the Miami Sports Dude

Are we witnessing another late-season winning streak that will bring us nothing but inflated expectations? You bet your sweet ass we are! Hey, I’m just as happy as the next guy when the Dolphins win. I am, first and foremost, a Dolphins fan.

But there’s something strangely irritating about the current resurgence this team is experiencing. Two very solid wins against two solid teams is something to celebrate. But when the wins are only 2 out of 3 that you have and when they come in the middle of the season when the playoffs seem like an almost impossible mountain to climb … well, excuse me for being the pessimist around here. Or is it realist?

The defense is good. Some might say Super Bowl good. But I think that’s way over-stated and typical over-hyped crap that seems to latch itself onto this team every time it experiences any kind of winning streak. The secondary still has issues, and while Jason Taylor has single-handedly won two games in a row, there are still plenty of issues on the defensive side. Not major issues, mind you. But just enough to make you concerned that they can get lit up by the better offenses in the league in the big games.

As for the offense – Mike Mularkey finally woke up and realized Ronnie Brown plays for us and has decided to give him the damn ball. But the quarterback situation is still in the air. That is to say, Joey Harrington is still our starting quarterback. And as well as he’s been playing and as much moxie that he’s shown, he’s still Joey Harrington. He has no arm strength, his accuracy is questionable and he still makes the bone-headed, drive killing, momentum changing gallactically bad decision more often than not. Mark my words, Dolphins-Fans-Who-Look-At-Everything-As-The-Glass-Half-Full-No-Matter-What: Joey Harrington will find a way to botch a winnable game in the coming weeks. Write it down.

What I’m saying is this: While I love it when my team wins and plays with heart, this little resurgence is, well, too little too late. Just as we saw last season when the Dolphins ran off a 6 game winning streak only to end the season sans playoffs and fool Sports Illustrated into thinking we were actually Super Bowl contenders, so another winning streak at this point would be completely meaningless. I’m all about the big picture. And I’m all about being realistic. Don’t confuse my realism with pessimism. This team is not good enough to make the playoffs, let alone whiff the Super Bowl.

This team still has some glaring holes to fill – particularly on the offensive side of the ball. We need a franchise quarterback to build around and Joey Harrington and Daunte Culpepper are not it. We need a better offensive line and we need youth and speed on the defense.

The win was great and I celebrate with all my fellow Dolphins fans.

But I’m also looking at the big picture here. At best, the Dolphins do the impossible and run the table and eek out a 10-6 record and challenge for the AFC Wild Card. At worst, they lose one more game and that’s it for the season, meanwhile they blow their shot at drafting a stud QB in the NFL Draft next season.

I know there are a lot of folks who agree with me. There are also a lot of folks who disagree with me. That's cool.

All I can say to those who disagree – look at our recent history. This team has been nothing but middle-of-the-road every regular season and every off-season have failed to fill the void left by Dan Marino who, incidentally, was the last quarterback we drafted in the first round.

Too little too late? Meaningless? I guess we'll see. I hope I'm wrong. But history shows otherwise.

We'll see...

GO FINS!

Labels: Miami Dolphins