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Lack of Explosive Players

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by dirtylandry, May 3, 2017.

  1. dirtylandry

    dirtylandry Well-Known Member

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    I was thinking back at this team, it's mediocrity and was wondering why this team avoids potential, explosive players. Furthermore, we really don't have a "face of the NFL" type player, someone who has top 5 jersey sales or kids want to be. Look at Denver, they get Charles yesterday. Yes he is not Charles of a few seasons back, but he could be explosive. We drafted Parker, and he isn't what we selected. We passed on TE's, Mixon, Cook, etc. I know some character issues there, but again, we avoid explosive players like Clev does qb's. I think the player we passed on that hurts the most was Dez Bryant, even after we traded for Marshall. And when we had Marshall, we traded him. YesI know we are after alpha players now, but explosive players are the ones that score.
     
  2. TheOne

    TheOne Active Member

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    That's a good question and thought.
     
  3. Dolphin North

    Dolphin North Well-Known Member

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    Good point. It seems like we have had a lot of pedestrian players working for pedestrian coaches. I think a lot of it has to do with the inability to get a solid foundation (offensive line) in place over the past 15 years or more. It seems like we have taken 2 steps in that direction the past 2 drafts with Tunsil and hopefully Asiata. Hopefully we will see more "explosiveness" from Ajayi this year if the line takes another step forward. Really it is going to come down to consistency for him and this could be the year he becomes more of a household name. Drake is explosive, as in quick strike, but I think the chances of him ever carrying the load enough to sell jerseys in the top 5 are slim.
    I think the other obvious issue is team success. Wake, although a defensive player, could probably have been a bigger jersey seller if he had played for a team that usually made the playoffs and got more national coverage. Hopefully this next group of Dolphins will not have that problem.
     
  4. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    The only reason some of our players aren't better known is because our record hasn't been great. Wake, Suh, Jones are definitely the type of players you're talking about. Guys on the cusp and will probably be breaking out soon are Ajayi, Thill, Landry, X, Tunsil, maybe Parker and Stills.
     
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  5. Redwine4all

    Redwine4all Well-Known Member

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    I agree. I think explosive is being regularly in 2nd and 5, 3rd and 2...that will do wonders for our explosiveness. EVERYTHING starts up front. If Pouncey can get healthy (huge IF), we'll have a better than solid Oline. It'll do wonders for what we can do.
     
  6. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    Sorry, but it's hard not to see "explosive" when it comes to Landry, Ajayi, Tunsil, Pouncey, Stills, Jones, Williams, Carroo, Wake, Suh, Grant, etc. When Tannehill plays balanced with rollouts and scrambles, he's pretty darn explosive as well.

    I think the bigger point here is that we don't play explosive ball nearly as much as we should. On defense it's understandable since we've had so many holes, but there's very little excuse on offense these days. Once we have five starters on the field on offensive line, I think we will see plenty of explosive in 2017.
     
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  7. Rickysabeast

    Rickysabeast Royale With Cheese

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    I agree that we have many players on the cusp. Thill, Parker, Stills, Ajayi are all going to make believers of the world this season.
    Jones is great but no-one knows about him. Wake is old. I'd say right now the top players in the prime that everyone deems explosive are only Parker and Suh.
     
  8. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Kwon has explosive qualities, the strength he possesses in the lower body at such a young age is elite..

    Suh is explosive, reshad is one of the most explosive players in the league.

    I don't know how we stack up on the explosive meter but I think its about finding great football players, instincts rule.
     
  9. CitizenSnips

    CitizenSnips hmm.

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    Kenny Stills was as explosive as you can get last season. How many of his 9 TDs were 20+ yd plays? All of them?

    Ajayi had 3 200yd games. 3!

    Kenyan Drake had a KR, plus that ridiculous td run against the bills.

    I mean, come on man
     
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  10. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I don't see Landry, or Carroo as explosive.

    What I think the poster means, is we don't have a superstar. We don't. Landry is our best WR and he's limited. Parker has AJ Green potential, so he's our best bet, alongside Ajayi. Ajayi is very inconsistent though, getting stuffed at a high rate.

    It's part ability, part record, and part primetime exposure. Ajayi runs for 200 on MNF, you will hear about him. Or has a dazzling Marshawn Lynch run in the playoffs where he drags 22 guys (11 guys twice) etc.

    Wake would be our other explosive guy, but he's flown under the radar. You need a story to accompany the guy. Starting off at the CFL, just didn't catch on media-wise.
     
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  11. Not So Fast

    Not So Fast Well-Known Member

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    I think it's unfair to attribute lack of explosive players to the current admin. A decade plus of bad decisions and turnover made the team a mess. Hopefully with Gase things will start to gel and stabilize to a point where the Phins can find some star players. Right now, the team is just laying a foundation for the future.
     
  12. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    Whaaaaaa.......
     
  13. Stringer Bell

    Stringer Bell Post Hard, Post Often Club Member

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    This sounds like more of a complaint with the market, not the players IMO. Ajayi ran for over 200 yds in consecutive games. Reshad Jones is one of the best safeties in the NFL. Cam Wake is still one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.

    These guys aren't high-profile nationally because Miami's active market simply isn't very attractive to the media.
     
  14. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    That's not what I consider explosive. You can find similar highlights of Wes Welker or even Edelman (who is more athletic than Landry by the way) and I don't consider them explosive..

     
  15. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Could very well be. The original post seems a little conflated on some points
     
  16. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    ooooohhhhhhhhhh........I get it, your idea of explosive is as fluid as needed to make whatever point....my bad.
     
  17. Stringer Bell

    Stringer Bell Post Hard, Post Often Club Member

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    I'm not sure I'd consider Landry 'explosive'. He's probably a little faster than Hines Ward, but they're very similar, and I don't think Ward was ever considered 'explosive'. Kenny Stills sure as hell is 'explosive' IMO.
     
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  18. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    How do you define explosive then?
     
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  19. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    To me, at least for offensive players, explosive means: Take to the house on any play. You don't get that from Landry. Hell the original poster mentioned Brandon Marshall and I never felt he was explosive ever (I didn't like signing him, I was a fan of Vincent Jackson at the time).

    A guy who, deep in your own territory, has to be accounted for or he can score from anywhere.

    On defense (and Oline to a degree) it's the guy who's gonna overpower their guy(s) and make game changing plays. I said Wake earlier. Or guys who will dropkick a QB in the nuts. I.e. Suh.

    Or a center/guard/tackle blowing up Von Miller on his arse.
     
  20. Stringer Bell

    Stringer Bell Post Hard, Post Often Club Member

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    I think the accepted definition would be a combination of both straight line speed and lateral quickness. Generally speaking, I think a guy would have to be a 4.4 or less in terms of straight line speed, at least at the WR position.
     
  21. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Exactly. If we used Stills more, or he gets back to his Saints efficiency, he'd be the guy. Him and Parker. That's why I keep saying, if Parker and Stills become our #1 and #2 in production, that would be fantastic. That would be borderline unstoppable with Parker, Stills and Landry underneath firing on all cylinders.
     
  22. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    That wouldn't make sense based on the discussion or point of the thread though. The OP wasn't "we lack speedy players".

    The OP is talking about huge impact players.
     
  23. Stringer Bell

    Stringer Bell Post Hard, Post Often Club Member

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    Many great WRs are not explosive. Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald, etc.
     
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  24. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    Landry could absolutely take it to the house on any play.
     
  25. Stringer Bell

    Stringer Bell Post Hard, Post Often Club Member

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    Parker is on the borderline of explosive IMO. Not sure he has the speed or the suddenness.
     
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  26. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    So you're saying, it's 1:30 minutes left, touchback and penalty, we're on our 15 yard line, and we say, get the ball to Landry and hope he takes it to the house?

    Or let's hope we throw it deep to Landry and get 30-40 yards, and a couple more plays we're in field goal range?

    Yeah, no.
     
  27. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    Yes. All he does is get YAC.

    He was 4th in the league in YAC, and the TOP WR at it.

    Over half of his yards were YAC.
     
  28. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    He is a little linear, even if similar speed (or faster times) than AJ Green. But that ability to overpower a CB helps him. He's no AJ Green obviously.

    I'd rate him similar to Alshon who lacks explosion off the line and suddenness. But Alshon is a master with the ball in the air, and Parker has flashed that.
     
  29. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Ok Landry can score from anywhere, even with his 4 TDs to go with 99 touches. He's explosive, you win.
     
  30. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    No, you just keep being fluid until your narrative clicks.
     
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  31. bigballa2102

    bigballa2102 Well-Known Member

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    If a player is considered explosive because of his speed then there's a lot of explosive players in the league lol. To me stills a one trick pony just speed I seen someone mention how many of stills tds were over 20+ yards that's like saying how many of Miami's sacks were for negative yards? all stills does is run deep slants or streak routes that's not a very good comparison to what an explosive player is.

    This has been my complaint for 20 years I live on the west coast and Miami never gets tv time and when we do get TV time we usually play like $h!t and piss the bed, and that's why no players are shown out as top in jersey sales or talked about much. if you put Landry on the Steelers he is easily talked about daily and top in jersey sales.

    Landry is by far one of the more explosive wr in the game, his ability to take RT 5 yard passes and make players miss is un candid among other players in the league at any point he can take a 5 yard gain and take it to the crib from any place on the field, that to me makes a player explosive.

    and I agree with whomever said jones is top safety in the league that kid is a down right stud IMO. If Miami could gain a few years above .500 and have some good showings on national TV then maybe we would get more tv time and people would see the talent.

    Im not quite sure I am ready to peg ajayi as explosive he needs to back last year up with another good year, by any means am I saying its a fluke but I just want to see a full years production handling the load for 16 games which I think he is more than capable of doing and being a 1500-2k rusher for this team.

    also IMO I think parker is right there to break out, I think his routes needs to change to suite his athletic ability and they need to use him more, RT should be able to spread the ball around a little more this year with having parker and landry for multiple years, all we need is one young receiver to step up and have RT trust him and its going to be fun to watch.

    ILL leave my RT comments out so the RT debate doesn't start before the season LOL
     
  32. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    You are trying to paint a guy who has 4 TDs in 99 touches as someone who is explosive and can score from anywhere. I have no narrative. Landry is not explosive. If he's explosive than Dez Bryan is thermonuclearsurfaceofthesun'ive.

    Landry is not explosive. He's not. If you got 1 minute to score and 90 yards to go, and no timeouts, Landry is not your primary target. Stills and Parker would be. The defense would let Landry have it all day inside.
     
  33. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    Explosive has now overran clutch as one of the most useless football terms.
     
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  34. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    You're wrong by the way. Golden Tate was #1, and if you go by YAC with 50 minimum, Jarvis Landry is even lower behind Tate, Tyrell Williams, Adam Humphries.

    To me, YAC doesn't define explosiveness. As it is a function of how close the passes are to the LOS as well. That's why RBs and Slots dominate the leaderboard.

    Someone who catches the ball down the field 35 yards and gets tackled. Not a lot of YAC.

    But according to you, is less explosive because of the percentage of yards that are YAC.
    AJ Green gets 4.2 yac, 2.5 yards lower than Landry.

    Dez Bryant, 2.8 yac. Not explosive right?

    Antonio Bown, 3.7.

    Not explosive.
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2017
  35. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Here is your explosive UFDA Adam Humphries highlight reel. Over 60% of his yards are yac!!!

    Can you feel the explosion?

    And no, the video is not playing in slow motion.

     
  36. jdang307

    jdang307 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I never said they had to be. Brandon Marshall is fantastic yet he's kinda slow.

    I disagree on Rice though. He was very sudden in his routes and his acceleration is underrated and he was fast.

    And he did not run that slow 40 time everyone says he did. You have millions of videos of him outrunning CBs down the field behind everyone. Rice was absolutely fast for the game back then, even being called a speedster at the time.

    http://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/02/12/Doug-Flutie-makes-his-pro-debut-in-12-days/9812477032400/

    Rice ran a 4.5-4.59 when nobody was focusing on the 40. Now kids get intense training on just the 40.
     
  37. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    I'm not wrong according to ESPNs site.

    I never once said YAC defines explosiveness. Never even implied it. Your argument is all terrible as it does nothing to counter what I said.
     
  38. Dolphin North

    Dolphin North Well-Known Member

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    I think it is safe to assume Pouncey will not get "healthy" even if he returns to "100%". That doesn't mean it cannot happen, but with the history and trend, you kind of have to operate on the assumption that he will not finish a season, much like Branden Albert was. He has a history of serious injuries now and is currently (as of last week) using hand crutches to walk. I always expect certain players to play less than 16 games a season and I bet teams make those assumptions as well for certain players and factor it into decisions. Might be why we got a new backup C/G this year in FA who I believe is pretty decent isn't he? Don't get me wrong, Pouncey is obviously still an effective player when in the game. But if he is cut at the next convenient juncture of his contract I think it will be because he drops to less than 10-12 games, or whatever the Dolphins decide is a justifiable number of games, and they want someone who can finish a season as we hopefully transition to a playoff team. That would be the reason IMO. He has not played more than 14 games since his second year and only 5 last year. I think this year is critical. If he gets another 12-14 games in this year and manages to get back in time for the playoffs I think that is a great scenario for him. The problem is, his hip is usually the issue and that's not something you bounce back from in the same year most of the time.
     
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  39. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    What do you mean by this?
     
  40. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    I see Landry as our MOST EXPLOSIVE player by a longshot...or maybe second to only Jones. I do agree with you that he's limited but when you get him the ball in space, the first guy almost always misses. If the 2nd guy grabs him, he's getting dragged until a 3rd and 4th defender can help. I would argue with anyone that Landry is a top-10 player in the entire NFL....just because nobody can match his work ethic and passion.

    Of course, if your definition of explosive is a guy like Grant who can take the edge and outrun everybody, then no....Landry is not explosive in the technical sense. Yet he was leading the league for most of the year in '15 for kickoff yardage and punt return distance. Since he runs a 4.7, I'd argue that he's even more explosive than the fast guys in the league since he has to work harder to get it.
     

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