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Barry Jackson: Miami Dolphins expecting big things from defense

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by jim1, Aug 2, 2011.

  1. jim1

    jim1 New Member

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    When coordinator Mike Nolan met with his players last week, here’s what he told them (as relayed to us by since-cut Channing Crowder): “We were the No. 3 defense until the last game against the Patriots and dropped to six. We were top 10 in most categories. Everybody else should be happy with that, but we shouldn’t be. We want to be great.”

    Said linebacker Karlos Dansby: “This should be the [NFL’s] top defense.” . “Miami will have the No. 1 defense in the NFL,” tackle Tony McDaniel tweeted Tuesday.

    Let’s not go that far, but the belief internally is this group could be even stronger than the one that finished sixth overall, seventh against the run, eighth against the pass and second-best in touchdown percentage allowed in the red zone. Five reasons:

    http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/...phins-expecting-big-things.html#ixzz1TvTk5LAQ
     
  2. pocoloco

    pocoloco I'm your huckleberry Club Member

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    Great line.
     
  3. ToddsPhins

    ToddsPhins Banned

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    If they can limit the big play TDs while converting turnover opportunities, I fully expect them to be Top 4...... which is saying a lot b/c this means either GB, Pitt, Philly, or Baltimore finishes behind us.
     
  4. GISH

    GISH ~mUST wARN oTHERS~

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    Its a good thing our defense is good and getting even better. Our offense is a big heaping pile of potential. Potential does not equal points.
     
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  5. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Impossible! the Guru has spoken..Defense will regress..

    That is all.
     
  6. firedan

    firedan Well-Known Member

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    If they can score it sure will help!
     
  7. rdhstlr23

    rdhstlr23 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    They did a much better job last year at limiting the big play TD's than the prior year in 2009. They absolutely need to capitalize on more turnovers. So many chances.

    I think they need to be able to find a pass rush elsewhere other than Wake. Koa Misi, Jared Odrick, Randy Starks, & Jason Taylor need to fill that void. I think Burnett & Dansby may provide some help there also.

    EDIT: I don't see us being a Top 4 Defense. I think we can improve from last year, but make that move over those teams would be quite an accomplishment.
     
  8. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Love the attitude, the next step is to actually implement the ideal that "we will be the #1 Defense in the NFL"

    TBH, I suspect ejecting Crowder and Dobbins leaves us a bit vulnerable to power running teams though.
     
  9. Ludacris

    Ludacris Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Man...i miss Crowder's jokes already :(
     
  10. ToddsPhins

    ToddsPhins Banned

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    Soliai could be a pocket collapser while he's in. What we lose from depth at OLB pass rushers I think we can make up for from Dline pressure.

    Ravens could be on a slight decline from last year, so I could see us leapfrogging them into the top 4 or 5. I'll be happy with anything in the top 6 since NY should be impressive and NE has a chance to do some damage if Albert of old emerges in the Pat's 4-3 schemes (which I read they're supposedly switching more to).

    I'd switch the Pats D to a 4-3, too, if it meant getting the dominant Haynesworth back for a 5th rounder.
     
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  11. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    So the Jets and ???
     
  12. Dolphins1Beatles

    Dolphins1Beatles Ziggy Stardust

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    Forget Top 4, the Dolphins were Top 3 before the final New England game when the team laid down. (That awful game moved them to 6th) They should be top 2! If we have any hope of competing they better be, except this time we'll need more turnovers and pick 6s.
     
  13. CaribPhin

    CaribPhin Guest

    Chiefs. Steelers. Ravens. Browns. Bengals. Giants. Rams.

    All of those teams put more emphasis on running than passing.
     
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  14. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    If we really want Dobbins back I am sure we can get him cheaper then 3M. I wonder if Crowder would take a reserve role if he cant find a starting gig on a good team (which is doubtful). As mentioned power running teams worry me. However in a reserve role keeping one of those two would be good. You should always have a run plugging MLB somewhere on your roster.
     
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  15. FinsAreLife

    FinsAreLife Well-Known Member

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    The defense will HAVE to be top 5 for us to have a legit playoff chance. No doubt it will have to be #1 in our division as well.
     
  16. ToddsPhins

    ToddsPhins Banned

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    I won't mind if our defense finishes 3rd in our division provided it performs the best during our 6 division games.
     
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  17. GMJohnson

    GMJohnson New Member

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    Agreed. Clemons was no Pro Bowler but he was a huge upgrade over Wilson in pass coverage. I'm intrigued about Reshad Jones though. He may not be as consistent as Clemons but IMO he offers more big play potential.

    I agree, you can never have enough pass rush. But look at the rest of the division. We're talking about how we don't have a compliment to Wake while BUff, NYJ & NE have nothing even approaching a Wake. And even if they did have a quality pass rusher, he'd get his *** shut down by Jake Long.

    I don't see any reason why we can't be a Top 4 defense. Look at Baltimore, how long are Lewis and Reed going to play at an All Pro level? Same goes for Polamalu, Hampton, Harrison and Aaron Smith in Pitt. GB has an aging Rod Woodson, they lost Cullen Jenkins, and they have the same 1 dimensional pass rush that you called our defense out on w/ Wake. Philly looks good on paper, but isn't their DC the OL coach from last year? How would our fan base feel if Dave Deguglielmo was replacing Mike Nolan as our DC with just a few weeks to install his defense and acclimate himself to the job? Samuel, Asomuga and Cromartie are great corners but Quentin Mikell is gone and their FS spot has been a problem ever since Dawkins left. They have a deep DL but their LBs are extremely suspect so the Eagles are not w/o weaknesses as well.
     
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  18. ToddsPhins

    ToddsPhins Banned

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    Baltimore lost a lot of veterans while only bringing in Vonta Leach IIRC.
     
  19. rafael

    rafael Well-Known Member

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    It was nice to hear that Odrick was looking good. However, if they really are still considering adding a S, I wish they would tried to get Huff here before he resigned with Oakland.
     
  20. GMJohnson

    GMJohnson New Member

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    Stranger things have happened. Who saw KC or Tampa winning 10 games last year?

    Why not us?
     
  21. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    The following is the kind of slip up I don't usually expect from Barry Jackson:

    The problem there is, Jason Taylor took 600 snaps during the regular season last year. Quentin Moses didn't even take 200 snaps. He only rushed the passer 63 times and had 1 sack, 2 hits and 6 pressures. JT rushed the passer 6x more (357) and had 5 sacks, 3 hits and 15 pressures. At the rate that Moses was heading, he'd have had 6 sacks, 11 hits and 34 pressures if he got as much playing time as Jason Taylor got.

    I'm not saying Quentin Moses is a great player. I'm just saying it's clear as day that Jason Taylor's lost a lot of his pass rush ability and is not a very good pass rusher. The Dolphins let CHEAP options go by the way side this off season, like Antwan Barnes (2 years, $3.2 million) and Manny Lawson (1 year, $3.0 million)...while they signed Jason Taylor seemingly for fan value.

    I think the defensive line will be stronger than ever with Paul Soliai continuing on his pace. Randy Starks will not get off to a slow start like he did in 2010, because he's training at End all through camp and preseason. Last year he trained at Nose for the whole off season and suddenly it's Week 2 and the coaches are like hey Randy we're moving you back to End. That would disrupt any player. They're totally different positions, especially his Right End spot. Langford seems to get a little better every year. I'm encouraged to hear Odrick is full participation and actually making a few plays. Tony McDaniel sounds fired up at least, though I think he's going to take a step backward. Nonetheless this will be the strongest DL the Dolphins have had in a while.

    But the LBs? Not so sure. You take Crowder away, you take away a lot of football IQ. And call me crazy, but I think that could have a bigger effect than 3 more forced fumbles and 2 more interceptions over an 80+ game period. I mean, that's the "big play ability" that everyone is so excited about. Crowder has 1 interception in 82 games, and 3 forced fumbles, Burnett has 3 interceptions and 6 forced fumbles in 88 games. What that means is that while Crowder probably would have had either an interception or a forced fumble this season, Kevin Burnett should have 1 forced fumble and has a 50/50 shot at adding an interception. Be still, my beating heart.

    Personally, knowing how important the ground game can be during games, I'd take the guy that knows where to be and can get other people lined up in the right spot on those 300 to 400 run plays, over those 1 or 2 extra little plays being made by the more explosive athlete.

    I think there's a quiet problem brewing at safety, too...and it's not surprising they had a little contact with Dashon Goldson.
     
  22. ToddsPhins

    ToddsPhins Banned

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    I've said on deaf ears a few times that I'd rather have Moses than Taylor. I noticed a decent jump in his 2010 performance to where it appeared he was playing like he belonged, and Q still has something to prove while JT is likely looking to wind down his career w/o killing himself in the process.
     
  23. ToddsPhins

    ToddsPhins Banned

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    I think Crowder's IQ disappearance will be absorbed by Dansby running the show, and if our Dline continues clogging the middle, Channing's presence could prove to be overkill IMO.
    Personally, I'd rather let Dansby have full control of the D while having his neighbor be someone who better compliments our big boys up front.


    With the Pats using 2 TE sets with Hernandez & Gronk (and Woodcock catching dump offs), I'd rather have Burnett out there.
    Then there's 2 games against teams who can beat you in a big way with their TE play (Houston & SD, and Houston no longer has Leach).
    We have 7 games against offenses with some elusive speed guys and/or spread formations (Oakland, KC, Buffalo, Wash, Dallas, and Philly).

    That's 11 games where I'd prefer Burnett over CC.

    I'm not terribly worried about Denver running on us even though they'll want to.

    I'm more concerned with Hillis exploiting Crowder in the passing game than I am about him beating Burnett behind our Dline. We held him to 57 yards (3.2 avg) without CC in the line up.

    Although, I'd probably prefer CC playing against the Jets and possibly the Giants.
     
  24. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Nah, Q had his shot TP, he really needed to be moved on from, not saying JT is perfect for his replacement, am saying JT fits what we need more closely as CK's snap count stat is true, but not the whole story as his production from Gm #1-#6 was "JT" like 3 sacks 1 FF 18 tackles, Games #7-#16 he had 2 sacks, 14 tackles, 1 safety, 5 tipped passes.

    Other interesting thing is, 4 of his 5 sacks came from blitzing the A Gap, I also watched him make 2 game impacting plays, a sack of Brady to end the first Jets v Pats game, and a Safety vs the Stealers effectively ending that game:

    [video=youtube;7emM7Ky8nWw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7emM7Ky8nWw[/video]

    And most of his tackles came in the 4th qtr (15)
     
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  25. Disgustipate

    Disgustipate Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    That's really curious, where did you get that information from?
     
  26. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Yahoo situational stats:

    http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/3968/situational;_ylt=AkE5rtb5NslZK_U7HY_6RtD.uLYF

    His production in the 4th qtr was good, interesting.

    And let me clarify here, Yahoo simply says "Middle" not "Blitzed A Gap" but it makes sense that the only reason why he would be coming up the middle of the defense was an AGap blitz.
     
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  27. rdhstlr23

    rdhstlr23 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I agree about the Ravens. I beleve they are in decline. We have much better cover guys than they do. We may be able to get a little more from a pass rush as well. They just have done such a solid job against the run and committing turnovers over the years. Kelly Gregg is gone and that doesn't help things either.

    On paper, I'd say our defense is slightly better also.
     
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  28. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Ravens have something we do not have...they believe they can win any game, the Dolphins never appear to believe that to be true.
     
  29. Disgustipate

    Disgustipate Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Yeah, but looks at Wake. Wake didn't get 8 sacks stunting. It's probably dividing the field up between the hash marks, and not in relation to the OL.
     
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  30. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Thanks, but I noticed he was 1 safety was considered to have come from the "wide right" of the formation, the one in the video.

    Did a bit more digging and compared his 09 season with us to his 10 season with the Jets and his 4th qtr production flipped for them, JT was more productive with the Jets in the 4th qtr then he was with us, Rexxy did use him as "his closer".

    Jets in the 4th qtr /10:

    15 tackles/3 sacks/2 FF/3 passes defensed/1 safety

    Dolphins in 09 in the 4th qtr in 09:

    10 tackles/2.5 sacks/1 pass defensed/ 0 ff/
     
  31. BlameItOnTheHenne

    BlameItOnTheHenne Taking a poop

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    I'm kind of excited to see what Reshad Jones brings to the table.
     
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  32. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    It wouldn't surprise me if, not unlike Erik Walden, Matt Roth or that guy that went to the Patriots, Moses goes off somewhere and gets the kind of acclaim he never got here.
     
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  33. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    Taking Crowder's football IQ away from the defense doesn't make Dansby's football IQ bigger, nor does it give Dansby more ability to let his football IQ shine. That's not how it works, IMO. In fact, I think it's just the opposite. I think when you have two guys like that working together and communicating, they can be smarter as a pair than they are individually. I just got really concerned when I popped in tapes of Kevin Burnett and I found that Stephen Cooper was clearly the lead dog among them, and he kept having to tell Kevin where to be before and then would be lecturing him after the plays. Then you consider that for a long time in Dallas he was a role player as a linebacker when you'd have thought he'd have been promoted. He didn't become a full timer until he left Dallas.

    As for the passing game and Crowder's coverage, he didn't cover that much. They took him out on a lot of coverage downs. In fact, that's what A.J. Edds was supposed to be here for, and now he's healthy and he's going to have this big impact so people tell me, so I'm not sure why Crowder's coverage is that much of an issue.

    The Dolphins took to using a 6-DB nickel package and I thought it was tremendously effective. Sean Smith would move in to play a DB position that safeties usually occupy, Benny Sapp came on and played the slot corner position, Nolan Carroll would come on the field to pair on the outside with Vontae Davis, Yeremiah Bell would play up and Chris Clemons would play back in single high. This played to everyone's strengths really well, IMO. It got Nolan Carroll on the field, Sean Smith roaming the middle where he could make more plays on the ball, Chris Clemons playing deep center which is probably where he belongs, and Yeremiah Bell playing up like a linebacker which is probably where he belongs.

    Kevin Burnett's addition over Crowder means that Mike Nolan may have his way and start to use 5-DB nickel packages with 4-LBs on the field. That seems to be what he prefers in the best of times, but I'm not convinced it's effective.

    Overall, this is something I was afraid of with the defense. It's one thing to worry about Cam Wake taking a step back because he's getting doubled and tripled and most guys of his position typically take a step back the year after they have a big breakout year. If that's what you're worried about, you can address that.

    But it's another thing if you f--k with the formula that got you where you are. That to me is what the Dolphins are doing by adding Kevin Burnett over Channing Crowder. They're tinkering with the formula now, and that can have bad results. Now, a defense which you'd expect to be at the very least the same as a year before, but perhaps better as Sean Smith catches more of those balls and the DL gets stronger, which could outweigh any drop off in Cam Wake's game as long as you sign an Antwan Barnes to help him out situationally...now you have a situation where the formula's been changed and so it wouldn't surprise me if the defense was just flat out worse.
     
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  34. Disgustipate

    Disgustipate Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    As much as you like to mention that you watch tape, it's sure surprising you managed to miss a fundamental issue of the Dolphins defense the past two years. We've repeatedly had linebacker coverage be an issue, and it's lost the team games.

    You can manage Channing Crowder as a 2-down linebacker in optimal conditions, but we've seen those optimal conditions break down. Crowder will miss games, and we've seen his backups repeatedly be a problem, and we've seen him have problems as an every down linebacker(and be forced into the role this year due to injury). We've seen teams choose to pass on our base 3-4 rather than move to a Nickel defense.

    Last year, Crowder couldn't start the season. Tim Dobbins came in, got blown up badly in coverage, even as a base 3-4 linebacker. That got resolved, Dansby goes down late in the season, and we've got Dobbins and Crowder as our starting linebackers, and predictably, the get blown up badly in coverage.

    In 2009, we saw Crowder and Ayodele get exploited in coverage, and it wasn't inherently them being put in bad situations. Akin Ayodele was mostly base defense only, a 2-down linebacker, and still managed to give up a bunch of yardage and plays. Channing Crowder had Bell handling the more complex coverage situations, and again, still got blown up from time in Nickel packages. Bell as a coverage linebacker isn't really free from issues, either.

    It's not hard to see how coverage in a base 3-4 unit is important when it's been this kind of an issue, and then the Patriots have moved to an offense where their primary passing formation is going to be matched by our base 3-4 defense.

    You might want to send a letter to the defensive coordinators of the league and tell them that you aren't convinced that the de facto Nickel package in the league is effective.
     
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