Aside from Bess and Fasano, no one played up to their talent and ability. Not Henne, not Ronnie, not Ricky, not Polite, not Marshall, not Hartline, not Long, Not Carey, not Incognito, not Berger, and not Jerry. There were reasons/excuses, depending your point of view, with injuries, play calls, and being new to the team. However, the bottom line is that 11 of 13 players on O did not do what they shoulda, woulda, coulda done. Any questions?
Actually, its even simpler than that. We have a bad QB. Get good play out of the QB position, then you have a good team. You don't, then you have the Fins same problems for the last 9 out of 10 years. Fins need to spend big on a QB for once.
did Fasano really play up to par .... he had about 4-6 good games; Bess i'll agree did about as good a job as he can ....
I consider Fasano's blocking as well as how many times he was targeted. I believe he can do better but, has to be given the chance. Not having any semblance of a 2nd TE hurt him as well.
IMO the offense was improved by getting rid of Henning more than adding any player. We can get a new QB and whatever but without Henning this offense is better already.
lol. Can you tell us your master plan that involves spending big on a QB that will single handedly fix our entire offense? Cause there is only about 3-4 QBs in the NFL right now that can single handedly fix an offense and I can tell you they are going nowhere right now.
Tony's head is still in the sand denying he did a poor job so...you can talk about injuries but the game planning was still weak and the play calling at times was much worse. All that is on the head coach.
My questions are "What the heck are you saying?" and "Are you saying our offense will simply "fix" itself?" and "How do you know 11 of 13 players didn't play up to their talent and ability?" What has Henne done to show that he has more talent and ability than he displayed this year? This year was essentially a carbon-copy of last year. Maybe, Henne DID live up to his talent and ability. For that matter, when has Jerry ever shown his talent and ability was better than it is this year? The same for Berger. The same for Hartline. And how do you know that after all the injuries Ronnie has suffered that his talent and ability is exactly what he showed this year? And how do you know that age has not started to slow down RW? Sounds like a "fantasy" way of looking at things imo. Maybe the real problem was we had a poor OC and we simply DON'T have that good of talent and ability on offense. Sounds a lot more realistic to me. The "solution" is to UPGRADE the talent and ability on the roster and not to pretend everyone just underperformed.
If we had an OC that used the TE position on a regular basis then I think you could say that with out a doubt. Yes we can improve but we have never used Fasano consistently through a whole year with Henning.
I hear what you are saying bro, however getting a new running game going, and serious competition at the QB position will lift this team significantly.
Great post. Sometimes people forget that we're playing against other NFL teams, that you can't just trot out a garbage lineup and expect them to play well.
Obviously henning was a major problem, but we still have a conservative-by-nature hc who doesn't mind max pro sets. Some seem to have forgotten fasano's 2009 season. remember the drops & fumbles? In today's nfl he is simply a backup.
Great questions, hope the answers are as good. I am saying that I believe we have reason to expect a lot of improvement from within, and do agree that we do need some upgrades. Henne played pretty well in a number of games, much better in the first 11 than the rest. He had to deal with no running game, developing a chemistry with Marshall, injuries, and play calls. He will play better. I watched Jerry some in College and the pre-season, when he won a starting job. He was much better than what he showed after being hurt. He will be better. According to PFF, Berger had a rating of 10.9 in 09. This year a 1.3. Big difference. Hartline was our best player on O for 5 weeks before being injured. You may be right on R&R. Don't know. They showed flashes but, overall were horrible. Although you did not bring up Fasano, he was rated #4 at TE. He caught 71% of passes thrown to him, a 13.5 avg, and 5.4 YAC. Hardly a "second TE." LOL
I couldn't agree with you more, it doesn't matter who your QB is if you can't run or stop the run. Think about Marino he never had a running game and he never won the SB.
Jake Long? Really? The guy had given up no sacks, 6 pressures, and 2 quarterback hits in 9 games prior to his injury. Ryan Clady gave up nearly that much vs. the 49ers.
I did list reasons/excuses for players not being as good as they could have been, including injuries. You actually quoted them. I've seen that a lot on this forum. Do posters read things they are replying to?
Our team was built to be able to run, at least some. When that did not happen, we put more pressure on Henne than he was ready for. When we were able to run, it left Henne with manageable downs and distance. All the 3rd and long's were difficult with the surrounding available talent, and the play calls. DON'T MAKE ANY MISTAKES but, throw a lot.
The running game. Thats what we need to fix. If we were in a great position to go and upgrade QB, id say go for it. But we're not. So get the running game going again. Draft Mark Ingram or Lamichael james. Keep ronnie as a starter/backup so they can split carries. That'd give us a blend of speed and power. Our o line isnt terrible but we could upgrade a few places, mainly in the depth department. If this team can get back to averaging over 100 yds a game on the ground, we will be a MUCH better team. Regardless of QB. We all watched Flacco and Ryan fall apart yesterday because their teams were both put into situations where their running game was either not working or they were too far behind. Nobody expects them to pass 40 times and win and thats exactly what we did to Henne all season.
Wait, according to you, though I don't completely agree, 11 out of 13 players on offense, costing the team millions of dollars didn't play well and our problems on O our simple? How so? What's the simple plan to fix this simple problem? IYO we have no QB, no RBs, no WRs and no OL. Again, I don't completely agree, but what's the simple fix? Better coaching?? ... Just curious.
VG point. Flacco and Ryan looked like Henne in his last 4-5 games. Granted that they were playing against great D's, and TO's were the difference. How does Henne play IF we could run some, and have missed TO"s?
Players being healthy, fitting into a new team, and playing to your ability is a great start. I never said we have no players on O, just that they did not produce as we all thought they would. The simple fix, regardless of who is responsible, is to block, run, throw, and catch. Not as simple as it sounds. Let me reverse this question. Who, in anyone's mind, played up to their ability last year, as far as production expected? I take injury as a reason they did not, and hope that will not be a factor this year.
Personally I think Jake Long played very well considering he played with one arm for most of the season. I do agree that Bess is a keeper. Marshall and Henne never appeared to be on the same page for most of the season. I blame Henne for this. So to me, the Dolphins should keep Marshall, Bess, and Long and upgrade every other position on the offense over the next few years. As far as Fasano goes. He is an average to below average TE in the NFL. He would be no more than a backup TE on almost every other team in the NFL.
Well if the Dolphins could beat Mediocre-Bad teams and win home games, Lions Bills Browns, they could've had a 10-6 record. Not counting the Steelers win that was stolen by the ref. They don't completely seem to be a far away 7-9. But they're missing the QB and the O-Line, two of the most important parts. Guess we'll find out if Henning was the main problem. Can't see the Dolphins or Jets putting up much of a challenge to the Patriots for the division title next year with all the Patriots draft picks. That's even if the Jets manage to beat the Patriots today, they are mainly built for this season and seem to be happy signing whoever they can to short contracts and tossing draft picks. I wouldn't be surprised if the Jets won 10/11 games next year, but I wouldn't be surprised if they won 6/7/8. The Patriots I'd be surprised if they won less than 11 games. Dolphins should know they have to do what they can to get in playoffs though, because they are on the hottest of hot seats.
Was it only the "Fool On The Hill" who was responsible? Or, were players also responsible for our "Helter Skelter" play?
the fix & destruction are the same: with a pro-bowl quality center & guard Sparano can fix it the way he broke it
