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the dolphins will be a suprise team this year

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finsgonewild

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I have heard criticism from almost every sport website. Most of these sites say the dolphins have had one of the worst offseasons. While we have lost some great players this offseason, I still cannot agree with their assessments. We have upgraded at almost all of our positions on the team. We were 6-10 last year as a result of our coaches and our players. Major changes needed to be done in order to become a winning team again. The changes that we have made will make us a competitive team for this season and in the future. Let us look at all the moves that we have made this offseason.

Our first major change came along the offensive line. First we lost Damion McIntosh in free agency. Damion McIntosh was let go for a good reason. He commited to many penalties and did not help us in the running game. Carey, our most consistent offensive linemen over the past two years, will replace McIntosh. This is a very good move. Carey has matured from the last time that he played left tackle. He should have no problem with being successful at left tackle. With Mueller not drafting any offensive tackes in the draft, it shows you just how much confidence they have in Carey. Shelton another consistent offensive lineman from last year will make the switch to the right tackle spot. Shelton was better on the right side of the line from last year. He should be able to make the switch from right guard to right tackle. Finally our starting offensive guards are better this year. We will replace Jeno James with either Chris Liwienski or Joe Toledo. Both of these players are better than Jeno James. Just look at where Jeno James is now. No other team has even thought twice about signing him. At the other guard position, Samson Satele, who was rated as one of the top offensive lineman in the draft, will likely be the starter. So my question is why shouldn't our offensive line be better than last year. We upgraded at three of our positions.

Our next major change came to the wide receiver position. We did lose Wes Welker but we replaced him with Ted Ginn. Ted Ginn adds a new dimension to our team. He adds much needed speed. Ted Ginn will be able to make our whole offense better. Teams will no longer be able to double team Chris Chambers anymore or else they will get torched by Ted Ginn.

The last position that I want to mention is the linebacker position. In free agency, we added Joey Porter. Joey Porter is one of the best players in this league. He will be teaming up with a possible hall of famer and a talented young player. No other team will be able to gameplan around our linebackers.

With all that said, we will be a better team than last year. The dolphins have made many upgrades to their team. I wish I could discuss them all but do not have the time. Last year sports illustrated predicted the dolphins going to the super bowl. At that time, we had serious problems at multiple positions. This year we are in much better shape than we were before. Now I am not predicting that we make the superbowl but we could be a suprise team and go 10-6 this year.
 
finsgonewild said:
First of all I do not understand why people are heavily criticizing the Dolphins this offseason. Sure we were not the big spenders in free agency or we did not draft the big name players, but we upgraded our weaknesses from last year. Our whole offense is practically changed. In every aspect we upgraded from last year. First of all we got a wide receiver who will be a downfield threat. In turn it will help our other receivers get open. Chambers is constantly double teamed. Now with the addition of Ginn, Chambers will get open more often.

Also
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I thought I was the only one who was thinking that. We will be much better than people think, which is good. Let them think that, so when we finish 11-5, everyone will be like, where the hell did these guys come from. Ginn will give us great field position consistently, we have 2 strong FB in Mauia and Schlesinger who will get us a ton of 1st downs on 3rd and short for a change, instead of constantly going 3 and out. Whoever our QB is, DC, TG or CL or JB, will have a good WR core to go to. With Ginn, all we need to do is throw him a 10-15 yard cross pattern and let him take it to the house, cause noone is going to catch him. Booker was a very smart draft pick who will be a very important piece to the offense. We actually an offense again. I think our offense will average 24 points a game, especially with Ginn and our defense will be near or at the top of the league. I expect us to give up an average of 16 points a game. By those calculations, we will be over .500 and make the playoffs. Just remember, you heard it here first. Go FINS!!!!!!
 
i agree, we will be the talk of the nfl this year,ginn,brown,lorenzo,and chambers,,beautifully talented skill position players,,defense will be better cause of the addition of joey porter and the switch from safety to corner by jason,,special teams will be well,,,,,,,special,10 n 6,playoff run,2nd in the division,
 
djphinfan said:
i agree, we will be the talk of the nfl this year,ginn,brown,lorenzo,and chambers,,beautifully talented skill position players,,defense will be better cause of the addition of joey porter and the switch from safety to corner by jason,,special teams will be well,,,,,,,special,10 n 6,playoff run,2nd in the division,
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I agree with you. Lorenzo Booker is another guy who I will be excited to watch. He averaged 4.3 yards behind a terrible offensive line at Florida State. It will be interesting to see what he can do.
 
finsgonewild said:
Our first major change came along the offensive line. First we lost Damion McIntosh in free agency. Damion McIntosh was let go for a good reason. He commited to many penalties and did not help us in the running game. Carey, our most consistent offensive linemen over the past two years, will replace McIntosh. This is a very good move. Carey has matured from the last time that he played left tackle. He should have no problem with being successful at left tackle. With Mueller not drafting any offensive tackes in the draft, it shows you just how much confidence they have in Carey.
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I'll agree that McIntosh was a less than stellar LT. However, Carey failed in his first attempt to play LT, and it remains to be seen whether or not he can be successful on the left side since LT requires a different skill set than RT. Carey also prefers to play RT, and did a good job there, but now the Fins have weakened their right side in order to put a body on the left side because they let McIntosh walk.

finsgonewild said:
Shelton another consistent offensive lineman from last year will make the switch to the right tackle spot. Shelton was better on the right side of the line from last year. He should be able to make the switch from right guard to right tackle.
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You misunderstand Shelton. He's a LT who was released by both Arizona and the Browns. Miami signed him to play LT, and he failed miserably. He improved on the right side last year because he was moved to guard. There's nothing to indicate that Shelton can play RT any better than he could play LT.

finsgonewild said:
Finally our starting offensive guards are better this year. We will replace Jeno James with either Chris Liwienski or Joe Toledo. Both of these players are better than Jeno James. Just look at where Jeno James is now. No other team has even thought twice about signing him.
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Would any team have signed Liwienski if Miami hadn't? How many NFL games has Toledo played in? There's nothing to indicate either is better than James.

finsgonewild said:
At the other guard position, Samson Satele, who was rated as one of the top offensive lineman in the draft, will likely be the starter.
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Satele was the 9th lineman taken -- at the end of the 2nd round, hardly the position to take an immediate impact player. If Satele had been a top ten pick in the entire draft, he would probably be a legitimate starter. In Miami, he may start because there's nobody else.

finsgonewild said:
So my question is why shouldn't our offensive line be better than last year. We upgraded at three of our positions.
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1. Lack of talent (Shelton, Liwienski, Toledo, etc)
2. Lack of experience (Satele, Carey at LT)
3. Lack of continuity (new players, old players at new positions -- it's a Chinese fire drill).
 
Last year we wear the "sexy" pick to go to the SB. This year is seems that most sports writters have us maybe finishing with a worse record in 07 than in 06. Hopefully we prove them wrong again, this time in a positive way.
 
So last year Miami was picked to go to the super bowl . Now this year Miami is the surprise team ? sorry, I don't buy it .

Miami has to make the top 6 in the conference to make the playoffs.. There are 6 to 7 teams who are CLEARLY better and more talented than Miami is..


The AFC is such a tough conference.. I see people making claims that Chicago went to the super bowl with great special teams and a great defense.. But don't forget Chicago was in a weak NFC .. They wouldn't have been close to the super bowl if they were in the AFC ..

The thing is, is Miami has 5 new guys on the line .. Either new guys in there, or guys playing different positions.. Plus a new offense is being installed..

Now most people thinks it's a given Miami will lose some games early in the season because it will take the offense (and the o-line) time to gel .. The problem with that is, when the offense starts gelling, the team will face a much tougher schedule during the last half of the season.. Not a good combination

Miami also has a secondary that is prone to giving up big plays.. And it's no guarantee the front 7 will play as good as last season.. Players are a year older now. There have been countless examples where an older player on the wrong side of 30 has a great year later in his career, just to flop in the following year .. There is no guarantee Thomas or Taylor will be as productive next season.. Same for Porter .. There is a good history of Pittsburgh linebackers going to other teams and just not being as good as before..

There are just too many if's and question marks for this team at the moment, especially offensively, to give any indications this team can be a sleeper..

Keep in mind no team has had as much turn over of it's roster than Miami .. Miami has more new players than any team in the league.. It takes quite some time for so many new players to get used to one another..



Furthermore, another problem is the kickoff coverage.. While Miami may have a better return average with Ginn, Miami won't have the luxury of having Mare kick it into the endzone for a touchback .. Feely just isn't good at kicking it deep into the end zone, he simply doesn't have the leg to do that ... Teams likely won't be starting at their own 20 like before.. Consider this a huge question mark when you also couple this with Miami having new guys running down on the kick coverage team.. We just don't know how they will do .. Hence this area of the team being yet another "question mark" ..If all the chips fall Miami's way, you will see the team at around 7-9 or 8-8 .. And that's if Miami gets the breaks throughout the season

It's nice and dandy to be optimistic about the team, but take a look at reality here..
 
Kinzua said:
I'll agree that McIntosh was a less than stellar LT. However, Carey failed in his first attempt to play LT, and it remains to be seen whether or not he can be successful on the left side since LT requires a different skill set than RT. Carey also prefers to play RT, and did a good job there, but now the Fins have weakened their right side in order to put a body on the left side because they let McIntosh walk.



1. Lack of talent (Shelton, Liwienski, Toledo, etc)
2. Lack of experience (Satele, Carey at LT)
3. Lack of continuity (new players, old players at new positions -- it's a Chinese fire drill).
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nice post Kinz. Carey didn't fail at left tackle, he actually did ok, but we had a trainwreck at right tackle and D-Mac cannot play RT so they moved Carey. I was estatic about finally finding a left tackle and Hud moved him, so I'm not worried a lot, I think he can get it done.

mostly, I think we have another train wreck in progress. I have to agree with your 1-2-3 assesment. There really is no other way to look at it until they actually prove they can get it done. We might need 5 or 6 qb's this year.
 
I like your optimism and, no doubt, anything can happen. I'm having more difficulty being optimistic about this team, though. I think overall, Miami made some nice moves this offseason. But I have some major question the first being how will Cam Cameron be as a head coach? His horrible record at Indiana still troubles me. I know a lot of time has passed since then and I'm sure he's grown as a coach working with some real quality head coaches, but don't the great ones win at places where they aren't supposed to win like Indiana? Cameron has to prove himself as a head coach and I hope he is the right choice because if he is the other pieces will fall into place.

Obviously quarterback is a huge question mark as of now. Even if Trent Green is signed it will take time for him to get on the same page with the Dolphin receivers. He is missing valuable time. Lots of changes on the offensive line usually spells disaster. I do think the talent level there is better than last year, but I think Carey will ultimately end up back at RT (next year).

There are a lot of positives. I'm warming to the Beck pick and hope he can prove to be the long-term answer at quarterback. I think the offense will be much faster with the addition of Ginn and Beck. Cameron expertise will show on the offense.

It just feels like a growing year to me, which might not be bad. If the team struggles young players will get a chance to play something that should have happened last year under Saban.
 
I prefer us being portrayed as a bad team this year... we will slip under the radar
 
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