Miami Dolphins should fire Coyle, hire Schwartz

The Miami Dolphins defense is atrocious. It’s my new word of the week. I just learnt it. Kidding aside, it’s also the truth. Over the past three seasons the Dolphins defense has progressively gotten worse and it’s apparent that Kevin Coyle can’t coach that side of the ball. It’s time to fire Coyle and bring in the unemployed Jim Schwartz. Consider this my random thought of the day.

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Jim Schwartz would make a lot of sense. In his one year with the Buffalo Bills he turned around a struggling defense and set up the parameters of what they are today making the transition to Rex Ryan seamless. That’s not to say he can’t do that in Miami taking over a unit mid-season, early season, whenever. It’s a twofold option for the Dolphins as Schwartz should also be a head coaching candidate at the end of the season.

For Joe Philbin it’s a win win situation. If Schwartz could elevate the Dolphins defense he would have a chance to keep his job at the end of the year. He has little to know chance keeping with what isn’t obviously working. Fire Philbin mid-season and Schwartz can take over as the interim head coach and show what he has.

As the head coach of the Detroit Lions, Schwartz was never able to get the team into the post-season but there were a lot of factors in that happening. Injuries and his choice at offensive coordinator didn’t help. One thing Detroit did have was a very good defense.

Then of course there is Ndamukong Suh who Schwartz is very familiar with. Schwartz knows what Suh can and can’t do and he can coach this unit to play above their current production level. Which isn’t very much right now.

Kevin Coyle isn’t getting it done. He fails at making adjustments in game and he has not been able to make adjustments after the half. The Dolphins are squandering a ton of talent this year because they are not prepared to go out on Sunday’s and physically take over a game. That was not a problem in Detroit and it wasn’t a problem with the Bills last year.

Aside from not having Calvin Johnson in Miami, the Dolphins offense has a load of talent everywhere but on the offensive line and should Schwartz at some point become the teams head coach leaving Bill Lazor in place would keep the Dolphins offense moving in a positive direction. Line play would be the exception and needs to be fixed.

I’m not saying that Schwartz is the end all answer, he isn’t. There is currently a lot of things wrong with this team and defense is only part of it but it’s a big part. The Dolphins are getting little production from the front seven, have one sack all season, and can’t put pressure on the quarterback. How can anyone not fault the defensive coordinator?

It was widely speculated this past off-season that the Dolphins would move on from Coyle after the defense collapsed down the stretch for a second season in a row. Joe Philbin was responsible for making that decision and despite questions from the media denied to give anyone his plans for the team moving towards 2015. While everyone waited to see if Philbin would make the move, it became obvious that Coyle was staying until finally Philbin said he was making no changes.

That decision will likely cost Joe Philbin his head coaching job.

Reality says this won’t happen and frankly it makes too much sense. Philbin has attached his season to Kevin Coyle and if he did fire him he would turn to an assistant coach to take his place. While our readers, who have voiced their desire for Schwartz, will be disappointed, Schwartz in Miami won’t happen until the season is over and then, maybe.

It’s a shame that we are watching talented professional football players slide into downplaying their talents but that is exactly what we are seeing right now. A name like Schwartz may not fix what ails this team right now but it would be a good start to drive some confidence back into the fan base. It’s sad we have to live in reality.