1. Mike Nolan’s defense has the ability and personnel to bring a formidable pass rush.
Even a day later, there was still talk about how the defense made life miserable on the handful of plays it employed Mike Nolan’s 5-2-4 against an empty backfield on Wednesday. With outside linebackers like Wake, Misi, Ikaika Ilama-Francis and even rookie Chris McCoy attacking from a three-point stance, the line was getting immense pressure on the quarterbacks to get rid of the ball quickly.
While the offensive line looked overmatched and Chad Henne was having trouble even getting short passes away, coach Tony Sparano said Thursday none of it was a surprise.
“Those are the days, when I was an offensive line coach, I wanted to stay home,” he said, “and the offensive linemen know it’s going to be a rough day. But at the end of the practice there was some give and take. It was a really good evaluator for us in terms of our install (of the offense).”
Sparano has said the defense is ahead of the offense right now, which is typical for this point in camp. All the shuffling of personnel on the offensive line only exacerbates that situation.
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