I'm more concerned with the running game as a whole than I am with the job that any one player is doing. I assume Sherman was "hiding" the pistol and read option until he felt it was necessary to use it. I hope he'll be more inclined to use it going forward. A counter or 3 or 5 would be nice, teams are fast flowing to corral the zone runs, time to go to something else IMO.
For starters, Lamar Miller has received only one carry in the tight red area this year and received none a year ago. So it's not "touches". It's "touch". It's 4-to-1 right now in 2013. Marcus Thigpen has 3 snaps in 4 games. That's not 3 carries, that's 3 snaps. Daniel Thomas has 25 carries this season and 112 snaps to Lamar Miller's 43 carries and 128 snaps. And I very much doubt he's in the "middle of the pack" amongst #2 runners. Depends on who you call the #2 in a lot of places but based on what I'm seeing I have him with the 27th best YPC average among the following group of #2 runners: Jeff Demps Chris Ogbonnaya Ben Tate Andre Ellington James Starks Lance Dunbar Fred Jackson Toby Gerhart Danny Woodhead Giovani Bernard Ahmad Bradshaw LeGarrette Blount Darren Sproles Felix Jones Rashad Jennings Robert Turbin Kendall Hunter Knile Davis Da'Rel Scott Jacquizz Rodgers Joique Bell Roy Helu Montee Ball Jackie Battle Isaiah Pead Mike Tolbert Daniel Thomas Chris Ivory Bryce Brown Bernard Pierce Jordan Todman Michael Bush Truth is not venom. "Venom" is how you position an argument you don't agree with. I could just as easily ask you why you hate facts and evidence so much.
Wouldn't the ground game in general be better if you're giving 60 carries (15 a game is reasonable, no?) to the guy averaging 4.6 yards per carry as opposed to 46 to that guy and 25 to the guy averaging 2.8 yards per carry? Wouldn't your run game go from averaging 3.9 yards per carry (I think we all agree that's not enough) to a much more respectable 4.4 yards per carry?
1 touch? Miller had a 5 yd TD vs Nawlins and a 10 yarder vs Indy, that's two touches right there. He also had a TD on his hands vs ATL and dropped it.
I agree with you, I think Miller should get more touches. I think Sherman doesn't feature the run enough, period. I also think the 4.6 is a little misleading bc Miller has a 49 yd run and is barely over 3.2 on the rest of his carries. I'd like to see us as a run first offense that grinds yards on the ground with Wallace available to put the hammer down if the safeties get too aggressive. Instead we're getting pass happy week in and week out. I hope that changes.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/14886/lamar-miller This says 1 carry from 10 to Goal but 5 carries from 19 to Goal. They classify that Indy TD as not being inside the 10 yard line. It's a very fine point to split.
As far as protection, it looks like a wash to me. I don't think there's any question but that Lamar Miller is a better runner than Daniel Thomas. It doesn't look close. In fact, it didn't look close last year, either. If I'm handing the ball off, I'd rather it be Miller getting the ball, no matter what down or distance. Could Philbin be covering for Thomas because Thomas is maybe a better receiver, and we were going pass happy in the second half? If there were options to pass protect, but then slip out of the backfield if things look good, maybe Thomas is the more trustworthy back. It surprised me to see that Lamar Miller has 5 receptions on the year, because for the life of me, I'm having trouble remembering any of them. Thomas only has four, so we're not using our backs very much. If Lamar Miller was a more natural receiver, I think he could be pretty dynamic in the passing game. However, I can remember him dropping a swing out pass in preseason which would have been a first down. Then, I think he dropped one in either the Cleveland or Indy game. Additionally, there was the wheel route that he whiffed on - but I kind of saw that coming when it was Lamar. Last game, I seem to recall a screen pass that was a bit chaotic and Tannehill floated it out there. It wasn't a good pass under the harassment, but Miller was the target, and he didn't adjust to it at all. It fell incomplete untouched. We had a guy on my high school team (beeeellion and beeeellion of years ago) that was lightning quick but couldn't catch anything for the life of him. Our coaches were afraid to run toss sweeps with him, because you figured he'd drop the pitch. Is Miller the pro version of that? I haven't seen enough of Miller in college or so far in the pros to know if he has potential as a receiver, but from the little I've seen this year, he doesn't seem very good at any part of the passing game. It's something he should really work on, because I think he's really good in space. Then, there always seems to be a dichotomy between what coaches say and what coaches actually do. Miller does seem to be getting the lion share of the carries - although they both play a lot. Philbin may just be deflecting here - not throwing a guy under the bus and getting to the next question.
It's on the ten not within the 10, which is just a classification distinction. Either way, two touches in first and goal situations and scores both times.
Bolded guys I'd rather have than Daniel Thomas I don't know some of the others very well, or I'd probably bold them too. Truth be told, Jeff Ireland is ahead of DT on my running back depth chart. At least I know he's elusive.
Yeah. He said Miller's numbers are better because of opportunities. 19 inner red zone carries for Daniel Thomas. 2 inner red zone carries for Lamar Miller.
Our running game in general bums me out. Personally I think Thomas gets the ball on a lot of unwinnable plays. the 3rd and inch run against the saints is the perfect example of what seems to happen to Thomas when he gets the call. There's nothing he could have done due to the poor blocking but he'll be the goat for the play anyway. We do give Thomas more carries in short yardage situations, which will hurt is YPC even more. Thomas is also the better receiver at this point. Miller has shown inconsistency there. Huge drop against ATL and i know he dropped a big third down play in preseason as well. (i know, small sample, but that's kind of all we have) i want to see a lot more of Miller. I want to see a 20+ carry game out of him to see what we really have but i don't think that Philbin/Sherman plan on running that much in a single game at all
Looking at this list Thomas is definitely a bottom 5 backup RB, basically everyone here is a superior runner outside of maybe Todman, Pead, Battle, and Demps.
“Sometimes there’s better opportunities that arise for backs at different times,” Philbin said. “I believe we gave Lamar (in the Saints game) 11 carries. I believe Daniel had four, if I’m not mistaken. (Lamar) had almost three times as many touches on the ball. There was more opportunity to have more production" Yep. And guess what???....Miller made the most of those 'opportunities!. So I don't get Philbins point. Thomas wouldn't have got the yds Miller made. I'm not counting Thomas 3rd and an inch. That was on the playcalling. Philbin is just doing a protective stance for Thomas. Where is Gilislee? Not heard anyone mention our Rookie RB. Is he that far off the radar right now? Btw..11 carries was a joke for a RB that averaging over 5yds a pop. Terrible.
It is very unlikely we will see a 20+ carry a game runner while Joe Philbin is around. He's simply not that kind of coach. While at Green Bay as their OC, here are his RB's Snaps/Rushes splits: 2011: James Starks 451 snaps, 135 rushes Ryan Grant 354 snaps, 134 rushes (Note that FB John Kuhn played 407 total snaps with 30 rush attempts) 2010: Brandon Jackson 575 snaps, 192 rushes John Kuhn 327 snaps, 85 rushes 2009: Ryan Grant 643 snaps, 291 rushes Brandon Jackson 257 snaps, 37 rushes
Daniel's produced a whole lot more, and a whole lot better than some of the guys you'd seem to prefer over him. But I Know, the grass is always greener on the other side ! I can't honestly believe you'd choose the likes of Darell Scott, Robert turbin, Lance Dunbar, Chris ogbannaya, Roy Helu, Andre Ellington like you say.
PFF has DT at 29th. Lamar Miller is dead last at 57. What are the coaches/PFF seeing that we aren't?? PFF has DT 15th (at 25% level) of elusive backs. Lamar Miller dead last at 43. Breakaway percentage Miller is 10th, DT 33rd. Pass Block Efficiency Miller is 38th, DT 40th.
My bad meant to add Darell Scott too, but yes, the rest of the names you mentioned are better than Thomas. Helu and Turbin are far better.
Love this sentiment, I actually think Daniel Thomas would excel more if he got passes in open space. I just don't think he's got great vision at the LOS, having been part of that outside option scheme at KSU. But man, he can cut. Give him some room to move and he could be effective, though there have been times where I think he cuts too much.
Excellent observation imo..have discussed it before here...he cuts so aggressively one day I worry that it's actually going to explode...lol
To paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart in the Jacobellis case, I can't define everything that makes up a good running back, but I know one when I see one, and Thomas isn't one.
I don't think our RBs are that good at this stuff. Now if we had a guy like Darren Sproles, Gio Bernard, or Reggie Bush, then....oh wait... I don't know about you guys, but Reggie Bush going off in Detroit is not really a surprise to me. Him taking over games with them is a small indictment of our staff, imo, they could not maximize this guy's skillset, didn't know how to feature his versatility. Kind of a bummer.
No. They have megatron. Can't crowd the box with the best wr in the game on the opposing offense. And reggie already got hurt this season. I was happy for Reggie signing there. It's a perfect fit for him with megatron. Stopping Reggie is easy, but megatron makes it so you can't.
Wow. I think that's quite a compliment to Daniel Thomas because I would MUCH rather have Bryce Brown, Chris Ivory, Bernard Pierce, Michael Bush, Joique Bell, Roy Helu, Kendall Hunter, Robert Turbin, Toby Gerhart, Lance Dunbar and Andre Ellington rather than Daniel Thomas. And I'd certainly give heavy thought to Chris Ogbannaya. And I think a lot of NFL GMs would feel the same way on those guys.
This is much closer to my opinion on the subject. I would have to pause and do plenty of research before ditching Daniel Thomas in order to take Jeff Demps, Rashad Jennings, Da'Rel Scott, Jackie Battle, Isaiah Pead or Jordan Todman...but ultimately I could imagine taking even half of those guys over Thomas after some research.
I don't really agree with that. And I don't think those numbers accurately reflect whats going on. If I get some time this weekend I'll post some video.
That there is little difference between the two in pass protection. Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4
They have megatron and that's it. Stopping Reggie is easy but with an abysmal WR corps and no #1 WR he still ran for 1,000 yards here and had a top 10 success rate on runs last year.
Their stubbornness with players is something I have despised with this coaching staff. They did the same thing with Legadu and continue doing it with Jerry and Thomas. These players have no business in Dolphins jerseys let alone playing.
wasn't this similar to the qb debate a few years back between Huard and Fiedler . Fiedler was mobile and could run but Huard had a stronger arm .each had their own merits but they both had their weakness . or it may be more like chosing between JOHN AVERY and Cecil Collins .
I guess the coaches live in that alternate universe you were talking about the other day . Seriously though, they're the ones at practice, in the film room, in the weight room, etc. I'd say the chances that the fans have a better idea of how to run the team than the coaches are pretty slim.
I think 60 carries in 4 games a bad number no matter who they're going to. I think the ground game would be better if we did a lot of things. More versatility and persistence would be first on the list. We haven't made running the ball a focus so far, and teams know how to shut down our inside/outside zone plays, they haven't worked well vs anybody all year. Sherm got the run game going vs Nawlins by using read option, pistol, and mixing things up. The big run vs Atlanta came on a fake reverse/pass, and that's the only reason Miller isn't averaging 3.2 yards per carry for the season. Obviously the coaches feel like splitting the carries is a good idea and that Miller-Thomas is the best combo. I agree and IMO it's the obvious choice given their skill sets. When I do disagree with what the coaching staff is doing my first inclination is to go back and examine how I came to my conclusions. I try to figure what the coaches are seeing that I'm not as opposed to assuming the coaches are wrong don't know what they're doing.
