Just heard this reported on the break of the Dan Patrick Show. Maybe he was playing the dutiful employee under Ross and helping him look around. Or maybe this leak is to smooth the rough edges between Tony and Jeff. " I always had your back dude!" Who knows. No link just radio.
I think you got it right. Its spin to paint Ireland in a better light. That guy is destroying this organization and needs to go. Dez Bryant, Ryan Clark, now this......he needs to go. If I didn't know better I would think he was doing it on the Jets or Patriots payroll and is doing this on purpose. Because he couldn't be doing a better job at destroying us.
Think Ireland is one of the best GM's in the NFL, of that I have no doubt. Think his search for high character guys is laughable as opposites do not attract.
Well I wonder about the O-Line. Who really was behind dumping Grove, Smiley, Thomas? I know that those guys were not world beaters this season BUT the O-line this year was an enormous weak point. Little to no depth and Berger and Jerry were a mess IMHO.
garbage in, garbage out that would be our Sparano this incessant, ridiculous attack on Ireland has become as uninstructed as it is tedious
We are way better than we were when he arrived. I do not understand the criticism above. I am by no means saying he has not made mistakes, but I am quite happy with him as a 1st time GM. I am sure he is learning as he goes as well.
Sparano had a better performance in 08 and 09 with scrubs, nobodies and fringe guys on the Oline. That is to say the lesser the perceived talent the better Sparano's performance imho, though they missed badly in Berger and should have known it far more quickly, it would have been better to switch Richie I for Berger and start even a street FA at LG than the crap we had this yr.
Does everyone forget he is has built us a perennial 7-9 team that collapse at home? That is right baby 0-3 down the stretch to the Browns, Bills, and Lions the decades 3 worst teams at home! Oh yeah and in 09 with the playoffs on the line another collapse! I don't care what you think about Sparano the proof is on the field and it ain't pretty his teams quit and fail in Dec!
Well, if we are indeed retaining Sparano, Jeff Ireland had better find an offensive coordinator that's worth a damn...one that's an "offensive genius" and one that has the ability to adapt to the players he has and know how to use them, unlike Dan Henning. In addition to that, we need to get a QB coach that knows exactly how to mold, mentor and develop young QB's, whether it's Chad Henne or if we draft a QB. This clown we have can't mentor his way out of a wet paper bag with a hole in it.
Agreed I think Tony said during training camp that he like Incognito as a center coming out. Berger makes a decent back-up who apparently can't play guard. Would have like to have seen Feinga earlier.
"Decade's worst teams" means not a damn thing, that is a sports talk radio talking point and the bilge the Big Slow spews. Browns beat the Saints and Patriots, we had the lions beat until Henne threw 2 int's with 5 minutes left, and we should not have lost to the Bills, those things happen. How about: -2nd toughest schedule in the NFL -8 games vs teams that made the playoffs -3rd youngest team in the NFL
Huge mistake not following through on that evaluation, Berger was just a speed bump and had no business starting at Center I do not care who was injured.
What up and coming OC in their right mind joins this circus? Lame duck coach and clowns running the joint!
Any OC we have will get worse under Sparano. I have a feeling that Sparano's guideance and mentality are part of what made Henning increasingly conservative. That and BOTH men feared Henne's mistakes. Sparano coaches from fear, conservativism and to not lose. His whole mantra is to 'avoid' mistakes. Sooner or later, that filters into the coaches working under him so their boss doesn;t get upset at them. Sparano will never allow a really cutting-edge, experimental Offensive Co-ordinator to "open up" a high octance, risky offense. It is WAY out of Sparano's comfort zone. The Wildcat tricked us into thinking he was comfortable with innovation, but the fact is that the Wildcat came from an old old old formation (singlewing) and thus was 'okay' as it was based on proven football fundamentals and was low risk as it involved VERY little passing and mainly depended on O-line blocking. lol. It was a conservative O-Line turned Head Coach's dream! Those who think we can attract an innovative offensive genius at OC are mistaken, I think. And even if we got one, Tony would coach the aggression out of them and the fear into them. Feel the fear, Tony. Feel the fear, bro.
Excuses excuses excuses! As your boy Tuna says you are what your record says! Losing to those teams gets you fired period! 1-7 at home gets you fired period! You have your opinion I have mine! This is a lower third team with no leadership or direction. I will stay on record Sparano is fired mid season and 2011 will be a joke!
When your Qb throws int's in bunches, would you recommend a wide open offense? BTW folks, do not be certain Sparano is going to survive all of this, if I had to give a percentage I'd say 85% he is retained, as it would not surprise if Cowher is hired, or Sparano fired outright and they start a HC search in earnest.
two years doesnt make it perennial. in 2008 we rocked december and made the playoffs. right now there is no trend just recent memory.
I've been saying this all along. Everyone is saying Ireland betrayed Sparano but I never believed it. It was Ross who wanted to make the change, not Ireland.
Ross had a chance to hire Cowher. All he had to do was get rid of Sparano and Ireland and let Cowher run the show. Instead Ross decided keeping Ireland was more important than bringing in an established coach like Cowher. I think it is time that Ross gets out of the football business and he sells the team to an owner who really wants a winning team in Miami. I never thought I would see the day that the NBA team in Miami would outdraw the Dolphins in TV coverage. While the Heat has done everything possible to bring a championship team to Miami. The Dolphins have done nothing for the last decade except play mediocre to bad football. My sports dollars will now be spent supporting the Heat.
darlington is on jim rome saying the players respect sparano. i guess thats why they laid down last sunday
Any destruction being done here has been by Ross, not Ireland. I don't know that Jeff wanted Tony all along and it would make sense to filter that kind of info out as 'damage control'. However, Ireland hasn't been the problem here. Clark wanted to stay in Pitts and used our courting to get his big contract there. The Bryant thing was a blunder, but not a talent blunder. If they'd have wanted to draft him, they would have. While he's made mistakes in FA, his drafts have been solid. You could argue the Long vs Ryan issue but that's explainable. The percentages that we hit on Ryan vs. Long were in the favor of the LT, not the QB....and our OL was and still is an issue even tho Long is a stud. There is reason to assume that the coaching staff bears the weight of not developing the players, for example Henne as much as the guy selecting them. On the other hand, we'll never really know what went on behind closed doors and perhaps more of the personnel blunders are due to that fat fly on the wall that has since departed...we'll never really know for sure. It's too easy to dump all the blame on one guy when Ireland, Fat Tuna and the staff have all been here...
Well, in BB you can buy a team...you can't do that in the NFL... Go on and watch the heat....I'll take my chances with a real team sport like NFL football...
Brother Fly I see that, but its useless to point it out to the Blind Loyalists. They will never find an ounce of fault. To them its the other teams fault we are in the dumps and feeling worse than 1-15.
Darlington is employed by the Dolphins (in a way). He works on the Dolphins Weekly Show on CBS4, and does the "Player Profile of the week" segment. He is a slurper.
Cowher is soooooooo overrated. 1 superbowl(2005), 1 AFC Championship(1995)....that's it ...................in 15 years http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/CowhBi0.htm
It was a freaking meaningless game. Would you have preferred a career ending injury to say..........Ronnie Brown?? Maybe Brandon Marshall or Devon Bess???
Ever think the players knew the FO was going to start a coaching search and laid down to send a message to the FO and not Sparano?? I'm not saying that this is what happened, but this an option. You can't always take everything at face value. Gotta read the pages of a book, not just the cover.
Its been reported and known that Clark was told that we had problems with his health issue. Clark got mad about that and didnt want to sign then. It wasnt a ploy, it was a bumble by us. I'll give you that we may not know how much influence Parcells had but Ireland was the GM, he is the GM and he (supposedly) has the final say on pretty much everything. Its his baby. We'll see now with a full off season how well he really does. I say he is a stinker and only a marginal upgrade over Mueller and or Spielman. We'll see if he can not just bring in a new OC but bring in talent along the OLine, speed WR, better than mediocre FS, TE etc.....oh yeah...and maybe a better starting QB but with him at the helm....nahhhhhhh....not likely.
They've brought in some good role players on both sides of the ball. But they've failed to bring in playmakers on either side, save Cam Wake and Brandon Marshall, though we didn't utitlize Marshall effectively at all. Dansby was a nice addition but you'd hope we land the best FA on defense since we had the most cap room(cuz we cut all of our players).
Did you watch the game? There was no laying down, especially in the first half. The team played hard. But as usual, a mistake here, a screw up there and we're getting beat, then the PR opened the flood gates. It's obvious that the team plays hard EVERY week, no matter the opponent or situation, I dunno if thats due to Sparano or personal pride or whatever, but not many teams can say they show up ready to play week in and week out. Just b/c we got blown out doesnt mean the effort wasnt there, look what happened to Buffalo the week before, and Chicago, and NY, and Pittsburgh, and Cincy, Manning threw 4 picks vs them etc. A lot of teams looked bad vs the Pats, they're just that good.