Dolphins Lose Game…But Lose Fans As Well
By Brian Miller
Dec 15, 2013; Miami Gardens, FL, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross looks on from the sideline before kickoff against the New England Patriots at Sun Life Stadium. The Dolphins won 24-20. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The game itself should be a red flag for Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. The Dolphins for two weeks now have been out coached and outplayed. Facing a home game to end your season with playoffs on the line, how can you justify such a dismal performance? You can’t. That is both the short answer and the long answer. You simply can’t. There is no justification for such a talented team to play so below the level of the Bills and Jets two weeks in a row. Stephen Ross needs to make a change and a wide sweeping change may not be a bad thing. Why? Because today the Dolphins lost more than a game, the lost their fans.
I know whole heartedly that I can speak for a good portion of the fans when I say this because they have lost me. Not as a fan per se’ I have always been a Dolphins fans and always will be but I no longer have faith in these coaches and admittedly Jeff Ireland too must move on from Miami.
The Dolphins have been a downward spiraling team for the better part of two decades and frankly it doesn’t work well anymore. I like Jeff Ireland but if you are going to get rid of the coaches you may as well get rid of the GM as well. Start over completely.
The Dolphins should be far more attractive to a new HC and GM simply because they have a ton of talent on their team. They are in great fiscal shape and have some young promising youngsters on their team. All the reasons one would keep a GM instead of fire him. For Ross the deal is far more complicated. The fans no longer want to see this runaway train continue. They want something to believe in. They showed up like the team wanted and the team rewarded them with nothing. Losing a game is fine, a close one is acceptable but playing like you don’t care? That’s so far beyond anything a fan can take.
Miami has done it two weeks in a row.
I like Joe Philbin but I have to question the intensity level of his coaching style. It’s a shame to see Rex Ryan jumping up and down on the sidelines and then seeing our own HC with the same look every shot. The Dolphins need something fresh and fans are no longer supporting the Jeff Ireland plan. Coming within one game of the playoffs is tough and overlooking that to keep your staff in place is an easy choice. For Miami however it’s not that they didn’t make the playoffs, but how they didn’t make the playoffs.
How can Stephen Ross convince the fan base, the season ticket holders, and everyone else to support the franchise come next season with the same coaches and general manager? You can’t. I have blasted the fan base for not supporting the team but frankly you can’t support a team who doesn’t play like they want you to support them. Lack of effort, lack of coaching, lack of adjustments, and lack of pride. It effects the play on the field and that affects the support off of it.
For met money, and I own no stake in the decisions that Ross will make, I would fire Philbin as early as tonight should he refuse to fire his DC and OC. At the very least they are the ones that should go. As much as I like Jeff Ireland, at some point Ross has to ask himself how long he can keep dragging it along waiting for the right coach to win with the players Ireland puts on the field. When the fans no longer want to support that, it answers that question pretty clearly.
I do not believe that Ross will fire anyone or demand Philbin to fire anyone. If anything, I could see Ireland gone while everyone else stays. To me that is the greater of two evils. In my opinion if anyone stays it should be Ireland. Simply because he put enough talent on the field to make the playoffs. He and Ross were let down by the coaching staff. The team simply has not looked prepared for two weeks now. The two weeks it mattered the most.
That has to change if Ross is to bring his fans back into the stadium.