I was at that game. I never would have guessed that we wouldn't win another playoff game in 22 years

 

Why torture yourself?

 

I remember reading he was so sore after that game he could barely get out of bed. Crazy to think that a NFL player doing his job was incapable of basic movement the day after. Having played college ball, really gives you perspective on how brutal the nfl is.

 

The game didn't sell out in time for a local broadcast and I remember driving to Brevard county to see it.That was a long ride home after being a bit over served.

 

I remember it being a little chilly that day, especially in the stadium with the wind blowing. Wannstedt ran Lamar Smith into the ground in that game

 

That's what The Stache did.

 

He ran two franchises into the ground, not just Lamar Smith. Wanny was like a tsunami that left nothing but devastation in his wake.

 

The early 2000's were the beginning of the downfall of the Dolphins but in all fairness to Wannstedt, it was his first year and he didnt have Marino at the helm any longer. Granted Marino was a shell of his former self, but he didn't have a true starting quarterback. I was, and still defend Fielder as a competitor on the field, but as far as a true quarterback, he was merely a bridge to the team's next franchise quarterback...which never happened during his tenure and in all fairness, wasn't one viably available.

The Dolphins didn't have a 1st round draft pick in 2000 and were we really going to trade all the way up to 10 to take Chad Pennington?
There was no way the Falcons were going to give up their 1st overall pick for Vick.

There weren't really any free agent quarterbacks available in 2000 nor 2001 that were barnstorming "gotta have"...Jeff Blake? Scott Mitchell? Neil O'Donnell? Jason Garrett?

I seriously doubt any blockbuster trade would have been made for a top 10 quarterback without seriously depleting our defense that helped us get to that 11-5 season.

I wasn't a fan of Wanny but in trying to be fair, he did do with what he had.

 

Uh.. no. That 2001 draft is inexcusable. We took Jamar Fletcher when we were loaded at CB and when almost everyone expected us to take Drew Brees. And in 2003 he overruled Spielman's plan (Wannstedt's contract allowed him to overrule the GM on draft choices) to take Anquan Boldin in the 2nd and instead took Eddie Moore.

Wannstedt deserves a lot of the blame for the Dolphins decline. Made a bunch of bad decisions on the field and with personnel choices. He just happened to inherit a very good team (except at QB and RB) from JJ.

 

Even if you let him slide for the 2000-2003 seasons, and the bad draft choices he forced, you can't excuse the fact he was perfectly content with keeping Fielder around as the starting QB. Remember his quote about, "What can Trent Green do that Jay Fielder can't?" and how he used up Ricky Williams just like he did to Lamar.

Wanny ended up as a disaster for Miami.

 

Brad, you’re looking at the Brees factor in hindsight. Brees was drafted in the 2nd round and struggled his first 3 years in the league. It wasn’t until the 2004 season that he had his breakout…and not until he was traded to New Orleans that he became what we know him to be today.

Nobody expected Brees to be what he became. If they did, Brees would have been a Falcon and not Vick.

Now when Miami had the chance to get Brees after the 2004 season and we went with Culpepper instead? Oh yea, THAT was the dumbest decision this organization ever made and after learning Saban wanted Brees instead of Culpepper, I give Saba a pass for getting out of our dumpster fire of an organization. It was obvious the front office wasn’t working with him.

But to the original point, it’s easy to look at things in hindsight when the initial foresight on Brees appeared to be accurate…a small quarterback who couldn’t play NFL football.

I’m glad that Brees was able to prove everyone wrong though…and would have LOVED having him here in Miami for the 05 season

 

No the Brees mistake is not hindsight. I remember that draft very well. It was one of the most unexpected moves on draft day. Practically everyone panned it. It's not just that Jamar Fletcher turned out to be a bust, it's that he was a CB and we already had Madison and Surtain, two of the best CBs in the league. We didn't need a CB in the slightest. We did need a QB real bad, and almost everyone had us getting Brees.

That Brees became elite was unexpected. Hard to ever predict that. But that he was at least solidly well above average from year 4 onwards was well within what many were hoping for. So no this isn't hindsight.

 

We weren’t getting Trent Green from Kansas City. There was no way that was happening. Dick Vermiel hitched his wagon to Green.

As for Smith and Williams? C’mon man, really? Lamar Smith only averaged 19 carry’s a game. Ricky averaged 23 carry’s a game.

Using THAT mindset, McDaniel is running Tyreek Hill into the ground with 1600 yards this thus far this season. Smith and Williams were dominating running backs, doing what dominating running backs do…just like Hill as a dominating receiver

 

Brad, the Chargers won 5 games in 2001, 8 games in 2002 and 4 games in 2003 with Brees as their starter. Jesus, Tua’s record is light years better than Bree’s’ and we have folks calling for him to be jettisoned.

Wannstedt and company would have been crucified for drafting Brees and having such a dismal record…much as the knives are already coming out against Tagovailoa now. Even you in your stats driven world would have been calling Brees a below average quarterback who didn’t have what it took to be a franchise quarterback. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t have been.

 

Statistically QBs start to plateau around years 3-4, so as I was saying with Tannehill and also with Tua we need to see how years 3-4 look like. Brees had only 1 game in year 1 so year 4 was really his year 3. I would have been banging the drum for jettisoning Brees after his first two years (years 2-3) except for emphasizing the need to see what his 3rd year starting was like, just like I said with Tua. And Brees came in #3 in passer rating in 2004 and #10 in 2005 so from a purely stats-driven perspective he would have been a keeper.

 

I'll sum up my arguments like this: Wanny was content with Fielder and made no real effort to upgrade, wasting a great defense and the best years of Ricky Williams trying to win with an average QB.

 

The last playoff game I went to, I believe it was when I was 18 or 19 (so 1991 or 1992). I want to say we played Baltimore in Joe Robbie and we shut them out like 22-0. Then we got blown out the following week. The game itself was glorious though; I bought the tickets for my dad for Christmas. I believe it was the first time I ever bought football tickets, so that was pretty cool as well.

 

I still think if Marino would have played for 1 or 2 more seasons, he could have finally gotten his ring. Our defense was great in 2000 and 2001, and we also finally had a decent running game which were the two things missing during the marino era.

 

Yeah, that 2001 draft was almost as bad as our 2017 and 2020 drafts. Guess who was our assistant director of college scouting in 2001 and helped make that Jamar Fletcher pick? Yup, Chris Grier.

 

As much as I loved Marino, he was a shell of what he once was his last couple of years in the league. It was time for him to retire. Marino’s last best chance was the 93 season…sadly the season he tore his Achilles.

 

Problem is he played in an era when you could actually hit the QB and they weren’t playing powder puff football.

 

I agree 93 was his best chance and he had bad luck with the achilles injury, but Marino had a very good season in 98, just one year before he retired. He was dealing with elbow and neck injuries in 99 which affected his throwing and he was not able to perform as well that last season, but with enough time to let those heal I think he could have made one last push in 2000 and 2001. Marino himself later said he still had a couple of seasons left in him and was considering offers from minnesota and pittsburgh. It was the dolphins who seemingly nudged him into retirement and he didnt want to play for another team so he called it quits.

 

He ran Marino off.

 

I remember Cris Carter was practically begging Marino to come to Minnesota then. If memory serves, they also had a young Randy Moss, and for a brief moment, I was hoping he’d go there to win the championship he deserved, similar to Ray Bourque.

 

Yes, he should have taken the offer and forgotten about any loyalty to the dolphins. I think it was stupid and disrespectfull of the dolphins not to pick up the final option on his contract after all he did for the organization. Even an old Marino was better than ****ing Jay Fiedler.