NFL Preview: Miami Dolphins

by Sanchez, Shot To Nothing

You may have heard of me, I'm the guy who thinks the Ted Ginn pick was a good one, who had his fingers crossed that the Phin's wouldn't pick Quinn and who believes that they had a pretty good draft when all was said and done. So with that in mind yep, it's going to be one of those kind of previews...

Last season was full of happy memories for us Dolfans; Loads of pundits thought we could win the whole thing pre-season, we had Jason Taylor winning Defnsive MVP and then there was the increcibly satisfying shut-out of the Patriots. All in all it was a prety grea... Oh wait, no it wasn't, we came last in AFC East with a record of 6-10 and Nick Saban left a bad (and horribly sour) taste in all of our mouths. I guess we know how it feels now, huh fellas?

It seems that the Phins manangement had forgotten about the one fundamental strength that all football teams must have; A good offensive line. There were other issues as well, but none of them had a more damaging effect than this. Without a decent O-line you're offense is dead, you can't run, you can't pass and your Defense, no matter how good they are, will tire rapidly because they're always on the damned field. Thus the Phish suffered the same fate as the Raiders, who had even more severe O-line issues, they were stuck in 'park' and going nowhere.

But the off-season brought renewed hope. Cam Cameron came in as head coach and all of a sudden Saban's departure had a rosier tint to it. We found our future QB in John Beck, who had a 70% completion rate for BYU and just seemed to be a really great kid in atitiude and work ethic. Losing Wes Welker, a fan favorite, to bitter rivals New England was a horrible moment but the drafting of Ted Ginn, who does everything Welker did but at a much faster pace, eased that pain somewhat.

I know many fans were howling in anger when the Phins passed on Brady Quinn, but I think these were the people that pay too much attention to what pundits say. I spent a whole season watching Quinn throw passes for Notre Dame and too many of them went smack into the back of a receivers helmet or way over their heads. I watched him panic under pressure and loft balls into the sky dangerously. I saw him (and still see him) as a draft bust waiting to happen and a guy that will blame anyone but himself when the shit hits the fan. In short, Quinn was not the man I wanted leading our crumbling offense.

And so the Dolphins head into a new season in largely the same shape they were in last year. Our defense is a snarling wolverine with a front seven bolstered by the addition of Joey Porter, but with a concerning lack of talent in the secondary. Our offense has been touched up, the O-line redesigned and a stop-gap veteran QB brought in, but the roster on that side is still sadly lacking in star quality.

This is another rebuilding year for the Dolphins. I expect us to finish third in the division with the highlight of the season being the inevitable embarassment of the Patriots in at-least one of our games. I don't like to take anything from pre-season shenanigans (Green6/15attemptsfor 60yardsmuthafuckaitsgoingtobeanotherlongseason), but if the O-line is still playing the way they did against the Jags on Saturday, then I see us going 6-10 again. Even if they play better I think the best we could hope for this season is 8-8. *sigh*

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