Philbin talks to fans, preaches faith

Joe Philbin spent 45 minutes this evening on a conference call with Miami Dolphins season ticket customers. He took their questions. The media was allowed to listen but was kept at the kiddie table playing with our crayons. (In other words, we were asked to keep quiet).

Anyway, these are the highlights of what Philbin said in response to fans questions:

Mauricio in Miami-Dade asked Philbin to convince him that the Dolphins are worthy of investing in. The fan asked for Philbin's best halftime speech to motivate him to buy tickets.

"My experience is that with every successful organization in any sport you have to have good people," Philbin said. "You have to have faith and confidence in those people. I have great confidence in [owner] Steve Ross and [general manager] Jeff Ireland. Sometimes you just have to have faith.

"I'm asking for your faith and confidence that I'm going to be able to deliver results."

Philbin didn't offer too many specifics about, well, anything because he probably cannot and probably doesn't want to with what he can. But he was clear on his intended use of Reggie Bush.

Unlike last year when Miami mostly used Bush as a traditional running back until very late in the season, Philbin said his staff will try to maximize Bush. He mentioned using him at wide receiver. He mentioned using him in different formations. He mentioned doing things to create mismatches, which is what I thought Miami would do last year.

"We're not just going to hand the ball to him," Philbin said.

Speaking of wide receiver, Philbin obviously included the position among those needing upgrade. He mentioned wide receiver in the draft, along with quarterback, pass-rusher, defensive back. But it was interesting to me he referred to improving the position through free agecy and the draft. Free agency seems pretty much over to me as there is not a great amount of great talent left out there that I know of. He obviously knows more. Maybe he has something up his sleeve ... I hope.

Philbin mentioned the QB position a couple of times. Shocking right? IF you're a Dolphins quarterback you better be getting in your playbook because one aspect of the coming quarterback competition between Matt Moore and David Garrard is learning the West Coast offense and more specifically the Dolphins' version of the offense.

Philbin made the point that one way he'll be looking for the quarterback to "separate themselves" from on another is by more quickly learning the system and showing coaches they can be comfortable in the system.

Philbin was Green Bay's offensive coordinator but he didn't call the plays. He won't call them in Miami, either. "Mike Sherman will call the game," Philbin said. "I get to put in one play per week but I don't get to call it."

I'm confident he was kidding there as coach has something of a sense of humor. Philbin made the point Miami's offense will be a collaborative effort.