Do the Miami Dolphins have enough weapons on offense????

[phinfan40353]

What a great post.

But you know, it just exposes how we don't have an identity on offense and we don't have the fast-paced, no huddle, explosive offensive attack they envisioned. And I'm not sure if it's because we're still in transition for the WCO or if the coaches and gm just got off track and thought they would install some kind of hybrid scheme, or what.

With Tannehill last year, I didn't see quick decisions or getting the ball out very fast. In fact, he seemed faster and more mobile the year before. He threw away the ball a lot that first year, and last year he seemed to want to hang in the pocket, trying to get the ball to Wallace, or find another open receiver. That translated to more completions and more yardage. But did it look like a WCO?

Wallace is great, but does he even fit the scheme? Hartline is ok, but do we see any YAC? Gibson, as far as I can see, was perfect.

TE, it seems that Clay is the only one who has stepped up. At one point, Philbin would talk about finding a Gronk or Hernandez out there. Is he still looking? He hand-picked Egnew, as far as I'm concerned, and he didn't work out. What are they doing with that position?

RB? Miller is another Philbin pick. But he wasn't very versatile, or very physical. Are they looking for more of an all-purpose back who can catch, run, pass-block? Or do they feel if they just get the zone blocking to work on the O line that Miller will find the holes? We know this offense is not being built for a power running game, and that they want short passes even on short yardage situations sometimes, but we could not run the ball at all last year, and that was a problem.

Some of these college players on day one that we're salivating over, our coaches may not even want, because they're satisfied with who they have on the roster or they're looking at a different position. We may end up with a great player by accident, just because the draft is deep. We'll see. It will be interesting to me what Hickey does, because he's a BPA guy, and he's trying to draft for Philbin, who is about finding players who fit his scheme, primarily.

I agree Miller is not the dominant RB we have been accustomed in the NFL. And I've often said I hope Philbin takes to heart what Eddie Lacey did for the Packers last year.

But I also think Philbin may look at last year and blame the OL for not allowing him to correctly assess the ceiling of his recently acquired players. And for that reason, I think he will not do a major revamp of skill positions until he can get the OL fixed. The OL is complicating everything on offense. We can't judge our WR corps definitively because Tannehill was camping on the turf 58 times. We can't assess Miller's potential because the defense was in the backfield more than he was.

And I think you are right, RT was trying to buy time for Wallace to get open. But, in a sense, I see part of that happening because the ground game and screen game wasn't working and he needed a way to get the defense off of the intermediate routes. We compensated a lot last year for not having a line. WR screens, the occassional reverse and other play calls were simply to establish some form of a running game. Last year did not help RT develop good habits.

If we don't fix this OLine with more vet TALENT that can help RT develop pocket awareness and timing with Wallace, everyone single piece of this offense suffers. Improving the OLine improves every skill position on the offense.

The one thing that worries me, and I mentioned going into last season, we are not addressing the short yardage and goal line with personnel that can get the tough yards. We are too finesse. I realize it is not in the philosophy of this offense, but coaches who learn to adapt win.

 

[hoops]

anyone saying fix the oline before you add more weapons or it wont matter is SPOT ON...

if we don't fix the oline in the run and pass game it won't matter...

 

[Digital]

I'm satisfied with our WR corps. We do lack a premier TE, but I don't really see much in the draft this year either. Ebron is the top athlete, but to me he is simply a better version of Charles Clay. No length, no real size mismatch in the red zone, no real safety blanket on 3rd down, no real pass protection skills, no real run blocking skills ... just one athlete who is fast for his size. He will make a good seam threat in the same way that Vernon Davis does, and he is a mismatch outside of the 20's, but he isn't the type of TE that Lazor prefers. It's doubtful we draft him in round 1, and he's not going to last until round 2.

The only two guys I see that might appeal to Lazor would be Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Troy Niklas. Both are big and can block, with some pass catching skill, but neither really has that top end speed. This draft doesn't have guys like Tyler Eifert or Zach Ertz.

 

[iambanned]

What's a WR's job? Get open and catch the ball, right? I don't think any WR got open behind the D with a clear path to paydirt more than Wallace did.
Gibson is not coming off an ACL tear but a much more minor injury and as I write this, he could probably play at 100% pre-injury form; a form that was damn good at getting open and catching vital 3rd down conversions.
Matthews is one more year more developed and Hartline is Hartline.

The key to making our pass game better is allowing our run game to get better but nothing can save us if RT17 keeps failing to cash in golden opportunities. If Tannehill can't figure that out than it won't matter who's doing what.

 

[HoneyB]

I agree Miller is not the dominant RB we have been accustomed in the NFL. And I've often said I hope Philbin takes to heart what Eddie Lacey did for the Packers last year.

But I also think Philbin may look at last year and blame the OL for not allowing him to correctly assess the ceiling of his recently acquired players. And for that reason, I think he will not do a major revamp of skill positions until he can get the OL fixed. The OL is complicating everything on offense. We can't judge our WR corps definitively because Tannehill was camping on the turf 58 times. We can't assess Miller's potential because the defense was in the backfield more than he was.

And I think you are right, RT was trying to buy time for Wallace to get open. But, in a sense, I see part of that happening because the ground game and screen game wasn't working and he needed a way to get the defense off of the intermediate routes. We compensated a lot last year for not having a line. WR screens, the occassional reverse and other play calls were simply to establish some form of a running game. Last year did not help RT develop good habits.

If we don't fix this OLine with more vet TALENT that can help RT develop pocket awareness and timing with Wallace, everyone single piece of this offense suffers. Improving the OLine improves every skill position on the offense.

The one thing that worries me, and I mentioned going into last season, we are not addressing the short yardage and goal line with personnel that can get the tough yards. We are too finesse. I realize it is not in the philosophy of this offense, but coaches who learn to adapt win.

If I had to bet on it, I'd say yes, they've taken notice and they're going to pick up a RB in the early rounds. Tampa drafted a RB in the second round a couple years ago, and we could very well go for whoever is there in round 2. Haven't checked where Hyde will go, if he'll last to #50, but would love him and that would solve the lack of physicality issue.

I agree OL is the priority, but hopefully we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We'll see what he does.

 

[jtoomuch]

Wallce, Clay, Tannehill, Hartline, Gibson, Matthews (gibson and matthews are our big bodies) and i see dion sims coming into his own this year, and now that we're fixing our line, I see Miller becoming more of a threat! Agree or disagree, Tannehill and Wallace will become better with a year under their belt together. Also Gibson coming back is huge, he was doing awesome before he went down!

I would think that a lot of us hope this is all true.

 

[twohype]

What the hell is with you giving mostly thumbs down to everyone in here? We're in agreement they don't have enough weapons.

Most likely he's a ball watcher who does'nt like drafting OL high or does'nt see that if your OL sucks then what is of point of having weapons that can not be used, because the OL sucks. Clearly the Phinz OL sucked last year and currently the Phinz still need two more starting OL (since IMHO they are not currently on the team).

 

[twohype]

anyone saying fix the oline before you add more weapons or it wont matter is SPOT ON...

if we don't fix the oline in the run and pass game it won't matter...

Yup, clearly you are 100% correct. But the ball watchers do not want to hear that, of course the folks here who have played the game abit clearly understand you, excellent post :-)

 

[nick1]

With Moreno added i think we do. Resign Keller and binns i think binns might already be Signed? Anyways with those 2 Moreno and a rookie rb yes we have enough

 

[psfign]

My opinion is that our O-line kept us from being good last year. Our running game sucked, but I cant say for sure if it was just because of the line or if Miller is just as bad as Thomas.

 

[RkyDaMan34]

Yeah, I think so as long as we fix the Oline we should be alright... I would sure love to add Evans or Ebron but we don't have the luxury this year..

 

[twohype]

My opinion is that our O-line kept us from being good last year. Our running game sucked, but I cant say for sure if it was just because of the line or if Miller is just as bad as Thomas.

Good points :-)

---------- Post added at 05:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:06 PM ----------

Yeah, I think so as long as we fix the Oline we should be alright... I would sure love to add Evans or Ebron but we don't have the luxury this year..

Bingo :-)

 

[mialuv13]

I'm just going to parrot the others, FIX THE DAMN O-LINE. We might not be the most dynamic team in history, but having a water-tight o-line will fix a whole **** ton of issues.

I'm not comfortable yet, and I won't be comfortable with the weapons we have until we start to utilize them to their strengths. That's what it comes down to. The Pats never have the most talent but they produce with very little because Brady has all day in the pocket and he's Tom ****ing Brady. Fix the o-line.

If we can add a big physical receiver like Benjamin (who most likely will not be there at 19) or an Ebron, then we will start to be scary.

 

[nick1]

Ask yourself this how explosive does Wallace become if tannehill is given the time he needs to hit him deep and how explosive is Miller when you give him holes to burst thru. We have speed with those guys. We need a line to use it. Gibson, clay and hartline move the chains. Wallace and miller explode