Giant Killers

Once again David has slain Goliath. The Dolphins today have not beaten just one team from last years AFC Championship game, but both teams from last years AFC Championship game between New England and San Diego. Quite a turnaround for a team that had only one regular season win a year ago. Now, they begin their winning ways by defeating the best teams in the AFC last year. True, New England is without Tom Brady, and true, San Diego is missing many pieces of their puzzle as well, but that does not discredit the fact that Miami was the better team the last two games.

Not only does Miami's offense look efficient and powerful, but their defense is keeping them in games, and not allowing their oppenent to score points, let alone keep the ball. No, Miami's defense is not taking the ball away alot, they have just two or three turnovers all year, but they are getting the oppenents offense off the field, and not allowing long scoring drives.

This can be definitely attributed to the brilliant minds of Bill Parcells, and the entire Miami coaching staff. The formula for winning, that the Dolphins have misplaced the past few years, is coming back. No, they did not go out and sign some big name free agents, or even pick the most talented player in the draft, instead they chose the correct pieces of the puzzle to get the team running efficiently and confidently. They hired the leagues most brilliant coach ever as their vice president of football operations, they signed a brilliant genearl manager, and they chose a coaching staff that would push their players. In combination, in just one year these brilliant minds have turned the worst team in the NFL into a contender. I am not saying that they have a chance to win the Super Bowl, or even that they will make the playoffs. I am saying that they now have a chance, and it is up to the players to take that chance. Plus, given that they play in the AFC, I could definitely see the Dolphins going 10-6 and still not making the playoffs, again. However, no matter how well, or how poorly, the Dolphins do this year, already we can see a change in this team. They know they can win now, even against strong playoff bound opponents. Now, they need to make sure they win against the weak teams as well, like Houston next week.

Hope yes, sign of things to come, no.

To anyone who thinks that what the Dolphins did to the Patriots on Sunday was a sign of things to come this season, your wrong. The Dolphins are still rebuilding. They have one of the youngest teams in the NFL, and a brand new rookie head coach. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Dolphins fan, and I will support them to the end. (Even if they only went 1-15 last year.) Yes, they did show signs of improvement, but that was only one game against a mediocre team. Yes, I said it, the Patriots are mediocre. The Patriots starting quarterback has not started a game since high school, their best running back is injured, the offensive line is in disarray, and their defensive secondary looks terrible.

Look at the facts, the Patriots had to pick up Deltha O'Neil from the Bengals, after being released, to improve their secondary, even though O'Neil has looked terrible the last few seasons. Even with Brady healthy, he still relied on Lawrence Morency to push the line, and hand the ball off on draw plays every now and then. The Patriots have obviously become one dimensional, and have a quarterback with only two starts under his belt; both coming this year. Yes, they still have big weapons like Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Ben Watson, Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren, Adalius Thomas, Mike Vrabel, and Rodney Harrison, but they have to want to play. Obviously, the loss of Tom Brady, one of their team captains, has made the locker room alot quiter. Players, are not upbeat and high tempo like they were last year. Plus, Randy Moss and Wes Welker only work if you can throw the ball deep. The Dolphins admitted that they challenged Cassel to throw the ball deep, but he hesitated every time. Thus you are going to see Moss become the same no effort wideout that he was in Minnesota and Oakland. Fans are going to see a hall of fame performance last year, turn into a pathetic reversal this year.

As for the Dolphins, congratulations on your first win of the season; you guys earned it. Just, don't get cocky. The Dolphins host the San Diego Chargers next week, and don't let San Diego's 1-2 record fool you. The Chargers could easily be 3-0 right now, if they had received a few breaks, and alittle better referee play calling. I have looked at the schedule. I figure that the Dolphins at best, will go 7-9 this season. Sure, I'd like to see them perform like they did against the Patriots, but they are just not that kind of team, they never have been. The Dolphins have always been a giant killer. Lose to the easy teams, destroy the hard ones. The one thing that I did like out of the Dolphins on Sunday was they didn't take their foot off of the Patriots throat. I have watched too many games where the Dolphins just play careful, and let teams back in the game. It was good to see the Dolphins finally keep putting up points, even after the score was 28-13.

In closing, I'd like to say good luck to the Fins. I hope that we see more performances out Ronnie Brown, like the one we saw on Sunday. As well as, to Dolphins' fans, please be patient. We can see some of Parcells' genius already, but they still have long road to travel. They will make the playoffs, and become a Superbowl contender, just 2-3 years from now.

Damn Favre!!

Ok, so the fins lost their first game. They did not look anything like the way they did in the preseason; undisciplined, made stupid mistakes, too many penalties, did not run the ball well, etc., etc. However, this is kind of anticipated after a huge change; new front office, new coaches, new players, etc. The coaches are still learning the players, and the players are still learning the new schemes. It is to be expected. Even when Parcells came to teams in disarray his first season with those teams generally was not great, but he got them walking in the right direction. Again, I do not expect alot from the dolphins this year, or even next. However, Parcells is laying down the blue prints for future success of the team, something that was not being done before.

Go FINS!!!

Well I will tell you one thing after the dolphin's preseason game against the chiefs, the dolphin's do not have to worry about winning one game this coming season. They are going to win at least 5, I say. The team that appears to be the next one at risk of going 0-16 this next season is actually the dolphins oppenent from Saturday, the chiefs. The chiefs looked horrible; no pass protection, no run blocking, bad special teams play, bad everything. They did not even score a point against at team that barely won a game last season. True the dolphins look good, I have to admit. However, they are still not even close to a playoff team.

The other team fans need to worry about this season, is actually the patriots. I doubt we are going to see another 16-0 perfomance from them anytime soon. As a matter of fact, I doubt they even win more than ten games this coming season. True, their defence is still good, they still have Lawrence Maroney, Randy Moss, Vince Wilfork, Rodney Harrison, and Richard Seymour is back. However, they may not have Brady at the beginning of the season, due to a foot injury, their special teams and backups look terrible, their offensive line cannot run block, and they lost the superbowl last season. It is true, many teams that have lost the superbowl the next season they fail to make the playoffs. Case in point, da bears, the seahawks, the eagles, the raiders, the giants, the panthers, the rams, etc. Therefore, do not be suprised if the patriots take a downward spiral the next couple of years. Randy Moss may have just found the new Raiders. The defence is getting too old, Tom Brady is becoming an injury liability, the patriots have no depth, equals a rebuilding year for the patriots.