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Sports Buzz • Several Miami Dolphins are not playing up to expectations

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by CrunchTime, Nov 21, 2010.

  1. CrunchTime

    CrunchTime Administrator Retired Administrator

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    Too many of the players in the next tier -- those they expected to be clearly above average -- haven't been. That includes, among others, Randy Starks, Vernon Carey, Ronnie Brown and Channing Crowder.
    And that will make Miami's offseason even more difficult because not only must it reassess quarterback but also must consider what to do at multiple other positions it hoped would be set for years. And that doesn't even cover Miami's glaring need for interior line help, another tight end, etc.


    Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/21/1935642/several-dolphins-are-not-playing.html#ixzz15vHzhL8u


    I know its fashionable to knock Ronnie but he has not been allowed to get into any kind of rythm and he is a rythm type of player.He has been misused by the Dolphin coaches his entire career.

    Sure we need another speed back that can get chunk yardage .I have often said that but as a complement to Ronnie IMO.


     
  2. CrunchTime

    CrunchTime Administrator Retired Administrator

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    • Starks' falloff has been dramatic -- from 56 tackles and seven sacks last season to 18 (a pace for 29) and two. Last year, PFF ranked him second-best among all 3-4 defensive ends. This year, he's 18th and last (45th) against the run.

    Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/21/1935642/several-dolphins-are-not-playing.html#ixzz15vIIzcoM

    I am giving Starks a pass .After he was told he was going to be a NT this year,gained weight accordingly and prepared for it.

    If you remember he was very good at getting into the backfield last year.He is not that quick anymore .Added weight will do that to you.
     
  3. CrunchTime

    CrunchTime Administrator Retired Administrator

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    Some around the Dolphins expect this will be the final season for offensive coordinator Dan Henning, who is respected by his players but has made some calls this season that mystified some of them. But he has never received more national criticism than after Thursday. ``I don't know what Henning was thinking,'' ESPN's Tedy Bruschi said of Miami's lack of rushing attempts. Said Mark Schlereth: ``Inexcusable. I could have put this game plan together with a box of crayons and pizza box.'' One caveat: Tyler Thigpen chose to pass on several plays he had the option to call runs.

    Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/21/1935642_p2/several-dolphins-are-not-playing.html#ixzz15vJARnl4

    I think we all agree that the game has passed by Henning.He needs to retire or be retired.:yes:
     
  4. Gitrdone

    Gitrdone New Member

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    Neither of our Running Backs has been all that impressive. But i don't feel thats due to them at all. I feel it's the OC and the fact they just dont get the touches to show what they can do. We have shown when our runners get hot, we will cool them down ourselves. Teams dont have to stop our running game anymore, we do it for them.
     
  5. Killerphins

    Killerphins The Finger

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    Anyone who expected Channing Crowder to be above average hasn't watched him for the last five seasons. The season he is having is no different than usual. The guy is an average LB at best. I didn't buy it for a second that he would be better next to Dansby. I even said it here that it would further expose his weaknesses. We definitely need to upgrade the ILB position and get rid of Crowder. We have a young defense and Channing obviously isn't going to get better. Move on.

    As for Ronnie I am totally speechless over the way they have used him. There is no way in hell you leave him on the sideline like that. All I heard from posters here was that they were saving him and didn't want to get him hurt early in the season. What! That was the most ludicrous idea ever but we soon found out that wasn't the case. This team just doesn't want to run the football because all of a sudden they decided to be a pass first offense. Taking the running game out, which was a major strength has absolutely tanked this offense.
     
  6. Conuficus

    Conuficus Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Well away from here
    I've said since watching the Steelers game that Carey is not playing well, and that he could very well be shown the door the offseason. He's expensive and frankly isn't playing as well as he should. The problem is that without that 2nd rounder we are somewhat hamstrung in terms of what we can acquire.
     
  7. Conuficus

    Conuficus Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Well away from here
    If Mark Herzlich tests out well, which he may as he will be even further removed from his cancer therapy would be a damn nice addition to our LB corp. Then you could truly say it might be one of the best in the game. A guy like Herzlich next to Dansby would be fun to watch to say the least.
     
  8. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Herzlich has mind blowing talent. Every time I watch the guy, he puts out a quality game.
     
  9. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Or, they could plug a healthy Nate Garner in at RT?
     
  10. Jagfish

    Jagfish Season Ticket Holder

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    Carey should be moved to guard next season. Jerry or somebody else at RT. Vern just is too slow at RT.
     
  11. Conuficus

    Conuficus Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Well away from here
    Would you trust Carey to be able to actually get out in front when he's asked to pull? I certainly wouldn't considering his foot speed is an issue right now. The guy has just slowed down and frankly if someone else wants him at guard I'd gladly send him to you for a pick.
     
  12. SCall13

    SCall13 ThePhins QB

    I little creativity in play design and in play calling goes a LOOOOONG way in making your would-be (or should-be) stars look better and excel the way we would all expect. Henning truly does need to go.
     
  13. Disgustipate

    Disgustipate Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    That's a really awful article given that the entire thing is pretty much based on Pro Football Focus rankings, yet cherry-picks them pretty shamelessly.

    Channing Crowder is doing well. He's not going to have a bunch of tackles, because he's often off the field(281 of 402 defensive snaps since he returned from injury) because he's only in on a single Nickel package which they don't use all that often. His role now also includes more stuff that isn't going to reflect statistically, and his coverage hasn't been bad like last year. I don't know why they are mentioning PFF rating in the article without mentioning he's got a really good run defense score relative to his snap count.

    Randy Starks I think is unfair, given the circumstances. He gained weight and practiced all off-season for Nose Tackle, comes in and gets moved to DE, and then he's playing a fair amount of 2-gap at the position which isn't doing him a load of favors in the running game. On passing situations he's fine. Once again, they are mentioning PFF stats, but they've got Starks ranked the #3 3-4 DE in terms of pass rush.

    Carey is having an uneven year, but it's not in any sense bad. Once again, they are cherry picking. The article states only 9 tackles have more sacks allowed than Carey, which is untrue if you pay attention to the rankings. There are actually 12 players with more than his sacks. If you include the players with the same number or more sacks than Carey, it's 25 players. In terms of overall rank, he's #10 among offensive tackles.
     
  14. Disgustipate

    Disgustipate Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    John Jerry doesn't look like he has the pass protection skills to start at any position in the NFL at this point, much less RT.

    Carey gets no love at all and it's really baffling. He's not having that bad of a season by any means. He had a bad game against Pittsburgh, but it happens. As bad as he was that game, it was nowhere even remotely close to as bad as say, what Joe Thomas did vs. Atlanta, or what Ryan Clady did against Tennessee this year. He didn't have a great game vs. the Bears, but he's playing with a knee injury and went to the sidelines at least twice during the game.
     
  15. Southbeach

    Southbeach Banned

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    I think that Carey and Berger overall have been a little above average, and not as good as I expected. Our guard play has been horrible which does affect both. I have to give Jerry some time. Gardner coming back will help.

    Crowder has been a big help vs the run, and Edds should help next year.

    Polite has been disappointing, and I have no idea why.
     
  16. dolfan22

    dolfan22 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    The issue as I see it is where do you draft him?

    Truly I hope he is cancer free , but you never know. Virtually all of us have experienced this with someone close to us. You can spend a first on him can you?
     
  17. Dude

    Dude New Member

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    Rather it comes from being fired or retired, just cant see Henning staying after this season. Sparano isnt happy with the offense and he will do the same thing to Henning as he did to Pas if he doesnt retire first.

    So I'm hoping with a new OC, better scheme that fits our strengths, that Henne will regain the starting job and take that next step. We are a passing team trying to fit the mold of being a down hill running team. The OL isnt fit for that anymore and we have weapons now on the offense that we need to start throwing. Time to take the kid gloves off of Henne and let him start slinging the ball around. And hopefully the new guy will be aware of that and adjust to what Henne is best at. Unlike Henning.
     
  18. Southbeach

    Southbeach Banned

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    I would go with David Lee, and hire Penny as QB coach. Who knows Henne better?
     
  19. Dude

    Dude New Member

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    I dunno about promoting Lee but Penny would be a great hire as a QB coach. Hope to see that next year if he does decide to retire which I think he will after suffering yet another shoulder injury.
     
  20. Jaj

    Jaj Registered

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    OL depends on the scheme they're going to run. If they want the running game they had in 2009 they need to switch up the interior OL. I think Jerry is fine at RG. Carey healthy is fine at RT. For 5m per year it's difficult to get another good RT and spending a first on one might not be the best idea right now. Light a fire under his ***, get him healthy. A Logan Mankins would really help.

    LT- Long, LG- Mankings, C- Berger, RG- Jerry, RT- Carey

    Could get the job done finally.

    Cutting Carey though because of one subpar year is ludicrous. What are we going to do use a third round pick to replace him? Are you serious? Jerry was a highly rated guard and they still haven't gotten him up to speed.
     
  21. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    dammit, I cant figure out the way to thank your post
     
  22. muscle979

    muscle979 Season Ticket Holder

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    It's nice of Sparano and company to limit Ronnie Brown's touches so that he can be fresh for whichever rival offers him the best contract next season.
     
  23. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    agreed, wtf....I cant believe that idiot {henning} took his skillset from him...taking away the wildcat from ronnie brown is so the nail in his coffin...moron.
     
  24. Killerphins

    Killerphins The Finger

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    It looks like the thanks feature is gone for good. People were talking about it's disappearance last night and I'm yet to see the staff address it.
    Sad to see it go.
     
  25. cdz12250

    cdz12250 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I agree, in part. The reason they don't get the touches is that the offensive line, for whatever reason, is not doing its job. No push and the blocking schemes are Kindergarten.
     
  26. Killerphins

    Killerphins The Finger

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    :lol:

    You judge everything by stats and not what you see on the field. Channing Crowder is a ghost on the football field just stop defending him because you are embarrassing yourself. You talk about how much he is off the field and then in the same breath comment about how good his coverage is. That makes no sense if he is not on the field in coverage. His awareness sucks that is why he is off the god damn field so much. I still don't get how people can keep sticking up for this worthless excuse for a football player but then again I can expect it here in your post considering your love for Pat White and how great of a job he did here in Miami. :up:
     
  27. PHINANALYST

    PHINANALYST Well-Known Member

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    i think they'vd been looking for Carey's replacement, but no one has stepped up .... i think he just gets more love than he has ever deserved, he is overpaid, fat, lazy and slow -- even without a knee injury.

    Crowder ... well nuff said -- he is Crowder ....

    Starks as pointed out, sought to gain some weight .... i believe he has played the best of the 3 mentioned ....

    Ronnie has always been an enigma ... not sure if he has really underperformed given his touches ....

    I absolutely agree that we go after Mankins this offseason at G ... so we can spend our top draft picks on game changers -- both at OLB, WR, TE and RB ... on D we have Wake as a pass rushing specialist - but that is it for special talent .... on O we have no special talent period even Marshall in our current state.
     
  28. Jaj

    Jaj Registered

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    It's hard to find a replacement for Carey right now, this quickly. Garner could do it but you would have no run blocking really.

    At this point I'm just about ready to say go get Andrew Luck, surround him with an excellent offensive line and see what he can do. Remarkable what good QBs can do in Atlanta, St. Louis, Indy, N.E.. Those teams aren't more talented than this one.
     
  29. Disgustipate

    Disgustipate Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    This is really an amazing bit of irony in respect to the rest of your post.

    Also, you DO realize I'm talking about statistics in a thread which is essentially about statistics? It's pretty transparent what you are trying to do, it's because it is what you always do. You've got an opinion you cannot actually defend with really anything, so you start whining preemptively about people using statistics or empirical fact or anything else.

    What I said really shouldn't be warranting anywhere close to the kind of confusion you are having over it. But I suppose that's to be expected when you've really got no idea what you are talking about, and what his position entails. (Go to Finheaven)

    Crowder is doing well in terms of coverage of what is asked of him. He's not playing Nickel situations, but he's still on the field and still asked to cover, and he's doing it enough to be problematic. Look at what Akin Ayodele did last year in the same position. Passes thrown at Crowder have a 76.7 QB rating. PFF has 9 interior linebackers with better than that. Part of that is who he is asked to cover- He's not in man coverage vs. Dallas Clark or whomever anymore, but there are loads of linebackers in the league with the same general responsibilities doing worse.

    You keep trying to throw that shot in there every time, and every time I challenge you to go find something I said about White that was wrong, and you keep running away. I wonder why?
     
  30. Killerphins

    Killerphins The Finger

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    I have continuously cited reasons why Crowder is an average LB yet people keep saying I haven't done anything to back it up. I'm not sure what needs to be said other than look at the big plays this guy has made in nearly six years. Even as bad as a guy like Ayodele was in coverage as you say he still managed to get 2 INT's in two seasons. Also as limited as his play has been Dobbins manages to get a sack. Crowder hasn't managed either of those things this season and so far in his career he has 2.5 sacks and 1 INT in nearly six seasons. The guy does nothing special which makes him below average.

    So now you are manufacturing new excuses for Crowder's lack of ability. His position. That is a total joke man and a big cop out. All I heard all off season was how much better Crowder would be next to Dansby. Well it hasn't happened. Why? Because Crowder lacks awareness on the football field and having Dansby exposes Channing's weaknesses. It does nothing to make him better when Dansby is making the plays and Crowder is not but I guess in your mind it was by design. So now Crowder is not supposed to make plays. Laughable.

    I only have to go as far as to say that you defended White to the hilt and loved how we were using him. Now he is no longer here... Oh wait he is no longer in the NFL :lol:
    I'm not running away bro. I'm saying when you back a guy who is cut after a rookie season and doesn't even get a sniff from any of the other 31 teams. Well that might be good proof that you were just flat out wrong. It is easy to see.
     
  31. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    where will Mike singletary be coaching next year.?
     
  32. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Eh, SF seems like the place Young Head Coaches go to end their careers, Nolan had no luck in SF, Singletary has had none either.
     
  33. Jaj

    Jaj Registered

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    Seems like the perfect place for Andrew Luck and Jon Gruden.
     
  34. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I would love for Nolan to lobby for singletary Pod, I really would.
     
  35. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Deej, we should not be 100% that Sparano is coming back let alone whether he would take on another Head Coach to coach..what?
     
  36. dolfan22

    dolfan22 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    Singletary wouldn't be the head coach , so where?
     
  37. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Bill Sheridan is running herd on the Lb's and doing a good job, so there really is no room for him in Miami.
     
  38. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    your right, Sheridan is doing a good job.

    If we wind up with a losing record, how does Parcells answer that first media question....why did you take the job? and leave it with so many question's? isn't the point of taking the job to lead it to a champioship?...what does this refect when it come to your building a franchise skill's?, and why the hell would anyone want to hire you again?

    There is good news though, I heard that Parcells and Ross are becoming close and that Parcells is embracing his consultant role...

    how could he not come back to finish this fu%$ing job? I do not understand the mentality.
     
  39. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    At what press conference? At this point I would be surprised if Parcells ever speaks to the media again.

    Because part of the job entails giving Ireland and Sparano the space they need to sink or swim on their own.
     
  40. cobrajet

    cobrajet Mr. Ross - sell the team!

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    I think the focus should be more on the longer term as this team has no business making the playoffs this year. We have learned a few things since last off season, however, (maybe) and this should be the list.

    1) Stop the turnstile of player goofballs! Get comfortable with quality talent and build an identity. Ya can't polish a terd - it just comes back a terd.

    2) Dump the old men! Bell, Williams, Brown, and Carey (and others) are too slow. Trade them for draft picks and rebuild.

    3) All great teams mold their offense around their QB and not the reverse. Find your QB and your offensive ID and build your play book and coordinators around them. We are doing this backwards.

    4) Kick ourselves in the @ss twice for trading Chris Chambers and Greg Camarillo for virtually no reason.

    5) Stop bringing in 'out of the way goofballs' that no other team wants, trying them on the roster for four days and dumping them. This is a waste of time and effort.

    6) Beg, borrow and steal as many high ranking drafts players of need as possible

    7) If Henne is the QB than he needs to be three steps quicker, and learn to "ball on the hip" when needed. He needs much development.

    8) FIRE: Jeff Ireland (send Opie back to Mayberry), Dan Henning, David Lee, Dave Puloka & Evan Marcus (conditioning coaches), Todd Bowles and Joe Danna (DB coaches) and hire people with some real coaching experience. Many (not all - but many) of our coaches have less than 5 yrs of NFL experience.

    9) Part ways with Bill Parcells. He isn't doing anything anyway and he is nothing more than an absentee / distraction.

    10) We are the only team in the AFC East with two DB coaches (Todd Bowles and Joe Danna) and our DB's are awful! Talented but awful - WHY??

    This is a good start, I'll work on the rest of this putrid list as I watch the remaining plunder that is our season. It's time for a genuine rebuild in Miami, and not the 2 year 'quick fix' Parcells and crew had in mind.

    It is obvious to me that Parcells has no interest in running the show and no one else here is capable without him. We need coaches in key places with real NFL track records and people like Joe Danna, Jeff Ireland and Tony Sporano have none at their current position.

    I wonder what Mike Holmgren and Bill Cower are doing these days??
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2010

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