For those of you who look at my posts you've probably heard me screaming over the past months about how I believe we help our defense by helping our offense. I've always believed this. I believe it's one of the major reasons we showed such improvement on the defensive side of the ball in 2008 as compared to 2007 with nearly the same defense. Because our offense was putting more points on the board, orchestrating longer drives, and putting our defense in better positions to make aggressive plays.
Another example of this would be the Baltimore Ravens. As dominant a defense as they have had, there defensive success was highly correlated with the success of their offense. In years where they had a struggling Boller at the helm, the defense was a shell of itself. Add Steve McNair and they were dominant again.
Even if we don't make improvements like Dansby and the players we are sure to add in the draft, we would still be helping our defense with Brandon Marshall. With Marshall our offense puts more points on the board. Hopefully this will allow our defense to play with the lead more times than not. He will also help us extend drives, thereby giving our defense the rest they need and not keep them coming out sucking wind after 3 and outs or numerous failed drives in a row.
But you have heard all that from me before. At least some of you. But Brandon Marshall helps our defense in another very important way. How great is it that our young secondary, e.g. Vontae Davis and Sean Smith get to line up against a receiver of Brandon Marshall's caliber every day in practice? I expect this to do wonders for them and help them develop into a dominant secondary. Hopefully covering Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes and Randy Moss will be a walk in the park compared to covering our boy Brandon.
So for those of you who might have been worried more about defense than the WR position, take solace in the fact that Brandon Marshall will also be lending our defense a hand! :up:
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This is going to be an interesting season.
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Seeing the title of this thread I thought you were going to reference a little known fact about Marshall Mons.
That fact is that Brandon Marshall played the majority of his Junior year (Pretty sure it was his Junior year) at the Safety position for UCF.
So..... maybe he does literally help the defense playing both ways!
That would explain the 2 2nd round draft picks!
We filled our #1 WR spot AND our Safety hole!
Ireland is a GENIOUS! :lol:eric, dolfan7171, MonstBlitz and 1 other person like this. -
It's easier to play opportunistic defense when you know your offense will put points on the board. But you do need a handful of play makers...
We need to come out of this draft with at least one impact player on defense.....it's an absolute must.eric likes this. -
Definitely did not know that about Marshall. Wouldn't that be something!
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I beg to differ.
The 2007 defense featured the leftover remains of Nick Saban's complicated 3-4 4-3 hybrid defense, Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas, an incorrectly used Joey Porter, supposedly bunch of players with no respect for the coach. And Cameron Worrell playing safety.:morning:
The 2008 defense featured Miami's newly installed 3-4 base defense, no 99 and 54, Joey Porter back to his comfortable side, alot more respect for the coach, and our favorite junkyard dog Yeremiah Bell back from injury and patrolling the defensive backfield.
Hardly the same.GMJohnson likes this. -
Thank you for correcting me. I forgot to mention our 2008 defense was missing 2 of the pro bowl all time Dolphin greats in Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor that we had in 07.
But you're right, there was slightly better personnel in some positions and better coaching. But you can't tell me better play on offense didn't have something to do with the turnaround in the performance on defense. -
Of course. One is always going to directly affect the other. A better offense will put the defense in better field position, and vise versa.MonstBlitz likes this. -
Perhaps he means that his energy or work ethic would impact the defense. That's all I could think of since I don't remember him playing defense.
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this is one of those theories I dont really buy. On some level it works like when an offense goes from constant three and outs (not us in 2009) to long drives it definitely helps keep the defense fresh. Also when an offense can jump to a +9 lead it puts pressure on the other offense to score which at the end of games will cause teams to take chances and that might inflate defensive turnover statistics
I think the most interesting point made was Sean Smith or Vontae going up against Brandon every day should speed up their learning curve. That one makes sensedolfan7171 likes this. -
but that's not how teams practice.
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Did you read the thread? You might not agree with it, but I think I made it pretty clear how I believe he will impact the defense.
You say you don't buy into the theory, but then it sounds like you agree with me? Which is it? :lol:
Really? You don't think Vontae Davis or Sean Smith will be defending Brandon Marshall in practice? Legitimate question, as I've never watched an NFL practice but I guess I've always assumed and heard that starting offensive players practice against starting defensive players. -
now if we can only get the defense to help the defense we might be in business :wink2:
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a pick up on one side automatically helps the other side. The two are always intertwined.
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relying on your offense to help carry the defense creates shootouts
we saw this formula first hand in Miami for years -
That's what happens when you have a nonexistent defense and Tom Olividatti as your defensive coordinator. You still need a competent defense to be able to take advantage of a high scoring offense.
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You are right, but I think the way the offense helps the defense is unique. Great play on offense can actually help make a defense's job easier and allow them to play more aggressively. Whereas a defense can certainly help the offense in terms of turnovers and field position, but they can't do much to actually help the offense execute better. i.e. if your quarterback isn't that good, the defense can't help him throw the ball. Conversely, if you have a defense that struggles to rush the QB in base packages, if the offense can give them a 2 or 3 score lead they can pin their ears back and send the house.
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There was stat in the in the Sun-sentinel that showed that teams with #1 WR types won an average of 10 games last year compared to teams without them who won an average of 6 games. There have also been multiple correlation studies that show that improving your offensive passing attack has the biggest impact on your won/loss record. So some people may not "buy" the argument, but I think it's obvious that improving your passing attack improves your whole team.
MonstBlitz likes this. -
Pretty sure starters go up against the practice squad, so I doubt they square off too much, during the season anyway.
I do agree that the best defense is a good offense though, especially in today's NFL. The 2007 Patriots defense wasn't spectacular, neither was Arizona's in 2008 or the Saints defense last year. The similarity there? They all had the top offenses in the league.
I've been beating this drum for awhile, but if we can air it out in the passing game and put up points with ease, it takes loads of pressure off the defense. It also forces opposing offenses to take more chances, which can inevitably lead to turnovers.MonstBlitz likes this. -
I've been to many practices and that is not always the case. It (#1s vs. backups) does happen more often during the season, but in TC everybody plays everybody and #1s are often up against #1s.
I do agree with the rest of your post.MonstBlitz likes this. -
Thanks for clarifying. I really had no idea how practices worked during the season. But if they square off in training camp, it's still gotta help I would think.
As for your last point about offenses making mistakes when playing catch up, that's an important one I forgot to include.