The Miami Dolphins are off to their worst start to a football season since 2019 and now find themselves at 1-4 following another terrible loss. On Sunday, the Dolphins blew a 17-point lead to a substandard Carolina Panthers team in a 27-24 heart breaker.
As he does after every game (usually losses), head coach Mike McDaniel met with Dolphins‘ owner Stephen Ross. As one might guess, Ross wasn’t in a great mood.
“He was really frustrated, just like I was,” McDaniel said Monday. We talked about the challenge ahead to get ready for the Chargers, and that was really the extent of it.
Now, I wasn’t there, but I’m going to surmise that the pass-protection scheme for the Chargers game wasn’t the bulk of the discussion.
“It’s frustrating because there’s a lot of talking, and we need to major in doing,” he said. “I don’t think anybody wants to hear me talk about it as much as I don’t feel like saying it, but it doesn’t change the steadfast reality that is: You have to get better at things or you’ll continue having the same results.”
Stephen Ross is as responsible for the Miami Dolphins mess as anyone
If it’s true that responsibility starts at the top, then the current Dolphins‘ debacle falls squarely on the owner. Since Ross took over majority ownership of the team in 2009 they haven’t won a single playoff game.
Side Note: The drought actually actually goes back to 2000, but who is counting? Think about it, Dolphins fans, you haven’t watched a postseason win with an HDTV. And if you did have a $12,000 television back in 2000, the game looked terrible because fast motion was a nightmare. At least it was over Peyton Manning?
Back to current day, it was Ross that hired general manager Chris Grier in 2016, which wasn’t a terrible idea. But, keeping him around this long has been. The roster is full of aging, overpriced talent that doesn’t seem to want to be there. Drafting has been spotty at best during his tenure and giving Grier a 10th year was probably a mistake by Ross.
Ross should be frustrated, but hopefully he has a mirror in his luxury office.
How long will Stephen Ross give McDaniel?
Ross tends to see the Dolphins franchise less as something to be owned, cherished and cultivated for all to enjoy, and more as someone’s investment side hustle. Surely he wants to win because he doesn’t have a problem spending money, but his poor decisions do seem to last a while.
McDaniel is in his fourth season as the Dolphins head coach. Adam Gase and Brian Flores were fired after their third seasons. Ross dismissed Joe Philbin after a 1-3 start in his fourth season in 2015, and Tony Sparano after a 4-9 start in his fourth year in 2011.
Are the Dolphins better off without McDaniel? It’s tough to see how it’s working with him. Regardless, McDaniel is well aware of his own coaching mortality.
“I don’t see this job void of pressure,” McDaniel said after a Week 1 loss. “I don’t see entitlement in this job, but I think the most important thing is that I worry about doing my job. I think that’s what the team will get from me, for sure.”
If Ross wants to stop being frustrated, then he doesn’t need to strike a match, he needs to find some dynamite.
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