Rodney Harrison blasts Philbin on handling of Reggie Bush post-fumble and other notes

He was benched too long. I agree, it's stupid Reggie has been nothing but a professional. There is absolutely no need to bench him for a half. One drive would have been sufficient. Philbin needs to focus on winning, training camp is over. Reggie Bush is the only offensive player we have who can score from anywhere on the field. You don't put that on the bench. I don't think I've ever agreed with Rodney Harrison much before but to an extent I do this time.

 

I think Rodney Harrison is probably superimposing his experience of the New England Patriots' team culture onto this situation, when in reality the two situations are vastly different.

This isn't Bill Belichick, whose track record makes each of his players respect his authority. And it isn't a team with established team leaders, an established team culture, and a rich recent history of winning.

This is a team in flux, whose head coach is new and in his first year in that capacity, whose leaders are unidentified, and whose winning is yet to come.

Reggie Bush could be one of those leaders, but he has to 1) play in a more team-oriented way, which for him would mean not taking losses when we need a yard for a first down to kill the clock, not taking so many losses in general, and not fumbling the ball, and 2) play big in a game that can get this team over the hump from mediocrity, like the one in Indy.

Until Reggie Bush can accomplish those things, despite his hard work and his hard running, he's not contributing sufficiently to this team in this situation (i.e., not New England) to warrant being "untouchable" in the way Rodney Harrison has suggested.

There are no untouchables on this team. Not yet.

 

I disagree with Harrison. Reggie is supposed to be a leader on this team. He's had several costly fumbles this year. You have to make an example out of that. Ball security is number 1 priority. That being said, I think he was sat down for too long. However, you can also make the argument that DT and Lamar Miller actually made good progress running the ball, so that could be a reason why Reggie was sat for so long.

 

Not the first fumble he had where it wasn't exactly unavoidable. He needs to have better ball security and he is not special in that regard. Thomas put the ball down a couple times earlier in the year and he didn't see much time on the field either.

 

One series is enough to send a message. We needed him on the field. This is the first questionable thing I have seen from Philbin.

 

Reggie took the high road and he admitted he deserved to be benched.From his body language you could see he was mad at himself .....not Philbin.
IMO I dont think there will be long termed consequences from the incident.

 

Oft times when setting a precedent, the punishment exceeds the crime.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

I said this in another thread, but I think this was more a continuation of the staff's recent reducing of Bush's role in the offense.

We've seen him leave yards on the field the past several games. Consequently, we've seen Daniel Thomas cut more and more into his snaps. And we've seen him on the bench for extended periods while Thomas gets the work. The fumble just gave them another reason.

If this is the continued track, with Thomas getting more carries and Lamar Miller viewed as the long-term replacement, personally I'd like to see Reggie lined up in the slot a lot more. He is a proven playmaker and mismatch out there.

 

Precisely. I think at this point the proof is in the pudding that Reggie Bush is indeed the pass-catcher in space he was limited to in New Orleans, with only occasional carries from the backfield, and nothing more.

He may have had a thousand-yard season last year, but thousand-yard seasons for running backs aren't all that special anymore. He came into this season wanting to lead the league in rushing, and he's coming up woefully short in that regard.

He doesn't have the correct mentality for achieving that sort of thing at the NFL level IMO. He's too busy thinking he's Barry Sanders and trying to run like he did at USC, which is ultimately going to cost him his job and a big contract.

 

IMO the punishment actually fits the crime if you place it into the context I outlined above, where no one on the team has yet established any sort of "untouchable" status, and you consider that the benching was based on more than just the fumble, as Muck pointed out above.

 

Reggie has had a few fumbles at inoppurtune times but let's be honest he is not a fumbling machine. I think he has been in the dog house for the last few games because of his dancing in the backfield. He started this game with more of the same and the fumble was just the last straw.

 

I would certainly agree Shou. My comment moreso looked at Reggie's fumble in a "vacuum". You typically don't bench a HB for a half for a fumble. But seeing as though this was more than just a fumble and Philbin is trying to set a precedent for the culture of this team, that punishment exceeds the crime (in a vacuum) If we look at Redman (3rd Stringer) was put back into the rotation after a few series after fumbling in the PIT/KC game on Monday. But I certainly agree with what you are saying.

 

Although his coaches have since downplayed his time spent on the bench, Bush reiterated Tuesday that he saw the move as performance-based.
“You just take it with a grain of salt [and] find a way to fix it,” said Bush, who didn’t get another official carry after the fumble Sunday. “At the end of the day, the only thing I can control is fumbling the football. I know how to control that.”
Bush added: “I’ve bounced back before. I’ll bounce back again, and we’ll be OK.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/14/3095965/dolphins-rb-reggie-bush-ill-bounce.html#storylink=cpy​

 

I agree that I dont think it was just about the fumble...I think it was a message in general about the lack of hitting the hole and getting it done. Hes had a couple "key moment" fumbles this year though as well - so maybe it was a wake up call to that.

Was it the right call? I'm afraid we wont know for another couple years honestly. For now, I think it was very much the right call. You gotta put it on the players - this season doesnt mean **** - a focused team for the next few years however, is worth it.

 

IMO it was too harsh. Leaders are made by their circumstances and Philbin showing he trusted Bush, letting him know that mistakes aren't tolerated, but that he had confidence Bush could/would respond would have set the example. If Bush then correspondingly had that big game it would have gone a long ways towards making him that leader. The coach shouldn't just sit around and wait for leaders to emerge. That happens sometimes, but usually you identify the guys you think will be your leaders and you provide opportunities for them to do just that.

 

The problem, though, is that Bush has been given those opportunities, and he's done things that indicate, to me at least, that he's not considering the team enough and thererfore not really leading it.

When he takes losses on runs, and he doesn't change his style enough to pick up a yard to get a first down at the end of a game where the team needs to kill the clock to win, he's playing too much in a "me" way and not nearly enough in a "team" way.

If you want to truly lead a team, you have to put yourself on the backburner and play for the team. I think Bush is not a "me" player in general, but I think he's insufficiently able to consider what the team needs in a given situation and adjust his play accordingly. I think that's what got him in the doghouse initially, and then the fumble was the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

Reggie Bush is not likely to be here next year, and he has not played really well in a month,

I like the guy and appreciate his professionalism, but he is not playing well, in addition to dancing and fumbling.

Thomas, who i am no paeticular fan of, and Lamar Miller (who I really like) deserve to be getting more carries at this point. Miller espescially. It seems like he makes something happen every time he gets the ball

 

That's kind of ridiculous. Reggie plays like Reggie. It has nothing to do with not being team focused or putting himself above the team. He has unique skills and talent, like the cut on the TD run against Indy, but you have to take the bad with the good with that kind of style. Barry Sanders took more losses than anyone, but was also the best RB I have ever seen. It's not selfishness it is his style. Sometimes it leads to big plays and sometimes it results in a loss. Now, if you just don't like the style that is fine and it may be that Philbin doesn't, in which case Reggie won't be here much longer. If that is not the case, than I strongly disagree with Philbin's handling of this. Players make mistakes. Every single one of them. Tannehill, Jake Long, Sean Smith, Karlos Dansby, etc. all made mistakes that were similarly costly. But they didn't get benched for a single play. So Reggie got singled out even though his mistake came after and otherwise nice run. If Philbin doesn't like Reggie's style and just doesn;'t want to use him, then that is his prerogative as head coach. But if he was trying to send a message to the team, he did it in an unfair, selective and seemingly arbitrary way which IMO undermines his own authority.

 

It may be his style, but when the team needs one yard to win a game, he needs to recognize the situation and adjust his style for the benefit of the team.

I suspect his failure to play for the benefit of the team is also reflected in his repeated attempts to make something out of nothing instead of running in the way the play was intended for him to run, where sometimes there will be only a yard or two to be had, or no gain at all. You run that way for the benefit of the team, rather than believing you have so much individual ability that you can create something out of nothing in so many of those situations.

He takes losses on almost all of those plays. He's not Barry Sanders. It may be his style, but at the NFL level it doesn't work for him.

This mistaken belief in his own individual ability IMO reflects a level of self-absorption that's keeping him from functioning sufficiently in the team's interests. He insists on having this "style" even when it doesn't work, doesn't fit certain situations, and far more often than not it hurts the team.

That ain't a leader. A leader says, "you know what, I think I need to change the way I run because it's not helping the team."

 

Reggie has averaged over 4 ypc the last 3 games, 5.3 before he was benched this game.

Yes he fumbled. His second one lost of the year.

You bench him for a series. Maybe two. We scored 3 points with our best playmaker on the bench.

Yes, perfect decision by Philbin. That said, it wasn't as if anyone was going to carry a lot in the 2nd half, down by that much.

 

Agree with Muck. I think this is more of a result of Reggie Bush not being in the long term plans for Miami. Thomas and Miller, to a degree, have been just as productive.

 

Rodney is dead on.
It was a stupid move that didn't help this team at all.
It was an outright confidence killer.

 

this is contributing to players not wanting to come to miami the more bad press and we wont be able to get anyone to come here . its bad enough the marlins owner is a buttwipe and the dolphins owner is a mystery , yet the heat owner seems to be doing well.

i think Philbin is too much of a hard *** which is ok if you have players wanting to play here and the team is doing well but if he isnt carefull he couldlose the locker room.

 

Totally with you. Guy busts his ***, is a consummate professional, and this is how you treat him? For some reason this really pisses me off. Oh well.

 

I would cut Daniel Thomas out of the offense altogether and give Lamar Miller his carries. His pass-blocking can't be that bad. It's not like Reggie is that great at it anyway.

 

But the fumble itself did wonders for the team's confidence, I suppose.

 

I love reggies work ethic, but it hasn't translated on the field for a month, he's fumbled multiple times in critical situations, he's dropped some passes, he's not running decisively, and his blocking has been pretty bad.

On the play he fumbled, if you watch it closely you will see some hesitation in his mind where it made him vulnerable, if he was in the proper aggressive mindset he would of finished the play with the right demeanor..

 

You mean the new locker room he had built for these perennial losers and underachievers? I find it kind of weird how many people thought Philbin was going to be too soft when the season started now seem to think he's Ivan the Terrible.

 

Bush should not have been been benched. That was basically cutting off our nose to spite our face.

Sean Smith had given up big play after big play...dropped INT after dropped INT...this year. He never got benched. His failures of late have been far more detrimental to the team than Reggie putting the ball on the carpet. Just made no sense to hold him out the rest of the game.

 

What has Reggie done this year to warrant this god-like image of him? He had one good game against the Raiders and has been mediocre at best the rest of the season. I have no problem with Philbin benching him. We aren't privy to their conversations, we don't sit in practice and we don't know all the dynamics. Philbin needs to send a message to the veterans on this team. No more coddling under-performers that hung around way to long previously.

 

lol @ the responses in this thread.

- Reggie shouldn't be benched/not benched for as long just because he was screwing up!
- Ok why?
- Because he's the best player we have!!!!!!
- But he was playing poorly.
- Then because he's a leader!!!!!!
- So leaders should be held to lower standards than everyone else?
- Then it killed our momentum!!!!!!
- Sigh

 

Really?

 

I totally did not agree with the benching. I'd have not benched him for even a series. Everyone knows he is by far the only big play threat we have. If it were up to me, the next series, next offensive play, I'd be calling Reggie's number. Then on 2nd down, call his number again.

 

I thought the handling of Bush post fumble was a detriment to the team. I like Philbin and the entire coaching staff but they are too ****ing cute with the handling of RBs. Also worth noting the fumble came at the end of a very nice run.

 

This has been understated, I think. It's the main reason I disagree with the benching. You should REWARD efforts like Reggie gave there. Sometimes a defender makes a nice play and **** happens. You tip your cap.

I know many have said that they're "phasing Reggie out" and whatnot, but after thinking about it more I doubt that was the reason. Seems like a convenient line of thinking.