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The Miami Dolphins fired head coach Joe Philbin for forgetting how to play football and have instated Dan Campbell as the team's interim head coach. Campbell was the Dolphins tight ends coach from 2011-15, which makes the promotion a fairly serious jump.
Campbell took over after the Dolphins week 5 bye week and have led Miami to two straight victories. The Dolphins have beaten the Titans and Texans by an average score of 41-18, and the games were never that close. While it's easy to scoff at the poor level of competition offered by the AFC South, the Dolphins did their job by winning in a resounding fashion.
The Dolphins have quality players on both sides of the ball and Philbin was wildly unable to utilize their talent. Campbell has opened up the usage of running back Lamar Miller; the back picked up 236 yards from scrimmage against the Texans, which is more than he picked up in his first four games under Philbin (218 yards). Quarterback Ryan Tannehill just completed an NFL record 25-straight passes over the two games under Campbell. The offense is now working.
And on defense, Cameron Wake is back to being a pass rushing threat and Ndamukong Suh is winning at the line. The whole unit has stepped up its play.
Miami needed the jolt of energy from Campbell, but is it enough to save them this Thursday Night against the New England Patriots? Here's how Bill Belichick has fared against interim head coaches since 2000:
2000
L - 34-9 Lions, Gary Moeller
W - 16-13 Bengals, Dick LeBeau
2004
L - 29-28 Dolphins, Jim Bates
W - 42-15 Browns, Terry Robiskie
2008
W - 23-16 Rams, Joe Vitt
W - 49-26 Raiders, Tom Cable
2009
W - 17-10 Bills, Perry Fewell
2011
W - 27-24 Dolphins, Todd Bowles
2013
W - 34-31 OT Broncos, Jack Del Rio
Belichick has a 7-2 record and hasn't lost to an interim coach since 2004, which happened to be against the Miami Dolphins. The other loss came in the 2000 season.
It's interesting to note that just two of Belichick's victories have come by more than a single score (04 Browns, 08 Raiders). This Thursday might be another close one.