We continue our journey through the 2018-19 win totals by taking our talents to South Beach and the Miami Dolphins. Miami spent much of the offseason trading away and cutting its star players. It didn’t rest its laurels in free agency and the draft, but the Dolphins didn’t exactly set the league on fire with their moves.
Here’s the win total BetDsi Sportsbook is running for the Dolphins.
Miami Dolphins 2018-19 Regular Season Win Total
Over 7 (-130)
Under 7 (+100)
If you go by the last 10 years of Dolphins football, the under is a solid bet here. Miami has won seven or fewer games six out of the last 10 seasons, that includes a 6-10 finish last year.
The wild card is quarterback Ryan Tannehill. A healthy Tannehill (for the most part) teamed with head coach Adam Gase for just a season resulted in a 10-6 finish. Tannehill is coming back from knee surgery, but by the time preseason begins he’ll be more than a year out of recovery. As long as he doesn’t get hurt again, and there’s no reason to think he will, he should be ready to go for a full 16 games.
https://twitter.com/all_right_Miami/status/991497231483236353
The problem for Tannehill, and the offense, is Jarvis Landry is no longer on the team. Landry led the NFL in catches last season with 112. He added 987 yards and nine touchdowns with Jay Cutler and Matt Moore at quarterback. He was Tannehill’s favorite target too, catching 84, 110 and 94 passes in each of their three seasons together. Landry’s absence leaves a gaping hole in Tannehill’s potential production.
Miami had three, legit offensive weapons at the start of last year; Tannehill, Landry and running back Jay Ajai. Gase has traded away two of them.
In the backfield, the Dolphins added the desiccated remains of Frank Gore. They have Kenyan Drake behind him, who I actually like, then rookie Kalen Ballage. Miami brought in Danny Amendola from the New England Patriots to take Landry’s spot in the slot. The only rookie that should really be a factor is tight end Mike Gesicki.
Adam Gase told us Tannehill would be the starter in 2018. He told us how much confidence he had in him, and this draft showed it, building upon defense and his surrounding weapons.
The importance of that level of trust between QB and Head Coach cannot be overstated.
— fintroopers (@fintroopers) April 29, 2018
I see Gesicki getting more of Landry’s touches, especially in the red zone, than Amendola.
Lastly, we need to look at Miami’s schedule. They face the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets twice apiece, so, barring an upset, that’s four wins. I could see them beating the Cincinnati Bengals, the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions. There’s the seven wins that DSI sees.
Is there any chance they can pick up a win against the Pats? They usually do in Miami. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are historic losers when they play at the Dolphins. That’d be eight wins, but you’d have to bank on Miami not dropping a game it should win, like to the Jets or Bills late in the year.
Adam Gase is going to have fun with this guy. Picture Kenyan Drake or Jakeem Grant splitting Ryan Tannehill in this formation with Ballage. That’s a Damien Williams route right there if I’ve ever seen one. pic.twitter.com/RhqJxnpx59
— Travis Wingfield (@WingfieldNFL) May 1, 2018
The NFL is played by grown men who make millions to participate in a very dangerous game. Anything can happen. With Tannehill and Gase together, I’d feel comfortable betting the OVER here. The AFC Wild Card teams were absolute garbage last season. There’s no reason to think the Dolphins can’t rise to the occasion and win eight or nine games to contend for a playoff spot in 2018.
