Dolphins

Fresh Perspective: Top 5 keepers for the Dolphins 2020 season

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It’s no secret that there’s going to be a lot of turnover for the Miami Dolphins come 2020. The 2019 roster is universally considered to be one of the worst NFL rosters in history. Any hope of a return to the playoffs means a roster overhaul is crucial. However, this does not mean there isn’t some talent worth retaining going into the future. Not counting the obvious choices like Jerome Baker and Xavien Howard, of course.

Brian Flores and his coaching staff have done an excellent job of developing what little talent is available. Thus, it’s time to go over the top five players worth keeping around for further development in 2020 and beyond.

Nik Needham – CB

If there is anyone who’s deserving of a roster spot based on improvement alone, it’s cornerback Nik Needham. Needham went from an undrafted free agent out of UTEP to Miami’s best (available) cornerback in 2019. Obviously, he doesn’t compare to Xavien Howard, but Needham is on the field while Howard is on injured reserve. Therefore, technically, Needham is the best. Is that saying much considering the talent on defense? Yes and no.

Remember where Needham came from. During the preseason, Needham notoriously made error after error. Everyone watched it happen. Social media lit up with cries for Needham to be cut immediately. Yet, the Dolphins coaching staff deemed it necessary to keep him around, and it turns out they were right to do so.

Needham has come alive with the experience he’s gained this season. He only has one interception all season, and he has made a few mistakes here and there, but teams haven’t had nearly as much success throwing in his direction as they did earlier this season.

Is Needham worthy of being named the starter opposite Xavien Howard next season? Definitely not. He still has a lot of growing to do before he gets to that point. However, in the modern NFL, a stacked secondary is crucial for success. Should something happen to the starters next season, Miami could do much, much worse than Needham.

Credit the Dolphins coaching staff for seeing what fans and media could not.

Patrick Laird – RB

Out of all the undrafted free agents Miami signed this year, Laird is possibly the one with the least fanfare. Laird came out of Cal as a solid runner, but with no traits that made him stand out physically. He doesn’t boast blistering speed, he can’t run people over with raw power, and he doesn’t have the ability to make people miss with shifty moves.

Or at least, that’s what everyone assumed when he came out. While Laird isn’t wowing people with physical gifts, his pure effort each time he gets the ball makes up for his lack of overall talent. Laird, in many ways, is the physical embodiment of Brian Flores’s “Takes No Talent” philosophy.

Not only has Laird won the hearts of fans, there was also a distinct difference in results running the ball when Laird took over for the injured Kalen Ballage. There was hope Ballage would be able to develop into something special, but so far that doesn’t seem to be the case. Laird displays vision that Ballage doesn’t have, taking what’s given to him rather than forcing something that isn’t there.

Now the same question asked of Nik Needham needs to be asked of Laird. Does he have what it takes to be a starting running back in the NFL? Some have said he could be a poor man’s Christian McCaffrey. Given just how good McCaffrey is, that’s a bit of a stretch. Comparisons to Danny Woodhead, however, are much easier to swallow. They’re also more accurate.

Laird can definitely contribute in 2020, and he almost certainly will. But that doesn’t mean Miami will be content to use him as the starter next season. Laird will be a change of pace back, letting someone else take charge. Unless he can somehow continue developing further.

John Jenkins – DT

Basically the only veteran on this list, John Jenkins has turned out to be more of a contributor than anyone expected. Between he and LB Raekwon McMillan, Miami’s run defense up the middle has been solid these past few weeks. Having a nose tackle like Jenkins is a major boon to the defense, giving the Dolphins someone they can count on to handle two blockers at once.

By the start of the 2020 season, Jenkins will be 31 years old, and he’s a free agent after this season. Jenkins should still be a relatively cheap option for Miami to re-sign if they decide not to focus on DT in the draft.

Of course, being cheap isn’t necessarily something the Dolphins need to worry about, given they’re projected to have more salary cap space than they’ll know what to do with in 2020, with room to make even more by cutting/trading dead weight. They could easily look elsewhere and sign the likes of Danny Shelton for a little extra.

But Jenkins is more than sufficient at a fraction of the cost. If Miami is smart, they’ll sign Jenkins to another deal in the offseason and let him keep clogging up the lanes on running downs. He and McMillan already make a formidable duo, why mess that up?

Vince Biegel – LB

If there’s any question about who won the trade between Miami and New Orleans, here’s a tip for you: It’s the Dolphins. While Alonso offered support when the ball was right in front of him, he struggles when in coverage. Biegel, on the other hand, is proving to have a lot more to offer in the versatility department.

Biegel is relentless when attempting to rush the passer, he can go sideline to sideline, and his coverage ability – so far, at least – far outweighs that of Alonso’s. That alone makes this trade a win for Miami.

Versatility is key in the Dolphins defense, which makes Biegel a valuable commodity worth retaining. Come 2020, it would not come as a surprise to see Miami offer him a new contract to stick around and continue bringing his gritty, effort-fueled level of play to the team.

Is he likely to become a superstar anytime soon? Not at all. But once again, it’s incredibly important to have depth and solid role players all throughout the roster. When injuries hit, and the race to the playoffs heats up, it’s the teams who have depth to fill in the holes left behind that ultimately come out on top.

Taco Charlton – DE

The final player who needs to be a keeper from 2019 on is defensive end Taco Charlton. Now before anyone says Josh Rosen should be the last person on the list, you’re right. He should be on the list. However, Rosen staying goes without saying. So it doesn’t need to be said. Charlton, on the other hand, isn’t a shoe-in to stay. He should be though.

Charlton got picked up off waivers from the Dallas Cowboys back in September. Since then, he leads the team in sacks with a total of five. That isn’t nearly the same impact that Robert Quinn has had with Dallas since being traded there (9.5 sacks in 11 games), but it’s certainly more than first-round pick Charles Harris has ever done for the Dolphins.

That being said, Charlton was recently benched as “part of the gameplan,” according to head coach Brian Flores. Then defensive line coach Marion Hobby stated that Charlton needs to be more consistent against the run. So clearly, Charlton is contributing more than Harris, but he has work to do to keep improving. He most definitely is not the answer to Miami’s pass rush problems.

But Charlton is cheap labor for 2020. At the very least, his contributions are about on par with veteran Andre Branch, who thrived in a reserve role while with the Dolphins, but fell off as soon as he was asked to take on more responsibility. Having Charlton as a backup pass rusher at DE would be the ideal scenario, and hopefully Miami feels the same way.

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

Houtz Special: From the depths of the chart, our Laird has risen

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With Kalen Ballage on IR, it is now time for Dolphins’ rookie running back Patrick Laird to become the savior we have long hoped for.

 The Miami Dolphins have been exceptionally bad at running the football in 2019. So bad, that the team is currently ranked dead last in the NFL—averaging 62.8 yards per game. Now, a lot of that can be accredited to the offensive line. However, a large portion of the blame can also be placed on second-year RB Kalen Ballage. After all, with Ballage now headed to IR, he finishes the season in the NFL record books, but not in a good way.

That’s right, folks. Ballage is the FIRST player in NFL history to finish the season with 60+ carries and an average of fewer than 2 yards per carry.

So, where do the Dolphins go from here?

Well, for starters the team just signed veteran RB Zach Zenner. They’ve also been very vocal about their plan to get rookie Myles Gaskin more involved. But the real talent in the Dolphins backfield and the player most fans are excited to see forge a role in O’Shea’s offense is The Intern, Patrick Laird. After all, his skill-set fits the mold of a New England-style RB. Laird is good at pass pro and can be a valuable asset in the passing game. He works hard every day and does all the little things right. He is a football player and one the Dolphins look forward to getting involved early and often vs New York.

In 2019, Laird has played only 89 offensive snaps and only touched the football 28 times this season. However, last week vs Philadelphia, Laird saw an uptick in production and scored his first career NFL touchdown. He then followed it up with a successful two-point conversion, the perfect scenario for a guy that many teams were scared to draft. His 14 touches and 42 offensive snaps (59%) indicate that he should get another chance to shine for the Jets this weekend.

Patrick Laird’s first career TD

Maybe, we’re getting a bit carried away about Laird. After all, he was an undrafted rookie from California. But then again, maybe we’re not. Laird once caught 48 consecutive targets at California. He’s an upgrade over the RBs Miami continued to trot out for much of the 2019 season. Best of all, he’s young and hungry. He also got quite a sense of humor. Earlier this week, he appeared on a Daily Fantasy podcast to discuss his growing success among fantasy owners.

The link to this podcast can be found HERE.

He also reflected on how he got his nickname, The Intern when he met with South Florida media yesterday afternoon.

 “So the story is I walked into the cafeteria that we have. I sit down with one of the operations guys and with him are some operations interns that were here during training camp. So I’m just talking and asking these guys questions. They’re all still in college and they’re undergrads, so I’m asking them what they like to do, what brought them here, how their time is going here, and then one of them goes: ‘So what do you do here?’

Oh, I’m on the team.’ And he was really apologetic. I didn’t take it – I wasn’t offended in any way. I thought it was funny, so I told that story to the team when I got called up one time, because they have the rookies come up during training camp just to entertain the team. So I told that story and people thought it was funny. Then the offensive coaches have been calling me that just for fun. They know I don’t take offense to it, so I think it’s funny. Then ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) mentioned that to the color commentator or the TV guys at some point. So they got a hold of it.”

No one knows how the reps will be divided in the Dolphins’ backfield moving forward. But Laird deserves a bulk of the opportunities. Sure, he may not be a three-down RB but he has done enough to be one of Miami’s RBs in 2020 and beyond. Remember Danny Woodhead? That is who I believe Laird best resembles, a faster, stronger Danny Woodhead. And for those that are old enough to remember, Woodhead was one of the league’s better pass-catching RBs for a short period of time.

Some may call Laird The Intern but the Dolphins defense has a much more fitting nickname for the rookie RB.

“Well the defensive side of the ball, I think they have a better nickname for me. They call me – the defensive guys – ‘White Lightning.’ Walt Aikens started that one.

We will see what White Lightning can do this week vs the New York Jets. Now if only the Dolphins can find their thunder because it appears they already have their lightning.

This article was written by Josh Houtz (@houtz) he believes in our Laird and Savior and has since the beginning of camp. Amen.

Jake’s Take: DeVante Parker shining after four seasons clouded by doubt

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After four seasons of underwhelming performances, injuries and benchings, wide receiver DeVante Parker is playing like a first round pick.

The Dolphins entered the 2015 draft needing a game-changing wide receiver. Parker was described as a player who can dominate with his 6’3” frame and 33-inch arm length. The Dolphins saw his strengths in performances against New York and Baltimore in his rookie season. He caught seven targets for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the two-game span.

Parker’s weaknesses were also on display. He struggled with injuries in his senior season at Louisville and quickly developed a reputation as an injury-prone receiver.

“I was perceived as a bust,” Parker said after Sunday’s win over the Eagles. “The thing has changed now.”

The Dolphins cleared out Adam Gase and his coaching staff after a disapointing 2018 season.

Owner Stephen Ross mentioned on how he wanted the Dolphins to build a team the right way. General Manager Chris Grier and coach Brian Flores spent the offseason searching for players with low risk and high potential — without breaking the bank. Despite remaining in Miami, it was a fresh start for Parker with a new coaching staff running the show in Miami.

“They gave me another chance,” Parker said. “They didn’t have to.”

After declining Parker’s fifth-year option, Miami signed the 6’3″ receiver to a new two-year deal worth $10 million with a team option for 2020.

After a bumpy start, Parker is showcasing top-tier talent.

Miami lost to the Chargers back on Sept. 29, but Parker had a solid day catching all four of his targets for 40 yards and a touchdown. It was followed by a 28-yard performance against Washington. However, Ryan Fitzpatrick entered the game late in the third quarter, Parker brought down a touchdown.

For just the second time in his career, he had touchdowns in back-to-back weeks.

While the performances were encouraging, it was a story that we’ve heard before. Nobody ever doubted Parker’s talent, it was the consistency that was questioned.

Parker provided an answer the following week with 55 yards and another touchdown against Buffalo on Oct. 10. For the first time in his career, Parker had touchdowns in three straight weeks. To put that into perspective, Parker played 24 games in the 2017-18 seasons and finished with a combined two touchdowns.

“He’s worked extremely hard,” coach Flores said. “This is very important to him. Football is very important to him. He’s a guy who puts the team first, and we’re really happy with the way he’s played in games; but also how he interacts with the team and how on a day-to-day basis, he’s really shown a professional approach to how to do this.”

The three-week stretch with touchdowns was a great sign for Parker. However, Parker was drafted in the first round because he is capable with much more. Parker entered Sunday’s game against the Eagles with at least 55 yards in seven-straight weeks. Keep in mind, he was yet to completely take over a game — like most scouts believed he was capable of.

To solidify his arrival of a top-tier receiver, Parker needed to dominate a game and that is just what he did against Philadelphia. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick connected with Parker for seven receptions on 10 targets for 159 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 22 yards per reception.

“It felt great. I’m still here,” Parker said. “I know I still have the ability to make plays and do whatever I can to help the team.”

“He’s been playing great all year,” tight end Mike Gesicki added. “I couldn’t be more happy for his because he’s taken a lot of criticism that he didn’t deserve in the past and he’s been making a ton of plays, so I’m really happy for him.”

Whether Parker has put it all together in his fifth season or offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea is using him correctly — it is time to view Parker as a top-tier receiver.

With four games still remaining in 2019 Parker has 53 receptions for 854 yards and six touchdowns. He is four receptions from topping his career high back in 2017 and has already secured a new high in both yards (previously 744) and touchdowns (four).

His most impressive stat highlights his consistency. Parker has converted 42 first downs in 2019, cracking his previous high of 34.

“As you get older in this league, you understand that those things are very important and that everything you do counts,” Flores said. “I think there’s a level of maturity that if you can – if we can get guys to mature as quickly as possible, that’s the goal for each staff on every team. I think he’s – I wasn’t here with him prior to this – my dealings with DeVante have been very good, and I think he’s really taken a professional approach and he’s done a very good job.”

It is hard to imagine Miami declining his 2020 player option. In fact, the Dolphins are projected to have over $100 million in cap space next season. Grier and the front office may look to lock up Parker as the team’s number-one receiver for years to come.

Whatever direction the Dolphins decide to go, it is safe to say that Parker has arrived as a top-tier receiver in the National Football League.

 

 

DeVante Parker took flight for seven catches for 159 yards against the Eagles. (Tony Capobianco for Five Reasons Sports)

Pressure Point: DeVante Parker finally takes off for Dolphins

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Welcome to Pressure Point by Craig Davis, commentary and analysis from a longtime observer and reporter of the South Florida sports scene and its teams.

MIAMI GARDENS – The most confusing of Dolphins seasons reached a new level of mystifying Sunday.

They not only pulled off the cleverest trick play of the year, the left-for-dead Dolphins came back from a two-touchdown deficit in the second half to defeat an Eagles team vying for the lead in its division 37-31 at Hard Rock Stadium.

Maybe it had something to do with wearing those throwback uniforms to their glory years.

Or maybe they have something special in coach Brian Flores, who has no hesitation about trying all sorts of daring do, whether an onside kick to open the second half (unsuccessful) or any fourth down situation at any time (three for three Sunday).

Fitzpatrick, Parker Gesicki tank proof as Dolphins stun Eagles

Or that whacky set piece by the field-goal unit, which had players spread wide near both sidelines with only punter/holder Matt Haack and center Daniel Kilgore in the middle of the field. Haack took the snap, darted to his left and Frisbee-tossed a pass to kicker Frank Sanders, who had slipped undetected into the end zone.

It was not only a forehead-slapping touchdown, it was the second Dolphins TD pass on fourth down in the first half.

DeVante Parker takes flight

Earlier, DeVante Parker’s twisting, high-wire grab and tightrope walk along the sideline for a 43-yard touchdown on fourth-and-4 provided a short-lived highlight reel topper for the season.

The punter passing to the kicker for a touchdown was certainly a talker. It was a delight to witness, though a case could be made for saving such ingenuity for when the Dolphins have progressed beyond a sideshow.

But it was Parker who had the most to do with this improbable comeback win.

Miami’s No. 1 pick in 2014 (No. 14 overall) who was written off as a bust awhile ago, is finally playing as originally envisioned in his fifth season. Parker’s 65th NFL game was his most impressive: seven catches (on 10 targets) for 159 yards and two touchdowns.

He did it by using his lanky 6-3 frame and athleticism to get above and beyond defenders, frequently victimizing Eagles 5-11 cornerback Ronald Darby.

He also went airborne for a 42-yard reception on a third-and-13 toss from Ryan Fitzpatrick and for a 17-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter that got the comeback started.

“If I’m not getting it, nobody else is getting it. That’s the way I feel,” Parker said of his mindset on the 50-50 balls that are up for grabs.

Quieting critics, vocal visiting crowd

He also said he was motivated by “the fact that they had more fans than us [in the crowd Sunday], it kind of made me mad.”

It seemed every time a big catch was needed, Parker was there to make it.

There was a 34-yard reception on third down that led to the go-ahead touchdown. Parker converted another fourth down with an 8-yard grab to keep alive the drive to the clinching field goal.

“He’s been playing great all year. I’m really happy for him because he’s taken a lot of criticism that he didn’t deserve in the past,” said second-year tight end Mike Gesicki, another high draft pick that is quieting critics of his early work.

Gesicki had his second TD catch in two weeks – a Parker-like leap in the end zone – and finished with five catches for 79 yards.

Later, when Sanders kicked the 51-yard field goal in the waning minutes that effectively sealed the win, the bigger picture of this season became fuzzier than ever – that is, where this leaves the 3-9 Dolphins in relation to the real objective, which is to attain the highest draft pick they can.

With games remaining against a downtrodden trio of Jets, Giants and Bengals, it isn’t a stretch that a Dolphins team built to lose could end up with six wins.

Draft hopes in peril

That would certainly put the choicest picks of the 2020 draft out of Miami’s reach. Which would seem like whitewash all over the blueprint of tearing down the roster to build it back up.

No doubt many players on this roster won’t remain when the Dolphins are gearing up to win – Parker and Gesicki would now appear to be among those with a future on the team.

But just maybe something else of significance is already being mined from this seeming lost season.

“I think there’s been a lot of growth over the course of the season. I think that’s something that we struggled with and we talked – early in the season we’ve talked about building, improving on a week-to-week basis, really, in all areas. I think it showed this afternoon,” Flores said.

“It’s a team of fighters. This is – we compete. I think that’s something that we talk about day after day after day. … really, if you want to play in this league at a good level against good competition like we had out there today, that’s what you need.”

On this day of surprises and sleight of hand, that’s exactly what they demonstrated.

Please check out the Five Reasons Sports Network channel on YouTube for videos on a variety of South Florida sports topics.

Where do the Miami Hurricanes go from here?

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Losing to FIU on the grounds of the old Orange Bowl may be as low as the Miami Hurricanes have felt since closing that iconic stadium with a 48-0 loss to Virginia a decade ago.

As for FIU, head coach Butch Davis said on Monday during a pep rally in the heart of the student union that the win was “clearly one of the top five things I’ve ever been involved in.” This is the guy who was on Jimmy Johnson’s staff when the Hurricanes was the team of the 80’s and then returned to rebuild that program in the mid 90’s towards becoming arguably the greatest team in college football history.

The Hurricanes have not been the same since and are still searching for a way back to prominence. Miami has numerous opportunities to bring back Butch and potentially return to their rightful place but opted with Randy Shannon, Al Golden, and Mark Richt. It’s too late to bring Davis back now.

By the time Richt retired in 2018, defensive coordinator Manny Diaz was about to be introduced as the new head coach of the Temple Owls. Miami scooped Diaz back up to make him the new head coach. Now sitting at 6-5, fans already have buyer’s remorse.

Now the Hurricanes have a legitimate rival in FIU. Even though the two teams are not currently scheduled to play again (which should change, by the way) Diaz and Davis will be heavy competitors in recruiting. FIU students and alumni have newfound pride in their team and will soon start to support them over their first love. The term “University of Coral Gables” will be used against the Hurricanes as an elitist label as FIU, the lone public school in town with a Division 1 football team, will label itself as the real University of Miami.

No new head coach can instantly fix a program that lives off the past and local talent. They are known as the school that invented swagger but have been blinded by their arrogance all season.

“Quite simply, we’re a football team that chooses when our best is required,” Diaz said during Monday’s press conference. “I’ve got to do a much better job with that every day.”

Diaz is from Miami and takes pride in the program. It falls on him to rebuild it because nobody else will. However the fact that he has lost every game coming off a bye this season is enough of a reason to want him fired, regardless how costly that move is in college sports. He’s hoping this serves as a lesson to the team that is still young.

“It’s especially embarrassing that it happened to FIU, but in life, until you learn a lesson, you’re going to face the same lesson over and over again,” Diaz said. “I think that this was obviously the most harsh lesson that we can learn.

“In the games that we’ve won, if we can understand how to be the same team every week and to give our opponents the respect they deserve and to prepare in a manner that suggests that we’re giving our opponents the respect they deserve, if we can solve this obstacle, then we have a chance to be a pretty good [team]. It shouldn’t have gotten this far. This is something that I should have solved a lot sooner, but when you step back and look back at the film, I think the answer is obvious.”

If FIU loses to Marshall and Miami loses to Duke they will finish the season at 6-6. They might as well play each other in a bowl game in Boca Raton. It seems unlikely and the Hurricanes should finish the regular season 7-5 but only because the Blue Devils enter the final week at 4-7.

The real fun may begin in December if ESPN’s bowl projections hold. As of this past Sunday. Kyle Bonagura has Florida Atlantic playing Florida State in the Walk-On’s Independence Bowl and Miami playing Central Florida in the Military Bowl. This could shape up as Floridian football armageddon should these matchups come to fruition.

It’s one thing to have Miami lose to FIU but to finish the season with a loss to UCF may make Diaz’s head coaching tenure unsurvivable.

Canes Collapse Under Weight of Own Ineptitude

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For a program that has chronically underachieved for more than 15 years, it is difficult to categorize something as “rock bottom.” There are so many candidates:

  • Closing out the Orange Bowl with a 48-0 loss.
  • Getting destroyed by Cincinnati on National TV.
  • Losing to Clemson 58-0.
  • Dropping 7 straight to FSU.

Fans of a program with that list of “accomplishments” should not throw the term “rock bottom” around lightly. Particularly when that list is balanced out with a single ACC Coastal title.

And yet it is impossible to argue that the Canes didn’t bottom out on Saturday. Getting beat in an inner city game that should have been a walk in the park is bad enough. That FIU is actually bad this year, even in context, and didn’t play particularly well (they had 14 penalties for 126 yards), makes this even more galling.  To quote Rocky IV, “What started as a joke has turned out to be a disaster.”

I fully acknowledge the danger of quoting Rocky IV because the next trick for Gimmick U might be to head off to the Siberian wilderness and chop wood. What else is left after Turnover Chains, Touchdown Rings, mock wrestling, catchy hashtags, and dancing when down 13 in the 3rd quarter?

 

 

They could actually do football things like switch tempos, game plan, adjust to what the opponents are doing, play smart, use timeouts correctly, and prepare in bye weeks…but that would be conventional. This staff thinks outside the box. They announced the “The New Miami” with a lot of bluster. They knew what was wrong and they could fix it.

The head coach constantly references analytics. The offensive coordinator runs all sorts of misdirection and keeps trying to force plays to the short side of the field. The defensive coordinator repeatedly tries to force the issue when discretion is often advised. Why adjust to the opponent when you’re smarter than them?

The problem? It’s all fraudulent spin. I don’t need the head coach to reference analytics and his own genius when he sees his team down by 16 with 24 minutes left in the game and has no issue with 7 minutes and 10 seconds running off the clock to kick a FG.

The Canes lost the game while driving for a score. That’s the level of ineptitude they reached. They used 30% of the remaining clock to get 3 points. And did so with no urgency, calmly, oblivious to their own incompetence. Do you know how hard it is to have a scoring drive in the 3rd quarter that reduces your win probability by more than 13%?

What we’ve been served is a heaping pile of spin. The problem with spin is that eventually reality cannot be ignored. So, while Diaz might fancy himself an analytics guru, and know that seemingly counter-intuitive things like going for 2 after scoring a TD that cuts the lead from 14 to 8 in the 4th quarter makes statistical sense, the central issue is that he repeatedly finds himself down in the 4th quarter necessitating the execution of the “smart” strategy.

And that’s the problem with outside the box thinking. The box exists for a reason. You have to master the box, become an expert at the box, and then eventually look for inefficiencies within the box to violate the box and gain an advantage.

We experience this in our daily life. You have a daily commute which requires a left turn. And after a few weeks of waiting multiple lights to be able to make that left turn, you realize that it’s actually faster to go an extra block and make 3 right turns in this specific instance. So you do that, and shave some time off your commute. If everyone did that, it would no longer be faster, but you’re taking advantage of an inefficiency. You, of course, would never default to taking 3 right turns instead of a left at every intersection where you needed to go left. It was only after careful observation and analysis that you chose to make 3 right turns, in this specific instance.

This staff is making 3 right turns at every intersection, and talking about how smart they are while we collectively scream at them to make a left turn. Instead of actually being smart, they are doing things they think smart people do.

They did none of the work, instead showing up with the Miami Swagger, but without any of the substance. Swagger was earned in the past through hard work and results. Miami was great, and then celebrated their greatness. Conceited with results is swagger. Conceited while losing to FIU is ignominious. 

FIU came to win this game. They crowded the middle to take away RPO passes. They flopped and faked injuries to take away rhythm and time. They threw short passes to negate the pass rush. They held ridiculously and dared the refs to call it. They used every trick in the book.

FIU wide receiver Tony Gaiter IV led the team with 82 yards on six receptions and scored the second touchdown of the game.

But they exploited a passive and unprepared Miami coaching staff. They were tipping their hand, daring the Canes to run over them in the first half, with knowledge that the Hurricanes would force the pass. They were faking injuries, telling the Canes to speed up the tempo, tipping their hand that they could not handle tempo, yet Miami played slow. The Canes coaches knew better.

Except they don’t. After the game, Manny Diaz compared these Canes to the current number one team in the nation. In 2017, LSU lost to Troy at home. Diaz is very familiar with that LSU team, having helped kick-start their Renaissance by not getting his defense ready to start the 2018 season in a blowout loss to LSU. But that analogy, much like everything that has happened since Diaz introduced us to The New Miami, does not hold up to any scrutiny.

2017 LSU went 9-3 (eventually losing the Citrus Bowl to Notre Dame). Their other losses were to Mississippi State and Alabama. They won multiple games against ranked teams that year. Troy was also a 10-win team in that regular season (and got to 11 in their bowl game). LSU losing to Troy that year was a case of a good team taking a solid team lightly and blowing a game because of it.

That’s not what the Miami-FIU game was. FIU came in with 5 wins, recently losing to FAU by 30. The Canes, meanwhile, have had ridiculously horrible performances against North Carolina, Central Michigan (in a win), Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and now FIU. They have come out of bye weeks being outscored 61-3 to start games by UNC, VT, and FIU. Miami is not a good team that played a bad game. The Canes are an awful team that played another bad game in a season of bad games and has systemic issues that are not analogous to anything that LSU was going through in 2017.

The only way forward with this staff is for the delusions of grandeur to stop. They are not smarter and more advanced. They started this tenure focusing on all the wrong things because they did not understand the enormity of the task in front of them, the importance of the work.

Many will want to clean house now:

If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly

There is no indication that the administration is thinking that way. But what is necessary is a full reset, new staff or not. Stop focusing on style, and focus on substance. Focus on excellence, and not excuse making. Stop with empty platitudes and make real changes in everything related to the approach to building this program. The program is rotten from the inside, and not a few tweaks, or even a single coordinator change, away from achieving greatness.

The LSU team that Diaz so flippantly referenced to deflect attention from last night’s debacle? They won the Fiesta Bowl after the 2018 season. How does Miami get from “rock bottom” to winning a NY6 bowl next year? With problem recognition. The staff misidentified the issues with “Old Miami” and created issues where there were none. This was not a complete cultural and competency rebuild when they got here. But it is now. Anything less will result in the continued amplification of the gathering storm clouds threatening to inundate The New Miami and sink the yacht Diaz so confidently rode in on 7 months ago.

 

Photos by Tony Capobianco. Follow Vishnu at @VRP2003. Note: The t-shirt featured above is available for purchase here. 

The Miami Beach Bowl is back

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The FIU Golden Panthers are fighting an uphill battle for their sixth win and bowl eligibility. But they got a bowl game coming up against the Miami Hurricanes at the site of the historic but now non-existent Orange Bowl on Saturday.

Marlins Park had the Miami Beach Bowl from 2014-16 and each game came with amazing moments. The first game between Memphis and BYU in double-overtime win by the Tigers and ended in a brawl. The second installment saw Western Kentucky quarterback and former Miami Dolphins practice squad member Brandon Doughty end his collegiate career in his hometown against South Florida and his former coach. The third game ended with the Golden Hurricanes of Tulsa demolishing Central Michigan and finishing the season with a 3,000-yard passer, a pair of 1,000-yard rushers and receivers, something that has never happened in FBS history.

Even though the games were memorable to those who attended, the ratings and attendance numbers were forgettable. The conferences that controlled the bowl game and ESPN (who created bowl games for content purposes) did the Miami Beach Bowl no favors when they held each game on a Monday kicking off at 2 p.m. The game was basically nothing more than a bridge between the noon Sportcenter to Monday Night Countdown. It didn’t matter how few people were at the game.

College football has experimented with holding bowl games in MLB ballparks before and continue to do so. San Francisco, Arizona, Tampa Bay, New York and Miami all played host to bowl games in baseball venues and Boston is going to lend Fenway Park to bowl season in the next year. It offered a unique experience for fans that are used to see the game from afar in what looks likes a modern day coliseum.

“I tell this to people all the time, you don’t realize how intimate [ballparks] are until you go to a baseball stadium to watch a football game. The upper deck is stacked right on top of the field,” said Miami Beach Bowl director Carlos Padilla II back in 2014.

The Miami Beach Bowl moved to a soccer stadium in Frisco, TX, but the game pretty much gets to return in glorious fashion between Miami’s two FBS programs.

FIU has always been in the shadow of UM despite having four times the enrollment. The Panthers established their football program in 2002 on the heels of the Hurricanes’ recent era of dominance and became a FBS program in 2005 when the dominance was starting to fade towards mediocrity.

A massive fight in the Orange Bowl in 2006 nearly severed all ties between the two programs. After 2007, a decade would pass before they would play each other again in 2018 at Hard Rock Stadium. A win for FIU would make their season and perhaps be the biggest win in program history. It may even be bigger than their first bowl win in 2010 against Toledo in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl which remains the only time the Miami Herald made FIU the centerpiece of their sports section.

Under Butch Davis, the Panthers are as good as they ever been in program history. They are coming off back-to-back bowl appearances for the second time in program history and last season won nine games for the first time ever. This year they are 5-5 and need a win against either Miami and C-USA leading Marshall to reach three straight bowls.

The Panthers have never won a game against Miami. Usually teams from the Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12, ACC, SEC, Pac-12) dominate teams from the “Group of 5” conferences (Sun Belt, C-USA, American, MAC, Mountain West). It’s why most of the games in the first month of the college football season involves clashes with these classes of conferences, usually amounting to nothing more than a glorified preseason.

This matchup has a deeper meaning than that for these programs. The Hurricanes are treated as a de facto professional team in a college landscape. UM is a private school in Coral Gables with less than 11K students that became a football powerhouse because it took advantage of its rich recruiting base. FIU is the cities main public university and has more than 40K students yet many of them grew up cheering for the Hurricanes and just happen to not attend the school.

This has led to a clash on social media between the two fan bases leading up to the game.

This game might as well be senior day for both teams. Seniors from both teams are playing their final game in town on sacred ground and both rosters are comprised with players who played together or against each other in high school.

“We’ve got to go in there and protect it like our home because it is our home,” said Miami sophomore cornerback Al Blades Jr. “It was always our home, so we’ve got to go in there and play like it.

“I definitely think it’s going to be a special moment, not just for us, but for all the players in the past.”

Davis: Dolphins must draft wisely, not focus on one player

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The most significant development of the weekend for the Dolphins occurred far from Hard Rock Stadium.

Matter of fact, nothing was gained in the desultory 37-20 loss to the Bills on Sunday, not even in relation to next year’s draft. At 2-8, the Dolphins remain positioned to pick fourth behind the Bengals, Redskins and Giants.

It is pure speculation what that means in the wake of the devastating injury to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagavailoa on Saturday.

#TankForTua has given way to #PrayForTua.

One can only hope that Alabama team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Lyle Cain’s optimistic report following surgery on Tua’s right hip Monday in Houston proves accurate. Cain said in a post-op statement: “Tua’s prognosis is excellent, and we expect him to make a full recovery.”

Whether or not a full recovery equates to Tua being able to perform at the level of his brilliant collegiate career, which ended abruptly on one unfortunate landing, won’t be known for many months.

Dolphins news: DeVante Parker turned back the clock Sunday

And it is immaterial how his health may affect Dolphins draft plans.

As an observer, I am more interested in athletes than teams. The special ones are a treasure. So I’m rooting for Tua foremost — for his sake but also for the hope of seeing his talent blossom in the NFL regardless of what uniform he might wear.

Comeback complicated for Tua

Whether he will get that opportunity remains to be seen.

The comments of Dr. Louis Levitt, in a report by CBS Sports, provide an indication of the complex variables of Tua’s injury — a dislocated hip with a fracture to the posterior wall — and the recovery process he faces. A similar injury ended Bo Jackson’s NFL career.

Levitt, vice president and secretary for The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics in Washington, D.C., told CBS Sports: “… the perfect scenario, the ball is back in the socket, there are no loose fragments in the socket, it is a single piece of the socket that can easily be put back. He doesn’t get any complications and then, if all the Gods shine down on him, he then can probably get back to playing and retain his professional potential within a year.”

Again, the primary concern is for the well being of a young athlete whose future has been clouded by an injury that is rare even in the violent sport he plays.

As it relates to the Dolphins, it illuminates the folly of trying to tailor the fortunes — or misfortunes — of an entire season with the aim of being in position to draft a particular player.

This most confusing Dolphins season, which had some fans rooting for losses to improve draft position,  has gotten more so.

Already some Dolfans are shifting focus to LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, while others want the team to take a chance on Tua making that full recovery.

All of which is premature and wasted energy. It will be weeks before Tua is permitted to put weight on his surgically repaired hip and months before he can try to attempt football maneuvers. As a junior, he may not even enter the 2020 NFL draft.

Houtz special: Despite injury, Dolphins should draft Tagovailoa

What about Kap?

If you want to speculate, why not throw the name of Colin Kaepernick into the mix? The controversial exile quarterback, showed in a special workout Saturday that he is able as well as eager to get back into the league.

The bottom line is, in stripping down the roster, Dolphins GM Chris Grier has accumulated a load of draft picks, including three first-round choices in 2020.

He will have ample opportunity to address some of their many needs, including a quarterback. And with an estimated $117 million in cap space ahead of next season, there will be flexibility in signing free agents to fill other needs.

The one thing Sunday’s one-sided loss to the Bills underscored was how widespread Miami’s needs are. The Dolphins can’t run (23 yards on 13 carries, ouch!) or stop the run (168 yards, 4.9 per carry allowed). They can’t protect the quarterback (Ryan Fitzpatrick sacked seven times) or muster a pass rush (zero sacks of Josh Allen).

Rather than pinning hopes on one presumed savior QB, it will come down to choices — as it always does.

Thus the concern is not that a couple of wins have taken the Dolphins out of the running for the first overall pick. It is that too often in the past, they have simply made the wrong choices.

Tony Capobianco photo gallery from Dolphins’ loss to the Bills

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

Alabama Athletics

Houtz Special: Despite injury, Dolphins should draft Tagovailoa

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Despite a season-ending injury, the Miami Dolphins should still have significant interest in Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa

Tank for Tua

For as long as we can remember, Tank for Tua has been the preferred plan by most Dolphins’ fans.  And truth is, after starting the season 0-7 it was the only thing fans had to look get excited for. But like everything that happens with this team, nothing ever goes according to plan.

So, of course the Dolphins won Tua straight games and looked to be eliminated from the #Tankovailoa sweepstakes.

On one hand, this was a good thing.  Because it showed promise in Brian Flores and the rest of Miami’s coaching staff.  After all, they have done an outstanding job developing players, and have remained competitive despite an XFL-caliber roster.

Unfortunately, winning games means they would miss out on the quarterback they were believed to have their hearts set on.  Sure, there were alternative methods to achieve this goal, but they would be extremely costly. But again, expect the unexpected.

Flash forward to Saturday. With just under four minutes to play in the second quarter of a commanding 35-7 first-half lead over Mississippi State, Tagovaiola landed hard on his right hip. Several reports said he was unable to walk and was heard “screaming in agony”.  Later, we would find out from an team doctor that it was a hip dislocation, which would end his once promising season.

We can all sit here and speculate on who is at fault.

Maybe we can blame Nick Saban for not taking his star QB out sooner.  Perhaps he should have sat him all together, in a game many believed ‘Bama would win handily.

Then again, maybe it’s Tua’s fault, for wanting to be a team leader and play – despite the ankle injury – and prove to the world he is that damn good.

Nevertheless, hindsight suggests this mistake was costly.  Not only for Alabama’s playoff aspirations but for Tua, who was expected to enter the 2020 NFL Draft as the potential #1 overall pick.

Now neither is expected to happen.

Where do the Dolphins go from here?

Obviously, the Dolphins still head into the 2020 NFL draft with a war chest of draft picks-and still have aspirations of finding their next franchise QB.  Could they take Oregon’s Justin Herbert? Maybe, Georgia QB Jake Fromm? Perhaps they draft Jordan Love or Jalen Hurts to develop a year, with hopes of being the guy in 2021? Or maybe, they stay the course and draft Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa.

That’s right, folks.

The 2020 QB Class is loaded with plenty of potential talent. But with potential, comes uncertainty. And no one can sit here and honestly say, they know what is going to come of the aforementioned QBs.

So, why not stay the course?  Why not, draft the QB the Dolphins had their eyes on all along?

Many years ago, Miami’s medical staff made the decision to sign Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees, and that decision still haunts this fanbase until this very day. So sure, maybe the Dolphins’ medical staff makes another grave mistake, but at what expense?

Why pass on Tua in a draft where Miami currently has THREE first-round draft picks? In fact, most draft picks are nothing more than a gamble anyway, so why not gamble on one of the most talented players at the most important position in football?

In a strange way, the injury might have actually helped the Dolphins’ chances of landing Tagovailoa. Because prior to the injury, many believed he was a surefire top-5 draft pick. A player that if Miami wants to get, they would need to move heaven and earth to do so.  Now, they can win a few more games in 2020 and select the Alabama QB with the first of their day one draft picks.

Conclusion

According to AL.com, ‘sources’ believe the Alabama QB could be ready to play football in 6-8 months.

Obviously, this is all speculation. But if the report are true, I would have no problem with Miami selecting Tagovailoa with the first of their three first-round draft picks.  Joe Burrow is good but in my opinion, there is no better QB in the 2020 NFL draft than Tua. And if the Dolphins finally  want to get out of the 7-9 hell they have found themselves in since Marino’s retirement, they will take the chance.  Tagovailoa can sit a year and learn behind Fitpatrick or whatever other veteran QB the Dolphins deem fit. But they owe it to themselves, to their loyal fanbase, to draft the best QB in the country.

That QB to me is Tua Tagovailoa.

This article was written by Josh Houtz (@Houtz) and he really, really wants the Dolphins to draft Tua Tagovailoa