The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Now that the playoffs are all but out of the question, do you think Miami will start playing the rookies more? I'd like to see Miller and Matthews get more involved in the offense and I'd like to see Egnew get on the field. It's not like playing these guys can hurt their playoff chances anymore, time to see whether they are going to be a part of the Dolphins next year or not. Matthews seems to have jumped Gaffney on the depth chart, perhaps Philbin is thinking the same thing?

Thoughts, comments, discussion?

No.

The team doesn't think the season is over.  Only fans think like that.

Well typically I would agree, but Philbin doesn't seem to be your typical head coach. Look at his track record.

1) He allowed the Dolphins to be the subject of NFL's Behind the Scenes, despite the fact that he was a rookie head coach. This could have easily blown up in his face and in fact at the beginning of the year most thought it WAS blowing up in his face.

2) He traded away a known commodity at WR for future draft choices at a time when it seemed that Miami basically had no one to replace him.

3) He gave a fading star a chance at WR, but the instant he became bigger than the organization he cut him loose in no uncertain terms and he TELEVISED the event.

4) He traded away a known commodity at CB for future draft picks, again electing to do this with cameras in his face and his CB's face.

5) He went ahead and named a rookie QB the starter despite the fact that many believed he wasn't ready for it and kept a veteran QB that didn't play too badly the year before on the bench backing him up.

6) He benched his starting running back (and the only guy on the team that is capable of a big play in many people's eyes) for fumbling a ball in the second series of a game.

Are these the actions of your average run of the mill head coach? Go around the NFL and ask the head coaches how many of them would do the same thing as Philbin. I doubt you would get many head coaches to say they would do things the way Philbin has done them. Philbin still wants to win as many games as possible there's no question about that, but if the difference between winning and losing is a matter or doing what's good for the short term or for the long term, Philbin tends to lean toward looking towards building for the future over winning a game or 2 in the short term.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong, but it sure is nice to see for a change. Maybe what this franchise needs is a little more listening to the fans and a little less focus on "the next game". It's a little hard to steer the thing out of the ditch and back into the road when the furthest down the road you look is 2 feet in front of the bumper.

The fact they are going with Rishard Matthews over Jabar Gaffeny should answer that question for you!

I don't think they are surrendering but it does seem that Philben is more concerned with the future than winning in the short  term.

I would like to see more play from the young guys and I am hoping we will. One thing in our favor is unlike Sparano (who played the starters to the bitter end), is not playing for his job, but more for the future.

Let Egnew, Moore, Miller and others get in the game and evaluate what we have while giving them experience.

The dolphins are 2 games out of a wild card spot with almost half a season to go.  If the coach conceeds the season at this point he should be fired. 

^^^ But they gotta fucking win. This damn team is so hot and cold. Is everyone on the teams payroll bipolar, or on crack ?  It's the damnedest thing.

But they just lost 2 of the easiest games on the schedule in the 2nd half. That doesn't bode well for them. Sure they *COULD* beat Seattle, New England twice and San Fran, but it's not very likely. They'll be lucky to go 3-3 down the stretch and finsh 7-9. Besides playing the rookies isn't conceeding the season, it's looking for a spark from another source since it's pretty obvious that Bush and Gaffney haven't been the answer lately.

Along the lines of "making the playoffs," from makenflplayoffs.com: AFC top six — Texans 99.8%, Ravens 98.4, Broncos 97.6; Patriots 92.4, Colts 63.2 and Steelers 57.5 (Dolphins now 11th at 11.5). NFC — Falcons 97.2, 49ers 87.5; Packers 74.5; Bears 67.8, Giants 62.8 and Seahawks 45.1.

11.5% isn't particularly good. Of course anything can happen, but if the gamblers are predicting it this way (and, IMO, oddsmakers are the most objective people when it comes to this kind of thing), Philbin can't really believe they've got much of a chance. -EK

I see in my Thanksgiving Day Makers Mark eyes ??? One more bad game from Tanne and I sit his ass and let him think about it for a couple games. Put Moore in. That may be the spark the team, Bush, and Tannehill himself needs. If Moore can win games and Tanne can't. That says something, mostly about Tannehill. Gotta think about it. Just like Carrol has to do better to keep his job. So does Tanne. If Moore can win games, put his ass in.

If Tanne is a great or even good QB he will learn the best lesson he ever could from getting benched. If Tanne is a bust he will let Moore beat him. And then we will have to resign Moore anyhow, I think we should resign him anyways.

I really wish Tom Caughlin had your attitude back in 2007.   >:(

Maybe that is why he is an NFL coach and you're not.

^^^ 100% Agree!!

Gamblers and Oddsmakers are interested in ONLY 1 thing...MAKING MONEY! They set odds and use stats that help them make money WITH A POINT SPREAD!! 

Disagree completely.

They SHOULD go 3-3 down the stretch.  SHOULD.  Seattle, Buffalo, and Jacksonville are all home games and SHOULD be wins.  If the team plays the way the are supposed to.

They would be lucky to get 6 wins.  They need to be lucky to beat New England (twice) and San Fran.

If you ask me, the level of consistency of this team seems to be that of a 7-9 team.  And if they play the way they're supposed to, that's exactly where they'll end up.

^^^ YEP! And 7-9 with a ROOKIE QB and a ROOKIE head coach is NOT a bad year! It really isn't.

What makes you think they can beat Seattle and buffalo when a team like Tenn walked all over them and they had such a bad game against Buffalo and they are on a 3 game losing streak? There is no game remaining this season where anyone says we SHOULD beat someone.

Simple -

Buffalo and Seattle are both home juggernauts.  Look at Russell Wilson's stats in road games:

@Arizona: 153 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 Fumble
@St. Louis: 160 yards, 3 INT
@Carolina: 221 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
@ San Fran: 122 yards, 1 INT
@ Detroit: 236 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT

In 5 road games, Wilson is averaging 178 yards, 0.8 TD, 1.6 INT per game.  The Seahawks are 1-4 on the road.

As for Buffalo, I think the last game was close enough that home-field advantage will swing the result. 

Again, if you read what I wrote carefully, I said "should" a lot.  My claim is that the last 2 games are not the Dolphins.  They are some shell of a team that's got the head in their asses.  If the Dolphins play like they should, they SHOULD win these games easily.

And, for what its worth, Tennessee is a much better team than Seattle, Buffalo, and Jacksonville. 

Yeah, well they SHOULD have beaten Buffalo and Tennessee too, so much for that. The way this team has played the last 2 weeks, they'll be LUCKY to beat anybody. If they get back to playing the way they were earlier in the season they should win, but that's a big if.

I don't know how much of Philbin's actions are attributed to long term as actually looking at what's on his bench. 

When your starters aren't cutting it, and many of ours don't, it makes sense to at least try and see what you have on the bench.  Is there a breakout star somewhere who will emerge over the last 6 games of the season?  You have to find out when you're more than one player away as this team is.

I still think this team needs to draft the shit out of WR, DB and both Guard positions.  However, if you can find a guy on the bench who can contribute now, it's going to make that draft a little easier going into next year. 

Down the stretch, this team can win 5 of its last 6 games.  Buffalo, Jacksonville and Seattle should fall.  I still believe this team if it plays like its capable of for 60 minutes, can get a split with NE and possibly beat SF.  I don't see any reason why not to strive for 5-1 and a 9-7 record.  They may still end up 3-3 or 2-4, but never EVER concede a season.

The Dolphins are one of the only teams I have seen that only use 2 of their WR's reliably.  Where's Marlon Moore?  Gaffney/Matthews/Naanee/Armstrong have combined for 9 catches, and Moore has 4 more.  Tannehill has completed 179 balls, and there are 5 WR's in Dolphins uniforms that have a total of 13 of them?

Why don't they use any WR's outside of Bess and Hartline?  They have 101 catches combined

Look around the league - teams #3 and #4 WR's have more than 9 catches themselves through 10 games.

This is what I don't get.

Edit - let's look at some #3 and #4 WR's on good teams around the league...
Patriots: Edelman 20; Branch 9
49ers: Moss 16; Williams 14
Falcons: Douglas 25
Ravens: Jones 17
Packers: Jones 42; Jennings 12 (injured); Driver 8
Broncos: Stokely 32

Maybe the answer lies in the Dolphins lack of WR talent beyond Bess and Hartline...  Maybe what the Dolphins REALLY need is a serviceable #3 WR.

Could also be the comfort level of the rookie QB.  If Tannehill has developed a chemistry with those two but not the others it doesn't really matter how talented or not the #3 is. 

You hit it Brian! This is YEAR 1 of a rebuilding job with a new coaching staff and offensive philosophy. This team is no where near a finished product. The only people surprised by this are a few fans who predicted Miami would win 2-3 games before the year and when they are already at 4 wins are now upset for some reason!! When they passed their own personal expectations.

This team has a lot of money and a lot of draft picks this upcoming offseason. More work will be done to fix this franchise. Getting worked up over stuff THIS YEAR when we all knew it was a rebuilding year is silly. But some people aren't happy unless they are complaining. And when the team actually plays well and wins....they go run and hide for a week!

Agree. I said the same thing earlier when Ireland was saying that all they had were 3's, 4's and 5's. Actually all they have is a 1 and a 2, they have no 3, 4 or 5. Those guys on the roster are just to give Hartline and Bess a break in practice, nothing more.

And Hartline and Bess are not 1 and 2 caliber.

I disagree with that. I think they are both legit #2 WR's in this league