Brady/Manning winding down, ray lewis retiring, steelers D old, huge offseason for us

[z926538]

I find it disconcerting the number of posters in this thread [and the number of people in our front office if Ross's public statement is to be believed] who apparently feel there is no hope for the Dolphins until Brady retires. What ever happened to hoping that your team could improve itself and become competitive with the best in the league? I know we're behind the eight-ball here with Ireland as GM, but that still shouldn't be reason to give up all hope. Let's aspire to becoming good enough to beat the Pats and Brady at their best. That will be a Dolphins team of which I will be extremely proud.

[KTDolphins]

I find it disconcerting the number of posters in this thread [and the number of people in our front office if Ross's public statement is to be believed] who apparently feel there is no hope for the Dolphins until Brady retires. What ever happened to hoping that your team could improve itself and become competitive with the best in the league? I know we're behind the eight-ball here with Ireland as GM, but that still shouldn't be reason to give up all hope. Let's aspire to becoming good enough to beat the Pats and Brady at their best. That will be a Dolphins team of which I will be extremely proud.

Agreed, we need to make our own mark, screw waiting for ppl to get old.

[fanfin]

but ray lewis sucks? they just need him to be a defensive assistant so he can yell from the sideline. Im more worried about Flacco Ray hasn't made an impact on a football game in 4-5 years

[normaldude]

I hate this mentality, of waiting for the good opponents to retire. Sitting around, eagerly looking forward to elite opponents getting old or retiring.

I prefer having a mentality of improving the team, so we can beat the best when they're at their best, in their prime. It's like winning the heavyweight boxing title by knocking out the champ, versus the champ retiring and you having the title handed to you. Someone who prefers the latter is a coward, and will never improve.

When Peyton Manning got injured, Tom Brady was disappointed, and he wanted Peyton Manning to recover and get back on the field as soon as possible. They're competitors, and they want to play against the best. Muhammad Ali wanted to fight George Foreman when Foreman was considered "unbeatable". That's the mentality that drives champions.

Before each game, do you sit around hoping that the other team gets food poisoning? I think a better mentality is to focus on improving the Miami Dolphins, rather than hoping other teams get worse.

[Awsi Dooger]

There is some truth to this. The AFC was remarkably weak this season. Only Denver had a YPPA Differential of +1.0 or higher. Keep in mind that +1.0 is hardly extraordinary. Four NFC teams were above that number.

I can't remember a less imposing AFC representative than this Baltimore team. They might get through it on guile and coaching but they are also a candidate to be exposed. Generally when you win twice consecutively as a big underdog, then are promoted to small underdog, all the reasons you were big underdog show up. I deal in tendencies, not single game obsession, but that's an angle that stands out. It's been a big topic in betting circles.

We were healthy all season and won 7 games in a down year for the conference.

[finfan54]

Well, the Steelers have had cap issues and injuries to OL and Big Blowhard Ben. The defense is aging and the HC doesnt seem to have an answer to their probs from a management standpoint. Ray lewis is a huge loss to that D as well as Reed. I mean Cmon! Those guys were all time Bests or argued as such.

Tom Brady however is pissed off (beautiful sight). But Ninkovic said something very interesting the other day. "The Dynasty is over". Wes Welker is really the guy that makes that offense go. Once they got him, they could not be stopped ever! Now he is a FA after being the Franchise Tag. Well, what is going to happen? BB is suddenly going to give him what he deserves? They have four draft picks in this draft.

Peyton Manning was defeated in the playoffs. He is coming off a serious neck issue. He is 37. Still got to beat them though. But hey, a couple of years....its coming. I have thought about this myself with Tannehill.

Got to get him a full deck to play with.