Congratulations on the win -- but I doubt its going to change the collective trajectory of this franchise.

Obvious leadership crisis and serious rough patch for Philbin to navigate and grab control of the ship before it sinks to the bottom. I hope he's up to the task but…

My biggest issue over the last number of years is our inability to develop talent and find creative ways to plug holes and/or provide workable short-term patches. The absolute lack of viable alternatives on the OL is a glaring example of (seemingly) having "garbage" stashed behind the starters -- and no legit alternative to find a solution on the existing roster for "problems" as they arise.

No doubt part of this inability resides with the talent we put on the roster to begin with -- and that's Ireland's failure. Though it seems there was significant collaboration between the personnel dept. and the coaching staff this past off-season. We need to get better in a hurry if we're going to have a reasonably successful season -- and at this point that does not necessarily mean "playoffs" as much as Thill's growth and some measurable overall DEVELOPMENT of players and team chemistry.

Right now we have a huge vacuum pending via free agency after the season and it would seem a lot of players may simply take their talents elsewhere rather than deal with a situation they're not happy with. That starts with guys like Starks and Soliai, but there are a number of others we cannot afford to lose in one mass exit.

If indeed that happens we'll be entering the offseason with more needs than we can possibly fill and thus be behind the curve yet again -- stuck in a perpetual "rebuilding" mode and incapable of putting the entire team together at any one point in time.

Hate to break it to you Big Stank, if Philbin wins 8 or 9 games, him and Ireland are safe, it's best to just enjoy these wins when we get them and hope for the best......now Sherman on the other hand

Yeah, Sherman was taking some heat this weak and the announcers were talking about it.

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“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

When is the trade deadline. Shouldn't we call the Bungles and ask if they are interested in unloading Jarvis Green Ellis? The new kid seems to be outplaying him like Sturgis outplayed Carpenter in training camp. Get them (the Bengals) while it seems that way.

Trade deadline already passed Chy to the ren

dolphaholic Wrote:
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> Hate to break it to you Big Stank, if Philbin wins
> 8 or 9 games, him and Ireland are safe, it's best
> to just enjoy these wins when we get them and hope
> for the best......now Sherman on the other hand


I want to enjoy wins but only when they are significant in the sense I am confident this team is indeed moving in the right direction to be a factor in the overall mix.

IMO for us to be a factor it is absolutely 100% necessary for the coaching staff and front office to at least be "professional grade competent." I almost believed they were about 5 weeks ago -- but the manner of losses and especially against Buffalo plummeted my belief pretty much down to ZERO. This one win is not bringing me back -- but I get your point to "enjoy" because a win is a win…

We had a chance in Norlens to make a really big statement -- and we came pretty close for the first 25-minutes. Then the wheels feel off and we looked like total pretenders…
Good teams on the upswing don’t implode like that.

In hindsight that loss started a downward spiral that good orgs just don’t fall off the cliff with associated good leadership and a positive plan of action. It’s THAT realization that has me firmly rooted in the dissention camp.

Sure, I'd still like to believe Ireland & Phlbin are legit long-term answers -- but the odds of that seem pretty remote to me at this point. And that means whatever "wins" we get are pretty much empty in the sense -- BFD -- we ain't going anywhere anyway…

Couple that with the fact we'll have enormous holes to fill once again this off-season, and I for one cannot see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Last, getting rid of Sherman is definitely a needed step in the right direction -- but I don't think that one move will prove sufficient to solve the greater issues festering underneath...

I enjoyed the win but we should never have let a 14 point advantage slip away like it did. If we have a lead, extend it dont sit back and play conservative.

dolfan1 Wrote:
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> I enjoyed the win but we should never have let a
> 14 point advantage slip away like it did. If we
> have a lead, extend it dont sit back and play
> conservative.

Somethign happens to this team after a lead is taken early. Not sure if complacency sets in with Sherman and his idiotic play calling or if the team figures "we're good, no sense in trying hard for a bit" or both.

Just a little personal anecdote, bear with me--

When I was a teenager one of the sports activity I was involved with was boxing. We trained and were taught what to do and not do. Every time I faced a right handed opponent, I was not faked out with his moves, however, on those rare occasions facing a lefty who led with his right hand, I got faked out and typically got caught with his left. As I got older and heavier the problem persisted until one of my friends who was a lefty and a police academy cadet showed me how to avoid it. In the process of learning from him he bloodied my nose until I got it.

On one boxing lesson I was paired with a very tall opponent who had a long reach and dozens of pounds on me. The big thing with him was he telegraphed his long punches. While we were mixing it up, he saw that I was a sucker for a hard left hand so he switched from leading with his left to leading with his right. As I moved around trying to keep my distance, he tried to cut me off by switching hands and took a wild swing and missed my head. The opportunity was there and I nailed him with a hard left and right and the kid went down. I was shocked--shell shocked that I could do this to this big kid. While on the canvas, the kid looked up and yelled,"I'm gonna kill you." Scared out of my mind I backed off while he got up with a face on him that was all business. All I could do was back off and tore my boxing gloves off. I figured if he was going to hit me with those big gloves I was going to grab and hit him with no gloves. Fortunately, he took a few fierce steps at me and began laughing. The bell rang....the round was over. What a relief. We became good friends after this...and have laughed about it in later years.

Long winded story, I know, but I wonder whether this kind of thing that happened to me, is happening to the Dolphins after the first half where they look pretty good, take it to the "better, bigger and stronger opponent" and then falter because they don't believe in themselves.

This is not just on the players, but the coaches too. Is it happening to both?

Winners have a special mental toughness. What is the state of our mental toughness?

Let's call Dr. Phil.

chatafkup Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dolfan1 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I enjoyed the win but we should never have let
> a
> > 14 point advantage slip away like it did. If we
> > have a lead, extend it dont sit back and play
> > conservative.
>
> Somethign happens to this team after a lead is
> taken early. Not sure if complacency sets in with
> Sherman and his idiotic play calling or if the
> team figures "we're good, no sense in trying hard
> for a bit" or both.

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I don't see this team getting conservative; they just fall apart, doing everything wrong.

Cap, it was dolfan1 and not Chatafkup, that made the "play conservative" comment which is totally ridiculous because if anything, conservative is keep on doing what you were doing successfully and we start passing in the 2nd half when in the first half we are winning with running the ball.