12:33pm: The Dolphins have officially announced that former tight ends coach Dan Campbell is the team’s new interim head coach (Twitter link).
11:17am: Ross has issued a statement on the decision to part ways with Philbin, as Alain Poupart of Dolphins.com (TwitLonger link) passes along:
“This was a tough decision for me to make knowing how tirelessly Joe worked in his four years here to make this a winning team. He is a man of the highest character and integrity that I developed a close personal relationship with. I am extremely disappointed with how we have started the season, but I feel confident that we can improve quickly with the talent we have on our roster. We will soon be announcing an interim coach to lead the team going forward.”
Meanwhile, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets that Coyle is expected to be let go as well, which doesn’t come as a surprise.
10:43am: Dave Hyde and Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter links) have confirmed that the Dolphins have fired Philbin, replacing him with Campbell, the former tight ends coach.
10:14am: As of last night, the Dolphins were preparing to part ways with head coach Joe Philbin, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. Schefter cautions that owner Stephen Ross could reconsider and change his mind, but after yesterday’s loss in London, the team was leaning toward making a change as early as today.
According to Schefter, if the Dolphins do decide to fire Philbin, tight ends coach Dan Campbell would be the top candidate to be promoted to the head coach role on an interim basis. On Sunday, Albert Breer of the NFL Network identified special teams coach Darren Rizzi as another possible interim option for the Dolphins if they let go of Philbin.
Earlier today, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald wrote that Ross is more likely to fire defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle than Philbin, though he acknowledged that Philbin is unlikely to continue as the Dolphins’ head coach in 2016, barring a massive turnaround. Presumably, if the team were to fire its head coach, the offensive and defensive coordinators’ jobs would be in serious jeopardy as well, which explains why Campbell and Rizzi have been mentioned as interim HC candidates.
While interim coaches typically come from inside the organization, Salguero doesn’t view the Dolphins’ internal choices as great ones, and wonders (via Twitter) if the team might look at Jim Schwartz, who has a history with the team’s underachieving free agent prize, Ndamukong Suh. However, as Jay Glazer of FOX Sports (Twitter link) observes, Miami would have to satisfy the Rooney Rule before hiring an outside interim coach, and it seems unlikely that the club would go through an extensive interview process during the season.
Of course, before identifying a replacement, the Dolphins will have to make an official decision on Philbin, which will likely happen sooner rather than later.
Our D was exposed last year when we couldn’t stop the run believe it was against the Jets. That became the template for offensive production against us. As the run became more of an issue lb’s and inside secondary were borrowed to help against the run, leaving one on ones with remaining not assigned to run secondary.
No one has been able to counter this because we don’t have an o line to support a counter attack, thus putting more stress and fatigue on the D who’s goal is to always get off the field.
It is a goddamn shame that the huge bucks Mr. Ross has invested could not resolve the issue. Players will live to fight another day but the poor fans like myself of this once storied franchise suffer. Stop the madness!