It ain't the QB.
It's the coach - the HC specifically. A case could even be made for owner or GM, but as far as being more important that any player, it's the coach.
It's not just true for football but any team sport, if not others. Basketball, Soccer, take your pick. If you have a great coach then even an average squad can perform well and consistently. A great squad with a poor coach, on the other hand, can perform poorly. And as for a great squad with a great coach - that's where you start talking dynasties.
These are just the facts. Leadership matters. More than anything. It surpasses even talent.
Sadly for the Phins, outside of the squad, I think there's a problem with Ross too, which might mean no joy until he's gone, only time will tell.
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Leadership isn't more important than talent.
Work ethic will always surpass talent and leadership will always take a back seat to results.
What you need are the right people in the right roles.
Then you will look back and say you must've had leadership. -
True.
The more I follow football the more I see one trend.
It's not about talent. It's not about coaching/schemes. It's about having the right kinds of good players.
It's about getting above-average talent which fits your scheme. -
First, a team must have at least adequate quarterback play to be competitive in the league. Without that, a team has no chance. Second, the team must have playmakers elsewhere and be able to defend the pass, lest it get beaten 45-42 like Marino's old teams. Third, to distinguish itself from teams with similar talent, given the inevitable parity in the league, the team must have leadership among the players and a winning culture, so that it can play highly competitive games against other good teams with the necessary mentality and emotional makeup. That's where the head coach plays a role in cultivating leadership among the players and creating a team culture. So, the head coach is down a ways on the list in my book, but in the end he's part of what distinguishes a great team from other very good teams.
roy_miami likes this. -
A+
Not enough is said about how much responsibility lies with the players for whatever lack of leadership there is.
What we don't have are leaders at the right positions on the field. Our strongest personalities don't align with our strongest on-field talents. -
Yes, it is, that is why Philbin is untouchable. Our team, in three years, even with two years of Ireland, is better off than it was when Philbin took over. Same cannot be said of Harbaugh, or Ryan.
We are developing talent at key positions, QB, RB, WR, T, TE.
We are running the spread which works and is fun to watch, something people have been yearning for since Marino.
The key elements are there, the system, the talent acquisition, the development. Now we just need the OC to get with the program. -
Untouchable? That is too freaking much. I mean, maybe he gets kept, but this league is about results, and this one is shaping up for the second dissapointing ending in a row. Can't blame Sherman this time. Jesus that is reality detachment to say he is "untouchable."
As to original argument ... Aaron Rogers>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Mike McCarthy. -
Not to me.
This team right now is light years ahead of where it has been for the past 2.5 decades. -
And that is all on Philbin? Not seeing it. He brings nothing to the table that makes him untouchable even if you see improvement. Its been up and down for awhile - we made the playoffs under Sparano one year, that's better than Joe has done yet. Add a second late season collapse and playoff miss? One can make an argument to retain him, but untouchable is ludicrous.
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I've had it to the hearing this "talent" crap. This is the NFL not college. Its not like we r having to play OSU and we are a MAC team. There is pretty even "talent" throughout the league. If we had no talent we would not have beaten the pats, destroyed SD and went toe to toe with the lions packers and broncos. If raw talent was what mattered those teams would have destroyed us. We get outcoached by the better coaches, even with similar talent. The Lions had our number on 4th down conversions, the ravens did that yesterday. The broncos fooled us by running for hundreds of yards even w Manning at QB, we handed Rodgers two clutch TOs yet against Denver when our D could not get set on 3rd and 20, we fail to call a timeout. Its not talent. Its coaching. By the second day after these kind of losses, the mood gets even worse and all the sudden every position on the field is 0-16 caliber at best. Then ppl start wanting to give Philbin a pass. How many of our players were very good on other teams? How many pro bowlers? Etc. Why are they not performing up to their potential? Coaching. The pats can plug any john doe in and still dominate. That's coaching.a good coach gets that players best (and we've seen many of our players have those games) for almost ever game, and makes it expected. A good coach leads by example so players know they better give effort. Philbin gets yelled at on the sideline I don't know if any of you remember this, I forget which game, but at one point Rizzi was yelling for the FG unit or something to stay on the field and gesturing w his hands, and philbin was sheepishly behind him imitating his gestures but in a weaker way. It was hilarious. Stop w the talent posts. Its all on philbin. What a dope of a HC. 2 years in a row talented is good enough and he flops. Are you gonna tell me we were less talented than the bills and jets last year? I think not.cuchulainn likes this.
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Just about any team would win 11 with them, and with our pass defense they'd win 13.
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Agreed.
Not to mention how atrocious we were at OL last year. I think OL is one of the most overlooked and important positions in football. When the OL isn't doing their job, good QB's become pedestrian. I also don't believe you can overhaul 5 positions in 1 season successfully. Until Albert went down, they were markedly improved. Once he went down, we ran into talent and depth issues that I believe are from poor drafting. -
The injuries suffered have definitely made this team perform at a lower level than it could. This is football, though, and so injuries will always be factor. What it shows is that although, IMO, wonders were done this past year in improving the team, no-one, and I mean no-one, no team, nothing, at all, could transform any team from what we had last year to being a fully-functional, super deep squad. We have talent, what we lack now, is depth, and that's why we lost to Baltimore and why we are in the situation we are.
It's also why I'm actually happy about where this team is. Any evaluation of this team that ignores the reality of the apples-to-oranges NFL seasons and the massive shift brought in by a new OL coach, new OC and offense, is a deficient, mistaken and ultimately deceptive evaluation. As fans we might feel the cumulative effect of losing season upon losing season but what we have to realise is that in itself that means nothing. Time means nothing. It's all about the changes that take place. That's what can make evaluating the individual pieces of this team so difficult, there have been next to no stable or unmoved pieces and in the ultimate team game, everything affects everything else. Not to mention the changes that happen throughout the rest of the league as well.
So I was happy with the direction this teams was taking at the start of the year and I'm happy with it now. The Dolphins are stronger, they have more of the right pieces in the right places. It was, from the outset, an impossible task for Hickey, or anyone else, in one off-season, to make up for all the deficiencies in the squad. We gained bookend tackles on the OL. We gained a surprising capable (backup) centre. We're still struggling at guard though, and apart from centre, we're now struggling with depth along the entire OL. Having said that, even as it is, John Benton has made those less than great pieces perform better than last year, and that's a HUGE thing. It's actually what I hope happens with the whole team - improvement beyond just the individual pieces, better execution.
We've improved in the secondary slightly and we've seen great growth from a number of individuals.
Linebackers - that woeful unit - have actually been stronger than expected. Yes, there have been some downright embarrassing moments, especially in tackling, but with some of the young guys performing as they have, I wouldn't be surprised, that with continued progression on this path, the Phins linebackers become one of the best and most exciting units on this team in the next few couple of years.
The DL has been puzzling. We know we've got talent there but it has massively under-performed at times. It's actually one area where, based off just my gut, I don't feel we've improved all that much from last year. Maybe there's a lack of cohesion there, but I think we need some freshness in that unit. We know that talent is there, we just need it to come out and be a consistent force.
WR has had issues but I think this is one of two things. Either this teams just needs to gel more with the new offense, everyone needs to find their role, and Tannehill needs to get fully familiar with how to use it - Lazor too. Or else, some of the good talent we have needs replacing purely in terms of a better fit for what Lazor wants to do. If there's a persistent disconnect between approaches and mindsets then, even if there's talent, the best thing can often be to switch pieces out to find talent that isn't better, necessarily, but a better fit.
So all in all, I'm still really excited about where this team is going. Depth, comfort and team-work take time. There are no short-cuts for that. I still think we're in a good place.
The biggest mis-givings I have are Philbin's inability to adjust on the fly and lack of focus and killer instinct. I'm not fully convinced by Lazor, yet, but I can't tell if what we're seeing on offense is more a result of the Philbin way or Lazor's own doing. If Philbin is holding Lazor off in any way, I'd prefer to see how he does when given full freedom. A change a DC might well be warranted even for just freshening things up, finding a better fit.
On the positive side, I do think Philbin did learn something from last year and improved. That being the case, and judging from how he seems to take time, in-game to learn, maybe we'll see him grow even more next year and become what this team needs him to be. By all accounts he's a humble and honest guy, and if nothing else that lends itself well to learning and adapting and improving.cuchulainn and Dansar like this.