I’m not going to be a classless lout and say the Dolphins lost this game.  Don’t get me wrong- we played well enough to win for spurts and stretches.  It was a close game, but ultimately the more talented team won.  The team fought valiantly, our young players had some bright moments, but when push came to shove we once again couldn’t keep up.  With well over 2 minutes to go and only a touchdown needed to tie the game, we once again saw untimely drops by our sub par receivers, and an inability to run the ball even when the Patriots were set up to defend the pass.  When you’re up against Tom Brady and Randy Moss, you have to make all the plays you can because you know they will (a la Moss’ ridiculous one handed catch with Vontae draped all over him).

Our draft needs are becoming glaringly obvious as the season goes on.  Clearly we need to try to get a game changing receiver.  We have an assortment of decent #2 and #3 possession receiver types, but they aren’t going to win games for us in crunch time.  It also wouldn’t hurt to get a pass rusher on defense, as we aren’t getting any pressure from aging LBs Porter and JT .  With this lack of pressure, we are basically hanging our young secondary out to dry by giving opposing QBs a ridiculous amount of time in the pocket.  Wake looks good, but is only getting limited snaps right now, and we still need someone to line up across from him even if he does pan out as a full time starter.    We are also hurting for depth at MLB, as one more injury at this point would put us in some serious trouble.  That is still quite a few needs, but the rebuilding light IS at the end of the tunnel.  We have very good (and YOUNG) offensive and defensive lines, a promising QB, and a blossoming secondary.

At 3-5, we are now a pretty long shot to make the playoffs, though it isn’t impossible.  I expect this team to still fight and claw for every game, playoffs or no playoffs.  I suspect we wind up with a near 8-8 record (which seemed about right before the season began), and at least not owing another high 1st round draft pick a big fat contract.

There are still positives to take from this game:

1. First and foremost, we saw the unveiling of the WildPat or WildCat 2.0 or whatever you want to call it, and I’d have to say it was extremely successful.  Though he had no one available on his lone pass attempt and had to throw it away- he cranked out 6 runs for 45 yards, including a beautiful 33 yarder where he eluded several Patriots before getting tackled in the secondary.  Also not shown on the stat sheet is a perfectly executed option pitch to Ricky Williams that turned into a 10 yard touchdown.  I really liked seeing the new formations the coaches installed- particularly the Pistol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_offense).
2. Henne once again looked good.  His stat line wasn’t spectacular, but he was repeatedly victimized by receivers who couldn’t get open or who couldn’t bring in tough but make-able catches that receivers like Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Moss, Reggie Wayne, and Andre Johnson bring in 90% of the time.   He held the ball for a bit too long, and took too many sacks, but he never got rattled (even after a vicious hit on a safety blitz where the player put his helmet right into Henne’s chin).
3. Our secondary clearly got torched, but there were some glimpses of the future.  Sean Smith continues to evolve into a shut down corner, and Vontae Davis had a ridiculous interception where he out jumped the much taller Moss and came down with the ball.  He was clearly thrown off by a hip injury he suffered a bit later on, so hopefully there are no lingering effects.

Again, you can’t be too mad at a loss like this.  Look at how bad the Lions are still- in 2007 we were only 1 game better, so to be this far along is pretty amazing.  Luckily enough for us, we have a 1 win Tampa Bay team coming up next.  They did just beat a decent Green Bay team, but in a way it serves to our advantage because now it should be impossible for the team to look past them and slip up.  They still have a very green team (and coaching staff), including a rookie QB making only his second start- and they are the one of maybe two secondaries worse than ours so hopefully our passing game will be able to blossom.  I hope to have a preview up by Saturday- so check back soon.