Bill Parcells believed that games were won in the trenches.
Just as Parcells tried to do, Miami has invested heavily on the Trenches.
In 2008, Bill Parcells was hired by the Dolphins to be the Czar of football operations, and many fans including myself, believed this was going to be the beginning of the rebirth of the Miami Dolphins winning ways. Parcells won two Super Bowls with the Giants and helped turn around the Jets, Patriots and the Cowboys. The crux of his philosophy was that you had to win the battle of the trenches, and that big and strong football players were needed to do it.
Parcells brought over his former protege in Tony Sparano, who specialized as an offensive line coach, so it appeared that Miami would immediately improve in the offensive trenches. Over the next three years, Miami went on to throw big money into the offensive line on players like Jake Grove, and Justin Smiley. However, both players had a checkered history of injuries, which should have been an immediate red flag. As a result, these players never panned out, and the offensive line has progressively gotten worse over the years, and Parcells was booed out of town.
Eight years have gone by since Parcells was hired, and the Dolphins have been a continuous merry-go-round of executives, coaches and players, and they are still looking for their first winning season and playoff appearance since 2008. Parcells and his regime are nothing more than ghosts in the Dolphins locker room, but this new regime, lead by his former disciple Mike Tannenbaum, is following his philosophy of immediately investing in improvements in the trenches.
Bill Parcells expended alot of assets on the trenches, most of which ended up failures.
The Dolphins were very busy this off-season, and a bulk of their attention was put into bringing more talent and depth to the offensive and defensive line units. On the Defensive side the Dolphins did unfortunately lose Vernon, and Shelby, however, they quickly signed Mario Williams, Andre Branch, Jason Jones, and Chris Jones, and extended Cameron Wake‘s contract. On paper, many sports gambling fans would say that the Dolphins got bigger and stronger on the defensive line, and should be improved in that area in 2016.
On the Offensive line, the Dolphins added Jermon Bushrod, (a former pro bowler), Kraig Urbik, (a starting Guard from the Bills, who had the best running attack in the league), and Laremy Tunsil (which many analysts believed was the best Tackle, and even best player in the draft). On paper, this unit appears to be much improved in both the starters and the depth department. So, barring any injuries, this unit may finally be an advantage for the team, instead of the weak link that was responsible for Miami losing games and having failed seasons.
So, in spirit, it “seems” the former executive of operation may be responsible for redeeming his failures through his disciple Tannebaum. Only time will tell if this is a tale of redemption or repetition. What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins news fans thoughts about the Dolphins approach in focusing on improving the trench units on this team?
