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Looking Ahead...a Philosophical Change?

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Watching the ease at which teams are able to get outside and run on Miami I wonder if a philosophical change will happen during the offseason.

Specifically, will the Dolphins look for bigger defensive ends who can set the edge and control the running game better? Obviously, you'd want to find complete players who can also rush the passer. Will the wide nine alignment become a thing of the past as well?

It's a draft that's loaded with defensive lineman, mostly defensive tackles. As far as free agents go, it's early so I don't know who will be available.
 
SF Dolphin Fan said:
Watching the ease at which teams are able to get outside and run on Miami I wonder if a philosophical change will happen during the offseason.

Specifically, will the Dolphins look for bigger defensive ends who can set the edge and control the running game better? Obviously, you'd want to find complete players who can also rush the passer. Will the wide nine alignment become a thing of the past as well?

It's a draft that's loaded with defensive lineman, mostly defensive tackles. As far as free agents go, it's early so I don't know who will be available.
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I think a philosophical change is needed. We have no organizational identity. We keep bringing in these coaches who run powder puff offenses. What if someone at the top (Ross maybe) defines an organizational identity and finds a coach who’s beliefs align with that identity?
 
I know the league is always called a "passing league" these days, but the last few seasons we've seen the re-emergence of the RB having a direct impact on games. Some teams are even running the "I formation" again. I'm guessing that the fulltime Fullback may even be on the horizon again, as LBs seem to have become lighter in able to cover the passing game. That's a mis-match against a true Back-on Backer Fullback.

But, getting back to the Fins. One change in philosophy I would like to see is an offense than can consistently score 26+ points per game, and a defense that can hold a team to 20. That would be a good start.
 
No change needed, thill will be back and we'll score 21 pts a quarter and the wide 9 can do as it was designed.
 
SF Dolphin Fan said:
Watching the ease at which teams are able to get outside and run on Miami I wonder if a philosophical change will happen during the offseason.

Specifically, will the Dolphins look for bigger defensive ends who can set the edge and control the running game better? Obviously, you'd want to find complete players who can also rush the passer. Will the wide nine alignment become a thing of the past as well?

It's a draft that's loaded with defensive lineman, mostly defensive tackles. As far as free agents go, it's early so I don't know who will be available.
Click to expand...

Not sure that we really have a philosophy. We've drafted only 2 DE's in the last 5 years - Fede and Harris. It's not surprising to me that we can't stop the outside run or rush the passer very well. At this point, I'd be happy if we'd just invest in one of the more important positions on our defense.
 
I think our philosophy/identity should be to be a physical football team that can consistently run the football effectively and to be able to stop the run consistently. On third and short, we should be able to run the ball and pickup a yard or two even if the defense knows that we’re going to run. Instead, we throw a screen pass to a wr lol.
 
FINMAN1 said:
I know the league is always called a "passing league" these days, but the last few seasons we've seen the re-emergence of the RB having a direct impact on games. Some teams are even running the "I formation" again. I'm guessing that the fulltime Fullback may even be on the horizon again, as LBs seem to have become lighter in able to cover the passing game. That's a mis-match against a true Back-on Backer Fullback.

But, getting back to the Fins. One change in philosophy I would like to see is an offense than can consistently score 26+ points per game, and a defense that can hold a team to 20. That would be a good start.
Click to expand...
Funny that you mention that. When I saw Miami's defense getting smaller and faster, I also noticed our rival Patriots adding an offensive lineman and running back in the first round. Those are two positions where NE usually drafts late. So, yes I agree that the running game is coming back. Not to the 1970's level, but definitely in an impactful way.
 
Highzenga said:
I think our philosophy/identity should be to be a physical football team that can consistently run the football effectively and to be able to stop the run consistently. On third and short, we should be able to run the ball and pickup a yard or two even if the defense knows that we’re going to run. Instead, we throw a screen pass to a wr lol.
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I'd love that as well. I honestly thought that Gase would be more like Saban in his defensive philosophy, but he appears to be open to ideas there. The lack of talent, plus injuries on the offensive line has limited the running game. I think Gase can scheme well there, but the team struggles to run in obvious running downs.
 
It's the nature of the Wide-9. The WRs and TEs can employ combo blocks to wall off the DEs and allow RBs to exploit the edge.
 
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