Check out this article by Clark Judge on the Dolphins and Jay Feidler | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Check out this article by Clark Judge on the Dolphins and Jay Feidler

That isn't cool expo! You have been around for like 2 months and you are going to make generalazations about me because of 1 post I wrote. Where were you after the Pats game when peolpe were calling for Jay's head, and I was defending him? In fact where were you all of last season when I was jumping on just about anyone that bashed Jay? I was always one of the first to say we didn't lose any game because of Jay, but rather our lack of a running game or run d, or just horrible play calling. Am I overly excited that Jay is our QB? Probably not, but last year I realized he is our QB and that I need to support him. At the begining of the off season I still stuck by Jay knowing that we had bigger fish to fry befor Sept hit such as, O-line, RB, and d-line. So don't come at me like I am some half assed Jay bashing twit when I have pointed out every thing that sports writer siad at leat once. All that being said I still want a franchise QB next Apirl.
 
I agree with Clark Judge, Miami has to be considered the team to beat. While Jay Fiedler wouldn't be on my llist of QBs with which to build a football team, he's good enough to win with. I can't take that away from him. Buffalo will certainly try to make a run at the playoffs, but as Gregg Williams stated on the Jim Rome show, Buffalo needs to catch a couple of breaks along the way. The odds are better for the Bills to challenge for a division title in '03 than in '02. We'll do our best to make things interesting this year though.
 
Alright I've tried over and over and over again and I cant get the damned article to show! It keeps saying I have no Flash, but I know I do because when I go to the Download Flash part and it brings me to macromedia's website it proceeds to show me a nice flash demo saying "flash has been successfully installed"

I've rebooted and dont know what to do, still cant see the damned page!
 
Here ya go CK

BY CLARK JUDGE
FOXSports.com
Jun. 12, 2002 11:07 p.m.

The New England Patriots aren't the team to beat in the AFC East this year. Miami is, and it's not only because they brought in Ricky Williams. It's because they kept Jay Fiedler.
I know, a degree in engineering sciences from Dartmouth College isn't supposed to qualify you for admission to the NFL, but Fielder has beaten the odds and done more than prove he belongs. He's proven he should stay.

You don't have to remind Miami. It was the Dolphins who, after last season, resisted the temptation to talk Troy Aikman out of retirement and stuck with the league's most unappreciated quarterback.

That would be Fiedler, 21-10 in his two seasons as Miami's starter and 22-10 in his career as a starter. I mention those numbers only because Fiedler absorbs a lot of the blame and little of the credit for Miami's success. Critics point to his three interceptions  two of which were returned for touchdowns  in last year's 24-0 loss to the New York Jets, yet they forget that he threw none in five of his last seven games.

OK, so the guy's not Dan Marino. Big deal. Nobody is. But he's good enough to take the Dolphins to the playoffs in each of his two seasons there, and he's good enough to keep his job when the club imported Ray Lucas and Cade McNown  both former starters  to push him.

"What I look at it is that he won 22 games (including playoffs) in two years," said offensive coordinator Norv Turner, "and there aren't a lot of guys who can say that about their entire careers. Obviously, he's been with good teams, but Jay has a lot going for him: He's a great competitor; he's good under pressure, especially in the fourth quarters of games; he's very calm and seldom gets rattled; he has a quick release; he's athletic; he's smart, and he's very, very accurate. People will say he's not great at any one thing. Well, maybe that's true, but he's good at almost everything."

Somehow, that's been lost as the Dolphins fizzled down the stretches of the past two seasons. A year ago, when they dropped three of their last five (including the playoffs), some critics called for a change at quarterback. What they forgot to notice was that it wasn't the quarterbacking that was in need of a fix; it was the running game.

In 2000, the Dolphins ranked 14th in rushing, thanks largely to Lamar Smith's career-best 1,139 yards. Last year, they dropped to 23rd, and Smith fell off the radar screen  averaging 3.1 yards a carry and finishing 32 yards short of 1,000. There are all sorts of theories as to what happened, beginning with injuries to the offensive line; all I know is that Fiedler didn't have a legion of support, yet the Dolphins were 11-5.

"Unfortunately, he had to follow Marino, and people have long memories," said an AFC pro personnel director. "But Jay Fiedler is smart, accurate and plays within his limitations. He's better than people think."

Maybe now that Williams is on board, people will think differently. There are more than a handful of coaches and general managers who think Miami is the team to beat in the AFC East, and there's at least one assistant who thinks Fiedler can have a Pro Bowl season. Norv Turner, come on down.

"There will be a number of games where he won't be one of those guys with rare numbers," he said of his quarterback. "But then there will be games where, all of sudden, opponents stop Ricky Williams, and Jay pops up to throw for 300 yards and four touchdowns. If you load up on Ricky Williams, I believe we have the skilled receivers and quarterback to make you pay."

Apparently, so does Dave Wannstedt. The head coach never wavered in his support for Fiedler, denying those Aikman-to-Miami rumors when he and Turner insisted there was no interest, and stood behind the quarterback when the Dolphins granted him a five-year, $24.5 million contract extension in February.

Wannstedt knows what the problem was last year, and it wasn't Fiedler. Heck, if you want to blame anyone look no farther than the club's inability to stop the run. Once defensive tackle Daryl Gardener bowed out in midseason, Miami had a hole it couldn't fill. Opponents ganged up on the Dolphins, with clubs rushing for an average of 123 yards a game over the last eight starts. With Gardener in the lineup, they averaged 99.5.

When Miami bowed out of the playoffs, it wasn't because Fiedler stunk; it was because the run defense did. Baltimore ran for a season-high 226 yards in a 20-3 laugher. But now, with the additions of run-stopping defensive end Rob Burnett, tackle Leon Searcy and, of course, Williams, the Dolphins will be better. Much better. Maybe then Jay Fiedler will be appreciated for the quarterback that he is; not the quarterback he isn't.

"The biggest thing for us is identifying what we are and who we are," said Turner, "and then going out and doing it."



:D :cool: :D
 
Do you guys remember when Fiedler first started over D. Huard and everybody couldn't believe that Wanny would do that since Fiedler only played in one preseason game..but when he opened up against Seattle, for some reason I felt comfortable..He's not Dan,,,but Dan wasn't Dan at the end. The running ability has kept us in a lot of games we would have lost had Dan been there. Remember the game against Oakland last year...no way Dan would have made it to the endzone..I do miss Dan throwing the long ball..but I got a feeling this year Fiedler will come into his on.
 
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