Miami Dolphins: Best Winless Team Ever.

Hey, geeks. Hope these two statistical insights numb the pain a little.

Two reliable sources with a deep passion for triangles and wacky, pretentious math formulas have confirmed that, contrary to the fact that the Phins haven't come out victorious in nearly one full year -- Miami is the best 0-10 team in NFL history.

Nice. High-five...no?

Ricky to Start

Strange. Armando says Ricky will start at Pittsburgh tonight, but so far, no one else is reporting this story. Seeing as though this is pretty big news I would assume at the very least that ESPN would pick up the story, but nothing as of yet. Add to my skeptism the fact Mando broke the news via his blog -- not exactly the first place I'd go with the scoop of the week, but hey, what the hell.

With a Ricky start we can go ahead and say so much for Cam being a stickler for good behavior. All that squeeky-clean garbage doesn't put notches in the win column. This guy is desperate. A five-time offender of the league's drug policy? Nah, no problem. You're our guy.

Way to represent the organization. You're all class, Miami.

Bullshit.

Game 11 @ PIT

Ricky, Ricky, Ricky. It's all about Ricky going into Sunday's game against Pittsburgh. Will he start or won't he? Cameron is mute on the matter; Ricky feels fine. Whatever. The story should be Beck's second stab running this offense. He looked borderline awful but considering the circumstances -- his first start, a blitz-happy Eagles team, the Phins are garbage, etc. -- he did just fine. He'll get there. Hell, after last night's Denver game, it looks as if Cutler's coming around after nearly a full season under his belt. I'm optimistic on Beck. I dig him...

As far as the rest of the team goes, there are reasons to be excited about the future. If Ginn has proven anything this year it's that he doesn't suck completely and certainly not the draft bust every cynical Dolphin fan assumed upon his selection (My, this crow sure is tender). And, suddenly out of nowhere, our defense is actually improving. Slowly, but still. I won't make too much out of Jason Allen's two picks last week, but it's good to see him take his licks and gain some confidence. Damn, did he need it.

Also, the offensive line looks great. Did anyone think Houck could turn this unit around? They've been the one constant this season.

Anyway, Pittsburgh. Willie Parker will destroy. John Boy will make plenty of mistakes against this defense. Add to that Jesse Chatman's ankle injury and I can now understand all the noise regarding Ricky. End.

Game 10 @ PHI

I haven't done a preview in quite some time. Why not, right?

We know the storyline coming in -- Beck's first start, our preliminary glimpse into the Phins' second-round draft choice. Regardless of Miami's putrid record and the fact that losses are now met with mere shoulder shrugs, to have Beck in is actually pretty damn exciting. Easily the only time this season when I can say I'm flatout eager to watch the Dolphins play. Expectations should be low, so I say -- Forget winning. If Beck goes 17-30 with 200+ yards and the Phins get bombed out by 24, consider me happy. Seriously. I mean that completely. Throw to Ginn 5 to 8 times. Send Booker and Hagan deep. Test his arm. Go nuts. All passivity should be throw out the friggin' window.

With all that said, I still think the Phins have a shot to win this game. The offense has fared pretty well this year in converting third downs, and although the defensive unit has been the team's Achilles, they've actually improved statistically spanning the past few weeks. I'm talking about in terms of third-down conversions. I wrote about this on the dailyfilter.

Zach Thomas and Matt Roth are both out. Crowder and Wright will replace them, respectively.

There are my brief thoughts. To read an actual, comprehensive preview, go here.

Ricky's Reinstated

Ricky's back. What this means to the Dolphins, no one knows.

I like the guy; I can appreciate his ideals and hope he gets himself figured out. In terms of the team, he's nothing but a headline. Most fans are holding out for some storybook return with numbers reminiscent of 2002 or '03, but he's done with the Dolphins. Deal with it.

Cam has been rather mute regarding Ricky, and following the Fred Evans release, I was curious to how long Cam would drag out a decision on Ricky. If Cam is, in fact, a stickler for solid off-the-field behavior, then RW would be idling on the waiver wire by now. Considering the Phins will be set with running backs NEXT SEASON (Ronnie, Chatman and Booker?), there's really only one reason to string Ricky along -- trade bait.

He's continually been brought up in trade speculation, but, honestly, I can't see how Ricky could have any trade value at this point. Drug and personal issues aside, he's 30 and hasn't played in two years. In the best-case scenario, Ricky's worth a sixth or seventh rounder, maybe.

With all this said, Ricky's career isn't over. Mortenson mentioned the Pats as a possible suitor for RW, and, damn, would New England be a great place for him to succeed. Keep in mind he went to rehab in Boston...whatever that means. Forget I said that.

Beck's the Guy vs. Philly

Hold up. Real quick. I didn't watch a second of the Bills game. I spent last Sunday away from the television, thinking that somehow my association with all things non-Dolphins would have some black-magic, reverse-psychological impact on the outcome. Two hours into it, my curiosity got the best of me. Once I checked in in the third quarter and saw a 3-2 score, I knew I made the right decision to not watch this game. As one relative and Bills fan texted, "This is the game we deserve."

But...

Apparently, the Buffalo loss was it for Cleo. ESPN is reporting that my boy and yours, the future -- Mr. John Beck, will get his first go-around against Philly this weekend. Ring out the bells. Leteth the Mormons rejoiceth.

As we've said repeatedly, this move makes sense for obvious reasons. Beck will finish out the year, seven games of trial by fire. More importantly, those seven games will give coaches plenty to work with as far as evaluation goes. Let the Beck era begin...

Miami and Heartbreak are Like this... (crossing my fingers)

Like a lot of my usual Internet reading material from October, I missed this.

I thoroughly enjoy Pro Football Reference's work, and I encourage any insight-seeking football fan to check out their blog.

Call Out Boy

If Belichick is truly fueled by "Spygate", and that appears like a completely legitimate consideration, I can only imagine what kind of destruction he'll dish out on the Dolphins come December 23. This coming after Don Shula's suggestion that the 2007 Pats' season be marked by an asterisk. This isn't some random jab from the incessantly quotable Jay Feely or one of the jack-offs from the 1972 team; this is Grandpa Dolphin himself, one of the best coaches in sports history. I can understand all the hub-bub but can't help but think of Belichick hearing this news, turning to his coaches and asking in hushed, calm tones: "What do you think? 60+? Let's crack 70 against these clowns."

Merry Christmas, boys.

Devil's Advocate: Beck or Lemon?

Contrary to common sense, Cleo Lemon will get the start against Buffalo and delay John Boy Beck's quest for world domination. Conventional wisdom says now is the time to throw the rookie in and let him take his licks, and I can't disagree with that. I realize that stating the majority opinion does little for debate, so to make things interesting, I'll play devil's advocate. Here's the voice of the majority:

"Cleo Lemon isn't our future starter. Beck is."

That may be the case, but consider that Lemon is 28 and Beck, the rook, is 26. So, how should one define "future"? Five-years worth of production? Six? Seven? Truth is, it SHOULD be an open competition. The only reason Beck is considered the "future" is due to his second-round status, and the obvious fact that he hasn't played yet. Imaginations are running wild. Beck jump-starting the offense. Beck to Ginn. Beck to Booker. Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown! It's all a wonderful, orgasmic dream. But consider that the team's HUGE issue this season is not with the offense or the quarterback or, thank God, the offensive line. If our defense played with half the production as last year's unit the Phins could be at .500 or even better (Key word here is "could").

"This season's over. Play Beck. What's there to lose?"

I'm thinking Cam is sticking with Lemon not because of his play "giving us the best chance to win" or because "Beck's not ready" or any other press conference banalities. Let's cut the s&%$ here. His job will be at stake if he gives the offense to Beck and he struggles...like bad...like Heath Shuler bad. There's so much more at stake than a couple wins this season. For Cameron, disappointing play from Beck -- his guy, the QB he waited to get -- would only reflect on Cam's inability to evaluate talent (And, boy, has that been a problem for the Dolphins). He didn't make friends drafting Ginn over Quinn, and judging by the response he got for that pick, we can only imagine what the public outcry would be if Beck falters. The safest and, I'll admit, wussiest of moves would be to play Lemon, which is exactly what Cam's doing this week.

"Why not play them both -- platoon style?"

Sure, it's not a "future" move, but at the very least it gives Beck some playing time. The only problem is Cam would be pussy-footing around the issue, getting his toes wet before jumping in head first. If Beck is, in fact, the "future", give him the job...the whole damn thing. Make a choice and stand by it. That's what any good, er, marginally OK, er, considerably underperforming coach would do, right?

"BECK ISnt PLAYNG becuze HEs a bust! Fire CAmORON!!!"

Typical mindless banter from the fairweathers. Next.

"Roethlisberger dominated in his rookie season. How do we know Beck can't do the same?"

Logical point. If I remember correctly Big Ben was No. 2 on the depth chart his rookie season and only saw action when Tommy Maddox went down. Who knows what would have happened if ol' Tommy didn't break down. Sure, we also lost our starter to injury, but Beck is currently No. 3 on the depth chart for a reason -- he's a rookie, the Dolphins offense isn't exactly "run ten steps and break left", etc. Plus, comparing Roeth to Beck isn't exactly apples to apples. Least we forget that Pittsburgh's success in 2004 didn't ride solely on Ben's arm. The Steeler defense ranked No. 1 that year. Currently, Miami's defense ranks worst in points allowed and has contributed in approximately ZERO wins. Beck won't be our Big Ben this season.

If this Dolphin season continues down the path to SuckTown -- and there's really no reason to believe that there will be a change of course, the Phins will secure a top-3 pick. BC's Matt Ryan or whoever will get a long look, but this team has far too many needs than quarterback -- serious secondary help, d-line, receivers...Hell, we could use just about anybody. If Miami is playing for the future, management needs a solid assessment of Beck's play. Hesitating too much longer on a decision to play Beck might buy Cameron some time as coach, but it most certainly doesn't get us any closer to finding out who is best fit to run the Dolphin offense.