Though I generally don't agree with Salguero, he has hit this one on the head:



http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins ... off-f.html

I have to agree. So many here are ready to proclaim that an ILB, WR and FS are all we need to get us where we want to go. I'm with Salguero on this one: We're not close, and certainly not as close as so many want to think.

that was one of the worst columns I have ever read. Games are won and lost with your O/D front lines and ours are shaping up to be dang good. So, yeah, if we get some quality skill guys we are right there in the mix.

I think we're very close and that's not being a Dolphin fan. The thing with the Dolphins are young and inexperience.

If you watch Dolphin football then you'll know we're well coach,disciplined and we have alot of young talent,that's what wins Championships in future not what this idiot says who probably never played football in his life.


People tend to forget we where 1-15 two seasons ago then Parcells 'n crew came won the division now against sub-par teams I'll give you that,but then the next year we're hanging with the big dogs and not just with the Saints 'n Colts, every team we played where legit playoff teams (expect the Bucs) you could say the Jags 'n Panters weren't playoff teams but they where in the hunt until we knocked them out. Now that's what we like to call "progress" something that the impatient can't grasp.

Some more years for these younger players those position you named and some depth we're SB contenders no doubt in my mind.

Yeah, that was a pretty terrible article. He claims teams are based on the entire season blah blah, and makes it seem as though that in order to be in the Super Bowl you have to have 14 wins and be elite. The Jets at 9-7 were one game away from being in the Super Bowl, and Miami beat them twice. To say the Bucs are close because they beat the Saints is ludacris.

It's all about matchups. If you can create the better matchup, you win. Your regular season wins only matter when it comes to getting into the playoffs. After that, it's about matchups and it's a whole new season....to compare Miami to this year's Super Bowl teams and say they aren't close is just flat out stupid.

Didn't we have both teams on the ropes this year? It took a 4th quarter comeback by Manning to beat us.

If we have a very good offseason. We can contend. JMO. But, there are a lot of ifs. We don't know if Henne will progress or regress. The WR, NT and FS positions are in question. Our best ILB is just mediocre.. We need some improvements. We need to make the right moves and have a solid draft to contend. But, I still think we are headed in the right direction.

I think we're close, but every time we fix one part of the team another deteriorates. Got to fix the inside of our defense, add a big-play WR to take the heat off of Ginn, and replace Gabril Wilson.

I've never heard it put that way before.

Tell us how you really feel Mr. Article writer LOL!

I personally don't think we are as close as you guys seem to think, but not as far away as he thinks.... I'm the middle man it looks like : )

We hung with those teams at home but if those gsmes were on the road both those games could have been over by half time.
Tampa Bay beat the Saints .... are they close?
Personally I agree with the staement that we are not as close as most of us think but not as far away as some think as well. We are right in there with all those 7-9 , 8-8 , 9-7 teams in the AFC that were all bottle necked during the playoff run in the last part of the season. No better than them , no worse.
Alot of us thought we were close at the start of the 07 season as well.

Yikes, I'd like to meet those people and shake them senseful.

I really don't even know why I bother reading this guy's articles anymore, if so many people felt that way about mine I would just stop writing in order to avoid embarrasing myself.
This team has progressed a lot faster than everyone expected them to since the '07 season when we went 1 and 15... I think our offense really needs a #1 WR and if we get him we will see an immediate impact, other than that offensively we have a pretty solid line and pretty solid players. Our defense is what needs work but IMO we might be abe to get what we need with Parcells being in charge. Most defensive players coming out of college are closer to being ready for the pros than the offensive players are and we have a chance to draft a guy like McClain who I think will be ready to come out and perform at a high level. We have rookies who performed well above what was expected and were able to hang for the whole season. We were able to stay in the playoff hunt 'til week 17 with a rookie QB and a lot of injuries.
So I'm sorry I have to disagree, I think we are closer to making it to the big game than expected, the Super Bowl might not happen next season but I think the playoffs will, and we will make an impact once we get there.
If you can hang in during the season, then the playoffs are all about matchups and although we lost those this season, it was never a blowout.
A lot of people believe that defenses are what wins Super Bowls, and although I won't take anything away from the Colts' or Saints' defenses we know the strength of these teams is in the offense. I think we are a WR away from a much stronger offense and a couple of upgrades to our defense should give us enough of a boost... Tha's my opinion anyway

Have to agree with you here Mitch. I think we are heading in the right direction, but we aren't near the caliber of the Saints or Colts. Good teams are consistent and their record shows it. We are up and coming, but we have a ways yet to go.

So I should just hang it up then??

Thanks Armando, you saved me about $1000 in season tickets, I can get some good fishing in next season with that money...

See you guys next Feb to see if Punxsutawney Armando sees his shadow or if we get 1 more season of doom...

PS: was it just me or did the NY Jets go to the AFC Championship game this year??

Yeah, I guess everyone predicted that tho.... 9-7 and 1 game away from the super bowl... with a rookie QB...

Exactly.

I also agree that this game is about matchups. Miami still doesn't have the depth or talent to compete week in week out with the really good teams of the NFL. I think that this team can quickly make strides to being a consistently good team if they can improve the pass rush with help at OLB, upgrade at ILB, find our future NT, upgrade at safety and add a legit #1 WR. That seems like a lot but its only 6 or 7 players. Once they improve those areas they can worry about becoming an elite team by adding or drafting a few more Pro Bowl type players. Miami has come a long way since the 1-15 season. But still has a way to go before being considered in the same catagory as the Saints or Colts. I do believe that if they add a legit #1WR and more pass rush on defense they would immediately help this team make a run at being a 1st round playoff team.

Well they did have the number 1 defense in the NFL and the number 1 rushing offense.......so......

Ok, lets get the facts out first... With all this talk about NO and Indy...

Indy had
Offense
32nd ranked run offense (beat the best run D)
9th in yards per game
7th in points per game
2nd in passing yards
But we all know "defense wins championships"
Defense
24th against the run (beat the best run O)
18th in yards per game
14th in pass yards
8th in points

New Orleans:
Offense was stellar:
1st in Points
1st in Yards
4th passing
6th rushing

Defense wins championships??

26th against the pass
25th in yards
21st in rush yards
20th in points...


These two teams are far from the greatness some seem to put them at... Yes they are great in areas, but not in others. Its all about preparation and planning.

Miami fell off mid season and did a tail spin at the end and beginning. At one point we were a great running team, and had a great run D. We were suspect to the passing attack, and lets face it, never needed Henne to shine...

Henne had a spectacular game against NE, they put it in his hands and he delivered. We need more of that if we are going to be a power passing team. We also need a new coach and VP of player personnel....


Sorry, but I dont think at this point in time we have any less shot at being successful then any other team... Where are all the clowns that had Brady's return putting the Patsies as a shoe in for the super bowl?
How did that work out?????
The Steelers looked golden last year at this time...
They didnt even scratch the post season this year.... And they have great ILB's, OLB's WR's, FS's etc.....

No white flag for me....

While it feels good for a lot of us to know we made those two teams sweat to beat us (let's not take that away), I like to look at where this team was at the end of the season. I think they would have spanked us in December if they played their starters.


Anyways, Ronnie thinks we're close. Who am I to argue with our biggest playmaker;)

Look , after the super bowl most fans (& teams) can & should be optimistic. This is no news flash but every team wants to improve , not just us. Also , every season there seems to be break out teams , that is teams that were not expected to compete but did. A couple of years ago it was us & the Falcons this past year you could say the same for the Bengals & I guess the Jets.
You can throw up all the stats you want but the talking is clearly done on the field & clearly the Saints & Colts were better than us. That is not to say any hope or optimism on our part is false.
But while you can say we hung with the Saints , we also lost to the Bills , almost lost to the Bucs & the kicker is we lost our last 3 games which honestly were playoff type games. Games we needed to make a statement that we are ready to move to the next level.
I dont know why everyone seems to still bring up Brady & the Patriots. Guys , they have nowjere else to go but down. They have been in 4 ... yes 4 recent super bowls winning 3 of them. As a fan I would welcome that down turn after all that success. Still they won 11 games last year & won the division this year. But we should worry about our team.
Things change quickly in the NFL , 3 or 4 division winners from 08 did not make the playoffs in 09. (us , Giants , Titans & Panthers?)
But kust as the 7 game winning streak from Sabans first year did nothing for us going into the following year , our 3 game losing streak will also have no effect.
Guys , its a clean slate , for all teams & its just not us looking to win. We have seen this before , what we thought to be a great off season & we know the results. Right now I hope that we do more than just hiring what is thought to be a great defensive coordinator. I remember when we hired mean Joe Greene ... oh the optimism & I dont even think he was a coordinator.
Lets see what the off season brings , then we can list our theories why we will win the next 5 super bowls.

good post

I wish I knew where I could get those rose colored glasses so many around here are wearing.

Well I guess when you pick one thing out of everything I said and comment on it. It makes it look very broad and generalized.

We can contend.. if we do the things I list. #1 WR. Get a NT in place. Or have Soliai step it up. Replace Wilson with even someone somewhat solid. Draft a stud for the ILB. Hope Henne doesn't regress. As I said in my original post which you left most of out. A lot of ifs. A lot of things have to happen. But, if they do happen I would consider it a very good offseason and would expect us to contend.

Well first, I was just pulling your leg. But secondly, I think it's fair to point out that that is the case for every team rebuilding.

Add an ILB, an OLB, a WR, and a young NT and we are in business if we can stay healthy.

This article was garbage. I got through about 1/3 of it and stopped.

Oh so you skipped the part where he explained how to get free Dolphins tickets then?

So all we need to do is replace over 25% of our starters on defense, with one of those positions being NT and very hard to come by, and the other 2 being a full half of our LB corps along with the task of finding unobtanium in a big strong true #1.

I would argue that you have aptly described exactly why we are not that close.

I didn't say we needed to find a starter at NT. I think a young guy to spell Soliai (and Ferg if he comes back) is enough. I mid-late round pick will suffice, IMO.

As far as LB, yeah, it's going to be tough. I think you spend both top picks on a LB, and we should be set.

If the rumors about Boldin are true....Bang! WR, NT, ILB, OLB taken care of...

...and with 6 draft picks to spare

Well I will see you guys next Feb, seems so many have already thrown in the towel for the 2010 season, I guess there is no point in watching...

Even if they add a WR, OLB, ILB, NT we will not even be able to compete next year...

4 - 12 if we are lucky..... [/sarcasm]

Who has done that?

The team needs a little more talent to go from consistently mediocre to good. Then just a little more talent to go from good to elite. I guess it all comes down to your expectations. 1-15 was only a couple of years ago. I haven't thrown in the towel. I will watch them whether they go 1-15 or 15-1. I don't expect this team to compete for a superbowl next year because they still have a way to go in adding the right players. I do expect a team that can go 8-8 to 10-6 right now if they stay injury free. Add a #1 WR, some pass rush and some depth at NT to stop the run and the team can be a legit early round playoff contender. After that if they upgrade Gibril Wilson, Channing Crowder & TE and if Henne doesn't regress IMO they are really close.

Certainly nobody here is advocating to throw in the towel on a season that is a long ways away. Actually for a change on a thread there is alot of "realist" posts here. Guys are actually getting where this team is right now without letting there homer or non homer feelings get in the way.
Guys keep bringing up 1-15 to 11-5. Maybe the Dolphins are neither of those. Just as in the law of averages you throw out the best & worst score. That would leave us at somewhere of a 7-9 team. Right where we are right now.

If you think Soliai can handle being the fulltime starter, you're sadly mistaken. When he was this season after Ferguson went down, our run D fell off the table.

That was a really good article. The real truth is that we do not yet have the caliber of players that the great teams have (I hope we have the coaching).

Optimistically, our young players should continue to improve while their old players should begin to decline. That's basically what I'm hoping for. It's a long process and I expect to win a lot of football games before it happens I lets hope we have to right young talent,can get more of it, and grow into a great team.