Phins are out with the old and in with the new: ‘Locker Room Enema Theory’
Phins 2017: ‘Keep Your Own’… 2018: ‘Good Culture = Replace Your Own’
The Phins last offseason was based on the philosophy of rewarding their own players. They paid handsomely to forge a ‘winning culture’ with Kiko Alonso, Kenny Stills, Andre Branch, Cameron Wake, and Reshad Jones.
This was the line fed Phins fans in 2017.
Phinsnews admits having eaten it up like syrup-drenched hotcakes with a side of bacon. On the surface, it looked a much better strategy than from years past. The title of ‘Winners of the Offseason’ as the biggest spender in Free Agency proved itself a complete dead end. Who wasn’t glad to be done with it. So it took very little to buy into the new philosophy. Although, Branch’s contract did take a little more syrup to swallow it.
Of course, by the end of the abomination that was the 2017 Season, half these contracts proved to be poor moves.
Hitting into the rough is par for the course in Dolphins land. At least we’re consistent.
But never fear… this offseason, the philosophy has changed again and for the better! The 2017 Season is all about ‘changing the culture’… and it’s going to make all the difference. Really!
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Will this new philosophy be a winner?
To get this ‘correct culture’ Miami jettisoned 4 former Pro Bowlers: Ajayi, Suh, Landry, and Pouncey. The new line being fed to fans is while they were the team’s best players, they were too difficult and weren’t leaders. So in the team’s best interest, they had to go: Addition by subtraction… Patriots style. If you can’t beat ’em join ’em.
Of course, there were money considerations involved in this as well… but let’s stick with the company line for a bit longer.
Truth be told, none of us spent every day in the locker room from minicamp to the end of the season. We’ll never know the extent of the problems these players caused… that is, in relation to the money they commanded. So we loyal, diehards we can accept it as gospel or gripe about it… either way we have to wait to be proved right or wrong.
In principle, Phinsnews can buy into this ‘locker room enema’… in theory
So now Miami has ditched all the headaches and acquired other team’s free agents who’ll be the saviors. Josh Sitton, Daniel Kilgore, Danny Amendola, and Frank Gore are the ‘team guys’ who’ll clean up a messy locker room.We all can only hope.
However, a crimp in the program is that they’re all over 30 yrs old. Miami hasn’t proved to be a lucky team over the last couple of decades. In any pro sport, especially in the NFL, getting older after 30 is never a positive attribute. You can bet with a price per head that soon as one of these FA’s gets injured, age will be the talk of the town. Will that chatter distract the locker room? Now imagine what will be said if more than one goes down.
Culture matters, but have the Phins found the right culture…and can it overcome lost talent?
Football is the most violent sport on the planet. Most careers begin to nosedive once they hit thirty. Three of the four Pro Bowlers Miami lost to get these ‘old men’ were still in their twenties. Miami has become much older. But did they get much wiser? Will it be wise enough to overcome the loss of some true studs? To be fair though, Pouncey’s hips made him much older than he was and Wilson is a young guy. So let’s not be too jaded.
Adding a bunch of veterans works for the Patriots because they are a Super Bowl contender nearly every season. They have a proven track record and cred enough to shrug off misses in personnel evaluation. However, shouldn’t a team that was 6-10 the previous season normally should be looking to get younger, not older.
This regime has pushed all their chips of credibility into the middle of the table. It’s ‘win big or go home’ time. I’m good with that… just as I’ll be good to see them move on if they flop.
Miami will ride or die with their latest philosophy
Fair questions linger: Should a franchise import other teams culture? Shouldn’t culture grow from within an organization? The answer COULD very well be that Gase is just trying to accelerate the process.
When Gase was first hired the talk was that he’d install a new and better culture to this organization. Gase’s player purge midseason in 2016 spurred a run to the postseason and made you think it was more than just talk.
Desperation has now forced them to reevaluate and install what should have been installed in 2016.
Unanswered questions are many:
- Was Gase strapped from the beginning with players he didn’t want? He seemed happy with them at the time. Maybe he was just running a company line?
- Was exceeding expectations putting lipstick on a pig? Who was the pig the talent, coaching or both?
- Was poor evaluation the major culprit? If so, who was at fault? Has it been corrected?
Whatever. Everone deserves a mulligan. Gase is a young coach and I get it from his side. Not sure what Tannenbaum’s excuse is… if there is one. But there’s no doubt we are in the 4th Quarter of this regime, down double digits.
Slice it however you like. Gase and Co. are silently admitting that their homegrown culture sucks and needs a shot in the ass. In theory, it makes all the sense in the world. But let’s see how it pans out on the practical side before they get the boot. The fact that it took 3 seasons to arrive at this evaluation gives even the most hopeful cause for concern. Can this regime be trusted to know what they are doing this time around? For Phinsnews, if this draft goes well, then we’ll play the fool by believing for one more season… what the hell else can we do? After that we break out the torches… Go Phins!!!
