You will hear from several NFL analysts and experts that in the NFL, a win is a win. Although this is true, especially when the Dolphins haven’t won in Buffalo in God knows how long, this win should be a cause for some alarm. In today’s NFL, teams who score 15 points on the Buffalo Bills aren’t going to win the Super Bowl. Teams who pass for less than 200 yards aren’t going to be part of any parades. Although the Dolphins did in fact win, at the end the Bills still had a chance with 2 minutes left in large part due to the fact the Dolphins could not run out the clock. By the way, that is the same Dolphins who so heavily emphasize the running game and have spent an inordinate amount of money on their offensive line. The Dolphins' offensive line is like Tori Spelling—tons of expensive plastic surgery, same result.
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| Same result- Ugly |
The only real bright spot on that line is Jake Long. The Dolphins' defense had to save the team much like it did back in the Jimmy Johnson/Dave Wannstedt era. Although this is an encouraging sign, it is not what you expect from a team who just picked up Brandon Marshall in the off-season. You would figure that our offense would be more explosive now with the addition of Marshall. You would expect that with the running back duo of Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, the addition of a Pro Bowl receiver, and an extra off-season working with the first team, Chad Henne would look impressive in a regular season debut against the lowly Buffalo Bills. However, here was Henne looking very Jay Fiedler-ish when we have been told over and over again he is the future of this team.
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| "I hope this is not picked off." |
Maybe I am jumping the gun on this, and I could be very wrong, but Chad Henne doesn’t seem to be the answer. We were told by the media and the coaching staff that Chad Henne would allow this offense to be able to throw the ball deep and get what they call “chunk” yardage. Yet, against the Bills, there was Henne doing a lot of dinking and dunking. Maybe being a Chad Pennington understudy rubbed off on him a little too much, but if our offense is going to continue dinking and dunking all the way down field, we are going to have the same struggles we had with Pennington as the starter. (By the way, I am going to go out on a limb here and tell you that Chad Pennington is by far the best dinker and dunker on this team).
By now you might be thinking that I am doing an awful lot of complaining. The truth? Yes I am. And here is why. As a life time Dolphin fan, I am sick and tired of seeing mediocre offensive play. I have seen the Dolphins' defense dominate at times over the last 15 years and I have seen them have a good, maybe even great running game at times (and then Ricky Williams took off to Australia to live in a tent and smoke a lot of pot). But what I have not seen is the Dolphins win in the playoffs.
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| "I don't remember the last time my ass felt clean." |
I remember when Jimmy Johnson was still coaching and then even into the Wannstedt years how people would bash Jay Fiedler. I defended him. My friends and family would argue with me, “How can you defend Fiedler? Every time he throws a deep out it’s pick six the other way!” I defended Fiedler because we were winning. I had seen the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Baltimore Ravens win with good defense, good running game, and mediocre quarterback play. We had a few 11-5 years there with Jay Fiedler and that Zach Thomas/Jason Taylor/Sam Madison/Pat Surtain led defense. Those teams were fun to watch and gave you a false sense of hope come playoff time. We were always a good team, right on the brink of being very good. In the end though, Fiedler would throw the interceptions we all knew he would and the running game would fail because no one feared the threat of the pass, and somehow the defense that had held it all together for a whole season would unravel.
Then we all got slapped in the face with a brick and were welcomed to the “this is what the Detroit Lions have experienced for their entire existence” era which culminated with a 1-15 season. Cue the Bill Parcells regime walking in and immediately becoming the opiate of the Miami Dolphins’ fan base. Here we are in the third year of the Parcells era (even though he stepped down, this is still the coach and general manager he handpicked and he had substantial say in the current personnel of this team), and we still have a million questions left unanswered.
I am tired of watching 15-10 games. If we win the Super Bowl, I’ll take it without a problem. However, I have been a Dolphin fan long enough to not be misled by these types of games. I know that if Chad Henne doesn’t start looking like a star, no amount of Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown is going to win the Super Bowl in this modernized NFL. No passing game in today’s league equals early playoff exits. It’s been a long time since 1972 and I am pretty tired of investing so much of my time and energy in watching a team that is going to leave me feeling disappointed each and every week for half of the year.
Comments and debate are welcome.
I agree that a lot still needs to be fixed and a 15-10 win seems uninspiring against the Bills, but we were 3 drops away from the game ending 36-7 without any complaints. The Marshall drop and the two dropped pick sixes. Yes we didn't make the play but it's just to show that we were 3 easy drops short of the game being a blowout and the whole fan base cheering for joy for a playoff win. Let's take for what it is as 1-0 start that we haven't had since 2005 and enjoy it.
ReplyDelete*playoff run
ReplyDeletejury's still out on the offense. it was just week one and henne hasnt even been a starter for a full season's worth of games. so let's hold off on the fielder comparisons (although, like you, I also defended him and would have preferred him over anyone else not named chad since he's been gone). if he doesn't show improvement and consistency by week 8, bring fiedler back out.
ReplyDeletei completely agree that this isn't a super bowl team at the moment. your last 7 super bowl champs had brees, manning, brady, or roethlisberger. the game has changed and you need an elite QB to keep up with the best teams. until henne gets there, odds are against us.
to summarize, penington is definitely the best dink and dunker.
it seems like we are heading in the right direction but I think the focus is that we are taking baby steps and not leaps and bounds. Rome wasn't built in a day but at least you could see it being built. The real question is, are they building a winner, or are they just putting a decent enough product on the field to keep the boo birds away. Personally, I'm starting to think its the latter, the more I watch this team. I think Parcell's had enough, hence his bailout, and i think there's more of this to come. We Shall See.
ReplyDeleteGino- The problem is I have been seeing 15 years worth of "what if this happened" scenarios. I still remember back in the mid-90's when Pete Stoyanovich missed a field goal at the end of the game against the San Diego Chargers. What if he made it? Then the Dolphins play Pittsburgh and may have gone to the Super Bowl that year against San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteRicky- Jay Fiedler was not as bad as people think. He had a weak arm in comparison to Marino and had it tougher than most of the quarterbacks we've had since because he came immediately after Dan and people were still angry because Dan was forced out.
Raul- I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think that is the exact problem...the Dolphins are always good enough to keep you excited. It's like a girl who flirts with you every day but won't sleep with you.
Glad you all checked out the blog. Keep coming back.