The dust wasn’t even settled on Dan Campbell‘s interim contract, and the talk began about who should be our next head coach.

Before the man ran his first practice, let alone coached his first game, Dolfans were buzzing around the same old tired names like Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden.  Here we go again.   zzzzz.

First of all, right off the bat, we DO NOT WANT those guys.   These guys both make millions and millions of dollars a year to talk for a living.   They have a cush job, especially compared to the rigors of being a head coach.  They would have to be coaxed out of leaving the broadcast booth.

And we do not want to coax anyone.  Remember Jimmy Johnson?

Coaches who leave the NFL on their own simply do not want to coach anymore.   There is no fire and passion left.  True, you can always lure them back, but that doesn’t mean they want to be back.    It’s better to bring in a coach who was fired, a coach with something to prove…not quitters.

Secondly, can’t we wait a few games to see how Dan Campbell does?  Let’s at least wait and watch a few games with open minds.  It won’t take long to see if Campbell is overmatched as a pro coach or if he has something special.   I don’t care about all his talk of being a tougher team.  All I care about is how quickly he does away with the failed Philbin blueprint.

If the Dolphins come out on offense Sunday and spread four receivers for three downs in a row all day long, then we’ll know that Campbell doesn’t have the guts to  to throw Philbin’s crap into the garbage bin.  But I don’t think he is that dumb.

No one but Philbin is dumb enough to stick to a failed game plan game after game and year after year.

And if Campbell shows anything at all in the next 12 games, we have to seriously consider keeping him.

In 2004, Jim Bates took over for the disgraced Dave Wannstedt.  We were 1-8 under Wanny and had no running game at all thanks to Tricky Williams going off on his pot binge.   But Bates was a leader.

He managed to go a respectable 3-4, including an incredible win over massively favored New England on a Monday night.  I remember the whole team was behind this guy.   Randy McMichael was our tight end and barely knew defensive-coach Bates, but Randy said he would go to war for Bates.   The guys loved him, and then team ownership rewarded him by hiring the liar, Tricky Nicky Saban.

The a few years later, Todd Bowles takes over interim and goes 2-1.   A winning record!  Management shoves him to the curb too.

My point is that if an interim coach is any good, he should be named permanent coach.  Campbell has to be given a fair shake to see if he’s any good, and his chance begins Sunday.

55 Comments

  1. Agreed And it’s nice for a change to hear Dolphins truth talking and complimenting a current coach instead of the other way around. Not that I disagree because like I said Philbin proved himself to be not worthy of being our coach anymore but still the narrative was getting a little bit old.

    1. Author

      The narrative was old because Philbin never altered it! I was so high on Philbin when he started a few seasons ago at 3-0….and that was the last time I wrote about him confidently.

  2. Jim Bates was a Sherman guy who was passed up for the HC job by Mike McCarthy…so no loss there. He’s been out of coaching for some time and never had good success. Bowles did very well in Arizona so he is definitely already proven that he is better than Jim Bates. How good he is as a HC is yet to be fully known…but he’s doing the right things so far. Ross should have given him a shot instead of hiring Regis. What a bad move that was…The Sofa King of bad moves. He’s a player’s coach and was respected. Philbin came in and decimated the leaders and vocal players on this team and eventually got rid of them all. He was a “my way or the highway” type of coach without the experience or proven chops.

    I think this team comes out on Sunday and puts a massive beatdown on Tennessee…one that we’ll be talking about for some time.

  3. Its ok to be hopeful, but guys realistically the chance of this guy succeeding is extremely slim. He’s the 6th consecutive Dolphin HC that has never been an NFL HC before. The previous 5 have all failed miserably.

    No interim HC has ever taken his team to the playoffs in 72 tries. This was a desperate move by Ross that’s doomed to fail. Just my opinion.

  4. I agree with Jay, to a point. Can he change all of Phibin’s schemes in just 2 weeks and can he get the defense to develop in that same time frame? We will see. We must look closely to see if each position is improving their play. I would really like to see this guy succeed and I hope he is more than just a “get tough, rah rah guy” and actually understands how to prepare his team against their opponents and understands game and clock management.

  5. @admin
    Funny how you can single out coaches that had winning records with the Dolphins like Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt when there are a bunch of much worse Dolphin coaches like Cameron, Sparano, Saban, and Philbin. They didn’t win a SB but I’d take Johnson or Wannstedt in a heartbeat over the 6 that followed them.

    1. Author

      Jay,
      Bowles and Bates were better coaches than Sparano, Saban, and Philbin. I always give Cameron a little slack, because the “stars” of his Dolphins were guys like Cleo Lemon and Greg Camarillo. Cam didn’t have a chance. Philbin did.

  6. Campbell can’t change the whole system in two weeks. He even said he wouldn’t. Maybe just tweek a few things. Bottom line is the players are not executing, not tackling, and the penalties are killing us. If he can cure that cancer in two weeks ( actually more like a week because they got 4 days off for some reason) I will be amazed.
    I would like to know what happened with our D last year to be so good then flip and be so bad, can’t blame the system for that.

    1. Author

      Kelrvet, good points. The 4 days off was do to NFL player labor union rules during a bye week. It’s mandatory

  7. My thinking is in line with Jay in that coordinators just don’t come in mid-season and have a lot of success. It’s been proven. So I’m not going to assume that it’s going to happen to the Dolphins.

    After the Ten game the easy part of our schedule is over and we go through the gauntlet which includes all of the East again and we know how the first run through the East treated us!

    Sure the guys will play well for Campbell but can they get seven wins out of

    Titans
    Texans
    @Patriots (in NE)
    @Bills (In NJ)
    @Eagles
    Cowboys
    @Jets
    Ravens
    Giants
    @Chargers
    Colts

    If we get 7 wins we end the season 8-8

    You tell me which 7 teams were going to beat?

    Want to get to the post season tell me which 9 we beat and you see how overwhelming what your (Admin) asking us to do is.

    Of course he will be better then Philbin. Hell my dead grandmother who never watched football would do better if we dug her casket up and propped it up on the side line then philbin ever did. At lest we wouldn’t see her clapping after every 3 and out!

    I hope I am dead wrong and Campbell wins out and we go the SB but guys, this is the Dolphins and Ross is still the owner so come on!

    1. Author

      I’m not trying to be overly optimistic, but I do want to see if Campbell has value. The team does have a lot of talent at some key positions, although they haven’t shown up yet (d-line and WRs, for example). It’s not like Campbell is inheriting a team of rookies. Some of those games that seemed hard toward the end of the year now don’t seem so hard. Ravens are losing weekly. Colts have zero D and are just getting by. Cowboys have worse QB problems than us. Giants are up and down. I figure we get an upset or two in there, and end up at 7-9. Hope I’m wrong.

      1. There is no talent on the offensive side. Possibly the worst talent in the league and points are scarce.

      2. If Campbell is going to be a decent HC then we will see it on display pretty quickly.

        @Jay your comment about no talent on the offensive side of the ball is simply offensive! (Kind of a joke..lol) I know you hate Tannehill but the kid is middle of the NFL pack so with the talent scouts Miami has I think we can only get worse right now changing that option.

        Then we have two pro bowlers on the line don’t we?

        Albert and pouncy how is that no talent?

        We have a RB who for his career carries close to 5 yards per…. and last year had 1100 yards how is that no talent?

        Jarvis Landry last year had 84 catches for almost 800 yards and 5 TD how is that no talent?

        Greg Jennings had 59 catches for almost 800 yards and 6 TD how is that no talent?

        Kenny Stills had 63 catches for almost 1000 yards how is that no talent?

        Richard Matthews – In limited time this year already has almost 300 yard catching with 3 TD if he keeps up that pace he would finish the year with over 1000 yards and 12 TD’s and the kid has really looked good this year so how is that no talent?

        DeVante Parker? Who knows if the kid has talent or not at this point

        Jay I’m just trying to help you not sound so dumb. We have a little talent on the offensive side of the ball.

        Also if Tannehill would run the ball 3 – 5 times a game (Which philbin always hated and obviously put an end to this year) it would keep the Defenses a little more honest and open the lanes up for the RB’s

  8. Brian, I think we will be lucky to win 3 and end the year with 4.

  9. I’m a little optimistic honestly. I think if the team comes out with intensity and a more physical approach to the game the team could turn it around. There’s still huge gaps in the oline and secondary, but maybe with different coaches we could see some scheme change. Like rolling tannehill out of the pocket, actually commiting to the run game, and letting the defensive line play downhill. If I see any of that I’ll be optimistic.

    1. I think it’s to soon to tell anything. I think after the game tomorrow will be to soon to tell anything. I think after the Bills game were going to know for sure what we have.

      One home game and 3 road games 2 against teams above us in the afc east.

      I we split those games (By split I mean win on of the two against Huston and the Titans and win one of the two against NE and Buffalo) I think there will be real reason to hope but if we lose all both the games to the Bills and NE then we suck and if we lose all three road games then were no better off then we were without Philbin.

      Time will give us all the answers.

      1. Author

        You guys ever see the movie Big Fan? If not, I highly recommend it. It’s a quirky comedy about a big Giants fan who ends up getting beaten up by one of the Giants star players, and he has a dilemma about pressing charges, sending the player to jail, and thus hurting the Giants.
        Or should he let it go and let the star player play?
        Anyway, there are several scenes where the fan analyzes the upcoming schedule, and it sounds just like us sometimes. “Well, if only we can squeak past the Titans, then the Texans should be an easy win, then we upset New England and…we could run out the season and become 12-4!” I always think of that movie as I try to study the upcoming games.

  10. Letting Thill roll out and running the ball all depends on our D to stop the run and get some 3 and out instead of giving up 14 points in the first quarter.

  11. The thing about the Dolphins is they are so inconsistent its impossible the predict the season.

    1. Actually The Dolphins have been very consistent this year – they’ve played poorly every game.

  12. Getting rid of Wallace, Clay, and Hartline left the offense totally void of talent. That’s why they’re 31st in the league in scoring.

    1. And BTW, that’s against crap teams. They haven’t even played anyone good!

      1. So New England is a crap team in your world? With every post you lose credibility. I have been trying to re-read my posts before posting them for grammar and spelling error at your recommendation. I’ll return the favor and recommend you re-read your posts before posting them to see if they make any sense.

        1. LOL…. now I’ll have to re-read my posts for grammer, spelling and to see if they make sense as we haven’t played NE yet!

          I guess we have just been beat so bad it seems like we have already played them twice.

          Sorry Jay you were right – they have all been crap teams with maybe the exception of buffalo but the jury is still out on that too.

            1. Sorry Jay you were right – they have all been crap teams with maybe the exception of buffalo but the jury is still out on that too.

        2. You’re the one that’s lost all credibility. We didn’t play NE!!!

          1. Sorry Jay you were right – they have all been crap teams with maybe the exception of buffalo but the jury is still out on that too.

    2. Author

      Jay, you spend weeks blaming Tannehill for all our woes, Now you’re blaming the lack of Clay and Hartline and Wallace? Actually, it’s a combination of all that. But the BIGGEST contributing factor was Joe Philbin and his dud leadership. We’ll see tomorrow how much changes,
      By the way, I think getting rid of Wallace was a big mistake. Hartline was no great loss; he got the big contract last year and then took the season off. Clay was a wild card. I felt we needed a big, blocking tight end rather than another receiver like Clay. I didn’t know if we would miss him or not. I guess we do. Watching the way Buffalo uses Clay tells me that Clay is very talented, and the talent shows even more in a decent offense

  13. Jay, How do you explain how the D is so bad. They are ranked at the bottom of almost every category

    1. @Kelrvet

      Thats simple, obviously all the players on defense suck!

    2. Points wise they are ranked far better than the offense. And they’re on the field all game because the O is pathetic.

  14. The D is 19th in points allowed. The O is 31st in points scored.

    @Admin
    I’m blaming the entire offense. Every one of them. Sure the QB is the most important but they all stink. We had this convo before and everyone agreed with me.

    I know you don’t like Philbin but NO ONE can make chicken salad out of chicken chit. No playmakers on the O.

    1. @Jay

      You said, “I’m blaming the entire offense. Every one of them. Sure the QB is the most important but they all stink. We had this convo before and everyone agreed with me.”

      I certainly didn’t agree with you and I’d be hard pressed to think that “everyone” other then me did too

    2. we have two pro bowlers on the line don’t we?

      Albert and pouncy how is that no talent?

      We have a RB who for his career carries close to 5 yards per…. and last year had 1100 yards how is that no talent?

      Jarvis Landry last year had 84 catches for almost 800 yards and 5 TD how is that no talent?

      Greg Jennings had 59 catches for almost 800 yards and 6 TD how is that no talent?

      Kenny Stills had 63 catches for almost 1000 yards how is that no talent?

      Richard Matthews – In limited time this year already has almost 300 yard catching with 3 TD if he keeps up that pace he would finish the year with over 1000 yards and 12 TD’s and the kid has really looked good this year so how is that no talent?

      DeVante Parker? Who knows if the kid has talent or not at this point

  15. Well the point I’m trying to make is our offense would be more productive if the D could get off the field. Everything changes when you start the game from behind. Players are not making plays on either side but it starts with the D stopping the run. I don’t think they are changing any scheme or gap assignments. Its easy to say well the D needs to have a better pass rush or blitz more but if the scheme is the same the players have to change. Is that going to happen?

    1. Nothing will make our pathetic offense more productive other than a bunch more talent including an accurate QB.

      1. we have two pro bowlers on the line don’t we?

        Albert and pouncy how is that no talent?

        We have a RB who for his career carries close to 5 yards per…. and last year had 1100 yards how is that no talent?

        Jarvis Landry last year had 84 catches for almost 800 yards and 5 TD how is that no talent?

        Greg Jennings had 59 catches for almost 800 yards and 6 TD how is that no talent?

        Kenny Stills had 63 catches for almost 1000 yards how is that no talent?

        Richard Matthews – In limited time this year already has almost 300 yard catching with 3 TD if he keeps up that pace he would finish the year with over 1000 yards and 12 TD’s and the kid has really looked good this year so how is that no talent?

        DeVante Parker? Who knows if the kid has talent or not at this point

        1. So Brian, if we have as much talent at OL, RB, and WR as you say how do you explain the fact that we’re 31st in the league in scoring? LOL DUUUHHH!

  16. If Wallace and Hartline are so good then why do they have a combined one touchdown through their first five games with their new teams? I mean people post this nonsense and wonder why the insults fly rampantly. I mean Clay looks good but Buffalo gave him 8 mil a year. He’s going to look good because they’re going to make sure he gets his touches so that it looks like he was worth the money. Which he wasn’t. Good player though but he’s making Gronk/Graham money. He’s not quite on that level.

    1. Hey, Jarvis Landry, Jordan Cameron, Greg Jennings, Davonte Parker, and Lamar Miller combined have NO TD’s!!!!!!!!!!

  17. Well Lamar Miller doesn’t get the ball in the red zone, Greg Jennings has dropped as many passes as Mike Wallace did in his first year in Miami, and Devante Parker doesn’t get in the game to catch any tds. And you conveniently forgot about Rishard Matthews who has scored three times as many tds this season as Wallace and Hartline combined. Explain why all that talent isn’t blossoming on their new respective teams. Be good or be good at it.

    1. Well you conveniently forgot about Charles Clay who has 22 receptions and 2 TDs. And Mike Wallace leads his team with 20 receptions despite being constantly double teamed. Both of their teams are thriving with their leadership compared to the Dolphins.

      1. Mike you miss the whole point

        Coching…..

        Remember philbin was fired?

        Now we’re about to find out if all the players suck or if the coaching had a lot to do with poor play

        1. The offensive players suck. Remember Mike Sherman was fired? and the offense still stinks!! BTW, I just looked it up and the Dolphin D overall is ranked 11th, pretty good. The O overall is ranked 31st.

          And Brian you never explained how the O is ranked 31st with all that talent? Did you say Coching? WTF? How old are you, 10?

          1. Yes I did Mike it’s called poor coaching and only three decent players on the OL I’ve been saying it for about six months bet consistantly so if can’t remember that I can’t help you.

        2. Philbin was a great offensive coach in Green Bay so we know its not coaching.

          1. @Jay

            If there were any doubts that you were in fact NOT a Dolphins fan this comment (which by far is the dumbest one you have ever had) proves it.

            Philbin was an OC in name only he was NEVER allowed to have any input into the offense or the plays called.

            @Jay is your name actually Joe?

  18. R E L A X! There isn’t one fan on here that does want our team to do well. We are all frustrated (hence my name). We have to give Coach Campbell a chance. He was thrown into this with very little time and he’s working his ass off to try and right this team with a “new attitude”. ( can someone get the Sun Life stadium DJ to play-no blast loud, Patti LaBelle’s hot stokin, thumpin song “New Attutide” at next home games!! ) they need to rock the house!
    But T-hill needs to PROVE BIG TIME why in the Sam Hill (it’s just a saying) was he awarded the big ass contract when he has shown nothing of the likes FOR that big time QB money when he is NOT a big time QB? I was not all in on THill from the beginning. His inconsistency is a big concern. Darn Blake Bortles looked like he should have that contract not THill.
    There is an entire team on the field that needs to play like they have a new attitude. If not, not one of them deserves the millions or big money they are getting paid. Put the practice squad out there then. But give Campbell the opportunity to get a few games under his belt. The players need to harbor responsibility as well. Go Dolphins!!!

  19. I think it will be a low scoring game as the Dolphins try to run the ball a lot. Maybe not a bad strategy when you have an accuracy challenged QB.

  20. I predict Jay is actually Joe philbin who blames Tannehill for the reason he lost his job since he is such a great offensive coach as evidenced by the success he had in Green Bay

    ROFLMAO

    1. I predict Brian is a ten year old that hasn’t yet learned to spell and knows nothing about football.

      BTW, Sherman also lost his job because Tannehill stinks.

  21. Author

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