-by Erick Coleman

I have become increasingly frustrated with the so called “league brains” preaching to us, the meager fans of the National Football League, of the diminishing role of the quarterback. Everything has a center, a balance point, a place of strength and / or origins; basically a being within a being in which the original being could not live without. A 757 airline can take off and fly around the world with relative ease, and that flight takes a disaster turn when the landing gear fails. A body builder or athlete draws a huge portion of strength and balance from the lower back area, an area that draws most of the body’s energy.

A football team lives and dies with the quarterback. We are preached that a sub-par quarterback can “make it happen” in the National Football League. I’m here to dispute this. Successful teams receive high levels of production from the man under center; these players display character, strength, leadership and talent. Teams with weak quarterback play experience success from time to time, but know this: That success is certainly an exception and not the rule. One simply needs to look around the league at teams that had almost all the components to a successful Super Bowl run and were derailed by the play under center: Seattle, Denver, Dallas and Miami are a few teams that come to mind. If I were to tell you that a team has a top three defense, top five in takeaways, over .500 on the road and the top rushing offense in the National Football League…you would lean towards thinking that team went deep into the playoffs.

I just described the 2002 Miami Dolphins, led by 1,800 yards of rushing by Ricky Williams. This is the same Miami Dolphins team with Chris Chambers and Randy McMichael as receiving options. The same Miami Dolphins that were handcuffed by a quarterback that garnered such disrespect that, at times, teams broke off coverage of a wide receiver and left that receiver LITERALLY wide open in order to take away the middle of the field. The case that I speak of was December 2002 in New England. The Patriots were coming off their Super Bowl hangover and Miami went into the final game of the season needing a win to secure the final spot in the playoffs. Even after the Ray Lucas debacle, Miami was alive: win and they were in. The Dolphins took a 24-3 lead into halftime, behind Ricky Williams 100+ yards rushing in the first two quarters. A Jay Fiedler fumble and then interception in the third quarter quickly turned the game into a 24-17 contest with Miami hanging on for dear life. Fast forward to the first play of the fourth quarter. Fiedler ran a play action to Williams and cocked the ball. Chambers ran a fly, McMichael was 7 yards off the line of scrimmage in the middle of the field and James McKnight ran a 17-yard out pattern. Tebuckey Jones was a safety on McKnight and as soon as he saw McKnight run the out, he completely came off the receiver. He knew that Fielder, a supposed NFL quality quarterback, was not able to make this throw.

Let me say that again. The defensive back saw McKnight commit to a deep out and knew Miami’s QB was not able to make the throw. What transpired on that play, you may ask? Fielder saw McKnight wide open and took the bait. The ball sailed roughly six feet over his head and harmlessly out of bounds. Fourth down.

I am here to argue that the Miami Dolphins made a huge gaffe by giving up a second round pick to obtain AJ Feeley and made another monster mistake by locking themselves into a contract with Feeley that no other team will ever take on. Feeley, like Fielder, is not a starting quality quarterback in the National Football League. Like Fielder, AJ is sure to put up the occasional good game which gives fans the appearance of “maybe this guy has something.”

He doesn’t. As long as the coaching staff sticks with Feeley, the Miami Dolphins will not be a Super Bowl contending team. The infusion of a new offensive coordinator and line coach will not help. Jeff Garrett, never a starter in the National Football league as a quarterback, does not have a rabbit inside his hat as the quarterback coach. The Miami Dolphins with AJ Feeley as the starting quarterback is a 757 airline coming in for a landing – with the landing gear stuck up. Sometimes these things work out, the jet crash lands and everyone is shaken up but okay. This past year in the Monday night game at home against New England Feeley threw a dart in between two Patriot defenders; had one defender reached up the ball would have been intercepted. It wasn’t, the jet slid into the ground okay, the Dolphins won. Excited fans, eager for any bright light, exclaimed how good Feeley looked in that game.

He landed the plane without hurting anyone. That is all he did. More often that not the plane exploded, flipping end over end. Shall we discuss the numerous defensive miss-reads that led to interceptions being returned for a touchdown? Insert footage of a burning jet here.

Some will argue that Miami burned a second round pick on Feeley; Miami needs to play him. I don’t agree. How many first round picks don’t turn into anything and are cut loose? AJ Feeley represents what Miami has turned into in the last half decade: A team that settles for below average. Miami needs to start cutting their losses quickly and those losses include mistakes at the quarterback position. Cutting Jay Fielder was step one, Nick Saban interviewing potential first round quarterback choices sounds the alarm that part two could very well be sending Feeley packing.

The table has been set for Miami to begin a turnaround. New coaching staff, aggressive pursuit of defensive free agents, a quality back up veteran quarterback and irons in the fire to improve the running game. 1,800 yards from Ricky Williams didn’t make Jay Fielder a better quarterback. 2,000 yards from anyone won’t make AJ Feeley a quarterback worthy of starting for the Miami Dolphins. It starts at the quarterback.

The plane is off the ground and flying. Let’s all hope that Coach Saban has the vision to ensure the landing gear will work.

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