The latest odds for winning the Super Bowl have the Browns at 75-1. And the Dolphins at 100-1.
The lack of faith in the Fins among gamblers has spread to the media, which has marked Miami as a team destined to struggle in 2018. Dolphins players are ignoring the noise.
“You see stuff that’s a lot of negative stuff,” cornerback Xavien Howard said Wednesday at the Junior Dolphins Summer Camp, via Chris Perkins of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “I try to keep a lot of positive around me.”
Added cornerback Tony Lippett: “I don’t pay attention to it. All we can control is what we can control.”
“I stay away from it,” said tackle Eric Smith. “That way you never get boosted up or get your feelings hurt.”
Another approach would be to embrace it as motivation. This is a team that went to the playoffs in 2016, and that struggled last year through every kind of adversity imaginable, from hurricane to injury and everything in between. With the expectations now as low as they can be, the Dolphins can provide even more of a surprise than they did in 2016 by finagling a playoff berth in 2018.
If they don’t, no one will be surprised. If they do, Adam Gase could be on track to be named coach of the year -- especially in light of the currently dire predictions.