Reason we, as a fan base, must wipe the slate clean..

The man running the organization is the man responsible for making the final decision on ALL personnel matters. This man is Ireland and with him being the GM for the last four years, I don't really see how you can say that Ross has found HIS guys to run the organization, when it was Huizenga who hired Ireland in the first place.

If Ross had fired Ireland after last season as he did Sparano, I think it would have been easier for fans to give this new staff a clean slate. Unfortunately for Philbin, coaching was completely blamed for the lack of success for the last three years. The thought by many of the fans of the Dolphins is that Ireland provided plenty of talent, but Sparano wasn't able to get this talent to produce on the field.

If the Dolphins have a winning season in 2012, Philbin will be seen as the HC who was able to come in and get these players to play up to their talent level. Ireland will also be seen as a GM who took a lot of undeserved heat because of the inability of the previous coaching staff to maximize the talents of the players provided by Ireland.

If on the other hand, the Dolphins once again have a sub 500 season in 2012 and the fans don't see improvement throughout the season, the heat will immediately be on Ireland for not providing enough talent on the roster. Philbin will be judged, fairly or not, based on how he is able to improve the record of the Dolphins in 2012, compared to the records of the past three years.

While Philbin and his coaching staff may deserve a clean slate at this time because it is their first year together as a staff. The fact is that season ticket sales are the lowest they have been in over forty years. This just shows me that while many Dolphin fans are willing to wait and see what is going to happen with Philbin as the head coach, they aren't willing to spend their money on tickets again until the Dolphins actually show they are headed in the right direction under this new regime. I expect that at least 5-6 of this seasons home games will be blacked out in the Miami area unless the Dolphins start the off by winning their early season games.

 

My *** no one says it. If you aren't going to pay attention to what people say well, that's your right but then don't get all belligerent because you think something didn't happen that did because you aren't paying attention.

 

The benefit of hindsight is awesome. You cannot win the lottery if you don't play it. It really is no more complicated than that.

 

The benefit of hindsight is absolutely awesome. Which is why it should e used when evaluating Ireland's decisions on the QB position. That's all I'm saying.

 

I haven't been super critical of his QB decisions, because I've felt he's only had one year not corrupted by the Fupa. But now that there's a handful of prospects, a severely lessened penalty and a brand new offensive system he needs to gamble this year and every year till he finds the guy. Draft Value is bull**** when it comes to the QB position with the new CBA.

Its been almost 30 years since we gambled on a QB in the first. It is not surprising that gamble was the last QB we had that was worth a crap.

 

He's already been here one year too long.

 

Not very fair to make comparisons and evaluations after one season. Ronnie Brown had a better rookie year than Aaron Rodgers.

 

Its hard to change a fan culture and a way of thinking that has developed over a long list of Head Coaches and GM's who were brought in and failed miserably. Its going to take proof by winning and time to change the way fans feel and think. Its very hard to have faith and trust after so many failures and it certainly can't come over night.

Personally I like Philbin and I do have hope but I am still apprehensive, as I am sure most fans are.

 

I totally agree that Ross should not buy the tickets in order to lift the blackout. Unfortunately though, low fan attendance at the games and locale blackouts will only put more pressure on the coaching staff to win immediately.

My feeling is that by keeping Ireland, Ross was basically telling the fans that he placed all the blame on Sparano and the previous coaching staff for the teams record over the last three seasons. Not because there might be a lack of talent on the roster. This to me is what is placing all the pressure on Philbin to win immediately. The Dolphins say they are NOT rebuilding and that this is a talented team which merely was not coached and prepared properly by Sparano and his coaching staff.

Most new head coaches are hired and given 3-4 years to come in and turn the team around to become winners. Because there is presumed to be the talent on the team to win now, Philbin will not be granted this extended period of time to turn things around by the majority of the fans. Both he and Ireland will take a lot of heat if the Dolphins don't win more games than they lose next season.

 

The team dictates what kind of environment goes on during games and especially when teams have sucked for a while. Put a team on the field that shows promise and the environment will get a little better as the season goes on. Put a better product on the field the following season and it will increase again. But until the team putting up a winning record on a consistant basis the environment will always be suspect for most NFL teams.

 

How else can a fan show a team they're not happy with things? The smaller crowds that show up will be diehards that have hope. So the crowds may be smaller but it might actually create a better environment for now. Except for the fact that the opponents will see plenty of their fans buy up a lot of the empty seats.

 

Perhaps fans don't show up because they have limited financial resources to spend on sporting events and they would rather spend this money on teams which actually win games. I know when I was purchasing the four season tickets I purchased for forty years, I was spending well over three thousand dollars a year on the tickets, parking, travel to and from the games and drinks and food in the stadium.

Since I decided to not renew my tickets two years ago, I have spent this money on attending more Marlin, and Heat games. I also traveled to one of the Miami Hurricane games last season instead of a Dolphin away game.

To state that those of us who no longer attend games or purchase season tickets don't care about the Dolphins is what is BS. I know I do care about the Dolphins but I am not going to attend games again until I am once again convinced that this FO actually has a clue what they are doing. If I didn't care about this organization, I certainly would not have spent over $150,000 over forty years going to every home game, as well as attending nearly 30 games on the road.

I actually understand your anger at those of us who have stopped going to home games but the fact is that nearly 30,000 fans have decided that going to games on Sunday is not worth it anymore. I am sure they will continue to feel this way until this organization finally starts winning again. Like it or not, that is the reality of the situation facing the Dolphins in the South Florida sports market today.

 

only makes sense to a reasonable person.. . spot on

 

We don't live in a perfect world, Philbin will have to deal with the circumstances created by Ross and his desire to keep Ireland. That said, if Ireland gets Tannehill he could easily buy himself another THREE years as GM. Ryan can sit on the bench the first year, then start in 2013, but no one will expect to win with a young QB starting his first season of games. So, that means that only if Ryan busts in 2014 will Ireland be called to account.

Whether Ireland feels Tannehill is a franchise QB or not, drafting him can buy him several more years. If he actually pans out, it's a win-win for everyone.

 

Blah, blah, blah. I start every season with a clean slate.

I've never understood how fans can be more emotionally invested than the guys playing on the field. It's a game for goodness sakes. I'm just happy there's a NFL team close enough that I can watch them in person a few times a year.

 

Well I would hope your not. I was a season ticket holder and never missed a game since 1970. Except for a 3 year stint of which I had no choice...

 

As for the neutral field. Go to SD for a Chargers/Dolhpins game when the Chargers suck and you'll see a slew of Aqua jerseys. Why? Because it is a nice place to go. You won't ever see that in Barfalo because the place sucks to visit.