Last season was a disappointing season for Channing Crowder - to say the least. He had a career low 52 tackles in 13 games and continued his history of not making many big plays. Combine his poor '09 season with his penchant for talking trash way too much for my taste, and it's easy to understand why the linebacker is quickly becoming a top target for criticism and disdain from Dolphin fans.
But here's the kicker. Crowder simply doesn't care. He told the Sun-Sentinel the following:
"There are three people in South Florida I need to please, and their names are Bill Parcells, Tony Sparano and Jeff Ireland. And the last time I checked they liked me and I couldn’t give a damn about anybody else."
Crowder's certainly right about that. Our opinions of Crowder really don't matter. All that matters is what the organization thinks of him. And it's clear that despite his disappointing '09 season, Sparano is a big fan of Channing.
I want to quickly point out that it's interesting Crowder doesn't mention Mike Nolan as one of the people he needs to please. Does that mean anything? Probably not. I'm just saying...
But getting back on topic, I understand that Crowder is just being honest here - and he's correct in saying what he said. What we as fans think of Crowder means nothing. But he didn't have to come out and say it the way he did. There's no need to alienate the team's fans.
Regardless, does anyone else find it odd how confident Channing seems to be about his job security? The Dolphins signed Karlos Dansby to a huge contract this offseason because they needed to get faster and more athletic at linebacker. So they brought in a play-maker, something Channing just isn't.
But they also traded for Tim Dobbins and then signed Dobbins to a contract extension yesterday that will keep Dobbins in Miami through 2012. Meanwhile, Crowder's contract expires after the 2011 season.
Last month I asked if Dobbins could actually unseat Crowder as a starter. Now I want to ask if you want Dobbins to steal Crowder's starting job.
Before I open the floor to your opinions, let me just make one quick statistical observation. Over the past two seasons, the Dolphins are allowing 108 yards rushing per game and surrendering 4.2 yards per carry. But in the four games in which Crowder didn't play over the past two seasons, the Dolphins allowed 154.5 yards rushing per game and 5.1 yards per carry.
Coincidence? You decide.