Is it Right? Is it Fair?

Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Alistair Henderson
MDBW Staff Writer

All the horrors of four hurricanes and all the frustration of the first 0-3 start in 35 years have come together to create a storm of negativity in Dolfanland.

It has become so bad that even the eternal optimist, our own MDBWebmaster, has written the season off, and has climbed on the bandwagon carrying a platter to catch Dave Wannstedt’s head as it falls. Ker-plunk!

But is this right? Is this fair?

Never, in all my 34 years of following the Miami Dolphins, has there been such a series of blows to this franchise, one after the other, each on its own capable of wrecking the team’s chance of success this season.

Do we have to keep on naming them, over and over, to remind ourselves of what this coaching staff and front office have had to try to overcome? Forget the Dan Marino fiasco, the coach/general manager saga, and the off season personal problems with McMichael, Seau, etc. which now seem so meaningless.

This was a team which was predicated on ball control with a strong running game based on Ricky at the helm. The team now has been forced by a horrific set of circumstances to field an offense clearly incapable of carrying out the master plan, at least for now. Now, following blow after blow of chronic misfortune to the running game, Ricky’s job falls to a member of the practice squad with Ricky’s replacement of three weeks out for the year with a shoulder injury.

None of this, including the injury to David Boston, can fairly be blamed on Dave Wannstedt or Rick Spielman, or for that matter Wayne Huizenga. So why does there seem to be this growing bandwagon of cries for heads to roll at the top? Is that fair?

I think it is this.

I think that it was obvious to even the simplest of fans like me, and certainly to the coaching staff at Miami, that the main problem area for the Dolphins in 2003 was the offensive line. Before quarter-back, before receiver, before anything else the absolute priority was to strengthen the offensive line for 2004. At almost any cost.

And this was not done.

Todd Wade was allowed to go along with the rest of the old guard and they were replaced by an assortment of cast offs and inexperience. Sure we tried to get the best there was out there, but we didn’t make it. Not even close really. This can only be regarded as a significant failure by Spielman and/or Wannstedt. Not just in 2004, but also in the suspect drafts leading up to 2004 which have helped land us in this hole.

And I also think it was this. The signing of A J Feeley was an odd, out and out gamble. And it hasn’t worked.

Behind a poor line Feeley has been shown to neither have the necessary mobility nor the speed of decision making to succeed at this level. For now, at least. Yes he throws a bullet, but too often it is to the wrong team.

Nothing is more deflating to a team’s morale than to see an interception run back for a touch down, and this has happened twice and almost three times in three games for A J Feeley. It is easy to have 20/20 vision, but from this vantage point it would appear that Rick Spielman and his staff acted too hastily and too generously in the case of A J Feeley. Every throw is a heart stopper.

Under the circumstances, can you blame Dave Wannstedt from trying to play error free conservative football and to rely on a dominating defense to keep it close? As John Madden stated on Monday Night Countdown Monday night, “If you have a strong defense, you’re going to be in every game”. He was talking about Jacksonville, but you get the picture.

Of course, this was going to be Wannstedt’s strategy of choice even with Williams, Boston, Konrad, Minor and, yes, Jay Fiedler playing regularly injury free. Now he has no choice and every opponent knows it.

So, is it fair to call for Wannstedt’s head? Probably not, given the string of incredibly bad luck this franchise has sustained.

But failure carries a stain. Both Wannstedt and Spielman came with that stain from Chicago, and apparently it spreads. I really hope that they can get this season turned around, and I for one will support them as long as they are part of the Miami Dolphins Franchise. But if they can’t, a change is inevitable.

Is this fair? Maybe not, given the circumstances. Is it right. Absolutely.