Jaylen Waddle celebrates his touchdown catch in the Miami Dolphins' win over the Carolina Panthers.

Pressure Point: Dolphins, Tagovailoa have historic turnaround within reach

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The never-enough-crowd that is relentlessly sifting through Tua Tagovailoa’s 84-percent completion rate over the past two weeks for any nit to pick with the second-year quarterback is absolutely missing the point of what is transpiring with the Miami Dolphins.

Something remarkable is taking shape in their rise from a 1-7 half-season debacle in a potentially historic turnaround, now at four consecutive wins and more within reach.

After Sunday’s 33-10 dismantling of the Carolina Panthers, it is unquestionably realistic that the Dolphins could run through the next four middling opponents — Giants, Saints, Jets, Titans (sans Derrick Henry) — to set up a season-ending showdown with the Patriots.

No NFL team has made the playoffs after a 1-7 start. In 2015, the Chiefs were 1-5 and won 10 in a row to grab a wild-card spot.

Playoff format favorable

Considering there are three wild cards in each conference this season, there could be a lot at stake in that Jan. 9 encounter at Hard Rock Stadium if the Dolphins can get there at 9-7.

Too bad there are so many kill joys who dwell on whatever they wish Tagovailoa was — specifically Justin Herbert — rather than recognizing what he is becoming, which is looking better each week.

They brush off his performance against the Panthers — 27-of-31 (87.1 percent) for 230 yards and a passer rating of 108.5 — because most of the throws were short shots underneath the coverage. Some of the critics think passer rating is a bogus stat, so Tua gets no credit for that.

They can’t point to an ill-served interception this week, because Tua didn’t throw any.

Tau to Waddle winning combo

He did throw for a touchdown, and in my view it was his most impressive throw Sunday, an absolute dart into a tight spot to Jaylen Waddle for a 9-yard touchdown on third down to put Miami ahead to stay.

The Panthers aren’t a very good team, but they did come into Sunday with the top-rated passing defense in the league.

Most significant is the connection Tagovailoa is building with Waddle, who has 77 catches and is on pace for 109, which would be an NFL rookie record. While his season average is just under 10 yards per reception, Waddle averaged 15.2 yards against Carolina with nine catches for 137 yards.

Waddle said he’s been following the example of his former Alabama teammate.

“I think Tua grew as a player. I’m trying to grow as a player,” Waddle said. “Just learning what he do and his new knowledge and me going out there every week and learning something new and just putting it all together.”

Amazing stat: Since Tua returned from his rib injury in Week 6, Waddle has 50 receptions, most in the league during that span and second most in receiving yards with 528.

Dolphins still can’t run

Look, a lot of the Dolphins’ passing game is compensating for a lack of an effective running game. They averaged only 2.8 yards a carry Sunday, though newcomer Phillip Lindsay looked like a useful pickup in his first Dolphins test with 42 yards on 12 carries.

If your line can’t open holes and your running backs are limited, short passes are a logical option. Still, you need a quarterback to distribute the ball, like a good point guard, to a variety of receivers on time in space to keep moving the chains.

In three games since returning from his finger injury, Tagovailoa has done that with surgical efficiency. Beginning with the relief effort in the win over the Ravens, he is 62 of 77 (81 percent) for 661 yards, with three touchdowns and that one crappy interception against the Jets.

The key takeaway from those three games is the combination of growth Tua has shown and the reemergence of the Miami defense has yielded three wins by a combined margin of 42 points.

But let’s knock him because he didn’t hit Mack Hollins in stride on that long pass against the Jets that, oh by the way, did result in a 65-yard touchdown. And never mind that he’s operating without starting wide receivers DeVante Parker and Will Fuller.

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Tua thriving despite haters

Can’t recall a less objectionable player who has been as maligned as Tua, especially considering he wasn’t terrible even as he was going through growing pains at the toughest position in the most demanding sport.

Nonetheless, the hate continues to flow because, well, the Dolphins could have had Justin Herbert, who has the big arm and must certainly walk on water.

The possibility was that Herbert and Tagovailoa were both going to be very good NFL quarterbacks. We’re starting to see it now with Tua.

To me, the bigger talking point of this strange Dolphins season should be: Where was the defense we’re seeing the past few weeks during the 1-7 start?

This is the sort of freewheeling Flores defense that had a lot to do with the 2020 team going 10-6. That was MIA through the first half of the season.

On Sunday, they had five sacks, three interceptions and drove Cam Newton to the bench.

Rookies bolster Dolphins defense

So what changed? Maybe in part the speech coach Brian Flores gave after the seventh consecutive loss about believing in his players lit a fire. More tangible is the impact of rookies Jaelan Phillips, who had three sacks against Carolina, and safety Jevon Holland, who had an interception.

Stuff happens in football, and it rarely follows a predictable course. The Dolphins opened with a win at New England that probably wouldn’t have gone their way without the late takeaway by Xavien Howard. Subsequently, Miami lost in overtime to the Raiders and on last-second field goals to the Jaguars and Falcons. So they weren’t getting blown out in many of the losses.

Teams evolve over the course of a season, upward or down. Lately it appears these Dolphins may be closer to the team they were expected to be. And Tua may turn out to be a competent, winning NFL quarterback after all.

The social media age has illuminated that people hate to wait for anything. This Dolphins team may just be the lesson that sometimes the wait is worth it.

Craig Davis has covered South Florida sports and teams, including the Dolphins, for four decades. Follow him on Twitter @CraigDavisRuns

Road to the Orange Bowl: The College Football Rankings finally get interesting

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It took a while but the College Football Playoff committee finally put Cincinnati among the final four in their latest rankings.

All it took was Oregon losing big to Utah and falling out of the top ten to make that happen. The Bearcats rode their reputation built last year and their victory over No. 6 Notre Dame this year the No. 2 spot in the AP poll prior to the committee beginning their official ranking and knocking them and the rest of the American Athletic Conference down a peg.

The Bearcats have two more games against East Carolina and the inevitable matchup with Houston for the AAC title. At this point for Cincinnati, it’s a matter of, “don’t mess this up and you’re in.”

Both Cincinnati and Houston are undefeated in conference play and will be joining the Big 12 next year. The recent rankings should worry Cincinnati about the future, considering that the Bearcats are joining a conference that has been deemed irrelevant by the committee despite three teams in the top 10 and the prospect of back-to-back Bedlam deciding the conference title.

Cincinnati potentially making the playoffs is a long time coming. Since the turn of the 21st century, all of those sympathetic of the Group of Five conferences wanted was a fair opportunity. If there was a team like Boise State in the mid to late 2000’s, Cincinnati in 2009 or even Central Florida (another future Big 12 member) in 2017 that have been dominate and perfect entering bowl season, they deserve a chance to prove themselves and play for the ultimate prize.

However, the college football system, which has long been separated from the NCAA structure, starts every season automatically disqualifying half of the country. From the BCS computers to the roundtable of Stugotz that make up the CFP committee, it seemed like there was always this glass ceiling for those teams.

Had UCF been given a chance to play in the playoff in 2018 instead of an Alabama team that didn’t even play for the SEC title, maybe the Knights wouldn’t felt the need to rebel and thumb their nose at the dismissing system and declare themselves national champions by going undefeated and beating the team that beat Alabama.

Intriguing matchups

The matchups this week and next week are as interesting as ever. Finally, Ohio State vs. Michigan with high stakes. Loser loses out of a chance at the Big Ten title game and the playoff. The Iron Bowl at Auburn, which usually spells trouble for an Alabama team that can’t afford another loss. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State face off in Bedlam with Big 12 title implications and this time, the Cowboys are the higher ranked team.

And of course, Miami with a chance to finish the season with a winning conference record when the Hurricanes face a Duke team that is winless in the ACC.

And don’t forget Florida Atlantic, losers of three straight, battling Middle Tennessee with bowl eligibility on the line. The last time the Owls didn’t make a bowl game was in 2018, when they were a three-point loss against Charlotte away from accomplishing the goal.

And most importantly, FIU goes to Southern Miss with one more shot at a C-USA win and a chance to send Butch Davis off right.

Tua Tagovailoa celebrates after the Miami Dolphins defeated the New York Jets 24-17.

Pressure Point: Wins can’t mask limitations of Dolphins offense

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If the Miami Dolphins’ offense was dealt in a card game and I could keep or discard any of the cards, I’d hold on to three.

That would be Jaylen Waddle, Mike Gesicki and Tua Tagovailoa. I’d take my chances on being able to draw better replacements for the rest.

Three consecutive wins, including 24-17 over the lowly (2-8) New York Jets on Sunday, didn’t change what has been evident all season about the limitations of Miami’s offense.

Sure, give the o-line credit for not allowing a sack against the Jets. And for opening some holes on the clock-killing drive in the final minutes.

Yes, a team averaging a league-worst 73.6 yards a game rushing coming into Sunday did net 115 yards (albeit on 3.5 yards a carry).

It doesn’t impress me much coming against a defense that was allowing 32.9 points a game, by far the worst in the league.

The win did keep alive the pipe dream that the Dolphins can somehow turn a 1-7 start to playoff potential. That .500 is a realistic possibility in the next few weeks is more a reflection of the next three weaklings on the schedule than any major strides made by the offense.

The defense has gotten its act together lately. The offense remains highly flawed, and that was on display again Sunday.

Long TD a rarity

The lack of any semblance of a power running game is a major handicap. Consequently, in short-yardage situations the Dolphins resort to trickery and the tedious Wildcat, which rarely delivers.

The passing game is almost exclusively underneath the coverage because the line can’t be counted on to hold off the rush to allow receivers to get deeper.

The exception was when Tagovailoa dodged pressure and took advantage of a Jets busted coverage for a mighty heave to Mack Hollins. The 65-yard touchdown pass was the longest of Tua’s career.

A TV camera captured the surprise on the face of co-offensive coordinator George Godsey in the press box.

Aside from that play, the Dolphins averaged 8 yards on their other 26 completions.

Keep in mind, the Jets started four rookies in the secondary. Last week Buffalo’s Josh Allen went deep on them all day in a 45-17 romp, completing 6 of 8 throws longer than 20 yards. The Bills had two receivers with more than 100 yards and five averaged more than 10 yards a catch.

On Sunday, Miami’s leading receiver Waddle (who has 4.2 speed) had eight catches but only 65 net yards. The Jets’ Elijah Moore had eight receptions for 141 yards.

Tua has ups, downs

The Dolphins are surviving on the short-passing game and they were very efficient with it Sunday.

Tagovailoa followed up his good work in the win over the Ravens by completing 27 of 33 (82 percent) for 273 yards, two touchdowns with one interception and a 108.7 rating.

Those numbers merit more respect than Tua will receive for his performance.

It was another positive step for the second-year quarterback, but it won’t quiet his critics and win over his detractors.

One reason is that Tua’s misplays tend to be glaring. Latest example, after directing a masterful scripted opening touchdown drive, he made a cringe-worthy overthrow for an interception that led to a Jets touchdown.

The bigger reason is that a team so long in quest of a franchise quarterback so badly wanted a special talent. Tua hasn’t shown to possess that skill level in comparison to the elite quarterbacks in the league.

Impressive in second half

Aside from the pick, Tua was very good at what he does well, especially in the second half when he threw both touchdown passes and led Miami to 17 points.

On the decisive touchdown drive, he was 8 for 8 for 68 yards, capped by a pinpoint 5-yard TD toss to Myles Gaskin while under pressure on third-and-goal.

His best throw of the day was the earlier third-and-7 conversion to Waddle just beyond the sticks to keep that drive alive.

Later, Tagovailoa made the sort of play that drives his critics nuts, holding the ball too long for a sack that would have taken the Dolphins out of field goal range. A questionable defensive holding call down field on the play bailed him out and Dolphins went on to get the field goal to seal the win.

Scrutiny of Tua will continue, most notably by Dolphins officials who have six more games to decide whether to keep their trust in him or seek an alternative in the offseason, be it controversial Deshaun Watson or someone else.

A surprising ray of playoff hope

The best Tua can do is keep getting the most out of a limited offense and chalking up Dubs in playoff pursuit.

Strange as it feels to say that after the dreadful start, there isn’t an unwinnable game the rest of the way, including the Patriots in the finale at home.

Four of the remaining games are a Hard Rock Stadium. The next four opponents — Panthers, Giants, Jets (again) and Saints — are a combined 15-25.
All they have to do is keep bucking long odds behind an offense of Tua, Waddle, Gesicki and a fistful of potential discards.

Craig Davis has covered South Florida sports and teams, including the Dolphins, for four decades. Follow him on Twitter @CraigDavisRuns

 

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Miami Hurricanes

Miami Hurricanes Free to Dream As Last Vestiges of Lethargy Wash Away

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Blake James walked off the field in Tallahassee, the victim of his own hubris, the physical manifestation of the University of Miami’s collective lack of ambition.

The Hurricanes’ original sin was the overreaction to the Nevin Shapiro scandal. That reporting and the subsequent uninformed, hysterical media coverage resulted in a series of panicky, ill-advised moves that set the tone for a decade of futility.

The program had gone through several years of struggle at that time (following the 2010 season), so it did not mark the point where the school stopped winning.

What the scandal did, instead, was of far greater consequence, setting in course a series of events that still haunt this school today.

That moment was the moment when Miami stopped believing in the Dream of Miami. 

This was a program that was built on hubris, bravado, and unwavering belief in self combined with talent and an unquenchable thirst for excellence.

In 2010, the Miami Hurricanes went 7-5, losing the final game to South Florida in overtime. Randy Shannon was dismissed. 7-5 is fine at some schools, but this is Miami, and at Miami you win championships.

That offseason, the Shapiro Scandal happened.

In 2011, Miami finished 6-6. In the final game of the season, as the Hurricanes were getting throttled at home by a (at the time 3-8) 4-8 Boston College team, they announced a contract extension for Al Golden, adding on to an existing contract that cumulatively kept him employed until February 2021.

In one year, the standard went from 7-5 being fireable to 6-6 being extension worthy. From there, it was a downward slope into the abyss.

That was the shift, away from a relentless pursuit of winning, and toward status quo maintenance.

How does someone unqualified become Athletic Director?

How did the person in charge of ticket sales all of a sudden find himself running the Athletic Department?

Simple. By 2013, the Goldenization of Miami Athletics was complete. The focus had shifted from winning to excuse making, from championship results to mediocrity.

Remember the cloud? What exactly was that again? The school was so high on their own supply that when Miami was essentially cleared of wrongdoing with only minor penalties as a result of the Shapiro scandal, Golden hilariously claimed, with full support of the administration, that the week in which they were cleared was so challenging that they almost lost to a poor Wake Forest team.

Enter Blake James.

After Shawn Eichorst left for Nebraska, James was chosen to be Interim Athletic Director, satisfying the main criteria of being the first person Donna Shalala saw when she walked into the Hecht Athletic Center. And it was that decision that would lead to nearly a decade of half-baked, cynical, expenditure cutting moves that saw Miami languish as one of the worst athletic programs in the ACC. 

Blake James was not a likely choice to lead an athletic department, but he was a convenient vehicle for what Miami’s administrators new priorities were. Manny Diaz famously started calling the program “The New Miami” but in reality “The New Miami” started with the hiring of Blake James.

His hiring was the shift away from an athletic department and towards a marketing scheme, intent on convincing the public at-large that winning was priority one while behind-the-scenes the dedication was to cost control. The decision was made that on balance, rather than the risk spending big and perhaps still not winning big, it was preferable to run things on the cheap, knowing that doing so would all but eliminate the possibility of winning.  

James was the willing face of this strategy, the alleged great fundraiser who never seemed to have the ability or will to spend the money he was purportedly so brilliant at raising. He was so committed to perpetuating this status quo fraud on the South Florida community that he tried to keep Al Golden employed after Clemson’s 58-0 devastation of Golden’s Hurricanes, only to be forced to backtrack 24 hours later. That was a bridge too far. Not the idea that he would keep Al Golden forever, which was his desire. But he couldn’t sell that concept publicly and keep the delusion going, so Golden went.

 

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The Final, Inescapable Blunder

We can point to the absurdity of the Manny Diaz hire as the final, massive blunder that eventually lead to Blake James’ downfall, but ironically, it was the one thing he “did” right that set those wheels in motion.

Georgia’s firing of Mark Richt meant there was a well-qualified, alum of the school that was willing to take the job. And with someone like Richt at the helm, the administration’s lack of ambition became a footnote. 

When Miami needed money for the Indoor Practice Facility, Richt donated a million dollars from his own salary. He did not need the money having made so much at Georgia. And on the field, in 3 seasons, he had the Canes only 10-win season since 2003 and their only bowl win since 2006. While his final season wasn’t the best, he laid a foundation upon which a competent coach would have expanded the program.

And when Richt retired at the end of the 2018 season, he gave his Alma Mater one last gift. He did not take the money he was contractually entitled to.

So here was Blake James, with a bankroll, and a program that was overall healthy. He could have hired anyone. So what does someone who is in a station well above his ability, handed an opportunity that should never have come his way, do when presented with this gift?

He pays it forward, of course. Without conducting a head coaching search, James ran to Manny Diaz, and in 6 hours, Diaz was Miami’s head coach, and along with James, cut a fitting pair of unqualified, inexplicably hired people doubling down on Miami’s plan to maintain their low cost, mediocre approach. 

It’s hard to know why James hired Diaz.

Was it because he is that poor an evaluator of coaches that he didn’t realize Diaz did not have the demeanor, experience, or disposition to take on the monumental task of building upon Richt’s Foundation?

Was it because he was cheaper than a more qualified coach would have been?

Was it because he knew Diaz was someone that would not rock the boat?

Surely it wasn’t because Diaz laid out a firm, convincing vision for how he planned to return the program to a nationally competitive level, since the hiring process was so rushed that there was no time for that.

Whatever the reason, it was the final act of incompetence for Blake James. Sometimes, occasionally, unqualified people can sustain and even thrive by employing inside-the-box thinking. Best practices and standards developed over time by trailblazers can be borrowed by followers, much like the difference between a chef and a cook, with the chef inventing the recipe, and innovating, and the cook following the recipe. 

The market had spoken, the box so to speak. Manny Diaz’s level was Temple. Had James stayed inside-the-box and just hired any coach that a major program would have hired, he would probably still be employed despite his shortcoming.

But small thinking leads to small decisions, and he zigged when everyone else would have zagged, choosing to pay a buyout to bring back Miami’s unqualified, former defensive coordinator. Thinking outside the box is for qualified people, and James needed the box. 

At that point, the clock was ticking because in addition to a disastrous hire, Richt had raised the bar. There was no longer any patience for prolonged mediocrity.

 

The Dam Bursts

Finally, after years of intentional indifference, the house of cards collapsed this week.

A loss to the worst Florida State team anyone can remember was the symbolic end, but the die had been cast long before that. This was an athletic program, far beyond football, that was not only struggling but was aimless.

Miami’s athletics had no soul. It was just there, existing, with no goals, no ambition. A car stuck in neutral, trying to convince us that they were in 6th gear, one time actually using the slogan “Full Speed Ahead.”

And as the life was slowly squeezed out of Hecht, it was suicide, not murder. It wasn’t a scandal, it wasn’t the pandemic, it wasn’t external forces plaguing the school, it was an intentional strategy designed to spend as little money as possible to make the mendacious slogans viable, to traffic in hope. 

In Miami, we’re familiar with scams, and this one finally came to end on Monday.

Jimmy Johnson once said, “Treat a person as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a person as if he were where he could be and should be, and he will become what he could be and should be.”

After a decade of small-time thinking, Miami is finally choosing to break status quo, to not settle for what is, but to focus on what could and should be. 

And for a dejected, dormant, yet still prideful community, it was a change a long time coming.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports and generally covers the Miami Hurricanes. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

With Butch Davis departing, is it time for FIU to drop football?

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It’s one thing for a football coach to move on from a program that has fallen off with little sign of turning around.

It’s another thing to learn the extent of how much of a failing program it really is.

Butch Davis told Brett McMurphy of The Action Network that he will be out as FIU coach once his contract expires on Dec. 15. He also went scorched earth on just how little support the school gave the program throughout his tenure, even to the point of “sabotage.”

The shoulder pads and uniforms were a decade old. The coaching staff was not allowed to go on the road recruiting the past two years because of financial reasons and the COVID-19 pandemic. The school even posted the coaching job opening online five games into the season.

“This year has been a nightmare,” Davis told The Action Network. “You can imagine the players’ reaction when a head coach’s job was posted online. The administration has been sabotaging the program. Their decision to post the job has resulted in a major negative impact on the football program and our ability to recruit and retain players.”

Davis is as good as it gets for FIU, a school forever in the shadow of the University of Miami. When he arrived in 2017 to replace Ron Turner, the Panthers immediately started winning. FIU went to three straight bowl games for the first time in school history and even defeated the Hurricanes at the site of the old Orange Bowl in 2019.

The only other coach to succeed in FIU’s 20-year history is Mario Cristobal, who oversaw the Panthers’ only conference championship in 2010. With Davis instantly bringing success to the program but leaving after a disastrous season that saw 21 of 85 scholarship players either suffer season-ending injuries or leave the team for various reasons, is there a reason for the program to keep going any further?

This is nothing like Sports Illustrated suggesting the Miami Hurricanes shut down football for moral reasons or other nonsense of that nature. Questioning whether or not FIU football should close up shop is about a lack of resources, a lack of progress and quite possibly a lack of conference.

“The issues that we have, there’s no fix for,” Davis said during his postgame press conference following the Old Dominion loss in Nov. 6, “we’re playing 15-18 kids who shouldn’t even be suiting up.”

No quite similar to the Idaho situation

The Idaho Vandals joined the FBS in 1996 and then left after the 2017 season. Throughout their 20-year tenure in the highest level of college football, the best the Vandals could do was three bowl games, one for each decade, all of which were played in Boise. The Vandals were at least victorious in each bowl game in high scoring fashion.

The Vandals returned to the FCS to join the rest of their sports in the Big Sky Conference for lower costs and, quite frankly, similar reachable rewards. Idaho would never reach the College Football Playoff, but the FCS Playoffs are attainable with a good team.

Unlike Idaho, FIU doesn’t have a FCS conference to run back to. The Panthers started as an independent in the FCS ranks but only with the intention of transitioning to the FBS.

The Vandals play both their football and basketball games at the uniquely quirky Kibbie Dome, which seats 16,000.

FIU plays in a stadium that currently holds over 20,000 and has only seen two games in which attendance numbers reached that high, both during the 2011 season. The most recent game of high attendance came in 2016, where 18,524 came to see UCF beat FIU 53-14. The only home game Davis coached with a sellout crowd was in 2019 against Miami in LoanDepot Park, and it was mostly Miami fans.

Conference issues

When Idaho was in the FBS, two of three conferences the Vandals once called home dropped football. The Big West Conference discontinued football following the 2000 season and the WAC doing so in 2012 once everyone but Idaho and New Mexico State left the conference.

Conference-USA, FIU’s current conference, is in danger of a similar fate. In the recent realignment period, the C-USA went from 14 members to just five at one point. Nine schools, including FIU’s arch rival Florida Atlantic, have left for either the American Athletic Conference or the Sun Belt Conference.

The C-USA added independents New Mexico State and Liberty, as well as FCS powerhouses Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State to go with FIU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, UTEP and Western Kentucky and be over the required number (8) for a conference to remain linked to College Football Playoff money distribution. Even that number isn’t completely stable, as Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky once flirted with the chance at joining the MAC.

That alignment leaves FIU exclusively traveling west to different time zones to play conference opponents in the midwest and southwest. If the coaching staff had to save money by not recruiting on the road, how much of an expenditure will it be for regularly long travel?

Losing the South Florida arms race

When FIU embarked on its football journey, the Panthers weren’t going at it alone. Howard Schnellenberger started FAU’s program from the ground up in 2001 and coached the Owls until 2011. By that time, the Owls went from playing at a park in Ft. Lauderdale to their own 30k-seat stadium, which opened in Schnellenberger’s final season.

Both FAU and FIU were rivals in the same conference but with the Owls moving up to the AAC and establishing a history of hiring multiple high-profile head coaches and playing in a bigger, bowl worthy stadium for a decade, the rivalry seems played out.

The Owls haven’t lost to the Panthers since 2016, when Bachelorette runner-up Tyler Cameron lined up at tight end. It is becoming abundantly clear that the two programs are no longer equals and FIU lost the arms race.

Is the juice worth the squeeze?

FIU beating Miami in 2019 is as good as it gets for the program, which has played in five bowl games only won twice, both against Toledo. The Panthers caught lightning in a bottle but with a new coach coming in with the task of starting from below ground zero, reaching that high again seems unlikely.

It seemed logical to start a football program at the turn of the 21st century in a region filled to the brim with talent. 20 years in, with hand-me-down equipment, mass departures, a new-look conference that resembles an island of misfits and not at all geographically ideal, and lack of support from both attendance and the administration, it may make more sense to cut the program and reward the soccer program with the stadium.

Deshaun Watson

Should the Miami Dolphins go all-in on Deshaun Watson?

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November 3rd, 2019. Your 1-7 Miami Dolphins were celebrating their first win of the season and Head Coach Brian Flores first victory as a Head Coach, a victory that felt as if it would never arrive after losing 7 straight to begin the season. There was a sense of hope that afternoon with Wideouts Preston Williams and DeVante Parker combining for 3 touchdowns skying over the Jets secondary all game, and a young but tenacious defense lead by Christian Wilkins, Nik Needham and Jerome Baker stifling the Jets offense all game. During this time, the majority of Dolphins fans already decided on which college QB they want the team to draft to lead them for the next decade, fiercely defending one of Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert or the recently emerging Joe Burrow. GM Chris Grier and his scouting department are neck deep in prospect film and draft notes, holding an impressive arsenal of draft assets that essentially guarantees them having the opportunity to draft any player they wish.

The future seems bright at this time.

 

November 2nd, 2021. Your 1-7 Miami Dolphins are in absolute shambles after losing 7 straight games in seemingly every way imaginable. We have seen missed critical field goals, complete defensive breakdowns and late game turnovers on offense, we gave the Jaguars their first victory in 20 games across the pond in London and at times have looked like a team will no direction, no identity. our once beloved front office tandem of Chris Grier and Brain Flores are seemingly on the hot seat after this abysmal start to the season and have handled the quarterback situation worse than anyone could imagine, having a promising but developing QB in Tua who has had to deal with multiple injuries, a revolving door of offensive coordinators (Co-Coordinators?) and an avalanche of trade rumors due to the organization having their eyes on sidelined Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. And to put the cherry on top, the dolphins traded away their 2022 1st round pick (currently slotted at #3 if the draft was today) when moving back up to #6 to acquire Jaylen Waddle.

The future seems bleak at this time.

 

This is certainly not how anyone envisioned this season unraveling. It had seemed as if, following the 10-6 season Miami enjoyed last year that we had begun our 180 degree turn to rebuild this team but instead we have done a complete 360, back to square one, and no clear solution in sight. The once promising pieces on this team such as Preston Williams, Austin Jackson, Salomon Kindley, Andrew Van Ginkel, even All-Pro Jason Sanders have all seeming regressed and don’t look to be the answers we thought them to be. The finger pointing has been getting worse after each lost between fans, with the blame falling on either Tua, the offensive line, the WRs, the defense, the coaching staff, the front office or even the owner, Steve Ross. Many want to sell the farm for Watson, even with his pending legal troubles hovering over him. Others want to move forward with what they have seen in Tua and build around his strengths (something Miami has failed to do 2 seasons in) with our remaining draft assets and caps space, some don’t want either, and most want Coach Flofes and GM Chris Grier gone regardless of who is under center. 

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In my humble opinion, I believe the best course of action as of November 2nd 2021, is to hold off on a Deshaun Watson trade until at least the offseason. There is no point in executing this trade right now for a multitude of reasons: the severe legal issues that are in limbo; this team not needing any more controversy this season; and sitting at 1-7 with neither Watson nor any other player on Earth able to lift you to the playoffs at this time.

Give Tua the remaining 9 games to grow as a QB, to see what you really have with him and to decide if he can be a top-10 QB in the NFL. I personally believe he can be. Keep your draft assets, even if we haven’t been great in using them, keep your cap space and attack this off-season with all your ammo to decide the fate of this franchise for the foreseeable future.  I am not saying this is the only best choice, nor the right choice, it’s just what a regular 22-year-old Dolphins fan believes to be the best course of action moving forward.

Tua Deserves Better Than the Miami Dolphins

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Tua Tagovailoa has given everything he can to the Miami Dolphins with nothing in return.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, the Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa were destined to unite.

Miami tore it all down to rebuild around their quarterback of the future.

Just to tear him and the franchise apart instead.

Against all odds, Tua has somehow managed to remain stoic in the face of unprecedented circumstances.

Yes, he was given the keys to the franchise as QB1 heading into this season.

The problem is, those keys belong to an organization that is stuck in reverse.

Fresh Perspective: Dolphins downfall is lack of veteran leadership

Rewind to the 2020 NFL draft when Miami sat flush with draft capital and was positioning themselves as an eventual contender.

They took Tagovailoa at pick 5 after a hip injury to end his college career caused his draft stock to slip.

One spot ahead of Justin Herbert, which is not the problem.

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That first round for Miami wasn’t over, with the 18th and 30th picks still in their war chest.

Then they did this.

At pick 18 they selected a true project in tackle Austin Jackson.

The tape doesn’t lie, Jackson has been a near disaster this season.

That being said, the rationale for taking Jackson was sound at the time.

All of the premier tackles were off the board, and Jackson’s physical tools were an intriguing foundation to build on.

However, the Dolphins decided to double-down on project players and selected CB Noah Igbinoghene with the 30th pick.

While the following players were still on the board:

Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Tee Higgins

Michael Pittman Jr.

But wait, there’s more!

Miami also had pick 39 which they used to select G Robert Hunt.

Two picks before Jonathan Taylor went off the board, and 12 picks before CB Trevon Diggs who is a superstar in the making.

The Dolphins passed on multiple upper echelon running backs in favor of Miles Gaskin, who is good but will never be great.

And reached for the physically gifted yet inconsistent Igbinoghene, instead of taking Diggs later.

These actions show a lack of identity and cohesiveness within the power structure that has set Tua and the Dolphins on a course to failure.

So what do the Dolphins do to fix it?

Instead of giving their supposed franchise quarterback a serviceable offensive line and running game, they try to plug holes with duct tape and prayers.

Yes they added his college teammate Jaylen Waddle this year – and then proceed to misuse him on a weekly basis.

While putting Tua’s health at risk week after week behind an offensive line that is simply not starting caliber NFL talent.

Then the Dolphins appear to be continuing with the obsession over a quarterback with disturbing off-the-field allegations hanging over him.

Why?

Why add the distraction when your locker room is already fracturing and the team itself is a dysfunctional mess?

Why not give your young quarterback – who has not played poorly by the way, some time to grow into the face of the franchise?

Why not add some weapons to the running back room and find some receivers that can actually stay on the field week-to-week?

The real question instead should be this.

Why should we continue to care about this team that does not care about itself?

 

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Road to the Orange Bowl: Cincinnati needs to make it to the CFP

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Oooooh the rich, creamy, delicious irony that the Central Florida Golden Knights — known for bucking the establishment by naming themselves national champions after beating the team who beat the team that won the national championship game — lost to the team with the best chance of finally representing the Group of 5 in the college football playoff.

Cincinnati rose to No. 2 after dominating UCF 56-21 this past week. Running back Jerome Ford looked like a Heisman candidate after rushing for 189 yards and four touchdowns, one of which went for 79 yards. The Bearcats scored 35 unanswered points in the first half and by the time the game was finally over, Cincy would have amassed 336 rushing yards. 

Both UCF and Cincinnati will join the ranks of the Power Five next season once they ditch the American Athletic Conference for the Big 12 but for now, a chance at history is there for the taking. 

Half of the conferences have been oppressed by the system and disqualified from competing for a national title well before the first kickoff of the season. Any team from the WAC, C-USA, MAC, Sun Belt, Mountain West and AAC with a perfect record were roundly dismissed by the gatekeepers of the crystal ball and golden scepter. The strength of schedule were instant argument enders no mater how high the margin of victory was. 

Even Cincinnati, at a time when it was considered members of a power conference, were left out in 2009 despite a perfect record. Had Texas lost to Nebraska in the Big 12 title game that year, or there were four playoff spots like there is now, would the Bearcats been given a fair shake? Hopefully we will find out this year. 

Cincinnati’s path to the playoff was two years in the making. The Bearcats had to establish their credibility last season by going 9-0 and coming close against Georgia in the Peach Bowl. Beating Notre Dame in a landslide this year backs up their best attempt to dominate their conference and remain in the top 4. 

Boise State crawled for a decade so that UCF could power walk so that Cincinnati could sprint towards being the first Group of 5 program with a legitimate chance at the national championship.

The path for the Bearcats seems clear with No. 21 SMU being the only team left on the schedule with a winning record. 

Realignment over the years

It’s amazing to look back and see how far college football has come in the last 18 years. In 2003, Boise State was trying to break through the glass ceiling in the WAC, which had SMU and Tulsa at the time. The ACC had 9 teams and five future members were in the Big East with Rutgers, West Virginia and Temple. The Miami Hurricanes could dominate the Big East but not the ACC Coastal? Cincinnati was in the C-USA with a lot of members of the AAC including Louisville and TCU. Meanwhile UCF, for some unknown reason, was in the MAC. New Mexico State and Idaho were in the Sun Belt before and after being in the WAC. Those were funny times. 

Miami and Virginia Tech joined the ACC in 2004. Boston College followed in 2005, opening the door for Cincinnati, Louisville, UConn and South Florida to join the Big East. FIU and FAU began as FBS programs, joining the Sun Belt. TCU joined the Mountain West in 2006 as the WAC and C-USA took familiar form.

2011-2013 saw a major shift in the landscape. You look up and the Pac-10 has 12 teams now, the Big 12 no longer has 12 teams, the Mountain West all but completely absorb the WAC the same way the ACC absorbed the Big East. The C-USA of the previous decade spawned the AAC that’s here today. What’s left of the C-USA took a handful of Sun Belt teams while that conference replenished itself with eventual newcomers. 

The same thing will happen in the near future. The SEC will be an even bigger monster with the edition of Texas and Oklahoma. The Big 12 will finally have 12 teams again with the addition of Cincinnati, UCF, BYU and Houston. Ironically, the two west coast conferences, the Pac-12 and Mountain West, have remained the most consistent. 

By the time this new shift of college football realignment is done, the playoff will have no choice but to expand.

Dolphins

Fresh Perspective: Dolphins downfall is lack of veteran leadership

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The Miami Dolphins are officially lower than they’ve ever been during the Brian Flores era. In 2019, it was excusable because the entire point of that season was to strip the roster down and start over from scratch. Miami went 5-11, and somehow should have been worse than that. However, the young players on the team overachieved behind Flores’s coaching, and there was hope for the future.

In 2020, the Dolphins signed a lot of expensive free agents, including veteran linebacker Kyle Van Noy, guard Ereck Flowers, and cornerback Byron Jones. Miami’s defense was a force to be reckoned with that season, and they went 10-6 with nowhere to go but up.

Or so everyone thought.

Now here they are in 2021. The expectations were through the roof. The Dolphins were supposed to compete for the playoffs this season. Right now, they are essentially the worst team in the NFL, losing to the formerly winless Jacksonville Jaguars in London.

True, the Detroit Lions are still winless as of the time of this story, but based on the overall performance and decision making, there’s no question. Miami is the worst, and no one inside the organization has any answers for why.

“It starts with me.” Coach Flores said after the game. “I’m not doing a good enough job getting these guys ready to play. Not playing consistently enough, we’re not coaching well enough. We’re not playing well enough, we’re just not playing consistently enough. I mean, it’s in spurts. We had a couple – some positive plays, consistent ball in the first half, even a little bit in the second half. But we’re just not putting it together, and that starts with me.”

That’s the sentiment Flores has given for the past few weeks. It starts with him. Execution is bad. They’ll watch the tape and evaluate. And yet, every week, they promise to do better and they don’t. One has to wonder why that is. Why are the Miami Dolphins incapable of putting it all together when it counts? What has changed from last season to this one?

One easy answer? Veteran leadership.

 

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Experience Matters

Examining the Dolphins roster reveals a very telling reality. Miami only has three players in their 30s. Those players are 34-year old DB Jason McCourty – a free agent signing from New England, 32-year old DT John Jenkins – who is in his second stint with the Dolphins, and 30-year old OL Jesse Davis.

If you count DE Jabaal Sheard on the practice squad, then you can make the count to four.

Veteran leadership, that’s what Miami is missing. Aside from McCourty, it’s hard to pinpoint players on this team that can be considered true mentor types. Which means that the Dolphins are relying entirely on the coaching staff to get these young and inexperienced players ready week in and week out. That is not a wise move. In fact, one could argue it speaks to a certain arrogance and hubris that the coaches believe they don’t need veteran players to be successful. They traded mental acuity and experience for raw talent and athleticism.

That strategy only works if the coaching staff is elite at developing players. So far, there’s no indication of that being the case. The amount of turnover among the assistant coaches also doesn’t help matters. That’s where having a veteran presence on the active roster helps drastically. Having players who have been around the block more than once and know what to expect on Sunday is a factor that is regularly overlooked.

These past two seasons, the de facto veteran of the team was quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. No one dared question his intelligence, and the team often followed his lead. He wasn’t a superstar by any stretch, but everyone wanted him to tutor Tua Tagovailoa, share his knowledge and experience with the Alabama standout. But why? If Fitzpatrick isn’t an elite player, why would anyone care if he taught Tagovailoa or not?

Because experience does matter. Fitzpatrick is good, not great. But the fact he’s lasted this long and is still in the conversation to be a starting quarterback is proof positive that experience is valuable. Either as a player, or a coach.

Miami’s philosophy demands execution above all else. All 11 players need to perform for plays to turn out the way they should. If not, then things tend to fall apart. But that level of execution comes with NFL experience. With the likes of Van Noy, Flowers and others gone, the Dolphins are relying on talented – but young – players to pick up the slack. Unfortunately, they just aren’t there yet. They’re making mental mistakes, like Brandon Jones rushing in to down the wide receiver, letting Jacksonville call timeout with one second left to kick the game-winning field goal. Veteran players would know to leave him alone until the clock ticks down to force overtime.

Jones, and many others, are very talented players. But Miami can’t afford to wait for them to stop making those small, mental errors.

Around the League

Looking at other teams around the league, many of the top teams feature vast amounts of experience either in the coaching staff, the roster, or both. The most obvious example is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are currently 5-1. Head coach Bruce Arians is now the oldest coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl at age 68. His resume is impressive, and his ability as a coach is unquestioned.

As for the roster itself? The Buccaneers have 20 players (including practice squad and injured reserve) over the age of 30. QB Tom Brady (44 years old) is the headliner, but other notable veterans include DT Ndamukong Suh (34), CB Richard Sherman (33), WR Antonio Brown (33), OLB Jason Pierre-Paul (32), ILB Lavonte David (31), OL Ryan Jensen (30), and more. Essentially, a bunch of old guys got together and decided to show the young players of the NFL how it’s done. And they did.

The 5-1 Baltimore Ravens have had John Harbaugh coaching them since 2008, and he always seems to hire experienced assistants to handle both the offense and the defense. Also, Baltimore features 16 players over 30 on their active roster. Notable ones include DE Calais Campbell (35), OT Alejandro Villanueva (33), and RB Latavius Murray (31).

The Dallas Cowboys are on a roll this season under Mike McCarthy, who is in his 15th year as a head coach in the NFL. He brought in Dan Quinn, who is well known for his intelligence as a defensive coach and has some head coaching experience of his own, to be the defensive coordinator. The roster features eight players over 30, including offensive linemen Tyron Smith (30) and Zack Martin (30).

The currently undefeated Arizona Cardinals have 18 players over the age of 30. LB Chandler Jones is 31 years old, OT Kelvin Beachum is 32, DE J.J. Watt is 32, WR A.J. Green is 33, and so on.

The Buffalo Bills have nine players over 30. How about the Los Angeles Chargers who have 10? The Green Bay Packers have eight.

While many of these players aren’t as good as they used to be in their prime (Watt and Green stand out), they do have valuable experience they can impart to the young up and comers. Experience like that can’t come from a coach. It’s different coming from a teammate. Most good NFL franchises know how important having that veteran presence is for young players. There’s a reason Bill Belichick keeps bringing back his old players even when they don’t play well in their new homes. That experience in the system is invaluable, which Kyle Van Noy proves.

Brian Flores and the Miami Dolphins have chosen to disregard this.

The Dolphins Solution

The question now is simply this: If Miami had more older players, would they be better off? Maybe yes, and maybe no. Again, having older players doesn’t guarantee success. However, having experienced, proven players does. Ask the LA Rams how they view first round draft picks. They’re just ammunition to trade for players like CB Jalen Ramsey.

If the Dolphins had prioritized keeping veteran players along the offensive line instead of trusting in the young, inexperienced talent, the Dolphins may not have lost Tua Tagovailoa for three weeks. Miami basically paid OL Ereck Flowers to leave, and now he’s a solid guard for the Washington Football Team. Almost immediately after the Dolphins released Kyle Van Noy, he was re-signed back in New England and is back doing what he did to get paid in the first place. LB Benardrick McKinney was acquired and released in the same offseason, in spite of how well he played as a run-stopping linebacker. Miami now has one of the worst run defenses in the NFL.

Strangely enough, there’s still hope for the Dolphins. The Detroit Lions have Taylor Decker, a solid left tackle. And the Lions need wide receiver help. Miami could send DeVante Parker and a pick to Detroit and instantly shore up that side of the line if Decker stays healthy. Veteran right tackle Mitchell Schwartz is still available and is a stabilizing presence on the other side of the offensive line. He too is an injury risk, but is very good when healthy.

Having those veterans helps the likes of Liam Eichenberg and Austin Jackson immensely. Let them learn the game, instead of forcing them to start before they’re ready. Next season, there are some veteran offensive linemen who will be free agents. The Dolphins should prioritize signing a few to protect Tagovailoa, regardless of who the coach is. Find assistant coaches who know what they’re doing, and veteran players who are proven producers. It isn’t as hard as it looks.

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Maybe Brian Flores, if he stays, can convince Dante Scarnecchia to come out of retirement again. That would be a huge boon for the offensive line. Maybe he can bring back Jim Caldwell to be the offensive coordinator if he’s healthy again, or someone like Mike Mularkey or Mike Shula. All of these coaches have experience and a proven track record. That’s what Flores needs more than anything.

If Flores gets fired, then whoever the next choice is, they will hopefully understand the importance of veteran leadership. Youth is fine, but only when tempered by experience.

Luis Sung has covered the Miami Dolphins for numerous outlets such as Dolphins Wire for seven years. Follow him on Twitter: @LuisDSung

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Road to the Orange Bowl: The purpose of the conference championship game

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Ever since the College Football Playoff was established in 2014, the conference championship game has been reduced to being nothing more than the method of propping up the flag carrier. Look no further than the Big 12. The lack of a title game left out TCU and Baylor in the first year of the new era. It is the only Power 5 conference to have a title game without divisions, meaning the top two teams in the standings play for the crown. 

It’s basically a bonus ranked game for Oklahoma, whom has won the conference championship every year since 2015. We all got a sequel of the Red River Rivalry in 2018 because of it and this year might bring back-to-back Bedlam. Both No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 12 Oklahoma State are currently undefeated.

Pac-12

The Pac-12 is another example of a conference that needs the perfect matchup in the title game to give them a chance in the playoff. One of things I personally love about the Pac-12 is the parity, nearly every game is competitive. Unfortunately, the CFP committee doesn’t look at parity too kindly. Which means the top two teams need to meet for the conference title game for their best chance at crashing the party. 

No. 9 Oregon and No. 18 Arizona State are both on top of their respective divisions and won face each other unless they meet in the title game. The Ducks lost to Stanford in overtime but the Sun Devils avoided the Cardinal’s attempt at a second consecutive upset with a 28-10 blowout win on Friday. 

Oregon should win its remaining six games as there are no ranked teams left on the schedule. An early season win over No. 3 Ohio State served as the only ranked matchup and victory for the Ducks. That makes playing Arizona State in the title game important. The Sun Devils have gone 1-1 in ranked matchups but are one of two teams with perfect conference records in the Pac-12. That will change this week when ASU takes on Utah.

It is in the Pac-12’s best interest to have both Oregon and Arizona State meet in the conference title game without another loss. But will that be enough to distinguish the winner with Cincinnati?

AAC

Cincinnati has so far backed its perfect regular season last year with a 5-0 record including a win over No. 9 Notre Dame. The No. 3 Bearcats only have one more ranked matchup remaining in the schedule, assuming No. 23 SMU doesn’t lose until then. It would be interesting to see if the committee will respect Cincinnati’s victories or gradually move the Bearcats down the rankings.

SEC

Alabama has been so good for so long the Crimson Tide basically goes into every year with a +1 handicap.

The fact that they lost on the road to Texas A&M on the road by a field goal will not derail their playoff chances, especially when they run through the remaining six games of the schedule, which consists of a road game at Mississippi State, four straight home games and Auburn on the road, which is always tricky.

What the loss does do is eliminate the nightmare scenario in which a SEC Championship Game between Alabama and Georgia would result with both teams going to the playoffs regardless of the outcome. If No. 1 Georgia were to win that matchup then a two-loss Alabama team will be left out.

 Big Ten

With Iowa beating Penn State, a battle between No. 3 and No. 4, the No.2 Hawkeyes serve as the top opponent for whomever emerges from the Big Ten East. Both Michigan and Michigan State remain undefeated, which makes their incoming matchup a highly anticipated affair. Ohio State already has a loss on its record but is a perfect 3-0 in conference play. The path for all three and even Penn State would be to win out and defeat Iowa for the conference title. There is a guarantee that the playoff committee will award the Big Ten with a playoff spot just like it will for the SEC. 

ACC

With the fall of Clemson, the ACC has largely been forgotten in the playoff conversation. It be time for the nation to accept this version of Wake Forest for what it is, a high scoring team that will let their opponents catch up, only to make the game more entertaining. The No. 19 Demon Deacons avoided a scare with a 40-37 overtime win at Syracuse. 

No matter who they play, they always seem to score somewhere between 35-42 points. Wake Forest is a fun team to bet the over on. Sadly it may not be enough for a playoff push unless they go undefeated.