The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

My biggest concern is not so much how we do this season, but that we don't regress as a team ALA so many have around the NFL.

You look at:

Joe Flacco seemingly moving forward on a strong team and now looking like he's regressing....I don't get it?...

Same can be said about Locker and Ponder.

I think that Tannehill has so far exceeded expectations while playing with average to below average WRs and average RBs...no superstars here.  What i want to see, moving forward is how his numbers improve with some legitimate stars and gamebreakers.

Flacco has Rice
Ponder has Peterson
Locker has Johnson....

PLUS all three have arguably better wideouts than we do.

What I want to see is maybe 7 or 8 wins this season and then next year move up to 10 wins and finally overtaking the Pats and winning a SuperBowl by 2015!

Flacco isn't regressing. Their playcalling calling has  been odd at best this year. They rack up 2 early TD's yesterday then they stopped doing what was working and got away from it. Flacco has been very good this year.

Ponder has little help at WR (Sorry only in the mind of one person is Jerome Simpson an elite WR). He has Percy Harvin and that is it in the passing game. Even Rudolph has looked poor of late.

Locker hasn't played enough this year to say he is regressing.

Tannehill needs more weapons. Every QB goes through highs and lows, happens even to the great ones. And rookies especially!! To think Tannehill will never have a bad game here or there is foolish. Especially in his rookie year! That doesn't make him a bust or a bad QB. It's only been 7 games for him really, let the season play out and take it from there!!

You had me until that last bit.  I'd be happy to get a few division titles and even a first round bye in there.  I don't think they're 3 years away from a Super Bowl ring, but I could be wrong.

An awful lot of things have to fall into place in the next few seasons, like stud players at corner, free safety, tight end, and WR before we can start "talkin' Super Bowl" again.

nahh, in this league it doesn't take 3 years to build a super bowl winner. And you can win a super bowl with a weak defense and being weak at CB and Safety. The Pats defense was terrible last year and if Wes Welker makes a catch they win it all. GB and the Giants last year were ranked bottom of the league on defense and they were fine. Hell NY won it all.   You don't need a great defense, you just need a good solid pass rush. CB's can't stop people anymore in this league, rattle a QB and make his life uncomfortable.  That's all you need to do.

Build up the offense. Spend the salary cap money there. The rules are tilted towards the offense so play the game towards the rules. WR's, TE's, speed guys who create mismatches!

The Dolphins are already 2-3 years into the current "rebuilding" period, if they aren't a Super Bowl contender in 2-3 years, it will be a start all over again.  Players are lost to career ending injuries, leave to go to better teams, inability to attract players because your not a SB contender, etc, etc....so they better get there quick.

How can you say that?  We "started all over again" just 9 weeks ago...

no they aren't

Why Ponder? He was atrocious last year. Completion percentage, td/int ratio, sacks, and fumbles have all improved this year (and his "advanced" stats back it up). Even the very important team statistic, WINS, is up.

4-4 in year one of this rebuilding chapter. Fears of future regression is an admission of future failures. One play, one drive, one game, one season at a time.

Once the Tuna left, front office people where able to start making decisions on their own.  I believe they also started drafting core players (ie the offensive line) instead of picking up someone elses retreads.  The new coach was just a continuation of the rebuild already in progress.

I disagree.  The new coach is a complete start over.

He brings in (mostly) an entire new coaching staff, new offensive and defensive strategy, new personnel.  The ONLY thing that's not new is a few core players and the GM.

We didn't "start all over" with the same GM.

This team had Ireland's players a year ago and it has Ireland's players now.

It had Ireland and Sparano's players.  Many of Sparano's players are gone (Gates, Hilliard, etc).  Its not all about who picked the players, its about the leadership of the team.

I'd argue that ANY time you get a new coach, unless its a hire-from-within, you're starting all over.

I agree that we have just started rebuilding again this year, new coach and QB are a big part of a rebuilding season. Otherwise, you could say we have been rebuilding since Marino retired.  ;D

Ireland does not get a fresh slate for having Sparano fired.

No. But if this season plays out as we all think (6-8 wins, get lucky maybe 9) Ireland also isn't going anywhere either so who cares if this year is labeled as a "fresh rebuilding" job or a "continuation of an existing rebuilding job"

I agree with that. Each HC brings in his own system and philosophy. In this case the differences between Parcells / Sparano and Philbin could not be more opposite. How in the hell is a GM supposed to plan for that?

When Sparano was fired and Philbin came in, we started completely over. 

Yep. And if we had signed Fisher we would have kept with more of a Sparano ball control run-first philosophy.

Also drafting Tannehill.  You have to figure in about 3 years for a rookie QB to truly get comfortable with this WR and the system.  Best case for the Dolphins would be Tannehill hitting his stride to coincided with a Brady retirement.