Players who performed better than you thought they would in 2013 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Players who performed better than you thought they would in 2013

circumstances

circumstances

Parge Lenis
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Now, on the bright side. In a season where so many players played below what I was hoping out of them, who exceeded your expectations in 2013?

Off the top of my head, my picks would be:

Brent Grimes (I knew he was a good player, but coming off an Achilles I didn't imagine he would be this good)

Brandon Gibson (was really beginning to dominate from the slot when he went down. i liked it when we signed him (clear upgrade over bess), but had no real idea of his level of skill)

Dimitri Patterson (had no idea he was going to be the ballhawk he was, when he was healthy enough to get on the field)

Nolan Carroll (not a superstar, by any stretch of the imagination, but played better than I ever thought he would. very fortunate with patterson's groin issue never going away)

Jimmy Wilson (see nolan carroll)

Charles Clay (I knew he was good for a mismatch exploitation here and there for a big play, I was not expecting him to put together the type of season he had. Just the runs after catches and broken tackles he had were some of my favorite plays of the season)

Rishard Matthews (really stepped up for us when Gibson went down)

Sam Brenner (any time a practice squad guy comes in and starts a game, it should mean the expectations were exceeded)

Don Jones (his early season special teams play was phenomenal. harry douglas is still having nightmares about that body slam)

Olivier Vernon (much more improvement, and more consistent play than i ever expected)

Derrick Shelby (got a lot of snaps in the D-line rotation due to his solid play)

Michael Thomas (not on the team until the last few games. but deserves a mention for AFC defensive player of the week and his play at the end of the Pats game)

If you have any players of your own that I didn't list, who and why? If you disagree with any of my picks, why?
 
Brandon Gibson impressed the hell out of me. I hope his rehab goes well. He's a keeper, IMO.
 
Clay stepped big for us, he showed the potential last year.
 
better than i thought they would...patterson and gibson probably the only 2 really...gibson once i saw him in the preseason win against inside coverage i knew we were good there...patterson i never thought would look like he did when he played...

i knew clay had a role and was critical but i didnt know he'd take the read coverage and leverage part of things as well as he did this year...was very inconsistent in 2012...and he developed a quick win to the inside when flexed wide ability in the red

i always thought vernons pass rush had more to it...
 
Clay,well,.. doing better than what i thought he could,DID have a bunch of drops...
Most of our recievers had alot of drops this year,if I'm not mistaken.
 
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Without a doubt-

Clay Gibson Patterson and Vernon. Did not expect them to look so good.
 
Vernon and Mathews. Mathews only played cause of the injury to Gibson and he made the most of it. I don't think Vernon is great or nothing but he did better than I expected.

Ozzy rules!!
 
With all of these overachievers, we should have made the playoffs.
 
circumstances said:
Now, on the bright side. In a season where so many players played below what I was hoping out of them, who exceeded your expectations in 2013?

Off the top of my head, my picks would be:

Brent Grimes (I knew he was a good player, but coming off an Achilles I didn't imagine he would be this good)

Brandon Gibson (was really beginning to dominate from the slot when he went down. i liked it when we signed him (clear upgrade over bess), but had no real idea of his level of skill)

Dimitri Patterson (had no idea he was going to be the ballhawk he was, when he was healthy enough to get on the field)

Nolan Carroll (not a superstar, by any stretch of the imagination, but played better than I ever thought he would. very fortunate with patterson's groin issue never going away)

Jimmy Wilson (see nolan carroll)

Charles Clay (I knew he was good for a mismatch exploitation here and there for a big play, I was not expecting him to put together the type of season he had. Just the runs after catches and broken tackles he had were some of my favorite plays of the season)

Rishard Matthews (really stepped up for us when Gibson went down)

Sam Brenner (any time a practice squad guy comes in and starts a game, it should mean the expectations were exceeded)

Don Jones (his early season special teams play was phenomenal. harry douglas is still having nightmares about that body slam)

Olivier Vernon (much more improvement, and more consistent play than i ever expected)

Derrick Shelby (got a lot of snaps in the D-line rotation due to his solid play)

Michael Thomas (not on the team until the last few games. but deserves a mention for AFC defensive player of the week and his play at the end of the Pats game)

If you have any players of your own that I didn't list, who and why? If you disagree with any of my picks, why?
Click to expand...

I have nobody to add but Carroll and Wilson didn't really do all that much imo. They're still what they've always been, a couple of back ups. Patterson was as good as I expected but like I expected also, he got hurt. He's had injury issues before which is too bad. Grimes was a probowler before. I can see your point on the others tho.

Ozzy rules!!
 
Carroll, Vernon played surprisingly well, Carroll only the second half of the season. Clemons exceeded expectations as well. Brenner was a nice surprise. Egnew improved but not enough.
Clay was always a beast, as well as Gibson so I was not surprised. The same goes for Matthews.
 
ForksPhin said:
With all of these overachievers, we should have made the playoffs.
Click to expand...

you would think, but then you'd have to look at the underachievers as to why we didn't (wheeler, reshad jones, the run defense in general, mike wallace, the offensive line as a whole, lamar miller, etc.)
 
For me it is Clay, Carroll, and Vernon. Most had major concerns and complaints about Clay and Carroll before the year and I heard little about expectations for Vernon. I was pleasantly surprised by Gibson but I didn't really know what to expect from him. I did think we would miss Bess more than we did.
 
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