Dolphins' road gets rocky in 2009 (no, I'm not bitter)

[WilliamPitt]

Dolphins' road gets rocky in 2009
Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Graham

For Dolfans, this item will be as pleasurable as wet socks ... or maybe chewing on tin foil.

Yes, I know your amazing team is on its way to the playoffs. Rookie head coach Tony Sparano won 11 games and the AFC East championship. Sounds like a great foundation year, the type of turnaround campaign that leads folks to believe happy days are ahead for a long, long time.

But let me remind everyone Eric Mangini won 10 games in his first season, too. Romeo Crennel won 10 games last year. Both of them were fired on Monday. Both of them also are former Bill Parcells assistants. I'm not saying there's a trend developing, but Monday served as a valuable reminder: Success is contained by the calendar. Too many circumstances change from season to season. Injuries, free agency, drafts and coaching changes play a role.

So does the schedule. The AFC East had an easy schedule in 2008. It played the AFC West and NFC West, divisions that produced one winning record -- not each, but combined. Western divisions had an aggregate 45-83 record, a .352 winning percentage. In 2009, the AFC East will meet the AFC South and NFC South. That's four playoff teams. Nobody in the NFC South had a losing record. On top of that, finishing atop the AFC East means the Dolphins must face every first-place AFC team. So they'll also draw the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers.

More: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afceast/0-4-667/Dolphins--road-gets-rocky-in-2009.html

[Angleae]

1. AFC & NFC South, you are so screwed.

Tennessee, Indianapolis, Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa. Jacksonville is the worst of the 8. But then again, look at the bright side, New England, New York, and Buffalo have the same schedule and all you have to do is beat them.

[fishnfla]

2. Hey Pitt how is Brady's knee?

can he even walk down the aisle?

[trumad]

3. Bring em...

Keep in mind that we are only in our first year of a rebuild.... another words, we're going to be a lot better than this season. If I was the teams facing Miami--- I'd be worried.

[nolabels]

4. Keep in mind other teams like the Lions and Raiders have in rebuild mold for over five years

In rebuild mode is just an excuse for being loser's :shrug:

[trumad]

6. Keep in mind that those teams do not have Bill Parcells....

and our rebuild in it's first year put us at 11-5 and in the playoffs.... You would have had to live through the Dave Wannstedt years to truly understand that the Phins are in a rebuild mode.

[nolabels]

8. As a once proud Raider fan i have been in hog heaven this week

Silver&Black knocked out Chucky from the playoffs and they by luck even won five games this year(mostly in their division). The Bolts owner confirmed his brain is going bye bye (dementia) and the Donkies fired Shan-a-rat. One of the few teams with maybe a worse record here or there, the Chefs are cleaning house from the top down. We Raiders may be dysfunctional but at least the rest of the division is following our lead :shrug:

[Angleae]

9. Problem is, we can't get rid of the source of our dysfunction.

[nolabels]

10. Our only hope is that we can outlive him

The bad news is of his family history, a lot of them live to their late nineties or even over a hundred :argh:

[Angleae]

16. Outlive him? Are you sure he isn't undead?

Just look at him. He even looks like a zombie.

[WilliamPitt]

5. "I'd be worried"

I am.

[Yavin4]

7. Brady Will Be Back, You Have No Worries

Although, if I had 6 months of non-stop sex with this:





I might reconsider playing football again.

[WilliamPitt]

13. He'll be back, but he might be wearing Bledsoe's uniform.

If you get me.

P.S. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Thank you for that. :)

[madinmaryland]

17. Well, since Bonds will be playing for you next year...

:rofl:

[Forkboy]

11. I see no reason why they can't be the team to beat in the AFC East next year.

I'm not Parcells biggest fan, but the guy just simply knows his shit. We'll see, sometimes there's that second year letdown, but I don't see that happening here. Win or lose this weekend the Dolphins will be a confident bunch next year, a lot like the Bruins were after their 7th game loss to Montreal last year. And now look at them...atop the NHL. :woohoo:

[Awsi Dooger]

12. Better personnel, worse record in '09

That's virtually a given. It's been predictable for weeks, once Miami started winning many more games in '08 than the talent level warranted.

The NFL is a classic bounce league. Demonstrated by this basic fact: Any team that wins or loses 3 more games than the previous season has roughly a 65% likelihood of recoiling the following year, moving toward the previous win total, if not beyond it. It's an incredibly handy tool for wagering on those season win over/unders. Sharp guys in Nevada have quietly used it for decades.

The media loves to go overboard and project the most recent trend to continue, which is base ignorance. Example: the '06 Dolphins picked by some to reach the Super Bowl, a season after Saban managed 9-7 in his first year after Wannstedt's horrid '04, in which he quit in mid season. Every statistical and trend-oriented analysis of the '06 Dolphins screamed they would plummet in '06, but I was savaged on Dolphin message boards for pointing that out, amidst hoopla of 12-4 predictions.

Obviously the current regime is exponentially more reliable and the draft choices/free agent pickups figure to be astute, but Miami most likely will flirt with .500 next season. This year was an incredible feast of a favorable schedule, including teams declining almost on cue when ready to face Miami, allowing mediocre efforts to produce narrow victories. Late in the season Miami was playing very impressively with new wrinkles to the Wildcat and sustained intensity on defense, but I can't ignore the last quality team they faced, not reeling at the time, was the New England home debacle.

It's one of the reasons I rooted so hard for Miami last weekend against the Jets. Any extra win or playoff berth this year is a wonderful bonus, because the next playoff contending year most likely will be 2010 or later.

[soleft]

14. Unlike the Patriots, they beat the Chargers

[Forkboy]

15. And you don't get rings for regular season wins.

:)

[soleft]

18. But if you lose to the Chargers and lose the tie breaker you don't get a shot at a ring

[IndianaJones]

19. easy to compensate....start taping signals. nt.