Hyde5: Five Dolphins thoughts from the Super Bowl
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Here's how the Super Bowl applies to the Dolphins plans and thoughts:
1. Offense wins championships. These were the two most old-school teams in the NFL. Two great running backs. Strong defenses. Coaches trusting in traditional means to win. And look what happened. A 34-31 game. A game where throwing again decided the affairs. This isn’t to say you don’t need balance – of course, you have to build a defense. Of course, Baltimore’s defensive stand at the goal line closed the game. But the lesson once again for the Dolphins is you need to score points. They only scored more than the 49ers’ losing 31 points once in 2011 (35 against Oakland). This Super Bowl was the norm, too. In the four games of the semi-final weekend, no team scored fewer than Seattle’s 28 points (all in the second half) in losing to Atlanta. Once upon a time, defense was the blueprint to win championships. Only someone clinging to yesterday still thinks that in the NFL today.
2. The receiving corps matters more and more. Who made whom in this game? Did Joe Flacco make the receivers, as quarterbacks traditionally are thought to do for receivers? Or did the receivers make Flacco the MVP? Flacco had a great game, no doubt. But Jacoby Jones got 10 yards behind the 49ers secondary, came back for an underthrown ball, then beat two defenders to the end zone for a 56-yard touchdown. Anquan Boldin caught a jump-ball pass for a 31-yard catch on a third down. This underlines what everyone knows: Ryan Tannehill needs help. When Tom Brady lost his favorite weapon in Rob Gronkowski, he could beat the Dolphins, but the offense suffered against the league’s best teams. I still think a quarterback can turn an average receiver into a good one, and a good one into a great one. But more and more you see receivers are helping make quarterbacks, too.
3. The best teams don’t win – the ones that play the best do. An illegal formation on the first play of the game by San Francisco? That kind of sums up the 49ers day. San Francisco, to me, had the better talent and should have won the game. But Baltimore played a near-perfect game and executed their game plan perfectly. Both these teams were well-coached. But Baltimore played better this night.
4. And next year I'm rooting for a snowstorm in New York next year. The Superdome is 38 years old and acted every bit of that on Sunday in a power outage of 34 minutes. I’m expecting a publicly-funded proposal to update the stadium come out from the Saints any day now. San Diego, New Orleans and South Florida should be part of any Super Bowl rotation. They’re the best cities for holding Super Bowls. But the stadium has canceled San Diego from plans, New Orleans looks in trouble … and Sun Life? The point is this: the NFL should be helping pay for these updates because these cities are crucial to Super Bowl success. The truth is these renovations are for the Dolphins and the Super Bowl is a shield. As I wrote with the Marlins, Panthers and Heat, the public shouldn’t be asked to keep dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into stadiums.
5. You’re never as far away as you look. Entering the2011, the 49ers were coming off a 6-10 season, didn’t have a proven quarterback and had a new coach and general manager. That 2011 draft, their top two picks were pass-rushing defensive end Aldon Smith and quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Added to what they had their, and adding Jim Harbaugh to the mix, they were on their way. One good off-season can change everything. The Dolphins fans keep hoping for that off-season.
Your thoughts ?
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