Our Defense.. Stronger? Weaker? The Same?

[DolfanDaveInMI]

My view of our defense is as follows.

ENDS: If Grigsby and D. Bowens are Ogunleye's backups, better. If one of them has to start, somewhat worse.

TACKLES: Slightly worse only because our three main horses are another year older. I doubt that T. Bowens and Zgonina have much left in the tank.

LINEBACKERS: Better because it looks like we'll have three young quality backups in Moore/Greenwood, Bua, and Pope.

CORNERS: Much better because we replaced Fletcher with Poole and Howard.

SAFETIES: Somewhat worse because of the injuries to Wooden and Akins, but can be remedied by bringing in another veteran, perhaps even after the first cut-down.

Obviously, we won't know for sure how good our defense is until Sept. 12, but on paper, I think we're a little better than last year.

 

[MrClean]

To me forcing turnovers is what you want from a defense more than any other single aspect. Teams with a positive turnover ratio and time of possession win far more than they lose.
This leads me to a troubling Wannstedt quote made recently about Will Poole. While marveling about how Poole is so opportunistic, does such a good job of stripping the ball, forcing turnovers, etc, Dave said something like "you don't coach that."
I beg to differ, you certainly can coach that. Think of for example the Broncos back when Joel Collier's father, Joe, was the defensive coordinator. They weren't an extremely talented bunch overall, but they were coached up to go for the ball, strip the ball, tackle the ball first then the ball carrier. They were very effective in this regard and nothing demoralizes an offense any more than to drive the ball 60 yards or so, then to lose it on a forced fumble. There are other coaches and teams over the years who also emphasize and preach about how to go for the strip, but Collier comes to mind now with how the Broncos/Browns games from the mid 80s have been played so much on NFL Network lately. The strip of Ernest Byner just before he would have scored the winning TD in the 87 AFC Championship by some obscure Broncos DB named Jeremiah Castille, illustrates perfectly what Collier taught his defenders to do.
Poole said the Pete Carroll preached it too, that the ball was the key to the game. About Carroll, Poole said: "He told us that the offense needed it, and it was the defense's job to get it. He wanted us to go after it at every chance."

I'd love to hear that Wannstedt and Bates are preaching and emphasizing this ideology.

 

[dropKickMurphy]

Ricky's retirement will have a huge impact on the D as well as the O. Without him carrying the ball, eating the clock, the D will be on the field for more minutes every game. Nothing wears down a D like having the O go 3-and-out...which may be happening quite often for Miami this year. Particularly when Miami is facing strong defensive teams like New England and Buffalo.
If that's the case, expect to see your D wearing down in the 4th quarter. There is certainly plenty of talent in your D. The trick will be in keeping them off the field long enough to stay fresh.

 

[MrClean]

My view of our defense is as follows.

ENDS: If Grigsby and D. Bowens are Ogunleye's backups, better. If one of them has to start, somewhat worse.

TACKLES: Slightly worse only because our three main horses are another year older. I doubt that T. Bowens and Zgonina have much left in the tank.

LINEBACKERS: Better because it looks like we'll have three young quality backups in Moore/Greenwood, Bua, and Pope.

CORNERS: Much better because we replaced Fletcher with Poole and Howard.

SAFETIES: Somewhat worse because of the injuries to Wooden and Akins, but can be remedied by bringing in another veteran, perhaps even after the first cut-down.

Obviously, we won't know for sure how good our defense is until Sept. 12, but on paper, I think we're a little better than last year.

I basically agree with all of what you say here. I would expect though that IF Ogun doesn't sign that we'll see Jay Williams on run downs and Bowens on passing downs. Another way not having Ogun limits us is that D Bowens is very effective lining up at DT on passing downs and getting some inside pressure.
Timbo has to be slowing down a little, he has been clogging the middle for us for what seems like forever. Based on his longevity, durability and the way our run defense seemed to move to a higher level since his first game as a rookie, I'd just like to put in a plug for him as our best DT ever. :up:
I think, depending on Antuan Edwards staying healthy that our safeties can be better than last year too. He is the most talented safety we have from a pass coverage aspect. We will miss Akins and Wooden, but more on specials than on defense, because IMO neither would have played much, even in nickel and dime packages, when you have Howard and Poole to play nickel and dime, and that still leaves the non starter between Freeman and Edwards too who would play on D before Akins or Wooden would have.
I hope we can get a veteran like Gerald McBurrows to take the place of Akins as a special teams maven.

 

[rafael]

To me forcing turnovers is what you want from a defense more than any other single aspect. Teams with a positive turnover ratio and time of possession win far more than they lose.
This leads me to a troubling Wannstedt quote made recently about Will Poole. While marveling about how Poole is so opportunistic, does such a good job of stripping the ball, forcing turnovers, etc, Dave said something like "you don't coach that."
I beg to differ, you certainly can coach that. Think of for example the Broncos back when Joel Collier's father, Joe, was the defensive coordinator. They weren't an extremely talented bunch overall, but they were coached up to go for the ball, strip the ball, tackle the ball first then the ball carrier. They were very effective in this regard and nothing demoralizes an offense any more than to drive the ball 60 yards or so, then to lose it on a forced fumble. There are other coaches and teams over the years who also emphasize and preach about how to go for the strip, but Collier comes to mind now with how the Broncos/Browns games from the mid 80s have been played so much on NFL Network lately. The strip of Ernest Byner just before he would have scored the winning TD in the 87 AFC Championship by some obscure Broncos DB named Jeremiah Castille, illustrates perfectly what Collier taught his defenders to do.
Poole said the Pete Carroll preached it too, that the ball was the key to the game. About Carroll, Poole said: "He told us that the offense needed it, and it was the defense's job to get it. He wanted us to go after it at every chance."

I'd love to hear that Wannstedt and Bates are preaching and emphasizing this ideology.

In that same article Wannstedt remarked that they spent a great deal of time on stripping/going for the ball. What he said they can't coach is the instincts Poole has.

 

[PhinsTD]

Poole also only played for Carroll for one year, I doubt you can remake a players entire game in one year.

Going for teh ball and not the man is exactly where big plays come as the direct result of missed tackles.

The correct way to do it is, the first guy goes for the man and each subsequent defender goes for the ball. I'd like to see some swarming and going for the ball this year. Too foten last year we had defenders standing and watching while expecting someone else to make the tackle.

Hit and wrap and swarm! Make them HURT every time you hit them and make them never want to feel that again. If a team is scared of how physical you are than they aren't going to be too keen to come back for more.

 

[MrClean]

In that same article Wannstedt remarked that they spent a great deal of time on stripping/going for the ball. What he said they can't coach is the instincts Poole has.

I got it from this article:
http://www.miamidolphins.com/pressbox/pressreleases/pressreleases.asp?contentID=3350

"The guy makes plays," Dolphins Head Coach Dave Wannstedt said. "He strips the ball. He made a hit today on the run early on in team drills. Yesterday in two minute drills, we handed off twice because it was raining to Travis (Minor) on two draws and Travis goes ripping through there for about 15 yards, and Will Poole strips the ball and recovers the fumble. You don’t coach that."

Maybe it is two different articles, b/c it does not appear from this quote that he is referring to instincts, but about how Poole makes plays stripping the ball and that you don't coach that.

 

[Kistner10]

The last couple of years our defense has been exposed in nickel and dime situations. Wasn't it during the Texan game when Madison went down for a couple of series and Carr hooked up on a deep pass against Fletcher?? And for our DT's, Larry Chester is in the best shape of his life according to everyone. So we should still have another year of Chester, Bowens, and Zgonia.