The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Early in the 3rd, after Miami fell behind by 17, they desperately needed an answer.  The drive didn't start well, going -5.  Cutler goes 17 on the next play to Stills.  The next play he air mails a pass over Stills that Andre the Giant couldn't catch.

Needing seven yards to make a 1st down, Cutler connects for six w/Landry.  Then, still in their own field, a quick snap to Williams who ran into the entire 53 man roster for a one yard loss.

Of course Carolina swiftly went down the field and scored.  Again.

But that 4th down play, that quick snap - slamming into every able bodied player on the field play...was it just me or did that not sum up what it has felt like to be a Miami Dolphins fan for the last 20 or so years?  We're kind of moving, we kind of have a little something going, there may be a slight light at the end of this...

Oh.  Never mind.

Yup, I called that out as a dumb play call, should have been a short pass.

It really has been hard to be a Dolphins fan over the last 15 or so years. I remember wearing bags on heads during the 2004 season with Wanny and it hasn't gotten much better since. 

I was done after the first quarter. Cant stand to see cutler at the helm anymore. Its pathetic

His happy feet and not setting before throwing is infuriating, but he's not the problem.

He's too old to take the pounding that Tannehill does and like a normal QB, gets happy feet after realizing the o-line sucks. Tannehill takes more of a beating than the average guy and still hangs in there. He's actually one tough SOB.

Just a small voice of moderation:

Take a team's starting QB and give them a season-ending injury in training camp.  How many teams will appear competitive in that scenario?

True Spider but at the end of last season we needed a run defense and an offensive line. We still need both of those things regardless of losing our QB.

Tannehill is not a great QB that carries the team.  This isn't like the Colts losing Manning.  Given all the other areas under preforming it is doubtful the Dolphins would have a better record with Tannehill. 

But Trent Green tore his ACL in preseason the Rams were not just competitive they won the SB.  Two years later another team lost their QB in the second game of the season after going 0-2 with the starter and won the SB.  In 2008 a team lost the prior season MVP in the first quarter of the first week and remained competitive going 11-5.  I believe the was a Dolphins team early in the. 70s that went thru three starting abs and remained competitive all season long.  😀That is just off the top of my head. 

The '99 Rams discovered a HOF QB on their bench.
So did the '01 Patriots.
Matt Cassel took over the highest scoring offense in the history of the league - a 16-0 team - and lost the division to a team that finished 1-15 the season before.

So unless David Fales is destined for the Hall of Fame, I stand by my statement.  I doubt the 2017 Dolphins will finish 5 games worse than the 2016 Dolphins, which is what happened when Brady was replaced by Cassel.

The delta between Brady and Cassel is much larger than the delta between Tannehill and Cutler.  The Dolphins record has a lot more to do with an oline that can't pass protect, a horrible run game and piss poor defense than an injury at the QB position. 

I recall a spunky team in 1972 who's starting QB broke his ankle in week#5, and they went on to be undefeated and win the Super Bowl.

But seriously, Cutler is a starting QB, and there is not that much of a drop off from Tannehill to him.  The organization needs to do better.

They were lucky enough to have a former MVP as their backup.

This would be the equivalent of if 2014-era Peyton Manning was sitting on the Dolphins' bench.

IMO I don't think record wise,the Dolphins would be and better or worse (I have no way to quantify it) Cutler vs Tannehill

I feel the massive difference is the perception,because It's not Tannehill,their anger seems to be directed all on Adam Gase. (Tannehill,and Gase are both going to be screwed,and crucified next year,every throw,play, etc)


Modified for Clarification

That's funny, he was an MVP one year, the year he was Unitas' backup, the same year the Colts lost to Namath in the Super Bowl with him as QB.  He was also in the Pro Bowl in 1957.  He cost Miami a grand total of $100 to claim him off waivers.

That was like 10 million back then right?

My original idea for comparison was MIA having 2017 Drew Brees on the bench (and he and Morrall would have been the same age), but unfortunately, Drew Brees has never won an MVP.

...I think a lot of ppl, including me, will give Ryan Tannehill more credit after this season than ever before so far in his career. Because seeing this offense now without him and this team isn't the same. Overall the defense has played good except last few games. Its hard to play good D the whole time when ur offense keeps going 3 and out a lot. But even tho Tanny got hurt, I still cant believe how bad they are on offense after 9 games into the season. I knew it would take few games to get used to but with so many playmakers on offense it pisses me off this team isn't playing better. Even tho it doesn't look like it, its gotta be bcuz of Cutler. And I don't mean it in a bad way like he's playing bad football, but QB is suppose to be the leader, and I do think hes a good, tough QB, but its no sectret, everyone knows he wont be here next year. He's just a 1 year rental, and I don't think he cares too much, and how can other guys believe in him knowing samething, Gase brought him in to cover them at QB just for this season and that's it. There is no year 2 for Cutler with Miami. And I honestly believe that reason by itself is a huge difference maker. Even tho he may be saying all the right things, how can he rally up the guys to go out and play hard knowing the situation he's in. Matt Moore would have been much safer move, you kept Moore all these years as a backup only to sign a QB off the street when ur starter goes down. That's B.S also........just too many  things bad this season, and they should be more like 1-8 or 2-7.

Miami has a lot of offseason work ahead. Somethings gotta go. Miami keeps drafting offensive linemen early several years in a row or pick up some thru free agency (maybe except this offseason) They added a lot of defensive players but still kinda suck on defense. I think Miami should have hired a defensive minded coach, and hopefully with a good OC they'd be good like a lot of teams, for ex. Panthers. But I like Gase, that's not the point, I hope he turns this thing around next year if this season is doomed, but all I'm saying there is talent all over this team, some players overpaid some not needed. I think they gotta find some good coaches, switch up schemes maybe, diff type of offense, I dunno but do something. Trade Suh maybe if you can get something good for him, like high draft pick plus a cheaper DT, they actually may have replacement on the roster already. Also you wont be able to sign Landry, Parker and keep Stills. They should make some moves here too before its too late. I also don't kno who is really calling the shots in Miami. They got Mike Tannenbum, but Chris Grier is the GM, obviously Gase has his say, but theres also the owner, and you got like 4 ppl looking so desperate that they're willing to make any type of sacrifices just to create a spark, but obviously something is not working here, and I don't know what That's why I'm all over the place when it comes to the reasons for this year's poor performance....

I've long felt that Tannehill was massively underrated, but who cares what he did or could have done? What matters is if he can perform next year. What does sitting a season and a half do to a quarterback? How rusty will he be? Will he even be the same player? Both in terms of the mental aspects and in terms of trust in his body (knee)?

I have zero doubt that Tannehill would have put up top 10 numbers in pretty much all QB categories (and not just epic numbers in a few and mediocre in most), if not top 5, had he played on a team with a solid offensive line. But, again, who cares. And at this point, I think the Dolphins need to look at getting a good young quarterback to develop behind Tannehill. Sure, there are a lot of holes to plug on both sides of the ball, but if Tannehill turns out to have lost it, then all the hole-plugging in the world isn't going to help.

None. Especially when that team was borderline playoff team in the first place which is not true for all the teams that have been mentioned.

Tannehill would have been better based on where this offense is. He’s mobile and throws well on the run. Cutler has better pocket presence but that’s of no use when you’re running for your life most plays

I agree with this...I also think it's why Gase/Tannehill will be over analyzed next year.

I agree with the mobility issue Tannehill has over Cutler,Tannehill has rapport with the receivers,etc,etc...I just can quantify that our record would be any better because,Tannehill would have had to survive behind the same shitty O-line.Ryan might have just as easily gotten hurt too... :-\

Tannehill has been getting pummeled behind horrible lines since he got here. So far, he's the only one that has been able to hurt Ryan ... hahaha.

I'm all for drafting a QB but I think he's staying very involved and being very proactive. I bet he comes back as good or better than before. Sitting actually may have matured him as well. He's always been under extreme criticism so the relaxed atmosphere may be helpful. Of course this is the Dolphins so he could tank just as easily.

Would be better off using draft picks on o line than a QB.  Give Moore, Tannihill or Cutler a decent oline and they can good QBs.  Not HOF caliber but okay enough if you have a decent running game and defense.  Draft a QB and not fix the oline, doesn't matter how good the qb is you ain't winning games, and he will eventually be on ir.

^Puh-lese this is the Dolphins....Fix the O-line problems? We have O-line Problems.... What O-line problems?  ;) :D

Many of us in here were wearing bags on our head at a Dolphins game in 2004. Seriously ... if you’d known the pain we still had left to endure would you have run away from this team? You have to try to be this bad this long.

It's not like the Dolphins haven't spent money and picks on an o-line. Our 1st rounder last year, our 2nd the year before, our 1st and 3rd the year before that, our 3rd prior to that, and our 2nd round pick before that, which is all the way back to the Tannehill pick, but you could continue that with Pouncey being taken with our 1st round pick the year prior to Tannehill. And so on.

Picks aren't doing it. And we didn't have a coke-head for a line coach for too much of that time, so that's a poor excuse if anyone's thinking it.

Just FYI, do you know what the Patriots spent during that time-frame? Two 3rd round picks. Total. (Plus some lower round picks, which I didn't include for the Dolphins either). And for every single year in that span the Patriots' offensive line has surpassed the Dolphins' in both run-blocking and pass-protection stats.

Maybe just a coincidence. Picking three teams at random with at least some high recent picks: Broncos, Saints, and Jags. Only the Saints are even remotely close to the Dolphins in spending the amount and quality of picks on the offensive line. And in terms of performance? The Saints and their high picks (although not as many as the Dolphins) completely blow the Dolphins out of the water on every performance metric you can image. Even during the best of years for the Fins, it isn't really that close. As for the Broncos, they score significantly better as well, although there are a few split years in there. The Jaguars split completely evenly with the Dolphins in the metrics I looked at, at least when just going by "who did better this year in X" without looking at how much better.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that perhaps drafting isn't the issue. Perhaps COACHING is. It sure seems like coaching consistency makes for a better offensive line, regardless of whether the players are high draft picks, free agent pickups, or trades. So for the time being at least, I'll put the majority of the blame on the Miami Coaching Carousel.

^^^ It's unfair to compare any personnel moves to what the Patriots do, as they are in a class of their own.  Quality veterans will flock to the Patriots for less money for the chance at the coveted Super Bowl ring, add that to their superb coaching and front office and there is not another team in the league that can compete.  A prime example is Bennett.  He leaves the Patriots for Green Bay, then Rogers is lost for the season, and all of a sudden Bennett needs surgery for his long injured shoulder.  GB waives him claiming he didn't divulge the injury, no team claims him off waivers because he says he's going to have surgery, then miraculously NE claims him and he's playing just days later.  You can't make this stuff up.

holy over dramatic. Miami was in the playoffs last season so don't be so over the top

What are the odds Bennett JUST decided he really needed a new phone and destroyed the old one?

The way this season is going & the last 7-8 yrs (though I will discount last season) I long for the teams of Wanny

FYO, I agree with alot of what you're saying,(I mean I agree it's the coaching/front office carousel conclusion), but you can't coach shitty players,and make then great.The O-lineman that the Dolphins drafted,that aren't currently on the Dolphins,aren't exactly employed as starters around the league (most are they even currently in Football?)

I think coaching is a significant part of it (A couple of different O-line coaches getting fired/resigning suddenly Turner/Forrester),but our players have been pretty shitty too. We've been pretty damn shitty drafting in General,not just o-lineman...

1st 2016 rd L. Tunsil,1st rd 2011 M.Pouncey,5th rd 2017 I.Asiata,1st rd 2014 J.James <--Question marks if we'll work out a long term deal or let him walk in 2018

My quick look see (I'm limited by time) John Jerry is Currently Starting for the Giants.

Jamil Douglas 4th rd 2015 (Falcons hasn't played in 2017)
Dallas Thomas 3rd rd 2013 (Eagles hasn't played in 2017)
Johnathan Martin 2nd rd 2012 (out of football)
John Jerry 3rd rd 2010 Currently Starting for Giants

Free agents,well aside from Richie Incognito...Most of those guy's were scruffs...

I'm so depressed after doing this....I'm sorry I even went here.... :'( :-[

Hahaha (https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.196013995.7957/st%2Csmall%2C215x235-pad%2C210x230%2Cf8f8f8.lite-1u5.jpg)

I am not saying the Dolphins haven't tried to fix the oline.  I am just saying there isn't any point in putting resources into the QB position until it is fixed.

And coaching is an issue.  From my understanding that group needs to communicate and work together to a greater extent than any other positional group. 

As for the Bennet aside....I got no freaking idea what is going on there.  Either he is injured and can't play or he is not.  Putting on a different jersey is not medical treatment.  Green Bay should get the signing bonus money back, imho

You forgot Albert, he was seen as a quality get to shore up LT until Tunsil came along, cost us a packet too...

Not sure but you may lump Jake Long & Vernon Carey in there too as some of our high priced picks, long gone now but they did play with quite a few of the guys mentioned.

You're right, this is a depressing topic...

Jake Long and Vernon Carey anchored some pretty impressive OLs, actually.

That's the irony of it all: the offensive line that was patched together between them in 2008 was great, then the OL coach was replaced and they started trying to "improve" it. Instead they got us on to the seemingly never ending merry-go-round of mediocrity and instability...

LMAO CF,I picked a horrible time period to quit drinking...Sober 17yrs now,and the Dolphins have been pretty sad bunch....Hmmm Maybe If I got totally slobber knockered just once... :D

I really loved Jake Long, but the nagging injuries worried,I'm glad we let him walk when we did.Vernon was good solid guy for us for many years,I thought not quite worth the contract at the end...

Brandon Albert,for me is closer to the scruff (Especially in hindsight) - 30 when he signed a big free agent deal with us (roughly 10mil a season),coming off 2 injury shortened seasons.Played 3 seasons,always injured (currently costing 3.4mil our cap in dead money).

(Currently 5-0 lineman no longer with us,are costing us some money on the cap. Alber,Urbik,YoungDouglas,Turner)
https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/miami-dolphins/ (https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/miami-dolphins/)