The Las Vegas Raiders will face the Miami Dolphins in their last home game of the season in Week 16, what will it take for them to beat this new look Dolphins squad?
The Miami Dolphins in their own unique way were one of the stories of the 2019 season. This was one of the few years that they did not face the Raiders, but their impact was felt across the AFC in different ways for Raider Nation.
It could be argued that their Week 17 victory over the New England Patriots helped pave the way for the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl because of their home-field advantage.
Aside from that possibly history-altering win in Week 17, the Dolphins had a roller coaster of a season that saw them go from one of the worst teams in NFL history to a respectable opponent. After an 0-7 start where they traded away some of their best players, the Dolphins were accused of one of the most blatant tank jobs in sports.
Pundits accused them of taking the famous 76ers approach of tanking and “trusting the process,” but they rallied in the back half of the season with impressive wins against the Colts, Eagles, and of course the Patriots.
Despite the wins at the end of the season, the Dolphins were clearly one of the least talented rosters in the league, and they were in major need of upgrades at almost every position. Luckily for them they had an incredible stockpile of draft picks thanks to trading away stars like Minkah Fitzpatrick during the season and Laremy Tunsil just before the season kicked off.
Miami was clearly playing the long game with their team building strategy and they will look to capitalize on the departure of Tom Brady to become the new power in the AFC East. 2019 was the season they tore it all dow,n and in 2020 they will begin to rebuild.