I don't see how anyone can think this is a viable offensive line under different coaching. The problem isn't scheme. The problem is that these guys are losing one on one match ups consistently. Look at John Jerry on the 2nd sack Tannehill took in the Bucs game. He was beaten off the snap and at the point. Tyson Clabo has consistently been beaten off the snap and at the point. Jonathan Martin was consistently beaten off the snap and at the point. Really, the only two guys capable of wining one on one match ups were Richie and Mike. The one area where scheme does come into play is the outside zone. Our line does not have the feet to block it, yet we run it more than any other run play in the playbook.
Honestly though I don't care about the hindsight is 20/20 argument where it concerns the offensive line. A lot of people could have easily predicted that train wreck, and in fact did predict it. The real way to handle that was to get Jake Long back in the fold and then sign/draft someone that could legitimately compete with Jonathan Martin at right tackle. And they also needed a right guard that wasn't coming off an ACL tear to compete with John Jerry. Geoff Schwartz was a popular, low-cost option. He played a game at right guard for the Chiefs this year and graded really well on PFF.
The OL. Letting Jake walk without a viable replacement - Id much rather have had Albert rather than what we ended up with instead, and I was not a big fan of signing him at the time. Hindsight! Relying on Martin (mental issues) and Incognito (ticking time bomb) was a terrible decision. And Dallas Thomas? Ugh. We could have pulled a starter from the draft, but went with Thomas who has contributed nothing to one of the worst OL's. Relying on Jerry who is awful, relying on Garner as backup who looked utterly lost against the Bucs. I mean wow, this could not really be a more dysfunctional or underwhelming group. Almost every single OL move aside from drafting Pouncey has been an abomination, and now Pouncey may be facing legal trouble. Yikes yikes yikes. Wallace is a bust far. As CK pointed out, if all we wanted was speed, we could have drafted someone. Hell, take Tavon Austin, use Wallace's money to pay Albert after trading for him. Maybe Dion will be great down the road, but taking an injured player third overall is always a risk and while he has shown promise, he is not even seeming to be close to a starter yet. The rest of the draft this year has been a bust too. We couldn't find a single starting player on a team with needs like this? This was a make or break year, but it has been pretty strong strikeout so far. Sure "time to develop" and all, but not getting ONE player to help immediately in a significant manner is rough unless you just don't have many holes.
Sometimes you have to give credit to the other team. Gerald McCoy is an elite DT, there's no shame in getting beaten by him a few times. As as for the OL, it's a mismatched unit. The coaches want to run zone but they don't have the OL to do it and they don't really have the players to use power runs either. Same with the backs, Miller is clearly better suited running outside, Thomas is better running straight ahead. Still, the run game clicked for three weeks straight before Monday night IMO. Give credit to Tampa, they have a very fast front and safeties who can come up and support. Our OL couldn't stay on them consistently and TBH I thought scrapping the run was the best option, especially after we fell behind early.
I don't think the team would agree that this is a make or break season. They certainly haven't behaved as I it was. Teams typically don't jettison a slew of vets in favor of younger, unproven players when they are going all in to win right away.
No question - the o-line. We only had 2 good linemen coming into the season, Pouncey and Incognito. Now we only have Incognito. We have to replace 4 positions next year and if they bring Jerry back again I might go postal. I am not sure how the next GM is going to handle this but they better be a freakin wiz at grading linemen. I still think we don't really know what we have with T-hill or Wallace, I mean if T-hill doesn't have enough time to let Wallace get downfield on a consistent basis, how are they going to get on the same page. Another freaking Dolphins disaster and I am getting sick of it.
The 5th seed is Denver or KC, only the 6th sees is up for grabs and we are one game out. Speaking of KC Albert is a FA next season and we have plenty of cap space to go after him. I think when the anger dies down a little people will realize we aren't in need of an overhaul, a tune up will do just fine.
Yeah, we're a game out, but our arrow is certainly pointing downward. I do not agree that our line needs a tweak. It needed a tweak the beginning of the year (Clabo, was surprisingly not it) but now Martin and Cogs are gone for good. Clabo is horrible. That leaves Pouncey and the regressed Jerry. We need 3 new lineman just to round out the starters, and 4 if you want to improve the RG spot.
As bad as the Wallace debacle, The complete offensive line including everyone not named McKinnie have regressed Nothing was done till after the fact with McKinnie even though Philbin and co. knew the offensive line state of affairs. How on earth can a coaching staff of Philbin,Turner,and Sherman with over 40 years combined offensive line coordinator experience have no ability to judge talent or have NO ability to improve the offensive lines talent over the past 2 seasons. This coaching staff is the huge problem with hardly a player improving over the past 2 seasons There is no sense of urgency with our players, no fire, there is a cornucopia of bone headed mistakes under this regime Philbin and Co. are so far over their heads they need to go...Everyone
Gotta be Denver. Don't see KC going all the way but we'll see. I said it before, we only need a few pieces on the Oline, some other pieces here and there. But if we get the right people, whose to say we're not Seattle which started with good pieces but absolutely killed it the past 3 years. Or SF. Or Atlanta the first few years after Vick. Hell New Orleans after Katrina.
I wonder if the "plan" by the FO was to upgrade certain units each year. Last year everyone pissed and moaned about the lack of talent at wr and how we did nothing to address it. Then during the off season we sign both Gibson and Wallace and resign Hartline. I'm wondering if the plan was to "make do" with the pieces we had and then spend on OL this off season. Mind you, I'm not suggestion this is the way to run the team but rather it was an orchestrated 3-year plan on upgrading the team.
The biggest off season blunder for me was not taking the time to find myself a new hobby to occupy myself with and save me the grief of watching another waste of a season due to Dolphin imcompetence
The OL needs to be rebuilt, absolutely. But IMO that's the only position that is in bad shape, the rest of the roster looks pretty good, injuries aside.
Pretty much. Year 1 they brought in the QB, next they went after some receivers and now the OL needs to fixed. So yeah, by year 3 they should pretty much have most of what they want in place. And 3 years is typically the minimum amount of time you give to a new regime, barring a disastrous start and a complete lack of competitiveness. There's a lot of people beating their chests and screaming I told you so right now. I will be laughing at all of them when no one gets fired.
The biggest mistake was they forgot to water the acorns. ****ing acorns, **** is up there with lobster traps.
I think Denver is the better team but I also think KC is a match up nightmare for them, especially as the weather begins to change.
Ya know, I think we should even look beyond the OL, or the Wallace signing, some people in this thread already have. I think our even bigger offseason problem, is what lead to the OL and the Wallace deal... and that's Jeff Ireland. We had a pile of draft picks too this year, and this draft class is pretty pathetic. The only one seeing the field is Dion Jordan, and the coaches seem to think he cant play against the run, which is why they said he played so few snaps against the Bucs. Taylor or Davis cant sniff the field. Sturgis... has been good, his injury may have caused his dismal streak of misses, and Don Jones has made a play or two on ST, but also a boneheaded play or two. Sims seems like an ok pick. I know, I know... its tough to judge a draft class this early... but its clearly not looking good if we continue to think trotting out Nolan Carroll, Jimmy Wilson, and even RJ Stanford is better than our two picks Jamar Taylor and Will Davis. Lets not forget Mike Gillislee either. Has he even been active this year yet? Just some more damning evidence against Mr. Ireland... not that the anti-Ireland brigade needs any more of that.
I'd say we should be concerned about our CB's and maybe our LB's. Sure Grimes has been solid for the most part, but I doubt he wants to come back here given the mess that's unfolded this year. Patterson has been a great surprise, but can't stay healthy. Taylor and Davis apparently aren't good enough to play. Nolan Carrol and RJ Stanford just dont really need to be discussed. The LB's have been disappointing too, hopefully that's more scheme than anything though.. While I get your point to an extent, I think the CB's are a concern as well.