"Positives? POSITIVES? What Positives?"

Jim Mora said something…well similar to that and as I sat down to try and put a positive spin on yesterdays game I realized that “Playoffs, Playoffs, what playoffs” kept running through my head…obviously with a different word.

I have had almost a full day, well at least a full night to back out of the stew that I was in yesterday after that loss, and I realized that I was no surprised, considering that I unfortunately predicted the Miami Dolphins to lose 31-17.  I guess I should be happy we scored 20.

As I watched the game back last night, I realized one thing stood out.  It appeared that Miami was playing in Dallas instead of the other way around, and yes, I am referring to the fans.  Granted there was not much to cheer about, there were even fewer plays to get hyped up about, but the Dolphins fans were almost non-existent for much of the game.  The Cowboys fans however were not.

Jason Taylor was shown early on walking to the end-zone wall and yanking down a Cowboy fan sign…at first you had to laugh, but then you realized as you looked around that there were quite a few fans dressed in the silver and blue.  You could hear them too.

Miami opened the game with a field goal, Miami fans cheered.  The Cowboys marched down the field and tied the game.  The Cowboys fans cheered louder.  And so it went the entire game.  Patrick Crayton electrified the stands with punt returns in the second half…and I do mean electrify, the sound coming through my TV was louder than the sound coming through it when the Dolphins pinned the Boys deep into their own territory…flag or no flag.  Yesterday was appalling.  It was appalling to watch a game that was played so poorly in the 2nd half, and it was appalling listening to the fans make so much noise throughout the game, fans of the opposition.  If I were a Dolphins player after the game I think my instincts would have told me to head to the bus for the plane ride home, rather than my car.

Cam Cameron has made some mistakes this off-season.  In the eyes of fans, you can do no right as you will not please everyone.  I was one that was and still am thrilled that Cameron chose Green over Daunte.  Even with the horrendous day that Green had yesterday.  To me Green represents a teacher of sorts for the youngster John Beck to learn from…not game play, game preparation.  To others, that was a huge mistake.  Cameron chose a lot of different avenues that leave fans shaking their heads, or scratching them.  Welker for Satele and Wright?  Good or bad?  McMichaels and his salary and drops for Martin and his drops, Ginn over Quinn, Porter over a lineman, any lineman, the pre-season, the conditioning of training camp, there are so many things to point out that are wrong, and there are so many fans willing to do just that.

So what about finding the positives in the game?  Well you would have to look very closely to see them.  There were only a few.  The game plan of Cameron looks to have enough wrinkles that if executed properly will provide plenty of scoring opportunities.  Yesterday we saw plenty of open WRs’ that Trent Green flat out missed, we saw glimpses of a running game that just couldn’t establish itself consistently, o.k, it could not establish itself at all, sans one drive.   Cameron has a play-book, what he doesn’t have is the personnel.  He and Randy Mueller will try and change that.  It will not be done overnight, and it will not be done in year 1.

For now, it is easier to bask in the horror of what we saw yesterday rather than look ahead to what we might see tomorrow.  This team does not seem to be headed in the right direction, but that too can be an allusion.  Cam Cameron and Randy Mueller have the daunting task of taking  a poor team and making it better.  Will they?  Who knows, but more games like yesterday will make it a lot harder to be positive.