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Two Dolphins Possibly Killed by Techno Music in Switzerland

Kyle Munzenrieder — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:18:46 +0000

Sure, this tragic tale took place in Switzerland, but Miami is home to almost as many dolphins as it’s to techno DJs, and its a sad reminder that the two should never, ever be mixed.The Connyland… Continue reading “Two Dolphins Possibly Killed by Techno Music in Switzerland Read More

Holy Crap, the Dolphins Won Again!

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:43:11 +0000

Well that about wraps it up for the first overall pick. The Miami Dolphins were able to both grab an early lead and then not vomit all over it by taking down the vaunted indomitable unconquerabl… Continue reading “Holy Crap, the Dolphins Won Again!” >

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Holy Crap, the Dolphins Won Again!

Beach Blogger — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:43:11 +0000

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Miami Dolphins midseason report: Awards, honors and superlatives through the first 8 games

Beach Blogger — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:08:16 +0000

Everyone else in the country is doing midseason awards and superlatives now that the NFL regular season is halfway complete, so why can’t we jump into the ring, too? The Dolphins are 1-7, so the awards will tend to skew toward the negative. But there have been good performances mixed in with the bad, and some memorable moments so far this year. So here is a look at our midseason awards and superlatives for the Dolphins: Best moment of the first half: Tony Sparano’s post-game speech after last week’s win over the Chiefs. After seven frustrating weeks, it was good to see the Dolphins finally have something to smile about. “You were supposed to win today!” a fiery Sparano told his players. “That’s what it’s about. You believing in you. Nobody else matters.” Worst moment of the first half: When Matt Prater kicked a 52-yard field goal in overtime to complete the Broncos’ miraculous 18-15 comeback victory over the Dolphins on “Gator Day.” That kick punctuated a bizarre, embarrassing day in Dolphins franchise history. Team MVP: Punter Brandon Fields. Seriously, can you think of anyone else who has played consistently well through the first eight games? Cameron Wake does have 5.5 sacks but was mostly quiet in early-season losses. Karlos Dansby, Kevin Burnett and Yeremiah Bell have been playing lights out in recent weeks, but were terrible to start the season. Jake Long has allowed five sacks, Brandon Marshall has dropped at least five touchdowns and Reggie Bush was invisible for four games. Fields, meanwhile, is eighth in the NFL with a 48.6 average, 40.7 net and 17 of his 40 kicks landing inside the 20. Biggest disappointment: CBs Vontae Davis and Sean Smith. Davis said in training camp that they were the best tandem in the league, but they’ve been anything but. Neither has an interception this year, and they have just two combined since the beginning of the 2010 season. Davis has missed three games with a hamstring injury and one game to suspension for not acting like a professional. Smith, meanwhile, has allowed opposing quarterbacks to compile a 105.7 passer rating when targeting him this year. They Are Who We Thought They Were award: RT Marc Colombo. Though he’s had a solid 10-year NFL career, he clearly lost a step last year in Dallas after coming off a broken leg, and the Cowboys cut him in July, to little surprise. The Dolphins got the benefit of the doubt when they signed him to play right tackle – maybe Sparano knows something we don’t? – but Colombo has played to form, allowing three sacks, eight quarterback hits and 22 pressures through eight games. Most intriguing player: RB Reggie Bush. He started slowly as both he and the Dolphins tried to figure out exactly how to use him. But Bush has put together two strong games in a row, gaining 262 total yards. Against Kansas City, Bush had runs of 17, 18 and 28 yards and a catch of 27 yards. Against the Giants, runs of 35 and 28 yards. The Dolphins, meanwhile, have six touchdown in their last two games. If he can continue to gain big chunks of yards, the Dolphins could make some noise in the second half. Best rookie: C Mike Pouncey. The rookie class has done well for the most part – Daniel Thomas rushed for 202 yards in his first game before being hampered by a hamstring injury, Charles Clay is averaging 18 yards per catch and Jimmy Wilson has been a great find in the seventh round as both a cornerback and special teams contributor. But Pouncey has been a solid anchor on the line – Pro Football Focus ranks him 15th among 37 centers this year – and is finally the long-term answer at center the Dolphins have spent four years looking for. Quietest rookie: WR Clyde Gates. The fourth-rounder out of Abilene Christian was supposed to be the speedy vertical threat that the Dolphins’ offense has sorely lacked. But he has just one catch for eight yards this year, and ranks just 25th in kickoff return average (22.1 yards). Worst luck: Chad Henne. In a make-or-break year, suffers a season-ending shoulder surgery on a busted running play in Week 4. The injury ruined his chance to prove whether he can be the team’s quarterback after this year, and now his Dolphins career is probably over. Biggest enigma: WR Brandon Marshall. His very first catch of the season was an acrobatic 31-yard sideline catch over a defender against the Patriots. And at times he looks dominant, with three separate 100-yard games this year. But as we all know, he’s dropped at least five touchdowns and has disappeared in the Red Zone. And he leads the NFL with nine drops this year. He’s one of the most physically dominant receivers in the NFL, but his inconsistent play leaves Dolphins fans shaking their heads. Worst loss: The Denver loss certainly was embarrassing – not only because they lost to the worst starting QB in the league (Tim Tebow), but because they became the first team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to blow a 15-point lead in the final 3 minutes of regulation. But we’ll give this award to the Week 3 loss at Cleveland for letting Colt McCoy (Colt McCoy!) drive 80 yards in the final two minutes and score the game-winning touchdown to seal a one-point loss for the Dolphins. Miami dominated that game for 58 minutes and had no business losing to a poor Browns team. Most to prove: QB Matt Moore. Was fantastic against the Chiefs, and not-so-fantastic against the Jets, Broncos and Giants. If he continues to play well, he could potentially enter next season as the starting quarterback. If not, he could find himself on the cutting block this spring, along with 15-25 of his teammates. Name to forget: Andrew Luck. Sorry Dolfans, it isn’t happening. Start researching Landry Jones, Matt Barkley or Robert Griffin. What Happened To These Guys? award: LT Jake Long and ILB Kevin Burnett. Long has already allowed five sacks (career high is six in a season) and is ranked just the 18th-best left tackle this year by Pro Football Focus, though he did have a fantastic game last week in shutting down the Chiefs’ Tamba Hali. Burnett has been lights out the past two weeks, leading the Dolphins with 23 tackles and 1.5 sacks, but he was awful in the beginning of the season, missing tackles left and right and getting beaten in coverage. We’ll see if their recent strong performances is a sign that they’ve figured things out. Best coaching move of the year: There haven’t been many, but moving Tyrone Culver in the free safety spot has brought stability to the defense. Reshad Jones and Chris Clemons have been hurt for most of the season, and Jones committed several costly communication errors early in the season. Worst coaching move of the year: Not putting more run stuffers on the defensive line for Tim Tebow’s two-point conversion, especially since every coach and player said they “knew” Tebow was going to run. So load up the box and dare him to throw the ball. Quote of the Year 1: “I know one thing about these guys: They’re not going to stop quitting.” – Chad Henne after the loss to Cleveland. A slip of the tongue turns into the funniest quote of the year and gives the “Suck for Luck” crowd some hope. Quote of the Year 2: “That quarter-and-a-half I’m out there, I’m going to play like a monster.” – Brandon Marshall, explaining to reporters that he was going to get fired up and eventually kicked out of the Monday Night game against the Jets. Anyone with half a brain knew that Marshall was joking, and for some reason, this part of the quote is really funny to us. Quote of the Year 3: “We were up 15 points with what, five minutes left to go? And we couldn’t win it? It’s disgusting. Right now, this team stinks.” – Reggie Bush after the loss to Denver. We appreciate the blunt honesty.

The 2nd Annual Miami Dolphins Cycling Challenge Doubles Ridership To Fight Cancer in South Florida

Beach Blogger — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:33:25 +0000

The 2nd Annual Miami Dolphins Cycling Challenge Doubles Ridership To Fight Cancer in South Florida $1 million goal remains in sight with three weeks left before check presentation;100% of Rider-Generated Fundraising Stays in South Florida Ft.

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Miami Dolphins Talking Points: Matt Moore’s performance will likely prevent Chad Henne from returning next year

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:30:06 +0000

Three Dolphins Talking Points to get you through your Tuesday morning: 1. Chad Henne shouldn’t expect to return next year. Henne has been a good sport in his four years as a Dolphin. He’s been the target of much derision the past two years as his performance fell short of team and fan expectations, but he has taken the criticism in stride and been a good teammate and good member of the community. Henne, an unrestricted free agent after the season, spoke publicly Monday night for the first time since suffering a season-ending shoulder injury on Oct. 2, and expressed his desire to re-sign with the Dolphins. “I’m gung-ho about this team and playing here and being a Dolphin. I’m all about the Dolphins,” he said Monday. “Hopefully I get a chance to come back here. If not my time will be done, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to play down here. (My wife and I) love it. I think we’ll retire down here. We’ll always have a home down here because we enjoy it.” It wouldn’t be the worst idea to bring Henne back next year on a one- or two-year contract. Even if the Dolphins draft a quarterback in the first round – which many expect the team to do, especially if they hold a top-10 pick in April’s draft – they’ll still need a veteran backup to mentor the rookie and perhaps even play for a year or two until the rookie is ready. Henne wouldn’t be a bad fit for that role, especially if he would be willing to play at a reasonable salary. But there’s one problem for Henne: Matt Moore . Moore already is under contract for next year at a very reasonable $2.5 million. And Moore, 27, is already playing as well as Henne, if not better. The Dolphins will have little incentive to bring Henne back now that Moore has essentially taken his spot. And Henne is better than a third-string quarterback. There is a spot for him in this league, and some team will sign him as a steady veteran backup or perhaps as someone who could compete for a starting job next training camp. That team just likely won’t be the Dolphins. 2. Matt Moore was locked in on Sunday. That’s an obvious statement, based on the pristine stats – 17-of-23 passing, 244 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions, 147.5 passer rating. But he wasn’t just merely executing the plays called into him by offensive coordinator Brian Daboll . Moore had complete control over the offense, and there was no better display of that than his 35-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Fasano . The play was a beautiful piece of misdirection. The entire offensive line up-blocked to the left, Moore faked the handoff to Daniel Thomas , rolled to his right, then fired all the way back left to a wide-open Fasano, who then shrugged off a defender and fell into the end zone for the score. And the play also happened to be an audible that Moore called at the line of scrimmage. “It was just a man-to-man check,” he said Monday. “They gave us the right look, we executed pretty well. It was good to get to that play and hit it.” Moore now has five games under his belt. Sunday’s game was by far his best. This week against Washington will be a good barometer to see if Moore has gotten more comfortable with the Dolphins’ offense, or if Sunday’s win over the Chiefs was just a really good day. 3. Props to the offensive line and team’s lack of penalties. We’ve spent a lot of time this year dissecting all of the negative stats and performances of the Dolphins’ players and coaches, but with Sunday’s impressive win, we’ll highlight a couple positive areas of the team. One is the offensive line, which has been the target of much scorn this year from fans and media. The line still has major problems – Marc Colombo , in particular has been a matador at right tackle – but the unit was phenomenal against the Chiefs. The linemen didn’t allow a sack all game for the first time this season. Tamba Hali , last year’s AFC sack king, was completely neutralized by Jake Long , Colombo and the running backs and tight ends and finished with two tackles and zero sacks. The site Pro Football Focus gave four of the linemen above-average grades for the game, and Vernon Carey was the only one graded slightly below average. “They played with pretty relentless effort yesterday up front,” Tony Sparano said Monday. And it wasn’t just the linemen. Fasano, Charles Clay , the wide receivers and even Thomas were relentless in run blocking. Go back and re-watch Reggie Bush’s 28-yard touchdown run. Clay and Thomas were busting their humps downfield to spring Bush, who complimented his teammates on Monday. “It was pretty wide open,” he said. “All I had to do was really just run.” “There was just a lot of people helping a lot of people,” Sparano added. Also, the Dolphins’ discipline must be commended – outside of Yeremiah Bell’s three personal foul penalties, of course. The Dolphins did have seven penalties for 49 yards, but the only pre-snap penalties were an illegal shift on Davone Bess and a false start on Marvin Mitchell on a punt. “No false start penalties, none of those things,” Sparano said. “In that kind of game against a physical team you’re going to have some of those (aggressive) penalties, but none of those pre-snap things.” And it wasn’t just an isolated performance. For the season, the Dolphins have the second-fewest penalties (38) and penalty yards (323). The Dolphins may be 1-7, but at least Sparano has them playing disciplined football.

Vontae Davis Showed Up to Dolphins Practice Drunk

Kyle Munzenrieder — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:21:51 +0000

Vontae Davis, the Dolphin’s 2009 first-round draft pick, didn’t play in Sunday’s game. Rumors sparks that that Davis was left back at home because he got into a fight with Brandon Marshall, but a… Continue reading “Vontae Davis Showed Up to Dolphins Practice Read More

Miami New Times Dominates Florida Press Club Awards

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:02:20 +0000

Miami New Times dominated this past weekend’s Florida Press Club Awards in Saint Augustine. The newspaper took ten awards, more than any other in the state.Among the winners: Frank Alvarado and … Continue reading “Miami New Times Dominates Florida Press Club Awards” Read More

The Miami Dolphins Even Suck at Sucking

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:39:03 +0000

Finally, just when it mattered the least, when a win couldn’t possibly do anything to change the fortunes of this season, this coaching staff, or this fan base’s hopes, the Dolphins FINALLY pull… Continue reading “The Miami Dolphins Even Suck at Sucking” > Read More

Talking Points: Miami Dolphins finally realize that pass-first is the way to go

Beach Blogger — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:23:59 +0000

Programming note: Please join Ben at 10:30 a.m. Eastern for a live Dolphins Q&A. Click the link to ask a question. A trio of Dolphins talking points to kickstart your Monday: 1. Dolphins finally realize: Pass-first is the way to go. When Tony Sparano and Bill Parcells arrived in Miami four years ago, they made no secret of the fact that they wanted a big, tough, physical football team that could run the football. This year, with Parcells gone and Sparano fighting to save his job, Sparano vowed that his offense would become more aggressive and try to move the ball more through the air. But it took Sparano eight games to truly buy into that philosophy. And the result, coincidence or not, was a 31-3 thrashing of the Chiefs. The Dolphins ran 18 plays in the first half, and 15 of them were pass plays (one turned into a scramble by Matt Moore). Reggie Bush , meanwhile, had three carries for nine yards. Daniel Thomas didn’t even touch the ball in the half. “Early in the game, our thought was that we had to be the aggressor on offense, we had to throw it,” Sparano said afterward. And it worked. Moore completed 11-of-14 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns as the Dolphins jumped out to a 14-3 lead. They also had five plays of 20-plus yards in the first half. The run-pass balance evened out in the second half as the Dolphins protected their lead, with the Dolphins calling 27 passes and just 20 runs. (Yes, the Dolphins scored 31 points on just 47 offensive plays, an average of .66 points per play.) And the Dolphins may not have completely re-shaped their identity as a pass-first team. Even after Sunday’s game, the Dolphins rank just 26th in passing attempts per game (31.2) and 16th in rushing attempts per game (26.8). But it’s good to see that Sparano and the Dolphins have realized – at least for one day – that the NFL is now a passing league. 2. Miami’s inside linebackers aren’t so bad, after all. Karlos Dansby and Kevin Burnett took a lot of flak during the first two months of the season for their subpar play. They missed tackles, got burned in coverage, didn’t make any impact plays and had fans wondering why the Dolphins gave them $22 million (Dansby) and $10 million (Burnett) in guaranteed money. But the two have quietly stepped up their play in recent weeks, and were phenomenal in Sunday’s win. Burnett, the free agent signee from San Diego who replaced Channing Crowder in the lineup, led the Dolphins in tackles for the second straight week with 12. He also had 1.5 sacks (his first of the season), three tackles for loss and two quarterback hits. “Just because it didn’t show up in the stat sheet doesn’t mean I wasn’t playing well,” Burnett said. Fair enough. But it’s a lot easier to talk about Burnett’s good play when it does show up in the stat sheet. Dansby, meanwhile, finally looks completely healthy from a nagging groin injury. He was second with 11 tackles – two for loss – and a forced fumble. Burnett, now in his seventh NFL season, said the losing and inconsistent play this year have taught him valuable life lessons. ““This (season) is really teaching me to be more grateful when you win games, and it’s really teaching me to stay in the moment,” he said. 3. Give props to the pass rush, as well. Through the Dolphins’ first five games, their entire defensive line combined for zero sacks. Yes, you read that right – zero sacks. And the linebackers weren’t doing much better. Three games later, that problem has definitely been fixed. The Dolphins sacked Tim Tebow six times and hit him another nine. The Dolphins only sacked Eli Manning once, but hit him seven times. And Sunday, they made life miserable for Matt Cassel , sacking him five times and hitting him another nine. Tony McDaniel and Tyrone Culver picked up their first sacks of the season (and first sack of Culver’s career), while Jared Odrick had a sack, Cameron Wake had half a sack, and Jason Taylor hit the quarterback twice. The Dolphins also had nine tackles for loss. “You can definitely say that those guys put the game on their backs, because Cassel was constantly running for his life,” cornerback Sean Smith said. It’s funny how much better the rest of the defense looks when the Dolphins get consistent pressure on the quarterback.