4 Miami Dolphins
O.K., LET'S try to sort this thing out. There was a time when you could pencil in the Dolphins for a winning record. They had seven straight years of that, 15 straight without a losing record. And since Dan Marino retired and coach Dave Wannstedt took over in 2000, the formula has been simple. Run the ball, pass when you have to. In fact, in Wannstedt's first four years the rushes outnumbered the pass attempts. Imagine that.
Then, on the eve of training camp in 2004, Miami's heavy-duty back, Ricky Williams, said he'd had it. He didn't need to be the NFL's leader in carries for a second consecutive season. He wanted to see the world. Do a little yoga. Smoke a little pot. Find himself.
Nondescripts filled his position. Linemen had to learn a new skill called pass-blocking. What a collection of whiffers they turned out to be. Except for the poor chaps in Chicago, no quarterbacks were sacked more times than the Dolphins' guys. Jay Fiedler was sidelined with a herniated disk. His backup, A.J. Feeley, suffered a concussion against the Patriots, then injured his right hip against the Seahawks. Wannstedt resigned before the Seattle game, and Miami finished 4--12, the franchise's worst record since 1969.
Enter Nick Saban, fresh from LSU and tremendous success at the collegiate level. There was jubilation all around, but let's face it. It hasn't been a good era for college coaches. The University of Miami's Butch Davis tanked with the Browns. Ditto Florida's Steve Spurrier with the Redskins.
One of the first things Saban did, and the importance of this cannot be overstated, was hire Hudson Houck to try to bring some semblance of order to the offensive line. Houck was the architect of the Cowboys' great lines during the team's glory years of the '90s. Last season he worked a miracle in San Diego, turning a bunch of average players into a finely tuned unit. Then Saban announced that Williams would be welcomed back, should he so desire. Yeah, sure. After what his teammates said about him last year?
But this summer Williams did come back, 15 pounds lighter, at 213. He announced that he wanted to help the Dolphins win, and he was immediately forgiven. "Hey, I'm a greedy s.o.b.," says defensive tackle Jeff Zgonina. "If Ricky can take us to the playoffs, I'm willing to forgive and forget."
But Williams will miss the first four games for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. And the guy who's expected to be the man, Ronnie Brown, the second pick in the draft out of Auburn, held out at the start of training camp and reported three weeks late. O.K., you say, all a running back does is carry the ball, right? How much is there to learn? Actually, there are a whole bunch of things, such as making the right adjustment on a pass route or a blitz pickup. You don't want to get the quarterback killed.
Journeyman Gus Frerotte is getting the first shot at the starting quarterback job, ahead of Feeley. New offensive coordinator Scott Linehan brought Frerotte with him from Minnesota. A 12-year veteran, Frerotte drifted into obscurity while backing up Daunte Culpepper for two seasons, but don't forget that at one time he was a live-arm passer with a killer instinct.
"Scott Linehan's aggressive," Frerotte says, his eyes lighting up. "Have you seen the highlights of Daunte? Hitch, hitch, hitch, then let it fly. We've got the receivers here who can really get something going deep."
The fleet and underrated Chris Chambers is on one side, former Bear Marty Booker on the other. Then there's David Boston, a 6'2" 240-pounder who returns after missing last season with a ruptured left patellar tendon.
The line is a work in progress, and the way it plays will probably determine how Saban fares in his inaugural year. For a while rumors were rampant that Williams was being showcased for a trade, but general manager Randy Mueller says that wasn't the case. "This is the truth," he said in camp. "Not one team has shown any interest."
Except the Dolphins. --P.Z.
PLAYMAKER
Travis Daniels started 26 straight games at cornerback for Nick Saban at LSU. So when Saban came to the Dolphins, he snared his top cover guy with a fourth-round draft choice. Daniels will play at left corner, Patrick Surtain's old spot, or as the nickelback. It's Daniels's job to lose. "He covered a lot of good receivers for us in college," Saban says. "A lot of them are playing in the NFL. His big thing is consistency. He doesn't get rattled, and it's earned him a chance to play in this league."
Enemy Lines
AN OPPOSING SCOUT'S VIEW
I'll tell you this about Nick Saban, and it goes back to his days as an NFL assistant, he'll make sure this team is well coached at every level. They're going to do the smart things, they're going to win some games people don't expect them to, because they're going to be better organized and prepared than the other team.... Saban's background is defense, and I think you'll see them playing more zone than they did in the past. They don't have the great corners anymore. Patrick Surtain is gone, and Sam Madison is just average now. But I like their front seven.... Vernon Carey flunked on the right side of their offensive line last year, flunked on the left this summer. Now he's back on the right. What does that tell you? It's a line of heavy-legged guys, so maybe they'll go back to running the ball 500 times a season.... What they need is a quarterback who can work a game. Jay Fiedler was an erratic passer, but he could move the sticks. Gus Frerotte? I'm not sure. And it's tough to get a handle on Scott Linehan's offense. At times in Minnesota, I couldn't see a pattern to it. It looked like Daunte Culpepper was doing a lot on his own, scrambling to set things up.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP with 2004 statistics
2004 RECORD: 4--12
NFL RANK (rush/pass/total): OFFENSE 31/21/29 DEFENSE 31/2/8
COACH: Nick Saban; first season with Miami (0--0 in NFL)
OFFENSE
CHRIS CHAMBERS
POS. WR
PVR 73
REC. 69
YARDS 898
TDs 7
RANDY MCMICHAEL
POS. TE
PVR 80
REC. 73  
YARDS 791
TDs 4
DAMION MCINTOSH
POS. LT
HEIGHT 6'4"
WEIGHT 325
GMS. 14
STARTS 14
JENO JAMES
POS. LG
HEIGHT 6'3"
WEIGHT 310
GMS. 14
STARTS 14
SETH MCKINNEY
POS. C
HEIGHT 6'3"
WEIGHT 305
GMS. 16
STARTS 16
REX HADNOT
POS. RG
HEIGHT 6'2"
WEIGHT 323
GMS. 15
STARTS 7
VERNON CAREY
POS. RT
HEIGHT 6'5"
WEIGHT 333
GMS. 14
STARTS 2
MARTY BOOKER
POS. WR
PVR 194
REC. 50
YARDS 638
TDs 1
RONNIE BROWN (R) [NEW ACQUISITION]
POS. RB
PVR 57
ATT. 153
YARDS 913
AVG. 6.0
REC. 34
YARDS 313
AVG. 9.2
TDs 9
GUS FREROTTE* [NEW ACQUISITION]
POS. QB
PVR 188
ATT. 65
COMP. 38
% 58.5
YARDS 690
TDs 7
INT. 2
RATING 118.1
HEATH EVANS [NEW ACQUISITION]
POS. FB
PVR 327
ATT. 7
YARDS 20
AVG. 2.9
REC. 2
YARDS 12
AVG. 6.0
TDs 0
OLINDO MARE
POS. K
PVR 303
XPs MADE 18
XPs ATT. 18
FG MADE 12
FG ATT. 16
PTS. 54
DEFENSE
DONNIE SPRAGAN [NEW ACQUISITION]
POS. OLB
TACKLES 66
SACKS 1
INT. 0
JASON TAYLOR
POS. RE
TACKLES 68
SACKS 9 1/2
VONNIE HOLLIDAY [NEW ACQUISITION]
POS. RT
TACKLES 13
SACKS 0
ZACH THOMAS
POS. MLB
TACKLES 145
SACKS 2
INT. 0
KEITH TRAYLOR [NEW ACQUISITION]
POS. LT
TACKLES 28
SACKS 0
KEVIN CARTER [NEW ACQUISITION]
POS. LE
TACKLES 49
SACKS 6
JUNIOR SEAU
POS. OLB
TACKLES 57
SACKS 1
INT. 0
SAM MADISON
POS. CB
TACKLES 47
INT. 0
TEBUCKY JONES [NEW ACQUISITION]
POS. SS
TACKLES 102
SACKS 0
INT. 1
YEREMIAH BELL
POS. FS
TACKLES 3
SACKS 0
INT. 0
REGGIE HOWARD
POS. CB
TACKLES 23
INT. 0
MATT TURK
POS. P
PUNTS 98
AVG. 41.7
NEW ACQUISITION (R) Rookie (stats for final college year) *2003 stats PVR: Player Value Ranking (explanation on page 170)
SCHEDULE
SEPTEMBER
11 DENVER
18 at N.Y. Jets
25 CAROLINA
OCTOBER
2 Open date
9 at Buffalo
16 at Tampa Bay
23 KANSAS CITY
30 at New Orleans
NOVEMBER
6 ATLANTA
13 NEW ENGLAND
20 at Cleveland
27 at Oakland
DECEMBER
4 BUFFALO
11 at San Diego
18 N.Y. JETS
24 TENNESSEE (S)
JANUARY
1 at New England
(S) SATURDAY
SCHEDULE STRENGTH
NFL rank: 1 Opponents' 2004 winning percentage: .547 Games against playoff teams: 7
"I'll tell you this about Nick Saban: He'll make sure this team is well coached at every level."
PHOTO
ALL'S FORGIVEN
Williams was well-received by the teammates he had abandoned.
PHOTO
SEAN BRADY/WIREIMAGE.COM
PHOTO
MADISON
PHOTO
NFL/WIREIMAGE.COM