On Porpoise is my blog about anything and everything that has to do with the Miami Dolphins. http://www.phins.com/phorum/list.php?8 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:05:33 +0000 Phorum 5.2.7 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,29840#msg-29840 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,29840#msg-29840
The reason the trifecta still has Ginne is because they see a proper role for him in their passing attack when they get it sorted out. You can't tell a hell of a lot on a TV screen, but, it really looked to me like just presence Ginne and Henne, on the field together, had a loosening affect on the D. What was the first play from scrimmage? If I'm right that's something no other receiver has done yet.

IMO we lost two excellent receivers because coaches couldn't cast them correctly. Don't lose another.

What we need is for pissed off fans to get off Ginne's back and stop bitching because he isn't someone they wanted.

For example, Ginne is constantly criticized for running out of bounds or taking a slide rather than fighting for that last two or three yards. He weighs what, 150 lbs? Instead of 15 yards and a first and 10 they want him to take on multiple defenders, stay standing, gain another 2 or 3 yards while being stripped of the ball. If he even tried that he would be on the IR list.

Did the Dolphins overpay? Probably. Is that any of our business? Absolutely not. Ginne is what he is and when we find out what that is he'll be damned good at it. Until someone comes along to do better, the challenge is to make him productive. His brand of speed is unique. Learn how to use it.]]> Dolphinsstclair On Porpoise Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:57:09 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,29243#msg-29243 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,29243#msg-29243 sirius On Porpoise Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:13:54 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,29043#msg-29043 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,29043#msg-29043 fpdolfan On Porpoise Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:29:53 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28826#msg-28826 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28826#msg-28826
He definetely hasn't shown he is # 1 starting material. He has shown flashes at times. And he is eratic as they come. But until he gets shipped to another team i will comtinue to suport him and hope he can turn it around.

If henne is the real deal and ginn continues his eratic play then i will give up on him.

But first i wanna see what he can do with henne which is supposed to be a strong armed QB.]]> samsam3738 On Porpoise Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:28:04 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28762#msg-28762 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28762#msg-28762 ranger On Porpoise Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:01:46 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28677#msg-28677 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28677#msg-28677
Word is Chad P is out for the season. Class act!

I wish him well, I hope he will mentor Chad P and help him prepare for the rest of the season.]]> markeyh On Porpoise Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:07:06 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28662#msg-28662 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28662#msg-28662
That used to work very well - but it doesn't any more.

As for Pennington - he can throw the deep ball, but what he doesn't do very well is throw the "frozen rope" or "laser" (however you want to call it). He doesn't seem to get a lot of velocity on his passes.]]> curt On Porpoise Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:26:14 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28661#msg-28661 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28661#msg-28661
Ginn will be better served with a big WR on the other side.

What's up with Turner?]]> markeyh On Porpoise Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:24:51 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28641#msg-28641 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28641#msg-28641 scarroll On Porpoise Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:07:54 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28636#msg-28636 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28636#msg-28636 looters On Porpoise Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:39:54 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28627#msg-28627 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,28627,28627#msg-28627
Now, I was not particularly happy with Brady Quinn as a pick. He reportedly had problems with accuracy, had a reputation for not playing well in big games and was one of the most arrogant college players I had ever seen.

Still, the Dolphins had a major need at quarterback, so I figured that they would jump at the chance to take Quinn.

So when it was announced that the Dolphins had selected Ginn over Quinn, I was as surprised as anyone, but – like I said – not disappointed. I knew very little about Ginn, other than he was a small speedster from Ohio State. And Cam Cameron – an offensive football expert – liked him immensely.

And they had another quarterback in their sights – John Beck.

Cam Cameron tried to make it clear that they were not expecting Ginn to be a serious contributor at wide receiver right away, but that he hoped Ginn could return punts and kickoffs, which Ginn did. As a rookie, he more combined yards that any other offensive rookie in Miami’s history and returned one punt for a touchdown – along with two other touchdowns that were called back because of penalties.

I often wonder if he’d gotten as much venom from the fans as he did if those two penalties had not erased those two touchdowns. He probably would have – the fans wanted Brady Quinn and nothing was going to change that.

Today, however, it looks like Cam Cameron – offensive genius or not – made a mistake in taking Ted Ginn, Jr in the first round. It has become clear in his third season that Ted Ginn will never be a truly dominating player. Yes, he is faster than almost anyone in the league – in a straight line – but his size, his hands and his route-running leave him as a supporting receiver at best. When the game is on the line, he does not come through.

His failure to come down with that potential game-winning touchdown pass against the Colts and his two drops in the last quarter yesterday are both indications that he does not have the talent to be the game-breaking threat that the Dolphins hoped he would be when they drafted him.

He could be a very good number two receiver and he can definitely stretch the field with his speed, but he doesn’t make the tough catches when most needed and he doesn’t fight for the ball very well.

So I’m afraid it’s time to declare that the Dolphins do not currently have a number one wide receiver. I have always liked Ted Ginn and have thought that he received more criticism than he deserved. And I think he has a place on the team as the number two or three man, running the deep post and sideline routes. But he is not the guy to jump up and fight the defensive backs for the ball or go over the middle in traffic for the tough catches.

So, because of that, it’s time for the Dolphins to start thinking about who that will be. It may turn out to be Brian Hartline – perhaps the second biggest surprise of this year’s draft for Miami. Or perhaps Patrick Turner will start to play well.

But whoever it is, the Dolphins probably won’t find him this year.

However, they do need to find him….

…On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:16:07 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23190,23190#msg-23190 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23190,23190#msg-23190
I bring that up because it means that there are only a few hours left to rectify the biggest mistake the Miami Dolphins made this year - the acquisition of Daunte Culpepper.

Now you know that I am not normally a negative fan. I like to think of myself as either an optimistic realist or a realistic optimist about my favorite team. I am usually in favor of giving a player or a coach plenty of time to prove themselves. Hell, just a few weeks ago I argued that Culpepper should be given three chances to prove himself before being moved to the bench for the year.

Of course, that was before we learned that Culpepper quit his rehabilitation treatments early in an effort to get back on the field. (See the Miami Herald Aricle: Dolphins' Culpepper begins rehab)

Yes, you heard me - Mr. Culpepper was doing "so well" and was "in such a hurry" to get back in the lineup that he quit his rehabilitation treatments early this past summer to practice more.

While I applaud that kind of desire in a player, it must be tempered by intelligence and good judgement - especially in a quarterback. Otherwise they end up hurting the team more than helping.

In other words, he made one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well known is this: he forced himself back into the lineup before he was ready.

Usually it's coaches that get players to step back into the game before they are fully healed. OJ McDuffie was thrown back on to the field by Jimmy Johnson and company and paid the price of that miscalculation with a premature end to his career.

In this case, however, it was Culpepper who apparently quit his rehabilitation and started practicing.

Of course, the coaches have to take some of the blame for this as well. It is the coaches' responsibility to know the health and medical treatment status of their players, especially ones as important to the franchise's success as Daunte Culpepper.

But they either didn't know or didn't care that their new star was not working towards his rehabilitation as he should and as a result, all of us - Culpepper included - are paying the price in a lost season for the team.

So, what should we do about this?

As you may have guessed by now, I have a modest proposal for the Dolphins to rectify this situation - and it's only partially facetious.

I think Nick Saban should get on the phone to Oakland and trade Daunte Culpepper to the Raiders.

Why the Raiders? Well, I think that's pretty obvious - Al Davis is the only owner left in the league crazy enough to take a chance on Culpepper at this point in the season. Big Al has a history of taking on marginal players with major talent, Culpepper's style fits Big Al's offensive philosophy and I think that Big Al just wouldn't be able resist the opportunity to reunite Culpepper and Randy Moss.

On top of it all, the Raiders are in the worst need of any team in the league for a starting quarterback. They are so desperate that they even signed Jeff George in the preseason for a tryout.

No, I think with a little marketing, the Dolphins could convince Big Al to take Culpepper off their hands.

What should they ask for the love boat captain? Well, how about Jerry Porter? That would allow Big Al to solve two problems with one trade and get Miami a talented receiver who drops a lot of passes. He would fit right in.

Personally, I don't care what the Dolphins get for Culpepper. I'd be happy if they traded him for a mocha latte and two tickets to a Miami Heat game. I just think that the Dolphins should move him along because I don't believe, at this point, that he will ever return to being the player he was in 2004.

Culpepper has a great arm and amazing athletic ability, but after seven and a half years in the league, he takes too long to make up his mind and doesn't have good pocket presence. Those things will not change, even if he manages a full rehabilitation of his knee.

Right now, Joey Harrington is the better choice. While his stats don't clearly show it, Harrington has demonstrated better mobility, quicker decision making and better pocket presence. His arm is at least as strong as Culpepper's right now and he's more accurate. There is no area of quarterback responsibilities where Culpepper is better than Harrington right now - or is likely to be in the near future.

So if you're reading this, Coach Saban, please - get on the phone to the west coast and send Mr. Culpepper to California. The Raiders need him - and the Dolphins don't.

At the end of this little diatribe of mine, it must be said that I realize that what I'm saying is all just so much lawn fertilizer. I'm just exercising my God-given rights as a fan and venting because it's the only thing us fans can do to deal with our frustration.

And while I truly believe that trading Daunte Culpepper right now would be a very smart move, I know that I have a better chance of winning tonight's megamillions lottery than the Dolphins have of trading Daunte Culpepper - even if they wanted to.

For Daunte Culpepper - I don't have anything against him personally. I admire his drive and determination to lead the Dolphins. I just wish he'd shown a little better judgement about his rehabilitation and waited to step in as the starter. That would have been the smarter move. And he could have done it....

...On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:43:31 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23189,23189#msg-23189 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23189,23189#msg-23189
The expectations for 2006 were based mostly on an expected improvement by the team's offense. The addition of Daunte Culpepper, the supposed upgrading of the offensive line and the maturity of Ronnie Brown were supposed to combine to help move the Dolphins to the next level as a team.

Unfortunately, exactly the opposite has happened - the 2006 Dolphins are worse than the 2005 Dolphins and most of the regression has occurred because the offense is not playing as well as it did last year.

Why not?

Well, the answer is complicated. It is too easy (not to mention wrong) to blame the problems on any one thing. Daunte Culpepper is part of the problem, but only part. The offensive line gets their share of the blame, but again, they are not the only culprits. It is a combination of factors and each is contributing to the demise of the offense.

First, but not necessarily foremost, is the disappointing play of Daunte Culpepper. Culpepper was expected to upgrade the quarterback play for Miami, but he has not done so. Gus Frerotte played better last year than Culpepper has played so far this year and while the potential for improvement exists, I don't think that Culpepper will improve enough this season to get Miami to the playoffs.

Culpepper's problems lie in several areas, some of which are fixable and some of which we may just have to live with. In the fixable area, he is clearly not completely recovered from his knee injury. He is not as mobile as he used to be and is not pushing off as hard when he throws as he did before his injury. The lack of mobility has contributed to some of his sacks and the lack of push on his throws has probably effected his ability to get the ball deep.

The good news about that is that his knee will probably improve throughout the year and he will probably return to full strength - eventually.

For things we may have to live with, Culpepper seems to be relatively slow in going through his receiver "reads" when passing. In other words, he seems to take a long time deciding where to throw the ball. This does not effect him as much during the hurry-up or 2 minute offense, because he has fewer reads to make - in some cases, on quick throws, he has no reads to make at all - he just delivers to the primary receiver.

But when he has a lot of options, it takes him a while to make up his mind - all things being relative, of course. This contributes to him being more vulnerable to sacks, especially with his limited mobility.

Another thing about Culpepper that I've noticed is that he seems to lack a strong sense of what's going on around him in the pocket. In several instances this year, he seemed to actually step into the sack rather than avoiding it. Last year, I was frequently surprised by Gus Frerotte's ability to sense when he was about to be sacked and to either avoid it or get rid of the ball just before he was knocked down. I don't see that in Culpepper.

Having said all that, Culpepper clearly has a strong arm and his slow reads don't effect his accuracy. He is also improving in the area of decision making, throwing fewer passes that are in danger of being picked off. His size is also an asset as he avoided at least one sack against the Texans by just not going down when a defensive lineman was falling on him.

I think the bottom line on Culpepper is that we won't know for sure if he's a keeper until he's completely healthy. Since he probably won't be completely healed until next year, it's unlikely we'll know by the end of this season if the Dolphins made a smart move getting him or not.

But for him to be successful, the rest of the Dolphins' offense must support him more than it has up until now. And that means better blocking and better play-calling.

The offensive line has taken more than its share of the blame for the blocking problems that have lead to the Dolphins allowing 21 sacks this year. While they have not played well, I don't think that they are playing all that differently than last year. Yes, there have been some personnel changes, but I don't think that, on an individual level, LJ Shelton is playing worse now than Damion MacIntosh played at the beginning of last year. And I don't believe that moving Rex Hadnot to center has destroyed the entire cohesion of the offensive line or ruined his ability to block.

The right guard merry-go-round has been a problem, but one position that is weaker than last year does not fully explain the drop-off in production. Especially when you consider that the right tackle position is now stronger than it has been since Todd Wade left.

I think the blocking problems are a combination of mistakes by both the offensive linemen and the other blocking members of the offense - the backs and tight ends. Randy McMichael was run over for two sacks against Buffalo that I saw and we've all seen Ronnie Brown miss at least one block that turned into a sack.

I'm wondering if (and hoping that) the return of Sammy Morris will help shore up the ability of the offensive backs to pick up the blitzes. I think his absence on passing downs may have hurt the team's ability to stop the blitz.

Also, as mentioned above, I think that we've seen several sacks that are the result of Daunte Culpepper holding the ball too long. At least one sack by the Texans occurred after Culpepper held the ball for 6 seconds, which is too much time for a quarterback to make a decision.

Last year, I think some of the problems with the offensive line, especially in the beginning of the season, were masked by Gus Frerotte's ability to get the ball off fairly quickly.

This year, I think that the blocking problems will decrease as the season goes on, but that as long as Daunte Culpepper continues to hold on to the ball for a long time, we're going to have to live with more sacks than we'd like to see.

Unfortunately, in addition to blocking and quarterback problems, the play calling has been suspect this year. Against a team that ranks 29th in the league in run defense, with a running back like Ronnie Brown and problems protecting the quarterback on pass plays, the Dolphins ran the ball 14 times in the Texans' game but threw it 39 times.

Even in the first half, when Miami was either tied or leading the Texans, the Dolphins ran the ball only 7 times, but threw it 18 times. It may make sense to try and spoil an opposing teams' gameplan by doing something unexpected if the opposing team has a strong defense. But when attacking the worst defense in the league, it makes no sense to throw away the conservative approach until it's been proven that it doesn't work.

Now, I don't know enough about Mike Mularkey to know if the criticisms against him are valid. But based on what we've seen so far, he does seem to be enamored with trying to trick opposing defenses rather than just finding out what works and using that.

Some of the problem is almost certainly that Mike Mularkey is not running a system that he's completely familiar with. And just as certainly, he'll need time to learn what his players can do and what they can't, so I would expect that the play-calling will improve as the season goes on.

Unfortunately, all these problems - at quarterback, with the blocking and with the play-calling - will take time to fix. And with only 12 games to go in the regular season, there is probably not enough time to fix three major problem areas and get the offense in good enough shape to compete at a playoff level.

So I hope I'm wrong - I've been wrong before - but I'm afraid that we'll have to wait at least one more year to see our team in the playoffs. There are just too many problem areas on offense for Nick Saban to fix in the next 12 weeks. Even if he does do it..

...On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Thu, 05 Oct 2006 03:46:29 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23188,23188#msg-23188 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23188,23188#msg-23188
He is neither physically nor mentally ready to perform at 100% of his capabilities.

The coaches see it, the fans see it and opposing teams see it.

The only question left is: What to do about it?

Before we answer that question, let's look at what the Dolphins are facing over the next few weeks.

This weekend, Miami will host Tennessee, which is easily one of the worst teams in the NFL. In two games so far, their defense has only managed two sacks and has not made a single interception. They are giving up a 71% pass completion percentage and 268 passing yards per game.

Following the Titans, Miami goes to Houston, whose defense is the worst in the league against the pass. They are giving up 350 passing yards per game, have managed 1 interception and 3 sacks in 2 games while surrendering 6 touchdown passes.

In other words, these are two teams that should be good for Daunte's confidence. Their ineptitude should allow Culpepper to work on his mechanics and help get him in rhythm with his receivers without having undo pressure put on him.

So, because the next two opponents are so weak, I am in favor of giving Culpepper three strikes. Strikes one and two will be against the Titans and Texans. Then he can take his final exam against the Patriots, in game 5 at New England.

If he passes his final exam, the Dolphins will be in good shape going into the rest of the season.

However, if he flunks against the Titans, Texans or Patriots, there is still enough time to put Joey Harrington in the lineup and possibly salvage a playoff run.

... if Harrington is up to it, of course.

In fact, if Culpepper flunks badly against the Titans, Harrington can still get in a tune-up game against the Texans before he has to face the Patriots.

So it makes sense to keep Culpepper as the starter for at least the next game against the Titans. If Daunte continues to struggle mightily against one of the worst defenses in the league, that will be a good indicator that he will not be ready to play at full speed for the rest of the year.

If, on the other hand, he manages to reverse course and have a good day, that should tell us that he can still play at a high enough level to continue as the starter.

Either way, Nick Saban can make his decision with a much better idea of what Culpepper's status is right now. That allows him to decide without hesitation and to do it ...

... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:18:51 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23187,23187#msg-23187 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23187,23187#msg-23187
I know I shouldn't be. I know that one game against the defending NFL Champions does not a season make. I know that throwing two interceptions, giving up a few sacks and giving up a big play or two is not the end of the world.

And most of all I know that it's not how you start, it's how you finish.

Still, I can't help it. I'm worried.

The Dolphins lost against the Steelers on Thursday night for a lot of different reasons. The secondary gave up too many big plays. The offensive line couldn't make room for a running game and gave up two sacks in the fourth quarter. Daunte Culpepper threw two interceptions.

And there was Nick Saban's lame flag toss.

None of those things, individually, worried me too much. What did worry me is how the team played at the end of the game.

Last year, the Dolphins had to play tough in the fourth quarter to win many of their games. The home win against the Bills was the biggest example, but there were many other cases where the Dolphins had to make the big plays late in the game to win.

And they did. By the end of the season, the Dolphins were playing their best football in the fourth quarter of games. That is one of the biggest reasons that the Dolphins were 6-0 in their last six games.

Against the Steelers, the Dolphins came unglued in the fourth quarter. Nick Saban's teams aren't supposed to do that.

It was almost like the Dolphins had started over from scratch.

And, in many ways, I suppose they have. They've replaced two of the offensive line starters and both the backup and starting quarterbacks. They've changed both the offensive and defensive coordinators and replaced the entire starting secondary. And if you look at where most of the problems were, they were in the recently changed areas of the team.

Still, last year, the Dolphins came out very hot against the Broncos and squashed them on opening day. This year's opening day was much different.

Hopefully, the second game will be much different this year as well. Last year, the Dolphins started hot on the first day and cooled off substantially in the second game against the Jets. I'm hoping that the trend of different results continues and the Dolphins play much better in the second week than they did in the first. They certainly have enough time to get ready, with the extra 3 days they were given by opening on Thursday night.

Still, I'm worried.

Daunte Culpepper's final minutes under center were much too much like Jay-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to fill me with confidence for the rest of the season. It has been over a year since Daunte Culpepper played at a high level and I'm concerned that he won't get back on track until mid-way through the season. By then it might be too late.

Plus, the Bills are coming to town and that always worries me. They played the Patriots very tough yesterday and they'll play the Dolphins tough this week. If Daunte Culpepper doesn't play better and the offensive line doesn't block better, the Bills' defense will be all over him like the Steelers were on Thursday.

If the secondary doesn't play better and make a lot fewer mistakes, JP Losman, Lee Evans and Josh Reed will shred them.

On that subject - memo to Coach Saban: Lance Schulters is unemployed.

So I'm worried.

But it's no accident - I'm definitely worried...

...on Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Tue, 12 Sep 2006 10:18:26 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23186,23186#msg-23186 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23186,23186#msg-23186
The wedding reception had reached a point where the crowd was well lubricated and enjoying themselves without my assistance, so I took a stroll out into the lobby area of the hotel to clear my head. Checking my email on my PDA, I saw a message from my friend and Phins.com columnist Chris Shashaty letting me know that Ben Roethlisberger had had emergency surgery that day and would be out this week.

While I contemplated the meaning of that news to the Dolphins, I overhead a fellow wedding attendee telling his buddy that he had managed to draft "Big Ben" for his fantasy football team and was looking forward to a big year.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that his "big year" going to have to start a few weeks later than he had originally hoped.

Which is not to say that he won't have a big year - it's just that it's going to take a little longer to get started than I'm sure he would have liked.

Which leads me to my central question for the start of the 2006 season - how big a year will the Dolphins have?

Like Ed Pope and Chris, I tend to shy away from specific predictions about the record the team is likely to have at the end of the season. There are just too many things that can happen between now and January that no one except the football gods has any control over. Accidents, illnesses, football injuries, hurricanes and just plain bad luck can stop a teams' season dead in its tracks.

Still, there is reason to have a lot of hope for the Dolphins this year. With the addition of Daunte Culpepper and Joey Harrington, the quarterback position has gone from a position of weakness to one of strength. The offensive line should be improved under the continued tutelage of Hudson Houck, while the receivers are in the prime of their careers.

Running back depth is a concern, but the recent addition of Lee Suggs and the return of Sammy Morris after game 4 will put the Dolphins in a good position by the middle of the season.

The only worry I have about the offense is the play calling of Mike Mularkey. From a purely subjective standpoint, Mularkey seems to be more conservative and less aggressive than his predecessor Scott Linehan. In past years, it seemed to me that Mularkey's Bills were not especially aggressive on offense and I was disappointed by the style of the first string offense during the preseason.

In other words, I wish we still had Scott Linehan.

But we don't and there's no sense in crying over spilt coaches. Modern football is not just about the difficulty of keeping good groups of players together - it's also about the difficulty of holding on to good assistant coaches.

I'm sure Bill Belichick could offer a few comments on that subject.

On defense, I think the Dolphins have the talent and coaching to be one of the top five defenses in the league. With the addition of "Big Daddy" Dan Wilkinson and the maturing of Matt Roth, the defensive line should be as tough as they come.

And their improved play will help free up Zach Thomas and Channing Crowder to make more plays this year. Donnie Spragan is the weakest link in the starting linebacking corps, but he has improved since Coach Saban took over.

And in any conversation about the linebackers, it's important to remember that the Dolphins only play their base defense about 30-40% of the time. The other 60-70% of the snaps typically have more defensive backs and fewer linebackers.

In other words, in most games, the nickel back is on the field more than the strongside linebacker.

And now we come to an area of contention - the defensive backs. There are those who believe that the defensive backs are an area of concern for the defense. I, however, am not one of them.

It's true there are no big names in the secondary for Miami this year, but from what I've seen, this group is playing at least as well as the starters did last year. And they tackle better. Will Allen, Andre Goodman and Renaldo Hill are all tough hitters and sure tacklers - something you couldn't always say about Sam Madison.

And while we may miss Lance Schulters for his ball-hawking skills, I think it's important to remember that Travares Tillman had 3 interceptions last year, even though he didn't start until game 7. Travis Daniels is improving and Michael Lehan was looking very good until he got injured.

All in all, I think that the defensive backs will not earn a lot of honors this season, but will play very well - far better than last year's group. And I think that Will Allen will do more for the Dolphins than Sam Madison will do for the Giants.

On special teams, I heard a lot of talk about replacing Wes Welker as the primary return man during training camp, but once again he has retained his position. My personal bias for him aside, I think it's clear that he's the best return man on the team and a very good one overall. I believe that the reason his numbers suffered last year was not due to anything he was doing differently, but by a lack of blocking from the other players on the return teams.

Again, this is nothing but a subjective opinion on my part, but from what I've observed, Welker rarely seemed to have room to run last year. And without room to run, even the fastest player can't break the big returns.

The kicking game, however, should be among the best in the league again this year. Olindo Mare' appears to be in excellent form and will continue to place those kickoffs in the endzone and hit a high percentage of his field goals.

The bottom line is this - the Dolphins should be a much improved team this year. With a decent schedule and improved play, anything less than a playoff appearance will be a major disappointment for this team.

And if they can finish strong again this year, there is no limit to what they can accomplish.

As for me, I'm not going to try and promise that I will be better at writing this year or that I will rededicate myself to reporting on the team. I've failed too many of those promises to you in the last few years and you, at the very least, deserve honesty from me.

However, I can tell you what I have already done this year that is new and different. I've upgraded the Phins.com News Wire so that it runs off a database instead of a file. That allows me to keep a lot more news available for users who perhaps don't see the News Wire every day.

The new News Wire program also collects brief descriptions on every article it catalogs and runs more often and more efficiently than the old program.

I've also created a new website called "TeamNewsNow.com", by applying the Phins.com News Wire technology to all the teams in the NFL. That means fans of every NFL team can now view a News Wire like the Phins.com News Wire. It is still a work in progress, but it is up and running. Please check it out.

I've upgraded the message board to a new format that brings it out of the dark ages and into the 21st century. The new software that it uses is called "Phorum" - I just couldn't resist it.

I've moved the "Places to Watch" list out of a flat file and into a database. The immediate benefit is that visitors will be able to add places to the database themselves instead of having to wait for me to do it. (If you've ever waited for me to add a place to the list, you know how slow that can be...)

Also, links to maps of the locations are now enabled and very soon, users will be able to add comments about their favorite (or least favorite) establishments.

And last, but not least, I am changing the format of "On Porpoise" to that of a blog. I am hoping that that will make it easier for me to post regularly, instead of having to write, format, post and email my columns out in a series of time-consuming steps.

In other words, I've made a few improvements this summer. I hope that you will find that they make Phins.com a better website.

And that you will come back and visit again...

...On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Wed, 06 Sep 2006 02:57:49 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23150,23150#msg-23150 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23150,23150#msg-23150
In just a few hours, the Dolphins will begin their 39th regular season and I will begin my 11th as webmaster of a Dolphins' fan website.

It's a little bit stunning to me that I've been maintaining my website for 10 years now. When I started, I had no idea that this would become a permanent fixture in my life. I started the website for two reasons - as a personal tutorial in technology and to help out other Dolphins' fans like me who were much too far away from Miami to get regular news.

In the beginning, I had no idea how important the Internet would become to folks who were not computer professionals. At first, I thought that my website would only be of interest to a few computer geeks like me who couldn't get Dolphins news locally.

Later, as the Internet began to take on more prominence, I figured I'd only have the website long enough to allow the big news sites to come on line. Once the Miami Herald began their online edition, I figured my days reporting the Dolphins' news were almost over.

You see, I decided somewhere in the mid-90s that if the day came when I couldn't provide something unique to the Dolphins' fans who visited my website, I would quit and go back to just being a regular fan.

And when the Miami Herald came online, I figured that day must be close.

But here it is, 10 years after I started and while there is a lot of information that is no longer unique to Phins.com, there are still a few things that I don't see anywhere else on the web.

And as long as I continue to believe that something on Phins.com is unique to the Information Superhighway, I'll probably keep right on working on it and keep trying to make it better - in my copious free time, of course.

But I'm getting away from the porpoise of this issue. What I really wanted to talk about in the last few hours before the 2004 season starts is this year.

In all the time that I've been a fan (since 1970) and in all the time I've been maintaining my website, I've never seen an off-season with more turmoil, confusion and just plain weird goings-on than this one.

I will spare you the litany of bizarre events that have happened since January, because I don't have a month to jot them all down, but you probably know them as well as I do.

The bottom line is that pretty much every football pundit from Key West to Nome is writing the Dolphins off this year and predicting their demise.

Well, if you want my honest opinion, I think they're wrong. I believe that the Dolphins are going to be much better than the 6-10 team everyone is predicting. Well, nearly everyone. One of my least favorite sports reporters in Miami agrees with me in saying the Dolphins won't be as bad as everyone thinks.

I won't tell you who, but I'm sure you can figure it out.

When I look at this team, I'm thinking 10-6 is much more likely than 6-10.

Granted, some of that is just plain 'ol fan optimism speaking. While I'm pretty pessimistic about most things, I reserve a small spring of optimism for the Dolphins.

But looking at it realistically, this team is just as talented - in some cases, more so - than the 2000 team that went 11-5 and won the AFC East.

If you don't believe me, check out the 2000 Depth Chart on Pins.com.

The 2004 Dolphins are better at wide receiver, linebacker, cornerback and have more depth at almost every position than the 2000 team. And the quarterback will be better - whether it's Jay Fiedler or AJ Feeley.

Now, obviously the final record is not determined solely on talent. But it is a good place to start and with the exception of the running back position, this team is every bit as talented as any Dolphins' team since Dave Wannstedt took over.

Naturally, my 10-6 prediction comes with caveats. It will probably take a while for the offensive line to fully come together. But I do think all the pieces are in place.

And injuries are going to be a factor, of course.

Nevertheless, with the pundits giving them little or no chance, the Dolphins will be underrated and overlooked - a situation I'd rather find them in than having too many expectations on their heads.

So do not lose heart, Dolphins fans. I believe that this team is going to surprise a lot of people and prove themselves to be much better than most of the "experts" expect.

Of course, I may be singing a completely different tune in about 5 hours, but right now, I see no reason that this team can't have a successful season.

But whether they have a great year or a terrible year, you can bet that they will have done it....

... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Sat, 11 Sep 2004 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23149,23149#msg-23149 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23149,23149#msg-23149
And one thing I do have in common with Ricky - probably the only thing, in fact - is that I want to be different.

So I'm not going to bore you with another dissertation on right and wrong. For the record, I stand in the company of those who enthusiastically support Ricky's decision to quit football and find himself, but think his timing and method of breaking the news were despicably selfish, irresponsible and cowardly.

Most of all, though, I think Ricky's recent actions point out that Ricky has bad judgement and makes bad decisions. And it's not just this time - it's his entire career. Whatever reasons or excuses he might have, Ricky makes bad decisions.

Which leads me to my 2 predictions:

First of all, we haven't seen the last of Ricky Williams in the NFL. Oh, we may have seen the last of Ricky as a Dolphin - it's hard to imagine him returning to the team even if he decides to do so in the next week. But I think that in a few years, perhaps sooner, Ricky is going to run out of money. People who make bad decisions have a hard time holding on to their money, especially if they don't care much about it.

And when he runs out of money, he'll realize that it's lot easier to be free if you have money than if you don't. And when he discovers that, he'll return to the only thing he's really good at - running the ball between the tackles.

Secondly, the saga of Ricky Williams will not end well. Ricky will not ride off happily into the sunset and quietly pursue his dream of self-discovery and enlightenment as he travels happily through the world. I don't know how it will play out, but after Ricky makes a few more bad decisions - gives his money to the wrong charity, befriends the wrong people or gets lost in the wrong country - he'll end up as the poster boy for bad judgement.

Now let me just say that I don't have any special insight into Ricky Williams that allows me to make these predictions. I'm not a psychic, psychiatrist or soothsayer. But I do know that Ricky Williams makes bad decisions in his quest to be different and that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. And it's not a huge leap from that to my predictions.

And truthfully, I hope I'm wrong. I hope that Ricky finds himself, because that is the ultimate destination for any human being.

But I wouldn't bet on it.

So now that Ricky is gone, what's next? Well, I have a few modest recommendations to the team on what they should be doing now. Three, in fact. But I'll bet you already knew that, didn't you?

If this team is going to do anything this year, they need to make some radical changes and make them right now. If they try to run the offense they had planned without Ricky Williams, they'll be pounding their collective heads into a brick wall without a battering ram all year long.

The first recommendation is to sign one of the free agent running backs available out there. Sign Stacey Mack or James Stewart or Robert Edwards and put them into the backfield behind Travis Minor. Please do NOT trade for someone like Anthony Thomas. Sign someone who is decent but relatively cheap.

Then take the saved Ricky Williams money and sign Adewale Ogunleye. The team should be able to sweeten Wale's deal considerably now and get him in camp. Do not trade Wale - the defense is going to need to be even better this year.

My second recommendation is to make Marc Trestman the offensive coordinator. Sorry, Mr. Foerster, you do deserve your chance - just not right now. With Ricky gone, the passing game has just become a lot more important and the team needs to make some serious changes and make them now.

Two years ago, Trestman created the best passing attack in the NFL with a weak armed quarterback and two older receivers who had put their best days behind them. In 2002, the Raiders went to the SuperBowl with the number one offense and number one passing attack in the league and their offensive coordinator was Marc Trestman. Right now, he's the best option the Dolphins have for an explosive offense this year and they're going to need it.

My last recommendation is going to cause a stir, but I believe it is the right thing to do.

My last recommendation is to start Sage Rosenfels at quarterback.

Yes, I'm serious.

No, Ricky has not been sharing his stash with me.

With Ricky gone, the old way of doing things has to be abandoned if Miami wants to be a serious contender this year. There is not a running back available anywhere that can fill Ricky's shoes, so the old offensive scheme must be dumped.

And Jay Fiedler is not the man to run a pass-oriented offense. His ability to throw the ball deteriorates the more he throws. The Dolphins don't win when Jay has to throw the ball more than 30 times a game.

AJ Feeley is the new guy and has a better arm, but is having trouble learning the offense. He admitted at the end of the last mini-camp that he wasn't ready to start.

Sage Rosenfels knows the offense, has a better arm than Fiedler and has looked the best of any of the quarterbacks in the mini-camps. He has virtually no experience during a regular season game, but then again, Jay Fiedler didn't have much when he started and AJ Feeley has very little himself.

In a season so completely upside down, it would be the perfect twist to open training camp.

So those are my predictions and recommendations. I do have one other prediction before I go, however, and it's this: the team will do none of the things I have recommended, except perhaps signing a cheap running back. They will not use the extra money saved when Ricky retires to sign Wale. They will not promote Trestman to Offensive Coordinator and they most certainly will not start Sage Rosenfels.

Oh well. I'm a systems administrator, a father and a husband. I'm used to having my recommendations ignored. So I won't feel bad if the Dolphins don't take my recommendations. Even if they do it..

..On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Thu, 15 Jul 2004 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23148,23148#msg-23148 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23148,23148#msg-23148
If there's anyone left out there who reads my stuff but doesn't know what "On Porpoise" is, well .... it's my personal column about the Miami Dolphins in which I just say whatever I like.

You see, when I write up my training camp reports, game previews or summaries or just about anything else, I try to maintain some sense of professionalism and detachment about the team and provide my readers with factual information and as much objective commentary (tinged with optimism) as I can muster.

None of that applies to "On Porpoise".

Oh, I will do my best to talk about some real aspect of Miami Dolphins football, but don't expect me to keep my cool when something bothers me or to restrain my enthusiasm when I'm really excited about something.

Because that's not what "On Porpoise" is for. "On Porpoise" is my personal soapbox where anything goes.

This is the first edition of "On Porpoise" that I've written since I had the good fortune to become a proud father. For those of you who are parents, you probably have a pretty good idea why I took a sabbatical from writing just after my baby girl was born.

For those of you who don't have children, I can't explain it to you. You'll just have to trust me when I say that love for my daughter, combined with lack of sleep and awe at the whole concept of raising a child (who me? act like an ADULT????!) turned my Cerebrum to guacamole within about 24 hours of her birth - which is an amazing story, in its own right.

One of the odd things about becoming a parent is that your higher brain functions turn to mush almost instantly, but your body compensates by having your reflexes improve dramatically.

Chris Chambers diving for a pass has nothing on a father diving for his child as she dives off the sofa....

But I feel as though I'm ready to resume writing "On Porpoise" for the 3 of you that want to read it (OK Dad, you can stop bugging me now...) and so here is the first edition of the new millennium.

So, as the 2002 season opens, what should we talk about? The quarterback controversy? (Don't fool yourselves, folks - there IS one - or, at least there will be as soon as Jay throws his first pick). The offensive line? (will they be offensive or merely... offensive?) Prince Adewale Ogunleye?

Ricky Williams?

How about the feel-good story of the year - at least so far - Robert Edwards? As other writers have put it - you'd have to have a heart of obsidian not to be cheering for Robert Edwards.

Well, as much as I'd like to talk about all those things (and hopefully, I will eventually get a chance to), what I really want to talk about is not the 2002 Dolphins.

What I want to talk about is the 1972 Dolphins, the greatest team in the history of the NFL.

The reason I want to talk about the '72 Dolphins is that I saw the ESPN special on the '72 team hosted by Dan Dierdorf back in June and it kept Phins.com alive.

At the time, I was thinking seriously about selling Phins.com and giving up this one-man reporting operation. But watching that show reminded me of what the Miami Dolphins have been about since the beginning and I realized that I couldn't give up my commitment to the Dolphins, the keepers of the legacy of the greatest team in football history - the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

Now sure, that's hokey. But being a fan is hokey. If I wanted serious discourse and somber discussion, I'd turn on "Wall Street Week" - and then fall asleep.

But watching the show about a group of players who accomplished what no one before or since has accomplished filled me with pride. And I realized that I wasn't ready to give up Phins.com.

So, here I am again, thanks to the '72 Miami Dolphins.

And then, a couple of weeks ago, a group of sports writers at ESPN announced their pick for the greatest team in history and they picked the '85 Bears. Their thoughts about going the '72 team going undefeated?

"Ultimately, it's a thin argument".

Going undefeated is a "thin" argument? Permit me to respond by quoting Bill Parcells, back when he was the Patriots' head coach. He was asked by a reporter if he thought that the Patriots were better than their record. He responded by saying "No, we're exactly as good as our record".

He went on to explain that since winning was the only thing that counted, it didn't matter how fast, how tough or how strong the players were if they didn't win. So no team was "better" or "worse" than their record.

So, to ESPN I say - the '72 Dolphins were exactly as good as their record - they were perfect. No other team has ever been perfect. And nothing else really matters.

But for those who wish to nitpick the details, let's talk about some details.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins had the number 1 offense and defense, in terms of yards gained and yards allowed. They also lead the league in both points scored and points allowed. They were so dominant running the ball, they had 2 1000 yard runners in a 14 game season, both of whom averaged over 5 yards per carry for the year.

The team averaged 4.8 yards per carry running the ball and averaged over 200 yards PER GAME in rushing.

And while the passing game was overshadowed by the run, the Dolphins' top 3 receivers, Paul Warfield, Howard Twilley and Marlin Briscoe EACH averaged over 18 yards per catch. Hall-of-Famer Paul Warfield averaged 20.9 yards per catch.

The 'No-Name' defense, for their part, allowed an average of just 12.2 points per game by opponents.

The team played 9 regular season games and 1 playoff game with a backup quarterback, after Bob Griese was injured in game 5 of the regular season. In those days, there was no such thing as home field advantage in the playoffs and the Dolphins had to go on the road to Pittsburgh to play the AFC Championship game.

And, of course, they won the SuperBowl. Not just won it, but dominated it.

The counter argument has been that Miami didn't play a tough schedule. But at least part of the reason that Miami's opponents had a low winning percentage is that they had to play Miami. Sometimes twice.

And of the games that Miami played that year, only 3 of 14 ended with scores that were within a touchdown. So Miami did beat it's opponents convincingly, as a good team does when it faces bad teams.

So the "strength of schedule" argument is, ultimately, thinner than Calista Flockhart.

But to me, the bottom line is about what "greatness" really means. Does being "great" just mean being really, really good or does it mean something more?

Because if it just means being really good, then the 1973 Dolphins have more of a claim to greatness than the '72 Dolphins. Fans, knowledgeable sportswriters and the players themselves generally agree that the 1973 Dolphin team was actually a better team than their 1972 predecessors. And they're probably right.

But I believe that greatness is about more than just being really good. It's about more than even being the best in your chosen endeavor.

Greatness, after all is said and done, is about transcending the ordinary boundaries of what's possible and doing something that, under ordinary circumstances, would be impossible. It's about taking the game beyond it's normal limits and showing the world something new... about accomplishing something that no one, before or since, has ever accomplished.

Greatness is unique. Multiple teams have ended the season with just 1 regular season loss and won a SuperBowl. No other team in the entire history of the NFL has ever gone undefeated through an entire season and won the championship.

And greatness is timeless. The achievements of greatness last well beyond the time in which they were accomplished. Merely being the best team in any given year is not timeless, if only because the players and the game have changed so much over the history of the NFL that comparing, say, the 1965 Packers to the 2001 Patriots is the ultimate in "apples to oranges" comparisons.

If you could somehow transport the 1965 Packers to this year, most of the teams in the NFL would squash them on the playing field. But that does not diminish their greatness.

So to pick the greatest team of all time, you must find a team that is truly unique - that has accomplished something that no other team in the history of the league has accomplished. Otherwise, the selection has no meaning.

Now, if you want to argue about which was the "best" team of all time, there are a lot to choose from. The '78 Steelers, the '73 Dolphins, the '89 49ers, the '85 Bears, the '65 Packers... the list could go on and on.

But it you want to know which NFL team was the Greatest team of all time, there can only be one choice - the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

Now, for the start of the 2002 season, I don't have much to say that I haven't already said in my game summary on Phins.com. The victory over the Lions was impressive, but I was pleased to hear the comments from the players and coach Wannstedt following the game that showed they knew they had a long way to go.

For it's going to be a long season and most of the games won't go like Sunday's game. Still, you can bet that the Dolphins will do their best to show us all that Sunday was not an exception and that they crushed the Lions....

... on Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Thu, 12 Sep 2002 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23147,23147#msg-23147 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23147,23147#msg-23147
In reality, the season ends with the crowning of the SuperBowl champion.

And the crowning of this year's champion has left me with kind of a sour taste in my mouth. You see, I didn't find the game itself particularly interesting and neither participant impressed me as a complete football team.

Oh, sure, the Ravens have one of the best defenses ever, but their offense is barely competent. About the best you can say about their offense is that they didn't turn the ball over, although even that stat has an asterisk beside it. The Ravens fumbled twice and Trent Dilfer threw an interception that would have been a Giants' touchdown if it hadn't been nullified by a penalty.

As for the Giants - they looked like the least deserving SuperBowl team since the 95 Chargers. Yes, I know that's unfair to the Giants, who worked hard all year to get to Tampa, but they just didn't look like they belonged there yesterday.

And if the game wasn't bad enough, even the commercials were disappointing....

But the real SuperBowl disappointment for me was that the Dolphins (and probably half a dozen other AFC teams) could have beaten the Giants yesterday, if they had made it to the game.

And Miami was one of the few teams to beat the Ravens this year. Not only did the Dolphins beat the Ravens by the biggest margin of any team, but they out-muscled Baltimore and beat them at the line of scrimmage, something almost no one has done in two years.

There is a lesson to take away from the game yesterday, as well as from the season in general - mistakes kill. You still hear the pundits say that "speed kills", but that's not really true. Speed dominates, but it's mistakes that kill a good team - like the Dolphins.

Miami won the AFC Eastern Division this year and went farther than almost all of the so-called experts had predicted. But the truth is that the real story of Miami's season was ultimately about how many mistakes the team made each week.

And nowhere were those mistakes more evident than at the quarterback position.

At the beginning of the 2000 season, the biggest question mark about the Dolphins' roster was whether or not Jay Fiedler was the right man to lead the team as the starting quarterback. At the time, this was a understandable question given Fiedler's relative lack of experience and the recent retirement of Dan Marino.

At the end of the season, it is ironic that the questions about Jay Fiedler still remain unanswered, even though Miami won the AFC East and had its best record since 1992.

Personally, I think that Jay Fiedler did a fairly good job this year. He has shown good leadership, an unexpected athletic talent and flashes of good decision making ability. At one point in the season, he went 4 games without throwing an interception.

Not surprisingly, the Dolphins won all 4 of those games.

He has also shown perseverance in the face of adversity and a willingness to play through pain. All in all, he has shown almost all the qualities that top quarterbacks possess at one time or another.

Now he just has to do it consistently for most of the season.

Of course, he also had periods of dismal performance, mostly because of bad decision making. Obviously, his worst stretch came in the playoffs, where he threw 6 interceptions in 2 games against the Colts and the Raiders.

And his arm is not that strong, so his bad decisions are magnified. He can throw the ball deep, but he doesn't have much zip behind his throws and they often float.

So the book is still open on Jay Fiedler. If he can fix his decision making and consistently avoid the turnovers that plagued him this year, I believe that he can lead the offense effectively. And his decision making is something that should get better, especially for someone as smart as Fiedler.

He also has the benefit of one of the better offensive coordinators in the game - Chan Gailey. If Gailey can make Kordell Stewart look good, he should be able to fix Fiedler's problems.

But the fact that he should get better doesn't mean that he WILL get better - or that he will get better fast enough. In the era of free agency and the salary cap, it's very difficult to keep a team together for several years while waiting for your players to grow into their positions. Teams need players who can excel immediately in order to have a decent chance to win the big game.

And no matter how good he gets, he will almost certainly never be an elite quarterback in the NFL.

So, while Fiedler may be able to take Miami to the next level of competition, there are no guarantees. And since there no guarantees, Miami should be looking carefully at the available quarterbacks, both in the draft and in free agency, to see if they can sign one who would be better than Jay Fiedler.

News reports and interviews with Dave Wannestedt suggest that the Dolphins have already been doing their homework on the available quarterbacks. Wannestedt has publicly denied interest in most of the available free agents, leaving open only Brad Johnson of the Redskins, but that could be a cover-up or could change rapidly if the situation with any of these players changes.

Quarterbacks that might be available for Miami to try and get include Brian Griese, Troy Aikman, Trent Green, Gus Ferrotte and Trent Dilfer.

Of this list, the most provocative are Griese and Trent Green.

Aikman is not a possibility, because even if he doesn't return to Dallas, he does not get along with Chan Gailey and I can't imagine that Gailey would agree to signing that headache in Miami - no pun intended.

Gus Ferrotte and Trent Dilfer have not shown any more ability than Jay Fiedler this season and both would cost more than Fiedler, so it doesn't make much sense to bring either player on board.

Brian Griese is an exciting possibility, but there is almost no chance that he will sign anywhere but Denver. Griese is a restricted free agent and that means that Denver can match any offer that any team makes to him and keep him in Colorado.

While Griese might like to play in Miami, Denver head coach Mike Shanahan would have to be a fool to let the top-rated passer in the NFL this year get away from him - and Mike Shanahan is not a fool. Also, Denver appears to have the cap space to match any reasonable offer and Miami doesn't have the money to make Griese an outrageous offer, unless they want to forget signing all of their other free agents.

So, as thrilling as it would be to see another Griese in aqua and orange this coming season (would they un-retire #12 to let him wear it? I don't think Dad would mind...), I think there's a greater chance that George W. Bush will nominate Hillary Clinton for Attorney General than the Broncos will let Griese go.

That leaves Brad Johnson and Trent Green as possible candidates. Let's come back to Green in a minute and talk about Johnson first.

Brad Johnson is an unrestricted free agent, but there are several significant obstacles to signing him. First (and foremost), the Ravens want a new quarterback and Johnson may be their first choice. While the Ravens haven't given out any hints yet (other than being only luke-warm about signing Dilfer back), there are many reasons to think that Brian Billick might want Johnson.

Johnson developed his skills in Minnesota while playing for Brian Billick, who was the Vikings' offensive coordinator at that time. Billick put together an excellent offense in Minnesota with Johnson at the helm and knows that his team needs a better quarterback if they are to continue their success.

From Johnson's perspective, there is a good chance that Johnson will want to go back to work for the coach who made him a starter in the first place. Not to mention that the opportunity to start at quarterback for the SuperBowl champions will be a powerful inducement.

And if all that isn't enough, there's the fact that Johnson already lives in the Washington area, so he might not even have to move to play for Baltimore.

But even if Baltimore passes on Johnson, Norv Turner out in San Diego may be looking for a new quarterback and he also likes Johnson. The Chargers definitely need a new quarterback and Turner could be a strong lure to Brad Johnson to venture west.

So that kind of leaves the Dolphins a distant third on the list of teams who would be interested in Brad Johnson, unless there is come connection to South Florida or the Dolphins that I'm unaware of.

And that pretty much sums up the available free agent quarterbacks that the Dolphins might be interested in. There are others available, but none of them are definitely better than Jay Fiedler and the Dolphins would probably rather spend their time and energy trying to fix Fiedler's problems than to bring in a new guy, who would need time to learn the system before anyone would know if he could be as good as Fiedler.

Outside of the draft, there is only one other reasonable possibility the Dolphins could explore to get a new quarterback - they could trade for Trent Green.

This past season, Green was the 2nd rated passer in the NFL, even ahead of his teammate, Kurt Warner. In the 5 games he started, he threw 12 TDs and 4 INTs, despite being sacked an average of 4.2 times per game. He never threw more than one pick in any one game.

As far as I know, there haven't been any rumors about this possibility, but from my perspective, it makes enormous sense. The Rams were painfully weak on defense this past season and they are starting Ray Agnew at left defensive tackle, a permanent journeyman who is now playing with his fourth NFL team.

Coincidentally, the Dolphins are rumored to have been shopping Tim Bowens for a trade. The actual rumor speculates that the Dolphins are offering Bowens to Seattle for a first round pick, but a Bowens-for-Trent-Green trade might make more sense for Miami. The Rams get some serious power for their defensive line and the Dolphins get a terrific prospect at quarterback.

And Miami could live without Tim Bowens. Jermaine Haley had a very strong year for a rookie and Damien Gregory showed enormous potential before being hurt. Kenny Mixon can also rotate inside to help with the pass rush, since Trace Armstrong replaces him outside on obvious passing downs anyway.

Plus, the Dolphins would really like to reduce Bowens' 6.5 million dollar hit on the salary cap in 2001. He may decide to become a free agent, but if he doesn't, he'll end up counting almost 10 percent of the available salary cap. I like Tim Bowens, but he's not 10 percent of the team.

All in all, it's a trade I'd love to see Miami make. I doubt that it will actually take place, but of all the possibilities that the Dolphins have to upgrade the quarterback position, this is the one that excites me the most.

As I said, I have no knowledge that would lead me to believe that the Dolphins are even thinking about such a trade, just my own feeling that this trade would make a lot of sense to both teams.

The free agent period starts late this year, not until March, so we'll have to wait a while to see what - if anything - the Dolphins do for their quarterback situation. It should be another interesting off-season for Miami, as they try to sign their most important free agents and pick up some players to fill the holes they have.

Remember, though - no matter what the Dolphins do this spring, you can be sure that it will be...

... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Thu, 15 Feb 2001 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23146,23146#msg-23146 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23146,23146#msg-23146
The final roster cuts have been made.

The practice squad has been formed and the starting lineup has been selected.

Which means that the pre-season is now officially over and there's only one thing left to do before the regular season starts....

... write an issue of "On Porpoise".

Hey! Quit laughing! It isn't that surprising, is it? Sure, it's been over a year since I put fingers to keyboard for "On Porpoise", but for some strange reason, people keep emailing me to ask me for another one.

So, here it is.

But what should this premier 2000 issue of "On Porpoise" be about, do you think? The retirement of Dan Marino? The new coaching regime of Dave Wannestedt? The (re-)naming of Joe Robbie Stadium? The signing of Thurman Thomas?

All of these are valid topics and all deserve some attention. But the topic that is most on the lips of Dolphins' fans worldwide is...

....the quarterback situation, of course!

And while I wouldn't want to be a band-wagoneer, I will let myself be swept along in the tide of public enthusiasm, just this once...

Now, far be it from me to gloat over being right, (*ahem*) but those of you who have been reading what I've written over the summer know that I predicted back in April that Jay Fiedler would eventually become the starting quarterback for the Dolphins.

I just didn't think it would happen quite this soon - especially after Fiedler had his hip surgery this summer.

But let's face it - the Dolphins didn't sign Fiedler to be a backup. They signed him to at least compete for - and hopefully win - the starting job.

Actually, that's not quite true. They signed him because they hoped he'd have the talent and smarts to come in and lead the team. They hoped he'd turn out to be a genuine leader with a legitimate NFL arm who could take charge and lead the offense to a level of success they haven't known in several years.

And because the coaches believe that Damon Huard - while a great competitor - does not have the arm to be an NFL starter in this age of the big strike offense.

Now, don't get me wrong - I like Damon Huard a lot. I am a believer in Damon Huard. I have been ever since the first game he played as quarterback last year against the Patriots.

There are only a handful of starting quarterbacks in the NFL who could do what Huard did in that game - who could throw an interception that was returned for a touchdown on their first pass and not suffer a meltdown. Who could take 9 sacks throughout the game and still lead their team to a victory in the final minute while overcoming a 2 touchdown deficit.

Now, if you multiply those difficulties by the fact that Huard had never played a full regular season NFL game in his life, his accomplishment is stunning.

I firmly believe that Damon Huard will be an effective quarterback in the NFL - in the Earl Morrall, Frank Reich and Don Strock mold.

In other words, as a permanent backup.

Having said that, let me say this - I want him on the team. He is a proven winner. His guts, intelligence, tenacity and cool head under pressure are invaluable. And since almost every team in the NFL will have their backup quarterback start at least one game for them this year, a good backup quarterback has become a necessity.

And Damon Huard is definitely a good backup quarterback.

Unfortunately, what Damon Huard doesn't have is a genuine starting quality arm. His delivery of the ball is too slow and a little too erratic to make him an effective starting passer in the NFL.

If you add to that his tentative decision making, the result is a quarterback who won't lose you any games, but who also can't give the team that extra spark they may need now and then to win.

Now, the coaches and experience can probably improve his decision making. But they can't give Damon the arm, the timing and the instincts to deliver the ball quickly and on target.

And because they can't give him these qualities, the coaches can't turn Damon Huard into a starting NFL quarterback. At least, not for a championship team.

Over the course of this year, the coaches have given Damon Huard every chance to demonstrate that he has those qualities somewhere in him. Unfortunately, all he's done this pre-season is to prove that he doesn't have the passing ability to be an NFL starter.

He's got everything else a starting quarterback needs. But if he can't throw the ball well, he won't ever be a starter and there is very little that anyone can do about it.

Which brings us back to Jay Fiedler.

Now, it is yet to be proven that Fiedler also has the qualities necessary to lead a team to the promised land, which just happens to be in Tampa, Florida this year. But from our brief look at him, he does seem to have most of the qualities necessary to be an NFL starter.

First, he's got brains and he knows how to use them. A degree from Dartmouth - while not as impressive as a degree from... oh let's say MIT... is nothing to sneer at.

Second, he seems to have good field presence and leadership. This is, of course, much harder to define than smarts, but if he didn't have those qualities, he wouldn't have veterans like Bert Emmanuel and Tony Martin gushing about him publicly in the papers - as they did this week.

And he wouldn't have Tom Coughlin of the Jacksonville Jaguars picking him to back up Mark Brunell last year. Coughlin would have found someone else if he didn't think Fiedler could lead the team.

But the deciding factor in Fiedler's selection as a starter is that he seems to have the instincts and passing ability that Damon Huard lacks. On Friday night against the Saints, he completed over 70% of his passes, most of which were well thrown and right on target. With only one day of practice to work on his reads and timing, I thought that part of his game was pretty good.

Which is not to say that I have forgotten that he threw 3 or 4 interceptions, depending on how you count them. In fact, if you look at his stats, he completed 13 of his 14 passes - it was just that 3 of his passes were to the Saints.

OK, ok - that's not trivial. But most of the passes he threw were crisp, well aimed and traveled well down the field. And it was only when he had to play with the second team that his decisions began to suffer badly.

In other words, when he's had a week to work with the first team and it's just the first team on the field with him, his performance should be better, especially in the interception department.

And once he gets comfortable, I think that Fiedler will be a very good NFL quarterback.

So, yes - I do think that Dave Wannestedt made the right choice by naming Fiedler as the starter and Huard as the backup. And the reason I think that is that Fiedler has a better arm and better passing instincts than Damon Huard, while being at least as smart.

Now that I've said that I think Wannestedt made the right decision, there is one area in which Damon Huard is better than Jay Fiedler as a quarterback - when forced to scramble. Huard does a better job of avoiding the pass rushers, getting clear and making a play when things get tough in the backfield.

In other words, when the pass protection breaks down, Huard is a better man to have in there.

But if your pass protection is breaking down enough that you need to have a scrambling quarterback to salvage your offense, you have more problems than just keeping your quarterback from getting sacked. And Huard is not enough of a scrambler to cause opposing defenses problems with his running ability, like a Steve Young or a Steve McNair.

On a related topic, I'm afraid that I don't hold with the modern theory that you need a supremely athletic, scrambling quarterback to win in the NFL. In fact, I believe that if your quarterback is running too much, that's a bad sign for your team. It means that protection in the pocket is breaking down or your receivers aren't getting open.

And that's bad.

I think that the most important quality a quarterback needs to possess these days is an accurate arm, coupled with good instincts as to where and when to throw the ball. And in that area, it looks to me as if Jay Fiedler is clearly better than Damon Huard.

And it also seems clear to me that Jay can be a quality NFL starter for the Dolphins - with a little bit of luck.

Of course, the last may be too much to hope for. But if the offense continues to be able to control the football and move down the field, Fiedler won't have to be Dan Marino to get the team into the endzone.

He'll just have to be capable of converting the occasional 2nd and 31 or third and 11 play. And I think he can do that.

Well, folks, that's about it for the first "On Porpoise" of the season. Every year, about this time, I vow to myself to get better at publishing my work to the fans who seem to appreciate it.

And not being one to break tradition, I am re-dedicating myself to producing one issue of "On Porpoise" per week this season, God willing and the creek don't rise....

... actually, to get the proper southern flavor for that particular saying, the correct pronunciation of the word "creek" is "crik", the "g" should be dropped off the word "willing" and the word "don't" should be pronounced without the "t" at the end.

In other words, it should sound more like this: "God willin' and the crik doun rise."

But since I don't have a crik near my house, that shouldn't be a problem.

So please - look forward to (or cringe at) more issues of my personal editorial writings, one per week - as long as you don't hold me rigorously to that schedule. Because, you see, if I have to miss a week or two, I won't be doing it....

... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Wed, 30 Aug 2000 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23145,23145#msg-23145 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23145,23145#msg-23145
And once that's done, I'll have just enough time to do the draftees before full practices begin.

Unfortunately, there are just too many players to cover completely in a reasonable amount of time. By my count, the Dolphins have signed (or traded for) 21 free agents this year....

...not counting any of the rookies.

So I'm afraid that I'm going to have to limit my coverage of the free agents to the remaining few who I believe will make an impact on the team. Out of the 17 free agents that I haven't talked about, I figure that about 6 stand a chance at being on the roster in September.

Of course, given the Dolphins' recent history, there will undoubtedly be a free agent or two who will surprise all the pundits and come out of nowhere to make the final cut (like Oronde Gadsden did last year...), but those guys are impossible to predict, so I'm just going to stay with the contenders.

First on our list of contenders is the player that JJ hopes will be this year's Robert Jones. His name is Dixon Edwards and, like Jones, he plays linebacker. Unlike Jones, however, his experience is at outside linebacker, most recently on the strong side of the Minnesota Vikings defense.

Now, the reason that the Dolphins have acquired this player is that the Vikings cut Edwards in a salary cap move (again, like Jones). And as soon as Edwards was cut, JJ was on the phone to his agent, trying to get him to come to Miami.

Another similarity to Robert Jones is Edwards' ties to JJ and Dave Wannestedt. Edwards started his career in Dallas, playing for Wannestedt and JJ, first as a special teams player and eventually as their starting strongside linebacker.

He went to the Vikings in 1996 after being signed as a free agent, where he initially switched to weakside linebacker. In 1996 he had the best year of his career, amassing 96 tackles, 3.5 sacks and an interception. Unfortunately, his stats declined after that after he was moved back to the strongside linebacking position.

With Robert Jones and Zach Thomas firmly entrenched as starters in the other two linebacking spots, the only starting position that Edwards might challenge for is at the weakside linebacker's spot. Fortunately for the Dolphins and for Edwards, that's just where they've put him.

Last year, Derrick Rodgers started at weakside linebacker for the Dolphins but had a bit of a sophomore slump after a very impressive rookie year. Of course, some of that is just in contrast to what Robert Jones and Zach Thomas were doing, but I think it's fair to say that Rodgers did not make as many big plays as JJ would have liked.

So in comes Dixon Edwards. It's difficult to say who has the edge right now - Rodgers is younger and quicker but Edwards has size and experience on his side. In my opinion, the decision as to who starts will be mostly influenced by Edwards' speed and quickness. If Edwards still maintains enough speed from his former playing days to do everything JJ wants, he'll get the nod.

On the other hand, if Edwards has lost a step or two (as some have alleged), JJ won't hesitate to let Rodgers retain his position.

My hunch (which is completely unencumbered by supporting facts) is that Edwards will take the starting job away from Rodgers. As a rookie, Rodgers had 80 tackles and 5 sacks, but last year had 47 tackles and 2.5 sacks. He'll need to boost his performance to keep his starting job.

Unfortunately for OJ Brigance, who is recovering from an injury, the signing of Edwards, along with Brian Jones and Sammie Burroughs puts Brigance in a very precarious position. If any of the three new linebackers can play special teams well, Brigance could be gone.

And while we're on the subject of linebackers, another player I wanted to discuss is Sammie Burroughs. Burroughs was originally signed by the Colts in 1996 as a rookie free agent. He started one game each in 1996 and 1997 for the Colts, but was on injured reserve all last year before being released by the Colts this spring.

Despite only starting 2 games in 1996 and 97, Burroughs racked up 42 tackles in 1996 and 29 in 1997. He also did a good job on special teams - and if he can return to his earlier form, he could push Brigance off the team.

... but he's got a lot of pushing to do.

The other two free agents who could be significant on defense are Rich Owens and Greg Jeffries. Owens is a defensive end who was originally drafted in the 5th round by the Washington ... team (name withheld to avoid offending anyone...). After registering 3 sacks as a rookie, Owens had a breakout year in 1996, when he picked up 11 sacks while playing next to defensive tackle Sean Gilbert for the .... Washington team.

In 1997, Sean Gilbert sat out the season and Owens bulked up, making him stronger but slower, and his sack total dropped to 2.5. Last year Owens was injured and didn't play.

So, in an effort to bolster their pass rush and replace an aging Danny Stubbs, the Dolphins have signed a slimed down Owens to back up Jason Taylor. JJ is hoping that Owens can return to the form that gave him 11 sacks in 1996.

Owens, of course, maintains that he'll compete for the starting job and might be able to take it away from Taylor. While that's an admirable ambition, it's not likely to happen. But with the Dolphins rotating their defensive linemen as often as they do, Owens will see plenty of playing time.

I've never seen Owens play, so I can't comment on how much impact he'll have on the pass rush, but he should at least be better than Danny Stubbs was last year.

Greg Jeffries is a player who's signing completely baffled me at first - until I found out that he was a very good nickel back. Last year, at the end of the season, the Dolphins got burned a number of times when Jerry Wilson got matched up on opponents' starting wide receivers. He was the most vulnerable of the Dolphins' cornerbacks and JJ would like to upgrade that position.

While it's true that Jeffries started at free safety for the Detroit Lions in 3 games last year, he doesn't stand much of a chance of bumping Brock Marion out of the starting job. What he could do (if reports of his competence at nickel back are correct) is to bump Jerry Wilson out of the 4th cornerback slot against the spread offensive formations that were used against the Dolphins last year.

JJ has already spent a lot of time working out defensive schemes for these formations and upgrading players would help complete the picture.

Also, Jeffries played for the Lions - which was another division rival of Dave Wannestedt's Bears in the NFC Central. That means that Wannestedt saw Jeffries twice a year for the last few years. Anybody want to bet that Wannestedt didn't have any influence on this signing?

... I thought not.

As an added bonus, Jeffries has enough experience at safety to provide depth at that position. But I think that the reason he was picked up was to compete with Jerry Wilson and provide that extra nickel back.

So far, I've been talking exclusively about defensive players. But JJ did bring in a number of offensive players other than Wheatley, Martin and Gogan, the most significant of which are Willie Green and Roosevelt Potts.

I discuss Potts first because he's easier to figure out. JJ originally picked up Potts towards the end of the 1997 season to play fullback when Stanley Pritchett was injured. Potts didn't get to play much, but JJ liked what he saw enough that he tried hard to sign Potts after the 1997 season. However, because Potts' agent is Ted Marchibroda's son and because Potts had played for Marchibroda in Indy, Potts signed with the Ravens...

... where he started for 15 games last year. He didn't do much running the ball, averaging 3.2 yards per carry, but he did catch 30 passes for 168 yards and 2 TDs. But with Marchibroda getting the ax in Baltimore, Potts was free to come back to Miami and he did.

I believe that JJ plans to use Potts as he's always used his fullbacks - as a blocker and an occasional pass catcher. In that role, Potts may turn out better than Pritchett and could put Pritchett on the trading block. I think that Potts is more likely to make the team than Pritchett at this point - if Rob Konrad lives up to expectations.

The signing of Willie Green is harder to figure out, although there were signs of it in 1998. A source that I have learned to trust told me last year that the Dolphins were very interested in Green and were considering trying to acquire him from Denver last year. When he became a free agent this spring, I figured it was just a matter of time.

What's harder to figure out is why the Dolphins would be so interested in him. At 6'4" and 191 pounds, he seems to be just a taller version of Lamar Thomas. And while Thomas has had a few moments of glory, he is not consistently a dangerous threat.

Now, Willie Green has had some pretty good seasons, but it's been a while since he was a genuine deep threat. His best season was in 1995, when he played for the Carolina Panthers. He started 7 games for them, catching 47 passes for 882 yards and 6 TDs. That's an 18.8 yard per catch average, which is terrific.

Unfortunately, he hasn't done much lately. Since that great 1995 season, he's been pretty average. In the last 2 years, he's only started 2 games and has averaged less than 13 yards per catch each year.

Now, there may be something about Green that JJ feels he can use and/or his experience may give him an edge in training camp. But if Yatil Green's leg continues to hold up, Willie Green will be fighting for playing time with Yatil, Oronde Gadsden, Lamar Thomas, and Nate Jacquet, not to mention Larry Shannon (who is bigger and probably faster than Willie G.) and the other free agents.

And to top it all off, Willie Green doesn't play special teams.

Now, JJ may know how to use Willie Green better than anyone else in the NFL, but my feeling is that Willie doesn't have much of a chance to make the team. JJ is not likely to keep a 5th or 6th wide receiver who doesn't play special teams, and I can't see Green beating out Gadsden or a healthy Yatil for a 3rd or 4th WR spot.

Like Fred Barnett, I'm afraid that Willie Green's time has probably passed. He was an insurance policy that was taken out in case the Dolphins couldn't get Tony Martin or if Yatil Green doesn't make it to the regular season - again.

But I don't think the team will need that insurance and will be canceling the policy in September.

So that completes my look at the important free agents the Dolphins have signed this year. Remember, please, that this is just my opinion and if this year is anything like previous years, one of the players I haven't talked about will step forward and surprise us.

In fact, I've already heard some rumors that cornerback Emmanuel McDaniel from East Carolina has turned a few heads and could be a surprise in training camp.

But I think that I've covered most of the guys who have a chance to contribute this year. When comparing the players that were available to the ones that JJ has signed, this could turn out to be the most successful year for free agency that the Dolphins have had since JJ took over.

But the free agents are only part of the equation. So during the next few days, I'm going to talk about the other half of the personnel equation - the draft picks. And even though there's only a handful of draft picks this year (as compared to past years), these players have a chance to make as big a difference to this team as any class of rookies since JJ came to town.

And with training camp coming up shortly, I'd better get busy and cover the draft picks real soon. Which I will do...

... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23144,23144#msg-23144 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23144,23144#msg-23144
... am having trouble staying awake this month. Despite the promise of the new season, I'm having an unusually difficult time just trying to read the news every day. Last year, at least, the team had a number of extra quarterback camps to prepare themselves for the new offense.

This year, not only is JJ having fewer camps, he is going easier on the veterans. That is so un-JJ-like that it's hard to convince myself sometimes that it's the same JJ we've always known.

Perhaps he fell asleep next to a pod sometime in January.

Nevertheless, despite the lack of interesting activity, there are plenty of things to talk about. And in today's issue of "On Porpoise", I want to continue to talk about the free agents that JJ has acquired this spring, because these guys could make as big a difference for the team as any group of veterans have for the Dolphins since JJ took over.

But before I get on with my thoughts on the rest of the free agents, I have a quick quiz for all you fans out there. This quiz will take a little bit of digging to figure out the answer, but it's an interesting question and I think it bears directly on one of the least known free agents the Dolphins acquired this spring.

And the question of the day is: of the starting members of the 1998 Dolphins offense, who had the second worst percentage of dropped passes?

I'll eliminate one possibility for you - Karim Abdul-Jabbar led the Dolphins in percentage of passes dropped last year, losing 9 of 31 passes tossed his way. This works out to a 29% drop rate - which is appallingly bad.

But who was the second worst starter on the team in terms of dropping passes? Well, I'll tell you ... later. I don't think you'll be too surprised at who it was, but you may be surprised at what I think will happen as a result.

To digress for a moment, in the last issue of "On Porpoise", I only talked about two of the free agents the Dolphins picked up this spring - Tony Martin and Tyrone Wheatley. Yes, I know that Wheatley was not a free agent, but he's a veteran acquisition and that's what counts.

The other veteran trade acquisition that the Dolphins made this off-season will be the first player I talk about in this issue - offensive guard Kevin Gogan.

Gogan is one of two former JJ players signed this off-season and has been described as "the dirtiest player in football". The Dolphins acquired him from San Francisco for a 5th round draft this year. For a 3 time Pro-Bowl player, he came at a bargain price, which is just the way JJ likes them.

Gogan is huge, strong and nasty and is being penciled in as the starting left guard. He and Donnalley will make a terrific pair surrounding Tim Ruddy and should be able to help that short yardage game that gave the Dolphins so much trouble last year.

The 49ers traded Gogan away because he doesn't fit in with their offensive philosophy, now that Bill Walsh is back with the team as general manager. He is not the agile, quick blocker that Walsh likes to have on his line.

Personally, I think that Walsh made a serious mistake in letting Gogan get away and it will come back to haunt him. With the NFL rule changes this spring outlawing a lot of the cut-blocking that offensive linemen have done in the past (and that the 49ers specialized in), smaller offensive linemen are going to have it much tougher this year.

And larger offensive linemen (like Gogan) are going to become more important, despite his relative lack of mobility.

Of course, size isn't everything - but Gogan also has experience. He is entering his 13th year in the league.

And oh, by the way, he hasn't missed a start since 1992.

So I think that Gogan will start this year for the Dolphins at left guard, with Mark Dixon backing him up. Dixon is a great long term prospect and don't count him out as the starter just yet - but questions about his neck and Gogan's experience and attitude will almost certainly keep Gogan as the starter.

Of course, there are worse things that can happen to the team than to have Dixon as the number one backup on the offensive line - especially when you consider what happened at the end of last season to the line when the injury bug bit.

But the bottom line is that Gogan is a valuable addition to the team, both on and off the field.

Moving right along, I think it's time for an answer to my little quiz from above. The player who dropped the highest percentage of passes last season (after Karim, of course) was Troy Drayton. Out of 49 passes thrown his way, he dropped 4 of them, which is an 8.2% drop rate.

Now, when you compare that to Karim Abdul-Jabbar, 8.2% is pretty insignificant. But when compared to the rest of the starting receivers, it's not so good.

The reason I bring this up when talking about free agent acquisitions is that JJ went to a lot of trouble to sign restricted free agent tight end Hunter Goodwin away from the Minnesota Vikings this spring. Since JJ does not have a habit of spending over $2 million (and a draft pick) on a player unless he thinks that that player has the potential to start for him, I think you have to consider the possibility that Goodwin could pose a real threat to Drayton's starting job.

Realistically, there's no reason to get excited about Goodwin ... yet. In his 3 years in the league, he's started only 11 of his 40 games and caught just 11 passes. But JJ (and Dave Wannestedt) have seen something in this kid that caused them to go to a lot of trouble to acquire him.

I should also point out, at this point, that Wannestedt coached against the Vikings twice a year as the head coach of the Bears and so he has had ample opportunity to see Goodwin in action.

Original reports stated that they picked him up to be an extra blocker - and I think that there's some truth to that. But when reports surfaced out of mini-camp and quarterback school this spring that Goodwin was running routes and catching passes much better than expected, I began to develop a feeling that Goodwin could end up being much more than Drayton's backup.

It's just a hunch, of course, but when you add up all the factors, I think that Drayton's future as the starter could very well be in doubt - especially if he keeps dropping passes. Last summer, I remember him dropping several during training camp that I saw and that's not something he can afford to continue doing, especially if Goodwin is catching the ball well.

And of course, if there's one thing that JJ hates worse than dropped passes, it's a bad attitude. Now, if Drayton truly had a bad attitude, he would already have been fired. Still, I can't help but remember some of Drayton's comments to the press over the last few years about how he felt he should be getting the ball more - which is pretty ironic when you consider his dropped passes.

It may not mean anything, but if you compare those comments with the reports that JJ was laughing and joking with Goodwin during the first mini-camp, it just makes the case for Goodwin that much stronger.

Now, like I said - it's just a hunch. But I really think that Hunter Goodwin could turn out to be a very important acquisition this year.

Well, as usual, I've carried on much longer than I expected about much less than I expected. I've still got 6 free agents to talk about, as well as the draftees. But hey - it's the off-season, so what else have I got to do?

But before I end this column, I think I should tell you who I think is going to start for the Dolphins on opening day at running back. Barring injuries (which I think could make the most difference in who is going to start - but which are impossible to predict), I believe that Cecil Collins will be the starter.

I've now watched several hours of tape of Collins and James Johnson and while both are excellent runners, it's pretty clear that Collins has a very rare gift of talent. His speed, elusiveness, power and vision really make him the most talented running back on the team right now.

And that will carry him to the starting job.

In the next issue of "On Porpoise", I'll try to be a little more succinct as I finish up talking about the free agents that the team has acquired. None of the remaining free agents is likely to be as important as the ones I've already covered, but they certainly could help the team and so I'll let you know what I think about them ...

... On Porpoise, of course.]]> curt On Porpoise Fri, 30 Apr 1999 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23143,23143#msg-23143 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23143,23143#msg-23143
Just think of all the fun you'll have - negotiating with slimy agents - dealing with arrogant, immature players - trying to pacify irate fans and nosy owners - speaking with the press! Why, it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on!

So don't wait! Get in on the fun right now! For a mere $800 million, you can purchase your own NFL team and participate in one of the most exciting and entertaining spectacles in sports - the annual contest for the services of the best players in the game.

( Or, at least - those who think they're the best. )

So don't wait - get in on the fun right now! Tune your computers to channel 13 and point your antenna south towards Florida for this year's edition of "Let's Make a Deal!".

Our first contestant is a two-time SuperBowl winning coach from South Florida, who enjoys fishing, partying and styling his hair - let's give a warm welcome to Coach Jimmy Johnson! So tell us coach Johnson - what are you looking for in a free agent player?

Well, Monty - I'm looking for value. With the salary cap, we have to be careful not to blow all our money on one individual. Since football is a team sport, it's important to have a team full of competitors. It doesn't make any sense to get one great player only to give away two or three other players that are important to the success of your team.

So, Coach - what you're telling us is that you'd rather spend a little less money on someone who can help the team become a little better than spend a whole lot of money on someone who can help the team become a lot better?

No, that's not what I meant, Monty. I'd be more than happy to spend a lot of money on a guy who's going to come right in and be a big playmaker - as long as I don't have to tear down some other part of the team to do that.

Oh - so then you'd be willing to pay some big bucks for the right player, but you wouldn't trade away any of your starters, is that what you're saying?

Yes, that's about right, Monty.

OK, coach - well, we know that you're a man who sticks to his guns. With that in mind, folks, it's time to get started. Coach Johnson - we have 3 doors here. Behind each door is a player that you might be able to get in free agency. It's up to you to decide which one is worth the money you have to spend. Are you ready?

I'm all set, Monty.

Great! That makes it time to play "Let's Make a Deal!"....

*********

And deal, he did. Without delving into it too deeply, I think that it's fair to say that JJ did as much serious free agent work this year as he has since he's been in Miami.

In my not-so humble opinion, he's signed more free agents who have a chance to make a difference on the team this year than he's signed in the past.

That's not from lack of trying in past years, you understand. But some things are beyond even JJ's control.

This year, however, things seemed to be going JJ's way from Day 2 of the free agency period. The reason I say day 2, of course, is that most of the wide receivers he was really interested in were given the franchise tag on (or before) day 1.

Despite that, JJ managed to come up with a genuine deep threat receiver to fill that gaping hole on offense.

Still, there were no last-minute changes of mind this year; no bidding wars against other teams and no outrageous demands (that we know of, anyway).

And yet JJ managed to get at least one of each type of player that he felt he needed to put the Dolphins over the top this year.

Starting at the areas of most need - wide receiver and running back - JJ got two bargains that both could make a tremendous impact on the team, although I think that one player is more likely to make an impact than the other.

I'm speaking, of course, of Tyrone Wheatley and Tony Martin. Tony Martin will certainly start this year (if he's available) and Tyrone Wheatley could challenge for a starting job, depending on how he looks in camp.

But will Tony Martin be available to play this year (I hear you cry...)?

Well, without consulting his horoscope, reading his palm, checking out his Tarot or consulting the runes, it's difficult to know whether or not Martin will play. Personally, I think that it's likely that he will play, as least for part of the season, but there's no way to know for sure.

The charge against Martin is money laundering. The case rests on the fact that Martin paid off some debts for a friend who turns out to be a drug dealer. The Dolphins did some intensive investigation of Martin and his case before they signed him and the team is confident that he'll be playing this fall.

Martin has managed to hire himself one of the best attorneys in Florida in the person of Roy Black, who (among other high profile cases) managed to get William Kennedy Smith acquitted of rape in Palm Beach. So Martin's lawyer is a "playmaker", to use some football jargon.

And, as Robert Frost once said "A jury is twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer". In this case, Martin is in good hands.

The real question that I have is not whether or not Martin will do any jail time. The real question is whether or not the NFL will suspend him - especially if he cuts some kind of a deal to stay out of jail. If Martin is acquitted, he is unlikely to face any penalties from the NFL. However, if he cuts a deal with the prosecution to stay out of jail and pleads guilty to some lesser offense, what will the NFL do? My guess is that they'll suspend him for a year and that will eliminate him from the Dolphins' plans for 1999.

Of course, if he's convicted, he'll go to jail and that's the end of that.

I think the most likely scenarios are that the charges are dismissed in exchange for his testimony against his friend in a drug case or a postponement of the trial.

In other words, I think he'll be playing for the Dolphins this year.

If he does play - what will his impact be? Again, it's hard to tell for sure, but I don't think you'll see him put up 1000 yards like he did last year. With his speed and ability to separate from defensive backs, what he should do is lead the team in yards per catch. The way that the Dolphins want to use him is as a speedy deep threat - a specialist in going for the long ball.

He'll be used to take the double coverage off of OJ McDuffie and to force teams to drop their safeties back into pass coverage to keep him from getting deep, instead of allowing them to cheat up and play the run. If he is successful in this role, he won't need to catch a lot of passes to be effective.

For Miami, he is almost as effective as a threat as he is at catching passes.

Provided that he does play, he'll start opposite OJ McDuffie. That will create the kind of receiving tandem that JJ had in Dallas with Michael Irvin and - a possession receiver and a deep threat.

The other big need position this off-season was running back and while JJ addressed that mostly in the draft, he also picked up Tyrone Wheatley in a trade to the New York Giants for a 7th round draft pick.

Wheatley was initially a first round draft pick by the Giants back in 1995. He is big (6'0" and 235 pounds), fast (he ran track in college), and reportedly had good instincts. But somehow or other, he got into the doghouse early in his career in New York and never got out of it.

The reports up here vary depending on who you talk to. Some call him a lazy player with a bad attitude. Certainly, he didn't get along with Dan Reeves or Jim Fassel, the Giants' two head coaches while he was in New York.

Other folks up here say that he never really got a fair shot and that he was better than anyone the Giants had, but didn't get the chance to play because he didn't get along with the coaches. The word is that JJ talked with some of the assistant coaches from New York that had worked with Wheatley and concluded that Wheatley didn't get a fair chance to prove himself.

Whichever story is true (and I suspect that both stories have some truth in them), Wheatley's career rushing average (3.6 ypc) is better than the Karim Abdul-Jabbar's average of 3.5 ypc. While that doesn't mean much, it does indicate that, at the very least, the Dolphins got someone who can compete for the starting running back job.

I've watched a few highlights of Wheatley on video and from what little I've seen, I think that Wheatley will be more effective than Karim Abdul-Jabbar in power running situations, but that he doesn't cut back as well as Karim does. Still, the Dolphins had much bigger problems in short yardage last year than anywhere else, so Wheatley should help the team there.

Wheatley also has enough speed to get outside, so he would probably make a good every-down back - if his attitude is good. Like I said before, I don't know what the real story is on Wheatley's attitude, but I'm sure that we'll find out more about him this summer.

JJ will give Wheatley the chance to compete for the starting job, just like he gives every player. I don't think that Wheatley will win the starting job, however, because I think he's the second best back on the team right now and JJ will start the best back.

Who is the best? Well, I think that the best running back on the team right now is...

...but that would be giving it away, wouldn't it? In deference to network television, which is about to drive us all crazy with their end of the year episodes of our favorite shows, I think that I'll wait until my next issue before I tell you. After all, I wouldn't want to give away my big secret too quickly, now would I?

But don't fret. I will let you know soon who I think will step forward and carry the ball for the Dolphins this year. In my next issue of "On Porpoise", I'll cover the rest of the free agents and maybe even some of the draft picks.

And when I finally do tell you who I think will be the starting tailback for Miami this season, I will definitely be doing so...

... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Sun, 28 Feb 1999 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23142,23142#msg-23142 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23142,23142#msg-23142
As the 1998 season sets slowly in the west, we bid a fond farewell and say "Aloha" to the excitement and drama of another NFL season.

(Cheesy music up.... fade to black...)

Well, maybe not so fond... but at least it's over and we can now get down to the business of looking forward to next year.

And as we say goodbye to last year, we greet the start of the 1999 season with another issue of "On Porpoise", my personal commentary on the Miami Dolphins. I do this every so often and it is many things, but one thing it is not is just the news. Oh, there is some news here, but the real reason I write this is to give me a chance to give you my opinion, unclouded by such mundane things as facts.

This is a good time to start talking about the coming year, because, in many ways, this is the most hopeful time of the football season. The 2x4 of harsh reality has yet to bash us in the forehead and everything is still possible - even a running game. And this coming year should be especially interesting, what with the "new" Cleveland Browns and all the free agent changes that we're going to see in the next few weeks.

And it all starts tomorrow, with opening of the free agency period. The salary cap is going up again this year and that should make the bidding wars for the big free agents even more exciting than last year. This year the Dolphins have a few free agents of their own to bid on, as well as being in the running for at least a few of the big name free agents from other teams.

So we certainly do have a lot to talk about, but before we get around to handicapping the free agent derby, I think it's important to take a short look back at this past year to get some perspective on what to look for in next few weeks.

1998 st arted with big hopes for the team, some big changes and some old rhetoric. At the beginning of last season, the Dolphins scrapped the old offense with the firing of Gary Stevens and the designation of Kippy Brown as offensive coordinator. With the changes in offense, the team promised us that they would run more last year and have more conservative play calling.

And, at the beginning of the year, that is exactly what we got - more running, more conservative play calling and a whole lot more defense. Unfortunately, as the year progressed, it became obvious that while the running game had improved somewhat, it hadn't improved nearly enough to dominate opposing defenses.

As a result, by the end of the year, the Dolphins were back to being 24th in rushing offense, but 10th in passing offense - a familiar split for us Dolphins fans. This was not due to a lack of trying so much as it was due to a lack of real talent where it counted most. And when the game was on the line, relying on Dan Marino was better than relying on the running game.

The defense, for their part, really came together this year in a way they hadn't since the days of the Killer B's. With the addition of Robert Jones, the maturing of Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas and Sam Madison and the changing of the defensive schemes to a more aggressive style, the defense became one of the best in the league.

But, without a serious running game or a game-breaking wide receiver, the Dolphins couldn't win enough games to win the division and the lack of a bye week, combined with having to travel to Denver, spelled disaster in their final game of the year.

Still, I think it would be fair to give the Dolphins an overall grade of B for their performance in 1998. They made several important improvements last year - the defense was terrific, of course, but the team as a whole beat the Bills in the first round of the playoffs (something they had never done before) and the Dolphins didn't lose to a poor team all year long. No 41-0 disasters to the Colts last year.

While I empathize with those who will never be satisfied with anything less than a SuperBowl win, I think that the Dolphins 1998 season was a qualified success.

But wait a minute, Curt - I hear you cry - if the 1998 season was a success, how do you explain the almost-but-not-quite resignation of Jimmy Johnson?

Why, I can explain it very simply, I respond. You see, since I've been living in New York, I've become an expert at explaining things simply.

The reason JJ almost resigned was because he felt guilty.

He felt guilty about not getting the Dolphins to the SuperBowl in his third year; he felt guilty about not having married Rhonda, he felt guilty about not spending time with his sick father, and, most of all, he felt guilty about missing his mother's funeral. He may even have felt guilty about Dave Wannestedt getting fired in Chicago, even though he had nothing to do with it. Guilt doesn't stop at the limits of rationality.

Guilt is a powerful motivator - especially where mothers are concerned. You mothers out there know what I'm talking about, don't you?

And despite some theories to the contrary, Jimmy Johnson is human being - a very passionate human being. We think of a head coach as a guy who is not ruled by his emotions, but you can't put in as much work under as much stress as they do and not be driven by some pretty intense passion.

So I think that JJ felt guilty and that that pushed him into a hasty decision. If there's one thing about JJ that has remained constant since he's been in Miami, it's that he makes quick decisions. So, while sitting on his deck of his boat, drinking a Pina Colada, feeling guilty about his family and thinking about the work that still remained to be done to get the Dolphins to the SuperBowl, he decided to quit. He didn't really want to quit, but he was torn, guilt-ridden and depressed and he didn't see any other way out.

Now, psychiatrists will tell you that people rarely do things as significant as changing jobs for just one reason. Usually they have many different reasons for doing things. The clinical term for it is "over-determined". And I'm sure that JJ's reasons for quitting were over-determined. But I believe that the biggest motivator in JJ's quitting was guilt.

Fortunately for the Dolphins, Wayne Huizenga is a master manipulator of people. I believe that he manipulated Don Shula into resigning in1996 and I think that he manipulated JJ into staying with the Dolphins.

Not that it took much manipulating, you understand. I'm sure that all JJ needed was a little validation and some good rationalizations and his old ego kicked right in and drove him forward to a renewed dedication to taking the Dolphins to the SuperBowl. Huizenga presented him with a way to eliminate all the guilt he felt with just one proposal - the hiring of Dave Wannestedt.

With the hiring of Wannested, all of JJ's guilt was addressed. Suddenly, he didn't have to feel guilty about quitting, or about the firing of Wannestedt or about not having time with his family. It was all cured with just one action.

It was the perfect solution.

Now, to those who say that JJ manipulated the whole thing in order to get Wannestedt hired, I have just one question for you - why would he bother? Why not just hire Wannestedt and be done with it? Huizenga is the only man with enough power to keep JJ from making such a decision and so far as I know, he has never interfered with any of JJ's personnel decisions.

If all JJ really wanted was to hire Wannestedt, he would have just hired him. No one would have objected to that. In fact, most people would have applauded him for it. He wouldn't have gone through all these manipulations just for that. It makes no sense.

But the speculation about Wannestedt was not as ridiculous as the rumor floating around that JJ was leaving because he didn't want Dan Marino to get a contract extension. JJ has had total control over this team from day one. If JJ didn't want Dan Marino to have a contract extension, Dan Marino would not get a contract extension.

And JJ wouldn't have stated publicly, back in December, that the Dolphins were working on a contract extension for Dan. At the very least, he would have kept his mouth shut. He certainly wouldn't have said that he hoped they could keep Marino around for several more years.

And let's not forget Dan Marino's contribution to keeping JJ. For all the reports that JJ and Dan don't get along, it was Dan Marino who was the first person in JJ's office the morning after the news broke that JJ was leaving. And Dan spent the next hour trying to talk JJ out of leaving. He may or may not have much use for JJ on a personal level, but his respect for JJ as a coach is clear. You don't try and talk the man into staying if you don't respect him.

And you don't try and talk him into staying if you know he's trying to sabotage your contract - which Marino would certainly have known.

No, the conspiracy theories just don't hold any water in this case. JJ was just reacting in a normal way for a man ridden with guilt and depressed about the recent events in his life.

But that's all moot now. JJ is staying for at least one more year and probably the two remaining in his contract. At least, that's my belief.

It's also more than likely that JJ will remain associated with the team in some kind of personnel management capacity, even after he retires or resigns as head coach. His favorite part of the coaching process (and the part that he's best at) is in analyzing and choosing new players. It would surprise me if he gave that up entirely when he stopped coaching.

So, the bottom line for the team is that JJ will continue to bring his passion, intensity and personnel skills to the team. To my way of thinking, that's a good thing.

As to the addition of Dave Wannestedt, I can't help but believe that he's going to be a great influence on the team. Don Shula never went to a SuperBowl without Bill Arnsparger on his coaching staff. Bill Parcells has never gone to a SuperBowl without Bill Belicheck on his coaching staff and JJ has never taken a team to a championship without Dave Wannestedt on his staff.

Wannestedt and JJ compliment each other. Together, they make a great head coach. Separately, JJ is a very good head coach and Wannestedt is not so good as a head coach, but they're much better together than they are apart.

So, that's about all I have to say about the recent fuss in South Florida. The next issue of "On Porpoise" will take on the great game show that free agency has become. At this point, the Dolphins have already done most of the damage that they are going to do in free agency (at least, before the draft) and I'll be more than happy to add my own comments to the free agent acquisitions that have already taken place.

And you can be sure that my comments will not be done idly. They will definitely be done...

... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Fri, 15 Jan 1999 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23139,23139#msg-23139 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23139,23139#msg-23139
Personally, I don't understand these people. Summertime is boring.

It's the time of boring sports - like baseball - and boring television - it's all reruns - and boring politics. After all, when was the last time a really good scandal broke in July?

It's summertime! Let's all go sit out on the porch and drink lemonade, while we listen to the birds sing. How thrilling.

Well, maybe I can liven the summer up with another issue of "On Porpoise". This will be the last issue on the draft this year and I'll cover the bottom 5 players that the Dolphins took.

However, when I say the bottom 5, I am referring to their draft order only, because two of the most exciting players in the draft this year for the Dolphins are in the bottom 5 numerically.

Perhaps it would be better if I said the "second 5", instead of the bottom 5, because after watching these guys play, I think that at least 2 of these guys have the talent to make an impact on the team this year as rookies.

Before I go on, however, let's take a moment and talk just briefly about the Lawrence Phillips situation, because it's all the rage and I certainly don't want to be out of step with the current fashion trends.

Warning! Rant Ahead!

First of all, the scandal - I think it's safe to call it that - has entered phase 2 of the standard scandal chronology. Phase 1 is the initial phase, where we discover that something terrible happened - probably. A charge is made in phase 1, details are obscure and hard to come by and rapid fire news reports make it seem very bad for the main person involved.

Phase 1 was over pretty quickly in "Brickhouse-gate". I call it that because ever since the early 70's, all scandals are named after that famous hotel in Washington where Richard Nixon fell on his political sword.

I suppose I could call it Phillips-gate, but Brickhouse-gate has a much nicer ring to it, don't you think?

In any case, in phase 2, the accused regroups, denies everything and not coincidentally, many unflattering details begin to emerge about the "other" parties in the scandal. They may or may not be victims of some dastardly deed, but this is when those details come out that most of us wouldn't want the world to know about our personal lives - such as the fact that I was once actually rude to a priest! (shhhh!).

In a day or two, we'll enter phase 3, where we all wait for the real truth to emerge and learn if Phillips has fallen back on his previous behavior or is the victim himself of a not-so-clever attempt at blackmail.

That could, of course, take weeks or months, depending on how thorough and detailed the police want to be. Of course, the police are in the worst situation of anyone in this case, because no matter what they come up with, someone with a "better idea" of "what really happened" will publicly second guess them and proclaim loud and long that the police are hopelessly biased (either for or against Phillips and for or against women, depending on what the investigation turns up) and the police will be put on the spot to defend themselves.

Oops - my cynicism is showing....

Phase 3 could drag on for months as the police try and figure out what actually happened. I'm actually fairly confident that they'll eventually get an accurate picture of what happened, because there were enough witnesses at the bar to provide them with enough accounts to determine the truth.

Then the announcement will be made and Phillips will essentially be pronounced guilty or innocent before a trial even begins. Once that's done, we'll move on to phase 4 - which is the inevitable second-guessing, analyzing and prognosticating. Phase 4 traditionally lasts forever.

Right now, the latest development is that JJ has announced just today (July 6th) that he has met with Lawrence Phillips, that he believes what Phillips has told him (which is apparently that Phillips hit no one that night) and that, as far as he's concerned, the incident is over.

And I think that that's just what he should have done.

Now, this may surprise those of you who have read my previous opinion that Phillips actually did strike this woman in the bar. But it's not really at odds with that opinion. JJ is just doing his job and trying to do what's best for the team - he's treating one of his players with respect and fairness until someone proves that that player is guilty of wrongdoing.

If Phillips turns out to be innocent, then JJ will have protected his player in a tough situation. If Phillips turns out to be guilty, then JJ will have every justification for getting rid of him quickly, for not only will Phillips be guilty of battery, he will have committed that most serious of crimes - he will have lied to JJ.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not equating lying to your coach with beating a woman in a bar. But I am saying that if Phillips turns out to be guilty of beating that woman, then he has compounded his error by lying about it and JJ will get rid of him faster than Bill Clinton can unzip his....

But enough about the bad stuff. It's time to talk about what I wanted to talk about in the first place - two of the most exciting players selected by the Dolphins in this year's draft - and the rest of them.

I left off last time with Larry Shannon, who was the fifth player taken by the Dolphins in this year's draft.

Next up on the list, in the number 6 spot, is defensive end Lorenzo Bromell, of Clemson. Bromell holds the distinction of being the only player that JJ has traded up to get in any of the drafts that he's conducted in Miami. JJ traded away two picks to move up to get Bromell at number 10 in the 4th round.

And that, right there, should tell you something. For JJ to give up an extra one of his precious draft picks to take this guy should tell you that he sees something special in Bromell.

And so do I.

As I'm sure you remember, I've been watching about 6 hours of video of the Dolphins' draftees and when I was done, there were 3 players that really made me sit up and watch more closely. The first was John Avery. The second was Lorenzo Bromell.

Although he's only played 2 years of regular college football (he started out as a junior college player), Bromell already looks like a very polished pass rusher. He has a very explosive first step off the line and an array of pass rushing moves that make it very difficult for opposing blockers to get a solid block on him.

One of the most impressive plays I saw him make on the tape was when he was actually lined up at defensive tackle and he ran right through a double-team block.

That's right - he split the double team and got right to the quarterback. He was so fast off the line that he got between the guard and the tackle before they could set up and he definitely would have had the sack if the QB hadn't been able to just barely throw the ball away. As it was, he forced an incompletion.

Dave Te Thomas describes him as "relentless in pursuit" - which is one of my favorite terms, especially when applied to defensive ends. Bromell is another of those guys who's always around the ball, no matter where it ends up.

When you watch him play, you wonder why in the world Kenny Mixon was taken ahead of him in the draft. Bromell is already a much more polished pass rusher than Mixon and should only get better.

The drawback - if you can call it that - is that the experts have been questioning Bromell's size. He's 6'5" and 265 right now, which is about as tall and about 20 pounds heavier than Jason Taylor was last year. Like Taylor, the experts say that Bromell must put on weight and strength to compete with offensive linemen in the NFL.

But he's off to a good start - he can already bench press over 400 pounds and will undoubtedly get bigger and better after John Gamble gets a chance to work with him. And he runs the 40 in about 4.7, which is very fast for a defensive end.

In his senior year, Bromell started every game for the first time in his collegiate career and because of injuries to other players, played extensively at defensive tackle. He ended the '97 season with 51 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, 6 sacks and 15 quarterback pressures. In the Peach Bowl, he added 8 tackles, one of which was for a 4 yard loss and 5 quarterback pressures of Auburn quarterback Dameyune Craig, forcing 4 incompletions, despite playing with an injured leg.

By the way, if you wonder why I think the Bowl stats are important, it's because I think it's always good to see how a player performs when the stakes are higher.

But the bottom line is this - I think that Lorenzo Bromell will definitely be a player for the Dolphins this year. I think he has an excellent chance to be a serious pass rusher and a mainstay for the Dolphin defense for many years to come.

He is, as they say, the Real Deal.

Now, isn't that better than talking about what Lawrence Phillips has been up to?

I'd love to talk about Bromell some more, but then I couldn't talk about the third player who I really enjoyed watching on the video. Coincidentally, that player was also the guy who was taken right after Bromell in the draft - offensive guard Scott Shaw.

Shaw was taken with the 20th pick in the 5th round and was the first offensive lineman taken by the Dolphins this year. At 6'3" and 315 pounds, he's already big enough to play in the NFL, but with a 40 time of 5.6, he's not exactly the fastest guy around.

But if you want a player to attack hard at the line of scrimmage, who is very strong, mean, nasty and who is a leader on the field, then Scott Shaw may be the guy you want.

Consider this - Shaw set the record this year at the Indianapolis combine for strength by bench pressing 225 pounds 38 times with perfect form. And this disappointed him because he has done over 40 reps in practice and wanted to set that mark at the combine.

While he jokes about torturing kittens and beating up his father, Shaw is a first class football player, a tough competitor and a dedicated worker. He's also enough of a leader on the field that he was voted the offensive team captain at Michigan State in his senior year. This was ahead of the quarterback, who would seem to be the natural choice for such an honor.

And he's really ugly, which is a little-known requirement for all good offensive linemen in the NFL.

While watching him on video, two things impressed me about Scott Shaw - first, while run blocking, he was able to use his main strength and brute force to push everyone he faced at least 5 yards downfield. On every single running play that I witnessed, Shaw was driving his man downfield from the line of scrimmage. And no matter which way the play went, Shaw was pushing his man downfield until the whistle blew. He really tried to sustain those blocks and dominate his opponent.

On passing plays, Shaw was a rock. He didn't use a lot of lateral motion, but he didn't seem to need it. Opposing pass rushers would run into Shaw and get stopped like an egg thrown against a wall. He seemed virtually immovable.

Based on what I observed and what I know of his attitude, I think that Shaw will most definitely make the team. If he's not quick enough, he may have to settle for the practice squad, but he can certainly attack and knock opposing players into the cheap seats when he wants to. And he always wants to.

The Dolphins desperately need that kind of attitude and leadership on the offensive line.

He may even be able to win the starting left guard job, especially if Brent Smith is sidelined with his abdominal trouble through any significant portion of training camp.

In other words - I really liked what I saw of Scott Shaw.

After Shaw, the Dolphins took another offensive lineman - a center by the name of Nathan Strikwerda from Northwestern. Strikwerda is exceptionally smart and that allows him to play a game that is very mistake free.

He was taken by the Dolphins with the 18th pick in the 6th round and while not huge - at 6'4" and 295 pounds - he is reported to be very strong.

Did I mention that he's smart? Strikwerda scored the highest of any player this year on the famed Wonderlich intelligence test that they give players at the Indianapolis combine. The joke around the Dolphins' headquarters is to tease Tim Ruddy about the rookie that beat his score.

Obviously, JJ likes smart centers. And that makes sense, because the center is the anchor for the offensive line and in some cases, calls the blocking schemes for the rest of the line.

While watching Strikwerda on tape, I didn't get to see much of him, but from what I saw, there was nothing particularly exceptional about him. The most prominent positive aspect of his play was the fact that he always gave 100% effort on every play and did his best to maintain his blocks until the play was over, no matter where on the field he is.

He reportedly works just as hard off the field as he does on the field. He is very dedicated to the sport and it shows in his commitment in the gym and in studying the game.

On the other hand, he didn't look very strong and was pushed back from time to time. If he does make the team this summer, it will probably be because he can also long-snap. Right now the starting long-snapper for the Dolphins is Frank Wainwright - who is an excellent long-snapper, but who is a 250 pound tight end. The Dolphins might feel a little more comfortable with a 295 pound center like Strikwerda doing the long snapping.

Immediately after Strikwerda, with the 19th pick in the 6th round, the Dolphins took quarterback John Dutton out of Nevada. Dutton was variously ranked as the 3rd, 4th or 5th best quarterback in the draft, depending on who you listen to for your draft previews, and did have an excellent college career.

He is the kind of big, strong quarterback that a lot of pro teams now like to draft. At 6'4" and 225 pounds, there are no questions about his size or overall athletic ability. There are also no questions about his production as a quarterback.

He started for 2 years at Nevada, and was named Big West Offensive player of the year in both 1996 and 1997, despite playing much of the '97 season with a separated shoulder. In 1997, he completed 225 of 367 passes for 3,526 yards and 20 touchdowns with just 6 interceptions. That works out to a quarterback rating of 104.6 for the season.

But more impressive than that is the fact that his yards-per-attempt average was about 9.61. For those who don't follow the stats closely, trust me when I tell you that this is an outstanding number. No one in the NFL approached that number last year and on the collegiate level, only Ryan Leaf bettered that number with a 9.70 yards-per-attempt ratio.

Peyton Manning didn't even come close.

The downside to Dutton - and the reason he dropped to the 6th round of the draft - is that he has what some scouts consider to be a poor throwing technique. In college, you can frequently get away with throwing off your back foot and off balance if your arm is strong enough. However, in the NFL, quarterbacks need better technique in order to have the increased speed and accuracy needed to throw the ball at the professional level.

I only had tape of one game of Dutton, but I did find it revealing. I watched his performance in the Senior Bowl. During that game, I was impressed by his command of the field and by the accuracy of his passes. As a leader, he was definitely in command of the huddle and in charge of the team on the field. His confidence and poise could be seen as he led his team and he didn't get rattled or flustered in the pocket under pressure. He looked very cool and controlled.

Also, I thought that while his throwing motion did look a little funny, his passes were very accurate. He seemed to me to be placing them exceptionally well to receivers that he was basically unfamiliar with, because he'd only been able to practice with them in the week up to the bowl game. Most of the passes were placed in a place where only his receiver could come down with it and it couldn't be intercepted.

He doesn't have the zip on the ball that Dan had in the mid-80s, but he may be able to develop that with changes to his technique. He is generally regarded as a project by the draft experts, but given that the best he can hope for in Miami is to be the 3rd string quarterback behind Marino and Erickson, the Dolphins may be the best home for him.

And one other thing about Dutton - his coach at the Senior Bowl was Norv Turner. Turner is JJ's friend and former offensive coordinator at Dallas and I'm sure that JJ got a little inside information on his abilities and prospects for the future from Norv.

I don't know what his chances of making the team are right now, but overall I'd say that they would have to be pretty good. Stan White, Damon Huard and Dutton are fighting for that third roster spot, but Huard got injured while playing in NFL Europe and White was let go by the Giants, who don't exactly have a huge glut of quarterbacks.

With that kind of competition, I think that Dutton stands an excellent chance of making the team.

And with that out of the way, we come to our last draftee of 1998, offensive lineman Jim Bundren from Clemson.

Bundren was drafted by JJ mostly to compete at offensive guard, but he played tackle in college and is another one of those players who has experience at both positions. At 6'3" and 303 pounds, Bundren is big enough to play in anywhere on the offensive line and is reported to have the quick feet and speed necessary to pull and trap block effectively for the running game.

While watching Bundren play, there was nothing particularly exceptional that I noticed about him. He did not have the overwhelming strength that Shaw displayed, but he did display the kind of effort that Strikwerda and Shaw both showed while playing. Bundren is a competitor and continues to play hard and block effectively, even when the play goes away from him on the field.

The report on Bundren is that he is also a guy who is very aggressive and nasty on the field and who is tenacious and dedicated both on the field and in the gym.

The most notable achievement of Bundren in 1997 was holding defensive end Andre Wadsworth of FSU to just 2 tackles and no sacks when Clemson played FSU this year and Bundren lined up against him.

Of course, Wadsworth had the flu during that game - but hey - why hold that against Bundren?

Overall, Bundren looks like a competent if unspectacular player, but given the depth of competition on the offensive line for roster spots and what I've seen of Bundren, I don't think that he stands a very good chance to be on the team in September.

And that finishes up the 1998 Dolphins' draft picks. This year, JJ took 10 players overall - one running back, one defensive back, one linebacker, three offensive linemen, one wide receiver, one quarterback and two defensive ends. If you compare that to 1997 (14 players) and 1996 (12 players), that would seem to indicate that JJ didn't feel the need to really grab a lot of players this year to make up for deficiencies on the team.

And that is good news.

Of course, only time will tell about this year's Dolphins, but I like what I've seen so far and I really like this year's draft class. I think that a couple or three of these guys could really make a difference to the team this year.

But if they do, it will be because of superior effort on their part. Because you don't make JJ's teams by accident. You do it....

.... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Wed, 15 Jul 1998 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23137,23137#msg-23137 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23137,23137#msg-23137
As of today, the Dolphins have finished their second quarterback camp of 1998, I've recovered from my trip to California and Bill Clinton hasn't been accused of anything new this week.

Of course, the week isn't over yet...

But all in all, it seems like a good time to do some writing.

So I've appropriated my wife's laptop, settled comfortably on the couch and tuned in the Playboy channel on the TV. I've got a beer on the side table and a bowl of chips next to it.

After all, it just wouldn't be sports without beer and chips, now would it? And you could argue that the Playboy channel is a sports channel, couldn't you?

So I'm now officially ready to write another issue of On Porpoise. That would make 2 for 1998, which is already twice as good as I managed to do in 1997 - at least as far as On Porpoise is concerned. If the Dolphins manage to do twice as good this year at they did last year, they should win 18 games.

I'd settle for that....

Now, if I could just figure out what that blonde on the TV is going to do with that vacuum cleaner and those 3 hockey pucks, I could....

Oh, I see - GOAL!!

**Ahem**

Sorry, I got distracted.

What I actually wanted to talk about today was the rest of the draftees. The Dolphins' draftees, that is. You see, last time, I kind of got carried away talking about the first round pick - as sportsans frequently do. I had meant to talk about the other players, but ran out of time.

And that's a mistake, because if the last 2 years under JJ have taught us anything, it's that the later round picks are much more likely to have a significant impact on the team than the first round player.

Now, I hope that that's not true, because Avery has the potential to really add a dangerous dimension to the offense. But JJ almost always takes chances in the first round and this year was no exception.

But if I was enthusiastic about Avery in the last issue, I am positively overjoyed about him now.

You see, I have just finished watching about 6 hours of video highlights of all the Dolphins draftees that was put together by a fellow Dolphins fan. John Avery was featured prominently in these clips and he looks to be the kind of player who is a true danger to score every time he gets the ball.

What I saw of Avery was very impressive. He almost always makes the first tackler miss and is surprisingly strong for a smaller player. His 97 yard run was a classic, as he made exactly the right cuts to break through the line and then just outran everyone.

And best of all - his offensive line at Miss wasn't that good.

Avery should easily be the best round pick since OJ McDuffie and maybe the best since Dan (if you realize that John Offerdahl was not technically a first round pick).

But there I go again, getting carried away with the first rounder. This year, though, I believe that this one will live up to the hype.

In the second round, JJ took another cornerback this year in Patrick Surtain. When he picked Surtain, I did a triple take. First of all, I had never heard of Surtain - which was no big deal, actually, but then I couldn't find him in the official NFL draft guide.

And that worried me. If he wasn't good enough to make the official NFL draft guide on draft day, how could he be good enough to get taken high in the second round?

Of course, as with most of JJ's draft picks, as I began to find out about him, I began to like him more and more. In his last two years of college, he started all his games at cornerback and recorded 150 tackles, 12 interceptions and 23 passes broken up.

And he did it against good competition. In his senior year, Southern Mississippi was 12th in the nation in pass defense, despite playing 4 of the top 20 passing teams in the country, including Florida.

And Surtain was a major reason.

In watching the highlights of him on video, I noticed a few interesting things about him. First of all, he doesn't let receivers get behind him, even the fast ones. While he doesn't look that fast himself, he is very good at keeping opposing receivers in front of him.

He's also very smart. He not only keeps good coverage on the receivers, but he also constantly looks back at the quarterback, watching his eyes and looking for the ball. That enables him to break well towards the ball once it's thrown.

He is a natural athlete, lettering in baseball, basketball and track while in college. If he has a weakness, it's that he has not timed all that well in the 40 for a defensive back, although he has run a 4.46 in a private workout for the Dolphins.

It was initially thought that Surtain could come in and compete for a backup spot, but reports from the quarterback camps have said that Surtain has looked better than any other rookie in camp and that he may be able to compete for a starting job by mid-season.

That would be Terrell Buckley's starting job, by the way.

At 5'11" tall, he does have a natural height advantage over T-Buck, and if he changes his drop-back style well enough and can cover the faster receivers, who knows?

Oh, that's one other thing I forgot to mention. Surtain must learn to backpedal, which is the technique that the Dolphins' defensive backs use in coverage. That's different that the sideways shuffling style that Surtain used in college.

But for a gifted athlete like him, that should not prove to be too much of a problem.

The other player that the Dolphins took in the second round was defensive end Kenny Mixon of LSU. At 6'4" and 270 pounds, he's a good sized defensive end that has a lot of potential.

Of course, the problem with Mixon was that he was suspended from the team in 1996 after testing positive - several times - for marijuana use. However, according to the coaching staff at LSU, he's cleaned up his act and turned his life around.

Losing his scholarship in 1996 and having to work his way through the rest of his college career seems to have gotten his attention.

Anyway, he played through the entire 1997 season without incident, and collected about 60 tackles of which 14 were for a loss and 7 sacks. He also blocked 2 kicks in his senior year.

The pundits say that he has been a good pass rusher and can be even better. They say he has a quick first step, a good upfield burst and can be sudden end explosive. ESPN went so far as to say that he is "Built to rush the quarterback".

Well, from what I've seen of Mixon in the highlight video, the pundits are wrong.

Oh, not totally. I think that Mixon can develop into a good pass rusher, but from what I saw, Mixon is a better run stuffer than quarterback killer. In fact, it looked like opposing teams would choose to run away from him rather than challenge him at the line of scrimmage.

What I saw was a guy who stood his ground very well, was not pushed off the line of scrimmage and was very difficult to move out of the line of attack. He almost never got pushed back or moved away from the play and if running backs came to his side of the field, they had to go around him and his blocker if they wanted to gain any yardage.

He was effective on stunts, but when rushing the passer, he didn't seem to me to be that quick off the line of scrimmage and he seemed to get tied up with opposing offensive tackles fairly easily. His only move was the bull rush and he didn't get pressure on the quarterback that often.

Now, perhaps the scouts saw other highlights than I did, but from what I saw, Mixon is not a pass-rushing terror. He is a very steady, strong and hard working defensive end who is tough to run against, but he is not a superior pass rusher.

He does have a non-stop motor and keeps going as hard as he can for the whole play. He also pursues well from the backside and will run downfield after a ball carrier, but I didn't get the feeling that he was a real playmaker.

Of course, he doesn't have a lot of experience. He only started 14 games in his college career and so has a lot to learn. He has a big enough frame to put on a lot of muscle and between that and his inexperience, he really falls under the category of a project.

After Mixon, the Dolphins picked up linebacker Brad Jackson from Cincinnati. He's another guy that, when he was announced at the draft I said "who?". But then Bill (who was sitting next to me in the press section) said "Oh, that's the guy who had 168 tackles last year".

Leave it JJ to find a guy like him.

Jackson is another small, fast linebacker of the type that JJ likes to have on his defense. He is always near the ball and very aggressive and active on the field. He has good instincts and his background as a safety early in his career helps make him very effective in pass coverage.

His most impressive performance as a senior was also his most important game. In the Humanitarian Bowl against Utah State, Jackson had 2 interceptions, 6 pass deflections, a sack and 4 tackles.

While watching him play, I noticed that he is always around the play, regardless of where on the field it happens. He is equally effective blitzing or dropping into coverage and he can cover wide receivers almost as good as a cornerback.

I think that Jackson stands an excellent chance of winning a staring job this year - depending, of course, on how newly acquired linebacker Robert Jones fits in.

But Jackson's instincts and athleticism have always given him the ability to make big plays and there's nothing JJ likes more than a playmaker.

The next player chosen was wide receiver Larry Shannon from East Carolina. Shannon is a very tall, very tough player who's best year was in 1996 as a junior. During that season, he caught 39 passes for 834 yards and 9 touchdowns, leading the entire nation with a 21.4 yard per catch average.

However, last year Shannon severely sprained his ankle early in the season and suffered a stress fracture that was not properly diagnosed. He came back too early from that injury and aggravated it against Houston, forcing him out again. He only caught 21 passes for 308 yards and 1 touchdown as a senior, dropping him in the draft.

Shannon looks more like a basketball center than a football player. He's tall at 6'5" and even though he's 210 pounds, he looks like he's about 130. He has exceptional leaping ability and starting at 6'5", he can outjump almost anyone else on the field.

Before he wrecked his ankle in his senior year, he clocked a 4.44 in the 40, but he didn't work out at the combines this year, because he was resting his ankle.

While watching him in highlight films, I noticed that he was not afraid to go across the middle of the field and was willing to stretch out to his full extension to go after the ball even when he was about to get leveled by a safety. He is fearless in going after the ball.

The problem that I noticed is that he doesn't have very good hands. He can catch the ball well against his body, but he had trouble holding on to the ball while completely stretched out. Several times, I saw him jump or stretch out to make a catch, get his hands on the ball and not hold on to it. If he can't do that better in Miami than I saw him on the video, he won't make the team.

But don't count him out just yet. Last year, he was told by the coaches not to dress for a game after he injured his ankle. But Shannon is a fighter. He got into his game uniform and trotted on to the field and over to the sideline, where he told the coach that he was going to play.

And play, he did.

So Shannon already has the right attitude and enough athletic ability to do well, he just needs to catch a little better. And that he can learn.

And that covers the first half of the Dolphins draftees for 1998. I could go on to the rest of the class of '98, but it's getting late and I want to get some rest before I wrestle with a network router tomorrow.

Networking is not for wimps...

But don't despair - I will definitely be covering the second half of the new rookies in the next On Porpoise. I'm especially excited by what I've seen of Scott Shaw and Lorenzo Bromell, so it won't be long before I put fingers to keyboard and pound out issue 3.

After all, I wouldn't want you to think that I was confused or unsure about what I was doing. I want to be sure that you know that I'm doing this....

...On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Fri, 10 Jul 1998 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23123,23123#msg-23123 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23123,23123#msg-23123
A tad? Hell, I've been feeling downright appalled at my lack of dedication to that most famous of all Dolphins' Internet publications, that bastion of journalistic excellence, that magnificent opus of scintillating information about the greatest sports team in the history of modern sports, that....

Well, you get the idea.

I don't really have a good reason for the year long absence of "On Porpoise". Oh, it has been a busy year, what with the move and all the upheaval that that created in my life, but the real reason there has been no "On Porpoise" this year is that I have been focusing all my writing energy on the news.

Which is, of course, a little silly. There are a million and one sources of news out there on the Internet and most have at least as good a selection of sources as I have, while quite a few have better wells of information from which to draw.

So this year, I hope to concentrate more on commentary and on writing "On Porpoise" than on just writing the news.

For those who don't know what "On Porpoise" is, it's my personal editorial column on the Miami Dolphins. It contains only a little news, no religion, no cholesterol and only 5% of your daily recommended allowance of politics.

In short, it's where I get to sound off about the Dolphins without worrying about such petty concerns as journalistic integrity and accuracy in reporting.

I mean, if it doesn't bother Armando Salguero, Dan Pompei or Mel Kiper, why should it bother me?

Well, that's a little unfair. I believe that Mel Kiper is well meaning - he's just, well - not too bright. The other two, I'm not so sure about.

Certainly you know who Armando Salguero is. He is the head Dolphins reporter for the Miami Herald. This is the guy who thought it was a good idea to write a story about how Dan and JJ weren't getting along and how Dan would effectively be demoted this year. Besides the fact that he didn't check his story with either Dan or JJ, he decided to publish it right before one of the biggest games of last season, worrying Dan about his future at a moment when Dan needed all his focus.

Now there's a guy who really cares about his team, no?

Dan Pompei writes for The Sporting News and was one of the first guys to report the rumor that JJ would retire after the 1998 season - just before JJ signed his contract extension through the year 2000. I think that that little episode speaks for itself.

OK, well - enough soap box rhetoric. It's time to talk about what I should be talking about at this point in the season - the draft.

I am against the draft. I think that if a young man (or woman) is morally opposed to serving in the military then....

Hmmm? What's that?

Oops - sorry! Wrong draft...

Before I give the draft a grade, however, it might be a good idea to refresh our memories about just exactly who was taken in this year's draft. However, before I tackle that, let me say just one little thing about how I grade the draft -

In two words - I don't.

Grade the draft, that is.

At least, not yet. It is not only stupid and an incredible waste of time to give a draft grade before any of the draftees has even put on shoulder pads, but it's also the height of arrogance.

To give an accurate grade for a draft, doesn't it make sense to wait until the players have actually shown their contributions to the team on the playing field?

Well, it does to me and so I don't give draft grades until the players have been able to show their worth against the rest of the league. As of now, I'm not ready to grade the 1998 draft. In fact, I'm still not ready to grade the 1996 draft, although I think that I could at least come up with a preliminary grade for that group of players.

So - no explicit grades on the 1998 draft.

Now, I had initially predicted that the Dolphins would have gone with Jason Peter with their first round pick, but Peter went so high that the Dolphins would have had to trade way up to get him, even if they were very high on him - which, apparently, they weren't.

I had received a report from Miami that the Dolphins really liked running back John Avery from Mississippi way back in March and that I shouldn't be surprised if they took him in the first round. As it turned out, that report was right on the money.

At first, I was skeptical of this report, because the source was new to me, and I wasn't sure how much to trust this particular source. I can't tell you how many sources I've had that have turned out to be full of - well, something that we all already have too much of in our lives.

Also, I had no idea at that time who John Avery was and even after I found out, I had trouble believing that the Dolphins would take him.

However, continued reports out of Miami praised Avery and the fact that he kept moving up the draft charts from the top of the third round to the top of the second as the draft drew nearer made me re-think my analysis.

And when JJ traded down to number 29, I figured that he was going after Avery. As it turned out, I was right this time.

Now, some people have credited me with being some kind of draft guru because I called this one right. Remember, however, that of all the players that I explicitly mentioned in my draft write-up, the Dolphins only selected 2 - Avery and John Dutton.

Of course, it's hard to know if they would have selected some of the others I had mentioned if they had been available, but I wasn't exactly batting 1.000. And I completely missed guys like Bromell, Mixon, Surtain, and Bundren.

Still, it's good that JJ can pull the wool over his most dedicated watchers. That helps him get the people he really wants.

As to the selection of Avery - well, he's a bit of a gamble and we're all going to have to wait and see, which is beginning to be the mantra we all chant every year after the draft. But I think that at number 29 in the first round, he was a good, solid pick. Remember that anyone taken after about number 20 is effectively a second round pick in any case.

Certainly, he will contribute right away on kickoff returns and probably on third downs. He might be able to become a full time player someday, but he almost certainly won't start initially. He's got a lot of competition with Lawrence Phillips, Ray Nealy and the running back formerly known as Karim Abdul-Jabbar.

TRBFKAKAJ? How, exactly, would you pronounce that?

But so what? The greatest team in the history of football had 3 great running backs - Mercury Morris, Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick. Isn't there room on the current Dolphins team for a guy like Avery?

And don't you think he can make big contributions?

Now, before you answer, consider this factoid: Mercury Morris - not Larry Csonka - had the best average per carry of any Dolphins' running backs back in 1972 at 5.3 yards per carry. And while he didn't have as many carries or total yards, Morris had twice as many touchdowns as Csonka in both 1972 (12 to 6) and 1973 (10 to 5).

And while Csonka's yards-per-carry average dropped from 5.2 in 1972 to 4.6 in 1973, Morris' ypc rose from 5.3 in 1972 to an astonishing 6.4 ypc in 1973 on 149 carries.

In fact, Mercury Morris holds the Dolphins' single game record for most rushing yards with a 197 yard game against the Patriots in 1973. With just 15 carries in that game, Morris averged 13.1 yards per carry. Those are Barry Sanders-like numbers.

I must admit that the touchdown number stunned me. I would have bet almost anything that Csonka or perhaps Jim Kiick had the most touchdowns. But it was Mercury Morris - a smaller, faster, more elusive running back who was not the team's primary runner.

Does that sound familiar?

Now, for those who argue that it's irrelevant to compare the '72 Dolphins and what they did to today's league, I would say - in some ways, you're right. But the idea that a small, fast, elusive running back can't have a serious impact in today's offenses is bunk.

As for Avery's size, take a look at these illuminating numbers, which compare relevant stats for 4 running backs currently playing in the NFL:

John Avery: HT: 5-9, WT: 186, Speed: 4.3
Emmitt Smith: HT: 5-9, WT: 190 Speed: 4.6
Barry Sanders: HT: 5-8, WT: 200 Speed: 4.4
Warrick Dunn: HT: 5-8, WT: 176 Speed: 4.4

NOTE: Special Thanks to FinFan Chris for digging these numbers up for me.

Now, does all this mean that Avery is the next Barry Sanders or Warrick Dunn? I certainly hope so, but since there is no way to tell, it would be foolish to predict.

But let's give the guy a chance, shall we?

To those who say that Avery would have been available at number 44 - you can forget that. Marty Schottenheimer said publicly that he almost took Avery with the number 28 pick just before the Dolphins and Oakland, Dallas and the Saints were all looking at Avery between the number 29 and number 44 pick.

As for Randy Moss, whom the Dolphins could have had at number 19, there is no way to tell if he is going to play up to his potential in the NFL, but I have a feeling that that guy is going to be a disaster. In fact, he has already missed the entire first Minnesota mini-camp with an ankle injury that he got in a basketball game.

Of course, I don't know Moss personally, but everything that I've read or heard about his attitude positively stinks of overconfidence and the kind of arrogance that is immune to the realities of what it's like to play in the NFL.

Personally, I'm delighted that JJ didn't pick Moss. That guy is going to be the next Keyshawn Johnson. Or, at least, what Johnson was like as a rookie. He'll probably have a mediocre first year and then write a book telling the world how it was everyone's fault but his that he didn't produce.

Of course, "write" is a word that doesn't apply to guys like Moss and Johnson. They don't write - they tell a talented ghost writer their story and the ghost writers turn their incoherent ramblings into intelligible prose.

But I digress...

Who else could the Dolphins have had at number 19? Or 29, for that matter? Holliday is a good interior defensive lineman, but he's not a guy who would be likely to bust a game wide open with one or two plays.

Avery is such a player - or at least is a lot closer to it than Holliday.

Except for Moss and Holliday, every other player taken between 19 and 29 is either a defensive back or an offensive lineman. Of the defensive backs, none has as much potential for big plays as Avery does.

Of the offensive linemen available at number 19, none was a sure fire impact player, even if JJ was willing to draft an offensive lineman in the first round, which he absolutely, positively won't do. He explains it this way - offensive linemen are the hardest to grade and more offensive linemen picked in the first round are busts than any other position.

Now, I don't know if this is true or not and I'm not sure I care, because no matter what JJ's reasoning is, he won't break that rule. Offensive linemen are not drafted in the first round - in fact, he's never taken one higher than the third round.

So while reading down the list of players available at the end of the first round, only Yacquez Green stands out as a guy that might turn out to be a more productive player than Avery. And that's a big "might".

I will admit that when Tampa Bay took Green, I pounded my desktop and verbally expelled a convenient expletive (for you Buffalo fans, that means I yelled "Sh*t!").

But other than Green, Avery was the biggest potential playmaker on the board and given the choice between the two, I think JJ did the right thing.

So, where does that leave us? Well, like all sportswriters who have covered the draft, I have now spent way too much time on the first round and have left virtually no time to talk about the second and subsequent rounds, which is really where a team's draft is made.

But don't worry. I promise I'll get to all the later rounds in the next week or two.

Before I go, however, I should say that while I was perplexed during the draft about JJ's choices, my subsequent investigation of the players he took have confirmed again what I should know instinctively by now - JJ knows what he's doing, at least as far as the draft is concerned, and deserves our trust.

As to the future of "On Porpoise", I have a whole boatload of things to talk about in the next few issues. The rest of the draft rates another issue, free agency will get a look and I'll also be talking about the new offense and whatever else suits my fancy.

And if that isn't enough, there will be a special issue of "On Porpoise" in the next few weeks that will discuss some special plans I have for the future of my website and my presence on the Internet in general.

In the next year, I plan to spend even more of my time in writing and disseminating information to all the fans out there. "On Porpoise" will be back as a regular feature instead of an exercise in irregularity.

After all, who wants to be irregular?

Oops - I think it's time for me to end this for now - My wife was just reading over my shoulder and has passed out. It must have been the idea that I will be spending even more time on the Dolphins than before - as if that were actually possible.

Yes, I've finally given up and realized that I'd rather be writing about the Dolphins than doing almost anything else - by myself that is.

Of course, no matter what I do in the near future, it won't be an accident. Just like JJ taking John Avery was no accident. You see, no matter what things I do, I always do them....

... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Mon, 01 Jun 1998 16:01:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23122,23122#msg-23122 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23122,23122#msg-23122
But it doesn't carry the scent of spring - no, it smells more like newly mown grass and pigskin; heat balm and medical tape; and, of course, sweat.

And wafting on this breeze are the sounds of plastic and cloth, smacking hard against one another, combined with grunting and shouting, and the occasional laughter and applause. On top of these sounds, a voice of authority with a Texas accent periodically intrudes, exhorting and commanding the attention of everyone.

Yes, this breeze swept over us all a few weeks ago, with a subtle force that filled us then, but has left us now empty and hungry for more.

Yes, I felt a draft....

Unfortunately, one of the cruelest aspects of draft time in the NFL is that everyone gets a brief taste of the possibilities for their team for the coming year and then we all have to wait to see how it will turn out.

In my humble opinion, right now is the worst time in the NFL season. It's a time of waiting and hoping. Waiting, of course, to see what will happen this coming season. Hoping that this draft is as good - or perhaps even better - than the last one.

So let's do something with all this time, shall we? Let's talk about the draft.

Before we talk about the draft, however, I would like to point out that I think it's totally pointless to assign draft grades at this time to this year's draft. If we want to assign draft grades, then last year's draft is the draft to grade.

So I will...

For last year's draft, I would have to give the Dolphins an "A". The only reason I don't give them an A+ is that the jury is still out on Darryl Gardener. He was effective last year and wound up starting, but was not really a force at the defensive tackle position.

If we knew then what we know now, Zach Thomas would have been the Dolphins' first pick, followed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Stanley Pritchett, Jerris McPhail, Shawn Wooden, Darryl Gardener, Shane Burton and Jeff Buckey.

Now, if Gardener improves this season and starts to produce more, I may well change my grade to an "A+", but unless he really starts to be a force in the middle of the defensive line, that first round pick might have been better spent on someone else.

Still, the 1996 draft has to rank as one of the best in Dolphins' history, with the Dolphins getting at least 5 (and maybe 6) starters from last year's draft - Gardener, Burton, Thomas, Wooden, Pritchett and Abdul-Jabbar are all solid contributors and at least 4 of these guys (and maybe all 6) will start this year.

And, of course, there is potential third down sensation Jerris McPhail. That boy will certainly cause a lot of defenses problems this year, hopefully as a return man and third down back.

Anthony Harris, the current starter at weakside linebacker, was actually a rookie free agent last year, along with Larry Izzo.

Of course, in a sense, these guys *were* part of the draft, because JJ will target players that he wants to sign as free agents during his preparation for the draft. But technically, neither Izzo nor Harris were drafted.

Moving along to this year's draft, one of the things that struck me was that there were some definite similarities between this year's draft and last year's. Now, that is hardly surprising, considering that JJ's draft philosophy hasn't exactly changed, but it was stunning to me how much similarity there was.

In the first round, JJ took a gamble in both '96 and '97. He took a player in each year who has enormous physical skills, but who didn't produce as much in college as other players at their positions. Both Yatil Green and Darryl Gardener are amazing athletes, but neither really set the world on fire in their senior year.

With his second pick, JJ went for defensive backs. Hopefully, Sam Madison will work out better than Dorian Brew did last year, and if the initial mini-camp is any indication, he probably will.

And in the third round, JJ picked up players who were originally considered to be possible first rounds picks, but had fallen to the third round. This year, it is Jason Taylor, who was originally slated to be a probably first round pick, but who fell to the third round. Last year, of course, it was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

In later rounds, JJ traded down to acquire more picks. He went for the same kinds of players in 1997 that he went for in 96 - smart overachievers who give 100% on every play. He is, of course, less concerned with raw size and power than he is with attitude, at least in the later rounds.

Hopefully, the results from the class of '97 will also resemble the results of the class of '96, although I imagine it would be difficult to get another Zach Thomas out of the group. You don't find players like Zach Thomas very often.

However, there could very well be another Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shane Burton, Stanley Pritchett or Darryl Gardener in this group. In fact, if the Dolphins get 2 or 3 starters out of the class of '97, then it will have been a successful draft.

So, how do I think the class of '97 will do? Well, since I don't give draft grades at this point in the season, everything I say below must be considered speculation. Still, I have some thoughts on who will work out and who won't.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a football expert, nor do I play one on TV. I'm just a DolFan who tries to pay attention to what's going on.

Starting at the top, we have Yatil Green. Green has all the tools to make a great receiver, but hasn't really played up to his potential yet. Yes, there have been individual games where Green has really stood out, but he'll need to stay healthy and be consistent.

Personally, I think that Green will contribute this year, but will not be quite ready to earn his multi-million dollar salary. I can't really see him breaking into the starting lineup ahead of Barnett and McDuffie - at least, not in September.

Sam Madison, on the other hand, already seems to be working out better than Dorian Brew did last year. The word from mini-camp was that he managed to completely blanket Charles Jordan in coverage drills. Now, Jordan isn't the Dolphins' best receiver, but he's no slouch, either. With the right cornerback position being wide open for whoever shows his stuff in training camp, Madison has a good shot at starting.

I see Jason Taylor as a guy like Abdul-Jabbar in a number of ways, and not just because he fell to the third round. He also had a good college career, but fell because scouts didn't feel he could contribute as well in the Pros. Taylor will need to bulk up some to get to his full potential, but will probably have the opportunity to play a fair amount in pass-rushing situations this coming season. His speed and intensity will make him a dangerous player.

The next two players were linebackers Derrick Rodgers and Ronnie Ward. The knock on Rodgers, of course, is his age (25) and his inexperience at linebacker. During college, Rodgers played primarily as a pass rusher from the outside linebacker spot.

However, Rodgers is very smart and will likely be more mature than a lot of his contemporaries. He is also athletic enough to play pass coverage, and smart enough to learn how. Initial reports from mini-camp are promising. It will be difficult for him to break into the starting lineup, but he will probably see special teams work and if he keeps working, could possibly crack the starting lineup by the end of the season.

Ronnie Ward has kind of been lost in the shuffle, because of all the attention paid to the players drafted around him. However, Ward had a fine college career and seems to be the kind of player that will fit well into a JJ-type defense. Of course, there will be lots of competition for him at linebacker, but he stands a good chance of at least giving the other linebackers on the team a run for their money.

After Ward, we come to the first offensive lineman picked up by the Dolphins - Brent Smith of Mississippi State. Smith is already over 300 pounds and still growing and is fast and agile for an offensive lineman. He also has a reputation for being very aggressive and competitive. I suspect that he will make the team as a backup this year.

Next is Jerome Daniels, the mountain from New England. At over 350 pounds, Daniels is huge and has amazing potential, with his athleticism and size. However, Daniels is going to have a tough time getting accustomed to the South Florida environment after coming from New England and his 350 pounds are going to be tough to haul around during training camp, no matter how strong he is.

I do see Daniels making the team because of his size, athleticism and attitude, which is supposed to be competitive and nasty. However, he's got an awful lot of work to do and he'll have to be very dedicated to drop the 20 or so pounds that the Dolphins want him to lose this summer.

After Daniels, the Dolphins chose defensive lineman Barron Tanner. Tanner sounds a little like Chuck Klingbeil, in that he is strong and good at stuffing the center of the line. He is very hard to run against - and yet, remember that JJ cut Klingbeil. Of course, a lot can happen between now and September, but Tanner is the first player in the Dolphins' draft that I have real doubts about. He doesn't really sound like the kind of player that JJ likes.

Now, it may turn out that the Dolphins are a little thin on the defensive line (especially at defensive tackle), so Tanner may stay, if only to fill a roster spot, but I just don't see that he is the type of player that has a real chance to contribute on a JJ style defense.

The next player up is Nicholas Lopez and I find him intriguing. He's a defensive end and, at 6'4" and 250 pounds, he's a little small to play on the defensive line in the pros. However, this guy has a lot in common with a draft pick from last year that worked out pretty well for us - Zach Thomas.

First of all, they're both relative unknowns that the Dolphins picked up in the 5th round. Both were considered too small coming into the draft and that's why they fell to the 5th round. And both were exceptionally productive during their senior year in college. Consider this: Lopez had 72 tackles during his senior year, with 26 for a loss. Of those 26 tackles for a loss, 15 were sacks (that's more than one per game and more than Jason Taylor had) and he also caused 3 fumbles, recovered 3 fumbles and had a safety.

Of course, it's too much to hope that Lopez will work out as well as Zach did, but I think that he has the best chance to be the "Zach Thomas" of 1997. I think he'll be on the roster this coming season.

John Fiala is next up and he'll compete for a backup linebacker spot. Again, the words "undersized", "overachiever" and "playmaker" have been applied to Fiala (as they have to almost all the new Dolphins' linebackers) and he'll have his work cut out for him in competing for a spot on the team.

After Fiala, the Dolphins took Brian Manning, a very smart wide receiver who kind of fell apart during his senior year at Stanford. In fact, he didn't even start after the 4th game of his senior year. However, in the East-West Shrine game, he wowed the scouts, making a number of nice catches and again impressed scouts at the combine.

It appears that the departure of Bill Walsh from Stanford really hurt Manning. If he is to make the Dolphins regular squad (or even the practice squad), he's going to have to give everything he's got - and then some. He has a great deal of competition and even a small slipup will send him packing. However, he appears to have the talent to make the team, if he can keep himself focused.

The last linebacker taken was Mike Crawford, out of Nevada. You've got to love Crawford - here's a guy who jumps off his parent's house into Lake Tahoe for fun - a jump of almost 40 feet. A complete unknown as far as the draft was concerned (ESPN still has nothing in his profile on their web site), he completely dominated the Las Vegas bowl this year, practically winning the game himself.

On draft day, Crawford wasn't even watching the draft on TV. He was playing chess with a friend.

Crawford was one of the few players that was specifically mentioned after the April mini-camp. He was apparently an animal on special teams during the mini-camp, showing all the recklessness and aggressiveness that you'd expect. It's still early, but he sounds like another Larry Izzo.

Tight end Ed Perry was taken after Crawford and while he has some natural ability, it doesn't sound to me like there's a lot there to get excited about. He'll compete with Wainwright for the third tight end slot after Drayton and Reeves, but I'll be kind of surprised to see him make the roster.

The last player taken in the draft by the Dolphins was Hudhaifa Ismaeli, a cornerback from Northwestern. He is probably talented enough to have been taken much higher, but after being suspended for drug use, teams were reluctant to take him. Ismaeli is reported to be a tough, physical corner, who can cover and blitz. However, he has limited experience and is very raw.

There are a lot of new defensive backs on the team right now and not all will be there in September. All things being equal, Ismaeli has a pretty good chance to make the team, if he can stay focused. But he'll have a lot of more experienced competition and I'd have to say that he's a better prospect for the practice squad.

The bottom line of the draft is that I would expect to get 2 or maybe 3 starters from this draft. I think that the guys that have the best chance to start at some point in the season are Yatil Green, Sam Madison, Brent Smith and Jason Taylor. Other guys who will probably play some this year are Derrick Rodgers, Ronnie Ward and Jerome Daniels.

My preliminary vote for the guy who will be the biggest surprise is Nicholas Lopez, followed closely by Mike Crawford.

John Fiala and Hudhaifa Ismaeli are good players with a lot of potential, but they're going to have a tough time beating out the competition. It's hard to know how they will turn out.

I think that Barron Tanner, Brian Manning and Ed Perry are the least likely players to make the team, but they could all surprise. It's more likely, though, that they will end up on the practice squad or cut.

So that finishes up my review of this year's draft. It was a lot longer than I had anticipated, but hey - the Dolphins took more players in the draft than any other team. That is just one of the reasons that JJ is such a good draft master. He knows that the more players he takes, the better chance he'll find a Zach Thomas.

What's next? Well, the Dolphins will hold their second "quarterback school" from June 2nd through the 5th. This is their second mini-camp, but many of the draftees won't be attending, because they will be taking their finals.

Still, with all the competition for starting slot this coming season, expect the rookies who are there to be working very hard. Because these kids know that they won't get a place on the team by accident - they will have to do it....

.... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Sun, 01 Jun 1997 16:01:00 +0000 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23121,23121#msg-23121 http://www.phins.com/phorum/read.php?8,23121,23121#msg-23121 To talk of many things....
Of Runs and Rooks and Rushing Blocks,
Of Cornerbacks and Rings....

And so begins another scintillating (and long overdue) issue of "On Porpoise", my personal column on the Dolphins. There was a time when this was a regular feature, coming out about once a week, but this year I've been so busy with other things that "On Porpoise" has not been getting the attention it deserved.

Well, it's time to correct that oversight. There are many things to talk about, now that the season is half over, and I'll do my best to cover some of them today.

Right now, the Dolphins are 4-4 and coming off a bad streak that has seen them lose 4 of their last 5 games. The month of September and it's 3-0 record seem like a distant memory, along with the devastating run defense and outstanding rush-oriented offense that we saw so much of during the first 3 games.

So what happened to that team? Were they just a flash in the pan? Are they a playoff caliber team? Is this the same team that has been so close and yet so far away from a ring these last 4 or 5 years?

Well, the answer to the last question is easy, so I'll tackle it first - this is clearly not the same team from a year ago. It's not the same team that we have come to expect disappointment from late in the season and it's not the same team that relied totally on Dan Marino to win all it's ballgames.

Now, I know that some of you will disagree with me. I have been watching the newsgroups and mailing lists enough to have read all the "Oh, Woe is Us!" posts from the nattering nabobs of negativity (I've always wanted to use that phrase...) that inhabit the Internet and I know that some of you out there would prefer to wallow in your woeful wounded wailing and see only the dreary darkness.....

Well, you get the point.

And the point is, of course, that one or two games do not a season make. As JJ points out, the season is a marathon, not a sprint. One or two games don't define the season. The only way we'll know whether or not this team has truly changed is to look back after the season is over and see how they've done.

But there are some encouraging signs that this team is different and I think they're worth mentioning. First of all, we have the running game. At this point in the season, the Dolphins have run the ball 227 times and thrown it 223 times. The results have been inconsistent at best, but the commitment is there to run the ball and I can't help but believe that that's a good sign.

On the other hand, the inconsistency of the running game is a concern. In that regard, the team looks a lot like the team of old. The problem seems to lie in the run blocking, especially on sweeps and runs outside the tackles. For some reason, the Dolphins can't seem to sustain those rushing blocks long enough or pick up the charging linebackers and cut them off.

Now, I believe that with experience and seasoning, the offensive line will get better at making and sustaining those blocks, but in the meantime, I'm afraid that we have to expect that the running game will be inconsistent. And by experience, I mean experience running the ball, which they haven't had a lot of in recent years.

Another sign that's indicative of change is the play of the rookies. First of all, the fact that 4 are regular starters is significant all by itself. In the past, that would not have happened. In addition to the 4 regular starters, Daryl Gardener is getting a lot of playing time and Larry Izzo is at least partially responsible for the improvement of the special teams. Of the starting rookies, Pritchett, Abdul-Jabbar and Zach Thomas are playing very well. All have had their off moments, but it's easy to see the talent and aggressiveness that characterizes their play. I think that Abdul-Jabbar has is, right now, the best Dolphins running back. There's no question that Zach Thomas is the best linebacker and Pritchett is really the only fullback.

As the first draft pick, Daryl Gardener hasn't been setting any rookie records, but he has been getting a lot of attention from opposing lines, which is a backhanded compliment. And even Shane Burton has gotten a lot of playing time.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Jerris McPhail. He has good hands and great speed and will undoubtedly make a serious impact in the future.

What all this rookie activity means is both good and bad. It's bad, because teams with a lot of rookie starters don't normally play in the SuperBowl. It's good, however, because it means great things for the future.

But nowhere is the change of the team more obvious than in special teams play. This year, the Dolphins special teams have dramatically improved, mostly from an infusion of youth and a sense of aggressiveness and importance that JJ has instilled in the special teams. The addition of speed and aggressiveness to the Dolphins really has shown a dramatic improvement in this area.

So where does that leave us in the middle of the season? Well, I think that it's clear that this team is a different team than it has been in recent years. More aggressiveness, speed and youth have shaken this team up and it's in the process of building itself into something new.

Still, change doesn't guarantee improvement. The changes in style and personnel and the reduction of experience really make this a transition year. And teams in "transition" don't play in the SuperBowl.

People who asked me privately in the beginning of the season about the Dolphins' chances got told that I thought they would end the year with a record of 8-8 or 9-7. Right now, that seems to be the way they are heading. I also said that I thought the team would play inconsistently, especially on defense, because of all the changes in personnel and schemes. I said that I thought they would be great one week and terrible the next.

Well, sometimes I don't like to be right. Sometimes, I'm happy to be wrong, but it appears, at the halfway point of the season, that the Dolphins, while on the right track, still have a bumpy ride ahead of them.

And that about concludes my remarks in this edition. I believe that the Dolphins can get to the playoffs this year, if they win both of their next 2 weeks, but I won't be too disappointed as long as they show improvement in the areas that still need work. As long as they play...

... On Porpoise.]]> curt On Porpoise Fri, 01 Nov 1996 16:01:00 +0000