Scouting Report
3 - Miami Dolphins
As Jimmy Johnson plots it, the Dolphins will be
better grounded, less Marino reliant and ready
to showcase the team's
homegrown talent
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Determined pass rusher Taylor is one of the few Johnson
draftees to have made a big
impact.
(Andy Lyons/Allsport)
| Coach Jimmy Johnson has oriented the Dolphins' offense toward
the run in the
off-season, and he was preaching the gospel of smash-mouth one day in
his office when he nodded at the huge fish tank that is its
centerpiece. Two new,
ferocious-looking fish—spiny, circular, brown-white-and-blue
guys—patrolled the waters, waiting for the
live-and-let-live fish to emerge from the shelter of
sea
anemones and coral. Then,
Johnson said with some excitement, the monsters would
pounce.
"Volitan
lionfish," he said, like a proud papa. "Imported from the
Philippines. I put a dozen goldfish in the water the other
day, and they each ate six. I've had a passive tank before,
but I wanted some tougher fish, some real meat
eaters."
With Johnson, everything is a message. Here it came. "You know why I like 'em? They're beautiful, they're smart and they're aggressive."
The same traits, Johnson hopes, are what he has instilled
in the Dolphins in his three drafts with the team. The
proof, he knows, is not in the record. Miami is a very
un-Johnson-like 16-16 since Johnson came aboard 32 months
ago, and he says with some justification that the
turnaround has been slowed by the horrendous salary-cap
situation he
inherited from the final desperate 1995 Don Shula signings. But
Johnson isn't without blame here. He was cowed by the
looming presence of Dan Marino into keeping a pass-happy
offense he hated; Miami would have been significantly
better than .500 in the last two years if in 1996 Johnson
had built the Dolphins to run. After Miami was held to 162
total yards in a 17-3
wild-card playoff loss to the Patriots
last December, Johnson fired longtime
offensive coordinator Gary Stevens and
replaced him with running backs coach
Kippy
Brown.
What has the tanned natives getting a little restless from
Islamorada to
Boca Raton is the failure of Johnson's Dolphins drafts to produce
more-spectacular results. In
Johnson's first three years (1989-91) in the Dallas war room, the
Cowboys harvested stars like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith,
Erik Williams and Leon Lett, as well as solid starters
Daryl Johnston, Mark
Stepnoski, Russell Maryland, Tony Tolbert and Larry Brown. The run
of three Dallas Super Bowls in four years began in
1992.
No one around Miami—except Johnson, maybe—is
expecting a Super Bowl anytime soon, and the dream of Miami
fans that he would build a super team around Marino now
seems remote. Johnson hit home runs in Dallas. He
definitely has not struck out in Miami, but his hits have
been doubles and singles. With the Dolphins, remember, he
has had nothing like the Herschel
Walker train robbery that helped the
Cowboys get so good so fast. In Dallas, Aikman and Maryland were
the first overall draft choices. In Miami, Johnson's first
picks have been, in order, 20th, 15th and 29th overall; in
'96, he had one pick in the
top 75. The only borderline All-Pros from
Johnson's first two drafts have been linebacker Zach Thomas and pass
rusher Jason Taylor, who came in the third round last year
and immediately became the front-seven player with the most
impact.
"If you take away Troy and Emmitt, I think our first
three drafts here are comparable to our first three in
Dallas," Johnson says. "We got Troy because we
had the first pick, and Emmitt [No. 17 overall] might be
one of those once-in-a-lifetime picks. But after that most
of the players we took, even the ones who started and made
an impact, are the type we've drafted here. Most of those
Cowboys didn't get recognized until we won Super Bowls. For
instance, I think it will prove out that if we win, Stanley
Pritchett's about the same as Daryl
Johnston. But how do you know yet? This year, [cornerback] Patrick
Surtain might be the best pick we've made here. Kenny
Mixon's already our best every-down defensive end, and
Lorenzo Bromell's close. I know they'll be good players.
They need
time."
| Schedule |
| Sept. | 6 | at Indianapolis |
| 13 | BUFFALO |
| 20 | PITTSBURGH |
| 27 | OPEN DATE |
| Oct. | 4 | at N.Y. Jets |
| 12 | at Jacksonville (Mon.) |
| 18 | ST. LOUIS |
| 25 | NEW ENGLAND |
| Nov. | 1 | at Buffalo |
| 8 | INDIANAPOLIS |
| 15 | at Carolina |
| 23 | at New England (Mon.) |
| 29 | NEW ORLEANS |
| Dec. | 6 | at Oakland |
| 13 | N.Y. JETS |
| 21 | DENVER (Mon.) |
| 27 | at Atlanta |
|
|
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This is an impatient business, though. "They obviously
brought Coach Johnson to Miami because he's a draft
guru," says
Surtain, taken 44th overall out of Southern Miss. "The guys
he picks, he wants to play. Being a rookie, I like that.
Whether you're a
rookie free agent or a
10-year vet, he's going to play the guy he thinks is
best."
The Dolphins need Johnson to be right on the Surtains and
the Mixons, preferably before Marino is fitted for his bust
in
Canton. "We weren't far away last year, when we ran an
offense I didn't like, and we had the worst run of injuries
in a year since I've been coaching," Johnson said.
"We were 7-7
coming down the stretch, and if we've improved as much as I
think we have, we're going to be pretty good."
They had better be. There's something about a two-season
.500 record while
having Dan Marino's arm and Jimmy
Johnson's head on the same team that just doesn't
compute. —Peter King
By the Numbers | Inside Slant | Lineup
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