Philbin and the Coaching Staff Getting Some Things Right

[PCmor]

One improvement I see over last year's team is something Philbin emphasized in the offseason and in his conversations with Don Shula. The team discipline has improved. We are the second least penalized team in the league. We are also even in turnover differential. If we can move that stat into the positive, we will really make progress in winning the battle for hidden yardage.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categoryst...ATS&conference=ALL&d-447263-s=PENALTIES_TOTAL

Penalties are only one part of team discipline. Depending what eventually comes out of the whole Martin-Incognito mess we might discover that other aspects of team discipline were worse and hurt the team more than the lack of penalties helped.

The turnover thing is big, but that can be explained to an extent without giving the coaches a whole lot of credit. First, you have a second-year QB adjusting to the speed of the game and making the kind of progress you'd hope he'd make. Second, Dimitri Patterson has been a ballhawk when he was able to get on the field. And three, a little luck. But I'll give coaches a bit of credit here.

There are other aspects, though, where they don't look at good. Our return game has been dreadful in terms of Thigpen knowing when to bring it out, when to let it go, etc., and he seems to be getting worse in terms of his decision-making. Today, at the end, he tried to take the bouncer out 2-3 yards deep in the end zone and didn't get to the 20. That's not the first time that's happened. He's taken a number of fair catches inside the 10. Then we had a chance to down the ball at the 5 and saw it start to bounce back upfield and never downed it. We lost 5 yards in that exchange.

I just haven't seen enough improvement in this team to care whether Philbin and his staff are retained or not.

 

[roy_miami]

There are other aspects, though, where they don't look at good. Our return game has been dreadful in terms of Thigpen knowing when to bring it out, when to let it go, etc., and he seems to be getting worse in terms of his decision-making. Today, at the end, he tried to take the bouncer out 2-3 yards deep in the end zone and didn't get to the 20. That's not the first time that's happened. He's taken a number of fair catches inside the 10. Then we had a chance to down the ball at the 5 and saw it start to bounce back upfield and never downed it. We lost 5 yards in that exchange.

.

I don't think Philbin likes Thigpen retuning in certain situations anymore than we do as evidenced by the fact Bess was out there a lot for the judgement punts last season, and the fact he tried out a lot of different players on punt returns in the preseason. The problem for Philbin is he just didn't have any better choices.

Same goes for o-line, we attempted to bring in replacement options at every position via free agency/trade/draft and at the end of the day we ended up with the same crew. I wouldn't put that on the coach, I put it on the GM.

 

[PCmor]

I don't think Philbin likes Thigpen retuning in certain situations anymore than we do as evidenced by the fact Bess was out there a lot for the judgement punts last season, and the fact he tried out a lot of different players on punt returns in the preseason. The problem for Philbin is he just didn't have any better choices.

Same goes for o-line, we attempted to bring in replacement options at every position via free agency/trade/draft and at the end of the day we ended up with the same crew. I wouldn't put that on the coach, I put it on the GM.

That's speculation with Thigpen. The thing is Thigpen was better and has gotten worse. If Philbin wasn't comfortable with Thigpen, they'd have let him go and found some other option back there. Bottom line is he's not making plays, looks indecisive and is costing the team field position. Slice it however, but it's not getting done and it is hurting the team.

Same goes for the O-Line. Some people want to blame the players, some want to blame the GM, some want to blame Philbin, some want to blame the line coach. Well, none of them got it done. I don't know how much say Philbin has over what Ireland tries to get for him. I don't know what their conversations are like or what their relationship is like. I do know that the product on the field isn't very good, that the only real off-season acquisition there was Clabo, that John Jerry hasn't developed much, that Martin didn't develop much before leaving, that Pouncey couldn't snap the ball in the shotgun without his guard directing him, that our other Pro Bowl guard is being accused of all kinds of off-field garbage and that our subs look at least as good as our starters did. I'm not ready to absolve Philbin and the staff from any blame there; seems to me there was a lot they could have done that they haven't.

 

[DZimmer000]

I gotta agree with Hayden. He has been out-coached at least three times this year and it has cost us games. He's a nice guy.....he's just not a good coach.

I know someone will want an example of how he was out coached........ Going for a 52 yard FG yesterday in a field position game was a horrible call. There was a stiff breeze and the percentages are not in your favor. Bad decision.

 

[roy_miami]

I gotta agree with Hayden. He has been out-coached at least three times this year and it has cost us games. He's a nice guy.....he's just not a good coach.

I know someone will want an example of how he was out coached........ Going for a 52 yard FG yesterday in a field position game was a horrible call. There was a stiff breeze and the percentages are not in your favor. Bad decision.

What are the percentages Mr. Expert?

 

[MD]

After seeing this team's inability to play a complete game, being unprepared following a bye week resulting in a home loss to a PS QB, some horrible decision making in the 4th quarter yesterday and having an imbecile as his OC, it won't bother me to see a new GM come in and make a change.

 

[johngarryvo]

#1 Wrong) every time, say again - every time there's a call , or an argue, or a disagree with an official, you'll see STC Darren Rizzi over Joe's shoulder, running his big fat mouth. THAT'S WRONG. the HC is the only voice the stripes wanna hear from, should ever hear from... ever! nuff said