Joe Philbin and Kevin Coyle won't be the only coaches to start the 2015 NFL season as members of the Miami Dolphins coaching staff and end it somewhere along the unemployment line. Multiple reports emerged Monday morning that the Dolphins, fresh off a 38-20 loss against the AFC East rival New York Jets, fired offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. The team made the move official shortly after 10 a.m.
Philbin, the team's former head coach, and Coyle, it's one-time defensive coordinator, were both fired in October.
Under Lazor's tutelage, Dolphins franchise quarterback Ryan Tannehill seemed to make great gains in his development as an NFL signal-caller during the 2014 season. Employing many of the up-tempo, spread concepts he came into contact with while operating as a piece of Chip Kelly's staff in Philadelphia, Lazor managed to simplify reads for Tannehill and make use his quarterback's former wide-receiver athleticism to the unit's advantage. Tannehill set career-highs in completions (392), completion percentage (66.4), passing yards (4,045), touchdowns (27) and rating (92.8) running Lazor's system last season.
Unfortunately, the concepts and, by extension, Tannehill (though it very well could be the other way around) proved much less effective this season. Tannehill has clearly regressed and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is a man now on a mission to see changes enacted within his franchise.
After the Jets loss on Sunday, interim Miami head coach Dan Campbell referred to the Dolphins offense as "anemic." They especially struggled to convert on third down, going just 4-for-15 against New York.
Lazor paid the price for the group's struggles with his job.
In his place, the team announced that quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor will take over as offensive coordinator. Taylor is just 32, having joined Miami as an assistant quarterbacks coach only four seasons ago after a collegiate career spent at Nebraska and one season in the NFL as a player in 2007. Since then, he's held the position of quarterbacks coach.
