Lets not mix words, for the better part of this decade the Miami Dolphins have been a bungling team searching for a new identity in their post Dan Marino years. To lose a player of his caliber, at arguably the most important position on the field, is tough to adjust to. It is even tougher to try and replace a player like Marino. The Dolphins are not the only team that was once prominent, riding the arm of a legendary quarterback, only to fall on hardship for years. The Dallas Cowboys were a different team for several years after Troy Aikman retired, the Denver Broncos lost their mystique when John Elway retired. For those franchises, their quarterback was the shining example of what their team stood for, he was their identity in human form.

The departure of Marino, and Don Shula a few years before, left the Dolphins without an identity. For so long under Shula they had been a no nonsense, mistake free, responsible football franchise. They new exactly what they were, and so did other teams. Early on (pre-Marino) they would grind the game out on the ground, and when Marino arrived the team shifted gears to an aerial assault. But in the time since, the franchise had become a bungling flock of loveable losers who just couldn’t seem to all get on the same page. Mistake free, solid football had been replaced with laughable quarterbacks, poor head coaches, dropped passes, and few playoff chances to speak of.

Much like everything in life though, football is cyclical. Sure, it is hard to imagine some franchises as ever having been bad. It doesn’t stick out in the memory of most that the Dallas Cowboys not too long ago were awful, the Green Bay Packers had their stretches of poor play as well, but those franchises have also come out of those stretches. So to it appears, will the Miami Dolphins. It is beginning to appear as though all the moves of Bill Parcells may be paying off. The team is beginning to play as one cohesive unit, on offense and defense.

More than anything, the Dolphins want to be considered tough. They are tired of being that team that is circled on the opponents calendar as an “easy win” before the season even starts. With the recent improvement on defense and the fact that the offense is now clicking, perhaps a few more teams will think twice before they face the Dolphins. The days of them being a lock to beat might be coming to end. The road to redemption is a long one, but it would appear as though the Dolphins are headed in the right direction.