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How Dolphins' new starters compare with former ones

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From Barry Jackson

### Start with the tackle positions. Last season, Bryant McKinnie (10 starts for the Dolphins) allowed seven sacks, Tyson Clabo (15 starts) yielded 11 and Jonathan Martin (seven starts) relinquished seven. That’s 25 sacks permitted by the team’s top three tackles.
So far, left tackle Branden Albert and rookie right tackle Ja’Wuan James have relinquished only one sack apiece in 587 combined snaps. No wonder Pro Football Focus ranks Albert second and James 20th among 67 tackles.
By comparison, Martin --- now with the 49ers --- allowed three sacks in 257 snaps entering Sunday. Clabo, incidentally, is a backup for the Texans and McKinnie is out of the league.
What’s more, PFF ranks Albert the fifth-best run blocker among all tackles and James the 10th-best. All of the Dolphins’ tackles graded out poorly as run blockers last season.
### The Dolphins’ guard play also has improved. Last season, Richie Incognito allowed six sacks in seven-plus games and John Jerry yielded five.
This season, left guard Daryn Colledge, 32, said he has been held responsible for only half a sack in the Dolphins’ grading system.
“There are times I feel like 32, times I feel 25,” he said. “Times [my performance] has been good, sometimes bad.”
But Colledge, overall, has been competent. And Dallas Thomas has filled in serviceably for 2 ½ games in place of right guard Shelley Smith, who is considered a strong run blocker. Smith, back from a knee injury, has resumed practicing.
As for Miami’s former guards, Incognito remains unemployed and Jerry is a starter for the New York Giants; he hasn’t given up any sacks but has a negative grade as a run-blocker.
### At center, Satele has “done a hell of a job,” Albert said. He hasn’t permitted any sacks and ranks ninth-best as a run-blocker among 34 centers, according to PFF’s rankings. Satele will move to the bench with Pouncey expected to return Oct. 12 against Green Bay.
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### On the defensive side, most of the new starters have performed at a level ranging from decent to excellent.
At the high end: Jelani Jenkins, who is ranked first among all 4-3 outside linebackers by PFF. He’s rated second of 31 linebackers against the run and quarterbacks have a subpar 77.6 passer rating in his coverage area.
Conversely, Ellerbe --- who is out for the season with a hip injury --- last season was ranked 50th overall among 55 linebackers and third-worst against the run. And whereas Ellerbe had 101 tackles in 15 games last season, Jenkins is on a 152-tackle pace.
### New defensive tackle Earl Mitchell has been solid. Miami gave him a four-year, $16 million contract instead of matching Atlanta’s five-year, $33 million offer for Paul Soliai.
PFF ranks Mitchell eighth among defensive tackles, compared to 19th for Soliai in his first four games with the Falcons. Though Soliai is stout against the run, Mitchell has graded out well in that area and the Dolphins got younger and cheaper at the position, while adding a player they believe has pass-rush skills.
### Safety Louis Delmas and cornerback Cortland Finnegan haven’t so far been dramatic upgrades over the players they replaced, but they have played decently. Stronger tests will come against Green Bay and Chicago the next two weeks.
PFF ranks Delmas 26th of 76 safeties so far this season and 13th against the run. Clemons, who remains unsigned after being cut by Houston in late August, was rated 19th of 86 safeties in 2013 but had a negative grade against the run.
Finnegan, who had a fumble return for a touchdown against Oakland, is rated 27th of 100 cornerbacks, with an 87.8 passer rating in his coverage area.
Meanwhile, the players who split starts opposite Brent Grimes last season are either unemployed (Dimitri Patterson) or non-factors (Nolan Carroll), who has played only 19 snaps for Philadelphia.
### Two starters who have been missed: Safety Reshad Jones, back from a four-game suspension, and linebacker Koa Misi, expected back next Sunday after missing three games with an ankle injury.
Jimmy Wilson, who filled in for Jones, ranks 18th among 76 safeties, but he has missed five tackles and has a negative grade in run support. With Jones’ return, Wilson will move back to nickel corner.
Jason Trusnik, a valued special teams player who has been filling in for Misi at middle linebacker, graded out well against the run but allowed 9 of 10 passes thrown against him to be caught for 110 yards and two touchdowns.
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http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/
 
At center, Satele has “done a hell of a job,” Albert said. He hasn’t permitted any sacks and ranks ninth-best as a run-blocker among 34 centers, according to PFF’s rankings. Satele will move to the bench with Pouncey expected to return Oct. 12 against Green Bay.
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If they ever wanted to move Mike to guard this might be the time but if not having Samson as O line depth or maybe competing at guard is a nice bonus.
 
I think Pouncy can move to RG easily with no problem but im not sure we want Statle starting anymore
 
Finnegan hasnt been as good as I had wanted but he hasnt been terrible either. I expect him to pick it up some. Our d should get better with misi and jones returning. This means they cant pick on Will Davis anymore. It will be Jimmy Wilson at nickel
 
Reading the O line stats it'a amazing now really bad the line was last year. Our new tackles have given up two sacks through 1/4 of the season. That's on pace for 8 for the year. Last year between Clabo , Martin and McKinney they gave up 25. Unbeleivable the improvement there so far.

As far as moving Pouncy i'll go by what ever Benton and Lazor think. They both seem to know exactly what they are doing.
 
fishfanmiami said:
As far as moving Pouncy i'll go by what ever Benton and Lazor think. They both seem to know exactly what they are doing.
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I agree with that sentiment. I've always been a firm believer of finding a way to get your best lineup onto the field. Pouncey might be an upgrade to the center position but starting him at RG would be playing to our strengths and is an upgrade to the entire o-line as a unit.
 
it will be good to move Jimmy Wilson and his 5 missed tackles and poor run support back to the slot and also get Trusnick on all the special teams and out of the starting lineup although he did ok.
 
Sons of Shula said:
I agree with that sentiment. I've always been a firm believer of finding a way to get your best lineup onto the field. Pouncey might be an upgrade to the center position but starting him at RG would be playing to our strengths and is an upgrade to the entire o-line as a unit.
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I know Pouncey took first team snaps at center during the media availability portion of practice but I'll believe it when I see it. It might be a hard sell but Pouncey should absolutely be moved to RG.
 
Samson was good against the 2 weak interiors we faced and really bad vs the 2 strong interiors we faced. He did good work in 2 weeks and helped us win 2 games, that's all you can ask from a backup signed 3 weeks before the start of the season. But we need Pouncey back.

Branden Albert on the other hand, dang. That guy is good. Might have saved our quarterback a couple of injuries and a lot of punishment if we'd just gone ahead and traded for him in the offseason like Uncle Joe wanted.
 
J. David Wannyheimer said:
Branden Albert on the other hand, dang. That guy is good. Might have saved our quarterback a couple of injuries and a lot of punishment if we'd just gone ahead and traded for him in the offseason like Uncle Joe wanted.
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Not only that but we likely would have been forced to stay at 12 and maybe take Eifert instead. And chances are Martin wouldn't have went all spazzy and he still would have been an option for us at least.

Lots of unintended consequences from that one non-move. Awesome it purged us of Ireland though.
 
i think our run game will only get better with Pouncy's ability to pull and get to the second level. It would also be nice to settle on our right guard where i prefer Turner or Shelly over Dallas T.
Does Nate Garner still play for us ? Haven't heard his name yet this year. Fox got the snaps at LT late in the game in London.
 
I like Jackson but, he uses PFF too much in most of his articles. He should watch the games.
 
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