So much drama surrounding the Dolphins Head Coach search, and also the with the philosophy of a rebuild here in Miami. First things first. Chris Grier, not Steve Ross will be choosing the new Head Coach. Grier is complete charge of football operations, and he’s the guy making the decisions. If you think Steve Ross will be meddling with the decision, that’s on you.
Is a rebuild such a bad thing? What really is a rebuild? I’d say there are probably a lot of different ways to rebuild something. If you replace the short block of an engine, that’s considered a rebuild, but the whole unit wasn’t rebuilt. I think for the Dolphins, what we’re going to do is not make the same mistakes we’ve made in the past few years. Flash back to 2015, when we signed Ndamukong Suh for a 6 YR $114M contract. Great player at a premium position, but we weren’t one player away, and honestly, Suh never flourished here. No more huge contracts for 1 player.
It’s more than just Suh though, it’s going for the quick fix. In 2017 when we lost Ryan Tannehill, we should have soldiered on with what we had, rather than pay Jay Cutler $10M. I wanted the quick fix, but it was selfish, and foolish, and it was a poor use of cap money. That’s what needs to change here. Getting rid of Mike Pouncey was a start in the right direction, and in the off season, the purge should continue. Robert Quinn ($12.9M), Andre Branch ($7M), Devante Parker ($9.4M) should all be purged. Cam Wake, who we all love shouldn’t even be considered for a re-sign. Let him go win a championship somewhere else.
Besides just outright cutting players, I think we should trade a couple of players. The most obvious one is Ryan Tannehill, and his market is completely undetermined. Not sure if we can recoup any more than a late round pick, like a 5th or later, but all it takes is one team that really wants him, and we can possibly do better. I know a couple of you here are tired of this one, but you guys aren’t focusing long term, you’re still fantasizing about success next season. I’d trade Reshad Jones for what I believe could be a 3rd RD pick to a team who needs that veteran presence and maybe is a player or 2 away from what they believe is a championship. It’s a minor cap savings, but we have 3 safeties in T.J. McDonald, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Reshad Jones, and T.J. won’t bring back the bounty of a 3rd RD pick. When you have numerous holes during a rebuild, you don’t keep a glut of talent at one position, it doesn’t make sense.
We’re trying to become a team that not only has a younger roster, but one that will have lots of cap space for flexibility. No more big FA contracts, and certainly no high priced FA contracts to older players. Quinn was a trade, but that 4th RD pick we gave to the Rams, plus the salary we had to pay Quinn was a loss for us. Maybe that’s part of the reason MTP is now banished from the kingdom.
As for the Head Coach, I don’t have a horse in this race. I like certain things about each of the candidates, but I don’t feel like any of them are the a clear cut choice. It’s probably silly to not want Brian Flores from the Patriots, but former Patriots coaches that left NE and became HC’s have had dreadful results. Romeo Crennel (28-55), Josh McDaniels (11-17), Matt Patricia (6-10), and Eric Mangini (33-47). Of course none of this means Brian Flores won’t succeed, but whatever qualifications any of those coaches had, the success of the New England Patriots is on the shoulders of Bill Belichick.
I love Darren Rizzi’s passion, fire, and respect the fact that his unit has been consistently very good. I don’t have a clue as to what his offensive and defensive philosophies are. They might be good ones, but we don’t know. Kris Richard was the defensive backs coach and then coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks for the “Legion of Boom” era. You have to love that. We don’t know what his plan is on offense, and we don’t know how he is at game planning and handling the entire roster. I feel that whatever HC we hire, it would be great if we could get some continuity going, but that requires patience. Would Ross accept 3 losing seasons and continue on for the sake of continuity?
Last night driving home, I was listening to Bill Polian, and unfortunately, just caught the tail end of the discussion, but what I did hear was Polian saying that teams like Dolphins, Bucs, Cardinals are in a pattern of failure, and are setting themselves up for such every time they make a coaching change. He’s right. We all hunger for it, yet each time we do it, it sets the team back a couple of years. The best teams like the Patriots, Steelers, Packers, Ravens have had the same Head Coach for 5 or more years, which keeps the same system in place, and allows a team to continue to build the roster with a particular style, rather than flushing players every few years that don’t match the new regimes style. Polian said what the Dolphins, Bucs are doing is a “Self fulfilling prophecy”. He’s right.
If we’re going to pick a Head Coach, I think we as fans have to try and be patient, but more importantly, Steve Ross does. He has to block out what the media wants, what the fans want, and just let the HC build something. In retrospect, I think we may have cut Gase too soon, although I didn’t like him, and hated the way he got along with players, maybe he deserved more time. Too late now, but hopefully this time, we don’t make that same mistake.
Finsmob Unleashed 
First. I’ll read this ASAP
Minkah is our Corner opposite Howard. Think Rod Woodson. Get our best players on the field. QB is essentially the rebuild, who we get and how long it takes to get going. Our D-line needs some youth and a healthy o-line. Most of the good young talent has been picked by Grier, keep adding it. I don’t see it as so dramatic.
I don’t think CB is where Minkah is best. He should be on the field all the time, but not at CB, but at FS. I want him out there playing the outfield. I didn’t think he looked particularly good at CB.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/report-mike-mccarthy-wants-coach-jets-next-season-151822138.html
I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t get his wish. I think the Jets will hire him.
They would be dumb no to. The guy has been successful, maybe time has passed him by a little but you cant argue with his accomplishments. That said i want new blood here, or at least a younger coach to build a dynasty with. The Jets need to find even temporary success with someone since their football market is so big and fickle that they need to get the upper hand on the Giants, before the Giants get shit turned around.
Hey Try,
Im in agreement with you on Swinney, I dont like him as a coach in the NFL and as a person i have listened to him talk and i dont thin the guy is really smart. I think he is the perfect college football coach because he inspires young men to give their best, but i dont think he would have that same success with me in the NFL who are playing as a profession and all the concerns and motivational differences that define the professional game from the collegiate.
I dont know if any of your other motivations are based upon his religious stance, but to me thats the beauty of this country and the world is people who think and feel differently can have the same goals in different aspects of their lives and still come to gether and accomplish those goals. I wouldnt hold that against him. You are right though, and as i suspect with you, its more towards some of the things i see about him that dont make us feel he is a great coach, so count me in your camp in that regard.
Minkah, remember was a rookie, was consistently being graded out as one of the best CB when opposite Howard any struggles he had came when he was replacing X.
Or maybe once coaches got tape on him playing CB, they were able to expose his weaknesses and tendencies.
Minkah played boundary CB at Alabama in his freshman year and some as a sophmore. The guy was rated out as the second best CB in last years draft and the number 1 safety. As an overall prospect he was the best DB in the group. Ramsey is the best SS, but if you wanted a pure hybrid DB player, Minkah is the best one in several drafts.
Minkah was a fine CB, but thought better at slot than when put out to the boundary. And with Mike E that am thinking either FS or as one of two interchangeable safeties is where the guy will thrive most. He reads plays and schemes….. that is less important in outside coverage.
Awesome write Mike E — but I just don’t know what to think at this point. The future is just so wide open. So interested in what will happen, but all am sure of is will be lots of change…. less so maybe but still even if Rizzi comes in. And I was hoping to give Gase another year too, especially given all the injuries. But also can’t blame Ross one bit if the stories of Gase copping an attitude are true. Would either mean that Gase is stupid (which don’t think true) or has an ego and emotions that he can’t control at times (which must be the case).
I was up in the air as to whether we should keep or fire Gase, but I wasn’t upset at all when I found out he was gone. There are things I hated about Gase, and I didn’t see much improvement with him with those things. This time, I hope we’re a little more patient with our HC.
Thanks Stanger
I would have been ok if he was retained, IF he was told to get a QB that could run this system and he can stop saying he isnt able to open up the playbook like he wants to. He needed to do that when he came in, and i dont know if he was told to make do with what he had (Tanny) or if that he was just too stubborn to admit he couldn’t do it with him, after all he had the QB guru reputation to maintain.
Dominoes have to fall before judgment can be made on the next one, so we need to see what coach we are going to get, and then what his staff will be , and then what O and D philosophies they will have, and then what players will be sent packing and then which will be available to us to fit those systems in FA, and then what players we have left that we still need to get from the draft. I think the only real constant here is QB because it doesnt matter who comes in, he is going to have to be looking for a new one to run whatever system he plans to implement.
When Minkah is ready for his next contract I’m sure he’d rather be a Corner.
If he plays CB our secondary is set. Get rid of Jones and we’re looking for a starter at CB when we need Dline bad.
Corner get really big contract so year even if just talking about the FT, he would rather be FT or 5th year’d as a CB over S.
Lots of ways to look at it. You think T.J. McDonald is better on the back end than Minkah? I think T.J. is better near the LOS, allowing Minkah to patrol the outfield, and go where he senses the play to be. Having the extra 3rd RD pick from the Jones trade allows us to take a CB in RD3, and frees us up to have flexibility with our other 3 picks in the first 3 rounds.
We have a series of 2nd round picks that couldn’t start at CB now a third rounder will come in and start?
You and Gase have a hardon for Jones, you saw what happened to Gase, just sayin…
One think i hope for sure is that we dont have McCain at boundary CB next year. He needs to go back to NCB.
No doubt
Mikey i think the team is going to be broken down to its base and completely rebuilt. I think the talent that fits the rebuild will be retained and the rest will be cut loose so people that do fit can replace them.
I think this is so we can get a true identity. I brought this up many time during the time Gase has been coach. We looked like a bunh of people running around playing like individuals. When it happened in year 1, i thought, ok new coach, shit hasent set in, and then for a brief span of time it wa like ok we are all on the same page now. The next year it was back to the same no identity bunch of individuals running around and i thought well, its the players and the fact we lost Tanny at the beginning of the year that shook shit up. Then there was this year and we are back to no ideentiy on offense and very little of one on defense.
It always seemed like the coach and the players had a giant disconnect from one another and no one had any idea of how to fix it. Sure blame it on injuries, but there was something deeper at play here, and obviously was for Ross to basically admit we didn’t have consistent philosophy in the building and thats why he was putting one man over all of it.
I think this si what people call a come to jesus moment, or in the case of a 12 step program, step 1, admitting you have a problem that you have no current solution for and getting some fucking help. Grier is the man thats being tapped to do this. He is going to give us direction and cohesion or he is going to be held responsible for it. Im hoping he can get this all figured out and find the right guy to help his brand of football at least get us back to playing like a team. The first year thats absolutely all i wanna see if looking like a team again on the field, not looking like a bunch of tumbleweeds blowing this way and that.
A lot of truth there, but just because Ross has put Grier in charge of the rebuild, the question is, does Ross have the patience to actually let it play out? Say we go 2 seasons with less than 6 wins each season, and then another season with a slight improvement, say 7 wins, does he stay the course, or does he become impatient and then fire Grier and start the process all over again?
I think it depends on how we look as a team. Ross is expcting growing pains, he said so he said he would be patient, but if the team looks as discombobulated as we did with Gase, i dont think he will let it ride on very long. There was something obviously wrong with our team, and i think the obvious to a non football guy part is what made Ross pull that trigger.
I think the real reason that Gase was not retained was on both sides. I dont think he had a great solution for how he could get shit under control. He has never fully copped to it being out of control just bad circumstance, and when you are as clueless as we often look, any person, including our owner knows thats a bunch of shit. Im sure that answer didnt inspire Ross to keep Gase and i bet there was some finger pointing between Gase and TBaum which got both of them the axe. Ross was looking for an answer and didnt get a good enough one from either of them. Thats my feeling on what happened, because i could easily see that being how both of those guys acted just from hearing them talk previously. I think Gase didnt want to have to try again to rebuild shit, so i think he felt he would rather take a shot at hitting a coaching market that was not filled with people with a lot of experience and take his coaching to a new team with less of a rebuild planned.
Son – You have it all wrong. I don’t have anything against Reshad, and I’m certainly not in agreement with Adam Gase, screw him! If we’re rebuilding, I look at the roster, I look at the salaries, and I try and see where we can make improvements. We have 3 safeties, and one of them is tradeable, and he’s making just shy of THREE TIMES more than the other big safety who tackles well and plays well near the LOS, while my other safety is a young technician and diagnostician who can play the outfield. So I say to myself, why do we need 3 safeties, when we have holes all over our roster? Trade Jones, bring back some draft capital, and we fill more holes. Trading Jones doesn’t really leave a hole, because we have McDonald signed through 2021.
You open a hole CB, a big hole at that.
I dont think we are opening anything that isnt already there, but i get what ya mean.
As far as Jones is concerend, whenever you consider losing talent you look at a few things.
1) How good is this guy. Is he a generational talent, once in a decade, once every 5 years kinda player? If so you probably arent going to be able to legitimately be able to replace him before you wind up being replaced yourself as a coach lol.
2) do you have a next man up that is going to adequately fill that gap. I dont mean he comes in and fills it perfectly, but with just a little drop off tops.
3) Is the player older and costly enough that its hurting the development of the team holding on to him when you really arent going to be able to make use of his talent before father time finally catches up?
4) what are the other benefits he brings to the team outside of his play that you would also be losing.
I see Jones being inside a 3 year window before his play drops off. I see him as being a once every 5 year type player that we do have a next man up available that would fill his position adequately. I think his cost is high, but considering the play we get from him, not overly. I dont think he is preventing the team from moving forward. I think he also brings mentorship and leadership to the team, and we dont really have players on the defensive side of the ball contributing that way outside of him. That would leave a void.
I personally would not get rid of Jones for a couple more years given my feelings on these, i think he is more valuable than what we could get from him in a trade. I think given his skill set and his leadership he will give us continuity in this coach change and his skill set will meet any defensive secondary philosophy that a new coach brings helping the other players transition better. I think especially in a transition year, Jones is a keeper.
Richard would want him I bet. Jones is absolutely a keeper.
Like i said with his FS/SS skill set there arent many people who wouldn’t want him. He fits almost any system.
About the only system i dont think he fits is a primarily cover 1 system and not many people run those.
Jones is a great player. Only Q with him is if his window fits with the team’s. If we go total rebuild then might not. But yeah he is one of my favorites on the team, but then pretty sure we would be doing Wake a favor by letting him head to another team…..even if he is one of my favorites as well.
The hole at CB is there already, having Jones doesn’t help us there.
Just helps us not to have to take a guy who might fill the CB2 spot and use him at safety. Doesnt ultimately fix that we need to add at CB.
The difference in ya’lls opinion on that is that one of you feels Minkah makes a good CB2 and the other like him as a safety.
One thing I will say about trading Jones, if we don’t get a 3rd RD pick or better, I don’t think I make that trade. I’m not just trying to get him out of here, I want value for him.
3rds about the best i think we could get with a team having to absorb the contract, and thats probably a stretch.
D says:
January 9, 2019 at 12:29 pm (Edit)
The difference in ya’lls opinion on that is that one of you feels Minkah makes a good CB2 and the other like him as a safety.
*************
Yep, and that Son looks at players emotionally, while I’m not! 😛
I dont either but i still feel that Reshad is viable and could help our team transition. I know what you are looking at and it makes sense to have the biggest cap possible for the rebuild but sometimes ya hurt yourself more than help. Im not even talking about noext year which i fully expect us to look like a rebuilding team, but i like the mentor aspect he brings.
stangerx says:
January 9, 2019 at 12:29 pm
Jones is a great player. Only Q with him is if his window fits with the team’s. If we go total rebuild then might not. But yeah he is one of my favorites on the team, but then pretty sure we would be doing Wake a favor by letting him head to another team…..even if he is one of my favorites as well.
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Jones could be there by the time we got our team turned around. He would still be viable for 1-2 more years after the 2-3 year rebuild i think it would take. Now the question is would he want to wait that long to get his shots at a ring. Part of this is whats best for the team but ya have to consider what the player feels is best for him. We dont know that he isnt in the office right now asking them to find a trade partner for next year.
Not emotional in my thinking. We have a solid secondary and no need to mess with it. We need Dline and Oline and especially Quarterbacks then add as much talent as we can to the roster.
Maybe a little emotional truth be told but not standing in front of logic.
I know you bro – You get emotionally invested in players. You can’t fool me. I do too, but we need to shake things up, bring more young talent in here for when we’re really ready to compete, which I think think is at least 3 years away.
Just basing it off this past season : 14 games played each
T.J. McDonald – 86 total tackles (63 solo) 3 INT’s
Reshad Jones – 72 total tackles (57 solo) 3 INT’s
Pretty even across the board.
My reaction to a discussion about trading Reshad Jones
My answer to your reaction to what I laid out . . .
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/qvPkn8ofmDyULDX7pDIr3KT7A2JQ3NJDtBm6vXwu8g3rAH8ZhxiBcncMK4bsh4xAmhIhUe6SUTopQQWJxPehqQdpAvRDNrVo5_wPlfZAt7pY24QHjyJEaGBn
LOL
I think if you’re considering a rebuild, you have to look at every single player as an asset and determine what value that asset represents…both as a player for you and as a trade option. I love Reshad. I am the one who said we should draft him in the first place when most didn’t even know who he was. But, I am willing to look at him as a trade asset at this point in his career. He may be worth more to the team in a trade than he is as a player. He will not be a top 5 safety in 3+ years….at least I don’t think he will be because he’ll be about a 12 year vet with an injury history. Will he be good for another 3 years? Probably. But, what value does that have to this team? Not a lot if we’re rebuilding. It also prevents you from developing a young guy who probably will be playing for you. We need guys who will be playing well in 3+ years…not for the next 1-3 years. Expecting Reshad to be balling in year 12+ is, to me, unrealistic…especially with the physical way he plays.
And flip side of that is that if we go total rebuild (and we’ll see exactly how much we do)….. guessing a player like Reshad would prefer another team where he can use what’s left of his prime years thinking playoffs or ring.
But overall new world for us right now when thinking about not just when a guy hits FA but how good is he gonna be 3 years from now.
In 2019, do we use Kenyan Drake like a feature back, in tandem with Kalen Ballage? Drake is a FA in 2020, it would be nice to know whether we should re-sign him, and if he can handle a full workload, meaning at least 200 carries, over 300 total touches.
He can be used as a feature back in most offenses except maybe a pure power system. Not many offensive coordinators run pure power anymore anyways so I surely hope whomever takes over either commits to using Drake or trades him and gets his own guy. Leaving a playmaker like that on the sidelines is a waste
Absolutely!
I think Ballage looked pretty good. I think he’s a possible feature back. Drake will probably never be that sort of back because he’s more of a 12 touch guy not a 20-25 touch guy in the running game. I’m just kinda guessing because he simply hasn’t been used a lot….but there may be a reason for that.
Ballage looks good, but not a lot of shake in him. Would be surprised if next year it wasn’t him and Drake as a tandem. And we saw Drake take on enough of a load in 2017 for a while.
If the new HC wants to run the ball more we already have two good young backs in Drake and Ballage.
Good write, Mike! Let’s hope this team has good fortune moving forward. Enough is enough. It has to turn around at some point right?
Thanks Tim
At least we’re finally taking a different approach. I just hope they follow through with it.
stanger,
I was thinking that we really haven’t seen Drake get 20+ carries a game for an extended period of time….like a season. Hard to know how he’d hold up as an actual feature back.
Perhaps a new HC will have a different take. New Age was kind enough to point out that Christian McCaffery who is almost identical in size, weight etc, had 327 total touches, as compared to Drake who had only 173. How do you know if a player can do it until you ask him to do it?
After they traded Ajayi it was Drake and Williams in tandem. Then Williams went down and it was the Drake show for a good number of games, but not for a full season for sure. Drake’s got enough in him to be a tandem back though for sure and maybe more.
Randy – To be fair, McCaffrey was the lead back at Stanford, and he did have over 300 carries in a season (Junior year), and Drake never even had 100 carries in a season at Alabama, because Bama had T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry as their lead backs.
Im not sure why everyone just assumes Drake cant handle the load as a back, really nothing to say he cant. Its not like we were running the shit out of him and his production started to drop off. So far we have never really tested his limits and he has never started dropping off in production as we used him more so there is not proof for or against that idea.
Mike E. says:
January 9, 2019 at 4:30 pm
Well said Lou
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it is kinda cool here in the south right now, i guess its possible in hell too after seeing this reply….
Would Ross accept 3 losing seasons and continue on for the sake of continuity?
I won’t! So why would he? 😉
Maybe I misunderstood. I thought the conversation was about being a “feature back”. To me, that’s 20-25 carries a game. I don’t believe Drake has ever done that for an extended period of time. So, I was just saying we don’t know if he can. We also don’t know he can’t.
Very few feature backs get 20 carries or more these days. A handful of backs get that kind of load, like Ezekiel Elliott, Gurley, and really only in a few games. Look it up, I promise. In the regular season, Elliott had 20 or more carries 7 times. Gurley was 6 times. Mixon did it 5 times and Barkley did it 4 times. With Drake, it’s not even necessarily the amount of carries, it’s rushes and receptions. He should be much closer to McCaffrey than he is. If he got 250-275 total touches, that would be a feature back load for the current NFL.
FWIW – At the end of 2017, when Drake became the feature back, he carried over 20 times 2 out of the 5 games.
“I did hear was Polian saying that teams like Dolphins, Bucs, Cardinals are in a pattern of failure, and are setting themselves up for such every time they make a coaching change.”
That’s why I have been so dead set against getting rid of Adam Gase and blowing everything up We do this every 2-3 years and it just keeps us in the cycle ……………😳.
😂 J/K I was Luehred to the Darkside this time around I should be more patient.
The one thing I don’t like is the angle being taken that the team is in “tank” mode and I don’t believe that to be the case. I think what Grier and Ross were trying to get across to everyone is that they’re going to build a team the way it should be built, to win consistently, and with that comes some growing pains.
I think the problem with Gase was his tendency to want to bring in guys that would get him wins without any thought to the future of the franchise. He brought in guys like Julius, Foster and Cutler in order to try and win games rather than drafting players and developing them in order to build a team that could win on a perennial basis.
And that is where the disconnect was. Again, JMO, but where we were all saying “build the offensive line” the team kept bringing in retreads from other teams to fill in the gaps. No rookies except for Tunsil and he’s only here because he fell into our laps. Look at all the guys that we signed at specific positions on the team, especially the offensive and defensive lines and look at the fact that we didn’t draft a young quarterback early. Instead, Gase chose to stick with Tannehill in order to try and win as many games as he could without any though to the future.
Because, when you think about it, now that he’s gone, we’re up the creek without a paddle at the qb position because we’ve got nobody in the pipeline. Look at our DE position. Look at our G and C positions. We’re not a lot better off now than we were when Gase took over and it’s because he just wanted to “win now” instead of trying to build a team that could get to the playoffs every year, compete for the division title every year, and possibly get to the SB as well.
Tanking is not what they want to do. They want to build a team that can win consistently, not a team that wins 10 games one year and 7 the next because they signed a bunch of free agents to 1 or 2 yr contracts and then cut them.
Well said Lou
I’m with Mike and Randy on Jones. His value to a total re-build is as trade bait. And if I was him, I would want to be traded. Why spend your prime on a team re-building?
Happy New Year Phelon, and right with you on if was Jones would want to go elsewhere at his age….. but maybe he just likes living here. Plus we don’t know yet exactly what is gonna happen. So if him, might wait and see for a bit.
And FYI — OD wants his fifty. 🙂
Mike E. says:
January 9, 2019 at 11:18 am
I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t get his wish. I think the Jets will hire him.
Reply
I hope not! we are fucked if so. welcome to 3rd best in the division forever.
It’s an uphill battle always here now. Having Belichick and McCarthy is difficult, but we have some time before we really have to worry. It’s going to take a little time to turn things around here.
Reshad Jones is 30 already. If you can get something for him. Trade him. He won’t be here if we ever get “good”
Here’s a list of guys from the Andy Reid coaching tree:
Most recently
Pederson
McDermott
Nagy
John Harbaugh
Childress
Shurmer
Rivera
Spagnuolo
Frazier
Bowles
Not too shabby. Who’s next?
But I like Richard over Bieniemy
I know a lot of people are high on Richard because of the Legion of Boom thing and the Dallas D and seeing him on the sidelines but when you’ve got a chance to get an Andy Reid guy you’ve got to take that chance. NOBODY does a better job of preparing their guys to be a head coach in the NFL than he does.
Bieniemy has been with Reid in KC since 2013 as the rb’s coach and Reid just promoted him to OC. Now many may say he’s not calling the plays and that may be true but Andy Reid teaches his guys everything they need to know about the offense and also has them heavily involved in the offense. So, Bieniemy isn’t just standing next to him watching
Stanger – All is good here. Hope your New Year has started well. And OD’s crisp $50 bill was dropped off at the post office yesterday. And I emailed the old fart to let him know.
Did you catch the wench drop?
Missed it.
D says:
January 9, 2019 at 5:07 pm
Mike E. says:
January 9, 2019 at 4:30 pm
Well said Lou
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it is kinda cool here in the south right now, i guess its possible in hell too after seeing this reply….
Reply
Incidentally i did agree with what Lou had said i just wanted to bust balls lol
LOL
Why cant the FO just do a vote? Put up the candidates and let everyone vote on them like American Idol. What could go wrong? Especially when you have the ones dooming anything that the FO does anyway. Would be fun!
The FO should pick the person that the fans think is the worst candidate because with the know it all nature of fans, none of us are to be trusted.
I think my issue with Bieniemy and Richards really is, where were their mentions last year. I mean yeah both of them have been part of successful teams, but they are just now getting pimped a HC’s. I know thats kind of how it works in the NFL come grab the next set of guys getting mentions before someone else does, but are these guys ready?
Bieniemy has been an OC for one season, and Reid has been calling the plays as he generally does. I know Bieniemy has been involved and im sure has learned a few things, but how much can he have really learned not calling plays? Same can be said for Richards too, i mean was he responsible for the Legion of Boom, or was the DC, and 4 stud DB’s, and a front 7 of all studs? I mean that was a sickly loaded defense. I dont know that either one of these guys are stand outs for the next coach of our team, they are what the current hype machine is surrounding, but neither of them has a resume that truly inspires.
These young coaches gain reputations over time and eventually it gets known throughout the league that they are good HC candidates. There is no guarantee they will or won’t succeed, but all HCs were first time HCs. It’s a crap shoot just like the draft. Some are going to be good and some aren’t. You do your best to target a guy you believe in and go from there. A lot of it still comes down to the talent on your team.
We should do a poll here on who we think will be our HC just for fun.
📞🐽
What is that second emoji?
Pig snout
Oh! LOL
Piggi is in charge of polls – Hey Piggi!!! We need a poll set up
piggi-poll piggi-poll piggi-poll
Piggy takes poles often.
🐹
That’s a mouse not a hamster
Close as I could get
Wtf!
You better watch yourself Randy or the next poll will be whether you should change your Avi to a man in leather chaps or not…
😁
Some one tell me who the candidates are and I will try to remember how to post a poll
Bieniemy
Allen
Flores
Robert
Harbaugh?
Rizzi
Other
Eric Bieniemy
Kris Richard
Dennis Flores
Jim Harbaugh
John Harbaugh
Darren Rizzi
Rex Ryan
I’ve heard nothing about Rex Ryan other some initial rumors but that flamed out.
Don’t put Ryan or Jim they haven’t been mentioned even once
Brian Flores
Dennis Allen
🐖🐖🐖
It worked
Thanks Piggi!
Well now I have to figure out how to edit it
Just remember, the initials HC also stand for Holy Crap . . .
right now its a 3 way tie between Darren Rizzi, John Harbaugh and Colonpokey
I think Pokey is too offensive minded. He just wants to score
Lol
He keeps calling that play where you run the ball “up the alley”
Piggy,
I have leather chaps…two pair actually….shouldn’t it be the Speedo I wear with them that concerns you more? 🙂
how can I scrub that image from my mind
My one AND ONLY vote is for Bieniemy
—————-
There ya have it, straight from JLC. This means the Dolphins will NOT trade for Harbaugh. 😀
Right, take Harbaugh off the poll.
LOL
LOL
Thanks D for your words concerning Swinney. For me, I don’t like hypocrisy (“it’s ok for me to make money off of these kids but I’ll give up coaching if they start paying them” (paraphrasing).. which is a load of crap). I don’t like people who presume they are somehow more moral than others because they are “Christian”. If you are like me, you know unscrupulous Christians and ethical atheists. None of this means that I think he is a bad human being- I certainly don’t mind that people may like or admire him- but I’m not going to sing his praises just because he is the a coach of a currently successful football program, either.
Because he does rely heavily on recruiting and the rah rah technique of inspiring players, I don’t think he would make as good of a NFL coach as he does a college coach, at least not for a while yet. He’s still young, though, and he has shown a very good propensity to out coach other excellent college coaches, including the invincible Satan.
I don’t like Schein or LaCanfora
totally agree, me neither
However, many on here say Rizzi and Dan Campbell (and Jim Harbaugh and Cowher) impress them because they inspire players with a lot of wild-eyed, spit throwing pep talks.
So that style can work in the NFL, although it might burn out after 3-5 years (Harbaugh) or cause the coach to burn out (Cowher). Or it might only be useful in a ST coach who never really needs to sit down dispassionately and manage the business enterprise. Which may be why ST coaches have trouble getting promoted to HC. Those that can put on the management hat (other Harbaugh, Belichick) are remarkably successful, but notice how both of those guys toned down the spitfire once they moved into the executive suite.
If Swinney can dial it back a bit, I think he knows football well enough to out coach guys, even in the NFL. And players do love the guy.
I don’t think it is hypocritical to be a HC who gets paid well and also be against unionizing NCAA players. I think doing that would ruin college football. And it is certainly not racist.
I think there is way too much entitlement among this generation as it is. Colleges have to expend enormous amounts of money to put together a top level sports program. And they do help train and market the top talent so those with the ability do get huge paychecks. The kids should be grateful.
NCAA football has turned many teenagers into millionaires for life when there would literally have been no other path open for them to achieve such a level of financial comfort.
Waiting until they are in their mid twenties to “get paid” is no fierce penalty. Doctors, engineers, business majors, etc. all must wait until their 30s to see a real return on the investment they made in their education. Athletes don’t have student loans to pay off.
Most college players who do well are immersed in a “machine” which supports and packages them quite advantageously, and yet many of those young guys do not succeed in the real world of the NFL.
Paying them as masters of their trade when they are really just apprentices is fiscally unsound and rewarding them for potential that may not come to fruition. Clemson fans bought tickets all through the lean years, too. That’s just the way alums are about their school teams.
You make some excellent points about college athletics. The only real difference that stands out to me is a lawyer , doctor, engineer etc likely won’t get injured going to college or getting their masters or doctorates like a college football player can, and that injury could prevent them from ever playing pro sports. Otherwise, you do have some legitimate issues you bring to light.
thanx.
Great essay above btw
I read about a $Million insurance plan to help cover college injuries..
Also Gore had injuries in college and he is going to the HoF.
A knee tear is not the death knell it once was.
I do agree with those above who feel we should retain Reshad,
because that guy is a stud and that position is a high risk for injury.
(unless he himself has lost faith in the franchise)
Notice that Reshad has missed games and so has TJ.
We lament not having depth and then ppl talk about liquidating our depth.
I certainly did not feel good having to bring in an ST or PS guy as next man up.
I also think Minkah should be our FS as those above said.
And I agree that McCain needs to stay at nickel.
M13@M13ME
Breaking: Adam Gase expected to offer 2 first-round draft picks for his adopted son Ryan Tannehill. 😀 😀 😀
no shit man you are astute.
he would make a great back-up to Darnold.
And let me go on record right here as saying i love Cam Wake. He is an inspiration to us all and to young players (as is Gore) and I would be proud to carry Mr. Wake in his declining years as a show of good faith and respect for his contributions to our team, even as his powers erode.
As an old guy myself, I can tell you it feels bad when you are taken for granted or feel that you are in danger of being forced out just due to age when you still have some home runs left to hit.
The counter example of that is the Mickey Mantle case, as he over stayed his value and had to be forcibly retired, but i do believe alcohol was involved there. Wake and I do not pollute our bodies.
I endorse this post 100%, Brother Naples. MR. WAKE — if he so wishes to — should be a Phin for life.
well dammmit that is just what I did not want to see. Gase goes to Big Market and gets a young gun QB to mentor and stays right in our division where he can take out his wrath and revenge on us for firing him. And he knows our personnel, our FO modalities, and our facilities intricately.
Playing at Hard Rock won’t even seem like a road game for Gase. (We also had that problem with the jests last coach, though, and we still swept them, so … fingers crossed.)
Naples – Gore is a physical freak. I do agree though that the knee injuries aren’t usually career enders, but there are other injuries that are. That being said, I think, like you mentioned, that college athletes “are” getting paid, many of them don’t have to lay out a penny for an education that could cost upwards to $200K, so there is that to consider.
Naples – Thanks man, appreciate the compliment
Very interesting Gase as Jets HC. Mike McCarthy must be scratching his head right about now.
Maybe Gase can turn Darnold into a 10 YD box passer. That’s all that bastard did while he was here!
YESSIR!!! 😀
The one thing that keeps flashing in the back of my head is “Be careful what you wish for”
Wise words, given by someone here regarding this situation, was it given.
Who said it?
LOL, who do ya think?
I saw Ross should get his non football guys to work immediately to change as much about the facility as possible to disorient Gase.
Repaint
Reroute the tunnel
redraw the parking lot lines
get a psychologist in there to train the security and support people to stone wall Gase and not show him deference or conviviality
change the caterers for the visiting locker rooms
rip out the coms tech in there and change all the chalk colors
Get the grounds crew to grow different grass
find out what Gase’s least fave tunes for warm-ups were and pipe those in non-stop and loud
etc. (a la Bellicheat)
And permanently bring back the old-school uniforms as our regular uniforms.
that too
saw = say
Stej loves our trash.
fingers crossed
Mike E. says:
January 9, 2019 at 8:12 pm
The one thing that keeps flashing in the back of my head is “Be careful what you wish for”
pertaining to what?
Us poking fun that the Jets hired Gase
yikes you mean we have brought this on ourselves?
If thr jests hire Gase i suspect he gives us a hard time
But I don’t think he does anything for them
fingers crossed
mere furniture
Good take him, take Burke and we’ll throw in Tannehill
I’ll give them 50 bucks to take Burke.
Anybody else in on that?
So hex-formation in progress guys.
What if Gase becomes the reincarnation of bellicheat failing at Cleveland and then being reborn wiser at our division rival for 2 decades of dominance with a sketchy QB that is the ultimate scheme fit.
(I hope that is like saying “hey this kicker hasn’t missed in 22 straight” … which puts the bad mouth on him, so he shanks a doink.)
LOL
Not worried about Gase knowing our personnel. It will be a shell of the team he coached before you know it.
That shell will be a lot of our young nucleus.
Not worried about it. Teams have film on every team. There really are no secrets.
I hope Gase pisses off Jamaal Adams
That is actually quite possible, specially if he brings in Burke.
He was going to fire Burke this offseason so I doubt it.
Dude! I was JUST thinking the same thing and I’m NOT KIDDING! Gase is going to have a ‘fire-sale’ of sorts what with his attitude.
I give him 3 weeks
I think Gase soured on Burke.
Burke might have trouble finding a good job.
His D looked bad AND had bad stats.
Poor jests
The funny thing about Gase becoming the Jets HC is that some of the NY media and fans didn’t want him, they wanted McCarthy. So that should be fun listening to the whining. LOL
I never advocated for paying players, but the hypocrisy is obvious.
No overpaid coaches or boosters running schools if those young men don’t put their futures on the line for a slim chance to make it as a pro.
..But this conversation is far afield if where it started- I’m not a fan of Swinney. All this other stuff is far from my intent or even my caring.
Lmao
What a load of bullshit
That’s biggest crock of shit I’ve ever heard (politics not withstanding)
Tannehill was healthy when we took a shit for the last 3 games with playoffs on the line.
I don’t often drink beer, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis…well, that one time. The other times I drank Pabst.
LOL
I honestly believe we’ve got a decent chance to trade Tannehill to the stej and get a higher pick in return than what we could with any other team.
It’s unusual to trade within the division but I would be glad to do deal in this case.
I don’t think that will happen with Darnold on the Jets
praying you are right
and thinking you make a lot of sense
but it might be too much to hope for
He’s thinking Gase will stink and they turn to him sooner rather than later.
Gase thinking of Vance Joseph for DC?
I’m down with that. Hell yeah.
Then he can bring in the coke sniffer for OL coach too!!
I’m good with Vance Joseph becoming the next stej DC… so long as he incorporates the ‘Wide-9’ Defense.
I love the wide 9
— when we are on offense.
LOL… ME TOO, Bro!!! 😀
Nobody forces these young men to play football in college. It blows my mind that people think they should be paid for it. Most of them are already getting paid by having their college paid for. If they don’t want to risk being hurt, don’t play sports and get a job to pay for your own education like tons of other kids do. Plus, people who think this cost wouldn’t be passed on to other students in the form of increased tuition and fees are kidding themselves. Why should other students and their families help pay for these young men’s education simply because they make a personal choice to play a sport? It’s ridiculous.
well said
EXACTLY!
College education- +\- $100,000
NCAA money from sports in 2018? $1,000,000,000
People getting rich from college sports? Everybody involved- except those that actually draw the money in.
Again, I have not advocated for their being paid. I think the best argument against paying is how to decide who gets what.
I won’t be surprised if Gase has success with the Jets.
I also don’t think you should link him to Tannehill too much because he inherited him and he was the best QB we had. Gase wanted to win right away because that was the mindset of Ross, Tannenbaum and Grier at least publicly when they hired him. That plan didn’t work and now we’re going in a reset direction.
I wouldn’t get too cocky about Gase failing though.
quite the reverse
I said right away that my worst nightmare (well one of them)
would be for Gase to go to NY and turn Darnold into something special.
Gase, himself, said that Tannehill was a big reason he took the Miami job. He belittled other people when they had the audacity to question Tannehill’s skills and his leadership.
I remember that too, and it did not sound like the usual “party line” BS coaches use for their players that they must rely on till they can get who they really want.
I don’t think people should be criticized for being atheists.
or Jewish
or Buddhist
or Christian either, for that matter.
As long as their beliefs are not hurting anybody else,
they should be free to have whatever religion they want.
It’s a free country.
+100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
And that includes Muslim as well… so long as it is NOT those who observe Sharia Law.
naples,
I wouldn’t worry too much. Coaches don’t turn players into special players. They already are. If you truly take a subjective look at what Gase has done with QBs, he actually limits their impact on the game by having them throw less and throw higher percentage passes. Chicago’s offensive performance wasn’t all that impressive with him running the show. He just got Cutler to stop making so many stupid plays. In 2016, he relied on a strong running game and had Tannehill throw about 100 fewer passes to get 10 wins against a very easy schedule. This idea that he’s a QB whisperer is….questionable.
***
Watch. He’ll have Darnold throw shorter, higher percentage passes in a more ball control offense. I’m not saying it can’t be successful, but he doesn’t transform QBs. He controls them.
hope you’re right
Mike E,
Nice article. I know Polian has had tons of success and experience but I completely disagree with him. Coaches are just like franchise QBs.
Let’s look at the top coaches overall. Shula had great success early. So did Reid, Johnson, Cowher, Brown, Madden, Gibbs, Payton, Walsh, Lombardi, Walsh, etc. Most of these guys had their teams deep in the playoffs by Year 3.
Now let’s look at continuity. Jeff Fisher, 173-165. Weeb Ewbank, 130-129. John Fox, 133-123. Marvin Lewis, 131-122. Norv Turner, 114-`22. Lovie Smith, 89-87. Kubiak, 82-75. Dave Wannstedt, 82-87.
What I’m getting at with this wall of text is that great coaches show this greatness early. Average coaches stay average almost all of their career. It has nothing to do with continuity and everything to do with the talent of the coach…which can be seen very early. I truly believe Gase will fail with the Jets like he failed here. Let’s find that great coach and keep him…or start over if we don’t.
Or find that franchise QB who can make an average coach look good like Peyton did with Caldwell, Kubiak, and Adam Gase.
I’m sorry, but I see Adam Gase being a near clone of Josh McDaniels. I didn’t want to believe that while he was here. but I’m seeing it.
He reminds me of McDaniels
not a good thing to be like
So Gase is going to NY to replace Todd Bowles. The Yets sure do like our head coaches.
Even as asst. coaches, Westoff and Sporano.
dissension already
All religions engage in extreme practices. Shocking! Yet they have the nerve to call something new a cult. Ha… you created cults. All of you. LOL
I don’t know about that, man. Perhaps you’ve had a bad experience in the past (my father DID, and he’s been atheist every since), but I don’t look at these matters through ‘cult-like lenses’.
To each their own, live by the (universal) Golden Rule, and have PEACE… very simple principles that nearly every religion (or non-religious) is based upon.
It’s the power brokers and fringe-crazed one must beware… and most of us know one when we see one. And we also recognize and know someone who is falsely claiming something when they are very clearly bad representatives of what they proclaim.
I’M a Christian, knowing I can do MUCH better. However, I would NEVER put myself above another human being, thinking myself superior. I cannot tolerate Christians who act that way, SMH!
All organized religions are cults.
Catholicism is one of the most tightly guarded, secretive, exclusionary, punitive, and wacky-in-its-costumed rituals cults of them all.
Buddhist monks, Islamist ayatollahs, televangelists, orthodox Jewish funny beards and haircuts, Amish buggy groupies.
They’re all cults. That’s how they make their money. If they were just regular folks, there would be no way to tell them from us so nobody would get a sense of belonging by joining. So no profits.
^
It’s not really about God or faith. They’re clans or tribes. Call it what you will, but it’s a group mentality and reality doesn’t matter if it goes against that faith. No different than our political divide in this country. Both parties have become like a religion. They turn their head on the bad stuff and viciously defend their moral code. I want know part of that.
Think about Scientology. LOL
Individuals get along better than cults do with others in society.
Trypod,
What about the science students who get grants for colleges through their research? What about music students who get money for their schools through donations made for their performances? Why focus on athletes alone? Is it just because of the money? Besides, these student athletes are already making money off the situation. We pay for their education. People seem to conveniently forget all the benefits they already get…above and below the table. Folks try to portray these guys as penniless beggars who can’t afford a taco. I’ve known tons of college athletes. Trust me, they got it far better than most. And again, nobody forces them to play a sport. Its their choice. They do it for their own purely personal reasons. They dont have to, and I, for one, have no desire to have my costs increase because of it….and they would. College is already expensive enough.
Because science students don’t have fans and fantasy leagues and bring in a billion dollars?
Seriously, why am I being asked to defend this? I have stated I don’t advocate for it.
Btw- you wouldn’t have to pay for these college students education if they were being funded by the money they bring into the schools.
Yeah, I’m beginning to remember why I went on hiatus…
Not understanding. You’re the one who brought up this topic and you got well thought responses with no insults or confrontation from anyone.
What don’t you understand? If you read the entire thing from the beginning, you’d see that Naples asked a question, I responded to the question, he went off on a tangent about stuff I never brought up or said.. and I’m not disrespecting him, that’s how conversations start. But I was just trying to answer why I didn’t like Swinney and ended up sending paying players- which coincidentally I never advocated for!
*defending paying players
Go Dolphins.
I don’t see him as an NFL QB. If you like your QB to be the same stature as Golden Tate go for it.