Miami Dolphins Fire Joe Philbin

Just a day after falling to 1-3, the Miami Dolphins announced today that they have fired head coach Joe Philbin after 4 seasons as the teams head coach. Tight end coach Dan Campbell will replace him as the interim head coach. The team had high expectations of becoming a contender to win the AFC East and ending the reign of the New England Patriots.  The team could not get on the right foot during the first 4 weeks of the season, leading to Philbin getting fired.

In 4 seasons with the Dolphins, Philbin had a record of 24-28, never making the playoffs with the team in his tenure. His teams would always finish 8-8 or 7-9, leaving the team out of the playoff picture. It was reported leading to the game, that if Dolphins could not beat New York Jets in England yesterday changes were bound to happened.

Getting rid of Philbin right now, after having such a slow start, was a great move by the team. It was clearly not working out, there was a need of change at the head coach. The players were not really having a lot of trust in Philbin. There are currently a lot of problems that the team will have to fix to be a successful team but making this move is a great step in the right direction.

The offense had a lot of potential to become a good offense, with players like running back Lamar Miller who was expected to have a good season, Quarterback Ryan Tannehill who a lot of people were expecting to break out this season and become the franchise quarterback that the team wants him to be.

All of that hype surrounding the offense was all it was: hype. During the first three games of the season, the offense could not really score any points. Have I mentioned they have been having a bad start to the season? There is still a little upside of this offense, bringing in a new coach to change the offense will be a good thing for them.

On the defensive side of the ball is where most of the problems occurred. The team signed free agent defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, to a big money multiyear deal. The team expected him to be a important part of the pass rush along with Cameron Wake. This defense had a lot of potential to be a force in the AFC and the AFC East.

With all that money that the team spent on Suh, his impact on the pass rush was really nowhere to be found. He did not make an impact starting the season. The defense in general has not lived up the expectations so far this season. The pass rush has been the most disappointing, since that was talked about a lot during the offseason.

The expectations this season with the team during the rest of the season are not really good. The team still has a chance to make some noise in the league by going on a phenomenal run the rest of the season winning games. This is highly unlikely, and the realistic expectations for the team are getting finishing at most 6 or 8 wins knocking them out of playoff race.

There is going to be a lot of improvement, which has to be done during the offseason with this team. Most importantly the team will have to find the right head coach, to lead the team into the playoffs. Expect the team to go for someone like a Jim Schwartz, someone who is defensive minded helping that defense since that is the place that had the most problems.