Salguero: Ireland told his job is safe

Matt Millen. And look how well THAT turned out...

 

Brent Grimes was rehabbing his Achilles injury when we signed him, that turned out great. Louis not so much. Ish happens. As for Jake Long you said yourself "gap blocker for a zone scheme". Obviously Martin at LT was a problem but again, Ireland gave up his chance at a blue chip OT to take Dion Jordan, a potential superstar. Decent OTs (all we need is decent) come out just about every year, players like Jordan do not. IMO that was Ireland's thinking and he was willing to take the hit at OT. It's like you want him to rebuild the entire team in one off season and that's just unrealistic. You take for granted the arrival and performance of Tannehill like anyone could have gotten us a franchise QB when in fact no one did for 20 years.

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that during his interviews Philbin was asked who he had in mind to fill out his staff should he become the HC.

 

It might. The question that'll need to be asked is whether Jeff has done a good enough job (or can do a good enough job) assembling a roster that can compete for a Championship, not just make the playoffs. Any GM that's been with a team for 6 years should be able to assemble a playoff team. Can the guy find enough true impact players to be championship calibre without leaving holes in the roster?

 

Losing seasons is the ONLY credible argument you've come up with in your hundreds of hours of Ireland bashing. Good job.

Besides, Sparano was fired for the 11-5, 7-9, 7-9, 6-10 run. Philbin comes in (Ireland stays) and we go 7-9 one year and it's looking like 9-7 this year. Perhaps Sparano was the problem...

 

Yes and there are ways to address a question and not blatantly lie . People do it all the time , regardless of whether that is good or not.

 

One thing that I will give Ireland credit for is expertly walking through the QB minefield. If I recall correctly, KB was pretty adamant in his defense of Ireland's handling of the QB situation.

Two years ago everyone was clamouring for Orton but Ireland chose Moore - right decision. Last year, many were clamouring for Flynn, RG3 or Weeden but Ireland went for Tannehill - right decision.

We must realize that securing the QB position is the hardest thing to do in pro football and Ireland has handled this situation very deftly.

 

Teflon Jeff. Nothing is ever his fault, and if he makes a mistake, it is only because other GM's make mistakes as well.

 

Yeah and I don't believe this source..doesn't make sense to come out before the investigation does.

 

No, there is plenty of things that he is responsible for that are his fault. I don't see anyone saying that the OL isn't his fault.

 

Channing Crowder doesn't like him because, hmmmm lemme think about that for a while .

He got fired and never played another down?

 

I just had a thought...if we go 10-6 and make the playoffs, Philbin will likely be the favourite for Coach of the Year.

Something to consider.

 

What happened with the OL this year is a yearly occurrence with Jeff Ireland. He constantly creates a hole in an attempt to fix a hole. As long as he is the GM, the Dolphins will always be chasing the game. Plus, he is part of our problem with our media policies as well.

 

They wanted to fire Sparano before the 0-7 season, which is why they were talking to Harbaugh.

And if the losing stops after Sparano is gone then wouldn't that suggest Sparano was the problem?

 

It's the GMs job to make the cold, hard decisions. Players usually have a sour taste for the person who tells them they're not good enough to play anymore. Not saying Ireland is Bill Walsh but Walsh was a stone cold GM.

 

The losing hasn't stopped. This is still a very mediocre team, and if they finish 9-7, it isn't going to change that mediocrity.

 

How many NFL teams have no holes??? That is not a reasonable expectation or goal IMO.

 

So wait, we can now count wins and losses as a factor in determining Ireland's job proficiency? Great, thanks.

 

Sage had been cut by other GM's as well. Why is this situation the only one that left a sour taste in his mouth? I think it has a lot more to do with his direct experience with Teflon Jeff.

 

Oh no doubt and I think he's a grade-A delta bravo but I do believe in continuity and I see no tangible reason why we would make major changes this off season.

 

Welcome. I'm glad to give you a more accurate measuring system than the opinions of scorn ex-players and fabricating media heads.

 

Most teams have holes. Not every team winds up with gaping holes every single season. With most teams it goes in cycles: one year or maybe for a couple or even three seasons there are few obvious holes, then holes apppear, first slowly and then more obvious. Pittsburgh is a good example of this and so is Baltimore. Then it takes a few years to rebuild those areas of weakness. With the Dolphins, we seem to have glaring holes that everyone knows need to be filled in order for us to succeed and those holes are often nearly ignored, patched with low-dollar free agents or low-round draft picks.
Doing that is a habit of also-rans, not teams trying hard for a championship.

 

There is a lot of bad o-line play this year and a lot of people are attributing this to the CBA that limits the amount of contact practices.

 

Pittsburgh has had a hole at OL for years now. Baltimore had a hole at QB for a number of years before finding Flacco. Those aren't good examples.

 

How many have holes that costs them wins during the season the way the OL has cost wins this year, or the receivers last year, or the quarterback in the previous year?

Pete Carroll and John Schneider have been in Seattle since 2010. In FOUR YEARS, they have built a Superbowl team that has no glaring weaknesses.

Ted Thompson took over in Green Bay in 2005 and through the draft, built a Superbowl Champion.

Mickey Loomis took over for Randy Mueller in 2004 and built a Superbowl champion team in 5 years.

Jeff Ireland has had 6 years, and he's built a team that needs help to get into the playoffs.

 

In your defense of Ireland, is your point of view that he is actually pretty good at his job, above average among his 31 peers, or that it is not likely we could find anyone better? Better the known than the unknown as it were.
You think the chances are just as good that we'd just make it worse? If not, then why the loyalty to Ireland?

I mean we are constantly trying to upgrade the 53 man roster, if we can upgrade the person in charge of assembling that roster, why not do it?

 

Then my next question is how does a SB team lose to a mediocre team that had no WRs?

 

Eh. Quarterbacks.

 

Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers have that affect. Also requires a lot of luck as well.

 

I'm actually not a huge fan of Ireland, or any other GM. I think most GMs, and most HCs, are interchangeable. There may be a few very good ones and few guys in over their heads but for the most part General Managers are not difference makers, players are, QBs especially. I just get a kick out of exposing people who come up with half-baked, lame brained rationales for why he should be fired.

NFL owners aren't morons. There's a reason that Brees, Manning, Brady, Rodgers etc make 18-20 million while the best coaches and GM's get Right Tackle money, if that.

 

Not to answer for him, but imo, it's an incremental process, every beginning has new dynamics and needs to be analyzed appropriately...this is a 2nd year head coach who if he goes 10 and 6 and makes the playoffs is definitely ahead of a curve, all things considered..the personnel is young, we are third in cap space moving forward, we do have all our picks..and you must analyze with the facts in mind that the game is about being right more than wrong, cause your gonna be wrong..it's balanceing out the misses and the hits, the value relative to the production, it all needs to be assessed, and if we go 10 and 6, reassessed.

The questions for me that's bothering me most is how much is this team playing for itself..and did Philbin vehemently not want Martin on his team.

 

Then we should embrace this team no matter who their playing for...

Tell me your response to this hypothetical statement...our team became internally galvanized because of the defamation stuff that was going on out there in the media and could of accomplished what we have with anyone at the head spot.?

 

That's pretty much how I see it, this is year two of the plan that was set in place after 2011 when Sparano was fired. Part of that plan was to retain Ireland as the GM, end of discussion. There's no need to go back and say this or that shoulda happened. As you said, 9 or 10 wins would be more than welcomed and a sure sign we're headed in the right direction. This is a young squad and the vast majority of the players are either in their prime or yet to enter their prime. Cap space looks good, draft picks are in tact, the overall direction of the team, which is what GMs should be judged on, looks promising.

 

Yeah. We should just ignore Jeff's first 4 years on the job and only look at the last two to evaluate him properly. We should continue to ignore the fact that he has yet to put together a strong, complete 53 man roster where all the pieces fit together well and all the pieces fit what the coach wants to run. We should continue to ignore the fact that he drafts slow footed offensive linemen high in the draft for a zone blocking scheme that requires its offensive linemen to have quick feet. Let's ignore the fact that he signed one of the most limited and worst route running receivers in all of football and put him into an offensive system that is based upon precision route running and running a full route tree.

 

Honestly, I don't think the players care and I am amazed at how long that so called story was able to make headlines when there is absolutely no real substance to it whatsoever.

Martin left the team and 6 weeks later all we have is a transcript of some voice mails maliciously edited to look like a single voice mail. Not a single person, not even Martin himself, has claimed that Incognito was the reason he left the team. The team has put Martin on the NFI list, and leaked to the press that hell never suit up again, a clear indication of their feelings on what happened. The team is 4-2 and the OL has strung together several decent performances since Martin walked out the door. The players have gone to bat for Incognito time after time after time. I don' think there's anything left to be said TBH.

 

What are your thoughts on this Sunday's game vs New England?

 

You are right in that this is a players league. Who is responsible for acquiring those players though? The GM. I've already shown data that shows the Dolphins are the 4th worst drafting team in the time period of 2000-2012 when it comes to approximate value above expect and also return on investment. It's not a coincidence that this downturn in drafting is reflective in the fact that this team has had TWO winning seasons in the past 10 years. TWO. Now, Jeff isn't responsible for all of them, but the theme is the same. It all boils down to personnel decisions. When you are signing Daunte Culpepper instead of Drew Brees, signing Mike Wallace to a big money deal, trading two second round draft picks for Brandon Marshall, signing Justin Smiley and Jake Grove to big money deals, signing Karlos Dansby to a big money deal, drafting Jamar Fletcher over Drew Brees, drafting Eddie Moore instead of Anquan Boldin, and trading two firsts and a third round pick for Ricky Williams.....well, you can see why this team is in the shape it is in where the team is hoping another team loses just so we can sneak into the playoffs in the GM's 6th year on the job.

The team has been through 7 different coaches if you count the interim coaches in this 13 year span, and the results are the same. The problem isn't coaching and has never been coaching. The problem is personnel acquisition and talent procurement. The Miami Dolphins have not done a good job of this, whether it is Jeff Ireland, Bill Parcells, Randy Mueller, Nick Saban, Rick Spielman, or Dave Wannstedt making the decisions.

 

I think the Dolphins will get beat. I think it will probably come down to a blown call by an official.

 

I can understand your frustration but most of that had nothing to do with Jeff Ireland.