The Trenches: The Dolphins are a Very Talented Team

I expect them to bring back the majority of the FAs. These are their guys, from Long to Starks to Bush to whomever in the next couple of years. These are your veterans and they'll continue to look to the draft as their model for success considering their terrible FA decisions. They have 50m in cap room, they can definitely re-sign their FAs and continue with a Pittsburgh Steelers like model.

 

I strongly disagree.

1. You're forgetting Oakland allowed just 32 yards on 20 carries (1.6 avg) last week to San Diego.

2. Philbin and this team can run the ball w/o the wildcat, which Sparano couldn't during his first 3 years, nor last year consistently. There's an obvious improvement in the way we're either opening lanes or driving defenders off the line.

2012: We're currently ranked #2 rushing yards, #2 rush TD, #3 YPC (despite having to abandon the run game early vs Houston).
2011: #11 yards, #19 TD, #15 YPC.
2010: #21 yards, #29 TD, #30 YPC (with the wildcat no longer fooling anyone). ​

3. Sparano was poor at making 2nd half adjustments.

4. We're rushing in a more impressive fashion this year and have done so w/o Brandon Marshall on the field.

5. Sparano couldn't develop our pass blocking worth a crap.

6. Last year verse Houston & a McFadden-less Oakland, we allowed 184 yards on 50 carries, 3.7 avg, and 13 rushing 1st downs.
This year, vs the same two teams (but with McFadden) we allowed 106 yards on 49 carries, 2.2 avg, and 4 rushing 1st downs.

7. This IS indicative of improvement.

8. Your post is essentially off topic considering the thread is about "the trenches".

 

I'm not too thrilled with our pass protection though...

 

.... but to be fair, elite tackles, when healthy, can dominate the games best pass rushers, which we saw Jake do to Jared Allen when he stone-walled him all game IIRC...... and let's not forget his benefit to the ground game, which not all left tackles provide.

 

Could you see Jeff ireland inking a deal that pays Jake $13m a year? I can't. Not with the injury questions.

and not in a west coast offense where, sorry, but with shorter passes the LT does not have to be AS dominant (less often that you block for as long). In the run game, it's not a one-on-one power, win your matchup approach every time like with Sparano.. in which case your LT must dominate their RE on a talent basis 1-on-1 for the scheme to work... but in zone running you can get away with a little more in terms of decent O line talent rather than dominant one-on-one players. I know that's more true for the interior guys than the tackles, but still, this is all going to figure into how much Ireland thinks he should weight the LT spending.

I don;t see a LT in this system, and with Jake's injuries, warranting a multi-year, $13m + per year investment. No way.

Only way I do it is with tiers based on snap counts, or performance. Which means Long has few guarantees, really.

Long goes somewhere that will overpay him, imo. The way the Rams overpaid Jason Brown... except Long is much better.

 

Ireland has been pretty good about resigning the Dolphin's best players. He likes his guys and he really likes Jake. He'll overspend if he has to.

 

Respectfully, I'm not sure what this has to do with the opening post, and I strongly disagree about Ireland not adapting to Philbin the way Philbin is to Ireland. They both seem to be working quite well together and with a great deal of trust, as we've already seen Ireland trade or cut players who didn't mesh well with what Philbin is looking for, nor his plans for the future.
1. Brandon Marshall-- Philbin says his offense relies more upon spreading the ball around than constantly feeding a #1 target, so Ireland traded him.
2. Vontae Davis-- Philbin questioned VD being in the plans for the future and wasn't sure if he'll ever "get it", so Ireland traded him.
3. Clyde Gates-- Ireland cut his own draft pick for Philbin despite not appearing like an easy decision.

Green Bay spent 2 first rounders in a row on offensive tackles for Philbin's offense; Ireland used a 2nd on one with 1st round talent who seems to fit exactly what Philbin is looking for. Tannehill seems like the prototypical QB Philbin would want running his offense. Ireland drafted a 3rd round TE who seems consistent with the type GB drafted for Philbin's offense. And let's not forget Rishard Matthews, who seems like a prototypical Packers receiver.

Sorry, but that seems like a lot of mutual trust and working well together rather than Ireland trying to assume the dominant, my way or the highway role.

 

Why isnt it just....."He can take yours and beat his'n...and take his'n and beat yours".....maybe Philbin is just playing the deck he has atm....btw....does anyone know why Armstrong was inactive?

 

you mean.....no way....can't be!! Ireland has done something right? I like it.

 

Miami will likely re-sign Jake at all costs. This is more than about money and cap space. Unlike Duane Brown, Long is essentially one of the main faces of this franchise. He's a significant leader and one of the team's alpha players, and as such his presence plays a big part in shaping the identity of this team, as well as keeping it that way.

 

I see Jeff Ireland sticking with a player that he's been making every attempt to sell as a Pro Bowl/All Pro/Hall of Fame/I'm gonna hang my hat on this guy all day every day guy. From to start to finish Jeff Ireland has not even used any ambiguous language about Jake Long, from his declaration that he'd had Jake #1 on his Draft board for over a year before we took him there, to most recently when a reporter casually glanced off a suggestion that Ireland may have taken Jonathan Martin as preparation in case they let Jake Long leave, and Jeff Ireland got in front of the cameras and read as part of his opening statement a direct and concise disagreement with that one quote in particular. He could have isolated any of the ONE MILLION things that the writers had thrown at the wall at any point this off season, but he chose that one to get huffy about and make sure he dispelled publicly. And that wasn't the first time he'd done that. Bill Parcells once (after he'd left the Dolphins) made headlines because he answered a question about Jake Long versus Matt Ryan as something to the effect of "Maybe we did make a mistake" (he said it in sort of a "who knows?" kind of way, as I recall)...and Jeff Ireland came out from his cave in a rare appearance to the media and directly and concisely denied that he will EVER have any regrets whatsoever about taking Jake Long #1 overall, that he stands behind it, Long has been to the Pro Bowl every year he's been in the NFL, etc.

The guy has acted desperate to make sure everyone knows just how much he loves Jake Long. And you imagine him just letting him walk? I don't think so.

 

I like Jake but I do think this organization over values his contributions. As good as he is he is overpaid l

 

Call me old fashioned...but IMO, a signature player and a hall of fame career is worth paying for, as long as it doesn't hurt your chances at winning.

 

Considering the 2 most important aspects of on-field play are the QB and the trenches, I'd say we have a promising future.

 

Firstly, sorry, I meant to say "this is more than about money and cap space".

Secondly, I think that's a fair point. It's possible you get a few guys not giving all of themselves to the team but then being money-motivated and showing up during their contract year.

 

So let me get this straight, you're using the Patriots organization as THE example of creating goodwill with their players during the contract negotiation process? The same organization that has been notoriously cheap and attempted to short-change their guys at every opportunity? They've played hardball with every single guy not named Brady, that is not an exaggeration:

Ty Law
Richard Seymour
Adam Vinatieri
Deion Branch
Asante Samuel
Vince Wilfork
Logan Mankins
Wes Welker

The list just goes on and on. So using that aforementioned run-down as context, I have to ask myself - what in the heck are you talking about?

 

it's impossible to overpay an elite left tackle......... and you never, EVER....give one up.

 

So PFF put their grades up, and I'm not going to say I hate telling everyone I told you so because that's a blatant lie.

He was credited with giving up a sack and another additional hit of the quarterback(which were those back to back plays), and ended up with a positive overall(+.03) grade in pass protection, meaning he was doing well other than that. He also ended up with a +1.1 in run blocking. It's not a great game for him, but it certainly wasn't bad or evidence of some sort of decline.

 

Eeeshh..Kevin vickerson, Keith brooking and some dude named Wolfe starting for the broncos...ill take Paul and Karlos and Starks thank u.

Tamme, stokely, McGhee, beadle...ewww, their lucky they got Manning.

 

Long now ranks 12th overall among left tackles, but he is the only top 20 tackle with 2 penalties, which hurts his overall grade. He's the 9th pass blocking LT, and the 9th run blocking LT.
Overall, Martin is 25th right tackle. 18th pass blocking right tackle. Only one RT is rated worse at run blocking.
Pouncey is the #1 overall center. 3rd run blocking, and 2nd pass blocking.
Jerry is the 27th guard and Richie is the 59th guard. They are 27th and 42nd for run blocking. They are 43rd and 49th pass blocking.
All those rankings are for both games combined.

 

Pouncey is kicking ***

Reshad Jones is the second ranked safety and Hartline is the 6th ranked receiver.

 

The curious thing is if you take the filters for snap % off of 4-3 DE and see who is in the top 10.

 

Derrick Shelby. StringerBell stated how he thinks Shelby should get more playing time. He's been playing very well.

 

not really sure if its a good thing with manning, right now physically he looks done

 

I think he is done.

Don't let the flashes or sometimes good days fool you.

 

More impressed about us running the ball than stopping the run. Still feel we are vulnerable to the pass, and teams will prefer to throw on us. But our passing offense scares no one, and we still run the ball...that is awesome.

 

It bothers me that we went through times where a lot of people were insisting that OL are fairly easy to find and starting left tackles can be found just as easily. People seem to forget the struggles that the Dolphins went through over the years to develop a working offensive line. In just a few years the Dolphins completely changed the offensive line more than once and really struggled as a result. People actually believed wade Smith could be a workable left tackle. I don't like the idea of paying a huge contract to Jake Long but we could certainly do worse. I like to think Martin could be an adequate replacement at LT but we really don't know and we definitely don't know how far it would set us back if we suddenly have a real problem at LT especially if he turns out to be a human turnstile. If we let Jake Long walk we better be prepared for any eventuality.

 

this is not only a dolphins problem though, there are not many dominating lines out there in this league anymore

 

I understand. And it's compelling. I think Ireland will hate having to let Jake go, and will try to get Jake to give us a discount to stay. If Jake does, maybe he stays.

I see Ireland as being pretty disciplined about his GM approach.

Let's put it this way, Ireland would not push Philbin and Ross to have Jake leave. But I think he will have serious reservations about Jake if he continues to perform below an elite level with nagging injuries all season.

For the record, I actually hope we keep Jake.

 

you know what I like Noname, Tannehill and Hartline strengths are harmonious, Tannehill is lethal around the sideline, and Hart is a majician there.

 

ill be thrilled if he becomes a solid right tackle..don't want him on the left.

 

This O-line can really be special if Jerry finally gets it and keeps his weight in check. We need to resign Long if he stays healthy. Long (elite) and Pouncey (elite) are cornerstones. Both Incognito and Jerry are above average. We are on the cusp of some incredible offense if this O-line gels. Our back field looks solid and we have solid possession receivers. Irish needs to make it a priority to find a play making WR or TE this offseason!

 

yeah some oline depth to go along with it and then we can go full in on defense, pass rush, safeties and cb's

 

I think our defense is pretty close to being dominant. We need a pass rusher and safety. I'm curious what our cap space is predicted to be if we resign Long, Bush, Starks, Hartline and Fasano.

 

As much as I love Jake and what he brings to this team, if I'm GM....I'm seeing what else I can buy with that $13 million/yr. Specifically items that rush the passer, catch passes and intercept footballs.

Maybe I'm being too cute with the roster. I certainly believe in rewarding players and how it absolutely sends a message - good or bad - to your locker room.

But it's not as if Jake isn't already being handsomely rewarded for his contributions. The Dolphins made him the HIGHEST-PAID LINEMAN IN NFL HISTORY before he ever put on a pair of NFL shoulder pads. He's not playing on and out-performing some late first round contract.

It just seems like -- in this offense, in today's NFL -- you don't necessarily need that dominant, holy crap left tackle. You need skill players. You also need to re-sign Randy Starks, Sean Smith and perhaps Reggie Bush. Maybe you can afford it all.

In the end, I think Jeff Ireland will once again make Jake the highest paid lineman in NFL history.

- sent from my Android device via Tapatalk -