8. Miami Dolphins (2009 Rank: 2[SUP]nd[/SUP]) Run Rank 16[SUP]th[/SUP], Pass Rank 2[SUP]nd[/SUP], Penalties Rank 21[SUP]st[/SUP] A significant drop for the Dolphins, with the interior really letting the side down compared to what we had come to expect. Joe Berger is no Jake Grove (injury prone as he was), and they missed Justin Smiley and Donald Thomas. Throw in an injury to Vernon Carey, and they were left with just one guy from the line that finished No. 2 in 2009. Too much change. Best Player: Remember when people said Jake Long couldn’t play left tackle in the NFL? They should never be allowed to forget how wrong they were. Biggest Concern: They drafted Mike Pouncey, but if he’s anything like his brother that won’t be enough to turn the interior of this unit around. This is from PFF today.
IMO, we make one significant improvement to the center of the line and we will see a big difference this season running the ball. And I see even more potential with Pouncey, if he pans out as we expect, playing alongside Incognito, our interior may only have one weak spot at G. A lot of this also depends on whether Carey can stay healthy or not.
Would like to get a for sure starter at left guard and have Jerry and Incognito compete for RG, ideal situation.
I would too, but if Jerry can even reach average level playing in between Long and Pouncey, we will be alright. Hopefully, with the offseason, Jerry is fully bounced back from whatever weird sickness affected him last season. If we're going to invest money, I'd rather try to find a really good backup for Carey if/when he gets injured again.
Carey's knees are a concern. I'm hoping for Yanda in FA to solidify the OL, regardless of problems. With all the injuries, we were still pretty good on the OL.
Maurkice wasn't as good as advertised. He played well on a Super Bowl team but he did have some serious deficiencies. I believe PFF rated him pretty low on their list of interior linemen just as context to this article.
a redskins beat writer said that yanda is very high on the skins shopping list, which is not good for us
Pass Blocking: http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2011/06/14/2010-pass-blocking-efficiency-guards-and-centers/
He had issues but he was pretty good considering he wasn't even expected to play Center and he's a rookie. The Pro Bowl doesn't really mean anything to me but I think Pouncey was pretty good from what I watched. I don't follow PFF.
I disagree. The PIT offense is always going to make lineman look awful. I would venture to guess that Pouncey's PFF numbers were better than any other o-lineman on that team though.
For whatever it's worth, Pauncey (Pitt's version) gave up 3 sacks, 4 QB hits, and 17 pressures in protection. He played 1009 snaps. To put this in perspective, our good friend Samson, played 1010 snaps, gave up 2 sacks, 3 hits, and 10 pressures. Forget the Pro Bowl, Pauncey did not play well.
What did PITs center give up in 2009??? 2008??? Comparing Samson Satele to Pouncey is really apples to oranges.
Because Samson didn't have Ben Roethlisberger as his QB. PITs passing was a lot of Ben holding on to the ball for a long time. It worked because he is a great QB, but its going to make the OL look bad.
Yes, those QBs don't do what Roethlisberger does. There is a reason PITs OL is always going to be ranked among the worst in the league if he is the QB.
what I like about our situation is our rookie center will be battling everyday with a young nose tackle that completely beat the sh$# out out of the 2 best centers in the game, Pouncey and Mangold...me likey.. Do we realize that we have the biggest most symetrically balanced nose tackle in the game, and from the looks of it, the man wants to ball, and can do it well..This is great news for our rookie center, they can only make each other better, 2 protoype players goin at it...me really likey..
The 09 C Justin Hartwig was the worst rated C in the league by PFF. He gave up 7 sacks, 4 hits, and 15 pressures. Pauncey at 3, 4, and 17 was a slight improvement but, he did block well for the run. I used Samson because he was rated overall right behind Pouncey. PFF, in their grading, allows for QBs holding the ball too long, and the stat comparison is fair in that it shows how often a player got beat, which is lemons to lemons.
I have never seen any OL ranked or graded on a team's blocking scheme, and have no idea how it could be done. FYI, PFF has people who watch every player on every play, and they give them a grade allowing for what they see from other players. I't far from perfect but, better than blind stats. As a "student of the game," you may want to take a look at their site. It is pay per view @ $30 per year or $10 per month but, IMO worth it.
that and Big Ben will as well. He holds the ball longer then anyone in the league. 3 of my best friends are steeler fans, lucky me, and I watch every game of theirs. Pouncey was a monster, more so on run blocking, but he was fine in pass blocking as well. Obviously he had some hiccups, but he was solid in PB for the season as a whole.
What rating, or player comparison, is not subjective? I have not focused on watching Pouncey for every play of 16 games he played. I have not yet even done that for any Dolphin player. I doubt I am "The Lone Ranger" on this. So, how does one compare apples, oranges, or lemons? The only way I know of is damn stats, love them/hate them but, there is little else to be offered in a debate on a player comparison. Some don't care for PFF. I do because I believe that if I, and MANY others here, took the time to watch every play by a player, we would be able to grade a performance much better than just a stat. Think about that. If you, who I do respect for VG football knowledge, watched a specific player on each and every play, how right or wrong could you be on that player? I would bet that you, and many others, would be on the money. That is what PFF does, and why I hold them in high regard. They have kicked stats up a notch.
1. I don't think Maurkice Pouncey was as good as advertised in 2010. I agree with that point of view. I thought he was overrated coming out, not mobile enough. But, he WAS pretty good, especially for a rookie at a position where the learning curve is actually kind of long. Promising future, after all. The system does absolutely factor into grading OLs based on pass protection stats. Some Centers get more help from Guards than others. 2. I don't think Miami's OL deserves the #8 ranking. On the other hand, they don't deserve to be ripped to shreds as many people around here have done over the year, as they struggle to settle on reasons the offense sucked. Offensive linemen get beat. They miss their blocks. They end up out there with nothing to do and they sit like bumps on a log. It happens. Other teams deal with it as often or more as we had to in 2010. But it seems like there are people who think the criticism of Henning is overdone and they place a lot of unnecessary blame on the OL and WRs in order to shift it away from Dan Henning, likewise for people who believe criticisms of Ricky and Ronnie are overdone, and likewise for people who believe criticisms of Henne are overdone. To me, the OL and WRs units are suffering collateral damage in the war of "which was worse" between our outdated offensive system, our old-looking tailbacks who broke nary a tackle, and our stick-in-the-mud QB. 3. I will say this. I don't expect much "impact" from the rookie 1st round Mike Pouncey. He's not as stout as his brother, and his brother wasn't as impactful as advertised. I doubt Mike Pouncey is going to make many blocks that have an impact on the end result of the play, that you could look at and say, "Joe Berger couldn't have done that". The position itself is almost more mental than physical. The bigger opportunity to make an impact over Berger will probably be mentally, not physically. But does rookie Pouncey have that much of a mental edge over veteran Berger? No, just a physical one. So I go back to the position logistics. I said it in my initial draft review. Go look at Richard's Universal Draft video he put together of Pouncey. Count how many blocks he had that you can say definitely affected the outcome of the play, that you also could say "Joe Berger couldn't have done that". Seriously. I'm not saying Mike Pouncey will be bad, but a ROOKIE Mike Pouncey is probably going to be mediocre, and Joe Berger was already mediocre. And slight differences in talent at that position don't result in big differences in the play result consistently.
I look for Miami's Pouncey to be solid this year, and a bit of an upgrade over Berger. His athleticism could make a difference, depending on if and how it is used.
Funny how stats "tell the story" when people want them to. And how stats are "subjective" when people want them to be. The truth of the matter is that Pouncey, while being an above average to good player, is nowhere near the level that he was hyped up to. I said this adnauesum before the draft when everyone wanted us to take the other Pouncey based off what his brother did. Personally I still feel that the 15 spot was an extreme reach for Mike Pouncey. Living in SEC country I see 8-9 Florida games a year. And neither of these two kids really impressed me at all in college.\ I just hope that the Dolphins did their due diligence and drafted this kid for a reason, and didn't just buy into the undeserved hype his brother got. Based on our recent string of unsuccessful player acquisitions, especially at offensive line which is supposed to be Sparano's "specialty," it wouldn't surprise me to see either of them relegated to backup roles in the near future.
I think it's even funnier that stats are what gets players into the HOF, and on a yearly basis, have the best players at every position at the top, at least 90% or so. Granted, to a degree, they are subjective. But, very seldom (if at all) over 16 games and 1,000 snaps. JMO
I don't think it would be that extraordinary for Mike Pouncey to be a pretty big addition on the OL his rookie season. The list of rookie offensive linemen who came in and played at an above average level is not in any sense limited to Maurkice Pouncey over the last few years.
