Alright, and I did think about poaching Sammie's work...plagerism is the soul of scholarship after all.. This is what jumps out at me: -Deepest 3 Qb rotation in the AFCE, go three deep on the Pats and you'll find Julian Edelman..Bills..Ryan Fitzpatrick..Jests..Kellen Clemons. -The mutant Wildcat is dead, dead, dead, no more Pistol, no more Wishbone, no more Option on the edge..if anything Ronnie Brown will throw the ball if it needs to be thrown. -Defensive playmaking positions are manned by newbs, OLB, FS, DE, all have young or new players to that position manning them. -We are going to see 3 and 4 Wr sets. -Sparano is making a heavy wager on Anthony Fasano repeating his 2008 performance. -Looking at the Cb unit, who goes when Will Allen is healthy? -Ikaika Francis replaces Erik Walden on Special Teams, Q Moses retains his backup role behind Misi. -OLB unit is very young in terms of starts -Ty Culver replaces Nate Jones role at least partially. -Sparano went with players he trusts from his Cowboys days as the backup Olinemen. -lots of UDFA talent, Wallace, Bess, Moore, Polite, Douglas, Carpenter, Wake, Culver, Johnson. As for Strategy, it appears that Starters are exactly that, Starters, they are going to play more snaps than in the past simply because the backups are very young. Wr, Te, 5 man Oline starters, look at the depth, really green players Sparano must feel that the UDFA's can play at a high level if called upon because the back 3 Wr's are all UDFA's. My impression of the offensive talent is it reminds me of a mid 80's redskins team: Art Monk=Brandon Marshall Ricky Sanders=Brian Hartline Gary Clark=Devone Bess Clint Diddier=Anthony Fasano Hogs=Orca 5 Jay Schroeder=Chad Henne Defense: Dexter Manley=Cam Wake Charles Mann=Kendal Langford Dave Butts=Randy Starks Hmm...
Shouldn't it be the Pod-5? A group of dolphins can be called a Pod or School. Most everything associated with our team refers to common and/or bottlenose dolphins.
Well, the entire oline is 6'3 or taller and weighs at least in the 310 range..two legged whales maybe?
Geez, you are arguing over an OL nickname and whether it ties into the Teams Mascot name? The HOGS had no relevance to the Washington Redskins....they were simply big bodies clearly a path for the DIESEL John Riggins. Unless a truck shouldn't be used? ORCA-5 is not really something to get worked up about from a relationship stand point to the Dolphins now is it.....unless every Dolphin has a name, thus the NO-NAME Defense is silly too.
But I want to argue with Padre. How else am I supposed to get to 20k? Edit: I see I'm there now. ****.
Yeah. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, because I know the nickname "Orca 5" gets a lot of play around here, but it just seems silly and forced. We haven't had any real consistency regarding players on the OL for a good while now. If our OL absolutely needs a nickname, why don't we first field a group of guys that play together day in and day out, let them develop a personality as a line, and then find something that fits that particular group of guys? Sorry for the continued derail.
Its hard to believe that after 3 years were still poachin scrub olineman off the cowboys roster and their making the team... Our head coach/oline coach cant be too happy about that..
Exactly, this stuff is supposed to be...fun. There are those, however, whom were born without a entertaining bone in their body..we've all met them..volunteered to be the hall monitors, those kids who were severly toilet trained. Sad really...
Sparano is not messing around this year Deej, meaning Starters will have 90% of the reps, developmental players will be more or less frozen in place. The one caveat is TE, Henne operates the best out of a 2 Te set, I simply cannot see going to Buffalo A)with Nalbone as the #2 Te B)removing that extremely effective alignment from the playbook. They liked Wallace and Moore enough to make room for them by waiving the #44 overall pick and the #76 (or so) overall pick, there must be some role in mind for those two to pay that heavy a penalty to not risk putting them on the practice squad. As well as discarding any vision of some grand WildCat Qb..though I do suspect Ronnie B will pass more out of that formation this year.
Don't be to hasty tomorrow the waiver claims are reconciled, if awarded player(s) someone is leaving.
Cheesy names for the line. Maybe we can call it "The expensive average guys". or "one stud and the hand me downs"
What the hell are we going to do about the TE situation? I understand that Dmart can roll back in after Fluffalo at a savings but..... Were we all wrong about depending on two TE sets this year? Didn't we need them to keep our QB off his *** the entire last season? Now our line looks suspect in preseason again and we are going three wide? Someone explain the madness to me The long drive back from Dallas on no sleep half drunk sucked. It was worth it though.
maybe thats an inditement on our front office then not being able to identify better players before Dallas ones become available. After 3 years, Pat Mcquistan making this team for a 7th is pretty frustrating to me if iam in the personell dept.
We didn't trade a 7th for him. What stellar players are Proctor and McQuistan replacing? Joe Berger was on Dallas before, but not only did he play almost as well as Grove last year, but he was in Miami before he was ever in Dallas. Incognito was a FA pick up as was Grove, neither was ever in Dallas. Murtha was from Detroit, a former 7th rd pick. Carey and Long were both our 1st rd picks. Jerry was our 3rd rd pick. I mean what is so frustrating? That we didn't hit on a 4th rd OL pick? That we only got 1 season starting out of a 6th rd pick?
Exactly, I have a tough time believing Sparano would bet the early part of the season on John Nalbone's heretofore undiscovered blocking ability. Situations such as this cast a shadow on Sparano's claim to try and start fast.
''7th rd pick per Ben Volin.'' I thought that he was Stitch, not a 100 percent sure..anyways, the acqusitions of Smiley and Grove, combined with the drafting of Thomas, Murphy, etc, and choosing them over others, and having all of them failing, led us to this point, which is trading 7th rounders to fill our roster with a perceived better player than what we have been able to produce ourselves over three years... I think if you would ask Irish, he would be dissapointed in where we stand on that front, at this point and time...
I somehow doubt that. And we didn't trade a 7th, we potentially swap 6ths. Oh no! Our 8th OL is a guy we got from trading with another team, we must have the worst GM in the league. I mean if you don't think our OL is better than it was 3 years ago, I don't know what to say. And to criticize them because of where our 7th/8th linemen came from is just crazy. I mean so had we kept Thomas instead of getting McQuistan all would have been ok? Sure seems like it to me.
WTF happened to David Martin? It seems to mute one of our most articulate posts of the year about the 2 TE set. Padre what are you smoking comparing our squad to the mid '80's Redskins? That is comedy gold...
I just wonder if we jumped the gun on this guy because Dallas is easy to trade with. Dallas would be close to the bottom of the list of teams that have so much OL talent they can't keep it all. Their OL is the key question/weakness of that team... I saw him play Thursday...... I thought he sucked Hope we find someone better to take that roster spot
Here's the thing Stitch, I think they will be a better oline than last year, I mean Sparano had the chance to stay neutral, but got proactive and seeked replacement's for 3/5ths of the unit. If we are to have any trust whatsoever with this coach, ive got to believe that considering his field of expertise, he believes he has a better starting 5 this year... Here's the thing you might be sensing in me and my slight attitude problem, Irish... No one can convince me that Jake Long was not selected by Bill Parcells...Iam pretty damn confident that the president of football operations, alongside a new owner, is not gonna take responsibility for the franchise's 1st 50 million dollar overall #1 pick...... no way that sh%$ is fallen on a 1st year gm. Vernon Carey was already there...so, Jeff Ireland?...what have you got me in 3 offseason's along my oline.? Grove, Berger, Cognito, Jerry, Mcquistan, Cory Procter, thomas, Murphy, etc... not bad, maybe a bit dissapointing to them considering they, or he, signed 2 of those players to a combined 55 million dollar's in contracts, and cut a few more draft picks than i'd bet he hoped for.. I do admit one thing, i am a little confused as to how Sparano would answer this question...Tony?, how do you feel about replacing 3/5ths of the Oline?, an oline that was a top 5 unit?..
I guess it can make sense we might not need very many 2 TE sets, the way Marshall blocks, if he's needed to be brought in to do so it gives them options. I wish Martin would have made the team but i could see why they did what they did. Martin could be recalled if someone is lost for the year. I think they know many teams won't be going after him.
Keeping Marshall in to block makes little sense though. Things will become a bit clearer this evening when the waiver claims are announced, so far 2 players are definites for the Practice Squad: -Ray Feinga -Ryan Baker There are two players who could easily be moved to the PS, Wallace and Carrol, to make room for waiver acquisitions or a couple of Vets who could be cut to bring someone else in, Murtha, Proctor, Moses.