Personally, I love ground and pound football. The ability to bully the opposition and run it down their throats opens up the entire field. It's rare to find a team that can do both at a high level but those that can, be it through sheer talent (even rarer) or by tactics and scheme, can play football in its fullest dimension.

We know Ryan can run (although seeing that now might give us heart attacks) and throw the ball on the run (at an elite level), and we've seen signs that Drake can get us ground yardage. It makes sense to me that the Dolphins would use a variety of smart ground scheming to win and threaten substantial yards via the ground game, while at the same time keeping the opposition honest at distance. The potential for combination attacks could be very high and very useful.

Hopefully this team is smart smart enough to let Gase and Tannehill implement a varied offense that can threaten at multiple levels and take advantage of any given opponent's weaknesses.

 

Our current O-line has been built for a pass-oriented offense. Every one of the five starters is good or very good at pass-pro and weak to okay at run-blocking.

 

You haven't been paying attention to football for the last 15 years.

 

I think it will continue to be scheme driven running game.

 

Go on... specifically?
If your comment is accurate surely it requires follow up?

 

Ground and pound no longer gives your team the best chance to win. That's been happening for two decades now.

 

Not by itself. Surely that was the point? A ground game that works is still important.

 

Dolphins offense success has been centered around the running game in the Gase era.

When we run the ball well? It opens things up and allows him to run the offense he wants.

 

I think Gase uses the run game the same way a magician uses a beautiful assistant in skimpy clothes. He wants you to focus on it while he does something else.
For it to work though the run game has to have enough threat to draw the attention.

Also there is a maxim attributed to Marshal Zhukov, if your feint is working and the main attack is stalled, turn your feint into the main attack. From what we say in 2016 with Ajayi and RT, Gase was willing to go withhis ‘feint’ (i.e. the run game) when it was more effective than his main attack (aerial attack) wasn’t getting it done.

 

Hmm....who had the best run attack in the NFL last year? Oh, that's right...it was those Super Bowl champion Eagles.

I agree Fame, running the ball just isn't relevant anymore. =)

Seriously though, I love a good ground and pound team as well. Nothing opens up those deep passes like keeping a set of linebackers locked on the LOS playing the run. I don't think we need to be a 50/50 or a 70/30 or anything like that....when the run game is working though, then just keep on pounding it (with the occasional play action bomb) until the other team makes you change it up.

The other great thing is that our whole offense is now speedy and there will be match-up nightmares to be found on most downs. If Gase gets this new offense clicking then out potential for scoring will go through the roof.

 

Attack based of opponents weaknesses weekly..

Love to be able to control the game on the ground, move the pocket for Ryan 3 to 5 times a game, have about 3 to 5 read option carries a game, let him work off play action and hopefully he can add a couple extra carries a game running on his own to add a new wrinkle for the defense to be aware of..

 

We don't have the workhorse to be a run first team, but I definitely think Drake has a huge season if he stays healthy. I think it's very very important that we are able to run the ball with success because as others have stated, Tannehill is a lot better when we're able to do so.

 

I think that we may see a RB-centric offense rather than a run game-centric offense. I think Gase wants to emulate the Martz 1999 Ram's offense. They only ran about 45% of the time, but Faulk was their leading receiver. I would guess that we'll throw lots of quick passes as a run game substitute. Unlike those Rams though I don't expect them all to go to Drake. I think they'll use Gore/Ballage, Wilson and Grant in the backfield too. I think we'll use our slot receivers (Amendola, Wilson, Grant) more than the Rams did (Hakim and Proehl). We also may run slightly more and use our TEs more as receivers and blockers (particularly in the red-zone).

 

Many times in the past I have pointed out that the Dolphins have had the most success when we've run the ball 25 times or more during the game. It was always frustrating though when the proponents of the air attack always countered with their false narrative we ran the ball only after being in the lead and we were running out the clock. I've debunked that myth many times past providing drive by drive play calling.

Bottom line is this, if you can pound the football on the ground consistently and have a defense that can produce 3 and outs for an opposing team's offense, you're going to win.

 

Last year the Dolphins ran the ball largely dictated by the defense- I don't have the stats off hand, but they were one of the league leaders in the % of run plays in which they had a numerical advantage in the "box" on run plays. That's one of the reasons why I think the Dolphins have been able to generate two back-to-back high YPC, high yards after contact backs seemingly out of nowhere- they're not running a ball on a schedule, vs loaded fronts, etc.

That is something I think is a fully appropriate way to dictate how often you run the ball in the NFL in 2018. It's a numbers game, and between screens, RPO, and other constraint plays you've got the ability to take pressure off of the QB without scheduling a bunch of runs for the sake of management.

 

winner winner chicken dinner

 

It's really easy to point to the Super Bowl champions and say "Hey, they did that well. It must be their secret. Let's copy it." The problem with that is they did a ton of things well, not just one, and that's why they won the Super Bowl.

Edit-My ranking were off.

 

Absolutely- running the ball wasn't their only key to success. The only thing I was saying there is that they proved it's still a viable path to opening up the pass and winning game.

 

Nobody is saying not to run the ball ever, but it's very clearly not Gase's intention to be a ground and pound team. The original idea presented here was to play safe offense and grind the ball. I'm sorry but that's literally the exact opposite of what Gase is trying to achieve. Running the ball "opens things up" just as much as passing opens up the run game, and the clear intention going forward is to fire up the chunk yards, not to play three yards and a cloud of dust ball.

 

Eagles won the super bowl on offense almost entirely off rpo cause it was the only thing nick foles could be trusted not to screw up.

That and some timely iso red zone and 3rd down clear out stuff with the tight end Zach ertz who wins inside quickly.

Something that mike gesicki better give us to validate that top 50 pick.

 

Let me start by pointing out that as bad as Cutler was last season, Miami led the league in passing ratio at 63.82%. This is up from Tannehill's good 2016 at 56.21%. Depending on perspective, one might point out how poorly the team did as evidence that it didn't work, but I take it as an indication of what Gase thinks will work when furnished with the correct pieces. It looks to me like Gase attempted to run the offense he really wants to last season, but Jay Cutler's poor play hampered that. Over the last 3 games, the team actually threw it 69.59% of the time (this was of course after the Ajayi trade). A reasonable counter is that we sucked so we had to throw to stay in games, which I can accept, but nothing about Cutler's play should have caused a 7.61 percentage point increase in passing ratio. We also passed on 64.12% of plays in September so it seems like it was always the plan.

If we reasonably assume that his passing game works when we can run because it affects what the defense does, then upgrading the pass blocking and emphasizing receiving out of the backfield can accomplish the same thing. Drake and Ballage are both over 6 feet and 210 pounds which is an issue for most DB's. Not having to take them out of the game on passing downs could cause the defense to leave a second or third LB (depending on package) in the game which could allow either of them to abuse them in a route, Gesicki to abuse a LB in coverage, or even the receivers to do better with less DB's. If the D stays in pass coverage, we have some really good blockers at receiver and we can run out of a passing formation. Instinctually DB's usually take a second to make plays in the run game compared to LB's so there could very well be room for Drake and Ballage to operate at the line of scrimmage and they can certainly tank a DB or two for an extended gain.

Teams like NE virtually replaced their run game with short throws and screens. They love to flex James White and Dion Lewis out wide and often run them out of passing formations. Simply put, we don't necessarily need to run the ball for Gase's offense to work. We just need to get the defense to do similar things as they would against a run heavy offense. The most efficient way to do that IMO is to have versatile and interchangeable personnel while not taking away facets of your game like the ability to check into a pass. If you bring in a jumbo package with Lousaka Polite as the RB, you're running the ball. Gase wants to go out and throw the ball and I think we have the personnel to effectively do that without needing to emphasize the run.

 

This.

And the modern run game is essentially a math problem. It only really works when the numbers are in your favor. It's not a factor of just calling more run plays. Play calls must have a purpose and be an efficient attack on what the defense is presenting or what they are giving you. Otherwise, it's a waste of a down percentage wise.

Also @tirty8, screens, draws, play-action, etc. are constraint plays. They only work and should only be called when you need to check the defense for overplaying or cheating a particular area. It's one reason why our perimeter screen pass game is complete crap; it was misused.

 

please explain. draws are more about maintaining or regaining the sticks and not letting the pass rush tee off on the qb. in terms of screen most our screens were built ins based on box number count. qb choice. not necessarily called in from the sideline other than the fact the qb had the choice based on what he saw pre snap at the los. I think a big part of the screen problem in terms of the built ins was guys like Kenny stills were asked to be poa blockers and I'm sorry but stills is one of the worst blocking wrs in the entire league. plus our qb ball placement in the screen game for max rac was horrid in 2017.

 

We don't need a workhorse; we need a stable of horses that work!

 

Good points, also If gase wants to run a quick tempo offense with shorter timing routes by the receivers you need receivers who can do something with the ball athletically, Parker, Stills and Landry are not that..

Wilson, Grant and Amendola are much better in that regard.

 

landrys been one of the best yac recievers. amendola isn't gonna run away from anyone. parker has rac and make the first guy miss capabilities provided he's lead by the throws. Wilson had a ton of scheme driven production in kc. travis kelce and tyreek hill will do that for you.

 

Forcing them to stay honest is a constraint on the defense when they are cheating in a certain area. It's a similar concept for playcalls based on box numbers (regardless of blocking capabilities), except it's more difficult to apply for perimeter screens in that just because a defense may be overloading the box, doesn't directly signify that the secondary is playing off the LOS, etc.

 

if I had a gripe it would be with too many bubbles being the built ins. teams like the eagles showed more variety. Miami was heavy bubble with the built in regardless of personnel. and I think dbs at times snuffed it out.