Death of an Optimist

[SkapePhin]

I have been called a "homer" by many of the FH regulars throughout the years. What many call realism, I call pessimism. However, history has tended to favor the negative view of this team moreso than the hopeful view. I have been on the wrong side of history too long with this team. I had a lot of hope for this season... No more.

I expected last year's top defense to come back strong with a boost from an upgraded offense. In my view, everything hinged on the play of Chad Henne. He has improved this season, but not enough to give me any hope. The Defense has once again become a liability in the secondary. This team is cursed with the same things that have plagued them in years past.

They STILL can't do **** when they reach the redzone. And the defense STILL gets gashed by tight ends and top flight WRs.

Well, I'm done with this team and this regime. I supported Sparano since the beginning. He seems like a good guy, and seems to have some good qualities about him, but there is no excuse for the same mistakes continuing to harm this team coming out of the gate.

We have seen this story before. The Dolphins will go into the bye 1-3, and then they will string together a few wins in the easy middle part of the schedule, giving all us "homers" that they will mount some miracle run to the playoffs. Well, I'm not biting on that crap again... They will hover around .500 and collapse at the end of the season, per usual. YAY, 7-9!

This saddens me, because I have ZERO confidence in Stephen Ross' ability to score a good coach. This team, as far as I am concerned is doomed to mediocrity for the near future and beyond. Ross will probably throw all his chips at Cowher, who will come here after years away from the game, and accomplish nothing with this team. JJ Part Deux. He will want full control, and has never been a personnel guy. This team will be blown up once again, and other mediocre pieces will be brought in to replace the previous ones. The cycle will continue, ad infinitum, until years of absolute sucktitude eventually lands us a QB worth a scrap of dog poop.

The doom and gloomers were right, and they will puff their chests out in victory... But there is no victory, we all lose... We get to watch this garbage team for the rest of the year, and watch the cycle repeat itself with the next coach.

Sic vita est...

Fin.

 

[endorPHINS72]

I feel your pain, Skape. I came to the same realization about Sparano and Ireland after last season and it gave me no joy either. Let's just hope and pray that karma finally smiles upon the Dolphins for the first time in a VERY long time. GO PHINS!

 

[Mogwai]

Man, that's depressing. Even as a "pessimist" I may have already felt like I was up on a ledge with this team. It's sad to look around and see more people on the ledge with you. Hopefully, a more united dissatisfaction will force the team into positive change. I totally agree that the biggest worry is Ross. I have absolutely no faith in him. I'm worried he's going to plunge us into the historical depths of the NFL. I also think Cowher would be a huge mistake. Giving him full control at this stage of his life after he's been out of football and spent such a long career in Pitt. He's already accomplished what he wanted. It just can't go well. There are a lot of very good options out there though. I really hope I'm underestimating Ross and he makes a brilliant choice, but history doesn't really suggest he will.

 

[Ricky_Fan34]

I right there with you Skape. I had hope last week. No more though.

 

[mialuv13]

Took the words right out of my mouth. I was in the process of writing this same exact type of post, but you got right to it. I don't like to pre-eminently hate on my team without seeing any proof. But there is ample proof that this team is just not on the right track. This organization is built on mediocrity. I'm gonna go ahead and just write my thoughts on this thread to not take up bandwidth with more pointless talk.

I always like to give this team the benefit of the doubt. After last week's loss there was the silver lining in our offensive playing. After this week there is no silver lining. Not even THomas' 100yd game is a silver lining because he gave up a huge turnover when it was the worst time to do so.

When it's not one thing it's another. It's been the story of the Dolphins for a few years now. There is no cohesion between the squads what-so-ever. It's as if this coaching staff looks at what our problems were last week and forgets to address what worked for us and goes away from it.

The coaching makes me want to just bang my head against a wall every game. The adjustments were needed and they weren't made. Once this team goes down it starts to deflate...and then it just disintegrates, and the disintegrating parts implode on themselves. Have I made it clear how bad we fall apart when the pressure is on?

We have the personel, but we don't have the right personel. Almost every acquisition seems like a bust. I credit that to coaching and trying to make players do what they aren't designed to do. The team lacks confidence in itself. Everything becomes a question mark as soon as the game starts.

This whole team is a debacle and things have to change. I can't believe we are gonna be watching a repeat of last season. I'm not giving up hope entirely, just 99% of it. I'll hold onto that last 1% because anything can happen. But for something to happen things need to change.

I can't stand that the downers will always say I told you so. And you should have seen it coming. We all saw it coming, but it was disguised this year a bit more. It's a lose lose situation no matter how you look at it.

 

[Waddle]

Very well said - I agree 100%.
The hardest part for me is the fact that this team is loaded with talent. Coaching is killing us, there's no other explanation.

 

[Sirspud]

This whole team is a debacle and things have to change. I can't believe we are gonna be watching a repeat of last season. I'm not giving up hope entirely, just 99% of it. I'll hold onto that last 1% because anything can happen. But for something to happen things need to change.

I can't stand that the downers will always say I told you so. And you should have seen it coming. We all saw it coming, but it was disguised this year a bit more. It's a lose lose situation no matter how you look at it.

How could we have expected anything but a repeat of last season? This team is almost exactly the same as it was when it was getting humiliated down the stretch and their simply were hardly any real improvements. Burnett? Possibly an upgrade, but not a difference maker. Daboll? Even he can't teach Henne to do things he cannot do, which is score. The running back situation is a push at best, while Thomas was nice today I daresay that our backs from last year could have done a similar or equal job, and we still don't know what to expect from Bush.

I believe at the heart of every sports fan, even an extremely pessimistic one, we still allow ourselves a little bit of optimism or else we wouldn't even watch the games. But this start is certainly killing the naive optimism many of us WANTED to feel, even if our rational side knew what to expect.

 

[Joeb9]

i done jumped off the ledge myself and im not falling just floating in mediocrity-true.

 

[hightempo]

I have been called a "homer" by many of the FH regulars throughout the years. What many call realism, I call pessimism. However, history has tended to favor the negative view of this team moreso than the hopeful view. I have been on the wrong side of history too long with this team. I had a lot of hope for this season... No more.

I expected last year's top defense to come back strong with a boost from an upgraded offense. In my view, everything hinged on the play of Chad Henne. He has improved this season, but not enough to give me any hope. The Defense has once again become a liability in the secondary. This team is cursed with the same things that have plagued them in years past.

They STILL can't do **** when they reach the redzone. And the defense STILL gets gashed by tight ends and top flight WRs.

Well, I'm done with this team and this regime. I supported Sparano since the beginning. He seems like a good guy, and seems to have some good qualities about him, but there is no excuse for the same mistakes continuing to harm this team coming out of the gate.

We have seen this story before. The Dolphins will go into the bye 1-3, and then they will string together a few wins in the easy middle part of the schedule, giving all us "homers" that they will mount some miracle run to the playoffs. Well, I'm not biting on that crap again... They will hover around .500 and collapse at the end of the season, per usual. YAY, 7-9!

This saddens me, because I have ZERO confidence in Stephen Ross' ability to score a good coach. This team, as far as I am concerned is doomed to mediocrity for the near future and beyond. Ross will probably throw all his chips at Cowher, who will come here after years away from the game, and accomplish nothing with this team. JJ Part Deux. He will want full control, and has never been a personnel guy. This team will be blown up once again, and other mediocre pieces will be brought in to replace the previous ones. The cycle will continue, ad infinitum, until years of absolute sucktitude eventually lands us a QB worth a scrap of dog poop.

The doom and gloomers were right, and they will puff their chests out in victory... But there is no victory, we all lose... We get to watch this garbage team for the rest of the year, and watch the cycle repeat itself with the next coach.

Sic vita est...

Fin.

welcome to the dark side. yes we all lose. and this is what so many of us have been trying to say for so long. and no its no fun been right when it means so much is wrong. screw being correct. i want this corrected.

but keeping sparano around longer is just like keeping wanny as long as we did. i believe there IS hope tho. give ross a chance. he did go after the coach in the offseason that he should have. he went after the right guy in harbaugh. bill cowher would be a mistake imho. i dont like his approach to the game. its too similar to sparano, and people might point to his record. but in reality it took him 15 years to get anywhere. he was too satisfied with journeymen quarterbacks, and the king of the weakest division in football for years. its like having the nicest house in hood (bad example sorry - best i got).

i believe gruden is a better hire. but it comes down to player evaluation, so the right person MUST be in place behind the scenes. since we dont have enough to go on (we cant talk to these potential people etc) as fans, its impossible to say who is the guy for the job. but past success is most definitely a potential indicator of future success. the only guy out there i can think of on the pro level IS jon gruden. hes young enough, and he has the passion, combined with ONLY success with 2 franchises. i dont think we can go wrong with the guy if he has the right people behind him - but thats the key.

 

[Coach_Rob]

im right there with you man. i thought we would be a lot better, but it comes down to the coaching imo. we are too good of a team to be 0-2.

 

[FinHopeful]

I right there with you Skape. I had hope last week. No more though.

I have not given up on this team, but I admit that I am concerned. The defense improved and the offense took a step back. I like what I saw from Daniel Thomas. Let see how we do when he is the starting running back.

 

[mialuv13]

How could we have expected anything but a repeat of last season? This team is almost exactly the same as it was when it was getting humiliated down the stretch and their simply were hardly any real improvements. Burnett? Possibly an upgrade, but not a difference maker. Daboll? Even he can't teach Henne to do things he cannot do, which is score. The running back situation is a push at best, while Thomas was nice today I daresay that our backs from last year could have done a similar or equal job, and we still don't know what to expect from Bush.

I believe at the heart of every sports fan, even an extremely pessimistic one, we still allow ourselves a little bit of optimism or else we wouldn't even watch the games. But this start is certainly killing the naive optimism many of us WANTED to feel, even if our rational side knew what to expect.

It's easy to see how things could have been different. Coulda shoulda woulda is the story there. I don't mind that I felt good about this team at the beginning of the year. I like feeling good about my team. The reality doesn't blow because it isn't THAT big of a surprise that we blow.

It was a hit or miss scenario for the Dolphins. Either we would have been a nasty offense that can put up numbers with a top notch defense that shuts teams out, or we could've had what all the experts predicted. But that's the story for every team every offseason. It was disguised as it is every year. There are no disguises once the season starts.

I was never sold on Bush. I was praying for Sproles when I found out he was a free-agent. The upside for Sproles is so much bigger than for Bush because Sproles is much more decisive with his plays. Burnette was a good preseason acquisition, but he hasn't done what we brought him in to do. The Dolphins' destiny is pretty set this year.

 

[Wildbill3]

yeah, not much of a bright future to hope for right now. I guess there will be some fist pumping once tony and co. are gone. but seriously Ross will jsut **** up and hire the wrong head coach no matter who it is.

 

[PHINATIC13]

...I'll go pick up a big bag of pacifiers to hand out in this thread....lol...what a bunch of crybabies...this is football there's no crying in football....ya gotta love what we saw in rookie RB Daniel Thomas' 1st game... the he kid can run!...0-2 sucks,but it's not the end of world...I'll admit watching our Dolphins in frustrating at times...look I'm not saying they will,but we've still got time to right the ship...

 

[BGtoKNfor6]

I am there with you. I used to be a complete ******* after a dolphins loss. You couldn't talk to me for 2 days afterwards. However, the past 4-5 years, it just doesn't hurt anymore like it did. I don't know what changed but I just laugh at the repeated mistakes and expect a loss anymore. Once you get to where I am, the losing just becomes another thing you "deal" with during football season. I think this is how the bucs and lions fans felt during their dark ages. You get used to it....