Skipping to the end of your post, the problem with our front office trying to find the next “Don Shula” is where they have been looking! There is no doubt Shula was the best coach this team has ever had but where did we find him? He was the head coach of the Baltimore Colts that came up shirt against the Jets in Super Bowl III. Shula was already a proven winner. Following Shula’s forces retirement, we tried turning to another proven winner in Jimmy Johnson. After that, for the last 20 years, the Dolphins have rolled the dice on 8 unproven NFL head coaches. You could make the argument that Wannstedt had experience as a head coach but no one would ever claim he was a winning head coach. Im im pressed with what I’ve seen from McDaniel thus far but when I step back, I do have to be cautiously optimistic. After all, I was impressed with Gase’s first season having the Dolphins go 10-6 and making the playoffs his first season. Just how McDaniel doesn’t mirror Gase’s second season with the Dolphins and the wheels fall off the wagon.
You are waaaay overselling the success of these drafts. Most are non impact players and underachievers, just because they are not terrible does not make them good picks. He passed on a lot of superstars to pick these non impact players, and you also forgot to mention some of the other major busts like Jackson, Eichenberg, Caroo, and quite a few more that I dont even remember their names right now.
That sounds good. The line is good and safties are good. I liked seeing LB actually making tackle as receiver was making the catch instead of waiting for him to make a move.
Dont count your blessings yet. Gase also seemed legit after his first season, and look how that turned out.
Other than the Jest game we ended the season with a major losing streak and limped into the play-offs. McD has a lot to prove to be considered legit.
The last two times they made the playoffs were flukey seasons based on really easy schedules. They didn't have an easy schedule this year and were consistently competitive even when down to their #3 QB. McDaniel did a great job.
2016 was because of Jay Ajayi. 2008 was because of Ronnie and Ricky(and Brady not playing the rest of the season after week 1). Both teams got smoked in the playoffs but this last game was close enough to keep it exciting all the way to the end. I find that very promising.
Agreed. I get people being cautious, because we've seen good first seasons before from coaches with terrible follow-up campaigns. I think McDaniel showed us enough year 1 to prove that this is a coach Miami should give a long leash to and have a lot of patience with. His immediate impact on what has been a terrible offense cannot be overstated. Also, we've seen time and time again coaches get fired and hired due to QB performance. Whether Tua is the long-term answer at QB or not, I hope McDaniel gets to coach this team through multiple QBs. I think he's a good enough coach to get this team to a superbowl with the right QB. No coach, Bill Belicheat included, can get there with a sub-standard or even mediocre QB in today's NFL.
Really? The Super Bowl just ended last night! Let the man get a night's sleep, fly to Miami, schedule a press conference and announce it.
A little less excited about this hire after seeing Philly turn in a less than stellar defensive performance last night.
naw VIC wasn’t and isn’t their defensive coordinator. He basically was a consultant on schemes this has zero impact on what we will see from a dolphins defense. However I will tell you we won’t have as good of a defense as Philly did this year because we just don’t have that talent level.
Why? The Eagles defense went toe to toe with the with one of the most dynamic offenses in the league and actually prevented the Chiefs offense from scoring more point than the Eagle's offense in the Super Bowl. Remember, the only reason the Chiefs were ahead was the fumble recovery for a touchdown. The Eagles defense did their job...and the holding call on Bradberry was STILL a weak call. No one should have any concerns about hiring Fangio. Our defense should be light years better than this past season.
This might surprise everyone but Vic was signed to help with the eagles offence not the defence. They signed be he was familiar with the Chiefs defence as he coached the Broncos.
We don’t need the defense to be as good as Philly’s was this year. If they can do these things, they’ll be fine: 1. play as well on the road as they did at home 2. Put more pressure on the qb with fewer rushers 3. Force more turnovers They can achieve this by jettisoning the dead weight, staying healthier than 2022, upgrading the LBs, and improving the overall scheme. I
Mike Florio was pushing that Fangio could go to the Eagles just a couple hours ago which is a week or two after he tried to push that Fangio was going to Denver. Good call Mike!
Now he is. He’s doing it deliberately for the clickbait. There was a time when he was worth reading, but that was more the off field stuff than the inside NFL stuff he’s pretending to know about know.
I agree. I still remember the 1st time I heard him on the radio was the beginning of Saban's 2nd year here, a couple weeks in. He was reporting then that Saban was looking to get back into college coaching. I thought he was nuts until a few weeks later. Don't know where he got it from but he knew nearly 6 weeks before it broke. Now he is just like the rest of those guys, how can we generate click bait.
Guess I’ll be adding Denver to the list of teams I root against: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...os-defensive-coordinator-position-per-report/
No, those three are on a separate level of hatred, only accompanied by the Eagles. Teams like Dallas and Pittsburgh (and now Denver) are on a secondary tier. PS. The Steelers occupy a spot this high up due to their obnoxious fans, which is also a main component of my dislike for the Eagles.
Vic Fangio isn’t going to South Florida for retirement. Instead, the Dolphins have become the sixth team the 64-year-old will serve as a defensive coordinator. “I still have a lot of coaching left in me,” Fangio said Monday, via NFL.com. “It’s not like I’m thinking about retirement or anything. Somebody asked, ‘How much longer are you going to do this?’ I don’t know. It might be 10 years, if they’ll have me here for 10 years. It’s just who I am, what I do, what I enjoy doing. I like the competition. I like teaching players. I like to see players improve as individuals. And putting something together is challenging and fulfilling.” Fangio’s first, and likely only, head coaching job ended after three seasons with the Broncos. He spent 2022 in what he calls a “sabbatical,” but he served as a consultant for the Eagles before Super Bowl LVII. He will coordinate a defense that features building blocks Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Christian Wilkins, Emmanuel Ogbah, Jevon Holland, Xavien Howard and Kader Kohou.
New Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said at his introductory press conference today that he believes the Dolphins are trending in the right direction and he can help put them over the top. “The Dolphins have a good thing going here. I like Mike and his staff that he already has in place here,” Fangio said. “There’s a good nucleus of players here. And the lure of South Florida.” Fangio said he doesn’t know Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel but is impressed with his new boss’s approach to the game. “He’s got a good football mind. Obviously puts good offensive football together. Hopefully we can complement that,” Fangio said. Fangio said he hasn’t watched enough film of the Dolphins in 2022 to have an informed opinion of all his players. Instead, he spent last year consulting with the Eagles and just trying to study the league as a whole. “I didn’t study the Dolphins’ defense per se,” Fangio said. “I kind of treated it like a college professor on a sabbatical.” Now the Dolphins will hope Fangio can teach the Dolphins to play the kind of defense Fangio’s teams have played in the past.
Some great quotes right there. We only need a few things to fall in place for the Dolphins to be a serious contender: Fangio to coach a good defense, McD to make proper adjustments so that Tua and the offense can still perform at a high level in spite of defensive adjustments, and Tua to stay healthy enough to play when it counts. It's not too far fetched. Maybe 50/50 whether all 3 happen.