Tiko377
Active Roster
PHOENIX — The Dolphins defense played so poorly down the stretch last year that Miami is giving tackle Ndamukong Suh $60 million over the next three seasons to fix it.
But he’ll be led by defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle, who oversaw last season’s collapse. The Dolphins gave up an average of 32 points in the final six games, going 2-4 in that span and missing the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.
Coach Joe Philbin, speaking Tuesday at the NFL’s league meetings in Phoenix, explained for the first time why he decided to keep Coyle and how the defense can be corrected.
“I took some time at the end of the season and looked at things a lot of different ways,” Philbin said. “I looked at things on paper. I looked at things on tape. And really it was based on a three-year body of work as opposed to a five- or six-game slide.”
Philbin and Coyle arrived in 2012. Miami was No. 7 of 32 teams in scoring defense that year.
In 2013, the Dolphins were No. 9. Last season, they dropped to No. 20.
“Over a three-year period — even after that five- or six-game slide — I believe we were 10th in the National Football League in scoring defense,” Philbin said. “We have to coach better, but at the end of the day I felt it was the best thing for us moving forward.”
So how can Coyle turn the defense around? Having Suh should help, but Philbin said the team was trying at times to do too much defensively.
“We need to kind of simplify a little bit,” he said. “We had too many personnel packages, too many combinations.”
Philbin said it could be difficult for players to prepare for an opponent when they have so many different packages, which can throw off an opposing offense but also gives the defense added responsibilities.
“We have to have more things we can hang our hat on,” Philbin said. “It’s the core principles of defensive football we have to get back to — simple things like block protection. Our tackling wasn’t good enough.”
While the Dolphins might have spent too much time last year creating exotic defensive packages, having Suh on their side will now force opposing coaches to spend much of the week figuring out how to stop the NFL’s highest paid defensive player.
“He’s quick, he’s athletic, he’s strong, he’s powerful,” Philbin said. “He’s somebody you have to think about as you’re sitting there Tuesday night, game-planning things — how are you going to pass protect, run away from him, run to him, double team him?”
Last season, Suh played around 80 percent of Detroit’s defensive snaps — an unusually high percentage for a defensive tackle. Dolphins general manager Dennis Hickey said he expects Suh to do the same in Miami.
In 2014, the Dolphins used a three-man rotation at tackle of Jared Odrick, Earl Mitchell and Randy Starks. Odrick and Starks are gone.
If the Dolphins don’t sign another tackle or select one early in the draft, Hickey said they are preparing to move forward with Suh and Mitchell as the top two tackles and young reserves A.J. Francis, Anthony Johnson and Kamal Johnson in the mix for reps.
“Bringing Suh in changes the landscape,” Hickey said. “He’s an elite player at the position, a premier player in his prime. We like what Earl Mitchell did last year. So we feel good about that depth.”
Linebacker seems more shaky, although Philbin and Hickey said Koa Misi is still projected as the team’s middle linebacker.
Misi moved from the strong-side to inside last year, but missed five games due to various injuries. He was solid, but not spectacular, when healthy.
As of now, the Dolphins would have Misi in the middle, Jelani Jenkins at weak-side and Chris McCain — who played sparingly as a rookie — as the strong-side linebacker.
That could change if the Dolphins select a linebacker early in the draft. But one player who likely won’t be counted at linebacker is Dion Jordan.
Jordan, the draft’s No. 3 overall pick in 2013, has been a bust early in his career. He’s a defensive end who’s buried in the rotation and the team has been considering moving him to linebacker.
It’s not likely to happen.
“Right now, I feel like we’re going to utilize him as a defensive end,” Philbin said. “We want to get his training there so he can continually develop his pass-rushing ability.”
There continues to be depth issues on defense, including the secondary, which has a Pro Bowl cornerback in Brent Grimes and a top-tier safety in Reshad Jones but could use upgrades elsewhere.
But there’s still time to fill out the roster and Philbin vows to fix the defense — especially with Miami’s offense emerging last year and the defense uncharacteristically letting it down.
“The last five or six games defensively was not the type of defense we want to be playing with the Miami Dolphins,” Philbin said. “It has to be better than that.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/s...ked-at-body-of-work-in-retaining-coyle/nkdrg/
But he’ll be led by defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle, who oversaw last season’s collapse. The Dolphins gave up an average of 32 points in the final six games, going 2-4 in that span and missing the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.
Coach Joe Philbin, speaking Tuesday at the NFL’s league meetings in Phoenix, explained for the first time why he decided to keep Coyle and how the defense can be corrected.
“I took some time at the end of the season and looked at things a lot of different ways,” Philbin said. “I looked at things on paper. I looked at things on tape. And really it was based on a three-year body of work as opposed to a five- or six-game slide.”
Philbin and Coyle arrived in 2012. Miami was No. 7 of 32 teams in scoring defense that year.
In 2013, the Dolphins were No. 9. Last season, they dropped to No. 20.
“Over a three-year period — even after that five- or six-game slide — I believe we were 10th in the National Football League in scoring defense,” Philbin said. “We have to coach better, but at the end of the day I felt it was the best thing for us moving forward.”
So how can Coyle turn the defense around? Having Suh should help, but Philbin said the team was trying at times to do too much defensively.
“We need to kind of simplify a little bit,” he said. “We had too many personnel packages, too many combinations.”
Philbin said it could be difficult for players to prepare for an opponent when they have so many different packages, which can throw off an opposing offense but also gives the defense added responsibilities.
“We have to have more things we can hang our hat on,” Philbin said. “It’s the core principles of defensive football we have to get back to — simple things like block protection. Our tackling wasn’t good enough.”
While the Dolphins might have spent too much time last year creating exotic defensive packages, having Suh on their side will now force opposing coaches to spend much of the week figuring out how to stop the NFL’s highest paid defensive player.
“He’s quick, he’s athletic, he’s strong, he’s powerful,” Philbin said. “He’s somebody you have to think about as you’re sitting there Tuesday night, game-planning things — how are you going to pass protect, run away from him, run to him, double team him?”
Last season, Suh played around 80 percent of Detroit’s defensive snaps — an unusually high percentage for a defensive tackle. Dolphins general manager Dennis Hickey said he expects Suh to do the same in Miami.
In 2014, the Dolphins used a three-man rotation at tackle of Jared Odrick, Earl Mitchell and Randy Starks. Odrick and Starks are gone.
If the Dolphins don’t sign another tackle or select one early in the draft, Hickey said they are preparing to move forward with Suh and Mitchell as the top two tackles and young reserves A.J. Francis, Anthony Johnson and Kamal Johnson in the mix for reps.
“Bringing Suh in changes the landscape,” Hickey said. “He’s an elite player at the position, a premier player in his prime. We like what Earl Mitchell did last year. So we feel good about that depth.”
Linebacker seems more shaky, although Philbin and Hickey said Koa Misi is still projected as the team’s middle linebacker.
Misi moved from the strong-side to inside last year, but missed five games due to various injuries. He was solid, but not spectacular, when healthy.
As of now, the Dolphins would have Misi in the middle, Jelani Jenkins at weak-side and Chris McCain — who played sparingly as a rookie — as the strong-side linebacker.
That could change if the Dolphins select a linebacker early in the draft. But one player who likely won’t be counted at linebacker is Dion Jordan.
Jordan, the draft’s No. 3 overall pick in 2013, has been a bust early in his career. He’s a defensive end who’s buried in the rotation and the team has been considering moving him to linebacker.
It’s not likely to happen.
“Right now, I feel like we’re going to utilize him as a defensive end,” Philbin said. “We want to get his training there so he can continually develop his pass-rushing ability.”
There continues to be depth issues on defense, including the secondary, which has a Pro Bowl cornerback in Brent Grimes and a top-tier safety in Reshad Jones but could use upgrades elsewhere.
But there’s still time to fill out the roster and Philbin vows to fix the defense — especially with Miami’s offense emerging last year and the defense uncharacteristically letting it down.
“The last five or six games defensively was not the type of defense we want to be playing with the Miami Dolphins,” Philbin said. “It has to be better than that.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/s...ked-at-body-of-work-in-retaining-coyle/nkdrg/