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Learning the Lessons of Jeff Ireland

TheWalrus

TheWalrus

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Jeff Ireland assembled ordinary teams as if he were trying to win the Lombordinary Trophy.

The Dolphins general manager, fired this week after he refused to accept a de-facto demotion, inherited personnel control of the Dolphins from mentor Bill Parcells and spent half a decade building an 8-8 team out of the wreckage of a 7-9 team. Ireland’s Dolphins were a caterpillar crawling eight inches up the side of a well by day and sliding 7.5 inches backward when they slept at night. Few general managers in football history have set the bar so medium, and so nearly cleared it.

“Ireland may have no idea what he is doing, but no one can question his dedication to doing it,” I wrote in Football Outsiders Almanac 2012. “He really thinks his lurching, reactionary managerial approach is the right way to do business.” That was two offseasons ago, before his ultimate reactionary lurch: The sudden 2013 shift from underspending to crazy spending, without popping the clutch of truly comprehending his team’s needs or the free agent marketplace.

Enough self-quoting and one liners. Let’s learn some lessons from the Ireland administration. The deposed GM did a few things right and a book chapter’s worth of things wrong, but his biggest mistakes can be summarized by a few bullet points.
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More at the link: http://miketanier.sportsonearthblog.com/learning-the-lessons-of-jeff-ireland/

One of the best -- certainly one of the funniest -- postmortems on the Ireland "era."
 
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haha, nice find.

Pretty much this:

When Ireland began wresting control from Parcells, the Dolphins were a strong foundation seeking a franchise quarterback. They are now a franchise quarterback (maybe) in search of a strong foundation.
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This is true, he has destroyed what Percells built. Every strenght of the team is now weakened.
 
I like this...

Ireland’s drafts were not terribly weak, but he always drafted as if the Dolphins had three years to wait on a prospect, while he signed free agents as if the team was just one … player … away from trouncing the Patriots.
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Great read. Thanks. It put the thoughts in my head succinctly in print.

Ireland made some really good choices and then contradicted himself in the most absurd of manners. Dion Jordan... what in the world was Ireland, and the war room that didnt unleash an army, smoking when he made that decision? An injured, pass rusher for the strongest unit in the team and dont forget the cherry; a trade-up for an injured, tweener for a position not in need of help.

I lost my mind during the draft as well. I started hoping for Eifert to fall instead having a good olineman fall. Then i heard those beautiful words. The Dolphins have traded up. What a relief i thought to myself. For once, im the crazy one and my beloved team is acting rationally. OT come on down. And in pure Dolphin luster; a whirlwind of jamar fletcher, jason allen, ted ginn jr nausea hit me, landed two to the body with a final dion jordan to the head. Ding! Ding! Ding! Another year and yet another haunting question, "Who the f@ck did we draft?" Miami Dolphins- heavyweight screw up champions of the world.

Dion Jordan showed a plethora of promise when he actually saw the field and he may very well become the next Jason Taylor. But even that wont change the fact that it was an atrocious move. By the time we have a Jason Taylor, we may be lacking a Paul Soliai, or a Brent Grimes, etc because as the article beautifully painted; we took two steps forward to take more steps back.
 
Parcells was the one that ruined the franchise from day one. Where is Jake Long? How does Atlanta feel, despite a bad season, about their team when injuries heal? They have Ryan, so they will be ok
 
You cant be serious.

Parsells built a foundation? Why? Becuase we went 11-5 with Pennington?

This is crap.


You want to believe it? fine. whatever dude.
 
Cant wait for the dawn aponte era to take control.

and when i mean control.....
 
finfan54 said:
You cant be serious.

Parsells built a foundation? Why? Becuase we went 11-5 with Pennington?

This is crap.


You want to believe it? fine. whatever dude.
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I thought you might like the article considering you got mentioned:
"Ireland’s apologists – a huge pro-Ireland contrarian movement developed among Dolphins fans as a kind of coping mechanism – swore that the previous four years were just a build-up to 2013, when the “free beer tomorrow” sign finally came down and the taps flowed with playoff goodness."
 
The only thing I disagree with is that he lumped Grimes into a "lateral move"...Grimes was a major upgrade. Everything else pretty much...
 
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