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Not to blame...giving him credit for building the D up in 96. However, Marino's best days were behind him. The run game became more effective in 96 too.
Fins Greatest D-line?
- Thread starter BahamaFinFan78
- Start date
Not to blame...giving him credit for building the D up in 96. However, Marino's best days were behind him. The run game became more effective in 96 too.
When we held to a FG after the 1st fumble, I remember being like, āok so we'll go down and get a TD and go to OTā. Then he fumbled again and we never got back on the field. From hero for us in SB year prior to goatThe worst.
just like that. Ugh.
It kinda did (the run game) but IIR, our lead back was Jabbar and like 3.3 YPC for 1000 yards. It wasnāt as if we were getting chunk runs that often. I donāt think we had a really good run game until we got Ricky and then Ronnie Brown.
The run game ranked 21st in 95 (1506 yards on 413 carries) and 19th in 96 (1622 yards on 460 carries). I wouldn't call 116 more yards on 47 more carries more effective.
juniorseau55
Go Fins
Jt, Gardener, timbo, and armstrong.
Honorable mention to Starks, Soliai, Odrick, Wake, and Vernon...
Very underrated. Couldn't run on those guys.
RW
Very underrated. Couldn't run on those guys.
RW
That's quite true. We dominated the trenches some of those years under Sparano. We just sucked elsewhere.
Den Herder was the steady dependable guy who could raise his game when needed and was easily the most media savvy of that bunch. He was a favorite of the local reporters. Heinz was mostly a stay at home type. Probably one of the lesser known players of that era. He didn't say much or make flashy plays but you couldn't dislodge him. Fernandez was always cat quick albeit undersized then obviously raised his game to a different level in the Redskins Super Bowl. But overall he was not Hall of Fame caliber. His reputation decades later is somewhat inflated by the one game. Fernandez was always a second team all-conference type and that was accurate. Fernandez had a wild personality but wasn't someone who sought the microphones. Then whenever he was on the Don Shula Show on Channel 10 Monday Night at 8:30 it was a guaranteed treat.
Bill Stanfill was Hall of Fame caliber, with greater career longevity and more self promotion. My favorite player to watch on that defense. Lanky and smooth around the corner and could summon quicks off the snap. Keep in mind defensive lines ruled that era, from the Fearsome Foursome forth, so you had to be high profile to earn the all star nods. Stanfill dating to Georgia was always a great player who the coaches appreciated more than the fans and media. I remain astonished that he is mentioned so seldom around here, and especially when he is left off the all-time Dolphins team on some lists in favor of players with only a fraction of his ability.
That 1969 draft was a great draft. I knew all about Stanfill at 9 years old and was thrilled when we got him. It was the third consecutive year Miami picked a big college star early first round -- Griese, Csonka, Stanfill. Don't listen to the garbage that the draft was obscure in those years and nobody knew the players. When we took Stanfill I distinctly remember being very happy about that other than it meant we passed on Ted Hendricks.
Hendricks was one of those guys who was a dominant college player throughout but was overanalyzed as a senior to the point he dropped to absurdly low level in the draft. I remember Joe Thomas being asked why he took Stanfill above Hendricks. Thomas flicked aside the question as if there was no comparison between the two players. Thomas always had a strange dislike of Hendricks. In fact, years later at Baltimore he intentionally traded Hendricks to Green Bay because he knew Hendricks hated cold weather. Hendricks would never keep his mouth shut and had a free spirit personality that didn't always play well with certain executives.
Thatās the first line mentioned from my time as a Fin fan. They were pretty stout.
Was Tony McDaniel a depth play for us then? Big 6-7 guy. I remember thinking he was a nice piece in the rotation whenever he was around.