The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Sparano and Ireland gotta go. Even The Big O (used to be of WQAM but of WFTL now) who is the most connected Fins radio host out there in Miami and  the biggest Sparano backer there is today is calling for his head along with Ireland's.  Too much talent to still be this mediocre. I mean its Nov 7th and we are all but out of the playoffs. We esentially have NO TIEBREAKERS over NE, NY, Pitt, or Balt. The teams we have beaten stink....Buffalo has no wins. Minny has 3 wins. GB we played when most of their key guys were hurt and we were lucky to beat them. And Cincy with 2 wins we beat.

Sparano hasn't beaten a "quality" legit NFL team in almost a calender year. Go back to the Pats the first week of December last year I believe.  Highest paid LT in the NFL. Highest paid RT in the NFL. Highest paid LB in NFL history. Highest paid SLOT WR currently in the NFL. And Marshall is the 2nd highst paid WR in the NFL currently. And we are worse off with this bunch than in the past 2 years. Or even at best.

Sparano fired his DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR last year. He fired his SPECIAL TEAMS coach mid-season. Dan Henning is  70 years old, can't fire him he is gonna retire. No more heads to roll except for Tony's. SPARANO HAS TO GO!!

As much as I hate Carl Peterson, I am willing to give him a shot cause I know the group we CURRENTLY have are clueless!

looking at some of the other teams in the league that are true contenders, and i don't see where miami has comparable talent.

coaching really isn't the biggest problem for why this team is just average, fact is that they just have average talent. good enough to eek out wins against mediocre teams, not good enough to play with the big boys.

If they don't have comparable talent, then Ireland/Sparano are giving out INSANE contracts and should be fired for that alone. Cause we are paying guys way too much then and have no results to show for it.

It's year 3 for Sparano. No more EXCUSES!! WINS is all that matter. He doesn't have the wins to support him getting a new deal and staying as head coach in Miami

The coaching carousel doesn't work.  I'm not a Sparano apologist, and I certainly disagree with some of the on-field decision I'm seeing.  However, I look at this team and see a .500 team that's won all the games that they were supposed to and lost the games to teams that are better than we are.  Our 4 losses are to the league's elite teams.  And we beat the 6-3 Packers on the road.

That's not good enough to be great, which is what we expect, but it's not a fire-able offense.  In other words, I don't think that Sparano is COSTING us wins.  I like his passion and I like him.  I think that players respond to that.  I will cut him slack in hopes that things improve over the next couple of years.  Also, we have to see how this team responds down the stretch.  We have an abnormally difficult schedule, and our division is as tough as its ever been.

This

I hear what you're saying here, but if the Dolphins want to even begin to think about the playoffs or winning their division, these tidbits can't be used as excuses.

Right now the Dolphins are 4-4 - they are a middle of the pack team. Until they can overcome their tough schedule, until they can start winning the games that they're not "supposed to" win, and until they can be the reason that their division is considered a tough one, then (and only then) will the Dolphins be considered a good, playoff-caliber team.

At this point, I think the playoffs are irrelevant. Until Henning gets the axe, we are going to continue seeing blown games. First drive, they run the ball well and score. So, Henning abandons the run? WTF???

I just don't know how you blame a coach for a CB dropping a pick six that ANY high school CB can make.

I don't know how you blame a coach for a QB missing a 5 yard toss into the endzone of a wide open Tight End.

I don't know how you blame the coach for missed tackles of which there must have been about 50.

I don't know how you blame the coach for only having 10 men on the field for a punt return.  One of the first things you do as a player there is count how many men you have on the field.

Sure there are things that I blame on coaching and one of them is definately Henne's progress or lack thereof, but it's not all on the coaching staff.  Sooner or later the players have to start stepping up in big games rather than disappearing.  It's like they are all so afraid of making a mistake that they freeze up and can't play.

I get what you're saying, but these aren't excuses.  I just mean that when the season is over, you have to evaluate the things on the team that aren't working and go in a new direction.  I don't think that Sparano (or leadership) is one of those problems.  I think that we need to open up our playbook a little bit, including going for it in tight situations, and I think that some of our players need to be replaced.  I just don't think that starts with Sparano.

I have to agree with Mike on this one.  There is NO EXCUSE for abandoning the run when it was working well.  Henning needs to go. 

Sparano looks like he's in way over his head.  Goodbye. 

Ireland has made a boatload of questionable decisions and cannot get the proper free agents signed.  Sayonara. 

I wouldn't bring in Carl Peterson though.  I'd bring in Scott Pioli.

^ I think Sparano is now coaching his 1st actual season by himself (w/o having to look over his shoulder and get nods of approval from Parcells). He's now in charge w/o the Parcells safety net, so he's now really learning about this team.

With that said, there are in-game situations that he needs to improve upon. Game strategy and clock management are not very good right now for the Dolphins. The best coaches know how to game plan for an opponent and know how to manage a clock / timeouts. The Dolphins can't do either (They play one way, and only one way, come hell or high water).

Should  17 head coaches be fired?  There are 17 team with a record of 4-4 or worse. 

In fact the league average for wins is .500 exactly what the Dolphins have.

I think there are two coaches who ought be fired.  One is in last place in the NFCN the other NFCE. 

^^ I have to admit I was pretty depressed about the Dolphins yesterday and then this morning I came into work to see that the Cowboys lost 45-7 last night and I realized that things could definately be worse.

I think some of you guys just need a reality check.

Jets
Pats
Ravens

All of these teams are better than we are, considerably, right?  We lost to all three, but were in the game (close or leading at half-time).

Pitt
Packers

These two teams are also better than us, most would agree, yet we essentially beat both (got screwed against Pitt, but our players did what they needed to.)

And we beat these bad teams:

Bills
Bengals
Vikings (who are probably a better team that most people think).

I'm not making excuses.  I'm just pointing out that before the season, when we collectively reviewed the schedule, 4-4 was a great place to be after our first 8 games.  Now that we're there, people are flipping out.

A friend of mine who is a Vikings fan...is pissed that the Vikings won.  He figued a loss would get Childress fired this morning, now that isn't happening.    

I know a few people who figured we'd very well be 1-7 (beating the Bills) or 2-6 (beating Bills and Bengals) after 8 games.

4-4 in the afc west, or even afc south would be great.

they are 4-4 having already lost to both division leaders at home. so basically they are 3 games back...

at this point, given their division record, their conference record, and record against teams they are competing with for a wild card, not even sure 10-5 gets them in the playoffs.

^ I think that 10-6 is about where we should end up.

I don't think that will be enough, because of how stacked the AFC is, but I also think that it's worth building on and not firing everyone.

Actually 10-5 gets you one more regular season game. 

i meant 10-6... was thinking even 11-5 won't get them in

The only person that I think needs to go is Henning.  I also think the coaches need to take these players and drill the hell out of them on the basics until they re-learn them.

I'm not convinced Sparano needs to go.  The defense needs to keep improving which they have over last year somewhat.  We still need help in several areas there and if Henning is fucking up the playcalling, then that needs to be addressed as well. 

NYJ and Pitt were games we nearly won.  This is a team that has shown it can hang with the top flight teams in football.  That wasn't the case a couple years ago.  I still think we have a shot to run the table and finish at 12-4. 

And in almost every fan base...the ones who had the preseason predictions of 3-13 are the ones most loudly calling for the coach to be fired or the QB benched when a team starts out 4-4.   

I agree with this.  except for the run the table thing.

I think we'll probably lose a game we should have won (Tennessee maybe?) and win a game we should have lost (@ NY Jets) and finish 10-6 and miss the playoffs.

If we go 10-6, do you feel that we should fire our OC?

10-6 is a pretty good team in my book.

Walking papers for everyone!!

The problem is not Sparano...the problem is Stephen Ross....his biggest concern isn't how the team is doing, but which minority owner will perform at halftime...it's a fucking joke...so until he's gone, don't expect anything out of Miami

Really?  You think the owner screwing around with minority owners and front office minutia is what is bringing down the quality of play on the field? With all due respect, that's so ridiculous that I don't even know what to say to it.

The players underperforming and the coaches not doing a great job coaching is Miami's problem...not the owner.

All this owner does is write checks and take care of things on the entertainment side.  He's just the kind of owner I like.

Yes.  This team has been getting by on defense thus far.  Unless he really shows some sort of improvement by opening up the offense by the end of the year, he should be gone.

and this team nearly lost games against the bills, vikings, and packers. that works both ways...

this team does nothing that is consistently good except kick field goals. not sure what people take away from the pounding against baltimore that leads them to think this team is better than plain mediocrity in a league built for parity.

hey if they get to 10 - 6, that would be a great accomplishment i think. folks need a hard dose of reality though... talent wise this team is average at best, and halfway through the season they haven't shown steady improvement in anything. coaches are working with limited, average talent on this current roster.

I had to laugh a bit. In one sentence it is mentioned the league is built for parity and then in another sentence there is a complaint about having average talent on the team. In a league built for parity shouldn't everyone have average talent?  >:D

No! Let's get an owner who meddles as much as possible, stalking the sidelines, forcing the coach to switch quarterbacks, pushing through draft picks... That'll make us a better football team!

i didn't complain that this team has average talent, it's just a fact.

having a league built for parity doesn't exclude the fact that you will have elite teams. most teams will be average with average talent, a few will be terrible with terrible talent, and a handful will be elite with elite talent contending for championships. the dolphins are right in the middle, and won't be contenders until they get more players that are better than they have on the team right now.

coaching is not the problem for this franchise. cowher, gruden, lombardi, shula, <insert whatever coach here> are not going to get this team to another championship.