http://www.miamidolphins.com/media/...adership/8efd4a1e-125c-40fb-aff9-f63cdf68f399 Cool interview, Dansby, I believe has it in him to be a great leader, I think it's takin him a bit to figure how to do that off the field, but now I know he's in shape, and I feel very confident that he and his talents are going to translate this year.. Said that Sean is just incredible, freakish, said that he is 6'4 and that he believes the dude is a legit 4.3 player, said he's never seen anything like it.. Up until this point I would have to disagree with him, but would love to see Sean take a big step. I can see the issue with this being chalked up to talk, however, I feel that Dansby now gets it when it comes to his body, I think he realizes what he has to do in the offseason to lead by example, And I know he has the voice to inspire a unit to play hard..I believe he has his best season.
What's more telling to me is that the leadership award went to a guy that showed up to camp 26 lbs overweight after the lockout. DJ, be honest, I know that upsets you. You rail about that sort of thing all the time, even when it's not appropriate in my opinion. I've seen you make very, very, very strong statements against players for less cause. What it shows to me is that Joe Philbin and staff still have a lot of work to do on the issue of accountability in the locker room, because the players don't ultimately think that sort of thing matters much, and they need to. I don't believe you give the leadership award to a guy that came in 26 lbs overweight, played like crap over the first part of the season until he could play himself into shape, and then played awesome. I don't care how vocal he was. I don't care how many butts he slapped trying to encourage his teammates. I don't care how many barbecues he hosted, how many pre-game cheers he led, how many players-only meetings he called, or how many "win one for the Gipper" speeches he gave. I don't care how much he "looked in the mirror" and blamed himself, vocally. I don't care how much he recommitted himself at a time when it was already too late. Actions have consequences. Actions. Have. Consequences. His coming in overweight like that was an action, and it should have had the consequence of disqualification in the eyes of his peers for this kind of award. You commit the crime, you do the time. But to me, with the players voting for him anyway, that shows that they're too forgiving of stuff like that and they should not be. That's how you know that in the back of these players' minds, they still think there's nothing wrong with doing what Dansby did.
Sean Smith was pretty freakish in a bad way last season. I don't think there was any coincidence we picked up a corner who appears capable to fill in to start rather than a nickel specialist this off-season.
Old SS has be put on alert this offseason....... I would be surprised if they let him go after this season...
there's more to leadership than leading by example, which Wake clearly does better than Dansby. We don't know what goes on in the locker room. In his teammates eyes' Dansby playing himself into shape and taking control of the defense probably is viewed as leadership. especially if they view themselves as victims of the lockout.
Aside from griping about the "leadership" award going to a guy that spent half the regular season trying to play his way into better shape, I think what he said about Sean Smith was pretty significant. He's probably exaggerating, that much we can be relatively certain of. I mean, he said Smith is 6'5" and 225 lbs and runs in the 4.3's. Smith is actually 6034 and ran a 4.50 at the Combine, 4.47 at his pro day. Pesky details. But the fact of the matter is we can also be relatively certain that Smith has done something or a number of somethings that have significantly impressed Dansby thus far in the off season. There was no hemming or hawing over this answer, and he didn't pull the classic "name 10 other guys" move. His answer came pretty much immediately, either because he'd already thought about it and knew he wanted to cast a spotlight on this particular guy, or because Smith just made that much of an impression of him that he didn't even have to think very hard on the answer.
Smith may be some kind of , Freak", but when it comes to playing CB in the NFL, he has been very average at best. Unless he improves his play this come season, I don't see the Dolphins resigning him after the 2012 season is over.
The malaise was a direct result of bringing back a lame duck , ineffectual coach . Not saying it validates the players commitment , but let's see how a locked in , long term staff changes the professionalism , or not. Thinking attitudes have and will change here , and that is a huge step imo.
Thanks for the post DJ but CK sure refreshed our minds on how he started last season. We need him as a leader so lets see if he steps up and makes a example now. Hearing him brag on Sean Smith is a good good thing.
Would love to see Smith start playing to his ability man, we need him to step up. I wanna start seeing those hands we saw in college and start coming down with some more footballs. No more of that incomplete gesture after he gets beat and the receiver drops the ball.
Playing yourself into shape is kind of a givin not some kind of accomplishment imo. I agree that we're not privy to what goes on in the locker room. Whatever, he's paid like a leader that's for sure.
He's just talking **** He's going way overboard. He's probably just saying this because they're team mates and friends, etc. For the last couple of seasons, I've grown very disappointed in Smith. You hear all of this type of stuff about him before every season and you end up seeing the same mediocre play and same whiffs. I've just about lost hope in him. We now have a whole new staff, so maybe he has a chance to improve. Let him compete and go from there.
[video=youtube;tG1t_m3Acws]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG1t_m3Acws[/video] I want to see more plays like this.
You don't know that. The guy is in a contract year. Historically that has caused a lot of players to get their act together
He got Cris Crocker to play well. More like a DB reclamation GOD!!! In seriousness, hopefully he will do a good job of putting the right people in the right position
Yup, and it came last summer. Then Tom Brady threw for over 500 yards against us Opening Night. Humbled.
I agree with a lot of this, I hadn't thought of the angle of the locker room dynamics and how that unearned award could be viewed as an obstacle.. I'll go back some, I've said over the years on this board that I didn't believe that Dansby had taken his training serious enough over his career, but yet the guy had some serious leadership potential ( I see a very real prescense about him), so while I was pissed as hell at him last year for not getting the defense together during the lockout, and not taking care of his body, I see a change in him now, and for me, when a player finally figures out how to train the body, if he's got the other stuff, he's dangerous, so basically I'm sweeping his past transgressions under the rug for two reasons, he's a dolphin, and he's got the potential to be very impactful for the next three years.
I read this over the weekend from Izzy Gould. Dansby might not be far off, though you hope Smith doesn't get too much heavier. The Pro Day/Combine doesn't spell the end of your measureables. He could run a 4.3 in shorts now for all we know. I just appreciate hearing that he's been working hard this offseason.
IMO the being over-weight/out of shape this one off season is over-stated. I think that it's likely that Dansby worked out just as hard as he has every offseason before. He just under-estimated the impact of the shortened TC and preseason. I think that happened league-wide. The teams that didn't appear to be affected were the ones with great offenses. Over those early weeks offensive records were falling left and right. My guess is that if you eliminated the defensive players who didn't come into the season in game shape, you'd be eliminating 99% of the defensive players.
"Part of his new approach is his slick new haircut. His listed at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, but he appears thicker and acknowledges his efforts in the weight room have helped provide the body to make things happen in 2012." This is a huge part of of the evaluation process on players for me..When this happens to a player, results are usually followed, thats not a theory anymore, it is very real, and is a completely underestimated variable in sports, and grossly neglected Imo by ownership, coaches and scouts. Let's hope he and Bess have trained together.
My concern with Smith has always been his maturity (same w/ Vontae, but to an even greater extent). Smith has always had rare skills. If the mental side is clicking (and this workout focus is a potential sign of that), then we may be about to see a jump in Smith's play. Here's hoping.
Back in the Draft I liked Sean Smith more than Vontae. Not as physical or strong, but he has more potential. I think Vontae will always have inconsistency dogging him throughout his career, he'll look like an All Pro one game and a goat the next. Smith has the potential to be more consistent, IMO.
I think the teams with great defenses came in to the season in just as good of shape as they normally would. BAL, SF, etc.
That was always my gut feeling as well. I just saw too many repeats of the same mistakes with Davis in college to believe that he did much self-assessment or listened to and implemented what his coaches told him. I thought he improved with Will Allen's presence. With Allen gone I hope that somebody fills that void. Coyle has a rep for reaching and connecting with DBs so maybe he'll be the one.
My thing has been his dropped interceptions. He was a WR for a short time in college. A lot of us thought it would help him catch more passes at CB.
For Sean Smith I sensed maturity issues but for Vontae Davis I sensed personality trait issues. One was destined to grow up, in my eyes...and the other might not.
Playing the Devils advocate the leadership award usually goes to QBs on offense. Dansby makes the calls on defense so you could say he is the QB on defense.
Hopefully we"ll get some articles later..Usually when some of these practices are open to the media, their all over it in the media.
