His'nBeatYour'n
Would I be a Parcells guy?
...irrelevant. But I'll give it anyway.
Most outlets have given their predictions, most outlets don't give us a chance. But the one prediction I will make right now is that 50% of all assumptions about the upcoming season (and all NFL seasons for that matter) will be wrong.
Rookie QB's don't start the majority of their first games.
Rookie QB's don't go undefeated.
The team with the first pick in the draft will not win their division, not with that player on the bench all year.
Curtis Martin is done.
Jake Delhomme? You're kidding me.
Brian Griese? Not even as a backup.
Marino's record won't be broken.
At this pace Marino's record will be shattered.
All this goes to show that whether you think the Dolphins have no shot this year or are playoff bound, you're both wrong. And you have every right to be. Although as a diehard fan why not be an optimist? Especially now when all the teams are undefeated.
The Jets once went 4-0 in the preseason. Their fans thought they were Superbowl bound. And why not. They still hadn't lost a game. They started the regular season 0-4. I laughed at the Jets fans.
In the end, preseason means nothing, nada, zip. This year, before the big name player with the torn ACL gets carted off the field in week 1 of the preseason, the announcers will be questioning the need for so many preaseason games. The answer is money. But both the question and the answer and the entire preseason will seem like ages ago once the ball gets kicked off on Sept. 8th. This is a 100% guarantee. It happens every year.
So while we are still in the NFL season of optimism and stupid assumptions, I submit this:
The Dolphins are going to be damn good this year.
We have upgraded in so many areas
WR - The big free agent from 2 years ago and recipient of the game winning TD against NE is now 4th on the depth chart.
RB - Our 3rd RB and maybe even our 4th will be better than last year's starter Morris. Definitely better than Forsey.
OL - Depth and loads of potential for Houck to mold and live up to his rep.
OC - Culpepper got better every year under Linehan. Linehan made every RB in Minnesota look like a legitimate starter. What he did with Burleson and Robinson last year made it easier to let Moss go.
DL - The depth and talent on the D-Line is astounding. Last year Tim Bowens made the case for being the defensive MVP of the last ten years by his absence. How many players does it take to replace him? Alot it seems, but I think Saban did.
LB - Deeper. Crowder can be a big star in the 3-4, and I'm not someone who will miss Greenwood.
S - My fear is that we may have only improved our name recognition here with Schulters and Tebucky Jones. But it is preseason so I'll save that for Monday morning quarterbacking.
The only true loss is Surtain. Daniels sounds promising, but even good rookie corners are still rookie corners. It will be up to Saban and his staff to hide him and use his new veteran safeties to help him out.
The big question is QB. If the Dolphins are not damn good this year, it will likely be the QB play that does them in. I believe in all the other improvements to this team, but none of it will matter if our QB throws three INTs.
But since it is preseason I'll hope that Feeley is the next Delhomme, Ferotte is the next Gannon, or Rosenfels turns out to be the next Delhomme (He started the preseason 3rd on the depth chart.)
Oh yeah, and then there is Saban who will, and already has managed the Ricky situation, and the QB situation better that Wannstedt did last year.
I was going to be optimistic anyway, because I'm a fan. And if you have a 1 in 32 shot of being the last team standing anyway, you have to be an optimist to predict any team to win it all.
Wow that was long, thanks for lasting if you did.
:booyeah:
Most outlets have given their predictions, most outlets don't give us a chance. But the one prediction I will make right now is that 50% of all assumptions about the upcoming season (and all NFL seasons for that matter) will be wrong.
Rookie QB's don't start the majority of their first games.
Rookie QB's don't go undefeated.
The team with the first pick in the draft will not win their division, not with that player on the bench all year.
Curtis Martin is done.
Jake Delhomme? You're kidding me.
Brian Griese? Not even as a backup.
Marino's record won't be broken.
At this pace Marino's record will be shattered.
All this goes to show that whether you think the Dolphins have no shot this year or are playoff bound, you're both wrong. And you have every right to be. Although as a diehard fan why not be an optimist? Especially now when all the teams are undefeated.
The Jets once went 4-0 in the preseason. Their fans thought they were Superbowl bound. And why not. They still hadn't lost a game. They started the regular season 0-4. I laughed at the Jets fans.
In the end, preseason means nothing, nada, zip. This year, before the big name player with the torn ACL gets carted off the field in week 1 of the preseason, the announcers will be questioning the need for so many preaseason games. The answer is money. But both the question and the answer and the entire preseason will seem like ages ago once the ball gets kicked off on Sept. 8th. This is a 100% guarantee. It happens every year.
So while we are still in the NFL season of optimism and stupid assumptions, I submit this:
The Dolphins are going to be damn good this year.
We have upgraded in so many areas
WR - The big free agent from 2 years ago and recipient of the game winning TD against NE is now 4th on the depth chart.
RB - Our 3rd RB and maybe even our 4th will be better than last year's starter Morris. Definitely better than Forsey.
OL - Depth and loads of potential for Houck to mold and live up to his rep.
OC - Culpepper got better every year under Linehan. Linehan made every RB in Minnesota look like a legitimate starter. What he did with Burleson and Robinson last year made it easier to let Moss go.
DL - The depth and talent on the D-Line is astounding. Last year Tim Bowens made the case for being the defensive MVP of the last ten years by his absence. How many players does it take to replace him? Alot it seems, but I think Saban did.
LB - Deeper. Crowder can be a big star in the 3-4, and I'm not someone who will miss Greenwood.
S - My fear is that we may have only improved our name recognition here with Schulters and Tebucky Jones. But it is preseason so I'll save that for Monday morning quarterbacking.
The only true loss is Surtain. Daniels sounds promising, but even good rookie corners are still rookie corners. It will be up to Saban and his staff to hide him and use his new veteran safeties to help him out.
The big question is QB. If the Dolphins are not damn good this year, it will likely be the QB play that does them in. I believe in all the other improvements to this team, but none of it will matter if our QB throws three INTs.
But since it is preseason I'll hope that Feeley is the next Delhomme, Ferotte is the next Gannon, or Rosenfels turns out to be the next Delhomme (He started the preseason 3rd on the depth chart.)
Oh yeah, and then there is Saban who will, and already has managed the Ricky situation, and the QB situation better that Wannstedt did last year.
I was going to be optimistic anyway, because I'm a fan. And if you have a 1 in 32 shot of being the last team standing anyway, you have to be an optimist to predict any team to win it all.
Wow that was long, thanks for lasting if you did.
:booyeah:
