ckparrothead
Premium Member
Miami Dolphins
by Chris Kouffman
This week the local Miami media is busy finding the right tagline to describe the Dolphins’ snapping of an ugly three-game losing streak against a New Orleans Saints franchise that is foundering as badly as the city itself.
“How Ricky Got His Groove Backâ€Â
“Fast Times at Homeless Highâ€Â
It is no wonder owner Tom Benson is spending time assaulting camera crews and football fans nowadays; his team spent the afternoon assaulting fans’ noses with the pungent aroma of freshly baked stink biscuits.
The bottom line is the Dolphins merely continued to do what they are supposed to do, for a change. They beat a bad football team. Last week and the week before, they lost to two good football teams. Both are far cries from how the Dolphins spent the first quarter of the NFL season. During the first four games, the Dolphins played games against the Broncos (6-2), the Jets (2-5), the Panthers (5-2), and the Bills (3-5). Any prognosticator that knew the Dolphins would come away from that stretch with a 2-2 record would have easily predicted victories over the Jets and Bills, with defeats against the tough Broncos and Panthers. Unfortunately, the Dolphins did just the opposite.
Some might call that evidence of a team with a lot of potential. I call it evidence of a badly inconsistent team that is as close to a championship as Saddam Hussein is from a Nobel Peace prize. You have to tear down before you can build back up, and any coach would find it nearly impossible to build a champion out of a team that keeps surprising him at every turn. To be an “overachieving†football team, as Nick Saban desires, you have to have some measure of…measurability. Predictability allows the coaching staff the luxury of tweaking the game plan and lineup to play toward the teams’ strengths and cover the teams’ weaknesses. It allows the coaches the luxury of building a franchise during the off-season without scrambling to cover up new and unexpected leaks like the Dutch Boy with his fingers in the dike.
The Dolphins won the game by allowing Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams to plow through the Saints’ defense 40 times to the tune of 188 yards. Ronnie Brown ran 23 times for 106 yards, and Ricky Williams accounted for 82 yards on 17 carries. Brown had two mediocre games before breaking out in his third game against the Carolina Panthers. The Ricky & Ronnie backfield had two mediocre games before breaking out in their third game against the New Orleans Saints. Go figure. For a fan base that was waiting for the team to show them the fruits of the team’s unforgivable efforts to rebuild Ricky Williams’ NFL career, this Sunday was a breath of fresh air. Ricky Williams looked like his old self, despite missing approximately 15 to 20 pounds of muscle from his thighs. The blocking was good, but not especially great, as Ricky and Ronnie both found contact with defenders within 2 yards of the line of scrimmage to be the norm. Both runners, however, showed extreme power and ability to break through the initial contact in order to pack on extra yardage. Dolphin fans have had time to get use to Ronnie Brown’s power and excellence, but Ricky Williams’ ability to power through tacklers and shed them like yesterday’s spring wear was very surprising, considering his diminished frame.
The true value of the R’n’R Express, as it is coming to be called, will be realized next week when the Dolphins face an Atlanta defense that has shown signs of vulnerability in run defense. On any given Sunday a football team with a featured runner that has found running room could exploit that weakness to the tune of 188 yards on 40 carries. The Dolphins have done it with Ricky Williams in the past, as well as Lamar Smith. The Bucs were able to do it with Brown’s former teammate Cadillac Williams. The featured runner may not take all 40 snaps, but would most likely shoulder at least 30 of those runs. Most runners would tire from that kind of workload, and a significant drop in performance could be expected the following week.
From the perspective of Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, both had just gotten their feet wet and hit their stride by the time the fourth quarter had ended. Each looked like he could have played another quarter or even half of football, if needed. Having two high-pedigreed, pro bowl caliber runners to shoulder this kind of workload allows the offensive coordinator near-complete freedom of game plan. If he decides that the best way to defeat Mike Vick and the Falcons is to gash them with another 40+ runs from the R’n’R express, he has two backs that are willing and able to repeat their performance of last week without a second thought. Normally, if a featured back is coming off a game in which he ran the ball 30+ times, the offensive game plan must take into account the running back’s workload, and the game plan would be called to feature either less running, or higher involvement of lesser quality depth runners that are not guaranteed to find the same success as the featured back.
The other stories of the day involved quarterback and defense. Aaron Brooks was harried all day long by the Dolphins’ defensive line and blitz packages, resulting in six sacks despite Jason Taylor’s ailing foot. It is no coincidence that, despite missing starters Tebucky Jones and Sam Madison, the defensive secondary enjoyed its most consistent day of the season. The secondary being a known commodity, the bulk of the reason the Dolphins have been unable to stop defenses on third down has been a lack of quality pass rush. Against the Saints, the Dolphins temporarily fixed the problem. It is no surprise that the Saints went 0-for-11 on third down, considering the Dolphins’ pass rushing success.
As for quarterback, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Dolphins may need to make a switch to backup Sage Rosenfels. Last week, the Dolphins refused to make the switch because the offense was clearly having far too many problems to isolate just the quarterback position as a scapegoat. This week, the offense was clicking on all cylinders, except at the quarterback position, which resulted in four field goals and a touchdown instead of five touchdowns. The ground game was there, the pass protection was decent, the receivers and tight end Randy McMichael were getting open, but Gus Frerotte was missing them with inaccurate ball placement. His stats, 16 of 28 for 168 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT, do not tell the full story of frustration resulting from Gus’ errant throws. He certainly had his good moments, such as the touchdown pass to Chambers and the deep 54 yard strike to David Boston, but the inconsistency kept the offense settling for three when they clearly could have been scoring six. Looking at Gus’ completion percentage, at 57%, would lead one to believe that he had a more accurate day than his previous five wretched outings, in which he completed just 48% of his passes. However, the increase in completion percentage was primarily due to a Dolphins game plan that called for many more short, high-percentage throws than the trademark dozen deep shots of past games.
The Dolphins can’t know whether Sage Rosenfels can manage the game as well as Gus until they put him out there to find out. It would be a remarkable shame if Nick Saban chose to keep with the status quo by keeping Gus Frerotte as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback just because the team won the game. Last week it was hard to isolate just the quarterback position as the reason the offense was falling short. This week it is easy to isolate him. Gus manages the game extremely well, and has remarkable pocket presence, but his inaccurate ball placement is leaving a lot of points on the field. Against teams better than the Saints, including Atlanta, those points left on the field will most often mean the difference between victory and defeat.
DISCLAIMER: This is a weekly report I write for a site unrelated to FinHeaven.
by Chris Kouffman
This week the local Miami media is busy finding the right tagline to describe the Dolphins’ snapping of an ugly three-game losing streak against a New Orleans Saints franchise that is foundering as badly as the city itself.
“How Ricky Got His Groove Backâ€Â
“Fast Times at Homeless Highâ€Â
It is no wonder owner Tom Benson is spending time assaulting camera crews and football fans nowadays; his team spent the afternoon assaulting fans’ noses with the pungent aroma of freshly baked stink biscuits.
The bottom line is the Dolphins merely continued to do what they are supposed to do, for a change. They beat a bad football team. Last week and the week before, they lost to two good football teams. Both are far cries from how the Dolphins spent the first quarter of the NFL season. During the first four games, the Dolphins played games against the Broncos (6-2), the Jets (2-5), the Panthers (5-2), and the Bills (3-5). Any prognosticator that knew the Dolphins would come away from that stretch with a 2-2 record would have easily predicted victories over the Jets and Bills, with defeats against the tough Broncos and Panthers. Unfortunately, the Dolphins did just the opposite.
Some might call that evidence of a team with a lot of potential. I call it evidence of a badly inconsistent team that is as close to a championship as Saddam Hussein is from a Nobel Peace prize. You have to tear down before you can build back up, and any coach would find it nearly impossible to build a champion out of a team that keeps surprising him at every turn. To be an “overachieving†football team, as Nick Saban desires, you have to have some measure of…measurability. Predictability allows the coaching staff the luxury of tweaking the game plan and lineup to play toward the teams’ strengths and cover the teams’ weaknesses. It allows the coaches the luxury of building a franchise during the off-season without scrambling to cover up new and unexpected leaks like the Dutch Boy with his fingers in the dike.
The Dolphins won the game by allowing Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams to plow through the Saints’ defense 40 times to the tune of 188 yards. Ronnie Brown ran 23 times for 106 yards, and Ricky Williams accounted for 82 yards on 17 carries. Brown had two mediocre games before breaking out in his third game against the Carolina Panthers. The Ricky & Ronnie backfield had two mediocre games before breaking out in their third game against the New Orleans Saints. Go figure. For a fan base that was waiting for the team to show them the fruits of the team’s unforgivable efforts to rebuild Ricky Williams’ NFL career, this Sunday was a breath of fresh air. Ricky Williams looked like his old self, despite missing approximately 15 to 20 pounds of muscle from his thighs. The blocking was good, but not especially great, as Ricky and Ronnie both found contact with defenders within 2 yards of the line of scrimmage to be the norm. Both runners, however, showed extreme power and ability to break through the initial contact in order to pack on extra yardage. Dolphin fans have had time to get use to Ronnie Brown’s power and excellence, but Ricky Williams’ ability to power through tacklers and shed them like yesterday’s spring wear was very surprising, considering his diminished frame.
The true value of the R’n’R Express, as it is coming to be called, will be realized next week when the Dolphins face an Atlanta defense that has shown signs of vulnerability in run defense. On any given Sunday a football team with a featured runner that has found running room could exploit that weakness to the tune of 188 yards on 40 carries. The Dolphins have done it with Ricky Williams in the past, as well as Lamar Smith. The Bucs were able to do it with Brown’s former teammate Cadillac Williams. The featured runner may not take all 40 snaps, but would most likely shoulder at least 30 of those runs. Most runners would tire from that kind of workload, and a significant drop in performance could be expected the following week.
From the perspective of Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, both had just gotten their feet wet and hit their stride by the time the fourth quarter had ended. Each looked like he could have played another quarter or even half of football, if needed. Having two high-pedigreed, pro bowl caliber runners to shoulder this kind of workload allows the offensive coordinator near-complete freedom of game plan. If he decides that the best way to defeat Mike Vick and the Falcons is to gash them with another 40+ runs from the R’n’R express, he has two backs that are willing and able to repeat their performance of last week without a second thought. Normally, if a featured back is coming off a game in which he ran the ball 30+ times, the offensive game plan must take into account the running back’s workload, and the game plan would be called to feature either less running, or higher involvement of lesser quality depth runners that are not guaranteed to find the same success as the featured back.
The other stories of the day involved quarterback and defense. Aaron Brooks was harried all day long by the Dolphins’ defensive line and blitz packages, resulting in six sacks despite Jason Taylor’s ailing foot. It is no coincidence that, despite missing starters Tebucky Jones and Sam Madison, the defensive secondary enjoyed its most consistent day of the season. The secondary being a known commodity, the bulk of the reason the Dolphins have been unable to stop defenses on third down has been a lack of quality pass rush. Against the Saints, the Dolphins temporarily fixed the problem. It is no surprise that the Saints went 0-for-11 on third down, considering the Dolphins’ pass rushing success.
As for quarterback, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Dolphins may need to make a switch to backup Sage Rosenfels. Last week, the Dolphins refused to make the switch because the offense was clearly having far too many problems to isolate just the quarterback position as a scapegoat. This week, the offense was clicking on all cylinders, except at the quarterback position, which resulted in four field goals and a touchdown instead of five touchdowns. The ground game was there, the pass protection was decent, the receivers and tight end Randy McMichael were getting open, but Gus Frerotte was missing them with inaccurate ball placement. His stats, 16 of 28 for 168 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT, do not tell the full story of frustration resulting from Gus’ errant throws. He certainly had his good moments, such as the touchdown pass to Chambers and the deep 54 yard strike to David Boston, but the inconsistency kept the offense settling for three when they clearly could have been scoring six. Looking at Gus’ completion percentage, at 57%, would lead one to believe that he had a more accurate day than his previous five wretched outings, in which he completed just 48% of his passes. However, the increase in completion percentage was primarily due to a Dolphins game plan that called for many more short, high-percentage throws than the trademark dozen deep shots of past games.
The Dolphins can’t know whether Sage Rosenfels can manage the game as well as Gus until they put him out there to find out. It would be a remarkable shame if Nick Saban chose to keep with the status quo by keeping Gus Frerotte as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback just because the team won the game. Last week it was hard to isolate just the quarterback position as the reason the offense was falling short. This week it is easy to isolate him. Gus manages the game extremely well, and has remarkable pocket presence, but his inaccurate ball placement is leaving a lot of points on the field. Against teams better than the Saints, including Atlanta, those points left on the field will most often mean the difference between victory and defeat.
DISCLAIMER: This is a weekly report I write for a site unrelated to FinHeaven.
