Miami Dolphins Fans Need to Stop Being So Foolish

Hey You! Calm the *!@% Down

These past few days have been really hard to be a Miami Dolphins fan, but my reasons for suffering probably aren't the same reasons as yours.

In fact, there is really only one move that Jeff Ireland has made this offseason that I really disagree with, and that is cutting FS Yeremiah Bell. Not only did Ireland cut him a week into free agency (which would make it harder to find a team needing a starting safety), but he also cutting him just a few weeks after saying that he wouldn't and that he was irreplaceable. It was a cold move that resulted in the Dolphins losing a veteran who has been in Miami for his entire NFL career on bad terms. Releasing Bell was a heartless thing to do, and it was one thing that Jeff Ireland did that really made me not proud to be a Dolphins fan.

Aside from that terrible decision, I can't say I'm all that disappointed with this offseason so far.

I know that a lot of you probably just read that sentence with disbelief and even anger. Who does this Paul guy think he is that he can say that our offseason hasn't been a complete travesty? How can he be confident in a team that just signed a 34-year old quarterback after "missing" on a young free agent quarterback who had very strong connections to our current head coach? How can he say that we've had a good offseason (and yes that is what I'm implying) after we traded away our best wide receiver and have no legitimate number one option to throw to?

But you know what? I doubt that long questions like those popped into your head. Something simpler like "this guy's an idiot" is probably more likely, and look, I get it. We didn't get Peyton Manning or Matt Flynn. We traded Brandon Marshall for a good bit less than what we gave up for him. We cut our starting strong safety when we already have enough problems at free safety. The national media is taking shots at OUR Dolphins like it's going out of style.

Well you know what? I'm getting tired of it all. The Miami Dolphins are not the biggest losers of this year's free agency. I don't care how many articles that you read that say that they are. I don't care how many experts say that they made all the wrong moves. None of that matters, and you need to stop listening to that.

Do you remember last offseason when free agency opened and everyone thought that the Eagles were the big winners and it was Super Bowl or bust? What happened to them? They didn't even make the playoffs?

How about the San Francisco 49ers? No one really thought that it was a good idea to keep Alex Smith. How did that turn out for them? They made it to the NFC Championship game and were a botched punt return away from going to the Super Bowl.

Do you get what I'm saying? It isn't all doom and gloom for the Miami Dolphins. Who cares what everyone in the world seems to think? It means nothing when regular season actually starts up. Heck, it doesn't mean anything right now. It's just a bunch of talk. Quit your whining and hear me out.


First, I will get to the talk that matters most to practically everyone in the world: quarterback. David Garrard is not a bad signing. I don't care how old he is (kind of). He is a highly accurate quarterback who has a career passer rating of 85.8, 89 career touchdowns, and 54 career interceptions. And you know what? He might not even be the starter. He will be competing with Matt Moore for that spot. What Miami has now is two solid quarterbacks who will be working their absolute hardest to win the starting job. Complain all you want, but the Dolphins are better off at quarterback than they were last year.

So what if we didn't get Matt Flynn? Riverdog has said this many, many times over the past month or two. We will be able to tell a lot about Flynn by how hard the Dolphins pursue him. If Jeff Ireland wasn't willing to pay Matt Flynn top quarterback-type money, then it's because he and Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin didn't think that he was a top quarterback. Philbin obviously knows Flynn really well because he has coached him for the last four years. If he was really convinced that Matt Flynn could be a franchise quarterback, then Ireland wouldn't have minded paying more for him.

Just like last year with Kyle Orton, Flynn wanted franchise quarterback-type money (or close to it) and Ireland wasn't willing to do it because he didn't view him as a franchise quarterback. Ireland was right last offseason with Orton even amid the outrage by fans. Why have we decided to doubt him now? He is a superb talent evaluator, and we need to start trusting him more.

Did you really want more of this?

Now, on to the Brandon Marshall trade. I couldn't agree more with the decision to trade Marshall. Let me ask you something. When you look at a team like the Green Bay Packers or New Orleans Saints do you see any receivers that are unhappy when they don't get the ball? Do you ever see them in the news for anything other than football? No, and no. Brandon Marshall is not the type of receiver that would fit into the Packers offense, and therefore he is not the type of receiver that the Miami Dolphins want. Joe Philbin is going to build Miami's receiving corps the right way: through the draft. It's what he did in Green Bay. Why not let him do it here again? And, the Dolphins got two 3rd round draft picks. Why not use those two picks to draft wide receivers that are all about the team and not themselves?


And last, but absolutely not least, to this #OccupyDavie crap. This is the main reason for me giving this post the title that it has. Does anyone who supported that stupid little get-together realize that they are only reinforcing the thought that the Miami Dolphins have some of the worst fans in the league? I mean, what better way to prove that we are a terrible fan base then to start protesting the team with signs. Thankfully only about 20 people showed up, but it was still an awful idea.

Miami Dolphins fans need to start thinking more objectively about this team. Sure, we don't have a true franchise quarterback just yet, but we have two very good quarterbacks, a great defense, and a lot of potential on offense that will only be helped by our offensive-minded head coach. I will admit, I have been frustrated more than a few times this past week, but I have since calmed down and looked at what we have. Trust me, we aren't that bad off.

So stop this protesting crap. You are only making us all look worse. It helps absolutely nothing.

He's Baaack!

And one extra thing. Did everyone forget that we had a top 6 defense last year even after a terrible start to the season? Those players didn't just disappear as soon as the season ended. We re-signed Paul Soliai and added more depth to our secondary by signing Richard Marshall. Yes, we lost Yeremiah Bell, but even though it was a terrible move from a personal standpoint it wasn't a terrible move from a football standpoint. Bell did add veteran experience, but he was due a lot of money and wasn't good enough to deserve it (Pro Football Focus had him ranked 77th out of 87 qualifying safeties). Once again, I don't like cutting him in the way that they did, but it is an unfortunate part of the business of football.


Just be patient Dolphins fans. You're acting like the sky is falling, but actually we're better off than we were before. We have a better head coach who will get us the receivers that we need, a better group of quarterbacks, and a better offense. Just wait until the season. I guarantee you that every single expert and analyst out there will be eating their words. Who cares what the national media thinks? They have a limited perspective because they have to keep up with all 32 teams. They don't know what the Dolphins really have.

Just trust me. Jeff Ireland is more than capable of building a winning team.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you enjoyed, and if you disagreed just let me know below. I will try my best to respond to you.

Follow me on twitter: @PaulDSmythe.

Miami Dolphins Sign David Garrard

The Miami Dolphins have signed free agent QB David Garrard, according to Jay Glazer.

After missing out on Peyton Manning and Matt Flynn the Dolphins have finally found a quarterback. Unfortunately, Garrard probably isn't as good as Flynn will be and definitely not Manning.

I don't know quite what to think about the Garrard signing. He had a 90.8 passer rating in his last season (2010) with 23 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and 2,734 passing yards. My initial reaction to the signing wasn't a very happy one, but after I've had a little time to think about it he isn't that bad of a signing. He is a pretty good quarterback with 10 years of experience.

I guess it's going to be him and Matt Moore competing for the starting spot. Thanks for stopping by. Let me know what you think. Follow me on twitter @PaulDSmythe.

Miami Must Sign Smith or Watch the Exodus

Matt Flynn is now a Seahawk, Peyton Manning looks to be deciding on any team except the Dolphins, Kyle Orton couldn’t agree to a deal, even Chad Henne ran out the door as fast as his feet could carry him. Jim Harbaugh and Jeff fisher never took the Dolphins seriously and used Miami to leverage the teams they had already selected. It’s become obvious, Stephen Ross is more worried about his purse strings than fielding a winning team.

What could Ireland have said the Flynn, “you aren’t worth a NFL starter’s salary, because we don’t think you’re better than Matt Moore.” Something does not add up with the Dolphins losing Flynn to the Seahawks. Flynn will have to compete with Tarvaris Jackson and no team will ever tell a player he does not have to compete for a position. This all comes down to money and Ross is not willing to pay.

Ross talked a good game about beating any offer for Peyton Manning, but actions speak louder than words. Ross has a leash on Ireland and it’s probably in the form of, “make one more high-dollar mistake and you’re out of here.” Ireland has become afraid to pull the trigger because he is afraid to lose his job.

Even if the Dolphins try to sell Ryan Tannehill or Brandon Weeden as the plan, it does not make sense. A rookie is not going to come in and start, it rarely happens and with the rookie cap there is no need to worry about spending money to develop a player. The strategy of developing players through the draft means there has to be a starter here while the player develops.

Miami is going to tell us Flynn was not the guy and Joe Philbin should know that better than anyone else should. Why bring Flynn to Miami if Philbin already knew he was not the guy? No, this purely about the dollars, unless Ross can bring in a celebrity QB like Manning, he is not willing to pay the price to make his team better.

Alex Smith will not come any cheaper than Flynn and they cannot seriously be thinking David Garrard, who incidentally turned them down last year, is the answer. Garrard couldn’t make it in Jacksonville. They will look very foolish when their low-balling tactics leave them without a QB as it did last year.

It comes down to one simple fact, Stephen Ross is more concerned about making money from the Dolphins than field a winning product. Every QB and agent knows Miami will not pay the value of the position and the trips to Dolphin camp are maneuvers designed to raise the price another franchise is willing to pay. Flynn had already been to Seattle, they made an offer and he came to Miami to force them to sweeten the deal. Flynn did not want to play for the Dolphins.

Telling Peyton Manning, 36 years old, coming off injury to name his price sends out the signal Miami is desperate. No player wants to work for a desperate team, they want to know a team has a plan. Miami clearly has no plan. The only two players Miami could possibly have planned for are Manning and Flynn, they could not have foreseen Alex Smith coming on the market and certainly, David Garrard is not a plan.

The QB is the value position in the NFL. Belichick understands this and continually has multiple first round picks because he develops players and then trades them at a high value. Ryan Mallett may never step on the field in New England, but Belichick will get more than he paid for Mallett. The frugality forces the Dolphins into desperation offers that turn players away.

The only thing Miami can do now is backpedal and tell the fans they had intended to draft a QB all along or pay Alex Smith and say he is a better option than Flynn. Smith may well be a better option and for once, the Dolphins could get lucky, but more likely, San Francisco is going to raise the offer and Miami will have been used yet again. At number eight in the draft, who could the Dolphins have planned for, Ryan Tannehill?

Flynn came on the market because a team that knows how to build through the draft, couldn’t pay two starting salaries. Green Bay already had Aaron Rodgers when they not only drafted Flynn in the seventh round but also drafted Brian Brohm in the second. The Dolphins will say they are looking at the draft, but the only candidate that might be viable at number eight is Ryan Tannehill.

Tannehill could very likely never make it to number eight in the draft. Tannehill has started 19 games at Texas A&M, the Ireland (Parcells) formula dictates a QB have at least 30 starts in college. How does Tannehill fit into that plan? He doesn’t, because Miami does not have a plan. The Dolphins are a rudderless ship with a cheap, desperate owner who is in the league to make money.

Are Miami fans going to be told Matt Moore is the plan? If Matt Moore was ever the plan, then everything the Dolphins have done this off-season must be having an enormous negative effect on his confidence. No, Moore is not the plan, Moore is a fall back option. The plan was to sign Peyton Manning and that was because Ross thought Manning could fill the seats and hence Ross’ pockets.

Ross can hide behind the curtain like the Wizard of Oz, pulling the strings of his puppets but the truth is becoming obvious, Ross is all about the money. There is only one hope for redemption and that is to sign Alex Smith, whether that was thought of two weeks ago is doubtful, but not signing Smith will have massive repercussions among Miami fans.

The voice will be heard loud and clear when the tally of season ticket holders dwindles to nothing. Miami fans have suffered long enough with poor ownership and a front office that has not drafted a first round QB in 28 years and not brought in a viable free agent since Dan Marino retired.

The jury is out Mr. Ross, fail to sign Smith and watch the exodus of fans from Joe Robbie Stadium. The ball is in your court, fumble again and pay the price.