Many NFL teams are built by their front offices to take on and defeat a specific team, usually the most dominant team over a period of time in their division or conference, hopefully on the way to a championship. Even when that is not what the front office is thinking as it builds its roster, the media will still lead you to believe it’s the driving force behind many, if not all, of the big moves some franchises make. Either way, we fans know who the “team to beat,” or the team that we must get past
if we ever hope to win a championship, is.
So with that in mind, I asked the following question a couple of evenings back:
Which team, in your opinion, should our Miami Dolphins focus on as the team to “chase,” or at least catch up to, in roster and play quality, in the division or even the conference, as they continue their latest rebuild, and why?
Below are some of your answers and thoughts on the question-
Miami7 takes a parental kind of POV with this team: don’t worry about what others are doing; worry about what you are doing!
None – Nobody
Take care of your own house and the rest will take care of itself. Period.
Don’t fall into the losers lament trap of – we gotta be so & so/we want to get to where so & so is/we hope to be as good as so & so. BE the Miami Dolphins again & DOMINATE. BE the team the lesser organizations aspire to be as they continue spinnin’ their wheels.
SlayerNation1 believes that in a world full of “Washington Generals,” we should strive to be the “Harlem Globetrotters.”
When You are playing the Washington Generals role to every other team, You should strive to be some version of all 31 teams above You.
Heads Up, the Globetrotters are coming to town.
Ejplaya says that we need to worry about the other teams near the bottom that we must get past first before floating back to the top again.
We’re the bottom of the barrel. By a huge margin. Better catch up to the jets before even thinking about the Patriots or bills.
Dolphster doesn’t seem to believe in looking that far forward at this low point.
For this season (and I say this as a diehard Fins fan), I think the most realistic team they could beat would be Sister Mary’s School For Blind Girls.
JUK says the team to beat, the Bills, are different from the organization the Phins should emulate, as that’s the Rams.
The Bills are the team to beat. I know the Pats won the division last year but the road to a home playoff game goes through buffalo.
In terms of teams to emulate though I’d choose someone else. You need some luck to draft the best QB in the league (if buffalo picked first not seventh in 2018 would they still have picked Allen?). I’ll go for the Rams. Great coach who is a visionary on his side of the ball, gets good coordinators to do the other side. Works in tandem with the GM, and what I like most is how clear headed they are about when to go all in and when to turn the taps off. They executed a brilliant financial reset after their last SB win. Grier just went all in all the time, even though we weren’t ready
PA phinphan isn’t sure who the team to beat is, but in the AFC it might be the same team PA says they should copy in operational style.
I’m not sure about the team to beat. But the team to model would be KC. Over the last 10 years they have a 72% winning percentage. That’s consistency!
UpInPensacola says you want to beat all of them.
Any team is the team to beat.
For some time now I’ve thought Cincinnati might be their first remote chance of a win. Minnesota is a maybe, slight possibility, but it’s on the road.
After the bye I see time being on the ‘Phins side. Down the road, Jets, “the San Diego McDaniel’s”, and I think the Lions are vulnerable.
It’s all in how well the Dolphins gel. Even if they are not the greatest all pro players on Earth, I’m still confident in some wins this season. Cannot buy in to the notion of zero wins while it’s only September and two weeks in.
Phoenix6 has a target team at the divisional, conference, and league levels. Catching any would be a huge jump from where we are now.
Which team, in your opinion, should our Miami Dolphins focus on as the team to “chase,” or “catch up to” in roster & play quality… in the division or conference?
I’ll go one more – outside Conference (NFC) – the San Fran 49ers. Chasing a physical, trench-oriented identity, the Niners provide a clear target in line play & disciplined execution on both sides of the ball.
In Conference – the Chiefs, maybe the Bengals. The Chiefs adapted their offensive style from a deep-shot system (what Miami ran w/Hill) into efficiency. Buying elite defense & high-impact FA signings (Kenneth Walker III). Cincinnati boasts a balanced, & complete team built for the long haul.
In our Division – Blowfalo. Have built a resilient, complete roster. Shows you don’t need to rely strictly on an expensive, flashy WR room to win. They “re-tooled” their weapon group, & roster quality remains elite.
● Miami basically started from scratch to fix the mistakes of their previous regime. Their play style has shifted from “track meet” to robust, physical, & adaptable football. If they want to graduate from a “lesser team” back into a contender; drafting to catch up to the stability & execution of these teams is their fastest way out of the AFCEast basement, AFC Conference #2 or #3 from bottom & #4 or #5 of the NFL bottom.
USMCFinPhreak says: Find a way to defeat the shit teams first, and then get back to me.
For me, the team to beat is the Jets, then we can work up from there.
Bill Moody says: Strive for perfection, or why bother?
The 1972 Dolphins
MiamiItaliano believes that the Phins should focus on taking down the Jets this season, and then set their sights on the Bills beyond that.
We’re talking about future seasons, the Bills of course. They’re the team to beat and could win the AFC title this year. This season? They need to match up to the Jets so they don’t go 0-17
sdphinsfan wants to see this team built on a principle of winning, not on what another team is doing.
In today’s game especially, approaching a rebuild thinking about a team to beat can set you up for failure. Rosters change significantly every year. Teams change and good teams are always evolving and adapting (KC and Andy Reid are the poster childs for this). If that’s a goal, you’re going to likely be chasing a moving target.
Rebuilds work when you define how you want to play, and you acquire the right players that can make that happen. The Bills wanted to be tough and physical. They got a tough and physical QB and built around that and he fits that style perfectly. The Chiefs wanted to be multi-dimensional of Offense and fast on D. That’s who they are and what they are all about.
Instead of building a team with another team as a target, build the team that fits what you want to do. Do that well and then go compete.
Molly Polly II says the team to beat is still the Bills but admires how the Raiders are building their team.
Team to beat, without a doubt, Bills, Bills, Bills.
Regarding roster and play quality, call me crazy but I like what Raiders are doing with building their roster (defense in particular) and coaching staff. I hope Crosby n company can reach the playoffs this year.👍
fmeIamadolphinsfan is another who makes an unfortunate comparison to a fake team.
At this point if we could raise our play to the level of the Washington Generals, that would be an improvement.
It seems many still see the usual suspect, like the Buffalo Bills, as the team to beat, while others point out the obvious: we need to get past the crappy teams before we even consider the good-to-great teams. Maybe this is a question to revisit in a couple of seasons. As always, thank you to each of you who answered our Phinsider Question Of The Day.
