http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/06/3800048/dannell-ellerbe-finally-settling.html All of our players, it's still new schemes were getting comfortable with, a lot of these great teams have been in the schemes for a long time..if we can finish strong, it bodes well for next year.
It seems that they are getting more comfortable on both sides of the ball. Hopefully they can gel at the right time, screw taking 3 of 4 and hoping the ravens lose a couple. Win out and enter the playoffs hot. I'm excited to see them next year fully integrated into our system, but why wait til next year? This year is staring you in the face, take it!
I think most people do not realize this about FA signings, it takes time for the guys to not only learn the system, but time to learn how the guys around him play. Basically, it takes a season in a system to get comfortable in it, FA's are usually not the short cuts people hope they will be when signed. Also think Ellerbe needs to improve his strength at the poa
It's understandable really...The NFL is very complex..I've been watching it for over 25 years and I still don't understand 1/3 of what teams are doing/schemes/etc. I can watch basketball and tell you everything a team does all day long but football is whole lot more complex in my opinion. In my opinion Ellerbe and Wallace were both long term signings. I hope the same ends up being for Brent Grimes too. Thing is Ellerbe was just starting to come into his own in Baltimore and I have full confidence in him being our leader at MLB for the next 5-6 years. Obviously Wallace has taken some time to develope but I think we are about to see a nice run with him these last four games. How sweet would it be to see these guys get on a roll to end the season huh? We have the talent to be a playoff team but we have to beat the Steelers Sunday. Win that game and i'd say the chances of us playing in January are about 90%. Not just Ellerbe and Wallace, we need Miller or Gillislee to step up and become a go to running back as well. We start running the ball on offense and it's going to take a ton of pressure off of Tannehill and our defense. It feels like we are right there despite all the crap thats gone and all the frustration we've endured since week 4. We're like a big rock thats somehow rolled uphill and if we can just get to the peak it's all downhill momentum from there. In my eyes Pittsburgh is that peak despite them not being their usual dominant selves these past two years.
Not to mention going from a 3-4 to a 4-3 which is a lot different. Out of all of our FA signings, I've been disappointed out of him the most. I'm hoping he starts coming into his own down the stretch here. IMO, the thing that's keeping this defense from being elite is our LB play.
If that was the case, then Jeff should have gotten a rookie MLB that has MLB instincts and allowed him to get acclimated. It would have been a decision that made more financial sense, and they likely would have gotten a better player long term.
Can I donate you to the Jets this Christmas??? It's a better fit for your major League 2 Randy Quaid fanhood.
I'm generally a little skeptical when these kind of things come up, it's generally excuse making for bad play I think. This isn't why Ellerbe is getting washed out by linemen.
I know you are going to disagree with this comment, but this is yet another signing that Jeff made that doesn't fit with the scheme the Dolphins run. That's a lot of money given to players this off season that do not fit what the Dolphins want to do. It really shows me his lack of aptitude when it comes to building a roster that fits what his coaches want. It should get him fired.
Your right, taking on blocks is not his game, knew that when I looked at his reps in Baltimore..he's a slasher..can a linebacker who isn't a shed guy get better in this style of defense in making more plays behind the Los once he's comfortable.?
I think Ellerbe has been a lot more successful than Wheeler. Not that either has been highly successful at all this season.
Okay.. KB will probably not reply. I will. Just in case you don't know. KB has been around swapping comments with us since the 1990's early 2000's on Dolphins Message boards. Not all of it was pleasant - Fiedler will probably still drive him over the wall. But.. He is a Dolphins fan from many, many moons past. Even in jest, suggesting him to be less than a Dolphins fan is not appropriate. OH, and he is at least capable of crossing swords with CK and Boomer and not have to give up too many knowledge points - which is not bad for a Med school grad and current intern or resident - I have forgotten which! At least that is my point of view. Ta Ta for now!
Well, both Ellerbe and wheeler have been playing some good football so why complain too much at this point, if they play well again and we beat the steelers there won't be much to complain about.
They aren't playing good football though. They are the biggest reasons we cannot consistently stop the running game.
Yup - I'll second this. Many of us have been battling out on these boards (me under a different handle of course) since the days of the Prinz site and the old Miami Herald boards. I'm sure many of you remember Ray Ray and IndyColt. Keith has been around these boards since they opened in 96ish and has always shown -albeit stubbornly- great knowledge and love for this team. As for the free agents, we all recognize the issues but why don't we let next season open and close before we write these guys off.
In think conventional QB Rating is one of the greatest predictors for winning - but not necessarily QB performance. I think QB rating should be viewed more along the lines of offensive team performance. By way of comparison, in hockey, goals against average is a great indicator of team defensive performance but is often mistaken for the goaltender's actual performance. Back to football. A QB can make a 2 yard swing pass and an RB can take it to the house from 70 yards out. In this case the QB has been given a disproportionate amount of credit for the RBs play. Whereas against the Panthers, Tannehill makes a ridiculous pass near the end of the game that is dropped (difficult catch or not). This results in an incompletion and a slight drop in QB rating. Again QB rating should be viewed as an overall offensive performance statistic.
I've been disappointed by Ellerbe most of the year, but these last two games I believe he's played much better.
Hoping for solid Defensive play all game. The Bucs game was an embarassment for the DLine, who got their asses kicked by the Bucs OLine. Also, they have to do a better job of outside contain. The stej runners broke off some long ones. Wheeler plays fast and uncontrolled, that is why he misses so many tackles. He needs to play with more control. Ellerbe will hopefully continue his play from the stej game and should be more accustomed to the weather playing in Baltimore and PB the past few seasons.
Of the two FA LBs Wheeler is the one who drives me the craziest. As Cuchulainn stated he plays so wild and fast that he puts himself out of position but he just seems to miss so many tackles. Very frustrating. I feel as if the front four against the run have not played as well over the last few games and in a 4-3 front lineman are getting clean looks at our LBs. That can't happen. If the front plays as well as they did last week then I can see Ellerbe really start playing faster and hitting the holes to get some TFL.
In fairness to him, we don't know how these moves are going to turn out, so far I would say that Ellerbe, Wallace, wheeler arrows are slightly on the downside at this point relative to their contracts? My hope is that they all need more time to develop chemistry with each other, and I that's where I think the arrow can point up, look at where they are after only playing with each other for 12 games, we beat the steelers and you can then make a case that all the signings were the right moves. For me it's not time to play GM, it's time me to have some fun and root our asses off.
10 of Wheeler's 16 missed tackles came in two games. Atlanta and Cincy. The last three games he has a total of 2 missed tackles.
Not to sound like a broken record, but I think the swapping out of Burnett and Dansby did hurt us in the run game, at least so far, but Ellerbe has improved the pass defense, and Wheeler is the best blitzer of the 4, so upgraded that aspect of the defense. Both things that have probably contributed to an improved pass defense, and has been stated repeatedly on the forum, the lower the opponent's passer rating and yds per attempt, the better your chances of winning. Last year, Burnett and Dansby both allowed over a 100 passer rating into their coverage. Ellerbe is currently at 59. Wheeler is over 100 in coverage this year, but is rated the 4th best pass rushing 4-3 OLB by PFF right now. It is not an aberration, because last year he was 2nd. That is my glass half full take on things anyway.
