3. Joe Philbin ordered offensive coordinator Bill Lazor to run the ball on third-and-9 against Green Bay and punt the ball for the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers to win the game. Philbin said he felt “queasy” about passing after Green Bay rushed Tannehill effectively on second down. This wasn’t the first time Philbin felt queasy. At Buffalo, the Dolphins had more than two minutes before half, three time-outs and the length of the field to go. Philbin elected to call five straight runs to finish the half. After the Green Bay game, Lazor said called out his head coach, saying, “I thought when we stand up in front of the offense, and we tell them we want to play to win, play aggressive, play loose, and I think it’s our job to coach that way, too .When coach makes certain decisions on how we are going to play the game, then I think the players appreciate giving them a chance to go win the game. We could have started taking a knee two drives earlier and run the clock earlier, but that’s not how you play.” http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...-blog+(Dave+Hyde+|+Sun+Sentinel+blogs)#page=1
If that is true, then that's all you need to know right there. That's why Joe Philbin has absolutely no business being the HC of any football team. Queasy??? Are you freaking kidding me?!
This offensive line would make even Chuck Norris queasy. Edit: over/under on the percentage of posts in this thread that will include the term "queasy": 40.5495%
The weird mythological view of coaching and its association with courage is reaching absurd proportions. At some point in the near future I suspect all field goals, punts and throwing it out of bounds will be considered horrible as well.
I've said before that while there is a lot to hold against Philbin, citing game-management issues is weak. Every coach makes those kinds of mistakes. Quite frankly I'm not concerned with a loss here or there. It's the drafting, talent evaluation, and execution of the scheme that is much more important to the long term success.
GAme management is just part of the reasons that I think Philbin should no longer be our HC... It's one of several reasons... I understand him being unsure when he makes a call, we all have that feeling when we make any decision...We all ask "Am I right or wrong ??" at times. But it underscores a larger problem to me... In today's NFL, HC requires a solid leader of men. For example, take Rex Ryan... I am sure he thinks about how he handled a situation to himself as whether he handled it right or wrong, but he never backs down from his decision publicly... FWIW, I'm not a Rex fan, but that moxy he shows to his team and to the public is something that draws people (and players) to follow him... Dumbo does not have that following amongst the press, fans or players... However, our fearless owner has decided that staying the course is better than change right now. I still think his decision was based on how much money he still owed those coaches and staff, rather than what is truly best for the organization...
The plays that defined the season were those that could be classified as average, since that's how the team played overall and finished.
I agree that every coach makes game management mistakes. And some of the ones cited ARE a little bit weak. But the one against Buffalo where the Dolphins had 3 timeouts, the 2 minute warning and the ball, and Philbin told Bill Lazor to run the ball every down...that was a straight up mistake. And it was a big one. It even got a loyal guy like Bill Lazor fired up. It's the kind of mistake that loses players. NOBODY on the team walks away feeling like their head coach trusts them with a call like that. The defense walks away thinking Philbin doesn't trust them to stop the Bills if the offense tries passing the ball and goes three-and-out without taking much time off the clock. The offense walks away feeling like their head coach doesn't trust them to execute normal plays in normal situations without turning the ball over. The one Hyde cited against Green Bay was also weak specifically because it went against the game plan they all discussed during coaches and players meetings all week long. They said they were going to be aggressive in those situations because of the quarterback they were facing. So they call an aggressive play and then he gets "queasy" and decides to scrap the idea, knowing full well that the very WORST thing he could have done was to call one play aggressively then the next play conservatively. You either go conservative all three downs which would have been acceptable, or go aggressive. You don't do it half-@ssed, eschewing the plans you and the players have talked about all week in the process, and he should know that. That shouldn't be something he should need to be reminded of.
When the head coach is the reason we lost games, that's a bad sign. The head coach should never be a reason why we lost games, especially if he repeatedly makes mistakes that cost us.
How was it sound? Like CK said, you can't half-*** it. You either go aggressive, all the way, or you run it three times and punt. It was a mistake. Especially because you're factoring in Tannehill playing the down before the way he did, thinking he'd be throwing the next play.
Well, what gave him this quesy mindset...is this who he is, or was he worried about how bad his oline was combined with a qb who wasnt looking to escape the pocket?
Being aggressive is one thing, being reckless is another. 3rd and short/medium I understand, but the reality is that we had a better chance of keeping Rodgers out of the end zone than we did making 9 yards vs a zero blitz that was sure to come, as it had for most of that last drive.
The thing is, DJ, it's not like Tannehill or the line played currently that game than they did in other games. So, Philbin and the coaches knew what they had, and decided to gameplan a certain way. Once in game, Philbin decided to play out conservative, and buried his players and coaches under the bus, by reversing the decision that was previously made. I really don't even care what his reasoning was. It was a terrible decision.
Given how our defense played all year long, and for the last two seasons, there is literally no way this is true. Our defense has not stopped teams in crunchtime.
Agreed, citation of 'courage' as a redeeming trait is as ridiculous as a coach citing 'quesiness' when making coaching decisions.
I agree that coaching shouldn't be a string of empty masculine displays and boldness for its own sake, but Joe Philbin coaching scared has been a repeated detriment.
No, the mistake was Fields' 23 yard punt. Or Finnegan not protecting the sideline. You act like all we had to do is call "a pass". What pass? Which routes? What pass pro? There's a zero blitz coming so you've only got 2 seconds to throw. It's easy to stand on a pedestal and look down at the coaches, especially with hindsight. But until you hit ground level and put yourself in Philbin's shoes I don't see how you can form an objective opinion.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I fully blame the defense for that ridiculous couple of plays. But, how can you not blame Philbin? I mean, the defense did what they've done for two years, fold in the big situation. I definitely hold the defense more responsible, but I can't stand that the head coach left the offense out to dry, after determining during the week how they would play in that situation. You stick to your guns.
Again, the pass pro. It was terrible on that drive. RT had already been sacked or nearly sacked every time we'd tried to pass on that drive. He'd already thrown multiple INTs. The chances of converting 3rd and 9 are slim to none. A decent punt pins GB inside their own 20. The D had been playing well most of the day. It took a series of great plays by Rodgers for GB to win, I give him and his team credit. I don't go looking for scapegoats.
He's been conservative since he got here. I'll give you that. But trusting the D to hold a lead instead of asking RT to channel his inner ROdgers in a high pressure high risk situation isn't coaching scared. It's playing the percentages. I haven't seen a single person tell us what pass we were supposed to call in that spot. Mostly I hear guys ridiculing the way Philbin explained the decision, perhaps he needs to use better adjectives.
Your characterization of Philbin making a data driven decision is quite the stretch. Philbin himself cited an amorphous feeling of 'queasiness'.
Would love to go through the 11 Key PLays and see which ones were coaching failures, which were player execution failures, which were shared failures between coaches and players... (and I guess there may be a refereeing one in there somewhere too). Basically tabulate if the coaches or players failed more when it counted most.
This team isn't anywhere close to playing at the level where coaching decisions on one drive in one game, regardless of whether they reflect the head coach's general disposition, should be considered something its performance was hinging on.
I look at Philbin's role like this: 1. The ridiculous timeouts when GB had none. 2. Queasy feeling leading to deviation from gamelan. 3. Trusting the defense to do something they haven't done in two seasons. Bad coaching 101. I guess what I'm saying is, you can point to offensive woes as the reason for deviating, but all things being considered, I don't think sticking with the gameplan would have been a worse decision than putting it on the defense.
All HC's play the percentages most of the time. Our defense folded during that last drive against Green Bay. After every game, no matter win or lose, there are things you can go back and look at and determine that it was the wrong decision. Not because it was necessarily wrong at the time, but after knowing the outcome you can make that determination. All the hindsight people need to realize that football is a game of percentages. Sometimes you go with them and sometimes you go against them. Some coaches, due to their history, can get away with shunning the percentages. Philbin is not there yet. I hope he will be soon, though. And I suspect that with Ross' confidence he probably will be more aggressive next year.
Dude, it's not a hindsight thing. Everyone KNEW it was the wrong decision WHEN IT HAPPENED. Then the info about the gameplan came out after the game, and it made the decision even worse. Philbin has made bad decision after bad decision his throw tenure here. From horrible time outs and game management, to playing crappy veterans over promising young players, the book is out there on him.
That ,my friend, is the bottom line. Every player -especially the offense- had to have a WTF moment while walking to the locker room at halftime. Very, very bad message to send to your troops.
Were you in agreement with Philbins conservativeness in the Bills game before the half? Just curious as I don't remember if you did react to it here at all . Me personally? At that exact moment Philbin dropped a few rungs on the Head Coaching ladder he`s trying to climb.
I thought his explanation after the game was appropriate given the audience. This thread drives the point home quite well. Queasy, queasy, queasy, derp, queasy. Simple explanations for simple minds.
