phinsforlife
Active Roster
The Vic Fangio situation is becoming more instructive. See the stats below (pic) on the Philly defense. Not only are they really good, but they are a lot better than last year, with basically the same personnel. That means Fangio is the difference, and he is obviously a huge difference maker.
The fact that Fangio was run out of Miami speaks volumes about what this organization is. Fangio is an old school tough guy, who demands a lot of the players. Practice and during the games. That obviously did not work here. The players (soft) clearly resented him, as did McDaniel apparently as well. They were like oil and water.
For those that say Fangio didn’t want to be here either, that is an excuse. At the end that was certainly the case. Fangio had to do it McDaniel’s way, and he knew McDaniel’s way was not the winning way. Fangio couldn’t coach how he wanted to coach, and the players were also so soft and coddled, so they resented him. It wasn’t working. When someone can’t do the job they way they want to do the job, of course they won’t want to be here. If Fangio could have done things his way, and had players that bought into the system because the head coach didn't enable them not to buy in, Fangio would have been just fine here. He had a huge salary, and who doesn't like living in Miami? Despite the excuses, Fangio was happy to be here initially. He took the job to begin with, and signed a long term contract, which is proof of the point.
Fangio had been successful for a long time, and been on playoff teams. The guy knows what it takes to win. Nobody else in the Dolphins organization does. But the one guy who knows what it takes to win did not fit, and got booted.
The four most important people here – the owner, GM, head coach, and QB, are all soft. In this case I mean it in a nuanced way, as opposed to a disparaging way. The four most important people in the building cannot all be of the same soft personality type. It would be OK if one or two of them was, but not all four. There is just no personality offset. The whole thing is now too far to one side. There has to be balance. There is no balance. The building needs a cultural enema.
Tua and McDaniel are liked by the other players. But being liked alone does not make one a good leader. Being respected and getting others to do the right thing is what makes one a good leader. Shula, Belichick and Parcells were all hated by the guys that played for them.
Regarding Tua, I do not mean this is in a disparaging way, but he is not a get in your face QB who rips his teammates for not working hard enough or for not doing the right things. Tua is just not that kind of personality type, he needs hard-ass coaches around him to do it. Tom Brady was like that, see Baker Mayfield’s recent comments about how Brady drove discipline on the team and was feared by his teammates.
“The building was a little bit different with Tom in there. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out,” Mayfield said. “They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football for guys who weren’t having as much fun.” Brady didn’t hold back in his response to Mayfield, citing his lack of championships and defending his mindset. "I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings," Brady said during the broadcast. "There was a mindset of a champion I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare – if I wanted to have fun, I was going to Disneyland with my kids. ."There’s a way to approach this game and it’s with the right mindset to push each other outside of our comfort zone, and great teammates do that. "I think a lot of that got taken out of context, and none of it was personal by any means," Mayfield said in a news conference. "It's just what he demanded of the guys, and that's the aura of Tom Brady. And that's what he did to bring a championship here."
Then, as I have pointed out in the past, the City of Miami is also an issue. It is an issue that could be overcome, but the organization is structured in such a way that only increases the problems of being in Miami. The whole personality of the organization has taken on the personality of the City.
Tua, McDaniel, Grier and Ross all being on the softer side is not a recipe for being a tough football team. I think it is a bad mix. Fangio was old school, and he got run right out of the building by the players and McDaniel. This does not reflect well on our organization.
For all the people, which is most of them, that took the organizations side when it came to Fangio, and couldn’t wait to run him out of town, what were you thinking? There is nothing about this organization that deserves the benefit of the doubt. Fangio has had a long and storied career. The whatever the Dolphins do thing is right has gotten so tiresome. This organization does not deserve the benefit of the doubt about anything, ever. It was just nuts what was said about Fangio at the end. Obviously, it was completely wrong. Now Fangio is on a 10-2 football team, and has perhaps the best defense in the NFL. And the Dolphins will be playing golf again soon.
PS late edit, the Cam Smith thing too. And how quick everyone was to blame Fangio for Cam Smith. Well it turns out, the issue was Cam Smith and not Fangio after all!

The fact that Fangio was run out of Miami speaks volumes about what this organization is. Fangio is an old school tough guy, who demands a lot of the players. Practice and during the games. That obviously did not work here. The players (soft) clearly resented him, as did McDaniel apparently as well. They were like oil and water.
For those that say Fangio didn’t want to be here either, that is an excuse. At the end that was certainly the case. Fangio had to do it McDaniel’s way, and he knew McDaniel’s way was not the winning way. Fangio couldn’t coach how he wanted to coach, and the players were also so soft and coddled, so they resented him. It wasn’t working. When someone can’t do the job they way they want to do the job, of course they won’t want to be here. If Fangio could have done things his way, and had players that bought into the system because the head coach didn't enable them not to buy in, Fangio would have been just fine here. He had a huge salary, and who doesn't like living in Miami? Despite the excuses, Fangio was happy to be here initially. He took the job to begin with, and signed a long term contract, which is proof of the point.
Fangio had been successful for a long time, and been on playoff teams. The guy knows what it takes to win. Nobody else in the Dolphins organization does. But the one guy who knows what it takes to win did not fit, and got booted.
The four most important people here – the owner, GM, head coach, and QB, are all soft. In this case I mean it in a nuanced way, as opposed to a disparaging way. The four most important people in the building cannot all be of the same soft personality type. It would be OK if one or two of them was, but not all four. There is just no personality offset. The whole thing is now too far to one side. There has to be balance. There is no balance. The building needs a cultural enema.
Tua and McDaniel are liked by the other players. But being liked alone does not make one a good leader. Being respected and getting others to do the right thing is what makes one a good leader. Shula, Belichick and Parcells were all hated by the guys that played for them.
Regarding Tua, I do not mean this is in a disparaging way, but he is not a get in your face QB who rips his teammates for not working hard enough or for not doing the right things. Tua is just not that kind of personality type, he needs hard-ass coaches around him to do it. Tom Brady was like that, see Baker Mayfield’s recent comments about how Brady drove discipline on the team and was feared by his teammates.
“The building was a little bit different with Tom in there. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out,” Mayfield said. “They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football for guys who weren’t having as much fun.” Brady didn’t hold back in his response to Mayfield, citing his lack of championships and defending his mindset. "I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings," Brady said during the broadcast. "There was a mindset of a champion I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare – if I wanted to have fun, I was going to Disneyland with my kids. ."There’s a way to approach this game and it’s with the right mindset to push each other outside of our comfort zone, and great teammates do that. "I think a lot of that got taken out of context, and none of it was personal by any means," Mayfield said in a news conference. "It's just what he demanded of the guys, and that's the aura of Tom Brady. And that's what he did to bring a championship here."
Then, as I have pointed out in the past, the City of Miami is also an issue. It is an issue that could be overcome, but the organization is structured in such a way that only increases the problems of being in Miami. The whole personality of the organization has taken on the personality of the City.
Tua, McDaniel, Grier and Ross all being on the softer side is not a recipe for being a tough football team. I think it is a bad mix. Fangio was old school, and he got run right out of the building by the players and McDaniel. This does not reflect well on our organization.
For all the people, which is most of them, that took the organizations side when it came to Fangio, and couldn’t wait to run him out of town, what were you thinking? There is nothing about this organization that deserves the benefit of the doubt. Fangio has had a long and storied career. The whatever the Dolphins do thing is right has gotten so tiresome. This organization does not deserve the benefit of the doubt about anything, ever. It was just nuts what was said about Fangio at the end. Obviously, it was completely wrong. Now Fangio is on a 10-2 football team, and has perhaps the best defense in the NFL. And the Dolphins will be playing golf again soon.
PS late edit, the Cam Smith thing too. And how quick everyone was to blame Fangio for Cam Smith. Well it turns out, the issue was Cam Smith and not Fangio after all!

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