Branden Albert: Before & After

So, now that you have evidence of what impact one non skill offensive player can have on an offense, are you going to give up your Tannehill attacks?

Still haven't heard any updates on his surgery. Makes me a bit nervous about how it went.

He was a huge loss. As was Moreno.

I was thinking last week that Albert has proven to be the team MVP this season. Loss was huge and something we couldn't come back from. Hopefully he's healed by August and we can start on the right foot next season.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

I was thinking last week that Albert has proven to be the team MVP this season. Loss was huge and something we couldn't come back from. Hopefully he's healed by August and we can start on the right foot next season.

I don't think that's entirely accurate. If Miami had someone better than Dallas Thomas playing RT, Albert's loss would be mitigated quite a bit. Strictly at left tackle, I don't think the drop-off from Albert to James has been all that big. But when you're choosing to play, and keep playing, Dallas Thomas at RT (and Mike Pouncey at RG) your shooting yourself in both feet at the same time, week after week.

I think that's one of the failings of both Dennis Hickey and the coaching staff; not being able to adjust in-season to personnel losses and make a requisite transaction when someone is injured. For example, the Bengals signed Eric Winston last week. The Cardinals signed Chris Clemons the day AFTER Miami lost Louis Delmas. Those are missed opportunities, especially for a team whose playoff chances are now on life support.

I'm betting if it comes down to it, Joe Philbin's big card to play to save his job is going to be injuries derailed the season. But if you're not going to make moves to counter injuries when players ARE out there, that reflection is pretty bad. That extends to Dennis Hickey as well. He did well in the offseason, but he's puttered along during the regular season.

It would be interesting to know if Philbin and/or the other coaches recommended to Hickey to not go after any other players because they thought they were all set.

Thanks for compiling this. I like that you included the defensive statistics. Too often as fans we forget just how much offensive struggles hurt a defensive unit.

"Fin D wrote:

So, now that you have evidence of what impact one non skill offensive player can have on an offense, are you going to give up your Tannehill attacks?

QB has a significantly higher impact than any other player. The NFL itself has stated their goal is to make the QB more valuable.

If anything, this is great evidence as to why you should never pay someone like Branden Albert the type of money he received.

While those offensive numbers do show a decline since the injury to Albert. It should be noted that the defenses the Dolphins have faced since Albert's injury have also been much better than the defenses they faced prior to him being injured.

Other than the first game of the season against the Patriots, the only other quality defenses the Dolphins faced with Albert in the lineup were the Chiefs and Bills. The offense struggled in both those games, even with Albert in the lineup.

Albert has certainly been missed because it has forced Thomas into the starting lineup. I just don't know if the offensive output would have been any better with Albert in the lineup considering the defenses they have faced since his injury.

"Stringer Bell wrote:

QB has a significantly higher impact than any other player. The NFL itself has stated their goal is to make the QB more valuable.

If anything, this is great evidence as to why you should never pay someone like Branden Albert the type of money he received.

By showing that the offense is more effective with Branden Albert, it is proven that you should never get a Branden Albert.

Come on JW.....as long as you have been watching football, You KNOW better than that! Since Albert went out our OL has been in shambles with guys playing out of Position all over the OL. :)

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

By showing that the offense is more effective with Branden Albert, it is proven that you should never get a Branden Albert.

Yeah, that confused me too

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

By showing that the offense is more effective with Branden Albert, it is proven that you should never get a Branden Albert.

you mean oft injured?

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

By showing that the offense is more effective with Branden Albert, it is proven that you should never get a Branden Albert.

Getting Branden Albert sacrifices resources that could have been used for depth. The reality is that injury is a common occurrence, and when someone costing that much gets injured, it almost assures a regression.

The team would have been much better off signing a LT that would have cost a little less, then investing the saved resources in quality backups.

"Stringer Bell wrote:

Getting Branden Albert sacrifices resources that could have been used for depth. The reality is that injury is a common occurrence, and when someone costing that much gets injured, it almost assures a regression.

The team would have been much better off signing a LT that would have cost a little less, then investing the saved resources in quality backups.

Or the team would have been much worse off and get lower production during all games.

The team needs to be deeper. That's all it means to me. Basically what Stringer said. We can't spread our talent too thin because one injury to the wrong guy and we're screwed.

I'm confident one more good draft from Hickey and a good offseason/FA in general along with hopefully hiring a worthy HC, the Dolphins could FINALLY get over the HUMPback whale.

"Fin4Ever wrote:

Come on JW.....as long as you have been watching football, You KNOW better than that! Since Albert went out our OL has been in shambles with guys playing out of Position all over the OL. :)

I agree the offensive line has been in shambles since Thomas took over at RT, Pouncey went to RG, and there has been a rotation of players at LG. Satele has shown in recent weeks why he was traded in the first place several years ago.

James has really been the one player on the OL who had played somewhat decent football in recent weeks. Yet even he is better at RT than he is at LT at this stage of his career.

I think the play of the OL would be better with Albert still in the lineup and James at RT. I just think that with the defense the Dolphins have faced since Alberts injury, the offense would still have had trouble scoring points. Just as they did when they had trouble scoring against the Bills and Chiefs earlier in the season, when Albert was still in the lineup.

Sooooo.... they should have invested in a Plan B before a Plan A?

"Stringer Bell wrote:

Getting Branden Albert sacrifices resources that could have been used for depth. The reality is that injury is a common occurrence, and when someone costing that much gets injured, it almost assures a regression.

The team would have been much better off signing a LT that would have cost a little less, then investing the saved resources in quality backups.

"Silverphin wrote:

Sooooo.... they should have invested in a Plan B before a Plan A?

They should have invested in both. Not an either/or proposition IMO.

So, instead of Brandon Albert, who would you have signed?

That is true as well JW..I was just hoping they could put Fox at LT, Turner at LG, Pouncy at C, Smith at RG, and James at RT but what do I know LOL ?

Miami still had a nice chunk of cap space they could've used after Albert. They did what they had to do to fix the position.

Albert was injured in Week 10

Albert going down was like a heart attack, the offense has been flatlining ever since

"Fin-Omenal wrote:

Miami still had a nice chunk of cap space they could've used after Albert. They did what they had to do to fix the position.

This. We had plenty of cap space to do what Stringer is saying.

Our failures in regards to depth behind Albert were as follows:
1) Depending on Dallas Thomas to develop
2) Apparently drafting Billy Turner and not someone who could get on the field ahead of Dallas Thomas instead.

I'm sorry to say, but we've seen this before. I knew Dallas Thomas would be this bad last year before he even played a snap this year. The most telling sign was when we had the dumpster fire of an OL after the scandal and injuries and Thomas STILL couldn't get on the field.

If the coaches have no confidence in Billy Turner to play better than current Dallas Thomas, then I doubt he'll ever be good enough in this league even for depth