Are the Dolphins headed in the right direction?

[Pappy13]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-dolphins-right-wrong-1121-20101119,0,347039.story

At this point, I'd have to say no.  This year the powers that be got impatient and abandoned the long term plan.  They decided that it was time to win now.  They convinced the owner that they were a superbowl contender by getting Brandon Marshall.  Well they were wrong.  What's worse is that by abandoning the long term plan, they have set themselves even further back.  Here's some of their biggest mistakes.

1)  Benching Henne was a stupid move especially when it was to "create a spark".  Henne wasn't playing poorly, just average, but he was clearly the face of the QB position for Miami and they all but undercut any positive steps that Henne had taken this year.  And for what?  So that Pennington could take 1 snap and be hurt?  Please.  Worst move ever by a coach.  Sanchez wasn't exactly playing well a year ago, but the Jets stuck with him and he's gotten better.  Miami should have stuck with Henne.  Stuck with the plan. 

2)  Too much roster turnover.  The revolving door policy in 2008 was needed, but not anymore.  Letting Jason Taylor get away was a bad move.  They could have signed him if they wanted to, but instead let him go to the rival Jets.  Benching Smith at the beginning of the year to promote Jason Allen to starter, then reinserting Smith and letting Allen go all the while Smith being horrible has been a joke.  Perhaps they were just trying to motivate Smith, but whatever it's failed...miserably.  Smith looked FAR better last year.  The offensive line is another case of too much turnover.  The offensive line we had last year was just fine, so they overhaul it.  Why?  Rather than weeding out players at the bottom of the roster, they are now jettisoning everything that doesn't look like a pro-bowler.  And it's not working.

3)  Over coaching.  Henne has been overcoached.  He's now afraid to take chances with the football because Sparano thinks you can win by simply not turning the ball over.  Got news for you Tony, you can't.  Good teams win despite turning the ball over rather than avoiding it at all costs.  Rather than being afraid of negative plays, ask your players to make big plays on both sides of the ball.  That's the long term goal.  Shrug off mistakes because you'll get them next possession, not dwell on it.  Smith is playing scared now, scared to make mistakes, he too seems like he's been overcoached, dwelling too much on his mistakes and now can't seemingly make any plays.  He's dropped several picks right in his hands, this coming from a former wide receiver.

4)  Draft and free agency inconsistency.  They've had some nice picks but they've also done some really stupid things.  Pat White was a joke and he wasn't needed.  Have no idea what they saw in him.  That was a huge waist of a pick.  Several high priced free agents have been brought in and none of them have really panned out including Marshall this year.  I'm not down on Marshall, I think he's a good WR, but people need to quit thinking that he's the answer to all our prayers.  He's just a WR.  He can't do it all by himself.

[JVides]

I have to say yes, and here's why:

Offensive line is, at least, solid and mostly pretty young.  The running backs are likely both gone (IMO)m but the receivers are solid (OK, decent).  QB and RB will be the two positions that will receive the most attention in the offseason (I'm guessing).

The defensive line is also solid and young.  I like 3 of the 4 linebackers we have, both safeties, and both starting corners.

At this point, Miami still has holes to fill, but I at least feel like most of the beef is there to make this team great once the skill positions get sorted out.  I'd rather have the lines in place before finding the skill position guys than the opposite (that leads to QBs getting ruined, like David Carr did).

[StL FinFan]

I would have said yes if you asked me two weeks ago.

[fyo]

Overall I'd say yes, but I agree with pretty much all of Pappy's points...

1)  Benching Henne was a stupid move

Really dumb. No question. Even if Pennington had not gotten hurt AND we'd seen a moderate boost in offensive output... it would still have been dumb. What would that have gotten us?

2)  Too much roster turnover

The "Belicheat formula" of not overpaying players is certainly valid, but all turnover takes time and it seems like the Pats supplement with players already on their team instead of bringing in a bunch of new guys.  Yes, the Dolphins were INSANELY awful and thin a few years ago and while the facade has gotten better, the bottom-churn hasn't really produced the depth you'd want. Letting your GOOD players go to bring in cheaper replacements, who may or may not be at the same level, doesn't seem like a good idea, especially in an uncapped season.

3)  Over coaching.  Henne has been overcoached

I'm not sure I would really call this issue over-coaching. Henne is either checking down too much on his own or not being "given" plays with good deep options. Likely a combination of both. Should he be taking more chances? I'm not really sure. It just seems like there has been a lot of POOR gameday coaching on both sides of the ball. When something isn't working, it's taken FOREVER to make the necessary adjustments. Often things that were exposed on the first series has had to wait until halftime to get fixed. That's just not good enough. Is part of the problem that Henning is sitting upstairs in the booth? I don't know. I have nothing to back it up, but I just prefer coordinators down on the field.

4)  Draft and free agency inconsistency.

This is my sole disagreement. Have the Trifecta had a great draft? No, doesn't look like it. Have they had a bad draft? No, doesn't look like it. The Pat White pick was clearly a total waste, frustratingly so, and on so many levels, but it seems to have been mostly a solitary mistake. Overall drafting appears to be decent. As for the free agency acquisitions, I like what I've seen. The problem has been cutting the previous players, effectively leaving you with the same poor depth. And with a horrid run of bad luck wrt injuries this season, that's been a huge deal.

[Pappy13]

I would have said yes if you asked me two weeks ago.

I would have said a resounding yes at the end of last year, but things have not gone well for the team nor for the staff this year.  

1) First Parcells announces he's leaving, which we already knew could happen at anytime but I was hoping that it would be later rather than sooner.  

2) Then comes a questionable move by Sparano in benching Smith and starting Allen in his place.

3)  Then comes another questionable move to put Will Allen on the disabled list which removes him from the team for the year.  Sparano seemed to indicate he was hurt and there was no way back, but Allen didn't agree.  I don't know what Will Allen's status is now, but we could have really used him about now if there was any chance of him returning.

4)  Then comes the questionable move by Sparano of benching Henne.

5)  Then comes the worst game of the season in a loss to Chicago where it just didn't seem like Miami was ready to play.  I understand that it was a short week and we had some banged up folks and 3rd stringers playing, but to look that bad a
gainst an average team was really a wake up call to me.  It's telling me that while we may be able to hang with teams if we are 100% healthy and have plenty of time to prepare, our back-ups are not ready to play.  This team is really thin.  A couple injuries sends this team realing while I see other teams have players step up and play when they get the chance.

[MikeO]

It's not just a "NO"......its a "OH HELL NO"

The benching of Henne was the dumbest thing I have ever seen. He wasn't playing terrible. And how do you expect a young QB to learn and get better if he isn't on the god damn field!! That just shows what kind of an idiot head coach we have!!!

We have wasted valuable 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th round picks on losers who we either cut or don't play. Or in the case of Sean Smith only play because we are forced to and have no other friggin options.

Let's talk about all of the free agent signings we have BOMBED OUT on. Jake Groove, Gabril Wilson, Eric Green, Ernest Wilford, Justin Smiley.  Should I keep going??? Cause I can! The list is endless!

You can't give this group too much credit for making a 1-15 team better. Odds are by mistake anyone who took over was going to make a 1-15 team "better". The point is they got jackpot lucky in year 1. And in years 2 and 3 have gotten worse and worse. Not "progress", they are REGRESSING!! To the point we are almost on the level of that 1-15 team just a little bit younger and with a few big name pieces.

The ship is sinking and its time for a change.

[Adam First]

Smiley and Grove are all-pro compared to the trash we have right now

Especially after we signed Eric Guhalalalalalalic, the former Bengals center nicknamed "The Human Turnstile"

[MikeO]

And the number of back-up SCRUBS we signed off the Cowboys roster is laughable.

The Cowboys are a 3 win team right now and in the last 3 years we signed every guy not good enough to make that 3 win team.

It's a total disaster this organization right now.

[dolfan13]

the players on this team just aren't very good...

ronnie brown has become a below average running back, and ricky is just old. no speed at the rb position.

the receivers are decent, and would look better with better qb play.

the qb position this year, before henne got benched, was bad.

o line, outside of jake long, is average to below average run blocking, and pretty decent in pass blocking.

te is a vastly overrated position, and fasano is ok.

on defense, the interior of the line is ok. wake is great, misi is a rook getting better.

dansby is great, other backers are average, maybe below average.

safeties outside of bell, are nothing special. corners other than v davis are below average.

special teams other than carpenter, is pretty bad. this is where team depth really shows up, and the bottom of the roster is just bad.


overall this is just a mediocre team with average talent at best. sooo many holes to fix, not sure how many years it will take to fix. getting a better qb will help speed up the process though.

[Pappy13]

overall this is just a mediocre team with average talent at best.

I don't buy that.  This team has enough talent to win in this league, they just aren't playing that way.  I don't know whether or not you can blame that on the players or the coaches, I imagine it's a bit of both, but I do think that it's the job of the coaches to prepare the players to play the games and I don't think they did a good job of it leading up to Thursday and to a lesser extent the previous 2 weeks.

That needs to change in the next 6 weeks and the team needs to get back on course or some coaching changes need to take place.  Roster changes alone won't be enough.

[Phishfan]

wake is great, misi is a rook getting better.

dansby is great, other backers are average, maybe below average.

You praise two of them and in the next sentence you call them below average? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

[fyo]

Talent-wise, I really like what I'm seeing on this team -- there are a few weaknesses and the big one: depth.

On defense, we've gotten better at CB (still need improvement), linebacker and defensive end. I still think we could use an upgrade a safety, while the inside d-line is a big weakness.

On offense, we've gotten better at receiver and holding steady at o-line. Yes, I'm talking starters here. Our depth sucks, I've covered that already. Our TEs seem to be improving. I still don't know what we have in Henne and regardless of that, we should consider getting either a good veteran backup or a promising young guy (but I think the pressure on QBs in the daft and free agency is going to be INSANE this coming off season). Depth really is the big issue on offense. Berger wasn't great to begin with at center and the drop-off was huge (to Incognito... we didn't see enough of Proctor to tell anything). Long is amazing, but the rest have weaknesses and "seal blocks" apparently aren't in their vocabulary at all.

I don't see our running backs as a major issue... yet. They are getting up there in terms of age, though, so at some point the need will arise. Not convinced by the fullback play (though Hennings tendency to go with two RUNNINGbacks may be skewing my perception and Polite does a great job as a short-yardage back).

Depth, depth, depth... If everyone stayed healthy (very rare, but did happen in 2008), the Dolphins would be a really good team.

[MaineDolFan]

It's not just a "NO"......its a "OH HELL NO"

The ship is sinking and its time for a change.

[dolfan13]

You praise two of them and in the next sentence you call them below average? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

yeah probably should've just said crowder, other inside linebacker.  3-4 wake, and misi are more so hybrid edge guys.

in any event, not sure where people see the talent on this squad being comparable to the super bowl contenders. it's just not on par... no amount of great coaching is taking this current team deep into a playoff run.

although maybe top tier qb play could make the difference with this team. on offense u look at teams like the chargers, with all the injuries they have, and they just keep on putting up sick numbers. u look at the jets, and as much as i despise them, sanchez is a lot better than henne at this point. their receivers, te, and rb's are all better than the dolphins. their o line as a unit is better than the dolphins.

look at baltimore... i would say that's the style of team miami wants to look like, and they are legitimate contenders. straight up, they pounded miami. maybe the only difference is that flacco is a lot better than henne right now, but it wasn't just that they have a better qb. they have a lot more players that are simply better.

[MikeO]

Talent-wise, I really like what I'm seeing on this team -- there are a few weaknesses and the big one: depth.

On defense, we've gotten better at CB (still need improvement), linebacker and defensive end. I still think we could use an upgrade a safety, while the inside d-line is a big weakness.

On offense, we've gotten better at receiver and holding steady at o-line. Yes, I'm talking starters here. Our depth sucks, I've covered that already. Our TEs seem to be improving. I still don't know what we have in Henne and regardless of that, we should consider getting either a good veteran backup or a promising young guy (but I think the pressure on QBs in the daft and free agency is going to be INSANE this coming off season). Depth really is the big issue on offense. Berger wasn't great to begin with at center and the drop-off was huge (to Incognito... we didn't see enough of Proctor to tell anything). Long is amazing, but the rest have weaknesses and "seal blocks" apparently aren't in their vocabulary at all.

I don't see our running backs as a major issue... yet. They are getting up there in terms of age, though, so at some point the need will arise. Not convinced by the fullback play (though Hennings tendency to go with two RUNNINGbacks may be skewing my perception and Polite does a great job as a short-yardage back).

Depth, depth, depth... If everyone stayed healthy (very rare, but did happen in 2008), the Dolphins would be a really good team.

no team has any depth anymore in theNFL. Those days are long gone. With a 53 man roster you can't have depth. Impossible. The problem is you can't miss on 2nd and 3rd round picks and expect to win in this league. The draft is where games are won and lost.  WASTING picks on Pat White, Patrick Turner, and Seasn Smith have hurt this team. With those picks if you get 3 starters instead and pencil them in our lineup, we have a much better team.  We waste high draft picks then go sign teh Cowboys back-ups. that is NOT a recipe for success in this league