So the Dolphins play at 9:30am on Sunday and we are gonna have a party. Slattery’s Midtown Pub will be open at 8am and will have some breakfast food options, a lot of coffee and of course some appropriate drinks. Fortunately for us before Slattery’s was our bar it was a soccer bar and they are used to opening at weird times for games. Despite the unfortunate few weeks the team has had this is Jets week and I wanna see everyone out at the bar.
On top of just a big game and the weird timing, this is going to be Michelle’s last game as a New Yorker. As per her last post, she is moving to Miami and taking her husband and Dolfans NYC blogger Alex with her. Everything we do would be impossible without Michelle and we are all fortunate that she is still going to be working on the #MetLifeTakeover and helping out as much as possible from Miami, plus I know she’s gonna be coming up a few times a year to party with us.
So come out early and let’s get some anger out on these Jets and give Michelle a hug because you won’t see her in NYC again until the #MetLifeTakover. Let’s pack the bar and have some fun at a totally unreasonable hour.
I just wanted to throw up a post today with a bunch of small updates that you guys might want to know about. It’s hard to update after a loss but for once I felt proud of our team after a loss instead of just upset. It was completely heartbreaking to lose like that but to see our line step up after Albert went down and to see Tannehill play so tough after getting hit over and over again was pretty inspiring. Until that last drive, well after Finnegan went down, the Lions had only one pass worth talking about. Obviously it wasn’t good enough, but this is not your same old Dolphins. But let’s move on and get to the news.
First of all, happy Veteran’s Day. We took the money we made on Sunday at Slattery’s and donated it ($300) to the Wounded Warrior Project. It seemed like the perfect timing for a donation like that. It means a lot that we can give back like this while doing something as fun as this club.
Also in Veteran’s Day news Andy Cohen profiled our friend Jim Miller on the Dolphins website. Jim is a great dude and I get to see him nearly every year as part of the Dolphins Web Weekend. He and I have some political differences but I have never enjoyed discussing our differences more with anyone. He is a true patriot and someone I am honored to call a friend…
In Dolfans NYC news we surprised everyone at the bar on Sunday by announcing that the Marks Brothers, Mark Clayton & Mark Duper would be coming to Slattery’s this Thursday for an autograph signing. We had waited until the last moment to announce because we didn’t have 100% confirmation. Unfortunately we should have waited a little longer because the event they were coming to NYC for got moved. Fortunately for us it looks like they may still be coming after all, just not until the December 14th game against the Patriots. Things are still a bit in the air but as soon as I get more info I will pass it on to you guys.
This Thursday should still be a blast at the bar anyway. We are obviously playing a huge “must win” game. I mean they don’t get much more must win than this in November. Plus it’s prime time so that’s always a lot of fun. And we are doing a FREE raffle to make up for the Marks Brothers mistake. But make sure you get to the bar early. The upstairs of Slattery’s is reserved for us but the downstairs will have a post work happy hour crowd that will probably leave once the bar fills up with 300 Dolphins fans.
Okay, that’s all I got for now but we will be updating soon with more news about the #MetLifeTakeover so be on the look out for that. Have a great Veteran’s Day!
This is it! It’s finally here! Jets week! All the ups and (mostly) downs of this insane season no longer matter. All that matters is partying with 760 Dolphins fans! That’s right, we bought 760 tickets to the Jets/ Dolphins game (All in sections 323 and 322!) and we are going to ruin some Jets fans whole week. Last year the Dolphins crushed them and you could hear us loud and clear on TV in the 4th quarter and we only had 200 tickets then. Imagine what we will sound like with nearly 4 times as many. Between the game and the tailgate, this is going to be a party. For those of you going with us you got most of this in your emails from us, but here is a run down of all the important information!
I just set up a #MetLifeTakeover Facebook page. If you have a ticket you want to get rid of or if you want a ticket and don’t have one, go there and hopefully you can find someone to do business with.
If you can’t find someone in our group to do business with, Stub Hub and NFL Ticket exchange have a bunch of seats left in section 322. We have hundreds of tickets in that section so you will not be out numbered. The tickets are pretty expensive though so try our Facebook page first.
We will be throwing the most massive tailgate you have ever seen in Lot L. If you want to park near us you need a YELLOW parking pass. Our four busses will roll up at 9:15am and we will be there until noon. We sold out of passes to our tailgate so if you don’t have one you can’t eat our food BUT tons of people will be tailgating around us so just BYOB/BYOF and I am 100% sure that someone will grill your food up for you. If you haven’t done one of these before everyone is super friendly!
We bought 750 orange rally towels, so if you are sitting in 323 or 322 come and get one from us at the tailgate. They are totally free. Our thanks for joining up with us. That being said we raise a lot of money for charity so if you guys want to donate a couple bucks we won’t turn it down.
Speaking of raising money for charity, we will have Dolfans NYC shirts, hats and (a few) beanies for sale at the tailgate. Shirts are $20 and hats/beanies are $25 but you can get a shirt and a hat/beanie for $40. Cash only. All the money goes into the Dolfans NYC fund of which 100% goes to Dolfans NYC activities and charity. We have donated nearly $10,000 to charity since the last #MetLifeTakeover. Thanks!
We want to make a LOT of noise at the game. If you haven’t been to our bar before (Slattery’s Midtown Pub) I lead everyone in singing the fight song, signaling first down and always J E T S SUCK SUCK SUCK chants. I am in the middle of section but 323 right next to 322. So look for me and let’s get our yelling organized! I want to hear us on TV and ruin all the Jets fans day. This is a great way to get some POSITIVE attention for the Dolphins for once.
The name of this event is “#MetLifeTakeover”. That hashtag blew up organically last year and I want to get that going again. Maybe we can get it trending locally at least. So if you Tweet or Instagram from the event please use that hashtag. Also please @ us. We are @DolfansNYC on both Twitter & Instagram.
Lastly, if you haven’t been to an NFL game this year don’t for get about the NFL’s moronic clear bag policy. You can only bring in clear bags under 12″x 12″ in size. They recommend a 1 gallon freezer bag or of course you can buy a Dolphins branded bag too. Amazon has a bunch. We will have some extra freezer bags at the game incase anyone forgets.
So I think that’s it! Here is a video we shot last year at the tailgate. Imagine this times four! Alex Bente and crew will be back at our tailgate again so look for him and his video crew! Phins up!
All the experts are picking the Saints to beat us but the Phins are looking to prove them wrong. Honestly, I don’t even think we mach up very well against the Saints, but after seeing Cleveland and Indianapolis win big today maybe the Dolphins are even better than I expected. A win tomorrow would be huge, but win or lose we are going to have a party in NYC!
This week at Slattery’s Midtown Pub we are having a pretty great event happening. Starting an hour before kick off have Dolfans NYC member  and party time DJ Tropic playing Miami hits during commercials and half time.
Hopefully he will be playing our fight song all night long. We also have a big raffle happening with all the money going to charity. We are going to be giving away a hat signed by Bob Griese, another autographed item and at least three other Dolphins prizes. As always Dolphins fans get happy hour drink prices and our own menu for the game. It should be a lot of fun.
On top of that the Direct TV is finally up and running at Slattery’s so there shouldn’t be any TV problems from this moment forward. Everything will be in HD and looking awesome. I will be taking photos of everyone for the website AND we are getting a new batch of DolfansNYC T-shirts in so if we were out of your size last week or you haven’t had a chance to pick up a shirt yet we will have them for sale Monday.
I shall not be at another regular season game at Third and Long as I am flying home to London for the holidays. So barring a Christmas miracle of a Miami post season chances are I won’t get to catch up with many of you until the draft.
The list of of injuries keep mounting, maybe we have been luckier than other teams for most of the season but this feel like a really bad time to start getting them.Since the Dolphins beat the Jags last week I have seen a number of articles and posts relating to the fact that the Dolphins are still alive in the playoff race here. Still alive yes, but with a very weak pulse and on life support, about ready to flat line as early as this Sunday. Week 15 produced the perfect scenario to keep us in it, all the teams that we needed to lose did just that and we won. Thing is when the playoff spot that you can theoretically get hangs in the balance of so many external factors, although it is an exciting prospect I grant you, the only thing the Dolphins can do is continue to win and let the chips fall where they will. Because without victories against the Bills this Sunday and the patriots the following Sunday it really doesn’t matter what else happens.
Ryan Tannehill needs to focus on one game at a time. He has been performing well as of late, at least to the extent where he is no making any rash decisions and turning the ball over. But is lack of TD’s seriously is concerning to me, its not really being discussed because for the most part the seasons expectations have been exceeded and he has looked decent. But in this category he is infinitely behind on all his fellow rookies, and we cannot put this purely down to the fact that he doesn’t have that elite receiver because Hartline and Bess have both been fantastic and there has been a supporting cast that can make it work.
Russell Wilson has 21 in Seattle. To some extent its been the play calling. The reality is though that if the team ever wants to be competitive in a post season then we need to score more points. All the teams that will be playing in January will have QB’s who can produce in the red zone.
Following a season-ending injury to second year bust Blaine Gabbert, Henne has already gotten his second chance at a starting job in the NFL. Thus far, he has done a very good job of ensuring that he keeps it. In less than half the amount of games as Tannehill, Henne has managed to match our rookie QB’s 8 TD passes. He returns this Sunday for the first time to square off against his old club, a place that probably does not hold too many happy memories for him, just much disappointment for promise unfulfilled. But at this point of the season, this is one of the more intriguing aspects of this game, as it holds no playoff implications.
In some forums, I see that people are still calculating all the things that would need to happen to get to the postseason, but the reality is that we are done; Tannehill acknowledged as much this week. When all the things that need to happen for the postseason are mostly out of your control, it does little good to speculate on it.
The Miami Dolphins are about due a victory of the Patriots – in the last 4 meetings between the two teams, the Patriots are 4-0. This simply will not do. They are travelling to our turf; and if what I am hearing around the interwebs is true, then home field advantage is unlikely to be in effect, as it seems that they will have just as many of their supporters present, if not more. One report I read suggested that the Dolphins’ offense have been practicing with loud crowd noise blaring away this week in preparation for just that scenario. It’s embarrassing but it seems that that’s just the way it is.
The Brady-lead Patriots are just as good as they have ever been with the sixth round pick out of Michigan at the helm. Since taking over the mantle, Brady has made New England a perennial playoff team and a force within the AFC and the AFC East. He is to Patriots football what Marino was to Dolphins football. They will sure miss him when he is gone. Look, this isn’t me just paying lip service to the guy – the fact of the matter is that the Patriots’ success hinges on Brady. The facts are that this Sunday we face a team that is 1st in scoring, 1st in offensive yards and 4th in passing yards, on the shoulders of the QB. Brady is putting together another MVP-calibre season having thrown just the 3 interceptions and currently holding a QB rating of 105.2. They are good, but Brady is the cog in the machine that keeps this team ticking over so nicely, disrupt his game and the whole thing kinda doesn’t work so well. Yeah, the running game currently ranks 6th in the league, but make no mistake, many of those are Brady’s yards as as well, he just now has a running back who can make the most of a great passing game.
S., the NFL is a short season; it’s a brutal and punishing game that all too quickly takes its toll on those who play it. A loss at any time is big, and in the NFL it doesn’t take long for there to be one too many.
I needed a little time to gather my thoughts following Sunday’s debacle.
I have been guilty of hubris, and that arrogance made me look foolish this Sunday, as much or more so than our own beloved Dolphins. When the final whistle mercifully blew on Sunday, many fans were angry, shocked, lost for words, distraught…
I could go on and on. During the game I felt many of these feelings, but as I walked home from 3rd and Long, I put it in my rear view mirror and reflected. Truth is, at the start of the regular season, had someone said that nine games in we would be 4-5, I would have been happy; I would have taken it.
The Colts snapped a 3-game winning streak. It was a game that was ultimately closely contested, so take heart, Dolphin fans. Despite the record setting day that Andrew Luck had, for his record passing yards by a rookie, the scoreline was a marginal 23-20 victory. The Colts’ strength lay in the fact that Luck is a quality signal caller. Throughout his Stanford career and the buildup to the draft, everyone knew that he had the goods to excel in the NFL, and that is why the Colts did not hesitate to pull the trigger on selecting him to replace one Peyton Manning. Luck was able to knock our secondary around for most of the game.
I do not think that will be the case with the Titans. Jake Locker (set to return this Sunday) is no Andrew Luck, furthermore he has not played now in over a month.
Combine that with a team that just took an absolute drubbing to the Bears last week, and there is not a lot here to inspire much confidence among the Titans’ fan base. Through the first half of the season, this team has been lackluster to say the least; the offense has been feeble, and the defense virtually nonexistent. They rank dead last for points allowed, 30th for yards allowed, 27th in pass defense and 30th against the run.
