http://www.realfootball365.com/articles/dolphins/12879 "When searching for key catalysts in the Miami Dolphins’ sudden offensive resurgence, you hear names like Ronnie Brown, Chad Pennington, Anthony Fasano and even relative unknowns of Greg Camarillo's ilk. But perhaps the names team followers should be calling out are Jake Long, Vernon Carey, Samson Satele, Justin Smiley and Ikechuku Ndukwe." Give it a quick read and let me know your thoughts.
As I wrote in the essay contest last month. The most important facet of this team is the offensive line. I stated that if they did not play well we could not be consistently successfull. Now that they are playing well, and hopefully will continue, we can be a competitive football team that wins games conistently.
Last month there was an essay contest about what needed to be fixed first on the Miami Dolphins. I was the only one that entered the contest so not prizes were awarded due to lack of participation. (Man I really wanted to win that too, not saying if anyone else would have entered I was the winner but it would have been nice).
nice write up. I think many on here were thinking the turnaround was going to be because of both our lines. And that can be argued on offense or defense. Both lines are new , young and so far playing great and seem to be improving as the season moves along.
Prizes don't have to be awarded for you to be a winner! If it was me, I'd be declaring myself CHAMPION!!!
I think the key here is progression from week to week. They have improved steadily over the first 4 games, which is what I tried to highlight with the stats that I pulled. Hopefully, this trend will continue.
We have had an essay contest every quarter, the winner is awarded a one year membership in the Club forums, paid for by Club members looking for another way to give back to the site. We have had little interest the last two quarters which is enormously disappointing, but it also speaks good things about the general forums. Apparently the quality of the mains is so good that the members there do not see enough attraction in the Club forums to put forth the effort of an essay. That is really a bad appraisal but it is what it is. If anyone has any further questions please pm me, and let's get back on topic here. Hugo wrote a great article and we owe some respect in his thread. Hugo, my apologies for the off topic chatter. Great article, I enjoyed the heck out of this one. There are like Steve said, some others here that have been on that bandwagon for a long time.. me my whole life. I think your assesment is correct, and our line will be pretty special here directly if they keep improving. And we have a wounded warrior in the wings that may be special too. We are young and have MUCH to look forward too with these guys. I think the Parcells/Ireland/Sparano template is the only one that solidly works. Even Shula lost focus and it was his demise just like all the rest since him. Many gave it lip service over the years so we quit believing so we thought we were in heaven when Hud came aboard. But instead of dedicating assets to the line, Hud was supposed to make them serviceable and spend the assets elsewhere. This group backed up the talk by making their "statement" pick with the first overall, a left tackle. They expended more later in the draft and through F/A to bolster things further. These guys backed it up and two games into the season it began to hit on all cylinders. Failure to grasp this simple formula kills more coaches than any other thing IMO. How many years were wasted with sub-par lines on both sides. Some of us have been screaming at the top of our lungs for years, but to no avail. Along the way we learned a one dimensional line won't stand the test either. Did we ever have a 5:55 drive to seal the victory in Danny's days? Bet he would have had a fistful of rings if Shoes had given him a running game. So here I am, giddy over what I'm witnessing, I can hardly wait to see more. Thanks again for the great piece Hugo, smiled the whole time.
I hope our young line will continue to kick the opposition in the nuts (figuratively, of course) for years to come!
It's only 4 games into the season, our line has really improved, but are any of them legitimate contenders to make the Pro Bowl?
Thanks for that HG. Like Marty, as well as others the lack of attention paid to maintaining our OL has been excruciating. Wanny, truly disappointed me in that regard - the guy was an OT in college. He blocked for Tony Dorsett. You would think he would have fully understood the OL's importance. Knowing Cam was coming from a gig as OC, I thought he would want to build a powerhouse OL. But Nooooooo....... Anyway, I agree, I see steady and quality progress as the season continues. If they continue like that, this time next year ??...look out! Ricky and Ronnie may be averaging 5 ypc.
It makes a solid statement what Parcell, Ireland and Sparano think is a priority when you make the first signing in free agency moments after the start of free agency an offensive lineman and then makes the first pick in the draft an offensive lineman. It is also an indication how serious they think it is when with all of the needs this team has they still select a couple more offensive linemen. A lot of fans have been saying for years that they were not giving enough attention to the offensive line and considering it as an after thought. This team has purged the offensive line so many times it was like a resolving door. Its refreshing to know this group sees the importance of a good offensive line with success.
The key to keeping it going past this year, though, will be re-signing Smiley (which, from what I've heard, the FO is reluctant to do because he doesn't fit the prototype of what they want in terms of size and "nastiness") or finding an adequate replacement. EDIT: GAH! I meant Carey, not Smiley. Do over?
I thought that too. However, I've read that Carey is planning on shopping himself around come the FA period. If this is the case, I don't see him re-signing with us. He's going to be in the midst of a bidding war with a few teams and someone is going to overpay for Carey (probably to play LT again). I think the best we can hope for at this point is for Ndukwe, Garner or Barton to be ready to step into the RT spot.
God!!! this article makes me miss Donald Thomas......i dont know why, i just can't get over it, he was so promising
Great article, Hugo! I've agreed with Marty and a couple of others on here about our need to build a REAL O-line. Our new PTB have seen fit to actually follow through and build us one! Just wait until these kids are really comfortable with each other, I think they'll be something really special for a long time to come.
No reason why he shouldn't be back next season, although it probably would have helped him get some experience playing this year.
