The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

That is all.

Yup. 

Offensive line atrocious.
Defense ABSOLUTELY complete trash and no excuses about a couple of subs.
QB we are in trouble if Matty is best we have Tanny is not ready.
WR make the above mentioned spots look good probably the worst  WR corp in the league.
Bottom line we are worse than the field goal fist pump era and that is sad.

its a long year guys. don't get nervous about a meaningless game on Aug 17th. The Packers lost by 25 to the Browns. Does anyone take that outcome seriously? No. So why take this one seriously!

There might (probably will) be time to be yelling about how the team sucks and this and that but it ain't today. Preseason football is exactly that...preseason football! Cannot take anything away from these games at all.

Just remember last year presason, Chad Henne lit it up vs Carolina. And Newton was 7/14 or 66 yards.   http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=310819015

Did each of their regular seasons mirror what hapened in the preseason!?! Exactly!

BULL! No more excuses. No more of this, "it's still the preseason" stuff. The secondary is the worsti have ever seen EVER in Miami. When they're not giving up massive plays, they're  completely blowing coverage. When they're not doing that, they're giving up first downs on ridiculous penalties. I was surrounded by Carolina fans who were all saying the same thing- "Cam didn't even have to run at all- he did everything with his arm. Those guys can't cover anybody!" Stop making excuses for the lack of talent on the field. They're horrible, and getting worse, not better. So far this preseason- first team vs. first team, they've been completely embarrassed by QB's from teams that went, what 10-22 last year? Vincent Jackson and Steve Smith were non-factors in the two games, and Miami still got abused. Should have spent some draft picks on that secondary rather than fifty more WRs and RBs. -EK

This team will need Marino in his prime in order to win six games with that defense.  Holy Mary mother of God.

I was excited about this year but holy crap does the defense suck (and the offense right behind it). I know it's preseason, but it just looks like a disaster. It's going to be a real long year.

Back of the ledge people! Back off the ledge!! lol

Preseason football! It doesn't count for a reason. There is a reason the stadiums are more than half empty. Guys with hang nails don't play in games for a reason. Some older guys go half-speed for a reason!

Not saying Miami is playoff bound or will be a .500 team (not saying that at all) but also I am not going to flip out over what happened in a preseason games. If you think Miami is the only team looking like crap in the preseason then watch 5 min of a couple other presason games. Lots of teams are looking horrible right now. Because its the Preseason. Nothing counts. It's pratice. Check out some rookies and bottom of the roster guys to see who sticks and who makes the practice squad and that's about it really.

Admittingly, there has not been much to be positive about. I was hoping Garrard would be the starter and Tannehill could take his time to develop. That ain't happening and RT is the clear choice.

The right side of the O line is still a problem and I think they will regret not paying Winston...I know I do!

The secondary is in friggin shambles and even the run D has looked bad.

About the most positive thing I can say is that no one has gotten killed. lol :'( 

On the o-line....

Art Hicks I was never fond of that signing. If you can't start for the Browns o-line I mean seriously. Jake Scott is still available I believe. Miami had him in for 2 visits. Why they didn't take him over someone like Hicks or Steinbech I don't understand. I know its probably a money thing. And I would doubt Miami signs him now. They might wait till after Week 1 when the contracts aren't guaranteed for the year if they feel the o-line is an issue still. But its still just mid-August and these are the first 2 preseason games.

Martin everyone is hitting the panic button on after last night. Coaches don't coach these games to win they coach to see what they got and how players respond to certain situations. Miami won't have games this year where they throw it 58 times and only run it 12 like they did last night. That is coaching to "see stuff" and not to actually try and win a meaningless game. The coaches last night played Martin for 3 quarters and didn't give him any help at all if you re-watch the game. Heard a report on WQAM this morning that the coaches wanted to put the rookie on an island the entire time he played and see how he did and reacted . In "real" games with "game-planning" and such that will never happen. He would have gotten help as no rookie tackle is left alone for an entire game with a 4:1 pass/run ratio as the playcalling.

No, they don't coach to win. But you play to succeed. What that means is, when you routinely get beat 1 on 1 game planning isnt the problem. Martin wasn't left on an island all night. He looked good when he had help. Problem is, it takes the TE/FB out of the equation when they cant get by with a chip block. In other words, he has bad technique. You cant lunge at defenders. You have to block them. The right side is still a problem. Couple that with a QB that's slow with progressions and its going to be a long year. Period.

Well  I don't agree with everything you said but we agree on one thing, the right side of the o-line might be a problem. Hicks I am no big fan of and Martin is a rookie who will take his lumps before he becomes a solid player. It's a work in progress for the right side of the o-line.

I love "the sky is falling" comments after 2 preseason games  ::)

For clarification purposes at what point in the regular season is it acceptable to say, "Good lord, Miami can't cover anyone, they have no receivers, and overall, just suck." I'm not being facetious- honest answer when you believe that it's ok to point out the obvious that several of us see already. -EK

NEWSFLASH - The secondary sucked last year.  The only reason they weren't shown as so inept last year is because the offense wasn't a scoring power.  When the offense did have a lead, the defense blew it, see the Giants and Denver games last year.  That said MikeO is exactly right, it is still preseason.  Do you guys complaining so much actually think this team is even a Divisional contender??  Im holding out hope that if the Fins catch a couple breaks they can squeek out a wild card spot.  The offensive line will be fine by week #3, gotta remember they have new players and a new system, takes time and full speed games to get their timing down.

Totally agree. Great points masterfins!! Plus name teams that have great secondary's? If there are any you can count them on one hand. Few teams can cover anymore in this league. Very few. It's the teams with the elite pass rushes that can get to the QB's that help out their secondary's. The best teams last year (NYG, GB, NE...etc) were bottom of the league  in total defense and defense and couldn't cover stop anyone in the passing game. Hell NE made Chad Henne look good. Nuff said! 

The entire league is built around QB's and Pass Rushers. It's about throwing the ball and getting to the QB to stop him from throwing the ball. The rules are set up AGAINST CB's and Safety's. You can't touch anyone. So if you don't rush the QB and rattle him, big plays happen. Even the elite teams that win can't cover anyone. Which is why I say don't spend big bucks on CB's and such. Just give me a bunch of CB's who can run, have speed,  and chase guys down. I would rather stockpile pass rushers and have marginal CB's who just have speed.  Because the league is tilted against a having a good secondary. So why waste cap space there. Unless you have Revis and he is the 1 exeception to the rule!

I said the secondary sucked all last year. I even said that was a bigger issue for Miami than QB. Where have you been? Contender? Wild card? With the current D, last in the division and 6-7 wins. -EK

Until the right side of the O-line learns how to block. Until the receivers start showing that they can at least catch a cold. Until they stop running into run blitzes. They are lucky to get 5 wins this year. I wad optimistic until I saw them play.  Right now, they are not fundamentally sound. Until that changes, game plans & schemes don't matter.

You should watch the Sherman, Philbin, and Coyle press conferences from today.
http://www.dolphinstalk.com/2012/08/video-press-conference-sunday.html

They actually explain alot of what they do in these preseason games and why some things happen.  I am NOT disagreeing with you at all. This team might be a 4-7 win team when all is said and done, but I am just saying if you watched the press conferences you might get a perspective on why they are doing certain things in these preseason games the way they are doing them

I took your advice and watched most of the Philbin press conference. He was right about them not turning the ball over. He was also right about being beaten in the "explosive play" department. Which I will admit was a new term for me. I understand where he's going with that. I understand that there are things that they "work" on in preseason. But, I look at things through the fundamental prism. I don't care if they got beat 24-0 in preseason. I'm not seeing the level of fundamental execution that will enable them to expand their number of explosive plays. Hopefully they prove me wrong over time. After all, it is a work in progress.

I was listening to Mike Norris on Fox Sports Radio Saturday night and he was talking about quarterback battles in different camps.  When he got to the Dolphins, he mentioned that Philbin seems to be in way over his head.  I'd hate to say this, but Philbin's laid back attitude is giving me some concern. 

I'm seeing/hearing this and similar stories all over the place. I know the "it's only the preseason" camp will make light of it, but the Herald, Sun Sentinal, and ESPN are all pointing out that the defense- which was supposed to be the best unit- has given up scores on all but one drive the starters have played; the O-line is disastrous; and the receivers drop too many passes and lack speed. Someone even mentioned that the team got worse between games, and Vontae was replaced by Nolan Carrol because of poor play against Carolina. Not good, folks. Not good. -EK

I usually try to be rational and not get overly high or overly low on a team before the season even starts.  And I'm not basing this on the pre-season "team" performance as much as just assessing individual talent.  But I have a feeling that the Dolphins are going to "make me cry" a lot again this year. 

I'm not concerned yet, but I do think it's time for Philbin to make some decisions.

I know that he wants to give all the QB's a fair chance to prove they are worthy, but there's been enough time to evaluate all the players now, it's time to name a starter and give that player all the first team reps this week. If it's gonna be Matt Moore, I'm fine with that, but then Moore should not be splitting 1st team reps with Tannehill anymore because in my opinion Moore has a LONG way to go to be ready for week 1. He needs to play a full 3 quarters in the next game and the backup should get a quarter or so and Devlin shouldn't hit the field at all.

Same thing with the WR's. He needs to choose who is going to be his top 4 or 5 WR's and play them extensively in the next game. At least 3 quarters so they can build some consistency with the QB.

They also need to run the ball and get work out of all the running backs. Start running the offense how you expect to run it during the year. I know they have been calling more pass plays for instance since they wanted to evaluate the QB's and WR's, but the third preseason game is normally the time that you quit evaluating and you start preparing for the real games to begin.

I'm a little concerned that Philbin is afraid to start making some hard decisions. He said all along that it usually comes down to a gut feel, well it's time to find out if your gut instincts are any good or not. Time for you to become the head coach and stop waiting for the decisions to be made for you.

Just when I start to doubt him, he comes through again. Man, I like this guy. He really seems to have a "pulse" on the team and what it needs. The only decision that I have questioned him on has been the Johnson signing, but even that worked out alright as he jettisoned him quickly as soon as he saw he was going to be a distraction.

Tony Dungy was as laid back as they come and he won a lot.

Dungy wasn't very good.

^^ He was better than the last 3 or 4 coaches the Dolphins have had.

In 13 years as a head coach, he had exactly one losing season: his first one.

He finished with ten seasons of 10+ wins.  He failed to make the playoffs two times in his career, total.  As a head coach, he retired with the 6th highest winning percentage of all time.

And lest you think that he pulled a Phil Jackson (i.e. lucky enough to inherit the best player), remember that Dungy built up the worst franchise in the league from nothing.  Tampa Bay was absolute garbage for decades until Dungy arrived, and within 2 years he built them into a contender.

And one year after Dungy left, they won the superbowl, after he had one and done playoffs the previous 2 years.

Sorry Tepop, but I'd be ecstatic of Miami had nearly a decade of 10 win seasons, Super Bowl or not. -EK

Since then, they have made the playoffs twice in the past ten years

And after winning that SB with Dungy's players, Gruden's record for the next 6 years was 45-51 (0-2 postseason).  Meanwhile, over the same time period, Dungy's record in Indy was 75-21 (7-5 postseason), with a Super Bowl ring of his own.

Dungy arrived in Indy and the team not only improved significantly, but stayed there.  Gruden came in, won one title with another man's players, then (when he was forced to shop for his own groceries) the program fell apart.

This entire argument is ridiculous.  Dungy "sucks" because he only got the worst franchise in the league to the conference title game once?  Or does he "suck" because he only won one title with the Colts?

Slow down, cowboy. We can't have a multitude of 10+ win seasons. Cuz, then we'd have to discuss things in a thread called "Good Lord, We Rock!" That would completely contradict the title of this website altogether. We can't have that.

Gruden inherited an old team. And was without 2 first round draft picks and 2 second round draft picks in the next 3 years.  Dungy managed to only win 1 super bowl with peyton manning. 
Also note, that after going 1 and done in the playoffs his final 2 years with indianapolis, the following year the colts made it to the super bowl.

Also note that the Bucs were 7-9 the year before dungy took over, and his first year they went 6-10.  So saying he took over the worst team in the league doesn't exactly make sense.

Suckage at everywhere but QB. Well he will make rookie mistakes but still I am looking forward to watching his progress. Its the only thing to make me want to watch this year.

Of course, the reason why they were missing those draft picks (the trade for Gruden) goes unmentioned.

Say, how many Super Bowls did Don Shula win with Dan Marino?

I guess Shula must suck, too.

So another coach made it to the Super Bowl (and lost) with Dungy's team.  What of it?  Dungy won a Super Bowl with that team.

I said the worst franchise, which is different than "the team with the worst record the previous year."  TB was a complete laughingstock before Dungy arrived.