Miami Dolphins fans should be jumping for joy not shaking their heads

There are parts of the Miami Dolphins fan base that are shaking their heads in disgust but what they should be doing is jumping up and down. With joy.

Another week is in the books and another win is the Miami Dolphins win column. It may only be their second victory of the year but it has a lot of fans banging their heads up against a wall rather than strutting through their house with swagger.

Yeah, I get it, Tua Tagovailoa is a generational player. So many assume that anyways. Others believe that Joe Burrow is the guy and suddenly no one wants to settle with Justin Herbert. The NFL Draft is months away. It takes place when the calendar year ends and a new one begins. It starts after free agency and the Super Bowl. Yet here we are.

While these fans, and yes they are still fans, moan and groan with every Dolphins’ win and every Bengals’ loss, they are missing what is going on in Miami. They are not seeing what is happening right in front of them and it is something that they have wanted for a decade. They are missing the change.

For over a decade the Dolphins have wanted systemic change to their losing ways. They have wanted a change in the mental make-up and a change in the physicality of the way the team plays each down. They wanted a culture change. Here it is, it’s happening. It’s happening right now in front of you. Sit back and watch it.

The Dolphins who are 2-7 are the least penalized team in the NFL. One local beat writer will point to Tony Sparano’s 2008 team and how disciplined they were. That same person will tell you that the Dolphins are spinning their wheels doing the same thing over and over again because Miami will not land Tua Tagovailoa. A player he pounds his fist for.

This Miami’s Dolphins team has nowhere near the quality of roster that Sparano had in 2008 when he, Chad Pennington, and the Wild Cat offense led the Dolphins to the playoffs, then dropped back into mediocrity the following year and years after that.

We could get into the why and how of those wasted years with Bill Parcells and Sparano and the wasted years of Joe Philbin and Adam Gase but this is different. This is a gutted team void of talent on both sides of the ball. It’s a team with names that are pulled off the street each week to start. And now they are winning.

If you can’t see what Brian Flores, Chad O’Shea, and Patrick Graham are doing then you are. not watching close enough. This is a different culture in Miami. The players believe in the system and why shouldn’t they? Miami has progressed every single week this season from week one to yesterday.

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Miami is actually coaching their players. They are developing talent that may not be here in 2020. They are doing with no Laremy Tunsil, Xavien Howard, Reshad Jones, and with no elite quarterback. They have an offensive line that is a MASH unit and they are winning the battle at the line of scrimmage, enough to allow plays to be made.

That offensive line likely will not look anything the same next year at all. Everyone considers that a good thing. Miami loses its top wide-receiver, an undrafted rookie by the way, and they still move the ball and find success. The “next man up” mentality is being born in Miami.

Yes, it sucks that the Dolphins may very well play themselves out of a shot at Tua Tagovailoa or maybe Joe Burrow or Justin Herbert, but a top quarterback prospect is not going to come in and suddenly make the coaches better. It has to be the other way around.

It is too early to know if this coaching staff will succeed. We simply don’t know but they are competing with a bunch of cast-offs. They are prepared every week to play football. They believe in the coaches and themselves. That has not been the case since maybe Jimmy Johnson.

The Dolphins are not a “rah-rah” team, there is no “How about them Dolphins” after a game. Brian Flores, a first-year head coach, has no problem yelling at the referees and has no problem running up the sideline to yell at his players or fist-pump a game-winning score. He is emotional and he is level headed at the same time. He doesn’t throw his players under the bus yet he holds them accountable and to his standards.

This year may not be all that exciting but we knew it wouldn’t be. It may not be the winless season many had hoped for with the chance at the top draft spot. It is however changing. It’s right there to see if you look. Imagine what this coaching staff will do with better top-end talent?

Again, we don’t know if this staff will work out. We don’t know if they will fall into the same pits that previous coaches have. There seems to be something different about these guys though. Something more defined and planned. There never seemed to be a plan or a focus under Bill Parcells and Jeff Ireland. Nothing under Joe Philbin and Mike Tannenbaum. Maybe this turns out to be the same but if they can continue to develop and teach, they have a good shot at making these changes long-lasting.

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