It's amazing how everyone thinks we'll suck

[CA Dolfan]

Originally Posted by Fin Harry

I have fun looking at mock drafts, even this early, so I was happy to find a compilation of them here:

http://walterfootball.com/draftdata.php

The thing is, everyone has us drafting top five. The site's mock has us 2nd!!!! I can't wait to prove everyone wrong.

Oh, and their season preview has us 2-14

Sporting News has us at 3-13


http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns

[evenflow58]

Originally Posted by jlfin

On the other hand these "people" are supposedly "experts" and their predictions are supposed to be made after analysis of each team.
Anyone can take the results from last season and make team predictions for the upcoming season. Don't even have to know anything about football to do that.
I'd expect some of these experts to go out on a limb and make some bolder prognositcations.

But if they went out on a limb and made bold predictions about everybody they'd be wrong most of the time. From a statistical standpoint you're first guess is usually the right one, even without digging into the research.

[hooshoops]

if we can win 5 games this year i'll be satisfied. if we can find a qb for the future i'll be satisfied. we're building for 2 years from now.

[killakimo]

Originally Posted by hooshoops

if we can win 5 games this year i'll be satisfied. if we can find a qb for the future i'll be satisfied. we're building for 2 years from now.

i'd like to think we could possibly take 8 games (jets1, texans, ravens, bills1, raiders, rams, frisco and kc). i also think the new look dolphin org is installed to win now...imho of course

[Brassmonki14120]

Offense- Below average as a group.

Beck, McCown, Henne are all below average Passers.

O-Line is an average group and will struggle early on until they get some playing time in real games.

Ronnie and Ricky are both above average when healthy and committed.

Recievers are below average inexperienced and no one stands out as a true #1.

Defense- Average+ as a group.

D-Line is average at best with the loss of JT.

Linebackers average group that will feel effects of the JT trade.

Secondary above average and a ton of depth.

Special Teams above average.

Schedule-

Home vs Jets: Loss. Jets O-line will own Phins D-line. Phins playing catch-up all day.

@ Arizona: Loss. Phins run well but Zona airs it to victory.

@ Pats: Loss.

Home vs San Diego: Loss.

@ Houston: Even. Below average secondary will be missing Derrick Robinson (still rehabbing), Ronning & Ricky will eat them up as Houstons Linbackers are forced to play honest.

Home vs Baltimore:Loss. Ravens Defense will cause Phin injuries, Ravens D will put points on the board.

Home vs Buffalo: Loss. I'm a Bills fan and I'll just leave it at that.

@ Denver: Win. Ground game kills the Broncos.

Home vs Seattle: Loss. Defense Shuts Phins down.

Home vs Oakland: Win. McCown leads the Phins to victory.

Home vs Pats: Loss

@ St. Louis: Win. Rams Defense crumbles.

@ Bills: Loss. See above.

Home vs San Fran: Loss. Close game. 49ers special teams win the game.

@ KC: Win. KC sucks.

@ Jets: Loss. Jets possibly playing for Wild Card spot.


4-12 maybe 5-11

3 or 4 years before the phins are in Wild Card contention.

[nerfball]

I think its reasonable to think they can split their season meetings with the Jets and Bills. Cardinals, Texans, Broncos, Raiders, Rams, 49's, and Chiefs are all games that can be close. The schedule is really rather soft. Its not impossible to think they can get 5-6 wins fairly easily, maybe even steal one or two and get close to .500

although, that is obviously not enough to make the playoffs, they are not 4 years away. the 2010 Miami Dolphins will probably be a very good team again. A lot can happen between now and then, its hard to predict.

[flintsilver7]

Originally Posted by Brassmonki14120

Below average as a group. Beck, McCown, Henne are all below average Passers.

This is certainly not a point of contention. All of them are below average. We don't know about Henne, though.

O-Line is an average group and will struggle early on until they get some playing time in real games.

The constant upheaval of the offensive line (it should never have been touched after 2005) does not help. I would agree they are average but with the potential to be much better than average, especially if Long pans out. Satele certainly appears to be solid and Carey is doing relatively well.

Ronnie and Ricky are both above average when healthy and committed.

Until further notice, Ricky is a question mark. Ronnie is also a question mark due to his injury. There is no question in my mind that the two of them together when at 90% or above are the best pair in the league. The problem is with Ricky's mental state and Ronnie's knee we won't know.

Recievers are below average inexperienced and no one stands out as a true #1.

Wilford and Ginn are well beyond below average. It's a nice way of saying they're among the worst in the league, I suppose. The tight ends don't help anything either.

D-Line is average at best with the loss of JT.

At this moment with next to no real experience outside of Holliday and Roth the defensive line needs to be rated below average. We don't have a clue what Merling or Langford will do. Roth is pretty much a bust at this point. Holliday is a solid veteran, but one player does not a line make.

Linebackers average group that will feel effects of the JT trade.

They will also feel the effect of Zach Thomas being discarded like an old t-shirt. Altogether, though, they should be about average.

Secondary above average and a ton of depth.

I still feel like I don't know what to make of the secondary. Will Allen is pretty good, but the rest of them are pretty much castoffs (Lehan and Goodman, for example). Jason Allen is more or less a bust also. That said, they played well last year, so who knows?

Special Teams above average.

Fair enough. I think they're average altogether unless Ginn shows a bit more promise.

Altogether a well thought-out post. Don't see many of those around here.

[godolphins1985]

Originally Posted by dlockz

Ronnie is a good back but the only thing he has in common with LT is they play the same position. Lets not act like San Diego has had a superstar line. Lets take baby steps lets let Ronnie outdo Marshawn Lynch then move up and discuss him with top tier backs.

Not a superstar line but a better line than miami has ever had in the past 8 years or so. but let Ronnie outdo Marshawn Lynch...??? HAHAHAHAHAHA. Your joking right? Marshawn Lynch. that guy doesnt belong anywhere near Mr. Brown injured or not. Brown is easily top 4 backs in NFL (when healthy) He is the complete package right there with westbrook who should be recognized up in the top 3.
You make me laugh about marshawn

But to make you stat happy......
Marshawn Lynch: 13GamesStarted, 1,115 Rushing yards, 4.0 AVG, 184 REC yards.

Ronnie Brown: 7GamesStarted, 602 Rushing yards, 5.1 AVG, 389 REC yards.

With those stats alone how can you even make the assumption that Ronnie needs to outdo Marshawn.....Ronnie played almost half the games Lynch it still out performed him in AVG, and demolished him in REC yards, if he had the 13 games he would have beaten him out on rushing as well.

[finner]

Seriously, this team doesn't deserve any respect at this point. For now, we've EARNED the right to be a joke until we PROVE otherwise!

Big deal --- someone projects us to be similar to what we were last year. It's not we didn't SUCK immensely last year...

And, it seems to me, there's a difference between being a fan and being a "homer."

[Brassmonki14120]

Originally Posted by godolphins1985

Not a superstar line but a better line than miami has ever had in the past 8 years or so. but let Ronnie outdo Marshawn Lynch...??? HAHAHAHAHAHA. Your joking right? Marshawn Lynch. that guy doesnt belong anywhere near Mr. Brown injured or not. Brown is easily top 4 backs in NFL (when healthy) He is the complete package right there with westbrook who should be recognized up in the top 3.
You make me laugh about marshawn

Ronnie is a very good running back when healthy but he has yet to stay healthy a full season

Yes Ronnie has huge potential but to call an injury prone running back who's only broken 1000 yards rushing once "the complete package" seems silly.

[godolphins1985]

Originally Posted by Brassmonki14120

Ronnie is a very good running back when healthy but he has yet to stay healthy a full season

Yes Ronnie has huge potential but to call an injury prone running back who's only broken 1000 yards rushing once "the complete package" seems silly.

why is it silly he is the complete package (when healthy) ..thats why i said healthy....he can catch, block, run you name it. Someone still can be an elite back or complete package even if he gets injured. Guy does all those things when he's not hurt so whats the difference other than he got hurt, does that negate everything he can do ...Hell NOOO.

[Brassmonki14120]

Originally Posted by godolphins1985

why is it silly he is the complete package (when healthy) ..thats why i said healthy....he can catch, block, run you name it. Someone still can be an elite back or complete package even if he gets injured. Guy does all those things when he's not hurt so whats the difference other than he got hurt, does that negate everything he can do ...Hell NOOO.

Yeah,if he can't take the field then he can't produce so yes. It negated him 13 times in 3 seasons.

[godolphins1985]

Originally Posted by Brassmonki14120

Yeah,if he can't take the field then he can't produce so yes. It negated him 13 times in 3 seasons.

I understand the lack of being on the field it still doesnt effect his play when he is HEALTHY. WHEN HE IS HEALTHY he is one of the best. Thats all lol.

[nyjunc]

Originally Posted by Finfang

True but we will definitely improve over 1-15. How could you not?

Also remember we were in 6 football games that were winnable if not for some poor coaching decisions and just pure dumb luck.

I look for us to improve dramatically!

It's difficult but you cannot just look at the fact you lost games by close margins as a reason you'll be good this year. I expect you'll be alot better BUT bad teams lose close games, we lost cloese games too while 2 years ago when we were 10-6 we won close games.

Digging deeper at your close losses:


Week 1 at Wash: Lost 16-13. This game clearly could have gone either way

Week 3 at NYJ: Lost 31-28, score was alot closer than the game was. We were up 31-13 w/ about 4 mins left.

Week 5 at Hou: Lost 22-19. This game could have gone either way.

Week 8 vs. NYG: Lost 13-10. You definitely had chances but you were down 13-0 and you scored w/ about 2 mins left again relying on an onside kick.

Week 10 vs. Buf: Lost 13-10. Game could have gone either way.

Week 12 at Pitt: Lost 3-0, it's hard to win when you can't score.


Realistically you could have gone 3-3, MAYBE 4-2 in those 6 but in your other 9 losses you were outscored by an average of 18 points per game. Are you saying your ceiling is 4-5 wins? Be careful w/ looking at the close games as a way to measure. I think you'll win 5-6 games this but not b/c you played a few close games last year, b/c you'll be better coached, have a more cohesive team and you'll be playing for pride after the awful '07 season.

[godolphins1985]

Originally Posted by nyjunc

It's difficult but you cannot just look at the fact you lost games by close margins as a reason you'll be good this year. I expect you'll be alot better BUT bad teams lose close games, we lost cloese games too while 2 years ago when we were 10-6 we won close games.

Digging deeper at your close losses:


Week 1 at Wash: Lost 16-13. This game clearly could have gone either way

Week 3 at NYJ: Lost 31-28, score was alot closer than the game was. We were up 31-13 w/ about 4 mins left.

Week 5 at Hou: Lost 22-19. This game could have gone either way.

Week 8 vs. NYG: Lost 13-10. You definitely had chances but you were down 13-0 and you scored w/ about 2 mins left again relying on an onside kick.

Week 10 vs. Buf: Lost 13-10. Game could have gone either way.

Week 12 at Pitt: Lost 3-0, it's hard to win when you can't score.


Realistically you could have gone 3-3, MAYBE 4-2 in those 6 but in your other 9 losses you were outscored by an average of 18 points per game. Are you saying your ceiling is 4-5 wins? Be careful w/ looking at the close games as a way to measure. I think you'll win 5-6 games this but not b/c you played a few close games last year, b/c you'll be better coached, have a more cohesive team and you'll be playing for pride after the awful '07 season.

Yes you are right about the close games, but on the other hand it cant be ignored that keeping close games against formidable opponents at leasts leaves hope that we dont entirely suck, we just need better players thats all. Do i think we got better players yes, coaches absolutely. Does that mean we are playoff bound ..Hell no. We are due at least a couple extra wins this season with the current upgrades all around. It will all come down to how conditioned and coached we are, there have been pleanty of mediocre teams to reach the playoffs and we might be that kind of team due to hardwork alone. For you guys tho and the jets you are vastily more improved in the talent department, whether the talent translates into more wins or your coaching pulls them back down to mediocre ville will determine your guys record. I hope you guys are improved enough to give the Pats something to be worried about. i hate seeing them so cozy up there in the number 1 spot.