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PFF Positive on the 2018 Dolphins

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by Galant, Jul 9, 2018.

  1. Galant

    Galant Love - Unity - Sacrifice - Eternity

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    Per Barry Jackson:


    "
    Pro Football Focus recently listed the Dolphins among “five teams that could surprise with an NFL wild card appearance in 2018,” along with Houston, Washington, Chicago and the Los Angeles Chargers.


    Here was PFF’s case for the Dolphins:

    “The key to the Dolphins making a surprise push for the playoffs is getting quarterback Ryan Tannehill healthy, and keeping him that way. Tannehill might not be an elite signal-caller, but he has produced a PFF grade between 80.9 and 85.1 every season of his career so far. That will put you among the top 50 percent of quarterbacks in the NFL every season, and with enough help around him, he gives you a chance to win."

    "The Dolphins have made additions on offense, adding guard Josh Sitton who has allowed just 18 total pressures on 856 pass-blocking snaps over the past two seasons and slot receiver Albert Wilson. Wilson replaces Jarvis Landry who dominated out of the slot, but Wilson was no slouch, producing a PFF grade of 77.1 and he will have the opportunity to flourish in the Dolphins system."

    "Defensively, Robert Quinn is the big addition upfront, but despite him racking up 10 sacks in 2017, we haven’t seen any real consistency from him as a pass-rusher since his two-year performance between 2013 and 2014, with just 81 total pressures over the past three seasons. The key addition on defense is first-round defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick, who showcased the ability to play safety and in the slot at Alabama, and should bring that versatility to the Dolphins.”

    PFF also noted that Minkah Fitzpatrick allowed a passer rating of 59.9 since 2016 — lowest of any defensive back in this year’s draft class."

    More via the link/Tweet above.

     
    MrClean, Fin-O, Ohio Fanatic and 2 others like this.
  2. mooseguts

    mooseguts Well-Known Member

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    Quinn didn't get 10 sacks in 2017 he hasn't had double digit sacks since 2014. I was hopefully optimistic this season but the over hyping of almost every single move made this off season has made me more pessimistic for some reason. started to think 10-6 is possible not i see 8-8 or 7-9.
     
  3. rafael

    rafael Well-Known Member

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    Over-hyped? Most have Miami as bottom 5 team. At least one publication has us getting the #1 overall pick next season. I don't know what you're listening to, but the last thing I would call most opinions about Miami is "over-hyped".
     
  4. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I think in places we were incredibly weak last year, we have some hi level talent coming in to get the job done..

    mike..2nd round Pick Raeqwon

    Tight end.Gesicki and Smythe

    Safety alongside Reshad...Mink.

    3rd pass rusher...Quinn.

    QB..first round pick Ryan Tannehill.

    Guard...Sitton and Davis

    all five of those aspects of our game were really bad.
     
  5. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    huh.

    PFF doesnt hype, they just trust their analyst's numbers.

    I don't understand your statement of us being overhyped..where are you getting that from?
     
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  6. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    I would say that PFF is the only one who's being remotely fair to Miami whatsoever. And they're saying that a best case is a "surprise" playoff appearance. And when the Fins go out and put up a winning record, it will all be shock and "who saw this coming???" while they predict how quickly the team will fall apart.
     
  7. Dol-Fan Dupree

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

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    I did! I want to find a place to put down $100 on Miami to make it to the playoffs so I can walk away with $6,000! (minus fees and taxes)
     
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  8. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    Look at it this way- if Tannehill gets hurt (which is what the media is anticipating since it's happened two years in a row), they expect us to be around a 3-win team with David Fales starting. I think we'd probably grind out a few more than that but yeah, I can see where the national media is coming from. No Tannehill should equal last place in the AFC East.

    Now, let's say Tannehill plays but he's not recovered 100% (which is also a possibility after two surgeries on the same knee). Maybe he can't find his rhythm or he can't scramble as well as we anticipate- we're probably a 5 or 6 win team. Or who knows, maybe he loses accuracy because he's suddenly worried about getting hit. We've seen it a thousand times in the NFL.

    As fans, we know that the reports out of Davie are that Tannehill looks to be 100% back in playing shape....so we're hoping that neither of those two situations will happen. But I don't think it's crazy for the national media to expect it and/or not count on RT as a 16 game starter.

    Without him our season is screwed. With him healthy (physically and mentally) we're likely a playoff team. I think both of those are fair assessments.
     
  9. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    Yes, but without their starting QB, you could say that about any number of teams in the NFL. The Saints for example, would go from NFC contender with 12 win potential to top five pick if 39 year old Drew Brees were hurt, and no one is holding that against them.
     
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  10. Dol-Fan Dupree

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

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    I think the Seahawks would be winless and with their line it is not a matter of if Wilson gets hurt; it is when and how bad it will be
     
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  11. Hoops

    Hoops Well-Known Member

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    Zero concerns about tannehills willingness to take hits.
     
  12. rafael

    rafael Well-Known Member

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    QB, OL and S are three positions that have above average impact. If you improve in any one of those areas your record can improve significantly. QB is the most obvious. Just looking at Tannehill's rating his last year compared to Cutler's (93.5 vs 80.8) the improvement is huge. And IMO Tannehill's rating is skewed down by the first 5 games while the team adjusted to a new system.

    The addition of Minkah could be just as impactful. This one is more speculative b/c he's a rookie. But he's a rookie who brings two specific skills that were huge weak points for us. First is communication. IMO that's been far and away the biggest problem with our pass defense for most of the past +20 years or so. We've had good athletes, players, but we haven't had that minimal mistake defense since the dynasty years. I think that having a communicator back there getting everybody in the right spots can have as much impact for a defense as a better QB can have on the offense. And I don't see the speculation as all that far-fetched since Minkah has been doing the same for a very complex Saban defense since his freshman year and was reportedly doing the same by day two of mini-camp here.
    The second skill he brings is scheme flexibility. Last season we were often forced to have over-matched LBs covering RBs and TEs. The rules already favor the offensive receiver, but you give your defense no chance if you can't even match up. The league knows this which is why nickel and dime are the defenses they usually play. Miami couldn't do that much and I see it as a big part of why we were a bottom 5 pass defense in terms of rating. Now neither Minkah nor any player will shut down those positions, but at least the pickings won't be quite so easy.

    The OL is a bit different b/c it's not about having uber talented individuals, it's about not having weak links. The flaw in our OLs is that we have had some incredibly weak links. We made a jump two seasons ago when we dropped Thomas and Turner. We clearly still had a weak link at LG where Sitton will take over. Sitton is a consensus top 5 G so that should be a significant upgrade. Pouncey was a weak point against any strong DTs (like what we face against all of the AFCE). His hips just didn't allow him to anchor anymore and that was never his forte to begin with. Pouncey was an excellent C for about two games a year, average for about 6-8, and a weak point in the remains games. Kilgore should be a consistent player for all 16 games.

    I also agree that McMillan will have a positive impact. I see him as a natural MLB. He upgrades our overall talent, improves communication and frees up Kiko to do the things he's good at and less of what he struggles with.

    I see Quinn as an upgrade in talent, but we probably over-paid. I think he'll be a positive part of the rotation though.

    Gesicki and Smythe are rookies at positions that don't tend to make huge impacts. Gesicki is certainly capable of posting some gaudy TD numbers and getting some first downs but I don't anticipate big reception numbers overall.

    On the other side, we clearly lost talent in our DT rotation. I like the players we have, but we lost a huge talent in Suh who took an almost unprecedented number of snaps. The remaining guys will have to take more snaps and won't have the benefit of Suh eating up double teams. You worry that they won't look as good under the new circumstances.

    The other potential downgrade is kicker. We have very good coaching and a couple of promising prospects in that area so I'm hopeful, but we lost a good kicker and it is an unknown.

    Note: I don't see the loss of Landry as a downgrade. We had two guys on the roster in Stills and Grant who were more efficient than Landry in the slot and we added two guys in Wilson and Amendola who were more efficient on their teams. I think we'll be a more efficient offense by spreading those targets around.
     
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  13. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    I completely agree with you- but Brees or Wilson didn't spend the past two years on injured reserve. So the "perception" is that they'll be healthy this season and play at their expected levels, while the "perception" is that RT will be on the bench. Common sense tells us that all three QB's have the exact same chances of getting hurt, but the perception of recent history changes that for most people.

    Not that i personally believe that, mind you...I think we're winning the Super Bowl. I'm just showing why those dumb bastards in the media believe what they believe.
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2018
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  14. mooseguts

    mooseguts Well-Known Member

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    My mistake I thought I thought this was a fan blog article, I was at the movies and just skimmed through.

    My statement was more towards our fans.
     
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  15. CaribPhin

    CaribPhin Guest

    Tannehill only had one knee surgery. He chose to rehab after the initial injury and experienced a freak re-tear in camp last off-season, pushing him to choose surgery. That's not to say the knee isn't a concern but it's certainly not necessarily a repeat offender due to structural issues.
     
  16. RevRick

    RevRick Long Haired Leaping Gnome Club Member

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    It seems to me that a lot of people (including some who should know better) are of the opinion that he had two separate injuries - which is not the case. He exacerbated a sprain into a tear - not good, but not catastrophic either! Now, knees are not good places for any kind of injury - playing catcher teaches that very well, thank you. However, This is not the old days when Joe Namath blew a knee and his performance was [ahem!] somewhat reduced - shall we say. It is still a problem, but not as debilitating as in former times.

    In other words - it would seem that the prognosticators of doom and gloom for the 'Phins are more than just a little over the top - but downright ridiculous!
     
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