I'm no Philbin defender, but I don't think he had a choice. He initially didn't recognize ANY problem, said Martin was out on a non-football-related issue, and then all heck broke loose with the leaks.
But in the early stage, I have to wonder if this would have gone public at all if it was handled quickly by the Dolphins. Players are out on teams for all kinds of reasons, and most of the time we're not told why or told there's some sort of vague injury. I'm wondering if they could have just put him on the injury list (I'm sure there's something on him that's hurt, he was injured before), and kept it out of the press, contacted Martin and his parents, and tried to resolve it internally. Martin's side seemed to release an avalanche of information in response to the Dolphins and the media, not initially. So I have to wonder. Maybe Miami stood steadfastly by Incognito's side, and wasn't willing to budge. Then the lawyers got their fangs out.
Lawyers know how to play hardball. And since his mother "litigated employment cases for two decades", they were more than ready to play hardball against Philbin, Ireland, and Incognito, if need be. If a lawyer is holding a better hand than you are, you don't call his bluff. You grovel and work out something behind the scenes.
And no one can convince me that coaches weren't aware of everything with Martin. Everything. They thought they could play hardball and put Martin on unpaid leave and infer it's Martin's issue and has nothing to do with them. Martin's lawyers proved otherwise.
So, in the end, it's just another case, one of many, of how the Dolphin organization fumbles the management of players, and has not been a favored destination for coaches or players around the league, traditionally. The latter situation did improve this year, but now I think we've lost ground again, and reputation. For that alone, Philbin deserves to get fired. Ross didn't ask for this. The least a new regime should do is uphold the team's reputation at all cost.
