CAMERON SEALED HIS FATE WITH SILENCE
Quote:
In interviews with several Dolphins sources both Cameron and Mueller had interpersonal difficulties with locker room leaders in their final days on the job.
The first incident centers around Cameron and began when DT Keith Traylor and guard Vernon Carey got into a very heated exchange that nearly turned into physical on the team's flight back from New England in Week 16.
Traylor at first got into it with another player but then when he went to the back of the plane to apologize, the whole affair escalated into what was nearly a very messy incident with Carey. Players were forced to jump into the fray and separate the combatants.
Players say Cameron, the leader of the team, simply stood up as the players broke up the ruckus but never exerted his authority.
The next day Cameron met with Traylor and after those two got into it, the coach kicked the 17-year veteran off the team.
To say that didn't sit well with the leaders of that locker room would be the understatement of the year.
Quote:
First, Pro Bowl LB Zach Thomas laced into the coach saying how wrong it was that he would convince a guy to come back for a 17th year and gut it out for a winless team only to get kicked off the squad after 15 games. Thomas gave the coach a pretty good dressing down while Jason Taylor, who had a major problem with Cameron for much of the year, stepped up next to give it a rip
Quote:
However, what those players said paled in comparison to the soliloquy delivered by Pro Bowl LB Joey Porter. According to several players, Porter stood up, in front of the whole team, and absolutely lambasted the coach using such words as "spineless" and basically called the coach a coward.
"We were all talking about it after because none of us had ever seen anything like it," said one player who asked not to be identified. "He crushed Cam. He basically called him gutless, a coward for the way he handled Keith. He said, 'You only stood up on that plane at the end to look like you were doing something to management.'
"A head coach is supposed to stand up and take control with one yell. Cam basically said nothing."
Porter's rip, which included several barbs and curses, lasted a good three minutes or so.
"Joey was great but it was unbelievable," said another player. "But the best was at the end of it, after getting ripped into, cursed at and questioned all Cam said was, 'OK, glad we got that out, on to Cincinnati.' It was ridiculous. He never defended himself and it went on for a while."
The locker room applauded Porter for telling it like it is but shook their heads that Cameron just let it happen.
Cameron can be a pretty good OC, but not an HC with that type of behaviorQuote:
Team sources say that Thomas went to the team's holiday party strictly to confront Mueller for anonymous quotes the star linebacker was told came right from the GM. The quotes had questioned Thomas' heart after suffering a serious head injury in a car accident, an accident that ended up putting a halt to his season.
Thomas, angry that anyone would ever question his dedication and heart, angrily confronted Mueller at the party and Mueller tried to calm Thomas by denying he was the leak. Mueller asked that Thomas meet with him in his office the next morning but Thomas, having already said his piece, never bothered.
