The only positive I can see from this is that we get a real OC and DC now. Hopefully Vic comes as our new DC with a new coach!
Not entirely surprised by the firing of Flores. I've read and seen some articles citing the difficulty with working with him. Obviously many of those things started already. I also wonder what picks are completely Flores and which are Grier. Last year seems to have been a good draft for us, but most of the year before was a complete miss. Befuddling to say the least.
How do you see us getting a real OC and DC now? Our owner has basically said to the NFL world that the communication and collaboration between our GM and HC has broken down and he's sided with keeping the GM when the HC is responsible for leading/coaching the team; he needs the GM to be feeding players that fit his system. Now you basically have the owner saying yeah they weren't getting along, so the coach is out and here's my GM; he's my guy! As a HC candidate why would you want to walk into a situation where the GM already has the balance of power clearly in his favor? It makes no sense IMO. I find it highly unlikely that when you keep a GM like Grier in a dysfunctional organization you aren't getting a quality HC to come here and slide into that situation. We're likely to see another first timer; or a retread HC as a stop gap until the whole house is cleaned again. LEts not forget what we just did to Flores here also. Hired him when basically nobody wanted this job. Blew up the roster to leave him a bunch of rookies and he manages to somehow go 5-11. Then last year he wins 10 games and barely misses the playoffs. Now this year he has to play the QB he doesn't want (likely at the direction of the GM and Owner) and still manages to have a winning season, and if we kick two field goals and don't lose to JAx on a last second FG we're 10-6 this year and into the playoffs. He's now fired, and your GM isn't. Where's the logic and if you're a HC in waiting; why are you signing up for that?
There probably was division. My question is, "Who would you side with?" A - The guy who has been with the team for 20, and in that time, the team has been a perennial loser. B - The guy who has been here for 3 years in a total rebuild who has put together back-to-back winning seasons.
Jordan Howard looked fine this year. Clearly not done. Because its his job to make it work. Obviously you are jumping to conclusions about what players he wants or doesn't want but regardless once your coach is essentially undermining your QB you are in some trouble. Its Flores job to make it work.
I understand people that are defending the decision, and if the reports are true about some of the issues Flores had with the players and front office, then yes those are troubling. but that does not change the fact that we have major issues at the very top with Ross and Grier. They both like to point the finger at the head coach whenever things goes bad. It was unanimous what Adam Gase was, he was an overhyped lapdog to Peyton Manning that road his coattails to a head coaching job. Flores can actually motivate a team, on a season that looked like we were not gonna win anymore, he kept preparing us like we could and our team came to fight for a playoff spot till the very end. flores is what we thought dan campbell would become… what jets fans hope saleh is… what the titans have in Vrabel.. now my guess is theyre going to offer the job to some alabama assistant.. and that assistants career will go as far as Tua takes him
Howard was coming off an injury though when we signed him; no? Pretty sure he was. Grier loves reclamation projects coming off injury; they're a cheap way to fill the gaps in his poor player acquisition/drafting. You can't hire a coach based on his vision for his offensive and defensive systems and then feed him players that don't fit and expect to coach to just "make it work". It doesn't work that way! That's exactly what causes the friction between the HC and GM; the GM essentially is hanging the HC out to dry. Picture this: GM: Hey coach; what kind of QB you want us to draft at 5? HC: Herbert. Pocket passer with movement ability and a rocket for an arm to help us build a vertical offense. GM: OK; great! Thanks coach! GM: Coach; we drafted Tua! He's going to excel at the RPO game and short quick passes. Oh! and he's coming off a major injury! Let's do this! HC: Excuse me? Flores TRIED to make it work. Gailey was out; Frye comes as Tua's QB coach due to his ties with him. We change the offense to suit him and we get 100-150 yards passing per game? I mean come on... the GM is supposed to help the HC execute his vision and fill his system with players that fit towards reaching that common goal; not the opposite. Yes coaches have to make adjustments to fit a players strengths and weaknesses; nobody is a perfect fit. If you as GM are going to put my future as HC on the line giving me a QB that doesn't fit anywhere near what we're trying to do we're going to have a problem. Especially when you're that HC and you sit back and look at Tua's performance and abilities compared to those of the guy you wanted. Back when that Herbert story surfaced it was clear what was happening. The lines were being drawn and the power struggle began. Grier won out somehow; again. It's that simple and it's a flawed process that our owner is too stupid to see. They both should be gone for their failures to work together to create a winner. One was keeping his end and that was Flores; the other is just doing what the owner tells him to like a good little puppy dog.
Exactly; two coaching cycles now our owner has shown the GM runs the show. Why would you want to sign up for that if you're a top HC candidate? It's a clear sign of dysfunction.
Every single superstar top draft pick has an idea of how they would like to play and what they would like to do with their career. It’s up to the coach to build a relationship and trust with the player. To get the player to follow his lead and work within the team dynamic. Most coaches manage this without having the players family blow up on them and ultimately having to kick the player off the team. He ‘would have been’ insane? Minkah is already a 2 time pro bowler. And was like breaking or near breaking interception records. It all worked out for him. Flores didn’t work to compromise on this and many other relationships apparently. He is fired. I would suggest a ‘my way or the highway strategy’ is not a successful modern day strategy to lead and build respect with humans in our current social work environments .
Completely disagree. A rookie hasn’t earned anything. You’re paid millions of dollars to come in and do a job . He didn’t buy in. Maybe that’s on Flo but the second you start comprising what you believe will win for one player, it becomes a slippery slope for others.
Really didn't see this coming. Turn between pissed because I don't know if there's better, and "meh" because I have some issues with Flores and they are potentially big ones. Generally I think Flores did a good job rebuilding a hard-nosed football culture in Miami. That's not easy to do. BUT he comes with a ton of warts. He's not a very good gameday coach IMO and makes some really boneheaded decisions (clock management vs. the Jags for instance). We have an awful OC staff and obviously have trouble attracting talent to Miami. Word is he's hard to work with, and that may be holding us back from building a solid coaching staff. I've also hated how he's treated the QB situation. It feels like hes' "making do" with Tua as opposed to trying to make Tua succeed. I always heard that Ross was who wanted Watson, but it's now sounding like Flores was the driver behind that. If that's the case he handled the QB situational HORRIBLY. It's one thing to jerk a rookie in and out of games without giving them a chance to get up to game speed (I've never seen that work out for a team at any level), and it's a whole other issue if Flores was creating a controversy with trying to bring in another QB, ESPECIALLY one with Watson's baggage. I just really hope we have a lead on a good hire, though I have no doubt that we don't. Ross feels like an absolute joke.
4 offensive coordinators in 3 years. There was no vision for the offense. I agree they both should be gone
Oh; I know like I said his game/staff management is on him and was clearly a problem. However if the coach suggests the QB he prefers to build around and he's given the other by the GM there's going to be a big problem. Especially when the two are clearly very different types of QB. Again my issue isn't with the firing of Flores; but more so the firing of Flores and keeping of Grier when it's obviously clear the GM is a major part of the issues that got the coach fired.
Well.. the firing did accomplish one thing: it brought some life back to these boards LOL (for the wrong reasons I know..)
Reality is we have no idea how vocal he was. Maybe it was simple a preference or maybe he banged the drum for months for Herbert we don't know but either way its not an excuse for it to deteriorate like this or for him not get fully behind the QB they had even if it wasn't what he originally wanted.
I started to post this and then backed off- but I wouldn't be shocked to see Flores go back to New England. He could land a head coaching job by tomorrow if he wants, but he could also be lured to NE as Belichek's successor. That would make me extremely mad and I think once the smoke clears, there's a real possibility.
What coach is going to want to the Dolphins when you can’t coach the way you want? If Flores wanted another QB and not Tua and that is main reason he was fired that would say that Tua is the future. However, it seems GM and owner want another QB. So they are saying sorry Flores you were right about Tua, but we are firing you anyway. Makes no sense. The players did not quit on him which shows me they liked him as a coach. They quit on other coaches they did not like. This move is jacked up. Flores should have been kept and Grier gone. If you recall when Harbaugh coached before they players did not like him. What a mess.
I've played at two levels, and I can honestly say that there were several coaches I HATED! They pushed me ultra-hard and made some days a living hell for us. But at the end of the day, they made me a better player and they made the team a better team. I could care less if Flores was liked or not, and I can honestly care less if he was hard to work with. On a three win team, sure, fire the difficult coach. But we have players wanting to come to Miami because of Flores and that alone should tell you something. Maybe he had beef with Grier...but guess what...I have beef with Grier too and so do most of you! That's not a reason to fire a head coach after two winning seasons built off a gutted roster full of rookies.
Tua could be the worst QB to ever play and it still doesn't mean Flores handled him well or that their relationship wasn't a problem.
That makes me feel a little better- it was so evident that Burrow was NFL ready in his senior year of college.
Flores was crippled going forward; he would never get NFL caliber coaches to fix the offense (mainly OC and OL coach) when he was clearly on his last chance year (which he didn't actually get surprisingly). The coach that went 8 of 9 to close the season was also the one that went 1 of 8 to start it. Unacceptable. That said, I'd prefer BOTH men (Flo and Grier) getting fired and getting a new GM/HC combo at the same time. I'd be okay with them getting Caldwell and Fangio at DC. They could hit the ground running with a roster that needs obvious fixes, but is built to win now -should have won now actually. It will be a wasted rebuild if they bring in a new head coach that needs a couple years to get up to speed.
In my opinion, it is CRIMINAL to get rid of the cover-zero type defense and that was all Flores. Nobody could run that D like we did, and shifting philosophies (like we did the first 8 games) will lead to another setback and some players checking out. That's the big problem here- Flores was a defensive coach, and our defense is fantastic. You bring in an offensive coach and it might be a 6-11 year with a playoff-caliber roster.