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October 15, 2007 You saw the same game I did yesterday. I saw it on TIVO because a friend of mine got tickets to see the Eagles play the Jets at the Meadowlands. It was my first trip there, and believe me, it's everything you would imagine it would be. I hate the Jets a lot, but when I say they are a New Jersey team, people like to argue. If you are ever have any doubt, go to a game there. Everything you hate about New Jersey is there in full effect. Every douchebag who has cut you off and given you the finger, every jerk who has told you, "This ain't cold, I grew up in Hackensack and it would snow everyday for month.", when it's 40 degrees in Miami, every single one of those guys were at this game in Wayne Chrebet jerseys. Watching them lose was nice, but watching the scoreboard as Miami was in the process of allowing the Browns to score 41 points was not. I was wearing a Miami Dolphins sweatshirt and an Eagles fan asked me why I wanted to torture myself by liking them. Why not just like another team? It reminded me of that scene in Office Space where someone asked Michael Bolton why he doesn't just change his name if he's tired of people mistaking him for the awful singer. He looked at the guy and said "Because I'm not the one who sucks." I liked this team before they drafted Jason Allen, before the chose Cam Cameron as their coach, before they acquired Joey Porter. If someone needs to change it's them. Now the game. I'll start with the good. I liked a lot of what I saw from Cleo Lemon. He threw two costly picks and had a very shaky start, but he also seemed like a playmaker, which we have not had much of at quarterback since Marino was pushed out. He probably won't ever get us to the Super Bowl, but at least against the Browns, he made some plays (4 touchdowns: 2 Passing, 2 Rushing) other post-Marino QBs would not have made. Ronnie Brown continues to prove himself as a talented playmaker. David Martin made some great plays while Ted Ginn is slowly emerging as a decent player (A smart improvised route by him turned a possible sack into a 32 yard completion and 2 great returns that were negated by penalties) I'll now start the bad, before moving to the worse. Silly penalties negated two great runs by Ted Ginn. One was commited by WR Derek Hagan who, in my opinion, shouldn't even be playing that position(There is a name for a WR that can't catch, it's called a cornerback). The defense allowed a Browns team, without Jamal Lewis, 4 yards per carry for a total of 140 while getting only one sack. I've mentioned our secondary before, but this was ridiculous. Our defense made Derek Anderson look like Peyton f#%king Manning at his peak, allowing him a 142.5 QB rating. Take a moment and think about how awful that is. Anderson had not gone a game without an interception all season long, including last week when he threw 3, but our secondary helped snap that streak, allowing him to throw to pretty much anyone he wanted to. I am sick of it. I know they are without Yeramiah Bell, their highly underrated safety, but several of these players should not be above scout team with an NFL franchise. I have a solution though: Replace the Secondary with the Cheerleaders Left:Braylon Edwards, about to run into an 87-pound brick wall If we are going to put players out on the field who do not know where to be, who are unable to make tackles, we should just use the cheerleaders. They are already on the field anyway. They have watched the games, so they probably have a basic knowledge of the Dolphins' playbook, which should, in itself, at least move them in front of Jason Allen on the depth chart. They are athletic and flexible. They don't get paid a ton, which would help with the salary cap and they are considerably easier in the eyes than our current secondary (That opinion may vary by gender). Plus, they seem to be optimistic and which is one thing this team and organization seems to be fresh out of. In 2005, it was after the Dolphins lost to the Browns that coach Saban gave a fiery speech that asked what kind of team they wanted to be, leading the team to win the last 6 games straight. I don't see that in this locker room today. Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas don't even look angry anymore. They look sad. They look like 2 guys who have given their lives to an organization that could never get its act together. Maybe having some players with a track record of cheering people up would help turn some of those frowns upside down. I want this team to be at least as optimistic as I am. In 2004, the team was 4-12, but one of those wins was against the seemingly unstoppable New England Patriots. I want there to be one guy in that locker room that believes that is possible this year. |
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