Dang thats a good point...ESPN | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Dang thats a good point...ESPN

ckparrothead

Premium Member
Joined
May 24, 2002
Messages
52,592
Reaction score
7,256
Location
Tampa, FL
Miami Marine Mammals

Ricky Williams might struggle behind Miami's porous offensive line.
In Ricky Williams, the Dolphins finally have the power back they have been dreaming of since Larry Csonka -- actually, since Norm Bulaich. But does the team have blockers for him? The great Miami OLs of the past are now historical items. Only Mark Dixon and Tim Ruddy are credible starters on the current Fish offensive front, and if you have a weak heart, you would perhaps rather not know the identities of the gentlemen competing for the LT spot.

Miami in recent seasons has played good defense by featuring top corners plus an undersized but fast front seven. The problem is that the undersized but fast front seven wears down as the pounding of the season adds up. The result is that during the last decade the Dolphins are 53-21 in September and October (the league's best record through that span) but go into an annual tailspin commencing Dec. 1, Miami in the last decade being 24-30 from that day on. Late-season defense fold-ups has culminated in the Dolphins being outscored an embarrassing 215-87 in the playoffs in the last five years, with an average 16-point margin of defeat.

There's little reason to think history will not repeat, with the Dolphins defensive front shrinking in 2002 to the smallest in memory. Five of the front seven (David Bowens, Morlon Greenwood, Derrick Rogers, Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas) are undersized speed players who will be beat up and hurtin' by December.

Hmmmm, the above is a totally straight sports item. What's it doing in Tuesday Morning Quarterback?

ESPN previewed the AFC. So what do you guys think? Is the defense doomed before it started because our D is so undersized its always hurting in December?

It certainly stands to reason. Think about every late season slide we've had. Zach's always hurting by the end of the season. Derrick Rodgers got hurt toward the end of the season. And more importantly the BIG guys on are team get hurt toward the end of the season like Daryl Gardener and Tim Bowens. Think of it kinda like Bowens' knee injuries. He hurt one knee, then has to have surgery on the other because he was putting too much pressure on the other knee when he was favoring the original hurt knee. The front 7 could be similar. Because the big guys on the front 7 are carrying more than their share of weight due to the undersized nature of the rest of them, perhaps its putting more strain on everyone.

So maybe we should start someone like Adewale Ogunleye at DE who doesn't lack in size like Dave Bowens does. And maybe we should find ourselves a big LBer who can run, to take over for Derrick Rodgers in the longterm. Elijah Alexander I think might still be available, he's big. I dunno just shots in the dark but I have criticized the undersized nature of our D before.
 
Well I don't really think that was the problem. IMO the problem has been that our offense does too many 3 and outs and our defense always plays nearly 5-7 minutes more then the offense. If Ricky Williams can run behind this line then the offense should be able to control the clock and keep themselves on the field longer then the defense which will help tremendously in the late season/playoffs.

Simply put our defense is on the field too much.
 
I've said that all along. You guys rock the house early in the season and NEVER have enough in the tank at the end. I think that home games in September and October also play into the quick start. It's damn tough to play in that heat so early on. I can image what the home record was over that span. But at the end of the year, teams with pounding RB's, Big D's, and a little cold weather help, like NE, Pit, Den even Balt, have come up big.

I'm not trying to slam your team. I love building teams based on Speed, but power should play a part. I think Jason Taylor's a great player, but he's on the small side for a D-linemen.
 
Originally posted by VanDolPhan
Well I don't really think that was the problem. IMO the problem has been that our offense does too many 3 and outs and our defense always plays nearly 5-7 minutes more then the offense. If Ricky Williams can run behind this line then the offense should be able to control the clock and keep themselves on the field longer then the defense which will help tremendously in the late season/playoffs.

Simply put our defense is on the field too much.

What CK posted is the Problem, it has been the problem since the 1998 season. We get to the playoffs, and due to injuries to our Defense we get crushed, Denver, then Jacksonville, then Oakland, and again by Baltimore. I'm not saying our offense was of great help, they weren't, but we are a really good team that just doesn't finish.
 
Originally posted by Billsfan
I've said that all along. You guys rock the house early in the season and NEVER have enough in the tank at the end. I think that home games in September and October also play into the quick start. It's damn tough to play in that heat so early on. I can image what the home record was over that span. But at the end of the year, teams with pounding RB's, Big D's, and a little cold weather help, like NE, Pit, Den even Balt, have come up big.

I'm not trying to slam your team. I love building teams based on Speed, but power should play a part. I think Jason Taylor's a great player, but he's on the small side for a D-linemen.

dude jason Taylor is not a problem. JT makes more plays than all of your dlinemen put together. our problem is the same as yours except yours is worse. and that is DT. we have some nice ones to back up but we have questions as far as the starters with injuries. our defense the past five years has been built around big DT's to keep blockers off of zach. but this is preseason, and alot of people make assumptions based on players who ar ejust getting rest and not going all out cus its preaseason!!!!some teams want to prove something in preseason and others could care less! why isnt anyone questioning the Raiders? they look just as bad as we do.
 
Ummm, Zach was hurt last season, I will give that writer that, but Derrick just had a freak injury, and you know WHO was injured along our defensive front seven? The two big guys in Gardener, and Bowens.

THEY were the ones who didn't hold up.

SO that blows that theory right out of the water
 
Originally posted by chambers84


What CK posted is the Problem, it has been the problem since the 1998 season. We get to the playoffs, and due to injuries to our Defense we get crushed, Denver, then Jacksonville, then Oakland, and again by Baltimore. I'm not saying our offense was of great help, they weren't, but we are a really good team that just doesn't finish.

and that is why we have Ricky williams now. hopefully, he does the same to other teams to rest our defense. thats why teams gear up so much to stop our running game cus they know our defense will keep it close. if they run on us then it keeps us from controlling the game. when it comes right down to it, it is more the mistakes and fumbles that kill us in the end. we lost to the Pats with two costly fumbles and a trick play that burned our defense. 3 plays made the difference in our whole season IMO. we beat the Pats, and we controlled our destiny. our biggest problem is not playing december that everyone would have you believe. it is gameplanning to win the most improtant game of the season to take you to the next step. fins dont have the media on there side so teams like Tampa, and Indy, and others dont get mention in the same light as us. why not? take a good look at those teams. what have they done lately that we havent?
 
The thing about the small defensive players might have a very small inpact, but the main thing is that last year, because the offense sucked so much, the defense was on the field too long. Now, if we have a good running game, with williams and an O-line that I think is not as bad as ESPN thinks, the offense will control the ball more, giving the defense a longer break and less time being pounded. I'll say it again. The major concern this year will the two DT Larry Chester and Tim Bowens. They're already banged up, and if one of them goes down the whole defense is screwed. The rest of the defense is set with maybe the question of Jamar Fletcher at Nickel. The irony will be that the offense might be the most consistent unit on the team. You mean to tell me your offense isn't going to be good with. Chambers, Gadsden, williams, Konrad, Fiedler, and McMichael? Come on. We need to stop listening to ESPN, and all the EXPERTS because they always put down the Dolphins. EVERY year they say we'll go 9-7, and blow a lot of games. It's not true and this year we'll prove it once again. I'm not saying Superbowl champs, but close to it. AHHH!
I can talk as much as I want but us fans that know that the Dolphins are very good, can't do anything till the season starts. But when it does. All the doubters can shove up there backside!
 
I do not think it will be Ricky that helps out the defense the most, sure if he runs strong throughout games that will help keep the defense off the feild, but what i think will be the biggest difference will be Norv actually using the TE and FB as receivers to convert 2nd and 3rd downs. Watching Gailey totally neglect two offensive options for two years was maddening. I dont have a problem with a small fast D as long as the two big fellas in the middle stay healthy. Another advantage of having Norv is that I believe that he will be very aggresive in trying to score early in games to force opposing offenses to throw more rather than run, thus helping out the smaller members of the defense.
I just really hope that Nails runs over people.
 
He left out Todd Wade as a credible starter. The guy's not Pro Bowl material yet but he's good.

As far as the defense wearing down, I can see his point and I'm hoping they remedy that with a little bit more rotation this year. Let's see what happens before we all start worrying.
 
Bottom line is we need great depth..as he pointed out, we're smaller and injuries catch up with us..In the past we haven't had the depth to overcome this situation..With Cap and minum rosters..we can only keep so many players...right now..we much keep the 3 best OL after the starting 5....This is the same on DL...They seem to have good depth at WR...We're a little thin at corner..We're good at RB...We have 2 suficient QB's ...Without good depth, because of our size..we will burn out toward the end..Oh yea our LB depth is questionable...
 
A87, thats why I was talking about how the big guys are shouldering more of the burden because the rest of the D is undersized. I mean if you consider the iron triangle to be the two DTs and Zach Thomas, all three points of that triangle seem to end up extremely banged up by the end of the year. Is it because they are surrounded by other small fries? Perhaps we should think about surrounding Zach Thomas with more bulk on either side of him, and surrounding our DTs with a little more bulk (at least on the LDE side). Get Morlon Greenwood in the weightroom and have him put on some extra pounds...then get a bigger sized LB to play WSLB.

Just a thought...
 
Well if we wanna get bigger on defense, then we will have to change our system, it's as easy as that. This defense, as everybody knows, is built on speed over size. If we try to get bigger players into positions other than DT, then it will be like trying to fit triangular pegs into circular holes, it just wont work.

This type of defense has proven it can win the big show, look at Dallas' defense of the early- mid 90's, a great defense that won championships. I htink we have similar personnel, but we don't have HALF the offense they did.
 
Originally posted by finfan54


dude jason Taylor is not a problem. JT makes more plays than all of your dlinemen put together. our problem is the same as yours except yours is worse. and that is DT. we have some nice ones to back up but we have questions as far as the starters with injuries. our defense the past five years has been built around big DT's to keep blockers off of zach. but this is preseason, and alot of people make assumptions based on players who ar ejust getting rest and not going all out cus its preaseason!!!!some teams want to prove something in preseason and others could care less! why isnt anyone questioning the Raiders? they look just as bad as we do.


Well that would be a good point if I were talking about the preseason. But if you look at my post, I clearly stated that in December and the Playoffs, your UNDERSIZED defense can't stop the power rushing northern teams. Jason Taylor is a sweet player, but come January in Pittsburgh, when he's facing down a charging J. Bettis. Well, I'm going to take Bettis every time.
 
Originally posted by Billsfan



Well that would be a good point if I were talking about the preseason. But if you look at my post, I clearly stated that in December and the Playoffs, your UNDERSIZED defense can't stop the power rushing northern teams. Jason Taylor is a sweet player, but come January in Pittsburgh, when he's facing down a charging J. Bettis. Well, I'm going to take Bettis every time.

Our biggest problem is not the size of the D only..but that they play way too much during the regular season..that's why I stated in a post on concern o vs D..that our O has to be more consistent..they need to sustain drives and capitalize on those drives...We've got to be able to run the ball effectively. We need to keep the D off the field more, so they will be rested and also cut down on the injuries that are cause because they're on the field all the time. We play D ball rather than aggressive ball...It's easier to attack than stop an attack..the attackers know where they are going..the D has to adjust and try to stop them ..there by taking blow after blow...The O can actually deliver more blows because they know the play..Our O has got to start delivering more and better blows to the opponents D..Knocking them out of the game..
 
Back
Top Bottom