the only other choice I know is Harris and he turned everyone down. Maybe the guy in Pittsburgh, but they seem to let him get away the year before, so I can't imagine they were too excited about him. Plus he got a promotion. All of the other names weren't contacted. The Dorsey thing is weird though. Why did all those Dolphin employees like him on social media? That part I think doesn't look great. But it also doesn't matter. I think their choice is to always promote from within. I don't see how you view it that way. I gave up years ago with "having confidence" in moves. I was confident in Gase. I had questions about Flores. I too tired of being wrong and will just see if it works out.
Ultimately that's how it has to go, but as both humans and fans we feel placated and happy with some things, while others get the eyebrow raise. This one, for me, gets an eyebrow raise. They interviewed like 4-5 outside candidates, all of whom except Pep Hamilton got snapped up relatively quick. Then the whole weird thing with Dorsey. Then speculation about waiting on someone from a Super Bowl team. If the plan was simply to promote from within, they should have just done that from the start like most teams that do internal hires. Dicking around for weeks, interviewing a wide range of people who get hired elsewhere while you sit on your thumbs only to later go "Oh yeah, I guess we will promote these dudes after all" makes it seem like we settled on our third or fourth option. While my or your feeling as a fan has 0 influence on the outcome, it just leaves me a bit sour and marginally less excited for next year. I do hope I am proven wrong, Studs in particular is a well respected dude and I like the news about blended concepts rather than shoving an outdated scheme down our throats.
Like I tell my kids and my employees, EVERY DAY is a job interview. Every. Day. How do you rise to it? Why wouldn't you want to evaluate how someone leads with every leadership opportunity available? Maybe the Senior Bowl isn't a true test, but if they can't handle it you have an answer. If they do well, great! Can they take it up a level tomorrow?
Who? I forgot about Pep. Dorsey was never contacted. None of the super bowl people were contacted, so that was just speculation. To you they have been dicking around for weeks, now it seems like they weren't, they had a plan. It is only sitting on their thumbs if you want to look at it that way. Everything I have read about Flores makes me believe that he likes to promote from within. It looks like it went the way they wanted too.
I thought it was Studesville all along. See post 50 in this thread. For those of you thinking the process is flawed think of it this way... I really like Toyota Trucks. But The Ford F-150 is the best selling truck in the country, for decades, and i gotta admit they sure look purty. And we've had Chevy and GMC SUVs that were amazing. So I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy a new Tundra, but the Tacomas have enough towing capacity for my little boat and I've been driving one of those for years. But Ford never took the bailout money and every goddamn cowboy in the world wants one so... I better go check them out. I'm going to check out the new Chevy's too, but I'm getting old so I'd probably rather have all the cool stuff in the GMC, that new tailgate is sexy. OK I hear you all you Ram boys but just no. No. Just NO. Ok so I drove the Ford and it was (a ford) OK. Nice truck. And the GMC is sexy as hell, and I sure would enjoy the ride, but like all sexy things, high maintenance. Well, I knew it all along, but at least I put in the work to confirm it. Keep my Tacoma, cuz it's paid for and I can. And I really like my new (used, who can afford a new one!?) Tundra Limited edition with the heated steering wheel and Bose stereo. Wish it had that GMC tailgate but I'll live. (Yes, true story, just 2 months ago) Why have the two guys share the job? My Assistant Managers have their own departments, and each of them is being trained and developed to do each others jobs, and mine. Each of them have two Supervisors, each with specific responsibilities within the department, but each also being cross trained and qualified in each others jobs, and their AM's job. And so on thru the team. Part of every teammates responsibility is training their back up, lifting each other up. If you are scared of being replaced, you need to be. I think this explains the reasoning behind the Gailey hire. Leadership development. It's good business. It creates competition, in a good way if the people can handle it. If they can't, they're in the wrong business. The NFL is a business, not a religion or a government, the ultimate Meritocracy. This kind of foundation creates dynasty's and empires that stand. I like what I'm seeing
I'm sure he will be consulted, but when it comes to a star QB who can put butts in the seat and make the team an instant SB contender, then I think the owner will be the one making the call.
Don't ask me. When it comes to decisions as big as this, the owner almost always is the one making the final call. Hell, there are strong rumors that Ross made the call when it came to drafting Tua, that Flores wouldn't have used that pick on a QB.
You're only avoiding the Ram 'cuz you know you'll buy it if you drive it. Motor Trend's Truck of the Year 3x in a row...record. Sure do love mine, but if I had to pick a non-Ram, it would have to be the Tundra, especially since they're built down the road from me and I know some folks that work in that process. Great truck, the Tundra, especially that 1794 edition...gorgeous!
I don't believe they just gave up...I believe Flo earnestly believed this was the better move over hiring guys like McDaniel and the others (right or wrong). He hasn't shown he's an expert OC-hiring HC, so its certainly fair to be critical of it...we'll just have to see how it turns out.
If true (and, I have no reason to think it's not), that's just another example of how an owner can handcuff an organization. Let your decision makers make the decisions. That's what you pay them for! Also, if true I would love to know who Flores wanted instead. If it wasn't a QB, then it wasn't Herbert. Bechton perhaps? Or, maybe Simmons. Hmmm...
So let me get this straight. We are drafting better Coaching players up developing more talent we bring in We just won the most football games since what 13 years ago...??? And you are done??? LMAO Do you hate winning?
Yes, I believe it is fully reasonable to critizize whether or not he will be successful in his OC hires. I think it is just plain wrong to criticize the process or whether he can attract talent as we have not seen the process or him fail to hire someone he wants.
More than that For decades we over spent to get known players to come here and they seldom panned out. Wallace, Suh... Flores is a scheme and character guy.... He does not have to overspend to get the talent in here to win. He coaches the **** out of players and switches their roles matching their skills with our scheme. ( And it works. ) The players here love Flores... They want to play for him. Because we have started to win.. Other players will want to come and play here as well. So until Flores shows me there is something he cannot do... Until the front office shows me that there is something they cannot accomplish under the guidance of Flores... I am not worried or overly critical.
You know, giving all of this some more thought, something else comes to mind... Didn’t Flores start off in New England as scout in 2004? Recognizing talent, pursuing players and working his way up the coaching ladder? How has that worked out for New England? One of the top ranked defensive units in the league during his time with the Patsies. Not to mention a complete turn around of the Dolphins in his 2 years in Miami. Last season Miami won 5 games in 2019 with a gutted roster. This season Miami won 10 games. If we don’t win at least 10 games next season and it’s obviously offensively related, then everyone can point fingers but if we do win at least 10 games and the other 6 losses we’re competitively close, everyone needs to sit back, be quiet and trust in Flores.
All worthy points I agree with. Now, if you'll permit me to play devil's advocate, here's an alternate perspective. Flores' defensive chops are at the very least credible right now, and that he can lead, motivate and discipline a team also seems demonstrable. However, on the offensive side of the ball he has so far rotated OC's and not had great production. If this continues and the rare pairing of OC's doesn't work out, it going to look more and more like he's lost on offense, and that won't be good news for a HC. Maybe if his finds a brilliant OC to offset would could be a glaring weakness, it will be workable. But if not, it might be his undoing as HC. You can't be horrible on O in today's league. Second, are there questions bubbling about his ability to inspire coaches and players such that maybe the disciplined leaders is a bit of a pain and not easy to work with? The earlier leak about Tua from some other players, who specifically said that Flores told them not to talk, suggests that some don't follow him 100%. The flux in offensive coaches could also indicate that either he's not great to coach under, or at least, coach offensive football under. Speculation all of it, but a possible reality that only time will prove or disprove. Reality #2 - Owner Ross meddles a bit too much or else is indecisive. We had a HC and GM reporting directly to him. We had Tua appear mid-season in a way that was a shock to players and that Flores didn't seem committed to. Now we have two OC's. Could it be that Flores doesn't have the full liberty?
We could lose more games next year simply based off the increased difficulty in schedule, finishing 2nd in the division. Our strength of victory for 2020 was 6th lowest in the league...only playoff team with a worst SOV than Miami's was Chicago.
As skeptical as I am about this hire overall, I don't think it came about from a Ross demand. If anything, he would have ordered (and overpayed) for a splashy big name QB guru rather than two low-key internal hires.
Then based on a more difficult schedule, a 10 win season next year would be an improvement on this season’s record, would it not?
Maybe. But not really. No one wants to hear how tough your schedule was. The only thing that matters in the NFL is Ws.
I'd say so, personally, but its nuanced. IMO, Ws and Ls aren't all of the story...not saying its everything, but strength of victory (unless you're very high in wins, or very high in losses) is a consideration on the record. Its not the meat, not even the potatoes, but its on the plate. The Dolphins beat ONE team that ended the season with a winning record, out of 5 tries, went 1-4 against playoff teams, and lost one to a team with a losing record, so they essentially beat below average teams to get their record, which I guess is kind of a baseline for an "above average" team (and I'm NOT complaining). The LV win was ridiculous luck, but games like that can go either way...odds against the Facemask Fling had to be astronomical. Turnovers REALLY helped this year (1st in take-aways, 3rd in differential). That's a hard thing to maintain. However, compared to the 2019 wins, most of their wins were by a very good margin. If the team can improve (which, why shouldn't it?), 10-6 should be the low bar, even if they run into some poor luck (like Buffalo @ Arizona, or LV against Miami). Not including the Washington FT, 7 games next year against 2020 playoff teams (but that is always in flux). Having a 2nd place schedule is supposed to be harder than a 4th place...playing against the Ravens (probable loss) and Raiders (toss-up) in 2021 is definitely a big jump over playing against the Jags and Bengals in 2020 (both easy games), no? I just believe the 2020 Dolphins, if they were stagnant would have a worse record in 2021...if the AFC stays as tough as it was this year. I also believe they'll improve, how much remains to be seen, but I definitely expect it...and that's Flo's fault.
What matters is making the playoffs. We all love the improvement and we won 10 games... but not making the playoffs stings. Next year we will have a Qb with some experience and the O line will have had time to gel. Our expectations are playoffs and we expect at least 1 win I think. It does not matter if we win 10 games or 12... I mean we all want to win 12 games obviously... If we make the playoffs and our QB has taken a step forward we will not be the type of fans that are just happy to make the playoffs our expectations are going to be higher.. We will expect to give the Chiefs, Titans, Ravens, or Bills a run for their money... We will be eager to see how we stack up against the best teams in the AFC That is what the ten-win season this year did this year... We can now recover from being grateful that we won more than 8 games and we did not suck phase of fanhood.
Dolphins 2016 record 10-6. The offense continues to be bad and we haven't won a playoff game in 20 years. We aren't winning anything that matters.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3BJzkPDyk4IsSnlySuw4n9 Podcast from DolphinsTalk looking at the dual OC staffing. He mentions some Patriots scenarios where there were no named coordinators, including one where Flores was an offensive assistant.