I must admit, it was nice to see the Miami Dolphins beat the Jets last week. It’s a rival we all love to hate. Better yet, anytime the Phins win a game it’s an early Christmas! We can all relate that Sundays have been painful to watch. They deserve a win, but deep down, it didn’t sit well with me. If they plan to tank this season, why punt a year away to win a few games? If the Dolphins go 3-13 and get the number 4 in the draft, what was the point in the grand scheme of things??? Every real Dolphins fan knows that they’re trying to position themselves for the next 2 drafts. Stockpile picks, spend wisely in free agency and most importantly, find our Franchise Quarterback. I just want what’s best for the Franchise moving forward and that’s securing the 1st pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Brian Flores has done an amazing job this year keeping this team together and playing hard.
— DolphinsTalk.com (@DolphinsTalk) November 7, 2019
Watching the 2019 Miami Dolphins is like watching a deadly car crash before it happens. Just like when the Dolphins were 0-6 the year before they drafted Tannehill. They won some games and got the 8th pick, rather than getting Andrew Luck with the 1st pick.
As happy as I am to see this team coming more together each Sunday, we forget what this year is about: We need them to lose to get better draft position, plus cheering against the Steelers and Texans. What’s the difference between 0 wins and 3 wins? Both aren’t great, it just depends on what pick you get. Regardless of their record, this year is a loss. I’m content with that.
The biggest plus so far for the future is it seems like the players are playing hard for Coach Flores. It seems like he is setting up a solid foundation and culture for the locker room. I was also enjoying watching the developing role of Preston Williams. It was a pleasant surprise! Right when he was getting better and more consistent, he tears his ACL on a punt return. Why wasn’t someone else back there? Wilson? Grant? A trash can? What are we doing? Really? I don’t get it. On another note, Mark Walton has been showing promise, although recently suspended for the next 4 games. Player development is also what this season is about. Watching Mike Gesicki catch a few passes was exciting to witness after 2 years. With both Williams and Walton out, maybe we can see a little more from him? Christian Wilkins recording a sack was a bonus, Taco Charlton being productive is also exciting for the future of the Dolphins.
To wrap up my thoughts so far this season: Get the premium picks and don’t miss on them. Draft the Goff’s and the Barkley’s and the Myles Garrett. Just don’t pick the Devante Parker’s, Charles Harris of the world. The Dolphins need the number one pick because they have shown over the last 20 years, they can’t evaluate QB talent. The last time they had the 1st pick, they grabbed Jake Long over Matt Ryan. Long had 4 good years, Ryan has thrown for 40,000 yards. Stop the winning, embrace the losses. If not, what is this year for? Even a win is a loss.
As always, Phins up!
Yes Mike, I do agree with you. The fan base appears to be fractured into 2 camps. The rebuilding camp and the others. The rebuilding camp is sad that we won against the Jets and please don’t get me wrong – anytime you can stick it to Adam “waste of space” Gase is a good day. But the garden variety fans, the season ticket holders that drive for ages to spend the day at tail gate parties and watch the game are very frustrated.
While I don’t agree with tanking, it is the strategy the front office chose, and they chose it in January, went off to training camp, decided that what they had, wasn’t enough. From that point on, the front office then decided to leverage out their assets for draft capital. Effectively, they wrote off the training camp, wrote off and shredded the play book and appear to start the season winging it week to week. There was an article that said the Oline players sat in the lunch room before the first regular season game and didn’t know each other’s first names. So it is the strategy the front office chose and it is too late to turn back on it, whether you agree with tanking or not. I really dont want to have to sit through another year of this garbage. And it would seem like winning games now erodes our draft capital and puts us back into the mire of mediocrity.
While we see improvement each week and that is awesome. It demonstrates that it takes time to build unit cohesion for each of the units within the team and team cohesion for the offence, defence and special teams to work together. So let’s say, for argument’s sake, that a magic wand gets waved and everything Miami wants in the draft and free agency happens. It’s going to take a period of time before it all starts coming together. The “tankers” seem to think that picking a franchise QB is like the Messiah in the desert and all the problems will be solved then and there. While the regular fans are going to think that next year, we will turn it all around.
I think there is more to it than that. There are still a million variables to be worked through. Time has a way of telling and time has told us that the front office is not that good and trading. Its the same front office that brought us Tannehill and Gase and all the other mediocre stars. Even Rosen was a high draft pick and he has fizzled. While I like Coach Flores, time will tell whether he has the ability to turn it all around. I suspect that he does. Though it is going to be a difficult journey to take a team that has taken a whooping every week and turn them into Champions again. We have seen it a couple of times where a game could have gone our way but we didnt seem to have what it takes to keep pouring it on to actually win. This is the total opposite of characters like Jimmy Johnson.
The point is this. The regular fans are frustrated now and many of the tankers have unrealistic expectations. I see that no matter what happens we will go from abyssmal – this year, to mediocre at best, next year. I am concerned about 2 things. I think the fan base will shrink considerably if that happens. Secondly, Does Chris Grier keep his job if the trades dont work out Miami’s way and there are holes in the team as we did not get the players we need to put on a show each week ?
I realise that you probably can’t answer these political questions, but it is good to get them off my chest at least.
I hope it all works out. I don’t want you to think I am a pessimist and please make me eat my words and if they win the super bowl next year I will shout from every building what a dingbat I am and i got it wrong … Mea Culpa. But I do think that people are looking for magic bullets and quick fixes and they don’t happen often overnight. It’s going to take improvement at every level, from player selection, coaching and strategy, psychology and organisational culture, coaching not just the technical aspects of football but an entire managemnt and organisational focus that will be required to turn this around,
Kind regards
Mike Warr