How good is our D? How good is our O?

[godolphins1985]

We have 2 top pass rusher with some good depth behind Taylor and Porter in Roth and Wake. We get solid tackler in Crowder and big lineman to stuff the run and rush the passer. We got a major upgrade IMO, big athletic CB's that will surely tower over WR's with speed namely Smith. We have 2 big hitting play makers in Bell and Wilson. If Taylor, Porter, Merling, Langford, pressure the QB well (i don't see why they wouldn't given there ability and track record) it should give our talented DB's some big plays. I cant think of another D with so many play makers and solid players other than the steelers and the Ravens. I think we could easily be top 3 D's in the NFL.
I'm not off base saying that this could happen very very believable, all we can do is hope our Offense takes another step in the right direction. If last year is any indication of how we can perform on Offense we can only assume that we have gotten better. We added depth/starters at WR (which we needed), got a possible big target at TE and solid player in the center position(upgrade for our system). Lastly Pat White, What more that can be said about a QB that can make a big difference in our Wildcat formation, Ordinarily i wouldn't be entirely to excited about spending a 2nd round in a QB when we have Henne but most don't realize how much having him will help A LOT! White adds a new dimension to our formation, whether it be run or pass he will make Defensive coordinators shake in there shoes. Whats not to be afraid of? A guy that is absolutely expendable in a starters role position, its not like we have Pennington taking snaps at wild cat and faking to run. If white gets hurt oh well Brown could just take that role again, and i think D's will know this and understand we wont be afraid to let White loose and let him run around like a chicken with his head cut off.
In my eyes instead of looking at our schedule and saying man those are some tough games i say we just laugh at our opponents and know they are just as irritated to have to play against a top team in the NFL. YES IM TALKING ABOUT US! LOL. Any way its just my opinion on our current situation post draft, anyone else have any thought on how we might pan out or how good we are at this point.

 

[Sherif]

You covered a lot of stuff in your post and you have some good insight. I agree our team is definately better than last year with the addition of our drafts and our center and to those that talk about our tough schedule, well it's not that tough. We always play Pittsburg and the Chargers tough. Nobody is going to be blowing us out. Pennington can move the offense down the field. That's something we hadn't had the years before and that's why we won last year. If Pennington can keep moving us down the field in that efficient manner, we'll be right in the thick of things. I don't think we'll set a record in fewest turnovers like we did last year, but I think we'll win the turnover battle.

 

[ADavieDolphin]

Our Offense should be better next year if your Offensive line can run block efficiently. Our Pass Protection kept Pennington upright most of the year, and they should be even better, with a more educated Long, Carey, Thomas, Grove, Smiley, not to mention our backups that got some heavy game time last year like Allemen and Ndukwe.
Ronnie and Ricky should stay healthy if the carries are split 15/10/5, with Cobbs maybe taking time from Ricky. He's really versatile and Sparano loves him. This line should help us potentially get 2000 yards on the ground, and if Pennington can keep managing the Offense with a hopefully stronger arm, from his offseason work. We'll be in close games, i don't know if our passing game if considered explosive. We have some developing WR contributors, and LOTS of competition at the position.

Our Defense, is improved, but we will still have similar problems next year. We don't have a DOMINANT NT in the defense, our pass rushers our either very raw, or fairly old, yet a 5 star player.
Our secondary will probably be worse this year, you can't truly expect a rookie CB too start and play lights out. Sean Smith is one of the best CB prospects in a very long time, he's new to the position and the NFL CB's have to know alot about the position before they can start. I see him shutting people down very successfully in 2-3 years, what a fantastic draft pick. Vontae, the same thing. He's an underclassman CB that is an athletic freak, i bet he starts at the end of the season, kind of like rodgers cromartie, but you never know.
Our ILB's still aren't impressive. Crowder does his job, but he's no Willis, Lewis, Mayo, Dansby at the position. Torbor has alot of talent, and we paid him a good contract, hopefully he lives up to his deal with the upper management.

It's a season of hope, Pennington knows he's got to get us in the playoffs to potentially save his job here. That's gonna be a dramatic offseason, You know he's gonna play just like last year, I'm afraid some rebuilding team will probably give him a better contract than we can offer. The White draft pick is even more proof that Pennington will not be resigned. White is meant to be a contributing no.2 QB, but Henne is our future rocket armed QB. You can't have 3 active QB's, unless they play special teams :) .

I still stand by my 10-6 +/- 1 record. We'll win a bunch of close games with good teams. I really want us to have that winning record, I'll still love the team if we go 6-10. It will be an interesting season regardless.

 

[Butterfrog 2.0]

Our secondary will probably be worse this year, you can't truly expect a rookie CB too start and play lights out.

You forget about the addition of Wilson? I think Wilson is a Huge upgrade over Hill and that alone makes our secondary better. I don't think Vontae or Smith will perform as well as Goodman did last season right off the bat but The combo of Davis, and Smith will be better than Goodman and whoever our 3rd CB was last year. Even with just the starters though IMO..... RIGHT NOW Goodman > Davis, but Davis/Wilson >> Goodman/Hill.

 

[Chubby]

Our Offense should be better next year if your Offensive line can run block efficiently. Our Pass Protection kept Pennington upright most of the year, and they should be even better, with a more educated Long, Carey, Thomas, Grove, Smiley, not to mention our backups that got some heavy game time last year like Allemen and Ndukwe.
Ronnie and Ricky should stay healthy if the carries are split 15/10/5, with Cobbs maybe taking time from Ricky. He's really versatile and Sparano loves him. This line should help us potentially get 2000 yards on the ground, and if Pennington can keep managing the Offense with a hopefully stronger arm, from his offseason work. We'll be in close games, i don't know if our passing game if considered explosive. We have some developing WR contributors, and LOTS of competition at the position.

Our Defense, is improved, but we will still have similar problems next year. We don't have a DOMINANT NT in the defense, our pass rushers our either very raw, or fairly old, yet a 5 star player.
Our secondary will probably be worse this year, you can't truly expect a rookie CB too start and play lights out. Sean Smith is one of the best CB prospects in a very long time, he's new to the position and the NFL CB's have to know alot about the position before they can start. I see him shutting people down very successfully in 2-3 years, what a fantastic draft pick. Vontae, the same thing. He's an underclassman CB that is an athletic freak, i bet he starts at the end of the season, kind of like rodgers cromartie, but you never know.
Our ILB's still aren't impressive. Crowder does his job, but he's no Willis, Lewis, Mayo, Dansby at the position. Torbor has alot of talent, and we paid him a good contract, hopefully he lives up to his deal with the upper management.

It's a season of hope, Pennington knows he's got to get us in the playoffs to potentially save his job here. That's gonna be a dramatic offseason, You know he's gonna play just like last year, I'm afraid some rebuilding team will probably give him a better contract than we can offer. The White draft pick is even more proof that Pennington will not be resigned. White is meant to be a contributing no.2 QB, but Henne is our future rocket armed QB. You can't have 3 active QB's, unless they play special teams :) .

I still stand by my 10-6 +/- 1 record. We'll win a bunch of close games with good teams. I really want us to have that winning record, I'll still love the team if we go 6-10. It will be an interesting season regardless.

Davis will be starting from day 1. Smith will take a little while longer, but he has some foundation as he played WR and understand Reads, routes etc...

It all comes down to the Line. OL & DL if this year they take a step forward from last year then we do as well as a team.

If its the same or less then last year, then the team will take a step or two back.
CHubbs

 

[Kadiddlehopper]

Until we see them in action, it's all pure speculation.

 

[emeraldfin]

Our Offense should be better next year if your Offensive line can run block efficiently. Our Pass Protection kept Pennington upright most of the year, and they should be even better, with a more educated Long, Carey, Thomas, Grove, Smiley, not to mention our backups that got some heavy game time last year like Allemen and Ndukwe.
Ronnie and Ricky should stay healthy if the carries are split 15/10/5, with Cobbs maybe taking time from Ricky. He's really versatile and Sparano loves him. This line should help us potentially get 2000 yards on the ground, and if Pennington can keep managing the Offense with a hopefully stronger arm, from his offseason work. We'll be in close games, i don't know if our passing game if considered explosive. We have some developing WR contributors, and LOTS of competition at the position.

Our Defense, is improved, but we will still have similar problems next year. We don't have a DOMINANT NT in the defense, our pass rushers our either very raw, or fairly old, yet a 5 star player.
Our secondary will probably be worse this year, you can't truly expect a rookie CB too start and play lights out. Sean Smith is one of the best CB prospects in a very long time, he's new to the position and the NFL CB's have to know alot about the position before they can start. I see him shutting people down very successfully in 2-3 years, what a fantastic draft pick. Vontae, the same thing. He's an underclassman CB that is an athletic freak, i bet he starts at the end of the season, kind of like rodgers cromartie, but you never know.
Our ILB's still aren't impressive. Crowder does his job, but he's no Willis, Lewis, Mayo, Dansby at the position. Torbor has alot of talent, and we paid him a good contract, hopefully he lives up to his deal with the upper management.

It's a season of hope, Pennington knows he's got to get us in the playoffs to potentially save his job here. That's gonna be a dramatic offseason, You know he's gonna play just like last year, I'm afraid some rebuilding team will probably give him a better contract than we can offer. The White draft pick is even more proof that Pennington will not be resigned. White is meant to be a contributing no.2 QB, but Henne is our future rocket armed QB. You can't have 3 active QB's, unless they play special teams :) .

I still stand by my 10-6 +/- 1 record. We'll win a bunch of close games with good teams. I really want us to have that winning record, I'll still love the team if we go 6-10. It will be an interesting season regardless.

I would agree with your assessment on our D, that without a dominant NT or ILB, it means the spine of the team is not that strong. I like the OLB's as Taylor will complement Porter on the weakside. Would like to see a bit more from Merling this year and hopefully he can beat out Starks for a starting spot.

As for the secondary, our safties are pretty solid if they can stay on the field. One of our rookie DB's will have to step up this season and play at a high level. We will be very lucky if both rookies have successful seasons, but personally I just cant see that happening. If both struggle early we will be in trouble, but I will be thankfull if either Smith or Davis nails down a starting spot and performes well.

 

[FinHopeful]

Our defense will not be dominant, but we are going to better getting off the filed. Every starting defensive player except Will Allen is a hitter in the running game. I can visualize Vonte Davis attacking the sweep around the corner. G. Wilson and Y. Bell will be active on rushing plays. I can see this defense being top 8 in rushing defense without a dominant NT.

Our offense is going to be significantly better with the addition of Jake Grove. We will not have to rely upon the wildcat, and it can become more of a surprise. The pass rush should be slowed down by a good running game, so we should score more points this year.