Everyone has Phish stories on what coulda, woulda, shoulda happenened IF ___________? Here's a chance to go back through Dolphin history and fill in the blank. Name owner, front office, coaches, games, and players through the draft, free agency, trades, and injuries who got away from making a positive impact on our team? Add in what changes you believe they would have made if ya like.
....IF,only the Joe Robbie woulda ponied up more cash to keep Csonka ,Kicke and Warfield....(Old wounds never heal)
If only Don SHula had a real GM during the Marino years. maybe he would have had more than one shot at the SB. What a wasted decade that was.
Not trading up for Marcus Allen. Joe Robbie stated after that draft that they could have traded up for him if only they had known he would last that long. What's ridiculous is that he went exactly where every draft publication thought he would go. We went into that draft needing a back. We would have had Marino, Allen and Marks Brothers.
Dan was notorious for audibles out of run plays, but if you have a guy that makes plays even when the blocking breaks down, I would imagine that he would have trusted the run more. Also Allen was such a good receiver that I think he would have fit that offense to a tee. Allen on any LB was a mismatch.
Of course passing on Drew Brees, not once, but twice. That to me was the worst thing this franchise has done. Brees with our early 2000's defenses would have brought two, or three championships.
Brees maybe most of all- twice. Randy Moss, Tim Tebow and Christian Ponder. I'm obviously in the minority when it comes to Tebow and Ponder, but that's ok.
Brees was another one that bothered me a ton. I was having pre-draft dreams about Miami drafting Brees (I know that's probably indicative of me being a freak). I was crushed when they passed on him and would have to restrain the urge to not punch Wanny in the face if I ever ran into him. I liked Culpepper, but was very vocal in my preference for Brees when those debates were going on. I recall arguing with CK that I thought that Brees would be the better choice.
I am a U of Miami alumnus, and even I would take Ponder in a NY minute. That guy is going to be golden for Minnesota, as I feel they have the next great QB. I watched that guy make play after play against my Hurricanes the last couple of years. He will be a steal of the draft type of guy.
I remember Yatil Green, our #1 pick in 97. JJ told him he had to stay healthy, and he had 10 knee surgeries from his first camp. I saw him a lot at the U. He could have been very special.
Allen was also a great short yardage back in spite of his size. Oh well, we got Roy Frakin Foster in place of a HOF RB. Considering the time and surrounding talent, that was a bigger Phish getting away than Brees.
How about ST coach Mike Westoff? Not only do we lose him because of Wanny but he haunts us by doing a great job for the Jets.
Fire Tom Olivadotti and bring in a REAL D-coordinator. Imagine having Marino, Clayton, Duper (or even Ingram and Fryar) playing with defense that is up to par with one we have now. Scary things and many Super Bowls.
Drafting Matt Ryan instead of Jake Long. We had to surround him with the fourth leading rusher in the league, a great number 1 receiver, a future HOF TE, and a solid D just to have him fold in the Playoffs. We even had to trade two drafts to draft him another stud receiver just to see if he could get it done in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Atlanta has a solid young D, a great young prospect at RB, a solid WR corp with some speed added, and a lot of money under the cap to work with. Even if their QB doesn't pan out, the 2011 crop of QB's is incredible with guys like Andrew Luck and Landry Jones.
For me: -NOT trading for David Boston would have been huge -NOT forcing Wanny to live under a GM -NOT building the Oline when Saban first arrived, instead he took specialized types of players who mostly busted, Jest did draft for the Oline and they are reaping the rewards. -NOT hiring Mike Tomlin instead of Cam Cameron -NOT having a tradition of beloved Veteran Coaches and Players bowing out gracefully as Dolphins, Shula, Marino, Wanny, Saban, people do not leave Miami they are ejected from the building and it is tawdry. -NOT replacing Joe Robbie Stadium, this "we will just build another addition" stuff is run down trailer park thinking, someone jiggle the handle on that mess..please Imo, the moves NOT made have haunted us for the last 20 yrs, when there is a fork in the road the Dolphins Organization virtually always takes the wrong direction to travel, do think things have improved with Sparano/Ireland, but it is not out of bold moves paying off it is from boring sure to succeed moves working but not at a high level.
Cute... I'm sure Atlanta and their fans are envious of our situation. I really wanted Matt Schaub when he came out, lasted until the third round.
Ouch that I did not know. I loved watching Allen too. My neighbor was a raiders fan growing up and Allen was my favorite non dolphin. Passing on boldin for Eddie Moore was brutal. It seemed like everyone except Wanny knew boldin was going to be a good player. Missing out on Brees twice. I especially wanted him more then Fletcher. I was torn between C Pep and Brees. Those were probably the two worst personnel decisions of the past decade or so.
The team actually wanted Randy McMillan that year, a RB from Pitt. But the Colts beat us to him. Regardless, what happened to David Overstreet was a tragedy and we lost one heck of a talented back. If we're adding deaths to the list, Larry Gordon dying about a year before was a tragedy as well, and he was a darned good OLB.
Eh, the RyanJets have benefitted greatly from: -no salary cap for 2 yrs -Mangini's excellent drafts -willingness to trade picks for players with expiring contracts in the yr after they were acquired. Sparano was brought in basically to rebuild the franchise, Ryan was brought in to a team that made the playoffs in 07 and just missed out in 08, with 9 Starters that are FA's, and having drafted few players the last couple of yrs, let's see if Ryan can keep up the success before making the choice between the two.
Didn't have a chance to draft Manning. He went number one overall. The Colts weren't trading out of that spot.
Two actually come to mind strongly now that I think of it: First, the 1974 playoff game against the Raiders when I was a kid. Nat Moore opened the game with a kickoff return for a TD. At the very end of the game Ken Stabler somehow managed to hurl a pass into the endzone, off balance, with Vern Den Herder all over him, right between several Dolphins defenders. Even as a little kid it made me sick to watch, and I actually cried like the baby that I was. That, even at such a young age, sucked wang. Go to 3:25: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uIdMEn9Jfg The other was the Super Bowl against the Redskins during the 1982 season. We should have lost that game anyway, but if Kim Bokamper had caught that tipped ball for an INT and very possibly a TD- game over. Not Kim's fault, great heads up play by Joe Theismann. But it sucked nonetheless: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6PbAF0lYOo
I remember thinking Benny Malone scored too early and all they needed was a field goal anyway. How about Andra Franklin fumbling when we were going to run the clock out against the Chargers epic playoff game.
Because Wanny "had" Boston, drafting Boldin, or any other Wr, did not happen, why when you have "all pro David Boston and as soon as he is healthy..." He never was healthy, he is a great example of what a Roadblock looks like. Let me flip through the Draft Classes of that era for Wr's: Those two yrs we needed a Wr, did not draft one. Malcolm Floyd UDFA Josh Cribbs UDFA Lance Moore UDFA Nate Washington UDFA