1) I have not let Parcells off the hook. He is the architect, the Czar & ultimately responsible. 2) Ireland is the best thing he brought into the organization, along with his extensive scouting crews & connections 3) Ireland generally advised then reflected the picks, his parameters were well established by Parcells & Sparano 4) Ireland reluctantly supported the drafting of Pat White as the missing piece to the WildCat offense 5) Nolan & Ireland will stick, the others are gone
DL: Starks, Solia, Langford, Odrick, Merling. I'm not counting McDaniel, he probably leaves in search of a starter's salary. We won't need to draft a DL for years to come. OL: Long, Berger, Jerry, Incognito, Carey, McQuistan, Procter. A young group with the exception of Carey. Plenty of flexibility. Again, no need to draft there unless a great talent slips to us. LB: Crowder, Dansby, Wake, Misi, Dobbins, Moses, Edds. Again, lots of talent, lots of youth. No needs there for a few years, unless someone slips thru the cracks. DB: Davis Smith, Sapp, Clemons, Jones, Bell, Culver, Carroll, Allen. IMO Allen's money should go towards Cromartie & his family.We need another CB b/c Smith isnt starter material. Davis, Clemons & Jones (Bell's replacement) are keepers. Culver and Sapp are decent role players. WR: Marshall, Bess, Hartline. That's about it. We need a speed guy to stretch the field and return kicks as well (hopefully). Moore & Wallace gave us absolutely nothing this year except for bad routes and poor special teams coverage. One or both needs to be upgraded. The WR crop is loaded in FA, we should be able to find a bargain like James Jones to challenge Hartline and a speed guy in the middle rounds. TE: Fasano is so under appreciated, probably because people don't pay attention to the trenches. He's a great blocker, a decent receiver, tough, strong, fits the Fins mold perfectly. We do need a #2 though, a Hernandez type we can stick in the game to create match up problems. RB: We've got nothing. Ronnie is a goner, Ricky should be right behind him. Adios Lex Hilliard and/or Pat Cobbs. All of these guys are slow as molasses, couldn't break a big run vs. a college team. If the Panthers/Chiefs don't franchise Deangelo Williams/Jamal Charles, we should be all over them b/c I'd hate to use our #1 on a running back when there are so many good corners to be had in the first round this year. We need a feature guy, someone who can be effective inside but also scare defenses at least a little and be an effective pass catcher. FB: I don't know what happened to the guy, but he sucks this year. QB: I like Chad Henne's skill set. I hope the brass likes him enough to can Henning and bring in a guy who will cater to Henne's strengths and give him a chance to succeed. Thiggy is a decent back up, Thursday night was a perfect storm of bad timing/luck/injuries so I don't hold it against him. 23rd Thinks Penny will be a good coach, the guys on CBS said it so it must be true, right? Coaches: Nolan is a top tier DC. Henning is a decent OC, but Henne will never thrive in his offense, so the Old Man needs to go. I really hope Norv Turner gets fired this year, he'd be a perfect guy to bring in. Sparano I'm not sold on, but the team plays for him, and if we have strong coordinators we can get by. That's my take on it. The basic building blocks are there. You've just gotta take your eye outta periscope and get the full view for a change.
Both of these guys are playing great ball this year, Soliai in particular. Both are making the case for new contracts.
get over it. Henne has been measured & given every opportunity & advantage & come up wanting. look to the draft for your franchise QB. w/o a Franchise QB we will not go to the SuperBowl & Henne is simply not franchise material. in Parcells departing words: Henne is a disappointment. he's gone, history, it's over
I support Nolan and his defense. They did pretty well for a unit that was on the field 80% of the time. I don't support Sparano that keeps an inept OC and does not do something about it when the idiot tells a young QB back that he is going to win it with his arm against a top 5 defense in the NFL. Yes, OLline was in shambles, but that does not justify what he did. Here is Henning's game plan: 1st play of drive-run of LG, 2nd play of drive-run off RG, well that isn't working; we are going to throw the ball the rest of the nite. Oh, I forgot. Dan Henning's record as an OC/HC is 34-78-1. Now 34-79-1. The guy is terrible!
The latest in a series of naive comments by you. If I didn't know any better I'd think you were trolling.
I think someone has watched "A Knights Tale" one too many times. You're hate for Henne is laughable, even mores after your 2 saviors failed to prove you right.
Wow, Are you ever looking at the world through rose color glasses. First of all the defensive line: Merling has never been the player the Dolphins through he could be. The reason Odrick was drafted in the first round was because of the Dolphins lack of confidence that Merling would ever be a quality defensive lineman. As far as Odrick goes. The jury is still out on him. He has yet to prove that he can stay on the field or that he is the defensive lineman the Dolphins expect him to be. The rest of the players on the line I can live with. In fact I would much rather see the Dolphins let Merling go and sign McDaniels to a long term contract. Now the offensive line. You must be kidding if you think there is not a severe need to upgrade this unit. The only quality starter on this entire unit is Jake Long. Vernon Carey is getting worse by the game. The entire interior of the offensive line needs to be upgraded. We have a below par center and neither of the guards are providing the blocking to open holes on running plays. As far as the backups go. They are backups for a reason and as last night clearly showed. When they are called on to play in the game. They play like backups. Not very well. So I personally think that the Dolphins need a severe upgrade on the offensive line. Linebackers- Not a lot of speed or ability to cover backs out of the backfield., Other than Dansby and Wake . There are no other linebackers on the team who can be considered impact players at this position. Misi is still a question mark and Crowder plays well sometimes and other times he seems to disappear. Edds was drafted to provide coverage on passing down but like with Odrick. A season ending injury prevented the Dolphins from deteriming if he is a player or not. The rest of the linebackers are mediocre at best. Defensive backs- I agree with your assessment of the players in the defensive backfield. Though I actually like Smith as a possible safety in the long term. While I would love to see a lock down corner on the other side of Davis. The Dolphins have far more pressing needs in the off season then going after a defensive back early in the draft. At receiver- I agree the team needs a speed receiver on the outside. If Hartline is considered your fastest receiver. What you are admitting is that you have no one with any real speed to open up the defense. Marshall appears to be nothing but a possession receiver at this stage of his career. Best is one of the best slot receivers in the NFL and with Marshall on one side and a receiver who can get open deep on the other side. Best would only be that much more valuable to the Dolphins. At tight end. The Dolphins must agree with you in regards to Fasano since thay just signed him to a new contract. I am not that sold on him and I would love to see them upgrade the tight end position. Running Backs- Your correct. This is a definite area of need. Ricky is looking his age and he no longer has the burst he once had. Ronnie appears to be suffering from all the injuries he has had doing his football playing days. Neither of these backs should be with the Dolphins next year. The younger backs have not shown enough to lead anyone to believe they are the long term answer at the running back position. This is a strong area of need in the off season. QB- I still have a lot of questions concerning Henne. He is inconsistent on his short throws. He is far too quick to drop the pass off to a running back out of the back field. He has not shown that he can complete the deep passes. He has limited movement in the pocket and sometimes he just doesn't seem to take the game seriously. When he overthrew Fasano in the end zone in the game against the Ravens two weeks ago.They showed him laughing on the sidelines right after the play. I lost a great deal of respect for his ability as a QB after I saw him laughing after that play. Personally I don't think Henne will ever be anything more than a mediocre QB in the NFL. So I hope the Dolphins look to upgrade this position. As far as the coaching goes- I suspect that the Dolphins will be looking for a new head coach after this season is over. So I will leave it up to the new head coach to select his own coordinators. I would love to see Nolan kept but that would be up to the new coach. As far as Henning goes. It is time for him to follow his good pal Parcells out the door. I see the Dolphins with far more immediate needs then you do. And we didn't even discuss the players on the special teams. Other than the kicker and punter. Just about all the special team players need to be upgraded. So with all these needs. I think it will take at least another three years of solid drafts and free agent pick-ups before the Dolphins can be considered a legitimate playoff contender. Sorry if this doesn't jive with your rose colored view of the Dolphins. But that's how I see it.
This team has a pretty good foundation set already. What we saw last night is what happens when you constantly turn over the bottom of your roster like you're playing fantasy football. The good teams usually have more solid backups. It's not like they don't deal with injuries as well. The offensive line was atrocious. Yes they were really banged up but man they were bad.
I’m curious as to why you ascribe blame for Wilford on Ireland when that was more or less a Bill Parcells move through and through. Tell me, have you ever heard of Brian Gaine?
I think the term "need" is being over used a bit. Sounds like you want to have Pro Bowlers at every position, which is totally unrealistic. There are a few key pieces missing, the rest has more to do with coaching and strategy. JMO.
It's good to see someone else recognizes that this is a fairly talented team. NFL teams can only get so much talent on their roster at once in this era.
I am not looking for a Pro Bowler at every position. But it is obvious that you are not willing to look at the fact the Dolphins have some severe weaknesses on their team. The fact you think the offensive line is set for years to come merely shows that you are not willing to see the obvious. This is one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. It is going to take far more than coaching to get these players to play at a level which would be considered adequate in the NFL. As a long time Dolphins fan. I hope you are correct. I would love to be wrong. I just don't see this team with the players they have now going to the playoffs anytime in the next few years.
Let me ask you, how many of the teams we've played this year have a better OL than we do? Bills, NO. Vikings, NO. Jets, YES. Pats, NO. Packers, NO. Steelers, NO. Bengals, NO. Ravens, DRAW. Titans, DRAW. Bears, NO. I know our OL has looked bad this year, especially after last year. My point is, other teams are getting it done with a lot less talent up front than we have. Its coaching and execution.
Wait a minute, I heard it was Parcells who didn't want to draft White and that Ireland wanted him. Now is it Sparano that wanted him ? or Henning ? Just who was it that picked White ? We need to clear the air of this once and for all.
This almost made me choke on my dinner. Oline depth is obviously an issue but this is what we have on the roster: - The best LT in the game. - Good defensive line [above average actually] - a pro bowl MLB and an OLB who is an MVP candidate. - a good young DB corps [green but a lot of potential, Bellicheat has won big with backups in his secondary] - Two RBs who have been to the probowl [What RB would have good numbers getting 5 or 6 carries a game?] - A probowl kicker - A pretty good punter too - A WR teams have to game plan for, as well as one of the best slot receivers in the game now But this isn't enough talent to even COMPETE for a playoff spot supposedly. We have pro bowlers in almost every unit so saying this isn't enough talent is almost literally asking for a pro bowler at every position.
Yep. And we added all of that talent in the last 2+ years under this regime, with the exception of Ronnie & Ricky who are probably the least valuable commodities on the list. We have a solid core of talented players who are all under contract for the next several years. Obviously we need to keep building and add a free agent here or there, but our quickest and most reliable path to improvement as a team will come from developing the talent we already have on board.
I don't think we'll ever be clear on who's idea it was. All I know was that when I first saw a mock with us taking White I vowed to never go back to that site again because there was no way we'd be duped into taking White in the 2nd round. SMH.
This is correct. It was reported after the draft by Peter King and others that Pat White was a through and through Parcells pick. The idea that we’ll never know who drafted him is a fallacy: we’ve known for 18 months.
They are in horrible shape (The Steelers) at the O-Line position, in fact, watch the Raiders D-Line abuse them Sunday.
we've all done it in one way or the other, at one time or another. Friend NJFINSFAN1 certainly not intended to be a personal slur more as a commentary on the human condition everyone has been blinded by love at one time or another very difficult to see something we love objectively in the passion & name of love we often & willingly practice self-deceit it's just one excuse after another the old "almost virgin" syndrome applies to everyone, even in football
Holy cow. Thanks 23rd, I've had a long day and needed a good laugh!!! Do I need to explain the humorous irony in these statements? I absolutely love how you want to prioritize drafting a QB in round 1 to replace our CURRENT developing yet talented QB (Henne)..... and then you want to 180 it and do exactly what you're complaining against-- which is seasoning the young talent and watch him develop.
I gotta ask: What's with all the pink writing lately?.... and now "kisses"? Maybe I don't wanna know.....
Yup. Fins needs a kick/punt return specialist and plus a better special team. Been playing yucky. A franchise QB. Sorry but Henne isn't the dude, in my opinion. Secondary D needs to mature a bit more. Tired of watching opposing team's 3rd and 11+ succeeding. Fins got the pieces but yet missing the major pieces.
Friend texanphinatic: always a good thing to follow the thread, making sure you understand in what context things were written before you comment a 4-u & abye,bye too! GoFish! I have no more tolerance for a bad QB leading the team, be it Pennington because of injuries or Henne because of a lack of talent. excuses are for losers & yes so often love is blind I believe the answer to our QB dilemma will be found early in next years draft
