Ok, I'll be the jerk who posts 1 negative thread this week. Covering the tight end continues to be this team's Achilles heel on defense as it has been for several years now. So far this year: Week 1: Jordan Cameron / 108 yards / 1 TD Week 2: Colby Fleener / 69 yards / 1 TD Week 3: Tony Gonzalez / ??? / ??? And Fleener was an illegal motion play away from having a much bigger game. I bring this up because one of the best in the business comes to town this week. And with elite WRs that the defense will need to pay close attention to, Tony Gonzalez could give the secondary fits. These Dolphins will also face Jimmy Graham and probably Gronkowski (twice) this year. And to a lesser degree Antonio Gates and Greg Olsen. I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. I'm not sure what the remedy is. Maybe the big days from tight ends are just a by product of the secondary doing a pretty admirable job on the WRs. And these tight ends tend to give most defenses fits, not just Miami's. I don't know, just pointing out the one big weakness I still see from this defense. A lot has changed, but this, so far, hasn't. Thoughts?
Like you said, TEs are giving most defenses fits these days. Every team has their warts, and defensively this seems to be one of ours. I like DJ's idea of having the other DJ's role expanded.
Gonzalez is far from one of the best in the business this season. We make him look better but so far he hasn't really looked that good.
When we signed Ellerbee, I was (and still am) hopeful he would have brought some of the leadership and mindset that had dominated the Ravens' defense. My roommate here in Kandahar is a HUGE Ravens fan and he pointed something out to me that Ray Lewis commanded on the field defensively. Lewis would essentially "dictate" to the defense "who had who"; "...I got the QB, Suggs you got the RB, Ellerbee, you got the TE. Stay on your man no matter what". Now I don't follow other teams closely but I have to give my roommate the benefit of the doubt. He follows the Ravens like I follow the Dolphins. I don't think anyone would doubt the ferocity or tenacity of the Ravens defense over the past decade so defensively, if what Rodney said Lewis would do is true, it's a tried and proven formula. With that being said... Run defense? I don't care what stats officially say, ours is second to none. No one is going to effectively run the ball against us. I have a better chance of dating Cytherea than teams will have effectively running the ball against us. Pass defense? This is where I do have concern. We're rushing the QB and doing so quite well. Weedon and Luck felt the heat of our kitchen. The secondary though, we're giving up too many yards. We're not giving up many big plays but giving up that many yards yields the possibility of the big scoring play. This is where that needed ferocity and tenacity needs to be implemented and Ellerbee/Wake need to be the catalysts to make this happen. Wake, command that defensive line- Ellerbee command that secondary. Play hard and play disciplined, play your man and don't give up the yards. We're doing well in not giving up the BIG plays and the points. We just need to step it up now and shut down the receivers. We're playing MUCH better than I anticipated at the beginning of the season. Just need to take it to that next level. I want every quarterback, every running back in the league to look at us with apprehension...nervous, second guessing themselves, skiddish. Most everyone here in the Dolphins forum are offensive minded, and that's fine but I look more at the defensive side of the ball nowadays. If the league's rules are geared more for offense and the quarterback, then every team has that advantage. The team with the better defense who can stop offenses is going to be the team that wins.
When we signed Ellerbee, I was (and still am) hopeful he would have brought some of the leadership and mindset that had dominated the Ravens' defense. My roommate here in Kandahar is a HUGE Ravens fan and he pointed something out to me that Ray Lewis commanded on the field defensively. Lewis would essentially "dictate" to the defense "who had who"; "...I got the QB, Suggs you got the RB, Ellerbee, you got the TE. Stay on your man no matter what". Now I don't follow other teams closely but I have to give my roommate the benefit of the doubt. He follows the Ravens like I follow the Dolphins. I don't think anyone would doubt the ferocity or tenacity of the Ravens defense over the past decade so defensively, if what Rodney said Lewis would do is true, it's a tried and proven formula. With that being said... Run defense? I don't care what stats officially say, ours is second to none. No one is going to effectively run the ball against us. I have a better chance of dating Cytherea than teams will have effectively running the ball against us. Pass defense? This is where I do have concern. We're rushing the QB and doing so quite well. Weedon and Luck felt the heat of our kitchen. The secondary though, we're giving up too many yards. We're not giving up many big plays but giving up that many yards yields the possibility of the big scoring play. This is where that needed ferocity and tenacity needs to be implemented and Ellerbee/Wake need to be the catalysts to make this happen. Wake, command that defensive line- Ellerbee command that secondary. Play hard and play disciplined, play your man and don't give up the yards. We're doing well in not giving up the BIG plays and the points. We just need to step it up now and shut down the receivers. We're playing MUCH better than I anticipated at the beginning of the season. Just need to take it to that next level. I want every quarterback, every running back in the league to look at us with apprehension...nervous, second guessing themselves, skiddish. Most everyone here in the Dolphins forum are offensive minded, and that's fine but I look more at the defensive side of the ball nowadays. If the league's rules are geared more for offense and the quarterback, then every team has that advantage. The team with the better defense who can stop offenses is going to be the team that wins.
He can cover a tight end, with his size, speed, range and natural cover instincts I don't see any logical reason not to put him on the dominant tight ends in the scheme.
The only thing that has been more consistent about this team than not being able to cover TEs is it's inability to secure the OL... However, I suspect, due to Atlanta's injury situation and the fact that Gonzo has probably played his way into shape by now, that he'll have a big day. Doesn't mean we can't beat them, but I think he'll have a big day and we'll wondering why we can't cover TEs once again this coming week... Add in that it's possible that Wilson might be in there in place of Clemons and we're in for a long day, pass coverage-wise...
Well, he's lost a step, but I think that he's also been playing his way into football shape and now with 3 games under his belt should be there. Also, I think that because they are so banged up, they will be looking his way even more than normal, particularly if White isn't 100%. Douglas make a pretty good back up to White even if he isn't 100%... The thing is, if we can stuff their run game early in the game, it may make them lean more on the passing game, opening up our pass rush D to shut them down for good....but that all remains to be seen...
It's not about the linebackers, it's about the coverage the team is playing. It's a side effect of blitz packages. I'd be concerned about linebackers sitting at home and getting burned badly in their assignments by tight ends, but that's not really what is happening. Right now the guy who PFF credits with giving up the most yardage vs. Jordan Cameron is Derrick Shelby(2 of 2 for 34 yards), and vs. Coby Fleener was Olivier Vernon(1 of 1 for 40 yards). The two every down linebackers aren't really being victimized.
Honestly I think we would be better off letting TG have a good game and try and beat us, so we can blitz, double Julio, etc. Because if we try to collapse down and key on TG, Julio is going to have a field day.
Agree. I feel like TEs this year are having big games because we are taking away the wide receivers and they are the only option left. Im ok with that. Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2
It's why I kept Tony G in my fantasy lineup despite having Jordan Cameron on my bench. I'm actually less worried this week than next. If Cameron tore us up, Jimmy Graham is going to go crazy.
As Disgustipate Said Earlier, I Think That The Biggest Gains From Tight Ends So Far Come When Out Lbs Are Blitzing, Get Picked Up, And The Qb Finds The Te Matched Up Against One Of The D Lineman Dropping Back Into The Hot Read Zone. Bad matchup For Our D When The Blitz Doesn't Get There In Time
I'd like to further expound upon that note. Olivier Vernon still ends up playing a lot of nickel package snaps, along with Starks, Odrick, and Wake across the front. At the Indy game, I only noticed Dion Jordan come in when they took out one of the tackles (there may have been snaps where he was in with 2 DTs that I missed). I wonder if they start feeding him some more snaps over Olivier Vernon in those situations because of his athleticism. For the most part, it looks like they've given Olivier Vernon free-reign on how he plays opposite TEs; some snaps he's standing up (still on the LOS) and some snaps he's down in a 3-pt stance. I think Dion Jordan, with his size, speed, and agility could be better suited for that role and let Vernon stay more fresh for the base packages. Playing devil's advocate on myself, I wonder if the staff has not done that as they feel Dion Jordan is not physical enough yet, given his shoulder injury, to hold the edge against the run. After all, Anthony Castanzo gave OV all he could handle; and I'm not sure a still dinged up Dion Jordan would be able to handle being run at directly as well as OV did...which wasn't all that great, at least against the Colts. Just some food for thought there. I also wonder if they'd consider going to more of their 3-3-5 alignment from last year which consisted of Odrick-Starks-Wake across the front with OV, Dansby and Burnett as LBs. I think you could easily make that to where you have OV playing where Odrick was, and stick Dion Jordan in for OV's 2012 spot. Either way, you're still taking Koa Misi off the field, along with at least one DT, to keep them more fresh.
I think you can't just focus on the linebackers when you look at this issue. But they're definitely part of it. Phil Wheeler has most definitely lost coverage on the tight end on a couple of these plays over the two games. Jason Trusnik damn near got hit up for a 20 yard play by Dominique Jones. Personally I thought the replay showed that while the ball moved in Jones' hands as he hit the ground, there was no definitive evidence that it hit the ground. It shouldn't have been overturned. There wasn't enough evidence. They've all sinned. They've allowed 8 of 10 completions to the tight end for 78 yards and a TD. And like I said, that's a coin flip replay from being 9 of 11 for 98 yards and a TD. Considering they're not necessarily the primary coverage on the TEs, that's a lot. The secondary has been a little bit worse. Chris Clemons let up a TD to Coby Fleener on a play called back on an unrelated procedural penalty. Reshad Jones let up a TD to Gary Barnidge that was called back on an unrelated holding penalty. He followed up by letting up a TD to Coby Fleener that was not called back. It's true that the Dolphins dropped Olivier Vernon back into a zone to cover Coby Fleener on his 40 yard catch. But it's also true that Reshad Jones could pulled Fleener down at the 50 yard line and instead let Fleener scamper for an extra 16 yards. So I kind of put those yards back on the safeties. At least when Jordan Cameron caught that 21 yarder against Derrick Shelby who dropped back into the zone, he didn't get any extra yards. And on the 13 yard pass against Shelby, he got maybe 6 extra yards that Shelby could have prevented. I guess I'd have to attribute 98 yards and a TD to the linebackers, 99 yards and 3 TDs to the defensive backs, 60 yards to Kevin Coyle's aggressive scheme, with about 59 yards and 2 TDs credited back to all of the above based on some dumb luck.
