Next year is most likely better personnel, considerably worse record.
I'll be ripped for that but it's reality in the NFL, which is a bounce league. If you improve or decline by 3 games or more from one season to the next, about 65% of the time the following season is a recoil toward the previous level. The media thrills to project just the opposite, i.e. a 5-11 team improved to 9-7 suddenly forecast for 12-4 and Super Bowl possibilities. But the majority of the time that previous 5-11 is closer to the destination. Witness the '06 Dolphins. There were flurries of 12-4 predictions here prior to that season, Saban's second. It was never reality based.
I was deflated during the game today due to that knowledge, that '09 will be a disappointment. Not an absolute, but I deal in an understanding of majority application.
Regardless, we need to fortify the roster, more robust and less reliant on finesse. Everything tends to drift back to the beginning so today should be no surprise. When Pennington's arm is described as a noodle and we laughed at him for years as a Jet, trying to go downfield in key adverse situations, those criticisms weren't suddenly bogus as a Dolphin. Once the vulnerable scenario is copied and pasted again, the limitations are legit and show up again. Like they say, 3 varied levels of intensity and scrutiny -- preseason, regular season and the different animal postseason. Henne certainly becomes more of a focus point after today, not heading into next season but during '09 when Pennington faces similar troubled stretches. It was always brutal ignorance that Pennington is a free ticket savior for 3-5 seasons.
Anyway, great season, very surprising to me, and I'm sure the roster will be more impressive coming out of August, some difficult final cut decisions for a change. I normally have my top annoyance priority come through courtesy of similar-minded coaches, and next year it's Matt Roth either long gone or on the pine. It's unbelievably sickening to watch him play after play, so absurdly limited. He clumsily engages a blocker but otherwise doesn't threaten to disrupt or even participate, other than one or two plays per game when he slants along the line of scrimmage or slightly behind and happens to run into someone. Then somehow the camera loves it, ignoring the lumbering mediocrity on every previous and subsequent play. Like today the big McGahee run was smack past Roth when he blundered inside with his head down, never locating McGahee until Roth turned around about 5 seconds later.
Our aspirations can't be high if we continue to start Matt Roth. He reminds me of Tim Ruddy in the '90s, essentially a regulator.
