Dolphins players appreciate Philbin's major changes (SPORTS BUZZ 9/9/14)

[rickd13]

I would like to see this regime stay intact even if the team does not make the playoffs this season. The organization feels like it is headed in the right direction with Hickey as the GM. I love Lazor as the offensive coordinator and I think Phibin is a solid head coach. One thing I do not want to see if the season falls apart is Jim Harbaugh brought in as the head coach next season. He strikes me as the type of coach that wears out his welcome very fast. If there has to be a change next season I would like the team to keep the current GM in place and promote Lazor to head coach. I really fear losing Lazor if this offense makes the progress I expect they will make this season.

 

[FSU Truth]

Far too often we have coaches with such an ego that they are unwilling to change because they constantly feel that their way will work and the fact that they are no succeeding is because the players and staff are not "buying into it"...whether this work or not, I give the man some credit for realizing that some of the issues were on him and if he wanted the team identity to change, he needed to himself.

 

[Hayden Fox]

Wow. Joe realized he needed to communicate better...I am astonished...something I have said since his first training camp.

It is great to see him adjusting and becoming a better coach.

 

[Digital]

lol. Thanks Brandon.

BTW, Does anyone else find it very odd that he is a regular on Inside the NFL while still playing? I will say though he is very good and has a bright future in commentating after his playing days. Just not something I want my WR doing during the yr.

Well its worth noting that with the new violence policy his career could be in jeopardy and his analyst days never get started if he is caught 2 times for it.

While he was in Denver the police came to his house for that very reason 33 times in 3 years. He said that and the girl that it happened with were behind him and he was a changed man in Miami. But it happened again with the new girl.

I hope he has changed his ways. I realize he has turned a corner by admitting his borderline personality thing ... but in this stricter NFL, he is at risk.

 

[cash]

it feels different as a fan. you can tell the player are in it more. if you get what I mean

they were in it last year we just had too many clowns on the team

 

[MRojas4]

Philbin.... Like a boss?

#toosoon?

:idk:

 

[DuderinoN703]

Good article to read. It's also funny that Mike Wallace complimented Philbin yet still said he's pretty boring

 

[datruth55]

Whoever Marshall's representatives are they are doing a great job of being proactive and putting Marshall in front of cameras to avoid any dots connecting Ray Rice back to him.

What the heck are you talking about? How can you possibly connect the dots from Marshall to Ray Rice?

Joe had just gotten here so i think the Marshall deal was all on Ireland.

With all Philbin's gone through i'm hoping he's grown as a coach. The watching film all day and not interacting with the players was never going to work. I'm thinking Hickey has also been a positive influence. The two of them have seemed to be on the same page from day one.

Moving Marshall was on Joe. He didn't want him here and Ireland was probably ready to move on as well since Marshall was bad mouthing the organization and saying get him a real QB after playing with Moore as the starter for most of the year. I was in agreement with moving Marshall because 70% of our passes seemed to be thrown his way which made me feel he was demanding the ball all the time. Regardless, Ireland never had a plan to replace him which was a major screw up on his part.

Welp lets hope he can do some things like Coughlin (Super Bowl wins) and not go through what they are going through now.


It's good to see the players are happy with Philbin. Hopefully this leads to them being behind Philbin and playing great week in and week out.

What's happening to the Giants isn't on Coughlin. It's on their GM for having some awful drafts. Since 2009 they have drafted 8 starters out of 44 players drafted and only 16 of those players are still on the team, 5 of them from the 2014 draft class and a lot of the guys not on the team are out of the NFL all together. That's some awful drafting.

 

[utahphinsfan]

The good vibes and positive perception from the players will only last as long as the team is winning. If the team goes through a long losing streak, the players will view that same behavior from Philbin as goofy and lame. Wanny was prone to acting that way, and once the team started losing the players turned on his goofy, feel good persona in a major way. In the end, you just can't fake confidence. I still don't get a vibe of confidence when I look at Philbin. Compare his demeanor to Lazor's - it's night and day. Lazor oozes confidence. Players respect that win or lose.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad Philbin lightened up some and has momentarily stopped having the persona of a cardboard cutout, but I just don't feel the good vibes from the players will last if they go through a losing streak.

I don't think Philbin will take the team bowling like Dave did once. I can't help but wonder how much his son's death affected Joe.

That said, I always thought of Joe as the Vice Principal we all had in HS who was not your buddy but always there to help and encourage.

 

[spiketex]

I think that Joe was learning how to behave as a Head Coach when he arrived and consciously trying not to get too close to his players. However, the bullying scandal and the subsequent departure of his mentor, Mike Sherman, gave him a rude shock that he had to get closer to his team or else he would be on the streets without a job. Sometimes a wakeup call like this provides the opportunity for significant correction. Full marks to old Joe for recognizing the problem and consciously changing behaviour. I'm sure that this is not just for the media.
The real irony is that it took Jonathan Martin's cafeteria walkout and the stream of Richie Incognito texts and the subsequent investigation for Joe to fully realize how out of touch he was with some of his players. Thank you J-mart.

 

[whizafriz]

I feel like Hickey and Lazor have been the biggest difference-makers, but kudos to Joe for working with them and keeping the vision tight. Coyle has also seemed to improve this year -- I liked what I saw in the preseason, and the D last game could definitely ball. Perhaps Joe demanded more from him now that Hickey was getting the types of players Philbin wanted, and not Ireland's Choice.

All in all, whoever is to blame for the success -- that's a good problem to have. I'm glad this staff is working in cohesion. We haven't seen that in a long time.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Exactly. And ultimately winning comes down to teaching and putting guys in the right position. That's always been a bigger problem for Philbin than being an awkward goof.

Bum Phillips had the best quote on this, I think. I'm paraphrasing but he said, "Coaching is not about how much you know. It's about what you can get them to do." That's what we need to see.

The Lazor hire is turning out better than I expected thus far. People are focusing on the "demanding" angle but frankly that doesn't count for that much. Brian Daboll was a complete drill sergeant. Didn't matter, though, because the talent wasn't there and ultimately he didn't know what to do with what we did have. That's why he's coaching tight ends instead of a coordinator somewhere.

Funny you bring up Daboll. I actually thought Brian Daboll did a pretty good job considering the terrible circumstances of his tenure. Once Matt Moore got settled in, our offense was pretty competent and fun to watch.

 

[finfan54]

The good vibes and positive perception from the players will only last as long as the team is winning. If the team goes through a long losing streak, the players will view that same behavior from Philbin as goofy and lame. Wanny was prone to acting that way, and once the team started losing the players turned on his goofy, feel good persona in a major way. In the end, you just can't fake confidence. I still don't get a vibe of confidence when I look at Philbin. Compare his demeanor to Lazor's - it's night and day. Lazor oozes confidence. Players respect that win or lose.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad Philbin lightened up some and has momentarily stopped having the persona of a cardboard cutout, but I just don't feel the good vibes from the players will last if they go through a losing streak.

Problem with that theory is that the tape dont lie. coaches dont play.

---------- Post added at 02:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:55 PM ----------

Joe Philbin deserves 110% credit for recognizing the best OC guy out there and getting him here in Miami. It is the one decision that I say will keep him here long term. As well as RT.

 

[ChambersWI]

Funny you bring up Daboll. I actually thought Brian Daboll did a pretty good job considering the terrible circumstances of his tenure. Once Matt Moore got settled in, our offense was pretty competent and fun to watch.

Daboll to me was better than I expected for our OC. I actually thought he did a better job adjusting to his players than Sherman did (which isn't hard to do). I think Daboll just tended to be too creative for his own good at times.

As for Philbin, a lot of first time coaches make the same mistake he did (or even veteran coaches), some are able to adapt and become good to great, others go into a shell and alienate their players (really most coaches that end up getting fired)

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

I listened to Channing Crowder yesterday and regardless of what you thought of him as a player, he's pretty funny on the radio. A lot better than most ex-players.

He was talking about pregame speeches ( http://wqam.com/2014/09/09/channing-crowder/ ) and I couldn't stop laughing as he was making fun of Tony Sparano and the 'feed the wolf' nonsense.

Just win!