Dolphins are who we thought they were

Jan. 02 Opinion 1 comment ---Bill

The Miami Dolphins just completed their 4th straight losing season.  Disappointing?  Yes.  Unexpected? No.  The Dolphins season was disappointing to all of us that love the team.  BUT, it’s hard to say that the 7-9 campaign was all that unexpected.  After all, the Dolphins were coming off of a 6-10 season last year, brought in a rookie head coach and started a rookie quarterback for 16 games.  So should we be surprised that the Dolphins once again fell short of the .500 mark?

Photo Courtesy of Dolphins.com

Photo Courtesy of Dolphins.com

Before the season started, many ‘experts’ predicted that the Dolphins would take a step back and finish with 4 or 5 wins.  They surpassed those low expectations, but ultimately fell short of making the postseason once again.  Before the season began, we ran through every Dolphins game in this post and came out with a 7-9 record, finishing 2-4 in the AFC East.  That’s exactly how the Dolphins finished the season….I wish we were wrong with those predictions!

The Gap is Real

The Dolphins in 2012 continued to show that they are still a mediocre team.  Finishing 7-9 says that, but a look behind the numbers shows even more.  There is still a gap between the Dolphins and the upper echelon teams in the NFL.  The Dolphins finished 5-4 against teams that failed to reach the postseason, but just 2-5 against teams that still have football left to play.  The ‘gap’ was never more evident than on Sunday when the Dolphins were shut out by the Patriots 28-0.  The Patriots have dominated the AFC East for a decade and if the Dolphins want to make up ground, it must begin this offseason.  The Patriots are simply a more talented team than the Dolphins in every aspect of the game.  The Dolphins weak WR corps couldn’t get open against the Pats DBs….The Dolphins OL couldn’t block the Patriots DL…..The Dolphins DBs couldn’t stay with the Patriots TEs and WRs.

The Dolphins don’t need a Tom Brady, but they’ll need Ryan Tannehill to improve this offseason.  They need to close that gap.  The Dolphins will also need Jeff Ireland to work some magic with that $50 mil in cap room and draft pick ammunition.  I know, I don’t have a lot of faith in that, but it is what it is at this point.  The Dolphins must use this offseason as a time to stockpile talented players.  This offseason can help close the gap between the Dolphins and the good teams in the NFL, without a practice snap taking place.  (cont’d on page 2, click below)

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  • Miami Jules

    Our season is over, no more “maybe this weeks”, no more analyzing the game plan that failed, poor decisions made in the 4th quarter and the ever present “silver lining” talk. I will express this on a personal note, if I read another article, on another site, praising the great skills and “boy-wonder” genious of Jeff Ireland, I will stop even reading articles and or comments posted there at that point … nothing personal, just tring to stay alive by keeping my blood preasure at reasonable levels.

    One can argue a team needs time to rebuild… please… How many losing seasons did Shula have at the expense of “rebuilding”? We have lacked a 1st round QB until now How about the Colts…How long did it take them? One can argue Andrew Luck is a one in a million QB draftee who can single handedly bring his team to glory in 1 single season, bringing his team from the depth of the worst team in the NFL abyss to the play offs. How about Seattle? Well, they made it to the play offs last year and they have a great defence and play makers on offence. How about Washington? One can argue RGIII… What’s our argument in Miami? It’s funny how the same folks who claim it’s a new game, a QB driven league, find comfort in the contradicting argument that it takes time to develope a QB… What happened to this new NFL, where QB’s hit the ground running after college? We are neither here or there, so enough of the apologist arguments.

    I stayed away from being over critical of Jeff Ireland during the season. Now the season’s over. We have been mediocre since the Parcells’ entourage was put in place. New England continues to excell in a more traditional football approach, Dallas, on the other hand can’t seem to get out of their habitual ” just a notch above mediocre. What about the Dolphins then? Philbin seems to have gotten some of his way over “Boy-Jeff” … case and point is Gates as an example, but Philbin himself seem to have alligances and loyalties, which one has to wonder if these will undermine the progress of the team. I used to refer to the Sparano-Ireland duo as dumb and dumber. Dumb isn’t here anymore but Dumber remains. I wish I had a definitive answer. These are the questions I will raise instead. Will Ireland limit his own role and let Philbin be? Will philbin be solely focused on team progress, not letting pre-existing loyalties and liabilities obstruct the road ahead?
    I agree with you Bill on players like Rashad Jones and Pouncey. The Jury is out on Tannehill but I’m cautiously optimistic. I still love Bess and have hope for Mathews and Binns, but make no mistake, we only have 1 player in the pro-bowl and Jeff is the reason for that. Yes people, these pro-Ireland cheerleaders in their teeny-bopper like excitement, seem to forget that. I predicted 9-7 before the season, because maybe I thought Philbin was all that. He may still be, but I am not as gun-ho for next year as I was for this one, unless something positive, as in real positive happens during the draft.