[ot-caption title=”Miami Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill will try to lead his team past early season struggles after a huge contract extension during the offseason. (via, June Rivera, Google Filtered Images)”]

It has been quite rough being a Miami Dolphins fan in this generation. I remember week fifteen against the Baltimore Ravens in 2007, with the Dolphins on the brink of becoming a historical laughing stock as the first team to ever lose all sixteen games in a season. In a sudden death style overtime, Cleo Lemon dropped back and bombed the ball deep into the air. Miraculously, Greg Camarillo caught the football and took it sixty-four yards to the end zone for the first win of the season. This play was the most memorable moment in my lifetime experience rooting for the Dolphins. The one Dolphins playoff game of my rooting life came in 2009, when Chad Pennington and the “Wildcat” offense of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams were crushed by the Ravens 27-9. Considering I’m a senior, this type of somber tenure as a Dolphins fan is likely the case for all PC students. With a historically successful and traditionally proud organization, it seems shocking that the greatest moment of our generation has been avoiding a winless season. But, this is the ongoing reality for Miami Dolphins fans, and this year seems to be no exception.

After two consecutive seasons of collapsing to barely miss making the playoffs, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross faced  a difficult decision: to part ways with head coach Joe Philbin or to “retool” the team and give Philbin another shot. Ross chose the latter and took out his deep wallet this off-season to hopefully take the Dolphins to the next level. The Dolphins signed Ndamukong Suh, to a six year, one hundred and fourteen million dollar contract, becoming the highest paid defensive player of all time. In addition, the Dolphins resigned quarterback Ryan Tannehill to a six year, ninety-six million dollar contract, solidifying the organization’s faith in the fourth year quarterback to be the franchise leader. Dolphins fans certainly know what it’s like to be searching for a quarterback in the post-Dan Marino era, which has seen the likes of John Beck, Joey Harrington, Pat White, and Chad Henne just to name a few of the failing options at the signal-calling position over the years. Other key additions this off-season included tight end Jordan Cameron, wide receivers Greg Jennings, Kenny Stills, and Devante Parker (draft). Leading into training camp and the preseason, optimism surrounded the team with rising expectations. After all, the Dolphins now had “on paper” an extremely talented roster, with Cameron Wake, Ndamukong Suh, Brent Grimes, and Olivier Vernon to lead the defense, along with Ryan Tannehill, Lamar Miller, Jarvis Landry, and Mike Pouncey to lead the offense. In fact, a Harvard University Study, based on a rating system of player talent on each team, predicted that the Dolphins will win the AFC this season.

Expectations were high and excitement was higher. As a life-long “Finatic,” I was as thrilled as anyone, counting down the days till the season started. I put two Miami Dolphins magnets on my car. And as part of a PC Senior Tradition, with the help of some artistic friends, I even painted my parking spot the Dolphins logo.

Flash forward four weeks into the season and the Dolphins are 1-3 and look horrible on both sides of the ball. The offensive line cannot give Tannehill any time to survey the field and when Lamar Miler runs for three yards, it feels like a huge success. Defensively, newly signed corner back Brice McCain has been visibly terrible and the “on paper” supposedly dominant defensive line can neither stop the run nor get to the quarterback.

The Dolphins won an ugly game in week one against Kirk Cousins and the Washington Redskins. The next two weeks the Dolphins fell to the Jacksonville Jaquars and Buffalo Bills. For week four, the Dolphins took a trip across the pond to London, England as part of the NFL International Series, to play the division rival New York Jets at Wembley Stadium. The dolphins were dominated throughout the whole game and lost 27-14, making for a very long plane right back to South Florida.

On Monday, October 5th, Joe Philbin was fired at last from the Dolphins organization.  Dolphins tight end coach Dan Campbell will be the interim head coach for the rest of the season.  Defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle was also fired.  With a bye week during week five, the Dolphins hope to turn things around under new leadership.

But reality has set in the AFC East Division. After all the “Deflategate” drama and media attention, Quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick lead the defending champion New England Patriots at the top. Rex Ryan’s old team (New York Jets) and new team (Buffalo Bills) both have elite defenses and strong running games. And then there’s the Dolphins, “the greatest football team,” always seemingly promising that next year is the year.

With the LeBron James era over in Miami, the Marlins being the Marlins, and the Panthers (yes, we have a hockey team in South Florida) as mediocre as usual, South Florida sports fans were hoping for a Dolphins revival this season. But, on Sunday October 4^th, as the Marlins fell to the Phillies 2-7 to fall twenty games under .500 and the Dolphins fell to 1-3, watching veteran legend Dwyane Wade in the Miami Heat’s first preseason game was most exciting part of the day.

I was fooled just like the rest of Miami Dolphins Nation. I certainly did not expect to be writing an article with this tone against my beloved team, just four weeks into the season. Don’t get me wrong; I really hope things change this year for the Dolphins. I’ll be at Sun Life Stadium for our next home game October 25^th against the Houston Texans. Frankly, I’ll even be at the final home game of the year on January 3^rd against the New England Patriots. But, unless there’s some sort of miracle, I have a feeling that the seats around me will be as empty as Joe Philbin’s sense of urgency as former head coach of the Fins.