Heath Evans thinks EVERY one of our draft picks will fail! What!?!

Don't forget after we let him go, Pats signed him and he ran for 84 yards on 17 carried against us. That was his career high point. So he is still upset that outside of that one game, he was mediocre.

 

I don't see how it was "good" interview.

Many of Evans' points were incredibly dumb.

- Tom Brady is ONLY susceptible to pressure up the middle and not from the ends. Jason Taylor says hi.
- Pittsburgh didn't want Wallace because he's no good and lets them down in the clutch, and no else was in play for Wallace.
- We spent too much money and implies our cap is in trouble because of it.
- He also skirted the question posed to him about what he would have done better.

I know there was more, but I listened to it yesterday and am going off memory.

 

He also said that Mike Wallace has more ability than Santonio Holmes. He said he was the first person on the Tannehill bandwagon. He said that overall he thought the offseason was okay until the Jordan pick.

Also keep in mind that historically, giving out big contracts in FA has generally been a poor strategy. There is a stigma around it, which to a certain degree is justified.

Certainly some of his points weren't necessarily correct, but I don't see anything that indicates an inherent bias.

 

I'm never one to cry bias by the media.

But this reeks of bias, IMO.

-The 18 sack comment was absurd
-The outside pressure comment and Wake not bothering Brady due to it not being inside pressure was absurd
-The monopoly money comment was uninformed and absurd
-The harping on the 240 lb frame, though not absurd, not very intelligent.
-The whole "if the Steelers didn't re-sign Mike Wallace so he must not be THAT good" argument is beyond absurd. Especially when taking cap figures into play which he didn't do.

Some good points he made were with regard to Ellerbe having only 7 starts. But he counters that by using a bad point in lauding Karlos Dansby, who was always overrated as a Dolphin, and didn't have a team until recently.

I think it's more or less known that I've been one of the more pessimistic people around here with regard to the direction of this team. And more often than not I've been critical of our players, coaching, and management. I never ***** and moan when a national media outlet rips our team. Rank our RBs 29th....fine, writer has legs to stand on. Question our treatment and write negative articles about our GM inappropriately interviewing players....cool, it makes sense. Rip our organization for the handling of Harbaugh and Sparano....you got a point.

But this just seemed like a guy with an agenda. That, no matter who we picked up, he would've found a problem with. We could've traded Oliver Vernon for Aldon Smith and he probably would've came on ripping Miami for cutting ties with an up and coming talent and being impatient.

 

I don't think there was anything in my post that discussed bias.

I said it wasn't a good interview because he made many stupid points. For example, he implied or stated (can't remember) that Jordan wasn't going to be a Top 5 pick.

We didn't go as crazy as people act like we did in FA.

 

Jordan pick was the cherry on top of the offseason.

Would be interesting to hear if he would have taken Johnson at #3, then ask him about outside pressure not effecting Tom Brady.

 

Exactly. Wallace is overrated because the Steelers didn't re-sign him, but Dansby is effing amazing even though Arizona and Miami didn't re-sign him. His points were mostly stupid.

 

Brady is susceptible to pressure in general. If Evans doesn't agree watch the NY Giants and how they bring pressure to him from all angles on the D line. IMO that point is just ridiculous on Evans' part. The bottom line with Brady is any pressure is good pressure and it absolutely WILL frustrate him.

As far as his Dion Jordan rant goes, it wouldn't of sounded so bad if he would just used a lower number than 18 with whole sack/liability comparison. If Jordan is able to bring in just 10-12 sacks in his rookie campaign the pick is a homerun in itself. Phins D was already stout against the run so I don't really see how he can say adding a person like this is such a liability. The guy is obviously deep down not a fan of this team but after listening to the whole phone call it didn't seem as bad as some people here are making it out to be.

I have to commend Jesse Agler for basically keeping it objective just going point for point with the guy because I'm sure the conversation could of turned very ugly very quick.

 

IMO, he only said those things to give himself "credibility" when bringing up many of the absurdly negative comments.

For example:

Carmelo Anthony is a great basketball player and I've said it all along, but he folds under pressure, can't score against good defenses, underperforms in the post season, doesn't play defense, can't make the players around him better, and rebounds poorly.

That's having an agenda but pawing it off as not having an agenda

 

Problem with that is if Evens knew more about our offensive issues what Wallace brings to the table for us is more valuable then what Holmes brings to the Jets offense. And Holmes, the fmr Stealer, got into off the field hot water, which led to his trade to the Jest.

A more balanced commentary would have acknowledged that reality.

Add in he walked from Pitt b/c they could not afford to pay him, their run of success led to cap issues, it had -0- to do with his talent.

 

Good thing you did..wouldn't want to have to make you look silly.

Even smart people can say dumb things when they are angry, and that's what he did.

 

Heath Evans clearly is of the opinion that Tom Brady is more bothered by pressure up the middle than by pressure from the outsides. Is he wrong? I don't know the answer to that question. I do know that he was actually a TEAMMATE of Tom Brady's for a good amount of time, so he's probably got a better perspective on it than the people who (ironically) consider Evans a moron for bringing it up.

But I will say this. We all agree that from 2010 to 2012 Cameron Wake has been one of the very best defensive ends in the game. He's provided probably the most and/or most consistent edge pressure of any player in the game over that whole time period.

Well, over that time period Tom Brady is 134 of 210 for 1695 yards, 11 TDs and 2 INTs against the Dolphins. That's a 102.4 passer rating, whereas he had a 104.9 passer rating against every other team in the league over those three years.

So you tell me...did the edge pressure of the best and most consistent edge pressure guy in the league bother Tom Brady THAT much?

 

The positive things he said was just the anesthesia before he proceeded to shop your arms and legs off.

He contradicted himself. He said he was O.K with our free agency up to Dion Jordan, but then also said he would not be surprised if all of Ireland's moves fail.

A few of you guys here are doing your best to try to be as objective as you can be, however this is a clear case of bias. There's no need to try to sweeten it.

 

Huh? He said Wallace > Holmes.

 

There's really nothing in the above post that I agree with and I really think you need to re-listen to the interview if you don't think Jesse Agler was doing his best to counter some of the points that Evans was bringing up.

 

"...Wallace had more ability than Holmes.."

Which is nice, if he were talking about our offseason why then not expound upon the signing and what he brought, specifically, to the offense, and how that would effect our offensive performance.

We required a proven deep threat, if he then said he wasn't sure about Wallace's route tree would fit into our offensive play design, hey, -0- problem.

I suspect the NFL media does not care for Mr Ireland and I further suspect Parcells is somewhat behind it as it was said "gosh Ireland gets to blame Parcells for what went wrong and claim credit for what what right" Also suspect stuff like not doing the expected thing and replacing Long w/Johnson is clouding their opinions of the team.

THAT is strictly my opinion.

 

Ideally you'd always like to get middle pressure. And it's been widely agreed upon amongst Dolphin fans, coaches, and apparently management that Cam Wake needed support in rushing a passer such as Brady.

So Ireland drafted the most gifted player, or one of, in that respect in the draft.

Wouldn't you agree that Having Jordan will allow Starks and Odrick to be quite the tandem rushing exclusively from the inside rather than out of position?

 

CK you're trying to be objective and rational on behalf of Evans, when he clearly does not deserve it. This guy is obviously always inclined to look at whatever the dolphins do with a negative veil, and there is ample evidence of this, just not this interview.

Also, he clearly thinks Dion Jordan is gonna be a bad player. In this interview he chose to take the path of Jordan might be a good rusher, but he will be a liability in everything else. However I have heard him say also that Jordan will not be a good rusher, because of X, Y and Z.
You're trying to give some merit to what he said because it might be a valid point of view, however that is not his point of view. His point of view clearly is Dion Jordan will be a bad NFL player and the Dolphins, namely Ireland, made a monumental mistake by taking him.

 

Completely understand what your saying in terms of how Brady has mostly torched us since 2010 but to say Brady is only affected by pressure up the middle is a little silly. Teams have had success rushing him off the edge. Wake hasnt really been a factor mostly just because he was the only real threat in that case. Seems to me it was very easy for NE to game plan for Wake IMO...always find your posts insightful and a good read.

 

The Dude's jealous, that's all. No need to feed his delusional mind.
He's probably enjoying all the attention he's getting.

 

I'm not playing devil's advocate here. I listened to the interview and I'm genuinely impressed by Heath Evans' work. Genuinely.

 

Well that and..it then would make more sense to add a passrusher across from Wake to further improve those pressure numbers?

And gosh, we blitzed a lot, in general, Dansby and Burnett rarely made a play when we did, so they were replaced with better blitzers to..wait for it..generate more pressure.

No mention of that, and he does realize Starks has made pro bowls as Dlineman?

 

I don't believe he said that Brady is ONLY affected by pressure up the middle. I believe his point was that if you're building yourself to beat the Patriots, then you're prioritizing pressure up the middle, not pressure off the edge. Trading up to #3 overall to get Dion Jordan seems to be prioritizing pressure off the edge. For whatever reason, and again he actually played with Brady, he believes that Brady isn't as bothered by pressure off the edge. And I have to say the stats certainly suggest he could be right. We've had the BEST edge pressure man in the league the last 6 times we faced Brady, and he's been as effective against us as he has the rest of the NFL.

 

Jmo, I think what's happening here is some folks who are intelligent are not very good at picking up bias and anger in an interview..

From the moment he hears something dolphins, his opinion is tainted, that's what a bias is, he can't think objectively about something that he doesn't like to begin with.

The interview is worthless conjecture.

 

I had to laugh when I he started talking what a play maker Dansby was and what a great blitzer he is… THAT in its self is a huge joke.

 

Ryan Clark was saying the Brady sees ghosts now when blitzed.

And 1 player, no matter how dominant he is, can pressure that effectively, there has to be help.

Add Jordan and Wheeler and Ellerbe with the idea of adding more of a pressure element to the defense, the objective downside is Wheeler and Ellerbe are not proven commodities.

However he did not make that point.

 

The best edge rusher is containable when you do not have much else to throw at possibly the best QB in the league. Brady always has a good line so dealing with just one Freak rusher and a subpar supporting cast (in terms of just pass rushing) shouldn't be that difficult for a coaching staff that is as good as NE's.

Evans ridicule of the Ellerbe signing somewhat made sense until he threw Dansby's name in the mix. Yes Ellerbe has limited experiance but the potential and talent is there. Not to mention Youth. Dansby isn't getting any younger and his over inflated contract just didn't match up with the production he brings, yes I know he makes a lot of tackles.

 

How could you be? Unless you're trolling everyone here.

He contradicted himself several times during that interview. He was all negativity towards what we've done this year, and when he did say something remotely approaching positivity, he offered plenty of negative caveats.

I could understand if you're unsure about the moves Ireland's made, that's fine, however he clearly is intent on painting everything with the negativity brush.

 

What will Dion Jordan do for Starks and Odrick?

I'm not sure he'll do anything for them, to be honest. Jordan is probably not going to play End on base downs and I think we've been saying that for a while. That means Jared Odrick is probably still playing exactly the same role he played a year ago, a role I criticized. I think his time at End in base as a run stopper is wearing him down to where he's not as effective when it comes time for him to pair with Starks on the interior in nickel. And for that matter, Starks' time in base on the interior is probably wearing him down to where he's less effective in nickel as a rusher on the interior. Dion Jordan isn't a positive or a negative for that because he's probably going to be playing linebacker on those base downs, WHEN he actually wins that job (for the moment he may just be a specialist on nickel downs).

As for what his presence on the edge does for Odrick and Starks actually I think it's closer to the opposite of what you're saying. Having a guy like Dion Jordan who is so outside-conscious in his pass rushing on nickel downs, bookended with Cameron Wake who is as pure a speed rusher as you're going to get in the game today, means that you're leaving a lot of space open in the middle. Does that make sense? You've got two speed rushers taking wider arcs and working the outside shoulders of the tackles, which means those two players are not going to be factors in defending the right and left side B gaps. That means you've got 2 defensive tackles defending 4 gaps without the aid of those two edge rushers. That puts a lot of pressure on them to occupy the middle WHILE also trying to push the middle and make the quarterback uncomfortable. Can you "borrow" a linebacker to help keep an eye on those gaps so that you don't get blown wide open by a draw or some kind of screen? Sure. But doing so takes away from your coverage. Am I making any sense?

Again I'm not trying to play devil's advocate and I really like Dion Jordan as a player. You asked a question and this is the answer. I can't give another answer because then I would be giving a dishonest answer.

 

I don't think he's upset at all. Dude played 10 years in the NFL. Made great money, parlayed it into a nice career thereafter. Drew awareness to his foundation which dealt with sexual abuse.

I always wonder, why do non-superstar on-field accomplishments automatically render someone's opinion or analytical acumen moot? By that rationale, he's infinitely more qualified to give opinions on the subject than you or I. Or Bill Belichick.

The answer is it matters only when they say things we disagree with or criticize our team.

I disagree with him, but I have no qualms about what he said. It doesn't come from a Skip Bayless place. Listen to him. He may be wrong, but he's not just throwing **** against the wall.

 

Dont you think that other ten guys that are playing defense with Wake have something to do with that?

 

If you're correct in your theory, then Cameron Wake will have been "contained" during these 6 games. But the fact of the matter is, on 204 pass rush snaps, Cam Wake has tallied 5 sacks, 8 hits and 13 pressures according to Pro Football Focus. That's actually really good.

Cameron Wake has been doing his job against Tom Brady. New England hasn't been isolating and frustrating him into non-production. He's been in Tom Brady's ear hold, hitting him, pressuring him, sacking him.

Tom Brady just doesn't seem to care. He's passing effectively against the Dolphins anyway.

So there aren't intelligent football people who believe Karlos Dansby is better than Dannell Ellerbe?

Don't let alen1 hear you say that.

 

Saying that in without considering why Brady has had success against our defense is just not rational. It is a team sport, there are 10 other guys out there on any given play.

 

So you're saying Miami hasn't had a good defense during that time period? The other 10 guys were bad?

The Dolphins had the 14th ranked defense in 2010, the 6th ranked defense in 2011 and the 7th ranked defense in 2012.

 

I was just poking some fun in, I honestly could care less about his "opinion" since I care more about what happens on the field. Not what some guy behind a desk thinks. I like the moves we have made so far, but that means little if they don't play well. He tried to justify Jordan by being light and playing rush end on 3rd and 3 vs the pats. Why would you even try to rush them on 3rd and 3 to begin with? It's going to be a run or a fast pass, you won't get there in time. As for size, Jason Taylor played games below 240, he has said so himself. He played the run well, basically all we got was Evans overly strong opinion, guess what? It's his opinion and everyone has one be it similar or way different.

 

26 pressures on 204 attempts, what about the other 178 attempts?

INOW, entirely probable Wake did fine, rest of the defense not so much in terms of pressuring the Qb, or covering effectively for that matter.

In fact, if Wake's 26 pressure plays are excluded from Brady's passer rating, I'd think he did better then league avg against our Defense, w/Dansby included, basically our personnel aside from Wake was just not good enough to deal with their offense in any meaningful sense.

INOW, Wake needed help, and the D needed an overhaul.

 

I am saying that Miami's defense didnt match up well with the Pats offense (IMHO). And not sure where you got your stats but the Fins defense was the 12th ranked defense (yards) in 2012 (7th point allowed) but they were 27th overall against the pass. in 2011 they were 15th over all and 25th against the pass…