Tough Season Ahead- Hindsight is Always 20/20

The uglier it is, the better.

Trust the process.

Gase is fired: A New Hope
The shakeup happens: The Empire Strike Back
The Franchise QB is found and team begins to build: Return of the Jedi

......unless a franchise QB isn't happen and we draft Jar Jar Binks, then it's the prequels and we're screwed.

Hindsight is always "2020" you mean, as in.. we'll look back in 2020 when we pick our franchise QB with the 1st pick and say the tanking (official or not) was totally worth it.

Only thing that would make this season tough for me is if we either go 0-16 (people remember stuff like that.. no one cares about 1-15) or we miss out on the 1st pick and instead pick 3rd or 4th or so.. which would create some anxiety for me.

Otherwise, I just hope that one of our wins is against Gase.

"cbrad wrote:

Hindsight is always "2020" you mean, as in.. we'll look back in 2020 when we pick our franchise QB with the 1st pick and say the tanking (official or not) was totally worth it.

Only thing that would make this season tough for me is if we either go 0-16 (people remember stuff like that.. no one cares about 1-15) or we miss out on the 1st pick and instead pick 3rd or 4th or so.. which would create some anxiety for me.

Otherwise, I just hope that one of our wins is against Gase.

I'm really hoping we catch Baltimore by surprise and put up a few Grant/Wilson long TD's or a few bursts up the middle by Drake and company. Our run game is going to be better than expected (AKA, not deplorable) and I think we'll stay on the ground a whole lot, plus that secondary is still stout with ball-hogs. So we have a game plan at least to win some ballgames and I'd think Flores would take some risks in week 1 to get that monkey off their back with his 1st win.

Week 2 is New England and he has even more reason to want to win there, so maybe we see the Miracle in Miami, Part II. I really think we'll get a W in one of those two games despite being the worse team.

The line is going to be an absolute mess though- our starting tackles may end up being the two we signed this past weekend (that don't know the playbook). So expect a lot of runs off center and keep your fingers crossed...it's our only hope early on until these guys figure some stuff out. The only other route to victory is Minkah, Howard and Jones doing all the scoring...which is entirely possible in a tight defensive battle.

"Galant wrote:

Gase is fired: A New Hope
The shakeup happens: The Empire Strike Back
The Franchise QB is found and team begins to build: Return of the Jedi

......unless a franchise QB isn't happen and we draft Jar Jar Binks, then it's the prequels and we're screwed.

I’m always in support of any Star Wars reference well played sir.

Back to the OP, I was in the small group who didn’t want Gase gone but knew Tannehill wasn’t the answer. I got behind the new regime because we made the decision to move on from Gase and felt like we had tried to build our franchise the wrong way for so long.

I knew this year was gonna be long but liked that we had some long term pieces to build around. Still don’t love the Tunsil trade because it now sets us back even further. If Houston has another good season, which would be expected with their moves and Luck retiring, these draft picks aren’t as valuable as they seem on paper. Maybe Grier/Flores believe we need 5 solid/good OL vs 1-2 dominant one with fillers in the other spots. That certainly seems to be NE’s recipe.

At this point, I have no other choice but to be on board. Having said that, they haven’t given me much of an incentive to watch this team this year. I’m guessing I’m not the only one in that spot. They’ve made a HUGE gamble and only time will tell if they’re the heroes we’ve been waiting for or the villains in a long line of villains that have kept this franchise as a bottom dweller for almost 2 decades.

My main goal is not to be frustrated/disgusted by week. One early win would help but I don' see it happening. If i knew we weren't going to take Tua with the first overall pick I would be more okay with all the losses.

"mlb1399 wrote:

I’m always in support of any Star Wars reference well played sir.

Back to the OP, I was in the small group who didn’t want Gase gone but knew Tannehill wasn’t the answer. I got behind the new regime because we made the decision to move on from Gase and felt like we had tried to build our franchise the wrong way for so long.

I knew this year was gonna be long but liked that we had some long term pieces to build around. Still don’t love the Tunsil trade because it now sets us back even further. If Houston has another good season, which would be expected with their moves and Luck retiring, these draft picks aren’t as valuable as they seem on paper. Maybe Grier/Flores believe we need 5 solid/good OL vs 1-2 dominant one with fillers in the other spots. That certainly seems to be NE’s recipe.

At this point, I have no other choice but to be on board. Having said that, they haven’t given me much of an incentive to watch this team this year. I’m guessing I’m not the only one in that spot. They’ve made a HUGE gamble and only time will tell if they’re the heroes we’ve been waiting for or the villains in a long line of villains that have kept this franchise as a bottom dweller for almost 2 decades.

I felt the same with Tannehill and Gase- can you imagine RT behind THIS LINE in 2019? Oh goodness, that gives me chills just thinking about it. I was a Gase fan because he's always done the most with what he had at the time- so we'll see if Flores can do the same.

I'm definitely willing to give the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise....I'm 100% on board as well because there's nothing else to do except maybe root for the Jets? I wish Gase luck but I still hate the skinkin Jets, so the only option left is to believe in Flores until I can't anymore.

...he's gonna take his horse to the Flores road, he's gonna ride till he can't no more...

(Don't worry, I'll get my coat)

"Galant wrote:

...he's gonna take his horse to the Flores road, he's gonna ride till he can't no more...

(Don't worry, I'll get my coat)

LOL, you should have stopped while the Force was with you...

Its not what I wanted at all and it's a recipe for long term failure IMO.

"KeyFin wrote:

LOL, you should have stopped while the Force was with you...

Sadly not....

I give you - the Flores Road

We got the Dolphins cutting back
Rosen's butt is sat,
Uniform in aqua
With the orange stripes to match
Ridin' on with Flores
You can whip your Jets Gase,
We going in the valley but
You ain't never goin nowhere

Can't nobody tell us nothin'
You can't tell us nothin'
Can't nobody tell us nothin'
You can't tell us nothin'

Ridin' on a tank, yeah
Picks gathered for the draft year
Cheated on Cam Wake, and,
On Tunsil and our snapper
Our life is a movie
Major League and Draft Day,
2019 won't be funny -
But just watch us draft that QB!

Can't nobody tell us nothin'
You can't tell us nothin'
Can't nobody tell us nothin'
You can't tell us nothin'

Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse down the Flores road
I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more
I'm gonna take my horse to down the Flores road
I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more

"Galant wrote:

Sadly not....

I give you - the Flores Road

We got the Dolphins cutting back
Rosen's butt is sat,
Uniform in aqua
With the orange stripes to match
Ridin' on with Flores
You can whip your Jets Gase,
We going in the valley but
You ain't never goin nowhere

Can't nobody tell us nothin'
You can't tell us nothin'
Can't nobody tell us nothin'
You can't tell us nothin'

Ridin' on a tank, yeah
Picks gathered for the draft year
Cheated on Cam Wake, and,
On Tunsil and our snapper
Our life is a movie
Major League and Draft Day,
2019 won't be funny -
But just watch us draft that QB!

Can't nobody tell us nothin'
You can't tell us nothin'
Can't nobody tell us nothin'
You can't tell us nothin'

Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse down the Flores road
I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more
I'm gonna take my horse to down the Flores road
I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more

As a writer that makes my brain hurt! LOL, but I refuse to edit it into a proper tune!

"KeyFin wrote:

As a writer that makes my brain hurt! LOL, but I refuse to edit it into a proper tune!

It was a quick 15 minute moment of questionable inspiration. What can I say?

To me I feel every year we are only a couple of steps away from being a contender. And then in order to take those steps the team first takes several steps backwards and suddenly we are back where we started. Building to me feels like a multi year process but now we have to start from scratch practically yet again. We will get to that one or two steps away again and get rid of good players to acquire other good players.

I find it odd that a lot of people put us as last in the league for this year even before the trade. We were 7-9 last year and according to many here, have upgraded the QB position and have a better coach but we are now the worst??

I can never back a team that tanks on purpose. Anything can happen and if we win 4-5 games to start with are fans going to start complaining that we are winning too many? I understand the want for 1st round pick but we have had high picks in the past and it has done nothing. i feel the odds are better to take a 7-9 team and try to win the following year than it is to hope some 1st round QB will be enough to win years from now.

"shadokp wrote:

To me I feel every year we are only a couple of steps away from being a contender. And then in order to take those steps the team first takes several steps backwards and suddenly we are back where we started. Building to me feels like a multi year process but now we have to start from scratch practically yet again. We will get to that one or two steps away again and get rid of good players to acquire other good players.

I find it odd that a lot of people put us as last in the league for this year even before the trade. We were 7-9 last year and according to many here, have upgraded the QB position and have a better coach but we are now the worst??

I can never back a team that tanks on purpose. Anything can happen and if we win 4-5 games to start with are fans going to start complaining that we are winning too many? I understand the want for 1st round pick but we have had high picks in the past and it has done nothing. i feel the odds are better to take a 7-9 team and try to win the following year than it is to hope some 1st round QB will be enough to win years from now.

I completely agree- gutting a roster is a MASSIVE gamble that won't always pay off. But that's the path we're on now and there's no turning back. And I don't think we'll lose on purpose but with this talent level in the trenches, I'm not sure if we beat anyone naturally without a huge play or two. Sadly, every win will be Miami Miracles this season.

My only real problem with all of this is that the line is the most important part of the team- a good offensive line opens up everything else. A great D line creates pressure and gets your offense back on the field. If we can't run or stop the run, its impossible to control the clock and almost impossible to win. That's likely where we're at today unless our new line coaches are literal wizards of the Harry Potter variety. You can win with an okay QB (Fitz) and a solid line, but you'll rarely win when the opposite is true. That line is everything in the NFL.

Am I happy? I don't think I am, but I'm resigned to seeing a horrible year and likely walking away by halftime most weeks. Meanwhile, I'm going to pick a new temporary favorite team and root for them for the next few seasons to make the dread a little less bearable. So far I'm thinking Cleveland but I really have no idea yet....this isn't something I want to do. But Grier is forcing us to and that really sucks.

"shadokp wrote:

I find it odd that a lot of people put us as last in the league for this year even before the trade. We were 7-9 last year and according to many here, have upgraded the QB position and have a better coach but we are now the worst??

Vegas put our total wins at either 5 or 5.5 for most of the time until it went down to 4.5 (before the trade.. after the trade it's still at 4.5 but the moneyline changed a bit). That ~2 point drop is consistent with Vegas thinking our QB situation went from a starter to a backup, and regardless of what some posters here may think about Fitz and Rosen I think most people in the NFL think Tannehill is better than those two, at least in recent years. Maybe not as big a difference as a typical "starter" to a "backup", but I think that's the most likely culprit.

And coach? No way oddsmakers would think that a new rookie HC is better than even an average coach. The odds are against any rookie HC succeeding if you just go by statistics. So maybe the second reason is having a rookie coach. Finally, we did get rid of some remaining talent on the team so put it all together and 4.5 makes sense IMO.

I don't care if we only win 2 games this year. So long as they are both against the jesters.

I'll be happy if I see some good coaching. In game adjustments, clock management, control the team. Some player development, guys growing into their jobs. And beat the jest.

With the draft capitol we already have we don't need the #1 pick to do whatever they want next year. What they should do is leverage what they have in to more picks, pick a QB rd 1 for the next three years until they find the one and build a wall in front of him. Marino was 23rd pick. #1 overall is no Guarantee of anything.

I think we could have done things very differently and not end up with this dumpster fire. When the draft happened and our pick came up and I saw that Dwayne Haskins was available I was excited. New coach, new young quarterback, along with our existing talent.It could have been the start of new beginning. But we then skipped that and picked up Arizona's cast off and our fate was sealed. If we do get a good qb in the draft next year and some supporting talent it will be a couple of years after that before those players are ready and we are competitive. And trading away our young, starting left tackle? If we do get a good qb then how do we protect him? This year has set us back quite a bit. Maybe we are competitive in 2021 at the earliest. This going to be a really rough ride.

"Puka-head wrote:

I don't care if we only win 2 games this year. So long as they are both against the jesters.

I'll be happy if I see some good coaching. In game adjustments, clock management, control the team. Some player development, guys growing into their jobs. And beat the jest.

With the draft capitol we already have we don't need the #1 pick to do whatever they want next year. What they should do is leverage what they have in to more picks, pick a QB rd 1 for the next three years until they find the one and build a wall in front of him. Marino was 23rd pick. #1 overall is no Guarantee of anything.

Marino would have went a lot higher if he didnt have character concerns and cocaine rumors.

Aaron Rodgers is probably a better example...and another guy we passed on.

I need a valium the size of a golfball.

"Xeticus wrote:

I think we could have done things very differently and not end up with this dumpster fire. When the draft happened and our pick came up and I saw that Dwayne Haskins was available I was excited. New coach, new young quarterback, along with our existing talent.It could have been the start of new beginning. But we then skipped that and picked up Arizona's cast off and our fate was sealed. If we do get a good qb in the draft next year and some supporting talent it will be a couple of years after that before those players are ready and we are competitive. And trading away our young, starting left tackle? If we do get a good qb then how do we protect him? This year has set us back quite a bit. Maybe we are competitive in 2021 at the earliest. This going to be a really rough ride.

We could have drafted Lamar Jackson, which is something I wanted us to do. People said he can’t throw. Well, it looked like he threw the ball pretty damn good yesterday.

I was happy about our approach and I still am. I believe you can turn around a franchise in 2 years if you draft well and that it's pointless without an above-average QB (which Tannehill wasn't).

If Miami gets a top QB prospect (hopefully Tua) and they end up using their other picks on good prospects this can quickly turn into a really good team. I have faith in the players we have: X, Minkah, Baker, Wilkins, etc.

We just need more like that.

What we saw yesterday is what a potentially high-octane offense will do to you when you can't rush the passer. We had no rush yesterday and consequently made another un-proven QB look stellar. We did the same thing with Geno Smith if you remember. He posted a perfect passer rating late in the year against Miami a few years back.

That's what happens when you don't pressure the QB and he has all day. He's either going to pick you apart or just go over-the-top as your otherwise-dependable DB's slowly get beaten.

What's complicated about that?

The answer is building a better roster. We'll do that. But for a lot of reasons we need to make sure we find a QB and that'll probably be the first pick in 2020. I'm for that, too.

Things probably don’t get any worse than this. We are at rock bottom and only have up to go from here.

"Xeticus wrote:

I think we could have done things very differently and not end up with this dumpster fire. When the draft happened and our pick came up and I saw that Dwayne Haskins was available I was excited. New coach, new young quarterback, along with our existing talent.It could have been the start of new beginning. But we then skipped that and picked up Arizona's cast off and our fate was sealed. If we do get a good qb in the draft next year and some supporting talent it will be a couple of years after that before those players are ready and we are competitive. And trading away our young, starting left tackle? If we do get a good qb then how do we protect him? This year has set us back quite a bit. Maybe we are competitive in 2021 at the earliest. This going to be a really rough ride.

The Browns were 1-15 in 2016 and 0-16 in 2017. This year they hot pick to really make noise.

Things can turn around fast with the right people.