http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview08/team?team=mia I don't when some of these predictions were taken but some made me laugh most notably Jeremy Green's outlook and some just made me shake my head.
Sports Illustrated has us at 6-10. Like thier review better. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...ls/preview/2008/08/26/main/index.html?eref=T1
I like: hm.. he's turned around two other horrendous franchises. how is this one any different? his 'history' is to turn teams around, THEN leave.
Birds fly, sun shines, and ESPN makes a fool of itself again. How can they have that many people on staff and not one of them knows what they're talking about? Oh, wait, they're all northeast biased.
wow... that article is ridiculous, and even more amazing is how some of you stated how accurate it was. i read each review from all of those writers, and all but maybe 2 of them even sounded like they knew what was going on down there in SoFla. most of them were speaking like it was still 2007, and i don't think any of them have even watched a hint of a preseason game this year. Seth was the closest of the bunch, and i'm inclined to agree with him. i don't think 8-8 is too unreasonable, and i think we're 3 in the AFCE at the bare minimum. Don't be surprised if we sneak to 9-7 and maybe get the 2 seed in the AFCE. we're going to be the 2006 Saints. watch.
Gosh... I wish the 'experts' would have told us which 3 games we'll win. That would have saved us a great deal of time this year.
No way. I agree we're going to surprise, but we're not going to do an instant about-face. 6-10, 7-9 would be a successful season, especially heading into the 2009 draft.
I hate to say it guys, but these writers are pretty much spot on. Ronnie is constantly hurt, Ricky is one toke away from being gone and Pennington was a Jet two weeks ago and we were all arguing whether Josh McCown, a rookie, or a guy who can't get on the field should be starting at the mostimportant position on the field. Now, if thebreaks go the right way and we don't have injuries, I think we may get upwards of six wins. But injuries are inevitable and the scary thin depth that we have will make this another long season. We will most likely win more than one game (god I hope so), but I wouldn't take what these guys say as a sign of disrespect. Miami has to prove it before anyone gets on their bandwagon outside of us.
We go 9-7 next year and I'll buy your ticket to a game the following season I would love to see that happen, but the depth issue that Sam pointed out does worry me. Ive been saying 5-7 wins since we got JCPenny at QB, unless Brady gets hurt I think thats where we'll end up.
the extreme irony of this thread is if any of you know me, you know i'm NOT the optimist. i'm usually the one who is being realistic. but honestly, i just see us improving THAT much this year. whatever, i'll be optimistic by myself over here in the corner i guess....
Headline: Optimist drowns in half full tub... I hope you are right Tex. I just donn't seeing us having much pop beyond the starters.
I'll join you in the optimistic corner. ALot of things have to go right but who says they won't. Things like Ricky is one toke away is one way to look at it or........ Ricky is 1 season away from being the NFL comback player of the year. Ronnie is injury prone... or Ronnie plays all year and the R & R express explode as the best RB duo in the league this year. Tedd Ginn is a bust or ..... Tedd Ginn makes great strides and solidfies himself as a goto type of WR. I will say this as fact. We will put a much better, much more competitive product on the field this year then last year and perhaps better then what we have had in the past few years. We will surprise teams early, and teams will loath playing us late in the year, especially if there are playoff hopes in the balance. We will get better each and every week. Maybe it will be Mia vs NY Jets last game of the season for the wild card!!! (Okay maybe too optimistic). But I stand by the fact that, IMO, we are well ahead of our rebuilding schedule. We are better then most anyone probably would have thought we would be. This is going to be a very exciting season.
Clayton definitely had the best answer out of all the analysts with Seth as a close 2nd. Worst answer has to be between Cadiha and Mosley. Immediate picture in my mind when it comes to these two is Jacka**
Matt Mosley - Wow, way to be an expert. How can you title this lists as experts if one of them admits he only knows 2 players on our roster? How about Chad Pennington, Ricky Williams, Ronnie Brown, Ted Ginn? Anyone who calls themselves a football fan should know them. But this guy is an expert. I'm glad to see that his expert opinion concurs with the rest of them. We wouldn't want to see some actual thinking going on. Would we?
These guys probably had a dead line to reach on the predictions and when the PHINS rolled around they just threw out whatever they could think of in the 2 minutes they had left. How can you not name Ronnie Brown, or Ricky Williams? Ronnie was awesome before his injury last year leading the league in yards from scrimmage if I remember correctly. Ricky has been tearing it up in his limited action during the preseason. These guys did absolutely no research into the PHINs on this report. Sad reporting and analysis. They should have stopped by THE PHINS . COM and get some real analysis to go by.
I don't get the serious concern for QB and RB. There are concerns for sure but I don't think they are serious concerns. If he wanted to make a case for serious concerns at QB he should have checked with us last year, the year before and the year before that. If he wanted serious concerns at running back, he should have checked with us a couple of years ago all the way back to the point that Ricky left. I'm surprised he didn't say serious concerns at coach and waterboy!
We'll have a solid year. If our starters hold up and we stray from injuries, we could surprise. It's our depth and overall talent that's a real problem. Our starters are pretty talented across the board--Pennington, Brown/Williams, Ginn, Hagan, Long, Smiley, Satele, Carey, Langford, Holliday, Porter, Crowder, Allen, Allen, and Bell. Those are all really talented guys. I think it could be anywhere from 6-10 wins.
I think the serious concerns about the QB situation come from looking at Pennington's career. He has been killed by injuries and it shows it by having only 1 sixteen game season under his belt. The concern is that if Pennington goes down, do you want to insert a rookie into the lineup? You dont know how he will do. You may have confidence in him but remember he is still a rookie. At the RB spot, the serious concern is that if Ricky Williams goes down, we are in big trouble. The philosophy of this team will be a run-first and Ricky is expected to be heavily used. If Ricky goes down, you have a guy in Ronnie who can't finish a season and is coming off an ACL tear. Ronnie goes down or he's not the same and you have Cobbs and Parmele playing. Cobbs and Parmele are nice backups but they're not Ricky and Ronnie.
i wish you did too. Reasons we lost in 2007: Poor Conditioning [FIXED] Poor Coaching [FIXED] Lack of discipline [FIXED] Lack of talent [Partially fixed] Too many mental errors [Partially fixed] Injuries through the roof [only time will tell] Our roster is much improved: OL: MAJOR Upgrade DL: SIGNIFICANT Upgrade RBs: Depth Upgraded WRs: Minor Upgrade (plus progression) TE: SIGNIFICANT Upgrade QBs: MAJOR Upgrade LBs: Possibly upgraded, but maybe not CBs: Healthy Safeties: Healthy/ Upgraded We will have the ability to win any given game we play this year. I have no doubt about that. We will be better than the 2006 Phins, and they won 6 games with Joey Harrington.
I agree with everything but I do have questions about the bold. Regarding TE's, we don't know if Fasano is an upgrade just yet. Talent wise? Yes. Production? No? He hasn't done much but he hasn't really been given the chance to. This year he will be given that chance and we have to see how he progresses/does before we jump to any conclusions. At the CB and S spots, we are healthy right now. We don't know how it will play out in the regular season. I didn't bold offensive line but I do have questions like the other ones. We have two rookies starting and we are hoping they adjust to the game quickly. They will have thier bumps in the road and that's ok. I do think that we will have a much improved offensive line since Carey is back to RT, we got a veteran in Smiley and Satele is now in his second year looking to get better. BUT before all that, I don't want to jump to anything because if injuries happen, this O-line could be horrendous due to the lack of depth and possibly experience in the players that will be brought in via waiver wire. Prediction wise, here's mine: Lowest Win Total: I think we will win at least four games. Highest Win Total: Seven games for me. Possibly eight if we have the ball bounce our way but looking at past years, I'm not going to bank on that possibility. My Expectations: 5-6 wins. I think despite it being a losing season, if we win six games, it will be successful in my eyes. It will show that we have made progression with a new team. Possibly 19 new starters.
Well, look at the position....first, even tho Ricky is having a great camp, he's still Ricky...when will his next positive test come or will he just Brat Favre us again or will he be a stud like in 2003 ?? Then there's Ronnie Brown. There's no denying he is a stud back either. He produces. The only issue with him is injury...he's coming off a torn ACL from last October...a running back relies on cuts and power. Will he have that back yet ?? Most players, regardless of position, need at least a year from surgery of the ACL to get back to where they were before, providing there are no setbacks...Will Ronnie get there ?? Is he there yet ?? After those two, there's Cobb and Parmele...so, there are questions at RB, albeit it may still be our strongest position on the offense... Then there's the QBs...Pennington has had trouble staying healthy since 2006 after missing all of 2005 with a shoulder injury, no less. If healthy, he's a quality QB that can run this offense. But last year he was benched because he couldn't make all the throws they wanted him to make. His arm strength is suspect, although somewhat less of an issue than the media likes to make of it. Sure, he won't be throwing in the swirling winds of Giant staduim, but is that the only stadium that has winds ?? No and he'll still be there at least once... After Pennington there is (fill in the blank)...Henne, a decent looking preseason player who hasn't proven much, and the remaining of whichever gets casted off to the side, Beck an unproven youngster with a checkered beginning to his career (thanks a lot, Cam and co.) who has not been given the opportunity by this regime or McClown, a 5 yr veteran journeyman who hasn't been able to secure a spot (starter or backup) with 3 previous teams ?? I see Jeremy's point...Sure, this is looking at the worst of what could happen at either position, but the fact is it could happen. That's why Jeremy made his statements...Only time will telll and without a doubt, things have looked much less negative at both spots so far, but the real games haven't begun...
I agree with everything you wrote. I guess my problem with his original statement (and you referenced it, which is what I highlighted) was that if you picked any position on the field for us, I think the two most stable positions are QB and RB because we have a mix of talented proven vets (Pennington, Brown, Williams) and youngsters (Henne, Beck, Parmele, Hilliard, etc). There's not many other positions on our roster that are solidified to that extent (WR comes to mind immediately). Placing an emphasis on injuries during this type of analysis would result in every team having serious concerns at every position. Look at the Pats QB situation if something happened to Brady... Matt Cassel, are you kidding me?
IMO we would have won 6 games last year with better coaching alone. We get that this year and improved players over last year. I may be too optomistic also, but it could happen seeing us in the playoffs.
That all looks real good on paper and of course its based on your opinion, but that's it and that's all it will ever be until we see production in the regular season. This team has a lot to prove and I have no problem with the ESPN article. Until the team proves its worth via production they won't (and shouldn't) get respect from national media.
Who the hell do these clowns think they are? I have never seen such unprofessional writing from a bunch of so called "reporters". What kind of smartass comments are these people making? They most likely did not watch a single preseason game. John Clayton and a couple of others are the only ones that made actual respectable, objective comments. The rest of the people are a complete joke. I understand predicting the Dolphins to make fourth place, but the rest of the "opinion" is unnecessary. Gotta love ESPN. This is why I NEVER read espn.com. Their site sucks, their analysts suck, just about everything sucks.
'Blind' optimism? You know... that implies that our optimism is baseless. In fact, it's not. I'm optimistic because we finally have stability at QB. We don't have 14 players on injured reserve (like last season). We're not going to call a halfback pass on 3rd and goal from the 4. We now have GOOD coaches. Our players are not just in shape to play... they're conditioned to win. And... most importantly... we've show consistently all preseason that we can control the line of scrimmage. We're much, much bigger and tougher up front on both the offensive and defensive lines. We're not getting blown off the ball like last year. I understand your reservations. I do. For the past few years, we've become all too accustomed to disappointment as Dolphin fans. However, it's glaringly obvious to me that the Phins have been transformed this offseason. Not necessarily into instant playoff contenders, but we're going to be competitive, and we're going to win some games. I'm not blind... but I am optimistic.
This isn't 2007, it's 2008. If you're going to make a prediction about any team, you need to do your homework, and base your predictions on the current team. The problem that I have with this article is that it seems... at least to me... that most, if not all, of these guys haven't payed any attention whatsoever to our offseason, training camp, and preseason. All they see is: 1-15. Didn't draft Brady Quinn. Ginn didn't become a true #1 WR as a rookie. Traded Jason Taylor. Cut Zach Thomas. Drafted Jake Long. Enough of that... what did Brett Favre have for lunch today?!?!?
DIVISION FINISH: 4 Miami will be better than last season, but the team is still a long way from making noise in the AFC East. The Dolphins still have serious concerns at QB and RB. Defensively, they are a lot younger, which should lead to more playmaking ability but also more mistakes What? Really? Concerns at RB? DIVISION FINISH: 4 Quick, name a Dolphins player. There's Jake Long, Vonnie Holliday ... fresh out! This guy has never heard of Ricky Williams. I guess he hasn't been covering football for very long. These guys are truly idiots. I can't believe they get money for this.
