Why was our run defense so poor last year? | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Why was our run defense so poor last year?

Remember the LB changes you were warned about last offseason....
 
I'm really surprised no one mentioned a big reason that I think affected our run defense:

Our offense.

Some great points made about the implementation of new LB's into a new system and all that, and I agree with a lot of those...

But no one touched on our offense. Our offense could not sustain drives. Because we had no running game, we couldn't eat any clock either. It allowed the other team to dominate the ball, and dominate the game. Every team knows you need to establish the run to wear a team down. Every team is allowed to do that against our team. As a result, this will inflate the running stats against us and make us look worse.

Another reason to blame our offense - we were a bottom 10 team in scoring. That means we were always playing from behind or always in a close game. That tells you that teams never got stuck playing a one-dimensional offense against us. They weren't forced into a pass-only offense in an attempt to speed up the game - they never had to. Teams were always allowed the option to run against us. So that will inflate running stats against us too.

Moreover, our run defense *was* the weakest part of our defense. So with that in mind, teams will naturally attack it more. But our run defense wasn't actually BAD - it was more like average.

A good defense can stand alone on it's own - we had an overall GOOD defense. But to be a great defense you need an offense that can at least manage the game to a degree and PROTECT THE DEFENSE. Our offense could not protect our defense. Ever. We played 16 games and our defense was "good enough" in about 13 of them. There is not much more I could ask for from that unit given the circumstance.


And it's with all that^ in mind that I think it's a bit ridiculous when I see people say they are down on Kevin Coyle as our defensive coordinator. The guy did a great job all things considered and relative to the offense he had "protecting" him.
 
Atila said:
I'm really surprised no one mentioned a big reason that I think affected our run defense:

Our offense.

Some great points made about the implementation of new LB's into a new system and all that, and I agree with a lot of those...

But no one touched on our offense. Our offense could not sustain drives. Because we had no running game, we couldn't eat any clock either. It allowed the other team to dominate the ball, and dominate the game. Every team knows you need to establish the run to wear a team down. Every team is allowed to do that against our team. As a result, this will inflate the running stats against us and make us look worse.

Another reason to blame our offense - we were a bottom 10 team in scoring. That means we were always playing from behind or always in a close game. That tells you that teams never got stuck playing a one-dimensional offense against us. They weren't forced into a pass-only offense in an attempt to speed up the game - they never had to. Teams were always allowed the option to run against us. So that will inflate running stats against us too.

Moreover, our run defense *was* the weakest part of our defense. So with that in mind, teams will naturally attack it more. But our run defense wasn't actually BAD - it was more like average.

A good defense can stand alone on it's own - we had an overall GOOD defense. But to be a great defense you need an offense that can at least manage the game to a degree and PROTECT THE DEFENSE. Our offense could not protect our defense. Ever. We played 16 games and our defense was "good enough" in about 13 of them. There is not much more I could ask for from that unit given the circumstance.


And it's with all that^ in mind that I think it's a bit ridiculous when I see people say they are down on Kevin Coyle as our defensive coordinator. The guy did a great job all things considered and relative to the offense he had "protecting" him.
Click to expand...

Very good points. the run Defense really wasn't that much different from previous year other than facing a lot more attempts..

2012 4 yard per rush attempt
2013 4.1 yards per rush attempt

2012 26.9 rush attempts per game
2013 30.3 rush attempts per game (31st in NFL)
 
Biggest changed already happened. George Edwards was let go.
 
odrick also gave you 2 downs as a starting de in 2012...helped our undersized des unit as a whole...
 
Atila said:
I'm really surprised no one mentioned a big reason that I think affected our run defense:

Our offense.

Some great points made about the implementation of new LB's into a new system and all that, and I agree with a lot of those...

But no one touched on our offense. Our offense could not sustain drives. Because we had no running game, we couldn't eat any clock either. It allowed the other team to dominate the ball, and dominate the game. Every team knows you need to establish the run to wear a team down. Every team is allowed to do that against our team. As a result, this will inflate the running stats against us and make us look worse.

Another reason to blame our offense - we were a bottom 10 team in scoring. That means we were always playing from behind or always in a close game. That tells you that teams never got stuck playing a one-dimensional offense against us. They weren't forced into a pass-only offense in an attempt to speed up the game - they never had to. Teams were always allowed the option to run against us. So that will inflate running stats against us too.

Moreover, our run defense *was* the weakest part of our defense. So with that in mind, teams will naturally attack it more. But our run defense wasn't actually BAD - it was more like average.

A good defense can stand alone on it's own - we had an overall GOOD defense. But to be a great defense you need an offense that can at least manage the game to a degree and PROTECT THE DEFENSE. Our offense could not protect our defense. Ever. We played 16 games and our defense was "good enough" in about 13 of them. There is not much more I could ask for from that unit given the circumstance.


And it's with all that^ in mind that I think it's a bit ridiculous when I see people say they are down on Kevin Coyle as our defensive coordinator. The guy did a great job all things considered and relative to the offense he had "protecting" him.
Click to expand...

the offense in 2013 wasn't suppose to carry the defense it was well known the o was a work in progress...the defense was suppose to carry the team...and the 4th quarter crunch time situational play of the d was flat poor

if coyle hand picked those lbs as perfect fits for the scheme like hell he doesn't deserve some heat...
 
A lot of missed tackles. Few late drives given up when people (normally Wheeler, but he wasn't the only culprit) would either go for the big hit or try to strip the ball and fail.
 
We lost the time of possession in 13 out of the 16 games to the tune of
our defense being on the field 92 minutes and 42 seconds more than our offense
in those 13 games.
Our offense didn't do their job in helping our defense!
 
Our strong safety had a down year following his new contract.The new LB's were just average in Ellerbe's case and down right bad in Wheeler's. Missed tackles a plenty between those two trying for strips instead of wrapping up.
The right side with OV and Jordan was not good at setting the edge (though OV shined as a pass rusher)

I thought the D tackle rotation we are about to possibly break up played well. Other than Mike James in the first half vs Tampa Bay I cann't recall anyone running it down out throats consistently..

I also remember several long runs late in the game when we were ahead and playing prevent that probably made it look worst statistically than it was vs the run.

Also we ranked third in the AFC in scoring defense so it wasn't all bad.
 
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OrlandoFin said:
There are several reasons;

* Miami’s interior defensive linemen ran too many stunts last year taking them away from eating blocks and beating offensive linemen one on one.

* Because the DT’s didn’t eat up blocks as well the LB’s were not able to run free to make tackles but had to fight off offensive linemen reaching the second level.

* The DE’s didn’t do a good job of setting the edges. Vernon needs to get better at it as he was horrible and Wake was never really healthy.

* Miami faced a lot of RB’s that changed direction and the LB’s and DE’s over pursued and didn’t stay in their lanes resulting in big runs.

*Ellerbe is not really a MLB in a 4-3, he should be playing WLB. Wheeler shouldn’t be playing WLB and should be playing SLB, but hen where do you put Misi?

I mostly put it on Coyle for not changing his philosophy to the talent on the field. They should have been playing a lot of 3-4 based D, but he would not.
Click to expand...

Excellent explanation.

The only things I would add are:

*Odrick shifted inside meant we lost that edge a lot and we had to shift support and it got picked up by opposing offenses.

*Our CB's were less physical in run support.

*We were stronger in CB coverage this year so teams exploited our weak LB coverage and pounded our DL who are now all undersized quick guys with the exception of Soliai. It's easy to power past us and that demands a lot of our LB's.

*Our LB's were blitzed a lot. Often they just weren't there.
 
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### Linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, released by the Browns on Wednesday, reportedly has been contacted by seven teams, and a pairing of Jackson (middle linebacker) and Dannell Ellerbe (outside) would seem an upgrade over Ellerbe (middle) and Phillip Wheeler (outside). But keep in mind that Jackson ranked just 49th of 55 middle linebackers against the run last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Ellerbe was 53rd. Wheeler was 34th of 35 qualifying outside linebackers in a 4-3 defense. And the Dolphins would take a big cap hit by cutting Wheeler.

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/#storylink=cpy

So there you go........
 
Let's be clear. We had a good defense last year .. it just wasn't awesome. But, if we don't resign Paul Soliai we will have a stable of quick penetrators who will absolutely not hold up on third and short and then this defense falls apart.

We need a big strong DT to allow all these light quick DL to work. That position is essential and expensive. But, we need to re - sign Soliai.

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