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Running Game - trends

Surferosa

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Against the Colts, almost all Ricky's yardage was gained by running either up the middle or to the left side of the line (Dixon/Nails side). The Dolphins only ran 3 plays to the right side of the field, and only one time in the first 3 quarters..

Just thought that this is an interesting trend to follow. If this habit continues, we could see teams stacking the middle/left side of the line, forcing Ricky to run behind Perry/Wade.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/playbyplay/NFL_20020915_MIA@IND
 
I agree that it is interesting. However it probably has more to do with who they are facing at different points on the DL and the LB corp. If I'm not mistaken, the left side of the line is where Dwight Freeney was (very undersized), and they probably liked the WSLB and RDT over the other side.

Would be nice to find out
A) which side Shaun Rogers and Robert Porcher played on..
B) If it was against Dixon/Nails did we still run that direction more often?

Either way I doubt teams are going to start stacking one side of the field to force us to run the other way...thats just not typical of teams. They'll go as far as putting an extra man/men up on the LOS or extra guys in the box, but they don't typically attempt to work with an asymmetrical field because that can lead to some real problems in the short passing game.
 
Of course, it does encourage me that we can have so much success running the ball to our left side, and to our right side. It makes me feel all that much more confident in my prediction that moving Mark Dixon to LT was the best thing possible for the Dolphins rush offense.

The early runnings for pro bowl LG have to include Jamie Nails in the top 5 in the AFC I think, after the first two weeks. He's looked REAL impressive. Not that he'll continue to do so and get into the pro bowl or nothin, just its encouraging that Norv Turner can turn a garbage heap like him into an excellent LG with his offense.
 
Agreed. Makes you wonder if we can find a Nails clone for the right side - not that Perry is playing poorly, but it seems like his upside is limited.

Ruddy may be the most impressive of all - he is constantly opening holes up the middle, making it much eaiser for Ricky to pick his lanes....
 
The whole Nails/Perry thing and the resurgence of run blocking on this offense just starts to reinforce what I had been kind of inclined to start thinking in the past few years.

The most important offensive linemen to a running game are the tackles and the center...not the guards. I think we're starting to see why the good guards are typically paid less than the good tackles and centers in this league (excluding Larry Allen who is just plain RIDICULOUS)

I mean this is definitely an incomplete analysis but anytime I can think of OUR rushing attack sucking, we had at least one sh!tty tackle. Last year we had Wade and Folau and we were not opening holes (Lamar wasn't helping either he looked old). The year before we had Webb and Wade and our OL looked very good at run blocking. Before that when we were sh!tty, James Brown was our RT.

The Colts run well and they have Adam Meadows and Tarik Glenn, two high quality tackles bracketing unexciting guards and a fairly good Center Jeff Saturday.

The Skins run well (when they decide to run) with Chris Samuels and Jon Jansen bracketing their middle OL.

The Jets use to run well with Ryan Young and Jason Fabini as their OL brackets. Now Young is gone and they are struggling to run...coincidence? Probably in all actuality, but its still an interesting note.

This is really a counter-intuitive theory I'll admit because generally the LT is not considered to be very important to the run game. But ever since Dixon showed up on that side, we've been runnin the ball better.
 
great theory CK ! :up:

though how would explain the 72-73 Fins ? Should Evans and Moore be HOFer, too ;) :lol:

:jk:
 
Originally posted by ckparrothead
Hah..well no. But I would say that it was a different game back then...
that is true - how many FBs rush for 1000 yards or are as big as the DLmen - 0

I suppose there are some OL scheme where the guards are more important than others, i.e. Denver, but it starts at the C for sure.
 
Which means we should be giving Ruddy some props as well...

Really interesting theory Parrot. I dont know enough about the role of each position on the OL to know where to give proper credit (they all deserve it, but who is the "catalyst"??).

Would love to hear what Wanny has to say on this subject.
 
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