Lets watch some college ball..

Just read it. I guess I have an odd view of the whole "Suck for Luck" thing. As I said in the offseason, I didn't really have any expectations. I wasn't on board with a lot of the player personnel moves that were made (and I think a lot of my concerns are being played out now on the field).

But, the thing that I find odd is people calling out others for wanting to "Suck for Luck" - but, even though Tony Sparano's trying his damndest to win, the Dolphins are still losing. Yeah, Chad Henne's improved, but I don't think it's enough to say he's the long-term answer at QB by any means. It's my personal opinion that you could plug Andrew Luck into the Dolphins offense from day one next season and you'd get the same, if not better production than what you're going to get with Chad Henne in his 5th year. Luck's just that good.

Whether or not Miami's in position or not remains to be seen. But, given how disappointing the team has been, I think it could be one of those years where if something isn't going right, Tony will do his best to fix the problem, only to have another crack in the dam pop up elsewhere. There's only so many fingers you have to plug holes into the thing until it breaks. I'd site the defense being shredded against the Pats, then rebounding against the Texans only to have Chad Henne struggle as example one. From there, Henne had a great game against the Browns only to have the OL breakdown and the secondary not come through. So, I ask, what's next? I doubt the OL gets entirely fixed, and without several players, I just don't see us beating the Chargers. I think we're also overdue for a special teams breakdown, aren't we?

I think it's just one of those years. It started with the flirtation with Harbaugh. It continued with bringing in suspect players - Bush, Colombo, Burnett, etc. in the offseason. We're also in year 2 of Mike Nolan's defense and the first year of a new offense with a coach that, for all intents and purposes, micromanages and has a difficult time seeing the big picture. I'm sure Tony will keep the team working hard. Hell, even Cam Cameron didn't really get blown out the first few games of the 1-15 season, but it eventually all went to pieces. I get that sense with the team this year. No matter what Tony and the coaches do to fix one leak, I just feel like there's 2 or 3 more that are going to spring up.

So, "Sucking for Luck" might just take care of itself, in my opinion. I think this year's roster, while young, and talented, just isn't put together properly. The OL is a mess, there's holes at OLB, FS, depth at CB, special teams, and of course, you never know when Henne's going to have a dud or couple of dud performances right in a row. Too many negative variables as opposed to positive ones.

 

The issue with the Suck For Luck crew is, they're advocating trading players like Marshall, Wake, Bell and Starks so we can be worse. That is what annoys most of us. I don't see the Dolphins performing well either, but I'm not going to pray for losses like others.

 

Gonna be tough for Wisky not to make the title game.

 

You should probably watch this video if you haven't seen it already: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5D70hJrb8o

Trent's weightroom #'s. May need to up the volume a little to hear it. Starts like :45 seconds into it.

 

That's the catch-22 for Miami this year. If they start playing younger guys, IMO, and I think CK and you talked about this in another thread earlier in the week, Miami probably does win a few more games. If you get Daniel Thomas fully healthy and play him more than Reggie. If you get anyone besides Marc Colombo at RT, you probably keep Chad Henne healthier longer (he's taking a ton of hits). If you stop playing Jason Taylor and get Koa Misi more reps, you probably hit the other team's QB more. Chris Clemons getting healthy and putting him in at FS probably gets your secondary playing better (I think Reshad Jones is a better replacement for Yeremiah Bell at SS personally). But, as you say, Tony Sparano can't do that, because he knows his future in Miami might end Sunday night if he loses to the Chargers.

 

I'll say it again, Courtney Upshaw is having a phenomenal game. And he's rushing against the left tackle - something that'd be really helpful opposite Cam Wake. Just saying.

 

They're also missing Mosely at LB tonight. He's pretty good. Nico Johnson is another guy worth taking a look at, as is Mark Barron (I'd say he's a 2nd round pick). The Fluker kid at RT is also pretty good.

 

Tannehill was a QB in high school. Not been playing for 1 year.

No idea how anyone couldn't be impressed with RG3. He's going to be a top ten pick if he comes out.

 

Thank you! That's my thinking about him as well.

 

I haven't anyone say anything about Russell Wilson from Wisconson. Is he going to be draft eligible? He seems to quietly be pulling a Cam Newton in going to a major school and turning the offense into a powerhouse. Is this a kid we may be looking at in first round terms, or is the jury still way out on him?

 

I thought he was gonna go play baseball.

 

I think he's a terrific college QB like a Tommie Frazier, Charlie Ward type. And for the first 5 weeks of the season in 2010 I said numerous times that he was the nations best QB. But he's only 5'11 at best. I just don't see it.

 

Ah didn't know he was that small - really haven't watched much college ball this year, just kept hearing his name. Him preferring Baseball as an after college career would make sense.

 

I think, with time, there's still a lot to like about Ryan Tannehill.

The best QBs in this Draft class though are Andrew Luck, Brandon Weeden, Matt Barkley and Landry Jones...in that order. Barkley and Jones flip ahead of Weeden just because of the age/injury history stuff.

Ryan Tannehill, Ryan Lindley, Robert Griffin III and possibly Nick Foles all belong in a second tier talent group together for now, and I think I might rate it in that order.

 

will be interesting to watch this unfold....and where each ultimately ends up come draft day.

 

How many get in the 1st round CK? I could see 5, depending on what happens with Weeden. I think Tannehill is eventually going to be a late 1st rounder to a team that can give him time

 

I don't know the answer to that. I see a lot of QB turnover happening next year, sort of a weird year where guys that are fed up with what they have kind of swap them out a little bit. That could keep a lot in the 1st round, but also look how many went 1st or 2nd round last year. That's a huge influx, a lot of seats filled in the musical chairs.

If not for Weeden's age I would be comfortable saying right now there are 4 solid 1st round prospects with 3 more that could get in there.

 

Does Jones' grade depend heavily on what kind of system he goes to?

 

I would say so, but I'm speaking of a small sample size of TV broadcasts.

 

I wouldn't say 'heavily', no. Obviously he's going to be a little more attractive if you plan on implementing more spread principles.

 

Any LBs you like in this draft? Someone in the mold of Zach Thomas, Pat Angerer, a young London Fletcher?

 

Aside from Tank Carder?

Incidentally I wasn't a big Angerer fan and I'm still not sure that I have changed my mind on him, especially watching him get dragged consistently by LeGarrette Blount for 10 yards after contact on straight up power.

I did like James Laurinaitis though and if you've been watching him in St. Louis, he's a pretty fantastic player.

 

I was watching a bit more of Audie Cole the other weekend and I have to say...there are things that guy can do at his size that just blow my mind. He's a man amongst boys. Definitely an NFL player...I just haven't figured out yet if he's an elite NFL player.

I have always liked Chris Galippo, too.

And I think the story is out on Vontaze Burfict but suffice it to say I've been a big fan for a while...I think since 2009.

Huh, I just looked at NFL Draft Scout's rankings and they've got Tank Carder way down. He can play for me any time. I wouldn't go blaming him for the fact that TCU's defensive secondary is flat awful.

 

If we're going to talk about juniors other than Vontaze Burfict then there are some very interesting, high rated guys that could come out...

Luke Kuechly is the real deal. I do like Te'o Manti a lot. Same with Dont'a Hightower and Shayne Skov.

The question is I guess...does that mean you want us to re-vamp the LBers unit after this year? If we're switching to a 4-3 then I'd be tempted to put Burnett at Will and Dansby at Sam...with someone in the Mike spot. If you were to grab a Luke Kuechly or Vontaze Burfict, that could certainly work. I think Burfict would insert some toughness into the defense.

 

Here's Burfict in action.

[video=youtube;LwKrdgwL7g0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwKrdgwL7g0[/video]

Here are some time stamps to watch:

0:05 - First play shows you what kind of player he is physically. He doesn't even do anything of note on the play but you see the size, you see his explosive burst when he clicks (he doesn't just flow at the same speed the whole time), and you see his power in that he's attacking a pile of bodies, and he moved it backward. He wasn't a bug splattering on a car windshield. He didn't just add himself to the pile. He dominated the pile. That's raw power.

0:17 - Here you see kind of his instincts to freelance at times because I would argue he chased this ball pretty far out of position, but it's OK if you've got a lock on the ball. But he explodes to the ball too fast and athletically to adequately block, and he makes the play. It looks like another guy made the play after him but he was the one that tripped the back up and he came from pretty far away and fought through a block to do it.

0:42 - If he needs to collide heavily with a lead blocker right in the hole to clog it up, he's willing and able to do that, and he was able to roll up out of it and grab onto the runner's legs.

0:47 - You look at how fast he recognized the screen and keyed on the runner. He had to fight thru a block and conveniently a DL had sniffed out the screen as well and was offering chase, but even if that DL wasn't there, Vontaze speed is such where I'd swear to you that back wasn't going to be able to turn the corner. To me that's a win for Vontaze. He also shows good body control at high speeds here as he reacts to the fumble. That will help him recover fumbles in the pros.

1:07 - There's just a level of explosive, physical aggression that he shows here that I love. He sees the runner in the hole and he explodes to go meet him, and when they meet, as a wrestler, he dominates.

1:16 - He can be a pretty dumb mother f--ker at times. He needs to be coached and to mature out of that. Here he is off sides on a FG attempt.

2:13 - Another good instance of him exploding into the runner. He moves like a linebacker but he moves like an explosive one.

2:30 - This is just something you can't coach. Pure play-making ability. He's blitzing and then finds he's in the passing lane, and look how quickly he reacts to the ball and clutches it out of the air. Yeah, I know, it went right to him, you could argue that. But how many guys in that situation would have the ball go right over their head before they could react to it, or have it bonk them right on the helmet? Look at the situation. He's got to physically hit the guard as he tries to pass rush him, and puts his head down, losing the quarterback in the process. But he raises his head back up and leaps up for the ball eerily like he knew it was going to be there. There's something downright supernatural about this play. Really take a look at it. Watch him put his head down and sort of trip as he tries to shed the guard. At the same time he raises his head to re-acquire the QB and the ball, he's raising his hands as if he knew that ball was coming to him. It's just freaky. When you look at the replay, you see that even though his head is down and he's stumbling after making contact with the guard, he's still got his eyes on Barkley the whole time. That's how he knew to get his head and hands up. But it doesn't make the play any less freakish. And then of course he finishes the play, by snatching the ball out of the air.

2:52 - He gets a reputation for being a dirty player or an out of control mad man, etc...but that's just how he plays. I know he got in a fight recently and I haven't investigated that much, but he's actually a quiet, nice guy. Here he is helping Matt Barkley up after Barkley chased way down the field on the interception trying to tackle Burfict.

3:00 - Borderline illegal hit here. But, it shows his attitude. 10 seconds earlier on the video he's helping Matt Barkley up and hugging him. Here he's basically spearing a guy that is already going to the ground, and knocking the piss out of him.

3:06 - Gotta love that kind of speed and aggressiveness to the ball when he sees it.

3:33 - What you look for here in this situation is once he reads the pass, how quickly can he back pedal and how far into the defensive backfield can he get into his zone, defending the pass. This was pretty good depth, he's 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. He read his keys at about 5 yards so he dropped about 9 to 10 yards pretty fluidly and helped make the play.

3:42 - This was freelancing, in the bad way. I think he attacked the wrong shoulder of the Center. I can't be sure of it, but that would be my assessment.

3:53 - On the other hand, I thought this was disciplined and aggressive even though I think other people would just see a misfire. He followed the fullback and attacked the right hole, reading the counter play, forcing the back to go away from where he was supposed to go with the ball. Not all backs are able to change up in the backfield like that, especially the bigger backs you more commonly see in the NFL, so even though he misses this tackle opportunity, I would say that what he showed here translates well in the pros. It was a gain because other guys on the team lost contain, IMO.

4:11 - This is just fantastic. This is 2-point conversion. If USC gets this, they're up by 3 and Arizona State would only tie with a Field Goal. Don't let the guy in the end zone, that's your task. He takes on a blocker, and then completly mows down the 230 lbs Marc Tyler as if he were a scat back. I mean, you want to talk about the longest yard, this is a guy that makes the longest yard longer.

4:42 - Again, he's reading the fullback, and he sees the counter play developing, and so he seals off the counter. To some this might look like freelancing or guessing wrong or whatever, I see a guy playing within his system...probably even a little more so than he did in previous seasons.

5:08 - Again, is this his fault? Did he 'guess' wrong? No, I would say he attacked the right gap, taking the Right Guard's inside shoulder. Back side cointainment fell to #18 here, who totally blew it.

5:15 - At first you're looking at this play and you're not sure what the hell he's doing with that OL that meets him out on the screen. But when you look closely, that OL leg-whipped him and should have gotten a personal foul for tripping. But again look at how he reacts to the ball on the ground. It's an incomplete pass, but does he care? He's making sure he gets the thing and he fell on it instead of risking not recovering it. Again I think that will avail him in recovering fumbles in the pros.

 

I really like Skov. I'm limited with tape watching this year admittedly, but he's impressed me.

As for Angerer, I agree with you on him. I think he does well dropping down the pipe in pass coverage, but sometimes is lacking in run support. He's gotten better at it but not good enough yet IMO.

 

Thanks I wasn't aware of too many of the LBs other than Burfict and Kuechy. You know I think that depends what kind of 4-3 you want to work with. There are a couple of intriguing defenses out there right now specifically Tennessee and Cinncinnati which have done away with the old model of what a SLB should look like. I'm tempted to do something like this, I've illustrated it with our current personnel for now:

RE- Five technique Kendall Langford two-gap
RDT- one technique Jared Odrick, one-gap
LDT- one technique Randy Starks, one-gap
LDE- nine technique Cameron Wake, spill over
SLB- Koa Misi 4-3 over positioning

It's a bizarre front, but I'm convinced that the protection it allows a MLB and WLB would be exceptional. Not only that but it lines up your best pass rushers at positions that really force the offense into bad positioning. Cam Wake fires of the ball with reckless abandon without compromising run support. Koa Misi is kept inside the action where I would argue he's best at stacking-and-shedding and then giving Melvin Mitchell or whoever is at MLB almost a forced run play (same way Greenwood did it except Misi is much bigger).

In pass rush terms it could at least be as good as what Miami does right now if not much better. The ineffective Soliai is off the field, Wake is placed in great position to overwhelm with a speed rush and his low to the ground ability to change direction in space. The two interior pass rushers will make a C's job absolute hell trying to stop them especially Odrick and Starks who could excel in this regard.

 

Why two 1 techniques? Rather have two 3 techniques than two 1's. Its not that difficult for the MIKE to 2 gap.

 

I'm not sure on that one. I think if you have the two DTs one technique that pretty much folds the interior line immediately depending on the players. A break through without adequate support from a C would pretty much make Wake's job that much easier without a QB able to step up. You're almost forced to use all three linemen to stop the interior defensive tackles, making a blitz from Koa Misi on the inside shoulder of the RT (who will not ignore Cameron Wake), that much easier whether it be delayed or off the ball.

 

Wow, that's old school.

 

The Mike two-gapping or the double one-techniques?