But that season was one of the only times since Marino that the Dolphins really had a real shot at greatness.  We were destroying people until Jay Fiedler got hurt against the Broncos in what at the time was one of the best games I had ever seen.  We won with no time on the clock with a 53 yard field goal.  It was amazing. Unfortunately Fiedler broke his thumb and was replaced by the singularly worst QB in Dolphins history Ray Lucas who promptly lost us three straight games.  After that it was up to Wannstdet to over use Ricky until a season later he was hanging out in Australia instead of running over Jets and Patriots.

The 2002 season we had 6 Dolphins defenders in the Pro Bowl along with Ricky on offense, we trounced the AFC Champion Raiders and yet we went 9-7.  The next year we won 10 games and still didn’t make the playoffs. It was disastrous…. and it only got worse…

You watch these highlights and you will see so many players that got away or were never the same again… Of course we lost Ricky but within a few seasons rookie sensation Randy McMichael was gone, Surtain and Madison were cast aside, we let Todd Wade and Morlon Greenwood leave in free agency, Jamie Nails got injured and Chris Chambers never lived up to his potential.  In one of our biggest mistakes we traded Adewale Ogunleye for Marty Booker and a third round draft pick that we immediately traded for a running back who immediately got hurt. Wannstedt mismanaged Rob Konrad until he decided to retire and even solid role players like Travis Minor and Ed Perry were soon gone. And I still miss Olindo Mare if only for his booming kickoffs…

It was sad to see a team that good fall apart so quickly.  We were so spoiled then.  If we had only appreciated what we had in Jay Fiedler and how nice it was to have 10 and 11 win seasons even if we weren’t doing much in the playoffs… Sigh…

Anyway, I am going to just let you watch these highlights.  Try to appreciate them instead of depressing yourself like I just have.  And then look towards the future and hope that Chad Henne is the real deal and that Brandon Marshall’s hips and temper hold up for a few years and that Ricky has a few more 100 yard games in him and that Jason Taylor isn’t a 10th of the player he was in 2002…

Go Dolphins!

Eventually we came together in our hatred of the Jets, and I led DolfansNYC in a lovely J-E-T-S Suck Suck Suck chant around the 3:25 mark in the video. In all seriousness, Fitzy, aka Nick Stevens is a pretty funny dude and this video is well worth watching. Enjoy.

MiamiDolphins.com will provide live video coverage as General Manager Jeff Ireland hosts his annual pre-draft press conference on Thursday, April 8, 2010, at 12:30 p.m. After the press conference at 1:00 p.m., Ireland will take part in a 30-minute Live Video Chat with Dol-Fans. We ask that fan please be sure to submit your first name, city and state with their question. To submit a question for the Dolphins General Manager, please go to www.MiamiDolphins.com/AskJeffIreland.

Its not often that the Dolphins give access to Jeff, much less fan access, so I hope you guys take the chance to send in a quesiton or two.  I know I have a lot to ask… although very little of it has to do with the draft.

I think my first question might be HOW THE HELL DO YOU LET JASON TAYLOR VISIT THE STINKING JETS!!!?!?!!!??

Good lord, my heart is breaking today.  Let’s just hope this is a smoke screen that actually works in getting JT signed for another two years.  I want him to retire a Phin and it’s not like we are swimming in pass rushers…

On a club update, we are trying to organize a trip to watch the first round of the draft live.  We wanted to do a draft party, but I think we instead are going to bring out a group to the draft.  Hopefully we will have t-shirts by then! Get excited.

And lastly, remember to check out Run Ricky Run on ESPN on April 27th.  It should be really intresting.

Go Dolphins!

Hey guys!

Hope you’re all having a great off-season. I recently filmed a fundraising event hosted by Cincinnati Bengals Running Back, Brian Leonard. NFL attendees included Cedric Benson, J.P. Foschi, Ray Rice; Shaun O’Hara; Anthony Fasano; Nate Jones;  Jeremy Zuttah; Derrick Roberson; Jamaal Westerman; Manny Collins; Brandon Renkart; Courtney Greene; Gary Gibson; Kevin Malast; Kevin Brock; Jason McCourty and retired NFL veteran Marco Battaglia. Rutgers head coach, Greg Schiano; Chris Quinn of the New Jersey Nets; and Matthew Berry of ESPN Fantasy.

The players who were unable to appear in-person sent autographed and game-used memorabilia for the silent auction.  Among the numerous signed items were a Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Oilers jersey, Chad Ochocinco and Carson Palmer footballs, and helmets from past and present Rutgers and NFL greats.

The efforts of Brian and his fellow athletes and friends helped raise money for Embrace Kids Foundation, a New Brunswick, New Jersey-based non-profit organization servicing children with cancer and blood disorders.

I had a chance to chat with Nate Jones for a few minutes and told him about DolfansNYC. He was really happy to hear about the club and was very appreciative of the support from the fans. Check out what he had to say.

Go Dolphins!!!

Barring a miracle this Sunday will the the last DolfansNYC meet up for a while.  We are planning two events for the off season including a draft party and another event that I don’t want to talk about until it’s finalized.  We are going to be making shirts in the off season and should have those available online soon probably.

I will talk about it more in the weekely email, but since this is probably the last game I hope everyone comes out even if there is not a lot of importance in this game. Clearly reaching .500 would be nice, but I want everyone to come out so we can say good bye for a while.  There are so many awesome people I have met a Third & Long and I hope to see you guys all at least once more before the break.

Anyway, since things are a bit depressing in Dolphins land I will leave you with something to hopefully cheer you up.  It is a shout out from Anthony Fasano repping Dolfans NYC. Fasano has been really with us and donated a lot of signed pictures for the raffles we have had this year.

Go Dolphins!

Anyway, let’s get to what you came here for. My weekly fantasy football advice.

It’s Week 14 of the NFL season and I’ve got some more fantasy football advice to pass along.  As always, we’ve got plenty of music, photos, and jokes for your viewing pleasure.  Go Fins!!

Anyway, things get really exciting with that win and a few losses around the league.  With Baltimore and Pittsburgh losing things are looking pretty good for the Dolphins if they win the next four games.  All four games are against AFC teams with a shot at the playoffs so everyone is going to be huge… Assuming we keep winning.  So here’s how it works.  If we win all four games we can get in if Baltimore loses ANY game or if New England loses any (they have three) AFC game.  If we win out and New England loses to the Bills, Jags or Texans we win the AFC East.  If they lose to Carolina it goes to like the 5th tiebreaker and things get really weird. That’s not worth talking about.  Brady is hurting though, and they have two AFC games on the road where they haven’t played well.  Baltimore on the other hand has a pretty easy schedule with the Lions, Bears and Raiders left, but they do have a tough matchup against Pittsburgh in week 16.  Also, the Raiders are a dangerous team despite their record, and the Ravens have to travel to Oakland after being on the road against Pitt.  Should be exciting if the Dolphins can keep winning.  Their biggest test might be Jacksonville this Sunday.  We better see you out at Third & Long.

And since I don’t have any photos, I wanted to leave you with this, a shout out from Dolphins starting inside linebacker Akin Ayodele.

Go Dolphins!