I agree and what is sad is that the Colts were the worst team in the NFL last year. The fact that they appear to have already surpassed the Dolphins in the eyes of many people, certainly says a lot about the state of the Dolphins organization today.
They tanked the season. I swear I know this in my gut. Irsay had them tank it. They'll win 10 games this year. They were a 14 win team 2 years ago. Sent from my iPhone
Bingo. Anyone who has learned from Ozzie Newsome is fine with me. I don't trust Ireland pulling the strings with the $50M in cap room and 5 picks in the first 3 rounds next year. I also wouldn't mind taking anyone from the Ravens or 49ers coaching staff either. Just a gut feeling, but I think Kevin Coyle could be in over his head running the defense this year...
I think they might show it when it's after the fact. Obviously not everything, but enough perhaps. I recall them showing Bill Belichick negotiating a trade during his Football Life episodes last year. Might be thinking of another series.
IMO, though if Ireland ran it past Philbin before he agreed to the deal, and if Philbin said please don't trade him, because he is an important part of our defense, then I think Ireland does not make the trade. Philbin was either supportive, or expressed neutrality, which is the same as being supportive to me.
He did keep his starting job through one regime and since we are still in preseason, it is too soon to say he'd have remained a backup for long under this regime. Even Philbin said preseason depth charts don't mean much.
This trade will prove to either be terrible, great, or a wash...... but it sucks that we won't know for possibly another year or two depending on whether the pick is used for a trade or the draft.
If that is the case, then Ireland should be fired. Hiring a coach that sucks is a fireable offense IMO.
Here is my take: "Look! I RIPPED* the Colts off! See I AM good at my job!" *Nevermind he was a #1 pick, nevermind the guys we passed over to take him, nevermind the lack of depth..
Wrong. Ireland didn't "plan" for it; he prepared for it. Big difference but you make it seem like being prepared is a bad thing. When you have an immature player coasting on talent who shows up to practice drunk, it's not an irresponsible move to bring in another DB (a defensive MVP to boot) as an insurance policy who can not only start for us, but can play nickel corner (which we needed), sub in at FS (which might be needed), and have his presence hopefully light a fire under Vontae's talented, underachieving butt. UNFORTUNATELY, it did NOT light a fire, and despite knowing a new corner would be in town, VD still showed up out of friggin shape, proving that if Ireland did in fact bring in Marshall due to a lack of trust in Vontae, it proved to be the right one.
I don't necessarily agree with the valuation of Vonte Davis having an "elite" set of skills. That I reserve for players like Deon Sanders, Champ Baily, Darelle Revis, etc. Davis is no where close to this league. Vonte Davis is gone because he is not a professional athlete....period. He is hard to coach. Philbin wants professionals that are coachable. Can't say I blame him. Same reason Chad Johnson was cut. Unprofessional = Uncoachable. I can only fault Ireland for so much here. The constant bashing of him is really unjust and to a certain degree unwarranted. What does a GM look for in a player. Professionalism, athleticism, personality, intelligence. It is not Irelend's fault Davis shows up to camp out of shape. It is not Irelands fault Johnson head butted his wife. It's not Irelands fault Sparano couldn't coach up Henne or Even Moore for that matter. I think Ireland did a decent job of taking a unprofessional out of shape, hard to coach player in Davis and got what he could for him. Now was the time. Had he waited past now, Davis wouldn't have been worth a 5th. As far as Branden Marshall goes, another unprofessional. People were just waiting to see what was going to happen next. The guy was a total distraction who it seemed like always dropped passes at the most critical times. For the money we were paying him he can keep his 4 touchdowns, we have a better chance with what we got. Johnson same thing.....distraction and unprofessional. I am glad he is gone. Johnson made this franchise look like s h i t . Have some damn respect for the history of this franchise. Cussing on TV like a sailor...for what?..... attention? Really ??? Grow the f up Chad Johnson. Ireland is a smart guy and deserves a chance out from under the shadow of Parcells. The message has been sent............there's a new sheriff in town Boys - his name is: Joe Philban and he don't take no crap!!!!! Go Phins!!!!!!!!
This is easy. Philban is obviously sending a message to the whole team. Unprofessional, thus harder to coach players will play some where else. Simple.
Bill Polian is putting out feelers to be a GM again. Not saying I want him , I don't , but he has made overtures.
I'd look at anyone from the Ravens, Packers, Steelers, or even the new 49ers front offices if Miami is going to be replacing Ireland at some point. Eric DeCosta from the Ravens would be my first choice though.
So let me get this straight. Philbin shows up and suddenly three players with baggage [Marshall, Johnson, and Davis] are either cut or traded, but you think Philbin had nothing to do with it? Philbin is a HC. As such he shares some responsibility in the workings of his team obviously (unless you didn't watch him cut Chad Johnson). Why do you just assume Philbin didn't want Davis gone despite him apparently not even wanting Davis on the field as a starter and considering he's already cut Chad Johnson for his baggage related stuff? Now, objectively speaking, when removing all the reverse Kool-Aid talk, what most likely happened is Ireland was unhappy with Vontae dating back to last year, and anyone who's not a Vontae Davis apologist can see that he's an underachieving, non leader by example, so Ireland was already aware that this moment might come. Not even the knowledge of Richard Marshall being signed was enough to motivate Vontae, and he showed up to camp out of shape. With Vontae being a past 1st round player with high expectations, it's highly unlikely that Philbin did not express with Ireland his initial disappointment of Vontae's irresponsibility. It's likely that, during this time or a following conversation about Vontae (possibly after making the decision to demote him), that Ireland AND Philbin discussed Vontae's future with the team. Then, when Indy called, Ireland 99.99% likely spoke to Philbin about a potential trade, to which Philbin likely responded that Vontae is worth more in trade if you can get good value for him b/c he's done nothing to show he'll change his ways or buy into what I'm trying to instill here. I'm guessing Ireland wasn't planning on this trade b/c if he were we wouldn't have demoted Davis and risked damaging his trade stock.
IMO, if Philbin said to Ireland he would prefer they keep Davis because he was considered a valuable cog in the defense, he'd still be part of the team. Philbin either said he supported the trade or said he didn't care one way or the other, which is the same effect.
You had me going til that. Davis was the 27th best CB in the league in 2010 according to PFF and has been our best Cb every year hes been in the league according to PFF and last year he was the only DB who was even close to a positive rating (it was + 0.5, everyone else was at least a -3). Has he reached his maximum potential? No but not everyone does that by year 3. Richard Marshall stinks as a CB. He was moved from the position by Arizona after being one of the worst CB's in the league the first 9 weeks of last year. In the 7 games he played during those weeks teams targeted him regularly. He got moved to Free safety and played like an all pro there. Thats where he belongs. All Jeff Ireland did was create a massive hole at CB.
A second and one of those guys, Indy said no and they settled on a 2nd and a conditional 6th. Edit: Per Armando.
Not quite so. It's splitting hairs but in 2010, Smith was 9th and Davis 11th. The funny thing is Smith was rated an 11.0 and Davis was rated a 9.0. In 2009, Davis and Smith were in order 27th and 28th, but both with plus ratings. The only year either ever had a negative was Smith last season. Marshall has had a negative overall rating the past 3 seasons. People can spin and attempt to justify it in their own minds all they want, but for this season coming up, our defensive backfield is noticeably weaker without Davis in the mix.
I don't agree that we're weaker in the long run. I haven't been impressed by Marshall so it has nothing to do with that. I just don't believe that having a guy on your team that doesn't work as hard makes you better. I think that kind of player brings the whole team down. I think that kind of player undermines confidence in he coach and makes the rest of the players more likely to coast. Not all of them of course, but a percentage for sure. I think that going forward we're less likely to have other players come in out of shape and unprepared.
Great point. Philbin clearly has little patience for BS. Thats probably the first step in getting this poopstorm cleaned up. Still, i think Davis was worth pursuing as a one shot fixer upper.
Vontae's beyond the 3 year learning curve rule. He's now a seasoned veteran. Ranking 27th according to PFF is basically telling me he's an average starting corner. According to AdvancedNFLStats, Vontae's WPA (win probability added) ranked 51st; his EPA (expected points added) ranked 42nd; and his Success Count (how many plays he was involved in that led to a success) ranked 47th. Those stats are quite telling. Therefore if I'm Philbin & Ireland and we're in the process of strongly trying to establish a SB culture conducive for winning over the long haul, I, too, would prioritize my plan for establishing a specific type of culture over an underachieving player who's interfering with it. It's not like we flat out cut him; we got good value in return. And if I'm Philbin & Ireland, I'm asking ourselves how many warnings since last year Vontae needs? Going through them: You had him showing up drunk; the trading of Marshall was an obvious warning to the entire team; signing Richard Marshall was another warning; being chewed out for showing up out of shape was another; cutting Chad Johnson for not being able to control his actions was another warning to the team; being demoted was a warning..... and through all that he still showed he couldn't get the message nor control his actions by drawing a 15 yard personal foul. How many warnings does he need? If he didn't "get it" from all this, then little faith should be given that he ever will. The glimmer of hope is likely so small that it's not worth holding onto at the expense of the direction the team is trying to go. The 15 yard personal foul was likely the straw that broke the camel's back b/c his immaturity and inability to have full control his actions seem like more than just a temporary phase.
We are weaker right now , in the long run? We'll have to see , if track records are the indication we will be , but that is yet to be determined of course. I do agree with your comments about his attitude and preparation and work ethic , or lack thereof . I get Philbin's direction and certainly am not opposed to it , but I do wonder why we have examples from players like Vonte , John Jerry , Brandon Marshall , Karlos Dansby ...is there a common thread here? There is. That may be more what the problem is imo.
I would add A complete transformation back to being a clown, and all that it entails, a clown after spending a year with a great organization, I mean, what Chad , we're not good enough to have classy respectful approach to the game, you come to the dolphins and you think it's just ok to act like that??....the dude made dumb decisions in the game of life imo, that's why he got cut.
Do you think you can win championships with players like Vontae, good and bad, or does the bad win out because of how it sets an example for other players.?
I do agree that that could be a problem, but I'm not sure I'd include B. Marshall and Dansby in the group lacking work ethic. Marshall has always been a hard worker, he had other issues and was an inconsistent pass catcher. Dansby has also been a hard worker (reportedly) throughout his career. I would consider last year as an aberration due to the lockout. I think Jerry was in the problem group, but may have figured it out (hopefully). The same could be said about Sean Smith.
The bad can win out when the team leadership is new and the team culture is tenuous and not yet firmly established. How easy is it for the weeds to take over when your lawn isn't established? You pull the weeds and water the lawn here. You get rid of Vontae Davis and you give Reggie Bush a new contract. Then when the lawn becomes established, the weeds don't grow. The establishment and growth of the lawn keeps them under control all on its own. This is how New England got Chad Johnson to revamp his entire personality while playing for them. The team culture there is so strong it can do that. That's what we're shooting for here, and these moves are a step in that direction.
I would think that blatant interference move was the capper.. Really think about that move, does it not scream I don't give a fu&$ anymore?
What it screams IMO is "I don't have the work ethic to have developed my game to the point where I can make this kind of play with my physical talent, and I don't have the mental sophistication or discipline to know that I shouldn't even try to make it."
Well, getting flagged the week after getting flagged once already in the coach's doghouse is not the best idea. Hard Knocks will need to re-think their Vontae storyline... they had shown him as having 'turned the corner'.
