Miami Dolphins
3
Well this team has had very illustrious history. The 1972 "Perfect Season" remains their biggest calling card. However, I think that this franchise has deteriorated somewhat since, especially, the retirement of Don Shula, who holds the record as the winningest coach in NFL history. Over the past 20 years, including Shula's last years with the team, the team has at times been good enough to be contenders, but never good enough. You had those years under Dan Marino that the offense was run very well, but the defense consistently underperformed. Then under Jimmy Johnson, the team started playing very good defense, but Johnson's focus on shoring up the running game arguably ruined Marino's best chance at going for the Super Bowl, by deemphasizing the passing game that he was very good at.
Since Marino's departure, the Dolphins have been lost, searching for solutions at quarterback. In the past two years, they have blown 2 2nd round draft picks and nearly $45 million dollars combined on deparation moves to find the next Dan Marino. The first time, in 2004, they believed that A.J. Feeley, a third string quarterback with the Eagles, was their Savior. They signed him for $20 million with promises that he will be the starting quarterback that year. Turned out that he couldn't even beat out the other quarterbacks on the team, all of whom had been backups with other teams. The team went 4-12 and the Head Coach lost his job that year.
Of course, history is always prelude, as the Dolphins probably made the same mistake again with recruiting Daunte Culpepper. But to fair, the problem seems to be more organizational. They believed, as admittedly I did and many of the fans have over the past few years, that you can have a playoff contender by signing moderately priced free agents and hoping that big playmakers like Jason Taylor on defense and Ricky Williams on offense can give you enough wins to get into the playoffs. However, that hasn't been the case. Indeed, Taylor is probably the only player on this team which I can say has always played consistently well. Ricky is one of the best RB's in the league, but his baggage has also hurt the team at times.
Lesson to take away: Teams that do well consistently also draft well, on offense, drafting a good nose tackle along with a good QB are really integral. On defense, cornerbacks and defensive backs are important, among other positions like Safeties. The Dolphins are an example of a team that has willfully neglected these positions in the draft because they believed that any free agent dropped by a top caliber team can fill in reasonably. And they have at times, but other times, they have blown major draft pick for such free agents, Ricky Williams being a prime example, who was worth two 1st rounders. The net result of all of this is an old defense that's slowing down, an offense which cannot score because their QB can't make plays. Missed tackles, too many turnovers, inconsistent use of the running game, bad blocking schemes are just part of the problem associated with this lack of talent. Hell, they lost to the Houston Texans on the road on the road this year! This year has been a disappointing year because so many people believed that the Dolphins had the coaching talent to make big things happen, even with mediocrity. New coach Nick Saban indeed is a very intelligent coach, but either you have talent or you don't: it's that simple. He can devise game winning plays; the key is whether your people can execute them. The best path for the Dolphins is to simply start re-building through the draft, which they will probably be in good position to do this year, as they will probably have a top 5 pick.
