The O-line Play Against The Falcons | Page 3 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

The O-line Play Against The Falcons

Maybe Prince will be ready a few games in. We may be looking at 3 rookies later in the year, and rookies wear down late in the season.
 
Man Prince in that 4th quarter was a man amongst kids.

There was one snap where he completely destroyed the DE and it looked effortless.

He definitely needs a step up in class to see if we can get some more of that. It can't be much worse than what we saw out there at tackle.

Where is he on the depth chart? I don't understand how anyone can be behind Mills. That guy is atrocious and is going to get someone hurt behind center.
 
Well the rookies will improve and Tunsil didn't even play. Did jessie Davis?
I think Jessie Davis only played the first quarter. And I read some of the reports (forgot where) that he did well.
Especially in a couple of the nice runs by both Drake and Ballage where he sealed the outside.
 
I think Davis played the first two series
 
It looked like a human jail break most of the 1st half. Too many players were playing new positions and it showed in how bad things were. Reed was learning the center position, Mills, a natural RT. was playing LT, and Holden was at RT a position he rarely played. It was complete obliteration. Never saw so much confusion and weak Poa play from Olinemen before. It was almost as if they were just standing there. But once Mills left the game and Holden moved over to LT, I thought things improved from about the late 2nd quarter on.
 
I realize that evaluating the OL is not something most people enjoy doing, so all we really notice are the sacks-against, and pressures-against. Also, there is a certain degree of anonymity amongst OL that the overall line play dictates how most individuals are thought of by fans. But let's separate this out a bit.

1. Michael Deiter played a good game. He was good in both run blocking and pass protection. He handled multi-man blocks and passing off rushers flawlessly. He handled single-teaming DT's often and very comfortably. He held a good strong pocket for his QB and opened run lanes. For a rookie playing between two guys who are not his usual line partners (Mills at LT and Reed at C), he was very impressive. This was one of the areas I was interested in seeing, because we all know that Tunsil and Deiter are the only two pieces of our OL that we feel are long-term solutions. So, with Tunsil sitting this one out, I couldn't be happier about how well Michael Deiter played. Perfect? Hellz no, that's not even a reasonable question … this is preseason … for a rookie. But I was more encouraged by Deiter's play than any other Miami Dolphin in preseason game 1 … with Preston Williams a close second.

2. Backup LT is almost an impossible position to fill, because anyone who even remotely can play LT is starting in the NFL. In a 32 team league, there's probably about 10 decent LT's, 10 backups starting, and at least 12 pretenders masquerading as starting LT's. The number of teams with a true "swing tackle" or "competent backup LT" are almost nil. So, the autopsy is written before the game is played … he died … he failed … he's not good enough. Yes, Jordan Mills was abysmal. But, he didn't practice at LT whatsoever. He didn't even know he was going to play there. His footwork is all muscle-memory engrained to work on the right side. So, this was absolutely NOT a fair test. Alas … as I said earlier, the autopsy was written before the game was played … and he did, indeed, fail miserably. Mills was sacrificed (as were both QB's) to prevent injury to our elite LT Tunsil … and this game was a throw-away for Mills. Hey, I'm not a Jordan Mills fan, never have been, but we can't judge him on this game.

3. Chris Reed was an intriguing journeyman. This is a kid who had some good tape and looked to be a solid pickup for the RG position. But, this game he played at C, and was terrible. Or as one of my favorite NBA announcers (Charles Barkley) loves to say "Turribul." I'm eager to see him at RG, but it's clear that this regime does not have an answer for backup C. Realizing that Kilgore got injured just last year and missed most of the year, and is a year older, we need to find a competent backup C … which isn't that hard.

4. Scheme is different, and I don't even mean the blocking scheme, which had to be tough on the OL changing to Googs so soon before this game. I mean the Patriots style offense. We had a few nice run plays, and they were all the same … OL dominated an area and our RB's moved untouched through space until being tackled by literally the first defender they met. As "impressive" as our RB's were, I'd say 90% of the credit goes to the OL who opened up their run lanes, because not a single back played with power. IMHO, this is a benefit of the offensive scheme, which runs against passing defenses and utilizes OL who can run block a bit. It's not quite as finesse as the former 'Fins offenses. (tongue twister there!)

5. Competition really determined the assessment of our players. Guys who played in the first quarter were viewed as having failed (Mills, Reed), but guys who went up against non-NFL players in quarter 4 (Prince) looked like potential Pro-Bowlers. Let's realize that only about a quarter or so of these guys will make NFL rosters. Being better than college players isn't what we want to see. What we are looking for are guys who did well enough to get pushed up the next preseason game to playing earlier in the game, and going against NFL veterans and draft picks. If they continue to succeed under those conditions, then it means more.

Overall, let's face it, this is going to be a ROUGH year, so I, for one, enjoyed "winning" this "game" even if it is a complete farce to look at the score on the scoreboard. But hey, I'll take victories wherever we can get 'em this year.
 
Dieter was the only o linemen I was able to individually focus on. I wouldn't call his performance impressive by any means, but I was somewhat encouraged from what I saw from a first game of a mid round starter.

I really liked the intelligence I saw. He didn't seem to get overpowered and he made a lot of good switches when his blocking assignment was empty. It just looked like the game moved a little fast for him. There were multiple plays I saw where he made the correct read and went to assist other linemen in pass pro with their assignment, but he was just a step slow and ended up blocking no one. I think once he adjusts to the speed of the game he has a lot of promise.
I liked what I saw from Deiter. For a rookie in his first preseason game playing between the two worst OL in the game (Mills at LT and Reed at C) he was by far our best OL. Rookie, early, just changed coaches, preseason … I can't see how we could expect anything more from him … not like he was a 1st round pick. This was a very encouraging performance and he has a lot on which to build.

Deiter's play was one of the best parts of this game for me.
 
The best blocker last night, Chandler Cox.
Scheme … a lot to be said for carrying a FB. These small speed-based NFL defenses have a lot of trouble dealing with true FB's.
 
They will get both Rosen & F_Patrick hurt this season...Its unbelievable that "Pro" linemen can be so bad at it. They cannot hold a block for 1 second and its as if they were made of air last night. Going to be a long...long long year guys.
 
I know it was against 3 stringers but Isaiah Prince shocked me with his quickness. I thought he looked great.

He's been my underdog on the OL since drafted.

I know others panned him but I saw some chops (in terms of physicality) I thought we could use.

That said, the kids specs (height arms weight etc.) are pretty prototypical.

If we can address a few "issues" he could be for real...
 
I hate that my feed cut out and wasn't able to see Prince at RT. Heard he favored well.
 
Man Prince in that 4th quarter was a man amongst kids.

There was one snap where he completely destroyed the DE and it looked effortless.

He definitely needs a step up in class to see if we can get some more of that. It can't be much worse than what we saw out there at tackle.

For the few plays I saw, Prince did look effective. The important point is that it was the 4th quarter. He has a lot of work to do to move up the depth chart.
 
The O-Line looked bad, but if you watched them it was actually 2 players that were the issue. Mills and Reed were the issue, with Tunsil and Kilgore this line will be serviceable. Once Mills and Reed were out the line did a lot better.

I fully agree that Mills cannot be a left tackle/swing tackle. His prospects are narrowing to backup right tackle, and I have a feeling that Prince might have a shot to pass him on the depth chart. Holden struggled out there at right tackle. I thought that Reed did enough to be the backup center.
 
It looked like a human jail break most of the 1st half. Too many players were playing new positions and it showed in how bad things were. Reed was learning the center position, Mills, a natural RT. was playing LT, and Holden was at RT a position he rarely played. It was complete obliteration. Never saw so much confusion and weak Poa play from Olinemen before. It was almost as if they were just standing there. But once Mills left the game and Holden moved over to LT, I thought things improved from about the late 2nd quarter on.

That seemed to be the plan. Use this first game to see if the deck could be shuffled. See if the backups could swim when out of position. I think some decisions have already been made about some the OL. Since no one was hurt, I am happy that the coaching staff eliminated some possibilities.
 
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