AFC EAST Special Report - What Is Buffalo Thinking?

You know how it is.  Everyone has that cousin, or mutual acquaintance of a friend of a friend, who just always seems to be in trouble or has problems they never seem to be able to pull themselves out of.  In my family there are at least 2 dozen cousins, and only about 3 of us have never been to jail or in a serious crash or in Juvie or in some kind of 'program'.  Hell, I even have a cousin who's a correctional officer who's dating one of the prisoners!  I can't make that stuff up.  Of the several hundred people who read this Blog every day, I'd be willing to bet at least 10% of them are currently in trouble with the law or are constantly having problems paying their bills.  It happens.  Everyone takes their eyes off the road from time to time and hits a speed bump.  And at that point, it's up to the family, friends, and co-workers to help guide that person back onto the road.

Now, I'm in no way suggesting that the Buffalo Bills (yes this is an article about Buffalo, hence the title) are our friends or co-workers, but they are the neighbors who you constantly complain about behind closed doors, but ultimately you don't want them to stop mowing the lawn or park the lime green pinto on the lawn.  

The AFC East is the Miami Dolphins' neighborhood.  The Patriots are the snobby folk who live in the middle of the cul-de-sac and have the pool/jacuzzi combo and have the landscapers out twice a week.  The Jets are the loud, obnoxious party crowd who are constantly upgrading their subwoofers and squealing their tires.  The Dolphins are the laid back folk who have been re-tiling the roof for 2 years, with a cooler on the wrap-around porch.  The most noise they make is the occasional hammering and the once a month debris removal truck.  And then there's Buffalo.  Buffalo is the neighbor who's constantly looking through the blinds in case they have to bolt and move on at a moment's notice.  They don't bother with the grass, and eventually cover it up with artificial lawn.  Instead of investing in a long-term fix for the broken back door, they board it up with plywood.  They don't pay for cable, but spend $250 on cat food every month.

The Bills had some serious woes on their Offensive Line at this point last year.  Rather than try to develop a line that included some of the good ingredients they had in stock, they decided to just replace everyone, including their best player, Jason Peters.  They then drafted Eric Wood and Andy Levitre.  They added a couple of free agents, including aging vet and constant distraction, Terrell Owens.  They had a couple of head coaches, now on their 3rd in a year, and they had more injuries than can be counted on all your fingers and toes.  On top of these most recent issues, they have not been able to replace a head coach who retired over a decade ago.  They have drafted only two quarterbacks in the 1st round in the last 40 years.  The first was Jim Kelly in 1983.  The second was in 2004 and his name was JP Losman. 

This is a team that doesn't make good decisions, at least they haven't since the glory days of the mid 90s when we as Dolfans suspended our collective hatred of the Jets and focused all our distaste on the Buffalo Bills.  Are they moving to Canada?  Are they looking for a franchise QB (last I heard they were thinking of trading for Donovan McNabb who will be 34 this season) or did they have a plan to replace Peters?  They got 3 draft picks for him and did not pick up a single starting-caliber tackle after the trade or in the draft.  They drafted 2 cornerbacks and 2 safeties, a 3-4 rush linebacker (despite playing a 4-3) and a tight-end in addition to two interior linemen.  Ironically, they traded 2 draft picks to Dallas in order to draft Levitre, and Dallas used one of the two to draft a Tackle.

Buffalo also hired from Dolphin linebacker coach, George Edwards, and he immediately announced that Buffalo was switching to a 3-4 defensive scheme.  Then he looked at the roster and immediately backtracked.  As it stands now, Buffalo is planning on using a hybrid 4-3 with some standing up DEs sprinkled in, at least until they have the personnel to do a more traditional 3-4.

There's been a lot of back-tracking, shaky decisions, and bad luck around this team recently.  Not much one can do about the luck, but maybe getting a new training staff is the best place to start.  And here's some advice for Chan Gailey and friends from his neighbors in the AFC East:

1. When you don't have a replacement in place, you shouldn't trade the best player on the team away, especially if he is the only Pro-Bowler on the team.
2. Don't draft 4 players in the secondary when you already have 3 or 4 starters.  Use those picks on hard to find positions, like Offensive Tackle, especially when you haven't followed suggestion # 1 above.
3. If your team has a hole on the roster or on the staff, fill that hole with conviction.  Don't jump to get a stop-gap player when you could have the same hole again next year, or halfway through the season. 
4. Don't make decisions that you may have to back out of.  Figure it all out before you make the call.
5. Do not start the 2010 season with Edwards, Fitzpatrick or Brohm as your starter.  Or even McNabb.  Make a trade for a legitimate mid to late 20s QB who can start immediately and can manage the game.  You have too many things to coordinate and improve without having to worry about gunslinging your way through games.  Take a look at Jason Campbell, or wait until after the draft to see who may become available in trade.  Bottom line is you gotta spend the picks and money on QBs and Tackles, not on cornerbacks.

Now, I open up the forum for suggestions and criticisms for the Bills.  Whereas the Dolphins went 1-15 and have spent the past two years trying to rebuild and improve, the Bills seem unwilling to take the leap of faith, or worse yet, have put their faith in the wrong place.  This is easily where the Dolphins could have been had we not brought the Trifecta in when we did.  So, please, let them know what they should be doing, or what they shouldn't be doing, but by all means, don't go as far as to instruct them how to win the Division!

Pulling Out The Lynchpin - or - The Bills Are Coming, The Bills Are Coming! Updated 10/2/09 @ 2pmEST

So, the Bills, our biggest AFC East rivals of the 1990s, will be sliding into homeplate....oh, scratch that...the infield should be AWOL from Landshark Stadium for Sunday's game.

This will be a heart-warming reunion between Bill Parcells and one of his favorite all-time players, Terrell Owens.  It will also be the first game of 2009 for Bills' running back, Marshawn Lynch (photo on right).

The talking heads are saying 'WATCH OUT' for Lynch as he's coming in with fresh legs.  I look at it a different way.  While the Dolphins D has been stout versus the run, and is at week 4 stride-wise, the troubled Bills' back will come in in week 1 shape and speed.  I'm not really worried about Lynch, to be honest.  He has not really been successful against the Dolphins, and I doubt he'll be given the full load in his first appearance anyway.  Not to mention his replacement, Fred Jackson, has been pretty spectacular in Lynch's absence.

The most notable thing about this game is the injury list.  It will play a major factor because our former backup QB will get his first start against the Bills backup secondary.  Don't think the Dolphins won't be playing that card.  Here's a look at the injuries with my speculation on whetehr they'll play or not:

Miami    - Joey Porter (hamstring/questionable),  Chad Pennington (shoulder/injured reserve)

Buffalo  - Donte Whitner (thumb/out), Bryan Scott (ankle/out), Leodis McKelvin (fibula/out), Paul Posluzny (forearm/out), Kyle Williams (groin/questionable), Demetrius Bell (groin/out), John McCargo, (calf/out), Shawn Nelson (shoulder/probable).

The Bills are severely at a disadvantage number wise.  Three starters in the secondary are out - Whitner, Scott and McKelvin.  Rookie safety, Jairus Byrd, may have to play every snap on defense.  With Williams and McCargo possibly both out,(update: MacCargo is out) the Bills' defensive line could also be very porous, especially in the middle. update - due to the shortage of bodies, former Oklahoma safety, Nic Harris, who was converted to LB before the draft, has been practicing at his old safety position.  Harris has struggled so far in his rookie campaign.

The Dolphins meanwhile, are relatively injury free, unless you count broken spirits as an injury.  Nothing heals that injury faster than winning.  And nothing makes that injury overcome the entire mind, body and soul, like continuing to lose.  We've already been through that in 2007.  If the Dolphins go through that again, they could be broken for a LONG time.  

This is a MUST win game.

Here is how we do it:

1. Forget immediately that it is Chad Henne's first start.  You must not gameplan 'NOT TO LOSE'.  You must gameplan TO WIN.  How do teams win over and over again?  By running the football down the opponents throats, running down the clock at the same time, keeping the defense fresh and not turning the ball over.  The young, inexperienced Bills defense chock full of reserves will react slower to the Wildcat, and be attempting to throw the kitchen sink at the new Dolphins QB.  This should leave receivers wide open in the middle of the field.  This is Fasano's time to make up for a so far abysmal season.  I know Henne's favorite target are the quicker wide receivers, but I expect the tight-end to be open for business (that sounded wrong, I know).
2. Do not force the big play.  When teams force the big play, turnovers happen more often than not.  There is a formula in football that sounds very boring, bland, and obvious, but for over a hundred years, it has worked more times than not.  Run....Run....Pass.  This doesn't need to be so literal as to say we run the ball out of the 'I' twice to get to third and short then pass for the first down, although that has worked nicely for us in the past.  There can be big plays as well.  But it's the meat and potatoes stuff that should be forced, not the dessert.  Control the clock, keep control of the ball, then stun them when they're lulled into thinking you're going to run the ball, with a nice play-action bomb or a flea-flicker, for example.
3. Defensively we need to cover better.  We need more speed on the field.  I'm not going to get into chiding the coaching staff for not playing Jason Allen, as that seems like pushing the elevator button over and over again.  So I will say this - WHOMEVER is playing in the defensive backfield should be FASTER and have better BALL SKILLS in this game.  The Bills have a bent/almost broken offensive line, so Trent Edwards is going to try to get the ball out faster, and that means we can't have cornerbacks giving a ten yard cushion to the receivers.  They need to be pressed.  This has been another pain in the arse this season stemming form Pasqualoni.  We drafted two of the best (if not the two best) press corners in the draft, and yet we continue to play pu**y-ball on the outside.  There's only one way to truly stop a wide receiver in this league, and that is to stick him at the line of scrimmage.  The same goes with the tight-ends.  For some reason we are not jarring the receivers, and obviously, it's allowing them to get wide open and turned around waiting for the ball.  We need to do this.  We will not even distract T.O. if we do not try to disrupt his routes.  There's few better route runners in the NFL.

I think we all have to believe that this week we finally get some adjustments from the coaching staff.  I'm not worried about the red zone stuff as much as Sparano is obsessed by it.  If we control the clock, and get the ball back on defense, there's no reason why we can't get 15 points out of our kicker alone.  Eventually 35 to 40 running plays will result in a few big plays, including touchdowns.  Eventually Ginn's defender will slip up and Henne will find him downfield for 35+ yards, maybe a touchdown.  These things will come.  We need to not force them or focus on them to the point where we forget to block, tackle, hold on to the ball, etc.  Let's get the fundamentals down first, Dolphins.  Let's get that first all-around good effort from the team, where all three units can walk off the field at the end of the day knowing they did their job.  If we do that, we win.

Miami Has Best Defense in AFC East - Part 2

This is the second part of my attempt to show that Miami's defense will make the biggest noise in the AFC East in 2009.  If you missed Part 1, click here.

Part 2 - New England Patriots

Ty Warren, Jarvis Green and Vince Wilfork. Not bad.  Wilfork is the guy you gameplan against, but Jarvis and Warren have plenty of experience between them.  Up until a week ago, Jarvis was the backup.  The Richard Seymour trade was likely palatable to Belichick because he believes that Green can fill Seymour's giant shoes.  But in 7 years of playing together, Green never supplanted Seymour, starting only when there was an injury.  I expect the NE line to be pretty good but not  as intimidating as they once were.  Seymour is 6'6", 310 lbs.  Green is 6'3" 290lbs.  Still good size, but not Richard Seymour size.

In the Depth Department, New England's not doing as well as they'd like.  2nd round draft pick, Ron Brace, has barely shown up so far.  He is listed 3rd on the depth chart behind Wilfork and Mike Wright, a 295lb injury-riddled, situational player who has played every position on the line.  He's like a Randy Starks, if Starks had spent most of his career in the hospital.  Meanwhile, their best young player, Myron Pryor, is undersized at 6'1" and is currently injured and not practicing.

As I mentioned in part one, the average size of Miami's defensive line is 6'4.3", 307 lbs. And they are a healthy bunch.  From my recollection, only Jason Ferguson missed any time due to injury in 2008.  And none of the seven have had any injuries during the off-season/pre-season.  

At linebacker, the Dolphins have something the Patriots don't have.  A pass-rusher.  Okay, they traded for Derrick Burgess.  How about two pass-rushers? Oh, before we go any further it's important to state that Burgess is not the starter.  They have Pierre Woods at WOLB.  IN 2008 he registered ONE sack in 12 games. On the other side is converted pass rusher Adalius Thomas who registered just 5 sacks in 2008 to lead the team.  Oh wait, that's not right...it was Richard Seymour who led the team in 2008 with 8 sacks.  As a team they only registered 30 total. 10 of those came from the linebackers including 4 from another player they shipped off, Mike Vrabel. 

On the inside they have 2008 Rookie sensation Jerod Mayo, and 2008 undrafted rookie free agent Gary Guyton.  Everyone loves to talk up Jerod Mayo, but he is not a big playmaker, more the dependable tackler.

It's not often Miami's inside linebackers get the edge vs most of the teams in the NFL, but here we're clearly better, with Crowder, Ayodele and Torbor compared to Mayo, Guyton and the third guy, Eric Alexander, who played in only one game and only on kick coverage in 2008.  Even Torbor's an upgrade over this guy.

I don't envy the Pats' secondary one bit.  Both starters at cornerback, Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden, have never played a regular season game for the Pats.  Leigh Bodden was the guy I wanted to pick up instead of Eric Green during free agency.  He had 80 tackles last year as a cornerback.  That's how much opponents were just throwing the rock against Detroit in 2008.  Still, he was the best player on that defense.  But does he know how to WIN?  Springs ain't no spring chicken.  At 34 years of age, he makes our secondary look like babies.  Meanwhile, the Patriots went after Darius Butler early in the draft this year and he has come as close to being a draft bust as you can get without actually starting the season.  He is dead last on the depth chart and probably only made the roster because he was a high draft pick.  

Their safeties are young, not particularly exciting, and once again, another rookie, Pat Chung, has not been consistent thus far.  I read a handful of reports on the starters, Meriweather and Sanders and the consensus is 'average' with early reports that Meriweather was not starter material and that's why the Pats drafted Chung.

The more I watch tape of last year, the more impressed I am by Yeremiah Bell.  He made two game-winning pass breakups, and registered the most tackles on the team.   He seems to possess a great balance of stoicism and quick reaction time.  Gibril Wilson, at the very least, is bigger and tougher than Renaldo Hill, and sharper than Chris Crocker (no, not the Britney Spears guy).  Where we win hands down is the depth.  All three of our rookie DBs have looked good in their time leading up til now.  Our veterans seem re-energized and focused on proving 2008 was not a fluke.  And, this is a highly paid bunch.  With Wilson, Bell, Allen, and Davis making big dents in the salary cap and Smith, J. Allen and Culver making medium sized dents, this is a team that will be expected to perform at a certain level. 

As long as their heart and talent lives up to those expectations, there will be some pro-bowl material out there, which is more than I can say for the Patriots defense.  Not one of their defensive players would make my pre-season prediction list to make the pro-bowl.  I can easily name a handful from Miami that would.

Miami Has Best Defense in AFC East - Part 1

Let's face it. The Dolphins have the most likely IMPACT DEFENSE in the division. It's not an easy argument to sell to most outsiders, but let me give it a go. Feel free to agree/disagree/add to the argument.

Part One - The Buffalo Bills

There's no denying that Buffalo has a fine set of starting defensive linemen. Kelsay, Stroud, Williams and Schobel are among the best groups of starting 4-3 linemen in the NFL. But the Bills are the only team in the division still running a 4-3 scheme. And when you have four guys on the line on every play you need extra reserves. And Buffalo's reserves are NOT good. They are small, injury prone, lack experience and let's face it, any reserve DT in a 4-3 is going to be at best, the 3rd best player at the position. As several of you tend to point out, the best reserve is someone who could be starting for any team but your starter is just a bit better. Well, in these guys' cases, they're not a shave under the first guy, they're under the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and possibly 5th guy.

In comparison, the Dolphins had plenty of competition for their starting line-up, and several of the reserves have looked very strong in the pre-season. And they're a big bunch, averaging over 6'4" and 307lbs. But besides size, they're all very athletic.

Things get worse as you move into the second level. Now, Kawika Mitchell is a very good LB, if you ask me, but his sidekick, Paul Posluszny is very over-rated, in my opinion. I'm not saying he isn't a good linebacker, but his size is suspect and his numbers could be inflated by the lack of support around him. The Bills run defense gave 312 yards to the Patriots last year. The Patriots!! On the other side of Poz, is Keith Ellison, who is just another body, and a small one at that at 6'0", 229lbs.

The Dolphins are pretty stacked at LB thanks to the overload of pass rushers kept on to allow more of a rotation to increase the level of blitzing. Only one of Buffalo's linebackers are smaller than our 7th round drafted practice squadder JD Folsom.

Then things get ugly as you move into the secondary. McKelvin is serviceable and McGee is pretty good but once again, very undersized. Their is no depth at corner, but they kept 6 on the roster. Then there's the Safety position. No one on this team would be starting on another team. Donte Whitner in 3 years in the league has more arrests than interceptions and sacks combined. I don't want to say anything bad about Bryan Scott, the strong safety because he's a classy guy, which is rare in Buffalo, not to mention the entire NFL. But he's only started 16 games once in 6 years in the league and that was the only year he had over 68 tackles in. His size, 6'1" 219lbs makes him just as big as Buffalo's linebackers. Once again, their is no depth to speak of at this position.

Miami kept nine defensive backs in comparison to Buffalo's eleven. And increased competition has helped out this unit as well. I like the idea that even though Sean Smith will start on Sunday, Vontae Davis will forever be clipping at his heels. And Jason Allen and Nate Jones both have huge incentive to play the best football of their lives this year. The only concern with the secondary is that we still don't know if Gibril Wilson is THE guy. To be honest, with Tyrone Culver and Chris Clemons in reserve, I don't see the coaching staff hesitating to make a change if necessary.

Tin Bits AFC East Special - Tom Brady Struck By Lighting!

• The New England Patriots had their first training camp practices today, and as usual, Tom Brady was the star of the show. More than one million reporters showed up to Gillette Stadium, and started drooling over the Brady non-story, which in turn caused a lightning storm, which brought practices to a close. You see, unlike Miami, who just move inside under the bubble, when the weather gets bad, the Pats just piss off for the day! Meanwhile, Randy Moss did not attend practice along with several other players. The Pats are pretty banged up right now. And while they haven't said NO like the Dolphins, the Pats via Belichick suggested they were not looking to sign Michael Vick "right now". That means they will try to do it later.
  

• The Buffalo Bills aren't exactly healthy either, but at least they are signing draft picks finally. Their top pick, Aaron Maybin remains unsigned but they locked up Eric Wood and Jairus Byrd yesterday. Despite signing his rookie contract, Byrd is not practicing because he underwent sports hernia surgery 2 weeks ago. Hmm, a rookie CB who can't practice or play through pre-season...what are the odds of him making the roster? Why even bother giving him a big contract?

• The Jets are reporting to camp tomorrow and the big story is that Leon Washington is still not happy and may (probably will) hold out. Also the consensus is that Mark Sanchez will be the starter from Day One, but that's more because the other two QBs suck, than Sanchez making huge strides. In fact, the only positive thing I've heard about Sanchez is more to do with his personality than his ability to throw the ball. I think the days of the shoot-outs between the Dolphins and the Jets are over for now. Well, we might have to pass a lot against them as their front 7 is pretty good. But their offense should be very run/screen happy. By the way, I accidentally saw a replay of the 'hail mary' from week one last year and just when I thought I had scrubbed it out of my eyes, it's back again. I can't believe the Dolphins secondary just stood there and watched Stuckey make the catch. Renaldo Hill locked on to the ball for a good 2 and a half seconds and did NOTHING. The only DB who tried to make a play was Jason Allen but he was boxed out by another Jets player. Let's hope more of those plays go in OUR favor this year. A fan mentioned yesterday that had we held on that final play in Houston or had one play go our way in week one, we would've won 13 games last year. We literally were that close. 2 plays all season long cost us two games.
  

Training Camps open elsewhere

The Buffalo Bills opened the first training camp practices of the 2009 year, and fans were excited. One young fan yelled out to Terrell Owens that he had his name tattooed on his butt. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm into tattoos, myself, but I wonder about the ethics violation that may have been committed by the tattoo artist when this obviously deluded fan came into the parlor. That wasn't even the weirdest part of the practices this weekend. The weirdest part to me was that none of them were in pads, and only one of them even involved helmets. I'm no training camp expert, havingnever been to one, but even in Davie during OTAs/mini-camp, they wear helmets at all times on the field. On Hard Knocks, some coach is always screaming at a player for not having his chin strap secure. So I find it odd that Buffalo is running their training camp without pads and without helmets. It's basically flag football at that point isn't it? They already had one player go down to a probably season-ending injury on the first day. They also had to deal with two rookies holding out, and the fact that Terrell Owens is still homeless. Apparently no one will rent a house to him.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles also opened camp over the weekend, and their first round draft choice, WR Jeremy Maclin, did not even show up for check-in at the team's hotel or for today's practice.

Next up on the schedule is Baltimore, who opens camp today, with Ray Lewis chasing down John Beck by the weekend.

Miami's training camp will officially open on Saturday, with the first practice on Sunday the 2nd.

Meanwhile, the Palm Beach Post did a blog on the possibility of Vonnie Holliday returning to the Dolphins a couple of days after the Tins Fins poll concluded that the 70% of dolfans thought signing Holliday might be a good idea. With less than a week now till training camp, the article suggested that Vonnie would not be looked at until 'several weeks into camp'. In my mind, the longer they leave him out there on his own, the less likely they'd be to bring him in. I'm sure they would rather have him in camp, in their program.

So what do you guys think of the training camp issues so far and what are your fantasy projected issues for our division rivals in training camp? Mine is that Tom Brady gets bitten by Michael Vick's dog...

What Are You Waiting For?

We all know by now that Miami’s training camp practices start on the 2nd of August. There are several teams starting camp after we do, but we are the last AFC East team to get things rolling.

Team / First Practice

Buffalo / July 25th

N.E. / July 30th

N.Y. Jets / July 31st

Miami / Aug. 2nd

There’s a couple of things of interest here. First, we’ll get to see a full week of Buffalo’s failure before we turn our heads to Miami. Be prepared for an onslaught of T.O. on NFL Network and ESPN.

But the really interesting thing about these dates is linked to the signing of the rookie class.

Team / Signings

Buffalo / 2 of 8

N.E. / 8 of 12

N.Y. Jets / 3 of 3

Miami / 5 of 9

Yep, that’s right, Buffalo starts practicing in less than 4 days and they have only signed two of their draft picks, a 6th rounder and a 7th rounder, both cornerbacks. They both got 4 year deals. Meanwhile, they also drafted a cornerback in the 2nd round. Why they haven’t come to terms with their other late round picks at this juncture is beyond me, but it seems to me they’re too busy trying to book games in foreign countries or trying to find T.O. a house.

I Love You I Hate You I Love You I Hate You!

There really aren't too many ex-Dolphins that most fans wish had never left. Usually when they're cut/traded its for good reason.

I can't think of a good reason why we discarded Wes Welker and Larry Izzo, but they both ended up playing for AFC East rival, the New England Patriots. And while Welker is now starting to display his diva wide-receiver side, and Izzo's off the field antics are downright embarassing, not to mention his constant efforts to look like a cartoon magician, their on the field contributions to the Dolphins made their departures very noticeable to Dolfans.

But what's it like to go from one division team to another in the same division? Larry Izzo has now done it twice, as he will join the NY Jets for the 2009 season. Do you think the transition is more difficult or easier than coming from a team from another division?

I can only think of one other example of this situation off the top of my head when a beloved Dolphin linebacker flew the coop to play for the Jets and Patriots after a brief stint in Chicago. The truth is he was a superstar player for us and steadily declined once he left here. And he and Joey Porter don't get along one bit. I speak of course of former Dolphin bad-ass, and former Jets position coach, Bryan Cox. Despite the Jets having a noticeable power-corp at LB during his tenure there, new head coach, Sex Sighing, made no hesitation in replacing him.

Most people won't remember this but there was a time when there were indications that Dolphins all-time supreme being, Dan Marino would leave the Dolphins for another team. If memory serves, this actually happened TWICE in his career. I believe both times it was rumoured he wanted to play for the Steelers, but still, it would've changed the Dolphins history beyond recognition.

So I guess my question today to the readers is, what current Dolphin 'bubble' player are you most worried could end up playing for an AFC East team and ruining a couple of Sundays a year for us, a la Welker and Izzo?

I'm going to say I'm most worried about Wilford ending up on the Jets and becoming a perennial all-pro.

Yeah, right!

Rex Ry-Tard is at it again - UPDATED!

Rex Ryan has gotten the Dolphins mixed up in a renewed understanding of why no one in Miami will ever care about New England as a rival. The truth of the matter is that the Jets are and always will be the most hated rival of the Miami Dolphins and it's fans. A large reason for that is geography and socio-dynamics. You know what I mean. The damn Jets fans are all over South Florida. Florida is basically New York South. Sure there's some local flavour in there, but it's usually marred by a spitter from Jersey who thinks he looks good in his Jets jersey 365 days a year. That IS his wardrobe. And that is Rex Ryan's mentality too, wear it on your sleeve, pay no attention to the fact that everyone else is wearing tuxedos because you're at a wedding, just browse the buffet table in your shorts and Namath jersey.

Rex Ryan said he wishes he were younger so he could 'handle' Channing Crowder. Nah, you gotta see the whole quote:

Ryan didn't wait to address the remarks. In fact, in his just-concluded presser following a mini-camp practice - and with his father, former Eagles and Cardinals coach Buddy Ryan sitting in on the press conference - Rex Ryan brought the Crowder comments up before anyone asked.

"I don’t know this Channing Crowder," Ryan said. "All I know is that he’s all tatted up. He’s right about one thing. I’m a first-time head coach, but I’ve been around the game all my life. I'm no different than I’ver ever been, just that more people are listening."

Ryan's take on Crowder saying you don't win in June?

"I think he’s wrong," Ryan said. "You do win in June. You win with your preparation. If it was younger, I’d handle him myself. I’ve got no problem doing that. I’m confident in our football team. I'm confident in myself, the players, the coaches and the entire organization. That’s why I say the things I say. I make no apologies for any of those types of things."

More Rex:

"I know one thing. Our football team is going to be prepared and we're’ going to play our tails off and we’re going to give everything we got. If people have trouble with it, live with it, because it's gonna happen."

The last time I saw someone who is a professional head coach talk this way it was another guy who just doesn't 'get it' by the name of Lane Kiffin.

What does it take to find a coach who can understand that you have to be the bigger man (not that Crowder's remarks were inflammatory, I don't believe they were)? Where in Ryan's mind, with Tannenbaum watching, his own father, Budy Ryan watching, the entire press corp, and the fans, his friends and family and especially his team watching, does he think it's ok to say things like he would get into a fist fight with Crowder and that his team is the only one preparing for the season? What utter nonsense and imbecilic thought processes. These are exactly the kinds of traits one SHOULDN'T look for in a head coach. And these are exactly the reasons that Joey Porter will continue to mess with the Jets during pre-game, only this time he'll move past Bryan Cox and go straight for Rex Ryan.

UPDATE:

Now more Jets players are getting into it. This quote from Bart Scott says it all:

"Who said that?'' asked Scott, when told of Crowder's remarks. "Who's Crowder? See, I never even heard of the guy. Can I get a bio? You have to give me some personnel reports before you throw names out. I don't even know the guy.''

Since these guys are having such a hard time, I'll tell them who Channing Crowder is. He's the starting linebacker for the Dolphins, your AFC East division rivals who you'll play twice this year, and who you played against 3 times in the last two years with Baltimore. If you don't know who he is you are not "preparing" properly so you'd better shut your mouths and get to it.

p.s. Scott, you had 82 tackles in 16 games last year, Crowder had 113. tackles in 15 games. Show some damn respect.

The AFC East (thank heavens we're not those other guys!)

I've never been even remotely interested in the New England Patriots, or the New York Jets. The Indianapolis Colts were out of the Division for TWO whole years before I even noticed the NFL had re-structured the league. In the early 90's, when I first became exposed to the Dolphins (and American football), the only team you paid attention to with any sense of anxiety or interest were the Buffalo Bills. They WERE the AFC East in those days, winning 6 Division Championships in an 8 year span (Miami won the other two) from 1988 thru 1995. The newspaper used to love coming up with clever articles like, 'Who would win in a fight, a Buffalo or a Dolphin'. It was also at this time that suddenly every Buffalo fan in the world exposed their lack of knowledge of Biology and Natural Science. It is single-handedly because of Buffalo fans from this era that people to this day refer to the Dolphins as 'FISH".

The AFC East was formed in 1970, and since then each team has won the division at least twice. That's right, Jet fans. In 39 years, you have only won your Division TWICE. And it took you, get this, TWENTY-NINE years to win it finally in 1998. This coincidentally was a direct result of Bill Parcells coming in the previous year and transforming another one win team into a division winner. It took him two years and complete control in New York. It took him one year and a supporting cast here in Miami.

In its 39 years, the AFC East has lifted its Championship skirt 14 times for Miami, 10 for New England, 7 for Buffalo, 6 times for Baltimore/Indy, and has let New York have a pity **** twice.

But one thing the Jets have always brought to the table, if not wins, is a brash, cocky attitude and a speak-first mentality. It's sort of a running joke these days how many times a Jets player has 'guaranteed' something. Must be something in the water up there.

The Patriots have taken a different approach. Let the play do the talking (and back up the play with a few cards up the sleeves).

The Bills have slid perpetually into darkness in the last ten years. Sure, they show up to play, but between player-arrests, the Owner trying to move the team to Antarctica, and T.O., the team seems forever stuck in a rut caused by the pain of their Super Bowl losses. I can't blame them. If the Dolphins had just 3 shots at the Super Bowl in the history of the big game, had those 3 opportunites in 4 years, and lost all three, I would be the first person lining up at the methodone clinic. Although, at least Miami has girls in bikinis. Buffalo has old ladies in parkas.

I bring all this up because lately the 3 'other' AFC East teams have had rather loose lips and have been letting everyone know either they're not ready (Patriots), they're better than everyone else (Jets) or they are trying to end up in prison because it might be nicer than Ralph Wilson Stadium (talk about a douche-bag, naming your stadium after yourself - get ready for the 2010 Stephen Ross Stadium.)

Some examples:



BTW, Wilfork, you look more like a professional steak-eater than a football player in this video.

"The defense is oozing confidence. Maybe it's because it's facing the Jets' offense every day (ouch!), but there's a definite swagger. S Kerry Rhodes expressed the confidence the other day on his Twitter account, writing, "We will be the best defense in the league this year. I feel for the offenses we're gonna face.

He isn't alone. I asked LB Calvin Pace about Rhodes' statement, and Pace said of the Jets' defense, "I don't think you'll find a better team on paper." ~ Rich Cimini, NY Daily News

And I'd love to post something from the Bills but the last entry from Bills camp was from May 28th - a full week ago and it was about starting CB Terrence McGee blowing out his knee while covering T.O. The only other news was that T.O. was house shopping. Even the Sports writers up there have given up.

The truth of the matter is, it's not always easy being a Miami Dolphin, losing out on the lime-light because you're less suicidal than Buffalo, less egotistical than New York, and (sigh) just not New England, who even get more press coverage when they're taking a nap.

But some things I have noticed after years of following the Dolphins:

1. We have the best weather in the AFC East.
2. We've won more games, and division championships than anyone else in the AFC East.
3. An average game ticket for the Dolphins is exactly HALF the price of an average Patriots ticket.
4. (a-hem) hottest female fans in the AFC East.
5. Anytime we have a really crappy QB, we dump him immediately, saving fans from the frustration of having to see his face for years.
6. Despite the Jets fans theory that the Dolphins suck, Dolphins are incapable of actually physically sucking whereas a Jet engine, at it's very core function, is all about SUCKING in one end and THRUSTING out another. See diagram below...