Pats still own the East

[Denver_Bronco]

6/2/06

Commentary: Pats are still the beasts of the East Tom Casale, Patriots Football Weekly

With the 2006 season fast approaching, some people think the Patriots reign of terror in the AFC East is coming to an end but the Dolphins, Jets and Bills shouldn't get out their shovels to bury the champs quite yet.

If you listen to some in the media, there are rumblings the Patriots stranglehold on the AFC East may come to an end this season. Some have even suggested that the Miami Dolphins are the team to beat in the division. While there’s no doubt the Dolphins are headed in the right direction under Nick Saban, I’m going to steal a phrase from ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso and say, “Not so fast my friend.”

When breaking down the AFC East it’s best to start at the bottom, so let’s head to Buffalo. Shortly after Bills owner Ralph Wilson admitted publicly that he voted against the current CBA because he didn’t understand it, the team showed they know even less about the free agency process by paying way too much money for receiver Peerless Price. The Bills apparently couldn’t let a receiver who caught six passes last year go to the one other team that was interested in him, so they decided to vastly overpay him.

The Bills should be better on defense this year with the return of Takeo Spikes but with an abysmal offensive line and the trio of Kelly Holcomb, J.P. Losman and Craig Nall battling to be the team’s starting quarterback, it’s not a surprise no one knows where Willis McGahee is these days. Buffalo has a better chance of challenging the Frankfurt Galaxy than they do the Patriots this year.

Next we check in on old friend Eric Mangini with the Jets. I really like what the former Patriots defensive coordinator has done since arriving in New York. Mangini has installed something the Jets desperately needed: a long-term plan. He’s frustrating the heck out of the New York media by putting a muzzle on his players and Mangini let everyone in the Big Apple know from the start who is in charge.

The problem for Mangini is he inherited a mess in New York that’s going to take some time to clean up. I like what the Jets did in the draft by bringing in D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold to address their dreadful offensive line. The Jets have a good enough defense to keep them in a lot of games and they should be a much tougher football team than they were last year. However, with a change in philosophy and major question marks at the quarterback position, it’s going to take Mangini more than one offseason to right the ship. At least for his first year, the young coach is playing with the house’s money.

Now we get to the team most people think will challenge the Patriots for AFC East supremacy: the Miami Dolphins. First let me say that I think Saban is an excellent coach. He took over the wasteland left by Dave Wannstedt and won nine games during his first season after beginning the year 3-7. A lot of New England fans like to point to the Dolphins weak schedule late in the year but the same thing can be said about the Patriots. The bottom line is the Dolphins were a much-improved team as the season went on last year and Saban deserves a lot of credit for the effort Miami showed on the field every week.

Having said that, I still think the Dolphins are a year away from really pushing the Patriots in the AFC East. Sure, they went out and signed Daunte Culpepper and while that looks good on paper, I see two major problems with the signing.

First – and I don’t care what anyone says – Culpepper isn’t going to play during the first month of the season. That means the Dolphins will have to face their difficult early season schedule with Joey Harrington behind center. Have fun with that.

The other thing that bothers me about the Culpepper signing is I believe the team really wanted Drew Brees instead and ended up settling for Culpepper. There’s no question the former Vikings quarterback is talented but it’s hard to just discard his less than impressive career numbers when he’s not playing with Randy Moss. Culpepper is a definite upgrade over Gus Frerotte and he makes the Dolphins offense more dangerous but unfortunately for Miami fans, I don’t think they’ll get to see the full extent of his impact until 2007.

Saban is doing a good job of rebuilding the Dolphins but much like Bill Parcells in Dallas, I think his first season was a bit of a fluke just because he was able to outcoach some people. Look for Miami to possibly take a step back this year before they really challenge New England next season. Make no mistake about it, the Dolphins are going to be a thorn in the Patriots side, it just won’t be this year.

That leaves only one team left and that’s the Patriots. Like every other team in the NFL at this time of year, New England has a lot of questions surrounding them. Will the receiving corps step up? How much does Corey Dillon have left in the tank? When will Rodney Harrison be ready to play? Who is going to replace Adam Vinatieri? Is the secondary good enough to hold up against some of the NFL’s better offenses? Who is going to be the backup quarterback? Are Matt Light and Dan Koppen fully recovered from their injuries? What happens if, God forbid, Tedy Bruschi, Rosevelt Colvin or Mike Vrabel gets injured?

While the Patriots have a lot of questions to answer heading into the 2006 season, it’s the two questions people don’t have to ask that still makes them the class of the AFC East: How good is their head coach and who is their quarterback?

I hate to sound like a homer but any team that has Bill Belichick and Tom Brady running the show is going to be tough to beat. I point to last year where I think both of them had the best seasons of their career. Wait, how could that be? The Patriots didn’t win the Super Bowl, right? Let me explain.

Everyone knows Belichick is a great coach. You won’t get much debate from anyone on that subject but I think last year was his best coaching job to date. He took a team ravaged by injuries that couldn’t run the football or stop anyone on defense and had them playing their best football at the end of the season. If it weren’t for a couple of botched plays by the Patriots (and the officials) in Denver, New England would have hosted the AFC Championship Game after all their early struggles. That’s amazing to me considering I saw the Colts roll over the Pats on their own field just a couple of months earlier.

The credit for the Patriots turnaround last year has to go primarily to Belichick. Despite losing two great coordinators in Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, he was able to make adjustments in the Patriots style of play and lineup changes during the middle of the season that made the team better. With everything that happened to the Patriots last year – beginning with Bruschi’s stroke in February – it’s a credit to Belichick and his entire coaching staff that the team was in position to win another Super Bowl at season’s end.

Remember what people used to say about Brady? He’s just part of a system and he’s not asked to win games, he’s just asked not to lose them. Tom could never put up the kind of numbers that Peyton Manning does. He’s just a very good quarterback on a great team with a successful system. Remember those comments? Well, Brady destroyed any notion that he was a product of some kind of system last year when he put the team on his back and led the NFL with 4,110 passing yards, to go along with 26 touchdowns and a 63 percent completion rate. Not bad for a system quarterback.

When you break down the AFC East, one thing that stands out over all else is the Patriots have Brady at quarterback while the other teams have…well, you get the point.

Even though the Patriots have questions that need to be answered, Belichick and Brady remain the one constant. Very rarely in the history of the NFL has a team been fortunate enough to have the league’s best coach and quarterback together at the same time. In recent history, the only other time I can remember that being the case is when Bill Walsh and Joe Montana were both in San Francisco. It just doesn’t happen very often. Fortunately for the Patriots, they have the best mind in the NFL drawing up schemes and the best arm in the NFL leading the team and executing the gameplan on the field to perfection. That’s a tough combination to beat.

As we head into the 2006 season, it appears the Patriots are on their way to winning yet another division title. The Dolphins and Jets are heading in the right direction but both teams are still a year or two away from making the Patriots sweat. So there you have it Pats fans, go ahead and take the regular season off and I’ll see you all in January. The only things left to be decided now is who their opponent will be, where the Patriots will be playing in the postseason and if the game will be on Saturday or Sunday.




http://www.patriots.com/news/index.cfm?ac=latestnewsdetail&pid=19404&pcid=41

 

[Brian Fein]

Wow, a writer for Patriots Football Weekly writes an article pimping the Patriots.


Imagine that....

[JVides]

Can't argue too much with his arguments, but he sure makes the Patriots' problems seem minor (So our secondary blows, our linebackers are ancient, our receivers are unknowns and our running back is slowing down...meh...) while making everyone else's seem huge (Culpepper's knee will keep him out the first full month and Harrington will blow...)

We'll see.  I expect both teams to finish 'round 10-6, 11-5, battling for the top seed in the AFC East.

[Fau Teixeira]

i'm sorry .. but tom brady isn't the "best arm" in the NFL .. he's just not .. he isn't even the "best arm" in the AFC .. he may not even be the 2nd best. what a bunch of homerism

[Dave Gray]

I think the Patriots are seeing the start of a downfall.  They won't be horrible, and they should (and probably will) win the East again, but I no longer consider them among the NFL's elite.

As the Jets and Bills get better, the Pats will lose some "gimmie wins" and get exposed.

[Phishfan]

I wouldn't say best arm either. That title would go to someone with a rifle arm which is not Brady. He is a top QB (I will add arguably for the scheptics), but definitely not the best arm.

[Sunstroke]

I just don't see New England winning the AFC East this year...I think Saban gets his first divisional crown and a trip to the playoffs this season.

And just curious...Why in the world would someone take a random article from a Patriots beat writer and post it here anyway? What's next, random clippings from the Buffalo Weekly Gazette? Was there something noteworthy about this piece? To me it just sounded like a very biased writer saying "we're gonna win" and filling two word doc pages with fluff.

[Denver_Bronco]

I just don't see New England winning the AFC East this year...I think Saban gets his first divisional crown and a trip to the playoffs this season.

And just curious...Why in the world would someone take a random article from a Patriots beat writer and post it here anyway? What's next, random clippings from the Buffalo Weekly Gazette? Was there something noteworthy about this piece? To me it just sounded like a very biased writer saying "we're gonna win" and filling two word doc pages with fluff.

How many biased Dolphin articles are posted here ? I think its good to see what other homers are thinking about the teams they follow. Obviously, a few guys here had opinions on this article. And who is to tell the guy he's barking up the wrong tree ? NE has owned that division for years and until they are knocked off who is to say they aren't the team to beat ?

[DolFan619]

     You guys smell that?  Smells like the scent of "homerism."  Here's the way I see it.

The Bills

- Buffalo is a complete mess.  Plain and simple.  Don't get me started on their Draft Day.  Their quarterback situation looks a lot like the ones the Dolphins use to have.  They have a promising young QB who has showed flashes of being good, but most of the time is wildly inconsistent.  J.P. Losman reminds me of A.J. Feeley.  The Bills have a veteran quarterback who looked great during the playoffs and spot duty with another team.  However, whenever he's been a fulltime starter he's been inconsistent or just average at best.  Kelly Holcomb reminds me of Jay Fiedler.  Finally the Bills have another quarterback who is an unknown variable, never really had any playing time in the regular season, more or less a preseason type of guy.  This guy could be great or this guy could be worthless.  Until he plays, you just don't know.  Craig Nall reminds of Sage Rosenfels.  Don't be surprised if you see a quarterback carousel in Buffalo this season.  Buffalo's offensive line isn't anything to scream about either.  While their defense may be better this year, they'll won't stay in games long because the offense will have trouble staying on the field.  Willis McGahee and Lee Evans can make plays, but don't expect Buffalo to win many games.

The Jets

- As much as I hate to admit it, the direction that the Jets are going in seems to be the right one.  New York really had one of the best drafts on draft day, after so many years of laughable and downright hysterical picks.  The Jets like Buffalo have questions at the quarterback position.  Who's it going to be Chad Pennington or Patrick Ramsey.  Neither QB really looks like a solid option, because Pennington never had a strong arm before the surgeries, so how is his arm going to be now that he's had two surgeries?  Patrick Ramsey never really established himself in Washington, and he's questionable as starter because of many of the wild throws he's made throughout his short career.  The Jets offensive line is going to take time to rebuild, their defense is good, but it'll be about two or three seasons from now before the Jets contend for the crown.  Mangini comes from that Belichick mold, one voice, players muzzled, and a long term plan.  They'll be tougher this year, that's for sure.

The Patriots

- Ah yes, the Patriots the supposed "Beasts of the AFC East."  Belichick is a great coach, and he really did a great job last season with all of the injuries that the Patriots had.  However, with the offseason that the Patriots had, I have to wonder what the Patriots are thinking.  First thing that immediately comes to mind is the fact that they let future Hall of Famer Adam Vinateri walk away.  How on Earth do you let the second most popular player on your team and by far the most clutch kicker in league history just walk?  Not only walk, but walk right onto your main rivals the Colts?!  So, the Patriots bring in Martin Grammatica and draft Memphis' Stephen Gotkowski.  Gotkowski is unproven, and Grammatica spent last season away from football and many feel that his "Autommatica" days are behind him.  If Grammatica can return to form the Patriots kicking game wouldn't suffer much of a loss, but if Grammatica bombs and Gotkowski struggles a lot of the games that the Pats lose this season could be because of their kicking game. 

  Tom Brady is a great quarterback without question.  Hall of Famer?  Not yet, but close.  Regardless, he's still one of the the best in the league.  Corey Dillon is running out of gas, can Laurence Maroney come in and pick up the slack?  I will say this, at the RB position the Patriots have done more with less.  Antowain Smith, anybody?  The receiving corps is somewhat questionable with exodus of David Givens and the recent trade of Bethel Johnson.  Reche Caldwell is a good receiver but he's going to be asked to do more with the Patriots than he ever did with the Chargers.  Troy Brown is another year older.  The only real standout is former Super Bowl MVP, Deion Branch.  Chad Jackson is a rookie and he still has that whole "Florida Receiver" stereotype.  I think Jackson will break that stereotype, he just won't breakout this season.  Tim Dwight is primarily a special teams guy.

  Their defense is somewhat questionable with the depature of Willie McGinest and the health of both Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison.  Harrison was great leader in the Patriots secondary, and when he went down, New England certainly suffered.  If Harrison is healthy the secondary should be solid, because Harrison is what really makes that secondary as good as it is.  If Bruschi's heart condition acts up or Mike Vrabel gets injured who's going to replace these guys in the LB corps?  If the defense can stay healthy the Patriots will probably take home another AFC crown, or at least be a front runner for it.

The Dolphins

- Those Miami Dolphins!  The other front runners for the AFC East crown.  Clearly Coach Nick Saban and GM Randy Mueller have this franchise headed in the right direction.  After the absolutely abysmal 4-12 season and the roster that came with it, it is absolutely remarkable that Coach Saban turned the Dolphins into a 9-7 team, a team that just barely missed the playoffs, and a team that swept the month of December.  A clean sweep in December hadn't been seen in Miami since the days of Don Shula.  The coaching in Miami alone has made a huge difference.  Coach Nick Saban who is another man from the Belichick mold and really, is Bill Belichick's best friend.  Coach Saban runs the Dolphins much in the same way Belichick runs the Patriots and that has been a breath of fresh air for the Dolphins faithful who grew tired of the ineptitude, bad play calling, back slapping, basic huganomics ways of Dave Wannstedt.  Also Coach Saban highly values draft picks, something that the former regime also didn't believe in.

  Because of the coaching staff in Miami even the most mediocre of players saw improvement.  Case in point with a guys like QB Gus Frerotte and CB Reggie Howard.  Gus Frerotte is exactly what you think of when you say the words "journeyman"  Gus has been almost everywhere in the league.  He's had more failures than successes in his career.  However, in Miami he somehow managed to play close to his one time Pro Bowl numbers that he had while in Washington.  Of course, those numbers aren't really Pro Bowl worthy, but for Gus Frerotte that's good season.  Reggie Howard was overpaid as cornerback coming as free agent from then NFC Champs the Carolina Panthers.  Reggie was absolutely deplorable in his first season and became a hated player and a scapegoat for many of the fans.  In the 2005 season Reggie was demoted to nickel duty and still gave up some big plays.  However, towards the end of the season his play noticibly improved and he actually logged an interception and a safety.  Of course Gus and Reggie aren't with the team anymore, because decent just isn't good enough in Coach Saban's regime.

  The greatest evidence in how the coaching staff helped the Miami Dolphins get better was offensive line coach Hudson Houck.  In the 2004 season the Miami Dolphins Offensive line was truly offensive.  That line couldn't stop water, but enter Hudson Houck and the line that once gave up 50+ sacks only gave up 20+ sacks.  The line has some new faces on it, but those new faces should be for the better L.J. Shelton and Mike Pearson were regarded as great lineman for their previous clubs.  Plus Joe Toledo and Anthony Alabi are two young guys being groomed for the future and with Houck's guidance their future looks bright.

  The offense of the Miami Dolphins also changed when Scott Linehan came in and put a greater emphasis on the passing game.  Again this was refreshing breath of air for Dolphins faithful, who grew tired of the vanilla playbooks put out by Wannstedt.  Linehan is now the head coach of the St. Louis Rams.  However, the Dolphins offense will remain somewhat the same with new offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey.  Mularkey will put a little more emphasis on the run.  Of course with new FB Fred Beasley as your lead blocker and Ronnie Brown running the ball even with the loss of Ricky Williams the Miami running game will be solid.  Look for Sammy Morris to come in and get some carries as well.  Ronnie will really benefit from having a full training camp this off-season

  After years of quarterback futility since Marino retired, Miami's quarterback situation looks promising.  Miami traded a second round pick to Minnesota for Pro Bowler, former MVP candidate Daunte Culpepper.  Of course the biggest question is with Daunte's knee, in which he tore his ACL, MCL, and PCL.  Recent reports say say Daunte could be ready for the season opener, but don't be surprised if Daunte doesn't hit the field until close to mid season.  That was a nasty knee injury and the Dolphins certainly don't want to ruin their investment in Culpepper by pushing him too hard.  Even an injured Culpepper is a tremendous upgrade over the Jay Fiedlers', A.J. Feeleys', and Ray Lucas' of the world.

  If Culpepper can't go at the beginning of the season, (which is likely) they then turn towards former Detroit QB Joey Harrington.  Harrington had a rocky run as the signal caller in Detroit.  Of course many say Harrington had a bad run in Detroit due to bad caoching, a lack of support, and overall zero team discipline.  Is the Harrington we saw in Detroit merely an illusion?  Well Dolphins fans will soon find out, Harrington says he has a chip on his shoulder and is out prove his detractors wrong.  He may just do that, but look for more of the running game when Harrington is at QB.  Harrington is better option at backup than the Dolphins have had in past years, but his history in Detroit will make Dolphins fans wonder until he proves otherwise.  Cleo Lemon is the third man in the lineup, Cleo is unproven and most Dolphins fans don't know what he is capable of.  However, the coaching staff seems to like him and feel he's becoming a better QB.  Cleo should be a guy to watch in preseason.

  The receiving corps for the Dolphins will is one that is on the rise and could very well be elite if Culpepper returns to form.  The Dolphins receivers are led by Pro Bowler Chris Chambers who can make some unbelievable highlight-reel type of catches, but last year dropped some easy ones.  If Chambers can start making the easier catches fans and media will really start to use the word elite with Chris Chambers more often.  Chambers will really benefit from a healthy Daunte Culpepper.  The number two guy is veteran Marty Booker.  Marty was a solid posession receiver who also made some big plays from time to time.  Again his production should go up with the addition of Culpepper.  Number three receiver some people are saying it could be a toss up with fan favorite Wes Welker, who was excellent as a slot receiver and made great plays on third down situations, and former Vikings receiver Kelly Campbell.  Campbell was out of football for a year but many say his familiarity with Daunte could propel him to the three spot.  Personally, I think Campbell will be another Bryan Gilmore, he'll come in when the situation calls for it.  Otherwise Welker will stay at the three receiver spot.

  Other guys on the receiving corps are rookies Derek Hagan and Devin Aromashodu.  Hagan will probably be the eventual successor to Booker's spot, he will see some playing time this season, but don't count on Derek to come out firing right away.  Devin is a work in progress, and he's best used on deep routes.  Devin could be another "situational guy."  Also the team signed former VA Tech QB Marcus Vick as a wideout.  If Vick makes the team he could be used as a "Slash"/Randle El type of receiver.  At TE you have Randy McMichael who is on the verge of being considered as one of the elite TE's in the league.  Efficient in the red zone, a great pass catching tight end, but his one weakness is blocking.  That's why the Dolphins went out and signed former Chargers TE Justin Peele who is regarded as being one of the better blocking TE's.  If the Dolphins go to a two tight end formation Peele would allow McMichael to get free and make the plays that he can.

  Now for the defense.  Stalwarts like Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas are another year older, yet they continue to play at a high level as they both made the Pro Bowl last year.  The additions of Vonnie Holliday, Kevin Carter, Donnie Spragan, and Keith Traylor proved to be the right moves.  Keith Traylor at 36 years old played admirably and helped the defense force a lot of stops on pivitol third and fourth down plays.  Jeff Zgonina while not as dominant as Traylor, he performed well when he came in.  Kevin Carter also had some time at DT, but Carter is one of those savvy veteran players who can lineup at any spot on the D-Line and be effective.  This season the Dolphins look to their younger DT's to step up.  Manny Wright who was famous for showing his "emotions" last season, showed promise towards the end of the season.  Kevin Vickerson spent the year on injured reserve.  Both of these men have the talent, but can they crack the starting lineup?  Many eyes will be focused on Manny Wright this training camp.  Also the Dolphins have rookies Fred Evans and Rodrique Wright.  Rodrique will spend this season on injured reserve due to a shoulder injury suffered while at Texas.  Evans will probably be a project player.

  At linebacker Zach Thomas is the unquestioned leader.  Channing Crowder and Derrick Pope showed great progress last season and should be better this season.  Spragan played well but certainly wasn't dominating either.  Free agent Sedrick Hodge will be playing at Seau's old spot, Hodge figures to be an upgrade over the future Hall of Famer due to the fact that Seau could never stay healthy.  The depth at LB is a concern though.  The Dolphins tried to trade their failure second round pick Eddie Moore to the Saints for Courtney Watson.  However the trade was null and void after Moore failed his physical.  The Dolphins also signed former hard hitter Keith Newman.  Newman has been out of the league since 2002.  He also one of those "if" guys.  If Newman can be the dominating precense he once was, the Dolphins will have gotten a major upgrade to their LB corps.

  At DE Jason Taylor and Vonnie Holliday are players that still demand a lot of attention from opposing offensive lines.  Second round pick Matt Roth is a reckless, and nasty head hunter who will knock you out cold when given the oppurtunity.  Matt finally started playing with some more composure, and got some playing time near seasons end.  Even though Matt has short arms for a DE he makes up for it in quickness and aggressiveness.  David Bowens also played well when he came in. 

  The secondary is what plagued the Dolphins most of last season.  Long gone are the days of Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain.  Sam gave it his all last season and made some plays, but it was eveident that Sam was not the type of corner that Coach Nick Saban desired.  Rookie Travis Daniels played exceptionally well for his first year in the league and had good success against some of the leagues elite receivers.  Coach Nick Saban wasted no time this off-season in upgrading the secondary this off-season by signing free agents Will Allen, Renaldo Hill and Andre Goodman.  Will Allen was somewhat of a dissapointment in New York with the Giants.  The coaching staff hopes that a new system and a change of scenery for Allen will just be what the doctor ordered.  However, most eyes will be on Will Poole and Shirdonya Mitchell.  Two guys that were bitten by the injury bug.  Poole showed promise in the 2004 season and many expected him to start opposite of Madison before the beginning of 2005 campaign.  However a torn ACL sidelined those plans.  Shirdonya Mitchell was an undrafted free agent out of Missouri who many believed would've drafted extremely high if it hadn't been for an knee injury.  I know I'll be watching these two closely too see how they have recovered from their respective injuries.

  At the safety position, last season Lance Schulters played some great football.  Making many of the key plays when it counted the most.  However, Schulters is gone and now some of top spots in the SS/FS position.  Yeremiah Bell and Traveres Tillman played well last season.  Many believe that Yeremiah will be a starter while the other spot will be up for grabs between Traveres Tillman, rookie Jason Allen, and free agent Deke Cooper.

  On Special Teams long snapper John Denney was effective in replacing veteran Ed Perry.  He only muffed one snap in the 2005 season.  P Donnie Jones started out on the practice squad, and then was called up when Matt Turk went on IR.  Jones was inconsistent early, but as the season progressed he made some great punts and nearly was a Pro Bowler because of it.  Olindo Mare, has been a good field goal kicker for the Dolphins.  But he hasn't really lived up to a contract that's worth $10 million dollars.  As good as Olindo is from the 50+ range, he missed several 30-35 yard field goals.  Those are field goals that Mare should never miss.  With his kind of talent he should be performing better than what he has.  He still has a powerful kickoff leg, but he needs to be more consistent on field goals.

  Now with all of that said...  Who is going to be the "Beast of the AFC East?"  Well to be honest it's only June, and a lot can happen between June and December.  I will say this, the front-runners will be New England and Miami.  Both of these clubs will have to have some luck when it comes to keeping guys healthy, as well as hoping that some of their draft picks and free agent signings play up to or close to their potential.  With Miami, the biggest hope is that the secondary is better, Ronnie Brown and Sammy Morris can be an effective duo, and that Joey Harrington can be a good caretaker until Daunte can get back on the field.  With New England, it's their secondary, the new receivers, an older Corey Dillon, and of course life after Vinatieri.  Who will be AFC East Champion?  As a Dolphins fan I'll tell you that Miami will be the champs until you're blue in the face.  As an objective football fan, I'm not sure.  I do know that these two teams will be the front runners.

[mcduff81]

I think we are a wildcard team this year. Just a few too many question marks and some tough games..

Next year, we not only win the AFC East, but challenge for the AFC.

[Sunstroke]

How many biased Dolphin articles are posted here ?

Not to belabor the obvious, Sir Numb of Nutz, but this is a "Dolphins" fan site. If you go to the Bills' fan site, do you "really" think that they have idiots posting articles about Miami going to win the division? Do you think that they post articles on the Jets fan site extolling the virtues of Nick Saban's new regime in Miami?

To answer for you...no, they don't. That's why I was curious why someone (who isn't even a fan of the Patriots OR the Dolphins) would bother posting such a ridiculously lame piece of NE propaganda here? Was there some redeeming literary qualities about it that you found intriguing? Some crackerjack piece of analytical reporting that we all really need to pounce on to help increase our knowledge of the AFC East? I did read the whole article...and I just don't see anything there worth writing about. It's fluff, it's bad fluff, and it's bad fluff posted on the wrong team's fan site.

Other than that...it was a most excellent post. 

[Denver_Bronco]

Not to belabor the obvious, Sir Numb of Nutz, but this is a "Dolphins" fan site. If you go to the Bills' fan site, do you "really" think that they have idiots posting articles about Miami going to win the division? Do you think that they post articles on the Jets fan site extolling the virtues of Nick Saban's new regime in Miami?

To answer for you...no, they don't. That's why I was curious why someone (who isn't even a fan of the Patriots OR the Dolphins) would bother posting such a ridiculously lame piece of NE propaganda here? Was there some redeeming literary qualities about it that you found intriguing? Some crackerjack piece of analytical reporting that we all really need to pounce on to help increase our knowledge of the AFC East? I did read the whole article...and I just don't see anything there worth writing about. It's fluff, it's bad fluff, and it's bad fluff posted on the wrong team's fan site.

Other than that...it was a most excellent post. 

I tried to find a fluff piece on the 9ers, but was unable to come up with anything positive about them. Excuse me.

[TonyB0D]

I tried to find a fluff piece on the 9ers, but was unable to come up with anything positive about them. Excuse me.

LOL

denver 1
stoke 0

[Sunstroke]

I tried to find a fluff piece on the 9ers, but was unable to come up with anything positive about them. Excuse me.

You're a blind man, D_B... I found a ton of fluff pieces on the 49ers for you. Following your own particular brand of brilliance, I just went and posted them on the Broncos fan site for you to read.   

Feel free to hang out there a while...