You cannot beat the draft.  We are all like kids at Christmas in the days or weeks leading up to it.  Anticipation builds as the off-season wears on and finally we get to the moment where we make our first pick.  It’s like opening a present and seeing what you got.  We get a new bunch of toys on draft day and then comes the scramble to find out what they can do. It’s like reading the directions and putting those new toys together.  Now as camps are on the horizon, we will get a glimpse of what those toys can do by themselves skill wise, then in more team oriented drills. 

Unfortunately, like Christmas presents, some will possibly disappoint us.  College football can be like the television commercial when we were kids that showed us how great the toy was, but when we got it home, we realized it just didn’t do what we were led to believe.  However, some of our new toys will perform and one or two may be better than we ever could have hoped. 

The Miami Dolphins have filled a major need with the acquisition of Brandon Marshall from the Denver Broncos. This now gives the Dolphins a legitimate "go-to" receiver for the first time in recent history.

The ripple effect of Marshall heading to Miami should be equally interesting. Denver now has a need at receiver and could take Dez Bryant, should he be available in next week's draft. Since Denver picks immediately before Miami and was expected by several draft experts to select Safety Earl Thomas this may leave Thomas available for Miami at 12.

As many of you already know, THE Dolfanatic, Ron, decided to shut down the servers a few weeks ago. This is a huge loss to the Dolphin Web community as Ron has always been a great contributor and Fan. His presence will be missed.

Phinzmania is happy to welcome you to our internet home. In the next few weeks we will be integrating much of the content formerly found on Dolfanatic.com into Phinzmania. Ron has graciously allowed us to give his work a permanent home on Phinzmania. Our intent is to preserve the work of a passionate Miami Dolphin fan and to give his site followers a place to access Dofanatic.com archives.

I can't believe it.  One of the worse times of the year is almost over and, looking back, I am shocked at how fast it has gone.  February.  Yes, February has the Super Bowl,  and although I really enjoyed watching a still healing New Orleans grab a championship against another team I admire, it didn’t have my Dolphins, sorry, our Dolphins.  And after the big game, what is there?  Nothing.  The silence is almost deafening for football fans in February.  Fan sites go from fever pitch in the playoffs, to a smaller group who like to speculate on other teams once their own team is eliminated, to the die hard core that we see now.  People like myself and you, if you are reading this near the time of posting, who will dig for any little tidbit or rumor no matter how insignificant it may seem so that we can talk about the sport we love.  Just so we know it is still there.

Ok, ok, I know it's an abomination of everything holy that us Phin fans have to actually sit here and watch as the Jets make an improbable march to the Super Bowl. On our home field no less! Isn't this the same Jet squad Miami beat twice this year?

We won't get into the possibility of the Jets actually making it to Miami for the big game because quite frankly, Peyton isn't going to let that happen. No way. No how. But, what does have me interested is reading several Dolphin and Jet websites and seeing the reaction of both fan bases in regards to the Jets deep playoff run. Most Jet fans, and even a pretty good amount of Dolphin fans seem to think that NY has passed Miami by and will keep them in their rear-view mirror for years to come. One Dolphin fan even posted a thread claiming that we are "3 years away" from being able to compete with the Jets. Again, wasn't this the team Miami beat twice this season? I'm here to get those Dolphin fans to step away from the ledge. There's no reason to jump, and Miami is going to be just fine. Yes, the Jets are in the middle of an improbable playoff run, but quite frankly, anybody who expects that to automatically translate into Jet dominance over the rest of the AFC East for the coming seasons is simply clinging to fools gold. A few reasons not to worry:

-Is Mark Sanchez really that great of a QB? Is he going to ever reach the status of a Top 5 QB in this league? I think the resounding answer to that is: NO! Personally, I don't think Mark Sanchez will turn out to be much more than a solid game-managing type of QB. Now don't get me wrong, with other pieces in place you can win a lot of games with a QB like that, but I still don't think he will ever be the "franchise" type of QB that the Jets thought they were getting when they moved up to take him. -The NY defense is Revis and 10 other guys who are ok. Not great, but ok. In all seriousness, Revis is going to be giving the entire AFC East headaches for years to come. He's got HOF written all over him. But that's just one player. Look up and down the rest of that defense. I don't see any other player on there that makes me think Miami is dead in the water for the next few seasons. Calvin Pace? Solid player, but not a game changer. Bart Scott? If he played as well as he talks, he'd be the greatest ever. Vernon Gholston? Been a resounding bust so far. Dwight Lowry? Solid corner, but not the shut-down type of guy that Revis is. Obviously with Rex Ryan at the helm, this is a solid defense, and simply having Revis allows them to do so much. However, this is the defense that Miami ran roughshod over during their first meeting in 2009. Who's to say we can't do it again?