When asked last year what he likes about a particular player (Chris Clemons), Philbin said: “He keeps his mouth [shut].” That philosophy is why Philbin either wanted to dump or was perfectly fine with losing productive players who spoke out, from Brandon Marshall to Reggie Bush to Karlos Dansby – all of whom were highly productive elsewhere. Ireland, of course, also had a major part in this. Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/spor...eat-chatter-umluke-problem.html#storylink=cpy
Ok, so we're all on the same page here: - Being lazy =/= strong personality - Getting in trouble with the law =/= strong personality - not keeping your mouth shut =/= strong personality None of the players mentioned do we have any evidence that Philbin actively tried to get rid of. We also know that Philbin and ireland weren't even on the same page about which players to get and get rid of, so i'm not sure why its this automatic given that Philbin decreed they be let go and it happened.
So you think it was all Ireland or a strong coincidence that the whole leadership council was off the team after one year? Listen I'm all for him doing things his way, he improved the team slightly in its 2nd year with a horrendous finish, and no leadership, he's got one more year to show us his methods work. Ireland has major flaws but I'm not sure he should be the one to blame for getting rid of guys that he brought to the team in the first place.
We released Chad Johnson who even at his age was the best WR we had last year. After we let him go, his life fell apart. But maybe Ocho Cinco was onto something when he would try to give input to the coaches.
Then someone needs to prove to me it was Philbin's idea to get rid of the "leadership" council. Jake Long for example, thanks to the texts form Cogs & Martin seems to be an Ireland fault. Dansby was lazy (I'm a little shocked you wanted him on the team), but more importantly we've heard all last year that Coyle wanted faster pass rushing LBs. Bush was more than likely a cap issue more than anything. If Philbin could get Ireland to kick people off the team why were Cogs and Martin still on it?
Sure it makes sense. He likely thought Lamar Miller would give the same production as Bush for considerably less cost. Replacing Dansby & Burnett also saved a little money and got younger. Look at all the player drafted by Ireland no longer on this team. He's the one that got rid of them.
Maybe that's exactly why they were still on it. Ireland might have gotten fed up with being told players he gave Philbin were no good for him, so he threw a temper tantrum and refused to get rid of them
Well, there's also Marshall and we know for sure Philbin got rid of Chad Johnson because of his antics, it would be pretty hard to believe it was Ireland who did that.
The stubborn way the team played last year, unwilling to roll Tannehill out, unwilling to play Miller over D. Thomas, least snaps of all rookies, lack of imagination on offense, I believe much of that points to flaws in Philbins personality. These flaws will prevent player "buy in" and players that don't buy in don't give 100% and they don't play 60 minutes. All considered, Philbins flaws and the turnover in coaching, a successful season to me would be 9-7
But that was the year before when Ireland and Philbin seemed to be on the same page. I'll say this, I'm sure Philbin got Ireland to cut or trade some players, but I think its simply unproven and even unfounded to say he was responsible for ALL the players cut/traded/FA and they were all because they had "strong" personalities.
I have to think that from a GM perspective, I don't see the rational in getting rid of guys that I personally had something to do with relatively recently, bringing in, and really didn't do anything bad enough to get rid of..I gotta think after a year of evaluation these were the wishes of the coaching staff We've rehashed this one, you might be right, I might be wrong, and vice versa, we really don't know, so lets hope this coach can get this team to believe and elevate themselves.
1) Fix the OL With an average OL we're 10-6 or better, with a good OL we're 12-4 and championship contenders. Nothing good happens in Dolphinland until the OL mess is sorted out. RB and LB are positions that it would be nice to upgrade, but without an OL it's hard to properly evaluate the RBs and I do expect LB play to improve with continuity.
I'm looking forward to a 10+ win season. A division title. A playoff win. A bigger jump in Tanny's game and improvement to our run defense.
Playoffs is the only real indicator of a successful season to me. And selfishly, that better include a win over the Raiders at Wembley on the way.
Playoffs A crushing Defense, top 5 run and pass Efficient offense with average of 27 points a game Is that too much?
A winning record and nothing less. Of course that will most likely equate to a 9-7 season with no playoff birth and a crappy draft pick, but I digress.
