Can someone tell me why Miami is so horrible? (1 Viewer)

[culdeus]

Seriously

Decent RB and WRs

OL isn't terrible, but isn't great either.

Defense is probably a borderline top 10 unit.

Coach seems to be ok.

So what's the deal? It can't be as simple as hitching their wagon to two washed up quarterbacks. Is Saban at fault here? His style at LSU seemed capable of fitting in well in the NFL at least on some level and his assistants are well regarded.

So what's the deal? This was supposed to be a deep playoff team and now they've dropped games to the two worst teams in football.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Their pass catchers have no hands, and Saban isn't a very good NFL coach yet.

 

[Despyzer]

Lat year's late run was an aberration.

 

[snogger]

two letters

QB

 

[Trap Play]

Two words:

Mike Mularkey

 

[j3r3m3y]

two lettersQB

Close.OC, thats the major change from last year. Harrington = Fiedler

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I wish I could find the thread about preseason worst teams where I said Buffalo would be better than Miami and everyone laughed.

Why are they bad?

No offensive line, old defense, had faith in Culpepper, too many expectations after winning a bunch of games last year after they were out of the playoff hunt, etc, etc, etc. I am not at all surprised and losing to the Packers at home is terrible.

 

[JBTV]

Bad O-Line...bad QB play...defense is living off it's reputation. D is 12th in the NFL in scoring defense playing some pretty bad offensive teams. But mainly it comes down to bad O-Line play. Without the O-Line, you can't run the ball, and you're putting your QB into bad situations, so it doesn't matter how good your WR's are. The main reason they went on the surge at the end of last year was that the line came together well.

 

[eoMMan]

62 pass attempts today.....WOW.

 

[mrreid]

62 pass attempts today.....WOW.

saban thats it

 

[j3r3m3y]

Bad O-Line...bad QB play...defense is living off it's reputation. D is 12th in the NFL in scoring defense playing some pretty bad offensive teams. But mainly it comes down to bad O-Line play. Without the O-Line, you can't run the ball, and you're putting your QB into bad situations, so it doesn't matter how good your WR's are. The main reason they went on the surge at the end of last year was that the line came together well.

Ronnie Brown carried 15 times for 59 yards. That's 3.9 YPC. It isn't that they couldn't run the ball. They didn't run the ball.Bad play calling. That sits on the shoulders of the OC.

Ronnie should have run at least 20 times.

 

[Loan Sharks]

Culpepper wasn't healthy and Joey is Joey.

 

[jamny]

all of the above.

 

[Borat]

It's pretty simple: they were never really that good to begin with.

A lot of people pointed to their 6 game winning streak to close out 2005 as a reason they thought Miami was ready to make a move (some people laughably even picked them to win the division). But San Diego was the only quality opponent they even faced during that streak.

Adding Culpepper, who sucked even before he got hurt last season, obviously didn't help.

 

[MLBrandow]

It's pretty simple: they were never really that good to begin with.A lot of people pointed to their 6 game winning streak to close out 2005 as a reason they thought Miami was ready to make a move (some people laughably even picked them to win the division). But San Diego was the only quality opponent they even faced during that streak.Adding Culpepper, who sucked even before he got hurt last season, obviously didn't help.

DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNERAnyone remember that Ricky Williams guy? He was also a major reason for this stretch.

 

[Da Guru]

Two words:Mike Mularkey

I agree, he destroys offenses.

 

[ICON211]

Two words:Mike Mularkey

Play calling is absolutely horrendous. They spend what seems like 85% of every game in shotgun and refuse to run Ronnie Brown like he should be. He should be the featured part of the offense not Culpepper and Harrington.

 

[BGP]

The Dolphins starting left tackle is a Cleveland Browns' reject.

 

[Gatorman]

Really it is the offense. Whatever the reason, they do not stay on the field. Turnovers keep that D out there and after a while they wilt. By the time the team gets to the point that they run the hurry up, the D is so tired that they give up a big play behind it.

Mularkey does suck too, BTW.

You know it is rough when I long for Mike Martz to be our OC.

 

[mr. furley]

Really it is the offense. Whatever the reason, they do not stay on the field. Turnovers keep that D out there and after a while they wilt. By the time the team gets to the point that they run the hurry up, the D is so tired that they give up a big play behind it.Mularkey does suck too, BTW.You know it is rough when I long for Mike Martz to be our OC.

so your team will throw the ball 65% of the time and run reverse-flea-flicker-pass-from-the-tight-end-to-the-tackle on 4th and inches?

 

[MLBrandow]

Really it is the offense. Whatever the reason, they do not stay on the field. Turnovers keep that D out there and after a while they wilt. By the time the team gets to the point that they run the hurry up, the D is so tired that they give up a big play behind it.Mularkey does suck too, BTW.You know it is rough when I long for Mike Martz to be our OC.

This is a very ignorant post.Mularkey has had 3 top-10 offenses in his 5-year OC/HC tenure.Everyone thinks he sucks just becase the Bills were a terrible team last year without a QB.Even this year, while they are 28th in points scored, they were still 9th in yardage heading into this game, and I'd venture they are probably at least 6th or 7th now after that 500 yard output against the Packers.You can't blame the OC for redzone INTs and a kicker with the worst FGC% in the league.

 

[Gatorman]

Really it is the offense. Whatever the reason, they do not stay on the field. Turnovers keep that D out there and after a while they wilt. By the time the team gets to the point that they run the hurry up, the D is so tired that they give up a big play behind it.Mularkey does suck too, BTW.You know it is rough when I long for Mike Martz to be our OC.

This is a very ignorant post.Mularkey has had 3 top-10 offenses in his 5-year OC/HC tenure.Everyone thinks he sucks just becase the Bills were a terrible team last year without a QB.Even this year, while they are 28th in points scored, they were still 9th in yardage heading into this game, and I'd venture they are probably at least 6th or 7th now after that 500 yard output against the Packers.You can't blame the OC for redzone INTs and a kicker with the worst FGC% in the league.

Oh yes I can. The fact is that this offense has no identity. They don't get the ball to their #1 WR (Chambers). Last year, they started moving chambers around to get him involved. Now, he is stapled to the top of your screen. You have a very good pass catching RB and you hardly throw to him either. They give up on the run too quickly. Last years' winning streak happenned after the OC made some offensive adjustments and came out of the booth. While I don't blame Mularky completely, I think that he shoulders some of the blame here. When you call a halfback option pass on a 2 point conversion, that's bad coaching. PERIOD.

 

[j3r3m3y]

Really it is the offense. Whatever the reason, they do not stay on the field. Turnovers keep that D out there and after a while they wilt. By the time the team gets to the point that they run the hurry up, the D is so tired that they give up a big play behind it.Mularkey does suck too, BTW.You know it is rough when I long for Mike Martz to be our OC.

This is a very ignorant post.Mularkey has had 3 top-10 offenses in his 5-year OC/HC tenure.Everyone thinks he sucks just becase the Bills were a terrible team last year without a QB.

No we think he sucks because he gives the ball to the RB who averaged 3.9 YPC 15 times while having the backup QB throw it 40 times.

 

[dwarfboy]

No Ricky Williams.

 

[Josh the FunkDOC]

In case you people hadn't figured it out yet, the offensive line is kinda, you know, IMPORTANT.

That is where this team has completely failed thus far. Hudson Houck may be running out of his magic pixie dust, I don't know.

Other factors:

- Crappy QBs. No more really needs to be said about this.

- Loss of Ricky Williams. He was a significant contributor last year.

- WRs are overrated. Chambers continues to prove that his hands will prevent him from reaching the elite class, and Marty Booker has coasted on the reputation he made with a couple big years in Chicago.

- D is overrated. Again, coasting on reputation here. Actually, I should refine that statement...the run D has generally been fine this year, but the secondary has collapsed. Additionally, Zach Thomas is pretty much useless in pass coverage anymore, as he is looking quite old and slow.

Now then, is there any hope for the future? I would say there is some, with Ronnie Brown in particular; given how awful the line has been, he has played like a stud this year. Healthy Culpepper should provide a boost as well, though how much remains to be seen. Past that though, I just don't see a whole lot...

 

[PatsWillWin]

Maaaaybe shoulda gone with Brees?

 

[TankRizzo]

Two words:Mike Mularkey

I agree with you 100%.It's no coincidence that offensive line troubles follow him. He has a power running back and a solid defense that he can count on, yet he REFUSES to run the ball. Today hasn't been much different from the rest of the year. The score is usually fairly close after halftime, then it spirals out of control after that because he throws 2/3rds of the time. Ronnie Brown only getting 15 carries is ABSURD!The problems with this offense is 100% playcalling. They did better with GUS FREROTTE out there last year. You can't tell me it's the players.

 

[belljr]

Two words:Mike Mularkey

I agree with you 100%.It's no coincidence that offensive line troubles follow him. He has a power running back and a solid defense that he can count on, yet he REFUSES to run the ball. Today hasn't been much different from the rest of the year. The score is usually fairly close after halftime, then it spirals out of control after that because he throws 2/3rds of the time. Ronnie Brown only getting 15 carries is ABSURD!The problems with this offense is 100% playcalling. They did better with GUS FREROTTE out there last year. You can't tell me it's the players.

I couldn't wait for him to leave the Steelers

 

[Bojang0301]

The answer is no Gus Frerotte.

 

[BoulderBob]

They get beat up in the trenches and their QB's have a collective IQ of 150.

 

[MLBrandow]

Really it is the offense. Whatever the reason, they do not stay on the field. Turnovers keep that D out there and after a while they wilt. By the time the team gets to the point that they run the hurry up, the D is so tired that they give up a big play behind it.Mularkey does suck too, BTW.You know it is rough when I long for Mike Martz to be our OC.

This is a very ignorant post.Mularkey has had 3 top-10 offenses in his 5-year OC/HC tenure.Everyone thinks he sucks just becase the Bills were a terrible team last year without a QB.Even this year, while they are 28th in points scored, they were still 9th in yardage heading into this game, and I'd venture they are probably at least 6th or 7th now after that 500 yard output against the Packers.You can't blame the OC for redzone INTs and a kicker with the worst FGC% in the league.

Oh yes I can. The fact is that this offense has no identity. They don't get the ball to their #1 WR (Chambers). Last year, they started moving chambers around to get him involved. Now, he is stapled to the top of your screen. You have a very good pass catching RB and you hardly throw to him either. They give up on the run too quickly. Last years' winning streak happenned after the OC made some offensive adjustments and came out of the booth. While I don't blame Mularky completely, I think that he shoulders some of the blame here. When you call a halfback option pass on a 2 point conversion, that's bad coaching. PERIOD.

They would throw to him more if he could catch. And they give up on the run because the RB is only good at catching screens.Give him the personnel to win and you'll see a winning offense. Harrington? Chambers? Booker? Ronnie Brown? Those sound like quality players to you? Harrington is a terrible decision-maker. Chambers can't catch. Booker gets pushed around by 170lb CBs. And outside of Brown's stellar pass-catching, he's a horrible running back.And did someone mention one of the worst offensive lines in the league?Now, I'm not saying that Mularkey is a great OC, but he's at least average in the league, if not slightly above, and combine that with a pathetic offensive line and lackluster skill players, and you're going to end up with that debacle we see every sunday.The real problem here as someone mentioned earlier was when people started picking this team to hit the Super Bowl. This is a BAD team that is in the middle of being rebuilt. It's not a GOOD team at all. That they went 9-7 was because of a pancake schedule and with the help of an all-pro RB that isn't with them this year, and probably won't be next year.Fans who blame Mularkey only blame him because they hear or read someone else say the same thing, and because they refuse to believe that their very overrated offensive players might actually be the reason for the sputtering offense.

 

[TankRizzo]

I couldn't wait for him to leave the Steelers

He is the antithesis of Steeler football. As soon as he leaves, Bettis hits double digits in TDs again. That was a waste of 3 years of having him on that football team, just like he's doing to Ronnie Brown right now. Steve Spurrier had more of a committment to the run than him. He's turned gold into lead with this miami team.

 

[Ed Wood]

Last year, they started moving chambers around to get him involved. Now, he is stapled to the top of your screen.

Great analysis. Love it.

 

[TankRizzo]

Fans who blame Mularkey only blame him because they hear or read someone else say the same thing, and because they refuse to believe that their very overrated offensive players might actually be the reason for the sputtering offense.

The only problem with Ronnie Brown is that he has to actually CARRY the ball to do well. He's a power back. They need to feed him the ball 25+ times a game. If you put the ball in Culpepper or Joey Harrington's hands and expect them to win games, you will lose, just like they have been. Look at these drives today:http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/playbyplay/NFL_20061022_GB@MIA

Any time Ronnie got something going, it'd be Joey time and then came the INT or the punt. That's no way to run an offense.

 

[MLBrandow]

I couldn't wait for him to leave the Steelers

He is the antithesis of Steeler football. As soon as he leaves, Bettis hits double digits in TDs again. That was a waste of 3 years of having him on that football team, just like he's doing to Ronnie Brown right now. Steve Spurrier had more of a committment to the run than him. He's turned gold into lead with this miami team.

I'd like to dispell a myth that people have about this guy. I'm only defending him here because one of the things I can't stand in this world is when people spread misinformation and other people believe it.

Mularkey Offenses:			|---------- PASSING -----------||----- RUSHING -----|  TOTAL 			  CMP  ATT   YD	YPA   TD INT  ATT   YD	YPA  TD	 YD   			  350  551  4036   7.32  26  22  512  2120  4.14  15   6156NFL rank --->  11   16	8	  6	8  29	3	9	17   15	  4		 PIT 2001			  274  454  3295   7.26  16  12  580  2774  4.78  17   6069NFL rank --->  27   28   22	  8   25   3	1	1	 2	3	  3		 PIT 2002			  306  533  3548   6.66  19  17  446  1488  3.34  10   5036NFL rank --->  16   10   13	 17   18  17   17   31	32   23	 22		 PIT 2003			  262  461  3032   6.58  21  17  483  1874  3.88  15   4906NFL rank --->  27   27   27	 22   17  19	9   13	24   12	 24		 BUF 2004			  269  459  2852   6.21  18  16  428  1607  3.75   6   4459NFL rank --->  26   26   29	 26   20  17   20   20	23   29	 29		 BUF 2005			  134  218  1427   6.55   3   7  138   550  3.99   5   1977NFL rank --->   3	2	6	 22   31  23   24   22	12   11	  9		 MIA 2006

You'll notice that outside of this year alone, since the Dolphins have been especially terrible at moving the football (thank Ronnie Brown's poor rushing or Culpepper's indesiveness or Harrington's poor decision-making), Mularkey has historically run the ball more frequently than he has passed.Few coaches or offensive coordinators can say this.If Mularkey has one glaring flaw, it's that he doesn't abandon the run when the team is trailing (a la last year with the Bills especially, one of the reasons he lost his job).Now, possibly an outgrowth of that firing, is Mularkey's jitteriness regarding inefficient running. He can only stand so many "Ronnie Brown for 2 yards" plays before he just gives up and starts chucking the ball (62 times this past sunday).Heaven forbid anyone blame the offensive line's not opening up holes or the RB's inability to hit those holes when they are there or make DBs miss in the open field.

 

[TankRizzo]

I'd like to dispell a myth that people have about this guy. I'm only defending him here because one of the things I can't stand in this world is when people spread misinformation and other people believe it.Heaven forbid anyone blame the offensive line's not opening up holes or the RB's inability to hit those holes when they are there or make DBs miss in the open field.

Statistics don't always tell the whole truth. Look at Spurrier's college statistics at Florida...it would appear that he ran the ball, but all he did was pound it after passing all over the place to get the lead. Granted, that's apples and oranges to this situation, I'm just saying that statistics don't necessariy denote what all is going on with Mularkey. You need some drive summaries to see what's really going on. It's not that he doesn't run the ball....it's WHEN he decides to run the ball and when he decides to pass. He'll hit a deep pass and then for the rest of that drive he'll keep passing, and more often than not, you're going to wind up punting the ball doing that. His playcalling just leaves a lot to be desired, especially if you don't have the personell he needs. ...and as I said earlier, I don't think it's just a coincidence that offensive line troubles plague his teams. It happened to the Steelers with him, followed him to the Bills and now in Miami.

 

[Routilla]

Not sure why they suck but I'm cutting Chambers after today. Zero consistency week in and week out and then a goose-egg against the worst pass defense on a day when his QB throws for over 400 yds. Is he like the 4th option on each pass play or what?

 

[RoarinSonoran]

Oh sorry, I thought this was about the Hurricanes.

 

[GoFishTN]

Maaaaybe shoulda gone with Brees?

Obviously not the whole issue, but ...

 

[Rovers]

Tell ya what... and this comes from a Jets fan.

Miami's O line is pretty bad, it was last year too, but that easy schedule at the end of the year inflated expectations. (The very same thing will happen to the Jets... pancake shed, more wins than they should get this year as a result).

Having said that, I have to wonder about the personell choices. Culpepper was a mistake. The D line is not very good. A bunch of players clearly on the downside of their careers. The D backfield is bad, and the players they got to shore up an already weak D backfield have been more bad player aquistion decisions.

Mularkey was an awful choice. The man is pure vanilla, not at all creative. Saban's salute the flag style of coaching won't work in the NFL. These days in the NFL, a tenuous balance between strict leadership and discipline vs. losing players is a delicate balance. Saban fails to see that, IMO. I don't think he handles today's NFL players very well, but few coaches can, they have become prima donna's in so many cases, whether they display that in the press or on the field.

Bottom line, I don't think Saban is cut out for the NFL, like Spurrier. It's a different mindset, and I don't think many coaches from the college ranks will be successful in making the switch to the NFL in the future. Guys who come up through the NFL ranks are more likely to be successful for the foreseeable future IMO.

 

[NYRAGE]

Why analyze it, just enjoy it. This is especially sweet after so many people picked Miami to go to the Super Bowl and for the Jets to be the worst team in football. lemmings

 

[Frenchy Fuqua]

Poor QB

Poor O-line

Aging "playmakers" on D

 

[Colin Dowling]

I thought they'd win the division. At a minimum, I would have thought they'd be better than this.

 

[vegasrobb]

Looking at the game, I saw a team with an offensive line that's only going to get better. That team wasn't the Dolphins.

 

[TankRizzo]

Poor QBPoor O-lineAging "playmakers" on D

This is different from last year how? Frerotte?

 

[BBBen89]

You'll notice that outside of this year alone, since the Dolphins have been especially terrible at moving the football (thank Ronnie Brown's poor rushing or Culpepper's indesiveness or Harrington's poor decision-making), Mularkey has historically run the ball more frequently than he has passed.

Few coaches or offensive coordinators can say this.

If Mularkey has one glaring flaw, it's that he doesn't abandon the run when the team is trailing (a la last year with the Bills especially, one of the reasons he lost his job).

Now, possibly an outgrowth of that firing, is Mularkey's jitteriness regarding inefficient running. He can only stand so many "Ronnie Brown for 2 yards" plays before he just gives up and starts chucking the ball (62 times this past sunday).

Heaven forbid anyone blame the offensive line's not opening up holes or the RB's inability to hit those holes when they are there or make DBs miss in the open field.

Have you watched a single Miami Dolphins game this season?

 

[mike11162]

It's really a combination of a bunch of things. One, expectations were probably too much to begin with, and I think the team bought into the hype that they were better than they really were and didn't fine tune the areas they needed to improve. Two, the playcalling on offense has been abysmal, given the situation at QB. Three, losing Ricky seems to have sapped their confidence in the power running game, like they don't have confidence that Ronnie Brown can carry the load by himself, probably contributing to them throwing too much of the time. Four, turnovers, as they have been sloppy with the ball. Five, the WRs have developed stone hands this year, and they've contributed to a number of INTs because of bad bounces off of them. Six, they rushed Daunte into the starting lineup when he clearly wasn't healthy enough to play, and Joey Harrington can always be counted on to make at least a couple bonehead throws every game no matter how well he might otherwise be playing. Seven, the o-line is mediocre, but I actually don't think this has been that major a factor in the struggles this year compared to the other problems. Eight, the secondary is very mediocre, though at least there is some youth and potential for the future. The run defense for the most part (save the Ahman Green run today) has been solid, but the defense has also been on the field too much because of turnovers and the bad playcalling on offense, and wears down in the second half of games.

As a Dolphin fan, I'm disappointed in the team's performance, but realistically this team was at least a year away from a serious playoff run, so it's not necessarily the worst thing in the world they're losing all these games right now. Have a better draft next year, get Daunte healthy, maybe get Ricky back and fire Mullarkey and maybe they turn it completely around next season.

 

[Hoh]

Can someone who's seen the games please tell me in their opinion how many of Joey's INTs are Joeys fault?

 

[BlueOnion]

Browsed through the channel to see the Dolphins up at halftime, but only 25% of the stadium filled. What gives, the Chiefs' stadium was packed.

 

[Gatorman]

Browsed through the channel to see the Dolphins up at halftime, but only 25% of the stadium filled. What gives, the Chiefs' stadium was packed.

If it was halftime, everyone was in the shade or getting drinks. It's hot out there.