This ‘Year 2’ Looks to Break the Phins Ugly Cycle

Phins fans have been ‘pumped’ for a good a Year 2 plenty over the last two decades

The Miami Dolphins 2020 Season is just days away and we Phins fans are in the familiar position of believing that good things are coming in Year 2 of a new regime. Unfortunately, with the exception of Don Shula 50 years ago, Year 2 hasn’t gone well…

… BUT, this time around it feels different, doesn’t it?

The ‘high’ doesn’t feel cheap this go-around. We aren’t riding the streaky and unexpected success in Year 1 of the new ‘hot’ hire. The way Brian Flores has gone about his business is entirely its own unique animal when compared to his peers in South Florida over the last twenty years. And this feels very comforting given the Dolphins history.

Recent Phins history: successful Year 1 followed by a Year 2 collapse

Phins fans are used to being on Cloud-9 going into Year 2 with the ‘best hires’ coming off early success: Saban, Gase, and Parcells. We even had surprise playoff runs in 2008 and 2016 to ‘confirm’ that hope. None of these ‘highs’ lasted long as a hard crash quickly followed.

This regime has been different right out of the box. Nothing was pretty like the previous regimes because it began as ugly as it gets. Chris Grier and Brian Flores moved on from young stars in the preseason and the players they decided to field were so abused that a chorus of ‘worst team eva’ was being proclaimed from sea to shining sea. But, the slow rise out of the pit in 2019 was undeniably intriguing and spoke far more hope than the streaky rise of the previous regimes. This time around the team is built on character and youth for the long haul and not flash for a short sprint.

Of course, Sunday’s game against the Patriots up in Foxborough will speak volumes about this team’s foundation. Even a hard-fought loss will go a long way in the eyes of Phins fans and the pay per head sites.

Quarterback health has been at the center of it all

In 2006, Daunte Culpepper was set to lead Nick Saban’s Year 2 into a great success. Instead, Culpepper played four games into his new contract and was injured. He was never seen again in Miami. Saban’s regime ended the following season.

The 2009 Season was a near repeat of 2006 with a cherry on top. This time, Bill Parcells was running the show. Coming off a surprise playoff run that was one and done in Year 1, Chad Pennington was injured in Week 3, then played 1 game in 2010 and was done. Parcells followed Saban’s gameplan and ran out of town in Year 3.

In 2016, Adam Gase continued the trend as the hot name to have quick success. As did the previous regimes, Gase ran into quarterback problems when Ryan Tannehill went down with a knee injury. This time it was in his first season as head coach, though. Gase managed the playoffs with Matt Moore and the future looked bright in his Year 2 with a healthy Tannehill. As we all know, Tannehill was injured in Training Camp and missed the 2017 Season. Tannehill played 11 games in 2018 and by 2019 both Tannehill and Gase were gone.

Thankfully this regime has two quality quarterbacks

So far, Brian Flores and Chris Grier haven’t been about the quick fix hunting for quick results. They’ve tirelessly had one eye on the present and one eye on the future. The fact that they have two quarterbacks in Tua and Fitzpatrick who can be successful is a huge difference from the past regimes. Also, they have a salary cap under control and a ton of draft picks and young players. All of this bodes well for Flores breaking the vicious cycle of Year 2 failure in Miami over the last two decades.

Fans should expected results this year… within reason. But just like this regime has done, we fans need to do the same and keep one eye on the present and one eye on the future. My floor for success was six games last year and they managed five. Given the circumstances, I called it a win. This season, a successful season is legitimately being in the hunt for the playoffs in the final quarter of the season. They can do it… and more, if you ask me. Go Phins!!!

FYI: Jimmy Bourbon’s tech guys tried to add some fancy bells and whistles to the site for the 2020 Season. It didn’t go as planned. Somehow the hosting company disintegrated the last batch of articles, along with your comments. Sorry, everyone.

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2 comments

Stephen Fabrizio
September 9, 2020 at 9:38 pm
MJ,
Great article! Totally agree. We can expect an up-tick this year. The team is a good deal better in all units of the team. I think the Chan Gailey will help a lot with a more simplified “spread” offense that get’s the ball out faster. There are no prima donnas on this team so far. Veteran players who came in from other teams have remarked about the chemistry and cohesiveness of the team. These guys will play hard to Flores. With Gailey handling the OC, Flores can focus a little more on the defense and work with Boyer! I think for all teams the play will be sloppy out of the gate. This can be however, an equalizer too. I think this Sunday’s Pats game will come down to whichever veteran QB plays better. I know it’s a cliche, but a couple of extra plays may just do it. Then again, we could get blown out too! Winning in NE last year was great! We beat Patriots team that had all it’s starters playing, looking to get that bye-week. The Fins are a good deal better this year,and the Pats have lost numerous quality players, Brady & Gronk most notably. I was hoping to push for the playoffs this year, since we nearly won 7 games last year with a rag-tag, pick-up ball club. After seeing the schedule, an 8-8 season was kind of what I settled on. However, recent good reports of team chemistry, fight, draft picks producting, etc., leave to think that a 9-7 or 10-6 season may be possible. All depends on injuries and also COVID. Thank you and go FINS!!!
- admin
  September 10, 2020 at 12:21 pm
  Thanks, Stephen. Yeah, it all up in the air. So much is an unknown quantity. I think 7 wins is the floor, which means they could be pushing in Dec for a playoff spot. But, just my gut feeling, but I think we could see more. Hard to tell without seeing anything all preseason. I’m going to really rip into this game film like never before I tell you that. I just hope we don’t play flat. I think Cam being in his first game with the team and Fitz being in his second year with Miami give Miami an advantage. Of course, we have a ton of new faces and rookies… I’m very excited for sure.

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