Dolphins' Smith shines again; Long whiffs again | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Dolphins' Smith shines again; Long whiffs again

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BAMAPHIN 22

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Bill Parcells has an expression: "If it doesn't bite as a puppy, it won't." It means if player doesn't show you something as a kid, he won't.Rookie Sean Smith bit again this preseason. For the second time, he had a highlight-reel interception.

Preseason doesn't mean too much for a veteran with a body of work. Jake Long isn't a veteran in his second year. And he whiffed on a block for the second time this preseason. It's not a time for concern, considering how well he played last year. But it's not good news, either.
Click to expand...

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports/columnists/hyde/blog/2009/09/_bill_parcells_has_an.html
 
One play out of what 30-40...and Long has a problem? Please tell me what O.T. is perfect...not a one. Just because a tackle seems to have a problem it isn't always the tackles fault. Did the QB hold on to the ball too long? Did the running back miss his chip...just too many reason's why bad things happen.
 
I'm not concerned. Jake is a great LT and every LT has trouble time to time. You have to remember this is the preseason and we don't do a whole lot of scheme specific to our opponent. We run vanilla gameplans to see what works and see how defenses defend against it. Jake also will have the benefit of watching more tape to scheme his opponent and learn from his mistakes. As memory serves me correctly he struggled a little bit (according to people on here) last preseason and cleaned up in the season. I have faith.
 
On another note, I'm really excited about Sean Smith. Its been a long time since we have had a real playmaker in the secondary. We will experience a good amount of bumps in the road with him (rookie mistakes) but his potential and playmaking skills will overshadow it. I just hope he learns better tackling technique to be stronger in the run. I haven't seen great tackling out of him. If could somehow morph Vontae's run defense into Sean's playmaking skills man watch out!
 
Man it must suck to be an OL if you aren't allowed to ever give up a sack or make a bad play. I mean, DE's get paid too don't they? Aren't they supposed to be successful at their job as well? One of them has to fail for a play to make football work.
 
I am concerned a bit about Long. It is only a couple of mistakes, but it is much more on a per-snap average than he had last year.
 
I sense that some people are over-reacting re Jake Long. A couple of mistakes does not mean that he has become a dufus. However, it is interesting to observe closer scrutiny of everything he does.
 
So a second year LT struggles on four or five plays in four preseason games. We are completely screwed.
 
Trade the useless bum, get a real LT like everybody else's. Oh forget it, when any other teams player suits up for us they become useless aswell. We should have drafted Ryan.. he's the greatest QB to ever live but then again for us he probably stares down WR's to much. We suck!
 
Long will be just fine. I can't understand why so many people or media folks that is, are worrying over one missed block: No 1 is perfect
 
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