I’m posting this entry in the Club Level as the responses in the main forum have been what you’d expect. My hope is that it’ll generate more conversation here rather than calls to fire Adam Gase, Mike Tannenbaum and to burn down Dolphins HQ in Davie.
Sorry I’m a few days late in getting the blog posted. We’re officially in high-gear for final wedding preparations and with my mom’s birthday, my fiance’s birthday and her mother’s birthday all this month, things have been a bit hectic. Hectic is probably a good word to describe the manner of the offseason Miami’s about to be thrust into. I watched the Patriots game expecting a blowout. I even predicted 45-10 to one of my friends who is a Patriots fan. He’s pretty knowledgeable about football and even understand Miami’s plight this season about as much as can possibly be expected from a Patriots fan.
Miami tried their best to stay in that game, but just like this season they came up short. They held the Patriots to a 3 & out (when’s the last time they did that? I honestly don’t know…) on the first drive. They seriously did that. They then got burned by a fake punt, which was fumbled by Nate Ebner but seemingly no one cared about that. Not sure who recovered the fumble, but he fumbled it.
Miami had a chance to get close before the half, but Matt Moore underthrew a pass and DeVante Parker adjusted horribly and it was picked off in the endzone.
Walt Aikens knocked a punt from Danny Amendola and Michael Thomas recovered. But, magically, a Patriot had the ball and was ruled down in the pile and no one seemed to care.
Such is life in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Anyways, I’m not sure I see Miami winning more than two games the rest of the way. If they do, they’re coming this week against Denver and in the home finale against Buffalo, unless EVERYTHING is on the line for the Bills to win their playoff drought. I’ll still watch every remaining Dolphins game, but I’m secretly jumping on my hometown team’s bandwagon – the Bengals – in hopes that they can make a playoff run, and thus Marvin Lewis gets a new contract. Bengals fans will “LOVE” that.
But what of Miami? Well, I think this situation sort of mirrors a situation we as fans are familiar with. The 2016 season was reminiscent of the 2008 season. Miami got off to a slow start, hit a hot streak and beat some bad teams, some by close margins, and made the playoff only to get blasted in the first round. I think we expected to lose at Heinz Field without Tannehill and a patchwork defense, but it was similar. And similarly to the 2009 season, I think Miami overvalued their roster heading into 2017. Obviously losing Ryan Tannehill and Raekwon McMillan before the season even began were big blows, but Miami had a LOT of mis-reads on personnel. You know all the names by now so I won’t rehash.
Miami didn’t have a solid draft in the 2009 season. Free agency saw Miami bring in some names: Cameron Wake, Jake Grove and re-acquiring Jason Taylor, but they didn’t start off great and didn’t finish well. What I hope happens with this upcoming offseason, and really what this season brings to light, is that Miami’s made to many mis-evaluations with personnel. They have too many overpaid, underachieving players on the roster and it’s time to trim some fat. I think that means trying to trade of players like a Mike Pouncey and maybe a DeVante Parker, even if the return on investment isn’t great. Give yourself ammunition in the salary cap and with draft picks; Miami need to give themselves as many at bats as they can get in terms of acquiring more talent.
I’ll probably give my specific thoughts on moves Miami makes at the end of this season, but for now, I’m going to try and enjoy the games as best I can. There’s no more scoreboard watching. Miami’s done. I hope to see some young players improve down the stretch – I’m looking at you Charles Harris, Cordrea Tankersley, Vincent Taylor. I’m looking to see if some guys get activated and get reps – De’Veon Smith, Isaac Asiata and maybe A.J. Derby. I’m looking to see if maybe another body from the practice squad gets called up.
But what I’m hoping for most is that the coaching staff and front office don’t fool themselves into thinking that simply getting Ryan Tannehill back and adding a RB is going to cure all the ills this team has. Because it won’t. The O-line is a mess. The D-line needs work. They need a dynamic LB in the worst way – let’s face it, Kiko Alonso has played like crap the past month and a half and Lawrence Timmons is now giving snaps up to Stephone Anthony; I can’t imagine that means he’s going to be a Dolphin in 2018. And, perhaps maybe above anything else other than maybe the O-line, you’ve got to figure out the communication issues in the secondary. That’s what’s on the menu right now. See what you need to correct going into the offseason and give yourselves a REAL chance to get it right.
As an ever-loyal fan, I have to admit that with the off-season and onset of the draft there comes a Christmas-like excitement. Sadly, Miami is one of several teams whose most exciting moments are often in April. That's embarrassing, but it's true. We're constantly talking about the potential of various players. I think Puff Daddy really said it best. "You ain't gotta like me…you're just mad 'cuz I tell it like it is and you tell it like it might be."
Every off-season we're one of the fan-bases that's so often forced to talk about how it might be.
I understand how that becomes annoying at a point. I understand how people can become cynical. To me, that's probably the end of the road. If you lose that sense that things might turn around–the way a lot of folks in the Mains seem to–then you should probably find something else to do with your time. Either pick a different team, watch college football or drop the sport altogether. I've met a lot of older fans who've watched this team go from being elite in the early '70s to being a joke in more recent times.
I even had someone in my family walk away this year. She said, 'We live in SC now. I've always supported the Panthers as my NFC favorite. I can't stand watching the Dolphins anymore. I'm just going to be 100% all in with the Panthers this year. I'm officially turning in my fan card regarding the Dolphins.' She's no fair-weather fan, either. She's watched the Dolphins for 50 years!
There comes a time when you realize that somehow, someway all the projections always prove to be overly optimistic. I'd imagine it's been the same way for fans of the Browns, Buccaneers, Bears, Rams and Jaguars. Sad to say, the Dolphins are firmly entrenched in that group of bad teams that can't seem to sustain positive momentum. But I think the answer is to believe that you're never out of it–that you're 2-3 years away from being the in the Play-offs and maybe even being one of the best teams in the league.
The Rams appear to have finally gotten over the hump by supplementing their D with competent coaching and QB-play. They are exploding this year, as are the Eagles. Meanwhile, the Jaguars seem to be a single player away from possibly being an elite team, as crazy as that sounds. If they found their own Watson, Wentz, Goff or Prescott in the 1st-round this year, they could seriously upset the AFC South in a big way–a division that looks like it's going to have a lot of good QBs in it, btw!
Like most here, I know enough about the structure of the organization to at least understand why a lot of the moves were made. If I had to describe the nature of why those moves so often failed it'd be that the team felt compelled to retain guys who showed something. We've simply been too desperate. On that basis, I think Tannenbaum has just been too aggressive. He's not wrong for trying, but he's too focused on making success happen immediately and too willing to pay veterans versus giving a younger player a chance.
I think we may have seen a bit of change in that regard this year as many of the younger draft picks looked promising. While McMillan was the only guy slotted to start, it actually ended up being everyone else who contributed from Tankersly to Godchaux to Harris to Taylor.
When we do need to bring someone in we to need to be disciplined enough to offer a solid player a solid contract, rather than a big payday. Stop over-paying. There isn't a single player on the Dolphins roster right now that couldn't be replaced. If Tannehill was gone, Miami could draft a replacement. If Suh was gone, we'd be out from under that crazy contract. If Jones or Landry left, honestly, we'd see a drop in production but neither are perfect players. Jones struggles in coverage and Landry seems limited as a slot receiver.
So nothing's sacred at this point. I think several of the contracts currently on the books are fine. Tannehill and Stills are making fair money. Several promising players are still on rookie deals. But I'd like to see Miami really tighten their belts for a year. Just show some discipline and try to add solid pieces where the team is barely getting by: C, G, TE, DE, LB and CB.
The Dolphins can cut a lot of fat this off-season and they're lined up for a very good payday in the draft. No reason to think the team can't be better and/or cheaper at virtually all those positions next year.
I’m almost at my favorite part of being a dolphin fan….the offseason..
Just gotta see what happens with the broncos, we win that, then I’ll have to wait for the pats game..
Could be a couple weeks before I go full metal jacket on the offseason..
But I enjoy reading everyone’s perspective and angles on how they would proceed.
It's so hard to accurately diagnose your team when the definite, locked in starter at QB has not played a snap this season…which is why I've remained optimistic despite some truly bad football. Because let's face it, if we're scoring an extra 14 points a game, do we really have a massive problem at LB, CB, DE, etc? Maybe not. We all had so much hope for this to finally be the season and it's the exact opposite, so it's really hard to judge objectively.
Also, I'm struggling with how much blame to place on Gase for the whole Cutler fiasco. Our line is probably "good enough" for an agile pup like Tannehill in the pocket, and I was impressed how Cutler initially slid away from pressure in ways that we haven't seen in awhile. But then came the hits, and the bad footwork, and the awkward releases, and I can't help but think, "What did Gase expect to happen?" We were not set up for a pure pocket passer and it woefully shows. I'd also love to know how much of the playbook was actually altered or scrapped completely to make that transition….only to turn everything back in about 8 weeks as we watch the post-season and root for NE to lose.
So for me personally, I'm giving the entire team a pass on this season…and I'm even extending one to Gase for now IF we finish with at least five wins (which means beating at least one of six down the stretch). That may sound a little too conservative but without an offense, this just isn't a team that can compete with any type of consistency. So I'm really looking forward to the offseason as well.
ryan is ''agile''?
Yes, but then again those positions are all still going to be needs regardless of who the QB is. Maybe they appear less dire, but all the same arguments generally still apply.
Last year we saw this team go 10-6 against a weak schedule. They'll have that schedule again next year (which is nice) but I think we're all still feeling like the best outcome is still in that window of 8-11 wins. And that leaves a lot to be desired.
Even if they end up with a winning record next year, it's not going to be one that's reflective of a dominant team. So the question is how you make a team that's at or slightly above .500 into a real contender.
To me, that suggests there has to be something emerge that's on the level of the league's elites. It might be that Tannehill explodes and puts up Rodgers-level numbers. It might be that offense looks like Atlanta in that it stays balanced but is really potent. Maybe Harris becomes a stud or Miami drafts the right guy and they begin to pressure opposing QBs like we haven't seen.
I think it's hard to imagine any of those things happening though. I don't think Tannehill's destine to be an elite passer, nor do I see the D-line going from what it is to being elite in a year's time. So *maybe* we get that balanced offense? But that would require several things happen. I think the team would have to find at least 1 serious play-maker in the draft. I think Gase would have to take a step forward with his play-calling. And certainly Tannehill would have to play really well.
That's probably the most likely scenario if things do go well, but it's going to be challening for sure.