Non - Record Prediction...

[vt_dolfan]

After reading the camp report in ESPN insider....which was very good, by the way, my prediction is that the Dolphins will be in the top five in least penalized teams this year, and the number one least penalized team next year. The reason is simple. Everything Saban does..is very structured..organized. That seems to be the over riding message from camp so far. Anyone who has covered the camp this season, had made the comment about how few mistakes are being made.

In the ESPN bit...it was remarked how impressive the team has been so far. Definatley did not look like a 4-12 team. Very few errors being made..very few turnovers. Practices are crisp..organized...methodical. Fans..this is a first year head coach...and he is running the ship much in the same way that you would expect Shula to run it.

It is my opinion that it is this kind of detail and preparation that leads me to feel very confident in our team. Now..I dont know what record we will have this season..but I can GUARRAN DAMN TEE you we will never be embarrased.

 

[Mike13]

Amen brother.

 

[vt_dolfan]

For those without Insider..here is a snip it of the three page article...

We're glad we visited the Dolphins, and huddled with Saban during their June mini-camp. Why? Because we were a month ahead of our national media buddies in figuring out just how good a coach Saban is going to be at the NFL level. Everyone else seemed genuinely surprised at the discipline, detail and design of the camp practices. But they shouldn't have been. This is, after all, how Saban runs things. There's a very palpable clockwork precision to his practices, a reason for everything, and every segment is seen as an excuse to do some old-fashioned teaching. Which is, Saban learned a long time ago, the essence of coaching.

Remember, Saban isn't just some college coach moving into the NFL ranks. The guy worked in the league as a defensive coordinator and he knows the ropes. He ran the Michigan State and LSU programs like NFL teams that just happened to be operating at the college level. If the devil is in the details, then Saban is Lucifer incarnate. Every drill starts right on time. There is no wasted effort. "You're never standing around just watching, getting bored, and with your attention wandering out there while the sun beats down on you," cornerback Sam Madison said. "There is a reason for everything he does."

This is not the most talented team around. But in the first couple days, it was anything but a sloppy team, that's for sure. There were not the kind of false-start and short-attention span penalties you typically expect from a bad team. Not a lot of botched plays or turnovers. Make no mistake, as we indicated in June, the guy can coach. And coach he does. Saban spends oodles of time working with the secondary, his old area of expertise, and he's not just a passive observer. He is hands-on all the way.

Hard to say how many victories this will translate to, but Saban definitely isn't allowing himself the luxury of buying into the notion it will take three seasons to fix what ails the Dolphins, and the guess here is that his presence and approach will make his team markedly more competitive than most pundits feel it can be in 2005.