Florida Sports Buzz

[ckparrothead]

ck, you make some good points...no doubt. it's fair to say some of those top scoring d's from last year we face this season may take steps back.

i'll just say that penny was a combined 1-3 last year including the postseason against top 10 scoring defenses and out of his season and postseason long total 20 tds and 11 ints (tops of his career also) he was a very average 5 tds and 6 ints against those same top 10 defenses.

that and there are 6 games

on the schedule this year against top 10 scoring defenses last year including heavyweights pittsburgh and tennessee.

is it fair to say that trend of average or less play against the better defenses will continue with penny???...i think so...it's debatable at least

it's also fair to say that for his career penny has very low odds at starting 32 consecutive games.

a further look into this seasons sched also reveals 8 games

against top 10 scoring offenses in 2008 and that doesn't include a monday night matchup with peyton manning.

translation this offense better put many more points on the board than our season long 21.6 ppg ranking 21st in the league last year and penny is gonna have to perform at a much higher level against legit defenses if we wanna compete for a playoff spot again.

either that or pat white better be a monster when we line up in the spread/wildcat.

I think it's just too convenient to start talking about wins now and really disregarding personal performance. Against those four top 10 defenses, Pennington PERSONALLY played well in three of those games.

He had a 113.8 QB rating against the Patriots the first time around, and by the way he was passing excellently against them before the Dolphins used the Wildcat for the first time in that game.

He had a 92.0 QB rating against the Ravens the first time, and even though he had that costly interception against Terrell Suggs, he did still throw a touchdown and accounted for 320 total yards in the air and on the ground while only taking 1 sack. Like I said, the Dolphins didn't win that game because they couldn't run worth a damn. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams combined for 43 yards on 17 carries (2.5 YPC). Sometimes you just can't do it alone, ESPECIALLY against a top 3 defense like Baltimore's.

He had a 99.7 QB rating against the Patriots the second time around, including 4 touchdowns. I'm not sure what else you want the guy to do on a day when Vince Wilfork was personally destroying the ground game by tossing Samson Satele around like a ragamuffin (Brown, Williams and Cobbs combined for 59 yards on 17 carries, 3.5 YPC), and when Matt Cassel to Randy Moss is looking like Tom Brady to Randy Moss thanks to Jason Allen's fine coverage.

And then you have the personal BAD performance against the Ravens in the playoffs. But, by that time, you've got no Justin Smiley. You have Ike Ndukwe still at RG. You have Satele playing weak with a torn labrum against someone as strong as Haloti Ngata. You have no Greg Camarillo. Davone Bess gets hurt and is out of the game for two quarters. You're asking Chad Pennington to beat a top 3 defense by himself, with zero ground game (52 yards on 20 carries, 2.6 YPC), limited receiving options (Patrick Cobbs became the team's slot WR, seriously), and pressure coming up through the center of the offensive line. That was a recipe for disaster, and disaster occurred.

That's still just one out of four bad performances, though. I think it's way too convenient to choose the ONE time the guy had a bad outing against a top defense, and focus on that, when he had three other good days against top defenses. The Miami Dolphins offense as a whole was not good enough to beat a top 3 defense like the Ravens'...but a very big part of that reason was because the interior OL wasn't good enough to get the job done on the ground.

 

[ckparrothead]

In terms of contacting Pete Kendall- I kind of like it. It also makes me wonder if Shawn Murphy can take a big step forward this year- i hop eso, but it would be nice to see signs of life in TC and the pre season.

Back on the topic at hand, I think there are many reasons to be in contact with Pete Kendall. I outlined a few of them over two months ago...

http://www.finheaven.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1062959139&postcount=24

Pete Kendall is old. And, he tends to be a pain in the butt about his pay grade. But, he's also experienced, ready, cheaper, and it's easy to see why he's still around on the market (you know where the blows are coming from, if they're coming).

The Dolphins will go spring training mode on the interior spots between Brandon Frye, Ike Ndukwe, Andy Alleman, Joe Berger, Shawn Murphy, Mark Lewis and J.D. Quinn.

But, if after a while it starts to look like nothing is really emerging from that group...I could see them giving Pete Kendall a call.

My point then was just that from our perspective, when there's a guy still out there unsigned that you have no idea why he's not getting any action...it's a safe bet that NFL GMs know exactly why the guy is unsignable, and that he's either too hurt to play or he has a mega attitude issue, suspension, legal troubles, something like that. Pete Kendall is a talented player but he tends to be a pain in the butt when it comes to his pay, and he's 36 years old. Those are two good reasons for him to still be unsigned at this late stage of things, even if he still does possess some skills. He's a guy that teams will wait to see how younger, cheaper options pan out in camp before they start giving him a call.

 

[jim1]

Back on the topic at hand, I think there are many reasons to be in contact with Pete Kendall. I outlined a few of them over two months ago...

http://www.finheaven.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1062959139&postcount=24

It's time to sort out the keepers from the dead weight at interior OL. With Frye able to play T and G I think that Alleman and Ndukwe better really stepp it up in TC- they did themselves no favors in the Ravens playoff game.

 

[ckparrothead]

And back to the point of talking about the defenses that Miami will face...let's review something here.

Heading into the 2008 season, Miami was set to play 3 games against Top 5 scoring defenses from 2007. The New England Patriots ranked #4 overall and the San Diego Chargers ranked #5 overall.

What did Pennington do in those three games? 63 of 90 (70.0%) for 795 yards (8.8 YPA), 4 TDs and 1 INT, with 1 rushing TD, 4 sacks, 0 fumbles, a 2-1 record, a combined QB rating of 107.4, and individual game QB ratings of 113.8, 109.6 and 99.7.

So much for those "top defenses" exposing Chad Pennington for being a fraud, eh?

Little did we know that by far the best defense we would face in 2008 was the team that ranked #23 overall in points allowed per game in 2007, the Baltimore Ravens.

 

[ckparrothead]

It's time to sort out the keepers from the dead weight at interior OL. With Frye able to play T and G I think that Alleman and Ndukwe better really stepp it up in TC- they did themselves no favors in the Ravens playoff game.

I think Frye is more likely to be dead weight than Alleman or Ndukwe.

 

[jim1]

I think Frye is more likely to be dead weight than Alleman or Ndukwe.

I don't know about that. Frye is extremely athletic and had pretty good reviews at T if I recall correctly. And they were giving him a long look at G, too. I'm not sure if Alleman was injured late last year, but I didn't really see anything of him or Ndukwe of mention when they were called upon. I'd rather get Kendall and cut one or both of them loose, depending also on how Murphy looks this year. Which makes me think of Duke Robinson...

 

[ckparrothead]

I don't know about that. Frye is extremely athletic and had pretty good reviews at T if I recall correctly. And they were giving him a long look at G, too. I'm not sure if Alleman was injured late last year, but I didn't really see anything of him or Ndukwe of mention when they were called upon. I'd rather get Kendall and cut one or both of them loose, depending also on how Murphy looks this year. Which makes me think of Duke Robinson...

I didn't see any good reviews, just a lot of hoopla over the fact that he was taking first team snaps during portions of OTAs where the media were allowed to watch. The media, which was starved for stories at that time of year, ran with it and started doing pieces on Brandon Frye to try and let the fans know who he is. But, there was no substance. There were no reviews that said "Wow, he looked good out there". There was a former college teammate of his that also plays on the line saying that he has confidence in him, but I'll be damned if that wasn't a totally expected statement from a former college linemate. Within days, he was no longer taking those first team snaps, either...it was Shawn Murphy.

And then of course the media ran away with that one too, doing all kinds of pieces suggesting that Murphy was finally coming around, etc. But still, nothing substantial that says hey this guy was really good out there. Just a bunch of dry throats in the desert.

Sparano said it frankly during press conferences, but it got glossed over because it didn't fit the media's agenda...all three guys, between Ndukwe, Murphy and Frye, were getting equal reps with the first unit, while Donald Thomas is hurt.

For now, I go with the guy that started 15 games at the position a year ago rather than the guy with a reputation as a workout warrior, that has bounced around the league, and for a few days got some first team reps.

I've seen plenty of really athletic guys do nothing at OL. That's not a position where I think the best athletes naturally rise to the top. So much of that position is about power that you can't really measure until the guy's in your face and chucking you to the ground. Donald Thomas' athletic measurements suggested that he was more of a quicker guy than a powerful guy...and it wasn't until you line him up across from Jason Ferguson and Ferg tells everyone "Whoa, that guy is 'earth mover' strong" that you realize the athletic measurements at that position can often lie.

 

[ParcellsProphet]

Jags will be much better. Jets will have a better Defense this year and I think the Saints could make it to the NFC Champ game this year. So IDK how you give them 7 wins like that....The Bills will be much improved as well....Are you watching the same football news and past games that I have, New Orleans is definitely gonna be a top 3 team offensively and now have Gregg williams as D-coordinator so they will be much improved, they will be the class of the NFC this year along with Philly and NYG

 

[ArmyFin7]

Why will the Jags be better? Jets will have a better D, on paper anyway. Its a complex system for a lot of players, and their Offense got worse. The Saints don't have have the D to make it that far unless a couple rooks really play lights out football.

The Bills will be much improved??? They added a 35 yr old reciever, all 5 guys on the 0-line will be playing new positions or be rookies...recipe for disaster. I think CK is right on.

 

[ckparrothead]

I'm not sure how much better the Jags will be, to be honest. They lost two interior offensive linemen right at the start of the season but people act like all of their woes can be placed at the feet of those guys. Their defense didn't suck because of offensive linemen. The defense could have gotten a boost from a better ground game but it certainly didn't suck because of it.

 

[jim1]

I didn't see any good reviews, just a lot of hoopla over the fact that he was taking first team snaps during portions of OTAs where the media were allowed to watch. The media, which was starved for stories at that time of year, ran with it and started doing pieces on Brandon Frye to try and let the fans know who he is. But, there was no substance. There were no reviews that said "Wow, he looked good out there". There was a former college teammate of his that also plays on the line saying that he has confidence in him, but I'll be damned if that wasn't a totally expected statement from a former college linemate. Within days, he was no longer taking those first team snaps, either...it was Shawn Murphy.

And then of course the media ran away with that one too, doing all kinds of pieces suggesting that Murphy was finally coming around, etc. But still, nothing substantial that says hey this guy was really good out there. Just a bunch of dry throats in the desert.

Sparano said it frankly during press conferences, but it got glossed over because it didn't fit the media's agenda...all three guys, between Ndukwe, Murphy and Frye, were getting equal reps with the first unit, while Donald Thomas is hurt.

For now, I go with the guy that started 15 games at the position a year ago rather than the guy with a reputation as a workout warrior, that has bounced around the league, and for a few days got some first team reps.

I've seen plenty of really athletic guys do nothing at OL. That's not a position where I think the best athletes naturally rise to the top. So much of that position is about power that you can't really measure until the guy's in your face and chucking you to the ground. Donald Thomas' athletic measurements suggested that he was more of a quicker guy than a powerful guy...and it wasn't until you line him up across from Jason Ferguson and Ferg tells everyone "Whoa, that guy is 'earth mover' strong" that you realize the athletic measurements at that position can often lie.

All good points, but I'm thinking that I'd rather have an average OLineman who can play G and T rather than an average one (Alleman) who can play G or C (now that we have Berger as a backup C) or an average one (Ndukwe) who is just a G. All of this is just talk on my part until we see what happens in TC. I keep going back to late last year- I don't recall Alleman or Ndukwe being impressive at all, and both seemed to get little push on the line, which doesn't bode well. I have a hard time seeing either get a whole lot better, I hope that I'm wrong.

 

[ckparrothead]

Ikechuku Ndukwe was a Tackle for the Dolphins before ever he was a Guard. That was the first position they practiced him at with the team. He moved inside out of necessity and because he was one of the best five linemen after Donald Thomas went down.

I think the operative phrase is "can play". We don't even know if Brandon Frye "can play" at ALL, let alone whether he "can play" Tackle and he also "can play" Guard.

And no, neither Alleman nor Ndukwe were all that good last year. But, Frye doesn't even have "mediocre" nailed to his wall yet. He's got "hey I can get cut before I ever end up playing" on his resume so far...and also "hey, I can be inactive for games"...and "hey, I can sit the bench really well".

 

[jim1]

Ikechuku Ndukwe was a Tackle for the Dolphins before ever he was a Guard. That was the first position they practiced him at with the team. He moved inside out of necessity and because he was one of the best five linemen after Donald Thomas went down.

I think the operative phrase is "can play". We don't even know if Brandon Frye "can play" at ALL, let alone whether he "can play" Tackle and he also "can play" Guard.

And no, neither Alleman nor Ndukwe were all that good last year. But, Frye doesn't even have "mediocre" nailed to his wall yet. He's got "hey I can get cut before I ever end up playing" on his resume so far...and also "hey, I can be inactive for games"...and "hey, I can sit the bench really well".

If I recall correctly Ndukwe looked like absolute crap at Tackle. Berger is most likely going to stick, and I'm guessing that Murphy makes the roster this year. If Frye can play G or T maybe the team can save a roster spot rather than burn one on a G who is at best average, or at least gain a little roster flexibility. I'm not doing cartwheels over any of them, but my guess is that of the 3 Frye has the best chance of sticking.

Frye may not deserve the "mediocre" tag yet, but I'm guessing that he has a higher upside than the other 2. So if he's close to them, and he could be better for all I know, I'm sticking with him.

 

[BESS4LAST]

All Teams with Miami on their Schedule has it TOUGH!!!

According to winning percentage we have the tough schedule...I think ALL the Teams that have to play Miami Dolphins this year has it Tough as well...I'm sure their not thinkin Miami is a cake walk...If they are then they'll be sorry because The Dolphins know how to win games and have a Chip they would like to carry with them to the Superbowl.