Wrongly Optimistic? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Wrongly Optimistic?

M

mullingan

Starter
Joined
Aug 6, 2004
Messages
273
Reaction score
0
Age
60
Location
Gainesboro, Tenn
Each year I approach the season very optimistic for our chances to compete for the play offs. I will admit, last year, everything looked good on paper. Offensive Coach to go along with a top tier defense and a team that looked like would be very good to most. Who could have predicted what became with Cams complete incompetence, injuries, defensive collapse, etc. Yeah I know some, perhaps many, foretold Cams failure but I don't think anyone, in mid July, could have thought that things would be as they were.

So, should we be optimistic this year? I don't mean "we only won one game last year so it has to get better" optimistic. I mean, competitive game in game out 8-8 competing for playoffs at least until early December. Surely the injury bug will not bite as hard this year. We have many new players and some solid talent coming back from injury. The trenches have been retooled and we should be better on both sides of the ball where the big guys play. A better front 7 should help in pass coverage and stopping the run. Our offensive line should be very effective at opening lanes for the R & R express and with some development and maturing from the WR position I don't think it will be as bad as we think. Special teams have been completely overhauled and will be better.

I also think the staff is greatly improved and are "coaches" that will coach up our players, stressing fundamentals, physicality, and accountability. I, as I do every year, will be very optimistic for this year. Thats just how I am, but I wonder what ya'll think.
 
I think every year, the majority of Dolphin fans are very optimistic. Hell many of us thought we definitely would make theh playoffs last year with the addition of Joey Porter . . . giving us an absurd front 7 . . . but it didn't work out that way.

The year before, many thought Cpep would be the missing piece.

The real suprise was Saban's first year . . . when expectations were lower . . . but Williams and Frerotte delivered on offense and we were 9-7.

I think this year its good to be optimistic, to a certain extent. We potentially have 2 pro bowl caliber RB's in the backfield. The OLine looks better than it has in years (on paper), and the D should fair much better than last year.

It's always the same culprits tho . . . what is the QB gonna do . . .thats the key . . . and until we figure out decent QB play . . . we can only hope to do good.
 
I think the biggest thing for us this year is how this group of players and coaches "gel" as a team. You can have a great group of players, but if they don't have good chemistry they won't play well together and the same goes with the relationship between the players and the coaches. I, like you, go into every season with an optimistic outlook. I think naturally the biggest question for us is at quarterback. We just need one of these guys to step up and execute the offense and be able to get defenses out of 8 and 9 man fronts to stop Ronnie and Ricky. If we don't have a threat of a solid passing game, our offense will struggle. I just don't think teams are going to respect our QB's or wideouts. All in all, we as fans need to realize that rebuilding takes time and that we are not going to go deep into the playoffs this year and probably not even make them. But I do think we can win 7 or 8 games and compete. Just one man's opinion.
 
I'm always optimistic as well. The reality is we don't have established players at several key positions (QB, 3 out of 5 O-Line spots, receivers, a LB position or two) and a still weak secondary. But somehow I always believe players will step up. Maybe Jake Long will be the real deal. Maybe Ted Ginn will prove himself worthy, or Derek Hagen will finally get his act together. Until they prove otherwise on the field I always believe. Go Phins!!!
 
This is how I see it. You've got 2 extremes here on this site. Those that think we're going to the SB every year and who think that some dude from another team's practice squad that we sign will become a pro bowler simply because he's wearing the aqua and orange and those who always believe that this team isn't good and never have anything positive to say. I'm somewhere in the middle. I'll never forget how when we signed Saban how many people had a "Saban is god" avatar or username. I was flamed for suggesting at or near the time of his hiring that we should temper our enthusiasm and maybe not make plans to get SB tickets simply because he hadn't accomplished anything as a HC in the NFL and that successful college coaches more often than not bomb in the NFL (so much so that the NFL Network had a top 10 list of college coaches who should have stayed in college and Saban made the list).

Here is what we know. Cam is gone and was not ready to be a HC (and may never be). Tony Sparano, who was the hot HC candidate in the offseason, has had limited HC experience but is respected by many and by many accounts, expected to be a fine coach. Our team has gotten younger and there are many new players. We still have many holes on this team and I don't expect this team to have a winning record early but I believe we'll come on down the stretch once the new players begin to gel as a cohesive unit. Furthermore, I expect Sparano to get better as a coach down the stretch as well. I'm not looking at the schedule and trying to predict what our record will be looking at the competition. I'm looking for improvement and to see a team with fight that gives us hope for the future. If somehow we are in a position for a playoff spot that's just icing on the cake but I'm figuring a 6-10 record qualifies as a huge improvement provided that in those 10 losses, we make it competitive and look like an NFL team out there.
 
2008

As long as we triple our win total from 2007 I will consider it success.

I have never set much higher goals for the fins since Marino left simply because no QB since him has given me hope.

As much as people hate Jay Fiedler he has been the brightest shinning light at the QB position since Marino's retirement. I swear I want Beck and Henne to do well and step up and be the man hell I would take McCown as well but until one of these guys does then my hopes of Miami getting more than 4 or 5 wins a year are shattered.

I just dont like being dissappointed year after year so I keep my goals for the fins a little in check. If one of these guys steps up and plays like a pro QB then this team has got great potential until then we will be average at best.

Peace love and Lorenzo Hampton.
 
Kdawg954 said:
I think every year, the majority of Dolphin fans are very optimistic. Hell many of us thought we definitely would make theh playoffs last year with the addition of Joey Porter . . . giving us an absurd front 7 . . . but it didn't work out that way.

The year before, many thought Cpep would be the missing piece.

The real suprise was Saban's first year . . . when expectations were lower . . . but Williams and Frerotte delivered on offense and we were 9-7.

I think this year its good to be optimistic, to a certain extent. We potentially have 2 pro bowl caliber RB's in the backfield. The OLine looks better than it has in years (on paper), and the D should fair much better than last year.

It's always the same culprits tho . . . what is the QB gonna do . . .thats the key . . . and until we figure out decent QB play . . . we can only hope to do good.
Click to expand...
I think this year Porter will definitely pay off. Last year he was coming off of an injury and we had an idiot defensive coordinator. He came on very strong towards the end of the season. Now he is pissed and has something to prove. Him on one side with offenses underestimating him and JT on the other side should be ridiculous.
 
phinfan2003 said:
This is how I see it. You've got 2 extremes here on this site. Those that think we're going to the SB every year and who think that some dude from another team's practice squad that we sign will become a pro bowler simply because he's wearing the aqua and orange and those who always believe that this team isn't good and never have anything positive to say. I'm somewhere in the middle. I'll never forget how when we signed Saban how many people had a "Saban is god" avatar or username. I was flamed for suggesting at or near the time of his hiring that we should temper our enthusiasm and maybe not make plans to get SB tickets simply because he hadn't accomplished anything as a HC in the NFL and that successful college coaches more often than not bomb in the NFL (so much so that the NFL Network had a top 10 list of college coaches who should have stayed in college and Saban made the list).

Here is what we know. Cam is gone and was not ready to be a HC (and may never be). Tony Sparano, who was the hot HC candidate in the offseason, has had limited HC experience but is respected by many and by many accounts, expected to be a fine coach. Our team has gotten younger and there are many new players. We still have many holes on this team and I don't expect this team to have a winning record early but I believe we'll come on down the stretch once the new players begin to gel as a cohesive unit. Furthermore, I expect Sparano to get better as a coach down the stretch as well. I'm not looking at the schedule and trying to predict what our record will be looking at the competition. I'm looking for improvement and to see a team with fight that gives us hope for the future. If somehow we are in a position for a playoff spot that's just icing on the cake but I'm figuring a 6-10 record qualifies as a huge improvement provided that in those 10 losses, we make it competitive and look like an NFL team out there.
Click to expand...
I agree with your Saban and Cam descriptions, but Sparano has something going for him if he does suck it up that they didn't. He has Parcells behind the scenes who isn't our head coach, but if Tony proves incompetent could easily step in and take over.
 
mullingan said:
Each year I approach the season very optimistic for our chances to compete for the play offs. I will admit, last year, everything looked good on paper. Offensive Coach to go along with a top tier defense and a team that looked like would be very good to most. Who could have predicted what became with Cams complete incompetence, injuries, defensive collapse, etc. Yeah I know some, perhaps many, foretold Cams failure but I don't think anyone, in mid July, could have thought that things would be as they were.

So, should we be optimistic this year? I don't mean "we only won one game last year so it has to get better" optimistic. I mean, competitive game in game out 8-8 competing for playoffs at least until early December. Surely the injury bug will not bite as hard this year. We have many new players and some solid talent coming back from injury. The trenches have been retooled and we should be better on both sides of the ball where the big guys play. A better front 7 should help in pass coverage and stopping the run. Our offensive line should be very effective at opening lanes for the R & R express and with some development and maturing from the WR position I don't think it will be as bad as we think. Special teams have been completely overhauled and will be better.

I also think the staff is greatly improved and are "coaches" that will coach up our players, stressing fundamentals, physicality, and accountability. I, as I do every year, will be very optimistic for this year. Thats just how I am, but I wonder what ya'll think.
Click to expand...

I think there is something to be optimistic about. For one last year for as bad as we were there were at least 5 games that were very close (1 being superbowl champs:up:). You tie in those close games with added talent in better coaching we are at leaste assured to win 5 games(by looking at the schedule). Our Oline is vastley improved with Ronnie coming back off of an amazing start to last season and Ricky sounding and looking rejuvinated we should have one hell of a rushing game this year.

We should have some good slug fests this year to keep games with in reach, I wouldnt be as optimistic as to saying we are gonna blow teams away but we will shock teams when its the 4th and we are only down by 3. If anything have faith in the R&R Express, remember they have had success in bad (i mean bad) Olines just imagine the possibilities with a standout line!.I am optimistic about this season for sure:up:
 
Hope always springs eternal in the off season. It's the only time if the year everybody is in the playoff hunt.
 
It depends on what you mean by overly optimistic. If you are expecting a Super Bowl win, yeah that's a bit too much. In my opinion, we can go anywhere from 4-12 to 10-6.

Saban's second year saw us rely on a QB who had no business being on the field (CPep), and another QB that was given too much responsibility (Joey), as well as a pretty shoddy playbook made by Mr. Mularkey.

I think it was obvious that last year's team was extremely unprepared for anything. The fact that some guys that looked promising under Saban (Channing,Roth) regressed under Cam is cause for concern, as is the fact that the team actually got worse as the season went on.

I don't think playoffs is overly realistic for the simple fact that we're probably gonna run a 3-4 and we have only 1 D-lineman on our team that has experience in that defense; Jason Ferguson who has been injured 2 of the last 3 years. So the DL will probably struggle. We also can't get INTs (I think with Bell back healthy, and Allen getting a whole offseason at one posion will make the secondary significantly better)

I do think our offense will be a lot better though. We may not have proven WRs, but I think having 2 good RBs, a safety valve at TE, and an OC that has proven over years that he can adjust his system to the pieces he has will do wonders for the team.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom