Archives for December 2003

‘We keep talking about all this talent Miami has, so there has to be a reason that talent keeps falling short at important times in important games, right?’

‘Wannstedt makes all personnel decisions but relies on Spielman and others for advice. Insisting he has no regrets about last offseason, Spielman defended his and Wannstedt’s personnel record and addressed criticism of several moves.’

”’You know what’s frustrating?” he began, in a voice not quite his — a voice a shade higher, and faster, and wobbly. “The negativity that surrounds this team. The doom and gloom we get all the time. It’s not that we’re not trying.”’

‘But the relocation project for Spikes has become a classic example of someone needing to be more careful about what they wish for.’

”’They were writing up all the pluses and minuses and he had all these pluses,” Morris said with a weary grin. “But his main weakness they could come up with was both his parents are doctors, and he comes from a good area. That was supposed to be his weakness.”’

‘Bills: This team is just playing out the string at this point, so don’t expect much in terms of a hard effort.’

‘”They’re going to come in here needing this game,” said linebacker Takeo Spikes. “The way we look at it, we’ve got a lot of room on our couch to look at the Super Bowl and playoffs together.”‘

‘”Early on, I lived so close to Kansas City, I followed Derrick Thomas. As soon as I got into middle school and started playing organized football, I looked up to my older brother Chad. He played at Nebraska and played a year or two for the Steelers. He stuck out in my mind.”‘

‘”Playing football in this area is a real privilege,” he said. “We have fans that come out in spite of the disappointing year that we’ve had and cheer for us.”‘

‘This is what desperation looks like for the Dolphins.’

‘All the attention, as well as too much South Florida venom, is focused on Wannstedt. In the past 15 years, the Dolphins have had three coaches, the Marlins six managers, the Panthers seven coaches and the Heat five coaches. But none has taken a public pounding like Wannstedt.’

‘”You literally have to knock him unconscious to stop him,” the Tennessee Titans’ Jeff Fisher said a week ago in the sort of pregame hyperbole that seems to infect almost every NFL coach.’

‘Here are the scenarios that would help and hurt the Dolphins entering their final two regular-season games against Buffalo and the visiting New York Jets (6-8).’

‘”When [Bowens] injured his knee, he had an isolated ACL tear,” O’Neill said. “Another player that has a more complicated injury, there might have been other complications, and those things can prolong the recovery.”‘

‘The beginning of Buffalo’s postseason superiority began in a divisional game on the iced carpet at Rich Stadium.’