Lemon over Beck

Coach Cam Cameron has decided to make no change at Quarterback for the Dolphins.

The Dolphins' quarterback of the future will have to wait until, well, the future.

Coach Cam Cameron announced Monday that Cleo Lemon will remain the starting quarterback indefinitely, putting the highly anticipated start of rookie John Beck's career on hold for at least another week.

Everything appeared to be in place for Beck to take over, given the extra time to prepare because of the bye week, as well as this week's home-field advantage and a suitable opponent in the Bills.

Beck and Lemon will continue to split repetitions with the first-team offense during practice, Cameron said. That decision suggests Lemon's leash could still be short, but Cameron insisted Lemon earned the right to start this week's game.

First did anyone at the Miami Herald hear of proofreading or a space bar? I had to make seven corrections to the article above.

Miami's season is down the toilet, and Beck or Lemon won't make any difference this year. Long-term, Cameron's choice is another predictable blunder from an organization with its head up its anus. Yesterday Dan Le Batard at the Miami Herald wrote-

Miami needs him(Beck) to be great about as badly as this franchise has ever needed anything. And you have to let him get the bad games out of the way and fast-forward the learning curve now, or you are going to be throwing away next season while he learns, too. Worst case, you see if you have to take another quarterback with the next No. 1 pick in April, but you don't know that if he doesn't play now.

Still, Cameron is saying he will play the guy who gives him the best chance to win next Sunday, which is irrelevant and absurd. The point now is to win tomorrow, not today, and everyone can see that except for the guy so close to his own predicament that his perspective can be skewed. Absurdly, the Patriots could mathematically end 0-8 Miami's chances for the division title Sunday. But, as Bill Parcells says, these meaningless games go on a coach's tombstone.

We've seen this before. Dave Wannstedt and Rick Spielman traded away the franchise's future while trying to save themselves. They thought they were close, which is mismanagement at the highest levels. They chose themselves over a future for which they wouldn't be around. And this management team of Cameron and Randy Mueller made the same mistake before the season even got started. They traded for a 37-year-old (Trent Green) at the center of their offense and kept a 38-year-old (Keith Traylor) at the center of their defense and gave Joey Porter $20 million. It is, in retrospect, a flabbergasting lack of vision.

Cameron is trying to win today but screwing the team's future up in the process. The Green deal I never liked from the start, plus I thought the drafting of Ted Ginn was dumb also and said so on draft day. Not because Miami didn't draft Brady Quinn, which was the general opinion of many analysts at the time, but because I knew the Dolphin defense was old and in need of help. The team's physicians and coaches for the second year have brought in a costly player with a bum knee. Don't forget 3rd round pick Lorenzo Booker was inactive for 7 weeks and hardly appeared in the Giant game. Cameron has made almost nothing but bad personnel decisions since taking over the team.

Go read what the Palm Beach Post said on today's news. Cameron said 'he reviewed game tape and decided that Lemon has been progressing'. Lemon has had four games to get Miami a win, he's 0-4. The Houston and Giant games were winnable if Lemon had performed he didn't, and think of this. Lemon is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. What purpose is served by continuing to start Lemon?

Playing Cleo Lemon over John Beck is only serving the interests of Cameron and GM Randy Mueller Its time for Wayne Huizenga to step in and tell them to start Beck. Greg Cote said as much at the Herald yesterday. 2007 is bad enough for Dolphin fans, lets not throw away 2008 also. If Cameron and Mueller won't play Beck Sunday, they should both be fired. Enough is enough already.

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