The trifecta has lifted us from horrible to mediocre. That part is relatively easy if you have even basic competence and get a few breaks, which we did.

The really hard part is moving from mediocre to good/great. That's the hard part and right now we're failing. The same way JJ/Wanny failed and Saban failed.

3 years in and we're still screwing around on the o-line. Has anybody noticed that Smiley has thus far been a stud for Jacksonville? And we couldn't even keep Thomas for depth but are going with this McQuistan guy?

I don't understand it. I don't understand what our identity is. I don't know what kind of team we're trying to build. I'm just in the dark.

 

JJ's drafting of offensive talent was putrid and he really had no idea of how to put a running game or receivers around Marino that complimented the strengths that he still had. JJ needed norv turner. He was clueless on offense.

Wanny actually did a yeoman's job his first 2 years, but he was alos clueless on how to actually build an offense that would compliment the really good "D" we had. He never found a QB or drafted o-lineman high

 

It seems to be as though you are completely passing over many of the complete upgrades this FO has made to our team.

We have built an elite O-line. Long Incognito Berger Jerry Carey (I know he was inherited.)
Yes we whiffed on Grove and Smiley. Grove was an absolute miss, but likely could have been kept for Depth, if not for a huge salary. I saw Smiley as a bandaid to an ailing O-line. Garder is great depth. I believe Thomas is gone because he could not stay healthy. Depth is worth nothing if they aren't healthy. This sets our O-line for years to come.

Our RB's are getting old. But the FO had the foresight to bring back Ricky, so technically he was an addition to the team. This was once a position of strength, now we face age and free agency. I feel like this will be addressed early in this years draft.

Our D-line is dominant when healthy. Starks and Langford are elite. Odrick looks on his way. Soliai may be our NT for years.

We hit huge in free agency with Dansby and Wake. Crowder will look a lot better paired with Dansby next to him. The Roth situation is still a mystery, and still annoys me to this day.

We now have an stud #1 WR and an elite slot guy. Pat Turner is a slob. I guess they fell in love with his measurables. They were looking for the next Marshall but just got the real thing.

Vontae is a stud. You can argue we whiffed on Smith. Clemons is a starter and has played well.

However the key is Henne.
You can only put so many things in place. This FO goes the way of Henne. You do not win in this league without a solid QB. This is the most visible decision. If he becomes a solid QB in this league we will be singing the praises of this FO. If he does not, this FO failed in the same ways all have since Marino retired.

Pat White is and will always be an enormous blunder.

We may have taken a bit of a winding road to get to this situation. Some badly spent money (Wilford, Smiley etc.) But this is the state of our team right now. I feel good about the core. But it all hinges on the QB.

 

I could break everything down position by position, but its been done before, here is the bottom line imo...To leave the franchise, when there are huge questions marks still on the table, is bush and punk..

If this team doesnt respond after the last 2 weeks at home in primetime television, and has a poor season, the heat is mother bleepin on, how they hell can you leave a team and a fanbase?, and call that a success after 3 years?...you cant and you shouldn't...

I mean seriously, If we dont respond this year, and those two games are vivid in our mental roladex, how could any exec/parcells think they did an adequate job of rebuilding a franchise, when the fanbase, the most important part of the team, is pissed off and unsure of its direction...

All iam sayin is, that for the man to my left's sake, this team better play well and compete for a playoff..otherwise all we will know is what we saw at home on back to back weekends..

Iam gonna keep a close aye on something....I believe Sparano is well aware of how embarrassed his fanbase is...this should translate into a very angry hyped team in green bay, if not....oh boy, the sh$# is gonna hit the fan..and the man to my left should take all the heat.

 

I wondered how long we could go before we had a "Poor old JT he was treated so badly" rant. That guy is a gutless piece of garbage who brought this all on himself. I don't feel sorry for him at all. His legacy is tarnished and forgotten.

Anyways..... I'm not ready to call this team mediocre four games into the third year that is just way too irrational but I will say I really am beginning to wonder if Tony Sparano is the right coach for this football team. He just seems like he has no control and sometimes he has way too much fire. I see him banging his fist and running around every time the littlest good thing happens. I see him not being focused when he is wearing his emotion on his sleeve. How do you keep your composure acting like that. Now he has come out and said they will re-invent the running game. Are you fuggin' kidding me. We are a running team and He and Henning have somehow convinced the fans and the team we are something else and it backfired. Now they are going to broadcast to the world that we are going back. That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard from the Dolphins coaching staff. We have Ronnie Brown for God's sake use him dammit. If not trade his *** away. Why have him stand on the sideline to march him out only in the Wild Kitty that doesn't work anymore. If I had a dollar for every time I said "What the hell are they doing" so far in this short season I'd have a good night at the strip club. I just don't get the coaching, the offense, special teams and the defense. We seem out smarted every time. I know we have to execute but put this team in a position to be successful. Please!

 

Like whom? Who have they let go that they've not come close to replacing?

Is it really astounding to you that Chad Henne has some of the same issues 17 games into an NFL career that he did in the beginning? 'Cause it really shouldn't be.

While we're on the topic of drafting btw, do you have any idea what the average success rate of a draft pick is?

So, to put this in perspective... You are *****ing about getting 2 "star" players, and 4 starters in what you've pared down to two draft classes?

So what, exactly, was there alternative at the time they should have seized on besides Josh McCown pre-John Beck?

Who elected you speaker of the House?

It's shocking and horrifying, I tell you. .500 4 games into the season is absolutely atrocious, and royalty such as ourselves absolutely DESERVE BETTER!

I feel like you should watch more games.

Uh, you could be worse then mediocre? Seriously?

If you told me coming off the 2007 season people would be throwing *****-fits over a 1st year division title and a mild 2nd year regression that had them competing for a Wildcard spot until the end, I'd have had a little bit more faith in our fanbase than that.

 

Maybe I misread the stickied post at the top of the forum, but it didn't come off as the "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" forum wherein no one is allowed to argue with you.

 

Chris Berman once said "The Dolphins are cursed to mediocrity." This was about 15 years ago. I know he's a Bills fan and all, but how true is that statement right now?

 

I used to get irritated at your nonsensical JT posts but I've realized you're an outstanding example of the blind loyalty given to Bill 'God' Parcells when he came into town. You hate JT b/c he went on that show instead of bowing before the football god himself. He came back and had a decent season for us but to you he could have never made enough plays. Forget how many regime changes he previously stuck with the team through. He didn't kiss Bill Parcells' *** enough for you so called 'team first' people. Bill Parcells has won more games for the Jets than JT ever will. But all he has to do is come into town a few weeks and he is suddenly synonymous with the Miami Dolphins. JT the selfish mercenary. Even though he has spent the VAST majority of his career with the Dolphins. He should have sat on his couch all summer hoping maybe the god would deem him worthy of a minimal contract and bring him onboard.

 

That whole JT situation f***ing reeks to me. What a great example to show all the young players. A guy like JT who has busted his a** for the team for years and contributed so much, and this is how they treat him. If I was playing for the Dolphins that would send a clear message to me. "This is how we repay legendary Dolphins players. Not just run of the mill players. But legendary ones."

 

How can you say that though, if you would believe some here JT should have bowed before the football god Bill Parcells. Otherwise he's not a team player. They then usually have the audacity to accuse us of not supporting 'the team'. Despite the fact that they're actually taking a person's side as well. A person who had only spent a few weeks with the Dolphins organization. Ironic.

My beef is they should have been more straightforward with the guy. What they wanted was unrealistic and was almost embarrassing. They were treating him like a player on the fringe of the roster. 'Maybe we'll sign you, let's just wait and see if we can find better people.' Then they have the nerve to claim that Bill Parcells' attempt to hustle JT during the season was some kind of honest contract negotiation. If you want respect try giving a little Tuna. Of course when a player's coach like Fat Rex opens his arms and actually says he wants him he's going to go. He's only human. He hated the Jets as much as we did. But there's a ton to be said for being wanted.

 

I'm not even convinced at this point you understand what mediocrity means.

The Dolphins under Bill Parcells are 20-15. That's .571 winning percentage.

For reference-
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/


For the record, no, I'm not completely happy with anything. I'm a long, long away from understanding where this weird-*** new money sense of entitlement comes from, where people here are demanding what at this point?

I feel like you should probably go hop on a bandwagon.

 

Just wanted to fix that for you.

For once, no argument from me. :up:

 

Think I might have missed the playoff game, thanks.

 

Although I don't agree with how he said it, he should be able to say something about JT since you mentioned him.

I happen to totally disagree with how you think it went down but I'm not sticking up for him because of that.

 

just feel this is a ridiculous reactionary post based more on ridiculous expectations and a misunderstanding of what we're building here. lets look at what was inherited and where we are today. I'll start with the offense

QB John Beck/ Chad Henne
FB Reagan Muiaia/ Lousaka Polite
RB Ronnie Brown/ Ronnie Brown
WR Ted Ginn/ Brandon Marshall
WR Greg Camarillo/ Brian Hartline
WR Marty Booker/ Devonne Bess
LOT Vernon Carey/ Jake Long
LOG Chris Liweniski/ Richie Incognito
C Samson Satele/ Joe Berger
ROG Rex Hadnot/ John Jerry
ROT LJ Shelton/ Vernon Carey

Eight of the positions are dramatically improved. Ronnie Brown remains. Hartline is a faster, younger version of Camarillo and John Jerry will probably have a better career than Rex Hadnot though its too early to be certain

On defnse it gets complicated because we switched to a 3-4. But lets look at the secondary since its easier to compare

CB Will Allen/ Vontae Davis
CB Michael Lehan/ Jason Allen
SS Yeremiah Bell/ Yeremiah Bell
FS Renaldo Hill/ Chris Clemons

Basically we are the same talent wise but Vontae is looking like he will surpass Will Allen, Jason Allen and or Sean Smith both have the potential to surpass Michael Lehan. Right now they're even but they flash way more potential. Renaldo Hill might have played better than Chris Clemons but Clemons is playing pretty well overall and its his first year starting. The main thing here is we got way younger and will probably have improved dramatically by next year when these young players have another year under their belts

In terms of defensive line we have to realize we had a 4-3 personnell so the main players from the 2007 team we couldve held on to were

NT Keith Traylor/ Paul Soliai
DE Vonnie Holliday/ Randy Starks
DE Rodrique Wright/ Kendall Langford

Even though Keith Traylor was better he was ancient. In terms of DEs we have seriously upgrade from what we inherited though alot of that is due to scheme necessities

Linebackers

This is where it gets interesting. We had a good linebacking crew but they were old and thought more of their worth then we did. So projecting

OLB Jason Taylor or Matt Roth/ Koa Misi
OLB Joey Porter/ Cameron Wake
ILB Derrick Pope/ Karlos Dansby

Jason Taylor and Matt Roth would have been better this year but Misi's worth will be determined next year with a year under his belt. For whatever reason JT and Roth pissed off our front office. When a player doesnt buy into the program you have to get rid of him regardless of his talent level. You think Brandon Marshall, Vincetn Jackson, Randy Moss are being let go for their talent? No. It was, is, due to their attitudes. Nothing you can do about it. But the important thing is we seem to have replaced Porter effectively and Misi may turn into a younger version of Roth

So at the end of the day it took three years to completely overhaul a 22 man roster. Some of you seem to feel it should have been done earlier or better but to me that is completely unrealistic. We did a damn good job transforming this team and it should be applauded instead of put dowwn

 

That's sort of why I posted the little coaching thing that you either didn't read or didn't understand... If you're looking for a big seperation from .500, you're not likely to get it, even among most HOF coaches.

The asinine thing is, I think, if the Dolphins came out of the gate, had a 4-5 win season in 2008, and did what they did last year, we wouldn't have this kind of silly bull**** going on.

Yes, and I can act like an adult about it, too.

If you expected Parcells to stay the entire time, then I think you've got a whole string of problems with expectations not limited to the problem at hand.

You are not demanding accountability for ****, because there is really nothing to demand accountability for. You can't even justify your bull**** expectations other than saying that I'm happy with mediocrity, despite, you know, actually knowing what the word means, and being ability to put the Dolphins performance in an actual coherent context. You aren't long suffering, just wildly self-indulgent.

 

Donald Thomas hasnt even signed anywhere else, not the lions, not the browns, not the raiders..........just sayin

 

Did you even understand the point D-Pate was trying to make? How many of those are active coaches?

 

here's my thing. basically i just feel your expectations and some of the other fans are one year early. i do believe watching how this team has been built that lofty expectations are warranted next year. i just think that you are one year premature. we have 7 new starters on defense right now and 4 on offense. its going to take time for all of them to jell and play to their potential. we all want them do it as quickly as possible but there has to be a reasonable time frame. i dont think 4 weeks is a reasonable time frame to have 11 new startes playing like a championship team.

next year however, with a full year under their belt and another influx of upgrades, we should expect a AFC CHAMPIONSHIP appearance at the least. that is if we have a season

 

I think Bellicheck gets in. As much as I'd like to say no, he will be there IMHO.

 

Belichick deserves to get in.

 

:lol:

Yeah, he might also be nominated for the filmakers HOF...

 

parcells will be in

 

Then who is this team mediocre compared to? Are they being held to a historical standard? We can't just be good, we have to be historically good?

 

Uh, yeah, I do, because pretty much everyone who had any idea what they were talking about at the outset of this endeavor realized this was gonna be a 3-4 year deal, starting from 1-15.

Not acting like a ****ing infant is a pretty good working definition, I think.

Why? It's not like he hasn't done this pretty much every situation he's ever been in?

You keep running with this exact same theme, and it doesn't make any sense. No one is accepting of mediocrity, and no one doesn't want to see their team win. I'm just expecting we not throw tantrums over it.

Yup, I engrish'd that **** up. But at the end of the day, your argument is figuratively thrashing your limbs and filling your diaper.

 

This isn't really as hard as you are making it out to be. Factually, only a handful of coaches are going to dramatically separate themselves long term from .500, much less within 3 years of taking over a 1-15 team.

 

Your entire rant became a comparison, when you used the term 'mediocre'. An team that over the long run is slightly above .500 is certainly not 'mediocre' by any means in today's NFL. Further, missing on FAs doesn't make you mediocre in today's NFL. Not hitting on any does.

 

We've won 1 playoff game in the past decade and we're ridiculing a poster (in a soap box rant forum no less) for acting irrationally and having unrealistic expectations? Am I getting that right?

Outside of the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills and like 2 other teams, no team has suffered like us the past 10 years.

I'm pretty sure he's much like myself in that we finally thought we had the right guys behind the wheel and ultimately we look no better than a 7-9 mediocre team. That's frustrating no matter how you try to spin it, no matter how low your expectations were.

 

we will have a better record than 7-9. I'm sure of that. The only question is how much. I think our floor is 9-7 and our ceiling is 11-5 with our schedule so it really depends on how the rest of the AFC does to see whether that will be good enough to get in. If we get in, I'm sure we'll win at least one playoff game, maybe two

 

Oh Lordy is that dramatics. The Cowboys had like what, a 14 year drought of playoff wins?

You're extrapolating 7-9 from 2-2 based on what? How mopey you feel?