I think David Bowens was the most overlooked man on the defense. He was the second-best down pass rusher on the team and the value in the guy that holds that title should not be under-estimated!
How often do teams put you into a nickel or dime set? Pretty often. One year I remember it was 52% of all defensive downs. When that happens, you've got to field a four-man line and they've got to be able to pass rush.
In 2005-06, what did we do when that happened? We had a good four-man line to fall back on. Kevin Carter slid into LDT, Vonnie Holliday slid into RDT, Jason Taylor came up from ROLB to RDE, and David Bowens would come onto the field at LDE. We had a stunting style that depended on chemistry, and these guys were smart, athletic and well-rounded enough to be outright dangerous. In 2005, those four combined for 30.0 sacks. In 2006, they combined for 31.0 sacks.
In 2007, the new cast of sackers, Jason Taylor, Vonnie Holliday, Joey Porter and Matt Roth...combined for 21.5 sacks. And, it should be kept in mind that after seeing what a complete failure it was in the first half of the year, by the New England game I believe Miami had stopped bothering to try and have Joey Porter replace David Bowens in these formations. Joey got all 5.5 of his sacks after he'd stopped playing in that role, as far as I know. From there Miami had a heck of a time trying to experiment with ways to get effectiveness out of a four-man unit. They had Rodrique Wright playing DT while Roth shifted back out to DE. They had Quentin Moses come out to DE. Chase Page was a failure whenever and wherever he played. Steven Fifita and Paul Soliai couldn't hold Jeff Zgonina's jock strap.
As much crap as Matt Roth takes for his bad showing in Kevin Carter's stead, really I think the loss of David Bowens was just as big, when you consider how Miami's inability to stop the run in 2007 truly exposed the loss of David Bowens rather than allowing them to cover for it. You NEED to be able to whip up a pass rush in passing situations. Why do you think we had such a terrible time in 3rd & Long situations?
This is why I see Phil Merling as being a direct replacement (and hopefully an upgrade) for what we were missing when we allowed David Bowens to walk. Kendall Langford can hopefully just be a better replacement for Kevin Carter than Matt Roth was.
Again, I didn't disagree with you really. You might consider re-reading my earlier post. If I gave you the message that I didn't value Bowens, then I didn't get my point accross. But, I think Carter was more valuable than Bowens to us. Here's a few more items to consider in the analysis:
You're looking at Bowens' production in a season that had Carter too, and since Carter is such a strong physical presence, that really takes a lot out of an OL going up against him, and guys like both Bowens and Roth benefitted from that. If you are looking at Bowens' production from 2006, I think it's also fair to look at Roth's production in 2006, which isn't that far behind Bowens to be honest.
And while we're looking at 2006, it probably bears mentioning that everyone was younger and we had a healhty Zach Thomas. Given that Traylor, Carter and Holiday--3 of our 4 DL guys in 2006--were all old players by NFL standards, an extra year can prove troublesome, and I think it did for Traylor and Holiday, the two we kept. Traylor just couldn't play more than a down or two before having to come out, and offenses knew that. Holiday suffered a poor season, and there are several excuses you can use, but let's face it, he wasn't up to his 2006 standards.
At Linebacker, Taylor really benefitted from Saban's hybrid role. And as much as we enjoy villifying Saban, he fielded a very strong defense, which was his specialty. In 2007 Taylor didn't enjoy the same level of success. Similarly, while Saban required a lot more of his secondary guys, and was universally disliked by them, our secondary was a lot more productive under Saban. You can cite the front 7 play as being better or whatever, but the result was that Saban fielded a good defense, once Saban left, what was essentially that same core defense really broke down.
The other thing to recognize is that Zach Thomas was the cornerstone of our defense, and as has been the case since he joined Miami, when he was out injured we have struggled. His absence for the vast majority of the 2007 season really hurt.
So, when comparing the Bowens to Roth, I think it's worth acknowledging that in 2007 we didn't have the same caliber of player or coaching style as we did in 2006. Yes, the DC was the same, but Saban coached our defense extensively, Cam did not. The loss of Carter and Zach had huge impacts on our team. I'm not saying losing Bowens was a good idea, because I didn't want him to go either, but as I mentioned earlier, I was even more disappointed to learn we were letting Carter go, as he was a legitimate rock on our front line.
As for Merling, I realize you see him as having the skills and ability to play at OLB eventually. We disagree on this point, but that's OK. I think Merling's quickness will be a real asset as a 34 DE in passing situations, and playing DE really complements his strengths which are run stuffing and length.
I think eventually Langford and Merling can cause problems along the DL, with Langford more of a pocket pusher and Merling more of a quick guy who may demand a double-team just to keep out of the equation. This should do what Parcells loves best, free up his OLB's to pin their ears back and pressure the QB. Ultimately, I think these draft picks will protect our secondary in passing situations, because they have the size and ability to play as 34 DL guys, plus the quickness to generate some pass rush. I can see Langford and Merling developing into a 3 down DL. Langford may play DE for first and second down and shift over to NT for 3rd down play, but the two of them should be a solid part of our DL rotation in the future.
