Dolphins coach Sparano says blocking breakdowns nothing to worry about

I just find it funny how people are saying there is this huge change in aggressive offense and most of the drives look a lot like last season.

 

I don't imagine that we're suddenly going to start scoring 25 points per game as our red zone issues persist. for as bad as the playcalling was last year ( and I don't think it was quite as bad as most think) we moved the ball between the 20s fairly effectively. We had trouble completing the drives and scoring TD's.

Until that changes, it doesn't matter who is calling the plays.

 

I don't know. Makes no sense whatsoever. Just kinda smells like some kind of arrogance. "We'll do just fine with the good old boys from our good old boy network."

 

And if you really want to get ugly-yet-truthful, here are the Dolphins' 1st string offensive drives against 1st string defenses.

Falcons #1: Off Punt :: Started MIA 48 :: 0 Yds :: Interception
Falcons #2: Off Kick :: Started MIA 22 :: 5 Yds :: Punt
Falcons #3: Off Kick :: Started MIA 25 :: 0 Yds :: Interception
Panthers #1: Off Kick :: Started MIA 20 :: 36 Yds :: Punt
Panthers #2: Off Punt :: Started MIA 20 :: 80 Yds :: Touchdown
Panthers #3: Off Punt :: Started MIA 15 :: 44 Yds :: Turnover on Downs
Buccaneers #1: Off Punt :: Started MIA 23 :: 77 Yds :: Touchdown
Buccaneers #2: Off Punt :: Started MIA 13 :: -10 Yds :: Punt
Buccaneers #3: Off Punt :: Started MIA 12 :: 3 Yds :: Punt
Buccaneers #4: Off Kick :: Started MIA 20 :: 77 Yds :: Field Goal
Buccaneers #5: Off Punt :: Started MIA 25 :: 30 Yds :: Fumble
Buccaneers #6: Off Kick :: Started MIA 20 :: -1 Yds :: Punt
Buccaneers #7: Off Kick :: Started MIA 20 :: 9 Yds :: Punt

Objectively speaking, those were the drives Miami had this preseason with their 1st string offense playing against the 1st string defense, a total of 13 drives. Average drive started at Miami's own 22 yard line. Average drive went 27 yards. Four of the drives ended with a turnover. There were a total of 17 points scored on these 13 drives.

This isn't a Chad Henne thing, I'm talking about the offense as a whole. Those are 13 drives against the 1st string defenses of the Falcons, Panthers and Buccaneers. Yes, we were minus Brandon Marshall and Reggie Bush for 3 of the drives, and minus Jake Long for all of them. But the Falcons, Panthers and Bucs held back plenty of starters as well. A normal game has less than 13 drives in it, usually around 10 or 11 drives. The Dolphins 1st string offense scored 17 points and had 4 turnovers on just over a game's worth of drives against 1st string defenses.

And yet people are really high on Chad Henne, they're high on Brandon Marshall, they think Reggie Bush is a gem, and they love Daboll's new offense. There's definitely a disconnect here. But it's not unlike the one in Cleveland last year. Last year you had Peyton Hillis running like a mad man, and Colt McCoy supposedly showing a lot of promise, Ben Watson having a career year...and Brian Daboll gets credit for all these things. Yet, they were among the very worst in the league scoring points.

 

Looking at the individual parts does no good if the sum of those parts never equals out. That was an issue in Cleveland where they had one of the best if not the best left tackles in the league, a 1st round center, Ben Watson having a career year, Colt McCoy showing all that promise even as a rookie, Peyton Hillis running like a man possessed...and yet they still finished what, 30th in scoring? Something like that?

Looking at Miami's individual parts you're like yeah, Miami has the best left tackle in the league Jake Long, a 1st round center, a solid Tight End, a good #1 receiver, a good slot receiver, Reggie Bush a good receiving option, and Chad Henne having his best year as a pro...should all be very good, right? But then it's not and you're left wondering why.

 

Is a 370 lb. McKinnie any better than Colombo? I would say that neither is very good.

 

I think you might be overstating how well McCoy and Watson looked.

 

Agreed, McCoy looked good for a rookie who not many people thought he was talented enough to be a NFL starter.

 

It's pretty obvious that they're going to try and wait before making any moves. Perhaps this is the best strategy. It is preseason, so they get a pass. Sparano simply isn't going to throw anyone under a bus, and that's a virtue. Time will tell, after all it's their asses that are on the line.

 

Against possibly the worst team in the NFL. They certainly were last year.

Fact is, our 1st team struggled against Atlanta, and looked good against Carolina, and OLine awful against a decent Tampa line. Its looking more and more like 6-10 or 7-9 again this year.

 

It's yet to be seen. But good enough for the Ravens to trust him at left tackle from what I've heard today on the radio. Granted, the Ravens have line issues of their own, but I gotta believe if McKinnie is going to start at LT, then he's playing at a higher level than Colombo right now.

 

No. Have you checked to see if there's any reason to believe that 1st string versus 1st string stats in preseason are different and should carry warped expectations relative to 1st string versus 1st string stats in the regular season?

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/13199/colt-mccoy

Colt McCoy was pretty good Stringer for a rookie on a bad team.

He really only had two horrible games and his numbers ended up looking alot like Chad Henne over the last two years. McCoy had two 100 plus QB rating games (Henne only 3 total in two years)

Long story short, the guy was pretty good all things considered.

 

I think a lot of it has to do with Oher being a better RT than LT, and McKinnie having experience at LT. But he could very well turn out better, but I really don't see that much of a difference in ability at this point. The difference would be relatively minor, to the point where I don't think it would have much of an effect on the team's success.

 

The concern for me about the offense isn't just the fact that they haven't been able to score against 1st string defenses, it's the turnovers. They've had 4 turnovers against those 1st string defenses, including the turnover on downs against the Panthers. That's not just an offense that has trouble putting the ball in scoring position, it's an offense that gives a leg up to opposing offenses.

Let's hope the Dolphins' offense plays the opposite game and becomes the exact opposite in the regular season of what they were in the preseason.

 

I thought Daboll did a good job of recognizing that tampas front was wreaking havoc and adjusting his play calls accordingly. He went to the quick game, and after the first couple series the pressure died down to almost nothing. Tampa got their fair share of pressure, we got our fair share of big plays. The run blocking is more of a concern for me, apparently sparano wants to run the power play just to spite his running backs.

Objectively, freeman was in just as much trouble as henne he just has more escapability. Wake was in on him a few times, odrick and jt got close, vontae nearly took his head off. As a result freeman was inacurrate on at least a couple easy throws and he was nearly picked off on two others. His only big play looked like a blown coverage on a routine check down.

My biggest peeve was the penalties. Lined up wrong, offsides, holding calls, making our bad field position even worse. Putting henne in difficult situations to start drives. Only a handful of teams can move and stunt the way tampa does, but just about every defense can capitalize on 1st and 20.

 

Varying levels of motivation and gameplanning would be first on my list. Some teams are sitting starters or installing new systems, some are trying to win while others are simply working on specific packages of plays or trying to decide position battles. No one is using their heavy artillery. Id say that adding up preseason stats, good or bad, and using them to make an assessment about the regular season is folly.

 

The net effect of the Offense isn't really what concerns me; preseason results are notoriously bad predictors of regular-season results.

What concerns me is the ineffectiveness of the OL, both in pass-protect and in run-blocking.

By the same token, regardless of results I'm encouraged by seeing Henne operate with confidence, executing the O with command. That alone is a huge step up from last season.

They may not put it all together during the season, particularly in light of a possible meltdown on the OL; but Quarterbacks have survived bad seasons plenty in the past, and if Henne keeps playing in a manner diametrically opposed to last season's, I'm encouraged.

 

You can argue that pass protection in a spread offense is much harder and will allow more pressure, and I'd agree with that.

But I don't care how you slice it: 22 yards on 17 carries for a whopping 1.29 YPC is below average. And the fact that on the first drive of the game we hit 2 deep passes in a row, you'd figure that would open up the run game just a little....Nope, not the case.

I'm starting to worry that teams will have their nickel and dime defenses in on us in running situations and will still be able to effectively stop our run (making Henne's job even more difficult). Also, play action will be less of a concern as a result. And no, this isn't just based on this preseason. It's going back to how ineffective we were running the ball last year too.

 

That would be a strange turn of events. The one thing that does give me a bit of hope is that fortunately two guys that could stabilize the situation in Berger and Garner are on the bench. Last year's line for all their inability to hit the second level were actually far better than people think at produce yarding up front. They were around 14th in efficiency up the middle with Jerry and McQuistan two terrible players at RG. Berger-Incognito did alright and I think Berger as a guard wouldn't be so bad.

As for the current OL. Is it possible that both Carey and Colombo are still recovering their play from surgery?

 

this may make no difference to some but everyones o-lines are struggling , i mean it almost epidemic league wide.

 

Let's see, Colombo and Carey spent more time on their seats than most of the fans did in the stadium during the game. Pouncey was getting pushed back all evening long, but fared better than the right side. Lydon Murtha...yeah, that Lydon Murtha....was arguably our best OL ??? I want to know who the guy is masquerading around as Murtha, because it's certainly not the same guy we saw on his butt most of the time last year. And now Coach says it's all fixable...ok, Tony...do your stuff and fix it cause you ain't been able to do it the last 3 yrs !!!

Now, the O in general played well enough and there was improvement in areas, but not in the OL play. So, as I said....

Tony, don't tell us it's fixable, show us it is...

 

Man, you're right about this. Today I was listening to the NFL channel while driving, for about 1/2 hour and during that short time either callers or guests were bemoaning the OL play of at least 5 teams (Eagles, Giants, Lions, Seahawks, and even the Pats if I remember correctly). There's a thread on our own site about how bad the Jets OL is becoming. Not to mention our teams problems. I've read posts from other folks here saying this very thing. I don't think our situation is really unique.

 

Average, awful. Splitting hairs really. Evidence is there for both.

 

Sparano seems earnest when he says he's comfortable with the o-line. It's his tookus on the line, hell if I'm gonna give a rat's *** anymore.

 

If no, I'd just assume our normal sense for context is accurate.

 

I dunno. More likely Carey is still recovering than Colombo, who had surgery last August and then played the season on a recovering knee. Interesting to me is that his two best games were the last game and the third to last game, but they were sandwiched around his worst game.
Week 17 was the only week, vs Phil, that he allowed no pressures, hits, or sacks. Week 16 vs Az, was his worst pass blocking game of the year, 2 sacks, 1 hit and 4 pressures and a pass blocking score of -5.7. The weeks 15, 16, and 17 games though were his best stretch of 3 games for run blocking, with week 15 vs Wash, by far his single best run blocking game. Interesting to me also, is he did not allow any sacks or hits in either Giants game and they are known to be a good pass rushing team.

 

Also have to remember in a normal TC the OL is normally behind the D but this abbreviated TC exacerbates the issue.

 

I find it shocking that Soprano would underplay a team unit deficency (sarcasism).

 

Sparano has been saying this same thing during the previous years he has been the head coach of the Dolphins. He is always saying that he isn't worried and that the problems can be solved. Of course we all know by now that he doesn't get the problems solved and we Dolphin fans do in fact need to worry. The reality is that the offensive line is a major weakness on this team and if he hasn't been able to solve the issues with this unit in the last three years, why would anyone believe him now when he states that he isn't concerned with the play of the offensive line.

 

Sparano should get on the phone with Parcells for some advice
seriously, when Bill was here they put together a hell of an offensive line
the Big Tuna knows the trenches, his last go-round yielded
the Orca-5 & a championship for Miami
I say eat some humble Tony & give the man a call before its too late

I knew Bill Parcells & Tony, you are no Bill Parcells

 

If it is any consolation, in 2009, our best season rushing under this regime, Ronnie averaged 3.7 in preseason and 4.4 in regular season and Ricky averaged 4.2 in preseason and 4.7 in regular season, so both improved at least a half yard per carry in regular season.
Last season, Ronnie went from 2.1 in preseason to 3.7 in regular season, Ricky however went from 6.2 to 4.2. The team as a whole went from 3.3 to 3.7 from pre to regular season
The team in 2008 went from 3.8 to 4.2

So far this preseason we are averaging a lofty 2.9, so maybe we'll be all the way up to 3.5 by regular season.
Actually, the two runners who are killing our average are Sheets at 2.5 and Grigsby at 2.1 and Sheets is gone. Bush is at 3.6, Hilliard and Johnson at 3.5 and Thomas at 3.2. I think if they can follow recent history and add about .5 yards per carry in regular season, we should be ok. You also gotta remember, they did that without our best lineman, a rookie center still learning on the fly, and a guy at a new position coming back from offseason knee surgery. Also, all of them learning a new offensive scheme together.

How is that for putting a positive spin on our running game?

 

Hehehe, I remember that reference...Ronnie said, Jimmy I knew John Kennedy and you are no John Kennedy. Too bad Jimmy didn't come back with, I knew Dwight Eisenhower and you are no Dwight Eisenhower.

Actually O-line was never Tuna's area of expertise either. He was a linebackers coach and a DC before becoming a head coach. If you go back to college too, he only ever coached linebackers, or was a DC, or at Air Force was a head coach for 1 year. It was his only head coaching gig before taking the reins of the Giants.

 

I think it was in 1988 when Lloyd Bentsen said it to Dan Quayle in the debate. Did Bentsen steal that from Reagan?

 

I think we divorce OL coaching ability from OL scouting ability too quickly re: the Dolphins. I think they're fine as OL coaches. I remember when the discussion for Jake Long was the he wouldn't become a top NFL LT, that he would actually be better as a RT. People used to question pre-draft Jake Long's pass blocking, that he'd be only be a great run-blocking RT. The consensus view now is Jake Long is a jack-of-all-trades best offensive lineman in the league at any position and the best LT in the entire NFL. Coach Sparano has to receive some credit for that.

We should have greater perspective re: the meme "Sparano, OL guru, needs to start guru-ing and make this OL worth its salary." I truly don't think it's coach's fault, he's not really picking these scraps called free agent offensive linemen. He has to know that this year's OL isn't up to par. This is the hand the dealer, GM Jeff Ireland, dealt him. If anyone should be fired it's that guy. I want whoever thought the OL corps was good enough for the 2011 season gone, and I bet that person isn't Coach Sparano. The Dolphins are good enough to coach OL'ers, but they haven't shown they can sign enough good ones. When he says, "it's fixable," he covering for the scouts and GM as anyone who's the public face of a football team would.


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He must have, because I heard Ronnie say it live on TV to Jimmy back in 1980 during one debate. Ronnie even made it sound more folksy as I recall, by referring to JFK as Jack Kennedy, and adding in "Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine." I would presume Ronnie was using the word "friend" rather loosely.

 

the o line does worry me, but if they don't gel, they don't gel, what can you do. well live with what we have, pound the left side when we run it. if you ask me, with the addition of bush coming out of the backfield, gates and a rookie rb, running the ball won't be a huge part of our offense this season. then again I could be wrong... but I do see our passing game as our strength (can't remember the last time I said that about the dolphins). if we can keep henne from getting killed that would be lovely.