Rarely a team has such a radical change after swapping coaches midway through the season. It happened to the Chiefs in 2011 with Romeo Crennel (when they beat some undefeated Packers that looked unstoppable) and has happened many times. But usually these teams play well one week only for the magic to dissipate the next. What is happening with the Miami Dolphins and the case of coach Dan Campbell is an interesting one.
First of all you have to put things in context: Miami shattered Tennessee and Houston, probably two of the worst teams in the NFL. But before that they had lost to the Jaguars and the Bills, who are not considered powerful teams.
In two games everything’s better with Campbell?. Perhaps, but the most obvious is their improvement defensively. Miami is a new, more aggressive team that discovered new life in both Cameron Wake and Ndamukong Suh. In fact against the Texans this team relaxed in the second half and had one of the most dominant first halves of the last 10 years.
After the dismissal of Philbin; Miami is like an angry team that is fed up with being treated like the worst franchise in the League. And that’s the mentality of their coach. The offensive begins to be creative, players finish their plays, it is a united team. That did not happen in the first four weeks with Philbin. How long will it last? We do not know, but at least Dolphins fans have something to celebrate, that’s the Dan the Man effect.
What’s next? Dan Campbell has a daunting task in the following weeks: First in New England, then Buffalo, Philadelphia, Dallas (probably with Romo) and NY Jets. If the Dolphins survive, it is time to take this team seriously as a playoff contender. That’s where we are really going to see the change of attitude brought by Campbell for this squad.
Miami has the talent to compete with these five teams, however they will perhaps stay short and only win two which would be more than enough. Their defense is finally playing as expected and Ryan Tannehill weekly show is improvement.
On paper Miami has a very good team and it seems that now they are motivated. The next five weeks will tell us more about this franchise.
