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What is the one unit we cannot afford a loss at?

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by djphinfan, Feb 15, 2012.

  1. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Figuring out what unit cannot afford a loss from the units best player, can help us figure out what we should be looking at come first and 2nd round draft time..

    I'am thinking that if we lost Marshall we would be up sh%$ creek in todays game, especially considering were not that strong at the tight end position..

    If Blackmon by miracle was to drop, he would be the pick, if we can drop and stilll land a Floyd or Wright, that might be the next best option..

    We do have holes, just trying to narrow some targets down and a direction in this draft.
     
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  2. Killer Bees

    Killer Bees Bringin' the Ruckus

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    I think the biggest drop off would be losing big Jake. We would be crushed up front, especially if we don't sign a nice free agent on the OL. But yeah, I agree if we lost Marshall not only would I be angry, our receiving corps. would be a joke.
     
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  3. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Its so close in that sense, so the question becomes, which unit can have better functionality in todays game?..and this is why I keep coming back to the receiver unit and how it needs to be addressed with either a good sized free agent, or a first or 2nd round pick...If we lose Marshall we would get suffocated..
     
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  4. JimToss

    JimToss Thank You Chad Pennington

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    Losing Cameron Wake would be the most detrimental in my opinion. He seees to be the only player who can get consistent pressure on the QB and disrupt plays.
    We need to look for ways to upgrade our pass rush. We may be looking at another D-lineman, likely 4-3 DE, with high picks in the draft. Hopefully our fanbase can handle that.

    Losing Marshall would of course be another punch to the gut. Just in general Hartline needs to be upgraded.
     
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  5. MonstBlitz

    MonstBlitz Nobody's Fart Catcher

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    This question depends. If a team has a franchise QB like it should, that will always be the position. Depending on who we bring in this year, the answer could change.

    Based on strictly last year we saw last year how bad our play suffered when our secondary was not healthy. When Vontae Davis was off the field our defense crumbled. Yes Vontae started off not playing his best football and seemed to not have the conditioning he needed. But even in the first game against New England the difference when he left the game was very noticeable. Today's game is all about passing and stopping the pass. As the roster currently stands now, I'd say we could least afford the loss of Vontae Davis.
     
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  6. Jcouch1021

    Jcouch1021 New Member

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    The synopsis of all these posts? We don't have depth... every single post has been correct

    Brandon Marshall-
    If we lost him we have to look to brian hartline/davon bess/clyde gates to get the job done.. That to me is a nightmare if you want to establish any type of threatening passing game. That sounds alot like the Jaguars who have a plethora of number 2-3 recievers..

    Jake Long-
    even with Jerry filling in at the LT position and doing it well we still needed at least ONE very good o-lineman on our line (pouncey was a great pick and played great, but long is a must have)

    Cam Wake-
    He was pretty much our only consistant pass rush the past two seasons. He required respect from Offenses everywhere. If we lost him i believe we would be in the least amount of trouble out of the said choices so far because we do have D-line depth and average OLB's but still we wouldnt register half the sacks we do without him, and that can make or break a game

    Vontae Davis-
    Without any doubt our best DB. We suffered pretty bad without him in the secondary last year giving up ludacris amounts of yards through the air. He also is a very good defender against the run. Sean smith is so far an average corner who gets beat deep and can't seem to keep his eye on the prize (the ball) Jimmy wilson emerged as good against the run and pass as well as a good hitter and will become a starter eventually but is still raw...


    Safety-
    This isn't something that if we lost we would crumble. This is a position WE NEED TO FIX. Our safeties should be our center fielders, our last line of defense. They should be compensating for any mistakes made by the CB's and capitalize on QB mistakes... so far we dont have that.

    Quarterback-
    Many make the arguement over Matt Moore playing Very well for us at the end of the year to be our starting QB. Personally i do not see him bringing us all the way, he could maybe win us 9-10 games (with both sides of the ball playing VERY Well) but i dont see him taking our QB position to the next Level. Before you give me all the stats and rankings and blah blah blah, i know them. i have read all the threads and posts about them. If we had a Good game manager and above average starting QB Matt Moore would provide good to great Depth at the Position.

    Moral of the story.. We have damn good #1's but the drop off in many positions is too great and would put us at our knees if we lost them.
     
  7. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    This is all true imo, and leaves us in a position of drafting BPA at #9..

    Reiff/Kalil..Decastro..Claiborne...Coples..Blackmon... all are the best at their positions...If one of those dudes drops...he should be a Miami Dolphin..
     
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  8. Jcouch1021

    Jcouch1021 New Member

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    i could not agree with you more.
     
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  9. PHINANALYST

    PHINANALYST Well-Known Member

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    would say the 'unit' is Defense ... we are and still will be a Defense 1st team ... at least in the short term.

    we saw what happened in the 1st half of the season last year when the D was not ready ... it will be no different this year.

    regardless of who is at the helm, which i think will be Flynn or Moore ... it will take a bit of time for the Offense to get going.

    if you want to talk specific position, then someone like Marshall could enter the equation. for Long, it is entirely possible that we draft a T in rd 1 - capable of playing LT, so Long could move to RT if he is not fully healed. To me, Long's health in particular goes a long way in determining my Rd 1 pick .... otherwise, it's Defense for me.
     
  10. Larryfinfan

    Larryfinfan 17-0...Priceless Club Member


    Secondary....That is this team's weakest link right now. I mean, as it is, we have not gotten the right FS and Bell really showed his age last season. IMO, right now, we need both S positions replaced as it is...Davis and Smith have had ups and downs. Carroll has been ok, but not special. Everyone else is not worth mentioning, save for possibly Clemons. It's still a mystery as to what happened to him last season...maybe he called Sparano's wife a bad name or something ?? There was never a real explanation as to why he was demoted and our S play certainly was poor for the bulk of last season.
     
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  11. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    lol..one thing I'am realizing in this thread is that we are all, all over the place..and its all valid...we better hope players like Clemons, Wilson, Jones, Misi, Odrick, Smith, go to another level.
     
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  12. Jcouch1021

    Jcouch1021 New Member

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    Not hope, pray... Our youth is really showing.. Not in a good way either
     
  13. jw3102

    jw3102 season ticket holder

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    I have to agree. While the Dolphins do have a few very good players, the fact is that the Dolphins have a severe drop off in talent after these few top players. Many on here always point to Long, Marshall, Davis, Wake, and Dansby, when they try to show what an excellent job they think Ireland has done. Unfortunately these few hits are surrounded by a lot of mediocre to bad talent.

    In fact every team in the NFL has a few top players. The reality is that the better teams in the NFL have far more talented players on their roster than the bad teams have on theirs. There is a reason the Dolphins are a combined 20-28 over the last three seasons and the reason isn't because Sparano was the HC. The reason is that Ireland has had far more misses than hits in the draft and free agency.

    The one thing this thread clearly shows is how little talent the Dolphins have beyond the few stars on the team. I see the team needing at least another three years of solid drafts and good pick ups in free agency before they will be able to contend for a playoff spot. There are just too many spots to fill in one or two years for this team to be a legitimate contender.

    I think with a GM who actually know what he is doing, the Dolphins would already be a contending team after four years of rebuilding. Unfortunately Ireland really doesn't have a clue and that is the reason the Dolphins are still one of the worst teams in the NFL after his four years in charge of player personnel decisions for the team.
     
  14. Killer Bees

    Killer Bees Bringin' the Ruckus

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    Exactly this thread just shows the lack of depth our team has, we must keep building around our premiere players and I think that's by taking the best player available at either of these positions.
     
  15. Onehondo

    Onehondo Senior Member Club Member

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    All of these are good points and food for thought. We don't have the depth to raise our team to the next level. Without Marshall we don't have a standout wide receiver. Without Cam Wake we don't have a legitimate outside pass rush and consistent pressure on the quarterback. Without Jake Long, well we all saw what happened when Big Jake went down. We basically still have more questions than we have answers. The one good thing is we have such a wide variety of needs its still wide open as to what we address in the early rounds of the draft. Any one of these needs would be an impact player in a good Dolphin draft.
     
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  16. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    can't argue with that..The roster after 4 years should be deeper...I's say he's been about average with the caveat being we don't know how many of the mistakes were his.
     
  17. Jcouch1021

    Jcouch1021 New Member

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    We need 3-4 players out of this years draft who will contribute consistently and hopefully hit on one that will be the next level type
     
  18. The_Dark_Knight

    The_Dark_Knight Defender of the Truth

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    Our offensive line is shakey at best as it is. the left side of the line is our only strong suit with that unit. We need to bolster the right side, otherwise whoever is quarterbacking or running the ball is going to have a very bad day.

    If we lose anyone ont he left side of the line, we're truly assed out offensively
     
  19. MAFishFan

    MAFishFan Team Tannehill

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    Brandon Fields. close thread
     
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