Here we are again, trying to make up for all the bad choices
this team has made over the last 20 years with one player. The perennial teams
in this league, the Steelers, the Patriots, the Ravens, and the Giants are all
sitting back laughing as the Dolphins continue down the path of
self-destruction leading to the bottom of the NFL.
The past is littered with Peyton Manning stories, Montana to
the Chiefs, Favre to the Jets and the Vikings, Unitas to the Chargers, the list
goes on and on and the outcome is always the same. Teams trying to revive one
last hurrah from a player, past his prime with injury issues, ending up with
nothing more than years of misery. It is already apparent the Dolphins will
mortgage the future in a fool’s game for the present.
Soliai is gone, Lankford is gone, Carey is gone, all to free
up space for one player that gives hope and sells tickets. Stephen Ross of all
people should know that hope is not a plan, Manning cannot revive the Dolphins and
planning on it is foolish. The very team that let Manning go, knows the
reality, the Colts stopped being competitive because they spent a fourth
of their salary cap on one player and became one dimensional. Without Manning, they were the worst team in the NFL.
The same QB who is 9-10 in playoff games, all of the sudden
is a savior, but it’s only lust. She may be the hottest girl on the planet but
the beauty is skin deep. All those records happened in another time, in another
place, it won’t happen again, it never does. The Manning sweepstakes will reach
up to $20 million and it’s just a con game to get butts in the seats for a short-term
gain.
Ross is in it for the money, he doesn’t look at the Dolphins
the way a Joe Robbie would have. If it wasn’t about money he would be looking
at tomorrow instead of going all in for an illusion today. Every regime that has come
and gone since Shula and Robbie have forgotten that football is a team game formed
by a group of players that created a bond with blood and sweat.
This not baseball where a couple pitchers can transform a
team, or a few hitters can make a difference, because football requires
coordination on every play from every player. There are no batters at the plate
facing a single pitcher. It is not basketball where one or two dominate players
can make a five man team a contender. This game requires twenty-two players
working together in coordination for a common goal.
A QB is the main player on the stage, but very great team is
built around a young QB, just like the Colts were built around a young Peyton
Manning or the Dolphins were built around a young Dan Marino. Every great team started
exactly the same with very few exceptions and yet here we are thinking this
could be something different. It is not and it will never be.
It has nothing do with the abilities of Peyton Manning, it
has everything to do with what has
transpired in this league since its inception. Great teams are built around a
young QB and a core of complimentary players. The Dolphins do not compliment
Peyton Manning, the Dolphins were built for five years to be a run first team.
Brandon Marshall can talk all the smack he wants but he can drop Manning’s
passes as easily as he dropped Henne’s and Moore’s.
Every dollar the Dolphins have under the cap is now
designated for Manning’s pocket. Where does the money for Reggie Wayne come
from? What about the right side of the offensive line that has just been
released to free agency and wasn’t very good to begin with? What about Taylor
retiring, Soliai and Lankford gone, leaving only four of the starting front
seven?
The thought of bringing Manning here in the midst of this
turnover makes absolutely no sense and is a recipe for disaster. Is it foolish
to think one 35-year-old injured QB can make up for all these deficiencies? Is
it stupid to throw water on an oil fire? Maybe dreams do come true, but not in real life.
Jeff Ireland can exonerate himself when this doesn’t work by
saying Manning was Ross’ idea. Joe Philbin will get painted as the fall guy and
the beat goes on, another ten years of wondering why this team never makes it
back to the top of the NFL.
It’s simple really, Santa Claus is not real, little Bo Peep
never had any sheep and the turtle never wins the race, because fairytales don’t
come true in real life. Only hard work and a dedication to building a future
from the ground up makes winners… Trying to find a short cut only works in
fairytales and Peyton Manning may as well ride in on a sleigh with Donner and
Blitzen and Comet and Cupid… Even if the names are Wayne and Saturday, Manning
still won’t fit down the chimney, in real life.
