For years about this time, in these same pages, some quote from the Dolphins’ offseason would be dredged up to be the flag-bearer for the team. It was a tradition. You get the idea reading them now that they were some sort of joke, a running gag, especially when Dave Wannstedt would insist every winter, “We’re close.”
Then there was Jimmy Johnson, in 1999, saying, how his team could be “something special.” That got repeated, what, 10,672 times?
Even Don Shula, in a fit of boldspeak for him in 1995, said, “We’ve filled all our holes.”
There’s no need to go chapter and verse into the disappointing endings to all that optimism. It’s just good to look back and see how it went wrong, in so many years, especially on the edge of this season as Dolphins fans embark on a newer (and coach-inspired quieter) brand of optimism.
It’s so quiet in Year Two of Nick Saban you can hear the Dolphins’ fear of the Patriots drop. And with good reason. These Dolphins will be a good team — 10-6 sounds right — but remain another offseason away from even thinking Super Bowl.
This is the year the Dolphins should squeeze into the playoffs. They should play with and, if everything breaks right, be able to catch New England in the AFC East.
Sure, optimism is an affliction around most teams right now, starting with Philadelphia because Terrell Owens is gone and Dallas because Terrell Owens is there. Oakland feels good with a coach who hasn’t been around this millennium in Art Shell. Go down the list. Everyone feels good. Most teams have a chance.
But the Dolphins’ optimism isn’t based on feel-good intangibles like confidence, leadership and we’re-close hope. Look at the tangibles.
If last year showed the Dolphins aren’t lost in the wilderness anymore, this is the year where it’s OK to believe good things are coming and here are five reasons why:
1. Daunte Culpepper is here and healthy. Obvious, right? He has questions to answer, namely whether he can thrive without receiver Randy Moss. But two years ago he was a Pro Bowl player throwing for 5,000 yards and so, for the first time since Dan Marino, the Dolphins have a star-quality quarterback. Enough said.
2. The schedule. This is a godsend. Eight games are against teams that drafted in the top 10 and had no better than a 6-10 record. There are no West Coast games, only one cold-weather game (at Buffalo on Dec. 17) and an AFC East where the Bills and Jets are in first-year rebuilding phases. Plus there’s …
3. New England. Its lost too much to win the Super Bowl. Yes, that’s been said before. And, yes, of all teams, the Dolphins shouldn’t be thinking this considering the Patriots had just 11 regular starters last year and still won in Dolphin Stadium.
But the salary-capped, parity-driven league has caught up to the Patriots to the point they’re nearly an even match for the Dolphins right now. Their coaching staff has been raided. Another round of veterans, like Willie McGinest, are gone. They even made a rare front-office mistake by losing kicker Adam Vinatieri to the direct-rival Colts in free agency.
Bill Belichick still has the proven system. But …
“You’ve got to have great players to play in that system,” McGinest told the San Diego Union-Tribune during training camp. “I think we kind of found that out last year. The system was great, but it couldn’t save us. Some of the guys coming in were terrible.
“Duane Starks, he came in and played like trash. He was terrible. We had other guys coming in that couldn’t fill those shoes of some of those guys that had been there for years and were your core guys.”
4. The Dolphins’ secondary. Yes, the secondary. It’s a question, especially with so many cornerbacks hurt in the preseason. But let’s look back a year for perspective. The questions then included fourth-round rookie Travis Daniels, late-free-agent signee Lance Schulters and the infamous Reggie Howard. Yet the secondary wasn’t a glaring problem. With additions of top pick Jason Allen and veteran Will Allen, can this year be any worse?
5. Six straight wins to close last year. An NFL general manager was asked this winter what that meant. “It means it took eight games for Saban to impress his style on the team. He held it together. Now we’ll see where he takes it.”
That sounds about right. Their offensive line and overall depth suggests they’re still a season from contending. Their offseason steps tell of a team on the rise.
Saban, quietly, with no measuring-stick quotes, merits optimism by marching in the Right Direction.
