Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/25/v-print/1646359/allen-sees-no-issues-at-free-safety.html
the issue is youth and inexperience.....I dont doubt that they cant do the job....they are just young guns...
So I am gathering Clemons is getting a shot at the starting FS position? If that happens, I wonder (even though FS's are suppose to make calls) if Bell will ultimately be the one making the calls?
he's wrong there are or will be issues to resolve. free safety is our Achilles Heel. it is the only thing, if not properly addressed, that will limit our success this year.
Whoever the FS is, he's going to have a much easier job than Gibril Wilson had last year. 1. We had Porter, who doesnt play the run @ WOLB, Ayodele, who's slow as mollasses at WILB, and Sean Smith @ WCB. Basically, when if Porter gives up the edge (quite often) Akin is too slow to get to perimeter and clean up, Sean is usually too busy in coverage, and a very poor tackler even when he isnt. That puts alot of stress on your FS to get involved in run support. Wilson is a striker, but he's not a great open field tackler, so unless he can make the tackle in traffic, its trouble b/c he can be had once you get him in space. 2. Crowder and Ayodele sucked in coverage. Any TE running a simple seam route would be wide open within 2 seconds vs. either ILB we had. In Quarters/Cover 2 Man (our primary scheme) that puts tremendous pressure on the FS b/c he knows he has to guard the deep middle, even though he's also responsible for helping the corners on deep routes. It happened a million times last year, the TE were killing our LBs, forcing our safeties to come down and double. And even when they werent doubling, opposing QBs could get a one one one against Vontae or Sean by simply staring down the TE at the start of his progression. On all the deep balls thrown @ Sean & Vontae last year, was there EVER any safety help? Meh. I think Clemons got deep to help VD on a bomb to Moss @ NE, he didnt even come close to makin a play, but at least he was there. Wilson was NEVER there before the ball, and Im talkin 20+ deep balls, NEVER. For a Cover4/2Man team, that is atrocious. You'd swear we were single high or Cover 0 last year. But... It should all be better this year. Dansby is here, and he's the best cover ILB in the league. No more TEs running down the seam or accross the field wide open. Dansby erases those routes with relative ease. Whether its Dansby, Crowder, or Dobbins at WILB, all of them have better speed to the edge than Akin. I expect a good year from Crowder, he played well when he was looking for a new deal, and he should play well again now that he's lookin over his shoulder at Dobbins. And we cant possibly have anyone @ WOLB who sets a worse edge than Porter. All of that will help the FS to be able to play his assignments instead of everone else's. He can sit deep middle and help the corners. That'll make the corners more aggressive, especially "No Picks" Smith. The whole defense will benefit from having guys who can play thier assignments without being baby sat by the FS. Flexibility will be at an all time high b/c Dansby can reach the deep middle, that means we can play cover 2 or send both safeties, both corners, or a mix of the two on the blitz. Sean isnt the typical, physical Cov2 CB, but try fitting a ball over a 6-3 CB before a striker like Jones or Clemons can get there to clean up. Tough throw, painful catch. Vontae is like a safety at CB, I'd love to see him decleating some poor TE/RB who dares catch a ball in the flat. Put Culver behind him @ S, Bell in the curl/dig zone as nickel LB, and you can make things very difficult for the offense. Of course we can still do all of the thngs we did last year in coverage, and we can do them even better now. But its nice to know that Nolan will be able to call more than 3 defenses. Cant wait to see what he comes up with.
There was this little snippet from Barry Jackson so as it appears Clemons will or has been making the secondary calls. • The Dolphins like the speed of free safety Chris Clemons -- who is working with the first team -- but want to see improvement in making the right reads and communicating them quickly. ``They want me to be more vocal'' making calls ``and I am now,'' Clemons said. Coach Tony Sparano said Clemons has ``got a little proving to do back there to his teammates'' so they trust what he calls out before the snap.
Couldnt disagree more. One more time, the main issue w/ our pass coverage was the LBs, not the secondary. Crowder, Ayodele, Porter and Taylor all suck in coverage. That severely limits the number of coverages you can call, and it creates matchup problems no matter what you call. Call cover 2 and Crowder or Ayodele have the deep middle. Um, no. Cover 3, Porter and Taylor have the flats. Um, no. Cover 4, Porter or Taylor has one flat, Crowder or Ayodele has the other. Um, no. C2 Man coverage, Crowder or Taylor has the TE, Ayodele or Porter has the RB. Um, no. Blitz? Ayodele is too slow, Crowder too dumb, we sent Nate Jones on the blitz I dunno how many times, every team knew it was coming and they were prepared for it. Say what you want about Misi, but he can cover a flat, I can see that on film. Wake concerns me in coverage, but he'll be rushing the passer 80-85% of the time. Moses does a decent job reaching the flat. Dansby is the BEST ILB in the league in pass coverage, I have no idea what youre talking about when you say "limited". Crowder wont be on the field in passing situations, it'll either be Bell or Edds. Allen, Smith and Davis are a top 5 CB trio. Our pass defense will be fine. Im more concerned about the run. Right now, Moses and Anderson are the OLBs, Moses is a good edge setter, he's not as good as Roth, but he's not as bad as Taylor either. Anderson is at least as good as Porter vs. the run. No worries w/ Crowder/Dobbins and Dansby inside. Problem is, we have no proven RDE now that Starks has moved inside. Merling is too weat at the point, and Odrick, I'll believe it when I see it. Same goes for Starks on the nose. Langford is stout, no worries there. McDaniel and Solia provide good depth, whoever loses the Odrick/Merling battle will be the backup RDE, giving us a better than average second unit so I like the depth. Still, until I see them on the field, Im going to have worries, especially vs. the power run teams, Minneasota, NYJ, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. Whoever we play, we're going to be on the small side up front. I hope Nolan has alot of stunts, twists, slants etc up his sleeve b/c I dunno if we'll hold up playing a traditional 2 gap 3-4. Green Bay and Minneasota (w/ Favre) are the only elite passing teams on the schedule this year. No Houston, Indy, Nawlins or San Diego. NE w/o Welker is a totally different team. NYJ, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, Tennesse, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Buffalo are average to above average passing teams, I'lll take my chances. But keep talking 24th yda yada yada if you like, we're still gonna kill you guys. 200 yds rushing here we come .
i'm with GMJ ... our bane has been LB play -- front 7 sets the table, and it has been not very good the last couple years. I have full confidence that our LB play across the board will be SIGNIFICANTLY better than last year. no matter who wins the Crowder / Dobbins competition ... our ILBs are much improved with Dansby. our OLB can't go anywhere but up ... with Wake continuing as a pass rush specialist. Anderson will be no worse than JP ... so all we need right now is someone to provide a 'Roth-like' SOLB on 1 & 2 downs, and we are much improved -- which doesn't take into account the improvements / contributions the rookies will make by the end of SEP. i am not as worried about our DL as most ... the only question we have right now is NT ... and although Starks will get time there -- i expect him to get reps at DE as well. I am very much expecting a good year out of Odrick ... certainly better than Langford/Merling during their rookie seasons ... at DE we are pretty good. We'll have to wait and see what happens with Soliai and even Ivey .... the rotation along the DL will be interesting
Dansby 7th rated 3-4 ILB in coverage according to pff. Ayodele.....54th. Upgrade....damn straight. Dolphins D-line aren't half bad themselves either.
Sorry, but we'd rather take PFF's word over yours. You're telling me you remembered EVERY snap of Dansby's career? Is that even possible? Were you focusing on him the entire time during a game? I really doubt you were. Point is, he is an upgrade. A HUGE upgrade over Ayodele. He can cover the TE. He can rush the passer, and is a good run stuffer. Then you add in Misi and Edds who are very good in coverage, and all of a sudden we have a above average pass coverage from our linebacking corps.
We added a bunch of talent @ LB. What they're made of remains to be seen. Our front office did their job in that regard. As someone else mentioned, AJ, Misi and McCoy can cover as well. And let's not count out Dobbins as an experienced NFL ILB.
Again, you are incorrect. Edds is known for his pass coverage. He was arguably the best coming out the draft. Misi, was also know for his pass coverage. He isn't just a pass rusher. He is a 3 down linebacker that can cover the pass, rush the quaterback, and stop the run.
Edds can cover very well. Watch his game in isolation at Iowa. There's a reason why he was often out covering the #2 or #3. I'm not going to sit here and make any projections and expectations for him in his rookie year but I do think that if you've truly sat down and watched Edds play, you can see his cover skills. Watch him against Northwestern. There's more games out there but against Northwestern, he was in coverage just about every snap. I'll give you this, he's not very good going downhill. He's actually pretty bad in my opinion but its probably the reason he's going to be a nickel linebacker. Regarding Misi, he is not mostly a pass rusher. If you watched his games at Utah, there's no way you can tell me he's mostly a pass rusher when he's spent time as the inside linebacker in a 3-4 defense and he's even spent time as the outside linebacker in the true defense. He's spent time in coverage, covering the pipe/seam whilst running with tight ends, covering the flats against tailbacks and sitting in zone. He probably won't rack up sacks, I honestly don't expect him to. I expect him to be spending time in pass coverage pretty often, actually. All this above doesn't make me right or anything, simply stating what I've seen from the various times I've sat down and watched both of these players.
IMO McCoy was not very good in coverage at Middle Tennessee St. He was very high in his backpedal. I think if he makes an impact on this team, it'll be going downhill as a situational pass rusher. This is all assuming he makes the team, which wouldn't surprise me if he didn't.
