Reviewing The First Half of The Season
So, we’ve reached the halfway point of the season already and with the bye week coming up, it’s a perfect time to review Miami’s play so far this year.
I’m just going to keep it simple by listing things that have gone wrong (there is plenty), things that have gone good (there has to be at least one right?) and how I see things play out down the road.
Since we’re 0-8, it’s obvious that there’s been plenty of negatives and I guess I’ll get those out of the way first…
The Bad
– The crazy amount of injuries. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that the two teams that have been hit the hardest with injuries this year (Miami and St. Louis) are the ones still looking for their first win.
Trent Green is out for the year as are Ronnie Brown, Renaldo Hill, Yeremiah Bell and Drew Mormino. Zach Thomas has missed significant time while Travaris Tillman, Vonnie Holliday, Channing Crowder and David Martin have all been hurt. Let’s not forget that Joey Porter also had off-season knee surgery and that he missed the entire pre-season because of it.
– The decline of the defense. Age and injuries have led to the decline of this once dominant unit and while a decline could have been expected, I’m sure that no one thought it would be this bad.
A unit that was ranked 4th overall last season is now one of the league’s worst and teams have been able to do whatever they want when they have the ball. The Raiders demonstrated that they could run like crazy while the likes of Cleveland and New England could just stand back and take advantage of the weak secondary. And just like that, a unit that was once the heart and soul of this team has become its biggest weakness.
– Joey Porter. To say that Joey Porter has been the biggest free agent bust so far is an understatement. Porter got a big contract and was expected to join Thomas and Taylor in a defense that would be even more aggressive and swarming than ever before.
But so far it has been anything but that. Porter has been invisible most of the time when he’s on the field and finally got his first sack during week 7 of the season. Not something you want from a guy who just got a 5 year, 32 million dollar deal.
– The failed Trent Green era. This one hurts extra because of the fact that Green is such a class act and he really didn’t deserve to go out like that. Green genuinely wanted to be here, he was brought in because he was familiar with the offense and he was going to be a great tutor for Beck.
But people jumped all over the organization because Culpepper was let go and because Quinn was passed up. What everyone seems to forget or ignore is that Culpepper showed absolutely nothing during his time here and he’s still not showing much for the Raiders.
The plan was to get Beck and Green was going to be the guy he was going to learn from, ala Carson Palmer and Jon Kitna. For Green to go down while laying a block downfield and then to hear the negative comments that followed…that just made a tough season even worse.
– People not being patient with Coach Cameron and co. Like I said before, he didn’t inherit the Patriots roster or the Cowboys roster. The man comes in with a plan to turn a team around that hasn’t made the play-offs in years and people somehow think that he can achieve that in four to five weeks.
I’ll ask you something. Are you missing Randy McMichael? Are you missing Olindo Mare? Are you missing Culpepper because I’m sure not missing them. People just need to realize that this isn’t going to get turned around over night. To weed out the crap and build a winner takes time.
– The poor execution. You hear coaches always say that the one thing you can’t do is to turn the ball over or commit dumb penalties that help out the other team. Well, that’s exactly what this team has been doing.
The margin between winning and losing is so small that you can’t afford to commit 4 penalties on one single drive like we saw against the Giants. You can’t afford to have an interception called back because of defensive holding. You can’t afford having a kick-off return called back because of a hold or an illegal block.
– The close losses. 4 out of the 8 losses have been by a field goal and it makes you wonder that this team could be 3-5 right now with a few bounces here and there. Now, don’t get me wrong. Being 3-5 is nothing to be happy about and it wouldn’t change the fact that we are rebuilding, but maybe it would quiet the critics a bit. Those who seem to blame the coach for certain things that are not within his control.
But hey, luckily there have been a few bright spots as well for us in between all this negativity…
The Good
– Ronnie Brown. Yes, I know that he’s done for the season but he finally got to show what he can do behind a decent offensive line. I’ve argued that Brown put up great numbers considering the offensive line and the offense he played in during his first two seasons and I told anyone who wants to listen that this guy will put up crazy numbers when he’s put in a decent offense with a solid O-line and that’s basically what he did during the first 7 weeks.
Bill Belichick called him the best offensive player he had seen this season when New England was getting ready for Miami in week 7. The CBS announcers said that he was the closest thing to L.T. right now and Michael David Smith called his performance against the Jets the best he’s seen from a running back all year.
– The progression from the offensive line. This ties right into the previous point. Hudson Houck is working his magic whit this O-line and it shows. The line has gone from a weakness to a strength and Vernon Carey suddenly looks like a great pick and a guy that will anchor this line for years to come.
And I can’t mention the o-line without mentioning Samson Satele. For all the heat that coach Cameron gets for drafting Ginn, he gets far too little credit for Satele who has been great so far.
It should come as no surprise then that Ronnie Brown was able to run so well because he finally had that line do something for him. Same can be said for Jesse Chatman. I really don’t think that it’s a coincidence that he came in and ran so well last week.
– Ted Ginn. I may be in the minority here but I’m really excited to see this kid develop and become a big time threat for this offense. He showed his return abilities against the Browns and that catch against the Giants last Sunday was sick. He just needs time.
– The Jason Allen ultimatum. Allen has had plenty of obstacles during his short NFL career. He missed time during his holdout, he had to learn a pretty complicated defense and they tried to make him learn 2 positions, something that probably messed him up even more.
But coach Cameron did what basically needs to be done. He threw Allen in there and told him that if he doesn’t make it now as a safety, that he’s never make it then. It’s now or never for Allen and he responded against the Giants.
– Committing to the rebuilding. This team was not going to compete for a play-off spot this year and the Chris Chambers trade basically confirmed that we are in rebuilding mode. It may not be what you want to hear, but it’s the reality and it’s something we need to go through before we make it back to the top.
What to expect in the second half
I expect that this team will continue to play hard and try to get that first win because no one wants to go winless. The schedule has some tough games left and a few of those (Steelers, Pats, Ravens, Eagles) might get ugly, but I don’t see them giving up.
I hope that we’ll get to see John Beck sooner rather than later because it’s time for him to show what he’s capable of. The more playing time that guys like Allen, Ginn, Derek Hagan and Beck can get right now, the better.
In the end, I can see this team finish 2-14, maybe 1-15 and I expect that to have no worse than the second overall pick. Mister Huizenga has said that the team will be evaluated from top to bottom and I’m hoping that he gives Randy Mueller and Cameron time to fix this mess.
The upcoming draft will also be very big for this organization but we’ll get to that in a bit.