Vic Fangio wasn’t with the Miami Dolphins for very long, but he sure produced a lot of conversation after he left via a mutual parting of the ways to join the Philadelphia Eagles.
As he prepares for his second Super Bowl as a defensive coordinator, the longtime NFL veteran coach was asked during the Opening Night media festivities to reflect on his one season in Miami and his first season with the Eagles.
“It’s just a whole lot different,” Fangio said, per profootballnetwork.com. “The whole organization. It’s just different. Not to say one is better than the other. It’s just different.”
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The hiring of Fangio was a hit for the Eagles, who went from 26th in total defense in the NFL in 2023 to first and then forced 10 total turnovers in their playoff victories against the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams and Washington Commanders.
Fangio, whose first Super Bowl appearance came in the 2012 season when he was DC of the San Francisco 49ers under head coach Jim Harbaugh. had a similar one-year turnaround in Miami last season — though not quite to the same extent. The Dolphins finished 10th in total defense under Fangio in 2023 after being 18th the year before but their takeaways jumped from 14 to 27.
By the time the Dolphins got to December in 2023, the defense had become the strength of the team but by the time the playoffs arrived Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Xavien Howard, Andrew Van Ginkel and Jerome Baker all had been lost to season-ending injuries.
“Up until the last couple games, we were ranked very highly in defense,” Fangio said. “I think we were top five in most every stat. And then we just lost six or seven starters for our last two games and ended a playoff and didn’t finish good.”
Fangio said he didn’t watch the Dolphins play at all during the 2024 season, so he couldn’t offer an opinion as to what went wrong or how they could bounce back.
I also had, in vintage Fangio fashion, a very simple answer when asked whether there was anything he would have done differently in Miami: “No.”
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