“Miami has the Dolphins the greatest football team,” the first line of the infamous Miami Dolphins Fight Song. The contagious melody boasted out during home games, by die-hard fans, every time the Dolphins find themselves in the end zone. Unfortunately, Miami has become quiet.
This season for the Dolphins started in whirlwind. Heading into an international away game against the New York Jets, the 1-2 Dolphins and their coach Joe Philbin had something to prove. While thousands of ”Dolfans” gathered around their TVs here in the states, their beloved team was losing 27 to 14 to the Jets. After the scoreboard clock hit all zeros, the Dolphins as a team and a community knew something had to change.
On Monday October 5th, Philbin was fired.
“It was a tough decision for me to make knowing how tirelessly Joe worked in his four years here to make this a winning team,” Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in a statement.
In the statement Ross also said he had developed a personal relationship with Philbin but was unhappy with the teams start to the 2015 season.
Dan Campbell, the Dolphins’ tight end coach, was brought in as the interim coach. His first task, get the big win against the Houston Texans. History shows that the Dolphins had previously been 0-7 against the Texans. Historywas was recordedOctober 25 when the Dolphins became the first team since the 1940s to score offensive touchdowns of at least 50 yards in a half, ending the game against the Texans with a 44-26 win.
Since coming in as the interim coach, Dan Campbell has lit a fire in the hearts of not only the players but has rekindled it in the hearts of the fans. Campbell quickly became known for his motivational locker speech during the Texans game, telling the players that they are still starving and that they can’t get enough when it comes to the energy and success they faced in the first half.
““The energy and the speed at which we played was what I was hoping we could get. I could feel that. The players could feel that. We played faster. Now you can start to believe” Campbell said at a press conference.
Campbell has continued to prove that the Dolphins needed a new perspective sitting in the driver’s seat of their high-speed chase to the playoffs.
This past week on November, the Dolphins desperately needed to win against the Buffalo Bills to keep their hopes alive of securing a spot in the AFC wild card race for the playoffs. Walking away from Buffalo with an upset of 17 to 33 the Dolphins are still optimistic about their playoff chances. Even though the numbers are stacked against them, the Dolphins (3-5) continue their playoff mission this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles (4-4) 1 p.m. Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.