The bye week could not have gone any better for the loud faction of Dolphins fans tweeting #suckforLuck. The previously winless Minnesota Vikings trounced the Arizona Cardinals, leaving the Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams as the only winless teams remaining after week 5.
Miami's chances at securing the top pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, and thus the opportunity to select Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, are looking even better on Monday morning than they did a week ago.
But the Suck for Luck chorus received a loud retort from Dolphins legend Dan Marino, who dismissed the notion that a team should lose games on purpose in order to draft the latest can't-miss college prospect.
"You got to win games," Marino said on WQAM's The Joe Rose Show. "That's what your job is, that's the franchise. You don't go out there trying to lose games. That's just ridiculous."
But Andrew Luck is being touted as the next Peyton Manning. Why wouldn't the Dolphins want to lose most of their remaining games (besides the inconvenient fact that a number of players and coaches would end up losing their jobs)?
"Usually, if you can get a franchise-type quarterback that's going to be around for 10 years, that's probably what direction you should go."
Unfortunately, there's a catch, says Marino. "But you're not going to know that for quite awhile, and you might not even know Andrew Luck, what's going to happen with him during the season."
So count Marino as one person who is unconvinced that Luck could be the next Marino.
Contra Marino, ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper told the Miami Herald this weekend that if he were a Dolfan, he would be "celebrating losses as a victory." That's how good he thinks Luck is.
Luckily for the Dolphins, the next draft will be stacked at the quarterback position. Besides Luck, Oklahoma's Landry Jones and USC's Matt Barkley could also be selected in the top ten of the draft. And if Baylor junior Robert Griffin III decides to forgo his senior season, the Dolphins could have a chance at drafting one of four passers.
Luck is the cream of the crop, for sure, but the Dolphins might not even need the first pick of the 2012 draft to finally land the next Marino.