Offensive Line

[Finman1022]

One thing that really bothered me was that Gase never adjusted to the vikings pass rush. When the other team is bringing that type of pressure you need to do different things to slow that pass rush down. Maybe a RB screen or a draw play. Quick 2 steps slants could work too. You want to get the ball out quick so those are the type of plays I was expecting. Instead Gase was calling for Tannehill to drop back and pretty much just take the sack. PA on 1st down, roll outs and bootlegs. ANYTHING to slow that rush but nope, we kept doing the same thing time after time. When your O-line is struggling you need to help the O-line and running the same plays over and over that haven't worked all day is not the way to help your O-line.

Anyone that knows anything about football would have adjusted with everything you said. Apparently Gase doesn’t believe in that. I’m so done with this clown. He is horrible. No excuses totally unacceptable! Ross please start talking to real Football people that know the game and get some advice. You have the power Mr. Ross use it please!

 

[CoryMatthews]

Anyone that knows anything about football would have adjusted with everything you said. Apparently Gase doesn’t believe in that. I’m so done with this clown. He is horrible. No excuses totally unacceptable! Ross please start talking to real Football people that know the game and get some advice. You have the power Mr. Ross use it please!

It really only goes to show you that he was 0% responsible for anything in Denver. Peyton told him what he was going to run, and Gase just sat there with a dumb look on his face and nodded his head.

 

[pags77]

Starting a guy like Larsen tells you that our depth is a problem which is a personnel problem.
Letting simple stunts like having a DE loop behind a DT getting through with regularity is a coaching issue. That's a stunt we ran when I played HS ball in the mid 80's for peets sake. That's coaching. I honestly don't know who the OL coach is after cocaine gate but they need a pink slip at the conclusion of this season.
The combination of lack of talent and poor coaching produces the hot garbage we have had to watch for most of the season. I mean when the defense can pin their ears back because they know we have to pass we have 0% chance at completing any plays. There is often a defender on top of Tannehill before he can complete a 3 step drop...just awful.

 

[Daytona Fin]

How can our line, in the 14th game of the season no less, play like it's the first game of preseason? This last game was beyond appalling. We couldn't open holes for the run game (beyond the 75 rd Ballage run), we certainly could not pass block. We had no clue how to pick up blitzes and stunts, and I saw a few plays where we would double team one guy and let another go untouched!!
This drives me absolutely crazy! Is the talent that bad? I mean Tunsil is getting some press for a pro-bowl bid. James usually is solid but has a few mental breakdowns here and there. Davis and Swanson are up and down, but Larsen is well below average. I still think they should provide some plays where they can pass block for 4 seconds.
Is it the zone scheme? Is it the coaching? I just don't understand how these guys can perform that bad after 14 games. They practice this stuff during the week right?

This last game explains why my bottle of Evan William is almost gone.

FWIW, we only had one sack for a loss in the 1st preseason game.

 

[hoops]

Gase said it right in his presser. The entire offense owns it this week including his coaching staff and gase.

Complete failure

 

[dolfan91]

I completely agree with this. Elite quarterbacks can get away with 4-wide and 5-wide and empty sets. But it is a detriment to average and lesser quarterbacks. That has been my argument for more than a decade.

The Cream quarterbacks make the proper reads and adjustments pre snap, and likewise diagnose immediately once the play is underway. But with lower tier quarterbacks the defense has no fear and once you give them that unprotected aspect they salivate to rotate forward and attack.

Unfortunately the young coaches and coordinators don't differentiate based on caliber of quarterback. They see something that works for elite quarterbacks and immediately want to put it into play on their team.

It would be like a shorter hitting PGA pro watching Dustin Johnson or Bubba Watson carry a 300 yard lake and brainstorming to give it a whirl himself.

The thing I've noticed, is the 5 WR set and putrid Offensive Line play goes as far back as Joe Philbin. Tannehill was getting hammered back then, in the 5 WR set. To think, a professional football coach like Adam Gase hasn't adjusted, is a detriment to his ability as a coach IMHO.

 

[Jay131866]

Our position coaching at numerous positions is garbage. Certain positions you notice players are not getting better or developing (OL, TE, WR to name a few) like they should.

Our issues w the line are:
1) Lack of depth/talent
2) Bad coaching
3) Bad support in blocking game by RB's and some TE's

Juwaun James for ex, how can you play so good against the Pats, and then follow it up with a garbage game last week? That guy drives me nuts with his inconsistency.

 

[fansinceGWilson]

How can our line, in the 14th game of the season no less, play like it's the first game of preseason? This last game was beyond appalling. We couldn't open holes for the run game (beyond the 75 rd Ballage run), we certainly could not pass block. We had no clue how to pick up blitzes and stunts, and I saw a few plays where we would double team one guy and let another go untouched!!
This drives me absolutely crazy! Is the talent that bad? I mean Tunsil is getting some press for a pro-bowl bid. James usually is solid but has a few mental breakdowns here and there. Davis and Swanson are up and down, but Larsen is well below average. I still think they should provide some plays where they can pass block for 4 seconds.
Is it the zone scheme? Is it the coaching? I just don't understand how these guys can perform that bad after 14 games. They practice this stuff during the week right?

This last game explains why my bottle of Evan William is almost gone.

I said all last summer it would take 4-6 games for the OL to gel. Thus, I can understand problems in September. Here it is in December and the problems still exist. To be fair, there have been changes in the OL and some of the blame goes to the RBs/TEs. To show my bias, a REAL OC would have made adjustments at, say, sack 3.

 

[Avalanche of Wins]

Im dramatizing but watching gase on the sidelines its almost like he is trying to point a point to someone upstairs that this **** isn't going to work with the groceries you guys are giving me.

 

[Daytona Fin]

Im dramatizing but watching gase on the sidelines its almost like he is trying to point a point to someone upstairs that this **** isn't going to work with the groceries you guys are giving me.

It's his grocery list and he gets to decide which groceries are kept and which get tossed out. Hopefully the shop owner sees that his recipes suck.

 

[Geordie]

"A QB who's poor on 3rd downs and has bad pocket presence will never have an offensive line that's good enough.."

Joe Philbin 2014

Wow did Philbin really say that, have new respect for the guy, it's absolutely spot on. I'm a little fed up with these threads about how bad our line is, it's just way too simplistic to blame them for everything. It's as if we are alone, there are plenty of bad Olines up and down the league. There's only about a handful if that many of competent ones. You've just got to get on with it and work around them, make adjustments, move your QB around, anticipate stuff, other teams manage to do it.

 

[Avigatorx]

"A QB who's poor on 3rd downs and has bad pocket presence will never have an offensive line that's good enough.."

Joe Philbin 2014

Where did you find that quote?

 

[Avigatorx]

I said all last summer it would take 4-6 games for the OL to gel. Thus, I can understand problems in September. Here it is in December and the problems still exist. To be fair, there have been changes in the OL and some of the blame goes to the RBs/TEs. To show my bias, a REAL OC would have made adjustments at, say, sack 3.

I've seen games where Belichick put 6 oline men in to keep Brady upright.

 

[gofins60]

The thing I've noticed, is the 5 WR set and putrid Offensive Line play goes as far back as Joe Philbin. Tannehill was getting hammered back then, in the 5 WR set. To think, a professional football coach like Adam Gase hasn't adjusted, is a detriment to his ability as a coach IMHO.

Gase is basically just a continuation of Philbin, and an even worse one at that. After he was hired, Gase said that he prefers the short passing game, same as Philbin. And, Gase hired an ex-Bengals defensive coach (Joseph) as DC; same as Coyle. After Joseph took the Denver job, Gase said that he was expecting that, and this was the reason why they had Burke (another ex-Bengals coach) in line to replace Joseph so they could continue running the same defense. Philbin didn't want nasty, old-school o-linemen, so he brought in his type of o-linemen to execute his style of blocking schemes. The results were pitiful, and Gase has also continued this legacy of poor o-line play. Sparano's o-line was competent, with the exception of one or two turnstiles at RT. The o-line under Philbin and Gase couldn't block a troop of angry girl scouts. Nolan's defense was Top 5 against the run. The defense under Coyle, Joseph, and Burke are probably #1 at giving up huge running plays.

Hiring Philbin began the headlong dive into the toilet, and Gase continued to take the team right down into the sewer. It's been 7 years of pretty much the same offense and defense, so dolfan91 is spot on with his post!

 

[AJ Duhe]

Coaching 100%. ZBS requires more focus from the players, but there is something fundamentally wrong with the teaching from this entire coaching staff.

I think I heard this from Chris Koufmann on the 3YPC podcast. He talked about other coaches around the league that he’s spoken to about the Dolphins, and the O-line techniques that they’re teaching from footwork to hand placement are questionable. I think James is especially susceptible to technique breakdowns. He seems to be over thinking some things and it prevents his natural athleticism from providing consistency to his play.