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My Offensive Line Analysis

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by Conuficus, Aug 10, 2008.

  1. Conuficus

    Conuficus Premium Member Luxury Box

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    I have had a chance to look at the tape of the game, and I am pleased with what I saw. Now, Nasty has done a play by play of Jake so I won't get too invovled with him other than to say a few things.

    They have worked on Jake's kick slide, tweaking it just a little. It looks like he is opening his shoulders and getting a little more angled in his drop back. There have been quotes stating that they wanted Jake to get a little wider in his drop. I think they've done it. At Michigan he would be pretty parallel to the LOS well into his kickslide. And he would trun his shoulders later to meet the defender. One draw back of this is that you give a little more of the outside away to protect the inside shoulder. It appears as though our coaching staff has askd Jake to get a little wider and open his shoulders earlier allowing him to cut thangle down on the DE and still be square to DE's intended drive point - the QB.
    *Please note that this is based on one game and moreso on the 5 step drop.

    I think they also have been working him on keeping his hands closer to his chest in both height and distance from his torso. I guess they want him to be quicker with his hands on short pass sets and stop guys from jumping - a prelude to our basic offense fellas IMO - ouch.

    But here is a guy that I am enamored with - Donald Thomas. Just a quick respit; when the Guru chat was ongoing and we drafted Thomas there was a large OOOOOhhhh, really/ no way he's there/ dam forgot about him/ should've been drafted higher response from the more knowledgable members, hands down.

    The guy is a strong bastard. But I'll give you a little key to him being great at his job if he keeps it up - the fact that when he's getting rushed he does a great job of setting inside right from the start. Why is that important?

    Simple, by setting up inside I mean he short sets with his inside (left leg) and drops his right meanwhile truning his hips probably 30 degrees (guessing) to atumoatically give the Dt one real way to the ball. What this translates into is the ability to provide a pocket for the QB to step up into as the DT is now wider thus leaving more room to ste up. It will also help eliminate guys getting to feet of the QB for the same reasons.

    Thomas hand fights relatvely well, although he needs to grab more and redirect better with his lower body - I'll get to that in a minute. If he would latch on more on a consistent basis he would stop more penetration than at present.

    He has a big issue though. He is a deficient in his leg drive in terms of being able to absorb contact, sink his hips and redirect. He also plays a little too high in pass pro - for the same reason I believe. He needs to build his core strength in his legs. It might be hard for him though, as he is a little high cut but overly so. And, at present his upper body is ahead of his lower half which will hold him back at this point. But, if he can get throug this season and get stronger through the hips - I hope he likes squats and single leg leg press. Yeah thats right ose are a great exercise as it allows you to really control a weight and stress a negative rep which is really wat absorbing a blow is, right?

    He ould also do well to keep after guys and get a bit meaner in trying to bury guys, he does sometimes like the play at the 11:00 minute mark of the 2nd quarter - a Ricky 11 yard run. He just takes the DT, stones him and then shifts his feet around gets a good base and then just buries him. Flat out pancakes his ***, and hard too. Ricky runs right up behind it - watchthe play and say goodbye to #97. I'm still laughing. The vets aren't blowing smoke about this guy. We got us a biggin', a raw biggin' and those are rare. He has no idea how good he can be if gets good coaching. And hopefully that happens here.

    Basically the guy is gonna be good, I mean it. We got one, a genuine steal - no doubt about who the starting 5 should be.

    Carey was the best Olineman the other night. He was consistent in the run game game at hitting not only his man but usually getting involved to some degree witht a second level defender. Many times Kevin Carter just disappeared in the game - he bacame no factor at all. Carey was able to provide a good punch at the point of attack and kept his feet moving for the most part. I would say that sometimes he settles for getting static and punching too much. The punch does the rick most times, but he could just remove people if he was a little lighter to be honest. But, truly he is an engulfing OT, he loves to bang on you. If you can't blow his doors off with speed he will eat you alive by the 4th quarter in the run game. And as usual Carey displays better feet in the passing game than you'd expect from a man his size. He palys the position game very well, and is rarely just out of position.

    Satele is a great help pass protector. His head is on a swivel, and he has low base with a wide stance, allowing to just shuffle through the middle of the line. He can help to either side without exposing or lunging to a great degree. He is quick off theline in the run game, although sometimes he doesn't lock onto his man and lets the guy get more involved in the play than he need be. When he does locate his his man and get a good hold, he keeps his feet moving and relies on his tenacity to get the job done. His quick hips allow him to wall off many good counter moves and thus thwart quick DT's. I still want to see how he goes against the Jacksonville defense as I worry about him handling those massive DT's - as he can get walked back as he doesn't have very long arms. Those big DT's can be barrel chested and can get too far into his body where he doesn't have the ability to hand fight well. If he goes belly up against these guys he can maintain the separation he needs - at least he didn't always do that last year. But in pass pro he is a stud, plain and simple. If he plays against fast DT's he's fine and will win many battles, it is the bruiser I worry about.

    Smiley didn't overwhelm me to be honest, and really he worries me as a guy who can handle the big DT's himself. Smiley has never been a guy who will blow you off the ball, but I saw him get handled a few times more than he should. Smiley is a great effort player, moves his feet and uses position to win his battles. But, in a smashmouth situation he isn't the best guy to run behind. He is however a good guy to move around and use his athleticism, he finds and gest through holes on pulling plays very well. In this regard he is a great asset as he has the ability to get to and hit guys on the 2nd level of the defense. Smiley also allowed DT's to cross his face a good deal. If this doesn't improve we could have problems with interior blitzes on the right side f the O-line.

    I would just like to see more pop from Smiley, but it just might not be in him. He is a greta wall off guy and is good in terms of mbility for the traps, pulling, counters, pwoer tosses, belly plays etc. we'll run, it is just that his ability to drive block a guy out of his hole is not the same. And Smiley doesn't punch as much as our other O-lineman it appeared, he garbs more - maybe hsi hands aren't that fast, it might help explain why he is suseptible to allowing Dt's to cross his face?

    Who knows, hope that helps.


    By the way guys thanks to everyone who posted their analysis as they are very good and left me short of stuff to discuss.
     
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  2. jim1

    jim1 New Member

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    Great writeup, thanks. When I keyed on JLong I mainly watched his feet. From what I saw in the first quarter, and especially since he was going against Gaines Adams if I recall correctly, I think that he did an admirable job. For a guy that big he's got some darn good feet on him.
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2008
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  3. Conuficus

    Conuficus Premium Member Luxury Box

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    His feet aren't the problem, he has tight hips which make him look a little slower than he is, which is a shame. He also trusts his hands implicitly, and he should.

    His feet will surprise people.
     
  4. Disgustipate

    Disgustipate Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    You're talking about the last play on this highlight video, it seems?

    http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d809e4ac1
     
  5. calphin

    calphin deadly at 250 yards!!

    Great write up!!! thoughts on Murphy?
     
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  6. m ino

    m ino New Member

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    lol at the thought of satele doing the truffle shuffle at the l.o.s. thanks for the right up and im extremely pleased with the first teams performance on the line.
     
  7. brandon27

    brandon27 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Great write-up. Interesting to hear your thoughts on Smiley though. I didn't pay much attention to him as I figured as a "vet", we probably wouldnt have to. Im glad somebody did.

    Im starting to agree with you on Donald Thomas, this guy has alot of potential still yet to be tapped into. Hopefully our staff is able to get it out of him. Clearly they recognize it though if theyre already putting him in a starting role. Great news for us.
     
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  8. Conuficus

    Conuficus Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Yes, thats the one. He just buries his man, and the hole is made right at that spot. Flat our pancake, he turns his man gets position and then drives him down - great play.
     
  9. Conuficus

    Conuficus Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Haven't gotten that far into the tape yet to be honest. I will get there though. :up:
     

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