Fairly good article (delete post if old): http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/12588/scouts-inc-marshall-just-what-dolphins-needed
very true. A lot of the times we would run a power set with multiple TEs and Bess being the only wr on the field. Now we can do that with Marshall and it should be more effective. He can turn most short dumps into 20-30 yd plays pretty easily.
Opposing defenses' plans to stack the line of scrimmage on this offense came to a screeching halt on Wednesday.
i would say we have far from an exceptional o-line.sure we have some nice peices in long and carey but the reason we went to the wc is because our o-line was terrible at run blocking.the wc made better use of our pulling gaurds.our 2 tackles were the only ones that could stay healthy.for as much crap our guards and center talked about being about to run out of a conventional offense they sure didn't back it up.
I agree our line isn't exceptional, it's good but not excpectional. But they are, I feel, good run blockers. I think we ran the WC for a number of reasons, but our Oline being poor at run blocking wasn't one of them. From what I remember about the WC, we ran really basic plays. Counter Trey and such that had pulling guards, but everyone in the NFL runs the counter trey from base formations. I am sure we do as well. Weren't we the #1 rushing team in the NFL for a long time last year? You don't become the #1 rushing team w/o good blocking WC or not.
Imo we ran the wildcat because chad pennington's weaknesses were attributing to a porous run game...The box was full and something had to be done, if not Vertically, then horizontally.
Whoa Nelly, IMO youre way off base here. The WC isnt a gimmick, it requires good run blocking just like any running package. The reason it was implemented is because it allows both Ronnie and Ricky to serve as threats to the defense at the same time, it wasnt because of a deficiency in the OL. I dont know about exceptional, but I will say that our OL is at worst the 4th or 5th best in the league, and no worse than second or thrid in terms of run blocking. Keep in mind that we had the worst set of WRs in the league and no threat at TE either. Every team we played was focused on stopping the running game, and most of them failed, some miserably. Grove was out for several games, so was Smiley. Carey played hurt. Garner played 4 different positions. Add in the first time starter @ QB, Ronnie's injury, the crappy WRs, and opposing teams focus on stopping the run and we still finished 5th in rushing. Thats very impressive, especially for a team that was rarely playing with a lead. Of course theres room for improvement. Thomas is below par in pass pro. He struggles against twists, stunts, and A Gap dogs. He lets too many defenders cross his face as well. Smiley is a pusher and not a driver, I dont know if its a shoulder issue or not, but he shoves more than he blocks, doesnt move his feet on contact, and loses control of his man way too much. He's a great puller though, and Thomas isnt far behind. In DTs defense he is a beast when he can line up and just drive people off the ball. Grove takes too many penalties for me, but he's a huge upgrade over Satele, he doesnt get blown up, does a good job walling off defenders and reaching the second level. Jake Long is a beast. I've seen him go entire games without missing a block/assignment. He struggled a bit early but recovered nicely, I'd like to see us run left more often, but Carey and Thomas are very good run blockers and Smiley's a great puller so I dont blame Henning for running in thier direction. Carey is underrated IMO, he's a great run blocker and good in pass pro. He plays hurt, which is a plus for me. He had a bad game vs Tennessee, but for the most part he was solid all year long. Havent seen Incognito, cant bring myself to watch St Louis Rams games, or Buffalo either.