2016 Miami Dolphins Season Win Total Predictions

2016 Miami Dolphins Season Win Total Predictions

Written by on July 18, 2016

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is getting impatient as his franchise hasn’t reached the postseason since 2008 when Miami won the AFC East Division. That was the last time the New England Patriots didn’t win the East and also happened to be when Tom Brady missed all but one game of the season with an injury. Can the youngest head coach in the NFL get the Fins to the postseason this year? They have a wins total of 7 on online NFL betting odds so clearly oddsmakers aren’t too confident.

Let’s Take a Closer Look at the 2016 Miami Dolphins Season Win Total Predictions

Miami fired coach Joe Philbin early last season and replaced him this offseason with former Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase, the new youngest head coach in the NFL. Gase arrived in Miami with a track record for meshing well with franchise quarterbacks. That he has had success with — and seems to prefer — big pocket passers makes him a natural fit with Ryan Tannehill, who regressed in his fourth NFL season. Gase revived Jay Cutler’s career last year with the Bears. Cutler, who had been reduced to a pick-6 punchline heading into 2015, finished with 3,659 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, a completion percentage of 64.4 and a passer rating of 92.3. And perhaps most impressive, Cutler ranked 9th in value-per- play among all quarterbacks, according to Football Outsiders' metrics. Gase was always the front-runner for the job, and the Dolphins put a full-court press on the guy also credited with making Tim Tebow a winning quarterback and helping Peyton Manning set NFL records in Denver. Gase, 37, is three years younger than Don Shula was he got the Dolphins job in 1970.

Why Betting On The Over?

This should be a pretty good defensive team at least. The team added likely four new starters on that side of the ball this offseason. The team added two of them in a trade with Philadelphia in linebacker Kiko Alonso and cornerback Byron Maxwell. The Fins also go the No. 13 overall pick in the draft and sent Philly the No. 8 overall pick. Maxwell has five years left on the $63 million contract he signed last year. He will make $8.5 million this season. Alonso is playing in the final year of his rookie contract and will make $991,948. The Dolphins were ranked 25th in total defense last season. They also signed defensive end Mario Williams to a two-year contract and agreed to terms with Detroit safety Isa Abdul-Quddus. Known as a hard hitter, Abdul- Quddus, 26, has played in 74 NFL games, making 136 tackles with four forced fumbles, twointerceptions, a sack and a fumble recovery. New defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is betting that, out of this collection of flawed new players, hecan craft a winning scheme. The days of dropping in coverage are over for Williams, who will line upwith his hand in the dirt and hunt quarterbacks in Miami. Joseph plans to run an attacking defense. “I think it’s better because you play faster and you dictate how games go,” Joseph said. “Now, that’s not going to guarantee you’re going to win every football game. But it will guarantee that you’ll cause havoc. And to be a great defense, you have to be able to cause havoc and turn the ball over and do those things. … We’re going to allow those guys to rush and be aggressive. My vision for this defense is to have the most aggressive front in the league. And with those four or five guys, even with [Andre] Branch, he’s come here and been a really good surprise because he can rush. And he’s been a compliant guy. He’s worked hard. So we have five or six rushers. So we’re going to rush.”

Why Betting On The Under?

I'm not a fan of this team’s running back situation after letting underrated Lamar Miller leave for Houston in free agency. The Miami Dolphins head into the 2016 season with second-year running back Jay Ajayi as the starter. The team added rookie Kenyan Drake to serve as the complimentary back to Ajayi, using a third-round pick to add the Alabama running back. Ajayi gained 187 yards on 49 carries with 1 touchdown last year. Former Houston Texan Arian Foster has a workout with the Dolphins on Monday followed by the Lions later this week. While the veteran does turn 30 in August, these two tailback-needy teams could use some insurance, or a possible starter, in case the Ajayi and Ameer Abdullah experiments don’t work out as planned. Foster tore an Achilles in Week 4 last season, and hasn't played all 16 games since 2012. Foster had a huge season as recently as 2014, rushing for 1,246 yards on 260 carries (4.8 YPC) and eight TDs in 13 games. He added 38 receptions for 327 yards and five TDs. Foster has played in 25 of a possible 48 games over the past three seasons. He had back surgery midway through the 2013 season and after numerous groin injuries, had groin surgery in August of 2015, which knocked him out for the season’s first month. It could be worth the gamble that he some gas left in the tank.

My Betting Prediction

I’m going under the total, expecting a 6-10 record on NFL odds.