Last season, the Miami Dolphins shocked the NFL world by not only making the post-season, but winning the AFC East, yes, the same AFC East that the New England Patroits are apart of. What will the Dolphins do for an encore? Many figure that they’ll have a hard time repeating the results from a season ago and that’s understandable. The Dolphins introduced an offensive scheme that resembled something fresh out of college, the Wildcat. Usually when a scheme like that comes around, it takes defenses two weeks tops to adapt and shut it down. However, that did not happen with the Dolphins. Whenever defenses countered, the Dolphins introduced a new staple of the Wildcat, thus leaving defenses lost and speechless.

What kind of staples will the Miami Dolphins have added for the 2009-10 season? To be short, they drafted multi-treat quarterback Pat White from West Virgina in the second round of the NFL Draft. Not only is he a threat to break off big runs at any given time, he spent his senior season showing teams he is capable of throwing the deep ball and being accurate at it while doing so. Because of that, defenses will have a hard time keying in on Pat White, thus making the Wildcat offensive scheme even tougher to defend. Is this a new chapter in how NFL offenses will begin scheming and running plays? Or is just a one-hit-wonder sort of thing and it’ll die out as fast as the option offense did?

Coming off a 1-15 fiasco in 2007, the team fired Cam Cameron and brought in unproven Tony Sparano. After an 0-2 start, it looked like the team was headed for another disastrous season, but then inspiration struck. Sparano instituted a new offensive formation with no quarterback. With running back Ronnie Brown taking direct snaps from the center, the team surprised the New England Patriots 38-13, with Brown running for four touchdowns. So effective was this new wrinkle that several teams around the league quickly incorporated their own versions into their offensive schemes. The name of the formation? The Wildcat, of course. Miami ended up winning nine of its last 10 games and won the AFC East with an 11-5 record. Goldie Hawn would have been proud.

Of course, that’s the glossy, romanticized view of this team. The fact is, the Dolphins were not nearly as bad as their 1-15 record in 2007 would have you believe, and they weren’t nearly as good as their 11-5 record last season. Quarterback Chad Pennington came over from the Jets to manage the offense, and he did it better than anyone could have imagined, throwing only seven interceptions all season, helping to propel Miami to a turnover differential of plus-17, tops in the NFL. That’s why we think this team is due for a setback in 2009. There’s very little chance that this team will hold on to the ball as well as it did last season.

If you saw the playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens, in which Pennington threw four picks and the Dolphins were soundly thrashed 27-9, you saw a sneak preview of what this season holds for the Dolphins on a much more regular basis. The receiving corps on this team is very average, and with so many Wildcat imitators around the league, the one weapon that made the team unique last season won’t be so unfamiliar to opposing defenses. That’s not to say this team can’t contend for a playoff spot, but with Tom Brady back in New England and Terrell Owens now with the Buffalo Bills, and with two rookie defensive backs joining a unit that finished 25th in the league against the pass, we’ll be surprised if the Dolphins do any better than 9-7.

Article via ESPN, written by A.J. Mass – http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/football/ffl/story?page=nfldk2k9dolphinscamppreview

Head Coach: Tony Sparano (1st season)

Offense

Projected starters:

QB: Chad Pennington
RB: Ronnie Brown
FB: Reagan Mauia
WR: Ted Ginn, Jr
WR: Derek Hagan
TE: Anthony Fasano
LT: Jake Long
LG: Justin Smiley
C: Samson Satele
RG: Donald Thomas
RT: Vernon Carey

Miami hired Dan Henning as their new offensive coordinator back in February and the best indicator of what Miami can expect out of Henning can be based off his last stint as the offensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers from 2002 up until 2006 which included a trip to Super Bowl in 2004 before losing to New England 32-29. Looking at his track record, Henning will most likely rely on a run first offense to set up the pass and carry the load in Miami as he did with Stephen Davis and Deshaun Foster in Carolina, assuming the Dolphins running game stays healthy and sober. The offensive line is improving although there is still a lot of work to be done. Rookie Jake Long is the only other OT to be taken no. 1 next to Orlando Pace so he is obviously expected to be a big time player. I think he’ll make an immediate impact, but don’t expect him to make a Joe Thomas caliber one.

Defense

Projected starters:

DE: Matt Roth
DT: Jason Ferguson
DE: Vonnie Holliday
OLB: Charlie Anderson
ILB: Channing Crowder
ILB: Akin Ayodele
OLB: Joey Porter
CB: Will Allen
CB: Andre’ Goodman
S: Yeremiah Bell
S: Jason Allen

The Dolphins defense had a hard time doing anything right last season. It couldn’t stop the run as Miami surrendered a league-worst 153.5 yards per game on the ground. They now have 4 new front seven starters and although they lost a future hall of famer in Jason Taylor, any change figures to be one in the right direction after giving up so many points on easy scoring drives last season. Their secondary is also a disaster, as opposition had a 92.4 QB rating against their defense and it doesn’t seem like they’ve improved much in that area. Their front seven will have to carry a very heavy load if the Dolphins expect to have any success stopping offenses this season.

The big story this summer in Miami has been the debate of which defensive scheme the Dolphins will run. When Parcells arrived in Miami, he knew he didn’t have the personnel to make the switch to his preferred 3-4 defense. The team was equipped with undersized linebackers and Parcells had to make a few moves to make a successful transition. After signing Charlie Anderson and Reggie Torbor, we finally know that the Dolphins are a 3-4 team under Paul Pasqualoni and assistant head coach Todd Bowles who are familiar with the defense.

Special teams

Projected starters:

PR: Ted Ginn
KR: Ted Ginn
P: Brandon Fields
K: Jay Feely

Ginn was drafted in large part because of his success returning the ball in college and he didn’t turn any heads with 9.6 yards per punt return and 22.7 yards per kickoff return which is average at best. Parcells is a mastermind when it comes to special teams, so Ginn could be in as a threat for the 2008 season if all goes right.

Brandon Fields is an average punter at best as his stats don’t lie as is their kicker Jay Feely. Feely’s an average kick off guy and a very streaky kicker who has some good moments but then again misses some easy field goals as well.

Bottomline:

With Chad Pennington as the short term answer at quarterback until Henne is ready to take over, expect the Fins to play extremely conservative. The majority of the plays called will be running plays and Pennington will try to manage the game and hope the defense somehow avails even though it’s very unlikely as they’ve lost their two best defensive players in Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor in the off season. Don’t expect more than 6 wins for the Dolphins as they’re still a long ways away from contending as the construction only began December 19th when Parcells accepted to be take over as the Executive Vice President of Football Operations.