The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I have been really thinking about this team and the changes being made.  I am starting to feel much more comfortable with raising my expectations a bit from previous years.  I am not really looking at anything more than a reasonable shot at a Wildcard spot, so don't think I am saying we are Superbowl bound or anything.

Let me start with the very few negatives.  I am worried about our safeties and I am worried about the amount of time it will take to become proficient with the new offense and defense.  I am not as worried about our QB situation, but it is still a concern because of it's level of importance in the NFL.

I am not worried about the physicality or speed of our safeties but I am worried about their intellect and communication skills.  I THINK that Jones will be good at strong safety and I believe Clemons is fast enough at free safety but one of these guys has to be someone who can get the job done when it comes to aligning the backfield and avoiding blown coverages.  The jury is out for me on this one, and I am not even sure about our depth at the position.

The positives...

- Let's start with receivers since I am sure most will wonder why they aren't on my negative list.  Chad Johnson solves more problems than most would think.  He really doesn't even have to be all that great and he still solves a major problem by getting Hartline back in front of the other teams second best corner.  While Chad, Brian, Legedu and Bess don't necessarilly strike fear into opponents, they are very adequate for what we will try to do which is run the ball, throw to running backs and throw to tight ends.  We have young receivers that are ready for play time in Marlon Moore and Roberto Wallace.  We even have some wildcards in Gates, Cunningham, Mathews and Pruitt.

- This brings me to our tight ends, which may be the best group of tight ends we have had here in a very long time.  Fasano and Clay are good enough on their own but throw in a guy with height and speed like Egnew and this group has some real potential to cause trouble for defenses.  Fasano and Clay are about as well balanced as you can get.  It will be nearly impossible to know if their personel groupings will be with the intentions of passing or blocking.  They are absolutely perfect for the play action game and draw plays.  Egnew could be best used in 2 minute and 4 minute packages and offers a good change up against certain teams.

- Our running back group is deep and balanced.  I particularly like that we have a guy like Lamar Miller that can step in and do similar things to what Bush can do if Bush gets nicked up.  Bush got better as the year went along last year, but this year we have a full offseason so I believe he will get an earlier jump.  The zone run scheme fits our backs well and our O-line is better than last year now that Pouncey is year 2 and either Martin or Murtha are way better than Columbo.  I felt very good about Daniel Thomas last year with the chances that he got.  Soft tissue injuries were rampant around the league last year and Thomas should be able to avoid the hamstring this year.

-  That brings me to O-line.  Is there any doubt this group will be much improved?  No Columbo.  No in and out of game Vernon Carey.  This unit has good depth and we could very well have legit probowl players at center and both tackle spots.

- Our defensive front is looking very good.  We have great size in the middle with Starks and Soliai.  Odrick and Vernon are very versitile.  Wake can do what he does best now in rushing the passer.  Misi knows how to put his hand in the dirt and hold the edge.

- On the linebacker side of things we also look very good.  Dansby is just as well suited as an MLB as he is an ILB.  Burnette is a great MLB backup and should be good as an ILB in the nickel.  Guyton is a solid outside linebacker.  Misi will probably play mostly strong side linebacker and should be good at that.  Wake will probably play a mix of weakside linebacker and DE, depending on the package and should be able to accel at both.

- Corner back is actually pretty solid too.  Smith and Davis are both good corners and neither of them are a weak link.  Richard Marshall is a very solid corner pick up.  But the interesting thing is that Carroll and Wilson both improved dramatically with play time.  We all recall how they struggled in those early games, but they actually played very well once they got a few games under their belts.  Because of the experience they got, I truly believe they give us adequate depth at the position.

- Special Teams - Obviously Fields and Carpenter have been awesome the past couple of years and we have no reason to believe they will be otherwise this year.  On top of that, we retained the special teams coach which lead this unit out of previous years in an abyss.  Last year we had blocked kicks and very solid return averages.  Our punt and kick coverage was pretty good.  I have no reason to believe we will regress in any of these areas and in fact I think our return game personell is an upgrade this year.

Finally we get to our Quarterbacks.  The truth is that none of our quarterbacks are bad and none of them are great.  We have 2-3 solid quarterback options depending on Tannehill's adjustment to pro speed and defensive reads.  With a good run game and a good defense, Moore or Garrard are good enough to get us enough wins to have a legit shot at a Wildcard.  I realize I am not giving specifics as to why they are good enough but we have seen Garrard do it and we have seen Moore perform well enough to do it.  We may not have an obvious probowler on the roster, but we do have good quality and great depth.  Most teams will have to go into 3-4 games a year with their backup and I think we are as well suited to handle that storm as anyone in the league.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So keep your heads up guys, I think this year will be better than the last two!  And I don't mean just a little bit better.

Being pretty much everyone expects them to come in 4th in the division, "may exceed expectations" is not really going out on a limb. 

^^Agreed. They won six games last season, traded away one of their only true weapons (and a Pro Bowler) on offense, didn't fix the biggest issues (QB or secondary; obviously I'm not convinced that Tannehill is going to make a difference this year), and every other team in the division- at least on paper- hot much better. -EK

I defined it as being in legit contention for a wildcard spot.

BTW - How exactly do people figure the Jets are any better than us this year?  I agree that the Bills look better on paper, but their track record says otherwise.

I see people buying into the hype of the Bills with their accuisitions, but I haven't seen it with the Jets.  I think expectation is for us to be about the same as the Jets and neither of us to be more than a game or two behind the Bills.

Mia 12-4 this year.  Take it to the bank :)

My prediction for the AFCE

1. NE win the division (#2 seed for the Conf)
2 Bills second place in the division (goes into week 17 needing help to get a WC spot, but doesn't get it)
3. Jets 3rd place for the division, but Rex Ryan still manages to be the most quoted of 32 NFL coaches.  Tebow set a record for most jersey sold by a back up QB.
4. Dolphins secure a top ten pick for the 2013 draft. 

Easy- the Jets were 2 games better than Miami last year and they made a solid move to fix their worst offensive problem. They were third to LAST in the red zone last year, and they brought in a QB who was the best in the league in the last two seasons at scoring in the red zone. In 70 red zone plays with Tebow at quarterback last season, the Broncos scored 20 touchdowns. That was the highest TD percentage (28.6) of any quarterback with as many plays over the last two seasons. Laugh at the Tebow pick up all you want- it made a team that was already better than Miami, even more improved. -EK
 

Cherry Picking stats again. The Dolphins defensive stats of 3rd in rush defense and 6th in scoring defense DON'T count. But the Jets Red Zone offense stats counts. CHERRY PICKIN!

The Jets WORST offensive problem was their o-line, it was awful especially the right side. Plus they lost LT and have no running back depth behind Green who is bad to begin with. Unless you count Joe McKnight who stinks

You don't think Tebow would be a running back?  ;D

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  My nose is burning!!!!!  I was drinking my coffee this morning and when I read this, I laughed so hard it came right out of my nose!!!!

Tim Tebow is a "solid move" to fix the Jets worst offensive problem??  There's delusion and then there's statements like this. 

Ok, believe I'm delusional if you want. At the end of the year, I'd love to revisit this thread and see how the predictions panned out, especially given that Miami has odds of winning one LESS game than the Jets. -EK

How is that cherry picking? No one cares about 3rd/6th whatever when you only win 6 games and cough up 7 fourth quater leads. In fact, what YOU are doing is cheery picking stats to bolster the argument that Miami's average defense is better than it was.

Re. the Jets Oline- The Jets Oline gave up 40 sacks last year- which was middle of the pack, NOT the worst problem. Their red zone offense WAS one of the worst in the league, and the Tebow pick up was specifically made to correct that. -EK

 :-\
Mark my words.  We will revisit this.  Tebow is not an NFL quarterback by any means

He doesn't need to be. All he needs to do is score in the red zone for NY and he improves their team. He was the best red zone QB in the entire league last year. That's an undisputable fact. And his red zone performance was better than anyone for 2 years. Also a fact. -EK

When you have no O-line, you could have 10 Tebow's and it won't matter.  Tebow is nothing more than a glorified running back and he throws like one too.  When he enters the game, stack the line, and watch him run backwards.  Easy pickings.

Tebow is probably going to be used as a HB/RB and score by running it in. I don't think they will, but they may, use him near the goal-line as the QB.

Wouldn't that more accurately be stated that Denver led by Tim Tebow was the best redzone offense in the league? Unless Tim was snapping the ball to himself and running it in, it doesn't necessarily mean that since he did it last year with Denver he'll be able to do it again this year with the Jets, does it?

7-9

By any chance did you get any of it on your computer monitor?

Spliting hairs.  I don't know if you actually watched the plays, but he was the difference for Denver.  Orton had the same o-line as Tebow, one rushed for TDs one didn't. 

Tebow is far from the best overall QB in the league.  But is the best wildcat QB in the league, regardless of the o-line in front of him. 

This would be obvious I would think since he's the only true QB running the wildcat!  No matter how bad a QB he is you have to account that he just might pass....  plus he has enough speed to make you pay for hesitating and power to run through tackles.

Ok, BY THAT LOGIC  nobody cares about 25th worst pass defense.

Either ALL the stats matter or they ALL don't. You can't just use some stats and ignore others!

And therein lies my point- 6-10 is the stat that mattered. NOT the cherry picked stats you keep referring to. -EK

And the defense gets ALL the blame for 6-10 and the offense and QB gets none in your world.  ::)

Once again, CHERRY PICKING!

Perhaps, but that doesn't prove he's still the best redzone QB in the league regardless of the o-line in front of him.

Nope, the defense doesn't get all the blame. But it gets a greater share of the blame when it's one of the worst defenses in the league when it comes to blowing a lead. If it could have held someone- ANYONE- to a FG instead of an easy 7 in the fourth, Miami might have won 10 games. -EK

The offense and the defense were the reason MIA went 6-10 last year.  If I HAD to pick which was worse, it would be the offense.  To make a comparison, the defense would have been a normal shit you take after work.  The offense would be a shit you take after a night of eating Mexican.  Point is, they were both shit, so I don't see why you all are bent out of shape to see who is right.

This debate is so silly. Here is all you need to know.

Almost EVERY starter (except Bell and Langford) is back on Defense. Why, because the unit is good (not elite, not great, but good) and produced. And only snapped/broke down when they were put in bad situations by the offense and got no help from the offense. And they only let Langford go because they couldn't afford him otherwise they would have kept him. It was Soliai or Langford and they kept Soliai.

The offense on the other hand got a complete overhaul and got rid of 4 starters in Marshall, Columbo, Henne, Carey. Last years offensive MVP Moore they didn't like enough so they signed Garrard and then used a #8 overall pick on Tannehill. So it shows they don't love Moore at all. They pretty much BLEW UP the offense and are starting over.

So, a whole new coaching staff looked at this team, its full roster and decided to KEEP the defense in tact and bring damn near everyone back and make essentially no changes but decided to revamp the entire offense. That's all you need to know!

This is not really a fair statement.  I agree the defense is "good", but the reason more of the "D" wasn't replaced is because they were focusing on the offense (for a second year), and they didn't have the draft picks to fix both units.  Your implying that they wanted to "KEEP" the defense intact, which I doubt is the case.  Half the defense needs upgrading.

Almost EVERY starter (except Marshall, Columbo and Carey) is back on Offense. You can't include Henne in that list when Henne hasn't been the starter since week 4.

I don't see much difference in those 2 statements. If replacing 3 players is "blowing up the offense" then replacing 2 players is pretty much "blowing up the defense" as well.

And if you are going to conclude they weren't happy with Moore because they brought in some players to compete with him, then you would have to conclude they aren't happy with the CB's, Safeties, defensive lineman and linebackers either. All of which I would pretty much agree with by the way. :)

The bottom line is that Miami's total defense was 15th in a league of 32 teams. That's not great or even good. Mathematically it's almost the exact definition of average- which is what they were. -EK

They spent big money to re-sign Soliai and even bigger money to extend Wake. If that isn't "wanting" to keep the defense in tact what is?

Signing Wake after he held out for part of mini-camp is a PR move. The owner is all about trying to keep fans happy. After losing out on Manning, Flynn, and every other off-season pursuit it woul have been hell for Ross not to extend his own guy. -EK

so they didn't really want to re-sign/extend Cam Wake, it was all a PR move. Because he held out of 1 day of a voluntary workout in April     ::) ::)

Jesus christ!

No. He actually sat out a week of off-season practices/camps with the specific intent of getting an extension. Get your facts straight. From ESPN:
"Miami Dolphins pass-rusher Cameron Wake is seeking a new contract and was not present at the start of the team's voluntary offseason workout program Tuesday, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Wake has one year and $650,00 left on his contract, but a source told Schefter that Wake doesn't plan to show up to workouts without a new deal."

This happened at about the same time that Dolphins fans were so upset with the team's missteps that dozens showed up outside the team's headquarters in mid-March protesting general manager Jeff Ireland. The protests prompted team owner Stephen Ross to call some of the fans personally to assuage their doubts about the team's future.

So yes. Resigning THIS year to prevent a holdout further was a PR move. Jesus Christ has nothing to do with it. -EK

There's no secret they were looking to replace Soliai.... thing is Soliai stepped up a bit and the Dolphins had other needs!  They made the choice to keep Soliai and plug other holes on the team.  Soliai was by no means dominate!   It was much cheaper to keep him even with the contract than to try and replace a decent NT.

There isn't a NT in a 4-3 defense which Miami plays now. So, he isn't even a NT anymore he shifts to play DT and he won't get double teamed every play. Second off, they had Starks/Oddrick to replace him in a 4-3. Third, Soliai got big money and there was nothing "cheap" about keeping him.

And if you think they were looking to replace him that is just flat out wrong. 100% wrong. I don't know what else to tell ya.

Nothing cheap? He took a massive hometown discount over what Denver was reportedly offering him. Miami stole one on that deal. -EK

He never even visited with Denver let alone got an offer from them.

The Denver Post reported the Broncos never planned a visit with Soliai. Mike Kliss the Broncos beat reporter for the Denver Post who broke the Peyton to Denver story said this back in march 1 day before Soliai resigned with Miami

https://twitter.com/mikeklis/status/179944617901432832

Yes he resigned the day before his scheduled visit. That doesn't mean that Denver wasn't willing to pay him big bucks and that Miami didn't get him cheap. Every outlet that reported the signing reported it the same way: "and the Dolphins not only kept him off the free-agent market, they got him at a hometown discount." (from cbssports.com). -EK

he never had a visit scheduled.  ::)

Mike Kliss of the Denver Post reported that he never had a visit scheduled and it was all BS. Even with the link provided you still find a way to go against the cold hard facts.  Probably  a case of Soliai's agent floating a false rumor to get Miami to move quicker. Because the Broncos never contacted Soliai.

It doesn't matter if you believe it or not the Dolphins were looking at letting him go and taking a DT in the draft!  Like I stated before they had other pressing needs and decided if it's not broke don't fix it...

They re-signed him over a month BEFORE the draft. What the heck are you talking about thinking about replacing him in the draft? Free Agency began March 13th. Soliai signed his deal March 14th. IF Miami was looking at letting him go (which they weren't) they would have let Soliai shop around and see if he had any other "real" offers and try to pay him LESS money than they did. Sign him after nobody else wants him. Give him the Matt Flynn treatment!! BUT,  Miami signing him less than 1 day into free agency shows how bad they did want him and didn't want to replace him or let him go.

Some of you are living in a parallel universe with a different reality.

 I told you they decided it was better to keep him!  He played well enough that replacing him with other holes they had made less sense... also replacing through the draft meant a learning curve so keep Soliai and fill more pressing needs... 

Played well enough? Are you serous, he is coming off a pro bowl season He is a top flight NT in this league who will now shift to DT where he will probably have MORE success. This notion that he is a marginal player who they were on the verge of letting go is laughable. They were trying to extend/sign him for 3 years. They gave him a HUGE payday in 2011 when they tagged him just to keep him and they gave him big money again this offseason back in March.

You have made up a false reality on this subject.

Now he's top flight in this league from one good season in which it was a contract yr... OK!   I'm not going there with you... you seem to get a hard on for arguing!

1 good season? If LAST year was his only good season why did the team FRANCHISE TAG him and make him the 10th highest paid player in the entire league heading into last year?

And yes he is a top flight NT in this league!  Dolphins 3rd in the league at stopping the run, wouldn't a NT have some say in "run defense" stats?! I come on.

Yeah he's so top flight that the Dolphins moved DE Randy Starks to DT not much over a yr ago!  ::) 

Again you miss the fact that they had other needs to address and realized there wasn't any other choices that made sense at DT if they didn't secure one in the draft!  If it's not broke don't fix it... you seem to forget talk of Odrick starting at DT.

I will root for them as always.  But unfortunately, if they go 8-8 this year they will have exceeded my expectations. 

Same here... I was still the biggest and proud Dolphin fan during the 1-15 season!  I'm a Diehard Fan as my name suggest... I just prefer to keep things realistic!  I'm not going to say a good player is a great or top flight player when they aren't... no matter how big a Dolphin homer I am!

There was starting Oddrick at DT NEXT to Solai, that talk. Since you need 2 DT's in a 4-3 defense. But never any of Oddrick replacing Soliai by the organization. Maybe by fans but not the people that matter.

You miss the fact that the Fins tried to sign Soliai long-term 2 years ago during his great 2010 season. They couldn't. They franchised tagged him they didn't want to lose him and made him one of the 10 highest paid players in the entire league last year for 1 year. They tried signing him all last year during the season to a long-term deal. They couldn't. Then, when free agency started this year he signs with Miami less than 24 hours after free agency began. Soliai was on the open market for all of a few hours if that. How anyone can say that they were entertaining letting him go is beyond me when every action they have taken for 24+ months was to lock this guy up. And when he was on the market they were so scared that less than 1 day into free agency they gave a pretty big deal (hometown discount or not).   So when you say they were thinking about letting him go and replacing him, its just 100% false and it never happened. And there are NO actions in the past 2 years to back up that point.

Yep ok...

   With 1% interest at the banks I won't book much.How about a dime?