Miami Dolphins head into the great unknown

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http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/miami-dolphins/story/663764.html

Miami Dolphins head into the great unknown

By ARMANDO SALGUERO
Miami Herald

NEW ORLEANS -- The preseason ended for the Dolphins, thankfully, with no significant injuries that will carry into the regular season. There wasn't even a case of jambalaya indigestion reported by the team's medical staff after this trip to the Big Queasy.

But if the Dolphins will be relatively healthy the next time they play -- in the regular-season opener against the New York Jets -- that is really all we know for certain about this team after this preseason.

To draw any other conclusion about this revamped, reworked, rebuilt team is to pretend to know more about the Dolphins than their architect.

''We'll see what we have,'' Dolphins football czar Bill Parcells said this week. ``I would never say that things are going well or will go well because of what's happened in the preseason. I don't know what will happen. We'll have to wait for those answers.''

Parcells is probably playing a little coy. He historically talks down his teams as if to lower expectations before springing a surprise. And I know he loves what the defensive line is starting to resemble with the emergence of rookie Kendall Langford, the progress of rookie Phillip Merling and free agent acquisition Randy Starks and the steadying influence of veterans Vonnie Holliday and Jason Ferguson.

But other than that, he is not ready to stake his reputation by making any pronouncements about any other portion of these Dolphins.

That is because the team has too many questions marks to suggest this season can be an exclamation point.

DECEIVING RECORD

Yes, you can look at Miami's 3-1 record coming out this preseason and believe that can carry into the real games.

Of course, that's what Cam Cameron figured last season, when his Dolphins finished the preseason 2-2 and then collapsed.

Yes, you can look at Thursday night's 14-10 victory over New Orleans and think the Dolphins had impressive outings on consecutive weeks to finish the preseason.

But before you book your tickets to an 8-8 record, remember last week's win was against a terrible Kansas City Chiefs team, and this victory against a legitimate playoff contender had its hiccups.

The Dolphins were losing 10-0 against the Saints while the starters for both teams were in the game. Miami scored both first-half touchdowns with the starting offensive line in the game against the New Orleans second-team defense.

And starting quarterback Drew Brees, starting running back Reggie Bush and star tight end Jeremy Shockey didn't play for New Orleans.

The uncertainty of Thursday's result is not the only reason we don't know for sure about these Dolphins.

We don't really know how good this offensive line is going to be, and we definitely don't know what will happen if one injury befalls a unit that has zero depth.

We can guess, but we do know that Jake Long will play this regular season as advertised.

He had a good preseason, with the notable exception of a play against Sedrick Ellis on Thursday night that resulted in a fumble by Chad Henne.

So we think Long will be a fine left tackle.

But this season will offer Long challenges this preseason did not. The challenges have names.

They are Mario Williams, Terrell Suggs, Richard Seymour, Adalius Thomas and Mike Vrabel, Leonard Little, Patrick Kerney and Julian Peterson -- and Shawn Merriman, the NFL's sack leader during the past three seasons.

Long will be served a full plate of elite pass-rushers, players the likes of which he has never seen.

How he does against them will be the true measure of his ability. Only time will deliver that answer.

When they win -- however much that happens -- the Dolphins will be doing it as a team rather than by the will and efforts of one or two outstanding individuals. That is because this team has zero individual stars.

STILL BUILDING

Disagree with me? Then you disagree with no less an authority than Sports Illustrated's Peter King. In the magazine's preview issue, out this week, King gives you his top 50 NFL players.

The Dolphins don't have a player in the group.

The Patriots have three players in that top 50. The Bills have one. The Jets also don't have anyone on the list, but that curiously and wrongly omits Brett Favre, who is only the NFL's all-time passing leader and a player coming off one of his best seasons.

The point is, the Dolphins are in a division with more talented teams despite spending an entire offseason upgrading the roster and spending much of the preseason winning.

It would be nice if all that offseason upgrading and preseason winning translated to the regular season.

But Bill Parcells says he doesn't know if it will.

And neither does anyone else.