Greg Cote: Dolphins’ flaw was evident from the start

I agree. It's irritating to be labelled an "Ireland Lover" for attempting to judge him fairly and not partaking in vitriol against him.

I won't bat an eye if he is fired at some point, but simply hope the future GM is competent and treated fairly.

 

Until we lose couple games of the new GM's tenure... or a draft pick doesn't have an immediate impact...

 

You could pretty much track the anger on these forums to the South Florida housing market.

 

Ireland will never be fired. Hartline will never be traded. Clay will sign an extension soon.

Let that sink in.

 

Agreed .

 

I know the team is much better now than it was in 2008. With a ton more talent from top to bottom.

 

Yeah right. These people are like viruses, they have to have a living body to feed on in order to survive. If Ireland is fired tommorrow and we lose to the Bills it'll be "Fire Sherman", ""Fire Philbin", "Bench Tannehill", etc, etc, etc.

It'll never stop.

 

Hell, they've been posting that since the Saints loss...

 

You are entirely wrong. The fact is that I believe GM's, QB's,and HC's, should have at least three years to show if they have the abilities for their jobs or not. I for one, never made a negative comment in regards to Ireland until his fourth year as the teams GM. By that time I had zero confidence that he was the right man for the job. He just isn't a good talent evaluator, as far as I am concerned. If he is fired and a new GM is hired, I think that GM should at least be given three years on the job before we will know if he is an effective GM or not. If he is, I certainly won't be on this forum complaining about the job he is doing. If on the other hand the Dolphins are still a mediocre team after his three years on the job, I will be calling for his firing also.

As far as Tannehill and Philbin are concerned. I was never in favor of the Dolphins taking Tannehill with the 8th pick in last years draft. I also didn't know anything about Philbin and he certainly wasn't my first choice for the job. That being stated, both Tannehill and Philbin should be given at least 3 years to show if they are the right men for their respective jobs. Tannehill has already shown improvement in some areas of his game and I think he just might be the long term answer at the QB position for the Dolphins. Philbin is still iffy, as far as I am concerned, but I'm willing to at least see how he and the team evolve over the next two seasons before I make any judgement on his coaching ability.

Ireland has had six years to build this team into a winning franchise. Yes they are 3-2 right now, but they just have far too many glaring holes on this team for a GM who has had this much time to fix many of these holes. Call me a virus if you want to. I really don't care. I just want a new and improved GM making personnel decisions for this team in the future.

 

OK... Fair enough. sure, we still went into free agency with 3 big questions at OL... LT... RT... RG... We addressed RT.. and failed. That's one of the three needs. I think you definitely can say we failed to address it. One out of three, isn't that good. Now as I said in my original post... did Ireland maybe think Martin would improve? Maybe... Apparently he thought the same with Jerry... clearly that hasn't worked. We didn't do enough.

The only thing I hate about this article is it's timing though... Had we beat Baltimore, and still had the OL struggles, I bet we woudlnt have seen this article.

 

Who? Specifically.

LBsFinest and who else?

 

seldom can they not run block ? This team has only had 11 seasons with a 1,000 yard rusher and 4 of those seasons were the 70s. The first time it had committed to the Run was the Ricky Williams era.

 

and here is another brilliant example. Calling someone a Jeff Ireland supporter? TRAVESTY!!! UNCALLED FOR!!! Equating posters to viruses? Nothing wrong with that at all.

And a huge LOL to anyone offended by being called an Ireland supporter. If you don't want him fired (and that's fine if u don't) you support him. It's that simple. Anyone offended by being labeled as such "doth protest too much."

 

Ireland Luva, lets go to the top of the mountains so we can make sweet love and feel the fire from within my loins, Luva, I shall scream your name at the top of the mountain, ohhh Luva.!!!

 

Has the team not exceeded your expectations??

I can answer that...yes says the record..so why not give his team the chance to get to the end of the season...are you that sure their not gonna turn in a 9 and 7 or 10 and 6 record.??

I mean if you bashed the team and what their record would of been this offseason, and they by far surpassed it, and this goes for everyone who did, then folks should really sthu about it, because it's highly shady.

At the least the good start deserves a degree of respect, which imo would mean folks stop *****ing and at least let it play out some more..

 

It'll stop when they win a superbowl. I'll bet you any amount of money on that. Let's see these wiseguys after the Dolphins are having their Victory Parade. Bet you won't hear a peep from them then. That Lombardi trophy will silence their invidious clamor!

 

Fin-O

Buckeye Born Buckeye Bred I'll be a Buckeye til I am dead.

I know off topic

 

I don't have enough information to judge Ireland on 2008-2010. I was a frequent critic of the hiring of Parcells and of many of the moves made when he came on board. At that time I was critical of the whole admin group b/c I assumed Ireland thought exactly like Parcells. I knew of Ireland's preference of Ryan over Long although it was one of the few I actually agreed with Parcells on. I thought Ryan was good, but not great. I thought he could develop into a franchise QB, but would need a very good supporting cast. On the other hand I saw Long as a near sure thing, outside of injury. This was back before the rookie salary cap so missing on a #1 overall was more damaging. I heard the info before that pick was made so my opinion of the players was not based on hindsight but rather of my evaluation of the players at the time. I credited the pick to Parcells then. I did not change it after the fact to bolster Ireland. And while that maybe hearsay to people here, I know my source and I consider it very reliable.

It's also common knowledge that Ireland ran the UDFA side and the CFL scouting. This is something that was reported several times. They played the whole "we're a team" thing on the draft and FAs, but Ireland was always solely in charge of the UDFA and CFL. It takes a great deal of bias to not credit Bess and Wake to Ireland.

As for why Parcells would ignore him that's a matter of speculation. But what isn't speculation is that he did exactly that at times. I know that Ireland preferred Ryan over Long and Parcells ignored him. Ireland admitted that he would put the draft board together and that Parcells would take names off of it. These were players that Ireland liked, but Parcells arbitrarily and unilaterally decided the team would not be drafting. We have no idea, however, how often that happened. The interviewer asked Ireland how often it happened and Ireland dodged the question. Since I don't know how often that happened, I don't have enough info to judge those drafts while Parcells was here.

 

Oh, but can they repeat, they're no good unless they win back-to-back...

 

I actually doubt that. Sure, they won't complain as much for a while, but as soon as the first loss comes, you'll hear the same stuff again. The SB win will just be written off as luck.

 

I have stated on more than one occasion that the Dolphins being 3-2 after their first five games has exceeded my expectations for them prior to the season beginning. Of course I never expected the Falcons to go from one of the best teams in the NFL to one of the worst teams in one off season. So that win isn't as telling as it would be if the Falcons were actually a decent team this year.

The Browns were playing their first game under a new coach and they had Weeden as their starting QB. This was the game most people expected the Dolphins to win of their first five games and they did. The Browns have proven to be a better team than most expected over the first five wins. So this has to be considered a positive for the Dolphins.

By far the most impressive win was the game against the Colts. Even though there were many comments on this forum prior to the game stating that the Colts this year weren't as good as the Colts of 2012. That certainly has proven to be false and it was a big win for the Dolphins.

The Saints were just a far superior team and the Dolphins really never were competitive in that game.

It is the loss to the Ravens which has been the most telling game of this season. The Ravens are basically a rebuilding team that lost a lot of quality players after their SB win last year. They were coming off a loss to the Buffalo Bills. Yet they came into the Dolphins home stadium and completely outplayed the Dolphins. They had twice as many first downs in the game and their defense completely stuffed the run. In the second half, they totally controlled the offensive line of the Dolphins.

While the score ended up close, the fact is the offense of the Ravens outscored the offense of the Dolphins 20-3 in the second half of the game. If not for one great defensive play by Jordan when he hit Flacco's arm and caused an interception by Jones, which was returned for a TD, the score wouldn't have been close.

So after five games, the Dolphins have beat one really good team and lost to another very good team. They beat two mediocre teams and lost to another mediocre team at home. This to me shows that this is the same type of mediocre team we have grown used to in Miami over the past several years.

I understand those who want to see this season play out before making a decision regarding Ireland's future in Miami. Obviously that is going to happen no matter how those of us who would like to see him gone now might feel.

I also realize that a miracle could occur and the Dolphins might get their act together on defense, the OL, and the RB position and end up having a season which will lead them to the playoffs. I just don't see this happening right now and therefore that is why I am venting my frustration with Ireland.

I have said all along that I would be happy to say that I have been completely wrong about Ireland if this team makes the playoffs this year. I just look at all the holes which remain on this team after six years of him as the GM for the Dolphins and I'm not convinced he knows what he is doing. We certainly will see how this season turns out before a decision is made on Ireland by Ross, but I personally have lost confidence in him already. I'll still be going to the games and rooting for the Dolphins to win. I would much rather see them have success this season and be wrong about Ireland than see them once again end up 8-8 or worse and be proven right is my present assessment of Ireland.

 

Do a search from the past two weeks on the regular forum, and the Rant forum, for Sherman, Philbin, and Tannehill. The arguments are to fire Sherman for a lack of creativity, lack of protection for RT, lack of running game, etc... Calls to replace Tannehill with Matt Moore. That one was just a couple days ago, and there are also miscellaneous calls in various threads to replace Philbin as he isn't (publically at least) throwing Sherman or Turner under the bus. I remember the conversation from STColeridge specifically, but there has been others as well.

I didn't state any of this to continue hostility or to call anyone in particular out, but simply state that this is occurring - and after what is still a successful start to the season. We currently have the same winning record after 5 games as both Superbowl teams, yet some people act as though we're the 0-6 Giants...

 

Wow, what a spin from stating that you thought we would go 0 and 5 or 1 and 4....were 3 and 2 and you want the GM fired..

Everything you just said was a spin, the record relative to your expectations should garner patience at this time, not harsh criticism..

You should start a thread about how this years team blew your expectations out the door.

 

Greg Cote: Dolphins’ flaw was evident from the start...
maybe not so evident:

not buying the lack of talent business... we have as much talent as the average NFL team & have had sufficient time to develop the basic chemistry needed to be an average offensive line.

if we were only average, we'd be tied for first place & RT would not have had to endure a record breaking, career threatening sack-rate. he cannot be sacked 77 times this season without repercussions.

Philbin & Co. have done well overall, even exceeding expectations in all aspects of the game with the exception of the front five. perhaps, the coach was busy with developing other aspects of the game. maybe, Sherman had too much confidence in a totally inexperienced OL coach. I have no idea. what I do know that after four weeks into the season, it's not a matter of more time and I don't believe we can buy our way into credibility a forth of the way through the season. thank God we have a week-five bye!

we need the fix in week six. time to man up... no more excuses. the buck stops with Philbin & cadre. we can banter about opinions, they will pay the price for theirs... lets see what they come up with against Buffalo.


p.s. blaming Ireland or making a pinata out of Ross is hubris & holds no water in my bucket

 

How about just winning a damned playoff game? Just one. Because they haven't done that in over ten years. I know...I was there.

 

Pissing on both sides of the fence...

 

Plus, muddying the Parcells era even further was Brian Gaine who was in charge of scouting NFL players, was he not? How did free agency and player re-signings work with Gaine doing the scouting, Parcells having final say on everything, and the decisions having to coincide with Parcells' player blueprint and Henning's & Pasqualoni's scheme? With all those variables in play, how can anyone in their right, objective mind state with any type of accuracy what Ireland was or wasn't responsible for?

 

Oh if they win a playoff game, the negativity has to stop? That's all you lightweights strive for, is a playoff berth, weaaaaaaak. I say a superbowl should be the goal to get the negativity to stop, I say keep on DUMPING on this franchise till they earn some respect. The only way you earn respect is a Championship. No other fan base would be so lenient and weak towards their favorite team.

 

This diatribe is utter nonsense. Plenty of teams during the past handful of years alone have earned respect without winning a championship. Secondly, why would any rational fan be negative about a playoff season after not seeing one in a while? Rational fans understand you don't just jump from mediocrity to Super Bowl overnight. So even though everyone's goal is a Super Bowl, the rational fan understands there's a progression involved to where the team typically has to become a playoff caliber one before it blossoms into a SB contender.

 

I'm sure Buffalo Bills fans were ecstatic after making 4 superbowls

 

You must never been to a Football city where FOOTBALL actually matters, in no city like GreenBay, Chicago, New York, Washington, Denver, Kansas City, Cleveland, Dallas, would they tolerate their current teams failures to win a SB, you must be a fan of the charlotte bobcats with your type of thinking. Be satisfied with playoffs? playoffs? playoffs? is that why we play sports to make playoffs, it's championship or BUST. Look you got the guy below me comparing the Miami to the Buffalo Bills, see what you've turned this into....yeh I visited the area during the early 90s and losing 4 superbowls didn't sit well with those guys, Jim Kelly and Marv Levy had to watch their back from UPSET fans. No way did those guys tolerate NOT winning.

 

Hey no offense but that stupid guy krasinski or whatver his name on the show the OFFICE was a D-bag, can you change your picture please, I look at it and then I might think you are One, and I don't want to pass judgment on you. So yeah, change that as soon as possible thanks.

 

Damn Todd, new girlfriend or something? You know we need your help to keep the wolves away.

 

No, just forgot to refill my tolerance medication. Feel free to lend a helping hand any time you like putz.

 

Sorry, I'm using my hands to pray we can slow down Clemson's offense next week.

 

likewise for young Jameis. Hopefully an extra week off messes with your juju.

 

I believe most realistic Dolphins Fans would be happy with making the playoffs this year. With a Coaching staff in their 2nd season with a 2nd year QB expecting a Superbowl appearance would be unrealistic.

Still some holes on the team that will take another off season or 2 to fill. Biggest issue is having starting offensive lineman that are too slow and not athletic enough to fit the scheme they want to run. Clabo turned out to be a bad signing while counting on him and Jerry has hurt the team costing them an important gave vs the Ravens. While putting the team on pace for the record of sacks allowed in a season.

I don't know if the coaches will be adjusting their offensive scheme/play calling to help with the protection issues and lack of running game. Will we see Clabo and/or Jerry on the bench in favor of Garner and/or Watkins? Just hoping that they make some changes and that the offense improves.

I believe the Defense will be healthier after the bye and will continue to get better. We will see more of Jordan and Wake on the field terrorizing QBs at the same time. I still believe this team can win at least 10 games and make the playoffs.