Steven Ross He’s Committed!

If you look at that plate of ham and eggs you notice two common items most people eat daily HAM & EGGS! Now both items came by two different methods. One was by way of contribution while the other took on a full commitment. You see the Chicken contributed to the meal by laying the Eggs but the PIG  he committed to the meal by giving up his life for you to enjoy that ham.

That is how I see Mr. Ross the owner of the Dolphins. He is truly committed ALL IN in turning this team into a winner and I do not think it’s just for the obvious reasons MONEY! Yes, who in their right mind would not want his business to be profitable? Who would spend over a billion dollars to by a team and invest countless millions more despite the team barley being profitable if not even losing money? Is that not commitment?

I truly believe that Mr. Ross is a true fan of this team and he will stop at nothing to make it a winner. We Dolphins fans should feel very fortunate that we have such a committed owner who has sacrificed a lot for this team. I for one am very grateful to him. He seems to have put everything in place to turn the Dolphins recent history around and bring this team back to the glory days.

I wrote an article last year criticizing what I call bandwagon fans who have the money to go to the games but use the losing as an excuse to not attend the games and support the team. Did they ever think that their lack of support contributes also to the team losing because we fail to have that 6th man the crowd to emotionally lift or team during difficult times in the game?

I am originally from the Mid West and I grew up watching the Packers play even when they were one of the worst teams in the NFL the fans LOVED that team and supported it through good and bad! The fact that they still have a waiting list some 30 years for people to obtain season tickets attest to how loyal the fans are in that area.

How about you? Are you a contributor or are you committed?  Are you a die hard fan or are you a bandwagon  jumping fan? Only you know your true character and all I can say is support the Dolphins, some are taking that team and it’s location for granted but in time if they keep losing money even the most committed owner will have to assess weather it’s time to sell the team and believe me some buyer might just conclude that South Florida is no longer an option to keep the team and move them to a more supportive area.

So as the season approaches can you show your gratitude to the team for all that they are doing to turn this thing around? Are you in a position to attend a game or two or buy season tickets? What will it take for you to make such a commitment? Now I know for some it is no longer financially feasible for them to shell out the money it takes to attend the games especially if you have family, and for you I am not directing my criticism maybe you can find a way to attend one game live….? But for the folks who are to lazy or to cheap or are using excuses I once again refer you to my article written last year . ( 
http://dolphinseer.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/calling-out-appealing-to-south-florida-dolphins-fans/
                                       )

The Dolphins have a very good owner in Steven Ross who is committed to this team and he has put his money where his mouth is and I want to personally thank Mr. Ross for being a good steward of the team and Owner.

Dan Carpenter Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

Last year Dan Carpenter missed some very important field goals even though his percentage was 81% it is unacceptable to miss potential game winning field goals. As a strategy Miami can not go for it when they need a 50 yard field goal with Carpenter as our kicker because for his career field goals over 50 yards he is only 50% contrast that with one of the best kickers in the NFL David Akers who lead the league with kicks 50 or greater posting 7 out of 9 attempts and even tied an NFL record with a 63 yard field goal.

Dan Carpenter missed two kicks against the Jets last year in a Miami loss 23-20 at home he missed kicks  from 47 and 48 yards the first in regulation, and the second in overtime that would have won the game. Overall Carpenter made 22 of 27 field goals in 2012, missing three of five from 50-plus yards. He is slated to make $2.7 million in 2013, the final year of his deal. He should have expected competition after his performance last year and sure enough he got it when Miami drafted a rookie kicker in the 5th round named Caleb Sturgis. Sturgis seems to have an advantage in this competition because he is cheaper, has a better % kicking 50+ yards and was drafted in the 5th and you do not waste a 5th round pick on a kicker if you do not plan on playing him.

So from all appearances Sturgis should take Carpenters job. There is one problem with Sturgis that being his size he is 5′-10″ a bit small for his position but his accuracy beyond 50 yards is there and there is a video of him kicking from 55, 61,72 and two from 62 yards out and he connects on each attempt.

Obviously this is not in a game situation but the point being is this kid has power in his legs.

So as training camp gets started this just might be one of a few legitimate training camp battles but with that being said I do feel it’s Sturgis job to lose because he really has the advantage in quite a few areas but most importantly it appears  in leg strength.

So what do you think is Dan Carpenter on his way out? Or does he really have a shot at being Miami’s kicker in 2013?

Miami Offensive Line Is It Underrated?

When the free agent market opened and Miami lost big Jake Long many were convinced that Miami’s biggest need was LT. I did not share that opinion because last year we essentially drafted a LT and had him man the right side of the line. And as Jake once again went down we moved Jonathan Martin to the left side and he did a decent job from what I recall.

So with Jake moving on it seemed quite natural to me that Jonathan Martin would move permanently to the left side of the line his natural position he has played his entire college career. But for some reason coming up to and during the draft many people just knew Miami needed a LT and so the rumors that Miami was in talks with KC to acquire Branden Albert leaked and what was reported as compensation KC was asking for I dismissed that as foolish speculation because there was no way Miami should have bailed KC out of their conundrum. So all the way up to the draft rumors persisted that some deal was in the works, I am not a fan of trading with Andy Reid ever again because Andy seems to try and get over in trades. I am still fuming over the AJ Feely raping he gave Dave Wandstedt…. So as draft day came and Jeff traded up to get the 3rd pick in the 2013 draft it was almost guaranteed in many folks eyes that the pick was Lane Johnson OT Oklahoma and to the surprise of many it was not Lane Johnson but in fact what was truly a greater need on my board a pass rushing DE/OLB Dion Jordan.

Now we all know that this season and years from now the decision to pick Jordan over Johnson will be second guessed in hindsight should Jordan struggle. But should he prove to be all that Ireland hoped he would be than Jeff will look like a genius. That pick though proved that even in Jeff Irelands mind Miami’s O-Line was not as bad as some were projecting and that they had all along planned to allow Martin to man the left side of the line and if there were any doubts still at that time they were eventually removed once Miami signed free agent RT Tyson Clabo.

This brings me back to the topic at hand Miami’s offensive line. Is the line as bad as some think? Where do they fit in your mind? How good or bad is our offensive line?

I am not sure about you but I feel Miami’s offensive line is a very solid line moving towards one of the top lines in the game. We have arguably one of the top Centers in the game in Mike Pouncey he is young and already pro bowl caliber in two short years and if he maintains his health will be our center for years to come . We have at right tackle Tyson Clabo a free agent pickup who was considered one of the best at his position and was a 2010 Pro Bowl selection. He was dumped in a money saving move by Atlanta. And wisely brought in by Miami.

At Right Guard we have a solid young player in John Jerry who has come to camp in shape and is ready to defend his position and in addition we have a solid free agent Lance Louis to compete as well as for depth.

They also have at left guard Richie Incognito who was voted to the pro-bowl last year and In the third round, Miami drafted  Dallas Thomas, an offensive lineman from Tennessee. He played left tackle for two years at Tennessee, before moving inside to left guard for his senior year. He most likely will compete with Incognito for the left guard position and eventually replace him if not this year then next year for sure. And we have young Jonathan Martin anointed to LT  and Miami have depth all across the line should injuries occur.

So if you really take a close look at the offensive line of Miami you will see a solid group of players who are full of youth with at least 3 pro bowl players (Pouncy, Incognito, Clabo) and are flexible enough to be moved should injury occur as well as depth with solid players waiting to step in. In fact in just after Philbin’s first full year he has a better o-line than Sparano ever had.

So I do not share the opinion of some that Miami’s offensive line is weak but I feel they are a strength and with the youth we have will only get better.

Don’t Bury Egnew Yet!

One of the players who “Hard Knocks” focused on in a negative light last year was our 2012 3rd round pick TE Michael Egnew, who seemed to locate Mike Sherman’s dog house quite quickly and really never seemed to get out of it all season and in many folks eyes is primed for being a camp causality this year so early in his young career. Miami has loaded up on TE’s in the free agent market (Dustin Keller) and with another draft pick Dion Simms and if anybody knows the Packers Offense TE’s are a huge part of their passing attack so it will happen that the Dolphins will find TE’s to do the job and will have a group capable of doing the things needed well, blocking, Running and catching…..

Joe Philbin tossed a life line towards his young TE when he recently said it takes 2-3 years for TE’s to develop and he also seemed to agree that they could have done more to involve Egnew last year and get him more playing time. But to Egnew’s credit he did not sit back and sulk and from what is being reported Egnew has spent the offseason working on his game and bulking up, even using MMA technics to help with his agility as well as toughness.

Player development is the responsibility of both the coaching staff and the player and hopefully together they can turn that young man into a professional player. It takes time to do that as these kids usually come in underweight, not as strong as they will eventually get and to learn the playbook alone can take a year. But for some reason today many folks want to give up way to soon on these young players and what is even worse is that some of these kids fall into the hands of coaches who are not that good at player development.

I can recall under Sparano  he had some coaches who were new at coaching specific positions he even had his son as a coach. It is vital that a young player coming into the league get the best coaching they can and it’s incumbent upon them to work hard and do what they are told and try to reach their full potential because it will serve all involved very well.

Egnew seems to have that desire to get better and from the reports he seems to have done just that. He will be my underdog player this year that guy you root for who seems to have the odds against him.

Here’s to hoping Egnew lights it up this year and send Dustin Keller packing after his one year contract is up.

Is it Miller time?

I make no secret that Reggie Bush is still my choice of who I would prefer as our starting RB and in fact I am still not sure of the mystery as to why he was not  embraced more and retained by Miami. He seemed to do everything right and I am sure they have their reasons (though not apparent to me) why they let such a playmaker walk out the door and in my eyes they didn’t even try to keep him.

Some have anointed Lamar Miller as our new starter, I am not sure about Miller because I do not see him as a playmaker on Bush’s level and I am looking forward to seeing him play and show me! My point is that if they feel that high for Miller why not let him legitimately beat out Reggie Bush in training camp?

In fact it concerns me that RB Daniel Thomas is not considered the RB to beat for the starting job and I still contend that if he is not the starter should he not be traded? He will be a bust by all measures being he was a 2nd round pick.

See:(
http://dolphinseer.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/is-daniel-thomas-a-bust/
)

Last year Miami went into the season with WR’s that I questioned. This year to me it seems they are doing the same thing with the running backs. I am officially on board in questioning the wisdom of relying on such inexperience and unproven players in the backfield especially when we had Reggie Bush.

Lamar Miller seems to be handed the torch and from all reports it is his job to lose as the starting RB for Miami. Lamar did well with limited carries last year. He averaged 4.9 yards per carry on 51 carries. He was still learning and had to improve on his pass protection but seemed to get better as the season went on and even was complemented by the coach in the NE game Philbin had this to say about Miller:

“I think it’s more the consistency element. The last game of the year against the Patriots, there’s a good picture of him in blitz pickup, a real nice picture of him picking up, I want to say it was (Jerod) Mayo I believe if I’m not mistaken or (Brandon) Spikes. I can’t remember exactly. When you’re a running back and you’re going to throw the ball and you’re involved in protection, you’ve got to display the ability to pick up a blitzing linebacker even though it might be a mismatch from a size standpoint. I think he can do that,” Philbin said. “He’s got to able to do that consistently. Catching the football – he’s a pretty instinctive guy with the ball in his hands and I think he has good hands. It’s just being that disciplined in the running game to stay on his course, stay at the right landmark and then be decisive with the ball in his hand. It will be fun to see where he’s at.”

Ryan Tannehill recently said this about Miller:

When asked who the Dolphins’ starting running back is, Tannehill replied without hesitation: “Lamar Miller right now. He’s doing a great job this offseason, really has a great handle on the offense and he’s doing a great job protecting. … They can (all) run the ball but being able to understand the pass game, understand the checkdowns and where they’re protecting really makes a big difference and makes me more comfortable.”

So from all appearances it is Lamar Millers job to lose and I for one will be looking forward to seeing for myself what all the hype is about this young RB.I will be keeping a close eye on how this all pans out as I am sure we all will and I for one am hoping that Miami’s running backs show me something that I do not see  and prove to be what apparently the Dolphins management is seeing in Lamar Miller.

Here’s to good health and a breakout season for Lamar Miller and it truly will be Miller Time in Miami!

Can the Dolphins survive a .500 season?

This is no prediction or an attempt to get a rise out of my readers but in looking at the schedule I can honestly see a possibility of a .500 season and my concern is the potential fallout should that happen. Are the Dolphins improved over last year? Yes!  So if they are better than quite naturally their record should reflect so should it not? Such questions are valid and logical. And I will explain to you how despite having   better talent and an improved team they can still end up no better than a .500 team. I can think of two reasons why Miami can end up .500 or below in 2013.

The Schedule:

This year’s schedule from all appearances is much tougher and if Miami played this schedule last year it quite possibly could have resulted in a 3-6 win season.  The strength of schedule puts Miami with the 8^th toughest schedule in the NFL with their opponents having a 133-123 win loss record last year with a .520 winning percentage. The next team in our division New England has the 14^th toughest schedule. So don’t be naive about our schedule Miami has a tough road ahead of them.

Youth:

Miami will still be one of the youngest teams in the NFL this season and with youth comes inexperience and patience will be needed to allow time for these young players to develop and for many new faces especially on offense how long will it take for them to get on the same page and gel? Can we lose a season before they finally get on track? If so what will be the ramifications of a losing season and trust me for many .500 will be a losing season.

Also keep in mind many players sometimes regress in their sophomore season and Miami’s QB will be going into his 2^nd season and it cannot be a worse time  for a player with so much riding on him to have the sophomore jinx do you not agree?

Also this is only year two of the Joe Philbin era the team showed promise last year because they played very well for the most part all season minus one game.

But with all the money shelled out this offseason and with high expectations are the Dolphins set up for failure? If this team should go .500 or below will there be fallout that will result in major changes in Miami? I for one feel a new coaching staff should be allotted 3-4 years to prove its worth but what will be an issue is the current GM who has bought some time with all the apparent good moves made this offseason but should this team not meet expectations I can see many cries for Jeff Ireland to be fired (AGAIN) and I am not sure that if Miami does fail to go to the playoffs and challenge for the division title that Jeff will be able to avoid such calls. The question is will the owner finally agree with the calls for change after spending so much money?

I am just praying the football Gods are kind to the Dolphins and it’s fans and that we do not have these issues because Miami will find a way to make it to the post season this year or at the very least end the season on a win streak that will appease any failure to make it into the post season.

So I ask you if Miami should fail to go above .500 would you be looking for change.

AFC East Future QB’s…

Young QB’s are being drafted to take over the AFC East teams. New England got the jump when they drafted Ryan Mallett 3 years ago and they will find themselves in a dilemma if he is showing signs of being a franchise QB while still having Tom Brady at the helm. Something will have to give soon.   So it is unclear if NE will do what Green Bay did with their star QB Brett Favre and make way for the young QB in waiting.

Miami seems to have finally after many years hit on a young QB who seems to have that it factor with all the tools you look for in a Young QB: Intelligence, Athleticism, Strong Arm.  So unless there is some major regression or injury Ryan Tannehill is the future QB for the Miami Dolphins for the next 10+ years.

Buffalo has drafted this year a young QB Former Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel who they seem to have confidence in and time will soon tell if he is the future of the Bills but you can see that they are addressing the most important position and I am sure have high hopes that he will turn out to be their future Franchise QB.

The Jets also took a QB in the draft Geno Smith who they are looking to unseat their young QB who’s been so far a major disappointment but whose contract make it impossible to part with this year but rest assured the future is not looking good for Sanchez in a Jets uniform beyond this season and even if he is kept will he be their starter this season should Smith play well enough to unseat him?

So in review we see that all of the AFC East teams have on their rosters young QB’s who they are hoping are the answer to that position for years to come and I am sure if they all pan out it will be years of battles for these young men to put their teams in position to win the division as well as a few rings along the way. It really is to early to say which of these QB’s is going to have the best career but the Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill is ahead of the pack so far by default and time will tell if not only Miami but if the AFC East has it right at the most important position in the NFL a position that can extend or ruin careers and franchises the QB.

Future Projected Starting QB’s for the AFC East:

Miami Dolphins…………………………………………………………………..Ryan Tannehill

New England……………………………………………………………………….Ryan Mallett?

Buffalo Bills…………………………………………………………………………EJ Manuel

New York Jets………………………………………………………………………Geno Smith