http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12179331/how-many-players-away-super-bowl-was-team Kind of silly imo, but thought I would share. If only we were the Browns.
It does feel like we're 8 pieces away. lol Just on the offensive line we need 2 pieces, we need to replace Hartline and Wallace... all of our linebackers suck except for Jenkins who is average. Need another safety and a cornerback. Need a defensive tackle. 8 sounds about right.
Lemme guess before looking..... WR RG LG DE MLB FS CB OLB [EDIT: So they said 2 G's G, 2 WRs, and OT (I disagree... Albert returns, Juan is good at RT... but then they lis three positional needs that are DT, LB and Guard. So I'm confused which 8 players they think we should replace.]
It balances your 2 win prediction every year and general angry disposition. Honestly, if I ever stopped being a fan of the Dolphins I'd still root for them to win because them winning and people being happy about it brings you so much misery.
For me, Wallace and Hartline are fine, if anything coaching should up it's game when it comes to them. I personally feel LG and RG are just huge holes for us, and have been for yrs, since the staff is incapable of playing or developing anyone save for high draft choices or expensive FA's, we pretty much have to go that route (bleech) Speaking of not developing, recall those high pick Cb's from a couple of yrs ago, yeah, that worked out. IE, could use another Cb. Think Misi is fine at MLB, would love to team up Jones with a ballhawking S but also think DT has went from strength to weakness. We'll lose Odie, Starks appears to have cliffed, hope not, looked like it last yr. Think Dion Jordan pretty much has to play this yr, with Jenkins developing, SLB would be his role, that is if the talking monkeys on the staff can grasp that simple concept
If injuries hadn't happened, which in hind site would have been less likely then having the injuries, I think we could have made a run this season. Three big ones, and I'd argue no other team really lost as many big pieces, loosing Moreno, Albert, and Delmas. It's crazy to see the effect loosing Delmas had on our run defense. Albert.. Well.. That speaks for it self. Our line was on the way of being pretty good. Would love to see a full season with Albert at LT, Pouncey at Center, and James at RT. I think Turner is going to be good for us at Guard, and some think we have that other guard we can rotate in. Miller did have a great season, especially when you take into account the lack of attempts at times, but Moreno seemed like he was on the way to being our Marshawn Lynch. To be honest, loosing Moreno may have had the biggest effect, in that if you look at how the character and identify of this team was when he played. All the sudden he was blowing up linebackers.. Running like a beast and it was contagious. The second half of that Patriots game.. Man.. Id never seen us play like that. We were playing Sea Hawks esque. Would love to see us get a back like that... Because I think it dramatically changes the tenacity of our team.
I don't disagree with the premise of needing a certain balance of good and elite players, but it still comes down to player eval and and their methodology there was very questionable. They had Grimes as "average" while putting Misi as "good", for example. I'm also not sure where I'd put Pouncey. He was a bad G, but back at C and not coming off an injury and he may be back to good or even elite. Personally, I'd rank them: Elite Wake Grimes Reshad Jones Good Albert Tannehill Landry Miller Clay Wallace Jenkins I'd put the rest as mostly average and a few bad. I think we have enough good and elite players to make the playoffs if we have health, but lack depth (or coaching that compensates) so a few injuries kill us. I do think we need more elite players b/c they can compensate for injuries in other spots.
It looks as if this methodology didn't incorporate the relative value and importance of positions in the game. For example, if a team has a stellar quarterback, it isn't anywhere near as in need of as much talent elsewhere as a team with an inadequate quarterback.
Maybe...but thats not truly the case in our situation. Tannehill definitely played well enough to get us into the playoffs. Losing Delmas had a tremendous impact on our run defense. Albert loosing reeked havoc on our line. With Albert at LT, and James at RT, our line was playing pretty damn well. Would have been awsome to see 17 behind that line as he started to get comfortable in this new offense. You would have seen more passes down the field...as he would have has more time...
On offense I think the missing pieces, not necessarily in this order, are: 1) OG - I think Billy Turner will take one of the guard spots, so we just need one guard opposite him. 2) Backup swing tackle - Branden Albert is prone to injuries, so it's good to have a versatile guy there which gives you options, just in case. 3) a big physical WR- This is assuming Mike Wallace stays with the team... we need someone who wins the tight battles, goes up and snatches the football. 4) a power back - We all saw the difference Moreno made when he played for us, we need a guy like that...who knows, if Moreno is back and healthy, maybe it'll be him. On defense: 1) A big, run-stuffing DT- Assuming we re-sign Odrick, a big guy with a good motor who takes up two blockers would do wonders. 2) a smart, instinctive MLB - We've been missing this for a while now... 3) CB- Jury is still out on Davis and Taylor, need someone there opposite Grimes. 4) a ball-hawking safety- We need a guy who can hold his own in deep coverage, and make a play on the ball from time to time. Coaching staff: 1) A HC with balls 2) A DC who can adjust according to his player's strengths and weaknesses So in all, yes, I think we are 8 players away from having a very good team, but the coaching needs to improve as well.
It should have stated the Dolphins need 8 players, one decent head coach and one owner who actually has a clue. That should be enough to make this team a Super Bowl contender.
Well, it says the Colts are 9 players away.....yet they could still be in the Super Bowl if New England gets disqualified. So that math kind of works out funny.
QB is the most glaring hole we need to fill. Get a guy that doesn't freeze in the big moments and we would probably have 2 more wins a year.
I hate it when you don't get your numbers right. They need 10 - one guy to replace Sean Lee after he breaks his finger depositing his pay check. Great player, but should have maybe taken up chess as his body just cannot handle the game.
I see him as one of those elite types that can compensate for other deficiencies or injuries. An average ILB may great with Suh taking double teams or a good DE or secondary may suddenly appear improved.
I'd go for 11 to make sure they can get the guy that's going to replace Murray now that his career is pretty much guaranteed to be over.
If Miami signed Suh I'd be pretty happy regardless of what else happens this offseason short of trading Cameron Wake or something like that. I agree, he'd do a world of good for the defense. Playing next to Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon, depending on the front, I think does a LOT for them and Wake already does a LOT by himself. I also agree that he'd help Koa Misi (or Denzel Perryman, just saying) at ILB. Protects Jelani Jenkins too. Saw him live at the game this year in Detroit. He absolutely wrecked Miami's first series by himself. He's worth whatever contract he gets IMO. I just hope he sees Miami as a "big market".
Denny is an Elite Specials player, Jones and Sturgis had terrible yrs And cost us two games compared to the unit winning 1 Good specials win 3 games a yr and lose none, and swing games
I dunno about his being angry. If he added his usual "lol" to many more posts he could be mistaken for a laughing hyena.
That's a valid point. An elite QB has more impact than an elite G. Most elite offensive and defensive players have more impact than an elite STs player (other than maybe a kicker or punter vs. some low impact positions). So total number of elite and good players is valuable information, but it's only part of it. If you had 11 elite STs players and were crappy on offense and defense you'd still lose every week.
It's a mix Rafi, this is why a team needs the best players are key positions at the lowest cost Brandon Fields literally cost us a W, Sturgis is, well, Sturgis. Now, if Fields was his normal self, "IF" Sturgis was avg to above, we'd claw out 3 wins, or inow a playoff birth. Said it for 2 yrs now, see it in the playoff rounds, Specials are the last frontier of untapped production potential in the NFL. For example, what if like Lovie Smith in Chicago, every ST unit was tasked in practice to strip the football the way the defensive unit was during Smith's time in Chicago?
A front 4 with Suh and Wake would take us to the playoffs, imo. I would flip Grimes and Reshad Jones, either way it's the same number of elite and good...whatever. This article is on the right track, though combining PFF grades with a PFF cut-off measure is a bit convoluted. But it's true that the NFL is not about filling holes with decent players...which is what the Phins have been doing for years, and explains our mediocrity. I swear if we draft *safe* OLine in the first round again...
They're lower cost b/c they're lower impact. It's just a matter of opportunities. Is it important to not have major breakdowns that give away free points on the relatively few plays that STs are involved in? Of course. Is it a positive to get an unexpected score from your STs? Obviously. You don't want holes on the team. The fallacy is when people act like STs plays are somehow more more impactful or that it's 1/3 of the game. Reality that it's a about 20% of the game. That's just how often those positions are on the field. It's ludicrous to pretend that they have the same impact as positions that are on the field much more often. In terms of this thread it would mean that having an elite player on STs is about 1/2 as valuable as an elite player on the other units. (The other 80% of the game, 40% offense, 40% defense). But in reality it's mostly about avoiding the big mistake. For example, an average kicker today will hit about +90% of his FGs under 40 yards and get you about half of those that are over 50 yards. Every once in a while you'll see a team go through a stretch where their kicker or kickers can't hit the bright side of a barn or when they have multiple gaffs on STs. Or you might have a special kick returner who is a real weapon for a year or two. But for 90% of the teams each year STs operate in that narrow range where there isn't much difference amongst the production of STs units. So unlike the other units the difference between good and elite is negligible.
