Miami Dolphins = Slow

Chris Clemons, who ran a 4.33 and has been timed at a sub 4.3, is not fast? BS. Nonsense. Ridiculous. Absurd.

Nolan Carroll missed all but 2 games of his senior year and then ran between a 4.37 and a 4.42 (depending on the source) at his Pro Day. That is fast. If you think otherwise, you have a skewed understanding of how fast most NFL players are.

Wallace is one of the 5-6 fastest players in the NFL. There are at least 26-27 teams that have nobody who can keep up with him and of the 5-6 that do, most of those guys play on offense (CJohnson, TGinn, etc.). How many NFL teams do you think have someone in their starting secondary that can keep up with Mike Wallace? I'll give you $100 if you can name 6.

For a linebacker it is. Dansby's and Burnett's 4.58s are fast for a linebacker. Probably in the top 15-20% of linebackers in the NFL.

Again, nobody catches the fastest players because they are, um, the fastest. You have never seen, and will never see, anyone on any of the other 31 teams chase down Wallace, Ginn or Chris Johnson from behind. So I guess all of the defensive players in the NFL are slow.

But overall the Dolphins don't give more cushion and don't give up more underneath stuff than most teams. Only 5 NFL teams have given up a lower completion percentage than the Dolphins. http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-completion-pct

The Dolphins are in the Top 10 in the NFL in sacks.

 

This is a prime example of why the 40 times are a waste when it comes to actual play in the NFL.

They may be fast, but they PLAY SLOW, which is what Mayock & Lombardi are seeing, and it's what a great GM can see too.

 

I disagree with the breadth of the premise. IMO we lack playmakers in the secondary. (I'm using the word "playmaker" as a catch-all that combines speed and instincts together). But I like the playmaking ability of our LBs. IMO Dansby and Burnett are very effective playing both the run and the pass. Misi is more of a two-down guy who is a liability in coverage. Even with our secondary, I think that if we had just one ball-hawking S, the perception of our secondary would be 180 degrees different. I would classify Jones as a guy who plays very fast. With another fast-playing S making plays and erasing the deep zones we'd be considered a fast secondary overall. I even think our CBs would be able to play more aggressively and make a few more plays as well.

 

Absolutely, although I actually think Misi does a surprisingly good job of staying with his man in coverage. There have been some completions on him, but not so much because he couldn't stay with his man, but because he couldn't make a play on the ball (something few LBs are all that good at).

I don't see a lack of speed in the secondary nor do a see particularly slow reaction times. There have been very few times this year that our guys have been beaten by speed. The big pass plays that I recall were generally plays where our guys were in position, but just didn't make the play on the ball, e.g., the Tate catch this past weekend, the TY Hilton TD, etc. There were a few where guys bit on a double move, but not many where our secondary was really outrun. If the problem was speed or reaction time we would not have the league's 6th best completion percentage allowed. Reshad would not be tied for 3rd among safeties in passes defensed. Sean Smith would not be among the leaders amogn CBs in passes defensed. Our defense would not be in the top half of the league in passer rating allowed despite having relatively few interceptions. We have dropped a lot of "should have been" interceptions, but that has absolutely nothing to do with speed or reaction time. Indeed, the fact that we were in position to make those interceptions suggests that those guys had all the speed and reaction time necessary, they just dropped the ball.

 

Lombardi in my opinion is one of the worst analysts out there. He "thinks" like a fan or tries too hard to appeal to fans instead of actually being a "football mind."

Mayock on the other hand is one of my favorites. I think originally we took Smith to help us match up against taller WRs (Moss, Burress, etc.) and Davis was supposed to match up against the faster, better WR. Now that Davis is gone we have no choice but to play Smith like a #1.

 

I think that if we had that eraser FS that the perception about our secondary would change.

 

I agree, but that "eraser FS" is a pretty rare breed. Other than Ed Reed, I'm not sure who else currently in the NFL would really qualify. There aren't many FSs that can pretty reliably be counted on for 3 INTs in a season or even 10-12 PDs.

 

Well THAT was well done. Pants around ankles. Lol.

 

So I can keep my $100?

 

It's about more than INTs. Ss like Earl Thomas, Dashon Goldson, Michael Griffin, DeCoud, Otogwe, Ryan Clark, Giordano, Malcolm Jenkins, Byrd, Weddle can all be erasers and could potentially address our needs.

 

If they aren't getting INTs or at least breaking up passes, they aren't erasing much. Thomas has 4 INTs in the last 2 years combined (and is not available). I like Weddle too, but he's not available either. Griffin has 3 INTs and just 7 passes defensed (just 1 this year) in the last 2 years. Clark has just 2 INTs and 11 passes defensed in the last 2 years. With the exception of his somewhat anomalous 2011 season, Giordano has averaged less than .6 INTs per season and 1.5 passes defensed. Jenkins has 1 INT in the last 2 seasons. I don't consider any fo those guys as "erasers." And most of them play on pass defenses that have been worse than ours. Not that it's their fault necessarily, but they haven't been erasing much.

 

So Nolan Carroll got hurt today?
While everyone is bagging on our secondary we should be thankful for what we have at the moment.
The depth is pretty thin.

 

I wasn't saying we need to get those specific guys. I'm saying that the type of guy we need aren't so rare.

 

And I disagree because I don't think most of the guys you listed qualify as "erasers" if they can't at least put their hands on 1 pass every other game. So I think the list becomes much shorter than what you have there and the few remaining are not and will not be available. That's not to say some of those guys aren't good players, but they don't make an otherwise weak secondary look good. Ed Reed, Ronnie Lott, Kenny Easley, etc. can/could, but those guys are very rare. Guys like Clark, Griffin, Giordano, Jenkins, Byrd, etc. aren't that rare, but they won't make an otherwise weak secondary look good (as evidenced by the fact that Jenkins' team has the 29th ranked pass defense in passer rating allowed, Giordano's is ranked 32th, Griffin's is 31st, etc.).

 

I don't believe we have an otherwise weak secondary. I believe that we're missing a piece that would make it all work together much better. For example, I think you pair one of those types of guys with an aggressive, in the box guy like Jones and they can be erasers in the deep zone. I think a guy like Sean Smith would excel using his length playing under WRs if he was less concerned with topside coverage. Great teams aren't made by finding the best guy at every position. That simply isn't possible anymore. They're made by finding pieces that complement each other and make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

 

Simply untrue, as pointed outearlier in this thread.

The WRs as a group are slower than average. But that was by the coaching staff's choice -- they decided to cut most of the fast guys.

Bush is pretty damn explosively fast. Not sure what you are watching if you think otherwise. There may be 2-3 RBs in the entire NFL who are faster. Maybe. CJohnson, yes. Spiller, maybe. That's about it. On his 65 yd. TD run against the Raiders he got to the end zone despite being chased by Tyvon Branch (who ran a 4.31 at the Combine, one of the top 10 since 2000) and Michael Huff, who ran a 4.34 at the Combine. Branch might have gained a yard on him over the last 50 yards, but no shame in that. Reggie is still a low 4.3s guy.

 

I don't think the secondary is especially weak either. And I'm all for adding the next Ed Reed or Ronnie Lott if we can find him. I don't think that will be easy to find and I don't think some of the guys you listed are even material upgrades over Clemons, who I think has played pretty well overall.

 

I think Clemons lacks instincts. I think that adding a guy like Matt Elam in the draft would be a huge upgrade.