Espn's James Walker-Dolphins are no quick fix

[finny1333]

And how exactly is Columbo a loss.. If anything addition by subtraction

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[rent this space]

This is typical lazy, uninformed, national media reporting, they don't even bother doing simple research.

 

[foozool13]

Get a franchise QB and everything is fixed. Its really that simple.

 

[Phins28]

I agree with the blog.

 

[Spesh]

For everyone declaring "What garbage, that article sucks because...ugh...it just sucks, got it!", lets break it down, though i'll leave out some parts that i consider common sense or compliments(as i dont think people are objecting to Walker saying "i like their defense"):

Reason No. 1: Dolphins don't have a quarterback
Miami is going into the season with a quarterback competition between career backup Matt Moore and againg veteran David Garrard, who hasn't played football since 2010. Moore is the favorite coming off a career year in 2011 and was 6-6 as a starter. Garrard, 34, is a wild card after being out of football last season.
Neither player is a great fit for Miami's new West Coast offense. It's a scheme based on precision passing and throwing the ball about 60 percent of the time. Philbin was a former offensive coordinator with the Green Bay Packers. If Philbin expects Moore or Garrard to step in and fill the role of Aaron Rodgers next season, the coach is terribly mistaken.

Check. Matt Moore is a gun slinger. Players and coaches have stated that they like his "moxy". He is not afraid to throw it up and let the receiver make a player. But no one can say hes a precision passer. He isnt someone who is going to place a premium on ball placement(and anyone who actually watched him throw last year can vouch for that). He's what, a 5th year player? 4th year at best? What you see is what you get at this point.
David Garrard hasnt taken a snap since 2010. I actually like Garrard and wish him the best. But i do not expect him to take us to a superbowl. He is 34 years old and coming off a injury. That certainly counts as "a question mark".

Reason No. 2: No offense
The Dolphins certainly have one of the worst receiver groups. The team traded away Pro Bowl receiver Brandon Marshall to the Chicago Bears for a pair of third-round picks, leaving Brian Hartline (35 receptions for 549 yards in 2011) as the No. 1 option. Slot receiver Davone Bess (51 receptions, 537 yards) is projected as the No. 2 receiver, while Legedu Naanee and Clyde Gates compete for playing time. None of these receivers strike fear in the defense to keep opponents from stacking the line against tailback Reggie Bush and the running game.

Check. Many people on this forum wanted to replace Hartline last offseason. I couldnt count how many "we need to bring in Randy Moss" or "bring in T.O." threads there were. And now everyone is excited for him to be our number 1? Hartline is a decent enough player. But he will never bring in double teams and worry opposing defenses. Same with Bess(who's arguably more talented than Hartline). Nothing Gates or Naanee has done thus far screams "game changer". Gates is fast, but then again so was Ginn. This isnt Madden people, other teams know exactly what we have on offense and they prep their defenses. To suggest they wont be stacking the box is absurd. They did it in '08 when we had a better quarterback(albeit with limited arm strength) than we do now. There is no reason to think they wont do it again.
Left out the part concerning offensive line because...well...duh. For our offense we wont get enough starters in the draft to fix every single hole. Even if we draft Tannehill he will undoubtable require a year on the bench. You dont win games with "potential".

Reason No. 3: Shaky ownership, front office
Ireland's track record as a talent evaluator is decent. But he doesn't appear to be well-liked in NFL circles. Several players and former players have bashed Ireland publicly. Even Peyton Manning -- although very politely -- informed the Dolphins he wasn't comfortable with the team's leadership when Miami pursued the quarterback in free agency. Head coach Jeff Fisher also chose the St. Louis Rams over the Dolphins this offseason, in part, because he felt the stability at the top was better in St. Louis.

Mostly check. Id argue against Ireland as a decent talent evaluator, but for sake of argument lets say he is. Fact: several players bashed Ireland, for whatever reason. Fact: Peyton Manning refuse to meet with our front office and only Philbin got to make a selling point to him, for whatever reason. Fact: Jeff Fisher took the Rams job over Miami, the reason for which is because of our front office structure(the exact problem is in question, though it has been widely reported by inside sources from both camps that it was because Fisher wanted a third party to oversee disagreements while Ross wanted Ireland to have full control). Fact: Ross does want to win and is willing to pay, but so far his paid investments havent panned out like he expected(example: Brandon Marshall).
Anyway you cut it, even if it is just perception, Miami is shaky at best.

Reason No. 4: Defense is overrated
But for all the hype this group is getting, the Dolphins' defense is fairly overrated.
Miami still has holes in its secondary.
The Dolphins also don't have enough pass-rushers. Outside linebacker Cameron Wake is the biggest threat. Perhaps Miami could find another pass-rusher to go with Wake in this draft. But if the Dolphins can't get to the quarterback and struggle at safety, the defense could be middle of the pack again

I dont completely agree with this. Our numbers last season werent outstanding, but they did a good job when they needed to last season(second half of last season anyway). As well, stats can be misleading, like Wake's "sack total" being low but his "disruption total" being extremely high...yet only his sack total is mentioned. Our defensive line will be stout and shut down the run game.
That being said...i do agree with other parts of this point. We do need another pass rusher. No one should find that offensive or vulgar. Wake is only one man who is now learning another position(albeit a job he has been performing for years and should be easier for him). Its been suggested that Misi is being moved because he cant consistently rush the passer and JT retired. Common sense says we need a second pass rusher. No matter how good Coyle is, losing Mike Nolan hurts. Our secondary is also worse than last season. Our safety position is in complete disarray. We had a hole at free safety last season and to cover that we cut our strong safety? Thats suppose to make things better?
Anyone who thinks signing other teams backups or moving corners to safety is going to make the position better is delusional.

Reason No. 5: Division rivals are simply better
The reigning AFC champion New England Patriots have the NFL's easiest schedule and are much better than Miami. That's a no-brainer. But the Buffalo Bills, my sleeper pick in 2012, also are much improved, and the New York Jets still have a talented roster. The Dolphins appear headed for fourth place in the division. At best, Miami can finish third if something bad happens this year in New York or Buffalo.

Check. Our division rivals are simply better at this point. Patriots will be contenders and probably finish in first place so long as they have Brady. Bills fixed their arguably biggest hole with a slam dunk signing(and a lesser signing who should be adequate to acceptable). The Jets are the only team that could take a step back. They are older and they to have alot of holes. Their team is one distraction away from falling into disfunction: Scott has already tried to leave, Holmes-Sanchez have been trying to repair a bad situation, the Tebow factor, and now Tannenbaum is having to field questions about Revis's contract situation...2 years after caving and giving him an extension. That being said, they do have some talent and even if the Jets fall apart, they could still very well finish higher in the division than us.

I didnt see much in this article to lose my mind over. To say we could be picking in the top 10 next year is common sense....as we are picking in the top 10 this year. Without a doubt, we had a better team last season than we do at the moment and still have the 8th pick in the draft. Even if we have an oustanding draft, we cant fix all of our holes. Cant fix even most of them. There is no quick fix for this team.

 

[NY8123]

"...the Dolphins lost their starting right guard and starting right tackle in free agency..."

Or they were dumped and still unemployed... I guess I missed them being scooped up by some other team

Lost.....hahahhaaaaaa. Lost Marc Craplombo, oh that's a good one, a knee slapper.

In order to be lost someone has to be looking for you, discarded is a better word here.

 

[SanDiegoFinFan7]

Definetely some valid points there, but I cant say that it'll be a while til we are legitimate contender. Way to early. we are only what two months into the offseason and haven't even had the draft yet? No, we can be a playoff contender (friendly schedule helps) if this FO has a strong outting in this draft, and finish out this FA with some nice depth players.

 

[NYinBostonFin]

Gutted? Nah. We got rid of a WR that gets paid $10 million a year to drop 6 TD passes, 3 of which were game winners. Sounds like a good move to me. We got two 3rd rounders based on his reputation, but if we were compensated on how he actually played, it should have been a 5th rounder.

Getting rid of a pro bowl WR for 2 #3s? Maybe we should call and find out if anyone else wants to trade the #1 on their team for the same. Worst move of the offseason, besides not replacing him, but homerism will always find a way to figure how it was a good move. Even when we are below avg again this season.

Im sure we will be such a better offense without a WR with over 1000 yards, 80 rec, all the double teams he had, etc etc.....LOL

 

[SnakeoilSeller]

This guy has never written anything positive about the Fins. He is a ****ing joke. Gutted? This is just another example of lazy journalism. It is like eveyone forgets the season. Nobody wanted to play the Dolphins in the second half of last season, no one. Without anything in this world to play for - this team competed week in and week out. And yet, all of that is just forgotten. ESPN is just a bad example of what the media in this country has become.

---------- Post added at 04:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------

Getting rid of a pro bowl WR for 2 #3s? Maybe we should call and find out if anyone else wants to trade the #1 on their team for the same. Worst move of the offseason, besides not replacing him, but homerism will always find a way to figure how it was a good move. Even when we are below avg again this season.

Im sure we will be such a better offense without a WR with over 1000 yards, 80 rec, all the double teams he had, etc etc.....LOL

I'm sure we will miss all those dropped touchdown passes too!

 

[PeterNorth]

How is trading Marshall "gutting the team"? lol. Garbage article.

Uh, does it really make what he said any less valid, though? Marshall had issues but he was still the closest thing the team had to a legit consistent playmaker type. I need to see more from Reggie Bush before I can count him. What the guy said is true, though. The offense has spare parts. The defense is solid but very unspectacular and can and will be thrown on with regularity. The pass rush situation is a joke and there is no guaranteeing it will be much better after the draft.

You can't call the article garbage just because it flies in the face of your never-ending optimism. He brings up very valid points as things stand right now. I know a lot of people here, including yourself, love to put on the apologist hat, but look at it objectively. You have people on here focusing on the reasons guys like Colombo are gone instead of focusing on the fact that those spots are going to likely be filled by people with big question marks at best. Did Walker maybe come across a bit too hyperbolic at times? Yeah. Does it completely undo the points he made? Nope.

 

[NYinBostonFin]

This guy has never written anything positive about the Fins. He is a ****ing joke. Gutted? This is just another example of lazy journalism. It is like eveyone forgets the season. Nobody wanted to play the Dolphins in the second half of last season, no one. Without anything in this world to play for - this team competed week in and week out. And yet, all of that is just forgotten. ESPN is just a bad example of what the media in this country has become.

---------- Post added at 04:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------



I'm sure we will miss all those dropped touchdown passes too!

When we are back to no chance at the endzone or kicking FGs all day....tell me that again.

 

[Jersey DolFan]

HAHAHA!

1 trade of a person who did not fit the mold of a new head coaches system, who was beleived by some to be a loose cannon, and who many fans constantly said to "Trade for picks" and it is a "DISASTROUS OFFSEASON"


you know sometimes i wonder why every season in the NFL is said to be a "UNEXPECTED CRAZY IRONIC UNPREDICTABLE WILD SEASON IN THE NFL" then i realize - its b/c the damn "experts" and "journalists" just flat out SUCK at predicting the results of the season in the first place.

i place no stock i this crap. we can play with almost anyone in this league. talk to me week 3 or 4 .




and yeah - Marshall is the only playmaker - OK. what were you saying when he had one of his many epic drops in huge games last season? i personally though at least last season reggie bush was our best offensive weapon and player - marshall was great but lets not overplay him. and if he was not there, you really dont know what could have happened. Without turnstyle colombo fasano could release more to catch the ball, bess would have gotten more looks, clay too, you really dont know. I was a bit shocked at the loss of Marshall too, but its really been over played a bit. getting rid of marshall does not signal a complete "rebuild" its one player.

 

[Nublar7]

Uh, does it really make what he said any less valid, though? Marshall had issues but he was still the closest thing the team had to a legit consistent playmaker type. I need to see more from Reggie Bush before I can count him. What the guy said is true, though. The offense has spare parts. The defense is solid but very unspectacular and can and will be thrown on with regularity. The pass rush situation is a joke and there is no guaranteeing it will be much better after the draft.

You can't call the article garbage just because it flies in the face of your never-ending optimism. He brings up very valid points as things stand right now. I know a lot of people here, including yourself, love to put on the apologist hat, but look at it objectively. You have people on here focusing on the reasons guys like Colombo are gone instead of focusing on the fact that those spots are going to likely be filled by people with big question marks at best. Did Walker maybe come across a bit too hyperbolic at times? Yeah. Does it completely undo the points he made? Nope.

It is garbage because he starts off saying Miami gutted their team this offseason. Besides Brandon Marshall, who they got value for, they didn't lose really anyone. Hardly "gutting the team", wouldn't you say? What he says afterwards doesn't matter because he lost credibility right off the bat.

 

[NYinBostonFin]

It is garbage because he starts off saying Miami gutted their team this offseason. Besides Brandon Marshall, who they got value for, they didn't lose really anyone. Hardly "gutting the team", wouldn't you say? What he says afterwards doesn't matter because he lost credibility right off the bat.

2 #3's for a pro bowl WR is not Value.

 

[PeterNorth]

It is garbage because he starts off saying Miami gutted their team this offseason. Besides Brandon Marshall, who they got value for, they didn't lose really anyone. Hardly "gutting the team", wouldn't you say? What he says afterwards doesn't matter because he lost credibility right off the bat.

That's ridiculous, dude. Listen to yourself. He definitely made a misstep with the use of "gutted", but that in no way renders the rest of what he said as invalid. If I tell you the sky is green and then go on to recite some fact based thing afterward, does the green sky remark really mean the rest is suddenly just magically unfactual? Come on. You're really reaching.