One of the most fascinating parts of the NFL off-season is that a lot of fans tend to have a habit of forgetting last season.  Sure we know that we were 7-9, but a lot of the actual games become a muddled mess in our heads. Certain big plays, big miscalls (Pittsburgh), or blunder may be remembered, but on the whole the specific complaints that fans have during the games start to become altered and distorted over time.

This is completely opinionated of course, but I view the biggest problem of last year to be our offensive playcalling. It might just be me, but why are the Dolphins in an I-formation on 3rd and long and under center?  Some may argue that Chad Henne says that he is more comfortable under center.  First, there is no way I can believe that.  Quarterbacks rely on a pre-snap read for almost all plays.  It's much easier to see the field when you are at a distance from the center.  All of those blitzes that got to Henne, or the interceptions he threw, could have been a direct result of not being able to see the whole field during the pre-snap.  And even if Henne was more comfortable from under center, why were we in the I-formation on those third and longs?  For a moment can we just think of what a defense does on third and long.  Blitz, or cover.  When the Dolphins come out in an I, the D can shift out of a blitz, because of the mass protection the Dolphins are setting up.  So why, on third and long, are only two wide receivers going out for a pass?  You see, what I'm trying to explain is that a majority of our problems come from terrible play design and play calling.  When Henne sees that his only two wide receivers are blanket covered, and he's been trained to not take risks, of course he is going to check it down to running backs.  And then when he does throw it, it gets intercepted.  This isn't even touching upon the predictability of the offense.  As soon as we got inside the 20 it was an automatic Wildcat play, which was an automatic fail.  

Also the running back situation needs to spoken on too.  I am still %100 on the Ronnie Brown fanwagon.  I think he has at 3 years left in the tank and should be given a contract extension.  I read people say that he has lost a step, he dances too much, or just simply that it is time to let him go, simply because he didn't produce last season.  As I've said, how quickly we forget.  People are constantly saying how Quarterbacks need to get into a rhythm to play well, I argue that the same can be said for Running Backs.  I was a starting Running Back in high school (I know it is not even close to the same, but hear me out, it's about the principle) and we ran the spread.  Every few plays the Running Backs would rotate, to keep them fresh, which makes sense, but if one of our Running Backs got on a roll, the coach would keep him in.  Henning seemed to put Ronnie and Ricky in at the most random of times.  Who remembers the Oakland game last season?  Ronnie gained over 50 yards on the first drive of that game, then suddenly Ricky was in on the next drive?  Ronnie was on a roll and Henning just took him out.  In addition to that, the lack of a speedy wide receiver to stretch the field allowed defenses to stack the box, which created no running lanes for Ronnie.  I would like to see any Running Back in league succeed with the ineptitudes we had both in play calling and personnel.  I stand by what I said when the season ended, we need interior line help the most, a speed WR next, and running back depth third, because Ricky clearly isn't coming back.

I am aware that Henning is gone, and that our offense being bad is old news.  I am simply illustrating that the so called draft "experts" that have Ingram going to the Phins don't understand the reasons why the running game was inept last season.  The lack of the ability to stretch the field, poor interior line play, bad formation calls, and predictability.  If Daboll corrects even a few of these things, without change ANY of the personnel our O is better right now.  This includes Chad Henne, whom I still think has one more year to prove himself, but I am not against drafting Mallet either as a safeguard.  If Henne fails this year and we have Mallet, then Mallet had a year to sit and learn.  If Henne succeeds, then we have our QB of the future already.  However, if we don't draft a QB this year, and Henne fails, then we're  back at the start of this big mess that we've been in for the bast 11 years.

In conclusion, everyone needs to keep in mind that the biggest hole this season has already been filled, which is a competent O-coordinator, or at least on who is not named Dan Henning.  I think that letting Ronnie go would be a huge mistake, mainly because the Patriots would probably pick him up and then utilize him properly.  Ever wonder why the Patriots have no names always making plays?  It's because their Offensive scheme is phenomenal,  therefore they don't need superstars anywhere else other than Quarterback.  Fix the scheme, and we score more points.  

DO NOT BE BAMBOOZLED BY THE TOMFOOLERY OF TODAY'S SHENANIGANS!

Many will try to trick or deceive you into thinking great things have happened that really haven't.  BE AWARE MY FRIENDS.

-And since I have the floor, I might as well add some quality April Fools pranks to play on Jet fans...

-Tape magnets to the bottom of an empty coffee cup, and attach it to the top of your car. Laugh at all the people who frantically try to get your attention as you drive by.

-Offer to make a sandwich for the victim. But don't remove the wrapper from the slice of cheese. When they bite down they'll get a chewy surprise.

-Replace the lotion in your victim's lotion bottle with mayonnaise.

-Take a box full of candy you know the victim likes (Whoppers work good). Remove the candy and replace it with Play-Dough in the shape of candy. Watch him/her be surprised when they get offered Play-Dough candy! (Be careful not to let them actually eat it though!)

-If your victim wears the same hat every day, take it the night before, get it wet, and put it in the freezer. Right before the victim gets ready to leave, place the hat in the normal place. They will get a chilly surprise!

-This is the most classic and simple prank ever. Balance a small disposable cup of water on the top of a partially open door. Then wait for the splash!

ADD YOUR OWN IDEAS TOO!

I must say, I am very impressed with how much this community has grown in popularity.  The amount of unrecognizable members has been going up at an alarming rate.  However, there's something interesting about that, I hardly ever see these members in a CKC (though I usually don't have much input there either), live game threads, or posting a lot of positive things in general.  What I have seen though is a sudden influx of negative, poor logic/grammar, and mean/profane/offensive posts.  Before I officially begin my rant I have a few definitions that I need to point out.

(via dictionary.com)

Negativity: Lacking in constructiveness, helpfulness, optimism, cooperativeness, or the like: a man of negative viewpoint.

Pessimism: The tendency to see, anticipate, or emphasize only bad or undesirable outcomes, results, conditions, problems.

Realism: The tendency to view or represent things as they really are.

Optimism: A disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.

Troll :One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument (via Urbandictionary.com)

Tony Sparano: Head Coach of the Miami Dolphins, commonly misspelled as Sporono by certain members of The Phinsider.

Now I don't want to be giving an English lesson, but it is important to understand these definitions for the point I'm trying to get across.  When I first came on the site there were so many great fanposts being put up.  I had Rzayo to look forward to, Nicky with his stat posts, and even the infamous Finsxfactor putting up the occasional worthwhile post.  Everyone was respectful to one another, with intelligent, funny, or encouraging posts.  Above all else we were all Dolphin Fans first.  I think a lot of people in the community have forgotten that.

For example, let's look at the most recent Dolphin News, the signing (or to be signing) of Daboll as our O-Coordinator.  

Negativity: "This is the worse signing in Dolphin history!"

Pessimism: "Our offense is going to be the same as last year, we're going to finish last in the AFC east"

Realism: "Let's see what this guy brings, I mean look at what he had to deal with in Cleavland."

Optimism: "This guy wants to bring in the spread! He's going to fix Henne and we're going to win the AFC east!"

Troll: "Are you guys F*%#'n stupid, this hiring SUCKS, I'm getting sick of this stupid front office and their bad decisions.

One could make an argument that the pessimists, negative nancys, and the trolls are just being "realistic" and expressing his or her viewpoints.  That's fine, but it would be nice if they expressed positive thoughts too, or used facts to back up what they're thinking.  I have no issues if someone says something like: "This guy led a Cleveland offense that was worse than ours!  I'm not feeling so great about it." 

Posts like that lead to good healthy debate amongst the community members.  I know we didn't go to the playoffs this year, but realistically we were an 8-8 team at the start of the year with an upside of ten wins.  Since then though, I've seen so much negativity.  Few look at the positives of our team.  Even when we won the focus was on how Henne still underperformed or how Henning's offense sucked.  Yet where are the facts behind why our offense sucked?  Only negative "We suck" posts, no posts explaining that we were ineffective because we took too few deep shots downfield, therefore the safeties could play up on us and stop the run game and forcing us to pass short.  Our lack of a deep game condensed the D making everything else suffer.  Where were some analytical posts like that?  Seldom to be seen, just people complaining.  Where were the posts talking about the positive development of Chris Clemons (until he had a dip at the end of the season).  Or how our our D moved from 21st in the league to 6th!  Positivity is hard to come by around here.

I try to be a knowledgeable, respectful, and realistic member of The Phinsider.  Was I overly ecstatic over the hiring of Daboll...not exactly.  Was the first thing I did say, "Eff this team", NO!  I did some research into the guy, read what Chad Pennington had to say about him, read what he plans to do for us putting in a 5 WR spread look.  Now I'm a bit more comfortable.  Do I think he's the answer to all our problems?  No, we still need a QB, interior line, a fast WR, and maybe a dynamic RB, but he's a piece of the puzzle.

If this came off as a preachy lecture then I'm sorry, but this is how I've been feeling lately.  I don't want us to become like Jets fans, ignorant Trolls.  I want us to be respectful and knowledgeable fans.  There's a place for negativity, and feeling angry about the front office, but it's place is behind posts with a little more substance.  So I challenge everyone to bring The Phinsider back to what it used to be, a great community, full of debate, humor, and guys like Ohio, Mau, Pot, Medic, Neo, Tuna, and Mosul all being great fans and people.  It's going to be a fun offseason, maybe long, but fun. 

Remember, we all have a common link, we all love Football, and we all love The Dolphins.  Don't forget it.

The Dolphins are 3-3, there is no denying that.  Can we look at for a moment who we've lost to?  The Jets, the Patriots, and the Steelers.  To the best of my knowledge those teams are all 5-1 and are probably the top three teams in the AFC, though I'm still on the fence about the Jets.  Sure we got blown out in New England, but against the Jets and Steelers we only lost by a combined 10 points.  Against possibly two of the best teams in the NFL, that's not too bad.

Yet suddenly there is a movement to "replace Coach Sparano" or "get a coach that can get things done with our talent". I even saw someone start a "Hire Bill Cowher 2011" bandwagon.  Newsflash, it took Cowher 15 years with the Steelers to win a Superbowl.  I don't think our fans (or any of today's fans for that matter) could take even 5 years without calling for a replacement.  Don't believe it?  We're only two and a quarter years into Coach Sparano's tenure and a lot of us are calling for him to get a pink slip.  But he shouldn't be fired, and let's look at why.  

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This is a new segment that I hope to do every time the Dolphins win a game.  I will pick what I think was the most crucial play of the game and break it down for all you fine viewers at home.  This is going to be done as in depth as I can and to the best of my ability, but there definitely could be a mistake somewhere, so if you see on feel free to chime in what you think.

What I'm looking for in the PotG:

1.) Great Play Call

2.) Great Execution

3.) A Game Changer in some way

It may not be that flashiest play, but it is what I think is the most crucial.  This Week's Play of the Game is Chad Henne's 3rd and 10 completion to Greg Camarillo in order to make it first and goal in the game winning drive.  More info after the jump.

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According to ESPN blogger, Tim Graham.  Jeff Ireland is sick of the distractions of this argument.

"It's about playing football, that's what I know," Ireland said of the Ryan-Crowder debate. "It's about playing football."

Ireland knows what's up.  I'm all for the trash talking of Channing Crowder, but this organization takes no crap from its players.  Though it seems like this argument is all in good fun for our starting middle linebacker, it is clear that the front office wants no distractions on this football team whatsoever. 

When asked whether the club has spoken to Crowder about not making a national scene, Ireland replied "That's a clubhouse thing. I'll deal with that myself."

Im glad that the front office is keeping an eye on the attention the media may be giving us.  This is what makes this team different than the Jets.  We'll win a Super Bowl because the front office knows how to handle players.  The Jets will be in a rut for the next year and a half or so because their head coach is an obese clown.  It'll be interesting to see how the rest of this plays out.

Source

First and foremost I want to state that I am not trying to copy Rzayo's ITM or anything like that, I keep meaning to do a lengthy post about what I think about our Phins, but I'm just so lazy I havn't gotten to it (Plus I've had a more Homework than than Pacman has convictions). Let me just give you a run down of how this post is going to flow, Kinda like a table of contents for you avid book readers out there.  First off I'll talk a little bit about *Last Season*.   CP10, Wildcat, Yeremiah Bell.  Plenty of memories that we gotta keep fresh.  Then I'll break into some *Free Agent Reflection*, I've got some pretty hefty thoughts on the 3 G's signings (more in that section).   Finaly Ill finish with some *Random Thoughts*.  Read if you want, just something for you guys to do.  Let's get to it.

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"I'll play this week," Crowder said Friday. "I'll be out there. I feel 100 percent today."

This is fantastic news for all Phin Fans out there.  Crowder is our second leading tackler and we'll need him for run support against the Jets this week. 

"This week, I've got to get out there," Crowder said. "It's really our first playoff game. It's funny how the AFC worked out, but if we lose, we're done. If we win, we're going to the playoffs. So it's the first round of the playoffs for us, and I want to be out there. I want to help the team."

Full Article here

Okay I know none of us like either of these teams, but this is a crucial AFC East game.  I also know that not all of us have the NFL Network (screw you NFL) and can't watch the game, so I just wanted to start this thread so that we can discuss the happanings of the game, who we want to win, how it plays out for the Phins, and to just plain laugh at any of the players get WRECKED in this game.  Personally I'm rooting for the Pats ONLY because they seem more beatable at this time than the Jets and have a harder scheduale the rest of the way.  So hopefully these teams will kick the crap out of one another and injure all their players. But my final verdict is

Jets 28-Pats 24  Ill root for Gaytriots this time but i dont think they get it done.  Discuss?

http://www.nfl.com/partner?partnerType=players-defense

Freeny had a sick game, but there is no reason us fin fans shoudn't vote for out favorite Safety!  Bell is clearly showing that he is quite deserving of that extension we all think that he deserves. Yeha nothing more to say just click that link and click the Yermiah Bell bubble and click submit. :-P So what are you waiting for VOTE BELL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK!

Alright Dol-Fans the pre-season is almost over, our rebuilding project is in full swing as well.  So HOW MANY WINS does The Phinsider predict for our favorite team this year.  State wins and why you think that if you want.

  We still aren't a very good team, but major improvements have been made.  We have a relaiable QB that can, at the very least, manage the game and make smart descisions.  Our running game should be fantastic, for Ricky has looked great and hopefully Ronnie will return to his explosive self.  Our recieving corps still bothers me a little bit but Ginn has really stepped it up and will fill the void of the Dolphin's NO. 1 receiver.  The O-Line is young and should protect not only Chad but our runners as well.  Defensively I love our D-Line, even with the loss of Taylor, but even since Draft day I am very worried about our linebackers and our secondary. 

Overall though we have gotten better but I think the majority of our losses will come from our Defense letting big plays by or our recievers not stepping it up in clutch situations...(or an awefull injury...knock on wood)    Final verdict 7 Wins.

So the Patriots just put 12 players on their PUP list for training camp and I beleive the preseason, Including Wes Welker, Rodney Harrison, and 10 others.  Why do you ask that I am pointing this out?  Why do we care that the Patriots are scamming an injury protical again? Because thats, in my opinion, EXACTLY what they are doing.  Scamming the system again and Ill explain why.

Having a player on the PUP list means that they can bring extra bodys into training camp and possibly the pre season.  Extra bodys mean that they can look for more "Tom Bradys" or "Daimonds in the Rough".  Even someone that can possibly bolster their linebacking corps.  This infuriates me that they continue to disrespect the NFLs injury precautionary measures for their own gain.  Sure it may be Brillient, but its downright against somekind of unwrittan code isn't it?  It also isn't like the patriots and Injurys haven't had a history.  You know how many games the patriots had at least 1 player on the Injury Report....ALL 16 not counting playoffs of course.  How many starters ended up on the Patriots IR in 08?  Less than 3.  Possibly contributing to their great record.  The Patriots have messed with the injury list to many times and I think it is time for the NFL to step in.  I think NFL doctors should have ranomized checks of certain players to ensure that they really are "Pysically unable to perform".  What does everyone else think? 

Man I am sick and tired of the patriots taking a LARGE percentage of players and now COACHES that we release.  They have just recently hired Dom Capers as special assistant and secondary.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d806cbae6&template=without-video&confirm=true

Here are just a few players the Patriots SNAGGED from us.

-Heath Evens
-Wes Welker
-Junior Seau (though he was technically retired)

NOW they've offered one of my favorite player Zach Tomas a contract.  I don't know about my other fellow Fin fans but this is just another thing that makes me despise the Patriots more than any other team in the NFL.  Do they do this to gain an edge on us? Am I just over reacting and this is just a coincidence?  GAH I just dont know.  But one thing is for sure, if we get Samuel then it'll be all worth while.  What are your thoughts about them?  

John Clayton just reported on NFL live that Tony Sparano is still the front runner for the Dolphin's Head Coaching Job.  He also reports that many of the Cowboys' asistants are prepared to continue onto Miami w/ sparano if he were to get the head coaching job.  This includes many Defensive assistants possibly some offensive ones as well.  It seems that possibly Sparano is on the road to Miami.