Philbin needs to be fired
Written by J.P.
Wednesday, 06 November 2013

Baseball is a descending, outdated sport in a lot of ways. They did get one thing right though. In football, basketball, and virtually every other team sport, the word “Head Coach” is used. In baseball, this man is referred to as the manager, because that’s exactly what he is.

It’s not about being the “head” teacher, game-planner, play-caller, etc. A Head Coach’s job is to manage; manage his staff, a game, his locker room, and every other aspect of the organization that relates to football. It’s his job to make sure that everybody is doing their job to acceptable levels, that the workplace is conducive to success, and to be proactive in making sure that the organization is running at optimal levels.

Joe Philbin has been a poor manager of this team, plain and simple.

The media has construed quite a story – with differing versions and interpretations – as they always do. It’s their job to turn every story into as big and complicated of one as possible, obtaining as many facts, some relevant, some not, to tell you why this is such a huge item.

However, in all of this stories complexities and vague details, in all of its interpretations and opinions, there is a simple way to look at it, serving as a constant through all of these differing views: Joe Philbin failed as a manager.

Under his management, an in-house problem turned into the biggest embarrassment in our franchise’s history. Never has this organization been the attention of national news outlets like this week for something so negative. Not when this team won one game in 2007; not when Nick Saban quit without telling us; not when we went behind our Head Coaches back to try and court a new one, only to fail and retain the now-unhappy Sparano; not when Ricky Williams retired to “travel” right before the 2004 season began.

Never, not even during the mud pile of disaster that has been the 21st century, has this team sank so low. And it happened under the management of Joe Philbin.

Regardless of the NFL’s findings in its investigation of management, there has to at least be vicarious liability. It is hard to imagine a scenario unfolding in the next 8 weeks that saves Joe Philbin’s job. Heck, with new details emerging tonight, it would not surprise me if in 6 days Miami takes the field without Joe Philbin. The reputation and image of this team under his management is tarnished; the perception is that this team is not capable of caring for his players. True or not, that should put him on boiling water by itself.

Let’s take a look at the story as we know it.

Jonathan Martin went to Joe Philbin during OTA’s last spring, (likely April). In this meeting, Martin, according to Albert Breer, “Martin and Philbin did indeed meet in the spring. There, Martin raised personal issues.”

According to his report, Martin was unhappy and had thoughts of quitting football. Based on reports, it seems as though Martin was dealing with mental health issues; the severity is unknown of course, but a 2nd round pick who is a starting Left Tackle for an NFL team, heading into his second season, does NOT have these types of thoughts without something serious being wrong. This is not about being soft, or a baby; this is about having legitimate issues.

How did Philbin handle this?

As reported by the Sun Sentinel Tuesday night, Joe Philbin and/or the coaching staff responded to this by telling Incognito to “toughen Martin up.” According to the report, Richie likely went over-the-top and above the expectations of those orders. Richie left various threatening text messages and voice mails, including ones that used the “n” word, mentioned his mother, sexual orientation, and physical violence. Stories have also emerged about taking $15,000 from Martin to fund a Vegas trip, and other pranks in the locker room.

Jonathan Martin then snapped after another prank, and handed all this evidence to the Dolphins. Miami then in turn suspended Incognito, left him out to dry in the media, and have been trying to clear their name in the past few days.

So after all of the ‘he said, she said,’ it appears as though the Dolphins were the real culprits. Is Incognito absolved of all blame? Of course not; he did go over-the-top in his “bullying”. However, his reputation has been completely tarnished, and unjustifiably so. The Dolphins trusted a person of Incognito’s background to carry out an order that directly resulted in this entire situation unfolding, and did this without any supervision. Then, after the situation blew up, they put everything on Incognito.

Cowards. Liars. Any synonym of those two words work…

As Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald has reported, a lawsuit from both Martin and Incognito is possible. In my opinion, the NFL will very likely punish the organization, possibly in the form of lost draft picks. Not only that, but this has already gotten to a point where the organization looks terrible.

Stephen Ross has no choice but to fire Joe Philbin. Even if you are against firing him for this story, take a look at everything else that has happened. He had a player (Randy Starks) flip the bird at him during a game; an action that was caught on camera. He has had offensive players openly question him and his staff throughout the year. He has been unable to properly utilize weapons that have been explosive playmakers on other teams. He has preached detail, yet there was the “go-go” gate.

What has Joe Philbin done to prove he is a competent NFL coach in these two years? Nothing. He needs to be fired. The only question is whether this situation provokes Stephen Ross to fire him this week, rather than at the end of the season.

This story is not about Incognito. It’s not about Martin and his mental health. It’s about Joe Philbin not being able to lead or manage an NFL team. Plain and simple.

Depending on what Jeff Ireland and Don Aponte knew, they are also very much on the hot seat. In my opinion, I think the Dolphins need to blow everything up. Start over. Get rid of every root from this dead tree and plant a new one.

I’m tired of Band-Aids. I’m tired of going to the repair shop for a new transmission.

Blow. It. Up.

Martin claims he notified Philbin of his troubles during OTA's last spring. Philbin stated that Martin did not raise this issue until last Sunday. So somebody is lying.

I would say the man trying to save his job is the most likely liar. Can't think of a reason Martin has to lie about when he informed Philbin.

Philbin is a second year head coach. He will learn from this and become a better head coach. I hope it is with the Dolphins.

I'm not sure what to think about Martin. Supposedly he brought the recording into the locker room afterward and was laughing about it with his teammates. Yet he is complaining about it now. Supposedly he was in on the joke of everyone leaving the lunch table. A week earlier he (again supposedly) was one of the guys walking away. Yet this is what set him off.

I also read that Philbin acknowledged he was notified about the issue last spring, but thought it had been resolved and had not heard anything about it until Martin walked off. Why wouldn't Martin file a formal complaint, speak to the coach or let someone know it was out of hand before just walking off?

Very little of this makes sense.

I voted yes for the same reason as Rodney plus not knowing what is going on with his team.
On this JM thing I think he has other issue's besides the bullying to react that way. I do not think Incognito
Is racist or was there any real malice to his messages, in real bad taste but that is all. I think more stuff worse than that goes on in the locker room.

It all depends on the next 8 games. Undecided.

You got it Rich, it's all about winning.