That is a substantial improvement? Aye. We must have low standards here. We also went from 11-5, 7-9, 7-9, 6-10. Do you still see the substantial improvement? A substantial improvement would be Atlanta or New Orleans after new regimes.
You saying that would be fairly characteristic, but what's the point? You can't come close to justifying it.
Because some if us believe that a first time Gm, who gets hired by a first time president of operations, and a future HOF, gives first time Gm, power, to control tens of millions of dollars, and high draft picks..I can't fairly judge his skillset with that kind of logic..only the past year and a half.
Are you referring to the most over rated and over hyped roster in the NFL? The players Parcells and Ireland drafted and and signed while with the Cowboys have won (1) playoff game. This group has only made the playoffs 3 times in the the last eight years. Parcells started with the Cowboys 8 years ago and I assume Ireland did also. I could care less how many Pro Bowl players the Cowboys have had, because the fact is they have not had a very good team over this time period. While they may have had a successful regular season in 2007, the fact is that they did not win a single playoff game that season. The reality is that when all is said and done, the players drafted and signed by the Cowboys while these two were with the organization have basically been failures. Since the object of the game is to make the playoffs and get to the Super Bowl, and the players on the Cowboys drafted and signed by Parcells and Ireland failed in this respect.
I would say that Parclls has gotten plenty of the blame. The fact Sparano was fired last season certainly is proof he was held responsible for the failures of the team. The main question many of us have is, how the heck did Ireland keep his job and Parcells and Sparano get ALL the blame? They all came in together and the team has gone backwards ever since their one successful season in 2008. Since they all came in together and the team has not improved in the last three years, they should all have gotten their pick slip at the same time.
The Falcons were 4-12 in 2007 when the Dolphins were 1-15. Since that year, the Falcons have gone 43-21 and made three playoff appearances. The Dolphins over this same time period have gone 31-33 and had one playoff appearance in 2008. So based on the team records and the superior play of the Falcons over this time period. I think it is very easy to conclude that the GM of the Falcons has done a far superior job in talent evaluation than Ireland has done for the Dolphins.
Well, Ireland has this season to prove to all of us that question, why he is still here, that we are wrong about him. If the Dolphins have a winning season and they make the playoffs, I will be happy to admit that I was wrong about him. Yet if the Dolphins once again finish below 500 and with another top ten pick in next years draft, I just hope he isn't the GM for the Dolphins when draft day rolls around in 2013. Just remember, there were actually fans, as well as the ownership, which supported Matt Millen for many years in Detroit. That certainly didn't mean that these fans and the ownership were right in wanting him to remain the teams GM.
You act like we decided not to take anyone at all, like there weren't other pressing needs, with more valuable opportunities....... do you know who Michael Egnew is ?...... (the pass reciever we drafted before round 6) or Lamar Miller ( the offensive weapon we drafted before round 6 )
blind assumption ? thats how you come to your easy conclusion ? What about the coaching staff that has since been removed ? They had nothing to do with it the teams woes ? So winning games ultimately comes down to who has the best talent evaluator !?!?! OK
He has more than this season, and not everyone needs to be convinced as to why he is the general manager. He's obviously pretty damn good. Just another hater looking for a scapegoat..... you dont even care who would replace him?
I have. That's the point. Someone say Matt Ryan over Jake Long? Let me guess, that was all Parcells no Ireland right? Who was feeding parcells the information? Was Parcells doing the due diligence in between golf and fishing? You don't hear Ireland saying throwing Parcells under the bus do you? Probably because Parcells would out him in a heartbeat. If Parcells had final say, who is the person giving him the two choices?
Well he was the GM all of last season, with Parcells no longer a part of the organization. What happened last season? Oh yea, the Dolphins had their worst season since 2007. As I stated above, he has this coming season to prove he has what it takes to be an NFL GM. If the Dolphins finish below 500 this season, I just don't see how Ross can retain him as the teams GM. Especially since Ross is on record stating that the Dolphins have a lot of talent and he expects them to be a playoff team this season.
On this forum there are a lot of Ireland supporters, I admit that. I happen to live in South Florida and therefore I get a chance to listen to the sports talk shows in the area. I will assure you that there is a very large segment of the Dolphin fan base who do not come on forums like this, but they are very vocal on radio shows in regards to their negative views of Ireland as the teams GM. The fact that the Dolphins went to the NFL and asked to have the number of fans required to attend games reduced to 51,000 so they could lift the blackout, clearly shows how fans have deserted this team. I remember when over 75,000 fans consistently showed up in the old Orange Bowl to watch Dolphin games. Now almost half the stadium is filled up by fans of the opposing team and on TV you can see how many of the fans are dressed up as empty orange seats. If Ross had fired Ireland, along with Sparano last season and showed that he was truly interested in turning this organization around, I have no doubt many more fans would have purchased season tickets this season. If you support Ireland, fine. I merely express my point of view and I know for fact that it is shared my thousands of Dolphins fans in South Florida. All I have to do is listen to the locale radio shows in South Florida to know that I am not the only person that feels Ireland is in over his head as an NFL GM.
So when the Dolphins went 11-5 in 2008, were you calling for Sparano to be fired because he couldn't coach? I know I wasn't, and I also thought that Parcells and Ireland were going to provide this organization with a solid corp of players for years to come. Just as I changed my view of Sparano over the next three years, I also realized that Ireland is not a capable NFL GM. It should be noted that none of those six wins last season came against a team which finished the season about 500. I have never stated the Dolphins are the worst team in the NFL. I just happen to believe that as long as Ireland is the GM of this team, the Dolphins will never be anything more than mediocre at best. Sorry, but mediocre isn't good enough for me. If it is for you, go ahead and enjoy those 8-8 or 7-9 seasons.
wasnt aware that GMs got teams into the playoffs lol....... You know they fired the entire coching staff right ? The common theme here is that no one knows why they're blaming Ireland ! They just know the team has struggled and he's the last one left to blame. Surely it couldnt have been anything to do with the coaching, right guys ? Your judging a GM by team success when its widely understood the coaching staff was lacking. Wouldnt it be more sensible to judge the GM based on what he provides the coaching staff with ?
4 losses..broncos, Giants, Browns, Cowboys, I could make an argument that we outplayed all four teams for the majority, but All still losses,all four in the final half of the fourth Quarter, is that talent or coaching?
Wasn't Egnew the player the offensive coordinator stated he would have cut last week if he was the GM of the team? Egnew is from Missouri and the History of TE's from Missouri is that they are studs in college and bust in the NFL. Egnew is not a blocking TE and he has been unable to hold on to passes so far in the preseason. Right now he looks more like a bust than a stud and if not for the fact he was a mid round draft pick, I doubt he would have a chance of making the final 53 roster. As a UM fan, I admit I was happy with the Lamar Miller pick. The fact that he dropped so much in the draft does concern me though. Miller still has to show that he has the toughness to play at the next level. I am really surprised that he hasn't shown more as a returner yet, but hopefully he will end up being a RB who can eventually break some long runs.
He's been pretty hamstrung by coaches lately...If Tannehill hits, all is well. Which tends to make a lot of other players hit, as well.
They lost to Tebow, a Giants team which was playing their worst football of the year at the time and to a bad Browns team and a a very average Cowboy team. In everyone of these games, it was the players who failed to make the plays at the end of the game, which eventually turned these winnable games into losses. To me this is a lack of ability by these players on the offense and defense. Talented players make the plays to win these type of games and the Dolphins just don't have these play makers on offense or defense, when it comes to closing out a tight game in the fourth quarter. When a team loses to another team, there really isn't any argument that the losing team actually outplayed the winning team. As the saying goes in every sport, "the only thing that matters is the scoreboard". In every game you mentioned, the scoreboard showed that the Dolphins lost. That is all that matters. Certainly I place much of the blame on Sparano, but I also see Ireland as a major problem with this organization. I don't think he is an effective judge of talent and as long as he is in charge of providing the coaching staff with the players, I just don't see the Dolphins being a legitimate playoff contender.
So if the Dolphins finish below 500 this season and in last place in the AFC East, I guess by your reasoning, it will be the fault of Philbin and the rest of the coaching staff.
I think the end of the year is a fair time frame,so I want to see how his players play before I rip apart.
The last place I'd heed analysis from is a non-Dolphin site spreading its resources among 32 teams. The writer of this article should stick with statistics TBH. responses in blue
Eh, Ireland has flaws, one of which he has been working on rectifying in the last two drafts, with the 2011 class producing decidedly mixed results. He simply hasn't grasped that PLAYMAKERS cost resources, they score Td's, those are required to win ballgames. Linemen..don't win ball games..fairly simple, he has yet to realize this fully.
That is a talent issue, talent finds a way, coaching only goes so far on a week in, week out, basis. My goodness Deej, who was our last Safety to have 5 int's in a season?
I just can't get past the fact that no player other than Devone Bess has exceeded expectations. If that's not a coaching problem, I don't know what is.
If we outplayed the other team and still lost, I can't see the problem being anything other than coaching and/or bad luck.
That is because the last great safety tandem to play for the Dolphins were Jake Scott and Dick Anderson. Fortunately I am old enough to have seen these two greats play together. Unfortunately most of the individuals on this forum were probably not even born when Scott and Anderson were roaming the secondary for the Dolphins in the early 70's.
You can make any excuse for the lack of talent that you want too. The fact is that the Dolphins were 6-10 last season and 7-9, the two previous seasons. Sparano may not have been a very good coach, but the fact is that this team is one of the least talented teams in the NFL and their 20-28 record over the last three years proves this.
