Man, and you thought MAY was a slow month for football.
Just to give us another column to comment on, I’m writing here with a few tidbits to get us discussing things.
First of all, the Miami Herald today had an interesting interview with Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christiansen. What I zoned in on was Clyde and Adam Gase disagreeing on TD celebrations. Clyde said he has an old-fashioned point of view (like me), but Adam Gase is far more lax. Clyde is concerned about the penalties, but Gase apparently says “Who cares. Let them celebrate. Let them get a penalty. We’ll make up the yardage later.”
There are several things wrong with Gase’s view. Number one. a penalty is never, ever acceptable. ESPECIALLY a mental penalty that is 100% preventable. I know many of you disagree with me and Clyde, but Adam Gase encouraging these unprofessional and costly dances is a sign of immaturity on the coach’s part. Allowing the players to dictate the rules is never wise. In this case, the rule is “We’re allowed to take penalties because Coach Gase is cool with it.” It’s a horrendous way to instill discipline.
I wonder if the Gase kids are allowed to draw on the walls and throw spaghetti on the carpet, as long as they “make up for it later” but making their bed.
Number two, it’s an absurd notion that the Dolphins will simply make up the 15 yards later. When? After the dancing penalties, the Dolphins will be kicking off from their own 20-yardline, all but ensuring the opponent will have outstanding field position. For a defense ranked so so low the past few years, 15 yards is too much to give up. Gase needs to change his philosophy immediately and not worry so much about what his buddies, ooops, I mean his employees, think of him.
If he doesn’t get mad at players committing mental penalties, what DOES he get mad at?
Another June tidbit is that Monday Night Football is going back to the old Are You Ready For Some Football theme song. Ho hum. The networks REALLY seem to think that fans turn on a game to see the theme song. They pay Carrie Underwood or Faith Hill millions of dollars to sing a song that no one cares about. It’s like hiring female sideline reporters for their sports knowledge. Football fans will watch these ladies, but not for the reason their supposed to be watching. Let’s not be naive.
@Admin
I read the story too and instantly thought of you and your knee jerk reaction when I read it!
For the record I too don’t like the excessive celebrations and thought Barry Sanders jog over to the ref and hand off of the ball to after scoring a TD was class! It said, “I’ve been here before and expect to be back here a lot”
However, you are not correct when you continuously insist, “There are several things wrong with Gase’s view…..”
Maybe in “Your Opinion” there are several things wrong with but is there anything really wrong?
Answer this.
Did we lose a game last year over one of those penalties?
NO not one game was lost over a 15 yard TD Celebration Penalty.
You say that Gase allowing players to celebrate is, “a sign of immaturity on the coach’s part.” and “It’s a horrendous way to instill discipline”
Ummmm…. I don’t know if you have failed to notice but Gase has complete command and control of his locker room in a way no coach has since Jimmy Johnson was here and these guys WANT to play hard for him.
Immature, Horrendous?
Maybe but they love the guy and it translates in so many positive ways that Gase is suggesting that those positives more then make up for small celebration penalty losses.
Last years record indicates he is right and you old timers are the ones who are out of touch!
“Gase needs to change his philosophy immediately and not worry so much about what his buddies, ooops, I mean his employees, think of him.”
I say a resounding NO THANKS to that! We had complete adherence to the rules with Philbin and we saw how that turned out.
I’ll take Gase and his unorthodox way of coaching because to me the RESULTS MATTER!
Last years results support everything Gase said, “Let them celebrate. Let them get a penalty. We’ll make up the yardage later.”
Besides this year it won’t be a penalty (in most cases) so what are you upset about now?
Some homers are as thrilled with Gase after just one season as they were with Sparano after just one season!
Just sayin’
Well a couple of things about your points. If you look at the successful NFL coaches, only Pete Carroll comes to mind as a rah-rah, buddy-buddy kind of coach. The other championship coaches over the last 50 years were feared and respected. I’m not saying Gase can’t be successful, but he would be an exception rather than the rule. I doubt any coach in any sport ever said that they are Okay with a player purposely breaking a rule.
As far as Landry’s antics costing us a game, you can’t say. He took a penalty for grabbing his own genital area in Week 17. Maybe the Patriots saw that disgusting display and it inspired them to whip us for the rest of the game (which they did!) Maybe the Dolphins special teams who were about to kick off after Landry’s touchdown were demoralized by having to kick off (yet again) from the 20 yardline. There were only 20 seconds or so left in the half. Pats then began their drive from their own 43! Moved the ball quickly and attempted a field goal. Those extra 15 yards mattered.
Either way, I won’t condone a grown man grabbing his balls as a way to celebrate. Adam Gase does.
As for your question about it won’t be a penalty, so why am i worried? It’s because the refs can STILL call a penalty if they deem it excessive. And you know that Landry has no boundaries. He’s already humped a goalpost and grabbed his weeinie when it was illegal….just imagine what he’ll do next when it IS legal? The refs will be waiting him and calling stuff excessive. Sorry, but I would rather tell my players, “Don’t celebrate like an idiot”
Its shows very poor sportsmanship. The great Don Shula would never have allowed it!
@Admin
Ok so usually I would just let this go at this point because to me it’s not that big of a deal BUT its June and what the hell else is there to talk about…..
So here goes!
You doubt that an coach in any sport ever said they are okay with a player purposely breaking a rule? Is that really true? You only need to look north east in our own division to see the fallacy of that statement! How many rules do you think Brady has broken over the years? We KNOW about deflate gate and that had been going on a long time. Do you honestly think Belichick didn’t know about that? Also wans’t it Don Shula in 2015 that referred to Belicheick as Belicheat in an interview?
Or how about the time-honored tradition of players lathering their uniforms up with silicone before games? You think coaches don’t smell that in the locker room? That has been going on for decades and is a definite infraction of the rules that is not as common as it was five to ten years ago but still going on.
How about Johan Bruyneel? Your probably saying….WHO? That would be Lance Armstrong’s COACH! This may come a shock because I know you think no coach would allow their player to cheat but he sure did and was banned 10 years from coaching because of it!
How about Calipari do you really think he didn’t know of and probably condone or set up Derick Rose taking his, oops I meant having someone else take his SATs for him? Or how about Clem Haskins who encouraged over 50 players to cheat academically to qualify and set it all up for them?
Here’s an obscure one for you from the 1976 Olympics. Fencer Boris Onischenko’s coach set up an elaborate plan to have an assistant activate the scoring light manually knowing that the panel would score it as a strike for Onischenko’s.
Anyhow I am sure I can go on and on and on finding situations here coaches allowed or encouraged their players to break the rules and cheat.
I think its quite a stretch to conclude that the Patriots, who won the Super bowl beat the Dolphins because they were pissed that Landry grabbed his crotch! We got whipped 35-14! Yes after the 3 quarter and the crotch grab we were only down 13 points but if you remember Ajayi couldn’t run the ball at all in the fourth quarter mostly because Moore kept getting sacked, running backwards and throwing the ball away rather than running one yard for a first down (twice) and then Moore threw a perfect pass to a defender for a pick. The forth quarter of that game was lost by our offense not being able to execute anything and by offense, I mean Moore. He absolutely sucked in the fourth quarter of that game. No I do not believe for a second that the crotch grab is why we lost that game!
Do I think a grown man should grab his crotch after scoring a TD? No but I don’t think NFL players should be publicly disrespecting the country by taking a knee during the national anthem but I’m not demanding that the coach immediately change his stance on letting players do that. You may say well that’s not against the rules but how many games do you think SanFran played last year where the opponents felt a little more juiced to go in there and beat the hell out of them because of those actions? Several teams admitted to as much! So the crotch grab is no good in your book but the kneeling is fine?
Don’t answer that because it’s not a discussion I want to have but I just pose that to you as something to ponder over.
All in all I don’t think that Gase sees excessive celebration as cheating the way Spygate was cheating. He sees it as a stupid rule that should not have been there to start with and apparently most of the owners agree because its all but gone now so I don’t agree with your premise that Gase encourages his players to cheat.
Anyhow I do agree with you on your last point, “…..I would rather tell my players don’t celebrate like an idiot”
Will Gase do that? I don’t know but I’m not going to berate him if he doesn’t as long as he keeps winning. In my opinion last year earned him a little more rope.
Okay, since it is June and we’re desperate for content….
“So the crotch grab is no good in your book but the kneeling is fine?”
You know me better than that. I am 100% against the kneeling. It’s the one thing that jay and I agree on!
Last Summer–a month before the season began– I wrote this:
http://dolphinstruth.com/november-27-just-became-our-most-important-game-of-the-year/
I’m against the kneeling it shows lack of respect.
I’m against the crotch grabbing also but heck, Trump did it and got elected president!
More surgeries for our old pal Dion…
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/06/13/dion-jordan-had-another-knee-surgery-after-joining-seahawks/
Thank you, Sean. I had not learned that yet until I saw your post. Good ol’ Dion…bilking millions from yet another team