12/29/02 - Ricky Williams has 31 attempts for 185 yards , Jay Fiedler throws has 25 attempts for 110 yards.
Here is the thing about stats in general. They never show what a game plan was and why the player experienced success. You can check this against the play by play here
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/playbyplay/NFL_20021229_MIA@NE
Basic defensive philosophy is to keep your players in the core or box (whichever you prefer) to stop the run or passing attack in the middle of the field. The offense has only one choice and that is to spread the defense out with formation and attack the edge until the outside linebackers in any defense widen. If these linebackers do not widen it is my view that it is a "dare" to pass.
First to spread the defense out you must enter in a single back set. This is my explanation of the disappearance of Rob Konrad. It was not by choice that Norv Turner left him out of the game. It was dictated. Norv has a very good history of utilizing fullbacks and one mention of the name "Moose" should serve as a reminder.
Back to the attack.....
The only success an offensive team will find against one who would keep his linebackers in the core is to the C gap or D gaps. That is where the defense is vulnerable. Unless the offense utilizes a cross pull block or trap with an offensive lineman this essentially eliminates the offensive lines effectiveness against the linebackers. Jamie Nails, who was the best pulling guard Miami had in 2002 was injured for the game I speak of. Still with speed possessed by a RB with good tackle and tight end play an offense can have success running to the outside against linebackers who will not widen on the pre-snap read.
Versus the pass the outside linebackers will drop back into there zones. The play action is of utmost importance to keep the linebackers in versus the run as they had originally planned. To "sell" the play action runs up the middle must be attempted even though the offense will not experience much success. Ricky Williams made a living off of the ISO in 2002. In the game that I speak of the play by play shows 16 attempts to run in the A and B gaps. The play by play shows a paltry 33 yards gained on those attempts. Norv displayed the discipline needed to run into the core even though he knew it would gain nothing.
But you say, "Ricky gained 185 yards in that game!" He sure did. The play by play shows that Ricky ran to the C and D gaps 15 times. The 15 attempts to those gaps netted 152 yards. It is what the defense gave to the offense. It is what Norv took.
Heck, Norv even attacked the edge with a reverse to Chambers and that had 6 yards worth of success. The second reverse that netted 45 yards. The third reverse netted 8 yards. The defense had wholesale prices on the C and D gaps. It is what the defense gift wrapped for the offense. It is what Norv took.
As Dave has said in the offseason to be a running team as the Dolphins are you must have success in the play action pass. In that game I speak of we had no success with the play action pass. If the outside linebacker holds due to the fake the slant or curl to the slot or tight end is my next read and it should be open.
The Dolphins attempted to pass the ball 25 times. They connected on only 11 resulting in 103 yards. Critical to deciphering what went wrong is who the intended receiver was. As stated before when you face a defense where the linebackers remain in the core the slot receiver, tight end, or your RB on a swing route should be open. Randy Mcmichael, Chris Carter, Dedric Ward, Rob Konrad, and Ricky Williams had 14 balls thrown their way. Nine were completed. The success of the attack was evident but the slot, swing, or tight end passes are the short yardage attacks in this basic philosophy.
At some point the offense must make the defense pay deep. James Mcknight had taken over the number two wide receiver spot. Chris Chambers remained the number one for this game. Collectively they had 11 pass attempts thrown their way. They had success on only two.
Given the defense that they faced the receivers faced either zone coverage or were faced with bump and run coverage. It doesn't matter what coverage they faced the defense had given them an opening to pass outside. A quality play fake should have held the outside linebackers in. The tight end should have been mismatched against a safety. The wide receivers should have been one on one on more than half the attempts. The Qb should have had easy reads.
The facts as I see them are that the defense took away the inside with there linebackers in the core. The short yardage attack was successful. Given the fact that some deep passes were attempted I would say that Norv did see the linebackers did widen sparingly. It was on those attempts that Jay and his wide receivers failed this offense. Usually sacks can be attributed to an aggressive defensive end or linebacker (for the 3-4) in this type of front but I can't say I saw that because I didn't. But this is what I saw in that game. Unfortunately I saw some of the same fronts in 2003.
And they studied tape from the preceding season.
