Perfect72
It's Only Happened ONCE!
Dolphins coach Adam Gase says he would like to use star defensive end Cameron Wake (yes, still a star) anywhere from 35 to 45 snaps every game, so already something is definitely amiss because in two games this season Wake has played a total of 45 snaps.
Wake is 34 years old and is still only 11 months removed from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, so the Dolphins have wisely decided their best chance to keep him healthy and playing at a high level all season is to limit his snaps.
The Dolphins have also decided that because Wake is still a dynamic pass rusher the best way to use him in this new approach is mostly in passing situations so he can affect the other team’s quarterback.
So he can impact important plays.
So he could possibly change the course of games.
That’s where the idea of making Wake a part-time player comes from.
“We want Cam to probably have 25 to 30 rushes a game,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said. “He had last week probably 14 to 15 plays maybe [that were] all passes. The first week, the game, it was a little wacky with Mario [Williams] being hurt. Last week, it turned into a four-minute game. We’re down by three scores within the first quarter, so that game changed also.
“It’s week to week, but our plan is to play Cam 25 snaps on pass-rush downs.
That’s the plan. It hasn’t worked the last two weeks, obviously, because it has been two different games. But that’s the plan.”
And it’s a logical plan. It makes sense.
Except it doesn’t account for real life.
Somewhere from conception to execution of this plan, the analytics and sports science department had to have gotten involved. And now the plan to limit Wake gets a number.
That’s where the 25, 30, 35, 45 snap numbers come from.
(By the way, which one is it, anyway?)
And then someone decides because Wake is on a snap count limited to a number some computer program plucked from its chip-implanted innards, he must be saved for pass-rush snaps almost exclusively.
Joseph said Wake would not be utilized on run-down plays unless one of the team’s other defensive ends — maybe Andre Branch, Jason Jones or Williams — is tired.
And now the Dolphins have a full-blown over-think on their hands.
So in New England last week, in a game the Patriots mostly ran the football in the second half because they wanted to run out the clock and protect a huge lead, Wake played a grand total of 16 plays.
And all but two of those came in pass-rush situations.
That means when the game was 31-24 with six minutes to play and the Patriots mostly ran the football, Wake was as much a spectator as I was except he didn’t have any free press box food.
The game changer wasn’t in the game at precisely the time the Dolphins needed a game-changing play.
How does this make sense in the real world?
More at LINK: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article103859491.html
Your thoughts...
Wake is 34 years old and is still only 11 months removed from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, so the Dolphins have wisely decided their best chance to keep him healthy and playing at a high level all season is to limit his snaps.
The Dolphins have also decided that because Wake is still a dynamic pass rusher the best way to use him in this new approach is mostly in passing situations so he can affect the other team’s quarterback.
So he can impact important plays.
So he could possibly change the course of games.
That’s where the idea of making Wake a part-time player comes from.
“We want Cam to probably have 25 to 30 rushes a game,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said. “He had last week probably 14 to 15 plays maybe [that were] all passes. The first week, the game, it was a little wacky with Mario [Williams] being hurt. Last week, it turned into a four-minute game. We’re down by three scores within the first quarter, so that game changed also.
“It’s week to week, but our plan is to play Cam 25 snaps on pass-rush downs.
That’s the plan. It hasn’t worked the last two weeks, obviously, because it has been two different games. But that’s the plan.”
And it’s a logical plan. It makes sense.
Except it doesn’t account for real life.
Somewhere from conception to execution of this plan, the analytics and sports science department had to have gotten involved. And now the plan to limit Wake gets a number.
That’s where the 25, 30, 35, 45 snap numbers come from.
(By the way, which one is it, anyway?)
And then someone decides because Wake is on a snap count limited to a number some computer program plucked from its chip-implanted innards, he must be saved for pass-rush snaps almost exclusively.
Joseph said Wake would not be utilized on run-down plays unless one of the team’s other defensive ends — maybe Andre Branch, Jason Jones or Williams — is tired.
And now the Dolphins have a full-blown over-think on their hands.
So in New England last week, in a game the Patriots mostly ran the football in the second half because they wanted to run out the clock and protect a huge lead, Wake played a grand total of 16 plays.
And all but two of those came in pass-rush situations.
That means when the game was 31-24 with six minutes to play and the Patriots mostly ran the football, Wake was as much a spectator as I was except he didn’t have any free press box food.
The game changer wasn’t in the game at precisely the time the Dolphins needed a game-changing play.
How does this make sense in the real world?
More at LINK: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article103859491.html
Your thoughts...
