Post-Draft Power Rankings - Peter King Article

by Natalya on May 7, 2008 1:27 PM EDT

So Peter King of si, wrote up an article following the draft. The article basically is a preseason power ranking of all the NFL teams. He lists the dolphins at #27 and writes this about the team:

27. Miami. I don't know who's playing quarterback, who's catching the ball or if Jason Taylor will ever speak to the great and powerful Bill "Oz'' Parcells. But you ask the people who know Parcells the best, and they'll tell you they like the way he's shaking up the bottom of the roster, and he's on his way to building a team that will give the Patriots a game soon. To do that in 2009 or '10, the Dolphins have to discover if they've got their quarterback of the future on the roster now. Best chance to be The Man, of course, is second-round pick Chad Henne.

**** ***** *****

You can see the full article and rankings here:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/05/02/rankings/index.html

What do you guys think of the ranking? It places us as more or less better than 5 teams though worse than 26.

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It's kind of a joke

I don’t see how we improved enough to move up to #27. But hey, I guess this franchise simply gains respect thanks to having Parcells involved. I’ll take it.

By the way, King goes against my ONE rule that I ALWAYS live by when doing power rankings: the defending super bowl champ is ranked #1 until they lose. It’s that simple. Last year, people put the Pats ahead of the Colts even before the Colts lost a game. How can the defending champs not be #1 until they do lose a game?

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by Matty I on May 7, 2008 1:40 PM EDT 0 recs

I'm glad to see some realism...

ie….you are surprised at how we jumped to 27.

I have a feeling some fans will have illusions of going 8-8 or something along those lines this season which strikes me as incredibly unlikely.

A 4-6 win season seems more akin to the likely forecast for our upcoming season. I can see a few teams being worse, maybe the Rams, probably the Falcons, the Lions might be on the list, and given Rex Grossman is going to be a starting QB in all likelihood – maybe the Bears will be bad too.

As for the power rankings, maybe it depends on interpretation – sure the colts hadn’t lost a game or in this case, the Giants are the SB champs – but that aside, do you view them as the best team?

by Natalya on May 7, 2008 1:59 PM EDT up 0 recs

the giants

No, I don’t view them as the best team. But until they lose a game, they are #1.

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by Matty I on May 7, 2008 2:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

Realistically.........

I think we’d all agree on expecting to be a 4-6 win club this year. However, I don’t think anybody should be totally shocked if we are blessed with 8-8. Think it through, better coaching - enough said, less injuries – we should be able to stop the run and field the same secondary at least twice…oh yeah and we’ll have Ronnie and Ricky, should have solid O-line - RB’s will have holes to run through and the QB will have time to allow plays to develop before he gets crushed, and I personally think Beck is HELL BENT to prove what he can do. Now who knows if Beck is going to get a legitimate shot but I believe the current regime is a lot smarter than any of us and whoever they go with I’m sure will be the best. Bottom line is I think we have a lot of reasons to be fairly optimistic about our chances this year. We’re far from playoff contention but I’d be willing to bet that we shock the hell out of at least a couple of teams. The rest of the league had better not underestimate us. We’ll be fielding a team that’s there to win and punish the opponent.

mophins

by mophins on May 7, 2008 2:39 PM EDT 0 recs

I'd be shocked with 8-8

I think it would take everything coming together perfectly to get to 8-8, and that rarely if ever happens in the NFL. Remember, we’ll have 2 rookies starting on the OL, and 3 new pieces overall. They will take time to gel and learn how to play with each other. Whichever QB starts will be playing with all new personnel and they will also take time to come together; Beck never got the opportunity to play with Ronnie, and Ricky was only around for like 6 carries. I agree with you on better coaching and we should have less injuries because of better conditioning, but injuries are an unknown for every team. I just think that a 5 win season is a serious improvement over last year and should be seen as that, instead of us being disappointed because the team didn’t meet unrealistic expectations

http://canemutiny.blogspot.com A fans view of Miami Hurricanes Football and Basketball

by Little Nicky 21 on May 7, 2008 3:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

Agreed......

sort of. I’m not saying that I am expecting an 8-8 season because that probably is unrealistic. All I’m saying is that we lost what 6 games by 3 points or less? And this is going to be a Parcells run team now…...they will compete 110% or sleep with the fishes. We COULD be better than what we’re all expecting. All I’m saying is that “on paper” the moves they’ve made to solid up the O-line and run defense should be effective. Derek Anderson was pretty successful last year with a better O-line…......a better O-line will make the whole offense look and play better than what they actually are.

mophins

by mophins on May 7, 2008 4:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

I'd be shocked with 8-8 too!

I am expecting 10-6 or better.
:)

-LCFF

by LeftCoastFinFan on May 8, 2008 11:24 AM EDT up 0 recs

you must be getting

shock treatment if you believe 10-6 or better!!!

;~/

by W NY Fins Fan on May 9, 2008 1:56 AM EDT up 0 recs

27 seems OK

I think that 27 is by far realistic. I’m not saying we’re making a playoff run, but let’s face it, everything that could’ve gone wrong last season, went wrong. All I’m saying is that with the new FA additions, a seemingly OK Draft, a much better coaching staff, better morale in the locker room, a conditioning program, PARCELLS at the helm and maybe, just maybe, a drop of luck… I say we win 5-6 games at least.

Hey I don’t like being overoptimistic because I’m a Dol-fan, but I hate even more when we set the bar really low so we don´t disappoint ourselves.

by D13 on May 7, 2008 7:00 PM EDT 0 recs

Right right

its a fine line between high and low expectations. I wouldn’t say 5 or 6 wins is setting the bar low, especially after a 1-15 season. I think anything more than 7 would be a bit high for this team as it is right now. Not saying I’m not hoping for much better, but I want to be excited about progress, not just wins. I want to be able to feel good about a game because the young guys played well and we didn’t make stupid mental mistakes, even if we just get outplayed and lose the game. Gotta have patience with a rebuilding team, and I think we’ll be better than ATL, KC, and a few others I’m sure. Right now I’m just hoping we beat the Jets in week 1.

http://canemutiny.blogspot.com A fans view of Miami Hurricanes Football and Basketball

by Little Nicky 21 on May 7, 2008 10:38 PM EDT up 0 recs

I put as much faith

in Power Rankings in May as I do in the instant draft grades that everybody doles out the second the draft is through… there are just way too many factors between now and september to even guess how this thing’s gonna play out. see also mock drafts- how accurate were the “experts” on that one?

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by NumberSeven on May 7, 2008 10:57 PM EDT 0 recs

i dont think

u can put much faith in any projections at the moment… pro football has changed alot over the years, and these days virtually any team that puts it together early in the season has a chance… Saban won out his last six games rookie season.. 1 more early season win and they coulda been in the playoffs…and i dont think alot of ppl had the giants pegged as SB champs around midseason last year….not trying to be overly optomistic, or pessemistic, just noting that anything is possible these days [thanks to salary cap] and i dont think that winning 8 or more is completely out of the question, though its a longshot … however i feel that it all starts w/ belief, as optimism, [just like failure], is highly contagious…i would have to agree that we’ve moved up in power rankings w/out a snap of the ball, inasmuch as that is possible i spose, due to the strength of our new coaching staff and aquisitions, but i also know that power rankings get changed like hats, so i dont put much stock in them to begin with, especially at this time of year, as number7 posted. Interesting discussion thread though, Nat, ty.

by Krab on May 8, 2008 12:10 PM EDT 0 recs

I agree on some points

like the “anythings possible” mantra and the fact that alot can happen with the belief that you can win games, but I think there’s 2 issues here. We’re all Dol-Fans here, and we all want our team to win and believe that we should be competitive every season, and we all have dreams of making a run like NYG and winning an improbable Super Bowl, but there’s a difference between belief and expectations. Do I believe we can win the Super Bowl? Yeah, anything’s possible, and I would never say that it absolutely CAN’T happen. But do I expect to win it? Of course not. At least not this season. So it’s not that I don’t feel like we can win 8 games or make the playoffs or compete this season, it’s just that I don’t expect it to happen and I won’t be disappointed if it doesn’t. Does that make as much sense to you as it did in my head? lol

http://canemutiny.blogspot.com A fans view of Miami Hurricanes Football and Basketball

by Little Nicky 21 on May 8, 2008 2:49 PM EDT up 0 recs

lol LittleNicky made sense to me : )

i dunno for sure, but it seems we are [mostly] taking the long way around agreeing [split this hair, split that hair, but yeah…] we all want success here, no disputing that point, and it prolley does affect our judgement at least somewhat, not to mention that last year left a pretty bad taste in our mouths and [if your anything like me] just raring for the fight to begin.. which… adrenalin makes ya feel like ya cant lose…again, more unrealistic thoughtscreep in as a result im sure…correct me if im wrong here, but i think we basically expect 4-6 games won this yr and anything beyond that is icing on the cake and anything less would be a disappointment… yet to hope for less than a playoff birth would be unfit for a fan of aqua and teal hemoglobin… all things considered, im w/ you Nicky, patience is of the utmost importance here, probably wont happen overnite…but lets not let or hopes OR fears defeat us…lets just beat the jets n go from there. ^5

by Krab on May 8, 2008 3:56 PM EDT 0 recs