Anthony Steen doing 'whatever's best for the team' in Miami Dolphins' offensive line | Page 4 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Anthony Steen doing 'whatever's best for the team' in Miami Dolphins' offensive line

I agree, our O-Line leaves me a bit skeptical about getting 10+ wins. I believe this will be the focus in the draft next year and from then on, have a legitimate chance to win the division.
 
BobDole said:
Way to cop out and make excuses. Yep, there was no way to avoid Tannehill being sacked infinity times. Only so much you can do with the cap ...
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It isn't a cop out or excuse. In 2016 our o-line only gave up 30 sacks witch was in the top 1/3 in the nfl last season. We will be better this season with Pouncey coming back, and very servicable LG in Larsen, Tunsil moving to his natural position, and Bushrod being in his 2nd year at G. The other huge thing is not having Dallas Thomas or Billy Turner playing, as the majority of the 30 sacks allowed were in the first 5 games when those two were playing.

I don't think Larsen or Bushrod are long term answers. We drafted a G this year that hopefully emerges, and next year might have a deeper FA crop and deeper rookie class, as both were lacking this year.
 
The Patriots olineman are mediocre...they just have playmakers. 5 runningbacks with different skill sets etc. None of the o line are multiple pro bowlers
 
Digital said:
One thing to consider is that we ate a big chunk of dead cap ($4M?) by jettisoning Branden Albert and to sign Larsen.

As I said when we signed Albert, he is a good LT and I liked the player, but I had two concerns, 1) he had a history of injuries and at his age it would only get worse, and 2) we overpayed. The guy already lived in Miami. There were 3 good LT's out there, Albert, Monroe and Veldheer. Monroe was the least gettable and the worst get because he wanted to stay in Baltimore and ended up missing many more games to injuries than the other two. Arguably, Alberts was the best, although Veldheer seems to have been durable and played at a high level, so that point is arguable. We definitely overpaid. Moving on from Alberts definitely cost us money. I was correct on both points, but more importantly, we need to learn from our mistakes.

I get why you didn't want to overpay for OL this year. But the reason the market was so high was that there weren't many OL prospects worth a darn in the draft this year and it looks like this was a phenomenal defensive draft. While I'm a huge proponent of drafting good OL, this simply wasn't the draft for it. IMHO, we made the correct call drafting defense with our first three picks. We also made a great pick of Asiaata in the 5th. Kudos to the front office for making the correct calls there.

But, we were backed into a corner by the failures of the past with the OL. It's 5/11ths of our starting offense, and unlike many players those 5 tend to play 100% of the snaps while healthy. The positions may not be glamorous, but they are impactful and important. If we had 3 holes (LG, RG, C) and our only veteran transaction was swapping out the good but injury-prone Albert for the journeyman Larsen--for the same Salary Cap impact--then we definitely didn't do enough. Where would we have found the money? Well maybe not sign/keep both Timmons AND Misi. Maybe not reward our young DE quite so much for 5.5 sacks on a DL that has Suh and Wake commanding all the attention. There were ways to make getting a good guard happen. We chose to prioritize other areas. But, when we watch the OL this year, its a good thing to keep in mind, IMHO.
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Good post...

You can't really take the Albert dead money as a comparable factor for Larsens IMO simply because it has just as much effect on Tunsil and unexpectedly getting him last year, and moving him to his natural position. We'd be keeping Albert this year if we didn't get Tunsil last year. Larsens was a smart business move as well as from a personnel/talent standpoint when you consider his durability/consistency and in relation to his salary. So Larsens vs Albert is not really a fair judgement in terms of considering the dead money, I look at the Larsens and Albert moves in separate vacuums and consider both good decisions.

And in respect to what I bolded - we couldn't do anything about the center position. I take that back - we could have drafted a prospect at center in a late round but that would have been basically the only way to reasonably address the center position this year. We were not in a position to make any move for Pouncey this year in any way, so they basically had to leave that position alone. If you consider that, we did address both guard positions reasonably - adding Larsens who will do just fine and adding a prospect guard in Asiata.

Those weren't glamorous moves, nor was the Bushrod resign, but they were reasonable moves and pragmatic in my opinion.
 
Dajesus said:
It isn't a cop out or excuse. In 2016 our o-line only gave up 30 sacks witch was in the top 1/3 in the nfl last season. We will be better this season with Pouncey coming back, and very servicable LG in Larsen, Tunsil moving to his natural position, and Bushrod being in his 2nd year at G. The other huge thing is not having Dallas Thomas or Billy Turner playing, as the majority of the 30 sacks allowed were in the first 5 games when those two were playing.

I don't think Larsen or Bushrod are long term answers. We drafted a G this year that hopefully emerges, and next year might have a deeper FA crop and deeper rookie class, as both were lacking this year.
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I hear ya but I also know there is some variation of this post every year. The o line has been terrible for so long that people are complacent just throwing up their arms and saying 'what more can we do?'

This is what you do. This team obviously cannot draft o linemen - even in the first round (!!!). So you fix the problem with the best 2 interior free agents. Sure, you won't be able to afford a rapidly declining Timmons, or a mediocre Branch, or ... etc but at least the team can know what they have at the most important position on the field. How many people are undecided on a QB that's almost 30? Let's get this thing figured out once and for all ... without the built in excuses.
 
phazer said:
The Patriots olineman are mediocre...they just have playmakers. 5 runningbacks with different skill sets etc. None of the o line are multiple pro bowlers
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and they have Tom Brady
 
BobDole said:
I hear ya but I also know there is some variation of this post every year. The o line has been terrible for so long that people are complacent just throwing up their arms and saying 'what more can we do?'

This is what you do. This team obviously cannot draft o linemen - even in the first round (!!!). So you fix the problem with the best 2 interior free agents. Sure, you won't be able to afford a rapidly declining Timmons, or a mediocre Branch, or ... etc but at least the team can know what they have at the most important position on the field. How many people are undecided on a QB that's almost 30? Let's get this thing figured out once and for all ... without the built in excuses.
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That's not how the NFL works. Building through high priced FA has not worked out for anyone. Draft and lower priced 2nd tier guys to bridge gaps has won super bows.

I think I'm not gloom and doom this year about the oline because I have faith in this new regime, and last season we protected the qb for the first time in RT's career. Gase and Grier are off to a great start changing the culture. We got more out of less last season, and they also sent the bums out. The winning streak started when the oline gave Ryan and Matt time, and did an exceptional job the final 11 games. I think they improve this year, and continue in the right direction.
 
Dajesus said:
That's not how the NFL works. Building through high priced FA has not worked out for anyone. Draft and lower priced 2nd tier guys to bridge gaps has won super bows.

I think I'm not gloom and doom this year about the oline because I have faith in this new regime, and last season we protected the qb for the first time in RT's career. Gase and Grier are off to a great start changing the culture. We got more out of less last season, and they also sent the bums out. The winning streak started when the oline gave Ryan and Matt time, and did an exceptional job the final 11 games. I think they improve this year, and continue in the right direction.
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I agree building through FA isn't sustainable. Just ask the Redskins of old. But we're talking about 2 positions here. 2 positions that have derailed seasons for years. 2 positions that are among the easiest fixes on the entire team. It should've happened by sheer chance by now.

How many high draft picks you feel like wasting for 2 positions a drunk baby could fix in free agency? How many seasons of watching the QB get killed before someone decides that approach isn't working?

It's cool, we can always revisit this conversation around this time next year. No urgency necessary. It's not like the QB had a scary knee injury or anything ...
 
Dajesus said:
I think I'm not gloom and doom this year about the oline because I have faith in this new regime, and last season we protected the qb for the first time in RT's career. Gase and Grier are off to a great start changing the culture. We got more out of less last season, and they also sent the bums out. The winning streak started when the oline gave Ryan and Matt time, and did an exceptional job the final 11 games. I think they improve this year, and continue in the right direction.
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ptb.gif
 
These are why mere numbers are misleading. Depsite Larsen being credited with just .5 sack, the pressure he allows here results in a blown play and the incompletion.


Larsen beat by an inside spin move and allows the pressure and QB hit.


Misses the trap block on the EMLOS who makes the tackle.


Fails to make the reach block on the Center.


Fails to ID the LB blitz and pass off his man to the Center.
 
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