Pretty good blog 'article' on the Pats

[Box_O_Rocks]

http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=24&p=2&c=570868

I recall listening to the "experts" on ESPN a couple of weeks back stating that the No. 1 team that will give the Patriots a run for their money this year will be the revamped, Daunte Culpepper led, Miami Dolphins.

Did you see what I saw the first two games? This team couldn't find any rhythm or momentum in their offense. They looked like a Pop Warner team out there on the field.

Adam Schefter on NFL Total Access listed the fish's decline as his #1 surprise 2 weeks into the season.

 

[ilduce06410]

Watch out for The Fish by mid-season

http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=24&p=2&c=570868
Adam Schefter on NFL Total Access listed the fish's decline as his #1 surprise 2 weeks into the season.

the Dolphis bite rite now, but IMHO they'll be dangerous by Week 8. we get dolphins in Week 5 and in Week 14 (in Miami, 12/10). maybe tWee 5 is early enuf for them not to have jelled yet. i don't like laying The Fish on their turf in Cecember. watch out on that.
Saban is a good coach, that's a constant. you'd think his system would be taking hold by now. they did win 6 straight last year to finish 7-9.
but he's also a tom coughlin-type. grown men may not take to his approach. maybe dolphins just won't play for him.

 

[PonyExpress]

It's too early to make any judgemnts about any team. In '03 Buffalo was 2-0 and flying high at this point, #1 in the Power Rankings. Saban is a very solid coach, but he may have blown it refusing Drew Brees in favor of Culpepper. Brees is a leader whose strength is his mind and his heart. Culpepper is an athlete nearly crippled by injury whose strengths have never been reading defenses and providing big time leadership (see Boat Scandal). Still, there is enough professionism on Miami to make it back to respectability. I still see 8-8, 9-7 possibly on the horizon if all goes well. There schedule is absurdly easy.

 

[NEPatriot]

It's too early to make any judgemnts about any team. In '03 Buffalo was 2-0 and flying high at this point, #1 in the Power Rankings. Saban is a very solid coach, but he may have blown it refusing Drew Brees in favor of Culpepper. Brees is a leader whose strength is his mind and his heart. Culpepper is an athlete nearly crippled by injury whose strengths have never been reading defenses and providing big time leadership (see Boat Scandal). Still, there is enough professionism on Miami to make it back to respectability. I still see 8-8, 9-7 possibly on the horizon if all goes well. There schedule is absurdly easy.

Very well said. It's amazing how some can base how the whole seasone will turn out on one or two games. As BB often states, you don't know what type of team you have until around Thanksgiving.

 

[Slagathor]

This is one of my favorite parts of the article and something we rail about here every week. It's a full blown epidemic now.

<"If you look at the numbers from the Jets matchup on Sunday, you will see that the Patriots dominated the game even after a few fluke plays and few poor tackles. I heard things like "hard times for the Patriots" and "franchise rot" used by a couple of New York newspapers. I think because it is the job of writers to find a story, they sometimes fabricate stories to sell papers. It is a shame!">

Hmmm.....

Now who wrote that "Hard Times....." article. Could it be............SATAN!!!!??? Almost as bad.

 

[mgcolby]

It's too early to make any judgemnts about any team. In '03 Buffalo was 2-0 and flying high at this point, #1 in the Power Rankings. Saban is a very solid coach, but he may have blown it refusing Drew Brees in favor of Culpepper. Brees is a leader whose strength is his mind and his heart. Culpepper is an athlete nearly crippled by injury whose strengths have never been reading defenses and providing big time leadership (see Boat Scandal). Still, there is enough professionism on Miami to make it back to respectability. I still see 8-8, 9-7 possibly on the horizon if all goes well. There schedule is absurdly easy.

I agree about the QB's but Miami's O-Line is horrible and I don't see how they are going to get better. I don't think they finish 500. 6-10 is what I think and if they lose to Houston which isn't out of the realm of possibilities considering how Carr has been playing it could get even uglier. They cannot protect the QB and without that there is no way in hell they can compete. I took the 11 points this week with Tennessee, Miami looks that bad and Tennessee lost by 7 to the Jets and got blown out by a really good SD team. I think Miami pulls it out by 6 or 7. Heck Mare missed a chipshot last week and he hardly ever misses. Things are just very bad for the Dolphins right now and I don't think there are any inseason supplemental drafts to help them out.

 

[Pawn512]

Press and pundits always forget about the offensive line. Mostly because none of them ever played a down themselves. If you break down film it quickly becomes apparent that most bad runs, and many bad passes are a result of poor blocking, rather than any deficiency on the part of the skill position player.

Shiny exciting skill position players + bad line = bad offense

Average skill players + good line = good, if unexplosive offense

 

[arrellbee]

Re: Watch out for The Fish by mid-season

Saban is a good coach, that's a constant. you'd think his system would be taking hold by now. they did win 6 straight last year to finish 7-9.
but he's also a tom coughlin-type. grown men may not take to his approach. maybe dolphins just won't play for him.

First you say that Saban is a good coach. He may well be, but you CANNOT say that yet. "Good" coaches win playoff games. He hasn't even made it to a playoff game yet !!

Then you begin to get it by realizing that it is yet to be found out whether he can actually get players to perform for him. That is absolutely correct - there is NO way to know yet. And there are a lot of other factors that are also unknown. For example, how good is he at picking free agents. Can he really develop offensive and defensive schemes and game plans to win against top coaches. Is he astute enough to coach all of those 'situations' that mean the difference between a win and a loss. Will he draft well - we don't even have enough data on this year's draft picks yet. Remember the success rate of college coaches coming into the NFL is not that great - there are reasons for that.

He could get past the first milestone and make it to the playoffs - that would begin to look positive. On the other hand, it looks more likely that the Dolphins will have a so-so season - which will not tell us very much one way or the other.

 

[arrellbee]

There schedule is absurdly easy.

You do realize that they play EXACTLY the same teams we do except for only two games. We play Denver and Cincinatti. They play Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Obviously Pittsburgh was not easy for them.

 

[Bella*chick]

Wow, it's like that guy was reading my mind (or these boards!) as regards HandshakeGate. "As the Patriots Turn"? Bwah!!

While everyone always overreacts when certain teams are 2-0 (or 0-2, as the case may be), the reason they are doing it is because these football shows would be a heck of a lot shorter if everyone said, "Well, it's early, get back to us in 6 or 7 weeks!" no matter how true that sentiment may be. On any given sports channel at any time, there's a football show. There's a football network. And to fill the time, these guys have to make lists of surprises, disappointments, predictions, blah, blah, blah. I am pretty sure they all know by now it's BS. But people (including me, although I turn the volume down) can't seem to get enough of football, and the oversaturation that has resulted is what's lead to much of this pointless commentary.

 

[BradyManny]

It might be too early to judge the Dolphins, but still, if I knew where John Clayton lived, I'd sit outside his window with a Pats jersey and smile arrogantly at him all day.

There is one good thing out of these ESPN clowns picking the Phins - when Rodney Harrison is on Three Games to Glory 4, his "nobody respected us!!!" screams will actually have some merit!

 

[AzPatsFan]

Re: Saban is a good coach

Saban is a good coach. He has already proved that by getting the collection He had last year to 9 victories.

It is unfair to call him a college coach, because he went to the colleges after coaching in the NFL, even reaching the level of D coordinator. In college, he showed he mastered the needs of being a head coach. That is a transition that many an assistant can't make. Being the Man needs a lot more than Xs and Os. Its organizing the complete program, scouting, recruiting, selecting subordinates et cetera.

But no one Lombardi, Brown or Belichick can win with out some talent, and his talent in Miami just does not compare with the League iron, yet. Till then he will lose and win, but not have a genuine winning program.

It is ludicrous to think otherwise.

Check back in a year or more probably three...

 

[TruthSeeker]

You do realize that they play EXACTLY the same teams we do except for only two games. We play Denver and Cincinatti. They play Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Obviously Pittsburgh was not easy for them.

And the Patriots schedule is very easy as well. Not as easy as the 'Phins, though, because they have to face the Patriots and we only have to face the 'phins.