Is this the beginning of the end.....

[Jim Gray]

Is this the beginning of the end for the front office and coaching staff?  Before this incident, I felt Philbin and Ireland were pretty much a lock to return.  Now I'm not so sure. Regardless of how you view the seriousness of what happened, what do you think will happen to Philbin, his coaches and the front office?

What do you think should happen?

[Phishfan]

I think we still need to know a little more. Basic hazing is typical in the NFL and I don't think a coach should be held to observing the "norm" of pranks. Threats on the other hand are different but we do not know if the staff had any awareness of threats. You can't hold them accountable for things they are not aware of. Just too much is still up in the air if you ask me.

[EKnight]

I think it's too early to rush to that judgement. I'd be shocked of this was not the tip of the iceberg, so I anticipate more is to come. You don't suspend a guy indefinitely over a lunch room incident. There's much more to this and the coaching staff and front office knows it and tried to get ahead of it. -EK

[MikeO]

Coaches and GM's get fired on Wins and Losses. Nothing else. Period! If Miami wins 8 or 9 games or more nobody is getting fired. If they win 6 or 7 or less.....then this situation doesn't help them any.

[CF DolFan]

It depends on how much pressure gets put on whom. like I said .... the NFL knows what has gone on and so does everyone in the organization. To a certain extent it's the players who police each other. 

I don't think it should happen but just like everything else if the league and organization feels like they need scapegoats they will find them. 

On a separate note I could see this bringing the team closer together after they get past the distraction.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Coaches and GM's get fired on Wins and Losses. Nothing else. Period! If Miami wins 8 or 9 games or more nobody is getting fired. If they win 6 or 7 or less.....then this situation doesn't help them any.

Bingo.  Sean Payton and Bill Belichick are still employed. 

[AZ Fins Fan 55]

Coaches and GM's get fired on Wins and Losses. Nothing else. Period! If Miami wins 8 or 9 games or more nobody is getting fired. If they win 6 or 7 or less.....then this situation doesn't help them any.

So Paterno got fired for his win/Loss record.....

However I agree that the decision on this coaching staff at the end of the season won't have anything to do with this.

[masterfins]

I hope it's not the end, I just don't want to see another upheaval.  However, I do feel this is a lack of oversight/leadership that trickles up to Philbin's doorstep.  Philbin came in and wanted to be the tough leader (like a Coughlin or Belichek) and run the team like a dictatorship, but he failed to put people in place below him to monitor the locker room.  He did away with the team captains, who on a normal team would provide leadership and squash some of these silly antics.  Last year's veteran leaders of Bush and Long are gone, and now there is anarchy in the locker room.  The team is in need of leadership from both the coaches and the players, but Philbin needs to allow those players to lead.

[Landshark]

I hope it's not the end, I just don't want to see another upheaval.  However, I do feel this is a lack of oversight/leadership that trickles up to Philbin's doorstep.  Philbin came in and wanted to be the tough leader (like a Coughlin or Belichek) and run the team like a dictatorship, but he failed to put people in place below him to monitor the locker room.  He did away with the team captains, who on a normal team would provide leadership and squash some of these silly antics.  Last year's veteran leaders of Bush and Long are gone, and now there is anarchy in the locker room.  The team is in need of leadership from both the coaches and the players, but Philbin needs to allow those players to lead.

Very good points.  Philbin is a rookie head coach and is making rookie head coach mistakes. Unfortunately that one mistake you described mushroomed into something so serious that it may cost him his job.

[Spider-Dan]

Basically, through the actions of Ireland (letting go of players at positions of need that are going on to produce elsewhere, high profile draftees and FA signings that have not immediately produced) and Philbin (disarray in an out-of-control locker room that has made the team a laughingstock), the timetable for put-up-or-shut-up has been moved forward to now.

Had they avoided all of these unforced errors, they might have had until the end of next season to show some results.  I don't see any scenario in which 8-8 does not result in more skirt-chasing from Ross for a new front office, and even 9-10 wins might be rough depending on the precise order in which the wins and losses come.

This team needs to make the playoffs this year or heads may roll.  This has been an embarrassment for the franchise.

[el diablo]

What I want to see happen and will actually happen are two different things. Philbin needs to show that he can turn this thing around. They are 4-4. It is playoff salvageable. You hope times don't get any more troubling than this. But its how you lead that determine your leadership status. Not the fact that you are a leader. My conflict is that a playoff berth means, Ireland stays also. Not a fan of that. Buy still remain a fan of this team.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I would like to see Ireland fired because he sucks, not because of this. In all honesty, I don't think the coaches or management even knew about this and I put that blame on Martin. He should've spoken up sooner, especially if he had proof of the racist shit Incognito pulled. That is never acceptable and there is no justification for it.