http://thefinsiders.com/blog/2012/wilcots-thinks-dolphins-got-a-steal-in-coyle It's good to hear praise for Coyle from a guy like Solomon who really knows his stuff.
Drawing conclusions based on what the Bengals did I'm not sure is going to point you in the right directions. Coyle didn't have a lot of responsibility for the front-7.
Making the offense see different packages come at them will help keep them uncomfortable calling audibles and possibley confuse them at times. But burn us just the same if our D isn't on the same page. As far as Coyle himself hopefully he can keep the D up to last years standards at minimum and progress forward from there. It was embbarassing as hell how out of shape they started last year.
I really don't see the lack of shape by our defense as some huge indictment on them. I didn't see it as laziness. My guess is that guys like Dansby have been preparing a certain way for years. They get to or maintain a certain level of shape during the off-season and it has worked for them. Last year with the altered schedule, it didn't work. I think it happened to many (if not all) teams. The teams that had great offenses, however, were able to compensate. IIRC early on last year the offenses seemed to be rolling. Miami was in the process of installing a new offense so as it dealt with it's own issues it couldn't compensate. That cast the spotlight on Miami's defensive struggles and it made fans think that they were the only defense that came in out of shape.
Most passing yards in a week record was smashed opening. After 4 weeks, there were about 8 quarterbacks who were on pace to break Dan Marino's record, with Brees, Brady and Newton on track for over 7,000 yards.
While our players came in out of "football shape", I'll bet you Bellichick's players came into camp in "football shape" or close to it. So much of this has to do with the lockout, but there WERE teams that their players compensated by whatever means possible to come into TC in "football shape", but you hav to be inspired do work so hard at that, and Sparano couldn't inspire a rock spider IMHO.
This is no excuse but I really believe several players throughout the NFL really believed there would be no football or a shortened schedule due to the lock out and they trained accordingly. Sort of like when we were in school and the the weather man predicts a massive snow storm so we just assumed school would be canceled and didn't do our homework.
I hopeful for Coyle's overall effect on the defense. Our best players are very versitile, and using them in different ways is smart. Im also very optomistic about his effect on the DBs in particular. He has a knack for taking guys cast off from other teams and getting the most out of them, as well as getting them to create turnovers, which has been a struggle for the Fins since Saban left.
I'm sure some did that, but I also think that most just did what they have always done and that as a result the shortened camp did let them get to the level of shape they were usually in. And IMO that was the same even for BB's players. Some people want to blame Sparano and sanctify BB, but I find that silly since they weren't allowed to have any contact with the players. Apparently, some believe that BB was motivating his players on sub-conscious level. LOL
