Troubled waters - For Miami Dolphins, not much has gone right

By Mark Long ~ The Associated Press

DAVIE, Fla. -- Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Surtain figures things have to turn around for the Miami Dolphins.

They certainly can't get much worse.

After a bizarre offseason that included the brief return of Dan Marino and the introduction of two new offensive coordinators, star running back Ricky Williams shocked the franchise by retiring just before training camp.

The Dolphins received another blow Friday when receiver David Boston was lost to a season-ending knee injury. Plus, Pro Bowl defensive end Adewale Ogunleye is still a holdout.

The string of events has some players wondering how so much could befall one team so quickly.

"What else can happen?" Surtain said Monday. "We've seen it all in a matter of six months. It can only get better from here."

Miami's woes began a year ago when they missed the playoffs for a second straight season.

Many fans wanted coach Dave Wannstedt fired. Instead, he got a two-year contract extension in December.

Two weeks later, owner Wayne Huizenga stripped Wannstedt of his duties as general manager and appointed Marino senior vice president of football operations -- a position the NFL's all-time leading passer requested.

But Marino quit after three weeks, saying he wasn't ready for a "lifestyle change."

The changes kept coming.

Offensive coordinator Norv Turner left in January to become Oakland's head coach. He was replaced by Joel Collier, who stepped down in May because of exhaustion. Chris Foerster, a newly hired tight ends coach, was then promoted to coordinator.

All the moves prompted complaints from some players. Others insist they have been merely minor distractions.

Either way, they were just the beginning of Miami's mishaps.

The Dolphins traded a second-round draft pick in March for A.J. Feeley, who had been Philadelphia's third-string quarterback. Then they signed Feeley, who has started five games in three NFL seasons, to a five-year deal worth $21.6 million in hopes he would supplant Jay Fiedler as the starter.

But after a half-dozen quarterback schools and a week of training camp, neither Feeley nor Fiedler has claimed the starting spot, and third-stringer Sage Rosenfels looks just as sharp.

The quarterback competition looked like it would be the talk of training camp until Williams decided to walk away from professional football at age 27.

The quirky Heisman Trophy winner said marijuana played a large role in his decision to quit after just five pro seasons. He told The Miami Herald he failed a third drug test for marijuana use, which would have cost him a four-game suspension had he returned.

Without Williams, the offensive focus shifted to wideouts Chris Chambers and Boston, the Dolphins' top offseason acquisition.

It was short-lived. Boston tore a tendon in his knee while practicing against the Houston Texans and is out for the season.

"This team has taken a lot of blows, but I don't know of any team that takes a lot of blows and stays down," receiver Kendall Newson said. "We're going to get back up."

Maybe. But the expectations certainly have dropped for a franchise that so openly professed its desire -- and ability -- to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1985.

"There's been so much negative. When's the positive going to come?" Surtain said. "Hopefully it will come during the season, when things really matter. We've been through so much. To keep enduring, keep fighting, keep going on, it takes a strong person and a strong team. We have that.

"I know a lot of people are counting us out this year, but we still have a strong team and we're going to surprise some people."

The Dolphins' success probably rests with their strong defense. But even that side of the ball has problems.

Ogunleye, who led the AFC last year with 15 sacks and made the Pro Bowl for the first time, is holding out after refusing to sign the one-year, $1.824 million tender offer. He's seeking a five- to seven-year deal after making a base salary of $375,000 last year.

"We have to take the guys we have and get this train rolling again," Surtain said.

That might not be easy, especially considering everything that has happened to the Dolphins since last season.

"We just have to get all the bad karma out of the way and the good will start pouring in," defensive tackle Larry Chester said. "Since the bad is all going through right now, there's nothing but good things ahead of us."