In the latest news to slap Dolfans in the face, the New York Jets have hired former Dolphins head coach Todd Bowles to be their new head coach.
Bowles is the only Dolphins head coach since the ugly Wannstedt era to have a winning record. He went on to be an outstanding defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals. And now he takes his extremely impressive resume to our bitter rival, the New York Jets.
Back in 2012, Stephen Ross had the chance to remove “interim” from Bowles’s title and make him our true head coach. But Ross made one of his many many mistakes.
Instead of promoting a coach who the players loved and who played their hearts out for, Ross went with an untested man who had never made a coaching decision in his life: our own Joey Philbin.
Again, Bowles had a winning record as Dolphins head coach. Phlbin has a losing record.
Philbin has had three chances to win in Buffalo, and he has lost every single game. Todd Bowles had ONE chance to win in Buffalo, and he beat them.
You can’t overstate the value of what kind of leader Bowles is. Bowles stepped in as head coach with no notice after Sparano was dismissed in Week 13 of the 20-11 season.
With one week’s notice– ONE WEEK–Bowles got his men ready to go to Buffalo and win.
A week later, he led the Dolphins into Foxboro, where the vastly superior Patriots BARELY beat us. Even though Bowles took his one and only loss as a head coach that day, he gave the Patriots a run for their money.
The next week, Bowles went on to defeat the Jets. He finished with a winning record, and all three games were against AFC East teams. He outscored the AFC East in those games 73-67. That’s not a huge differential, but it’s a winning differential, and it’s against our three most bitter rivals. Bowles is THAT good, folks.
So then came the off-season. Stephen Ross started it off with one of his many mistakes by hiring Joey P. Joey then when out and made matters worse by not hiring Bowles as his defensive coordinator. Instead, Philbin hired Kevin Coyle, who still hasn’t helped get us a winning season three years later.
It’s both sad and frustrating to think “what might have been” if Ross would have simply promoted from within. If he listened to his players, all of whom were extremely devoted to Bowles.
Instead, Ross will have to learn the hard way what a fantastic head coach Bowles is. And Ross will have to learn this twice a year.
I feel that Joe Philbin is the worst coach in the league. No coach has done so little with so much talent. No coach has made as many timeout blunders as Philbin. No coach has refused to go for it on fourth-and-inches as much as Philbin. The list goes on.
I understand that calling him the worst coach in the NFL might be a stretch. But can anyone now argue that he is clearly the worst coach in the AFC East?
Congratulations on re-signing Joe Philbin for another year! What on earth was your owner thinking? We crushed Miami in the final game of the year, but your coach got to keep his job? LOL
The Jets Crushed Miami in the final game the LAST TWO YEARS!
This is a nightmare now we went from maybe being the second best team in the division to easily the worst, the jets won’t be to good but they’ll be better than Miami. And putting Rex with that bills defense is just scary, looks like it’s gonna be a long season next year
And just think if we start the year poorly, Ross might finally fire Philbin. But by then, all the great head coaches will be signed, and we’ll get stuck with some dope like Mike Sherman as head coach.
Did you hear Rex Ryan talking about the Bills? He’s already saying how tough they’re going to be and he’s not afraid to say it. Meanwhile, Joe Philbin talks about “we’re gonna try our best, darn it”
Who do you think the players respect more and try harder for?
Out of the 4 head coaches in the AFC, three are defensive minded…… guess which one isn’t? Good luck Lazor.
Joe philbin is a clueless asshole. He lost the team Wallace,Odrick and whoever didn’t locker room at very best 6-10 and he’s gone half way in Lazor interim.
Gaetano, I hope so. But if Ross won’t pull the plug now, I don’t think he will mid-season next year either.
I’m still shocked…and I mean SHOCKED…at how many Dolphin fans on other message boards say that it was wise to keep Philbin. They say stuff like “we need consistency, and we can’t keep changing coaches every year.” This is such bullshit. These ignorant fans are acting like we only gave Joe Philbin 20 minutes to prove himself, not three years. Keep a coach who shows signs of improvement each year…even baby steps. But don’t keep a man who stays the same and never ever improves.
I LOVE what John Elway did in Denver with John Fox. You had 4 years to win a Super Bowl and you failed. Goodbye. I gave you the best offense of all time and you still went 2-3 in the playoffs. Goodbye. it does not take 3 years to demonstrate if you’re a good coach not.
Agree Houston Dolfan, but Fox still outcoached Phibin.
My daughter could outcoach Philbin. Seriously. I would tell her, “Honey, stay on the sidelines and let the professionals play.”
She wouldn’t call a timeout to help the opponent when they were seconds away from losing, I tell you that much!
LOL Admin.
And a kid would be pissed off after a loss, instead of just congratulating the other team week after week after week.
I’m starting to think Ross just bought the Dolphins as some huge tax write off because he seems to have about the same amount of interest in actually winning as Philbin.
Maybe that’s why they like one another so much!
Maybe if we look at it through Ross’s eyes Philbin would be the perfect coach!
Yes, that makes sense. Ross sees the team as an entertainment investment, caring more about redecorating the stadium more than the team itself. He cares more about that stupid new logo than the players who wear the logo. Do you know anyone who ever said “gee I wish we had a new logo?” It doesn’t go through anyone’s mind when you’re trying to build a winning team, but yet it went thru Steven Ross’s mind.
Stephen Ross is too busy being a slum lord to worry too much about the Dolphins: http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/27843765/spartanburg-city-council-voted-unanimously-to-condemn-oakview-apartments
From the Miami Dolphins website: Tannenbaum has started to give promotions and raises to his people. Why is this of any interest whatsoever to football fans?
Because the Dolphins organization FALSELY believes that the reason ticket sales went up last year was because of a marketing campaign and/or an administrator’s genius marketing abilities.
They fail to realize ticket sales increased because of what fans THOUGHT would be taking place ON THE FIELD.
This is right in line with what us readers/posters already consider Ross’ “style”. He thinks of the team as an entertainment enterprise 1st and foremost.
Ironically, we’d be far more entertained if the team were in the playoffs.
Read for yourselves: http://www.miamidolphins.com/news/press-releases/article-1/PRESS-RELEASE-Dolphins-Announce-Addition-And-Promotions-To-Senior-Leadership-Team/9d2c905c-5fd3-4517-ac18-a5e3d92e132e
Never in the history of sports, business, or anywhere, have I ever seen so many rewards and raises given out to employees who have FAILED. The Miami Dolphins failed every single year under Joe Philbin, but he gets an extension. Tannenbaum did nothing at all to help last year as a consultant, yet he gets rewarded by becoming a full-time boss. All these people named in the article did not do a single thing to help the Miami Dolphins, yet they are rewarded. It’s like a backward world where 31 NFL teams try to win, and the one remaining team (Miami Dolphins) try to make their underperforming employees feel nice.
Wonder how long Joe P. would last if he had 3 yrs in a row of break-even as manager of one of Mr. Ross’ property portfolios…
Maku, great point.
The unfortunate difference is that if a property portfolio does not perform well, it loses money and Ross would be furious. When the Dolphins do not perform, Ross still makes billions of dollars from the NFL’s revenue-sharing agreements. You have to remember that Stephen Ross makes money every single time a kid buys a Dez Bryant jersey or a New York Jet baseball cap. Ross makes money when the Seahawks sell a ticket. Ross makes money when Budweiser advertises a new beer on TV. There simply is no incentive to win other than loving the team and wanting them to win. Ross lacks that. And it really really sucks for us fans.
Philbin without a doubt is the worst coach in the NFL and probably CFL too. He is that horrible at what he does. Even a moron wouldn’t make the same mistakes.
Admin: Exactly. When I read what the Dolphins brass says, I don’t get a sense there’s a burning desire and obsessive commitment from the top down to win a championship. Say what one will about Jerry Jones, but I believe the guy really wants to win and that he hates to lose. I want somebody who matters in Miami to be flat out pissed off they missed the playoffs and determined to not let it happen again.
I can say some coaching decision Philbin mess up! I watch every Dolphin game an we can’t not Tackle! An The players we have, are not that intelligent! An they give up so easily!!! If u a true fan of your team u can’t give up so easy! At least we not one of these teams making changes! An u think about it all the playoffs team that was in the playoffs these year had there same coach so why change?? An the teams playing in the championship games this weekend all coaches that been thou the good times an bad with there teams! We need smarter an guys that play all 60mins! Change not good in the NFL all the time! I’ll Quarterback (Tannehill) is getting better if the line can block! But he have heart an he young an learning an Miller is finding his way with that ball! We need to give him the ball 200 times in 2015! An Tannehill need to throw the ball 400 times not 500! but we need smarter Defense of players! They give up so many big plays! An terrible tacklers! I Waiting to see how my Dolphins performs on that field next year under the same system! Besides injuries we should be ready its on the player’s in my book! Coaches just Coach to me! Players make plays an that what my Dolphins going to do in 2015 make plays! FINSUP!
Jason, we respect your Dolphins passion, but we believe you are confusing loyalty vs. common sense.
Let me say that it is very wrong to change coaches every few years just for the hell of it. It’s an unwise decision to keep firing your coach and bringing in a new guy.
But, we do not advocate a new coach just for the heck of it. We don’t want a new coach just because some new guy might be cool. No. We want a new coach because Joe Philbin is awful. His record speaks for itself. He has gotten rid of All-Pro players that we need. He keeps terrible players that no one else would want. He calls time outs to help the opponent. The list goes on and on.
Don’t confuse wanting a change for no reason vs. wanting change for factual, honest, and provable reasons.
Also, one more point. You said that all the coaches in this year’s playoffs were with their teams last year and so why change them? There is no reason to change them, you’re right! But these are playoff-caliber coaches who prove their value by having outstanding seasons. If Joe Philbin got us to the playoffs, no one in Dolphin Nation would want him to be fired. But when he can’t even give us a simple winning record in three straight years, it’s time for him to go.