Can Dolphins Lead League in Rushing? | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Can Dolphins Lead League in Rushing?

Absolutely we can lead the league in rushing but not with Ajayi alone. Everyone is fixated on him as they should be, but this kid Kenyan Drake can be something special, in fact I see him as a 1000 yard back. At 6'1 215lbs with speed to burn, he and Ajayi could possibly put up 2000 yards this season. Drake needs to come into camp work hard, keep refining his skill and I'm telling you he'll do some damage. Let's not forget Damien Williams, although he doesn't get much love, a great change of pace back for the Aayi and Drake, quick, shifty and great hands out of the backfield. If these three guys put it all together this year, no doubt we could possibly lead the league in rushing.
Finally the Oline has to play at least decent........well that's another story.
 
IMHO, no.

It would have to be a perfect storm of events to even put us in the top 3 I think. It would require our OL coalescing into a dominant run group, which seems unlikely. To get that, we would need James to play consistently well, Pouncey to be consistently healthy, Asiata to be an instant success, and Larsen to win the RG job rather than the LG job. Then, they'd have to come together as a group early.

It would also take Ajayi being healthy, and the Dolphins having more than a handful of games where we grind and pound teams into submission. Given Tannehill's success, the blossoming of Stills and signals of blossoming for Parker to join Landry, I don't see us running enough to make it work. We added Julius Thomas to stretch the field ... let's see how that works. But, given his injury history and Fasano's run blocking prowess, it might actually help.

Then we'd need some chunk yardage from the periphery backs like Drake and possibly Grant.

I'm looking forward to an improved run game through getting more snaps this year. But it seems like quite a stretch to get to the level the OP is suggesting. I hope the OP is right though. We have the runner in Ajayi, and a balanced offense looks likely this year, so there is hope.
 
Digital said:
IMHO, no.

It would have to be a perfect storm of events to even put us in the top 3 I think. It would require our OL coalescing into a dominant run group, which seems unlikely. To get that, we would need James to play consistently well, Pouncey to be consistently healthy, Asiata to be an instant success, and Larsen to win the RG job rather than the LG job. Then, they'd have to come together as a group early.

It would also take Ajayi being healthy, and the Dolphins having more than a handful of games where we grind and pound teams into submission. Given Tannehill's success, the blossoming of Stills and signals of blossoming for Parker to join Landry, I don't see us running enough to make it work. We added Julius Thomas to stretch the field ... let's see how that works. But, given his injury history and Fasano's run blocking prowess, it might actually help.

Then we'd need some chunk yardage from the periphery backs like Drake and possibly Grant.

I'm looking forward to an improved run game through getting more snaps this year. But it seems like quite a stretch to get to the level the OP is suggesting. I hope the OP is right though. We have the runner in Ajayi, and a balanced offense looks likely this year, so there is hope.
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All good points. The defense needs to improve as well and give Miami a chance to run more plays. A lot does need to go right to be top 5.
 
I think this honestly comes down to pouncey if he's going to be healthy was a lot of the reason why those like stretch plays Broke for ajayi during the pitt and buffalo games.
 
gregorygrant83 said:
If Miami leads the league in rushing fans will complain about a down year by Tannehill, Parker, Landry, Stills and Thomas. I don't see how this team could put up the passing numbers fans want and also lead the league in rushing.
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I dont care about leading the league in any category...other than wins!
 
Additional thoughts on the running game:
  • Anthony Fasano may be a bigger boast to our running game than our guards.
  • We need that short yardage high percentage conversion on 3rd and 4th downs.
  • We need to be able to pound the rock in the 4th quarter to control the game/clock
 
There is a chance we could be, but odds are at best we will just be a top 10 running team.

1. Though Adam knows Ajayi is a big part of this offense and will run him plenty, at the end of the day, his offense is a very aggressive passing (I expect to still pass a little more then run...probably 55/45 or 60/40).

2. Defense will have no choice but try to stop the run, even if it means cheating up a bit. Getting beaten by the run is far worse then by the pass. So Tannehill will get plenty of chances to pass the ball, and will decrease the chance by Ajayi and the other RBs.

3. With the type of receivers Miami has, then add some talent at TE, and finally not forget that the RBs can also catch the ball well out of the backfield, Miami will have too many mismatches in the pass-game to just mostly grind it out like other running teams.

Though I don't think the RBs will get the ball as much as they would need to to lead the league on the ground, I do still think they will be effective enough where they will be atop ten or even top five, with maybe the best yards per attempt stat in the NFL.
 
claytonduper said:
Additional thoughts on the running game:
  • Anthony Fasano may be a bigger boast to our running game than our guards.
  • We need that short yardage high percentage conversion on 3rd and 4th downs.
  • We need to be able to pound the rock in the 4th quarter to control the game/clock
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Fasano will help, however, once we lose Pouncey we're done. Last year with Pouncey in the lineup Ajayi averaged over 6 ypc...when Pouncey was hurt it was around 3 - 3.5 ypc. Unfortunately the interior of the O-line isn't good enough to survive without Pouncey in the lineup and I don't expect Pouncey to play 16+ this year.
 
claytonduper said:
Additional thoughts on the running game:
  • Anthony Fasano may be a bigger boast to our running game than our guards.
  • We need that short yardage high percentage conversion on 3rd and 4th downs.
  • We need to be able to pound the rock in the 4th quarter to control the game/clock
Click to expand...
Converting the short-yardage plays, at a better than NFL average, is the true test of how good a running game really is. That is my concern with Miami as well. If the team can improve in that regard, it will show up big in the win/loss column.
 
gregorygrant83 said:
I really disagree. Coming off a knee injury, I want to see Tannehill running only in a few cases when the pocket breaks down. Only on 3rd downs where he has a legit chance of gaining the needed yardage. If it 3rd and 15 just throw the ball away and punt. I wouldn't call more than 6 or 8 designed running plays for Tannehill during the entire season. Phis I take it you were saying that's what it would take for Miami to lead the league in rushing, not that's what you want to see.
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I don't my Tanny running on 3rd and 4 or a busted play but I wouldn't call too many designed an run plays. Although I do think they should have Tanny bootleg to both sides as he is pretty accurate on the run.
 
Depends on the line and which version of Ajayi we see this year. These are his (12) sub-100 yard games last year....

14
28
33
42
79
77
45
61
48
51
59
33 (playoff)

That's 567 yards in 12 games + 735 yards in 4 games.
 
Eesti said:
Depends on the line and which version of Ajayi we see this year. These are his (12) sub-100 yard games last year....

14
28
33
42
79
77
45
61
48
51
59
33 (playoff)

That's 567 yards in 12 games + 735 yards in 4 games.
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Bingo. Both Ajayi and the o-line were very inconsistent last year. Unfortunately it lent to being less productive than it did productive despite that when it did produce in those 4 games it was top notch.
 
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