Dave Wannstedt
After two very disappointing
seasons of uninspired play and missed playoffs,
it was a sure bet that Mr. Wannstedt would
finally be shown the door. The fans were Storming
the Bastille known as Dolphin headquarters
and were demanding change. So, hearing from
the fan base, the fan base that pay's for
the 6 dollar, 8 ounce Budweiser's at Joe Robbie/Pro-Player/DHL
stadium, Wayne Huizenga took heroic action!
He gave Dave Wannstedt a two-year contract
extension through 2006.
|
|
Rick Spielman
OK....After the shock of Wanny the Cat
using his 9th life wore off, it was reassuring
to know that Wanny was stripped of his er
other job, General Manager, and that a search
was underway for a seasoned Pro who could
hopefully right the ship. Would it be Phil
Savage of the Ravens, or former New Orleans
general manager Randy Mueller, or New York
Giants director of player personnel Jerry
Reese? Nahhhh... It was all but a dream.
The ownership, in keeping with their most
recent decisions to stun-gun Phin fans,
hired a very, very good buddy of Dave Wannstedt,
Rick Spielman.
Rick Spielman?
Wasn't he the guy Wanny brought over
from the hapless 4-12, 4-12 Chicago Bears?
Wasn't he the guy who worked closely with
Wanny at Chicago for the trade of future
hall of famer, Rick Mirer, for a number
one and number four draft choice? Wasn't
he the guy with Wanny during the last two
futile seasons of Phin football?
Uhhhh
Yeah, he was.
|
|
Dan Marino
To continue with this Shakespearian comedy,
I bring you Danny Boy Marino. Uhhh lets go
back to the Storming of the Bastille mentioned
up above. Wayne sensing quite correctly that
his bread and butter, (the fans) were getting
quite pissed at his earlier decisions, decided
to pull a PR stunt that would make P.T Barnum
spin in his grave. He hired the biggest Icon
this side of Shula with hopes that it would
quite down the masses at the gate. He hired
Danny boy for the er newly created position
of Senior VP of player operations.
Suspicion quickly set in. Was it window dressing
and a PR move? (Remember Wayne's comical outburst
at the reporter who dared ask that question?)
What would Marino do? Would he have the ultimate
decision making powers as indicated by his
title? Would Marino work the long hours required
for the job? Yes, Yes, Yes,
and oh yeah, yes!
Ummmm, well actually, NO!
Three weeks after Danny Boy accepted the
job, he quit! His excuse;
"too much of a lifestyle change".
Uhhh Yeah..sure Dan.
One more thing that always cracked me
up about that whole debacle. When asked if
a replacement for Marino would be forthcoming,
Wayne said that a new search was underway.
But as time went on and this faded from the
minds of the public, Wayne was once again
asked about the search for Dan's replacement.
He replied that it was not a priority, which
is code for, it ain't gonna happen.
|
|
|
Wayne Huizenga
Speaking at the NFL meetings in Palm Beach,
Huizenga says he would "rather blame the kicker"
than Wannstedt for the team's disappointing season.
Wayne, I could do a whole web page on your cheap
ass but I ain't got the time.
|
|
|
AJ Feeley
Look at that picture of AJ closely folks.
It's unusual in one aspect. Because it's rare!
WHY? Because he's actually playing in a football
game. That's right. Between the years 2000
to 2003, AJ Feeley has started in only 4 NFL
regular season games. His start was promising
with a QB rating of 81.8 but ended 3 games
later with a 53.8. The combined records of
the 4 teams he faced in 2002 were 26-38.
I include those statistics up above for
the sole reason of shooting down the Wanny
spin regarding AJ Feeley. To hear Phin Management
spin it, AJ's the next Dan Marino, which means
he may have a 3 week job in the front office
15 years from now. In a nut shell... the Phins
gave up a 2004, 2nd round pick for a 3rd string
QB who played in 6 games in 3 seasons and
had not played since 2002.
Meanwhile proven, seasoned quarterbacks
like Jeff Garcia, Mark Brunell,Tim Couch,
and Kurt Warner were there for the taking.
Again, let me go back to the trade during
Wanny's days in Chi-Town for Rick Mirer for
a number one and number four draft pick. Talk
to a Bears fan and to this day and they still
shake their heads in disgust about that one.
Simply put, Wanny and Spielman's track record
for QB's, and yes that includes Jay, is pretty
dismal. OK... Enough negativity over the young
Mr. Feeley. I look forward to him starting
on opening day. WHOOOOP!!!!
WHOOOOP!!!! WHOOOOP!!! WARNING WILL ROBINSON,
WARNING! ………………..uhhhh
what's wrong Robot?
JAY'S STILL
THE STARTER!
Robot
That's right folks! After
suffering through Jay ball the last 4 seasons
it sure looks like we're about to go through
it again. Oh I expect to see AJ eventually
start because as we all know Jay has a tendency
to break down about errrr 3 games into the
season. And with Ricky now gone, and teams
able to rare back and go after Jay without
the fear of the run, I give Jay until the
1st quarter of the first game before a Titan
player pile drives him into the pitchers mound
at Joe Robbie!
|
|
|
Norv Turner
|
Offensive
Genius
Quit to become the Head Coach of the Oakland
Raiders
|
|
Joel Collier
|
Promoted to Offensive Coordinator,
then moved back to running backs coach citing
"exhaustion".
|
|
Chris Foerster
|
Promoted to Offensive Coordinator.
No prior experience as an NFL Offensive Coordinator.
|
|
|
Todd Wade
Clearly the Phins best lineman
last year.
The Phins made a pheeble attempt at
signing him so now he's playing
for the Houston Texans.
|
Damion
McIntosh
Dolphins call a news conference to announce the
signing of tackle Damion McIntosh, whom they project
to replace Todd Wade at right tackle.
They cancel the conference after McIntosh fails a
physical. McIntosh eventually signs with the Dolphins.
They'll use him next year.
|
A quick side not about our weakest
link. The Dolphins failed to sign their top free-agent
targets, tackle John Tait and guard Damien Woody.
Good job guys.......
|
|
Ricky
Williams
I was watching this reality TV show
the other day and the premise of the
show was to have folks live like folks
did back in the frontier days. The people
in the show had been doing it for a
couple of weeks and clearly were starving
their asses off. SO...they decided to
kill the only sheep they had for the
meat. They brought the sheep over and
with the tribe watching, they put a
club to its head and sent it to sheep
heaven.
When Ricky Williams quit the other
day I felt like that God Damn sheep.
I'm a pretty seasoned critic of my beloved
Miami Dolphins and I thought I've seen
everything with this team, especially
this Off-Season. But this one got to
me and it still has me a couple of days
later. I love the Miami Dolphins. I
really do. It is a part of my life that
is hard to explain to non-Phin loving
fans.
They think I'm nuts and yes that
includes my own wife of 11 years. What
I see before me is a team with terrifically
talented players. But what I also see
is a good man named Dave Wannstedt who
simply is not a good NFL head coach.
His personnel decisions and his good
guy attitude toward his players in my
mind, have been a huge detriment to
the success of this team. I think Ricky
looked around and realized just like
a whole bunch of Phin fans that the
team is no closer to the brass ring
than it was 4 seasons ago. So he quit!
........Although...Although.... I think
Ricky handled this in an incredibly
bad way.
Update: Now we
here Ricky saying that he want's to
play for Norv Turner's Raiders...which
confirms my suspicions up above....
He just doesn't want to play for Wanny.
|
|
|
David
Boston
The Phins best Free-Agent
aqusition this off-season (albeit with baggage)
Destroys knee trying to catch an overthrown
ball from Jay Fiedler
in a scrimmage game with the Houston Texans.
Out for the Season!
|
|
|
|
|
.jpg)
