I remember last pre-season when analysts were calling Miami and NY basically the same in talent. Yet, Phins go 7-9, and Jets are one game from the Super Bowl. What happened? On D, we were #6 oveall. The Jets were #3. No big difference. On pass D, we were #8. Jets were #6. No big difference. On run D, we were #7. Jets were #3. No big difference. On O, we were #21 overall. Jets were #11. On pass O, we were #16. Jets were #22. On run O, we were #21. Jets were #4. Big difference. That's all history. This season, I have to believe our D will be better than the Jets. IF we solve a few problems on the OL and RB, our O should be as good or better. Overall, we have youth getting better, while the Jets are older with cap problems. I do not see a reason we can not overtake them, and be a better version of the same type of team. How do you compare these two teams?
I feel like with a solid free agency and a solid draft, we can easily overtake them. They have a ton of problems with cap right now and it looks like they will be losing 3-5 starters and won't have enough space to replace those starters. We need to draft playmakers and targets for Henne on offense. A solid, healthy oline, paired with a solid run game is the most important right now and probably the easiest to fix given that we don't have many needs on the line and the draft/free agency is loaded with interior linemen and RBs. Then, if we can get Henne another receiving TE and 1-2 solid playmakers at the WR position, we should be good. It sounds like a lot, but I think we can easily manage to put together a solid offense this off season with our draft pick spots and our cap room.
The Jets did a better job of tailoring their play calling to the talent they had. They also did a better job of compiling talent that complemented what they had. I think the simplest answer is that the Jets didn't abandon the running game and Miami often did. People want to claim that Sanchez played better than Henne but there's no evidence of that. There's also no evidence that he he was better at end of games or on big plays. By every account he threw the ball to the opponents more but was just more fortunate. The difference is that they were lucky and won more so people then place more importance on his successful plays and minimize his poor plays. Going forward, there's going to be a big talent shuffle so who knows what the comparison will be then. But IMO the biggest factor will be how good of a job Daboll does.
I really like our defense going into the year, If Smith, Clemons and Misi improve like I think they will, I see a top 5 defense mos def..we were #2 in zed zone defense by the way.. Fu$k the Jets, they ain't sh$#...our defense will be so much better than their offense so games are always gonna be close.
I agree. Aside from QB, our needs have a ton of available talent to fill them, and we have all kinds of cap space to get it done. Soliai is staying. Shockey would be our next best move, for now.
I know I might get ripped for this but your analysis is missing a key detail: Coach Dolphins - Tony Sparano; Jets - Rex Ryan, big difference. Up until start of last season I'd say it was very close. Now I'm convinced Rex Ryan is a much better coach. Both in terms of motivation and Xs and Os. As Rafael already hinted at, offensive coaching was miles away better than ours this year.
Liking feet has nothing to do with winning and losing on the FOOTball field. Settling for field goals over TDs can have very much to do with winning and losing.
lets keep it real: & on coaching: Rex 8.5, Sparano 5.5 these are major differences across the board you have sited, not minor ones. don't see parity in any of the numbers you presented. what I see is the Jets are a full two steps ahead of Miami on anybody's scale. while they tweak & groom their team, dreaming of a Superbowl in 2011 we agonize over rebuilding the offense & another season under Sparano's misdirection. it is what it is, nothing more
There is a great deal of parity on D. On O, we were the better passing team but, they killed us in the running game.
lets keep it real: & on coaching: Rex 8.5, Sparano 5.5 these are major differences across the board you have sited, not minor ones. don't see parity in any of the numbers you presented. what I see is the Jets are a full two steps ahead of Miami on anybody's scale. while they tweak & groom their team, dreaming of a Superbowl in 2011 we agonize over rebuilding the offense & another season under Sparano's misdirection. it is what it is, nothing more
Aside from luck, I think the big difference was Henning. Henning was reportedly hired with the condition that he would have complete say over the offense. I believe that Sparano took over in the Detroit game as part of that 'is it Henning or Henne' experiment, but other than that I believe that Henning was responsible for the offense throughout. That gives me hope that we'll see some significant changes. Ultimately we'll need to upgrade at QB as well, but in the short term, I agree with you that we had similar talent to what the Jets had.
I think you're right on target with that. That's the biggest difference because talent wise the teams aren't that far apart.
