How close are the Dolphins?
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thed...ns-talking-points-how-close-are-the-dolphins/
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I"m with Tony. We're getting there for the first time in years. Even I can see the progress we've made.
Xeticus, xphinfanx, Frumundah Finnatic and 1 other person like this. -
I honestly believe that Miami is a consistant pass rusher away from being a good team. Maybe two consistant pass rushers.
If Miami had a consistant pass rusher I believe they would have beat the Saints and the Colts, also could have beaten the Patriots and the Chargers.Agua, dolfan7171, GARDENHEAD and 1 other person like this. -
I too see progress. I think because we played the elite teams (Colts, Saints, patsies) so close, that just a few more players and we are set to dominate the division for years to come.
Xeticus, gafinfan, dolfan7171 and 1 other person like this. -
Here's an overly simplistic overview of where I see the Dolphins
-We are set at O-line. This group will only grow with continuity.
-We are set at QB. Henne has shown me he's gonna be solid.
-We are set at RB
-We are set at D-Line
-We are set at CB
-We need upgrades at WR
-We need upgrades at LB (inside and outside)
-We need upgrades at S.
If we can address 2 of the 3 needs over the offseason, look out NFL! -
My view.
1 - Coaching. Mostly excellent. Not happy with special teams and receivers, both are areas where we could do more with the talent we have.
2 - FO is on the same page and playing the same tune as the coaching staff.
3 - Personnel. Solid at OL, DL, RB, QB. Need some depth at CB. WR, if we need new talent not just new coaching, then we're short of a No. 1 receiver. LB Corps needs to be revamped. S is a trainwreck, as our safetys can provide run support but not cover anything faster than a garden slug.
Also most of our significant contributors are under 30.
As I see it we are short of 3 or 4 quality players (2 x LB, 1 x S and maybe 1 x WR) in order to be competitive with the top flight teams, and need to revamp two coacheing positions.
All in all a very healthy place to be.dolfan7171 likes this. -
Definitely need to upgrade the LB corps. ILB & OLB IMO. Add FS that can cover (and tackle), and a NT that can dominate the middle of the LOS (is Soliai that guy???).
On offense, we need a legitimate "go to guy" #1 WR, as well as a playmaking TE. I believe we also need to lock up Ronnie Brown for the foreseeable future.
I believe if we do all that, we will contend. -
Our team is good. But Colts, Saints, Patriots and Chargers (to some degree, first time qb getting thrown in there) all beat us because we have no 2 minute offense. Blame it on personnel, coaching, practice time put in, coordinators, rhythm it doesn't matter.
If we are only a running team and can't move the ball downfield with easy to close out games we will suffer many heartbreaking losses. I mean against the saints we had the entire second half to sustain a drive and kill their momentum. But they knew all we could do is run, even after hartline went 60 + yards on one of the drives. They forced how many 3 n outs and gave Brees several opportunities to come back and beat us. Then on our last drive it was one for the football follies highlights, that's how bad it was.
Not to say we can't improve in this area but that to me has been the biggest detriment holding this team back from being great. If that's not the biggest area of focus from our practice time from here on out i would have serioius questions about the coaching staff. -
I also agree with Sparano. I believe we are closer than we may believe. This game reminds me of the Colts game except we had possession 75-80% of the time. We had poor execution and some mental errors. All of this is correctable. When we are playing with great exexcution and no errors mentally, we are hard to beat. In fact, we haven't lost when we played in this way. So yes, I do believe we are pretty close.
dolphindebby likes this. -
Other then that I agree with you. I just feel that is a HUGE oversight.:knucks: -
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How close are we? Well, as others have already said we are set at OL, DL, RB and QB. Our areas of need are ILB, passrushing OLB, S, WR and TE. IMO, we need a #1 receiver and a seam splitting TE. I think we could get by with Cam as our #2 and Bess in the slot. On the defensive side of the ball I wonder if the solution for the FS problem is on the roster already in Clemons. Could it be that our best combo could be Wilson at SS and Clemons at FS? As for the linebacker corps, I could replace the entire starting group and be good with it. AA and CC are both journeyman types. We need to replace them both. We also need two outside linebackers to replace Porter (who has outlived his usefulness) and JT who could be a nice role player, nothing more.
The question is, how can we replace the entire LB corp and get a #1 WR and a stud TE? The more I think about it the more I think we are 2 years away from being a great team. -
Whats even more scary is that other teams should also improve with the draft...case in point
New England 2010 draft picks
one round #one pick
three round#2 picks with "Tennesee and Jacksonvilles picks
which could be mid to very high second round picks
one round #4 pick
one round #6 pick
one round #7pick from Philly
Don't be surprised if the Pats use one of there #2 picks then trade down with the two #two picks left to acquire many more picks in the 3-5 round
range
2011 draft picks
two round #1 picks ...(1 from oakland could be top 5)
one round #2 pick
one round #3 pick
one round #4 pick
one round #5 pick
one round #6 pick
two round #7picks
Just as we think we will be that much better in a year or two
There is also a chance that other teams will also improve
Can you imagine New England using there #1 this season 2010 and one of next seasons 2011 #1s to move up and grab Eric Berry or Dez Bryant to go with Welker and Moss -
True but they have to make good picks, rioght now they have 14 rookies on their roster but how many of them are playing? How many of them are going to be players? I mean they might have 14 future probowlers but they may have had a horrible draft as well. I hope...lol -
I think the biggest peice of the puzzle is WR. We need a dominant WR. The rest will fall into play. Our CB situation will fix itself by the end of this season, and we will address safety as well. We got ran on last week, but we were also missing 2 starters...and JT and Porter were non factors for some reason. A little more depth will fix that.
That leaves WR. I say one rookie WR and one free agent. We get Ginn to restructure his contract to return kicks and punts. Someone needs to tell him that if we cut him, he isnt going to get that kind of money from ANYONE in the NFL as a receiver, and we give him a better than average contract as a kick returner.
No salary cap next year? That's how we get out free agent WR.
I think Chad Henne will wind up being an elite QB in the NFL. We have our QB. -
While I love all the good vibes the truth of the matter is that until or unless we get great and consistent o-line play we will go no where even if both Fitz and Bolden were on this team.We have no sacks on us against a great defense and turnaround the very next week and give up 5 to the worse defense in the league, Ronnie runs circles around one team and the next week he can't get a break anywhere. It's more madding than the defense to me because I can understand the defense with starting 3 rookies but our o-line, at $55 mil, sucks big time!:pity: They are all healthy, wow, yet they are not playing as a team; YET!
Yes we have all the potential in this world, yet I'm reminded of a former HC who said "Potential does not win games" we are in the business of winning! I hope!:wink2:Dol-Fan Dupree likes this. -
could it be that our OL is getting over whelmed with 8/9 man fronts? No one respects our passing game and until we get that fixed we are going to continue to have problems. -
That is like saying "Do you think that Larry Fitzgerald is getting over whelmed by being double covered?"gafinfan likes this. -
For next years draft I want us to draft 2 wr's with first day picks just like we did with Vontae and Sean. Then I really would like to address linebackers inside and out.
Something JT said earlier stuck with me. He said after Cameron Wake had that great game that he's watching him dash around and get to the QB that he was joking with JP that there is those "Young legs, those young knees." I kind of want Linebackers who don't have to make jokes like that. Also I'm not sure that Joey and Jason are exactly complimentary. I we'd be better off maybe letting one of them go at the end of the year and upgrading from Akin Ayodele at the inside spot.
Just my suggestions. -