After a thoroughly devastating loss that was aided by perhaps the worst officiating call I’ve ever seen when time and place are taken into account, the Dolphins’ playoff hopes have taken a hit that will be nearly impossible to overcome. With a highly unlikely and nearly insurmountable road to the postseason lying ahead, it may be high time for the ‘Fins to cast an eye toward April’s NFL Draft and the 2010 campaign. To that end, here’s a look at five crucial position groups where coach Tony Sparano needs to consider taking a different approach for the final two games of the regular season.
Without further ado …
QUARTERBACK
Let’s just face the facts: second-rounder Pat White was a bad draft pick. It happens. But how does a mistake become a problem? Through repetition. Continuing to trot White out there for mind-numbing option errors that feature no actual passing threat reeks of a braintrust dead-set to prove that they didn’t drop the ball (something else White does well). So please, no more WildPat or PatCat or whatever you want to call it—because the reality is it’s been a Pile o’ Shat.
Chad Henne has shown some promising signs, but he needs every possible rep, especially in the red zone, to work on his accuracy and touch. So scrap the Pat White packages and let Henne handle everything from here on out.
RUNNING BACK
You’ll find few bigger Ricky Williams fans than me, and it’s simply staggering the way he’s run the last couple of years. But it’s becoming apparent that he’s slowing down, as evidenced by his four fumbles in two weeks, and there’s little point in unnecessarily pounding him for the last couple of games if postseason hopes are lost. Let’s save all the mileage we can on him while we can, and save whatever he has left for next year.
Giving Ricky a rest would allow the ‘Fins to take a hard look at Lex Hilliard, which is doubly important since Ronnie Brown is a free agent after yet another injury-riddled year, so Miami needs to know all it can about the backs currently in the stable. Run Hilliard often and allow Kory Sheets—an intriguing prospect, by all accounts—to sniff the field as well, so we’ll have a better idea of whether we need to spend a high draft pick on another running back to groom this April. The Brown situation will be one of the trickiest of this administration’s tenure, so gathering all the information possible about the potential depth is vital.
WIDE RECEIVER
Considering the relative lack of playmakers in the Dolphins receiving corps, you’d have to work pretty hard to argue the point that Patrick Turner has been something of a bust. As a third-rounder at a position of need, it’s rather mind-boggling that he hasn’t sniffed the field. Sparano & Co. trot out the excuse that, as the fifth receiver, they can’t activate him on game day without deactivating another wideout. OK … might I volunteer Ned Ginn? Doing so would not only allow Turner to get some reps, but it would also let Miami take a hard look at Sheets on returns, where he is supposed to be a promising option.
No matter how you have to do it, find a way to get Turner in the game and send some balls his way. As things stand now, Miami has a collection of No. 3 receivers, without a true playmaker in the bunch. Finding a No. 1 option at wideout is one of the top offseason priorities, but let’s see what we have in Turner first before we turn to the draft once again for help.
LINEBACKER
By now, we know Jason Taylor and Joey Porter can—and most importantly, can’t—do, so trotting a couple of 30-somethings out there for meaningless games doesn’t make a lot of sense when you have a freakishly talented Cameron Wake waiting in the wings. The Dolphins’ rationale has been that, while Wake is a stellar pass-rusher, he doesn’t have the run-defending chops necessary yet to be considered a complete linebacker. Well, guess what? He’s not going to develop in that area without getting some game reps on first and second down. After all, JT and Porter aren’t going to be around much longer anyway, so let’s start taking an extended look at Wake to see whether he is always going to be primarily a sack specialist or whether he has the skill set to transition into an every-down player.
SAFETY
I’ll just say it: If you don’t have a safety better than Gibril Wilson, then you were never a playoff team to begin with. There is a strong case to be made that Wilson is the worst safety in the NFL, and the fact that he keeps getting starting nods is a frightening statement on what Miami has behind him on the depth chart. I understand there was a significant financial commitment made to Wilson as a free agent this past offseason, but it’s high time Bill Parcells and Jeff Ireland admit they made another Ernest Wilford-worthy miscalculation and just freaking move on.
I don’t know if fifth-rounder Chris Clemons out of Clemson is the answer, and judging by his late draft selection, I’m sure the odds are against it. Tyrone Culver has played well in stretches behind Wilson, so at the least let's throw some more snaps in the direction of Clemons and Culver to get a better idea of what they're capable of. The hope for this offseason is that the Dolphins cut their losses with Wilson and look elsewhere for a dynamic free safety, but in the meantime, the staff should, once again, take a needed look at the existing resources to see what is there. Hell, I would rather see Jason Allen back there than Wilson, and that makes me throw up in my mouth a little just to say it. The bottom line is that if Gibril “The Gerbil” Wilson is starting in aqua and orange again in 2010, this brainstrust has turned a bad evaluation into a gross mistake through sheer misguided loyalty and ego.
All that being said, apparently there is a slight chance that Miami can fall into the playoffs somehow. So as Jimmy V said, “Never give up” … but be sure to keep one eye on the future as you cling to hopes that are improbable at best.
No comments:
Post a Comment