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How good is this team?

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by PhinsRock, Dec 23, 2008.

  1. PhinsRock

    PhinsRock Premium Member Luxury Box

    I am stealing this thread title from Club Level but only for a specific purpose. In Club this is a really good thread, and I hope this same question sparks some good discussion, just as it did in the other thread.

    I however had thought of an answer to this question that I felt so good about, that I felt I should start this thread here in this forum. My answer was this:

    I hope all of you are feeling as good as I am about this team. Win or lose Sunday, a 10 win season was not in ANYBODY's prediction bag on this entire site at the beginning of this season. I personally predicted 5-7 wins MAX. Said I would be happy with 8 wins, just so nobody could call us "losers" any more. Needless to say I am ECSTATIC with 10 wins! This is the happiest I have ever been to be wrong and if we win Sunday against the Jests, which now I actually predict we will, well all I can say is just freakin WOW!

    Merry Christmas Dolphin Nation! :knucks:
     
  2. gafinfan

    gafinfan gunner Club Member

    If we play mistake free football and stay focused on one game at a time I feel we can beat anyone. People are always pointing out the pro bowl players or lack thereof as just how good a team is but thats not the whole story. How many # one picks do you have? We are just one player away or all we need is a all world WR, a QB with a stronger arm. Are these thing important, yes up to a point, but without great coaching and good team chemistry a Brett Farve and 6 other pro bowlers won't win many games without that certain something called chemistry plus a little luck.

    The SuperBowl, sure why not, but only if we take care of business one game at a time!:up:
     
    Agua likes this.
  3. MS4FINS

    MS4FINS Season Ticket Holder

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    We are good when Chad Pennington plays well. And our team depends on him to play at a high level.
     
  4. dolfan06

    dolfan06 New Member

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    yes, i'd like to see a W this sunday but it makes no difference what happens this week. show me one team that has won 10 times as many games as they did the previous year. you can't, because the dolphins have created another record for teams to beat.
     
    mullingan likes this.
  5. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    PhinsRock likes this.
  6. finserg

    finserg Well-Known Member

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    I think we still need a long way about 2 more years of drafting and free agent pick ups,Im happy were winning but i dont feel we are a true play off contender just yet.If we make it i dont see us getting past our first play off team...Man i hope they proof me wrong :cry:
     
    Pauly likes this.
  7. slickj101

    slickj101 Is Water

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    I think we're so good bc like others have said, we don't make many mistakes. Not turning the ball over and playing smart football has done wonders for our season.

    I think our offense is very effective and efficient. Pennington does exactly what he needs to do to keep us moving down the field. Our RB committee is one of the elite in the league and certainly adds a lot to our production. I can't wait to see Ronnie fully recovered next year after he's been making strides every week and looking closer and closer to the Ronnie I remember.

    Our OL is doing well for being so battered and/or inexperienced. Same with our WR's. I'm pretty amazed that I haven't really thought of Greg Camarillo being out until now. That says a lot.


    Our defense. Our defense is... "playing near the height of their potential" for the moment. Our secondary is playing their asses off lately. I always thought that we had more talent in our secondary than just W Allen. Bell and Goodman have affirmed my beliefs.

    Our pass rush and MLB play on the other hand is scary at times. Having Crowder out really made us look weak. And for our pass rush we have Joey Porter and.....yea, Joey Porter. I think Langford (and hopefully Merling too) will progress nicely during the offseason and be ready to show improvement next year. But damn, I really hope we can get another pass rusher in FA. I'm assuming we draft an OLB too, but doing both would really make me feel content for the time being.



    I really get giddy for our future when I start to see our team being molded in the likeness of other powerhouses like NYG, Pitt, or Bal. Tough, hard hitting, cold mo-fo's who would make the opposing team work their *** off for every yard.

    That's exactly the kind of team I wished we had for as long as I can remember. Then we hired Cameron. All kidding aside, I'm incredibly pumped for the future.



    Overall, our team is good. We're well-coached, organized, and make few mistakes. We capitalize on what talents we do have and find ways to use them in exploiting other teams' weaknesses. In short, we're good enough to send the Jets home and punch our playoff ticket.
     
    dolfan06, PhinsRock and alen1 like this.
  8. Pauly

    Pauly Season Ticket Holder

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    Last year we played a tough schedule, lost a lot of close games and had wretched luck with injuries (especially who was injured and when).
    This year we've played a soft schedule, won a lot of close games and had pretty good luck with injuries (only key starter lost injury has been Justin Smiley late in the season).

    Until I see a multi-year trend that says Sparano has found the magical pixie dust of being better than 50-50 in close ball games I will not be convinced that there is something out of the ordinary happening. I've seen it too many times where a team has won a lot of close games in year 1 and every jumps on there bandwagon only for the wheels to fall off in year 2 when they return to average.

    Also we've feasted on the AFC and NFC west this year, and I think there's fair argument to say that historically you'd have to go back decades to find two weaker divisions on our schedule.

    Even if you concede that the new off-season conditioning regime significantly helps with reducing injuries, which is something I don't necessarily agree with, this year we've had an excellent run with injuries. Players are always going to be injured in the NFL, but we haven't lost any key skill players to long term injuries.

    Assuming an 11-5 end record, I think the talent level of this club is closer to 8-8, and we'll have to improve significantly next year just to maintain our record. FWIW I believe that this is something that is being put in place by Parcells and co by their emphasis of solid fundamentals rather than the smoke and mirrors of Saban's year 1.
     
  9. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    I said after the first game that this team goes as Pennington goes. We are as good as he plays. With the exception of the Arizona and Baltimore games, he's played well enough to win every time out.

    As for the team, I have never (in my lifetime) seen a Pro Football team maximize its talent to the fullest like this Miami Dolphins team. The ability to win close games is a credit to the coaching staff and the mentality that Sparano brings as Head Coach.

    I'll be disappointed if we lose Sunday, but it's been one helluva ride.
     
    mullingan likes this.
  10. PhinsRock

    PhinsRock Premium Member Luxury Box

    While you make some very valid points, we have a team that has the foundations of being a team nobody will want to play next season. We have the coaching staff, and FO in place and they will stay in place for a long time I hope. Add 1 or 2 more off season's worth of talent acquisition in FA and solid drafts, and we will be the team to beat in another year or two. So IMHO, we are what our record says we are. Do I expect to go far in the playoffs if we make it? No, actually I don't think we have the talent to win a single playoff game. But, still, we are what our record says we are, and we are going to continue to get better as our talent levels improve and the whole team doesn't have to adjust to new offensive & defensive scheme's next season. In other words, it's all good :up:
     
  11. Onehondo

    Onehondo Senior Member Club Member

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    Who would have thought or even given us a chance of going into the last game of this season with a chance to win the division.
    All I can say is, it sure is nice going into the last game of the season at 10-5 rather than 1-14.
     
    The Aqua Crush likes this.
  12. GARDENHEAD

    GARDENHEAD Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Short answer: We're pretty damn good, but not good enough to win a playoff game on the road.
     
  13. NJFINSFAN1

    NJFINSFAN1 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    I think we are good, but remember we had a dam easy schedule. If we played a first place schedule, we maybe fighting for 500.
     
  14. anlgp

    anlgp ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

    Good enough to be AFCE Champions .......? :shifty:
     
  15. FaninPatsyLand

    FaninPatsyLand The Truth

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    Well in all fairness to this team, we lost both of our non-common games (BAL, @ HOU), so a first place schedule wouldn't have made a difference (though we could have suffered one or two more blowout losses, ala Arizona).

    I see your point though, the AFC and NFC West divisions were pathetic and a 7-1 mark in those games surely inflated our record. But the same can be said for the rest of our division.
     
  16. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Why not? We're tied for ninth in the league when it comes to takeaways and are at the top when it comes to giveaways compared to takeaways. If we protect the ball, I think we can win on the road in the playoffs, assuming we get there.
     
  17. dolfan06

    dolfan06 New Member

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    why not, i was in KC for the game and if they can win in the conditions they played in there, they CAN win anywhere.
     

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