When new Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin was hired, fans expected him to come in with his Packers playbook in tow.
To help the potential implementation, Philbin has brought in former Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman, one of his football mentors.
Sherman recently told The Finsiders that his offensive philosophy is similar to Philbin’s, noting that he ran the West Coast offense at stops in Green Bay, Houston, Seattle, and Texas A&M.
If the offense starts producing, though, Sherman feels it’ll be more about the personnel than just copying a playbook from a previous stop.
“You have to be flexible,” he said. “I have basic principles that I adhere to, but you really have to look at your players and what they are capable of doing.”
If the Dolphins do have offensive success, one imagines it will be in large part because of consistent quarterback play. There are physical tools that Sherman looks for in a quarterback prospect, but most important is how he approaches the game.
“They have to have great confidence to be able to play the position,” Sherman said, “because you’re going to have some good days and some bad days, some good situations and some bad situations.”
At this point in the off-season, though, Sherman said it’s more important to focus on the players that are already on the roster.
“I thought they played hard last year,” he said. “It seemed like a good group of kids with good chemistry, and I’m anxious to get them into a meeting and talk to them, see them eye-to-eye.”
There should be no shortage of trust and communication between Philbin and Sherman, the former being a long-time pupil of Sherman’s. Long before he was Sherman’s offensive coordinator in Green Bay, Philbin was a student in Sherman’s English class at Worcester Academy, a prep school in Massachusetts.
“I know what I’m getting with Joe. What you see is what you get with [him]. There will be no surprises,” Sherman said. “He’ll be the same guy, a different authority situation, but the same person as a head coach as he was when he was an assistant coach, when he worked for me.”
The opinions, analysis and/or speculation expressed by The Finsiders Blog represent those of individual writers, and unless quoted or clearly labeled as such, do not represent the opinions, policies or desires of the Miami Dolphins organization, front office, coaches and executives. Writers' views are formulated independently from any inside information and/or conversation with Dolphins officials, including the coaches and scouts, unless otherwise noted.
