Easy fix to the OL. Sign 1 guard, 1 tackle, draft 1 tackle. So sign SLauson or Asamoah as a good young guard, Brandon Albert for LT, maybe Koujandijo in the first round and you have fixed you OL. I might even be ok with signing two guards. John Jerry stinks. Also, make your choices based on having an emphasis on run blocking for guards and pass blocking for tackles. We can't keep having an entire interior offensive line that can't run block.
This is not necessarily at you, Keith; but the overuse of the words "motivate" and "motivation" is probably misused in context a lot. I believe that, partially, it's due to our vocabulary shrinking and also the lack of nuance that has developed in the language between the 1960s and now. Professionals in any sport shouldn't require "motivation" from without; that's a given. They should be motivated by any of several psychological factors, such as the desire to be the absolute best at something; or, conversely, a fear of losing—whether it originates in a healthy internal source, or even an unhealthy one. Motivation also comes from camaraderie; wanting to be a part of a winning effort, or even not wanting to let down your teammates. A desire to please father figures such as the owner, coaches or others within the organization; look no further than Ray Lewis for a perfect example of that. Many other factors can contribute, such as a desire to be wealthy; or a strong fear of being poor, usually born in poverty earlier in life. Lots of things contribute to motivation. But a team, professional or amateur, is a reflection of their head coach; over time they acquire his demeanor, to an extent, and reflect it. It's part of the survival mechanism; when you're committed to certain surroundings, you adapt to them. And no matter how much we want our players to be tigers, that's not the demeanor Philbin carries, even into games. Even into important games. And while you wouldn't expect grown men to become exactly like the authority figure with whom they identify strongest—the leader of their pack—no one can possibly think that this factor has zero influence on their behavior. Looking as closely as we're allowed as fans, I saw one glaring incongruity as early as the 'Hard Knocks' days: the difference between the leader's demeanor and the meathead, in-your-face demeanor of O-Line coach Turner. Motivation works on an internal level, and we are unaware of most of its origins within us; don't you think that the conflicting signals, going from a team meeting with the leader to a unit meeting with the ham-handed Turner might cause some internal confusion for impressionable young men who never wanted to be part of anyone's military, EVER—in addition to knowing that almost all those guys are not yet the fully-formed men they will be in their 30s and 40s? I firmly believe that was a major factor at work in the Incognito/Martin debacle, and in the instability of the O-Line all year. Back to Head Coach Philbin; "motivation" does not equal "inspiration," which I think is overwhelmingly what people mean when they use the word "motivation." And while pros should not need external motivation, everyone—I mean 100% of us—like to be inspired. Like him or not, please don't drag this down into the political discussion quagmire—when I saw and heard Barack Obama speak at the 2004 Democratic convention, I turned to my girlfriend and said, "This man is going to be President someday." Not necessarily because of what he said, but because for the first time in forty years, a man stood up and made people FEEL what they WANTED TO FEEL...he INSPIRED them. A Head Coach can do that for his players; even his coaches. See, everyone has an ongoing internal dialogue, and it is individual to each one of us. A coach can yank a group of 60 or so men out of their internal dialogues and into a "one-mind," heightened mindset that makes them ignore all the insecurities and negative thought that normally haunt them and bring them down in rote tasks, and raises them into a common goal which they will each have a vital part in achieving. Guys like Turner, with their bombastic Castle Bravo style aren't the answer. The time of that type of leader is way in the past. Guys like Sherman, they can say whatever they want in whatever way they want, and the players are just going to stare blankly and think, "Wait...you suck at your job and it's hurting the team, and you are trying to inspire us?!" Philbin is the one who should be doing it; but that will never be his style. He's an introvert in a job which absolutely requires a great degree of extroversion. Furthermore, he's an extremely insecure individual, which makes him mentally weak. He's an older guy who thrived in the background; when Ross offered him this job, he had decades as an assistant, but no one had offered him the top spot. That should have been the first red flag. When he accepted, his first decisions as an executive are what probably doomed his administration more than any other factor except Jeff Ireland's continued poor personnel choices: he hired Sherman and Coyle. Because of his insecurity, he needed those two to lean on more than that they be very competent in their jobs. He then proceeded to permit even more poor choices to be made under him in a assistants and position coaches. Fact: at, what? 57? With plenty of experience, he became a poor football coach in one day. He doomed his team in order to serve his own largest failing: his insecurity. That plus Ireland's continued employment, marveled at by most of the rest of the NFL, doomed this franchise instead of raising it to (at least) legitimate playoff status. Not this bull**** of stumbling toward the last seed.
How does he take the time to write those index cards before his post game speech? Maybe Dawn writes them for him.
Wrote this in the running back thread but ill share it here in regards to our o line I think Lamar Miller is fine and Daniel Thomas actually graded out extremely well on PFF. Maybe if we had one guy on our team besides Incognito who had a positive run blocking grade we could see that. The rb's are not the issue, its the run blocking. These are the grades of our TE's and offensive lineman in the run blocking category on PFF. The rb's are not the problem. edit- was not able to attach the picture but ill give you every one of our run blocking grades Clay -10.9 Sims -11.2 Egnew -5.3 Jerry -10.4 Clabo -8.4 Pouncey -2.4 Mckinnie -8.2 Incognito 1.2 Martin -5.5 Garner -9.8 Brenner -4.2 That is while PFF gave the following grades to Tomas and Miller for their rushes Thomas 4.9 Miller 1.0 Those are positive. BTW those aren't dashes for the OL/TE, those would be negative signs. To go out and spend money on a free agent running back and not keeping Miller/Thomas is completely idiotic and will do nothing to solve the problem. The problem is we have an entire offense full of terrible run blockers. Literally not 1 good one. This is on the offensive line. That being said we could use either a power back or a guy like D'Anthony Thomas to catch passes out of the backfield.
This. Frankly, the more I think about it, the more understandable 8-8 is given the personnel Philbin has to work with. - Defensively, despite all the flaws and terrible LB play, it was good enough to win 10 games or more. It's going to be hard to improve it drastically with the LBs acting as albatrosses on field and in the salary cap. - Offensively, the team is an utter mess. Talent deficiencies, poor system fits, players playing out of position, etc... The offense is not a 10 win offense. It's a 6 win offense at best. From this perspective, 8-8 is starting to look like overachieving given the personnel Philbin has been shackled with.
The pro bowl is an awful way to judge a player. He was good in pass protection but wasn't good in run blocking. Our entire interior o line and the entire o line in general was completely awful in run blocking. that needs to be the first priority for upgrading the offense.
Hate to sound like a broken record but...having Jake Long walk set us back years... If the Rams decide on releasing him due to the injury risk (low chance)...he is definitely worth pursuing.
I don't disagree. I mean you posted numbers. I am trying to make since of them. So what 0 is considered average? What exactly is a 1.2. These mean nothing unless you have a comparison. Which is why I mentioned Pouncy. I am also assumming a positive number is better then a negative number - no?
Looks that way, there's some folks that may disagree and see another angle, so it should be interesting.
Somehow I don't think it will be. We don't have many valuable trade options and we have poor draft picks and terrible management. We lost a decent Guard who was a veteran player and longtime member of this team. Off-field antics aside, he was valuable. Don't kid yourself, our OL is in shambles. It's not just one position, and the McKinnie deal was a band-aid fix at best. We have Mike Pouncey and that is about it.
In my opinion something has to go though to get Albert... And I'm willing to let go of both Soliai and Starks.. Maybe sign starks back on the cheap but we can't afford to give both the money they're looking for. If we don't re-sign both I am all for it. I think defensive line is still a strength with or without them. I want someone that provides more pressure.
As to the OL: I would call a meeting of all O-Linemen and figuratively throw a grenade into the room. Incognito: I don't care how talented you think he is, he's a complete and total *** hole who always eventually manages to bring down the rest of the unit and the team with it, one way or the other. GONE. John Jerry: Here's yet another mental midget in a long litany of them, who value McDonald's more than their careers and the huge contracts players with great talent command. GONE. Nate Garner: Seriously...a guy who sticks for five years and can't break the starting lineup at a position of extreme, desperate need? Get the **** out of here. GONE. Tyson Clabo: Somebody get him the **** out of the building before I have a chance to sneak up on him with a baseball bat and try to take the millions he got in his signing bonus out of his ****ing hide. GONE. Danny Watkins: Three years experience, and you can't rise to the occasion when the **** hit the fan? Gone. David Arkin: Who?! Two years experience; where were you when all hell broke loose? How could you possibly get lost in the shuffle when we were literally scrambling for warm bodies for the unit? Maybe you stick, if only as trading camp fodder. But I'm watching you, son. Sam Brenner: Who? Training camp fodder. Dallas Thomas: Twenty-nine, smallish and only three years experience. Training camp fodder. Bryant McKinnie: Mostly solid since coming here. Be a mensch, stick around if you want to mentor some of these youngsters. Also, block out the sun for the coaches. Mike Pouncey: Ah, our pro-bowl Center. "Buy low, sell high" goes the saying. Unfortunately our moron of a General Manager drafted this guy higher than any Center ever had been drafted before. Million-dollar talent, wannabe punk thug mentality. I call around, see what I can get for him; first GM to offer a 1 flies him out. Grab Branden Albert; I don't care about the price; just get him. Grab the next two-three best OLs in free agency; make sure one can play Center. We're not getting top value at 19 no matter what; trade up to top 3-5, get a Tackle; preferably one of Lewan or Kouandjio. Don't quibble about price; you need what you need. Around the 3rd-4th, get Bryan Stork or Gabe Jackson or Moses Morgan or Jawuan James. If you don't get Stork, in the 5th-7th get Linsley or Stone or that kid with the strange name from Florida. DO NOT draft Seantrel Henderson from Miami anywhere except maybe with a comp pick in the 7th.
Sure it can...be fixed in one draft...because there are several viable options in the upcoming free agency, along with this being (from what I'm told) an O line rich draft. I just don't trust Ireland to get the right FAs or picks...he's shown he is seriously incapable of fixing the O line. Is part of it the O line coach too? I wish I knew...I'm not a football guru who claims to know all the ins and outs of putting a team together...I just know they ALL said, "we're going to be perfectly fine on the offensive line" in the pre-season...then reality hit 'em in the face. Fool me once, shame on me... All I have to go by is my eyeball check...and even though I was very hopeful in the pre-season that our O line would gel and work cohesively on BOTH sides of the offense (run blocking and pass pro)...we ended up with what could arguably be the worst offensive line in the history of the NFL. JI had AMPLE opportunity to bring in some stud O line guys in the offseason, and didn't bring in a single one. Clabo? LOL. His writing was on the wall when our D line was abusing him all training camp...not just Wake...EVERYBODY that went against him. Man that 2nd round draft pick could've been money well spent for Albert... I sincerely hope Ireland isn't involved in this organization come Thursday night.
Get Veldher or fat Albert and asamoah and draft Lewan that should solve everything ol could look like this Lewan-Asamoah-Pouncey-Jerry-Veldher
His contract is expiring anyway. Regardless of the Martin situation, he was already going to be gone. He just left damage on the way out.
That stick-to-your-guns mentality doomed Saban, Wannstedt and our current moron. You have to make yourself mentally flexible, or you're mentally weak. Picking 19th in a relatively weak year, and needing an OT to boot is a recipe for failure. When you need a Tackle, go get a Tackle. When you need two Tackles, you'd better make some things happen.
if you need one tackle, I see what your saying,if you need two, then making something happen would not be to move up imo, it would be to try to find players that some are undervaluing..there's no secret to finding good players, just more film work, longer hours, and a more keen sense of what your doing over the others.
That's if you know absolutely that what you're describing will work. But you understand that it's just not the way things really work, right? These pizwits work, and work and overthink everything—and end up with about a 60% failure rate in the draft. The one vitally-important thing we need...MUST HAVE in this draft is at least one Tackle who can start immediately. You can try to get lucky and find him later, among those tall odds; or you go get him. Worsen your odds by standing pat, you might as well be throwing money by the fistful on a roulette table. Identify who is the one player you have to have, and do whatever it takes to bring him home. That means trading up.
Right. If there's a guy on the board the dolphins want to play LT, we should try and do what it takes to get him. I hate giving up picks, but if it needs to be done than it needs to be done. If the fish can stay put and get their guy, it's a bonus.
Sign a LT in FA, go RT in the draft or perhaps have Thomas move out there. If Thomas can't play OT try him at guard, Watkins is still on the roster too. I don't think fixing the OL will be difficult now that it's priority one.
Ya… not really. Just about everything judging o-lineman is gonna be someone else's opinion. There are very few quality stats for o-lineman. The PFF stats are gonna be the most informed opinion out there available. They grade every single player and every single play.
Also, people might not want to hear this but Tyson Clabo may have played himself into the RT position for next season in the second half of the year. He was pretty good after an awful first half to the year. After week 8 he graded out as +11.4. Run blocking wasn't anything special but he was very solid in pass protection the 2nd half of the year.
Players are given +/- grades for each play, sure. But raw numbers are not exactly a good way to judge. You have to consider the competition, assignment, situation, any number of things. There's no standard, different people grade different teams. Most of all who is doing the grading? Youre right theyre the best available but I'd be weary of using them as a definitive resource.
Re Philbins lack of fire according to players... The translation of what they are really saying isn't that the players need a rah-rah coach, because maybe they do and maybe they don't... But what DOES matter and we need to hear loud and clear is that they feel the head coach does NOT motivate them. And that's a huge ****ing problem. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
On topic, I think a new OLine coach helps things even with the same players. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
I understand what you are saying but there is a definitive grading system in which they are graded for each play so the change in person doing the grading shouldn't matter too much. But i understand what you are saying, i just think they are the best source for what is actually going on in the trenches. Specifically o-lineman. You really can't tell what is going on there during the game nor are you looking there most of the time. I love their data for all defensive positions as well as blocking grades on offense.
I disagree with that. These guys are professional athletes, they shouldn't need a guy to motivate them every Sunday. A lot of this stuff has to do with the fact that we were severely lacking at several positions and our team wasn't very good. When we lose people then like to make that due to intangible things like motivation. Fact is we were probably talented enough to be an 8-8 team and thats what we were. People said the same motivation BS about Spoelstra with the heat. Funny how when they start to win all the talk about motivation is no longer there.
I used to think highly of PFF, but looking at some of their ratings makes me really scratch my head. For instance, did you know Sturgis was like a top 10 kicker for PFF? He was 13 spots ahead of Dan Carpenter. They are still a useful tool, but they're not perfect either.
You don't really need PFF to tell you about kickers though haha. Also, Sturgis was that high because they give total kicker grades which include kickoffs. As far as just field goals and extra points he was 15th which seems about right for his rookie year.
