So you are suggesting to bench Jake Long?

 

No. We would still be a middle of the road team even with a better OL and Moore. One that may make the playoffs barely yet again, and get stomped in the first round. We need a QB to win and take us to where we want to go. Matt Moore is not a guy that's going to win you a Super Bowl and carry a team there.

Troy Aikman was good regardless of the OL. He was a talented QB. Far more talented that Matt Moore will ever be.

Part of Ireland's plan better be to draft a franchise QB, or its more of the same in Miami IMO.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of signing Evan Mathis for LG, move Richie to RG, and draft Riley Reiff.

 

we'd be above average, could even win a playoff game, but still not enough to truly contend.
If we go with Moore, we need to trade D Bess, get a speedier WR to take advantage of Moore's downfield passing.

 

Move Incognito to RG..check
Sign a LG..check (not sure if we can land Mathis) check
Draft Riley Reif

Now that last one, that's a problem, John Jerry has proven to be a better Tackle then Guard, and a top 10 pick on a RT is madness, opportunity costs of such a move are massive, as we draft OL, we lose the ability to draft playmakers who score TD's.

 

Thing is, you have to build momentum for SB runs, make the playoffs then advance in them the next yr, I think Moore can certainly get us to the playoffs, what happens afterwards remains to be seen.

Get him some blocking and he will break 25 Td's, maybe 30, he has the balls of a cat burglar.

 

We have playmakers who can score points if the OL does it's job. Ok, draft DeCastro for LG and let Jerry and Murtha compete for RT.

 

Suddenly Matt Moore is the answer.
Could be I'm missing something.

 

Ahh, but that is the intriguing thing about Moore, he has gotten the ball to his playmakers, and they have made big plays, even with a poor pass blocking OL.

Sunday should be fun, Jest run all sorts of mixed blitz packages, the Qb has to be able to ID them and call for the protections, this has been a problem all yr...this is his last shot at making an impression...let's examine what he's got.

 

It would be pretty cool to get VJack to pair with Beast, but are we ready to give up on Gates yet? He has the tools to blow the lid off a defense, and really I think most of us felt he'd need some time to develop.

 

Well, I think Hartline can go down the field fine, but to me, he is more of a seam threat in some offenses.

New staff coming in, will be interesting to see who winds up were and who stays and who goes.

One of the overlooked things about Pouncey being named an alternate is...Ireland first draft that was all "his", and it did produce 1 pro bowler, the problem has been inexperience married to a bit to much age and guys out of position.

 

Exactly what makes you think Ireland is capable of providing the next coaching staff with the players to build a great offensive line. Right now the Dolphins have one pro bowl level offensive lineman, Jake Long. The rest of the offensive linemen are all adequate at best. Pouncey may end up being a very good player in the future, but right now he is only rated in the middle of the pack of centers in the NFL.

Ireland has done a terrible job of selecting offensive linemen to upgrade this unit over the last four years. Sparano was suppose to be an offensive line guru and he wasn't able to improve the play of this line. I don't feel that Ireland knows what he is doing as the GM of the Dolphins, so I don't have any confidence in him to build a good offensive line, much less a great offensive line.

As far as Moore is concerned, the Dolphins need to draft a QB in the first round. Moore is a very good backup, but that is about it. He is not the answer at the QB position for the Dolphins in the long run, great offensive line or not.

 

Baltimore is not a middle of the pack team. Do you think Joe Flacco is any better than Matt Moore? When was the last time you saw Baltimore get 'stomped in the first round'. As a matter of fact don't they usually do the stomping?

 

Don't sell short the idea of having Reggie rip off multiple 100 yard plus games behind a great offensive line; while Marshall, a speed merchant wide receiver and a seam-busting tight end catch passes for 250 yards combined, and Daniel Thomas does a Csonka impression behind the drive blockers in short yardage situations. Moore can be coached in the short to medium range passing game. An offense like that could win it all.

 

That's the issue FS, the offense has not finished Top 10 in offense since 2001, sooner or later you are going to have to change things to get better performance as 2 seasons is a large enough sample size to say this isn't working.

 

He's a Pro Bowl alternate as a rookie, so somebody sees something in him. Of course we can just ignore that so we have more reasons to denigrate Ireland. PFF at this point, has Pouncey as the 4th best run blocking center in the league. Someone was giving Bush those creases to gain over 1k at 5 yds a pop.

 

Ironically the Cowboy's o-line was built with cast-offs and converted d-linemen.

 

Erik Williams and Mark Stepnoski were not castoffs. They were both original 3rd round picks by the Cowboys. Bargains maybe, but far from castoffs. Williams was one of the best OTs in the league during the 90s and was named All Pro three times. Stepnoski was one of the league's best centers too. Went to 5 pro bowls and named to the 1990s all decade team. Larry Allen was a 2nd rounder also by the Cowboys. Probably one of the 5 best guards to ever play in the NFL. 11 times to the Pro Bowl, 7x an All Pro, named to the All Decade team of both the 1990s and the 2000s. He'll probably get elected to the Hall of Fame some day. Nate Newton, they got from the USFL went it folded. I guess you could say he was a cast off, depending how loosely you wanted to use the term. 6x Pro Bowler and 2x All Pro. Kevin Gogan was a Cowboys draft pick, another bargain whom they took in the 8th round, but he didn't really become Pro Bowl level till he left the Cowboys. Their one OL who contributed to the Super Bowl teams who was legitimately a cast off was John Gesek, who the Raiders had cut previously. Their one converted defensive lineman, singular, not plural, was Mark Tuinei. UDFA as a DT, whom they converted to OT under Tom Landry. Tied with Too Tall Jones for most seasons in a Cowboys uniform with 15. So, one legit castoff for a few years in Gesek, and one converted DT, and one refugee from the USFL, along with two 3rd rounders and one 2nd rounder. The latter three all legitimately considered among the best at their positions throughout their careers, and Newton and Tuinei were multiple Pro Bowlers too.
But some would have us believe that Aikman could be a star behind any ragtag collection of offensive linemen. Or so I saw it said earlier in the thread.

 

We'll never really know that now will we? Since he played behind one of the league's best lines throughout his career.

 

If we miss on the QB then that is the best alternative, but reality is that will probably not get us more than to the playoffs. Moore needs everything around him to go right. That's very difficult against playoff competition. And it's very difficult to maintain year in and year out. At best you can hope for that magical year where we don't have many key injuries and we get the bounces. Moore is good enough for us to win in that scenario.

 

I disagree, Moore needs SOME things to go right. He doesn't need everything to go right. I brought it up earlier in the thread and I'll bring it up again. The Ravens have Joe Flacco as their QB. Nobody is confusing that guy for Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers. Yet they're about to head to the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. And they are never one and done. Their team has talent but it also has holes and weaknesses just like every other team. Is Anquan Boldin better than Brandon Marshall? Is Ed Dickson and whoever else they have better than our TE set? I'll give them Ray Rice though Reggie Bush has proven he can be a difference maker. They haven't made it to the big game yet but they are having success with a middle of the pack QB while also playing in a tough division. Matt Moore might actually be better than Joe Flacco. I don't think Baltimore has a legendary Oline either. The blind side is no better than even 75% Jake Long. Flacco has been roughed up multiple times this season.

 

I did state that I thought Pouncey has a chance to be a very good player in the future. While he has been effective as a run blocker, his pass blocking still needs to improve quite a bit before he can be considered a top tier center in the NFL. He has also had games where he seems to have trouble with the snap when the QB is not under center,

You are correct though, I do not think Ireland is a good GM and I don't think the Dolphins can become a winning organization again until Ross finally gets rid of Ireland. Parcells was terrible as the man hired to run the Dolphins football operation. Sparano was a nice guy, but not a good head coach. Why anyone would think that the third member of that group, Ireland, is qualified to be selecting players for this organization is beyond me. Ross keeping Ireland as the Dolphins GM, clearly shows how little Ross knows about owning a successful NFL football team.

 

The even greater irony is his career ended prematurely due to concussions and other injuries.

 

IMO if we're not going to draft a quarterback and stick with Moore, then I'd rather draft Courtney Upshaw to put opposite of Cameron Wake... especially if we can land a solid lineman via free agency.