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zimmytws \/\/ ShutterstockMiami Dolphins seasons that exceeded expectations the most<\/p>\n
When September rolls around, NFL fans are champing at the bit for the season to start. They’ve already gotten a taste from the preseason, read up on their team’s draft picks, and made predictions about how the season should go with their team’s roster. Adrenaline is high during Week 1 and often doesn’t wear off until Week 18. A tough loss could end in tears, for both the team and its fans.<\/p>\n
It’s hard for people who aren’t fanatics to wrap their heads around how a sport could evoke so much emotion, but there’s a psychological explanation for fandom.<\/p>\n
For many, a team association ties into self-esteem and identity. It has been proved that people receive a self-esteem boost from associating with successful individuals or groups, which is why fans are more likely to wear team gear the day after a win than the day after a loss, and die-hards speak about team successes in first person and failures in third person. Shared fandom also provides a sense of connection, whether it be with friends who follow the same team or via strangers bonding at a game, and all humans have a need for connectedness.<\/p>\n
A Super Bowl win, the pinnacle of the sport, can bring a city together and give fans a personal sense of pride and satisfaction. Conversely, when a team has a particularly disappointing season or loses in the playoffs, it can feel like a gut punch.<\/p>\n
Stacker<\/a> compiled a list featuring the Miami Dolphins seasons that most exceeded expectations since 2000 using data from Pro Football Reference<\/a>. Each season was selected based on the number of wins by which the team overperformed its preseason over\/under for that season. Ties were broken via the highest preseason over\/under.<\/p>\n #5. Miami Dolphins 2001<\/p>\n – Preseason over\/under: 8 wins<\/p>\n – Season record: 11-5 (3 games over)<\/p>\n #4. Miami Dolphins 2005<\/p>\n – Preseason over\/under: 5.5 wins<\/p>\n – Season record: 9-7 (3.5 games over)<\/p>\n #3. Miami Dolphins 2000<\/p>\n – Preseason over\/under: 7.5 wins<\/p>\n – Season record: 11-5 (3.5 games over)<\/p>\n #2. Miami Dolphins 2020<\/p>\n – Preseason over\/under: 6 wins<\/p>\n – Season record: 10-6 (4 games over)<\/p>\n #1. Miami Dolphins 2008<\/p>\n – Preseason over\/under: 5.5 wins<\/p>\n – Season record: 11-5 (5.5 games over)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"zimmytws \/\/ ShutterstockMiami Dolphins seasons that exceeded expectations the most When September rolls around, NFL fans are champing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,380,7,216,251,2087,6,23310],"class_list":{"0":"post-732571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-thestacker"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116021736094611520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}