raving
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Some fans on this board and many around the NFL simply do not know what is about to hit them when it comes to the Dolphins.
Nick Saban is a master psychologist. He is an extraordinary motivator of men. If he were in the military he would be a leading General. Some think that he is a great tactician - he is probably just good. Some think he is a great technician - again is probably just good.
Nick is a great strategist. But his genious lies in his ability to get under the surface with his players and move them to their limits and beyond.
Coach Saban spelled out for all to see and hear that he was mostly interested in revamping the bottom third of our roster. This is a peak into the brilliance of our head coach and here is why.
In today's NFL the league is chalked full of great tacticians - Dom Capers is one of them, but that does not spell victory in a salary cap league. In yesteryear, the days of the GREAT Don Shula, coaches had time to aquire players, groom, indoctinate and help players mature. Joe Gibbs, Bill Walsh, Bill Parcels were able to let the fruit of their labors mature on the vine. The key to victory down the stretch was replacing those players inevitably taken out by injury with a no-name that was kept under wraps for months if not years while he waited his turn on the sidelines. Those days are over.
So instead a coach must be able to do 3 things very well:
1. Evaluate talent.
2. Motivate players to perform optimally in stressful situations.
3. Evaluate their players character so that they can minimize the chances of getting a bad apple. In today's game bad apples hurt worse than they used to. This is due to the short window of opportunity that units have to stay together and produce.
Nick is simply off the charts in all 3 categories.
Last year's team was exclusively on the learning curve. Jason Taylor very much feared getting traded last year when Saban came on board. The core players had almost no experience with who Saban was as a person or coach. For a while we had no quarterback and some may argue that Gus was just like having no quarterback, certainly not a charismatic leader on a quest like Daunte. Chambers was basically an after thought for most when it came to top receivers. Feeley was still lingering. David Boston was too. We were stuck with that awful corner from Carolina (I forget his name). McMichael was living out dramas with his wife that got the police involved. Our offensive line was a year behind where we are now under Coach Houck and with considerably less talent and depth.
Lets look at what has happened since we have gone 6 and 0 in November and December last year. We got Dom Capers and Mike Mularkey. We got Daunte at a bargain basement price and Harrington to back him up if need be. We revamped our entire secondary with guys in the prime of their NFL careers, who have started and played well - and we did it at the right price. Ronnie, Matt Roth, Crowder, Daniels, Wright, Vickerson all have a year under their belt. We had another Saban draft ( I would not be surprised if we get 2 or 3 starters from this year's picks). We vastly improved our bottom 1/3 with our FA.
The consensus on this board is that the Dolphins improved one or two games from last year. I say NO WAY. I fully expect this team to go 12 and 4 at least.
The Dolphins are a team that will improve as the year progresses. This may seem impossible to those of us who painfully waited out Shula's tenure and then watched Jimmy and Wanstadt tarnish our illustrious history. Those days are OVER.
Saban has hand on the pulse of this team and he is absolutely the most doggedly determined man on this planet to fulfill his destiny in the NFL hall of fame. Daunte will be offered the perfect platform to showcase his talent and Saban went after speed, speed and more speed to help him do this. McMichael, Chambers, Ronnie, and Booker are going to the beneficiaries.
To those who think our defense is aging and going to be filed away into the middle of the NFL pack, think again. Imagine what Pennington will look like when our secondary buys our D-line that extra second. Teams are going to HATE to play the Dolphins. And I love that!
Nick Saban is a master psychologist. He is an extraordinary motivator of men. If he were in the military he would be a leading General. Some think that he is a great tactician - he is probably just good. Some think he is a great technician - again is probably just good.
Nick is a great strategist. But his genious lies in his ability to get under the surface with his players and move them to their limits and beyond.
Coach Saban spelled out for all to see and hear that he was mostly interested in revamping the bottom third of our roster. This is a peak into the brilliance of our head coach and here is why.
In today's NFL the league is chalked full of great tacticians - Dom Capers is one of them, but that does not spell victory in a salary cap league. In yesteryear, the days of the GREAT Don Shula, coaches had time to aquire players, groom, indoctinate and help players mature. Joe Gibbs, Bill Walsh, Bill Parcels were able to let the fruit of their labors mature on the vine. The key to victory down the stretch was replacing those players inevitably taken out by injury with a no-name that was kept under wraps for months if not years while he waited his turn on the sidelines. Those days are over.
So instead a coach must be able to do 3 things very well:
1. Evaluate talent.
2. Motivate players to perform optimally in stressful situations.
3. Evaluate their players character so that they can minimize the chances of getting a bad apple. In today's game bad apples hurt worse than they used to. This is due to the short window of opportunity that units have to stay together and produce.
Nick is simply off the charts in all 3 categories.
Last year's team was exclusively on the learning curve. Jason Taylor very much feared getting traded last year when Saban came on board. The core players had almost no experience with who Saban was as a person or coach. For a while we had no quarterback and some may argue that Gus was just like having no quarterback, certainly not a charismatic leader on a quest like Daunte. Chambers was basically an after thought for most when it came to top receivers. Feeley was still lingering. David Boston was too. We were stuck with that awful corner from Carolina (I forget his name). McMichael was living out dramas with his wife that got the police involved. Our offensive line was a year behind where we are now under Coach Houck and with considerably less talent and depth.
Lets look at what has happened since we have gone 6 and 0 in November and December last year. We got Dom Capers and Mike Mularkey. We got Daunte at a bargain basement price and Harrington to back him up if need be. We revamped our entire secondary with guys in the prime of their NFL careers, who have started and played well - and we did it at the right price. Ronnie, Matt Roth, Crowder, Daniels, Wright, Vickerson all have a year under their belt. We had another Saban draft ( I would not be surprised if we get 2 or 3 starters from this year's picks). We vastly improved our bottom 1/3 with our FA.
The consensus on this board is that the Dolphins improved one or two games from last year. I say NO WAY. I fully expect this team to go 12 and 4 at least.
The Dolphins are a team that will improve as the year progresses. This may seem impossible to those of us who painfully waited out Shula's tenure and then watched Jimmy and Wanstadt tarnish our illustrious history. Those days are OVER.
Saban has hand on the pulse of this team and he is absolutely the most doggedly determined man on this planet to fulfill his destiny in the NFL hall of fame. Daunte will be offered the perfect platform to showcase his talent and Saban went after speed, speed and more speed to help him do this. McMichael, Chambers, Ronnie, and Booker are going to the beneficiaries.
To those who think our defense is aging and going to be filed away into the middle of the NFL pack, think again. Imagine what Pennington will look like when our secondary buys our D-line that extra second. Teams are going to HATE to play the Dolphins. And I love that!
