We told you the Miami Dolphins and
Tampa Bay Buccaneers were in for long seasons. We said they'd be the
second- and third-best teams in the state of Florida, looking up at the
Jaguars.
One thing, though: Nobody could have imagined it would be this bad.
"Those teams stink," said one NFC personnel director.
Jon Gruden has lost his golden glow as the Bucs have backtracked.(AP)
So what has happened? How do the Bucs go from a Super Bowl champ 18
months ago to an 0-3 team that looks awful? How does Miami turn into the
expansion Dolphins of the 1960s?
It's simple, really: bad personnel moves.
They'll get you every time.
In Miami, the list of bad moves is lengthy, the main one being the trade
for quarterback A.J. Feeley from Philadelphia. They targeted him as
their starter, traded a second-round pick for him, and then paid him a
nice contract.
After two starts, forced starts that apparently came down from the front
office, Feeley is back on the bench. He's replaced by Jay Fiedler, the
man the Dolphins looked long and hard to replace the past couple of
seasons.
When Miami traded for Feeley, they were getting a third-team
quarterback, prompting some personnel people to say it was a panic move.
As it turns out, they appear to be right.
So Miami is back to Fiedler, but the problem is they have a bad
offensive line -- the worst in football -- no running back to speak of
and an offensive staff that neither trusts each other nor works well
together.