Everybody has opinions on every team every year. There are 32 teams. What's Lombardi to do? Say great things about every team? The fact is, the more question-marks a team has the greater the probability they have of failure as far as the season goes. The fewer they have the greater chance of success (assuming no catastrophic injuries). And, the second fact is that the Dolphins have a series of question marks at RB, TE, QB, OG, RT and maybe S (I'm not too worried about the loss of Crowder, unlike CK). So, it's just too much to "expect" those issues will all be answered with a "Yes!" at this point. We as fans all hope it is a yes. But the reality is, any expectation of a yes is playing with fools gold. At some point Lombardi has to slot the Dolphins in all those areas and I think he's right in trying to give effective and objective analysis. Lombardi is just doing his job. Sometimes he'll be wrong, most of the time he'll get it pretty well right. We as fans, simply struggle with objectivity about the team and its players.
I agree that it's pretty significant, but I don't know why everyone has to ascribe bias and ulterior motives on the guy rather than just take it for what it is. He doesn't like the moves the team has made. He liked previous maneuvers, but not the latest round. Why does it have to be about something more sinister than that?
This team has made some "interesting" choices and I get the sense that we have a complete meathead as a head coach. A lack of perspective? or intelligence? I say both. What has been gained from some very good player evaluation on our defense, which has built a competent if not stellar group, could be lost by the incompetence of our head coach and the "angels" on his shoulders.
it boils down to this: IF: A) We "hit" on Daniel Thomas. B) Chad Henne becomes a competent QB or improves his efficiency by almost 30%. C) We are Healthy. We will be good.
I have no problem with Lombardi, my issue is assigning gospel to anything that any of them say in general. We have been predicted to be these guys to be great when we have stunk and vice versa over the last 10 years. We all know this is a flawed team and they can all say what they want, but just as I take it with a grain of salt when they say how great we are, I am not going to jump off a cliff when they say how bad we are.
Extremely well said. Hard to think anyone could have an argument with that reasoning , I certainly don't. People need to realize one can hope for and cheer for a different or better outcome but not realistically expect that to be , and still be a fan.
Agreed. Unfortunately Henne had what Armando charitably described as "not a crisp practice" today. Ben Volin went further and said Henne's accuracy was terrible and that Daboll was "upset". Matt Moor supposedly looked really good. It is all far too inconsistent from Henne. People went overboard and booed based on a bad practice, got too high over a nice scrimmage and now we're back where we started.
If you have an opinion right now before even the first preseason game (not even then) that you push off as fact, you're a dummy. Again, you can have an opinion. But, if you push it as fact, you're a dummy. I see many people say I think, or I believe. It takes a special kind of person to say I know at this point.
The one area I'm not sure about though would be the team's mindset. That Week 17 and the collapse that preceded it were marks of a team with a FRAGILE temperament. That was not a mentally strong team. That was a mentally weak team. Given the votes of confidence in their head coach and quarterback (being sarcastic), I'm not sure if I see that improving.
You're right about that, it wasn't the total collapse and meltdown with Cammy CamCam, but there was clearly something wrong with the teams psyche. With all the slights that have been passed around in the offseason it will be interesting to see how the team responds.
If, if if...c'mon Section....if a frog had wings it wouldn't bump its *** when it hopped. IF Tom Brady goes out with a broken collar bone, the Patriots will suck IF Adrian Peterson blows out his knee, the Vikings are done for the season IF another team pays off the refs this season, Pittsburgh won't win as many games The fact is, on any given Sunday, any team can beat any team.
There is no way Lombardi watches every snap of every team and also spends time evaluating the draft picks. That's simply not his job. If you've ever met anybody that works as on air talent at a sports network they'll tell you that they watch a few highlights on most every team and on their own they follow whatever their favorite team is. The exceptions would be Jaws and Hoge, but they have a show that does make it their job.
But there is factual evidence. Somebody who has actually broken down his games can look at what areas he struggled in and what changes are expected in the offense and then make a far more educated guess than Lombardi as to whether or not he has improved. All Lombardi has is "beliefs" with little factual backing. Some people put a great deal of stock into his experience. Having met many such people, I don't. In my experience the vast majority of GMs are there b/c they're good at things other than player evaluation.
Yes, it absolutely the truth, I know this first hand. This is a guy that spent time discussing formational substitutions for every pre-season game last season. Again, I wouldn't lump him in there with other on air talent. You don't expect to get into an NFL front office, and not watch every snap.
Man this place is negative town usa. I'm trying to enter the season with hope. I think the dolphins got a chance to surprise a lot of people. We had a top 10 defense last year, reggie if he can stay healthy is a mismatch for any team, chad henne is our guy for atleast one more year so we should support him. Have so confidence in your team because I believe come that first Monday night game we are going to kill the patriots and I can't wait to see use in the playoffs later this season.
that is the same gut feeling i have had since the harbaugh fiasco . I have noticed that a lot of media and talk show host sure giving the dolphins the thumbs down on personel moves and with our qb situation ; I just think this may not bode well for us. Last year I made some coments that Miami would win 10 wins so if I predict 6 wins then we will win 9 wins but this team is hard to figure out.
Of course there's no real evidence that Dtrain's fumbling problem has followed him to the NFL because they haven't played a game yet. But it is a part of his past, and the fear that he will have fumbling issues is something Thomas is going to need to put to bed. And until he does so, there's nothing wrong with Lombardi questioning it, IMO.
I fail to see how this is relevant. I listed what I believe to be, things that must happen in order for us to compete.
I don't disagree with any of that. What I disagree with is the idea that anyone, Lombardi included, can make accurate assessments of how any team will do just a week into training camp. Obviously we have question marks, especially on offense. At this time last year, it was the defense that was coming off of a poor season, with a new OC and 7 new starters including first time starters at NT, DE, FS, SOLB and WOLB. Meanwhile, the offense was considered to be a team strength w/ the addition of Marshall and the continued growth of Henne buttressing an already potent run game. Well that all turned out to be bullshi!t, and I'm not trying to fall for the banana in the tail pipe again.
Look, as I said in my first post in this thread, Lombardi is one of my favorites, but I don't agree with anybody all the time. And I know there is no way that he watches every play of every game and evaluates draft picks for every team. That would take at least 32 hours for the games each assuming coach's tape and watching each play just once on top of his work of making the rounds with his contacts and studio time and that's not counting the draft picks. I know that I and several others here watch every play in the Dolphin games several times and that we tear apart each draft pick. There is simply not enough hours in the day for anybody to spend that much time on every team. So as much as I may like Lombardi and respect his opinion, I know that he or any other national talking head has spent less time analyzing and thing about the Dolphins than I have.
But the problem is, you don't know. You are assuming he doesn't. You said Jaworski does, which isn't any different of a situation than Lombardi. Each game is about 30 minutes of actual play. Thats 8 hours per week of actual play for the entire NFL. He has more than enough time to watch everything at least twice. But all that goes without even mentioning how much time he spends in the offseason watching tape? In regards to the draft picks, I doubt he watches every snap of theirs. Which is why you rarely see him have much conviction on drafted players. But it really doesn't much time to watch Daniel Thomas and see that he isn't using proper form when holding the football. All one has to do is go back and listen to his podcasts last season to hear how closely he knows each and every team. The guy will go off an a diatribe on how Brad Childress should have used a time out on a 2nd and 5 in the 3rd quarter.
Because it doesn't fit into their "glass half full" view. Lombardi is now the snake from the Garden of Eden. Its all hilarious. In due time it will sort itself out.
Hence one of the reasons I believe we are headed for disaster. One radio host, who has access to the locker room said that while he can't say names, he has heard from more than one player, that they just don't believe in Henne. If Henne can't get the support of his team mates then how effective can he be ? Their effort could suffer each time Henne does something wrong.
Wow! Holy Poop Batman!! Up until this point, Lombardi and has been widely regarded by most here, I included, as one of the few guys on that show whom have the most credibility and knowledge, etc. We've discussed that here several times and most everyone agreed. Now, he comes out and expresses some concerns and negativity about the team and it's recent moves and now he's now a clueless douche??? This is ridiculous. ...and this is coming from someone whom could easily be termed a "homer", one whom proudly wears his aqua and orange colored lenses. It amazes me that there are actually people here trying to discredit Lombardi and his career and experience, etc? Geez! So, we don't have major questions at the QB position??? Hey, I'm all for Henne turning things around and coming in and giving us a winning season, but just about anyone and their grandmother could see that there are BIG ?s there. The staff, obviously, has big ?s about him given the fact that they benched him and did things publicly, like trying to trade for Orton, etc, etc, etc. Henne, Moore and Devlin. Yeah, there's absolutely no room for concern with that group. Are you kidding me? Is there hope? ..sure, always, but...... Also, do you actually believe that we don't have major concerns at the RB position?? R. Bush will never be more than what he's been. He's not going to be more of an every down back and he's not going to be more successful running between the tackles. I said that when he was coming out of college. Now, am I excited and hopeful at what he can for us in space, on certain plays? ...sure!! So are we relying on D. Thomas to carry more of a load and be more of a power back? Well, that's definitely an uncertainty and another big ?. I think he has talent and the potential is there and I have hope, but when I watch him run, I have serious concerns if he could be more of a power back. I don't think that's his forte. At this point, I don't think he runs low enough with enough power. I think he has potential and some good versatility, but I don't yet see anything near what R&R could do in the power dept. There's definitely hope there, but it's definitely not the least bit unreasonable to have questions or concerns there. Do you really think that there aren't serious ?s with the OL with theses signings and shuffling, etc? Would you respect Lombardi and lend him the same credibility if he just comes out and blindly loves every single thing this team does? Up until this one point, he's usually been very positive about this team. I just don't get these reactions or more appropriately, overreactions. Yowza!!! JMO.
I'm pretty sure Jorge Sedano doesn't need to have his name protected from being associated with that report about the locker room not believing in Henne. Besides, I'm sure they'd all be singing a different tune to him now if he asked them again today. What matters is what happens when the real bullets start firing. That's when all this tepid optimism/patience stuff could wilt. Start losing a few games...all heck COULD break loose. Or not. We don't know. But it kind of did happen that way in 2010 toward the end of the year.
Jorge Sedano is too busy defecating all over the corpse of Channing Crowder to be bothered with this.
Even if he does watch every play as many times as I do (which I don't believe for a second), I would put my evaluation ability up against anybody's. I don't buy in to the idea that he must be a better evaluator b/ he's a name. There have been many great GMs who couldn't hold a candle to the evaluating abilities of their scouts. They may be great administrators, negotiators or something else but not necessarily great or even average evaluators. It's hard to say exactly which picks were his but his drafts with Cleveland and oakland when he was supposed to be running things were really bad. So while he may be one of my favorite talking heads, I certainly don't take everything he says as infallible.
If your goal is to send Dolfans into a state of depression then Kudos. If your goal is to offer an objective assessment of Miami's chances this season then you've failed miserably. In fact, when it comes to objective analysis your posts haven't passed the laugh test since about March-April. Don't get me wrong, I have a TON of respect for you, your knowledge of the game, and your ability to articulate your opinions convincingly. However, it's no large feat to poke holes in the roster of an NFL team, even an elite one. They ALL have them. The Jets have ZERO pass rush, an aging defense, a QB even worse than Henne, and a geriatric WR corps. The Bills don't have a single OL who could start for Miami and they continue to hemorrhage quality starters like Pozlusny and bring in washed up vets like Merriman and Barnett . The Pats are switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 because years of drafting and signing OLBs has failed miserably. They're bringing in Ocho-Cinco to revive a suspect WR corps, reminiscent of their Joey Galloway signing a couple years ago. I'm sure you'd have a field day w/ a move like that had Jeff Ireland been the author of it. Peyton Manning is hurt, his OL is a mess and Edgerrin James has yet to be replaced several years after the fact. The Steelers continue to age in the secondary and their OL is a bad joke. San Diego, Bob Sanders, really? Their first round RB can't even pass a fitness test, hows that for a giant question mark. The Eagles are the flavor of the month, but who's playing LB for them? O Line? QB when Vick (inevitably) gets hurt? The Giants made a title run on their stellar OL, running game and defense but the OL has fallen apart and the leadership of Strahan and Pierce remains missing. The G-Men show up when they feel like it. How many times do the Cowboys need to disappoint before people figure out that they have a bad mix of talent and a void in the accountability department? John Beck is the QB in Washington, nuff said. Who's afraid of Cleveland, or Kansas City? We dominated the Raiders even before they lost Nnamdi so I'm not exactly in awe of them either. We can do this all day b/c there are no teams who can't be dissected and painted in a bad light if one chooses to go that route. My question is, why go hyper negative on Miami after a week of training camp practices when we all know that preseason prognostications aren't worth the paper they are printed on...?
I come into the mains and find someone comparing himself to Christ because he got needled for posting something uber-negative? Really?! On topic: We are better than last year amd last year we won 7 with nothing from our offense and 1 ****ing home win. Our defense could be very special. We are an 8-8 team that needs a few breaks to win 10....just like 1/2 the league.
That story is a fairy tale. Mythology. Are you saying Lombardi is a fairy tale or a mythological figure?
I don't think anyone is denigrating Lombardi's opinion, but the knife cuts both ways. Some of the same people blaring his concerns as gospel are the same people who ignored his opinions on the non-QB related ills of our offense. If Lombardi came out and said our QB was poised for a great season he wouldn't change the mind of a single Henne basher. Whenever a so called expert makes a statement that agrees w/ this or that faction people jump on it, which is not at all unexpected. My issue is that Lombardi was listing all of the question marks around the team as opposed to giving a balanced look at the squad. And again, we're barely a week into training camp so anyone who claims to know how this or that team is going to fare during the season is guessing, period.
I believe it, because I have had it happen to myself the last few weeks. Its the same mentality that ran rampant in Germany in the 1930's & 1940's. If you are not blindly loyal, you are the enemy of the state.....in this case if you don't blow smoke up the butts of all the homers, you are a Dolphin hater. Ridiculous......but seems to be the norm around this board.
For you to say that with total certainty that he watched every snap of every game would have required you to have sat beside him while he did it. That would be first hand knowledge if you witnessed the event. Even if he had made a statement saying he did, that would not be first hand knowledge of the act, only his saying it happened and would still not make it absolute.
