Nice post Parrothead. I completely agree with you. Keep in mind, when Wanny came aboard in 2000, our entire team philosophy (offense and defense) was based on conservative play-calling to protect our weak offense. Remember, we were expected to finish dead last in 2000 beacuse our offense was simply laughable on paper - an unknown QB (Fiedler), a journeyman RB (Lamar) and probably the slowest, worst WR corps in the game. So one of the ways Wanny protected our offense was by pulling in the reigns on defense - calling schemes that had the safeties back and little blitzing to prevent big plays, which would take the pressure off Fiedler and Co. to produce. And by and large 2000 was a huge success for the Dolphins - Gailey got more out of the offense that anyone ever dreamed off, we won the division and were in almost every ballgame. And since this conservative team mindset worked so well in 2000, we stuck with it again last year (only to take a step backwards as it turns out).
Now with more weapons on offense and two solid years under his belt, Wanny has changed this teams mindset and playcalling- on both offense and defense. The defense actually made the switch to become more aggressive after the playoff loss (as you said). The offense followed in the defenses steps, after we acquired Norv and Ricky.
So there you have it - the anatomy of a football team - how the Miami Dolphins morphed from a conservative, predictable team to an explosive, aggressive bunch in three seasons. I think Wanny line of thinking has been commendable the last three seasons, especially after his suprise success in 2000. His only real mistake in my eyes was failing to air it out more at the end of his second year (last year), when the offense began to sputter due to the conservative approach.
But give him credit, hes made up for last years indecision by installing a completely new philosophy into this team - one that matches the immense talent we have o both sides of the ball.