3 Reactions To Miami Dolphins Schedule

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Everything is an event in the NFL. Including the release of the schedule. We already knew the opponents, now we get them in order.

Controversial stance: The schedule release might be more important in the near term than the draft. Understanding it has a far greater impact on the franchise, you don’t really get to know how a team did in the draft for 2 years. We saw last year that if games had been scheduled at different times, Miami’s season would have gone differently.

Without further ado:

September 8: Home with Baltimore

September 15: Home with New England

September 22: at Dallas

September 29: Home with the LA Chargers

October 6: BYE

October 13: Home with Washington

October 20: at Buffalo

October 28: at Pittsburgh on Monday Night Football

November 3: New York Jets

November 10: at Indianapolis Colts

November 17: Buffalo Bills

November 24: at Cleveland

December 1: Home with Philadelphia

December 8: at New York Jets

December 15: at New York Giants

December 22: Home with Cincinnati

December 29: at New England

My three quick reactions

1. That opening stretch before the bye is absolutely brutal. The Super Bowl champions. Two teams that won a playoff game in 2018. And another that won 6 out of 7 to close last year and think they’ve found a quarterback.

It could be 0-4 having played 3 home games. I’d be stunned if they lost all 3 at home but those are 3 damn good teams, two of home will bring significant away support to Hard Rock Stadium

2. Fun times for New York based Dolphins fans! You get to act like they’re your hometown team for two weeks. The Dolphins will be at MetLife Stadium for consecutive weeks in December on the 8th and 15th. First, Adam Gase coaches against Miami for the first time at home since departing to the Jets. Second, the GMen host Miami. Which leads us to

3. The last 3 weeks could really play a role in draft status. The Giants are in a rebuild similar to the Dolphins and just parted with their best player. I’m not a fan of Cincinnati, especially given they lost 7 of their last 8.

And who knows with the Patriots in Week 17. They could’ve clinched home field throughout the AFC playoffs and might not be trying. If this season is about rebuilding and maybe even securing the number one pick for Miami, those last 3 games could play a pivotal role

Not sure about the emoji issue

Crawford/Khan: The good ole days are back

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Where to watch: Saturday, April 20th, 2019, Madison Square Garden, Available on ESPN PPV.

At one point in time, the Welterweight Division in boxing boasted the likes of Hall of Famers, Sugar Ray Leonard, Wilfred Benítez, Roberto Durán, and Thomas Hearns. Super Fights were made, legendary nights existed, and stay imprinted in our memories. In today’s Boxing, those moments are few and far between, and sometimes, you can spot the hustle before they try to hype you to pay $79.99 for the latest Pay Per View debacle. But, those “good ole’ days”, are making a comeback.

Let’s get this out of the way. Terence Crawford vs. Amir Khan is yet, another hustle. Crawford is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, while Khan is the “consummate opponent”, a term used in Boxing circles as a pejorative to describe guys that may have a “name’ and could press the action, but do not have a chance of winning. How he got this fight, nobody but his management knows. Amir Khan, after riding a wave of hype as the latest great British fighter, and posting legitimate wins vs. Marco Antonio Barrera, Paulie Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana and Zab Judah, dropped a decision to Lamont Peterson, and then got embarrassed by super star Danny Garcia. The Hype was not real.

If there is something to admire from Amir Khan and his team, it’s their resilience, and knack for finding the latest “big fight” to insert Kahn into, for yet another pay day. After some uninspiring performances after his two back to back losses, he still managed to find himself with yet another pay day, this time in a fight with Boxing’s biggest draw Canelo Alvarez. Knocked out in the 6th round, we surely saw the last of Khan? No. He finds his way back into a big PPV with one of Boxing’s biggest stars, and on ESPN’s initial foray into the PPV world in partnership with Top Rank Boxing.

I think at this point you may be confused with my line of the good ole’ days making a comeback, after spending two paragraphs eviscerating this matchup. Well, yes, this fight should not be competitive , as the odds show (Crawford is anywhere from -2000 to -2400 depending on where you find it, while Khan is 9-1 to 12-1 to win.) but this fight is about an introduction of Terence Crawford to the sporting conscience. A coming out party, sort of speak.

After leaving the Light Welterweight division seeking greener $$$ pastures, Crawford has impressed with convincing wins to win the WBO Welterweight title versus Jeff Horn and then defending against José Benavidez Jr. He is truly the latest and greatest addition to a stacked division. The cynic in me, tells me that these guys are all going to avoid each other to “massage” the dollars from the fans pockets into theirs while not giving us what we want. That does not seem to be the case so far with rumors abound of a Errol Spence, Shawn Porter fight set for September.

So, while this fight does not excite me, the introduction of Terence Crawford to the Welterweight scene to join the likes of champions Keith Thurman, Errol Spence, Shawn Porter, and contenders Danny Garcia, Kell Brook, Yordenis Ugas, all the while old man Manny Pacquiao is still around makes for some legendary nights ahead. The “good ole days” are back.

Prediction: Terence Crawford by KO/TKO in 8th round.

 

For more on boxing and MMA, check out the Out 4 The Count podcast with Armando Alvarez and Vic Bermudez. 

Chris Grier isn't a perfect general manager, but he does not deserve to be fired.

QB or not QB? For Chris Grier, that’s the question

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DAVIE – In his final media session prior to next week’s NFL Draft, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier was less than effusive Wednesday in rating the quarterbacks who will be available.
Although Kyler Murray is expected to be selected first overall by the Arizona Cardinals, this year’s quarterback class isn’t as rich as last year when Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen were taken in the first 10 picks.
“We thought a couple of those quarterbacks last year were really special,” Grier said. “I think this class is a good class of quarterbacks. I would say like all of them, this class probably has players that haven’t started as many games as you’d like to see, in terms of helping paint the picture for what they could be. So it’s a little more projection on a lot of them.”
For a rebuilding team that must secure a franchise quarterback before it can move into the category of ready to be a playoff contender, the odds appear against that being achieved in this draft.
It would be no surprise if the Dolphins select a defensive lineman or edge rusher with the 13th pick in the first round, or even an offensive lineman.
But mindful that team executives are always careful not to tip their hand prior to a draft, nothing can be ruled out based on Grier’s comments and inflections.
The Dolphins were to hold a private workout with Duke quarterback Daniel Jones this week, according to an NFL Network report, and it’s not their first contact with him. Jones, at 6 feet 5, 221 pounds, has size, arm strength and is relatively mobile.
Last season he threw for 2,674 yards, 22 touchdowns, and nine interceptions with a 60.5 completion percentage. He also ran for 319 yards and three touchdowns.
Jones also was a three-year starter in college, which checks one of the boxes Grier indicated that others are lacking.
Whether or not Grier and his scouts consider Jones as elite or a potential franchise quarterback is not known.
Regarding whether he sees any quarterbacks fitting that description in this draft, Grier said, “There could be. Quarterbacks have been so hit and miss. You go study them, it’s 50 percent or less end up becoming even good starting quarterbacks. But every class has one or two quarterbacks that can become a good player in the league.”
In the early stages of a major rebuild, the Dolphins have numerous holes to fill. The chances of hitting on a key contributor at No. 13 may be higher at other positions.
This draft is considered particularly rich in defensive line prospects, which Grier confirmed:
“I’d say there’s five really good players that you’d feel really good about — elite. But then there’s a lot of good players too.”
Here is how he rated the depth of talent at other areas that could benefit the Dolphins.
“I would say the receiver class is probably deeper than people would think. … You can get good value picks for the first three rounds,” he said. “I would say it’s a good offensive line [class] as well; a lot of potential of guys to be really good.”
In just over a week the Dolphins will be on the clock and the pressure will be on Grier to select multiple players to help get the wayward franchise back on track.
Although this is his first year heading the front office, Grier acknowledged Wednesday that he had final say in each of the past three drafts since becoming general manager. There have been some notable hits (Minkah Fitzpatrick, Laremy Tunsil, Xavien Howard) and the inevitable misses as well.
Is the pressure greater this time?
“I want every draft to be great,” he said. “You’re going to miss on guys and get criticized. But at the end of the day, when you build through the draft, it’s important. The most important thing is making sure that coaches and scouts are all on the same page of what we’re looking for so that we can try and eliminate the mistakes.”
It remains to be seen whether the consensus in the Dolphins’ draft room is pointing toward rolling the dice on a quarterback at No. 13.
High on Reshad Jones
Grier downplayed the absence of veteran safety Reshad Jones from this week’s voluntary minicamp. He said Jones has not asked to be traded.
“He doesn’t want a trade. At least he has not informed me. Reshad is going to be here,” Grier said. “This is a voluntary camp and he chose not to be here. We’d love to have him here, but he’s earned the right – and he’s not the only guy in the league doing it. It’s voluntary. We have not given him permission [to seek a trade] and he has not asked.”
Craig Davis has covered South Florida sports and teams, including the Dolphins, for four decades. Follow him on Twitter @CraigDavisRuns
More from Dolphin Maven

La Champions League tendrá finalista sorpresa

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La Champions League 2018-2019 ha estado llena de sorpresas.

El martes el Ajax de Holanda volvió a dar un golpe sobre la mesa de apuestas eliminando a la superpoderosa Juventus de Turín en su estadio.

Tal y como había hecho con el Real Madrid, el equipo holandés fue superior a los italianos y logró superarlos como visitantes para colarse entre los cuatro mejores de Europa.

El Tottenham Hotspur sobrevivió a un encuentro frenético en su visita al Manchester City.

Pese a perder 4-3 en el juego de vuelta, consiguió su clasificación tras el 1-0 de la ida.

El Manchester City de Pep Guardiola pudo definir la serie cuando logró el 4-2 tras un derechazo del Kun Agüero, pero terminó quedando eliminado tras un gol de cadera, medio sin querer, del español Llorente.

Tottenham jugará por primera vez en las semifinales de este torneo.

Un partido de locos, en una Liga de Campeones de locos…

Barcelona y Liverpool jugarán la semifinal de los favoritos

El Liverpool no tuvo problemas en deshacerse del Porto tras golearlos 6 a 1 en el marcador global.

Ganaron 2-0 en el juego de ida tras un gran primer tiempo, y luego aprovecharon el contraataque para sentenciar en Portugal.

Así, los dirigidos por Jurgen Kloop vuelven a estar entre los cuatro mejores de Europa, tras caer en la final de la temporada pasada ante el Real Madrid.

El FC Barcelona, por su parte, contó con un Lionel Messi letal para golear al Manchester United 3-0 en el partido de vuelta y se metió entre los cuatro mejores por primera vez desde 2015, cuando ganó su última Champions.

El año pasado Liverpool y Barcelona estuvieron a punto de enfrentarse en semifinales, pero el equipo español cayó estrepitosamente ante la Roma y se quedó con las ganas.

Ahora, podremos ver el tan esperado duelo entre Coutinho y sus excompañeros.

Esta llave tiene a los dos favoritos que quedan en contienda en la Champions League tras la eliminación del City, y podría ser una final adelantada.

Aunque el Ajax de Holanda es el que mejor ha jugado hasta esta fase para muchos y ha eliminado a dos gigantes, veremos cómo le va ante el rocoso equipo dirigido por Pochettino.

Este año la final tendrá a un equipo revelación y a uno de los favoritos.

¿A quién les gustaría ver en ese juego en el Wanda Metropolitano?

 

You may also like:

So what’s with Reshad Jones?

Pat Riley y la encrucijada del Miami Heat 

Mike Gesicki grabs a new number — now, some footballs?

Does Marlins rookie Nick Anderson hurt Craig Kimbrel’s case

Pat Riley’s Mistakes and His New Vow

 

 

 

So what’s with Reshad Jones?

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The Dolphins don’t have that many proven players left on the roster.

And those who are?

Well, they are hardly guarantees going forward.

Xavien Howard and Laremy Tunsil are due extensions, and it’s not clear if the Dolphins are committed to them. Albert Wilson and Jakeem Grant are coming back from major surgery.

Reshad Jones?

Well, it’s not clear if he’s in or not.

Jones, one of the Dolphins’ few players with Pro Bowl pedigree, had a frustrating season, seeming to clash with now-ousted defensive coordinator Matt Burke about his role and even asking out of a game.

Tuesday, with a new coach (Brian Flores) on board, Jones was the most notable no-show for a “voluntary” veteran minicamp.

Then the explanations came, sort of.

And here was one of our affiliate podcast’s interpretation….

Whatever the reason, it’s becoming clearer that this will be close to a complete housecleaning.

Might want to try to get something for your old jerseys soon.

New episode of Three Yards Per Carry will be up overnight.

 

Photo by Tony Capobianco…..

Pat Riley y la encrucijada del Miami Heat

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Pat Riley ofreció una extensa rueda de prensa el pasado sábado para analizar la temporada del Miami Heat.

El fracaso de la eliminación hace que la fanaticada busque a los culpables de esta debacle.

Un equipo que se suponía debía clasificar sin problemas en la Conferencia del Este terminó despidiendo a Dwyane Wade con una amarga despedida.

Ahora hay que responder de alguna manera, y ese camino aún no parece despejado.

Ethan Skolnik y Chris Wittyngham analizaron las ambiguas palabras de Riley en su último episodio de Five Reasons:

Con el Miami Heat luchando con el tope salarial por diversas circunstancias, Pat Riley parece aferrarse a la esperanza de que tanto Hassan Whiteside como Goran Dragic no ejerzan sus respectivas opciones para continuar con el equipo.

Whiteside quiere ser titular y en el Miami Heat de la 2019-2020 parece que ese no será su rol.

Dragic, por su parte, estaría mas abierto a renegociar su actual contrato, dejar pasar esta opción y volver a firmar con el Heat por mas años y una cantidad similar de dinero.

Estos dos escenarios combinados le abrirían la posibilidad a Pat Riley de tratar de buscar a algún pez grande en la agencia libre.

De lo contrario, se tendrá que conformar con lo que tiene disponible.

¿Hay un Dwyane Wade en este roster?

Riley afirmó el sábado que los contratos de cuatro años de James Johnson y Dion Waiters se materializaron tras la negativa de Gordon Hayward hace un par de años.

Así, tras ese 30-11 estéril, se comenzó a confeccionar la ensalada de roster que le tocó manejar a Erik Spoelstra esta temporada.

Justise Winslow, Bam Adebayo y Derrick Jones Jr. dieron pasos importantes hacia adelante esta temporada y junto a Josh Richardson son los llamados a ser la nueva cara de esta franquicia.

¿Hay un Dwyane Wade en alguno de ellos?

Ricardo Montes de Oca, Leandro Soto y Alejandro Villegas lo ponderaron en el EP 30 de Cinco Razones Podcast :

Mike Gesicki grabs a new number — now, some footballs?

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There are certain numbers in Miami Dolphins history that are fraught with disappointment.

There are certain draft rounds that are as well.

Now we have a combination of the two.

Mike Gesicki, picked in the second round last season — a round that has been (sometimes) really good or (mostly) really bad for the Dolphins — has taken advantage of the departure of a failed third-round selection.

Gesicki was sort of a flop as a rookie, though our Chris Kouffman of Three Yards Per Carry documented the problems in usage that contributed to his lack of production (blame Adam Gase, in other words).

Now, though, he’s chosen a number that is sort of jinxed.

You can find the complete list of No. 88’s here.

We will pay homage to the great Jim Mandich — a good player and a better broadcaster — by drinking a green lizard with the windows down. And Keith Jackson was decent here, though not as good as he was in Philadelphia.

The rest?

Charles Jordan, last seen giving gang signs on the sidelines in Oakland.

Derrius Thompson, a Dave Wannstedt special.

Cris Carter — not the Hall of Fame version, but the version who let a critical touchdown slip through his hands in Minnesota while with the Dolphins.

David Martin, a disastrous addition at tight end.

Oh, and Carroo, who cost the Dolphins three draft picks and couldn’t crack the lineup.

So it’s up to Gesicki to change that.

Or he’ll be 86’d too, before too long.

 

Feature photo by Tony Capobianco

Gordon Hayward Changed The Heat More Than You Think

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The summer of 2017 is a sore subject for Miami Heat fans. Miami was coming off a 41-41 season, but closed the second half of the year going 30-11. They beat the Golden State Warriors. They came within a tiebreaker of making the playoffs. And, we can now definitely say, the Heat believed in what they had achieved.

This wasn’t a group of overachieving misfits who were ultimately going to regress to who they had been for the entirety of their careers. It was a team they were going to build with and around.

And so they gave out the following contracts.

James Johnson: 4 years, $60 million with a player option in the 4th year

Dion Waiters: 4 years, $52 million

Kelly Olynyk: 4 years, $50 million

Josh Richardson: 4 year extension, $41.9 million

These have been well chronicled. It has had Miami in a state of inaction for almost 2 years because the contracts have been impossible to move.

However, this could have been avoided, as Pat Riley said at his end of season press conference

He was prepared to give James Johnson and Dion Waiters two year deals if Gordon Hayward chose to come to Miami. But because Riley was concerned about losing both of those players and not getting Hayward, he offered them four year deals if Hayward didn’t come.

As Ethan Skolnick and myself discussed on the most recent edition of the Five Reasons Podcast, it is incredible how much the Heat bought into 30-11. Riley says at the end of the clip it would’ve been “ridiculous” to lose everyone. That requires you to have believed at least in some part that it was real.

It also requires you to believe that Gordon Hayward meant everything. As with the Kevin Durant negotiations, Miami were at best third favorites. With Durant, the incumbent Oklahoma City and the defending record breakers Golden State were well on top of those negotiations. With Hayward, the incumbent Utah and the rising Celtics who had his former college coach were the likely choices.

Miami did remarkably well to get in the room, one of our favorite phrases in Miami, with those two. Hayward even said at the time that he was close to coming and was really impressed by the presentation. But he chose Boston.

And that sends Miami down their current path. What does it look like if Gordon Hayward came here? We can’t really know. Hayward devastatingly broke his leg in his first game in Boston. Does that happen here?

But we do know that Riley and the Heat organization either became tired of chasing free agents or wanted to see out what that 30-11 team could do.

Now, they’re on their 3rd straight season of hovering around .500 with no end in sight. Riley doesn’t think the contracts he chose to give out on July 1 are an obstacle to improvement.

All we can now say is, they would be expiring this summer if Gordon Hayward chose to come here.

First series win slips through Chen’s hands

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Chen just did it again.
The Miami Marlins engaged in a 14-inning pitching duel with the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday afternoon, but failed to win their first series of the season. Wei-Yin Chen allowed his fifth home run in the same number of innings pitched this year off the bat of Jean Segura, and the Phillies took the third game of the series, 3 to 1.

The Marlins, who scored 10 runs on Saturday night, came back to their old ways scoring only once in 14 innings, with only four hits. Marlins’ lonely run came thanks to Brian Anderson’s solo shot. One of the positive news of this series…
The other one, was José Ureña, who finally had an ace-like start, allowing one run in seven frames.

However, all the effort by Ureña, Steckenrider, Anderson, Kinley and Conley was not enough to get the win.
And then, there was Chen.
The owner of the worse contract in Marlins’ history had allowed 10 runs in his last appearance, in a blowout against the Reds.

His ERA got better after Sunday’s inning of work, despite getting rocked by McCutchen and Segura (McCutchen hit a moonshot foul ball right before hitting it to the wall before Segura’s homer).
How much more time will the Marlins wait to release Chen?

They sent O’Brien down because he wasn’t hitting.
They better pay Chen and give another young arm an opportunity to work in the majors.
Jarlin García and company are waiting for their call…

The Game of Thrones, Miami Sports match game

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Screenshot photo from Games of Zones on Bleacher Report.

 

Eighteen months.

That’s how long it’s been since the last episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones, during which time South Florida’s various major athletic teams have won a grand total of one postseason contest — that thanks to Dwyane Wade, who wasn’t even here when that last episode aired.

There’s always been some crossover between sports fans and Thrones fans, except in our network, in which a surprising number of millennials have never seen the show. This is where I would compare Giancarlo Navas of Miami Heat Beat to Reek if I wanted to be mean. But I don’t.

But we did feel it was appropriate to ask the question above.

We already know that Pat Riley is Tywin Lannister — no, we don’t expect Riley to die on a toilet. Bleacher Report made the comparison in a brilliant Game of Zones video, and others have come to the same conclusion:

We threw the rest to you and, as usual, you delivered….

Let’s start with the best one, which a few submitted….

 

This one was kind of obvious…

Some Big Three takes… (no Red Wedding here)….

Another one we saw a few times…

Dolphins fans jumped in….

 

So did Marlins fans, those that are left…

A little love for Mr. 305….

Some of you had jokes…

Of course, #JustiseBetter was associated with a couple of series favorites…

 

But we had to slip this in before the wire…