Dolphins Could Surprise??

[jjgdecoy]

I like the fact that no one is picking us to do anything this year hopefully some of the dumber players on other teams will have that in the back of their minds and go half seed for the the first half of the games with us. If they are making picks right now it is because they have nothing better to write about. How many times has a key player gotten hurt in training camp or pre-season? Picks after one of those have some weight to them. Hell we do not have 5 of our draft picks signed yet. other teams are waiting on the same or players to get healthy. I do think we have great chance of doing great things this year. But our key players have to stay healthy and we have to have the ball bounce in our favor a couple of times.

[Irish Phin Fan]

Originally Posted by FinFilbert

Either you are being overly subjective, or you have a valid, objective reason for feeling that way. Can you share your reasoning?

I just don't think they have all the tools to make a playoff run. And I think like last year too many people believe they do for whatever reason. I think they are headed in the right direction but playoff's.......not this year. I hear a lot of people say we had such a great draft and we have so many probowl players. Who? Taylor or Thomas? Sure, but that's about it. Ginn and Beck, maybe they will work out maybe not. I just hate to go into a season with high hopes (last year) and then watch the team crumble.

Fire away!

[Phanatical]

Originally Posted by Hasta

Our coaching turnover might hurt us...however, keeping our defensive coordinator was a huge plus. We added some guys last year and were a fashionable pick...this year, we've had time for some of those guys to learn and have upgraded some areas. We should have won 4-6 more games last year...we may perform better to potential this year. With that said, I wouldn't bet 10 bucks on me being able to predict out wins plus or minus 3 games.

I do think our defensive backs will be better without NS confusing them the whole time.

Our coaching turnover will HURT us?? Not likely. The mere subtraction of Mularkey should be give us 3 or 4 more wins.

[FinFaninMS]

Originally Posted by Irish Phin Fan

I think a lot of people are in for a real hard reality check this season. And I don't mean that in a good way.

No doubt.

[The Goat]

Originally Posted by Irish Phin Fan

I just don't think they have all the tools to make a playoff run. And I think like last year too many people believe they do for whatever reason. I think they are headed in the right direction but playoff's.......not this year. I hear a lot of people say we had such a great draft and we have so many probowl players. Who? Taylor or Thomas? Sure, but that's about it. Ginn and Beck, maybe they will work out maybe not. I just hate to go into a season with high hopes (last year) and then watch the team crumble.

Fire away!

This year, our team goes as our O-Line goes. To be honest, I'm getting a little excited myself. I'll have a humungous, rambling post about this shortly, but the essence of it uis this:

1) Last June, we looked pretty in camp, but we were all flash, and no substance - and we all drank the Kool-aid, and were disappointed. There was a lot of talent, but no cohesiveness on the offensive side of the ball. It was evident in the first game. Culpepper looked awful, but so did the rest of the offense. It looked like nobody knew what the heck they were doing.

2) This June, we look somewhat flashy (Ginn/Beck), but what's far more important is that everyone seems to be buying into a system; there seems to be a solid offensive scheme in place.

I'd tell you what this reminds me of, and you might laugh, but this reminds me of what happened in New England in 2000-2001, only the Fins have more raw talent than the Pats did when Belichick got there. It's a differen't scheme, obviously, but the philosophy of making the scheme WORK is the same: Install your scheme, get players that fit your scheme, and get them to execute the scheme flawlessly. It looks like that's what's happening.

Hope springs anew every year, amigo. Keep the faith, and you will be rewarded. I'm actually starting to think to myself, "You know, we've got an easy schedule in the first half. The rest iof the AFC East had better HOPE we don't get off to a 6-2 or 5-3 start, because this team could end up being flat-out dangerous in the second half once they get comfortable with this system."

[BeatMan]

Please Gents let's stay the underdog and not bring any attention or positive predictions from outside this Fan Base ........I think that in the long run that will keep the players , coaches and fans hungry................

[jlfin]

Originally Posted by Irish Phin Fan

I just don't think they have all the tools to make a playoff run. And I think like last year too many people believe they do for whatever reason. I think they are headed in the right direction but playoff's.......not this year. I hear a lot of people say we had such a great draft and we have so many probowl players. Who? Taylor or Thomas? Sure, but that's about it. Ginn and Beck, maybe they will work out maybe not. I just hate to go into a season with high hopes (last year) and then watch the team crumble.

Fire away!

Chris Chambers, Marty Booker, Joey Porter andf the fullback from the Lions (?name) are pro bowl caliber players. Ronnie Brown could be. Vonnie Holliday has been to a pro bowl, I believe. Young guys like Channing Crowder and Vernon Carey are on the cusp.

[chillyphins]

I think the thing that will help tremendously is that Cam has stated EARLY on this summer who is playing where on that O-Line with the exception of Left Guard. Our O-Line knows where they are going to be playing, they know what they have to work on, and they know it's their spot to lose. They can start to gel early in these mini-camps and develop a cohesiveness which is so essential for effective O-Line play!

This is different from last year where we didn't have a set O-Line until I believe it was game 8 or 9.

[BIG_FISH_RI]

OK STOP IT ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm at work and I can't go home to change my paints...LOL

I find it hard not to think that we will have a productive team this year. we have the same defense that we had last year and upgraded to be exact. We will run the same defense and have the same guy calling the defense. can't see where that is bad.

We then got a PROVEN OC not HC but OC and we are allowing him to put people ont eh field that he feels can work in his scheme. I can't seem to see where this hurts us. he got a QB that we THINK will perform like he has over the past few years. we got a very good running back. we have very good recivers. the only ? at this point is the OL. and let me tell you I was thinking this morning if we get kendall from the Jets we will be all set. kendall and hadot at G stelle at center and carey at left tackle. all we need is a right tacklt at that point and I'm sure we have someone in that new group that we can plug in there and play.

I don't know I just feel like we will suprise a lot of people. If 2-3 of those young guys show up then it is really on.

[big fins]

To Tell Ya The Truth It's Nice That He Thinks That, But The Only Reason That I Cant Wait For The Season Is All The Free Beer At The Party's With The Friends.

[Mike13]

Originally Posted by big fins

To Tell Ya The Truth It's Nice That He Thinks That, But The Only Reason That I Cant Wait For The Season Is All The Free Beer At The Party's With The Friends.

I Don't Mean To Be A Grammar Nazi, But Can You Are Not Supposed To Capitalize Every First Letter Of A Word In A Sentence.

The mere subtraction of Mularkey should be give us 3 or 4 more wins.

We could win another two games with the removal of Olindo.

Anyway Good read.

[Shamboubou]

For me this season has the biggest question mark. The last couple years, as much as I didn't want to admit it I knew that we weren't going to be that good. This year though I have a feeling that we could be really good or really bad. I look at it this way though, we finally have a good QB, Green may be older but he's still a good QB and doesn't have to take time to learn a new system. We have a lot more speed, adding Booker and Ginn have added speed, Booker not so much strait speed but great moves along with speed. We are going to have a whole new offensive line. I like Carey moving to LT and I think Satele going to center could be great for this line letting Hadnot go back to guard where he's at his best. We need somebody to step up in the LG position. This season is probably the most exciting for me in a while just due to the whole unknown.

[ChambersWI]

We could surprise, like every other year, our problem (like every other year), is what we get from our QB which pretty much stems from the OL. I think the last couple years we got excited because of potential offensive threats (CC,Booker,Boston,McMichael, C-Pep), but in reality our offense has not looked good through camp or at any point in pre season the last couple of years. On the flip side, this year the offense doesn't look to bad.

If Satale and Mormino can come in and be good, I think you can see us contend for a wild card spot (not gonna say the division yet) because our OL will be sured up. However, if our OL struggles, it would not surprise me to see us right back where we started.

[Canadianfishfan]

Originally Posted by Irish Phin Fan

I just don't think they have all the tools to make a playoff run. And I think like last year too many people believe they do for whatever reason. I think they are headed in the right direction but playoff's.......not this year. I hear a lot of people say we had such a great draft and we have so many probowl players. Who? Taylor or Thomas? Sure, but that's about it. Ginn and Beck, maybe they will work out maybe not. I just hate to go into a season with high hopes (last year) and then watch the team crumble.

Fire away!

Ok I can fully appreciate your reasoning. And yes, I'm sure every member has succumbed to the preseason lfty expectation syndrome. But when you think about the upgrades mentioned in previous posts, it's hard to feel a little excitement.. Every year there is a team that comes from nowhere to surprise. There is no reason to believe that the Dolphins cannot be that team. Playoffs.... maybe.. maybe not.. But I guarantee we have a winning record.

[tay0365]

Originally Posted by zackattack54

It's funny how last year we we're picked to such great things and this year we've upgraded a lot and we're picked to do nothing.

QB - Trent Green is more accurate and makes better decisions over even a healthy Culpepper. (upgrade)

RB - Ronnie Brown/Lorenzo Booker/Corey Cantspellhislastname over RB/Sammy Morris/Minor (upgrade)

WR - Hagan w/ another year under his belt plus THE Teddy Ginn. (upgrade)

DF - Porter and Jason Allen playing the CORRECT position. (upgrade)

ST - Ginn (upgrade)

K - Mare used to be the kinda kicker that if got the ball inside the 35 we at least had 3 pts, but hasn't been that way in a couple of years. (upgrade ?)

I find this to be a plus, and a great thing to be happening. We are actually better (On paper) then we were in 05, and thanks yo what happend in 05, many thought we were good enough to make all the way to the big show, so now let them think this team is not that good, and hopefully by the time they catch on, we will have been on a 5-6 game winning streak.