Todd Wright of ESPN Radio on the Dolphins

[MDFINFAN]

Todd Wright of ESPN Radio

This week ESPN overnight Radio Host Todd Wright sat down with Mike Oliva from PhinZone.com for an interview about the Miami Dolphins. Wright went to the University of Miami and has attended many Dolphins games live and in person. He is able to follow the Dolphins closely as he lives less than 4 hours away from Miami. Todd Wright who's overnight show on ESPN Radio "All Night with Todd Wright" airs from 2am-6am across the United States. Todd is known for always having an opinion and in this interview Wright gives us his thoughts and opinions on the South Florida fans, Jay Fiedler, the Miami Hurricanes, and Ricky Williams.

Questions in BOLD

MO: Can Jay Fiedler be a championship quarterback?

TW: Before anyone answers that with any degree of assurance, they must consider that the position of quarterback simply does not mean as much as it once did in the NFL.

How else can one explain that the last three teams to win the Super Bowl, all did so with quarterbacks who were no better than #2 on the depth chart going into that year's training camp.

Perhaps this is why the Dolphins chose to stay with Fiedler instead of making a change in the off-season and instead upgraded the offense as a whole with the acquisition of Ricky Williams.

MO: Should the Dolphins have re-signed Fiedler or went out and got a more established quarterback?

TW: The only reason to get another quarterback in today's NFL is when that player simply doesn't have the confidence of his teammates to perform.

Also, certain quarterbacks my be very talented but don't fit a particular scheme or plan of an offense or head coach.

It doesn't appear as though the Dolphins are asking Fiedler to raise the level of his play as much as they are trying to make the rest of the team stronger.

Not only has Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl in recent years thanks to an approach that emphasized Jamal Lewis and one of the NFL's best-ever defenses, but remember that rookie Shawn King was quarterbacking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when they nearly defeated the Kurt Warner-led Rams in the 1999 NFC Title Game.

These teams were known for being dominant on the defensive side of the football and for a ball-control, conservative offense that stressed low-risk.

MO: You live in the South Florida area and have seen numerous Dolphins games live and in person. What stadium gave the Dolphins a bigger home field advantage; the Orange Bowl or Pro Player Stadium?

TW: Certainly, the Orange Bowl. It was a dump. As a Hurricane Club member, its still a dump. However, it really was the last consistently tough place to play in the National Football League.

While tough home fields with interchangeable corporate names come and go in the modern NFL, teams such as the 1985 New England Patriots who went into the Orange Bowl and defeated those contending Dolphin teams know that there was no tougher road task. Then or now.

Ask the 1985 Chicago Bears.

MO: Is Dave Wannstedt a coach capable of leading a team to a Super Bowl? Or is he just a great coordinator who is in over his head as a head coach?

TW: Dave seemed to learn a lot about himself and being a head coach from his rough experience in Chicago.

While Jimmy Johnson didn't finish the job in Miami and never had quite the hunger to finish it the way he did in Dallas, Dave has carried out Jimmy's plan well since both of them have been on the same page from a football standpoint for many years.

Many coaches like Wannstedt succeed in their second stints by learning from previous mistakes.

A good example is Bill Bellichick.

MO: Have the Dolphins added enough talent to make a legitimate run towards a Super Bowl championship?

TW: Yes. However, there are more teams than ever in the modern NFL who can make that legitimate run.

A lot of winning a championship involves avoiding key injuries to impact players and building confidence in the team concept and in one another.

Winning close games has become a big part of being a championship team. The more you win, the more you're going to win.

MO: Do you feel Chris Chambers was a one year wonder or does he look like he is a superstar in the making?

TW: That's totally up to Chris. Let's see how he handles being game planned for and how the coaches and Fiedler handle that.

While almost all opposing d-coor's will scheme to stop Ricky Williams first, they will not be naive to Chambers game breaking ability down the field.

Its important for Chambers to know and accept his role in the offense again this season, otherwise he will only fail to execute simple things and disrupt the play of the offense as a whole.

MO: Who will do more for Miami's offense: Ricky Williams or Norv Turner?

TW: Hard to say...but I'll go with Ricky because he has the ability to balance it through his execution.

Turner is a top-level offensive coordinator and has a history of working well with Wannstedt.

Let's put it this way...both are short-term solutions.

Ricky may not be a guy who stays in one place very long and Turner will likely be a head coach again as early as next year or the following year if the Dolphins offense has success.

MO: In your opinion who is the most overrated player in all of the NFL?

TW: Historically...it was DS49 a.k.a. safety Dennis Smith of those AFC Title teams in Denver. Smith was always chasing NFC wide receivers in their jaunts to the end zone in those NFL Films packages of Super Bowls.

While he had the reputation of a devastating hitter, he only seemed to be able to hit offensive players when they weren't looking at him.

He also was the guy who gave up the TD from Bernie Kosar to Brian Brennan that put the Broncos down seven in that famous AFC Title Game where Elway bailed out DS49 with "The Drive".

MO: Did the Saints make a blunder when they traded Ricky Williams?

TW: No. The Saints needed leaders last year when the team lost the MNF game to the Rams.

Instead, they were destroyed the following week in Tampa Bay and the shame spiral was pathetic.

Star players were held responsible for the tumble, not only Ricky, and major changes were made as a result. The Saints also wanted a running back who could score from any place on the field. Ricky hadn't shown the ability to do that in the NFL, while Deuce McAllister hadn't shown he couldn't do it.

MO: Who is the most underrated player in the NFL?

TW: Aeneas Williams. He finally got the credit he's always deserved last year although he didn't get the ring.

MO: Do you feel the NFL should start holding Super Bowl's in northern based cities?

TW: Absolutely not. The Super Bowl has been held in domes or mild-to-warm weather venues since its inception and there's no evidence that anything was wrong with that decision.


MO: Since you are a graduate of the University of Miami asking you if the Canes can repeat would be a stupid question. My question is if the Canes don't repeat would you consider the season a disappointment?

TW: No. Separate year. Expectations cannot carryover from the previous year's result.

MO: Do you see Ken Dorsey as a future NFL quarterback?

TW: No. I think he's Steve Walsh with a stronger arm. A hugely confident winner at the NCAA level who has the belief of his teammates.


MO: The Dolphins didn't sell out their home playoff game last year vs Baltimore. Your a South Florida guy, what is your opinion on the fans in South Florida?

TW: That's not the signature moment of a non sellout in South Florida history...no, it was 1986 when Miami with Testaverde and Johnson played Oklahoma with Bosworth and Switzer and THAT game had unsold tickets.

Sports fans of South Florida do not feel that being loyal means attending games on a regular basis. However, the Dolphins are and always will be king of the market.

A bad crowd for a Dolphins game is significantly larger than an average crowd for other teams in the marketplace.

Outside of that, South Florida fans react to trends among the area teams.

The Marlins make the run to the World Series and even the upper level obstructed view LF seats are being scalped.

The Panthers make the run to the Stanley Cup Finals and become the hottest ticket in the history of the marketplace.

This has gone on too long to ever change and the teams know not to expect anything else.

MO: The Dolphins and Bills improved themselves this offseason while the Pats and Jets seemed to lose a lot of players. Granted its late June, but who do you see as the early favorite in the AFC East at this point in time?

TW: Its New England until proven otherwise.

[TedDanson]

Good interview. Wright has a good show and is never shy about giving his thoughts. I thought the interviewer asked some good questions and Wright comes off as knowledgeable and objective.

[dolphan39]

very solid interview. Really dis'ed Dennis Smith deservedly so even though I was an 'SC fan when he there, but this was disconcerning:

MO: Who will do more for Miami's offense: Ricky Williams or Norv Turner?

TW: Hard to say...but I'll go with Ricky because he has the ability to balance it through his execution.

Turner is a top-level offensive coordinator and has a history of working well with Wannstedt.

Let's put it this way...both are short-term solutions.

Ricky may not be a guy who stays in one place very long and Turner will likely be a head coach again as early as next year or the following year if the Dolphins offense has success.

I have never thought of RW as a S-T solution, but as this point I will woory about the 2003 season after we are done at the beginning of 2003.

[Phin2phin]

I won't go to PhinZone anymore. Those guys have got to be kidding with some of their paranoid writing.

How immature is this?: from http://www.phinzone.com/tank.htm

PhinZone.com
"In case you haven't noticed PhinZone.com is a website that is growing by leaps and bounds. We get larger every day. We, a football website, have been mentioned on both Fox Sports Radio and ESPN Radio within the past month and its the offseason when football isn't even being talked about. And that is just the start as things are looking to explode for us as a website in the near future. We have begun a new feature of interviews and started off with well known talk show hosts Ben Maller and Todd Wright. We have also lined up some huge interviews for down the road. Some big names in the world of sports and names many if not all Dolphins fans are going to love to hear from. Not to mention our contests for you guys to win a pair of tickets to every Miami Dolphins home game will be starting up late this month. So things are on the up and up for PhinZone.com.

Yet, being the #1 Miami Dolphins fan site on the internet comes with it's share of headaches though. Many sites try and rip us off and steal material. I fully expect now a handful of other Dolphins fan sites to start "interviewing" people and radio talk show hosts among others. An idea we had and brought to life only to be stolen. That's ok though. Through the feedback we get from our readers they are smart enough to know which website is cutting edge and on top of things. And which websites out there just rip us off and try to copy everything we do. We at PhinZone.com appreciate more than words can describe our large loyal fan base of readers. You are all the best and we here at PhinZone.com can't say "THANK YOU" enough. You have made us the #1 Miami Dolphins fan site on the internet and everything we do we do for you"

they go on to say;

The internet is a big place and there is room for everybody. We just would like to think that as Dolphins fans we all share a common bond. And if the Dolphins do well, then Miami Dolphins fan sites do well. If the team does poor, well then that effects us also. We aren't and won't bash any other Miami Dolphins fan site out there. They are all good in their own special way and offer a unique perspective. Each has a staff of people who work very hard an are very talented. We just wish and hope that they have enough class and professionalism not to rip off our material and pass it off as their own. And to not steal concepts and ideas they didn't come up with. And if such websites continue to do such, then they will force us to take the necessary action that must be done and we will put the Judicial system at work.

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First I don't know why they feel the need to bag on other Dolphin sites, and why do they need to brag about beng the number one Dolphins site on the net? Wouldn't that be the Miami Dolphins own site?

It was just tacky, and turned me off big time. Dolphin fans surf a lot of places, and the content at most sites are the same. Everyone does interviews, everyone does news, everyone does articles, wallpaper, screensavers, pictures, all that stuff.

So what are they going to do, sue another fan site for putting up a picture they have...do an interview with someone they have talked with?

Sorry, I just don't get it.

P2P

[dolphan39]

Originally posted by Phin2phin
I won't go to PhinZone anymore. Those guys have got to be kidding with some of their paranoid writing.

How immature is this?: from http://www.phinzone.com/tank.htm

PhinZone.com

that's ridiculous - and anyway didn't they ever hear that mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, assuming one was being mimiced.

What is their point that to have similar functionality and a site is theft. That w/b like Microsoft suing my company for having a downloads or customer success section if they had one - it is just a generic idea - like having contests or interviews is proprietary - please

[dolfan87]

I find it actually kind of funny.

Phin Zone is a great site, they have a lot of good content. They don't need to write that type of stuff though, because if they really wanted to get technical, sites such as phins.com, and finheaven were around a long long time before they ever showed up. So they copied everyone else right?

I did an interview with Oronde Gadsden a good month before they did theirs with the Fox Sports guy. Did we have a fit about it...no.

Saying they are the number one Dolphin fan site on the net is just a promotional thing. It could mean all sorts of stuff...number one place to get free give aways...ummm, number one place for wallpaper. So they can say what they want.

If you want to go straight from hits per month, well that's a whole other story.

Like they said, the internet is a big place, let's all just chill out, and enjoy all the fan sites.

[Chisel Monkey]

I listen to him as much as I can stomach on my ride into work M-F. He is about objective as Bill Clinton is Faithful to his wife. He gets alot of sports stars to call in and then procedes to kiss their butts. I'm sure he's a good guy and good journalist-but you'd never know by listening to his show. Plus I haven't even started in on his relentless self promotionalism. I would bank too much on his opinion . Bu that's my opinion,and as far as m wifes concerned that counts for squat.:stooges:

[MDFINFAN]

Hey guys this thread was intended to focus on the Dolphins not a site..I'm happy for any site that talks about the Dolphins, that's why I'm a fan..I can filter out what info is what..but the more outlets about the dolphins, the better..Everyone has an opinion and that's what makes these message boards so great..to hear about all your opinions on the dolphins and other teams and our chances against them.. You guys actually make the site..it's your energy that makes them move..that's why I love this site..you guys seem to stay pretty informed and you help me catch up when I miss things..thanks for you.

[dolfan87]

Originally posted by MDFINFAN
Hey guys this thread was intended to focus on the Dolphins not a site..I'm happy for any site that talks about the Dolphins, that's why I'm a fan..I can filter out what info is what..but the more outlets about the dolphins, the better..Everyone has an opinion and that's what makes these message boards so great..to hear about all your opinions on the dolphins and other teams and our chances against them.. You guys actually make the site..it's your energy that makes them move..that's why I love this site..you guys seem to stay pretty informed and you help me catch up when I miss things..thanks for you.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[TedDanson]

Who cares who says what on what site. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Let's get back to talking football and Miami Dolphins football.

[TedDanson]

Originally posted by dolfan87
I find it actually kind of funny.

Phin Zone is a great site, they have a lot of good content. They don't need to write that type of stuff though, because if they really wanted to get technical, sites such as phins.com, and finheaven were around a long long time before they ever showed up.

They probably weren't talking about this site or the other site you mentioned. Maybe there is another site out there ripping them off that we don't know about. That was the first thing I thought of when I read that yesterday.