I'm not disappointed.

[Brian Fein]

Today was the first time I walked away from the game thinking Tannehill might just be the real deal.  Saw a lot of growth and progress from him today.

Hope is exactly right.

[Diehard_Dolfan]

We're 1-3 but I'm feeling really good about what I'm seeing from our Dolphins!  I loved the pressure we put on the QB today... Although Sean Smith bit on that game tying TD catch he played pretty good!  I love the command that Ryan Tannehill shows of the offense!    This from a QB that only played 25 games in college as a QB and a rookie in the Big Leagues!     He's maturing right in front of our eyes... the Cards threw everything they had at the rookie and he held his own!   I only wish he had audible to a WR or bubble screen on that all out blitz that got the interception... they brought everything up the middle on that play hitting the edge might have gone to the house!

But, I'm going to buy me some shades tomorrow because our future is looking pretty bright!

GO Phins!!!!

[MikeO]

This is exactly why you play the rookie now. Get these few mistakes out of the way now. Would you rather be playing Matt Moore now and having these mistakes NEXT YEAR? Have Tannehill be getting his feet wet NEXT YEAR? Obviously not.  As everyone said, play the kid and accelerate the learning curve. Bite the bullet and live with the mistakes this year even if it means heart breaking loses like the past 2 weeks. No matter WHEN you draft a rookie you are going to have to sacrifice a season at some point. Might as well just get it out of the way. You can't put off the inevitable.

This is why when scouts say Tanny is a better prospect vs any QB coming out next year they are right. Matt Barkley has a college all star team around him and he is struggling vs Stanford and Cal! And now you got Tanny with a bunch of NFL Cast-Off's around him on offense and he is lighting up Arizona on the road in Week 4. He has an "elite" NFL arm. The ability to make the tough throws outside the numbers (something few QB's can do). And yesterday he began using the middle of the field and throwing in traffic. Something he hasn't done much of up until now. The improvements each week is glaring. He is making strides. Not a finished product yet, but you hope he will be come December! That's the goal. That's the plan.

(For Landshark)

[Fins4ever]

Could not agree more. Great topic!

For me it is all about improvement. Look how much better they look now than just a few weeks ago. They have gotten better every week and this week they did it without a decent running game. The most important thing I saw yesterday was the play of Ryan T. Is our search finally over???

Yes, we lost, but it was one heckofa play. Kolb made a perfect throw in good coverage.

[jimmythefinger]

Don't know how you can say you're not disappointed. This is 2 gut-wrenching losses in a row that should have been victories.

Still, most encouraged by Tannehill. He stands there in the face of pressure and delivers a good pass. You cannot teach that.

Ireland's gotta go, though. He's got no eye for talent. Tannehill was 3rd rated QB on everybody's Draft Board. Jonathan Martin also rated pretty high. You get into 3rd-4th-5th Rounds, that's where really good GMs find talent. As long as Fins got Ireland we are unarmed in a duel of wits.

[Pappy13]

Don't know how you can say you're not disappointed.

Because I'm not? I actually enjoyed the game from beginning to end. Even when Arizona was lining up for the kick in OT I thought Miami had a chance to still win the game. I thought that he'd miss the kick and Tannehill would get Miami into FG range and Carpenter would redeem himself, I actually believed that right at that moment. When the ball went through by a few feet, I was more in disbelief than disappointed and as I walked to my car, I didn't feel disappointed, I felt like I had just watched one hell of a football game with both teams trying desperately to provide the knockout shot and Arizona being fortunate to win the game. That's how I felt and that's how I still feel today and after reading so many articles and so many posts apparently a lot of people felt the same way.

I don't really believe that there are no such thing as moral victories, there are. I don't really believe that a win is a win and a loss is a loss. I believe that there are tough defeats and great wins and then there are demoralizing defeats and lucky wins. They are NOT the same. No one can convince me they are. The last 2 games have been tough defeats which are much better than demoralizing defeats and the game before that was a great win which is much better than a lucky win which Miami had FAR too many times last year for me to just look at the WIN-LOSS column and be disappointed. I'm happy with the way the team is playing, just not happy with the results. The 2 do NOT always go hand in hand. I think the W's will be coming and I think they will be coming soon.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[Brian Fein]

Ireland's gotta go, though. He's got no eye for talent.

Why do you have to bag on Ireland in every single thread?  We get it, you hate him, but its getting tiresome.

[MikeO]

We should judge Ireland at the end of the year on the finished product and how the young guys developed. Judging him now isn't totally fair. I know things don't look good for him now but we must at least see how everything plays out before calling for his head.

I would be leaning towards him not returning as of today, but let's just let it play out and see how some of "his guys" do.

[stealth3ltt]

I cannot remember the last time I was soo excited watching a fins game!!!!!   that TD bomb to Hartline,,  I loved it!!!   a few more plays and i believe we could've beat them.   we should've beat the jets.   hopefully next week we get the win!!!   man that was a good game!!!!

[MikeO]

Miami had so many "chunk yardage" plays it was amazing. How many plays over 10+ yards yesterday? I lost count actually. It had to be over 10 or so. Considering our WR's aren't anything special and they did it vs a very good defense on the road it says something. Big Plays. None of this 15 play 10 min drive and kick a field goal like under Sparano.

[Fins4ever]

Why do you have to bag on Ireland in every single thread?  We get it, you hate him, but its getting tiresome.

Thank you Brian. The constant bashing on Ireland was a major reason I left Phin Phanatics where I was a staff writer as well as a regular poster. A couple of people gave Ireland no credit for anything and blame for everything. Every thread turned into an Ireland Sucks thread. It got old, real quick.

Is JI perfect? No. Has he made mistakes? Yes. Do I agree with everything he has done? No. Still, I like the fact that he doesn't give away picks and he has made some good moves and I believe the team is headed in the right direction, and I can see a clear difference in drafting since Parcells left

[Brian Fein]

Is JI perfect? No. Has he made mistakes? Yes. Do I agree with everything he has done? No. Still, I like the fact that he doesn't give away picks and he has made some good moves and I believe the team is headed in the right direction, and I can see a clear difference in drafting since Parcells left

This is important.  You need to remove this year's Jeff Ireland from your pre-conceived notions of Tony Sparano's team.  Its a new start.  Sparano could have been making Ireland look worse, so its important to evaluate the Ireland/Philbin tandem independantly.  To be honest, I like what I've seen from them so far, and I'd have no issue keeping Ireland around another season or two to re-earn some respect.

[MikeO]

This is important.  You need to remove this year's Jeff Ireland from your pre-conceived notions of Tony Sparano's team.  Its a new start.  Sparano could have been making Ireland look worse, so its important to evaluate the Ireland/Philbin tandem independantly.  To be honest, I like what I've seen from them so far, and I'd have no issue keeping Ireland around another season or two to re-earn some respect.

Tanny, Martin, Miller, and Vernon...even if Egnew doesn't pan out (and its still very early to bury him as a 3rd round pick) this is shaping up to be one of the better Fins draft in many years