The following are observations and analysis from Day 13 of Miami Dolphins training camp at the team's training facility in Davie: -- The day the Dolphins admit to themselves they don't have enough on O-line to survive injuries this will be a better team. -- Sack. Shelby & Fede. OL gotta do better. Granted, defense good, but... -- Billy Turner appears to be having a right thumb issue. NOT good -- LB Jeff Luc sack in Moore. Defense has come alive in bubble. Good pressure. Lots of sacks. -- Rishard Matthews with a nice TD catch from Tannehill, who threaded the needle -- Cedric Thompson just broke up a red zone pass to Rishard Matthews with a hit. The rookie is really starting to warm up. -- Chris McCain with a sack of Ryan Tannehill at the 5-yard line. Tannehill threw it later....but it was dead. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...hins-training-camp-day-13-20150816-story.html
This. One injury and it's over. Heck, it might not even take an injury. With the wealth of DL and WR talent surely there has to be someone we can trade with, even if it isn't for Mathis.
Billy Turner and Jamil Douglas looked pretty good, Dallas Thomas still concerns me. The way he sets up, it's as if he doesn't have any concept of balance or leverage- I can see why he's gotten blown backwards/reverse pancaked in the past. That being said, I'm still all for signing Evan Mathis and praying that Brendan Albert will be good to go for the regular season games.
Having a decent OL is a good way to ensure yourself of a decent season, and we all want more than that. We've been suffocated with decency the last several years, time for a step up.
By the end of this season I don't think we'll have to worry about Dallas Thomas anymore. Someone will have supplanted him.
The coaching staff will probably eventually determine another player on the roster is less bad, but ultimately we'll have to sit through Thomas being a disaster and the next guy up will only be nominally better. This coaching staff can't self-scout, especially on the OL.
Point taken. I'd say the OL of the past few years fell far short of decent, especially at OT. OG is not nearly as important IMO. Any player who doesn't piss himself is good enough IF the rest of he offense is playing well.
Thomas was far from a disaster playing at OG last year. I look forward to that particular narrative dying a quick death once the season starts.
We'd all love to have the 1993-94 Cowboys offensive line but it's simply not going to happen. Parcells tried that model and it failed miserably. Philbin's philosophy is to throw quickly, get the ball out get the ball out get the ball out. They've brought in a slew of skilled route runners who can get open quickly and a QB who excels in throwing short and intermediate passes. The run game is centered around a zone scheme, get the LOS moving sideways more so than backwards. A dominant OL isn't required and reaching for one would bleed talent away from the positions that are more important to overall success. I'd take Larry Allen and Nate Newton over the Thomas and Turner in a heartbeat but it's not something I'd lose any sleep over.
Are you predicting Dallas Thomas dies before the season starts, or something? Because if so, you should probably alert the authorities. Someone, somewhere along the line cited that Dallas Thomas had no sacks at Guard per Pro Football Focus, and that's apparently evolved into him being an OK player. It's not true. He was still trash. His run blocking was just as atrocious, and his pass blocking was still pretty awful, he was just failing at different kinds of blocks and at a position where it's less likely to result in a sack.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion. But after watching him closely at OG I don't see any of what you're referring to. He looked like a typical OG, getting beaten occasionally, makin a few good blocks, mainly being anonymous. If you'd like to point out a specific game where he was trash at OG I'd be happy to go back and take a 4th or 5th look.
Let's go with say, San Diego then. He didn't quite hit his depths on either aspect, but it was an all around crappy game against not particularly distinguished opposition in a game the team easily ran away with. I don't know on what planet most of Dallas Thomas' performances constitute "typical". You can maybe try and whitewash the whole deal with the ideal that he's got less "statistics" at Guard, but those ****ty run blocks that don't directly result in a tackle, and pressures that aren't sacks still count and occur at a very far from typical pace.
