MIAMI GARDENS — Admittedly, I’m tired of writing everyone should be fired at the top of the Miami Dolphins flow chart. You can only type that once or twice before there’s nothing left to add but the latest, miserable score.
Which was Baltimore Ravens 28, Miami Dolphins 6.
Thursday night’s post-game seemed a perfect time for Dolphins owner Steve Ross to break the necessary news to general manager Chris Grier and coach Mike McDaniel, too. Another lopsided loss. A 2-7 record in Year 4 of McDaniel and Year 7 of Grier.
Thursday provided a perfect exit ramp, too, considering there’s a long weekend to introduce interim coach Anthony Weaver (come on, his defense is coming around) and reorganize some furniture to offer the look of change.
But there wasn’t even another leaked report to the league’s media wing, the NFL Network, saying how much Ross really, really, really likes Grier and McDaniel and might only fire someone if — as the network reported a month ago — “fans stop showing up to the stadium or players quit playing for him.”
What if the players don’t quit playing badly for him?
What if the majority of fans coming to town were Ravens fans? That was the case Thursday night. Tua Tagovailoa admitted the offense was thrown off by the loud Baltimore fans, perhaps resulting in a critical false start by tackle Larry Borom on a fourth-and-1 at the Ravens’ 13-yard line.
This was another night of such miscues and misplaced ideas that are the identity of this team right down to Tua choosing his words after the game when asked about decisions in the coming trade deadline.
“That’s above my pay grade,’’ Tua said.
Oh, Lord, really? Why say it that way? You know what he meant. But part of the issue moving forward is no one is close to his pay grade of a $56.4 million salary-cap hit next year and $99.2 million in dead money.
That means Ross would have to write a check for $99.2 million to move on from him. That’s nearly twice the record of $53 million Denver paid to be done with Russell Wilson. If these numbers alone don’t get Grier fired, nothing will.
Maybe Ross is waiting for the bye week after the Madrid trip in a few weeks. The question remains what the owner wants to accomplish the rest of this season. Because there’s one major job to start on and it’s as obvious as Grier and McDaniel being fired someday.
They’ll have to be replaced. Ross’s predecessor, H. Wayne Huizenga, learned it was better to fire a regime during the season to start the open search for the next guys. Otherwise, you’re left standing in line, he said.
The past two seasons Jim Harbaugh and Mike Vrabel were looking to run a franchise. So, it’s part bad timing that the Dolphins don’t have an obvious hire. But the larger point is Harbaugh and Vrabel went to teams in good part because a good quarterback was waiting for them (Justin Herbert for Harbaugh in Los Angeles; Drake May for Vrabel in New England.)
The Dolphins don’t have a top quarterback, don’t have much talent on their roster and need to get cracking on a new general manager and coach to change that.
Why the rush? Here’s a name: Lane Kiffin. The Dolphins should talk to the Mississippi coach. He has NFL experience. He’s won big in college. He’s developed quarterbacks. He’s not the immature coach he once was. He even fits Ross’ desire to discover talent considering all his hires are first-timers.
That’s not to say Kiffin is a slam-dunk choice. Who knows? Maybe he doesn’t even want to go to the NFL. Maybe he wouldn’t work well with a general manager. That’s why Ross needs to talk to him. But if the Dolphins wait another month before firing people, Kiffin could be far down the road with LSU or the Florida Gators.
As it is, we’re just crossing off days until the end of the Dolphins season. It’s 65 days from Friday until the Jan. 4 finale against New England. And 64 from Saturday. It can’t go quickly enough as Thursday showed.
