Good Game, Bad Game

Looking back on what has transpired in football this past weekend, I'm generally pleased, the overwhelming reason being that the Miami Dolphins won their season opener over Cleveland.  This was a team that Miami needed to defeat in their quest to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008.  There will be plenty of more difficult opponents later, and I don't expect the Dolphins to handle all of them.  So the strategy, as far as I am concerned, is to first do well inside their own division, garnering a 4-2 or 5-1 record there, and then beat the weaker teams elsewhere on the schedule.  So far, so good...they're undefeated...watch out '72 Dolphins (at least until NEXT weekend)!!

On the down side, the University of Florida Gators, in spite of controlling the total offensive yardage, line of scrimmage, and game clock for their game down in Miami against the Hurricanes, still managed to turn the ball over in crucial "red zone" situations enough times to lose 21-16.  The final score should have been Gators 37-14.  I don't think there's anything that frustrates me more in a game than when my team consistently turns the ball over...except perhaps for supposedly skillful receivers who suddenly are incapable of catching a football when it is lobbed over in their direction.  So Florida is 1-1...well, we all knew anyway that the "regular season" in a sense truly starts with their conference schedule.  But Tennessee, their opening opponent in the Southeastern Conference in a couple of weeks, is probably just as good as Miami.  Well, this comes, I suppose, with supporting a team: you're happy when they win and suffer when they lose. Still, should Florida figure out how not to turn the ball over willy-nilly, especially when they are about to score, they should do well in conference play...although at this stage of the year I can't imagine them ever winning the SEC championship, much less winning their division within it...

As for the rest of the football action, I only marginally care who wins or loses.  No, I dislike AFC East rivals to the Dolphins and usually root against them...and yes, I usually root for the other Florida teams Jacksonville and Tampa Bay.  And I still pull for the New York Giants consistently.  In none of these areas was there cause for much elation, though, as the Jags, Bucs, and Giants all lost and the AFC East did pretty well, the only loser (Buffalo) losing out to divisional rival New England.  But that's all right, as long as Miami does me well...