Dolphins Claim RB Steve Slaton off Waivers

Not buying it.
They've tried to make him an every down back.
Reggie talked about it after he was acquired and so did Ireland and Sparano.

Were not effectively using Reggie in this "spread" role either.
If that was their initial goal why is that?

In addition, If Ireland is setting up this team to be a spread offense it is just more evidence of a lack of a clear direction and plan for this franchise. You have a coach that has always talked about establishing a tough grind it out running game while taking your shots down field as a result of the running games success and a GM that is trading for a situational back to fill a passing role in a spread offense.

The organization is a mess.

 

Because there isn't any correlation between running the ball well and winning?

 

How did you possibly get that out of what I said? How did you possibly do that? I said you can run the ball out of any formation I like as long as it's winning the match-ups. If we're running the ball well out of spread, then run the ball out of spread. If not run it out of I-Form.

We're running the ball well by the way with the miserable Reggie Bush still getting some touches.

 

What proof do you have other then coaches saying it, that Bush was brought in to be an every down back? Coaches and GMs blow smoke more then anything. You can take what they say with a grain of salt.

 

I don't know perhaps the fact they tried to use him as a feature back?

 

Reggie Bush has run the ball on 21% of the snaps he's been in the game for. Daniel Thomas has run the ball on 56% of the snaps he's been in the game for. There is a clear dichotomy in the way they are used.

Whats the QB's YPA this year? Thats how the effectiveness is going to be determined. They have come out and said that Bush being in the game opens up the passes to the WRs.

Agreed 100%. But I'm not sure Ireland it was Ireland's choice. If I had to guess, I'd say the change in philosophy was made at the behest of the owner. JMO though.

Sure would have been nice to see what Thomas could have done in our offense in 08 an 09 though.

 

Reggie Bush is averaging 4 YPC out of I-Formation.

Regardless, my point is that they aren't interested in running the ball well when Bush is in the game. Any rushes when Bush is in the game falls under the constraint theory. They don't care if Reggie Bush runs for 0.5 YPC, so long as they are passing the ball for 8 YPA.

 

And we know what our backs were, too.

Bush is not a fixed commodity. It's more likely than not that he doesn't pan out, and it was that way all along...but acting as if there is no room for improvement is ridiculous in a league where last season Jason Babin was an elite rusher, Michael Vick was one of the best quarterbacks, and Brandon Lloyd was the most productive receiver, and as a fan on a team where Ricky Williams revived his career about 4 times. You've got to take chances.

I don't know that there's any evidence at all teams are going more towards or more away from a multiple-back offense. It's nothing new historically, and I've never seen someone sit down and compile the numbers, and to be honest there's a lot of crap floating around as article of faith. If you go look at the teams with the best run yardage, and the backs with the highest yardage numbers, that number correlates quite well. Oakland, Philly, Minnesota, Buffalo, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Baltimore, KC, and Green Bay are in the top 10 rushing yardage for teams, and of those the only ones who don't have their primary back in the top 10 of yardage gained are KC, Green Bay, and Miami(and we're close, despite Thomas missing a game). What Miami is doing is working out well- Top 10 in yardage, and top 10 in yards per carry.

The idea that trusting a successful runningback pick to carry a dominant load as a rookie isn't really all that reasonable. It's not particularly uncommon.

We're talking about what's essentially our #4 running back here, just for perspective. Slaton isn't a bad gamble to make, and I don't really think he's at all a carbon copy of Reggie Bush. He's built similarly, and has been productive in the passing game, but that's really where comparisons end.

 

Hmmm. When was this? You mean the game DT missed? Because the other 2 games DT has 3 times as many touches. So again, wheres the proof.

 

See this is what I laugh on message boards? Where's the proof? The proof is that they don't even want to try running the ball with Reggie because he sucks at it after seeing what he did against New England. Then they saw he was miserable against Houston on the first few carries and took him out.

As for Stringer Bell, if Bush is an outside runner best in space why would you play him in spread formation when he's clearly incapable of beating DBs who already on the edge to the edge.

NFL running:

- You run the RB with outside speed against large formations and base packages.
- You run the RB with a quick, north south approach against a defense that has been emptied of its inside defenders (spread)

Reggie Bush's best use as a RB has been by your own data has been in I-Form.

I-Form:

- He has an opportunity to beat the defense to the edge.
- He can motion against LBs (unless you want to leave Fasano against a LB over empty the SS from the top and then Gates or Marshall will destroy you)

Spread:

- He can't pass protect well.
- He can't make a quick decision up the middle where the defense is spread out and is weak.
- He can't beat the DBs to the edge because there is no real edge.
- DL can bring him down easily if he tries a quick move through the middle. DT breaks through DL's arm tackles, Reggie falls.
- If you motion him out there is no real running threat.

The idea that Bush is useful for spread formations is asinine. More quickness on the field against your quickness, reduces your advantage. You want quick, decisive power against the weakness of the dime defense not Reggie Bush. We killed Houston with Thomas in the spread because they have their four DL and one LB against five linemen and DT. Chad Henne was getting killed with Bush in the spread against Houston.

 

I agree with most of your post. However I disagree that the Dolphins got Reggie Bush as an everydown back. I don't think Ireland is that stupid. I think the plan all along was to "start" Reggie, but give Thomas the majority of touches.

They have to run him some while he is in, or the defense will know everytime he is on the field it will be a pass. Even when he's ineffective, him running still is effective in a purpose.

I do think they hoped he would be a better runner and would be able to split carries with DT.

I think your missing my points jaj, I'm simply pointing out that 1. The RB position was not ignored, probably mis managed yes, but simply not ignored. The TE position is the definition of ignored. We made several moves at RB. And 2. That Bush was never going to be an every down back in Miami. Miami was hoping he would be more effective of a runner sure, but they never intended to have Bush as everydown runner.

 

Daniel Thomas was limited today in practice (hamstring?), so the Slaton insurance makes sense that way.

 

Bush isn't an outside runner. He isn't an inside runner. He's not a runner at all. He's a good receiver and a bad runner.

There isn't any difference in defensive quickness when Bush is on the field in comparison to Thomas. Both are matched defensively by a LB.

 

Slaton seems to be more of a Thomas type of runner. I wonder if this spells more trouble for Thomas than Bush? Bush has a different skill set than Thomas or Slaton and might be a keeper based on that alone. I think all are great running backs and have the potential to have some real punch here. AGAIN - I have to ***** though. We MUST change this attitude on this team where we can BUY a player to win games. We need to spend time and develop these players into our scheme. Talent in - talent out isn't getting us anywhere. If they spent as much time developing RBs as they have developing Henne we might be further along. A great backfield isn't an oil filter that you can buy, install and forget about. It takes time to develop and we are not doing this. Hopefully this is our last addition and we can focus of the development of the unit.

 

I think you are pretty much spot on.

A few points here.

1. If you are spreading the field, you are doing so to keep the defense from bunching defenders together. The spread itself is creating space on the inside. If you take a guy like Reggie Bush, put him in a single back set with three wide receivers and pass threat tight end, it completely defeats the purpose of the spread formation to run him outside. That's where you have taken the defenders with your formation, and you are basically running right into them. The spread also supposed to create a blocking advantage since you move guys away from the box and into coverage.

2. I think the hope the Dolphins had with Reggie Bush was that by putting him in a spread out formation, they could utilize his burst and quickness to get some big runs and also utilize him in the passing game. The problem with their hope is that it was largely miscast and they ignored two very big issues. First, Reggie Bush is an indecisive runner. He has too much east/west movement and doesn't get him self going down hill. Second, he is a very poor pass protector, so that negates the overall impact he has in passing situations. Unfortunately, it is likely that the best way to use Reggie Bush is to move him around in the formation as a receiver, run him on some jet sweep action, and use him as a return guy. However, as a return guy, his indecisiveness hurts him. In the end, this was a mistake on Jeff Ireland's part. I'm not sure why he felt the Dolphins could end up changing the way Reggie plays the game, but he did. As result, they overpaid to get him.

The fact is, the player that is capable of doing what they want Reggie Bush to do took Reggie Bush's place in New Orleans and is a cheaper option. This will go down as yet another mistake that Jeff Ireland has made on the pro personnel side.

 

You nailed it.

I would still give Reggie a shot as a returner for the big play aspect. He could improve in that regard and it would at least get Bess some rest and help Gates stick to learning how play flanker at the NFL level.

On a side not: You like Landry Jones for next year's draft don't you KB?

 

I need to watch a little more of him. I like him, but I haven't paid much attention to him this year.

 

I guess tha means nobody wanted him? Maybe there were teams waiting for him to clear? That's something we don't know.

 

The sad thing for me is reading how Reggie Bush worked his *** off all offseason only to fail miserably to change what he is.......

 

This is a partial example of why I'm in awe of the Patriot offense.
They have 4 guys who consistently help open up both passing and running lanes. Gronkowski & Hernandez's playmaking ability on the field together freezes linebackers & safeties for a fraction of a second (or at least keeps them honest) to where defenders are routinely a half step behind, thus opening up running lanes and cut back ability (which IMO is a big reason for Woodhead's high YPC despite his stature). Then, symbiotically, Woodhead & Welker's ability in the passing game similarly freezes LBs long enough to make Gronk & Hernandez that much harder to cover. To me, it seems like this makes defenses become entirely too reactionary, neutralizing them long enough to prevent successfully stuffing running lanes and disrupting passing lanes. IMO it's a contributing reason why Brady is able to play to such an elite level where he throws 4 INTs in a 16 game season.

Then when Hernandez isn't dressed verse Buffalo, defenders look in better position, Brady throws 4 picks (2 INTs came from passes to Woodhead & Gronkowski where the safety was in position to make a play), he had passes bouncing off defenders who were more capable of disrupting his passing lanes, and Woodhead & Benjarvis were neutralized in the run game (16 carries, 39 yards, 2.4 avg, 0 TD verse 42 carries, 185, 4.4 avg, and 2 TD in the first 2 games).


This is why I badly want to see us get an outstanding receiving TE or two (even though I know how much you like Fasano)---- because we already have an outstanding slot receiver in the Welker mold; we have a QB who is very efficient when afforded adequate time and passing lanes; we have a big, 1 cut runner with good vision, balance, & burst who would tear up defenses if LBs and Safeties were a half step behind; and we have the best receiving RB in the league. That's not even mentioning Marshall who makes plays in space.