The final PFF rankings are out, meaning week 17 has been completed and the largest surprise is, Jason Allen pretty much replaced Vontae Davis in that game as Davis played 12 snaps with a bad wrist, Jason Allen played 52 snaps at Cb. And he wasn't burned, in fact he made a nice play on Mike Wallace in the endzone, here is his stat line: 51 snaps, 4 tackles, 1pd. J Allen 2 passes defensed this season both saved TD, his second PD was against Randy Moss in the first Dolphins/Pats game. Quite honestly, I'm stunned, Jason Allen figured to be cut after Training Camp, yet he managed to have a good season as backup Cb and ST player. Cameron Wake- 7 sacks, 20 qb pressures, 6 qb hits, 24.5 avg play as a passrusher Randy Starks-7 sacks,10 qb hits, 15 pressures, 24.3 avg on passing plays. Jason Taylor-8 sacks, 20qb pressures, 4qb hits, 11.6 avg on passing plays Honourable mentions to: Kendal Langford and Y Bell. What jumps out at me is JT and Wake were new editions, I suspect they will have graded out really well at the end of Sparano and Co watching every play of the season and rating the players on the roster. But Jason "Bust" Allen has to be the largest surprise, seriously, kudos to Todd Bowles and Jon Bonamego, that is some first class player development. http://www.profootballfocus.com/cstats.php?tab=by_team&season=2009&teamid=17&stype=a&stats=d
I agree with most except the Jason Allen having a good season. Other than the 51 snaps in that game he only played 28 defensive snaps in the other 15 games...thats not even 2 per game There may be a reason why Sparano and Co. try and keep him off the field in defensive situations? He allowed 6 receptions on 10 passes,and allowed 1 touchdown The QB rating against Allen was 100.8 which is bad. As a special teams player he has had his moments but I seem to hear Hilliards name called much more than Allen's As for Bell included on your list...I couldn't be more against that choice.Bell has been a tackling machine for us the past 2 seasons which showcase how poor our inside linebackers really are but where Bell is terrible is in pass coverage Bell was thrown at more than any safety in the NFL BOTH THIS SEASON AND LAST SEASON...61 times this year and 77 times last season...Maybe just maybe opposing teams are making Y.Bell a huge target.There's a reason teams throw as much as they do at Y.Bell. Bell allowed 33 passes this season which was 6th worst out of 87 safeties Bell allowed 54 passes last season which was last in the NFL Bell allowed 409 yards this season only 4 safeties allowed more yards out of 83 total safeties Bell allowed 469 yards last season tied with .(GUESS WHO Gibral Wilson)for next to last in the NFL with most yards allowed for a safety...Both Wilson and Bell were number 82 out of 83 in total yards allowed Bell is a huge liability in the passing game and would be on my list for a player that made a surprising impact...just not the type of impact I was looking for
And the yardage or first downs surrendered on those receptions were? Vontae left games twice this season with injury, once against the Pats, once against the Steelers, both times Allen stepped in and had a PD in the endzone that saved a TD. Allen did give up a TD to Heath Miller in the final game "but" Big Ben had over 6 seconds to pass. As for YBell, his play was typical for a SS, and leading us in tackles and tying for the lead in int's with a career high 4 does make him a bit of a surprise. YBell also led the entire defense in number of plays with close to 1,000.
I would say that Brian Hartline was a surprising impact by a rookie WR. 31 Catches, 506 Yards, 16.3 Avg, 3 Td.
This was the "defense" edition AZ. Offense has much more unreliable metrics imvho, Hartline avg of over 16 per catch was a surprise, but Joe Berger just is to difficult to rate with any clarity. For example, PFF had Joe Thomas rated as the #1 LT, but I watched Elvis Dumervil destroy him for 4 sacks, but they did not debit Thomas with them.
Gotcha Padre I will say, for the first time in several years, we really don't need to be looking at CB in the draft. From Will Allen to Nathan Jones, I feel pretty damn good about these guys. - Anybody else surprised A-Dell didn't top this list?
I thought Dan Carpenter had a better year on kickoffs this year, showed a little better leg. Oh Crowder getting an INT that was a surprise.
Agree on your picks and surprise. I would add Nate Jones, who played very well as a nickle back, Hartline, who was a bit of a shocker by his play, and Gardner, as well as Berger, filling in so well on the OL.
The lack of players who were surprising was one of the problems on Defense this season, Torbor, Crowder, Soliai, Wilson, Ayodele, none of them stepped forward, they mostly regressed the truth be known. Ayodele-10 missed tackles Crowder-10 missed tackles, 4 or 5 missed games, and even then only 50 tackles Wilson-9 missed tackles It just goes on and on with players on defense who had poor seasons, imvho a housecleaning is in order. What most folks will miss though, Joey Porter and JT had mirror image seasons, but JT had more pressures in about 100 more snaps.
Hartline exceeded all of my expectations and then some. He is a pretty dang good football player. Putting Wake and Jt together they were very good at the OLB position. Jason Allen is definitely a keeper for good secondary depth and special teams. Ricky Williams had a much bigger impact than I had thought he would have.
I also have to add in our kick coverage. We had a HUGE overall improvement with guys like Hilliard, Allen, Davis, Hartline, etc leading the way. Fields improved as well. I think he added 2 yards per kick, and 3 to his net.
Merling was disappointing. I see him look like an All Pro on a number of plays, and then little or nothing. Langford to a lessor degree, as he did improve. These two are frustrating the hell out of me. Oh, one more of the good side was McDaniel, played well in limited action, and we got him for a 7th rounder.
It could be argued that Bonamego's ST unit was the best on the 09 Dolphins. Sparano should stop being stubborn and just stick Ginn on Kick Returns fulltime, that would push that unit into Top 5 in the NFL.
I have to add in Hartline's play on ST's. The guy is a head-hunter with no fear, looking for contact. Are you reading this Ted?
The 09 draft had a lot to do with how well we did. Rookies make a big difference on ST's. In 08, we had guys like Long, Henne, Langford, Merling, Thomas, etc. not a special teamer among them. 09 was like day and night.
Well to be fair, Erik Walden and JD Folsom did not develop as they should have on ST, Folsom did -0- and Walden actually played a bit worse. When Ginn busted for those 2 TD's against the Jest, it was William Kershaw who threw key blocks..and they cut him that week.
Both NFL.com and Profootballfocus.com have Bell with 3 interceptions not 4. What does Bell playing 900+ snaps have to do with Bell was thrown at more than any safety in the NFL BOTH THIS SEASON AND LAST SEASON...61 times this year and 77 times last season...Maybe just maybe opposing teams are making Y.Bell a huge target.There's a reason teams throw as much as they do at Y.Bell. Bell allowed 33 passes this season which was 6th worst out of 87 safeties Bell allowed 54 passes last season which was last in the NFL Bell allowed 409 yards this season only 4 safeties allowed more yards out of 83 total safeties Bell allowed 469 yards last season tied with .(GUESS WHO Gibral Wilson)for next to last in the NFL with most yards allowed for a safety...Both Wilson and Bell were number 82 out of 83 in total yards allowed Bell is a huge liability in the passing game Your reply to this is Bell played almost 1000 snaps best on the defense Just admit it...Bell is a liability in the passing game and has been for the past 2 seasons
LB's can be VERY SPECIAL ST players. I'm looking forward to seeing about 3-4 rookie LBs on our 2010 team.
My biggest problem with Wake is that he's too one dimensional. I never heard his name called anywhere outside of the pass rush. Running plays & pass coverage he was as invisible as Ginn on offense.
Our complete list of "leaders" in missed tackles are: Crowder 10 Ayodele 10 Wilson 9 Smith 8 Davis 6 We need a big safety like Taylor Mays (6'3"-4", 225-235) with speed who can cover the big fast pass catching TEs we play against. We hope Chris Clemons comes into this own. And we look for linebackers, linebackers, linebackers.
I believe people saying Wake is poor against the run are just repeating what they have heard instead of looking up his numbers #1..Wake was in on almost all pass rushing situations and still managed 23 tackles on only 167 defensive snaps Lets compare Wake to other defensive players Wake.......23 tackles on 167 snaps...... 7.2 plays per tackle Jones.......54 tackles on 448 snaps.......8.2 plays per tackle Bell.........114 tackles on 966 snaps......8.4 plays per tackle Anderson....17 tackles on 150 snaps.....8.8 plays per tackle Torbor........37 tackles on 340 snaps.....9.1 plays per tackle Culver........32 tackles on 304 snaps.....9.5 plays per tackle Akin........71 tackles on 706 snaps......9.9 plays per tackle Wilson.....93 tackles on 943 snaps.....10.1 plays per tackle Merling......33 tackles on 376 snaps...11.3 plays per tackle Ferguson...23 tackles on 286 snaps....12.4 plays per tackle Starks.......56 tackles on 730 snaps....13.0 plays per tackle Langford.....43 tackles on 581 snaps...13.5 plays per tackle Davis........52 tackles on 709 snaps....13.6 plays per tackle Crowder.....51 tackles on 717 snaps...14.0 plays per tackle Soliai........25 tackles on 370 snaps....14.8 plays per tackle W.Allen.....21 tackles on 329 snaps....15.6 plays per tackle JTaylor.......42 tackles on 828 snaps...19.7 plays per tackle Porter.........41 tackles on 755 snaps...18.4plays per tackle McDaniels...16 tackles on 315 snaps...19.6plays per tackle Smith...... 39 tackles on 914 snaps....23.4plays pertackle Wake has the BEST tackle per play ratio when compared to the above defensive players.PLEASE LETS GIVE THE WAKE CANT TACKLE NONSENSE TO SLEEP. ALMOST 50 OUT OF THE 167 SNAPS WAKE HAS EITHER HAD A SACK,QB PRESSURE OR TACKLE...NO ONE ON THIS TEAM IS EVEN CLOSE TO THAT KIND OF PRODUCTION RATIO...NO ONE
1. 3 it is. 2. That would mean Bell was the most durable player on Defense. 2008 means nothing. 1. 2008 means nothing 2. you are mixing SS with FS. Did any of them have more tackles than YBell? Why do you continue to refernce 2008? It has no bearing on anything. Imho Bell is simply average in pass coverage, unless one divides between FS and SS, sort of like "ILB who cannot cover" very very few can, all that can and should be expected is competence in coverage imvho.
Dude...one is mixing Wake the DE/OLB and Wake the ST player: 9 of those 23 tackles were on special teams. Not certain if sacks count as tackles though, if so Wake is down to 8 tackles, but his 20 pressures were tied for most on the Dolphins, and there is no stat for drawing holding penalties, a flaw in PFF's stats. I love your work MiamiI, don't think I'm bagging on you or trying to argue.
First of all I exclude special teams tackles from what he does as a defender. Second I watched almost every snap this season and with my own eyes could see how infrequently he was anywhere near the ball in a non pass rush situation.
I think any list outlining surprises by phins players this year has to include Brian Hartline, and I'd even go one step further to include Nate Jones. Hartline... well what can you say. For a guy that nobody could figure out why we drafted him, he put up a hell of a rookie campaign. Im really excited to see what another year in the offseason program will do for Hartline. He should get stronger, and quicker. I think its obvious he has good hands, he's not afraid of getting hit, and he made some excellent contributions for us on special teams this year. Also, there seemed to be an awful lot of good chemistry there between him and Henne. Nate Jones... well again, for a guy that nobody probably expected anything out of, he actually had a pretty good year. I don't have any fancy numbers to back it up, but what I can say is I saw him involved on some pretty darn good plays this year, and he ended the year with 45 tackles, 9 assists, 1 sack, and 2 INTs . While he of course, didn't set the league on fire with his play, but for a guy who was probably the 4th, or 5th corner on our depth chart to start the year, he was able to come in and play the 3rd Cb spot with the injury to Will Allen. There were alot of solid, and surprising performances for us this year. Of course youd have to mention Henne, Wake, and a couple others, but the two above stood out quite a bit for me.
these stats just reaffirm our problem areas ... up the middle: NT, ILB, S Soliai is going to be a good player - but he isn't a NT in 'our' scheme ... Soliai is a more active type NT in the mold of Sapp .... not our style - but he is still going to be good. ILB ... what can you say that hasn't already been said. S ... we can only hope Clemens can progress enough this offseason to take 1 S spot ... but its tough to decide whose spot .... i would vote for Bell - just because i believe Clemens could be better in pass coverage. and outside of Wake, and JT as a situational player .... all our OLBs need to go. i understand the #s - but we just don't need JP at his $$$ and contributions this year. on offense, we just need to upgrade at WR -- that's it ... we have all the other pieces in the fold .... to include TE. unless of course, if RB won't be ready to go .... an improved defense, and a more experienced dependable offense will get it done -- but the defense needs much work.
