hey, look at the bright side, at least we probably won't spend a 2nd round pick on a QB in the upcoming draft for the first time in a hundred years. Think about it.

traded a 2nd rounder for Feeley
traded a 2nd rounder for Culpepper
Drafted Beck
Drafted Henne
Drafted White.

Seriously, that's a lot of value given up in the draft over 5 years.

I wonder what they do with Tyler Thigpen. I'm sad that we won't see what he can do. I think that kid, based on what he did to us last year, has a chance to do something interesting in the league.

also, I realize it's ancient history, but this part in TMQ's article last week really fired me up. In addition to the travesty that was Sharper's touchdown, he and a reader wrote this:

Mark Weis of Boston makes a great point about the end of the first half of Saints at Dolphins, when Miami inexplicably helped New Orleans by calling a timeout: Five seconds were left and the clock would have started when a replay review ended, but the timeout stopped the clock and allowed the Saints to run a play for a touchdown: "Marques Colston caught [what] was initially ruled a 21-yard touchdown pass, then corrected to a 20-yard pass to the Miami 1, Colston was tackled with five seconds remaining. New Orleans had no timeouts. Had the ball been correctly spotted at the 1 in the first place, there's no way the Saints' offensive line could have hustled into position to run one more play or spike to stop the clock; no chance at all the field goal unit could have come on the field. Once the play was ruled no longer a touchdown, the half should have ended. The media focus has been on the fact that during the review, New Orleans put its field goal team onto the field; then during the timeout, decided to go for the touchdown. New Orleans could not have brought out the field goal unit in the first place if the initial call had been correct on the field. Thus the review, whose purpose is to 'get the call right,' got the outcome wrong -- creating for the Saints a scoring opportunity they should not have had."

They played like crap and won. So, it's ok I guess. JJJ, I need you to make a new sign for Sparano about NOT running the football on third and long when you are only up 3. Stop playing for the field goal you fat pansy.

Belicheck read your chart, joey. That play has set back the go for it pussy movement 20 years.

On the Dolphins FIRST PLAY FROM SCRIMMAGE, they went deep on a post to Ginn. It was open and the throw was on target but Ginn let it go right through his hands. I have never in my entire life heard a stadium boooo a individual player like that in all my years going to football games. It was at least half the crowd.

I didn't watch the game yesterday, but for some reason I'm not surprised that this happened. So....he's starting again? Do I even have to ask the obvious question here?

Not really. He played I would say 20-25% of the offensive snaps. Bess and Camarillo are the true starters and Ginn and Hartline get some time. Basically, the Dolphins made a really great play call to try and establish the deep ball early. They knew that Tampa would be geared up to stop the run and they hit them with a post behind the free safety. Alas, Ginn just cannot catch the ball.

Later in the game, Ginn actually made a great sideline catch that was ruled out (incorrectly). However, Sparano did not throw the challenge flag....one of many bad moves he made yesterday.

That was my initial thought too, but maybe not. Maybe it sparks a lot of debate (well, no maybe about that) that gets people to actually think about why it's good to go for it.

I haven't seen debate, I've just seen meat heads like Dilfer and Schlarith pile on belichek, and video of the Belichick facepalm, over and over again. If one thing can come of this, it's maybe that giff of the belichick face palm will pop up online

Here's a good start! Thanks DNA...




I'd rather have the complete gif though.

Yeah...thanks, DNA.

LOL ok so maybe I snaked that from Brett

...aaaaaaaaand Ronnie's done for the year. Poor SOB is getting dangerously close to being one of those talented-but-held-back-by-injuries players. I guess the upside is that if he stays in Miami they might be able to pay him a bit less based on the injuries.

That is a shame for Ronnie who I like a lot. He runs so hard that he is probably always going to be injury prone. This happens to RBs and it sucks.

However, I think in a way this is a good thing for Miami long-term. (Hear me out.)

The Wildcat is a lot of fun. It has helped a limited offensive team win some games and hide some deficiences in their WR corps and overall passing game. But it is not a Super Bowl winning strategy. Maybe it was in 1986. But you have to throw today. The Dolphins need to leave Henne in the game 100% of the snaps and run a normal offense. They need to see how he handles it (without being pulled every few plays to mess around with Pat White or the single wing).

They need to identify who is a keeper at WR (so far, Camarillo maybe and Bess definitely, TBD on Hartline and Turner) and who is not (GINN). running a normal offense with Ricky at the RB (and Lex Hilliard as his backup) will facilitate this. Then in the offseason, they need to go get Henne some help. And they need a safety, depth at LB and depth on the DL.

You guys have a long way to go before you worry about what is or isn't a superbowl winning strategy. JS.

I dont think so. The NFL changes so rapidly these days. pretty much every guy Parcells has drafted the last two years is contributing. That's how winning teams get built. Good drafts. It will be hard to get by Manning and Brady but I love the way Miami is going about it. If Smith and Davis are as good as I think they are going to be Miami is going to have another Surtain/Madison era.

yeah, what I mean is, I don't think Miami is winning a superbowl this year or next year, and I think the wildcat uses their current talent and strengths to their maximum while your team rebuilds, at the same time taking the pressure off a young QB. I think it's fine for right now. You should be happy your team has a fun and interesting diversion while they rebuild.

Also,I think it's foolish to call something that basically no one has ever used before "not a superbowl winning strategy". People say that about all kinds of things, the west coast offense is a gimmick, peyton manning can't win the big game, Michael Jordan is too selfish a player to win a championship. They say it right up until that new thing wins a championship, and then what? I'm not saying the wildcat is or isn't a viable option or not for a playoff team. But I think this team has been more successful with it, than they would have been if they had tried to run a more conventional offense and be forced into trusting their terrible WR corps even more. Obv the wildcat isn't an offense you run in Indy or NE where you have a great QB and a great wr corps, but Sparano wouldn't have tried to implement it there. I think TS is a great coach, btw. I think you're more likely to win a superbowl tailoring your offense to the talent you have than you are trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole.

Yeah, that's the part I'm glad about. I mean, I'm a huge fan of bringing a young QB along slowly but he's gotten his feet wet and now he has half a season to really step in and see how well he leads the offense, full-time. I'm sure they'll still play it safe and run the ball as much as they can, but at least Henne will get the chance to be out there.

As far as a developmental year for a young QB, I have to say I'm really happy with how it's gone for Henne. Step in with a very knowledgeable and diligent teacher to set an example for you (Pennington), take over an offense that relies heavily on the run and doesn't need you to do too much too soon, get a few wins and build some confidence with a late game-winning drive, and then get the final seven games to take over the offense and see what happens.

How often do they run the Wildcat? 10% of the plays? Do you really think that hinders Henne's progress?

I don't see any reason why you can't win a Super Bowl with the wildcat as part of your offensive game.

probably more like 25 % if I were to make a blind estimation.

I found somewhere that before the Patriots game, they had run it 66 times.

I also found that they have run exactly 600 plays this year. 600 plays divided by 9 games played = 66.67 plays per game.

The Patriots game was two weeks ago, right? So 66 plays divided by 7 games played = 9.43 wildcat plays per game.

9.43 / 66.67 = 14%

Roughly.

I don't need your fancy book learning. It feels like they run the wildcat all the time, and that's all I need to know.

yes about this which is quite a a bit (I think you have to add in the Pat White plays which are not technically Wildcat plays). I do worry that the on the field off the field stuff messes with Henne's rhythm.

BigD, I just dont see how you can win consistently in a pass happy league with an offense that does not even threaten the pass. Plus, most good defenses they have played have blitzed the shit out of the Wildcat and stopped it dead. It only seems to work against bad teams. It worked once against the Jets and by the 2nd matchup they had it completely figured out (and we got bailed out by special teams).

Great offenses make you fear the run and the pass on almost every play. Running an offense where you take one of those off the table cant be a great long term strategy. The Wildcat could be a great short yardage/goal line thing.

Sparano has had a lot more good coaching games than bad. a lot more. he does one or two things consistently that I hate. to compare: Randy Shannon does 7 or 8 things consistently that I hate. The wildcat was a great innovation to fit Miami's unique situation (all the talent is at RB). But, to take the next step they need to be able to throw better and setting the wildcat aside for a bit might help in that regard.

I don't see how you can win in a pass happy league running a conventional offense with wide receivers who can't catch. What this team does well is run, not pass, and running the wildcat maximizes it. All of the stuff you're saying about Great offenses make you fear the run and pass is a moot point. Miami doesn't have a great offense. It has the worst wide receiving corp in the league ( except for maybe chicago) and a first year starting quarterback. Changing schemes isn't going to make Ted Guinn transform into Jerry Rice. And once again, I think Tony Sparano has done a masterful job of tailoring his offense to his team's talent. Btching about the wildcat seems so wrong headed to me, since it's been one of the few bright spots your team has had this year. Most of your team's embarrassing failures have been run out of a traditional offense, where wide receivers can't hold onto the ball.

No, running the Wildcat 14% of the time probably doesn't drastically hinder his progress. If anything, it's helped ease him into his role as starting QB, which is great.

But now that they're not as likely to use it that often, he'll have the final seven games to be out there pretty much every play instead of running a play or two, taking a few plays off (or lining up as an irrelevant WR), and then running a few more plays. So, while running the Wildcat doesn't drastically hold him back, being out there more (or all) of the time for the rest of the season can't hurt.

(And, obviously, he's going down in the first series tonight with a season-ending knee injury now that I've said that.)

My wildcat numbers came from someone who watched the games and added them up. They're not some official NFL stat. So I would guess that the Pat White plays are included. But even if they're not, it would only bump the number from 14% to 16%.

But let's not get bogged down on the numbers. Do you think that actually stunts Henne's growth as a QB?



You can throw out of the wildcat; Miami just hasn't done that effectively yet. I think I posted in this thread that Ed Reed said that if you can learn how to pass out of the wildcat, it would be a devastating offense. That's why they drafted Pat White. Maybe you should be more concerned about stunting White's growth.

Let the Thigpin Era begin, then.

Pat White full-time Wildcat offense!


I haven't figured out if I should be capitalizing Wildcat or not, so I'm just alternating haphazardly.

I am not bitching about it. I love the wildcat. I just dont think we can make the leap until we fix the passing game and I think shelving the wildcat for 7 games might help them in their journey to fix the passing game. I understand why we went to the wildcat in the first place (remember you were telling me that I was overstating the Fins WR woes at first). Also the Bears have a better WR corps than Miami (though I think the Rams have a worse WR corps than both teams).

I just dont think they can win at the highest level with their current offense. They need to have less embarassing failures of of a traditional offense and the best way to do that is to keep practicing at it. They also need to identify anyone who is part of the current passing game who deserves to stay. (Hell, the owner was quoted in today's sun-sentinel bitching about how bad the passing game is.)

I am not "hating" on the wildcat. I am merely saying the absence of the Wildcat might help the Dolphins evolve as a passing team which they HAVE to do to reach the next level.

I watched Miami's pre-season games. Pat White was atrocious as a thrower. Otherwise, you would have seen that part of his game already I promise you. I dont think White can be a starting QB in the NFL. I think Henne can be good.

I guess for me, it's not a matter of whether running the Wildcat stunts his growth. Like I said, it probably doesn't, drastically. I just think running it less (or not at all) and ultimately giving Henne more responsibility will help him grow a bit more over the last seven games.

Yeah, my point is, there are bigger obsticales in making the leap than the wildcat. Like your WR corps.




I don't know that you've watched much of the bears game, or you're biased by your frustration with the fins. you're basically splitting hairs saying which team has a worse corps.

I have watched 4 Bears games. Thats what I am going on. If I was to rank WR corps, Miami would be 31st with the Rams below them and the Bears a spot or two above Miami. At that level, it is all splitting hairs.

I think donnie avery is a better wr than anyone the bears or dolphins have.

I think I would rather have Hester. But have you seen their other guys after Avery? Never heard of them.

I'd rather have hester as a kick return specialist. I really want the bears to draft a top WR, and sign boldin

5-5. Not half bad considering the abysmal start and the rough schedule.

This was a really good game. Great execution by both sides of the ball. Really good coaching and good playcalling. Ricky was great, Henne was good, and Ted freakin Ginn caught everything thrown his way (including one really tough sideline catch).

Davone Bess and Hartline both had big games. Even the third string RB, Lex Hilliard, looked impressive. Miami has so much RB depth that they did not miss Ronnie all that much. They were more conventional (I think they ran three wildcat plays including one on the goalline where I think it works best----and it got the TD). No Pat White which I think is great. Henne can play let him loose.

Ten days off before Buffalo. If they can take care of business, they will be 6-5 with the Pats coming to Miami. That could end up being a big game since NE's chokejob against Indy brought them back to the pack just a tad.

☺

Just look at how much Henne is progressing without the Wildcat.

Oh, and Ricky might have contributed a bit, too.

I wish I had the NFL Network.

I think I need to upgrade to the premium cable package and just get all the pay channels.

Does porn come with that?

Nah. To get the NFL network, I had to order the premium sports package (I get NFL, NBAtv, Fox Soccer Channel, MLBtv, and some weird college sports network). Totally worth it for NFL network (I love it) and the Fox Soccer Channel (lots of good games on). And the best part is I get all five channels for only an extra 3.99/month.

What company is this with? I recently had to downgrade my package to save some money and lost NFL Network. That is probably the only channel I truly miss besides Boomerang/Nick Jr. for the kids.

I heard a great question on the lebatard show today. Would you take any Miami Wideout, over randy moss with one arm.

Nope. That's a horrifying thought. Lebatard really is the best. Moss still makes one deep play a game with one arm. Nobody on Miami can do that with two arms.

SGFULTON: Comcast.

With Denver and Pitt losing today, Miami is only one game out of the playoffs right now at 5-5 and they have played a brutal schedule to boot. Everything went right for them this week. After that Ronnie Brown thing.

After watching the Bears tonight, I can safely say the Bears have much better passing weapons than Miami. Much better. These guys are open, Cutler is just missing them. Miami's wrs can barely get open ever. At least the Bears have some speed and the potential for big plays.

The bears biggest problem is their o-line. But dear christ, cutler was bad tonight.

I really wish that Indy, New Orleans, and New England had just absolutely smoked us so I wouldn't be going, "Man, we really could be 7-3 or better right now."

Judging from a purely fantasy football standpoint and not having seen one second of the game last night, I'd say I'll take Cutler's 1 TD/1 INT performance over 0/5.

Yeah, it's wildly frustrating how well they have played overall just to be 5-5. Oh well, everything lined up last year just right....this is the other side of the luck factor.