Often we discuss the offense, Ryan Tannehill, Mike Wallace, etc and that's where the focus of our discussions usually lie, but I'd like to give some credit to the incredible job the defense did against Cleveland. Granted it's only been one game, but the Dolphins D is currently ranked 4th overall. Against the Browns, the defense... -Sacked Brandon Weedon 6 times (tied for 1st with Kansas City) -Intercepted Brandon Weedon 3 times (tied for 1st with Dallas) -Allowed only 10 points (4th behind Tennessee, Seattle and Kansas City) -Allowed only 47 yards rushing (3rd behind Tennessee and Cleveland) -Weedon was hurried 28 times, knocked down 17 and the aforementioned sacked 6 times One stat that may be deceiving however is the number of yards allowed passing -We allowed Weedon to pass for 244 yards however, that yardage came on 26 completions on 53 attempts. That averages out to 9.38 yards per completion. Quite "Henne-esque" if you ask me. Miami's front 4 dominated Cleveland's offensive line. I watched the replay this afternoon and the defensive line was pushing Cleveland's offensive line straight back, causing the pocket to collapse, the tackles were unable to effectively block Wake and Jordan. With the pressure the defensive line was generating and Weedon running for his life as he did yesterday, it's no wonder he threw for only a 49% completion rate. It's only one game. The Dolphins played GREAT and we still have 15 more games but the confidence, the aggressiveness, the tenacity of our defense yesterday...don't let Miami's defense repeat their performance next week against the Colts. Sure, we're only talking about what the D did to Brandon Weedon, but if our defense dominates Indianapolis next week, putting up similar defensive numbers they did yesterday and we hold Andrew Luck to similar stats? Quarterbacks are going to be scared to face our defense! Matt Ryan? Drew Brees? Joe Flacco? Tom Brady, with how you were exposed yesterday by Buffalo? *sniff-sniff* You guys smell that? Smells like an AFC East Championship to me!
Factor in that we have 3 FRESH rookies on D that will contribute as the season progresses. Talk about depth! Our D can carry the team until the offense catches up. However, winning the AFCE will require our O to gel, as we've all see what happens to D's in December when they've had to carry the load all season.
I'm excited about our defense. We were dominant upfront and our secondary looks vastly improved from last year.
one game gets me excited, but won't change my outlook for season end-result - which is 9 or 10 wins and competing for the last wildcard spot. if we go 2-2 the next 4 games, then I'm on board the AFC East championship bandwagon.
I just looked at the numbers and I am confident in saying we're going 3-1 in our first 4 games. The defense is going to annihilate Andrew Luck and the Colts and we're going to either win against New Orleans or Atlanta. I hope it will be against Atlanta at home to stir up local fan base and get asses in the stadium, but historically, we usually play well on Monday night. Either way, get your bandwagon spurs on!
Early in the game, the defense was giving up some big runs to Richardson. That surprised me. I have to admit, it worried me at halftime with them up by 1. I thought they'd wear us down by running it in the second half. That's what I would have done. However, the defense adjusted and stopped him, the offense finally scored, and the Browns offense had to lean on their passing game to play catch-up. Richardson was practically a non-factor in the 2nd half. Other than that little first-half glitch... the defense played extremely well. I am ecstatic about the sacks and turnovers. If we ever get our running game going to the point that it's at least 'average', the Dolphins are going to be very tough to beat. Even for the 'elite' teams.
Luck still scares the hell out of me, but I was very happy with our defensive performance. I gambled on our D by picking them as my number 1 defense in my fantasy league. There were many "homer" comments and snickers at the time, but at least this week nobody was laughing. In my league the Dolphin D was the second highest scoring D only behind the Chiefs (who basically shut out the Jags). As for the #4 ranking, it's nice, but I don't put much stock in yardage rankings. I was, however, thrilled with the pass pressure and how our DBs attacked the ball in the air. I'd love to see a ranking based on sacks/pressures/hurries, TOs caused/recovered and tipped/batted balls. I've never seen a ranking like that, but if there were one, I'd guess it would have a very high correlation with wins.
I love defense. It is the part of football I enjoy watching most. The fact that our defense is ranked 4th overall has me happy, but I temper myself by saying it's only 1 game. Notice I don't call out the opponent because I think all teams are good teams (any given Sunday), but 1 game is a small sample size in regards to the entirety of the regular season. I think if we can continue on with this type of performance, then we will have a consistent defense capable of rushing the passer, and defense (IMVHO) wins championships. Who else is going to shut down the "high octane offenses"?
I'm excited as anyone, but let's be realistic and wait to pop the champagne on the AFC East crown. It was the Browns, remember? Let's not start to sound like Jets fans.
You're probably right Alan, but it's been a while since we've had a legitimate reason to be excited. If our defense plays at this caliber all season? Oh yea!
They are right up there with SF as one of the best front 7's in football and combine that with 3 INT's and there is reason for excitement. I concur - great post. GO DOLPHINS!
Great showing by a great defense. Here's the thing... if the D stays consistent, the STs stay consistent, and the Offense plays at least average, we will win the AFC East in my opinion. Will we stay consistent? Well, if you believe teams take after their head coach's personality, then you'd say "Yes, we will be consistent." Joe Philbin, according to everyone in the world, is the most consistent person you'll ever meet. 2013 - Believe.
I've picked Dolphins D for my Fantasy league. Wanted that unit from the get go. I just know from the players we already have and the off season acquisitions that its a solid unit with a bigger upside. Philbin emphasised the turnover ratio. That's a huge piece of the jigsaw. Yesterday backed it up. The Defense played lights out. We will be sending a fair few Dolphins to the Pro Bowl imo.
Which was also just one game. Imma wait until we beat a legitimate playoff team before I start "Rex Ryaning."
Like Brian Billick said when he moved us ZERO places in his power ratings... "It was Cleveland - Lets not get too excited" But hey, it's fun to be the "ELITE" team of the bottom quarter of the league.
While I definately think our Defense is good, You've got to wonder how much of Sunday was due to the fact that it was only week 1, alot of sloppy offensive football around the league this year, including Cleveland. Weeden... isn't that good either, and neither were the WR's we were playing against on Sunday. Defenses are usually still ahead of the offense at this point in the season, so I'm sure that has a bit to do with it. However, that being said, I love our defense. The front 7 is probably the best in the league. Wake is one of the top 2 or 3 pass rushers in the league IMO as well. I'm really interested to see what things look like when Taylor and Davis are able to return to action. I hope the defense plays like they did on Sunday, all year. If they do and if our run game can actually get some push and give us a running game, just enough to keep teams honest, we should be good to go.
Personally, I think the past couple of years, Cameron Wake has been a Hall of Fame-caliber player at DE. He is as disruptive a force from his DE position as anyone I can remember on the Dolphins, including JT, who also could be very disruptive, and really as disruptive as any of the best pass rushers in the league. We should enjoy watching Cam Wake and not take him for granted. Cam Wakes don't come along that often.
Right now, two things concern me about the D.... 1) The CB situation with Patterson banged up. Taylor and Davis are up and coming, but not there yet. Luck would eat either of them alive if Patterson can't go... 2) Missed Tackles, particularly in the second level - Clemons, Wheeler and Jones were taking bad angles at times...Look at the rushing of Richardson, particularly early in the game and there was a lot of missed tackles, arm tackles, complete whiffs, etc... This doesn't mean I'm disappointed in their performance, because we are going to HAVE to rely on the D until this OL either gels or they start dumping guys to see what they have behind the starters....JJ is clearly still affected by the injury, Clabo was taken advantage of a few times, none of the rest of the guys looked like HOFers either...
And the New England D had a fantastic showing, living up the pre-season predictions of them being a well oiled, improved, turnover machine, tallying 0 INTs, 0 Fumbles, and 0 Sacks, and gave up rushing yards rating them 29th in the league...in their Buffalo game... Usual Disclaimer: Small sample...but I like it anyway! Edit: They did have 1 fumble, but gave away 2 fumbles and an INT, so -2 T/O ratio.
Ya and strangely enough, that's where we're at in a few power rankings also...like 17th. What really cracked me up was the one power ranking (AP I think) that had us there and said something to the effect of, "they had 3 field goals...that won't cut it against other teams." Yet the Patsies have 3 FGs, and they're an offensive power house (and scored 23 like we did). Entertainment purposes only for sure...quite funny.
My preseason guess that I posted on this site through various posts was that our D could be great and that our offense was good enough to average 23 points per game.
4th my ***... KC beat up the jags. Is there a worst team? And the Giants imploded in the Cowboys game and still were in the game the whole time and almost won it. Our D will be in the top 3 or so all season if we can get and stay healthy, and even with the injuries, we're still better than half the league.
I was saying similar after the drafting of Dion Jordan; with Jordan on one side and Wake on the other...don't be a quarterback facing 3rd & long with this pass rush!
It was very fun to watch and you could tell the defense is going to be faster and is going to make bigger plays...for example, Patterson already has the same amount of INTs that Sean Smith had all of last season. And he's our #2 behind Brent Grimes, Smith was #1. But yes, it was the Browns. However, we won't have to wait long to find out if the defense can make some of the top offenses scramble and make mistakes. We've got the Colts on the road, high flying Falcons come to town (Gonzalez with 100 yards and 1 TD likely. We still couldn't cover the Browns TE.), Brees & the Saints in the Superdome in Primetime (I'm fully expecting a loss, just hope its not too bad.), and then the Super Bowl champion Ravens who can still put up points even if their D is worse off than 2012. Though minus Pitta & Boldin, they shouldn't be as tough as INDY/ATL/NOLA. Should have a top 10 D (if they stay healthy). Could be better depending what happens these next few tough games.
Good news. Davis was back practicing. So our corner depth just improved some. We just need Patterson to get healthy.
