should once again be formidable. Until you topple the king, the view never changes, to combine metaphor's. It's Barfalo's division until we dethrone them.

 

[Russ57]

LOL at The Jets, Pats, Bills

Can't see Allen lasting till the halfway point of the season if he keeps playing like that. Personally I hope he does. He chooses to stay upright to get a couple of pointless yds instead of looking after his body. Jets have a very good defense. Can see them losing more games though now if they...

finheaven.com

Last year I said this and now it has come to be.

If Bills come to ball, Fitz wouldnt make a difference.

Tua's advantage was supposed to be a 'between-the-ears' 'IT-factor' that mitigated his lack of physical gifts. But, if Allen has the same amount of that 'IT-Factor' with his physical gifts, too, then we're screwed. You can't draft that 'IT-Factor' on purpose. That's something that doesnt present...

finheaven.com

Awhile back I said this, and while the names are different, the gist of it has happened.

If we can manage to draft a future Waddle/Hill and immediate Hunt replacement this year we are in decent shape. If our new DC pans out that would be huge. Things aren't perfect but they are better than they have been in a long time.

 

[jimthefin]

Yeah but he was a coverage magnet each and every game regardless how he played. You had to put your best CB on him and provide double coverage just like people have to do to Hill AND Waddle. That mattered because it sucked up 2 defenders.

Do you have stats to show how much he was getting doubled last year?

I have some trouble believing that teams were still constantly doubling him while his productivity fell off the map and Buffalo's offense was performing well.

I am not doubting you but I am too lazy to try to hunt up the stats on what Diggs faced in coverage, I am sure the numbers are out there but i'm not looking for them.

 

[jimthefin]

Have you seen Josh Allen's production in the last half of the season? The defense saved their ass... Acting like Diggs isn't a loss is delusional...

In the last 8 games, Allen had a rating over 90 3 times and a rating under 70 3 times... And they lost 2 games in that stretch...

And Diggs was giving them NOTHING during that time.

They can obviously play that way without him.

 

[djphinfan]

Do you have stats to show how much he was getting doubled last year?

I have some trouble believing that teams were still constantly doubling him while his productivity fell off the map and Buffalo's offense was performing well.

I am not doubting you but I am too lazy to try to hunt up the stats on what Diggs faced in coverage, I am sure the numbers are out there but i'm not looking for them.

there are reports from some beat writers that Buffalo was actually going out of their way to phase out diggs from the offense

 

[jimthefin]

there are reports from some beat writers that Buffalo was actually going out of their way to phase out diggs from the offense

I would love to hear a good argument as to why they would do that.

Did they hope to lose more?

Were they trying to devalue Diggs before they traded him?

Were they trying to teach him a lesson at the expense of team success?

Is there a ton of game tape of Diggs being wide open and Allen ignoring him?

 

[djphinfan]

I would love to hear a good argument as to why they would do that.

Did they hope to lose more?

Were they trying to devalue Diggs before they traded him?

Were they trying to teach him a lesson at the expense of team success?

Is there a ton of game tape of Diggs being wide open and Allen ignoring him?

Just the messenger in this case, crazy to think about but that was the reporters theory.

The relationship was not repairable and they needed to facilitate the offense a different way

 

[jimthefin]

Just the messenger in this case, crazy to think about but that was the reporters theory.

The relationship was not repairable and they needed to facilitate the offense a different way

I have no doubt the relationship was strained, I think that is pretty common with Diggs as the clock is now ticking on how long before Houston grows tired of him.

 

[phinsforlife]

Did you really believe ppl would actually read it before commenting?

It's kind of sad how ppl hold a grudge for years because someone said something with which they disagreed, or had an opinion that wasn't completely positive.

ha once again i have learned how naive i am! its amazing, i used to be a good student too, my pattern recognition skills have gone into the gutter in my old age. i guess i need AI to help. side note, AI is still all bullsh*t. it really just is patter recognition. processing things very rapidly gives the illusion of thinking, when there is no thinking going on. graphic cards happen to be very good at single purpose rapid processing. that is what graphics is, quickly assembling polygons to form images. granted, the human brain may do the same thing as AI (we may not think like we think we think), but that is a separate philosophical argument. will be interesting when football teams start building advanced models and applying to the sport - both drafting and the on the field action