Nice article, CK. We need to be able to run the ball consistently, the best way to defend Andrew Luck is to give him less time on the field altogether.
I'm with you on the blitzing, the risk:reward ratio on shifts drastically this week. Wayne, Hilton and even DHB can make plays down the field when given time. The focus should be on harassing Luck and collapsing the pocket as opposed to outright sacking him. The Colts know they can't run on our front but they'll use draws & screens to slow down the pass rush and call some token runs to help set up their play action game. A more controlled rush will help counter those plays. More importantly, Luck is perhaps the best in the league at evading pressure/brushing off defenders who manage to get to him. Rushing head long after him gives him lanes to escape the pocket, which is when he's at his most dangerous. A quick look at the Indy/Miami game from last year tells the story (quite painfully) so I'm certain the lesson isn't lost on Coyle and the defense coming into this week's game. If we can keep Luck in the pocket he'll make his share of plays but the alternative is much worse. Luck scrambling around, extending plays 6-8 seconds, fatiguing the DL who has to chase him for that long and fatiguing the DBs who have to cover receivers for that long. Running for first downs, finding open WRs on broken plays, breaking down the defense both physically and mentally. Gotta avoid that at all costs.
I agree with most of that except I don't agree that the Colts will enter the game knowing they can't run the football against us. I think it's going to be a priority for Pep Hamilton, based on what I've seen. He may decide that their run-heavy looks won't get them anywhere against our run defense, or that he has to bring our nickel defense out onto the field in order to run the football, but he's going to focus on establishing the run. One thing they like to do is shorten games as well. They know that Andrew Luck will tend to come through at important times of the game. He starts fast and he finishes well.
as always well done, CK what if Allen misses the game for the colts, what happens to the pass caterch matchup ? is it just fleener instead of allen or in your opinion will the advantage shift to our side ?
Advantage will probably shift to our side. But they still have a better quarterback so it's hard to say what will happen on the field.
I've heard some of that as well. Hamilton wants to run more and use more short passing in order to reduce the number of hits that Luck takes. I'm not sure Miami's the opponent to use that strategy on but it's possible he'll go to it. What are your thoughts on our ability to run on the Colts? There's nowhere to go but up after last week but how far up? Indy won't be throwing Chris Owens and Buster Skrine out there for Tannehill to pick on so a no show from Wallace and the run game this week could spell serious trouble.
I'm not sure laying off pressure is the way to go because I think if you give him time he's good enough to get it done, so either a slow death or stick with who we are ( which is the best team in the league at bringing pressure), and let our athletes track him relentlessly?? Would you use Dion in the middle as a spy on passing situations instead of Ellerbe considering he loses effectiveness in coverage when plays get extended?
thanks for the article ck. we did not see much in the passing game from our te position last week, not counting clay as an end. do you think we could have some success with our ends in the passing game this week against this d?
I think the Dolphins have to take this task very seriously. I'm not saying they won't take it seriously. But I don't want them falling into the trap of thinking well the Colts couldn't stop the Raiders from racking up 170 yards rushing so our running woes will probably improve and we just have to keep sharpening our tools at what we do, etc. They need to try different things against the Colts. The Colts are better against the run than people think. They have Cory Redding, Aubrayo Franklin and Ricky Jean-Francois. Those are not exactly dynamic players, but if there's something they can do it's stop the run. They held Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings to 2.6 yards per carry. It was Terrelle Pryor scrambling and running option plays that hit them up as they just didn't seem very well prepared for it. As I said in the article, Miami needs to explore that. Don't just assume the Colts will get that fixed this week, or that we're no good at it. Make them prove they won't get hit up by the exact same approach with the read-option, mis-direction and and horizontal stretch.
Pressure is always vitally important to any game plan but it's about how you achieve it. I don't think the Dolphins should place a heavy emphasis on achieving it through blitzing because it can simplify Andrew's decision-making process and put our defensive backs at a disadvantage covering their significant pass catching weapons. You know, we have a pretty dang good defensive line. Jared Odrick, Randy Starks, Cam Wake and (hopefully) Dion Jordan should all have the ability to pressure Luck. Let's let THEM do their job that way, while giving our defensive backs (the weakness of the defense, IMO) a little extra help so they can do their jobs.
I think we should blitz as we normally would. We brought in the personnel to run a blitz-heavy scheme, so let's do what we do. Make him beat what we do best; let these blitzers hover near those inside gaps, let them flex and cause confusion. We're better on defense than Oakland. If Luck really torches us early, then fine, get away from it some as the game progresses. I don't support an elite defensive unit shying away from its identity right away. We have the potential to be one of the best in the League. Let's do our thing and make people adjust to us. I'm just so pumped about this defense.
it's a hell of a challenge for Coyle, who's someone that is getting high praise imo for what's he's doing with this defense..it's a tough call as to how to approach this Qb, do we not dictate to them and play it the way your suggesting, or do we go with our strength against their strength.
I imagine our DL will be more effective now that they aren't facing the best LT in the game and a pretty top notch center. I look to center Vernon's presence felt more as well as Jordan.
I thought Vernon did a pretty good job considering who he was up against, he should find a much easier time in the future..
Anthony Castonzo is a much easier draw than Joe Thomas. Castonzo had a rough time with Oakland's Lamarr Houston. Part of me wonders if that signals the type of player that Castonzo has more trouble with, considering Houston is a 300 lbs monster...but either way he should be easier to go against.
My bad Deej, didn't mean to imply laying off the pressure altogether. I want to ramp it up but just in a different way. Steady diet of 5 man pressures w/ a focus on not giving Luck room to step into his throws or escape the pocket, combined with a lot of aggressive man coverage on the back end should work nicely for us. They'll go to their rub (pick) routes, their little screens, some shallow crossing routes maybe. I'll live with that. It's the deep comebacks, the posts, the 15-18 yard digs they like to run, those are the routes I'd love to see eliminated.
yup. On rewatching this game from the coaches angle, I was impressed with Koa Misi, he's very active, so much improved in coverage,very strong and physical, he's just becoming a good football player, definitely an ascending one, and combined with Odricks versatility and effectiveness on the inside, Ireland and Parcells might have got that draft right with the two for one philosophy..
Good point. And Mitchell Schwartz is no slouch at RT, significantly better than Godser Cherilus IMO. If Wake was able to dominate last week he should be even better this week. Castonzo vs Vernon is the only spot on the line where Indy isn't facing a total mismatch. I can't wait to see how they scheme to keep our DL under control.
They probably shouldn't blitz much............but I think it will be too tempting. Indy's OL is poorer in pass protection. If they can hit Luck as often as Weeden was....they'll chance it. I just hate the way that nearly every TD I see of Luck he's in the process of being sacked and still somehow throws a 30 yard rope of a TD. From what I remember....PFF had Gos as the top pass blocking RT last season. My only question is if he was playing for a contract because before that he was pretty up and down.
I read articles like this and I am so glad you are on the BR team. Great read! I used to not like the articles there, but yours seem to always be great, keep up the good work
I like Koa Misi. I thought extending him was a smart thing to do although it does cast some questions in my mind now about Dion Jordan, whom I envisioned taking some snaps at linebacker game to game. He's not got to be a straight DE opposite Wake.
I like the speed package Coyle ran last week...and wouldnt be surprised to see that more in this game. One thing I like...is this defense BELIEVES they are the best Defense in the league. So...if Indy has success against them initially, I see them foaming at the mouth and being like..."Its on like Donkey Kong!" It always seemed like when Cleveland would start to get some success going, they would put their foot down and go for the kill. This defense goes for the kill. They can be relentless...and I think THATS where we have an advantage this weekend. I also think our offense has a chip on its shoulder. To me...football has always been an game driven by emotions. I think we win by at least 10 this weekend. And if we can get some confidence rolling..we are gonna be one dangerous team.
That time of the week again. I need an idea for an article to do tomorrow otherwise I'm going to get some kind of cheesy B/R cookie cutter topic. Still won't let me do stuff about potential draft picks, unfortunately. Ideas?
I dont know how much there is to write about a topic like this.....but...Id love to see something about the Sherman / Tannehill dynamic. Are there signs that having a close and historical relationship with Sherman has advanced Tannehill along a particular curve? One thing that struck me as interesting is .... Last season Philbin was very much wanting to not put the ball in Ryan's hands. They brought him along slowly...as to installing all of their offense. This year...you hear Sherman make statements like...Philbin is ok with airing it out all the time...being aggresive with our passing game. It seems like Philbin has seen enough developing young QB's..where he is now ready to take the gloves off and let Tanny go. When Sherman said that....maybe it was me...but I got VERY EXCITED...because I dont think Philbin would be that way unless he was VERY confident
- Soliai vs Odrick vs Starks - Why are susceptible to TEs and how to fix it - What 2nd half adjustments were made on O & D. - Brent Grimes real deal or not
Another...you had said something in the past...before Tannehill was drafted I think...where you had visions of a young "Aaron Rogers"...at this point...is there anything there that still leaves you feeling that way...if so...maybe make some comparisons of the two...?
That's actually a great idea. But it's a great idea in the way that it's a great idea to have your septic tank emptied when it's full. Still something wholly unpleasant about it. I swear, one review of the running attack and blocking in that game was all I could take. If I did a deeper exploration I might become a drug addict. Incidentally I accidentally wrote much of the Hartline piece on Ambien. I knew I would be up late writing and the problem with it is it gets me amped up and so when I do go to sleep I still can't quite wink out when my head hits the pillow, and if I'm going to bed that late every minute counts for how I'll be feeling the next day. So I took an Ambien so I would go to sleep right away. But I tried to time it so that I'd be taking it while I was writing and it would kick in after. Timed it wrong. Wrote half the damn thing on Ambien with the words on the computer screen wiggling about like when you're rearranging your apps on an iPhone.
That's definitely a deeper piece. The kind of thing you should work on for a few weeks to do it any justice.
Given all the controversy I don't doubt it. Wonder if there's a weekly player prop up there somewhere...
I too would like to here some indepth views on the Odrick/Soliai/Starks situation. Could we afford to keep all three? What ramifications it would have on the rest of the team salary wise? What would each of them be worth in FA or trade.
Can you write a piece on writing while under the effects of ambien while under the affects of ambien? Less bleacher report more silkroad though, I suppose haha
