Spech IMO you and others are missing the point about Ireland and are to busy throwing him under the bus currently to give the guy a chance. Irelands job is managing the cap and finding talend for the coaches of the Dolphins.
This post was so long and full of revisionist history that i doubt ill be able to wade through it all, but ill give it a go:
1) Our cap situation is horrific. It got this way because Ireland signed bad players to big contracts, such as Jake Grove and Gibril Wilson. According to your own estimates of Ireland's job, he failed.
2) No one insulted us over chasing Harbaugh. They insulted us over chasing Harbaugh
while we had a head coach. Huge difference, and we were correctly insulted for it. Could other teams have used Harbaugh? Absolutely, but they already had head coaches. We were the ones that decided to overlook that fact.
3) How am i suppose to defend a statement about what Ireland "probably" did behind the scenes with Marino? You have no absolutely no proof. Id counter that it was Ross that "probably" talked to Marino while Ireland was playing with a ball of yarn.
4) Fisher said he would sign here
if an independent third party would be available to appeal Ireland and his disagreements. Ireland and Ross refused that reasonable request. And anyways, Fisher is a coach who had 6 winning season out of 16. Hardly convincing.
5) DeMarco Murray had a bigger impact then Daniel Thomas. Ireland wiffed that pick. I could really care less how Thomas was ranked in magazines, its Irelands job to look past the cover on the newstand and make more informed decisions. Though it wouldnt surprise me if thats all he did. Ireland was responsibile for allowing Brown, Williams, etc, to leave. Why should i give him credit for failing to fix a hole he created in the first place?
6) Ireland had a chance to draft Mallet. He decided not to. If he tried and failed, thats still a failure. He passes on talent then tries to scramble to go get it again and fails. Notice the reoccuring theme? Failure at his job.
7) Philbin, like Sparano, work for Ireland. Not the other way around. Its Irelands job to get talented players no matter what. This scheme (il)logic that people keep harping on is overrated to the extreme. Had Ireland provided more talent the first time around, perhaps he wouldnt be forced to change the scheme. How about we get players that arent limited to a single scheme and can be productive no matter what the offense or defense is at that particular moment? Mind blowing, i know.
8) Ireland did not choose Sparano. But Ireland didnt have to take this job. He knew Sparano was the front runner. He choose to work with him. If he didnt like it, he could have stayed with the Cowboys and waited for another chance.
9) Aaaaaaaand, now its Parcells fault for our crap free agency signings. Well, didnt take long to get to this point. Ireland could have quit at any point if Parcells was so overbearing. Signing Marshall and Dansby were absolute no brainers. They had proven to be pro-bowl quality players for their previous teams and were up for the largest contracts available for each of their positions. Color me unimpressed that Ireland figured out they were good players. Oh, and if Ireland deserves so much credit for signing those guys, he also deserves criticism for throwing them out. Moore was not a top quality free agent. He played a few games is about to ride the bench again. Hardly franchise changing signing there.
10) Ireland knew of Marshalls past. EVERYONE in the league knew of Marshalls past. Even if the league kept it a secret(read: they did the opposite), we had inside knowledge with Mike Nolan on the staff. It is his fault it didnt work out. He either should have seen this coming or he should have been willing to work through it. He decided to do neither and now we are out draft picks. But hey, they were only second round picks, and we all have witnessed how Ireland spends those.
So, Parcells and Sparanos fault for basically everything bad thats happened over the past few years and even if it was Irelands fault he really did try hard! Got it. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Those are the 3 reasons why this team cant get a winning season. Guess what: there are general managers out there who dont need half a decade and multiple coaching hires to get a winning product on the field, perhaps we should hire them. And im guessing they are even open to being accountable for their mistakes. Shocking.