Stephen Ross Ruined the Franchise
- Thread starter Finlawyer
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People find anything to complain about.
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Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers are both very interesting "what if?" scenarios for Miami. Drew Brees needed a few years to mature into a great quarterback. That's why the Chargers drafted Philip Rivers. Aaron Rodgers reportedly looked so bad in practice his first couple of years in the league that the Packers would have cut him outright had he not been a first round pick with the protection that entails.
However, Wannstedt's handling of the quarterback situation was indeed abysmal. Trent Green -- laugh it up -- would have been a big upgrade for the Dolphins when he was available. Brees obviously would have been the right call. Trading a pick for Jay Feely? Another obvious blunder.
Nick Saban also did a poor job with the QB situation. The decision to take Culpepper over Brees was obviously an insane blunder, but so was letting Frerotte walk away with nothing but bum knee Culpepper and Joey Harrington to rely on at quarterback. I can't really blame Saban for Rodgers, though. To this day I honestly don't believe Aaron Rodgers would have become the quarterback he is today if Miami had drafted him, nor do I believe he would have saved the Saban tenure.
roy_miami
2020 cant get here soon enough
Either that or just don't watch the Dolphins anymore. Just find another team with an owner to your liking.
This constant whining and crying is pathetic. It is like going to a restaurant where you hate the food and you complain and you keep going to the restaurant and order the same ****ty food and keep complaining over and over again yet you keep on going.
I said it before the season but its mindboggling how Dolphin fans are unable to predict how Dolphin fans will react to losing. And in your analogy wouldn't this forum be the restaurant for you?
Anyway, getting Grier and Flores out of here after the season is mission critical. For one thing they probably aren't very bright. Two, Ross gets to save a bit of face: 'just to prove I wasn't on board with a tank I fired those bozos.' That might save us from punishment or Tua refusing to come here. And three it has to be both and it has to be now (after the season), another half measure firing just Grier would be a disaster.
So bitching, blowing up, wearing paper bags, not going to games or whatever should all be encouraged. Because the only way to rejuvenate the fanbase and the team is a total reset from the ground up.
Miamifinz
On to the next (year)
Ross has no football acumen, says very little, and when he does or says anything relating to football he sounds idiotic (3-13 comment, Courting Harbaugh, etc). He’s just a checkbook in a sport where you can’t spend your way to a championship. He is completely useless.
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I don't think the NFL will punish Miami for tanking -- seems very unlikely -- but it's an interesting discussion.
It's not a criminal court, so the burden of proof is essentially whether or not the commissioner 'saw enough' proof to conclude that Miami was tanking. But on the other hand, with Ross's public statement and the team's personnel management, you could definitely make the case that it should be investigated. And then all you have to do is find one text message, one email, one overheard conversation within the front office, and bam, suddenly you have a disciplinary problem that the NFL would love to have. Because the NFL would love to find an excuse to implement a draft lottery.
And if there is any team on this Earth that I fully believe is stupid enough to send text messages back and forth about tanking, or leave discussion of it on team email servers, it's the Miami Dolphins.
It's not a criminal court, so the burden of proof is essentially whether or not the commissioner 'saw enough' proof to conclude that Miami was tanking. But on the other hand, with Ross's public statement and the team's personnel management, you could definitely make the case that it should be investigated. And then all you have to do is find one text message, one email, one overheard conversation within the front office, and bam, suddenly you have a disciplinary problem that the NFL would love to have. Because the NFL would love to find an excuse to implement a draft lottery.
And if there is any team on this Earth that I fully believe is stupid enough to send text messages back and forth about tanking, or leave discussion of it on team email servers, it's the Miami Dolphins.
NJ Dolphan
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If at the end of the season, we are in a position to draft Tua, have another first rounder in the top 20, and a plan to build an offensive line with the draft picks and cap space, Grier obviously stays since that’s the plan he sold Ross on.
Flores is a different story.
NJ Dolphan
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You’d have to know the NFL bylaws to know whether the league can punish a team for tanking. You’d have to think that the FO did their due diligence there, so I kind of doubt it.
And I mean, I don’t know how you could set a standard that actually works so that teams know what to do to not be penalized for it. If there’s no salary floor, you can’t force teams to spend big in free agency. If you permit teams to trade draft picks, there’s nothing forcing a team to turn down a huge haul of picks for a great player.
roy_miami
2020 cant get here soon enough
CK made a good point in the latest podcast, Ross was OK with the team not being very good but he would not be OK with the team being a laughing stock. If true Grier failed. Couple that with the story that Ross wanted to trade down to take Lamar Jackson and Grier replied you'll have to fire me first because I'm taking Minkah and I don't think Grier makes it the entire season if we actually trade him.
H.P. Lovedrafts
Club Member
It's great to support them, until the point where they keep making mistakes that harm the state of the franchise.
Someone in this thread made a comparison of fans who are frustrated with the team's state to diners eating at a restaurant. I don't agree with that. I think a more apt comparison would be if you have a loved one that you care deeply for who is very sick, and their doctor is doing a poor job caring for them or making them worse, you would do everything you could to have that doctor replaced with a competent one. And yes, we as fans don't have the power to make that change, but we can certainly let our voices be heard.
And for the record, I have supported the hiring of Coach Flores and still do to this point. But if we keep seeing inept coaching performances like the one vs. Baltimore throughout the year, that may change.
As for GM Grier, I have to say I'm a little nervous about him choosing the players from the biggest bounty of picks this franchise has even seen. Yes, he's the one that obtained the picks. But his track record in talent evaluation has been spotty. This next draft has to be an A+ draft - no more gambles with high picks on "Looks Like Tarzan, Plays Like Jane" picks. If this franchise is going to get its head out of its ass, it's going to need to get some franchise and blue chips players in 2020.
I for one had no issue with cleanly house and basically starting from scratch. My issue was with Ross not also cleaning out the people who were going to be making the decisions about the players going forward. Instead of going out and spending his money to try and bring in a football man with a proven track record of building a decent team, Ross decided to stick with a GM who has been part of the problem for the past nearly 2 decades.
I just do not trust Grier when it comes to selecting top tier talent with all the draft picks he will have in the next 2 drafts. I remember when we were all excited about all the money and picks Ireland was going to have a few years ago to improve the team and we all know how that worked out.
For those who believe Grier is the right man to lead this rebuild, they are looking forward to the next few drafts. For me and others who just don’t have faith in Grier as the GM, it is hard to believe this team will be anymore than mediocre when Ross finally decides to fire Grier and hire a new GM.
I know, but you know somebody would if I didn't put the disclaimer.
Joe Dolfan
Active Roster
I thought it was ambiguous, but I gave you the benefit of the doubt.
The bold and bright red removed any ambiguity. But just to clear any doubt, Stephen Ross can **** off.
gofins60
Club Member
True. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt by saying that they may have been hamstrung by a lack of talent. Basically, IMO the team would have seen more (and quicker) improvement if Ross had did the opposite and fired Ireland while keeping Sparano.