I dont understand this group. Is it just a scapegoat for your anger today?
The players did not execute today - but that is not b/c the entire team, that everyone was praising last week is irelands "bums"
Some say bad coaching - well that was Ross's hire, and i still think the coaches are ok, minus sherman. (the one guy i think could go, really has not done well at all)
We have finally gotten some really nice pieces on offense and defense. Mind you, these are the types of guys Philbin asked for, to fit his game, and it is working, but now we need to solidify the offensive trenches. IF you remember GB, then you'll remember that the Line sucked the first couple years of A. Rodgers, but after they finally got some protection - super bowl. Philbin builds outisde-in, everyone was always so angry and always bitching when parcells wanted to build inside-out. How is this Ireland's fault? it takes about 3 years to build a team in the coaches mold/philosophy.
We are basically a few OL and one LB away from having a very solid team talent-wise: add in a shifty RB, and its that much better. Since ireland has implemented Philbin's style we've gotten (or developed)
2 Very good CB's, until one of them got hurt, and even so Carroll is solid.
A great sleeper tight end with tons of heart and run after the catch ability
A FRANCHISE QUARTER BACK
a solid 3-4 WR corps - yeah they had a bad game today - so what? does megatron and Detroits whole offense "suck" b/c they have not been executing?
we have a very good D-Line, we just need ONE MORE LB to sure up our running defense. Passing D is good. Hell, the bills didnt do anything today anyway - we just SUCKED on offense due to mostly a bad line and bad weather.
The biggest screw up of this season was signing wheeler - he has been a huge bust. As far as the O-Line - you dont just lose a perennial pro-bowl left tackle and easily recover, plus ireland concentrated on other areas - next season we will have some room to bring in some OL talent via FA and the draft, and concentrate on it more at once. Also, you cannot fault ireland with the Long, or Bush losses - i firmly believe philbin did not want them here. One screw up is not the end of the world.
I guess my conclusion is simply this: We are LITERALLY 1 LB, a few OL, and maybe a FB away from having a completly, 100% solid football team - FINALLY, after years of "blowing it up trying again, blowing it up trying again, half blowing it up, half trying again etc etc etc" - FINALLY, FINALLY, we are a few players away, and people want to bring in a GM, who may or may not like tanney, may or may not like philbin etc??? why would we do that again? we either strike GOLD with some new GM, or more likely, we wait another 3-5 years just to SEE if MAYBE this one pans out - no, im sorry ONE MORE YEAR of PHILBIN/IRELAND/TANNEY - they get that - like everyone else does in this league. Just calm down.
I admit i was crazy today earlier too - who wouldnt be after that disgusting game? but try to be objective here - losing to Tampa after the media frenzy has a ton to do with our position right now with the playoff picture, and even the defending SB champs are in the same position this year.
First off, how do you know it was Philbin who wanted to build the team this way? How do you know he drafted the players Philbin asked for? You don't. No evidence whatsoever (if you plan on posting an Omar link, save yourself the ridicule). What I'm seeing is quite the opposite: A coach and a GM who simply can't work together. Hence all these draft picks that "Philbin asked for" getting little to no playing time and needing a ton of work to fit the system. Yep, totally looks like what a coach wants to do, spend time fitting square pegs into round holes.
Now for the OL, LB, and RB. All three have been priorities under Ireland and all three are currently disasters. OL has been a priority since the day he drafted Long first overall (did the right thing letting his injury-prone ass go though), followed by Pouncey, Martin, and the rest of the line. Then add in the godawful OL free agents. Colombo? Incognito (who only became "good" when people got pissed off at Martin)? Clabo (I will say that I didn't see him sucking as bad as he has, but I didn't scout him...)? FAR more misses than hits despite a LOT of shots.
Not to mention the fact that 2 of his additions are responsible for the debacle that went down this season. No fan saw Martin having serious mental issues, but none of us had the opportunity to look into his history and interview him. I will say that I was wrong about him being decent cornfed. He's nothing more than yet
another 2nd round bust. Incognito, on the otherhand, has always been a piece of ****. He was a piece of **** at Nebraska, a piece of **** in STL, and a piece of **** here. He was mediocre at best on the line and well known as one of the dirtiest players in the league. Possibly the dirtiest outside of Suh. Then add in the fact that Ireland argued to keep him despite sexually harrassing a lady at a charity event. Awesome decision.
LBs are a disaster. Wheeler may be this years Colombo, Nnaannee, Barbie Carpenter, etc. Ellerbe is mediocre AT BEST. These were the players he brought in to fix an above average Dansby and Burnett, who had one bad year; and he payed a LOT of money to do it.. The worst part is that we are stuck with them beyond this year. Hopefully we're paying at least Wheeler a lot of money to sit on the bench next year. But hey, at least Misi is starting to become an average LB after all these years. I guess we just need to be more patient in waiting for these players to develop to an average level.
RB doesn't take too much to break down. He did a great job bringing in Bush and I can't fully blame him for letting him go. If he was thinking long term, fine. Unfortunately, he totally botched his replacement. Thomas sucks. Flat out sucks. Injury-prone and a liability in pass protection. He's been running harder this season, which if it weren't for the last two factors would elevate him to a level of just below mediocre. A second round bust. Miller still has time to develop, but will never be an every down back. He's also a liability in pass protection.
Now for the CBs. Grimes was a great signing. A ton of credit for that. Unfortunately, that's where it ends. Patterson is good, but simply can't be counted on to play a full (or even half?) a season. He is an example of Ireland's knack for signing and drafting players with injury issues. Carroll's few good games this season doesn't make up for his general tendency to suck. Inconsistent would be a generous term.
Clay has been awesome in a few games this season. Absolutely fantastic. He has also been a non-factor in many do to being a target, but I think he would benefit greatly from a seam-threat TE. I think that should be a major aim in the upcoming draft. I just hope somebody else is doing the aiming, because Egnew blows and Sims won't be the answer anytime soon. So it looks like Ireland acknowledges the need, he just can't hit on anybody.
I like Tannehill a lot, but far too early to call him a franchise QB. Let's focus on keeping him upright, getting him a running game, and hope Gibson can stay healthy and Wallace can start earning his crazy money. Hartline had a bad game, but has been one of the most consistent players on this team and appears to be one of the few leaders on that offense. One of his good picks (sorry, not enough to warrant keeping him. I'll spare you the annoying idioms).
Honestly, it looks like you are just trying to deflect all the bad off of Ireland and on to Philbin. This guy had Teflon on when Sparano was here and it looks like he put on a double layer when Philbin got here. Again, you have zero evidence that Philbin didn't want Long or Bush. Zero. That being said, I will reiterate that I don't fault Ireland for either move as they both made sense (Long being overpaid and injury-prone and Bush being older and pricey), but I do fault him for failing to adequately replace either.
We are a 100% mediocre team. It's taken 6 years to get above .500 (maybe just to .500). Sorry, but I don't see that as a cause for celebration. It doesn't take that long to build a playoff team, let alone a barely +.500 team. As others pointed out in a different thread, I remember when 9-7 meant something went wrong. Regarding "blowing it up" (maybe I shouldn't spare you the Ireland acorn idioms considering this one is also overused), guess what? We still have to "blow it up" if we keep Ireland. This OL has already blown up and needs yet another complete rebuild. What is that, 6 rebuilds in 6 years? Pretty close to it.
No, 6 years has been more than enough time. Time to move on. I know that if we get to 9-7 (and there is NO excuse for losing to the jests. Doing so should cost Philbin his job too), there is a chance Ireland stays; an even stronger chance if we get lucky and back into the wildcard. It won't change my opinion. I just don't think he's a good GM. It's going to take more than finally backing into the playoffs after 6 years to do that.
