A Little Bit of Trash Talking

It seems all of the attention has been directed to just about every team in the AFC East except the Miami Dolphins. Well, that seems to be just fine with them. Recently, at an awards ceremony for the Dolphins, some of the Dolphins leaders had a few words to direct at all of the hype in the East that seems to count them out as defending champs.

Rex Ryan, the new head coach of the New York Jets has been the main contributor to all of the talk about winning the Super Bowl, and putting every team in the AFC East on notice. Channing Crowder had a few things to say about Ryan and all of his comments through the media.  "Oh, he's going crazy," Crowder said of Ryan. "He's going absolutely nuts. I know it's his first chance to be a head coach, and I know he's excited about life. But, like I said, I've never played a football game in June in my whole life. So congratulations to him. He's the OTA, the OTA Super Bowl winner." 

Crowder is exactly right. Ryan may feel the obligation in June to talk through the media to get his players pumped up for the season, but that does not mean that trashing other teams and predicting a visit with the President in the near future will bring a championship to you automatically. They would have to have one big energy rush though to have all of the words that Ryan is saying keep them motivated all the way to the season. There is no need to be trashing other teams and going out in front of the media and disrespecting the team that beat you fair and square in the season finale to win the AFC East Championship.

Another team that has been talking in the media is the New England Patriots. Yeah, this is the same team that hasn't won a Super Bowl without some help from cameras. So, why should they have any reason to talk at all. The Pats also were embarrassed by the Dolphins in Week 3 in the first game that the WildCat was unveiled. 

Crowder and linebacker mate Joey Porter had some comments on the Randy Moss and Wes Welker's prediction that the New England offense will be more explosive than the record setting season two years ago in 2007. On the comments, Crowder says: "Talk is cheap -- always," Crowder said of the Patriots. "Congratulations that they have microphones in front of them and they're real childish and don't have the respect for other guys and don't know how to be professionals and want to talk junk in, what's this, June?" He then goes on to say: "OK, talk junk in June," Crowder said. "You don't play any games in June, so they need to really shut the hell up and wait until the season starts. … We won the division. We didn't just win a couple games. We won the division, which means last year we were the best team in the AFC East."

Porter goes on to say: "The doubt is over now,"  "We proved the AFC East comes through Miami." It seems that Porter and the rest of the Dolphins squad is now officially offended by both the Jets and the Patriots, and they should be. There is no way that they should be thinking that first place is just going to be handed to them because they own a set of high-tech cameras. They have to fight for it just like the Dolphins did this past year. Porter re-emphasizes this is saying: "I don't understand how you can put somebody in front of us when we won the championship," Porter said. "We were the AFC East champs. I just don't think it's supposed to happen like that. You got to beat somebody to be the champ. We had to beat somebody to be the champ."

All of this trash talk has even gotten quiet line backer Akin Ayodele into the mix."I’m pretty sure we’ll be predicted to finish last again. The way we look at it, it’s offensive. But it also motivates," Ayodele said. "It’s something we can put on our wall, our refrigerator and look at. We know how hard we worked, what we’re capable of doing. It’s just a matter of going out there and proving it once again. That’s what this game is about. Taking the challenging that you face, going out there and proving it."

When you have a guy that barely was heard of last year getting into the mix of a possible dog-fight through the media, you know the emotions are about to boil over, and that the Dolphins wish the season would start this Sunday, instead of in 3 months.

All of this disrespect that the Dolphins are getting will only help them when the season starts. Ayodele is right, if the Dolphins do not use this kind of stuff as bulletin board material, then they have something wrong with them. This is the perfect situation for the Dolphins to fly under the radar just like last season, and retake the AFC East Championship for the second straight year. The Dolphins are the kind of team that loves to be the underdog, and that is the title that they have already taken on. If you take the Dolphins for granted, they will come out and bite you in the butt, and pretty soon, that is just might happen to the Pats and the Jets. The Pats should be very afraid right now of the fact that the Dolphins went out and drafted Pat White specifically to run the WildCat, the same system that lit them up for over four touchdowns, and the fact that the Dolphins are moving Ernest Wilford around to tight end and H-back, is very scary. There will be mass confusion this year on the opposing defender's side of the ball, and the Dolphins will be soaking it up.

Out of all of the comments that came out of the awards ceremony, this is the one that will sum up the past season, and even the upcoming season as well. The comment comes from Porter: "After New England, we found out we could play with anybody," Porter said. "We went down to their house and we whupped on them pretty good, and that gave us all the confidence we needed."

And the confidence will keep on growing as long as the Dolphins keep on doing what they are doing. They will have to work even harder to retain their status as AFC East Champs, and from what is coming out of the OTA's that is exactly what they are doing. You gotta love all of the hype that this is creating for football season. It certainly cannot come soon enough.