I read your entire post, but this phrase right here that I quoted is the crux of the problem with the Dolphins and has been for 20 years. If you’re going to have a terrible offensive line, then it’s not going to matter who your quarterback is. If you’re going to have a terrible offensive line, he’s never going to be able to make good down field throws consistently If you’re going to have a terrible offensive line, he’s going to be constantly hit on drop backs If you’re going to have a terrible offensive line, he’s going to be running for his life If you’re going to have a terrible offensive line, you’re never going to establish an effective running game If you’re going to have a terrible offensive line, you’re going to be in 2nd/3rd and long on a regular basis If you’re going to have a terrible offensive line,you’re never going to be able to get those short yardage gains. Does this not accurately describe the offense of the Miami Dolphins for the last 20 years? Tagovailoa is more than capable of leading this team’s offense…as was Tannehill before him but the lack of concerted effort by the organization to put together an offensive line as the have every other position has been the foundation of the offensive woes for 2 decades
Good post, @The_Dark_Knight. Just once, I want this team to do whatever's possible to put 8 OL starters on the roster. Let them fight it out to see who gets minutes. And draft replacements the next year. It seems like we've been willing to settle for a "good enough" OL since Marino and *surprise!* it's never good enough. I never appreciated playing Williams at center, knowing we didn't have a proven LG beside him. Especially when that LG is Liam Eichenberg.
I'm. Not. Talking. About. How. The. Offense. Functions. Or. The. Stats. The. QB. Puts. Up. You keep approaching this from the angle of offensive function and that if we just improve the oline, it makes everything else work better. I'm NOT disputing that. I'm saying, from a PHYSICAL standpoint, durability, if you're going to have a bad oline, then you've got to have a durable QB, or a QB who possesses innate traits to avoid the rush. You're arguing with me, but not at all discussing the same thing.
I never understood moving him to center - if that was the only piece we needed, sure, but we needed ALL FIVE positions overhauled after last season’s disaster, so why move Williams from his natural position?
From experience, I can say that the line takes time to build chemistry and know how to work together in every possible situation. For instance, you may see stunts in practice where the DE loops into the A gap, but in real life other teams know we're preparing for that so they add new flavors (like the DE making contact with the LG so the LB can have a free blitz right behind him). All that stuff takes time to understand all the little wrinkles and it's so easy to think, "Oh, that's the center's pick-up, not mine." But it was yours and you just got your QB leveled from thinking too much. If someone's coming free, you knock them on their butts and ask questions later. I think that's what it happening right now with four of our 5 linemen playing what seems to be out of their natural position. Does that mean this stuff will get better? Yes and no. Maybe they pick up the scenario I just described above perfectly for the rest of the season. But there's always new wrinkles to learn from and it takes all five guys to master.
