This is a moderated phorum for the CIVILIZED discussion of the Miami Dolphins. In this phorum, there are rules and moderators to make sure you abide by the rules. The moderators for this phorum are JC and Colonel.
Somebody in the know please tell me why our blocking is so pathetic. We just don't block worth a crap. The Saints block their asses off though. It was painfully clear that they just flat out block better that us. Is it talent? technique? effort? intellect? coaching? Why do we suck so bad at it?
IMO, the blame falls on Mike Sherman and his inability to get the most out of the players that he has. The fact that Tannehill is the most sacked QB in the entire league speaks volumes of the failure of Sherman's offense. If I were Mr. Ross, I'd fire Mike Sherman immediately, plus most of the o-line. I'd pick up players off the street and look forward to a high draft pick for next year.
Tanny will be lucky to survive the entire season without leaving the field on a stretcher unless this O-line gets their act together.
Looking at it in another perspective with the cup half full -- If he does manage survive, he'll end up having a Marino-like quick release in the process of his development.
I think you need a mix of plays ChyrenB. I don't know who here is familiar with baseball enough for this analogy, but if you could throw 100 mph fastballs all the time and you would eventually be hit all the time. You need that Change up and Curveball to keep the batter guessing.
Same thing in the NFL if we did roll outs too much, it would eventually become a terrible offense where half the field gets clamped down and D-line men roll off the line crushing the QB. So while it might be temporarily exciting to see Tannehill scramble and throw and run...his long term success really depends on him being successful throwing from the pocket/middle of the field.
I have no problem with a QB that can roll out when necessary. Or, for a QB to run on designed plays. The obvious is that Tannehill must secure the ball, must slide and be happy with picking up 5 yards rather than risk a heavy hit that could hurt him or dislodge the ball trying to make 10 yards.
I am not a fan of Sherman calling plays at all. getting really sick of the 4 wide receivers going out and running a 5 yard route before turning around.
The problem with the Oline is talent. Plain and simple.
Martin is OK at LT. not great but not bad. Incognito is OK also but he's playing out of position at LG. He needs to be at RG.
Pouncey is an elite center.
Jerry is a dog at RG and is a horrible fit for our offensive scheme.
Clabo has been a disappointment. I know he hadn't played in a zone blocking scheme before but that doesn't change the fact that he's been bad more often than he's been good.
We need to find more than that since Incog is a FA. "OK" may not be what we need at LT. The coaching staff must think along the same lines or they wouldn't have been courting the guy who will be a free agent and may be in aqua and orange next season...Branden Albert.
There will be some big decisions to make in 2014.
Who do we resign? Incog, Starks, Soliai, Clemons, Grimes?
I would opt for Soliai and Grimes but that leaves some vacancies. Don Jones is a good ST player but can he replace Clemens? Is Incognito (31 yrs) worthy of a contract comparible to the last one? 3 year/13 mil.
Is Ireland counting on Davis and Taylor to be the starting CB's in 2014?
I'm not sure where Martin fits. He is better at LT than RT but not good enough in pass pro to rely on and probably not a guard candidate but maybe he can kick inside to LG.
I'm sure Ireland will push to give Dallas Thomas another shot at LG or somewhere but probably a futile effort and may keep them from going after a quality lineman in the draft or FA.
So...
LT: Albert
LG: Martin
C: Pouncey
RG: ?
RT: ?
Where does Watkins stand? He has not even been active yet.
We may want to go ahead and pursue a player like Zane Beadles (Den) to play LG or Jon Asomoah from KC to play RG. They may be inclined to stay under the new coaching staff and success.
eesti Wrote:
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> So you would resign Incog to another 3 yr 13 mil
> deal to play LG and be ok with Martin giving up a
> sack per game and several hurries?
Incognito's contract notwithstanding, my opinion has always been that the O-Line has to play as a unit...not a collection of different people. Hudson Houck did amazing things with our O-Line with less talent than we have now. So, my opinion is if you fix the weakest link then the whole will have a chance to solidify.
I don't disagree about playing as a unit but the pressures I saw Martin give up were one on one battles that he lost.
Less talent? I would argue that the line Hudson Houck had in Miami was better than or equal to what we have right now.
2005: Vernon Carey, Rex Hadnot, Damion McIntosh, Jeno James, Seth McKinney...Allowed 26 sacks. Ricky & Ronnie ran for 1650/10. They were just a "little" more proven at RB than what we have.
2006: Add LJ Shelton. Ronnie Brown and Sammy Morris ran for 1400/6. Line gave up 41 sacks.
2007: Add Sampson Satele & Chris Liwienski. (5) RB's ran for 1500/14. 42 sacks allowed.
By comparison we ran for 1800 yards and 15 td's last year.
Carey was playing at a high level back then. Hadnot had a good career as did Jeno James.
I hear about all this magic that Hudson Houck brought to Miami but I didn't see much of it. We had one decent year when we had two of the best running backs in the league and a veteran QB.