Eight NFL teams have at least four losses through the first five weeks of the 2006 season.
The Miami Dolphins weren’t supposed to be one of them.
The Dolphins were supposed to lose four games all season, five at most. They were supposed to dethrone New England in the AFC East. They were supposed to – according to Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine and others – play in their home stadium in Super Bowl XLI.
Where did those expectations come from? Where did it all go wrong?
We’ll answer the first part first, because you can’t have one without the other.
The Dolphins ended last season with a six-game winning streak. Only one of their victims was playoff bound – the Patriots, who rested most of their starters for most of the season finale – but six-game runs don’t happen by accident in the NFL, no matter the competition.
Instead of feeling satisfied with their finishing surge, the Dolphins set out to get better. Their biggest move was trading for quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who was coming off a major knee injury but was also just a year removed from an MVP-caliber season.
On top of that, the Dolphins had a rising-star coach in Nick Saban, who led LSU to a co-national championship in 2003 and apprenticed under Bill Belichick, the consensus best coach in the league. Oh, and one more thing: The Dolphins’ schedule featured eight games against teams that picked in the top nine of this year’s draft.
The expectations were sky high. And the Dolphins have met them with a resounding thud – the sound of Culpepper’s still-healing body being slammed to the ground by opposing pass rushers.
At 1-4, the Dolphins would have to go 9-2 to reach 10 victories, which might be enough to sneak into the playoffs. Yeah. Good luck with that.
No matter what veteran defensive end Jason Taylor says – “It’s not a disappointing season yet,” he told reporters this week. “We have had a few bumps in the road here early on, but we still have a long way to go” – this season is a lost cause. Other conclusions aren’t so simple.
It’s easy to apply hindsight and say the Dolphins should have gone after Drew Brees instead of Culpepper, or even should have kept Gus Frerotte, who started all six of those season-closing victories. But that’s like saying the Oakland Raiders were wrong for drafting Robert Gallery in 2004. Everyonethought it was the right move at the time. It just hasn’t worked out.
We wanted to believe Culpepper was the right play, and so did Saban, badly. He pushed Culpepper too hard and too fast, but really, could you blame him? Culpepper pushed himself, too, and appeared to be getting better as the summer progressed.
Only now – with Culpepper out, Joey Harrington in and four losses on the books – have Saban and Culpepper concluded that he didn’t work on his knee enough once the season started.
“We need to get his mobility better so he can have the kind of escapability that he once had and be the kind of elusive player that he once was. It’s as simple as that,” Saban told reporters.
“Daunte Culpepper being the Daunte Culpepper that he once was as a player is certainly a guy that we’d love to have as our quarterback here.”
Culpepper won’t be that guy for a while – if ever – and the Dolphins aren’t even the team they were last season. Their defense is on pace for fewer sacks and takeaways. Their running game isn’t the same without offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, now coach of the Rams, and tailback Ricky Williams, now a Toronto Argonaut because of a season-long drug suspension.
Seriously, did anyone think subtracting Williams and adding Culpepper would make the Dolphins worse?
The best hope for Saban is that this is one of those one-step-back-to-take-two- steps-forward deals. If so, he better make sure Culpepper isn’t leading the way with a limp.
Contact the writer: mlev@ocregister.com
