At this point, who's going to start the season? And how different will it be by mid-year? After the BYE, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Albert-Smith-Pouncey-Tiurner-James; but I'm hoping we end up there sooner. Or at the very least, give this unit (minus Pouncey, obviously) a look prior to the start of the regular season. Thoughts?
Our first 2 weeks, if we go with the line we've been using the past few weeks, our running game will be horrible. Unless, of course, Lazor has some stuff packaged around that deficiency, which I have to believe he's at least been considering it...he knows what he has. Sherman showed he couldn't work around it, let's see if Lazor can work some magic. I'd go with the line you listed above once Pouncey's back, from what I've seen so far. Turner would be roughly the same as Dallas Thomas, with a little better run blocking. But back to the previous point, if Lazor has ways around it, maybe go with another combo for a slight boost in pass pro. What makes it hard is that we don't even know what Lazor has planned...could be a good thing since the opponents don't either. It would seem Tannehill's going to be part of the run game factor, so there's another wrinkle.
Well, we still have cuts coming up around the league , and we have Pouncey returning way ahead of schedule, there's still some hope.. I think next week is the cage battle for the job, Turner or Thomas, let them each have a quarter with the starters, then another quarter with the scrubs, grade it, and let the best man win..unless they just plan on putting Shelley smith in at right guard starting 2maro, that's where he played last year...or, just scrap that plan and let turner and smith battle it out in a 1 game death match winner take all cage style superfly snuka grudge match
They should get moving on an Albert-Smith-Satele-Turner-James line now, let them get comfortable with one another, then sub in Pouncey when healthy. Dallas Thomas was a liability in the FIRST preseason game. He was an outright disaster in the second. And Daryn Colledge has not been much better.
Could Satele be a veteran option at LG when Pouncey comes back? I don't like position swaps but C to G may be the easiest to make all things considered.
Satele isn't that good at blocking. His run blocking last game was really bad. In fact if he was in the position of Dallas Thomas I doubt he would have done any better.
Yes because they don't have depth. Dallas Thomas shouldn't even be a primary backup. Right now Garner is the only viable backup OT they have and it's hard for him to be that when he keeps having to be pulled back to the interior. The presence of Brenner and Colledge could help that not have to happen.
While James has not given up a pressure in two games, ( PFF) his run blocking has been suspect...we just suck a across the board in that dept..
Satele may not be the best blocker, but Thomas isn't even good at making contact with the defender. A stop sign or traffic cone would have been comparable to D. Thomas last week. I'd say almost anyone could have done better simply by standing in front of McCoy and not moving.
Like everyone else, I'm on board the Albert-Smith-Satele-Turner-James train. But because Philbin loves Colledge, I'll settle for Colledge at LG and Smith at RG. Hell, even Turner there. So long as Dallas Thomas is out.
FWIW I didn't even mean starting necessarily. The question was would we keep Colledge if he doesn't win a starting job. My reply was meant to ask not if Satele could start at LG but if he could be the primary backup at both G and C if we didn't want to keep Colledge on the roster. I didn't word it clearly and it ended up in a debate of Thomas vs Satele.
At this point, the only viable starters are Albert and James. I think it is too early to tell for the rest of the line. We will have to see if Thomas bounces back after last night's game. He has two more games to prove him self. If not there is Smith vs Turner. And that's just at Right Guard. That doesn't even include cuts or trades. I would hope we look to trade for another guard or two, though.
I'm pretty sure it's Philbin but coaches always work together to pick the best starters. I don't think he'll force a starter Benton isn't comfortable with.
I'd think Philbin has final say...but I somehow doubt Benton, given his run blocking units, would signed Colledge (who can't run block worth a damn).
I read a comment by Omar that Brenner coming in after Satale shows how thin Miami is at center and my thought was, "how many teams have a starting caliber 3rd string center?"
Omar has found a niche as the critic, the guy who finds chinks in the team's armor and prepares us for any bad news that might come later. We gave a guy on this forum who does a much better job of it though.
Agreed. James has looked good so far. He will get a stiffer test vs Ninkovich, Williams and Houston when the season starts. After that it's Tuck and Matthews. He better be ready.
Another thing to remember is that defensive linemen are almost always ahead of the offense early in the year. So I wouldn't count out Thomas just yet, because any of our linemen would have struggled in his position last night. Of course, there's no excuse for looking THAT BAD, but you sort of expect that in pre-season. Look what our defensive line did...was it six sacks total? To me, the real question is, "Are we better off today than we were last December?" I honestly don't know, but I believe that we are.
If we can get average play from the OL I think our skill guys and staff will be good enough to give us an above average unit overall. I'm not expecting a major improvement in run blocking, we have mostly finesse guys at this point, I do think the pass pro will be much improved though.
I don't mind if we have to open the season with Colledge and Satele as starters. They are savvy veterans who at least should do a decent job of keeping RT17 from being some defense's punching bag. I am only seriously concerned with Dallas Thomas. Sure we can say he was going up against one of if not the very best DT in the league, and McCoy abuses most of his opponents. Last week, TB played Jax, and McCoy went up against a relatively unknown RG named Jacques McClendon, who coincidentally is also out of Tennessee, and his PFF rating was only 2.9, while McClendon was a -2.3. All the excuses we heard from the Dallas Thomas apologist(s) could just as well have pertained to Jax and McClendon, yet the latter was able to relatively hold his own against the great McCoy, while Thomas played as if he'd spent the night before at a titty bar getting lap dances and doing several dozen Jager shots.
James has the 2nd best pass blocking rating among all OTs as per PFF with a 3.0. The only OT ahead of him is Eric Pears of Buffalo with a 4.2. Pears has played 119 snaps in 3 games compared to James' 80 snaps in 2.
Anyone who is seriously calling the Dolphin OL solid or average is living in a fairy tale. The OL is bad, and Pouncey won't be the saviour. I watched every game Daryn Colledge played in last year and I can promise you that if he stays on this team and takes significant snaps he will greatly disappoint you. Dolphins need a few guys who can actually run block.
This---100%. Smith might improve our run blocking. and Thomas is a complete liability. I'd rather struggle with the rookie Turner and hope he improves than stick with Thomas knowing he won't improve. If Garner could ever stay healthy, I'd say give him a shot at RG, but he's too injury prone, prefer to keep him at backup.
this should have been the group from jump, why they have bums like Dallas Thomas and Colledge on the field is beyond me, you don't give a guy 5.5 million to sit behind inferior players.
If Smith was playing like a stud guard (i.e. earning his paycheck) then there would have been no doubt he'd be starting. The fact that they are trying guys like Thomas and Colledge means Smith wasn't blowing anyone away and certainly not making the decision easy.
The pass blocking was not bad (other than getting blown up by a great DT). The run blocking atrocious. But, I also like the lineup mentioned at the start. I agree about Turner being a better option for the season than Thomas but what we don't see is how many mistakes Turner makes in practice - and, fearing big mistakes a wonder whether Philbin will be afraid of using Turner in the starting lineup because of his inexperience? Would have been interesting to see Turner go up against McCoy.
Yeah, its just dumb to give young players a chance in preseason. Stupid coaches acting like preseason is for development.
