Dolphins Cleaning Up Mess In Isle 6

Jimmy Bourbon

6 years ago

Gase is enacting a purge of coaches in an attempt to clean up the mess of 2017

Most of Joe “Queasy” Philbin’s mess …er, holdovers are gone

It doesn’t take the best football betting software providers to know Miami is trailing the perennial AFC East and Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.

The Patriots just decimated a decent Titans team. They’re once again in the AFC Championship game, making it a record 7 in a row for them.

Bottom line: With this level of consistency Miami will never close the gap while Brady is still under center.

Frankly, even good teams usually can’t even beat the Patriots in Foxborough. Try to think about the Dolphins winning .836% of our home games over the past decade.

Yes, we beat them this year …once …on our home field. But we were a wreck in consistency. It’s week-in, week-out quality of play that’s the key to dethroning this team.

Coach Adam Gase has been cleaning house with coach hiring and firings focused on improving his coaching staff. But are they the right moves?

Team consistency is a mess …a product of poor coaching and ill disciplined players

They have just announced that they will not retain Defensive Line Coach Terrell Williams, and they previously let running backs Coach Danny Barrett walk.

I have no problem with either move, especially letting Williams go. Even though he helped improve our run defense from 30^th to 14^th in 2017, we also tied for 26^th worst pass rush in the league with only 30 sacks.

The best way to beat the Brady’s of this league is to pressure them with steady and consistent pass rush. We didn’t do that this season so a coaching upgrade makes sense.

Miami is only half-way to upgrading the Defensive Line Coach position. Now we have to hire a coach that can produce better results than the one we fired. That’s easier said than done if the recent hire of Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains is any example. His 2017 Bears offense put up even less points this season than the Dolphins did. That makes it hard to be confident that Gase’s coming choice for Defensive Line Coach will have the skills and ability to make our D-Line much better.

The RB’s did quite well under Running Backs Coach Barrett

Barrett sent rookie Ajayi to the Pro Bowl last year and, when Ajayi was suddenly traded this year, turned backup Drake into a fast rising star. So Barrett’s dismissal came as a surprise. Maybe it’s a reflection of how Ajayi was handled? Maybe it’s Gase trying to upgrade the experience level. Barrett has two years at the position and Studesville, his heir apparent, has 20+ years. And just maybe Studesville was Gase’s first choice all along. Gase tried to hire him from the Bronco’s last year but the Bronco’s refused to allow it.

I get ditching some of the staff

I’m just not sure the replacements can clean up the mess

If you want to be the best, then stop hiring guys that are clearly not even close to being the best. And firing those producing real results. At face value, these hires don’t seem to be top shelf, but surprises do happen… at least they do for other teams.

And now that DB Coach Lou Anarumo has been let go, the only two remaining Philbin leftovers on the coaching staff are Charlie Bullen, Assistant Linebacker Coach and, Assistant Wide Receivers Coach, Ben Johnson.

Wide receivers were another disappointing mess this year

We entered the season thinking we had one of the best WR sets in the league with Stills and Landry already stars, Parker promising a breakout year for the former #1 pick, and expecting draft trade-up Caroo to finally prove his worth. Parker proved unable to stay on the field with constant small injuries holding him back. Caroo hardly saw the field. And then Landry started losing his cool on and off the field. Another fine mess.

Lets not talk about the mess at Linebacker …enough with the bad news

Will Bullen and Johnson be gone shortly? Will Matt Burke follow? I think Burke is back, but I’m not so sure Bullen and Johnson will be.

What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins thoughts on our closing the gap with the Patriots with the coaching changes made so far?