Monday Morning Dolphins Notes

As NFL players spend the last weeks before the start of a new season traveling or spending time with family, news is a bit sparse. If anyone gets arrested we’ll all know right away, but there’s not a ton of football news happening. Still, that doesn’t mean we don’t have some good Dolphins items to brighten your Monday morning…

Fortunately for Dolphins fans the one Fin who seems to be the most active is the one who intrigues us the most. Brandon Marshall has been quite busy over the past week making the media rounds, hosting his first Miami-based skills camp and just generally exciting Dolphins fans all over.

Obviously it’s good to see Brandon getting involved in the community. But it’s more important that he seems extremely happy. I don’t know Brandon Marshall from Adam, but at least if he seems happy that gives me some confidence that he’ll play like we want and no issues will arise. The team has definitely shown him some preferential treatment, after two years of a team-first philosophy they have clearly back-tracked a bit to allow Brandon some luxuries (such as an introductory presser, you sure didn’t see Karlos Dansby at one), but it seems to have kept him happy.

What got me fired up though were Marshall’s comments to Boston Globe reporter Albert Breer. For starters, it’s always nice when you realize how some others in competing cities view our team:

"But the idea is that giving emerging third-year quarterback Chad Henne that kind of weapon, to pair with a dominant running game, will push a big, bullying, young offense over the top."

They may just be words, but when a Patriots writer is referring to Miami as having a big, bullying, young offense, I get a little bit turned on. More importantly though were Marshall’s words. After an off-season that saw him married and traded, he professes to be at peace. To have turned the corner. Time will be the judge of that, but he sounds pretty damn persuasive. For isntance when asked about hosting three free skills camps for children (the first of which was the aforementioned Miami camp), Marshall offered this remark:

"“It’s easy for us to tell someone to straighten up or do things different, but I think people respect and listen more hearing it from someone who’s been through some things,’’ Marshall said. “I’ve been through a lot in a short time, and it took me a while to ‘get it.’ And I think that happened for a reason: so I can help others not make the mistakes I did."

Enough of that philanthropic, vaguely humanist junk though, this is a football site, right? Fortunately Marshall is still just as brash and confident as ever.

"“It will be the biggest year I’ve ever had,’’ said Marshall. “As far as wins and production, it’s going to be a big, big year. The best year I’ve had so far.’’"

"“It’s football, football, football,’’ Marshall said. “The organization is all about football. All that other stuff that comes with being in the NFL that can get in the way, it doesn’t happen here.“We’ve got a coach [Sparano] that’s probably one of the most passionate in the game, a team that’s fairly young and wants to win now. Even in the weight room, you see that passion. It carries over everywhere. We can do great things.“My time in Denver was great. I was surrounded by a great group of guys. But I’m going to say that I never had a chance to go through an offseason where the guys spend every day together on the field and off. We really are one.’’"

That oughta fire you up a bit, especially the last portion about the team spending every day together, on the field and off. I truly am a believer in camaraderie and team-building. I say that from both a professional standpoint and well as an athletic one, and the fact that Marshall is so new to the team but sees these elements already strongly built into it, really speaks volumes about that “culture of winning” we were all promised when Bill Parcells came in a couple years ago. Of course it could just all be one very big convincing party line. But, that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun, would it?