Miami Dolphins fans embracing the change and re-build with humor
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins are re-building and their fan base is having a bit of fun with the changes that have been made and are still to come.
Miami Dolphins fans on social media are having a bit of fun getting along with the changes that the team is undergoing. After years, decades of disappointment, fans are ready for real change and when it was announced that Ryan Fitzpatrick would be leading the team in 2019, fans took it in stride with mixes of humor and sarcasm.
Many on social media commented on how fun the 2019 season will be as Fitzpatrick leads a talented offense at skill positions with games that will provide 400 yards passing and four touchdowns and the nest game with six pick-six interceptions. Fitzpatrick won’t be the whipping boy who many fans targeted in Ryan Tannehill but he isn’t going to win many hearts either.
Overall fans are excited to see the Dolphins in 2019. Not sure if they should jump up and down and scream and yell or sit back and laugh. One thing however is clear, no one is calling to resign as a Dolphins fan. They know what is coming and they are embracing it.
Fans are tired of the average seasons. The losing seasons. They are tired of the wasted years of talent only to watch the team win seven or eight games, miss the playoffs and draft in the middle of round one. They are tired of the team not targeting a quarterback to challenge the incumbent and they have grown tired of the coaching carousel and scheme changes. At least now they do it with a grin.
Quarterback is the hot topic for many fans. Knowing that in 2019 or 2020 they will see the team draft what they hope will be a quarterback for the next decade and a half. A signal caller who will be a leader and take the team to the playoffs and a championship. As some fans have said, “it’s nice to feel like a Browns fan for a change”.
Cleveland has been the comment made quite often. A team that was shackled by poor drafts, poor quarterback play, and horrible contracts. Now it seems they have moved in the right direction behind a top drafted quarterback. Miami fans are starting to feel like maybe this regime will get it right.
Over the last week fans have applauded the Dolphins lack of free agency moves knowing that they team needs to start from the bottom up but at the same time they still know that Miami will do enough to miss out on a top quarterback prospect in 2020. And there is the divide.
Some fans want Miami to sell the farm for Kyler Murray or move up for Dwayne Haskins while others want the team to wait until 2020 and draft Justin Herbert or Tua Tagovailoa. Still others wonder if Miami can’t wait it out another year to take Trevor Lawrence.
The common theme however is that fans are no longer mad. In fact they seem relieved. There are no expectations for 2019 but bad games and a losing record. They almost embrace it knowing that it may provide the window to building something successful.
Where Adam Gase had three years and Joe Philbin had three years, Brian Flores has all five in their minds. A rookie head coach that might just work because the team is going to build the franchise to fit his and his coaching staffs vision. A vision that is shared by G.M. Chris Grier. A vision shared by the owner as well.
2019 is going to be a long season but fans are ready to show up and cheer now. Maybe even moreso than the last few years because they get to be fans without the high expectations. As one fan put it, “2019 should not find me suffering chest pain. So I got that going for me”.
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It is a good time to be a Dolphins fan because we have sat through years of puzzles that were trying to be completed with pieces from a different puzzle all together. Suffering through regimes who didn’t see eye to eye but believed they had the pieces to make a champion. That is no longer the case and we as fans are fine with that. For now. In two more years, that changes.
For now, for the immediate future, it is fun to just be a fan. Poke a little at ourselves and at moves like Ryan Fitzpatrick knowing that maybe this all may lead to the overhaul we have been waiting for. Whether or not fans are still finding humor when the season begins? Well that will be another story entirely.