It was hard to figure out what the Patriots were doing.

Were they playing to win?  They did have something to play for, and it could cost them dearly.  Facing a hostile AFC Title Game crowd in Denver and a rejuvenated Peyton Manning is not what the doctor ordered for New England, and it would have been so easy to avoid.

Stephen Ross’s leading coaching candidate?

All New England had to do was defeat the cellar-swelling doormat of the AFC East, our beloved Dolphins.  But something strange happened along the way.  Miami won.   I watched the game live and I re-watched it for analysis.  It’s hard to pinpoint what New England was doing.   All those third-and-longs, and they weren’t trying to pass.  Stephen Jackson was doing well, and they benched him.  Tom Brady figuring out what our defense was about to do, but then not changing the play.  All of that was very peculiar.

It cost us a few draft spots, but it was enjoyable to beat them.  And part of me wants to believe that New England played to win, which makes the victory more satisfying.

I don’t hate the Jets as much as some other Dolfans.  I hate the Bills and Steelers and Pats far more.   I was rooting for the Jets, and of course, they choked.   Like clockwork, the Steelers made the playoffs.    Somehow, the Rooney family finds a way to make it each year, whether it’s questionable calls, easy schedule (imagine getting to play the Browns TWICE a year!   Thanks for the 2 free wins every year) or something else.

So next week, I see the Steelers winning easily in Cincy, and the Texans have zero chance against KC.   That means the Steelers go to Denver and KC goes to Boston.  I think KC comes down to earth against a well-rested and healthy New England team, and the Pats are in the AFC Title game.  Again.  It’s like it never stops.

But if the Pats beat Miami yesterday, then they’d have to face a dangerous and experienced Steeler team…the only team in the NFL who gets more “special treatment” than New England.   The Steelers are dangerous, the Chiefs aren’t.   I think Belichick knew this and handed us a few favors yesterday.

Did you see the stat yesterday about the Pat defense had only 22 penalties all year.   22!!!   So when you play 16 games, you have to assume someone jumps offsides at least once a game, so that’s 16 penalties.   That leaves only 6.  SIX!!   Are you kidding me?

Only 6 times combined times ALL YEAR did a referee see a Patriot hold someone or accidentally facemask someone hit a QB late…. I mean these are very very common penalties that occur many times per game… EXCEPT, apparently to New England.   Seriously…the lack of penalties against the Patriots is truly laughable, and the league should be ashamed of itself for giving them such preference.

So the Dolphins have a new GM.  Why?  As I pointed out several times, Dennis Hickey made no huge blunders.  He wasn’t even all that powerful.  Why make a change in middle management?   Makes no sense.  The new guy will have no more power than Hickey did.  If anything he’ll have less.  Stephen Ross makes some baffling decisions, doesn’t he?

Now for our next head coach.  Some of the rumors are intriguing, and the reaction of Dolfans is wide-ranging.  Mike Shanahan is a name I hadn’t heard mentioned before, and I like this option.  A championship coach with a good offensive mind inheriting some decent skill-position players on the Dolphins like Parker, Landry, Miller and Ajayi.  I don’t know why anyone would be against Shanhan coaching us.

Some defensive coach from Detroit was mentioned too.   Why?  So we can have a marginal coach from a marginal team guiding us?   No thanks.

Doug Marrone?   Zzzzzzz

Gruden and Cowher?  God, no please!

Mike Smith?  Didn’t he have all those great Falcon playoff teams each year and do nothing with them?

The best part about all of this is that we have a sense of excitement and curiosity.   We WILL have a new coach within a few weeks.   Last year at this time, we had nothing to look forward to.  We were stuck with Clueless Joe and we had to watch while the Bills and Jets received excellent Christmas gifts:   great new coaches.

Now it’s our turn.  Perhaps…

 

95 Comments

  1. I think that the pats were shit scared about brady going down with that weak oline. They over-called the runs because they are so arrogant they thought that they’d win anyway. When they passed brady almost got torn into two so it makes sense.

    I heard the penalties as well and it’s unbelievable. Numbers don’t lie….

    I think that Shanahan would be a calming presence and players would know who’s boss. He understands how to run the ball and when or when not to call TO’s. He’s used to pressure. Obviously capable of taking a team to the SB. I’d be okay with this move just as long as they don’t give him 100% player management and let him coach. Although player management couldn’t get worse I guess!

    Hickey was more of a scapegoat as we don’t know who told him not to take oline and LB’s in the draft. If it was him adios if not too bad as he did hit on quite a few picks…more than Ireland!

  2. Author

    Pat fans are also whining about the low hit that Suh put on Brady…but those crybaby fans “forgot” that Suh was shoved by his facemask into Brady !

    1. Yep his mask was pulled that’s why he flew into brady sideways…a penalty was also called on the play against the pats! Of course they whine as no one can touch the wonder boy-toy….and they never get called for penalties.

    2. What was more absurd was the pass interference call on a pass to Dorkowski that landed 8 yards out of bounds that lead to their FG. Imagine how bad the Patsies would be without that pussy Brady. I’d like to see Matt Patricia as HC and Frank Reich as OC,who was just released by the Chargers. Pipe dream on my part.

      1. Author

        Well, yes. John you are right and the ball landed well out of bounds. But did you see the way Jones ran into him? Not an accident. Not a split second before the ball arrived. He jumped up and bear-hugged the dude while the ball was barely coming down yet. What on earth was Jones thinking? Then after the play, Jones pointed to himself like “My fault. My bad.” Yeah, no shit! of course it was your fault. Who else would we be blaming !!??

  3. Please no Shanahan…. without John Elway & Terrell Davis he’d have ZERO Super Bowls. Plus, look at his playoff record…. pretty piss poor. He also had lousy teams with the Raiders & Redskins. He’s also OLD. We need a coach who can/will grow with the team and not have a bad shelf life.

    I would love to have Campbell back to see what he can do with a full off season. However, I’m not too confident OC/DCs have the experience.

    A lot of these names I’m hearing seem no better than Campbell…. McDaniels…. maybe… Gase…. maybe….. but these others? No thanks

    1. Would you stop with that silly Campbell as HC crap! He has zero experience on any level as a HC or OC. And please tell me how many coaches moved from TE coach to HC in the NFL with no OC experience in between? Zero. Maybe 10 years down the road but probably never a HC. Never.

  4. Not a big Shanny fan myself but at least he won when he had talent. A lot of coaches can’t say that. The Redskins teams he had were marginal at best and he also had to deal with Dan Synder’s meddling. Of course the Raiders were still the highly-dysfunctional Raiders when he coached them. The only problem I’d see with Shanny is a possibly outdated philosophy. He does bring experience and was a competent in-game coach.

    1. Lou Saban arguably had the best roster/talent in the NFL for 4 seasons and managed to lose 4 straight Super Bowls. Ross simply doesn’t get it when it comes to listening to TannenBOMB and bad choice after bad choice. I think his streak of bad choices will continue with bad HC choice and screw us for several more years. Along with bad drafts and Free Agent signings.

  5. Really sad there not going after the d coordinator from Carolina McDermott is his name I think but shanahan would be nice when is the last time the dolphins hired a coach with winning nfl experience ? Jimmy Johnson I think lol I mean ppl are complaining about a bad playoff record, wouldn’t it be nice to even have a playoff record lol?

  6. Shanahan has to be retarded or really hard up to join this dysfunctional franchise.

  7. Shanahan is probably motivated to prove the doubters that said he only won because he had Elway and Terrell Davis wrong. Plus he’s probably also looking to prove a point or two to former employers like Synder so he may still be motivated somewhat. I’ll take him over Mike Smith or Chip Kelly. Sean Payton apparently wants to coach the Giants if he leaves N.O. Gase and Austin are probably splitting between Philly and San Fran so that leaves us the rejects. As usual.

    1. Yep agreed and to be honest if this team plays straight old school football they’d have a far better chance of winning than gimmick ball. Shanahan will at least get this team doing the fundamentals properly…I’m sick of seeing 5 WR when they need 2 yards every time.

      1. The opposing teams D usually stacks the line of scrimmage knowing Tannehill cant throw the long ball. So they try to spread out the D.

        1. I think Parker will change that as he can get after the ball even if it’s short or long. The Fins have been missing this and sometimes a QB needs a little bit of help from his receivers. Ask Rogers how he feels this year after his stud went down….

          1. Rogers was always overrated IMO. He was never in the same class as Brady and Manning.

            1. Well even brady didn’t look too shit hot when edelman and gronk went down. Good receivers make all QB’s look better…that’s why this is the ultimate team game. I think if the Fins can keep Mathews they would have a nice mix of talent at WR just need to fix the oline and everyone will look better.

            2. Brady’s had a zillion receivers go down in his career and he hasn’t missed a beat. He wins, period.

  8. Tannepuke, give back all that money you are stealing from the Dolphins!!

    1. Bro you have to understand that they need Tanny to be the guy even if he’s only average or this sets the team back years. Just give him support and I think he’ll be fine. At the same time I do agree that it’s time to find a backup to groom and ultimately push him.

      1. @ FlyerFinFan

        What they need is a much better QB. Tannehill will never be average and will never win.

  9. Parker averaged like 19ypc in the limited time he played this season.

    1. Yep he’s going to help the offense no doubt about it! Too bad he was hurt most of the year probably would have added a few wins.

    2. Parker averaged UNDER 2 catches/game. Piss poor production for a 1st rd pk.

      1. Uh,consider who was throwing to(ward) him.

  10. 4 years is PLENTY to know Tannehill is NOT the answer. He’s an NFL caliber back-up, maybe. There is no development coming. 4 years TELLS US all we need to know. But our wonderfully blessed braintrust gave the clown a contract he hadn’t earned yet (when there was no need to) & now cripples the franchise with! Our fate lies in the hands of a reputed bafoon (Tannenbaum)! He can’t/won’t draft a QB & Ross will keep making mistake after mistake after……..there is no light at the end of our tunnel.

  11. If you look at Devonte Parker did compared to every other WR except Amari Cooper he had a better year than the others:

    Kevin White- hurt all year
    Breshad Perriman- hurt all year

    1. Duh, some of them were injured for the entire regular season? Let’s compare apples to apples and how many plays each of them had. Move along.

  12. Besides Amari Cooper, Jamison Crowder, Stefon Diggs, and Tyler Lockett all had better rookie seasons than Parker.

    1. Duh,were all of them injured for a big part of the regular season? Let’s compare apples to apples and how many plays each of them had. Move along.

      1. Yeah John you didn’t complain when Bryan compared Parker to guys that were injured all season so why complain about Parker being compared to other players? Don’t be such a hypocrite.

  13. I was talking about 1st round picks

  14. This team blows… Every year the same crap…

  15. Dolphins are too cheap to pay Miller? WOW!

  16. I don’t think giving up a high second for Sean Payton is worth it ,we need all the picks to get a decent OL , and whats with that horrible pic of Philbins mug doing on this page ,I dispize that man for years and dumbass Ross for keeping him . I would be ok with Shannihan.

    1. We need the picks for a decent QB. And no coach would do well with the scrubs on this team. If any coach is going to have success they need new players, lots of them.

  17. Author

    More to come in my next column, but I said the same thing last year:
    We have about 7 draft choices coming up. We need to draft 4 offensive guards and 3 CBs. Period. If God himself is available as a RB or D-line, we pass. We need to improve where we suck…not just grab some flashy player where he’s unneeded.

    1. We can get OL and CB help in the later rounds. But we must go 1st rd QB….. that will improve the team the most by far.

      1. Author

        Our inept secondary and your notion of “oh we can just get a CB later” is what keeps us in the cellar each year. Our CBs got destroyed by such All Pros as Blake Bortles, Charlie Whitehurst, Tyrod Taylor (twice), Ryan Fitzpatrick, and more. And you think improving upon that should be an afterthought??

        1. QB is the most influential position. Its a QB league and ours stinks. Our D was pretty good this year points wise. Good QB’s make EVERYONE better. QB is THE priority for every team especially the bad ones.

      2. @Jay

        We don’t need to draft a QB we have Matt Moore on the team already and once we get a good HC in here he will realize that we have a Superbowl QB sitting right there on the bench and cut Tannehill!

        1. Granted Moore is a lot better than Tannepuke but I don’t think he’s good enough either. You need a top franchise QB to be consistently good.

          1. And they wont play Moore because of Tannepukes contract. Their afraid to admit their blunder and move on.

        2. God you are dumb! Moore is a CAREER BACKUP! God you are dumb! If he was anything but a CAREER BACKUP,the other 31 teams would be offering him huge money every year to be their starter. STHU! Obviously your post is a wind up-so go somewhere else and play.

          1. You are the one that renewed your tickets. HOW F’N DUMB ARE YOU?? LMFAO!!

            1. I’m a fan! You’re a punk that is just here to bash the Dolphins.

              1. They deserve bashing! THEY SUCK EVERY YEAR!!

  18. Jay there’s no clear cut great quaterbacks in this draft, I’m not for wasting a first round pick on the dude from Memphis, did u see his bowl game? Straight got exposed

    1. There are 8 QB’s in the draft better than Tannehill. Some are much better. They have to get one. The alternative is 4 more years of stinking!!

    1. Now that Payton is out of the running and there is no way that Ross will wait until after the super bowl to see if they can get ether of the coaches coming out of the Patriots staff I agree that Billick is the guy to go get.

      I wouldn’t have minded him over any of the othere guys anyhow but I just love that Payton would give a structured incentive program to go out and beat the crap out of the other team.

      I would love to see the Dolphins have that mentality!

      Hate me if you want but im tired of this bend dont break nonsense that hasn’t worked

    2. Ross doesn’t like Billick. Nuff said.

    3. Admin,I have been saying Brian Billick all along ,I think he would be a great coach for the Phins .

      1. Author

        I think Billick would bring in his brother-in-law too (Mike Smith) to run the defense. It could possibly repeat the success they both had in Baltimore’s championship years. Not guaranteed, of course, as Jimmy Johnson-Wanstedt-Norv Turner proved to us. But just having a coach who can talk to his men and begin a sentence with “When we won the Super Bowl, we did___, so I wanna try that here.”

  19. @ADMIN
    Matt Patricia as HC and Frank Reich as OC. Billick’s time has passed. If he were a quality option,others would be knocking his door down. They aren’t. He’s been out of the game for far too long-7-8 years and nobody is calling him for a reason.

    1. Author

      Matt Patricia’s defense just lost to the worst offense in the AFC, and you want him?
      And Frank Reich….the benchwarmer of 4 straight Super Bowl LOSSES? No thanks

      1. Uh,he didn’t have much to work with. I hate the Pats as much as anybody but you can’t argue with his results. And yes,I want him. But seriously,you don’t like Reich because he was a bench warmer? Uh,we’re talking about him as an OC where he was been with the Chargers-you may have heard of them. Please do a little research before making silly replies that have no bearing.

      2. @Admin-using that logic that Reich is a bum,then Shula had no business getting into coaching since he was a slug as a DB.

  20. Miami is one of a handful of NFL cities where there’s never any SB talk. Thanks Ross.

    And Tannehill needs to give back that money he is stealing from the team so they can use it elsewhere.

  21. Also idk how many times I’ve said this but the tannehill contract doesn’t mean anything, it’s basically a year by year evaluation but go head jay keep repeating yourself

    1. Jay never repeats himself. Are you crazy?

    2. “Also idk how many times I’ve said this”……Zach

      obviously Zach repeats himself!!!!!!!!!!!

  22. In what decade do we get a franchise QB?

    1. Probably not in my lifetime since I’ll be 65 soon!

  23. @John

    No offense bro. You are an enabler of the losing by buying tickets. Be a better consumer and stop wasting money on a crap product.

    1. No offense taken. I’m in my mid-60s and I’ve been a fan since 1965. I drive 3 hours to see them when I’m up to it. I don’t have that many more years left to see them in person and I want to take advantage of every chance I get. Whether I cancel and 5k others cancel won’t make a bit of difference. Ross will turn a profit no matter what. TannenBOMB will still be there and Ross will hinge on every word he says. T’BOMB ain’t gonna fire himself.We’re screwed for quite a while.

  24. Mike Wallace 2015 stats: 39 catches, 473 yards, 12.1 ypc and 2tds in 15 games played. Devante Parker stats: 26 catches, 494 yards, 19 ypc, and 3tds in only 9 game played.

    1. Mike Wallace gets double covered. Davonte Parker never.

      1. Sometimes he does-not every play. He’s been a slug since he left the Steelers.

    2. Mike Wallace 11 W’s and playoffs

      Davonte Parker 3 W’s and cellar

  25. Who double-covered Mike Wallace in Minnesota? I sincerely doubt it because defenses are usually focused on stopping on Adrian Peterson. You know the all-pro runningback? Maybe you’ve heard of him? And what does the teams record have to do with it? Wallace is responsible for zero of those Minnesota wins. A.P. however has delivered the Vikings dozens over the years.

    1. Its a team game. Wallace contributed to a winning playoff team. Parker contributed to a loser. Individual stats don’t matter(except to the fantasy nerds). Wallace helped take his team to a 11 wins and a playoff berth and was double teamed often.

      1. He was double-teamed occasionally. Your lack of logic is funny re: contributions to winner and loser but keep it up b/c it’s good for a laugh.

  26. Mike Wallace has to be thrilled to be off the Dullfins and on a division champion playoff team.

  27. Mike Wallace’s most notable game this past season was one in which he was noted for the amount of passes he dropped as opposed to caught. He actually had a game in which he started that he had zero catches. Saying he’s a part of the reason they won 11 games is laughable. There was this rookie named Stephon Diggs though who contributed greatly to the Vikings success in the passing game this season. Might wanna look him up. Players such as Brandon Marshall, Julio Jones, Megatron, and Deandre Hopkins are among a group of elite receivers that see double-teams and rolled coverages all the time. Despite that fact those players still produced consistently for their teams. And had much bigger impacts. Meanwhile Wallace will once again probably be a cap casualty or trade bait this coming offseason due to his production not matching his cap number. Parker made two catches this season that Mike Wallace could never dream of. His high-point tip and catch over Logan Ryan last week was a thing of beauty. Elite receiver type ish.

    1. Agreed. Since he left the Steelers,he’s just been collecting a paycheck. And apparently stirring crap in the locker room. Let’s face it-he will never be a go to receiver,only a complimentary one who’s value was dropped off a cliff. He’ll have a place for a few more years but not near what he makes now.

      1. Getting rid of Wallace, Hartline, Clay, and Gibson all in one year was a big part of the offense stinking this season. I said that before the season started. Many argued but it was proven absolutely correct.

  28. The Dolphins should explore obtaining RG3 and Johnny Manziel. We know Manziel is much better than Tannepuke he just needs to mature.

    1. Author

      I agree with Jay about bringing in RG3, Manzel, or even Tebow. If they beat out T-hill in camp, then so be it. If not, they are exciting backups who can potentially ignite a team. Certainly better than Josh Freeman or Bethel-Whatever or Brady Quinn or David Gerrard

  29. Manziel is on the fast track to Dallas via trade or outright release once the Browns new front office and coaching staff is hired. So you can kill that pipe dream. Heavy emphasis on pipe.

    1. Author

      Heavy emphasis on pipe.
      GOOD ONE !!!

    2. That’s just a rumor that hasn’t happened. Maybe yes maybe no. But if Manziel can focus he has tremendous upside and wont be expensive.

      1. Author

        Dion Jordan and Johnny Manziel in the same locker room. Can’t wait.

  30. Manziel is as immature alcoholic druggie as there is in the NFL, he will be out of the league by the end of next year.

    1. They said that same thing about Joe Willie Namath before he won a SB.

      1. Namath didn’t play in the internet age where everything you do is broadcast all over Youtube and social media within seconds of you doing it. So he was lucky.

  31. Tebow=good Christian-career backup. RG?=career backup. Manziel+I’d like to see him succeed,but not here. He reminds me of Bob Griese,but not in his mechanics. Griese was on an incredibly strong team. He handed the ball off to 3 talented players and had some very good receivers,including Pual Warfield when he left Cleveland to come here. He never threw 50 passes a game or 40 either for that matter. But he called a big amount of plays and was more complimentary than a huge passer like Namath. I’m happy he’s in the HOF as a Dolphin but I question why. RG? is a complimentary player also-he can thrive on a strong team,much as Griese did. But he can’t be “The Man” on any team. He’s simply not good enough and too fragile.

  32. If the Dolphins want a qb to push Tannehill then Cousins is available. But I doubt that he’ll be affordable after the success he’s had this season. Who else is there? Sam Bradford and his knees wouldn’t last past week 5 behind this o-line. And do we really need the RGIII or Manziel media circus? All that is cool if they produce wins but neither of them has a winning track record to warrant the distractions that would ensue.

    1. They don’t need a QB to push Tannepuke they need a QB to replace Tannepuke!! He is just F’N pathetic!!!

  33. It is unclear what team Manziel will be with next year. Dallas is rumored to be an option — owner Jerry Jones has long been fixated on Manziel, and he told 105.3 The Fan this week that he is open to taking a young quarterback who might be a risk. But there will be no decisions on Manziel’s future yet, mainly because the decision-makers have been fired.

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