Arkady Renko Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Both were hot teams that finished strong mainly against losing teams to go to 9-7. Any other similarities? I must say that the Dolphins are one of the most overhyped teams this year. Super Bowl? I will take that bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibs Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 .....Dolphins are one of the most overhyped teams this year..... 756829[/snapback] Gee, that makes a change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albany,n.y. Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The Dolphins main problem is their O line. However, the QB upgrade is so significant, Frerotte to Culpepper. The 2005 Bills went from Bledsoe to Losman 2005. Miami will not be 5-11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The Dolphins main problem is their O line. However, the QB upgrade is so significant, Frerotte to Culpepper. The 2005 Bills went from Bledsoe to Losman 2005. Miami will not be 5-11. 756977[/snapback] The QB upgrade is notable, but the play calling of Mularky will be their undoing. After the scripted first 15 plays he goes down for the count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The Dolphins main problem is their O line. However, the QB upgrade is so significant, Frerotte to Culpepper. The 2005 Bills went from Bledsoe to Losman 2005. Miami will not be 5-11. 756977[/snapback] But won't be 12-4 either as everyone seems to think.....This love for Saban from ESPN is disgusting.....They will be a 9-7 team again fighting for a playoffs.... There last 5 games in December are brutal... Home to Jacksonville and the Patriots. Two road games at Buffalo in the cold/snow on Dec 17th and finish their season at Indy.....They could be 1-4 in those games with a lone win against the Jets at home. In addition they have 3 tough road games opening at the Steelers, at the Patriots and at Chicago.....9-7 looks more likely...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The QB upgrade is notable, but the play calling of Mularky will be their undoing. After the scripted first 15 plays he goes down for the count. 756979[/snapback] "Adjustments? What do you mean, adjustments? Daunte, run the flea-flicker again." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 "Adjustments? What do you mean, adjustments? Daunte, run the flea-flicker again." 756983[/snapback] Yeh ! And let's try a triple reverse play ! Heck lets reverse 4 times, they would never expect that ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBuffaloDisease Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Culpepper has a lot to prove. His season last year BEFORE injury was lousy, and once Brad Johnson stepped into the starting role, the offense improved immediately. Also the knee injury will be a factor, despite how he may have looked in pre-season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 They "upgraded" from last year by bringing MM in to be the Offensive Co-ordinator, and Bennie Anderson to improve the o-line, and they are going to be better then last year cause they picked up a QB who struggled last year before blowing out his knee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortured Soul Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The QB upgrade is notable, but the play calling of Mularky will be their undoing. After the scripted first 15 plays he goes down for the count. 756979[/snapback] Does anyone know for a fact MM will be calling plays? A 9-7 team that significantly upgrades their QB plus is entering the second year of Nick Saban's coaching? I don't think 11-5 is that big a deal at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBuffaloDisease Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 They "upgraded" from last year by bringing MM in to be the Offensive Co-ordinator, and Bennie Anderson to improve the o-line, and they are going to be better then last year cause they picked up a QB who struggled last year before blowing out his knee? Not to mention they lost half their running game when Toke Williams got suspended, and have no decent backup RB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibs Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 They "upgraded" from last year by bringing MM in to be the Offensive Co-ordinator, and Bennie Anderson to improve the o-line, and they are going to be better then last year cause they picked up a QB who struggled last year before blowing out his knee? 757034[/snapback] ...but that's alright because they picked up Harrington. He was the #3 overall in the draft one year so he must be pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckshot Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Culpepper has a lot to prove. His season last year BEFORE injury was lousy, and once Brad Johnson stepped into the starting role, the offense improved immediately. Also the knee injury will be a factor, despite how he may have looked in pre-season. 756992[/snapback] In addition, if I may, Culpepper has proven to be a poor QB under pressure. In 2002 (after the prior exits of Christy, McDaniel and then Corey Stringer?? ) he struggled with 18 TD's, 23 INT's, and 23 fumbles. Enter Matt Birk, McKinney and others and he did good again. 2005 Birk goes down and again Culpepper (in 7 games) throws 6 TD's, 12 INT's, and 7 fumbles. If the Dolphins truely have a poor line, I don't think they really upgraded at QB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003Contenders Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Both were hot teams that finished strong mainly against losing teams to go to 9-7. Any other similarities? I must say that the Dolphins are one of the most overhyped teams this year. Super Bowl? I will take that bet. 756829[/snapback] To a certain extent, I see where you are coming from because there are some similarities. Namely, their record last season was somewhat inflated by an easy schedule, just like ours was in 2004. However, unlike the MM and TD idiocy, they seem to understand that they weren't quite good enough and have done some things to make their team better. Remember, heading into last season TD and MM seemed to think that our defense was so good and our running game sound enough that we could get by with essentially a rookie QB. That isn't a knock on JP -- just that the defense and running game were't strong enough that we could win just by having the QB make minimal mistakes. Of course, TD made the same mistake after 2002, thinking that the Bledsoe-led offense was so good that with an improved defense we'd be Super Bowl bound. Well, he did improve the defense, but the offense fell apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicBills Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Does anyone know for a fact MM will be calling plays? 757037[/snapback] Well, that is what Offensive Coordinators tend to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 However, unlike the MM and TD idiocy, they seem to understand that they weren't quite good enough and have done some things to make their team better. 757220[/snapback] So to get better they picked up an overrated QB coming off a serious knee injury (ok, the overrated part is IMO because he has never really impressed me especially without Moss or Carter to throw too) and raiding our cast-offs? Bennie Anderson is actually being considered an improvement from them and they picked up a MM to be the offensive co-ordinator after getting to see this guys work twice a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firedawg Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The Dolphins main problem is their O line. However, the QB upgrade is so significant, Frerotte to Culpepper. The 2005 Bills went from Bledsoe to Losman 2005. Miami will not be 5-11. 756977[/snapback] The change from Ferotte to Culpeper is significant in terms of that position. I don't think anyone will argue that Culpepper is a fine QB. A fine QB that lost alot of time due to a knee injury. I didn't see any of the pre-season with the felons so I can't comment on how they look but I can say that I wouldn't write them into the SB yet. 10-6 seems attainable but not a SB run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrite Gal Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The QB upgrade is notable, but the play calling of Mularky will be their undoing. After the scripted first 15 plays he goes down for the count. 756979[/snapback] I know the habit here is to hate most former Bills when they leave and declare them total idiots. However, MM is like most folks in that he has both strengths and weaknesses which he showed here: 1. Strengths- A. Developed a good framework for building the team and stuck with it through bad times- The thing MM did which impressed me most during his time here was that he had a plan to rebuild this squad from the horrible 2003 season and did this despite an anwful start to 2004 while the team got used to the approach, embraced it and eventually went on the winning streak which fell short of the playoffs. The news media and many fans wanted him to panic and make radical changes but they stuck to the plan and it worked a lot better than the GW model. B. Very good gameplanning and management in 2004- The streak was great to watch as MM developed some good gameplans for the games and managed them well making good adjustments at half time and also making some good play calls at critical times to stick a fork in opponents. I particularly liked the decision to do an onside kick against Miami ti begin the half which deflated their comeback and some of his use of trick plays like the fake Bledsoe QB sneak and pitch to WM for the TD. C. Continued the good offensive performance he produced in Pitts as OC with hiring and oversight of TC in 04- In particular the showed with their use and redevelopment of Bledsoe a real ability to find a winning way with a failed QB. There unexpected use of Bledsoe as a runner to keep Ds staying home a bit to guard the center of the field and not sell out to blitz was a great move and a key to the streak. 2. Weaknesses= A. Really imploded as a team manager- He and MM apparently did not see eye-to-eye on the QB situation as TD was willing to cashier the present for an uncertain future developing JP while MM and many on the team seem to have prefered having a better chance at winning now (even if it was a small or bad chance) with Bledsoe or Holcomb at QB. The failure of the leadership to agree on an approach or aggree to disagree more smoothly really tore this team apart. It takes two to tango so both MM and TD deserve blame for this. B. Seem to use fear to get results in 2004 but this has limited effectiveness and was not replaced- I think one of the big motivators in 2004 was oddly a small move in terms of team impact of the Bills cutting Bobby Shaw just before the win streak. The move did not save any $ as Shaw was entitled to a full season contract by that point and an important player was activated (Peters I think), but the key was the Bills decided to cut a well-liked player who was NOT a cancer he simply did not fit into the positional scheme. I think this motivated the players to know that they needed to contribute if they were gonna stick around. Though I think that most players thought this was harsh but fair, it was not the "we are family" approach that many teams take to become TEAMS. Instead, I think that it made it harder and ultimately a failure for this group to deal with hard times when they came (the difference in goal between MM and TD). If the Bills had cultivated more of a TEAM approach (which folks like the Pats had and even when Belicheck screweed up negotiations with Milloy totally and some bad injuries occured, the players sucked it up and played together) they might have done better in the hard times. Because MM had used fear of losing their job as a motivator in 04, he squeezed Ws from the players. However, ultimately the players did not prove good enough to get to the playoffs in 04. Success tends to heal all wounds and if they had been good enough to make it they probably could have gone on. Hopwever, they were not, and when a tough time came and the GM used his Ralph given muscle to fire Bledsoe and take a less than less chance of success in 05 the Bills fell from even being a team to being a group of individual players. I think this is where they lost their edge and a small chunk of extra effort which would have allowed them to stop the run rather than be overrun against TB and AT. I think this everyone for themselves attitude ended up with the Bills responding more poorly to the lose of TKO than the Pats responded to the loss of Colvin. Finally, the reliance on fear as a motivator (an effective tool but only for a short time so you better win fast if you rely on it) led to a total meltdown as alleged team leader had a hissy-fit when Evans surpassed him as the go-to guy and he took on Tyke Tolbert during a game. None of the Bills (even NFLPA Pres Vincent) came to Moulds defense when he was suspended (I mean even some of the Eagles were willing to defend TO when he acted like a baby) and these individuals could not even be a team when times got tough. I am glad that TD and MM are gone as they pushed a failed approach. TD semed mostly motivated by being sure the guy he hired could be beaten so he didn't get fired by the HC as he had in Pitts. Though TD was correctly fired for us to build a winner, I think MM had been used up and had too much bad karma to stick around. i am glad he left but I do not allow this to get me to overlook some real strengths that are part of his make-up and approach to the game. I think Miami has a number of other issues which should cause them to meltdown and allow us to squish the Fish this year (residue of a horrible situation with the demise of Wickey Williams, Chambers being a prima donna, a need to replace an aging LB crew with Seau gone and Thomas having a lot of mileage, the oddity and unexplored impacts of Jason Taylor and Thomas' sister divorcing, and whatever else. However, i think that MM being an idiot is not one of their problems. In fact, he is the perfect guy to analyze and build an offensive approach which can rehab the career of a recently failed QB in Culppeper as he oversaw the redevelopment of Kordell, Maddox and Bledsoe on his watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swift Sylvan Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The Dolphins at this point are a good team, (minus Bennie) however schedules can be a killer. The Chargers were much better than their record showed last year going 9-7 but being the first team to beat the Colts. Miami had a 4th place schedule last year. This year they have a 2nd. Because they have a harder schedule, even though they've improved. I'm gonna say it's a wash and they end up somewhere between 7-9 and 9-7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generaLee83 Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The QB upgrade is notable, but the play calling of Mularky will be their undoing. After the scripted first 15 plays he goes down for the count. 756979[/snapback] I think you're right. Mularkey will make some catastrophic play calls this year. I hope the Fins fans are ready to get pissed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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