Miami Has Busy Day, Lose Mike Nolan

By now you know, Mike Nolan has left the Miami Dolphins for the Atlanta Falcons.  And the sky will presumably fall because many fans will view this as yet another black eye on owner Stephen Ross.  Add to that the news that HC candidate Dave Toub re-signed with the Chicago Bears and you can assume that some fans will punch Ross in the other eye.

Maybe you read our site because of the insight it provides or maybe it’s just a stop along the Dolphins food chain of information as you work to eat anything and everything you can get your brain on.  Whatever the reason there is something you need to know about me.  Not the other writers here, but me.  I am the editor.  The man in charge so to speak.  A long time ago I hung up the cards of emotion when I write.  It serves me well today.

Am I a Dolphins fan?  You bet!  I live Miami Dolphins football and to me there is no off-season.  I love Phins football so much that in addition to this site, I actually own two others.  Phinatics.com and Finsradio.net.  Why?  Because like you I can’t get enough of the Miami Dolphins.  I throw out words my son should never hear during games and I throw things at the TV as well.  My wife knows to leave me alone.  When it comes to writing however, I call it the way it is, not the way emotion tells me it is.

You will not hear me throw Stephen Ross and Jeff Ireland under the freight train that others do.  No, I’m not a better person than they are.  I just drop the emotion out of what I see.  When they screw up, I will write about it.  There is a time for emotion and there is time for sanity.  So with that being said know this.  The loss of Mike Nolan and Dave Toub is not a black eye on Stephen Ross.  In fact, read between the lines and realize that Ross or Ireland, whomever made the call did right by both men.

Mike Nolan still had time left on his two year deal with the Dolphins but it was completely evident that the likelihood of him sticking in Miami was remote.  The Dolphins allowed the Falcons to interview him and when the offer came, the Dolphins let him out of the remaining weeks of his contract.  Mike Nolan was not an HC candidate and it’s more than likely that the new HC would have let him go.  By allowing Nolan to leave now, they allowed him to take a job he wanted.

Stepping back a few hours, the Bears announced today that they had re-signed Dave Toub, a Miami Dolphins HC candidate.  The “twitter” world once again took to bashing Ross for losing an ST coach.  In reality, none of those fans wanted him for the HC to begin with.  Furthermore, it was the Dolphins who called Toub and let him know that he was no longer being considered for the position.  Again, allowing a coach to make a career decision rather than waiting on the Dolphins to decide.

Mike Nolan will be a tough coach to replace.  The players liked him and his creative schemes worked well…later in the season.  Let’s not forget however that the defense gave up very costly late game points that secured opposition wins.  Nolan’s defense was creative but it was hardly the best defense in the league and there were times when the half-time adjustments begged explaining.  To take that further, the habitual failure to close out teams in the fourth quarter can be attributed to the pulling back of his aggressive style of play for the first three quarters.  This was one of the reasons he was let go in Denver.

Earlier today I wrote an article about Jeff Fisher never having a desire to play for Miami, despite his press conference today, I stand behind that 100 percent.  Opening his PC today for the Rams, Fisher said that a determining factor was not financial but that the Rams had a good owner.  He also said they had a good QB and that the combination of the two was a lead in his decision.  Of course many fans only heard “Good owner” and immediately blamed Ross for losing Fisher.  FYI, Fisher took less money and the same amount of control he would have had in Miami.  As I maintained from day one, Fisher always wanted the Rams job.  He is a resident of Tennessee and now is only five hours from St. Louis.  Do the math.

The HC search for the Dolphins has not yet yielded results and the Miami management team will be interviewing Denver’s Mike McCoy, Joe Philbin, and yes Todd Bowles a second time.  McCoy will fly to NY to meet with Stephen Ross on Thursday according to reports.  There is no word on interviews being set up with Rob Chudzinski or Pete Carmichael, Jr. of New Orleans.

It’s time for Dolphins fans to take a deep breath and realize there is a process that Ross needs to go through.  His decision will shape his ownership and will either put fans back into the stadium seats or further alienate those hanging on.  Either way, a new HC will get chosen and regardless who that candidate will be, someone will complain and the Miami Dolphins will be painted with another black mark.  But consider this.  Today, the Indianapolis Colts fired Jim Caldwell.  Shortly there after it was reported that the Colts new GM interviewed former Rams HC Steve Spagnuola for the job…while Caldwell was still employed.

It happens everywhere folks.