Look, I know a good many people may think this is nonsense, and that football is all down to the players or even tactics and plays called. However, I believe that if you take a look anywhere, be it on the football field, in business, the military, or any other group/team entity, you will clearly see that the culture/atmosphere and identity of the group can make a massive difference - a night and day difference - that will not just see the team find success but will also help sustain that success and keep on improving. I have seen it personally, in business; how, with one management team or even one GM, a group of employees can under-perform and then under different leadership the same people can become incredibly productive. It can be argued that professionals should be self-motivated, and that's true, but you still can't get a way from the group dynamic. Each individual is responsible for themselves and their own identity, but there's a team identity that no-one one player can totally control. Now a dominant team identity can steam roll right over any one individual, forcing them to adapt or get lost, and even possible for new leadership - get with the program or get gone. However, in most instances, when leadership comes with the authority and power to resist that, or where it simply doesn't exist, then leadership becomes the single biggest influence in changing/establishing culture. It happens time and again. An experienced and skilled leader will know this and use it. A young leader should learn it, and it can be learned, and leaders who previously didn't get it can change. Sadly, all human beings have areas of their lives where they live incidentally rather than intentionally; some people's whole lives are lived incidentally. That is, they live according to what comes at them and how they find themselves feeling, rather than making a plan, an intention, and aiming things to achieve that intention. If a leader isn't aware of themselves, or the group dynamic, then will likely end up establishing a culture incidentally, according to who they happen to be, rather than intentionally, seeking to setup a certain sort of culture. All of us are susceptible to it, however, for a leader in any field, it's essential. It doesn't necessarily matter who you are are what sort of personality you have, there are many possible roads one can take, the main thing is to be aware of the team, of the culture and identity, to have a plan, to build it, and, in the essence of true pragmatism, if you see that something isn't working, you adapt - because it's achieving the intention, the goal, that matters, and not the process. All of that said, whatever other failures or successes the Dolphins have had, I find myself asking - what is the identity of this team? Who are they? What culture is truly established? I know there have been certain events and gestures along this line - SEALs training, Spartan shields, credos etc. but as above, if the end result isn't achieved then the job isn't done. Who are the Dolphins? Are they bullies on the field? Are they precise assassins striking opponents where they're weakest? Are they the team that will out-think you? Will they wear you down with persistence? Who are the Dolphins? More importantly, who do the Dolphins think they are? That's the thing, this isn't hard to figure out. Just talk to the players and it'll become clear because this sort of thing is almost impossible to hide. I don't care what players are brought onto this team, I'm convinced that Miami won't win until the Dolphins are a different team - until they have a different identity. Until then we'll continue to see what we've been seeing, players leaving and playing differently, players coming and playing differently. It's more than just individual skill (which matters) , it's more than just play calls (which also matters even more) it's the whole attitude and identity of the team. Where does this come from? It comes from the leadership - it's about an attitude, a standard, a way of being, it's about responsibility, it's also about competence. Salguero had an article today - READ IT - it shared some interview responses from Coyle and Lazor. Now, I'm not saying Lazor is the answer, however, one thing that has bugged me with this team has been the way it has communicated. Platitudes. Silly statements. No statements. They might have been nothing. Maybe they'll still prove to be nothing. However, the more this goes on, the more they look like an indicator of an underlying mentality/attitude problem. Philbin being forced to fire Sherman. This one might be the single biggest red flag of all of them. If the HC can't be counted on to do what's best for the team - be it due to wrong priorities or incompetence - the job belongs to someone else. Not ditching Coyle last season also points this way. Look, I appreciate loyalty and compassion, but as the leader of a team with a very specific job to do, it's not compassion and loyalty to the rest of the organisation and players to permit someone to continue in a job they can't do. Let them go or find them a job they can do better, but don't let incompetence continue. "Football in a simple game". I've heard that lots of times now. On it's own, I don't mind it. But the more I see lack of in-game adjustments, a vanilla approach to plays and tactics, what seems to be a lack of adjustment to specific teams, over-rotation of players, and just a general continuing of the same things in the belief that somehow it'll just work, the more I wonder where this isn't an indicator of a bad approach or lack of awareness. Over-focus on the unimportant things/premature celebration - this is more ownership and CEO - but the whole explosion over the new logo and uniforms, "This is our time". Talk might often be cheap, but we don't have to just let it be. Save your words. Make them count. I know a lot of this might be business and marketing, but stuff like this makes me cringe. I believe in an attitude which says if you can't walk the walk, or haven't proven it, then don't talk the talk. Keep your mouth shut, get your nose down, and get to work. Build it. Make it happen. Once you've actually achieved something, then bring on the celebrations. Put up or shut up. Again, maybe it's nothing, or maybe it's an indicator of this organisation's mentality. It might seem over the top to look at the CEO or whatever, but I think if you look at the best sports franchises you'll see a unity that runs right across the board, from the lowest-ranking bench-warmer right through the squad, to the coaches, GM, owner and everyone in between. The San Antonio Spurs might be the best example of this and it might be helpful to take a look at them, or others. The Spurs are a small-market franchise that has seen massive success, to the degree that across all sports franchises they're always considered among the best if not right at the top - and everyone looks at the front-office and Popovich as having a specific attitude, specific standard, and all being on the same page about it. They move and operate as one, they give people a voice while also being firm in their direction and resolve. They basically run a very tight ship. Maybe a lot of it is the fact that Pop is a military man, maybe that doesn't matter, but their organisation is first class. In the basics they are firm and un-moving - passing, shooting coaches, etc. requiring a high standard and always seeking to improve, and yet, they're open to innovation and lead the league in looking to bring in foreign talent and also, like the Dolphins, but before, have invested in innovations in medicine and science to help maintain and increase performance and health. Even on the court, the Spurs, with the same central core roster, have been a slow-paced defensive team, then they've run a high-paced offense, then they became better and better at ball movement and hitting the 3-point shot (a tactic that Popovich hates, he doesn't think the 3 point shot is proper basketball - but it's part of the game, so he does it and uses it to maximum effect). They'll adapt and do whatever they need to, to win. The Spurs have a firm, super firm identity. They know who they are. They know what they do. Players who go there know what will be expected of them. Everyone knows it. It's clear, and by all accounts, despite being based in a town which in some ways is the opposite of Miami (apart from the latino culture) - San Antonio - a small market, low-key, "boring", military-town, the Spurs are great organisation to play for. Even in terms of credo, the Spurs do it right. The Spurs have a 'credo' of sorts, it's called, Pounding the Rock and it's hung on the walls for 17 years. They have it up in multiple languages and when a new player joins the team from a difference nation and language, they translate it and get it up on the walls in that language too. Here's what it is and where it came from: “When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” What's the difference between that and the Dolphin's credo? I believe it comes from the heart and is put forward as the heart, and it's also practical. It's not just a truth. It's not just a good idea. It's not just another inspirational quote. It's something that expresses what Pop really feels, what he believes in. It serves as a reminder to him of a central truth and they put it up everywhere to get everyone else to believe it as well (and the players really have taken it on-board). It's also practical and not just emotional, it helps you focus on what's important. You read and you immediately know what to do - do the small things, do them right, put the effort in, keep believing, pound the rock and it will crack. With that one quote you have the San Antonio Spurs. The Dolphins credo though, where did it come from? Does it actually mean anything to anyone on that organisation? Does it come from anyone's heart? And what do you do with it? How does it help? Is it a reminder of a central truth, or just a repetition of things people know in general? Look, not everyone is poetic, not every organisation can be great in every thing. The point, however, is that any organisation that is great has a heart, knows who they are, and ever organisation that wants to be great will need those things. Maybe Philbin's got it in him somewhere, maybe the other coaches too, maybe Tannenbaum, or Garfinkle or Hickey, or Ross, or maybe none of them have. But if the Dolphins really want to become great someone somewhere is going to have to find a heart and let it out. The Dolphins need to become something greater than just the sum of its parts. Can it happen right now? I really, really hope so. Until it does, though, I fear we're in for more disappointment.
Great writeup and 100% agree that this team has no true identity, but growing up in San Antonio, I take offense to the boring comment. I know you had it in quotes, but believe me, that city finds any and all reasons to throw a party. Sure it may not have the glitz of South Beach, but it's a greatly cultured city with a lot to offer.
I didn't read all of it, well I read only a short bit of it truthfully, but I agree totally with the gist of the statement, culture and identity are HUGE factors. We have none however, well none that are good. The Steelers motto in their locker room is "the standard is the standard", and excellence is the standard, anything less is failure, and that is true here as well, because the standard is so low, so things that are not considered great elsewhere, are considered great here because of a lack of greatness for so long. We have diluted and polluted the standard in Miami with train wreck after train wreck, there is a culture of mediocrity here.
Well.. I agree "culture" matters, and can matter a lot. The problem is that it's really hard to know beforehand what works and what doesn't. You've got successful cultures built on emphasizing the positive (even to the point of being unrealistic about how well the person performed), emphasizing the negative (always focusing on errors and never letting up), encouraging more cooperation vs. in-group competition, highly disciplinary vs. laissez faire, etc.. Name it, people have built successful organizations with it. So while it's fine to say we need a more successful culture, all that's really saying is we need new coaches (or a new owner, but that's harder to implement in practice). But what kind of coach? Who knows.. So I think you've successfully identified a problem, but it doesn't really help much in finding the solution (except to find new coaches, which we can say just by looking at on-field play and play-calling).
The bottom line: The Dolphins are a poorly managed organization from top to bottom and the results show up on the field every Sunday.
I don't think they are poorly managed from top to bottom. For all the faults of Stephen Ross he's clearly preferable to the majority of owners and I'd guess that the number of fans who dislike their owner is quite high across the whole county. The grass is always greener. As for culture I think this is more important than the crowd noise that DJ always advocates for. A single vision and a single purpose. Complete and total buy in to that vision. It's a case of everyone doing their jobs to the highest possible standard and being able to hold themselves accountable to others for what happens. I think we lack a growth mindset. I think the players and the coaches look for excuses as to why they fail. How many times do they genuinely turn inwards and reflect on their performance? The hollow Sunday evening quotes of not dwelling on it, moving on, blaming the refs, it's nonsense. The players and coaches and staff should be examining their performance and being honest about what the areas for improvement are. As an aside I have an issue with our team. It starts with talent acquisition. Our drafting and free agency lacks coherence. $120M for suh when we needed an OL. It's poor resource management. It's a lack of a single vision. It's the purchase of shiny baubles instead of seeking genuine improvement. Don't get me wrong, I love that he's here but is it our best use of resources? So that's player personnel making poor choices. This leads to a further discussion of growth versus fixed mindset. Tannehill has every right to moan and point to the fact that he's doing the best with some very weak play in front of him. He doesn't. He discusses the areas he needs to develop and I'm entirely convinced he works on them. If he fails it won't be because he didn't try. It will be because he just wasn't good enough and I can live with that. Compare this to cutler. Cutler is slowly slipping into retirement with pots of cash and fingers pointing at everyone who is to blame. He has more talent but no work ethic. If this was my team I'd be bringing psychogists to the meetings and talking about growth mindset every single day until they all got sick of hearing it. At least then we could say that we weren't beaten because we hadn't put the effort in.
Great post, Galant! My initial response was going to sound a lot like cbrad’s. He summed up the biggest issue. It’s easy to look into the past and spot the problem, but making the right choices moving forward is entirely different. I’ll extend his post with my own thoughts. While it’d be great if everyone was 100% self-motivated, it’s clear that most team-sport athletes are surprisingly unmotivated when left to their own devices. They tend to look for motivation, support and positive energy in their teammates. Their level of effort is not a function of what they’re getting paid (and in the case of most guys that’s a good thing). It’s clear that what a coach needs to do is foster a certain type of environment in which all the players want to buy in and help each other. That’s the hallmark of successful teams across the board, particularly the dynasties. No matter who you ask, it seems the golden rule of coaching a team sport revolves around establishing a team-first mentality. I can’t say I’ve seen that in Miami in my time other than in 2008 (Sparano’s first year) which featured a large number of veteran players who combined to offer a lot on-field and in-game leadership. But it’s important to note that culture goes only as far as talent. The 2008 team was eventually shown to be old and injury-prone. That culture quickly died away as less talented players tried to fill the shoes left by reliable veterans. It’s interesting to ask whether the lack of veteran leadership has contributed to Philbin’s maxing out at 8-8. The Dolphins have always been a very young team under Philbin and despite guys like Wake and Pouncey, there’s been little culture develop. I look to the lack of talent amongst the front-7 and on the O-line as being the biggest reason. Again, culture can’t make guys like John Jerry, Tyson Clabo, Jonathan Martin, Richie Incognito, Nate Garner, Sam Brenner, Dallas Thomas, Jason Fox, Billy Turner, etc. into good players if they aren’t. Even the better players often disappoint: Pouncey gets routinely beat these days, James is good for at least a penalty a game it seems and Albert is always a threat to get injured. For the sake of space, I won’t go through the guys in the front-7 but we could make the same case. It’s largely been a bunch of guys who are either (1) bad or (2) over-rated and unreliable. Here’s my guess. When I look at the most successful teams regardless of sport they all have a core group of guys who are by themselves extremely talented. Once that core is in place, the culture develops around them and it’s that culture which helps mold the role-players and small-time guys who MUST be present for real success to happen. So, before Miami establishes any sort of culture, they really have to establish those core guys. Tannehill, Landry, Wake, Jones and Pouncey could be considered good players but they aren’t exactly transcendent talents on the order of Kobe, Lebron, Durant, Duncan, Brady, Peyton or Rodgers, either! Does Miami have any of those truly great players? Maybe not. I think that’s why they reached on Dion Jordan hoping he’d be Jason Taylor 2.0. I think it’s why they signed Ndamukong Suh without worrying about cost. They’ve needed those types of players to build around for awhile. I think we all have to admit that the roster in Miami over the last decade has just never been as good as some of us have led ourselves to believe.
Good write up. It does not surprise me this thread goes no where. Most guys have little to no idea what culture and identity is less alone able to discuss it. For one to know you must experience. Last time this Franchise had culture and identity was 1995. Too long ago. I remember a time when the Miami Dolphins were the winningist team in sports history. Any sport. Sad really. Just surprised how the upper brass has still not brought in meaningful coaching and so we twist in the wind.
understand and understood. of course its not about crowd noise, energy that reaches a certain level is the result of culture and identity..your not going to get that type of energy inside a stadium unless all the sum of its parts are fixed.. back on this excellent topic.. Every year I wait to hear what it is I think our team needs to say, every year I never hear it, every year the team dissapoints its fanbase pretty damn consistently, every offseason it seems like it goes forgotten, just once I would like to hear from our coaches and players acknowledge the previous years disapointment to the fanbase, and how like you said, ''say, you know what, were gonna keep our fu$$in heads down and go to work, we got no right to say jack sh%%''. no more BS talk, no more interviews sittin on fu##in lazy boy chairs acting like you done accomplished somethin, when in actuality you havent done jack sh# as a team, none of you have. No more taking any compliments from anyone acting like chokin at home in embarrssing fashion never happened, yeah, well pissasss man, we have the scars that you made, why dont you accept what you did and take some freakin accountability and tell us your gonna never forget until its fixed, and keep your mouth shut til it does. I heard nothing but a bunch of blowhards all offseason, readin their own clippins, taking compliments, acting like nothing ever happened..its bs. so you say, well what would you do different to start this change..well, first of all, you have to identify the traits of a head coach that can communicate to men how to make them care enough about each other and push them to be their best, then, I would stick my middle finger up to miami during training camp and take these losers to a remote location, if any team needs to get away, its this team in this town..now im not stupid, I dont wanna put them in dorm rooms with lumpy mattresses, {make sure they have the best mattress money can buy}, and thats it..start there and see if you can light a match, find an edge, ignore the elements, and see if you can start an identity of toughness, cause thats what a team who plays in this town needs more than anything.. funny how weve heard for a few years we should build an uptempo offense because of our elements, ya know, just the ole tiring your opponenet out in the heat identity...lol..whatta joke...you have to do the opposite..defense, toughness, all heart, sacrifice a bit of talent for the right makeup..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BHzOJV-eTQ and this is not how you establish a culture..by embarrassing your franchise.
While I agree with the sentiment, culture and identity will only get you so far. Take the Miami Heat, for example, an organization known for going the extra mile for their players and forcing team unity- Wade or LeBron were never treated like superstars by the coaches. They worked just as hard with a "team first" mentality and that's what truly made them great over the past couple of seasons. Then again, LeBron did walk away...which means that the culture wasn't nearly as important to him as we believed. At least he still hangs out in S Beach with his former teammates though- that says something too. Let's get back to the Dolphins. What are they elite at? What's their calling card? What can they own as a team? Well, nothing really. They were the least penalized team in football last year, and their QB is certainly the toughest after eating dirt more than any other in the league. They have the "Stronger Together" thing going as well but guess what, they didn't look too together last Sunday. Both sides of the ball looked more lost than anything. Our culture used to be, "Nobody beats us at home." It was a longstanding benefit of playing in South Florida; nobody could walk in our house and handle the humidity for four quarters. But somehow we've let that slip away as well. We really don't have any identity and there's only one person to blame- Ross. As they say, "Sh!t rolls downhill," and having an absent owner who needs advisors to get out of bed in the morning is a huge problem. That's why everyone but him knows that Philbin doesn't have great leadership qualities despite being an amazing human being and a solid coach....or why Sparano was loved by the locker room yet hated for his coaching style. These guys are square pegs being forced down into round holes, and Ross allows it to happen because he's completely disconnected from what's going on inside his organization. I guess the big question is- can we win without true leadership and a bigger purpose within the organization? Sure we can, it's just a heck of a lot harder since the players need to create the right type of atmosphere. So I don't think the lack of culture itself is the main culprit here, but it does fall on the leadership nonetheless. You can't expect great productivity with a team divided.
first time I have ever saw her actually speak. So this is my first impression. This is a lot of what Brent thinks that he can say and he cant. He said 1/2 of that and he would be fined and or banned
Miko's right. Sex releases more testosterone. More sex for this team. They need something to get them up for the start of games.
I was gonna thank your post but I didn't wanna risk aggravating said injury. Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk
They're real. Biting the hand that feeds them, but they're real. Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk
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