Lose out!

That was early in the season though.

 

Mostly and even rarer in the cold or late season.

 

The September advantage is a real deal, I don’t know any other stadium where one team is in the shade and the other one is in bright light. The cold is there for both teams, one side is just used to it.

 

No guarantee Ross will fire Grier even by losing their remaining games. Losing Tua, Phillips and not having Chubb may save his job.

I'd rather the discussions focus on winning their remaining games, the results, and the draft if it comes to that.

For the record, I doubt we make the playoffs. And I am starting to think about how a solid draft could remake the overall physical nature of this team.

 

Against the Bills that year it was high 30’s and Moore had an 87 PR. Is that the game you’re praising Moore? Tua had a 116 PR.

 

This times 1000x We need to build a mean, physical, wrecking machine of a football team again like we had in 72.

 

If we had that, I think everyone would be fine with Tua.

 

I can agree with this stance, but so it's clear the problem isn't Grier or Tua. It's McDaniel. We have the players to win but our preparation and mentality is lacking. Get a guy like Harbaugh and this issue is solved. I'm just willing to give McD time because he's young and has already shown the ability to learn. But eventually he needs to win in the playoffs or it doesn't matter.

 

Grier is a problem as long as he runs the show imo…

 

Assuming Tua doesn't suddenly bomb, Grier is an average GM, nowhere near as bad as some here make him out to be. I would like to see him replaced too, but only because I think one could do better, not because he's way below average or so. This team isn't in the upper tier by any means, but it is performing at slightly above average over the last 3 years, so it's really unwarranted to act like Grier is a "terrible" GM, something we often see posted.

 

Then you would need a Shula kind of coach, you think Grier and Ross are able to find that? I made my peace with the current Dolphins, give both of them (Grier, McDaniel) one more year and if there’s no playoff win, it’s good bye. I‘d rather see them cut ties with Grier asp, but if they get one more year and then I knew Ross would act, I could probably live with that, but I don’t think he would….

 

Yeah, max 1 more year for a playoff win. Can't wait forever. Ross would likely replace McD.. who knows about teflon Grier.

 

No, Grier most definitely is the main problem. You can't build a physical and imposing team if your GM is absolutely atrocious at drafting offensive linemen and thinks the oline is an afterthought and unimportant. You also can't build a physical and durable team with a quarterback who can't take a hit and is not reliable for a whole season and can't make a play in big games and big moments.

Harbaugh came with his own GM into LA and immediately drafted a stud olinemen in the first round and brought more big bodied road graders to implement his plan of being a tough physical team.

You are not going to get that with Grier, Grier's philosophy inherited from his dad is that it's all about skill positions and QB-reciever combos. The trenches are an afterthought to him and he wouldn't know how to go about building such a team anyway.

He has failed at building a real contender and absolutely has to go. He's enemy #1 right now for any Dolphins fan who wants to see us win a superbowl again sometime in our lifetimes.

 

There are many teams that didn't have a physically imposing OL or QB that were tough to beat in the playoffs. Remember the Seahawks with an OL more porous than most we've had and Russell Wilson scrambing behind it?

We have the players to beat the best teams. What's been lacking is preparation. That's on the coach not GM.

 

You are wrong on so many levels. 1. Now you are arguing having a physical and imposing oline is not important, it is. 2. Tua is not Russell Wilson. He is not as athletic, is not a scrambler, and does not have as strong an arm.
3. Even if Macdaniel is the problem. Which I think he is part of the problem although not the main one, McDaniel was hired by Grier, so ultimately Grier is the problem. You can't keep blaming the coaches Grier hires and not blame Grier. Ridiculous. 4. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest we have the players to beat the best teams. That is a baseless assumption on your part to shill for Grier. We can't even beat teams with a winning record, let alone the best teams in the league. 5. The goal is not to compete and squeak into the playoffs, the goal is to win the damn superbowl.

Grier is not the guy for that and it has been painfully obvious for several years now. You continuing to say Grier is not the problem completely ruins your credibility in my opinion.

 

The biggest question mark for me would be what to do with McDaniel even if we hire a new GM. He's proven that he can't win without Tua but we're also not sure how much of Tua's game would suffer if McDaniel was replaced. How would McDaniel fare if he had another top level QB instead of Tua? How much of McDaniel’s failures without Tua are that he has trash practice squad backup QBs? It looks more to me like Tua makes McDaniel look good and not the other way around. But if McDaniel goes who's to say Tua can continue to be successful running a different system? This is why I don't see anything changing for at least another year. Too many pieces are tied together to replace just one of them.

 

Regarding #1, just so it's clear, while I wasn't disagreeing with the stance that it's a good idea to have a "mean, physical, wrecking machine" if you want to win in the playoffs, I wanted to be clear that the underlying problem — not being able to win against good teams or in the playoffs — is not necessarily due to not having such players. Many SB winners have had bad OL (like seriously bad) and QBs that are not physically tough. Even concussion prone we've seen with Steve Young (many similarities to Tua btw).

There are many ways to win. And when I look at the roster right now I don't see a team that can't beat top teams. That doesn't mean there aren't weaknesses (few teams have no weaknesses). We've come close to beating really good teams before like this year with Buffalo. It's not a personnel issue is all I'm saying, which means it's really not Grier per se aside from him selecting McDaniel.

Also, keep in mind that players can't completely overcome the style and personality of the coach. Let's say a GM picked "mean, physical, wrecking machine" type of players but let them play under a coach that is soft. I guarantee you their play on the field won't exhibit the kind of toughness you want.

Anyway, Tua and McD still have chances to prove some remaining narratives wrong. Keep in mind they've proven so many narratives wrong before, so don't be too confident this group won't do so again. First up is winning in the cold. We'll have two chances later this year.

 

I think early on Tua needed McDaniel more. We saw what happened with Flores. Now it's different imo. I think Tua can succeed without McD. Hopefully we don't have to find out.

 

EXACTLY

 

It's not like McDaniel had a qualified QB to play instead of Tua. I think it's unfair you say he can't win without Tua, even though I think McDaniel is part of the problem.

 

That's why I included "trash practice squad QBs" as part of my post Res.

 

Yeah, I was more responding to where you said "It looks more to me like Tua makes McDaniel look good and not the other way around." I think there are some assumptions built in there regarding Tua, that I still am not convinced are accurate. I still find it most likely that Tua is deciding presnap who he think it's going to be open, and everything after the snap is just an attempt to disguise his target. If that is true, then it's McDaniel's offense that is really what is enabling Tua.

Now, if you are correct, and Tua is truly reading the field post snap that fast and making that decision, then I would agree that Tua is making McDaniel look good, with the caveat that it's still within McDaniel's system. Know what I mean?

But, I'm not sure that we can ever truly know which of those scenarios is true, which is probably partly why this discussion has been what it has been.

 

"To be clear, this year could have just as easily gone a different way had Tua slid instead of diving at Damar Hamlin early in the season. Maybe the Dolphins beat the Colts, Titans, and Seahawks and hold their own in the AFC playoff race. That, however, still doesn't change this statistic.

In the Dolphins' past 16 games against teams with winning records, they are 1-15."

https://phinphanatic.com/dolphins-left-with-obvious-mike-mcdaniel-decision-after-loss-to-packers

I can't disagree

 

I love how the author of that article so clearly contradicts himself. Right up front he says:

then proceeds to say what you quoted:

Not a good writer.

 

Another team in the Super Bowl recently struggling to make the playoffs. Time to draft another QB and start a full rebuild. See what they can get for Chase and sign Cooper Rush.