I still don't like the term rebuild for our situation. to rebuild you would of have to been good , then went down & then are trying to rebuild to get back to being good again. I really cannot remember when we were good , I am starting to think not even in 2008.
The positive from this is that whatever regime finally gets this thing done will have done it from scratch with really none of the pieces being in place.
As for the season of discovery & not disappointment , I don't know because some of us have discovered that once again we are disappointed.

Yea, that is kinda like Drew Brees winning the Associated Press Comeback player of the yr back in '04. He had been a horrible Qb until then, so what did he comeback from?


Were they good in '08? They won mostly with trickery. They got bounced badly at home from the playoffs by the Ravens.


Very True.

Miami lost 5 games last year by 3 points or less.

3 games this year.

Until Miami can learn to win the close games, they will continue to being a middle of the road team.


The only game Miami won that they should not have won is the Cincy game.

I think the longer Tannehill and Philbin work together the better they'll get at running this team.

A win in NE would be a positive sign, since NE has something to play for.

Just tired of the team not making any progress. I watched the same old problems year after year. No turnovers, no playmakers, not able to close out a game, bad OL blocking etc...


Yes, I see them getting one quality FA & hopefully its a Wr, but I simply cannot see them going hogwild on players.

Guys, Miami discovered they can be a .500 team with a serious lack of talent. You can be as disappointed as you want but I think the majority of us came into the season expecting a lot less based on this roster and rookie head coach.

This season would be a disappointment if Tannehill looked like Harrington, Hartline couldn't produce one solid game, the secondary fell apart without Davis and the team simply gave up after a string of losses. They have some good youth and veterans to continue building upon, and they haven't lost their will to fight.

exactly. This is a much different Miami team under Philbin than those teams with Henne, Matt Moore, Ray Lucas, Trent Green, Chad Pennington. We're actually growing forward....not just stuck with a retread veteran with no upside. We're just scratching the surface with Tannehill.

We still have to get past the Patsies to be .500. The last 4 years we've been just below .500.




.

I only expected Miami to win 5 games this year so they have played better than I expected. I felt this was going to be a throw away year. I like what I have seen from Philbin so far. They let Tannehill run a wide open fast paced offense from game one. He allowed Tannehill to audible from day one. Thats a big change from how Sparano handcuffed Henne. They were not afraid to try trick plays or fake punts & FG's. They let Tannehill throw it deep when they had the change to put a team away. In short they are aggressive and not afraid to make mistakes because they are worried about losing. They coach to win instead of coaching not to lose. Philbin has made the most of this season by getting a lot of young players a lot of playing time. He knows what he has and what he needs in order to take it to the next level. This is a young team, with a lot of draft picks and money to spend on free agency. Hopefully Ireland will be successful with the picks and free agency next year and take this team to the next level. And while I would have liked to see Tannehill throw more TD's he has really cut down on the interceptions over the last 5 games. So they are finishing better than they started.

Why I said "can be" and not "are".

They had 3 or 4 losses that could have been won. They aren't too far from a wild card team.

Fiedler, Pennington, I am not sure how much distance if any he has put between himself Frerotte, Henne and Moore imo based on what they have done as Dolphins. Of course this is what he has done so far. I hope better things for the future.

excellent analysis

Fiedler and Pennington aren't even close to being as gifted as this kid. There was zero upside with those 2.

There are also 3 wins that could have been losses.

Your statement is that Tannehill is easily the best QB Miami has had since Dan.

Are you basing this on what you think his potential is?

So far Fiedler and Pennington have both accomplished more as Dolphins than Tannehill has.

I think that you would need to prove that statement on the field before it is just handed to someone based on a persons perception of a Qb's potential. That is why I said it was premature to declare him as easily the best QB since Dan.

Exactly right. Jets , Bills , Jax , Arizona , Raiders , Colts , Seattle at home , Rams , Titans .... 10 very winable games there i thought before the season.
Bengals I thought would be a bit tough but winable.
Niners , Patriots . Houston were my sure losses.
My point is just by schedule alone I thought we could have more wins. I know things & teams change but my point is dont think the schedule will be as friendly as this for the next few years.

We always point out the losses that if not for a bounce , play or a call or two we could have won but we never mention the games we won that we could have loss also if a bounce , play or call had not gone our way.

Same old story , you are what your record says you are. Dissecting it while not learning or believing it just dooms us to repeat the past. Hovering around 8-8 in this league is no great task. It gives you false hope , bad draft position & limits change.
While it makes for a exciting & talkative fan message board it really drives you crazy as a fan.

You can't look at the schedule and start picking winnable games. You have no idea how teams will gel or players will grow.

You look at how games were won or lost, figure out what plays could have been made and then can dissect. I think people here are being a bit too critical too early. This isn't Sparano year 5 where we are saying "almost there". I remember that comment from Wanny when he was arguing they were so close after a few years of us waiting.

The 08 Dolphins under Chad Henne and without a Wildcat package would not have sniffed 7 or 8 wins. They would have been figured quickly and finished with a top 5 pick. What this team has done against some quality opponents is commendable.

How many wins did Miami have where it was one or two plays that really helped squeak by the other team or an opponents missed field goal gave the Fins the edge? Its okay to be optimistic guys. You don't have to constantly be negative contrarians because you've endured a decade of disappointment.

Did what they do vs. Tennessee reign in as commendable?

In that big Seattle win, you don't think that negated Tannehill INT in the endzone didn't help propel us? The Rams game score-wise was as tight as there was all-season, but we were outgained 462 yards to 192 yards. We almost had no business winning that one. Greg Zeurlein (who already hit 60 yard FG earlier in the year) attempted a 66 yarder, which had the distance but was far left. In the Cincy game, Mike Nugent missed a 42 yard FG with 3 mins to go that would've made it a 1 point game with their timeouts left.

It really is the same ol' story though. There were definitely some positives to build on, but lingering negatives to sort out. Still a ways away from being a complete team and we're about where we've been for the last 5 years (minus the Wildcat anomaly), which is a 6-7 win ball club.

I don't think its the same ol story (we aren't placing our faith in a coach with a dated offensive philosophy and a QB that fails consistently but maybe the light bulb will go off). Of course there are positives and negatives, but not every post with some hope has to be immediately countered. I don't think anyone hear is saying deep playoff run or overtaking NE.

This team isn't too far from a 10 win team. That isn't dominate or the answer, but its improvement. No season is going to be perfect and plenty of mistakes are going to be made, but I think both Philbin and Tannehill went beyond expectations given their limited experiences as coach and QB. There is a lot second guessing and MMQBing that we do, but most of us expected much worse.

Of course a lot depends on how they handle the offseason but I think the team is heading in the right direction.

How dare you be positive about this team Jammer!!!

Jammer I think we are as positive as the next guy. I mean yeah , it looks like we might have found a QB but the usual problems still exist. Also can you really blame us , I mean how many times in the recent past have we been here before only to get disappointed once again. So we are realists. Far from being haters. (I know you did not use that word but I can see the thread going that way). I hope Ireland fulfills everyone's wet dream with all this money & draft picks but history tells us be prepared for blue balls as usual.

16 game training camp that told us the DL is pretty good, LB's are good, CB's suck, safeties ok, RBs ok, QB ok, OL less than OK, TEs ok, WRs ok. We upgrade a few of those areas and they'll be better next season. RT didn't really prove anything to me. In the one 3, game stretch where it really mattered after the break, he disappeared. Literally, his worst 3 game stretch. I'm not sure you can just bank on him not having a sophomore slump next season. The coaching staff I feel the same way about. They've gone through 15 games and I've seen enough promise to keep them for another year. I think you reload in the off-season, find that big WR, another OT and a CB. Then at least we have no excuses going into 2014.

The team did better than I expected, but the boost came mostly from the defense. Reshad Jones, Wake, heck even Misi, had fine years.

Tannehill was steady and not spectacular. The offensive line showed more cracks, but got better when Martin went back to his natural LT spot and Garner came in at RT. Without a good running game, I don't see Tannehill carrying this team. Opponents learned not to blitz him and figured out the passing game rather quickly. I do give Tannehill credit for cutting down on the turnovers though. If we can keep Bush (and he stays healthy), the line continues to improve and we add some real WR threats, then Tannehill will get the chance to show us whether or not he is the real deal. For now, he is a work in progress. It stinks watching guys like RGIII, Luck and Wilson tear it up and turn their teams around.

I am tired of watching mediocre, or just bad, Dolphins' teams. I have been a fan for 40 years....but it has been a painful decade plus. One would think that the team will make significant improvements this off season...with all the cap money available and 5 picks in the first three rounds....but the team has a very long run of missing on these kind of opportunities.

Well part of the reason the run game suffers is because teams put 8 in the box and play with a single safety over the top. That is the defense that killed Miami in the middle of the season. RT has to recognize that, look the safety off to one side and throw to the other and take the single coverage matchup. His seam throw to Rishard Mathews was a great throw/catch combo. It is the kind of exploitation they need down the field. Because Miami played Buffalo and J'ville at home...its tough to gauge progress. Let's see how well he does this week.