LONDON : Soon after his team’s
third consecutive defeat, Joe Philbin somehow mustered the unmitigated optimism
— or maybe it was just sheer nerve — to suggest the Miami Dolphins, unraveling
from all corners with no solutions in sight, could still salvage this season.
“Absolutely,
absolutely,” the Dolphins’ embattled coach said. “We’ve got to beat the
Tennessee Titans first to start salvaging our season. We’ve got to have a look
critically at what we are doing in all aspects, which we did. We adjusted some
things strength and conditioning-wise this week. “We adjusted some meetings. We
adjusted some practice time. We adjusted some things schematically. Obviously,
it didn’t give us the end result we’re looking for yet. We’ll continue. We’ve
got a bye week to examine it even closer and come up with a solution that
works.”
And I’m thinking what
does he see that I don’t?
Never mind that.
Whatever he sees is a mirage. Philbin says the Dolphins can salvage their
season.
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“THIS SEASON AT 1-3 IS
NOT GOING TO END IN A DIVISION TITLE. WE KNOW THAT ALREADY BECAUSE THE NEW
ENGLAND PATRIOTS SPRINTED OUT OF THE GATES UNDEFEATED, AND THE DOLPHINS CAN’T
EVEN WALK A STRAIGHT LINE.”
Armando Salguero
-----------------------------------
They cannot. This
season at 1-3 is not going to end in a division title. We know that already because
the New England Patriots sprinted out of the gates undefeated, and the Dolphins
can’t even walk a straight line.
This team
cannot figure out how to start a game as if it mattered to them. On Sunday, the
Jets scored on their first drive — just like the Bills did two weeks ago, just
how the Jaguars did three weeks ago, and just how the Redskins did four weeks
ago.
This team
cannot recognize that Jets cornerback Buster Skrine is blitzing on practically
every pass play. I recognized it. Why didn’t they? And if they did recognize
it, why didn’t they figure out how to block Skrine so the Jets would stop
sending him after Ryan Tannehill time and again as if by replay?
This team
cannot figure out its issues tackling cleanly.
This team
cannot figure out how to move the chains consistently enough to boast a running
game. The leading rusher Sunday, by the way, was Jarvis Landry with 29 yards.
He’s a
receiver.
This team
cannot figure out how to score more than two touchdowns on offense. This team
cannot figure out how to maximize players who have been stars in the past. And
Philbin still thinks he can salvage the season? He might not be able to save
himself. Philbin might or might not survive the coming bye week. But whatever
happens this week really doesn’t matter. The firing seems to be merely a timing
issue now.
Everyone
sees that except, of course, the coach himself. He said after this game he
wasn’t worried about his job status. Maybe that’s because owner Stephen Ross is
as blind as everyone else around this team. Maybe Ross doesn’t see the same
need for a change that everyone else sees.
Ross came
to this game thinking he might have to consider firing his coach if the team
got blown out. But the owner didn’t expect to get blown out, so he brought some
influential friends to England to show off his team. All he showed them was the
same kind of unacceptable performance we saw at the end of last season.
The 2014
Dolphins lost three of their final four games, put a leaky defense on the
field, couldn’t stop anyone, and you know what Ross did? He gave Philbin a
contract extension. And you know what Philbin did in turn after the defense
continued its systematic decline under coordinator Kevin Coyle?
He gave
Coyle an endorsement.
And now
with this season in the loo, as the
Brits say, Philbin is repeating his mistake. Although Coyle should have been
fired at the end of last season and should be fired now, today, Philbin said he
would continue as defensive coordinator.
Coyle has
lost this defense. Some of his players do not respect him. Some don’t like him
very much. None will say so publicly. But it is true.
That’s
one reason Coyle had a closed-door meeting with players last Monday to air out
grievances. At that meeting, players asked Coyle to change his defense,
particularly up front. Defensive linemen, who are playing a two-gap defense in
Coyle’s system, hate it. The two-gap requires players to read two gaps and
react rather than simply attack up field as in a one-gap scheme. Coyle listened
to the complaints.
But
apparently not much changed.
And so
when Ndamukong Suh, the team’s highest-paid player, wore sneakers to a
full-padded practice during the week, other players noticed. They took it as a
sign Suh was making a statement of dissatisfaction over the defensive coaching.
And why
are players drawing that conclusion? Because a prominent handful of them are
dissatisfied over the defensive coaching, too.
I asked
Suh what gear he wore to practice Thursday.
“Next
question,” he answered.
I asked
Suh if the Monday meeting resolved anything.
“Next
question,” he answered.
I asked
Suh why the defense chronically starts slow.
“Next
question,” he answered.
And the
non-answers were appropriate after the game because Suh clearly had no answer
during the game when Jets running back Chris Ivory ran through his attempted
tackle as if he was a hologram.
And Joe
Philbin believes this season is going to be salvaged?
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