Jeff Ireland, a positive spin on our GM

Momma says Jeff Ireland is the devil!!!!

 

Not jumping on you at all man, I'm only quoting this post b/c it does a great job of illustrating what a lot of people have been saying.


A defense needs to be able to do two basic things, stop the run with 7 and pressure the passer with 4. Good defenses can do one of the two, great defenses can do both. It helps when you have an offense that can score points b/c it allows the D to pick its spots, passive or aggressive. Last year our defense was good not great IMO, but they very seldom had any margin for error. Often (Houston, Cleveland, Denver, Dallas, NYG, Washington, @NE, NYJ X2) they were very good all game and yet with a few minutes to go the opposing team was still ahead a score away from victory b/c they offense wasn't doing anything but kicking FGs and trying to avoid turnovers. Other times (KC, Oakland, Buff x2) the offense did put up some points and the defense was able to suffocate the opposing offense. That leaves 3 games, vs NE, @SD, and vs Philly where the defense didnt keep the opposing offense under wraps for at least 3 quarters. I think its somewhat unreasonable to expect a defense to much more than that. At some point the offense has to put points on the board and I'm not talking Dan Carpenter.

You say our safeties are bottom tier but the Jets were quick to add one of our castoffs as a starter so maybe they know something you don't or vice versa. Look around, how many teams have better safeties? IMO Y Bell is gone be/c he was a liability in coverage both in man and in zone. He was a good run defender but our front seven can contain most run games w/o his help. What we need are safeties who can defend the pass and make plays in the secondary. Clemons and Jones are both good tacklers and solid run defenders. Both are better than Bell in coverage. The only dropoff (weakness) I see is CB. Davis-Smith-Allen is a better group than Smith-Marshall-Carroll and our depth is non-existent unless we can move Jimmy Wilson back to CB. That will hurt us vs NE, Houston and perhaps another game or two. But we aren't facing a slew of dangerous passing attacks like we did last year. INOW defense wont be the problem.

Dansby and Burnett took the preseason off. I don't have a problem with that. Believe me, they didn't forget how to play football in August 2012. If anything, it gave the staff a chance to take a long look at the backups and decide who was worth keeping. Misi is a solid run defender at LB, average/slightly below average in coverage and he is serviceable as a backup DE in passing situations. I'm not sure why you called him below average at best. Yes, we lack a dominant pass rusher outside of Wake. But how many teams even have a Cam Wake to begin with? If Odrick, Misi and Vernon can chip in a few sacks and pressures then we will be fine off the edge. Soliai and Starks getting push up the middle is my only concern there.

IMO we have a defense that will be above average at worst, with the possibility of being a top 5 unit if they stay healthy and play well.

 

Yes you can , just as you can argue Clay Matthews is an elite player production wise.

 

It feels good to be right doesn't it? Nice thread. We definitely have all 3 IMO. We have many good years to come! Everyone will soon bow to our dynasty!

 

This is fun.

 

Whucha doing in here PS? Lol, havin some fun??

 

Posted mine at the same time America....that's my new nickname for you for the time being...get it?, America" ... The band who sings the song " horse with no name"

 

Nice thread to re-churn about now. the team, the O, th D, ST's are all three looking very good right now, the staff of Philbin, Sherman, Coyle are showing Bill Walsh-esque teaching and perfectionistic traits. We started 3 rookies on the D in the win over the Jests, and 2 rookies, 3 if you count the FB, and our D was practically perfect, the O played a fab game with our backup QB, and we embarrassed the ST's of the Jests. Heck, the whole game was total domination over our most hated rival, gotta give Ireland and the HC/DC/OC/STC some serious kudos for the direction this team s headed in what we all me anyway) thought was going to be a rebuilding year. Mind you I'm not predicting SB or anything like that THIS year. But with the cap space Ireland has he can bring back & resign the best players who's contracts are up, have room enough still to possibly land a serious WR or TE, which, along with a shutdown CB opposite Sean Smith, are the only really gaping holes we have to fill this off season. Jeff has both cap space AND a boatload of draft picks to fill our areas of need this off season. If he does nearly as well as he did last draft, we could be a serious contender for the SB next season.

 

I still don't believe Ireland deserved to be retained last offseason.

whether he deserves to stay after this year is tbd.

 

Hmmmmm, wonder if this thread will get closed...

http://www.thephins.com/forums/showthread.php?66688-Wondering-why-thread-was-closed

 

I would hope not. After 6 months of reading their emo posts 60 times a day......I am sure a couple days of crow is fine. Maybe even get a couple of folks to lighten up before they wave the end is nigh signs again.

 

I never saw this.

This nailed it.


But mamma says.

 

This should absolutely be fair game.

 

What might this be?



Any opinions about Jeff Ireland are about the same, since: 1) we have no systematic, objective investigation of his performance, 2) we don't know who was pulling the trigger on his personnel moves when Bill Parcells was still around, and 3) we don't know how much to attribute the current team's success to him and/or to Joe Philbin.

So however certain you are that the inkblot above is what you see it to be is about how certain you should be of the accuracy of your opinion about Jeff Ireland.

 

It's nice that the Dolphins are 4-3, but if you're gonna come in here serving crow in defense of Ireland, maybe you should hold off just a bit. The combined record of the teams they've beaten so far: 12-18. None of them currently have a winning record (or are even at .500 for that matter).

Basically, they're doing what they're supposed to do; beat bad football teams. The real tests will be against New England and SF.

 

Wait a minute: if you believed going into the season that the Dolphins were a bad football team themselves, then how can it be that they're "supposed to" beat other bad football teams?

If they're a bad football team themselves, why wouldn't their expected performance against other bad teams be about like a coin flip?

The fact that they're beating bad football teams suggests they aren't one themselves, which is not what many people believed going into this season.

 

If Miami beat New England today it's not going to be because they are improving and playing well it will be because New England just isn't very good any more. The glass is always half empty to some.

 

The Dolphins haven't played a team that has won less than 3 games this season, so this idea that the Dolphins are beating up on bad teams really doesn't wash with me. There are really on 2-3 bad teams in the NFL right now, and there are only 2-3 what I consider great teams. Everyone else in the league is separated by a game or so.

 

That is happy horse****.

If we didn't beat the teams we did, they'd be 4-3, 4-3, 4-4, 4-4. Those are far from horrible records.

You really need to detox off the Ireland hate.

 

For the record, I agree with you. But a thread was closed when I did the same exact thing last year. I don't expect this thread will be closed, I'm just pointing out that there is a double standard when it pro Ireland material and anti-Ireland material. Always has been and probably always will be.

 

I believed the Dolphins were mediocre. 7-9, 7-9, 6-10. Mediocre.

So yeah, I expect them to beat bad teams. They've beaten bad teams the last several years. Why would this year be any different?

 

For the record, I sure hope Miami goes 12-4 and wins the superbowl.

But if patting your back after the team wins 4 games with plenty of tough games left to go isn't a fan jinx, I don't know what is. I'll blame nobody but Phinsational if things go South for this team. It won't even be Ireland's fault anymore...

 

Can we close this thread until after we win the Super Bowl?


Sent from my iPhone

 

Not to mention how baseless it is to give a GM credit for 8 weeks worth of a season when the preceding 3 years produced what they did.

Baseless, for sure.

 

I haven't crowed at all.

The problem is most of us said we don't know what Ireland was or was not responsible for, so we are basing our opinion on him for the years Parcells wasn't here. You angry mob types called that Ireland Supporters. I said we'd .500 and that got me labeled an optimist.....8-8 is optimism now!!

No one...and I mean no one, has been more vocally in favor of Philbin on these boards. You should probably stop.

 

Attacking other posters and baiting other posters is a violation of the TOS and will result in suspension. Please stop immediately.

If you feel you have a point to add regarding this topic, please do so. If you feel you have a point regarding another poster, do not post it.

 

The "Ireland supporters" were saying that Ireland had to be mostly judged on the post-Parcells time. There were no extreme assessments. The negative posters were the ones that were extreme. They were saying we had the least talent in the league and that Ireland was among the worst GMs. The positive posters were the ones saying that this was about an 8-8 team. That prediction has so far been realistic and accurate. The negative posters were saying that we wouldn't win 5 games. That prediction is looking like it's going to be very wrong. That's been a fairly consistent trend. The negative posters are reactionary, unrealistic and wrong while the positive posters are more patient, realistic and right.

 

The extra strange part to me, is now many of those same fans are saying we better make the playoffs.

 

That's a nice spin there towards the end. It's not reality, however.

 

Jeez, can't we just all enjoy a season that isn't completely down the tubes at the mid-point?

Somehow every remotely negative thread has shown up out of the blue today. It's ridiculous. Are the Ireland supporters getting more pleasure out of watching the team or by finally "punking" some anonymous people on the internet?

 

I'm sure if the Dolphins were 1-6 and someone bumped this thread, it would be all good.

 

I'd say the latter. It's why they dig it up after every game we win. Despite still hovering around mediocre like the last 4 seasons, it is not the anti Irish crowd constantly bringing it up.


Sent from my iPhone

 

Now you're just making stuff up. This season is about Ryan Tannehill. Always has been. Myself and others have said that from the beginning.

It appears as though you're arguing two different things. Are we discussing the merits of Jeff Ireland, or Joe Philbin? If you wanna give credit to Joe Philbin, fine. But don't spin Philbin's success as some sort of crowing achievement for Jeff Ireland, because it isn't.