An outsider's view

Hey shag, you forgot the "What's right" column.

 

I think for the most part you are right. The end result at many of the positions is bad because of the ridiculous amount of key injuries and the trade of Chambers. The only two I would change are WR and DB. I don't think the WR position was very bad last year, but because of average to poor line play and poor QB play they weren't effective. This year I think they are much worse with the loss of Chambers and Welker. Ginn has shown signs, but right now the Dolphins are without a #1 WR and have very little depth. At DB I think they have actually been solid this year. There have been games like the Pats and Dallas game where they got torched a bit, but a lot of that is due to poor safety play by guys that had no business starting in Worrell and Tillman. It is made worse when there is no pass rush. I think the corners, and Will Allen in particular, have been pretty solid though. I'd like to see a good #1 CB added in the offseason and I think it could become a strong unit.

 

They were bad. They were bad because they are the same receiver. They all should be in the slot playing the number 3. Not one of them was a threat to the deep portion of the field.

Take a look at Chris Chambers on another team.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5499

That was our "go to" guy.

Our receivers (and our QB play) have been awful for years.

 

It is the poor drafting over the years and too many HC changes more recently that has hurt us the most. I still think that the addition of a stud DL and a CB, along with a couple of playmakers on Offense could turn this team round a lot quicker than most people realise though.

 

I will say this:

First of all, Mr. Coug is right, we have a multi positional talent gap, though I disagree with his specifics.

2. GREAT KOOGLY MOOGLY it feels darn good to be on a the winning end of trades for a change, Chris Chambers is as invisible in San Diego as he was in Miami.

Randy Mueller is 2-2 with one push in his trades for us.

That actually gives me some confidence in this offseason.

 

You see this is where the outsider takes a mistep. What's right?

Dave Wannstedt has left the building. When he left the building a very smart man took over. That smart man fixed alot of issues with the Miami Dolphins.

Practice Bubble - Afternoon showers are predicted in August for the entire southeast.

Coaches - This team was severely understaffed. He hired 23 coaches. Attrition has less effect on the staff and the focus of the staff. He hired one of the best offensive line coaches. He hired one of the best defensive coordinators available. He hired quality coaches.

General Manager - This team had not had a GM for over a decade.

Front Office - I can't remember all of the hires but it starts with Joe Bailey. Stolen from the NFL's New York headquarters, there was no man more capable of supervising the operations of a professional football team. When Dave Wannstedt quit you could see the lack of organization within this team. I actually felt sorry for Huyzienga and Eddie Jones as they stood at the podium that offseason. I had never seen two men more incapable of standing at a podium to discuss issues within a football team. It became obvious that Eddie Jones was nothing more than a figurehead. Maybe he was capable of counting the gate. I do not know.

Scouting - He got rid of the dead weight that was simply collecting a paycheck.

The entire organization went through an extreme makeover AFTER Dave Wannstedt. Dave Wannstedt had no clue. Jimmy Johnson had no clue. Nick Saban started this team on a new path. He brought this team into a new era.

What's right about the Dolphins? Dave Wannstedt is gone.

 

Hey shag, a stud DL and CB along with a couple play makers on offense will turn almost any team around.

 

The Wes Welker trade was a good one too. Wes Welker should give Randy Mueller half his paycheck for who Mueller traded with. Without that team, Wes Welker is a 600 yard per receiver. It is Randy Moss that is responsible for at least 400 of Wes Welker's current yardage with the Patriots.

Do not misunderstand me here. I loved Wes Welker on the Dolphins. Every time he caught a punt my son and I were syncronized - Him - "Wes Welker" - Me "Can't be stopped!" It still doesn't change what role Wes Welker can play on a team. He's nothing without a substantial number one receiver. We didn't have that and it wasn't going to develope during the first three years of a lucrative contract that Wes Welker would have been playing under.

The Wes Welker trade was a winner for this team. Anyone from the outside will never understand that trade. That trade was about our future. It wasn't about this year.

 

Well something positive is that somehow, being as bad as people say we are, we lost 6 games by only 3 points. I'd say that is consistantly over achieving. Turn those 3 point losses to wins and we are 6-8.

 

It's more of a condemnation of the play in the NFL.

Let me say it this way. It's not the New England, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Dallas, and Green Bay are so good. It's more of a situation that everyone else IS JUST THAT BAD.

Someone on the radio recently made the observation that 16 teams were on different starting quarterbacks from week one. I forget who made the observation but it was quite an observation. Half the teams in the league are scrambling to find their QB. The problem with that is half of them have been searching for a decade or more.

The coaching turnover is exaccerbating this problem. When a Head Coach is hired he usually realizes that he is married to his quarterback decisions. He's got three years for that QB to catch fire. If that QB doesn't catch fire, the QB and the Coach are usually gone. 16 teams with the same futility.

 

Now that is a great story about yourself and your son Zod.

After suffering through the last 7 yrs or so where we would trade a 2 second round pick every other year for some QB who did -0- for us, it is such a treat to see us actually picking up 2nd round picks.

I had missed that soo much, it's like we have a real GM now, and then seeing Chris Chambers numbers for the Chargers only makes Mueller look like an even better GM.

That is a goo sign especially when we have

1. The #1 overall draft pick to deal with, I'm pretty certain Mueller will get value out of any trade for the pick.

2. The Jason Taylor trade, IMO will happen, it will be good for both teams, and we will get the maximum value for JT, and he will have a chance to contend before he leaves the Game for ESPN.

If we got seconds for Welker and Chambers, and dealt tough for T Green, we should do well in a JT trade as well.

It has been 15yrs or so since we had a GM who could make things happen for us that were positive.

Seriously, the last "positive" trade we made was dumping Eddie Milner on the Rams, or dumping Randall "Thrill" Hill to the Saints.

 

The point I was making was if you hit lucky/skillfull in the offseason, then you have a chance of competing at top level the following season. It doesn't need to mean that we will take years to rebuild, like some guys around here think. Good coaching and consistency would be nice too. if we had one HC over the last 5 years I doubt very much we would be in the state we are in now. I would hate to see Cameron go now, as we would be a step further back again, with a new coach starting, regardles if he was a better coach than Cam. If ******* Saban was still here now we would probably be a 10-6 team right now, with the consistency that a steady HC would bring.

 

I actually think the secondary has been pretty good for most of the season. Will Allen is having a damn good year. Jason Allen has emerged. Heck, even Cameron Worrell was getting comfortable.

Yes they've struggled on the edge vs the run. But this unit's good coverage is responsible for the bulk of our sacks. More often then not, they give up completions because the defensive front simply cannot generate a pass rush. It always requires more heat. And Will Allen is the one they're now asking to bring it.

This despite our best CB (from last season) being out when the season started and losing our top three (now 4 of 5) safeties. One of which had been playing at a Pro Bowl-caliber level.

EDIT: That said, I'm firmly on the Mike Jenkins bandwagon. I'd love to move down a bit and shutdown one side of the field for the next decade.

 

Being far from a Cam Cameron headhunter, all I can say is that if he is going to be fired, it should be done the week the season ends for us.

People may not remember how long Wayne waited to hire Cam, he flirted with Pete Carrol for a month or more before settling on Cam, IMO that set some things back, along with C-pep's bizarre Rehab, IMO set us back this season. We need continuity as long as it is an improving continuity.

 

I will say this:

If you expect a WR to have a break out half season while switching teams in the middle of the year, you are sadly mistaken. We aren't on the winning end of the trade until we see how Chambers performs in SD next year and beyond and how we make of the draft pick. Quit jumping to conclusions.

 

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We have all heard of the "prospects for Chris Chambers".

Norv Turner left the Miami Dolphins and later took the San Diego job. Norv Turner left Chris Chambers in Miami. Norv Turner left his offense in San Diego. Cam Cameron ran Norv Turner's offense. Chris Chambers numbers are consistent with Chris Chambers numbers.

The Bengals have at least two receivers that are better than Chambers. The Colts have at least two receivers that are better than Chambers. The Patriots have at least two receivers that are better than Chambers. The Cowboys have at least two receivers that are better than Chambers. Chambers numbers will not change. He is who he is - 800 yards at BEST. That is not a number one receiver.

We got a second round pick for him - advantage Dolphins. That is all that is worth discussion at this point.

 

Next year the chances were excellent that Mr. Chambers and his 7 million dollar or so cap hit would have been cut for -0- return instead of a 2nd round pick that we need badly.

 

I have to disagree with you on the Ronnie Brown part. Ronnie Brown was never bad. He was just underutilized. His first year, he had to split time with Ricky Williams. Second year, he gets stuck with an offensive coordinator whose playcalling couldn't even get a winning record with Ronnie Brown.

 

I disagree. They may have all been slot receivers, but they got open which is something that hasn't been happening much since Chambers was traded. And like it was previously stated you can't expect Chambers to just jump right in to a new team and have a great year. Especially when they aren't much of a passing team. Chambers may have had his problems with drops, but he ran good routes and knew how to get open. He also attracted coverage from defenses. Right now Ginn is the only guy on the Dolphins getting any coverages rolled to him, and he's a rookie so it's not all that much. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against the trades really. I think Chambers could have helped Beck's development, but really I don't think either trade was a bad one. I was just stating that the WR corps was a good bit better with Chambers and Welker.