The Dolphins made starting defensive end Taco Charlton a healthy scratch Sunday. “Really more game plan than anything,” Flores said Monday, via David Furones of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Felt like we needed to go with some other guys, just from a game-plan standpoint, but he was healthy and hopefully we get him going this week.” Charlton leads the Dolphins in sacks with five. Flores was asked whether he had seen any “red flags” with Charlton in practice. “Taco’s been great,” Flores said. “He’s done a great job, really across the board. He’s had some production from a sack standpoint. We just felt like [Sunday] we were better off going with the other guys.” Me - He leads the team in sacks and has been on fire. But now he's a scratch. I'm scratching - my head why???
I think you can pretty safely assume that the coaching staff regards him largely as just a warm body and don't have a high regard for his skills as a pass rusher. At very least, I think it's safe to assume they think Avery Moss and Charles Harris are better here(and I don't really disagree) Gase plays a bunch of 11 personnel, Miami countered with a bunch of Nickel/Dime. If they're going to play a bunch of Nickel/Dime they want the flexibility to run their odd Bear fronts, and they need their edge OLBs for that. AVG getting a heavier workload basically pushed him off of the active roster.
Okay I did take that back but this is sort of weird and I'd like to know the real story behind it. It's one thing to see less snaps but to be entirely scratched is odd.
My best guess is Taco did something stupid or embarrassing for an NFL pro to do...so this was nothing more than a silent time-out to reflect his choices. Some coaches will say it was punishment, others will dance around it like Flores did.
Better known as "keeping matters in-house". Unlike Gase, who aired the team's laundry to anyone who would listen while he carelessly threw players under the bus.
We aren’t getting squat from anything on the edge. Even biegel who is high effort and high motor has tapered off. Although I’d say that was expected given his motor is much better than his actual win against a tackle tools