Since 1996 the Miami Dolphins have been on a slow steady decline. One word can sun up this franchise, Dysfunctional. When Joe Philbin was hired, he was expected to bring stability and get the turn the franchise around. Unfortunately, he has done anything but that. Since Philbin has been at the helm, we have witnessed the banishment of team leaders who opposed him, there was reported infighting between Philbin and then GM Jeff Ireland, and of course the Bully-Gate scandal which put Philbin and the Dolphins in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Somehow after all that, Philbin somehow managed to keep his job as GM Jeff Ireland was shown the door. But even with Philbin being kept on, that didn’t go without controversy either. It was reported that Philbin refused to let go of mentor and OC Mike Sherman up until the very last minute when it became he would lose his job as well.
Fast forward to the 2014 season. A new GM, Offensive Coordinator , rebuilt OL and QB Ryan Tannehill entering his third season all gave promise to a turnaround season. Here we are 3 games in, on the heels of a two game losing streak and in the midst of new controversy. Joe Philbin has created an unnecessary QB controversy. After a poor start to the 2014 season, nobody could blame Philbin for wanting to light a fire under Ryan Tannehill. Despite having the second most attempts, Tannehill ranks 32nd in completion %, 32nd in QB Rating and 35th in yards attempt.
Lets get this straight, this is Joe Philbin’s team. He IS entitled to start who he wants to start and answer questions about HIS team however he choses. At the same time, he also has to be responsible. There is a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. This is very much wrong. These are all grown men. There is absolutely no need in playing media games or using Jedi mind tricks to get his point across to anyone. Ryan Tannehill, who was almost sacked out of the league last year because Philbin and Company could not put together a competent offensive line, has earned the right be treated with some respect. If Philbin needed to send a message to Tannehill, he could have done so privately. Apparently, according to Tannehill anyway, he has been told business as usual.
Although, he did mention he wished it was handled differently. What really makes this worse, is that for three days Philbin has been stubborn in his refusal to say Ryan will be starting, while OC Bill Lazor implied that he would definitely be starting.
All of this just further illustrates that this job may be a little to big for Joe. Some coaches are great positional coaches and great coordinators but aren’t able to translate that success into being a good head coach. Philbins methods of motivating have backfired and once again the Dolphins are in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Somewhere, Steve Ross is riding a plane from Teterboro, twiddling his thumbs, questioning under his breath whether or not he made the right decision to bring back Joe.
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