Miko Grimes Says Miami Dolphins Support Philbin, Not Tannehill?

There is a voice that belongs to Miami Dolphins cornerback’s Brent Grimes‘ wife, Miko. She is outspoken, loud, boisterous, and a lot of fun to listen to. She has joined our FinsRadio show and has stood shoulder to shoulder at away games with fans sometimes instead of other wives. And she talks with the players. If anyone was going to have an inside source, Miko might be the one.

Miko appeared on the Big O show recently and talked about the players support of Joe Philbin and about their support of quarterback Ryan Tannehill.  You can listen to the interview here and then click the most recent Big O show podcast. It gets interesting to say the least.

Big O makes the statement that the “players don’t respond to Joe Philbin” and Miko quickly interjects and says she strongly disagrees. A few moments later they discuss this a bit more and Miko says that the players she has talked to really like the coaching staff and do not want them to change. She believes the players should have that say. Big O points out again the fact that the players don’t seem to respond to him and she says there are frustrations by the players but doesn’t point directly as to what their frustrations are about. When asked about the assistant coaches Miko said she never really has asked about them. Then promised she would.

Miko was then asked about “number 17” and whether she had ever asked about him. She started to laugh nervously and said she had. When pushed further she resisted to say anything and Big O pointed out that by not saying anything she was saying a lot to which Miko laughed and said yeah. She quantified the statement by only saying there are some on one side and a lot on the other but didn’t go into details calling it a “tough answer”.

We can assume that what Miko knows is true. She has one of the biggest inside sources on the team, her husband, and she speaks regularly with players. So that brings up hard questions from the fan base. If the players support and like Joe Philbin should they have a say in whether he stays or goes? If the locker room is divided on Ryan Tannehill then the questions should be, why?

I can’t speak from a players point of view but I will say this from personal experience, it’s very difficult to not like being around Joe Philbin. He has a very good nature, is extremely easy to talk to, very up front and to the point, and trusting. With Philbin there is no question about getting respect from him and there is no question that it is easy to reciprocate that respect. It’s been said over and over again, Joe Philbin is a GREAT guy. I would have to ask though, is that great guy getting in the way of the teams impression of his coaching?

Big O hit one thing on the nose when he said the team doesn’t respond to Joe Philbin. It’s evident on Sundays when the team repeatedly comes out of the locker room flat and uninspired. This team couldn’t win one of two games last year, at home, against teams eliminated from the playoffs, and they couldn’t win one of two games this year to keep their chances alive in the last two weeks. The players can say they like playing for Joe Philbin and I would bet that is 100% accurate but is Joe Philbin making them better? Making them a better player, a better team? Is he making these players winners? The record and the performances say no.

When talking about Ryan Tannehill it’s clear that there are going to be differing sides to the support he will receive outside of the locker room. His deep ball is horrible and he still lacks that commanding leadership quality that top quarterbacks have. While he is starting to improve with his on-field emotions he still demonstrates an “aww-shucks” type of attitude sometimes when the game is on the line. That too is uninspired and likely a result of his previous coach Mike Sherman who groomed him from college to the pro’s.

Regardless of what we believe, or what Miko says, the decisions for the team will come down to the opinion of Stephen Ross. As Miko said to Big O, things are going to get very interesting for this team this off-season and she agrees that changes of some form need to come. The Miami Dolphins team that came out of the locker room on Sunday was not the Miami Dolphins Miko is used to seeing.

One way or another something needs to change whether it’s the head coach, defensive coach, offensive coach, or the whole thing. There is far too much talent on this roster to keep the status quo.