In hindsight, early season outrage against Dolphins looks pretty silly

Three months ago, the Dolphins were the worst team in the history of the NFL. Fast forward to Week 13? Not so much.

Remember three months ago when the Miami Dolphins were the most horrid team to ever see an NFL field? That’s what they’d have you believe if you subscribed to the early morning shows, the soundbites and the radio hits from nearly everyone with a microphone or a camera to speak into.

Those were simpler times. Before the Dolphins decided to shock the world and beat the New York Jets, only to double down on the insanity and go into Indianapolis and defeat the Colts. And now? After Sunday’s victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Miami Dolphins have seen their record jump to 3-9. Not too shabby for the worst team in NFL history, eh?

The faux outrage against the Dolphins was mostly fluff — a way to check a box and discuss an uncompetitive team in the NFL landscape this season in a way that’s likely to generate more interest than simply discussing the truth of the matter: they’re rebuilding. But one other thing all that outrage and table pounding did? It’s made a lot of people look pretty silly. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to revisit some of the worst hot takes directed at the Dolphins during the 2019 NFL season.

ESPN’s Mike Greenberg took a moment to monologue on the Dolphins and the atrocities of tanking during their “Get Up!” programming, pleading for something to be done before a quarter of the NFL is tanking for players. A quick glance at the standings will reveal Greenberg’s Jets are now just one game better than the Dolphins through 12 games — and don’t own the head to head tiebreaker.

Yahoo! Sports’ Tank Williams proclaimed the Dolphins to be the worst team in NFL history after Week 2. Williams references a “mass exodus of players” and states “the front office doesn’t know what they’re doing”. It’s almost like we should allow things to play out completely and not use a 2-game sample size for such a bold proclamation. But then again, that’s a common theme for just about every guilty party as it pertains to the Dolphins.

Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young thrashed the Dolphins ahead of their appearance on Monday Night Football against the Steelers for, as Young put it, putting people physically at risk and being irresponsible with their health. Have the Dolphins experiences a slew of injuries this season? Yes. But so has literally every other team in the NFL. Ask the Jets, Colts or Eagles about how easily they flexed and imposed their will on Miami.

There seems to be at least one “___________ would lose to college teams” fad every season. And yet nearly every single one of those arguments falls through the floor by the end of the year. In 2018, it was the Buffalo Bills, who started out the year with a 47-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens and looked generally inept before righting the ship and finishing the season 6-10. This year, Stephen A. Smith took the cheese against the Dolphins, suggesting that there were multiple college teams who could beat the Dolphins — while also suggesting they might be the worst team in NFL history.

Domonique Foxworth’s rant against the Dolphins after the trade of Minkah Fitzpatrick was an all-timer. “Unethical and morally reprehensible”. Continuing to go on to suggest the Miami Dolphins (recently named the NFL’s only representative in Front Office Sports’ list of ‘Best Employers In Sports’ for 2019) were failing their players as an employer to provide a safe working environment — while also failing to provide their players with an opportunity to succeed.

“These guys are physically playing the price, these guys are putting bad film on tape because they’re not trying to win and it’s going to shorten their careers. You know who is going to benefit from them? The owner and the general manager and maybe the potential future coach. These guys aren’t going to benefit from it. They’re going to be out of it, having their careers ruined by a selfish team like the Dolphins.”

The irony here? Fast forward to just two weeks ago and Foxworth, after alluding that Brian Flores wouldn’t stick with the Dolphins because of the blatant tank job, should be considered for 2019’s Coach of the Year. And that was before the win over the Eagles.

Former Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson took offense to people comparing Miami’s rebuild to the one he oversaw in 1989 with the Dallas Cowboys. Jimmy’s argument featured two key components: the only player of value he traded away was a 1,500 yard rusher the previous season in RB Herschel Walker and that the Cowboys would actually be competitive.

The 2019 Dolphins now have three times as many wins as those 1989 Cowboys, so Johnson is technically right. This rebuild looks nothing like Johnson’s in Dallas — because Miami has been exponentially more competitive.

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