Lets talk Sacks

[FinFanNJ]

I am a huge fan of the Dolphins and will be regardless of the season they have. That said, up to this point like so many others I am extremely disappointed in what has occurred. So let's talk sacks.

Everyone keeps bashing the Offensive Line of the Dolphins. Yesterday, I saw two lines play. The first at the beginning of the game was aweful. As the game went on they got better. It seems like a rythym thing at this point more than a personnel issue. This is where I stop my criticism of the O-Line, everyone knows the issues.

Here is my issue: Of the seven sacks yesterday how many times did Culpepper have a chance to throw the ball away instead of taking the sack and went down with it instead. At least half in my opinion (and that is giving Culpepper credit more than the O-line). Than there was the fumble by Culpepper which resulted in a sack once he recovered it. Was it the fault of the offensive line that he did not palm the ball correctly and dropped the ball in the middle of a pass attempt.

Culpepper is a Veteran quarterback who knows when to throw the ball away, so there is no excuse for his actions. So let's look at the whole picture before wee blame the sacks on the Offensive line.

 

[Alex44]

Well my sack.....oh you mean football.....

The O-line has been pretty much terrible....enough said

 

[PhinsRock]

I want to vouch for the plastic sacks they give out at Taget, best quality out there.

Really, what do you want to talk, about sacks? Like the number 7?

 

[Frank B]

Daunte Culpepper took 7 sacks yesterday when the true total should have been 2. I can only remember 2 times where Culpepper was under such a heavy rush that he didn't have time to do anything but tuck the ball away.

What I saw was an indecisive quarterback that did not get rid of the ball on time, and did not throw the ball away or take the checkdowns when there were no receivers downfield. People want to blame the offensive line, but there were times when the protection was not the problem.

 

[theFreak41]

It was more than just the O-Line. In fairness to them, we run a very complex zone blocking scheme that takes time to pick up. LJ Shelton and Bennie Anderson, both of whom struggled, are new to the system, and Hadnot is trying to play it from a new position.


As a criticism, as is predictable, they didn't give Pepper enough time and were unable to pick up the blitz.

As a defense, Pepper held onto it too long at points, and looked quite indecisive. The receivers didn't seem to get open or come back to him when he was in trouble. Finally, the coaching staff should have forseen both the struggles of the line and the potential indeciveness of a new QB and relied upon the 3 stop drop and quick slant patterns.

This was a team loss. Everyone is culpable, including the coaching staff and everyone who played...