How can I put this delicately? How to find the words?
Oh, yes: the Dolphins receivers are terrible.
In fact, you might say Miami's receiving corps is a bit like standing water: left alone long enough, it will turn brown, sprout mosquitos the size of housecats, and eventually bear disease that will eliminate everyone but pasty Ohians.
Which isn't to say I have anything against Brian Hartline. He's certainly proven to be Chad Henne's best bet, and the children are the future and all that, but honestly: if a rookie is the new go-to guy by default, well, may God have mercy on Greg Camarillo's soul, though he's not anyone's idea of Randy Moss, either, and that's not his fault.
Yes, the Dolphins will be pushing Hartline to the top of the crap heap as the rest of the season unfolds. They don't have much choice, of course, with Ted Ginn smearing his hands in butter during warmups and Camarillo disappearing and Davone Bess being a slot bot.
Here's the real mystifying part: nothing was ever done about the situation at receiver. At this point, with the playoffs a long shot and half the season gone, it's pointless. But it was pretty clear early in the season that reception by committee wasn't going to cut it, and though this is an administration that likes to build through the draft it would have been nice to see something happen. Anything. Chris Chambers, even, would have been a genius move in hindsight.
And not just for a lost season in rebuilding: the Dolphins have to figure out whether Chad Henne is THIS GUY, as Jon Gruden would over-say, and how can they really tell when he's throwing to second-tier or maybe-possibly-emerging-if-we're-lucky targets?
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Instead, he gets to throw to players for whom this is considered an offensive coordinator's endorsement of succession:
"Hartline is coming along, we haven't pushed him to the front as much. We probably will here in the near future. We like him, he's making plays, he seems to show up very much like Greg showed up in our training camp the first year we were here, and why he's still here, because he's a consummate pro receiver. Albeit he knows, and we all know, what his shortcomings are. But if you want an accountable guy, he's an accountable guy. Now, Hartline isn't quite as accountable yet. He hasn't been through all the ropes, once in a while he'll blow this or blow that. But he's got the ability to make explosive plays, and we do need to get him the ball."
Yargh! Maybe all we'll really learn from this season is that Chad Pennington is made of moth's wings and our rookie corners have upside, leaving the biggest question of all unanswered for next season -- along with half the balls thrown downfield.
