isnt nolan suppose to be some definsive genius?

[Pinkboy]

When Dolphins Offensive coordinator Gary Stevens was heavily criticized along time ago, and eventually fired, he said " You can't make chicken salad out of chicken $hit". Meaning you can only do what you can do with the talent you have. I am sorry but we do not have any great talent on this team. The blame does not fall on Nolan. It falls on the crappy talent and the crappy effort and play by the talent we have.

Exactly.

Dead on and on point.

i started threads talking about how the dolphins have further to go to build this defense into a very good one during the offseason. Miami fans on this board thought the defense was set and fine and I thought they were absolutely crazy. I said we need a few very good pieces to make this defense a very good D to rely on.

Well now look at the proof in the pudding, and all the people that chose to argue with me this off season about this topic are hiding their heads in the sand.

People forget that our defensive numbers last year were skewed greatly because we played a lot of crappy QB's as well as very favorable matchups against some stinky backup QB's.. Remember Oakland with that pathetic Gradkowski because their starter was hurt, and also trent edwards getting the start in week one over Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick then made minced meat out of Miami later in the year down in miami.. and kerry collins starting over an injured vince young (who burned us the year before).. Jake Delhomme with the horrid Cleveland offense last year,,. and of course Sanchez twice...and other notables last season.

And hell, the Dolphins almost lost to the pathetic Trent Edwards in week one. At the end of the game the bills went to a spread offense and tore miami's defense apart for a long TD drive. if they did that earlier and didn't wait until the 4th quarter to run the spread , the Bills easily win that game.. And they FOR SURE win that game if the coaches elected to start Fitzpatrick in buffalo instead of Edwards ( as Edwards is absolutely awful and i clearly remember him making many awful passes to open receivers that day)

If the Dolphins didn't get so lucky with so many QB starters being out last year , the Dolphins most likely finish the season 4-12 last year.. and oh yeah, they got an old and beaten down Brett Favre who was absolutely pathetic all year and got 10 years older in one year last season

Miami just had an incredible luck of the draw against some very bad QB's last year pumping their defensive stats. This defense is not nearly as good as last year indicated with the ranking. They greatly overachieved with some help from QB's who don't even belong in the professional ranks as 2nd or 3rd backups

This is just one of many reasons why I placed $5000 for the "under" on the 7-win total in Vegas. i thought miami would win 3 or 4 games "AT BEST' this year. And there are many reasons for it besides just the defense being heavily overrated b y fans on this board,, i stated them during the offseason and at the start of the season. Going into this season I knew it would be a very long and disastrous season for the dolphins, I WAS VERY OUTSPOKEN ABOUT IT. The signs were everywhere and they were loud and clear if you paid good attention. You could see it coming from 100 miles away, it was that obvious

 

[phinfan33]

Here's a thought i wanna run by you guys...last year our defense carried the team for the most part,and because of that,they wore down alot in some games..what if Nolan told his defense that this year,if the offense doesn't do their part,even with a new O/C and new offensive system,then the defense won't carry the team. Thoughts on my theory?

 

[Atila]

Our personnel is poor, pure and simple.

Our secondary is pretty terrible - one of our starting CB's has been injured and both of them are prone to get burned at any given time. Our depth at CB is mediocre at best.

Our safety play has been even worse - Reshad Jones is having growing pains and Yeremiah Bell continues his below average play without ever being held accountable (and has an extremely bloated salary).

Underachieving LB play and the DL has been non-existant. Paul Solail has completely disappeared and the one smart choice this team has made was not giving him his contract.

This team needs improvement all over the defense.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Greyboy, you are absolutely 100% spot on about Miami lucking out and playing against some terrible QBs last year.

I wonder how different our offseason might have been if not for the lockout.