Samuels Done for the Year

Who says Rhinehart is something of a bust.

Well jeez... his not dressing in a game was the first hint. The fact that we've had a mess at RT most of season w/o even a mention of him dressing until the injury situation became dire is a good second.

What r we to believe: we drafted an o-lineman in a middle round so that he could watch in street-clothes for a season and go from there? Sweeeeeeeeeeet!

(pardon the sarcasm but when our line situation has been deteriorating for years and the one guy we draft doesn't even suit up - i hope to God that isn't what the FO had in mind or else we're really in trouble.)

Way too early to consider Rinehart a bust. He was a project coming out of college so it should be no big surprise that he's been riding the bench. Maybe in these last 3 games he'll get a look. Next year is when we'll really know what we have in him.

Way too early to consider Rinehart a bust. He was a project coming out of college so it should be no big surprise that he's been riding the bench. Maybe in these last 3 games he'll get a look. Next year is when we'll really know what we have in him.The fact that he's been inactive to this point doesn't mean anything. Of course if you have to pick a guy to finish a game, you'd rather have the veteran Fabini active.

It was weird that Fabini hadn't been active since the Dallas game though. It didn't seem likely that it would come back to bite us, but oh well.

The fact that he's been inactive to this point doesn't mean anything. Of course if you have to pick a guy to finish a game, you'd rather have the veteran Fabini active.

It was weird that Fabini hadn't been active since the Dallas game though. It didn't seem likely that it would come back to bite us, but oh well.

It took Fabini most of last season to get up to game speed IMHO, and even then we was not solid. What's he going to do w/ 3 games...

I don't want to sound like a broken record but again when the line situation has been deteriorating for a few years w/ aging starters and lousy back-ups, the idea of taking a lineman in the 3rd round who is nowhere near ready to take the field seems absurd. Maybe we'll all have to agree to disagree but my take is the FO thought Rhinehart would be able to make an impact if/when he was needed (obviously nobody expected him to start). Instead he had a very poor preseason and has not gained anyone's confidence. I'm chalking it up to a scouting error because I think (and really hope from a common sense perspective) that they intended to take a guy who could be of real help. Not a guy who wears jeans all sunday like me :)

It took Fabini most of last season to get up to game speed IMHO, and even then we was not solid. What's he going to do w/ 3 games...

I don't want to sound like a broken record but again when the line situation has been deteriorating for a few years w/ aging starters and lousy back-ups, the idea of taking a lineman in the 3rd round who is nowhere near ready to take the field seems absurd. Maybe we'll all have to agree to disagree but my take is the FO thought Rhinehart would be able to make an impact if/when he was needed (obviously nobody expected him to start). Instead he had a very poor preseason and has not gained anyone's confidence. I'm chalking it up to a scouting error because I think (and really hope from a common sense perspective) that they intended to take a guy who could be of real help. Not a guy who wears jeans all sunday like me :)Fabini was pretty darn good last year, albeit at Guard. I mean, we haven't really seen improvement at the position since Thomas has been healthy. I'm not sure if he can still handle OT, but he was a starter in Dallas but three years ago at RT.

I'm confident that Rinehart could play right now at RG if we needed him to, but I actually feel that we want more from him for this.

I have mixed feelings on this .

Samuels no matter what the dunderheads on this board say is a top LT . But he has been slowed by that knee injury and simply not himself .. Normally he would be one of the OL men you would see everywhere but more often than not in the last couple of weeks he has been stood around in pain hands on hips .

It does essentially end our season . It ends the running game of Portis but I know I want the team to fight for every yard .

As for the Parcells comparison . Bill always builds the lines, but if you actually watched the Dolphins last year they were not as bad as they looked . I saw them play the Giants close, the Steelers to 3 point and actually beat the Ravens.

The Dolphins have been rebuilding their line for a number of years, adding Jake long often makes the OL better just like adding Samuels in 2000 made our offensive line good .

I saw this posted in a comment on Redskins Insider today.

Miami's 2008 Draft (Parcells knows how to shop for groceries):

1st round: Jake Long - OT
2nd round: Merling - DE
3rd round: Langford - DT
4th round: Murphy - OT
6th round: Thomas - OG
7th round: Dotson - DE

After a 1-15 season last year, guess who the most improved team is this season? Granted Pennington is a big part of that, but The Tuna understands what butters the bread of successful NFL teams. The trenches baby.

Merling is definitely someone I would have liked here. But, just out of curiosity, how much are those guys contributing this season?

Merling is definitely someone I would have liked here. But, just out of curiosity, how much are those guys contributing this season?

Without looking deeply into the playing time of any of these guys, I'd bet that after the 3rd round, none of those players are making that much of an impact. I could be wrong of course, that's straight speculation.

But still, you see the pattern. And no one can deny that Bill Parcells is a master at lifting teams out of the depths.

It's one of the rules known throughout football: You have to build up your lines first.

Vinny Cerrato, with Dan Snyder's approval has steadily ignored this rule. And we're seeing the results.

Without looking deeply into the playing time of any of these guys, I'd bet that after the 3rd round, none of those players are making that much of an impact. I could be wrong of course, that's straight speculation.

But still, you see the pattern. And no one can deny that Bill Parcells is a master at lifting teams out of the depths.

It's one of the rules known throughout football: You have to build up your lines first.

Vinny Cerrato, with Dan Snyder's approval has steadily ignored this rule. And we're seeing the results.

I just bring it up because A)it's likely that most of those guys have little to do nothing do with the Dolphins' improvement this season and b)why are we praising guys on other teams who have yet to contribute anything (in all likelihood, I don't know for a fact) yet are so quick to dismiss our own draft picks?

I saw this posted in a comment on Redskins Insider today.

Miami's 2008 Draft (Parcells knows how to shop for groceries):

1st round: Jake Long - OT
2nd round: Merling - DE
3rd round: Langford - DT
4th round: Murphy - OT
6th round: Thomas - OG
7th round: Dotson - DE

After a 1-15 season last year, guess who the most improved team is this season? Granted Pennington is a big part of that, but The Tuna understands what butters the bread of successful NFL teams. The trenches baby.



Merling is definitely someone I would have liked here. But, just out of curiosity, how much are those guys contributing this season?
Just an fyi:


1st round: Jake Long - OT played in all 13 games
2nd round: Merling - DE played in all 13 games 17 tackles
3rd round: Langford - DT played in all 13 games 26 tackles
4th round: Murphy - OT played in 0 games
6th round: Thomas - OG played in 0 games
7th round: Dotson - DE played in 2 games 1 tackle.