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Sports Buzz: Miami Dolphins with another pleasant surprise

datruth55

datruth55

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• When the Dolphins drafted Tony Lippett in the fifth round two years ago with the intent of switching him from receiver to cornerback, he immediately started studying tape of Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowler Richard Sherman and a few other tall corners.

The Dolphins would feel incredibly fortunate if Lippett can become another Sherman. He’s certainly not there yet, by any means.

But if you believe the numbers provided by Pro Football Focus – and a bunch of teams pay for their metrics – then Lippett is having a better year than Sherman.

Lippett is ranked 29th among 117 qualifying cornerbacks, slightly ahead of Sherman at 32.

Lippett’s development in recent weeks is a testament to this defensive coaching staff and his diligence in learning his new position, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by teammates.

What impresses teammates is “he’s constantly studying game [film] and opponents,” safety Michael Thomas said, noting that paid off when Lippett – before the snap Sunday – called out the Colin Kaepernick pass that resulted in Lippett making a play on the ball and Kiko Alonso intercepting it.

Lippett, who played some cornerback as a freshman and senior at Michigan State but receiver otherwise, credits Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph for helping make him a better player.

• Receiver Leonte Carroo has played only 100 snaps on offense all season, according to PFF, compared with 613 for Jarvis Landry, 536 for Kenny Stills and 490 for DeVante Parker. (Jakeem Grant has played nine.)

Adam Gase has said that low snap count is primarily the byproduct of Gase wanting to give nearly all of the playing time to just three top receivers.

But the Dolphins have seen growth in Carroo recently, capped off by his touchdown catch against San Francisco.

When Stills missed the second half of the Jets game, Carroo “didn't quite do his job as well as I know he wanted to do and we had a few mental errors there,” Gase said. “I think it was a good thing that it happened because we started getting him more reps in practice because we felt like we did him a little bit of an injustice by not preparing him better than what we had.

“(Wide Receivers Coach) Shawn (Jefferson) and (Assistant Wide Receivers Coach) Ben (Johnson) can do a great job in the classroom, but really, at the end of the day, it's about getting reps, especially for a young player. They've done a great job as far as moving those guys around more in practice. When he got in there, I felt really good. When he went in there in this game, I knew he was going to know what to do, it was just going to be will he get an opportunity to make a play?

“When I saw (Tannehill) throw it to him, it was kind of one of those things you could sense the way that he turned up that he was not going to be tackled. That was good to see. You saw an aggressive runner. It was basically what we had seen coming out of college."

• CBS is sending Dolphins-Ravens to 15 percent of the country, with Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon announcing. See 506sports.com for a map.

• According to the Wall Street Journal (and not confirmed by the NFL), Dolphins fans won’t need to wake up at 9:30 a.m. to watch Miami’s game against New Orleans in London next season. All London games will start during traditional 1 p.m. slots, the WSJ reported.

• NBC’s Mike Florio, ranking the Dolphins 10th on his Pro Football Talk web site power rankings, asks: “Has any six-game winning streak even been more overlooked nationally?”
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http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article117976188.html

No Florio...no there hasn't.
 
That part about Lippett gets me super stoked. The kid has the measurables to make it in this league, all he needs to do is put the time in to hone his craft. Happy to see he's becoming a student of the game.
 
Lippett is on the cusp of being a really good player, he needs to keep progressing and I have a lot of belief he will given how hard he works.

This kid could become an INT machine in a year or two the way he breaks on the ball/WR, it's obvious he's a receiver at heart.
 
Home grown talent! Nothing like it!!
 
If Howard is healthy, I'd rather see Lippett on the field this year than Maxwell. Hell I might even put Lippett in bump coverage on Wallace with help over the top.
 
Ill admit, I didn't think Lippett had the ability to develop as quickly as he has. It's players like Lippett and Ajayi who make being a fan so fun. I love how he's playing and can only hope his development continues, so that CB isn't so worrisome in the future. He certainly has become reliable in his assaignments but needs to clean up some of his tackling issues that pop up from time to time. It would certainly be a tremendous boon to Miami if he can take the lessons learned into next season and improve once again. Now if only Howard can get himself healthy again. I do have reservations about his Twice surgically repaired knee. I like the direction the secondary is going let's hope big things are in the Dolphin's future in large part to both Lippett and Howard's potential at CB.
 
Damnit, we have to listen to Rich Gannon!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Really love how this coaching staff is working with and developing young players. It's one thing to draft talent, but completely different to get the talent out of them.

Lippett struck me as a New England Patriots type of player coming out of college and I was glad that Miami got him instead. He has looked good so far. Maybe corner isn't a big need and the team can concentrate on drafting linebackers, defensive linemen, a tight end and two guards.
 
Penthos said:
If Howard is healthy, I'd rather see Lippett on the field this year than Maxwell. Hell I might even put Lippett in bump coverage on Wallace with help over the top.
Click to expand...

Regardless of Howard, Lippett is going to remain a starter. The debate will be when Howard returns whether he or Maxwell starts on the other side.
 
Howard and Lippett will be the starters come 2017.
 
The best news is that game in London will be at 1pm florida time which is great.

Ozzy rules!!
 
What an absolutely great 5th round that was for Miami getting Ajayi and Lippett.
 
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