Boy I picked a bad day to write an article. It's gonna be Chad, Chad, Chad (Pennington). Anyway, tell me if any of this makes sense, or if I'm off my rocker. Admittedly this was done prior to the Chad news breaking, but that shouldn't change much. http://www.thephins.com/2009/09/28/whats-right-whats-wrong-with-the-miami-dolphins/
It makes total sense...the pass defense is undoubtedly the weakest part of the team. The running game has been absolutely perfect in the last 2 games and the overall offense has been taking incredible amounts of time off the clock. It comes down to the old, "Defense wins Championships" saying.
I'm big on margin of error I guess. Everything comprises it. That's the thing about the Colts game. We played to near perfection on offense. Record-setting type perfection. And we still lost. To me, you can't have a razor thin margin of error and consistently win in this league. And we're proving it. OT: I read an article today by a San Diego paper. It was all about how they 'tamed the Wildcat' and their rookie NT saying it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. That we tried to run the ball and they stopped it pretty good. WE RAN FOR 4.8 YARDS A POP! Ricky and Ronnie combined for 5.0! They did a better job in the second half, but come on.
Muck, Great article. You have everything thought out perfectly. I dont understand why people are so critical of the Wildcat. It is still working and generating our running game. The funny thing is, it is still the same wildcat plays we have ran all year last year. Wait til we get Pat White in the mix. As for Ginn, his criticism could come to a halt with Henne getting the starting job. Maybe not this week or next week, but down the road he could start to put up some big numbers. He does get open deep, but Pennington could never hit him.
I think the Wildcat is what it is. A lot of people and media try to make it out to be this fairy tale formation that has to go for at least 15 yards till the end of time or it's been 'figured out'. In reality, it's simply a running formation that we're having success with. It has it's pros and cons. It will never comprise our entire offense. It's simply a part of our offense. I'm sure Dan Henning would love for defenses to 'figure out' the Wildcat to the tune of 7.5 yards a carry. The Dolphins pretty much ran four plays out of the Wildcat last year. And we're seeing them again this year. But what we are also seeing are new wrinkles. Different personnel, where guys are lining up, different fakes off the read, some misdirection. All these little wrinkles that make a defense think and throw them off. The fake action in the Colts game....that held the DE long enough for Ronnie to escape untouched into the backs of his lineman in the endzone. I left Pat White out of my 'what's wrong' part. While I have serious doubts about his potential in this offense.......I don't think he really qualifies yet. He's not really had much affect on the two games he's been in. Not enough to include in the article. And honestly, I don't want to see him out there until he's ready and we've seriously got something for him. If we're going to interrupt the flow of the standard offense, it needs to be for something that works (Ronnie Cat). And I agree on Ginn. The dude might never be physical due to his build, but the guy can fly. And he does get open deep. I hope Henne sees him and his given the opportunity to hit him somewhere beyond 5 yards.
Excellent article, George. going into the season, I honestly thought that I had a handle on this team; I thought I knew its weaknesses as well as its strengths. Now I know that I was wrong, because my thoughts were based on assumptions as to certain aspects that a fan can only ever guess at. I assumed that Dan Henning - based on 2008 - was a man who had his finger on the pulse of his Offensive players; I was wrong. Instead he seems to be operating without a clue this season. He stops using something the minute it starts to seem like it is working. In that first game against Atlanta, he called plays that required expertise and practice that his Offensive Line did NOT have yet at that point. He takes the ball out of the hands of his best players, or the players with the hot hand, instead of riding them the way any first-year OC would. His 3rd-down calls have been ridiculously clueless, almost non sequitur. Then, I thought that Ted Ginn could carry the momentum of his fine performance in preseason into the regular season. I believed that Anthony Fasano could build upon a nice 2008 season and take the next step. At the very least, I thought that Nalbone and Haynos could be complements to Fasano's 2008 campaign. I believed that Vernon Carey could carry on and not fall flat on his face against other teams' second-best (or worse) pass rushers at least once per game, as he has so far this season. And then there's our Defense... I had a glimmer of hope, based on some solid play last season and with an improved Secondary behind him, that in his 8th season the light might come fully on for Akin Ayodele. I had similar hope that, newly invigorated by the positive affirmation of his freshly-inked contract, Channing Crowder could raise the level of his game. Despite Gibril Wilson's well-known shortcomings, I hoped that the D was evolving, and that in that evolution we would see a formula which used his strengths and minimized his shortcomings. Instead, Ginn has turned into the WR version of Sammie Smith; Fasano has turned into this era's version of Ferrell Edmunds; Carey has regressed and is in the process of morphing into John St. Clair; Ayodele can't BUY a tackle; Crowder can buy anything he wants because of his new contract yet seemingly can't do ANYTHING on the field anymore, not even the few things he did right before; and Wilson has been put in EXACTLY the wrong role for his skillset - but more importantly, the wrong role for his weaknesses. The release of David Martin apparently was a more auspicious event than anyone could have said, because we now seem to have NO solutions at TE. And the one thing that I thought would hurt us most: Matt Roth's absence, hasn't been a factor at all judging by the fact that we're #5 in the league against the run. Strange, weird season so far.
Nice write up Muck. As for what is wrong, Safety play has killed us so far, maybe a benching is in order, but more than likely the Staff relies on the Veterans to improve their performances. As for what is right, our running game has been very good to outstanding, ST has been solid, and we can stop the run well.
Thanks for the kind remarks fellas. It is quite weird. I too thought the run defense would fall off (without Roth) and the pass defense would improve. I still think the run defense could fall off because we don't know if Taylor will wear down or if his body can actually carry that added body weight (which typically melts off him during the season). But the pass defense.....you figured it would be the rookies to struggle. Little makes sense other than the running game getting better. And even there, I'm cautious because San Diego was without Jamal Williams. Indy has never been good against the run, much less without Bob Sanders. And Atlanta was 25th against the run last year....and just as bad so far in 2009. We'll have plenty of opportunities to show if we're for real here. But last year, we struggled against everybody to open holes. Not this year. The other area I guess kinda got right.....David Martin. The day he got hurt.....I got scared for that unit. Didn't expect Fasano to fall off like this, but I felt like that guy's performance last year went under the radar a bit. I think we'll absolutely address TE next year, regardless of whether Fasano is re-signed. OT: Martin's still on IR I believe. Hadn't heard that he was actually released. Beyond that, well I guess it's been exciting.
Ya know, I don't think we've turned it over once on special teams. Always a good thing because it's ALWAYS in a bad part of the field. As far as benching safeties, do you think Culver could play the free spot? I think that's the most likely change should one take place. Hell maybe Reggie Torbor goes in for Ayodele. Lord knows they were using him on middle blitzes in camp.
True and keep in mind Sproles was #2 in return yardage in the NFL and we traded out Walden for Cam Wake and still held him in check. Wake as a situational rusher at least gives us some hope of a sack or pressure, which should upgrade the rush overall. That is what I think will happen, depending on who pulls the trigger on benching 27 million... I think they sent Anderson on blitzes up the middle as well, but I only had the streaming version so I could not go back and double check.
Why not throw Nalbone in there just to see if he can make a few plays and take the attention off Fasano? god knows Haynos cant cut it.
