Quote:The Dolphins fired Joe Philbin this season after starting poorly and playing some pretty pathetic stuff this season. Their defense was poor. They didn't bother much with their running game. And in general there wasn't much energy or fight shown by their team. It was almost as if the team had given up on their coach and the season. They made a bold move and fired Philbin and replaced him with Dan Campbell as interim head coach. They fired their defensive coordinator and promoted one of their existing positional coaches. And these changes saw a new attitude taken into training and this came through into their performance on Sunday when they came out of their bye week firing on all cylinders. Their defense turned up and played physical (or overly physical if you listen to some within the Titans' camp). They found their running game by actually giving their very talented running back the ball. And other than Tannehill showing both sides of his game (2 TDs and 2 INTs), they played their best football of the season after making changes to their team.


Now I get the argument - "we'll never know if that would have happened without firing him" - but in the Dolphins' case, firing Philbin may have kick started their season. Philbin never struck me as a good fit to be a head coach, and to be honest, I am surprised he lasted as long as he did. In the past two seasons they ended up choking at the end of the season and wasting an opportunity to potentially make the play offs. And that's without considering the bullying scandal in which he probably should have lost his job for not being able to control or know what is going on in his locker room. That said, it is early days for them and they could go back to old ways in their next game. But I don't think Dan Campbell is going to let them tone down their new found intensity. They probably are not make the play offs, but I think a coaching change mid season may help them in the long run in helping promote an identity change.


As for us making a similar change, I am not convinced it would change very much. I don't think there is a problem with intensity or energy, that is something Gus brings to the table. And I don't think our players have given up on the season either, they seem pretty damn [BAD WORD REMOVED] off with keep losing and making the same mistakes - that isn't all Gus' fault. He doesn't tell Blake Bortles to make a bad read and throw an interception. He doesn't tell his defense to miss tackles. He and his staff put the players into the position to make plays, and granted we can question some of the play calls, but ultimately it is up to our players to execute. If they don't, the same mistakes will happen and this coaching staff will ultimately lose their jobs, and arguably someone will step in next season and get them executing the plays and be seen as a saviour for turning this franchise around. But if our players finally start to execute on the field, keep their mistakes to a minimum, and take their chances, then this team can and will win football games. This team is close to being competitive, not a Super Bowl contender, but certainly good enough to be going .500. Maybe that is my Jaguars' bias leaking through, but I don't see this team as being one of the worst in the league. We have talent. We just don't have players playing well enough, consistently enough, throughout four quarters to win a game. I don't think firing Gus and putting Malone or whoever else in charge will change that. The only time I see such changes working is when you go from a lifeless type coach like Philbin to a more passionate coach like Campbell, or from Dennis Allen to Tony Sparano. And even then, it may or may not translate into wins. So we may as well let Gus see the season out and see what happens. If it turns around, great. If it doesn't, make a change in the off season.