I agree they are as close as they are far away. There a Middle of the road team talent wise and coaching... .500 that's not good enough..
Both of the new LBs are a downgrade. While Ireland should have been making the OL a priority, he was busy swapping out players at one of the stronger positions.
I forgot if you've answered this before, but who again is responsible for sloppy play, and why is this team who hasn't done squat thinking they don't have to play focused smart football.
like Dupree said, I think you gotta put much of it on the coaches. I might be speaking from left field here but I think some of the unfocused play could be attributed to our offensive players perhaps not deriving enough fun & mental stimulation in this vanilla offense which leaves them kinda blah, because watching this offense reminds me of a preseason game where the head coach is trying to keep everything close to the vest. I think if we spice it up a little to break up the monotony it might improve their overall attentiveness with them feeling more excited to be on the field.
Ultimately, I think this offseason Stephen Ross will be asking himself whether he can retain Philbin (and probably Ireland along with him) and let him "earn his wings" so to speak, with a pair of new coordinators. Or, will he clean house entirely and go with a new GM and head coach? Tony Sparano went through two offensive and defensive coordinators during his tenure in Miami. The only assistant coach who I think should be brought back is Kacy Rodgers. That man can flat out coach defensive linemen, and we could be looking at a few new ones in 2014 regardless with Soliai and Starks impending free agents. I think the absolute worst-case scenario would be firing one and not the other.
makes sense to me. Sherman served his purpose of transitioning Tannehill to the NFL on the back of a familiar offense. Now that Tanny has legs under him a bit we can bring in a OC capable of tapping into his and our offense's fullest potential. And here's hoping the Jets flounder and we can be the benefactor of a Rex Ryan termination. How about if Oakland lets Dennis Allen go? His 2011 Denver scheme would work well here since we already have the personnel for it..... or maybe Jax will ditch Gus Bradley. I'd be lovin' any of those three options.
I feel dirty for typing this, but I think Rex Ryan would do wonders for Miami's defense. I think Jacksonville gives Gus Bradley another year or two, I mean, they had to know they were going to be bad, right? Dennis Allen is an interesting option, and could be interesting Philbin moves in a different direction from Coyle but wants to keep his own philosophy. I'll throw out two dark horse names. Jim Leavitt, the LB coach for the 49ers and Derek Mason, the current DC at Stanford. Both of those guys intrigue me. Leavitt worked wonders at Kansas State and South Florida. Mason's defense at Stanford is pretty solid and is very well coached for the talent they have.