For Dolphins, good news is hard to find

[hugoguzman]

Although I don't necessarily agree with all of the doom and gloom being presented in this column, I thought that Joe Mayes brought up some interesting insights:
http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/21129.html

What do you all think? Are the prospects really this dire, or are we in much better shape than Joe makes us out to be?

 

[SCall13]

We are in bad shape. We were 1-15. We have some aging vets on the defensive side of the ball, and those who aren't aging carry a lot of question marks. Offensively, we have a few players who could be a strong core to build around, but even these guys carry some question marks. Even Ronnie Brown, who is coming off a major knee injury. So yes, on paper, it doesn't look good.

BUT, it isn't so dire that, if we play our cards right, and things fall into place, that we could put up 6-8 wins. If we can improve our special teams with a couple of maniacal ST demons, improve our pass rush with another outside rushing threat (Chris Long) add a true shut down corner (some want Asante Samuel - I'm not so sure), add a big guy in the middle of the D and land a true go-to receiver we could be competitive.

With the picks we have and our best cap situation in years, we should be able to bring in guys who will give us a very big boost. A total turn around won't happen over night. But being competitive next year is within reason. Filling the voids I listed can easily be done this offseason. Adding quality depth and gradually upgrading our weak-points are what's going to take some time.

But what we do have as of right now is a promising ground game (assuming Ronnie is 100% ready to go and with RW even possibly sticking around). We have some potential big play guys in Ginn and Lorenzo Booker. These guys are unpolished, but with a full offseason to prepare, I can almost guarantee you we'll hear these guys names a lot next season. What can really get us over the hump is creating TURNOVERS. If we can improve in this area, we'll find ourselves on the winning end a lot more.

The keys will be: Improving our turnover ratio. Better special teams play. Improved pass rush (to help cover up our difficiencies in the secondary) and solid (if unspectacular) QB play. It's reasonable to expect us to improve in all of these areas. We all know it can't worse than last season.

 

[SabanHater]

when you go 1-15, I wouldn't call it "good" shape.

 

[FinsFan74]

How fitting......many people were hanging onto the Patriots jockstraps with a firm teeth clench, and the day after losing the Super Bowl, it's back to talking about just how bad the Fins are! Here's to all the sportswriters that assumed the Patriots were going 19-0! Your arrogance caught up with you, put up your crystal balls until next season. Unclench your jaws and give them a rest!

 

[MonstBlitz]

We can only get better.

 

[Shula Fan]

Kinda both. We are in bad shape, but I think we have several building blocks in place. On offense, we have several young guys who have the ability to be really good players.

Our defense is the biggest question mark. I personally think if our coach can coach-em-up, we have (or will have) enough talent to start turning this ship around. The Saints of last year are a great example of that.

IMO the last coaching regime couldn't handle the job of coaching-em-up. A great example would be how they "failed to use" Porter and Booker the right way.

 

[tay0365]

when you go 1-15, I wouldn't call it "good" shape.

If the Patriots or Giants lose their best QB, RB, LBer, most of their secondary for most of the year, with the addition of also losing other key backups throughout the year. Do you think they do as well?

Not saying the Dolphins are on that level yet, but they are not nearly as bad as their record would indicate. They outplayed, and almost beat the Giants in London, with many backups starting. This is not that bad a team.

 

[t-dubya]

"At least Brandon Fields didn't have any punts blocked this past year."

It was a real long time and quite a few beers and tears ago but wasn't one of fields' first punts against Washington blocked?

 

[resnor]

We lost six games by 3 points...combined with the plethora of injuries we had, I don't think we're as bad as it seems. Don't get me wrong, we were BAD...1-15 bad. I just think that we could turn it around fairly quickly.

 

[PMZQ]

Dude we are in very bad shape. The good thing is we can only get better. We win at least 4 games next year, and maybe as many as 6.

We still might be a top 5 pick next year though.

 

[Dolfan1000]

I believe he had a punt blocked in the preseason, which (if Im not mistaken) sparked the 'fail forward fast' discussion. Cam "loved" that he got one blocked.

He did have a brutal game in Washington, however. In fact, I really hope we bring in competition as I was not the least bit impressed with him all season.

 

[Conuficus]

The stats about the running game and sacks are a case of "lies, dam and statistics". Using stats like that is suspect at best I have to say. If you use them you should at least qualify them in some manner. No one denies we have problems, but you play 3 QB's and a guy off the street at RB for 2-3 games, trade the best WR you have and you tell me what you expect on offense. The defense is another matter.

 

[emocomputerjock]

The stats about the running game and sacks are a case of "lies, dam and statistics". Using stats like that is suspect at best I have to say. If you use them you should at least qualify them in some manner. No one denies we have problems, but you play 3 QB's and a guy off the street at RB for 2-3 games, trade the best WR you have and you tell me what you expect on offense. The defense is another matter.

1-15 does say all that needs to be said though. Even with the return of several players from injury, the team needs a lot of work to get back into shape. There's no one spot we're set at right now, and while there may not be a plethora of superstar talent on the team, we're having a hard time just making do with average.

 

[DallasDolfan]

We'll be back soon

 

[Conuficus]

1-15 does say all that needs to be said though. Even with the return of several players from injury, the team needs a lot of work to get back into shape. There's no one spot we're set at right now, and while there may not be a plethora of superstar talent on the team, we're having a hard time just making do with average.

Agreed, but to just put our stats when they don't tell the story is just bad. Thats not a story thats begging the question.

It's like me saying that the Bills LB DiGiorgio had a great year, without me mentioning that Puzlosny was injured leaves ambiguity as to what really happened.