Free at last Free at last..lets go scouting boys..

"ckparrothead wrote:

I'm all for Rex Ryan. I've been a big fan of his for years. But it is an absolute necessity that he's paired with a good offensive coordinator. And a GM who can pick a QB.

WHOA...Looking to upgrade in three phases, damn CK lol.

personally if this ends bad, with an absolute attached, I want to know who wants to coach us first, and hope Bill Cowher is interested..

There are other wishes like, Gus, Harbaugh, and Art briles...

and I would look at todd bowles as well.

Let me open up another can of worms ... do we remember the 2008 NFL Draft , I'm sure we all do and off course I know there is nothing we can do now , but I would like to just reflect on what we could have had, so to the draft 2008 first pick , "Jack Long " Good tackle , always hurt, should have never picked, a tackle with the first pick this could have waited and he is no longer with us either... lets see what QB's were sitting there for the picking , HMMMMM "Matt Ryan" " Joe Flacco" wow and let me see they have been both to the playoffs several times and Flacco has won the SB. Than the first pick of the 2nd which still is like a first round pick , we pick "Philip Merling" 'BUST" when could, have picked a good tackle here and had or Franchise QB with the first pick. That year we had 2 picks in the 2nd round the second was "Chad Henne " "BUST" we could have picked up another good OL person , than the 3 rd round "Kendall Langford" BUST, could have chosen a CB here there were some good ones that were chosen between the 3 and 4 rounds , than of course there always Sean Smith whom we should have never let go which was the next year...4th round as I stated for the 3rd another CB , we picked some Guard that is no longer playing.. we didn't have pick in the 5th , the 6 round we had Erick Walden ILB, who is still playing and starting , so not sure why we traded him, than or other picks in the 6th were Donald Thomas and Lex Hilliard , who are both no longer playing than Nate Garner "BUST" and than Lionel Dotson, who ever that is. This of course as we know was thanks to good Jeff Ireland , who was a epic Failure as a GM ... All I'm saying DPHANS , is I hope that we don't have to rebuild again , but feel it is going to happen.

"jw3102 wrote:

There are really only 3 or 4 truly elite QB's in the NFL today. Wilson may not yet be at that level, but he is a great deal closer to the top tier QB's in the NFL than Tannehill is. I believe if Wilson was the QB of this team and not Tannehill, this team would have won more games than it has so far this season.

As far as Flacco is concerned. All you have to do is look at his record against the Dolphins and how many times he has led his team to the playoffs since he entered the league to realize he is a far superior QB when compared to Tannehill.

"djphinfan wrote:

I don't believe anyone did that..relax dude, were talking about strengths and weaknesses and what we need to do to get better, we'll find a solution.

Yes, he certainly advocated looking at head to head records, and playoffs to compare the two.

Matt Ryan has required significant playmakers alongside him to be successful. Joe Flacco has had a dominant run game and defense to help him (not this year, obviously). I don't think that Matt Ryan or Flacco is really a serious upgrade to Tannehill, certainly not when you take all the factors into account (limited college starts, offensive line woes, league leading drops by receivers, folding defense, etc).

"ToddPhin wrote:

That's easy to say when Pittsburgh's last 2 head coaches were 31-17 and 32-16 through their first 3 seasons with 5 trips to the playoffs and 1 SB victory. Why would Pitt not stick with Tomlin & Cowher with that level of success? At 22-23, Philbin has done little to show he deserves such a long leash.

If you think we should be more like the Steelers, then that would actually mean canning Philbin and hiring a HC who doesn't need 4 years to figure out how to win with a roster that's talented enough to own 4th quarter leads against Denver, Green Bay, New England, Detroit, and San Diego. Then he got out-coached by Rex Ryan last week and would've lost to the struggling 2-10 Jets if NY had something that resembled a QB.

This current team is more talented, features better QB play, and has a better OC than the 2009-10 teams that Sparano yielded 7-9 records out of, yet here we are with Philbin- just 1 game over .500 after finishing 8-8 and squandering a playoff opportunity last year after losing 2 straight to teams with losing records. Now, if the team's improved talent, better QB play, and upgraded OC are enough to account for Miami going from 1 game under .500 with Sparano to 1 game over .500 this year by themselves, it begets the question- where's the head coaching impact? I'll tell you where. He's in Arizona. Bowles went 2-1 with the same team that Sparano went 4-9 with. Enter Joe Philbin who inherited a team that finished 2011 on a 6-3 note but lost 5 games in the 4th quarter (17-16 on a last minute TD to Cleveland; lost in OT to Denver after blowing a 15-0 lead late in the 4th qtr; lost 20-17 to NYG after blowing a 7 pt lead in the 4th qtr; lost 20-19 to Dallas on a last second FG; and lost 27-24 to New England after being tied 17-17 with 9 minutes to play)..... and Joe went 7-9 with it. His job as Sparano's replacement was to correct those crushing 4th qtr losses that helped get Tony fired, not add to them for 3 straight years. What's Joe here for if he can't fix those issues or get more out of this team than Sparano?

Conversely, the Jets organization and its roster are somewhat of a mess but that didn't prevent Rex from taking his talent-deprived 29th ranked scoring offense and 19th ranked scoring D to the same 8-8 record last year that Philbin saw, except Rex overachieved and reached 8-8 by not blowing a single 4th qtr lead and by going 7-2 in close 4th qtr games, whereas Joe underachieved and was unable to surpass 8-8 thanks to going 7-6 in close 4th qtr games, by blowing 3 4th qtr leads, and by losing Miami's final 2 games against teams with inferior records. Miami was in 13 close 4th qtr games because the talent was there to be competitive all year; NY was in just 9 close 4th qtr games b/c their lesser talent saw them get outmatched much of the season which you can see by looking at their points for and against. Rex managed a .500 record out of an offense that averaged 18.1 pts/game and a defense that allowed 24.2, for a total point differential of -97. Joe managed a .500 record out of an offense that averaged 19.8 pts and a defense that averaged 20.9, for a total point differential of -18..... and the -18 is slightly misleading because that's where all the blown 4th qtr leads went to. Rex understandably couldn't overcome a glaring lack of roster talent for many of NY's games, but in those that he could keep close, he won and preserved leads. Joe on the other hand had enough roster talent to compete with everyone but New Orleans yet blew 4th qtr leads and lost a bunch of close 4th qtr games.

It gets even worse. In 2010, Rex had a roster very comparable in talent to Philbin's 2014 squad, with a scoring differential of +3.9 pts/game compared to Miami's current +4.2, yet Rex went 9-3 in close 4th qtr games and again didn't blow a 4th qtr lead all season. Meanwhile, Joe has gone 3-5 in close 4th qtr games and has blown 3 4th qtr leads. The result: Rex finished 11-5 and was a goal line stop away from reaching the Super Bowl; Joe is 7-6 and appears to have our realistic hopes for the playoffs shattered in the final quarter of the season just as he shatters them in the final quarter of games.

Just to put it into perspective, these are our losses this year:

Aaron Rodgers (Super Bowl MVP)
Peyton Manning (Super Bowl MVP)
Joe Flacco (Super Bowl MVP)

Lions (#1 defense in the league)
Chiefs (2013 Play-off team, great coach, desperate after 0-2 start)

Bills (tough divisional opponent who we later beat)

While we had some 4th quarter leads, we weren't able to run the ball when we needed to eat clock and our defense failed us for the first time in several seasons.

Those are fixable.

"tgeyser wrote:

Let me open up another can of worms ... do we remember the 2008 NFL Draft , I'm sure we all do and off course I know there is nothing we can do now , but I would like to just reflect on what we could have had, so to the draft 2008 first pick , "Jack Long " Good tackle , always hurt, should have never picked, a tackle with the first pick this could have waited and he is no longer with us either... lets see what QB's were sitting there for the picking , HMMMMM "Matt Ryan" " Joe Flacco" wow and let me see they have been both to the playoffs several times and Flacco has won the SB. Than the first pick of the 2nd which still is like a first round pick , we pick "Philip Merling" 'BUST" when could, have picked a good tackle here and had or Franchise QB with the first pick. That year we had 2 picks in the 2nd round the second was "Chad Henne " "BUST" we could have picked up another good OL person , than the 3 rd round "Kendall Langford" BUST, could have chosen a CB here there were some good ones that were chosen between the 3 and 4 rounds , than of course there always Sean Smith whom we should have never let go which was the next year...4th round as I stated for the 3rd another CB , we picked some Guard that is no longer playing.. we didn't have pick in the 5th , the 6 round we had Erick Walden ILB, who is still playing and starting , so not sure why we traded him, than or other picks in the 6th were Donald Thomas and Lex Hilliard , who are both no longer playing than Nate Garner "BUST" and than Lionel Dotson, who ever that is. This of course as we know was thanks to good Jeff Ireland , who was a epic Failure as a GM ... All I'm saying DPHANS , is I hope that we don't have to rebuild again , but feel it is going to happen.

That was all the doing of the douche Parcells, but I get your point.

That's exactly why we have to avoid rebuilding over and over again at all costs.

When you do that you're always looking to overhaul a roster.

There is no worse mistake a franchise can make than what the Dolphins did during the past decade.

"tgeyser wrote:

Let me open up another can of worms ... do we remember the 2008 NFL Draft , I'm sure we all do and off course I know there is nothing we can do now , but I would like to just reflect on what we could have had, so to the draft 2008 first pick , "Jack Long " Good tackle , always hurt, should have never picked, a tackle with the first pick this could have waited and he is no longer with us either... lets see what QB's were sitting there for the picking , HMMMMM "Matt Ryan" " Joe Flacco" wow and let me see they have been both to the playoffs several times and Flacco has won the SB. Than the first pick of the 2nd which still is like a first round pick , we pick "Philip Merling" 'BUST" when could, have picked a good tackle here and had or Franchise QB with the first pick. That year we had 2 picks in the 2nd round the second was "Chad Henne " "BUST" we could have picked up another good OL person , than the 3 rd round "Kendall Langford" BUST, could have chosen a CB here there were some good ones that were chosen between the 3 and 4 rounds , than of course there always Sean Smith whom we should have never let go which was the next year...4th round as I stated for the 3rd another CB , we picked some Guard that is no longer playing.. we didn't have pick in the 5th , the 6 round we had Erick Walden ILB, who is still playing and starting , so not sure why we traded him, than or other picks in the 6th were Donald Thomas and Lex Hilliard , who are both no longer playing than Nate Garner "BUST" and than Lionel Dotson, who ever that is. This of course as we know was thanks to good Jeff Ireland , who was a epic Failure as a GM ... All I'm saying DPHANS , is I hope that we don't have to rebuild again , but feel it is going to happen.

yes, epic failure, so we need to be sure in what we have in lazor.

"resnor wrote:

Matt Ryan has required significant playmakers alongside him to be successful. Joe Flacco has had a dominant run game and defense to help him (not this year, obviously). I don't think that Matt Ryan or Flacco is really a serious upgrade to Tannehill, certainly not when you take all the factors into account (limited college starts, offensive line woes, league leading drops by receivers, folding defense, etc).

flacco is on another level from tannehill at this point.

Agreed. There is a darn good reason that Flacco is a Super Bowl MVP.

He really is a quality QB when it comes to answering to the demands of the NFL game.

He's big, tall, stands well in the pocket and delivers the ball beautifully downfield. He also remains very calm late in the game.

In defense of Tannehill, Flacco has had a lot of experience to become who he is today.

"tgeyser wrote:

Let me open up another can of worms ... do we remember the 2008 NFL Draft , I'm sure we all do and off course I know there is nothing we can do now , but I would like to just reflect on what we could have had, so to the draft 2008 first pick , "Jack Long " Good tackle , always hurt, should have never picked, a tackle with the first pick this could have waited and he is no longer with us either... lets see what QB's were sitting there for the picking , HMMMMM "Matt Ryan" " Joe Flacco" wow and let me see they have been both to the playoffs several times and Flacco has won the SB. Than the first pick of the 2nd which still is like a first round pick , we pick "Philip Merling" 'BUST" when could, have picked a good tackle here and had or Franchise QB with the first pick. That year we had 2 picks in the 2nd round the second was "Chad Henne " "BUST" we could have picked up another good OL person , than the 3 rd round "Kendall Langford" BUST, could have chosen a CB here there were some good ones that were chosen between the 3 and 4 rounds , than of course there always Sean Smith whom we should have never let go which was the next year...4th round as I stated for the 3rd another CB , we picked some Guard that is no longer playing.. we didn't have pick in the 5th , the 6 round we had Erick Walden ILB, who is still playing and starting , so not sure why we traded him, than or other picks in the 6th were Donald Thomas and Lex Hilliard , who are both no longer playing than Nate Garner "BUST" and than Lionel Dotson, who ever that is. This of course as we know was thanks to good Jeff Ireland , who was a epic Failure as a GM ... All I'm saying DPHANS , is I hope that we don't have to rebuild again , but feel it is going to happen.

Kendall Langford isn't a bust.

"DolphinGreg wrote:

Just to put it into perspective, these are our losses this year:

Aaron Rodgers (Super Bowl MVP)
Peyton Manning (Super Bowl MVP)
Joe Flacco (Super Bowl MVP)

Lions (#1 defense in the league)
Chiefs (2013 Play-off team, great coach, desperate after 0-2 start)

Bills (tough divisional opponent who we later beat)

This is a bunch of excuse-making WADR. To put it into real perspective, what do you think would happen if we were to make the playoffs and wanted to reach the Super Bowl? Do you think the NFL would take pity by allowing us to bypass the actual playoff teams and let us play 3 games against Oakland, Tennessee, and Jacksonville instead? Gimme a break. Rex Ryan didn't need your excuse-making to reach the AFC Championship game twice with Mark Sanchez, and he did it by going 2-1 against Peyton Manning, 3-2 against Brady, and beating them in back-to-back weeks in the playoffs, ON THE ROAD no less.

Tony Sparano's lesser talented team was able to defeat Rodgers on his home turf. Philbin didn't lose to Rodgers because Rodgers flat out beat him. Joe allowed Rodgers to beat him because his team lost focus late in the 4th qtr and his butt got out-coached. Absolving Philbin of that game just b/c Rodgers was on the other side is flat out ridiculous.

....and absolving Philbin just because Detroit's #1 D was on the other side is equally as ridiculous. Tannehill, Lazor, and the offense scored on 3 straight possessions to own a late 4th qtr lead. Detroit's #1 D was on the bench when their 24th ranked scoring offense outplayed Miami's 7th ranked scoring D to win the game, the same 24th ranked offense that Arizona and New England held to 6 and 9 pts the subsequent two weeks.

Joe Flacco? C'mon. Stop throwing out modifiers like "SB MVP" as if that suddenly un-Flacco's him. He's still Joe Flacco, not Joe Montana.

Chiefs? yup, you said it- great coach. If Miami had a great coach, you wouldn't be recognizing Andy Reid in a way suggestive that he provides an inherent coaching advantage over Miami. The 2-12 Titans and 2-12 Raiders didn't need excuses to beat KC.

I couldn't care less if the Bills are a "tough divisional opponent". How is that any different than every other team that has "tough divisional opponents" to go through to reach the playoffs or win their division? Great coaches with ample roster talent win those games.

Perhaps you should write Roger Goodell and see if he'll omit playoff caliber teams and great QBs from our schedule next year since apparently no other team has to go through them to reach the post season. Philbin is 3-6 this year against teams in the playoff hunt. If you believe it's acceptable to lose that many against them, which you do, then by default you're essentially suggesting that Philbin isn't a playoff caliber coach.

While we had some 4th quarter leads, we weren't able to run the ball when we needed to eat clock and our defense failed us for the first time in several seasons.

Those are fixable.yet Philbin hasn't fixed them, and this wasn't the first time that Philbin's team failed him defensively with 4th qtr leads. It's become a chronic issue.

OH YEAH !!! another thing what about or Newest BUST "Dion Jordan... moved to pick 2 to get this Guy and he done nothing except get put on suspension for drugs ....

Giving credit to your opponents when they are better is only logical.

I want the Dolphins to become as good as those teams.

Our roster has steadily improved and I see us getting to 10-wins next year.

Why would I remove Philbin when getting to 10-wins next season is not much of a liberal estimation?

"DolphinGreg wrote:

That's exactly why we have to avoid rebuilding over and over again at all costs.

When you do that you're always looking to overhaul a roster.

Please stop spreading disinformation. A roster overhaul is not a prerequisite of a new coach unless the roster needs overhauling, which this one doesn't. Plenty of successful coaches have won with existing rosters without any need for an overhaul, but rather simply tweaking what needs to be tweaked in order to take the next step, which Philbin has seemingly been unable to do. More importantly, however, is the fact that it doesn't matter how good a roster is if the coach can't reach the playoffs with it.

There is no worse mistake a franchise can make than what the Dolphins did during the past decade.

wrong again. The mistake Miami made was being unable to find a suitable head coach, not providing those unsuitable coaches more time to flounder about. I mean seriously, do you honestly think if Miami gave Cam Cameron and Tony Sparano more time that Miami would now be a perennial Super Bowl contender?

"DolphinGreg wrote:

Giving credit to your opponents when they are better is only logical.

I want the Dolphins to become as good as those teams.

Our roster has steadily improved and I see us getting to 10-wins next year.

Why would I remove Philbin when getting to 10-wins next season is not much of a liberal estimation?

because we should've already been there last year, and now for the second year in a row it seems we'll be missing out on a playoff trip that we should be attending. Miami should've easily been a 10 win team this year, yet now they have to win 3 straight to reach that "milestone". If Joe can't get it done this year, with this talented team, and with the 4th qtr leads he's had, what makes you assume he'll suddenly change and get it done next year? What, are you thinking about the additions that could be made to the roster, the further development of our players, and Tannehill and the offense's continued improvement? If that happens it would elevate us to Super Bowl caliber. You don't see the inherent problem with that?... that Philbin would need a Super Bowl caliber team just to break 10 wins and reach the playoffs, whereas great coaches are able to reach the playoffs with playoff caliber teams and overachieving, sub playoff caliber ones?

WADR, WHY must we keep comparing Tannehill to established veterans our HoFers? I mean, it literally makes no sense. Tannehill came out very raw, and unpolished. We ALL knew that it was going to take time developing him. He has progressed EVERY DAMN YEAR, to the point that he has a 93 rating, 21 tds and 9ints. Now, we're supposed to abandon him because he isn't playing like a 6/7 year NFL starter who also had four years starting in college? Absurd. That is the only word that comes to mind when reading this stuff. You all forget how little anyone thought about Flacco a year or two ago. You all forget the scrutiny Stafford has been under forever. You forget that Rodgers sat for four years. Ditto Brady on sitting. You forget that Brady was, supposedly, a dink and dunk specialist that couldn't throw a deep ball. You forget that Brees was so bad that San Diego drafted Rivers. I could go on and on. Stay the course with Tannehill, give him an AVERAGE line, a deep threat who can actually adjust to a ball, and watch him light the world on fire.

"ToddPhin wrote:

because we should've already been there last year, and now for the second year in a row it seems we'll be missing out on a playoff trip that we should be attending. Miami should've easily been a 10 win team this year, yet now they have to win 3 straight to reach that "milestone". If Joe can't get it done this year, with this talented team, and with the 4th qtr leads he's had, what makes you assume he'll suddenly change and get it done next year? What, are you thinking about the additions that could be made to the roster, the further development of our players, and Tannehill and the offense's continued improvement? If that happens it would elevate us to Super Bowl caliber. You don't see the inherent problem with that?... that Philbin would need a Super Bowl caliber team just to break 10 wins and reach the playoffs, whereas great coaches are able to reach the playoffs with playoff caliber teams and overachieving, sub playoff caliber ones?

No one on EARTH had us winning any more than 10 games this year. Most predicted 7-8 wins, the 6 and unders outnumbered the 9 and overs. If you don't like Philbin, fine. Neither do I. But acting like 9-7 is some epic failure is pretty weak.

"ToddPhin wrote:

because we should've already been there last year, and now for the second year in a row it seems we'll be missing out on a playoff trip that we should be attending. Miami should've easily been a 10 win team this year, yet now they have to win 3 straight to reach that "milestone". If Joe can't get it done this year, with this talented team, and with the 4th qtr leads he's had, what makes you assume he'll suddenly change and get it done next year? What, are you thinking about the additions that could be made to the roster, the further development of our players, and Tannehill and the offense's continued improvement? If that happens it would elevate us to Super Bowl caliber. You don't see the inherent problem with that?... that Philbin would need a Super Bowl caliber team just to break 10 wins and reach the playoffs, whereas great coaches are able to reach the playoffs with playoff caliber teams and overachieving, sub playoff caliber ones?

When Miami fixes it's O-line, it will be in the Play-offs.

Their QB and skill position players are too good for that not to happen.

Albert and James were huge additions.

Fix the Guards and Miami will be in the Play-offs.

"DolphinGreg wrote:

When Miami fixes it's O-line, it will be in the Play-offs.

Their QB and skill position players are too good for that not to happen.

Albert and James were huge additions.

Fix the Guards and Miami will be in the Play-offs.

A physical RB would be nice. A guy that Lazor could use to hammer defenses, creating more opportunities for Tannehill to leak out on keepers, more play action and down field passing. Throw in a WR who's better after the catch to pair with Wallace and Landry. We'll be in good shape.

"resnor wrote:

Yes, he certainly advocated looking at head to head records, and playoffs to compare the two.

he's basically saying flacco has been underrated and is currently a better qb that tannehill...both true statements imo..of course I understand that flake has more exp.

"Piston Honda wrote:

A physical RB would be nice. A guy that Lazor could use to hammer defenses, creating more opportunities for Tannehill to leak out on keepers, more play action and down field passing. Throw in a WR who's better after the catch to pair with Wallace and Landry. We'll be in good shape.

were gonna need another lineman, going to have to pay attention to this defense as well, don't want regression there cause that can make you a worse team if your putting to many resources into the offense..

"DolphinGreg wrote:

When Miami fixes it's O-line, it will be in the Play-offs. Their QB and skill position players are too good for that not to happen. Albert and James were huge additions. Fix the Guards and Miami will be in the Play-offs.

I think the improvement rests rather on whether the team can get playmakers at receiver who can be elusive, play in space, get yards after the catch, and threaten to take short passes the distance. If Tannehill is going to be the QB, the athleticism and playmaking ability has to happen at the receiver position, and we're talking about Percy Harvin/Sammy Watkins types who can get the ball and run with it. The improvement on offense rests far more on increased athleticism at receiver than on giving Tannehill more time to throw with better guard play. Tannehill is going to throw short either way, and plays need to be made by the guys who catch those balls.

"djphinfan wrote:

were gonna need another lineman, going to have to pay attention to this defense as well, don't want regression there cause that can make you a worse team if your putting to many resources into the offense..

I think the need for DT is under-appreciated with the fans.

Now that Soliai is long gone and Randy Starks is on his last legs, we're starting to feel our defense soften up the middle.

The team's future is a bit too reliant on Odrick and Mitchell at the moment for my taste.

It's a bit crazy but if somehow losing Wake meant getting Suh I'd be pretty happy. Suh probably won't get out of Detroit though.

"DolphinGreg wrote:

When Miami fixes it's O-line, it will be in the Play-offs.

Their QB and skill position players are too good for that not to happen.

Albert and James were huge additions.

Fix the Guards and Miami will be in the Play-offs.

Plugging holes sounds so simple...and yet it hardly ever works because more holes open every year, and everyone gets hit with injuries that open even more. Again...even the best teams this year have weak units. They just have big difference-makers and strong coaching to make up for it.

It's a bit crazy but if somehow losing Wake meant getting Suh I'd be pretty happy. Suh probably won't get out of Detroit though.
Blasphemy.