O-Line - worst to first? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

O-Line - worst to first?

Rich

Rich

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OL Stats - week 10
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol.php
Miami's o-line has improved from 22nd in the league(week 8), to 16th(week 10).
Here are the run-blocking league rankings:
* LT McIntosh/Shelton - 3.34 YPC (22)
LG Jeno James - 5.53 YPC (4)
C Rex Hadnot - 3.50 YPC (30)
RG Combination - 5.27 YPC (2)
RT Vernon Carey - 5.93 YPC (1)
At Left Tackle, Shelton averaged 1.28 YPC... McIntosh averages 5 YPC... and has raised the season average at that position to 3.34 YPC.

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Miami's pass-protection, which was ranked 30th in the league, has improved to 20th... ie they are not giving up many sacks. They will finish above average after a miserable start.
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By the end of the year... I think McIntosh will be ranked in the top 10. This means we will have 4 o-linemen ranked as top-10 in the league. We MAY have one of the top 10 ranked offensive lines by the end of the year.

Moving Shelton to Right Guard appears to be a complete success. He is an expensive guard. But then again, he is a lot cheaper than a Steve Hutchinson. It appears Hadnot is the weakest link now.

Pretty impressive turn-around for an o-line that looked miserable for the first 5 weeks of the season.

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Since the McIntosh/Shelton swap, Ronnie's rushing has increased from 55.8 YPG to 108 YPG.
 
I believe Hadnot will improve its like his rookie season as a center. But I believe hes going to be there for a long time.
 
The right side is pretty good. It's the left which is bad. McIntosh is a good backup, but we need a franchise LT.
 
I agree that McIntosh was total crap in 2004. He left a terrible first impression. With coaching from Hauck, he has silently become one of the top-10 left tackles in football. He actually ranked 6th in run-blocking last year. In hindsight, speilman was right about this guy. He would have been right on Olin Kreutz and John Tait, had they decided to sign. Spielman was wrong not to keep Todd Wade.

Seeing that the dolphins don't have an adequate backup at either Left Tackle or Right Tackle, I'm all for drafting a Left Tackle for the future. I wouldn't expect that guy to start next year though. Mac has quietly turned into a GOOD LT, who has exceeded my expectations.
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Any thoughts on swapping Vernon Carey and Damion McIntosh? It was originally thought that he had Left Tackle potential. Seeing that he is ranked the #1 RT in the game, I might flip them next year.
 
You know after listening to these updates on the line and how we keep going up in like all of our rankings. Makes you wonder if we couldv'e been undefeated up to this point of the season.
 
We should have beat the Jets and Texans. If we played them like we played the last 2 weeks, these would have been victories.

Sometimes you get outcoached, so it's hard to win them all. You really need superior talent to do that, which is rare in this day with Free Agency.

The offense will need to score more points for the remainder of the season, if we want to win more games. Saban said that the goal on defense is to keep the opponent under 13 points. This is a good goal. However, allowing as many as 13 points would not have won the KC or Tenessee Games (13-10 victories).

The KC win probably shows that at the beginning of the season, we were as bad as Tenessee, and now we are as good as Kansas City. From one of the worst teams to above average(C+/B-).

Now IF ONLY the offense can score 21 points and avoid turnovers, we could become an Elite team.
 
Rich said:
We should have beat the Jets and Texans. If we played them like we played the last 2 weeks, these would have been victories.
Click to expand...

Yup, and the Steelers too, based on how they've been doing... Such a shame that we can't find our mojo until it's too late.
 
Looks like this will be the 3rd year in a row, we will play better in the 2nd half, than the first half of the season.

Somebody has to inform the Coach that the year starts in September, and not November. :)
 
well i think shelton is better suited for right guard, he is a bigger guy and couldn't move fast enough to catch those speed rushers mcintosh has more agility and quicker speed off the ball
 
Rich said:
Looks like this will be the 3rd year in a row, we will play better in the 2nd half, than the first half of the season.

Somebody has to inform the Coach that the year starts in September, and not November. :)
Click to expand...

well at the end of the season we will see how we played at the end of the season. if we can pull off wins at minnesota and detroit then we may be in more luck then as of right now

one game at a time amigo!
 
Great post Rich...Carey definitely looks like he is playing at a pro bowl level. It will be interesting to see what happens with Fonoti when/if he becomes a starter. I know Jeno is hurt right now, but how do you see the starting OL assuming all are healthy?
 
Good things happen to the whole offense (even the OL) when you put in a QB who can read the defense and get rid of the football with a sense of urgency.
 
Rich said:
I agree that McIntosh was total crap in 2004. He left a terrible first impression. With coaching from Hauck, he has silently become one of the top-10 left tackles in football. He actually ranked 6th in run-blocking last year. In hindsight, speilman was right about this guy. He would have been right on Olin Kreutz and John Tait, had they decided to sign. Spielman was wrong not to keep Todd Wade.

Seeing that the dolphins don't have an adequate backup at either Left Tackle or Right Tackle, I'm all for drafting a Left Tackle for the future. I wouldn't expect that guy to start next year though. Mac has quietly turned into a GOOD LT, who has exceeded my expectations.
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Any thoughts on swapping Vernon Carey and Damion McIntosh? It was originally thought that he had Left Tackle potential. Seeing that he is ranked the #1 RT in the game, I might flip them next year.
Click to expand...


This is really Rick Spielman, isn't it "Rich" :wink: ....?
:lol:
 
I've never seen Fonoti play. Seems impossible to judge.

Jeno had a bad year, but anybody playing injured would. When Jeno knew the dolphins were running left, he put in extra effort. Otherwise, he had trouble moving around. His arthritic knee doesn't seem good, though.

It seems for next year, we have 2 good tackles. we're over-loaded at Guard (James, Shelton, Jacox, Fonoti, Berger, Toledo, Anderson, McKinney). Anderson and McKinney are likely gone.

McKinney has a chance to stick, if Hadnot doesn't improve. if McKinney does stick around, he probably signs for the minimum. He is good value to bring in for training camp competition. McKinney is not a long-term answer though.

Hadnot is a backup center. I'd kind of like to see what Berger can do there.

I'd expect to see another Tackle and Center brought in next year to compete. Either via Free Agency(Center) or Draft(Tackle).
 
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