Yes I'm a shrink. And this is my view of Hard Knocks. First things first. The QB's wives depth chart: Tannehill's wife Moore's wife Garrard's wife Next, who is the white dude Mike Pouncey is letting cut his hair? That's sacrilege! Chad Johnson makes his first "dramatic" appearance during the coaches' meeting. Love Philbin's relaxed and sorta playful reaction. That's how you create a team at ease. "This process allows the Dolphins to run more plays per minute than any team in the league." Now that's badass. Vontae Davis tired and "acting" not tired. Maybe that's why he's second on the depth chart now. Very nice talk with Vontae Davis by the defensive backs' coach. He broke it down very well for him in terms of how an attitude "shows" in the way a guy plays. Now if we can get him to piss before practice. Chad Johnson: "I feel black." I love it. He does sound focused. Philbin says Matt Moore is "a great leader with tremendous respect from his teammates." Wow. That says a lot. Jake Long showing good leadership of the linemen. He's enough of a veteran now to step into that role in full force IMO. Very cool watching Reggie Bush and Chad Johnson playing video games. Bonding. Les Brown "a total liability in pass pro and run block." Wow. Harsh words. At least he realizes it. "I've got to get better." "Sean [Smith] has taken that next step, and Vontae needs to do it, in terms of the intangible things." That says it all. Kevin Burnett taking care of the kids. Very cool. Chad Johnson [to Joe Philbin]: "We're different." Joe Philbin: "Uh, yeah I'd say we're different." LOL. Boy Les Brown just flat out CANNOT block. He's done IMO. Tannehill looked like he mighta been over the LOS on that TD pass to Fasano. But I won't say that too loud. I like the way Joe Philbin went in and told the QBs what to expect with the depth chart before it came out. When you respect guys like that, they respect you back. Love his relaxed approach as well, even when giving touchy news like the depth chart. Overall: looks like Philbin is creating a relaxed atmosphere, but one in which guys are working hard and getting a lot done. That's a tough mix to achieve, but it looks like he's pulling it off, even in his first year, which is a good sign IMO. Until next time.
Yes, but...how does that make you feel? Oh, and just because you tell people to lie down on your couch, close their eyes and trust you, doesn't mean you're a shrink...or I'd be a shrink instead of in jail.
And how does that make you feel when you tell your cellmate to lay down, close his eyes, and trust you?
Thanks Shou. The only thing I didn't like was how awkwardly Philbin tried to tell Chad to muzzle it. It was like he wanted to bond and have Chad open up to him, but it was not there. Personally, I think that after New England Chad could blossom again if he is allowed to express himself. He's emotionally needy and needs to feel loved and accepted by a father figure head coach, it seems. When he is embraced, he flourishes, when he feels less than accepted I think he wilts. I'm concerned that Philbin doesn;t have the emotional ability to 'show Chad the love' while still keeping him in line. We'll see. Philbin mostly seems like an emotional mute.
Les can't block at all as an inline TE, but as fast and athletic as he is, why not just flex him or split him wide or use him as an H-Back? I don't think Pouncey's barber was totally white. He looked mixed to me.
Unfortunately the Jests Hard Knocks' bubble guy was the Terminator from a different mother; ours is constantly lookin' for Kendall Langford's lost earring. At least the good news is there's no way another team is stealing him off our practice squad. Jokes aside, the guy could benefit immensely from being allowed to dedicate a year in an NFL program to preparing himself physically and learning the position. At his length Les needs to put on another solid 20 pounds to have a shot IMO.
but would that not just tip off opposing defenses that we're passing (and that he's out on routes to boot) since his blocking is a liability in every regard?
Les Brown is terrible. Ocho has heart, I love it. Think he will be good for us. Tannehill knows he can't expect to be the number 1 or number 2 QB right away, especially coming to camp late. Vonte Davis laziness will over shadow his talent. He seems so lazy and its going to hurt him big time. Loved the seinfeld crack by Coach
I was upset at Vontae getting beat but after seeing for myself how much VD is an underachiver its well deserved. Brown will get cut, athletic or not he can't block. I doubt he could handle DB's split out wide. Johnson won me over. Such a likable dude I hope he has a break out year.
Yeah, that conversation did seem awkward to me. I don't think it went over as smoothly as Philbin hoped.
I was impressed with the team, and the coaching staff last night. I see a relaxed approach, but you can tell the staff is in full control. Cant wait to see what it does on the field.
I thought the opposite. To me it looked like he was purposely being detached so as to give Johnson the message that his spot on the team isn't secure. In other words, "we're not buddies yet because you haven't made the team yet -- this is just an 'all-business' message I'm giving you here." I was also left wondering if Chad Johnson is a Jeff Ireland idea and not a Joe Philbin idea.
I love Vontae, but that guy has to step up. It's the same as last year, he's not in shape. He needs to take his career more seriously or it is going to be a short one. He has alot of talent and has probably gotten by on that alone his whole life. He has to realize he's in a league chock full of guys with talent and needs to do more on the work side to distinguish himself. Otherwise he's going to join an ever growing list of talented guys who are no longer in the league.
Sorry but my feelings about Chad Johnson are totally different. I see a guy who although very talented, who works very hard at his craft, is also a kiss a** to his bosses. Louis and the Bengals put up with it, Belichick and the Pats did not, I'm guessing that Philbin although relaxed is in the Belichick camp. I doubt Philbin puts up with much from this guy! Vontae Davis is another slacker who appears to be not long for this club unless he does a 180 over the next 2 or 3 weeks!
@canesbarber Chad Johnson doesn't seem like a Jeff Ireland idea at all. That'd be out of character for him, based on what we know. Vontae won't be cut. He may not get a new contract but he's not going to get kicked out.
I am disappointed with Lauren Tannehill. Very huge overbite. Now that I've seen her up close, I have to change my ranking. Bucky teeth. -3
I think the Vontae Davis thing is getting blown out of proportion a bit. It is the first week of camp, and the first time he's ever seeing the quick pace and rapid reps. Maybe he was gassed. Maybe he isn't in the best condition. That is what camp is for. Yes, he needs to step it up, and he was told that, but to knock him to the 9th degree is a little premature. Lets see how he responds. He was kicked in the butt by the coaching staff (much needed) and I believe we will see him being positively reinforced for his response in upcoming episodes.
After last year and his obviously bad conditioning it is developing into a pattern. I was disappointed last year but chocked it up to the lock out. This year there is no excuse. Don't hear anything about Sean Smith being gassed or any of the other Db's for that matter. I love the guy, but he has to show up to camp in some kind of football shape. He's been in the league long enough to know how to prepare.
Please explain, as this statement sounds somewhat opinionated. If Johnson were as "out of character" for Ireland as you presume, then I doubt Ireland would've pulled the trigger on him regardless of whose idea Chad was. You watched the same scene I did with Jeff interviewing Braylon, no?
Tell you what I loved, the way Richard Marshall talked to chad on the sideline, chad was being all bragadosciois, and marshall just gave me the impression he didn't give a **** that you are chad Johnson, he's going to compete, and it ain't gonna be all fun fun, that dude has a demeanor that I like..no wonder his work ethic and attitude have supplanted the immature Davis.
Well if 'Winning' is a Philbin idea and not just a Jeff Ireland idea then Joe needs to get the most out of the talent he has... And Chad has a ton of talent if you can meet his emotional needs.
Yes, let's follow the blueprint of how Belichick got such a great season out of Chad. Philbin should be willing to 'put up with' a thousand yard season and six touchdowns, for instance.
I'd be proud of SS if this were his second year instead of a contract year. Players like him will take the money and get lazy again.
I agree. I never really thought he had much of a chance of making the 53 man roster anyway. He's here because of his raw potential. Raw enough not to make the 53 man roster, potential enough to put him on the practice squad and let him develop his body and skills.
I have a few different takes. IF things go South with Joe Philbin...and I'm saying a big IF because you have to remind yourself that winning cures everything and makes every little thing look awesome and totally intentional...but anyway IF things do go South with Philbin, I can already see why. I can already see the things that will be cited, the stories that will be written, etc. I know this will be argued back and forth, and I'm not really very interested in taking part in those arguments because I know what I saw and I'm perfectly OK with other people not having seen the same thing...but one of the criticisms in that hypothetical situation will be that Joe Philbin is too non-confrontational. The first glimpse of it was when Chad Johnson crashed the coaches meeting. The next glimpse of it was when he had to have that little "talk" with Chad Johnson. The final glimpse was when Joe Philbin crashed the QB meeting to tell them the order on the depth chart. It's clear to me that as a new Head Coach, never been one before, trying to feel his way out...he doesn't have full wind behind his sails yet. I'm not saying it's a problem or that it will cause him to lose games or the team or anything like that. I'm saying it's there, and if the Dolphins HAPPEN to start losing a lot, it's going to get brought up. Incidentally, it's no coincidence that Chad Johnson was the common denominator in two of those instances...and it's definitely a reason most teams in the NFL had zero interest in signing him.
Jeff Ireland's experience with Terrell Owens in Dallas has disinclined him to that particular type of receiver. Not that Chad Johnson is a teamkiller as TO is, but the Parcells tree is not kind to talented receivers who like microphones.
He seems to be an introvert. He doesn't look people in the eye while talking to them. Reminds me of my last two bosses. It is kind of annoying if you are the type that look people in the eye.
His formative years as a personnel executive, rather than just as a scout, were under Bill Parcells in Dallas. Parcells gave him his first GM job here in Miami. Yes, he's part of that tree.
I actually thought Philbin came across very well last night. I agree he is still feeling his wayinto being a head coach, but I thought he handled all 3 "tough" situations last night pretty well. When CJ came into the coach's room Philbin said "what's up?", like most normal people would assume that your employee has some issue that he needs to discuss with you, which Philbin seemed willing to do. When it became clear that CJ just wanted to hang out or get on camera, Philbin gently nudged him to leave rather than making a huge spectacle, which wasn't necessary. After CJ's press conference, Philbin talked to him calmly on the sideline and made clear that while it wasn't a big deal, he just preferred that CJ use one f-bomb rather than 7. Whether CJ gets this or not is another story, but it wasn't something that required an over the top response. And for the QB meeting I thought he simply told them straight what the dela was and left. He told them to talk with Taylor or Sherman if there were any issues and that was that. Even the Vontae thing, Philbin didn't care specifically that VD left practice for a minute to use the bathroom, he cared that it was just one of many other things that had gone on. I'm sure if Jake Long feels nature calling during practice, nobody questions him. All that is a long way to say that I liked Philbin's demeanor and approach. I thought he brought a sense of calm normalcy to the team whichw as needed after the manic Sparano.
