-by Jim Gray

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury. A crime has been committed. A crime so vile that we cannot turn a blind eye to it. Someone has murdered our hopes. Someone has stolen our dreams. Someone has raped our aspirations. This crime has been committed over time...week after week...season after season. It culminated on December 29, 2002 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro Massachusetts when the Miami Dolphins gave up the lead in the final 2 1/2 minutes and lost in overtime. Goodbye victory. Goodbye playoffs. Goodbye Super Bowl. I submit to you, good citizen jurors, that the people responsible for this act are the members of the Miami Dolphins coaching staff.

The Evidence

You might ask: "Is it fair to blame the coaches? I don't remember Wannstedt missing any tackles or Keith Armstrong failing to cover a punt. Did Norv Turner throw an interception when I was out getting a beer? How can guys who don't put on a uniform make that big a difference?" The reason is that football is a game of strategy and planning. It's about match-ups, tendencies, weaknesses and strengths. These come together in a game plan. The coaching staff is responsible for developing the game plan and preparing the players to execute it. Of course it would be unfair to condemn an entire coaching staff based on a single game. Good coaches will lose some games and bad coaches will win some, but over time a trend develops. It's easy to see the trend. Just look in the Win/Loss column. Still not convinced? Let's look at a few examples.

Exhibit A - Historical Precedent One of my favorite quotes about coaching comes from Bum Phillips when he was the coach of the Houston Oilers. He said this about Dolphin's coach Don Shula. - "He could take his'n and beat your'n, and he could take your'n and beat his'n". What Bum lacked in grammar skills he made up for in his understanding of the game. Is Bum really saying that the players don't matter, and it's really the coaches that make difference? Yes, I think he is. Of course you can take this too far, but given that most teams draw from the same pool of highly talented athletes, why are some teams so much better than others? The answer is coaching. The NFL is filled with examples of teams with bad records that bring in quality coaches and turn things around, usually with the same personnel, often in the next season. A good coach gets the most out of his players. They will often be referred to as overachievers and somehow they are able to win, even when they don't seem to be the most talented team on the field. I have vivid memories of a game that illustrates my point. Joe Robbie Stadium - 1990. Eagles VS. Dolphins. Miami is outplayed on both sides of the ball for 55 minutes. The Eagles defense under Buddy Ryan batters the fish, and a young Randall Cunningham eats up the Dolphin defense (this was when we only played offense in Miami). Miami can't move the ball and can only manage a couple of field goals. Trailing 20 to 6 mid way through the 4th quarter, Miami gets a score, the defense holds, and with time running out scores again to tie the game at 20. In OT, the Dolphins get a field goal and a victory. They weren't the better team, but they were the winning team. Bottom line - Don Shula out-coached Buddy Ryan. I remember walking down the ramp with the crowd chanteing "Buddy Sucks" and wondering "How in the hell did we win that game?". Exhibit B - Recent Example Just over a year ago, Tampa lured Jon Gruden away from Oakland to replace Tony Dungy as the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa gave up two first round picks, two second round picks and 8 million bucks for Gruden. It would seem that Tampa was willing to mortgage the team's future to get a top-notch coach. And what seemed like a high price a year ago now seems like a real bargain. You might expect that it would be difficult for the average fan to see just how much a head coach contributes to a game plan, but in the case of this year's Super Bowl, it's dead easy. Who better to develop a plan to stop the Raiders offense than the former coach? Gruden's defensive scheme was tailor made to take advantage of Rich Gannon's weaknesses, and Gannon responded with a record high 5 interceptions. The players and commentators said the same thing - "Gruden got in Gannon's head". There was one other quote that illustrated Gruden's contribution. Just before the half ended, John Lynch laughed and said - "They're running all the same plays we ran in practice". No one thought that Tampa would win, but in hindsight, it makes perfect sense. Tampa wasn't the better team, but against the Raiders, Gruden was the better coach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closing Arguments

Now that we have established the importance of the head coach and supporting staff, how does Miami stack up? Starting at the top, Miami is led by Dave Wannstedt. Before coming to Miami, he was the head coach of the Bears for 6 years, ending with an unimpressive 41 - 57 record. After replacing Jimmy Johnson in 2000, Wannstedt has been at the helm of a Miami team in gradual decline. In 2000, the team makes the play-offs but is embarrassed in a 2nd round blowout. In 2001, Miami again makes the play-offs, but this time exits in the first round with another blowout. Finally, in 2002, Miami misses the playoffs all together.unforgivable for a team with this much talent (6 pro bowlers, league leading rusher and sack leader). Each year since his arrival, Miami has improved personnel. Each year since his arrival, Wannstedt has delivered fewer wins.

Wannstedt has also blundered in his handling of the coaching staff. He forced out Mike Westhoff, an exceptionally talented special teams coach. Under Westhoff, Miami was consistently one of the top special teams units in the league, but Wanny replaced him with a crony buddy. Westhoff goes to the Jets and turns the unit around, while special teams in Miami under Keith Armstrong have declined each year since his departure. Armstrong coached with Wannstedt in Chicago. To be fair, Armstong has had some success both in Miami and Chicago, but Wanny gave up a proven winner in Westhoff to bring in a crony, and when you do that, you had better win. Late in the season, the special teams really let us down, and cost us the game in New England.

Wannstedt is supported by offensive coordinator, Norv Turner. Norv spent 7 years as the head coach of the Redskins, ending with a 49 - 59 -1 record. After a string of pitiful offensive coordinators, Turner has improved the offense, and put some big numbers up. It's hard to blame Turner for what happened when Lucas took over for Fiedler. However, there have been times when conservative play calling has made games closer than they need to be. I would like to see the team go for the kill when they have an opponent down. Oddly enough, I'm okay with his play calling in the final minutes of the Pats game. There was too much time to run out the clock and the line was stacked. One completed pass would have won the game. Norv is a keeper and deserves some time to get this offense into shape. In the end, the blame must fall on Wannstedt alone. When you have a team of underachievers, there is something wrong at the top.

Sentencing

I am both a practical and compassionate man. While it would be easy to call for Wannstedt's head, I don't think that it would accomplish much at this time. I recommend a sentence of supervised probation for 1 year. Under the terms of the sentence, Wannstedt will be prohibited from making any more staffing changes (although I'm afraid we are barring the barn door after the horses are gone). If he doesn't turn things around next year, the Dolphins organization should look in another direction. It's not all doom and gloom after all. This team has a lot of talent and with the right personnel moves in the off season, should be in a position to challenge for the crown in 2003. Sadly, I must admit that I think we will be having the same discussion next year at this time. You just can't rehabilitate a bad coach.

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The Dolphins Make Me Cry
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