Not sure how i feel about it. If he does good, well hey its ok. But if its the status quo, i will definitely play the cynic.

 

Did he call Stephen Ross' mother a whore during the signing?

 

You do realize that Ross has never called anyone's mother a whore, right? Well, not in public or during an interview etc, etc, at least.

 

"Cynical" = kneejerk and emotional

"wait and see" = logical and level headed

Right? :couch:

 

Agree Im really still in a shock and upset mode ,the hiring of new coach does does not make it any better.

 

Well, I'm glad, though the Weasel did do Sparano dirty he is a sharp GM.

We have not had a real GM for over 3yrs since...Jimmy Johnson?

With all of the wild moves the Franchise has made over the past decade I look forward to the Stability

 

Well on the offensive side, the magician has looked more like your red headed nephew doing card tricks and we need Lance Burton to to get back in the fight for the AFC East.

 

unless of course, they both get dumped after next season, as Muck described in his cynical view in the initial post.

 

Which is a possibility, though I suspect Ross looks at Ireland as if he were Tannenbaum with the NYJ.

 

Good or bad, this should at least get things moving for signing Soliai and Wake.

 

It's things like this which have convinced me to take a step back from the Miami Dolphins.

I'm sick of watching a sub-par project run by a front office that oscillates between incompetency and downright lying. All of it fronted by an owner who has probably never thrown a football in his life, let alone know how the business works.

Welcome to the Dark Ages. Consistent 7-10 seasons, just enough to break your heart and stomp on your balls every December.

 

If Irish pulls off the hat trick MCD, Solai, Wake, I will be impressed and happy...our mood matters....we know these three are true dolphin's, and great players..

 

i would love that but wake and soliai are the priorities. mcdaniels might price himself out

 

Count me as one of the cynical ones. I am just not buying into Ireland until he can find us a QB.

 

Thing with McD is we already have Odrick and Merling waiting to get playing time.

 

If Merling was worth anything he'd have broken into the lineup by now. He's going on his 4th NFL season. That is plenty of time.

 

I don't know about everyone else but, I see more talent acquired over the past three off seasons than the prior 15 FRAKIN years. If I'm Da Boss, that's worth an extension.

 

DJ, To be fair, Merling did not get his chance in his third year. I believe he is gonna surprise this season. JMO.

 

Dude, when you have ZERO draft pics stick its not hard to make it look better. I think Bell was the only Wanny draft pic on the team in 2008 when this crew got here. That is utter incompetetence.

I think Ireland has done a fairly average job so far. He has found a couple of UFA, but calling most of his FA signings "lame" is being kind.

 

Anything to make these two feel like they'll be here longer than half of next season. We would not want a lame duck Coach, or GM but I'm pretty sure in this business, they know that they must get things back on track.

 

Yeah lets be patient one more year, and then just another year too. Dude don't you see how this gets old with this team ? But I can't help it, they are a part of my life. Its like a prison sentence you can't escape from.

 

Call Wake and Starks "lame" if ya like but, would not suggest doing so to their face. :) Add in Dansby, Penny, Bess, and Polite if ya want. Ireland has been FAR from perfect, no one is. I look at who he signed, the money that was spent, and ya gotta allow for the injuries, not his fault. Anyone not want Smiley and Grove beating up on a DL? Didn't happen, not his fault.

 

Aside from what Ireland has done, IT IS NOT CARL PETERSON we have to deal with. If Ireland trades our entire draft for a new water boy, he is still much better than Peterson.

 

Well he's worth something then based on the snaps he saw after he got back. He missed like 8+ weeks plus the entire offseason and was the 5th defensive linemen when he came back.

Just because a player isn't a starter doesn't mean they are worthless.

 

Agreed, it's almost like the Twilight Zone. Ya keep thinking that this will FINALLY be the year, only to be disappointed again. It REALLY does SUCK! I just have to keep hoping and believing, just my nature.

I did the same with my Heat. When they finally won that title, I celebrated for a week. With our Phins, it might be a month. LOL

 

DJ, i like the others believe we'll only sign Soliai and Wake .... but what we NEED on this defense is that 1 player who can take charge on the field -- i don't think that guy is Dansby .... but it NEEDS to be a LB or S. while i still advocate that we need another LB on this team -- our only area on improvement, we ned 'THAT' guy on defense to make this a defense that can carry the offense, much like BAL.

my point is ... each regimes success or failure can really be tied to that 1 guy -- be it on Offense (read QB) or Defense (read LB or S) that truly transforms the team from a good to special team. while i do still believe Henne can at least be a Flacco or even a lesser Roethlisberger type QB with an actual 'real' QB coach and a running game, he certainly is not a guy you hitch your job to .... therefore, it falls to the Defense -- so, as crazy as this sounds -- if that special LB or S is sitting there in either round 1 of the draft or still in their prime as a FA .... then this regime needs to get it done immediately to set itself up for the next 3-5 years.

all the rest of our effort needs to be on the Offense ... but to get where we want to go -- we are absolutely going to need that special Defense to get us there, very similar to BAL.

 

I don't think Ross had much choice following what happened with Harbaugh. No way a lame-duck coach and GM would have the respect of the players without an extension to both.

Maybe now Ireland and Sparano will feel secure enough to take a chance on drafting one of the QBs with the 1st round pick this year and giving the QB a year or two to develop on the bench or on the field of play.

Otherwise, I think Ireland and Sparano would have gone for a vet like McNabb or Young as an attempt to save their jobs.

 

Not sure if by "take charge" you are referring to leadership or a play-maker. I think the main problem is a play-maker(s) in the secondary who can create turnovers.

2008 record 11-5: +17 turnover differential
2009 record 7-9: -8 turnover differential
2010 record 7-9: -12 turnover differential

Even with the +17 differential in 2008 it had more to do with Pennington doing such a great job of not turning the ball over on offense than the defense creating them.

 

Great point. How many more games do we win if we catch a reasonable amount of picks, which Nolan put his players in position to do?

From what I've seen this season, teams win with TO's, great D, being able to run some, good ST's play, and a QB who can make a few plays and not turn the ball over.

 

Especially the ST's play, I watched the Ravens unit make play after play after play, same with the Jets, no long return then no game winning FG in Indy, and it goes on and on.

Sparano, imho, has never really taken them seriously enough, he talks about winning the hidden yardage battle, then does nothing to actually WIN the hidden yardage battle.

 

Way to sum up a thread.... :)

 

Southy .... 'Take Charge' does in fact mean both .... a leader who IS also a playmaker .... they don't come along everyday - but if there is one out there and available in any fashion, we need to do whatever it takes to get them.

while i advocated and predicted the Brandon Marshall trade -- a WR doesn't meet the above requirement. On offense it can only be a QB, and in rare cases a RB on a team with a special running game (which i don't think can be really done anymore). On defense, it can really only be a LB or S - namely because they sit in the middle of the field and can control things, make adjustments and most importantly - react and make plays.

as much as i still hold out hope for Henne to develop into an above average QB, he isn't the guy on offense -- Crowder most certainly isn't the guy, Dansby is the closest thing we have -- but not nearly at that level, and none of our promising young Ss even scratch the surface right now either.

if we 'think' we are ever getting to the SB in the next 3-5 years ... at least one of these guys MUST show up on our roster .....

 

So, if the Phins go 7-9 or worse in 2011 Sparano and Ireland are safe due to these contract extensions? I doubt it. This extension stuff is just a ploy to give the apprearance of stability.

Now, if they can swing a 9-7 record (but no playoffs) they probably hang on for yet another year. At least Ross could point to "progress" in the W-L column, right? Getting in as even the #6 seed would certainly buy them 2012.

All that said, Sparano does not have time to develop yet another rookie QB, so getting a vet is what they will focus on. McNabb is running on fumes now, Pennington won't make it past a handful of games before his shoulder goes out again. VY is interesting. How bad are his emotional/mental issues? If he could be managed well enough he has all the physical talent and starting experience to succeed.

The best option may be Henne developing under an improved offense and with another offensive weapon or two (TE and OL), to help him.

No way do I want to see Miami give up our first rounder for Orton or Kolb. That would signal a desperate reaction by our FO to solving the QB issue. I wish they had 2-3 years to grab a rookie QB and develop him, but they are inbetween a rock and a hard place now.

To sum it up: Henne or a "free" vet.

 

How much did the lack of vet leadership hurt us this past season?

 

Good question and one of my biggest concerns as I have yet to see a leader step up. The guys I believe that have the combination of talent, work ethic and time in NFL to be a leader are Long, Starks, Dansby, Will Allen and Bell. While the only two that seem to maybe have the type A personality to be one are Long and Allen. However, Allen can't stay healthy and may be gone. Anyway, this is just MO from a 10,000 foot view but as others mentioned effective leaders tend to come from players making the biggest highlight plays (QB, RB, OLB, ILB SS, FS). In fact the last ones I can remember that IMO were good/great were Zack and Dan.

 

Ozzy, I think it's well known that Ireland is doing yeoman's work. I just think alot of outsiders opinion are being swayed by the rate at which we are fed finformation. To wit:

Is this guy (Brian Biggane) calling Larry Lacewell every other week? Or is he feeding finformation from ONE interview at a rate at which serves his writing purpose.

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thed...out-weighs-in-on-jake-longmatt-ryan-decision/

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports...-ireland-has-more-responsibility-1198684.html

I read this article last night and thought "Isn't this the guy that just condemned the pick on Jake Long?" That's what you leave the blog article thinking. But if you combine the blog quote along with the latest article........the guy isn't condemning anything. He's just making random observations. And he is FAR more complimentary of Ireland than not. But you would not know that from reading a blog from a week ago.

 

Like coach fist pump, the extension is nothing more than ireland's severance package. A false sense of stability for the franchise's value, potential FAs etc. Now if ross accepts a half empty stadium & lost revenue in merchandise sales then I will be proven wrong.

15 seasons? C'mon man, that's reeeeeeaching. Keep in mind 10 seasons ago was 2000, wanny's first year. Five seasons prior was Shula's last. Remember all of those former 1st rounders? Yeah, most of them were a collection of "me first" players but you said "talent."

I'm not going to mention the defense jj gave us b/c it wouldn't be fair to even attempt to compare.

So that leaves the wanny years. The worst talent acquisition era in Dolphins history. So how could any fan be satisfied w/ a gm who is slightly better than the worst ever? It's come to that?

 

That's the worst bit of revisionist history I've seen in a long, long time. What defense JJ gave us? Do you mean the defense (and running game) that Dan Marino bailed out? That defense? The fact is that when it mattered most, Dan Marino won games under Jimmy Johnson. How anyone could resist that FACT, I don't know. So what did JJ give us again?

Oh yeah.... It's mentioned in your next statement.

Yeah, Wanny didn't acquire talent. But the worst thing he did was savage our salary cap holding onto the players that JJ picked with 2nd and 3rd contracts. Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor combined for damn near 15 million dollars in a given year. The culmination of it all was a defense (in Wanny's fourth year) that account for over 50 percent of our salary cap. Yeah, that's right. 11 players (from one side of the ball) took up over 50 percent of the cap. How is that kind of short sightedness even possible? 11 freaking players? None of which was a quarterback. They were ALL defenders.

So 15 years? I think it's safe to say that the past 3 have been better. As a matter of fact, I challenge you to name any consecutive three years in the last 25 years that were better.