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What is funny is I thought Jim Bates and looking back at it Todd Bowles deserved more of a chance on a full time basis.
Rank our coaches since 2001 (Brady and Bellichick)
- Thread starter DolphinFanMD
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I'm with you on Jim Bates. I don't know that he was any great X's and O's coach, but I saw a team that was motivated, prepared to play, and managed well during the game when Bates was our interim coach.
This thread is as useless as tits on a bull...or an ejection seat on a helicopter.
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Wannstedt belongs on top. Those were tough overachieving teams, as evidenced by his 37-29 record against the spread in the four full seasons from 2000 through 2003. That's quite rare, to average 9-7 against the number over the span of several consecutive seasons, particularly when you are a playoff team and are favored the majority of the time.
I don't get the animosity toward Wannstedt here. Jimmy Johnson is similarly ripped but once Wannstedt's name surfaces all of a sudden Johnson is excused and credited with handing Wannstedt all the players. Somehow we were winning a ton of games, and ALWAYS exceeding our season win over/under.
But there was mythology attached to that Dolphin era. Fans wanted to believe the team was better than it was, in comparison to the competition. The AFC was top notch with Gruden at Oakland fielding top teams with Gannon, Peyton early in his career, Tennessee very tough, and obviously New England winning multiple Super Bowls from within the division. Our YPPA Differential didn't threaten those teams. Our secondary, in particular, thrived against weak quarterbacks but flopped on the road against competent foes. The disparity was ridiculous. I was posting on a forum called alt.sports.miamidolphins, or something like that. We had guys there asserting that Wannstedt was handed the keys to a kingdom, the team most primed to win Super Bowls than any franchise in recent history. I had to laugh at assertions like that, while providing numbers to dispute. There's one guy here who posted on that forum. His name is Lloyd Hellbrunn. He posts occasionally. I'm sure he would remember the overboard assertions on that forum. It was probably the same here, based on everything I've read since 2005. Lloyd was one of the guys who had a real world view. He was frustrated but didn't pretend that we should have ruled the world.
One season we got lucky and faced a string of stiff quarterbacks on the road, guys like Ryan Leaf and Akili Smith. Four of that caliber. That was the only time our road defensive yards per pass attempt was decent. Otherwise it was horrendous. Madison and Surtain and Co. were bullies at home but collapsed on the road when the quarterback was competent. We'd be giving up 7.8 YPA or higher. I remember the season Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl we were something like 3.5 yards worse than they were in road YPA allowed.
Wannstedt did about as well as possible with a quarterback of Fiedler's caliber. I was betting against us every time we advanced to the second round of the playoffs in those years. We were sitting ducks compared to who we were asked to face on the road. Obviously that's another aspect of the equation, Wannstedt's personnel decisions. They were undeniably horrible, but not much different than the subsequent decade. I suspect if we'd kept him we would have won a lot more games than we have, even if the fan base would have long since boycotted every game.
I know one thing, Wannstedt seldom ran the ball 20 times or less. He did it as often in 4+ seasons as Philbin managed this year. Unfortunately, one of Wannstedt's worse coaching jobs was the road game at Minnesota, the trap game. Wannstedt warned of a choke and then choked himself. I was charting the game and wondering why we were throwing so many unnecessary passes. Absurd. We ended up with only 17 rushes and all but handed the Vikings the physical advantage and therefore confidence to pull it out.
I don't get the animosity toward Wannstedt here. Jimmy Johnson is similarly ripped but once Wannstedt's name surfaces all of a sudden Johnson is excused and credited with handing Wannstedt all the players. Somehow we were winning a ton of games, and ALWAYS exceeding our season win over/under.
But there was mythology attached to that Dolphin era. Fans wanted to believe the team was better than it was, in comparison to the competition. The AFC was top notch with Gruden at Oakland fielding top teams with Gannon, Peyton early in his career, Tennessee very tough, and obviously New England winning multiple Super Bowls from within the division. Our YPPA Differential didn't threaten those teams. Our secondary, in particular, thrived against weak quarterbacks but flopped on the road against competent foes. The disparity was ridiculous. I was posting on a forum called alt.sports.miamidolphins, or something like that. We had guys there asserting that Wannstedt was handed the keys to a kingdom, the team most primed to win Super Bowls than any franchise in recent history. I had to laugh at assertions like that, while providing numbers to dispute. There's one guy here who posted on that forum. His name is Lloyd Hellbrunn. He posts occasionally. I'm sure he would remember the overboard assertions on that forum. It was probably the same here, based on everything I've read since 2005. Lloyd was one of the guys who had a real world view. He was frustrated but didn't pretend that we should have ruled the world.
One season we got lucky and faced a string of stiff quarterbacks on the road, guys like Ryan Leaf and Akili Smith. Four of that caliber. That was the only time our road defensive yards per pass attempt was decent. Otherwise it was horrendous. Madison and Surtain and Co. were bullies at home but collapsed on the road when the quarterback was competent. We'd be giving up 7.8 YPA or higher. I remember the season Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl we were something like 3.5 yards worse than they were in road YPA allowed.
Wannstedt did about as well as possible with a quarterback of Fiedler's caliber. I was betting against us every time we advanced to the second round of the playoffs in those years. We were sitting ducks compared to who we were asked to face on the road. Obviously that's another aspect of the equation, Wannstedt's personnel decisions. They were undeniably horrible, but not much different than the subsequent decade. I suspect if we'd kept him we would have won a lot more games than we have, even if the fan base would have long since boycotted every game.
I know one thing, Wannstedt seldom ran the ball 20 times or less. He did it as often in 4+ seasons as Philbin managed this year. Unfortunately, one of Wannstedt's worse coaching jobs was the road game at Minnesota, the trap game. Wannstedt warned of a choke and then choked himself. I was charting the game and wondering why we were throwing so many unnecessary passes. Absurd. We ended up with only 17 rushes and all but handed the Vikings the physical advantage and therefore confidence to pull it out.
You must be posting using your Samsung phone. I can tell by the errors.
Pornstache had a very good defense, but our QB Jay fiedler was so noodle armed that defenses only had a 30 yard deep field. They could stack the run or run blitz causing Jay to scramble for his life. He made some great plays because of his tougness and kept us competitive. We never tried to upgrade the QB/WR position and that is what kept us from competing and winning in the playoffs.
Wanny was set up for sucesss, but he did nothing in 4 years to put us over the top.
Those defenses with Trace Armstrong, Zack Thomas and Jason Taylor were just outstanding.
---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:12 PM ----------
The team played hard for Bates, but in the long run both would have failed IMHO. They have not done anything since.
Wanny was set up for sucesss, but he did nothing in 4 years to put us over the top.
Those defenses with Trace Armstrong, Zack Thomas and Jason Taylor were just outstanding.
---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:12 PM ----------
The team played hard for Bates, but in the long run both would have failed IMHO. They have not done anything since.