Miami Dolphins mostly folding as Jets pile up chips

[Jetfan13]

BY GREG COTE

gcote@MiamiHerald.com

The hated, stinkin' New York Jets are acting like a team that thinks it can win it all -- now. In the NFL, just enough talent combined with a whole lot of that attitude can coalesce and become a propellant, a self-fulfilling prophecy. It starts with belief. With bravado.

Your Miami Dolphins, by contrast, are behaving this offseason like a team that isn't quite sure where it is or what it is, or how it wants to move forward. The Dolphins have seemed content to take a bleacher seat and watch their rival do the moving and shaking.

The teams' opposite handling of Jason Taylor perfectly personifies the differing approaches that surely have Jets fans energized and most Dolfans probably somewhere between antsy and dismayed.

The free agent Taylor is 35 but obviously still productive in a situational pass-rushing role. Seven sacks, an interception and three forced fumbles last season (one for a touchdown) speak of a veteran whose career tank is far from empty.

Teams that see themselves as contenders covet specialized, serve-a-need players like that. It is why the Jets are going all out to sign Taylor, and why the New England Patriots are interested, too.

Teams that doubt they are contenders are less interested because 35 can seem old when you apparently are building toward some vague tomorrow. That's why Miami would lose the valuable, popular, affordable Taylor to an AFC East rival rather than commit to him before seeing how the April 22-24 draft plays out.

The Jets have committed to an aggressiveness that suggests confidence, while the Dolphins are displaying a caution that reads uncertainty.

The teams' actions mirror their contrasting public personas: The Jets, loud and brash, jumping at the chance to star in HBO's training camp drama Hard Knocks and led by bellicose, braying coach Rex Ryan. And the Dolphins, quiet and secretive, led by a personnel architect, Bill Parcells, who prefers to operate in the shadows.

Miami uncharacteristically made one of the big early splashes in free agency by signing ex-Arizona linebacker Karlos Dansby, a B-plus starter if not a big star.

Since then, the Dolphins' most notable addition has been guard Richie Incognito, known primarily for his goofy surname and propensity for immaturity.

An inconsistency also has been evident in Miami. For example, the team that has given Taylor a cold shoulder re-signed nose tackle Jason Ferguson, also 35, despite his facing an eight-game suspension.

While Miami can claim only Dansby as a headline-earning addition, the stinkin' Jets have signed superstar running back LaDainian Tomlinson -- aging but surely able to be as valuable to the Jets as Ricky Williams has been for Miami -- in addition to receiver Braylon Edwards, cornerback Antonio Cromartie, and now receiver Santonio Holmes.

And next, perhaps, Taylor.

You could argue Miami didn't need Tomlinson or even Cromartie. But the team could use Taylor back, and the need to upgrade at wide receiver remains acute.

The Jets getting Holmes from Pittsburgh for a fifth-round draft pick is a steal, no matter that the player faces a four-game suspension. He has led the NFL in yards per catch, been a Super Bowl MVP and caught 1,258 yards of passes in 2009.

Man, could he have helped Miami! So could Denver's available Brandon Marshall, but at least Miami can rationalize not wanting to give up the first-round pick needed to get him.

The Jets, though, obtained Holmes for the NFL equivalent of loose change found under the sofa cushions.

What exactly were the Dolphins doing when the Jets were negotiating to acquire Holmes for a song? Maybe that's around the same time coach Tony Sparano was rather ludicrously saying, ``I'm fine with the group [of receivers] we have right now.''

( Bwahahahaha)

BE BOLD

The Dolphins are not good enough to simply tinker and tweak, but neither can they sell the populace on excuses or long-range goals. Miami won the division title in 2008, and even in going 7-9 last year beat the Jets twice, split with New England and gave the Super Bowl-bound Saints and Colts all they could handle.

This team, like the Jets, should be acting like it expects to win now -- especially if quarterback Chad Henne is as good here as the Jets think Mark Sanchez will be.

The Dolphins should be thinking like a contender by behaving like one with aggression and maybe even a smart gambler's sense of daring.

Instead, Miami is folding and watching the Jets' pile of chips grow bigger and bigger.

[SoFlaJets]

I really don't understand Miami's thinking this off season and as you know 1-3 neither does the fan base or the talk radio guys down here

[Stonehands]

Very good article.

[SMC]

"Building to a vague tomorrow ..."

That's a great line and sums up the perils of building a team in today's NFL. Five year plans are things of the now distant past. Teams used to build up to a certain point and have longer windows of opportunity.

Now, with FA and high priced rookie salaries the window of opportunity is on a carosel and you have to jump through it as it comes by.

The Fins and other teams can be building to a future that never comes. That's why the Aints went after Brees and the Vikes (Jets before them) after Favre. No one knows if that window will ever open and for how long, so you have to jump at it as soon and as forcefully as you can.

[rillo]

I still think they make a trade for Marshall and resign Taylor.

They are getting a lot of heat down here LMAO!

[slats]

Remember when the local fish trolls were saying that it was good for them that the Jets went so deep in the playoffs, because they'd be subject to the Final Eight Rules, and be unable to sign any UFA's?

Good times!

[Vudu]

Great article. I've been getting my fill of awesome Jets articles today.

We started the 2009 season with Cotchery-Stuckey-Clowney-Keller and now we have Edwards- Cotchery-Keller-Holmes. Sick, just ****ing sick!

[rick34125]

"Building to a vague tomorrow ..."

That's a great line and sums up the perils of building a team in today's NFL. Five year plans are things of the now distant past. Teams used to build up to a certain point and have longer windows of opportunity.

Now, with FA and high priced rookie salaries the window of opportunity is on a carosel and you have to jump through it as it comes by.

The Fins and other teams can be building to a future that never comes. That's why the Aints went after Brees and the Vikes (Jets before them) after Favre. No one knows if that window will ever open and for how long, so you have to jump at it as soon and as forcefully as you can.

haven't the Jets been building since 2006...

[rick34125]

Remember when the local fish trolls were saying that it was good for them that the Jets went so deep in the playoffs, because they'd be subject to the Final Eight Rules, and be unable to sign any UFA's?

Good times!

it's funny. i remember patsies joking how clever BB was for losing in the first round for that reason.

[nodimwithere]

Greg Cote has always been a "tell it like it is" type guy down in South Florida. He really pulls no punches. He said Don Shula had lost it long before the Dolphins decided to send "Shoes" into retirement.