Stephen Ross, the owner of Related Companies, is concerned more with football than real estate these days. His Miami Dolphins were just eliminated from the playoffs yesterday in an embarrassing 41-13 loss to the New England Patriots and so now Ross must face a number of tough decisions regarding the team’s future.
This marks the sixth straight year that Miami has failed to make the playoffs. After coming from behind in epic fashion to beat the Jets on a Monday night in New York two weeks ago, the team has now suffered two starlight losses to go from wild card contender to also ran. To add insult to injury, in beating them the Patriots clinched the AFC East title.
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The son of a Jewish family from Detroit, Ross has a number of people advising him about what to do. One is the former New York Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum who the Dolphins took on as an advisor, in spite of the fact that Tannenbaum was unceremoniously dumped by the Jets last year after a miserable tenure there. Ross was seen after the game consulting with both Tannenbaum and hall of fame quarterback Dan Marino who led the team to its last Super Bowl bid back in 1983.
The man who all commentators agree should be most concerned right now is the team’s coach Joe Philbin who has led it to three straight disappointing season that all ended in a late year collapse. Most famously, the team just missed out on a playoff berth last year by losing the final game of the season to hated division rival the New York Jets.
But Philbin is not worried telling the Miami Herald, ”I’m not concerned one bit.”
But Ross is rumored to be considering wooing San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh to come over to the Dolphins next year. While Harbaugh’s contract runs through next season, the 49ers have reportedly shown an interest in possibly “trading” him to another team.
