Ok, so someone objectively explain to me why the run defense/pass rush is still bad. We changed personnel, coaching and scheme. I need to understand what I am missing. On the surface, we still have Suh and we added DE's with Branch and Williams. We also added Kiko Alonso. Are we not getting enough help at Defensive Tackle along with Suh? Are we still "not setting the edge." Are we better against the run between the tackles than bouncing to the outside?
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I'm starting to maybe see this too. How much more changing can we do? Look if we can't stop the run or rush the qb, we all know the trickle down effect.
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Perhaps the defense is bad because the talent on the defense just isn't good. Other than Suh, Jones, and Wake if he is healthy, I really don't see any other players on the defense who would be starters for the better defenses in the NFL.
The defensive coaches have gotten all the blame in recent years, but I will be surprised if this doesn't end up being a bottom 10 defense in 2016. We just need better players, especially in the secondary and at the LB position.DolphinGreg likes this. -
Oh be careful who you ask that to around here. Lots of Phins apologists who'll give the same answers they give at their work water cooler each Monday. "TC is shorter now than it was, It's just the Preseason, It's a new scheme, It's because of El Nino".
To me, the answer is that they came out flat and better figure it out. It's mega concerning. Secondary is weak and Xavien Howard as a rookie is not the answer to our problems at least not yet. LB'ers look very confused and lethargic. DE's aren't getting pressure and Suh seems so comfortable that he's not really putting in the effort in PS ( I don't care what you hear in his press conference watch the tape).
They have to get it figured out. Our offense is to slow to score to be able to make up for the D's struggles. With our offense, we need a dominant defense that can keep us in games. Right now it looks like that sadly won't be the case.Finster, Tin Indian and dolphin25 like this. -
I think we need to hang our hat on the fact that our defense won't be good. The first team has not shown any life, and at least the offense responded after the first game. so what does this mean? I disagree with you that the offense needs a dominant defense. I feel the expectations of the defense will be tepid and from experience last year, and with Gase, hopefully we can expect better things out of the offense, in the limited time they have. Fixing the defense will take longer, I wish I could just point my finger to it. I personally see running backs turning the corners on us, and I am not sure if we have lateral guys, on the DE or the LB spot to limit these runs
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the defense dominated at the start of camp, but the offense has been better camp by camp. The change has been going on in practice and carrying over to the Xgames
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Our LBs are bad. They have been for years. It's easily the most neglected positional group on the team for the past 5 years. In the past 7 years we've only drafted 5 LBs, and Midi and Jenkins are the only ones who are any good at all. (Kaddu, edds, and tripp were the other 3). And even then, Misi was the only player taken before the 4th round. We signed Dansby all those years ago and traded for kiko.
Compare this to our wrs. Parker (1st), Landry (2nd), Caroo (3rd), Stills (traded a 3rd), Hazel (6th), Cunningham (7th), rishard Mathews (7th). Not to mention signing wallace, trading for marshall.
We simply haven't even tried at LB. With the pickups of Hull and Vigil it's clear our front office is just hoping a stellar linebacker appears out of thin air.Rickysabeast likes this. -
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Based on preseason snaps Kiko and Abdul-Quddus have both done a good job of learning VJ's system and getting into the right spots. They just need to tighten up their tackling. Hopefully that's something that can improve within a couple weeks. IAQ has a tendency to run himself out of position though. We'll monitor that as the season goes along but in all, you shouldn't be that worried about those guys. They should easily be as good as what you were getting last year. Along those same lines, Maxwell should do alright outside and McCain should be fine inside.
I'm most worried about DE and CB2.
We don't know what Wake is going to be this year and he's already a veteran player. Williams is most certainly on the decline and tends to be inconsistent to begin with. He's not a guy you want to be relying on heavily as a consistent force. Branch is expected to be a non-factor. He's just not very good. There's hope that Fede or Jones could add something but again, that's getting pretty far down the depth chart. What are you really going to get from those guys? Lastly, it's probably not worth bringing up but 2016 doesn't look like it's going to be Dion Jordan's year. I get the sense that right now, the Dolphins are just doing damage control with him financially. I'm not sure there are legit plans on him being a Dolphin that much longer.
In terms of CB2, you're looking for someone to play outside. So far, it's clear that if you put McCain out there he's a big liability over the top. Tony Lippett is (so far as least) not ready to inherit that role. Howard, the rookie 2nd rounder, has been hurt and will essentially enter the season with only a week's worth of practice. Given that McCain is likely you're nickel, it's going to be either Lippett or Howard at CB2, both of which are unprepared.
From my perspective the disaster scenario is most likely to come from a potentially inept pass rush and a CB2 that could very easily get exposed. -
Let's not forget that these guys aren't running schemes either. How do players look at preseason? How much stock? How hard do they play? Really hard to judge anything based off of the preseason other than injuries. They prove that to me every season...
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Well, Branch and Williams are rotational players, not starters. Alonso hasn't been good since the 1st half of his rookie year then he got injured which he hasn't seemed to recover from...the secondary is relying on a rookie to magically be one of the better corners in the league. Suh gets doubled since the other rushers have trouble with getting pushed around in the run game.
Maybe they can scheme against the weaknesses in the regular season, but it is going to have to be one hell of a scheme. -
Not asking for super stars. But the position has essentially been ignored for years and the FA patches we've tried all failed (dansby, wheeler, ellerbe)
Maybe wr is a bad example. How about TE? We've drafted 5 TES in the same time frame (clay, lynch, egnew, sims, duarte). Ideally you need about 3-5 good Lb's, and 1-2 TEs.
Not asking for superstars, but we haven't committed a 1st, 2nd or 3rd round pick to a LB in 6 years, and the group has been subpar the entire time.
This is where you start to get really angry at the Dion Jordan pick, or the Egnew, or the laundry list of lineman that all suck.DolphinGreg and dirtylandry like this. -
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A few things here:
1) it's preseason. Hard to tell how good this defense and team will be
2) we've invested 5/6 first round rest picks on offense. Theoretically, our offense and offensive line should be dominant. The one first round draft pick in the last 6 years has been a complete bust.
3) the draft picks that have panned out, we've traded or let walk away. Not saying that all those moves have been bad but it definitely means that we've had to rely more on free agents, which is a proven model of failure -
It's sort of silly to say it's preseason. They were bad last year, have a new scheme, and are still bad in preseason. There's a history beyond "just preseason" that says they are going to be bad.
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I agree, until I SEE otherwise, I'm very pessimistic about what this defense can do. This D-Line is stacked with Pro-Bowl talent, but they seem to regress every year. I just hope they get things together before it's too late.