Nolan's defense receives high praise for Miami Dolphins | Page 3 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Nolan's defense receives high praise for Miami Dolphins

Vaark said:
Hey, I'll admit it, you could be right. Maybe I am jealous that as a 7-7 team we also didn't play 2 teams who weren't trying to back into the playoffs and then face a first rounder who won all of 3 out of their last 7 games (Cleveland, Detroit, KC), averaging 14pts/game and next face a team led by an HC loser who won 4 divisional championships but is 0-4 in playoff appearances. So yeah, maybe I am jealous that we didn't beat teams with a sub-.300 winning record at the time we played them and yet still be gifted into the kind of playoff competition we might well have thrived in;.

And yeah, I do read JI and TGG once or twice a week, and do see 1 or 2 Fins fans posting there who permit themselves to be gluttons for punishment in the way the homers treat dissenting views as compared to FH. Those numbers pale by comparison to the infestation of jet fans trying to foist their alternative realities on a more discerning nucleus of FH members. So again, in terms of inferiority complexes, obviously you're here trying to rationalize what all of us know is your fraud of a season.
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i'm not even gonna bother....just gonna say this whole post comes off as sour grapes.
 
It is true though, if you look at Nolan's coaching career he has coached only a couple elite defenses. Rex in a shorter NFL career as DC coached more elite defenses. Nolan has coached some terrible defenses and some mediocre ones. Now do I think he is a bad coach? No.

The Denver Broncos defense last year fell apart as the season went on. But here are some things between the 2 defenses, I believe the Bronocs defense was better suited to stopping the pass than the current Dolphins unit. The Broncos had a healthy Champ Bailey and Andre Goodman was solid, Brian Dawkins while old was still a productive player. Elvis Dumervile was always a productive pass rusher, just exploded this year. The Dolphins DL should be stronger though and be more stout vs the run than the Broncos were.

I am not here to say that Nolan was a bad hire, because I think it was a good hire and I said that when it happened. I believe Rex is a better defensive guy, I think Rex is one of the top 3 defensive minds in the NFL. And for people bringing up the 2007 Ravens, they were hammered with injuries in the secondary and in return the pass defense was horrible.
 
Jetsfan0099 said:
It is true though, if you look at Nolan's coaching career he has coached only a couple elite defenses. Rex in a shorter NFL career as DC coached more elite defenses. Nolan has coached some terrible defenses and some mediocre ones. Now do I think he is a bad coach? No.

The Denver Broncos defense last year fell apart as the season went on. But here are some things between the 2 defenses, I believe the Bronocs defense was better suited to stopping the pass than the current Dolphins unit. The Broncos had a healthy Champ Bailey and Andre Goodman was solid, Brian Dawkins while old was still a productive player. Elvis Dumervile was always a productive pass rusher, just exploded this year. The Dolphins DL should be stronger though and be more stout vs the run than the Broncos were.

I am not here to say that Nolan was a bad hire, because I think it was a good hire and I said that when it happened. I believe Rex is a better defensive guy, I think Rex is one of the top 3 defensive minds in the NFL. And for people bringing up the 2007 Ravens, they were hammered with injuries in the secondary and in return the pass defense was horrible.
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Rex Ryan has coached the D's of the Ravens and Jets. In Baltimore, he got to take over what Nolan created (obviously Nolan took over for M. Lewis, but he implemented a new system). Also, I'd argue that Nolan's D's in Baltimore were better. Their stats would have been even better if their offenses didn't go 3-and-out every other possession. The NYJ D is also very talented - and expensive. I'm not saying he didn't do a great job with both teams, but he has had much more to work with than any team Nolan has coached - save for that same Baltimore D. We don't know how Ryan would do with a moderately talented D.

About that, Denver's D wore down because they were undersized. Before his D wore down, they were as good as any in the NFL - with only moderate talent. Miami's D will be deeper and bigger than the Denver D. I prefer Nolan to Ryan as a DC. We'll see how the year plays out.
 
i'm all for the mike nolan hire obviously but is it me or didn't the broncos defense give up huge points and yardage in the last third of the season???

sure seemed that way...
 
hooshoops said:
i'm all for the mike nolan hire obviously but is it me or didn't the broncos defense give up huge points and yardage in the last third of the season???

sure seemed that way...
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Small D's wear down - just like Miami's D used to wear down every year when we ran the 4-3.
 
Schemes can only get you so far, you have to have the players. Denver didn't have the players on the front lines to get the job done IMO.
 
i can see the point about the front lines...i wonder personally if we have the olbs though...which the broncos definitely had...

i think we're gonna have issues getting pressure from the outside...
 
It could have been wearing down because they were small but it could also have been wearing down because they were old. Dawkins and Holliday are pretty up there in age.
 
We'll have to see about that. If you've got linebackers that are smart and can cover, then you give yourself a better chance on 1st/2nd down. And on 3rd down with Cam Wake in there I think we'd be fine.
 
oh i'm not worried about wake...i'm worried about everybody not named cam wake or a front 3 player...

but if cam wake gets neutralized/rolled protection other guys are gonna have to step it up and i don't think anderson or moses are worth much as edge pass rushers...and koa misi doesn't do much for me there either...

we'll see
 
the guy that intrigues me is chris mccoy...there's some things to work with there off the college tape i saw and some explosion off the edge...

of course a lot of what i saw was with a hand in the dirt but i think he could be another situational pass rusher in short order and might have some success...
 
Jetsfan0099 said:
Whats funny is that most of the defenses Nolan has coached in his career were mediocre to bad.
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whats funny is that you jet fans completely ignore the statements of some of the greatest minds ever invovled with football because of you guys hear what you want to hear and nothing else.
 
Well think about it this way. If this team were a 4-3 team, who would we be worried about getting the appropriate pressure? The front four. Well, to that end, we have Kendall Langford, Randy Starks, Jared Odrick/Phil Merling, and Cameron Wake. I mean, back in the day we used to have Kenny Mixon playing LDE on run downs and he couldn't rush the passer worth a damn, so I'm not sure how much it matters that Kendall Langford isn't (yet) that dangerous a pass rusher. We know that Randy Starks can collapse the pocket from the middle, and the strongest attributes of Merling and Odrick are pass rush and penetration.

Anyway, if the issue is 3rd down, then I think you may have a point. But keep in mind that if the defense has Wake, Starks, Odrick and Misi rushing the passer...I still think we'll be OK. I think that maybe there's a tendency to understate what Starks' pass rush ability does for the pass rush in general, because he's a DT and we tend to think all the pressure comes from the OLBs...but Rosevelt Colvin? Was he really a phenomenal pass rusher? Was Mike Vrabel a phenomenal pure pass rusher? No, it was all about the damage that Vince Wilfork and Richard Seymour could do, I guess maybe you toss some Jarvis Green and Ty Warren in there.

I tend to think it'll work out. In Denver on first/second downs, the front was Kenny Peterson, Ronald Fields and Ryan McBean, with Mario Haggan and Elvis Dumervil on the outsides. Then on third downs it was Robert Ayers and Elvis Dumervil on the outsides, usually tended to be Vonnie Holliday and Darrell Reid on the inside. If that worked, then I have to think Miami's setup with Langford, Starks, Odrick/Merling on the inside and Misi/Wake on the outside, with the third down going to Odrick and Starks with Misi and Wake on the outside...should work at least as well.
 
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