GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.
1) It is SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25: Click on Week 7 Gems for all our latest NFL predictions. 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Canes-Clemson and CSM poll & more. 3) Follow us on Twitter @gregcote. Also on Facebook, Instagram, Vine and Periscope.
My new column: On the day a 58-0 Canes loss costs Al Golden his job, the Dolphins continue their revival under Dan Campbell. Click Misery, Then Magic for my new column on Miami's wild football weekend.
Postgame polls: See the previous blogpost for results of the latest Canesfan Satisfaction Meter poll.
DOLFAN SATISFACTION METER: G6: 96.1%: Results are certified in the latest Dolfan Satisfaction Meter postgame poll, and they show a season-high 96.1 percent overall satisfaction -- the combination of "very" and "somewhat" satisfied votes -- in the wake of Sunday's 44-26 victory over the visiting Houston Texans putting Miami's season record at 3-3. The DSM, in its eighth year, is a continuous weekly gauge of how fans are feeling about the Dolphins and their direction. Right after each game I invite you to share your overall degree of satisfaction. Criteria for voting is your own, but I suggest fans consider the most recent game's performance and caliber of opponent, season as a whole, direction the club is heading and your overall degree of optimism -- all in the context of reasonable expectations. Results are certified official the day after one full day of voting. In this case that was around 5 p.m. today/Monday.
2015 DSM Results
Game 1: 31.0% (following 17-10 victory at Washington)
Game 2: 1.7% (following 23-20 loss at Jacksonville)
Game 3: 18.0% (following 41-14 loss vs. Buffalo)
Game 4: 2.7% (following 27-14 loss vs. N.Y Jets in London)
Game 5: 92.0% (following 38-10 victory at Tennessee)
Game 6: 96.1% (following 44-26 victory vs. Houston)
Next poll: Oct. 29 (following game at New England)
G6: HOUSTON @ DOLPHINS: THE LEGEND OF DAN CAMPBELL GROWS!: Final. postgame thoughts: The 44-26 score makes the game seem a bunch closer than it really was. Miami led 41-0 and coasted, playing many reserves. Tannehill start 18-for-18 giving him 25 straight completions dating to last week and setting an NFL record. Lamar Miller was great, too. So was the starting defense, including two sacks from Ndamukong Suh. I'll have a column off the game. Look for it online by early evening. ..... Fourth Q: Houston within 44-26 with 4 minutes left. Unfortunate: Texans RB Arian Foster just left field injured. Has the look of an Achilles. Update: Achilles now confirmed. Foster done for year. ... Miami 44-20 on a field goal. ... Texans now within 41-20 with 11:27 to play. Still no worries, but one more Houston TD might make the balance of this game more anxious than it needed to be. ... Lots of defensive reserves now playing for Miami. One of them, Michael Thomas, had an INT negated by a penalty. ..... Third Q: Texans within 41-13 on Arian Foster's second TD. ... HOU scores! It's now 41-6 (after a missed extra point) on a 7-yard TD pass spoiling Miami's shutout. ... Miami is two touchdowns shy of breaking the franchise record for most points in a game: 55, set in 1977. ..... Halftime: Perfect half. Tannehill 12-for-12 for 231 yards and four TDs -- three of them over 50 yards. Lamar Miller 175 yards rushing. Defense with four sacks -- two by Ndamukong Suh -- and limiting Houston to 65 total net yards on offense. Wow. Just wow. ..... Second Q: It's 41-0 on Lamar Miller's 85-yard scoring run giving him 175 yards on the day. Mixed extra point first thing that's gone wrong for Miami all day! ... Tannehill first NFL QB in 15 years to throw three TD passes of 50-plus yards in a game. And it's mid-second quarter. ... Fins now 35-0 after Reshad Jones, 23-yard interception-return TD. This is just unbelievable. What must Joe Philbin be thinking right now? ..... Lamar Miller 54-yard catch and run for a 28-0 MIA lead. This is almost surreal. Tanny has three TDs of 50-plus yards. Crazy game, polar opposite of Canes yesterday on the same field. ..... First Q: Well, that was as close to a perfect first quarter as we have seen in a long, long time. ... Are we dreaming? MIA now 21-0 on Landry 10-yard TD catch. Tanny 7-for-7 for 137 yards, 3 TDs. ... Hard rain has begun. ... Miami 14-0. Jarvis Landry makes at least six Texans miss him on an electric 50-yard run with a short pass. ... Big crowd and really into it. Fans are buying into the "new" Fins that Dan Campbell seems to have created. ... Miami 7-0 as Ryan Tannehill to Rishard Matthews 53-yard scoring pass caps 88-yard drive. Impressive. ..... Original post: Warning: Difficult Game Ahead. Houston is better than Tennessee. Forget records. The Texans have more players who are a challenge to defend. Receiver DeAndre Hopkins is a fantasy monster who could be a handful for Brent Grimes. Arian Foster is becoming himself again. Brian Hoyer’s passer rating the past three games is 113.6. Oh, almost forgot: I hear that J.J. Watt guy is pretty good, too. Toss in Houston’s 7-0 all-time record vs. Miami and Ryan Tannehill’s 3-10 career mark against the spread as a home favorite of three-plus points and Dolfans face all the ingredients of an anxious afternoon. Manly Dan Campbell is trying to do what only four of 25 interim coaches have done since 2000: win their first two games. And he’d better. After this game Miami faces three consecutive tough road games -- starting with New England in a quick turnaround four days later, on Thursday night. Clearly, then, home vs. the Texans is a game you circle as a win if you are optimistically plotting how the 2-3 Fins might still make the playoffs. This will be the team’s first time back at Dolphins stadium in 28 days, and it absolutely needs to be the season’s first home victory as well. I think it will be — but barely. My pick: Dolphins, 23-20.
HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (OCT. 25): WHAT SOUTH FLORIDA SPORTS FANS ARE TALKING ABOUT: Our blog-exclusive Sunday feature is part week-in-review, part look-ahead. Hot Button means what's on our minds, locally and nationally, from a Miami perspective, as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. This week's HB10:
1. HEAT: Miami opens 28th NBA season Wednesday night: Heat hosts Charlotte Hornets Wednesday for their 28th Opening Night, after a preseason in which Miami's starting five barely were on the court together all at once. Theme as the real games begin: Ready or not...
2. DOLPHINS: Fins host Texans, then visit Patriots Thursday: Will the legend of interim coach Dan Campbell grow with a second straight victory Sunday? It had better because three straight tough road games follow starting Thursday night against Tom Brady and nemesis New England.
3. HURRICANES: Humiliating loss to Clemson dooms Golcden: The Hurricanes were crushed 58-0 at home Saturday by No. 6 Clemson, the worst loss by point differential in UM history. It was a noon start but the field was cloaked in shadows. It wasn't a cloud cover. It was the hundreds of small planes overhead pulling anti-Al Golden banners.
4. BASEBALL: Mets deny Cubs; World Series on deck: World Series Game 1 is Tuesday night, with NL champion New York Mets visiting AL survivor Kansas City. The Mets denied Chicago a shot at its first championship since 1908. There is a God. It's just that He doesn't like Cubs fans, apparently.
5. PANTHERS: Cats cool off after fast start: Despite Jaromir Jagr's six goals in the first eight games Florida had lost three in a row before winning Saturday' in Dallas. Beleaguered Cats fans weren't saying "Here we go again" quite yet. But they were clearing their throats.
6. MARLINS: Mattingly on radar as Fish's next manager: Miami had a new managerial frontrunner when Don Mattingly and the Dodgers parted ways this week after five seasons. But is it a fit? Mattingly would be going from baseball's biggest-spending team to one of its cheapest. Talk about turbulence.
7. RICK PITINO: Louisville embroiled in stripper scandal: Coach Rick Pitino claims no knowledge, but a woman wrote a book claiming she and her two daughters were paid to have sex with Louisville basketball players and recruits. Guessing she's ruined her shot at that Mother of the Year award.
8. NASCAR: Field pares to eight on Sunday: The Chase for the Cup field narrows from 12 drivers to eight Sunday at Talladega, heading to the season finale Nov. 22 at Homestead. I like this new Chase format. Leave it alone, NASCAR!
9. STEPHEN ROSS: Dolphins owner founds anti-racism initiative: Stephen Ross founded RISE, the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality, and has enlisted stars such as Tom Brady and LeBron James to speak out against racism. Credit to Ross, despite the fact he had to go and stick his own name in the title.
10. UM HOOPS: Canes men set season-ticket record: Coach Jim Larranaga announced the program had set a record for most season-ticket sales as the Nov. 13 season opener draws nearer. UM is 37th in preseason coaches' poll, or 12th among "others receiving votes." Hey, it's a start.
Missing the cut: Florida State an upset loser ... Uh oh. MLB commish Rob Manfred said baseball may play an exhibition game in Cuba as soon as 2016. I'm starting a rumor the Marlins will be involved so Miami's Cuban exile community can get started on the protests ... Lexi Thompson of Coral Springs, 20, won her sixth LPGA title. My biggest accomplishment at 20 was figuring out that if you rocked a vending machine an extra bag of chips might fall ... FIU football ... Canes open baseball practice ... Tiger Woods talks surgery and a long comeback. Wait, hasn't he been saying that for years now? ... Major League Football, a proposed new spring league, was formed. The date of its inevitable demise has not yet been set ... Is Lamar Odom out of the woods enough that I can start making fun of him? ... I'm beginning to get the feeling that someday we'll be marking the 10th anniversary of David Beckham wanting but not having an MLS team in Miami.
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