Miami Herald:Miami offensive line not built with division rivals in mind

[fisi]

Nice read!

The Miami Dolphins play in the AFC East and have been there for years and years. This is not news to the organization or anyone else. And so it stands to reason they should know that the teams they have to match up against, first and foremost, are their AFC East rivals.

They play those rivals six times every single season.

And if they cannot beat those rivals, they cannot matter in the postseason scheme of things.

This season the Dolphins have not won even one game against Buffalo, New England or the New York Jets. They are 0-4 against those teams with Sunday's rematch at New York up next.


http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolp...e-not-built-with-division-rivals-in-mind.html


Anyways, you have to build to beat the best team in your division, period! I didn't believe in that until Pete Carrol said so a year ago after clinching the division on their way to the super bowl. Don Shula did it again in 90 n 91, when he said he drafted Richmond webb and another guard in other to beat buffalo speed rushers. I don't know about these guys today, they cant even put a good OLine together in 4yrs.

 

[DuderinoN703]

Well they were 3-3 in the division last year. OL still couldn't block blitzing 4th graders though.

 

[ANUFan]

Has this and previous FO been competent enough to build anything let alone a caliber O-Line?

I swear if picks 1-7 were all line-man I would be satisfied and terrified knowing that there is a decent chance they
're all bust!

 

[Pat-London]

I mentioned this point two off seasons ago. You want to be successful in this league, you have to get out of your division to give you a shot and our OL isn't built for this - particularly LG [no surprise there], Center [I know many will disagree with me on that - and that is fine], and the normal starting RT [James].

 

[Bob512]

No surprise......you can see this issue in action as we play Buffalo and NYJ specifically. Painful to watch...

 

[johngarryvo]

surprise to me... last 15yrs it seems the whole dang team ain't built with division in mind

 

[JJM_7]

More than the OL I think it's the defense. If you watched the TNF game between the Jets and the Bills, it was a defensive battle. Last night's game between the Patriots and the Bills? Another defensive battle. I mean, when was the last time we saw New England scoring only 20 points at home?

The Jets and the Bills have really good defenses. Their defensive talent all around is remarkable. And they complement it with a powerful running game and a balanced offense.

We don't have any of those things. We built a finesse team to compete in probably the toughest division in football. Yes, our OL is one of the reasons why we've struggled against those teams, but I would say the main difference between us and them is their defensive talent vs. ours. Even the Patriots have a pretty decent defense, as they showed last night when they only allowed 13 points against the Bills.

If we want to compete in this division, especially against the Jets and the Bills, I say it starts with building a stout defense, followed by a strong running game.

Funny enough, the only game against a division rival this year where our defense played well was against the Patriots on TNF. Unfortunately, our offense let us down that day. Again.

But I truly believe if we want to compete vs. the Jets and the Bills, we need to get stronger defensively. Just my point of view.

 

[ANUFan]

More than the OL I think it's the defense. If you watched the TNF game between the Jets and the Bills, it was a defensive battle. Last night's game between the Patriots and the Bills? Another defensive battle. I mean, when was the last time we saw New England scoring only 20 points at home?

The Jets and the Bills have really good defenses. Their defensive talent all around is remarkable. And they complement it with a powerful running game and a balanced offense.

We don't have any of those things. We built a finesse team to compete in probably the toughest division in football. Yes, our OL is one of the reasons why we've struggled against those teams, but I would say the main difference between us and them is their defensive talent vs. ours. Even the Patriots have a pretty decent defense, as they showed last night when they only allowed 13 points against the Bills.

If we want to compete in this division, especially against the Jets and the Bills, I say it starts with building a stout defense, followed by a strong running game.

Funny enough, the only game against a division rival this year where our defense played well was against the Patriots on TNF. Unfortunately, our offense let us down that day. Again.

But I truly believe if we want to compete vs. the Jets and the Bills, we need to get stronger defensively. Just my point of view.

I understand what you're saying. But at this stage which side of the ball is more deficient? Easily, the offensive side. Yes, the defense is not even close to elite. But, they for the most part have given us some opportunity. The offense hasn't been able to get out of it's own way.

When was the last you remember the offense keeping us in the game and it was a defensive failing that prevent us from winning that game? You'd have to think really hard. Most times when we lose it's not because of the defense initially it's because of the offense and usually the defense collapses after carrying the majority of the weight for the entire game.

Speaking of the Bills. They have everything right now talent-wise to beat the Patriots. Last night loss was being out coached.

 

[JJM_7]

I understand what you're saying. But at this stage which side of the ball is more deficient? Easily, the offensive side. Yes, the defense is not even close to elite. But, they for the most part have given us some opportunity. The offense hasn't been able to get out of it's own way.

When was the last you remember the offense keeping us in the game and it was a defensive failing that prevent us from winning that game? You'd have to think really hard. Most times when we lose it's not because of the defense initially it's because of the offense and usually the defense collapses after carrying the majority of the weight for the entire game.

Speaking of the Bills. They have everything right now talent-wise to beat the Patriots. Last night loss was being out coached.

I would say both units are equally deficient at the moment.

On defense, you have these problems:

- Can't stop the run, which, in this division, if you can't stop the run you are toast.
- We depend too much on our defensive line creating pressure, if that doesn't happen, it's game over. And even when our Dline plays at a high level, you still have your linebackers missing tackles like it's Christmas, and players like Jamar Taylor and Walt Aikens getting beat for huge plays.
- We allow too many 3rd and longs, which is a product of our lack of talent at LB and secondary.
- We tend to start slow and give up too many points in the first drive of games.

On offense you have these problems:

- We have a QB that is inconsistent and has been for his entire career. It's very frustrating, tbh.
- Our offensive line is truly offensive, probably one of the worst in the league.
- We can't run the football at will, which is why we are usually so bad on 3rd and short.
- Even when we seem to be running well, our OC likes to abandon the run and focus on pass, pass, PASS.
- Our offensive scheme does not threaten the middle of the field, I mean, we got an excellent seam threat in Cameron, and we're using him to block. To BLOCK, ffs.
- Our play-calling is way too predictable. Again, it's on the OC.
- We continue to fail on 1st and 2nd down, whether it is because of lack of execution or stupid penalties, and end up failing to convert on 3rd and long most of the time.
- We are simply not scoring enough points.

So yeah, both sides of the football have plenty of issues to go around, which is why we're 4-6. But I just look at the games we won last year in the division, and it becomes more and more apparent to me that we need to be able to keep up defensively with these teams if we want to beat them.

We won 3 games last year:

1) The NE game in the season opener. If I recall correctly, our defense was amazing throughout the game, the Patriots were not able to do much offensively in the second half, and our offense became alive thanks to, wait for it... the RUNNING game, courtesy of one Knowshon Moreno.

2) The Bills TNF game. I believe it was a low scoring game, defensive battle, where on defense we were able to contain them throughout the game and on offense we made enough plays in the end to win it.

3) The Jets game in NY. I *think* this is when Geno Smith was asked by his coaches to pretty much NOT pass the football, but the bottom line is we played solid defense and on offense we made some good plays to win convincingly.

My point is, yes, you need to play better on offense and score more points, because 14 points per game is not gonna cut it, no matter how good your D is. However, I really believe that the formula to compete in this division is by keeping up defensively against our division rivals. Because what happens if you don't? What happens if you can't stop the run against these teams? You start playing from behind and, as we've seen, it's pretty much game over.

We just need to become a more physical team, on both sides of the football. And especially focus on two things: Stop the run on defense, run the ball effectively on offense. That's how you compete in this division, imo.

Sorry for the rant.

 

[Trifecta Nation]

Don Shula did it again in 90 n 91, when he said he drafted Richmond webb and another guard in other to beat buffalo speed rushers. I don't know about these guys today, they cant even put a good OLine together in 4yrs.

I was thinking about Richmond Webb and Keith Sims about a week ago. Probably the last time we had a pretty good OL. I'm not joking either. We've been deficient for some time there. Though they were better pass protectors than run blockers. Amazing we can't get OL. I remember when Jimmy took over he said we can always get OL late, no need to draft 'em early. Well.......maybe, if your scouts know things that others don't. But if you've got a good OT blindside protector on the board, take him in the first round if you REALLY think he's the answer to protecting your QB. If you don't, someone else will.

 

[roy_miami]

Where is the evidence that a dominant o-line is what beats the Patriots? I'm pretty sure the teams that have had the most success against them, the Giants and Ravens, beat them with dominant defensive lines.

 

[Spiff]

[...] When was the last you remember the offense keeping us in the game and it was a defensive failing that prevent us from winning that game? You'd have to think really hard. [...]

Denver last year. Minnesota last year.

 

[Austin Tatious]

I don't know that it's so much scheme as much as it has been poor players or injuries that have hurt. Thomas, Fox. These guys suck.

Movement guys can move slugs. If the movement guys are good.

 

[maralieus]

surprise to me... last 15yrs it seems the whole dang team ain't built with division in mind

Yeah the pats have been murdering our poor covering lb's ever since ZT retired. The pats, jets and bills having big overpowering d-lines also is nothing new. The only thing we've done ok at for our division is qb and building a disruptive (at times) d-line, but it only seems to affect the good qb's, bad qb's seem to just dice us up.

 

[Scotty P]

Pretty obvious we drated Jake Long, Pouncey, James, Vernon, Dion Jordan, Dallas Thomas, Jordan Philips in the first 3 rounds and acquired Wake, Albert, and Sun to compete in the division.

Sometimes it just doesn't work out and coaching sucks...