1. Point taken. But they have gotten better, and we're talking about practicing in shorts sometimes. Offense should dominate in shorts. We put up 1 td in shorts yesterday. 2. As our owner pointed out, we've invested alot into the offensive line this offseason, so that shouldn't be an excuse. 3. Let the only center on our roster right now either start (Larsen) or sign a center. What's the hold up?
but not scoring at practice means nothing for real games, wallace also didn't practice the last 2 days
We'll see, and I hope you are right. I expected more offensive excitement in camp this year with the revamped o-line and a new coordinator. So far, it's been pretty uninspiring. That's all.
The expected number of touchdowns at practice will vary according to what they're working on that day. That said, yeah I'd be concerned about having no touchdowns at practice, regardless of what they're working on. Before people start to jump up and come up with all these excuses and means of ostracizing anyone who dares voice concern about the team, just ask yourself if it's something you think Joe Philbin would be concerned about. The answer is, yes. https://twitter.com/OmarKelly/status/494142259256754177
We invested a lot into Brandon Albert, not the offensive line. Shelly Smith, while a good run blocker is nothing to write home about. Especially now that he's kicked inside to center. James is a rookie. The expectations the fans have for him are related to desperation. I'm sure he'll run hot at times because he's talented and cold at times because he's inexperienced. Billy Turner is a division II LT converting to G. Dallas Thomas was a horrible pick. Our line isn't very good. Especially now that Pouncey is gone. 5/5 new offensive lineman was never going to be pretty. The hold up on signing a center is because Miami doesn't want to leave stones unturned with the group they have. If we're still struggling down the road, we'll sign someone, I'm sure. There's no reason to be impatient. The guys available aren't going anywhere.
Id be concerned about a lot of touchdowns too. That's the thing about practice, you can spin the tweets and bull**** anyway you want.
Plus there are tons of times Lamar Miller or any running back might have broken a TD for a long run, but it's whistled dead so they're not wasting time. Chill out everyone.
We were 29th or so in scoring last year, and almost top 3rd in scoring defense. Umm, nah I'd rather have it the other way.
I'm not concerned about the lack of touchdowns for a few reasons. A. New offense takes time to learn/gel B. Our defense is pretty damn good C. It's freaking July 31st.
More so, it's the same reason I'm not worried about the snapping issue or Shelley Smith or any other questionable position. It's wayyyyy to early to worry about right now. There's still 5 weeks left before the season opener. They'll get it figured out.
Almost top-third. Almost...top...third. Why is an almost top-third defense being touted with pride as the reason a practice offense can't get into the end zone?
Au contraire, mon frere. The Dolphins allowed 27 rushing and receiving touchdowns and 34 field goals. The resulting 288 points scored against them ranks #11 in the NFL, which is indeed almost top-third.
In other news, Coach Philbin does bed checks on all the players at night. He does this himself. Not a staffer or a security guard. Coach Philbin. Knocks on their doors and checks in before beddy bye time. This is a new thing this year i believe. Not sure whether to laugh or cry.
According to ESPN, we were 8th. http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/total/sort/totalPoints/position/defense Top 10 son! But either way, I'm just saying that new offense/tough defense and I would expect struggles the first week.
Hey I'm just giving you the facts. It's up to you whether you want to reject facts. What you're looking at pretends that points scored by the other team off interceptions, fumbles, punt returns, kick returns and safeties are attributable to your defense. They're not. Your defense wasn't even on the field for them. The facts are what they are. Here are the points allowed by DEFENSES from 2013. 1 Seattle Seahawks 202 2 Carolina Panthers 218 3 San Francisco 49ers 242 4 Cincinnati Bengals 248 5 New Orleans Saints 260 6 Kansas City Chiefs 270 7 Indianapolis Colts 279 8 New England Patriots 282 9 Arizona Cardinals 283 10 New York Giants 287 11 Miami Dolphins 288 12 Baltimore Ravens 288 13 St. Louis Rams 290 14 San Diego Chargers 291 15 Philadelphia Eagles 311 16 New York Jets 311 17 Tennessee Titans 314 18 Pittsburgh Steelers 320 19 Buffalo Bills 323 20 Detroit Lions 323 21 Houston Texans 332 22 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 335 23 Denver Broncos 335 24 Cleveland Browns 337 25 Green Bay Packers 348 26 Oakland Raiders 365 27 Chicago Bears 368 28 Atlanta Falcons 372 29 Jacksonville Jaguars 372 30 Washington Redskins 375 31 Dallas Cowboys 379 32 Minnesota Vikings 391
Incidentally NFL.com's team stats area does break out defensive and offensive scoring according to rush, reception, punt return, kick return, interception, fumble, blocked kick, extra point, field goal, safety and 2-point conversion. All I did was take the rushing & receiving touchdowns plus the field goals and 2-point conversions and that gives you the number of points teams' actual defenses gave up. Miami's defense ranks 11th on that basis (actually tied for 11th with Baltimore). I wasn't disputing the veracity of jdang's claim that Miami's scoring defense was almost top-third. He's right about that. I was just marveling that a defense that is "almost top-third" is being touted with pride as the reason an offense which people otherwise would like to assume will be pretty good can go entire practices without scoring. It's not the end of the world for the offense, of course. The offense is being installed. The defense is the same. Defenses are usually ahead of offenses earlier. There are a ton of different excuses to take account of and many have some validity to them. But I do think it warrants some amount of concern, and it would seem like Joe Philbin agrees.
11 of our games in 2014 are against teams in the bottom half of that list, while only 3 are against teams higher than us on that list... I know I know...don't mean a lot...just thought it was interesting.
I think that after a decade (ish) of reading camp reports online, seeing indicators of things not being rosy and great emerge, watching the problems manifest themselves through the preseason and then watching the team suck *** more often than not in the regular season we'd all have stopped drinking the kool-aid, but if the Redskins fans can think that they're winning the Superbowl every year then I guess us getting excited about an almost top third defense isn't that bad by comparison.
What gets me about this is how many times we've seen this before where the defense is clearly dominating the offense in camp. As much as everyone wants to always say it's because the defense is good or because defense is always ahead of offense at this time, it seems like really it's just because Miami's defense is actually a lot better than it's offense...which has been a near constant truth for like 15 years.
Not sure why I love this post so much. Maybe because it manages to be fully honest and self-aware while still choosing self-delusion. lol. It's so human and the way we are as fans.
Which is why I would be more concerned with a new offensive line and a new offense, that the offense was dominating. I am not expecting the offense to be good. I am hoping they become average. If the offense was scoring a bunch of touchdowns and doing really well at this point, I would be worried that the defense has fallen.
That doesn't bother you though? The offense has a top 10 pick quarterback that should be fully rounding into his stride as a franchise player, and a receivers unit being paid a whopping $30 million this year which I believe dwarfs all other receiver units in the NFL. They just dished out the 2nd largest contract in all of 2014 free agency as well, to Branden Albert. And yet the best we're hoping for is average. That...sucks. All of that should really point to a top 10 type of offense. Or at least the realistic hope of one.
The thing with me is, everyone is focusing on Tannehill, the O-Line and the receivers, but you know what would really boost the offense? A good running game. You give Tannehill even an average running game this year and he will flourish. We really should be talking about the running game more. It was an embarrassment last season and will be a key this season, me thinks.
It's been like this every year that I can remember since I started following the Dolphins online. I've already prepared for the flush.
