Category: Miami Musings

Musings: Dolphins rookie camp opens today, Tebow hoax, plus areas of improvement

May. 03 Miami Musings 3 comments

Now that the Draft is over, the Miami Dolphins coaches can begin to focus on preparing their players for the 2013 season.  The Dolphins roster is obviously not set in stone, but the next few weeks will provide the building blocks for the Dolphins training camp, which opens in July.  We all know that the offensive line is far from set, as the Dolphins are still weighing their options to find another starting offensive tackle.  But today, the Dolphins coaches will get their first look at their shiny new toys….draft picks.

Miami Musings

Since there isn’t a lot of news to report, we wanted to share a few stories with you that caught our attention.  Our Miami Musings this week will take a look at what we can expect from the Dolphins rookies, a Twitter hoax perpetrated by one of our readers, and a post that takes a closer look at what areas the Dolphins have improved in since last season.

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The crystal ball: 1st Round Mock Draft

Apr. 25 AFC East Preview, Breaking News, Dolphins Gameplan, Miami Musings, News and Notes, Opinion, Uncategorized 10 comments

After about eight long months of intense draft preparations, we have all officially survived mock draft season and the real deal is finally here. As Mel Kiper has stated, “This has not been a comfortable year to do mock drafts.” Here we are less than 24 hours away from Roger Goodell announcing Kansas City is on the clock and there is still debate on who the pick should be. There are simply no ‘locks’ in this draft years draft, but with no ‘locks’ I can assure you there will be plenty of steals.

We here at PhinNation encourage comments, criticisms, and questions regarding our intelligence, or furthermore our sanity at this point in time. Enjoy!

Pick Position               Selection
1 Kansas City  OT     Luke Joeckel, Texas A&M
2 Jacksonville  OLB      Dion Jordan, Oregon
3 Oakland       QB      Geno Smith, W.Va
4 Philadelphia  OT        Eric Fisher, Central Michigan
5 Detroit        CB        Dee Milliner, ‘Bama
6 Cleveland     DE        Ziggy Ansah, BYU
7 Arizona       OT        Lane Johnson, Oklahoma
8 Buffalo         QB         Matt Barkely, USC
9 NYJ              FS         Kenny Vaccaro, Texas
10 Tennessee    OG         Chance Warmack, ‘Bama
11 San Diego    OT         DJ Fluker, ‘Bama
12 Miami           WR          Tavon Austin, W.Va
13 NYJ           DE/OLB     Keke Mingo, LSU
14 Carolina         DT         Shariff Floyd, Florida
15 New Orleans OLB       Jarvis Jones, Georgia
16 St. Louis         OG         Jon Cooper, UNC
17   Pittsburgh    DE          Bjoren Werner, FSU
18 Dallas            DT          Star Lotulelei, Utah
19 NYG              TE           Tyler Eifert, Notre Dame
20 Chicago          OT          Menelik Watson, FSU
21 Cincinnati     WR         Cordarrelle Patterson, Tenn.
22 St. Louis         WR         DeAndre Hopkins, Clemson
23 Minnesota     WR         Keenan Allen, California
24 Indianapolis    CB         Xavier Rhodes, FSU
25 Minnesota      DT        Sheldon Richardson, Missouri
26 Green Bay       RB         Eddie Lacy, ‘Bama
27 Houston          QB        Ryan Nassib, Syracuse
28 Denver            CB         Dez Trufant, Wash.
29 New England   WR        Justin Hunter, Tenn.
30 Atlanta             CB         DJ Hayden, Houston
31 San Francisco DE         Datone Jones, UCLA
32 Baltimore         LB          Arthur Brown, Kansas St

The Dolphins recent rumblings sending Bess to Cleveland lead to the selection of WR/RB/KR/PR Tavon Austin. Many will consider this a luxury pick, but the combination of Mike Wallace and Tavon Austin will bring an entire new dimension to the Dolphins offense.
Be sure to follow @Phinfanlyst on twitter for further analysis throughout the draft Saturday.

Musings: Tavon Austin opinions, strength of schedule, plus trade down scenarios

Apr. 19 Miami Musings 1 comment

There is less than a week before the NFL Draft kicks off.  The Dolphins are finalizing their draft boards, while also continuing to keep discussions open with the Chiefs regarding a potential trade for Branden Albert.  We also learned last night about the Dolphins schedule for the 2013 season, so we know the road that must be traveled, if the team will make its long awaited return to the playoffs.  We’ve been doing some reading from around the Dolphins Blogosphere and wanted to share some of the interesting stories we’ve come across.

Miami Musings

Dolphins Strength of Schedule – ThePhinsider.com

ThePhinsider.com takes us through the Dolphins schedule and finds that the Dolphins have the 7th hardest schedule in the NFL next season.  Based on teams’ records from 2012, the Dolphins will face opponents with a winning percentage of .520, including the World Champion Baltimore Ravens.  As we told you earlier today, the schedule might not be easy, but it also might not be as ferocious as it may seem.

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Musings: Vote for Marino, plus a Mock Draft, inside info on Grimes, & Lamar Miller breakdown

Apr. 02 Miami Musings no comments

The Dolphins are in full poker mode, sending smokescreens and leaking the information they want to leak, all in an attempt to conceal their plans for the upcoming draft.  As such, there isn’t a lot of information coming out of Davie, FL.  So we thought we would take a moment and share some of the interesting things we’ve been reading, from other Dolphins blogs.

Miami Musings

Vote for Marino

Dan Marino may have retired 13 years ago, but he’s still loved by Dolphins fans.  He’s currently fighting for a spot on the cover of Madden this year.  He’s into the 3rd round after knocking off Reggie Wayne and Marshall Faulk.  Now he’s up against Joe Montana, a number 1 seed.  Marino needs your help to advance in the bracket, so please go here and vote!  Voting literally takes less than 10 seconds.  Please show your support for the greatest Miami Dolphin of all time!!!

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Miami Musings: Creative Playcalling, Big Papa Pump dissing Fireman Ed, and the Dolphins sign Coe

Nov. 29 Miami Musings no comments

The Miami Dolphins are treating their game on Sunday against the Patriots as if it were a playoff game…..they should be, because that’s exactly what it is.  If the Dolphins lose, not only will their record fall to 5-7, but their record in conference will fall to 3-6.  Even if the Dolphins managed to win out, they would finish 9-7 BUT would only be 6-6 in conference, which probably won’t be enough to win any tiebreakers.  The Dolphins are taking the game seriously, but it’s going to take a near-perfect effort to beat the Pats on Sunday.

Today, we wanted to share our Miami Musings with you.  We found a few Dolphins blogs that had stories that we wanted to share with you and give our thoughts on.  These stories include a closer look at the Dolphins playcalling against the Seahawks, Big Papa Pump taking shots at the Jets’ Fireman Ed, an awesome Forum site, and the Dolphins signing a new cornerback.

Creative Playcalling – ThePhinsider.com

Earlier this week, we told you that we liked some of the playcalling by Mike Sherman against the Seahawks.  We didn’t love all of it, but we specifically liked the ‘end around’ action.  In the above article ThePhinsider.com did a great job of breaking down the plays we were referring to.  Mike Sherman lined up the offense in a similar formation, using similar motions, but calling different plays out of it.  This playcalling confused the Seahawks defense and allowed the Dolphins to pick up some big plays.  This is exactly the type of creativity we need to see more of as it makes the Dolphins offense less predictable.  (cont’d on page 2, click below)

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Miami Musings: Breaking down Tannehill & Dolphins fans are excited

Oct. 24 Miami Musings no comments

The Miami Dolphins were off on Tuesday, getting one final day of rest before their practice resumes in preparation for Sunday’s BIG divisional matchup with the Jets.  Since we already broke down the Dolphins Division this week, we thought we’d skip that feature on it’s usual Wednesday slot.  Instead, since the Dolphins were off on Tuesday, we did some reading of other Dolphins blogs and wanted to share some of our favorite stories with you.  Today’s Miami Musings will cover a great breakdown of Ryan Tannehill’s numbers so far this year, Dolphins fans excitement , and a look at some trade rumors that are floating around.

But before we get to the Miami Musings, if you have 90 seconds, please fill out our reader survey to let us know what you like (and what you don’t like) about PhinNation.com.  Our goal is to make this site as reader-friendly as possible and your feedback will directly help us make the changes you want!  If you let us know what you want to see, you might see your suggestion on PhinNation soon!

Ryan Tannehill Breakdown – DolphinShout.com

Patrick over at DolphinShout.com does a great job in this article, breaking down Ryan Tannehill’s statistics so far this season.  Yes, it’s only a very small sample, 6 games. But, the breakdown shows where Tannehill’s strengths are (1st and 4th quarters) and where his weaknesses are (2nd and 3rd quarters).  Very interesting numbers and a good job by the guys at DolphinShout.com

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Miami Musings: Breaking down Tannehill’s day, Dolphins momentum, and an early big board

Sep. 20 Miami Musings 2 comments

The Miami Dolphins are flying high after their blowout win against the Raiders on Sunday.  Dolphins fans are buzzing and it’s very obvious that it is in fact, Jets week!  The Dolphins will host the Jets on Sunday and will look to improve to 2-1 and hold at least a share of the AFC East lead.  Before we get to Sunday though, our tour around other Dolphins blogs has some interesting topics:  A full breakdown of the Dolphins dismantling of the Raiders, an early look at possible Dolphins draft targets, keys to success against the Jets, and a chance to win a signed copy of ‘Perfection’.

Breaking down the Dolphins win – FinsNation.com

The Dolphins played evenly with the Raiders on Sunday, until the second half when they stepped on the gas peddle and let Reggie Bush have a monster day.  In this post, CK Parrot does a great job of breaking down what the Dolphins did so well in the second half of the game that helped the Dolphins blowout the Raiders.  I love his critique of Ryan Tannehill, CK knows his stuff and is as good as it gets when breaking down film.  It’s an in-depth look at the Dolphins that you won’t regret reading.

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Miami Musings: 7-11 cut, Tannehill’s learning, & how the Dolphins matchup with Oakland

Sep. 11 Miami Musings 1 comment

Miami Musings, our weekly tour around other popular Miami Dolphins blogs, is back!  We plan to bring feature to you each week as part of our posting schedule.  This week, we check in on some Dolphins’ roster moves via ThePhinsider.com, examine what Ryan Tannehill needs to do to learn to lead the Dolphins via DolphinShout.com, and take an early look at how the Dolphins matchup with the Raiders via PhinsPhocus.com .

7-Eleven is closed

This evening, the Dolphins made a few roster moves.  Most notably, the Dolphins released Chris Hogan, he of the Hard Knocks stardom.  Coaches grew tired of waiting for Hogan to be more physical.  The Dolphins also waived LB Sammy Brown and signed WR Brian Tyms and DT Chas Alecxih to the practice squad.  Right now, the Dolphins have 52 players on their roster, with 1 free spot remaining.

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Miami Musings: Luck in Play, Judging Marshall’s Season, and a Dolphins Mock Draft

Dec. 21 Miami Musings 1 comment

This is a short week for the Miami Dolphins and many other teams in the NFL.  We’ll get to previewing the Dolphins vs. Patriots game tomorrow.  But, for today we have the latest installment of the Miami Musings.  Today we’ll give you links to stories from other Dolphins blogs involving everything the Dolphins chances at Andrew Luck to judging Brandon Marshall’s up and down season.  Here you go:

Dolphins chances of getting Andrew Luck – FinsNation.com

We wrote a post about this yesterday, but FinsNation’s version is much more entertaining.  The Dolphins only real hope of getting Andrew Luck is for the Colts to get beat out for the #1 pick in the draft.  The Dolphins would then have to trade up to get Mr. Luck.  Is it possible?  Yes….Is it probable?  Probably not.

Judging Brandon Marshall’s Season - PhinsPhocus.com

Daniel, at PhinsPhocus.com takes a look at the up and down season that Brandon Marshall has been having and asks: Is Brandon having a good season?  I agree with Daniel that Brandon has had a good season, but not good enough.  He has dropped, by some counts, 7 touchdown passes.  Granted, he has made some spectacular catches this season, but has also dropped many easy (and important) passes.  On the season, Brandon Marshall has caught 70 balls for 1,021 yards and 5 TDs.  He’s obviously a very gifted receiver, but he always seems to leave us wanting just a little bit more.  Hopefully he can start pulling in those TD catches that have been ‘so close’ this season.

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Miami Musings: Fire Jeff Ireland, Todd Bowles Speaks, and the Matt Ryan ‘What If’ Question

Dec. 15 Miami Musings no comments

This has certainly been an interesting week for the Miami Dolphins.  Since Sunday, the Dolphins have fired their coach, have had JP Losman and Pat Devlin splitting snaps in practice, could be without their All Pro LT, and have been hearing from many Dolphins fans about their decision to keep Jeff Ireland.  The football stuff we’ll get to later today after the Dolphins practice for the second time under interim coach, Todd Bowles.  For now, we want to fill you in on a few interesting stories from around the Dolphins Blogosphere:

Fire Jeff Ireland Campaign - FinsNation.com

We won’t steal their thunder, but head over to FinsNation.com to check out what they are planning to let Stephen Ross know that Dolphins fans are unhappy about keeping Jeff Ireland as GM.  It’s a funny idea that will certainly get some attention.  My view (take it for what it’s worth), is that Ireland has not done a good enough job in his 4 years in Miami.  From free agents that didn’t work out, to wasted draft picks, his talent evaluation has been suspect.  Since we’re on the subject, what do you think about Jeff Ireland staying on as GM?


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