Dolphins’ Defensive Line Coach Kacy Rodgers has joined the Jets. In one move, the Dolphins are a much weaker team while our divisional rival, the Jets, have gotten much stronger. Rodgers was among the few Dolphins coaches whom the players truly respected. And now he will work against us.
All because Stephen Ross decided that Joe Philbin and his losing record deserves to stay.
Oh, well. The only good thing about this is that when we face the Jets early next season, they will have to come down to our turf and play in the heat and humidity and…Oh, wait. I forgot. Stephen Ross relinquished a divisional home game to go to Europe instead. Thanks, Mr. Ross.
Will you ever stop hurting the Dolphins?
Ya know this bad news concerning Ross decisions is just not going to end anytime soon. I will say one thing though and that is if Ross had brought in another coach Rodgers was likely gone anyhow.
Keep in mind he coached a unit that had no pass rush the last five or six games and they were supposed to be one of the most feared lines in the NFL.
The DL so underperformed last year it would be hard to convince me that the players had respect for any of the coaches.
They just flat out sucked
No run stopping – Very few sacks or QB Hurries
Geno Smith sat in the pocket for about 45 seconds each drop back and was allowed to look like Joe Montana.
ALL THE DEFENSIVE COACHES SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED AFTER THAT GAME!
Just my $.02
True, but at the least we coulda got rid of Coyle and promoted Kacy to Def Coordinator. Todd Bowles knows Kacy and knows he is good enough to be a DC and he hired him. Joe Philbin, on the other hand, is a terrible judghe of talent
Yes I totally agree with your assessment about promoting Kacy to DC but with Philbin staying on as HC would it have made any difference?
Honestly I am going to give Ross more credit then he has ever proved he has deserved and give him next year because the ONLY thing that makes sense to me is that Ross knew he wasn’t getting Harbaough (thank God) and figured if he brought in another HC they would fire Lazor. So he keeps this comedy show intact for another year knowing at the end of it he will fire Philbin and put Lazor in charge of the whole thing.
HC – GM everything
It’s the only thing that makes any sense and here is why I think that Ross may be thinking this way.
Because to me there is no way Marino stays associated with Ross if he really thinks Philbin is a coach. I can only see Marino telling Ross that Lazor is the right next coach and the fact that Lazor hasn’t interviewed for any HC jobs indicates to me that he knows he will be the HC in Miami soon enough!
At lest there is that hope I think this guy is going to be a good HC soon.
Interesting notion, but then why didn’t Ross simply promote Lazor in the 1st place? Why wait for an upcoming crapfest next season?
It hurts to say this, but I think you guys are giving Stephen Ross too much credit. You are discussing Ross’s plan and all that. But you’re overlooking the possibility (fact) that Ross is just not wise when it comes to these matters. He didn’t give Philbin one more year just to see how it plays out. He gave Philbin one more year because he truly thinks that Philbin is an excellent coach.
If Ross were ever gonna make a change THIS was the year to do it. Some of the best coaches in the game were available for the taking, including Rex Ryan, Dan Quinn (Seattle), Todd Bowles, Mike Smith, John Fox, and more. The time to nab those coaches has come and gone. If Ross makes the change NEXT year, there won’t be any quality coaches left.
Totally agree with you.
As everyone knows in Bowles’ case, Ross has now missed out on him twice (1st in 2011 and now). For our sake, let’s hope Bowles turns out to be horrible. (Of course his 2-1 record with a Dolphins team that was 4-9 before he got the job shows otherwise.)
Let’s just assume that Ross is not making these disastrous decisions on his own. He doesn’t just wake up one day three years ago and say, “I want to hire a new coach who is an offensive coordinator that was never allowed to make any decisions.” No, Ross, didn’t do that on his one. Someone MUST have pointed him toward Joe Philbin. But who? It doesn’t matter, I guess, because that was three treacherous years ago.
But NOW who is giving him advice? Advice such as “Keep Philbin” and “We don’t need Rex Ryan” and “Let Kevin Coyle do whatever he wants” Who are the advisers? Sadly, It might be Dawn Aponte, an accountant. Or it might be Carl Peterson, whose loyalty is to the Chiefs. I doubt it’s Dan Marino or Mike Tannenbaum (these guys know talent and know football, and no way on earth do they think Philbin is a champion). So who!!!???
I am not convinced about that. Out of your list of coaches who do you think Philbin could have gotten? I don’t think any would have seriously taken the Dolphins job because remember it comes with Rosses girlfriend (aponte) really running the show for him.
I do think that he thinks philbin is a good coach but he has to be the ONLY one.
Lazor has proven he will will work Aponte and under whatever structure Ross wants him to work under. I believe that has to be the play
Maybe your right though maybe I BELIEVE that because to belive anything else at this point is to concede that this year might have been the best we will get for the next 4 to five years or whatever Rosses life expectancy is!!!!!
And I also believe that Ross is overly sensitive to the criticism he hears about himself and about owners in general. He is gun-shy about making tough decisions because he is worried about how the media will treat him. And that is no way to run a show.
We wrote about this about a month ago…remember when Ross went chasing after Jim Harbaugh 4 years ago and flew to Cali to offer Harbaugh the Dolphins job while Sparano was still our coach? Ross got blasted in the media. The criticism was relentless, and I think that really bothered Ross.
But he mis-judged the criticism. No one criticized him for seeking a new coach, especially an enthusiastic disciplinarian like Harbaugh. The criticism came for the way it was handled. He did it in secret. He lied and said he wasn’t going to offer anything to Harbuagh. He lied and said that Sparano was his man all along. THAT is the kind of nonsense that everyone lambasted Ross for.
So now jump ahead for years. Again, Ross is faced with an inept coach. Deep down, he knows (maybe) that Philbin is the pits. But he has bad memories of last time he tried to hire a new coach. He still thinks that wanting a new coach was his mistake four years ago, but in reality, the way he handled it was the bigger mistake. Now he has it stuck in his head that making a coaching change is a mistake. He’s all about continuity, even though what he is continuing is mediocrity.
Ross even went on to almost mock the Jets and Bills recently by saying things to the effect of “Ha, ha. You guys had to hire new coaches while the Dolphins have stability and continuity.” Those were not his words, but that was his intent.
Continuity with a poor leader is more important to him than change with a strong leader. Warped thinking that gets us nowhere each year.
Yes I see your point and I agree with your analysis of Rosses warped outlook of the flack he took with the Harbough drama.
But to my original point which was……
“Because to me there is no way Marino stays associated with Ross if he really thinks Philbin is a coach. I can only see Marino telling Ross that Lazor is the right next coach and the fact that Lazor hasn’t interviewed for any HC jobs indicates to me that he knows he will be the HC in Miami soon enough!”
Is what I am hanging my hat on. Ok CBS wan’t going to renew Marinos contract and ESPN didn’t want him but would he really hang out with a Loser like Ross if he thought he would be a loser for then next five years? I would think Marino wouldn’t want that.
Marino knows football, he has to know Ross is not a good owner and philbin is not a good HC so whats keeping him there?
To me it has to be that he knows there is a real change coming.
Also what is keeping Lazor with Miami? Not continuity!
FYI – I’m not arguing I’m simply sound boarding something more hopeful then your senerio because honestly I can’t take another 5 years of this crap especially with Brady and Belicheck looking like they can still win the division for another five years!
Good points. Sometimes I forget that Marino is involved. I wish he had more input, especially publicly. I hope you’re right and Marino knows things that we don’t. Dan doesn’t seem to be the type to hang onto a sinking ship.
Or maybe Ross is keeping Philbin because he has realized that despite all Philbin’s faults(horrible clock management and queasiness), the roster he was given three years ago was below play-off standard and didn’t feature the necessary depth to compete at a high level consistently. That was evident with how the team performed down the stretch after several injuries and with being faced with a tougher schedule this past season. Like i always say, Ghost of Ireland past. His piss poor drafting in the early rounds and helter skelter free agent acquisitions have doomed this team to mediocrity. Case in point. Look at Jason Garrett in Dallas. This is a guy who froze his own kicker and has exhibited terrible clock management on several occasions but who stuck around long enough to make the play-offs mostly due to the fact that his owner hit on several picks on the offensive line and not to mention that powder buff schedule they had. Hell the get to play Washington and the Giants twice in the NFC East. Two rebuilding teams with holes all through the line-up. Now besides the Jets which teams in our division are rebuilding? The answer to that is none. Even Clueless Joe could make the play-offs with improved talent and a middling schedule. Even though his coaching probably wouldn’t provide for an extended post-season stay.
Tom Brady is way better than Tannehill, but can you point to one other Patriot who is head over heels way better than his Dolphin counterpart?
I agree with you that depth is important, but how a coach utilizies his depth is more important. Don’t forget, New England cut their starting left tackle right before the season…and they still made the Super Bowl.
Let’s see. Devin Mccourty, Rob Gronkowski, Vince Wilfork, and arguably the best guy in the game playing cornerback: Darelle Revis. Plus they have good depth in the secondary and in the offensive backfield. That’s the difference between .500 and making the play-offs. FYI, Tom Brady’s deep ball accuracy is nothing to write about either but that doesn’t stop the Pats from winning consistently.
Yes, Dolphgang is right. Gronkowski is just a little bit better than Clay. 🙂
Although, we firmly feel that Gronk is still a bit overrated. He gets open running straight up a the field a lot! No fancy moves. No picks. No fakes. he just runs and takes advantage of defenses who try to guard him with the likes of Phil Wheeler.
I can’t believe Philbin & Coyle weren’t fired on the spot as soon as it was announced that Geno Smith had a perfect QB rating. That’s just inexcusable.
So much has to go wrong for you to allow the opposing QB to have a perfect rating. Especially a QB as awful as Geno. And everything did go wrong that day.
RE: DOLPHGANG
Last year I drank the “…it’s Irelands fault” coolaid
Not this year
The Dolphins had the second best roster in the AFC East and finished 3rd place and with the BEAT DOWN the Jets put on us the last game why don’t we just call it LAST PLACE because that’s what 8-8 and getting whipped all over the last 5 weeks of the year is – CRAP
It isn’t that we didn’t go to the playoffs its that for the second straight year this team has had no fight – no drive – no interest in the last month+ of the year!!!!!
That is inexcusable – that is all on the coaches – that is not fixable it is who philbin is at lest Dallas fought and lost the Dolphins mearly show up collect a paycheck try to get out of the opponets way and lose and the coach says “…..we’ll have to look at the tape.”
He is not an NFL caliber head coach……..
He is not a college caliber head coach……..
He may be a high school caliber head coach…….. but who would want to play for him?
I didn’t type anything about him being a good coach. I understand that he isn’t. I was simply pointing out that the problem with the Dolphins is an organizational one and above even Philbin’s inept coaching. He didn’t hire himself by the way. He was hired by a dysfunctional owner who had no clue what intangibles and qualifications go into a good coaching hire. Philbin made plenty of bad personnel decisions but who was there to ok them? Ireland was. Who okayed getting rid of Burnett, Dansby, and Brandon Marshall but decided it was a good idea to hang onto Incognito after the infamous country club incident? Philbin green lit the moves but Ireland had final say as the GM. Ireland’s blueprint is all over this inept roster as well as Philbin’s. How many first and second round draft picks do the Dolphins have starting from Ireland’s tenure? Pouncey, Tannehill on offense. Odrick and Misi on defense. Those rounds are where you get your difference makers. Difference makers as in the difference between play-offs and .500 sub .500 every year. Ireland’s saving grace was that he could locate talent in the later rounds. Especially on the defensive side of the ball. That was the main thing that was able to keep the team middling as opposed to flat out putrid like the Raiders. As far as uninspired play goes. Grown men getting paid to play should need little motivation. Randy Moss admittedly wasn’t always motivated to play but he still produced at a high level. Performance on the field is directly correlated to talent. If our guys seem to play uninspired it’s than likely that they just got outplayed/out-talented. Playmakers make plays when put in position to. If there’s not enough plays being made then it’s due to there not being enough players with the ability to make them.
Really good points about the dysfunctional Dolphins organization. I (and others here) have echoed that innumerable times.
And you’re right: Philbin didn’t hire himself. In fact – he couldn’t even fire himself (after horrible losses at the end of the season) lol!
Check out this article about the Dolphins’ management not drafting Russel Wilson:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2015/01/russell-wilson-could-have-been-a-miami-dolphin.html