Opinion: Jeff Ireland Will Not Survive to 2014

Long wasn't let go, he left of his own will, didn't even give Miami a chance to make a final offer when he was in town:

Jake Long says Dolphins had little chance of re-signing him

CHRIS TOMASSON
Published: Tuesday, August 27, 2013, 9:04am

"I made up my mind I wanted to be (with the Rams)," Long said in an interview with FOX Sports Florida when the Rams were in Denver for Saturday's 27-26 preseason loss. "There wasn't much else that could change that ... Yeah, (the Dolphins) definitely did (make an offer). But, in the end, I know what it was. I wanted to be (with St. Louis)."

"It really didn't even bother me," Long said when asked if he was disappointed the Dolphins didn't look to put up a bigger fight to keep him. "It was a personal thing. I was going to choose where I wanted to go and I wanted to be (in St. Louis). ... I like Coach (Jeff) Fisher. I like this team. It was the right choice for myself at this point. I'm very happy with the decision."

http://www.foxsportsflorida.com/nfl...says-Dolphins-had-little-chanc?blockID=933235

Imo if Long stayed so much could be different this year, including a much better OL and I would think this whole Martin/Incognito mess avoided. Philbin and Ireland blew it when they let Long walk- they thought that they could replace him well and failed miserably in their attempt.

To me, I wonder if Dawn Aponte and Ireland pissed off Jake Long and his agent. I doubt that he liked Philbin very much, I never saw a nod of respect or affection to him in interviews after he joined the Rams. He mentions liking Jeff Fischer- I read that as a reason for signing with the Rams- he liked the idea of playing for Fischer and was neutral to negative as per Philbin.

To me the whole Jake Long non-signing story is particulalrly interesting and relevant, it kind of encapsulates the failures/deficiencies within the organization that led us to this mess of the last few weeks, on and off the field.

ps I'm curious to see how the latest OL move of OL expert Philbin and Ireland works out, signing yet another Cowboys OL. After all the other failed attempts, I'm kind of surprised that they went to that well again. You never know, maybe it works out this time.

 

Exactly why Ireland should have been fired along with Sparano.

 

makes sense to me. Wouldn't the availability of potential candidates come into play as well?

 

Lol do you reeeaallly wanna play this game?

 

According to his agent Martin was terrorized for 1-1/2 years. Long was here for one of those years. Not saying Long was or wasn't a great leader, just saying.

 

Good point. You never know, but I'm thinking that a guy like Jake Long could help reel in some of Incognito's extreme behavior.

I still think that if Long did a tell-all interview we'd find out a ton about what's going on inside the Dolphins organization.

 

New GM allowed to choose coach or stuck w/ Philbin?

 

Maybe instead of praising him for moves he didn't make, at 6 years in, as fans maybe we should hold him accountable for the players he has acquired and the results those players are producing?

 

Wonder what Carl Peterson is up to

 

No doubt we would. Probably could be said about several teams. Just think about the patriots secrets with Hernandez and spygate. You won't convince me their former players aren't walking around with a few secrets. IMO locker rooms elsewhere are probably not much different than the Phins regardless what the media/ex-coaches claim. Did you watch NFLN's Thursday halftime? Sanders and Faulk basically said similar things happen in every locker room and weren't going to jump into the media frenzy when the non-players pressed them. Heck I remember worse things happening to the freshmen in our high school locker room especially for those that didn't fit in. Swirlees, hanging them by the back of their underwear from the towel rack, slurs of every kind, ect. The NFL must be 10 times worse unfortunately.

 

Hanging out with Randy Mueller?

 

We live in a culture of hazing, to a certain extent. Look at what happens in the military and in fraternities- not that I'm a fan of hazing, but unless something drastic happens a blind eye is turned to it, a cultural nod to the process of getting a man to where he needs to be to function within a certain group. If something drastic happens like a bad injury, death, etc. then the hazing gets more closely scrutinized as one would imagine. Case in point the Cam Cleeland situation in New Orleans a few years ago.

But has anything "drastic" happened to Martin? Sure doesn't look like it. No one wants to see a little kid get bullied at school, but as a culture haven't we accepted hazing in certain settings, among them NFL locker rooms? I'm not at all a fan of a lot of the crap that Incognito has done, but at the end of the day I'm looking at Ireland and maybe Philbin as failing to have a handle on what was going on. They should have known, and if most of the team leaders weren't dumped by Philbin I'm guessing that this whole situation would have played out differently. Then you have the issue of Martin's true motives, etc. and the who situation becomes a convoluted mess. That being said, it seems to be an almost universal opinion among NFL current and former players that Philbin and Ireland either knew what was going on or certainly should have known. The buck stops with them.

 

Was that the same Crowder that had 1 int, 2.5 sacks,and 3 forced fumbles in 82 games as a Dolphin player?

 

Not that I'm sold on Ireland but old enough to remember why we first got Shula from the Colts and what we've had since we kicked him out the door. Good help is hard to find and impossible when you keep changing things every 1-2 years. If Ireland goes then so does Philbin (and RT) after 1.5 years and we're rebuilding to fit his offense and defensive schemes for another 1.5 years until we get impatient again. Not sure if Philbin is it and this latest uproar may be his undoing, but if it doesn't I don't expect know how good he is in 18 months. His 2nd year ever as a head coach, completely changes the offensive and defensive schemes all with one of the youngest teams in the league. To expect to know this soon is asking a lot IMO.

 

Agreed and I believe they knew something. Just saying I believe this and probably far worse go on in every locker room but never gets out. Unfortunately we'll only know about the Phins. I'll just reserve judgement either way util I know more. IMO Incognito is probably not a great leader but considering the age of the team they don't have too many vets up for consideration. Kind of goes to your point on Long a little.

 

We've spent over five years and tens of millions of dollars trying to rebuild the offensive line- how does it look now? I'd rather just see Ross clean house, try to get a good HC and GM that are tough, fair, competent, leaders of men and who lack that toxic element that has been dragging around for so many years- Wanny, Saban, Cameron, Tony Clifton (ahem, Tony Sparano) and now Philbin. Just clean house, get the right people in and stop the nonsense. I think that Ross has failed accross the board to get the right leadership in place, much as Wayne Huizenga did. That was Wayne's downfall with the Dolphins, I hope that Ross learns from his mistakes.

And this Dawn Aponte thing- already not well liked and that whole following Philbin around thing makes me somewhere between nauseous and disgusted. Just start over- take Tannehill, build an OL around Pouncey, bolster an already good defense and go to town. I really don;t think our HC or FO people in charged would be sorely missed, if at all.

 

Frorm what I recall I really didn't have a problem with Mueller, liked him better than Spielman. At least he tried to get Hasselbeck and didn't overpay for Lamar Gordon in a textbook move of desperation.

 

Bring Jimmy Johnson back! That man could pick talent! We already have a decent team& defense. Let him polish up the pieces.

 

Didn't he bring in Cam?

 

Did great with the defense. Not offense but maybe because he had one foot out the door towards retirement and fishing.

 

Interesting, if so that was a highly crappy move.

 

I'm not praising him I'm pointing out how foolish the arguments against him are.

He has been held accountable by his bosses and they decided he should be retained and even extended. They've also said they're not in 1 year playoff or bust mode and are instead looking to build a consistent winner, even if it takes more patience.

 

I'm not experienced enough in the NFL workings to know whether Philbin can cut it or not just yet. What concerns me is new HC's usually bring in their own QB and RT shows a little promise. I'm not sure its easy to find a great HC, harder to find a good QB, and scared of having 3 more years of Beck, Culpeper, Lucas, etc. The league is full of ex coaches that didn't work out. It comes down to finding the right QB IMO. See BB at Cleveland vs. NE, Parcells, Johnson, Carrol.

 

I'm with them on the patience but boy he tries that patience when he can't pick Oline to save his life outside of the 1st round.

 

If a FO and/or head coach change is made, I'm guessing that the candidates will be told that they'd better be ok with Tannehill because he isn't going anywhere. I like Tannehill, still don't love him, but I think that he's worth developing and he deserves to get a decent OL in front of him before any definitive QB decisions are made. He's pretty good, give him more time in the pocket and better receivers and he'll be even better.

 

The race car driver? Do you think he knows enough about football to coach a team? I like the idea, think outside the box. Ronald Fred Siekaly could be the offensive line coach, Bobby Clarke can be the GM. With the 1st pick in the 2015 draft, we can select John Mundt Oregon TE and convert him to a QB. ; )

 

Nice article. Really makes you look at the big picture of what the organization has been doing during Ireland's tenure. Obviously, the team has not met expectations on the field. That in and of itself should be enough for a GM change. However, it is just as important to assemble a locker room that functions as a unit, and we have failed miserably there.

It's time for a new beginning.

 

How many more losing seasons will it take before fans who don't think Jeff Ireland should be fired will start to wonder if maybe nothing is being built here? Yes, I know this season is not lost and Miami has a chance to finish with a winning record. But if another 7-9 or worse season happened, would you still want Jeff Ireland to continue his employment with the Miami Dolphins? I don't have anything against anyone who continues to defend, support, or what ever you want to refer to the continuous anti anti Jeff Ireland sentiment as, but I think that's a fair question. Where will you stand if this team logs another losing season?

 

I want the next GM to make a determination if Philbin is the right coach for this team or not. I just don't see how Ireland can remain this teams GM after six years on the job and only one winning season so far.

As far as expecting more from Philbin is concerned. All you have to do is look at the records of both the Harbaughs after two years of coaching in the NFL. John Harbaugh took over a team which finished 5-11 in 2007, including a loss to the 1-15 Dolphins. Harbaugh led the Ravens to a 20-12 record in his first two seasons as the Ravens HC.

His brother took a 49er's team that was 6-10 in 2010 and led them to a 24-7-1 record in his first two years as the HC. This included leading them to a Super Bowl game against his brother and the Ravens last year.

Other coaches who have turned their teams around in two years or less have included, Andy Reid with the Chiefs, Mike McCarthy in Green Bay, Rex Ryan in New York, Bill Belichick in New England, Tom Coughlin in New York, John Fox in Denver, Chuck Pagano in Indy,Sean Payton in New Orleans, and Mike Smith in Atlanta.

While some of these coaches are not having much success this year, they all were able to come in and turn previous losing teams into winners in two years or less. This is what quality head coaches do. In fact Don Shula did the exact same thing when he came in and took over the Dolphins years ago. Personally I think Philbin needs to at least lead this team to 9 victories this season to feel secure in his position. Anything less would mean that he would have a sub 500 coaching record after his first two years and that is just not good enough, as far as I am concerned.

 

Ireland wont make it through this scandal...thank god that's the only way we can get rid of him! Most don't believe how he has a job at this point in the first place!!!

 

His boss is Ross and you assume Ross has a clue how to run an NFL team. I don't share your view that Ross is an effective NFL owner and keeping Ireland as this teams GM after this team finished below 500 for the last four seasons proves Ross has listened to the wrong people when it comes to building a winning organization.

Ross may be an intelligent man when it comes to investing in real estate and making a lot of money. That doesn't mean he should be an NFL owner or knows what he is doing in regards to hiring the best personnel to run the organization on a day to day basis. There are bad owners in all sports and Ross just happens to be one of the worst owners in the NFL.

 

No. I would never assume that and right now i will back up my doubts. Its a learning curve for but jeez! this is a serious learning curve for him. Hope he learns. I hope he hires better this time assuming Ireland and/or Philbin is gone.

 

Again I'm not for or against and suggested I have not seen enough in 18 months. As for Ireland, if he goes, again not an NFL expert, but so does Philbin or any existing HC 70-90% of the time with GM change. So let me play devils advocate regarding Philbin and I'm not saying these guys are not great but every coach considered great has had some luck and generally more than 24 games.

Did Ravens have an elite championship defense before Harbaugh arrived?
Did 49rs have Gore, Smith, Crabtree, Davis, Morgan, and a solid defense?
Did Reid have a solid core when he arrived this year with how many years experience as a HC? Goes without saying.
McCarthy Favre, Rogers, decent team with SB veterans.
Rex Ryan, really. You do remember how they got in the playoffs and what a circus it was last year. They are 4-4 this year and yes they had a core defense and running game when he started. He has done some good but noweher near great.
Coughlin, He benefited with a few helpful expansion rules and a decent QB but I'll give him credit with the Jags. He is one of my favorites knocking off the Pats twice. However, he was fired and then damn near run out of town until the came back from a losing season to beat NE (Year 3 and not year 2) in SB.
John Fox, Manning, and a solid core? Again its QB builds coaches. Right situation at right time.
BB Brady? Bledsoe allowed him to sit and learn. Tuck rule, spygate, a lot of luck and QB that got time to develop. Cleveland his first two years were good?
Pagano. About 15 games so far not going to say great yet. He unfortunately was away from the game for much of the season and playoff run last year. Does he get credit or does Arians get some? Again QB Luck doesn't hurt?
Payton. Brees help any? Yes think he is a good coach.
Smith. Ryan and a few picks/pick ups haven't hurt.

Names you left off
Dungy
Sporano? 2008? Shouldn't he be on your list if your putting Rex on there?

So my question is does a coach only get 20 games? How many players remain from when he Philbin started Fields? What if he is not a first time coach then, only 10 games? I can't buy that and not a part of the inner NFL circle to know in a short time. I do know in my life some of my best managers/mentors I did not think highly of the first two years but as time progressed I changed my opinion. Any bosses you grew to like over time or did you always know from day 1?

 

I wasnt taking a swipe at anyone so I apologize if you took it that way.

 

And I have nothing against people who want him fired. We all want the same thing, a winning team, right?

I think you pretty much laid out why its a bad idea to make judgements on Ireland at this point. We are 4-4 and in the middle of a playoff chase that will probably come down to the last week or two. The team could finish 4-12, 12-4 or anywhere in between so it doesn't make sense to assume what will happen or draw conclusions based on those assumptions. Let the season play out and assess what needs to be done afterwards?

That's not defending Ireland, it's being rational.

 

Thank you. Being rational seems to be getting as close to extinction as that black African rhino.

 

Lol Sparano took a 1-15 team and went 11-5 his first year. Clearly he is a great coach. Wait, what?