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Yesterday’s 21-11 loss to the New England Patriots was a frustrating one for Miami Dolphins fans. After Miami managed to wrap up their 2019 season with a win in Foxborough against New England and the subsequent offseason of improvements, it would have been easy to expect a win — especially given the fact that the Patriots have seen a slew of changes and the team’s loss to Tennessee in the 2019 playoffs was often referred to as the ‘end’ of the Patriots’ dynasty.
And maybe it will be. But after seeing Tom Brady leave for Tampa Bay and the end of New England’s reign of terror touted all offseason, seeing the Patriots flip the script and run all over the Dolphins was a gut punch to open the season.
But despite the fact that Week 1 did not end the way anyone who follows the Dolphins wanted to see, the perspective of this 2020 season remains the same for the Dolphins. And that perspective is the same exact perspective you hear coach Brian Flores and his players mention time and time again during their meetings with the South Florida media.
‘One day at a time.’
The Dolphins’ aren’t going to wake up tomorrow morning and be Super Bowl contenders. That isn’t a realistic expectation for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2000 and has had just a handful of winning seasons in the past 15 years. Given where the Dolphins were at this time last year, where they were touted as one of the worst rosters in the history of football after a 59-10 defeat at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens, it’s a bit surprising to see so many expectations placed at the feet of Brian Flores’ Dolphins team before the start of the 2020 season. And that may be the best testament of all that this team is building the right way and creating momentum as an organization.
But never the less, the Dolphins are in the process of building a team. The rookies who played on Sunday against New England looked the part. The roster is the second-youngest in the NFL. And the team faced a divisional rival with the greatest head coach in the history of football with the veil of no preseason tape to hint at what their offense would look like. Sprinkle in DeVante Parker’s injury and Ryan Fitzpatrick’s ill-advised throw to end the first half and Miami was a few bounces of the ball away from a different outcome.
That’s football, though. And so now the Dolphins and the fanbase can choose to attack the following days in one of two ways — they can huff and puff that this is the “same old Dolphins” or they can choose to look at the overall process underway in Miami and take progress one day at a time.
We already know what method the players and coaches are going to take — what about you?