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It seems that once again, the FINZ have let us down. Some of us are not fair weather fans, some of us stick with our favorite teams regardless, and some of us are very disappointed by what is going on in Miami right now.
I have been reading all kinds of articles from professional sprotswriters (can't believe some of these people get paid to write that garbage) to Facebook Blogs. It seems everyone has an opinion of what is going wrong, but few have solutions. What I want to do is contribute my two centavos worth (it used to be two cents but due to the devaluation of the dollar on the international market it is now worth roughly two centavos )
Take a minute to read what I have here and post your opinions please.
First off, I want to talk about how the current coaching staff came about., A while back, there was this football genius named Bill Parcells who was hired by ownership to come in and set forth a long term plan in which the Dolphins would hoist the Lombardi trophy hopefully by 2012. Parcells, whom I respect, is a known success story in the NFL and he has the wins and super bowl rings to prove it. He set about hiring coaches drafting players and setting up a long term plan that would be based on his proven and successful power style of football.
Problem is, the game has changed and his power style of football does not work as well as it did 22 years ago. That is the nature of the game. Want proof? Go back and watch the old films. Read the NFL history books. The game is always changing. The Late Great Tom Landry and the almost as great Joe Gibbs learned that lesson the hard way. Landry watched his Cowboy team crumble on his way out because he could not change with the game, and Gibbs admitted when he tried to return to coaching several years ago that the game has changed . Al Davis still has not figured that out, but since he is senile, he would not care.
Could it be that Parcell's system did not change with the game? Can gaining 3.5 yards per play work when the rest of the league scores on two plays?
As we know, Parcells left last year but not without sitting Coach Sporano down and going over everything he thought needed to be reviewed. He left in place a plan. And Sporano has tried to continue that plan, antiquated or not.
Problem is, Sporano is no Parcells. Parcells was a hard nosed coach, a work- your- butt- off -every- day -in -practice guy. Sporano is not. Proof of that is the obvious lack of preperation the Dolphins show when they take the field.
To blame Sporano alone may not be fair. He has help, assistant coaches who are supposed to be around guiding and directing the team. But the team clearly has a problem with endurance, evidenced by the fact that they are beaten up and down by the fourth quarter. Does the strength and conditioning coach not do his job either? What about the missed assignements and poor blocking technigues of the Offensive line? Who is to blame for that?
But let's look at the players. A lot of talk is focusing on Chad Henne and how he never can or will or should be a top tier quarterback. A lot of energy goes into talking about getting a quarterback. But the quarterback is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is the offensive line. They are the weak link in the team. Parcells knew this when he drafted Jake Long. He brought Henne in because he had played with Long at Michigan and it was hoped that the chemistry between the two would work out in Miami as well. But the rebuilding of the offensive line stopped there until Mike PPuncey was drafted last year, and Henne had a better offensive like in front of him in Michigan than he does in Miami. Off hand, I can think of two quarterbacks in the modern era who may survive behind that line: Randle Cunningham and Warren Moon. If you put Tom Brady Joe Montana or Troy Aikmen behind them , they'd be dead. Henne is still going so that must make commentary to his durability. So far.
Fact is the offensive line is short of three starters and some reserves ot be pro caliber. There was a commercial years ago where the voiceover siad "Amatuers practice until they get it right, Pros practice until they can't get it wrong" Well the offensive line does not play like Pros. Lack of personnel and lack of coaching is the problem there, That needs to be fixed before anything else.
Second, they had the right idea having Brown and Williams Both a running backs.Now they have a very one dimemmsional Reggie Bish. I am no knocking him, he is a good player, but he is it. They need to find a running back, either have open tryouts or raid the practice squad or make a trade or put an ad on Craigslit and find a big bruising running back, someone 250+ pounds who may not be fast but can bruise the fdefense with every carry. Pf course there are the Wide recievers,,,,or as some say the Wide Receiver......That being Brandon Marshall. Some say it does not matter because no one can throw to him anyways.
So how to fix this offense now?
Well, first , since defending agaisnt the Dolphins and reading the offense is so easy, they need to go with a first half game plan of running the wildcat 60 to 70 percent of the time. That is where having a large bruising running back comes in. Something to beat down the defense so that the offensive line won't be so beat up themselves on pass plays. Of course this will be hard to do with the current offensive line, but the wildcat gives a lsight nuber advantage to the offense and the Dolphins need to run it all they can. They can mix it up with pass plays to Marshall and Hartline as well as throw a few to the offensive backs. And yes Having a Quarterback with charisma and leadership abilities would not hurt, which Henne lacks so far. But the QB is one man, and the offensive is short about 5 more towards being any good.
It has been said though that defense wins games. IF the Dolphins had a decent enough defense, they could win with the mediocre wildcat offense.
But The Defense has not panned out, and here is why. Three years ago, Sean Smith and Vonte Davis were touted as the future stars of the NFL, There was a lot of excitement and talk aorund Miami about how they would become soon the best CB duo in the game. Instead they have become about the two biggest jokes in the game. They cannot cover, they cannont intercept and they get burned on anything other than a straight post pattern. They also probably would not have jobs in the NFL if it were not for the Dolphins. The Browns had that figured out when they won last week. All you have to do is keep throwing at these guys. Brady set records doing it. And forget help from the other 9 guys because they too are exhausted after the third quarter as well. So what is the team to do?
First, draft cornerbacks and safetys . Most offensies have figured out that it is hard to run at the Dolphins so they can just drop back and throw all day. And if they need help they just bring in an extra reciever because the Dolphins have no depth INCLUDING ESPECIALLY defensive backs. So all a team has to do to beat the FINZ is throw alot.
In the meantime about the only thing that would work would be to run a defensive scheme with a 6-5 formation, dropping Misi or Dansby back to a strong safety position and moving Bell over to help the helpless Smith and Davis at Corner. This would allow for double teaming or increased zone coverage. it would also allow players to move in and out for run or pass situations, if the coaches could learn how to read other team's offenses. Sounds desperate, yes, but this is the Dolphins we are talking about here.
So this goes too back to Coaching We do not see a lot of mixing on the play calling or the formations herein. I thought Pros were supposed to be able to learn and master these aspects of the game. Is it perhaps that the coaches are not coaching them properly?
OR are the players jsut not good enough?
And finally, I want to talk about ownership. Don Shula is a part owner and he knows football. BUT there are Five other clowns on the board of owners who thought it might be fun to own a team even though they have no clue about it (And I won't name names but we all know who they are). Perhaps the owner, GM and Coaches need ot get on the same page and decide if they really want to win or not.
That is the only way to succeed in the NFL , like in any business to have everyone working together on the same page. Sadly, the Dolphins look like someone forgot to bring that "page" to a team meeting.
PS I still go around town wearing my Dolphins shirt and hat whenever I am not at work, and I still let everyone know that they are my favorite team . But I watch this team week in and week out and cannot figure out WHY the "professionals" can't get the job done! I am not a fair waether fan. I am just a very disappointed one.
The fins need to blow it up and start over------a total organizational blow up.
They need a bright and aggressive general manager----an experienced and clever coach----and the organization needs to concentrate on football operations instead of nightclubs, superstars buying into the organization, and improving public relations.
Then the fins need clever talent evaluators-----their drafts have pretty much been a bust, and their free agent signings have been very mediocre.
The fins are now working on their third five year plan-----yikes.
Get a real franchise QB, and don't let 2 decent RB's leave and replace them with a guy who is done (Reggie Bush). Even Kyle Orton would have been better for this organization but as far as RB's go, Reggie Bush is soooooo done. Ricky and Ronnie were both so much better than him.
Wow, long post! The "Fins" have a team thread somewhere might be back a few pages! I'm not the police but I like when all the team threads stay close to the front!
Wow, long post! The "Fins" have a team thread somewhere might be back a few pages! I'm not the police but I like when all the team threads stay close to the front!
Yeah Sorry about the length, I guess that the problem is so great that other than saying "They stink" there was no short way of describing it.
I found the "Official THread" and noticed that no one posted on it since August. Hmmmm. Am I the only one on here who admits to being a Dolphin fan, or am I just the last one to not give up on them for the season ?
I don't follow them at all, are they really that bad??? Did they not beat the Packers last year??? What changed? I remember the Pack lost to the Redskins and Dolphins last year although close games.
They've been garbage for a while. Yeah, they won their division a few years ago and did OK with Jay Fiedler and Lamar Smith around the turn of the Millineum. Big deal.
I agree with Jeff and Lancet. Your QB is weak and your RBs are weak. Give Jake Long to a real team and blow up the rest.
I have been a Dolphins fan since the team's inception in 1966. In fact at I was at the very first game in the Orange Bowl, when Joe Auer received the opening kickoff (versus the Raiders) and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown. I was an instant fan at the age of 6 and have been since, through the many highs and unfortunate recent lows. In my opinion they need to blow it up from the inside out, starting with management all the way down. The team desperately needs franchise players which can be achieved through free agency, trades and smart draft picks (marquee players). The current approach of utilizing middling players in a one dimensional offense has them floundering and the defense isn't what it was in recent years where they were able to keep the team in the game. The team also needs a high-profile coach to bring change and fill the seats, that is if Stephen Ross gives carte blanche to do so. Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden or Cam Cameron are examples in my opinion, though Jim Harbaugh has already had conversations with Ross (early this year) and remains a viable candidate if he's given the tools to be successful. I think 0-4 is the watermark that Ross was waiting for (probably not eagerly) to make a move and going into a bye week makes the most sense in terms of timing.
LargeKingCat, I think you're a new name here. Welcome to the forum. I'm ok with this thread being separate so long as we stay on the topic of the thread itself. There are some other clubs that don't get much action on the football forum besides Miami, am not sure why. I went ahead and brought the team thread up to date for Dolphin fans to discuss recent games, player cuts, injuries, and other related team subjects.
Cam Cameron already had his shot in Miami and if you are the fan you say you are, you should know that he is horrible. Ravens fans are calling for his head right now. He sucked at IU. He was decent in San Diego with great offensive talent.
Neither Gruden nor Cowher are going to Miami so you can forget about that. Why would either one of them give up their cushy network gigs to oversee a rebuilding project?
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The "Fins" have a team thread somewhere might be back a few pages! I'm not the police but I like when all the team threads stay close to the front! 
