Boiled Down, Black and White...We're 6-6 because...

[IHearJimi]

the overall philosophy of this regime. Don't get me wrong, I'm always going to root for the dolphins, but...the NFL today favors OFFENSE. This isn't the 80's and 90's. The smash-mouth, run first, win by 3 pts games are no longer revelant. Speed, offensive playcalling, and coverage rules mean that it is very difficult in todays NFL to sit in a lead of less that 10 points. Teams that improve quickly put an emphasis on offense. They believe that it is more important to flood the scoreboard with points than to suffacate with defense. For every arguement for the Ravens winning a SB with defense, there are more showing that a powerful offense is key (Colts, Saints, Patriots, Giants.)

If Sporano keeps his job this off season will be telling. If he know's he needs a powerful offense, he fires Henning, and Ireland has a draft set up on speed and skill players. If we draft o-linemen, LBs, and more prospects, then they don't get it.

Don't get me wrong. Luck plays a role in it as well. We've wanted players badly in the draft that didn't fall to us. Talking with agent friends, I know we were actively targeting the Chiefs rookie TE Moeaki & Dexter McCluster as well as Jacoby Ford. Its time our FO goes and gets the players we want instead of letting the draft come to us.

 

[Pinkboy]

Teams that improve quickly put an emphasis on offense. They believe that it is more important to flood the scoreboard with points than to suffacate with defense. For every arguement for the Ravens winning a SB with defense, there are more showing that a powerful offense is key (Colts, Saints, Patriots, Giants..

Every year the Patriots won the super bowl they were ranked 6th or higher defensively.. You forget that they won their early SB's with defense and a dink and dunk offense. It was the ST.LOUIS RAMS who had the flashy high-powered offense against New England in their first super bowl -- that's why the Rams were 15 point favorites going into that game.

The Giants beat the Pats in the 2007 super bowl because of a great front-7 on defense.

The Steelers and Ravens were ranked #1 and #2 on defense just 2 years ago and they met in the afc championship game.. The Steelers won the super bowl with the #1 defense in the league while Roethlisberger didn't have a good year that year and they were ranked 23rd in rushing.

Houston currently has the NFL's leading rusher and a high-powered offensive attack, where is that getting them with no defense ??

The dolphins were ranked #1 and #2 in defense in 1982 and 83.. they were a lot closer to a super bowl title in 1982 if Bokamper caught the ball in the end zone from Theismann, than they were with Marino all those years.

Here is a good reason why Marino could never win a super bowl despite having all those high ranked offenses-

http://miamimigraine.blogspot.com/2008/05/history-of-miami-dolphins-drafts-part.html

Last year the Saints D improved immensely when they brought in Jabari Greer through free agency and had 3 very good corners, they also brought in Darren Sharper at safety and he was terrorizing the league.. along with having a good defensive line and a couple nice linebackers.. also remember that they brought in a very good defensive coordinator last season with Gregg Williams - his schemes improved them immensely and after about 11 games into the season they were ranked top 5 defensively.

it's silly to ignore the defense. The smart teams stockpile defensive talent.

 

[LANGER72]

Defense wins championships.
We need a play maker safety and defensive end. Pressure leads to picks.
On offense, we need more speed at WR and RB, and a faster TE with better hands.
Finally...axe Henning.

 

[SkapePhin]

Saints didnt win a SB until Gregg William improved their D. The top teams in the NFL right now most have stout defenses (Steelers, Ravens, Jets, Bears). Its silly to think this isnt a winning philosophy. It is, it just needs to be tweaked slightly.

 

[Pinkboy]

Too many people are taking the Dolphins defense for granted when they start threads like this.

Sure the Dolphins D looks great against crappy QB's like Gradkowski, Trent Edwards (2 Qb's who don't belong in the league), Kerry collins, Delhomme, and Favre, Carson Palmer who both totally suck this year..

But what about the good QB's ? even Flacco made us look silly and they almost scored 30 points on us.. hell, they didn't punt the ball one time in the entire game except for the fake. Did you see what a real top defense did to Baltimore in Baltimore last night ?? The Steelers held them to 10 points.

Roethlisberger moved the ball on us.. even Sanchez was successful against our defense.

The dolphins D is not done yet.. we desperately need a another pass rusher, another ilb , and a ballhawk in the secondary if we want to be an elite defense. The smart teams stockpile defensive talent.

I don't trust this defense if we had to play playoff teams in back to back weeks.. It's good, but it's not a championship defense yet.. we have a 3-4 defense and we need more linebackers.. more pass rushers. Linebackers are the engine to a 3-4 defense.

You saw the 3rd quarter when Delhomme had all day to throw yesterday - you can't get by with just one pass rusher.

The Steelers know this and that's why they drafted two OLB's in the 2nd and 4th round this year with Jason Worilds and Thad Gibson... even though they already have 2 studs with Woodley and James Harrison at OLB. That's on top of having two stud LB's in the middle with James Farrior and drafting a 1st round ILB with Lawrence Timmons recently... did you see Farrior and how great he was last night?

The smart teams stockpile defensive talent.

 

[IHearJimi]

I guess what I'm getting at is Miami consistantly passes on high risk / high reward offensive tallent in the drafts and it shows. It's not a sin to draft a WR/TE in the first 2 rounds. It's okay to use a first round pick on a QB. God knows we've thrown a ton of 2nds away trying to find one.

When we traded for Marshall, I assumed we'd be very, very, good and our 2011 2nd round pick would be almost a 3rd. Now, we could use it badly. Another year of trading down instead of staying there.

We need to use the "Costanza Rule" in this year's draft. Do the opposite of what we've done.

 

[Pinkboy]

I guess what I'm getting at is Miami consistantly passes on high risk / high reward offensive tallent in the drafts and it shows.

You mean like we passed on high risk offensive players like Ted Ginn and Ronnie Brown in the top 10 ? Remember that 3 of our first round picks are invested in Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.. add a fourth 1st round pick for Ginn.. if you want to talk about risks.

It's not a sin to draft a WR/TE in the first 2 rounds..

i agree but isn't it funny how you rarely see those receivers selected in the top 10 win super bowls ? Yet over the past 20 years you see super bowl champions filled with very good, tough, strong, hard-nosed type players like Jake Long and Jared Odrick.

 

[zackmandude63]

I know one thing...having Brown/Willimas and adding Marshall, I thought we would be ALOT better on O.

 

[Travis34]

Defense is very important..

But I agree with your second paragraph

 

[Travis34]

You mean like we passed on high risk offensive players like Ted Ginn and Ronnie Brown in the top 10 ? Remember that 3 of our first round picks are invested in Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.. add a fourth 1st round pick for Ginn.. if you want to talk about risks.

Could've had: Patrick Willis, Revis, Lawrence Timmons, Meriweather, Dwayne Bowe, or Greg Olsen.
I'd sure love to have any of those guys instead of a guy who is no longer on the team.

and for Ronnie's draft we could've had: Aaron Rogers, Roddy White, DeMarcus Ware, or Logan Mankins.

Those were just first round talents I thought stood out today. But oh well, that's how the draft is.

 

[roy_miami]

Without a stud QB, a good defense will be our only prayer at sniffing a superbowl. And even then you need a top 2 or 3 defense, a pretty good offense and the stars have to align for us.

 

[Pinkboy]

Without a stud QB, a good defense will be our only prayer at sniffing a superbowl. And even then you need a top 2 or 3 defense, a pretty good offense and the stars have to align for us.

Yup.. a "dominating" defense you mean... that is indeed the quickest way for Miami to become a legitimate super bowl contender. I am talking about the types of defense like the Steelers and Ravens had in 2008.

if you just have a decent offense and a good defense, it's not good enough when you couple it with an average QB.

But you can do a lot of things if you have an average QB, a decent offense, and a GREAT #1 ranked defense. I'm not talking about the current Miami defense that can only look great against the worst QB's in the league... I'm talking about a legitimate championship defense that can look great against anybody.

Let's face it folks, we're not getting a franchise QB like Andrew Luck anytime soon. Our best bet is continuing to build this defense into a championship one. Two stud linebackers (one inside and another fierce pass rusher), add a ballhawk in the secondary and we're almost there.

 

[IHearJimi]

IF you want to put something on Sporano, blame him for the constant tinkering with the o-line and not being able to find the players for that position. He was an o-line coach for gosh sakes!

 

[utahphinsfan]

Every year the Patriots won the super bowl they were ranked 6th or higher defensively.. You forget that they won their early SB's with defense and a dink and dunk offense. It was the ST.LOUIS RAMS who had the flashy high-powered offense against New England in their first super bowl -- that's why the Rams were 15 point favorites going into that game.

I agree w/ all your examples. Its funny you mention the Rams. Vermeil said that if you are able to score 27 points you should win most of your games and there is alot of truth to that.

it's silly to ignore the defense. The smart teams stockpile defensive talent.

Agreed. D is not the problem with the phins. The scheme & Co-ordinator are good. The young guys just need experience.

We all know where the problem lies.

If the phins were to get a speedy #2 WR, a legitimate #1 pass catching TE, & an Offensive co-ordinator who did not draw up plays for Fred Flinstone then IMO 85% of the offensive problems go away.

 

[Pinkboy]

I agree w/ all your examples. Its funny you mention the Rams. Vermeil said that if you are able to score 27 points you should win most of your games and there is alot of truth to that.

And it's been proven in NFL history that if you hold your opponents to under 17 points per game, you win a great majority of your games and you're a perennial playoff team.

THe Dolphins D is not there yet as they need some additions to beat the really good teams consistently.. they only look great against crappy QB's