A different perspective on being good, and not great

[DolphinzD]

I have been a Dolphins fan since 1990, or since I was 10 years old. I understand a lot of you have been fans a lot longer, but this is just from my perspective. In the seasons I have been a fan, the Dolphins have gone 12-4, 8-8. 11-5, 9-7. 10-6, 9-7, 8-8, 9-7, 10-6, 9-7, 11-5, 11-5, 9-7, and 9-6 (hopefully to be 10-6). And of these 14 seasons, the team has made the play-offs in 9 of those 14 seasons, and there have been only 2 of those seasons when they have not been in play-off contention on the final weekend. Certainly a good track record for being consistently good, although never quite great. I think back to the first game of the season, with the loss to the Texans, and that was only the second time in my "Dolfan Career" that the Dolphins had started the season with a loss. I suddenly started pondering what it would be like to pull for a team with a losing record, because I have pretty much never known this. I almost felt spoiled by the fact that the Dolphins are in contention every single year. Think about teams like Arizona (one play-off season and every other year under .500 during this time frame), Atlanta (yeah they made it to one Super Bowl and a couple play-offs but have NEVER had back-to-back winning seasons), Seattle (one play-off appearance during this time frame), New Orleans (one play-off win in their entire history), Cincinnati (no explanation necessary).....what would it be like to be a fan of those teams? I know Seattle and Cincy are on the rise now, but what would it be like to know your team had no shot at all before the season even started? Keep in mind, I am not saying I am content with this, but there are worse possibilities. I know it's frustrating to be good and not great for so long but I for one am thankful knowing that almost every year the Dolphins are in contention, and I am confident that one of these years they will break through and win it all. Not sure if it will be the coach, or new players, or what, but I just believe it will happen. And that Sunday will be a very happy time.

 

[phins054]

The issue is not about how consistent the Phins are. It really has nothing to do with the winning seasons. The best case scenario with all of this consistency is that the Phins have become mediocre.

Let me put it this way...

Yes Miami has (technically) winning seasons and either A) just miss the playoffs or B) Lose early in them. They have done this for so long now (Just like the Dec slides) that they do what most consider, which is the same thing every year, thus making them mediocre. They don't break through (Cincy is a good reference to this...suck all year and ruin their #1 pick on a bust. They've done it for years so it doesn't surprise anyone.) Granted, it's nice to have the Phins competing every year, but after some point you need to see improvement instead of just spinning wheels.

So what do these competing seasons really mean? In the long run it hurts our ability to improve the team via the draft. I can hear the replies already coming that we have done better the last few years with hits on Chambers and McMichael. My point is that we usually pick no better tha the 16 spot in the draft, but usually 22-26th. Some teams go through a down period and are able to bounce back within a few years, thanks to drafting wisely with high picks or positioning to get the best players the team needs. Since we are usually 8-8 or better our draft position is undesirable for teams wanting to only trade a spot or two up or down and we will probably not get a franchise player capable of immediately impacting the teams fortunes past the #5 spot. So we end up giving away future picks in trades trying to improve. (Example would be Randy Moss. If I remember correctly, we traded spots with MN and they drafted him, or we moved back and he got picked up just before our pick. Either way, he is a guy that could have made an immediate impact and we had a shot at him and didn't take him.)

We now are improving our team through FA and trading instead of the draft. We end up in salary cap situations that hurt us in the long run and lose players we want to keep or can not land the best free agents.

I'm starting to babble here but my point is that YES it's probably a lot better to be a phins fan over being a Cards or Bungles fan. BUT at some point and time those teams will break the ceiling (Cincy is improving) that is holding them down.

Remember that we had Marino for 18 seasons...We only went to one SB and 3 AFC title games with him. How long will we have Ricky?

Marino had no real defense or running game when he was in his prime.

Ricky can run the ball and has a great defense but no passing game to support him

Funny huh...the more things change, the more they stay the same...