Samphin
Dolphins Homer
Well, another year and no playoffs for our beloved fins. However, that doesn' mean that was a bad year or even a wasted one. Many changes occured over the 2005 season in which we say Miami win nine and lose seven.
We saw the return of a superstar ( Ricky Williams ) the retirement of a franchise player ( Tim Bowens ), and a brand new, shiny, coaching staff and front office led by Randy Mueller and of course, Nick Saban. The results were, for the most, good. Although I am sure Saban would tell you they didn't matter...
There are 15 awards to hand out that will span all facets of the team. The way it works is that the winner will have a small write up and there will be two runner-ups listed as well ( sans the write up because, well, they are losers
).
So, without further adieu the awards for 2005.
Best Draft Pick Value:
Winner: Channing Crowder
Bad Attitude. Bad Knees. Immature. Injury prone. These labels and more were stapled to the forehead of rookie linebacker Channing Crowder. It caused the talented rookie spots in the draft and ultimately, mone in his pocket. When Saban decided to take him in the third round, he knew what he was getting supposedly. A first round talent with sixth round knees and attitude. It was soon found out that those labels were false, or at least, temporary, because Channing has been nothing short of awesome his first season here. Second on the team in tackles at 84, he also had two fumble recoveries. The man can play inside or out and showed his versatility this season. He also showed he is tougher than people give him credit for. He played late in the year with a damaged shoulder but toughed it out and kept playing. In the future, he could very well be our defensive leader.
runner ups: Ronnie Brown, rb, Travis Daniels, cb
Best Free Agent signing:
Winner: Lance Schulters.
What Lance did was truly remarkable. Coming off of a horrid 2004 season in which he was injured for most of it, Lance really shined in 2005. He was cut late by the Titans and signed with Miami on a one year deal to re-establish himself. He came into camp late and behind an dhad to learn a complex defense on top of that. Not only did he learn it, he seemed to thrive on it. He led the team in interceptions with four. He was third on the team in tackles, had two sacks and a fumble recovery. He is credited with sealing the win against Carolina as well with a huge fourth quarter pick.
Runner ups: Kevin Carter, Gus Frerotte
Best game of the Year:
Winner: week 1 vs. Denver
What a way to debut yourself in front of a new audience Mr. Saban! Not only did Miami beat what turned out to be the second best team in their conference, the crushed them. Final score? 34-10. Miami beat Denver by a margin of three touchdowns and a field goal. Frerotte almost threw for 300 yards, Chambers had a huge reverse for 61 yards and Marty Booker shined with a 100 yard receiving day. Not to mention the defense was a stout as ever.
runner ups: week 12 @Oakland, week 14 @San Diego
Worst Game of the Year:
Winner: Week 11 @ Cleveland
Absolutely the low point of the season. This was the only game that Miami decided to quit on, and it showed. Sage Rosenfels got his one and only start this season and came away with 14 yards passing. Ricky Williams andRonnie Brown seemed to be the onyl two guys who showed up on offense. Zach Thomas, as usual, came with it on defense but ended up injuring himself and missing the second half of this game and the next two games as well. Just an abysmal performance.
runner ups: week 7 vs. Kansas City, week 11 vs. New England
Biggest Win of the Year:
Winner: week 13 vs. Buffalo
Had this game ended after three quarters, this might have won worst game ever awards. Fortunately for Miami and its fans, it didn't. Sage Rosenfels came in and generated the second greatest comeback in fin history. Overcoming a 20 point deficit in just one quarter of play. He relied heavily on Chris Chambers, who used this game to springboard his name onto the national stage. Chambers caught 15 balls for 238 yards and the game winning Touchdown with six seconds left in the fourth quarter. Just a gutsy effort and a never say quit attitude from everyone involved.
runner ups: week 17 @ New England, week 1 vs. Denver
Biggest Loss of the Year:
Winner: Week 11 vs. New England
Cleveland may have been our worst game, but this was by far the biggest loss of the season. Had Miami won this game, they would have had a share of first place afterwards and would have been playing New England for the AFC East title the last week of the season. The worst part was, they could have won, they should have won. Frerotte drove the team down for the go ahead score with under three minutes to play. Unfortunately, that left enough time for Brady to find Reggie Howard an dpick on him. Tom drove the team down and hit the game winning score to Bew Watson with about 50 seconds left. Miami made on last ditch effort to get into the endzone but Chris Chambers dropped the ball onn 4th and goal. New England won the division by one game.
Team Leader:
Winner: Zach Thomas
Never any doubt. Zach has owned this award since Marino left. Questions arose this year for Zach. He was older, still smaller and going into a new defensive system that he couldn't possibly excel in. Well all he did was lead the team in tackles AGAIN and was second in the league with 158. He added two sacks and two passes defensed to his resume as well. Bottom line is this: Zach Thomas was and is sthe heart of this defense and hopefully will be for years to come.
runner ups: Randy McMichael,te, Jason Taylor, de
Comeback Player of the Year:
Winner: Ricky Williams
Will he return? How will the teammates receive him? Isn't he only 158 pounds? He won't contribute much will he? All valid questions at one point in time. The Answer? Probably a bunch of softly spoken mumbo jumbo from Ricky but that is besides the point. Ricky came back after his year in retirement and four game suspension to wow audiences once again. In 12 games he racked up 743 on 168 carries and six touchdowns. I think it is safe to say he shut up his critics.
runner ups: Lance Schulters,s, Vonnie Holliday, dt
Most Improved Player:
Winner: Wes Welker
Welker is probably the most underrated player in the NFL. Sure, eams know what he can do in the return game and occassionally in the kicking game, but did they know he can catch the ball too? Did he know? Well Saban knew. Scott Linehan knew, and it paid dividends. Welker caught 29 balls for 434 this season. He caught none last year. He fell just short of setting a team record for all purpose yards in a season as well. Clearly he is a force to be reckoned with on special teams, but with his added ability to catch and run as well, he becomes all that more dangerous.
runner ups: Seth McKinney,c, Damien McIntosh, lt
Rookie of the Year:
Winner: Ronnie Brown
One half of the R&R express that combined for 1650 yards on 375 carries. Ronnie account for 907 of those yards on 207 of those carries. Oh, not too mention the four rushing touchdowns as well. On top of that, Ronnie also had 32 receptions ( fourth on team ) for 232 yards and a td. Perhaps the biggest asset was somethign that doesn't show up in the statsheets. He is the ultimate team player. As the second overall pick, he could have easily complained about sharing carries with a whacked out pot head who was coming off of retirement. But he didn't. He could have easily missed some blocks and chalked it up to being a rookie and missing assignments. But he did'nt. He made those blocks and shared the ball and did whatever was asked of him. Expect those numbers to rise in the years to come by the way.
runner ups: Channing Crowder, lb, Travis Daniels, cb
Defensive Player of the Year:
Winner: Jason Taylor
Again, not a huge shock here. Jason has simply been the best player on defense perhaps, Miami has ever seen. His 12 sacks were good for fifth in the league and he was fourth on the team in tackles as a defensive end/olb. It was a joy seeing Taylor move all over the field, terrorizing QB's and punshing blockers who tried to stop him. With more players added next year around him and hopefully some better coverage from the secondary, you oculd very well have Taylor leading the planet in sacks next year.
runner ups: Zach Thomas, lb, Lance Schulters, s
Offensive Player of the Year:
Winner: Chris Chambers
ABOUT TIME! Chris blew up this year. catching 82 passes for 1118 yards and 11 tds. All career highs. He also had his career long td reception of 77 yards. His best game was clearly against the Bills in which he won offensive player of the week honors. Scott Linehan has once again, made #84 a big time playmaker. Another year in this system with,perhaps, a more accurate QB and he may set career highs again next year.
runner ups: Randy McMichael, Ronnie Brown
Special Teams Player of the Year:
Winner: Donnie Jones
His net of 39.3 was tops in the league. The kid has a strong leg as evidenced by his long of 63 yards. He also placed over 30 of his punts inside the opponents 20 yard line. In a game where field position is huge, he was ginormous.
runner ups: Wes Welker, Bryan Gilmore
The Worst Player Ever Award:
Winner: Reggie Howard
The first ever Worst player ever award is will now be dedicated to Reggie Howard and will be dubbed the REGGIE HOWARD award from here on out. Reggie Howard gets paid tons of money for tons of years to lost games forus apparently. His blown coverage against Tim Dwight of the Patriots cost us a game and his countless penalties didn't help either. I imagine he invests heavily in fire extuingishers because he is getting burned all the time. Here is to never having him play another game for Miami EVER.
runner ups: Stoacker McDougle, ot, David Boston, wr
Team MVP:
Winner: Nick Saban
This was the toughest one, yet so simple. Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas played great on defense, Chambers played great on Offense. However, ther eason for their successes and team team's overall turn around belongs, ultimately, to one man, the head coach. Nick Saban came in here and within one year, restored credibility to this team. He has had the media on strings all year long and his players have adapted and adopted his stylewith them. No longer is accountabiliy and adjustments an issue. Poor play and decision making is no longer accepted either. Quite frankly, the rest of the NFL better watch out because Saban has his team on the right track and ahead of most people's schedules.
runner ups: Zach Thomas, lb, Jason Taylor, de, Chris Chambers, wr
So there you have it. Feel free to post your thoughts or who your winners are for the 2005 season.
:dolphins: :dolphins: :dolphins:
We saw the return of a superstar ( Ricky Williams ) the retirement of a franchise player ( Tim Bowens ), and a brand new, shiny, coaching staff and front office led by Randy Mueller and of course, Nick Saban. The results were, for the most, good. Although I am sure Saban would tell you they didn't matter...
There are 15 awards to hand out that will span all facets of the team. The way it works is that the winner will have a small write up and there will be two runner-ups listed as well ( sans the write up because, well, they are losers
). So, without further adieu the awards for 2005.
Best Draft Pick Value:
Winner: Channing Crowder
Bad Attitude. Bad Knees. Immature. Injury prone. These labels and more were stapled to the forehead of rookie linebacker Channing Crowder. It caused the talented rookie spots in the draft and ultimately, mone in his pocket. When Saban decided to take him in the third round, he knew what he was getting supposedly. A first round talent with sixth round knees and attitude. It was soon found out that those labels were false, or at least, temporary, because Channing has been nothing short of awesome his first season here. Second on the team in tackles at 84, he also had two fumble recoveries. The man can play inside or out and showed his versatility this season. He also showed he is tougher than people give him credit for. He played late in the year with a damaged shoulder but toughed it out and kept playing. In the future, he could very well be our defensive leader.
runner ups: Ronnie Brown, rb, Travis Daniels, cb
Best Free Agent signing:
Winner: Lance Schulters.
What Lance did was truly remarkable. Coming off of a horrid 2004 season in which he was injured for most of it, Lance really shined in 2005. He was cut late by the Titans and signed with Miami on a one year deal to re-establish himself. He came into camp late and behind an dhad to learn a complex defense on top of that. Not only did he learn it, he seemed to thrive on it. He led the team in interceptions with four. He was third on the team in tackles, had two sacks and a fumble recovery. He is credited with sealing the win against Carolina as well with a huge fourth quarter pick.
Runner ups: Kevin Carter, Gus Frerotte
Best game of the Year:
Winner: week 1 vs. Denver
What a way to debut yourself in front of a new audience Mr. Saban! Not only did Miami beat what turned out to be the second best team in their conference, the crushed them. Final score? 34-10. Miami beat Denver by a margin of three touchdowns and a field goal. Frerotte almost threw for 300 yards, Chambers had a huge reverse for 61 yards and Marty Booker shined with a 100 yard receiving day. Not to mention the defense was a stout as ever.
runner ups: week 12 @Oakland, week 14 @San Diego
Worst Game of the Year:
Winner: Week 11 @ Cleveland
Absolutely the low point of the season. This was the only game that Miami decided to quit on, and it showed. Sage Rosenfels got his one and only start this season and came away with 14 yards passing. Ricky Williams andRonnie Brown seemed to be the onyl two guys who showed up on offense. Zach Thomas, as usual, came with it on defense but ended up injuring himself and missing the second half of this game and the next two games as well. Just an abysmal performance.
runner ups: week 7 vs. Kansas City, week 11 vs. New England
Biggest Win of the Year:
Winner: week 13 vs. Buffalo
Had this game ended after three quarters, this might have won worst game ever awards. Fortunately for Miami and its fans, it didn't. Sage Rosenfels came in and generated the second greatest comeback in fin history. Overcoming a 20 point deficit in just one quarter of play. He relied heavily on Chris Chambers, who used this game to springboard his name onto the national stage. Chambers caught 15 balls for 238 yards and the game winning Touchdown with six seconds left in the fourth quarter. Just a gutsy effort and a never say quit attitude from everyone involved.
runner ups: week 17 @ New England, week 1 vs. Denver
Biggest Loss of the Year:
Winner: Week 11 vs. New England
Cleveland may have been our worst game, but this was by far the biggest loss of the season. Had Miami won this game, they would have had a share of first place afterwards and would have been playing New England for the AFC East title the last week of the season. The worst part was, they could have won, they should have won. Frerotte drove the team down for the go ahead score with under three minutes to play. Unfortunately, that left enough time for Brady to find Reggie Howard an dpick on him. Tom drove the team down and hit the game winning score to Bew Watson with about 50 seconds left. Miami made on last ditch effort to get into the endzone but Chris Chambers dropped the ball onn 4th and goal. New England won the division by one game.
Team Leader:
Winner: Zach Thomas
Never any doubt. Zach has owned this award since Marino left. Questions arose this year for Zach. He was older, still smaller and going into a new defensive system that he couldn't possibly excel in. Well all he did was lead the team in tackles AGAIN and was second in the league with 158. He added two sacks and two passes defensed to his resume as well. Bottom line is this: Zach Thomas was and is sthe heart of this defense and hopefully will be for years to come.
runner ups: Randy McMichael,te, Jason Taylor, de
Comeback Player of the Year:
Winner: Ricky Williams
Will he return? How will the teammates receive him? Isn't he only 158 pounds? He won't contribute much will he? All valid questions at one point in time. The Answer? Probably a bunch of softly spoken mumbo jumbo from Ricky but that is besides the point. Ricky came back after his year in retirement and four game suspension to wow audiences once again. In 12 games he racked up 743 on 168 carries and six touchdowns. I think it is safe to say he shut up his critics.
runner ups: Lance Schulters,s, Vonnie Holliday, dt
Most Improved Player:
Winner: Wes Welker
Welker is probably the most underrated player in the NFL. Sure, eams know what he can do in the return game and occassionally in the kicking game, but did they know he can catch the ball too? Did he know? Well Saban knew. Scott Linehan knew, and it paid dividends. Welker caught 29 balls for 434 this season. He caught none last year. He fell just short of setting a team record for all purpose yards in a season as well. Clearly he is a force to be reckoned with on special teams, but with his added ability to catch and run as well, he becomes all that more dangerous.
runner ups: Seth McKinney,c, Damien McIntosh, lt
Rookie of the Year:
Winner: Ronnie Brown
One half of the R&R express that combined for 1650 yards on 375 carries. Ronnie account for 907 of those yards on 207 of those carries. Oh, not too mention the four rushing touchdowns as well. On top of that, Ronnie also had 32 receptions ( fourth on team ) for 232 yards and a td. Perhaps the biggest asset was somethign that doesn't show up in the statsheets. He is the ultimate team player. As the second overall pick, he could have easily complained about sharing carries with a whacked out pot head who was coming off of retirement. But he didn't. He could have easily missed some blocks and chalked it up to being a rookie and missing assignments. But he did'nt. He made those blocks and shared the ball and did whatever was asked of him. Expect those numbers to rise in the years to come by the way.
runner ups: Channing Crowder, lb, Travis Daniels, cb
Defensive Player of the Year:
Winner: Jason Taylor
Again, not a huge shock here. Jason has simply been the best player on defense perhaps, Miami has ever seen. His 12 sacks were good for fifth in the league and he was fourth on the team in tackles as a defensive end/olb. It was a joy seeing Taylor move all over the field, terrorizing QB's and punshing blockers who tried to stop him. With more players added next year around him and hopefully some better coverage from the secondary, you oculd very well have Taylor leading the planet in sacks next year.
runner ups: Zach Thomas, lb, Lance Schulters, s
Offensive Player of the Year:
Winner: Chris Chambers
ABOUT TIME! Chris blew up this year. catching 82 passes for 1118 yards and 11 tds. All career highs. He also had his career long td reception of 77 yards. His best game was clearly against the Bills in which he won offensive player of the week honors. Scott Linehan has once again, made #84 a big time playmaker. Another year in this system with,perhaps, a more accurate QB and he may set career highs again next year.
runner ups: Randy McMichael, Ronnie Brown
Special Teams Player of the Year:
Winner: Donnie Jones
His net of 39.3 was tops in the league. The kid has a strong leg as evidenced by his long of 63 yards. He also placed over 30 of his punts inside the opponents 20 yard line. In a game where field position is huge, he was ginormous.
runner ups: Wes Welker, Bryan Gilmore
The Worst Player Ever Award:
Winner: Reggie Howard
The first ever Worst player ever award is will now be dedicated to Reggie Howard and will be dubbed the REGGIE HOWARD award from here on out. Reggie Howard gets paid tons of money for tons of years to lost games forus apparently. His blown coverage against Tim Dwight of the Patriots cost us a game and his countless penalties didn't help either. I imagine he invests heavily in fire extuingishers because he is getting burned all the time. Here is to never having him play another game for Miami EVER.
runner ups: Stoacker McDougle, ot, David Boston, wr
Team MVP:
Winner: Nick Saban
This was the toughest one, yet so simple. Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas played great on defense, Chambers played great on Offense. However, ther eason for their successes and team team's overall turn around belongs, ultimately, to one man, the head coach. Nick Saban came in here and within one year, restored credibility to this team. He has had the media on strings all year long and his players have adapted and adopted his stylewith them. No longer is accountabiliy and adjustments an issue. Poor play and decision making is no longer accepted either. Quite frankly, the rest of the NFL better watch out because Saban has his team on the right track and ahead of most people's schedules.
runner ups: Zach Thomas, lb, Jason Taylor, de, Chris Chambers, wr
So there you have it. Feel free to post your thoughts or who your winners are for the 2005 season.
:dolphins: :dolphins: :dolphins:
