The Dolphins yesterday fired coach Joe Philbin, as Owner Stephen Ross "made it clear ... that he's been thoroughly disappointed" with the team's performance and 1-3 record this season, according to Omar Kelly of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. Ross said that he had been "thinking about firing" Philbin since the team's 41-14 home loss to the Bills in Week 3. Ross spent $155M in free-agent contracts and $126M "extending contracts this offseason." Ross said, "This was the time to make this decision. We played four games, and I haven't seen a lot of improvement. I've seen the same ole same ole" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 10/6). In Ft. Lauderdale, Dave Hyde in a front-page piece writes Dolphins fans yesterday could "nod in approval for the first time in weeks" after the "needed, if utterly desperate, move of firing" Philbin. Ross "did what he had to do after watching another week of football slop" as the Dolphins lost 27-14 to the Jets in London. Hyde writes Ross had to "do something. Anything. Just to keep the season from spinning completely beyond control for the remaining 12 games." Hyde: "You don't make a decision like that after the fourth game in the NFL unless you made a numbingly bad one months earlier. And Ross did." He kept Philbin after a "third blah season when every football person -- except evidently the ones in the owner's ear -- said it was time to move on" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 10/6).
FIRING DOESN'T CHANGES THINGS: In West Palm Beach, Hal Habib writes there "cannot be a single Dolphins fan with the conviction Monday’s news changes much." So little changes with this franchise "that it deserves no benefit of doubt until it proves something -- anything -- beyond the shadow of doubt." While Ross deserves credit for making the move, Habib writes, "Just don't give him much credit" (PALM BEACH POST, 10/6). The Washington Post's Kevin Blackistone said firing Philbin "just took too long, and now the rest of the players are stuck with this team and the fans are stuck with this team for the rest of the year" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 10/5). In Miami, Greg Cote in a front-page piece writes the franchise is "stuck in neutral, again, mired in mediocrity, again, just like when" Philbin took over in '12. Firing Philbin "should not be the end of the staff upheaval." Ross’ "frustration and impatience was plain to see" yesterday, considering the club spent more than $200M during the offseason to sign DT Ndamukong Suh and then extend the contract of QB Ryan Tannehill (MIAMI HERALD, 10/6). ESPN’s Max Kellerman said the Dolphins are the "kind of franchise in recent years that need some stability, so maybe the problem's not firing him." Kellerman: "The problem was hiring him in the first place. But with ... a franchise like the Dolphins, after four bad games that coach is gone. If you have that mentality in your franchise year after year, there’s constant turnover, you never get the stability” (“SportsNation,” ESPN, 10/5).
YOU'RE SO FAR AWAY: CBSSPORTS.com's Jason La Canfora wrote Philbin's firing "crystallized" how Ross has "mismanaged this most important position." If the "past remains a precursor to the future, it provides little hope much will change around this perpetually middling franchise." As long as Ross "spends the bulk of his time in New York as an absentee landlord, except for game days, and continues to botch how he staffs his team, nothing will change." In order are "fundamental alterations in how he wields power and to whom he defers" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/5). ESPN's Michael Wilbon said, “It seems like the Dolphins are dysfunctional at the top, and you can start with the owner” (“PTI,” ESPN, 10/5). In Miami, Armando Salguero writes Ross is an "absentee owner," and absentee owners "sometimes deliver bad news on the phone without understanding it's not the best way to do business." Ross "should have flown to South Florida and done it in person." Absentee owners "miss things they might otherwise catch if they treated their NFL team with the same attention to detail and awareness they treat their day jobs." It is "not coincidence Ross is much more successful as a real estate mega-developer than an NFL owner." He "actually goes to the office every day as a real estate developer" (MIAMI HERALD, 10/6).
