I'd like to see Earl Mitchell get more snaps at Nose/1-technique. Randy Starks has seemingly eaten up more of them lately and I've noticed in nickel situations they've had Odrick lining up there. Mitchell lit the world on fire the first 3-4 games this season, and while not at that level, I think he's been more steady than Starks ever since, and steadier than Odrick the past month. Part of me wonders if that having only a 3-man DT rotation and the amount of snaps they've played, especially Odrick, has sapped them a little bit.
OK, so help me out then. They've lost some games by not holding a one score lead, I'll give you that, but what would really help is knowing how they hold up in relation to other defenses perceived to be great. I know I was looking through Seahawk gameday data and that defense isn't as dominating at finishing games as you would think. In most of their close wins Wilson either scored with no time left or closed out the game. More than once Wilson executed what would be a game winning drive only to have the defense give it up again. Its kind of like saying Tannehill is a great clutch player because he has 5 game winning drives. It sounds great until you compare him to all QBs and you realize he's near the bottom of the list. So our defense has given up some game winning drives, but where do they rank? Thats whats important.
Which defenses do you consider great? And, does that really matter? We've seen what Miami's defense has done and not done. I cited those examples already. For me, I just want more consistency and better use of personnel. I think at this point it's safe to assume that Kevin Coyle is not that guy. He's had his moments, but not consistently enough.
The thing that bothers me about the 3 man DT rotation is while Mitchell and Starks basically split snaps, Odrick has far more than either, and it was the same way last year with Soliai instead of Mitchell. 646 for Odrick, and 398 and 393 for Starks and Mitchell. Last year, it was 874, 742 for Starks and 526 for Soliai. When Odrick played RDE in 2012, and moved inside on passing downs, it was 951, 826, and 627 respectively. Odrick may well be wearing down. They may need to have Anthony Johnson active more, and get him some snaps and make it more of a 4 man rotation, though not evenly. Shelby moves inside sometimes, but that really isn't playing to his strengths.
DJ pointed out in another thread that without the reverses the Jets ran 3.7 yards per carry on us. Still not good, I'm not denying that there is a problem with our run defense the past 2 games, but these aren't the norms. We will get it fixed, there's no way our run defense gets humiliated like this 3 games in a row. Before these last 2 games we were the 8th best rush defense. The sky is not falling, if it happens again I will jump on your band wagon for this one point. I've always respected everything else you've ever said on this forum, but I think you are over reacting. You'll see next game I hope!
I grant you that the Dolphins certainly tightened up in the second half. They allowed like 67 yards in the 2nd half I believe. As far as misdirection plays go, Miami's not stopped any until the last one the Jets ran Monday night all season. Julian Edelman had 2 in week 1 for 20+. Denard Robinson broke a 40+ against Jacksonville. The Jets last Monday broke several. The problem I'd have, is that in addition to that, the past two weeks Miami's been gashed by basic, football 101 plays. Some have intimated that it's a product of Kevin Coyle overcompensating for not having Cortland Finnegan in the lineup, and with Coyle's background being a secondary coach, I can see that. But this front has been playing too well for most of the season for it to be just that. I think there are some fundamental things missing. For example, see Sterling Sharpe on NFL playbook; there are back-to-back plays where Jelani Jenkins and Reshad Jones play a basic power-o play, and a basic off tackle play wrong. That shouldn't be happening in the 12th game of the season. And when you look at it, it's due to them being forced to make plays the shouldn't necessarily be having to make. I think those effects have been magnified the past two weeks because Denver and New York both have pretty big offensive linemen, even by NFL standards, and some of the fronts Miami shows are not conducive to guys the size of Wake and OV being able to consistently set the edge against lines like that. I'm interested to see how they fare against Baltimore, and if Adrian Peterson does end up getting reinstated, I'm really interested in seeing how they fare against Minnesota, though I believe Phil Loadholt is out for the rest of the year for the Vikes. In short, my issue is that I think a 3-4 scheme like Vic Fangio's in San Francisco or a multiple front scheme like Rex Ryan's would be better suited for the personnel on Miami's defense as it'd allow guys like Wake, OV, and Jordan to be aligned wider and gives them a natural advantage setting the edge against the run. Obviously I think it also allows for you to utilize them in even more creative ways rushing the passer as well. As far as interior players, Miami's already got a NT in Earl Mitchell who is familiar with a Fangio-esque scheme from his time in Houston. Odrick and Starks may be up in the air contract-wise, but they're both familiar with it from when Mike Nolan was coordinator in Miami. Terrence Fede played in a 3-man front in college and at his size, he's more of a 5-technique than he is a 4-3 base end anyway. Miami's used Derrick Shelby as an interior player in sub-packages and I think you could use him like the 49ers used to use Demarcus Dobbs (now with Seattle). Shoot, just look at Miami using that 3-4 look against the Jets in the 2nd half; it worked better than anything they did in the first half. I don't have any problems with what Coyle's done when it comes to the back-7 and defending the pass, other than guys having poor technique when it comes to tackling (Grimes, Delmas and Wilson primarily). The front 7 could, and I argue should, be better with the personnel Miami has.
I would like to see the big fella Garrison? Out of UGA and Anthony Johnson out of LSU play at DT..Some big fellas and adds 2 more guys into the rotation..it would really help our other tackles.
I haven't seen the Dolphins have the #2 Defense for a good portion of the season for a while, this was after 10 games with a very tough schedule. That has Coyle's name all over it. To me it is like finding gold in your back yard and not wanting to dig and see what else the yard has to offer. You already have a lease on that yard, but you want another yard. Or maybe a house is a better analogy, maybe the garage door hasn't worked for 2 weeks and you want to tear down the garage and build a new one. All I'm saying is we've seen a problem for 2 week, the better solution is fix the problem. I think we've fixed that problem and we will see the fix this Sunday. To me it is the same as people wanting a new QB for whatever reason that Tannehill isn't perfect when he is a good franchise QB that keeps improving but may have a bad game every now and then, which he hasn't done in a while in my opinion. Coyle has had a bad couple of weeks, I need more than 2 weeks before I start thinking we need a new defensive coordinator, specially when we've had the #2 defense after playing 10 games in what everyone would agree has been a tough schedule with the exception of the Raiders. And by the way, are we forgetting that our best game of the season was when Coyle was in charge, Philbin was out of town and we murdered and shut out the Chargers who have one more win than us?
Garrison Smith isn't on the roster any more. Johnson played against the Jets some, but he's not really good enough yet to be in the rotation.
I'll just agree to disagree with you, because Miami's #2 in yards allowed, which is an overrated stat IMO. I've not forgotten about getting beaten by E.J. Manuel in week 2, having Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon dropping in coverage against the Jamaal Charles-less Chiefs in week 3, placing Philip Wheeler in man-to-man coverage against the Packers, rushing only 3 against Detroit, and pretty much not showing up against the Broncos.
Garrison Smith was picked back up on the practice squad last week. And Johnson I think would get better each and every week...Our Defensive line needs help and it is obvious. Looks like Odrick is wore out and Starks is getting close too !! Man I do not want our starters to completely run out of gas. I want them here for the long hall playing lights out...that also is why I lik e solid back ups
