The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

There needs to be something done this team is too talented to give games away like we have the last two! It appears they are in over their heads!!

You can start with the special teams coach.  Each game has been progressively worse.  The STs were rancid in the preseason too.

This should be an easy decision to make with the bye week here.

I don't want to leave out Dan Henning either.  He's been holding the team back since last year.

Starts with the head coach.

3 years, no results. Time for a change.

That's an odd comment.

The past 3 full seasons have been 1-15, 11-5, 7-9.

The first of those three years was under a different regime, which (quite sensibly) was ousted in response to the dismal on-field performance. I'm going to assume you didn't actually mean to include that season in your "3 years". So maybe you consider this season over and done with to get your "3 years", I don't know...

That leaves the "no results". How is a Division Title not a (good) result? In 1 of 2 completed seasons, that's the result the current regime has delivered.

That's not to say that I'm thrilled with the current state of affairs.

It's hard to predict what the future holds, but there's certainly a lot more talent on the team now than in 2006/2007. And while I don't like all our picks, at least the current regime hasn't completely blown a top-10 pick.

Overall, the new regime has racked up 20 wins and 16 losses.

It is time to look at play calling, though. The only positive to come out of Miami in recent years is the Wild Cat. Everything else on offense has been abysmally unimaginative and catastrophically conservative. That falls first and foremost on the offensive coordinator.

Special teams has been atrocious for years, but how much of that is just the limited depth of talent? Still the Special Teams Coordinator has at least some blame.

Those are the two coaching positions I'd look at first, in that order.

No more excuses. Excuses are getting old

If they don't win at least 7 or more this year, then its time to clean house. I know going from 11 wins to 7 wins to equal or fewer this year (if it happens)....is REGRESSION not PROGRESS!!

Coaches are supposed to get their teams better over time, not worse.

Mike, I don't necessarily disagree with you. I don't know exactly how many wins I'd require for Sparano to stay (if it were up to me), but 7 is not unreasonable.

That said, it hardly makes sense to just look at wins. 2008 was a RIDICULOUSLY easy schedule, PLUS the team got very lucky, PLUS the team stayed healthy. Last year was pretty much the opposite. Tough schedule, bad luck, lots of injuries. Overall, I think the team was about as good last year as the year before.

This, as you said, is year 3, though, and it's time we see some further improvement. Coaching, play calling and talent are all issues and need to be looked at hard and long.

If you don't go by wins what do you go by?

You either WIN or you don't. Results matter!!!

It's a results oriented league

Those are all issues that lay at the feet of the head caoch.

I have two responses to that concept....

It's a results oriented league yes, but you have to look at the results in context with other elements (results, opponents, roster, coaching, officiating) by your reckoning the best team in the league right now is Kansas City but I don't see them top of many power rankings. By the same reckoning a 45-0 blowout is the same result as a 13-10 win in OT on a blown officiating call, the result was the same but it ignores external factors.

My second thought is that realistically the only result which matters is to win the Superbowl is it not? Maybe every team which doesn't even make the playoff should fire all their coaching staff too?

The only coaches I can realistically see as being vulnerable are OC and Special Teams, clearly there is something wrong with the system which is being exploted, and it is on the HC to address that (not fire the HC and all his coaches!).

If you want to argue like that, all responsibility eventually lies at the feet of the one sitting with the final say.

You are just plain wrong about "talent", though. Sparano doesn't decide which players to draft or trade. That's Ireland's desk (or feet, if you will).

Well if we FIRE Sparano then Ireland goes too. I thought that was understood. But Sparano fired Pasqualoni but couldn't fire our special teams coach. That is on his shoulders

You might loose the ST coach but I doubt it.  As much as I would like to see Henning replaced it won't happen now nor should it. This season isn't over by any means. We have showed we can play with anyone but we also showed we can have a melt down. The biggest question is which will emerge in two weeks.

Also, don't forget that the Wildcat was birthed out of an embarrasing loss to Arizona so who knows what to expect in the future. Wasn't that on the cusp of a bye week too?

The special teams has been a weak point for a long while but it seems like it finally and maybe thankfully it exploded in their faces on national tv. I say thankfully because such a national embarrasment should lead to a big change.

Also I remember that we were driving and doing well on offense out our first drive to stall out by using that stupid wild cat. I was a huge fan of the wildcat but it has been totally useless for over a year. When will they realize that play is dead?

I remember thinking the same thing when they used the wildcat- Why did they just kill the drive? I think it was like 3rd and 6 when they used it.

We do NOT need a new HC.  We lost to the dominant team of the last decade when the team just...imploded.  It's never pretty, but it happens sometimes.  Even to great teams (which Miami is not - yet), it happens.  We do NOT need to start over, people.  New HC = new personnel preferences = ridding the team of players that don't fit the system" = more rebuilding.

We need to be sendible, acquire more pieces, and let the team continue to improve.

JVides is absolutely right.  If you want to address your problem areas and make changes, by all means - do that.  But you can't just clean house every 3-4 years or else you have no chance.  A new head coach means a new system, which means regression for a lot of players.  Look at the teams that get new coaches every few years -- they all suck.  At some point, you have to commit to a person and give them some time to fail before they get everything right.