Have you ever gotten a piece of coal for Christmas because you were naughty?
Last season, the Miami Dolphins organization gave their fans a piece of coal for their parting gift. The season ended with a lot of sour grapes for the Dolphins organization. They saw their playoff opportunity fly out the window the second Mike Wallace stepped off the field and refused to get back into a football game. Wallace is no longer on the team and neither is the pessimistic view of many fins faithful.
This year instead people will get a heavy dose of Jarvis Landry. The second-year receiver had himself one of the best games of his career as he exploded against the Washington Redskins on opening day. Landry finished with an awesome game as he had a team-high eight catches for 53 yards. Landry also had a 69-yard punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter which ultimately was the deciding factor against the Redskins. If there’s one thing that the Dolphins need to do more of, it’s to get Jarvis Landry on the field. There’s no more room for error when it comes to the return game and Landry should be fielding punt returns and kickoffs.
VIDEO – WATCH: Jarvis Landry…see ya! http://t.co/SLZGn0NJfP
— manuel san agustin (@managustin73) September 13, 2015
Not also forgotten, remember how we were raving so much about the Dolphins wide receivers? Yeah well, the depth of that position is why Rishard Matthews is poised to have a big season. Matthews in 2012 was a seventh-round draft pick. However, yesterday Matthews caught four passes for 32 yards and a touchdown late in the first half. If Ryan Tannehill keeps managing to share the wealth among his receiving core, Matthews, as well as tight end Jordan Cameron will be household names in Miami.
From the Dolphins this season people this year expect a double-digit win total. People also expect the playoffs. Some people’s standards are much higher and expect a Super Bowl. With all of the expectations around the team, the least you should expect is change. People this year expect a big change from last season and if there were any indications from the game that the Dolphins played against the Washington Redskins, fans aren’t asking for too much.
With a lot of changes made to the entire roster, the Dolphins new era has begun. Their start this season came against the Washington Redskins and the Dolphins didn’t disappoint their fans as they won 17-10. People still think that the Dolphins are a finesse team and for the moment that’s fine. However, one of the leaders on the team Ndamukong Suh isn’t that type of player on the field. Suh is one of the most physical players in the league and gets a bad rap because he plays so aggressive when he’s on the field. Soon enough the Dolphins will adopt Suh’s attitude and approach on the football field.
You have to love the way Suh plays though. He’s a habitual line stepper, and he continues to stay right on the edge of being a clean or dirty player. Regardless of what anyone thinks of him, his motor doesn’t shut off and his impact is one of the reasons Kirk Cousins had a terrible game as he fumbled the football once and also threw two picks.
One of those picks was thrown to Brent Grimes. Last season, Grimes made the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career. On Sunday, the Pro Bowl cornerback picked up right where he left off. Grimes got a sick interception off of Kirk Cousins and showed that offenses need to make sure that they’re not going to throw his side.
Not to be outdone, Brice McCain made one of the highlight plays of the season as he also picked off Cousins. His one-handed interception could become the play of the year. The Dolphins need to make sure their second cornerback spot is taken and McCain is looking like he could be the person for the job.
https://vine.co/v/eFUiBIqXeUW
This season should be very interesting because the AFC East is the strongest that it’s been in a long time. Each of the teams in the division opened up their season with a week one win.
The Dolphins only need 15 more wins to go undefeated.
D’Joumbarey A. Moreau covers sports in Miami-Dade & Broward County. You can follow him on Twitter @DJoumbarey.
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