Saban inherited a 4-12 team !

[IluvJuMiami]

So you root for a uniform?

Do you root for a flag? Same difference.

 

[Justasportsfan]

I thought he was building via the draft and had cap problems. So why did he give up a draft pick and used the cap on Culpepper? Maybe he was trying to win NOW but hiring a qb with a busted knee isn't winning now either.

 

[BLITZKRIEG]

ok...under the same constraints, what would YOU have done so differently?

I probably would have traded away all of our best players, released the worthless ones, and stockpiled as many draft picks as I could get my hands on. That's where I would have started my rebuilding process, from the ground level.....

As a new HC, Saban had no expectations in his first season. He was under no pressure to turn things around quickly, and he had all the time in the world to do it his way. "Make haste slowly" were his words if I recall. Well, here were are two years later, and we're still on the couch come January....

Saban tried to manufacture a winner by esembling a mash unit of aging veterans. You guys talk about the "cap" problems, well go figure out how much those old vet FA's he signed in his first off-season cost us today....

you beatched he did nothing and when I pointed out that in fact he did, you retreated into well, "I' didn't like it...so show us how "you" would have done it...

Look, everyone has their own ideas, and anyone can look back in hindsight and complain / point out obvious problems. Didn't you know? Even though nobody has the real answers, we're all smarter than Saban when it comes to fixing the Miami Dolphins....

I'm not going to debate this anymore, nobody wins. I trust Saban to do his very best this off-season, and that's all that really matters. Just because I don't think he's done as well as he could have since coming to Miami, doesn't mean I don't trust him to eventually turn things around...

PHINZ RULE!!!

PHINZ RULE!!!!

 

[IluvJuMiami]

If Saban truly believed that he inherited a 4-12 team, then what kept him from starting an immediate rebuild in his first season?? Fact is, Saban didn't see it that way, he thought we could contend with pretty much the same team we had....

He made very few roster adjustments in his first year, and that's not something a coach does when he thinks he's inherited a 4-12 team in my opinion.....

PHINZ RULE!!!!

I have to agree. Saban could have made an easy statement for the future if he had moved up for Alex Smith or Leinart/Cutler but he decided on Gus Frerotte and Daunte Culpepper. A simple move for a young QB would have made me feel more comfortable with Saban and a longer time table. A young QB would have been an investment for the long term. That's why the rumors frightened me, a Saban fan, more than they should have. Because so far, Saban's moves feel like those of Jimmy Johnson's and Dave Wannstedt and I don't have to tell you fans, those guys didn't stick around too long.

 

[Pocoloco]

That's because what you consider rebuilding, is merely only treading water in my eyes....

PHINZ RULE!!!

Blitz,

I have the impression that your understanding of "rebuilding" involves trading away JT and Zach (there was another line about staying afloat with veterans). Since Saban didn't do this (at least not yet), we must not be rebuilding in your view.

This is, of course, assuming you could trade these guys AND get value for them (I'm talking first-round picks at least). I wonder if you could, especially with their ages and substantial cap numbers. You also run the risk of alienating lots of fans, shelving alot of high-selling merchandise, and pissing off potential veteran free agents who wouldn't find a win-now attitude.

This is why I think your idea of rebuilding is wrong, and your criticism of Saban is off-base

 

[BLITZKRIEG]

I have the impression that your understanding of "rebuilding" involves trading away JT and Zach (there was another line about staying afloat with veterans).

Most rebuilding process involve trading away some good / high paid players when it all starts. It's called building a new foundation, and when half of you money is tied up in 10+ year veteran players, that's where you run into the trouble Saban did. Instead of trading them off, and taking that big cap hit two years ago, here we are today, still paying them and falling short of the playoffs..

What difference is ther in taking that large cap hit two years ago, as apposed to taking it this year?? The difference is those two players are literally on the verge of retirement now, and next year it will likely be too late to trade them at all....

Does anyone here recall the great Buffalo Bills defense of the 90's, and how not trading those players away when they past their prome hurt them in the long run??? Well just for arguments' sake, that's the same direction we're heading right now if we continue to rely on them being our only hope on defense....

People around here act like we can't survive without them....when in reality we can't survive with them....

PHINZ RULE!!!!

 

[djphinfan]

I love saban i'am just havin a hard time understanding why were not a younger hungrier football team.

Can some one tell me why frederick evans has gotten no playin time this year,,i simplt do not understand why a rookie that showed flashes of brilliance and passion in the preseason cannot find time on a old, losing football team.

 

[JJW1339]

We as fans over inflate expectations.

And Shula inherited a 3-10-1 team - turned it around the very next year and went to the playoff, then 3 trips to the Super Bowl in his first 4 years as Dolphins Head Coach. So what is your point!

 

[NorFlaFin]

I love saban i'am just havin a hard time understanding why were not a younger hungrier football team.

Can some one tell me why frederick evans has gotten no playin time this year,,i simplt do not understand why a rookie that showed flashes of brilliance and passion in the preseason cannot find time on a old, losing football team.

Maybe Saban is harkening back to his college daze and is trying to red-shirt him:dolphins:

 

[Justasportsfan]

And Shula inherited a 3-10-1 team - turned it around the very next year and went to the playoff, then 3 trips to the Super Bowl in his first 4 years as Dolphins Head Coach. So what is your point!

Your sig :sidelol: Standpoint!!!!!

 

[cnc66]

And Shula inherited a 3-10-1 team - turned it around the very next year and went to the playoff, then 3 trips to the Super Bowl in his first 4 years as Dolphins Head Coach. So what is your point!

not a totally fair comparison...Shu had almost all the pieces in place for that...George was just really bad.

 

[FrankieG]

He inherited a 4-12 team that was a 4 win team because of the sudden loss of a running back that could be considered a starter. Our next best thing was only an above average backup. I don't doubt Saban's abilities yet, but at the moment I think this team is about the same on offense as it was but worse off on defense because of getting too many young players that dont see playing time.

 

[Bumpus]

alright...intradivisional smack!

:eat: sit back and enjoy the show!

 

[His'nBeatYour'n]

Mangini inherited a 4-12 team too. And they're still alive for the playoffs on the second to last week of the season, more than could be said for last year's Dolphins team (and this year's team makes last year's team look like world beaters).

Stop making excuses for Saban. He made a handful of awful decisions this year-- with the QBs, with the offensive coordinator, with the team's overall malaise coming out of the gates that led to us being in a 1-6 hole before we even started playing at the level of a mediocre team.

If he turns it around, good. If not, then he's out of here (like the majority of college coaches who don't do a thing in the pros) and the Dolphins are right back where we started-- a bad team that needs to be rebuilt (and with JT and ZT three or four years older than they were when Saban took over).

It is all the QB. Pennington and Losman are having good years for their teams. While the Dolphins were stuck with a still unhealthy DC and a first round bust in Joey-Joe-Joe. There was, sadly, more stability with Gus and Ricky in 05' than the offense has seen this year. The defense and the O-line are better now than in 05' if Jason Allen can step up next year and Daniels can stay healthy the D-backfield will be dramatically better in 07' than in 05'. Cross your fingers that DC can return to form, while hoping that Saban makes a second day QB pickup come April.

Mularky is a big question mark. I think he has been terrible this year, though he has been a very successful coordinator in the past, turning chicken s*** Kordell into chicken salad. How much of the problem was retaining Linehan's system versus letting Mularky do his own thing, or if more blame goes to the fact that our QB play has been crappy in every game except on thanksgiving. Unless Saban, or yourself, has a no-brainer OC pickup to make in the off season, we have to hope that Mularky and Culpepper can work hard in the offseason to right this ship.

I think we are in good hands with Saban, he is not god, he is not perfect, but I still have faith that the Dolphins are moving in the right direction.

 

[PhinsRock]

CL, he did inherit a 4-12 team. Thats a fact. And they played soft, they quit. They were a despicable bunch.

But other coaches have taken over 4-12 and 3-13 teams and won their division in one year.

The expectations are not over-inflated. If one coach can take a 3-13 and win a division the next year, I think its fair to say that Saban could take a 4-12 team and AT LEAST compete for a wildcard in his second year.

No one is holding a Super Bowl standard for Saban. Hell, if he won 10 games this year and missed the playoffs, I'd understand. But he didn't even win as many games this year as he did last year.

I don't have emotional attachments to the Fins players, coaches, alum, etc. I don't fall in love with players or records. I don't care about the perfect season, Shula's wins, Marino's passing records. My favorite "All-time" Dolphins are always the ones on the current team (or not). If we are building towards a winner, I support that. If we are not building towards a winner, I support changing those in charge.

Its not personal with Saban. He just hasn't made progress like I think he should and how others in his similar situation have.

Not necessarily true, if we win the last 2 games, he will win exactly the same # of games this year as he did last year.