Dolphins’ Fans Need Their Own Flying Banner
By Brian Miller
Sep 9, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill (17) is pressured by Houston Texans linebacker Connor Barwin (98) at Reliant Stadium. The Texans defeated the Dolphins 30-10. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE
Last season a fansite flew a “Fire Ireland’ banner over the stadium in defiance of owner Stephen Ross’ retention of the much maligned general manager. This year, one week into the season, maybe a banner should be flown over the stadium asking some of their fans to go away. The knee jerk reactions that I am reading is incredible. The stupidity that seems to be welling up inside of some fans’ minds makes me laugh.
It’s week one people! Either jump off the ledge for good or come back inside and relax. Either way hurry and make your mind up. The negativity is growing tiresome. This team, this year, is not set up to make a playoff run. Is it a bitter pill? Absolutely, it sucks losing…AGAIN…but hopefully this thing will finally get turned around. If it doesn’t…well that’s going to suck as well.
Oh I know, you have the right to be negative and complain. I forgot you buy your jerseys and go to the games and subscribe to Sunday ticket and blah blah blah. Yes, it is blah, blah, blah, because it’s the same circle of hatred that most of the those fans have been spewing weekly for the last ten years. We get it already, Jeff Ireland doesn’t know what he is doing and yes, I supported Chad Henne.
This reaches far deeper than simply showing support for a beleaguered GM. This is about showing some support for your coach and rookie QB. After one week and four pre-season games “that’ portion of the fan base has already decided that Ryan Tannehill is the next Chad Henne and Joe Philbin is the next Cam Cameron. So easy to lead the bandwagon of hate right out of the gate rather than stand beside them and cheer them on during the induction phase of their careers.
The funny thing is not a one of them will jump off the wagon and say, “ooops, I was wrong“. Instead, it’s far easier to say, “I supported them from the start! It was Ireland and Ross “I” didn’t like”. Get a grip. Week one was more productive and far more promising than any of the pre-season games combined and I am certain that all you nay saying Monday morning experts can already tell that Tannehill and Philbin are busts given your deep rooted professional experience of hindsight talent evaluation.
Seriously. You all do own your own blogs, write for the top networks, and are considered at the forefront of your knowledge of professional football. Right? No, I’m not talking about me, I can dream to have that foresight and knowledge but I do recognize that my knowledge of the game and in many cases lack of knowledge reaches far broader than my own personal circles of “forum friends” who want to stand up and hate along with me.
What surprises me the most is that anyone would have had high expectations for this season. We didn’t solve the WR problem, we have a rookie QB and coach, a new offensive system that really lacks the personnel to make it work, a new defensive system that really lacks the talent to make it work, are one of the youngest NFL teams in the NFL, and just gutted a good portion of the team prior to opening weekend.
What part of that says, “We are going to go out and beat the Houston Texans”? What part of that says “this is finally going to be the year”? More importantly how many of you so-called fans would be spinning this into something else if Legedu Naane muscled his way into the passing lane to prevent the Tannehill INT? Or if Jonathan Martin engages his blocks on JJ Watt long enough to keep his arms occupied so the ball isn’t batted out of the air four feet above his head? Would you be singing a different tune or simply looking for another scapegoat for your infinite levels of hatred towards the team you supposedly “love” so much?
The negativity is atrocious but the stupidity is reaching levels I have never thought possible outside of Cleveland and New York. What amazes me the most is what I said earlier, that you know so much about talent evaluation that you have the ability to speak on authority regarding the subject. Yet you do what for a living? Exactly. You think you see this, and you think you see that, but in reality all you see is a tipped pass, an INT, and a failure to punch the ball into the end-zone. Kudos to you.
The brilliance of your knowledge is that you were right about Chad Henne and will likely be right about Jeff Ireland as well. You have nothing to gain by sticking your opinion out there and supporting the team and it’s management for fear that you will be wrong. Yet you don’t possess the ability to actually lay it on the line. Chad Henne failed for many reasons none of which was because he “sucked”. As most of you like to simply point out.
David Carr, Tim Couch, and Joey Harrington, all failed not because they lacked talent but because they lacked something else. Support, proper coaching, thrown in too soon, too late, bad situations, and a myriad of other reasons. They didn’t fail because they were bad QB’s, they failed because most NFL QB’s actually do. Finding the right one at the right time is not an easy science. I would rather however, support a QB or even a GM who eventually fails rather than stand on the sidelines throwing out names and negativity simply because I don’t possess the ability to anything but.
Yes, I know, many of you will say, “It’s because I’m passionate”. It’s because “I’m tired of losing”. And it’s because, again, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s because you don’t know any better. It’s because you yourself expect far too much. It’s because you sit there and play your “I would have drafted this guy or that guy” attitude. Yes, you would have and so would have 31 other NFL teams if they knew then what they can see now.
One week in and the sky is falling. It’s ridiculous. It is simply ridiculous, and it proves very clearly that the overall thought process of many Dolphins fans these days is clouded by the ease of not accepting reality. I mean, how can the team not call it a “rebuild”? Everyone sees it, everyone knows it, but the team won’t say it. Why? Because they are a bunch of liars, hypocrites, and idiots. You are right. That is so much easier to say than the rational explanation of “Rebuild” means less season tickets.
I know, I said season tickets. Which is the hater fans way of saying “screw you Mr. Ross I’m not supporting this crap on the field”. You are right. You’re not. And your not supporting the rookie QB, the rookie HC, and the rest of the team either. Again, Kudos to you! There is a time and a place to be brash and negative. There is a way to do it without coming across pompous and/or stupid.
You know what, I like Jeff Ireland and I love his ability to play hard core with the players and other GM’s around the league. I don’t however understand his motives and some of his decisions. I don’t like his free agent signings and his drafts are questionable. In hindsight. If he is fired it won’t be something that sets the team back another year or two but I recognize that his retention could stall the team another year or two. So in the end, maybe the best course of action is to fire Jeff Ireland if some of “HIS” players don’t step it up and start making an impact.
What I won’t say is that Jeff Ireland is a freaking moron idiot who doesn’t know a damn thing about football or never had the background to carry this job and is a worthless POS. Why? Because that isn’t true.
There are 31 teams in the NFL for some of you fans to go root for. With those 31 teams come a myriad of websites for you to run towards and spew your hatred. Jump off the ledge, run to New England this week, Dallas the next, and so on. You are all experts it shouldn’t be that hard to root for someone else because after all, you know who is going to win and who won’t. Then in another year when things start to turnaround or another four years if they don’t, you can come back, thump your chest a couple of times and declare to all of us that “I knew it all along!”.
Kudos to you!