I'm having a hard time finding stats on Shotgun %'s for some reason. I know league-wide there's a fairly large discrepancy towards the pass out of the formation.

I would tend to think we wouldn't have that problem with Bill Lazor, though. He's coming fresh from a team that has an extraordinarily robust running package out of shotgun formations.

 

Yea I'm not sure the shotgun thing is going away with Lazor. We also don't have a traditional inline TE to make under center stuff more appealing. Moreno played in the shotgun alot in Denver and is good carrying it from there beside the QB, as well as seeing blocking assignments and running routes. Lots of experience on his end, I imagine that was part of his appeal.

 

Go here for full formation data from 2008 to 2013 - third chart from the top.

http://nflsavant.com/team.php?ddlTeams=MIA

Great site in general for various charts and data.

 

Im not sure I understand why you guys are upset about them using the shotgun last year?

 

For me, it puts a finer point on the line issues and lack of creativity of Sherman.

 

I think the lack of creativity in play calling is a fair point

 

Now that the anger has worn off I have a hard time accepting the incompetence rationale when it comes to Sherman. He had to be doing it w/ the approval of Philbin, the play calling was way too consistent over the course of the season for it to have been Sherm going off the reservation.

So the real question is why would Philbin go that route? It could be that he simply had no confidence in the OL, or maybe it was designed to get Tannehill as many pass/shotgun snaps as possible in order to speed his development along.

 

I think there were a few dynamics at play:

1. Philbin may have deferred to Sherman too much (not always) because of their history. Again, it happens. Shula let Olivadatti leave tightly coiled piles of stinking...um..."defense" all over the field...and Shula was a defensive mastermind.

2. Both tackles blew. I think they cheated help towards both tackles as much as possible, but when one got help the other fell apart. Once Martin was gone, Clabo seemed to magically improve when in reality that probably had more to do with the fact he got more help since there was more help to give because McKinnie didn't need what Martin did.

3. Philbin is not an "adapt to his players" coach. He is a system coach. His system works when he has the players. Ireland didn't give him the players he needed for his system. He had enough players for his system to work against the Pats or the Bengals. He didn't against Bills or Bucs. (Even though i think Ireland is a good evaluator of talent. In fact, if you paired up Ireland and Rex Ryan, it could get ugly for us.)

 

There were a heck of a lot more TD's than field goals, also...

 

They had a robust running game mainly because they had LeSean McCoy in their backfield and a much better offensive line than the Dolphins. While I expect improvement on offense this coming season. I don't see any RB anywhere close to McCoy, on the Dolphins at this time.

I think the most we can hope for is that the Dolphins at least have a decent running game this year and an improved passing game.

 

Yeah, my hopes are that the running game is just solid. Not scary, just respectable.

 

I'm talking about robust in terms of playbook and scheme. The Eagles run game revolves around plays out of the shotgun.

 

The shotgun formation isn't the problem. In fact, I would say that was the ONLY smart thing Sherman and the rest of this incompetent offensive coaching staff did. It gives our young qb a better visual of what the defense is doing, and it gives Tannehill more time to react to the pass rush. When it comes to running the ball, the read option is an essential play call out of the shotgun formation. We probably ran it maybe 10 times the entire season that i can think of, which is flat out stupidity (especially when you have a qb with 4.5 speed and a running back with 4.4 speed). The weapons were in place, our coaches were just too dumb to use it.

The read option would have saved our season (along with throwing the ball to the rbs in the flats). Instead, Sherman would either call some stupid shotgun stretch play knowing full well we had the slowest offensive line in the league that couldn't reach their blocks or a damn dive right up the gut which got us no more than 3 yards a carry. As a guy who has coached the spread offense for a very long time, i found it nauseating to watch the dolphins' offense. It's not brain surgery. I know high school coaches who could dance circles around Sherman as far as playcalling. I know nothing about Lazor...i just hope he has a clue. This season will come down to him. The talent on offense is there. They just need a coach.

 

Look how quickly the D got to Tannehill all season long. If he wasn't in shotgun, good lord

 

I like this dude..

Not sure you were around last hear but I was a broken record about running the read option, ando have 5 designed rollouts a game ( you know because our Qb can thrown in the run better than anyone else, and to offset the poor protection), and some conscious set the tone runs by Ryan after his drop, all three things never happened.

Freakin joke of a gameplan..

 

Im not a fan of the read option except once in a blue moon. I do not have a problem with using the shotgun. My problem was how very predictable and one dimensional they were. They did nothing to burn defenses that came in hard. Screens and draws were nonexistent.

 

do you think our Qb is good enough not to do what he's good at and not to use the full arsenal of his repertoire, and still expect to compete for a championship.?

 

Its not about doubting his talent. Its about protecting your assets. I dont want my about being tackled in the open field.

Use it enough to freeze the defense at times but a steady diet of it scares me.

 

I was a big Philbin fan, but my main criticism of him is that he seems to have deferred to his coordinators too much. My feeling all season was that all we got was the TAMU offense. (I had issues with the DC too). I expected Philbin to be the guy who would see and fix those more than he did. Either he couldn't or just deferred. I think with Sherman the whole mentor thing was an issue so maybe Philbin will get more involved at least on the offensive side when appropriate. Although I really don't have much of a direct criticism of the shotgun usage. There's a tough balancing act there between using what works towards RT's and your OL's strength and mixing things up. And that's before you factor in what film study may suggest will be most effective against that specif opponent. I wouldn't criticize that usage in one game w/o more info.

 

Maybe that had something to do with Ryan getting blown away after every "Go,go!" while under center?