Tin Bits - January 26th, 2011

Here's today's update while I deal with technical issues in getting the Tins Fins Top Ten QB list up and running.

Tin Bits - January 25th - 2011 All Star Bowls Kickoff

Here we go folks, the College All-Star Games are in full swing, leaving a cloud of dust and a lot of NFL scouts scampering to collect as many numbers on as many players as they can.  

Of course, last week was the East-West Shrine Game, and it wasn't as packed with interesting players this year or that interesting of a game, as a few commenters mentioned in a previous blog post.  But that was partly due to several players pulling out of this week's Senior Bowl, which means the EWSG was poached from to fill out the Senior Bowl roster.

In addition to these two games, the Inaugural 'Eastham Energy College All-Star Game' took place over the weekend...or did it?  Why go through the process of organizing such a big event and not bother to release any information about it?

Dolphins Coaching Staff Still Not Completed...But Getting There

The Miami Dolphins aren't quite ready to start the 2011 NFL Off-Season, but are making progress after signing intern, Dan Campbell, to coach the tight-ends.  

Campbell is a former NFL tight-end who played for the New York Giants, the Dallas Cowboys, and the New Orleans Saints.  He was on each team for 3 seasons and was essentially the blocking tight-end behind Jeremy Shockey, Jason Witten, and whoever Detroit had before drafting Brandon Pettigrew in 2009.  

The big question of course is who Campbell will have to work with.  Hopefully the Dolphins can upgrade the position though it's likely a point of contention between Tony Sparano and new Offensive Coordinator, Brian Daboll.  Daboll isn't a big 2 TE guy, whereas Sparano is.  With Dan Henning gone I would expect Sparano to go back to the power-run scheme that the Dolphins gradually waned during the past 3 seasons.  Of course, with Dabol and Stephen Ross involved (with input from Brandon Marshall, Davone Bess, and others) they may go completely the other way.

The New Dolphins coaches are OC Brian Daboll, RBs Jeff Nixon, TEs Dan Campbell.  They replace Dan Henning, James Saxon, and George DeLeone, respectively.  The Dolphins are currently without a Quarterbacks Coach, after David Lee left to become the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss.  Lee was actually hired as Ole Miss OC back in late 2007 but left that job when the Dolphins came-a-calling.  Obviously now he's realized it was in his best interest to go back to Mississippi.

 

 

The 2011 Draft Season Begins

Sure there are sites that have been mocking the draft since the last one ended (some even before that), but realistically, none of these preliminary projections mean anything until:

Daboll Sh** is Official

Brian Daboll (pronounced Day-Bull....honestly, could it get any easier for bloggers like me?) has officially been introduced as the new Offensive Coordinator of the Miami Dolphins.

What The F...

You know, the Dolphins are really starting to piss me off.  As if the current front office shuffling isn't taking place at a time when I'm trying my best to prepare for Draft season (which, for Tins Fins, officially kicks off with the East West Shrine Game this weekend), thus being a major distraction that is hard enough to keep up with, but the media's sources claiming that 'Chud' was the front-runner, only to be replaced less than 24 hours later with Brian Daboll is sort of like thinking you're getting a car for your 16th birthday because you shake the box and it sounds like keys, then you open the box and find out it's not a set of keys but a box full of pennies.

Replacing Dan Henning with someone who was actually worse than him is beyond my comprehension and the added news that Chad Pennington's going to come back to the team to compete at QB just made me vomit a little in my mouth.  I have nothing else to say other than today, the Miami Dolphins are a joke.  I now go back to something that makes sense to me, College Football..

Offensive Coordinator choices take a turn for the 'you must be kidding me!'

The Dolphins are also interested in interviewing Dalls TE Coach, John Garrett and another former colleague of Tony Sparano's - Chris Palmer, who has held about 20 positions in 30 years, never being employed for more than 3 seasons in a row.  He retired from the NFL one year ago, and then coached a UFL team.

Palmer worked alongside Sparano at U of New Haven, Boston U, Cleveland, and Dallas.  Palmer was Head Coach at NH, Boston and Cleveland while Tony was an assistant.  In Palmer's two years as Head Coach of the Cleveland Browns, they went 2-14 and 3-13 after using his first overall draft pick on QB Tim Couch.

Dolphins Interested in Rob Chudzinski for Offensive Coordinator

The Dolphins are reportedly interested in San Diego Chargers Tight End Coach, Rob Chudzinski, for the open Coordinator position.  "Chud" as he is known, is also the assistant head coach in San Diego but his contract is up this year and the Chargers have given Miami permission to interview him, though they probably don't want to let him go.  

 

Things To Be Stated

In this episode I want to focus on where the Dolphins are talent-wise heading into the 2011 off-season.  It doesn't look anything like a 7-9 team, but it doesn't look like a 14-2 team either.  We simply don't have the kind of depth that the Patriots have.  Generally speaking, the teams that play well from week one to week 17 and through the playoffs are the ones who have the depth to last through the odd injury (or twelve) that weaken the team as time goes on.

Quick Hits from Saturday's Media Round-Table

The following are up to the minute updates from the media who are present at Dolphins HQ: 

Henning By A Thread....SNAP!!

On a day when most fans are disappointed that Miami has decided to extend Tony Sparano's contract by another two years and giving him more player personnel input (they had to do this to give him some credibility back, though to little too late, IMO), at least one thing went right.

Offensive Discombobulator, Dan Henning, has officially been cast aside by Sparano.  No doubt this parting of ways was part of his new deal, and the fact it was forced upon him is unlikely to make any of us believe in Sparano's management abilities anymore.

State Of The State Of Things

I'm not going to lie, the way the season ended for the Miami Dolphins led me to avoid all things Dolphins for the past week.  I just found out today about the Dolphins pursuing Stanford head coach, Jim Harbaugh to replace Tony Sparano.  I have not abandoned football altogether however, having watched 13 NCAA bowl games in the last week, leading up to the BCS National Championship, which ironically I may be the only Oregonian not planning to watch live.  I find it much easier to pay attention to individual players and their fundamentals by watching a recording and I've already found several players the Dolphins should keep an eye on leading up to the draft.  But more on that later.

Live Chat: Dolphins vs. Patriots

Dolphins inactives: CB Nolan Carroll, TE Anthony Fasano, T Lydon Murtha, G Allen Barbre, DL Ryan Baker, DL Chris Baker, LB Mike Rivera, and WR Julius Pruitt.

Patriots inactives: G Dan Connolly, WR Wes Welker, WR Deion Branch, TE Aaron Hernandez, DL Ron Brace, DL Brandon Deaderick, DL Mike Wright and LB Tully Banta-Cain.