I came into this thread to Piss on Jeff Ireland...but then I saw Dez Bryants mom and decided I'd rather pay here $50 to let me piss on her. So I'll be back in like 45 seconds...
Ireland deserves credit for his draft choices, have to admit, if you look at how our 5th-7th rd picks are contributing basically we could not have afforded the FA spending. Clay, Jones, even Carroll is chipping in, Shelby is on the rise and Sturgis has proven me wrong. Long season, 14 games to go, so far Ireland looks to have left Parcells shadow and is adding physical talent over "smart hard working football players"
There is the old saying "you got to learn how to win"; you have got to learn how to win as a fan to some extent. I believe the players are getting the idea lately. I am not sure we are. I was at a sports bar in the Jackson, MS area and a Cowboy fan talked about how negative Dolphin fans tend to be. To put this in context he was listening to a Dolphin fan who was not happy about Dansby's departure, and talking about the non-contributions of Ellerbe and Wheeler. And he was asking about why Miami didn't re-sign other Dolphins as well. Now I could have mentioned their (Dallas) donation of a certain decision maker may have had some factor in fan grief, but I agreed with him about our negativity and general lack of trust even when Miami is winning. We have become skeptical pessimistic naysayers. We win and we find reasons to dislike it. And we have sports writers who like writing about the Bengals, Ravens, and 49ers, or at least adopting them (Omar). Or tweeting about the Marlins and Hurricanes more than their assigned duties as a beat writer. Now I am sure I am over-reacting to Omar, to general fan negativity, and to learning how to win as a fan (repetition will help that illness). I do know I really enjoyed watching the game on Sunday, and that has not been the case for some years.
That Cowboys fan was probably one of the many that believe Jerry Jones every year when he predicts Super Bowl for the 'Boys. I don't know why their fan base believes it, but they do, EVERY time! Winning cures all, as we all well know. I understand the foundation of the pessimism, I just refuse to partake. This team has a TON of positives and only a few real negatives IMO...am I a blind homer because I choose to focus on the positives and not the "we shoulda" stuff with former players/FAs? I don't think so, since I realize we have the negatives as much as any critic, I just don't bit** about 'em 24/7.
I see a difference b/t finding guys, and just throwing cash at them. When we see Jones/Stark/Wake/Patterson/Clay making things happen, to me that is a sign of a good GM, when we sign FA's to big money deals, to me it does not take a talented GM to do it. Objectively atm Shelby is out performing Vernon
Hmm..a) I'm not a Canadian b) difference between finding guys in the 5th-6th rds and just throwing cash at them in FA.
On my phone so I cant link, but its the Home bs Away trends analysis to see what we may expect with the Phins coming home for the next game.
Eh, tbh more surprises are emerging on the Defensive side of the ball, the O is underperforming. Clabo, JJ, these guys are not stepping up their level of play, Clay is and Miller showed flashes but no one on the O side is "where did he come from?"
You're discrediting the FA process bc it involves spending money not picks. Makes zero sense. Quality talent can be added both ways and a good GM will do so. And I swear you were Canadian but if you like Rush a lot then that's basically the same thing.
I am a skeptic by nature, so it is easy for me to be untrusting. However, there does come a time to balance, the yin and yang.
I don't consider myself a negative nelly and approach everything in life in a positive manner. Having said that, I also try to remain as objective as possible and remove my emotions from situations. My thoughts on Ireland have been that he hasn't been as bad as many people think he has but he also hasn't been great. Through 2 games, it appears Wallace, Grimes and the LB'ers were great signings. Getting Wake to sign from Canada was a grand slam and has covered up for some bad drafting. He has had 2 really good 1st round picks in RTH(so far, based on how he's looked) and Pouncey. Odrick is starting to grow on me. He's had some great picks in later rounds with Jones and Hartline. Based on how he's played so far, you'd have to throw Clay in there. Clemons has been solid for a late draft pick but it's frustrating as hell he can't catch anything. If he even had modest hands, he would picking off 4-5 balls a year. Vernon and Miller appear to be pretty solid picks as well. The jury is out for this years draft. Sturgis is a stud but we're not getting production out of our top 4 picks. It's still very early to even began to evaluate this draft. Jordan has shown some promise. Unlike other fans, I don't blame him for trading him for Marshall. I never liked the guy. While he's as talented as anyone in the league, I don't like players like him and neither did Philbin. I think you move on and get what you can for him. My frustration with Ireland has been his OL drafting and after multiple signings our OL is still a work in progress. It's really hard to know whether it was Parcells, Sparano, Ireland or some combination of all 3. Once again, it's still very early in the season but it appears as if Jeff has redeemed himself overall. With the FA signings this offseason, the drafting of what appears a franchise QB, signing guys like Wake and Bess and that drafting 10 starters in the 2010-2012 draft, it appears he's doing a pretty good job.
I genuinely think the problem with the oline is the system switch with Philbin and his offense coming in. Pouncey and Ritchie are the only guys that can fit in both set ups.
None of the above. Not many things are realistically going to be settled for long term, and the Dolphins have "solved" virtually all of the OL positions. Jake Long, Justin Smiley, Richie Incognito, Jake Grove, Mike Pouncey, and Vernon Carey all played at a high level and should have reasonably been expected to be longer-term starters. There's no Right Guard in that list, but every position was fixed at least once.
It'll be too early to judge after 2 games. We'll see how we fare in November and December. And should we make the playoffs, I think he'll get an extension, yet still be on the hot seat. Because we all know what happened after 2008...anyone can have a good season and make the playoffs, but its about consistently fielding a strong playoff caliber team like the Falcons/Ravens/Patriots/Packers
