Dolphins choke their way into the offseason with 20-7 loss

What I didn’t like (cont’d)

– Drops – Rishard Matthews had one….Mike Wallace had one….Charles Clay had one….The Dolphins are simply not a good enough team to drop catchable passes and give up the opportunity to pick up a first down.

– Coaching – Simply put, the Dolphins were outcoached by Rex Ryan and his staff.  You know, the same coaching staff that might be fired at some point this week?  I’m tired of having to write this, but the Dolphins coaching staff is not good.  Mike Sherman continually shows that he’s an awful play caller and Joe Philbin might be one of the worst in-game coaches I’ve ever seen.  In the 3rd quarter, with almost 12 minutes left to go, the Dolphins trailed 14-7 and had the ball at their own 48 yard line.  It was 4th down and 1.  It was at that point when Joe Philbin panicked and showed me that he’s not a viable head coach moving forward.  He panicked and went for it…from his own 48….with 27 minutes to go in the game, when trailing by only 7 points….in a game of field position.

I said this at the time, you can check my Twitter feed if you don’t believe me.  This wasn’t a second guess.  I said the Dolphins should punt for 2 main reasons: 1. The Dolphins have the best punter in the league (although he had a bad game) and could pin the Jets deep; and 2. They have been ATROCIOUS all year in 3rd/4th and 1 situations.  Predictably, the Dolphins failed to pick up the first down and turned the ball over to the Jets.  They were lucky the Jets suck and punted, but that call by Philbin reeked of desperation.

I’m done, I’ve had it with Philbin, Sherman, Coyle, Ireland, all of them.  It’s time to hit the reset button (again).  I haven’t been shy about this and I know that most of you agree with me.  I tried explaining my logic to followers on Twitter, but to no avail.  People seem committed to Ireland being fired (with good reason), but some are defending Philbin saying that they like his even keel attitude and believe he’s the right guy.  I disagree….strongly.  First of all, maybe Philbin’s demeanor is the reason his team plays with no emotion…no fire…no heart.  Maybe this team needs a fiery guy as their next coach.

Second of all, what has Philbin done to inspire hope?  Forget the defense for now, but understand that the defense ranks lower now than it did when he took over.  What about the offense, Philbin’s specialty?  Before he took over, the Dolphins ranked 22nd in the league in offense.  In 2012 they ranked 27th and this year they ranked 28th.  The team is regressing under this coach.  Sure, the team won an extra game this year, but is a one game improvement worth keeping a guy that can’t improve the aspect of his team that’s his specialty?

Finally, the Dolphins appear to be unmotivated under Philbin.  They lost to Chad Lewis, at home, after having 2 weeks to prepare.  They also lost to a winless Bucs team in front of the nation on Monday Night Football.  Oh yeah, and they lost back to back weeks to rookie quarterbacks, with the playoffs on the line.  Quite honestly, I don’t think Joe Philbin could motivate my dog to take a piss.  That may sound mean, but how else can you explain losing to the Bills twice, the winless Bucs, and at home to the Jets with a playoff spot on the line.

Oh yeah, and the Dolphins loss means that they finished BEHIND the Jets in the AFC East.  A 3rd place finish, whoo hoo!  Joe Philbin is now 4-8 against the AFC East.  That’s not exactly dominating a division that has only had 1 playoff team for the last 2 years.  We’ll have plenty of time to discuss whether or not Philbin and Ireland deserve to return (hint: they don’t).  We’ll keep you posted if we hear any news about changes to the coaching staff/front office.  But for today, all we can do is think about what could have been.  Unfortunately, this is all we have to do at this time each year.

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