Its scary, and it just may be until Belichek retires that we will not win the division. Until the rest of the league gets IT, and stops making deals with NE we will forever be behind the 8 ball with them in the division. But we still have to try our hardest and maybe, just maybe they get unlucky with next years draft.

 

They do an awful good job of reloading. As young as their defense is, it will only get better.

Makes the head-scratchers like Pat Turner, Pat White, Shawn Murphy, Odrick<jury is still out..may be good, but there were some serious playmakers available>, not taking a shot a Mike Williams from Syracuse, (Ginn, Beck, Satele, Booker - although that was Cammy) all the more glaring.

Alll teams have misses in the draft, but it seems like when we miss, we miss big.

 

Do a Tanya Harding on Brady. Batter up!

 

Thats the key, as much better we are since these guys have taken over our franchise, they have wasted so many opportunities to make us so much better. Its a shame because our fans have been so patient and loyal, and we've had such little reward for so long. It hurts and yes I get extremely jealous when I see what goes on in Foxboro.

 

I have to admit I have had a daydream before where two of our players pick him up and break his leg on the goalpost, and shatter his leg so he never plays again.....yes sick I know, but at least I am honest.

 

The elephant in the room to me seems to be that we have to do a much better job of hitting on what picks we do get. NE always has a very high percentage of hits with their draft picks, where we consistantaly miss on a large number of picks. The only way we get better is to bring in young talent and continue to do so for a long time.

 

Well that is fairly simple:

Poach the guys they get rid of to make roster room for all of those high draft picks.

Think about it in 2010 alone:

Waived:

2009 #4 pick Antoine McKenzie
2008 #3 pick Brian Crable
2008 #2 pick Terrence Wheatley

Excluding their #1 pick, entire draft classes in 2006 and 2007 are completely gone in New England, 1 player left.

 

Agreed that NE is poised for another SB run, and is back in the elite class of the NFL. As much as I hate to admit it, Brady is playing like a sure fire MVP, and Bellicheck is a frickin' genius coach/GM that rarely makes mistakes. And, when he does, there always seems to be a fall back plan (at least from a personnel standpoint).

All Miami can do is be better at scouting and drafting, as well as trading and FA acquisitions moving forward. Stop reaching for the Pat White's of the NCAA and start making safer more logical picks. Trade up and down the draft order and fleece other teams for past their prime players looking for the last big contract like NE does. The model is there, just follow it. Bottom line, if they can do it, so can we.

JMHO...

 

really? I did not know that. Shows that I have no clue :)

 

Stupid teams. What team leaves one of the best offensive weapons in the league unprotected and then has to trade him to the Patriots for a 2nd and a 7th ?

 

Which means this will continue to happen for the next couple of years as there are only 53 roster spots..8 practice squad slots..

Last yr they had 12 picks, this yr 11, 23 total picks now look at their proven Veterans (Brady, Woolfork, Mayo etc) and basically they will have no room for guys from the 09 draft class or UDFA's or what have you.

And the guys they do keep, if they aren't playing they can be misevaluated creating opportunities.

 

If you want to compete with New England or any other of the elite teams the ebst thing you can do is go out and find a QB who can win games for you.

Until we have that, nothing else much matters

 

We've had that chance so many times and not taken it in the last few years. Yet there are still people who think the Long pick was the best, and if Ryan goes on to win a SB and win a couple of MVPs maybe it will finally sink in that we did the wrong thing. You can always get a good OLineman, a franchise QB comes along only so often.

 

Other than Brady (which everyone screwed up on) and Favre (2nd round by Atlanta in 1991), I believe just about all the elite QB's in the league were taken in the 1st round.....

Roethlesberger - 1st round
Rogers - 1st round
P. Manning - 1st round
E. Manning - 1st round
Rivers - 1st round
Ryan - 1st round
Vick - 1st round
Cutler - 1st round

What makes our genius GM and HC think they can buck that trend ? C'mon folks wake up and smell the coffee.

 

Even some of the "used to be" elite QB's were taken in the 1st round, like

Palmer - 1st round
McNabb - 1st round

True there are HUGE QB busts in the 1st round. Leaf, Alex Smith, & Carr come to mind, but how many starting QB's in the league that are consistant winners are not picked in the 1st round ? Not as many as are picked in the 1st round. I think your odds of finding an elite QB fall dramatically after 1st round picks. This is why we continue in mediocrity. We don't have a winners mentality, we have a scared to take a gamble mentality. This HC and especially this GM are all about picking the safe picks. Believe it or not, they thought White was a safe pick. They thought he was for sure going to be the one missing piece in the wildcat formation. Totally short-sighted.

 

Vick #1 overall
Manning #1 overall
Manning #1 overall
Rivers #4 overall

But please, do continue.

 

Big Ben, #11
Cutler #12 (following a trade up)
Rodgers #24 (thanks Saban!)

When you are afraid to take a gamble on a top QB prospect you typically end up with what we have had over the last 10 years, mediocrity at the position.

If this regime wants to hope that the guy they already benched for not being good enough is going to improve dramatically enough over the off season to make us a playoff team next year, they better have a resume ready.

Because I tell you this. If this regime comes back, with Henne as the starter and says that no changes are needed then this better be an AFC Championship game team.

 

And they were all 1st ROUND PICKS. That is the point I am making. Until we have the balls to take a QB, at least gamble, we'll continue in mediocrity, from a QB (Henne) that has Fiedler the 2nd written all over him. We have had our shots to take some elite QB's and our best shot was in 2008 and we took Long. Its a pick I believe we'll regret for many years. Especially if Long's body starts breaking down on him, like it has this year. His life as an elite player may be shorter if he continues to have these health issues into next year. Meanwhile Atlanta keeps winning and winning and winning with the QB that should have been a Dolphin.

 

How ironic in a thread about competing with the Patriots and their 6th rd pick Qb...

 

And he was a once in a lifetime occurence.

Brady is the exception, not the rule.

 

I mean even Chad Pennington was a 1st round pick. We haven't picked a QB in the 1st round since Marino in 1983. Save one or two, almost all the elite QB's in this league, a QB DRIVEN LEAGUE (!!!!) were 1st round picks. This regime is bucking the trend in becoming a winning franchise by not selecting and acting as though QB is the most important position on the field. We are a flawed team, and one that is not built to become an elite team. I believe we will have an elite defense, but when it comes to playoff time, that missing ingredient will always be the offense that is designed to beat other elite defenses in the playoffs. Remember like in 2008, we maybe made the playoffs, but we made it there because Tom Brady was hurt and because we had an incredibly easy soft schedule. If you believe otherwise I have swamp land for you to buy and a bridge in London to buy. We were frauds and Baltimore exposed us as such. With Henne, I believe we will always be that fraud, no matter how good our defense becomes.

Lord I do hope he proves me wrong. I would love to be wrong. I have been waiting for a Dolphin Super Bowl win since I was 14. I think I've been a loyal and patient fan. Its time for them the franchise to give some back to me. Getting an elite QB would help do that.

 

How are we ever going to compete with New England when they draft first ballot HOF QBs in the 6th round?

They're not good drafters as Padre pointed out. It'll catch up eventually and Brady's skills will also start slipping.

I don't think we're that far away to be honest.

 

Yes it is, and its why I truly loathe them, even when they pick a QB in the 6th round, he becomes elite. I F**KING HATE THEM.

 

I know, and I think most of their defensive rants about it, come because deep down they know we are right. It p*sses them off to no end.

Not that we are right part, but that they know that we should have taken Ryan, instead of Long.

 

Exactly, but some people just will never accept or get this. Brady was a fluke, not the norm.

 

Considering Brady looks as good as ever, I wouldn't count on slippage in his play anytime soon.

We're miles away from NE because we don't have a QB we trust.

 

I think when Brady starts slipping, the Pats as smart as they are, will either trade his a** or draft someone. Look for that to happen in the next 5 years. Belicheat is all about winning and even Brady will not stand in the way of that.

 

Having a big time LT is a great thing but I still firmly believe we blew it by not taking Matt Ryan. He is the perfect QB type to me. He can make all the throws, he is aggressive, he is a vocal leader and he has the poise. It would have been real nice to have that guy at the position for years but they wanted to build inside out. I thought at that time it was the best time to start with a QB. The #1 overall. Instead we went veteran in Pennington which gave us a year but then set us back.

 

We'll catch up to New England once we find a stable coaching staff and front office. You can't be a revolving door in those two areas and have success. They do make changes but their main one always stays, Bill Belichick. Besides that, he's one helluva coach.

 

New England does a great job at moving around in the draft. But they hit and miss just as much as any other team in the league. They just get more bullets to fire, due to the negotiating.
But there are two constants that keep them in contention:
Belichick and Brady.
I am honestly starting to think Belichick may be the greatest HC in NFL history. The guy is consistently ahead of the curve. Look for teams to be running the 2 athletic TE sets next year. It will be the new trend.

 

NE has a blocking TE that can work the underneath and then a tight end that they can flex out. I don't think its much different than what teams do now, like Detroit with Pettigrew and Scheffler.

 

I can't say I am an expert and have broken down Patriot game film but,
from what I have seen the Patriots effectively use their two rookie TE's in tandem. Hernandez and Gronkowski will line up in dual sets. I assume Brady than check into run/pass situation and may move one (primarily Hernandez) outside into a slot role.
Earlier in the year they were using Crumpler more on these looks, giving essentially an additional lineman and a WR threat in the other TE, but lately they have swapped more to the two rookies.
I may be off on this. I can't seem to find the snap counts, I may look a bit more later. I'm sure a trip to FO would answer it. So I may be way off with what I believe I have been seeing.

 

You are a DolFan and can say that with a straight face ? Have you ever heard of Don Shula ? He never failed at his 1st job like Belicheat did. He never had more than 3 or 4 losing seasons I don't believe in 33 seasons. His record of wins will never be surpassed. I am a great admirer of Bellicheat, but I believe he benefits from there being a lot of idiots in HC positions during these times. Don Shula coached against some really great football minds and beat them a lot of the time.

Belicheat will never be a Don Shula. No one ever will be. You sir committed sacrilege !!!

 

Current top 10 QBs by pass rating (per nfl.com) and the round that they were drafted:


Brady 6th round
Vick 1st, (also available as a FA later)
Rivers 1st
Rodgers 1st
Cassel 7th
Roethlisberger 1st
Romo undrafted FA
Brees 3rd (also available as a FA later)
Schaub 3rd
Orton 4th

So, 60% were drafted out of the 1st round.