Ian Rapoport @RapSheet · 3m3 minutes ago #Dolphins versatile S Michael Thomas is out for the season with a chest injury, source said. Big loss in nickel & special teams.
His loss will be felt on the coverage teams, especially. Typically one of the first guys in on the tackle. He is also a glue guy that tends to rally others with his fins celebration
Well Aikens showed mad skill and physical ability.. Next man up off the Hickey train!! So far so good!! Can't direct link the video, but look at this kid. http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000402007/McGloin-intercepted-by-Aikens
Knock on wood we've been incredibly lucky this year with injuries. I'm going to miss Thomas, he's a gamer who makes plays. Someone needs to step it up.
Miami played that game with Chris McCain and Lowell Rose deactivated, and I think both of them have certainly shown things on special teams this year. Hopefully they can mitigate some of Michael Thomas' play. That said, I did like that Miami went to using a 3 safety look yesterday and it was very effective. In sub packages they would have Thomas come in and drop either Jones or Delmas into the box or flat to show a lot of blitz looks. That could be where Thomas' loss hurts most. I do like Walt Aikens and hopefully he can step up.
This is terrible news..his play was really starting to come on and we will miss his great attitude and growing play. God Speed in your recovery Michael and Walt it's time to step up..if Clemons is available we should pick him back up.
Total Bummer. I love this kid. Love the way he plays the game and it is a killer losing a key special teams player.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Not my favorite Dolphin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody call Myagi!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brian Hartline retweeted Jordan Kovacs @JKovacs32 2m2 minutes ago Can't thank the Eagles org enough for the experience this past month. Pumped to be heading back down to MIA to play ball thougg! Fins Up! 0 replies 3 retweets 3 favorites
I don't know why they wouldn't given Jamar Taylor a crack at the slot CB/FS position. You ain't really using him to do sweet **** all else, and I'm not sure he'd be worse than Jimmy Wilson and Thomas.
It speaks to the depth that the organization now has. When was the last time we mourned the loss of a backup safety/ST player? How many players on this roster can we say aren't contributing at all, save for some high draft picks from the Ireland regime last year that are not performing?
I said above he's my favorite Dolphin...I hate seeing any player get a long-term injury, but one of the guys that plays with heart EVERY play and never quits, those are the ones I really hate to lose. Ellerbee, didn't so much mind that one...we upgraded, Michael Thomas, loss of a CONSISTENT contributor, gutt-wrenching (to me). You're right...we have a lot of depth in a lot of areas...it's a nice place to be, I give a TON of credit and respect to Hickey for his youth-movement and the impact it has had, and will hopefully continue to have. And the way we cut people to let them play around with some other teams' practice squads, just to bring them back when needed...priceless.
You left out the best player on the team, and the best DT, who were both signed while Ireland was GM.
Really like this kid. Solid player and he's all heart. Outside of his ST work he may not be a key contributor but he always seems to be in the thick of things. Never seems like a guy that is picked on by opposing Qb's when he's on the field and that should say something.
Re-watched some of the San Diego game last night, and at one point Miami had a package with 4 "safeties" on the field as they brought down either Jones or Delmas in the slot in a blitz look, with Jimmy Wilson in the other slot and Michael Thomas deep with whoever wasn't brought down between Jones and Delmas. I know Taylor got some looks against Chicago and Jacksonville. I think Boomer intimated that he's got the goods talent-wise, but his technique isn't quite there yet. Wouldn't surprise me if he's a starter instead of Cortland Finnegan down the road this year or certainly next season.
I don't see the reaction to losing Thomas as disproportionate. He was a key STs contributor playing 70%-80% of those snaps and depth in the secondary at a minimum on defense. He was also an emotional catalyst for the team. That's a significant loss. Not as significant as losing a starter on the two main units but still a significant loss. And it's not like anybody was acting like our team was suddenly doomed. The responses just acknowledged that it hurt our team some to lose him to injury.
I'm suspicious this isn't another situation where we've got a young player who is a totally viable contributor is getting marginalized due to stubbornness and some bizarre set of principals. Even if he's an unfinished product, he's one who isn't getting victimized in any sense on the field and is on pace for like 200 snaps this year while guys with less upside and ability are consistently out there in roles he could plausibly be expected to fill. I'd like to see him taking snaps from Finnegan, but I really don't expect it even if he's performing pretty well.
I wonder if it's a Kevin Coyle thing, or a thing he picked up from Mike Zimmer in Cincinnati. He's had a penchant for playing veteran DBs over younger guys dating back to Cincinnati. I remember him playing Nate Clements and Pacman Jones over Brandon Ghee, a guy they thought was pretty talented in 2011; unfortunately for Ghee he was derailed by injuries. This was after Leon Hall was injured that year. Prior to that they'd always seemed to play vets over their young guys, even if they weren't that effective. Roy Williams comes to mind. Even now, they play Leon Hall and Terrence Newman on the perimeter over Darqueze Dennard and Dre Kirkpatrick. Hall might warrant a starting spot, despite his injury history, but at this stage Newman doesn't. Kirkpatrick has been a bit of a disappointment, but Dennard has shown well when he's been on the field. I'd argue Dennard has played better in the slot than Pacman Jones has as well. That being said, their whole defense has slipped mightily with Paul Guenther at the controls; injuries have certainly played a part, but there are times they've looked just plain bad.
I think it's an overall culture thing. I think you're seeing it with guys like Rishard Matthews, Shelley Smith, and a couple other lesser cases offensively over the years.
He's the biggest one, IMO. Hopefully back-to-back games with TDs will get him in the mix more. He seems to be getting more snaps over Hartline and/or Gibson in the redzone anyway. Good shout on that! I'm hoping I can watch the parts of the San Diego game I missed tonight. I'm interested to see what Dion Jordan did, though it sounds like it wasn't much.
You are right about this. I really do not understand why Rishard is getting such limited playing time, especially after the job he did last year given the opportunity that he had. I think that him and Tanny click on the field and he is a tough receiver with good hands and should always be the first choice in this offense over Hartline. I am hoping to see his playing time increase drastically.
