Omar Kelly says "you are wasting your time and energy by debating Jeff Ireland's job status, he WILL be with the Dolphins in 2013."
Everyone's just going to have to chill out and let it play. I think, as I've said all along, Jeff Ireland's fate is tied to win totals. If the team wins, he's safe. If the team loses, he's not. If I've been confident that Jeff Ireland will be fired after this year it's only because I've been confident Miami will only win 5 or 6 games this year. But we'll just have to see about that.
I'm confused. If Ireland's job is safe, what does the "kiss of death" reference? Also, I agree with pumpdogs. As long as Ireland is GM, we will continue to wallow in mediocrity.
The kiss of death is that it was Omar Kelly making a declaration of fact out of something that is merely his opinion.
If we beat Buffalo and Jax, which aren't guarantees, can Ross really be satisfied with 7-9, 7-9, 6-10, 7-9?
"I see no holes in Legedu Naanee's game...NONE" - Omar Kelly Kiss of Death might be an understatement.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'll be a Dolphins fan till the day I stop drawing breath on this planet; BUT... I'm finding it harder and harder to maintain a high level of interest in this Jeff Ireland produced team. Increasingly, I find my care level and attention drifting away from the Dolphins even on game day. And this is coming from someone who watched every second of the 1-15 season with unwavering attention. As long as Stephen Ross leaves the last remnant of a ****ty failed regime in control of this team, I imagine my care level will continue to decrease as mediocre after mediocre season eventually wears on my soul. It won't surprise me at all if Ireland is retained. He's like the **** streak on the toilet bowl that refuses to go away after multiple flushes. You got the bulk of the **** down with the first flush (Parcells); the floater went down on flush number 2 (Henning); the bits of **** smeared toilet paper on the third (Sparano); but the **** streak (Ireland) remains. Smelling up this once proud franchise all the while.
What Omar said in that quote may not be wrong though. Just because Naanee has/had holes in his game, doesn't mean Omar saw them (or could even recognize them if he did).
Should he or will he? He SHOULD NOT be satisfied with that. But he probably will be satisfied with it. The Dolphins will have shown "improvement" with the extra win versus last year, and Tannehill will be the placeholder for hope.
Under Kubiak 6-10 (which was a 4 game improvement) 8-8 8-8 9-7 6-10 And McNair would have been justified in firing Kubiak. Also likely that most anyone would have had the success that Houston is now having if McNair had made a change. They were loading up on talent all those years and always got off to good starts before fading, much like the Fins used to do under Wanny
Personally, I haven't been emotionally tied to the franchise since around 2009. Dolphins losses haven't really upset me in a few years.
2011 for me. But I did get bothered by the overtime loss to the Jets this season. Those Jets games still get to me and probably always will...
Like it or not, it's the logical conclusion to make. Coming into this season it was likely the case. Jeff Ireland didn't stockpile picks and clear up cap space because his job was in jeopardy. Not to mention a lot of previously decisions have been made to look much better, and the team has not clearly lost because of talent issues in many games.
If he's wrong and doesn't know he's wrong, he's still wrong. There are actually multiple things wrong with his evaluation. We could break the whole thing down, but I think it would be a waste of our time.
I think Ireland has done a decidedly average job, but I would be surprised at the timing if they fire him this offseason. Wouldn't make sense for Ireland to essentially set the team up for wholesale turnover this offseason if his job were dependent on wins and losses.
To be fair the coaching staff presumably saw the same things. Naannee had everyone fooled it looks like.
Yes? Pretty much everything Jeff Ireland has done(good bad or awful), is pretty easy to explain if you think about it.
It didn't take them long once the games actually started. Fooled people in camp? I guess. A leopard doesn't change it's spots though. All they had to do was put on his game tape from year's past.
I'm not sure if it makes it better or worse, but the Dolphins wouldn't be the first coaching staff that had this issue either.
Like? I mean you can take a move like drafting Jared Odrick that people appeared confused about, but even then I can see the angle to it.
Couldn't disagree more. The most glaring of which was the Odrick pick. Still baffles me and always will.
It's not exactly bizarre and unheard of for a talented, raw player to develop in a longer than traditional amount of time. Naanee was not an inappropriate #4 or #5 wide receiver, and it was reasonable for them to do their due diligence with him if he performed in camp- Especially with Hartline and Johnson out.
Jeff Ireland may be fired. He may not be fired. But I can just about guarantee that those people believing that Jeff Ireland organized the 2013 off season for wholesale roster turnover will end up wrong. This is a process. We're going to hear a lot about how much money the Dolphins have in free agency, how much of a splash they're going to make, and then they're not going to make any moves, choosing to re-sign their own players. And then we're going to hear about how they didn't really have that much money when you consider all the contracts coming up and so a "big splash" never should have been expected and "good teams keep their own players and build through the draft". And then they'll draft players. Just like they drafted players in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012...every year. I'm sure some will try and somehow spin their draft picks into "wholesale turnover" but that's just hooey.
Ha. We used the same example. I'm sure if you squint hard enough, you can see an angle in just about anything, I suppose.
I don't disagree. I'm just pointing out that Omar Kelly likely just gave an honest assessment of a player that for all appearances looks like one that plays great in practice, but disappears in games.
I think the angle was that Wake, Soliai, and Starks were all making free-agent money and they weren't going to do the same for Kendall Langford. They needed a defensive lineman that would still be on his rookie contract through this year. Certainly you could make a strong case for better paths they could have taken, but what they did makes sense.
That would be a pretty big hole then, no? I'm not saying Omar didn't give an honest assessment. But that's my point; an honest assessment from Omar isn't worth the bandwidth it takes up.
Ireland is not going anywhere in 2013. You do not hire a new HC and then let hire a staff then change GMs the following year. Firing Ireland would spell disaster for this team right now. New GM comes in wants his own people around him and would give Philbin 2013 but you can bet your bottom dollar that unless Philbin made the playoffs in 2013 in 2014 the new GM would bring in the HC of HIS choice. I do not agree with Omar often but agree with him on this one.
I don't think they're going to choose to re-sign their own players and forego bringing in new players. I think we're going to see a lot of new players next season. I don't think those players are going to be high-profile expensive FAs, but I think we'll see a lot of new faces, especially offensively. There are a lot of players right now that don't look like they fit what the offense wants to do IMO.
I don't think this argument is at all dependent on the idea they're positioning themselves to make a big space in 2013, and I'm not sure anyone is making that argument. The fact is Jeff Ireland has not operated like someone whose job is in jeopardy. The only other plausible explanation is a really stupid one, that they gave Jeff Ireland one last shot to prove he belonged while handcuffing him and making him plan for the future.
Unfortunately, you are probably correct. Armando Salguero is already signaling that the team might not be the big spenders everybody thinks today. I imagine that's part of the "softening up" process the team is giving the fan base. Then we'll hear some pablum about how the best teams develop their own talent, which is partially true but overlooks a Tampa who spent smartly in free agency and made major improvements.
